cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Photoacoustic response of unburnt carbon in fly ash to infrared radiation

Abstract The photoacoustic response of unburnt carbon in fly ash to infrared radiation was investigated. The photoacoustic effect is the conversion of modulated electromagnetic radiation absorbed by gaseous, liquid or solid media into an acoustic wave, which can be detected by a sensitive microphone. The goal of this work was to develop an off-line instrument to measure unburnt carbon in fly ash. Twenty-four fly ashes from several pulverized coal and fluidized bed boilers burning a variety of coals were used. The photoacoustic effect generated by 1.315 μm infrared radiation from a 1.5 mW diode laser proved capable of measuring unburnt carbon in fly ash in the range 0.1–7.0 wt%. Compression and grinding of fly ash samples prior to measurement proved effective in improving the correlation between photoacoustic signal and carbon content. Such sample preparation reduces differences in powder voidage and particle size, both of which can affect photoacoustic response. The photoacoustic response was inversely proportional to the excitation modulation frequency, a result expected for photoacoustic saturation; however, the relatively large linear range observed for the photoacoustic signal as a function of fly ash carbon content is inconsistent with saturation. Therefore the photoacoustic response of unburnt carbon in bulk fly ash appears to be a blend of both solid-sample and single-particle effects.
α-Mannosidase-2: A developmentally regulated enzyme in Dictyostelium discoideum

Abstract A previously undected isozyme of α-mannosidase was observed in several independent mutant strains of Dictyostelium discoideum selected for the absence of the major isozyme, α-mannosidase-1. The activity in the mutant strains, α-mannosidase-2, differs from the major isozyme with respect to pH optimum, substrate affinity, sensitivity to inhibition by l -cysteine, and is particulate bound. The enzyme can be solubilized by treatment of the extract with nonionic detergents. α-Mannosidase-2 begins to accumulate only after 12 hr of development and reaches a peak specific activity of about a tenth of that of α-mannosidase-1 during culmination. The increase in specific activity of α-mannosidase-2 is blocked by either cycloheximide or actinomycin D, drugs known to inhibit protein and RNA synthesis, respectively, and probably results from accumulation of de novo synthesized enzyme. α-Mannosidase-2, therefore, provides a convenient marker enzyme for biochemical differentiation during the pseudo-plasmodial stage.
Imaging the Fermi surface of Cu using photoelectron spectroscopy

Abstract We have studied the Fermi surface of Cu using an ellipsoidal-mirror analyzer which gives two-dimensional images of photoelectron intensity versus emission angle. From these images, we have obtained the full Fermi surface of Cu in three-dimensional k -space. Our results are in excellent agreement with previous studies and provide new perspectives on Fermi surface studies.
Recruitment of rural and cognitively impaired older adults for dental research

The recruitment of community-dwelling older adults, particularly those with cognitive impairment and those residing in rural areas, has been consistently challenging for researchers, especially in the dental field. This study reports on recruitment experiences from an ongoing study investigating the association between oral health and cognitive status in later life. Multiple recruitment strategies, including educational presentations and traveling to participants’ homes, were used to enroll rural elderly participants with various levels of cognitive function. In general, multipronged, proactive recruitment strategies were more effective than traditional, passive methods in reaching participants with varying degrees of cognitive impairment. The outcome of this study suggests that successful recruitment of such populations involves gaining the support of staff at relevant community organizations, informing community members (including older adults and their family members) of the project and the importance of oral health, and making data collection sites accessible for older adults.
Isolation of apolipoprotein-free lipoprotein lipase from human post-heparin plasma

Abstract Lipoprotein lipase from human post-heparin plasma was purified at least 10,000-fold using the Fielding procedure. When the purified lipoprotein lipase was subjected to polyacrylamide electrophoresis, a single band with lipolytic activity and four additional bands were observed. These four bands are identical in their electrophoretic and immunochemical properties to the polypeptides of apolipoprotein C. Evidence is presented which suggests that one or more of these polypeptides may serve as a partial activator of this enzyme.
evidence-Based Pemphigus Treatment?

5. What were the conclusions and implications of the study? The results of well-performed randomized clinical trials (RCT) are considered the highest-quality evidence for altering or supporting clinical practice. Therapeutic options for the treatment of pemphigus vulgaris (PV) have evolved over the 50 years since the initial dramatic results with corticosteroids. Experts have no consensus for the optimal treatment for PV, which is a rare, potentially life-threatening disease (Mimouni and Nousari, 2003; Martin and Murrell, 2008). Indeed, a recent systematic review (Martin et al., 2009) discovered insufficient information for determining the safest and most effective treatment regimen. Therefore, an RCT is imperative to allow treatments to be thoroughly evaluated. In this issue, Beissert et al. (2010) report the results of a 1-year comparison of two doses of mycophenolate mofetil (MMF; 2 or 3 g/d) combined with corticosteroids and steroids alone in treating PV. The authors found no difference in the number of patients responding after 1 year between the treatment groups but found more side effects in the MMF-treated group, particularly in those treated with 3 g/d. Patients treated with MMF, however, were quicker to respond, had a shorter time to sustained response, and exhibited a longer time before relapse. MMF also resulted in steroid-sparing effects because the cumulative dose of prednisone was approximately 1 g less in MMF-treated patients. Unfortunately, this latter finding was not associated with decreased side effects or decreased morbidity during the study period. The implications of this study remain uncertain. Will dermatologists abandon (or at least use lower doses of) MMF, or will the reported secondary outcomes of faster response and steroid-sparing effects sustain its use? Through the following questions, we examine this paper, as well as the subject of PV treatment, in greater detail. For brief answers, please refer to the supplementary information online
Entropic stabilization of tunable planar modulated superstructures.

The self-assembly of novel ordered structures with nanoparticles has recently received much attention. Here we use computer simulations to study a two-dimensional model system characterized by a simple isotropic interaction that could be realized with building blocks on the nanoscale. We find that the particles arrange themselves into hexagonal superstructures of twin boundaries whose superlattice vector can be tuned reversibly by changing the temperature. Thermodynamic stability is confirmed by calculating the free energy with a combination of thermodynamic integration and the Frenkel-Ladd method. Different contributions to the free energy difference are discussed.
Structural Determinants of a Glucocorticoid Receptor Recognition Element

Analysis of the relative inducibility of an extensive series of mutant glucocorticoid response elements (GREs) defines features critical to the constitution of an active GRE. Assuming that function as a GRE reflects binding of glucocorticoid receptor, our activity data are consistent with the recognition of the GRE as two hexamer half-sites, each half-site recognized by a single subunit of a receptor dimer, probably in a cooperative fashion. Integrity of both half-sites is necessary for an active element, and spacing of the half-sites is critical. The identity of 1 basepair within the hexamer half-site is unconstrained; the receptor probably makes no base-specific contacts at this position. In contrast, at other positions within the half-site, limited substitutions (if any) can be tolerated. These results along with data from certain insertion mutations suggest that the receptor recognizes each hexamer half-site as two separable subelements. A further implication is that the DNA-binding domain of the gluc...
A distributed chemosensory circuit for oxygen preference in C. elegans.

The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has complex, naturally variable behavioral responses to environmental oxygen, food, and other animals. C. elegans detects oxygen through soluble guanylate cyclase homologs (sGCs) and responds to it differently depending on the activity of the neuropeptide receptor NPR-1: npr-1(lf) and naturally isolated npr-1(215F) animals avoid high oxygen and aggregate in the presence of food; npr-1(215V) animals do not. We show here that hyperoxia avoidance integrates food with npr-1 activity through neuromodulation of a distributed oxygen-sensing network. Hyperoxia avoidance is stimulated by sGC-expressing oxygen-sensing neurons, nociceptive neurons, and ADF sensory neurons. In npr-1(215V) animals, the switch from weak aerotaxis on food to strong aerotaxis in its absence requires close regulation of the neurotransmitter serotonin in the ADF neurons; high levels of ADF serotonin promote hyperoxia avoidance. In npr-1(lf) animals, food regulation is masked by increased activity of the oxygen-sensing neurons. Hyperoxia avoidance is also regulated by the neuronal TGF-β homolog DAF-7, a secreted mediator of crowding and stress responses. DAF-7 inhibits serotonin synthesis in ADF, suggesting that ADF serotonin is a convergence point for regulation of hyperoxia avoidance. Coalitions of neurons that promote and repress hyperoxia avoidance generate a subtle and flexible response to environmental oxygen.
Novel photon detectors for RICH applications

The paper describes recent developments in Photon Detectors useful for the Ring Imaging Cherenkov (RICH) applications. We discuss the Multi-anode PMTs, Hybrid Photodiodes (HPDs) with PIN and Avalanche Photodiode (APD) readout, APDs working in a Geiger mode, and the gaseous multi-pattern detectors. The paper emphasizes their timing properties. We give equal chance to fragile, not yet entirely proven ideas.
Bilateral Monopoly and the Competitive Output

I. Complications in the comparison, 371. — II. Bilateral monopoly solutions with no income effects, 372. — III. Comparisons with competitive output, 378. — IV. Some assumptions relaxed, 382. — V. Income effects allowed: indifference curves only, 383. — VI. Income effects allowed: indifference curves and production functions, 389. — VII. Conclusion, 391.
Changing Norms to Change Behavior

Providing people with information about the behavior and attitudes of their peers is a strategy commonly employed by those seeking to reduce behavior deemed harmful either to individuals (e.g., high alcohol consumption) or the collective (e.g., high energy consumption). We review norm-based interventions, detailing the logic behind them and the various forms they can take. We give special attention to interventions designed to decrease college students' drinking and increase environment-friendly behaviors. We identify the conditions under which norm information has the highest likelihood of changing the targeted behavior and discuss why this is the case.
It's a matter of trust: Nurses supporting family caregivers

With enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the U.S. health care system is undergoing its most dramatic overhaul since passage of Medicare in 1965. Written in the ACA are explicit guidelines for health insurance coverage, guaranteed health care choices, and enhanced health care quality for all Americans. These important systemic changes are at the tail of the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) The Future of Nursing report and its bold endorsement of expanded nurse education and practice capacity. 1 Taken together, it seems safe to say that nurses can and must play a vital role in shaping the future health of the American public. This is no more important than when considering the health needs of older adults, whose proportion of the U.S. population and use of more complex and intensive health care services has increased significantly since the implementation of Medicare. Nurses, no longer viewed as “physician’s hands” completing doctor’s orders, 2 have evolved into
The Discourse that Silences: Beneficiaries' Ambivalence Towards Redistributive Land Reform in the Philippines

This article argues that the persistence of non-capitalist dimensions within land relations in the Philippines is basic to rural livelihood strategies, and has been a major but widely-neglected factor in the failure of land reform programmes. Addressing the issue of non-capitalist relationships brings into focus the indigenous or ‘customary’ land tenure relationships that exist in lowland land tenure arrangements, with the result that the conventional dichotomy between lowland and upland ‘cultural minority’ land relations becomes spurious. The article offers some suggestions as to why, for the major part of this century, the indigenous norms of lowlanders have been overlooked, with a discussion which links up to issues of national identity and nation building.
Annexin 2-CXCL12 interactions regulate metastatic cell targeting and growth in the bone marrow.

Annexin 2 (ANXA2) plays a critical role in hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) localization to the marrow niche. In part, ANXA2 supports HSCs by serving as an anchor for stromal-derived factor-1 (CXCL12/SDF-1). Recently it was demonstrated that prostate cancer (PCa) cells, like HSCs, use ANXA2 to establish metastases in marrow. The present study determined the capacity of ANXA2 expression by bone marrow stromal cells (BMSC) to facilitate tumor recruitment and growth through ANXA2-CXCL12 interactions. Significantly more CXCL12 was expressed by BMSCAnxa2+/+ compared to BMSCAnxa2-/- resulting in more PCa cells migrating and binding to BMSCAnxa2+/+ than BMSCAnxa2-/-, and these activities were reduced when CXCL12 interactions were blocked. To further confirm that BMSC signaling through ANXA2-CXCL12 plays a critical role in tumor growth, immunocompromised SCID mice were subcutaneously implanted with human PCa cells mixed with BMSCAnxa2+/+ or BMSCAnxa2-/-. Significantly larger tumors grew in the mice when the tumors were established with BMSCAnxa2+/+ compared to the tumors established with BMSCAnxa2-/-. In addition, fewer PCa cells underwent apoptosis when co-cultured with BMSCAnxa2+/+ compared to BMSCAnxa2-/-, and similar results were obtained in tumors grown in vivo. Finally, significantly more vascular structures were observed in the tumors established with the BMSCAnxa2+/+ compared to the tumors established with BMSCAnxa2-/-. Thus, ANXA2-CXCL12 interactions play a crucial role in the recruitment, growth, and survival of PCa cells in the marrow. Implications: The tumor microenvironment interaction between ANXA2-CXCL12 is critical for metastatic phenotypes and may impact chemotherapeutic potential.
Comparison of Normative and Diagnosed Dissociation on Attachment to Companion Animals and Stuffed Animals

Companion animals can serve as sources of love and attachment during times of stress. Stuffed animals, too, can provide comfort and stability. However, little research has examined companion animal attachment in highly dissociative trauma survivors, and no studies have systematically assessed stuffed animal attachment in dissociative adults. College student samples with either high or low dissociation levels and a sample of women with dissociative identity disorder (DID) completed questionnaires about attachment to companion animals and stuffed animals. The DID group was more attached to companion animals than were either of the student groups. High-dissociating students and DID participants were more attached to stuffed animals than were low-dissociating students. Implications for further research and therapeutic interventions are discussed.
Atomic force microscope: a new tool for imaging crystal growth processes

We present real-time and in situ atomic force microscope (AFM) observations of solution growth on the cleavage plane of two minerals, calcite and fluorite. Different growth behaviours are exhibited: the calcite surface grows via a layer-spiral mechanism, while the fluorite surface grows via the formation of sharp asperities. The differences in behaviour of the two minerals may be linked to the lack of local charge neutrality on the fluorite surface. The growth mechanisms observed on calcite and fluorite provide insight into the expected behaviour of a wide range of salts important in nature and industry.
Persistence of Protective Immunity to Malaria Induced by DNA Priming and Poxvirus Boosting: Characterization of Effector and Memory CD8+-T-Cell Populations

The persistence of immunity to malaria induced in mice by a heterologous DNA priming and poxvirus boosting regimen was characterized. Mice were immunized by priming with DNA vaccine plasmids encoding the Plasmodium yoelii circumsporozoite protein (PyCSP) and murine granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor and boosting with recombinant vaccinia encoding PyCSP. BALB/c mice immunized with either high-dose (100 microg of p PyCSP plus 30 microg of pGM-CSF) or low-dose (1 microg of p PyCSP plus 1 microg of pGM-CSF DNA) priming were protected against challenge with 50 P. yoelii sporozoites. Protection 2 weeks after immunization was 70 to 100%, persisted at this level for at least 20 weeks, and declined to 30 to 40% by 28 weeks. Eight of eight mice protected at 20 weeks were still protected when rechallenged at 40 weeks. The antigen (Ag)-specific effector CD8(+)-T-cell population present 2 weeks after boosting had ex vivo Ag-specific cytolytic activity, expressed both gamma interferon (IFN-gamma) and tumor necrosis factor alpha, and constituted 12 to 20% of splenic CD8(+) T cells. In contrast, the memory CD8(+)-Ag-specific-cell population at 28 weeks lacked cytolytic activity and constituted only 6% of splenic CD8(+) T cells, but at the single-cell level it produced significantly higher levels of IFN-gamma than the effectors. High levels of Ag- or parasite-specific antibodies present 2 weeks after boosting had declined three- to sevenfold by 28 weeks. Low-dose priming was similarly immunogenic and as protective as high-dose priming against a 50-, but not a 250-, sporozoite challenge. These results demonstrate that a heterologous priming and boosting vaccination can provide lasting protection against malaria in this model system.
Blood 25-Hydroxyvitamin D3 Concentrations and Incident Sporadic Colorectal Adenoma Risk: A Pooled Case-Control Study

The authors examined the association between circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25(OH)D3), the best indicator of total vitamin D exposure, and incident, sporadic colorectal adenoma risk in a pooled analysis of primary data from 3 colonoscopy-based case-control studies conducted in Minnesota, North Carolina, and South Carolina between 1991 and 2002. The pooled study included 616 colorectal adenoma cases and 770 polyp-free controls. Multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate the association between circulating 25(OH)D3 and colorectal adenoma risk. Stratified analyses and the likelihood ratio test were used to examine effect modification by various risk factors. In the pooled analysis, higher circulating 25(OH)D3 concentrations were statistically significantly associated with decreased colorectal adenoma risk (highest vs. lowest quartile odds ratio = 0.59, 95% confidence interval: 0.41, 0.84). The observed inverse association was stronger among participants who used nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs regularly (highest vs. lowest quartile odds ratio = 0.33, 95% confidence interval: 0.19, 0.56). Inverse associations between 25(OH)D3 and colorectal adenoma did not differ substantially by other risk factors or by adenoma characteristics. These findings support the hypothesis that greater vitamin D exposure may reduce the risk of colorectal adenoma and suggest that it may do so more strongly in combination with antiinflammatory agents.
Razor: a low-power pipeline based on circuit-level timing speculation

With increasing clock frequencies and silicon integration, power aware computing has become a critical concern in the design of embedded processors and systems-on-chip. One of the more effective and widely used methods for power-aware computing is dynamic voltage scaling (DVS). In order to obtain the maximum power savings from DVS, it is essential to scale the supply voltage as low as possible while ensuring correct operation of the processor. The critical voltage is chosen such that under a worst-case scenario of process and environmental variations, the processor always operates correctly. However, this approach leads to a very conservative supply voltage since such a worst-case combination of different variabilities will be very rare.In this talk, I detail a novel approach to DVS, called Razor, based on dynamic detection and correction of circuit timing errors. The key idea of Razor is to tune the supply voltage by monitoring the error rate during circuit operation, thereby eliminating the need for voltage margins and exploiting the data dependence of circuit delay. A Razor flip-flop is introduced that double-samples pipeline stage values, once with a fast clock and again with a time-borrowing delayed clock. A metastability tolerant comparator then validates latch values sampled with the fast clock. In the event of a timing error, a modified pipeline mispeculation recovery mechanism restores correct program state. A prototype Razor processor will be described, along with physical measurements.
Religion priming differentially increases prosocial behavior among variants of the dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) gene

Building on gene-environment interaction (GE) research, this study examines how the dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) gene interacts with a situational prime of religion to influence prosocial behavior. Some DRD4 variants tend to be more susceptible to environmental influences, whereas other variants are less susceptible. Thus, certain life environments may be associated with acts of prosociality for some DRD4 variants but not others. Given that religion can act as an environmental influence that increases prosocial behavior, environmental input in the form of religion priming may have GE effects. Results showed that participants with DRD4 susceptibility variants were more prosocial when implicitly primed with religion than not primed with religion, whereas participants without DRD4 susceptibility variants were not impacted by priming. This research has implications for understanding why different people may behave prosocially for different reasons and also integrates GE research with experimental psychology.
Algebraic Motion Approximation With NURBS Motions and Its Application to Spherical Mechanism Synthesis

In this work we bring together classical mechanism theory with recent works in the area of Computer Aided Geometric Design(CAGD) of rational motions as well as curve approximation techniques in CAGD to study the problem of mechanism motion approximation from a computational geometric viewpoint. We present a framework for approximating algebraic motions of spherical mechanisms with rational B-Spline spherical motions. Algebraic spherical motions and rational B-spline spherical motions are represented as algebraic curves and rational B-Spline curves in the space of quaternions (or the image space). Thus the problem of motion approximation is transformed into a curve approximation problem, where concepts and techniques in the field of Computer Aided Geometric Design and Computational Geometry may be applied. An example is included at the end to show how a NURBS motion can be used for synthesizing spherical four-bar linkages.
Coherent anti-Stokes emission in a continuous-wave Raman laser in H 2

We report the observation of cw coherent anti-Stokes emission from a nonresonant cw Raman laser in H2. The anti-Stokes emission is collinear with the pump and Stokes beams with a Gaussian spatial profile. The external anti-Stokes to Stokes power ratio is 26.3 parts per million when the laser cavity is tuned to the center of the Raman resonance and higher for slight detuning from line center. A steady-state theory is presented that accurately describes the anti-Stokes behavior as a function of output Stokes power and detuning from the Raman resonance.
Weight change and peptide hormone responses in patients receiving interferon

The purpose of this pilot study was to describe body weight status and peptide hormone responses in patients receiving interferon (IFN) therapy for renal cell carcinoma. Eighteen patients were on therapy for approximately two to three months. Mean weight loss of the patients was 2.2 +/- 0.9 kg (mean +/- SEM) or 4.9 +/- 0.9% of prestudy weight. Of the 18 patients, 6 were further evaluated for peptide hormone responses to meal stimulation before and after treatment (mean: 1.5 months). These subjects had a mean weight loss of 4.3 +/- 1.6 kg or 7.0 +/- 3.5% of prestudy weight. Blood was drawn from subjects before and six times after they had consumed a defined formula liquid meal to provoke enteroinsular peptide release. It was discovered that one-half of this group (n = 3; Group A) had some glucose intolerance following IFN therapy, despite increased response of insulin, gastric inhibitory polypeptide (GIP), and pancreatic polypeptide (PP) to meal stimulation. Further, patients in Group A had a weight loss of -11.7 +/- 2.7% of prestudy weight, whereas the other three patients (Group B) experienced a mean loss of -2.3 +/- 1.2% (p less than 0.04). The three subjects characterized by the smaller loss of prestudy weight (Group B) had decreased glucose response to meal stimulation, despite decreased responses of insulin and GIP. Response of PP was slightly increased with treatment in group B, but the increase was not as large as that in Group A. These data may suggest that extreme weight loss and altered peptide hormone response occur in a subset of cancer patients receiving interferon therapy.
ASIA, NORTHEAST, EARLY STATES AND CIVILIZATIONS

Northeast Asia includes the Chinese northeast, or Dongbei (formerly known as Manchuria), eastern Inner Mongolia, the Russian Far East south of the Amur river, the Korean peninsula, and the Japanese islands (Figure 1). This region is varied in geology, but connected by long coast lines, and much early contact was probably by boat. Japan was completely cut off by the Holocene period, and its largely volcanic islands were somewhat isolated but never completely out of touch. The Korean peninsula is a block of tilted granite, with a relatively steep eastern side with few bays but many small islands on the south and west (Figure 2). The sea between Korean and Japan was probably a meeting ground of cultures, especially the southern end where islands are visible from the peninsula to Kyushu Island of Japan. The Dongbei and its surroundings are more continental. Chonji, the Heavenly Lake, occupies a large crater in mountains called Changbaishan (Ever White Mountains) in Chinese and Paektusan (Whitehead Mountain) in Korean. Lower mountains separate northeastern China from the Russian Far East, and eastern Inner Mongolia from the Dongbei. None of the mountains made impenetrable barriers.
Task-oriented information value measurement based on space-time prisms

Recent years have witnessed a large increase in the amount of information available from the Web and many other sources. Such an information deluge presents a challenge for individuals who have to identify useful information items to complete particular tasks in hand. Information value theory IVT from economics and artificial intelligence has provided some guidance on this issue. However, existing IVT studies often focus on monetary values, while ignoring the spatiotemporal properties which can play important roles in everyday tasks. In this paper, we propose a theoretical framework for task-oriented information value measurement. This framework integrates IVT with the space-time prism from time geography and measures the value of information based on its impact on an individual’s space-time prisms and its capability of improving task planning. We develop and formalize this framework by extending the utility function from space-time accessibility studies and elaborate it using a simplified example from time geography. We conduct a simulation on a real-world transportation network using the proposed framework. Our research could be applied to improving information display on small-screen mobile devices e.g., smartwatches by assigning priorities to different information items.
Co-managed Care for Medical Inpatients, C-L vs C/L Psychiatry

Objective We report on a quality improvement program to co-manage patients with co-morbid medical and psychiatric disorders in the general hospital. A philanthropic donation allowed a high volume, high-acuity urban hospital to hire a co-managing inpatient psychiatrist. The expectation was that facilitating psychiatric evaluation/treatment of medical patients would result in fewer patients staying beyond the expected length of stay (LOS). Method The psychiatrist became a member of a general medical team working with a group of internists and actively co-managing medical patients. After one year, we compared time-to-consultation request and LOS for patients seen through the traditional Consultation-Liaison model and patients seen through the co-managed care model. A second co-managing psychiatrist was hired. A new QI project investigated reduction in lost days. Results There was a decrease in LOS for patients seen in the co-managed care model when compared with those seen via the traditional Consultation-Liaison model. Co-managed patients were seen earlier in the hospitalization. Excluding very-long-stay outliers, there was a reduction in LOS of 1.19 days ( p Conclusions A program of co-managed care reduced both LOS and lost days to the hospital. This resulted in an increase in hospital support to hire 2.5 full-time equivalent psychiatrists and 1.0 full-time equivalent social worker for the Consultation-Liaison service. Such programs may permit the return of modernized psychiatric liaison programs to medical and surgical services.
Estrogenic potential of estriol: A comparison of estrone, estradiol, and estriol in aqueous and lipoid solvents with bioassay

Abstract The comparative estrogenicity of estriol, estrone, and estradiol in a lipoid solvent was determined using the mouse modification of the Astwood uterine imbibition test. Estriol, estrone, and estradiol from doses of 0.001 mcg. to 20 mcg. induced similar uterine weight increases, thereby indicating similar or identical estrogenic potentials among the hormones. Comparson of estriol in oil with estriol in water indicated that at dosage levels from 0.001 mcg. to 0.1 mcg. yielded similar uterine responses. In doses above 0.1 mcg. the effectiveness of aqueous estriol is significantly less than estriol in peanut oil.
Hypersplenism associated with follicular lymphoblastoma; report of a case with splenectomy.

A patient with secondary hypersplenism due to follicular lymphoblastoma of the spleen exhibited neutropenia and thrombocytopenia, the latter being of sufficient severity to require splenectomy. Splenectomy was followed by clinical improvement due to restoration of the platelet count and cessation of purpura, whereas the neturopenia persisted. The significance of the blood, bone marrow, and splenic findings is discussed in the light of current concepts of the mechanism of the hypersplenic effect on the peripheral blood picture.
A team approach to effectively discharge trauma patients

Abstract Background Trauma patients represent a high-volume and high-acuity population. This makes discharge planning difficult. Discharged by noon is a metric shown to correlate with hospital throughput. Improvements in efficiency will be needed to improve resource utilization and increase discharge by noon rate. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of a standardized discharge team on length of stay and discharge by noon. Materials and methods A university level I trauma center implemented a discharge team composed of a trauma attending and an advanced practice provider. This team is tasked with evaluating patients on the discharge list daily. This allowed patients ready for discharge to be evaluated and discharged before noon. A retrospective review was performed to analyze discharge by noon rates before and after implementation of the discharge team. Results A total of 3053 patients were discharged before the implementation of the discharge team and 3801 after. Discharges by noon increased from 25.5% to 51.2% in the post. For patients with an injury severity score >15, this same improvement was seen, 22.5% to 51.9%. Similar improvements were seen when controlling for final discharge disposition and primary payer status. Conclusions By establishing a separate discharge team, large improvements can be seen in the discharge by noon rate. These improvements were maintained when controlling for injury severity score, final discharge disposition, and insurance status. Significant savings are possible in both charges to the patient and direct costs to the facility. The utilization of a discharge team should be considered at similar facilities.
Design and evaluation of a non-contact wireless biopotential monitoring system with motion artifacts

In this paper, we report the design and validation of a non-contact system for biopotential monitoring. The system is featured completely non-contact which can detect potential signals through cloth as thick as three layer jeans. The performance is comparable to the wet electrodes. In addition, we evaluate the motion artifacts of the non-contact electrodes under different textile materials and type of motions, which is one of the most significant barriers for wearable biopotential measurement. This study aims to pave the road for universal stable wearable non-contact biopotential detection.
Control Algorithms for High Speed DSS Trains

Abstract The dynamic shuttle system consists of nonstop, high speed trains. Shuttle cars, used to provide local service, shuttle the passengers to and from the nonstop trains. Two simple control systems for the high speed trains are treated. A macroscopic control system illustrates the use of a stationary time base for these trains and associated control system. The microscopic controller indicates the accuracy that can be achieved by the control systems. It is concluded that a control system combining the desirable attributes of the two systems treated could also be used for control of the shuttle cars.
Preserve: Protecting Data for Long-Term Use

This chapter provides guidance on fundamental data management practices that investigators should perform during the course of data collection to improve both the preservation and usability of their data sets over the long term. Topics covered include fundamental best practices on how to choose the best format for your data, how to better structure data within files, how to define parameters and units, and how to develop data documentation so that others can find, understand, and use your data easily. We also showcase advanced best practices on how to properly specify spatial and temporal characteristics of your data in standard ways so your data are ready and easy to visualize in both 2-D and 3-D viewers. By following this guidance, data will be less prone to error, more efficiently structured for analysis, and more readily understandable for any future questions that the data products might help address.
My becoming an outdoor wilful killjoy: A response to Gray

If Gray is willing to speak, it made me think, then why shouldn’t I? And why shouldn’t you? This article is a response to Tonia Gray’s 2016 article “The ‘F’ word: Feminism in outdoor education” by utilizing Sara Ahmed’s newly published 2017 book Living a Feminist Life. In Living a Feminist Life, Ahmed works to bring feminism home by discussing feminist theory in the context of women’s everyday lives. “The ‘F’ word” insists that the lack of a thorough feminist self-examination in the outdoor education industry is the cause of many of the gender disparity problems. Gray discusses “feminist fatigue” and emphasizes the reluctance that many women in outdoor education have bringing up the “F” word, feminism, over and over again with little response or culture change. Ahmed’s concepts of a feminist survival kit can easily translate into the survival kits we carry into the outdoors, providing us with feminist tools to address this feminist fatigue. Ahmed’s concepts of wilful, snappy killjoys could be an answer to some of the pockets of bias presented by Gray in her exploration of women’s responses to a highly gendered workplace. Applying feminist thought to outdoor education can help challenge, encourage, and inspire both men and women in the industry to be more inclusive professionals and leaders.
Comments on Nordenfelt’s ‘On the Circle of Health’

The search for ideal definitions of concepts, the earlier master of which was, perhaps, Aristotle, has always appealed to philosophers whose quest for certainty was a guiding epistemological principle. In the last half-century, following the analysis of ordinary and “natural” language, a number of philosophers have concluded that there are in fact no neat or sharp boundaries that can, without exception, be drawn between concepts like ‘disease’, ‘disability’, ‘handicap’, ‘deformity’, ‘normal’ and ‘healthy’.
Nutzbringende Anwendung von mechanischen Schwingungen

Im Abschnitt „Mesgerate“ wurden bereits in gewissem Sinne eine grose Reihe derartiger Anwendungen und gerade besonders wichtiger gezeigt.
Swimming bacteria power microspin cycles

Dense suspensions of swimming bacteria are living fluids, an archetype of active matter. For example, Bacillus subtilis confined within a disc-shaped region forms a persistent stable vortex that counterrotates at the periphery. Here, we examined Escherichia coli under similar confinement and found that these bacteria, instead, form microspin cycles: a single vortex that periodically reverses direction on time scales of seconds. Using experimental perturbations of the confinement geometry, medium viscosity, bacterial length, density, and chemotaxis pathway, we show that morphological alterations of the bacteria transition a stable vortex into a periodically reversing one. We develop a mathematical model based on single-cell biophysics that quantitatively recreates the dynamics of these vortices and predicts that density gradients power the reversals. Our results define how microbial physics drives the active behavior of dense bacterial suspensions and may allow one to engineer novel micromixers for biomedical and other microfluidic applications.
Gene Therapy for Inherited Retinal Degeneration.

Abstract Inherited retinal degeneration (IRD), a group of rare retinal diseases that primarily lead to the progressive loss of retinal photoreceptor cells, can be inherited in all modes of inherita...
EVIDENCE FOR CYCLIC GUANOSINE MONOPHOSPHATE IMPAIRMENT IN ACUTE DECOMPENSATED HEART FAILURE PATIENTS

Cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) plays a key role in cardiorenal protection. After activation of guanylyl cyclase receptor A (GC-A) by atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and b-type natriuretic peptide (BNP), plasma and urinary cGMP increases. To date, plasma and urinary cGMP in human heart
Graph-aware Weighted Hybrid ADMM for Fast Decentralized Optimization

Distributed optimization has gained popularity in many areas because it can to cope with the increasing volume of data, and the corresponding demand for computational resources. A popular distributed solver is the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM). Fully decentralized (D) ADMM arises when node-to-node communications have to abide by the underlying network connectivity. DADMM’s convergence however, slows down as the network diameter grows large. To deal with this challenge, the recently proposed hybrid (H) ADMM provides considerable performance boost over DADMM by exploiting local topology information. But HADMM only applies to unweighted graphs. The present contribution develops a weighted hybrid (WH) consensus-based ADMM approach that can deal with weighted graphs. The resultant scheme further improves the performance of HADMM through graph-aware weight tuning. Theoretical analysis offers convergence guarantees and establishes linear convergence rate, while numerical tests on various graphs demonstrate the WHADMM merits.
Long-Term Care Insurance: Is It Really the Answer?

As the elderly population continues to age and increase in size, long-term care financing will become an ever-larger problem for the elderly as well as their families and the nation as a whole. Long-term care insurance appears to be a possible solution to the problem of financing long-term care; however, long-term care insurance has many large issues that need to be addressed before consumers or the industry can or will put any confidence in it as a firm solution. This paper will discuss the problem of the aging population in financing their long-term care and discuss whether long-term care insurance is a viable solution. The paper will first discuss the basics of long-term care along with the aging population and the need for long-term care. Then, the paper will turn to the basics of long-term care insurance followed by the role of long-term care insurance in the financing of long-term care. The paper next analyzes the problems with the long-term care insurance market from both the perspective of the consumer and the companies in the industry. Finally, the paper will end with recommendations for trying to sustain the industry along with other potential options to help finance long-term care, which appear to be more sustainable for the companies and more accepted by the consumers.
Directional Space-Time Waveform Design for Interference-Avoiding MIMO Configurations

We consider the problem of directional space-time waveform design for proactive interference avoidance in multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) link configurations. We propose to instruct the transmitter to communicate with the intended receiver at a given code sequence and angle-of-arrival that are jointly optimized to maximize the maximum attainable pre-detection signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR). More specifically, directional transmissions to the intended receiver are achieved by designing space-time waveforms that maximize SINR at the output of the max-SINR receiver filter. Simulation of the proposed adaptive interference-avoiding space-time waveform designs in MIMO link configurations show superior performance in terms of post-filtering SINR and bit-error-rate (BER) when compared to interference-suppressive non-adaptive receiver designs. Joint optimization of the code sequence and array response vector at the transmitter demonstrate that the proposed spacetime waveform designs perform within 2 dB from the maximum attainable SINR at the intended receiver.
Machine learning algorithms predict bark coverages on saguaro cacti (Carnegiea gigantea)

Abstract Bark coverages lead to the premature death of saguaro cacti (Carnegiea gigantea). Bark coverages on surfaces of more than 20 species of tall, long-lived cacti occur throughout the Americas. This study analyzed data of bark coverages on twelve surfaces on 1149 saguaro cacti from four sampling periods over a period of 23 years. Bark coverage starts on equator-facing surfaces and progresses to polar-facing surfaces. For this population, 45 % of all cacti were dead by the end of the 23-year period of study. In order to understand how bark coverages are related to cactus death, four machine learning programs were used to analyze the data obtained. Decision trees predicted rates of bark coverages and death with time as a variable with probabilities of 90 % and 99 %, respectively. Trough surfaces were better predictors of bark coverage and cactus death than crest surfaces. Left troughs of both polar- and west-facing surfaces were the best predictors of bark coverage and cactus death with probabilities above 99 %. The four machine learning programs gave complimentary results to present a unified view to predict future bark coverages over time and predict eventual cactus death with more than 99 % accuracy.
Games People Play: Lessons on Performance Measure Gaming from New Zealand Comment on "Gaming New Zealand's Emergency Department Target: How and Why Did It Vary Over Time and Between Organisations?"

For decades, observers have noted that gaming of performance measurement appears to be both endemic and endlessly creative. A recent study by Tenbensel and colleagues provides a detailed look at gaming of a health system performance measure—emergency department (ED) wait time —within four hospitals in New Zealand. Combined, these four hospitals handled more than 25% of the ED visits in the country each year. Tenbensel and colleagues examine whether the New Zealand ED wait time target was set appropriately and whether we can trust any performance measure statistics that are not independently verified or audited. Their thought-provoking examination is relevant to anyone working in quality improvement and provides a valuable set of tools for detecting gaming in performance measurement.
Teaching Logic with Logic Boxes.

Logic is an important but frequently neglected topic of the mathematics cur riculum. Recognizing the need for better formal reasoning skills in preparing stu dents to study mathematics and solve prob lems, An Agenda for Action (NCTM 1980, 8) recommended that "the higher-order mental processes of logical reasoning, infor mation processing, and decision-making should be considered basic to the appli cation of mathematics. Mathematics cur ricula and teachers should set as objectives the development of logical processes, con cepts, and language, including... precise use of such language as at least, at most, either-or, both-and, and if then. " The teach ing materials described in this article have been successfully used to help second-, fourth-, and seventh-grade students become skillful in the use of logic. They have also been used with selected adults. The first step in achieving the higher level mental processes of logical reasoning as used in mathematics is correct use of the terms of logic. Our preliminary research with second-, fourth-, and seventh-grade students has shown that when students learn to use logic terms correctly in sen tences, they tend to use those same logic terms correctly in inferences. For example, students commonly misuse or as a synonym for and. As a consequence, they incorrectly
279 – Aminopeptidase P2

Publisher Summary This chapter elaborates the activity, specificity and structural chemistry of aminopeptidase P2. APP2 removes the N-terminal residue from select peptides, three amino acids or longer, that have a proline residue in the penultimate position. The enzyme has a broad specificity for the PI residue, although glycine and especially proline are released slowly. In the PI position, the primary specificity proline residue can be substituted with 3,4-dehydroproline or homoproline, but not with trans-Ahydroxyproline. In the P2 position, the enzyme has a strong preference for small amino acids, such as Gly, Ala, Pro, Hyp and Ser, and sometimes Val. The presence of a fourth residue enhances the affinity of the enzyme for both substrates and inhibitors. APP2 is a membrane-bound ectoenzyme found on the luminal surface of vascular endothelial cells, on some epithelial cells and on certain lymphoid and myeloid cell lines. The enzyme is attached to the membrane by a GPI-anchor and can be released by treatment with bacterial phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C or by detergents that have a high critical micellar concentration. APP2, like other GPI-anchored enzymes, is associated with cholesterol/glycosphingolipid-rich membrane lipid rafts in porcine lung.