cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Quantification and Analysis of Icebergs in a Tidewater Glacier Fjord Using an Object-Based Approach.

Tidewater glaciers are glaciers that terminate in, and calve icebergs into, the ocean. In addition to the influence that tidewater glaciers have on physical and chemical oceanography, floating icebergs serve as habitat for marine animals such as harbor seals (Phoca vitulina richardii). The availability and spatial distribution of glacier ice in the fjords is likely a key environmental variable that influences the abundance and distribution of selected marine mammals; however, the amount of ice and the fine-scale characteristics of ice in fjords have not been systematically quantified. Given the predicted changes in glacier habitat, there is a need for the development of methods that could be broadly applied to quantify changes in available ice habitat in tidewater glacier fjords. We present a case study to describe a novel method that uses object-based image analysis (OBIA) to classify floating glacier ice in a tidewater glacier fjord from high-resolution aerial digital imagery. Our objectives were to (i) develop workflows and rule sets to classify high spatial resolution airborne imagery of floating glacier ice; (ii) quantify the amount and fine-scale characteristics of floating glacier ice; (iii) and develop processes for automating the object-based analysis of floating glacier ice for large number of images from a representative survey day during June 2007 in Johns Hopkins Inlet (JHI), a tidewater glacier fjord in Glacier Bay National Park, southeastern Alaska. On 18 June 2007, JHI was comprised of brash ice (x¯ = 45.2%, SD = 41.5%), water (x¯ = 52.7%, SD = 42.3%), and icebergs (x¯ = 2.1%, SD = 1.4%). Average iceberg size per scene was 5.7 m2 (SD = 2.6 m2). We estimate the total area (± uncertainty) of iceberg habitat in the fjord to be 455,400 ± 123,000 m2. The method works well for classifying icebergs across scenes (classification accuracy of 75.6%); the largest classification errors occur in areas with densely-packed ice, low contrast between neighboring ice cover, or dark or sediment-covered ice, where icebergs may be misclassified as brash ice about 20% of the time. OBIA is a powerful image classification tool, and the method we present could be adapted and applied to other ice habitats, such as sea ice, to assess changes in ice characteristics and availability.
Lung Adenocarcinoma with Miliary Metastases and Left Femur Pathologic Fracture: An Unusual Case Mimicking Disseminated Tuberculosis:

Lung adenocarcinoma can have a varied appearance at presentation. Solid, ground-glass, or part-solid and part-ground-glass nodules are commonly seen [1]. Multifocal areas of consolidation that are peribronchovascular and contain air bronchograms may also be identified [3]. Multiple discrete nodules, or the so-called miliary pattern, are rare, with few cases reported in the literature [3, 10, 12, 14]. This pattern is more commonly reported as multifocal or diffuse adenocarcinoma, and detailed data regarding the incidence has not yet been studied in depth. However, in one case report of 73 patients with adenocarcinoma, 14 presented with multifocal disease, though only one had innumerable discrete nodules [19, 22]. In another study examining 548 patients with non-small cell lung cancer, 504 patients presented with a dominant lesion (stage I disease) and 44 with multifocal disease. Of the 44 patients, 18 had multifocal adenocarcinoma [2]. Some have suggested that the miliary pattern of adenocarcinoma may be produced by bone or liver metastases that continually seed the lung, though this has yet to be verified [10]. Because the miliary pattern is much less common, it may be confused for other entities, such as tuberculosis. Non-small cell lung cancer metastasizes to the bone in approximately 15–40% of cases, mostly involving the axial skeleton [11, 16]. Appendicular metastases are more common proximal to the knee and elbow, though more distal involvement is reported [5, 9, 11, 15, 18, 20, 21]. Extremity metastases are often initially misdiagnosed as benign entities such as infection due to presenting symptoms of local redness, pain, and swelling. Generally, a bony metastasis on radiograph appears as a lytic lesion and may be centered in the cortex (cookie-bite lesion). There may or may not be a demonstrable soft tissue mass [7]. Tuberculous and malignant involvement of the bone is often indistinguishable on imaging, particularly in the spine, where MRI findings can be similar [4, 13, 17, 23]. Diagnosis of tuberculous spread to the bone in general is often difficult, with an average delay in diagnosis of 16–19 months [4]. The musculoskeletal system is involved in 1–3% of cases of tuberculosis. The femur, tibia, and small bones of the hands and feet are often affected [6]. Typically, the metaphyses are involved, with radiographic features that include osteopenia and poorly defined lytic lesions with minimal surrounding sclerosis [4]. Our goal is to highlight the importance of maintaining a broad differential when evaluating a patient with confounding risk factors and imaging findings. Premature diagnoses may lead to delays in appropriate management [13]. Ultimately, tissue sampling may be necessary in providing a definitive, timely diagnosis.
Travel well, road warriors: Assessing business travelers' stressors

Abstract The purpose of this research is to identify stressors related to business traveling. Business travel stress embraces situational, emotional, and physical conditions that restrain personal needs and work expectations. The findings from this study recognize six factors of travel stress: travel arrangements, hotel/airline preferences, travel inconvenience, difficulty maintaining a healthy lifestyle, destination concerns, and work/personal life. This study investigates how personal stress, work stress, and health behavior influence business travelers differently in terms of various travel stressors.
International Careers: U.S. Undergraduates' Motivations and Concerns

Despite the consensus among industry leaders, policymakers, educational institutions, and students themselves that it is essential that U.S. college graduates be prepared for international careers, little attention is given to understanding the dynamics that encourage or dissuade students from such a pursuit. A survey administered to U.S. undergraduates reveals that key factors motivating students include love of travel, interest in other cultures, the possibility of earning a high salary, and the potential for opportunities in the major discipline. Key concerns include leaving family and friends and a lack of foreign language ability. It is argued that the internationalization of career advising is vital and urgent and that administrators, international educators, career centers, and academic departments must all take purposeful action
Operational performance: The mediator between human capital developmental programs and financial performance

Abstract In accordance with the resource-based view (RBV) and human capital resources literatures, we investigate positive outcomes derived from human capital development programs (HCDP). We theorize that superior HCDP represent competitive advantage that improves operational performance and subsequently leads to positive financial outcomes. Data from 2003 to 2011, including 30 organizations from Major League Baseball (as well as their subsidiaries), were analyzed using regression models to examine how HCDP affect financial performance through operational performance. The findings support our hypotheses: Better HCDP lead to operational performance, which leads to greater revenue and sales.
The radiation footprint on the pediatric trauma patient

The actual baseline of radiation exposure used in evaluating pediatric trauma is not known and has relied on estimates in the literature that may not reflect clinical reality. Our objectives were to determine the baseline amount of radiation delivered in a pediatric trauma evaluation and correlate radiation exposure with trauma activation status to identify the cohort most at risk. We retrospectively evaluated trauma patients (N = 1050) at an independent Level I children’s hospital for each level of trauma activation (consults, alerts, stats) from June 2010 to January 2011. Those patients with full dosimetry (N = 215) were analyzed for demographics, mechanism of injury, Injury Severity Score, imaging modalities, and total effective radiation dosages during the full trauma assessment from the time of injury to discharge. Demographics included gender (143 males, 72 females) and average age (5.5 years [range < 1–16]). The most radiation was conferred from CTs and greatest in trauma stats, followed by alerts, then consults (p < 0.001 for stat and alert doses compared to consults). Repeated imaging was common: 35% of stats had 2–3 CTs and 40% had 4–10 CTs (range 0–10 CTs). The average non-accidental trauma consult utilized four times as many CTs as the average consult (p = 0.002). Most outside hospital CTs (66%) delivered more radiation: 50.0% were at least double the standard pediatric dosage. This study is the first to identify the actual baseline of radiation exposure for one trauma evaluation and correlate radiation exposure with trauma activation status. Factors associated with highest radiation include stat activations, suspected non-accidental traumas (NAT), and outside hospital system imaging.
Public Reporting III: Improving the Value of Public Physician Quality Information

Patients, communities, colleagues, hospital systems, and regulators are entitled to information about the quality of medical performance by physicians. The regular flow of this information provides the basis for practice improvement and enhanced patient safety. However, as reviewed previously, the processes used today to gather, collate, analyze, verify, and distribute this information are deficient. Data are managed and distributed by many sources, with variable definitions, standards, and quality oversight; adequate adjustment for variations in patient and practice characteristics is challenging, if not impossible; end points receiving the most attention may not be the best indicators of physician performance (eg, mortality after myocardial infarction); the risk of citation as an underperformer can lead to provider behaviors that are not in the best interests of patients, including risk avoidance; and the complex statistics of data interpretation are poorly understood by most consumers of this information.1,2 Despite these issues, performance data, most of it public, are used routinely to advise people seeking care, alert practices and hospitals of potential outliers, define clinical practice guidelines, and inform regulatory and payer policies. The momentum toward ever greater public transparency is tremendous. An infrastructure is now in place to collect a lot of information about physicians and the patients under their care. Paradoxically, this may be part of the problem: the demands of data reporting (and addressing the reports generated from these data) increase physician work requirements, contributing to workplace dissatisfaction and physician burnout. A recent Health Affairs survey of cardiology, orthopedic, primary care, and multispecialty practices found that, on average, physicians and their staff members spend >15 hours per week managing external quality measures.3 This hints at data collection inefficiencies. A 2013 industry report identified 1367 quality …
Hypothalamic-pituitary-insulin-like growth factor-I axis dysfunction in patients with fibromyalgia.

Objective. To investigate the serum levels of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) in patients with fibromyalgia (FM) compared to healthy controls and patients with other rheumatic diseases, and to explore possible etiologic mechanisms of low IGF-I levels in patients with FM. Methods. Five hundred patients with FM and 152 controls (74 healthy blood donors, 26 myofascial pain patients and 52 patients with other rheumatic diseases) were studied. All had measurements of acid extracted serum IGF-I. A subset of 90 patients with FM were evaluated for clinical features that might explain low IGF-I levels. Twenty-five patients with FM underwent growth hormone (GH) provocation testing with 1-dopa and clonidine. Results. The mean serum IGF-I level in patients with FM was 138 ± 56 ng/ml and in controls 215 ± 86 ng/ml (p = 0.00000000001). Low levels of IGF-I were not due to depression, tricyclic medications, nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, poor aerobic conditioning, obesity, or pain level. Patients with focal myofascial pain syndromes had normal IGF-I levels (236 ± 68), as did most patients with other rheumatic disorders, unless they had concomitant FM. Patients with FM with initially normal levels often had a rapid decline of IGF-I over 1 to 2 years. Most patients with FM with low IGF-I levels failed to secrete GH after stimulation with clonidine and I-dopa. Conclusion. Many, but not all, patients with FM have low levels of IGF-I that cannot be explained by clinical associations. These results suggest that low IGF-I levels in patients with FM are a secondary phenomenon due to hypothalamic-pituitary-GH axis dysfunction.
Rejoinder: Reinvestigating the Causal Relationship between Higher Education and Political Participation

In this issue, Henderson and Chatfield (2011) and Mayer (2011) critique the findings of our initial article, suggesting that in fact, higher education does have an effect on political participation. Both research notes raise concerns of inherent biases in our findings due to our use of propensity score matching and reestimate the relationship between higher education and participation using genetic matching. In this response, we take up their methodological critiques. We also provide additional evidence based on genetic matching which supports our initial conclusions. Finally, we discuss epistemological issues regarding the question of whether higher education causes political participation.
3 – Fractal Analysis of Toxin and Pathogen Detection on Biosensor Surfaces

This chapter presents a fractal analysis to analyze the binding kinetics of yessotoxin (YTX) in solution to phosphodiesterase 3', 5' - cyclic-nucleotide specific to bovine brain (PDE) immobilized on an aminosilane surface, of Cy3-labeled ricin in solution to gelimmobilized antibodies against ricin Rch 1, and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in solution to cyclic decapeptide immobilized on a CM5 sensor chip surface. The fractal analysis provides a quantitative indication of the state of disorder (fractal dimension) and the binding (and dissociation) rate coefficients on the sensor chip surface. Quantitative (predictive) relations are developed for the binding rate coefficient, k , as a function of the YTX concentration in solution, and as a function of the fractal dimension, D f ; the binding rate coefficient, k as a function of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in solution and as a function of the fractal dimension, D f ; the dissociation rate coefficient, k d2 , as a function of the LPS concentration in solution and as a function of the fractal dimension in the dissociation phase, D fd2 , and the affinities, K 1 and K 2 , as a function of the ratio of the fractal dimensions present in the binding and in the dissociation phases, respectively. The binding rate coefficient, k , for YTX is very sensitive to the fractal dimension, D f , or the degree of heterogeneity present on the chip surface as noted by the slightly higher than sixth (= 6.0359) order of dependence on D f exhibited. Similarly, the binding rate coefficient, k , for LPS exhibits close to a negative second (= −2.1099) order of dependence on the degree of heterogeneity on the sensor chip surface.
Promotion of healthy eating through public policy: A controlled experiment

Background To induce consumers to purchase healthier foods and beverages, some policymakers have suggested special taxes or labels on unhealthy products. The potential of such policies is unknown. Purpose In a controlled field experiment, researchers tested whether consumers were more likely to purchase healthy products under such policies. Methods From October to December 2011, researchers opened a store at a large hospital that sold a variety of healthier and less-healthy foods and beverages. Purchases (N=3680) were analyzed under five conditions: a baseline with no special labeling or taxation, a 30% tax, highlighting the phrase "less healthy" on the price tag, and combinations of taxation and labeling. Purchases were analyzed in January–July 2012, at the single-item and transaction levels. Results There was no significant difference between the various taxation conditions. Consumers were 11 percentage points more likely to purchase a healthier item under a 30% tax (95% CI=7%, 16%, p p =0.04). By product type, consumers switched away from the purchase of less-healthy food under taxation (9 percentage point decrease, p p =0.001); there were no effects for labeling. Conditions were associated with the purchase of 11–14 fewer calories (9%–11% in relative terms) and 2 fewer grams of sugar. Results remained significant controlling for all items purchased in a single transaction. Conclusions Taxation may induce consumers to purchase healthier foods and beverages. However, it is unclear whether the 15%–20% tax rates proposed in public policy discussions would be more effective than labeling products as less healthy.
The Design of Action Research

This chapter arises from my belief that there is a degree of inherent incompatibility between action and research, in the sense that maximizing one tends to minimize the other. The incompatibility is not absolute, for some of the most significant scientific contributions of recent years have stemmed from the combining of action and research. Further, the prime contemporary regions of needed scientific advance are those involving systemic and dynamic theories about organizational and social-psychological phenomena, to which action research strategies are particularly applicable. At the same time, it must be recognized that the scientific product of organizational intervention by social scientists is often modest in relation to the money and man-hours invested, and that research is widely regarded as an unfortunate impediment to effective action in a particular case.
Structure and Phylogeny of Cyanophora Species

Phylogenetic analyses from gene mapping and sequence studies place the cyanoplast somewhere between cyanobacteria and chloroplasts (Lambert, Bryant, Stirewalt, Dubbs, Stevents and Porter 1985, Kraus, Gotz and Loeffelhardt 1990, Valentin and Zetsche 1990, Morden, Delwiche, Kuhsel, and Palmer 1992 and Evrard, Weil and Kuntz 1990). However, Cyanophora continues to be an enigma among protists. Although it now appears that the cyanoplast represents an independent line towards the evolution of a true chloroplast, the origins of the eukaryotic component are still uncertain, as indicated by the contrasting structural and molecular evidence.
Comparative Analysis of Surface Layers by Backscattering and by Auger Electron Spectroscopy

The characteristics of backscattering and Auger electron spectroscopy have been investigated by comparative analysis of a homogeneous alloy (Al-Cu system); compound formation (Cr-Al system); and inter-diffusion of two metals (Au-Ni system). The backscattering methods, which are nondestructive, provide measurements of thickness and concentration, with an accuracy of 5% and a depth resolution of about 200 A in the near surface region when a solid-state detector is used. For thicker films, energy straggling of the beam decreases the depth resolution. Backscattering provides quantitative information about the concentration of impurities and the depth distribution of heavy elements in a light element matrix. It is not sensitive to light impurities in a heavy element matrix.
A Standardized Approach to Quantitative Analysis of Nicotine in e-Liquids Based on Peak Purity Criteria Using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography.

The use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) is a growing trend in population. E-cigarettes are evolving at a rapid rate with variety of battery powered devices and combustible nicotine refills such as e-liquids. In contrast to conventional cigarettes which are studied well for their toxicity and health effects, long-term clinical data on e-cigarettes are not available yet. Therefore, safety of e-cigarettes is still a major concern. Although the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently started regulating e-cigarette products, no limits on nicotine and other ingredients in such products have been proposed. Considering the regulatory requirements, it is critical that reliable and standardized analytical methods for analyzing nicotine and other ingredients in e-cigarette products such as e-liquids are available. Here, we are reporting a fully validated high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method based on nicotine peak purity for accurately quantifying nicotine in various e-liquids. The method has been validated as per ICH Q2(R1) and USP guidelines. The method is specific, precise, accurate, and linear to analyze nicotine in e-liquids with 1 to >50 mg/mL of nicotine. Additionally, the method has been proven robust and flexible for parameters such as change in flow rate, column oven temperature, and organic phase composition, which proves applicability of the method over wide variety of e-liquids in market.
Dynamic Space-Time Model for Syndromic Surveillance with Particle Filters and Dirichlet Process

Massive spatio-temporal data are challenging for statistical analysis due to their low signal-to-noise ratios and high-dimensional spatio-temporal structure. To resolve these issues, we propose a novel Dirichlet process particle filter (DPPF) model. The Dirichlet process models a set of stochastic functions as probability distributions for dimension reduction, and the particle filter is used to solve the nonlinear filtering problem with sequential Monte Carlo steps where the data has a low signal-to-noise ratio. Our data set is derived from surveillance data on emergency visits for influenza-like and respiratory illness (from 2008 to 2010) from the Indiana Public Health Emergency Surveillance System. The DPPF develops a dynamic data-driven applications system (DDDAS) methodology for disease outbreak detection. Numerical results show that our model significantly improves the outbreak detection performance in real data analysis.
Electrostatically localized proton bioenergetics: better understanding membrane potential.

Abstract In Mitchell's chemiosmotic theory, membrane potential Δ ψ was given as the electric potential difference across the membrane. However, its physical origin for membrane potential Δ ψ was not well explained. Using the Lee proton electrostatic localization model with a newly formulated equation for protonic motive force (pmf) that takes electrostatically localized protons into account, membrane potential has now been better understood as the voltage difference contributed by the localized surface charge density ( [ H L + ] + ∑ i = 1 n [ M L i + ] ) at the liquid-membrane interface as in an electrostatically localized protons/cations-membrane-anions capacitor. That is, the origin of membrane potential Δ ψ is now better understood as the electrostatic formation of the localized surface charge density that is the sum of the electrostatically localized proton concentration [ H L + ] and the localized non-proton cations density ∑ i = 1 n [ M L i + ] at the liquid membrane interface. The total localized surface charge density equals to the ideal localized proton population density [ H L + ] 0 before the cation-proton exchange process; since the cation-proton exchange process does not change the total localized charges density, neither does it change to the membrane potential Δ ψ . The localized proton concentration [ H L + ] represents the dominant component, which accounts about 78% of the total localized surface charge density at the cation-proton exchange equilibrium state in animal mitochondria. Liquid water as a protonic conductor may play a significant role in the biological activities of membrane potential formation and utilization.
Whitney A. Bauman (ed.), 'Meaningful Flesh: Reflections on Religion and Nature for a Queer Planet'

Whitney A. Bauman (ed.), Meaningful Flesh: Reflections on Religion and Nature for a Queer Planet (Goleta, CA: Punctum Books, 2018), 149 pp., $19.00 (pbk), ISBN: 9781947447325.
Iteration with Intention: Project-Based Learning of Computational Thinking

Globally, there is a growing interest in preparing students to develop fluency with computing. The K-12 Computer Science Framework states that by the end of 12th grade, students should be able to create computational artifacts through continuous testing and refining of their products considering unique perspectives of peers. It has been suggested that creative project experiences with iteration based on feedback encourage the development of these computational skills. However, traditional classrooms are more focused on getting the correct answer to standardized questions. Countries such as Mongolia may have particular challenges in offering students opportunities to develop projects, due to pressure from standardized exams for college entry and lack of teachers prepared to lead computational project-based learning (Uyanga, 2006). This is an exploratory study of an 8-session/16-hour intervention course that provided 13 high-school students in Mongolia an opportunity to create, share, and iterate on computational projects. Measurements included assessment of student attitudes and evaluated how they viewed their participation and learning in the course through pre- and post-surveys, analyzing their responses with qualitative coding. Results suggest that the opportunity to create projects was novel for these students; attitudes regarding feedback changed, and iteration was viewed as key in creating computational artifacts. The analysis also highlights the urgency of further research on localizing the K-12 Computer Science Framework throughout different countries to foster these skills and developing structures that allow students to embrace the freedom of project-based learning.
The gift of shame

This short confession looks back at the confessional mode of a 2009 article, ‘The Object of Devotion,’ on the impact of religious orientation on my scholarly formation, before turning to a different sort of self-examination: the moment of shame that is at once a source of pain and a generous gift. The inventory offered here concerns not religious orientation but the shame that arises from being wrong. It also casts light on changes that have come to our profession, where racist structures of thought and their administrative and social manifestations have become more visible than before. It’s not that our work environment has changed; rather, the assumptions that were there all along have become visible, and recognizing them – and responding to them – has become imperative. In this way, when I make a confession, and talk about my own shame, it’s in part the product of my own experience, but it is also the product of our common situation. This confession also looks forward to the fruitful outcomes of this experience, including collaborative workshops on indigenous pedagogy, on the role of indigenous story, and on the stories we tell about the land.
Epidemiology of reported HIV and other sexually transmitted infections during the COVID-19 pandemic, New York City.

Early in the COVID-19 crisis, a statewide executive order ("PAUSE") severely restricted the movement of New Yorkers from March 23-June 7, 2020. We used NYC surveillance data for HIV, chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis to describe trends in diagnosis and reporting surrounding PAUSE. During PAUSE, the volume of positive HIV/STI tests, and diagnoses of HIV, chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis declined substantially, reaching a nadir in April before rebounding. Some shifts in characteristics of reported cases were identified.
Functional outcomes of unstable ankle fractures with and without syndesmotic fixation in the adolescent population

Abstract Purpose The purpose of this study was to compare functional outcomes of adolescents with and without ankle syndesmotic injuries and identify predictors of functional outcome after operativ...
Covid Alone: The Complementarity Between Social Capital and Formal Public Health Rules in the United States (preprint)

The spread of COVID-19 provides a unique opportunity to explore the interactive effect of formal and informal rules. While economists and public health scholars realize the independent effects social capital and stringent public health rules have on prevalence and mortality rates, we advance this literature with a novel framework to analyze the interaction between the two. With state-level data on daily COVID-19 cases, a measure of policy stringency, and various measures of social capital, we find that prevalence rates fall by a larger amount in states where people place a higher value on COVID-19 prevention, where public health measures are more stringent, and where there are higher levels of social capital. We estimate that states with higher values for prevention and higher social capital experienced 81 fewer new daily COVID-19 cases per million. The main results are robust to the inclusion of relevant controls, various specifications, and alternative measures of social capital. These results suggest that individuals and the communities they enter into and exit out of play an important role in the spread and prevention of infectious diseases independent of formal, governmental public health responses.
African American Children and Adolescents

This chapter focuses on typical and impaired pragmatic language in African American children and adolescents who speak a language variety called African American English (AAE). Examining the pragmatic aspects of AAE allows us to inspect the development and divergence of resilient cultural linguistic traits shaped by historic social, political and economic forces. We will discuss the relationship between pragmatics and culture, then discuss four domains of social pragmatic communication (theory of mind, speech acts, use of prosody and voice, and discourse) as they are manifested in the language of African American children and adolescents. We make a case for approaching social pragmatic language from an emic perspective, not solely an etic perspective, and provide examples of how pragmatic language disorders may be exhibited in speakers of AAE in each of the aforementioned domains.
Combining Cryo-EM Density Map and Residue Contact for Protein Secondary Structure Topologies

Although atomic structures have been determined directly from cryo-EM density maps with high resolutions, current structure determination methods for medium resolution (5 to 10 A) cryo-EM maps are limited by the availability of structure templates. Secondary structure traces are lines detected from a cryo-EM density map for α-helices and β-strands of a protein. A topology of secondary structures defines the mapping between a set of sequence segments and a set of traces of secondary structures in three-dimensional space. In order to enhance accuracy in ranking secondary structure topologies, we explored a method that combines three sources of information: a set of sequence segments in 1D, a set of amino acid contact pairs in 2D, and a set of traces in 3D at the secondary structure level. A test of fourteen cases shows that the accuracy of predicted secondary structures is critical for deriving topologies. The use of significant long-range contact pairs is most effective at enriching the rank of the maximum-match topology for proteins with a large number of secondary structures, if the secondary structure prediction is fairly accurate. It was observed that the enrichment depends on the quality of initial topology candidates in this approach. We provide detailed analysis in various cases to show the potential and challenge when combining three sources of information.
Freezing, Flow and Proton NMR Properties of Water Compartments in the Temporomandibular Disc

The temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disc is a loaded tissue that is subjected to pressure during virtually every functional movement. To understand the biomechanical properties of the TMJ disc requires a detailed understanding of how water is bound to and organized around the macromolecular components of the disc. Specifically, how much of the water in the disc is unbound to the macromolecular components and free to flow with the same characteristics of bulk water?
Localized heat and cold urticaria: Rare phenomena occurring in the same individual

Abstract The phenomenon of localized heat urticaria is described and illustrated by the report of a case. The patient also exhibited localized cold urticaria. No definite immunologic mechanisms were defined for the association of these 2 unusual conditions.
Shock Absorption of Crumb Rubber and Coconut Fiber

Millions of scrap tires are generated annually in the United States and threaten the environmental and public health. Coconut fiber is a biodegradable agricultural waste that is plentiful in many tropical countries. Using these two materials would make the world a better place environmentally. Experiments were done to determine the shock absorption properties of these two materials. A 1-inch thick layer of crumb rubber (shredded scrap tires) with four different grain sizes of 6-14 mesh, 10-30 mesh, 50-80 mesh, and 80-200 mesh reduced impact acceleration from a base value by 15.49%, 20.79%, 31.22% and 38.47%, respectively. Crumb rubber with smaller grain size absorbed shock better than crumb rubber with larger grain size. In a similar study, 1-inch thick coconut fiber reduced impact acceleration from the same base value by 46.44%, 41.89% and 36.13% at 0% (room dry), 100% and 200% water contents, respectively. Coconut fiber is more effective in shock absorption when it contains less water.
DO OLIGOPOLISTS POLLUTE LESS? EVIDENCE FROM A RESTRUCTURED ELECTRICITY MARKET*: DO OLIGOPOLISTS POLLUTE LESS?

Electricity restructuring has created the opportunity for producers to exercise market power. Oligopolists increase price by distorting output decisions, causing cross-firm production inefficiencies. This study estimates the environmental implications of production inefficiencies attributed to market power in the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland electricity market. Air pollution fell substantially during 1999, the year in which both electricity restructuring and new environmental regulation took effect. I find that strategic firms reduced their emissions by approximately 20% relative to other firms and their own historic emissions. Next, I compare observed behavior with estimates of production, and therefore emissions, in a competitive market. According to a model of competitive behavior, changing costs explain approximately two-thirds of the observed pollution reductions. The remaining third can be attributed to firms exercising market power.
Modeling restricted processor sharing in a computer system with non-exponential service times

A computer system often has to handle computational jobs with highly varying CPU service time requirements. In principle, unrestricted processor sharing can be useful in handling such demands. In practice, it must be implemented by round-robin, and there is an overhead cost (e.g., cache thrashing and operating system management of job switching) to implementing this scheme. Furthermore, significant main-memory thrashing (i.e., increased paging activities) may occur with many jobs inside the system. To bound the cache thrashing overhead, the number of jobs actively sharing the processors has to be restricted. This is essentially restricted processor sharing. Similarly, to bound the main-memory thrashing overhead, the total number of jobs granted access to the system at any time has to be restricted as well. Because of these population size constraints, the existing analytical results for Jackson networks do not apply here. The goal of this research, therefore, is to develop analytical models for systems under the above mentioned constraints and the impact of memory thrashing overhead. First, by ignoring peripherals and paging activities, we present an analytical model for CPU subsystems with arbitrary service time distributions. In the model, the cache thrashing overhead is considered by assuming a certain portion of CPU power being wasted. Using this model, we demonstrate that restricted processor sharing, which avoids significant cache thrashing, is effective in handling highly varying jobs demands (i.e., C2vG 1). Based on this baseline model, we then develop models for systems with a data disk and/or paging activities. By applying the models, we study the interplay among the parameters such as the CPU service time distribution, the number of processors, and the degree of processor sharing to analyze the performance of different computer system configurations in terms of mean system time (or response time) and maximum throughput. We show that different configurations can have quite different maximum throughput values. Furthermore, we find that, given highly varying job demands, the system performance may get improved with some amount of paging activities. While we assume open systems (with dynamic arrivals) in this work, the models can also be applied to study time-sharing systems and draining systems (with static arrivals).
Recipe for Disaster: How the Dynamic Ingredients of Risk and Exposure Are Changing the Tornado Disaster Landscape

AbstractTornado disasters and their potential are a product of both hazard risk and underlying physical and social vulnerabilities. This investigation appraises exposure, which is an important component and driver of vulnerability, and its interrelationship with tornado risk in the United States since the mid-twentieth century. The research demonstrates how each of these dynamic variables have evolved individually and interacted collectively to produce differences in hazard impact and disaster potential at the national, regional, and local scales. Results reveal that escalating tornado impacts are driven fundamentally by growing built-environment exposure. The increasing tornado disaster probability is not uniform across the landscape, with the mid-South region containing the greatest threat based on the juxtaposition of an immense tornado footprint risk and elevated exposure/development rates, which manifests—at least for one important impact marker—in the area’s high mortality rate. Contemporary, high-i...
Our Home Is Here: History, Memory, and Identity in the Museum of Chinese in America

This study looks at the Museum of Chinese America, located in Chinatown, New York City, in which the Chinese American identity is represented through a memory project. The experience of Chinese immigrants in America is understood in 3 sets of tensions. Despite an attempt to create an identity with flexibility and diversity, the making of Chinese American history is still dominated by the national narrative, with the challenges of marginalization of certain subgroups of Chinese immigrants and the “great men” narrative of history. The article suggests that exploring the global scope and the diversified targeted audiences in the museum could facilitate a better understanding of Chineseness in interaction with other migration experiences.
Continuous speech recognition for clinicians.

The current generation of continuous speech recognition systems claims to offer high accuracy (greater than 95 percent) speech recognition at natural speech rates (150 words per minute) on low-cost (under $2000) platforms. This paper presents a state-of-the- technology summary, along with insights the authors have gained through testing one such product extensively and other products superficially. The authors have identified a number of issues that are important in managing accuracy and usability. First, for efficient recognition users must start with a dictionary containing the phonetic spellings of all words they anticipate using. The authors dictated 50 discharge summaries using one inexpensive internal medicine dictionary ($30) and found that they needed to add an additional 400 terms to get recognition rates of 98 percent. However, if they used either of two more expensive and extensive commercial medical vocabularies ($349 and $695), they did not need to add terms to get a 98 percent recognition rate. Second, users must speak clearly and continuously, distinctly pronouncing all syllables. Users must also correct errors as they occur, because accuracy improves with error correction by at least 5 percent over two weeks. Users may find it difficult to train the system to recognize certain terms, regardless of the amount of training, and appropriate substitutions must be created. For example, the authors had to substitute ''twice a day'' for ''bid'' when using the less expensive dictionary, but not when using the other two dictionaries. From trials they conducted in settings ranging from an emergency room to hospital wards and clinicians' offices, they learned that ambient noise has minimal effect. Finally, they found that a minimal ''usable'' hardware configuration (which keeps up with dictation) comprises a 300-MHz Pentium processor with 128 MB of RAM and a ''speech quality'' sound card (e.g., SoundBlaster, $99). Anything less powerful will result in the system lagging behind the speaking rate. The authors obtained 97 percent accuracy with just 30 minutes of training when using the latest edition of one of the speech recognition systems supplemented by a commercial medical dictionary. This technology has advanced considerably in recent years and is now a serious contender to replace some or all of the increasingly expensive alternative methods of dictation with human transcription. n JAMIA. 1999;6:195 - 204.
Design of Optimally Normal Minimum Gain Controllers by Continuation Method

In this paper, a measure of the departure from normality is investigated for system robustness. An attractive feature of the normality index is in its simplicity for pole placement designs. To allow a tradeoff between system robustness and control effort, a cost function consisting of the sum of a norm of weighted gain matrix and a normality index is minimized. First and second order necessary conditions for the constrained optimization problem is derived and solved by Newton-Raphson algorithm imbedded into a one-parameter family of neighboring zero problems. The method presented in this paper allows the direct computation of optimal gains in terms of robustness and control effort for pole placement problems.
Thermal boundary resistance at the graphene–graphene interface estimated by molecular dynamics simulations

Abstract We use classical molecular dynamics simulations to study the thermal boundary resistance (also known as Kapitza resistance) between graphene sheets (GS) either in octane or in vacuum. We found a higher value of Kapitza resistance for GS in vacuum compared to that in octane because the GS–GS interface has larger Kapitza resistance than the GS–octane interface, which is consistent with observations for carbon nanotube – carbon nanotube contacts. More importantly, the Kapitza resistance for the GS–GS contact can be 30% lower than values reported for the carbon nanotube – carbon nanotube contact.
Process characterization of Josephson packaging technology

Process characterization is an essential step in the development of circuit chips and package parts for the Josephson technology. In our laboratory various test vehicles were designed with test sites to explore new designs and processes, to provide in-process and end-of-process evaluations of fabrication runs as well as to serve as powerful diagnostic tools. This article describes some of the process characterizations used in the package for the first system level test vehicle in the Josephson technology. The types of electrical characterizations, the full vertical structures, requirements of package parts and major process steps are discussed. Results from wiring, contacts, and insulation sites are used to illustrate the nature of this work and will benefit the development of a prototype machine in suggesting areas that require special attention.
JFTOT model studies; Oxidation of selected model organosulfur compounds in dodecane

Abstract Active oxygen species such as peroxides can exert deleterious influences on middle distillate fuels. Because the oxidation of fuels is a complex process involving time, temperature, heteroatoms, hydroperoxides, and various other reactive species it is not well understood. Model studies provide a means for isolating some of these variables. This paper examines the oxidation of selected organosulfur compounds in a model fuel, dodecane, in a modified JFTOT apparatus. The results can be correlated to model studies at lower temperatures.
Extragalactic variable radio sources

Radio emission from a plasmoid that expands in a nonspherically symmetric manner is analyzed. The properties of this model are compared with the results of Andrews et al. (1978) and Epstein et al. (1982) concerning the values of beta derived for standard (delayed) radio sources. Mechanisms that might produce plasmoids that expand progressively in length while retaining substantially constant cross-sections are briefly discussed.
Primary aorto-esophageal fistula: Great masquerader of esophageal variceal bleeding

Aorto-esophageal fistula is a rare cause of upper gastrointestinal bleeding. Thoracic aneurysm, the most common cause of this condition, will slowly increase over time and can erode the wall of the aorta creating a fistula and leading to torrential bleeding. High clinical suspicion is required for timely diagnosis as common investigations routinely done for gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding, including esophagogastroduodenoscopy, fails to detect most cases. The classical triad of midthoracic pain, herald bleeding and fatal hematemesis described in this condition is seen in only one-third of cases. Physician should be wary of this condition, especially in elderly patients with uncontrolled GI bleeding and who are also at risk of thoracic aneurysm. Computed tomography angiogram detects most cases and emergent endovascular repair with stents controls the initial bleeding. Later, both the aorta and the esophagus are repaired and reconstructed in staged procedures.
Lean construction implementation and its implication on sustainability: a contractor's case study

The lean construction concept has been introduced successfully into the construction industry to reduce construction wastes. While lean concepts require a rethinking of existing construction proces...
Metric Invariants in Dynamical Systems

The scaling function and the linear model for a circle endomorphism are two important smooth invariants under conjugacy. We discuss these two invariants and some relations between them. Furthermore, we use these relations to discuss some realization results in this direction. The discussion in this paper avoids quasiconformal mapping theory and Gibbs theory and g-measure theory, which are used in our previous discussions, therefore, is straightforward and simple.
Flight systems to facilitate deployment and on-orbit operations of the upper atmosphere research satellite

UARS flight systems are designed to ensure mission success during the NSTS Orbiter deployment of the UARS Observatory. The Orbiter and its crew capabilities allow the UARS project to take advantage of the on-orbit human presence. These capabilities include human intervention and correction of spacecraft anomalies. The UARS Observatory is based on the Multi-Mission Modular Spacecraft to allow for flexible monitoring and commanding of the observatory. The observatory's Solar Array and High Gain Antenna systems are designed to allow for manual release and/or deployment. The UARS Airborne Support Equipment are designed to support the observatory as an electrical and communication interface to the Orbiter; and as work platform to support Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA). Tools and EVA equipment were designed and developed to assist the crewmember perform the required contingency tasks.