cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
FDTD far-field scattering amplitudes: Comparison of surface and volume integration methods

Abstract The transformation of the near-field to the corresponding far-field is a key step involved in the application of the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) technique to the scattering of an electromagnetic wave by a dielectric particle. In practice, either a volume-integral method (VIM) or an equivalent surface-integral method (SIM) can be used to calculate the far-field. Previous studies reported in the literature demonstrated that a fine grid resolution is necessary for implementing the FDTD technique with the aforementioned VIM for electromagnetic scattering of plane waves by a dielectric particle with a large refractive index. A fine grid resolution leads to a significant amount of computational effort in terms of computer memory and CPU time, and consequently, substantially limits the applicability of the FDTD technique. In this study, we show that the SIM allows a much coarser grid resolution than that required by the VIM. The physical mechanism associated with the advantages of the SIM is also discussed. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the same order of numerical errors for the phase function computation can be achieved using the SIM with a grid size of Δ s = λ / 40 for the two published large refractive indices, namely m = 7.1499 + i 2.914 and 8.2252 + i 1.6808 , whereas the grid size required by the VIM, as reported in the literature, needs to be Δ s = λ / 143 or λ / 165 . With the SIM, the scattering properties of particles with complex refractive indices as large as 7.1499 + i 2.914 can be simulated by the FDTD technique for size parameters up to 20 by using an ordinary desktop computer.
New tube and circuit for the new 900-MHz communication band

The paper describes the solutions to the problems of obtaining satisfactory levels of power in the now available high-frequency (900 MHz) mobile, communication band. A major step was to redesign the coaxially structured beam power tube 8072, the low-frequency standard in the communication field, to use high-frequency, low-inductance, coaxial base in place of the pin connections. This change permitted a substantial increase in frequency and maintained the linearity of the tube transfer characteristics while assuring economic manufacturing capability.
Ohmic heating losses in cryoresistive pulsed energy storage aluminium inductors for electromagnetic launchers

Abstract Analytic procedures are developed for calculating the ohmic heating loss for various cryoresistive magnetic energy storage coil configurations that are used to deliver periodic short huge bursts of energy to electromagnetic launchers (railguns). Simple geometries such as long solenoids, continuous winding toroids, low aspect ratio dipoles or straight wire are considered as examples. The effect of cabling on reducing eddy current losses is addressed in detail.
Enhancing Disaster Recovery: Lessons from Exemplary International Disaster Management Practices

Successful disaster recovery efforts in other countries emphasized local empowerment, organization and leadership, and planning for sustainability-providig potential lessons for US disaster management.
Effects of combination tocopherols and alpha lipoic acid therapy on oxidative stress and inflammatory biomarkers in chronic kidney disease.

Objective Although increased oxidative stress and inflammation are highly prevalent in chronic kidney disease (CKD), few studies have investigated whether oral antioxidant therapy can alter markers of inflammation or oxidative stress in patients with CKD. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether a combination of mixed tocopherols and alpha lipoic acid (ALA) would alter biomarkers of oxidative stress and inflammation in subjects with stage 3 to 4 CKD. Methods This was a prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot trial. In all, 62 subjects were enrolled and were randomly assigned to receive a combination of mixed tocopherols 666 IU/day, in addition to ALA 600 mg/day, or their matching placebos for a total of 8 weeks. Plasma F 2 -isoprostane and protein thiol concentration were measured as biomarkers of oxidative stress, and C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 concentration as biomarkers of systemic inflammation. Results There were no significant differences in demographics, diabetic status, or estimated glomerular filtration rate between study treatment and placebo groups at baseline. Of the 62 randomized subjects, 58 (93%) completed the study protocol. After 2 months of treatment, there were no significant changes in the concentrations of F 2 -isoprostanes, protein thiols, C-reactive protein, and interleukin-6 with respect to treatment with mixed tocopherols and ALA as compared with matching placebos, whether analyzed as intention to treat or as treated. Diabetic status and baseline body mass index did not influence the results. Conclusions Combination of oral mixed tocopherols and ALA treatment for 2 months does not influence biomarkers of oxidative stress and inflammation in patients with stage 3 to 4 CKD.
Herbicide-Assisted Restoration of Great Basin Sagebrush Steppe Infested With Medusahead and Downy Brome

Abstract Downy brome or cheatgrass ( Bromus tectorum ) and medusahead ( Taeniatherum caput-medusae ) are the most problematic invasive annual grasses in rangelands of the western United States, including sagebrush communities that provide habitat to sage grouse. Rehabilitation of infested sites requires effective weed control strategies combined with seeding of native plants or desirable competitive species. In this study, we evaluated the effect of three fall-applied pre-emergence herbicides (imazapic, rimsulfuron, and chlorsulfuron + sulfometuron), and one spring-applied postemergence herbicide (glyphosate) on the control of downy brome and medusahead and the response of seeded perennial species and resident vegetation in two sagebrush communities in northeastern California. All pre-emergence treatments gave > 93% control of both invasive species at both sites in the first year. Glyphosate was less consistent, giving > 94% control at one site and only 61% control of both species at the other site. Imazapic was the only herbicide to maintain good control (78–88%) of both species 2 yr after treatment. No herbicide caused detectible long-term damage to either perennial grasses or annual forbs, and imazapic treatment resulted in an increase in resident native forb cover 3 yr after treatment. Broadcast seeding with or without soil incorporation did not result in successful establishment of perennial species, probably due to below-average precipitation in the year of seeding. These results indicate that several chemical options can give short-term control of downy brome and medusahead. Over the course of the study, imazapic provided the best management of both invasive annual grasses while increasing native forb cover.
Simple Algorithms For Calculating Optical Communication Performance Through Turbulence

Propagation through turbulence can impose severe limitations on the performance of atmospheric optical communication links. Previous studies have established quantitative results for turbulence-induced beam spread, angular spread, and scintillation. This paper develops communication-theory results for single-bit and message transmission through turbulence. Programmable calculator algorithms for evaluating these results are given, and used to examine system performance in some realistic scenarios. These algorithms make it possible for the uninitiated communication engineer to rapidly assess the effects of turbulence on an atmospheric optical communication link.
Vulnerability to Low-Price Signals: An Experimental Study of the Effectiveness of Genuine and Deceptive Signals

Abstract Low-price guarantees help buyers make inferences about retailers’ prices. However, researchers are concerned that consumers might be vulnerable to relying on guarantees associated with high market prices. Furthermore, truly low-priced retailers that issue low-price guarantees might be vulnerable to consumers’ discounting of such guarantees. This article experimentally assesses these concerns and finds that the effects of adding a low-price guarantee to a low or high offer price on consumers’ pre-purchase perceptions depend on consumers’ confidence in their product category price knowledge and their decision involvement. The article explores the implications of the findings and provides directions for further research.
Death, lives, and video streams

This paper discusses two topics. First, it presents an analysis of the canonical funerary corpse prepared by morticians and discusses how this corpse serves two functions. It tames death by reappro...
Commentary on ‘Oral iron supplementation for preventing or treating anaemia among children in malaria‐endemic areas’ with a response from the review authors

This is a commentary on a Cochrane review, published in this issue of EBCH, first published as: Ojukwu JU, Okebe JU, Yahav D, Paul M. Oral iron supplementation for preventing or treating anaemia among children in malaria-endemic areas. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2009, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD006589. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD006589.pub2 Further information for this Cochrane review is available in this issue of EBCH in the accompanying Summary article. Copyright © 2010 The Cochrane Collaboration. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. The Cochrane Collaboration
The Adult Attachment Interview and the Relationship Questionnaire: Relations to reports of mothers and partners.

The study asked the following questions: How do interview and self-report assessments of attachment status correspond? What is the relation between attachment status assessed by these methods to self-reports of relationships with mothers and partners? Participants were 53 married white women assessed with the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), and the Relationship Questionnaire (RQ), and a variety of questionnaires assessing love, trust, and closeness in relationships with mothers and partners. Results indicated a trend toward a relation between AAI and RQ classifications: 81% of women classified as Secure with the AAI identified themselves as Secure with the RQ, but only 42% of AAI-Insecure women identified themselves as Insecure with the RQ. Secure and Insecure AAI groups did not differ in their reports of mothers or partners, whereas Secure and Insecure RQ groups did. Results indicated classifications derived from the measures are not equivalent.
Lineage-specific development of calcium currents during embryogenesis

The development of electrophysiological properties of isolated, identified ascidian blastomeres was followed from the fertilized egg to the neurula, and the stage at which cells of different lineages first express different functional ion channel populations was determined. Little has been known about such events because of the difficulties of making voltage-clamp recordings from small embryonic cells and of identifying their developmental fates in dissociated preparations. The problem of small cell size was circumvented by using the whole-cell patch clamp, and identification was facilitated by the use of a species of ascidian, Boltenia villosa, in which endogenous pigment marks cells of specific developmental fates. Within approximately 3 hours after gastrulation, muscle-lineage blastomeres in these embryos developed a voltage-dependent calcium current while surrounding blastomeres of other lineages did not. At about the same time, all cells developed delayed outward potassium currents and lost the inwardly rectifying potassium currents present at earlier stages.
Evidence for invasion of regenerated ventral root afferents into the spinal cord of the rat subjected to sciatic neurectomy during the neonatal period

Abstract Sectioning the sciatic nerve of experimental animals at the neonatal stage triggers growth of afferent fibers in the ventral root. The present study examined the possibility that the regenerating fiber terminals grow into the spinal cord. The sciatic nerve on one side was cut in neonatal rats. After the rats were fully grown, either an electrophysiological or a histochemical study was performed. The results of electrophysiological experiments showed that stimulation of certain loci in the L5 spinal cord evoked antidromic potentials in the L5 ventral root with a long latency. Various evidence suggests that the long latency potentials are due to activation of C fibers. These C-fiber potentials were on average bigger and were elicited from more numerous loci on the side ipsilateral to the sciatic nerve lesion than on the contralateral side. Furthermore, stimulation of the spinal cord of unoperated normal rats rarely evoked such potentials. For the histochemical study, horseradish peroxidase (HRP) was injected into the L5 spinal cord after cutting the L4–L6 dorsal roots. A lot more cells in the L5 dorsal root ganglion (DRG) on the side ipsilateral to the sciatic nerve lesion were labeled with HRP transported retrogradely through the L5 ventral root than on the contralateral side. Control experiments showed that few DRG cells are labeled with HRP in normal unoperated rats. The combined results of the electrophysiological and histochemical studies suggest invasion of ventral root afferents into the spinal cord, given enough postoperative time. It is not known whether or not these terminals make functional synaptic contacts in the spinal cord.
Translational Regulation of Milk Protein Synthesis at Secretory Activation

Studies conducted since the 1970s have revealed that the production of milk proteins in the mammary gland under the influence of lactogenic hormones (insulin, prolactin, and glucocorticoids) is regulated at multiple levels. Whereas earlier studies concentrated on transcriptional regulation and stabilization of milk protein mRNAs, more recent studies have revealed that translation of milk protein mRNAs is also dependent on lactogenic hormones. A general stimulation of translation in mammary epithelial cells is caused by amino acids (as signaling molecules) or by phosphorylation of the translational regulator 4E-BP1 in a synergistic response to signals from insulin and prolactin. However, a selective enhancement of milk protein mRNA translation is caused by cytoplasmic polyadenylation of mRNA, again in a synergistic response to these two hormones. Preliminary evidence indicates that the latter effect depends on the existence of a cytoplasmic polyadenylation element (CPE) in milk protein mRNAs and phosphorylation of its binding protein, CPEB. Experiments in whole animals, organ explants, and cell culture have shown that the poly(A) length of milk protein mRNAs changes as a function of the lactation cycle. Interestingly, cytoplasmic polyadenylation is likely to be responsible for the selective hormone-dependent enhancement of both translation and stability of milk protein mRNAs.
Experimental investigation of high-mach-number 3D hydrodynamic jets at the national ignition facility.

The first hydrodynamic experiments were performed on the National Ignition Facility. A supersonic jet was formed via the interaction of a laser driven shock ($\ensuremath{\sim}40\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{M}\mathrm{b}\mathrm{a}\mathrm{r}$) with 2D and 3D density perturbations. The temporal evolution of the jet's spatial scales and ejected mass were measured with point-projection x-ray radiography. Measurements of the large-scale features and mass are in good agreement with 2D and 3D numerical simulations. These experiments provide quantitative data on the evolution of 3D supersonic jets and provide insight into their 3D behavior.
Microchip enzymatic assay of organophosphate nerve agents

Abstract An on-chip enzymatic assay for screening organophosphate (OP) nerve agents, based on a pre-column reaction of organophosphorus hydrolase (OPH), electrophoretic separation of the phosphonic acid products, and their contactless-conductivity detection, is described. Factors affecting the enzymatic reaction, the separation and detection processes have been assessed and optimized. The complete bioassay requires 1 min of the OPH reaction, along with 1–2 min for the separation and detection of the reaction products. The response is linear, with detection limits of 5 and 3 mg/l for paraoxon and methyl parathion, respectively. Compared to conventional OPH-based biosensors, the OPH-biochip can differentiate between the individual OP substrates. The attractive behavior of the new OPH-based biochip indicates great promise for field screening of OP pesticides and nerve agents. The study demonstrates also for the first time the suitability of the contactless-conductivity detection for on-chip monitoring of enzymatic reactions.
Velocities of First and Zero Sound in Quartz

The temperature dependence of the velocity of sound in $X$-cut and $\mathrm{BC}$-cut natural quartz crystals has been measured in the range 4 to 75 \ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K. Measurements were made at frequencies of 35, 100, and 1000 MHz. By assuming that at these frequencies the velocity is frequency independent at 4 \ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K, these results can be used to obtain the frequency dependence of the velocity at higher temperatures. At temperatures below 20 \ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K, or above about 65 \ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K, there is no velocity dispersion in the frequency range studied, to within the experimental uncertainty. In the temperature range between 20 and about 65 \ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K, the velocity is greater at 1000 MHz than at the lower frequencies, both for the $X$-cut and the $\mathrm{BC}$-cut crystals. These results are compared with theories of velocity dispersion due to interaction with thermal phonons, and qualitative agreement is obtained.
A Higgsophilic s-channel Z' and the CDF W+2J Anomaly

The CDF Collaboration recently presented evidence for an excess in the dijet invariant mass distribution coming from events in a $W+2j$ exclusive sample. Here we show that this excess can be explained by the $s$-channel production of a weakly coupled Higgsophilic ${Z}^{\ensuremath{'}}$ near ${M}_{{Z}^{\ensuremath{'}}}\ensuremath{\sim}270\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GeV}$ which decays into a ${W}^{\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}}$ and a charged Higgs at ${M}_{{H}^{\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}}}\ensuremath{\sim}150\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GeV}$. While the simplest implementations of a general leptophobic ${Z}^{\ensuremath{'}}$ model quickly run into tensions with electroweak observables, a more specific Higgsophilic model evades these constraints without resorting to any fine-tuning. We discuss the distinctive features of this model, focusing on its particular signatures at the Tevatron.
Channel redistribution with direct selling

Abstract It seems nowadays that a company can be considered either a “pure-direct” such as Amazon.com and Dell Computers, or an “adopted-direct”, like Barnes and Noble for example. An adopted-direct company’s decision to directly sell “on-line” has become a fashionable choice. But the results of such choice differ drastically. Glorious success mixed with pathetic failure. One of the pending issues has been the channel redistribution strategy, as whether to entirely switch to direct sell or to maintain a combination of both. In this paper, we develop a dynamic channel diffusion model and analyze how the sales will redistribute between the two channels in a given time-variant marketplace. This paper provides two major contributions: First, we obtain the existence of a steady-state redistribution between the two channels and the necessary conditions for this existence; Second, we establish measures of industry-specific suitability for on-line business operations. In short, our results concur with the theory: IT changes the way of doing business, but does not change the business itself.
Organization Development Technology And the Military: A Surprising Merger?

The results of organization development (OD) efforts in the United States military are reported and analyzed. The Army uses a decentralized approach with strong top management support, participation, and understanding. The Navy relies heavily on a centralized survey-feedback model using mandatory participation. The Air Force has experimented with many OD approaches, the most widely adopted one being job enrichment. Although considerable resources are committed to OD, most claims of success are based on testimonials and anecdotal evidence. There is little empirical evidence that OD either changes organizations or results in improved performance. In spite of these weaknesses, the very existence of larger-scale OD in the military environment raises some interesting issues that revolve around values and the general applicability of OD technology.
Inhibition of shaking movements in rats by central administration of cholinergic and adrenergic agents.

Shaking movements of the body, similar to that made by a dog when wet (‘wet-dog-shakes’), occur in rats in response to pharmacological stimuli and in response to stimuli associated with cold and skin irritation. In this study, shaking movements, elicited by a variety of stimuli, were inhibited by central administration of nanomolar doses of drugs that act as agonists on muscarinic, adrenergic, and opiate receptors. The brain regions that mediate the drug inhibition of shaking appear to be located in the medial preoptic area and in structures lining the aqueduct and fourth ventricle.
Modified moving average analysis of T-wave alternans to predict ventricular fibrillation with high accuracy.

T-wave alternans is a marker of cardiac electrical instability with the potential for arrhythmia risk stratification. The modified moving average method was developed to measure alternans in settin...
On implementing provenance-aware regular path queries with relational query engines

Use of graphs is growing rapidly in social networks, semantic web, biological databases, scientific workflow provenance, and other areas. Regular Path Queries (RPQs) can be seen as a core graph query language to answer pattern-based reachability queries. Unfortunately, the number of freely available systems for querying graphs using RPQs is rather limited, and available implementations do not provide direct support for a number of desirable variants of RPQs, e.g., to return those edges that are contained in some (or all) paths that match the given regular expression R. Thus, by returning not just a pair (x, y) of end points of paths that match R, but also "witness edges" (u, v) inbetween, our RPQ variants can be understood as returning additional provenance information about the answer (x, y), i.e., those edges (u, v) that are in some (or all) paths from x to y matching R. We propose a number of such RPQ variants and show how they can be implemented using either Datalog or a suitable RDBMS. Our initial experimental results indicate that RPQs and our provenance-aware variants (RPQProv), when implemented using conventional relational technologies, yield reasonable performance even for relatively large graphs. On the other hand, the overhead associated with some of these variants also makes efficient handling of provenance-aware graph queries an interesting challenge for future research.
Non-linear absorption and photoionization in the pulsed laser photolysis of anthracene

Abstract The 347 nm pulsed laser photolysis of anthracene in cyclohexane and methanol gives rise to non-linear effects which are characterized by increased absorption with increasing laser intensity. A kinetic model which incorporates biphotonic ionization via the relaxed lowest excited singlet state accounts not only for the non-linear absorption behavior, but also for the variation of triplet yields with intensity and consequences of the presence of oxygen.
Wireless hotspots: petri dish of wireless security

Laptops and PDAs are so vulnerable in wireless hotspots, users would do well to turn them off.
Relativistic density functional study of FCC americium and the (111) surface

Full-potential all-electron density-functional calculations with mixed basis augmented plane wave plus local orbital--linearized-augmented plane wave have been carried out to investigate the electronic and geometric properties of bulk FCC Am and quantum size effects in the surface energies and the work functions of the (111) ultrathin films up to seven layers at six levels of approximations, namely, non-spin-polarized--no-spin-orbit coupling, non-spin-polarized--spin-orbit coupling, spin-polarized--no-spin-orbit coupling, spin-polarized--spin-orbit coupling, antiferromagnetic--no-spin-orbit coupling, and antiferromagnetic--spin-orbit (AFM-SO) coupling. The antiferromagnetic state including spin-orbit coupling is found to be the ground state of FCC Am with the $5f$ electrons primarily localized. Our calculations show that both spin-polarization and spin-orbit coupling effects play important roles in determining the equilibrium lattice constant, the bulk modulus, as well as the localized feature of $5f$ electrons for FCC Am. Our calculated equilibrium lattice constant of $9.21\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{a.u.}$ and a bulk modulus of $25.64\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{GPa}$ at the AFM-SO level are in good agreement with the experimental values of $9.26\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{a.u.}$ and $29.4\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{GPa}$, respectively. For the films, surface energy rapidly converges and the semi-infinite surface energy is predicted to be $0.81\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{J}∕{\mathrm{m}}^{2}$ at the ground state. The work function of the FCC Am(111) surface at the AFM-SO ground state is predicted to be $3.06\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{eV}$, and the work function shows some oscillations when the number of layers is less than five, while it becomes relatively stable when the number of layers is greater than five. This suggests that a five-layer film may be required for any future adsorption investigation that requires, for example, an accurate prediction of one-electron properties and adsorbate-induced work function shift.
Global Optimization of Plug-In Hybrid Vehicle Design and Allocation to Minimize Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions

We pose a reformulated model for optimal design and allocation of conventional (CV), hybrid electric (HEV), and plug-in hybrid electric (PHEV) vehicles to obtain global solutions that minimize life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the fleet. The reformulation is a twice-differentiable, factorable, nonconvex mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) model that can be solved globally using a convexification-based branch-and-reduce algorithm. We compare results to a randomized multistart local-search approach for the original formulation and find that local-search algorithms locate global solutions in 59% of trials for the two-segment case and 18% of trials for the three-segment case. The results indicate that minimum GHG emissions are achieved with a mix of PHEVs sized for 25–45 miles of electric travel. Larger battery packs allow longer travel on electrical energy, but production and weight of underutilized batteries result in higher GHG emissions. Under the current average U.S. grid mix, PHEVs offer a nearly 50% reduction in life cycle GHG emissions relative to equivalent conventional vehicles and about 5% improvement over HEVs when driven on the standard urban driving cycle. Optimal allocation of different PHEVs to different drivers turns out to be of second order importance for minimizing net life cycle GHGs. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4004538]
Off-axis electron holography of hetero-interfaces

Off-axis electron holography is one of the new emerging methods for high spatial resolution characterization of interfaces in materials. It enables recording and retrieval of both amplitude and phase of an electron wavefunction scattered by a specimen. Phase changes introduced by magnetic and electrostatic fields have been studied in the first applications of electron holography to domain walls in ferromagnetic and ferroelectric materials and to p-n junctions. Planar defects in single crystals, such as stacking faults, have been observed with strong phase contrast due to dynamical diffraction.
Monte Carlo dose verification of prostate patients treated with simultaneous integrated boost intensity modulated radiation therapy

To evaluate the dosimetric differences between Superposition/Convolution (SC) and Monte Carlo (MC) calculated dose distributions for simultaneous integrated boost (SIB) prostate cancer intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) compared to experimental (film) measurements and the implications for clinical treatments. Twenty-two prostate patients treated with an in-house SIB-IMRT protocol were selected. SC-based plans used for treatment were re-evaluated with EGS4-based MC calculations for treatment verification. Accuracy was evaluated with-respect-to film-based dosimetry. Comparisons used gamma (γ)-index, distance-to-agreement (DTA), and superimposed dose distributions. The treatment plans were also compared based on dose-volume indices and 3-D γ index for targets and critical structures. Flat-phantom comparisons demonstrated that the MC algorithm predicted measurements better than the SC algorithm. The average PTVprostate D98 agreement between SC and MC was 1.2% ± 1.1. For rectum, the average differences in SC and MC calculated D50 ranged from -3.6% to 3.4%. For small bowel, there were up to 30.2% ± 40.7 (range: 0.2%, 115%) differences between SC and MC calculated average D50 index. For femurs, the differences in average D50 reached up to 8.6% ± 3.6 (range: 1.2%, 14.5%). For PTVprostate and PTVnodes, the average gamma scores were >95.0%. MC agrees better with film measurements than SC. Although, on average, SC-calculated doses agreed with MC calculations within the targets within 2%, there were deviations up to 5% for some patient's treatment plans. For some patients, the magnitude of such deviations might decrease the intended target dose levels that are required for the treatment protocol, placing the patients in different dose levels that do not satisfy the protocol dose requirements.
Power-efficient clustering via incomplete bypassing

Researchers have proposed clustered microarchitectures for performance and energy efficiency. Typically, clustered microarchitectures offer fast, local bypassing between instructions within clusters but global bypasses are slower. Traditional clustered microarchitectures (TCM) are implemented by partitioning the register file and associated functional units to clusters. This paper demonstrates an alternate implementation - Incomplete bypass-based clustered microarchitecture (IBCM). IBCM reduces the length of bypass wires by 42.4% resulting in an 8.9% reduction of "Execute" stage delay. This delay reduction in the critical EX stage enables voltage scaling that results in significantly lower average power consumption (between 11.7% and 19.5% lower) while achieving identical performance.
GOVERNMENT AS INVESTOR: TAX POLICY AND THE STATE

This article analogizes the state, in its role as tax collector, to that of an investor, or to be more precise, that of a residual claimant on the earnings of all of the people and firms subject to the taxing power of the state. The relationship between modern democracy and its citizens would be strengthened if this analogy were more widely acknowledged because it recognizes citizen-taxpayers as contracting partners with the state. Unlike other libertarian conceptions of the state's taxing authority, the framework developed here does not jeopardize the state's ability to collect the revenues it needs to provide for the protections of its citizens.The state-as-investor framework developed in this Article leads to a number of tax policy improvements. The framework suggests limits on the government's ability to change people's tax status after they have already embarked on careers and made the sunken, non-diversifiable investments in human capital that such career training requires. The framework advanced here also suggests that people should be able to make a once-in-a lifetime payment in lieu of taxes to the state in order to discharge their tax liability. This approach articulated here also seems superior to the utopian suggestion offered by Ayn Rand that taxation be voluntary, as well as to the unrealistic suggestion made by Nozick that income taxes are violative of man's natural rights.
Future directions in the clinical management of amyloid light-chain amyloidosis.

AbstractAmyloid light-chain (AL) amyloidosis results from extracellular deposition of fibril-forming monoclonal immunoglobulin light chains (LCs) usually secreted by a plasma cell (PC) clone. Misfolded LCs deposit as unique fibrils leading to organ failure and eventually death. Survival for untreated patients remains poor, and restrictive cardiomyopathy, nephrotic syndrome or hepatic failure greatly worsen outcome. Conventional chemotherapy and novel therapy with immunomodulatory drugs or proteasome inhibitors (PIs) eradicate PCs but generate adverse toxicities, and sustained responses are limited. Moreover, only 20% of patients with AL amyloidosis are eligible for stem cell transplant. The molecular events deregulated in AL amyloidosis remain undefined, and effective therapies based upon the biology of the disease are lacking. Impressive hematologic response rates obtained with bortezomib provide practice-changing data to advocate their introduction early in the treatment course. Bortezomib and the emerg...
Invasive fungal disease in PICU: epidemiology and risk factors

Candida and Aspergillus spp. are the most common agents responsible for invasive fungal infections in children. They are associated with a high mortality and morbidity rate as well as high health care costs. An important increase in their incidence has been observed during the past two decades. In infants and children, invasive candidiasis is five times more frequent than invasive aspergillosis. Candida sp. represents the third most common agent found in healthcare-associated bloodstream infections in children. Invasive aspergillosis is more often associated with hematological malignancies and solid tumors. Recommendations concerning prophylactic treatment for invasive aspergillosis have been recently published by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Candida albicans is the main Candida sp. associated with invasive candidiasis in children, even if a strong trend toward the emergence of Candida non-albicans has been observed. The epidemiology and the risk factors for invasive fungal infections are quite different if considering previously healthy children hospitalized in the pediatric intensive care unit, or children with a malignancy or a severe hematological disease (leukemia). In children, the mortality rate for invasive aspergillosis is 2.5 to 3.5 higher than for invasive candidiasis (respectively 70% vs. 20% and 30%).
Ubiquitination-Dependent Regulation of Signaling Receptors in Cancer

Ubiquitination of signaling cell surface receptors is a key mechanism regulating the availability of these receptors to interact with extracellular ligands. Accordingly, this regulation determines the sensitivity of cells to the humoral and locally secreted regulators of cell function, proliferation, and viability. Alterations in receptor ubiquitination and degradation are often encountered in cancers. Malignant cells utilize modified ubiquitination of signaling receptors to augment or attenuate signaling pathways on the basis of whether the outcome of this signaling is conducive or not for tumor growth and survival. These mechanisms as well as their significance for the treatment of human cancers are discussed.
The Role of the Nurse During Amniocentesis

Amniocentesis is a relatively simple, safe, and accurate diagnostic tool which is being performed with increased frequency in local hospitals. The maternity nurse has a responsibility to know the clinical applications, the role of the nurse during the procedure, and the potential risks associated with amniocentesis.
Characterization of Earthquake Strong Ground Motion

Some underwater landslides are triggered by strong ground motions caused by earthquakes. This paper reviews current concepts and trends in the characterization of strong ground motion. Improved empirical ground motion models have been derived from a strong motion data set that has grown markedly over the past decade. However, these empirical models have a large degree of uncertainty because the magnitude-distance-soil category parameterization of these models often oversimplifies reality. This reflects the fact that other conditions that are known to have an important influence on strong ground motions, such as near-fault rupture directivity effects, crustal waveguide effects, and basin response effects, are not treated as parameters of these simple models. Numerical ground motion models based on seismological theory that include these additional effects have been developed and extensively validated against recorded ground motions, and used to estimate the ground motions of past earthquakes and predict the ground motions of future scenario earthquakes.
A 640 MHz 32 megachannel real-time polyphase-FFT spectrum analyzer

A 2/sup 25/ (33,554,432) channel, 640 MHz wide polyphase-fast Fourier transform (FFT) spectrum analyzer is being designed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Sky Survey. By replacing the time-domain multiplicative window preprocessing with polyphase filter processing, much of the processing loss of windowed FFTs can be eliminated. Polyphase coefficient memory costs are minimized by effective use of run-length compression. Finite word length effects are analyzed, producing a balanced system with 8 bit inputs, 16 bit fixed-point polyphase arithmetic and 24 bit fixed-point FFT arithmetic. Fixed-point renormalization midway through the computation is seen to be naturally accommodated by the matrix FFT algorithm proposed. >
Biocidal Activity of Ozone Versus Formaldehyde Against Poultry Pathogens Inoculated in a Prototype Setter

Ozone was evaluated as an alternative hatchery disinfectant to replace formaldehyde in the event that the Environmental Protection Agency regulates the use of formaldehyde under the Toxic Substances Control Act. Cultures of Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, and Bacillus species previously isolated from poultry hatcheries and selected culture collections of Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas fluorescences, Salmonella typhimurium, Proteus species, and Aspergillus fumigatus were spread-plated on open petri plates and independently fumigated with ozone or formaldehyde in a prototype laboratory poultry setter. Ozone (1.52% to 1.65% by weight) resulted in bacterial reductions of greater than 4 to 7 log10 and fungal reductions of greater than 4 log10, whereas formaldehyde achieved reductions of greater than 7 log10 and greater than 5 log10, respectively, after 8 min of exposure to either disinfectant. Potential mutagenic effects were observed in ozonated E. coli colonies resulting in decreased superoxide dismutase activity and increased catalase activity when compared with nonozonated control colonies. In this study ozone reduced microorganism counts but not as much as formaldehyde. Ozone may be used as a disinfectant against selected microorganisms, although further testing under actual hatchery conditions is needed before making recommendations to the industry.
Plasma surface modification of polymer powders with application to thermal energy storage

The rotating bed plasma reactor described here permits uniform surface modification of relatively large amounts of powder materials. Scale-up to even larger batches of solids appears to be feasible. Some preliminary experimental data on the plasma surface modification of polymer powders have been presented. The results show that the flow rate, time of treatment, and type of feed gas are important operating parameters which influence the final surface character. One particular application of plasma-modified polymer powders was explored; by crosslinking and/or chemically modifying only the outermost surface regions of these powders, various polymeric materials may be rendered useful for use in thermal storage slurries. The major advantage of the surface-modified plasma treated powders over the bulk-modified powders used previously is the retention of essentially all of the pristine polymer heat of fusion in the surface-modified materials.
Reducing Sample Sizes When User Testing with People Who Have, and Who are Simulating Disabilities - Experiences with Blindness and Public Information Kiosks:

Researchers have suggested running fewer subjects to reduce costs of usability testing of mainstream products (Virzi 1990, 1992, Nielsen and Landauer, 1993, Lewis, 1994). It has been demonstrated that, depending on the average probability of subjects revealing problems (p), most of the problems inherent in an interface will be found in the first few subjects, and adding more subjects gives little return on investment. As part of an investigation aimed at reducing costs in user testing of people with disabilities, a user test was conducted to compare the differences between a group of 15 blind, and 15 blindfolded (sighted) subjects using a touchscreen public information kiosk that was intended for use by people who cannot see. The number and type of problems found by each group were compared, and it was found that the results between each group were mostly similar: the value of p was within 3% (blind p=0.31; blindfolded p=0.34); each group found 46 of a total 53 problems (and therefore did not find 7 probl...
Chapter 16 Prosthetic Cardiac Valves

Abstract Even after 30 years of experience and success, problems associated with heart valve prostheses have not been eliminated. The most serious problems and complications are: (i) thrombosis and thromboembolism, (ii) anticoagulation-related hemorrhage, (iii) tissue overgrowth, (iv) infection, (v) paravalvular leaks due to healing defects, and (vi) valve failure due to material fatigue or chemical change. Degeneration remains a major concern for long-term success of porcine bioprosthetic valves, while there is a more even distribution of failure causes in mechanical valves. Direct comparison of the performance of artificial heart valves is difficult, and it is impossible to categorize any particular valve as the best. Nonetheless, clear characteristics can be identified: mechanical valves tend to have greater durability at the expense of requiring life-long anticoagulant therapy because of their tendency toward thrombosis, while bioprostheses tend to deteriorate more rapidly due to degenerative processes but do not require anticoagulation therapy. The choice between bioprosthetic nonthrombogenicity and mechanical valve durability depends upon characteristics of the specific patient. Further advances in prosthetic heart valves have three promising directions: (i) improved nonthrombogenicity with artificial materials; (ii) improved durability for tissue valves; and (iii) improved hemodynamic characteristics, especially reduction or elimination of low shear stress regions near valve and vessel surfaces and of high turbulent shear stresses along the edges of jets produced by valve outflow or leakage of flow. Nonetheless, while current artificial valves leave room for further advances, the superior prognosis for patients with prosthetic replacement is dramatic and convincing.
American think tanks in the twenty-first century:

Think tanks have been a part of the United States’ foreign policy establishment for more than a century. They have played a significant role at key junctures in US foreign policy. Two inflection points, however, have dramatically altered the think tank landscape in the last 15 years. The 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks caused these organizations to dramatically expand their staff and overhead, as the demand for their services increased. The 2008 financial crisis subsequently left many of these same think tanks financially overextended. This circumstance forced these organizations to seek out more unconventional funding arrangements, imposing new constraints at the exact moment that their competitive environment intensified. In the twenty-first century, US foreign policy think tanks will maintain their relevancy by moving beyond what made them relevant in the last century.
Lipoxin A4 augments host defense in sepsis and reduces Pseudomonas aeruginosa virulence through quorum sensing inhibition

Bacterial infections can quickly turn into sepsis, with its attendant clinical sequelae of inflammation, tissue injury, and organ failure. Paradoxically, sustained inflammation in sepsis may lead to immune suppression, because of which the host is unable to clear the existing infection. Use of agents that suppress the inflammatory response may accelerate host immune suppression, whereas use of traditional antibiotics does not significantly affect inflammation. In this study, we investigated whether lipoxin A4 (LXA4), a specialized, proresolution lipid mediator, could increase neutrophil phagocytic activity as well as reduce bacterial virulence. Using the mouse cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) model of sepsis, the administration of LXA4 (7 μg/kg i.v.) 1 h after surgery increased neutrophil phagocytic ability and Fcγ receptor I (CD64) expression. Ex vivo studies have confirmed that the direct addition of LXA4 to CLP neutrophils increased phagocytic ability but not CD64 expression. LXA4 did not affect neutrophils taken from control mice in which CD64 expression was minimal. Taken together with in vivo data, these results suggest that LXA4 directly augments CD64-mediated neutrophil phagocytic ability but does not directly increase neutrophil CD64 expression. Bacterial communication and virulence is regulated by quorum sensing inducers. In Pseudomonas aeruginosa, virulence is induced with release of various virulence factors, by N-3-oxododecanolyl homoserine lactone binding to the quorum sensing receptor, LasR. We show that LXA4 is an inhibitor of LasR in P. aeruginosa and that it decreases the release of pyocyanin exotoxin. These results suggest that LXA4 has the novel dual properties of increasing host defense and decreasing pathogen virulence by inhibiting quorum sensing.-Wu, B., Capilato, J., Pham, M. P., Walker, J., Spur, B., Rodriguez, A., Perez, L. J., Yin, K. Lipoxin A4 augments host defense in sepsis and reduces Pseudomonas aeruginosa virulence through quorum sensing inhibition.
Electrochemical Reduction of Some o-Quinone Anion Radicals: Why Is the Current Intensity so Small?

Reduction of quinones in aprotic media proceeds in two steps: initial reduction to the anion radical, followed by reduction of the anion radical to the dianion. In the cases of 3,5-di-tert-butyl-1,2-benzoquinone, 1, and 3,6-di-tert-butyl-1,2-benzoquinone, 2, the second reduction peak seen in a cyclic voltammogram is much smaller than the first reduction peak. Similar effects are seen with other quinones, but none is so pronounced as with 1 and 2. Various attempts to explain this anomalous behavior have been presented in the past, and in the present work, new results have been obtained that rule out the previous explanations. It is shown that a series of addition reactions of the quinone dianion to the anion radical can adequately account for the observed behavior. This conclusion is supported by the ability to simulate the experimental voltammograms both in the absence of added water with no added sodium perchlorate and also with added sodium perchlorate up to a 1:1 ratio of sodium to quinone.