cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Prime+abort: a timer-free high-precision L3 cache attack using intel TSX

Last-Level Cache (LLC) attacks typically exploit timing side channels in hardware, and thus rely heavily on timers for their operation. Many proposed defenses against such side-channel attacks capitalize on this reliance. This paper presents PRIME+ABORT, a new cache attack which bypasses these defenses by not depending on timers for its function. Instead of a timing side channel, PRIME+ABORT leverages the Intel TSX hardware widely available in both server- and consumer-grade processors. This work shows that PRIME+ABORT is not only invulnerable to important classes of defenses, it also outperforms state-of-the-art LLC PRIME+PROBE attacks in both accuracy and efficiency, having a maximum detection speed (in events per second) 3× higher than LLC PRIME+PROBE on Intel's Skylake architecture while producing fewer false positives.
Singular value decomposition-based noise equalization for ultrafast plane wave microvessel imaging

Ultrafast plane wave microvessel imaging significantly improves ultrasound Doppler sensitivity. The rich spatiotemporal plane wave data enables robust clutter filtering based on singular value decomposition (SVD). However, due to the lack of transmit focusing, plane wave microvessel imaging is very susceptible to noise. The mid-to-deep region of the microvessel image is typically saturated by noise, hampering the visibility of microvessels. This study was designed to: 1) study the fundamental relationship between ultrasound system noise and microvessel signal; 2) propose an adaptive and computationally cost-effective noise equalization method derived from the SVD clutter filtering process to improve microvessel image quality.
Cardiopulmonary coupling spectrogram as an ambulatory clinical biomarker of sleep stability and quality in health, sleep apnea, and insomnia

Study objectives Ambulatory tracking of sleep and sleep pathology is rapidly increasing with the introduction of wearable devices. The objective of this study was to evaluate a wearable device which used novel computational analysis of the electrocardiogram (ECG), collected over multiple nights, as a method to track the dynamics of sleep quality in health and disease. Methods This study used the ECG as a primary signal, a wearable device, the M1, and an analysis of cardiopulmonary coupling to estimate sleep quality. The M1 measures trunk movements, the ECG, body position, and snoring vibrations. Data from three groups of patients were analyzed: healthy participants and people with sleep apnea and insomnia, obtained from multiple nights of recording. Analysis focused on summary measures and night-to-night variability, specifically the intraclass coefficient. Results Data were collected from 10 healthy participants, 18 people with positive pressure-treated sleep apnea, and 20 people with insomnia, 128, 65, and 121 nights, respectively. In any participant, all nights were consecutive. High-frequency coupling (HFC), the signal biomarker of stable breathing and stable sleep, showed high intraclass coefficients (ICCs) in healthy participants and people with sleep apnea (0.83, 0.89), but only 0.66 in people with insomnia. The only statistically significant difference between weekday and weekend in healthy subjects was HFC duration: 242.8 ± 53.8 vs. 275.8 ± 57.1 minutes (89 vs. 39 total nights), F(1,126) = 9.86, p = .002. Conclusions The M1 and similar wearable devices provide new opportunities to measure sleep in dynamic ways not possible before. These measurements can yield new biological insights and aid clinical management.
Depression and quality of life in a community-based glaucoma-screening project.

Abstract Objective To identify the prevalence and risk factors of depression among individuals given a glaucoma-related diagnosis at a screening program. Design Cross-sectional community-based in a university hospital. Participants Volunteers from a community glaucoma-screening program. Methods After collecting sociodemographic information, participants were administered the Geriatric Depression Scale-15 (GDS-15) and the National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire-25 (NEI-VFQ-25). Results Participants were predominantly African American (73.5%), older than 65 years (65.7%), single (75.4%), and female (66.8%). Among 268 participants, 89 were diagnosed with glaucoma and 179 as glaucoma suspects. The frequency of depression among the glaucoma and glaucoma suspect participants was 18% and 16.2%, respectively. The mean GDS-15 score was 2.4 ± 2.7 with no difference between glaucoma and glaucoma suspect groups, p = 0.654. The mean VFQ-25 score was 78.6 ± 15.9 and was lower in glaucoma (74.7 ± 19.7) than glaucoma suspect participants (80.4 ± 13.6), p = 0.003. Risk factors for depression included difficulties with paying expenses (p = 0.017), Asian race (p Conclusions Prevalence of depression in those diagnosed with glaucoma or glaucoma suspect was higher than previous estimates of the general population. Glaucoma-screening programs might benefit from including depression-screening protocols along with referral services or low-cost treatments of depression.
Islam and Nazi Germany’s war

David Motadel’s volume on the Nazi wartime effort to engage Muslim populations in Europe, North Africa, and Central Asia is an important contribution to the scholarship of World War II. Motadel has...
Marijuana Use by Adolescents and Young Adults with Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Objective To evaluate marijuana use by adolescents and young adults with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Study design This descriptive cross-sectional study of patients seen between December 2015 through June 2017 at Children's Hospital Colorado for IBD enrolled patients 13-23 years of age, independent of marijuana use status. Information obtained consisted of chart review, electronic and interview self-report, and serum cannabinoid levels. Marijuana ever-users were compared with never-users for clinical characteristics and perceptions of risk with use; users provided information on routes, patterns, motivations, and perceived benefits and problems with use. Results Of 99 participants, ever-use was endorsed by 32% (32 of 99) and daily or almost daily use by 9% (9 of 99). Older age was the only characteristic related to endorsing marijuana use. Twenty-nine ever-users completed all questionnaires. After adjusting for age, users were 10.7 times more likely to perceive low risk of harm with regular use (P Conclusions Marijuana use by adolescents and young adults with IBD is common and perceived as beneficial. Guidelines for screening, testing, and counseling of marijuana use should be developed for patients with IBD.
A Review of Transcriptome Analysis in Pulmonary Vascular Diseases

Transcriptome analysis is a powerful tool in the study of pulmonary vascular disease and pulmonary hypertension. Pulmonary hypertension is a disease process that consists of several unique pathologies sharing a common clinical definition, that of elevated pressure within the pulmonary circulation. As such, it has become increasingly important to identify both similarities and differences among the different classes of pulmonary hypertension. Transcriptome analysis has been an invaluable tool both in the basic science research on animal models as well as clinical research among the various different groups of pulmonary hypertension. This work has identified new potential candidate genes, implicated numerous biochemical and molecular pathways in diseased onset and progression, developed gene signatures to appropriately classify types of pulmonary hypertension and severity of illness, and identified novel gene mutations leading to hereditary forms of the disease.
Resources and Transactions in the Organization’s Underworld: Exchange Content and Consequences

Dan Chiaburu, Zinta Byrne, and Janet Weidert argue that even though social resource theory has been used as a framework to increase our understanding of employee-organization exchanges, it has been applied mostly to the realm of explicit and transparent transactions. In this chapter, they examine whether the two dimensions of particularism and concreteness and whether discrete resource classes (i.e., status and information) are useful to explore transactions taking place in the so-called underworld of the organization, that is, instances when employees are likely to use unauthorized means, or obtain unauthorized ends, in their transactions with their organization. Via qualitative data analyses of interviews, the authors mapped the realm of resources and transactions in the organization’s underworld and examined their possible consequences. The chapter offers novel ways to think about organizational resources, in addition to highlighting the “underlife” of organizational transactions, a dimension typically left unexamined in organizational behavior research.
A network approach to web 2.0 social influence: the influentials, word-of-mouth (wom) effect, and the emergence of social network on facebook

Social Network Sites (SNS), the most prevalent Web 2.0 service, blossom with interpersonal sharing practices. A culture of sharing and the subsequent production of abundant social information are driven by the visibility of digital networked-ness. Social information embedded in digital social networks influences the shaping of our attitudes, thoughts, and online behaviors. Marketers and campaigners have been taking advantage of SNS's social information for various instrumental goals. Based on a cyber-field behavioral experiment on Facebook, this dissertation attempts to theorize underlying mechanisms of the SNS social influence process and analyze the ensuing formation of a collective communication structure. This dissertation particularly emphasizes the social network effects on the influence outcome. Multilevel-perspectives are employed to analyze the dynamics of Facebook's social network influence. The findings are summarized as follows. First, an individual-level examination was performed. Particularly, personal influence on mobilizing others' online behaviors was explored. The results found that the influentials in SNS were characterized as not only having a leader-like personality, but also being digitally connected to a diverse and large number of social contacts through participation in multiple virtual group activities and maintenance of heterogeneous personal networks. The findings of this project support the concept that the personal influence on Facebook should be understood as normative rather than informational. Second, structural social influence has been theorized based on three sub-mechanisms: Direct recommendation, social contagion, and network embeddedness. The study found the following: (a) message compliance was stronger when individuals were exposed to multiple direct contacts; (b) Facebook displayed the effect of indirect exposure to others' behaviors, not just the effect of direct recommendation; in other words, it has a social contagion effect; and (c) While network embeddedness did not directly affect an individual's online behavior, this positional property acted as a moderator for direct recommendation and social contagion effects. Lastly, a macro-structural analysis was conducted to explore the properties of communication systems that emerged through social influence processing. The community structure strategically formed by this field experiment was examined based on the three well-known network topologies—scale-free, small-world, and centralization, finding the emerged community was characterized as scale-free and small-world like and weakly centralized. The implications of having such structural properties on the effectiveness of communication system are discussed.
Structural Basis for Endothelial Cell Function: Role of Calcium, Polyphosphoinositide Turnover and G-Proteins

In 1980 it was shown that the vasodilator effect of acetylcholine on the aorta was dependent on an intact endothelium (Furchgott and Zawadski, 1980), later the requirement for intact endothelium was demonstrated for other vasodilator agents, such as bradykinin, ATP, thrombin, and histamine (Furchgott, 1984). In response to these agonists, endothelial cells secrete prostacyclin (PGI2) and endothelium-derived relaxing factor (EDRF) (Furchgott, 1984; Ryan et al., 1988b; Johns et al., 1987; Moncada and Vane, 1978; McIntyre et al., 1985). The latter is closely related to nitric oxide, which has been reported to account for many of its effects (Palmer et al., 1987). Both PGI2, and EDRF cause relaxation of vascular smooth muscle cells and have anti-aggregatory effects on platelets (Furchgott, 1984; Moncada and Vane, 1978; Murray et al., 1986). Some of the same agonists also elicit release of platelet activating factor (PAF) from endothelial cells (Mclntyre et al., 1985), a substance with pro-aggregatory and constrictor actions.
Animal Disease Information and Prevention Materials Developed by the Center for Food Security and Public Health

The Center for Food Security and Public Health (CFSPH) has created a comprehensive set of PowerPoints, technical fact sheets, and annotated disease images on important foreign, exotic and emerging diseases. Educational information on zoonotic diseases is also available and is delivered in easy to read fact sheets designed for a general public audience. In addition, the CFSPH has developed information on biological risk management for beef and dairy farmers and ranchers and biological risk management materials for veterinarians to use to enhance disease prevention on beef, dairy or equine facilities, and in the veterinary clinic. All of this information is available on the CFSPH website at www.cfsph.iastate.edu.
Abstract 2128: Autocrine fibronectin inhibits breast cancer metastasis

The processes of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET) are strongly linked to breast cancer metastasis via their ability to generate cells of increased invasive capacity and enhanced tumor-initiating phenotypes. Numerous growth factors, cytokines and chemotherapies present in the tumor microenvironment are capable of inducing EMT, but the role of extracellular matrix (ECM) components in this process remains less well understood. Analysis of the METABRIC dataset strongly linked high-level FN expression to decreased patient survival. However, in vitro analysis of the MCF-10A progression series indicated that autocrine FN expression was associated with nonmetastatic cells. Therefore, we utilized differential bioluminescent imaging to track the metastasis of these isogenic epithelial and mesenchymal cells within heterogeneous primary tumors. Using this approach, we demonstrate that tumor cells expressing autocrine FN display a constitutively mesenchymal phenotype and are incapable of completing the metastatic process, even when grown within a tumor containing epithelial tumor cells. Importantly, depletion of FN allows tumor cells to exit their mesenchymal state, regain epithelial characteristics and initiate tumor growth in a metastatic microenvironment. Using a tessellated three-dimensional polymer scaffolding, we show that depletion of FN or pharmacologic inhibition of focal adhesion kinase prevents mesenchymal tumor cells from producing structural fibrils and thus supporting the growth and migration of metastatic-competent epithelial tumor cells. Finally, dynamic FN coating of this 3D growth scaffold resulted in formation of a functionalized fibrillar FN network that was sufficient to induce transient EMT events as metastatic cells migrated along FN fibrils. Taken together, our data indicate that autocrine expression of FN by tumor cells supports a stable mesenchymal phenotype limiting their metastatic potential. Instead, this tumor cell-derived production of fibrillar FN acts in a paracrine fashion to support transient EMT events in metastatic competent cells within a heterogeneous tumor microenvironment. Citation Format: Aparna Shinde, Ammara Abdullah, Luis Solorio, Michael Wendt. Autocrine fibronectin inhibits breast cancer metastasis [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 2128.
Chapter 20 – Conclusion

This book has provided a detailed treatment of commonsense reasoning and a guide to automating commonsense reasoning using predicate logic and the event calculus. We have described general methods that can be applied to a wide range of commonsense reasoning problems. We summarize what has been accomplished and discuss where this work is leading.
Self-Ranging Thumb-sized Multichannel Electrochemical Instrument for Global Wearable Point-of-Care Sensing

This paper presents a self-ranging, multichannel, multi-technique electrochemical instrument with the size, power, and performance suitable for wearable applications, such as point-of-care sensing. It comprises a custom analog interface and a commercial low-power microcontroller and hosts two independent readout channels that are capable of dynamically adjusting to a wide range of input currents exhibited by various electrochemical sensors. To evaluate its functionality and versatility, the system was tested with multiple sensors using multiple electrochemical methods and was benchmarked against two commercial electrochemical instruments. While occupying only 8.5 cm3 and consuming an average active power of 250 mW, the instrument provides nearly 10-bit accuracy over a 115 dB dynamic operational range and matches benchtop instrument results within 1.8%, demonstrating its capability to serve as a universal wearable electrochemical instrument.
Metabolic/Bariatric Surgery Worldwide 2008

Periodically, the state of bariatric surgery worldwide should be assessed; the most recent prior evaluation was in 2003. An email survey was sent to the leadership of the 36 International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders nations or national groupings, as well as Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Responses were tabulated; calculation of relative prevalence of specific procedures was done by weighted averages. Out of a potential 39, 36 nations or national groupings responded. In 2008, 344,221 bariatric surgery operations were performed by 4,680 bariatric surgeons; 220,000 of these operations were performed in USA/Canada by 1,625 surgeons. The most commonlyperformed procedures were laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (AGB; 42.3%), laparoscopic standard Roux-Y gastric bypass (RYGB; 39.7%), and total sleeve gastrectomies 4.5%. Over 90% of procedures were performed laparoscopically. Comparing the 5-year trend from 2003 to 2008, all categories of procedures, with the exception of biliopancreatic diversion/duodenal switch, increased in absolute numbers performed. However, the relative percent of all RYGBs decreased from 65.1% to 49.0%; whereas, AGB increased from 24.4% to 42.3%. Markedly, different trends were found for Europe and USA/Canada: in Europe, AGB decreased from 63.7% to 43.2% and RYGB increased from 11.1% to 39.0%; whereas, in USA/Canada, AGB increased from 9.0% to 44.0% and RYGB decreased from 85.0% to 51.0%. The absolute growth rate of bariatric surgery decreased over the past 5 years (135% increase), in comparison to the preceding 5 years (266% increase). Bariatric surgery continues to grow worldwide, but less so than in the past. The types of procedures are in flux; trends in Europe vs USA/Canada are diametrically opposed.
The Ethics of Insider Trading Reform

Vagueness in the law renders the insider trading enforcement regime in the United States unjust and irrational. One way to improve the current regime from the standpoint of justice and efficiency would be to recognize an express safe harbor for issuer-licensed insider trading. It is anticipated that any such move toward liberalization would meet political and cultural resistance on the premise that all insider trading (even if it is licensed by the issuer and economically efficient) is morally wrong. The goal of this paper is to clear the path to liberalization by answering such objections to reform in the ethical terms in which they are expressed.
Upper limb sensorimotor restoration through brain–computer interface technology in tetraparesis

Abstract For individuals with spinal cord injury, brain–computer interface (BCI) technology offers a means to restore lost sensorimotor function by bridging disrupted neural pathways to reanimate paralyzed limbs. Restoring hand function is a high priority of those with tetraparesis because of the impact that manual dexterity has on independence and quality of life. However, to be useful in daily life, BCI systems need to deliver naturalistic and functional grasp speed, force, and dexterity. In clinical trials, individuals with paralysis have achieved the most dexterous control of grasp using either robotic neuroprosthetics or neuromuscular stimulation orthotics controlled by intracortical BCI systems. Next steps are in progress, with the development of portable components and decoding algorithm optimization to simplify setup and calibration.
Abstract 766: SGLT-Mediated Na + Overload Results in Oxidative Stress and Abnormal SR Ca 2+ Release in Diabetic Hearts

Intracellular Na+ concentration ([Na+]i) regulates Ca2+ cycling, oxidative state and electrical stability of the heart. [Na+]i is linked to glucose uptake through the Na+-glucose cotransporter (SGL...
Not all labels develop equally: The role of labels in guiding attention to dimensions.

Abstract The emergence of cognitive flexibility is a central aspect of cognitive development during early childhood. Cognitive flexibility is often probed using verbal rules to instruct behavior. In this study, the types of labels that were provided during instruction were manipulated. In one condition, children were instructed in the standard manner with dimensional labels (e.g., “shape”) and featural labels (e.g., “star”). In a second condition, children were provided only with dimensional labels. When switching to color, 4-year-olds performed equally well regardless of the type of instruction. However, when switching to shape, children perseverated at a significantly higher rate when only dimensional labels were provided. These results suggest that children’s understanding of labels is a critical aspect of developing cognitive flexibility and that their understanding of the labels “shape” and “color” are different.
Management of an Infant with Hemophilia A

Hemophilia A is the most common X-linked bleeding disorder, occurring in approximately 1 in 5000 males across all races and ethnicities. A congenital deficiency or absence of coagulation factor VIII leaves these patients prone to excessive and prolonged bleeding, especially joint and muscle hemorrhages as well as postsurgical, oral, and soft tissue bleeding. Recurrent bleeding into joints leads to chronic arthropathy. Replacement of the deficient factor VIII with plasma-derived or recombinant factor concentrates is the cornerstone of management. Dosing and frequency are determined by the desired plasma factor level, clinical response, and product characteristics.
An Exploratory Look at the Growth and Success of Crowdfunding in the Public Space

The digital age has changed the way we consume information and left organizations struggling to adapt to new technologies and information exchange mechanisms. Civic crowdfunding is one such new tec...
#sponsored: Consumer insights on social media influencer marketing:

Through in-depth interviews with 15 women in the United States, this pilot study contributes to filling the gap in scholarship on consumer perceptions of sponsored content posted by social media in...
Blood writing as extraordinary artifact and agent for socioreligious change

This paper explores blood written texts, particularly Buddhist scriptures, as unique artifacts of sanctity. It also examines the extraordinary uses of blood in premodern times and how people have negotiated socioreligious relationships in their production of blood writings, which were seen as a product of meticulous, controlled ritual practice, an act of asceticism par excellence. We typically think of written text as a means to an end, an expression of ideas and knowledge that privilege the written word as the carrier of message, something to be read and understood. However, Buddhist “blood writing” challenges these received notions of how meaning is communicated; blood writings are far more than carriers of a message. When we view these documents, when we experience their material presence and, at the same time, understand their extraordinary mode of production, we have a unique opportunity to appreciate the socioreligious significance of such texts in the premodern world of East Asia.
Domino: reconstructing intercellular signaling dynamics with transcription factor activation in model biomaterial environments

Intercellular communication is crucial for function of cells but current methods for reconstruction of intercellular signaling from single cell data can be challenging to connect with biological outcomes. Here, we present Domino (github.com/chris-cherry/domino), a computational tool which reconstructs intercellular signaling coupled with transcription factor activation. Matching signaling with transcription factor activation allows for immediate connection of results to known biological phenotypes. We first apply Domino to model biomaterial environments in a muscle wound where different chemical compositions produce distinct tissue microenvironments. While traditional single cell RNA sequencing analyses captured few differences between conditions, Domino identified previously unknown signaling pathways distinct to conditions. We then demonstrate Domino on a previously published human Alzheimers data set to discover new signaling pathways associated with health and disease.
Sellar Cholesterol Granuloma Mimicking Cystic Sellar Lesions: A Report of Three Cases and Literature Review.

Background Cystic lesions in the sellar region include a variety of entities, such as craniopharyngioma, Rathke cleft cyst (RCC), intrasellar arachnoid cyst, cystic pituitary adenomas, cholesterol granulomas (CGs), and xanthogranulomas (XGs). The distinction among them remains a preoperative challenge due to similarities in their clinical and radiologic findings. Case Description We describe 3 cases with cystic sellar lesions. The first patient is a woman who presented with headache and hormonal disturbances, including high levels of prolactin, with a sellar and suprasellar cystic lesion discovered on magnetic resonance imaging. She was initially treated with dopamine agonists with normalization of prolactin levels but no changes on the size of the lesion. She underwent an endoscopic endonasal resection and the histology resulted in a CG/XG. The second patient is a woman who consulted for an incidentally discovered sellar cyst. During the follow-up, the lesion demonstrated enlargement with compression of the optic chiasm. With a preoperative diagnosis of RCC, the lesion was removed through an endoscopic endonasal transsellar approach. Final pathologic diagnosis was consistent with CG/XG. The third case was that of a man who presented with refractory headaches and vision loss, with a sellar/suprasellar cystic lesion on magnetic resonance imaging. He underwent endoscopic endonasal transsellar surgery for resection of what preoperatively was thought to be a giant RCC; final pathology again was consistent with CG/XG. Conclusions CG/XG is an uncommon pathology with unspecific clinical and radiologic features. However, this pathology should be considered in the differential diagnosis of mixed cystic/solid lesions in the sellar region.
Radial artery pseudoaneurysm after transradial cardiac catheterization: A case presentation

Abstract Cardiac catheterization through the radial artery has reduced the percentage of complications seen previously in the femoral approach. Computed tomographic angiography is a noninvasive technique that can accurately diagnose pseudoaneurysms and other vascular pathologies. A 93-year-old female presented to the emergency department with pain and swelling of her right distal arm and wrist after a transradial cardiac catheterization procedure, as part of a transcatheter aortic valve replacement evaluation for severe aortic stenosis. Angiography is the standard diagnosing technique for aneurysms and pseudoaneurysms, but it is an invasive procedure. We show this case in order to highlight the importance of computed tomographic angiography as a noninvasive approach in diagnosing uncommon complications in the clinical setting.
Somatic aging pathways regulate reproductive plasticity resulting from early life starvation in Caenorhabditis elegans

Adverse experiences early in the life of an animal often result in changes in gene expression that are followed by changes in their adult phenotype. In the nematode C. elegans, starvation during the early larval stage promotes the entry into a non-feeding, stress-resistant stage where they remain as dauer larvae until environmental conditions improve. C. elegans adults that have experienced dauer (postdauers) retain a cellular memory of early life starvation that results in global changes in gene expression and decreased fertility. Here we show that the endocrine pathways attributed to the germline signaling regulation of somatic aging in C. elegans adults lacking a functional germline also regulate the reproductive phenotypes of adults that have experienced dauer as a result of early life starvation. This is in part due to the modulation of fatty acid metabolic pathways that serve to re-allocate fat reserves in postdauer adults in a manner benefitting the progeny at the expense of the parental somatic fat reservoir. Our results also show that the metabolic plasticity in postdauer animals and the inheritance of ancestral starvation memory is a result of crosstalk between somatic and reproductive tissues mediated by the HRDE-1 nuclear RNAi Argonaute.
Towards co-registered speckle contrast optical tomography and frequency domain diffuse optical tomography for hemodynamics monitoring during 5th metatarsal fracture healing

Jones fractures, which occur in the proximal fifth metatarsal of the foot carry a significant risk of nonunion. Nonunions increase the patient’s financial burden, risk of infection, and may take years to heal completely. Exploiting the fact that a reason for this higher risk of nonunion is inadequate blood supply, we will use diffuse optics to monitor the fracture healing process. We recently developed a speckle contrast optical tomography system which we will combine and co-register with a frequency domain-diffuse optical tomography system. This combination will provide a powerful instrument optimized for monitoring patient risk of nonunion during fracture healing.
EFFECTS OF TRITIUM GAS EXPOSURE ON POLYMERS

Effects of tritium gas exposure on various polymers have been studied over the last several years. Despite the deleterious effects of beta exposure on many material properties, structural polymers continued to be used in tritium systems. Improved understanding of the tritium effects will allow more resistant materials to be selected. Currently polymers find use mainly in tritium gas sealing applications (eg. valve stem tips, O-rings). Future uses being evaluated including polymeric based cracking of tritiated water, and polymer-based sensors of tritium.
Computer Codes and Optimal Control Theory

Here we have briefly sketched what, in our opinion, appears to be a program for the development of computer codes useful in optimal control theory. Taking into account the importance of feedback decisions in control, it has been shown that the methods available for solving classical variational problems and their associated BVP may not be suitable for optimal control considerations. It can only be hoped that some of the problems indicated here will soon be addressed by the computer community and that efficient, widely available codes for optimal control will soon become available.
English Grammar: Lesson 48: Complex sentences

In the last lesson, we talked about compound sentences such as: Beth said hello to her mother's friend and then she walked outside . Each of the sentences (clauses) that is part of the compound sentence plays an equal role in the sentence; one clause is not superior to or more important than the other, in terms of the structure of the sentence. Now let's look at some other sentences: 2. Harry was only fifteen when his mother sent him away to school. 3. Mr. Edwards looked her straight in the eye although he wasn't really sincere. 4. I won't tell you the answer unless you agree to help. Sentences 2–4 also each contain two sentences, or clauses, which are combined to make a larger sentence. However, one of these sentences is more important than the other. The more important sentence is called the main clause , or independent clause ; the less important sentence, the one that is a subpart of the main clause, is called the dependent clause or subordinate clause (see Lesson 19). Each clause, whether it's a main clause or subordinate clause, has its own subject and verb phrase. Sentences that contain a main clause and at least one dependent clause are called complex sentences .
Ameloblastoma associated with a dentigerous cyst in a 6-year-old child. Report of a case.

Abstract A case of dentigerous cyst exhibiting some ameloblastic elements is presented. While not too unusual in the mature person, this finding is uncommon in one as young as this 6-year-old patient. The lesion was treated successfully by surgical enucleation.
Reconsidering Public-Private Partnerships in Developing Countries

Where large-scale investments are needed, especially for infrastructure projects, public-private partnerships (PPPs) have been touted as an option. With encouragement by the international fnancial institutions, PPPs have been promoted in developing countries, especially those facing large public sector debt burdens. PPPs can be very diverse and complex. Many developing country governments lack the institutional and human resource capacity to handle the complexities of PPPs, and hence, PPPs may not yield the results promised. Complex fnancial contracts, involving commitments to future payments, often reduce transparency. Thus, PPPs can suffer similar problems â€“ such as corruption, cronyism, monopolies â€“ faced in privatization. The transfer of risks to private contractors may be partial, with the government having to step in if something goes wrong. A further consideration is to ensure equitable access for poor and low income households to maintain political support for PPPs. Even when PPP contracts take investments off government balance sheets, and thereby seemingly improve the fscal balance, commitments to pay for future service i¬‚ows and other contingent liabilities have similar economic effects to public debt. PPPs do not necessarily entail lower capital costs than investments financed by public borrowing.
Combining coordination with usage policies to improve mission scheduling resilience

Intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) assets must coordinate to maximize their availability, timeliness, and accuracy of information in a fast-paced, everchanging, and often adversarial environment. The distributed constraint optimization problem (DCOP) is a canonical formulation for representing coordination problems found in the planning and collection phases of global integrated ISR operations. However, ISR assets are often owned by different organizations and have ISR usage policies that dictate additional constraints based on organizational needs. The distributed, agent based system presented in this paper seeks to add resilience to ISR missions by combining DCOP techniques to optimize the scheduling of ISR assets while using policy negotiation to inform the assets’ usage policies in order to increase the number of tasks performed by the system. We overview the system architecture, the coordination protocol, the usage policy engine, and the negotiation strategies used. Broad experimentation shows that use of schedule coordination coupled with policy negotiation outperforms the use of either technique alone.
Control of lung differentiation in vitro.

Lung differentiation of chimeric recombination of chick and mouse components has been studied under various culture conditions. The combination of mouse lung epithelium with chick lung mesenchyme exhibits active morphogenesis, whereas the reciprocal combination shows hardly any morphogenesis under in vitro conditions tested. It has been demonstrated that lung mesenchymal histogenesis is developmentally dependent on lung epithelium, and further that (1) gut epithelium induced smooth muscle, vascular elements, and stromal cells, (2) kidney epithelium induced vascular elements and stromal cells, and (3) both dorsal spinal cord and salivary epithelium failed to induce any of the three histotypes. Lung epithelial branching has been demonstrated to be inducible across a Millipore filter, but mesenchymal histogenesis was limited to connective tissue stroma and a few vascular elements. After complete cell dissociation, reconstituted chick lung mesenchyme in direct combination with mouse lung epithelium differentiated into smooth muscle, vascular elements, and stromal cells. Under transfilter conditions, reconstituted mesenchyme was predominantly “pseudo-epithelioid” in nature. After complete cell dissociation of chick whole lung rudiments, reconstituted rudiments failed to differentiate smooth muscle.
On inertial flow over topography. Part 1. Semigeostrophic adjustment to an obstacle

The nonlinear time-dependent adjustment of a homogeneous rotating-channel flow to the sudden obtrusion of an obstacle is studied. Solutions are obtained using a Lax–Wendroff numerical scheme which allows rotating breaking bores and jumps to form and be maintained. The flow upstream of the obstacle is found to be completely blocked, partially blocked (and hydraulically controlled), or unobstructed depending upon the height of the obstacle. Partial blockage is accomplished through the excitation of a combination of nonlinear Kelvin waves, some of which steepen into interfacial shocks. Riemann invariants for the Kelvin waves are found, and jump conditions on mass, momentum and potential vorticity for the shocks are discussed. The shocks are surrounded by dispersive regions of Rossby deformation scale, and the potential vorticity of passing fluid is altered at a rate proportional to the differential rate of energy dissipation along the line of breakage. For the special case of initially uniform potential vorticity the asymptotic state is found as a function of the initial conditions.
A continuous representation of heart rate

Analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) often requires a continuous representation of the inherently discrete heart rate measurement. In combination with a suitable cardiac pacemaker model, e.g. the integral pulse frequency modulator (IPFM), the cardiac event series can be considered as an irregular sampling of a continuous input to the pacemaker model, m(t). Continuous representation of heart rate can thus be achieved by a reconstruction of the input function m(t) from the cardiac event series. Two such representations of the heart rate, the instantaneous heart rate (IHR) and the low pass filtered event series (LPFES), have previously been assumed to be consistent with the IPFM model. Simulations show, however, that the LPFES actually is not consistent with the model. The IHR representation, although consistent with the model, suffers from discontinuities which are both unphysiological and inadequate for subsequent signal processing. A solution to the problem has been developed by introducing M(t), the continuous integral of m(t). The samples of M(t) are specified by the cardiac event series and continuous representation of M(t) is achieved by cubic spline interpolation. The input to the cardiac pacemaker model m(t), or in other words, the representation of the heart rate is given by the derivative of M(t).
FRICTIONAL SLIP AND SEPARATION IN THE TRANSONIC RANGE CAUSED BY A PLANE STRESS PULSE

Localized frictional slip and separation slip between two contacting solids caused by an incident plane elastic wave of arbitrary form was studied in reference [l]. In that paper the angle of incidence of the wave was restricted to produce a disturbance propagating along the interface with supersonic speed. The results were obtained in closed form and convenient graphical representations were given. Here the investigation is continued in the transonic range by using a dislocation formulation that leads to singular integral equations. Examples of localized slip, separation-slip and slip-separation-slip are given for identical materials. Some of the results are in closed form, while other results are obtained by numerical integration.
A theoretical study of electron-cyclotron absorption in ELMO Bumpy Torus

The basic features of microwave propagation and electron-cyclotron damping in ELMO Bumpy Torus (EBT) devices are investigated to provide an understanding of the heating of the toroidal core plasma component. The characteristics of microwave propagation in EBT geometry, where there is strong variation of along field lines, are described and contrast is made with the electron-cyclotron heating (ECH) of tokamaks. Linear cyclotron damping calculations are presented for plasmas having parameters typical of EBT-I and parameters projected for EBT-II. It is shown that the extraordinary mode is completely absorbed near the fundamental cyclotron resonance when propagating from the high-magnetic-field side (mirror throat). For EBT-I parameters, heating by the ordinary mode at the fundamental cyclotron resonance and by both modes at the second-harmonic resonance is negligible. For projected EBT-II parameters, the ordinary mode is heavily damped at the fundamental and the extraordinary mode is heavily damped at the second harmonic. Since the right-hand cut-off prevents injected extraordinary-mode energy from propagating to the cyclotron resonance, a mechanism must exist outside of geometrical optics by which the extraordinary mode reaches resonance. It is argued that this mechanism is the conversion of ordinary-mode energy to extraordinary mode in the high-field region upon wall reflection.
Annexin II Binds to the Membrane of A549 Cells in a Calcium-Dependent and Calcium-Independent Manner

Abstract We investigated the nature of annexin II binding to the biological membranes using a lung epithelium-derived cell line A549. The cytosolic and membrane fractions of A549 cells were separated in the presence of 5 mM EGTA. Both fractions contain annexin II monomer and tetramer as evaluated by western blots using specific monoclonal antibodies against p36 and p11 subunits of annexin II. A substantial amount of annexin II was associated with the membrane fraction even after extensive washing with EGTA buffer, indicating the presence of two pools of annexin II. The EGTA-resistant membrane-bound annexin II could be partially extracted by 1% Triton X-100 or 60 mM n-octyl-β-D-glucopyranoside, and completely by 30 mM CHAPS or 0.1% deoxycholate. This fraction of annexin II was also extracted by 0.1 M Na2CO3, pH 11 and partitioned into the aqueous phase after being treated with Triton X-114, demonstrating that the EGTA-resistant annexin II is a peripheral membrane protein. When the cells were lysed in varying concentrations of Ca2+, annexin II translocated from cytosolic fraction to membrane fraction at 4–25 μM Ca2+. To identify proteins closely associated with annexin II the membrane fraction was treated with the bifunctional chemical cross-linker disulfosuccinimidyl tartarate, followed by western blot analysis using anti-p36 or anti-p11 antibodies. We find that both p36 and p11 were cross-linked to a 51 kDa protein. In addition, p11 also binds to several proteins with molecular mass of 91,65, 40 and 36 kDa. Our results suggest that annexin II may bind to the A549 cell membranes via specific membrane-associated proteins.
XXVIII.—On the Distribution of Fossil Fish-remains in the Carboniferous Rocks of the Edinburgh District

The district in which the city of Edinburgh is situated was one of the first in Britain from which fish-remains of Carboniferous age were collected. It is now sixty-seven years ago since Agassiz described the fossil fishes which were discovered by Lord Greenock at Wardie. Dr Hibbert at Burdiehouse, and Professor Jameson at Burntisland. The list given from this region in the “Tableau Generale” at the beginning of the Poissons Fossiles comprises twenty-nine names, of which eight were nomina nuda and are not now verifiable, the original specimens being lost; one, Diplodus minutus, was described, but insufficiently, and the original is also lost; six are synonyms of others in the list; leaving fourteen good species, of which one, Ptychacanthus sublaevis, is a synonym of a Selachian spine (Tristychius arcuatus), described and figured from the Glasgow district.
Experimental recovery of absorption, scattering, and fluorescence parameters in highly scattering media from a single frequency measurement

In recent years researchers have made significant progress in understanding the physics of fluorescence in highly scattering materials such as tissues in the near-infrared. We have quantitatively verified a model which describes fluorescence in ideal (homogeneous and infinite) tissue-like media. Given the quantitative accuracy of this model, one can use measurements of the fluorescence of a tissue with a homogeneous distribution of fluorophore to obtain the quantum yield, lifetime of the probe, and the absorption and scattering coefficients of the tissue at the fluorescent wavelength. We demonstrate that this can be done with a simple measurement of the photon density as a function of source- detector separation at the excitation and emission wavelengths. To verify our approach we present the lifetime, quantum yield of the fluorescent probe (rhodamine B), and the absorption and scattering coefficients of the medium at the emission peak wavelength that are obtained by a fit of the model to experimental measurements.© (1997) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Quantitative investigation of titanium/amorphous-silicon multilayer thin film reactions

Growth of amorphous-titanium-silicidc and crystalline C49 TiSi2 in titanium/amorphous-silicon multilayer films was investigated using a combination of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thin film x-ray diffraction, Auger depth profiling, and cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy. The multilayer films had an atomic concentration ratio of 1Ti to 2Si and a modulation period of 30 nm. In the as-deposited condition, a thin amorphous-titanium-silicide layer was found to exist between the titanium and silicon layers. Heating the multilayer film from room temperature to 700 K caused the release of an exothermic heat over a broad temperature range and an endothermic heat over a narrow range. The exothermic hump was attributed to thickening of the amorphous-titanium silicide layer, and the endothermic step was attributed to the homogenization and/or densification of the amorphous-silicon and amorphous-titanium-silicide layers. An interpretation of previously reported data for growth of amorphous-titanium-silicide indicates an activation energy of 1.0 ± 0.1 eV and a pre-exponential coefficient of 1.9 × 10−7 cm2/s. Annealing at high temperatures caused formation of C49 TiSi2 at the amorphous-titanium-silicide/amorphous-silicon interfaces with an activation energy of 3.1 ± 0.1 eV. This activation energy was attributed to both the nucleation and the early stages of growth of C49 TiSi2. The heat of formation of C49 TiSi2 from a reaction of amorphous-titanium-silicide and crystalline titanium was found to be –25.8 ± 8.8 kJ/mol and the heat of formation of amorphous-titanium-silicide was estimated to be –130.6 kJ/mol.