cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
An efficient method for determining the effects of mass modifications in damped systems

Abstract An analytical procedure is presented for determining the effects of mass modifications in viscously damped vibratory systems. A very general but straightforward formulation is given which simplifies considerably for positive definite systems with distinct eigenvalues, the most common case. The procedure permits successive modifications, is reversible, provides accurate results, and significantly reduces computation time. The complete solution of the unmodified system is not a prerequisite for applying the method, although if it is available an exact solution for the modified system can be obtained. A stable numerical scheme for locating the complex roots of the characteristic equation is given, and numerical results are provided to demonstrate the theory.
Effects of an external charged layer on transepithelial ion movement in frog skin

The importance of a mucus layer in the transepithelial movement of ions was examined in frogs by altering the surface charge density while measuring22Na and36Cl fluxes. Cationic dyes such as Alcian Blue and Ruthenium Red titrate surface mucus but did not affect22Na or36Cl influx or efflux. Other agents such as lanthanum, Azure II, calcium and arginine titrate the subcorni-fied space mucus yet did not affect22Na movement through this action. Thus, the mucus layer does not play a role in epithelial sodium or chloride movement across frog skin.
Fast Fourier transform based system reliability analysis

In probabilistic analysis, the failure of a structural system is governed by multiple failure criteria, all of which are to be taken into consideration for the reliability estimation. The accuracy of the estimated structural failure probability highly depends on the joint failure surface and its representation. Moreover, the evaluation of limit-states often requires computationally expensive simulations. To improve the efficiency of reliability analysis methods high quality function approximations for each of the limit-states and the joint failure surface are considered in this paper. Once the joint failure surface is represented using a surrogate model, the convolution integral can be solved efficiently using a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) technique. Due to the high non-linearity of the joint failure region, a methodology is developed to evaluate the convolution integral based on multiple approximations over several disjoint regions spanning the entire design space. Numerical examples are presented to show the applicability, efficiency and accuracy of the proposed method.
Assessing the prosthetic needs of farmers and ranchers with amputations.

Purpose: Farmers and ranchers experience disabling injuries each year of which amputations account for 11%. Anecdotal evidence suggests that current prostheses may not be meeting the needs of farme...
Expert decision support system use, disuse, and misuse: a study using the theory of planned behavior

Abstract Researchers in the past decade have been actively investigating technology use and disuse among conventional and communications technologies. However, recent advancements in expert systems technology has led to new questions about technology use. Where communications technology, such as e-mail or group collaboration software, facilitates co-evolution of problem solving and decision making among people, expert systems create a transaction between user and computer where ultimately, the computer generates the recommended courses of action. This also differs from conventional decision support tools that merely gather information to inform a human decision maker. This empirical study used theory of planned behavior to formulate hypotheses about the use, disuse, and misuse of an expert system decision support (EDSS) technology. It was found that EDSS use was negatively related to errors, whereas misuse of EDSS was positively related to errors. More positive attitudes and social influences led to increased EDSS use, while perceptions of control had no apparent effect. The interaction of social influences and attitudes had a significant non-linear relationship with EDSS misuse.
Event-triggered output feedback control for networked control systems using passivity: Time-varying network induced delays

When network induced delays are considered in the event-triggered control literature, they are typically delays from the plant to the controller and a tight bound on the admissible delays is usually imposed based on the analysis of inter-event time. In [19], a dynamic output feedback based event-triggered control scheme is introduced for stabilization of input feed-forward output feedback passive (IF-OFP) networked control systems (NCSs), which is a more general case compared with the passive and the output feedback passive (OFP) systems studied in [18]. Based on the results shown in [19], we propose a dynamic output feedback based event-triggered control set-up for NCSs which allows us to consider network induced delays both from the plant to the controller and from the controller to the plant. We show that based on the proposed set-up, finite-gain ℒ 2 stability can be achieved in the presence of arbitrary constant network induced delays or time-varying delays with bounded jitters.
Two-photon excitation of nitric oxide fluorescence as a temperature indicator in unsteady gasdynamic processes

A laser induced fluorescence technique, suitable for measuring fluctuating temperatures in cold turbulent flows containing very low concentrations of nitric oxide is described. Temperatures below 300 K may be resolved with signal to noise ratios greater than 50 to 1 using high peak power, tunable dye lasers. The method relies on the two photon excitation of selected ro-vibronic transitions. The analysis includes the effects of fluorescence quenching and shows the technique to be effective at all densities below ambient. Signal to noise ratio estimates are based on a preliminary measurement of the two photon absorptivity for a selected rotational transition in the NO gamma (0,0) band.
Mama Jaja: The Stresses and Strengths of HIV-Affected Ugandan Grandmothers

This paper reports an exploratory qualitative project in the Entebbe-Kampala area of Uganda with 11 grandmothers who are raising orphans because of a parent's death from HIV infection. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the highest HIV infection and mortality rates are among women, especially in their childbearing years, leading to a tremendous number of orphaned HIV-infected and -affected children. Uganda has the world's highest rate of HIV-affected orphans. In Uganda, extended family members, especially grandmothers, provide general orphan care, AIDS care, and care for HIV-affected orphans. If orphans have places to stay, they are most often with grandparents and other elderly relatives in rudimentary village dwellings. Many of these elders are in poor health, recovering from nursing their adult children as they died of AIDS, and suffering from an extreme lack of financial resources. The burden of HIV-affected orphan care is enormously heavy. Services are not being provided adequately to custodial grandparents who ...
Impact of combination medical therapy on mortality in vascular surgery patients.

BACKGROUND: Th use of beta-blockers or statins has been associated with decreased mortality after noncardiac surgery. There are no prior perioperative studies of concurrent use of other cardioprotective drugs. OBJECTIVE: To ascertain whether combinations of aspirin, beta-blockers, statins, and/or angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors were associated with decreased mortality 6 months after vascular surgery. PATIENTS AND DESIGN: We performed a retrospective cohort study on the 3020 patients who underwent vascular surgery between January 1998 and March 2005 at 5 regional Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers. The Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel test was used to assess associations with 6-month all-cause mortality for the combination drug exposures compared to no exposure while adjusting for propensity score. RESULTS: Exposure to all 4 of the study drugs compared to none had a propensity-adjusted relative risk (aRR) of 0.52 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.26-1.01; P = 0.052), number needed to treat (NNT) 19; 3 drugs vs. none, aRR 0.60 (95% CI, 0.38-0.95; P = 0.030), NNT 38; 2 drugs vs. none, aRR 0.68 (95% CI, 0.46-0.99; P = 0.043), NNT 170; and 1 drug vs. none, aRR 0.88 (95% CI, 0.63-1.22; P = 0.445). ACE inhibitor exposure was common in all combinations. CONCLUSIONS: Combination use of 2 to 3 study drugs, some of which included ACE inhibitors, was associated with decreased mortality after vascular surgery. Combination use of all 4 study drugs was not statistically significant due to the small number of events in this group. Further prospective studies of combination perioperative aspirin, beta-blockers, statins, and ACE inhibitors are warranted. Journal of Hospital Medicine 2010;5:218–225. © 2010 Society of Hospital Medicine.
Urinary Tract Masses

Disorders of the urinary tract account for the majority of abdominal masses in infants. The most common causes of a flank mass in a neonate are a hydronephrotic kidney followed by a multicystic kidney. An increasing number of disorders resulting in hydronephrosis are diagnosed by prenatal ultrasound scan, and their natural history continues to be elucidated. This review will examine the common anatomic and functional causes of fetal and neonatal hydronephrosis as well as the diagnosis and treatment of solid and cystic urinary tract masses.
The Effects of Transient Emotional State and Workload on Size Scaling in Perspective Displays

Previous research has been devoted to the study of perceptual (e.g., number of depth cues) and cognitive (e.g., instructional set) factors that influence veridical size perception in perspective displays. However, considering that perspective displays have utility in high workload environments that often induce high arousal (e.g., aircraft cockpits), the present study sought to examine the effect of observers’ emotional state on the ability to perceive and judge veridical size. Within a dual-task paradigm, observers’ ability to make accurate size judgments was examined under conditions of induced emotional state (positive, negative, neutral) and high and low workload. Results showed that participants in both positive and negative induced emotional states were slower to make accurate size judgments than those not under induced emotional arousal. Results suggest that emotional state is an important factor that influences visual performance on perspective displays and is worthy of further study.
Real‐time optical characterization of surface acoustic modes of polyimide thin‐film coatings

A modification of the optical technique of impulsive stimulated thermal scattering that allows real‐time data acquisition is introduced. The method is used to characterize the pseudo‐Rayleigh acoustic modes of thin (∼1 μm) polyimide films attached to silicon substrates and its potential use as a means for extracting the elastic constants of thin‐film coatings is demonstrated.
Chloride and total phosphorus budgets for Green Bay, Lake Michigan

Abstract Green Bay is an elongated freshwater embayment located in northwestern Lake Michigan. Due to its short residence time, the lower bay is heavily influenced by the Fox River's large nutrient load. The inner bay is classified as hypereutrophic and a well-defined trophic gradient is observed moving away from the Fox River towards Lake Michigan, where the bay is nearly oligotrophic. Recent chloride and total phosphorus loading estimates were used to update a chloride and total phosphorus mass-balance model for the bay for 1994–2008. The chloride model provided a means to estimate turbulent eddy diffusion within the bay and exhibited excellent agreement with observed data. The total phosphorus model agreement with observed data was generally good, with the exception of a large deviation in lower Green Bay during 1999–2004. The model was used to estimate the internal loadings necessary to account for the deviation in phosphorus concentrations. The source of the unexpected increase remains unclear, but we speculate significant internal loading due to wind-driven sediment resuspension and hypoxia-induced phosphorus diffusion was significant. These models allow needed reductions to be identified and sourced and also indicate the role internal loading may play in the Green Bay phosphorus budget.
Experimental Development of a Jet Injection Model for Rotating Stall Control

The effectiveness of jet actuation for active modal control of rotating stall is investigated experimentally. The dominant physical effects of injection, such as momentum and mass addition, are elucidated. The results indicate that several of the theoretical assumptions used in past studies of jet injection for rotating stall control must be revised. An updated model of the compression system with jet actuation which allows for the effect of control feedback dynamics to be adequately characterized is developed and verified with forced response measurements. It predicts the right trends of movement of the critical pole. Preliminary active control results are presented, among which is a 5.5% range extension in downstream flow coefficient.Copyright © 1998 by ASME
A mathematical model of bone remodeling with delays

In all vertebrates, bone tissue is constantly regenerated. As part of a very complicated process, osteoclasts reabsorb bone tissue and then osteoblasts reconstruct it. The process is regulated by several chemical signals, and there are also other cells involved. Mathematical models try to reproduce the main characteristics of the process while keeping it simplified. One of the most important part of the remodeling is the periodicity of the process. Here we will consider a simplified model consisting of three ordinary differential equations and introduce delays. The delays appear because there is a lag in the change of the population of osteoblasts due to changes in the population of osteoclasts, and vice versa. We study the properties of the system, including stability and bifurcation and find that the delay differential equations have Hopf bifurcations that give periodic solutions. We calculate numerical solutions to illustrate the behavior of the solutions.
The biology of three North American species of Mesovelia (Hemiptera-Mesoveliidae)

Egg .—The egg is described by Hungerford (11) as being “elongate-oval, with a curved neck terminating in a flat surface which marks the exposed end of the egg as it lies in situ in the stem of some plant”. It is white when first laid, but within a few days it becomes watery transparent as the embryo begins to take form. The deep red eye spots and segmentation appear two days before hatching. Measurements of ten eggs of this species show the average length to be .877 mm., the greatest diameter .268 mm., and the diameter of the exposed end of the egg to be .163 mm.
Effect of age on cognitive sequelae following early life seizures in rats.

Summary Purpose Clinical studies have suggested that seizures in newborns are more damaging than seizures occurring in older children. However, these studies are difficult to interpret for a variety of factors including differing etiologies of seizures across ages. Animal studies can provide insights into the question of whether age of seizure onset in children is a factor in cognitive outcome. Methods To evaluate the effect of age on seizure-induced cognitive impairment we subjected rats to 50 seizures from postnatal days P0–P10 or P15–P25. As adults the rats were studied in the Morris water maze, radial-arm water maze, open field, and active avoidance. To assess synaptic strength and network excitatory and inhibitory function animals were evaluated with long-term potentiation (LTP) and paired-pulse facilitation/inhibition. Results Compared to controls, both groups of rats with recurrent seizures were impaired in spatial memory in both water maze tests, had altered activity in the open field, and did not differ from controls in active avoidance. Rats with recurrent seizures had impaired LTP but showed no deficits in paired-pulse facilitation or inhibition. While rats with later onset showed a trend to worse performance than rats with earlier seizures, the differences were not substantial. Conclusions Recurrent seizures during development are associated with long-term behavioral deficits in learning, memory and activity level as well as impaired synaptic efficiency. Age of seizure onset was not a strong predictor of outcome.
Peritonitis from sorbitol distending medium after hysteroscopy

Abstract Background Complications from hysteroscopy are infrequent. A case of peritonitis from sorbitol distending medium is presented. Case A woman with menorrhagia underwent an uneventful diagnostic hysteroscopy. She had immediate postoperative peritonitis. Laparoscopy was performed, which revealed a normal uterus without perforation. Peritoneal exudates showed no organisms and only white blood cells. The peritoneal cavity was lavaged, and the patient promptly recovered. The peritonitis was likely from the sorbitol, which was used as distending medium and diffused through the tubes and spilled into the peritoneal cavity. Conclusion Peritonitis can presumptively occur from sorbitol when it is used as a distending medium and should be considered on the differential diagnosis when a patient presents with abdominal pain immediately after hysteroscopy.
Quantitative distribution of radiolabeled 5-Aminosalicylic acid enemas in patients with left-sided ulcerative colitis

Rectally administered suspensions of 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) are topically effective in treating left-sided ulcerative colitis. The extent to which the contents of these enemas are distributed to inflamed mucosal linings has not previously been determined. This study was undertaken to validate a technique for labeling 5-ASA with99mTc and to quantitate the distribution of [99mTc]5-ASA in eight patients with left-sided ulcerative colitis. Eight patients underwent three colonic scintigraphic exams within five days, receiving a 60-ml radiolabeled 5-ASA enema into the unprepared rectum for each study, with sequential anterior abdominal images obtained for 4 hr. Activity within the rectum, sigmoid, descending, transverse, and ascending colon was quantitated. Over 50% of the labeled enema had advanced beyond the rectum in five of eight patients and in six of eight patients by 30 min and 60 min, respectively. The distribution of [99mTc]5-ASA was quantitatively reproducible when repeated in the same patient on different days, despite apparent visual differences. By 2 hr, the amount of the enema present within the rectum decreased significantly (P<0.05) compared to the initial distribution. The amount of enema present within the descending colon was increased significantly at 0.5 hr (P< 0.05) and at 2 hr (P< 0.01). There were no significant changes in the distribution from initial values for the sigmoid, transverse, or ascending colon at any time. In each of these cases the spread of the enema to or beyond the extent of disease was documented. In patients with left-sided ulcerative colitis, small volume [99mTc]5-ASA enemas reliably reach the area of inflammation.
Experimental and theoretical investigation of the validity of asymptotic lumped kinetics

Continuum approximation is often used to treat problems involving reaction mixtures of a vast number of species. Previous studies predicted that in many situations the lumped kinetics of a continuum of reactions regardless of their kinetics, are of the power law form after a long time. In this article the authors present experimental support for such asymptotic power law kinetics. The system considered is catalytic deep desulfurization of a petroleum distillate. In addition, a theoretical analysis is made to establish the condition under which the continuum approximation is valid in the long-time limit. The condition turns out not to be very stringent for practical purposes.
Molecular targeting of carbonic anhydrase IX in mice with hypoxic HT29 colorectal tumor xenografts.

Background Carbonic anhydrase IX (CAIX) is a membrane spanning protein involved in the enzymatic regulation of tumor acid-base balance. CAIX has been shown to be elevated in a number of hypoxic tumor types. The purpose of this study was to determine the efficiency of intact and IgG fragments of cG250 to target CAIX in vivo in a hypoxic tumor model. Methodology/Principal Findings Conventional biodistribution studies were performed with 111In-DO3A-cG250, 111In-DO3A-F(ab')2-cG250 and 111In-DO3A-Fab-cG250. Additional ex vivo analysis of the tumor was performed with markers for tumor hypoxia, blood perfusion and endogenous CAIX expression. All four data sets were digitally correlated to determine the optimal agent for determining hypoxia in a HT29 colon cancer xenograft. The HT29 human colorectal tumor xenografts show strong CAIX expression in hypoxic areas of poor blood perfusion. The intact IgG had an initial high focal uptake at the periphery of these hypoxic regions and penetration into the areas of highest CAIX expression over the 7-day study period. The lower molecular weight antibody fragments had a faster uptake into areas of high CAIX expression, but had a much lower absolute uptake at the optimal imaging times. Conclusions/Significance For the clinical detection of hypoxia induced CAIX using cG250 antibody based agents, imaging with the intact IgG at 7 days post injection would allow for the most sensitive and accurate detection of CAIX.
(Re)constructing women: scaled portrayals of privilege and gender norms on campus

How are privilege and/or particular gender norms for women spatially (re)produced over time and how are they challenged and changed? In interviews and mental mapping exercises with 32 students and graduates of an elite US women's college from graduating classes spanning 1937 to 2006, women's class and gender norms and expectations are found to have been produced, reproduced and reworked in their everyday experiences during college. Participants portray these norms through the scales of the body, institution and extra-institution in regards to the particular social and physical space of the campus. Participants' experiences, as depicted in these scales, indicate that class norms remained stable over generational cohorts, but gender norms shifted drastically because the privilege found within and granted by the elite women's college campus allowed for and prompted such changes. Transformations of women's gender norms also correspond with changes in the larger social sphere with a particular split in how participants could enact their privilege to alter their gender norms before and after the late 1960s.
Evaluation of nuclear DNA damage in spermatozoa from infertile men with varicocele

Abstract Objective To examine levels of sperm DNA damage and oxidative stress (OS) in infertile men with varicocele. Design Prospective controlled study. Setting Male infertility clinic, Glickman Urological Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio. Patient(s) Thirty-one infertility patients and 16 fertile controls. Intervention(s) Sperm DNA fragmentation index (DFI), levels of seminal reactive oxygen species (ROS), and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) were assessed using the sperm chromatin structure assay, chemiluminescence assay, and enhanced chemiluminescence assay, respectively. ROS-TAC score was calculated as a measure of OS. Main outcome measure(s) Median (interquartile range) DFI and ROS-TAC scores. Result(s) Sixteen of the 31 patients had left varicocele [grade I (n = 3), grade II (n = 10), and grade III(n = 3)], and the remaining 15 had normal genital examination. Patients with varicoceles had significantly higher percent DFI than controls (25%, range: 20%–35%; vs. 15%, range: 10%–22%). Patients with varicoceles had significantly lower ROS-TAC scores (21, range: 9.5–31) than the infertile patients with normal genital examination (34, range: 28–42) or the controls (40.3, range: 38–44). Conclusion(s) Infertile men with varicoceles showed significantly increased spermatozoal DNA damage that appears to be related to high levels of OS in semen.
An Analysis of Deaths in Portable Cribs and Playpens: What Can Be Learned?

To assess the risk of using portable cribs and playpens as sleep surfaces for infants, data from playpen/portable crib deaths occurring between January 1, 1999, and February 4, 2004, that were reported to the Consumer Product Safety Commission were retrospectively reviewed. Twenty-one playpen/portable crib deaths were identified. Two-thirds of the deaths were in infants. Asphyxia, positional asphyxia, and suffocation were the leading causes of death. Several deaths were the consequence of risks unique to playpens and portable cribs: playpen collapse, modifications to the playpen, and improper assembly. The data demonstrate some unique risks posed by playpens/portable cribs, including risks from improper assembly and setup. Programs recommending and using playpens/portable cribs as routine infant sleep surfaces must be aware of the need for additional guidance regarding use of playpens/portable cribs.
POD model reduction with stability guarantee

Issues concerning stability of models obtained from model reduction using the proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) are investigated in this paper. A sufficient condition which guarantees preservation of stability is given, and a stability-preserving POD model reduction scheme is proposed.
Nowhere Differentiable Functions

Many examples of nowhere differentiable continuous functions are known, the first having been constructed by Weierstrass. One of the simplest existence proofs is due to Banach (1931) [18 p 327]. It is based on the category method. Banach showed that, in the sense of category, almost all continuous functions are nowhere differentiable, in fact it is exceptional for a continuous function to have a finite one-sided derivative, or even to have bounded difference quotients on either side anywhe in an interval.
An on-line approach to coordinated mobility and manipulation

The author presents simple and computationally efficient approach for online coordinated control of mobile robots consisting of a manipulator arm mounted on a mobile base. The effect of base mobility on the end-effector manipulability index is discussed. The base mobility and arm manipulation degrees of freedom are treated equally as the joints of a kinematically redundant composite robot. The redundancy introduced by the mobile base is exploited to satisfy a set of user-defined additional tasks during the end-effector motion. A simple online control scheme that allows the user to assign weighting factors to individual degrees-of-mobility and degrees-of-manipulation, as well as to each task specification, is proposed. The computational efficiency of the control algorithm makes it particularly suitable for real-time implementations. A computer simulation study for a spatial three-jointed manipulator mounted on a one degree-of-freedom mobile platform, which demonstrates the online coordination of mobility and manipulation, is presented. >
The Encapsidated Genome of Microplitis demolitor Bracovirus Integrates into the Host Pseudoplusia includens

Polydnaviruses (PDVs) are symbionts of parasitoid wasps that function as gene delivery vehicles in the insects (hosts) that the wasps parasitize. PDVs persist in wasps as integrated proviruses but are packaged as circularized and segmented double-stranded DNAs into the virions that wasps inject into hosts. In contrast, little is known about how PDV genomic DNAs persist in host cells. Microplitis demolitor carries Microplitis demolitor bracovirus (MdBV) and parasitizes the host Pseudoplusia includens. MdBV infects primarily host hemocytes and also infects a hemocyte-derived cell line from P. includens called CiE1 cells. Here we report that all 15 genomic segments of the MdBV encapsidated genome exhibited long-term persistence in CiE1 cells. Most MdBV genes expressed in hemocytes were persistently expressed in CiE1 cells, including members of the glc gene family whose products transformed CiE1 cells into a suspension culture. PCR-based integration assays combined with cloning and sequencing of host-virus junctions confirmed that genomic segments J and C persisted in CiE1 cells by integration. These genomic DNAs also rapidly integrated into parasitized P. includens. Sequence analysis of wasp-viral junction clones showed that the integration of proviral segments in M. demolitor was associated with a wasp excision/integration motif (WIM) known from other bracoviruses. However, integration into host cells occurred in association with a previously unknown domain that we named the host integration motif (HIM). The presence of HIMs in most MdBV genomic DNAs suggests that the integration of each genomic segment into host cells occurs through a shared mechanism.
Relationship Between Differential Stress Intensity Factor and Crack Growth Rate in Cyclic Tension in Westerly Granite

The laws of fatigue crack propagation in rock may be used to predict life of underground structures for energy storage. The experiments on Westerly granite suggest that this material follows the law da/dN = C(ΔK) m for fatigue crack growth rate and values of C and m are determined. It is observed that m is constant for various ratios of σ m i n /σ m a x whereas C is a parametric constant depending upon the stress ratio. The fatigue cracking in Westerly granite is predominantly along the grain boundaries and the crack is often stopped fora long period at such boundaries that are unfavorably disposed.
A Situative Perspective on a Collaborative Model for Integrating Technology into Teaching

This article describes a collaborative professional development model in which faculty in a College of Education partnered with a local school district to design and implement a year-long project in an effort to increase effective integration of technology in instruction by K-8 classroom teachers, university teacher preparation faculty, pre-service teachers and novice teachers graduating from that teacher preparation program. A brief description of the project, its accomplishments and dilemmas, analysis of the project design and experiences of participants through the lens of situative professional development are presented. Lessons for structuring professional development such that subsequent improvements in technology use within partnership schools and teacher preparation programs can occur are discussed.
Challenges in the phenotypic characterisation of patients in genetic studies of coronary artery disease

Coronary artery disease and acute myocardial infarction are complex traits in which there has been recent research to identify the principal genes that engender susceptibility or provide protection. Although there has been exceptional progress in the technology, which now allows genotyping of hundreds of thousands of single-nucleotide polymorphisms in each individual, there remains a pattern of inconsistency in the studies performed to date, in part owing to the difficulties in defining cases and controls. In this paper, salient issues to facilitate research in this important field are reviewed.
Working in a War Zone: A Child Psychiatrist's Experiences

Humanitarian aid organizations have increasingly emphasized providing mental-health services to war victims in recent conflicts, creating a situation in which mental-health professionals are working ever nearer active combat regions. This article identifies key challenges faced by psychiatrists working in a war zone, and underlines specific strategies employed successfully in central Bosnia in overcoming these challenges. Not only relevant to mental-health professionals treating war victims, many of these strategies are applicable for clinicians involved with cross-cultural populations in regions with limited resources. Examples from the Bosnian conflict illuminate the specific challenges and strategies discussed.
An Evaluation of the Effectiveness of a Sexual Assault Education Program Focusing on Psychological Barriers to Resistance

The purpose of the present investigation was to empirically evaluate the effectiveness of a sexual assault education program. Participants in this study included 94 college women who were randomly assigned to either the treatment group or control group. Early in the academic year, all women responded to survey instruments assessing history of sexual victimization, general knowledge about sexual assault, dating behaviors, sexual communication, perception of risk for experiencing sexual aggression, resistance strategy, self-blame, disclosure of the experience, and reporting of the assault to the police or campus security. At the time of the initial session, women in the treatment group also participated in a 90-minute sexual assault education program focusing on psychological barriers to resistance. Participants in both groups returned for a 7-month follow-up session and responded to survey instruments again. Results indicate that the sexual assault education program was unsuccessful in influencing any of t...
High-Frequency RecA-Dependent and -Independent Mechanisms of Congo Red Binding Mutations in Yersinia pestis

Yersinia pestis, which causes bubonic and pneumonic plague, forms pigmented red colonies on Congo red (CR) dye agar. The hmsHFRS genes required for CR binding (Crb+) are genetically linked to virulence-associated genes encoding a siderophore uptake system. These genes are contained in a 102-kb chromosomal pgm locus that is lost in a high-frequency deletion event, resulting in loss of the Crb+ phenotype. We constructed a recA mutant strain of Y. pestis KIM10+ (YPRA) to test whether the high frequency Crb mutants result from a RecA-mediated deletion of the IS100-flanked pgm locus. Two Pgm-associated phenotypes (Crb+ and pesticin sensitivity [Psts]) were used as markers for the presence of the pgm locus in the RecA+ KIM10+ and RecA− YPRA strains. In KIM10+, both phenotypes were lost at a very high (2 × 10−3) frequency, due to the deletion of the entire pgm locus. In YPRA, the Crb+ phenotype was still lost at a high frequency (4.5 × 10−5), although the loss of the Psts phenotype occurred at spontaneous antibiotic resistance mutation frequencies (2 × 10−7). These RecA-independent Crb− mutants were caused by mutations in both the hmsHFRS locus and in a newly identified gene, hmsT. Nonpigmented Yersinia pseudotuberculosis and Escherichia coli strains transformed with both hmsT and hmsHFRS became Crb+. This study demonstrates that in a laboratory culture, the Crb+ phenotype is unstable, independent of the pgm locus deletion. We propose that a lack of selection for the CR-binding ability of Y. pestis in vitro may contribute to the mutation frequencies observed at the hmsHFRS and hmsT loci.
Blood levels of sulfamethizole in dogs following administration of timed-release tablets employing lipase-lipid-drug systems

Abstract Blood levels of sulfamethizole in dogs following the administration of timed-release tablets are reported. Tablet formulations containing 5% glyceryl monostearate were employed for in vivo studies because the in vitro release from this formulation extended more than 12 hr. The formulations employed a pancreatic lipase-glyceryl trilaurate and glyceryl tristearate system, with enzyme-substrate combinations serving as a release-controlling vehicle to produce a timed-release effect. The main portion of the drug was released through the lipolytic digestion of the substrate by the lipase in addition to some release due to leaching and surface dissolution. A timed-release effect and uniform blood levels were observed over 12 hr. from tablets made from lipase-lipid-drug granules. Blood levels from tablets containing lipase were significantly higher and more consistent than blood levels obtained from tablets without lipase. The variations in blood levels observed in dogs receiving tablets with lipase were much less than variations observed in dogs receiving tablets without lipase.
Impact of post-operative complications on quality of life after pancreatectomy.

Purpose This study was undertaken to analyze the quality of life changes reported by patients with pancreatic cancer undergoing pancreatectomy. Design Post-hoc analysis was performed of a clinical trial examining the safety of intraoperative autotransfusion during oncologic resections. Main outcome measures Perioperative (90-day) complications were graded prospectively using a validated 5-point scale. Quality of life parameters were recorded prospectively by a single trained interviewer preoperatively, at the first post-operative outpatient visit, and at 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months follow-up using the EORTC QLQ-C30 and FACT-An instruments. Results Pancreatectomy for adenocarcinoma was performed in 34 patients with a median follow-up of 2 years (range: 1-1.5 years). Major (grade ≥ 3) complications occurred in 12 (35.3%) of patients. Early ( 0.11). A significant (P=0.023) decline in cognitive function vs . baseline was noted at 6-month follow-up after pancreatectomy. Using a repeated-measures generalized linear model, neither age, nor complication occurrence, nor adjuvant therapy, nor early recurrence accounted for this cognitive decline (P>0.10). Conclusion Quality of life metrics tend to normalize to preoperative levels after pancreatectomy at 6 weeks post-operatively. The occurrence of major complications does not predict a decreased quality of life. The decrease in self-reported cognitive function at six months in this cohort merits further study. Image: FACT physical well-being.
A cidade ausente de Machado de Assis

Neste artigo procuro discutir a presenca de um mecanismo metanarrativo no Memorial de Aires, de Machado de Assis. Tornando evidentes o processo da escrita, as duvidas e os titubeios do narrador, tal mecanismo evidencia a precariedade de toda producao de historias. Busco em La ciudad ausente, de Ricardo Piglia, o contraponto para a compreensao de uma maquina de contar historias que e sutilmente desligada, diante dos olhos atonitos do leitor.
Precise interprocedural analysis using random interpretation

We describe a unified framework for random interpretation that generalizes previous randomized intraprocedural analyses, and also extends naturally to efficient interprocedural analyses. There is no such natural extension known for deterministic algorithms. We present a general technique for extending any intraprocedural random interpreter to perform a context-sensitive interprocedural analysis with only polynomial increase in running time. This technique involves computing random summaries of procedures, which are complete and probabilistically sound.As an instantiation of this general technique, we obtain the first polynomial-time randomized algorithm that discovers all linear relationships interprocedurally in a linear program. We also obtain the first polynomial-time randomized algorithm for precise interprocedural value numbering over a program with unary uninterpreted functions.We present experimental evidence that quantifies the precision and relative speed of the analysis for discovering linear relationships along two dimensions: intraprocedural vs. interprocedural, and deterministic vs. randomized. We also present results that show the variation of the error probability in the randomized analysis with changes in algorithm parameters. These results suggest that the error probability is much lower than the existing conservative theoretical bounds.
Chromatin Remodeling Complexes Interact Dynamically with a Glucocorticoid Receptor–regulated Promoter

Brahma (BRM) and Brahma-related gene 1 (BRG1) are the ATP-dependent catalytic subunits of the SWI/SNF family of chromatin-remodeling complexes. These complexes are involved in essential processes such as cell cycle, growth, differentiation, and cancer. Using imaging approaches in a cell line that harbors tandem repeats of stably integrated copies of the steroid responsive MMTV-LTR (mouse mammary tumor virus–long terminal repeat), we show that BRG1 and BRM are recruited to the MMTV promoter in a hormone-dependent manner. The recruitment of BRG1 and BRM resulted in chromatin remodeling and decondensation of the MMTV repeat as demonstrated by an increase in the restriction enzyme accessibility and in the size of DNA fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) signals. This chromatin remodeling event was concomitant with an increased occupancy of RNA polymerase II and transcriptional activation at the MMTV promoter. The expression of ATPase-deficient forms of BRG1 (BRG1-K-R) or BRM (BRM-K-R) inhibited the remodeling of local and higher order MMTV chromatin structure and resulted in the attenuation of transcription. In vivo photobleaching experiments provided direct evidence that BRG1, BRG1-K-R, and BRM chromatin-remodeling complexes have distinct kinetic properties on the MMTV array, and they dynamically associate with and dissociate from MMTV chromatin in a manner dependent on hormone and a functional ATPase domain. Our data provide a kinetic and mechanistic basis for the BRG1 and BRM chromatin-remodeling complexes in regulating gene expression at a steroid hormone inducible promoter.
Microinjection of acetazolamide into the fastigial nucleus augments respiratory output in the rat.

The rostral fastigial nucleus (FNr) of the cerebellum facilitates the respiratory response to hypercapnia. We hypothesized that some FNr sites are chemosensitive to focal tissue acidosis and contri...
Borneomyia, a new genus and two new species of Milichiidae (Diptera, Schizophora)

Borneomyia n. gen. and its two new species, B. tigra n. sp. and B. acanthophora n. sp. (Diptera, Milichiidae), are described from Borneo and nearby regions. The new genus belongs to the Phyllomyzinae and is characterized by a femoral organ on the male midfemur, by several ventral rows of 3-5 setulae on the basitarsomere of the hindleg, and by the brown spot, each, on the otherwise yellow antennal grooves.
A Distributed System for The Management of Fine-grained Provenance

Existing provenance systems operate at a single layer of abstraction workflow/process/OS at which they record and store provenance. However, the provenance captured from different layers provides the highest benefit when integrated through a unified provenance framework. To build such a framework, a comprehensive provenance model able to represent the provenance of data objects with various semantics and granularity is the first step. In this paper, the authors propose a provenance model able to represent the provenance of any data object captured at any abstraction layer and present an abstract schema of the model. The expressive nature of the model enables a wide range of provenance queries. The authors also illustrate the utility of their model in real world data processing systems. In the paper, they also introduce a data provenance distributed middleware system composed of several different components and services that capture provenance according to their model and securely stores it in a central repository. As part of our middleware, the authors present a thin stackable file system, called FiPS, for capturing local provenance in a portable manner. FiPS is able to capture provenance at various degrees of granularity, transform provenance records into secure information, and direct the resulting provenance data to various persistent storage systems.
Embedded Questions and the Scope of WH Phrases

While all languages have some mechanism for posing constituent (WH) questions, they vary in the mechanisms chosen. English, like many languages, is analyzed as having WH movement in both the syntax and LF: a questioned constituent normally moves into Spec(C), a syntactic position that indicates its semantic scope. Only one WH phrase is allowed in Spec(C) at S-structure, however, and other WH movement takes place in LF. Chinese and Japanese (Huang 1982; Lasnik and Saito 1984), in contrast, do not have syntactic WH movement; all WH phrases are in situ in the surface structure of these languages. Polish (Toman 1981; Lasnik and Saito 1984) takes a sort of middle ground: it requires all WH phrases to move to an A’ position above IP, but does not allow extraction from indicative clauses (see Lasnik and Saito, fn. 6); WH phrases in CP therefore occur in a position that both differs from their D-structure position and may not necessarily correspond to their semantic scope. Yet other variants are found in Slavic languages described by Rudin (1988): WH movement may be exclusively syntactic, so that all WH phrases are fronted to their scope position at S-structure, either to Spec(C) or adjoined to IP.
Percutaneous biopsy in the abdomen and pelvis: a step-by-step approach

Percutaneous abdominal biopsies provide referring physicians with valuable diagnostic and prognostic information that guides patient care. All biopsy procedures follow a similar process that begins with the preprocedure evaluation of the patient and ends with the postprocedure management of the patient. In this review, a step-by-step approach to both routine and challenging abdominal biopsies is covered with an emphasis on the differences in biopsy devices and imaging guidance modalities. Adjunctive techniques that may facilitate accessing a lesion in a difficult location or reduce procedure risk are described. An understanding of these concepts will help maintain the favorable safety profile and high diagnostic yield associated with percutaneous biopsies.
Physics-based simulation of 4H-SIC DMOSFET structure under inductive switching

The integration of high power silicon carbide (SiC) Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors (MOSFETs) in today's power systems drives the demand for deeper understanding of the device switching characteristics by way of device simulation. Applications like motor drive require power MOSFETs to drive highly inductive loads which increase the switching power loss by extending the voltage and current crossover, a situation which gets exacerbated by the presence of parasitic inductance. A 2D model of a 1200 V 4H-SiC vertical DMOSFET half-cell was developed using a commercially available TCAD software package to investigate the electro-thermal switching characteristics using clamped inductive switching circuit for ON state drain current density values up to $$100\,\hbox {A/cm}^{2}$$100A/cm2 at an ambient lattice temperature of 300 K. Device physics-based models were included to account for carrier mobility, carrier generation and recombination, impact ionization and lattice heating. In order to analyze the areas of localized lattice heating, the lattice temperature distribution was monitored during simulation. The clamped inductive switching circuit simulations were performed with and without the addition of parasitic electrode inductance to observe the difference in switching energy loss.
Technical note: 3-hourly temporal downscaling of monthly global terrestrialbiosphere model net ecosystem exchange

Abstract. The land surface provides a boundary condition to atmospheric forward and flux inversion models. These models require prior estimates of CO2 fluxes at relatively high temporal resolutions (e.g., 3-hourly) because of the high frequency of atmospheric mixing and wind heterogeneity. However, land surface model CO2 fluxes are often provided at monthly time steps, typically because the land surface modeling community focuses more on time steps associated with plant phenology (e.g., seasonal) than on sub-daily phenomena. Here, we describe a new dataset created from 15 global land surface models and 4 ensemble products in the Multi-scale Synthesis and Terrestrial Model Intercomparison Project (MsTMIP), temporally downscaled from monthly to 3-hourly output. We provide 3-hourly output for each individual model over 7 years (2004–2010), as well as an ensemble mean, a weighted ensemble mean, and the multi-model standard deviation. Output is provided in three different spatial resolutions for user preferences: 0.5° × 0.5°, 2.0° × 2.5°, and 4.0° × 5.0° (latitude × longitude). These data are publicly available from doi:10.3334/ORNLDAAC/1315 .