cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Hormone replacement therapy and endometrial cancer risk: A meta-analysis

Objective To assess the association of unopposed estrogen or estrogen plus progestin and the risk of developing endometrial cancer or dying of that disease. Data Sources A literature search of English-language studies was performed using MEDLINE, a review of bibliographies, and consultations with experts. Methods of Study Selection We identified 30 studies with adequate controls and risk estimates. Data Extraction and Synthesis Risk estimates were extracted by two authors and summarized using meta-analytic methods. The summary relative risk (RR) was 2.3 for estrogen users compared to nonusers (95% confidence interval [CI] 2.1–2.5), with a much higher RR associated with prolonged duration of use (RR 9.5 for 10 or more years). The summary RR of endometrial cancer remained elevated 5 or more years after discontinuation of unopposed estrogen therapy (RR 2.3). Interrupting estrogen for 5–7 days per month was not associated with lower risk than daily use. Users of unopposed conjugated estrogen had a greater increase in RR of developing endometrial cancer than users of synthetic estrogens. The risk for endometrial cancer death was elevated among unopposed estrogen users (RR 2.7, 95% CI 0.9–8.0). Among estrogen plus progestin users, cohort studies showed a decreased risk of endometrial cancer (RR 0.4), whereas case-control studies showed a small increase (RR 1.8). Conclusions Endometrial cancer risk increases substantially with long duration of unopposed estrogen use, and this increased risk persists for several years after discontinuation of estrogen. Although not statistically significant, the risk of death from endometrial cancer among unopposed estrogen users is increased, similar to the increased risk of developing the disease. Data regarding risk for endometrial cancer among estrogen plus progestin users are limited and conflicting.
The circulation of dust in protoplanetary discs and the initial conditions of planet formation

We examine the consequences of a model for the circulation of solids in a protoplanetary nebula in which aerodynamic drag is counterbalanced by the recycling of material to the outer disc by a protostellar outflow or a disc wind. This population of circulating dust eventually becomes unstable to the formation of planetesimals by gravitational instability, and results in the ultimate deposition of 30--50 earth masses in planetesimals on scales R< 1 AU. Such a model may provide an appropriate justification for the approximately power law initial conditions needed to reproduce observed planetary systems by in situ assembly.
Long-range surface plasmons in dielectric-metal-dielectric structure with highly anisotropic substrates

We present a theoretical study of long-range surface plasmons propagating in a thin metallic film clad between two identical uniaxial anisotropic dielectric crystals. We show that the proper orientation of the optical axis of the crystal with respect to the metal surface enhances the propagation length of surface plasmons. Since the proper orientation depends on surface plasmon frequency, we give the results for the propagation length in a wide range of frequencies, including the telecommunication region. To increase the role of anisotropy, we consider artificial substrates from photonic crystals, which possess an order of magnitude stronger anisotropy than the natural optical crystals. We propose Kronig-Penney model for plasmonic crystal where the substrate is a periodic sequence of dielectric delta peaks. In this model the dispersion relation for surface plasmon has a band structure where the band width tends to zero when the frequency approaches the resonant frequency.
Diagnostic immunohistochemistry of lymphoma and related disorders: Practical aspects of frozen section technique and interpretation

The diagnosis and classification of malignant lymphomas increasingly relies upon analysis of lymphocyte markers. Immunohistochemical techniques applied to frozen sections of lymphoid tissue have the advantage of allowing simultaneous evaluation of both immunologic phenotype and histologic/cytologic features. This paper describes the methodology currently employed in the Scripps institution for lymphocyte marker studies on tissue biopsies, including avidin-biotin complex (ABC) immunoperoxidase and direct immunoperoxidase techniques. Emphasis is placed on technical aspects of the procedures and pitfalls in interpretation. A detailed listing of monoclonal antibodies against lymphocyte markers is provided, including technical features and important cross reactivities. The results of 60 cases analyzed over a one-year period are presented. Essential immunophenotypic features of lymphoid hyperplasia, B-cell lymphomas, T-cell lymphomas, Hodgkin's disease, thymomas, and undifferentiated carcinoma are discussed.
An ab initio study of di-coordinate aluminum cations and comparison with their boron analogs

Abstract The electronic structure of hypothetical bis(amido) and bis(dimethylamido) aluminum cations have been determined at the ab initio level. Calculated rotational barriers about the AlN bonds are significantly lower than rotational barriers in comparable borenium cations. Differences in electronic structures, rotational barriers, and Mulliken populations indicate that the positive charge would be much more localized on the central atom of the alumenium cation than in its boron analog.
Notes on the diversity of the properties of radio bursts observed on the nightside of Venus

We report on further studies of radio wave bursts detected by the Orbiting Electric Field Detector (OEFD) on the Pioneer Venus Orbiter (PVO) in the nightside ionosphere of Venus. We have tested a total of 25 cases of wave burst activity for evidence of whistler-mode propagation to the spacecraft from impulsive subionospheric sources. As in a previous study of 11 of these cases (Sonwalkar et al., 1991) we find at least two distinct classes of events, one, mostly involving bursts at 100 Hz only, that passes certain tests for whistler-mode propagation, and another, mostly involving bursts in two or more of the four PVO narrowband channels (at 100 Hz, 730 Hz, 5.4 kHz, and 30 kHz), that fails to pass the tests. The subionospheric lightning hypothesis continues to be tenable as a candidate explanation for many of the 100 Hz-only events, but its number of 100 Hz-only cases that do no pass all the applicable whistler-mode tests, as well as the existence at a wide range of altitudes of multichannel cases that are clearly not propagating whistler-mode waves. The wideband bursts are often observed at altitudes above 1000 km and frequently occur in regions of locally reduced electron density. Those observed at high altitude (and possibly low altitude as well) are believed to be generated near the spacecraft, possibly by an as yet unknown mechanism responsible for similar burst observations made near Earth and other planets.
Gastroesophageal reflux disease, proton-pump inhibitor use and Barrett's esophagus in esophageal adenocarcinoma: Trends revisited.

Purpose Screening for esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) has not become policy in part over concerns in identifying the high-risk group. It is often claimed that a significant proportion of patients developing EAC do not report preexisting reflux symptoms or prior treatment for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). As such, our aim was to assess the prevalence of GERD symptoms, proton pump inhibitor (PPI) use and Barrett's esophagus (BE) and their impact on survival in patients undergoing esophagectomy for EAC. Methods The study population consisted of 345 consecutive patients who underwent esophagectomy for EAC between 2000 and 2011 at a university-based medical center. Patients with a diagnosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and those who underwent esophagectomy for benign disease were excluded. The prevalence of preoperative GERD symptoms, defined as presence of heartburn, regurgitation or epigastric pain, PPI use (>6 months) and BE, defined by the phrases “Barrett's esophagus,” “intestinal epithelium,” “specialized epithelium,” or “goblet cell metaplasia” in the patients' preoperative clinical notes were retrospectively collected. Overall long-term and stage-specific survival was compared in patients with and without the presence of preoperative GERD symptoms, PPI use, or BE. Results The majority of patients (64%; 221/345) had preoperative GERD symptoms and a history of PPI use (52%; 179/345). A preoperative diagnosis of BE was present in 34% (118/345) of patients. Kaplan–Meier survival analysis revealed a marked survival advantage in patients undergoing esophagectomy who had preoperative GERD symptoms, PPI use or BE diagnosis (P ≤ .001). The survival advantage remained when stratified for American Joint Committee on Cancer stage in patients with preoperative PPI use (P = .015) but was less pronounced in patients with GERD symptoms or BE (P = .136 and P = .225, respectively). Conclusion These data show that the oft-quoted statistic that the majority of patients with EAC do not report preexisting GERD or PPI use is false. Furthermore, a diagnosis of BE is present in a surprisingly high proportion of patients (34%). There is a distinct survival advantage in patients with preoperative GERD symptoms, PPI use, and BE diagnosis, which may not be simply owing to earlier stage at diagnosis. Screening may affect survival outcomes in more patients with EAC than previously anticipated.
Modeling and optimization of scientific workflows

Simulation and computer-aided data analysis have become an integral part of many traditional sciences and have spawned virtual observatories and even entirely new disciplines, e.g. bioinformatics. Scientific workflow systems are built for modeling and automation of scientific applications, to increase scientists' productivity.In this paper, we present desiderata, which we believe scientific workflow systems should have from a scientist's point-of-view. In particular, they should support data modeling, be resilient against input data changes, should check workflow well-formedness, as well as automatically optimize workflow specifications for efficient execution.We argue that current approaches do not adequately address these desiderata, in particular, conventional workflows need to be changed radically to cope with common changes in the input data structure. Workflows built using a Collection-Oriented Modeling and Design (Comad) approach, on the other side, exhibit much greater resilience to input changes.We propose to further extend and formalize Comad by creating a separate configuration layer to gap between scientific functionality (e.g., scripts, programs, or web-services) and the high-level workflow graph. The design of this gap language and an appropriate type system is part of the proposed Ph.D. project. As an initial result we show how to adopt XML regular expression types on the workflow channels and how to characterize actor behavior by defining actor signatures. This allows us to propagate schema information through the workflow, to predict workflow output schema (well-formedness), as well as to automatically optimize data routing for less overall shippings of data as well as for an increase in workflow concurrency.
Importance sampling based defuzzification for general type-2 fuzzy sets

General type-2 fuzzy logic systems (T2 FLS) constitute a powerful tool for coping with ubiquitous uncertainty in many engineering applications. However, the immense computational complexity associated with defuzzification of general T2 fuzzy sets still remains an unresolved issue and prohibits its practical use. This paper proposes a novel importance sampling based defuzzification method for general T2 FLS. Here, a subset from the domain of all embedded fuzzy sets is randomly sampled using a specific probability distribution function. The algorithm is compared with the previously published uniform sampling defuzzification method. Experimental results demonstrate that importance sampling substantially reduces the variance of the sampling defuzzification method. Comparison of T2FLS output surfaces showed that smoother and more stable response can be achieved with the proposed importance sampling based defuzzification method.
High Temperature as a Mechanism for Plant Cytoplasm Preservation in Fossils

Because the cytoplasm of a plant normally degrades after the death of the plant, finding cytoplasm in a plant body after a prolonged period of time, especially in fossil plants, is unexpected. Recent work on several 100-Myr-old plant fossils from Kansas, USA indicates, however, that cells and their contents can be preserved. Most of the cells in these fossil plants appear to be in a state of plasmolysis, and these fossil cells bear a strong resemblance to laboratory-baked cells of extant plant tissues. Based on a comparison with extant material plus biophysical and biochemical analyses of the cytoplasm degrading process, a new hypothesis for cytoplasm preservation in nature is proposed: high temperature, a concomitant of commonly seen wildfires, may preserve cytoplasm in fossil plants. This hypothesis implies that fossilized cytoplasm should be rather common and an appropriate substance for research, unlike previously thought. Research on fossil cytoplasm closely integrates paleobotany with biochemistry, biophysics, as well as fire ecology, and invites inputs from these fields to paleobotany to interpret these provocative findings.
On the stress singularities at the intersection of a cylindrical inclusion with the free surface of a plate

Utilizing the form of a general 3D solution, the author investigates analytically the stress field in the neighborhood of the intersection of a cylindrical inclusion and a free surface. The inclusion is assumed to be of a homogeneous and isotropic material and is to be embedded in an isotropic plate of an arbitrary thickness. The stress field is induced by a uniform tension applied on the plate at points far remote from the inclusion (see Fig. 1).
IL4/PGE2 induction of an enlarged early endosomal compartment in mouse macrophages is Rab5-dependent

The endosomal compartment and the plasma membrane form a complex partnership that controls signal transduction and trafficking of different molecules. The specificity and functionality of the early endocytic pathway are regulated by a growing number of Rab GTPases, particularly Rab5. In this study, we demonstrate that IL4 (a Th-2 cytokine) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) synergistically induce Rab5 and several Rab effector proteins, including Rin1 and EEA1, and promote the formation of an enlarged early endocytic (EEE) compartment. Endosome enlargement is linked to a substantial induction of the mannose receptor (MR), a well-characterized macrophage endocytic receptor. Both MR levels and MR-mediated endocytosis are enhanced approximately 7-fold. Fluid-phase endocytosis is also elevated in treated cells. Light microscopy and fractionation studies reveal that MR colocalizes predominantly with Rab5a and partially with Rab11, an endosomal recycling pathway marker. Using retroviral expression of Rab5a:S34N, a dominant negative mutant, and siRNA Rab5a silencing, we demonstrate that Rab5a is essential for the large endosome phenotype and for localization of MR in these structures. We speculate that the EEE is maintained by activated Rab5, and that the EEE phenotype is part of some macrophage developmental program such as cell fusion, a characteristic of IL4-stimulated cells.
A dynamically growing self-organizing tree (DGSOT) for hierarchical clustering gene expression profiles

Motivation: The increasing use of microarray technologies is generating large amounts of data that must be processed in order to extract useful and rational fundamental patterns of gene expression. Hierarchical clustering technology is one method used to analyze gene expression data, but traditional hierarchical clustering algorithms suffer from several drawbacks (e.g. fixed topology structure; mis-clustered data which cannot be reevaluated). In this paper, we introduce a new hierarchical clustering algorithm that overcomes some of these drawbacks. Result: We propose a new tree-structure self-organizing neural network, called dynamically growing self-organizing tree (DGSOT) algorithm for hierarchical clustering. The DGSOT constructs a hierarchy from top to bottom by division. At each hierarchical level, the DGSOT optimizes the number of clusters, from which the proper hierarchical structure of the underlying dataset can be found. In addition, we propose a new cluster validation criterion based on the geometric property of the Voronoi partition of the dataset in order to find the proper number of clusters at each hierarchical level. This criterion uses the Minimum Spanning Tree (MST) concept of graph theory and is computationally inexpensive for large datasets. A K-level up distribution (KLD) mechanism, which increases the scope of data distribution in the hierarchy construction, was used to improve the clustering accuracy. The KLD mechanism allows the data misclustered in the early stages to be reevaluated at a later stage and increases the accuracy of the final clustering result. The clustering result of the DGSOT is easily displayed as a dendrogram for visualization. Based on a yeast cell cycle microarray expression dataset, we found that our algorithm extracts gene expression patterns at different levels. Furthermore, the biological functionality enrichment in the clusters is considerably high and the hierarchical structure of the clusters is more reasonable. Availability: DGSOT is available upon request from the authors.
Memory contention for shared memory vector multiprocessors

The author describes a simulation study of interprocessor memory contention for a shared-memory, vector multiprocessor. When programs execute together on such a system, each program's performance, relative to its performance on a single dedicated processor, degrades because of contention among processors for shared memory. From the results of the simulation study, the author proposes analytic forms for the asymptotic steady-state behavior of throughput, time delay, and efficiency as functions of hardware parameters. The results suggest criteria for evaluating hardware designs and an index of quality for comparing different designs. >
A novel double floating-gate unified memory device

A novel double floating-gate unified memory device is experimentally demonstrated for the first time. The device can be used to store both volatile and nonvolatile memory states simultaneously. Simulations of scaled devices show that the device offers several advantages compared to conventional memory devices. Such a device could have a dramatic impact on next generation memory architectures.
Recognition by association via learning per-exemplar distances

We pose the recognition problem as data association. In this setting, a novel object is explained solely in terms of a small set of exemplar objects to which it is visually similar. Inspired by the work of Frome et al., we learn separate distance functions for each exemplar; however, our distances are interpretable on an absolute scale and can be thresholded to detect the presence of an object. Our exemplars are represented as image regions and the learned distances capture the relative importance of shape, color, texture, and position features for that region. We use the distance functions to detect and segment objects in novel images by associating the bottom-up segments obtained from multiple image segmentations with the exemplar regions. We evaluate the detection and segmentation performance of our algorithm on real-world outdoor scenes from the LabelMe (B. Russel, et al., 2007) dataset and also show some promising qualitative image parsing results.
A clustering algorithm merging MCMC and EM methods using SQL queries

Clustering is an important problem in Statistics and Machine Learning that is usually solved using Likelihood Maximization Methods, of which the Expectation-Maximization Algorithm (EM) is the most common. In this work we present an SQL implementation of an algorithm merging Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods with the EM algorithm to find qualitatively better solutions for the clustering problem. Even though SQL is not optimized for complex calculations, as it is constrained to work on tables and columns, it is unparalleled in handling all aspects of storage management, security of the information, fault management, etc. Our algorithm makes use of these characteristics to produce portable solutions that are comparable to the results obtained by other algorithms and are more efficient since the calculations are all performed inside the DBMS. To simplify the calculation we use very simple scalar UDFs, of a type that is available in most DBMS. The solution has linear time complexity on the size of the data set and it has a linear speedup with the number of servers in the cluster. This was achieved using sufficient statistics and a simplified model that assigns the data-points to different clusters during the E-step in an incremental manner and the introduction of a Sampling step in order to explore the solution space in a more efficient manner. Preliminary experiments show very good agreement with standard solutions.
Assessing the effectiveness of payments for ecosystem services: an agent-based modeling approach.

Payments for ecosystem services (PES) have increasingly been implemented to protect and restore ecosystems worldwide. The effectiveness of conservation investments in PES may differ under alternative policy scenarios and may not be sustainable because of uncertainties in human responses to policies and dynamic human-nature interactions. To assess the impacts of these interactions on the effectiveness of PES programs, we developed a spatially explicit agent-based model: human and natural interactions under policies (HANIP). We used HANIP to study the effectiveness of China's Natural Forest Conservation Program (NFCP) and alternative policy scenarios in a coupled human-nature system, China's Wolong Nature Reserve, where indigenous people's use of fuelwood affects forests. We estimated the effects of the current NFCP, which provides a cash payment, and an alternative payment scenario that provides an electricity payment by comparing forest dynamics under these policies to forest dynamics under a scenario in which no payment is provided. In 2007, there were 337 km² of forests in the study area of 515 km². Under the baseline projection in which no payment is provided, the forest area is expected to be 234 km² in 2030. Under the current NFCP, there are likely to be 379 km² of forests in 2030, or an increase of 145 km² of forests to the baseline projection. If the cash payment is replaced with an electricity payment, there are likely to be 435 km² of forests in 2030, or an increase of 201 km² of forests to the baseline projection. However, the effectiveness of the NFCP may be threatened by the behavior of newly formed households if they are not included in the payment scheme. In addition, the effects of socio-demographic factors on forests will also differ under different policy scenarios. Human and natural interactions under policies (HANIP) and its modeling framework may also be used to assess the effectiveness of many other PES programs around the world.
Acute elevation of blood lead levels within hours of ingestion of large quantities of lead shot.

Background: Ingestion of elemental lead foreign bodies is felt to have a low risk of clinically significant lead absorption unless gastrointestinal pathology and/or prolonged transit time are prese...
Improving HVAC system performance using smart meters

This paper describes how smart meters can be used to improve thermal energy performance in buildings, particularly in homes and small commercial facilities. The specific smart meter used in this paper is the non-intrusive load monitor (NILM). The NILM can disaggregate the operating schedule of individual loads from aggregate current measurements. Combining load operating schedules with measurements from several environmental sensors, the NILM builds a representative thermal model for the building. Two different model formulations are proposed. The first is designed to detect refrigerant leaks in traditional HVAC systems; the other is intended for use with next-generation systems able to modulate cooling capacity. Experimental results are presented.
The Pediatrician and Family Planning in a Very Poar Community An Appraisal of Experiences in the Tufts Delta Health Center, Bolivar County, Mississippi

Family planning services should be of prime interest to all pediatricians because of their direct relationship to the health and well-being of mothers and children. Maternal and Child Health Services offer a natural starting place for introduc tion of family planning services. However, family planning should be a part of total family health care for better acceptance, rather than merely a categorical program.
Phylogenetic analyses reveal the shady history of C4 grasses

Grasslands cover more than 20% of the Earth's terrestrial surface, and their rise to dominance is one of the most dramatic events of biome evolution in Earth history. Grasses possess two main photosynthetic pathways: the C3 pathway that is typical of most plants and a specialized C4 pathway that minimizes photorespiration and thus increases photosynthetic performance in high-temperature and/or low-CO2 environments. C4 grasses dominate tropical and subtropical grasslands and savannas, and C3 grasses dominate the world's cooler temperate grassland regions. This striking pattern has been attributed to C4 physiology, with the implication that the evolution of the pathway enabled C4 grasses to persist in warmer climates than their C3 relatives. We combined geospatial and molecular sequence data from two public archives to produce a 1,230-taxon phylogeny of the grasses with accompanying climate data for all species, extracted from more than 1.1 million herbarium specimens. Here we show that grasses are ancestrally a warm-adapted clade and that C4 evolution was not correlated with shifts between temperate and tropical biomes. Instead, 18 of 20 inferred C4 origins were correlated with marked reductions in mean annual precipitation. These changes are consistent with a shift out of tropical forest environments and into tropical woodland/savanna systems. We conclude that C4 evolution in grasses coincided largely with migration out of the understory and into open-canopy environments. Furthermore, we argue that the evolution of cold tolerance in certain C3 lineages is an overlooked innovation that has profoundly influenced the patterning of grassland communities across the globe.
The major component in schistosome eggs responsible for conditioning dendritic cells for Th2 polarization is a T2 ribonuclease (omega-1)

Schistosoma mansoni eggs contain factors that trigger potent Th2 responses in vivo and condition mouse dendritic cells (DCs) to promote Th2 lymphocyte differentiation. Using an in vitro bystander polarization assay as the readout, we purified and identified the major Th2-inducing component from soluble egg extract (SEA) as the secreted T2 ribonuclease, omega-1. The Th2-promoting activity of omega-1 was found to be sensitive to ribonuclease inhibition and did not require MyD88/TRIF signaling in DCs. In common with unfractioned SEA, the purified native protein suppresses lipopolysaccharide-induced DC activation, but unlike SEA, it fails to trigger interleukin 4 production from basophils. Importantly, omega-1–exposed DCs displayed pronounced cytoskeletal changes and exhibited decreased antigen-dependent conjugate formation with CD4+ T cells. Based on this evidence, we hypothesize that S. mansoni omega-1 acts by limiting the interaction of DCs with CD4+ T lymphocytes, thereby lowering the strength of the activation signal delivered.
An Application of Evolutionary Game Theory to Social Dilemmas: The Traveler's Dilemma and the Minimum Effort Coordination Game

The Traveler's Dilemma game and the Minimum Effort Coordination game are two social dilemmas that have attracted considerable attention due to the fact that the predictions of classical game theory are at odds with the results found when the games are studied experimentally. Moreover, a direct application of deterministic evolutionary game theory, as embodied in the replicator dynamics, to these games does not explain the observed behavior. In this work, we formulate natural variants of these two games as smoothed continuous-strategy games. We study the evolutionary dynamics of these continuous-strategy games, both analytically and through agent-based simulations, and show that the behavior predicted theoretically is in accord with that observed experimentally. Thus, these variants of the Traveler's Dilemma and the Minimum Effort Coordination games provide a simple resolution of the paradoxical behavior associated with the original games.
Transesophageal Echocardiography: Not for Everyone?

To the Editor: We read with interest the article by de Bruijn et al comparing transesophageal and transthoracic echocardiography (TEE versus TEE) for the evaluation of TIA or stroke.1 We congratulate the investigators on this important study. TEE proved superior to TTE for identification of a cardiac embolic source in patients with TIA or …
Comparative effectiveness of colony-stimulating factors for febrile neutropenia: a retrospective study.

AbstractBackground:Granulocyte colony stimulating factors (G-CSFs) decrease the incidence of febrile neutropenia (FN) in cancer patients receiving myelosuppressive chemotherapy. There are two G-CSFs (pegfilgrastim and filgrastim) that differ in dosing schedules from which oncologists may prescribe.Objectives:This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of prophylactic pegfilgrastim and filgrastim on the risk of hospitalizations. The secondary objective was to compare the effectiveness of the timing of initiation (prophylactic versus delayed).Methods:A retrospective study of administrative claims from US commercial payers included adult patients with Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, breast, or lung cancer, treated with chemotherapy between July 2004 and January 2008. For these patients, the first course of chemotherapy and each unique cycle with use of G-CSF was identified and designated ‘prophylaxis’ if used within the first 5 days of each cycle, or ‘delayed’, if after day 5. The risk of neutropenia-related and a...
Syntactic Transfer Using a Bilingual Lexicon

We consider the problem of using a bilingual dictionary to transfer lexico-syntactic information from a resource-rich source language to a resource-poor target language. In contrast to past work that used bitexts to transfer analyses of specific sentences at the token level, we instead use features to transfer the behavior of words at a type level. In a discriminative dependency parsing framework, our approach produces gains across a range of target languages, using two different low-resource training methodologies (one weakly supervised and one indirectly supervised) and two different dictionary sources (one manually constructed and one automatically constructed).
Discussion of the effects of corporate governance on firms’ credit ratings

Abstract Ashbaugh-Skaife, Collins, and LaFond [2006. The effects of corporate governance on firms’ credit ratings. Journal of Accounting and Economics (this issue)] find that better governed firms receive better credit ratings and poor governance costs the median speculative grade firm $38 million in excess interest. They also find that managers choose to be poorly governed to expropriate wealth. The results from the primary analysis are persuasive, leaving little doubt on whether ratings agencies value corporate governance. However, the authors’ estimate of the economic costs of poor governance is likely to be overstated. Despite the evidence on the costs of poor governance, the final analysis leaves the question as to why firms choose to be poorly governed largely unanswered.
Design and testbed implementation of adaptive MPLS-DiffServ enabled virtual private networks

This paper describes an adaptive resource allocation approach and its Linux testbed implementation for QoS enabled virtual private networks (VPNs). Specifically, we present and evaluate three schemes for predicting future traffic rates of a traffic flow from measurements. In our architecture, we also combine several QoS enabled network technologies. DiffServ over MPLS is used as the baseline in the pursuit for end-to-end QoS. Since a VPN operates by transporting traffic through tunnels, we use RSVP-TE to establish explicitly routed label switched paths (LSP). Dynamic class based queuing (CBQ) was chosen to dynamically reallocate resources based on the prediction of future demands. Performance evaluations have been conducted, indicating superior performance.
A Three-Phase Shear-Lag Model for Longitudinal Cracking of a Ceramic Matrix Composite Ply With Thick Fiber Coatings

During progressive cracking of cross-ply ceramic matrix composites (CMCs), load is transferred from the fiber to the matrix in the longitudinal (0 deg) ply via shear through a compliant interphase layer, also referred to as the coating. In the material system of interest, this coating has significant thickness relative to the fiber diameter. The damage process in the cross-ply CMC is observed to be as follows: (1) elastic deformation, (2) cracking of the transverse plies, (3) matrix cracking within the longitudinal plies, (4) failure of longitudinal fibers, and (5) pullout of the cracked fibers from the matrix. In this paper, the focus is on the longitudinal (0 deg) ply. Existing shear-lag models do not fully represent either the stress transfer through the coating or the true accumulations of shear and normal stresses in the matrix. In the current study, a model is developed that takes into account both of these factors to provide a more accurate, analytical representation of the stress distribution and progressive damage accumulation in a longitudinal CMC ply.
Using Captions to Reduce Barriers to Native American Student Success

Americans talk about captions as if they are only for foreign films. The problem with such an assumption is that it lends an illusion that the benefit of captions does not extend past translation. This article examines the extent to which using closed-captioned video material in the college classroom can be a useful universal teaching tool in enabling Native American and Alaskan Native student achievement.
Understanding masculine identity among anti-war veterans

The military is an arena in which strong ideals regarding masculinity are enforced, with the soldier often portrayed as a model of hegemonic masculinity in the USA. Men who adopt an anti-war position, which may directly conflict with positions taken by the military as an organization, may be particularly challenged in the renegotiation of their masculine identity upon re-entry to civilian life. This study employs Burke and Stets' Identity Theory (2009) and Connell's hegemonic masculinity (2005) to examine masculine identity among a group of 26 veterans. Using data from in-depth interviews with 26 former military personnel that now claim an anti-war position, the study explores how masculinity is (re)negotiated among these men. The findings include respondents' description of masculinity before and after adopting an ‘anti-war’ identity, as well as variations in masculinity among our respondents. Specifically, we found three types of masculinity among respondents. The masculinity scripts within these typolo...
Name-aware Machine Translation

We propose a Name-aware Machine Translation (MT) approach which can tightly integrate name processing into MT model, by jointly annotating parallel corpora, extracting name-aware translation grammar and rules, adding name phrase table and name translation driven decoding. Additionally, we also propose a new MT metric to appropriately evaluate the translation quality of informative words, by assigning different weights to different words according to their importance values in a document. Experiments on Chinese-English translation demonstrated the effectiveness of our approach on enhancing the quality of overall translation, name translation and word alignment over a high-quality MT baseline 1 .
How Shared Leadership and Personality Diversity Interact to Improve Team Performance

Although prior research has investigated a number of conditions under which shared leadership in teams may improve team performance, team composition variables have been left unexplored. Using a sa...
Toxicy of Lead Salts to Insects

Lead oxide (PbO), lead carbonate, lead sulfate, and lead chromate are slow acting toxic compounds for tent caterpillars. The order of toxicity is as follows: Chromate> sulfate>carbonate>oxide. There appears to be a direct relationship between toxicity and the molecular weight; an increase in molecular weight increases toxicity. The amount of lead in the body of the insect at the time of death, exclusive of digestive tract, per milligram of body weight, remains constant regardless of the amount of lead oxide eaten.
The Bacterial Integrity of Collodion Sacs

The use of collodion sacs and parchment membranes for the study of the longevity of B. typhosus in natural waters and sewage was introduced by Jordan, Russell, and Zeit1 in 1904 in their work on the Chicago Drainage Canal case. The particular advantages of this technic over the methods employed up to that time are that the typhoid bacilli are confined within comparatively narrow limits and can thus be recovered more easily than otherwise, and that at the same time the organisms thus confined are exposed to conditions as nearly as possible like those found in nature, since there is quite a free interchange of diffusible substances through the permeable walls of the sacs. In 1905-6 Russell and Fuller2 used similar containers in a more extended study of the vitality of the typhoid bacillus in surface waters and sewage. Recently the entire reliability of the results obtained by the use of collodion and parchment containers has been questioned on the ground that it is not possible to prepare either collodion or parchment sacs through which the typhoid organism will not pass in a few hours, and that the figures reported in the above-mentioned experiment are unreliable because they do not take into account the escape of a certain number of the typhoid bacilli through the walls of the sacs during their exposure in water and sewage. Johnson,3 in a paper before the New England Waterworks Association, in 1905 first called attention to this, and cited certain experiments performed by him which apparently showed that B. coli could pass readily through parchment sacs, which retained perfectly their integrity as far as their dializing properties were concerned throughout the experiment. He showed that these organisms could be recovered from sterilized water in which parchment sacs filled with
Analysis of the New Thinking of Budget Management

By combining the analysis of bettering budget management,the paper brings in exceeding budget and analyzes the background of exceeding budget,the difference between exceeding budget and traditional budget together with the problems concerning exceeding budget. In the end,it proposed many ways to improve exceeding budget in order that budget management can be regarded as a major mode for modern management system in Chinese enterprises.
Neonatal 6-OHDA lesions upregulate adult expression of tyrosine hydroxylase MRNA

We explored the consequences of postnatal day 1 (P1) intrastriatal 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) lesions on the developing mesostriatal dopamine system by performing in situ hybridization histochemistry for tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) in the substantia nigra-ventral tegmental area (SN-VTA) complex of neonatally-lesioned and non-lesioned animals at P90. There were significant reductions in the expression of TH mRNA from both the rostral and caudal levels of the lateral and medial SNc of 6-OHDA treated animals. The VTA was preferentially spared from the neurotoxic effects of 6-OHDA and showed elevated levels of TH mRNA in the caudal VTA compared with controls. This heterogeneous pattern of TH mRNA expression suggests that early intrastriatal 6-OHDA lesions selectively damage certain DA systems and affect the development of other systems.
Instrument-Free Point-of-Care Molecular Detection of Zika Virus.

The recent outbreak of Zika virus (ZIKV) infection in the Americas and its devastating impact on fetal development have prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare the ZIKV pandemic as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. Rapid and reliable diagnostics for ZIKV are vital because ZIKV-infected individuals display no symptoms or nonspecific symptoms similar to other viral infections. Because immunoassays lack adequate sensitivity and selectivity and are unable to identify active state of infection, molecular diagnostics are an effective means to detect ZIKV soon after infection and throughout pregnancy. We report on a highly sensitive reverse-transcription loop-mediated, isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) assay for rapid detection of ZIKV and its implementation in a simple, easy-to-use, inexpensive, point-of-care (POC) disposable cassette that carries out all the unit operations from sample introduction to detection. For thermal control of the cassette, we use a chemically heated ...
Introduction and Overview of Current and Emerging Operations

All would agree that obesity has become a worldwide epidemic associated with drastic deleterious effects on the health and mortality of patients. A report by the World Health Organization (WHO) indicated that at least 400 million adults around the world were obese in 2005. Historical operations, such as the jejunoileal and jejunocolic bypass, paved the road for the development of the commonly performed operations, including the gastric bypass. With the advent of laparoscopy and significant reduction in perioperative morbidity and mortality, it is no surprise that the demand for bariatric surgery has exponentially grown. New technological advances intended to treat obesity are continually in the process of being developed and tested for use. Endoscopic interventions such as transoral gastroplasty, the intragastric balloon, and the endoluminal gastrointestinal liner are a few devices that have gained recognition and demonstrated promising results.
19 – Disorders of the Respiratory Pump

Chapter 19 addresses disorders affecting the respiratory pump including neuromuscular disease, disorders of the diaphragm, and disorders affecting the chest wall. Four of the more common neuromuscular diseases that influence the respiratory system are discussed: Guillain-Barre syndrome, myasthenia gravis, poliomyelitis, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Respiratory muscle weakness, both inspiratory and expiratory, is the underlying pathophysiology for these disorders. The diaphragm is the most important inspiratory muscle of respiration, and this chapter reviews diaphragmatic muscle fatigue and both unilateral and bilateral diaphragmatic paralysis. Finally, two important processes affecting the chest wall, kyphoscoliosis and obesity, are discussed.
An array of atmospheric pressure plasma jets from a single ionization wave

Atmospheric pressure plasmas are being investigated for wound healing, agricultural enhancements, sterilization, and functionalization of materials. An often used configuration is the atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ). Although highly effective, the plasma emanating from the APPJ covers a small area. In order to increase the area treated arrays of APPJs have been developed. The individual jets in such arrays often have inter-jet interactions and may require multiple power supplies. In this paper, we discuss results from a computational investigation of an APPJ geometry which enables multiple jets to be generated from a single ionization wave and has a minimum of jet-to-jet interactions. The configuration consists of a dielectric tube having a row of holes along its length. Helium flows through the dielectric tube and out the holes as a He plume into ambient humid air. The discharge is initiated by a powered annular electrode inside the tube and a grounded ring electrode outside of the tube which overlaps the inner electrode. An ionization wave (IW) propagates along the inside of the tube and over the holes. Depending on the size of the holes, secondary IWs are launched from the holes perpendicularly to the tube into the He plumes, thereby producing a comb of plasma jets. This configuration is based on the work of Robert et al.[1]
Gas Sorption and Storage Properties of Calixarenes

Calixarenes, a class of organic macrocyclic molecules have shown interesting gas sorption properties towards industrially important gases such as carbon dioxide, hydrogen, methane and acetylene. These macrocycles are involved in weak van der Waals interaction to form multidimensional supramolecular frameworks. The gas-diffusion and subsequent sorption occurs due to a cooperative behavior between neighboring macrocycles. Furthermore, the flexibility at the upper rim functional group also plays a key role in the overall gas uptake of calixarene. In this book chapter, we give a brief account of interaction and diffusion of gases in calixarene and selected derivatives.
Eliminating Fitting from the Modeling of Biological Processes

Using a detailed model of the DNA−histone complex, Lequieu et al. explain the tension-dependent free energy of nucleosome unwrapping at a molecular level.
Accessories after the facts: Constraining the timing, duration and conditions of high-temperature metamorphic processes

Abstract High-temperature metamorphic rocks are the result of numerous chemical and physical processes that occur during a potentially long-lived thermal evolution. These rocks chart the sequence of events during an orogenic episode including heating, cooling, exhumation and melt interaction, all of which may be interpreted through the elemental and isotopic characteristics of accessory minerals such as zircon, monazite and rutile. Developments in imaging and in situ chemical analysis have resulted in an increasing amount of information being extracted from these accessory phases. The refractory nature of these minerals, combined with both their use as geochronometers and tracers of metamorphic mineral reactions, has made them the focus of many studies of granulite-facies terrains. In such studies the primary aim is often to determine the timing and conditions of the peak of metamorphism, and high-temperature metasedimentary rocks may seem ideal for this purpose. For example pelites typically contain an abundance of accessory minerals in a variety of bulk compositions, are melt-bearing, and may have endured extreme conditions that facilitate diffusion and chemical equilibrium. However complexities arise due to the heterogeneous nature of these rocks on all scales, driven by both the composition of the protolith and metamorphic differentiation. In additional to lithological heterogeneity, the closure temperatures for both radiogenic isotopes and chemical thermometers vary between different accessory minerals. This apparent complexity can be useful as it permits a wide range of temperature and time (T–t) information to be recovered from a single rock sample. In this review we cover: 1) characteristic internal textures of accessory minerals in high temperature rocks; 2) the interpretation of zircon and monazite age data in relation to high temperature processes; 3) rare earth element partitioning; 4) trace element thermometry; 5) the incorporation of accessory mineral growth into thermodynamic modeling; and 6) Hf isotopic signature of zircon overgrowths and its use in linking zircon into major metamorphic phase development.
Inter-Observer Agreement in Headache Diagnosis

Inter-observer agreement among 4 pediatric neurologists in the diagnosis of recurrent headaches in 40 children, ages 4 to 17 years (mean 10 years), was prospectively assessed at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada.