cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A critical assessment of energy accident studies

A comparison of two studies conducted ten years apart on energy accidents provides important insights into methodological issues and policy implications. Recommendations for further improvements in energy accident studies are developed including accounting for differences between average and incremental accident damages, testing for appropriate levels of aggregation of accidents, making references and databases publicly available, more precisely defining and reporting different types of economic damages, accounting for involuntary and voluntary risks, reporting normalized damages, raising broader public policy and planning implications and updating existing accident databases.
Effects of different vaccine combinations against Mycoplasma gallisepticum on the internal egg and eggshell characteristics of commercial layer chickens

Abstract Live F-strain Mycoplasma gallisepticum (FMG) vaccines are presently being used to help control field-strain MG outbreaks. However, they may exert some adverse effects on egg production. Live strains of MG of lesser virulence as well as killed vaccines have little or no effect on egg production, but afford lower levels of protection. This has led to research investigating their use in combination with a subsequent overlay vaccination of FMG given later in the production cycle. In the present study, 2 trials were conducted to investigate the effects of prelay vaccinations of live and killed MG vaccines or their combination, in conjunction with an FMG vaccine overlay after peak production, on the egg characteristics of commercial layers. The following vaccination treatments were administered at 10 wk of age (woa): 1) unvaccinated (Control), 2) MG–Bacterin (MGBac) vaccine, 3) ts-11 strain MG (ts11MG) vaccine, and 4) MGBac and ts11MG combination (MGBac + ts11MG). At 45 woa, half of the birds were overlaid with an FMG vaccine. In each trial, internal egg and eggshell parameters including egg weight (EW), Haugh unit score (HU), eggshell breaking strength (EBS), percentage yolk weight (PYW), percentage albumen weight (PAW), percentage eggshell weight (PSW), eggshell weight per unit surface area (SWUSA), percentage yolk moisture (PYM), and percent total lipids (PYL) were determined at various time periods between 21 and 52 woa. At 28 woa, SWUSA was lower in the ts11MG and MGBac + ts11MG groups compared to the Control group. Conversely, at 43 woa, SWUSA was higher in the ts11MG than in the MGBac group. Between 23 and 43 woa, PYL was higher in the MGBac and ts11MG groups in comparison to the Control group. In conclusion, vaccination with MGBac alone or in combination with ts11MG at 10 woa with or without an FMG vaccine overlay at 45 woa does not adversely affect the internal egg or eggshell quality of commercial layers throughout lay.
Consolidation and long-term retention of an implanted behavioral memory

Hypothesized circuitry enabling information storage can be tested by attempting to implant memory directly in the brain in the absence of normal experience. Previously, we found that tone paired with activation of the cholinergic nucleus basalis (NB) does induce behavioral memory that shares cardinal features with natural memory; it is associative, highly specific, rapidly formed, consolidates and shows intermediate retention. Here we determine if implanted memory also exhibits long-term consolidation and retention. Adult male rats were first tested for behavioral responses (disruption of ongoing respiration) to tones (1-15 kHz), yielding pre-training behavioral frequency generalization gradients. They next received 3 days of training with a conditioned stimulus (CS) tone (8.0 kHz, 70 dB, 2s) either paired (n=7) or unpaired (n=6) with moderate electrical stimulation of the nucleus basalis (∼ 65 μA, 100 Hz, 0.2s, co-terminating with CS offset). Testing for long-term retention was performed by obtaining post-training behavioral frequency generalization gradients 24h and 2 weeks after training. At 24h post-training, the Paired group exhibited specific associative behavioral memory, manifested by larger responses to the CS frequency band than the Unpaired group. This memory was retained 2 weeks post-training. Moreover, 2 weeks later, the specificity and magnitude of memory had become greater, indicating that the implanted memory had undergone consolidation. Overall, the results demonstrate the validity of NB-implanted memory for understanding natural memory and that activation of the cholinergic nucleus basalis is sufficient to form natural associative memory.
A Study of Ecommerce Risk Perceptions among B2C Consumers: A Two Country Study

The ecommerce environment is fairly new, and several risks associated with it are novel to consumers. Consequently, e-consumers may not have developed an appropriate mental picture (i.e., a schema or a perceptual map) of these risks. For example, identity theft, a serious risk that became prominent after ecommerce has become popular, is still not well understood by most consumers. Thus, it is not clear how consumers participating in ecommerce perceive the risks. Existing ecommerce studies do not focus on risk per se ; instead, they use very general constructs and measures of risk derived from general psychology and management studies in contexts other than ecommerce. Implicit in these studies is the assumption that the dimensions of perceived risk in ecommerce context are well understood. In this study, we use the psychometric paradigm to investigate how consumers organize novel online risks in memory. Data collected from consumers in two countries and analyzed using Multidimensional Scaling techniques shows significant differences in how consumers organize risks in their memory. This study is still in progress and preliminary analysis is presented.
Energy-efficient multi-key security scheme for wireless sensor network

This paper proposes multi-key encryption scheme and engine architecture (MKE) that increases security and optimizes energy efficiency of sensor networks, while minimizing modifications to existing implementations. The scheme improves security of AES against correlation power analysis (CPA) attack by employing MKE engine, breaking the correlation between power consumption and the used key. Other schemes utilize complex hardware designs, for example by using the inhomogeneous s-boxes that reduce energy efficiency of the engine. In contrast, the proposed hardware engine uses a randomly sequence of few keys to encode subsequent blocks of a messages. Additionally, the scheme improves security of AES against brute-force attacks for a given key size by utilizing multiple keys to encrypt subsequent blocks of a message. In contrast, a typical security upgrade would require a larger key size and encryption engine, which would increase cost and energy consumption of the devices. Both analytical and simulation results are presented in this paper.
A minimally invasive anterior skull base approach for evacuation of a basal ganglia hemorrhage

We describe the technical nuances of a minimally invasive anterior skull base approach for microsurgical evacuation of a large basal ganglia hematoma through an endoport. Patients who suffer from large spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhages (ICH) of the basal ganglia have a very poor prognosis. However, the benefit of surgery for the management of ICH is controversial. The development of endoport technology has allowed for minimally invasive access to subcortical lesions, and may offer unique advantages over conventional surgical techniques due to less disruption of the overlying cortex and white matter fiber tracts. A 77-year-old man presented with a hypertensive ICH of the right putamen, measuring 9 cm in maximal diameter and 168 cm(3) in volume. We planned an endoport trajectory through the long axis of the hematoma using frameless stereotactic neuronavigation. In order to access the optimal cortical entry point at the lateral aspect of the basal frontal lobe, a miniature modified orbitozygomatic skull base craniotomy was performed through an incision along the superior border of the right eyebrow. Using the BrainPath endoport system (NICO, Indianapolis, IN, USA), the putaminal hematoma was successfully evacuated, resulting in an 87% postoperative reduction in ICH volume. Thus, we show that, in appropriately selected cases, endoport-assisted microsurgery is safe and effective for the evacuation of large ICH. Furthermore, minimally invasive anterior skull base approaches can be employed to expand the therapeutic potential of endoport-assisted approaches to include subcortical lesions, such as hematomas of the basal ganglia.
Effective evacuation route planning algorithms by updating earliest arrival time of multiple paths

More and more natural disasters are happening around the globe and in such urgent situations, effective evacuation planning is one of the most critical tools for human safety. Evacuation planning algorithms are different from traditional network routing algorithms in the sense that the objective is to minimize the time when the last evacuee arrives at the destination. Among the existing evacuation planning algorithms, CCRP++ finds good solutions but its computation time is not scalable in terms of the number of the evacuees. In addition, in order to improve the computation time from the base algorithm CCRP, CCRP++ makes non-global up-date of earliest arrival time of each source node which results in unnecessarily large evacuation time.In this paper we investigated the two factors (evacuation time and computation time) of CCRP++ and proposed three algorithms, DMP, SMP, and EET, that significantly improve both factors. All four algorithms take the transportation network as the input and output the complete evacuation scenarios in which individualized evacuation plan for each evacuee is determined. Our first algorithm DMP significantly reduces the number of the shortest path findings during the evacuation iteration which is the main reason of large computation time of CCRP++. In addition, by updating the earliest arrival time of each found path efficiently, the evacuation time of DMP output is on average reduced compared to that of CCRP++ output. Our second algorithm SMP further reduces the computation time by first finding the limited number of shortest paths before the evacuation iteration while maintaining the reduced evacuation time. Our third algorithm EET focuses on reducing the evacuation time of SMP output even in the worst-case scenarios by efficiently and effectively estimating the evacuation time and by using it to determine the source node to be evacuated in each round. The computation results show that EET successfully reduces the evacuation time, especially when DMP/SMP outputs were worse than CCRP++. Due to its algorithmic complication, EET has slightly increased computation time compared to SMP, but still remains comparable to DMP.
Accounting for sampling variability, injury under-reporting, and sensor error in concussion injury risk curves

There has been recent dramatic increase in the use of sensors affixed to the heads or helmets of athletes to measure the biomechanics of head impacts that lead to concussion. The relationship between injury and linear or rotational head acceleration measured by such sensors can be quantified with an injury risk curve. The utility of the injury risk curve relies on the accuracy of both the clinical diagnosis and the biomechanical measure. The focus of our analysis was to demonstrate the influence of three sources of error on the shape and interpretation of concussion injury risk curves: sampling variability associated with a rare event, concussion under-reporting, and sensor measurement error. We utilized Bayesian statistical methods to generate synthetic data from previously published concussion injury risk curves developed using data from helmet-based sensors on collegiate football players and assessed the effect of the three sources of error on the risk relationship. Accounting for sampling variability adds uncertainty or width to the injury risk curve. Assuming a variety of rates of unreported concussions in the non-concussed group, we found that accounting for under-reporting lowers the rotational acceleration required for a given concussion risk. Lastly, after accounting for sensor error, we find strengthened relationships between rotational acceleration and injury risk, further lowering the magnitude of rotational acceleration needed for a given risk of concussion. As more accurate sensors are designed and more sensitive and specific clinical diagnostic tools are introduced, our analysis provides guidance for the future development of comprehensive concussion risk curves.
Practical stabilization through real-time optimal control

Infinite-horizon, nonlinear, optimal, feedback control is one of the fundamental problems in control theory. In this paper we propose a solution for this problem based on recent progress in real-time optimal control. The basic idea is to perform feedback implementations through a domain transformation technique and a Radau based pseudospectral method. Two algorithms are considered: free sampling frequency and fixed sampling frequency. For both algorithms, a theoretical analysis for the stability of the closed-loop system is provided. Numerical simulations with random initial conditions demonstrate the techniques for a flexible robot arm and a benchmark inverted pendulum problem.
A new reversible and impossible object.

A new reversible and impossible object that may be perceived as five distinct patterns is described.
VERVET MONKEY DISEASE: EXPERIMENTAL INFECTION OF MONKEYS WITH THE CAUSATIVE AGENT, AND ANTIBODY STUDIES IN WILD-CAUGHT MONKEYS,

SUMMARY The experimental infection of rhesus and vervet monkeys with the causative agent of a fatal disease in German and Yugoslav laboratory workers is described. All the monkeys developed a uniformly fatal illness irrespective of the dose or route of inoculation. The agent was detected in the monkeys' blood, tissues, saliva and urine. No complement-fixing antibodies to the agent were detected in any of the 201 mostly vervet monkey sera collected in Uganda in areas from which the incriminated batches came, nor in the serum of one langur monkey which had been in contact with these batches at London. The hazards of handling recently captured wild primates and their tissues are pointed out. The isolation of the causative organism of a severe and often fatal human disease that followed the handling of blood and tissues of vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) has been reported (Smith, Simpson, Bowen & Zlotnik, 1967; Seigert, Shu, Slenczka, Peters & MUller, 1967). About 30 cases of disease occurred in laboratory workers in Germany and Yugoslavia during August and early September 1967. All the laboratories in question had received monkeys within a few days from the same source in Uganda, and the majority of the batches had been transhipped and held for a period at Heathrow Airport, London, where they had had cOntact with a variety of birds and other animals (Saenz, 1967) including two langur monkeys from Ceylon. The growth of the causative agent in tissue culture has been described (Zlotnik & Simpson, 1968; Zlotnik, Simpson, Bright, Bowen & BatterHatton, 1968) and also detailed accounts of the pathological findings in infected guinea-pigs and monkeys (Simpson, Zlotnik & Rutter, 1968). This paper describes experimental infection of monkeys with various dosages of the infective agent, and serological studies on monkeys caught in the areas of Uganda from which the incriminated batches came.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Working Case Definition

The chronic Epstein-Barr virus syndrome is a poorly defined symptom complex characterized primarily by chronic or recurrent debilitating fatigue and various combinations of other symptoms, including sore throat, lymph node pain and tenderness, headache, myalgia, and arthralgias. Although the syndrome has received recent attention, and has been diagnosed in many patients, the chronic Epstein-Barr virus syndrome has not been defined consistently. Despite the name of the syndrome, both the diagnostic value of Epstein-Barr virus serologic tests and the proposed causal relationship between Epstein-Barr virus infection and patients who have been diagnosed with the chronic Epstein-Barr virus syndrome remain doubtful. We propose a new name for the chronic Epstein-Barr virus syndrome--the chronic fatigue syndrome--that more accurately describes this symptom complex as a syndrome of unknown cause characterized primarily by chronic fatigue. We also present a working definition for the chronic fatigue syndrome designed to improve the comparability and reproducibility of clinical research and epidemiologic studies, and to provide a rational basis for evaluating patients who have chronic fatigue of undetermined cause.
Designs, Parameters and Problems in the Associated Cooled Equipment of a High Purity Low Conductivity Water System Rated at 7,500 GPM and 25.5 Megawatts

This paper describes this water system and some of the construction parameters of the water cooling complex; it presents recommended solutions to many of the problems encountered in operation and maintenance. Particular attention is given to: The selection of strainers and filters; maintaining a high purity low oxygen content water system in the presence of a mixture of materials; the choice of proper insulating hoses and other fittings when voltages up to 600 volts dc are impressed across the hoses. Magnet design problems, and problems associated with a conductive deposit that forms on the inside surface of hoses subject to voltage gradients are also discussed.
ON DOMINANCE AND CONTEXT-DEPENDENCE IN DECISIONS INVOLVING MULTIPLE ATTRIBUTES

In decision-making involving multiple criteria or attributes, a decision maker first identifies all relevant evaluative attributes in making decisions. Then, a dominance principle is often invoked whenever applicable: whenever an option x is better than an option y in terms of some attribute and no worse than y in terms of any other attributes, x is judged to be better than y . If, however, this dominance principle is not applicable, then the decision maker determines the relative importance between the identified evaluative attributes, consults with contextual features of the options under consideration, and makes a decision. It is shown that the combination of these principles runs into problems in the presence of rationality properties, such as transitivity, and a weak continuity requirement on decisions. The paper gives examples from welfare economics, and theories of individual and group decisions.
Are yearly physical examinations in adolescents necessary

Background: Recommendations regarding the frequency of routine physical examinations for adolescents have varied from one examination every 2 to 3 years to yearly evaluations. Because none of these recommendations was based on studies regarding the usefulness of such examinations, it was pertinent to review the results of published studies. Methods: All series of routine school and preathletic examinations of adolescents published in the English literature from 1943 to 1995 were reviewed. Only reviews of examinations by physicians with or without supervised health professionals were included. Results: Findings included weight, blood pressure, visual acuity, innocent heart murmurs, scoliosis, referral for further testing, and serious abnormalities unknown before examination. A total of 20,047 examinations by 12 different groups of investigators was abstracted. Only 2 adolescents had major, previously unknown findings: 1 boy was blind in one eye and the other had mitral insufficiency. Elevated blood pressures were found in 0.1% to 1.6% of adolescents. Minor findings included acne, caries, myopia, and minor orthopedic problems, but they did not prevent participation in school or sports. Conclusions: Yearly physical examinations in adolescents are not cost-effective and have practically no value in finding important pathologic conditions. This conclusion would not apply to sexually active teenagers. The value of an examination for health education or detection of mental problems has never been tested in this population. For entrance to school and camps or for sports participation, the review of a questionnaire and screening examinations by allied health providers should be the method of choice unless future studies justify repeated yearly examination of adolescents.
Eradication of Ageism Requires Addressing the Enemy Within

Dr. Palmore’s (2001) Ageism Survey is a muchneeded contribution toward creating awareness about a form of prejudice and discrimination that has been largely ignored by our society. However, the survey omits measuring two components of ageism that have emerged from a series of recent findings. These studies have found that ageism can operate (a) implicitly, or without awareness, and (b) in the form of aging self-stereotypes, or older individuals’ beliefs about the elderly population. To achieve Dr. Palmore’s goal of establishing an “‘epidemiology of ageism’ as a first step toward its eradication,” it seems that these two components might warrant consideration.
Opportunities for Task‐Level Research within the Audit Process

This essay discusses selected areas within the audit process where audit research has contributed to our understanding of important audit issues and areas that are in need of further investigation. The focus of the discussion is at the task level. Areas cited for further research include the use of specialists, reliance on the internal audit function, related parties, analytical procedures, brainstorming, assessing business risks, materiality, and professional scepticism. Potential research questions are identified.
Backstories of Medical Writers and Writing

This chapter presents a treasury of stories about writers, both medical and nonmedical, and about the works they produced: the first medical writer, the first medical book printed, and what one writer considers the most-important-ever article in the New England Journal of Medicine. Here are tales of physicians and scientists, such as Joseph Goldberger and Barry Marshall, who engaged in self-experimentation, and wrote about what they found. Also, there are the stories of famously rejected writers, medical writers whose health problems may have influenced their work, medical writers who penned books on religious topics, and pseudonyms used by medical writers.
White historical activity theory: toward a critical understanding of white zones of proximal development

AbstractBest known for arguing that individual development is part of social and historical development Vygotsky’s entry into education may be captured by his concept of the ‘zone of proximal development’ (ZPD). ZPD has not yet been synthesized with a critical study of whiteness. When ZPD is used to explain racial disparities in the service of inclusion, it is usually connected with the lives of people of color. This leaves out a critical understanding of racially dominant experiences, or whiteness. This article argues that a progressive union between Vygotsky and the field of race studies generally, Whiteness Studies specifically, benefits educators insofar as the concept of ZPD is applied to the particular ideological development of white identity. Likewise, Whiteness Studies gains an explanatory framework to account for the cognitive development of the dominant racial group, in short, a learning theory of whiteness. A Whiteness Studies intervention within Vygotskian theory pushes the limits of developm...
Possible Worlds Deleuzian Ontology and the Project of Listening in Children’s Drawing

The author of this essay activates Bronwyn Davies’s conceptualization of listening as usual and listening emergently, along with Deleuze’s imaginary for ontology, as a means to enter into compositi...
Storage and Retrieval of Entomological Information as Applied to Braconidae

The evermore rapid increase in knowledge and publication has resulted in information-handling problems which are not easy to overcome. These difficulties, and development of means of solving them in entomological areas, are presently generating much interest. Establishment of the Special Committee on Retrieval of Scientific Information by the Entomological Society of America was a direct result of the need to centra1ize and retrieve information and to avoid duplication of effort. This committee, in cooperation with the Biological Sciences Communication Project of The George Washington University and with support from The National Science Foundation, is presently exploring the possibilities of placing the knowledge regarding insects into a single system involving storage in computer memory banks.
Medication reconciliation across the continuum of care: a meaningful use mandate.

In this department, the authors highlight hot topics in nursing outcomes, research, and evidence-based practice relevant to the nurse administrator. The goal is to discuss the practical implications for nurse leaders in diverse healthcare settings. Content includes evidence-based projects and decisi
Fiemu E. Nwariaku, MD

In honor of his grandfather, a prominent Collin County physician, Dr. Malcolm O. Perry has provided funds to establish a professorship in surgery at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. His gift, which was made to Southwestern Medical Foundation, will establish the Malcolm O. Perry, M.D. Professorship in Surgery. "I simply wanted to contribute to the education of the students and residents at the medical school while honoring my grandfather, who gave so much to everyone he knew," said Dr. Perry. This professorship will be used for the advancement of academic surgery.
26 CARDIOMYOPATHY RESULTS IN DYSREGULATION OF ENDOCARDIAL THROMBOMODULIN AND AN ALTERED PROTEIN C ACTIVATION PATHWAY.

Cardiomyopathy (CM) is associated with a significant risk for thrombosis and an increased risk for thromboembolic events. Early studies invoked blood stasis or flow disturbance as the principal underlying mechanisms. More recent evidence has linked CM with a hypercoagulable state, as demonstrated by elevated levels of thrombin-antithrombin complexes, prothrombin fragment F1+2, and fibrinopeptide A, all indices of thrombin activation. Thrombomodulin (TM), an integral membrane protein found on the endocardial endothelium (EE), is a potent thrombin inhibitor via activation of the protein C pathway. We hypothesized that the increased ventricular wall tension characteristic of CM would result in reduced TM protein expression on the surface of EE, which would, in turn, result in an impairment of local activated protein C (APC) activity, thereby increasing the risk for thrombosis. Using a rabbit pacing-induced CM model, we quantified TM protein expression on EE over time by digital immunohistochemical analysis (n = 4/time point), expressed as arbitrary units (AU)/mm of left ventricular (LV) perimeter. Baseline TM staining of LV endocardial segments was 1,669 ± 128 AU/mm. After 8 weeks of rapid pacing, TM protein expression on EE was markedly decreased (175 ± 41 AU/mm, p
Investigation and Analysis on One Unit Low Power Frequency Oscillation

By investigating one low frequency oscillation accident of unit and power grid caused by primary frequency modulation of No.2 unit in Sanshui Hengyi Power plant and taking one single machine infinite bus system as an example,this paper analyzes resonance mechanism of low frequency oscillation by using classic second order model of generator.It sets,tests and studies primary frequency modulation logic again and announces from the angle of resonance that when the unit involves in grid frequency modulation and generates microvariations,meanwhile the disturbance frequency is close to natural vibration frequency of the power system,it is probable to stimulate sustained and large amplitude oscillations.Aiming at this problem,it proposes related improvement measures.
Gender-Specific Differences for Risk of Disability and Death in Atrial Fibrillation-Related Stroke

In the latest American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology/Heart Rhythm Society atrial fibrillation (AF) guidelines, CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc replaced the CHADS 2 stroke risk assessment to determine prophylactic anticoagulation, reflecting female gender's association with stroke incidence in AF. However, little investigation has been pursued of potential risk factors associated with worsened stroke severity. In this study, we examined patients with AF with ischemic stroke patient characteristics associated with increased stroke severity. Using the Get With The Guidelines-Stroke database, we retrospectively identified 221 consecutive patients with AF diagnosed with acute ischemic stroke and performed in depth chart review, evaluating demographics, labs, and co-morbidities. We analyzed the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) at discharge as a surrogate for stroke severity, defining severe stroke as fatal (mRS of 6) or disabling (mRS 4 to 5), requiring max assistance with ambulation or activities of daily living. Female gender, advanced age, and decreased body surface area were associated with disabling or fatal stroke (68.3% of patients with mRS 4 to 6 vs 50% with mRS 0 to 3, 78.4 vs 71.1 year, and 1.83 vs 1.92, respectively). Using a backward elimination approach revealed a logistic regression model with statistically significant odds ratios (ORs) for female gender (OR 1.99) and age (OR 1.04), and borderline significant for a history of coronary artery disease (OR 1.89). In conclusion, female gender is associated in the AF population with a twofold risk of severe disabling or fatal ischemic stroke, a finding that persists after controlling for potential confounders. This finding highlights the potential benefit from appropriate anticoagulation use for stroke prophylaxis in the AF population.
Cheerleading Practice: Community Outreach for Advocacy Skill Development

This article describes a community service project completed by teacher education seniors focused on sharing the message of quality health and physical education with school parents. This project is used to develop professional advocacy skills.
A Giant Coronary Artery Aneurysm Treated With a New-Generation Drug-Eluting Stent

A 40-year-old man presented to our facility with progressive angina 1 month after an unsuccessful attempt at right coronary artery (RCA) revascularization following a non–ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction. Coronary angiography revealed a dominant RCA with a very large aneurysm in the mid-
Spatial and Temporal Patterning

When the available information is incomplete, the mechanisms proposed to explain the quality discriminations mediated by a sensory system generally involve the specific tuning or the selective sensitivity of the receptors themselves. That is, it is generally suggested that the receptors are themselves differentially responsive to different sub-ranges of the total range of stimuli to which that sensory system as a whole is responsive. These stimulus sub-ranges to which the receptors are particularly sensitive may be mutually exclusive, as suggested by the most stringent interpretation of the “Doctrine of Specific Nerve Fiber Energies.” However, as in color vision, they may overlap so completely that the receptors differ only relatively in their responsiveness to the different stimuli. In either case, the receptor signals how well a given stimulus matches the sub-range of stimuli to which it is most sensitive and a code for quality is thus generated.
Lagrangian data in a high-resolution numerical simulation of the North Atlantic : I. Comparison with in situ drifter data

Abstract A model/data comparison was performed between simulated drifters from a high-resolution numerical simulation of the North Atlantic and a data set from in situ surface drifters. The comparison makes use of pseudo-Eulerian statistics such as mean velocity and eddy kinetic energy, and Lagrangian statistics such as integral time scales. The space and time distribution of the two data sets differ in the sense that the in situ drifters were released inhomogeneously in space and time while the simulated drifters were homogeneously seeded at the same time over a regular 1° grid. Despite this difference, the total data distributions computed over the complete data sets show some similarities that are mostly related to the large-scale pattern of Ekman divergence/convergence. Comparisons of eddy kinetic energy and root mean square velocity indicate that the numerical model underestimates the eddy kinetic energy in the Gulf Stream extension and in the ocean interior. In addition, the model Lagrangian time scales are longer in the interior than the in situ time scales by approximately a factor of 2. It is suggested that this is primarily due to the lack of high-frequency winds in the model forcing, which causes an underestimation of the directly forced eddy variability. Regarding the mean flow, the comparison has been performed both qualitatively and quantitatively using James' statistical test. The results indicate that over most of the domain, the differences between model and in situ estimates are not significant. However, some areas of significant differences exist, close to high-energy regions, notably around the Gulf Stream path, which in the model lies slightly north of the observed path, although its strength and structure are well represented overall. Mean currents close to the buffer zones, primarily the Azores Current, also exhibit significant differences between model results and in situ estimates. Possibilities for model improvement are discussed in terms of forcings, buffer zone implementations, turbulence and mixed layer parameterizations, in light of our model/data comparison.
Observation of a parity-time-symmetry phase transition in a fiber cavity

We predict and experimentally demonstrate that the lasing threshold can be lowered by virtue of PT-symmetry, and for the first time observe PT-symmetry-breaking in a long fiber cavity despite the presence of random phase fluctuations.
What have we learned on aging from omics studies

Aging is a complex process. Transcriptomic studies of the last decade have identified genes and pathways that are regulated during aging in multiple species and organs. Yet, since a manifold of pathways are regulated and the amplitude of regulation is often small, reproducibility across studies is moderate and disentangling cause-consequence relationships has proven challenging. Here, we review a number of consistent findings in the light of more recent, longitudinal studies and of studies combining transcriptomics and proteomics that identified deregulation of protein biosynthetic pathways as an early event and likely driver of aging.
Effect of salt intake on afferent arteriolar dilatation: role of connecting tubule glomerular feedback (CTGF)

Afferent arteriole (Af-Art) resistance is modulated by two intrinsic nephron feedbacks: 1) the vasoconstrictor tubuloglomerular feedback (TGF) mediated by Na+-K+-2Cl− cotransporters (NKCC2) in the ...
Human embryoid bodies to hepatocyte-like clusters: Preparing for translation

Abstract End-stage liver disease and acute liver failure are some of the most common causes of death worldwide, affecting over 40,000 patients in the United States, for most of whom liver transplantation is the only treatment. Transplantable livers are obtained primarily from deceased donors in the west and living donors in the east, with demand outstripping supply, leading to thousands of deaths each year for those on the transplant waiting lists. As a bridge to liver transplantation, human primary hepatocytes have been transplanted with low success, owing to their inability to grow and expand in vitro, their high sensitivity to cold storage-induced damage, and their dedifferentiation following two-dimensional culture. In the past decade, human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) have been studied as a potential alternative to liver and primary hepatocyte transplantation through their differentiation into hepatocyte-like cells (HLCs). Differentiation of hiPSCs into HLCs is limited by the low percentage of differentiated cells that reach a mature hepatic phenotype, poor reproducibility of existing differentiation protocols, and inadequate long-term viability and function in vitro and in vivo. In this review, we will discuss the mechanisms of the various techniques that aim to improve the hepatic differentiation of hiPSCs into mature and genotypically stable HLCs for use in drug studies, as a potential bridge for liver transplantation after liver failure or as therapy for liver regeneration and replacement.
Wavelength-coded volume holographic imaging endoscope for multidepth imaging.

A wavelength-coded volume holographic imaging (WC-VHI) endoscope system capable of simultaneous multifocal imaging is presented. The system images light from two depths separated by 100 μm in a tissue sample by using axial chromatic dispersion of a gradient index probe in combination with two light-emitting diode sources and a multiplexed volume hologram to separate the images. This system is different from previous VHI systems in that it uses planar multiplexed gratings and does not require curved holographic gratings. This results in improved lateral imaging resolution from 228.1 to 322.5 lp/mm. This letter describes the design and fabrication of the WC-VHI endoscope and experimental images of hard and soft resolution targets and biological tissue samples to illustrate the performance properties.
Aminophylline-associated hyponatremia in a premature infant

Hyponatremia is common in preterm infants. The causes are usually related to the inability of the premature kidneys to excrete a given water load, excessive sodium losses, or inadequate sodium intake. Here, we present a case of severe hyponatremia in an extreme preterm infant, associated with the use of aminophylline. Aminophylline was administered intravenously on day 1 for the treatment of apnea of prematurity. On day 3, the patient developed hyponatremia which was not responsive to sodium replacement and fluid restriction. Due to concerns of aminophylline-induced hyponatremia, aminophylline was discontinued on day 6, and within 48 h of discontinuation, serum sodium normalized without the need for sodium supplementation. The purpose of the case report is to present a rare complication associated with aminophylline use and to shed light on potential deleterious effects associated with drug shortages.
Tissue Transglutaminase Elevates Intraocular Pressure in Mice.

Purpose Tissue transglutaminase (TGM2) is elevated in glaucomatous trabecular meshwork (TM) tissues. We investigated whether increased expression of TGM2 increases extracellular matrix crosslinking in the TM, thereby increasing aqueous humor outflow resistance and elevating intraocular pressure (IOP) in mouse eyes. Methods GTM3, primary human GTM 125-05, and cultured mouse TM cells were transduced with adenovirus serotype 5 expressing human transglutaminase 2 (Ad5.TGM2; multiplicity of infection [MOI]-75) and fixed for immunocytochemistry. To test the effect on IOP in living eyes, Ad5.TGM2 was injected intravitreally into one eye of BALB/cJ (n = 18) or C57BL/6J mice (n = 9). The uninjected contralateral eye and Ad5.GFP served as controls. Daytime conscious IOPs were measured twice per week. Aqueous outflow facility (C) was measured by constant flow infusion on completion of IOP measurements. Immunohistochemistry was performed on BALB/cJ mouse eyes to study TGM2 expression and activity. Results The treatment of cultured TM cells with Ad5.TGM2 increased immunostaining of N-e(γ-glutamyl) lysine crosslinks. Ad5.TGM2 injection significantly increased IOP in BALB/cJ (15.86 mm Hg [injected] vs. 10.70 mm Hg [control]) and in C57BL/6J mice (17.09 mm Hg [injected] vs. 12.01 mm Hg [control]). Mean aqueous outflow facility in the injected eyes of BALB/cJ (0.013 μL/min/mm Hg) and C57BL/6J mice (0.012 μL/min/mm Hg) was significantly lower than in the uninjected control eyes (BALB/cJ, 0.021 μL/min/mm Hg; C57BL/6J, 0.019 μL/min/mm Hg). The Ad5.TGM2 transduction of mouse eyes increased TGM2 expression in the TM region and increased N-e(γ-glutamyl) lysine crosslinks. Conclusions The increased expression of TGM2 in the TM increases N-e(γ-glutamyl) lysine crosslinking in the TM, increases aqueous outflow resistance, and elevates IOP in mice. TGM2 may be at least partially responsible for ocular hypertension in POAG.
Parametric computational analysis of indentation-induced shear band formation in metal-ceramic multilayer coatings

Abstract Shear band formation in multilayer thin-films subject to nanoindentation is studied numerically. The material system analyzed here is composed of alternating aluminum (Al) and silicon carbide (SiC) nanolayers, above a silicon (Si) substrate. Finite element models are developed to investigate system parameters that influence behavior of the shear band phenomenon. By introducing strain softening into the material model for the relatively hard ceramic layers, shear bands can be seen to emerge from the indentation site in the computational analyses. Effects of post-yield material parameter variations on the initiation of plastic instability are examined. Several geometric variations are also investigated, including the effect of relative layer thicknesses, homogeneity, layer order, and number of layers. The chain events that lead to shear band nucleation are postulated. Broad implications are noted, along with possible directions for future work.
Is a 500-Cell Count Necessary for Bone Marrow Differentials?: A Proposed Analytical Method for Validating a Lower Cutoff.

Objectives By convention, 500 cells are counted for bone marrow aspirate differentials. Evidence supporting such a cutoff is lacking. We hypothesized that 300-cell counts could be sufficient. Methods Cell count results from 165 cases, for which values were recorded at 300 and 500 cells, were analyzed. We tested for statistical differences and changes in diagnostic classification between the two cutoffs. Results Three hundred cell counts did not produce diagnostically different results, particularly for myeloblasts and plasma cells, where cell percentages are critical for disease classification. Method comparison analysis did not reach statistical significance for any cell type when comparing the two methods. Bias plots showed narrow, even spread about the mean bias. Contingency table analysis yielded no significant diagnostic discrepancies. Conclusions Performing differential counts on 300 cells would produce clinically and statistically similar results to 500 cells. Reducing the cell number counted has potential cost/labor reductions without affecting quality of care.
Mechanism of Metastasis to Bone: The Role of Bone Marrow Endothelium

Cancer cells in the bone come from two sources: primary tumors or metastases from other tissues. Primary cancer of the bone is rare, with 2,370 new cases and 1,330 deaths expected in 2007. Primary cancer accounts for less than 0.2% of all cancers combined [American Cancer Society (ACS)]. The most common type of primary bone cancer is osteosarcoma (35% of bone cancer cases), followed by chondrosarcoma (26%) and Ewing tumor (16%). Most cancer cells in the bone marrow result from metastasis to bone. Breast and prostate cancers are adult cancers that frequently metastasize to bone [25]. Neuroblastoma, a cancer common in children, also frequently metastasizes to skeleton [102]. After lung and liver, the skeleton is the third most common site for cancer metastases. Of sites within the skeletal system, the spine is the most common cancer site, followed by the pelvis, hip, femur, and the skull [ACS].
Micromorphology of the initial weathering products of feldspars

Abstract Freshly ground albite samples were subjected to 10 days of weathering in low ionic strength aqueous solutions having a pH of 3.50. The samples were weathered in a single pass, short column reactor. Solutions were not recirculated to prevent the accumulation of dissolution products in solution. Weathering products, along with small fragments of the feldspar surface, were removed from the albite surface by sonication and analyzed by high resolution TEM and electron diffraction. Two types of weathering products were observed – a platy crystalline phyllosilicate that has been identified as kaolinite, and a short-range ordered hydrous material that has granular inclusions. Lattice images of the feldspar fragments showed the breakdown of the feldspar lattice into ‘thread-like’ structures with 17 to 20 A spacings.
Reminiscences on the Occasion of Walter Kohn’s 80th Birthday

Walter first emerged in my life in the fall of 1954. I was in my last year as an undergraduate physics major at Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie Mellon University), and Walter was a junior member of the faculty. I no longer remember whether Walter volunteered or was drafted for the responsibility, but somehow he became my private instructor for a year-long supervised reading course in quantum mechanics. We went through the first edition of Schiff’s classic text essentially from cover to cover, doing most of the problems and often talking about the ways in which those ideas were being used in current research.
Raspberry Pi based learning center usage tracking system for optimal resource allocation

The objective of this “work-in-progress” paper is to describe a Raspberry Pi based learning center management system that assists in deciding resource allocation for a peer-instruction driven engineering tutoring center. Data gathered from the usage of the engineering tutoring center allows for cost-effective staffing through recognition of the center’s usage trends. The data collected may be structured per the center administrator’s requirements and presented real-time on dashboards. The flexibility of this Raspberry Pi system allows for it to be developed into a full fledged learning management system with integrated analytics as required for a particular curriculum. This system is highly cost-effective as compared a commercial web-based system. This prototype has saved approximately 12 hours a month of time, for data retrieval and analysis as compared to a previously used commercial web-based system. At the moment, this Raspberry Pi data tracking system has been installed only in a single tutoring center on-campus. Deployment of this across a university campus would allow accumulated usage trends to be examined through data analysis operations such as seasonality and trend decomposition.
Evaluation of Esophageal Diverticula

Esophageal diverticula are outpouchings that protrude from the esophageal wall. They commonly are classified according to their anatomic location in the esophagus: Zenker’s diverticulum (ZD) in the upper esophagus, mid-thoracic or mediastinal diverticula in the mid-esophagus, and epiphrenic (ED) in the distal esophagus. Histologically, there are two types of esophageal diverticula: true diverticulum which consists of all layers of the esophagus and false diverticulum which includes only two layers, mucosa and submucosa. Etiologically, esophageal diverticula could be congenital, very rare, or acquired which is most common. Most esophageal diverticula are asymptomatic. However, when large, they are associated with symptoms including dysphagia, regurgitation, chest pain, and aspiration-related complications. A thorough evaluation involves a combination of contrast esophagogram and upper endoscopy to assess esophageal anatomy as well as an esophageal manometry to evaluate the functional status of the esophagus. Treatment is not required for most diverticula as they are asymptomatic. Large or symptomatic diverticula should be treated. Treatment is tailored to the pathophysiology and location of the diverticulum. Surgical options include diverticulectomy or diverticular suspension (in case of ZD) with a myotomy. Fundoplication, usually partial, is added in cases of epiphrenic diverticulum. Minimally invasive transoral endoscopic stapled diverticulectomy approach is increasing in popularity and has been performed in cases of ZD, especially in high-risk surgical patients.