cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Science-Based Metrics for Product Sustainability Assessment

Consumers and manufacturers need compelling metrics, tools, and data supporting investments in sustainable products. Today’s marketplace is fraught with sustainability claims that are often based on incomplete, anecdotal evidence that is difficult to reproduce and defend. The claims suffer from two main weaknesses: (1) products upon which claims are based are not necessarily “green” in a science-based; life-cycle assessment (LCA) sense and (2) their measures of cost-effectiveness often are not based on standard methods for measuring economic worth. The problem is hard to solve because methods, tools, and robust data for sustainability performance measurement are not widely available. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is addressing these needs by developing rigorous metrics and tools for scientifically assessing the life-cycle economic and environmental performance of products. Economic performance is measured using standard life-cycle costing methods. Environmental performance is measured using LCA methods that assess the “carbon footprint” of products as well as 11 other sustainability metrics including fossil fuel depletion, smog, water use, habitat alteration, indoor air quality, and human health. These environmental and economic performance metrics are applied to assess the sustainability of 230 building products in the NIST Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability (BEES) tool. The approach is illustrated with a BEES case study of five floor covering products.
Employment after Vision Loss: Results of a Collective Case Study:

A collective case study approach was used to examine factors that influence the job retention of persons with vision loss. It was found that computer technology was a major positive influence and p...
Posttraumatic Impotence: Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Duplex Ultrasound in Diagnosis and Management

In 15 patients, impotent as a result of prostatomembranous urethral disruption consequent to pelvic crush injuries, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and duplex ultrasound were used to establish anatomical and pathophysiological criteria for accurate diagnosis and appropriate management. All patients were initially treated by suprapubic cystostomy diversion for at least 3 months, after which urethral reconstruction was performed. All men were potent before the pelvic trauma, with loss of sexual function immediately thereafter. Preoperative MRI demonstrated prostatic displacement in 13 cases (86.7%) and cavernous injury in 12 (80%). Duplex ultrasound revealed the cause of erectile failure as vasculogenic in 12 patients (80%) and neurogenic in 3 (20%). Treatment of impotence was deferred for at least 18 months after injury. Of the neurogenic group 2 patients were started on intracavernous injection therapy and 1 refused treatment. Of the vasculogenic group 3 patients underwent successful revascularization, 2 are on injection therapy and 1 had a penile prosthesis inserted. The detailed anatomical information obtainable with pelvic MRI and the functional data provided by duplex ultrasonography enabled us to identify the individual organic components of posttraumatic impotence and to select effective cause-specific therapy.
Influence of Freeze-Thaw Cycle on Silt Loam Soil in Sagebrush Steppe of Northeastern Oregon

Abstract Soil freeze-thaw cycles can result in soil surface crusting, pedestaling, and movement. This study was undertaken to quantify the amount of heaving and soil moisture migration in a silt loam soil from the sagebrush steppe. Soil columns containing silt loam soil with moisture treatments of 26%, 34%, 42%, or 50% water content and initial temperatures of 9o C or 20o C were exposed to − 7o C for 18 h, which did not completely freeze the soil to full depth. Moisture redistribution amounts of 10% to 20% were observed in treatments above field capacity. Surface saturation was observed after freezing with treatments of 42% and 50% water volume. Soil heaving of up to 0.5 cm was observed after one freezing event.
The Rise of Pastoralism in the Ancient Near East

In this paper, we present a history of pastoralism in the ancient Near East from the Neolithic through the Bronze Age. We describe the accretional development of pastoral technologies over eight millennia, including the productive breeding of domestic sheep, goats, and cattle in the early Neolithic and the subsequent domestication of animals used primarily for labor—donkeys, horses, and finally camels—as well as the first appearance of husbandry strategies such as penning, foddering, pasturing, young male culling, and dairy production. Despite frequent references in the literature to prehistoric pastoral nomads, pastoralism in Southwest Asia was strongly associated with sedentary communities that practiced intensive plant cultivation and was largely local in nature. There is very little evidence in prehistoric and early historic Southwest Asia to support the notion of a “dimorphic society” characterized by separate and specialized agriculturists and mobile pastoralists. Although mobile herders were present in the steppe regions of Syria by the early second millennium BC, mobile pastoralism was the exception rather than the rule at that time; its “identification” in the archaeological record frequently derives from the application of anachronistic ethnographic analogy. We conclude that pastoralism was a diverse, flexible, and dynamic adaptation in the ancient Near East and call for a reinvigorated and empirically based archaeology of pastoralism in Southwest Asia.
Contemporary Issues in Teaching Land Use

While updating the recently released ninth edition to the casebook Land Use and Sustainable Development Law, the four co-authors engaged in numerous spirited discussions about teaching land use law and policy. Subsequently, the authors have begun a series of blog posts that continue the conversation in a public forum. This document is a compilation of those posts as they appeared on the Land Use Prof Blog. This document will be updated from time-to-time as more blog posts are forthcoming. UPDATED: Version 2 provides all blog posts in the series through December 4, 2017.
A Theoretical Framework of Robust H -Infinity Unscented Kalman Filter and Its Application to Power System Dynamic State Estimation

This paper presents a new theoretical framework that, by integrating robust statistics and robust control theory, allows us to develop a robust dynamic state estimator of a cyber-physical system. This state estimator combines the generalized maximum-likelihood-type (GM) estimator, the unscented Kalman filter (UKF), and the H -infinity filter into a robust H -infinity UKF filter in the Krein space, which is able to handle large system uncertainties as well as suppress outliers while achieving a good statistical efficiency under Gaussian and non-Gaussian process and observation noises. Specifically, we first use the statistical linearization approach to build a linearlike regression model in the Krein space. Then, we show that the H -infinity UKF is just the Krein space Kalman filter that exhibits a bounded estimation error in presence of system uncertainties while minimizing the least squares criterion; consequently, it suffers from a lack of robustness to outliers and non-Gaussian noise. Because the GM estimator is able to handle outliers, but it may yield large estimation errors in the presence of system uncertainties, we propose to combine it with the H -infinity UKF in a robust H -infinity UKF. We carry out a theoretical analysis to demonstrate the connections that our filter has with the H -infinity UKF and the GM-UKF. The good performance of the new filter is demonstrated via extensive simulation performed on the IEEE 39-bus power system.
On the Limits of Digital Storytelling as a Participatory Community-Engaged Methodology

Digital storytelling has been heralded as a powerful and transformative participatory tool for practitioners of community-engaged scholarship. This article draws from an ethnographic case study of Adelante, a university-community collaborative that used digital stories as part of their efforts to enact school and community change. The article explores Adelante’s utilization of digital storytelling and explores important ethical considerations related to the dissemination of the stories. The discussion focuses on broader implications for social science researchers interested in digital storytelling and participatory community-engaged methods.
The Collatz-Wielandt Quotient for Pairs of Nonnegative Operators

In this paper we consider two versions of the Collatz-Wielandt quotient for a pair of nonnegative operators A, B that map a given pointed generating cone in the first space into a given pointed generating cone in the second space. If the two spaces and two cones are identical, and B is the identity operator, then one version of this quotient is the spectral radius of A. In some applications, as commodity pricing, power control in wireless networks and quantum information theory, one needs to deal with the Collatz-Wielandt quotient for two nonnegative operators. In this paper we treat the two important cases: a pair of rectangular nonnegative matrices and a pair of completely positive operators. We give a characterization of minimal optimal solutions and polynomially computable bounds on the Collatz-Wielandt quotient.
All Roads Led Me to School Psychology

This chapter provides an overview of the personal and professional history of Paula Sachs Wise from her development as a youngster growing up in Cleveland, Ohio and her schooling from kindergarten through graduate education. The chapter then describes her career as a practicing school psychologist and her 31 years as a Psychology Professor and School Psychology Program Coordinator and ends with a description of her current life as a busy retiree in Macomb, Illinois, the home of Western Illinois University. The chapter touches on many of the experiences and opportunities that led her to the field of school psychology in the first place and that kept her engaged in the field from her first graduate class in 1970 to her final semester of teaching in the spring of 2008.
Abstract 16395: Soluble ST2 and Its Association With Echocardiographic Measures of Cardiac Structure

Background: Soluble ST2 (sST2) has emerged as a powerful prognostic marker in chronic systolic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Elevated levels of sST2 are associated with adve...
Human uniqueness? Life history diversity among small-scale societies and chimpanzees.

Author(s): Davison, Raziel J; Gurven, Michael D | Abstract: BackgroundHumans life histories have been described as "slow", patterned by slow growth, delayed maturity, and long life span. While it is known that human life history diverged from that of a recent common chimpanzee-human ancestor some ~4-8 mya, it is unclear how selection pressures led to these distinct traits. To provide insight, we compare wild chimpanzees and human subsistence societies in order to identify the age-specific vital rates that best explain fitness variation, selection pressures and species divergence.MethodsWe employ Life Table Response Experiments to quantify vital rate contributions to population growth rate differences. Although widespread in ecology, these methods have not been applied to human populations or to inform differences between humans and chimpanzees. We also estimate correlations between vital rate elasticities and life history traits to investigate differences in selection pressures and test several predictions based on life history theory.ResultsChimpanzees' earlier maturity and higher adult mortality drive species differences in population growth, whereas infant mortality and fertility variation explain differences between human populations. Human fitness is decoupled from longevity by postreproductive survival, while chimpanzees forfeit higher potential lifetime fertility due to adult mortality attrition. Infant survival is often lower among humans, but lost fitness is recouped via short birth spacing and high peak fertility, thereby reducing selection on infant survival. Lastly, longevity and delayed maturity reduce selection on child survival, but among humans, recruitment selection is unexpectedly highest in longer-lived populations, which are also faster-growing due to high fertility.ConclusionHumans differ from chimpanzees more because of delayed maturity and lower adult mortality than from differences in juvenile mortality or fertility. In both species, high child mortality reflects bet-hedging costs of quality/quantity tradeoffs borne by offspring, with high and variable child mortality likely regulating human population growth over evolutionary history. Positive correlations between survival and fertility among human subsistence populations leads to selection pressures in human subsistence societies that differ from those in modern populations undergoing demographic transition.
Defect compensation in formamidinium–caesium perovskites for highly efficient solar mini-modules with improved photostability

Formamidinium–caesium mixed-cation perovskites have shown better thermal stability than their methylammonium-containing counterparts but they suffer from photoinstability induced by iodide migration and phase segregation. Here we improve their photostability by adding slightly excessive AX (at a molar percentage of 0.25% to Pb2+ ions), where A is formamidinium or caesium and X is iodine. The excessive AX does not improve the initial solar cell efficiency. It compensates iodide vacancies and suppresses ion migration and defects generation during long-term illumination by around tenfold compared with AX-deficient devices. Consequently, generation of hole traps and phase segregation is impeded, with the former limiting solar cell efficiency after degradation. The perovskite mini-modules reached a certified stabilized efficiency of 18.6% with an aperture area of ~30 cm2, corresponding to an active area efficiency of 20.2%. The mini-module maintains 93.6% of the initial efficiency after continuous operation under 1 sun illumination for >1,000 h at 50 ± 5 °C in air. Methylammonium-free perovskite solar cells have achieved promising efficiency and thermal stability yet iodide migration limits their operational stability. Deng and colleagues show that an excess of formamidinium or caesium iodide precursor suppresses iodide vacancies preventing ion migration and eventually the generation of hole traps during device operation.
The Buyers Response Technique — A Framework for Improving Comparable Selection and Adjustment in Single-Family Appraising

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how the Buyers Response Technique (BRT) may be used as an adjunct or alternative framework to estimating appropriate adjustment size when performing the s...
Comparison of pain outcomes between two anti‐GD2 antibodies in patients with neuroblastoma

Background Addition of anti-GD2 antibody ch14.18 to the treatment of neuroblastoma has improved outcomes. The most common side effect of ch14.18 is neuropathic pain, which may in part be complement-mediated. Hu14.18K322A is a humanized anti-GD2 antibody designed to diminish complement activation and induce less pain. We compare the pain outcomes in patients treated with ch14.18 and those treated with hu14.18K322A, and explore dose-dependent relationships between pain scores, opioid requirements, and complement levels in patients treated with hu14.18K322A. Procedure Opioid (morphine equivalent mg/kg) and anxiolytic requirements during course 1 (4 days) in patients treated with hu14.18K322A and ch14.18 were reviewed. Correlations between antibody dose and pain scores, opioid requirements, and complement levels were examined for patients receiving hu14.18K322A. Results Patients treated with hu14.18K322A (n = 19) had lower opioid requirements than those who received ch14.18 (n = 9). The differences in median opioid requirements (mg/kg) were statistically significant for the overall course (1.57 vs. 2.41, P = 0.019) as well as for Days 3 (0.34 vs. 0.65, P = 0.005), and 4 (0.32 vs. 0.64, P = 0.010). No difference in anxiolytic use was observed between the two groups. In the group treated with hu14.18K322A, we found a positive correlation between antibody dose administered and pain scores, but no correlation between antibody dose and opioid requirements or changes in complement levels. Conclusions In this retrospective analysis, hu14.18K322A induced less pain than ch14.18 based on opioid requirements. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2015;62:224–228. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Limiting vibration in systems with constant amplitude actuators through command preshaping

The basic concepts of command preshaping were taken and adapted to the framework of systems with constant amplitude (on-off) actuators. In this context, pulse sequences were developed which help to attenuate vibration in flexible systems with high robustness to errors in frequency identification. Sequences containing impulses of different magnitudes were approximated by sequences containing pulses of different durations. The effects of variation in pulse width on this approximation were examined. Sequences capable of minimizing loads induced in flexible systems during execution of commands were also investigated. The usefulness of these techniques in real-world situations was verified by application to a high fidelity simulation of the space shuttle. Results showed that constant amplitude preshaping techniques offer a substantial improvement in vibration reduction over both the standard and upgraded shuttle control methods and may be mission enabling for use of the shuttle with extremely massive payloads.
‘Unlucky’ Gettier Cases

This article argues that justified true beliefs in Gettier cases often are not true due to luck. I offer two ‘unlucky’ Gettier cases, and it's easy enough to generate more. Hence even attaching a broad ‘anti-luck’ codicil to the tripartite account of knowledge leaves the Gettier problem intact. Also, two related questions are addressed. First, if epistemic luck isn't distinctive of Gettier cases, what is? Second, what do Gettier cases reveal about knowledge?
Mitochondrial Fission: Rings around the Organelle

Mitochondria form a dynamic network in which organelles fuse or divide in response to metabolic changes or cellular stress. New work shows that mitochondria do not divide in isolation from other cellular structures. Rather, they carry out this process in partnership with the endoplasmic reticulum and actin filaments.
Case histories of rheumatoid arthritis treated with sodium or magnesium EDTA.

Abstract The case histories of 32 patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis who were treated with sodium or magnesium EDTA have been summarized. The patients were followed from 1 to 10 yr. Of the 32 patients studied, 27 responded favourably to the EDTA treatment and in at least 23 it was possible to maintain the improvement, where necessary by additional EDTA infusions, over the period of time the patient was studied.
Recurrent acute primary hyperparathyroidism in an adult male patient.

Objective: To report the occurrence of recurrent acute primary hyperparathyroidism (HPT), a rare disorder that occurs in only 1 to 2% of patients with primary HPT. Methods: We describe a patient wh...
Model Bacterial Extracellular Polysaccharide Adsorption onto Silica and Alumina: Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation Monitoring of Dextran Adsorption

Quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) was used to investigate dextran adsorption to alumina and silica. Sensitive adsorption measurements combined with determination of nanometer-scale polymer conformations demonstrate the utility of this technique for studying biopolymer adsorption. The adsorbed amounts and polymeric structures of dextran were determined on A12O3 and SiO2 by real-time monitoring of resonance frequency and energy dissipation changes (deltaf and deltaD). After the sample was rinsed, the apparent mass of retained dextran was 83 ng/cm(2) on the alumina surface and 9 ng/cm2 on the silica surface based on the frequency and energy dissipation changes. The deltaD/deltaf ratios were significantly different on the two surfaces, indicating different conformations of the polymers. On alumina, the ratio changed as adsorption proceeded indicating changes of dextran conformation from the initial to latter adsorption steps. On silica, the ratio did not change during the experiments. Therefore, the dissipation and frequency data suggest significantly different mechanisms of dextran adsorption on alumina and silica surfaces. Molecular dynamics simulations of 12 monomeric units of dextran on a silica slab illustrated that H2O molecules lead to loosely bound dextran structure onto the SiO2 surface, consistent with the observed high-energy dissipation in the QCM-D experiments.
Development of new feeding-distance rules using casting simulation: Part I. Methodology

A methodology is developed to relate measured shrinkage porosity levels in steel castings to predictions from casting simulations, in order to determine feeding distances. Low-alloy steel casting trials were conducted to acquire a statistically meaningful set of experimental data for top-risered cast steel sections having various ASTM shrinkage X-ray levels. Simulations of the casting trials were then performed, using casting data recorded at the foundries during the trials. The actual casting soundness resulting from these trials, measured in terms of the ASTM shrinkage X-ray level, is quantitatively compared to the soundness predicted by simulations, measured in terms of a local thermal parameter known as the Niyama criterion. A relationship is shown to exist between the X-ray level and both the minimum Niyama criterion value as well as the area (in the plane of the X-ray) with Niyama values below a threshold value. Once the correlations developed in Part I of this article were established, an extensive set of additional casting simulations was performed to determine the feeding distances for castings with a wide variety of casting parameters. These data were then used to develop a new set of feeding-distance rules, which are given in Part II of this article.
Flexible CO2 laser and submucosal gel injection for safe endoluminal resection in the intestines

The CO2 laser’s unique wavelength of 10.6 μm has the advantage of being readily absorbed by water but historically limited it to line-of-sight procedures. Through recent technological advances, a flexible CO2 laser fiber has been developed and holds promise for endoluminal surgery. We examined whether this laser, along with injection of a water-based gel in the submucosal space, will allow safe dissection of the intestines and enhance the potential of this tool for minimally invasive surgery. Using an ex vivo model with porcine intestines, spot ablation was performed with the flexible CO2 laser at different power settings until transmural perforation. Additionally, excisions of mucosal patches were performed by submucosal dissection with and without submucosal injection of a water-based gel. With spot ablation at 5 W, none of the specimens was perforated by 5 min, which was the maximum recorded time. The time to perforation was significantly shorter with increased laser power, and gel pretreatment protected the intestines against spot ablation, increasing the time to perforation from 6 to 37 s at 10 W and from 1 to 7 s at 15 W. During excision of mucosal patches, 56 and 83% of untreated intestines perforated at 5 and 10 W, respectively. Gel pretreatment prior to excision protected all intestines against perforation. These specimens were verified to be intact by inflation with air to over 100 mmHg. Furthermore, excision of the mucosal patch was complete in gel-pretreated specimens, whereas 22% of untreated specimens had residual islands of mucosa after excision. The flexible CO2 laser holds promise as a precise dissection and cutting tool for endoluminal surgery of the intestines. Pretreatment with a submucosal injection of a water-based gel protects the intestines from perforation during ablation and mucosal dissection.
Conditions for stabilization of the tokamak plasma vertical instability using only a massless plasma analysis

This paper describes the problem of feedback control for stabilization of the plasma vertical instability in a tokamak. Such controllers are typically designed based on a model that assumes the plasma mass m is identically zero while in reality the mass is small but positive. The assumption that m is zero can lead to a controller that appears to be stabilizing according to the massless analysis but in fact can increase the instability of the physical system. In this work, we consider a general class of controllers, which contains as a special case the type of controller most commonly used in operating tokamaks to stabilize the vertical instability, a proportional-derivative controller. Suppose C is a controller in this class which stabilizes the vertical instability with plasma mass assumed to be zero. We give easy-to-check necessary and sufficient conditions for C to also stabilize the physical system, in which the plasma actually has a small mass. We allow for the possibility that the tokamak could have both superconducting and resistive conductors. The practical implications of the results presented provide substantial insight into some long-standing issues regarding feedback stabilization of the vertical instability with PD controllers and also provide a rigorous foundation for the common practice of designing controllers assuming m=0. For controllers that operate only on the plasma vertical position, we settle the question: when are m=0 models predictive of actual plasma behavior?
Substituent contributions to the transport of substituted p-toluic acids across lipid bilayer membranes

The fluxes of p-toluic acid and seven alpha-methylene-substituted analogs have been determined as a function of pH across planar egg lecithin/decane bilayers to construct a set of well-isolated polar functional group contributions to the free energy of transfer from water to the bilayer transport barrier domain. Nonlinear regression analyses of flux-pH profiles using a model which accounts for unstirred layer effects yielded membrane permeability coefficients (PRX) that varied from 1.1 cm/s for p-toluic acid to 4.1 x 10(-5) cm/s for the alpha-carbamoyl-p-toluic acid. Bulk organic solvent/water partition coefficients (KRX) were obtained for the same set of permeants using four solvent systems to identify a bulk solvent which closely resembles the chemical nature of the bilayer barrier microenvironment for these permeants. The slopes of plots of log PRX vs log KRX were 0.85, 0.91, 0.99, and 2.4, respectively, for hexadecane/water, hexadecene/water, 1,9-decadiene/water, and octanol/water with the best model solvent being that which yielded a slope closest to unity. A significant deviation in the slope from 1, as observed in the correlation with octanol/water partition coefficients, reveals that this relatively polar, hydrogen-bonding solvent is a poor model solvent for describing the barrier microenvironment for these permeants. Thus, the polar interfacial regions occupied by phospholipid head groups are not the barrier domain for the transport of the series examined in this study. The incremental group contributions to the free energy of transfer to the barrier domain (cal/mol) for the functional groups, CI, OCH3, CN, OH, COOH, and CONH2, were found to be 325, 687, 2170, 3860, 5170, and 6060, respectively.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
OnTimeSecure: Secure middleware for federated Network Performance Monitoring

Multi-domain network monitoring systems based on active measurements are being widely deployed in high-performance computing and other communities that support large-scale data transfers. Security mechanisms such as policy-driven access to related federated Network Performance Monitoring (NPM) services are important to protect measurement resources and data. In this paper, we present a novel, secure middleware framework viz., “OnTimeSecure” that enables `user-to-service' and `service-to-service' authentication, and enforces federated authorization entitlement policies for timely orchestration of NPM services. OnTimeSecure is built using RESTful APIs and features a hierarchical policy-engine that interfaces with a meta-scheduler for prioritization of measurement requests when there is contention of users concurrently attempting to utilize measurement resources. We validate OnTimeSecure in a federated multi-domain NPM infrastructure by performing threat modeling and security risk assessments based on overall attack likelihood and impact factors.
Spectra of order-4 special magic squares

Abstract A new parameterization for order-4 regular (or associative) magic square matrices leads to general formulas for their eigenvalues, eigenvectors, and singular value decomposition. Known transformations extend these results to order-4 pandiagonal and bent-diagonal magic squares. The effect of various transformations on the eigenvalues and singular values of these special magic squares is considered. Numerical examples are presented and numerical values are obtained from simple formulas for the eigenvalues and singular values of each of the 48 natural pandiagonal, regular, and bent-diagonal magic squares of order 4 and their reflections.
Regional pollution and multinational firms

Abstract This paper investigates the incidence of pollution control in a two-country, two good model of trade and investment when capital is internationally mobile. In this context, we show the trade-off between the regulation of pollution and national income in the host country and the interrelationship between policies pursued in the host country and the economy of the source country. One noteworthy result is that more restrictive pollution controls in the host country may cause a decline in the real income of the source country, the home of multinational firms.
The effect of changing economic conditions on attitudes toward corporate social responsibility

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has received considerable attention in management research and public debate. The recent financial crisis and the subsequent economic downturn have renewed interest in CSR and the various stakeholders' expectations with regard to social responsibility practices. The purpose of this study is to examine business students' concept of CSR with a special emphasis on understanding which stakeholders are viewed as more important, and to investigate the impact of the general economic environment on CSR attitudes. Using a sample of 278 undergraduate business students, we find that the economic context of a firm has a significant impact on students' attitudes toward the firm's CSR activities. Although women have a greater concern for ethical and social responsibilities than men, gender is not a factor in the change of attitudes when the general economic environment worsens. We discuss the implications of our findings and provide avenues for future research.
Sinonasal Manifestations in Cystic Fibrosis

Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease, characterized by accumulation of thickened mucous secretions in exocrine glands. Although the major clinical manifestations of the disease are pancreatic and pulmonary disease, the majority of cystic fibrosis patients will develop sinonasal manifestations as well. This paper outlines the etiology, evaluation, and management of the nasal and sinus manifestations in patients with cystic fibrosis.
Terminal Pleistocene through Mid-Holocene archaeological sites as paleoclimatic archives for the Peruvian coast

Abstract Along the Peruvian coast, standard paleoclimatic archives such as pollen cores or corals are absent or undeveloped. However, anthropogenic deposits offer paleoclimatic information for the last 13 000 years at temporal scales ranging from centennial for long-term records to seasonal for short-term records. This paper summarizes archaeologically based paleoclimatic data for the Peruvian coast from the Terminal Pleistocene through the Middle Holocene. South of 12°S, coastal waters have been cool–temperate and terrestrial conditions have been hyperarid for the entire period. Between 8000 and 3600 cal BP, the highland precipitation supplying runoff to the south coast may have diminished sufficiently to restrict human occupation of ephemeral streams. North of ∼10°S, sea surface temperatures were warmer and seasonal precipitation may have been greater from prior to 13 000 to 5800 cal BP. From 9000 to 5800 cal BP, El Nino was absent or very infrequent. After 5800 cal BP, the northern coastal waters cooled and El Nino was present but with a lower frequency than seen in the historical and instrumental record. El Nino frequencies in the modern and historical range were established ∼3000 cal BP. Cultural changes correlate temporally with these major climatic transitions.
Review of spectral domain-enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography of tumors of the retina and retinal pigment epithelium in children and adults.

Background: Spectral domain (SD) enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography (EDI-OCT) is a useful tool for anatomic, cross-sectional imaging of retinal conditions. Aims: The aim was to identify characteristic patterns of retinal and retinal pigment epithelial tumors on EDI-OCT in children and adults. Settings and Design: Retrospective review. Materials and Methods: Analysis of published reports and personal observations using office-based EDI-OCT for adults and portable hand-held SD OCT for infants and children. Results: Using EDI-OCT, retinal tumors such as small retinoblastoma, astrocytic hamartoma, and hemangioblastoma arose abruptly from the retina, immediately adjacent to normal retina. Small exophytic retinoblastoma and retinal hemangioblastoma showed the full-thickness, homogeneous retinal disorganization with surrounding normal retina draping over the margins. Retinoblastoma occasionally had intralesional cavities and surrounding subretinal fluid. Hemangioblastoma often had adjacent intraretinal edema and subretinal fluid. Astrocytic hamartoma arose within the nerve fiber layer and sometimes with a moth-eaten or cavitary appearance. Retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) lesions such as congenital hypertrophy of RPE appeared flat with shadowing, occasional subretinal cleft, and abrupt photoreceptor loss. Congenital simple hamartoma showed an abrupt elevation from the inner retina with crisp, dark posterior shadowing. Combined hamartoma of the retina/RPE showed vitreoretinal traction causing sawtooth mini-peak or gently maxi-peak folding of the retina. RPE adenoma often produces remote macular edema or epiretinal membrane and the tumor has an irregular, rugged surface with deep shadowing. Conclusions: Enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography shows characteristic patterns that are suggestive of certain retinal and RPE tumors.
Historical analysis in the study of emotion

Historical research on emotion has burgeoned in recent years. While some historians examine continuities in emotion despite changes in context—as in 19th- and 20th-century grief reactions—most attention has been directed toward charting major changes in emotional standards and explaining their causation. In Western civilization, the century and a half following about 1680 stands as a major period of emotional change, since emotions are linked to other facets of the social experience in a time of major ideological and economic transition. New emphasis on romantic love, restraint of anger, and the salience of guilt instead of shame develop in this transitional period, as well as improved ability to articulate emotional experience generally. Recent work also points to subsequent emotional shifts, even in recent decades, as in the targeting of anger and jealousy. Historical research and the overall emphasis on change as a factor in emotions study suggest new facets for other disciplines, including further work on the relationship between emotional standards and emotional experience.
A Raman spectral investigation of structural variations in thin silicate glass fibers

Raman spectroscopy has been used to characterize the structure of glass fibers with diameters as small as 3 μm. A special sample holder, which enables the laser beam to strike the transverse surface of the fiber bundles and to probe structural variations along the longitudinal direction, was designed. Structural variations in multi-component silicate glass fibers were studied as a function of fiber drawing conditions and different annealing temperatures.
Ethical and quality pitfalls in electronic health records

Hospitals and physicians' practices are rapidly implementing the electronic health record (EHR) because it offers many demonstrated advantages over paper records. Issues of misuse of the EHR previously identified include breaches in confidentiality and privacy and inappropriate record sharing. I describe a separate set of ethical and quality problems of the EHR that result from its otherwise beneficial timesaving features that inadvertently enable carelessness and harmful shortcuts. These problems include copying and pasting data obtained from other clinicians, authorship ambiguities, inadvertent inclusion of unobtained data in templated notes, misleading history and physical examinations, failure to review prepopulated data, inadequate discharge summaries, impairments to patient-physician communication, and the transformation of the purpose of the medical record to billing documentation. I offer a brief analysis and recommendations to mitigate these problems.
Kainic acid lesions decrease striatal dopamine receptors and 1,4-dihydropyridine sites.

Abstract The effects of intrastriatal injection of kainic acid (2 μl, 1 mg/ml) in the rat were determined. Four weeks after the lesioning, striatal dopamine receptors and 1,4-dihydropyridine sites were measured by radioligand binding with [ 3 H]spiperone and [ 3 H]nimodipine, respectively. Dopamine receptor and 1,4-dihydropyridine binding densities were decreased by 58% and 43% respectively, with no change in binding affinity for either ligand. 1,4-Dihydropyridine-sensitive Ca 2+ channels may be located primarily on postsynaptic elements.
Low flow dural arteriovenous shunt: another cause of "sinister" Tolosa-Hunt syndrome.

SYNOPSIS A 73-year-old man developed acute, painful, ophthalmoplegia. The pain improved with oral steroids and a diagnosis of Tolosa-Hunt syndrome was made. Review of his angiogram revealed a low flow dural arteriovenous shunt that drained posteriorly. Dural arteriovenous shunts may thus be another cause of “sinister” Tolosa-Hunt syndrome.
Use of hydromorphone (Dilaudid) and morphine for patients with hepatic and renal impairment

Management of pain in the elderly is very challenging. First, the compromised ability to perceive pain because of loss of sensory neurons and other comorbid conditions such as dementia and degenerative joint diseases make the assessment of severity source and localization of pain very difficult. Second, decrease in the renal and hepatic blood flow and decrease in the hepatic and renal mass, along with decrease in volume of distribution caused by decrease in total body water and hypoproteinemia, makes the elderly very sensitive to adverse effects of different pain medicines. Third, many elderly patients have comorbid conditions causing impaired hepatic and renal impairment. In this article, we review the role of 2 more commonly used opiates, morphine and hydromorphone, in elderly patients with hepatic and renal impairment.
Dynamic control of the batch processor in a serial-batch processor system with mean tardiness performance

Effective control of batch processors is very essential to improve on-time delivery of wafers in semiconductor manufacturing. In this paper, the focus is on mean tardiness performance of a batch processor in a two-stage processor system by including an upstream serial processor. Two new control strategies are proposed for this problem. The first strategy effectively incorporates the product information at the upstream serial station in batching decisions. The second strategy further applies a re-sequencing approach in the serial processor's queue when there is a benefit in shortening the arrival time of an urgent product. Discrete event simulation is used to test the performance of the strategies. Results are very promising as compared to benchmark control strategies.
A hybrid game theoretical approach to control drug delivery in HIV infection

HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) infection is fatal because it directly damages human's immune system by infecting CD4+ T cells. Treatment for HIV infection is a complex process that involves interactions among the virus population, the immune system and antiretroviral drugs. However, it is difficult to treat HIV infection because the high mutation rate helps HIV to escape from drug attacks. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to seek optimal drug dosage strategy that can decrease the side effects of drugs and at the same time control HIV replication from explosion. In this paper, we use Game Theory to describe the interaction among HIV, immune system and drug. Nash Equilibrium is sought to get an equilibrium where both HIV and immune system-drug coalition can benefit most. And due to the high mutation rate of HIV, the population structure keeps changing all the time. Evolutionary Game is used among the different quasispecies of HIV population. Therefore, we use a hybrid game theory, i.e. to combine evolutionary game played by different quasispecies of HIV with conventional game played by immune system-drug coalition and the HIV population as a whole. The dosage of drug is calculated when both Evolutionary Stable Strategy (ESS) and Nash Equilibrium (NE) is satisfied. At this dosage, the drug can keep the HIV from explosively mutating into dangerous drug resistant ones while the population of CD4+ T cells remains at a proper level. This brings a new drug therapy during HIV infection to prolong the life of patient.
Sex steroid hormones exert biphasic effects on cytosolic magnesium ions in cerebral vascular smooth muscle cells: possible relationships to migraine frequency in premenstrual syndromes and stroke incidence.

Clinically, it is known that: (1) magnesium (Mg) supplementation relieves premenstrual problems (e.g., migraine, bloating and edema) occurring in the late luteal phase of the menstrual cycle; and (2) migraine syndromes, particularly in women, are associated with deficits in brain and serum ionized Mg levels. We investigated whether concentrations of sex steroid hormones, found in the serum during the menstrual cycle of women, are associated with changes in the levels of cytosolic free magnesium ions ([Mg2+]i) in single cultured canine cerebral vascular smooth muscle cells. The resting level of [Mg2+]i in these cells was 645 ± 89 μM before exposure to sex steroid hormones. Exposure of these vascular cells to a low concentration of estrogen (10 pg/ml) failed to interfere with the levels of [Mg2+]i. However, exposure to estrogen, at concentrations ranging from 40 to 200 pg/ml, induced significant loss of [Mg2+]i in a concentration-dependent manner. At a concentration of 200 pg/ml estrogen, the level of [Mg2+]i decreased ∼30% in comparison with controls. Progesterone produced biphasic effects on the levels of [Mg2+]i, depending on its concentration. Exposure of the cultured cells to a low concentration of progesterone (0.5 ng/ml) resulted in an increased level of [Mg2+]i (from 690 ± 50 μM to 753 ± 56 μM, p < 0.05). However, when these cells were exposed to higher concentrations of progesterone (i.e., from 5.0 to 20 ng/ml), the cellular levels of [Mg2+]i were decreased significantly. The higher the estrogen or progesterone concentration, the lower the levels of [Mg2+]i. In contrast, testosterone, a male hormone, didn’t produce any significant alteration in [Mg2+]i levels in these cerebral vascular smooth muscle cells. These data indicate that low, physiological concentrations of female sex hormones, estrogen and progesterone, help cerebral vascular smooth cells sustain normal concentrations of [Mg2+]i, which are beneficial to vascular function, whereas high levels of estrogen and progesterone deplete, significantly, [Mg2+]i in cerebral vascular smooth muscle cells, possibly resulting in cerebrovasospasms and reduced cerebral blood flows related to premenstrual syndromes, migraine and stroke risk. Our findings could provide new insight into the mechanism whereby migraine occurs frequently in the late luteal phase in the premenstrual syndrome. In addition, our results demonstrate that female sex steroids but not testosterone (in physiologic concentrations) can exert direct effects on [Mg2+]i in cerebral vascular cells.
Oxidation of organometallic compounds with polychalcogenides: preparation and structure of [(Me5C5)Mo(S4)(S2CO)]− containing a dithiocarbonate ligand

Abstract The reaction of polysulfide solution with (Me 5 C 5 )Mo(CO) 3 (CH 3 ) results in oxidation of the metal center to Mo IV , which elimination of the carbonyl groups as well as the alkyl group. The final product [Me 5 C 5 )Mo(S 4 )(S 2 CO)]-, was isolated and structurally characterized. It contains a tetrasulfide chelating group as well a dithiocarbonate ligand.
Identification of the Active Oligomeric State of an Essential Adenine DNA Methyltransferase from Caulobacter crescentus

Abstract Caulobacter crescentus contains one of the two known prokaryotic DNA methyltransferases that lacks a cognate endonuclease. This endogenous cell cycle regulated adenine DNA methyltransferase (CcrM) is essential for C. crescentuscellular viability. DNA methylation catalyzed by CcrM provides an obligatory signal for the proper progression through the cell cycle. To further our understanding of the regulatory role played by CcrM, we sought to investigate its biophysical properties. In this paper we employed equilibrium ultracentrifugation, velocity ultracentrifugation, and chemical cross-linking to show that CcrM is dimeric at physiological concentrations. However, surface plasmon resonance experiments in the presence of S-adenosyl-homocysteine evince that CcrM binds as a monomer to a defined hemi-methylated DNA substrate containing the canonical methylation sequence, GANTC. Initial velocity experiments demonstrate that dimerization of CcrM does not affect DNA methylation. Collectively, these findings suggest that CcrM is active as a monomer and provides a possible in vivo role for dimerization as a means to stabilize CcrM from premature catabolism.