cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
An assessment of the prototyping approach to information systems development

A two-phased research project comparing the prototyping approach with the more traditional life cycle approach finds that prototyping facilitates communication between users and designers during the design process. However, the findings also indicate that designers who used prototyping experienced difficulties in managing and controlling the design process.
Growth hormone (GH) binding and expression of GH receptor 1A mRNA in hepatic tissue of periparturient dairy cows.

Growth hormone (GH) plays a role in metabolic adaptations that occur during lactogenesis. Liver GH receptor transcript (GHR 1A) is transiently decreased near parturition and may reduce GH-dependent signaling leading to low blood insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) concentrations in periparturient dairy cattle. We hypothesized that the decrease in GHR 1A mRNA at parturition was associated with decreased GH binding (i.e., GHR protein concentration) in liver. Blood and liver biopsy samples were collected from 12 Holstein cows on d -12 +/- 1, 3, and 17 relative to parturition. Total cellular RNA was isolated from a sub-sample of liver. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reactions were used to measure GHR 1A, total GHR, IGF-I, and cyclophilin mRNA. Microsomal membranes were isolated from the remaining liver tissue and assayed for 125I-bGH binding. Plasma was assayed for GH and IGF-I concentrations. Liver GHR 1A mRNA, specific 125I-bGH binding to liver membranes, liver IGF-I mRNA, and plasma IGF-I concentrations were lower on d 3 relative to d -12. The GHR 1A mRNA, 125I-bGH binding, and plasma GH concentrations increased on d 17 but liver IGF-I mRNA and plasma IGF-I concentrations did not change between d 3 and 17. Total GHR mRNA and cyclophilin mRNA amounts were similar on d -12, 3, and 17. Across all days, 125I-bGH specific binding in liver was highly correlated with liver GHR 1A mRNA (R2 = 0.68) but not with total GHR mRNA. Saturation binding analysis showed that GHR concentration (Bmax) in liver on d 3 had decreased to only 5% of the amount on d -12. We conclude that decreased GHR 1A mRNA leads to decreased GHR protein concentration in liver. Reduced GHR in liver likely contributes to a decrease in liver IGF-I production and reduced concentrations of IGF-I in blood of periparturient cows.
KRYPTON EVOLUTION FROM METALLIC URANIUM

Krypton ions were put into uranium foil at 40 kv. The rate and temperature of release of the krypton gas was studied by the mass spectrometer. Evolution began below 250 deg C and showed several peak rates. The temperature for release in this case was much lower than that found in other work on fission gases formed in situ. (auth)
Micromachined infrared sensors with device-level encapsulation

There have been recent innovations to reduce the cost of packaging for MEMS devices, without deteriorating their performance. One such novel design for device-level encapsulation (self-packaged) of uncooled infrared (IR) microbolometers is documented here. Device-level vacuum encapsulation has the potential to eliminate some major problems associated with the bolometer performance such as high thermal conductance of the ambient atmosphere, the high cost associated with conventional vacuum packaging, and the degradation of optical transmission at different wavelengths through a conventional package window. The device-level encapsulated bolometers can also be fabricated with flexible substrates, which have the advantage of conforming to non-planar surfaces compared to Si or other rigid substrates. In addition, a flexible superstrate with low shear stress has applications in robotics, aerospace, defense and biomedicine as a "Smart skin", a name given to multisensory arrays on conformal substrates to emulate human skin functions on inanimate objects. Self-packaged uncooled microbolometer arrays of 40x40 μm2 and 60x60 μm2 are fabricated on top of Si wafer with a sacrificial layer using semiconducting Yttrium Barium Copper Oxide (YBCO) as the infrared sensing material. A two-layer surface micromachining technique in conjunction with a resonant cavity and a reflecting mirror are used for the sensor structure. The devices have demonstrated voltage responsivities of 7.9x103 V/W with a temperature coefficient of resistance of -2.5% K-1, and thermal conductivity of 2.95x10-6 W/K. The device performance was similar in air and vacuum, demonstrating vacuum integrity and a good device-level encapsulation.© (2005) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
British Suffragettes and the Russian Method of Hunger Strike

In the spring of 1878 male political prisoners in the Peter and Paul Fortress of St. Petersburg went on hunger strike to protest against the oppressive conditions in which they were held by the tsarist regime. After three days, news of the strike reached the prisoners' families, who appealed for relief to the director of military police, General N. V. Mezentsev. The director dismissed their pleas and reportedly declared of the hunger strikers, “Let them die; I have already ordered coffins for them all.” It was a volatile period of repression and reprisal in the Russian revolutionary movement. The tsarist regime had cracked down on the revolutionary populists, the narodniki, and the era of terrorism had just begun in St. Petersburg that January, when Vera Zasulich shot and seriously wounded the city's governor. The hunger strikers were among a group of 193 revolutionaries who had been recently tried for treason and sentenced to various forms of punishment, including hard labor and imprisonment in Siberia. In these circumstances the news of Mezentsev's response spread quickly beyond the strikers' families, soon reaching a would-be terrorist and former artillery officer, Sergius Kravchinskii. Kravchinskii killed Mezentsev with a dagger on a city street, then fled Russia and made his way to Great Britain, a haven for Russian revolutionaries since Alexander Herzen had arrived in 1852 and established the first Russian revolutionary press abroad. Kravchinskii likewise wrote against the tsarist regime, under the pen name Sergius Stepniak, and in 1890 he became the editor of a new, London-based periodical, Free Russia. Its first number chronicled a dramatic series of hunger strikes led by female revolutionaries imprisoned at Kara in the Trans-Baikal of eastern Siberia. These strikes had culminated in the death of one woman after she was flogged and in five suicides by female and male political prisoners who, after the death of their comrade, had ended their hunger strikes to eat poison. Having been inspired to terror by his sympathy for revolutionary hunger strikers, Stepniak, like other Russian exiles, believed that the hunger strike would win sympathy and support for Russian revolutionaries in Britain.
Video game addiction and college performance among males: results from a 1 year longitudinal study

Abstract This study explored the pattern of video game usage and video game addiction among male college students and examined how video game addiction was related to expectations of college engagement, college grade point average (GPA), and on-campus drug and alcohol violations. Participants were 477 male, first year students at a liberal arts college. In the week before the start of classes, participants were given two surveys: one of expected college engagement, and the second of video game usage, including a measure of video game addiction. Results suggested that video game addiction is (a) negatively correlated with expected college engagement, (b) negatively correlated with college GPA, even when controlling for high school GPA, and (c) negatively correlated with drug and alcohol violations that occurred during the first year in college. Results are discussed in terms of implications for male students' engagement and success in college, and in terms of the construct validity of video game addiction.
Use of thermal analysis techniques for examining blow-molded PET bottle specimens

Eight samples from different areas of stretch-blow-molded poly(ethylene terephthalate) [PET] bottles, including a PET resin control, were tested by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermomechanical analysis (TMA). The glass transition temperature (T g ) was found to linearly decrease about 6°C from zero to 45 percent initial crystallinity. Measurements of T c (crystallization temperature, DSC) and film tension modulus (TMA) were related to crystallization rate during stretch-blow-molding. The TMA linear coefficients of thermal expansion and shrinkage were shown to be important for blow-molding temperature control.
Promoting Qualify: A Public Policy View

Quality concerns in health care, both anecdotally and empirically, have been present for decades. After years of studies focused almost exclusively on process issues, the work of John Wennberg, Robert Brook, and David Eddy, among others, over the past twenty years has provided a rich theoretical and empirical justification for the current emphasis on outcomes-based research. However, it is the dramatic growth in managed care in the past few years that has sparked the current level of interest in outcomes-based quality assessment and effectiveness. Rapid growth in managed care, on the other hand—with some sixty million persons now enrolled in health maintenance organizations (HMOs) and another ninety million in pre ferred provider organizations (PPOs)—has led to concerns about potential underprovision of services and its effect on quality. The consequences of having needed or desired services withheld by managed care plans have produced a wave of legislation at the state and federal levels and refocused research interest on outcomes-based measures of quality. Other important changes include the erosion of professional authority, which has diminished the role that health care professionals might otherwise have taken in ensuring quality in the newworld of managed care. Another change has been the increased ability to process large volumes of data and information on practice style and outcomes and, with it, the ability to better assess quality measures. These factors taken together explain the intense pressure that both the public and private sectors are exerting to spur the development of credible quality measures.
Thermometer equations for low-temperature glass-ceramic capacitance thermometers

Abstract Capacitance-temperature data for an 1100-type thermometer from 1.7 to 50 K (46 points) and for a 1200-type thermometer from 0.1 to 9 K (56 points) were curve-fitted to various empirical equations using regression-analysis techniques (the designations 1100- and 1200-type refer to processing conditions). It was found that simple fourth-order expansions, T(C), yield the best fits to the 1100-type data. The index of regression and residual standard deviation for the quartic fit were: 0.999988 and 19 mK for a 1.7 to 20 K fit; 0.999951 and 78 mK for a 20 to 50 K fit; and 0.999972 and 70 mK for a 1.7 to 50 K fit. When the 1.7 to 50 K region was divided into two regions, above and below 20 K, it was found that the residuals were less than, or commensurate with, the uncertainties in the original temperature measurement (germanium resistance thermometry). The 1200-type data were analysed from 0.1 to 4.2 K and from 0.1 to 9 K. In both regions, cubic expansions T(C) yielded good fits: 0.999932 and 11 mK from 0.1 to 4.2 K, and 0.999972 and 10 mK from 0.1 to 9 K, for the index of regression and residual standard deviation, respectively. However, the residuals for these fits were considerably larger than the temperature uncertainties, possibly indicating systematic measurement errors.
Thermal-hydraulic and structural design of the TITAN-I reversed-field-pinch fusion power core

Abstract Thermal-hydraulic and structural design of the first wall, blanket, and shield of the deuterium-tritium fueled TITAN-I reversed-field-pinch (RFP) fusion reactor is presented. Taking advantage of the characteristic low toroidal magnetic field of an RFP reactor, liquid lithium is used as the primary coolant to remove the thermal energy at an elevated temperature, thereby realizing a high power conversion efficiency of 44%. The use of liquid lithium has also led to a self-cooled design of the fusion power core in which the primary coolant is also the tritium breeder. The structural material is the vanadium alloy, V3Ti1Si. Tubular coolant channels are used in the first wall/blanket and rectangular channels in the hot shield. These are laid along the much larger poloidal field to minimize magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) pressure drop. Although the neutron wall loading of 18.1 MW/m2 is high, resulting in a radiation heat flux on the first wall of 4.6 MW/m2, three aspects of the design have made the removal of the reactor power at high temperature possible. These are: (1) the use of small-diameter circular tubes as coolant channels in the first wall, (2) the use of high-velocity MHD turbulent flow in the first-wall coolant tubes, and (3) thermal separation of the first-wall and blanket/shield coolant circuits, thereby allowing different exit temperatures. The thermal-hydraulic design was optimized by a design code developed for this purpose. Detailed structural design was performed by the finite element code ANSYS. The coolant inlet temperature is 320°C, and the coolant exit temperatures for the first-wall and blanket/shield coolant circuits are 442°C and 700°C, respectively. Lithium flow velocity in the first-wall coolant tubes is 21.6 m/s, and is ≤ 50 cm/s in the blanket/shield coolant channels. The total pressure drop in the first-wall coolant circuit is 10 MPa and in the blanket coolant circuit it is 3 MPa. The pumping power for coolant circulation is less than 5% of the net electric output. The material stresses are well within the design limits. The TITAN-I design suggests the feasibility and advantage of liquid-metal cooling of high wall loading RFP fusion reactors.
Volume Status and Fluid Responsiveness

To the Editor, Dr. Lazaridus has presented a great review of advanced hemodynamic monitoring (AHM) [1]. Significant caution though must be used in accepting the accuracy of any noninvasive cardiac output methodology. The FDA 510 K approval process is not very rigorous and the comparison of noninvasive to invasive cardiac output (CO) is not done over a very large range of loading and unloading conditions. Hadian et al. [2] showed that FloTrac as well as other noninvasive CO devices showed widely varying results as compared to thermodilution (TD) CO and more importantly could trend in different directions under different loading conditions. The differences were in a range where therapy choices could be affected; possibly adversely. This type of testing is more clinically relevant and rigorous than the methodology used by Mutoh et al. [3] which assessed effects of volume loading but not that of vasoactive or inotropic drips. We have evaluated another noninvasive CO device in our unit, Cheetah, which measure CO by assessing changes in thoracic impedance and often found results diverging significantly from TD CO (unpublished data). In addition one of the statements ‘‘The ultimate goal of volume expansion is augmentation of stroke volume ...’’ may not be completely accurate. There is evidence that excess volume expansion may worse renal failure and increase mortality in the setting of sepsis [4, 5]. The fact that the patient is fluid responsive as evidenced by passive leg raise (PLR) test does confirm that the patient is not on the flat portion of the Frank-Sterling curve. However since cardiac output is not necessarily the goal endpoint of fluid resuscitation and excess fluid can cause harm, further data is needed before accepting results of PLR as a clinical volume resuscitation endpoint.
The influences of professional development on teachers' self-efficacy toward educational change

Background: Many children and adolescents are physically inactive and become even less active as they age. USA high school students' rates of attendance in physical education (PE) classes sharply decline by grade with 73% of ninth graders attending PE, while only 31% of seniors attend. Non-Caucasian youth report the lowest levels of physical activity participation. Thus, helping teachers to learn how to increase their students' PA during PE is important. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the influences of professional development on teachers' self-efficacy towards teaching physically active fitness and health promoting lessons. Participants and setting: Fifty elementary physical education teachers from a large urban school district in the Midwest USA participated. Thirty teachers volunteered to be in one of the two professional development groups (n = 15 each) with a control group of 20 teachers. Teachers' students were some of the heaviest in the USA with 37% regarded as overweight and 64...
Fuzzy detection of bandpass signals

The classical cross-correlator detector is extended to a fuzzy detector used in a digital bandpass M-ary communication system. The fuzzy detector uses the combined fuzzy product to aggregate two fuzzy sets to detect the presence of one signal, buried in a noisy received waveform, out of M possible signals. The error performance of the fuzzy detector is demonstrated via simulation and is compared to the crosscorrelator using M-ary phase shift keying modulation. The error performance of the fuzzy detector is shown to be better than that of the classical correlator detector, in particular, when the noise level is high. The prospect of using the fuzzy detector in an optical communication system is also demonstrated.
Variable-Source Shading Analysis

The shading on curved surfaces is a cue to shape. Current computer vision methods for analyzing shading use physically unrealistic models, have serious mathematical problems, cannot exploit geometric information if it is available, and are not reliable in practice. We introduce a novel method of accounting for variations in irradiance resulting from interreflections, complex sources and the like. Our approach uses a spatially varying source model with a local shading model. Fast spatial variation in the source is penalised, consistent with the rendering community's insight that interreflections are spatially slow. This yields a physically plausible shading model. Because modern cameras can make accurate reports of observed radiance, our method compels the reconstructed surface to have shading exactly consistent with that of the image. For inference, we use a variational formulation, with a selection of regularization terms which guarantee that a solution exists. Our method is evaluated on physically accurate renderings of virtual objects, and on images of real scenes, for a variety of different kinds of boundary condition. Reconstructions for single sources compare well with photometric stereo reconstructions and with ground truth.
A cognitive analysis of preference for urban spaces

Abstract Preferences for urban spaces were studied as a function of spatial category and nine predictor variables: spaciousness, refuge, enclosure, coherence, legibility, complexity, mystery, typicality, and age. A non-metric factor analysis of the preference ratings yielded four categories of urban spaces: Open-Undefined, Well-Structured, Enclosed Settings, and Blocked Views. These categories are similar to the spatial categories proposed for natural environments by S. Kaplan (1979, Assessing Amenity Resource Values . USDA Forest Service General Technical Report RM-68), who stressed openness and spatial definition as bases for categorization. The Well-Structured category was best liked, with the other categories not very well liked and about equal in preference. Regression analyses revealed three variables as consistent predictors of preference. Coherence and complexity were positively related to preference, and age was negatively related. Overall, the results support the Kaplans' proposal that both spatial and non-spatial factors are important in categorizing environments and in explaining environmental preferences.
"I Speak a Different Dialect": Teen Explanatory Models of Difference and Disability

What do teens with disabilities believe about their conditions, and what do they understand to be the causes, correlates, and consequences of disability? We elicited a cultural explanatory model (EM) of disabilityfrom a longitudinal sample of 23 European American adolescents with varied cognitive disabilities and delay. We asked teens how they were similar to or different from others; the name of this difference; its causes, severity, course, effects, associated problems and benefits; and needfor treatment. IQ and type of disability strongly affected quality of responses only from the lowest functioning teens. A majority of teens had a reasonably rich and coherent EM, blending typical and disability themes of cultural knowledge and identity. The EM is a window into social context (schools, services, parents, and peers) as well as personal experience. Eliciting explanatory models from teens with disabilities is not only possible but also can enhance understanding of identity, family influence, and appropriate services. [disability; explanatory models; adolescence; culture] fter eras of "blaming" parents for their children's disabilities and relying on biomedical labels as both correct and sufficient to explain and name various conditions, research and practice today recognize the significance of the meaning and understanding of disabilities held by family members and children themselves. What do teens with disabilities believe about their circumstances, and what do they understand to be the causes, correlates, and consequences of their conditions? That is, what are their cultural explanatory models (EMs) of their circumstances (Kleinman 1980; Weiss 1997)? An EM encompasses an individual's beliefs in five domains of an illness or health condition: etiology, time and mode of symptom onset, pathophysiology, course of sickness, and treatment. Our report describes the explanatory models of adolescents with varying impairments in cognitive and social functioning and offers a basis for beginning a line of inquiry about
Modeling of bimorph piezoelectric cantilever beam for voltage generation

Piezoelectric materials (PZT) have shown the ability to convert mechanical forces into an electric field in response to the application of mechanical stresses or vice versus. This property of the materials has found extensive applications in a vast array of areas including sensors and actuators. The study presented in this paper targets the modeling of PZT bender for voltage and power generation by transforming ambient vibrations into electrical energy. This device can potentially replace the battery that supplies the power in a micro watt range necessary for operating sensors and data transmission. One of advantages is the maintenance free over a long time span. This paper focuses on the analytical approach based on Euler-Bernoulli beam theory and Timoshenko beam equations for the voltage and power generation, which is then compared with two previously described models in literature; Electrical equivalent circuit and Energy method. The three models are then implemented in Matlab/Simulink/Simpower environment and simulated with an AC/DC power conversion circuit. The results of the simulation and the experiment have been compared and discussed.
National trends in use of computed tomography in the emergency department.

Study objective The role of computed tomography (CT) in acute illnesses has increased substantially in recent years; however, little is known about how CT use in the emergency department (ED) has changed over time. Methods A retrospective study was performed with the 1996 to 2007 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, a large nationwide survey of ED services. We assessed changes during this period in CT use during an ED visit, CT use for specific ED presenting complaints, and disposition after CT use. Main outcomes were presented as adjusted risk ratios (RRs). Results Data from 368,680 patient visits during the 12-year period yielded results for an estimated 1.29 billion weighted ED encounters, among which an estimated 97.1 million (7.5%) patients received at least one CT. Overall, CT use during ED visits increased 330%, from 3.2% of encounters (95% confidence interval [CI] 2.9% to 3.6%) in 1996 to 13.9% (95% CI 12.8% to 14.9%) in 2007. Among the 20 most common complaints presenting to the ED, there was universal increase in CT use. Rates of growth were highest for abdominal pain (adjusted RR comparing 2007 to 1996=9.97; 95% CI 7.47 to 12.02), flank pain (adjusted RR 9.24; 95% CI 6.22 to 11.51), chest pain (adjusted RR 5.54; 95% CI 3.75 to 7.53), and shortness of breath (adjusted RR 5.28; 95% CI 2.76 to 8.34). In multivariable modeling, the likelihood of admission or transfer after a CT scan decreased over the years but has leveled off more recently (adjusted RR comparing admission or transfer after CT in 2007 to 1996=0.42; 95% CI 0.32 to 0.55). Conclusion CT use in the ED has increased significantly in recent years across a broad range of presenting complaints. The increase has been associated with a decline in admissions or transfers after CT use, although this effect has stabilized more recently.
Consumer Online Privacy: Legal and Ethical Issues

Abstract Consumer privacy is a public policy issue that has received substantial attention over the last thirty years. The phenomenal growth of the Internet has spawned several new concerns about protecting the privacy of consumers. The authors examine both historical and conceptual analyses of privacy and discuss domestic and international regulatory and self-regulatory approaches to confronting privacy issues on the Internet. The authors also review ethical theories that apply to consumer privacy and offer specific suggestions for corporate ethical policy and public policy as well as a research agenda.
Isolation, cloning and characterization of argF gene DNA from Escherichia coli K-12.

Abstract A 1650 base pair (BP) fragment carrying the entire argF structural gene with its associated control regions was isolated from an EcoRI/BamHI digest of o80argFiλ c I 857 DNA. This segment was cloned using the EcoRI and BamHI cleavage sites in the plasmid pBR322. A preliminary restriction map of the argF region was prepared. RNA polymerase binding studies indicated that the argF promoter is located approx. 30 base pairs from the EcoRI terminus of the cloned DNA segment.
The threshold anomaly and the effective interaction for nuclear nonelastic scattering

Abstract Previously, a dispersion relation has been used to elucidate the energy dependence of one-channel optical potentials, especially the “threshold anomaly” that is observed at low energies. We show that this dispersion relation is also applicable to the elements of the potential matrix which is needed for a coupled-channels treatment. Consequently, the off-diagonal couplings which produce nonelastic transitions may also exhibit such anomalies. We discuss how the energy dependences of the various matrix elements may be related, and provide some arguments that the potential in an excited state is similar to that in the ground state evaluated at a bombarding energy reduced by the excitation energy. We also examine the collective, or deformed potential, model to see whether the way it is commonly applied is consistent with the dispersion relation.
Steady-state characteristics and stability thresholds of a closed two-phase thermosyphon

Abstract An analytical investigation is presented for the purpose of determining the steady-state characteristics and stability thresholds of a closed two-phase thermosyphon. The analytical model is based on a lumped parameter description of the system that includes the thermohydraulics of vapor core, liquid film, and liquid pool of the evaporator. The steady-state solutions and the linear stability analysis of the governing equations revealed the existence of two operating limits : one associated with flooding and the other with drying of the liquid in the evaporator. A parametric study was also performed to determine the effects of heat pipe geometry, liquid filling, and fluid characteristics on the operating limits. The comparison of the predicted limiting heat fluxes of flooding and dry-out with the experimental data was also performed.
Simple and robust image-based autofocusing for digital microscopy

A simple image-based autofocusing scheme for digital microscopy is demonstrated that uses as few as two intermediate images to bring the sample into focus. The algorithm is adapted to a commercial inverted microscope and used to automate brightfield and fluorescence imaging of histopathology tissue sections.
Why Are We Still Producing Paper Floras

Abstract Advances in online resources and electronic publication provide the sciences with tools to revolutionize education and research (e.g., cataloging, data archiving and access, and identification). Older journals and monographs are being scanned and increasingly posted online quickly by book scanning projects, although even for new issues, there can be a “moving wall” or lag time (e.g., BioOne and JSTOR). Some scientific disciplines are providing the public with pre-print access to articles in digital libraries, while manuscript availability in other disciplines, such as nomenclatural botany, is often delayed until the time of print publication. Within botany, taxonomic treatments should be provided online at all stages of preparation and revision (in certain cases following initial editing). Now, many published floras can be browsed and searched online (e.g., Flora of North America, Jepson Manual, Flora of Australia). The Flora of China Project provides treatments at all stages, online, prior to pr...
Examining communication repairs of 2 young children with autism spectrum disorder: the influence of the environment.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine the repair strategies of 2 young children with autism spectrum disorder from an environmental rather than a developmental perspective. Method A scripted protocol that included opportunities for requests and repair was followed. The environmental variables investigated were activity type (e.g., puzzle, shapes, book) and breakdown type (i.e., request for clarification, wrong response, and ignore). The sessions were videotaped, and each child’s behavior was coded. Results The results revealed that (a) both participants repaired the majority (70%) of their unsuccessful initial requests and (b) the repair strategies varied across children, activities, and breakdowns. Conclusions The findings of this study suggest that the 2 young children with autism and limited expressive language discriminated among environmental variables (i.e., type of activity and type of breakdown). The participants modified their repair topographies to correspond to changes in the environ...
The long‐term effect of high‐frequency chest compression therapy on pulmonary complications of cystic fibrosis

A high-frequency chest compression (HFCC) device for clearance of mucous secretions from airways was tested in 16 cystic fibrosis (CF) patients with significant improvement in pulmonary function for the HFCC period, which averaged 22 months per patient. The device consists of a variable air pulse delivery system and a non-stretch inflatable vest worn by the patient to cover the entire torso. The patients perform 30 minute therapy sessions divided into 5 minute periods at each of six frequencies. Individual patient therapy time per day ranged from 30 to 240 minutes. Frequencies used by each patient were determined by measuring air flow at the mouth and calculated volume expired per chest compression during tidal breathing while receiving HFCC at frequencies between 5 and 22 Hz at 1 Hz increments. The frequencies that produced the three highest flows and the three largest volumes were selected for each patient's therapy. Ninety-four percent of patients' regression line slopes for percent predicted forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) became more positive during self-administered HFCC therapy as compared to slopes before HFCC therapy, when manual chest physical therapy was used. Two-sided t-test showed that the mean slopes were more positive for FVC and FEV1 during HFCC therapy than for the manual chest physical therapy period before HFCC therapy. The significance level for both FVC and FEV1 was at P less than 0.001.
The triumph of vengeance over retribution: the United States Supreme Court and the death penalty

In this article the author uses a review of Welsh S. White'sThe Death Penalty in the Nineties as a framework for analyzing recent trends in the United States Supreme Court's death penalty jurisprudence. Since 1976 the Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of capital punishment at least in part on the notion that the death penalty serves the useful social purpose of retribution. This article, however, contends that it is imperative to distinguish between retribution and vengeance as rationales for criminal punishment. Modern retributive theory calls for punishments to be guided by considerations of proportionality, fairness, and equality. Vengeance-based punishments, on the other hand, are aimed at satisfying the victim's and society's desire for retaliation and are not limited by the retributive principle that punishment must be proportionate to the severity of the crime and the moral blameworthiness of the offender. The article analyzes recent Supreme Court decisions that are not examined inThe Death Penalty in the Nineties-decisions that allow the introduction of victim-impact evidence into capital sentencing proceedings and permit the death penalty to be imposed on 16-year-old offenders, mentally retarded defendants, and those who neither kill nor intend to kill. These decisions, it is argued, demonstrate that the contemporary Court has bestowed judicial approval on vengeance as an acceptable justification for capital punishment.
Controlled release of antipyrine from mesoporous carbons

Abstract This study investigated the controlled release of a model analgesic drug, antipyrine, from mesoporous carbon, a relatively newer type of drug-delivery medium that is being developed. To synthesize mesoporous carbon a synthetic and a natural precursor, phloroglucinol and lignin, respectively, were employed as carbon sources along with a surfactant, Pluronic F127, as the soft-templating agent that dictates structure. When antipyrine was loaded onto the carbons from its aqueous solution and subsequently allowed to release in vitro in simulated gastric fluid, the release was complete within 0.5–3 h (depending on the temperature) for phloroglucinol-derived carbon, whereas 1–7 h was required to complete the release from lignin-derived carbon. The Fickian or molecular diffusion was found to be predominant over Knudsen diffusion and model fitting suggests Fickian diffusivity values of order 10−21–10−23 m2/s. The activation energies for diffusion of antipyrine were found to be 102 and 98 kJ/mol for phloroglucinol and lignin-derived carbons, respectively; the former has higher surface area and pore volume (400 m2/g and 0.6 cm3/g) than the later (200 cm2/g and 0.2 cm3/g).
On Biholomorphy in Infinite Dimensions

In this article, we consider the question of when a holomorphic mapping on a domain in a complex Hilbert space into itself has a holomorphic inverse. We give a strengthened version of a known result that involves a Fredholm condition on the mapping. We show that holomorphic mappings on certain domains that are biholomorphic near the boundary are biholomorphic on the domain itself.
Taste evaluation of potato glycoalkaloids by the Aymara: A case study in human chemical ecology

A chemical ecological model can be the basis for defining testable hypotheses concerning human interactions with plants. Selection by Aymara subsistence cultivators against toxic glycoalkaloids in the ongoing domestication of the Bolivian potato cultigen Solanum X ajanhuiriwas used as a specific case study of human interactions with phytochemicals. In taste perception tests, Aymara subjects were able to discriminate between concentrations of pure glycoalkaloids in solution only above 20 mg/100 ml. Taste panel tests of potato clones indicated that glycoalkaloid levels are important to the Aymara in determining quality only as part of a decision-making process involving two character states: too high or acceptable. Glycoalkaloids in potatoes are regarded as toxic to humans above 20 mg/100 g fresh weight. Among the Aymara, a breakpoint in the curve for glycoalkaloid preference appears to occur between 20–38 mg/100 g. This distinction is evident in the Aymara potato taxonomy which distinguishes bitter (luq'i ch'oke) from nonbitter (ch'oke) potatoes.
Prediction of hepatic fibrosis in HIV/HCV co-infected patients using serum fibrosis markers: the SHASTA index.

Background/Aims To examine if serum fibrosis biomarkers could accurately identify the stage of liver disease amongst hepatitis C (HCV) and HIV co-infected patients. Methods One hundred and thirty seven HIV/HCV co-infected persons were randomly selected from the Johns Hopkins HIV Clinic cohort. Ninety five had complete testing for fibrosis markers in sera collected at the time of liver biopsy. Biopsies were scored according to Ishak modified histological activity index (F0 no fibrosis to F6 cirrhosis). Fibrosis was evaluated against alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), AST to platelet ratio (APRI), albumin, total bilirubin, hyaluronic acid (HA) and YKL-40. Results Sixty nine (73%) had no or minimal portal fibrosis (F0-2) and were compared with remaining subjects (F3-6). Fibrosis scores ≥F3 were found 27 times more often in persons with HA levels >86ng/ml and 5.5 times more often in persons with HA levels 41–86ng/ml. Less substantial associations were detected with levels of albumin 60iu (OR 5.91). All 35 subjects who had favorable results of HA, albumin, and AST had minimal fibrosis (F0-2). Conclusions Amongst HIV/HCV co-infected patients, serum testing for HA, albumin, and AST (SHASTA Index) was able to accurately stage mild and advanced fibrosis.
Facile synthesis of multivalent folate-block copolymer conjugates via aqueous RAFT polymerization: targeted delivery of siRNA and subsequent gene suppression.

Cell specific delivery of small interfering ribonucleic acid (siRNA) using well-defined multivalent folate-conjugated block copolymers is reported. Primary amine functional, biocompatible, hydrophilic-block-cationic copolymers were synthesized via aqueous reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization. N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide) (HPMA), a permanently hydrophilic monomer, was copolymerized with a primary amine containing monomer, N-(3-aminopropyl)methacrylamide (APMA). Poly(HPMA) confers biocompatibility, while APMA provides amine functionality, allowing conjugation of folate derivatives. HPMA-stat-APMA was chain extended with a cationic block, poly(N-[3-(dimethylamino)propyl]methacrylamide), to promote electrostatic complexation between the copolymer and the negatively charged phosphate backbone of siRNA. Notably, poly(HPMA) stabilizes the neutral complexes in aqueous solution, while APMA allows the conjugation of a targeting moiety, thus, dually circumventing problems asso...
Are Differences in Acquiring Bank Profit Efficiency Priced in Financial Markets

We analyze 271 bank mergers for 1986–2001 to attempt to determine if differences among acquirers in profit efficiency are priced in financial markets. We find that the acquirer’s pre-merger profit efficiency (as well as its experience in handling other mergers) has positive effects on the wealth of the acquiring bank’s shareholders. We also find that more profit efficient acquiring banks produce lower abnormal returns for the target, suggesting that well managed (i.e., more profit-efficient) banks are less likely to overpay when they enter into a merger agreement. Financial market participants apparently take something akin to the econometric concept of profit efficiency into account when they make decisions about bank stock purchases and sales around merger announcement dates.
Necessary and sufficient conditions for R-graph synthesis

Abstract It is shown that any symmetric matrix can be considered as the short circuit admittance matrix of a graph consisting of the union of a complete graph and arbitrary tree form. The necessary and sufficient conditions that a real matrix of order ν-1 be the short circuit admittance matrix of a v-vertex R-graph corresponding to any tree of oriented elements are given. A procedure to determine the corresponding R-graph and tree of oriented elements is also presented. These results are based on a class of matrices which transforms the short circuit admittance matrix of any graph G and tree to the short circuit admittance matrix of G and any other tree. The necessary and sufficient conditions associated with a particular tree form are extended, by way of the transformation matrices, to those for any tree form. A tree in the form of a star is used as a basis of the discussion because of the simplicity of the resulting properties. An example giving the necessary and sufficient conditions for synthesis of a fourth order matrix as a five vertex R-graph is included to illustrate the results.
THE CRIME OF STAGING AN EFFECTIVE STRIKE AND THE ENDURING ROLE OF CRIMINAL LAW IN MODERN LABOR RELATIONS

This article concerns the role of criminal law in modern, post-New Deal labor relations. I emphasize the continuing function of the criminal law in limiting basic labor rights (to organize, strike, and provoke collective bargaining) as reflected in several common practices: the prosecution of labor organizing and protest activity as crimes; the persistent use of injunctions by the courts to curtail labor rights; and the indirect use of the criminal law by the courts and the NLRB to define unfair labor practices and to limit the scope of worker protections under the labor law. I hope to show how these functions reflect both change and continuity relative to the criminal law in pre-New Deal times. The modern criminal law's labor-repressive functions are far less crude and overt, and administered in a far more professional fashion, than in the days when criminal conspiracy, syndicalism, and vagrancy laws, for example, were used so extensively and blatantly to undermine labor rights. And rather than simply destroying labor rights, these functions operate alongside, and are incorporated into, a body of labor law designed to protect labor rights. On the one hand, this shift has been of real benefit to labor, allowing workers and organizers much more freedom in their struggles with employers. On the other hand, I argue, modern criminal law still plays a significant role in limiting labor rights. The very factors that now ease the criminal law's impact on workers—the subtlety, professionalism, and procedural regularity with which it is applied, and its coexistence alongside a functional system of labor laws—also obscure and rationalize its real effects on labor rights, making it easier for governments to use the criminal law against labor and harder for labor activists to challenge such practices. My goal is to help unmask these functions of the criminal law with the hope that organized labor and its supporters might better work against and around them.
Frederick Jackson Turner, New Historian

Do not be misled by the subtitle of Bogue's new biography of Turner (I861-I932). This is not another bashing of the man and his famous "frontier thesis." The title phrase, which comes from a favorite poem of Turner's by Rudyard Kipling, is meant to signal the restless and exploring spirit that propelled his intellectual life. Bogue writes that Turner "provided an explanation of American development and character that was not to be matched in popularity during his lifetime or later" (464). Turner addressed the big questions confronting historians at the beginning of the century, and Bogue credits him with leaving an imprint on the practice of history greater than that of any other American historian. Bogue is appropriately respectful and fair-minded, if considerably more critical than Billington, whose 1973 biography of Turner still sparkles with wit and charm.1 Both Bogue and Billington fully utilized the massive collection of Turner papers at the Henry E. Huntington Library, but Billington's laudatory tone, as well as his self-conceived role as defender of the frontier thesis, seriously dates his book, especially in light of the sustained critical commentary of the past decade. By highlighting Turner's limitations along with his contributions, Bogue's scholarly and readable study sets a new standard. Some of the freshness of Bogue's biography comes from his use of new materials. Consider the question of Turner's relations with his graduate students. During a career that spanned four decades, he worked with dozens of men and women, many of
Silicon-germanium HBTs for 40 Gb/s and beyond…

Abstract IBM Microelectronics reckons that its 120 GHz SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistors can be used for 40 Gb/s SONET fibre-optic data-rates, and that its newly announced HBTs with a threshold frequency f T of 210 GHz will extend the range of silicon-germanium up to next-generation data rates at operating frequencies of perhaps 80–100 Gb/s.
Biosafety procedures in cell culture

A brief description of the need for procedures to provide a safe working environment for cell culture personnel is outlined, and the methods employed at the American Type Culture Collection to achieve this goal are detailed.
Political Democracy: Conceptual and Measurement Traps

The movement toward democratic political systems in many nations in the 1980s has renewed interest in measurement of political democracy. This paper calls attention to the problems that surround both the definition and measurement of political democracy. The main conceptual problems are the failure to develop an adequate theoretical definition of this concept, the confounding of the concept with others, and treating democracy as a binary rather than a continuous concept. Four problems of measurement are: invalid indicators, subjective indicators, ordinal or dichotomous measures, and the failure to test reliability or validity. The paper offers several suggestions to improve measurement as well as a warning about the danger of repeating past errors.
ECT imaging of three-phase fluidized bed based on three-phase capacitance model

In this work, the electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) with neural network multi-criteria optimization image reconstruction technique (NN-MOIRT), early developed by the authors, is applied to imaging bubble column and three-phase fluidized bed systems in the real time manner. Air, norpar (paraffin) and glass-beads are used as the gas, liquid, and solid phases, respectively. A three-phase capacitance model coupled with a two-region model is proposed to attain the gas holdup and the solids fraction from the permittivity maps of the three-phase system. The two-region model assumes that the solids fraction in the emulsion phase in the no bubble region is the same as in the bubble region. The three-phase capacitance model combines series and parallel capacitance connections among gas, liquid and solid components to relate the three-phase permittivity to each phase holdup. A direct image calculation to obtain the gas holdup from the permittivity map of the three-phase system is also performed by determining the permittivity threshold for the gas bubbles. Comparisons of the gas holdup obtained by ECT with that obtained from liquid head measurement showed a good agreement, validating the applicability of the model and its associated image calculation.