cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Current Status of Neuraxial and Paravertebral Blocks for Adult Cardiac Surgery.

Cardiac surgeries are known to produce moderate to severe pain. Pain management has traditionally been based on intravenous opioids. Poorly controlled pain can result in increased incidence of respiratory complications such as atelectasis and pneumonia leading to prolonged intubation and intensive care unit length of stay and subsequent prolonged hospital stay. Adequate perioperative analgesia improves hemodynamics and immunologic responses, which would result in better outcomes after cardiac surgery. Opioid sparing "Enhanced Recovery After Surgery" protocols are increasingly being incorporated into cardiac surgeries. This will reduce opioid requirements and opioid-related side effects and facilitate fast-tracking of patients. Regional analgesia can be provided by neuraxial blocks, fascial plane blocks, peripheral nerve blocks, or simply by the infiltration of the wound with local anesthetics for cardiac surgery. Neuraxial analgesia is provided through epidural, spinal, and paravertebral routes. Though they are being replaced by peripheral fascial plane blocks, epidural and spinal analgesia are still being used in some centers. In this article, neuraxial forms of analgesia are focused. We sought to review epidural analgesia and its impact in suppressing hemodynamic stress response, reducing pulmonary complications, and development of chronic pain. The relationship between intraoperative heparinization and potential neuraxial hematoma is discussed. Other neuraxial options such as spinal and paravertebral analgesia and their usefulness, benefits, and limitations are also reviewed.
Engagement with Personalized Feedback for Emotional Distress among College Students at Elevated Suicide Risk

Abstract Depression and suicidal ideation have substantially increased among college students, yet many students with clinically significant symptoms do not perceive their distress as warranting mental health services. Personalized feedback (PF) interventions deliver objective data, often electronically, comparing an individual’s reported symptoms or behaviors to a group norm. Several studies have shown promise for PF interventions in the context of mood and depression, yet little is known regarding how, and for whom, mood-focused PF interventions might be best deployed. The primary aim of this study was to examine the sociodemographic, clinical, and treatment-seeking factors associated with reviewing PF reports on emotional distress among college students (N=1,673) screening positive for elevated suicide risk and not receiving mental health treatment. Results indicated that PF engagement was greatest among those with higher depression scores, and those reporting privacy/stigma concerns as barriers to treatment. Sexual minority students were more likely to review their PF than heterosexual students. Taken together, PF interventions may be a useful tool for engaging those with greater clinical acuity, and those hesitant to seek in-person care. Further research is warranted to examine the circumstances in which PF interventions might be used in isolation, or as part of a multi-tiered intervention strategy.
Perceptions of Local Government Fiscal Health and Fiscal Stress: Evidence From Quantile Regressions With Michigan Municipalities and Counties:

This study applies insights from open systems theory to explore how the perceptions of local officials can enhance our understanding of local government fiscal health—in particular, to understand d...
Moving Beyond Strict Scrutiny: The Need for a More Nuanced Standard of Equal Protection Analysis for K Through 12 Intergration Programs

In Comfort v. Lynn School Committee, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit evaluated a race-conscious student assignment program using the affirmative action strict scrutiny framework of Grutter v. Bollinger. Comfort is part of a trend of applying strict scrutiny to race-conscious integration programs that has gained new momentum following the decision in Grutter. Invited by the Supreme Court's seemingly unequivocal language in Adarand Constructors v. Pena, that "all racial classifications, imposed by whatever federal, state, or local governmental actor, must be analyzed by a reviewing court under strict scrutiny," federal district and appellate courts confronted with the question have generally treated the Equal Protection issues raised by voluntary school integration in the tradition of affirmative action, no matter how they ultimately decide the matter on the merits. While Grutter provided significant guidance on the use of race-conscious admissions policies in higher education, the decision did not shed light on the applicability of these standards to K through 12 student assignment programs. While many courts have recognized that important differences between affirmative action in higher education and employment, and race-conscious student assignment programs exist and must be carefully weighed, the courts have largely treated these as differences in degree, not differences in kind. The courts have also largely ignored that the acceptable approach in affirmative action cases is just not feasible for a local school district. Rather than conceding that strict scrutiny is the appropriate constitutional standard when dealing with public primary and secondary schools, this Article endeavors to begin the jurisprudential inquiry anew and concludes that voluntary school integration does not emerge out of the historical or legal fabric of affirmative action in higher education or employment, nor does it analytically fit in the mold there created. Accordingly, courts should not import wholesale the standards of the Supreme Court's affirmative action jurisprudence into the K through 12 arena. This Article explores the implications of the judiciary placing increasing responsibility for addressing the legacy of segregation in the hands of local school boards, while simultaneously making it increasingly difficult for school boards to address these inequalities through non-merit based, race-conscious student assignment policies. The Article also examines Brown v. Board of Education and its progeny as the point of departure in determining the applicable standard for K through 12 integration programs and concludes that courts should view voluntary school integration as an extension of the Court's school desegregation jurisprudence rather than the Court's affirmative action jurisprudence.
The Primate Research Centers Program of the National Institutes of Health

The National Institutes of Health’s Primate Research Centers Program was started in 1960. It was begun on the premise that research into human disease requires a close animal relative in which diseases could be duplicated and studied, their causes and effects documented, and effective methods of prevention and treatment developed. Within a decade, seven unique facilities had been established that were providing significant research data.
Building Efficient Probability Transition Matrix Using Machine Learning from Big Data for Personalized Route Prediction

Abstract Personalized route prediction is an important technology in many applications related to intelligent vehicles and transportation systems. Current route prediction technologies used in many general navigation systems are, by and large, based on either the shortest or the fastest route selection. Personal traveling route prediction is a very challenging big data problem, as trips getting longer and variations in routes growing. It is particularly challenging for real-time in-vehicle applications, since many embedded processors have limited memory and computational power. In this paper we present a machine learning algorithm for modeling route prediction based on a Markov chain model, and a route prediction algorithm based on a probability transition matrix. We also present two data reduction algorithms, one is developed to map large GPS based trips to a compact link-based standard route representation, and another a machine learning algorithm to significantly reduce the size of a probability transition matrix. The proposed algorithms are evaluated on real-world driving trip data collected in four months, where the data collected in the first three months are used as training and the data in the fourth month are used as testing. Our experiment results show that the proposed personal route prediction system generated more than 91% prediction accuracy in average among the test trips. The data reduction algorithm gave about 8:1 reduction in link-based standard route representation and 23:1 in reducing the size of probability transition matrix.
A software infrastructure for regulatory information management and compliance assistance

The Regnet Project aims to develop a formal information infrastructure for regulatory information management and compliance assistance. This paper discusses three basic milestones of current research and development efforts. The first is the creation of a document repository containing federal and state regulations and supplemental documents. This repository includes a suite of concept hierarchies that enable users to browse documents according to the terms they contain. The second is an XML framework for representing regulations and associated metadata. The XML framework enables the augmentation of regulation text with tools and information that will help users understand and comply with the regulation. The third milestone is the creation of a compliance assistance system built upon the XML framework. The prototype effort for the document repository has been focused on environmental regulations and related documents. The compliance assistance system is illustrated in the domain of used oil management.
Archivos de conocimiento y la cultura legal de la publicidad en la Marsella medieval

Based on a case study of Marseille in the fourteenth century, this article argues that a foundational metaphor of medieval legal culture was publicity, even in the late medieval world where the written norms of Roman law would seem to dominate. In behaving in an open and public way, men and women managed to inscribe knowledge of basic legal facts, such as age, parentage, title, marital status, and date of death, in the public archives of memory, in an age before written archives consistently recorded such basic facts. The openness and ceremonial nature of such behavior validated and lent authority to the knowledge thereby created. In court cases, as a result, litigants sought to show not only that certain facts favored their position, but also that the facts were part of the «public voice and knowledge». To do so, they recruited witnesses from a broad social spectrum, and the composition of the witness group served to illustrate how widely spread the relevant facts were. According to this argument, the most profound change in European legal culture took place not with the shift from oral and customary law to written law, but with a later shift from easily accessible and public archives of knowledge to the incresingly private, state-controlled archives of the early modern era.
Coherence properties of supercontinuum generation in microstructure fiber

Coherence, spectral and temporal properties of the supercontinuum (SC) generation in microstructure fiber were experimentally studied by low peak-power femtosecond pump-pulses propagated in the anomalous and normal dispersion regions.
Curriculum infusion to promote nursing student well‐being

yearwood e. & riley j.b. (2010) Curriculum infusion to promote nursing student well-being. Journal of Advanced Nursing 66(6), 1356–1364. Abstract Title. Curriculum infusion to promote nursing student well-being. Aim. This paper is a report of a study of baccalaureate nursing students’ experiences with curriculum infusion of college health issues into academic courses and students’ well-being. Background. Bringing Theory to Practice is an ongoing project at a number of colleges in the United States of America. Its goal is to use the academic classroom and campus community to engage students actively in self-reflection on a variety of common college student health and well-being issues. Method. This qualitative study was based on 159 students’ experiences with curriculum infusion in two undergraduate nursing courses at a university in the United States of America over a 2-year period from 2006 to 2008. Student reflection papers, photo-essays, narrative course evaluations, classroom engagement with educators and peers and student use of campus health resources were the data examined. Findings. As a result of the integration of personal wellness concepts into classroom pedagogy, students experienced a variety of feelings and needs including isolation, shock and anger, taking time, awareness and valuing. Conclusion. In light of the increasing rigour of baccalaureate nursing programmes, it is important for educators to be aware of the health-related effects of stress and isolation on students. By increasing student self-awareness and changing relational dynamics in the classroom, student well-being can be supported.
Simultaneous recursive displacement estimation and restoration of image sequences

The authors develop a recursive-model-based maximum a posteriori estimator that simultaneously estimates the displacement vector field (DVF) and intensity field from a noisy-blurred image sequence. Current motion-compensated spatio-temporal filters treat the estimation of the DVF as a preprocessing step. Therefore, no attempt is made to verify the accuracy of these estimates prior to their use in the filter. By simultaneously estimating these two fields, information is made available to each filter regarding the reliability of the estimates on which they are dependent. Nonstationary models are used for the DVF and the intensity field in the proposed estimator, thus avoiding the smoothing of boundaries present in both. Experimental results are provided which show the effectiveness of the proposed estimator. >
Thermal Conductivity of Carbon Nanotube Composite Films

State-of-the-art ICs for microprocessors routinely dissipate power densities on the order of 50 W/sq cm. This large power is due to the localized heating of ICs operating at high frequencies, and must be managed for future high-frequency microelectronic applications. Our approach involves finding new and efficient thermally conductive materials. Exploiting carbon nanotube (CNT) films and composites for their superior axial thermal conductance properties has the potential for such an application requiring efficient heat transfer. In this work, we present thermal contact resistance measurement results for CNT and CNT-Cu composite films. It is shown that Cu-filled CNT arrays enhance thermal conductance when compared to as-grown CNT arrays. Furthermore, the CNT-Cu composite material provides a mechanically robust alternative to current IC packaging technology.
THE FATE OF SALMONELLA TYPHIMURIUM IN THE MANUFACTURE AND RIPENING OF LOW-ACID CHEDDAR CHEESE1

Cheddar cheese was made by the stirred-curd procedure from pasteurized milk inoculated with Salmonellea typhimurium and with a slow acid-producing strain of Streptococcus lactis. The Most Probable Number technique was used to enumerate salmonellae in milk and in cheese during its manufacture and ripening. Salmonellae grew rapidly during manufacture and limited additional growth occurred in cheese during the first week of ripening at 13 C after which there was a gradual decline in population. Salmonellae survived during ripening for up to approximately 7 months at 13 C and 10 months at 7 C. Cheese made in 2 of 5 trials exhibited a limited increase in number of salmonellae during the first 2 weeks at 7 C followed by a decline in population of these bacteria. Other cheeses held at 7 C exhibited a reduction in number of viable salmonellae without the initial increase. Growth of salmonellae during the early stages of ripening and subsequent extended survival of these organisms may, in part, be attributable to ...
The conditional and residual waiting time distributions of the M/G/1 queue

A single-server queuing system with arrivals according to a Poisson process and general service times is considered. The system is assumed to be in steady state. Using linear algebraic techniques only, alternate derivations are given for the moments of the waiting time distributions and the Pollaczek-Khinchine transform equation for this queue. An explicit form is given for the residual response time and conditional waiting times. The first moment and the squared coefficient of variation of these distributions are derived, and lower bounds are given. >
Cellular and nuclear degradation during apoptosis

Apoptosis ensures quick death and quiet clearance of unwanted or damaged cells, without inducing much, if any, immunological responses from the organism. In metazoan organisms, apoptotic cells are swiftly engulfed by other cells. The degradation of cellular content is initiated in apoptotic cells and completed within engulfing cells. In apoptotic cells, caspase-mediated proteolysis cleaves protein substrates into fragments; nuclear DNA is partially degraded into nucleosomal units; and autophagy potentially contributes to apoptotic cell removal. In engulfing cells, specific signaling pathways promote the sequential fusion of intracellular vesicles with phagosomes and lead to the complete degradation of apoptotic cells in an acidic environment. Phagocytic receptors that initiate the engulfment of apoptotic cells play an additional and crucial role in initiating phagosome maturation through activating these signaling pathways. Here we highlight recent discoveries made in invertebrate models and mammalian systems, focusing on the molecular mechanisms that regulate the efficient degradation of apoptotic cells.
Econ 101 for Cloud Enthusiasts

The collection of clouds available to us represents a marketplace, just like any other. How do the rules of economic markets apply to the cloud? And how can we keep this new market in check?
Magnetic phases of ultrathin Fe films on fcc Co(001)

Abstract A sequence of three distinct magnetic phases of epitaxial ultrathin films of Fe grown on fcc Co(100) surfaces have been identified using low-energy electron diffraction (LEED) and X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD). The magnetic phases are correlated with changes in film structure that produce different surface reconstructions, which are similar to those found for epitaxial Fe ultrathin films grown on Cu(100) substrates. The room temperature magnetic phase diagram has been determined using X-ray dichroism magnetometry. For Fe coverages below 5 ML the films crystallize in an fct phase and are ferromagnetic. Between 5 and 11 ML the Fe grows in an fcc phase which is nonmagnetic at room temperature, but has a magnetic live monolayer at the Co Fe interface. The magnetic and compositional interfaces do not coincide. Above 11 ML the Fe films grow in the ferromagnetic bcc phase.
Direct Measurement of Management Strategy Impacts on Ammonia Volatilization from Swine Manure

Ammonia emitted from manure can have detrimental affects on health, environmental quality, and fertilizer value. The objective of this study was to measure the potential for reduction in ammonia volatilization from swine manure by temperature control, stirring, addition of nitrogen binder (Yucca) or urease inhibitor (NBPT), segregation of urine from feces, and pH modification. Swine manure (TS 7.6-11.2%, TKN 3.3-6.2 g/L, NH4 +-N 1.0-3.3 g/L) was stored for 24, 48, 72, or 96 h in 2-L polyvinyl chloride vessels. The manure was analyzed to determine pre- and post-storage concentrations of total and volatile solids, total Kjeldahl nitrogen, and ammonium nitrogen. The accumulation of volatilized ammonia in the vessel headspace after storage was measured using Drager grab sample tubes. Headspace ammonia-N concentrations were reduced (P<0.0001) by segregation of urine from feces (99.3%). Stirring and NBPT increased headspace ammonia-N concentration (119% and 50-140%, respectively). Headspace ammonia-N concentration increased by 2.7 mg/m3 for every 1°C increase in temperature over 35°C. The slurry ammonium-N concentrations were reduced by segregation (78.3%) and acidification to pH 5.3 (9.4%), and increased with stirring (4.8%) and increased temperature (0.06 g/L per 1°C increase in temperature over 35°C). Temperature control, urine-feces segregation, and acidification of swine manure are strategies with the potential to reduce or slow ammonium-N production and ammonia volatilization.
Optimizing player earnings in professional tennis

Abstract This paper devises strategies for a professional tennis player wishing to maximize earnings. First a computer program is developed, which predicts the probability of a player reaching successive rounds in a particular tournament, and also his expected earnings. This output provides the input variables to an integer programming problem. The optimal tournament set is selected by maximizing the player's expected earnings, subject to, constraints on the maximum number of tournaments to be played, the conflicting tournaments in a given week, and the travel constraints on concurrent tours composed of various tournaments.
Clinical Outcomes for INTERMACS Profile 1 Patient Implanted with the Total Artificial Heart

Purpose The total artificial heart (TAH) is an effective bridge to heart transplantation (HT) for patients (pts) with refractory heart failure. Clinical risks factors for survival on the TAH differ from those in pts with LVADs. While INTERMACS Profile 1 pts are at highest risk for mortality after LVAD implantation, data defining risk by INTERMACS Profile for TAH pts are lacking. Methods and Materials We conducted a single-center retrospective study of 66 consecutive pts who received the TAH from 2006-2012. Pts were compared by INTERMACS Profile 1 vs Profiles 2-4. The baseline characteristics and laboratory values of pts in each group were analyzed with a chi-squares and t-test. Death on device was analyzed by Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analysis. Results Twenty-seven of the 67 (40%) pts were Profile 1. Both groups were similar age, race and gender. Profile 1 pts had lower hemoglobin (10.0±2.0 vs 11.1±1.8 g/dL, P=0.02), higher alanine aminotransferase levels (582±1121 vs 44±31 u/L, P=0.02), increased INR (1.5±0.5 vs 1.3±0.4 u/L, P=0.04), and more frequent history of ischemic heart disease (33 vs 13%, P=0.045). Preoperatively, they were more likely to require mechanical ventilation (44 vs 0%, P figure 1 ] Conclusions INTERMACS Profile 1 TAH pts had decreased survival after device implantation compared to Profiles 2-4. The outcomes were however favorable when compared to registry and multicenter data describing outcomes for high risk patients for LVAD and Bi-VAD therapy.
EUV and x-ray instrumentation for spectrometry, polarimetry, and imaging in hot plasma diagnostics, atomic physics, and x-ray microscopy: a status report

The Instrumentation Program at Physics Department of the University of Nevada, Reno, USA is based on results of the development and study of one of first glass capillary optics devices in period from 1974 to earlier 90s in USSR/Russia (by V. Kantsyrev, O. Ananyin, Yu. Bykovsky and collaborators). The main direction of our program is the development of several techniques for extreme ultraviolet, soft x-ray and x-ray optical instrumentation, for spectroscopic diagnostics of hot plasmas, spectroscopic studies of interaction of multicharged ion beams with matter, biomedical x-ray microscopy. Our currently-developed instruments include: EUV polarimeter/spectrometer with GCC polarizing and focusing elements; a high resolution, a high-sensitivity EUV and x-ray spectrometer with focusing GCC, that also serves as a high- transmission window for differential vacuum pumping; a prototype of new multiband, two dimensional EUV and x-ray imaging spectrometer for plasma diagnostics; a pinhole camera with GCC using as a hard x-ray filter; a soft x-ray spectrograph with MLM for plasma diagnostics.
CORR Insights®: Surgery for Hip Fracture Yields Societal Benefits That Exceed the Direct Medical Costs

This CORR Insights® is a commentary on the article “Surgery for Hip Fracture Yields Societal Benefits That Exceed the Direct Medical Costs ” by Gu and colleagues available at: DOI: 10.1007/s11999-014-3820-6. The author certifies that he, or any member of his immediate family, has no funding or commercial associations (eg, consultancies, stock ownership, equity interest, patent/licensing arrangements, etc) that might pose a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted article. All ICMJE Conflict of Interest Forms for authors and Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research ® editors and board members are on file with the publication and can be viewed on request. The opinions expressed are those of the writers, and do not reflect the opinion or policy of CORR ® or the Association of Bone and Joint Surgeons®. This CORR Insights® comment refers to the article available at DOI: 10.1007/s11999-014-3820-6.
Conduction-band-resonant nitrogen-induced levels in GaAs 1-x N x with x<0.03

We report electroreflectance spectra between 1 and 4 eV for ${\mathrm{GaAs}}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}{\mathrm{N}}_{x}$ samples with $xl3%.$ In addition to four intrinsic GaAs transitions, three nitrogen-induced optical transitions, ${E}_{+},$ ${E}_{+}+{\ensuremath{\Delta}}_{0},$ and ${E}^{*},$ were observed. The weak and heretofore unknown ${E}^{*}$ transition was observed in four samples with 0.1 to 2.4 % nitrogen and occurs 0.1 to 0.3 eV below the \ensuremath{\sim}3 eV intrinsic ${E}_{1}$ transition. Opposite to ${E}_{+}{,E}^{*}$ decreases in energy with increasing nitrogen content. Furthermore, in the dilute limit, both ${E}_{+}$ and ${E}^{*}$ appear to converge to the known conduction-band-resonant nitrogen-impurity level ${\mathrm{N}}_{x}.$
Cyclophosphamide, Ara-C and Topotecan (CAT) for Patients With Refractory or Relapsed Acute Leukemia

Topotecan is a topoisomerase I inhibitor with significant activity in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome and chronic myelomonocytic leukemia. Pre-clinical data suggest a synergistic activity with DNA damaging agents such as cyclophosphamide, where topotecan might prevent the repair of cyclophosphamide-induced DNA damage. We thus designed a combination including cyclophosphamide 500 mg/m2 every 12 hours given on days 1 to 3; topotecan 1.25 mg/m2/day by continuous infusion on days 2 to 6, and cytosine arabinoside (ara-C) 2 g/m2 over 4 hours daily for 5 days on days 2 to 6 (CAT). Sixty six (63 evaluable) patients were treated. Fifty two patients had refractory (n=12) or relapsed (n=40) acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), and eleven had acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) (refractory n=3, relapsed n=8); their median age was 57 years (range, 18 to 79 years). Eleven patients (17%) achieved a complete remission (CR), and two patients (3%) had a hematologic improvement (HI; met all criteria for CR except for platelets < 100x10(9)/L), for an overall response rate of 20%. Responses occurred in 12 of 52 AML patients (23%), including 10 CR (19%) and 2 HI (4%), and in 1 of 11 patients with ALL (9%). Myelosuppression was universal; there were 23 episodes of pneumonia or sepsis and 18 episodes of fever of unknown origin complicating 74 courses of CAT. Non-hematologic toxicity was mostly gastrointestinal, including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and mucositis, but was severe in only 8%. In summary, the CAT regimen is well tolerated and has significant anti-leukemia activity which warrants further investigation.
A Novel Approach to Business Ethics Training: Improving Moral Reasoning in Just a Few Weeks

I assessed change in students’ moral reasoning following five 75-min classes on business ethics and two assignments utilizing a novel pedagogical approach designed to foster ethical reasoning skills. To minimize threats to validity present in previous studies, an untreated control group design with pre- and post-training measures was used. Training (n = 114) and control (n = 76) groups comprised freshmen business majors who completed the Defining Issues Test before and after the training. Results showed that, controlling for pre-training levels of moral reasoning, students in the training group demonstrated higher levels of post-training principled moral judgment than students in the control group.
A reduced equation of state for gaseous and liquid substances

Experimental pressure-volume-temperature data available in the literature for argon have been utilized to produce relationships for the prediction of densities for reduced temperatures up to TR = 3.38 and reduced pressures up to PR = 50. A plot of reduced pressure vs. reduced temperature for constant reduced density was made for argon, in which each isochor terminates at the vapor-pressure curve. This information was utilized to develop a third degree polynomial relationship between the normalized pressure and the normalized temperature for each isochor by the method of least squares. This method was also used to establish the dependence of the coefficients of the polynomials on reduced density. The resulting relationships permitted the calculation of desities for argon from the critical constants, vapor pressure function, and the saturated vapor and liquid densities of the substance with a trial-and-error procedure. For fifty-seven densities for the dense gaseous and liquid phases of argon an average deviation of 1.29% with a maximum value of 3.66% resulted between calculated and reported values. The relationships developed in theis study have also been found to be applicable to nitrogen, oxygen, carbon monoxide, and methane, whose critical compressibility factors are similar to that of argon.
The Effect of Uniforms on Nonuniform Apparel Expenditures

The uniform industry has grown steadily the past 20 years with increased attention from employers trying to create a professional image among workers as well as school administrators considering uniforms to curtail school violence. Although an important part of human dressfor centuries, uniforms have received little attentionfrom researchers of the clothing market. This study examines the impact of uniform purchases on household expenditures for selected nonuniform apparel subcategories based on an economic model of conditional demand. Expenditure equations are estimated using the 1990–1991 Consumer Expenditure Survey. The results suggest that, on average, consumers do not substitute uniforms for other apparel purchases. Rather, uniforms and nonuniform apparel appear to be complements in consumers' purchases, resulting in greater household expenditures on nonuniform apparel. These results are first step in understanding the economic effect that uniform purchases, mandated by employers, schools, or others, have on household clothing expenditures.
Strain-driven mesoscopic reconstruction of the As/Ge(111) surface.

Periodic arrays of large hexagonal tiles (up to 170 \AA{} in size) are observed on $\mathrm{A}\mathrm{s}/\mathrm{G}\mathrm{e}(111)$ surfaces. First-principles total energy calculations combined with scanning tunneling microscopy reveal a (5-7-5)-ringed structure for the trenches that separate the tiles. We find that trenches form via an exothermic process. The calculated equilibrium trench spacing of $\ensuremath{\sim}104\text{ }\text{ }\AA{}$ agrees with experiment. Comparison between first-principles calculations and continuum elasticity theory suggests that the observed mesoscopic reconstruction is driven entirely by long-range surface strain relaxation.
Characterizing the Hilbert transform by the Bedrosian theorem

Abstract It is proved that a bounded linear translation invariant operator on L 2 ( R d ) satisfies the Bedrosian theorem if and only if it is a linear combination of the compositions of the partial Hilbert transforms and the identity operator. This observation justifies a definition of multidimensional analytic signals in the papers [T. Bulow, G. Sommer, Hypercomplex signals—a novel extension of the analytic signal to the multidimensional case, IEEE Trans. Signal Process. 49 (2001) 2844–2852] and [S.L. Hahn, Multidimensional complex signals with single-orthant spectra, Proc. IEEE 80 (1992) 1287–1300].
The secreted kinase ROP18 defends Toxoplasma's border

Toxoplasma gondii is a highly successful parasite capable of infecting virtually all warm-blooded animals by actively invading nucleated host cells and forming a modified compartment where it replicates within the cytosol. The parasite-containing vacuole provides a safe haven, even in professional phagocytes such as macrophages, which normally destroy foreign microbes. In an effort to eliminate the parasite, the host up-regulates a family of immunity-related p47 GTPases (IRGs), which are recruited to the parasite-containing vacuole, resulting in membrane rupture and digestion of the parasite. To avoid this fate, highly virulent strains of Toxoplasma coat the external surface of their vacuole with a secretory serine/threonine kinase, known as ROP18. At this host-pathogen interface, ROP18 phosphorylates and inactivates IRGs, thereby protecting the parasite from killing. These findings reveal a novel molecular mechanism by which the parasite disarms host innate immunity.
Minority-carrier injection into semiconductors containing traps

The paper presents an analysis of minority-carrier injection into lifetime and relaxation semiconductors containing traps, linearized within the framework of a "small-signal theory." In that sense it parallels a previous paper on the trap-free case. The restrictive assumptions customarily made in the literature as regards injection ratio, mobility ratio, carrier lifetime, dielectric relaxation time, doping levels, and specific characteristics of the trapping centers, zero recombination rate $np=n_{i}^{2}$, and neglect of diffusion current, are avoided here. Explicit solutions are obtained of the carrier concentration and field profiles, and plotted for a series of interesting cases, some designed to illustrate the nature of the phenomena, some to facilitate experimental verification. The results show that the establishment of lifetime and relaxation regimes depends in a complex manner on the parameters of the system. Minority-carrier injection can result in the appearance of a field maximum and a total resistance increase, not only in the trap-free case as previously reported, but to a greatly augmented extent in the presence of traps in suitable concentrations and energetic positions. The results have a potential bearing on the interpretation of many types of electrical measurements on semiconductors and semi-insulators. The equations themselves are general (except for the restriction to small currents) and can be extended to a variety of other nonequilibrium transport effects in solids.
Connoisseur's Choice: Fluorapatite, Acushnet Quarry, Bristol County, Massachusetts

North America has produced some of the world's finest apatite specimens, and there are many well-known localities for this mineral (see table 1). Certainly the best-known specimen from anywhere is ...
In Human Fetal Astrocytes Exposure to Interleukin-1β Stimulates Acquisition of the GD3+ Phenotype and Inhibits Cell Division

In human astrocyte cultures established from second-trimester fetal brain tissue, approximately 5-10% of total astrocyte population in unstimulated cultures were GD3+/glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)+. The GD3+ cells were always GFAP+ and grew as flat, highly spread cells but changed to process-bearing cells after interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta) stimulation. It is interesting that IL-1 beta, a known mitogen for rat astrocytes, suppressed human fetal astrocyte proliferation as determined by [3H]thymidine incorporation, bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) labeling, and cell counting. The GD3+ population, however, consistently increased in absolute number after IL-1 beta stimulation, in a dose- and time-dependent manner. The IL-1 beta-mediated increase in number of GD3+ astrocytes was independent of initial cell density or serum concentration. By flow cytometry, IL-1 beta enhanced both the mean fluorescence intensity and the percentage of GD3+ cells. To investigate whether the increase in GD3+ astrocyte cell number was due to proliferation of preexisting GD3+ astrocytes or due to conversion of GD3- to GD3+ cells, we performed BrdU/GD3 double immunocytochemistry. BrdU/GD3 double-positive cells were extremely rare in both control and IL-1 beta-stimulated cultures. Moreover, an increase in number of GD3+ astrocytes was still observed in control and IL-1 beta-stimulated cultures were GD3+ cells had been initially eliminated by cell sorting. These results indicate that GD3+ astrocytes in human fetal culture may represent a postmitotic, differentiated, distinct phenotype.
Peptidoglycan Signaling in Innate Immunity and Inflammatory Disease

The ability to detect harmful pathogens and eradicate them is essential for the survival of an organism. One of the first lines of defense is the innate immune system, a broad specificity inflammatory response characterized by the recruitment and activation of phagocytes. This type of immune response is well conserved from invertebrates through higher mammals and is stimulated by the recognition of conserved components of microorganisms called pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs).1 These PAMPs consist of molecules not found in the host, including bacterial cell wall components such as peptidoglycan (PGN). Recognition of PAMPs by specific proteins called pattern recognition molecules (PRMs) activates inflammatory signaling pathways and the stimulation of an immune response. Recent studies challenging the role of Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) as the major PGN receptor, the genetic dissection of the role of mammalian peptidoglycan response proteins (PGRPs) in immune responses, and the identification of Nodi, Nod2, and cryopyrin as PGN response proteins have put the spotlight on the mechanisms of PGN recognition and signaling in innate immunity. In addition, mutations found in Nod2 and cryopyrin are genetically associated with the development of specific inflammatory diseases. This review will focus on recent findings about the proteins involved in binding to and stimulating an intracellular signaling response to PGN and their relationship to inflammatory disease.
Chemical and biological threat-agent detection using electrophoresis-based lab-on-a-chip devices

The ability to separate complex mixtures of analytes has made capillary electrophoresis (CE) a powerful analytical tool since its modern configuration was first introduced over 25 years ago. The technique found new utility with its application to the microfluidics based lab-on-a-chip platform (i.e., microchip), which resulted in ever smaller footprints, sample volumes, and analysis times. These features, coupled with the technique's potential for portability, have prompted recent interest in the development of novel analyzers for chemical and biological threat agents. This article will comment on three main areas of microchip CE as applied to the separation and detection of threat agents: detection techniques and their corresponding limits of detection, sampling protocol and preparation time, and system portability. These three areas typify the broad utility of lab-on-a-chip for meeting critical, present-day security, in addition to illustrating areas wherein advances are necessary.
Long-term follow-up of pancreatic cysts that resolve radiologically after EUS-guided ethanol ablation.

Background EUS-guided ablation of pancreatic cysts is a minimally invasive technique with reported short-term, CT-defined cyst resolution rates of 33% to 79%. Follow-up results of image-defined, successful pancreatic cyst ablation are not known. Objective To determine the durability of successful cyst resolution after EUS-guided ethanol lavage. Design Prospective cohort study. Setting Two tertiary-care referral hospitals in the United States. Patients This study involved 12 patients with 1-to-5-cm, unilocular, pancreatic cysts that had previously resolved after ethanol lavage. Interventions Follow-up CT after cyst resolution. Main Outcome Measurements The presence or absence of residual pancreatic cysts by CT scanning after previous successful ablation. Results In a previously reported trial, we found that CT scanning documented pancreatic cyst resolution in 12 patients (33%) after one (n = 6) or two (n = 6) ethanol lavages. These 12 cysts (median diameter 18 mm; range 10-34 mm) were located in the head/uncinate of the pancreas in 6 patients (50%) and in the body of the pancreas in 6 patients (50%). The median cyst fluid carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) level (available in 11 patients) was 463 ng/mL (range 1.6-64,550 ng/mL; normal, 0-2.5 ng/mL). Clinical diagnoses were mucinous cystic neoplasm (MCN) in 9 patients, intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm in 1 patient, pseudocyst in 1 patient, and serous cystadenoma (SCA) in 1 patient. Follow-up CT in 3 patients (one each of MCN, SCA, and pseudocyst) after the initial diagnosis of cyst resolution was not available. For the remaining 9 patients (75%), follow-up CT performed in a median of 26 months (range 13-39 months) after initial documentation of cyst resolution demonstrated no evidence of cyst recurrence in any patient. Limitations Loss to follow-up of some of the cohort. Conclusions Follow-up after successful EUS-guided ethanol ablation of pancreatic cysts, including suspected mucinous cysts, suggests a durable, image-defined resolution. Longer follow-up in these patients is needed before considering these patients "cured" of their disease.
An analytical approach to estimate local liquid heights in horizontal diabatic slug flow

Abstract As the intermittent (slug) flow pattern was recently shown to be, along with the stratified flow regime, responsible for circumferential anisothermality of horizontal steam generating tubes operating at moderate steam qualities, the ability to estimate the local liquid levels in such tubes and to compare them with the position of the circumferentially maximum value of the externally applied heat loading appears to be of great practical importance for boiler designers. While the procedure of the estimation of minimum liquid heights (h L ) in horizontal stratified flows was suggested in previous papers, this study presents an analytical approach for engineering evaluations of h L in the horizontal, diabatic slug flow pattern. It is, importantly, shown that the use of the stratified flow-based approach to evaluate h L in slug flows results in the overestimation of actual liquid heights which may be detrimental for boiler tubes, especially under circumferentially nonuniform heat loading.
An Existence Theorem for OR/MS

This paper, which is based on the Omega Rho lecture given at the 1990 ORSA/TIMS meeting in Philadelphia, states the author's necessary and sufficient conditions for effective OR/MS. Then it describes the changing character of this field, considers some opportunities for it, addresses some human resources concerns facing it, and offers a view of what it will do in the 21st century. After addressing some concerns about the higher education culture, it then provides some conclusions about the future of OR/MS.
Infrared spectroscopic, magnetic, and Mössbauer studies of aluminosilicate cage structures (Fe/H-mordenites) for syngas conversion

Highly dispersed Fe species supported on H-mordenites with the SiO2Al2O3 mole “ratio” in the range from 12 to 60 are investigated by magnetization measurements, Mossbauer and infrared spectroscopies. The variation of the intensity of the OH infrared band at 3650 cm−1 reveals a maximum for the fresh sample with the “ratio” = 17, indicating that the number of Bronsted acid sites is the highest for this sample. All fresh samples contain superparamagnetic γ-Fe2O3 with particle sizes in the range from 1.4 to 5.0 nm. The sample with the largest number of acid sites is found to have the smallest particle size. The Mossbauer isomer shifts of the fresh samples exhibit a maximum for the sample with highest acidity. The reduced samples when exposed to syngas (CO + H2) are found to contain Fe5C2 and Fe3C; the sample with the lowest acidity can be carburized under milder conditions. Kinetic studies reveal that the sample with the highest acidity produces the highest yield of C1−C4 hydrocarbons and highest fraction of aromatics in the liquid hydrocarbon product. En employant des mesurages de magnetisation et les spectroscopies Mossbauer et IR (infrarouge), on a recherche des especes-Fe de haute dispersion supportees par des mordenites-H avec la proportion mole SiO2Al2O3 au range de 12 a 60. La variation de l'intensite de la bande IR OH a 3650 cm−1 a revele un maximum pour le prelevement frais a la proportion = 17, ce qui indique que le nombre de sites d'acide Bronsted etait le plus haut pour ce prelevement. Tous les prelevements frais contenaient γ-Fe2O3 superparamgnetique avec des particules de grandeur 1,4 a 5,0 nm. On a observe que le prelevement avec le plus grand nombre de sites d'acide contenait les particules des plus petites dimensions. Les “shifts” isomeres Mossbauer des prelevements frais demontraient un maximum pur le prelevement avec le plus d'acidite. On a decouvert que les prelevements reduits, exposes au syngaz (CO + H2) contenaient Fe5C2 et Fe3C; le prelevement avec le moins d'acidite pourrait ětre carbide sous des conditions moins severes. Les etudes kinetiques ont revele que le prelevement avec le plus d'acidite a produit le plus grand rendement d'hydrocarbures C1−C4 et la fraction la plus grande d'aromatiques dans le produit liquide compose d'hydrocarbures.
The Interaction of Zinc Ion with Phytic Acid

The combination of zinc (II) with phytic acid has been investigated under a variety of reaction conditions. With the P:Zn ratios used, i.e. 1:1 or 6:1, in the preparations elemental analyses of the isolated products indicated P:Zn ratios of either 1, 1.2 or 1.5 dependent upon the initial P:Zn ratios and the various bases and salts used in the preparations. Of the total number of experiments carried out elemental analyses indicated that only about 25% of the isolated complexes had stoichiometric atomic ratios.
Clinical application of amplicon-based next-generation sequencing in cancer

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology has revolutionized genomic research by decreasing the cost of sequencing while increasing the throughput. The focus now is on potential clinical applications of NGS technology for diagnostics and therapeutics. Clinical applications of NGS in cancer can detect clinically actionable genetic/genomic alterations that are critical for cancer care. These alterations can be of diagnostic, prognostic, or therapeutic significance. In certain cancers, patient risk and prognosis can be predicted based on the mutation profile identified by NGS. Many targeted therapies have been developed for cancer patients who bear specific mutations; however, choosing the right NGS technique for the appropriate clinical application can be challenging, especially in clinical oncology, where the material for NGS tests is often limited and the turnaround time (TAT) for cancer tests is constrained to a few days. Currently, amplicon-based NGS approaches have emerged as the best fit for clinical oncology. In this review, we focus on amplicon-based library preparation, sequencing, sequence data alignment and annotation, and post-analytic interpretation and reporting.
Adenine Therapy for Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome

Extract: A child with the Lcsch-Nyhan syndrome was identified at birth by demonstrating a gross deficiency of the enzyme hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT) in cord blood. Therapy with adenine, begun during the 1st month of life, failed to prevent the development of the severe neurological damage characteristic of this disease. Speculation: Since this work was completed, Dr. Grant Bartlett of San Diego has found (unpublished work) a very poor uptake of intravenously administered adenine-14C in the brain of rabbits. This raises a possible reason for the failure of adenine to prevent the neurological dysfunction in this disease. A purine compound that is more readily taken up by brain tissue might, therefore, offer a more reasonable approach to treatment.