cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A Mathematical Overview of a Computer Simulation Model of Maternity Histories with Illustrative Examples

A mathematical overview of a stochastic computer simulation model of maternity histories is provided. Various components of human reproduction are accommodated in the model through distributions of waiting times among live births. Included in these components are distributions of age at first marriage in a cohort of women, waiting times to pregnancy for fecundable women, and the lengths of infecundable periods following live births. Probabilities that pregnancies end in either a live birth, induced abortion, or some other type of outcome are also included. Elements of renewal theory and semi-Markov processes in discrete time were the basic mathematical concepts used in the construction of the model. A brief description of an interactive software package called MATHIST, which may be used to implement the model on a computer, is also included. Four illustrative computer runs with MATHIST, pertinent to the operation of family planning programmes in Africa, are also described and discussed.
Workplace studies and technological change

L'etude des technologies sur le lieu de travail constitue une branche des sciences sociales qui peut permettre de mieux comprendre l'impact des technologies de l'information sur les activites organisationnelles, de soutenir la prise de decision, de resoudre les echecs de l'introduction de nouvelles technologies et de contribuer a la conception des systemes. Deux cas sont presentes ici : la facilitation de la collaboration entre employes, qu'ils soient ou non geographiquement distants ; la sous-utilisation des employes et les problemes qui en decoulent. L'etude des technologies sur le lieu de travail est complementee par d'autres approches comme l'informatique sociale, le travail cooperatif assiste par ordinateur et l'ingenierie des exigences des utilisateurs.
Interventions to promote diabetes self-management: state of the science.

PURPOSEThe purpose of this paper is to review the diabetes education literature that has emerged over the past 20 years to determine what we currently know about diabetes self-management interventions and their effectiveness in producing improved health outcomes.METHODSFindings of studies that were reported prior to 1990 were compared with findings of studies that have been conducted since 1990 to determine what recent changes and patterns in diabetes self-management education have occurred. Future directions in diabetes self-management research and practice were projected from these findings.RESULTSMost studies lacked adequate descriptions of the interventions tested, which precludes replication or application of the most effective strategies to clinical practice. Trends in interventions have evolved from education only to education plus behavioral models, with more attention given to interventions specifically for minority populations. The interventions that have been designed and tested seem to be long...
Reliability evaluation of multilevel thin film structures

IBM Microelectronics has evaluated the reliability of structures built by various processes which we developed for multilevel thin film (MLTF) applications. Two distinct processes were used for the building of conformal copper-polyimide structures on alumina ceramic: Laser ablation of the polyimide for via patterning and wiring defined by subtractive etching of Cr/Cu/Cr, and photosensitive polyimide for via patterning and wiring defined by electroplating through a resist. Reliability evaluation was performed on test-vehicles with both MLTF processes by a combination of IBM standard and MIL-STD-883 stress procedures. These stresses were designed to monitor any potential reliability problems due to metal migration, corrosion (or contamination), metal fatigue, and poor step coverage. Electrical measurements were done before, during, and after stress to check for opens and inter and intralevel shorts. At completion of stressing, no failures were observed in either type of test vehicles. This indicates that both processes meet or exceed IBM current product reliability standards. >
Spatial and temporal properties of ventral blood island induction in Xenopus laevis.

Questions of dorsoventral axis determination and patterning in Xenopus seek to uncover the mechanisms by which particular mesodermal fates, for example somite, are specified in the dorsal pole of the axis while other mesoderm fates, for example, ventral blood island (VBI), are specified at the ventral pole. We report here that the genes Xvent-1, Xvent-2, and Xwnt-8 do not appear to be in the pathway of VBI induction, contrary to previous reports. Results from the selective inhibition of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) activity, a key regulator of VBI induction, by ectopic Noggin, Chordin, or dominant negative BMP ligands and receptors suggest an alternative route of VBI induction. Injection of noggin or chordin RNA into animal pole blastomeres effectively inhibited VBI development, while marginal zone injection had no effect. Cell autonomous inhibition of BMP activity in epidermis with dominant negative ligand dramatically reduced the amount of (a)T3 globin expression. These results indicate that signaling activity from the Spemann Organizer alone may not be sufficient for dorsoventral patterning in the marginal zone and that an inductive interaction between presumptive VBIs and ectoderm late in gastrulation may be crucial. In agreement with these observations, other results show that in explanted blastula-stage marginal zones a distinct pattern develops with a restricted VBI-forming region at the vegetal pole that is independent of the patterning activity of the Spemann Organizer.
Attributions in Virtual Groups: Distances and Behavioral Variations in Computer-Mediated Discussions

Communication technology facilitates group interaction among members who collaborate from disparate locations, but dispersion among locations may trigger biased attributions for remote members' behaviors. Despite the frequent discussion of attributions in virtual groups, empirical verification of the relationships between distance and attributions has been lacking. This experiment focuses on several specific factors that affect attribution patterns: (a) how geographic collocation and distribution highlight perceived similarity or dissimilarity of partners' situational constraints, and (b) how perceived variations in the quality of partners' performances affect causal judgments about their behaviors. Procedures employed groups using asynchronous computer conferencing in a decision-making task over a 2-week period. Group members were collocated, distributed, or geographically mixed. Dispositional attributions were greater in collocated groups than in distributed groups. Situational attributions differed as ...
Regulation of cardiomyocyte apoptosis in ischemic reperfused mouse heart by glutathione peroxidase.

Apoptosis, a genetically controlled programmed cell death, has been found to play a role in ischemic reperfusion injury in several animal species including rats and rabbits. To examine whether this is also true for other animals, an isolated perfused mouse heart was subjected to 30 min of ischemia followed by 2 h of reperfusion. Experiments were terminated before ischemia (baseline), after ischemia, and at 30, 60, 90 and 120 min of reperfusion. At the end of each experiment, hearts were processed for the evaluation of apoptosis and DNA laddering. The in situ end labeling (ISEL) technique was used to detect apoptotic cardiomyocyte nuclei while DNA laddering was evaluated by subjecting the DNA obtained from the cardiomyocytes to 1.8% agarose gel electrophoresis followed by photographing under UV illumination. The results of our study revealed that apoptotic cells appear only after 60 min of reperfusion as demonstrated by the intense fluorescence of the immunostained genomic DNA when observed under fluorescence microscopy. None of the ischemic hearts showed any evidence of apoptosis. These results were corroborated with the findings of DNA fragmentation showing increased ladders of DNA bands in the same reperfused hearts representing integer multiples of the internucleosomal DNA length (about 180 bp). Since our previous studies showed a role of glutathione peroxidase (GSHPx) in apoptotic cell death, we performed identical experiments using isolated hearts from GSHPx-1 knockout mice and transgenic mice overexpressing GSHPx-1. GSHPx-1 knockout mice showed evidence of apoptotic cell death even after 30 min of reperfusion. Significant number of apoptotic cells were found in the cardiomyocytes as compared to non-transgenic control animals. To the contrary, very few apoptotic cells were found in the hearts of the transgenic mice overexpressing GSHPx-1. Hearts of GSHPx-1 knockout mice were more susceptible to ischemia/reperfusion injury while transgenic mice overexpressing GSHPx- 1 were less susceptible to ischemia reperfusion injury compared to non-transgenic control animals. The results of this study clearly demonstrate a role of GSHPx in ischemia/reperfusion-induced apoptosis in mouse heart. ((Mol Cell Biochem 196: 13-21, 1999)
Joint throughput maximization and fair scheduling in uplink DS-CDMA systems

In this paper we study the problem of the uplink system throughput maximization while we still maintain fairness among the various users despite their time-varying channel conditions. We first rigorously formulate the corresponding problem as a multi-objective optimization problem with constraints, and then by introducing the concept of power index capacity, we devise a scheduling algorithm that is shown to be optimal, while using the stochastic approximation approach we develop a simple method to adjust the control weights or the users, which is a key element in maintaining fairness. The performance evaluation of our proposed approach reveals the advantages of the proposed technique and demonstrate that it can achieve very high system throughput while maintaining the fairness among various users.
Middle Meningeal Artery Arising from the Basilar Artery

Various anomalies for the origin of the middle meningeal artery (MMA) have been described in the literature. However, origin of the MMA from the basilar trunk is an extremely rare variant. We report on a 54-year-old female who presented with frequent headaches; magnetic resonance imaging showed a right parietal meningioma. The abnormal origin of the middle meningeal artery from the basilar artery was diagnosed by angiography performed for preoperative embolization of the tumor. We report on the case with a review of the embryologic basis, possible explanations for this aberrant origin, and its clinical implications.
How descriptive metadata changes in the UNT libraries' collections: a case study

This paper reports results of an exploratory quantitative analysis of metadata versioning in a large-scale digital library hosted by University of North Texas. The study begins to bridge the gap in the information science research literature to address metadata change over time. The authors analyzed the entire population of 691,495 unique item-level metadata records in the digital library, with metadata records supplied from multiple institutions and by a number of metadata creators with varying levels of skills. We found that a high proportion of metadata records undergo changes, and that a substantial number of these changes result in increased completeness (the degree to which metadata records include at least one instance of each element required in the Dublin Core-based UNTL metadata scheme). Another observation of this study is that the access status of a high proportion of metadata records changes from hidden to public; at the same time the reverse process also occurs, when previously visible to the public metadata records become hidden for further editing and sometimes remain hidden. This study also reveals that while most changes -- presumably made to improve the quality of metadata records -- increase the record length, surprisingly, some changes decrease record length. Further investigation is needed into reasons for unexpected findings as well as into more granular dimensions of metadata change at the level of individual records, metadata elements, and data values. This paper suggests some research questions for future studies of metadata change in digital libraries that capture metadata versioning information.
The Use of Metaphor in Clinical Supervision

The authors completed a critical review of the literature on the use of metaphor and the efficacy of metaphoric activities in clinical supervision. The authors conclude that these activities might assist students in understanding the process of becoming a counselor and facilitate students' case conceptualization skills. Cautions to consider when implementing metaphoric activities, limitations of research that has investigated the effectiveness of using metaphors in supervision, and suggestions for future research in this area are presented.
Enzymatic Digestion of Proteins in Gels for Mass Spectrometric Identification and Structural Analysis

Enzymatic digestion of proteins is a key technique used in protein identification. By combining the digestion with mass spectrometric detection, proteins at very low femtomole levels, and in some cases subfemtomole levels, can be identified. Typically, one- or two-dimensional SDS-PAGE is used to isolate the proteins of interest, followed by staining with Coomassie blue, digestion-compatible silver stain, or Sypro Ruby for detection. Two-dimensional (2-D) fluorescence difference gel electrophoresis (DIGE), which uses Cy3 and Cy5 dyes for detection, allows comparison of two different sample states in order to locate proteins that are up- or down-regulated. In each case, an in-gel digestion, usually tryptic, is used with mass spectrometry to identify these proteins of interest. For large numbers of gel spots, robotic digestion can save time and money. Keywords: digestion; DIGE; protein identification; trypsin; SDS-PAGE
Editorial commentary: aims and tasks of medical informatics.

The paper by Reinhold Haux [I ] presents opinions and thoughts that produce a natural incentive for further discussion and comment. Since, at the end of the paper, there is an explicit open invitation for ‘a broad public discussion on the aims and tasks of research in the field of medical informatics’, I took the liberty of adding a discussion of my own on the subject in reaction to the main sections of the paper. For convenience, I shall follow the same predefined structure as outlined in the paper with a special emphasis on the socalled ‘grand-challenges’, other worthwhile opportunities for medical informatics and the suggested position medical informatics should take in the future.
Effects of dividing attention during encoding on perceptual priming of unfamiliar visual objects.

According to the distractor-selection hypothesis (Mulligan, 2003), dividing attention during encoding reduces perceptual priming when responses to non-critical (i.e., distractor) stimuli are selected frequently and simultaneously with critical stimulus encoding. Because direct support for this hypothesis comes exclusively from studies using familiar word stimuli, the present study tested whether the predictions of the distractor-selection hypothesis extend to perceptual priming of unfamiliar visual objects using the possible/impossible object decision test. Consistent with the distractor-selection hypothesis, Experiments 1 and 2 found no reduction in priming when the non-critical stimuli were presented infrequently and non-synchronously with the critical target stimuli, even though explicit recognition memory was reduced. In Experiment 3, non-critical stimuli were presented frequently and simultaneously during encoding of critical stimuli; however, no decrement in priming was detected, even when encoding ...
Esophageal strictures complicating ulcerative esophagitis in patients with AIDS.

Abstract Objective: Esophageal strictures have been reported to complicate opportunistic esophageal infections in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients, although the etiology, prevalence, and incidence of strictures after these infections have not been studied. Methods: HIV-infected patients undergoing upper endoscopy for clinical indications over a 7.5-yr period were prospectively identified. The cause of esophageal ulceration was defined by previously proposed criteria. Endoscopic re-examination was performed in most patients after treatment, and long term clinical follow-up was obtained. An esophageal stricture was defined as circumferential luminal narrowing of ≥30% at endoscopy and/or barium esophagography. Results: A total of 160 HIV-infected patients were identified with esophageal ulcer. Of these patients, 13 (8%; 95% CI 4–12%) developed esophageal strictures. Strictures were identified at the time of initial endoscopy in three patients (cytomegalovirus [CMV] in one patient and gastroesophageal reflux disease in two), and at the site of ulcer healing or persistence in the other patients (four, CMV; four, idiopathic; one, herpes simplex virus [HSV]; one, CMV/HSV). Long term follow-up did not identify any additional patients who developed an esophageal stricture. Conclusion: Esophageal strictures infrequently complicate ulcerative esophagitis caused by opportunistic infections in HIV-infected patients.
Weighted least squares/MFT algorithms for linear differential system identification

Based on two different stochastic signal models, weighted least squares and adaptive weighted least-squares algorithms are developed for linear differential system parameter identification, both utilizing a modulating function technique (MFT). Comparison is made with the well known prediction error method showing that the MFT algorithms give smaller biases and standard deviations for the estimated parameters over a broad range of noise levels. >
Reducing subjectivity in the assessment of the job environment: development of the Factual Autonomy Scale (FAS)

Self-report measures of job stressors have been criticized for being too subjective, rendering relations with other variables inconclusive. The Factual Autonomy Scale (FAS) was developed to reduce subjectivity by careful choice of fact-based items. Results of two studies showed that when compared to the Job Diagnostic Survey autonomy scale, the FAS demonstrated superior convergent validity with alternate sources (supervisors in Study 1 and coworkers in Study 2), and discriminant validity when correlated with the remaining JDS core characteristics subscales. In addition, the FAS was correlated to a lesser extent than the JDS autonomy scale with job satisfaction. Incumbent FAS scores and not JDS scores correlated significantly with job performance as assessed by supervisors. It is suggested that it is feasible to develop fact-based items for scales of the work environment that reduce the degree of subjectivity of responses. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Vegetation patterns, microtopography, and soils on a Chihuahuan desert playa

Spatial patterns of vegetation on an ephemeral lake bed (playa) in the northern Chihuahuan desert were closely correlated with elevation. Distributions of spe- cies along a 265 m transect from the center to the edge of the playa showed abrupt boundaries at 110 m and 220 m. These boundaries seem related to the maximum eleva- tion covered with standing water following complete flooding, and to an edaphic boundary between heavy clay soils at the center of the playa and adjacent soils. The complete turnover in species composition across this transect, with an elevation change of only 85 cm, indicates that environmental gradients resulting from flooding and soil development are steep. Vegetative patterns within the lowest part of the playa were patchy, with. patch diameters ranging from 2 to 5 m. These patches appear to be produced by differences in the dura- tion and frequency of flooding between small knolls and depressions resulting from gilgai microtopography.
An adaptive noise cancelling system used for beam control at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center

The SLAC Linear Collider now has a total of twenty-four beam-steering feedback loops used to keep the electron and positron beams on their desired trajectories. Seven of these loops measure and control the same beam as it proceeds down the linac through the arcs to the final focus. Ideally each loop should correct only for disturbances that occur between it and the immediate upstream loop. In fact, in the original system each loop corrected for all upstream disturbances. This resulted in undesirable over-correction and ringing. The authors added MIMO (multiple input multiple output) adaptive noise cancellers to separate the signal they wish to correct from disturbances further upstream. This adaptive control improved performance in the 1992 run. >
What caused G. truncatulinoides to calcify in shallower water during the early Holocene in the western Atlantic / Gulf of Mexico?

In a recent paper we reconstructed the calcification depth of G. truncatulinoides since the last deglaciation in the Florida Straits. We highlighted a significantly different calcification depth between 8–10 ka and the late Holocene. This migration was found in three different cores over the western North Atlantic American continental margin. This paper presents new Mg/Ca ratio data on G. truncatulinoides in the Florida Strait and new stable isotopic measurements on G. crassaformis in the Gulf of Mexico. Preliminary interpretation to understand the cause of G. truncatulinoides migration in the water column at the beginning of the Holocene is given.
ALLERGIC IRRITABILITY : THE FORMATION OF ANTI-SHEEP HEMOLYTIC AMBOCEPTOR IN THE NORMAL AND TUBERCULOUS GUINEA PIG.

The guinea pig infected with virulent tubercle bacilli develops much more anti-sheep amboceptor than do controls when given like amounts of sheep red blood corpuscles. The curve of antibody production in the guinea pig when treated with sheep red blood corpuscles shows a departure from curves previously determined in other animals. These facts were ascertained as part of an effort to learn mbre of the functional nature of the inheritable factors controlling natural resistance to disease. The nature of some of the problems involved is outlined, and the limited bearing of the experiments on these is discussed.
EH/sup */-extendible hashing in a distributed environment

In today's world of computers, dealing with huge amounts of data is not unusual. The need to distribute this data in order to increase its availability and increase the performance of accessing it is more urgent than ever. For these reasons it is necessary to develop scalable distributed data structures. We propose EH*, a distributed variant of the Extendible Hashing data structure. It consists of buckets of data that are spread across multiple servers and autonomous clients that can access these buckets in parallel. EH* is scalable in the sense that it grows gracefully, one bucket at a time, to a large number of servers. The communication overhead is relatively independent of the number of servers and clients in the system. EH* offers a high query efficiency and good storage space utilization. The simulation results reveal that the method is comparable to the LH* introduced by W. Litwin (1993).
The fate of nutrients following three- and six-year burn intervals in a tallgrass prairie restoration in Wisconsin

Prescribed burning recycles essential plant nutrients and stimulates growth in prairie restoration. While reducing the content of nutrients in dry matter, prescribed burning may also alter the spatial variability and distribution of nutrients, which in turn could negatively impact long-term productivity. A study was conducted in a tallgrass prairie restoration at the Audubon Society's Goose Pond Sanctuary near Arlington, Wisconsin to characterize the content and spatial variability and distribution of macro- (i.e., N, C, P, K, Ca, Mg and S) and micro-nutrients (i.e., Zn, B, Mn, Cu, Fe, Al and Na) in the aboveground litter before burning and in the ash after burning following 3- and 6-y burn intervals. Aboveground litter mass was significantly higher in 2001 after the 3-y burn interval than in 1998 after the 6-y burn interval. The amount of preburn litter was consistently reduced by >90% for both burn intervals, but the reduction of dry matter and the reductions in mass of N, C, P, K and S were significantly higher in 2001 than in 1998. The 6-y burn interval resulted in nutrient export that was similar to nutrient inputs from atmospheric wet deposition, whereas the 3-y burn interval resulted in the export of N, K, Ca and Mg faster than they were replenished. Prescribed burning significantly affected the spatial variability of dry matter and the concentration and content of most macro- and micronutrients. However, prescribed burning had little effect on the pre- and postburn spatial distributions of macro- and micro-nutrient masses, which were similar to pre- and postburn spatial distributions of litter and ash masses, except for Fe and Al which had atypically large concentration variances.
Career Management and Planning

The world economy has witnessed many big and fast changes in this era. The companies which have old technology, deal with old world business types are experiencing fiancial problems and show a tendency to dismiss staff from employment because of not being able to keep up with the times. On the other hand, science and technology’s very fast changes caused new business areas to be created, and the companies and institutions which front these new areas, are faced with distress of absence of trained staff. Associated with the world has integrated in terms of fiance, international companies which seems like it is impossible to go bankrupt for them are disappearing, and common market- like-groupings reduce global competition to intolerable stages. Companies change hands in international money markets and stock markets in a very short time, in new corporate governance, previous working culture of the company that they will administer and the career steps that company foresees for staff have lost their importance. For these reasons, the terms of career and career management make survival sense for staff. In this article, we will examine defiition of these two terms in their stages in business world.
USING OBSERVATIONAL VS RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL DATA TO LEARN ABOUT TREATMENT EFFECTS

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are routinely used in medicine and are becoming more popular in economics. Data from RCTs are used to learn about treatment eects of interest. This paper studies what one can learn about the average treatment response (ATR) and average treatment eect (ATE) from RCT data under various assumptions and compares that to using observational data. We nd that data from an RCT need not point identify the ATR or ATE because of selection into an RCT, as subjects are not randomly assigned from the population of interest to participate in the RCT. This problem relating to external validity is the primary problem we study. So, assuming internal validity of the RCT, we study the identied features of these treatment eects under a variety of weak assumptions such as: mean independence of response from participation, an instrumental variable assumption, or that there is a linear eect of participation on response. In particular we provide assumptions sucient to point identify the ATR or the ATE from RCT data and also shed light on when the sign of the ATE can be identied. We then
Distributed and dynamic spectrum management in airborne networks

Airborne network plays an important role in operations of Air Force. Due to the rapidly-changing topologies, limited wireless communication spectrum, latency, and priorities of tasks, it is vitally important to have dynamic spectrum management between aircrafts and base station in airborne networks. Particularly, we encounter two major challenges: (1) uncertainty about channel quality, in terms of the long-term channel statistics and real-time channel states; (2) the dynamics and the possibly correlated nature of channel quality of different aircrafts. To address these two challenges, we propose a distributed framework for spectrum management in airborne networks, which includes: 1) channel quality prediction based on correlation of channel quality among aircrafts; 2) task scheduling in the aircraft. With real-world trace data, we conduct extensive experiments. Our simulation results show that our design can effectively optimize the channel utilization in airborne network.
Beta-Endorphin and Biosynthetically Related Peptides in the Central Nervous System

The challenge of writing about beta-endorphin (β-END) derives from the fact that it is a peptide with multiple identities. Because of its localization in pituitary and in brain, it can be thought of as both hormone and neuroregulator. It is a member of the opioid peptide family, along with the enkephalins and the newly discovered dynorphin and alpha-neo-endorphin. But it is also a member of a unique biosynthetic family, along with adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and many other less well renowned members. Both historically, and currently, different researchers have understandably emphasized one of these aspects over the other, making it difficult to maintain a balanced perspective on β-END. Possibly, the perception we would most like to communicate to our reader is one of multiplicity—that β-END comes in multiple form, shares common structural and functional characteristics with many other opioids, and coexists with many other nonopioid peptides. Its uniqueness stems from the interactions of these varying domains in which it shares.
White and Gray Matter Changes in Early Multiple Sclerosis (P03.049)

Objective: To evaluate damage in white and gray matter during early stages of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS-RR). Background MS is an autoimmune, inflammatory CNS disease. Early in the disease, patients report significant problems in both physical and cognitive tasks. There is a paucity of literature on the extent of damage that occurs in patients even during the early stages of MS. This study further explores areas of the brain that are most affected in the early stages of RRMS. Design/Methods: Subjects included 9 controls (ages 26-48) and 20 MS patients (ages 22-45). MS patients had onset of symptoms Results: Compared to controls, MS patients showed significant FA white matter tract abnormalities in the corpus callosum, frontal, parietal, fornix, and thalamic tracts (P Conclusions: MS patients showed significant abnormalities both in the normal appearing white and gray matter structures. This study underscores the extent of damage both in the white and gray mater even in this early stage of MS and argues for early treatment of these patients. Disclosure: Dr. Williamson has received personal compensation for activities with Accorda Therapeutics as a participant on an advisory board. Dr. Shi has nothing to disclose. Dr. Javed has received personal compensation for activities with Teva Neuroscience, Bayer Pharmaceuticals, Serono, Inc., Novartis, Questcor and Biogen Idec as a consultant and/or speaker.
Serpentinites, Hydrogen, and Life

The process of serpentinization creates strongly reducing conditions and produces fluids that are highly enriched in molecular hydrogen and methane. Some microorganisms are able to exploit these compounds to gain metabolic energy and to generate biomass, leading to the development of biological communities based on chemical energy rather than photosynthesis. The abundance of chemical energy and favorable conditions for organic synthesis make serpentinites a strong candidate for the site of the origin of life on Earth, as well as a prime target in the search for life elsewhere in our Solar System.
Investigation on Occupational Health Status in Nickel-cadmium Battery Industry

[Objective]To investigate the effect of cadmium body burden on workers exposed to cadmium,to study the long-term damage effect under different cadmium body burdens on workers'health and the countermeasures,so as to prevent and reduce the occurrence of occupational disease.[Methods] According to relevant standards and norms,occupational health survey and occupational health test in public health were conducted on nickel-cadmium battery industry in Longgang District of Shenzhen City to fully reflect the existed types,distribution and concentration(intensity) of occupational hazards,exposure,protective facilities and personal protection.[Results] Occupational hazards of Cadmium,nickel,toluene,xylene,etc existed in nickel-cadmium battery industry.Cadmium dust was seriously beyond standard;the qualified rate of cadmium in the air of workplace was 35.71%;29 of 108 workers exposed to cadmium exceed standard in urine cadmium.[Conclusion]Due to lack of occupational protection facilities,cadmium dust pollution is serious in nickel-cadmium battery industry of Shenzhen,cadmium body burden is heavy in workers with renal damage,the effective control measures should be taken.
Effects of Cadmium on Seed Germination and Early Seedlings Growth of Triticum Aestivum L.

Effects of different levels of cadmium pollution(0,10,20,40,60 mg/L) on seed germination and early seedlings growth of Triticum aestivum L.were studied by indoor petri dish germination culture method.The results showed that in early stage of germination,Cd stress had no significant effects on seed germination.However,amylase activities markedly decreased with the increase of Cd level(P0.05).The effect of Cd on wheat mainly occurred in early growth stage of the geminated seedlings after radical and germ was out of the seed capsule,the accumulation of MDA increased with Cd level(P0.05),indicating that Cd stress intensified the lipid peroxidation in wheat seedlings.Furthermore,chlorophyll content in leaves of wheat seedlings was raised by 10 mg/L Cd,while decreased when Cd level was higher than 40 mg/L(P0.05).Moreover,with the increase of Cd level,seedlings growth of wheat were inhibited by Cd stress especially above 40 mg/L(P0.05),judging from the decrease in root length,shoot height and dry weight.
Sleep Apnea in Patients with and without a Right-to-Left Shunt.

Objectives:To assess the presence of right-to-left shunting (RLS) in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and compare clinical characteristics and parameters of the sleep studies of patient...
Quantitative Tools and Health Service Industry

This paper reviews the applications of OR/MS to the Health Industry. It contrasts the successes at the micro level with the lack of fruitful applications at the macro level, and highlights the need to research the dynamics of implementation.
Effects of Protein Conformation, Apparent Solubility, and Protein-Protein Interactions on the Rates and Mechanisms of Aggregation for an IgG1Monoclonal Antibody.

Non-native protein aggregation is a key degradation pathway of immunoglobulins. In this work, the aggregation kinetics of an immunoglobulin gamma-1 monoclonal antibody (IgG1 mAb) in different solution environments was monitored over a range of incubation temperatures for up to seven months using size exclusion chromatography. Histidine and citrate buffers with/without sodium chloride were employed to modulate the mAb’s conformational stability, solubility (in the presence of polyethylene glycol, PEG), and protein–protein interactions as measured by differential scanning calorimetry, PEG precipitation, and static light scattering, respectively. The effect of these parameters on the mechanism(s) of mAb aggregation during storage at different temperatures was determined using kinetic models, which were used to fit aggregation data to determine rate constants for aggregate nucleation and growth processes. This approach was used to investigate the effects of colloidal protein–protein interactions and solubilit...
Maternal Diabetes and Infant Intelligence

The intellectual development of 33 children born to 33 diabetic Japanese mothers (ODM) was compared to that of 34 control offspring of non-diabetics delivered at Kurume University Hospital, Fukuoka, Japan, between 1987 and 1989.
A 3.25 GS/s 4-Tap analog FIR filter design with coefficient control using 6-bit split-capacitor DAC as a tunable coefficient multiplier

A proof-of-concept bandwidth and notch frequency tunable 3.25 Gs/s 4-Tap analog FIR filter is presented. A 6-b Split-capacitor DAC is introduced as a reconfigurable coefficient multiplier for frequency response adjustment. The proposed AFIR filter has been implemented in a 32nm SOI CMOS. The filter achieves capability of 240 ∼ 710 MHz low pass band tuning range and 0.54 ∼ 1.625 GHz notch frequency tuning range based on post-layout simulations while maintaining high linearity (IIP3>11.3 dBm) and consuming low power (<9.3 mW). The simulation results show a minimum SFDR of 42.7 dBc.
Exploiting topological structures for graph compression based on quadtrees

In the age of big data, the need for efficient data processing and computation has been in the forefront of research endeavors. The process of extracting information from huge data sets require novel storage techniques to aid the computing devices to perform necessary computation. With pervasive use of heterogeneous systems and advent of non-traditional computing units like GPUs, with limited memory, it has become relevant to underline the relevance of data storage, especially to utilize such computing devices. Graphs contain a plethora of information, and also can be used to represent data from a broad range of domains; real-world big data sets are effectively represented by graphs. Efficient graph compression is therefore essential for performing computations on large data sets. Quadtrees, generally used to represent images, can be used as an effective technique to perform compression. Using additional topological information that depict certain patterns for the data sets, further improvements can be made to the space complexity of storing graph data. In this paper we describe algorithms that take into consideration the properties of graphs, and perform compression based on quadtrees. The introduced techniques achieve up to 70% compression as compared to adjacency matrix representation; when compared to existing quadtree based compression method, the proposed algorithms achieve an additional 50% improvement. Techniques to both compress data and also perform queries on the compressed data itself are introduced and discussed in detail.
Predictors of outcome for pemetrexed (Pem) in metastatic NSCLC (mNSCLC).

e19025 Background: Pemetrexed (Pem) is the first agent showing different efficacy based on histology in the treatment (tx) of NSCLC. Our goal was to identify outcome predictors in patients (pts) wi...
Integration of Automated Neural Processing into an Army-Relevant Multitasking Simulation Environment

Brain-computer interface technology has experienced a rapid evolution over recent years. Recent studies have demonstrated the feasibility of detecting the presence or absence of targets in visual imagery from the neural response alone. Classification accuracy persists even when the imagery is presented rapidly. While this capability offers significant promise for applications that require humans to process large volumes of imagery, it remains unclear how well this approach will translate to more real-world scenarios. To explore the viability of automated neural processing in an Army-relevant operational context, we designed and built a simulation environment based on a ground vehicle crewstation. Here, we describe the process of integrating and testing the automated neural processing capability within this simulation environment. Our results indicate the potential for significant benefits to be realized by incorporating brain-computer interface technology into future Army systems.
Teaching Emergent Literacy Skills to Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder

This article provides six fundamental steps for using a task analysis to teach emergent literacy skills to young learners with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Compared to general education peers, s...
Comparison of Precise Electronic Charge Densities and Electrostatic Potentials Obtained from Different AB INITIO Approaches

The treatment of molecular systems via standard ab initio methods requires the use of a large amount of computational resources. With present ab initio techniques, it is possible to obtain electronic charge densities and electrostatic potentials at the HF and MP2 levels of theory, restricted however to about 250 basis functions for the HF and about 100 for the MP2 calculations. The most sophisticated level of theory for computing charge densities and electrostatic potentials within the Gaussian 88 program is the MP2/6-311++G(3df,3pd) procedure. Unfortunately, its use is only feasible for molecules containing up to 2 or 3 atoms. As an alternative solution for calculating precise electronic charge densities and electrostatic potentials, we now have access to methods based on Local Density Functional theory1. These schemes produce very accurate electronic charge densities and electrostatic potentials at a relatively low cost in computer resources (N3 for LDF against N4 for HF and N5 for MP2); the results compare in quality with the best standard ab initio calculations.
Recognition, assessment and treatment of depression in geriatric nursing home residents.

Depression is the most common, treatable psychiatric disorder found in elderly nursing home residents. Approximately 1.5 million people older than the age of 65 currently reside in nursing homes, and this number is projected to increase substantially with the aging of the U.S. population. Estimates for major depression range from 12% to 22% and 16% to 30% for minor depression, yet the majority of cases remain either unrecognized or untreated. Untreated depression is associated with increased morbidity, mortality, functional impairment, and decreased quality of life for residents. Risk factors for depression include physical illness and disability, polypharmacy, nursing home placement, and environmental factors. The clinical features of depression are often uncharacteristic of the mood changes noted in younger individuals, including somatic symptoms, eating disorders, anxiety, aggression, and cognitive and functional impairment. The on-site nurse practitioner in the nursing home has a pivotal role as a member of the interdisciplinary care team in assessing and managing depression collaboratively with the nursing home staff. Treatment modalities include antidepressant therapy, psychiatric evaluation, psychotherapy, and electroconvulsive therapy. Improving the nursing home environment maybe a key factor in preventing and treating depression in elders. Language: en
Discontinuities in granular materials: Particle-level mechanisms

Discontinuous planes often develop in soils and affect the mechanical behavior (stiffness and strength) and transport properties of sediments (fluid migration and diffusion). The fundamental understanding of the development of discontinuities in soils must recognize their inherent granular nature and effective-stress dependent behavior. We use complementary experimental, analytical and numerical methods to study particle-scale mechanisms involved in contraction-driven shear failure due to mineral dissolution, desiccation cracks, and hydraulic fractures. We show that: (1) under zero-lateral strain conditions, particle-scale volume contraction causes a stress decrease from k0-to-k a so that shear strain localization can develop in sediments with post-peak strain softening response; (2) the development of desiccation cracks in fine grained sediments is determined by the invasion of the air-water interface membrane and ensuing changes in particle forces and displacements; (3) hydraulic fracture results from positive feedback between changes in pore size and the associated changes in particle-level capillary forces (immiscible fluids), seepage drag forces (miscible fluids) and skeletal forces. These particle-level mechanisms are compatible with the effective stress dependent frictional behavior of soils.
Mass, energy, and momentum capture from stellar winds by magnetized and unmagnetized planets: implications for atmospheric erosion and habitability

The extent to which a magnetosphere protects its planetary atmosphere from stellar wind ablation depends upon how well it prevents energy and momentum exchange with the atmosphere and how well it traps otherwise escaping plasma. We focus on the former, and provide a formalism for estimating approximate upper limits on mass, energy, and momentum capture, and use them to constrain loss rates. Our approach quantifies a competition between the local deflection of incoming plasma by a planetary magnetic field and the increase in area for solar wind mass capture provided by this magnetosphere when the wind and planetary fields incur magnetic reconnection. Solar wind capture can be larger for a magnetized planet versus an unmagnetized planet with small ionosphere, even if the rate of energy transfer is less. We find this to be the case throughout Earth's history since the lunar forming impact-- the likely start of the geodynamo. Focusing of incoming charged particles near the magnetic poles can increase the local energy flux for a strong enough planetary field and weak enough wind, and we find that this may be the case for Earth's future. The future protective role of Earth's magnetic field would then depend on its ability to trap outgoing plasma. This competition between increased collection area and reduced inflow speed from a magnetosphere is likely essential in determining the net protective role of planetary fields and its importance in sustaining habitability, and can help explain the current ion loss rates from Mars, Venus and Earth.
Should I stay or go? Examining indicators of relationship commitment in aggressive relationships

The research on the sustainability of aggressive relationships has yet to investigate the way the appraisal process to “settle” (satisfice) or to seek the best option (maximize) in our relationship...
Bending of elastic plates

We consider the averaging operators \({\fancyscript{I}}_{\alpha -1}\) and \(\fancyscript{J}_{\alpha -1}\) defined by $$\begin{aligned}&({\fancyscript{I}}_{\alpha -1}s)(x_\gamma )=\frac{1}{h_0}\,\big [x_3^{\,\alpha -1}s(x_i)\big ]_{x_3\,=\,-h_0/2}^{x_3\,=\,h_0/2}, \nonumber \\&(\fancyscript{J}_{\alpha -1}s)(x_\gamma )=\frac{1}{h_0}\,\int \limits _{-h_0/2}^{h_0/2}x_3^{\,\alpha -1}s(x_i)\,dx_3. \end{aligned}$$
Hybrids between durum wheat and Thinopyrum junceiforme: Prospects for breeding for scab resistance

Tetraploid wheatgrass, Thinopyrum junceiforme(2n = 4x = 28; J1J1J2J2), a wild relative of wheat, is an excellent source of resistance to Fusarium head blight. Intergeneric F1 hybrids (2n = 4x = 28; ABJ1J2) between durum wheat (Triticum turgidum; 2n = 4x = 28; AABB) cultivars Lloyd or Langdon and Th. junceiforme were synthesized. Most of the pairing in F1 hybrids was between the J1- and J2-genome chromosomes. Some pairing occurred between wheat chromosomes and alien chromosomes, resulting in segmental exchange that was confirmed by fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH). The F1hybrids were largely male-sterile and were backcrossed, as the female parent, to the respective durum cultivar. Backcrosses from Lloyd × Th. junceiforme hybrids yielded fertile partial amphiploids (2n = 6x = 42; AABBJ1J2) as a result of functioning of unreduced female gametes of the hybrid. Lloyd proved to be a more useful durum parent than Langdon in crosses with Th. junceiforme designed to transfer scab resistance genes. Pairing in the amphiploids was characterized by preferential pairing,which resulted in bivalent formation. However, some intergeneric pairing also occurred. Several fertile hybrid derivatives were produced by further backcrossing and selfing. The introduction of alien chromatin into the durum complement was confirmed by FISH. Hybrid derivative lines had significantly lower mean infection scores (p = 0.01), the best showing 10.93% infection, whereas the parental durum cultivars had 70.34% to 89.46% infection. Hybridization with wild relatives may offer an excellent means of introducing scab resistance into durum wheat.