cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Minimum sintering temperatures and defluidization characteristics of fluidizable particles

Abstract It has been demonstrated that the minimum sintering temperature of a fluidizable particle can be determined simply and reliably using pushrod dilatometry. The minimum sintering temperature is an important physical property of the particle in the process of high-temperature fluidization, and is defined as that temperature at which thermally induced surface softening and sintering begins. In addition, at temperatures above the minimum sintering temperature, there is a relationship between the dilatation-temperature curve and the excess gas velocity-temperature curve (the defluidization limit). The experimental work performed is in two parts. In the first, dilatometry curves are presented showing the minimum sintering temperature for a number of inorganic salts as well as a complex titanium dioxide ore and coal ash. The second consists of defluidization curves for both amorphous and crystalline materials obtained using a 7.6 cm-diam. high-temperature fluidized bed capable of attaining 1150°C. The results of both sets of experiments are compared and discussed.
Learning immunology from the yellow fever vaccine: innate immunity to systems vaccinology

Despite their great success, we understand little about how effective vaccines stimulate protective immune responses. Two recent developments promise to yield such understanding: the appreciation of the crucial role of the innate immune system in sensing microorganisms and tuning immune responses, and advances in systems biology. Here I review how these developments are yielding insights into the mechanism of action of the yellow fever vaccine, one of the most successful vaccines ever developed, and the broader implications for vaccinology.
Dual-mode floating-point adder architectures

Most modern microprocessors provide multiple identical functional units to increase performance. This paper presents dual-mode floating-point adder architectures that support one higher precision addition and two parallel lower precision additions. A double precision floating-point adder implemented with the improved single-path algorithm is modified to design a dual-mode double precision floating-point adder that supports both one double precision addition and two parallel single precision additions. A similar technique is used to design a dual-mode quadruple precision floating-point adder that implements the two-path algorithm. The dual-mode quadruple precision floating-point adder supports one quadruple precision and two parallel double precision additions. To estimate area and worst-case delay, double, quadruple, dual-mode double, and dual-mode quadruple precision floating-point adders are implemented in VHDL using the improved single-path and the two-path floating-point addition algorithms. The correctness of all the designs is tested and verified through extensive simulation. Synthesis results show that dual-mode double and dual-mode quadruple precision adders designed with the improved single-path algorithm require roughly 26% more area and 10% more delay than double and quadruple precision adders designed with the same algorithm. Synthesis results obtained for adders designed with the two-path algorithm show that dual-mode double and dual-mode quadruple precision adders requires 33% and 35% more area and 13% and 18% more delay than double and quadruple precision adders, respectively.
Attacking HIV, tuberculosis and histoplasmosis with XSEDE resources

HIV, tuberculosis and histoplasmosis are infectious diseases that affect millions of people world-wide. We describe our efforts to find cures for these diseases using the technique of virtual screening to identify possible inhibitors for essential proteins in these organisms using one of the XSEDE supercomputers. We have completed the virtual screens and have found promising compounds for each disease. Cell culture experiments have supported the likelihood of a number of the compounds being effective for treating both histoplasmosis and tuberculosis.
Infant/Parent Interaction: Studies and Intervention Guidelines Based on the SIAI Model.

Social interactions between caregiver and infant provide the interpersonal context for the infant's development. However, research indicates that the prelinguistic communicative characteristics of ...
Human-robot interaction in the context of simulated route reconnaissance missions

The goal of this research was to examine the ways in which human operators interact with simulated semiautonomous unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), semiautonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and teleoperated UGVs (Teleop). Robotic operators performed parallel route reconnaissance missions with each platform alone and with all three platforms. When given all three platforms, participants failed to detect more targets than when given only the UAV or UGV; they were also less likely to complete their mission in the allotted time. Target detection during missions was the poorest with the Teleop alone, likely because of the demands of remote driving. Spatial ability was found to be a good predictor of target-detection performance. However, slowing sensor feed video frame rate or the imposition of a short response latency (250 ms) between Teleop control and Teleop reaction failed to affect target-detection performance significantly. Nevertheless, these video image manipulations did influence assessment of sy...
The role of physical embodiment in human-robot interaction

Autonomous robots are agents with physical bodies that share our environment. In this work, we test the hypothesis that physical embodiment has a measurable effect on performance and perception of social interactions. Support of this hypothesis would suggest fundamental differences between virtual agents and robots from a social standpoint and have significant implications for human-robot interaction. We measure task performance and perception of a robot's social abilities in a structured but open-ended task based on the Towers of Hanoi puzzle. Our experiment compares aspects of embodiment by evaluating: (1) the difference between a physical robot and a simulated one; (2) the effect of physical presence through a co-located robot versus a remote tele-present robot. We present data from a pilot study with 12 subjects showing interesting differences in perception of remote physical robot's and simulated agent's attention to the task, and task enjoyment.
Antecedents of Cardiovascular Disease in Six Solomon Islands Societies

Cardiovascular risk factors have been analyzed as part of a combined ethnographic, anthropometric, and medical study of 1390 adult subjects in defined populations representing six Solomon Islands Societies. The six societies, all at low levels of acculturation, differed in habitat, way of life, and exposure to Western civilization. Criteria for ranking the societies in respect to acculturation were developed based on demographic changes within defined populations, secular increase in adult height, length and intensity of contact with Western cultural influences, religious belief, education, availability of medical care, economy, and diet. The six tribal groups were ranked by these criteria as follows: (1) Nasioi, (2) Nagovisi, (3) Lau, (4) Baegu, (5) Aita, (6) Kwaio. Physical health and nutrition were good in all six groups, and clinical evidence of coronary heart disease and atherosclerosis was absent. Serum cholesterol levels were higher at almost all ages and both sexes in the three more acculturated t...
A Hybrid Model for Teaching Recursion

Novice programmers struggle to understand the concept of recursion, partly because of unfamiliarity with recursive activities, difficulty with visualizing program execution, and difficulty understanding its back flow of control. In this paper we discuss the conceptual and program visualization approaches to teaching recursion. We also introduce our approach to teaching recursion in the ChiQat-Tutor system that relies on ideas from both approaches. ChiQat-Tutor will help Computer Science students learn recursion, develop accurate mental models of recursion, and serve as an effective visualization tool with which hidden contexts of recursion can become evident.
Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein is associated with the adapter protein Grb2 and the epidermal growth factor receptor in living cells.

Abstract Src homology domains [i.e., Src homology domain 2 (SH2) and Src homology domain 3 (SH3)] play a critical role in linking receptor tyrosine kinases to downstream signaling networks. A well-defined function of the SH3-SH2-SH3 adapter Grb2 is to link receptor tyrosine kinases, such as the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), to the p21ras-signaling pathway. Grb2 has also been implicated to play a role in growth factor-regulated actin assembly and receptor endocytosis, although the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, we show that Grb2 interacts through its SH3 domains with the human Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein (WASp), which plays a role in regulation of the actin cytoskeleton. We find that WASp is expressed in a variety of cell types and is exclusively cytoplasmic. Although the N-terminal SH3 domain of Grb2 binds significantly stronger than the C-terminal SH3 domain to WASp, full-length Grb2 shows the strongest binding. Both phosphorylation of WASp and its interaction with Grb2, as well as with another adapter protein Nck, remain constitutive in serum-starved or epidermal growth factor-stimulated cells. WASp coimmunoprecipitates with the activated EGFR after epidermal growth factor stimulation. Purified glutathione S-transferase-full-length-Grb2 fusion protein, but not the individual domains of Grb2, enhances the association of WASp with the EGFR, suggesting that Grb2 mediates the association of WASp with EGFR. This study suggests that Grb2 translocates WASp from the cytoplasm to the plasma membrane and the Grb2-WASp complex may play a role in linking receptor tyrosine kinases to the actin cytoskeleton.
Effects of protein subunits removal on the computed motions of partial 30S structures of the ribosome

The Anisotropic Network Model (ANM) is used to study motions of the 30S small ribosomal subunit. The effect of the absence of certain subunits on the motions of the remaining partial structures was investigated by removing one protein, pairs of proteins and selected sets of proteins at a time. Our results show that the removal of some proteins doesn’t change the large-scale dynamics of the partial structures, but the removal of certain subunits does cause significant changes in motion of the remaining structure, and these changes can be reverted by the removal of other subunits, which indicates interdependence between motions of various parts of the 30S ribosomal structure. We further found that the subunits showing such interdependence have strong positive correlation of their motions, which indicates that these subunits function as a unit block in the 30S small ribosomal subunit. Dynamically interdependent subunit pairs identified in this paper are consistent with previous experimental observations that suggested dimerization of those subunits.
Bahadur Efficiency of Tests of Separate Hypotheses and Adaptive Test Statistics

The notion of separability of hypotheses was first introduced by Cox (1961); two families of hypotheses are separate if no distribution in one family can be obtained as a limit of distributions from the other family. For testing separate hypotheses, Cox (1961, 1962) suggested the test based on the comparison of the logarithm of the likelihood ratio with its expected value (or estimate thereof) under each hypothesis. The tests of such hypotheses are required to have high power against the specified alternatives; when nuisance parameters are present, this concept leads to the notion of an adaptive test, which by definition must be asymptotically efficient for any value of the unknown nuisance parameter. A testing problem of separate hypotheses for an exponential family is studied from the standpoint of Bahadur asymptotic optimality. A formula for the Bahadur-exact slope of any smooth test statistic is obtained, and in the example of testing lognormality versus exponentiality, it is shown that Cox's test can...
Plant transport and methane production as controls on methane flux from arctic wet meadow tundra

The roles of plant transport and CH4 production in controlling CH4 flux from wet meadow tundra communities were investigated. Plant transport was the dominant pathway of CH4 flux from this ecosystem. Most CH4 production (measured within situ anaerobic incubations) occurred well below the water table, and C supply (estimated by anaerobic CO2 production) was the best single predictor of CH4 production rates. Plant transport of CH4 was controlled both by CH4 supply and the plant species.Eriophorum angustifolium transported substantially more CH4 than didCarex aquatilis, due to differences in size and structure of the two species. The composition of the plant community was a greater control on CH4 flux from the site than either water table height (which varied only slightly) or CH4 production rates, indicating the importance of species-specific plant dynamics in controlling CH4 flux from arctic wetlands.
Petri-net-based supervisory control for FMSs using the theory of regions

The theory of regions has been recognized as the optimal deadlock prevention policy based on the marking/transition-separation instance (MTSI) or the event-state-separation-problem (ESSP) method for obtaining a maximally permissive controller in existing literature. All legal and live maximal behavior of the Petri nets model can be held by using above methods. However, its major drawback is all MTSIs (ESSPs) are required to indentify for solving the deadlock problems. For the reason, the crucial marking/transition-separation instance (CMTSI) is proposed in this paper to allow designers to deal with system deadlocks using few MTSIs. The advantage of the proposed methodology is that the computational cost can be reduced due to few MTSIs involved in. Importantly, the paper proves and demonstrates that our methodology is utilities.
Failure analysis of two-bit flipping decoding algorithms

We consider a class of bit flipping algorithms for low-density parity-check codes over the binary symmetric channel in which one additional bit at a variable and check nodes is employed. For these two-bit flipping algorithms, we give and illustrate through examples a recursive procedure for finding all uncorrectable error patters and corresponding induced subgraphs, referred as a trapping set profile. This procedure is used to select a small collection of good algorithms that in a decoding diversity approach, run in parallel or serial, outperform Gallager A/B, min-sum and sum product algorithm in the error floor region.
Peripheral neuropathy in a cohort of human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients. Incidence and relationship to other nervous system dysfunction.

• A cohort of 94 patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus was evaluated clinically and electrophysiologically for the presence of peripheral neuropathy, and the results were compared with evaluations of central nervous system function. Thirty-two (34%) had some degree of peripheral neuropathy; 18 (19%) (six [12%] of the 49 asymptomatic patients, five [45%] of the 11 patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome [AIDS], and seven [21%] of the 34 patients with AIDS-related complex) had neuropathy on clinical examination; and 21 (23%) (eight [16%] asymptomatic, four [36%] AIDS, and nine [26%] AIDS-related complex) had neuropathy on electrophysiologic evaluation. There was a significant correlation between the presence of neuropathy and evidence of central nervous system dysfunction.
Testosterone is required for gonadotropin-releasing hormone stimulation of luteinizing hormone-beta messenger ribonucleic acid expression in female rats.

Pulsatile GnRH stimulates the synthesis and secretion of LH and FSH in both male and female rats. In the male rat, exogenous GnRH pulses increase alpha, LH and FSH beta messenger RNAs (mRNAs) 3-fold within 24 h. In contrast, the results of recent in vivo and in vitro studies have shown that GnRH stimulates an increase in alpha and FSH beta mRNAs, but not LHbeta. However, during the estrous cycle, LHbeta mRNA increases during the GnRH-induced LH surge on proestrus afternoon. This increase in LHbeta mRNA appears to be coincident with a transient rise in serum testosterone (T). Therefore, the present study was conducted to determine whether T has a role in facilitating GnRH stimulation of LHbeta mRNA expression. In the first group of studies, adult female rats were ovariectomized, and T implants were inserted sc 7 days before the study (serum T, 1.86 ng/ml). Animals received iv pulses of GnRH (25 ng; 30-min interval) for 6-24 h (saline pulses to controls). The data showed that in the presence of T, GnRH stim...
p120-Catenin Is a Key Component of the Cadherin–γ-Secretase Supercomplex

In this work, we show several previously unknown features of p120-catenin in a cadherin– catenin complex that are critical for our understanding of cadherin-based adhesion and signaling. We show that in human epithelial A-431 cells, nearly all p120 molecules engage in high-affinity interaction with E-cadherin– catenin complexes located at the cellular surface. p120 is positioned in proximity to -catenin in the complex with cadherin. These findings suggest a functional cooperation between p120 and -catenin in cadherin-based adhesion. A low level of cadherin-free p120 molecules, in contrast, could facilitate p120-dependent signaling. Finally, we present compelling evidence that p120 is a key linker cementing the E-cadherin– catenin complex with the transmembrane protease -secretase. The cell– cell contact location of this supercomplex makes it an important candidate for conducting different signals that rely on -secretase proteolytic activity.
GaN/AlGaN p-channel inverted heterostructure JFET

A novel GaN/AlGaN p-channel inverted heterostructure junction field-effect transistor (HJFET) with a n/sup +/-type gate is proposed and demonstrated. A new superlattice aided strain compensation techniques was used for fabricating high quality GaN/AlGaN p-n junction. The p-channel HJFET gate leakage current was below 10 nA, and the threshold voltage was 8 V, which is close to that of typical n-channel HFETs. This new HJFET device opens up a way for fabricating nitride based complimentary integrated circuits.
Progressive Supranuclear Palsy: Disease Profile and Rehabilitation Strategies

Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) is the most common parkinsonian disorder after Parkinson disease (PD).1–3 Postural instability with frequent falls and difficulty moving the eyes in the vertical direction are the main symptoms of PSP.4,5 However, because the initial clinical features often resemble PD,6–8 many patients are referred for rehabilitation services with the wrong diagnosis. There is no cure or effective medication to manage PSP, and the progression of the symptoms is much faster than in PD.1,2 It is important that physical therapists be aware of the particularities of this disease to ensure that patients are referred to movement disorder specialists for the correct diagnosis. Despite the demand for rehabilitation in this population, there is no evidence in the literature to support its effectiveness. Studies with controlled methods are necessary to provide guidance to physical therapists in the management of this disease. The purposes of this update are to highlight the characteristics of this disease and to evaluate rehabilitation strategies. Progressive supranuclear palsy was first described as a distinct clinical entity in 1964.9 The syndrome was identified by Steele et al at a meeting of the American Neurological Association where they reported that a group of 9 patients with a progressive brain disorder did not conform to any classifications of diseases already known. Common symptoms included ophthalmoplegia, pseudobulbar palsy, dysarthria, dystonic rigidity of the neck and upper trunk, and dementia. Neuropathological alterations involved neuronal loss and neurofibrillary tangles in the basal ganglia, brain stem, and cerebellum. The disease was named progressive supranuclear palsy , referring to the progressive degeneration of the brain structures localized superior to the oculomotor nuclei, causing palsy and eventual paralysis of ocular movements. Another term also used in the literature, but not as often, …
Assault-related Penetrating Ocular Injury

We performed a retrospective study of 42 patients with penetrating ocular injury resulting from assault over a five-year period (1986 through 1991). Thirty-six patients were male (86%) and six were female, with a mean age of 29 years. Twenty-nine of 42 patients (70%) had consumed alcohol or used illegal drugs before their injury. Fists were the leading cause of injury (ten patients), followed by broken glass (nine patients). At least six months of follow-up was obtained on 40 patients (95%), with a mean follow-up of ten months. Ten (25%) patients had good visual outcome with final visual acuity of 20/40 or better. Twenty-five patients (63%) had final visual acuity of less than 5/200 at final follow-up. In this group with poor visual outcome, 12 patients (48%) underwent enucleation or evisceration (five primarily) because of extensive ocular damage. Five of 42 patients (12%) had visual acuity of no light perception, and eight (20%) had visual acuity ranging from light perception to counting fingers. The remaining five patients (12%) had final visual acuities between 20/100 and 5/200. Factors predictive of poor visual outcome were as follows: (1) initial visual acuity of light perception or worse; (2) injury by a blunt object; (3) posterior scleral lacerations (> 15 mm in length); and (4) presence of vitreous hemorrhage, retinal detachment, and prolapsed uvea. Penetrating ocular injury with posterior segment involvement caused by assaultive injury results in guarded visual outcome in most patients. Prevention of such injuries remains difficult.
Carbon nanotube sensors for exhaled breath components

A new method for the detection of nitric oxide (NO) in gas phase is based on a combination of acidic gas scrubbing, oxidation, and conductivity measurements using a chemically functionalized carbon nanotube field-effect transistor (NTFET) device. Gas mixtures containing NO are passed through an Ascarite scrubber and then an oxidizing material (CrO3) which converts NO into NO2. The latter is delivered to the surface of the NTFET sensor coated with poly(ethylene imine) (PEI) polymer. Interaction of the gas with a chemically functionalized NTFET results in a conductivity change that is proportional to the NO gas concentration. The wide range of NO gas concentrations from about?2?ppb up to 5?ppm was tested. A detection limit of NO has been measured as 5 ppb with a signal-to-noise ratio (S/N = 3) in inert atmosphere at a fixed relative humidity (RH = ?30%). Cross-sensitivity to CO2 and O2 was measured in the gas mixture, modeling human breath conditions. Compared to using chemiluminescence, a state-of-the-art technique for monitoring NO concentrations, this method offers the advantages of low cost, compact size and simplicity of set-up for monitoring NO concentrations while overcoming the limitations of cross-contaminants, possibly creating a foundation for enabling self-diagnostics and home care for asthma sufferers.
Meson exchange potentials in an NN quark model with quark-antiquark excitations

In a recent quark-model study of the NN interaction, we explicitly incorporated the qq excitations inherent in the quark-gluon interaction lagrangian into the model space, and examined the contributions to the NN potential of particular (3q)(qq) components of the single-nucleon wave function, with specific baryon and meson quantum numbers, through the Wigner transforms of the resultant coupling terms of the quark exchange kernels. The present investigation focuses on the long-range parts of the potentials. It is shown that these arise almost entirely through two of the 25 possible types of exchange terms, and that these two correspond to the simple exchange of a qq pair between the two nucleons and contribute only through coupling terms for which the (3q) components have the quantum numbers of a nucleon and the (qq) component the color-singlet character of a real pseudoscalar or vector meson. The potentials arising from these simple color- singlet qq exchanges have been evaluated in explicit analytic form. In their dependence on nucleon ((II. uz) and (7, . T*) factors and the relative importance and signs of spin-spin, spin-independent central, LS, and tensor terms they have all the characteristics of conventional OBEP's. They are in remarkably good agreement with conventional OBEP's in the r 2 1.2 fm range and have the same qualitative radial features over an even wider range, the one exception being the steep short-range repulsive rise of the spin-independent central term of the o-exchange potential. The corresponding qq exchange potential instead changes sign to become attractive at r < 0.8 fm.
Percutaneous Radiofrequency Catheter Ablation for Atrial Fibrillation Prior to Atrial Septal Defect Closure

Percutaneous Radiofrequency Catheter Ablation. Patients with an atrial septal defect (ASD) commonly have atrial fibrillation (AF) and closure of the ASD rarely controls the arrhythmia. We report on the management of 4 patients with recurrent medically refractory AF in the setting of an unrepaired ASD who underwent percutaneous RFA prior to ASD closure. In 3 of the 4 patients AF was controlled after ablation without antiarrhythmic drug therapy and in the fourth patient AF was controlled with antiarrhythmic therapy after ASD closure. Based on these limited results it seems reasonable to consider RFA of medically refractory AF in patients prior to planned percutaneous ASD closure.
A differential analysis of sutural and remodeling growth in the human face.

Abstract As shown by bone growth at sutural contact surfaces, the particular bones involved in facial growth undergo a direct displacement away from each other. This growth process brings about a corresponding relocation of the various component parts in each individual bone. As a consequence of such relocation, remodeling adjustments take place simultaneously in order to maintain alignment, proportions, and shape, as well as to bring about compensatory increases in the over-all size of the entire bone relative to the amount of sutural bone growth. The overlay procedure used in the present study enables the worker to separate these growth processes and to visualize and demonstrate the pattern and actual extent of each.
CRACK: qualitative reasoning about fatigue and fracture in steel bridges

The consultant reasoning about cracking knowledge (CRACK) system, which uses qualitative reasoning to analyze fatigue and fracture in steel bridges, is described. CRACK's architecture includes three reasoning levels-heuristic, qualitative, and quantitative-linked by a common representation of the bridge's physical structure. CRACK explains a failure by matching a crack progression sequence to the observed facts. The system establishes the type of problem using design critiques, predictive modeling, or failure analysis describes the problem by gathering information on the girder's geometry, service history, material properties, and observed symptoms. It then hypothesizes a cause, qualitatively simulates possible crack progression sequences to guide quantitative analysis, calculates the fracture mechanics to determine critical crack sizes and fatigue lives, and evaluates the hypothesis. Finally it states a conclusion. Several difficulties that arose in developing a simple, theoretically defensible, qualitative model which translates numerical relationships into a correct set of behaviors are discussed. >
Susceptibility of larval dragonflies to zebra mussel colonization and its effect on larval movement and survivorship

Colonization by the zebra mussel, Dreissena polymorpha, was quantified for five dragonfly species that differed in size and larval habits in a Michigan lake. Both larger size and a non-burrowing habit independently increased susceptibility to colonization. In 2005, over 50% of the final instars of the sprawlers Didymops transversa and Hagenius brevistylus were colonized, as well as younger instars. Rarely colonized were Progomphus obscurus and Dromogomphus spinosus, whose larvae burrow under sand, and the sprawler Epitheca princeps, whose final instars were lightly covered with sand. Hagenius larvae that had been preyed upon carried more mussels than those dying of other causes. More generally, mussel attachment decreased the probability that sprawlers left the water to emerge, the distance that some species traveled before emerging, and the ability of an overturned sprawler to right itself. On average, final instars of Didymops and Hagenius remaining in the water carried three times as many mussels as individuals known to emerge. Compared to uncolonized individuals, Epitheca and Progomphus with mussels emerged closer to the water line. Among colonized Didymops, the distance traveled on land before emerging decreased with increasing mussel load. Of the colonized Didymops that could right themselves, righting time increased with mussel load. Because the two common species of sprawlers were disproportionately colonized, and mussel attachment decreased their chances of emerging, our results suggest that D. polymorpha has the potential to affect the community structure of this guild of aquatic and terrestrial predators.
Building Confidence during Peace and War

Abstract : The Confidence Building Measures assessed in this Note are all fundamentally aimed at avoiding war or escalation. Although avoidance of war and escalation are high priorities for the United States, they are not only national objectives. If they were, there would be no crisis management dilemma. Rather, it is the tension between war avoidance and the protection of other U.S. interests that makes this problem so complex and subtle and, therefore, not amenable to formula solutions. This is further complicated by periodic changes in public and policymaker attitudes about the relative importance of war avoidance, defending allies, stopping Soviet expansionism, and other issues. The difficulty-for policymakers and analysts like-lies in balancing these and similar considerations. In many cases, traditional crisis management techniques may be more appropriate and effective than formal CBMs in balancing these competing interests. Keywords: Foreign policy, USSR, United States, Government, Cold war potential, Prevention.
A 2009 Perspective on the 2004 American Thoracic Society Statement, “Respiratory Care of the Patient With Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy”

This is a summary of the presentation "A 2009 Perspective on the 2004 American Thoracic Society Statement, 'Respiratory Care of the Patient With Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy,'" presented as part of the program on pulmonary management of pediatric patients with neuromuscular disorders at the 30th annual Carrell-Krusen Neuromuscular Symposium on February 20, 2008.
Estimating Sampling Biases and Measurement Uncertainties of AIRS-AMSU-A Temperature and Water Vapor Observations Using MERRA Reanalysis

We use MERRA (Modern Era Retrospective-Analysis for Research Applications) temperature and water vapor data to estimate the sampling biases of climatologies derived from the AIRS/AMSU-A (Atmospheric Infrared Sounder/Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A) suite of instruments. We separate the total sampling bias into temporal and instrumental components. The temporal component is caused by the AIRS/AMSU-A orbit and swath that are not able to sample all of time and space. The instrumental component is caused by scenes that prevent successful retrievals. The temporal sampling biases are generally smaller than the instrumental sampling biases except in regions with large diurnal variations, such as the boundary layer, where the temporal sampling biases of temperature can be ± 2 K and water vapor can be 10% wet. The instrumental sampling biases are the main contributor to the total sampling biases and are mainly caused by clouds. They are up to 2 K cold and > 30% dry over midlatitude storm tracks and tropical deep convective cloudy regions and up to 20% wet over stratus regions. However, other factors such as surface emissivity and temperature can also influence the instrumental sampling bias over deserts where the biases can be up to 1 K cold and 10% wet. Some instrumental sampling biases can vary seasonally and/or diurnally. We also estimate the combined measurement uncertainties of temperature and water vapor from AIRS/AMSU-A and MERRA by comparing similarly sampled climatologies from both data sets. The measurement differences are often larger than the sampling biases and have longitudinal variations.
A Dynamic Programming Algorithm for Name Matching

In many database and data mining applications concerning people, name matching plays a key role. Many algorithms to match names have been proposed. These algorithms must take into account spelling and transcription errors, name abbreviations, nicknames, out of order names, and missing or extra names. The existing algorithms typically fall along the lines of sound based, edit distance based, or token based algorithms which can use other methods in matching each part of the name separately. In this article, we propose a dynamic programming approach that includes a substring matching algorithm. The algorithm's performance is compared against two often used algorithms by testing on a random sample of names from a database. The data used for the testing comes from the DHS US-VISIT Arrival and Departure Information System database, which includes names from all over the world. The performance on this data set was compared with that of the Damerau-Levenshtein algorithm and the Jaro-Winkler algorithm. The dynamic programming algorithm with substring matching performed better than both of these algorithms on the data tested
Parent Behavioral Training for Child Noncompliance: Rationale, Concepts, and Effectiveness:

"No!" Is there a word more famil iar to parents of toddlers? Indeed, not only do all children learn to say "no" to their parents, doing so is considered a normal characteristic of the developing 2to 3-year-old. Moreover, saying "no" may even be an expression of a toddler's emerg ing sense of identity, self-regulation, and independence.1 However, for some families, what begins as appar ently age-appropriate behavior de velops into a severe and unmanage able problem. In such cases, parents feel frustrated, helpless, and ineffec tive as their children become more and more defiant and oppositional. Such children refuse to follow direc tions and rules set by parents, by teachers, and by other adults. In short, these children are continually noncompliant, consistently refusing to initiate or complete actions re quested by other people.2 Noncompliance is perhaps the most common complaint of parents in general and is the most frequent presenting complaint among chil dren referred to clinics for treatment
A Dollarization/Free Banking Blueprint for Argentina

To put an end to monetary mischief and rein in hyperinflation, Argentina established an unorthodox currency board system on April 1, 1991. Argentines called the system "convertibility," an uncommon term for an unusual system. Like all currency board arrangements, convertibility maintained a fixed exchange rate on the spot market between the peso and its anchor currency, the U.S. dollar. That nominal anchor checked inflation: the consumer price index at the end of 2001 was about where it was in 1994.
Genetic testing in subjects with no clinical abnormality: the tip of a huge iceberg.

Genetic testing for individuals with manifest long QT syndrome (LQTS) has become part of routine care to confirm the clinical diagnosis and to stratify risk. A spinoff of such testing has been the identification of proband relatives with normal QT intervals who nevertheless are mutation carriers. A
Respiratory sinus arrhythmia in humans: an obligatory role for vagal feedback from the lungs

Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) is used as a noninvasive measure of vagal cardiac input, but its causative mechanisms in humans remain undetermined. We compared the RSA of five lung-denervated double-lung transplant patients with intact hearts to six normal (N) control subjects, five heart-denervated patients, and two liver transplant patients at matched tidal volumes (VT's) and breathing frequencies. In N and liver transplant subjects, RSA was significant during eupnea and increased two- to threefold with increasing VT and inspiratory effort. In heart- and lung-denervated subjects, RSA at eupnea was significant but was only 53% of that in N subjects and was not respondent to changing VT, inspiratory effort, or breathing frequency. We also compared the RSA of N subjects during voluntary (active) and passive positive pressure ventilation at normocapnia. RSA was reduced from 11 +/- 2.2 beats/min during active ventilation to 5.4 +/- 0.8 beats/min during PPV. We conclude that vagal feedback from pulmonary stretch receptors is obligatory for the generation of a neurally mediated RSA in awake humans at normal and raised levels of VT and respiratory motor output. In intact humans, we also hypothesize an important effect for nonpulmonary central and/or peripheral modulation of RSA. It is likely that the key mechanisms for neurally mediated RSA in unanesthetized humans are mutually dependent.
Renal Duplication Anomalies

Renal duplication anomalies are common in the pediatric population, but are frequently clinically silent. They will come to the attention of a medical provider if they develop symptoms of infection or obstruction.
Transforming Corporate Political Media Spending into Freedom of Speech: A Story of Alchemy and Finesse, 1977–78

Abstract This article documents the late seventies behind-the-scenes battle led by Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr., that forged a five-justice majority for a narrow Supreme Court holding in First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti to bring corporate political media spending within the protections of the First Amendment. It shows that justices on the Court then recognized the holding as a considerably greater alteration of established law than another five-justice majority would maintain in 2010—when it expanded the influence of corporate money on democratic processes and the marketplace of ideas far beyond that seventies precedent. Justices William H. Rehnquist and Byron R. White remained so dissatisfied with the result in Bellotti that each authored harsh dissents declaring the majority holding to be completely at odds with settled law, and both remained on the Court long enough to have the opportunity to help form majorities in a series of subsequent cases that served to substantially narrow its holding. ...
A human-inspired subgoal-based approach to constrained optimal control

This paper investigates the application of human motion guidance principles to the development of an autonomous guidance process. Primarily, it extends previous work, which identifies the organization of human guidance performance given by trajectory data. First, the paper describes interaction patterns (IP), subgoals, and partitions and defines these elements in terms of control theoretical concepts. Second, IPs are applied to form a computational solution to a constrained optimal control problem and simulation results demonstrate that this approach produces feasible solutions. Finally, first-person human experimental results are provided to validate theoretical concepts.
The Effect of Various Blood Mediums on the Growth Characteristics of H. Pertussis

The effect of acclimatization of recently isolated H. pertussis organisms (phase I, "disease producing stage") on various bloodless mediums has been previously described.1 This paper is a report of the characteristics of the freshly isolated H. pertussis organisms when grown on mediums containing either human, sheep or horse blood. On March 23, 1936, H. pertussis strain "O" was isolated on placental blood Bordet agar (20(^ placental blood). When it had been well acclimated and was growing luxuriantly on human blood agar, it was transferred to 20% horse and sheep blood agar and kept growing on human blood Bordet agar as well at pn 6.6, and re transplanted on like mediums every fourth day thereafter.
Impact of iron oxide (rust) on the performance of calcium phosphate scale inhibitors for industrial water systems

The inhibition of calcium phosphate precipitation by homo- and copolymers containing different functional groups has been examined in aqueous solution. It has been found that polymer performance as calcium phosphate inhibitor depends upon polymer architecture. The influence of iron oxide (Fe2O3, rust) on the performance of calcium phosphate inhibitors has also been investigated. Results show that addition of small amount (10 mg to 100 mg) of Fe2O3 to the calcium phosphate supersaturated solution exhibits marked antagonistic effect on inhibitor performance. Various mechanism(s) have been proposed to explain the negative impact of Fe2O3 on inhibitor performance.
The Future of Local Government Will Current Stresses Bring Major, Permanent Changes?

The Great Recession’s damaging effects on the finances of cities and counties have led some observers to predict dramatic, widespread, and enduring changes to local government in response to fiscal...
Substrate-Free Self-Assembly Approach toward Large-Area Nanomembranes

Free-standing two-dimensional nanostrucutures, such as graphene and semiconductor nanomembranes (NMs) featuring their integration with flexible polymer substrates, address applications in which electronic devices need to be stretchable or conformally positioned to nonplanar surfaces. We report a surfactant-directed surface assembly approach to producing large-area NMs at the water–air interface. The NMs were produced by employing the surfactants as templates as well as incorporating them in the crystal structures. By using excess amount of sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS), a tightly packed monolayer of dodecylsulfate (DS) ion was formed and directed the crystallization of submillimeter-sized zinc hydroxy dodecylsulfate (ZHDS) single-crystalline NMs over the entire water surface. This free-standing NM can be readily transferred to an arbitrary substrate and converted to ZnO via heat treatment. A flexible thin-film transistor was also fabricated using the transferred NMs and demonstrated reasonably good n-type t...
Evidence for correlated dynamics near the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless-like transition in highly underdoped La 2 -x Sr x CuO 4

A low-frequency resistance noise study in highly underdoped thick films of ${\mathrm{La}}_{2\ensuremath{-}x}{\mathrm{Sr}}_{x}{\mathrm{CuO}}_{4}$ $(x=0.07$ and 0.08) reveals slow, correlated dynamics and breaking of ergodicity near the superconducting transition of the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless type. The observed correlated behavior is strongly suppressed by disorder.
The Effect of Shipping Stresses on Vaccine Re-dispersion Time

A case study is presented for a vaccine drug product (DP) that showed variable re-dispersion times between syringes within a given DP lot and between different DP lots when shipped from the manufacturing site to the receiving site. A simulated shipping study was designed to understand the effect of individual shipping stresses on re-dispersion time and product quality. Shipping stresses simulating shock/drop, aircraft, and truck vibrations were applied separately to 3 syringe orientations, namely tip up, tip down, and tip horizontal (TH). Results from the simulated shipping study showed that shock/drop reduced re-dispersion time while truck and aircraft vibrations increased re-dispersion time in the tip down orientation. The dissimilar effects of different shipping stresses on re-dispersion resulted in the observed intra and inter DP lot variability in re-dispersion time. Shipping stresses did not impact re-dispersion in the TH or tip up orientation. No vaccine product quality attributes or physical properties were affected by shipping stresses. Actual shipping results correlated well with simulated shipping data. Because re-dispersion time was influenced mainly by shipping stress and syringe orientation, the mitigation measure to reduce end-user re-dispersion time was to implement the TH orientation for DP syringes during shipment and storage.
A Collective Self-Study to Improve Program Coherence of Clinical Experiences.

AbstractStudent feedback collected through program evaluation of secondary education licensure and Master’s program clinical experiences prompted us to conduct a collective self-study. We used a reflective framework for analysis and discussion of the shifts students in our courses made as they progressed from observers to practicing teachers. Along with our graduate students, we collected and shared data and analysis from two courses – an introductory mathematics course for pre-service teachers and a capstone self-study teacher research course for in-service teachers. Data included students’ reflective accounts of their clinical experiences, dialogue with peers in response memos and focus groups, and our meta-conversation about and interpretations of data captured in meeting notes, audio recordings of meetings, email exchanges, and video conferencing over a two-month period. Analysis resulted in reframed thinking about our teaching and implications for program coherence, including provision of meaningful ...
Glutamate: Tastant and Neuromodulator in Taste Buds

In taste buds, glutamate plays a double role as a gustatory stimulus and neuromodulator. The detection of glutamate as a tastant involves several G protein-coupled receptors, including the heterodimer taste receptor type 1, member 1 and 3 as well as metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluR1 and mGluR4). Both receptor types participate in the detection of glutamate as shown with knockout animals and selective antagonists. At the basal part of taste buds, ionotropic glutamate receptors [N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) and non-NMDA] are expressed and participate in the modulation of the taste signal before its transmission to the brain. Evidence suggests that glutamate has an efferent function on taste cells and modulates the release of other neurotransmitters such as serotonin and ATP. This short article reviews the recent developments in the field with regard to glutamate receptors involved in both functions as well as the influence of glutamate on the taste signal.
Admixture Effects on Coevolved Metabolic Systems

Oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) is the primary energy generating system in eukaryotic organisms. The complexes within the OXPHOS pathway are of mixed genomic origin. Although most subunit-coding genes are located within the nuclear genome, several genes are coded for in the mitochondrial genome. There is strong evidence to support coadaptation between the two genomes in these OXPHOS gene regions in order to create tight protein interactions necessary for a functional energetics system. In this study, we begin to assess the physiological impact of separating coevolved protein motifs that make up the highly conserved energy production pathway, as we hypothesize that divergent matings will significantly diminish the protein interactions and therefore hinder efficient OXPHOS activity We measured mitochondrial activity in high energy-demanding tissues from six strains of Mus musculus with varying degrees of mixed ancestral background. Mice with divergent mitochondrial and nuclear backgrounds consistently yielded lower mitochondrial activity. Bioinformatic analysis of common single nucleotide variants across the nuclear and mitochondrial genomes failed to identify any non-synonymous variants that could account for the energetic differences, suggesting that interpopulational mating between ancestrally distinct groups influences energy production efficiency.