cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Beyond acute inflammation: a review of appendicitis and infections of the appendix

Abstract Although the appendix is the most commonly resected and examined intra-abdominal organ, the pathogenesis and aetiology of acute non-specific appendicitis (the commonest diagnosis made in the appendix) remains enigmatic. This review encompasses the pathology and diagnosis of acute non-specific appendicitis, as well as controversial issues such as the diagnosis of chronic appendicitis, the implications of granulomatous appendicitis, and the significance of a morphologically unremarkable appendectomy specimen in the clinical context of appendicitis. The pathological features, pertinent diagnostic techniques, and clinical significance of several specific bacterial, viral, fungal, and parasitic infections affecting the appendix are presented, including adenovirus, cytomegalovirus, Yersinia species, Actinomyces , Mycobacteria species, Histoplasma, Enterobius vermicularis , schistosomiasis, and Stronyloides stercoralis .
Fracture Risk With Multiple Myeloma: A Population-Based Study

Pathologic fractures, especially of the axial skeleton, are extremely common in patients with multiple myeloma and cluster around the time of diagnosis. Osteoporotic fractures seem to be less of a problem in these patients. Introduction: It is generally believed that fractures are common in patients with multiple myeloma as a result of lytic bone lesions, generalized bone loss, and/or elevated bone turnover from excessive cytokine production, but the actual risk of pathologic versus osteoporotic fractures has not been quantified. Materials and Methods: In a population-based retrospective cohort study, 165 Olmsted County, MN, residents with myeloma diagnosed from 1945 to 2001 (55% men; mean age, 70.7 ± 11.1 years) were followed for 537 person-years. The relative risk of fractures was assessed by standardized incidence ratios (SIRs), and risk factors were evaluated in proportional hazards models. Results: Altogether, 134 patients experienced 463 fractures. In the year before diagnosis, 16 times more fractures were observed than expected, mostly pathologic fractures of the vertebrae and ribs. Subsequently, there was a 9-fold increase in fracture risk. However, 69% of these fractures were pathologic, and another 11% were found incidentally on myeloma monitoring. With the latter two groups excluded, subsequent fracture risk was elevated 3-fold, with a 2-fold increase in the risk of an osteoporotic fracture. In multivariate analyses, the predictors of overall fracture risk were oral corticosteroid use and elevated serum calcium levels, whereas pathologic fractures were additionally predicted by use of chemotherapy. Conclusion: There is a dramatic increase in fractures around the time of diagnosis of myeloma, most of which are pathologic fractures. The most important predictor of overall fracture risk is oral corticosteroid use.
Spatial Distribution of Photosynthesis during Drought in Field-Grown and Acclimated and Nonacclimated Growth Chamber-Grown Cotton

Inhomogeneous photosynthetic activity has been reported to occur in drought-stressed leaves. In addition, it has been suggested that these water stress-induced nonuniformities in photosynthesis are caused by “patchy” stomatal closure and that the phenomenon may have created the illusion of a nonstomatal component to the inhibition of photosynthesis. Because these earlier studies were performed with nonacclimated growth chamber-grown plants, we sought to determine whether such “patches” existed in drought-treated, field-grown plants or in chamber-grown plants that had been acclimated to low leaf water potentials (ψleaf). Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) was grown in the field and subjected to drought by withholding irrigation and rain from 24 d after planting. The distribution of photosynthesis, which may reflect the stomatal aperture distribution in a heterobaric species such as cotton, was assayed by autoradiography after briefly exposing attached leaves of field-grown plants to 14CO2. A homogeneous distribution of radioactive photosynthate was evident even at the lowest ψleaf of −1.34 MPa. “Patchiness” could, however, be induced by uprooting the plant and allowing the shoot to air dry for 6 to 8 min. In parallel studies, growth chamber-grown plants were acclimated to drought by withholding irrigation for three 5-d drought cycles interspersed with irrigation. This drought acclimation lowered the ψleaf value at which control rates of photosynthesis could be sustained by approximately 0.7 MPa and was accompanied by a similar decline in the ψleaf at which patchiness first appeared. Photosynthetic inhomogeneities in chamber-grown plants that were visible during moderate water stress and ambient levels of CO2 could be largely removed with elevated CO2 levels (3000 μL L−1), suggesting that they were stomatal in nature. However, advanced dehydration (less than approximately 2.0 MPa) resulted in “patches” that could not be so removed and were probably caused by nonstomatal factors. The demonstration that patches do not exist in drought-treated, field-grown cotton and that the presence of patches in chamber-grown plants can be altered by treatments that cause an acclimation of photosynthesis leads us to conclude that spatial heterogeneities in photosynthesis probably do not occur frequently under natural drought conditions.
Extinguishing All Hope: Life-Without-Parole for Juveniles

Sentencing juveniles to life-without-parole (JLWOP) is a practice fraught with ethical dilemmas. Through in-depth interviews with 11 men living sentences of JLWOP, their narratives of their backgrounds and experiences as juveniles were studied. Common themes were identified, and 3 general categories of cases emerged from the narratives. Ethical and social policy issues surrounding this currently most extreme punishment for minors are discussed.
Eulerian subgraphs containing given edges

For an integer l>0, dene SE(l) to be the family of graphs such that G 2SE(l )i f and only if for any edge subset X E(G) with jXj6l, G has a spanning eulerian subgraph H with X E(H). The graphs in SE(0) are known as supereulerian graphs. Let f(l) be the minimum value of k such that every k-edge-connected graph is in SE(l). Jaeger and Catlin independently proved f(0) = 4. We shall determine f(l) for all values of l>0. Another problem concerning the existence of eulerian subgraphs containing given edges is also discussed, and former results in [J. Graph Theory 1 (1977) 79{84] and [J. Graph Theory 3 (1979) 91{93] are extended. c 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
A Cross-Section Demand Analysis of Spanish Provincial Food Consumption

I follow the differential approach in building three demand models of Spanish cross-province food consumption patterns. The models include quadratic income terms for estimating the widely varying income responses one expects from cross-section data. The proposed models are also flexible in permitting alternative levels of aggregation across goods. A nonnested testing procedure is used to identify the best model. Both the flexibility of the quadratic income term and the flexibility of alternative aggregation levels are important in the analysis of Spanish food consumption patterns.
Regulation of calmodulin content in synaptic plasma membranes by glucocorticoids

Synaptic plasma membranes (SPM) from the brain are known to have specific binding sites for several steroid hormones, but the mechanisms of membrane transduction of steroid signals is not understood. In this study, corticosterone was found to prevent temperature-dependent dissociation of endogenous calmodlin (CaM) from highly purified SPM from rat cerebral cortex. The steroid stabilizes Ca2+-dependent membrane binding of endogenous CaM (78% of total CaM), whereas Ca2+-independent binding of CaM (the other 22%) is not affected. The stabilization of membrane binding of endogenous CaM by corticosterone is concentration-dependent, with the maximal effect occurring at steroid concentration of 1 μM. The EC50 is estimated as 130 nM, which is almost identical to the Kd of specific binding of the steroid to SPM (120 nM) reported previously. The effect in stabilizing membrane binding of CaM is specific to corticosterone and other glucocorticoids (cortisol, dexamethasone and triamcinolone); gonadal steroids (17β-estradiol, progesterone and testosterone) are ineffective. Furthermore, corticosterone administration in vivo (2 mg/kg, i.p.) produced a rapid increase of CaM content in SPM, occurring within 5 min after steroid injection and persisting for at least 20 min. Since CaM mediates a variety of biochemical processes in synaptic membranes, we hypothesize that the effect of glucocorticoids in promoting membrane binding of CaM may lead to a cascade of consequences in synaptic membrane function.
Delay-impact-based local deadline assignment for online scheduling of distributed soft real-time applications

Distributed soft real-time applications often involve multiple jobs that are executed on different processing units. Hence, resource competitions among these applications can be on any processing unit in the system. However, due to distributed nature of these applications, each processing unit may not have the knowledge about the workload on other processing units. Therefore, scheduling decisions made by individual processing units about their local job execution orders may not be optimal for the applications to which the jobs belong with respect to meeting the applications' end-to-end deadlines. In this paper, we first introduce a metric to measure, at a local processing unit, the risk of a distributed soft real-time application missing its end-to-end deadline. Second, based on the metric, we develop a local deadline assignment algorithm, i.e., the delay-impact-based (DIB) local deadline assignment algorithm. With the DIB algorithm, distributed processing units can independently schedule their local job sets based on the assigned job deadlines with maximized successful ratio of meeting distributed real-time applications' end-to-end deadlines. We empirically compare the DIB algorithm with three commonly used local deadline assignment algorithms, i.e., the OLDA, Pure, and Norm algorithms. The experimental results show that the DIB algorithm has clear advantage over the OLDA, Pure, and Norm approaches — it results in up to 50%, 35%, and 35% higher successful ratio than the OLDA, Pure, and Norm approaches with respect to meeting application's end-to-end deadlines, respectively. Furthermore, for those applications that do miss their end-to-end deadlines, the application execution delay ratio resulted by the DIB algorithm is also up to 300%, 50%, and 150% smaller comparing to the other three approaches.
Spatial Sampling Variations for Biomimetic Computer Vision

Signal and image processing algorithms rely upon assumptions about the underlying sampling process. Ideal sampling and non-overlapping finite-aperture sampling have been examined extensively in the literature. This paper examines the ramifications of spatial sampling of an image with overlapping Gaussian-response photodetectors, which models certain insect vision systems.
MAKING THE MONDAY CONNECTION: TEACHING BUSINESS ETHICS IN THE CONGREGATION

There are few resources available for business ethics education from a religious perspective. This is due to the specialization of careers, the mobility of workers, and clergy discomfort with the topic—all of which have led to a decline of ecclesiastical influence in this area. The author discusses why business ethics education is important in the local congregation and outlines one model for both teaching theological/philosophical bases for moral action and providing support groups for businesspeople struggling with moral dilemmas. Following Thomas Groome's work, such an educational plan provides opportunities for shared praxis in the congregation.
How Proteins Adapt: Lessons from Directed Evolution

Applying artificial selection to create new proteins has allowed us to explore fundamental processes of molecular evolution. These "'directed evolution" experiments have shown that proteins can readily adapt to new functions or environments via simple adaptive walks involving small numbers of mutations. With the entire “fossil record” available for detailed study, these experiments have provided new insight into adaptive mechanisms and the effects of mutation and recombination. Directed evolution has also shown how mutations that are functionally neutral can set the stage for further adaptation. Watching adaptation in real time helps one to appreciate the power of the evolutionary design algorithm.
A preliminary assessment of the interactions between the capping agents of silver nanoparticles and environmental organics

Stability of nanoparticles (NPs) and their sorption on different environmental surfaces have important implications for their fate and transport in aquatic systems. The surfaces of both NPs and soil/sediment minerals are likely to encounter environmental organics including natural organic matter (NOM) and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) under relevant environmental conditions. The aim of this paper was to explore the potential modes of silver NP (AgNP) interaction with NOM and a model EPS. Molecular spectroscopies were used to characterize the interactions of NOM with the AgNP-capping agents (citrate and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)). NMR spectroscopy suggests that both the humic acid (HA) and fulvic acid (FA) fractions of NOM are capable of displacing citrate from the surface of AgNPs. The relaxation times of methylene (CH2 and CH) protons provide indirect evidence that carboxyl or hydroxyl groups of FA interact with the surface of AgNPs. Raman spectroscopy suggests that FA interacts with both the ring and polyvinyl domains of PVP and the oxygen atom involved in the PVP–NP complex. These spectroscopic results imply that the displacement of AgNP capping agents by NOM may have a destabilizing effect on engineered NPs that enter the aqueous environment, thus reducing their environmental mobility. Quartz crystal microgravimetry (QCM) revealed observable differences in both the extent and kinetics of AgNP adsorption on substrates coated with NOM and dextran sulfate. These exploratory QCM results are crucial in guiding future research to further investigate the role of NOM/EPS-induced adsorption in influencing environmental partitioning of NPs. Overall, our preliminary assessment highlighted the critical role of surface modifications of both the NPs and the bulk substrate by environmental organics in the stability and mobility of AgNPs. These initial findings are important in the future design of NPs to ensure successful targeted applications as well as the environmental health and safety of NPs.
SELECTION FOR INCREASED MUTATION RATES WITH FERTILITY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MATINGS

Previous studies of mutation modification have considered models in which selection is a result of viability differences that are sex symmetric. The results of a numerical study of a model in which selection is a result of fertility differences between mated pairs demonstrate that the type of selection to which a population is subject can have a significant impact on the evolution of various parameters of the genetic system. When the fertility of matings between individuals with different genotypes exceeds the fertility of at least some of the matings between individuals with the same genotype, selection may favor increased rates of mutation, in contrast to the results from all existing constant viability models with random mating and infinite population size. Increased mutation rates are most frequently favored when forward and back mutation occur at approximately equal rates and when the modifying locus is loosely linked to the selected locus. We present one example in which selection favors increased rates of mutation even though the selection scheme is reducible to one of differential viability between the sexes.
Correlation of end tidal and arterial carbon dioxide levels in critically Ill neonates and children.

Aim of the Study: End tidal carbon dioxide (EtCO 2 ) monitoring is considered to reflect real-time estimation of partial pressure of carbon dioxide in arterial blood (PaCO 2 ) noninvasively. However, knowledge about its relationship with PaCO 2 in critically ill pediatric and neonatal patients is limited. The primary objective was to evaluate predictive capability of end tidal carbon dioxide monitoring and secondary objective was to determine the influence of severity of lung disease on EtCO 2 and PaCO 2 relationship. Materials and Methods: This was a prospective, nonrandomized, consecutive enrollment study carried out in neonatal and pediatric intensive care units of a tertiary care children hospital. It was conducted in 66 neonates and 35 children receiving mechanical ventilation. Severity of lung disease was estimated by ventilation index and PaO 2 /FiO 2 (P/F) ratio. Simultaneous recording of EtCO 2 and PaCO 2 levels was done and data were analyzed for correlation and agreement. Results: In neonates , 150 EtCO 2 and PaCO 2 pairs were recorded. The mean weight ± SD of patients was 2.1 ± 0.63 kg. PaCO 2 had a positive correlation with EtCO 2 ( r = 0.836, 95% CI = 0.78-0.88). P/F ratio 2 had an excellent correlation with EtCO 2 ( r = 0.914, 95% CI = 0.87 and 0.94). P/F ratio Conclusion: EtCO 2 monitoring displayed a good validity to predict PaCO 2 . Correlation was affected by low P/F ratio ( 2 values.
Mechanical Properties of Xenopus Egg Cytoplasmic Extracts

Cytoplasmic extracts prepared from Xenopus laevis eggs are used for the reconstitution of a wide range of processes in cell biology, and offer a unique environment in which to investigate the role of cytoplasmic mechanics without the complication of preorganized cellular structures. As a step toward understanding the mechanical properties of this system, we have characterized the rheology of crude interphase extracts. At macroscopic length scales, the extract forms a soft viscoelastic solid. Using a conventional mechanical rheometer, we measure the elastic modulus to be in the range of 2-10 Pa, and loss modulus in the range of 0.5-5 Pa. Using pharmacological and immunological disruption methods, we establish that actin filaments and microtubules cooperate to give mechanical strength, whereas the intermediate filament cytokeratin does not contribute to viscoelasticity. At microscopic length scales smaller than the average network mesh size, the response is pre- dominantly viscous. We use multiple particle tracking methods to measure the thermal fluctuations of 1 mm embedded tracer particles, and measure the viscosity to be ;20 mPa-s. We explore the impact of rheology on actin-dependent cytoplasmic contraction, and find that although microtubules modulate contractile forces in vitro, their interactions are not purely mechanical.
A high efficiency full-wave rectifier in standard CMOS Technology

In this paper, a high efficiency full-wave integrated voltage rectifier, implemented in AMI 0.5-mum 3M/2P n-well standard CMOS process, is presented. The rectifier takes advantage of the dynamic voltage control of separated n-well regions, where the main rectifying PMOS elements have been implemented, to eliminate latchup and body effect. In measurements, an AC input sinusoid of 5 V peak at 0.5 MHz yield a 4.36 V DC output across a 1 kOmega load, resulting in a measured power conversion efficiency of 85%.
Optimizing a novel regional chemotherapeutic agent against melanoma: hyperthermia-induced enhancement of temozolomide cytotoxicity.

Purpose: Previous preclinical studies have shown that regional temozolomide therapy via isolated limb infusion is more effective than melphalan, the current drug of choice for regional chemotherapy for advanced extremity melanoma. The aim of this study was to determine whether hyperthermia could further augment the efficacy of temozolomide, an alkylating agent, against melanoma and improve its therapeutic index in a rat model of isolated limb infusion. Experimental Design: Athymic rats bearing s.c. human melanoma xenografts (DM6) in their hind limbs were randomized to a 15-minute isolated limb infusion procedure with or without temozolomide at room temperature, normothermic (37.5°C), or hyperthermic (43°C) conditions. Results: The concomitant administration of hyperthermia during an infusion with temozolomide led to the greatest increase in tumor growth delay, decreased proliferative index, and increased cell death. Isolated limb infusion treatment with a low dose (350 mg/kg) of temozolomide was ineffective at producing tumor growth delay ( P = 0.07). Similarly, temozolomide infusion under normothermia yielded minimal tumor growth delay ( P = 0.08). In contrast, the combination of hyperthermia plus temozolomide treatment produced marked tumor growth delay of 10.4 days ( P = 0.02) with minimal toxicity. The addition of heat to temozolomide treatment yielded the smallest proliferative index ( P = 0.001), while markedly increasing the level of apoptosis 48 hours after isolated limb infusion. Conclusion: This study, the first to examine the interaction between hyperthermia and temozolomide, shows a strong, synergistic antitumor effect when hyperthermia is combined with temozolomide for regional treatment of melanoma confined to an extremity. The mechanism of this synergy seems to be through an augmentation, by hyperthermia, of the antiproliferative and proapoptotic effects of temozolomide.
The Unbalanced Equation: Technical Opportunities and Social Barriers in the NAE Grand Challenges and Beyond

The US National Academy of Engineering’s 2008 report, Grand Challenges for Engineering , puts forward a provocative vision of future civilization and engineering’s role in it. Notably, the report signals a trend in engineering toward more explicit and direct engagement with enduring, complex social problems, offering intriguing opportunities for exploring the relationship between engineering and questions of social justice. This paper makes one such exploration by analyzing the report’s explicit framings of engineering-for-social-problem-solving and the implicit assumptions underlying such framings. It shows how the report frames the non-technical factors as external to—and often barriers for—engineering. In contrast, technical challenges, even immense ones, are framed as wholly within engineering’s dominion and as opportunities for both engineering and human civilization as a whole. The paper argues that Grand Challenges signals contemporary tensions in the profession as it seeks an expansive domain of influence and relevance while at the same time narrowly circumscribing what engineers should be accountable for knowing and doing.
Standardized Emergency Management System and Response to a Smallpox Emergency

The smallpox virus is a high-priority, Category-A agent that poses a global, terrorism security risk because it: (1) easily can be disseminated and transmitted from person to person; (2) results in high mortality rates and has the potential for a major public health impact; (3) might cause public panic and social disruption; and (4) requires special action for public health preparedness. In recognition of this risk, the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (LAC-DHS) developed the Smallpox Preparedness, Response, and Recovery Plan for LAC to prepare for the possibility of an outbreak of smallpox. A unique feature of the LAC-DHS plan is its explicit use of the Standardized Emergency Management System (SEMS) framework for detailing the functions needed to respond to a smallpox emergency. The SEMS includes the Incident Command System (ICS) structure (management, operations, planning/intelligence, logistics, and finance/administration), the mutual-aid system, and the multi/interagency coordination required during a smallpox emergency. Management for incident command includes setting objectives and priorities, information (risk communications), safety, and liaison. Operations includes control and containment of a smallpox outbreak including ring vaccination, mass vaccination, adverse events monitoring and assessment, management of confirmed and suspected smallpox cases, contact tracing, active surveillance teams and enhanced hospital-based surveillance, and decontamination. Planning/intelligence functions include developing the incident action plan, epidemiological investigation and analysis of smallpox cases, and epidemiological assessment of the vaccination coverage status of populations at risk. Logistics functions include receiving, handling, inventorying, and distributing smallpox vaccine and vaccination clinic supplies; personnel; transportation; communications; and health care of personnel. Finally, finance/administration functions include monitoring costs related to the smallpox emergency, procurement, and administrative aspects that are not handled by other functional divisions of incident command systems. The plan was developed and is under frequent review by the LAC-DHS Smallpox Planning Working Group, and is reviewed periodically by the LAC Bioterrorism Advisory Committee, and draws upon the Smallpox Response Plan and Guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). The Smallpox Preparedness, Response, and Recovery Plan, with its SEMS framework and ICS structure, now is serving as a model for the development of LAC-DHS plans for responses to other terrorist or natural-outbreak responses.
Domain modeling of software process models

The paper presents a novel application involving two important software engineering research areas: process modeling and software reuse. The Spiral Model is a risk-driven process model, which, depending on the specific risks associated with a given project, may be tailored to create a project-specific process model. The software reuse area is that of domain modeling of families of systems, which capture the similarities and variations among the members of the family. The domain modeling approach is used to create a domain model of a Spiral Process Model (SPM), thereby capturing the similarities and variations among a family of process models. The SPM domain model has been extended to capture the key process areas of the Software Engineering Institute's Capability Maturity Model (CMM). The domain model is used to generate project-specific process models. This approach allows managers to configure and reuse process models that manage the risks associated with new software development.
Democracy's Wisdom: An Aristotelian Middle Way for Collective Judgment

A satisfactory model of decision-making in an epistemic democracy must respect democratic values, while advancing citizens’ interests, by taking account of relevant knowledge about the world. Analysis of passages in Aristotle and legislative process in classical Athens points to a “middle way” between independent-guess aggregation and deliberation: an epistemic approach to decision-making that offers a satisfactory model of collective judgment that is both time-sensitive and capable of setting agendas endogenously. By aggregating expertise across multiple domains, Relevant Expertise Aggregation (REA) enables a body of minimally competent voters to make superior choices among multiple options, on matters of common interest. REA differs from a standard Condorcet jury in combining deliberation with voting based on judgments about the reputations and arguments of domain-experts.
Lyapunov-based piezoelectric control of flexible cartesian robot manipulators

A Lyapunov-based control strategy is proposed for regulating problem of a Cartesian robot manipulator, which is modeled as a flexible cantilever beam arm with a translational base support. The arm cross-sectional area is assumed to be uniform and Euler-Bernoulli beam theory assumptions are considered. Moreover, two types of damping mechanisms; namely viscous and structural dampings, are considered for the arm material properties. A piezoelectric (PZT) patch actuator is bonded on the surface of the flexible beam for suppressing residual beam vibrations. The equations of motion for the system are obtained using Hamilton's principle, which are based on the original infinite dimensional distributed system. Utilizing the Lyapunov method, the control force acting on the base and control voltage for the PZT actuator are designed such that the base is regulated to a desired set-point and the exponential stability of the system is attained. The feasibility of the controller is validated through numerical simulations.
GI magnetic resonance angiography

MRA is a type of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in which blood appears bright. To form a magnetic resonance (MR) angiogram, a 3-dimensional set of thin sections is acquired through the region of interest. The images are then processed by computer to create a 2-dimensional projected display that resembles a conventional angiogram. There are many ways to cause blood to appear bright on MRI. Each of these mechanisms corresponds to a different type of MRA. Brightness may result from the entry of blood into the section. This mechanism is responsible for the time-of-flight (TOF) methods.1 Brightness may be dependent on the velocity of blood, which is the principle behind phase-contrast (PC) MRA.2 Brightness may result from the injection of contrast agents, which is the basis for contrast-enhanced MRA (CEMRA).3 Other mechanisms exist as well, although they are much less common than these three. In recent years, CEMRA has emerged as the dominant MRA method. CEMRA is applicable to nearly every abdominal vessel, including the aorta, renal arteries, mesenteric arteries, and portal vein.4 CEMRA is much faster than TOF and PC. It is accomplished in a single breath hold and so is less exhausting to the patient, as compared with TOF, which may require a separate breath hold for each section. CEMRA is demonstrably better than TOF or PC in the imaging of arterial branch vessels. Furthermore, it resembles conventional angiography and CT angiography (CTA), both of which use the same principle of blood enhancement by intravascular contrast agents.
Characterization and Impact of Wound Infection After Pancreas Transplantation

Objective: To characterize the incidence, microbial pathogenesis, risk factors, and impact of wound infection after pancreas transplantation. Design: Retrospective analysis. Setting: A large university hospital. Patients: From January 1, 1990, to September 30, 1993, 197 patients underwent 207 consecutive pancreas transplantation procedures. Main Outcome Measures: Wound infection and patient and allograft survival rates at 1 year. Results: Sixty-nine patients (33%) suffered wound infections: 21 (10%) were superficial; 31 (15%), deep; and 17 (8%), combined. Most (74%) wound infections were monomicrobial. Staphylococcus epidermidis and Candida species were the most common pathogens. Prolonged operating time, older donors, and enteric drainage were associated with higher wound infection rates. Deep and combined wound infections led to allograft loss despite subsequent salvage procedures. Combined wound infection was associated with significantly higher mortality. Conclusions: A deep wound infection should be an indication for allograft removal. Antifungal prophylaxis, stringent donor criteria, and delayed primary wound closure should lower the incidence of wound infection. (Arch Surg. 1994;129:1310-1317)
An adaptive-window-width short-time Fourier transform for visualization of radar target substructure resonances

A short-time Fourier transform with an adaptive-window-width is used to analyze the transient response of radar targets. The described algorithm allows the isolation and identification of substructure resonances as well as localized specular reflections and slowly building global resonances.
Taxing Carry: The Problematic Analogy to 'Sweat Equity'

The enormity of the earnings reported by some private equity fund managers has drawn sustained public attention to how such earnings are treated under the income tax. Reformers call for eliminating the preferential capital gains treatment accorded to the carried interest portion of fund managers' service compensation. One of the most prominent and thus far successful arguments against reform compares the tax advantage of carried interest with the supposed tax advantage routinely enjoyed by business owners who work in their own businesses and compensate themselves with sweat equity rather than salary. This report argues that sweat equity is not only an inapt analogy for carried interest, but is, on its own terms, largely misconceived. Sanchirico concludes that the tax advantage of carried interest is primarily a matter of exploiting differences in the marginal tax rates of fund managers and fund investors, while the tax advantage to sweat equity is arguably nonexistent.
Fully Parameterized Reduced Order Models Using Hyper-Dual Numbers and Component Mode Synthesis

The uncertainty of a system is usually quantified with the use of sampling methods such as Monte-Carlo or Latin hypercube sampling. These sampling methods require many computations of the model and may include re-meshing. The re-solving and re-meshing of the model is a very large computational burden. One way to greatly reduce this computational burden is to use a parameterized reduced order model. This is a model that contains the sensitivities of the desired results with respect to changing parameters such as Young’s modulus. The typical method of computing these sensitivities is the use of finite difference technique that gives an approximation that is subject to truncation error and subtractive cancellation due to the precision of the computer. One way of eliminating this error is to use hyperdual numbers, which are able to generate exact sensitivities that are not subject to the precision of the computer. This paper uses the concept of hyper-dual numbers to parameterize a system that is composed of two substructures in the form of Craig-Bampton substructure representations, and combine them using component mode synthesis. The synthesis transformations using other techniques require the use of a nominal transformation while this approach allows for exact transformations when a perturbation is applied. This paper presents this technique for a planar motion frame and compares the use and accuracy of the approach against the true full system. This work lays the groundwork for performing component mode synthesis using hyper-dual numbers.Copyright © 2015 by ASME
Contextual Combination of Appearance and Motion for Intersection Videos with Vehicles and Pedestrians

Object detection and classification is challenging problem for vision-based intersection monitoring since traditional motion-based techniques work poorly when pedestrians or vehicles stop due to traffic signals. In this work, we present a method for vehicle and pedestrian recognition at intersections that benefits from both motion and appearance cues in video surveillance. Vehicle and pedestrian recognition performance is compared using motion, appearance and combined cues in contextually relevant stop areas to improve recognition. Experimental evaluation shows 5% average improvement for vehicle and pedestrian recognition at two Las Vegas intersections.
Serum transferrin receptor level is not altered in invasive adenocarcinoma of the breast.

The transferrin receptor is expressed on the surface of rapidly dividing cells that require iron as a co-factor for essential redox reactions and deoxyribonucleotide synthesis. Transferrin receptors are expressed on the surface of breast carcinoma cells but not on benign breast tumor cells. In this study, the authors investigated whether transferrin receptor concentrations in the serum were elevated in patients with invasive adenocarcinoma of the breast. The transferrin receptor was isolated and purified from human placenta by affinity chromatography. The serum transferrin receptor concentration was determined using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in 19 patients with invasive breast adenocarcinoma, 12 of whom had involvemnt of axillary lymph nodes
Gene expression profiles in HTLV-I-immortalized T cells: deregulated expression of genes involved in apoptosis regulation

Human T-cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I) is the etiologic agent of adult T-cell leukemia, an acute and often fatal T-cell malignancy. A key step in HTLV-I-induced leukemigenesis is induction of abnormal T-cell growth and survival. Unlike antigen-stimulated T cells, which cease proliferation after a finite number of cell division, HTLV-I-infected T cells proliferate indefinitely (immortalized), thus facilitating occurrence of secondary genetic changes leading to malignant transformation. To explore the molecular basis of HTLV-I-induced abnormal T-cell survival, we compared the gene expression profiles of normal and HTLV-I-immortalized T cells using 'gene array'. These studies revealed a strikingly altered expression pattern of a large number of genes along with HTLV-I-mediated T-cell immortalization. Interestingly, many of these deregulated genes are involved in the control of programmed cell death or apoptosis. These findings indicate that disruption of the cellular apoptosis-regulatory network may play a role in the HTLV-I-mediated oncogenesis.
Relative Brain Size within the North American Sciuridae

Statistical associations were sought between relative brain size and arboreality, diet, habitat, sociality, and reproductive effort among 33 species of North American sciurids. When using all 33 species, arboreality (species classified as arboreal or terrestrial) was found to be a better predictor of brain size compared to diet (folivore or other) or habitat (grassland or other). Arboreal squirrels had significantly larger brains for their body size than did terrestrial squirrels. No relationship was found between relative brain size and reproductive effort. Within the terrestrial squirrels, no relationships were found between brain size and diet, habitat, or sociality (social or asocial). Although these analyses showed that arboreal squirrels had larger brains than did terrestrial squirrels, it is not clear whether this difference is due to (1) selection for large brains in arboreal species, or (2) small brains in terrestrial squirrels as a result of selection for rapid growth rates of young.
Control performance assessment for building automation systems

Abstract This paper focuses on the application area of building automation systems and highlights the need for methods to assess the performance of SISO feedback loops. Several practical issues make it difficult to apply some of the more widely known performance assessment methods to systems in buildings. These issues are discussed and an alternative method is described that is designed to be more practicable for the buildings application area. The method involves extracting features from the setpoint error signal and it yields a normalized index that can be used to detect and diagnose tuning problems as well as valve stiction. The paper describes the method and demonstrates its utility on several building control loops.
Inserting scales of urban politics: the possibilities of meso-urban governance shims

ABSTRACTThis article explores the geographic literature on governance at smaller-than-urban but larger-than-household scales, identifying a relative inattention to neighborhood and other partial-city scales of governance. Hegemonic power relationships are institutionalized at particular scales of state government (e.g. national, regional, municipal) and state-sanctioned governing units (e.g. jurisdictional districts or supranational bodies), which in turn shapes urban research. We propose a new analytical term, governance shims, to describe the insertion of new scales of governance between those already reified and reproduced; institutions at such scales may be unusually grounded in authority beyond the state. Geographers seem well positioned to explore the characteristics of governance shims at the meso-urban scale. We illustrate this by briefly tracing how common interest communities (CICs), housing cooperatives, and community land trusts (CLTs) might be analyzed through a shims approach. Provocatively,...
Intravenous lipid emulsion in the resuscitation of cocaine-induced cardiovascular arrest in a rat model.

Abstract Context Intravenous lipid emulsion (ILE) is a potential antidote for severe overdose of certain lipophilic drugs. Cocaine overdose is often fatal and has no antidote. The use of ILE after cocaine-induced cardiac arrest has been suggested but is not well characterized. Objective The objective of the study is to determine if ILE would reverse cocaine-induced cardiac arrest in a rat model. Materials and methods Twelve Sprague-Dawley rats with intra-arterial and intravenous access were sedated with isoflurane and split into 2 cocaine dose groups, then given either ILE or normal saline (NS) intravenously (IV)—group A, 7 animals received cocaine (10 mg/kg IV) with 6 of 7 given ILE (15 mg/kg IV) and 1 of 7 given NS (equal volume); group B, 5 animals received cocaine (5 mg/kg IV) with 3 of 5 given ILE (15 mg/kg IV) and 2 of 5 given NS (equal volume). Closed chest compressions were initiated for asystole and continued for 15 minutes with rhythm checks every minute. Results All 12 rats experienced cardiac arrest after cocaine bolus. Resuscitation was successful in 1 of 7 rats in group A and 0 of 5 in group B. Conclusions Intravenous lipid emulsion administration did not affect outcome of cocaine-induced cardiac arrest compared with control in this model.
Institutional Distance,Information Asymmetry and International M&A Performance:Empirical Evidence from Chinese Listed Companies

Based on the liability of foreignness theory and using the stepwise linear regression method,the key factors to influence the international merger and acquisition performance were studied using the examples of Chinese listed companies.The results showed that if enterprise heterogeneity and host country institutional quality etc.,are regarded as the control variables,there is an obvious negative correlation between the legal institutional distance and the international MA performance,while the economic institutional distance and cultural distance could promote the international MA performance.The population densities of acquirers can adjust the correlation between the institutional distance and the performance.
Prenatal diagnosis of cystic fibrosis.

Cystic fibrosis is the most common genetic disorder among whites in the United States. Recent developments in molecular DNA analysis have identified the cystic fibrosis gene and a mutation that is present in 70% of the cystic fibrosis chromosomes. This new knowledge is being applied already to the prenatal diagnosis of cystic fibrosis in pregnancies at high risk for the disorder and further advances in this field are expected.
Treatment considerations for posterior laboratory-fabricated composite resin restorations.

A variety of techniques are currently available to restore dentition in the posterior region, and the selection of the proper modality is dependent upon evaluation and satisfaction of numerous criteria. Direct materials provide limited strength in the posterior segment, and full-coverage indirect techniques (e.g., crown restorations) often require the destruction of sound tooth structure. When proper case selection, preparation design, and clinical protocols are utilized, a laboratory-processed composite resin (belleGlass, Kerr/Sybron, Orange, CA) can provide an optimal means by which to successfully restore posterior dentition without compromising the existing tooth structure.
Túngara Frog: A Model for Sexual Selection and Communication

Sexual selection is responsible for the evolution of extreme and elaborate sexual dimorphisms. This is especially true for communication systems involved in mate attraction. Anurans, in general, and tungara frogs (Physalaemus pustulosus), in particular, have emerged as an ideal model for studies of sexual selection and communication. Male tungara frogs gather in choruses and vocally advertise for females with a long-distance advertisement call. The call consists of whine that can be followed by 0–7 chucks; only the sister taxa of the tungara frog are known to produce similarly variably complex calls. Male tungara frogs add chucks in response to the vocalizations of other males, and females are more attracted to calls with chucks than calls without chucks. Females move about the chorus and choose a mate with minimum interference from males. Females are more likely to choose larger males, and this preference results from their preference for the lower-frequency chucks produced by larger males. The preference for lower-frequency chucks, in turn, results from the relationship between the average tuning of the female’s inner ear and the average dominant frequency of the chuck. The female’s basilar papilla is more sensitive to chucks with lower-than-average compared to higher-than-average frequencies. The tuning of this inner ear organ did not evolve in tungara frogs but also characterizes most of its close relatives; this suggests that aspects of the chuck evolved to match preexisting sensory biases in females. The communication system of tungara frogs does not occur in a private channel. As do female tungara frogs, two eavesdroppers, frog-eating bats, Trachops cirrhosus, and blood-sucking flies, Corethrella spp., also use the mating call to localize males, but in these cases the eavesdroppers either eat them or suck their blood. Furthermore, as with the female frogs, the eavesdroppers are attracted preferentially to complex calls over simple calls. This exemplifies the conflict between natural selection and sexual selection highlighted by Darwin.
The Future of Plants in Relation to Man

In this final chapter it will be our purpose to attempt some forecast of the relation of plants to man in the future. Although we do hear that we live in the “Atomic Era” or the “Space Age,” and even though our children tend to grow up in cities where they may see none of the usual and obvious aspects of the dependence of man upon plants, still there is practically no weakening of the bond that unites us to the plants. Even though we buy our food wrapped and processed from a supermarket, the energy stored up in it is still acquired by the old-fashioned process of photosynthesis, in which the sun’s radiated energy is captured by plants through the intervention of their chlorophyll. Great may be the uses of atomic energy, but so far they show no signs of including the provision of energy for living processes, and it seems that man will be dependent on plants directly and indirectly for as far into the future as human imagination can be projected. Even if artificial—“in vitro” — photosynthesis is developed, it will be a very long time before this process could provide for the ever expanding population of mankind on the earth’s surface.
Developing Ethical Leadership

The chapter outlines a learning process and a developmental content to the ethical preparation of school leaders. The process begins with personal reflections and group discussions about ethical values embedded in one’s personal biography which have been influential in participants’ efforts to process ethically challenging situations in their work. The process transitions to explorations within formal ethical perspectives by which participants learn to analyze ethical problems in their normal everyday work experiences from a multidimensional ethical framework of justice, care, and critique. The gradual appropriation of this ethical framework opens the door to the deeper consideration of the moral good that the profession of education intends to promote – the good embedded in school learning about one’s membership in the worlds of culture, nature, and society. This exposes aspiring and experienced educational leaders to the essential ethical leadership of the teaching/learning process itself.