cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Gain coupling of class A semiconductor lasers

We report on the development of a gain-coupled class A semiconductor laser for dual-wavelength generation via optical switching. A vertical external cavity surface emitting laser (VECSEL) structure is used, because it provides a flexible platform for high-power, high-brightness output in the near-IR and visible ranges. For the first time (to our knowledge), two VECSEL cavities sharing a common gain region are studied. Because the cavities are in competition for common carriers, birefringent filters in the external cavity control the laser cavity thresholds; this configuration demonstrates the possibility of switching between the two cavities, which can operate at different wavelengths. However, in this Letter we also show, numerically and experimentally, that with the consideration of spontaneous emission, it is possible to maintain simultaneous lasing in each cavity at a different wavelength.
Nutrient- and light-mediated buoyancy control of the oceanic non-motile dinoflagellate Pyrocystis noctiluca Murray ex Haeckel (1890)

Abstract It appears that nutrient concentrations rather than light intensity are the primary factors controlling the buoyancy of Pyrocystis noctiluca Murray ex Haeckel (1890) cells in the sea, and that changes in the buoyancy of P. noctiluca tend to concentrate it at subsurface depths. In the southern Sargasso Sea and the northern Caribbean Sea, vegetative cells of P. noctiluca had population maxima at depths between 60 and 100 m at the 15 to 2% isolumes and ≈0 to 70 m above the apparent depth of the nutricline. From the mixed layer to the depth of the vegetative cell population maximum, there was an increasing proportion of positively buoyant cells of P. noctiluca . The highest proportions of positively buoyant cells occurred from just below the depth of the vegetative cell maximum to ≈ 170 m depth. These results suggest that cells either above or below the depth of the vegetative cell maximum tend to use their buoyancy to return to that depth. Experiments to test what affected the cell buoyancy were carried out in chambers containing P. noctiluca and suspended below drifting buoys in the Sargasso Sea and the Caribbean Sea. In chambers with plankton netting for sides (having ambient nutrients), P. noctiluca populations became negatively buoyant when held in the mixed layer 5 days, but became positively buoyant when held in the thermocline at 110 m for 5 days. In chambers having solid sides P. noctiluca also became negatively buoyant in the mixed layer and at 110 m unless nutrients (including 8.8 μM NO 3 − and 0.36 μM PO 4 3− ), were added to the sea water in the chambers. In the laboratory, nutrients rather than light intensity also appeared to be the primary factor controlling the buoyancy of P. noctiluca cells. In the laboratory, an increase in the proportions of sinking cells took place only after nutrient depletion. In cultures, light at saturating and subsaturating intensities for cell division rate apparently affected buoyancy by controlling the rates at which the cells used nutrients through growth processes. In both the sea and in cultures, cell buoyancy characteristics were apparently due to the balance of rates of nutrient accumulation due to uptake and loss due to growth.
Periodic dynamical systems in unidirectional metapopulation models

In periodically varying environments, population models generate periodic dynamical systems. To understand the effects of unidirectional dispersal on local patch dynamics in fluctuating environments, dynamical systems theory is used to study the resulting periodic dynamical systems. In particular, a unidirectional dispersal linked two patch nonautonomous metapopulation model is constructed and used to explain the qualitative dynamics of linked versus unlinked independent patches. As in singlepatch, single-species population models, unidirectional nonautonomous models support multiple attractors where local population models support single attractors.
Fatigue of Thick Thermal Barrier Coatings

Thick thermal barrier coatings (TTBCs) of plasma-sprayed 8% Y[sub 2]O[sub 3]-ZrO[sub 2] were fatigued in compression as part of a reliability and durability study to evaluate their potential use in high-performance diesel engines. Test specimens were designed to test the bulk ceramic uniaxially, independent of the substrate. A test machine was designed to alleviate the mechanical gripping and alignment difficulties associated with cyclically stressing brittle ceramics in compression. Higher fatigue limits, 375 vs 200 MPa, were observed at 800 C than at room temperature. Specimens tested at room temperature after high-temperature compressive cycling also had higher fatigue limits, indicating that the strengthening was permanent. At temperatures of 800 C, the coatings showed evidence of low-temperature, pressure-induced sintering. The extent to which sintering occurred was determined by studying the change in the elastic modulus as a result of the application of varying temperatures and static stresses.
Measuring the Impact of Living Wage Laws: A Critical Appraisal of David Neumark's How Living Wage Laws Affect Low-Wage Workers and Low-Income Families

Drawing on data from the Current Population Survey (CPS), David Neumark (2002) finds that living wage laws have brought substantial wage increases for a high proportion of workers in cities that have passed these laws. He also finds that living wage laws significantly reduce employment opportunities for low-wage workers. We argue, first, that by truncating his sample to concentrate his analysis on low-wage workers, Neumark's analysis is vulnerable to sample selection bias, and that his results are not robust to alternative specifications that utilize quantile regression to avoid such selection bias. In addition, we argue that Neumark has erroneously utilized the CPS data set to derive these results. We show that, with respect to both wage and employment effects, Neumark's results are not robust to more accurate alternative classifications as to which workers are covered by living wage laws. We also show that the wage effects that Neumark observes for all U.S. cities with living wage laws can be more accurately explained as resulting from effects on sub-minimum wage workers in Los Angeles alone of a falling unemployment rate and rising minimum wage in that city. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: We wish to thank David Neumark for providing us with the original data base and program files for his 2002 study. We are grateful to Jared Bernstein of the Economic Policy Institute, David Fairris of UC-Riverside, Peter Hall of UC-Berkeley, and Larry Katz of Harvard University for their detailed, perceptive comments on a previous draft. We especially acknowledge our University of Massachusetts colleague Michael Ash for his commitment and ongoing insights, which have been a major assistance throughout this project.
Object tracking in the presence of occlusions via a camera network

This paper describes a sensor network approach to tracking a single object in the presence of static and moving occluders using a network of cameras. To conserve communication bandwidth and energy, each camera first performs simple local processing to reduce each frame to a scan line. This information is then sent to a cluster head to track a point object. We assume the locations of the static occluders to be known, but only prior statistics on the positions of the moving occluders are available. A noisy perspective camera measurement model is presented, where occlusions are captured through an occlusion indicator function. An auxiliary particle filter that incorporates the occluder information is used to track the object. Using simulations, we investigate (i) the dependency of the tracker performance on the accuracy of the moving occluder priors, (ii) the tradeoff between the number of cameras and the occluder prior accuracy required to achieve a prescribed tracker performance, and (iii) the importance of having occluder priors to the tracker performance as the number of occluders increases. We generally find that computing moving occluder priors may not be worthwhile, unless it can be obtained cheaply and to a reasonable accuracy. Preliminary experimental results are provided.
Absence of Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein 1 in Mice Leads to Decreased Local Macrophage Recruitment and Antigen-Specific T Helper Cell Type 1 Immune Response in Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis

Monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1 plays a critical role in innate immunity by directing the migration of monocytes into inflammatory sites. Recent data indicated a function for this chemokine in adaptive immunity as a regulator of T cell commitment to T helper cell type 2 (Th2) effector function. Studies in a Th1-dependent animal model, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), showed that MCP-1 was highly expressed in the central nervous system (CNS) of affected rodents, and MCP-1 antibodies could block relapses of the disease. Mice deficient for the major MCP-1 receptor, CC chemokine receptor (CCR)2, did not develop EAE after active immunization but generated effector cells that could transfer the disease to naive wild-type recipients. We analyzed EAE in mice deficient for MCP-1 to define the relevant ligand for CCR2, which responds to murine MCP-1, MCP-2, MCP-3, and MCP-5. We found that C57BL/6 MCP-1–null mice were markedly resistant to EAE after active immunization, with drastically impaired recruitment of macrophages to the CNS, yet able to generate effector T cells that transferred severe disease to naive wild-type recipients. By contrast, adoptive transfer of primed T cells from wild-type mice into naive MCP-1–null recipients did not mediate clinical EAE. On the SJL background, disruption of the MCP-1 gene produced a milder EAE phenotype with diminished relapses that mimicked previous findings using anti–MCP-1 antibodies. There was no compensatory upregulation of MCP-2, MCP-3, or MCP-5 in MCP-1–null mice with EAE. These results indicated that MCP-1 is the major CCR2 ligand in mice with EAE, and provided an opportunity to define the role of MCP-1 in EAE. Compared with wild-type littermates, MCP-1−/− mice exhibited reduced expression of interferon γ in draining lymph node and CNS and increased antigen-specific immunoglobulin G1 antibody production. Taken together, these data demonstrate that MCP-1 is crucial for Th1 immune responses in EAE induction and that macrophage recruitment to the inflamed CNS target organ is required for primed T cells to execute a Th1 effector program in EAE.
Space-time low-density parity-check codes

We use a graph based representation to develop space-time low density parity check (LDPC) codes. Shortly after the advent of turbo codes in 1993, several researchers noticed that existing graphical representations such as Bayesian Networks and later-developed representations like factor graphs are excellent unifying frameworks for developing iterative algorithms such as (joint) decoding and equalization. This work is one such example where we use the framework of Bayesian networks to develop LDPC codes for a multiple transmit/multiple receive antenna scenario. The performance of these codes and corresponding iterative decoding algorithm is explored.
Comprehensive modeling of VLSI test

Predictive models for test traditionally focus on the defect level leaving the test process, while ignoring the Type I error which occurs when the test fails good circuits. This paper presents a general framework for understanding test processes, all of which exhibit both Type I and Type II errors. The application of this framework to published models for test is developed within this general framework, illustrating its usefulness in describing various types of tests. The use of this framework in including the effect of Type I error is then demonstrated and references to its application, including Type I error, to an actual manufacturing test process are provided.
CORTIN IN ADDISON’S DISEASE

This completes the observations on a case reported earlier in this Journal (1). So far as we know it is the first case with practically complete adrenal cortical insufficiency treated with cortin. After remaining in the hospital for 97 days the patient was allowed to go home. He injected himself four times daily with cortin. He felt well, slept soundly and had a good appetite. On the eleventh day at home the amount of cortin was reduced one-half. Three days later in the morning after eating breakfast he felt very ill, vomited many times, but felt no pain except in the epigastric region. He became very thirsty, was unable to talk very well and finally “everything was blank” according to his statement. He returned by ambulance to the hospital. He was given cortin every two hours subcutaneously (the product of 300 gm. of cortex) for twenty-four hours; then the interval was gradually increased and the dose decreased until on the fifth day after readmission the cortin per day was the standard minimum for him (...
GUIDED MISSILES: PAST-PRESENT-FUTURE

Fortunately, we Americans do have a sense of humor. Will Rogers played upon this strength when he helped us laugh our way through a depression. In much the same way, I think in 1957 we are “laughing” our way through one world crisis after another. These are times of tension and turmoil. The consequences of atomic or hydrogen warfare are beyond the comprehension of most of us. Yet, we can still laugh at ourselves. Just the other day I walked into an office of one of my junior staff members and what did I see on the wall ? It was a neatly framed motto which read: "We fire our missiles into the air, they come to earth we know not where!" I too had a laugh, although I can readily assure you that the humor was far removed from the actual truth. We do fire our missiles into the air, and we know quite well they come down-and where!
Standing in the Shadows of Theory

As the field of biomedical informatics matures, investigators and systems implementers increasingly rely on theories, models, and frameworks to guide their work. Of these three, theory provides the greatest value to any discipline, because theory provides well-validated pathways to link observed phenomena with foundational knowledge, thus enhancing efficiency and generalizability. Theories are sets of propositional statements that explain, predict, or prescribe the relationship between concepts capable of being tested, verified, or refuted through empirical work. Theories serve to illuminate concepts deemed essential to understanding complex situations, such as why people with AIDS accept an electronic coaching system,1 or predict future states, such as how quickly physicians will adopt electronic health records.2 Reliance on theory demonstrates a level of sophistication in any discipline, and, as such, this increase in attention to theory-driven research and practice is much welcomed in biomedical informatics. So long as an applicable theory or theories exist, the necessary first step in any investigation or implementation should be to select the theory that will guide the endeavor. This is a significant right and responsibility. Each time a researcher or systems implementer selects a theory to guide his or her work, he or … Correspondence: School of Nursing and College of Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1513 University Avenue, Room 3270, Madison, WI 53706 (e-mail: )
A low-power encoder architecture for pyramid vector quantization of 2D subband coefficients

This paper describes a VLSI architecture designed to pyramid vector quantize (PVQ) 2-D subband image for low-power portable applications. Using the 0.8 /spl mu/ CMOS process, the chip is estimated to dissipate less than 300 /spl mu/W at a 1.5 V supply, encoding at 1.27 Mpixels/sec, for display of 240 pixels wide, 176 lines, and 30 frames per second, while introducing no noticeable degradation in the decompressed video quality. Low power consumption is achieved through efficient algorithm-to-hardware mapping requiring no multipliers, dividers, or external memory accesses, innovative computational methods, and reduction in supply voltage.
The Rate of Oronasal Fistula Following Primary Cleft Palate Surgery: A Meta-Analysis

Background: Despite decades of craniofacial surgeons repairing cleft palates, there is no consensus for the rate of fistula formation following surgery. The authors present a meta-analysis of studies that reported on primary cleft palate to determine the rate of oronasal fistula and to identify risk factors for their development. Methods: A literature search for the period between 2000 and 2012 was performed. Articles were queried and strict inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied to focus on primary cleft palate repair. A meta-analysis of these data was conducted. Results: The meta-analysis included 11 studies, comprising 2505 children. The rate of oronasal fistula development was 4.9% (95% confidence interval, 3.8% to 6.1%). When analyzing a larger cohort, there was a significant relationship between Veau classification and the occurrence of a fistula (P < .001), with fistulae most prevalent in patients with a Veau IV cleft. The most common location for a fistula was at the soft palate-hard palate...
Two distinct stages in the transition from naive CD4 T cells to effectors, early antigen-dependent and late cytokine-driven expansion and differentiation.

Efficient peptide presentation by professional APC to naive and effector CD4 T cells in vitro is limited to the first 1–2 days of culture, but is nonetheless optimum for effector expansion and cytokine production. In fact, prolonging Ag presentation leads to high levels of T cell death, decreased effector expansion, and decreased cytokine production by recovered effectors. Despite the absence of Ag presentation beyond day 2, T cell division continues at a constant rate throughout the 4-day culture. The Ag-independent later stage depends on the presence of IL-2, and we conclude optimum effector generation depends on an initial 2 days of TCR stimulation followed by an additional 2 days of Ag-independent, cytokine driven T cell expansion and differentiation.
The design of a bit-serial coprocessor to perform multiplication and division on a massively parallel architecture

The design of a VLSI coprocessor element (COPE) that uses a parallel adder to achieve the increased speed needed by the many multiplications and divisions required by fast Fourier transforms (FFTs), convolutions, and other common operations is discussed. It accepts operands of variable length (N >
Hydrologic forecasting using artificial neural networks: a Bayesian sequential Monte Carlo approach

Sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) methods are known to be very effective for the state and parameter estimation of nonlinear and non-Gaussian systems. In this study, SMC is applied to the parameter estimation of an artificial neural network (ANN) model for streamflow prediction of a watershed. Through SMC simulation, the probability distribution of model parameters and streamflow estimation is calculated. The results also showed the SMC approach is capable of providing reliable streamflow prediction under limited available observations.
The impact of fire and fire extinguishing method on the corrosion behavior of the steel bars in concrete pore solution

Abstract Exposure of reinforced concrete structural elements to high temperatures, e.g. fire, remains one of the serious potential risks to such structures. This exposure can lead to losses in concrete structural capacity, possible plastic deformation of embedded steel and loss of bond between reinforcing steel and concrete. The level of temperature and the method of extinguishing the fire alter the microstructure of reinforcing steel bars. This microstructure alteration changes the corrosion behavior of steel in such structures, when exposes to chloride ions. The present study was undertaken to determine the impact of exposure of steel to high temperature and the method of extinguishing the fire on its corrosion behavior in alkaline environment of concrete in presence of chloride ions. Results indicated that exposure of steel to high temperatures, regardless of its level; made steel more susceptible to corrosion compared to the reference case, when steel was kept at room temperature. The worst case happened for the steel exposed to 850 °C for an hour, then cooled rapidly in water, where the corrosion rate increased approximately 60% in chloride contaminated concrete pore solution.
Querying Hidden Attributes in an Online Community Network

An online community network such as Twitter, Yelp or amazon.com links entities (e.g., Users, products) with various relationships (e.g., Friendship, co-purchase, co-review) and make such information available for access through a web interface. Often, these community networks act as "social sensors" in which users sense information in the real world and mention them online. The web interfaces of these networks often support features such as keyword search that allow an user to quickly find entities of interest. While these interfaces are adequate for regular users, they are often too restrictive to answer complex queries such as (1) find 100 Twitter users from California with at least 100 followers who talked about earthquakes last year or (2) find 25 restaurants in Yelp with at least 10 5-star reviews with 10 or more 'useful' points. In this paper, we investigate the problem of answering complex queries that involve non-searchable attributes through the web interface of an online community network. We model such a network as a heterogeneous graph with two access channels, Content Search and Local Search. We propose a number of efficient algorithms that leverage properties of the heterogeneous graph and also propose a strategy selection algorithm based on the concept of multi-armed bandits. We conduct comprehensive experiments over popular social sensing websites such as Twitter and amazon.com which demonstrate the efficacy of our proposed algorithms.
E2F8 and its target genes as novel therapeutic targets for lung cancer

dose-dependent manner and significantly extended survival of the mice. Conclusions: These results provide comprehensive evidence for the oncogenic functions of L-Myc and further support the concept of targeting the gene and its related molecular pathways to intervene in SCLC. Additionally, the new approaches demonstrated in this study will facilitate functional analysis of numerous candidate genes, increasing the likelihood of determining cancerrelevant genes and pathways.
Documenting Learning Disabilities: Law Schools’ Responsibility to Set Clear Guidelines

In his freshman year of college, Tommy was diagnosed with a learning disability. A school psychologist, using two primary test instruments for adults, determined that, while Tommy’s aptitude was strong, he displayed significant weaknesses in several areas and suffered from a Mathematics Disorder, DSM-IV-TR, 315.1 & a Disorder of Written Expression, DSM-IV-TR 315.2. The college’s office of disability services granted Tommy accommodations, including lengthy assignments broken down into smaller components, extended time for written tests, and a peer notetaker. Tommy blossomed, successfully graduating from college with honors. After six months in the workforce, Tommy decided to apply to law school. He applied and was accepted at four prestigious law schools. To help make his decision as to which school to attend, Tommy searched each law school’s website for information about receiving help for his learning disability. For one school he gave up after finding no information. One school referred him to its Disabilities Services Office for a copy of its Disability Policy. The two other schools each had somewhat different policies for what documentation was necessary to establish eligibility for accommodations for his learning disability. Both required that tests for learning disabilities be conducted by a licensed physician or clinical psychologist or an adult learning disability specialist but each recommended different adult testing instruments. Furthermore, one school required that the documentation not be more than three years old, while the other school recommended that testing be completed with the past five years. It appeared probable that neither school would accept his previous documentation. Costs for additional testing might reach $1500.00 and might take several months to complete.
Correlation of tryptophan fluorescence spectral shifts and lifetimes arising directly from heterogeneous environment.

Tryptophan (Trp) fluorescence is potentially a powerful probe for studying the conformational ensembles of proteins in solution, as it is highly sensitive to the local electrostatic environment of the indole side chain. However, interpretation of the wavelength-dependent complex fluorescence decays of proteins has been stymied by controversy about two plausible origins of the typical multiple fluorescence lifetimes: multiple ground-state populations or excited-state relaxation. The latter naturally predicts the commonly observed wavelength−lifetime correlation between decay components, which associates short lifetimes with blue-shifted emission spectra and long lifetimes with red-shifted spectra. Here we show how multiple conformational populations also lead to the same strong wavelength−lifetime correlation in cyclic hexapeptides containing a single Trp residue. Fluorescence quenching in these peptides is due to electron transfer. Quantum mechanics−molecular mechanics simulations with 150-ps trajectories...
Large scale structures in trailing vortices

Large eddy simulation(LES) is performed to study the response of trailing vortices to random and controlled disturbances. The q-vortex (Batchelor 1964) is used as a model of such vortices. When the vortex is linearly unstable, the disturbances grow and result in the generation of large scale helical structures. During the period of growth of disturbance the mean tangential velocity shows no significant decay while the axial velocity deficit weakens appreciably. This results in a stabilizing mean flow which quenches the large scale motions, and the vortex returns to a laminar configuration.
Salvage therapy for relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia is a common hematologic malignancy with a highly variable clinical course. While the median age at diagnosis is 72 years of age and fewer than 10% of patients are diagnosed before the age of 60 years, the majority of patients who require therapy will ultimately relapse. Advances in upfront therapy and supportive care have dramatically improved initial responses compared with traditional akylator-based chemotherapy. However, comparable results are not generally observed in the salvage setting. Careful planning that takes into account the duration of the initial response, patient age and/or comorbidities, and cytogenetic and molecular profiles are critical for the successful management of patients with relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
Increasing the Useful Life of Quench Reliefs with Inconel Bellows

Reliable quench relief valves are an important part of superconducting magnet systems. Fermilab developed bellows-actuated cryogenic quench reliefs which have been in use since the early 1980’s. The original design uses a stainless steel bellows. A high frequency, low amplitude vibration during relieving events has resulted in fatigue failures in the original design. To take advantage of the improved resistance to fatigue of Inconel, a nickel-chromium alloy, reliefs using Inconel 625 bellows were made. Design, development, and testing of the new version reliefs will be discussed. Tests show that relief valve lifetimes using Inconel bellows are more than five times greater than when using the original stainless steel bellows. Inconel bellows show great promise in increasing the lifetime of quench relief valves, and thus the reliability of accelerator cryogenic systems.
Transfer and Everyday Reasoning: Personal Development, Cultural Diversity, and Decision Making

Transfer occurs widely in everyday life, although it seldom occurs as the result of formal instruction. It occurs pervasively in everyday reasoning about events and people, and when it occurs, one often fail to recognize it as a transfer. The use of similarity is systemic in everyday reasoning and the mental manipulation of similarity is the foundation of reasoning itself. It is often the simple observations in life that carry profound consequences and one implication is that it provides insight into the bases on which one respond to others in social situations. Another implication is that reasoning on the basis of a single instance is applicable to the logical problem of induction and inference. Personal development is the consequence of knowledge such as knowledge of things; knowledge of knowledge, sometimes called meta-knowledge; knowledge of self; and knowledge of others. There are two basic paths to personal development. The first concerns developing our individual selves through general knowledge and the second path is development through interaction based on knowledge of others. A number of studies on analogical transfer have noted that governmental policymakers often make use of single instances in their experience as analogs on which to base their decisions and policies of current crises.
Things That Appear

Your life, then; your experience, your world; the images with which you weave and unweave that world, the enchanting or the intolerable pictures of your dreams; the fictions, then, of your reality, the irrepressible theme of your art.
Write Locality and Optimization for Persistent Memory

Persistent memory is a disruptive technology that drastically reduces memory cost and static power but introduces the problems of slow writes and limited write endurance. An effective solution is caching. However, existing cache has been designed for fast reads. It does not minimize the number of writebacks from cache to memory. In this paper, we propose a metric to quantify the write locality and a theory to analyze and optimize write locality. It includes a linear-time algorithm to predict the write-back frequency for all cache sizes. In shared cache, it predicts the number of writebacks for co-run programs based on sole-run profiling. The paper evaluates the accuracy of the prediction against cache simulation. It then uses the theory to optimize write locality in a set of co-run programs in shared cache by cache partitioning. The theory predicts that such write-locality optimization can reduce the number of writebacks by 12% to 35%, compared to uncontrolled cache sharing.
Spinning Out of Control: A 19-Year-Old Female with Spinning-Related Exertional Thigh Compartment Syndrome.

Thigh compartment syndrome (TCS) is a rare condition caused by high pressures within the fascial compartments of the thigh, impeding capillary flow and leading to decreased perfusion, tissue hypoxia, and necrosis. TCS is most frequently associated with trauma and anticoagulation but has also rarely been associated with exercise-related injury. We present the case of a 19-year-old female who reported painful swelling in her thighs and darkening of her urine after participating in a spinning class. On physical examination, the patient was found to have tight, painful thigh compartments with extreme tenderness on passive motion. Labs revealed a marked elevation of creatine kinase and leukocytosis. The patient was diagnosed with TCS and underwent emergent decompression fasciotomy and aggressive IV fluids for protection against myoglobinuria. Due to high clinical suspicion, prompt diagnosis, and early surgery, the patient experienced excellent recovery without functional deficits. Language: en
On-Chip Liquid Biopsy: Progress in Isolation of Exosomes for Early Diagnosis of Cancer

In contrast to a standard biopsy, the so-called ‘liquid biopsy’offers a rapid, non-invasive, and cost effective alternative for cancer diagnosis. Exosomes, which are secreted by most eukaryotic cells and range in size from 30-150nm, are the enabling biocolloid in this technique as they carry a diverse variety of genetically rich cargo, including proteins, RNA, and DNA. Hence, studying exosomes could potentially provide vital information about undesirable genetic deviations occurring in their cell of origin. Rapid isolation of exosomes from blood, urine or other body fluids remains a key challenge in this growing field.Deterministic lateral displacement (DLD) pillar arrays have proven an effective means to sort, segregate, and enrich micron-size particles, such as parasites and blood cells. Here, we have developed a nanoscale DLD devices, containing gap sizes as small as ∼25nm, with nanoscale sorting resolution of biological particles. This development in nanofluidics and engineering has enabled us to sort colloidal particles at the tens of nanometers scale. Additionally, we have developed predictive computational models to provide key insights into the behavior of particles in these systems. Furthermore, we have successfully demonstrated on-chip, size-based separation of exosomes, indicating the potential of this technology for sorting plasma, urine, serum or circulating tumor-derived exosomes.
Dendroclimatic Responses of Sugar Maple Tapped for Maple Syrup: A Case Study from Pennsylvania

ABSTRACT Maple syrup is a regional, non-timber forest product in the United States that depends upon healthy, mature sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marshall). We examined whether tapping for maple syrup altered the dendroclimatic response of sugar maple. Ring width indices from two sites (tapped and reference) in central Pennsylvania were correlated with regional temperature, precipitation, and Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI). Both sites had significant correlations between summer and fall PDSI and radial growth. Spring PDSI was significantly correlated with growth at the reference site, but not at the tapped site. Both tapped and reference trees experienced below-average growth during years with dry spring conditions (PSDI 0) compared to reference trees (15%). These results indicate that tapping for maple syrup may have altered the dendroclimatic response of sugar ma...
Design Guidelines for Sensor Locations on 3D Printed Prosthetic Hands

Recently, the advent of 3D printers has enabled people to produce a lot of inexpensive and obtainable prosthetics. In addition to that, various sensors have also been developed and used to give intelligent functions to the prosthetics. However, there may be cases where the number of sensors attached to the prosthetics should be limited due to cost, limited space, or power issues as the number of sensors increase. Therefore, in this paper, we provide a design guideline that could be used to determine the ideal sensor locations, particularly when the number of sensors is limited by finding out the locations of the high contact areas where the prosthetic hand touches the object. To this end, we experiment with a popular prosthetic hand made using a 3D printer. The prosthetic hand with gloves is used to touch two different objects that are covered with black ink, and the area of ink transferred onto the gloves is measured by image processing. Experiments are conducted ten times on the same object to obtain statistical results, and as a result, we show the most contact areas with the objects and present the guidelines.
Chapter 24 – Implementation of Monetary Policy: How Do Central Banks Set Interest Rates?☆

Central banks no longer set the short-term interest rates that they use for monetary policy purposes by manipulating the supply of banking system reserves, as in conventional economics textbooks; this process normally involves little or no variation in the supply of central bank liabilities. In effect, the announcement effect has displaced the liquidity effect as the fulcrum of monetary policy implementation. The chapter begins with an exposition of the traditional view of the implementation of monetary policy, and an assessment of the relationship between the quantity of reserves, appropriately defined, and the level of short-term interest rates. Event studies show no relationship between the two for the United States, the Euro-system, or Japan. Structural estimates of banks' reserve demand, at a frequency corresponding to the required reserve maintenance period, show no interest elasticity for the U.S. or the Euro-system (but some elasticity for Japan). The chapter next develops a model of the overnight interest rate setting process incorporating several key features of current monetary policy practice, including in particular reserve averaging procedures and a commitment, either explicit or implicit, by the central bank to lend or absorb reserves in response to differences between the policy interest rate and the corresponding target. A key implication is that if reserve demand depends on the difference between current and expected future interest rates, but not on the current level per se, then the central bank can alter the market-clearing interest rate with no change in reserve supply. This implication is borne out in structural estimates of daily reserve demand and supply in the U.S.: expected future interest rates shift banks' reserve demand, while changes in the interest rate target are associated with no discernable change in reserve supply. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the implementation of monetary policy during the recent financial crisis, and the conditions under which the interest rate and the size of the central bank's balance sheet could function as two independent policy instruments.
EVOLUTIONARY CONSUMERS IMPLY MONOPOLIES EXIT

We address the question of how a monopolist should price when facing evolutionary consumers who gradually move in the direction of following their optimal strategy but may make temporary suboptimal choices. We show that under a broad generalization of the most commonly used model of evolution, the monopolist will set a path of prices such that all consumers eventually stop purchasing the monopolist's product.
ELECTRON MICROSCOPIC LOCALIZATION OF TETRAHYDROPAPAVEROLINE IN THE RAT CAUDATE NUCLEUS

ABSTRACT Slices of caudate nucleus were incubated with various concentrations of tetrahydropapaveroline (THP). Lineweaver-Burk analysis indicates that THP can induce small granular vesicles (SGV) in 16–17% of the bouton population. Caudate incubated with both 5×10−4M THP and 5×10−3M dopamine was practically void of SGVs. In caudate ipsilateral to a substantia nigra lesion, less than 1% of the boutons contained THP-induced SGVs. These results indicate that THP can be taken up and stored in central dopamine terminals and that dopamine fibers and terminals comprise 16–17% of the bouton population in the rat caudate nucleus.
Featured Address Privatization of Space Flight Operations

The establishment of United Space Alliance (USA) as the single prime contractor for NASA’s Space Shuttle operations is a significant step toward the privatization of America’s human space flight activities. the Space Flight Operations Contract that NASA and USA signed in 1996 transfers responsibility for management and operations to the private sector, advancing the Space Shuttle program from an inherently governmental function toward a commercial enterprise. the contract does not specifically provide for the privatization of the Shuttle program, but it does place accountability under a single contractor. the next step is the transfer of total operational responsibility for the program to USA, a move that, from an industry perspective, would constitute privatization. the ability of industry to establish a commercial market for human space flight operations and to generate revenue from other non-NASA customers will be the determining factor in the program’s progress beyond privatization toward commercialization. Reducing the cost of flying payloads aboard the Space Shuttle while ensuring safe reliable delivery will be key in attracting other agencies and new commercial customers in this market. Market share will naturally be limited to those orbits serviceable by the Shuttle, and the assembly of the International Space Station will place a significant demand on the manifest for the foreseeable future. Beyond these limitations, however, the Space Shuttle has considerable commercial capability on the “continuum” between a privatized government function and a truly commercial enterprise.
The Green Product Lifecycle and Services: Is There a Gap?

IT Products are often bundled with services. One reason is the development of business structures within the industry nations. The Service enhance by its significance, while the production is transferred to other countries. This change has a great impact to the lifecycle of products. It is an open question, if this development has a positive effect to sustainability or if new problems arise. This chapter discusses alterations to the Product Lifecycle in order to consider the impact of Services to sustainability.
STABILITY OF CONTINUOUS SYSTEMS

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses two quite different aspects of the concept of stability of a given motion of a dynamical system. The first aspect concerns the idea of stability itself, with the object of reminding that stability in dynamics is an idea that means different things to different people and that an analysis of it soon leads to the uncovering of various basic conceptual and logical difficulties. Criteria for stability that are logically sound and also practically applicable are not easy to come by either. The second aspect of the problems is concerned with the use of modem computing machines as an aid in studying the motions of complicated dynamical systems. The chapter describes two examples of continuous nonlinear systems that have been so treated.
Pharmaceutical growth versus health equity in India: when markets fail

To reveal inequity in health in India. The global paradigm of the knowledge economy propounds that growth and equity will occur if there is a free-market economy without state intervention and if patents are provided as incentives for innovation. In this paper, we explore the veracity of this thesis by investigating growth in the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors in India, and by looking at equity issues through the lens of gender health and health costs for poor consumers. We used data from current publications to support this thesis. We found that growth has been characterized by multiple handicaps and oligopoly, with the nature of expansion not having relevance for the disease profiles in India. The scenario of gender health and health costs of the poor is grim due to state retrenchment and neglect of the provision of public good, such as in health matters. One can conclude that equity has not occurred under a growing pharmaceutical sector. This finding has huge implications for public policy in India and other emerging nations.
SpaceWire Cable and Connector Variations. Session: SpaceWire Components

This viewgraph presentation reviews issues about SpaceWire cable and connectors. Discussion in the talk concerned connector specifications and cable specifications. The Connector Specification issues are: (1) Not impedance matched to the cable (2) Handling (Mechanical) issues (3) Need space-qualified matched impedance connector (4) alternative space-qualified connector and Electrical Issues (5) Only a single ground pin which does not pass through (6) Near-end Crosstalk (NEXT) at the SpaceWire connector Cable Specification issue concerns the use of larger gauge cable in non-standard applications or to meet tight specifications
IHI ID 03 EQuIP, an evidence-based quality improvement process: improving the speed to insight

Background Despite the recognition that data can create value for healthcare organizations, only a few have adopted rigorous analytic approaches to support their data exploration efforts. With new sources and increasing amounts of data available to guide quality improvement work, having an evidence-based approach for directing data analytics is essential. Objectives To propose an evidence-guided systematic approach for exploring data to identify QI opportunities. Methods We developed a linear framework that begins with monitoring the literature in target clinical areas of importance. This review of existing knowledge by a multidisciplinary team provides parameters that guide data exploration and facilitates the selection of benchmarks and potential balance measures. Then, a robust dataset is built by combining relevant data sources. Next, data are analyzed using a combination of traditional statistical and quality improvement techniques. Lastly, key points are summarized and presented to stake holders as specific improvement opportunities in the context of business value; listing actionable targets with estimated impact. Results The proposed methodology was tested on one of Kaisers target clinical areas of importance, interventional cardiology. Three potential improvement opportunities were identified: network leakage; avoidable hospital days; and preventable 30 day hospital readmission. Preliminary estimates suggested that our data could lead to approximately 1 million dollars in savings and up to 250 avoided hospital days while improving the quality and safety of care to our members. Conclusions Systematic use of a framework for data exploration may create operational and strategic business value by increasing the speed at which data are transformed into actionable knowledge.
Confounding off-target effects of BH3 mimetics at commonly used concentrations: MIM1, UMI-77, and A-1210477

Targeting anti-apoptotic BCL2 family proteins has become an attractive therapeutic strategy for many cancers, and the BCL2-selective inhibitor ABT-199 (venetoclax) has obtained clinical success. However, MCL1 can promote drug resistance and overall cancer cell survival. Thus, there is a critical need to develop an effective drug that antagonizes MCL1. However, most putative MCL1 inhibitors have been misclassified as they fail to directly inhibit MCL1 in cells, but rather induce the pro-apoptotic protein NOXA. We have investigated three putative MCL1 inhibitors: MIM1, UMI-77, and A-1210477. All three compounds were developed in cell-free assays and then found to be cytotoxic, and hence assumed to directly target MCL1 in cells. Here, we investigated whether these compounds directly inhibit MCL1 or inhibit MCL1 indirectly through the induction of NOXA. Both MIM1- and UMI-77-induced NOXA through the unfolded protein response pathway, and sensitized leukemia cells to ABT-199; this cytotoxicity was dependent on NOXA suggesting that these compounds do not directly target MCL1. A-1210477 was the only compound that did not induce NOXA, but it still sensitized cells to ABT-199. A-1210477 induced accumulation of MCL1 protein consistent with it binding and preventing MCL1 degradation. However, at concentrations used in several prior studies, A-1210477 also induced cytochrome c release, caspase activation, and apoptosis in a BAX/BAK-independent manner. Furthermore, the release of cytochrome c occurred without loss of mitochondrial membrane potential. This apoptosis was extremely rapid, sometimes occurring within 0.5–1 h. Hence, we have identified a novel mechanism of apoptosis that circumvents the known mechanisms of cytochrome c release. It remains to be determined whether these unexpected mechanisms of action of putative BH3 mimetics will have therapeutic potential.