cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Probability density function-based Fisher ratio applied to polarization-enhanced patterns

The use of Fisher ratio (FR) algorithm to predict a pattern in an input seen has been applied in several applications in the literature with different success rate, depending on how close is the similarity of the statistical parameters between the background and the patterns. We propose a modification to the FR ratio algorithm that is dependent on the probability density function (PDF). The modified PDF-FR algorithm provides good improvements over that of the PDF used alone. We further enhance the performance of the PDF-FR using polarization-enhanced imagery.
Pediatric postoperative intussusception in the minimally invasive surgery era: a 13-year, single center experience.

Background Postoperative intussusception (POI) is a sporadic complication whose mechanisms and risk factors remain poorly understood. Its epidemiology in the minimally invasive surgery era has yet to be well described, particularly in children. We sought to examine risk factors, demographics, and anatomic patterns of pediatric POI in recent years. Study Design This was a 13-year retrospective review from a single tertiary pediatric center. Variables analyzed included patient demographics, time of occurrence, type of intussusception, type of anesthesia, and triggering surgical procedure. The latter variable was divided into 2 groups: abdominal and nonabdominal interventions. Statistical analysis was by 2-tailed Fisher's exact test with significance set at p Results Among 822 cases of intussusception in 718 patients, 22 documented cases of POI were identified. Twelve of them occurred after abdominal procedures; there was a statistically significant difference in the incidence of POI after open surgery (0.091%; 11 of 12,126) when compared with minimally invasive interventions (0.013%; 1 of 7,610; p = 0.036). As expected, ileoileal and jejunojejunal intussusceptions were the most common forms of POI after abdominal operations (12 of 12; 100%); however, ileocolic intussusceptions were common forms of POI after nonabdominal cases (5 of 10; 50%; p = 0.01). Epidural anesthesia did not appear to be a risk factor for POI. Conclusions Although rare, postoperative intussusception can occur after a multitude of interventions, including those performed at a distance from the abdomen. Although small bowel intussusception is the predominant variant of this complication after abdominal procedures, ileocolic intussusception is prevalent after other interventions. Minimally invasive abdominal access may protect against postoperative intussusception in children.
SU-GG-I-127: Characterization of Point Spread Functions of Indirect Digital Radiography Detectors

Purpose: To characterize the point spread function (PSF) of indirect digital radiographydetectors with varying scintillator thickness. Method and Materials: The Mantis Monte Carlo program was used to simulate x‐ray detection in indirect digital detectors. The simulation was first validated by replicating previously published geometries and comparing the results. Upon validation, the CsI:Tl layer thickness was varied between 0.5 mm to 2.0 mm. Based on previous publications by other groups, the amorphous layer thickness was defined as 20% of the total CsI:Tl layer, and the needles of the structured layer were simulated with a 5° tilt, in varying directions. The incident x‐rays were simulated both normal to the detector and at non‐normal angles, representing incidence at various locations. Methods were developed to estimate the PSF for any needle tilt direction from the results of only four simulated tilt directions. Results: Comparison of the validation results yielded acceptable similarity. The CsI:Tl quantum efficiency (QE) in the simulations agreed with theoretical predictions. It was found that the CsI:Tl needle tilt direction introduces important variations and asymmetries in the PSF, especially for non‐normal x‐ray incidence angles. The interpolation method developed successfully estimates the PSF for any tilt direction from the results of only four simulated tilt directions. As expected, the PSF widens with increasing CsI:Tl, with the presence of the amorphous CsI:Tl layer introducing significant spreading of the PSF. Conclusion: The PSF at various detector locations will be used to develop and test a shift‐variant deconvolution algorithm which will allow for further optimization of the image acquisition process, by allowing for the use of thicker scintillators, to take advantage of potentially increased DQE despite a wider PSF. In addition, the impact of relatively thinner amorphous CsI:Tl layers and smaller needle tilt will be investigated. Conflict of Interest: Research sponsored by GE Global Research.
The Effect of Timing of Concurrent Chemoradiation in Patients With Newly Diagnosed Glioblastoma.

Despite advances in modern surgical and adjuvant therapies, glioblastoma (GBM) and high-grade gliomas remain challenging disease entities. The current treatment paradigm, as established by the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer/National Cancer Institute of Canada phase III trial, includes maximal safe surgical resection followed by external beam radiation therapy (RT) at 60 Gy with concurrent daily temozolomide (TMZ), followed by adjuvant TMZ.1 For recurrent disease, however, the optimal therapy remains unclear, and median overall survival (OS) from initial diagnosis remains <2 years. With aggressive malignancies such as GBM, minimizing delay in initiation of cytotoxic therapies has been a widely held tenet in oncology. The effect of timing of radiotherapy on outcome has been evaluated in a variety of malignancies, such as breast,2,3 lung,4 and head and neck5,6 cancers, consistently showing higher recurrence rates and worse survival with delayed administration of adjuvant radiotherapy. However, in the context of GBM and high-grade gliomas, the relationship between delaying radiotherapy and outcome is less clear, with some studies demonstrating an association between delay in radiotherapy and poor survival,7,8 whereas no such impact on outcome was observed in other studies.9,10 A secondary analysis of 16 Radiation Therapy Oncology Group studies including with 2800 patients revealed a possible association with improved outcome with a moderate delay in radiotherapy initiation (>4 weeks).11 Yet, most of these studies were completed before radiotherapy with the establishment of concurrent TMZ as standard therapy for patients newly diagnosed with GBM, raising the question of whether these results remain relevant in the modern era of concurrent chemoradiation for GBM. To explore the impact of timing of initiating radiotherapy with concurrent TMZ, we analyzed 4 clinical trials of patients with newly diagnosed GBM receiving concurrent and adjuvant TMZ with other agents(s) conducted at the University of California at San Francisco.
Reconstructing internal security in post-conflict societies: The challenge and successfulness of developing democratic police and justice institutions

‘Nation-building’ is an increasingly frequent activity of Western governments and the United Nations. This study examines the reconstruction of internal security institutions during nine recent nation-building missions: Panama, El Salvador, Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, East Timor, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq. It analyzes the activities of the United States and other countries in building viable and democratic police and justice institutions. The study draws conclusions from the comparative analysis and derives recommendations to help improve the performance in the delivery of post-conflict security. The results should be of interest to a broad audience of policymakers and academics concerned with the successes and shortcomings of past security efforts and improving future efforts.
Triterpenes and 1-(ω-hydroxyceratyl)glycerols from Pentaclethra eetveldeana root bark

Abstract Two new monoglycerides, 1-(26-hydroxyhexacosanoyl)glycerol and 1-(26-ferulyloxyhexacosan)-glycerol, and three new fatty acid conjugates of triterpenes, were isolated from the root bark of Pentaclethra eetveldeana together with several previously known compounds.
Incremental gate sizing for late process changes

Circuit design often runs in parallel with the development of the manufacturing process that will be used to fabricate it. However, as the manufacturing process matures, its models may undergo substantial changes as the design nears production. These changes may cause the design itself to fail its specifications, and in these cases it is necessary to perform an Engineering Change Order (ECO) to correct these problems. We present a new framework to perform incremental gate sizing for process changes late in the design cycle. This includes a method to measure and estimate ECO cost, transform these costs into a linear programming optimization problem, and solve the problem to find the ECO. This method performs well, compared to a leading commercial physical design tool, reducing ECO costs by 18% to 99% in changed area, and 1% to 96% in number of pins with unnecessary pin timing changes.
Synthesis of novel 1,3,5-cis,cis-triaminocyclohexane ligand based Cu(II) complexes as potential radiopharmaceuticals and correlation of structure and serum stability

Abstract The present study describes the synthesis of Cu(II) and radioactive 67,64Cu(II) complexes with N,N′,N″-tris(2-pyridylmethyl)-1,3,5-cis,cis-triaminocyclohexane (tachpyr) and a new pyridyl ring alkylated derivative, N,N′,N″-tris(6-methyl-2-pyridylmethyl)-1,3,5-cis,cis-triaminocyclohexane (tach-6-Me-pyr) and the investigation of their structural and solution properties as well as stability in human serum. Facile formation of both the ‘cold’ and 67,64Cu-radiolabeled complexes, [Cu(tachpyr)]2+ and [Cu(tach-6-Me-pyr)]2+, occurs in aqueous (0.15 M NH4OAc buffer, pH 6.5) or methanolic solvent. X-ray crystallography reveals that Cu(II) is hexacoordinate in [Cu(tachpyr)]2+ while methylation at the 6-position of the pyridyl donors in tachpyr produces considerable steric hindrance. Thus one pyridyl arm of tach-6-Mepyr is rotated entirely away from copper in [Cu(tach-6-Mepyr)]2+, resulting in a highly distorted trigonal-bipyramidal coordination geometry. The solid-state structures of the complexes correlate well with their stabilities in human serum at 37 °C. Thus, [67Cu(tachpyr)]2+ possesses excellent stability, being unchanged after a period of 7 days, while [67Cu(tach-6-Mepyr)]2+ decomposes within 1 h. Tachpyr may be an excellent candidate for developing new Cu(II) radiopharmaceuticals for diagnosis and therapy.
Improved detection of quantitative differences using a combination of spectral counting and MS/MS total ion current

Label-free quantitative strategies are commonly used in shotgun proteomics to detect differences in protein abundance between biological sample groups. Here, we have employed a combination of two such approaches, spectral counting (SpC) and average MS/MS total ion current (MS2 TIC), for the analysis of rat kidney mitochondria in response to metabolic acidosis. In total, 49 proteins were observed to be significantly altered in response to metabolic acidosis (p-value < 0.05). Of these, 32 proteins were uniquely observed as significantly different by SpC, 14 by MS2 TIC, and only 3 by both approaches. Western blot analysis was performed on a subset of these proteins to validate the observed abundance differences. This study illustrates the utility and ease of combining these two label-free quantitative approaches to increase the number of detected protein abundance differences in the shotgun analysis of complex biological samples.
Geometric Design of Spatial PRR Manipulators Using Polynomial Elimination Techniques

This paper studies the geometric design of spatial open loop prismatic-revolute-revolute (PRR) robot manipulators. Four spatial positions and orientations are defined and the dimensions of the geometric parameters of the PRR manipulator are computed so that the manipulator will be able to place its end-effector at these four pre-specified locations. Denavit and Hartenberg parameters and 4×4 homogeneous matrices are used to formulate the design equations. Polynomial Elimination techniques are used to solve these equations and twelve geometrically different solutions are found.Copyright © 2002 by ASME
Local Union Leaders' Conception and Ideology of Stewards' Roles

This study investigates the ways in which local union leaders define shop stewards' roles and the ideology that underlies their conception. Drawing on sociological theories, the author proposes three major role ideologies: conflict/activist, rationalization/bureaucratic, and functionalist/cooperative. Based on a survey of southern local union leaders, the study finds that "grievance handler" and "representative" are the most commonly identified roles for stewards. Union leaders conceive of stewards' roles in ways that reflect diffuse ideologies; nevertheless, rationalization and functionalist ideologies are more prevalent than conflict ideology.
The Results Of Simulating A Digital Imaging Network System In Echelon 3 Of Deployable Combat Medical Facilities

The U.S. Army is evaluating the conversion of all of its conventional medical radiological imaging capabilities to a filmless technology using a Digital Imaging Network System (DINS) in both fixed and field hospitals. The latter hospitals are called Deployable Combat Medical Facilities. Using DINS, the photosensitive films presently used to record and display x-ray images would be replaced by digitized images stored on either magnetic or optical devices and displayed on computer workstations (electronic lightboxes). This document describes the use of a simulation model as a tool in estimating the imaging caseload for field hospitals for the purpose of determining the required image storage capacities of the DINS workstations and the required throughput capacity of the inter-workstation local area network. The simulation follows a patient through the five echelons of field hospitals, recording the number of radiological images created in each ward of a hospital and the inter-ward movement of images. The simulation also provides information about the number of images transferred with a patient being evacuated to rear area hospitals. The detail included in the simulation model makes it possible to analyze the utilization of facilities within a hospital and the impact of queuing on patient care when these facilities are overloaded. Three simulation examples are presented that examine the impact on an Echelon 3 EVAC Hospital of the treatment of patients with combat-related injuries.
Analytical performance of soft clustering protocols

The success of a mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is strongly related to the protocol used at the medium access control (MAC) layer. Depending on the requirements and the specific network under concern, the protocol parameters at the MAC layer can be arbitrated to make best use of the channel resources. Typically, extensive simulation studies are used to find the best values for these variables. The problem with this approach is the need for excessive amounts of processing power and time. As the dimensions of the decision space increase, the need for processing power grows exponentially. This paper addresses this problem by developing an analytical model that reflects the relationships between protocol parameters and the overall performance of the protocol under various network conditions. Specifically, we model the MH-TRACE cluster-based protocol, which is capable of supporting real-time data transmission. The model is capable of estimating performance measures such as energy consumption and number of receptions while being simple enough to be run for a large set of parameters. The model can be used to optimize parameters of the protocol (such as the number of frames per superframe) as well as to predict the performance variations as the external conditions (such as data generation rate) vary.
Organoselenium (Sel-Plex diet) decreases amyloid burden and RNA and DNA oxidative damage in APP/PS1 mice.

Abstract To evaluate potential antioxidant characteristics of organic selenium (Se), double knock-in transgenic mice expressing human mutations in the amyloid precursor protein (APP) and human presenilin-1 (PS1) were provided a Se-deficient diet, a Se-enriched diet (Sel-Plex), or a control diet from 4 to 9 months of age followed by a control diet until 12 months of age. Levels of DNA, RNA, and protein oxidation as well as lipid peroxidation markers were determined in all mice and amyloid β-peptide (Aβ) plaques were quantified. APP/PS1 mice provided Sel-Plex showed significantly (P
Is low-grade serous ovarian cancer part of the tumor spectrum of Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer?

Abstract Objective To determine whether women with low-grade serous ovarian cancer (LGSOC) have personal and family histories of breast and ovarian cancer that are less suggestive of Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer (HBOC), as compared to women with high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC). Methods A single institution, case-control retrospective review of medical records was conducted. Personal demographics, personal cancer history, and family history of breast and ovarian cancer of women with LGSOC were collected and compared to controls with HGSOC, which is known to be associated with HBOC. Results 195 cases of LGSOC and 386 controls with HGSOC were included in the analysis. Women with LGSOC were significantly less likely to have a first- or second-degree relative with breast or ovarian cancer ( p =0.0016). Additionally, when the personal and family histories were quantified using the AMyriad BRC mutation prevalence tables, women with LGSOC had lower scores indicative of a less suggestive family history for HBOC ( p =0.027). Conclusions In this study, women with LGSOC had family histories that were less suggestive of HBOC compared to women with HGSOC, especially when the degree of relatedness of affected relatives was taken into account. By beginning to determine if LGSOC is part of the tumor spectrum seen in HBOC, this study is an important step towards refining hereditary cancer risk assessment for women with ovarian cancer.
The migration of art from museum to market: Consuming Caravaggio

This study examines the life and work of the Italian Baroque artist Caravaggio, whose paintings dazzled and shocked the Church and patronage systems 400 years ago. By tracing the reception of his work from its inception in 1600 to its commodification today, the study develops a five-phase model of the migration of art from studio to museum to market. Consisting of Creation, Quotation, Interpretation, Recontextualization, and Consumption, the model applies the work of Bourdieu, McCracken, Schroeder, Baudrillard and Althusser to explain how traditional works of western art are transformed into a system of objects available for contemporary consumption. The model explains how the interaction of particular people, events, and contexts disseminates the meaning of rarefied images into objects of possession and adornment.
Efficiency of Simulated Vehicle-to-Vehicle Message Propagation in Atlanta, Georgia, I-75 Corridor

Exploitation of in-vehicle information technology (e.g., mobile computing and wireless communications) in surface transportation systems is a clearly emerging trend. Equipping vehicles with computing, communication, and sensing capabilities presents significant opportunities for a vast array of transportation services. Vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication may be considered for applications such as incident detection, crash reporting, traveler information dissemination, and network operations. In-vehicle computing systems facilitate the customization of information services to the needs and characteristics of individual travelers. In addition, these systems allow coverage to extend beyond areas where roadside equipment has been placed. This study provides the initial investigation needed to test the feasibility of these advanced communication networks. Several observations may be drawn from the study. First, V2V communication is a feasible way to propagate information along the I-75 freeway in the Atlant...
Improvements in the performance of microstrip antennas on finite ground planes through ground plane edge serrations

This paper explores how edge serrations on a truncated ground plane affect the performance of a microstrip antenna. The investigation includes both simulations and measurements of a range of serration dimensions. Improvements in performance through ground plane edge serration include lower cross-polarization level, increased beam width, and slight impedance tuning compared to a microstrip antenna on a simple finite ground plane.
Multiactuation complementary metal-oxide semiconductor radio frequency MEMS switch

A complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS)-compatible, capacitive, shunt-type radio frequency MEMS switch design is demonstrated. The switch is actuated by an electrothermal actuator and an electrostatic actuator at the same time, and the switching status is latched by electrostatic force only. Since thermal actuators require a lower voltage than electrostatic actuators, and since an electrostatic force can maintain switching status with virtually no power, the benefits of the mechanism are a very low actuation voltage and low power consumption. The switch is fabricated by a standard 0.35-µm 2P4M CMOS process. The movable membrane can be released by either wet or dry postprocessing etching technologies. The design's CMOS-process compatibility is important because radio frequency (RF) characteristics are determined not just by the device itself. The design can minimize parasitic capacitance when a packaged RF switch and a packaged IC are wired together. The switch contains a set of coplanar waveguide transmission lines and a suspended membrane. The CPW lines and the membrane are contained in the metal layers of the CMOS process. The electrothermal actuators are contained in the polysilicon layer. Only standard CMOS process layers are needed for both the electrothermal and electrostatic actuations in the RF switch. The measurement results show that the electrothermal or electrostatic actuation requires less than 7 V.
Reverse engineering Control Structure Diagrams

The GRASP/Ada project (Graphical Representations of Algorithms, Structures, and Processes for Ada) has successfully created and prototyped a new algorithmic level graphical representation for Ada software, the Control Structure Diagram (CSD). The primary impetus for creation of the CSD is to improve the comprehension efficiency of Ada software and, as a result, improve reliability and reduce costs. The emphasis is on the automatic generation of the CSD from Ada PDL or source code to support reverse engineering and maintenance. The CSD has the potential to replace traditional prettyprinted Ada source code. The current prototype provides the capability for the user to generate CSDs from Ada PDL or source code with a level of flexibility suitable for practical application. >
Measurement of Polyene Antibiotic-Mediated Erythrocyte Damage by Release of Hemoglobin and Radioactive Chromium

Polyene antifungal antibiotics produce various degrees of membrane damage in sheep erythrocytes in vitro. Mediocidin, filipin, amphotericin B, and candicidin were found to result in greater damage than nystatin, pimaricin, and amphotericin B methyl ester. The degree of sensitivity of the cells varied by 100-fold for mediocidin verus amphotericin B methyl ester as measured by curves of hemoglobin release versus drug concentration. In erythrocytes prelabeled with radioactive chromium, release of the isotope through polyene-damaged cell membranes was found to occur at lower drug concentrations than measurable hemoglobin release, and the percentage of isotope released at the highest drug dose was consistently greater than the percentage of hemoglobin released. Thus, the isotope assay is a more sensitive indicator of polyene-induced membrane damage in the test system. These significant differences in release of molecules through polyene-induced membrane lesions indicate the complex nature of the binding and further interactions of this class of drugs with the plasma membrane.
Properties of a Streptococcus sanguis (Group H) Bacteriocin and Its Separation from the Competence Factor of Transformation

STH(1), a streptocin elaborated by group H streptococcus strain Challis, is lethal for group H streptococcus strain Wicky and is produced maximally during the exponential growth phase of liquid medium cultures. Crude streptocin preparations are resistant to oxidation and display a biphasic pH stability (stability being maximal at pH 5.0 and 10.0). Survivor studies indicate that streptocin-mediated killing is a "one-hit" phenomenon and proceeds rapidly. The streptocin has been purified 50-fold with (NH(4))(2)SO(4) fractionation and Sephadex G100 chromatography and appears to exist in equilibrium between two molecular weight forms. Low ionic strength and neutral pH buffers favor the isolation of the 110,000 molecular weight form, whereas high ionic strength and alkaline pH conditions facilitate isolation of the 28,000 to 30,000 molecular weight form. These findings suggest an association-dissociation relationship between macromolecules of 28,000 to 30,000 molecular weight. Purified STH(1) has no "competence factor" (CF) activity. In addition, CF has no STH(1) activity and displays no inhibitory effect on exponential-phase Wicky cultures as determined by absorbancy measurements. It appears, therefore, that initiation of the competent state for transformation in strain Wicky is not necessarily accompanied by gross alterations in cell growth.
Models for the Millennium: Great Basin Anthropology Today

Models for the Millennium: Great Basin Anthropology Today. Charlotte Beck. ed. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1999. 314 pp.
Massive release of hydrogen sulfide to the surface ocean and atmosphere during intervals of oceanic anoxia

Simple calculations show that if deep-water H2S concentrations increased beyond a critical threshold during oceanic anoxic intervals of Earth history, the chemocline separating sulfidic deep waters from oxygenated surface waters could have risen abruptly to the ocean surface (a chemocline upward excursion). Atmospheric photochemical modeling indicates that resulting fluxes of H 2S to the atmosphere (.2000 times the small modern flux from volcanoes) would likely have led to toxic levels of H 2S in the atmosphere. Moreover, the ozone shield would have been destroyed, and methane levels would have risen to .100 ppm. We thus propose (1) chemocline upward excursion as a kill mechanism during the end-Permian, Late Devonian, and Cenomanian‐Turonian extinctions, and (2) persistently high atmospheric H2S levels as a factor that impeded evolution of eukaryotic life on land during the Proterozoic.
Tidal energy subsidy and standing crop production of Spartina alterniflora

Abstract Standing crop biomass of the intertidal graminoid Spartina alterniflora, as determined by clip harvest, has a strong positive linear correlation with tidal range along the Connecticut coastline of Long Island Sound. These findings support the hypothesis that tides provide an ‘energy subsidy’ which accounts for much of the observed variation in the productivity of the salt marsh ecosystem. Although the physiological basis for this phenomenon will demand further research, it is suggested that increased nitrogen availability may be important.
PREVALENCE OF NEUTRALIZING ANTIBODIES TO RABIES VIRUS IN SERUM OF SEVEN SPECIES OF INSECTIVOROUS BATS FROM COLORADO AND NEW MEXICO, UNITED STATES

We determined the presence of rabies-virus-neutralizing antibodies (RVNA) in serum of 721 insectivorous bats of seven species captured, sampled, and released in Colorado and New Mexico, United States in 2003-2005. A subsample of 160 bats was tested for rabies-virus RNA in saliva. We sampled little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) at two maternity roosts in Larimer County, Colorado; big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) at three maternity roosts in Morgan County, Colorado; and big brown bats at five maternity roosts in Larimer County. We also sampled hoary bats (Lasiurus cinereus) and silver-haired bats (Lasionycteris noctivagans) captured while drinking or foraging over water in Bernalillo County, New Mexico and at various locations in Larimer County. Big brown bats, little brown bats, long-legged myotis (Myotis volans), long-eared myotis (Myotis evotis), and fringed myotis (Myotis thysanodes) were also sampled over water in Larimer County. All species except long-eared myotis included individuals with RVNA, with prevalences ranging from 7% in adult female silver-haired bats to 32% in adult female hoary bats. None of the bats had detectable rabies-virus RNA in oropharyngeal swabs, including 51 bats of 5 species that had RVNA in serum. Antibody-positive bats were present in nine of the 10 maternity colonies sampled. These data suggest that wild bats are commonly exposed to rabies virus and develop a humoral immune response suggesting some degree of viral replication, but many infections fail to progress to clinical disease.
Hypersonic Boundary-Layer Transition on Blunt Bodies with Roughness ⁄

Laminar-turbulent transition on the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV, or Orion) is likely to be dominated by the efiects of ablation and the laminarablated roughness, both isolated and distributed. Although no single ground experiment can simultaneously duplicate all aspects of this complex process, many experiments have been carried out using roughness applied to non-porous models without blowing. The present document reviews these data for the efiect of roughness on hypersonic blunt-body transition. A few experiments have also looked at cold gases blown through a rough wall to simulate the ∞ow due to ablation. Although these efiects of ablation are critical and may in fact be dominant, they are to be reviewed later.
A New Cosmogony

Digital Mechanics is a model of physics based on the Finite Nature assumption; that at some scale, space and time and all other quantities of physics are discrete. In this paper we will assume that Finite Nature is true and we will explore the consequences with regard to the nature and origin of the Universe. Contemporary physics has a lot to say about models of the early universe; down to the first tiny fraction of a second after the Big Bang. Digital Mechanics can tell us something about what might have occurred before the Big Bang. We show that any reasonable estimate for the unit of length leads to a puzzle; the computational capacity of space dwarfs any reasonable requirement for what we know about physics. This paper will attempt to lead the reader down a connected path of consequences that all follow from the single assumption; Finite Nature.
FastCap: a multipole accelerated 3-D capacitance extraction program

A fast algorithm for computing the capacitance of a complicated three-dimensional geometry of ideal conductors in a uniform dielectric is described and its performance in the capacitance extractor FastCap is examined. The algorithm is an acceleration of the boundary-element technique for solving the integral equation associated with the multiconductor capacitance extraction problem. The authors present a generalized conjugate residual iterative algorithm with a multipole approximation to compute the iterates. This combination reduces the complexity so that accurate multiconductor capacitance calculations grow nearly as nm, where m is the number of conductors. Performance comparisons on integrated circuit bus crossing problems show that for problems with as few as 12 conductors the multipole accelerated boundary element method can be nearly 500 times faster than Gaussian-elimination-based algorithms, and five to ten times faster than the iterative method alone, depending on required accuracy. >
Unaccompanied Hospitalized Children: A Review of the Literature and Incidence Study

The aim of this study was to review literature on unaccompanied hospitalized children and report the incidence at a pediatric hospital over 2 weeks. The philosophical model of most pediatric hospitals is family-centered care (FCC) and reducing separation effects. Although the FCC model includes parents/guardians as collaborators and participants in the care of the child, parents cannot always be present. Nurses try to meet the needs of unaccompanied children. Children and parents express that they want to be together, but many parents have obstacles to participation including increased expectations. The incidence study found that about one third of children were sometimes unaccompanied.
Implementation of the Federal Chief Financial Officers Act

The Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act of 1990 proposes to rationalize the many financial practices and systems of the federal financial establishment. Due to the significant number and magnitude of the changes required by the Act, those involved in implementing the Act are encountering unanticipated practical problems and issues. This article addresses some of the surfacing difficulties, including, the qualifications of CFO's; implementation costs, standards, and authority; content of financial statements; and the scope of audits including performance measurement.
Implanted myoblasts not only fuse with myofibers but also survive as muscle precursor cells

Intramuscular implanted myoblasts can fuse with existing myofibers. Here we report that implanted primary myoblasts marked with retroviral transgenes can also persist as muscle precursor cells. These cells can be recovered as viable myoblasts from muscles of recipient mice even months after myoblast implantation, and they can fully resume expression of the transgenes in culture. Upon re-implantation into muscles, they again not only fuse with existing myofibers, but also survive as muscle precursor cells in the tissue. These reserve myogenic cells should be able to contribute to host myofibers in muscle regeneration when the recombinant myofibers are damaged, providing an additional mechanism to maintain a persistent expression of transgenes delivered by myoblast-mediated gene transfer.
Matching Business-Level Strategic Controls to Strategy: Impact On Control System Effectiveness

This study explores the contingent relationships between strategic control, business-level strategy, and the perceived effectiveness of the strategic control system. The findings suggest that: (1) firms demonstrating Cost-leader tendencies have more effective strategic control systems when their controls are tighter (i.e., greater degree of formalization, upper management supervision, and role specialization); and (2) firms demonstrating Differentiator tendencies have more effective strategic control systems when their controls are looser.
Comparison Excluding Commitments: Incommensurability, Adjudication, and the Unnoticed Example of Trade Disputes

We claim that there are important cases of “incommensurability” in public policymaking, in which all relevant reasons are not always comparable on a common scale as better, worse, or equally good. Courts often fail to confront this. We are by no means the first to contend that incommensurability exists. Yet incommensurability’s proponents have failed to sway the courts mainly because they overlook the fact that there are two types of incommensurability. The first (“incompleteness incommensurability”) consists of the lack of any appropriate metric for making the comparison. We argue that this type of incommensurability is relatively unproblematic in that courts are well-positioned to construct such a metric if necessary. In contrast, the second (“comparison-excluding incommensurability”) consists of a commitment that blocks comparison on a common scale, even if such a scale does exist. Incommensurability of this sort has not been widely acknowledged and does raise deep problems for judicial decision-making. When facing comparison-excluding incommensurability, the courts should not always disregard such commitments, but should acknowledge them in case such commitments are justified in a procedural manner. In this sense, comparison-exclusion incommensurability plays a key constitutive role in the construction of both individual identities and collective identities.
ROP GTPases and the Cytoskeleton

Plant Rho-family GTPases, named ROPs (Rho-like GTPases from plants), like their counterparts in fungi and animals, have the conserved function in the regulation of the cytoskeleton, a fundamental dynamic cellular structure important for the regulation of plant growth, development, and responses to the environment. In the regulation of the cytoskeleton, ROP signaling pathways involve specific regulators and effectors that are unique to plants, in addition to conserved components that are shared with their counterparts in other organisms. This chapter summarizes the current knowledge of ROP signaling networks that regulate actin filaments and microtubules, with an emphasis on recent reports of conserved and/or plant-specific signaling pathways.
Memories of Mancur : a Student Reminisces

Mancur was a happy and inquisitive person who had insights about big pictures that technicalities could never derail. The Logic of Collective Action and The Rise and Decline of Nations were certainly like that. They made bold claims that motivated researchers to go further. For example, The Logic of Collective Action provided new insights into the free-rider problem and a number of eye-catching hypotheses about group behavior that researchers tried to confirm, refute, or refine for decades, including claims about the relationship between group size and group success, the exploitation of larger actors by smaller ones, and the importance of selective incentives in group formation. The Rise and Decline of Nations argued that interest groups will eventually find rent seeking profitable, which will squeeze an economy through institutional sclerosis. Comparative political scientists and economists have since discovered cases supporting his claim, as well as cases better explained by alternative hypotheses. Both books were so well written that I still read them again and again just to think about how I might organize my own thoughts or write a good conclusion. Olson’s application of economic methodology to subjects that were traditionally in the realm of political science helped break political science out of its mid-twentieth-century rut, which spent too much time on the history of ideas and often assumed individuals would work towards their collective interests. By applying economic methodology to politics, political scientists could create valid assertions of their own and more cleanly apply them to cases that could be tested. In this way, Mancur became part of a movement that helped the social sciences proceed more scientifically. I have three memories of Mancur that stand above the rest. The first was his incredible ability to think on his feet. One year, in the mid-1990s, the Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics invited Amartya Sen to speak on campus. For
Low-Velocity Impact Response of Woven Carbon Epoxy Composites with MWCNTs

Goal of present study is to investigate effects of carboxyl-functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes on the low velocity impact behavior of carbon fiber reinforced polymer composites. Up to 0.3 wt% loading of MWCNTs were dispersed via a combined method of sonication and magnetic stirring using a solvent media in epoxy matrix which was used to fabricate CFRP composite panels by compression molding. For comparison, both neat and CNT modified panels were made and the samples subjected to low velocity impact test. Factors like maximum load carried by samples before failure, energy absorption parameters like energy at peak load and delamination energy, along with energy profile diagram and specific delamination energy (SDE) are considered to interpret the impact behavior of all composite samples. It was found that CNT modified samples exhibits better performance compared to neat composite in terms of impact response. Peak load and absorbed energy parameters showed only a moderate improvement for CNT doped composites compared to the neat composite. Ultrasonic C-scan was employed to evaluate the impact damage which revealed significant reduction in damage area in CNT doped samples. Improvement in damage tolerance was attributed to enhanced energy absorption capability and resistance to crack propagation due to strong covalent bonds that CNTs were able to form with both epoxy and carbon fabrics compared to just epoxy.
The Social Wisdom of the Primitives with Special Reference to Their Proverbs

T HE indispensable prerequisites to any social thought are association and language. It is due to association that men, even the most primitive, become aware of the various aspects of human nature, and it is out of association that their attitudes and ideas grow, however vague and fantastic they may be, regarding social relationships generally, the requirements of group conduct, social and psycho-social processes, social institutions, and human life in general. Without language there can be no communication of any kind; nor are men capable of developing concepts of any kind. To pick up social thought at the precise moment when man developed the combination of simple association and rude speech is impossible at this stage of the study of social evolution. We may in time know quite a bit about man at this point in his development. On the basis of his skeletal remains we now know something about him as an anatomical specimen, and with the aid of his rude artifacts we can piece together some aspects of his culture, but we have almost no inkling of his thought. The most rudimentary social thought now available is that of recent and contemporary primitive peoples -peoples who, while relatively rude, and simple, have a fairly substantial culture, including established ideas, standardized relationships, a flexible language, and a full equipment of institutions. The thought of primitive peoples is largely pre-scientific and pre-literate. Their ideas are not reached by deliberate reasoning nor by careful and conscious investigation. They are direct and intuitive, the products of minds that are alogical, uncritical and credulous on the whole, and that depend on common experience, observation, and imagination for explanations.' Being pre-literate, their thought,
Evolution of the East African rift: Drip magmatism, lithospheric thinning and mafic volcanism

Abstract The origin of the Ethiopian-Yemeni Oligocene flood basalt province is widely interpreted as representing mafic volcanism associated with the Afar mantle plume head, with minor contributions from the lithospheric mantle. We reinterpret the geochemical compositions of primitive Oligocene basalts and picrites as requiring a far more significant contribution from the metasomatized subcontinental lithospheric mantle than has been recognized previously. This region displays the fingerprints of mantle plume and lithospheric drip magmatism as predicted from numerical models. Metasomatized mantle lithosphere is not dynamically stable, and heating above the upwelling Afar plume caused metasomatized lithosphere with a significant pyroxenite component to drip into the asthenosphere and melt. This process generated the HT2 lavas observed today in restricted portions of Ethiopia and Yemen now separated by the Red Sea, suggesting a fundamental link between drip magmatism and the onset of rifting. Coeval HT1 and LT lavas, in contrast, were not generated by drip melting but instead originated from shallower, dominantly anhydrous peridotite. Looking more broadly across the East African Rift System in time and space, geochemical data support small volume volcanic events in Turkana (N. Kenya), Chyulu Hills (S. Kenya) and the Virunga province (Western Rift) to be derived ultimately from drip melting. The removal of the gravitationally unstable, metasomatized portion of the subcontinental lithospheric mantle via dripping is correlated in each case with periods of rapid uplift. The combined influence of thermo-mechanically thinned lithosphere and the Afar plume together thus controlled the locus of continental rift initiation between Africa and Arabia and provide dynamic support for the Ethiopian plateau.
Clinical Analysis of 35 Children with Capillary Leak Syndrome Caused by Sepsis

Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics of sepsis with capillary leak syndrome(CLS) in children in order to enhance our understanding of it. Methods Clinical symptoms,laboratory examination,treatment and prognosis in 35 hospitalized patients suffered from sepsis with CLS from 2001 to 2010 were analyzed retrospectively.The antibiotic resistance to the most common pathogens was determined by the antimicrobial susceptibility test in order to guide clinical medications. Results CLS showed an increasing trend.All of them had acute and progressive edema and low blood pressure,27 cases had dyspnea,15 cases had conscious disturbance,8 cases had oliguria,5 cases had gross hematuria,and 12 cases had renal insufficiency.All of them had hypoalbuminemia,proteinuria and hematuria,28 cases had pleural effusion,26 cases had peritoneal effusion and 10 cases had pericardial effusion.Gram-negative bacilli were the most common pathogens caused by sepsis with CLS(24 cases,85.7%).The resistance rates of cefoperazone/sulbactam,imipenem and furadantin to Gram-negative bacilli were low(15%).Active control of infection and supplement of colloidal liquid were crucial. Conclusions Since CLS has special pathological,physiological and clinical characteristics,the physicians should make a correct diagnosis,careful monitor and suitable treatments to improve the effect of treatments and prognosis as far as greatest possibility.
Cloning of Full Length cDNA and Tissue Expression Analysis of Hepcidin Gene from Cobia(Rachycentron canadum)

The techniques of homology clone and RACE were used to clone the Hepcidin gene from cobia(Rachycentron canadium).The full length cDNA of Hepcidingene was 714 bp with a213 bp 5′untranslated region(UTR),a 228 bp 3′UTR and a 273 bp open reading frame(ORF)encoding apolypeptide of 90 amino acid residues with a predicted molecular weight of 10.03 ku and theoretical isoelectric point of 7.54.The predicted molecular included signal peptide,prodomain peptide and mature peptide.Phylogenetic tree of Hepcidin amino acid sequences was constructed and homology compapison of amino acid sequences showed that homologies were varied from 24.4% to 85.6% with some known Hepcidin amino acids in other fishes and mammals.Quantitative Real-time PCR(qRT-PCR)analysis revealed that Hepcidin gene was expressed in all tissues with different expression levels,which expressed most in liver.The Hepcidingene ex-pressions in liver,head kidney and spleen were up-regulated after stimulation of LPS and formalin-inactivated Vibrio carchariae.
Microsatellite instability in human cancer.

Tumorigenesis has made tremendous progress through the recent identification of widespread alterations in tumor genomes, manifested as microsatellite instability. Several genes causing microsatellite instability have already been identified. This was considerably facilitated by the knowledge of homologous DNA mismatch repair genes in bacteria and yeast. Correspondingly, the human genes are also tightly linked to DNA mismatch repair. In addition, recent research showed that there must be other - yet unknown - genes that might also cause the genotype of microsatellite instability. Microsatellite instability has also provided a model for the proposed existence of mutator phenotypes by giving an explanation as to how the high number of mutations observed in malignant cells might accumulate. This review focuses on these genes and our current knowledge of their role in tumorigenesis and/or tumor progression. In addition, the occurrence of microsatellite instability in a large variety of tumors is reviewed in detail.
Review: Evidence is inconclusive about the role of lower-carbohydrate diets in weight loss in the outpatient setting

Source Citation Bravata DM, Sanders L, Huang J, et al. Efficacy and safety of low-carbohydrate diets: a systematic review. JAMA. 2003;289:1837-50. 12684364