cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The effect of prostaglandin E1 on canine gastric acid secretion and gastric mucosal blood flow

Prostaglandin E1 (PGE1) was administered intravenously at the rate of either 1 or 2µg/kg/min to conscious dogs with vagally denervated gastric pouches under conditions of maximal histamine stimulation. Changes in the gastric mucosal circulation were measured by the aminopyrine clearance technique. Prostaglandin E1 significantly inhibited volume and acid output and such inhibition appeared to vary proportionally to the concentration of PGE1 used. The inhibitory effect of PGE1 on gastric secretion was also associated with a marked reduction in gastric mucosal blood flow. A biphasic response was noted in (R), a ratio reflecting the relationship between changes in gastric mucosal blood flow and rate of gastric secretion. Initially, there was a reduction inR suggesting that blood was being shunted from the mucosal circulation. As the inhibition of gastric secretion continued and became maximal,R increased, indicating that the persistent reduction in gastric mucosal blood flow was secondary to an inhibition of gastric secretion. These studies indicate that PGE1 is a potent inhibitor of histamine-stimulated gastric acid secretion in the dog and that the sustained inhibitory effects of PGE1 are probably due to direct action at the oxyntic cell level.
Concentrations of arachidonic-acid metabolites in human mixed saliva are independent of flow rate

Abstract Three prostaglandins, PGE 2 , PGF 2/ga and PGI 2 (measured as 6-keto-PGF 1α ), serologically activte 6-sulphidopeptide-containing leukotrienes and hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acids were determined by radio immunoassay of mixed saliva obtained at several flow rates from 8 healthy volunteers. Flow rates ranged from 0.26 ± 0.02 ml/min when saliva production was unstimulated to 1.18 ± 0.14 ml/min (values mean ± SEM) when maximally stimulated. Concentrations of all compounds tested remained independent of changes in mixed-saliva flow rate.
Comparison of the melanin-dispersing fractions in extracts prepared initially in ethanol, saline or distilled water from eyestalks of the fiddler crab, Uca pugilator

Abstract 1. 1. Dosages above 0·3 eyestalk equivalent of the ethanol-soluble fraction of eyestalks evoke much more prolonged melanin-dispersing responses than do extracts prepared directly in saline. 2. 2. The high activity of the ethanol-soluble fraction is due to a micellar lipoprotein with a melanophorotropic polypeptide component. 3. 3. Both vigorous stirring and lyophilization of the ethanol-soluble fraction dissociate the active polypeptide from the lipoprotein. Dissociation is accompanied by reduction in activity. The high activity seems due to slow release of the polypeptide from the lipoprotein. 4. 4. It is postulated that the lipoprotein serves as a carrier for the polypeptide within neurosecretory cells and possibly in the blood.
Suicide and sexual orientation.

King et al ( [2003][1]) have published a valuable contribution to the literature regarding the mental health of lesbians and gay men. However, they erred in asserting that, ‘ No study has examined whether gay and lesbian people have elevated rates of completed suicide....’ (p. 557). This is
Theory of broadband matching and the problem of compatible impedances

Abstract It is shown that Youla's theory of broadband matching between a passive load and a resistive generator with a preassigned transducer power gain characteristic is completely equivalent to Wohlers' solution to the problem of compatible impedences, which transforms a given passive impedance by a lossless coupling network into another specified one.
Temperature-dependent photoabsorption cross sections of selected molecular systems

Abstract Using synchrotron radiation as a continuum light source, we have measured the absolute absorption cross sections of several planetary atmospheric gases under various temperature conditions. In general, significant temperature effects are observed in the absorption threshold region which are mainly due to the presence of hot band absorption. Apparent continuum cross sections underlying the vibrational features may increase by orders of magnitude when the gaseous temperature increases. Temperature effects on the linewidth, lineshape, and rovibronic population are discussed. Significant changes in a perturbed spectral region may be possible since perturbation is strongly J-dependent and rotational population depends on temperature. Examples are given to illustrate these temperature effects.
GRAFTING OF BURN PATIENTS WITH ALLOGRAFTS OF CULTURED EPIDERMAL CELLS

Epidermal cells from cadaver skin grown in culture into confluent sheets of stratified cells were grafted on to partial thickness burn wounds in three patients. The burn areas covered with these allogeneic cultured epidermal allografts were tangentially excised deep second-degree burns which routinely would have been covered with split-thickness autografts. The burn wounds grafted with cultured allografts healed within three days and remained healthy for the 9 months of observation. Since epidermal cell cultures may be grown continuously, cultured allografts may serve as alternative biological dressings, or grafts, for deep second-degree burn wounds. They produce accelerated healing and an excellent cosmetic result, and they reduce the need for split-thickness autografts.
DNA polymerase beta null mouse embryonic fibroblasts harbor a homozygous null mutation in DNA polymerase iota.

Prior to the explosion of gene targeting technology, considerable biochemical and cell-based experiments suggested a role for DNA polymerase β (pol β) in DNA repair. Since its initial discovery in 1971 [1], the enzyme that was to eventually be designated pol β [2,3] was unique in its enzymatic properties [4–6] as compared to the other newly characterized mammalian DNA polymerases alpha (pol α), gamma (pol γ) and delta (polδ) [1,7]. Of the four eukaryotic DNA polymerases identified by 1977, pol β soon earned the moniker of ‘the’ DNA repair polymerase [8–11]. These early studies defined a role for pol β in repair using isolated nuclei or nuclear extracts, monitoring the incorporation of radioactive nucleosides following ultraviolet (UV) light-induced DNA damage [8–11]. A more definitive role for pol β in excision repair in vitro was demonstrated in 1983, in which complete removal of pyrimidine dimers in DNA was conducted by purified enzyme preparations of pol β, T4 denV (UV endonuclease) and HeLa AP endonuclease II [12]. Although it was subsequently shown that pol α can also carry-out gap-filling DNA synthesis in a base excision repair (BER) reaction [13], the evidence continued to mount in support of pol β acting as ‘the’ DNA repair polymerase in the nucleus, while pol γ participated in replication and repair in mitochondria [1]. Studies continued to identify a role for pol β in the repair of damage induced by many different DNA damaging agents, including bleomycin [14,15], UV-radiation [16], benzo[a]pyrene [17], methylmethane sulfonate [18], ionizing radiation [19], G-T mis-pairs [20] and uracil [21–24]. Several groups reported complete BER in vitro with pol β and additional purified proteins [22,23,25]. Although it was demonstrated in heterologous systems (E. coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae) that pol β can conduct DNA replication and repair in vivo [26,27], it was not until a mouse gene knockout was made that the specificity of the repair conducted by pol β was defined [28].
Structure and Reflectance of Irrigated Cotton Leaf Canopies

Assessing the condition of an agricultural crop through remote sensing and crop modeling requires knowledge of crop characteristics related to plant canopy structure and reflectance. A study was conducted to characterize the structure and reflectance of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) leaf canopies over 3 yr using detailed physical and spectroradiometric measurements. Three canopy characteristics (leaf canopy reflectance, width, and height) were measured in several fields in southern Texas and in one field in Arizona. Canopy reflectance in the near-infrared was independent of canopy density, while canopy reflectance at red wavelengths was only slightly affected by canopy density. Reflectance appeared to involve primarily the top layer of leaves in the cotton canopy. Canopy width, when normalized by leaf area per plant and plant spacing, could be fit with a single relationship for all locations and years. A single relationship was also found to apply to canopy height. The consistency of these characteristics between locations and years suggests that they might be incorporated into physiology-based cotton models to allow explicit simulation of canopy reflectance.
HPC failure prediction proficiency metrics

Transient failures in large-scale HPC systems are significantly increasing due to the large number of components. Fault tolerance mechanisms exist, but they cost additional overhead per invocation to application. Thus, failure prediction is needed in order to gracefully mitigate such events and to minimize the usage of mechanism. However, the proficiency metrics for HPC failure prediction are borrowed from other related fields, mainly from statistic, data mining and information theory. Some of them fit well in some perspective, but none of them consider the perspective of lost computing time due to the prediction error. Thus, we present the incompetence study in existing metrics and introduce additional metrics cope with potential lost computing time perspective to be used together with existing metrics and justifying HPC failure prediction proficiency.
Near-infrared spectroscopic analysis of the breaking force of extended-release matrix tablets prepared by roller-compaction: influence of plasticizer levels and sintering temperature.

AbstractThe aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy for the determination of the influence of sintering temperature and plasticizer levels on the breaking force of extended-release matrix tablets prepared via roller-compaction. Six formulations using theophylline as a model drug, Eudragit® RL PO or Eudragit® RS PO as a matrix former and three levels of TEC (triethyl citrate) as a plasticizer were prepared. The powder blend was roller compacted using a fixed roll-gap of 1.5 mm, feed screw speed to roller speed ratio of 5:1 and roll pressure of 4 MPa. The granules, after removing fines, were compacted into tablets on a Stokes B2 rotary tablet press at a compression force of 7 kN. The tablets were thermally treated at different temperatures (Room Temperature, 50, 75 and 100 °C) for 5 h. These tablets were scanned in reflectance mode in the wavelength range of 400–2500 nm and were evaluated for breaking force. Tablet breaking force significantly increased with ...
Neutron activation: Relationship of sample mass to self-shielding factor

Abstract The sample mass corresponding to any self-shielding factor and sample geometry can be easily calculated by means of a method adopted from the analytical approximation of Nisle. The validity of the method is demonstrated by its agreement with experimental data of various investigators.
Entrainment of the activity rhythm of the mole crab Emerita talpoida

Abstract The mole crab Emerita talpoida migrates with the tide in the swash zone of sand beaches. A circatidal rhythm in vertical swimming underlies movement, in which mature male crabs show peak swimming activity 1–2 h after the time of high tides at the collection site. In addition, there is a secondary rhythm in activity amplitude, in which crabs are maximally active following low amplitude high tides and minimally active following high amplitude high tides. The present study determined the phase response relationship for entrainment of the circatidal rhythm with mechanical agitation and whether the cycle in activity related to tidal amplitude could be entrained by a cycle in the duration of mechanical agitation at the times of consecutive high tides. After entrainment with mechanical agitation on an orbital shaker, activity of individual crabs was monitored in constant conditions with a video system and quantified as the number of ascents from the sand each 0.5 h. Mechanical agitation at the times of high tide, mid-ebb and low tide reset the timing of the circatidal rhythm according to the timing relationship to high tide. However, mechanical agitation during flood tide had no entrainment effect. In addition, a cycle in duration of mechanical agitation entrained the rhythm in activity amplitude associated with tidal amplitude. Both rhythms and entrainment effectiveness over the tidal cycle may function to reduce the likelihood of stranding above the swash zone.
Silica-supported gold/dendrimer nanocomposites with controlled sizes of gold particles

Abstract Au/G4OH nanocomposites were synthesized in aqueous solutions under different conditions and used as precursors for the preparation of SiO 2 -supported Au nanoparticles. Elemental analysis, UV–Vis, and STEM measurements were used to determine the nature and the extent of the Au–dendrimer interactions and to illustrate how the solution pH affects the Au–dendrimer complexation, as well as the final size of the gold particles formed. G4OH PAMAM dendrimers were found to reduce Au 3+ ions and act as stabilizers for Au nanoparticles thus formed, yielding stable gold/dendrimer colloidal solutions. The solution pH and the Au/G4OH ratio were found to be two critical factors that control the size of gold particles. At pH 7, Au 5 /G4OH nanocomposites with sizes of Au particles below 2 nm can be formed and used as precursors for the preparation of solid materials. Such nanocomposites can be deposited intact on the surface of SiO 2 and yield highly dispersed and nearly uniform Au nanoparticles with dimensions in the order of 1.3 nm.
Output feedback design for aircraft with ill-conditioned dynamics

Singular perturbation concepts are exploited to develop a procedure for designing a dynamic output feedback controller. It is assumed that the original system is ill-conditioned in the sense that the plant contains widely separated dynamics requiring stabilization, and that the measurements are composed of a linear combination of slow and fast variables. A two time scale design approach results which depends on two-way control spillover suppression. An application to active control of aircraft wing flutter modes is used to illustrate the design method.
Assessment of Elderly Patients at Home: A Report of Fifty Cases*

Fifty elderly patients were assessed at home by physicians trained in geriatric medicine. The patients had been referred by physicians, relatives, or community services. Reasons for referral usually were nonspecific and involved either a request for overall assessment or recommendations about placement. Assessment included medical, psychiatric, social and functional components. Mental impairment and impairment in the activities of daily living were common. New medical or psychiatric diagnoses were contributed in 36 instances. The most frequent previously unnoticed pathologic disorders were mental impairment and depression. Assessment resulted in specialists' advice concerning such matters as the medication program, placement, increased support, further diagnostic work and, in two instances, prompt admission to a hospital.
Damaging Fatigue Loading Stimulates Increases in Periosteal Vascularity at Sites of Bone Formation in the Rat Ulna

Bone formation in a variety of contexts depends on angiogenesis; however, there are few reports of the vascular response to osteogenic skeletal loading. We used the rat forelimb compression model to characterize vascular changes after fatigue loading. The right forelimbs of 72 adult rats were loaded cyclically in vivo to one of four displacement levels, to produce four discrete levels of ulnar damage. Rats were killed 3-14 days after loading, and their vasculature was perfused with silicone rubber. Transverse histological sections were cut along the ulnar diaphysis. We quantified vessel number, average vessel area, total vessel area, and bone area. On day 3, we observed a dramatic periosteal expansion near the ulnar midshaft, with significant increases in periosteal vascularity; total vessel area was increased 250-450% (P < 0.001). Vascularity remained elevated on days 7 and 14. Vessel number and average vessel area were not correlated (P = 0.09) and contributed independently to total vascular increases. Bone area was not increased on day 3 but on days 7 and 14 was increased significantly in all displacement groups (P < 0.01) due to periosteal woven bone formation. Vascular and bone changes depended on longitudinal location (P < 0.001), with peak increases 2 mm distal to the midshaft. Vascular and bone changes also depended on displacement level (P < 0.005), with greater increases at higher levels of fatigue displacement. We conclude that skeletal fatigue loading induces a rapid increase in periosteal vascularity, followed by an increase in bone area. The angiogenic-osteogenic response is spatially coordinated and scaled to the level of the mechanical stimulus.
Performance of MWIR and SWIR HgCdTe-based focal plane arrays at high operating temperatures

Raytheon Vision Systems (RVS) is producing large format, high definition HgCdTe-based MWIR and SWIR focal plane arrays (FPAs) with pitches of 15 μm and smaller for various applications. Infrared sensors fabricated from HgCdTe have several advantages when compared to those fabricated from other materials -- such as a highly tunable bandgap, high quantum efficiencies, and R0A approaching theoretical limits. It is desirable to operate infrared sensors at elevated operating temperatures in order to increase the cooler life and reduce the required system power. However, the sensitivity of many infrared sensors, including those made from HgCdTe, declines significantly above a certain temperature due to the noise resulting from increasing detector dark current. In this paper we provide performance data on a MWIR and a SWIR focal plane array operating at temperatures up to 160K and 170K, respectively. The FPAs used in the study were grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on silicon substrates, processed into a 1536x1024 format with a 15 μm pixel pitch, and hybridized to a silicon readout integrated circuit (ROIC) via indium bumps to form a sensor chip assembly (SCA). This data shows that the noise equivalent delta temperature (NEDT) is background limited at f/3.4 in the SWIR SCA (cutoff wavelength of 3.7 μm at 130K) up to 140K and in the MWIR SCA (cutoff wavelength of 4.8 μm at 115K) up to 115K.
A New Intelligent Neuro–Fuzzy Paradigm for Energy-Efficient Homes

Demand response (DR), which is the action voluntarily taken by a consumer to adjust amount or timing of its energy consumption, has an important role in improving energy efficiency. With DR, we can shift electrical load from peak demand time to other periods based on changes in price signal. At residential level, automated energy management systems (EMS) have been developed to assist users in responding to price changes in dynamic pricing systems. In this paper, a new intelligent EMS (iEMS) in a smart house is presented. It consists of two parts: a fuzzy subsystem and an intelligent lookup table. The fuzzy subsystem is based on its fuzzy rules and inputs that produce the proper output for the intelligent lookup table. The second part, whose core is a new model of an associative neural network, is able to map inputs to desired outputs. The structure of the associative neural network is presented and discussed. The intelligent lookup table takes three types of inputs that come from the fuzzy subsystem, outside sensors, and feedback outputs. Whatever is trained in this lookup table are different scenarios in different conditions. This system is able to find the best energy-efficiency scenario in different situations.
Reverse ranking query over imprecise spatial data

The reverse rank of a (data) object o with respect to a given query object q (that measures the relative nearness of q to o) is said to be k when q is the k-th nearest neighbor of o in a geographical space. Based on the notion of reverse ranks, a Reverse Ranking (RR) query determines t objects with the smallest k's with respect to a given query object q. In many situations that locations of objects and a query object can be imprecise, objects would receive multiple possible k's. In this paper, we propose a notion of expected reverse ranks and evaluation of RR queries over imprecise data based on expected reverse ranks. For any object o, an expected reverse rank kk is a weighted average of possible reverse ranks for individual instances of o with respect to different instances of a given query object q by taking their probabilities into account. We devise and present incremental kk computation and two kk-Estimating algorithms to efficiently evaluate RR queries over imprecise data. The efficiency of our approach is demonstrated through experiments.
Some results on V -ary asymmetric tries

Abstract Tries (radix search tries) find many applications in computer science and telecommunications. It is assumed that a trie is built over an alphabet U = { σ 1 ,…, σ v } ( V -ary trie), and n (possible infinite) strings of elements from U (i.e., keys) are stored in external nodes of the trie. The occurrence of an element σ i in a key is represented by a probability p i (asymmetric trie). Our main interest is to compute all moments of the depth of a leaf (external node) in a random family of tries. By solving a system of recurrences we find an exact formula for all factorial moments of the depth, and—using the Mellin transform technique—we derive asymptotic approximations for them. We prove that the m th factorial moment of the depth of a leaf in a trie with n keys is equal to α ln m n + β ln m −1 n + O (ln m −2 n ), where the constants α and β are functions of the probabilities, p i , i = 1,…, V . In particular, we show that for symmetric tries the variance of the depth is O (1), while for asymmetric tries it is α ln n + O (1), and we determine explicitly the constant O (1). These results extend previous analyses by Knuth [12], Flajolet and Sedgewick [6], Jacquet and Regnier [10], and Kirschenhofer and Prodinger [11].
Democratic policing: A framework for action

The authors maintain that accountability to multiple structures, at multiple levels of control, distinguishes democratic police from police governed by other regimes. No single accountability structure is sufficient; rather, structures at the internal, state and social levels are all necessary. Typically, these structures address either the responsibility of police to provide public safety or police conduct, but not both; better coordination and stronger linkages of these structures assures more robust and effective accountability. The authors outline opportunities for democratic police reform, or entry points for building and strengthening accountability to mechanisms at each of the three levels, noting that there is no correct approach to democratic police reform.
Program Scalability Analysis for HPC Cloud: Applying Amdahl's Law to NAS Benchmarks

The availability of high performance computing (HPC) clouds requires scalability analysis of parallel programs for multiple different environments in order to maximize the promised economic benefits. Unlike traditional HPC application performance studies that aim to predict performances of like-kind processors, this paper reports an instrumentation assisted complexity analysis method based on Amdahl's Law framework for program scalability analysis for different HPC environments. We show that program instrumentation helps Gustafson's scaled speedup formulation to quantify the elusive quality in Amdahl's Law. We report that without separating communication time from computing, prediction results are not trustworthy. We demonstrate a methodology that can transform asymptotic complexity models to timing models in order to separate communication time and to identify the optimal degree of parallelism. A traditional HPC cluster and a private HPC cloud are used to validate the proposed methodology by showing the feasibility of optimal parallel processing and by scalability analysis of five NAS benchmarks. Our results show that either cloud or cluster can be effectively exploited if the application can adapt to changing processing conditions dynamically. As we dig deeper into the performance analysis myths, “scalability limit” seems to mean less than its common interpretation but more on the inadequacy our programming habits and architecture support.
ENVIRONMENTAL RADIATION: MEASUREMENTS OF DOSE RATES.

The exposure dose from environmental sources of radiation was determined by means of an ionization chamber, by gamma-ray spectrometry in the field, and by measurements of radioactivity in soil cores. The exposure dose from cosmic radiation was found to be 4.4 ± 0.2 µr/hr, that from natural radioactivity 8.0 ± 0.3 µr/hr, and the contribution from fission products varied from 2.0 to 7.5 µr/hr during the interval in question.
Simulation-based engineering science for automation in the era of information technology

Growing applications of robotics, automation and mechatronics in non-traditional industries (such as agricultural, food-processing, structural health monitoring, surgical robotics, and healthcare) present new opportunities as well as challenges. Unlike dealing with engineering objects, developing application-oriented automation systems (working with human-subjects and/or handling live-products and natural-objects) require well-thought designs to minimize the number of experiments. Often, such systems require fusing the knowledge and techniques beyond traditional engineering fields. Along with several practical and emerging applications to help illustrate the impacts, this talk will focus on simulation-based engineering science (SES) which offers the scientific and mathematical basis to develop new approaches to synergistically design, model, algorithm, real-time computation, communication and control of systems for automation in the era of information technology (AeIT).
The effect of hydrogen on the tensile properties of palladium

Hydrogen content effect on annealed and work hardened palladium wire tensile properties, determining yield/tensile stress and elongation
Combating user fatigue in iGAs: partial ordering, support vector machines, and synthetic fitness

One of the daunting challenges of interactive genetic algorithms (iGAs)---genetic algorithms in which fitness measure of a solution is provided by a human rather than by a fitness function, model, or computation---is user fatigue which leads to sub-optimal solutions. This paper proposes a method to combat user fatigue by augmenting user evaluations with a synthetic fitness function. The proposed method combines partial ordering concepts, notion of non-domination from multiobjective optimization, and support vector machines to synthesize a fitness model based on user evaluation. The proposed method is used in an iGA on a simple test problem and the results demonstrate that the method actively combats user fatigue by requiring 3--7 times less user evaluation when compared to a simple iGA.
Stable Liquid Membranes

: Immobilized liquid membranes offer the advantages of high selectivity and species flux in separation of species from either gaseous or liquid streams. Despite these advantages, they are not yet commercially viable because of their instabilities and limited lifetime. This paper presents recent advances made in developing stable immobilized liquid membranes for gas separation with high fluxes and selectivities for the species of interest. Some of the recent approaches being studied for development of stable liquid membranes for liquid separation are also discussed.
Feather Phaeomelanin Intensity in Buff Orpington, New Hampshire and Rhode Island Red Breeds of Fowl 2. Inheritance Studies from whole Feather Extracts

Abstract RHODE ISLAND RED, New Hampshire and Buff Orpington breeds of fowl have varying intensities of buff-red coloration with black pigment restricted similarly to the hackle, wings and tail regions of the plumage. The distribution of black pigment in all three breeds generally resembles that of the Columbian varieties of fowl. According to Hutt (1949), all are homozygous for the e gene which determines this pattern in contrast to its allele, E, which allows black pigment to be deposited throughout the plumage. His conclusions were based on the early work of Hurst (1905), Davenport (1909), Dunn (1922 Dunn (1923) and Asmundson and Milne (1930), plus subsequent observations of his own. The reduced amounts of black pigment in the hackle and remiges of Buff Orpingtons were attributed by Dunn (1923) to the presence of additional modifying genes. More recently the role of the proposed alleles, E and e, in determining the “Columbian” pattern…
Habitat Observed from the Decks of Fishing Vessels

Abstract From the decks of their boats, commercial fishers observe target species, habitat, prey, and changes through time to the environment. Their observations, perceptions, and impressions are colored by their values, culture, and interactions with other fishers. Fishers who are at sea every day hold a vast amount of knowledge; however, their information is considered anecdotal. Motivated by the need to describe essential fish habitat using all available data and information, we surveyed fishers to identify records and other documentation of their observations. Through surveys and focus group meetings, we collected information on fishing gear, seasons and years of fishing experience, types of fish caught, and general observations. We also asked fishers if they kept records of their findings and if they would share that information with fisheries managers. Most fishers indicated they kept some type of record, and 68% were willing to share that information with managers. Another 30% indicated they might ...
Detection of CL-912, a 1,3-Dioxalane, in Collapsible Tube Liner by Attenuated Total Reflection Spectroscopy

An attenuated total internal reflection technique was used to demonstrate the migration of the free base of CL-912C from a urological jelly to the lining of collapsible tubes during the sterilization cycle. This observation was substantiated by examination of isooctane extract of the sample liner by TLC and attenuated total internal reflection.
Sample size calculations for evaluating mediation.

This paper presents sample size calculations for testing the mediation of the effect of a primary predictor by an intermediate variable. This problem is related to validating surrogate markers and to testing the effect of a primary predictor in the presence of confounders. For those problems, proposals for sample size calculation exist in the literature and can be adapted to the problem of mediation. Methods based on the variance inflation factor in linear regression provide exact sample size calculations for the linear model and approximations for the logistic, Poisson, and Cox models. We propose another procedure based on simulation of the underlying data structure, with applications to the logistic and Cox models. For the Poisson model, a new analytic method is also proposed. The behavior of the different proposals is investigated by means of simulation studies. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Influence of knee positions and gender on the Ober test for length of the iliotibial band.

Abstract Objective. Examine the influence of knee positions and gender on the Ober test for the length of the iliotibial band. Design. A cross-sectional comparative repeated measures design. Background. The Ober test is in widespread use, yet the influence of knee positions and gender on the test has not been reported. Such information is needed to help clarify test results. Methods. The Ober test was administered with the knee flexed to 90° and extended to 0° to the right lower limb of 26 women and 23 men. The limb was lowered from abduction and the end point of hip abduction (positive angle) or hip adduction (negative angle) was measured in relation to neutral. Results. The hip adduction movement was restricted more with the knee flexed than with the knee extended for both genders (P Conclusion. The Ober test with the knee flexed limited hip adduction more than with the knee extended for both men and women, and women had greater limitations than men. Relevance The Ober test with the knee flexed and with the knee extended yielded different results and may be considered different tests. Normal Ober test values for the two knee positions should be defined separately for men and women in order to understand how deviations from normal are related to pathologies.
Power-Efficient Response Time Guarantees for Virtualized Enterprise Servers

Both power and performance are important concerns for enterprise data centers. While various management strategies have been developed to effectively reduce server power consumption by transitioning hardware components to lower-power states, they cannot be directly applied to today's data centers that rely on virtualization technologies. Virtual machines running on the same physical server are correlated, because the state transition of any hardware component will affect the application performance of all the virtual machines. As a result, reducing power solely based on the performance level of one virtual machine may cause another to violate its performance specification. This paper proposes a two-layer control architecture based on well-established control theory. The primary control loop adopts a multi-input-multi-output control approach to maintain load balancing among all virtual machines so that they can have approximately the same performance level relative to their allowed peak values. The secondary performance control loop then manipulates CPU frequency for power efficiency based on the uniform performance level achieved by the primary loop. Empirical results demonstrate that our control solution can effectively reduce server power consumption while achieving required application-level performance for virtualized enterprise servers.
Training Toddlers Seated on Mobile Robots to Steer Using Force-Feedback Joystick

The broader goal of our research is to train infants with special needs to safely and purposefully drive a mobile robot to explore the environment. The hypothesis is that these impaired infants will benefit from mobility in their early years and attain childhood milestones, similar to their healthy peers. In this paper, we present an algorithm and training method using a force-feedback joystick with an “assist-as-needed” paradigm for driving training. In this “assist-as-needed” approach, if the child steers the joystick outside a force tunnel centered on the desired direction, the driver experiences a bias force on the hand. We show results with a group study on typically developing toddlers that such a haptic guidance algorithm is superior to training with a conventional joystick. We also provide a case study on two special needs children, under three years old, who learn to make sharp turns during driving, when trained over a five-day period with the force-feedback joystick using the algorithm.
A comprehensive sustainability appraisal of water governance in Phoenix, AZ

In Phoenix, Arizona and other metropolitan areas, water governance challenges include variable climate conditions, growing demands, and continued groundwater overdraft. Based on an actor-oriented examination of who does what with water and why, along with how people interact with hydro-ecological systems and man-made infrastructure, we present a sustainability appraisal of water governance for the Phoenix region. Broadly applicable to other areas, our systems approach to sustainable water governance overcomes prevailing limitations to research and management by: employing a comprehensive and integrative perspective on water systems; highlighting the activities, intentions, and rules that govern various actors, along with the values and goals driving decisions; and, establishing a holistic set of principles for social–ecological system integrity and interconnectivity, resource efficiency and maintenance, livelihood sufficiency and opportunity, civility and democratic governance, intra- and inter-generational equity, and finally, precaution and adaptive capacity. This study also contributes to reforming and innovating governance regimes by illuminating how these principles are being met, or not, in the study area. What is most needed in metropolitan Phoenix is enhanced attention to ecosystem functions and resource maintenance as well as social equity and public engagement in water governance. Overall, key recommendations entail: addressing interconnections across hydrologic units and sub-systems (e.g., land and water), increasing decentralized initiatives for multiple purposes (e.g., ecological and societal benefits of green infrastructure), incorporating justice goals into decisions (e.g., fair allocations and involvement), and building capacity through collaborations and social learning with diverse interests (e.g., scientists, policymakers, and the broader public).
Titania-based heterogeneous photocatalysis. Materials, mechanistic issues, and implications for environmental remediation*

Using hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) and methylene blue (MB) as model sub- strates, we discuss three aspects of TiO 2 -based heterogeneous photocatalysis. We show first that a given TiO 2 sample may not be simultaneously optimal for photocatalytically driving the reduction of Cr(VI) and the oxidation of MB. We further show that a TiO 2 sample that strongly adsorbs either of these substrates in the dark is not optimal as a photocatalyst. The other two aspects concern circumventing the rather poor surface catalytic properties and vis- ible light photoresponse of TiO 2 , respectively. Strategies revolving around the visible light photoexcitation of the substrate itself and metal-modification of the TiO 2 surface, are described as possible solutions.
Problem Stabilization: A Metric for Problem Improvement in Home Visiting Clients.

Background Public health nurse (PHN) home visiting programs have been widely employed to improve life course trajectories for high risk mothers. Home visiting programs are often lengthy, during which PHNs simultaneously address multiple problems using diverse interventions over several client encounters. To manage PHN caseloads it is critical to understand the trajectory of client improvement and the optimal duration or services. PHN documentation data enable intervention trajectory research for specific client problems. A new metric called problem stabilization is proposed for evaluating interim improvement during PHN home visiting. Problem stabilization is an intervention pattern for a client problem that is characterized by co-occurring actions (i.e. teaching, guidance, and counseling; treatments and procedures; case management; and/or surveillance) during a client encounter; followed by surveillance actions only for that problem during a subsequent client encounter. The purpose of the study was to investigate problem stabilization during home visiting services for high risk mothers.
Volumetric MRI analysis comparing subjects having attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder with normal controls

Article abstract-Objective: To test by MRI-based morphometry the a priori hypotheses that developmental anomalies exist in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in left caudate and right prefrontal/frontal/ and/or posterior parietal hemispheric regions, in accord with neurochemical, neuronal circuitry and attentional network hypotheses, and prior imaging studies. Design: Case-control study. Setting: Academic medical center. Participants: Fifteen male subjects with ADHD without comorbid diagnoses (aged 12.4 +/- 3.4 years) and 15 male normal controls (aged 14.4 +/- 3.4), group-matched for age, IQ, and handedness. Main outcome measures: Global and hemispheric regional volumes (in cm 3 ) of cerebral hemispheres, cortex, white matter, ventricles, caudate, lenticulate, central gray nuclei, insula, amygdala, and hippocampus. Results: Despite similar hemispheric volumes, ADHD subjects had smaller volumes of (1) left total caudate and caudate head (p NEUROLOGY 1997;48: 589-601
Forage Quality and Concentrate for Cows in Early Lactation

The objective was to evaluate effects of alfalfa quality and concentrate proportion in diets during early lactation on milk production, milk composition, feed intake, and body weight. Sixty-eight Holstein cows (24 first lactation and 44 older cows) were assigned to one of four diets during the first 14 wk of lactation. Diets contained either early cut or normal cut alfalfa hay mixed with 30 or 50% concentrate. Forage quality and concentrate did not affect milk yield or dry matter intake for either older or first lactation cows. Milk fat percent was reduced by higher concentrate (3.7 versus 3.3%) but was not affected by forage quality for older cows. Milk protein was higher for early cut (3.2%) compared with normal cut (3.1%) hay. For first lactation cows, milk fat percent increased with declining forage quality (3.5 versus 3.9%) and increased with declining concentrate (3.6 versus 3.9%). Yields of milk components were not different for forage quality or concentrate except for higher yield of milk protein for early cut hay diets fed to older cows.
Single-chip velocity measurement system for incremental optical encoders

A single-chip system is designed, implemented, tested, and analyzed for the measurement of velocity from incremental optical encoders with quadrature outputs. The system uses a field programmable gate array (FPGA) chip to take advantage of high flexibility and a low-cost design cycle. The device uses two counting methods: period counting for low velocities and frequency counting for high velocities to obtain high resolution measurements for a wide range of velocities with a fixed 16-b word length. Verification testing of the device was consistent with predicted error and showed that quantization errors can be made arbitrarily small by adjusting the tradeoff between velocity range and minimum resolution. This tradeoff can be adjusted by the designer by simple modifications to the basic design.
Effects of turning on skin-bed interface pressures in healthy adults.

Title. Effects of turning on skin-bed interface pressures in healthy adults. Aim. This paper is a report of a study of the effects of lateral turning on skin-bed interface pressures in the sacral, trochanteric and buttock regions, and its effectiveness in unloading at-risk tissue. Background. Minimizing skin-support surface interface pressure is important in pressure ulcer prevention, but the effect of standard patient repositioning on skin interface pressure has not been objectively established. Methods. Data were collected from 15 healthy adults from a university-affiliated hospital. Mapped 24-inch · 24-inch (2304 half-inch sensors) interface pressure profiles were obtained in the supine position, followed by lateral turning with pillow or wedge support and subsequent head-of-bed elevation to 30� . Results. Raising the head-of-bed to 30� in the lateral position statistically significantly increased peak interface pressures and total area ‡32 mmHg. Comparing areas ‡32 mmHg from all positions, 93% of participants had skin areas with interface pressures ‡32 mmHg throughout all positions (60 ± 54 cm 2 ), termed ‘triple jeopardy areas’. The triple jeopardy area increased statistically significantly with wedges as compared to pillows (153 ± 99 cm 2 vs. 48 ± 47 cm 2 , P < 0AE05). Conclusion. Standard turning by experienced intensive care unit nurses does not reliably unload all areas of high skin-bed interface pressures. These areas remain at risk for skin breakdown, and help to explain why pressure ulcers occur despite the implementation of standard preventive measures. Support materials for maintaining lateral turned positions can also influence tissue unloading and triple jeopardy areas.
LIPOLYSIS:Contribution from Regional Fat

In vitro studies of adipocytes taken from different body fat regions suggest substantial differences in lipolysis between intra-abdominal, lower-body subcutaneous, and abdominal subcutaneous regions. Gender and obesity appear to influence these regional differences. In situ measurements of glycerol release from adipose tissue provided further evidence that regional heterogeneity of lipolysis occurs in humans. In vivo studies of regional free fatty acid (FFA) release have confirmed that adipose tissue lipolysis varies between upper- and lower-body fat. Release of FFA from lower-body adipose tissue is less than that from upper-body adipose tissue in both obese and non-obese men and women. In non-obese men and women, meal ingestion suppresses FFA release from all adipose tissue regions, and adrenergic stimulation activated FFA release from different sites in a gender-specific fashion. Significant regional and gender differences in adipose tissue lipolysis occur in humans, and this could contribute to differences in the health effects of adipose tissue and could theoretically influence body fat distribution.
Design of multiple-reference-frame PI controller for power converters

Comprehensive study of the multiple-reference-frame (MRF) PI controller design will be discussed in this paper. Firstly, the design guideline for the proportional constant and integral constants will be presented. Instead of the conventional integral constant, the time constant is considered fundamental. Secondly, the delay compensation in MRF controller will be analyzed. The approach that can enhance the stability margin is discussed. Finally, antiwindup in the MRF PI controller will be studied. All the results of the analysis have been validated.
Placebos that harm: sham surgery controls in clinical trials

Recent debates over the use of sham surgery as a control for studies of fetal tissue transplantation for Parkinson's disease have focused primarily on rival interpretations of the US federal regulations governing human-subjects research. Using the core ethical and methodological considerations that underwrite the equipoise requirement, we find strong prima facie reasons against using sham surgery as a control in studies of cellular-based therapies for Parkinson's disease and more broadly in clinical research. Additionally, we believe that these reasons can be generalized to apply to the use of other placebo controls that carry significant risks of positive harms in and of themselves. As a result, our arguments are centrally relevant to the emerging drive to subject therapies with a surgical component to the same rigorous standards of evaluation as those governing the approval of new pharmaceuticals.
The renal proximal tubule: a model for diversity of anion exchangers and stilbene-sensitive anion transporters.

The prototype of plasma membrane anion exchangers is erythrocyte Band 3 (44,47,70). Erythrocyte Band 3 mediates the electroneutFall: 1 exchange of monovalent anions such as Cland HC03 -. Band): can also mediate the electroneutral cotransport of H + and S04 = in exchange for monovalent anions such as Cl-. All known transport modes of Band 3 are inhibited with high affinity by disulfonic stilbenes. In recent years anion transport systems with one or more major properties of Band 3, such as ability to mediate anion exchange and/or sensitivity to inhibition by disulfonic stilbenes, have been demonstrated in the plasma membranes of nonerythroid cells (44). Interestingly, the anion transport systems described in nonerythroid cells have been heterogeneous with respect to substrate and inhibitor affinities, suggesting that there exist several distinct transporters functionally related to Band 3 . On the other hand, such apparent heterogeneity may be a function of the varying conditions and methods that have been used to study anion transport in different cells and tissues. Actual diversity of Band 3-related transporters can be most cJ'earIy demonstrated when it is confirmed by several methods in a single cell type. In this regard, the mammalian proximal tubule has served as a useful model system for revealing the surprising diversity of anion exchangers and stilbene-sensitive anion transporters found in nonerythroid cells. In this review, the properties