cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A simple fluid dynamic model of renal pelvis pressures during ureteroscopic kidney stone treatment

Ureteroscopy is an endoscopic kidney stone removal procedure which increases the internal pressure in the renal pelvis, the kidney’s urinary collecting system. Elevated renal pelvic pressure may result in systemic absorption of irrigation fluid and urine, which can increase the risk of postoperative fever and sepsis. Urologists have investigated the effects of various surgical parameters on the renal pelvic pressure. However, it still remains unknown which surgical parameter has the most dominant effect on the renal pelvic pressure over time. Here we develop a physical model that computes the renal pelvic pressure as a function of time based on parameters that can be varied during ureteroscopy. The model is developed by applying pipe network analysis to the regions of the urinary tract that are involved in a representative ureteroscopic procedure. Our model unifies the findings of the previously published studies on this topic; an ex-vivo porcine study and an in-vivo human study. Furthermore it allows simulation of surgical procedures based on various techniques. Our simulation demonstrates that the two strong regulators of renal pelvis pressure during ureteroscopy are the size of the gap between ureteroscope and ureteral access sheath and the frequency and duration of ureteroscope withdrawal.
A prototype framework for parallel visualization of large flow data

Abstract Scientific visualization seeks to provide deep insight into the complex pattern underlying big data, while flow visualization plays a crucial role in oceanographic-atmospheric modeling and computational fluid dynamics simulation. As an increasingly important strategy, parallel visualization incorporates data visualization with parallel computing by means of MPI (Message Passing Interface) to achieve efficient visual analysis to facilitate scientific study. This paper presents a prototype framework for parallel visualization of large flow data, involving MPI as the low-level parallel computing paradigm, DIY (Do It Yourself) as a block-oriented data-parallel programming library on top of MPI, OSUFlow as a geometry-based flow visualization engine, and VTK (Visualization Toolkit) for data input, graphics rendering, and scene interaction. It exposes the combined power of DIY and OSUFlow, including parallel yet seamless generation of streamlines as well as pathlines from vector data defined on Cartesian, rectilinear, and curvilinear grids, to a broad community of high-performance flow visualization through VTK. Preliminary results show that this framework is capable of exploiting the horsepower of a vast number of processors to accelerate data processing and visualization for explorative analysis of massive steady/unsteady volume flows.
Ultrahigh-power laser-plasma interaction

Substantial progress has occurred in the last decade in understanding and exploiting the interaction of high-intensity laser light with matter. Advances have been made in the fields of laser fusion, soft x-ray lasers, and laser-produced x-ray sources. We briefly describe the physics of intense laser-matter interaction and illustrate our present understanding by describing several recent experimental results.
Why Rape is Different

"Short of homicide, rape is the ‘ultimate violation of self," as the Supreme Court stated in Roper v. Georgia. Yet, comprehending the doctrine and controversy of rape in this country requires an understanding of why rape differs from other crimes on so many dimensions. This introduction to Fordham Law School's panel, Men, Women and Rape, summarizes briefly some of the unique historical, sociological, and psychological aspects of rape as a backdrop for discussions of its legal elements. These aspects range from the stereotyping and stigma of rape (with respect to gender and race in particular), to the reporting of the crime and its consequences.
Evidence for charge transfer and proximate magnetism in graphene– α − RuCl 3 heterostructures

In this study of electronic transport in devices where flakes of the layered antiferromagnetic insulator $\ensuremath{\alpha}$-RuCl${}_{3}$ are placed on top of monolayer graphene, a significant charge transfer is found to occur, with graphene becoming strongly hole doped as electrons move into the $\ensuremath{\alpha}$-RuCl${}_{3}$. Due to imperfect contact between the two materials, transport through intrinsic graphene is observed in parallel, which unexpectedly reveals signatures of magnetic transitions in the neighboring $\ensuremath{\alpha}$-RuCl${}_{3}$.
Creating life-long anglers: impacts of a high school fishing program on youth fishing, related knowledge, confidence and perception of barriers

Youth fishing programs are an important gateway into continued fishing participation. With the current focus on R3 (recruitment, retention, and reactivation), it is important to understand the impacts fishing programs can have on their participants' knowledge, confidence, and interest in continuation. In this study, we conducted retrospective pre-post surveys of participants in a high school fishing program in Florida, USA, and compared results to a group of non-participating peers. We found significant increases in knowledge and confidence related to fishing skills among participants and significantly higher skills and confidence reported by participants as compared to non-participants. We also saw higher levels of self-identity as an angler as well as more desire to continue fishing on their own as compared to non-participants. The positive impacts of programs like this are important to the recruitment and retention of young anglers and continued evaluation of their effectiveness will lead to improved outreach programming.
Ancient Remedy for a Modern Disease: Will Celastrol Become a Treatment for Aortic Valve Stenosis?

Calcific aortic valve disease (CAVD) is characterized histologically by progressive aortic valve fibrocalcific changes that lead to stenosis of the valve and obstruction to blood flow. It is becoming more apparent that progression of aortic stenosis (AS) is not simply a disease of aging, but rather
Pilot trial of semi-automated medical note writing using lexeme hypotheses.

Abstract Clinicians write a billion free text notes per year. These notes are typically replete with errors of all types. No established automated method can extract data from this treasure trove. The practice of medicine therefore remains haphazard and chaotic, resulting in vast economic waste. The lexeme hypotheses are based on our analysis of how records are created. They enable a computer system to predict what issue a clinician will need to address next, based on the environment in which the clinician is working, and what responses the clinician has selected to date. The system uses a lexicon storing the issues (queries) and a range of responses to the issues. When the clinician selects a response, a text fragment is added to the output file. In the first phase of this work, the notes of 69 returning hemophilia patients were scrutinized, and the lexicon was expanded to 847 lexeme queries and 7995 responses to enable the construction of completed notes. The quality of lexeme-generated notes from 20 consecutive subjects was then compared to the clinicians’ conventional clinic notes. The system generated grammatically correct notes. In comparison to the traditional clinic note, the lexeme-generated notes were more complete (88 % compared with 62 %), and had less typographical and grammatical errors (0.8 versus 3.5 errors per note). The system notes and traditional notes averaged about 800 words, but the traditional notes had a much wider distribution of lengths. The note-creation rate from marshalling the data to completion using the system averaged 80 wpm, twice as fast as the typical clinician can type. The lexeme method generates more complete, grammatical and organized notes faster than traditional methods. The notes are completely computerized at inception, and they incorporate prompts for clinicians to address otherwise overlooked items. This pilot justifies further exploration of this methodology.
Chylous Leak During Posterior Approach to Juvenile Scoliosis Surgery: A Case Report.

Author(s): Shah, Harsh A; Rynecki, Nicole; Vives, Michael J; Choi, Daniel E; Sambol, Justin T; Sabharwal, Sanjeev | Abstract: CaseWe report the first documented case of chylous leak recognized intraoperatively during posterior spinal instrumentation and fusion for juvenile scoliosis in a female patient with a history of thoracotomy and decortication for an empyema.ConclusionsThoracic duct injury can lead to severe morbidity and mortality because of chylothorax formation. Although chylous leaks are a well-documented complication of the anterior approach to spine surgery, leaks during the posterior approach are rarely reported. When these chylous leaks are recognized intraoperatively, the likelihood of serious complications may be minimized by drain placement before closure.
Dry Pressing Neat Active Materials into Ultrahigh Mass Loading Sandwich Cathodes Enabled by Holey Graphene Scaffold

High areal performance from high cathode mass loading is an essential requirement to bring battery chemistries beyond lithium (Li) ion, such as lithium-sulfur (Li-S) or lithium-selenium (Li-Se), to...
Methane dehydroaromatization using Mo supported on sulfated zirconia catalyst: Effect of promoters

Abstract Methane dehydroaromatization (MDHA) is a direct approach of converting methane to aromatics and H2. Mo doped HZSM-5/HMCM-22 are considered as the most active and stable catalysts for MDHA. It is generally thought to involve a process in which Mo oxides convert to MoCy/MoOxCy active species that activate CH4 to C2Hy dimers. In a final step, C2Hy dimers undergo oligomerization on zeolite Bronsted acid sites. An alternative solid acid support is sulfated zirconia (SZ), which is known to contain strong Bronsted acidity. Carbon deposition is significant. Here, MDHA is compared to Pt, Pd, Cr, W promoters for Mo/SZ catalyst to decrease carbon deposition and increase aromatics selectivity. The catalysts are characterized using BET, SEM-EDS, DRIFTS, Raman Spectroscopy, XRD, XANES and TPO. Activity varied with different promoters. Less carbon deposition and slower deactivation were observed for Pd, Pt and Cr promoted catalysts, while W promotion resulted in more carbon deposition and rapid deactivation Compared to Pd and W promotion, Pt and Cr increased higher aromatics selectivity for Mo/SZ.
Ecdysone regulates the Drosophila imaginal disc epithelial barrier, determining the duration of regeneration checkpoint delay

Abstract Regeneration of Drosophila imaginal discs, larval precursors to adult tissues, produces a systemic response, a regeneration checkpoint that coordinates regenerative growth with developmental progression. This regeneration checkpoint is coordinated by the release of the relaxin-family peptide Dilp8 from regenerating tissues. Secreted Dilp8 protein can be detected within the imaginal disc lumen. The disc epithelium separates from the lumen from the larval hemolymph and the targets for Dilp8 activity in the brain and prothoracic gland. Here we demonstrate that the imaginal disc epithelial barrier limits Dilp8 signaling and checkpoint delay. We also observe that the wing imaginal disc barrier becomes more restrictive during development, becoming impermeable only at end of the final larval instar. This change in barrier permeability is driven by the steroid hormone ecdysone and correlates with changes in localization of Coracle, a component of the septate junctions that is required for the late, impermeable epithelial barrier. Based on these observations, we propose that the imaginal disc epithelial barrier regulates the duration of the regenerative checkpoint, providing a mechanism by which tissue function can signal the completion of regeneration. Summary Statement Ecdysone signaling directs the Drosophila third instar imaginal disc epithelial barrier to mature, becoming more restrictive. This mature barrier limits Dilp8 signaling and determines the duration of the regeneration checkpoint.
Opportunities for intermediate temperature renewable ammonia electrosynthesis

Production of ammonia using only renewable energy is achievable through various routes; however, direct electrochemical conversion technologies have achieved significant attention. Despite this attention, the promise for electrochemical ammonia synthesis is unclear, as most electrochemical technology performance is well below that of the Haber–Bosch process (state of the art). Thus, there is a growing interest in defining realistic performance targets which would make renewable ammonia derived from electrochemical systems a reality. However, most efforts thus far have only explored optimizing single technology specific performance metrics such as faradaic efficiency. Optimization of this single performance metric often occurs at the expense of the rate of production which drives implementation and thus can be misleading. Here, we aim to outline the performance targets achievable for renewable ammonia produced through intermediate temperature electrosynthesis. Through exploring the thermodynamic and kinetic challenges, we highlight the optimum expected rate of production and energy efficiency for intermediate temperature electrosynthesis. We also review current experimental reports focused on intermediate temperature ammonia electrosynthesis and detail materials related opportunities in catalyst and solid-electrolyte design. Finally, we discuss some of the challenges related to reporting these desired metrics due to measurement error, and offer solutions to mitigate these challenges.
Impact of On-Site Hospital Medicine Curriculum on Preceptor Perception of Rotation.

Purpose To assess the feasibility of an on-site, case-based curriculum delivered by preceptors and to assess preceptors' perceptions of the impact of the curriculum on rotation performance and ability to teach. Methods Hospital medicine preceptors were surveyed before and after curriculum deployment using a previously developed survey. Results Preceptors had positive perceptions of the impact of the curriculum. Rotation performance for health care systems topics had the greatest increase. Conclusions Curriculum delivery through on-site, case-based teaching might be well received by preceptors. Despite increased demands on preceptor time, preceptor response to the introduction of a structured curriculum during the second-year internal medicine rotation was positive. Use of preceptor-delivered, preprepared, case-based curricular content might be a tool worth testing in further contexts.
Patients Discharged From Hospitals Without a Clostridioides difficile Infection Increase the Risk of CDI in Family Members

Background: Clostridioides difficile infections (CDIs) present and are transmitted in both community and healthcare settings. Patients who become colonized or infected during hospitalization may be discharged into the community. Asymptomatic spread and/or community-based transmission have also been posited as alternative sources for healthcare-onset CDI cases. The objective of our study was to determine whether individuals are at greater risk for developing a CDI if they have a family member that spent time hospitalized in the prior 90 days, even if the hospitalized family member had no prior diagnosis of CDI. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using the Truven Marketscan database from 2001 through 2017; both commercial claims and Medicare supplemental data were included. We categorized enrollees by age, sex, month, year, exposure to a family member with CDI, hospitalization, or high- or low-risk antibiotic use in the prior 90 days. We then subdivided these groups based on the total amount of time that other family members spent hospitalized in the prior 90 days: ≤4 days, 5–10, 11–20, 21–30, 41–50 or >50 days. Within each subgroup, we computed the incidence of CDI. We then used a stratified regression model (log-linear quasi-Poisson) to estimate the incidence of CDI in each enrollment bin. Finally, we repeated our analysis using all CDI cases, CDI cases with no prior CDI in the family, and cases without prior hospitalization. Results: Over the 17-year study period, >5.1 billion enrollment months were represented in our dataset. We identified 224,818 cases of CDI, 223,744 cases without prior CDI in a family member and 164,650 CDI cases where the case patient had no prior hospitalization. Table 1 depicts the estimated risk (incident rate ratios) associated with the amount of time that other family members spent hospitalized in the prior 90 days. There is a very clear dose–response curve, and the relative risk for CDI increase as the amount of time other family members spent hospitalized increased. Other risk factors included prior hospitalization, low- and high-risk antibiotics, age, female sex and exposure to a family member with CDI. Conclusions: Having a family member who has been hospitalized in the prior 90 days significantly increases the risk for CDI, even if the family member did not have CDI. The total amount of time other family members spent in the hospital is positively associated with the level of risk. Funding: CDC Modeling Infectious Diseases (MInD) in Healthcare Network Disclosures: None
Infinite Divisibility and General Null Arrays

Compound Poisson distributions and approximation, i.i.d. and null arrays, infinitely divisible distributions, Levy measure, characteristics, Levy– Khinchin formula, convergence and closure, one-dimensional criteria, positive and symmetric terms, general null arrays, limit laws and convergence criteria, sums and extremes, diffuse distributions
ADC/DAC resolution tolerance improvement by implementing probabilistic shaping distributions in PAM and QAM modulation schemes

In this paper, we simulated the ADC/DAC resolution tolerance improvement by implementing probabilistic shaping (PS) distributions in PAM and QAM modulation schemes for 400G and 800G transmissions. We compared PS- and uniformdistributed PM-16QAM, PM-32QAM, and PM-64QAM performance in 800G coherent transmission in FR links. The PS distribution scheme is based on Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution, and 0.1378 FEC overhead is chosen. We demonstrate that for any of these modulation schemes the post-BER (post-FEC bit-error rate) performance is more sensitive to ADC resolution. Moreover, the application of PS distribution can offer us 0.5-dB improvement in received optical power (ROP) for LDPC-coded PM-16QAM and 0.7-dB improvement for PM-32QAM, while PM-64QAM can get 0.6-dB improvement in ROP. For PAM transmission, we simulated a 4-channel CWDM 400G transmission system with wavelengths 1271 nm, 1291 nm, 1311 nm, and 1331 nm for 4-PAM modulation scheme. The PS distribution scheme we used in PAM is exponential distribution, and the FEC overhead is also 0.1378. We demonstrated that the pre-SER (pre-FEC symbol-error rate) performance is also more sensitive to the ADC resolution compared to DAC resolution. Therefore, the PS LPDCcoded modulation represents a great candidate to improve the system performance and reduce the cost.
Data-Driven Approach For Respiratory Motion Correction In Cardiac Spect Data

Cardiac SPECT perfusion imaging is important for diagnosis and evaluation of coronary artery diseases. However, the acquired image data are subject to motion blur due to patient respiratory motion. We propose a maximum-likelihood estimation (MLE) approach to determine a surrogate respiratory signal from short-time acquisition frames for motion correction. In the experiments we validated this approach first on a set of simulated phantom data with known respiratory motion, and then on clinical acquisitions from seven subjects. The results demonstrate that the proposed MLE approach could yield an accurate motion signal even with acquisition frame duration as short as 100 ms, and outperformed center-of-mass (CoM) and Laplacian eigenmaps (LE) methods.
Reducing Prejudice Through Law: Evidence from Experimental Psychology

Can antidiscrimination law effect changes in public attitudes toward minority groups? Could learning, for instance, that employment discrimination against people with clinical depression is illegal cause members of the public to be more accepting toward people with mental health conditions? In this Article, we report the results of a series of experiments that test the effect of inducing the belief that discrimination against a given group is legal (vs. illegal) on interpersonal attitudes toward members of that group. We find that learning that discrimination is unlawful does not simply lead people to believe that an employer is more likely to face punishment for discriminatory behavior. It also leads people to report less prejudicial attitudes and greater feelings of interpersonal warmth toward members of that group. Conversely, when people learn that the law tolerates discrimination against a group, it licenses more prejudicial attitudes. Importantly, we demonstrate that individuals vary substantially in the degree to which they view courts as legitimate authorities, and that this orientation is systematically related to the degree to which prejudicial attitudes shift in response to legal rules.
Integrated Photonics Technology for Earth Science Remote-Sensing Lidar

We present recent progress on a photonic integrated lidar system for carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) active remote sensing at 1572.335 nm. With integration, the cost, size, weight and power (CSWaP) of the system are significantly improved. System and subsystem level results are demonstrated.
Edge Operators in Geometry

Differential operators with degeneracies of various sorts have been studied by a large number of mathematicians, with results ranging from those concerning very special operators to those concerning analytic and algebraic properties of general classes of operators. Much of the analysis has focused on elliptic operators, and the main concern has been to show that many properties usually associated with elliptic operators or elliptic boundary problems have analogues in a more general context. In this note we describe how a certain class of operators with uniformly controlled degeneracies may be analyzed. These are called edge operators because they arise when nondegenerate elliptic operators are written in polar coordinates around an edge of a domain, or indeed around any distinguished submanifold; however as we shall indicate, they also arise in many other geometrically natural situations. Their analysis is undertaken by constructing an algebra of pseudodifferential operators sharing the same type of degeneracy which is large enough to contain parametrices for many of the elliptic elements of the original ring of edge differential operators. These parametrices are constructed explicitly, and this allows us to conclude a great deal of detailed information about solutions of the original equations. Operators in a somewhat restricted subclass of the class of elliptic operators have very good analytic properties on a scale of weighted Sobolev or Holder spaces for all but a discrete set of values of the weight parameter — for many values of the weight parameter the operators are semi-Fredholm, with infinite dimensional kernel or cokernel, although occasionally it will have neither hence be Fredholm. On the other hand for certain values of the weight parameter it may have both, hence the most we can conclude is that the range is closed. Simultaneously we obtain a structure theory for the generalized inverses for these operators as well as the ‘Bergman’ projectors onto the kernel or cokernel.
Extending parallelization of the self-organizing map by combining data and network partitioned methods

Data partitioning and network partitioning parallelization methods are combined.Large performance gains are found on small networks.The network is parallelized to the level of a single node dimension.Parallelization is maximized to allow robustness for future hardware. High-dimensional data is pervasive in many fields such as engineering, geospatial, and medical. It is a constant challenge to build tools that help people in these fields understand the underlying complexities of their data. Many techniques perform dimensionality reduction or other "compression" to show views of data in either two or three dimensions, leaving the data analyst to infer relationships with remaining independent and dependent variables. Contextual self-organizing maps offer a way to represent and interact with all dimensions of a data set simultaneously. However, computational times needed to generate these representations limit their feasibility to realistic industry settings. Batch self-organizing maps provide a data-independent method that allows the training process to be parallelized and therefore sped up, saving time and money involved in processing data prior to analysis. This research parallelizes the batch self-organizing map by combining network partitioning and data partitioning methods with CUDA on the graphical processing unit to achieve significant training time reductions. Reductions in training times of up to twenty-five times were found while using map sizes where other implementations have shown weakness. The reduced training times open up the contextual self-organizing map as viable option for engineering data visualization.
The Association Between Daytime Intensivist Physician Staffing and Mortality in the Context of Other ICU Organizational Practices: A Multicenter Cohort Study*

Objective Daytime intensivist physician staffing is associated with improved outcomes in the intensive care unit (ICU). However, it is unclear whether this association persists in the era of interprofessional, protocol-directed critical care. We sought to reexamine the association between daytime intensivist physician staffing and ICU mortality and determine if interprofessional rounding and protocols for mechanical ventilation in part mediate this relationship.
The Effect of Timbre, Pitch, and Vibrato on Vocal Pitch-Matching Accuracy

Summary Objective/hypothesis This study seeks to examine how target stimulus timbre, vibrato, pitch, and singer classification affect pitch-matching accuracy. Study design This is a repeated-measures factorial design. Methods Source signals were synthesized with a source slope of −12 dB/octave with and without vibrato at each of the pitches, C4, B4, and F5. These source signals were filtered using five formant patterns (A–E) constituting a total of 30 stimuli (5 formant patterns × 3 pitches × 2 vibrato conditions). Twelve sopranos and 11 mezzo-sopranos with at least 3 years of individual voice training were recruited from the University Of Tennessee, Knoxville, School of Music and the Knoxville Opera Company. Each singer attempted to match the pitch of all 30 stimuli presented twice in a random order. Results Results indicated that there was no significant effect of formant pattern on pitch-matching accuracy. With increasing pitch from C4 to F5, pitch-matching accuracy increased in midpoint of the vowel condition but not in prephonatory set condition. Mezzo-sopranos moved toward being in tune from prephonatory to midpoint of the vowel. However, sopranos at C4 sang closer to being in tune at prephonatory but lowered the pitch at the midpoint of the vowel. Presence or absence of vibrato did not affect the pitch-matching accuracy. However, the interesting finding of the study was that singers attempted to match the timbre of stimuli with vibrato. Conclusions The results of this study show that pitch matching is a complex process affected by many parameters.
Conditional lethal mutants of the small filamentous coliphage M13: I. Isolation, complementation, cell killing, time of cistron action

Abstract Ninety-six conditional lethal mutants of coliphage M13 have been isolated and assigned to complementation groups as part of a program to determine the number of cistrons and their functions in this small DNA virus. Genetic complementation tests show that the 63 temperature sensitive (ts) mutants isolated fall into 5 cistrons and the 33 amber (am) mutants into these same 5 and 1 additional cistron. With the limited evidence on hand it is not possible to conclude whether these comprise all the cistrons in the phage. Temperature shift experiments carried out on ts mutants from cistrons 1 through 5 show that cistron 2 starts to act during the early minutes of M13 infection, while cistrons 1, 3, 4, and 5 start to act only late in the latent period. The functions of all 5 of these cistrons are needed to maintain phage production once it has begun. The phage production stops immediately if any of the late functions are blocked, but only gradually after the early function is blocked. Mutants from the early and late cistrons differ dramatically from each other in their effect on host cells under nonpermissive conditions. Neither am nor ts mutants in the early cistron affect the viability or growth rate of the infected cells, while the mutants in all the late cistrons kill the cells, stopping their growth soon after infection. The wild-type M13 phage does not kill the cells under normal conditions of infection, but does decrease their growth rate. It appears that the host cells are killed when the early cistron is operative and phage production is prevented by a block in any one of the late cistrons.
Continuous curvelet transform: II. Discretization and frames

We develop a unifying perspective on several decompositions exhibiting directional parabolic scaling. In each decomposition, the individual atoms are highly anisotropic at fine scales, with effective support obeying the parabolic scaling principle length ≈ width^2. Our comparisons allow to extend Theorems known for one decomposition to others. We start from a Continuous Curvelet Transform f → Γ_f (a, b, θ) of functions f(x_1, x_2) on R^2, with parameter space indexed by scale a > 0, location b ∈ R^2, and orientation θ. The transform projects f onto a curvelet γ_(abθ), yielding coefficient Γ_f (a, b, θ) = f, _(γabθ); the corresponding curvelet γ_(abθ) is defined by parabolic dilation in polar frequency domain coordinates. We establish a reproducing formula and Parseval relation for the transform, showing that these curvelets provide a continuous tight frame. The CCT is closely related to a continuous transform introduced by Hart Smith in his study of Fourier Integral Operators. Smith’s transform is based on true affine parabolic scaling of a single mother wavelet, while the CCT can only be viewed as true affine parabolic scaling in euclidean coordinates by taking a slightly different mother wavelet at each scale. Smith’s transform, unlike the CCT, does not provide a continuous tight frame. We show that, with the right underlying wavelet in Smith’s transform, the analyzing elements of the two transforms become increasingly similar at increasingly fine scales. We derive a discrete tight frame essentially by sampling the CCT at dyadic intervals in scale a_j = 2^−j, at equispaced intervals in direction, θ_(jl), = 2π2^(−j/2)l, and equispaced sampling on a rotated anisotropic grid in space. This frame is a complexification of the ‘Curvelets 2002’ frame constructed by Emmanuel Candes et al. [1, 2, 3]. We compare this discrete frame with a composite system which at coarse scales is the same as this frame but at fine scales is based on sampling Smith’s transform rather than the CCT. We are able to show a very close approximation of the two systems at fine scales, in a strong operator norm sense. Smith’s continuous transform was intended for use in forming molecular decompositions of Fourier Integral Operators (FIO’s). Our results showing close approximation of the curvelet frame by a composite frame using true affine paraboblic scaling at fine scales allow us to cross-apply Smith’s results, proving that the discrete curvelet transform gives sparse representations of FIO’s of order zero. This yields an alternate proof of a recent result of Candes and Demanet about the sparsity of FIO representations in discrete curvelet frames.
A targeted intervention for depression initiated during pulmonary rehabilitation improves adherence to exercise, mood and dyspnea after acute exacerbation of COPD (AECOPD)

Co morbid depression can adversely impact quality of life in COPD and may contribute to failures in treatment adherence. AECOPD are often associated with disease progression, alterations in mood and advancing disability. Patients admitted to an inpatient rehabilitation facility after AECOPD and were screened for major depressive disorder (MDD) with the 17 item Hamilton Depression Scale (Score≥14) and the SCID/DSM-IV. Patients identified with MDD where then randomized to a Treatment as Usual group (TAU) or an intervention group focused on working with a care manager in the community after discharge (PID-C). Dyspnea was rated using the PFSDQ-M. The treatment9s beneficial effect on dyspnea is particularly encouraging in this cohort of patients with advanced COPD, mortality=22.5% in 52 weeks with a propensity to neglect treatment because of physical discomfort, demoralization, and the high demands of their exercise program. The study’s findings are encouraging because they suggest that adherence enhancement is both feasible, effective and offers a greater reward in terms of decreased symptoms (dyspnea) when maintenance activity is coupled with the care management intervention. NIMHR01HLB071992P30;MH068638P30MH085943;Sanchez Foundation;Will Rogers Institute.
Effect of types of carbon black and cure conditions on dynamic mechanical properties of elastomers

The dynamic mechanical properties of natural rubber and bromobutyl rubber (used in automotive suspension parts) were investigated to determine the effect of particle size of carbon black filler and state of cure of the rubber matrix. The results indicate that state of cure has little effect on storage modulus (hardness and stiffness). However, elastomers with a desirable storage modulus, with low sensitivity to temperature change, can be developed using a filler with a small particle size.
Membrane-Mediated Peptide Conformation Change from α-Monomers to β-Aggregates

Jarrett and Lansbury's nucleation-dependent polymerization model describes the generic process of β-amyloid formation for a large number of diverse proteins and peptides. Here, we discuss a case of membrane-mediated nucleation that leads to β-aggregation. We studied the membrane-mediated conformation changes of the peptide penetratin, and the results of our study led us to a free-energy description for a membrane-mediated version of the Jarrett-Lansbury model. Like the prototype β-amyloid peptide Alzheimer's Aβ 1–40, penetratin is a random-coil monomer in solution but changes to α-helical or β-like conformations in the presence of anionic lipid membranes. We measured the correlations between the membrane-bound conformation of penetratin and its effect on the bilayer thickness in four different lipids with various degrees of chain unsaturation. We found a new lipid chain effect on peptide conformation. Our results showed that the interface of a lipid bilayer provided energetically favorable binding sites for penetratin in the α-helical form. However, increasing the bound molecules/lipid ratio elevated the energy level of the bound states toward a higher level that favored creation of small β-aggregates. The binding to the β-aggregate became more energetically favorable as the aggregate grew larger. The peptide aggregates were visible on the surface of giant unilamellar vesicles. Thus, membrane binding facilitates nucleation-dependent β-aggregation, which could be the prototype for the general membrane-mediated pathway to β-amyloid formation.
Use of chance-constrained programming to account for stochastic variation in the A -matrix of large-scale linear programs: a forestry application

Linear programming (LP) is widely used to select the manner in which forest lands are managed. Because of the nature of forestry, this application has several unique characteristics. For example, the models consider many different management actions that take place over many years, thus resulting in very large LP formulations with diverse data. In addition, almost none of the data are known with certainty. The most pervasive occurrence of stochastic information is in the production coefficients, which indicate the uncertain response of the managed forest ecosystem to various management options. A “chance-constrained” approach to handling this uncertainty would often be appropriate in forestry applications —managers and decision makers would like to specify a probability with which uncertain constraints are met. Unfortunately, chance-constrained procedures forA-matrix uncertainty produce nonlinear programming problems, which cannot currently be solved for large-scale forestry applications. This paper utilizes a Monte Carlo simulation approach (a linear program is repeatedly solved with randomly perturbedA-matrix coefficients) to describe the distribution of total output when the individual production coefficients are random. An iterative procedure for “chance-constraining” feasibility is developed and demonstrated with this sort of randomA-matrix. An iterative approach is required because the mean and variance of total output are unknown functions of the randomA-matrix coefficients and the level of output required. This approach may have applications in other fields as well.
Religious discourse as metaculture

Religious discourse heard in rural Fijian Methodist contexts is often metacultural, that is, it is a cultural product that comments on 'culture' itself. In this article, I examine the implications of religious discourse's metacultural functions, including the ways in which senses of time's movement are constructed and inflected with moral evaluation, and the ways in which senses are generated of the present's inferiority compared to the past. Drawing on linguistic data from a variety of sources, and examining it at progressively finer levels of analysis, I argue that Fijian Methodist metacultural statements can have profound political impact and effectively circulate 'culture' in the general anthropological sense.
A Split in the Verbal Comprehension Factor in WAIS and WISC-R Profiles.

Examined the pattern of verbal subscale scores on the WAIS and WISC-R given to college students and elementary students who were being considered for a gifted and talented program, respectively, in Idaho and found a substantial number of students whose scores were highly discrepant from expected patterns. For 51 of 129 college students, the scores on the Comprehension subscale differed significantly (p <.05) from both the Information (I) and Vocabulary (V) subscale scores. When this group of students was compared to the rest of those tested, C scores were significantly higher (p <.01), V scores were significantly lower (p <.05), and I scores tended to be lower. The WISC-R scores for the two samples of the elementary students (Ns = 164, 219) suggested that the triangle pattern (C significantly higher than both V and I) begins to appear at the fourth-grade level. These results are puzzling because Comprehension scores significantly higher than those on Information and Vocabulary usually are expected from persons with good native intellectual endowment, but limited educational and cultural opportunities. Data from other parts of the country are needed.
Design of a GaN/AlGaN intersubband Raman laser electrically tunable over the 3∼5 μm atmospheric transmission window

Design and simulation are presented for a high-temperature intersubband Raman laser based on GaN/AlGaN coupled quantum wells. This laser is tunable over 3.6~5.2 mum by applying an electric field at a fixed pumping wavelength of 2.7 mum.
Dispositional Modal Truthmakers and the Necessary Origin

Several philosophers have recently suggested that truths about unactualized metaphysical possibilities are true in virtue of the existence of actual objects and their dispositional properties. For example, on this view, it is true that unicorns are metaphysically possible only if some actual object has (or had) the disposition to bring it about that there are unicorns. This view, a dispositionalist version of what has recently been dubbed “The New Actualism,” is a proposal about the nature of modal truthmakers. But, I will argue, this proposal entails much more than that. Here, I will demonstrate that, if the modal truthmakers are the dispositional properties of actual objects, then either (i) there exists one or more causally potent necessary beings, or (ii) necessarily, there exists an actually infinite number of contingent beings.
Low rate of clinician-scored gynecomastia induced by 6 months of combined androgen blockade in a randomized trial: Implications for prophylactic breast irradiation

Abstract Purpose To determine the incidence and predictors of clinician-scored gynecomastia induced by 6 months of combined androgen blockade (CAB) in a randomized trial. Methods We studied 94 men with intermediate or high-risk prostate cancer randomized to radiation plus 6 months of neoadjuvant CAB consisting of a gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist and antiandrogen (flutamide). Patients were assessed for breast symptoms monthly as per protocol. Patients reporting breast tenderness or enlargement were then examined shirtless. Results Median age at entry was 72.1 years. While 52 patients (55.3%) reported either breast tenderness or enlargement, only 9 patients (9.6%) were scored as having gynecomastia when examined shirtless by a single clinician. Four patients received radiation for self-reported breast tenderness or enlargement without clinician-scored gynecomastia. If these 4 had not been radiated, the total incidence of clinician-scored gynecomastia may have been as high as 13 of 94 (13.8%). No patient variable, such as age, body-mass index, and Adult Comorbidity Evaluation-27 score, or discontinuation of the antiandrogen, was associated with the development of gynecomastia. Conclusions While many patients self-reported breast tenderness or enlargement with short-course CAB, the incidence of breast enlargement noticeable to an examiner when the patient was shirtless was less than 15%, which is much lower than the 60% to 80% rates typically reported with antiandrogen monotherapy. Given that the long-term risks of prophylactic breast irradiation are not well characterized, these data suggest that prophylactic breast irradiation may not be as necessary in men receiving short-course CAB.
Gentrification and Preterm Birth in New York City, 2008–2010

Adverse birth outcomes have been linked to neighborhood level socioeconomic status. However, little work has examined the influence of social and economic change over time (i.e., gentrification) on health. This study aims to assess the association between gentrification and preterm birth (PTB) while examining the modifying effect of maternal race/ethnicity and educational attainment. New York City births, 2008–2010, (n = 126,165) were linked to a measure of gentrification at the community district level (n = 59). The gentrification measure was calculated using percent change in education level, poverty level, and median household income (MHI) between the 2005–2009 American Community Survey and the 1990 Census. PTB was defined as clinical gestational age less than 37 weeks. Generalized estimating equations were utilized to examine the association. Gentrification (i.e., increase in residents with a college education, increase in MHI, and decrease in residents living below the poverty line) was not associated with PTB. However, among Non-Hispanic Blacks, very high gentrification was adversely associated with PTB (AOR, 1.16; 95 % CI, 1.01–1.33) as compared to those who lived in a very low gentrified neighborhood. Among non-Hispanic Whites, living in a very high gentrified neighborhood was protective as compared to living in a very low gentrified neighborhood (AOR, 0.78; 95 % CI, 0.64–0.94). Although there is a need to develop a more nuanced measure of gentrification, these results indicate that changes in the economic character of a neighborhood may have a significant influence on birth outcomes.
Ultrastructural Studies of Fibroblasts Transfected with Hepatitis B Virus DNA

Cultured 3T3 mouse fibroblasts transfected with cloned hepatitis B virus genome and DNA coding for methotrexate-resistant dihydrofolate reductase, produce and secrete significant amounts of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). Ultrastructural morphometry revealed that fibroblasts transfected with hepatitis B virus DNA contained significantly more lysosomes than did fibroblasts transfected with the gene coding for methotrexate resistance or normal fibroblasts. Although abundant HBsAg was found in the cytoplasm of transfected fibroblasts by immunologic methods, HBsAg particles were not detected by electron microscopy. Immunoelectron microscopy localized HBsAg to the nuclear envelope, rough endoplasmic reticulum, and endoplasmic cisternae. These findings suggest that the transfected cells produce mainly nonparticulate HBsAg or that they have a defect in intracisternal packaging of HBsAg into particles.
Use of pH paper to reflect gastric pH.

1992;101;885-886 Chest E D Dobkin and N S Yeston Use of pH paper to reflect gastric pH. http://chestjournal.chestpubs.org/content/101/3/885.citation can be found online on the World Wide Web at: The online version of this article, along with updated information and services ) ISSN:0012-3692 http://chestjournal.chestpubs.org/site/misc/reprints.xhtml ( without the prior written permission of the copyright holder. reserved. No part of this article or PDF may be reproduced or distributed Chest Physicians, 3300 Dundee Road, Northbrook, IL 60062. All rights of been published monthly since 1935. Copyright1992by the American College is the official journal of the American College of Chest Physicians. It has Chest
Creating alignment and anisotropy in engineered heart tissue: role of boundary conditions in a model three-dimensional culture system

Electrical and mechanical anisotropy arise from matrix and cellular alignment in native myocardium. Generation of anisotropy in engineered heart tissue will be required to match native properties and will provide immediate opportunities to investigate the genesis and structural determinants of functional anisotropy. We investigated the influence of geometry and boundary conditions on fibroblast alignment in thin collagen gels. Consistent with previous reports, we found that human dermal fibroblasts align parallel to free edges in partially constrained gels; in contrast to at least one report, fibroblasts in fully constrained gels remained randomly aligned independent of geometry. These experiments allowed us to distinguish between two possible mechanisms for such alignment. Mean orientations that followed the shape of the free edges and stronger alignment nearest the free edges in gels with a variety of geometries suggested that cells align parallel to a local free boundary rather than to local lines of tension. These findings focus attention on the presence of voids and free surfaces such as the endocardium and epicardium, cleavage planes, and blood vessels in governing cell and fiber alignment in developing and remodeling myocardium, myocardial scar tissue, and engineered heart constructs.
A PROBABILITY MODEL FOR ASSESSING EXPOSURE AMONG RESPIRATOR WEARERS: PART I—DESCRIPTION OF THE MODEL

The basic respirator equation states that the contaminant level inside a respirator (CI) is the product of the contaminant level outside the respirator (CO) and the decimal fraction penetration (P). On the basis of this relation, the authors present a probability model for the lognormal total distribution of CI levels among a respirator-wearing population; the model accounts for between-wearer and within-wearer variability in both CO levels and P values. The assumptions underlying the model are shown to be consistent with current knowledge about the variability in Co levels and P values. The model provides the basis for assessing the probability of overexposure to acute toxicants and to chronic toxicants among a respirator-wearing population.