cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Toward Continuous, Noninvasive Assessment of Ventricular Function and Hemodynamics: Wearable Ballistocardiography

Ballistocardiography, the measurement of the reaction forces of the body to cardiac ejection of blood, is one of the few techniques available for unobtrusively assessing the mechanical aspects of cardiovascular health outside clinical settings. Recently, multiple experimental studies involving healthy subjects and subjects with various cardiovascular diseases have demonstrated that the ballistocardiogram (BCG) signal can be used to trend cardiac output, contractility, and beat-by-beat ventricular function for arrhythmias. The majority of these studies has been performed with “fixed” BCG instrumentation—such as weighing scales or chairs—rather than wearable measurements. Enabling wearable, and thus continuous, recording of BCG signals would greatly expand the capabilities of the technique; however, BCG signals measured using wearable devices are morphologically dissimilar to measurements from “fixed” instruments, precluding the analysis and interpretation techniques from one domain to be applied to the other. In particular, the time intervals between the electrocardiogram (ECG) and BCG—namely, the R–J interval, a surrogate for measuring contractility changes—are significantly different for the accelerometer compared to a “fixed” BCG measurement. This paper addresses this need for quantitatively normalizing wearable BCG measurement to “fixed” measurements with a systematic experimental approach. With these methods, the same analysis and interpretation techniques developed over the past decade for “fixed” BCG measurement can be successfully translated to wearable measurements.
A Linear Mode CMOS Power Amplifier with Self-Linearizing Bias

A biasing scheme that improves the linearity of linear mode power amplifiers (PA) is presented. This technique employs adding feedback to a current mirror bias to enhance the linearity of the amplifier by compensating the nonlinear input capacitance of the core transistor. The technique is verified with simulations and implemented in a prototype 2.4 GHz PA for WLAN application. The PA is fabricated in a 0.35-mum CMOS and achieves a small-signal gain of 25.4 dB, output P1dB of 25.1 dBm, and a power-added efficiency (PAE) of 40%.
A Critical Reanalysis of “a Test of two Postulates Underlying Expectancy Theory”

The article presents a commentary on the article “A Test of Two Postulates Underlying Expectancy Theory,” by F. A. Starke and O. Behling. In the original article Starke and Behling attempted to tes...
Professional Development for Teachers of Students Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing: Facing the Assessment Challenge

Teachers of students with low-incidence disabilities, such as students who are deaf or hard of hearing, face unique challenges in putting education policy into practice. The present article presents professional development findings from the Third Annual National Survey of Accommodations and Assessment for Students Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing (Cawthon, Hersh, Kim, & Online Research Lab, in press). A total of 391 participants described professional development they had experienced related to assessment of students who are deaf or hard of hearing. Teachers reported greater exposure to topics in school/district sessions and discussion with their colleagues than in their preparation programs. Teaching at a school for the deaf or teaching students in high school were significant predictors of an increased prevalence of professional development opportunities on assessment-related topics for students who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Simulating Thermal Cycling and Isothermal Deformation Response of Polycrystalline NiTi

A microstructure-based FEM model that couples crystal plasticity, crystallographic descriptions of the B2-B19' martensitic phase transformation, and anisotropic elasticity is used to simulate thermal cycling and isothermal deformation in polycrystalline NiTi (49.9at% Ni). The model inputs include anisotropic elastic properties, polycrystalline texture, DSC data, and a subset of isothermal deformation and load-biased thermal cycling data. A key experimental trend is captured.namely, the transformation strain during thermal cycling is predicted to reach a peak with increasing bias stress, due to the onset of plasticity at larger bias stress. Plasticity induces internal stress that affects both thermal cycling and isothermal deformation responses. Affected thermal cycling features include hysteretic width, two-way shape memory effect, and evolution of texture with increasing bias stress. Affected isothermal deformation features include increased hardening during loading and retained martensite after unloading. These trends are not captured by microstructural models that lack plasticity, nor are they all captured in a robust manner by phenomenological approaches. Despite this advance in microstructural modeling, quantitative differences exist, such as underprediction of open loop strain during thermal cycling.
Probing the cosmic X-ray laboratory with the Chandra HETGS

The High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer (HETGS) on the Chandra X-ray Observatory is a powerful tool for studying the astrophysical properties of X-ray emitting objects. Emission and absorption lines and features can probe the physical properties of stellar winds, relativistic jets, supernova remnants (SNRs), active galactic nuclei and the intergalactic medium. The capabilities of this instrument are illustrated through highlights of HETGS science, with examples including the jet structure in SS433, a Doppler velocity map of SNR E0102-72, and evidence of abundance anomalies in the microquasar GRS1915+105.
Dopaminergic Activation of Estrogen Receptors in Neonatal Brain Alters Progestin Receptor Expression and Juvenile Social Play Behavior

Steroid receptor activation in developing brain influences a variety of cellular processes that endure into adulthood, altering both behavior and physiology. We report that estrogen receptors can be activated in a ligand-independent manner within developing brain by membrane dopamine receptors. Neonatal treatment with either estradiol or a dopamine D1 receptor agonist can increase the expression of an estrogen receptor-regulated gene (i.e. progestin receptors) and later juvenile social play. More importantly, increases in social play behavior induced by neonatal treatment with estradiol or a dopamine D1 receptor agonist can be prevented by prior treatment with an estrogen receptor antagonist. This suggests that changes in dopamine transmission in developing brain can activate estrogen receptors in a ligand-independent manner to influence gene expression and have lasting consequences on social behavior.
Thinking Without Words: An Overview for Animal Ethics

In Thinking without Words I develop a philosophical framework for treating some animals and human infants as genuine thinkers. This paper outlines the aspects of this account that are most relevant to those working in animal ethics. There is a range of different levels of cognitive sophistication in different animal species, in addition to limits to the types of thought available to non-linguistic creatures, and it may be important for animal ethicists to take this into account in exploring issues of moral significance and the obligations that we might or might not have to non-human animals.
Direct marketing decision support through predictive customer response modeling

Decision support techniques and models for marketing decisions are critical to retail success. Among different marketing domains, customer segmentation or profiling is recognized as an important area in research and industry practice. Various data mining techniques can be useful for efficient customer segmentation and targeted marketing. One such technique is the RFM method. Recency, frequency, and monetary methods provide a simple means to categorize retail customers. We identify two sets of data involving catalog sales and donor contributions. Variants of RFM-based predictive models are constructed and compared to classical data mining techniques of logistic regression, decision trees, and neural networks. The spectrum of tradeoffs is analyzed. RFM methods are simpler, but less accurate. The effect of balancing cells, of the value function, and classical data mining algorithms (decision tree, logistic regression, neural networks) are also applied to the data. Both balancing expected cell densities and compressing RFM variables into a value function were found to provide models similar in accuracy to the basic RFM model, with slight improvement obtained by increasing the cutoff rate for classification. Classical data mining algorithms were found to yield better prediction, as expected, in terms of both prediction accuracy and cumulative gains. Relative tradeoffs among these data mining algorithms in the context of customer segmentation are presented. Finally we discuss practical implications based on the empirical results.
The Spice Kitchen: Apprenticeship Training in Culinary Skills

Current Dietary Guidelines for Americans emphasize the need to reduce dietary sodium. Spices impart flavor to food, serving as substitutes for salt. In addition, the antioxidant activity of spices can provide health benefits. Dietetic students receive training in basic food preparation and foodservice management however, their knowledge and use of spices can be limited. This article describes the enhancement of their culinary experiences through participation in a class designed to explore the flavors and health properties of 10 spices. The class provided an opportunity for apprenticeship training, exposing students to spices and cooking methods. Student objectives were: 1) to increase knowledge of spices and their potential health benefits; 2) to use flavorful swaps, substituting spices for salt in daily food preparation; 3) to identify and evaluate the intensity of aromas associated with selected spices; and 4) to gain experience utilizing cooking methods that reduce fat in preparation. All of the objectives were achieved based on student responses to pre-, mid-, and post-course evaluations and the completion of aroma charts for each lab. Course challenges such as food costs and space availability were identified but easily managed. To our knowledge this is the first class devoted to spices in a didactic dietetics accredited program in the United States. Training dietetic and other health professional students, about the use of spices to enhance flavor when reducing the sodium, fat and sugar content of foods may be beneficial to their clients who are trying to manage not only their weight but also other medical conditions such as hypertension and diabetes mellitus.
Explaining Anomalous High Performance in a Health Care Supply Chain

An implicit assumption in distributing and coordinating work among independent organizations in a supply chain is that a focal organization can use financial or contractual mechanisms to enforce compliance among the other organizations in meeting desired performance objectives. Absent contractual agreement or financial gain, there is little incentive for independent organizations to coordinate their process improvement activities. In this study, we examine a health care supply chain in which the work is distributed among independent organizations. We use a detailed case study and an abductive reasoning approach to understand how and why the independent organizations choose to coordinate and collaborate in their work. Our study makes two contributions to the literature. First, we use well-established lean principles to explain how independent organizations achieve superior performance despite highly uncertain and variable customer demand—a context considerably different from the origins of lean principles. Second, we forward relational coordination theory to explain why the organizations in this decentralized supply chain coordinate their work. Relational coordination includes the use of shared goals, shared knowledge, and mutual respect for one another's work as primary mechanisms to explain process improvement in the absence of any contractual incentives. Our study constitutes a first step in generating theory for work design and its improvement in decentralized supply chains.
Demographic and sociocultural factors in the etiology of multiple sclerosis: comparative epidemiological studies, 1963–1983

A comparative review of select epidemiological studies was conducted, for the period inclusive of 1963 to 1983, of the demographic and sociocultural factors that might or might not be implicated in the etiology of multiple sclerosis (MS). Eight sets of factors were identified and evaluated, as follows: sex and age; socioeconomic status; house pets; sanitation; population migration; urban‐rural living; social‐physical interaction; and ethnicity (comprising race, religion and nationality).
Organized Labor, Democracy, and Life Satisfaction A Cross-National Analysis

In this paper we attempt to assess how labor unions affect cross-national variation in life satisfaction. We argue that cross-national differences in the extent of labor organization play a signifi...
Brain biogenic amine depletion and mood.

To evaluate the hypothesis that clinical depression is associated with reduced brain biogenic amine activity, the behavioral effects, in man, of drugs that deplete the brain of biogenic amines were reviewed. The behavioral changes associated with reserpine administration were interpreted as being primarily a psychomotor retardation-sedation syndrome, due perhaps to a dopamine deficiency, and would not be an adequate model for clinical depression. In susceptible persons, particularly those with a prior history of depression, this psychomotor retardation-sedation might be sufficient to trigger a depression-like episode. More selective amine depletion, produced either by alpha-methyl-paratyrosine or by parachlorophenylalanine is not associated with depression. Yet, these drugs produce a more consistent and greater reduction in amine metabolite concentrations than that reported to occur in depressed patients. In light of this, it is suggested that the depletion of brain norepinephrine and dopamine, or serotonin, is, in itself, not sufficient to account for clinical depression.
Combinatorial materials synthesis and high‐throughput screening: An integrated materials chip approach to mapping phase diagrams and discovery and optimization of functional materials

Combinatorial materials synthesis methods and high-throughput evaluation techniques have been developed to accelerate the process of materials discovery and optimization and phase-diagram mapping. Analogous to integrated circuit chips, integrated materials chips containing thousands of discrete different compositions or continuous phase diagrams, often in the form of high-quality epitaxial thin films, can be fabricated and screened for interesting properties. Microspot x-ray method, various optical measurement techniques, and a novel evanescent microwave microscope have been used to characterize the structural, optical, magnetic, and electrical properties of samples on the materials chips. These techniques are routinely used to discover/optimize and map phase diagrams of ferroelectric, dielectric, optical, magnetic, and superconducting materials.
Is outcome fairness used to make procedural fairness judgments when procedural information is inaccessible

In a study of relocation decisions at seven different sites, procedural fairness was shown to be more sensitive to outcome fairness when respondents had less time to gather information about decision procedures. We interpret this finding to show that inaccessibility of information about decision procedures moderates the influence of outcome fairness judgments on procedural fairness judgments, such that outcome recipients rely more heavily on outcome fairness as a basis for forming procedural fairness judgments when information about decision procedures is not available. A second, laboratory study is reported that confirms the information inaccessibility explanation in the first study. When procedural information is available, procedural characteristics may be the primary bases for procedural fairness judgments, but when such information is unavailable, procedural fairness will likely be more sensitive to self-interest concerns. Future research should therefore take contextual factors such as accessibility to procedural information into account, given that there are likely to be differences on that dimension between organizational settings on the one hand and legal, political, and dispute resolution settings on the other. Information about decision procedures, generally accessible in legal, political, and dispute resolution settings, is often much less accessible in organizations.
Novel chiral "calixsalen" macrocycle and chiral robson-type macrocyclic complexes.

A family of novel chiral “calixsalen” Schiff base macrocycles R,R-H3L4, R,R-H3L5, containing three chiral diamino moieties were synthesized by an efficient self-assembly and characterized by 1H and 13C NMR, mass spectrometry, and X-ray diffraction. The systematic synthesis, structure, and coordination properties of the [2 + 2] and [3 + 3] Robson-type Schiff base macrocyclic mono-, di-, tri-, and tetranuclear metal complexes were explored.
A Comparative Study of Morphology and Ontogeny in Juvenile Stages of Four Western Atlantic Xanthoid Crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura)

Four species of xanthoid crabs of the family Panopeidae (sensu Guinot 1978) (Panopeus bermudensis, P. herbstii forma simpsoni, P. turgidus, and Eurypanopeus depressus) were reared in the laboratory from eggs to the fifth crab instar. The fourth (last) zoeal stage and megalopa are described for P. bermudensis and P. turgidus. The carapaces of the first, second, third and fifth crab stages are described for all four species; mouthparts and fifth pereopods are described for selected stages of all four species. The zoea of P. bermudensis is a modified member (lacking lateral carapacial spines) of Rice's group I xanthid zoeas (Rice, A. L., 1980 Trans. Zool. Soc. Lond. 35, 271-424) and is markedly different from the zoeas of the other three species. The zoea of P. turgidus is very similar to the zoea of P. herbstii, although the megalopa of P. turgidus resembles that of E. depressus. Carapaces of early crab stages were similar in all four species. Differences in carapace morphology and mouthpart setation were more evident in the fifth crab stage than in the first and third crab stages. A discriminant analysis based upon setation of selected mouthparts and spination of the fifth pereopod dactyl was used to demonstrate quantitatively ontogenetic divergence in phena of the four species. Results of this analysis reflect the minimum expression of adult specializations in the early crab stages, a quality that may justify use of these conservative stages in the ellucidation of lineages of brachyuran groups.
Medical students' responses to an inpatient suicide: opportunities for education and support.

Objective The authors review third-year medical students’ questionnaires to identify the perceptions, themes, and recommendations following an inpatient suicide.
Accuracy and precision of manufacturer-supplied liquid medication administration devices before and after patient education

Abstract Objective To compare the accuracy and precision of a manufacturer-supplied dropper versus a pharmacy-supplied syringe when measured by a trained student pharmacist and to evaluate patients' ability to accurately measure a prescribed amount of medication with these devices before and after counseling on their use. Methods This was a two-phased study with a pretest/posttest design of 125 community pharmacy patrons of Virginia community pharmacies. Deliverable volume was measured by a student pharmacist for nystatin suspension and digoxin elixir using the manufactured-supplied device. Patients at pharmacies were asked to complete a short survey, then asked to measure a specified dose of nystatin suspension and digoxin elixir (using the manufacturer-supplied administration device). The patients repeated this a second time after a student provided education on how to properly use each administration device. The main outcomes measure was whether education on an administration device would provide more measurement accuracy using medications with different physical properties. Results For nystatin, 88% and 85.6% of patients measured with an error of greater than or equal to 20% before and after counseling, respectively. For digoxin, the totals were 24.8% before counseling and 4% after. A statistically significant ( P Conclusion In general, the accuracy of medication dosage devices seems to be most affected by viscosity of the liquid being measured. With education on proper use, the oral syringe provides a statistically and clinically significant improvement in dosing accuracy for viscous medications compared with the manufacturer-supplied dropper. Pharmacists must review with patients the proper way to use a manufacturer- or pharmacy-supplied oral delivery device for appropriate dosing measurements.
Characterization of poly(dimethylsiloxane)s by time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry

A series of poly(dimethylsiloxane)s (PDMS) terminated by trimethylsilyl groups, and having molecular weights from 600 to 20 000, were characterized by time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry. The fragmentation patterns of the PDMS were examined. The predominant fragmentation pathway involves formation of cyclic fragments, probably via an intermediate with a four-membered ring. The relative intensities of the clusters in the PDMS fragmentation patterns were investigated as a function of sample molecular weight. The relative intensities of cyclic fragments increase with increasing polymer molecular weight. Poly(dimethylsiloxane)s containing different end groups were also investigated to determine the effect of the terminal groups on fragmentation. The terminal groups in PDMS were identified by analysis of low mass range spectra. Effects of nitrogen-containing end groups were found on the fragmentation of PDMS. Large fragments with intrinsic positive charge were observed in the spectra of PDMS termina...
Planar motion of sliding cams by computer algebraic manipulation

Abstract The law of cosines, colinearity of tangents at the point of contact and Kennedy's Theorem have been used to derive a system of three first order differential equations and the planar motion of sliding cams. The construction and solution of these equations and of auxilliary quantities, such as higher derivatives of angular motions and torques, have been accomplished by a PL/I-Formac code. This code includes a symbolic application of Newton's method for determining initial conditions. A complete example and computer output is presented. The emphasis of this paper is the use of computer aided algebraic and symbol manipulation requiring only the equations for the cam profiles and other analytic information as input, and the exact constitutive equations are generated and used as opposed to approximate methods such as replacement mechanisms.
Discordance between Self-Reported and 24-Hour Urine Sodium Intake and Predictors of Sodium Non-Adherence

Aims: A low-sodium diet is important for HF management to prevent fluid retention. Prior studies have found that patients have trouble judging their adherence to a low salt diet. Concordance between self-reported and objectively measured sodium levels was assessed and predictors of nonadherence to sodium recommendations were identified. Methods and Results: This was a secondary analysis of data collected from a prospective observational study. The Self Care of Heart Failure Index and 24hour urine sodium excretion were used to measure self-reported and objective adherence to a low-sodium diet in 280 Stage C HF patients. Mixed effect models were used to quantify the correlation between self-reported and objective measures at enrollment, 3and 6-months. There was no association between self-reported low-sodium diet and urinary sodium levels after controlling for age, gender, race, perceived health, income, comorbid conditions, data collection site, NYHA functional class, cognitive status, HF etiology, left ventricular ejection fraction, body mass index and diuretic use. Logistic regression was used to identify predictors of nonadherence. The odds of nonadherence to a low-sodium diet was about double for people who are obese (1.1-3.5, p50.028), male (1.13.6, p50.017), or have a low self-reported income (1.21-6.35, p50.016). The odds of non-adherence declined 3% for each year of age (1.0-5.0, p50.005). Conclusion: Clinicians should be cautious about basing clinical decisions on self-reported sodium intake without objective verification. Patient predictors of nonadherence such as male gender, obesity, lower income levels and younger age may help clinicians identify patients at risk for poor dietary adherence.
Glutathione-S-Transferase andin VitroMetabolism of Atrazine in Freshwater Algae

Glutathione-S-transferase (GST) activity toward atrazine and a model substrate was characterized in eight species of freshwater algae. All algal species exhibited measurable GST activity, and the involvement of these enzymes in atrazine metabolism was indicated by the glutathione-dependent formation of water soluble metabolites. Significant differences in GST activity were observed among the species tested; however, the differences were relatively small and did not appear to be correlated with relatively large differences in atrazine susceptibility among the same algal species. This report documents the presence of glutathione-S-transferase activity in freshwater algae, although the results indicate that it plays a limited role in conferring selective atrazine toxicity among different algal species.
Approaches to Case Management Supervision

This study examines approaches to case management supervision from the perspective of case manager supervisors, those persons ultimately responsible for the management of services to clients. The purpose of the study was to gain a better understanding of what case management supervisors perceive as the characteristics of effective supervision. In particular, the study was conducted to illuminate, from the supervisors’ views, the characteristics of effective supervision and what circumstances (resources, environment, oversight, skills, and experience) they identified as exerting the greatest influence on their effectiveness as supervisors.
Carbon-13 isotope enrichment in the photolysis of CO with the 123.58 nm Kr resonance radiation☆

Abstract The 123.58 nm Kr resonance radiation was shown to excite selectively the 13 CO(A 1 Π-X 1 Σ + ) 13,0 transition in natural isotopic composition CO. The photolysis products, CO 2 andC 3 O 2 , were enriched in carbon-13. Carbon dioxide was enriched ten-fold and the central carbon of C 3 O 2 was enriched sixty-fold.
A new chelated C,N-benzyllithium reagent and some organometallic derivatives of selected early transition metals

Abstract The reactions of LiCH 2 C 6 H 4 - o -NMe 2 with Cp 2 MCl (M = Ti, V; Cp = η 5 -C 5 H 5 ), CpTiCl 2 , CrCl 3 , and ScCl 3 have led to the isolation of thermally stable, air-sensitive organometallic complexes whose stability is attributed to chelation. The reaction of Cr(CH 2 C 6 H 4 - o -NMe 2 ) 3 with CO 2 gives a paramagnetic complex in which CO 2 has inserted into only one CrC bond and with diketones to give (diketonate)Cr(CH 2 C 6 H 4 - o -NMe 2 ) 2 .
Families of hospitalized adolescents: sex differences.

Summary.-The hospitalized adolescent's family milieu constitutes a large part of his pre-hospital environment. 27 boys and 12 girls in a state mental hospital and their parents were given a structured interview. Although the boys' behavior was more overt, the girls had a home environment marked by stricter rules, more parent-adolescent antagonism, less communication and a greater family stress.
Simplification of an erythropoiesis model for design of anemia management protocols in end stage renal disease

Many end stage renal disease (ESRD) patients suffer from anemia due to insufficient endogenous production of erythropoietin (EPO). The discovery of recombinant human EPO (rHuEPO) over 30 years ago has shifted the treatment of anemia for patients on dialysis from blood transfusions to rHuEPO therapy. Many anemia management protocols (AMPs) used by clinicians comprise a set of experience-based rules for weekly-to-monthly titration of rHuEPO doses based on hemoglobin (Hgb) measurements. In order to facilitate the design of an AMP based on formal control design methods, we present a physiologically-relevant erythropoiesis model, and show that its nonlinear dynamics can be approximated using a static nonlinearity, a step that greatly simplifies AMP design. We demonstrate applicability of our results using clinical data.
Neurocognitive Functioning in Patients Undergoing Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery or Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: Evidence of Impairment Before Intervention Compared With Normal Controls

Background Cognitive deficits have been reported to occur in a significant proportion of patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), but the extent to which these deficits were preexistent or related to the natural history of cognitive decline in this patient population remains poorly defined. Methods After excluding patients with conditions known to cause brain dysfunction (eg, hepatic dysfunction, stroke), a group of patients referred for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or CABG (n = 82) was compared with an age- and education-matched control group that did not have clinical evidence of coronary artery disease (n = 41). These subjects underwent a battery of neurocognitive and emotional testing. Results Test score means for 5 of 14 different measures were significantly greater (impaired) in cardiac compared with control group subjects. Of cardiac subjects, 20% demonstrated clinical impairment (test result ≥ 1 SD worse than mean for normative standards) in 6 of 14 tests, compared with 10% of the controls. By clinical standards, 46% of cardiac subjects would be considered to be impaired (score 1 SD or more below the control group mean) on 3 or more neuropsychologic measures, compared with 29% of the controls. By this (control group mean) standard, cardiac subjects demonstrated impaired scores on 3.06 ± 2.6 tests compared with impairment in 2.0 ± 2.35 tests for the control group ( p = 0.01). Conclusions Even excluding patients at high risk for brain dysfunction, cognitive impairment is found in patients with coronary artery disease before interventional therapy. Baseline impairment must be considered when evaluating outcomes after intervention.
Significance of blasts in low‐cell‐count cerebrospinal fluid specimens from children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the presence of more than 5% blasts in a differential count of cytocentrifuged cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) with less than 6 leukocytes/microliter was predictive of central nervous system (CNS) relapse in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). A double concentrate method of cytocentrifuge preparation was used to analyze 4543 consecutive CSF specimens from 349 children with ALL between January 1, 1982, and September 30, 1988. One hundred nine CSF specimens from 58 evaluable children had less than 6 leukocytes/microliter and more than 5% blasts on cytocentrifuge differential count (low-cell-count specimen with blasts [LCB]). During the study period, 25 of 332 evaluable children (7.5%) had CNS leukemic recurrence. In 22 of 25 (88%), the CNS relapse was preceded by at least one abnormal low-cell-count CSF specimen. One of 34 patients with a single LCB at diagnosis (3%) had subsequent CNS relapse compared with five of eight patients (62.5%) with a single LCB during remission (P = 0.0002). Of 16 children with two or more LCB during remission, nine (56%) had CNS relapse defined by standard criteria, whereas six additional patients in this group were declared to be in CNS relapse on the basis of their repetitive LCB. Whether diagnosing CNS recurrence earlier in its course based on a modification of the definition of CNS leukemia will change the frequency of subsequent adverse events or make possible decreased intensity of CNS retreatment remains to be determined.
Effect of hexafluoropropylene oxide plasma polymer particle coatings on the rheological properties of boron nitride/poly(dimethylsiloxane) composites.

Abstract This work explores the use of conformal nanoscale plasma coatings on the surface of boron nitride (BN) powders to control the rheological properties of BN/poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) composites. BN particles are conformally coated with hexafluoropropylene oxide (HFPO) in a tumbling RF-plasma reactor. Following the HFPO plasma treatment, XPS evidence indicates the presence of thin coating on the surface of the particles having a F:C ratio of 1.77. Filled BN/PDMS composites are investigated using oscillatory shear rheometry in the concentration range of 0.09–0.41 vol% (ϕ). The addition of the plasma treated BN particles to the PDMS matrix reduces the complex viscosity by 40–60% when compared with equally loaded control samples across a broad concentration range. The frequency dependence of the maximum packing fraction ( ϕ m = 0.38 – 0.42 ) is also observed for both treated and untreated particles. The maximum packing fraction does not appear to be significantly affected by the conformal plasma polymer treatment. The investigation has shown that the relative dynamic viscosity of the BN/PDMS can be described by the modified Mooney equation.
Enhanced performance of a filter–sensor system

In this paper are addressed two important, but seemingly unrelated issues: long term performance of a gas sensing array and performance of an air purification unit. It is shown that when considered together, the system can be regarded as a "smart filter". The enhancement is achieved by periodic differential sampling and measurement of the "upstream" and "downstream" gases of a filter. The correctly functioning filter supplies the "zero gas" from the downstream for the continuous sensor baseline correction. A key element in this scheme is the synthetic jet that delivers well-defined pulses of the two gases. The deterioration of the performance of the "smart filter" can be diagnosed from the response pattern of the sensor. The approach has been demonstrated on removal/sensing of ammonia gas from air.
Left ventricular-right atrial canal and subaortic stenosis. Report of a case diagnosed preoperatively.

Abstract A report is made of a rare case of a congenital heart anomaly which consists of subaortic stenosis and left ventricular-right atrial canal. Preoperative diagnosis was accurately made by catheterization of the left side of the heart and angiocardiography. The patient was operated upon by means of the cardiopulmonary bypass technique. The diagnosis was confirmed. The septal defect was closed and the subaortic stenosis partially relieved. A single embryologic basis as a cause for both malformations (false route of the ventricular septum toward the left) is suggested for this particular congenital entity.
A conceptual cellular interaction model of left ventricular remodelling post-MI: dynamic network with exit-entry competition strategy

Progressive remodelling of the left ventricle (LV) following myocardial infarction (MI) is an outcome of spatial-temporal cellular interactions among different cell types that leads to heart failure for a significant number of patients. Cellular populations demonstrate temporal profiles of flux post-MI. However, little is known about the relationship between cell populations and the interaction strength among cells post-MI. The objective of this study was to establish a conceptual cellular interaction model based on a recently established graph network to describe the interaction between two types of cells. We performed stability analysis to investigate the effects of the interaction strengths, the initial status, and the number of links between cells on the cellular population in the dynamic network. Our analysis generated a set of conditions on interaction strength, structure of the network, and initial status of the network to predict the evolutionary profiles of the network. Computer simulations of our conceptual model verified our analysis. Our study introduces a dynamic network to model cellular interactions between two different cell types which can be used to model the cellular population changes post-MI. The results on stability analysis can be used as a tool to predict the responses of particular cell populations.
A mixed shear flexible finite element for the analysis of laminated plates

A mixed shear flexible finite element based on the Hencky-Mindlin type shear deformation theory of laminated plates is presented and their behavior in bending is investigated. The element consists of three displacements, two rotations, and three moments as the generalized degrees of freedom per node. The numerical convergence and accuracy characteristics of the element are investigated by comparing the finite element solutions with the exact solutions. The present study shows that reduced-order integration of the stiffness coefficients due to shear is necessary to obtain accurate results for thin plates.
Individual Differences and Probabilistic Constraints in Syntactic Ambiguity Resolution

Abstract Two experiments investigated the role of individual differences in reading span in the comprehension of ambiguous sentences that were resolved with a syntactically simple interpretation. Previous research showed that high but not low reading span subjects had longer reading times for such sentences compared to unambiguous controls, a result that had been attributed to high span subjects maintaining more alternative interpretations of the ambiguity than did low span subjects (MacDonald, Just, & Carpenter, 1992). Experiment 1 replicated this reading time pattern but also showed that the individual differences were attributable to differential sensitivity to probabilistic constraints in the stimuli, in that only high span subjects were sensitive to the relative plausibility of alternative interpretations of the ambiguity. Experiment 2 demonstrated that the source of these differences was in the ability to use plausibility constraints during comprehension, not in constraint knowledge across the two groups. The implications of these results for studies of individual differences and for theories of syntactic ambiguity resolution are discussed.
The making and unmaking of a "transborder nation": South Korea during and after the Cold War

The burgeoning literature on transborder membership, largely focused on the thickening relationship between emigration states in the South and the postwar labor migrant populations and their descendants in North America or Western Europe, has not paid due attention to the long-term macroregional transformations that shape transborder national membership politics or to the bureaucratic practices of the state that undergird transborder claims-making. By comparing contentious transborder national membership politics in South Korea during the Cold War and Post-Cold War eras, this article seeks to overcome these limitations. In both periods, the membership status of colonial-era ethnic Korean migrants in Japan and northeast China and their descendants was the focus of contestation. The distinctiveness of the case—involving both a sustained period of colonial rule and a period of belated and divided nation-state building interwoven with the Cold War—highlights the crucial importance of three factors: (1) the dynamically evolving macro-regional context, which has shaped transborder national membership politics in the region in distinctive ways; (2) the essentially political, performative, and constitutive nature of transborder nation-building; and (3) the role of state registration and documentation practices in shaping the contours of transborder national membership politics in the long run. By incorporating Korea—and East Asia more broadly—into the comparative study of transborder nation-building, this article also lays the groundwork for future cross-regional comparative historical studies.
Complete Genome Sequence of the Highly Transformable Pseudomonas stutzeri Strain 28a24

Here, we report the complete genome sequence for an isolate of Pseudomonas stutzeri that is highly competent for natural transformation. This sequence enables insights into the genetic basis of natural transformation rate variations and provides an additional data point for genomic comparisons across a ubiquitous and highly diverse bacterial species.
Forward inclusive dijet production and azimuthal correlations in pA collisions

Abstract We derive forward inclusive dijet production in the scattering of a dilute hadron off an arbitrary dense target, whose partons with small fraction of momentum x are described by a color glass condensate. Both multiple scattering and non-linear QCD evolution at small-x are included. This is of relevance for measurements of two-particle correlations in the proton direction of proton–nucleus collisions at RHIC and LHC energies. The azimuthal angle distribution is peaked back to back and broadens as the momenta of the measured particles gets closer to the saturation scale.
Energy constraints for quantum logic via nonlinear optical processes

Abstract The question of the constraints that the quantum nature of electromagnetic fields places on the realization of quantum logical operations by nonlinear optical processes is addressed by considering the effect of spontaneous emission, in free space, on phase gates, for both atomic and photonic qubits. In all cases, we find an error probability that scales as 1 / n ¯ , where n ¯ is the number of photons in the field, just as in previous studies. For the photonic qubits, the possibility of single-photon cross-phase modulation is studied in some detail, first in a simple three-level model, and then in a four-level scheme in which electromagnetically-induced transparency (EIT) is used to enhance the nonlinearity and reduce the linear absorption. It is nonetheless shown that, even in the latter case, an error probability of the order of 1 / n ¯ c is obtained, where n ¯ c is the number of photons in the EIT “coupling” field.
Predicting life expectancy in men with clinically localized prostate cancer.

Purpose: The choice of appropriate management for localized prostate cancer depends in part on the estimated life expectancy of a man. Little is known about the accuracy of existing rules for deriving these estimates. We developed a new prediction rule and examined the accuracy of 2 others in our data set.Materials and Methods: A retrospective cohort was assembled, consisting of 506 men who were diagnosed or received initial treatment at a community based, tertiary care health center between 1987 and 1989 for clinically localized prostate cancer (stages A, B, I, II or T1–2N0M0) and had at least 13 years of followup. Most patients did not have prostate specific antigen levels available. Proportional hazards regression was used to create a nomogram for deriving survival estimates. Discrimination of the new and external prediction rules was assessed by the c-statistic. Calibration curves compared predicted to actual survival at 10 years.Results: Estimates for survival at 5, 10 and 15 years, and for median li...
On removing redundancies from synchronous sequential circuits with synchronizing sequences

We consider the removal of redundant logic from synchronous sequential circuits that have synchronizing sequences. The logic to be removed is identified by determining line stuck-at faults that do not affect the operation of the circuit. Such signal lines and some of the logic surrounding them can be removed without affecting the operation of the circuit. We show that circuits that have synchronizing sequences have certain properties that help in identifying logic that can be removed. Specifically, their state diagrams have a strongly connected component that contains all the synchronization states. This strongly connected component, called the main strongly-connected component, is reachable from all other strongly connected components. In addition to redundant faults that can always be removed, we show that there are two types of partially detectable faults in circuits that have synchronizing sequences. In the presence of the first type of faults, the circuit becomes unsynchronizable. Signal lines carrying such faults cannot be removed. The other type of partially detectable faults leave the circuit synchronizable. We show that such faults do not affect the main strongly connected component, and hence the corresponding signal lines can be removed without affecting the operation of the circuit after it is synchronized. We also define weakly synchronizable circuits acid derive similar results regarding the removal of redundant logic in them. The class of removable lines is thus extended beyond those corresponding to redundant faults to include some partially detectable faults as well. We present experimental evidence to the existence of partially detectable faults that correspond to signal lines that can be removed in benchmark circuits.
Higher order cohomology operations and minimal atomicity

We prove that ›S n (2) , S n {2 r }, and › 2 S n (2) are minimal atomic spaces for appropriate values of n. We do this by using secondary and tertiary cohomology operations to prove that, above the Hurewicz dimension, no elements in the mod 2 homology of the cited spaces are in the image of the Hurewicz homomorphism. In the case of › 2 S n , we construct and exploit an appropriate filtration to facilitate the use of higher order cohomology operations. An appendix consisting of an examination of the coecients in Adams’ factorization is included.
Hole concentration and Tc in Tl2−yBa2Ca1−zYzCu2O8−x

The p-type copper-oxide superconductors all exhibit a maximum value of {Tc} at a saturation hole concentration p{sub s} per Cu atom in the superconductive CuO{sub 2} sheets. The maximum value of {Tc} varies from one structure type to another; it is not clear how p{sub s} varies. After a brief review of this problem, the hole concentration in the system Tl{sub 2{minus}y}Ba{sub 2}Ca{sub 1{minus}z}Y{sub z}Cu{sub 2}O{sub 8{minus}x}, 0 {le} z {le} 0.4, is determined with the assumption that the number of Tl-6s electrons per Cu atom does not vary appreciably with z on going from an antiferromagnetic semiconductor (z = 0.3) to a superconductor with {Tc} = 94 K (z = 0.0). A p{sub s} {approx} 0.17 {plus minus} 0.02 per Cu atom and a {Tc} {approx} (370p + 35 {plus minus} 7) K are obtained. The defects in the Tl{sub 2{minus}y}O{sub 2{minus}x} layer apparently trap out the Tl-6s electrons, probably at Tl(I) species, so the Tl-6s electrons contribute little to the electrical conductivity and the Seebeck coefficient, which were measured in sintered pelletized powders. An important expansion of the lattice a-parameter is noted on passing from the superconductive phase at z = 0.2 with p = 0.10 {plus minus}more » 0.02 and {Tc} = 72 K to a semiconductive phase at z = 0.3 having, the authors assume, a p = 0.02 {plus minus} 0.02.« less