cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Outcomes of transversus abdominis release in non-elective incisional hernia repair: a retrospective review of the Americas Hernia Society Quality Collaborative (AHSQC).

Elective repair of large incisional hernias using posterior component separation with transversus abdominis release (TAR) has acceptable wound morbidity and long-term recurrence rates. The outcomes of using this reconstructive technique in the non-elective setting remains unknown. We aim to report 30-day outcomes of TAR in non-elective settings. All patients undergoing open TAR in non-elective settings were identified within the Americas Hernia Society Quality Collaborative (AHSQC). A retrospective review was conducted and outcomes of interest were 30-day Surgical Site Infections (SSI), Surgical Site Occurrences (SSO), SSOs requiring procedural intervention (SSOPI), medical complications, and unplanned readmissions and reoperations. Fifty-nine patients met inclusion criteria. Mean BMI was 36.6 ± 8.9 kg/m2 and mean hernia width was 14.4 ± 7.2 cm. Forty (67.8%) were recurrent hernias. Pain (88%) and bowel obstruction (79.7%) were the most frequent indications for surgery. Surgical field was classified as clean in 69.5% of cases, with an 88% use of permanent synthetic mesh and fascial closure achieved in 93.2% of cases. There were 15 (25.4%) total wound events, 8 (13.6%) were SSIs. There were 8 (13.6%) SSOPIs, 6 of which were wound opening, 1 wound debridement, and 1 percutaneous drainage. At least one wound or medical complication was reported for 37% of the patients. There were no mortalities. Not surprisingly, TAR in the non-elective setting is associated with increased wound morbidity requiring procedural interventions and reoperations compared to what has previously been reported for elective cases. The long-term consequences of this wound morbidity with regard to hernia recurrence are as of yet unknown.
The differential difference equation for epidemics

In a series of recently published papers E. B. Wilson and his collaborators have investigated some of the mathematical questions connected with epidemics. A differential difference equation was set up and various properties of its solution were obtained. This equation implies that the epidemic has an equilibrium state, and it is the purpose of this note to show that this equilbrium is stable in the sense that any small deviation from it will tend to zero.
Polyamine pools and the control of ornithine decarboxylase activity.

The metabolism of the polyamines, putrescine, spermidine and spermine is represented in a general way in Fig. 1. During growth, the polyamines are formed from ornithine (and in many species, arginine) and S-adenosylmethionine. The resulting pools of polyamines, in addition to fulfilling the needs of an expanding cell mass, are potentially excreted, sequestered by cell constituents and interconverted or catabolized. The regulation of polyamine biosynthesis is exerted in part by the polyamines themselves and also by signals related to the onset or continuation of the cell cycle and differentiation. In relation to the former signal, polyamines rarely, if ever, exert significant feedback inhibition in the strict sense on their own synthesis. Alternative mechanisms, however, have come to light, among which are the modification, antizyme inhibition and elimination of the ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) protein in response to excess polyamines (Pegg and McCann, 1982; Tabor and Tabor, 1984, 1985).
A rule based solution to co-reference resolution in clinical text

Objective To build an effective co-reference resolution system tailored to the biomedical domain. Methods Experimental materials used in this study were provided by the 2011 i2b2 Natural Language Processing Challenge. The 2011 i2b2 challenge involves co-reference resolution in medical documents. Concept mentions have been annotated in clinical texts, and the mentions that co-refer in each document are linked by co-reference chains. Normally, there are two ways of constructing a system to automatically discoverco-referent links. One is to manually build rules forco-reference resolution; the other is to use machine learning systems to learn automatically from training datasets and then perform the resolution task on testing datasets. Results The existing co-reference resolution systems are able to find some of the co-referent links; our rule based system performs well, finding the majority of the co-referent links. Our system achieved 89.6% overall performance on multiple medical datasets. Conclusions Manually crafted rules based on observation of training data is a valid way to accomplish high performance in this co-reference resolution task for the critical biomedical domain.
THE PRESENCE OF ABOVE STANDARD LEVELS OF COMMONLY TESTED CONTAMINANTS IN COMMUNITIES ON LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK: THE IMPACT OF INCOME ON UNTREATED WATER QUALITY

Water quality is a pressing issue in many communities. Long Island (LI), New York, rests on a system of aquifers created by prehistoric glacial activity. These aquifer systems are the only source of drinking water for LI. Water quality issues are pervasive in the region due to nitrate pollution, caused by antiquated septic systems in much of the Island, as well as the prevalence of environmental clean-up sites. Using the Watertraq database, we searched for levels of select compounds that were present in wells above acceptable levels on LI. We then collected demographic data from the U.S. Census, including income, ethnicities, poverty levels, number of children, senior citizens and renters for towns in parts of two counties on LI to determine whether there was a relationship between the presence of above standard levels of compounds and income. Using an Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression we found a statistically significant negative impact (at the p < 0.01 level) of income on the presence of contaminants in untreated water. In other words, the lower the income of the region, the greater the chance that above standard levels of volatile organic compounds were present.
Viral Hepatitis in Mongolia: Past, Present, and Future.

Viral hepatitis is one of the major health concerns worldwide, particularly in Asian countries. Mongolia, which is located in northern Asia, between Russia and China, is confronting various infectious diseases, such as viral hepatitis and tuberculosis. As for healthy individuals in Mongolia, the reported prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) was 9 or 10% and the reported prevalence of anti-hepatitis C virus ranged from 11 to 25%. We reported a markedly high prevalence of hepatitis D virus RNA (83%) among apparently healthy individuals with HBsAg in Ulaanbaatar. Also due to lack of proper mechanisms to handle sewerage, disinfection, and lack of clean water supply across the country, hepatitis A is endemic in Mongolia. Moreover, Mongolia ranked in the high-prevalence zone for hepatitis B, D, and C. How to cite this article Tsatsralt-Od B. Viral Hepatitis in Mongolia: Past, Present, and Future. Euroasian J Hepato-Gastroenterol 2016;6(1):56-58.
Design of a Novel Axial Flux-Switching PM Machine Integrated with Centrifugal Compressor with Radial Impellers

The purpose of this paper is to design a novel axial flux-switching permanent magnet (FSPM) machine for driving centrifugal compressors. The rotor poles of the novel integrated axial FSPM machine function as the radial impellers of the centrifugal compressor. The radial impellers rotate and accelerate the flow to increase velocity before entering the diffusers. The novel integrated axial FSPM machine is capable of producing torque for accelerating the flow while eliminating the requirement of a separate motor. Therefore, the total size of the centrifugal compressor system is significantly reduced, and high power density can be achieved. In this paper, the design and working principles of axial FSPM machine and centrifugal compressor are provided. The design tradeoffs of the integrated axial FSPM motor-compressor are evaluated. Magnet bridges and rotor pole thickness optimizations are implemented in FEA to reduce the cogging torque. The thermodynamic performance is calculated by the velocity triangles.
Imaging and clinical manifestations of immune checkpoint inhibitor-related colitis in cancer patients treated with monotherapy or combination therapy.

To determine the frequency, imaging, and clinical manifestations of immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI)-related colitis in cancer patients on monotherapy or combination therapy. The electronic medical records of 1044 cancer patients who received ICIs were retrospectively reviewed to identify 48 patients who had a clinical diagnosis of immune-related colitis. Imaging studies were reviewed to identify patients with imaging manifestations of colitis. Demographic data, type of ICIs, symptoms, presence of other immune-related adverse events (irAEs), and management were recorded. There was imaging evidence of immune-related colitis in 34 patients (24 men; median age: 63.5 years). The median time to onset of colitis was 75 days (IQR 25–75, 49.5–216 days) in patients receiving monotherapy (group 1) and 78 days (IQR 25–75, 44.3–99.5 days) in patients undergoing combination therapy (group 2) following start of ICI. Symptoms included diarrhea (91.1% [31 of 34]), nausea/vomiting (52.9% [18 of 34]), and abdominal pain (52.9% [18 of 34]). The most common imaging findings were bowel wall thickening (97% [33 of 34]) and fluid-filled colon (82.3% [28 of 34]). Colitis was diffuse in 21 of 34 (61.8%) patients. Imaging manifestations did not differ between the two groups (p > 0.05). Steroids and antibiotics were used to treat colitis in 29 of 34 (85.2%) and 13 of 34 (38.2%) patients, respectively. No patients in group 1 experienced concurrent irAEs, but 5 of 18 (27.8%) of patients in group 2 had other irAEs (p = 0.046). Immune-related colitis occurred in 3.3% of patients receiving ICIs with bowel wall thickening, fluid-filled colon and pancolitis being the most common imaging manifestations. Imaging manifestations did not differ between patients receiving monotherapy or combination therapy. However, concurrent irAEs were significantly observed in patients undergoing combination therapy.
UNARI: an uncertainty-aware approach to AS relationships inference

Over the last two decades, several algorithms have been proposed to infer the type of relationship between Autonomous Systems (ASes). While the recent works have achieved increasingly higher accuracy, there has not been a systematic study on the uncertainty of AS relationship inference. In this paper, we analyze the factors contributing to this uncertainty and introduce a new paradigm to explicitly model the uncertainty and reflect it in the inference result. We also present UNARI, an exemplary algorithm implementing this paradigm, that leverages a novel technique to capture the interdependence of relationship inference across AS links.
Enhancing the Outcomes of Tier 2 Interventions through Planful Adaptations

AbstractThe articles in the current special issue advance the literature on Tier 2 in the crucial area of discussing adaptations to existing Tier 2 interventions to enhance positive student outcome...
Adolescent Context and Depressive Symptom Trajectories in a National Sample: Ages 13 to 34

Group-based trajectory analyses of depressive symptoms are often conducted with convenience samples, over limited developmental periods, or with a limited set of predictors in the adolescent context. Examinations of protective and risk factors in robust national samples are needed. Using an ecological approach, this study’s purpose is to identify key relational and contextual factors associated with trajectory groups of depressive symptoms that span ages 13 to 34. 12,248 respondents in the National Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Waves 1, 3, and 4) were analyzed with a group-based, cohort sequential design to identify trajectory classes, shapes, and adolescent (i.e., Wave 1) risk and protective factors for depressive symptom trajectories. A four-class quadratic solution was identified. Close attachment to parents was strongly associated with decreased odds of membership on elevated trajectories. No relationship with a mother or father was associated with better mental health than a poor relationship with that parent. Peer support, teacher support, and educational achievement were highly protective. Romantic relationships, increased number of sexual partners, and prayer were modestly associated with higher depressive symptom burden. Pregnancy was associated with increased burden later in life relative to the teenage years. In sum, adolescent family, school, peer, and religious contexts provide insight into several protective and risk factors for depressive symptoms that persist over time.
Self-concept clarity as a predictor of self-disclosure in romantic relationships:

Several studies have examined the role of self-esteem in self-disclosure while overlooking a potentially important confounding variable: self-concept clarity. Across three studies, we found an asso...
Prolonged Lifetime of the Transient Ionized Layer in the Martian Atmosphere Caused by Comet Siding Spring

In October 2014, the close encounter between Mars and comet Siding Spring produced a transient ionized layer in the upper atmosphere composed primarily of Mg⁺ ions. The layer was detected by instru...
Pet Attachment in the Context of Family Conflict

Previous research shows that companion animals can have a positive effect on their owner’s health and may also serve as a buffer to stress. Despite this, few studies have investigated the role of t...
Stories a world apart: storytelling differentiation in Napa and Stellenbosch

This research explores how wineries engage in sensegiving for differentiation by crafting and sharing organisational narratives. We call this storytelling differentiation; it is focused on creating a unique identity for a winery by differentiating through a captivating narrative. We examined the stories wineries tell about themselves on their websites. Our research examines stories from 294 randomly selected wineries - 175 from Napa Valley and 119 from Stellenbosch. We classified the stories by the 12 classical Jungian archetypes to better understand the wineries' differentiation strategies. Our findings identify a remarkable symmetry between the types of stories utilised between regions, even as the terminology within stories differs between Napa and Stellenbosch. Our findings also suggest that more daring story types (explorer, outlaw, and jester) may be underutilised as tools for differentiation. This research provides needed insights for understanding the role of stories and storytelling in product marketing, particularly in the wine industry.
Vascular anomalies associated with hepatic shunting

Congenital vascular anomalies affecting the liver have been described in the scientific literature for decades. Understanding these malformations begins with knowledge of hepatic vascular embryology. Surgeons have applied numerous classification systems to describe both intrahepatic and extrahepatic shunts, which can confuse the reader and clinician. In our experience, focusing on one classification system for extrahepatic shunts and one for intrahepatic shunts is better. Today many patients with these shunts carry good long-term prognosis thanks to advances in imaging to better detect shunts earlier and classify them. Timely intervention by skilled radiologists and surgeons have also limited complications arising from dynamic shunts and can avoid a liver transplant. Congenital hepatic shunts are not the only vascular condition affecting the liver. Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia, also known as Osler Weber Rendu syndrome, particularly type 2, may have varying severity of hepatic involvement which warrants longitudinal care from an experienced hepatologist. Lastly, congenital hemangiomas, often first identified on the skin and oral mucosa, also can affect the liver. While most will resolve in infancy and childhood, the pediatric hepatologist must understand how and when to treat persistent lesions and their complications. This article serves as a concise reference to help clinicians better care for patients with these rare conditions.
Suppressing or blocking Fis1 reverses diabetic endothelial dysfunction in human resistance arteries

Mitochondrial dysfunction drives the development of vascular endothelial dysfunction in type 2 diabetes (T2DM) with increased fragmentation of mitochondrial networks from increased Fis1 expression; whether suppressing or blocking Fis1 expression or activity can reverse endothelial dysfunction remains unknown. To address this question, resistance arterioles from healthy humans and those with T2DM were transfected with Fis1 siRNA and exposed to normal glucose, low glucose or high glucose conditions. Fis1 knockdown improved endothelium dependent vasodilation in T2DM arterioles, and blocked high- and low-glucose impairment in healthy vessels. Fis1 knockdown preserved NO bioavailability and improved endothelial layer integrity of cells exposed to high or low glucose. Fis1 knockdown had no significant effect on the expression of other mitochondrial dynamics or autophagy proteins, and had no effect on endothelial cell metabolism suggesting its suitability for pharmacological inhibition. For this, we designed pep213 to inhibit Fis1 activity (Kd ~3-7 uM) and demonstrate its specificity by NMR. Application of a cell permeant pep213 improved endothelium-dependent vasodilation in T2DM and non-T2DM vessels exposed to high glucose in an NO-dependent manner suggesting that targeting Fis1 may reduce vascular complications in T2DM.
2-Methoxyestradiol sensitizes breast cancer cells to taxanes by targeting centrosomes

Centrosomes amplification is a hallmark of cancer. We hypothesize that 2-methoxyestradiol (2-ME) sensitizes breast cancer (BC) cells to taxanes by targeting amplified centrosomes. We assessed the extent by which 2-ME together with paclitaxel (PTX) induces centrosome alterations with subsequent mitotic catastrophe in different BC subtypes. 2-ME induced a significant reduction in PTX IC50 values in all cells tested ranging from 28-44% (P < 0.05). Treatment with both PTX and 2-ME significantly increased the number of misaligned metaphases compared to PTX alone (34%, 100% and 52% for MCF7, MDA-MB231 and SUM149, respectively; P < 0.05). The number of cells with multipolar spindle formation was significantly increased (81%, 220% and 285% for MCF7, MDA-MB231 and SUM 149, respectively; P < 0.05). PTX and 2-ME treatment significantly increased interphase declustering in cancer cells (56% for MCF7, 208% for MDA-MB231 and 218% for SUM149, respectively; P < 0.05) and metaphase declustering (1.4-fold, 1.56-fold and 2.48-fold increase for MCF7, MDA-MB231 and SUM149, respectively; P < 0.05). This report is the first to document centrosome declustering as a mechanism of action of 2-ME and provides a potential approach for reducing taxane toxicity in cancer treated patients.
Oral Vancomycin or Ursodeoxycholic Acid for Pediatric Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis? The Uncontroversial Need for Randomized Controlled Trials

Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC) continues to present major diagnostic and therapeutic challenges to researchers, clinicians, and most importantly patients. The increased risk of progression to liver failure and frequent need for transplantation, in addition to an increased risk of cholangiocarcinoma, underline the urgent need for effective therapy (1). However, drug development in this field has been limited by uncertainty regarding key pathogenic pathways and lack of consensus in the selection of appropriate clinical trial endpoints (2).
Moving Online in 2020: Lessons Learned from Successful Virtual Conferences

Many professional organizations have made a quick transition to move their in-person conferences to a virtual format. We experienced that exact need for transition and change with ISTE 2020. Althou...
Is TEC a viable ionospheric servo input

Abstract The externally imposed vertical drift in the F-region is an extremely important driver of ionospheric dynamics but is very difficult to measure or map. Ionospheric servo algorithms have used hmF2 as F-region observable to infer the vertical drift. However, an even more plentiful observable is the total electron content (TEC) whose coverage over northern mid-latitudes has both spatial and temporal availability that matches those of the probable mechanisms responsible for vertical drift dynamics. This ionospheric, first principle physics, model study shows that TEC is a viable servo parameter at mid-latitudes in the noon sector. The servo relationship is shown to be quite linear over at least 1 h for vertical drifts between ±100 m/s. Simulations over a full range of seasons and the solar cycle confirm the near linear relationship between TEC and vertical drift with changing linear rate coefficients. These simulation results are dependent upon the vertical drift adopted to generate a baseline ionosphere from which the servo simulations evolve. Thus this type of TEC servo would generate relative vertical drifts. These, in turn, would create latitude-longitude maps of the vertical drift dynamics.
Review of Disruptive Situations: Fractal Orientalism and Queer Strategies in Beirut by Ghassan Moussawi (Temple University Press)

Ghassan Moussawi’s Disruptive Situations challenges the exceptionalist representations of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans (LGBT) experiences in Beirut through a focus on the everyday queer strategies and tactics. Moussawi analyzes the everyday practices of LGBT interlocutors navigating al-wad’ (the situation), a term that refers to the normative order of disruptions, precarity, and instability that permeate daily life across contemporary Beirut. Al-wad’ simultaneously features as a historical condition of perpetual instability bearing on daily life in Beirut, as well as a lens to analyze the practices of everyday life for Moussawi’s LGBT interlocutors. Moussawi’s inductive ethnographic approach charts the strategic use of identities, visibility, and “bubbles” or sources of solace in order to challenge exceptionalist representations of Beirut and LGBT experiences in the city. Moussawi critiques these reductive representations as “fractal orientalism”, a reductive representation that embeds hierarchies and exclusion through geographic associations, such as in fashioning Beirut as the “Paris of the Middle East”. Beirut becomes charming and “cosmopolitan” in a way that is similar to, but not quite, the same as Paris. Moussawi’s focus on queer daily practices against the backdrop of al-wad’ shows the limitations of these reductive representations in an effort to reimagine queerness, subjectivity, and politics.
Firework-related injuries treated at emergency departments in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 compared to 2018-2019

BACKGROUND Despite a national decrease in emergency department visits in the United States during the first 10 months of the pandemic, preliminary Consumer Product Safety Commission data indicate increased firework-related injuries. We hypothesized an increase in firework-related injuries during 2020 compared to years prior related to a corresponding increase in consumer firework sales. METHODS The National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) was queried from 2018 to 2020 for cases with product codes 1313 (firework injury) and narratives containing "fireworks". Population-based national estimates were calculated using US Census data, then compared across the three years of study inclusion. Patient demographic and available injury information was also tracked and compared across the three years. Firework sales data obtained from the American Pyrotechnics Association were determined for the same time period to examine trends in consumption. RESULTS There were 935 firework-related injuries reported to the NEISS from 2018 to 2020, 47% of which occurred during 2020. National estimates for monthly injuries per million were 1.6 times greater in 2020 compared to 2019 (p < 0.0001) with no difference between 2018 and 2019 (p = 0.38). The same results were found when the month of July was excluded. Firework consumption in 2020 was 1.5 times greater than 2019 or 2018, with a 55% increase in consumer fireworks and 22% decrease in professional fireworks sales. CONCLUSIONS Firework-related injures saw a substantial increase in 2020 compared to the two years prior, corroborated by a proportional increase in consumer firework sales. Increased incidence of firework-related injuries was detected even with the exclusion of the month of July, suggesting that the COVID-19 pandemic may have impacted firework epidemiology more broadly than US Independence Day celebrations.
The Strange Journey of the Tributary System

Scholars of international relations have embraced the tributary system as the dominant lens to studying historical orders of East Asia. Hendrik Spruyt’s The World Imagined, a rare gem in the study ...
The Origin of Birds and of Avian Flight

Birds, with their feathers, toothless bills, bipedal locomotion, and flight, form such a well-defined, uniform class, that it is hard to imagine how they were derived from some other stock. On the other hand, they provide the best known interclass transition in the vertebrata. This transitional form is Archaeopteryx, whose skeleton was first recognized in the Jurassic of Bavaria in 1861, only two years after Darwin’s Origin of Species (Darwin, 1859). The timing of this discovery may have contributed to the immense public interest that has developed around the Archaeopteryx specimens. Various authors during this early period tried to relate birds to reptiles and a few championed specific reptilian groups (Huxley, 1867, 1868, 1870). Dinosaurs were suggested very early as potential bird ancestors (Marsh, 1877). This was probably because dinosaurs are largely bipedal reptiles and birds are also bipedal. Relationship has also been suggested with pterosaurs (Owen, 1875, Seeley, 1881); lizards (Petronievics, 1921, 1927, 1950), and mammals (Gardiner, 1982). I do not discuss pterosaurs, lizards, and mammals as possible ancestors because they have never enjoyed serious support as bird relatives and I have not discovered anything to make me think that they deserve any.
Care of the transgender patient: a survey of gynecologists' current knowledge and practice.

Abstract Background: Medical school and residency curricula are lacking in content on the care of the transgender patient. As a result, many providers do not have enough experience and knowledge to adequately care for this patient population. The aim of this study was to assess gynecologists' preferences and knowledge base with regard to transgender healthcare. Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey of obstetrics and gynecology (OBGYN) providers. An anonymous survey was sent via electronic mail to nine academic OBGYN departments across the United States. Survey questions were designed to assess provider experience and practice environment, education about transgender health practices, personal experience with transgender patients, and knowledge base regarding current recommendations for the care of gender minority patients. Results: Of the 352 providers who received the survey, 141 responded, for a 40.1% response rate. Of the respondents, 61.7% (87 of 141) were generalist OBGYNs, and 86% (117 of 136) ...
Stochastic Models for Recognition of Occluded Objects

Recognition of occluded objects in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images is a significant problem for automatic object recognition. Stochastic models provide some attractive features for pattern matching and recognition under partial occlusion and noise. In this paper, we present a hidden Markov modeling (HMM) based approach for recognizing objects in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images. We identify the peculiar characteristics of a SAR sensor and using these characteristics we develop feature based multiple stochastic models for a given SAR image of an object. The models exploiting the relative geometry of feature locations or the amplitude of scattering centers in SAR radar return are based on sequentialization of scattering centers extracted from SAR images. In order to improve performance under real world situations, we integrate these models synergistically using their probabilistic estimates for recognition of a particular object at a specific azimuth. Experimental results are presented using real SAR images with varying amount of occlusion.
Association of a phospholipase A2 (14-3-3 protein) with the platelet glycoprotein Ib-IX complex

Platelet adhesion to subendothelial von Willebrand factor involves receptor recognition by the platelet glycoprotein (GP) Ib-IX and initiates activation signals that contribute to primary hemostasis. We show here that GPIb-IX is specifically associated with an intracellular 29-kDa protein. The physicochemical characteristics and amino acid sequence of this protein indicate that it is identical to the human zeta-isoform 14-3-3 protein, previously characterized as a platelet phospholipase A2 (PLA2). As activation of PLA2 is an early event in GPIb-IX-mediated signaling, this result suggests that ligand occupancy of GPIb-IX may directly activate PLA2, leading to platelet activation.
Personal Impressions of Recent Trends in Particle Physics

There are three discoveries made in the last ten years that have deeply influenced our understanding of particle physics.
Solving A \underline{x} = \underline{b} Using a Modified Conjugate Gradient Method Based on Roots of A

We consider the modified conjugate gradient procedure for solving A\underline{x}e\underline{b} in which the approximation space is based upon the Krylov space associated with A1/p and \underline{b}, for any integer p. For the square-root MCG (pe2) we establish a sharpened bound for the error at each iteration via Chebyshev polynomials in \sqrt{A}. We discuss the implications of the quickly accumulating effect of an error in \sqrt{A}e\underline{b} in the initial stage, and find an error bound even in the presence of such accumulating errors. Although this accumulation of errors may limit the usefulness of this method when \sqrt{A}e\underline{b} is unknown, it may still be successfully applied to a variety of small, “almost-SPD” problems, and can be used to jump-start the conjugate gradient method. Finally, we verify these theoretical results with numerical tests.
Sums of ranking differences and inversion numbers for method discrimination

Heberger and colleagues [Trends Anal Chem 2010;29:101–109; J Chemometrics 2011;25:151–158] have introduced the sum of ranking differences as a measure for comparing models or methods and have demonstrated its applicability in a variety of settings. The sum of ranking differences is closely related to another distance measure for permutations, namely, the inversion number. In this note, we describe the inversion number along with some of its distributional properties and draw comparisons with the sum of ranking differences for model comparison. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Development of a course review process.

Objective. To describe and assess a course review process designed to enhance course quality.Design. A course review process led by the curriculum and assessment committees was designed for all required courses in the doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) program at a school of pharmacy. A rubric was used by the review team to address 5 areas: course layout and integration, learning outcomes, assessment, resources and materials, and learner interaction.Assessment. One hundred percent of targeted courses, or 97% of all required courses, were reviewed from January to August 2010 (n=30). Approximately 3.5 recommendations per course were made, resulting in improvement in course evaluation items related to learning outcomes. Ninety-five percent of reviewers and 85% of course directors agreed that the process was objective and the course review process was important.Conclusion. The course review process was objective and effective in improving course quality. Future work will explore the effectiveness of an integrated, c...
Single‐longitudinal‐mode metalorganic chemical‐vapor‐deposition self‐aligned GaAlAs‐GaAs double‐heterostructure lasers

Single‐mode self‐aligned GaAlAs‐GaAs double‐heterostructure lasers have been fabricated by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. These devices operate at low current thresholds on a single longitudinal mode and require only a single photolithographic processing step.
On the retrieval of pure path velocities from great circle data

Summary. Synthetic great circle Rayleigh wave phase velocities are generated from a 3-D upper mantle model for two great circle distributions: a uniform random distribution and an experimental distribution arising from a real set of sources and receivers. Given a tectonic regionalization, the retrieval of the pure path velocities from these great circle data sets leads to a strongly biased solution when the uniform distribution is used, whereas the results from the experimental distribution are closer to the true values. An analysis of the data importances and the information distribution in the data indicates that the great circles introduce coupling between tectonic regions; thus the degeneracy of the solution inherent in great circle data cannot be completely overcome by introducing a tectonic regionalization. It is shown that a satisfactory solution is obtained by selecting data as pure as possible, i.e. data that over-sample one tectonic region without oversampling the others. This condition is better fulfilled by the experimental distribution than by the uniform distribution.
Production-for-Use or Production-for-Profit?: The Contradictions of Consumer Goods Production in 1930s Work Relief:

A variety of work relief projects were implemented in the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), the first U.S. federal relief agency begun in May 1933 and lasting until December 1935. They included construction, projects for professionals (e.g., writers, artists, actors and musicians), and production of consumer goods. The construction and professional projects elicited criticisms of "make-work," i.e. that little of value was produced. In contrast, the output of the consumer goods production projects was clearly useful, as canned food, garments, mattresses, bedding, and other goods were produced and then distributed to relief recipients. But these projects, termed production-for-use by FERA administrators, came under fire from capitalists for competing with the private sector. As a result, production-for-use projects that capitalists found offensive were terminated by the time the Works Progress Administration (WPA) began in late 1935, and no such government production of consumer goods has been...
Deuteron quadrupole coupling and chlorine relaxation in solid methylene chloride-d2

Abstract Previous work by Woessner and Gutowsky has shown the behavior of T1 (35Cl) in methylene chloride to be anomalous in the temperature range 150 K to 176 K. Semin and Babushkina report two phase transitions in this compound, and in order to clarify a possible association between these phase transitions and the T1 behavior, we undertook the measurement of deuterium quadrupole coupling and chlorine relaxation in CD2Cl2. Only a single phase was observed in our experiments for both CH2Cl2 and CD2Cl2. The deuteron quadrupole coupling varies qualitatively with temperature as expected from Bayer's model below 150 K, but the temperature coefficient becomes unusually large at higher temperatures. The asymmetry parameter decreases from 0.0308 at 77 K to ca. zero at 150 K. We estimate the static values for coupling constant and asymmetry parameter as 175.67 to 176.33 kHz and 0.0569 to 0.0605, respectively. The ratio of 35Cl to 37Cl T1 values is given by the square of the ratio of the quadrupole moments only up to ca. 150 K. Above this temperature, the ratio decreases steadily toward unity as the melting point is approached. T1 (35Cl) shows typical activated rate process behavior in this short temperature interval, corresponding to the activation energy of 5 kcal/mol quoted by Woessner and Gutowsky. The observed behavior of quadrupole coupling in this material suggests that the “premelting lattice disorder” mentioned by Woessner and Gutowsky is, in fact, manifested in T1 as a slow dynamic process, probably a rotation about the molecular figure axis.
Colonic manometry in children with defecatory disorders: role in diagnosis and management

Abstract Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of colonic manometry in clarifying pathophysiology of childhood defecatory disorders and to evaluate its impact on management. Methods We conducted a retrospective review of medical records of children referred to undergo colonic manometry to a tertiary care Motility Center from 1996 to 2001. Families were followed up a median of 20 months after evaluation (range 3–60 months). Results A total of 150 colonic manometries were performed in 146 children (74 male, median age 79 months, range 4–225 months). Colonic manometry had been requested to clarify the pathophysiology of lower GI symptoms in 68%; as part of diagnostic workup for chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction in 11%; to decide about reanastomosis of a diverted colon in 7%; and to clarify the pathophysiology of persisting symptoms after surgery for Hirschsprung’s disease in 14%. Normal motility was found in the entire colon in 38% of children. In 17%, there was normal motility in the proximal colon with abnormality limited to the dilated distal colon. Abnormal motility was found in 45% of children. After colonic manometry, treatment changes were recommended in 93% of patients. We were able to follow up 65% of the families. When recommendations were followed (96% of the contacted patients), the symptoms improved in 78%, were unchanged in 18%, and were worse in 4% of patients. Among the parents, 88% believed that the suggestions given after colonic manometry had been helpful in improving their children’s health. Conclusions Colonic manometry may provide information useful in guiding therapy in a subgroup of patients with defecatory disorders.
Mood's test for dispersion as a counting of triplets

The well-known equivalence of Wilcoxon and Mann-Whitney location statistics is herein extended to dispersion tests. Mood (1954) statistic is related to a statistic based on “triplets”. The triplet version of Mood statistic is useful for proving the asymptotic normality (under alternatives) of the test.
Glassy kinetic barriers between conformational substates in RNA.

We study by means of a Monte Carlo simulation the rates of interconversion of metastable RNA secondary structures as the thermodynamic limit is approached. The sequences are random and uncorrelated and the refolding events are kinetically controlled and occur as the chain grows by sequential random incorporation of nucleotides. The scaling law connecting the size of the barriers with the length of the chain exhibits a striking similarity with the related kinetics of spin glasses and other disordered systems.
Human Gingival Lymphocytes. I. Methodology for the Isolation of Human Gingival Lymphocytes

Various methodologies were examined for the isolation of inflammatory cells from diseased human gingiva. The best recovery of viable gingival lymphocytes (gMNC) was achieved by a method which combined initial collagenase digestion followed by gentle teasing with an 18-gauge needle.
The effect of temperature change on the sealing properties of temporary filling materials

Abstract The cavity-sealing properties of nine filling materials (eight temporary filling materials and amalgam) were tested at room temperature and also after ten cycles of temperature change from 60° C. to 4° C. The ability of a 2 per cent aqueous solution of aniline blue dye to penetrate the margins of cavities filled with each of the test filling materials was used as a means of comparing their cavity-sealing properties. The inability of the test filling material to maintain a leakproof seal of the cavity margins was evidenced by a blue discoloration of cotton fibers placed beneath the test filling. Under the conditions of testing at room temperature, the following materials showed consistent leakage: temporary stopping gutta-percha, base plate gutta-percha, two brands of zinc phosphate temporary cement, and two brands of zinc phosphate permanent cement. The materials that showed no leakage at room temperature were zinc oxide-eugenol cement, Cavit, and amalgam. Of the teeth similarly filled with each of the nine test filling materials and subjected to ten cycles of temperature change, those which showed leakage to the dye solution at room temperature also showed leakage when subjected to temperature changes. Although zinc oxide-eugenol cement did not show leakage at room temperature, it did show leakage in five out of ten teeth subjected to temperature changes. Of the temporary filling materials tested, only Cavit maintained a leakproof cavity seal both at room temperature and after repeated temperature changes.
The Effect of Chain Stiffness in Lightly Crosslinked Epoxies

Abstract Three monomer pairs were used to examine the effect of increasing backbone stiffness on material properties. Bisphenol F, resorcinol, and 2,7-dihydroxynaphthalene and their diglycidyl ether analogs of increasing stiffness were chosen for ease of processing and to avoid the complicating influences of steric hindrance, polar interactions between chains, and liquid crystallinity. Oligomeric precursors were solution polymerized to insure stoichiometric imbalance-determined crosslink density. The Tg s of the Bisphenol F, resorcinol, and 2,7-dihydroxynaphthalene LXTs are 56, 67, and 105°C, respectively, by DSC. The modulus of the Bisphenol F and resorcinol LXTs are 3.04 and 3.47 GPa, respectively.
Regulation of Two Rat-Liver Microsomal Carboxylesterase Isozymes - Species-Differences, Tissue Distribution, and the Effects of Age, Sex, and Xenobiotic Treatment of Rats

Abstract The preceding paper described the purification of two rat liver microsomal carboxylesterases, designated hydrolases A and B, that have high affinity (Km ∼25 μM) and low affinity (Km ∼400 μM) for para-nitrophenylacetate, respectively. The present study describes the preparation and purification of polyclonal antibodies against these purified enzymes. Each antibody was subjected to immunoabsorption chromatography to remove antibodies against epitopes common to both hydrolases A and B. The resulting isozyme-specific antibodies were used to study the regulation of hydrolases A and B by Western immunoblotting and Ouchterlony immunodiffusion. Liver microsomes from mouse, hamster, rabbit, guinea pig, cat, dog, cynomolgus monkey, and humans contained one or more proteins that were immunochemically related and similar in size (Mr ∼60 kDa) to hydrolase A and/or hydrolase B. These proteins were preferentially recognized by the antibody against hydrolase A, except for cat liver microsomal esterase, which was preferentially recognized by antibody against hydrolase B. In rats, the levels of hydrolases A and B in liver microsomes were coregulated as a function of age, sex, and xenobiotic treatment of rats. The levels of both enzymes were very low in 1- and 2-week-old rats, but increased abruptly at 3 weeks of age in both male and female rats. Treatment of mature male rats with 11 known microsomal enzyme inducers caused little (
Reproductive Tactics in Relation to Life‐Cycle Bioenergetics in Three Naturla populations of the Freshwater Snail, Leptoxis Carinata

Regular sampling of three populations of the riverine prosobranch snail, Leptoxis carinata, revealed it to be a slow-growing, semelparous biennial. Copulation and egg laying are restricted to 23-mo-old individuals. Growth is restricted to two 3-mo periods during their 25-mo life cycle. Mean numerical fecundity at the three sites (170-330 eggs per female life-span) is inversely cor- related with adult density. Experimental evidence indicates that differences in adult density (over moderate levels) have no direct effect on numerical fecundity whereas increasing egg density has a marked negative effect. Egg C:N ratio declines (less nonprotein stores) as numerical fecundity in- creases. Survivorship of eggs and young is very low but improves after 8 mo of age. Female reproductive effort (reproductive biomass as a percentage of growth) is relatively low in Leptoxis. The mean reproductive effort values range from 12 to 19% for carbon and 6 to I 1% for nitrogen. The life-cycle traits of Leptoxis (semelparity after long prereproductive life; and low repro- ductive effort combined with relatively low numerical fecundity) reflect a compromise strategy im- posed by severe environmental periodicities and concomitant physiological constraints (including low growth rates).
Connecting to the Professor: Impact of the Student-Faculty Relationship in a Highly Challenging Course.

While many factors play into college student success, interaction with faculty has been identified as a key component. In highly challenging and anxiety-provoking courses, the student–faculty relationship may be all the more important. This study uses organic chemistry as a case example to investigate the role of the student–faculty relationship in such a setting. The study surveys 113 undergraduates in six organic chemistry courses to examine the relationship of student–faculty relationship to grade, course confidence, and sense of science identity. In regression analyses, student–faculty relationship positively predicted grade as well as confidence, but not science identity. Suggestions for faculty practices are offered.
The variation of solar proton energy spectra and size distribution with heliolongitude

A statistical study of the initial phases of 185 solar particle events was carried out using the data from cosmic ray experiments on IMP 4 and IMP 5. Special emphasis was placed on the identification of the associated solar flare, as the parent flare can be determined for 68% of the events. It appears probable that most of the unidentified increases occur on the non-visible disc of the sun. The existence of a 'preferred-connection' longitude between 20 W and 80 W was established by examining the heliolongitude of all the flare associated events. It is demonstrated that the energy spectra determined at the time of maximum particle in the 20 to 80 MeV or 4 to 20 Mev interval range give results identical to that obtained by the 'distance-travelled' method.
Folded chain model of highly drawn polyethylene

Neither the fringed-micelle, fringed-fibril or extreme folded-chain models explain the morphological and mechanical properties of highly drawn polyethylene. The modified folded-chain model, assuming that a substantial fraction (between 5 and 30 percent) of the molecules do not fold back at the crystal surface but go through the “amorphous” surface layer and enter the next crystal, avoids the insufficiencies of the above mentioned models. The elastic modulus and tensile strength of drawn polyethylene, both increasing with draw ratio, are to a large extent the consequence of the molecules bridging the quasi-amorphous layers and interconnecting the folded-chain lamellae oriented more-or-less perpendicular to the machine direction. The folds create enough space for the accommodation of more-or-less extended tie molecules in the quasi-amorphous layers between the lamellae. Electron microscopy and calorimetry of samples as drawn, annealed and/or etched with fuming nitric acid support the model.