cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Extraterritorial Offices of Exchange

One of the hotly debated issues being discussed among the membership of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) concerns the status of, and treatment extended to, commercial extraterritorial offices of exchange (ETOEs). ETOEs are facilities, whether real or virtual, established by postal operators outside their home territories in the territories of other countries. The surge in ETOE activity is not unique to industrialized country (IC) operators. Indeed, some operators are attempting to leverage their ability to access networks under developing country (DC) terminal dues rates in order to compete with universal service providers (USPs) for delivery of cross-border items. Thus, postal operators in both DCs and ICs are affected by ETOE competition, since the terminal dues system adopted at the 1999 UPU Beijing Congress provides that rates for access to postal networks vary depending upon the identities of the countries of origin and destination.
Uremic Toxins & Dialysis

The symptoms and signs of renal failure, often called uremia, are reversible. Common reversal techniques include manipulation of protein in the diet, transplantation, and various types of therapeutic dialysis. Others include hemofiltration and sorbent therapy. The term uremia literally means urine in the blood. It refers to a variety of nonspecific complaints and physical signs that patients inevitably manifest as their renal function falls to below 5% of normal (see tables 1.1 and 1.2). The glomerular filtration rate, measured in the clinical laboratory, is the usual yardstick of renal function and admittedly correlates only crudely with renal damage. The syndrome of uremia expresses itself in different ways in different patients, but there are common typical elements. These serve as a focus for clinicians who would treat uremic patients and for investigators searching for the searching for the elusive toxins responsible for the syndrome. The failure of over 150 years of research to identify a specific toxin or toxins to account for the entire syndrome has led some to propose alternate theories. These are reviewed below. Excellent reviews of uremic toxins are available in standard textbooks (1,2,3). These toxins are briefly summarized here, with special emphasis on how they relate to dialysis, including some of this author’s biases.
A Mixed-Methods Assessment of a Peer-Enforced Tobacco- and Smoke-Free Policy at a Large Urban University

The study aims to evaluate the enforcement, opinions, and effectiveness of the University of South Florida’s tobacco free policy one year following implementation. By assessing readiness to change and using geographic information system (GIS) mapping this study sought to introduce a unique and effective way of evaluating college tobacco free policies. A cross-sectional survey was administered to students, faculty, and staff to assess knowledge of policy and resources, tobacco use observations, stage change regarding policy enforcement, self-efficacy to enforce, and policy impact on perceived campus tobacco use (n = 5242). Additionally, using ArcGIS Collector (in: ESRI, ArcGIS desktop: release 10, Environmental Systems Research Institute, Redlands, 2011) volunteers collected geospatial data on tobacco use continuing to occur on campus following policy implementation. Overall there was moderate knowledge of the current policy and low beliefs for policy enforcement. Majority of respondents were not approaching violators to remind them of the policy and did not plan to do so in the future. There were statistically significant differences between smokers and non-smokers as well as between students and faculty and staff. The mapping of observed violations revealed continued tobacco use on campus with 158 data points. From both the geospatial results as well as the survey findings, the current policy is ineffective in reducing tobacco use across campus. With rapidly increasing numbers of smoke and tobacco free universities, new and innovative evaluation tools are needed so institution leaders can efficiently evaluate their implementation.
Association of chorioamnionitis and its duration with neonatal morbidity and mortality.

To investigate the association of chorioamnionitis, and secondarily its duration, on neonatal adverse outcomes for infants born <34 weeks vs. ≥34 weeks. A secondary analysis from the observational U.S. Consortium on Safe Labor Study. The exposure was chorioamnionitis, and secondarily, its estimated duration. The composite outcome included pneumonia, seizure, necrotizing enterocolitis, sepsis, periventricular/intraventricular/cerebral hemorrhage, mechanical ventilation, and neonatal death. Multivariable logistic regression with generalized estimating equations was used, stratified by gestational age at delivery. Among 221,274 deliveries, the odds of the neonatal adverse outcome <34 weeks was 2-fold higher among infants exposed to chorioamnionitis vs. those who were not (62.0 vs. 47.7%; AOR: 1.86; 95%CI: 1.25–2.75), and was ~3.5-fold higher ≥34 weeks (9.2 vs. 2.5%; AOR: 3.34; 95% CI: 2.35–4.76). The estimated duration of chorioamnionitis did not change the above associations. Chorioamnionitis was associated with an approximately 2- and 3.5-fold increased odds of neonatal adverse outcomes <34 and ≥34 weeks, respectively, regardless of its estimated duration.
Coordinating Receptor Expression and Wiring Specificity in Olfactory Receptor Neurons

The ultimate function of a neuron is determined by both its physiology and connectivity, but the transcriptional regulatory mechanisms that coordinate these two features are not well understood1–4. The Drosophila Olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) provide an excellent system to investigate this question. As in mammals5, each Drosophila ORN class is defined by the expression of a single olfactory receptor or a unique combination thereof, which determines their odor responses, and by the single glomerulus to which their axons target, which determines how sensory signals are represented in the brain6–10. In mammals, the coordination of olfactory receptor expression and wiring specificity is accomplished in part by olfactory receptors themselves regulating ORN wiring specificity11–13. However, Drosophila olfactory receptors do not instruct axon targeting6, 14, raising the question as to how receptor expression and wiring specificity are coordinated. Using single-cell RNA-sequencing and genetic analysis, we identified 33 transcriptomic clusters for fly ORNs. We unambiguously mapped 17 to glomerular classes, demonstrating that transcriptomic clusters correspond well with anatomically and physiologically defined ORN classes. We found that each ORN expresses ~150 transcription factors (TFs), and identified a master TF that regulates both olfactory receptor expression and wiring specificity. A second TF plays distinct roles, regulating only receptor expression in one class and only wiring in another. Thus, fly ORNs utilize diverse transcriptional strategies to coordinate physiology and connectivity.
Symptom alleviation and self-care among breast cancer survivors after treatment completion.

Background This article elucidates the symptom experiences of breast cancer survivors after completion of their treatment. It also provides self reports of the types, frequency of use, and effectiveness of self-care measures to treat the symptoms they are experiencing. Objectives The purpose of this article is to describe the self-care strategies used to alleviate symptoms reported by breast cancer survivors recruited from a secure state coalition database. Methods The Therapy-Related Symptom Checklist (TRSC) was used to identify the occurrence and severity of ongoing symptoms in breast cancer survivors who were six months or more post-treatment. Two groups were identified for further exploration of self-care. Findings The self-care method category most commonly reported was diet/nutrition/lifestyle and the least common category was herbs/vitamins/complementary therapy. With few exceptions, the reported methods were perceived as effective.
R3: Reflection Resilient Concurrent Ranging with Ultra-Wideband Radios

Concurrent ranging exploits features of the channel impulse response (CIR) of received packets to allow an ultra-wideband (UWB) initiator node to concurrently measure the distance from multiple UWB responder nodes. Concurrent ranging enables indoor localization systems to reduce the required number of ranging packet exchanges, leading to less air utilization and energy consumption, and faster location update rate. Despite the research in this area, it is still challenging to build a practical UWB concurrent ranging system for real-world environments. Existing concurrent ranging solutions are not scalable because (1) they require strong assumptions about either the responders or the environment and (2) they fail to maintain the ranging accuracy in longer distances due to errors caused by clock drift. In this work, we present R3, a Reflection Resilient Ranging solution, to address these critical scalability issues in UWB concurrent ranging. R3 makes use of the difference in the time deviation of ranging signals to detect concurrent responders and it is equipped with a clock skew correction method that enables accurate concurrent ranging in long distances. We evaluate R3 using Decawave DW1000 UWB chip by deploying the radio nodes in an office environment. Our results show that R3 effectively detects concurrent ranging peaks in the presence of strong multipath. When we equip R3 with a clock skew correction method, it reduces the concurrent ranging error induced by clock drift by at least 54 cm in long distances (>50 m) and by more than 97% in average when the ranging response delay is arbitrarily large.
Computational Chemistry on Quantum Computers.

The purpose of this experiment was to use the known analytical techniques to study the creation, simulation, and measurements of molecular Hamiltonians. The techniques used consisted of the Linear Combination of Atomic Orbitals (LCAO), the Linear Combination of Unitaries (LCU), and the Phase Estimation Algorithm (PEA). The molecules studied were $H_2$ with and without spin, as well as $He_2$ without spin. Hamiltonians were created under the LCAO basis, and reconstructed using the Jordan-Winger transform in order to create a linear combination of Pauli spin operators. The lengths of each molecular Hamiltonian greatly increased from the $H_2$ without spin, to $He_2$. This resulted in a reduced ability to simulate the Hamiltonians under ideal conditions. Thus, only low orders of l = 1 and l = 2 were used when expanding the Hamiltonian in accordance to the LCU method of simulation. The resulting Hamiltonians were measured using PEA, and plotted against function of $\frac{2\pi(K)}{N}$ and the probability distribution of each register. The resolution of the graph was dependent on the amount of registers, N, being used. However, the reduction of order hardly changed the image of the $H_2$ graphs. Qualitative comparisons between the three molecules were drawn.
Infectious Diseases and Organisms

The discovery that most gastric ulcers and nearly all duodenal ulcers are related to an infectious disease revolutionized the treatment of peptic ulcer disease in the late 20th century. A significant part of our practice involves examining gastric biopsies accompanied by a clinical request to “rule out Helicobacter pylori,” but this is not the only infectious disease that affects the stomach. It is, however, arguably the most important, because it can lead not only to gastric and duodenal ulcers but also to an increased risk for epithelial and lymphoid malignancy. Fortunately, H. pylori gastritis has a characteristic microscopic appearance that allows one to suspect it easily. Other infectious diseases, such as certain viral infections, require a higher index of suspicion and can be challenging to discriminate from other processes in the differential diagnosis.
Clinical Applications of Cytomegalovirus IgG Avidity Testing

Abstract Cytomegalovirus (CMV) IgG avidity, defined as the strength with which IgG binds to an antigen, matures gradually following primary infection. Low avidity indicates recent infection (within the prior 3 months), whereas high avidity indicates infection >6 months earlier. In adults, IgG avidity testing is better than CMV IgM testing for identifying primary infection, since IgM persists for many months in some individuals. The key clinical application of CMV IgG avidity testing is to identify primary CMV infection during pregnancy, which is associated with increased risk for intrauterine transmission. A related application is diagnosis of primary CMV infection in children less than 1 year old. In transplantation, avidity testing helps identify the cellular source of CMV IgG in seroconverting solid organ recipients; in seropositive bone marrow recipients, avidity results serve as an indicator of successful engraftment. An unrealized application is assessment of CMV IgM+ IgG+ organ or blood donors; many are IgM+ due to IgM persistence and may thus still qualify as donors. This article provides a review of CMV IgG avidity methodology, as well as clinical applications.
Placing Pandemics: History of the Influenza Epidemics of 1918-19 in Kenya and Uganda

In 1918 and 1919, a virulent strain of influenza spread rapidly through East Africa, killing hundreds of thousands of people in a few months. Authorities struggled to control it as returning soldiers, migrant laborers, and Africans seeking famine relief travelled throughout Kenya and Uganda. Although influenza devastated African populations in both colonies, a closer examination shows that the administrations in these two places responded to influenza quite differently. In Kenya, administrators tried to deal with the crisis by responding to various groups calls for medical aid during and after the epidemic while in Uganda, administrators turned their attention to different disease problems. In turn, the two colonial administrations developed public health services along different lines after the epidemic that, while focused on extending health care to Africans in more areas, emphasized different diseases and health issues. Using archival sources, this paper investigates how and why influenza provoked such different administrative responses in these two places, showing that Kenya and Ugandas differing political economies, social structures, and histories with disease shaped these responses. It examines competing and overlapping interests in both colonies during this crisis to argue that history, place, and local circumstances largely shape experiences and outcomes of pandemic disease.
CD4+ T cells cause renal and placental mitochondrial oxidative stress as mechanisms of hypertension in response to placental ischemia.

The reduced uterine perfusion pressure (RUPP) rat model and normal pregnant (NP) rat recipients of RUPP CD4+ T cells recapitulate many characteristics of preeclampsia such as hypertension and oxida...
The Missing MSRI in Iraq: The Southern Opportunity

Iraq’s relations with China over the past two decades or so have been built on energy, with Iraq welcoming Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) and contracting. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)’s birth did not change this dynamic, with Chinese projects in Iraq primarily emphasizing energy and less than a handful of unimpressive connectivity projects. The expansion of the BRI in China was affected significantly by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)’s 2013 incursion. Iraq’s needs, China’s value as an alternative partner, and Chinese resources create opportunities for the BRI in the future, but Iraq’s economic situation, problematic business environment, and continuing sectarian divisions limit its prospects. Ironically, some of these problems actually may fuel the development of the BRI’s to-date absent Maritime Silk Road Initiative component in Iraq since Iraq’s south, which adjoins the sea, is relatively more stable and proximate to growing regional connectivity schemes.
Case Series and Review of Hematological and Non-Hematological Malignancies in Aging Patients with Sickle Cell Disease in the Hydroxyurea Era

Survival of adult patients with sickle cell disease has increased progressively since the 1970s. Aging patients with sickle cell disease are at risk of developing comorbidities that are not due to ...
Social, Ecological, and Technological Strategies for Climate Adaptation

Resilient cities are able to persist, grow, and even transform while keeping their essential identities in the face of external forces like climate change, which threatens lives, livelihoods, and the structures and processes of the urban environment (United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, How to make cities more resilient: a handbook for local government leaders. Switzerland, Geneva, 2017). Scenario development is a novel approach to visioning resilient futures for cities. As an instrument for synthesizing data and envisioning urban futures, scenarios combine diverse datasets such as biophysical models, stakeholder perspectives, and demographic information (Carpenter et al. Ecol Soc 20:10, 2015). As a tool to envision alternative futures, participatory scenario development explores, identifies, and evaluates potential outcomes and tradeoffs associated with the management of social–ecological change, incorporating multiple stakeholder’s collaborative subjectivity (Galafassi et al. Ecol Soc 22:2, 2017). Understanding the current landscape of city planning and governance approaches is important in developing city-specific scenarios. In particular, assessing municipal planning strategies through the lens of interactive social–ecological–technological systems (SETS) provides useful insight into the dynamics and interrelationships of these coupled systems (da Silva et al. Sustain Dev 4(2):125–145, 2012). An assessment of existing municipal strategies can also be used to inform future adaptation scenarios and strategic plans addressing extreme weather events. With the scenario development process guiding stakeholders in generating goals and visions through participatory workshops, the content analysis of governance planning documents from the SETS perspective provides key insight on specific strategies that have been considered (or overlooked) in cities. In this chapter, we (a) demonstrate an approach to examine how cities define and prioritize climate adaptation strategies in their governance planning documents, (b) examine how governance strategies address current and future climate vulnerabilities as exemplified by nine cities in North and Latin America where we conducted a content analysis of municipal planning documents, and (c) suggest a codebook to explore the diverse SETS strategies proposed to address climate challenges—specifically related to extreme weather events such as heat, drought, and flooding.
Parent-Child Interaction Therapy with Oppositional Children

Behavioral parent training, or parent management training (PMT), refers to procedures in which parents are taught to alter their child’s behavior at home (Kazdin, 1996). The recognition that parents can become effective agents of therapeutic change in their children has resulted in the development and empirical evaluation of numerous parent training programs. Extensive research indicates that PMT is the single most effective treatment approach for reducing conduct-disordered behavior (Azar & Wolfe, 1989; >Brestan & Eyberg, 1998; Kazdin, 1996), and PMT is gaining recognition as an important adjunct to the treatment of child internalizing problems as well (Kendall & Treadwell, 1996; Lewinsohn, Clarke, Rohde, Hops, & Seeley, 1996).
Effect of Surface Residual Stresses on the Fretting Fatigue of a 4130 Steel

Fretting fatigue is defined as the fatigue of a material caused by the presence of a rubbing contact with a relative displacement of less than 100 micrometres. The presence of fretting results in a lowering of the fatiguelife of the material. The relative displacement, also known as the slip amplitude, has a considerable effect on the life of the specimens that were investigated. Different surface microstructures were studied in order to investigate the effect of slip amplitude on the fatigue life. These treatments, namely carburization and decarburization, also induced surface residual stresses which were instrumental in causing the changes that were observed in the fatigue life. Effects of residual stress on fretting fatigue were studied using three kinds of heat-treated specimens of a medium carbon steel. Two sets of experimental specimens were respectively decarburized and carburized to induce residual stresses on the surface. A set of control specimens of tempered martensite was used to compare results. All three structures showed a minimum in life versus the slip amplitude; the carburized specimens exhibited longer lives in general and the opposite was true for the decarburized specimens. In all cases, transverse cracks initiated on the surface, at the interface between the contacting and free surfaces, and propagated inwards, perpendicular to the loading axis. An attempt is made to explain the observed phenomena using residual stress arguments.
Tunable fiber Sagnac FM discriminator

A tunable FM discriminator using a fiber Sagnac interferometer is experimentally characterized and theoretically modeled.
An Analysis of Height-Weight Relationships of Midwestern Boys

Abstract This study was designed to illustrate how height and weight data may be combined by use of the Physical Growth Record charts into two-way classification tables for group evaluation, and to make an analysis of the data thus combined. Physical Growth Record charts were used to determine height and weight ratings for 1200 midwestern boys. These ratings were recorded in two-way classification tables. Distributions of height-ratings and of weight-ratings were compared with 1947 physical growth record norms and with 1963 revised norms. Ratings of subjects from the 1947 charts were compared with those from 1963 charts. Physical Growth Record classifications of a selected group of the subjects were compared with Wetzel Grid classifications. Suggestions are given regarding possible uses of PGR ratings.
The New Merger Guidelines and the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index

At the Fifteenth New England Antitrust Conference in November 1981, the newly appointed Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Justice Department's Antitrust Division expressed dissatisfaction with his predecessors' method of measuring market concentration: We think that a rather more sophisticated way of thinking about concentration is appropriate. The four-firm concentration ratio has very serious drawbacks as a measure. It implicitly assumes that size distribution among the first four firms is irrelevant, which is obviously silly. It implicitly assumes that size distribution among firms five through N is irrelevant, which is obviously silly. There are better measures of concentration than that.'
Smartphone applications as software engineering projects

This paper describes issues in developing mobile device applications and using smart phone applications as projects in a software engineering course. It also describes the experiences of the students in developing such a project.
Nearly shiftable scaling functions

The goal of the paper is to derive an approach for designing nearly shiftable scaling functions for multiresolution analyses (MRAs). Because this method does not increase the sampling density, the sparseness and efficiency of a dyadic grid is preserved. It contrasts with other attempts for the same problem which suffer either from oversampling or from being computationally expensive and data dependent. The algorithm reshapes a starting scaling function by modifying the Zak transform of its energy spectral density (ESD). The paper shows that although the modified signal does not strictly satisfy the 2-scale equation, the approximation error is sufficiently small. The result is a wavelet representation whose subband energy is "nearly" invariant to translations of its input. The paper illustrates this property with specific examples.
Reliability of Linear Systems Subjected to Wind Loads

AbstractProbabilistic models for wind loads are developed and used to estimate the properties of the responses of linear systems. This analysis involves four steps. First, along-wind, across-wind forces, and torque are represented as polynomials of turbulence fluctuations and wake excitations, which are assumed to be stationary Gaussian processes. Second, two types of models are provided, namely, the empirical model and the mathematical model, for the second-moment properties of the turbulence fluctuations and wake excitations so that the probability law of the wind loads is characterized completely. Proposed models are then calibrated to the experimental observations. Third, the mathematical model provides an efficient method to estimate the response properties relative to Monte Carlo simulation. The responses are modeled by translation processes that match the target second-moment properties and marginal distributions of the responses. Fourth, the response properties that are of interest, e.g., the mean...
AttentiveLearner: Improving Mobile MOOC Learning via Implicit Heart Rate Tracking

We present AttentiveLearner, an intelligent mobile learning system optimized for consuming lecture videos in both Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and flipped classrooms. AttentiveLearner uses on-lens finger gestures as an intuitive control channel for video playback. More importantly, AttentiveLearner implicitly extracts learners’ heart rates and infers their attention by analyzing learners’ fingertip transparency changes during learning on today’s unmodified smart phones. In a 24-participant study, we found heart rates extracted from noisy image frames via mobile cameras can be used to predict both learners’ “mind wandering” events in MOOC sessions and their performance in follow-up quizzes. The prediction performance of AttentiveLearner (accuracy = 71.22%, kappa = 0.22) is comparable with existing research using dedicated sensors. AttentiveLearner has the potential to improve mobile learning by reducing the sensing equipment required by many state-of-the-art intelligent tutoring algorithms.
A decoupled method for power system time domain simulation via invariant subspace partition

A decoupled method is proposed to deal with time domain simulation for power system dynamic analysis. Traditionally there are two main categories of numerical integration methods: explicit methods and implicit methods. The implicit methods are numerically stable but require more computational time to solve the nonlinear equations; while explicit methods are relatively efficient but may cause stability problem. This paper proposes a new hybrid method to take the advantage of both explicit and implicit methods based on the invariant subspace partition. The original power system equations are decoupled into two parts which correspond to the stiff and non-stiff subspaces. For the stiff invariant subspace, the implicit method is applied to achieve numerical stability and the explicit method is employed to handle non-stiff invariant subspace for the computational efficiency. As a result, the new hybrid method is both numerically stable and efficient. The approach is demonstrated through New England system.
Effectiveness of Progeny Test Multiple-Trait Index Selection for Field Performance of Strain-Cross Layers I. Estimated Responses

Abstract Selection for egg production and egg quality traits in five Leghorn strains was based on pedigreed strain-cross (TX) progeny performance. About 24,000 TX pullets from 400 sires and 2400 dams were tested at 20 to 40 locations each year from 1956 through 1969. The TX pullet performance averages for 16 traits were combined in a linear index to evaluate sires in male lines and dams in female lines. Dams in male lines and sires in female lines were evaluated on the basis of full-sibs’ progeny. Selection emphasis was primarily on rate of lay, viability, and egg size and secondarily on age at first egg, body size, egg shell and internal quality, temperament, and fertility. Each pair of pedigree crosses (TX1 or TX2) of one male line with two female lines was represented in a commercial cross (CX1 or CX2) of one male line with line-cross females. Generation lag from TX to CX equalled about 2 years of relaxed selection. Genetic changes for TX, CX, and control strain (C) were estimated as phenotypic deviations from environmental trends measured by repeating the same generation and age of C breeders in consecutive years. Yearly genetic gains in economic index per bird from 1956 to 1969 in TX1, to 1968 in TX2, to 1967 in CX1 and CX2, and to 1966 in C were $.16, .18, .08, .11, and .10, respectively. Corresponding environmental trends averaged $-.13, -.11, -.14, -.14, and -.13 per year. Average yearly genetic gains for TX pullets exceeded those for CX pullets in adult mortality (-1.8 vs. -.5%), rate of lay (.50 vs. .17%), total eggs (2.9 vs. .8 eggs), and egg weight (.18 vs. .11 g) but were similar for other traits. Yearly genetic gain for total eggs and rate of lay accelerated significantly in TX pullets but not in CX pullets, possibly because TX response was measured for selection applied 3 or 4 years later than that for CX response. Contemporary superiority of TX over CX pullets was large for economic index ($.49), adult mortality (-5%), total eggs (12), and rate of lay (2.4%). When adjusted for the 2-year generation lag of CX, remaining superiority of TX over CX from temporary effects of pedigree selected parents and of pure line instead of line-cross dams was reduced to $.15 in economic index, -1.5% in adult mortality, 5.7 in total eggs, and 1.3% in rate of lay.
Caregiver time use: An outcome measure in clinical trial research on Alzheimer's disease

Objective To assess whether unpaid caregiver time and paid professional time increase as cognitive impairment associated with Alzheimer's disease increases and to evaluate the utility of caregiver time as an additional outcome measure in clinical trial research of Alzheimer's disease. Methods This was a 24-week, double-blind, multicenter, parallel-group, placebo-controlled study conducted at 17 clinical outpatient sites by Hoechst-Roussel Pharmaceuticals Inc. A total of 449 patients older than 40 years with probable Alzheimer's disease of mild to moderate severity (criteria of the National Institute for Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke—Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association) entered the study, and 284 completed both baseline and week 24 data collection. A total of 160 caregivers completed time allocation surveys at baseline and at 24 weeks. Patients with Alzheimer's disease received 150 mg/day and 225 mg/day Velnacrine maleate (parallel-group treatment) and placebo. Cognitive function was measured with use of cognitive and noncognitive subscales of the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale (ADAS). Unpaid caregiver and paid professional time use were measured with use of the Caregiver Activities Time Survey (CATS). Results Unpaid caregiver time per day increased significantly with cognitive impairment at baseline as measured by the ADAS cognitive and noncognitive components. Velnacrine therapy significantly improved cognitive function relative to placebo, and this was associated with decreased unpaid caregiving time at trend levels. Specifically, caregivers of patients in the high-dose velnacrine group (225 mg/day) experienced a partial release from their time involvements, especially in the area of patient supervision, by an average of 3.3 hours per day. Conclusions To our knowledge, this study represents the first time that the ADAS has been linked to a caregiver outcome. Results suggest that unpaid caregiver time allocation is sensitive to changes in cognitive function and therefore may be useful as an additional outcome measure in clinical trials of pharmaceutical interventions for Alzheimer's disease. Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics (1995) 58, 228–236; doi:
Contradictions at the Heart of the Canon: Jan Vansina and the Debate over Oral Historiography in Africa, 1960–1985

Oracy is a hallmark of human society. So too is historical inquiry, as societies seek to identify and transmit those remembrances (or “imaginations”) considered important to defining collective social identity; in the process, they establish meaningful patterns by sifting and culling discrete perceptions through the analysis and critique, the repetition and elaboration, of competing testimonies. Yet, while oral communication and historical sensitivities have been present in all human societies for all time, the western historical profession was slow to mesh the two—slow to accept oral accounts as historical sources. In Africa initiatives to bring them together systematically emerged only in tandem with the growth of nationalism outside the hegemony of colonial constructs and, in particular, with decolonization.To be sure, many people outside the discipline had considered the relations of oracy and history. But both advocates and adversaries alike saw a turning point when Jan Vansina forced the issue on the historical discipline (most decidedly against its will) in the late 1950s and early 1960s. While others before him had argued for the historical validity of oral sources, Vansina framed his position in broader perspective, as a conceptual bedrock essential to understanding Africa. Historical sources abounded in Africa, he argued. They could be identified and understood, and they were subject to the same critical apparatus as western written sources; therefore Africa not only had a history, but it was knowable in the same terms as history in Europe. This was the reference point that drove his work. Whatever position one takes on his work, Vansina is seen as among the first to challenge the professional discipline, to sustain the argument, to push a broad range of methodological tactics, to master the empirical material, and to produce work based on such methods, in such a way that his innovations could not be dismissed out of hand.
N-Terminal Domains in the NR2 Subunit Control Desensitization of NMDA Receptors

Recent molecular studies of glutamate channels have provided increasingly detailed models of the agonist-binding site and of the channel pore. However, little information is available on the domains involved in channel gating. We examined the molecular determinants for the NR2-subunit specificity of glycine-independent desensitization of NMDA channels using NR2C/NR2A chimeric subunits expressed in HEK 293 cells. We show that glycine-independent desensitization is controlled by N-terminal domains of the NR2 subunit that flank the putative agonist-binding domain: a four amino acid (aa) segment immediately preceding the first transmembrane domain (M1) and a region containing the leucine/isoleucine/valine-binding protein-like (LIVBP-like) domain. Our results provide evidence for a functional role of the region containing the LIVBP-like domain in glutamate receptor channels. We suggest that the pre-M1 segment, presumably situated near the entrance to the pore, serves as a dynamic link between ligand binding and channel gating.
Acute Modulation of Sodium Channel Biophysical Properties using High-Frequency Stimulation

Voltage-gated ion channels are typically characterized by families of voltage-dependent curves, in particular, steady-state activation/inactivation (SSA/SSI) and peak current-voltage (IV) curves, which are often shifted or altered during disease. Previous studies have demonstrated that high-frequency stimulation (HFS) can be used to block electrical conduction in nerve axons, and more recently, in cardiac tissue. However, the use of HFS to acutely modulate ion channels has not been explored. We demonstrate that HFS can acutely and reversibly modulate sodium channel biophysical properties using a combined theoretical, computational, and experimental approach. Using the sodium channel kinetic description from the LR1 myocyte model and a multi-scale method based on a separation of time scales, HFS is predicted to shift and reduce the steepness of the SSA and SSI curves, and shift and reduce the peak IV curve. Myocyte simulations demonstrate HFS depolarizes the resting membrane potential, such that the steady-state inactivation is increased. In agreement with theoretical and computational predictions, whole-cell patch clamp of isolated guinea pig ventricular myocytes show that 25-kHz HFS significantly reduces peak sodium current and suggest a shift in the peak to more depolarized potentials. Importantly, upon HFS cessation, peak current returns to control levels, demonstrating that HFS is acutely reversible. Further, in whole-heart optical mapping experiments, 25-kHz HFS reversibly decreased lateral and transverse conduction velocities in a graded manner, consistent with increased sodium channel inactivation. We demonstrate a novel method for the acute modulation of sodium channel biophysics using HFS. Further, our theoretical work predicts that HFS may be a general approach to modulate all voltage-dependent ion channels, suggesting a multitude of potential applications.
Platelet aggregation inhibitors in neurology.

This literature review reports on secondary prevention of ischaemic stroke. The aim of secondary prevention is to protect patients who belong to a risk group from the occurrence of brain infarction. Symptomatic patients with a demonstrated carotid artery stenosis of 70% and more will most probably benefit from carotid endarterectomy if performed by a skilled surgeon in the absence of contraindications. Oral anticoagulant drugs play a minor role in the medical prevention of brain infarction. Antiplatelet drugs, however, have been in use for almost two decades and (meta-)analysis of clinical trials points to acetylsalicylic acid as a drug with a modest but certain contribution of about 15% in the endpoint reduction, even at lower dosages. The addition of dipyridamole to classic acetylsalicylic acid dose appears to increase the endpoint reduction to 30%. Neither dipyridamole nor sulfinpyrazone as monotherapy have been demonstrated to be efficacious in the secondary prevention of ischaemic stroke. Ticlopidine seems a promising alternative for acetylsalicylic acid in those patients who suffer adverse effects from acetylsalicylic acid. Ticlopidine itself, however, has a number of sideeffects that limit its application. New clinical trials are under way in order to improve the efficacy of drug treatment in the secondary prevention of brain infarction.
Sound synthesis for impact sounds in video games

We present an interactive system for synthesizing high quality, physically based audio on current video game consoles. From a recorded impact sound, we compute a modal model, which we use to synthesize variations of the sound on the fly. We show that for many sounds greater quality is obtained by using the amplitude envelopes of the extracted modes directly rather than fitting the envelopes to the standard exponential decay model. When combined with a residual, the synthesized sounds in most cases are indistinguishable from recorded clips. Compared to using multiple prerecorded clips to obtain variation, our system consumes less of the limited console memory. For sounds that are less amenable to modal synthesis, we introduce a simple filter that generates plausible variations from a single clip. Our system integrates easily with existing audio middleware and have been implemented in the Xbox360 game Crackdown II.
Necrotizing myonecrosis secondary to hematogenous spread of gas gangrene following colonic perforation.

Dear Editor: Invasive soft tissue infections with Clostridium species have been reported sporadically in the literature. Patients present in extreme pain with rapidly evolving violaceous discoloration of the skin and subsequent bullae formation due to necrotizing fasciitis or myonecrosis. Typically, this associated devastating gas gangrene has been described in association with traumatic wounds or postoperative infections. However, there is also an acknowledged atraumatic association particularly with colonic malignancy. These atraumatic causes of Clostridium infection are also seen in the immunocompromised or diabetic patient and in those with gynecologic and hematologic malignancies. Previous literature has described numerous methods of spread of gas-forming organisms from intra-abdominal locations to the extremities, most explanations involving routes across anatomic planes. Hematogenous spread with transient bacteremia secondary to translocation emanating from advanced colorectal malignancy has been suggested but not demonstrated radiographically. We present the first case providing radiological evidence reinforcing the previously postulated hematogenous route of spread of intra-abdominal Clostridium septicum infection to distant sites such as the contralateral extremities resulting in necrotizing fasciitis and myonecrosis.
The Stress and Stability Analyses of Railroad Tracks

The paper presents a survey of the state of knowledge in the fields of stress and stability determination of a railroad track. At first, the evolution of the railroad track structure is briefly summarized. This is followed by sections which discuss the development of the methods for the determination of stresses in the rails and ties, and the stability of the railroad track due to constrained thermal expansions.
Ear rings: FGF3 involvement comes full circle

Several different sensory systems would not form without the tiny plaques of thickened ectoderm, called placodes, scattered across the surface of the vertebrate embryo’s head. The lens of the eye, the sensory patches in the nose and ear, the pain and touch neurons of the face, and the neurons that mediate taste from the tongue all share their humble beginning as placode cells. What makes the placodes form in the first place, and what makes them different from one another? It is generally agreed, based on classical transplantation studies, that placodes are induced by some kind of signal from the surrounding tissue. For the inner ear, a secreted protein of the fibroblast growth factor family, FGF3, has fallen into and out of favor as a potential ear-specific inducer. Earlier work showed that excess FGF3 could induce the formation of extra otic vesicles (ear rings), whereas insufficient FGF3 could block their formation in chick. However, these results proved difficult to replicate. The status of FGF3 as an otic inducer fell further when it was revealed that knockout mice that carry a mutant allele of the FGF3 gene do not have a problem making otic vesicles. Instead, the ear develops poorly beyond the vesicle stage. With the recent paper by Vendrell and colleagues from Thomas Schimmang’s lab1xInduction of inner ear fate by FGF3. Vendrell, V. et al. Development. 2000; 127: 2011–2019PubMedSee all References1, the pendulum may have swung back in favor of FGF3.Vendrell used a modified Herpes Simplex Virus to introduce FGF3 rather widely into early chick embryos. Within eight hours, FGF3 mRNA peppered the surface ectoderm of the head. In about half of the embryos, small pits or vesicles were evident in the ectoderm in front of and behind the normal otic vesicle 2–3 days after infection. Nearly half of these were shown to express Notch mRNA, a marker not only for the otic placode but also for several other structures, including non-otic placodes and the neural tube. Among the remaining 51 ‘ear’ rings, some were confirmed to be expressing at least one of eight other molecular markers, although few of these were unique to the ear. Nonetheless, a sample of the extra vesicles did not express markers for developing lens or nose, both placode-derived. Also, the excess FGF3 caused the normal otic vesicles to grow too big, possibly by ‘over-inducing’ the surrounding ectoderm to join them in choosing an ear fate.This latest paper in a series aiming to find the otic inducer has once again implicated FGF3. Two years ago, it was reported that excess FGF3 or FGF2 could induce extra vesicles in frog embryos. Curiously, Vendrell et al. could not demonstrate an inductive effect of FGF2 in chick. Furthermore, the FGF2 knockout mouse has no problem making an ear. So, does this mean a frog uses two FGFs, a chick only one, and a mouse none, to induce the otic placode? Does it all come down to species differences or is there genetic redundancy that allows mice to sport ear rings even while missing one of their FGFs?
A vibrofluidized-bed heat exchanger for heat recovery from a hot gas II. Heat-transfer evaluation of a pilot-scale system

Abstract The objective of this work is to experimentally evaluate a process for recovering the thermal energy from a hot exhaust gas by direct contact of the gas with a countercurrently flowing vibrofluidized bed of solids. This portion of the two-part paper presents the results of heat-transfer studies on a pilot-scale vibrofluidized-bed heat-exchanger system described in Part I. Based on the phenomenon of spray zone formation observed in Part I together with results from gas-temperature measurements and cold-flow experiments, a model was proposed for the effective convective heat-transfer coefficient between the hot supernatant gas and the vibrofluidized solid. By using a factorial design of experiments, high effective heat-transfer coefficients were obtained with high air and solid flow rates, low baffle heights and high vibrational intensities. Under the ranges of operating conditions investigated, a maximum heat-transfer coefficient of 268 ± 5 W/(m2·K) was obtained with an effective heat-exchange area of 0.11 m2. The resulting pressure drop across the gas-deflection baffle is relatively low, being less than 350 Pa. Convective heat-transfer results from a supernatant gas to a flowing vibrofluidized bed of solids represent the only data reported thus far, and have led to a better understanding of the proposed vibrofluidized-bed system for heat-recovery applications.
Epifluorescent direct-write photolithography for microfluidic applications

We present a technique for fabricating soft-lithography molds created using an epifluorescent microscope. By focusing the UV light emitted from a Hg arc lamp, we demonstrate the ability to direct-write photoresist features with a minimum resolution of 45 μm. This resolution is satisfactory for many microfluidic applications. A major advantage of this technique is its low cost, both in terms of capital investment and on-going expenditures. Furthermore, by using a motorized stage, we can quickly fabricate a design on demand, eliminating the need, cost, and lead-time required for a photomask. With the addition of an electronic shutter, complicated separate structures can be imaged and utilized to make a wide range of microfluidic devices. We demonstrate this technique using dry-film resist due to its low cost, ease of application, and less stringent safety protocols.
User-friendly routines for tree storage and retrieval of multidimensional arrays

Description d'un progiciel de 3 subroutine FORTRAN pour un stockage rapide et compact et une recherche d'une grande matrice multidimensionnelle Z(Ir, ..., I L )
Low field magnetoresistance of nickel polycrystals

Abstract Observations of the low field magnetoresistance of nickel polycrystals are discussed in terms of the magnetoresistance resulting from the saturation magnetization and the ferromagnetic domain structure present at low fields. The effect of misorientation is demonstrated and discussed for typical specimens. In terms of these observations, a search for evidence of scattering of the conduction electrons by domain walls was made on over 200 specimens of nickel but no such evidence was found.