cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Renal Impairment and the Use of Bisphosphonates in Patients with Multiple Myeloma: Retrospective Analysis of 114 Patients with Respect to Age and Other Clinical Characteristics.

Backgound: The clinical course of multiple myeloma is often associated with significant bone related morbidity. This can be modified by the use of bisphosphonates. Studies have shown renal toxicity associated with different bisphosphonates especially following the exposure of zoledronic acid. Published literature suggests renal function deterioration occurs in 8.8–15.2% of patients at recommended dose of 4 mg infused intravenously over 15 minutes. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the records of all patients with multiple myeloma who received bisphosphonates during the period of January 2002-June 2004 at our institution. 114 patients were analyzed (male/female 63/51; age-median 69;mean 71;range 40–92). 61 (54%) were >70 years of age. They received a total of 1301 doses (mean 11.4) during this period. The type of bisphosphonate used was: zolendronate: 58; pamidronate: 23; pamidronate changed to zolendronate (both) : 33. Patients were categorized to the type and sequence of bisphosphonates [ pamidronate vs. zoledronate and pamidronate followed by zoledronate (both) ], age and sex. Renal dysfunction was defined as an increase in serum creatinine of >0.5 mg/dl over baseline. Results: There were 19 patients (16.7%) who developed renal dysfunction. 15 of the 19 episodes (79%) occurred in the 70 years and older group. The table shows the distribution of patients, type of bisphosphonate and the distribution of patients with renal toxicity. Conclusion: This analysis showed increase in renal dysfunction occurs in all ages with use of bisphosphonates. The elderly may be particularly susceptible to this toxicity. Although we have not analyzed the impact of associated comorbidities (including type of multiple myeloma) leading to renal insufficiency in this study, the elderly patients may need more close monitoring of renal function with the use of bisphosphonates. Age and renal impairment with bisphosphonate use | Age | Zolendronate | Pamidronate | Both | Total | |:---------------------------------------------------------:| ------------ | ----------- | ------ | -------- | | Number in paranthesis indicates the renal impairment case | | 40–49 | 6 (0) | 2 (0) | 2 (0) | 10 (0) | | 50–59 | 10 (0) | 1 (0) | 4 (0) | 15 (0) | | 60–69 | 14 (2) | 3 (0) | 11 (1) | 28(3) | | 70–79 | 19 (3) | 9 (1) | 14 (4) | 42 (8) | | 80+ | 9 (3) | 8 (0) | 2 (4) | 19 (7) | | Total | 58 (9) | 23 (1) | 33 (9) | 114 (19) |
Cognitive states influence dopamine-driven aberrant learning in Parkinson's disease

Individual differences in dopaminergic tone underlie tendencies to learn from reward versus punishment. These effects are well documented in Parkinson's patients, who vacillate between low and high tonic dopaminergic states as a function of medication. Yet very few studies have investigated the influence of higher-level cognitive states known to affect downstream dopaminergic learning in Parkinson's patients. A dopamine-dependent cognitive influence over learning would provide a candidate mechanism for declining cognitive integrity and motivation in Parkinson's patients. In this report we tested the influence of two high-level cognitive states (cost of conflict and value of volition) that have recently been shown to cause predictable learning biases in healthy young adults as a function of dopamine receptor subtype and dopaminergic challenge. It was hypothesized that Parkinson's patients OFF medication would have an enhanced cost of conflict and a decreased value of volition, and that these effects would be remediated or reversed ON medication. Participants included N = 28 Parkinson's disease patients who were each tested ON and OFF dopaminergic medication and 28 age- and sex-matched controls. The expected cost of conflict effect was observed in Parkinson's patients OFF versus ON medication, but only in those that were more recently diagnosed (<5 years). We found an unexpected effect in the value of volition task: medication compromised the ability to learn from difficult a-volitional (instructed) choices. This novel finding was also enhanced in recently diagnosed patients. The difference in learning biases ON versus OFF medication between these two tasks was strongly correlated, bolstering the idea that they tapped into a common underlying imbalance in dopaminergic tone that is particularly variable in earlier stage Parkinsonism. The finding that these decision biases are specific to earlier but not later stage disease may offer a chance for future studies to quantify phenotypic expressions of idiosyncratic disease progression.
Respiratory Cycle-Related EEG Changes during Sleep Reflect Esophageal Pressures

Study Objectives: Respiratory cycle-related EEG changes (RCREC) have been demonstrated during sleep by digital analysis and hypothesized to represent subtle inspiratory microarousals that may help to explain daytime sleepiness in patients with sleep-disordered breathing. We therefore examined for the first time associations between RCREC and esophageal pressure swings (ΔPes) that reflect work of breathing.
The Importance of Effect Size Reporting in Communication Research Reports

In reflection of Communication Research Reports shift to requiring (rather than suggesting) effect size reporting with all manuscripts as of Volume 34, a few remarks explaining the context of this shift for submitting authors are offered, including a brief explanation of the complementary relationship between p-values and effects sizes, and the reasons that both are critical to providing readers with a more complete sense of any manuscript’s evidential value.
Material anisotropy as a degree of freedom in optical design

We present an approach for the design of refractive optical elements using materials degrees of freedom that are accessible via engineered materials. Starting from first principles and an unconstrained general material, we specify homogeneous refractive lenses that focus light with diffraction-limited resolution resulting from a tailored anisotropic refractive index. We analyze the performance, physical feasibility, and advantages over isotropic lenses. Materials degrees of freedom enable new flexibility for imaging system designs with lower complexity expanding the existing aspheric and graded index paradigms.
Passive radar large clutter discrete removal

Large clutter discretes (LCD) can cause either false alarms or missed target detections for ground moving target indication (GMTI). Typically, the effects of LCDs are mitigated by discarding the received data collected at the range bin of the LCD. Removing an entire range bin is the common method because estimating the LCD properties within the background clutter is often too difficult. However, background clutter reflectivity in a passive radar scenario creates opportunities to successfully detect, estimate, and remove an LCD. The proposed LCD removal (LCDR) algorithm combines prior detection and estimation techniques with an iterative estimator to successfully excise the LCD within the received data of a passive radar.
An extension of the K-means algorithm to clustering skewed data

Grouping similar objects into common groups, also known as clustering, is an important problem of unsupervised machine learning. Various clustering algorithms have been proposed in literature. In recent years, the need to analyze large amounts of data has led to reconsidering some fundamental clustering procedures. One of them is the celebrated K-means algorithm popular among practitioners due to its speedy performance and appealingly intuitive construction. Unfortunately, the algorithm often shows poor performance unless data groups have spherical shapes and approximately same sizes. In many applications, this restriction is so severe that the use of the K-means algorithm becomes questionable, misleading, or simply incorrect. We propose an extension of K-means that preserves the speed and intuitive interpretation of the original algorithm while providing greater flexibility in modeling clusters. The idea of the proposed generalization relies on the exponential transformation of Manly originally designed to obtain near-normally distributed data. The suggested modification is derived and illustrated on several datasets with good results.
Environmental Features Important in Nonpoint Source Models — Crop Growth and Influence of Management on Soil Properties

The movement of nutrients and pesticides in the root zone is profoundly affected by both vegetation and state of the soil surface. Thus it is important that effects of vegetation and soil state on water and solute movement be accurately represented in dynamic mathematical models of the soil environment. Two global problems that have long-term impacts on our environment, groundwater quality, and climate change are uniquely related to the soil-plant-atmosphere interface. This and the preceding chapter discuss elements of the system that must be adequately represented in simulation models if they are to be effective tools of management. In this chapter concepts of plant growth processes and the effects of land use management and tillage on soil properties are discussed. Plant or crop growth processes described include photosynthesis and light interception, respiration, translocation, root growth, nutrient uptake, plant development, and morphogenesis. Some examples of crop growth models are presented. The discussion of soil properties covers estimates of interception, depression storage, soil bulk density, and hydraulic properties as influenced by management.
OSMOTIC AND HEMODYNAMIC CONTROL OF VASOPRESSIN: FUNCTIONAL AND ANATOMICAL RELATIONSHIPS

Publisher Summary Secretion of the antidiuretic hormone arginine vasopressin (AVP) is known to be affected by at least six independent variables. Three of the stimuli—emesis, glucopenia, and angiotensin play a significant role in certain pathological conditions. The other three—blood osmolality, volume, and pressure exerts a major influence in health and many diseases. This chapter discusses that the advent of radioimmnunoassays has made it possible to define more completely the functional properties and interrelationships of these control systems. The osmotic pressure of body fluids is normally the major determinant of AVP secretion. Control is mediated via a hypothalamic osmoreceptor that is sensitive to changes in the plasma concentration of sodium and certain other solutes. Its effects on plasma AVP are like those of a discontinuous or set-point receptor. If plasma osmolality falls below a certain minimum or threshold level, plasma AVP is uniformly suppressed to concentrations sufficiently low to permit the development of a maximum water diuresis.
Structure of bovine parietal pericardium and of unimplanted Ionescu-Shiley pericardial valvular bioprostheses

To obtain a basis for the evaluation of postimplantation changes in bioprostheses made of parietal pericardium, we conducted comparative histologic, scanning and transmission electron microscopic studies of the structure of (1) normal bovine parietal pericardium, (2) glutaraldehyde-treated pericardial patches to be used for repair of cardiac defects, and (3) pericardial tissue cusps of unimplanted Ionescu-Shiley valves. Bovine parietal pericardium has three layers: (1) the serosa, or mesothelial cell layer; (2) the fibrosa, formed by diversely oriented, wavy bundles of collagen and by elastic fibers, and (3) the epipericardial connective tissue layer, which is partly continuous with the pericardiosternal ligaments. Pericardial patches and pericardial bioprosthetic cusps differ from normal pericardium by being denuded of mesothelium but they have normal degrees of waviness in their collagen. In Ionescu-Shiley valves, the inflow and outflow surfaces of each cusp correspond to the epipericardial and serosal surfaces of parietal pericardium, respectively. The inflow surfaces have a coarse texture, characterized by large bundles of collagen, and the outflow surfaces have numerous grooves, 10 to 30 μ in width and 20 μ in depth, which probably result from pressure exerted on the cuspidal surfaces by cotton material either during manufacturing or packing of the valves. Comparisons of the structure of bioprosthetic pericardial cusps and porcine aortic valve cusps show that the latter have reduced degrees of collagen waviness and a different layered structure: A layer similar to the spongiosa of aortic valve cusps is not present in pericardium. The functional implications of these observations are discussed in detail.
Opioid misuse and perceived smoking-pain relationships among HIV+ individuals with pain: Exploring negative affect responses to pain

Abstract Persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) report high rates of clinically significant pain that is associated with several negative outcomes, including higher CD4 T-cell count, poor medication adherence, and substance use and misuse. Importantly, PLWHA also report elevated rates of both opioid and tobacco use, and these elevated rates have often been associated with increased pain experience. Although research suggests that negative affective responses to pain may be uniquely associated with substance misuse among individuals in the general population, little work has examined these relations among PLWHA. The current study examined negative emotions in response to pain as a predictor of current opioid misuse, future opioid misuse, and perceived smoking-pain relationships among 66 ( M age = 51.26, SD = 8.00, 60.6% male) HIV+ adults with co-occurring pain. Results indicated that negative emotions in response to pain uniquely predicted each of the substance use outcomes, with clinically significant effect sizes that may be characterized as medium in magnitude. Overall, these findings suggest that negative affective responses to pain may play a role in prescription opioid misuse and smoking among PLWHA. These findings may inform the development of tailored interventions for PLWHA smokers who are prescribed opioid pain medications.
The Turn to Disco and Other Subcultural Developments

This chapter narrates a turn to disco in the 1970s as a breakthrough in youth culture practice on two fronts. Disco became the centerpiece of a qualitatively different engagement with popular American culture, laying the foundation for a bounded youth formation, or subculture, identified with Italian ethnicity. It escalated the commitment to a style of consumption oriented to the media and entertainment culture that is at the center of late capitalist youth identity (Ratansi and Phoenix 1997). Stylized performances revolving around music and clubbing promoted the formation of a subculture as an umbrella for localized youth peer groups. Instrumental in this development was the pop culture significance of SNF which made it possible for Italian American youth in southern Brooklyn to claim an authentic place in a late 1970s pop culture moment. Subcultural development has since taken other “turns” notably representation on local FM radio in the 1990s and early 2000s and a foray into online social media at the turn of the new millennium.
Mujeres que Resisten. Extractivismo y Violencia en la Patagonia, Argentina. [Women Resisting. Extractivism and Violence in Patagonia, Argentina]

Patagonia has become a controversial scenario, marked by the struggle and resistance against extractive progress and in defense of natural resources. Neuquen is distinguished by the presence of a counterculture of protest, the hegemony of the ruling party and its cultural diversity. In this context, the struggle carried out by the Mapuce communities is the subject of our interest, specifically the participation of women in the different territorial conflicts. On this occasion, we propose to present some of the results we reached during the realization of our doctoral thesis, product of years of field work. From now on, we will go through part of the history of Neuquen, focusing on the experience of women in the Mellao Morales and their struggle. So we reflect on the extractivismo-patriarchaly relationship and the feminization process of the struggles in extractive contexts.
Somos Latinas: Voices of Wisconsin Latina Activists

Review of: "Somos Latinas: Voices of Wisconsin Latina Activists" by Andrea-Teresa Arenas and Eloisa Gomez
LGBTQ+ Loss Experiences and the Use of Meaning Reconstruction with Clients

AbstractCommon losses, such as the death of a loved one, losses related to aging, or the breakup of a relationship, often possess unique features for LGBTQ + people. Disenfranchised grief may resul...
Design and implementation of a molecular imaging elective for third-year pharmacy students.

Abstract Objective To design, implement, and evaluate a molecular imaging elective course that would expose Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) students to fundamentals of various imaging modalities and their pre-clinical and clinical applications. Methods The “Surveys of Multi-Modality Imaging” course is a two-credit hour elective course offered to third-year PharmD and doctoral students. Experiential learning methods including active learning application-based exercises were used to supplement didactic lectures in the form of field trips (with follow-up debriefings), small group team-based tasks, hands-on demonstrations, visual modelling, gamification with problem sets, concept maps regarding given modalities, and concluding with written summary reports and formal in-class group presentations. In addition to standard course evaluations, a pre- and post-course survey were conducted to assess the students' confidence regarding course content. Results Since its implementation in 2013, 101 students have completed the course with 72% being PharmD students (n = 73) and the remainder being doctoral students in pharmaceutical science (n = 28). Pre- and post-assessments completed by the students the last two offerings (n = 40 of a possible 43) indicated a shift in students' self-reported confidence in discussing imaging modalities from a total of 2.4% confidence (pre-course) to 97.4% confidence (post-course). Also, post-course survey indicated that 77.5% (n = 31 of 40 participants) students strongly agreed that our immersive and experiential learning activities were beneficial to overall learning for this elective. Conclusion Students who participated in this innovative experiential learning-grounded course gained an appreciation for molecular imaging and its value and role in modern drug therapy.
David Oliver: "Considerably transformed"-changing the narrative on admitting older patients.

I knelt by the patient’s bed. Admitted four days earlier when acutely unwell, confused, and immobile, he was now improving. “How are you today?” “Doctor, I must say, I’m considerably transformed and substantially restored. I almost feel ready to go home.” Right now, in the language used to describe acute care, admission is relentlessly portrayed as a bad thing for adults, especially older ones.123 It suggests that they’d always want to stay at home or get home sooner—though this barely considers the patients who welcome admission or a slightly longer stay, or the family members providing care, who are often stressed, burnt out, and unsupported.45 This narrative says that inpatients risk hospital acquired infection, deconditioning, delirium, …
Measurement of the Rb g -series quantum defect using two-photon microwave spectroscopy

We utilize two-photon, high-precision microwave spectroscopy of $ng\ensuremath{\rightarrow}(n+2)g$ transitions to precisely measure the high-angular-momentum $g$-series quantum defect of $^{85}\mathrm{Rb}$. Samples of cold Rydberg atoms in the $ng$ state are prepared via a three-photon optical excitation combined with controlled electric-field mixing and probed with 40-$\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{s}$-long microwave interaction pulses. The leading systematic uncertainty arises from DC Stark shifts, which is addressed by a cancellation of background electric fields in all three dimensions. From our measurements and an analysis of systematic uncertainties from DC and AC Stark shifts, van der Waals interactions, and microwave frequency calibration, we obtain ${\ensuremath{\delta}}_{0}=0.003\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}999\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}0(21)$ and ${\ensuremath{\delta}}_{2}=\ensuremath{-}0.0202(21)$. We discuss our results in context with recent work elsewhere, as well as applications towards precision measurement.
Polysiloxane scintillators for neutron and gamma-ray pulse shape discrimination

Plastic scintillators offer a cost-effective and scalable option for detection of special nuclear materials. Traditional plastic scintillators are based on thermoplastics such as poly(vinyl toluene) (PVT) and polystyrene. When over-doped with select fluorescent molecules, PVT and polystyrene scintillators are capable of distinguishing between neutrons and gamma ray via pulse shape discrimination (PSD). While this formulation has been extensively studied and commercialized, the resulting scintillators are restricted to applications involving rigid thermoplastics. In order to achieve flexible and elastomeric properties, a new class of elastomer scintillators based on polysiloxanes has been explored. This work details elastomeric polysiloxane scintillators based on a commercial resin and a commercial primary dopant, 2,5-diphenyloxazole (PPO) and a synthesized dopant, 9,9-dimethyl-2-phenyl fluorene (PhF). PPO-polysiloxane scintillators showed PSD capabilities surpassing commercial thermoplastic analogues at low concentrations of PPO (FoM 1.33 ± 0.03 at 450 keVee for 5wt% PPO). PhF-polysiloxane scintillators were also capable of PSD, comparable to the commercial sample, but notably had a high light yield, of 144% EJ-299-33. This work serves as a proof of concept that polysiloxane scintillators can be capable of good PSD and high light yield at low dopant loadings.
Subject-specific rib finite element models with material data derived from coupon tests under bending loading.

Abstract Rib fractures are common thoracic injuries in motor vehicle crashes. Several human finite element (FE) human models have been created to numerically assess thoracic injury risks. However, the accurate prediction of rib biomechanical response has shown to be challenging due to human variation and modeling approaches. The main objective of this study was to better understand the role of modeling approaches on the biomechanical response of human ribs in anterior-posterior bending. Since the development of subject specific rib models is a time-consuming process, the second objective of this study was to develop an accurate morphing approach to quickly generate high quality subject specific rib meshes. The exterior geometries and cortical-trabecular boundaries of five human 6th-level ribs were extracted from CT-images. One rib mesh was developed in a parametric fashion and the other four ribs were developed with an in-house morphing algorithm. The morphing algorithm automatically defined landmarks on both the periosteal and endosteal boundaries of the cortical layer, which were used to morph the template nodes to target geometries. Three different cortical bone material models were defined based on the stress-strain data obtained from subject-specific tensile coupon tests for each rib. Full rib anterior-posterior bending tests were simulated based on data recorded in testing. The results showed similar trends to test data with some sensitivity relative to the material modeling approach. Additionally, the FE models were substantially more resistant to failure, highlighting the need for better techniques to model rib fracture. Overall, the results of this work can be used to improve the biofidelity of human rib finite element models.
The Fate of Zone 2 Radiolucencies in Contemporary Highly Porous Acetabular Components: Not All Designs Perform Equally.

Abstract Background The enhanced frictional resistance of modern ultraporous acetabular components can impede complete seating; however, surgeons expect the enhanced ingrowth surface to resolve polar (zone 2) gaps over time via osseointegration. This study characterized zone 2 radiographic osseointegration in 3 acetabular component designs: 2 highly porous ingrowth and one traditional ongrowth. Methods A consecutive cohort of primary total hip arthroplasties was reviewed which utilized 3 different acetabular cup designs: ongrowth titanium with hydroxyapatite (HA), highly porous titanium with machined radial grooves (MRG), and dual-porous titanium substrate with micropore (MP). Radiographic analysis was performed using accepted measurement criteria with particular attention to radiolucent lines. Results Seven hundred ninety cases were available for analysis. Initial 1-month radiographs revealed 43.2% of HA, 78.2% of MRG, and 81.0% of MP cups exhibited zone 2 radiolucencies, consistent with incomplete seating. At 1 year, all HA radiolucencies resolved, whereas 46.2% and 34.7% of radiolucencies remained in MRG and MP cups, respectively (P ≤ .005). At minimum 2 years, a significant proportion of zone 2 radiolucencies remained in 46.0% of MRG compared with 23.9% of MP cups and 3.0% of HA cups (P ≤ .007). Conclusion The resolution of zone 2 radiolucencies at 1-year and minimum 2-year follow-up signified osseointegration for nearly all HA and most MP cups. Highly porous titanium cups with machined radial grooves demonstrated persistent zone 2 radiolucencies at 1 year and beyond. Given reports of early loosening with this particular acetabular implant, further follow-up is warranted as this study highlights that not all contemporary highly porous metal acetabular components perform equally. Level of Evidence III.
Anticandidal Activities by Lactobacillus Species: An Update on Mechanisms of Action

Lactobacilli are among the most studied bacteria in the microbiome of the orodigestive and genitourinary tracts. As probiotics, lactobacilli may provide various benefits to the host. These benefits include regulating the composition of the resident microbiota, preventing –or even potentially reverting- a dysbiotic state. Candida albicans is an opportunistic pathogen that can influence and be influenced by other members of the mucosal microbiota and, under immune-compromising conditions, can cause disease. Lactobacillus and Candida species can colonize the same mucosal sites; however, certain Lactobacillus species display antifungal activities that can contribute to low Candida burdens and prevent fungal infection. Lactobacilli can produce metabolites with direct anticandidal function or enhance the host defense mechanisms against fungi. Most of the Lactobacillus spp anticandidal mechanisms of action remain underexplored. This work aims to comprehensively review and provide an update on the current knowledge regarding these anticandidal mechanisms.
The Disclosure of Individual Tax Returns: A Historical Overview

In this article, Professor Pomp provides a historical overview of the debate and law surrounding public access to individual tax returns. To fund the Civil War, the Revenue Act of 1862 imposed an income tax on individuals. At a time which predated reliable mail, the public was notified of their tax liabilities through newspaper advertisements. In 1870, when the income tax had become unpopular, Congress prohibited the publication of tax returns. Public disclosure was revisited in 1913; by 1918 the public was permitted to view lists of individual taxpayers, though this information was not allowed to be published. Fueled by corruption concerns, the Revenue Act of 1924 required the disclosure of names, addresses, and tax liabilities. The New York Times published the taxes paid by thousands of persons. In 1926, however, the law was changed due to privacy concerns and the failure of the disclosures to uncover tax evasion. Only the taxpayer’s name and address, but not their tax liability, could be published. A resurgence in favor of disclosure emerged in 1934, during the Great Depression. The tax liability (as well as name, address, gross income, deductions, net income, and credits) of taxpayers was made public in an attempt to deter tax evasion. But critics of this approach, concerned that compromised taxpayers would be targeted by criminals and con artists, managed to repeal the law. The law remained unchanged until, in the aftermath of Watergate, Congress enacted IRC section 6103.
Pre-game drinking among young adults and its association with positive and negative alcohol consequences

Abstract Background Pre-gaming, or drinking before going out, is common among young adults and associated with heavier drinking and negative consequences. However, findings have been mixed as to whether a unique, day-level association between pre-gaming and negative consequences exists independent of alcohol intake. It is also unknown whether young adults experience more positive consequences of alcohol use on days they engage in pre-gaming. This study tested day-level associations between pre-gaming and positive and negative consequences, controlling for same-day alcohol intake, as well as whether these associations were moderated by person- and day-level variables. Methods Participants were 148 young adult heavy drinkers (Mage = 20.30, SDage = 1.45, 57.4% female) who reported past-month simultaneous alcohol and marijuana use. For up to 14 consecutive days, participants completed electronic surveys asking about their drinking behaviors and consequences the previous day. Results Prior to adjusting for alcohol intake, Poisson multilevel models showed that participants reported more negative and positive consequences on days they pre-gamed and those who reported pre-gaming more often throughout the study also experienced more negative and positive consequences overall. After controlling for alcohol intake, a positive, day-level association between pre-gaming and positive consequences remained. There was no evidence of moderation of study associations by person- or day-level variables. Conclusion The unique association between pre-gaming and positive consequences may help explain why pre-gaming is linked with heavy drinking and other risky behaviors as positive consequences have been shown to reinforce such behaviors. Findings suggest pre-gaming may be a useful intervention point for alcohol reduction programs.
24 Process Control Theory: Reflections on the Past Decade and Goals for the Next

Publisher Summary The research breakthroughs of the past decade were possible because of close cooperation between chemical engineers and control engineers from other disciplines, particularly electrical engineering. Today, the industry realizes that excellent payoffs can be achieved from process control projects. Because of the explosive developments in computers, information processing has undergone revolutionary changes in the last decade. Drastic progress has also been made in the development of automatic analyzers and intelligent sensors, without which the implementation of advanced feedback control strategies would not be possible. These advances in hardware were accompanied by new software and algorithm breakthroughs. This chapter focuses on two new areas: model predictive control, which is rapidly gaining acceptance in the chemical process industry, and robust control, a thriving research topic that shows great promise for practical applications. Various aspects of the new technology that can help both to assess the controllability properties of new designs and to assist with the structuring of a control system are discussed.
Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Access to Physicians with HIV‐related Expertise

OBJECTIVE: Professional medical associations recommend that physicians who treat patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have a measurable form of disease-specific expertise, such as high HIV patient volume or infectious diseases certification. Although it is known that racial/ethnic minorities generally have worse access to care than do whites, previous work has not examined disparities in the use of physicians with HIV-related expertise.
Macroeconomic Policy, Credibility, and Politics by Torsten Persson and Guido Tabellini

Macroeconomic Policy, Credibility and Politics is meant to serve as a graduate textbook and literature survey of the recent advances in modelling government economic policy making. It is extremely successful in achieving both goals, unifying many of the different approaches to endogenizing government policy, one of the most active areas of macroeconomic theorizing in recent years. In addition to summarizing this literature, the "monograph," as the authors call it, presents some new results.
Interrenal function in larval Ambystoma tigrinum. IV. Acid-base balance and the renin-angiotensin system.

Abstract Larval Ambystoma tigrinum were cannulated nonocclusively in the truncus arteriosus and allowed to recover for 20–24 hr. In one group of animals a peritoneal cannula was inserted in order to induce acidosis through the injection of lactic acid (2 μmol/g). Immediately following a control blood sample (hr 0), lactic acid was injected, and blood samples were collected at 1, 4, 8, and 24 hr and analyzed for pH, P CO 2 , P O 2 , [HCO 3 − ], and aldosterone. These animals exhibited a significant metabolic acidosis, which was accompanied by a significant increase in plasma aldosterone, and recovered in approximately 24 hr. Additional groups of animals were subjected to the same acidosis and also received either saralasin (0.01 or 1 μg/g at 0, 1, and 4 hr) or captopril (0.01–0.1 or 1 μg/g at 0, 1, and 4 hr). The groups of animals whose renin–angiotensin system was blocked by saralasin or captopril did not show a significant change in their ability to recover from the metabolic acidosis. Furthermore, saralasin and captopril were ineffective in inhibiting the normal rise in circulating aldosterone in response to acidosis. In another group of animals, synthetic human angiotensin II (1 μg/g; Ang II) was infused immediately following the control blood sample (hr 0) and blood samples were collected at 2, 4, 6, and 8 hr and assayed for aldosterone. Plasma aldosterone levels increased significantly from 133 ± 91 pg/ml at hr 0 to a maximum of 3288 ± 519 pg/ml at hr 4. Sham-treated animals did not increase circulating aldosterone. When Ang II (1 μg/g) and saralasin (1 μg/g) were given simultaneously, however, the rise in plasma aldosterone was only about 35% that of animals which received Ang II alone. We conclude that administration of Ang II leads, either directly or indirectly, to synthesis and release of aldosterone from the interrenal tissues of larval Ambystoma tigrinum and that this rise can be significantly attenuated by saralasin. We furthermore conclude that although the renin–angiotensin system may be indirectly involved in recovery from an acid challenge, it does not appear to be the stimulus for the observed increase in plasma aldosterone in response to acidosis in these animals.
Feedback Stabilization of a Reduced-Order Model of a Jet in Crossflow

Airfoils in gas turbine engines used for aeropropulsion are actively cooled by film cooling; and, to cost-effectively optimize or control the film-cooling behavior, reduced-order models combined with a suitable control strategy are needed. Motivated by this film-cooling application, a linear state feedback controller for stabilization of a proper orthogonal decomposition-based reduced-order model of a film-cooling jet injected over the airfoil surface into a hot crossflow is presented. A full-order direct numerical simulation of the jet in crossflow is used to generate the data required to build the reduced-order model. The control objective is to prevent the mixing of the coolant jet and hot gases from the combustor so that the coolant remains close to the blade surface. The kinetic energy of the turbulent flow is used as a measure of mixing, which in turn is used to guide the design of a desired steady-state condition with low kinetic energy. The linear controller guarantees that the nonlinear reduced-o...
Open Scholarship for Open Education: Building the JustPublics@365 POOC

This article outlines the collaboration between librarians at the Graduate Center Library of the City University of New York (CUNY) and JustPublics@365 ( http://justpublics365.commons.gc.cuny.edu/about/ ), an initiative designed to open scholarly communication in ways that connect to social justice activism, part of which involved producing an open, online interdisciplinary course with a geographical focus on East Harlem. This Participatory Open Online Course, or POOC, was developed locally without a licensed provider platform or licensed scholarly content. It was designed to be open to CUNY students, to citizens of East Harlem, and to a global public with an interest in social justice. Counter to the trend in most Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), the POOC creators wanted assigned readings for the course to be open. Librarians identified open access course material and assisted assigned authors in self-archiving their work in open access contexts according to publishersâ€™ standing policies. In the end, 76 of 117, or about 65%, of the identified course readings were available in open access journals or archived in open repositories either permanently or for the duration of the course. In order for open online courses to deliver high quality education, supporting texts and other works must be open and available to every reader. The success of open online education is fully intertwined with the expansion of open access scholarship.
Industry Networks and the Speed of Information Flow

We investigate whether an industry's position in the network of inter-industry trade affects the speed of information flow. We find that return predictability to central industries from their related (=customer and supplier) industries is substantially stronger than that to peripheral industries from their related industries. Long-short portfolios of central industries yield risk-adjusted returns of 7.0% to 7.9% per annum, which are 3.6% to 5.3% higher than those of peripheral industries. To explain this finding, we argue that investors who invest in central industries need to process more complicated information about related industries, making the prices of central industries slower to incorporate all the information. We find that sell-side analysts of central industries also face more complicated information about related industries, as their earnings forecast revisions of related industries predict their future revisions of central industries more strongly. In addition, we present evidence that our finding is not explained by existing anomalies.
Information theory as a model of genomic sequences

Shannon information theory can be used to quantify overall sequence conservation among sets of related sequences. Variation in nucleic acid sequences recognized by proteins can be comprehensively modeled with information weight matrices that permit each member sequence to be rank-ordered according to its respective individual information contents. These rankings can be used to compute the affinities of recognition sites by proteins and to predict the effects of nucleotide substitutions in the sequences of these sites. The distribution of information across a set of protein-binding sites in DNA is related to the pattern of intermolecular contacts that stabilize the protein-nucleic acid complex (i.e., the corresponding helical structure of double-stranded DNA). Keywords: information theory; entropy; thermodynamics; surprisal; weight matrices; binding sites; sequence logo; sequence walker; model refinement; evolution
Progress in the development of solvent and chromatography systems appropriate for bitopic membrane proteins

Publisher Summary While membrane proteins are the subject of much concern, there remains a need to develop generally applicable methods for solubilizing, purifying, and reconstituting such proteins. This chapter describes the continuing development of an experimental approach to membrane protein structural determination, and emphasizes on the development of methods of particular relevance to the handling of smaller bitopic (single span) trans-membrane peptides. Although, none of these polypeptides can be regarded as particularly good models for natural biotopic membrane proteins, solvent systems which are successful in solubilizing these peptides will likely prove effective in solubilizing more conventional membrane proteins. The aim of the screening studies described in the chapter is to identify solvent systems that will afford appropriate elution characteristics, while at the same time promoting high post-column yield by preventing on- or pre-column peptide aggregation. While, the TLC results discussed have yet to be extended to column chromatography, it is hoped that they may provide the foundation for future work.
Statistical theory of size effect on material strength – a review

ABSTRACT A review is conducted to discuss the phenomenon of size effect on material strength; the theory of extreme values is the primary analytical tool used. Weibull (1939) was the first to give a reasonably satisfactory explanation of the volume effect on material strength using the “weakest-link” theory. Experimental data showing how strength of cement mortar decreases with volume are compared with the Weibull theory. The agreement is found to be excellent. Fracture in its general setting, regardless of the mechanics of failure, leads to the same problem, namely, the distribution of the smallest value in large samples enabling the use of extreme value theory. A simple derivation reveals that, regardless of the type of extreme value distribution postulated for material strength (Type I, Type II, and Type III), the mean strength shows dependency upon the size. The size effect of fibrous composites obeys the same general relationship as that for brittle materials. Lastly, the weakest-link concept, and thereby size effect, is directly applicable to fatigue strength at an arbitrarily preassigned life N (cycles) but not to the fatigue life. An attempt is made to summarize the present state of knowledge and to identify unsolved problems requiring further research.
Development of a Flexible Implantable Sensor for Postoperative Monitoring of Blood Flow

We have developed a blood flow measurement system using Doppler ultrasound flow sensors fabricated of thin and flexible piezoelectric-polymer films. These flow sensors can be wrapped around a blood vessel and accurately measure flow. The innovation that makes this flow sensor possible is the diffraction-grating transducer. A conventional transducer produces a sound beam perpendicular to its face; therefore, when placed on the wall of a blood vessel, the Doppler shift in the backscattered ultrasound from blood theoretically would be 0. The diffraction-grating transducer produces a beam at a known angle to its face; therefore, backscattered ultrasound from the vessel will contain a Doppler signal. Flow sensors were fabricated by spin coating a poly(vinylidene fluoride–trifluoroethylene) copolymer film onto a flexible substrate with patterned gold electrodes. Custom-designed battery-operated continuous wave Doppler electronics along with a laptop computer completed the system. A prototype flow sensor was evaluated experimentally by measuring blood flow in a flow phantom and the infrarenal aorta of an adult New Zealand White rabbit. The flow phantom experiment demonstrated that the error in average velocity and volume blood flow was less than 6% for 30 measurements taken over a 2.5-hour period. The peak blood velocity through the rabbit infrarenal aorta measured by the flow sensor was 118 cm/s, within 1.7% of the measurement obtained using a duplex ultrasound system. The flow sensor and electronics operated continuously during the course of the 5-hour experiment after the incision on the animal was closed.
Inherited breast and ovarian cancer

An estimated 5 to 10% of all breast and ovarian cancer is attributable to inherited mutations in two highly penetrant autosomal dominant susceptibility genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2. BRCA1 confers higher risk of ovarian cancer and BRCA2 much higher risk of male breast cancer. With the exception of missense mutations in the RING finger near the amino terminus of BRCA1, virtually all germline mutations in the gene cause the novel BRCA1 protein to be prematurely truncated. Approximately 90% of breast tumors in BRCA1 families, 50% of unselected breast tumors and 65-80% of unselected ovarian tumors have lost one allele of BRCA1 by somatic deletion. Very few tumors have detectable somatic point mutations in BRCA1. Inhibition of BRCA1 expression in mammary epithelial cell lines also suggests that BRCA1 may act as a tumor suppressor. The biological function of BRCA1 is still unknown, although identification of a patient homozygous for an inherited BRCA1 mutation suggests that the gene's function may be essential only to specific tissues. At least two other genes, P53 and the androgen receptor, are responsible for inherited predisposition to breast cancer in rare families. Several epidemiologic studies suggest that individuals carrying rare alleles at a minisatellite flanking the HRAS locus are at increased risk of cancer, including breast cancer. Finally, preliminary epidemiologic studies also suggest that individuals heterozygous for mutations in the ataxia telangiectasia gene may be at increased risk of breast cancer.
An Analysis of the Independent Influences Hypothesis Across Involvement Environments: When Attitude Toward the AD Predicts Purchase Intentions

There have been at least four competing explanations proposed concerning the role attitude toward the ad (Aad) plays during consumer decision making (MacKenzie, Lutz, and Belch 1986; Homer 1990). Only one of these models views Aad as capable of directly predicting purchase intentions: the independent influences hypothesis (IIH). Empirical research conducted to study the phenomenon is rare, yet there is evidence that Aad can independently influence purchase intentions (Gorn 1982). According to Peterson, Hoyer, and Wilson (1986, p. 142), "in some instances affect may occur simultaneously or in parallel process with cognition, whereas in other instances it may actually precede or even direct cognitive processes related to a particular activity. The extreme case occurs when the dominant force in decision making is affect."
Ion-neutral potential models in atmospheric pressure ion mobility time-of-flight mass spectrometry IM(tof)MS.

The ion mobilities and their respective masses of several classes of amines (primary, secondary, and tertiary) were measured by electrospray ionization atmospheric pressure ion mobility time-of-flight mass spectrometry IM(tof)MS. The experimental data obtained were comparatively analyzed by the one-temperature kinetic theory of Chapman-Enskog. Several theoretical models were used to estimate the collision cross-sections; they include the rigid-sphere, polarization-limit, 12-6-4, and 12-4 potential models.These models were investigated to represent the interaction potentials contained within the collision integral that occurs between the polyatomic ions and the neutral drift gas molecules. The effectiveness of these collision cross-section models on predicting the mobility of these amine ions was explored. Moreover, the effects of drift gas selectivity on the reduced-mass term and in the collision cross-section term was examined. Use of a series of drift gases, namely, helium, neon, argon, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide, made it possible to distinguish between mass effects and polarizability effects. It was found that the modified 12-4 potential that compensates for the center of charge not being at the same location as the centers of mass showed improved agreement over the other collision cross-section models with respect to experimental data.
The use of pre-border-molded custom trays in complete denture fabrication

During the fabrication of a complete denture, border molding the custom tray can be a time-consuming procedure. An alternate technique is presented that may be less tedious than the traditional procedure and may reduce chairtime for the clinician.