cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Skin Lesion Characterization with Ensembles of Machine Learning and Deep Learning Models

Skin lesion characterization is a significant step as skin diseases are among the 4th common disease in the world. Skin conditions cause a major non-fatal disabilities, particularly in resource-poor zones. The main objective of our paper is to aid dermatologists in assessing the skin conditions of people living in such regions. It can also help dermatologists to detect in melanoma which could increase the survival rate of the patients upon early treatment. In our paper, we present a comparison between two techniques that can be used for classifying nine different skin lesions including malignant melanoma. The first method uses supervised learning in which the predefined features extracted from the skin lesion dataset trains the machine learning classifiers. The second technique makes use of transfer learning to train the deep neural networks (AlexNet and GoogLeNet) on clinical images of skin lesions which could then classify them. The results of the individual networks are then aggregated using ensembling techniques. We make use of the data collection from ISIC archive for training the deep neural network and for extracting features for the machine learning classifier. By transfer learning and ensembling the outputs of various trained network models, a maximum classification accuracy of 90.2% was achieved.
Phase-field-lattice Boltzmann method for dendritic growth with melt flow and thermosolutal convection–diffusion

Abstract We propose a new phase-field model formulated within the system of lattice Boltzmann (LB) equation for simulating solidification and dendritic growth with fully coupled melt flow and thermosolutal convection–diffusion. With the evolution of the phase field and the transport phenomena all modeled and integrated within the same LB framework, this method preserves and combines the intrinsic advantages of the phase-field method (PFM) and the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). Particularly, the present PFM/LBM model has several improved features compared to the existing phase-field models including: (1) a novel multiple-relaxation-time (MRT) LB scheme for the phase-field evolution is proposed to effectively model solidification coupled with melt flow and thermosolutal convection–diffusion with improved numerical stability and accuracy, (2) convenient diffuse interface treatments are implemented for the melt flow and thermosolutal transport which can be applied to the entire domain without tracking the interface, and (3) the evolution of the phase field, flow, concentration, and temperature fields on the level of microscopic distribution functions in the LB schemes is decoupled with a multiple-time-scaling strategy (despite their full physical coupling), thus solidification at high Lewis numbers (ratios of the liquid thermal to solutal diffusivities) can be conveniently modeled. The applicability and accuracy of the present PFM/LBM model are verified with four numerical tests including isothermal , iso-solutal and thermosolutal convection–diffusion problems, where excellent agreement in terms of phase-field and thermosolutal distributions and dendritic tip growth velocity and radius with those reported in the literature is demonstrated. The proposed PFM/LBM model can be an attractive and powerful tool for large-scale dendritic growth simulations given the high scalability of the LBM.
Characterization of Chip-to-Package Interconnects for Glass Panel Embedding (GPE) for Sub-THz Wireless Communications

This work presents characterization of microvia interconnects in D-band frequencies for use as chip-to-package interconnects in Glass Panel Embedded (GPE) packages. Antenna-in-Package based on wafer-level fanout technology have demonstrated superior performance along its small form factor by eliminating wire-bond, assembly, underfill and package substrates. However, epoxy mold compounds, which limit the use of fanout packages at sub-Thz frequencies, do not support the electrical performance, thermal and thermo-mechanical needs of such applications. Embedding chips in glass panels, on the other hand, leverages all benefits of glass substrates and low-loss polymer buildup dielectrics while also mitigating the effects of wire-bond and microbumps for chip-to-package interconnects. In this paper, the design, fabrication, and characterization of these all-copper microvia-like chip-to-package interconnects is presented. These interconnects achieve an average chip-to-package loss of 0.146 dB in D-band and 0.177 dB maximum loss at 170 GHz which is lower than current flip-chip approaches, and our objective is to incorporate such interconnects in the proposed GPE package.
PANZAR AND ROSSE STYLE TESTS OF MARKET STRUCTURE IN THE U.S. MOTOR CARRIER INDUSTRY

An application of the Panzar and Rosse test (1987) for market structure, which utilizes analysis of reduced form revenue equations, indicates that the trucking industry is not in long-run perfectly competitive equilibrium. Unfortunately, the test is ambiguous whether this is due to competitive disequilibrium or the existence of market power.
Taking out 1 billion tons of CO2: The magic of China's 11th Five-Year Plan?

E RNEST O RLANDO L AWRENCE B ERKELEY N ATIONAL L ABORATORY Taking out one billion tons of CO2: the magic of China’s 11th five year plan? Jiang Lin, Nan Zhou, Mark Levine, and David Fridley Environmental Energy Technologies Division June 2007 This work was supported the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231.
Train tracks and confluent drawings

Confluent graphs capture the connection properties of train tracks, offering a very natural generalization of planar graphs, and – as the example of railroad maps shows – are an important tool in graph visualization. In this paper we continue the study of confluent graphs, introducing strongly confluent graphs and tree-confluent graphs. We show that strongly confluent graphs can be recognized in NP (the complexity of recognizing confluent graphs remains open). We also give a natural elimination ordering characterization of tree-confluent graphs which shows that they form a subclass of the chordal bipartite graphs, and can be recognized in polynomial time.
Structure and function of the isolated hemoglobins of the American eel, Anguilla rostrata.

Abstract Two electrophoretic hemoglobin patterns occur in hemolysates from the American eel, Anguilla rostrata. Type I hemolysates have two major components, I-F and I-S. Type II hemolysates have three major components, II-F, II-M, and II-S. Each kind of hemolysate also has at least one minor electrophoretic component. Amino acid analysis and tryptic peptide patterns of the isolated polypeptide chains indicate that no polypeptide chains are common to the S components and to either the F or the M component. The β chains of the three major components of the type II hemolysate are all different; the II-F β and II-M β chains are similar but differ by at least one peptide. Both differ greatly from the II-S β chain. The α chains of Components II-F and II-M appear either to be identical or very similar and to differ greatly from the α chain of II-S. These results are most compatible with the assumption that the β chains of the anodal Components F and M are controlled by two nonallelic loci. The globin of Component I-F yielded two α chains, one of which appeared identical or very similar to the α chains of II-F and II-M, whereas the other I-F α chain differed by at least one peptide. The oxygen equilibria of Components II-F and II-M appear to be identical. In the absence of phosphate they are characterized by a very large Bohr effect below pH 7: Δ log P50/Δ pH ≅ -1.6 in the pH interval, 6.5 to 6.8. The Hill coefficient, n, decreases from 1.3 to 1.4 above pH 7 to about 0.9 near pH 6.5. The oxygenation properties of Component II-S are entirely different from those of Components F or M. A substantial reversed Bohr effect is present in the absence of phosphate between pH 6.8 and 8.4; Δlog P50/ΔpH = +0.3. Addition of 6 moles of ATP per mole of hemoglobin (tetramer) causes a large pH-dependent decrease in oxygen affinity and a substantial rise in apparent cooperativity. The Hill coefficient, n, rises from 1.6 to 1.8 to about 2.4 to 2.8 depending on the pH. The magnitude of the Bohr effect decreases to close to zero upon ATP addition. Carbon dioxide increases the reversed Bohr effect in the absence of phosphate: Δlog P50/ΔpH becomes +0.75. The COOH-terminal histidyl residue of the β chains of mammalian hemoglobin is believed to play a decisive role in the mechanism of the Bohr effect (Perutz, M. F. (1970) Nature 228, 726–739). Component F has the COOH-terminal sequence -Tyr-His, but the corresponding sequence in Component S is -Gln-Tyr-Phe This difference may largely account for the different behavior of the two hemoglobins. The Component S β chain has only 2 histidyl residues, whereas all other eel hemoglobin chains examined have 5 to 6 histidines per chain.
Political Science and Education: The Long View and The Short

No political scientist can escape a fascination with education; and, for once, the current interest in research on education and the political order is not another fad or fashion in our discipline. To believe otherwise would be taking the short view indeed. If one were only to take the short view, one would deprive oneself of the sustained efforts made through the centuries by political philosophers to understand the relationship between politics and education. Not surprisingly, Carl Friedrich, wide-ranging political theorist that he is, does not make this mistake. And, interestingly, it is “Tradition and the Role of Education” that fascinates him.1 It is an honorable and honored perspective. In taking it, Friedrich confirms his sensitivity to the relevant in politics. I cannot do other but express my appreciation.
Ordered Upwind Methods for Hybrid Control

We introduce a family of highly efficient (non-iterative) numerical methods for a wide class of hybrid control systems. The application of Dijkstra's classical method to a discrete optimal trajectory problem on a network obtains the solution in O(M log M) operations. The key idea behind the method is a careful use of the direction of information propagation, stemming from the optimality principle. In a series of recent papers, we have introduced a number of Ordered Upwind Methods (OUMs) to efficiently solve the fully anisotropic continuous optimal control problems. These techniques rely on using a partial information on the characteristic directions of the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman PDE, stemming from the continuous variant of the optimality principle. The resulting non-iterative algorithms have the computational complexity of O(M log M), where M is the total number of grid points where the solution is computed, regardless of the dimension of the control/state variables. In this paper, we showho wOrde red Upwind Methods may be extended to efficiently solve the hybrid (discrete/continuous) control problems. We illustrate our methods by solving a series of hybrid optimal trajectory problems with and without time-dependence of anisotropic speed functions.
Comparing the performance of multispectral vegetation indices and machine-learning algorithms for remote estimation of chlorophyll content: a case study in the Sundarbans mangrove forest

Optical vegetation indices VIs have been used to retrieve and assess biophysical variables from satellite reflectance data. These indices, however, also are sensitive to a number of confounding factors, such as canopy geometry, soil optical properties, and solar position. This suggests that VIs should be used cautiously for biophysical parameter estimation. Among biophysical variables, chlorophyll content is of particular importance as an indicator of photosynthetic activity. The goal of this study is to investigate the performance of multispectral optical VIs for chlorophyll content estimation in the world’s largest mangrove forest, the Sundarbans, and to compare these with machine-learning algorithms MLAs. To this end, we have investigated the performance of 15 multispectral VIs and six state-of-the-art MLAs that are widely used for adaptive data fitting. The MLAs are Artificial Neural Networks ANNs, Genetic Algorithm GA, Gaussian Processes for Machine Learning GPML, Kernel Ridge Regression KRR, Locally Weighted Polynomials LWP, and Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines MARS. We use an in situ data set of reflectance and chlorophyll measurements to develop and validate our models. Each MLA was evaluated 500 times with random partitions of training and validation data. Results showed that the weight optimization and term selection used within GA produce the most reliable chlorophyll content estimation. However, green normalized difference VI GNDVI is a simple and computationally efficient VI that produces results that are nearly as accurate as GA in terms of model fit and performance. Results also show that all methods except ANNs and MARS produce a quasi-linear relationship between spectral reflectance and chlorophyll content. Statistical transformations of GNDVI and chlorophyll content have the capability of further reducing model error.
Turning quickly on myself: Automatic interpretation biases in dysphoria are self-referent

Cognitive theories emphasise automatic interpretation biases (AIB) in the development and maintenance of depression. The current study examined AIB using the word sentence association paradigm for depression (WSAP-D) via endorsement rates and reaction time indices. We directly tested the importance of self-relevance for AIB by modifying the WASP-D task to include self-referent ambiguous stimuli and contrasting them with other-referent ambiguous stimuli. We hypothesised that the dysphoric group, but not the non-dysphoric group, would demonstrate AIB only for self-referent ambiguous stimuli. Consistent with our main hypotheses, dysphoric individuals endorsed negative interpretations more often and faster than non-dysphoric individuals, only for self-referent ambiguous stimuli. Self-relevance may be a critical aspect of AIB in dysphoric populations.
The world studies of abuse in the family environment (WorldSAFE): a model of a multi-national study of family violence.

The World Studies of Abuse in the Family Environment (WorldSAFE) designed and implemented a study of family violence--intimate partner violence and child abuse and neglect--using standardized methods to cover over 12,000 women in eighteen communities within five lesser-developed countries. The rationale, process and methods for developing the population-based survey are described. Standardized methods included common training of investigators and field staff, sampling strategies, eligibility criteria, instruments, data collection methods, operational definitions, analysis strategies and data management. Special features of the WorldSAFE model are described--namely an ecological conceptual framework, an extensive and broad-based dissemination strategy, and community advisory boards. The World Studies of Abuse in the Family Environment (WorldSAFE) Steering Committee and principal investigators are as follows: Bhopal (India): Gandhi Medical College, S.S. Bhambal (MD) and A.K. Upadhyaya (MD). Chapel Hill (USA): University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Shrikant Bangdiwala (PhD); Wanda Hunter (MPH); Desmond K. Runyan (MD, DrPH); and Laura S. Sadowski (MD, MPH). Chennai (India): Chennai Medical College, Saradha Suresh (MD) and Shuba Kumar (PhD). Delhi (India): All India Institute of Medical Sciences, R.M. Pandey (PhD). Ismailia (Egypt): Suez Canal University Faculty of Medicine, Fatma Hassan (MD, PhD). Lucknow (India): King George's Medical College, M.K. Mitra (MD) and R.C. Ahuja (MD). Manila (the Philippines): University of the Philippines School of Medicine, Laurie Ramiro (PhD); M. Lourdes Amarillo (MS); Bernadette Madrid (MD). Nagpur (India): Government Medical College, Dipty Jain (MD). Sao Paulo (Brazil): Escola Paulista de Medicina, Isabel Bordin (MD) and Christine Silvestre De Paula. Temuco (Chile): Universidad de La Frontera, Sergio R. Munoz (PhD) and Beatriz Vizcarra. Thiruvananthapuram (India) formerly Trivandrum: Government Medical College, M.K.C. Nair (MD) and Rajamohanan Pillai (MD). Vellore (India): Christian Medical College, L. Jeyaseelan (PhD) and Abraham Peedicayil (MD).
An underactuated gripper to unlatch door knobs and handles

This paper describes the development of an underactuated gripper designed to unlatch doors knobs and handles. The challenge was to create a mechanism that could manipulate a variety of door knobs and handles while using only one motor in order to create a low cost device. The final design evolved by exploring the limitations in the performance of an initial gripper prototype. In this paper, the cause of failure for the changes made in the second design. The final design was capable of twisting door knobs and handles in clockwise and counter-clockwise directions. It had a collet-cone shape for compliance gripping and centering, and it utilized one motor for both gripping and twisting actions. The discussed gripper was developed for the assistive technology domain; however, this gripper mechanism could be utilized in a wide variety of robotic domains that exits today.
Photosynthesis and water-use efficiency in pinyon-juniper communities along an elevation gradient in northern New Mexico.

We investigated plant ecophysiological response to fertilization of selected sites along an elevation gradient in a pinyon-juniper woodland. Plant density and species composition followed typical patterns for pinyon-juniper woodlands over this gradient, with a sparse juniper (Juniperus monosperma (Engelm.) Sarg.)-grassland community at the lowest elevation and gradually increasing total canopy cover and pinyon (Pinus edulis Engelm.) cover with elevation. Carbon isotope analysis showed that both tree species had higher water-use efficiency (WUE) at the lowest, and presumably driest, sites. Over most of the gradient, however, it appeared that changes in stand density compensated for changes in water availability. Contrary to initial hypotheses, the more drought-tolerant juniper did not demonstrate significantly greater WUE than pinyon, although it maintained positive carbon gain at lower predawn xylem pressure potentials than pinyon. In pinyon, both A max and WUE increased with increasing N concentration in tissues. Pinyon needles also demonstrated declining nitrogen-use efficiency with age. There was no relationship between tissue N and either A max or WUE measured at A max in juniper, although δ13C analysis indicated that WUE increased in juniper with increased N availability. Results from this study suggest that plasticity in plant physiological processes could result in nonlinear responses of organic matter production to climate change, and therefore must be accounted for in ecosystem models.
Some Results and Comments pn Using Latent Structure Models to Measure Achievement

Under certain circumstances it is possible to apply latent structure models to estimate ζ, the proportion of skills an examinee has acquired among a domain of skills and to estimate β, the probability of guessing the correct response given that the examinee does not know. Models have also been formulated in which ζ represents the proportion of examinees who know a specific skill and again β is the probability of guessing. Macready and Dayton (1976) have used these models to determine the number of items required in deciding whether an examinee has acquired a particular skill and Wilcox (1979) has applied these models to arrive at a formula score which allows guessing to vary over the population of examinees. In this paper we examine a technical problem associated with estimating β and we also indicate situations for which this problem does not occur. It is shown, however, that this problem does not apply when using Wilcox's formula score. In addition, some new, explicit, maxi mum likelihood estimates of ζ...
How shall we see them? Perspectives for research with disabled organizations

This paper analyzes the experiences of two social scientists who participated as consultants in a long-term (4 years) film production project sponsored by an organization of disabled persons. The expectations of the investigators (both able bodied) at the beginning of the project are summarized, particularly with regard to social organization within the disabled community. The analysis contrasts these expectations with the reality of the project experience, focusing on the pertinence of appropriate variables for understanding the structure and behavior of disabled groups. A concluding section suggests implications for other investigators involved on a cooperative basis with disabled groups in applied research.
The development and use of archives in knowledge management and people empowerment

paper discusses the fundamental role that archives play in the management and selection of information, which forms the basis for the development of knowledge which, in turn, is fundamental to the empowerment of the people of any society, but especially in societies with the characteristics of South Africa – converging after a divided past and struggling to address a vast array of imbalances. Innovation No.27 December 2003: 31-36
The Structure of Rape Prevention Beliefs

Factor analyses of the responses of random samples of men and women from three cities indicate the presence of two relatively independent dimensions of rape prevention attitudes: a) beliefs about measures calling for restrictions in women's behavior, and b) beliefs about measures involving changes in the environment, or assertive actions by women. Sex and race differences in ratings of the effectiveness of the two types of prevention measures illustrate the usefulness of this two-dimensional approach for understanding rape prevention beliefs. The implications of these results for attribution theory and for anti-rape policies are discussed.
Collapsible shell finite element for composite materials

A higher order shell element for the explicit finite element method is presented. The development is intended for simulation of composite materials crush and collapse. The element has cubic polynomials for displacement interpolation in the direction of collapse. The proposed element offers the opportunity to capture the stress gradient more accurately and consequently model degradation of composite material in direction of impact. The element will also allow the usage of a coarse mesh. The developed formulation is incremental, the element is iso-parametric and based on degeneration technique. Some validation samples are presented. The critical integration time step for the element is also presented. In addition, the maximal natural frequency boundary is also investigated. Finally, conclusions are drawn concerning the usage of high-order shell elements in crash simulations of composite materials.
In vivo and in vitro initiation of sperm motility using fresh and cryopreserved gametes from the pacific herring, Clupea pallasi

Pacific herring (Clupea pallasi) gametes were cryopreserved in a simple extender (15% dimethyl sulfoxide in herring Ringers). Sperm remained viable for over 7 months when kept at liquid nitrogen temperature. A rapid cooling rate by directly plunging into liquid nitrogen allowed a majority of the cells to remain viable after subsequent thawing at 26°C. Cryopreserved sperm initiated motility (activation) under both in vivo (in the micropyle area of the egg) or in vitro (in the presence of isolated sperm motility initiation factor or low sodium seawater) conditions. In addition to their ability to undergo activation, cryopreserved sperm were capable of fertilizing fresh eggs in a concentration dependent manner resulting in > 90% fertilization and embryonic development. Herring eggs cryopreserved in a similar manner as sperm remained intact in gross morphology. Although cryopreserved eggs were not fertilizable, both fresh and previously frozen sperm were activated in the micropyle areas of the chorions. The method we describe to cryopreserve gametes from this species is simple and is useful for future experimental studies of sperm-chorion interaction when fresh material is unavailable. © Wiley-Liss, Inc.
The dissemination of knowledge management

Our study on a community of knowledge management (KM) practitioners in the aerospace industry reveals challenges in the dissemination of KM concepts and tools. In this paper, we identify four reasons: (1) disparity of the community's stated purpose and the actual motives of its members; (2) multidisciplinary nature of KM; (3) unique characteristics of the aerospace industry and its engineering culture and (4) adoption of preferred or recommended solutions provided by chosen reference groups rather than a grounded approach. In particular, we address the issues in promoting recommended ideas and tools by chosen reference groups in work organizations without fully understanding work practices.
Birth and evolution of the football helmet.

OBJECTIVE: To review the advent and evolution of the American football helmet through historical, physiological, and biomechanical analysis. METHODS: We obtained data from a thorough review of the literature. RESULTS: Significant correlation exists between head injuries and the advent of the football helmet in 1896, through its evolution in the early to mid-1900s, and regulatory standards for both helmet use and design and tackling rules and regulations. With the implementation of National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment standards, fatalities decreased by 74% and serious head injuries decreased from 4.25 per 100,000 to 0.68 per 100,000. Not only is the material used important, but the protective design also proves essential in head injury prevention. Competition among leading helmet manufacturers has benefited the ultimate goal of injury prevention. However, just as significant in decreasing the incidence and severity of head injury is the implementation of newer rules and regulations in teaching, coaching, and governing tackling techniques. CONCLUSION: Helmet use in conjunction with more stringent head injury guidelines and rules has had a tremendous impact in decreasing head injury severity in football. Modifications of current testing models may further improve helmet design and hence further decrease the incidence and severity of head injury sustained while playing football.
Solvent effects of heterogeneous electron transfer rates for organic redox couples: tert-nitrobutane reduction at mercury

Abstract Solvent effects on electron transfer rates were studied by cyclic voltammateric rate measurements of the reduction of tert-nitrobutane in acetonitrile, DMF, DMSO, and pyridine. According to Marcus theory, variations in the solvent reorganization term should lead to rate variations approaching two orders of magnitude for the solvents studied. Actual variations were quite small ranging over a factor of about two. These observations are best explained in terms of ion association effects between the radical anion product and the electrolyte cation. Ion association effects also offer a better explanation of previously reported electrolyte effects for this reaction. A large effect of protic impurities on the electron transfer rate appears to be due to specific solvation of the anion radical product.
Economic factors influencing households' production of refuse

This paper studies some economic aspects of households' decisions to produce more or less refuse. Effects upon refuse production induced by changes in income, price of refuse service, frequency of service, site of refuse collection, and packaging are derived theoretically. Evidence relevant to these results is presented whenever possible. Some resource implications of current local government policy, which eschews the pricing of public refuse service to households, are discussed.
Scaled sparse high-dimensional tests for localizing sequence variants

Deep sequencing studies have been generating high-throughput data for high resolution and comprehensive detection of rare and common genetic variants. Existing association tests are powerful to identify functional variants in large samples. These tests, however, have low power to identify susceptible variants in high-dimensional SNP set, where n (the number of observations) is smaller than or close to m (the size of SNP set under testing). We propose a scaled sparse regression approach for localizing susceptible variants set in high-dimensional SNP sets which are ubiquitous in analyses of deep sequencing data. This approach applies sparse regression with scaled Lp (0
A Patient with Severe Pulmonary Hypertension for Hip Arthroplasty

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is defined as a mean PA pressure ≥25 mmHg at rest or 30 mmHg with exercise without left ventricular failure (left ventricular end diastolic pressure (LVEDP) ≤15) [7]. Most patients present with symptoms of progressive exertional dyspnea, which may also include angina and syncopal episodes. If these patients are not treated, the disease will progress to right heart failure, with peripheral edema, ascites, and hepatomegaly. Pulmonary hypertension is a known risk factor for morbidity and mortality during noncardiac surgery [9]. Stress, pain, acidosis, and hypoxemia which are often encountered during surgery may increase PAH and precipitate right ventricular decompensation. In addition during total hip arthroplasty, the embolization of bone marrow debris and fat to the lungs will further increase pulmonary arterial pressures and acute cor pulmonale [6]. This is a case report of a young patient with severe pulmonary hypertension who died after a noncemented total hip arthroplasty.
Monitoring land changes in an urban area using satellite imagery, GIS and landscape metrics

Abstract Monitoring land changes is an important activity in landscape planning and resource management. In this study, we analyze urban land changes in Atlanta metropolitan area through the combined use of satellite imagery, geographic information systems (GIS), and landscape metrics. The study site is a fast-growing large metropolis in the United States, which contains a mosaic of complex landscape types. Our method consisted of two major components: remote sensing-based land classification and GIS-based land change analysis. Specifically, we adopted a stratified image classification strategy combined with a GIS-based spatial reclassification procedure to map land classes from Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) scenes acquired in two different years. Then, we analyzed the spatial variation and expansion of urban land changes across the entire metropolitan area through post classification change detection and a variety of GIS-based operations. We further examined the size, pattern, and nature of land changes using landscape metrics to examine the size, pattern, and nature of land changes. This study has demonstrated the usefulness of integrating remote sensing with GIS and landscape metrics in land change analysis that allows the characterization of spatial patterns and helps reveal the underlying processes of urban land changes. Our results indicate a transition of urbanization patterns in the study site with a limited outward expansion despite the dominant suburbanization process.
Tides: A Scientific History

If you ask most oceanographers what a Proudman function or a Doodson number is, you are likely to be met with blank looks—and yet these are terms central to the oldest concern of oceanography, the tides. Indeed, at one time tidal science was sufficiently prominent that those who studied it were called “tidalists,” a term coined by the same person (William Whewell) who invented the term “scientist,” and who was himself a tidalist. The long and varied history of this part of geophysics has been examined by its leading expert, David Cartwright, in a narrative that extends from ancient Greek and Chinese ideas (already based on an impressive amount of empirical knowledge) to the latest results from satellite altimetry. As Cartwright points out, satellite data have essentially solved the long-standing problem of mapping the global ocean tides, and thus have in some ways brought tidal studies, if not to an end, to a point from which a retrospective look is appropriate.
Maximizing hemodynamic effectiveness of biventricular assistance by direct cardiac compression studied in ex vivo and in vivo canine models of acute heart failure.

Abstract Objective: Direct cardiac compression improves effective ventricular contractility. However, associated reductions in filling volumes and increases in arterial pressure occurring at the onset of direct cardiac compression limit the degree to which cardiac output is augmented. We tested the hypothesis that active preload and afterload control maximizes the hemodynamic effectiveness of direct cardiac compression. Methods and results: Studies in isolated canine hearts loaded with a computer-controlled volume servo system that mimicked heart failure were used to clearly define the hemodynamic effects of direct cardiac compression. Immediately on initiation of direct cardiac compression, ventricular end-diastolic pressure and volume decreased substantially, arterial pressure increased, but stroke volume did not change significantly. When end-diastolic pressure was restored to about 20 mm Hg, stroke volume doubled; decreasing afterload resistance further increased stroke volume by about 30%. Such load adjustments were then tested in vivo in a canine model of acute heart failure induced by coronary artery microembolizations titrated to decrease cardiac output to 33% ± 9% of control as end-diastolic pressure rose to 20.6 ± 2.2 mm Hg. Direct cardiac compression decreased end-diastolic pressure to 11.4 ± 2.6 mm Hg while increasing cardiac output from 0.8 ± 0.2 to 1.4 ± 0.5 L/min (to only ~55% of normal). Restoring end-diastolic pressure to 19.6 ± 2.2 mm Hg by infusions of saline solution increased cardiac output to 1.9 ± 0.5 L/min. Afterload reduction (nitroprusside), while maintaining end-diastolic pressure at 19.8 ± 1.3 mm Hg, increased cardiac output to its baseline, 2.8 ± 1.1 L/min. Conclusions: Direct cardiac compression significantly improves ventricular pumping capacity and can restore cardiac output to about 60% of normal in the setting of acute heart failure. When combined with active preload and afterload manipulations, direct cardiac compression can restore cardiac output to normal. (J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2000;120:379-86)
Effect of grid aspect ratio on convergence

The effects of high-aspect-ratio grids on algorithm convergence are considered by means of vector stability theory and computational experiments. The results indicate that approximately factored implicit schemes experience convergence deterioration because of nonoptimum local time-stepping procedures and increased need for viscous preconditioning. Based on this insight, an enhanced algorithm is devised using improved selection of the local time step, appropriate definition of the viscous preconditioning matrix, and proper implementation of the boundary conditions. The new algorithm provides uniformly efficient convergence at all aspect ratios for both Euler and Navier-Stokes computations for a variety of test problems.
Maternal Depression and Anxiety Differentially Impact Fetal Exposures During Pregnancy

OBJECTIVE To examine the association between severity of maternal depression and anxiety during pregnancy and the maternal use of medicinal agents and habit-forming substances. METHOD Participants in a prospective study of prenatal DSM-IV depressive and anxiety disorders at the Emory Women's Mental Health Program who completed weekly documentation of prenatal drug exposure and ≥ 3 administrations of the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) or Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HARS) were included. The primary outcome measures were the HDRS and HARS. Correlation coefficients were computed for cumulative drug exposure with HDRS area under the curve (AUC) and HARS AUC. Data collection was completed between January 2007 and June 2010. RESULTS Among 195 participants, both HDRS AUC and HARS AUC were negatively correlated with prenatal vitamin exposure (r = -0.22 [P = .002] and r = -0.26 [P = .0003], respectively) and positively correlated with tobacco (r = 0.21 [P = .003] and r = 0.20 [P = .006], respectively) and hypnotic (r = 0.28 [P < .0001] and r = 0.19 [P = .008], respectively) exposure. Only HDRS AUC correlated with exposure to antiemetics (r = 0.14 [P = .05]), opioid analgesics (r = 0.14 [P = .05]), and all prescription drugs (r = 0.16 [P = .02]). Only HARS AUC correlated with benzodiazepine exposure (r = 0.17 [P = .02]). CONCLUSIONS Both prenatal depression and anxiety are associated with decreased prenatal vitamin compliance and increased use of hypnotics and tobacco, but only depression is associated with exposure to a broader array of medications targeting physical symptoms that often accompany depression. These findings confirm and extend previous studies, underscoring the importance of addressing prenatal depression and anxiety.
Detritivorous fish indirectly reduce insect secondary production in a tropical river

Dominant animals can indirectly regulate population dynamics and energy flow for many other species in an ecosystem by altering habitat structure and resource availability. However, we know little about the degree to which other taxa can compensate for the loss of these dominant species. By removing animals and measuring responses of other animals as secondary production it is possible to assess how much other taxa can perform similar functions of these dominant taxa. Here we tested the response of aquatic insect secondary production to the loss of a dominant detritivorous fish Prochilodus mariae, in a tropical river, Rio Las Marias, Venezuela. Using an impermeable, plastic curtain, we excluded Prochilodus from one half of a 235-m stream reach for 6 weeks. We measured insect production as biomass times empirically measured body mass-specific growth rates for 8 common taxa constituting 59–74% of insect biomass. Removing Prochilodus increased the standing stock of benthic organic sediment. Biomass of the entire assemblage increased 1.7-fold and insect production for 8 taxa tripled upon exclusion of Prochilodus. Two fast-growing mayfly genera, Tricorythodes and Leptohyphes drove the increased secondary production. Despite low biomass of insects, growth rates were among the highest measured for freshwater insects, and these high growth rates in part caused high secondary production. Although insect production was high in the exclusion reach, insects did not compensate for the loss of Prochilodus in terms of consuming organic sediment showing that the capacity of detritivorous fish to process sediments is higher than that for aquatic insects in this tropical river.
Polarimetry diagnostic on OMEGA EP using a 10-ps, 263-nm probe beam

A polarimetry diagnostic was built and characterized for magnetic-field measurements in laser-plasma experiments on the OMEGA EP laser. This diagnostic was built into the existing 4ω (263-nm) probe system that employs a 10-ps laser pulse collected with an f/4 imaging system. The diagnostic measures the rotation of the probe beam's polarization. The polarimeter uses a Wollaston prism to split the probe beam into orthogonal polarization components. Spatially localized intensity variations between images indicate polarization rotation. Magnetic fields can be calculated by combining the polarimetry data with the measured plasma density profile obtained from angular filter refractometry.
Arterial Conduits for Distal Upper Extremity Bypass

Vascular bypass is an accepted surgical procedure for treatment of hand and digital ischemia that is the result of identifiable arterial disease. Although vein grafts have traditionally been used as vascular conduits for reconstruction, arterial grafts present a better alternative, physiologically, for reconstruction and may result in superior outcomes. Arteries suitable for grafts are not abundant and, therefore, upper extremity surgeons must be informed about possible donor sites and techniques for harvest.
Structures, biogenetic relationships, and cytotoxicity of pimarane-derived diterpenes from Petalostigma pubescens

Abstract Extraction of Petalostigma pubescens heartwood followed by chromatographic purifications and crystallizations afforded five tricyclic diterpenes: 5,9-syn-rosanes petalostigmones A and B (1 and 2), the erythroxylane petalostigmone C (3), the norditerpene lactone pubescenone (4), and the known ent-cleistanthane diterpene (−)-sonderianol (5). The structures and relative stereochemistry were elucidated by means of spectroscopic methods, chemical correlations, and, in the cases of 1 and 4, by X-ray crystallographic analyses. The new isolates 1–4 are assumed to belong to the same absolute configurational family (9αCH3) of ent-pimarane-derived diterpenes as the known co-occurring (−)-5 (10αCH3). Biogenetic schemes originating from a common ent-copalyl diphosphate intermediate are presented to rationalize the structures of these natural products. A novel ring contraction–ring expansion mechanism is suggested to account for the 7-membered B ring of pubescenone. Compounds 1–5 were evaluated for their cytotoxicity; sonderianol (5) showed the highest activity against mouse leukemia cell lines L1210, P388 and mouse liver cancer cells HEPA1c1c7.
Formation of free radicals in the reaction of alkyllithiums with titanium tetrachloride

Abstract Alkyl radicals have been detected by electron spin resonance spectroscopy approximately 80 msec after mixing benzene solutions of alkyllithium reagents with titanium(IV) chloride. The methyl, ethyl, isopropyl, n-butyl, sec-butyl, t-butyl and cyclopentyl radicals were observed from the corresponding alkyllithium reagents. The methyl radical easily observed at 40 msec reacts to give a second paramagnetic species with 18 Gauss. It is suggested that this species is derived from (CH 3 Li) 4 by hydrogen atom abstraction.
Inhibitory effect of selenomethionine on the growth of three selected human tumor cell lines

Selenium supplementation has been shown for many years to work as an anticarcinogenic agent both in epidemiology and in in vitro studies. Selenium supplementation has recently been shown to decrease total cancer incidence. However, the mechanism of action of selenium as an anticarcinogenic agent has yet to be elucidated. Selenomethionine was the predominant form of selenium in the dietary supplement in the study by Clark et al. (Clark, L.C., Combs, G.F., Turnbull, W.B., Slate, E.H., Chalker, D.K., Chow, J., Davis, L.S., Glover, R.A., Graham, G.F., Gross, E.G., Krongrad, A., Lesher, J.L., Park, H.K., Sanders, B.B., Smith, C.L., Taylor, J.R. and The Nutritional Prevention of Cancer Study Group (1996) Effects of selenium supplementation for cancer prevention in patients with carcinoma of the skin: a randomized controlled trial. J. Am. Med. Assoc., 276 (24), 1957-1963) and therefore we evaluated the growth inhibitory effects of selenomethionine against human tumor cells. Selenomethionine was tested against each of three human tumor cell lines (MCF-7/S breast carcinoma, DU-145 prostate cancer cells and UACC-375 melanoma) and against normal human diploid fibroblasts. All cell lines demonstrated a dose-dependent manner of growth inhibition by selenomethionine. Selenomethionine inhibited the growth of all of the human tumor cell lines in the micromolar (microM) range (ranging from 45 to 130 microM) while growth inhibition of normal diploid fibroblasts required 1 mM selenomethionine, approximately 1000-fold higher than for the cancer cell lines. In short, normal diploid fibroblasts were less sensitive than the cancer cell lines to the growth inhibitory effects of selenomethionine. Furthermore, we show that selenomethionine administration to these cancer cell lines results in apoptotic cell death and aberrant mitoses. These results demonstrate the differential sensitivity of tumor cells and normal cells to selenomethionine.
Other medications for aerosol delivery.

Summary Although aerosol therapy is most commonly used to treat asthma and COPD, there are a large number of aerosol medications now used or in development for other diseases. Mucoactive agents have long been available by aerosol, but now we have truly effective drugs to improve effective airway clearance including dornase alfa, hyperosmolar saline, and aerosol surfactant. Inhaled antibiotics are available for the treatment of cystic fibrosis, bronchiectasis and other chronic airway infections. With the development of devices that can target aerosol to the deep lung, the opportunity to deliver medications systemically by the aerosol route has become a reality. Insulin, recently approved in the US as aerosol therapy, and other peptides are systemically absorbed from the distal airway and alveolus. Aerosol gene transfer therapy to correct abnormalities associated with cystic fibrosis, primary cilliary dyskinesia and other airway diseases also holds great potential.
Enhanced delivery of antisense oligonucleotides with fluorophore-conjugated PAMAM dendrimers

PAMAM dendrimers are cationic polymers that have been used for the delivery of genes and oligonucleotides to cells. However, little is known about the behavior of dendrimer-nucleic acid complexes once they reach the cell interior. To pursue this issue, we prepared dendrimers conjugated with the fluorescent dye Oregon green 488. These were used in conjunction with oligonucleotides labeled with a red (TAMRA) fluorophore in order to visualize the sub-cellular distribution of the dendrimer-oligonucleotide complex and of its components by two-color digital fluorescence microscopy. The 2'-O:-methyl antisense oligonucleotide sequence used in these studies was designed to correct splicing at an aberrant intron inserted into a luciferase reporter gene; thus effective delivery of the antisense agent results in the expression of the reporter gene product. The dendrimer-oligonucleotide complex remained associated during the process of uptake into vesicular compartments and eventual entry into the nucleus. Since the pharmacological activity of the antisense compound was manifest under these conditions, it suggests that the dendrimer-oligonucleotide complex is functionally active. A surprising result of these studies was that the Oregon green 488-conjugated dendrimer was a much better delivery agent for antisense compounds than unmodified dendrimer. This suggests that coupling of relatively hydrophobic small molecules to PAMAM dendrimers may provide a useful means of enhancing their capabilities as delivery agents for nucleic acids.
Electrochemical reductions of 2-furoyl chloride, furil and 2-furaldehyde at mercury cathodes in acetonitrile

Abstract Cyclic voltammograms for the reduction of 2-furoyl chloride at a hanging mercury drop electrode in acetonitrile containing tetraethylammonium perchlorate exhibit six cathodic waves. Electrolytic cleavage of the carbon- chlorine bond is responsible for the first wave. Controlled-potential electrolyses of 2-furoyl chloride generate the tetramer 1,2-di(2-furyl)ethene-1,2-diol di(2-furoate) as the major product, whereas small amounts of 2- furaldehyde are obtained when a 10-fold excess of glacial acetic acid is initially present in the system. A cyclic voltammogram for reduction of furil at a hanging mercury drop in acetonitrile containing tetraethylammonium perchlorate shows a pair of reversible cathodic waves. Electrolyses of furil at a mercury pool cathode yield 2-furoic acid, 1,2-di(2-furyl)-2-hydroxy-3-cyanopropanone and 1,2-di(2-furyl)ethanone; when furil is electrolyzed in the presence of an excess of 2-furoyl chloride or glacial acetic acid, the principal product is the aforementioned tetramer or furoin, respectively. One irreversible wave is observed when cyclic voltammograms are recorded for the reduction of 2-furaldehyde at a hanging mercury drop in acetonitrile containing tetraethylammonium perchlorate. Bulk electrolyses of 2-furaldehyde produce 3-(2-furyl)acrylonitrile, hydrofuroin, 3-(2-furyl)propionitrile and 3-(2-furyl)glutaronitrile, together with the hydrodimer (2,3-di(2-furyl)-1,4-dicyanobutane) and possibly oligomers derived from the coreduction of 3-(2-furyl)acrylonitrile.