cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The influence of fog and airmass history on aerosol optical, physical and chemical properties at Pt. Reyes National Seashore

Abstract This paper presents an analysis of the aerosol chemical composition, optical properties and size distributions for a range of conditions encountered during a field measurement campaign conducted between July 7–29, 2005 at Point Reyes National Seashore, north of San Francisco, CA. The fractional mass loading derived from hourly measurements of an Aerodyne Mass Spectrometer (AMS) during this period are compared with filter-pack measurements from the Pt. Reyes IMPROVE station with good agreement found between the two if it assumed that chloride is primarily from large sea-salt particles (not measured by the AMS). During the first half of the campaign (July 7–17), conditions at the site were largely maritime while flow during the second half of the campaigns (July 18–29) was influenced by a thermal trough that added a cyclonic twist to the incoming marine air, bringing it from the south with a more extensive over-land trajectory. Neither flow regime was associated with air coming from the San Francisco Bay area to the south. The AMS measurements are partitioned into clear and foggy conditions which are then used to calculate the equivalent molar ratio of ammonium to the sum of sulfate, nitrate and chloride. Ratios calculated from measurements made before the onset of the thermal trough on July 18th were associated with acidic or near-neutral particles. Measurements made after July 18th yield ratios that appear to have excess ammonium. Model calculations of the equilibrium gas-phase mixing ratio of NH 3 suggest very high values which we attribute to agricultural practices within the park. Reported as an incidental finding is evidence for the cloud droplet activation of large particles (D P > 0.2 μm) with a corresponding reduction in the single scattering albedo of the non-activated particles, followed by a return in the particle size spectrum to the pre-fog conditions immediately afterwards.
The lipid composition of plasma lipoprotein density classes of sheep Ovis aries

Abstract 1. 1. The lipoproteins of sheep plasma were separated by preparative ultracentrifugation into five different classes based on hydrated density. 2. 2. Agarose gel electrophoresis patterns of the sheep lipoprotein classes and whole plasma were obtained. 3. 3. No pre-beta band (VLDL) was found in sheep plasma; beta (LDL) was present along with two alpha (HDL) bands. 4. 4. The lipids associated with the various lipoprotein classes did not vary appreciably with density except that the fraction with ρ>1·20 g/ml contained most of the free fatty acids and lysophosphatidyl choline present in sheep plasma. 5. 5. Cholesterol ester was the major neutral lipid in the LDL and HDL fractions, while phosphatidyl choline was the major phospholipid in the HDL, and equal amounts of sphingomyelin and phosphatidyl choline were present in the LDL fraction. 6. 6. The absence of VLDL and chylomicrons in sheep plasma suggest that sheep absorb dietary fat differently than do humans.
The Flash Crash Of May 2010: Accident Or Market Manipulation?

On May 6th., 2010, the Dow fell about a thousand points in a half hour and Wall Street lost $800 billion of value. Some claim that it was just an isolated incident and there was nothing nefarious but with the majority of trading being done by electronic exchanges and with the increase in High Frequency Trading, evidence is emerging that the crash just might have been a case of deliberate manipulations of the market.
Phytotherapy and the Prostatitis Syndromes

Given the lack of proven efficacy of conventional therapies, it is not surprising that patients have turned with increasing frequency to phytotherapy and other alternative treatments. Although alternative therapies are plentiful, few have been subjected to scientific scrutiny and prospective controlled clinical trials. This chapter will cover therapies commonly used in prostatitis patients and focus in detail on those with published data. These treatments include zinc, cernilton (bee pollen), quercetin, and saw palmetto. Complementary therapies may indeed have much to offer patients, particularly those with chronic degenerative conditions in which allopathic therapies have proven less successful. Alternative therapies, however, require the same scientific criteria for validation and acceptance as do conventional medical therapies.
Differential geometry based solvation model I: Eulerian formulation

This paper presents a differential geometry based model for the analysis and computation of the equilibrium property of solvation. Differential geometry theory of surfaces is utilized to define and construct smooth interfaces with good stability and differentiability for use in characterizing the solvent-solute boundaries and in generating continuous dielectric functions across the computational domain. A total free energy functional is constructed to couple polar and nonpolar contributions to the solvation process. Geometric measure theory is employed to rigorously convert a Lagrangian formulation of the surface energy into an Eulerian formulation so as to bring all energy terms into an equal footing. By optimizing the total free energy functional, we derive coupled generalized Poisson-Boltzmann equation (GPBE) and generalized geometric flow equation (GGFE) for the electrostatic potential and the construction of realistic solvent-solute boundaries, respectively. By solving the coupled GPBE and GGFE, we obtain the electrostatic potential, the solvent-solute boundary profile, and the smooth dielectric function, and thereby improve the accuracy and stability of implicit solvation calculations. We also design efficient second-order numerical schemes for the solution of the GPBE and GGFE. Matrix resulted from the discretization of the GPBE is accelerated with appropriate preconditioners. An alternative direct implicit (ADI) scheme is designed to improve the stability of solving the GGFE. Two iterative approaches are designed to solve the coupled system of nonlinear partial differential equations. Extensive numerical experiments are designed to validate the present theoretical model, test computational methods, and optimize numerical algorithms. Example solvation analysis of both small compounds and proteins are carried out to further demonstrate the accuracy, stability, efficiency and robustness of the present new model and numerical approaches. Comparison is given to both experimental and theoretical results in the literature.
System development planning using readiness levels in a cost of development minimization model

The purpose of this paper is to describe a methodology that enables systems engineers or program managers to formulate a system-wide optimal development plan in order to facilitate monitoring and evaluation of the development process in terms of the actual readiness of the system. It proposes the use of the System Readiness Level (SRL) scale to measure the maturity of a system composed of technological elements, which are being developed based on cost-driven strategies (as opposed to time-to-market-driven strategies). A constrained optimization model is used to identify which critical technology elements and integration links can be matured to which levels at a particular time such that the development costs are minimized while a targeted SRL value is attained on schedule. While the algorithm does not necessarily reduce the total cost of development, it is able to find the minimal amount of expenditures which will achieve the desired maturity level during the earlier part of the development process. Essentially, it shifts the rest of the expenditures towards the latter part of the development during which model-based integration and testing procedures which have been suggested by others can be applied to reduce costs and time further. This can be a useful option to have when there is substantial uncertainty with the system due to its high novelty and technological content. As a value added approach, the model gives the systems engineer the information needed to understand what a delay may mean to development, so a more informed decision can be made. The paper concludes by discussing the possible use of the optimal development plan to monitor and control the progress of systems under development. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Syst Eng
Task-driven control of multi-arm systems

Task-driven robot control schemes follow changing task conditions, have servos in task space and have a natural relation to the task. Therefore, task-driven schemes can help in achieving "intelligent" robot arm behavior. In this paper a generic task-driven servo scheme is discussed for the problem of object handling by a multi-arm robotic system. The primary goal is to make the object exhibit a prescribed behavior in the presence of an environment. Four classes of task-level entities are identified: position; environmental interaction force; internal force and 'zero dynamics' or auxiliary coordinates. Sensed task-level errors directly drive the system through a nonlinear feedback control law. Redundancies that exist at object and robot arm levels are identified. Novel strategies to resolve redundancy in joint motion are suggested. Full use of the number of available inputs is made, and servo loops equal to the total number of inputs, control the system as a whole. Numerical simulations for a dual-arm situation illustrate the validity of the approach. Furthermore, a novel technique based on singular value decomposition is described to analyze practical situations in object handling. Results of experiments done on a dual six-degree-of-freedom arm arrangement, with force sensing, are reported. >
Genomic Structure of the Promoters of the Human Estrogen Receptor-α Gene Demonstrate Changes in Chromatin Structure Induced by AP2γ

Expression of human estrogen receptor-alpha (ERalpha) involves the activity from several promoters that give rise to alternate untranslated 5' exons. However, the genomic locations of the alternate 5' exons have not been reported previously. We have developed a contig map of the human ERalpha gene that includes all of the known alternate 5' exons. By using S1 nuclease and 5'- rapid amplification of cDNA ends, the cap sites for the alternate ERalpha transcripts E and H were identified. DNase I-hypersensitive sites specific to ERalpha-positive cells were associated with each of the cap sites. A DNase I-hypersensitive site, HS1, was localized to binding sites for AP2 in the untranslated region of exon 1 and was invariably present in the chromatin structure of ERalpha-positive cells. Overexpression of AP2gamma in human mammary epithelial cells generated the HS1-hypersensitive site. The ERalpha promoter was induced by AP2gamma in mammary epithelial cells, and trans-activation was dependent upon the region of the promoter containing the HS1 site. These results demonstrate that AP2gamma trans-activates the ERalpha gene in hormone-responsive tumors by inducing changes in the chromatin structure of the ERalpha promoter. These data are further evidence for a critical role for AP2 in the oncogenesis of hormone-responsive breast cancers.
Midazolam with ketamine: Who benefits?

[Kennedy RM, McAllister JD. Midazolam with ketamine: who benefits? Ann Emerg Med . March 2000;35:297-299.].
Role of methyl group vitamins in hypothalamic development of food intake regulation in Wistar rats

High multivitamin diets (HV; 10-fold AIN-93G) fed during pregnancy to Wistar rats produce offspring with increased food intake, obesity, and characteristics of metabolic syndrome. The hypothesis that methyl group vitamins in HV gestational and pup diets modify expression of the obesogenic phenotypes in the offspring through their effects on hypothalamic feeding pathways was tested by 4 studies. In studies 1 and 2, dams were fed the AIN-93G diet with recommended vitamin (RV), HV, high methyl vitamins (10-fold folate, vitamin B12 and vitamin B6) (HMethyl), or HV with normal folate (HVNF) and male offspring were weaned to a high-fat diet for 8 weeks. In studies 3 and 4, dams were fed RV, HV, or high 10-fold folate (HFol), and male offspring were weaned to RV, HV, or HFol diets for 29 weeks. The results were as follows: (i) HV and HMethyl diets increased obesogenic phenotypes and altered hypothalamic regulation of food intake and metabolism concurrent with epigenetic effects on gene expression. (ii) Removing ...
Heterotopic Ossification of the Temporomandibular Joint in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis

Objective. To describe the clinical, laboratory, pathologic, and radiographic imaging characteristics of a series of children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) and radiographic imaging evidence of heterotopic ossification of their temporomandibular joint (TMJ). Methods. Children were identified through search of an administrative database of imaging results at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Retrospective chart review was performed to collect data on each patient’s clinical and laboratory characteristics, systemic therapies, timing and number of TMJ intraarticular corticosteroid injections (IAS), TMJ symptoms, and TMJ findings on physician examination. TMJ imaging studies for which heterotopic ossifications were reported were reviewed. Pathology specimens were reviewed for the 2 children who underwent synovial biopsy of their TMJ. Results. Twelve children were identified. The average duration between onset of JIA and detection of heterotopic ossification of TMJ on an imaging study was 36 months (range 19–94). Half the children had abnormal mouth-opening for age when the calcifications were first detected. In each case, the heterotopic ossification was first detected by computed tomography scan, and in 11 of the cases they were associated with synovial pannus formation as documented on an imaging study. Two children underwent synovial biopsy, which revealed reactive parosteal osteochondromatosis in one case and findings consistent with an intraarticular rheumatoid nodule in the other. Conclusion. Heterotopic ossifications of the TMJ may be seen in children with JIA and are associated with particularly severe TMJ arthritis, joint destruction, and pannus formation. Pathology from these joints suggests that the heterotopic ossification may result from multiple pathological processes.
Self-recruitment in a Caribbean reef fish: a method for approximating dispersal kernels accounting for seascape.

Characterizing patterns of larval dispersal is essential to understanding the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of marine metapopulations. Recent research has measured local dispersal within populations, but the development of marine dispersal kernels from empirical data remains a challenge. We propose a framework to move beyond point estimates of dispersal towards the approximation of a simple dispersal kernel, based on the hypothesis that the structure of the seascape is a primary predictor of realized dispersal patterns. Using the coral reef fish Elacatinus lori as a study organism, we use genetic parentage analysis to estimate self-recruitment at a small spatial scale (<1 km). Next, we determine which simple kernel explains the observed selfrecruitment, given the influx of larvae from reef habitat patches in the seascape at a large spatial scale (up to 35 km). Finally, we complete parentage analyses at six additional sites to test for export from the focal site and compare these observed dispersal data within the metapopulation to the predicted dispersal kernel. We find 4.6% selfrecruitment (CI95%: � 3.0%) in the focal population, which is explained by the exponential kernel y = 0.915 x (CI95%: y = 0.865 x , y = 0.965 x ), given the seascape. Additional parentage analyses showed low levels of export to nearby sites, and the best-fit line through the observed dispersal proportions also revealed a declining function y = 0.77 x . This study lends direct support to the hypothesis that the probability of larval dispersal declines rapidly with distance in Atlantic gobies in continuously distributed habitat, just as it does in the Indo-Pacific damselfishes in patchily distributed habitat.
Use of two spatially explicit models to determine the effect of injury geometry on natural resource recovery

1. Disturbance to sessile communities has been evaluated in a wide variety of terrestrial and marine settings, but, to our knowledge, recovery has not explicitly considered the effects of injury shape, except in an exploratory fashion. Therefore, we have developed a simple, but spatially explicit relationship between the geometry of a disturbance and the recovery rate in the context of natural resource damage assessment. 2. Here, grounding of motor vessels in shoalgrass (Halodule wrightii), manatee grass (Syringodium filiforme), and turtlegrass (Thalassia testudinum) habitats results in a variety of injury shapes whose recovery must be evaluated to assign penalties and restoration costs to the party responsible. 3. We developed two spatially explicit, cellular automata modelling techniques to evaluate injury recovery trajectory. Techniques in both SAS® and ArcINFO® were developed and applied to injuries of varying perimeter but fixed area. 4. The SAS method utilized either a simple Boolean or probabalistic interrogation of the status of adjacent pixels using the matrix language component of the software. ArcINFO utilized a cost/distance module to evaluate proximity of unfilled to filled (colonized) pixels and then applied a decision rule that governed conversion from unfilled to a filled state. As expected, the greater the perimeter/area ratio, the faster the recovery; and modelling approaches yielded almost identical results. 5. A case study involving ∼1200 m2 of almost monotypic T. testudinum revealed that both models predicted that 100% recovery of above-ground components of the injury would not occur for approximately 60 years. This model is now being used routinely in the assessment of vessel groundings in seagrass beds within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and has been used successfully by the Government to prevail in US Federal Court challenges. Both methods have substantial, untapped capabilities to explore the effect of numerous ecological effects on the processes influencing recovery from disturbance. Published in 2004 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Focal length tunable fluidic adaptive lens

In this presentation, we demonstrate a fluidic adaptive lens inspired by animal eye's crystalline lens that can be deformed by muscles to adjust its focal length. Fluidic adaptive lenses, which can adjust their focal length by changing the shape or index without moving parts, are attractive. In summary, we have demonstrated a fluidic lens with an adjustable focal length over a very large range. The bio-inspired fluidic adaptive lens shows great promise for significant size, weight, cost, and complexity reduction compared to conventional solid lenses.
Associated Higgs plus vector boson test of a fermiophobic Higgs boson

Production in association with an electroweak vector boson $V$ is a distinctive mode of production for a Higgs boson $H$ without tree-level couplings to fermions, known as a fermiophobic Higgs boson. We focus on $HV$ associated production with $H$ decay into a pair of photons, and $V$ into a pair of jets, with the goal of distinguishing a fermiophobic Higgs boson from the standard model Higgs boson. Performing a simulation of the signal and pertinent QCD backgrounds, and using the same event selection cuts employed by the LHC ATLAS Collaboration, we argue that existing LHC data at 7 TeV with $4.9\text{ }\text{ }{\mathrm{fb}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ of integrated luminosity may distinguish a fermiophobic Higgs boson from a standard model Higgs boson near 125 GeV at about 1.9 standard deviation signal significance ($1.9\ensuremath{\sigma}$) per experiment. At 8 TeV we show that associated production could yield $2.8\ensuremath{\sigma}$ significance per experiment with $10\text{ }\text{ }{\mathrm{fb}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ of data.
Neuroanatomy, hemisphericity and facial asymmetry

Abstract A recent paper in this journal (Alford and Alford, Neuropsychologia , 19 , 605, 1981) [1] assessed two measures of facial expression (eye winking and eyebrow raising) in the determination of lateralized hemispheric control of emotion. A review of the neuroanatomical basis for the use of these measures determined that the examination of asymmetrical expressions in the assessment of celebral dominance should be limited to the lower facial musculature.
A Model for the Interfacial Kinetics of Phospholipase D Activity on Long-Chain Lipids

The membrane-active enzyme phospholipase D (PLD) catalyzes the hydrolysis of the phosphodiester bond in phospholipids and plays a critical role in cell signaling. This catalytic reaction proceeds on lipid-water interfaces and is an example of heterogeneous catalysis in biology. Recently we showed that planar lipid bilayers, a previously unexplored model membrane for these kinetic studies, can be used for monitoring interfacial catalytic reactions under well-defined experimental conditions with chemical and electrical access to both sides of the lipid membrane. Employing an assay that relies on the conductance of the pore-forming peptide gramicidin A to monitor PLD activity, the work presented here reveals the kinetics of hydrolysis of long-chain phosphatidylcholine lipids in situ. We have developed an extension of a basic kinetic model for interfacial catalysis that includes product activation and substrate depletion. This model describes the kinetic behavior very well and reveals two kinetic parameters, the specificity constant and the interfacial quality constant. This approach results in a simple and general model to account for product accumulation in interfacial enzyme kinetics.
Mental Health Service Use in a Community Head Start Population

Background Evaluating access to and delivery of mental health services for young children was a primary objective of the national research demonstration program Starting Early Starting Smart (SESS). Objective To present preliminary findings on family mental health and use of services in a community Head Start population at time of entry into a longitudinal study as part of the SESS program. Subjects Children enrolled for Head Start entry in 1998 and 1999 (N = 290; mean age, 4.3 years). Of these children, 52% were boys. Methods Data on demographic factors, child and parent mental health, and service use were collected from the sample at baseline. Information was gathered from primary caregivers and teachers using standardized questionnaires and structured interviews. Results There was low concordance between parent and teacher ratings of child behavior. Factors predicting behavior problems in young children varied according to whether the parent or teacher rated the child as having behavior problems. Sex (male) and home environment were associated with teachers rating the child as having a behavior problem. Parent mental health problems and problems in the parent-child relationship were associated with parent ratings. Only home environment was associated with child-focused service utilization (services that help parents manage children's behavior). Conclusions Demographic risk factors were not associated with child behavior problems or use of mental health services in this group of Head Start children. Findings suggest that children with behavioral problems have unmet mental health service needs. Interventions designed to address both parent mental health needs and sensitivity to the developmental needs of children may increase child-focused mental health service utilization.
Human Rights and Legal Systems Across the Global South

fact alone would suggest that there should be almost no conference, symposium, or conversation about world affairs that is not dominated by considerations of the Global South. However, this is not the case. The Global South, even in a restrictive geographic sense, remains in the bulk of these discussions as peripheral rather than central, and reactive rather than protagonistic. By some accounts, the Global South is the successor to the Third World. However, the Third World may have been more appropriately geographically confined to countries south of the equator than the imaginary, nominally geographic Global South seems to be. Rather than actually being confined to the countries south of the equator, the concept of the Global South has emerged from the contemporary iteration of economic globalization and its effects on subaltern communities, wherever they may be located. These effects bespeak disaffected communities, as they are carted forth, robed in a multitude of undesirable characteristics: “political, social, and economic upheaval . . . poverty, displacement and diaspora, environmental
Behavioral disturbances of dementia.

Behavioral disturbances are common in patients with dementia. Medical intervention is needed if, for example, these behaviors threaten a patient's safety or jeopardize his or her ability to perform activities of daily living. Typical antipsychotic agents are associated with troublesome adverse effects in the elderly (e.g., anticholinergic effects, extrapyramidal symptoms). Atypical antipsychotics have reduced potential to cause these types of side effects but are not free from side effects. Recently, there has been a greater focus on the use of antidepressants to treat behavioral disturbances in dementia. Among these, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors have been studied more commonly due to their safety profile in the elderly. Citalopram, in particular, has demonstrated efficacy in improving dementia-related behavioral symptoms.
Is Bank Performance What it is, in Light of Bank Earnings Management and Bank Market Structure? – Evidence from the Emerging and the Frontier Markets

We investigate if local banks performance in the emerging or frontier market is affected by the extent to which managers manipulate their financial statements and by the banking market structure. An aberration from the extant literatures that have either focused mainly on the developed societies or juxtapose a handful of emerging countries bank into their datasets, here our inquest and analyses are fixed on emerging markets. Our investigation find that earnings management as proxy by loan loss allowance and market structure as proxy by bank concentration ratio were inversely statistically significant on their effects to local bank performance.
SEC Certification to the Delaware Supreme Court

This essay, recently featured in the Corporate Governance Advisor, describes a recent development in the Delaware Constitution that permits the Securities and Exchange Commission to certify questions of law directly to the Delaware Supreme Court. This essay analyses the effect of this new capability and predicts its importance to proxy fights. This issue has recently come alive, with the SEC's certification of a bylaw proposal by AFSCME to the Delaware Supreme Court to determine its legality for the purposes of the SEC's consideration of a no-action request.
Determinants of Appalachian Identity: Using Vernacular Traces to Study Cultural Geographies of an American Region

This article uses data on two vernacular traces, toponyms and business names, to explore and analyze cultural geographies of the U.S. Appalachian region. First, cluster detection is applied to a set of generic place names (toponyms) that are found to be components of a relatively unique Appalachian geographic vernacular. The results from this exercise are then mapped onto common spatial representations of the Appalachian region, where they are combined with a selected marker of perceived regional identity—businesses that have the character string “Appalachia” in their name—to construct a study area for subsequent analysis. Finally, data are collected for places inside of the derived study area to examine determinants of Appalachian identity in a zero-inflated count regression model. The findings convey important insights about specific heritage and environmental variables that correlate with, and likely contribute to the production of, patterns of Appalachian identity in the United States. In addition, th...
Alternatives to the Medicalization of Deviant Behavior

(1980). Alternatives to the Medicalization of Deviant Behavior. Psychiatry: Vol. 43, No. 2, pp. 168-174.
Future Improvement in Agricultural Statistics

PRESENT day economic problems are a mirror that reflects probable future developments in agricultural statistics. An increasing degree of accuracy is essential. A broader scope and a greater geographic detail in current statistics are required in many fields of human activity and especially in agriculture. The administration of the many "action" programs of the government in recent years has called for county estimates of acreages and yield per acre for important crops such as cotton, wheat, corn, tobacco, peanuts, rice and potatoes. County estimates of farm income are needed by the FCA, REA and FSA. Big business corporations with nationwide selling organizations have been asking for county estimates of farm income for a decade or more. The demand for county estimates of acreage and yield per acre for important crops has been met by the Agricultural Marketing Service since the beginning of the AAA and Crop Insurance programs by using available sample data on crop acreages and yields, including the data obtained in connection with the operation of these programs. None of these data are fully adequate nor satisfactory for use in making reliable county estimates. The samples obtained from voluntary crop correspondents are not of sufficient size to justify county estimates and, furthermore, such samples are not representative of all types and kinds of farmers. The data obtained by the AAA are in most instances from participating farmers only, and such data could not be considered as representative of the year-to-year changes in acreage taking place on farms of nonparticipating farmers. Reliable county estimates of crop and livestock production are an essential step in making dependable county estimates of farm income. Accurate monthly estimates of the number of unemployed by States, including both the rural and urban populations, are needed as the basis for allocating billions of dollars of Federal funds for relief and relief-work. The monthly esti-
Small Angle Neutron Scattering Studies of Blends of Protonated Linear Polystyrene with Crosslinked Deuterated Polystyrene

Small angle neutron scattering (SANS) has been used to study the scattering function and thermodynamics of blends of linear protonated polystyrene (PSH) and crosslinked deuterated polystyrene (PSD). Two series of samples were synthesized. In both cases the samples were made by dissolving the linear PSH in deuterated (d8) styrene monomer containing a small amount of divinyl benzene as a crosslinker which was then polymerized to form the PSD network around the linear PSH chains. The samples were all made at a concentration of 50/50 by weight PSD/PSH. A special effort was made to keep the samples single phase so that SANS could be used to study the thermodynamics of the system and compare with theory. This entailed working at relatively low crosslink densities (<1 mole % crosslink units). Series 1 is a set of samples with the same crosslink density varying the length of the linear chain. Series 2 is a set of samples containing the same length linear chain varying the crosslink density systematically. By extrapolating S(q) obtained from SANS to q=O the zero angle scattering, S(O), was obtained. S(O) is inversely proportional to the second derivative of the free energy with respect to composition, ∂2 (Δf/kT)/∂o2. Assuming additivity of the free energies of mixing and elasticity, the portion of the zero angle scattering due to elasticity is calculated.
A Simple and Practical Device for the Quantitative Evaluation of Spectral Lines

The recently developed methods using the quartz spectrograph in the quantitative determination of inorganic elements in biological fluids require some sort of an instrument for the accurate evaluation of the lines on the photographic plate.Standard densitometers for this purpose are available but their cost is a handicap to laboratories where spectrographic analysis is being conducted on a comparatively small scale. We have tried to overcome this handicap by constructing a simple device from apparatus available in the laboratories.Inasmuch as only a portion of the photographic deposit is measured it is called a micro densitometer. It is composed of a binocular microscope which serves as the optical system, a microscope lamp with a source of constant current, a sensitive photo electric cell, and a sensitive deflecting galvanometer.The photo electric cell of the Voltaic type is mounted on one ocular of the microscope while the other ocular is used for vision of the field under examination. In order to measu...
SATISFACTION WITH PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL RATINGS

Positive moderate correlations were obtained for 27 head nurses' ratings of performance appraisal and their satisfaction with those ratings.
Clustering Behavior of Hibernating Myotis sodalis in Missouri

Monthly censuses were carried out during the winter of 1975–76 at five Myotis sodalis hibernacula in eastern Missouri. The caves were of different types, but all exhibited mid-winter temperatures well below those of most other caves in the region. Early in the season when temperatures were uniform throughout the caves, bats roosted in high, deep cave sites. By mid-winter, temperatures were colder at sites near the cave entrances. Bats subsequently moved to these sites and formed larger clusters than they did at the warmer sites. The relationship between clustering behavior, rock temperature, and cave configuration is discussed.
Robust speaker recognition using spectro-temporal autoregressive models.

Speaker recognition in noisy environments is challenging when there is a mis-match in the data used for enrollment and verification. In this paper, we propose a robust feature extraction scheme based on spectro-temporal modulation filtering using two-dimensional (2-D) autoregressive (AR) models. The first step is the AR modeling of the sub-band temporal envelopes by the application of the linear prediction on the sub-band discrete cosine transform (DCT) components. These sub-band envelopes are stacked together and used for a second AR modeling step. The spectral envelope across the sub-bands is approximated in this AR model and cepstral features are derived which are used for speaker recognition. The use of AR models emphasizes the focus on the high energy regions which are relatively well preserved in the presence of noise. The degree of modulation filtering is controlled using AR model order parameter. Experiments are performed using noisy versions of NIST 2010 speaker recognition evaluation (SRE) data with a stateof-art speaker recognition system. In these experiments, the proposed features provide significant improvements compared to baseline features (relative improvements of 20% in terms of equal error rate (EER) and 35 % in terms of miss rate at 10 % false alarm).
Gene Suppression in Schistosomes Using RNAi

Schistosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease responsible for the death of more than 300,000 people every year. The disease is caused by intravascular parasitic platyhelminths called schistosomes. Treatment and control of schistosomiasis rely on a single drug, praziquantel, and concern exists over the possible emergence of resistance to this drug. The recent completion of the genome sequences of the three main worm species that cause schistosomiasis in humans has raised hope for the development of new interventions to treat the disease. RNA interference (RNAi), a mechanism by which gene-specific double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) triggers degradation of homologous mRNA transcripts, has emerged as an important tool to evaluate and validate new potential drug targets. In addition, RNAi has been used to explore the basic biology of these debilitating parasites. RNAi can be achieved in all stages of the parasite's life cycle in which it has been tested. In this review, we describe methods for applying RNAi to suppress gene expression in the intra-mammalian life stages (adults and schistosomula) of Schistosoma mansoni. We describe procedures for isolating and culturing the parasites, preparing and delivering dsRNA targeting a specific gene, as well as a procedure to evaluate gene suppression by quantitative real-time PCR.
Infected renal cyst from hematogenous seeding: a case report and review of the literature.

AbstractAlthough solitary renal cysts are common in urological practice infected cysts are encountered infrequently. They occur almost exclusively in female subjects. A case is presented that imputes hematogenous seeding as the mechanism for infection of previously asymptomatic simple cysts.
Prevention, diagnosis, and management of infection in the nursing home

Infectious diseases constitute a major source of morbidity and mortality in the long-term care setting. In this article, the authors discuss age-related changes in the immune response, the atypical presentation of disease in this population, the major categories of infection, the approach to therapeutic planning, and the potential hazards of treatment. Strategies for prevention of infection in individual patients and in the entire long-term care community also are discussed.
The significance of DNA measurements in a histologically defined subset of infiltrating ductal carcinomas of the breast with long-term follow-up

The nuclear DNA content and other karyometric parameters were evaluated in a histologically homogeneous group of invasive ductal carcinomas of the breast from 13 patients who survived 25 years after radical mastectomy and from 13 controls matched for histologic tumor grade, lymph node status, tumor size and patient age. The nuclear DNA content and other morphometric features were evaluated by image analysis (using a modified TICAS system) on 12-microns-thick, Feulgen-stained sections. The DNA content of the tumors of both the long-term survivors and the controls varied from the diploid range to highly aneuploid (with a large proportion of the cells having a DNA content above 5N). Overall, the tumors of the controls exhibited a higher ploidy, a greater deviation from the diploid range and a greater variation of nuclear size than did the tumors of the long-term survivors. These results suggest that these measurements may be helpful in yielding prognostic information among sets of histologically identical breast tumors of similar pathologic stage.
Restoring Regulatory T Cells in Type 1 Diabetes

Genetic and cellular studies of type 1 diabetes in patients and in the nonobese diabetic mouse model of type 1 diabetes point to an imbalance between effector T cells and regulatory T cells (Tregs) as a driver of the disease. The imbalance may arise as a consequence of genetically encoded defects in thymic deletion of islet antigen-specific T cells, induction of islet antigen-specific thymic Tregs, unfavorable tissue environment for peripheral Treg induction, and failure of islet antigen-specific Tregs to survive in the inflamed islets secondary to insufficient IL-2 signals. These understandings are the foundation for rationalized design of new therapeutic interventions to restore the balance by selectively targeting effector T cells and boosting Tregs.
k-Support and Ordered Weighted Sparsity for Overlapping Groups: Hardness and Algorithms

The k-support and OWL norms generalize the l1 norm, providing better prediction accuracy and better handling of correlated variables. We study the norms obtained from extending the k-support norm and OWL norms to the setting in which there are overlapping groups. The resulting norms are in general NP-hard to compute, but they are tractable for certain collections of groups. To demonstrate this fact, we develop a dynamic program for the problem of projecting onto the set of vectors supported by a fixed number of groups. Our dynamic program utilizes tree decompositions and its complexity scales with the treewidth. This program can be converted to an extended formulation which, for the associated group structure, models the k-group support norms and an overlapping group variant of the ordered weighted l1 norm. Numerical results demonstrate the efficacy of the new penalties.
Is there a safe time to stop clopidogrel in patients on dual antiplatelet therapy after a percutaneous coronary intervention and placement of drug-eluting stents?

No clear evidence determines the most effective duration for dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) after drug-eluting stents (DES). Although DES reduces the rate of restenosis compared with bare-metal stents (BMS), it is of concern that they may be associated with a risk of stent thrombosis beyond 1 year post treatment. Many randomized clinical trials demonstrated the effectiveness of DAPT in preventing stent thrombosis; a serious complication of PCI. Additionally, it is believed that DAPT prevents adverse occurrences consequent to plaque rupture at a location other than the stented one. Such are the results of a study that compared medical treatment of acute coronary syndrome with Aspirin versus DAPT with clear reduction in the rate of myocardial infarction (MI) in patients who received DAPT (1).
Is sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity associated with clinical and pathological outcomes in patients undergoing radical nephroureterectomy

Abstract Purpose To investigate the association between sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity on clinical, perioperative, and oncologic outcomes in patients with upper-tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) undergoing radical nephroureterectomy (RNU). Methods Retrospective review of our institutional UTUC database was performed to identify all patients who underwent radical nephroureterectomy from 2002–2016. Skeletal Muscle Index (SMI) was measured at the L3 vertebral level and standardized according to patient height (cm 2 /m 2 ). Sarcopenia was defined as 2 /m 2 for men and 2 /m 2 for women. Sarcopenic obesity was also assessed in patients with BMI>30 kg/m 2 . Unadjusted logistic regression and Wilcoxon rank sum tests examined the relationship between sarcopenia and variables. Results A total of 100 patients (66 men and 34 women) with a mean age of 68 years, BMI of 30, Charlson comorbidity index of 4.0, tumor size of 3.5, and SMI of 50.8 cm 2 /m 2 were included. Furthermore, 42 patients (42%) were sarcopenic, and 18 patients (18%) had sarcopenic obesity. Median EBL was 150 ml, OR duration was 322 minutes, and length of stay was 5.0 days. Sarcopenia was associated with several clinical factors including decreasing BMI, male sex, and coronary artery disease, albeit without association with any perioperative or oncologic outcomes. Sarcopenic obesity was similarly associated with several clinical variables including male sex, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, as well as increased EBL ( P = 0.047) and non–bladder cancer disease relapse ( P = 0.049). Conclusions This contemporary cohort of patients undergoing RNU highlights the association of nonmodifiable risk factors with sarcopenia and disease relapse with sarcopenic obesity. Larger studies are necessary to further validate these observations.
Sensorineural hearing loss degrades behavioral and physiological measures of human spatial selective auditory attention

Listeners with sensorineural hearing loss often have trouble understanding speech amid other voices. While poor spatial hearing is often implicated, direct evidence is weak; moreover, studies suggest that reduced audibility and degraded spectrotemporal coding may explain such problems. We hypothesized that poor spatial acuity leads to difficulty deploying selective attention, which normally filters out distracting sounds. In listeners with normal hearing, selective attention causes changes in the neural responses evoked by competing sounds, which can be used to quantify the effectiveness of attentional control. Here, we used behavior and electroencephalography to explore whether control of selective auditory attention is degraded in hearing-impaired (HI) listeners. Normal-hearing (NH) and HI listeners identified a simple melody presented simultaneously with two competing melodies, each simulated from different lateral angles. We quantified performance and attentional modulation of cortical responses evoked by these competing streams. Compared with NH listeners, HI listeners had poorer sensitivity to spatial cues, performed more poorly on the selective attention task, and showed less robust attentional modulation of cortical responses. Moreover, across NH and HI individuals, these measures were correlated. While both groups showed cortical suppression of distracting streams, this modulation was weaker in HI listeners, especially when attending to a target at midline, surrounded by competing streams. These findings suggest that hearing loss interferes with the ability to filter out sound sources based on location, contributing to communication difficulties in social situations. These findings also have implications for technologies aiming to use neural signals to guide hearing aid processing.
Gaseous isostatic forging: Design and application to powder metallurgy Ti-6Al-4V

Abstract For near-net-shape manufacturing technologies such as casting, additive manufacturing, powder processing, and powder injection molding, residual pores and voids are inherent. Gaseous isostatic forging (GIF) provides a rapid and cost effective way to heal these defects. In GIF, isostatic pressure is rapidly applied to heated components by means of a pre-pressurized gas. This rapid pressurization causes internal defects to close through plastic deformation, thus densifying the component. By utilizing plastic deformation, lower temperatures may be used, thus maintaining microstructure integrity. Previous work has shown GIF processing to be an effective method for closing residual porosity and increasing mechanical properties of Ti-6 A l-4V produced by the powder metallurgy process Hydrogen Sintering Phase Transformation (HSPT). However, little information regarding the processing parameters of GIF is known. Therefore, the aim of this publication is to broaden the understanding of GIF processing by investigating various methods for predicting the resulting rapid pressurization based on simple system parameters and observe the effects of processing temperature, starting porosity, and hydrogen concentration on densification and microstructure of HSPT Ti-6 A l-4V.
Verilog for Simulation and Synthesis

This chapter presented the Verilog HDL language from a hardware design point of view. The chapter used complete design examples at various levels of abstraction for showing ways in which Verilog could be used in a design. We showed how timing details could be incorporated in cell descriptions. Aside from this discussion of timing, all examples that were presented had one-to-one hardware correspondence and were synthesizable. We have shown how combinational and sequential components can be described for synthesis and how a complete system can be put together using combinational and sequential blocks for it to be tested and synthesized.
Excision of Vaginal Cysts

The chapter provides information on the evaluation and management of vaginal and vulvar cysts. Embryology of the urogenital tract is reviewed with special attention directed at the creation of the lower reproductive tract. Basic anatomy and histologic features of the vagina and vulva are described. A differential diagnosis of the various vaginal and vulvar cysts is explored. Evaluation and management for each type of cyst is discussed and surgical techniques for cyst treatments are detailed.