cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Reducing electronic health record-related burnout in providers through a personalized efficiency improvement program.

OBJECTIVE To give providers a better understanding of how to use the electronic health record (EHR), improve efficiency, and reduce burnout. MATERIALS AND METHODS All ambulatory providers were offered at least 1 one-on-one session with an "optimizer" focusing on filling gaps in EHR knowledge and lack of customization. Success was measured using pre- and post-surveys that consisted of validated tools and homegrown questions. Only participants who returned both surveys were included in our calculations. RESULTS Out of 1155 eligible providers, 1010 participated in optimization sessions. Pre-survey return rate was 90% (1034/1155) and post-survey was 54% (541/1010). 451 participants completed both surveys. After completing their optimization sessions, respondents reported a 26% improvement in mean knowledge of EHR functionality (P < .01), a 19% increase in the mean efficiency in the EHR (P < .01), and a 17% decrease in mean after-hours EHR usage (P < .01). Of the 401 providers asked to rate their burnout, 32% reported feelings of burnout in the pre-survey compared to 23% in the post-survey (P < .01). Providers were also likely to recommend colleagues participate in the program, with a Net Promoter Score of 41. DISCUSSION It is possible to improve provider efficiency and feelings of burnout with a personalized optimization program. We ascribe these improvements to the one-on-one nature of our program which provides both training as well as addressing the feeling of isolation many providers feel after implementation. CONCLUSION It is possible to reduce burnout in ambulatory providers with personalized retraining designed to improve efficiency and knowledge of the EHR.
ATP hydrolysis coordinates the activities of two motors in a dimeric chromatin remodeling enzyme

ATP-dependent chromatin remodelers are essential enzymes that restructure eukaryotic genomes to enable all DNA-based processes. The diversity and complexity of these processes are matched by the complexity of the enzymes that carry them out, making remodelers a challenging class of molecular motors to study by conventional methods. Here we use a single molecule biophysical assay to overcome some of these challenges, enabling a detailed mechanistic dissection of a paradigmatic remodeler reaction, that of sliding a nucleosome towards the longer DNA linker. We focus on how two motors of a dimeric remodeler coordinate to accomplish such directional sliding. We find that ATP hydrolysis by both motors promotes coordination, suggesting a role for ATP in resolving the competition for directional commitment. Furthermore, we show an artificially constitutive dimer is no more or less coordinated, but is more processive, suggesting a cell could modulate a remodeler9s oligomeric state to modulate local chromatin dynamics.
Volatility, island nations and small states

The authors of this paper have attempted to fill a gap in the literature that addresses both domestic and foreign born growth volatility for island countries and small states. Using a sophisticated dynamic panel framework, we find that the characteristics of both types of volatility are considerably different than they are for other countries. Our results argue against the prevailing wisdom regarding volatility that these two groups should simply mimic the economic policies of other nations.
The effect of autologous repair and voluntary wheel running on force recovery in a rat model of volumetric muscle loss

New findings What is the central question of this study? Following large traumatic loss of muscle tissue (volumetric muscle loss; VML), permanent functional and cosmetic deficits present themselves and regenerative therapies alone have not been able to generate a robust regenerative response: how does the addition of rehabilitative therapies affects the regenerative response? What is the main finding and its importance? Using exercise along with autologous muscle repair, we demonstrated accelerated muscle force recovery response post-VML. The accentuated force recovery 2 weeks post-VML would allow patients to return home sooner than allowed with current therapies. Abstract Skeletal muscle can regenerate from damage but is overwhelmed with extreme tissue loss, known as volumetric muscle loss (VML). Patients suffering from VML do not fully recover force output in the affected limb. Recent studies show that replacement tissue (i.e., autograph) into the VML defect site plus physical activity show promise for optimizing force recovery post-VML. The purpose of this study was to measure the effects of autologous repair and voluntary wheel running on force recovery post-VML. Thirty-two male Sprague-Dawley rats had 20% of their left tibialis anterior (LTA) excised then replaced and sutured into the intact muscle (autologous repair). The right tibialis anterior (RTA) acted as the contralateral control. Sixteen rats were given free access to a running wheel (Wheel) whereas the other 16 remained in a cage with the running wheel locked (Sed). At 2 and 8 weeks post-VML, the LTA underwent force testing; then the muscle was removed and morphological and gene expression analysis was conducted. At 2 weeks post-injury, normalized LTA force was 58% greater in the Wheel group compared to the Sed group. At 8 weeks post-VML, LTA force was similar between the Wheel and Sed groups but was still lower than the uninjured RTA. Gene expression analysis at 2 weeks post-VML showed the wheel groups had lower mRNA content of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6 and tumour necrosis factor α compared to the Sed group. Overall, voluntary wheel running promoted early force recovery, but was not sufficient to fully restore force. The accentuated early force recovery is possibly due to a more pro-regenerative microenvironment.
Operator front broadening in chaotic and integrable quantum chains

Operator spreading under unitary time evolution has attracted a lot of attention recently as a way to probe many-body quantum chaos. While quantities such as out-of-time-ordered correlators (OTOCs) do distinguish interacting from noninteracting systems, it has remained unclear to what extent they can truly diagnose chaotic vs integrable dynamics in many-body quantum systems. Here, we analyze operator spreading in generic one-dimensional many-body quantum systems using a combination of matrix product operator (MPO) and analytical techniques, focusing on the operator right weight. First, we show that while small bond dimension MPOs allow one to capture the exponentially decaying tail of the operator front, in agreement with earlier results, they lead to significant quantitative and qualitative errors for the actual front---defined by the maximum of the right weight. We find that while the operator front broadens diffusively in both integrable and chaotic interacting spin chains, the precise shape and scaling of the height of the front in integrable systems is anomalous for all accessible times. We interpret these results using a quasiparticle picture. This provides a sharp, although rather subtle, signature of many-body quantum chaos in the operator front.
Environmental Systems and Societies: Applications of Environmental Policies to Ensure the Establishment and Conservation of Los Angeles Parks and Green Spaces

Los Angeles is known to be one of the fastest-growing centers of innovation and economic productivity in the world, often characterized by intermittent gentrification, construction, and development, which leaves little consideration for parkland and open green spaces. In this essay, the extent to which the city of Los Angeles has been effective in forming and utilizing the Sustainability City pLAn to establish and sustain parks and green spaces within the city is assessed. The scope of the investigation takes into account progress made by local nonprofit organizations, university involvement, and municipal legislative action. Specifically, the Los Angeles Sustainability City pLAn can be attributed to efforts made by the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust, TreePeople, the University of California Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Department of Parks and Recreation, and the Los Angeles local executive branch. The plan's progress and formation are to be analyzed in the context of park conservation and overall sustainability based upon data and accomplishments through community, university, and legislative initiatives. Overall, it can be concluded that the Los Angeles municipal government has achieved the expansion of park networks through the use of resources provided to them and collaborations with community leaders in improving Los Angeles's green spaces. These accomplishments have been propagated through the drafting and refinement of the Sustainability City pLAn as its goals are put into action. Altogether, this plan has wholly increased urban ecological benefits for wildlife, habitats, ecosystems, and biodiversity within the city of Los Angeles and has the potential to provide a framework for sustainable land use in metropolitan capitals around the world.
ssDNA nanotubes for selective targeting of glioblastoma and delivery of doxorubicin for enhanced survival.

Effective treatment of glioblastoma remains a daunting challenge. One of the major hurdles in the development of therapeutics is their inability to cross the blood-brain tumor barrier (BBTB). Local...
Creation and Stabilization of Coastal Barrier Dunes

Experiments are underway along the coast of North Carolina using sand fences and dune grasses to create and stabilize a barrier dune line parallel to and behind the existing beaches of low lying barrier islands. Several miles of experimental sections have been established, and their effectiveness in trapping wind-blown sand has been analyzed. Results to date (1968) show that sand fences and dune grasses will trap wind-blown sand and create a barrier dune. A vigorous, rapidly-growing strip of American beachgrass, 90 feet wide, will trap and retain all of the sand being transported by the wind in the area. Thus, a stabilized dune can be "grown" in the area using American beachgrass. Sand fences have been shown to be effective sand traps and can be used where satisfactory plants are not available or where it may not be feasible to await the establishment of vegetation. Two methods of using sand fences to create large dunes have been investigated; both are workable. The use of fabrics as sand fences has been investigated; their effectiveness varies with the porosity of the fabric.
Co-occurring obesity and smoking among U.S. women of reproductive age: Associations with educational attainment and health biomarkers and outcomes.

Abstract Introduction Obesity and smoking are independently associated with socioeconomic disadvantage and adverse health effects in women of reproductive age and their children, but little is known about co-occurring obesity and smoking. The purpose of this study was to investigate relationships between co-occurring obesity and smoking, socioeconomic status, and health biomarkers and outcomes in a nationally representative sample. Methods Data from non-pregnant women of reproductive age were obtained from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys reported between 2007 and 2010. Linear and logistic regressions were used to examine associations between obesity and smoking alone and in combination with educational attainment and a range of health biomarkers and outcomes. Results Prevalence of co-occurring obesity and smoking was 8.1% (~ 4.1 million U.S. women of reproductive age) and increased as an inverse function of educational attainment, with the least educated women being 11.6 times more likely to be obese smokers than the most educated. Compared to women with neither condition, obese smokers had significantly poorer cardiovascular and glycemic biomarker profiles, and higher rates of menstrual irregularity, hysterectomy, oophorectomy, physical limitations, and depression. Obese smokers also had significantly worse high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels, physical mobility, and depression scores than those with obesity or smoking alone. Conclusions Co-occurring obesity and smoking is highly associated with low educational attainment, a marker of socioeconomic disadvantage, and a broad range of adverse health biomarkers and outcomes. Interventions specifically targeting co-occurring obesity and smoking are likely necessary in efforts to reduce health disparities among disadvantaged women and their children.
Supercritical Fluid Chromatography for the Analysis of Natural Products

As with many branches of science, advances in the field of natural products research have always depended largely on the analytical methods available. The separation, identification, structure elucidation, and quantitation of components in phytochemical samples are all essential steps to the study of natural products chemistry. As a result, many of the advances in this field parallel the improvement of analytical methodologies.
Mechanisms of Oxygen Taxis in Bacteria

Since 1881 when Englemann reported aerotaxis in bacteria, an understanding of the molecular nature of the signal transduction remains a daring goal for microbiologists. This short review discusses known facts and recent advances in the field including the discovery of the flavoprotein receptor which drives Escherichia coli towards oxygen. Possible mechanisms of oxygen sensing in various bacterial species are considered in connection with the existing, often fragmental, data on phototaxis, redox taxis and taxis repellent effect of the reactive oxygen species (ROS).
Dynamic modeling-based flight PD controller applied to an unmanned hexarotor helicopter

In this paper, we describe the design and performance of a prototype multi-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) platform featuring autonomous flying based on an inertial measurement unit (IMU) for use in bluetooth communication environments. Although there has been a fair amount of study on free-flying UAVs with multiple rotors, the more recent trend has been to outfit hexarotor UAVs with gimbals to support various services. This paper introduces the hardware and software systems for very compact and autonomous hexarotors, which can be used for search & rescue and surveillance missions without external assistance systems like ground station computers, high-performance remote control devices, or vision systems. This study included the construction of the test hexarotor platform, the implementation of an IMU, mathematical modeling, and simulation of the UAV. Furthermore, the hexarotor UAV with the implemented IMU was connected to a microcontroller unit (ARM-cortex) board. The microcontroller was able to control the rotational speed of the rotors and used the IMU measurements as input signals. A control simulation and experiment with the real system were implemented for the test platform, and the results were evaluated and compared.
Public Capitalism: The Political Authority of Corporate Executives , by Christopher McMahon (Haney Foundation Series) (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013). Hardcover, 208 pp., $39.95; ISBN-10: 0812244443; ISBN-13: 978-0812244441

The article reviews the book "Public Capitalism: The Political Authority of Corporate Executives," by Christopher McMahon.
Shibusawa Eiichi, Dai Ichi Bank, and the Spirit of Japanese Capitalism, 1860-1930

Shibusawa Eiichi (1840-1931) has been called the “father of Japanese capitalism” and was associated with nearly five hundred business enterprises in his lifetime. From his main position as head of Dai Ichi Bank, Shibusawa was a strong advocate for business interests when the Japanese government was generally preoccupied with military concerns. He also consistently argued that business leaders should look to Confucian principle for moral guidance if they were to maintain the public's trust. Through an analysis of Shibusawa's public statements and his legacy in subsequent historical scholarship, particularly Dai Ichi Bank's 1957 official company history, we see that appeals for strong civilian initiative guided by both moral principle and economic rationality have long been an important theme in modern Japanese economic and business history.
Identification of potential prognostic biomarkers in patients with untreated, advanced pancreatic cancer from a phase 3 trial (Cancer and Leukemia Group B 80303)

BACKGROUND: Patients with advanced stage adenocarcinoma of the pancreas have a poor prognosis. The identification of prognostic and/or predictive biomarkers may help stratify patients so that therapy can be individualized. METHODS: Serum samples from patients enrolled in the Cancer and Leukemia Group B 80303 phase 3 trial, “Randomized Study of Gemcitabine With Versus Without Bevacizumab in Patients With Locally Advanced or Metastatic Adenocarcinoma of the Pancreas” were used to discover novel biomarkers. For the discovery phase, 40 sera were selected based on length of survival and type of therapy, and subjected to liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry analysis (LC-MS-MS). The top features (proteins) were then further selected for validation by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). RESULTS: Quantification by nano–LC-MS-MS resulted in 1452 peptides mapping to 156 proteins across all 40 samples, 92 of which had 2 or more peptides. After curation of the data, the authors selected 1 putative prognostic protein, alpha 1-antichymotrypsin (AACT), and 2 putative predictive proteins, histidine-rich glycoprotein (HRG) and complement factor H (CFH), for validation by ELISA. AACT was found to be negatively correlated with overall survival (τ = −0.30 [−0.38, −0.22]; P < .00001). There was no evidence for interaction with bevacizumab and HRG, but there was some evidence for a weak positive correlation of HRG with overall survival (τ = 0.11 [0.03, 0.19]; P < .01). CFH was found to be neither a predictive nor a prognostic factor for overall survival. CONCLUSIONS: AACT may be a useful prognostic marker in patients with advanced stage pancreatic carcinoma, although additional validation studies are needed. Cancer 2011;. © 2011 American Cancer Society.
Diagnosing, Measuring and Monitoring Microbiologically Influenced Corrosion (MIC)

Abstract : The relationship between microorganisms and corrosion is both predictable and complex. In aquatic environments and under some atmospheric conditions, microorganisms settle on surfaces and alter the surface chemistry controlling the rates of corrosion or shifting the mechanism for corrosion. The result is corrosion where none could be anticipated based on the composition of the bulk medium, e.g., low-chloride waters, and rates that are exceptionally last. Under some circumstances microorganisms can also inhibit corrosion. The influence of microorganisms on corrosion depends, not only on the presence and activities of the microorganisms, but also the nature of the metal/alloy and the specific environment in which the organisms are growing, e.g., aerobic vs anaerobic, ratio of aggressive anions to non-aggressive anions and nutrients.
Final Report of the Illinois Criminal Code Rewrite and Reform Commission

The Governor of Illinois created a commission to examine the problems with Illinois criminal law and to rewrite the Illinois criminal code. This two-volume Final Report of the Illinois Criminal Code Rewrite and Reform Commission proposes a new criminal code, in volume 1, together with an official commentary, in volume 2, that explains each provision and how and why it differs from existing law. The introduction to the Report summarizes the reasons for and the importance of criminal code reform, and describes the techniques used in this rewrite project, including both the project’s drafting principles and the methods by which the Commission organized its work.
Fast Low-Rank Semidefinite Programming for Embedding and Clustering

Many non-convex problems in machine learning such as embedding and clustering have been solved using convex semidefinite relaxations. These semidefinite programs (SDPs) are expensive to solve and are hence limited to run on very small data sets. In this paper we show how we can improve the quality and speed of solving a number of these problems by casting them as low-rank SDPs and then directly solving them using a nonconvex optimization algorithm. In particular, we show that problems such as the k-means clustering and maximum variance unfolding (MVU) may be expressed exactly as low-rank SDPs and solved using our approach. We demonstrate that in the above problems our approach is significantly faster, far more scalable and often produces better results compared to traditional SDP relaxation techniques.
Prenatal and neonatal nutrition.

MOST AWARD RECIPIENTS have made carefully planned and masterfully executed investigations of some unexplored nutritional territory, which they could fully describe at such a time as this. I can report only a few disconnected explorations which discovered some useful points of view and uncovered some awkward pitfalls for future travellers. While thanking the Borden Company for the honor of being here, I should like also thank the many colleagues who did most of the work of our explorations, the Boston Lying-in Hospital, which has been such a comfortable base camp, and the Association for the Aid of Crippled Children, whose financial backing has been so necessary and so generous. PRENATAL NUTRITION Our thinking about unborn and newborn babies seems to have dealt so much with other problems than their nutrition and growth that prenatal nutrition was often studied not by first intention but because of some special opportunity. Perhaps the most fortunate of these came when a maternal blood volume study by our medical and obstetrical colleagues provided us with babies whose prenatally acquired iron molecules could be identified throughout infancy, but that was an interesting side trip on a trail we have not pursued further. Another journey began with Mrs. Bertha Burke9s investigations of maternal dietary histories, which afforded the chance to examine a series of infants with much special information attached. The results of our attempts to correlate particular deficiencies in what mothers had eaten during pregnancy with the condition of their infants at birth were disappointing to those so recently stirred by the demonstrations of Dr. Warkany, that specific malformations of newborn animals resulted when maternal diet was restricted in certain nutrients at critical periods of fetal life.
Coronary Bypass Surgery in the Presence of Metastatic Pheochromocytoma

The hemodynamic management of a patient with a pheochromocytoma presents special challenges due to the episodic release of catecholamines from the tumor, which threatens to provoke a hypertensive crisis. We present a patient with metastatic pheochromocytoma (bone, lung, lymph nodes) who underwent successful coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery following premedication with phenoxybenzamine and metyrosine as well as the use of intraoperative phentolamine for the management of a hypertensive crisis in the operating room. doi: 10.1111/jocs.12533 (J Card Surg 2015;30:419–420)
Brief chemotherapy, Stanford V, and adjuvant radiotherapy for bulky or advanced-stage Hodgkin's disease: a preliminary report.

PURPOSEAlthough survival rates have improved for patients with bulky and advanced-stage Hodgkin's disease (HD), current treatments entail substantial acute morbidity and risks for late effects such as infertility, second malignancies, and cardiopulmonary toxicities. A novel, brief chemotherapy regimen (doxorubicin, vinblastine, mechlorethamine, vincristine, bleomycin, etoposide, and prednisone [Stanford V]) was designed to shorten the duration of treatment, significantly reduce cumulative doses of alkylating agents, doxorubicin, and bleomycin, and maintain dose-intensity (DI). This brief chemotherapy was combined with radiation therapy (RT) to bulky disease sites.METHODSSince May 1989, 65 previously untreated patients were treated for stage II HD with bulky mediastinal involvement (n = 21) or for stage III or IV HD (n = 44). Patients received weekly chemotherapy for 12 weeks. Consolidative RT was given to the first 25 patients to sites of initial bulky disease or radiographic abnormalities that persisted ...
Q-L transformations for adaptive generalized order statistic filtering

The authors introduce quasi-range based (Q) transformations in the time, rank and time-rank domains. The eigenanalysis for each mapping is performed, showing that one can enhance the performance of gradient-based adaptive filters in all of these signal spaces by exploiting the improved eigenstructures attained by the transformations. Thus, for adaptive signal processing, in general it is better to use quasi-ranges rather than order statistics. >
Model for microbial growth with more than one limiting nutrient

Abstract Microbial growth rate is determined by concentrations of nutrients. Our new model uses conventional Monod formulations and weighs the contribution of potentially limiting nutrients according to their half-saturation constants. The model fits our data and that of others better than do older models, even though no new coefficients were added.
Static caching for incremental computation

A systematic approach is given for deriving incremental programs that exploit caching. The cache-and-prune method presented in the article consists of three stages: (I) the original program is extended to cache the results of all its intermediate subcomputations as well as the final result, (II)) the extended program is incrementalized so that computation on a new input can use all intermediate results on an old input, and (III) unused results cached by the extended program and maintained by the incremental program are pruned away, leaving a pruned extended program that caches only useful intermediate results and a pruned incremental program that uses and maintains only useful results. All three stages utilize static analyses and semantics-preserving transformations. Stages I and III are simple, clean, and fully automatable. The overall method has a kind of optimality with respect to the techniques used in Stage II. The method can be applied straightfowardly to provide a systematic approach to program improvement via caching.
Foliar terpenoids in Tsuga species and the fecundity of scale insects.

The relationship between the reproductive success of two Japanese scale insects, Fiorinia externa Ferris and Nuculaspis tsugae (Marlatt) (Homoptera: Diaspididae) and the concentrations of 15 terpenoids in needles of Tsuga sieboldii, the Japanese host, and T. canadensis, the North American host, was investigated during 1981 and 1982 in a field plot of 8-year-old trees in New Haven, CT, USA. Both scales produced significantly more eggs per female on T. sieboldii than on T. canadensis. Stepwise multiple regression analyses indicated that the variation in fecundity within both scales was strongly associated with variation in the terpenoid profile between tree species.
The effect of compiler-flag tuning on SPEC benchmark performance

The SPEC CINT92 and CFP92 benchmark suites are application-based system benchmarks primarily intended for workstation-class system performance measurements. The SPEC CPU benchmark results are widely disseminated by system vendors and as such have become the de-facto standard for comparing system performance. Recently, many observers have expressed concerns about the suitability of published SPEC benchmark results in representing application performance on typical systems. The most outspoken concern is that there is too much freedom permitted in the manipulation of compiler flags. This has resulted in revisions to the SPEC reporting procedure.This paper presents and discusses many of the issues concerning the tuning of benchmarks through manipulation of compiler flags. We attempt to quantify the impact of these procedures through controlled experiments. Baseline performance results, using a set of uniform, common optimizations are compared to published data. Further experiments measure the performance of the SPEC benchmarks in the other common usage scenarios. These are a centralized file storage configuration and a system using common binaries among several implementations of the same architecture. Despite the great concern over the use of compiler flags in the SPEC community, our experiments show only a modest impact on performance. The more significant performance differential shown in the other experiments draws into question the utility of current SPEC data to many users.
Identification of diverse bacteria grown under diverse conditions using pyrolysis-mass spectrometry

Abstract A series of experiment has been conducted which examined the susceptibility of the pyrolysis-mass spectrometry (Py-MS) method of identifying bacteria to changes in incubation time, killing method and diversity of bacteria. Differences in incubation time (24–48 h) and killing method did not detract from the ability to classify the bacterial species present. Once the data set exceeded 20 different bacteria, not all of the species could be descriminated.
Natural Selection as an Inhibitor of Genetic Diversity: Multiplicative Weights Updates Algorithm and a Conjecture of Haploid Genetics [Working Paper Abstract]

In a recent series of papers a surprisingly strong connection was discovered between standard evolutionary models of natural selection and Multiplicative Weights Updates Algorithm, a ubiquitous model of online learning and optimization. These papers establish that, under specific assumptions, mathematical models of biological evolution can be reduced to studying discrete replicator dynamics, a close variant of MWUA, in coordination games. This connection allows for introducing insights from game theoretic dynamics into the field of mathematical biology.Using these results as a stepping stone, we show that mathematical models of haploid evolution imply the extinction of genetic diversity in the long term limit, a widely believed conjecture in genetics. In game theoretic terms we show that in the case of coordination games, under minimal genericity assumptions, discrete replicator dynamics converge to pure Nash equilibria for all but a zero measure of initial conditions. This result holds despite the fact that mixed Nash equilibria can be exponentially (or even uncountably) many, completely dominating in number the set of pure Nash equilibria. Thus, in haploid organisms the long term preservation of genetic diversity needs to be safeguarded by other evolutionary mechanisms such as mutations and speciation.
Studies of the functional properties of the hemoglobin from the benthic fish, Antimora rostrata.

Abstract 1. 1. The functional behavior of the hemoglobin from a deep sea fish, Antimora rostrata , has been studied through equilibrium and kinetic measurements. 2. 2. The hemoglobin appears functionally heterogeneous due to either the presence of more than a single hemoglobin or α-β chain differences. 3. 3. Although the hemoglobin displays a typical Root effect, the measured reduction in oxygen affinity appears to be insufficient to account for the filling of a swim bladder with gaseous oxygen at depths of a mile or greater without invoking some additional pumping mechanism such as a possible salting out effect.
On the Interactions between Large-Scale Structure and Fine-Grained Turbulence in a Free Shear Flow. III. A Numerical Solution

The results of a numerical computation of the interactions between the horizontally periodic monochromatic component of a large-scale coherent structure and the fine-grained turbulence in a mixing layer are presented. In the numerical calculations, the appropriate dependent variable is one which comprises both the mean and the large-scale coherent structure. The dynamical equations obtained for such a total coherent structure quantity are identical to the unsteady equations for the mean quantities in the Reynolds sense, except that the fine-grained turbulent stresses are interpreted as being conditionally averaged. It is shown how three dimensional fine-grained turbulence can be produced indirectly from the two dimensional large-scale structure via the isotropizing process of the approximated pressure-strain correlation.
Creep in Shear of Experimental Solder Joints

Thermal fatigue failures of solder joints in electronic devices are a great concern in the electronics industry. Since the fatigue load is often in shear the details of thermal fatigue failure in shear are of particular interest. Recent work indicates that similar failure mechanisms operate in both thermal fatigue in shear and unidirectional creep in shear. Additionally, since the operative temperatures during thermal fatigue represent high solder homologous temperatures, creep deformation is certainly involved. These factors and the relative ease of conducting creep experiments encourage the study of solder joints under shear creep conditions. This work presents steady state shear creep rate vs shear stress data for several solder compositions, including the binary eutectic alloy and Pb-Sn alloyed with small amounts of Bi, Cd, In, and Sb, in a joint configuration. These data indicate that conventional creep mechanisms operate in the temperature and shear strain rate ranges studied. Extensive microstructural information is also reported. The microstructural evolution under creep conditions indicates that the instability of the as-cast binary Pb-Sn eutectic microstructure initiates creep failure. Changes of the as-solidified microstructure with the third element addition are reported as are the microstructural responses of each of these alloys to creep deformation. Themore » efficacy of postponing the microstructural instability with the addition of small amounts of ternary elements is discussed. 27 refs., 13 figs., 1 tab.« less
Considerations of crack growth and plasticity in finite element analysis

A finite-element analysis was made of crack growth in a center-cracked specimen subjected to monotonically increasing load until the point of fast fracture. Since part of the specimen experienced unloading, the boundary value problem which was formulated was based upon incremental theory of plasticity. Experimental load and crack size records were utilized. Linear relations between plastic energy and crack growth were observed. Fracture toughness parameters, which were evaluated at the onset of unstable crack propagation from finite-element analysis, were in good agreement with those determined experimentally.
Tumor necrosis factor α is a determinant of pathogenesis and disease progression in mycobacterial infection in the central nervous system

The pathogenesis of tuberculous meningitis, a devastating complication of tuberculosis in man, is poorly understood. We previously reported that rabbits with experimental tuberculous meningitis were protected from death by a combination of antibiotics and thalidomide therapy. Survival was associated with inhibition of tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) production by thalidomide. To test whether cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of TNF-α correlated with pathogenesis, the response of rabbits infected in the central nervous system (CNS) with various mycobacterial strains was studied. CNS infection with Mycobacterium bovis Ravenel, M. bovis bacillus Calmette–Guerin (BCG) Pasteur, and M. bovis BCG Montreal were compared. M. bovis Ravenel induced the highest levels of TNF-α in the CSF in association with high leukocytosis, protein accumulation, and severe meningeal inflammation. BCG Pasteur had intermediate effects, and BCG Montreal was the least virulent. In addition, M. bovis Ravenel numbers were highest in the brain and CSF and the bacilli also disseminated more efficiently to distant organs, compared with BCG Pasteur and BCG Montreal. In subsequent experiments, rabbits were infected with either recombinant M. bovis BCG Montreal (vector), or BCG Montreal expressing the murine gene for TNF-α (BCG mTNF-α). BCG Montreal was rendered virulent by the expression of murine TNF-α, as demonstrated by high CSF leukocytosis, high protein accumulation, severe meningeal inflammation, persistent bacillary load, and progressive clinical deterioration. Taken together, these results demonstrate that the level of TNF-α produced during mycobacterial CNS infection determines, at least in part, the extent of pathogenesis.
The Weil–Petersson Visual Sphere

We formulate and describe a visual compactification of the Teichmuller space by Weil–Petersson geodesic rays emanating from a point X. We focus on analogies with Bers’s compactification: due to noncompleteness, finite rays correspond to cusps, and such cusps are dense in the visual sphere. By analogy with a result of Kerckhoff and Thurston, we show the natural action of the mapping class group does not extend continuously to the visual compactification. We conclude with examples that distinguish the visual boundary from Bers’s boundary for Teichmuller space
Impediments to prescribed fire across agency, landscape and manager: an example from northern California

Though the need for prescribed fire is widely recognised, its use remains subject to a range of operational and social constraints. Research has focussed on identifying these constraints, yet past efforts have focussed disproportionately on single agencies and geographic regions. We examined constraints on prescribed fire by surveying a wide variety of organisations (including six state and federal agencies and several tribes, non-governmental organisations and timber companies) in northern California, a fire-prone region of the western United States. Across the region, prescribed burning annually covered only 38% of the area needed to fulfil land-management objectives, and 66% of managers indicated dissatisfaction with levels of prescribed fire activity. The highest-ranked impediments were narrow burn window, regulations, lack of adequate personnel and environmental laws. Impediment ratings differed among entities, with legal and social impediments of greater concern in the private sector than in the public, and economic impediments of greater concern in the state and private sectors than in the federal. Comparisons with the south-eastern United States, where similar research has taken place, point to important regional constraints on prescribed fire activity. These findings suggest further need for research spanning geographic and ownership boundaries, as prescribed fire impediments can vary by context.
A Wavelet Based Analysis of Surface Mechanomyographic Signals from the Quadriceps Femoris

The purpose of this study was to use a wavelet analysis designed specifically for surface mechanomyographic (MMG) signals to examine the MMG responses of the vastus lateralis (VL), rectus femoris (RF), and vastus medialis (VM) muscles. Fifteen healthy men [age (mean ± SD): 26.4 ± 6.1 years] volunteered to perform isometric muscle actions of the dominant leg extensors at 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, and 100% of the maximum voluntary contraction (MVC). During each muscle action, surface MMG signals were detected from the VL, RF, and VM and processed with the MMG wavelet analysis. The results show that, for the VL and VM muscles, there was compression of the total MMG intensity spectra toward low frequencies for most force levels above 20% MVC. For the RF, however, the peak of the total MMG intensity spectrum occurred at approximately 30–40 HZ for all force levels. Because the VL, RF, and VM are all innervated by the femoral nerve, the discrepancies among the three muscles for total MMG intensity in each wavelet band may have been due to differences in architecture, muscle stiffness, and/or intramuscular pressure. Muscle Nerve 39: 355–363, 2009
Categorizing Sugarcane Cultivar Resistance to the Sugarcane Aphid and Yellow Sugarcane Aphid (Hemiptera: Aphididae)

Sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) in Louisiana is colonized by two aphid species, the sugarcane aphid, Melanaphis sacchari (Zehntner), and the yellow sugarcane aphid, Sipha flava (Forbes) (Hemiptera: Aphididae). The main problem associated with M. sacchari is transmission of sugarcane yellow leaf virus, a casual agent of yellow leaf disease whose absence has been added to certification standards for micropropagated sugarcane in Louisiana. Greenhouse studies were conducted to categorize dominant commercial sugarcane cultivars for their ability to tolerate aphid injury and to express antixenotic or antibiotic effects on both aphid species. Antixenosis tests showed no preference among cultivars by either aphid species. Loss of chlorophyll content in tolerance tests also did not show differences among cultivars for both aphid species. However, antibiosis tests revealed that life history parameters such as the duration of the reproductive period and fecundity of both aphid species were negatively affected on 'HoCP 91-555' compared with 'L 97-128'. Estimation of demographic statistics indicated that both aphid species exhibited a significantly lower intrinsic rate of increase (1.8-2.8-fold) and longer doubling time (1.7-3.1-fold) on HoCP 91-555 relative to L 97-128. From these tests, cultivars in the current study can be ranked from most to the least susceptible as L 97-128 > 'LCP 85-384' > 'HoCP 96-540' > 'Ho 95-988' > HoCP 91-555 for M. sacchari and L 97-128 > LCP 85-384 > HoCP 91-555 for S. flava. Therefore, antibiosis is an important category of resistance in sugarcane to both aphid species, and HoCP 91-555 might provide useful germplasm for developing aphid resistant cultivars.
Seasonal current variability on the New Jersey inner shelf

[1] The well-sampled ocean off the coast of New Jersey provides a data-rich environment in which to study ocean current variability over the inner shelf. Using a year-long HF radar data set, complemented with in situ and meteorological observations, the annual- and seasonal-scale variabilities are examined. The hydrographic variability of the inner shelf off New Jersey is largely bimodal between summer stratification and winter mixing. An annual oceanographic and atmospheric data set was separated into these two regimes. The influence of stratification is evident through a relatively steady current response strongly correlated with the wind during the stratified season and a more variable response less correlated with the wind during the mixed season. When the water column is mixed, the influence of the local topography on the surface current variability is dependent on the slope, with a tendency for the variability to be more aligned with steeper topography.
Hip, hip, array: imagining genomics in the next millenium

Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., is a physician-geneticist and the Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute of the NIH in Bethesda, Maryland. In that role, he oversees a complex multidisciplinary project aimed at mapping and sequencing all of the human DNA, and determining aspects of its function. Many consider this the most important scientific undertaking of our time. The project is currently running ahead of schedule and under budget.
Children Recovered From Stuttering Without Formal Treatment: Perceptual Assessment of Speech Normalcy

Current evidence suggests that young children who recover from stuttering are essentially stutter-free. However, there is no evidence to indicate if their speech is perceptually indistinguishable from normally fluent peers or whether they retain perceptually unusual speech. One important example of recovery from stuttering is children who have recovered without receiving formal treatment. An investigation was conducted to determine if the speech of these children is perceptually different from the speech of children who have never stuttered. Speakers consisted of 10 preschool and early school-age children documented as recovered from stuttering without benefit of formal treatment. In a series of studies they were compared with 10 children who had never stuttered. Three groups of judges— sophisticated, unsophisticated, and experienced—were separately asked, using videotaped speech samples of the children, to decide which samples were from children who used to stutter. Results revealed that the children who...
On-label and off-label drug use in the treatment of endometriosis

Endometriosis, characterized by the presence of endometrial glands and stroma in extrauterine locations, is a significant cause of pelvic pain and infertility, as well as a major health care burden. Although Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved treatments are available, the use of "off-label" medications for endometriosis is widespread. In this review, we provide an overview of the current FDA-approved treatments, followed by a detailed review of the major "off-label" treatments being used in the United States and worldwide, including efficacy, side effects, drug interactions, contraindications, and anomaly risks.
On gravity from SST, geoid from SEASAT, and plate age and fracture zones in the Pacific

A composite map produced by combining 90 passes of SST data show good agreement with conventional GEM models. The SEASAT altimeter data were deduced and found to agree with both the SST and GEM fields. The maps are dominated (especially in the east) by a pattern of roughly east-west anomalies with a transverse wavelength of about 2000 km. Comparison with regional bathymetric data shows a remarkedly close correlation with plate age. Most anomalies in the east half of the Pacific could be partly caused by regional differences in plate age. The amplitude of these geoid or gravity anomalies caused by age differences should decrease with absolute plate age, and large anomalies (approximately 3 m) over old, smooth sea floor may indicate a further deeper source within or perhaps below the lithosphere. The possible plume size and ascent velocity necessary to supply deep mantle material to the upper mantle without complete thermal equilibration was considered. A plume emanating from a buoyant layer 100 km thick and 10,000 times less viscous than the surrounding mantle should have a diameter of about 400 km and must ascend at about 10 cm/yr to arrive still anomalously hot in the uppermost mantle.
Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia: A prospective study of 142 patients

Abstract In a prospective study of 142 patients receiving intravenous heparin of bovine lung origin, thrombocytopenia developed in nine (6%) patients. In the group of 70 patients with a history of prior heparin therapy, seven (10%) had thrombocytopenia. By contrast, only 2 (3%) of 72 patients with no history of previous heparin treatment had thrombocytopenia, a statistically insignificant difference (p
Financial reporting in the twentieth century: Where have we been, and where are we going?

As we approach the beginning of the twenty-first century, it's important to pause and evaluate where we've been. What has happened to standard setting over the past century? What direction are we going? And what can the past teach us about the future? © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.