cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Chapter 7 – Hydrogen

Hydrogen occurs as a diatomic element with a bond energy of 435 kJ/mol. Although not normally found in compounds as H+, some solids exist that contain the H5O2+ (H2O · H+ · OH2) cation, and several species having the formula Hn+ (where n = an odd integer) have been identified. Hydrogen is produced commercially in the steam reformer process and during the electrolysis of aqueous sodium chloride solutions. Hydrogen is a reducing agent and forms binary compounds with most elements. With metals having low electronegativity, the compounds are hydrides that contain H−. Interstitial hydrides are formed with transition metals, and covalent hydrides are formed with nonmetals that have electronegativities lower than that of hydrogen.
A Process Evaluation of a Substance Use Brief Intervention for Adolescents in a Psychiatric Inpatient Program.

The present study represents a two-phase process evaluation of the implementation of Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) on an adolescent psychiatric inpatient unit. Th...
Patient-Reported GI Outcomes in Patients With Anal Cancer Receiving Modern Chemoradiation

PURPOSE:Among patients with anal cancer, chemoradiotherapy is often associated with toxicities that diminish quality of life. We describe the GI-related patient-reported outcomes (PROs) of patients...
Barrier Precautions in the Era of Multidrug Pathogens.

There is a continuing debate regarding contact precaution (CP) usage for endemic multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs). In this review, we examine current recommendations for CP and highlight differences in CP use between endemic and non-endemic MDROs. The discontinuation of CP had no effect on the incidence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin-resistant Enterococci. The evidence regarding CP for extended-spectrum beta-lactamase producing Enterobacteriaceae is inconclusive, highlighting the need for more research to determine best infection control strategies. Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae maintains a sporadic pattern in the USA, supporting current recommendations to use CP for colonized and infected patients. MDR Acinetobacter baumannii (MDR-AB) is extremely virulent and responsible for outbreaks in healthcare settings, emphasizing the need for CP use with MDR-AB infected patients. Candida auris (C. auris) is often misdiagnosed; it is resistant to UV light and quaternary ammonium low-level disinfection. Because little is known about the transmission of C. auris, significant caution and CP use are necessitated. There is little research on vancomycin-resistant S. aureus (VRSA) control strategies due to its rarity; thus, CP is strongly recommended. Contact precautions are frequently part of a bundled infection control approach that involves meticulous hand hygiene, patient decolonization, chlorhexidine gluconate bathing, and reducing the use of invasive devices. Healthcare facilities should continue to utilize CP for non-endemic MDROs and the presence of endemic MDROs; however, CP may not add benefit to the current infection prevention bundle approach.
Creating the 24-Hour Knowledge Factory

The 24-Hour Knowledge Factory concept involves separate and distinct global operating centers that facilitate the transfer of information from one work location to another, thus allowing for continuous operation. In this article the authors elaborate on this concept and discusses relevant current industry practices and technologies with respect to the implementation and commercial deployment of the 24-Hour Knowledge Factory paradigm.
Fresh Produce E-Commerce and Online Shoppers’ Purchase Intention

The development of the Internet has provided many opportunities for electronic commerce, and many e-commerce companies like Alibaba have achieved great success. Fresh produce industry has also atte...
Dionysius Lardner, the Denigrated Sage of Early Railways

Dionysius Lardner has a very poor reputation in the railway history literature. In most other fields he also tends to be remembered either for a few of his occasionally spectacular mistakes or at most as a minor science and technology popularizer. He has not received proper credit for his striking 1846 survey of the railway industry, "Railways at home and abroad." Published at the peak of the Railway Mania, it provided an excellent overview of that rapidly developing industry. Further, although in an inconspicuous way, it punctured several important misconceptions that motivated investors. Had proper heed been paid to Lardner's warnings, much of the investment disaster of the Mania could have been averted. This episode of financial exuberance can be shown to have been doomed to fail, and among contemporary observers Lardner provided the most convincing and comprehensive arguments to demonstrate this. However, little attention was paid to his warnings. This episode provides another illustration of the difficulty in persuading the public as well as policy makers that a dangerous bubble is in progress and bound to fail.
Click This, Not That: Extending Web Authentication with Deception

With phishing attacks, password breaches, and brute-force login attacks presenting constant threats, it is clear that passwords alone are inadequate for protecting the web applications entrusted with our personal data. Instead, web applications should practice defense in depth and give users multiple ways to secure their accounts. In this paper we propose login rituals, which define actions that a user must take to authenticate, and web tripwires, which define actions that a user must not take to remain authenticated. These actions outline expected behavior of users familiar with their individual setups on applications they use often. We show how we can detect and prevent intrusions from web attackers lacking this familiarity with their victim's behavior. We design a modular and application-agnostic system that incorporates these two mechanisms, allowing us to add an additional layer of deception-based security to existing web applications without modifying the applications themselves. Next to testing our system and evaluating its performance when applied to five popular open-source web applications, we demonstrate the promising nature of these mechanisms through a user study. Specifically, we evaluate the detection rate of tripwires against simulated attackers, 88% of whom clicked on at least one tripwire. We also observe web users' creation of personalized login rituals and evaluate the practicality and memorability of these rituals over time. Out of 39 user-created rituals, all of them are unique and 79% of users were able to reproduce their rituals even a week after creation.
A Probabilistic Method to Estimate Emissions and Fuel Consumption using Connected Vehicle Data from a Mixed Fleet 1

Real-time estimation of emissions using microscopic emission models are not trivial even though speed-acceleration data can be inferred from connected vehicles (CVs). This is because models for estimating emissions/fuel require information on vehicle category (which may vary by models) and some models also require soak times (the duration for which the vehicle was at rest before the current trip). Such data are not transmitted by CVs. This study developed and demonstrated an approach for the real-time estimation of emissions/fuel consumption (at a location) from speed profiles from a limited number of CVs in a traffic stream and limited information about CVs (i.e., missing details about vehicle categories and soak times). The broad approach involved applying a microscopic emission model on a large dataset of speed-acceleration profiles of vehicles of multiple types and trips with different soak times obtained from travel surveys. These were then used to create aggregated probability distribution profiles for various speed-acceleration “bins”. The estimated profiles by bins and by vehicle type are then applied on speed-profile that may be typically received by roadside units (RSUs). Using real world trajectory data from Atlanta, the application of the approach was demonstrated for different market penetration levels of CVs.
Death from high-risk prostate cancer versus cardiovascular mortality with hormonal therapy: a decision analysis.

BACKGROUND: Randomized trials have demonstrated improved survival when hormonal therapy (HT) is added to radiation therapy (RT) for high-risk prostate cancer. However, it is still unknown whether men who have a history of myocardial infarction (MI) or MI risk factors achieve a superior outcome from HT. METHODS: A Markov decision analysis model was used to compare quality-adjusted life expectancy (QALE) in men aged 50, 60, and 70 years who received RT and no HT, 6 months of HT (short-term), or 3 years of HT (long-term) for high-risk prostate cancer stratified by cardiac risk group. RESULTS: In men with a history of MI, there was a decrease of 0.1 to 0.2 quality-adjusted life years and 0.5 to 0.6 quality-adjusted life years across all ages with short-term HT and long-term HT, respectively, compared with no HT. In men without MI, receipt of short-term or long-term HT was associated with a QALE benefit versus no HT in all cohorts. Among men without MI, the optimal duration of HT was a function of age and the number of MI risk factors. Long-term HT improved QALE (range, 1.4-5.4 years) for men aged 50 or 60 years except those with MI; whereas, for men aged 70 years with 4 cardiac risk factors, short-term and long-term HT yielded identical QALE. CONCLUSIONS: Men who received RT for high-risk prostate cancer and had a history of MI experienced net harm when they received HT. Men without MI gained a QALE benefit from HT, even if they had up to 4 cardiac risk factors. The optimal duration of HT is a function of patient age and the number of cardiac risk factors. Cancer 2013. © 2013 American Cancer Society.
Boron–Nitrogen Compounds

The majority of this article details the many synthetic routes and compounds that can be accessed in combinations of boron reagents with amines. Lewis acid-base adducts are the simplest type of compounds, and lead into the more complex aminoboranes and iminoboranes. Owing to their widespread importance and usage, the borazines, pyrazaboles, and polypyrazaolyborates are covered in separate sections. The newly emerging fields of boron–nitrogen cations and boron nitride solid-state materials are covered in detail. Keywords: synthesis; amine; solid-state; material
First-Order Probabilistic Languages: Into the Unknown

This paper surveys first-order probabilistic languages(FOPLs), which combine the expressive power of first-order logic with a probabilistic treatment of uncertainty. We provide a taxonomy that helps make sense of the profusion of FOPLs that have been proposed over the past fifteen years. We also emphasize the importance of representing uncertainty not just about the attributes and relations of a fixed set of objects, but also about what objects exist. This leads us to Bayesian logic, or BLOG, a language for defining probabilistic models with unknown objects. We give a brief overview of BLOG syntax and semantics, and emphasize some of the design decisions that distinguish it from other languages. Finally, we consider the challenge of constructing FOPL models automatically from data.
Chapter 9 Diet and Nutrition of Central Yellowstone Elk During Winter

Theme Winter for ungulates in the northern Rocky Mountains is a period of chronic under‐nutrition and catabolism of lean muscle and body fat because forage availability and quality are low, while energetic demands are high (Moen 1976, Torbit et al. 1985, DelGuidice et al. 1990). The rate of ingestion of assimilable energy and nutrients, and the resulting state of body components, reflect the adequacy of forage quality and quantity to meet metabolic demands (Harder and Kirkpatrick 1994; Parker et al. 1999; Cook et al. 2004a,b). Furthermore, nutrition and nutritional condition strongly influence the probability of breeding, over‐winter survival, lactation yields, and susceptibility to predation (Loudon et al. 1983, Hobbs 1989, Kohlmann 1999, Mech et al. 2001, Bender et al. 2002, Cook 2002). The heterogeneous environment inhabited by elk (Cervus elaphus) wintering in the Madison headwaters area of Yellowstone National Park provides a diversity of potential foods for elk with quite divergent energy, protein, secondary compound, and toxin characteristics (Craighead et al. 1973). We characterized the composition and quality of elk diets prior to wolf (Canis lupus) recolonization, evaluated the effects of diet selection and snow pack on nutrition using an index of metabolizable energy intake, and related annual variability in winter nutrition to demographic vital rates.
Computing with Distributed Resources

The metaphor “Network is the Computer” has received much attention lately. It is easy/hard to claim such an equivalence since neither term is defined precisely. It is easy to establish an equivalence by ignoring several key aspects of the network, such as the costs of remote data access, failures of network nodes and communication links, and the security issues inherent in distributed computing. We may then view the network as a repository of data, typically stored in distributed objects, which resembles the primary (and secondary) storage of a traditional computer. The underlying instruction set for the network computer consists of method calls on these objects; the effect of a method call is to modify the state of the object (similar to a store instruction in a traditional computer) and/or return some value (similar to a load instruction). Now, consider executing a high-level instruction, such as x:= f(y,z), on the network computer. The data represented by x, y and z may be stored at different machines, as well as the function f to be applied to y and z. An implementation of this statement has (1) to determine the sites of the data y and z, and, possibly, choose among several sites if the data are replicated, (2) choose the site where the actual computation has to take place, and (3) communicate the result to all sites where x is to be stored. The implementation could be even more elaborate when x , y and z are matrices, for example, and f is the matrix multiplication operator. Then, y and z may be sent as streams (by rows or columns), the appropriate computations are carried out, possibly by multiple computers, and the result x sent as a stream of element values as soon as such a value is computed.
AlxIn1-xN/GaN heterostructure field effect transistors

In AlGaN/GaN heterostructure field effect transistors (HFETs), two-dimensional-electron-gas (2DEG), induced by strong piezoelectric and spontaneous polarization field, has high sheet density, and can be tuned up to 5 ×10 13 cm -2 with pure AlN barrier.[ Appl. Phys. Lett. 90 , 182112 (2007) ].For Al compositions larger than 40%, due to the large lattice mismatch between GaN and AlGaN, strain-related issues significantly reduce the mobility for these high sheet carrier densities. Recently, using nearly lattice-matched AlInN/GaN to improve the performance of HFETs has been studied theoretically and experimentally. A high sheet density (2.42 ×10 13 cm 2 ) with >1000 cm 2 /Vs mobility has been reported by inserting an AlN spacer layer between the AlGaN barrier and GaN channel. However, low-temperature mobilities for AlInN/GaN HFETs are much lower than those for AlGaN/GaN HFETs. In this paper, we study the Al 1-x In x N/AlN/GaN (x=0.20 - 0.12) (HFETs) grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. Reduction of In composition from 20% to 12% increased the room temperature equivalent two-dimensional-electron-gas (2DEG) density from 0.90×10 13 cm -2 to 1.64 ×10 13 cm -2 with corresponding electron mobilities of 1600 cm 2 /Vs and 1410 cm 2 /Vs. Furthermore, at 10 K, the mobility reached 17,600 cm 2 /Vs with a sheet density 9.6 ×10 12 cm -2 for the nearly lattice-matched Al 0.82 In 0.18 N /AlN/GaN heterostructure. The HFETs having 1 μm gate length exhibited a maximum transconductance of ~ 250 mS/mm with good pinch-off characteristics.
A Test of the Excitability-Gradient Hypothesis in the Swimmeret System of Crayfish

The motor pattern that drives coordinated movements of swimmerets in different segments during forward swimming characteristically begins with a power-stroke by the most posterior limbs, followed progressively by power-strokes of each of the more anterior limbs. To explain this caudal-to-rostral progression, the hypothesis was proposed that the neurons that drive the most posterior swimmerets are more excitable than their more anterior counterparts, and so reach threshold first. To test this excitability-gradient hypothesis, I used carbachol to excite expression of the swimmeret motor pattern and used tetrodotoxin (TTX), sucrose solutions, and cutting to block the flow of information between anterior and posterior segments. I showed that the swimmeret activity elicited by carbachol is like that produced when the swimmeret system is spontaneously active and that blocking an intersegmental connective uncoupled swimmeret activity on opposite sides of the block. When anterior and posterior segments were isolated from each other, the frequencies of the motor patterns expressed by anterior segments were not slower than those expressed by posterior segments exposed to the same concentrations of carbachol. This result was independent of the concentration of carbachol applied and of the number of segmental ganglia that remained connected. When TTX was used to block information flow, the motor patterns produced in segments anterior to the block were significantly faster than those from segments posterior to the block. These observations contradict the predictions of the excitability-gradient hypothesis and lead to the conclusion that the hypothesis is incorrect.
Late Gestation Fetal Rat Hepatocyte Proliferation Is Independent of p70 S6 Kinase Mitogenic Signaling: Implications for the Role of Growth Factors in Fetal Liver Development

Late Gestation Fetal Rat Hepatocyte Proliferation Is Independent of p70 S6 Kinase Mitogenic Signaling: Implications for the Role of Growth Factors in Fetal Liver Development
Reduced replication: a call to ARMS.

In this issue of Cell, Lemoine et al. (2005) monitor chromosome instability in yeast cells with reduced levels of an essential replicative DNA polymerase. The authors identify a hotspot for chromosome aberrations reminiscent of fragile sites in human cells. This hotspot is composed of inverted Ty elements, which lead to a double-strand break under conditions of limited replication.
piRNAs Meet Mitochondria

zuc/MitoPLD encodes a conserved enzyme that localizes to mitochondria and hydrolyzes the mitochondria-specific lipid cardiolipin. Surprisingly, zuc/MitoPLD activity is required for Piwi-interacting RNA (piRNA)-mediated silencing of transposable elements in fly and mouse germlines, suggesting that signaling from mitochondria influences the piRNA pathway.
Synthesis and characterization of a novel iron (III) silsesquioxane compound

Abstract A new iron (III) containing silsesquioxane compound, [Bu4N][((CH3)2CHCH2)7Si7O12FeCl] (4) was prepared by reacting [Bu4N][FeCl4] (3) with the isobutyl substituted silsesquioxane trisilanol, ((CH3)2CHCH2)7Si7O12H3, (1) in the presence of three equivalents of triethylamine, Et3N (2). The magnetic susceptibility of 4 was measured by Evans method, and the effective magnetic moment, μeff, is consistent with a high spin Fe (III) center. The composition and molecular structure of 4 was fully determined by IR, elemental analysis, APCI mass spec, and X-ray crystal analyses, and its potential as a precursor to a model of the structure and chemistry of the Fe-ZSM-5 catalyst is discussed.
Disjunctive Concept Utilization in Preschool Children.

Summary Twenty-four children, eight each in three age groups, were asked to “play a game” which required them to utilize disjunctive concepts such as “blue or car.” The disjunctive concepts used were the nine which can be formed by combining one value from among three possibilities on the color dimension (green, blue, red) with one value from among three possibilities on the form dimension (car, boat, airplane). The task consisted of 18 five-choice trials with each of the nine disjunctive concepts represented twice—once with the color mentioned first and once with the form mentioned first. Ss were required to pick the positive instance card. All three groups performed significantly better than chance (ps. < .0001) on the task. A significant relation between age and performance on this task was found (Rho = .65, p < .05). There were no sex differences. The results are discussed in relation to task variables and an associative view of cognitive development.
The effects of humidity and storage time on the behavior of maltodextrins for direct compression

Abstract The effects of the relative humidity of the surrounding atmosphere on the powder and tablet properties of different types of physically processed maltodextrins were investigated. The maltodextrins' properties were affected due to moisture sorption and desorption. The density and flow behavior of the maltodextrins were influenced by the moisture content of the powder at the time of testing. Tablets of maltodextrin, after equilibration at 52.8% relative humidity, generally became smaller, denser, and stronger after transfer to low humidity conditions, while they became larger, less dense, and weaker when transferred to high humidity conditions. The effect of storage time on tablet properties of maltodextrins was that the crushing force values decreased with time. This was especially significant from the storage time period from immediately after ejection until 24 h after ejection from the die.
The Use of Daptomycin for Staphylococcus Aureus Infections in Critical Care Medicine

The proliferation of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and the severity of nosocomial critical care infections necessitate the development of viable alternative therapies. An increase in the tolerance of MRSA to the activity of vancomycin and to the associated suboptimal therapeutic measures is of particular concern. Daptomycin, the first of a new class of antimicrobials known as the lipopeptides, is indicated for the treatment of S aureus, including MRSA, in bacteremia, right-sided endocarditis, and complicated skin and skin structure infections. Daptomycin has a novel mechanism of action, rapid bactericidal activity, and a lack of cross resistance with other antibiotic classes. Daptomycin has also demonstrated efficacy in case studies involving the treatment of osteomyelitis and involving complicated persistent infections associated with indwelling medical devices. Because of its efficacy and safety in a variety of infectious conditions and because of its rapid bactericidal activity, daptomycin is well suited as a viable alternative for patients in the critical care setting.
An integrated approach to the analysis of imprint vs. optical lithography or why this is not just a mask discussion

Imprint lithography has been proposed as a low cost method for next generation lithography for the manufacturing of semiconductors for the 45nm node and below, as costs for traditional optical lithography, and EUV lithography escalate to new levels that may prohibit new semiconductor devices from ever coming to market. While this was the widely proposed use of this technology, a whole host of new areas can take advantage of this lower cost manufacturing technology also. The template enables imprinting all these devices. Template manufacturing and development is currently done along side of state of the art reticle manufacturing. While the dimensions of the 1X templates is significantly smaller than what is needed for optical lithography templates, the dimensions are on the same order as the optical assist features, scatter bars and serifs used today. We will show current capability of 1X templates for imprint applications that are available commercially today, for semiconductor and nanofabrication applications. The advantages on the wafer side for the adoption of imprint lithography is the simplification of processing, reduced capital costs and process control when integrated in the wafer fab. The adoption of imprint reduces the barrier of entry to state of the art resolution for many older existing fabs that cannot spend upwards of 30 million dollars on an immersion I-line cluster. In this paper we will explore not only the technical aspects of imprint lithography, but also the economic impact as well.
The pathway of glutamate oxidation in rabbit reticulocytes.

1 It is shown by means of experiments on intact cells with 14C-labelled substrates that the first step in the oxidative metabolism of glutamate in rabbit-reticulocytes is a transamination with oxaloacetate to form aspartate. 2 The aspartate is metabolized further in such a manner that CO2 is formed from all C-atoms. With tracer amounts of glutamate no accumulation of aspartate occurs, in contrast to isolated mitochondria. The mechanism of the utilization of aspartate appears to be a decarboxylation of oxaloacetate to pyruvate, which is the main reaction of oxaloacetate under conditions of loading with glutamate. 3 On account of the minute contribution of the amino group of glutamate to the ammonia formation, which in itself is smaller than expected from the CO2 formation, an acceptor for the amino group of amino acids is postulated.
Attitudes on Using Pair-Programming

During a research study conducted over four semesters, students enrolled in an introductory programming class at a commuter campus used the pair-programming approach for both in-class labs and out-of-class programming assignments. This study was a comprehensive assessment of pair-programming using multiple measures of both quantitative and qualitative feedback about students' experiences with pair-programming. The results show that overwhelmingly, students reported positive reactions to working with a partner using the pair-programming paradigm. As expected at a commuter campus, the most common challenge students reported was difficulty of coordinating schedules. This article provides the results of the study and offers suggestions for managing pair-programming on a commuter campus.
Photoelectron-photofragment angular correlations in the dissociative photodetachment of HOCO−

A coincidence study of the photoelectron-photofragment angular distributions in the one- and two-photon dissociative photodetachment (DPD) of HOCO− is reported. The photoelectron angular distributions in the one-photon DPD channels HOCO− + hν → OH + CO + e− and HOCO− + hν → H + CO2 + e− at E hν = 3.21 eV are examined in both the laboratory and neutral photofragment recoil frames, while the angular distributions of the OH + CO products in the laboratory frame are also investigated. The results show a parallel dipole transition for the DPD of HOCO−. The radical lifetime was examined as a function of the orientation of the transition dipole, with upper limits of 9 × 10−13 s and 1.3 × 10−12 s estimated for HOCO and DOCO lifetime for dissociation into OH/OD + CO, respectively. The photoelectron-photofragment angular correlation in the two-photon DPD of HOCO− is also presented, showing that when the photon energy is near the photodetachment threshold, a molecular anion like HOCO− can be effectively aligned thro...
BROWSING AND MICROHABITAT EFFECTS ON RIPARIAN FOREST WOODY SEEDLING DEMOGRAPHY

Forest seedling demography and seedling diversity are commonly impacted by spatially variable microhabitat effects on germination and establishment. For many forests of the eastern United States, herbivory by white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) also can be intense and impose severe restrictions on seedling demography. The concurrent effects of these “bottom-up” and “top-down” factors were examined in a riparian forest on the Patuxent Research Refuge, Maryland, USA. Random permanent-plot surveys found that two microhabitat factors, soil moisture and leaf litter, were correlated with seedling spatial distributions. These correlations suggest that microhabitat variability promotes seedling diversity. Microhabitat effects due to codominant American beech (Fagus grandifolia) and yellow-poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) canopies had limited impacts on seedling demography but were consistent with the random surveys. In contrast, experimental results show that browsing had distinct demographic effects on se...
Noise Hampers Children’s Expressive Word Learning

Purpose To determine the effects of noise and speech style on word learning in typically developing school-age children. Method Thirty-one participants ages 9;0 (years;months) to 10;11 attempted to...
Carbon-hydrogen vs. carbon-halogen oxidative addition of chlorobenzene by a neutral iridium complex explored by DFT.

Density functional theory (DFT) is used to explore the competitive C–H and C–Cl oxidative additions (OA) of chlorobenzene to the neutral Ir(I) complex: (PNP)IrI [PNP = bis(Z-2-(dimethylphosphino)vinyl)amino]. Consistent with experimental results, our calculation shows that C–H OA is kinetically favored with an activation free-energy barrier of ΔG‡ = 17.2 kcal mol−1 that is significantly lower than that for the C–Cl activation at ΔG‡ = 24.2 kcal mol−1. However, C–Cl OA is thermodynamically preferred and the C–Cl OA product is 22.6 kcal mol−1 more stable than the most stable C–H OA product. The calculations also show that the lowest energy path for the conversion of the C–H OA product to the more stable C–Cl OA product is intramolecular through a “benzyne”-type intermediate.
Low Age Adjusted Free Testosterone Levels Correlate With Poorly Differentiated Prostate Cancer

Purpose: We determined the relationship between age adjusted free T, and stage, grade and the biochemical-free survival rate in patients with surgically treated prostate cancer.Materials and Methods: A retrospective cohort study was done between 1995 and 2001 in 333 patients treated for clinically localized prostate cancer with radical retropubic prostatectomy by a single surgeon at our institution. The study cohort consisted of 279 patients (84%) who had free T levels available. Free T was assessed by single cutoff value of 1.5 ng/dl or less, as suggested by the assay manufacturer, or by age adjusted free T. The relationship of low free T as a single cutoff value and age adjusted reference ranges with clinical and pathological measures of disease progression were assessed using the Fisher exact and Wilcoxon rank sum tests with the outcome assessed by the log rank test.Results: Using the assay manufacturer suggested single cutoff value of 1.5 ng/dl or less to define low free T 57% of patients with prostat...
A Framework for Co-classification of Articles and Users in Wikipedia

The massive size of Wikipedia and the ease with which its content can be created and edited has made Wikipedia an interesting domain for a variety of classification tasks, including topic detection, spam detection, and vandalism detection. These tasks are typically cast into a link-based classification problem, in which the class label of an article or a user is determined from its content-based and link-based features. Prior works have focused primarily on classifying either the editors or the articles (but not both). Yet there are many situations in which the classification can be aided by knowing collectively the class labels of the users and articles (e.g., spammers are more likely to post spam content than non-spammers). This paper presents a novel framework to jointly classify the Wikipedia articles and editors, assuming there are correspondences between their classes. Our experimental results demonstrate that the proposed co-classification algorithm outperforms classifiers that are trained independently to predict the class labels of articles and editors.
A hybrid crystal plasticity and phase transformation model for high carbon steel

Presence of retained austenite in two-phase steels can have a significant effect on the response of the material. The current state-of-the-art in multi-phase modeling of polycrystalline plasticity has limits on scaling, explicit phase modeling, and tracking multiple plasticity types. To address these issues, a hybrid material model is developed for high-carbon steels. The model can account for crystal plasticity of martensite and stress-assisted transformation from austenite to martensite in dual-phase high-carbon steel. The parameters of the model are calibrated to experimental stress-strain and volumetric transformation strain data. The combination of scalability and multiple phase representation gives a useful tool for the investigation of two-phase high-carbon steel behavior.
Identifying, Classifying, and Resolving Semantic Conflicts in Distributed Heterogeneous Databases: A Case Study

During the past three decades, most medium and large organizations have seen a dramatic proliferation of databases and their associated database management systems. While these databases are useful in supporting their different activities, organizations soon discover the need to access and share data across these systems. Under current technology, this integration is usually not possible due to the heterogeneity of the database management systems, the platforms that these system reside on, and the semantics of the different databases. In this paper we address the issue of semantic conflicts identification and resolution in distributed heterogeneous databases. Using a real world example of heterogeneous databases obtained from various Department of Defense functional applications, we develop a framework for identifying and classifying semantic heterogeneity for databases represented in the Enhanced Entity Relationship Model. We also propose solutions for resolving each type of semantic conflict presented in the classification framework.
The Crawford slip method

This book describes an intriguing method of group analysis and problem-solving. The method was first devised by the senior author in 1925 while trying to organize a “drawer full of notes,” and it received significant impetus when the second author became involved in 1979. Essentially, the Crawford slip method is a process of collecting single-sentence ideas on slips of paper (1/8 letter-size page), organizing the slips, analyzing, and then acting on them. While this sounds simple and straightforward, the book is a detailed description of procedures, explanations, caveats, and cautions that have been learned and refined over the years of application of this methodology to a wide range of problems.
Epicardial atrial fat: not quite as idle as it looks.

its neighboring myocardium. 2 The investigations that have examined the association between EAT and AF include studies that demonstrate an association between the volume of EAT and the severity/incidence of AF and whether EAT characteristics contribute to the success or failure of radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA) for AF. In a study from the Framingham Heart Study, pericardial fat volume on computed tomographic scan predicted AF risk independent of other measures of adiposity. 3 Batal et al 4 showed that computed tomography-derived posterior left atria fat thickness was independently associated with AF burden, with a 1-cm increase in this fat deposit thickness being associated with a 6-fold higher risk of AF. Other reports have reported an association of pericardial fat with long-term clinical outcomes after RFCA. Wong et al 5 and Nagashima et al 6 reported that pericardial fat volume was associated with AF recurrence after RFCA. In a related study, an association was reported between high dominant frequency (DF) sites and EAT locations, with evidence of greater epicardial fat volumes and higher levels of serum inflammatory markers in persistent AF compared to paroxysmal AF. 7 Taken together, these studies point toward EAT
A new view on crystal harvesting

X-ray crystallography typically requires the mounting of crystals, which can make the sample difficult to manipulate when it is small and the microscope objective is close to the crystallization plate. By simply moving the objective to the bottom of a clear crystallization plate (inverting the normal view), crystals were able to be manipulated and harvested from wells having a 0.9 mm diameter and 5.0 mm depth. The mounting system enabled the structural solution of the 187 amino acid N-terminal domain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae glutaminyl-tRNA synthetase from crystals that appeared during high-throughput screening but proved recalcitrant to scale-up and optimization. While not a general mounting solution, the simple expedient of removing the objective lens from the area where manipulation and harvesting occur greatly facilitates the manual, or even automated, process.
Time-resolved imaging of explosive phase change in metals

ABSTRACT Phase explosion is a non-equilibrium boiling process resulting from homogeneous vapor nucleation in a superheated liquid near the critical point. Phase explosion may occur during nanosecond laser ablation since heterogeneous nuclei responsible for normal boiling do not have sufficient time to grow. Understanding the explosive phase change process is critical for developing models of material removal, and requires time-resolved diagnostics. A time-resolved shadowgraph technique was developed which was capable of probing ablation with nanosecond time exposures and nanosecond time delay resolution. Experiments were performed to investigate the transition from normal surface vaporization to phase explosion during nanosecond laser ablati on of aluminum and nickel. The threshold nature of phase explosion was observed by a discontinuous jump in the ablation depth at fluences of approximately 5.2 J/cm 2 and 6.9 J/cm 2 for aluminum and nickel, respectively. Shadowgraph images captured weak vaporization and shock waves below the threshold. At higher fluences, large droplets and vapor were observed as a result of phase explosion. The phase explosion process began shortly after the end of the laser pulse, consistent with existing estimates of homogeneous nucleation time lags in the research literature. Shock wave propagation was consistent with Taylor scaling below and above the phase explosion threshold. Keywords: phase explosion, nanosecond, laser ablation, micromachining, homogeneous nucleation
Magnetic Flux Penetration in Type-II Superconductors. I

Five magnetoresistance probes were used for mapping the magnetic field between matched pairs of superconducting plates oriented normal to an external magnetic field. All plates were 25\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}25 mm and their thicknesses varied from 0.23 to 0.79 mm. The separation between plates was 4.7 mm. In Nb-Zr and Lipowitz-alloy plates the field penetrated smoothly into the material; the mappings obtained at different external-field values consisted in symmetric contours conforming with the geometry of the plates. In ${\mathrm{Nb}}_{3}$Sn and Nb-Ti only flux jumps were observed; the magnetic contours were very irregular and randomly distributed after each flux jump. Using the five-probe arrangement, a study was made of the frequency and extension of the magnetic-field change during a flux jump. In this case, the external magnetic field varied at the constant rate $\frac{\mathrm{dH}}{\mathrm{dt}}=5.6$ G/sec within $H=0 \mathrm{to} 2500$ G. Only ${\mathrm{Nb}}_{3}$Sn plates were studied. A statistical analysis of the results demonstrated that at 4.2\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K only extensive jumps occurred in virgin samples for positive values of $\frac{\mathrm{dH}}{\mathrm{dt}}$. A distribution with a "tail," consisting of local jumps, was obtained after $\frac{\mathrm{dH}}{\mathrm{dt}}$ changed sign and in all successive nonvirgin runs. At 1.5\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K all distributions had the tail regardless of magnetic history and the sign of $\frac{\mathrm{dH}}{\mathrm{dt}}$. It is concluded that, as far as flux jumps are concerned, the reversal in the sign of $\frac{\mathrm{dH}}{\mathrm{dt}}$ produced (in the superconductor at 4.2\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K) a state which made it more susceptible to flux jumps. A state with similar susceptibility is obtained at 1.5\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K---in this case, it is presumably originated by thermal effects.
226Ra behavior in the Pee Dee River-Winyah Bay estuary

Abstract Concentrations of dissolved 226 Ra in Winyah Bay, South Carolina, and in the adjacent Atlantic Ocean are augmented by the desorption of radium from sediments in the low-salinity area of the estuary and diffusion from bottom sediments. Desorption of 226 Ra is reflected by lower concentrations in suspended sediments from higher-salinity regions of the estuary. Bottom sediments from the high-salinity region have lower 226 Ra/ 230 Th activity ratios than those from the low-salinity end. The shape of the dissolved 226 Ra vs. salinity profile is influenced by the river discharge. During average-discharge conditions, desorption of 226 Ra from suspended and bottom sediments increases the dissolved 226 Ra concentrations by a factor of 3.5 as the water passes through Winyah Bay. High river discharge produces an initial increase of dissolved 226 Ra by a factor of 2 to 3 and apparently reflects only desorption from suspended sediments. By driving the salt wedge down the estuary and reducing the zone of contact of salt water with bottom sediments, the high-flow conditions sharply reduce the flux of 226 Ra from bottom sediments.
Elementary Teachers Negotiating Discourses in Writing Instruction.

Using Ivanic’s (2004) framework, the study of 20 elementary teachers examines the relationships among teachers’ beliefs about writing, their instructional practices, and contextual factors. While t...
CubiST: a new algorithm for improving the performance of ad-hoc OLAP queries

Being able to efficiently answer arbitrary OLAP queries that aggregate along any combination of dimensions over numerical and categorical attributes has been a continued, major concern in data warehousing. In this paper, we introduce a new data structure, called Statistics Tree (ST), together with an efficient algorithm called CubiST, for evaluating ad-hoc OLAP queries on top of a relational data warehouse. We are focusing on a class of queries called cube queries, which generalize the data cube operator. CubiST represents a drastic departure from existing relational (ROLAP) and multi-dimensional (MOLAP) approaches in that it does not use the familiar view lattice to compute and materialize new views from existing views in some heuristic fashion. CubiST is the first OLAP algorithm that needs only one scan over the detailed data set and can efficiently answer any cube query without additional I/O when the ST fits into memory. We have implemented CubiST and our experiments have demonstrated significant improvements in performance and scalability over existing ROLAP/MOLAP approaches.
Bioturbation, inoceramid extinction, and mid-Maastrichtian ecological change

Notable among the biological changes of the middle part of the Maastrichtian Age was a major pulse of extinction among inoceramid bivalves. Analysis of the distribution of inoceramid shell fragments suggests that the population of burrowing organisms increased across the same stratigraphic interval that the bivalve population decreased. A global reorganization of ocean circulation that resulted in cooler, better oxygenated bottom waters is proposed as an explanation for the observed changes in the deep sea. Other observations regarding the mid-Maastrichtian are consistent with this hypothesis.
Pink Bollworm (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae): Oviposition and Larval Success on Resistant and Susceptible Cotton Plants

Oviposition and larval development of pink boll worm (PBW), Pectinophora Gossypiella (Saunders), on a breeding stock of upland cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L., designated AET-5, was compared to that on a commercial cultivar, ‘Deltapine 61’ (DPL-61), in greenhouse no-choice and free-choice tests, and in field free-choice tests. The field resistance of AET-5 was caused mainly by lower PBW oviposition. The early-flowering advantage of AET-5 was negated in the greenhouse experiments. In the field, AET-5 exhibited a modest level of internal-boll antibiosis, as shown by its lower ratio of insects per boll recovered for each PBW entrance hole. In the greenhouse, the ratio of entrance holes for every egg laid was lower on AET-5 than on DPL-61. The antibiosis, and the lower number of entrance holes per egg laid may be valuable in transferring AET-5’s resistance to improved breeding stocks. Cultivars that are early maturing and carry the other resistance factors would be valuable in short-season, narrow-row production systems because the need for insecticides would be reduced or eliminated. Of the total eggs per plant, 55% of AET-5 and 46% of DPL-61 were laid in clusters at the base of the stem or in the soil around the base of the stem. Mean percentages of eggs laid (above the stem base) on axillary branches, bolls, leaves, and all other plant parts combined (terminals, stems, squares, and flowers)were 41, 42, 13, and 4%, respectively, for AET-5; and 51, 36, 9, and 4%, respectively, for DPL- 61. The total number of eggs per plant was not significantly different on AET-5 than on DPL-61 in the greenhouse, but AET-5 had significantly fewer eggs per plant in the field.
Accelerating the photon mapping algorithm and its hardware implementation

Photon mapping is a popular technique for high-quality image rendering. Compared to other global illumination techniques, it has promising potential to be accelerated towards real-time. In this paper we study the possibility of using application-specific accelerators for two key operations used in photon mapping: a tree search operation and a shader operation. The accelerators are implemented with online arithmetic to maximize throughput, while still providing practical power and area costs. Results indicate that the accelerators can provide significantly better power consumption versus a parallel implementation, and the overall throughput can be 100× faster than a software-only single-threaded implementation before becoming limited by bandwidth.
The Three Prongs of a Jurisprudential Regimes Test: A Response to Kritzer and Richards

I n ‘‘Legal Constraints on Supreme Court Decision Making: Do Jurisprudential Regimes Exist?’’, we explored whether one can say that jurisprudential regime change occurred in Supreme Court decision making—whether key legal precedents led to changes in how justices voted. We found that the standard test, a Chow test of coefficient change, used in Kritzer and Richards’s research design, is strikingly overconfident in finding that a change has occurred in voting across cases before and after the precedent. Rather than making a Type-1 error of finding regime change when none exists 5% of the time, the test does so sometimes close to 100% of the time, even though the data has been randomly shuffled so that no systematic difference can exist between the before and after cases. We appreciate Kritzer and Richards’s openmindedness about our inquiry into their findings and are grateful for their thoughtful responses (now and while we worked on our original paper). We also appreciate the opportunity to clarify our findings, respond to their arguments (old and new), and to present supplemental results that answer, we hope, the questions they raised. Kritzer and Richards state that our paper focuses on only one of the three prongs of their argument, the significance test of regime change, whereas they now clarify that the second and third elements are actually of great (greater?) importance. They have also supplemented their findings with a more sophisticated test of regime change. We discuss each of these three components, including their new statistical evidence, below.