cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Measuring aortic pulse wave velocity using high-field cardiovascular magnetic resonance: comparison of techniques

The assessment of arterial stiffness is increasingly used for evaluating patients with different cardiovascular diseases as the mechanical properties of major arteries are often altered. Aortic stiffness can be noninvasively estimated by measuring pulse wave velocity (PWV). Several methods have been proposed for measuring PWV using velocity-encoded cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR), including transit-time (TT), flow-area (QA), and cross-correlation (XC) methods. However, assessment and comparison of these techniques at high field strength has not yet been performed. In this work, the TT, QA, and XC techniques were clinically tested at 3 Tesla and compared to each other. Fifty cardiovascular patients and six volunteers were scanned to acquire the necessary images. The six volunteer scans were performed twice to test inter-scan reproducibility. Patient images were analyzed using the TT, XC, and QA methods to determine PWV. Two observers analyzed the images to determine inter-observer and intra-observer variabilities. The PWV measurements by the three methods were compared to each other to test inter-method variability. To illustrate the importance of PWV using CMR, the degree of aortic stiffness was assessed using PWV and related to LV dysfunction in five patients with diastolic heart failure patients and five matched volunteers. The inter-observer and intra-observer variability results showed no bias between the different techniques. The TT and XC results were more reproducible than the QA; the mean (SD) inter-observer/intra-observer PWV differences were -0.12(1.3)/-0.04(0.4) for TT, 0.2(1.3)/0.09(0.9) for XC, and 0.6(1.6)/0.2(1.4) m/s for QA methods, respectively. The correlation coefficients (r) for the inter-observer/intra-observer comparisons were 0.94/0.99, 0.88/0.94, and 0.83/0.92 for the TT, XC, and QA methods, respectively. The inter-scan reproducibility results showed low variability between the repeated scans (mean (SD) PWV difference = -0.02(0.4) m/s and r = 0.96). The inter-method variability results showed strong correlation between the TT and XC measurements, but less correlation with QA: r = 0.95, 0.87, and 0.89, and mean (SD) PWV differences = -0.12(1.0), 0.8(1.7), and 0.65(1.6) m/s for TT-XC, TT-QA, and XC-QA, respectively. Finally, in the group of diastolic heart failure patient, PWV was significantly higher (6.3 ± 1.9 m/s) than in volunteers (3.5 ± 1.4 m/s), and the degree of LV diastolic dysfunction showed good correlation with aortic PWV. In conclusion, while each of the studied methods has its own advantages and disadvantages, at high field strength, the TT and XC methods result in closer and more reproducible aortic PWV measurements, and the associated image processing requires less user interaction, than in the QA method. The choice of the analysis technique depends on the vessel segment geometry and available image quality.
Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution, 1787–1788. By Pauline Maier. (New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 2010. Pp. 589. $18.99.)

Read most textbooks' descriptions of the path from the Constitutional Convention to establishment of the federal government, and it seems as if the process was quick, clean, and inevitable. Not so,...
Determination of starch and lipid in pea flour by near infrared reflectance analysis. the effect of pea genotype on starch and lipid content

Equations were derived for predicting starch and lipid content of pea varieties from near infrared data measured on a filter instrument (Technicon InfraAlyzer 400). The accuracy of the predictions were tested against separate data sets and were found to be better than ±2.6% for starch (range 20–45%) and ±0.3% for lipid (range 1.4–3.3%). Together with the previous work on the near infrared determination of protein it is possible to analyse rapidly for three components important to a plant breeding programme. The study has also demonstrated a clear-cut delineation between round and wrinkled pea genotypes.
‘As lief to the gallows as go to the Irish wars’: Human Rights and the Abuse of the Elizabethan Soldier in Ireland, 1600-1603: Human Rights and the Elizabethan Soldier

This essay explores the treatment of the Elizabethan soldier in Ireland under lord deputy Mountjoy from 1600 to 1603, the years of the most atrocious violence of the conflict. Coming at the experiences of the ordinary soldier in these years from the perspective of human rights forces the historian to a set of rather uncomfortable conclusions. For while many of these soldiers inflicted horrific violence on the native non-combatant population, their own experiences were determined by a set of forces and practices that left them vulnerable to some of the most extreme abuses of the age. While this essay will address the question of human rights and the implications and applications of the terminology for Elizabeth England, it will do so within the context of a war that abused the ordinary soldier as much as it abused the non-combatant Irish. Yet the abuse of these men is worth re-examining as it provides us with an insight to the state's attitude to the subordinate classes and their basic rights. For in examining the recruitment, equipping and treatment of the ordinary soldiers in the field, we find a brutalized mass whose only option was to endure or flee. A mass whose fundamental rights as subjects of the English crown or indeed as humans were badly abused. They were often masterless men unsuitable for combat and ultimately the victims of ‘social cleansing’, victims of class and coercion. The wretchedness of their conditions of service was thus forced, inevitably downwards, on the helpless non-combatant Gaelic Irish.
Rectilinear 3-D ultrasound imaging using synthetic aperture techniques

In our continuing efforts to improve 3D rectilinear ultrasound, we present a new design using a simplified interconnect architecture, switching scheme, and synthetic aperture methods. The main benefit of this design is the interconnect, where an expensive multilayer flex circuit is no longer required. The interconnect uses a row-column addressing scheme to enable different groups of elements. Over multiple transmissions, this design is capable of essentially synthesizing a 256 /spl times/ 256 = 65536-element, fully sampled 2D rectilinear array. Using a sparse synthetic transmit aperture, a column or several columns of elements are bussed together, so that a cylindrical wavefront is emitted into the field. In receive, the echoes from individual elements along a row are recorded by the system receive channels. Different columns and rows are selected in subsequent transmissions, and the echoes from these transmit events are then recorded to synthesize a fully sampled array. We have performed computer simulations of a 10 MHz, 256 /spl times/ 256 2D synthetic array subaperture to determine the radiation pattern. For an F/2 aperture, the on-axis case (x,y,z) = (0,0,20) mm showed a narrow beam down to -52 dB. In the azimuth direction, on-axis lateral beamwidths at -6, -20, and -40 dB were 0.21 mm, 0.43 mm, and 0.87 mm, respectively. As a tradeoff, elevational on-axis beamwidths were wider, respectively 0.18 mm, 1.17 mm, and 7.82 mm for the same corresponding dB levels.
Plasma Induced Chemical Changes at Silica Surfaces During Pre-Bonding Treatments

Plasma-treated and DI H2O rinsed oxide layers are commonly used in wafer bonding applications. Borosilicate glass (BSG) layers deposited by low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) treated with an O2 plasma in reactive ion etching (RIE) mode at 0.6 W/cm2 and rinsed with DI H2O readily bond to GaAs and Si. The chemical role of this pre-bonding treatment was investigated using attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared (ATR- FTIR) spectroscopy. The peak intensities for both the Si-O and B-O absorbance bands decreased in intensity as a result the plasma treatment consistent with the uniform sputter etching of BSG. The effect of changing the total plasma treatment time was investigated in terms of the total amount of material removed. Polarization-dependent ATR-FTIR revealed that the H2O/OH absorbance bands decreased in peak intensity with the OH groups preferentially oriented perpendicular to the sample surface after the plasma treatment. The subsequent DI H2O rinse restores the water to the surface while changing the surface BSG composition. ATR-FTIR studies suggest that for oxide compositions greater than 10 mole % B2O3, the top 4 nm of B2O3 was removed or leached from the oxide layer during the DI H2O rinse.
Some Effects of Growth Hormone Preparations in Pullets and Mature Hens

Abstract GROWTH hormone has been shown to have a growth stimulating effect on mature rats and dogs by Evans and Long (1921); Putnam, Benedict and Tell (1929); Li and Evans (1944); Li and Evans (1948); Gaebler (1951). Very little work has been reported on the effects of growth hormone in poultry. Hulbe (1949) injected dwarf chicks daily with an extract of fresh beef pituitaries for a period of 6 months, in monthly increasing doses of 70–230 rat units. The injected birds showed a more prolonged increase in weight than the controls. Hsieh, Wang and Blumenthal (1952) found that growth hormone exerted a diabetogenic and growth-promoting action when injected into the developing chick embryo. No published reports could be found which describe the effects of purified growth hormone in laying hens. The purpose of this paper is to report the effects of injecting low levels of growth hormone in pullets and …
Immigration, Community Formation, Political Incorporation, and Why Religion Matters: Migration and Settlement Patterns of the Indian Diaspora

Because of the secularity of sociology, religion remains a relatively marginal field of study and the insights of the sociology of religion are generally ignored or overlooked within other subfields. But religion can be a force that deeply influences personal, community, and national life in nonobvious ways through shaping the social and political structures of society. Consequently, including an analysis of religion as a fundamental factor of social life could greatly enrich and even transform many subfields of sociology. In this essay, I focus on the sociology of migration and immigration, my area of research, and show how religion plays a central role in social, economic, and political processes surrounding migration. Drawing on case studies of migration and immigration of groups from India based on my research and that of others, I discuss how religion, through a variety of indirect and direct mechanisms, shapes migration patterns, remittance use, social incorporation into receiving societies, and forms of political mobilization.
Electromagnetic scattering from targets above rough surfaces

In this paper, an analytical solution for predicting the near-field interaction between a scatterer and a rough surface is presented. This solution is derived using a novel technique based on the reciprocity theorem. This approach is extremely efficient, since only the current distribution of isolated scatterers are needed to evaluate the interaction in the far-field region. In specific, the second moments of the backscatter fields forming a circular dielectric cylinder above a slightly rough surface with inhomogeneous dielectric profile are derived. The accuracy of the theoretical formulation is verified by conducting polarimetric backscatter measurements from a lossy dielectric cylinder above a slightly rough surface. Excellent agreement between the theoretical prediction and experimental results is obtained.
The control of kinematically constrained shoulder complexes: physiological and humanoid examples

This paper applies a task-level approach to the control of holonomically constrained shoulder models. These models include a biomechanical representation based on human physiology and a robotic design based on a parallel-serial structure. Both models involve complex kinematically coupled motion between the shoulder girdle and the humerus. This coupled motion has a significant impact on the resulting humeral pointing dynamics associated with arm movement. The constrained task-level control approach implemented here characterizes and exploits the kinematically coupled nature of these systems by casting the constrained dynamics into a task-level control framework. Examples are presented which illustrate the effectiveness of this approach
Adverse Selection in Credit Markets: Evidence from a Policy Experiment

We test if riskier borrowers are willing to pay higher interest rates than safer borrowers are as predicted by Stiglitz and Weiss (1981). The data are from an Indian …nancial institution where interest rates are determined by competitive bidding. The government imposed an interest rate ceiling in 1993 and then relaxed the ceiling in 2002: Changes in default patterns are analyzed before and after each of these policy changes. We …nd evidence of adverse selection despite the use of collateral as a screening device. This study isolates adverse selection from moral hazard and controls for information on riskiness
Further studies on staphylococci in meats. III. Occurrence and characteristics of coagulase-positive strains from a variety of nonfrozen market cuts.

From 34 retail grocery stores and meat markets, 209 samples of nonfrozen meats were obtained and analyzed for coagulase-positive Staphylococcus aureus, employing six selective media. Sixty-seven (38.7%) of 173 samples obtained from 27 stores yielded S. aureus. No coagulase-positive S. aureus was isolated from 36 samples obtained from 7 of the stores. The 67 meats yielded 272 isolates from 10 different kinds of meats. There were 162 physiological strains represented when classified by store and 36 strains classified without regard to store of origin. The larger stores yielded fewer meats with staphylococci than the smaller stores. The meats from which S. aureus was recovered in the order of frequency of percentage recovery are as follows: chicken, pork liver, fish, spiced ham, round beef steak, hamburger, beef liver, pork chops, veal steak, and lamb chops. The following seven meats did not yield staphylococci: bologna, shucked oysters, olive and pickle loaf, salami, wieners, and chopped ham. Eighty-eight per cent of the isolates produced pigment, 85% were gelatinase positive, only 1 strain failed to form a precipitate on egg yolk agar, 92% formed deoxyribonuclease, 87% produced bound coagulase, 91% produced the α-hemolysin, 70% the δ-, 22% the β-, and 6% were nil in this regard. The isolates are compared with hospital and other food strains, and their possible source in the meats is discussed.
Menthol cigarette pricing at military and community retail outlets in the United States

Background Cigarette prices at military exchanges historically have been discounted. DoD Instruction 1330.9 has mandated that prices be within 5% of the price offered in the local community since 2001. Because minorities are highly represented in the military, we determined whether menthol cigarette prices, the leading choice of African Americans, were compliant with the instruction.
Metabolism of dapsone to its hydroxylamine by CYP2E1 in vitro and in vivo

Dapsone toxicity is putatively initiated by formation of a hydroxylamine metabolite by cytochromes P450. In human liver microsomes, the kinetics of P450-catalyzed N-oxidation of dapsone were biphasic, with the Michaelis-Menten constants of 0.14 +/- 0.05 and 0.004 +/- 0.003 mmol/L and the respective maximum velocities of 1.3 +/- 0.1 and 0.13 +/- 0.04 nmol/mg protein/min (mean +/- SEM). Troleandomycin (40 mumol/L) inhibited hydroxylamine formation at 100 mumol/L dapsone by 50%; diethyldithiocarbamate (150 mumol/L) and tolbutamide (400 mumol/L) inhibited at 5 mumol/L dapsone by 50% and 20%, respectively, suggesting that the low-affinity isozyme is CYP3A4 and the high-affinity isozymes are 2E1 and 2C. Disulfiram, 500 mg, 18 hours before a 100 mg oral dose of dapsone in healthy volunteers, diminished area under the hydroxylamine plasma concentration-time curve by 65%, apparent formation clearance of the hydroxylamine by 71%, and clearance of dapsone by 26%. Disulfiram produced a 78% lower concentration of methemoglobin 8 hours after dapsone.
Asymptotic zero distribution of orthogonal polynomials in sinusoidal frequency estimation

It is shown that the zeros of polynomials orthogonal with respect to certain positive measures on the unit circle have an asymptotic distribution which is uniform on a circle of radius less than or equal to one. These results explain some phenomena observed when various linear prediction methods are used to estimate sinusoidal frequencies. They also describe the asymptotic zero distribution of the prediction error filter polynomials for a class of time series including autoregressive moving average (ARMA) models.
Coarser and rougher: Effects of fine gravel pulses on experimental step-pool channel morphodynamics

Understanding how steep mountain rivers respond to natural and anthropogenic sediment supply perturbations is important for predicting effects of extreme events (e.g., floods and landslides) and for restoring rivers to more natural conditions. Using flume experiments, we show that stabilized step-pool-like channel beds can respond to pulses of finer gravel by becoming even coarser and rougher than before. Adding finer gravel initially reduces bed roughness and also increases the mobility of previously stable bed grains. Small- and intermediate-diameter clasts are then preferentially winnowed from the bed surface, leaving behind higher concentrations of even larger clasts. Ultimately, this results in both a coarser and rougher bed. Our experiments demonstrate that steep river beds become stable through the coevolution of bed roughness and surface grain size distribution and that these morphological variables can be sensitive to the history of upstream sediment supply.
The Ultraviolet Cure of Solventless Resins — A Pollution Free Method?

A potential way of overcoming the air pollution problem associated with solvent-based coatings exists in the use of so-called solventless, 100 percent solids coatings. One common variety of solventless resins consists of solutions of organic prepolymers containing aliphatic unsaturation dissolved in copolymerizable organic monomers. Examples of such resins are solutions of unsaturated polyesters in styrene or vinyl toluene, or solutions of polymers containing pendant esters of acrylic or methacrylic acid in acrylate or methacrylate monomers.1 Since no solvent has to be evaporated from such systems prior to cure, little if any pollution might be expected from such resins, particularly if such compositions could be cured in very short times at low temperatures. UV and electron beam curing have been considered as cold energy sources for this purpose.1,2
Large Forces: What's Missing In Public Administration

What's missing in the study of American public administration? Two things. First, a recognition of the importance of research on the subject of administrative development. And second, an appreciation of the importance of large forces in determining the path of administrative development. In short, we need a broader conception of what is contained within the domain of public administration scholarship. This broader conception of the field is not new. On the contrary, it revives understandings about the boundaries of public administration scholarship that were prevalent in the field's earliest years, and then forgotten.
Effect of Monase and related compounds on uptake of 5-hydroxytryptamine by platelets.

SummaryMonase indole-3(2-aminobu-tyl) acetate, a monoamine oxidase inhibitor, and 8 other structurally related compounds with different substitutions on the indole ring and amine side chain inhibited 5-HT uptake by platelets, degree of inhibition being directly related to concentration of inhibitor without particular relation to structure. C14-Mon-ase which differs from 5-HT by the absence of a hydroxyl group in position 5 of the indole ring and by the presence of a different side chain, was concentrated only slightly by platelets. It was concluded that the structural specificity for 5-HT uptake is largely determined by the hydroxyl group at position 5 of the indole ring.
Theoretical foundations for a quantitative approach to paleogenetics. Part I: DNA.

It is shown that by neglecting the phenomena of multiple hits, back mutation, and chance coincidence errors larger than 100% can be introduced in the calculated value of the average number of nucleotide base differences to be expected between two homologous polynucleotides. Mathematical formulas are derived to correct quantitatively for these effects. It is pointed out that the effects change materially the quantitative aspects of phylogenics, such as the length of the legs of the trees. A number of problems are solved without approximation.-
The Equation x′(t) = ax(t) + bx(t − τ) With “Small” Delay

(1973). The Equation x′(t) = ax(t) + bx(t − τ) With “Small” Delay. The American Mathematical Monthly: Vol. 80, No. 9, pp. 990-995.
Abstract 3656: Cooperation of Rab25 loss with oncogenes in breast cancer

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in females worldwide. A number of genes such as BRCA1, BRCA-2, Hras, and p53 undergo mutations and contribute to tumorigenesis of the mammary tissue. The RAB guanosine triphosphates (RAS-related in brain) belong to the Ras superfamily of GTPases. The human RAS family consists of 3 proto oncogenes - H-ras, K-ras, N-ras. Rab 25 belongs to the Rab11 subfamily and plays an important role in vesicular trafficking. The Rab proteins are ubiquitously expressed. Loss of Rab 25 expression has been reported in a number of breast cancer cases and in transformed mammary cell lines containing H-ras point mutations. Human Mammary Epithelial Cells (HMEC) were obtained from healthy individuals undergoing reduction mammoplasty. The cells were immortalized by transducing with LXSN CDK4 R24C. This was followed by transduction with hTERT, catalytic subunit of the telomerase enzyme. In this study, we are trying to understand if loss of Rab25 expression in HMEC co-operates with wild and mutant H-ras as well as other oncogenes and contributes to tumorigenesis. HMEC lines in which Rab25 has been knocked down were transduced with various oncogenes, including wild type and mutant H-ras, Her-2, and IGFR1. We examined the co-operativity between loss of Rab25 and these oncogenes in migration, anchorage independent growth, stem cell marker expression, and also in vivo tumorigenesis and metastasis in nude mice. Citation Format: Krishna A. Rao, Pooja S. Joshi. Cooperation of Rab25 loss with oncogenes in breast cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 3656.
Monoclonal Antibody Against Ebv-Associated Transformation Antigen Detected in vitro and in vivo

Abstract A monoclonal antibody has been produced which recognizes an Epstein-Barr virus associated transformation antigen on the surface of all lymphocytes infected with EBV in vivo or in vitro .
Predicting the response of striatal spiny neurons to sinusoidal input.

During repetitive firing, the timing of action potentials is determined by the interaction between the input and voltage-sensitive currents throughout the interspike interval. This interaction is e...
Trends in catchment processes and lake evolution during the late-glacial and early- to mid-Holocene inferred from high-resolution XRF data in the Yellowstone region

High-resolution records of geochemical data from four lakes in the Greater Yellowstone region were used to investigate watershed and lake history during the late-glacial and early-Holocene periods. Clastic input to regional lakes was high and variable during the early stages of lake development, when the surrounding landscape was geomorphically unstable and sparsely vegetated, and it decreased as vegetation gradually developed in each catchment. The decrease of clastic input was not regionally synchronous but occurred in a time-transgressive pattern from south to north. Long-term organic matter concentration and diatom production were inversely related to catchment erosion during the early stages of lake development and increased as temperatures warmed and in-lake nutrient concentrations increased. Similarly, calcite production usually was low following lake formation and increased over time, driven by climate change and its associated influences on lake-level, algal production, and lake thermal structure. Overall differences in the timing and pattern of geochemical change indicate that once the landscape had stabilized following deglaciation, changes in the geochemical character of the sediments were strongly influenced by local factors.
Progestogen Hypersensitivity: An Evidence-Based Approach to Diagnosis and Management in Clinical Practice

Heterogeneous presentations of disease pose particular diagnostic and management challenges to the clinician. Progestogen hypersensitivity (PH) classically consists of hypersensitivity symptoms to endogenous progesterone during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle. However, with the rise of assisted fertility and the exponential growth in the use of exogenous progestins for contraception, PH's prevalence and symptom heterogeneity have increased. In this article, we focus on the clinical approach to PH diagnosis with an emphasis on key elements of the history, physical, and testing modalities. We also review the current evidence for successful management and treatment across a broad range of patients.
Self-Triggered Reduced-Attention Output Feedback Control for Linear Networked Control Systems

A major challenge in networked control systems is to reduce the use of shared communication and control resources without compromising the performance of the closed-loop system. Motivated by this challenge, this paper presents an observer-based controller with irregular sampling that reduces the control attention and guarantees closed-loop stability and global ultimate boundedness of the plant's state vector regardless of bounded input and output disturbances. The feedback control design is based on self-triggered control, whereas the observer is based on the block-form state-space representation of the plant. It is shown via analysis and simulation that the overall control law decreases the number of samples without loosing observability and closed-loop stability, reducing the utilization of communication resources.
Multi-institution analysis of racial disparity among African- American men eligible for prostate cancer active surveillance

There is a significant controversy on whether race should be a factor in considering active surveillance for low-risk prostate cancer. To address this question, we analyzed a multi-institution database to assess racial disparity between African-American and White-American men with low risk prostate cancer who were eligible for active surveillance but underwent radical prostatectomy. A retrospective analysis of prospectively collected clinical, pathologic and oncologic outcomes of men with low-risk prostate cancer from seven tertiary care institutions that underwent radical prostatectomy from 2003-2014 were used to assess potential racial disparity. Of the 333 (14.8%) African-American and 1923 (85.2%) White-American men meeting active surveillance criteria, African-American men were found to be slightly younger (57.5 vs 58.5 years old; p = 0.01) and have higher BMI (29.3 v 27.9; p < 0.01), pre-op PSA (5.2 v 4.7; p < 0.01), and maximum percentage cancer on biopsy (15.1% v 13.6%; p < 0.01) compared to White-American men. Univariate and multivariate analysis demonstrated similar rates of upgrading, upstaging, positive surgical margin, and biochemical recurrence between races. These results suggest that single institution studies recommending more stringent AS enrollment criteria for AA men with a low-risk prostate cancer may not capture the complete oncologic landscape due to institutional variability in cancer outcomes. Since all seven institutions demonstrated no significant racial disparity, current active surveillance eligibility should not be modified based upon race until a prospective study has been completed.
Method for CRISPR/Cas9 Mutagenesis in Candida albicans

Candida albicans is the most prevalent and important human fungal pathogen. The advent of CRISPR as a means of gene editing has greatly facilitated genetic analysis in C. albicans. Here, we describe a detailed step-by-step procedure to construct and analyze C. albicans deletion mutants. This protocol uses plasmids that allow simple ligation of synthetic duplex 23mer guide oligodeoxynucleotides for high copy gRNA expression in C. albicans strains that express codon-optimized Cas9. This protocol allows isolation and characterization of deletion strains within nine days.
The Location of Undesirable Facilities

Undesirable facilities are those facilities that have adverse effects on people or the environment. They generate some form of pollution, nuisance, potential health hazard, or danger to nearby residents; they also may harm nearby ecosystems. Examples are incinerators, landfills or sewage plants, airports, stadia, repositories of hazardous wastes, nuclear or chemical plants, prisons, and military installations. Although they provide some disservice to nearby residents, these facilities are necessary to society. In addition, there is often some travel involved to and from these facilities and an associated transportation cost that increases with distance from the population, which in turn suggests that they should be placed away but not very far away. The terms semi-obnoxious and semi-desirable have also been used for some of these facilities, but the undesirable features (perceived or real) of these facilities dominate the desirable ones. Since the analytical models used for locating these facilities do not change much with their degree of undesirability, as Erkut and Neuman (1989) suggested, we will use the term undesirable for all of them.
In the best interest of the child : Maintaining family integrity among HIV-positive mothers, children, and adolescents

SUMMARY Women are increasingly represented anlong cases of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and acquired human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. This article discusses challenges faced by HIV-positive mothers in parenting their children and adoles cents, challenges which may increase their involvement with child welfare, school, legal, and community services prior to guardianship needs. The article then addresses the heightened importance that parcnting takes on for many HIV-positive mothers and discusses how preserving the parent-child bond can be pivotal in acting in the best interest of the child.
Cyclo[18]carbon, the Newest Member of the Family of Carbon Allotropes

Discovery of a new allotrope of carbon, especially one that exists as a molecular form, is an exceedingly rare find in science. In a recent issue of Science, Anderson, Gross, and coworkers reported the on-surface synthesis of cyclo[18]carbon and showed that the all-sp-hybridized ring possessed a polyynic topology.
A constraint on synaptic action in Aplysia: implications for nervous system organization.

Publisher Summary A single neuron can have receptors to more than one neurotransmitter. A single neuron can also have two types of receptor to the same neurotransmitter. For example, on a single neuron there can be acetylcholine (ACh) receptors that produce depolarization by opening Na + channels and ACh receptors that produce hyperpolarization by opening Cl - channels. Several investigators have explored by iontophoresing neurotransmitters onto different regions of neurons that there are different responses to a single neurotransmitter on different regions of the neuron. These experiments suggest that there are indeed instances in which a neuron provides one type of receptor to one input and a different type of receptor to another input that uses the same neurotransmitter. However, several investigators have suggested alternate explanations that could account for the topographic differences in response to iontophoresis, such as different responses to different concentrations of transmitter, or different chloride gradients in different regions of the neuron.
Purification strategy and effect of impurities on corrosivity of dehydrated carnallite for thermal solar applications

This paper presents a purification method for dehydrated carnallite (DC)—a commercial ternary MgCl2–KCl–NaCl salt—for concentrating solar power (CSP) applications based on a thermal and chemical treatment using the reduction power of Mg. The purification is effective at reducing MgOH+ by an order of magnitude—from around 5 wt% in non-treated salt to less than 0.5 wt% in post-purification salt. The corresponding decrease in the measured corrosion rate of Haynes 230 at 800 °C from >3200 μm per year to around 40 μm per year indicates that soluble MgOH+ is indeed correlated to corrosion. The addition of elemental Mg serves as both a scavenger of impurities and corrosion potential control, which are considered the primary mechanisms for corrosion mitigation.
A Window, Mirror, and Wall: How Educators Use Twitter for Professional Learning.

Teachers and other professionals increasingly utilize Twitter as a medium for professional expression and professional learning. These types of Twitter exchanges often take place in formal chats which are moderated by professional organizations or other knowledge brokers in the field. As moderated public online forums become more common, educators may wish to understand the benefits and limitations of this type of professional learning. This paper reports on a study of educators’ discourse in two hosted Twitter chats focused on global education and analyzes the ways in which these types of chats align with research on high-quality professional learning. Results indicate that Twitter chats provide multiple components of high-quality professional learning, namely a focus on content, collaboration, and teacher agency; to a lesser extent, they may provide peer coaching and allow for conversations across a sustained duration. However, other components of meaningful professional learning are not possible in this context, as it is not job-embedded and does not provide active learning or supported opportunities to practice.
From Arteries to Capillaries: Approaches to Engineering Human Vasculature

From micro-scaled capillaries to millimeter-sized arteries and veins, human vasculature spans multiple scales and cell types. The convergence of bioengineering, materials science, and stem cell biology has enabled tissue engineers to recreate the structure and function of different hierarchical levels of the vascular tree. Engineering large-scale vessels has been pursued over the past thirty years to replace or bypass damaged arteries, arterioles, and venules, and their routine application in the clinic may become a reality in the near future. Strategies to engineer meso- and microvasculature have been extensively explored to generate models to study vascular biology, drug transport, and disease progression, as well as for vascularizing engineered tissues for regenerative medicine. However, bioengineering of large-scale tissues and whole organs for transplantation, have failed to result in clinical translation due to the lack of proper integrated vasculature for effective oxygen and nutrient delivery. The development of strategies to generate multi-scale vascular networks and their direct anastomosis to host vasculature would greatly benefit this formidable goal. In this review, we discuss design considerations and technologies for engineering millimeter-, meso-, and micro-scale vessels. We further provide examples of recent state-of-the-art strategies to engineer multi-scale vasculature. Finally, we identify key challenges limiting the translation of vascularized tissues and offer our perspective on future directions for exploration.
Variations in Structural MRI Quality Impact Measures of Brain Anatomy: Relations with Age and Other Sociodemographic Variables

Abstract In-scanner head movements can introduce artifacts to MRI images and increase errors in brain-behavior studies. The magnitude of in-scanner head movements varies widely across developmental and clinical samples, making it increasingly difficult to parse out “true signal” from motion related noise. Yet, the quantification of structural imaging quality is typically limited to subjective visual assessments and/or proxy measures of motion. It is, however, unknown how direct measures of image quality relate to developmental and behavioral variables, as well as measures of brain morphometrics. To begin to answer this question, we leverage a multi-site dataset of structural MRI images, which includes a range of children and adolescents with varying degrees of psychopathology. We first find that a composite of structural image quality relates to important developmental and behavioral variables (e.g., IQ; clinical diagnoses). Additionally, we demonstrate that even among T1-weighted images which pass visual inspection, variations in image quality impact volumetric derivations of regional gray matter. Image quality was associated with wide-spread variations in gray matter, including in portions of the frontal, parietal, and temporal lobes, as well as the cerebellum. Further, our image quality composite partially mediated the relationship between age and total gray matter volume, explaining 23% of this relationship. Collectively, the effects underscore the need for volumetric studies to model or mitigate the effect of image quality when investigating brain-behavior relations.
The Application of American Anti-Discrimination Laws in a Global Work Environment

All of the nation's employment protections under Title VII, the ADA, and ADEA travel with American citizens when they work for American enterprises abroad. Whether these same provisions apply to U.S. nationals remains unclear.
Collaborative conservation in the United States: A review of motivations, goals, and outcomes

Abstract For centuries, communities around the globe have worked together to manage resources—a process often referred to as community-based conservation. More recently in the US, diverse stakeholders have partnered to address complex environmental issues that span land ownership or administrative boundaries, calling these efforts collaborative conservation. Reviews of community-based and collaborative conservation have historically focused on developing countries. To synthesize published information on U.S.-focused groups, we conducted a literature review with the following objectives: 1) characterize geographic distribution, types of participants, and sources of funding for these groups; 2) assess issues motivating group formation, goals, activities to achieve those goals, and outcomes; 3) identify whether these goals, activities, and outcomes were biophysical, social, and/or economic. To accomplish these objectives, we searched for relevant peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and reports in online databases from 1800's-2017. Our review resulted in 245 documents describing 296 collaborative conservation groups across all 50 states (primarily the Western U.S.) and the District of Columbia. The top three issues motivating collaborative group formation included impacts of land and resource degradation on livelihoods, water quality and management, and managing land and resources across ownership boundaries. We found that there was little published information on the outcomes of group activities (16% of groups). For the limited number of groups for which the literature reported outcomes, there was no relationship between positive outcomes and group characteristics. Our findings suggest that renewed efforts to evaluate the impact of collaboration on conservation are warranted and could support learning and improved action.
EVALUATION OF THE STREPTOCOCCAL DESOXYRIBO-NUCLEASE B AND DIPHOSPHOPYRIDINE NUCLEOTIDASE ANTIBODY TESTS IN ACUTE RHEUMATIC FEVER AND ACUTE GLOMERULONEPHRITIS

Antibody titers for two recently described streptococcal antigens, desoxyribonuclease B (DNase B) and diphosphopyridine nucleotidase (DPNase) have been compared with antistreptolysin O (ASO) titers in patients with acute rheumatic fever, in patients with acute nephritis, and in normal controls. Like the ASO, elevated titers for the two new antibodies are commonly found in patients with complications of streptococcal infections. The titers for anti-DPNase tend to be higher in acute nephritis than in acute rheumatic fever. These two new anti-body tests are particularly useful in providing evidence of a preceding streptococcal infection in those patients with manifestations of acute rheumatic fever or acute nephritis who fail to show an elevated ASO titer.
Socio-Economic Changes in the Transition to an Information Economy: The Influence of Informationalization on Occupations, Employment, and Wage Structure in Taiwan

The purpose of this research is to investigate the likely changes in occupations, employment, and wage structure in the transition to an information economy in newly industrialized countries (NICs) such as Taiwan. This paper answers two broad questions in relation to the influence of informationalization in Taiwan's economic society. First, to what extent has Taiwan made the transition to an information economy? And secondly, what changes have occurred in occupations, employment trends, and wage structure in Taiwan during this transition?
Analysis and in-cylinder measurement of particulate radiant emissions and temperature in a direct-injection diesel engine

In-cylinder flame temperature and particulate concentration were measured in a Cummins single cylinder NH diesel engine by means of an optical radiation probe using the two-color theory. The radiation probe consists of a specially designed trifurcated fiber optical bundle and a sapphire rod window. A self-cleaning window was designed, which stays clean under steady state full load conditions. The engine was operated at various conditions for both standard cooled and simulated mini-cooled configurations. The heat release rate data and exhaust emissions, NO, NO/sub x/, and CO are presented along with the radiant emission data. Increasing the coolant temperature gave slightly more exhaust soot production as well as in-cylinder soot production, because more late burning occurred at the higher coolant temperature. It is believed that increased late burning was caused by the delayed end of injection and lower injection rate perhaps due to thermal expansion effects in the injector. Experimental data were used to evaluate the potential radiation heat transfer. The averaged radiation flux to total heat flux ratio was approximately 11 percent, regardless the engine loads and speeds.
Parameter-dependent Lyapunov function for exact stability analysis of single-parameter dependent LTI systems

In this paper, we propose a class of parameter-dependent Lyapunov functions which can be used to assess the stability properties of linear, time-invariant, single-parameter dependent (LTIPD) systems in a non-conservative manner. It is shown that stability of LTIPD systems is equivalent to the existence of a Lyapunov function of a polynomial type (in terms of the parameter) of known, bounded degree satisfying two matrix inequalities. It is also shown that checking the feasibility of these matrix inequalities over a compact set can be cast as a convex optimization problem.
Shuttle radar topography mission (SRTM) flight system design and operations overview

This paper provides an overview of the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), with emphasis on flight system implementation and mission operations from systems engineering perspective. Successfully flown in February, 2000, the SRTM's primary payload consists of several subsystems to form the first spaceborne dual-frequency (C-band and X-band) fixed baseline interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) system, with the mission objective to acquire data sets over 80% of Earth's landmass for height reconstruction. The paper provides system architecture, unique design features, engineering budgets, design verification, in-flight checkout and data acquisition of the SRTM payload, in particular for the C-band system. Mission operation and post-mission data processing activities are also presented. The complexity of the SRTM as a system, the ambitious mission objective, the demanding requirements and the high interdependency between multi-disciplined subsystems posed many challenges. The engineering experience and the insight thus gained have important implications for future spaceborne interferometric SAR mission design and implementation.
Quantitative assessment of the effectiveness of using display techniques with a haptic device for manipulating 3D objects in virtual environments

Quantitative assessment is made of using two display techniques, providing two different levels of depth perception, in conjunction with a haptic device for manipulating 3D objects in virtual environments. The two display techniques are 2D display, and interactive 3D stereoscopic virtual holography display on a zSpace tablet. Experiments were conducted, by several users of different ages and computer training. The experiments involved selected pointing and manipulation tasks. The speed of performing the tasks using the two display techniques were recorded. Statistical analysis of the data is presented. As expected, the use of interactive 3D stereoscopic display resulted in faster performance of the tasks. The improvement in performance was particularly noticeable for the cases wherein the subjects needed to manipulate the haptic arm to reach objects/targets at different depths, and also when the objects/targets were occluded partially by the obstacles.
Stochastic methods applied to medical image reconstruction

Currently used methods of computerized tomographic image reconstruction require a large number of measurements relative to the number of picture elements to be estimated, but employ computationally simple algorithms. However these reconstruction methods do not optimally use the information contained in the measurements. Using a stochastic analysis, the inherent statistical assumptions of some seemingly deterministic reconstruction techniques are examined, and a class of recursive algorithms are developed which use data more efficiently at the price of a small increase in computational complexity per measurement. These algorithms will be useful in cases where the number of measurements are limited by time, cost, geometry, or independence constraints. Examples of reconstructions using state-estimation methods such as square-root, Chandrasekhar, and related algorithms will be discussed.
Respecting curves in unilateral cleft lip repair

For the past 6 years, the author has used two modifications of the rotation-advancement repair for unilateral cleft lips in 126 consecutive patients in an attempt to restore and preserve the normal curved lines of the lip's anatomy. The vertical limbs of the rotation and advancement flaps are curved to compensate for the distortion caused by the unopposed pull of the orbicularis oris muscle. A small triangular flap incorporating the vermilion-cutaneous roll restores continuity of the roll across the repair and helps restore and maintain the profile of the lip.
Decay of Z into three pseudoscalar bosons

We consider the decay of the Z boson into three pseudoscalar bosons in a general two-Higgs-doublet model. Assuming m{sub A} to be very small, and that of the two physical neutral scalar bosons h{sub 1} and h{sub 2}, A only couples to Z through h{sub 1}, we find the Z{r_arrow}AAA branching fraction to be negligible for moderate values of tan{beta}{equivalent_to}v{sub 2}/v{sub 1}, if there is no {lambda}{sub 5}({Phi}{sub 1}{sup {dagger}}{Phi}{sub 2}){sup 2}+H.c. term in the Higgs potential; otherwise there is no absolute bound but very large quartic couplings (beyond the validity of perturbation theory) are needed for it to be observable. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}