cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Synthesis of Amine and Epoxide Telechelic Siloxanes

A synthetic route was developed to prepare thermosetting methyl, cyclopentyl, and cyclohexyl substituted polysiloxanes with epoxide or amino end groups. Cycloalkene (cyclopentene or cyclohexene) and dichlorosilane gas were reacted at 180 °C, and at high pressure (2 MPa) to produce dicycloaliphatic dichlorosilane. Hydrolytic condensations of the dichlorosilanes were performed affording low molecular weight cyclic siloxane oligomers. Base catalyzed ring opening polymerization of the cyclic oligomers afforded the hydride-terminated polysiloxanes. The hydride-terminated polysiloxanes were then functionalized with glycidyl epoxide or aliphatic amine groups via hydrosilation reactions. The oligomers and polymers were characterized by 1 H NMR, 13 C NMR, 29 Si NMR, FTIR, and GPC. The molecular weight of polydimethylsiloxane, polydicyclopentylsiloxane, and polydicyclohexylsiloxane oligomers were Mn = 1000, 1200, and 1500, respectively. The polydispersity index of all the cyclic oligomers was ≈1.15. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used to evaluate the crosslinking reaction and the glass transition temperature of the thermally cured systems. Crosslinking occurred at 120°C and the Tg of the methyl, cyclopentyl, and cyclohexyl functionalized siloxanes were found to be at -104, -93, and -82 °C, respectively.
How to control the risk of MRSA infection

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection is a serious national and global problem. Linda Nazarko looks at the effects of MRSA and the ways in which care home workers can prevent its spread.
The effect of ocean tidal loading on satellite altimetry over Antarctica

Vertical displacements of emerged land caused by oceanic tidal loading are of the order of several tens of millimetres in polar regions. They constitute a long wavelength signal, the amplitude of which is comparable to elevation changes that might be associated with climate-driven changes in ice-sheet volume. Using bilinear interpolation on a 1" by 1" global grid, we examine the amplitudes and phases of vertical displacements caused at any given epoch by the eight most important ocean tide constituents of recent ocean tide models, extrapolated to high latitudes. This permits estimation of the oceanic tidal loading corrections to measurements made by a satellite altimeter along the satellite ground track. We have done so systematically over Antarctica, for a scenario flight of ICESAT, which carries the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS), whose primary science goal is to monitor ice-sheet mass balance. Ocean loading tide corrections near the coast of Antarctica can reach several centimetres; overall they average about 10 mm. Received 18 December 1998, accepted 27 November 1999
International Conference on Dublin Core and Metadata Applications 2004

Purpose – To provide an overview of the 2004 International Conference on Dublin Core and Metadata Applications held in Shanghai, China, in October 2004.Design/methodology/approach – Outlines the themes of the papers presented in the three plenary paper sessions: Metadata Frameworks, Metadata Users, and Managing & Harvesting Metadata.Findings – Found that one of the most prevailing topics at the conference was interoperability, being the key to ensure the accessibility and sustainability of any effective digital library.Originality/value – Provides a useful summary of a conference of interest to library and information management professionals.
Gene Expression Profiling of Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma with cDNA Microarrays

Several forms of human sarcoma, lymphoma, and leukemia are characterized by somatically acquired chromosome translocations that result in fusion genes that encode chimeric transcription factors with oncogenic properties. We have used cDNA microarrays containing 1238 cDNAs to investigate the gene expression profile of a group of seven alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma (ARMS) cell lines characterized by the presence of the PAX3-FKHR fusion gene. Using the method of multidimensional scaling to represent the relationships among the cell lines in two-dimensional Euclidean space, we determined that ARMS cells show a consistent pattern of gene expression, which allows the cells to be clustered together. By searching across the seven ARMS cell lines, we found that 37 of 1238 genes were most consistently expressed in ARMS relative to a reference cell line. Only three of these genes have been previously reported to be expressed in ARMS. Among these 37 were genes related to both primary (PAX3-FKHR) and secondary (CDK4) genetic alterations in ARMS. These results in ARMS demonstrate the potential of cDNA microarray technology to elucidate tumor-specific gene expression profiles in human cancers.
Predicting adsorption coefficients at air-water interfaces using universal solvation and surface area models

Vapor-phase molecules are adsorbed at air−water interfaces to a much greater extent than can be explained by air−water partition coefficients, indicating that interface adsorption can play an important role, and this can be very important for environmental phenomena. On the basis of a statistical thermodynamic analysis, we separate the observable free energy of adsorption into a dimensionality change and a coupling part so that the modeling effort is correctly focused on the coupling part. On the basis of this analysis, we present two kinds of models for predicting partitioning between the vapor phase and the macroscopic surface of liquid water. The first model, called SM5.0R-Surf, involves atomic surface tensions developed previously for bulk solvation in organic liquids and a set of four solvent descriptors that characterize the properties of the water layer at the air−water interface. The latter descriptors are treated as parameters that are determined empirically by optimization for a set of 85 solute...
Evaluation of coincidence plane definitions for improved volume resolution in PET

A new scheme for defining coincidence planes in PET has been investigated with the aim to improve the overall uniformity in volumetric spatial resolution. The axial resolution in high resolution PET systems rapidly degrades at off center positions, in particular in tangential direction. This resolution loss is caused by the addition of coincidence planes with relatively large ring differences to form a single detection plane. In this work, a different way of defining coincidence planes is evaluated to improve the overall spatial uniformity. This method only assigns all coincidence combinations that fall within a specified slice thickness to contribute to a specific plane. The method produces overlapping axial planes, which allows a particular coincidence plane combination to contribute to several axial planes. Measurements of a point source at the center and at 20 cm off center position showed a degradation in resolution from 4.6 to 12.4 mm FWHM, tangentially using the conventional plane definition (max ring difference of 8). Using the new plane definition scheme (max ring difference of 4), the resolution only degraded from 8.6 to 9.7 mm FWHM. This method should provide an improved resolution uniformity and image quality in particular for whole body PET.
Kinship Care and Public Child Welfare: Challenges and Opportunities for Social Work Education.

Abstract The growing practice of arranging and financing “foster placement” of abused and neglected children with relatives provides an opportunity to redefine relationships between extended families and the child welfare system. The dilemmas and possibilities presented by kinship care as a child welfare service challenge schools of social work to provide intellectual leadership and to prepare social workers for changing child welfare practice. The author's ideas concerning responses to this challenge focus on key mandates of the Council on Social Work Education's Curriculum Policy Statement and on five principal curriculum areas in social work education.
Performance comparison of generalized PSSM in in signal peptide cleavage site and disulfide bond recognition

We generalize the familiar position-specific score matrix (PSSM), aka weight matrix, by considering a log-odds score for (nonadjacent) k-tuple frequencies, each k-tuple score weighted by the product of its mutual information and its statistical significance, as measured by a point estimator for the p-value of the mutual information. Performance of this new approach, along with other variants of generalized PSSM and profile methods, is measured by receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves for the specific problem of signal peptide cleavage site recognition. We additionally compare Vert's recent support vector machine string kernel, Brown's joint probability approximation algorithm and the method WAM. Similar algorithm comparisons are made, though not as extensively, in the case of disulfide bond recognition. While in the case of signal peptide cleavage site recognition, the monoresidue PSSM is essentially competitive, within the limits of statistical significance, even against Vert's support vector machine kernel, diresidue and triresidue PSSM methods display improved performance over monoresidue PSSM for disulfide bond recognition.
Alignment of the Intended, Planned, and Enacted Curriculum in General and Special Education and Its Relation to Student Achievement

In this initial study, the authors examined the content of the planned and enacted eighth-grade mathematics curriculum for 18 general and special education teachers and the curricula’s alignment to state standards via the Surveys of the Enacted Curriculum. The relation between alignment and student achievement was analyzed for three formative assessments and the corresponding state test within a school year. Results indicated that alignment for the planned and enacted curriculum to state standards was low with no significant differences between general and special education teachers. Significant correlations between student achievement averages for 238 students and teacher alignment indices were equal to or greater than .48. When teacher groups were examined separately, the relation between alignment and achievement remained significant only for special education, with correlations equal to or greater than .75. The study’s conceptual and methodological framework provides a model for subsequent research on...
Estimating a mean matrix: boosting efficiency by multiple affine shrinkage

The unknown matrix M is the mean of the observed response matrix in a multivariate linear model with independent random errors. This paper constructs regularized estimators of M that dominate, in asymptotic risk, least squares fits to the model and to specified nested submodels. In the first construction, the response matrix is expressed as the sum of orthogonal components determined by the submodels; each component is replaced by an adaptive total least squares fit of possibly lower rank; and these fits are then summed. The second, lower risk, construction differs only in the second step: each orthogonal component is replaced by a modified Efron-Morris fit before summation. Singular value decompositions yield computable formulae for the estimators and their asymptotic and estimated risks. In the asymptotics, the row dimension of M tends to infinity while the column dimension remains fixed. Convergences are uniform when signal-to-noise ratio is bounded.
Characterization of Fiber/Matrix Interfaces by Transmission Electron Microscopy in Titanium Aluminide/Sic Composites

This paper presents examples of the use of transmission electron microscopy to characterize matrix/reinforcement interaction in titanium aluminide matrix composites reinforced with continuous SCS-6 type SiC. As a result of the high temperature required for consolidating this type composite, reaction products form in the interface. Using diffraction and x-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy techniques, reaction products in Ti 3 Al and Ti 2 AINb alloy matrix composites have been identified. TiC 1 –x and Ti 5 Si 3 compounds are common in these composites, with AlTi 3 C also present depending on consolidation temperature and matrix composition. Residual stress calculations indicate that these reaction products may be subject to cracking during cooling from consolidationtemperatures.
Echocardiographic correlate of presystolic pulmonary ejection sound in congenital valvular pulmonic stenosis.

Summary A presystolic ejection click was present in a patient with congenital valvular pulmonic stenosis. The coincidence of this sound with presystolic pulmonary valve opening was demonstrated by simultaneous phonoechocardiography. Hemodynamic confirmation of this observation was made by demonstrating presystolic crossover of RV-PA pressures. This sound was distinguished on phonocardiogram as a high frequency sound separate from a lower frequency presystolic (S4) gallop.
Depression and Marital Disagreement: The Social Construction of Despair

How do couples with and without a depressed spouse cope with conflict? Seven couples in which the husband was depressed, seven in which the wife was depressed and fourteen in which neither was depressed completed measures of marital adjustment and typical conflict behaviour. Following a laboratory discussion, they completed measures of their recall of their own and their spouse's participation and the impact of their spouses on them. Reports by depressed persons and their spouses agreed in indicating that they engaged in less constructive problem-solving and more destructive behaviour. After the discussion they were sad and angry and experienced each other as hostile, competitive, mistrusting, detached, less agreeable, less nurturant and less affiliative than couples without a depressed member. This study contradicts clinical folklore depicting depressed persons as lacking in outwardly-directed hostility.
Quantum Monte Carlo treatment of elastic exciton-exciton scattering

We calculate cross sections for low energy elastic exciton-exciton scattering within the effective mass approximation. Unlike previous theoretical approaches, we give a complete, nonperturbative treatment of the four-particle scattering problem. Diffusion Monte Carlo is used to calculate the essentially exact energies of scattering states, from which phase shifts are determined. For the case of equal-mass electrons and holes, which is equivalent to positroniumpositronium scattering, we find as = 2.1ax for scattering of singlet-excitons and as = 1.5ax for triplet-excitons, where ax is the excitonic radius. The spin dependence of the cross sections arises from the spatial exchange symmetry of the scattering wavefunctions. A significant triplet-triplet to singlet-singlet scattering process is found, which is similar to reported effects in recent experiments and theory for excitons in quantum wells. We also show that the scattering length can change sign and diverge for some values of the mass ratio mh/me, an effect not seen in previous perturbative treatments.
Some interesting aspects of N-oxides

N-oxides feature a coordinate covalent N+→O− bond, in which both electrons formally come from the nitrogen. Such compounds are important in organic and biological chemistry, and increasingly in the area of energetic materials. The N+→O− linkage has the interesting property that it can be either a donor or an acceptor of electronic charge through resonance delocalisation. It will be shown that the relative reactivities toward N-oxide formation of nonequivalent nitrogens in a given polyazine molecule can be predicted by computing the respective local ionisation energies. Charge delocalisation plays a reinforcing role. However, it can be used to rationalise the remarkable range of N+→O− bond lengths in polyazine N-oxides, as well as the opposite effects of NO2 and NH2 substituents. It is pointed out that, at least for some N-oxides, there are surprisingly large differences between the N+→O− bond lengths in the crystalline and the gas phases. While the approaches being used to explain and/or rationalise N-oxi...
A Preliminary Study of the Impact of Case Specificity on Computer-Based Assessment of Medical Student Clinical Performance

The implications of case specificity of two computer-based clinical simulation examination cases (CBX) were examined by a classical measurement approach and by a Bayesian analysis of test characteristics. The CBXs (a surgery and an ob/gyn case) were designed by the National Board of Medical Examiners and administered to 163 University of Michigan Medical School students. The results indicate that the students performed differently on the two cases, the surgery case appearing to be more difficult. The ob/gyn case had greater sensitivity (more accuracy in passing competent students), whereas the surgery case had greater specificity (more accuracy in failing noncompetent students). The differences between the cases and evidence of case specificity raise the issue of an exam's objective and the acceptable type of classification error These results suggest that additional studies are required before widespread use of such exams can be implemented in "high stakes" situations for licensure purposes.
Mass Spectrometric Characterization of Proteins Extracted from Jurkat T Cell Detergent-Resistant Membrane Domains

Plasma membranes of most cell types are thought to contain microdomains commonly referred to as lipid rafts, biochemically distinct from bulk plasma membrane and apparently enriched for proteins involved in signal transduction. In T cells, it is believed that lipid rafts aggregate at the site of T cell receptor engagement and act as foci for initiation of the signaling process. In order to gain insight into the possible functioning of lipid rafts, we applied microcapillary liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (μLC-ESI-MS/MS) methodologies to the identification of proteins which co-purified with lipid rafts. Following isolation of lipid rafts as Triton-insoluble, low-density membrane fractions from Jurkat T cells, tryptic digests were generated of electrophoretically-resolved, individual protein bands. Alternatively, avidin-affinity purification was used to isolate cysteine-containing peptides from total tryptic digests of unseparated lipid raft proteins following protein ...
Ensembles of AGCM Two-Tier Predictions and Simulations of the Circulation Anomalies during Winter 1997–98

The impact of sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies on the extratropical circulation during the El Nino winter of 1997-98 is studied through atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) integrations. The model's midlatitude response is found to be very robust, of the correct amplitude, and to have a fairly realistic spatial structure. The sensitivity of the results to different aspects of the anomalous distributions of SST is analyzed. It is found that the extratropical circulation in the North Pacific-North American sector is significantly different if SST anomalies over the Indian Ocean are included. Using a comparison of observed and simulated 200-hPa streamfunction anomalies, it is argued that the modeled midlatitude impact of Indian Ocean SST anomalies is largely realistic. However, while the local sensitivity of the atmosphere to small differences in SST anomalies in the tropical Pacific can be substantial, the remote sensitivity in midlatitudes is small. Consistently, there is little difference between the simulated extratropical circulation anomalies obtained using SSTs predicted by the National Centers for Environmental Prediction in October 1997 and those obtained using observed tropical Pacific SSTs. Neither is there any detectable atmospheric signal associated with SST anomalies over the North Pacific. Analyses of the results presented here suggest that the influence of SST anomalies in the Pacific and Indian Oceans during the selected ENSO event can be interpreted as the quasi-linear superposition of Rossby wave trains emanating from the subtropics of each ocean. An inspection of intraseasonal weather regimes suggests that the influence of tropical SST anomalies can also be described as a shift in the frequency of occurrence of the model's modes of intrinsic variability and a change in their amplitude. These findings suggest the potential utility of SST forecasts for the tropical Indian Ocean.
A brief manualized treatment for problematic caffeine use: A randomized control trial.

Objective The goal of the present investigation was to develop and test a brief therapist-guided manualized treatment for problematic caffeine use, including cognitive-behavioral strategies and 5 weeks of progressively decreased consumption. Method Individuals seeking treatment for problematic caffeine use (mean daily caffeine consumption of 666 mg at baseline) were randomized using a waitlist-control design to receive immediate treatment (N = 33) or delayed treatment (∼6 weeks later; N = 34). A 1-hr treatment session designed to help individuals quit or reduce caffeine consumption was provided by a trained counselor along with a take-home booklet. After the treatment session, participants completed daily diaries of caffeine consumption for 5 weeks. They returned for follow-up assessments at 6, 12, and 26 weeks and had a telephone interview at 52-weeks posttreatment. Results Treatment resulted in a significant reduction in self-reported caffeine use and salivary caffeine levels. No significant posttreatment increases in caffeine use were observed for up to 1 year follow-up. Comparisons to the waitlist-control condition revealed that reductions in caffeine consumption were due to treatment and not the passing of time, with a treatment effect size of R² = .35 for the model. Conclusion A brief 1-session manualized intervention with follow-up was efficacious at reducing caffeine consumption. Future researchers should replicate and extend these findings, as well as consider factors affecting dissemination of treatment for problematic caffeine use to those in need.
The archaeology of Dian: trends and tradition

The Dian culture of eastern Yunnan in southwest China is known particularly for its fine material culture. Much new work has been done to explore the militaristic Dian, and this paper provides an up-to-date discussion of its importance and its archaeology.
Environmental Conditions for Life

Living things, as we know them, do not exist on the sun or the moon, and scientists have not found proof that there are living things on the other planets of the solar system. Many places on the earth itself are inhospitable. What then are the environmental conditions which permit an organism to grow, reproduce, and start another generation?
Thermal Stress Analysis During the Czochralski Melt Growth of Optical Crystals

This paper presents a finite element method for studying Czochralski melt growth of optical crystals with an emphasis on thermal and stress analyses of axisymmetric problems. A heat transfer analysis is performed to determine the temperature distribution in the crystal. The heat transfer problem is solved with a mixed computational model including the hybrid finite/boundary element for electromagnetism, the Galerkin finite element method for transport equations, the Galerkin boundary element method for external surface energy exchanges and the discontinuous finite element method for internal radiation. The temperature results are directly input as loads to determine the stresses caused by the temperature loading. Thermal stress analyses of a Gadolinium gallium garnet (Gd3 Ga5 O12 ) crystal are performed in the cases of the [100] pulling direction. Then, we can evaluate the crystal quality based on the thermal stress analysis. Three real operating cases for Gadolinium gallium garnet crystal growth processes are studied with the method presented in this paper.© 2005 ASME
Immunotherapy of renal cell cancer: The efficacy and challenges

Adoptive transfer of tumor reactive lymphoid cells has been one of the effective immunotherapies for eradicating advanced tumor burdens. We reported a phase II trial where patients with stage IV renal cell cancer (RCC) were vaccinated with irradiated autologous tumor cells admixed with BCG to induce vaccine-primed lymph nodes (VPLN). Lymphoid cells harvested from VPLN were secondarily activated in vitro, and were subsequently infused intravenously into the patients along with the concomitant administration of IL-2. Among the 34 evaluable patients who completed an initial course of cell therapy, there were 9 responses (27%). Overall survival of responders was significantly prolonged compared to non-responders (p<0.001). While the administration of in vivo primed and in vitro activated VPLN cells and IL-2 resulted in durable tumor responses in patients with advanced renal cell cancer, further improvements in therapy are needed. The inability to target cancer stem cells (CSC) with current immune approaches may be a significant factor for treatment failures. We recently identified CSCenriched populations in two murine tumors (melanoma D5 and squamous cell cancer SCC7). Enriched cancer stem cells are immunogenic and significantly more effective as an antigen source compared with unselected tumor cells in inducing protective anti-tumor immunity. We found that selective targeting of cancer stem cells by CSC-primed antibodies and T cells represented the mechanisms involved in CSC vaccine-conferred anti-tumor immunity. Identifying and targeting cancer stem cells in renal cell cancer may lead to the development of more potent immunological approaches for therapy
The Indigo Merchant: Promoter of Central American Economic Development, 1750–1808

Just as the colonial trade created commercial elites in Spain, so, too, did businessmen rise to economic and social importance in the New World. In Central America, for example, the marketers of indigo played an especially significant role.
Rapidly Progressing Chagas Cardiomyopathy

Chagas disease, caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, can cause a potentially life-threatening cardiomyopathy in approximately 10-40% of afflicted individuals. The decline in cardiac function characteristically progresses over the course of many years. We report a case of Chagas disease in which the patient experienced an atypical rapid deterioration to severe cardiomyopathy over the course of 16 months. This case argues the need for increased routine surveillance for patients with confirmed T. cruzi infection, who are determined to be at high-risk for worsening cardiomyopathy.
Influence of Cultivar and Plant Age on European Corn Borer (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) Infestation in Snap Bean

Nineteen cultivars of snap bean and wax bean, Phaseolus vulgaris L., were uniformly infested with egg masses of European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis (Huibner). A 5-fold difference in number of tunnels was found on the various cultivars. Cultivars differed in whether pod injuries or stem injuries predominated. Pod tunneling was most common on ‘Gold Crop’ and ‘Pillsbury 516’ and least common on ‘Sungold.’ Varietal differences in susceptibility to stem tunneling varied with plant age at time of infestation. Larval survival appeared to increase with age of the host plant at the time of egg hatch. Adult moths confined on four cultivars showed no ovipositional preferences. Newly hatched larvae bored into stems within 4 days, but were not found in the pods in the first 10 days.
Epinephrine hypertensive effects before and after cocaine.

ConclusionThe responses to repeated identical doses of epinephrine in the same dog show marked variability. In general, cocaine does not sensitize the dog to the hypertensive effects of epinephrine injections. Neither do the doses of cocaine used, 2 and 5 mg7 kg, alter the level of the control blood pressure.
Stereospecific opiate binding in bovine adrenal medulla.

In this report we describe a population of high affinity, saturable, opiate binding sites in the adrenal medulla. These sites show the typical sensitivity to sodium ions characteristic of opiate binding sites found in brain tissue. No comparable high affinity sites were detectable in adrenal cortex.
New technique to completely isolate carotid sinus baroreceptor regions in rats.

We developed a method by which we can completely isolate the carotid sinus baroreceptor regions in the rat. The carotid sinus baroreceptor region is exposed and, with the use of extra-fine forceps,...
Critique and process: Signature pedagogies in the graphic design classroom:

Like many disciplines in design and the visual fine arts, critique is a signature pedagogy in the graphic design classroom. It serves as both a formative and summative assessment while also giving ...
Place-Based Initiatives to Improve Health in Disadvantaged Communities: Cross-Sector Characteristics and Networks of Local Actors in North Carolina

Objectives. To examine the leadership attributes and collaborative connections of local actors from the health sector and those outside the health sector in a major place-based health initiative.Methods. We used survey data from 340 individuals in 4 Healthy Places North Carolina counties from 2014 to assess the leadership attributes (awareness, attitudes, and capacity) and network connections of local actors by their organizational sector.Results. Respondents’ leadership attributes—scored on 5-point Likert scales—were similar across Healthy Places North Carolina counties. Although local actors reported high levels of awareness and collaboration around community health improvement, we found lower levels of capacity for connecting diversity, identifying barriers, and using resources in new ways to improve community health. Actors outside the health sector had generally lower levels of capacity than actors in the health sector. Those in the health sector exhibited the majority of network ties in their commun...
Team Training for Dynamic Cross-Functional Teams in Aviation Behavioral, Cognitive, and Performance Outcomes

Objective:This study evaluates the effectiveness of a training program designed to improve cross-functional coordination in airline operations.Background:Teamwork across professional specialization...
e-Print Archive: arXiv.org

ArXiv.org (formerly http://xxx.lanl.gov/) is an open access electronic preprints archive with over 1 million articles in Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Quantitative Biology, Quantitative F...
Romantic Love and Culture: Reviewing Past and Looking Forward

This chapter reviews the prior chapters on the concept of romantic love in comparison with other forms of love. It further takes a look at the connection between romantic love and sex as well as the implications and conceptualizations of romantic love throughout history and across numerous cultures. Most importantly, it stresses the importance of utilizing an interdisciplinary approach to studying and conceptualizing romantic love, and it recognizes the limitations of the prior research in order to advance the way scholars study this complex construct.
Normal Variations in Calvarial Contour, Irregular Ossification/Aeration, and Inward/Outward Projections/Protuberances

This subsection focuses on perceived abnormalities of osseous overgrowth or prominent protuberances that are within normal limits or are not atypical in certain age groups (e.g., benign hyperostosis frontalis in middle-aged females). This also includes perceived abnormalities of calvarial contour or multifocal irregularities in adults that may simulate disease. Many disease states that cause diffuse bony overgrowth are not covered here except as an occasional comparison case, since there can be a myriad causes/diseases for this appearance that range from malignant neoplastic (e.g., diffuse metastatic disease), benign (e.g., fibrous dysplasia), or metabolic (e.g., Paget disease or thalassemia).
Structure-Properties Relations: EBSD-Based Material-Sensitive Design

Automated EBSD, also known as Orientation Imaging Microscopy (OIM™) (Adams et al., 1993), provides data on those aspects of the internal structure of polycrystalline materials that are described by the idealized aggregate function G(x) (Bunge, 1998): $$ G(x) = \left\{ {\phi (x),g(x)} \right\} $$ where Φ(x) and g(x) denote the crystal phase and orientation at position x within the material. G(x), it should be noted, does not directly describe the geometrical character of grain boundaries or interfaces, except in the sense that upon examining a finite neighborhood about any selected point, lying sufficiently close to an interface, from G(x) one can recover the five-parameter macroscopic description of the interface. (For simplicity, the discussion here will concern single-phase polycrystals where Φ(x) is constant.)
Discussion of “Cyclic tests on high-quality undisturbed block samples of soft marine Norwegian clay”1

The article by Wichtmann et al. (2013) presents a comprehensive set of laboratory test data on the cyclic undrained shear strength of soft marine Norwegian Onsoy clay. The tests were performed on Specimen Quality Designation (SQD) B specimens (Andresen and Kolstad 1979; Terzaghi et al. 1996) cut from block samples taken by the Sherbrooke sampler (Lefebvre and Poulin 1979). This article is a valuable contribution because compared to data and interpretation for sands, undrained cyclic strength data for soft clays are rare (e.g., Andersen and Lauritzen 1988; Andersen et al. 1988). Furthermore, the previous Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI) tests on soft marine Norwegian Drammen clay were performed on specimens consolidated to the compression range beyond the pre-consolidation pressure, p ′ , whereas the tests on Onsoy clay have been performed using high-quality specimens subjected to the in situ effective stress condition ( ho ′ , vo ′ ) before undrained shear. A meaningful impression of undrained shear strength behavior of soft clay deposits is obtained by normalizing undrained shear strength with respect to pre-consolidation pressure as both su and p ′ represent points on the yield envelope (Skempton 1948; Mesri 1975; Mesri and Huvaj 2007). The cyclic undrained shear strengths of sands have been commonly normalized with respect to effective overburden pressure, vo ′ , because it is not readily possible to determine pre-consolidation pressure of sand deposits. This discussion concerns cyclic triaxial shear data on specimens cut from samples taken in the depth range of 10.50 to 11.37 m, and consolidated before undrained shear to the in situ effective stress condition. The Onsoy clay samples had a pore-water salt content of 32.5 g/L, natural water content of 63% to 65%, liquid limit of 63%, and plasticity index of 33% to 34% (Lunne et al. 2006). At the depth range of the samples, the end-of-primary (EOP) pre-consolidation pressure, p ′ , corresponds to p ′ / vo ′ 1.4 (note that I reduced values of p ′ from the constant rate of strain (CRS) tests by a factor of 0.912 because the imposed strain rates, I, in the NGI tests were about 10 times the EOP strain rate, p (Mesri et al. 1994)). The in situ values of Ko = ho ′ / vo ′ can be determined according to the following empirical equations (Mesri and Hayat 1993),
A quality study of family-centered care coordination to improve care for children undergoing tracheostomy and the quality of life for their caregivers

Abstract Importance Approximately 4000 U.S. children undergo tracheostomy yearly [1], and these surgeries often result in hospital re-admissions that have definite cost and caregiver burdens due to complications that are avoidable with proper training and support. Objective To assess the impact of a Family-Centered Care Coordination (FCCC) program on the quality of care received by children undergoing tracheostomy and their caregivers. Design Caregivers of children undergoing tracheostomies from January 2012 to January 2013 and then a different set of caregivers of children undergoing tracheostomies from January 2015 to January 2016 completed both the Pediatric Tracheostomy Health Status Instrument (PTHSI) 1 month after discharge and the Medical Complications Associated with Pediatric Tracheostomy (MCAT) questionnaire 6 months after initial tracheostomy. To assess complication rates, these same sets of caregivers were asked to complete the MCAT and only those who provided complete medical data for all 6 months were included for comparative analysis. Setting The PTHSI and MCAT were administered at Massachusetts Eye and Ear in a hospital setting. Participants Ten caregivers of children undergoing tracheostomies completed the PTHSI before FCCC program implementation and12 caregivers then completed the PTHSI after FCCC implementation. For each of the 2 groups, 5 caregivers provided complete data on the MCAT questionnaires. Exposures FCCC is a collection of programs, policies, and tools designed to ensure safe transition home for children undergoing tracheostomies, reduce re-admission rates, and minimize “caregiver burden”. Main outcomes and measures The PTHSI is a validated caregiver quality of life instrument that was supplemented by the MCAT which records post-discharge medical issues following tracheostomy that relate specifically to the tracheotomy placement. Results The time to first follow-up appointment decreased from 6.4 weeks (SD = 1.52) to 6 days (SD = 0.18) with FCCC implementation. The total MCAT scores decreased from 15.2 (SD = 1.1) to 1.3 (SD = 1.3) (Wilcoxon sum rank test: P Conclusions and Relevance: By reducing the time to first follow-up after tracheostomy and by optimizing caregiver tracheostomy tube care and teaching, children's quality of care and caregiver burden can be significantly improved.
Ab Initio Studies of the Diffusion of Intrinsic Defects and Silicon Dopants in Bulk InAs.

We expose the predominant diffusional pathways for In and As in InAs, as well as dopant Si atoms in InAs, using Nudged Elastic Band calculations in conjunction with accurate Density Functional Theory calculations of the energy of defective systems. Our results show that As is a very fast diffuser compared to In and Si for both vacancy-assisted and interstitially mediated mechanisms. Larger indium atoms, on the other hand, are very slow diffusers and strongly prefer to remain on the In sublattice. Silicon also prefers to stay in substitutional sites in the In sublattice, in agreement with the fact that Si is used to create n-doped InAs. We find that the mechanism by which Si diffuses within the InAs lattice is very unlikely to proceed via vacancy-assisted jumps, since these routes encounter energy barriers above 2 eV. In contrast, silicon can readily make interstitial jumps since they occur with energy barriers as small as 0.23 eV. This suggests that an interstitial diffusion mechanism is strongly preferre...
Modeling surfaces from volume data using nonparallel contours

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) scanners have long been used to produce three-dimensional samplings of anatomy elements for use in medical visualization and analysis. From such datasets, physicians often need to construct surfaces representing anatomical shapes in order to conduct treatment, such as irradiating a tumor. Traditionally, this is done through a time-consuming and error-prone process in which an experienced scientist or physician marks a series of parallel contours that outline the structures of interest. Recent advances in surface reconstruction algorithms have led to methods for reconstructing surfaces from nonparallel contours that could greatly reduce the manual component of this process. Despite these technological advances, the segmentation process has remained unchanged. This dissertation takes the first steps toward bridging the gap between the new surface reconstruction technologies and bringing those methods to use in clinical practice. We develop VolumeViewer, a novel interface for modeling surfaces from volume data by allowing the user to sketch contours on arbitrarily oriented cross-sections of the volume. We design the algorithms necessary to support nonparallel contouring, and we evaluate the system with medical professionals using actual patient data. In this way, we begin to understand how nonparallel contouring can aid the segmentation process and expose the challenges associated with a nonparallel contouring system in practice.
Mining High-Complexity Motifs in Glycans: A New Language To Uncover the Fine Specificities of Lectins and Glycosidases

Knowledge of lectin and glycosidase specificities is fundamental to the study of glycobiology. The primary specificities of such molecules can be uncovered using well-established tools, but the complex details of their specificities are difficult to determine and describe. Here we present a language and algorithm for the analysis and description of glycan motifs with high complexity. The language uses human-readable notation and wildcards, modifiers, and logical operators to define motifs of nearly any complexity. By applying the syntax to the analysis of glycan-array data, we found that the lectin AAL had higher binding where fucose groups are displayed on separate branches. The lectin SNA showed gradations in binding based on the length of the extension displaying sialic acid and on characteristics of the opposing branches. A new algorithm to evaluate changes in lectin binding upon treatment with exoglycosidases identified the primary specificities and potential fine specificities of an α1-2-fucosidase and an α2-3,6,8-neuraminidase. The fucosidase had significantly lower action where sialic acid neighbors the fucose, and the neuraminidase showed statistically lower action where α1-2 fucose neighbors the sialic acid or is on the opposing branch. The complex features identified here would have been inaccessible to analysis using previous methods. The new language and algorithms promise to facilitate the precise determination and description of lectin and glycosidase specificities.
Wavelength and Temperature-Dependent Apparent Quantum Yields for Photochemical Production of Carbonyl Compounds in the North Pacific Ocean

Photolysis of dissolved organic matter is the main source of carbonyl compounds in sunlit seawater, but rates and photoefficiences are poorly constrained. Wavelength- and temperature-dependent apparent quantum yields (AQY) were determined for photochemical production of acetaldehyde, glyoxal and methylglyoxal in North Pacific Ocean seawater. Wavelength-dependent AQY at 20 ˚C decreased exponentially with increasing wavelength between 290 and 380 nm, from 1.29 × 10sup> -4sup> to 4.12 × 10sup> -6sup> , 2.52 × 10sup> -5sup> to 6.89 × 10sup> -7sup> , and 3.56 × 10sup> -6sup> to 1.02 × 10sup> -7sup> mol (mol quanta)sup> -1sup> for acetaldehyde, glyoxal, and methylglyoxal, respectively. AQY decreased after 6 h irradiation at 310 nm, possibly due to depletion of photochemical precursors or carbonyl photolysis. Activation energies (average±95% CI) for photochemical production at 320 nm were 9.31 (±9.3), 26.0 (±7.5), and 34.7 (±12.8) kJ mols...
Predicting the Suitability of Service Animals Using Instrumented Dog Toys

Working dogs1 are significantly beneficial to society; however, a substantial number of dogs are released from time consuming and expensive training programs because of unsuitability in behavior. Early prediction of successful service dog placement could save time, resources, and funding. Our research focus is to explore whether aspects of canine temperament can be detected from interactions with sensors, and to develop classifiers that correlate sensor data to predict the success (or failure) of assistance dogs in advanced training. In a 2-year longitudinal study, our team tested a cohort of dogs entering advanced training in the Canine Companions for Independence (CCI) Program with 2 instrumented dog toys: a silicone ball and a silicone tug sensor. We then create a logistic model tree classifier to predict service dog success using only 5 features derived from dog-toy interactions. During randomized 10-fold cross validation where 4 of the 40 dogs were kept in an independent test set for each fold, our classifier predicts the dogs' outcomes with 87.5% average accuracy. We assess the reliability of our model by performing the testing routine 10 times over 1.5 years for a single suitable working dog, which predicts that the dog would pass each time. We calculate the resource benefit of identifying dogs who will fail early in their training, and the value for a cohort of 40 dogs using our toys and our methods for prediction is over $70,000. With CCI's 6 training centers, annual savings could be upwards of $5 million per year.
Blood Ethanol Levels Are Not Related to Coagulation Changes, as Measured by Thromboelastography, in Traumatic Brain Injury Patients

Background Brain injury is a leading cause of death and disability in trauma patients. Ethanol (EtOH) use near the time of injury may contribute to worse outcomes in these patients by exacerbating coagulopathy. There are limited data regarding the effects of EtOH on coagulation and progression of traumatic intracranial hemorrhage (TICH). Methods We performed a retrospective analysis of a prospective observational study of 168 trauma patients with TBI at an urban level 1 trauma center. Thromboelastography (TEG) was performed on admission and over the subsequent 48 hours. Demographic, physiologic, and outcomes data were collected. Computed tomography imaging of the head performed within the first 48 hours of admission was analyzed for progression of TICH. Results Thirty-six percent of patients (n = 61) had positive blood EtOH on admission (median EtOH level = 198 mg/dL [range, 16–376 mg/dL]). EtOH-positive patients were less severely injured than EtOH-negative patients (P = 0.01). Other admission demographic and physiologic variables were similar between groups. There were no significant differences in TEG values between EtOH-positive and EtOH-negative patients on admission or during the subsequent 48 hours. There were no differences in radiographic progression of hemorrhage, the need for neurosurgical procedure, or mortality between EtOH-positive and EtOH-negative patients. Conclusions EtOH use near the time of traumatic injury was not associated with alterations in coagulation, as measured by traditional coagulation tests or by TEG, in patients with TICH. Furthermore, a positive blood alcohol at admission was not associated with increased mortality or need for neurosurgical procedure these patients.
A new elliptic cryptographic algorithm

A new cryptographic algorithm is presented in this research paper. This algorithm is based on operations defined on the circumference of an ellipse of arbitrary radii a, b and arbitrary center, modulo an arbitrary prime number large enough that the code cannot be broken within a reasonable amount of time. The operations around the ellipse provide phase angle modulation while modulo arithmetic with respect to the chosen prime number provides integer modulation. The phase modulation used in this algorithm is not the same as the phasemodulation transmission system for quantum cryptography which was published in Physics journals. The algorithm has only one zero point where the elliptic curve algorithm has many. Encryption-decryption using this algorithm is straight forward, because integer points not in the group can be used. The algorithm has similar security to RSA.