cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Endocervical prostaglandin E2 gel for preinduction cervical ripening. Clinical trial results.

Randomized, clinical trial results of a standardized, stable prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) preparation (0.5-mg PGE2 in a 2.5-mL gel base) applied endocervically as a single dose 12 hours prior to oxytocin induction were studied. The trials, conducted in the United States and Canada, included 538 women; 277 treated with PGE2 gel and 261 controls, with initial Bishop scores of < or = 4. Compared to controls, PGE2 recipients had significant improvement in cervical Bishop scores (P < .01) and a high rate of labor (47.4% vs. 9.6%, P < .001) during the 12-hour ripening period. In reporting centers, delivery during this same interval occurred without use of oxytocin in PGE2 patients (25.4%) vs. controls (4.9%). PGE2 reduced induction to delivery intervals and the duration of oxytocin administration. Although the composite cesarean section rates were lower in PGE2 recipients than in controls (28.5% vs. 32.9%), this difference did not achieve statistical significance. Maternal and fetal outcome and the incidence of complications were similar in the two groups. These studies confirm the safety and efficacy of this standardized PGE2 preparation as a means of cervical ripening in parturients with highly unfavorable cervixes.
To screen or not to screen for vesicoureteral reflux in children with ureteropelvic junction obstruction: a systematic review

Ureteropelvic junction obstruction (UPJO) and vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) are the most common uropathies. The co-occurrence of both anomalies has led to the practice of screening for VUR in children with UPJO to prevent deterioration of kidney function due to renal scarring following urinary tract infections (UTIs). We determined the prevalence of VUR in children with UPJO for a critical assessment of VUR screening by voiding cystourethrography (VCUG). A systematic search strategy in MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CENTRAL was carried out for all articles that included VCUG, and renal scintigraphy or any other appropriate imaging technique for the diagnosis of UPJO. Twenty studies were eligible for inclusion. We found a pooled prevalence for VUR of 8.2 % (95 % CI = 3.6–12.7), about a threefold increase compared to the general pediatric population. VUR occurred bilateral or contralateral to the kidney with UPJO in 5.7 % (95 % CI = 3.0–8.5), equivalent to 75 % of all children with VUR. Considering the effect size of VUR treatment with antibiotics, about 207 and 278 children would need to undergo VCUG to prevent one febrile UTI and one case of renal scarring by 1–2 years, respectively. Conclusion: Against this background, screening for VUR needs to be scrutinized and restricted to selected risk groups.
Lyme Disease: Emergency Department Considerations.

Abstract Background Lyme disease (LD) is the most common vector-borne illness in North America. Reported cases of LD have increased from approximately 10,000 cases annually in 1991 to >25,000 cases in 2014. Greater recognition, enhanced surveillance, and public education have contributed to the increased prevalence, as have geographic expansion and the number of infected ticks. Cases are reported primarily in the Northeastern United States, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, with children having the highest incidence of LD among all age groups. The increased incidence and prevalence of LD in the United States makes it increasingly more common for patients to present to the emergency department (ED) for tick bites and LD-related chief complaints, such as the characteristic erythema migrans skin manifestation. Objective We sought to review the etiology of LD, describe its clinical presentations and sequela, and provide a practical classification and approach to ED management of patients with LD-related presentations. Discussion In this review, ED considerations for LD are presented and clinical presentations and management of the disease at different stages is discussed. Delayed sequelae that have significant morbidity, including Lyme carditis and Lyme neuroborreliosis, are discussed. Diagnostic tests and management are described in detail. Conclusion The increasing prevalence and growing geographic reach of Lyme disease makes it critically important for emergency physicians to consider the diagnosis in patients presenting with symptoms suggestive of LD and to initiate appropriate treatment to minimize the potential of delayed sequelae. Special consideration should be made for the epidemiology of LD and a high clinical suspicion should be present for patients in endemic areas or with known exposures to ticks. Emergency physicians can play a critical role in the recognition, diagnosis, and treatment of LD.
Does Opening Complaints Data Change Company and Consumer Behavior? Evidence from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

I analyze a technological change which improved the public monitoring of financial customer treatment. This major assessment of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is based on its exposing credit card-related complaints online while keeping mortgage-related complaints concealed. Exposed companies were more likely to close complaint files while providing explanations and relief to aggrieved consumers and in a timely manner. The transparency policy seems uncompromised by economic inequality. Consumers procrastinate in reporting exposed banks while rewarding exposed banks for their improved behavior with new accounts. Debt remained generally stable. Surprisingly, both consumers and banks benefit when offending banks are exposed online. The Online Appendix is available here: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2931200
Reducing STAT Portable Chest Radiograph Turnaround Times: A Pilot Study.

Background Our health system orders a high number of STAT priority portable chest radiographs (62%) compared to Routine (35%) and Today (3%). Retrospective chart review of 1000 chest radiographs ordered with the STAT priority revealed that 38% of studies did not indicate clinical urgency. Given the high number or STAT priority portable chest radiographs ordered, prioritizing acquisition and interpretation of true STATs has become challenging for technologists and radiologists, leading to process inefficiencies, long turnaround times (TATs), communication failures, and patient-safety errors. Methods A multidisciplinary team analyzed the current pathway for exam order to finalized report, identified failure modes of imaging order to completion process, and developed guidelines for what constitutes a true STAT examination. A new “urgent” order category meeting the definition of true STAT was designed, tested, and implemented over a 9-month period in participating intensive care units Results Since study implementation, 108 “urgent” examinations were ordered. Median TAT for a STAT examination from order entry to image acquisition dropped from 70 minutes preimplementation to 16 minutes for “urgent” examinations. Median TAT for exam completion to radiologist image interpretation dropped from 520 minutes preimplementation to 14 minutes for “urgent” examinations. Since implementation, “urgent” examinations were found to be more concordant (70%) with the status of a critically ill patient than STAT examinations (62%). Conclusions The complexity of large multispecialty medical centers and lack of direct interaction of the radiologist with clinicians has led to underappreciation of the needs of ordering providers by radiology, and elucidated system limitations of radiology by ordering providers. By involving a team of frontline clinicians, our team standardized the process of identifying, ordering, procuring, interpreting, and communicating results of true STAT examinations. The process created by our team now serves as a template for implementation in other locations and service lines of our hospital.
Patient age as a factor of antibiotic resistance in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Purpose. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is one of the leading causes of nosocomial infections. A thorough understanding of the epidemiology and distribution of MRSA allows the development of better preventive measures and helps to control or reduce the rate of infection among the general population. Methodology. A retrospective survey was performed on 511 cases of MRSA infections from inpatient, outpatient and nursing home populations over a 12-month period. To study the relationships between two continuous quantitative variables (patient age vs resistance percentage), a simple linear regression was calculated for each antibiotic to predict the antibiotic resistance percentage with respect to patient age. Results/Key findings. The pattern of antibiotic resistance with respect to the age of patients depended on the antibiotic mode of action. Antibiotics that target DNA synthesis (i.e. fluoroquinolones) display a direct correlation with the age of patients, with higher rates of resistance among the older population, while antibiotics that target ribosomal functions (i.e. aminoglycosides) or cell wall synthesis (i.e. cephalosporin) do not display an age-dependent pattern and have a consistent degree of resistance across all age classes. Conclusion. Antibiotics that target DNA synthesis result in a progressively higher number of resistant isolates among the older population. The results emphasize the importance of patient age on antibiotic selection as a preventive measure to reduce the rate of resistant infections in each susceptible population. This pattern suggests that physicians should take into consideration patient age as another factor in determining the best antibiotic regiment with the aim of curtailing the emergence of newer resistant phenotypes in the future.
The Complexity of Problems in P Given Correlated Instances

Instances of computational problems do not exist in isolation. Rather, multiple and correlated instances of the same problem arise naturally in the real world. The challenge is how to gain computationally from correlations when they can be found. [DGH, ITCS 2015] showed that significant computational gains can be made by having access to auxiliary instances which are correlated to the primary problem instance via the solution space. They demonstrate this for constraint satisfaction problems, which are NP-hard in the general worst case form. Here, we set out to study the impact of having access to correlated instances on the complexity of polynomial time problems. Namely, for a problem P that is conjectured to require time n^c for c>0, we ask whether access to a few instances of P that are correlated in some natural way can be used to solve P on one of them (the designated "primary instance") faster than the conjectured lower bound of n^c. We focus our attention on a number of problems: the Longest Common Subsequence (LCS), the minimum Edit Distance between sequences, and Dynamic Time Warping Distance (DTWD) of curves, for all of which the best known algorithms achieve O(n^2/polylog(n)) runtime via dynamic programming. These problems form an interesting case in point to study, as it has been shown that a O(n^(2 - epsilon)) time algorithm for a worst-case instance would imply improved algorithms for a host of other problems as well as disprove complexity hypotheses such as the Strong Exponential Time Hypothesis. We show how to use access to a logarithmic number of auxiliary correlated instances, to design novel o(n^2) time algorithms for LCS, EDIT, DTWD, and more generally improved algorithms for computing any tuple-based similarity measure - a generalization which we define within on strings. For the multiple sequence alignment problem on k strings, this yields an O(nk\log n) algorithm contrasting with classical O(n^k) dynamic programming. Our results hold for several correlation models between the primary and the auxiliary instances. In the most general correlation model we address, we assume that the primary instance is a worst-case instance and the auxiliary instances are chosen with uniform distribution subject to the constraint that their alignments are epsilon-correlated with the optimal alignment of the primary instance. We emphasize that optimal solutions for the auxiliary instances will not generally coincide with optimal solutions for the worst case primary instance. We view our work as pointing out a new avenue for looking for significant improvements for sequence alignment problems and computing similarity measures, by taking advantage of access to sequences which are correlated through natural generating processes. In this first work we show how to take advantage of mathematically inspired simple clean models of correlation - the intriguing question, looking forward, is to find correlation models which coincide with evolutionary models and other relationships and for which our approach to multiple sequence alignment gives provable guarantees.
The use of mastoid vibration with canalith repositioning procedure to treat persistent benign paroxysmal positional vertigo: A case report

The Canalith Repositioning Procedure (CRP) was originally described as a non-invasive treatment for Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV) by Epley. Since its inception, the maneuver has undergone several modifications; and currently is performed in the absence of induced mastoid vibration (oscillation). Clinically, mastoid vibration may be used to assist in treatment of persistent cases of BPPV, where a simple CRP may fail to improve symptoms. This case describes a patient with a three-month history of BPPV (right posterior canalithiasis), who was previously treated unsuccessfully with standard CRP. Mastoid vibration was introduced as part of the treatment due to persistent BPPV. After one treatment utilizing CRP with mastoid vibration, the patient had complete resolution of symptoms, and remained symptom free at a six-month follow-up. It can be concluded that introducing mastoid oscillation via vibration to the CRP in persistent cases of semicircular canalithiasis BPPV may produce positive patient outcomes.
Substance Use Prevalence in Criminal Justice Settings

Since the mid-1970s, research studies in the United States have focused on the drug-crime connection. Federal drug abuse efforts in the early 1980s targeted controlling the supply of drugs, determinate sentencing for drug offenders, and long prison terms. With the growing number of substance users involved in the criminal justice system, this chapter overviews recent prevalence studies on substance use among individuals involved in differing levels of the criminal justice system from prison and jail to community corrections, including a discussion of special populations of offenders. This chapter also overviews the theoretical underpinnings of the relationship between drug use and crime as it relates to the development of treatment approaches for this population. Finally, the chapter concludes with an overview of evidence-based interventions and promising approaches for substance abuse for the criminal justice population and future directions.
The Peculiar Motion of Electrons in Amorphous Semiconductors

In the early 1900’s, physicists described a conducting material as a box filled with electrons. The current in the metal was understood to be carried by the electrons drifting in an applied electric field. This works in the following way: if the field is E and the charge on the electron is q, then the force on the electron is qE and the electron experiences an acceleration qE/m, where m is its mass. The electron does not accelerate indefinitely, however. Rather, it slows down because it scatters from the atoms in the metal or from impurities. This scattering acts like a factional force which keeps the electrons from moving faster and faster, and, instead, they reach a constant drift velocity vd. The relationship between vd and the acceleration is $$ {v_d} = \frac{{eE}} {m}\tau $$ (1) where τ is the time between collisions (called the scattering time), or, equivalently, the time it would take for the electron to stop if the field were turned off. Equation (1) shows that the drift velocity is proportional to the field and the proportionality constant is called the mobility, μ.
Spatiotemporal Imaging of Surface Plasmons Using Two-Color Photoemission Electron Microscopy

Time-resolved photoemission electron microscopy images recorded using a combination of ultrafast 800 nm (red) and 400 nm (blue) pulses track surface plasmon polaritons launched from lithographic patterns etched into silver thin films with joint femtosecond temporal and nanometer spatial resolution. The nondegenerate two-color scheme is found to significantly enhance photoelectron yields relative to single-color approaches. This enables both an enhanced visualization of surface plasmons and a more accurate determination of surface plasmon properties compared to single-color measurements. Power-dependent photoemission yield measurements reveal that the overall signal is linear with respect to blue excitation and slightly nonlinear for analogous red excitation. A numerical model based on wave packet propagation reproduces the experimental results and rigorously establishes that the polarization fields from both laser colors and their conjugate surface plasmons account for the observed photoelectron yield enh...
A Unified Approach for Modeling, Developing, and Assuring Critical Systems

Developing and assuring safety- and security-critical real-time embedded systems is a challenging endeavor that requires many activities applied at multiple levels of abstraction. For these activities to be effective and trustworthy, they must be grounded in a common understanding of the system architecture and behavior.
Group Projects in Chemical Engineering Using a Wiki

Group projects are common in undergraduate chemical engineering course. Wikis are a new medium for group projects because they are webpages that are edited using the same software used to view the webpage. Advantages include the ability to record changes made by each individual (helpful for grading), ability to continuously monitor progress, and a reduced need for face-to-face meetings for the group members. We also discuss challenges and potential improvements associated with their use.
A systematic review of rural-specific barriers to medication treatment for opioid use disorder in the United States

Opioid-related deaths have risen dramatically in rural communities. Prior studies highlight few medication treatment providers for opioid use disorder in rural communities, though literature has ye...
Evaluating Performance of Deep Neural Networks for Crop Classification and Complex Facility Recognition

Automatic identification of different crops purely using satellite imagery is an active area of research which helps the government in accurately estimating the yields of different crops, thereby helping them prepare proper action plans to ensure that the supply of food matches the demand. With rapid rise in the world population, this is an essential factor. On the other hand, detecting different types of complex structures such as coal plants, gas plants, nuclear power plants and airports is another emerging area of research. Detecting nuclear power plants is essential from a national security perspective, for monitoring nuclear proliferation. With the availability of powerful computing resources, deep neural networks have increasingly become the de facto standard in several image classification challenges. In this paper, we evaluate the performance of several well-known deep neural networks (Convolutional Neural Networks) in performing the aforementioned two tasks - crop classification and complex facility recognition. Based on our experiments, we will evaluate how state-of-the-art networks will perform in performing tasks such as crop classification and complex facility recognition
Mycorrhizas in fruit nutrition: Important breakthroughs

Abstract This chapter was intended to summarize the current knowledge on mycorrhizal inoculation on mainly fruit plant growth and nutrient uptake. Soil microorganisms mainly AMF directly or indirectly contribute to the beneficial properties of inoculum in enhancing soil health quality, plant growth, and hence agricultural productivity. The effects of mycorrhizal fungi and other microorganisms such as PGPR and Rhizobium on plant growth were extensively searched with new founding recently research works. Plenty of literature is available for the presence/diversity of AM fungi for the enhanced plant growth and mycorrhizal dependency of plant species. The importance of mycorrhiza-dependent plants and dependence on plants was processed. However, studies related to the exploration of such potential AMF's effects on plant growth–promoting nutrient uptake properties under field conditions are insufficient and scarce. Mycorrhiza has a great importance for sustainable agriculture, which enhances the growth of plant species and nutrient uptake especially P, NH4, Cu, and Zn uptake. The effect of mycorrhiza on soil fertility and phosphorus element intake. In addition, how the mycorrhiza is mitigated the stress factor effects on plant growth was extensively searched. The response of AMF inoculation depends on soil, plant species, inoculums, the method of inoculation, and other ecological factors. So, the investigation on the mycorrhiza species and plant species interaction, indigenous mycorrhiza isolation, identification, and characterization for each plant species growth is vitally important for sustainable agriculture.
The Anthropocene, Wait, What? A Basque’s Coastal Experience Helps to Figure It Out

At the very end of the twentieth century I was working on my PhD project that included getting (knee) deep into the mud of the Bilbao Estuary (Northern Spain) to understand the environmental evolution of this system dramatically altered by anthropogenic activities. Almost concomitantly, a new term to describe the period during which humans have become major drivers of change was coined: “Anthropocene.” This chapter briefly narrates my experience as PhD student and how it led me to adopt this term to identify sediments reflecting predominantly human activities and why (in my opinion) this term is relevant.
Compatibilizing Immiscible Polymer Blends with Sparsely Grafted Nanoparticles

The use of nanoparticles (NPs) to compatibilize immiscible polymer blends remains an ongoing challenge requiring a high level of control over the NP dispersion and localization. Here, we show that ...
Arsenic Doping of Polycrystalline CdSeTe Devices for Microsecond Life-times with High Carrier Concentrations

We report seminal advances in fabrication and understanding of group V (As) doped thin-film polycrystalline CdTe-based solar cells. The devices are fabricated using a novel approach, by sublimating layers of CdSeTe and CdSeTe:As. This new method allowed us to achieve minority carrier lifetime of over 1 µs, carrier concentration of more than 5×l015cc−1 and external radiative efficiency of over 2 % in a device configuration. We find an increase in open-circuit voltage when comparing As-doped, Cu-doped and undoped devices. The choice of CdSeTe instead of a CdTe-only absorber has been explained using first-principle density functional theory model. A SCAPS device model is used to analyze the potential causes for lower open-circuit voltage.
Technologies of Speculation: The Limits of Knowledge in a Data-Driven Society: by Sun-Ha Hong, New York, NY, New York University Press, 2020, 294 pp., £74.00 (hardcover), ISBN 978-1-479-86023-4 / £23.99 (paperback), ISBN 978-1-479-88306-6

In The Order of Things (1966), Michel Foucault builds an opening meditation on Diego Velazquez’s 17th century painting Las Meninas into a sweeping exploration of the changing relationship between t...
Evolution of a costly immunity to cestode parasites is a pyrrhic victory

Abstract Parasites impose fitness costs on their hosts. Biologists therefore tend to assume that natural selection favors infection-resistant hosts. Yet, when the immune response itself is costly, theory suggests selection may instead favor loss of resistance. Immune costs are rarely documented in nature, and there are few examples of adaptive loss of resistance. Here, we show that when marine threespine stickleback colonized freshwater lakes they gained resistance to the freshwater-associated tapeworm, Schistocephalus solidus. Extensive peritoneal fibrosis and inflammation contribute to suppression of cestode growth and viability, but also impose a substantial cost of reduced fecundity. Combining genetic mapping and population genomics, we find that the immune differences between tolerant and resistant populations arise from opposing selection in both populations acting, respectively, to reduce and increase resistance consistent with divergent optimization. One Sentence Summary Recently-evolved freshwater populations of stickleback frequently evolve increased resistance to tapeworms, involving extensive fibrosis that suppresses parasite growth; because this fibrosis greatly reduces fish fecundity, in some freshwater populations selection has favored an infection-tolerant strategy with fibrosis suppression.
Delivering Brown-Field Projects in the Petrochemical Industry: Challenges and Recommended Solutions

This article discusses the challenges faced in petrochemical industry during planning and execution of brown-field projects. Although the list of the challenges is not exhaustive, it covers the frequently encountered challenges. Along with the challenges, their solutions have been recommended based upon personal experience. This article can serve as practical guide for those responsible for management of brown-field projects in petrochemical, fertilizer, oil and gas, or other similar industries.
Effectiveness of one-dose versus two-dose varicella vaccine in children in Qingdao, China: a matched case-control study

To evaluate whether two-dose of varicella vaccine would provide a better protection to children from varicella than one-dose, we conducted a 1:3 matched case-control study in children in Qingdao, C...
Stray voltage? [Essay]

When you first think of the meaning of the word stray , you imagine something that has moved off of the intended path and is going afield. Perhaps this is somewhat like a person who starts to do one project and moves onto something new before finishing the original task.
COEFFICIENT OF FRICTION IN JOINTS OF VARIOUS STEELS

THE COEFFICIENT OF FRICTION IN BOLTED JOINTS MADE OF VARIOUS GRADES OF STEELS AND OF VARIABLE NUMBER OF FAYING SURFACES WAS STUDIED AND VALUES ARE PRESENTED. A TEST SUITABLE FOR STANDARDIZATION IS PROPOSED FOR SLIP TESTS. /ASCE/
3 – HYDRODYNAMICS OF SMALL ICE PARTICLES

This chapter discusses the hydrodynamics of small ice particles. Ice particles always fall relative to the vertical air current. Because air is a viscous medium, the motion of ice crystals in it will produce complicated flow fields around the crystals. These flow fields, in turn, influence the way the ice crystals fall. When ice crystals are small, they fall in a steady manner. However, as ice crystals grow larger, their fall pattern may become unsteady. Eddy shedding may start to occur in the downstream region. Eventually, they may fall in a fairly complicated fashion. This chapter shows that the unsteady flow fields around three types of falling ice crystals can be determined by numerically solving the time-dependent Navier–Stokes equations. To get this result, non-uniform Cartesian grids were used because of the complexity of the crystal geometry, which always results in three-dimensional flow fields. Comparisons of these numerical results with experimental data show good quantitative agreement between the two, indicating that this technique is capable of realistically simulating the flow fields around falling ice crystals. These results represent only the first attempt to simulate the flow fields around falling ice crystals and hence are far from perfect.
Improved survival of patients with end-stage heart failure listed for heart transplantation: analysis of organ procurement and transplantation network/U.S. United Network of Organ Sharing data, 1990 to 2005.

Objectives We sought to investigate the actual survival of patients with end-stage heart failure listed for heart transplantation (HT) in the U.S. Background The United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS) reported that the mortality rates on the U.S. HT waiting list have been gradually declining. This suggests that the survival of these patients may have improved. Methods The survival censored on the day of HT or removal from the waiting list was calculated for 18,004 UNOS status 1 and 30,978 status 2 candidates listed in eras I (1990 to 1994), II (1995 to 1999), and III (2000 to 2005) in the U.S. The Cox proportional model was employed for multivariable analysis. Results The 1-year survival on the HT waiting list improved from 49.5% to 69.0% for status 1 and from 81.8% to 89.4% for status 2 candidates between eras I and III. The predictors of death within 2 months from listing of status 1 candidates included UNOS status 1A, mechanical ventilation, inotropic and intra-aortic balloon pump support, pulmonary capillary wedge pressure >20 mm Hg and serum creatinine >1.5 mg/dl, failed HT, valvular cardiomyopathy, age >60 years, Caucasian ethnicity, and weight ≤70 kg, as well as the lack of intracardiac cardioverter-defibrillator on the day of listing. Conclusions Survival of HT candidates on the waiting list has significantly improved. Survival of status 1 candidates continues to depend on urgent HT. Predictors of 2-month mortality may help identify status 1 candidates who warrant the highest priority for HT and/or mechanical circulatory support. The 1-year survival of status 2 candidates approaches outcomes of HT, thus raising the question of whether early listing of some of these patients is justified.
Cheap or Flexible Sensor Coverage

We consider dual classes of geometric coverage problems, in which disks, corresponding to coverage regions of sensors, are used to cover a region or set of points in the plane. The first class of problems involve assigning radii to already-positioned sensors (being cheap ). The second class of problems are motivated by the fact that the sensors may, because of practical difficulties, be positioned with only approximate accuracy (being flexible ). This changes the character of some coverage problems that solve for optimal disk positions or disk sizes, ordinarily assuming the disks can be placed precisely in their chosen positions, and motivates new problems. Given a set of disk sensor locations, we show for most settings how to assign either (near-)optimal radius values or allowable amounts of placement error. Our primary results are 1) in the 1-d setting we give a faster dynamic programming algorithm for the (linear) sensor radius problem; and 2) we find a max-min fair set of radii for the 2-d continuous problems in polynomial time. We also give results for other settings, including fast approximation algorithms for the 1-d continuous case.
Wavelet shrinkage based covariance matrix estimation from process measurements

Publisher Summary Measurements of process variables are subject to both measurement errors and process variability. Such errors may be random or biased. Thus, before the measurements can be used, the errors should be removed and the corrupted measurements corrected. This is usually done through data reconciliation and rectification. Data reconciliation is the procedure of optimally adjusting measured data so that the adjusted values satisfy the conservation laws and other process constraints and is often implemented by minimizing a quadratic form of the difference between the measurements and the estimates subject to the process constraints, which are generally nonlinear. Most of the reported data reconciliation techniques assume that the measurement errors are Gaussian distributed, and the covariance matrix Q is known. However, in practical situations, Q is unknown or known at most approximately. The chapter presents a method based on wavelet threshold shrinkage for estimating Q from the process measurements. An indirect method is discussed for estimating the covariance matrix of the measurement errors from the covariance matrix of the constraint residuals under the assumption that the covariance matrix Q is diagonal or diagonally dominant.
Replication of Sendai Virus II. Steps in Virus Assembly

Abstract Chick embryo fibroblast cultures infected with Sendai virus were incubated with 3H-uridine in the presence of actinomycin D beginning at 18 hr after infection. The 35 and 18S virus-specific ribonucleic acid (RNA) components were found in a ribonuclease-sensitive form in the cell and appeared to be associated with polyribosomes. Newly synthesized 57S viral RNA was rapidly coated with protein to form intracellular viral nucleocapsid, and no 57S RNA was found “free” (ribonucleasesensitive) in the 2,000 × g supernatant fraction of disrupted cells. The nucleocapsid from detergent-disrupted Sendai virus and that from disrupted cells were indistinguishable in ultrastructure and buoyant density, and neither was found to be infectious or have hemagglutinating activity. Kinetic studies of nucleocapsid and virus formation indicated a relative block in conversion of viral nucleocapsid to complete enveloped virus in these cells, resulting in accumulation of large amounts of nucleocapsid in the cell cytoplasm.
A workstation network for cardiac electrophysiology

A system based on a network of engineering workstations has been developed for data acquisition and analysis in multichannel cardiac mapping. The system consists of a microcomputer-controlled data-acquisition front end, the network of workstations, and the necessary software for display and analysis of cardiac activations. The system has been designed for ease of use in experimental and clinical studies by investigators with little computer expertise. The expandability of the system allows the accommodation of more users without major increases in cost and complexity. The network consists of monochrome, color, and high-performance graphics workstations at several campus locations. The compatibility of nodes allows the efficient and convenient sharing of software and data among groups; all of the stations have the ability to run the suite of data analysis programs. This network has proved to be extremely useful in support of research efforts, offering extensive shared file storage and software access. Each user has dedicated processing power and bit-mapped graphics capability, allowing data analysis and display program development, as well as document preparation, with little impact on others. >
The first non-state use of a chemical weapon in warfare: the Tamil Tigers' assault on East Kiran

This article presents research conducted by the author in Sri Lanka to verify the first non-state use of a chemical weapon in warfare. This 1990 incident involved a primitive chemical attack perpetrated by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (the LTTE or Tamil Tigers) on a Sri Lankan Armed Forces (SLAF) encampment in East Kiran, in the Batticaloa district of Sri Lanka. The article first describes the incident itself, before providing a brief description of the LTTE, its background, and the influence of its leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran. The article then analyzes the attack and places it within the context of theories about potential terrorist and insurgent use of unconventional weapons, such as chemical warfare agents. The research reported here is of interest not only because of the unique, opportunistic dimension of the attack, but also because its conclusions challenge the conventional wisdom about likely terrorist and insurgent use of these unconventional weapons and sheds new light on their interes...
Progress in Scale-Up of RE-123 Coated Conductors With $I_{c}$ of 300 A/cm by IBAD/PLD Process

By an IBAD/PLD method, a 500 m-length high-performance GdBa2Cu3Ox (GdBCO) coated conductor with BaZrO3 (BZO) was fabricated. End-to-end Ic of the 503.5 m tape was 349.6 A/cm at 77 K, corresponding Ic times L value of 176,023 Am. New approaches to decrease the thickness of IBAD buffer layers were developed by combination of IBAD-MgO(111) and IBAD-Gd2Zr2O7 (GZO). The maximum Jc of the GdBCO on the buffer layer was 550 A/cm. We also started to investigate IBAD-MgO(OOl) by using a large IBAD system with a 110 cm times 15 cm ion source. A 50 m-length IBAD-MgO tape with DeltaPhi of 13deg was fabricated at a 100 m/h-1 pass. Insulated REBCO wires with Cu or Ni-Cr lamination were developed using 5 mm-wide conductors sliced from 10 mm-wide IBAD/PLD tapes. Practical long insulated wires were supplied for several prototypes of motors, transformers and fault current limiters in fiscal 2007.
Regional Variations in Flexibilities Limit Continuum Rod Description of Long Coiled Coils

Continuum rod description of coiled coils yielded a persistence length that range between 150–300 nm (Hvidt, S. et al., 1982. Biochem. 21, 4064, Adamovic, I. Et al. 2008. Biophys. J. 94, 3779). However, recent studies show that long coiled coils such as the stalk of a Rad50 complex exhibit regional variations in flexibilities (van Noort, J. et al., 2003. PNAS, 100, 7581). Apart from a length dependence due to non-bonded interactions (Lakkaraju, S. et al., 2008. BioPhys J. 94, 2404-Pos) our investigations reveal that stiffness of coiled coils is also strongly sequence dependent, hence limiting the region within which a coiled coil maybe described as a continuum rod. Bending stiffness (Kb) of a 161 A long coiled coil with a leucine zipper periodicity calculated using normal mode analysis, forced bending dynamics and thermal fluctuation analysis (TFA) with locally built triad systems is about 1.86X10−27 Nm2. Replacing the apolar residues at the a and d positions of the heptad repeat that are involved in the knob-into hole packing, with a hydrophilic (Glu and Lys) or polar charged residues (Ser), decreased Kb to about 0.864X10−27 Nm2. Importantly, TFA of tropomyosin (PDB: 1C1G) mapped regions of varied flexibilities whose Kb varied between 0.33X10−27 Nm2 (Ala 211 to Lys 221) to about 1.83X10−27 Nm2 (Ser 36 to Leu 46), which confirms that stiffness of the structure decreases towards the C-terminus. Four of the seven actin binding sites (Brown, J.H. et al., 1986. Adv. Prot. Chem. 71, 121) lie within the regions of increased flexibility (Kb ∼ (0.75–1.36)X10−27 Nm2), which possibly has a mechanical role during the on state of muscle contraction.
A comparative illustration of AI planning-based web services composition

As the number of available web services proliferates, finding right web services to fulfill a given goal becomes an important task. In particular, a problem of combining multiple web services to satisfy a single task, known as web services composition problem, has received much attention recently, and various solutions have been proposed. Among many proposed solutions, however, it is not clear to use which one in what scenarios. In this paper, to this end, we present: (1) a taxonomy and decision guideline of available solution spaces; (2) an overview of syntactic and semantic matching approaches, and (3) a comparative illustration of three representative solutions from the perspective of e-service workflows.
Discriminant analysis and linear programming

This paper discusses the linear programming approach to the discriminant analysis problem. Both the ‘separable’ and ‘non‐separable’ cases are considered. In the non‐separable case we develop a bicriteria linear programming model and based on this bicriteria linear program a linear discriminant function is determined.
Failure-atomic msync(): a simple and efficient mechanism for preserving the integrity of durable data

Preserving the integrity of application data across updates is difficult if power outages and system crashes may occur during updates. Existing approaches such as relational databases and transactional key-value stores restrict programming flexibility by mandating narrow data access interfaces. We have designed, implemented, and evaluated an approach that strengthens the semantics of a standard operating system primitive while maintaining conceptual simplicity and supporting highly flexible programming: Failureatomic msync() commits changes to a memory-mapped file atomically, even in the presence of failures. Our Linux implementation of failure-atomic msync() has preserved application data integrity across hundreds of whole-machine power interruptions and exhibits good microbenchmark performance on both spinning disks and solid-state storage. Failure-atomic msync() supports higher layers of fully general programming abstraction, e.g., a persistent heap that easily slips beneath the C++ Standard Template Library. An STL built atop failure-atomic msync() outperforms several local key-value stores that support transactional updates. We integrated failure-atomic msync() into the Kyoto Tycoon key-value server by modifying exactly one line of code; our modified server reduces response times by 26--43% compared to Tycoon's existing transaction support while providing the same data integrity guarantees. Compared to a Tycoon server setup that makes almost no I/O (and therefore provides no support for data durability and integrity over failures), failure-atomic msync() incurs a three-fold response time increase on a fast Flash-based SSD---an acceptable cost of data reliability for many.
Carcinoma Matrix Controls Resistance to Cisplatin through Talin Regulation of NF-kB

Extracellular matrix factors within the tumor microenvironment that control resistance to chemotherapeutics are poorly understood. This study focused on understanding matrix adhesion pathways that control the oral carcinoma response to cisplatin. Our studies revealed that adhesion of HN12 and JHU012 oral carcinomas to carcinoma matrix supported tumor cell proliferation in response to treatment with cisplatin. Proliferation in response to 30 µM cisplatin was not observed in HN12 cells adherent to other purified extracellular matrices such as Matrigel, collagen I, fibronectin or laminin I. Integrin β1 was important for adhesion to carcinoma matrix to trigger proliferation after treatment with cisplatin. Disruption of talin expression in HN12 cells adherent to carcinoma matrix increased cisplatin induced proliferation. Pharmacological inhibitors were used to determine signaling events required for talin deficiency to regulate cisplatin induced proliferation. Pharmacological inhibition of NF-kB reduced proliferation of talin-deficient HN12 cells treated with 30 µM cisplatin. Nuclear NF-kB activity was assayed in HN12 cells using a luciferase reporter of NF-kB transcriptional activity. Nuclear NF-kB activity was similar in HN12 cells adherent to carcinoma matrix and collagen I when treated with vehicle DMSO. Following treatment with 30 µM cisplatin, NF-kB activity is maintained in cells adherent to carcinoma matrix whereas NF-kB activity is reduced in collagen I adherent cells. Expression of talin was sufficient to trigger proliferation of HN12 cells adherent to collagen I following treatment with 1 and 30 µM cisplatin. Talin overexpression was sufficient to trigger NF-kB activity following treatment with cisplatin in carcinoma matrix adherent HN12 cells in a process disrupted by FAK siRNA. Thus, adhesions within the carcinoma matrix create a matrix environment in which exposure to cisplatin induces proliferation through the function of integrin β1, talin and FAK pathways that regulate NF-kB nuclear activity.
o-Ps annihilation parameters in Pt, 5% Pt-on-charcoal, Pd and 5% Pd-on-charcoal powders

o-Ps intensities and lifetimes show very good correlation to surfae area and cavity size, respectively, of surface-active materials. τ 3 and I 3 values for Pt, 5% Pt-on-charcoal, Pd and 5% Pd-on-charcoal powders are presented. Surface area and cavity size are discussed and interpreted in terms of previously determined o-Ps lifetimes and intensities in abs. EtOH/pentene isomer/Pt or Pd mixtures
Methodology to perform a non-conventional evaluation of cooling, heating, and power systems

AbstractCooling, heating, and power (CHP) is a distributed generation technology that can provide electricity and heat while improving the overall thermal energy efficiency of a building. The evaluation and comparison of this technology versus conventional technologies cannot be limited to economical considerations only. Therefore, a non-conventional evaluation, based on non-economical aspects, is necessary to show the additional benefits that can be obtained from the CHP technology. A non-conventional evaluation includes aspects such as: environmental quality, energy-efficient buildings, power reliability, power quality, fuel source flexibility, etc. Some benefits of these non-conventional evaluations can be factored into an economic evaluation but others give intangible potential to the technology. The current paper presents a methodology to evaluate CHP systems based on two non-conventional aspects: energy-efficient buildings and emission of pollutants. Using the methodology described in the current pa...
Pomegranate Juice, Total Pomegranate Ellagitannins, and Punicalagin Suppress Inflammatory Cell Signaling in Colon Cancer Cells

Phytochemicals from fruits such as the pomegranate (Punica granatum L) may inhibit cancer cell proliferation and apoptosis through the modulation of cellular transcription factors and signaling proteins. In previous studies, pomegranate juice (PJ) and its ellagitannins inhibited proliferation and induced apoptosis in HT-29 colon cancer cells. The present study examined the effects of PJ on inflammatory cell signaling proteins in the HT-29 human colon cancer cell line. At a concentration of 50 mg/L PJ significantly suppressed TNFalpha-induced COX-2 protein expression by 79% (SE = 0.042), total pomegranate tannin extract (TPT) 55% (SE = 0.049), and punicalagin 48% (SE = 0.022). Additionally, PJ reduced phosphorylation of the p65 subunit and binding to the NFkappaB response element 6.4-fold. TPT suppressed NFkappaB binding 10-fold, punicalagin 3.6-fold, whereas ellagic acid (EA) (another pomegranate polyphenol) was ineffective. PJ also abolished TNFalpha-induced AKT activation, needed for NFkappaB activity. Therefore, the polyphenolic phytochemicals in the pomegranate can play an important role in the modulation of inflammatory cell signaling in colon cancer cells.
Analysis of FDA's Risk Assessment Methodology at Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Sites

This research describes how the FDA has incorporated risk analysis methodology into its inspection of pharmaceutical manufacturers in the time period between 2004-2008. It analyzes the violations specified in FDA warning letters that are issued after site inspections of pharmaceutical facilities. The outcome of this analysis is to evaluate the FDA’s performance to determine whether it has improved the overall inspection process and increased its quality assurance. U.S.A. FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION
The College Student-Athlete: Psychological Considerations and Interventions

This article reviews the literature dealing with problems brought by student-athletes to college counseling and mental health centers. Among the issues discussed are fear of success; identity conflict; social isolation; poor athletic performance; academic problems; and career or vocational concerns. In addition, the authors examine the paradox that although athletes experience as much or more psychological distress as nonathletes, research indicates that athletes use professional services less often than nonathletes. Finally, the authors review approaches to psychological intervention, including short-term psychotherapy, very brief interventions, cognitive behavioral therapy, and career/vocational counseling, and discuss special considerations for conducting therapy with athletes.