cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Biogeographic variation in nest placement: a case study with conservation implications

. Local habitat characteristics are often used to describe a species’ niche despite the fact that habitat use can vary across the geographical range. We sought to quantify variation in habitat preferences by asking how nesting habit varies within and between populations of Bell’s vireo (Vireo bellii) across its geographical range. Analyses of detailed nest placement data from three localities (Kansas, eastern New Mexico and western New Mexico) showed a general trend towards use of dense vegetation. However, there was substantial variation in nest placement and vegetation at nest sites between localities. Furthermore, a review of nest placement data from the literature shows strong differences in nest heights and species of trees even between populations less than 100 km apart. We evaluate these results in light of conservation and suggest that to be most effective, habitat conservation plans should be based on data collected at the locality where the population of interest occurs.
Strength and weakness in four coalition situations

This study tested four models of coalition behavior in decision making on systems at the group level, in four different games, each of which was played by five individuals. Each game established a different distribution of power among the players. Data for coalition frequencies and for the payoffs of the players when they were included in a particular coalition supported Komorita & Chertkoff s (1973) bargaining theory over Komorita's (1974) weighted probability model and Gamson's (1961) minimum resource theory. When the overall payoffs received by each of the players in each game were used as a measure of the player's success in bargaining, the predictions of the Roth-Shipley and the weighted probability models received mixed support. Finally, the results suggested when the “strength is weakness” phenomenon might be expected to occur. Players with equal Shapley values but different resources within a particular game supported “strength is weakness.” Players with different Shapley values supported a “strength is strength” conclusion. Reports of the players provided a possible explanation of the underlying causes of this phenomenon.
Soil Carbon Changes: Comparing Flux Monitoring and Mass Balance in a Box Lysimeter Experiment

Direct measures of soil-surface respiration are needed to evaluate belowground biological processes, forest productivity, and ecosystem responses to global change. Although infra-red gas analyzer (IRGA) methods track reference CO 2 flows in lab studies, questions remain for extrapolating IRGA methods to field conditions. We constructed 10 box lysimeters with homogenized mixtures of sandy loam and cattle manure and kept them free of plants to create a range of CO 2 fluxes. Infra-red gas analyzer measurements, applied biweekly, were then compared to mass balance-based measures of changes in soil C over 8 mo. The CO 2 fluxes measured with IRGA were not significantly different (P < 0.05) from the mass balance measure in 9 of the 10 boxes. The only statistically significant difference was in the lysimeter with the highest initial C content; this box had elevated soil temperatures early in the trial, suggesting a composting effect that may have interfered with IRGA measures. Variations in the mass balance estimates were higher than expected, demonstrating how difficult establishing a true reference in field studies is. We conclude that fluxes of CO 2 from soils can be monitored with an IRGA-based chamber system in the field to produce reliable estimates of cumulative C loss. Such field measures will likely be much more variable than laboratory measures, however, and thus will require extensive sampling.
Commentary on Kerns and Kendall

The dramatic increase in the detected prevalence of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) in children over the past two decades is due, in large measure, to a broader case definition and more effective case finding. The similarities and differences in clinical presentation of ASDs and anxiety disorders have prompted great interest in anxiety in children with ASDs. In the absence of validated biological markers or diagnostic tests for anxiety disorders in this population, we rely on clinical observation, parent reports, and the child's verbal expression. The language and cognitive deficits in children with ASDs, however, hinder the application of assessments used in typically developing children. Because intervention research relies on reliable outcome measurement, better measurement of anxiety in children with ASDs is warranted.
Pearle Arnold Capwell (1885‐1982), Pioneer Nurse

Nurse leaders who shaped our profession and those who continue to do so are well remembered and their histories are well documented. But there are uncelebrated nurses, who have contributed to the remarkable advances of nursing in the United States. They are the unsung heroines who made their mark as mothers, sisters, wives, citizens, and—not so incidentally—as nurses. Rarely did they write their memoirs and as a result there is little in the way of a record of “ordinary nurses providing daily nursing care” to the sick and injured many decades ago. We rarely have an opportunity to hear from those pioneers from early in the 20th century.
Modelling the cost-effectiveness of nevirapine triple combination therapy and dual combination therapy for the treatment of HIV disease in the United Kingdom

SummaryRecent advances in HIV antiretroviral therapy together with limited budgets have forced payers to look for evidence that new combinations provide good value for money. Using a public financing perspective, two Markov models are employed to evaluate the first-year outcomes and costs and the long-term cost-effectiveness of adding nevirapine (NVP) to dual combination therapy with zidovudine (ZDV) and didanosine (ddI) in the United Kingdom.First-year medical care savings are estimated to be £2,122 (103.8% of NVP cost). In the longer term, NVP/ZDV/ddI therapy yields £6,186 per life year saved (costs discounted at 6%). The model is moderately sensitive only to duration of therapy effects and the therapy initiation time. These model estimates suggest that policy makers may expect to observe superior initial health outcomes and substantial medical cost savings during the first year of therapy, as well as acceptable long-term cost-effectiveness, when NVP/ZDV/ddI is used in place of dual therapy.
Clinical Evaluation of NucliSENS Magnetic Extraction and NucliSENS Analyte-Specific Reagents for Real-Time Detection of Human Metapneumovirus in Pediatric Respiratory Specimens

In this study, we evaluated the NucliSENS miniMAG (MM) and easyMAG (EM) nucleic acid extraction platforms (bioMerieux, Durham, NC) in combination with the NucliSENS EasyQ basic kit and analyte-specific reagents (ASRs) (bioMerieux) for the detection of human metapneumovirus (hMPV) in respiratory samples. Total nucleic acids from pediatric clinical samples (n = 653) and an hMPV-specific inhibition control (h-IC) were coextracted using the MM and/or the EM. Nucleic acid sequence-based amplification and real-time molecular beacon detection of hMPV were performed using a NucliSENS EasyQ analyzer (bioMerieux). Positive results were confirmed using an in-house-validated reverse transcriptase PCR ASR-based assay. The inclusion of the h-IC monitored the entire process, including the efficiency of nucleic acid extraction, amplification, and detection. The percentages of samples with inhibited amplification of the h-IC after initial NA extraction by EM and MM were 1.88% and 3.17%, respectively. After reprocessing of a new aliquot, the final h-IC inhibition rates were 0% (EM) and 1.06% (MM). The limit of detection of the assay was between 2 (EM extraction) and 10 (MM extraction) RNA copies/reaction, and specificity was 100% when testing viral respiratory isolates and clinical samples. hMPV was detected in 5.6% of pediatric samples tested and was also detected in three coinfections with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). hMPV was the second most frequently detected respiratory virus in children of 0 to 2 years of age, after RSV. In summary, NucliSENS extraction and ASRs provided a sensitive and specific method for the detection of hMPV in respiratory samples.
Distortion of intravascular ultrasound images because of nonuniform angular velocity of mechanical-type transducers

Abstract The purpose of this study was to quantify nonuniform rotation in a current mechanical intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) instrument and its effect on arc, area, and diameter measurements. The accurate reconstruction of IVUS two-dimensional images is dependent on uniform rotation of the catheter tip. Prior investigations suggested that bends in the catheter driveshaft may be responsible for poor torque transmission, nonuniform rotation, and consequent errors in IVUS measurements. Eight 30 MHz mechanically driven IVUS catheters were evaluated in a model simulating the catheter course through the aorta and coronary ostium in a clinical study. Angular velocity and position profiles of the transducer, image angle, and diameter and area measurement errors were obtained from each catheter by imaging a vascular phantom with eight equispaced echogenic markers from concentric and eccentric positions. Six catheters also were tested for comparison in a simple curvature model. Rotational error was found in all catheters tested and worsened in the aortic model. Maximal angular error, defined as the largest angle between actual and presumed transducer direction, increased when measured in the aortic model as compared with the simple curvature model (17 ± 12 degrees to 45 ± 25 degrees; p
Bradykinin in the heart: friend or foe?

Hypertension and heart failure are marked by activation of both the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) and the sympathetic nervous system. These forms of neurohumoral activation, in turn, have deleterious effects on the heart, kidney, and other target organs, worsening the prognosis in these disease states. Pharmacological agents that interrupt the RAAS are useful in both improving hemodynamics and preventing morbidity and mortality in such patients. In particular, treatment with ACE inhibitors has been shown to improve survival in patients with advanced heart failure and after myocardial infarction. It is hypothesized that ACE inhibitors exert beneficial effects by inhibiting both circulating and cardiac tissue ACE, thus attenuating unfavorable remodeling of the left ventricle (LV), reducing afterload, and improving the balance between thrombotic and thrombolytic factors. It remains unclear whether the dominant mechanism of action of ACE inhibitors in the setting of LV dysfunction relates to their global hemodynamic effects (which result in improved loading conditions), to reduced production of angiotensin (Ang) II with subsequent diminished Ang II type 1 (AT1) receptor activation, or to alteration of other neurohormonal systems, such as the kallikrein-kinin system. Importantly, in addition to generating Ang II from Ang I, ACE catalyzes the degradation of bradykinin (BK) to inactive metabolites.1 Studies of recombinant full-length ACE have shown that the apparent K m of ACE for BK is substantially lower than for Ang I, which indicates more favorable kinetics for hydrolysis of BK than for conversion of Ang I to Ang II.2 Furthermore, site-directed mutagenesis demonstrated that the K m for BK was lower than that for Ang I at both N and C active sites of ACE, which suggests that at physiological concentrations, BK could be a preferential substrate over Ang I at both active sites of ACE.2 The biological effects of BK and …
A Standardized Patient Model to Teach and Assess Professionalism and Communication Skills: The Effect of Personality Type on Performance

Introduction Teaching and assessing professionalism and interpersonal communication skills can be more difficult for surgical residency programs than teaching medical knowledge or patient care, for which many structured educational curricula and assessment tools exist. Residents often learn these skills indirectly, by observing the behavior of their attendings when communicating with patients and colleagues. The purpose of this study was to assess the results of an educational curriculum we created to teach and assess our residents in professionalism and communication. Methods We assessed resident and faculty prior education in delivering bad news to patients. Residents then participated in a standardized patient (SP) encounter to deliver bad news to a patient's family regarding a severe burn injury. Residents received feedback from the encounter and participated in an education curriculum on communication skills and professionalism. As a part of this curriculum, residents underwent assessment of communication style using the Myers-Briggs type inventory. The residents then participated in a second SP encounter discussing a severe pulmonary embolus with a patient's family. Results Resident performance on the SP evaluation correlated with an increased comfort in delivering bad news. Comfort in delivering bad news did not correlate with the amount of prior education on the topic for either residents or attendings. Most of our residents demonstrated an intuitive thinking style (NT) on the Myers-Briggs type inventory, very different from population norms. Discussion The lack of correlation between comfort in delivering bad news and prior education on the subject may indicate the difficulty in imparting communication and professionalism skills to residents effectively. Understanding communication style differences between our residents and the general population can help us teach professionalism and communication skills more effectively. With the next accreditation system, residency programs would need to demonstrate that residents are acquiring these skills in their training. SP encounters are effective in teaching and assessing these skills.
Nonlinear dynamics of a digital phase locked loop

A second-order digital phase-locked loop may exhibit unusual behavior for some parameters due to a fractal boundary between the basin of attraction of the locked fixed point and the attracting basins of coexisting periodic orbits. The usual optimization criterion of the loop parameters using linearized analysis is insufficient, due to coexisting periodic orbits. A new optimization procedure is presented which is based on numerical bifurcation studies. The authors obtain an analytical estimate of average lock time based on the rate of contraction of the phase space in a neighborhood of the fixed point and the size of the phase space that is regular for the underlying Hamiltonian dynamics. The analytical estimate is verified by numerical calculations. >
Chemically tailorable colloidal particles from infinite coordination polymers

Micrometre- and nanometre-sized particles play important roles in many applications, including catalysis, optics, biosensing and data storage. Organic particles are usually prepared through polymerization of suitable monomers or precipitation methods. In the case of inorganic materials, particle fabrication tends to involve the reduction of a metal salt, or the controlled mixing of salt solutions supplying a metal cation and an elemental anion (for example, S2-, Se2-, O2-), respectively; in some instances, these methods even afford direct control over the shape of the particles produced. Another class of materials are metal-organic coordination polymers, which are based on metal ions coordinated by polydentate organic ligands and explored for potential use in catalysis, gas storage, nonlinear optics and molecular recognition and separations. In a subset of these materials, the use of organometallic complexes as ligands (so-called metalloligands) provides an additional level of tailorability, but these materials have so far not yet been fashioned into nano- or microparticles. Here we show that simple addition of an initiation solvent to a precursor solution of metal ions and metalloligands results in the spontaneous and fully reversible formation of a new class of metal-metalloligand particles. We observe initial formation of particles with diameters of a few hundred nanometres, which then coalesce and anneal into uniform and smooth microparticles. The ease with which these particles can be fabricated, and the ability to tailor their chemical and physical properties through the choice of metal and organic ligand used, should facilitate investigations of their scope for practical applications.
Low temperature fabrication of immersion capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducers on silicon and dielectric substrates

A maximum processing temperature of 250/spl deg/C is used to fabricate capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducers (CMUTs) on silicon and quartz substrates for immersion applications. Fabrication on silicon provides a means for electronics integration via post-complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) processing without sacrificing device performance. Fabrication on quartz reduces parasitic capacitance and allows the use of optical displacement detection methods for CMUTs. The simple, low-temperature process uses metals both as the sacrificial layer for improved dimensional control, and as the bottom electrode for good electrical conductivity and optical reflectivity. This, combined with local sealing of the vacuum cavity by plasma-enhanced chemical-vapor deposition of silicon nitride, provides excellent control of lateral and vertical dimensions of the CMUTs for optimal device performance. In this paper, the fabrication process is described in detail, including process recipes and material characterization results. The CMUTs fabricated for intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) imaging in the 10-20 MHz range and interdigital CMUTs for microfluidic applications in the 5-20 MHz range are presented as device examples. Intra-array and wafer-to-wafer process uniformity is evaluated via electrical impedance measurements on 64-element ring annular IVUS imaging arrays fabricated on silicon and quartz wafers. The resonance frequency in air and collapse voltage variations are measured to be within 1% and 5%, respectively, for both cases. Acoustic pressure and pulse echo measurements also have been performed on 128 /spl mu/m/spl times/32 /spl mu/m IVUS array elements in water, which reveal a performance suitable for forward-looking IVUS imaging at about 16 MHz.
Paediatric origins of adult lung disease.

There is substantial evidence that morbidity due to asthma is on the increase in western affluent countries.1 The increases in the prevalence of asthma have, however, only been reported in children and young adults, whereas no major increase in the prevalence of asthma has been found in adults. In an Australian study investigating the time trends from 1982 to 1992, a doubling both in the prevalence of wheeze and airway hyperresponsiveness was seen in children.2 In contrast, in a similar survey of adults from 1981 to 1990 the prevalence of recent wheeze increased only in subjects under 30 years of age.3 Moreover, the prevalence of airway hyperresponsiveness had not increased at all, even among atopic adults. The prevalence of asthma and airway hyperresponsiveness was higher in Australian children than in adults, and the severity of airway responsiveness was higher in atopic children than in atopic adults. Likewise, Yunginger and colleagues in the USA performed a study using a population based computer linked medical diagnosis system to identify individual medical records with diagnoses of asthma.4These authors found an increase in the incidence of asthma between 1964 and 1983 which was entirely accounted for by increased incidence rates in children and adolescents aged 1–14 years. These observations point towards the importance of childhood years for the development of asthma. In fact, Yunginger and colleagues showed that incidence rates were highest in infants of less than one year of age, particularly in boys. Between one and four years of age the incidence rates decreased, but were still much higher than in older age groups. The development of wheezing illnesses follows a certain pattern over the childhood years. In a prospective, longitudinal, population based survey, the Tucson Children's Respiratory Study in the USA, wheeze was reported at some time …
Regional deposition of inhaled particles in human lungs: comparison between men and women.

We measured detailed regional deposition patterns of inhaled particles in healthy adult male (n = 11; 25 ± 4 yr of age) and female (n = 11; 25 ± 3 yr of age) subjects by means of a serial bolus aer...
The Postlexical Module: Syntactic and Subsegmental Information

We have so far been concerned with the details of the interface between phonology and morphological concatenation. It is now time to ask: what about the interface between phonology and syntactic concatenation? How is the syntactic information required by phonological rules made available to them?
A dynamic origin for the global asymmetry of lunar mare basalts

We propose that the hemispheric asymmetry (Fig. 1) of mare basalts may be explained as a result of hydrodynamic instabilities associated with a layer of mixed ilmenite-rich cumulates (IC) and olivine^orthopyroxene (OPx) overlying a metallic core. This mixed layer (MIC) should form shortly after the solidification of the magma ocean (P.C. Hess and E.M. Parmentier, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 134 (1995) 501^514) because of gravitational differentiation of chemically dense IC material that is expected to form below the anorthositic crust in the final stages of magma ocean crystallization (A.E. Ringwood and S.E. Kesson, Proc. Lunar Planet. Sci. Conf. 7 (1976) 1697^1722). IC material is rich in heat producing elements, and thermal expansion due to radiogenic heating causes the MIC layer to become less dense than overlying mantle. The time required for the MIC layer to become thermally buoyant may explain a delay of mare volcanism until about 500 Ma after solidification of the magma ocean. Our analyses of the resulting Rayleigh^Taylor instability and numerical modeling of thermo-chemical convection show that the instabilities produce spherical harmonic degree 1 thermal and compositional structure if a lunar metallic core is sufficiently small, less than 250 km in radius. fl 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Tools for Learning Statistics: Fundamental Ideas in Statistics and the Role of Technology

As the focus of statistics shifted from procedures and formulas towards a more data centric perspective emphasizing understanding big ideas, the role of technology became increasingly important. In the context of this shift, this chapter examines how technology can be used to support the understanding of seven fundamental ideas in teaching statistics, ideas developed in an earlier paper. The discussion briefly considers types of technology ranging from that used in the 1970s to innovative technology that seems promising in 2012.
Cost-effectiveness of Confirmatory Testing Before Treatment of Onychomycosis

Importance Onychomycosis is the most common disease of the nail in adults. International guidelines urge health care professionals to perform confirmatory diagnostic testing before initiating systemic therapy. This approach was determined to be cost-effective in studies from the late 1990s but has not been evaluated more recently. The effect of testing on the costs of efinaconazole, 10%, topical solution treatment is unknown. Objective To evaluate the cost and potential harm associated with 3 approaches to onychomycosis evaluation before treatment with oral terbinafine or efinaconazole, 10%. Design, Setting, and Participants A decision analysis that compared the costs of 3 onychomycosis management algorithms based on recently published data of test statistics, disease prevalence, and relevant costs: (1) empirical therapy without confirmatory testing, (2) pretreatment confirmatory testing with potassium hydroxide (KOH) stain followed by periodic acid–Schiff (PAS) evaluation if KOH testing is negative, and (3) pretreatment testing with PAS. There was no direct patient evaluation. Selection of included studies was based on outcome variables and the quality of study design. The study was conducted from April 1, 2014, to September 1, 2015. Main Outcomes and Measures Primary outcomes included direct cost of onychomycosis testing and therapy and cost to avoid harm when treating patients with oral terbinafine. Results At a disease prevalence of 75%, per-patient cost savings of empirical terbinafine therapy without confirmatory testing was $47 compared with the KOH screening model and $135 compared with PAS testing. The cost of testing necessary to prevent a single case of clinically relevant liver toxic effects related to terbinafine at a prevalence of 75% was between $18.2 million and $43.7 million for KOH screening and between $37.6 million and $90.2 million for PAS testing. At a prevalence of 75%, KOH screening and PAS testing before treatment with efinaconazole, 10%, saved $272 and $406 per patient per nail, respectively. Conclusions and Relevance These results show that empirical treatment with terbinafine for patients with suspected onychomycosis is more cost-effective than confirmatory testing across all prevalence of disease, with minimal effect on patient safety. In contrast, confirmatory testing before treatment with efinaconazole, 10%, is associated with reduced costs. Blanket recommendations for confirmatory testing before systemic therapy should be reconsidered and replaced with recommendations tailored to specific therapies.
Relict soil evidence for profound quaternary aridification of the Atacama Desert, Chile

Abstract A relict soil on a late Tertiary/early Quaternary gravelly alluvial fan in the southern Atacama Desert was studied to determine if evidence of Quaternary climate change was evident in the profile. Stratigraphic relations of soil morphological features indicated that the initial phase of soil development was extensive chemical weathering with the loss of Si, Na, etc. and the formation of secondary clay. This was then followed by a prolonged period of carbonate accumulation that has discontinuously impregnated the earlier formed argillic horizons. The carbonate accumulation occurred both as fine-grained accumulations that engulfed and expanded the gravelly soil matrix, and as carbonate that formed dense and continuous coatings on gravel bottoms. Overlying the carbonate is a Holocene calcareous sand unit. Stable C and O isotope profiles of the disseminated carbonate show that this material appears to have formed under conditions of low to modest plant cover and significant soil water evaporation, very similar to soils presently found at higher latitudes and altitudes in modern Argentina. Seven transects of the carbonate laminations on the gravels at 10-μm scale reveal that all show a nearly 4‰ increase in δ 13 C values with time over distances of approximately 150 mm, and variable δ 18 O values. The shift in C isotope values, which is unlikely to be due to significant changes in C3 vs. C4 vegetation, reflects a profound and prolonged aridification with a corresponding lowering of plant density and soil respiration. The precise beginning of the aridification is unknown due to a lack of carbonate dating methods amenable to the time frame involved. When all changes are considered, this remarkable soil indicates that local rainfall declined from somewhere between 500 to 1000 mm y − 1 in the late Tertiary/early Quaternary, to the present climate of about 25 mm y − 1 . Future work will focus on developing more precise geochronological controls, but this initial study reveals the enormous potential that carbonate-bearing relict soils have for understanding climate change.
Local and average crystal structure and displacements of La 11 B 6 and EuB 6 as a function of temperature

Measurements of both the average crystal structure from Rietveld refinement of neutron powder diffraction (NPD) data and the local structure from La L{sub III}-edge x-ray-absorption fine-structure (XAFS) are presented for a La{sup 11}B{sub 6} sample as a function of temperature ({approx}10-320 K). These data are compared to XAFS results on a EuB{sub 6} sample. The single-site La and B positional distribution widths and the La-B and La-La bond length distribution widths and their temperature dependence are compared. This comparison allows an estimate of the La and B site displacements, and we find that these sublattices are only slightly correlated with each other. Moreover, while the temperature dependence of the displacement parameters of the average sites from diffraction fit an Einstein model well, the temperature dependence of the La-B bond length distribution width requires at least two vibrational frequencies, corresponding to the La and B frequencies of the individual sites. XAFS data on EuB{sub 6} indicate that the situation is the same in the Eu compound. In addition, comparisons between data taken below and above the ferromagnetic transition temperature for EuB{sub 6} place stringent limits on the lattice involvement in the associated metal-insulator transition and the ensuing large magnetoresistance effect. This lack of lattice involvement in the magnetoresistance transition is in sharp contrast to the strong lattice involvement observed in the colossal magnetoresistance lanthanum manganese perovskites.
Lung transplantation: recipient selection.

T he first worldwide activities in human lung transplantation in the 1960s and 1970s involved a small number of patients in a large number of centers, with a very poor survival rate. In fact, there were no survivors from this initial experience save one exceptional case where the patient lived for 10 months following transplantation.‘,’ The reasons for the poor results were multifactorial, relating to unsophisticated patient selection, poor immunosuppression, and deficiencies in surgical technique. In general, the patients in whom lung transplantation was performed were desperately ill, infected, ventilatordependent, and suffering from multi-organ failure. The immunosuppressive regimens that were available at the time were based on high-dose corticosteroid therapy and were frequently complicated by overwhelming superinfection. Bronchial healing under these circumstances proved to be a major hurdle for lung transplantation. Many candidates survived the initial procedure only to develop failure of the bronchial anastomosis, mediastinal sepsis, and multi-organ failure. In the early 1980s the first series of successful human lung transplants took place in Toronto.’ The exciting results in this first group of surviving recipients were achieved in large part by application of stringent selection criteria. Patients were required to be in extremely good condition apart from their lung disease, ambulatory, relatively young, noninfected, and not dependent on corticosteroids. There was evidence that steroid administration in the early posttransplant period had adetrimental effect on bronchial healing.’ Patients were not offered transplantation if they were ventilator-dependent. Chronic infection ruled the patient out as a candidate for single lung transplantation. Within these criteria, the feasibility of lung transplantation became apparent-it could be done. Now, almost 10 years later the experience in lung transplantation has widened considerably, as have the indications and selection criteria. The following information refers to the most widely accepted application of lung transplantation. The indications are summarizrd in Table 1.
Nontraditional tools helpful in the treatment of certain types of voice disturbances

Voice therapy has evolved considerably over the past decade. Our field has learned to draw from other disciplines to help facilitate the restoration of vocal function by implementing a more holistic approach and utilizing principles of motor learning to create our therapy programs. Clinicians have learned to recognize that the voice is more than just the larynx. Rather, it is a whole body system, and breakdowns in systems throughout the body can be responsible for vocal disturbances. This review will cover the nontraditional approaches that aid in treating certain voice disorders that often are not discussed in textbooks or classrooms. Facilitating techniques include principles from singing and acting voice production, Feldenkrais, Alexander technique, Qigong, and circumlaryngeal massage.
Surf Beat Generation on a Mild-Slope Beach

Two dimensional generation of surf beats by incident wave groups is examined theoretically. An inhomogeneous wave equation describes the amplitude of the surf beat wave. The forcing function is the modulation of the radiation stress. The short waves are amplitude modulated both outside and inside the surf zone causing the long wave generation to continue right to the shore line. Resonant generation as shallow water is approached is included. The analytical solution is evaluated numerically and shows a highly complicated amplitude variation of the surf beat depending on the parameters of the problem.
Induced pluripotent stem cells: at the heart of cardiovascular precision medicine

The advent of human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC) technology has revitalized the efforts in the past decade to realize more fully the potential of human embryonic stem cells for scientific research. Adding to the possibility of generating an unlimited amount of any cell type of interest, hiPSC technology now enables the derivation of cells with patient-specific phenotypes. Given the introduction and implementation of the large-scale Precision Medicine Initiative, hiPSC technology will undoubtedly have a vital role in the advancement of cardiovascular research and medicine. In this Review, we summarize the progress that has been made in the field of hiPSC technology, with particular emphasis on cardiovascular disease modelling and drug development. The growing roles of hiPSC technology in the practice of precision medicine will also be discussed.
Implementation of GapSpace Analysis

Tolerance analysis of mechanical assemblies requires the identification of locations of potential part interference, and determining whether the allowable geometric variation permitted by the part tolerances will cause part interference. Current commercial assembly modelers (and much of the classic work in assembly research [1-3]) require that the degrees of freedom between parts in an assembly be fully constrained prior to analysis. This method relies on the kinematics of the assembly contacts to determine whether the parts will assembly without interference. Our method — GapSpace — does not require these constraints in determining if interference-free assembly is possible [4]. Less restrictive, and thus less costly, tolerances can be used in assemblies where the specific relationships between surfaces is not predetermined. One difficulty we’ve had in implementing this GapSpace method is overcoming the constraints imposed by commercial modeling systems [5]. In this paper we report our success in implementing the GapSpace techniques in one such modeling system. Included in this system are additional user menus and interfaces which allow the identification of “fitting conditions” and analysis of the tolerances placed on the assembly components.© 2005 ASME
Topical negative pressure in the treatment of infected wounds with exposed orthopaedic implants

A number of factors, including traumatic injury, diabetes mellitus, peripheral vascular disease, rheumatoid arthritis, congestive heart failure, lymphoedema and infection in wounds with exposed orthopaedic implants, can result in musculoskeletal wounds becoming difficult to heal. Topical negative pressure (TNP) therapy:
The potential benefit of allogeneic over autologous transplantation in patients with very early relapsed and refractory follicular lymphoma with prior remission duration of ≤12 months.

Early relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma (FL) warrants consolidation with transplantation, though graft source modality remains controversial. We analysed the outcomes of 44 patients transplanted with either autologous or allogeneic graft sources in the post-rituximab era. No difference in event-free (EFS) or overall survival (OS) was observed between allogeneic (81% and 81%) and autologous transplantation (64% and 70%) at 3 years. There was a significant difference in EFS between allogeneic and autologous transplantation patients with previous remission duration of ≤12 months (80% and 42% at 3 years, P < 0·015). Very early relapsed FL may warrant consideration of allogeneic over autologous transplantation in the appropriate setting.
Mini-depth Study of the Automotive Industry of the Need for Technical Standards

Discusses the necessity of study the industry technical standards about micro-depth automotive.Through the analysis about mini-cardesign positioning,market demand,functional analysis,technical standards and other aspects,describes the existing technical standards for the automotive industry,has been unable to accurately measure the micro-level view of the development of car industry.Depth study of China's mini car industry technical standards,will help to study and solve the problem of mini-car technology and improve the micro-car technology.
Improving Spam Blacklisting Through Dynamic Thresholding and Speculative Aggregation.

Unsolicited bulk e-mail (UBE) or spam constitutes a significant fraction of all e-mail connection attempts and routinely frustrates users, consumes resources, and serves as an infection vector for malicious software. In an effort to scalably and effectively reduce the impact of these e-mails, e-mail system designers have increasingly turned to blacklisting. Blacklisting (blackholing, block listing) is a form of course-grained, reputation-based, dynamic policy enforcement in which real-time feeds of spam sending hosts are sent to networks so that the e-mail from these hosts may be rejected. Unfortunately, current spam blacklist services are highly inaccurate and exhibit both false positives and significant false negatives. In this paper, we explore the root causes of blacklist inaccuracy and show that the trend toward stealthier spam exacerbates the existing tension between false positives and false negatives when assigning spamming IP reputation. We argue that to relieve this tension, global aggregation and reputation assignment should be replaced with local aggregation and reputation assignment, utilizing preexisting global spam collection, with the addition of local usage, policy, and reachability information. We propose two specific techniques based on this premise, dynamic thresholding and speculative aggregation, whose goal is to improve the accuracy of blacklist generation. We evaluate the performance and accuracy of these solutions in the context of our own deployment consisting of 2.5 million production e-mails and 14 million e-mails from spamtraps deployed in 11 domains over a month-long period. We show that the proposed approaches significantly improve the false positive and false negative rates when compared to existing approaches.
Credibility by Proxy

Evidence jurisprudence assumes that impeachment rules are intended to help determine the truth of the matter by identifying liars. For example, a witness’s credibility can be impeached with evidence that she has a fraud conviction because in theory that conviction suggests she is deceitful and is therefore likely to lie under oath. Scholars, judges and rulemakers have criticized this system of impeachment, demonstrating again and again that the rules are ineffective at identifying liars and lack any social science basis. Yet the impeachment rules endure. This Article identifies the reason for their endurance in the face of overwhelming evidence: impeachment rules are not and never have been about identifying false statements in order to get to the truth. The purpose of these rules is to identify which persons have the culturally recognized moral integrity or honor to be worthy of belief in court. In other words, impeachment rules enforce not a scientific but a status-based view of truth in which status markers, such as reputation and prior crimes, determine who will be deemed a probable liar. I show this using both historical and modern examples. The effect of this categorical error (confusing status with veracity) is to abandon the avowed purpose of evidence law – truth seeking – in favor of the very different, and potentially contrary goal of norm enforcement. The side-effect is that it perpetuates systemic biases in the justice system. It may be that soon we will have some scientific way to identify liars. In the interim, though, we should abandon status as a proxy for credibility.
26-year follow-up of screw-retained fixed dental prostheses supported by machined-surface Brånemark implants: a case report.

Background Rough-surface implants have become very popular during the last 10 years due to greater reported bone-implant-contact and bone volume between implant threads compared to machined-surface implants. Purpose The aim of this clinical report is to present the 26-year clinical outcomes of machined-surface implants supporting screw-retained fixed dental prostheses in a 77-year-old woman. A 51-year-old woman received five mandibular and six maxillary implants supporting screw-retained fixed dental prostheses. The original machined-surface regular platform Branemark implants were placed using a two-stage surgical approach. Materials and methods No implants were lost, and average marginal bone levels between the implant platform and the first bone-implant contact for maxillary and mandibular implants were 3.3 +/- 0.6 mm and 1.7 +/- 0.3 mm after 26 years. The following prosthetic complications were recorded during the follow up period; a) broken acrylic denture tooth (four times), b) loose prosthetic screw (three times), c) loose abutment screw (two times). Conclusion This case report shows that machined-surface dental implants can successfully support screw-retained fixed dental prostheses over 26 years, which makes dental implants an important dental treatment option compared to the traditional prosthetic treatment methods, especially in elderly edentulous patients.
Are proximity attacks a threat to the security of split manufacturing of integrated circuits

Split manufacturing is a technique that allows manufacturing the transistor-level and lower metal layers of an IC at a high-end, untrusted foundry, while manufacturing only the higher metal layers at a smaller, trusted foundry. Using split manufacturing is only viable if the untrusted foundry cannot reverse engineer the higher metal layer connections (and thus the overall IC design) from the lower layers. This work studies the effectiveness of proximity attack as a key step to reverse engineer a design at the untrusted foundry. We propose and study different proximity attacks based on how a set of candidates are defined for each broken connection. The attacks use both placement and routing information along with factors which capture the router's behavior such as per-layer routing congestion. Our studies are based on designs having millions of nets routed across 9 metal layers and significant layer-by-layer wire size variation. Our results show that a common, Hamming Distance-based proximity attack seldom achieves a match rate over 5%. But our proposed attack yields a relatively-small list of candidates which often contains the correct match. Finally, we propose a procedure to artificially insert routing blockages in a design at a desired split level, without causing any area overhead, in order to trick the router to make proximity-based reverse engineering significantly more challenging.
The importance of RSV F protein conformation in VLPs in stimulation of neutralizing antibody titers in mice previously infected with RSV.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a significant respiratory pathogen but no vaccine is available. RSV infections present 2 major, unique problems. First, humans can experience repeated infections caused by the same virus sero-group indicating that protective memory responses to RSV infection are defective. Second, most people have been infected with RSV by age 5. Immune responses to these infections, while poorly protective, could impact the effectiveness of a vaccine. The goal of this study was to assess the generation of protective immune responses in mice previously infected with RSV by virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine candidates containing a stabilized pre-fusion form of the RSV F protein or a stabilized post-fusion F protein. We report that a single immunization of RSV-experienced animals with a stabilized pre-fusion F protein VLP stimulated high titers of neutralizing antibody while a single injection of a post-fusion F protein VLP or a second RSV infection only weakly stimulated neutralizing antibody titers. These results suggest that prior RSV infection can induce neutralizing antibody memory responses, which can be activated by pre-F protein VLPs but not by post-F protein VLPs or a subsequent infection. Thus the F protein conformation has a major impact on enhancing production of neutralizing antibodies in RSV-experienced animals. Furthermore, although both VLPs contained the same RSV G protein, the pre-F VLP stimulated significantly higher titers of total anti-G protein IgG than the post-F VLP in both naive and RSV-experienced animals. Thus the F protein conformation also influences anti-G protein responses.
An examination of compaction meter value for asphalt pavement compaction evaluation

AbstractThe potential of using compaction meter value (CMV) for evaluating the compaction of asphalt pavements has been hindered by the fact that the value of CMV can be affected by many factors, which include not only roller operation parameters, but also the temperature of asphalt layer and the underlying support. However, the conventional data processing of CMV usually ignores these factors. The study proposed a new approach to thoroughly examine the relationships between CMV and other factors. Using a field project in Tennessee, USA, the intelligent compaction data were examined to establish the relationships between CMV and other operation parameters such as roller frequency and amplitude first, then the effects of asphalt temperature and underlying support were analysed further utilising the original Witczak model and Abaqus software. After eliminating the influence of other factors, the proposed method could improve the correlation between the asphalt mixture density and CMV.
"Breaking Free: Spin-off Ties to Parent Firms, Managerial Discretion, and Spin-off Strategic Change"

A number of researchers have implicitly argued that strategic reorganization increases in subsidiaries that are spun-off. However, research has not yet examined the conditions under which such stra...
Optimal control of a failure prone manufacturing system with the possibility of temporary increase in production capacity

Manufacturers have two general strategies to guard against uncertainties in the production or demand process: (a) building inventory to hedge against periods in which the production capacity is not sufficient to satisfy demand, and (b) temporarily increasing the production capacity, for example, by hiring temporary workers, adding overtime and/or extra shifts, or outsourcing part of the production. A production control problem is to strike a balance between the costs of building inventory, “buying” extra capacity, and backlogged demand. In this paper, we address this problem in the context of a single failure prone machine that produces a single part-type and show that the optimal control policy is a switching policy that is generally characterized by three switching levels.