cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Loneliness among Shift Workers: An Analysis through Organizational Culture, Interpersonal Communication and Dealing with Emotions

Web Finance Incorporation (2016) explains work shift as a work schedule in which a group of workers rotate through set periods of time. Shift work is well recognized in Customer Service and Hotel Industry. These shift employees often complain of emotional, psychological and physiological difficulties. Against this background, the objective of the present study was to analyze the differences between 160 Day and Night Shift employees (selected through non-probability sampling) working in Customer Service (n=80) and Hotel Industry (n=80).The study also aimed at identifying predictors of Loneliness at Workplace. The Organizational Culture Profile (Pareek, 2011), Interpersonal Communication Inventory (Bienvenu, 1971), Dealing with Emotions (Pareek, 2011) and Loneliness at Workplace (Wright, Burt & Strongman, 2006) were administered to measure the respective variables. The statistical analysis revealed a significant difference between Customer Service and Hotel Industry employees in terms of trust, authenticity, collaboration, experimentation, rumination and social companionship (p<0.05). Significant differences in openness, experimentation, coping with feelings, emotional deprivation and social companionship were observed between Day and Night Shift employees (p<0.05). Results further revealed that among Customer Service employees the major predictors of emotional deprivation were interpersonal communication, proaction and flow and of social companionship were interpersonal communication, proaction, self-expression and openness and among Hotel Industry employees the main predictors of emotional deprivation were proaction, rumination, experimentation, interpersonal communication and perceived acceptance and of social companionship were rumination, experimentation and clarity (p<0.05). The current study highlight the importance of organizational and interpersonal values, companies should promote and uphold in order to build healthy working conditions for their employees eventually culminating into their own success.
CHAPTER 30 – Progestogens

For more than a decade, the most confusing and controversial issue in hormonal replacement therapy has been the use of progestogens. Progestogens should be considered as essential for protecting the endometrium from developing endometrial disease with unopposed estrogen. Even with "ideal" progestogen therapy certain undifferentiated endometrial cancers can develop, which confirms the necessity for continued surveillance of all women for all types of cancer. Because some potential adverse effects can occur with progestogens, there should be flexibility with prescribing patterns. In addition, progestogens should be used with caution in women with severe coronary disease. In this setting, options include the use of unopposed low-dose estrogen, micronized progesterone, and nonsystemic forms such as transvaginal or intrauterine therapy. These options also remain for women who have side effects and are intolerant to progestogens.
Plasma q -plate for generation and manipulation of intense optical vortices

An optical vortex is a light wave with a twisting wavefront around its propagation axis and null intensity in the beam center. Its unique spatial structure of field lends itself to a broad range of applications, including optical communication, quantum information, superresolution microscopy, and multidimensional manipulation of particles. However, accessible intensity of optical vortices have been limited to material ionization threshold. This limitation might be removed by using the plasma medium. Here we propose the design of suitably magnetized plasmas which, functioning as a q-plate, leads to a direct conversion from a high-intensity Gaussian beam into a twisted beam. A circularly polarized laser beam in the plasma accumulates an azimuthal-angle-dependent phase shift and hence forms a twisting wavefront. Our three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations demonstrate extremely high-power conversion efficiency. The plasma q-plate can work in a large range of frequencies spanning from terahertz to the optical domain.
Correction: Core-excited and shape resonances of uracil

Correction for 'Core-excited and shape resonances of uracil' by Mark A. Fennimore et al., Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2016, 18, 30536-30545.
Performance Criteria in Response Surfaces for Metabolic Phenotypes of Clonally Propagated Woody Perennials

Response surfaces for metabolic phenotypes describing intermediary nitrogen metabolism are portrayed by 3-dimensional computer assisted graphic methods. Response surfaces describe: biosynthetic hierarchies of families or networks of free amino acids temporal events in development, involving discrete physiological states, arbitrarily defined by current and past compositional behavior, and levels of metabolites as a percentage distribution or as a flux in a state network map.
High Speed Switching in Recording Media

The natural precessional response of the magnetization to an applied field has always complicated the high frequency switching process in magnetic devices. Until recently, magnetic recording, which has dominated on-line and archival storage, could be treated quasi-statically. However, as linear densities approach 500 Kbits/in at disk rotation speeds exceeding 10,000 RPM, recording must occur in ∼10-9s, the regime where precessional effects become important. At the same time, to achieve these extraordinary linear densities, grain size in media has been reduced to 18 orders of magnitude! Here, the experimental data on the time-dependent remanent coercivity H CR (υ)} in state-of-the-art media is presented and related to their basic properties. In all cases, H CR (υ)} is well described by a generic form of Sharrock’s Law, at least down to 10-9s. Below 10-9s, precessional effects increase H CR (υ)} more rapidly but the product of the field increment relative to H CR (υ)} at 10-9s and the field pulse width is only ∼ 100–400 Oe-ns. Therefore, existing high moment record head and media materials should be adequate up to several GHz.
Surface approximation by low degree patches with multiple representations

Computer Aided Geometric Design (CAGD) is concerned with the representation and approximation of curves and surfaces when these objects have to be processed by a computer. Parametric representations are very popular because they allow considerable flexibility for shaping and design. Implicit representations are convenient for determining whether a point is inside, outside or on the surface. These representations offer many complimentary advantages. Therefore, it is desirable to build geometric models with surfaces which have both parametric and implicit representations. Maintaining the degree of the surfaces low is important for practical reasons. Both the size of the surface representation, as well as the difficulties encountered in the algorithms, e.g. root finding algorithms, grow quickly with increasing degree. This thesis introduces low degree surfaces with both parametric and implicit representations and investigates their properties. A new method is described for creating quadratic triangular Bezier surface patches which lie on implicit quadric surfaces. Another method is described for creating biquadratic tensor product Bezier surface patches which lie on implicit cubic surfaces. The resulting surface patches satisfy all of the standard properties of parametric Bezier surfaces, including interpolation of the corners of the control polyhedron and the convex hull property. The second half of this work describes a scheme for filling n-sided holes and for approximating the resulting smooth surface consisting of high degree parametric Bezier surface patches by a continuous surface consisting of low degree patches with both parametric and implicit representations. A new technique is described for filling an n-sided hole smoothly using a single parametric surface patch with a geometrically intuitive compact representation. Next, a new degree reduction algorithm is applied to approximate high degree parametric Bezier surfaces by low degree Bezier surfaces. Finally, a variant of the least squares technique is used to approximate parametric Bezier surfaces of low degree by low degree surfaces with both parametric and implicit representations. The resulting surfaces have boundary continuity and approximation properties.
The coordination of calcium ions by carp muscle calcium binding proteins A, B and C.

The white muscle of fish and amphibia contain a group of closely related, low molecular weight parvalbumins which bind two calcium ions per protein molecule. Because of this distinguishing property, they have been designated muscle calcium binding proteins (MCBP) (1,6,13,14,16). As can be seen in Table I, which summarizes their properties, they are quite acidic and contain relatively high proportions of alanine and phenylalanine. In addition, they possess acetylated amino termini and are highly antigenic.
Adrenal corticosteroids in the treatment of asthma

Shortly after Hench et al. 1 discovered the remarkably beneficial effects cortisone produced in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, cortisone and subsequently its analogs were introduced for the treatment of asthma. The effects were so dramatic that initially it was felt that a miracle drug might have been discovered. However, it soon became apparent that the disease process was not cured but merely modified. Furthermore, as experience in the use of corticosteroids was extended, an alarming array of adverse effects became evident. As a result, even today, 35 years after the discovery of corticosteroids, prolonged systemic corticosteroid therapy for asthma remains controversial and often is regarded as inappropriate. Nevertheless, major advances have been made in our understanding of their physiologic properties. In addition, considerable progress has been made in the development of new corticosteroid compounds and in methods for minimizing their adverse effects. In this article I plan to review not only some of these advances but also to present my views on the accepted general therapeutic principles, as well as some of the controversial issues surrounding the use of corticosteroids in the management of asthma.
Brain-inspired automated visual object discovery and detection.

Despite significant recent progress, machine vision systems lag considerably behind their biological counterparts in performance, scalability, and robustness. A distinctive hallmark of the brain is its ability to automatically discover and model objects, at multiscale resolutions, from repeated exposures to unlabeled contextual data and then to be able to robustly detect the learned objects under various nonideal circumstances, such as partial occlusion and different view angles. Replication of such capabilities in a machine would require three key ingredients: (i) access to large-scale perceptual data of the kind that humans experience, (ii) flexible representations of objects, and (iii) an efficient unsupervised learning algorithm. The Internet fortunately provides unprecedented access to vast amounts of visual data. This paper leverages the availability of such data to develop a scalable framework for unsupervised learning of object prototypes—brain-inspired flexible, scale, and shift invariant representations of deformable objects (e.g., humans, motorcycles, cars, airplanes) comprised of parts, their different configurations and views, and their spatial relationships. Computationally, the object prototypes are represented as geometric associative networks using probabilistic constructs such as Markov random fields. We apply our framework to various datasets and show that our approach is computationally scalable and can construct accurate and operational part-aware object models much more efficiently than in much of the recent computer vision literature. We also present efficient algorithms for detection and localization in new scenes of objects and their partial views.
BigBlueBot: teaching strategies for successful human-agent interactions

Chatbots are becoming quite popular, with many brands developing conversational experiences using platforms such as IBM's Watson Assistant and Facebook Messenger. However, previous research reveals that users' expectations of what conversational agents can understand and do far outpace their actual technical capabilities. Our work seeks to bridge the gap between these expectations and reality by designing a fun learning experience with several goals: explaining how chatbots work by mapping utterances to a set of intents, teaching strategies for avoiding conversational breakdowns, and increasing desire to use chatbots by creating feelings of empathy toward them. Our experience, called BigBlueBot, consists of interactions with two chatbots in which breakdowns occur and the user (or chatbot) must recover using one or more repair strategies. In a Mechanical Turk evaluation (N=88), participants learned strategies for having successful human-agent interactions, reported feelings of empathy toward the chatbots, and expressed a desire to interact with chatbots in the future.
MATHEMATICS OF MUSICAL SCALES

THERE are many musical scales. Al though it is not apparent to the casual listener, the scale of tones of the piano differs from that of the violin. Middle Eastern music can only be approximated on most Western instruments because their scales are different. These scales and their differences can best be explained through mathematics. Just as there must always exist a third rational number between any two rational numbers, there must always exist a third tone between any two tones. Thus, the number of tones available to compose a sonata or to sound a discord is infinite. It is not feasible, from a practical stand point, to compose music from an infinite choice of tones. The solution is a musical scale, a device to classify a small number of tones that, when sounded together in a number of different combinations, will produce pleasant auditory sensations. Pythagoras was among the first who undertook a mathematical study of music. His work resulted in a scale that produces beautiful melodies but severely limits the introduction of harmony or the combination of tones. This fact is shown by an analysis of the mathematics of harmony. A musical sound may be made by strik ing a string or a tuning fork. This causes the adjacent particles of air to vibrate at the same rate as the vibrating string or fork. A tuning fork that vibrates 256 times per second produces a pure tone, which is designated by the letter C. A musical instrument that produces this same tone of C will also produce simul taneously tones of 2, 3, 4, 5, . . . , times the fundamental frequency. These over tones, or harmonics, give an instrument its quality. If a stretched string vibrates with a fundamental frequency as shown in the first drawing of figure 1, it can be shown experimentally that each half of the string will vibrate simultaneously at twice the frequency. Each third of the string will vibrate at three times the fundamental frequency; each fourth will vibrate at four times the fundamental frequency; and so on. The fundamental vibration is called the first harmonic, or more often by the musician,
Information technology and hospital patient safety: a cross-sectional study of US acute care hospitals

OBJECTIVES To determine whether health information technology (IT) systems are associated with better patient safety in acute care settings. STUDY DESIGN In a cross-sectional retrospective study, data on hospital patient safety performance for October 2008 to June 2010 were combined with 2007 information technology systems data. The sample included 3002 US non-federal acute care hospitals. Electronic health record (EHR) system was coded as a composite dichotomous variable based on the presence of 10 major clinical and administrative applications that (if in use) could potentially meet stage 1 "meaningful use" objectives. The surgical IT system was measured as a dichotomous variable if a hospital used at least 1 of the perioperative, preoperative, or postoperative information systems. Hospital patient safety performance was measured by risk-standardized estimated rates per 1000 admissions. Statistical analyses were conducted using an estimated dependent variable methodology with gamma-log link-based weighted generalized linear models, adjusting for hospital characteristics, historical composite process quality, and propensity for EHR adoption. RESULTS We found that the use of surgical IT systems was associated with 7% to 26% lower rates for 7 of 8 patient safety indicators (incidence rate ratio [IRR] range from 0.74 to 0.93; all P values < .01). Further, stage 1 meaningful use-capable EHR systems were associated with 7% to 11% lower rates on 3 of 8 measures (IRR range from 0.89 to 0.93; all P values < .01). CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that the use of IT is associated with modestly lower rates of adverse events in hospitals. However, the cross-sectional design limits our ability to make causal conclusions.
Comparability of WISC and PPVT Scores Among Young Children

A group of 78 disadvantaged preschoolers was given the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT). Despite the significant correlations between the WISC and PPVT IQ scores, comparison of the scores for each child showed little agreement on gross classifications of intelligence. In general, the PPVT IQ scores tended to underestimate the Verbal, Performance, and Full Scale IQ scores of the WISC and to overestimate the incidence of mental retardation. It was concluded that testing young children with the PPVT as the measure of intelligence is of dubious value for research and clinical applications.
Improved volumetric myelin imaging in human brain using 3D dual echo inversion recovery‐prepared UTE with complex echo subtraction

Purpose Inversion recovery-based UTE (IR-UTE) sequences have been proposed to directly image myelin with extremely short T 2 ∗ (~0.3 ms). In this study, we demonstrate the feasibility of complex echo subtraction to improve 3D IR-UTE imaging of myelin in white matter of the brain in vivo. Methods In IR-UTE imaging, long T2 components in white matter (i.e., water) are suppressed using an adiabatic inversion recovery preparation pulse. Dual echo UTE data acquisition and magnitude echo subtraction are used to suppress the residual white matter and gray matter signals, providing high myelin contrast. Complex echo subtraction may further improve the myelin contrast by reducing the residual long T2 water signal contamination caused by regional T1 variations. To verify the efficacy of the complex subtraction technique, in vivo experiments were performed with 5 non-symptomatic healthy volunteers and 5 multiple sclerosis patients on a 3T clinical MR system. Signal enhancement between the complex subtraction and the magnitude subtraction was introduced to evaluate the improvement. Results The complex subtraction improved myelin contrast over the magnitude subtraction in both healthy and patient groups, with more fine myelin structures being revealed. The foci of the demyelinated lesion were more clearly detected by complex subtraction. An average signal enhancement of up to 135.9% was achieved with the complex subtraction over the magnitude subtraction. Conclusion The complex echo subtraction improves 3D IR-UTE morphologic imaging of myelin in white matter of the brain.
Mechanisms of Racial Disparities in Cognitive Aging: An Examination of Material and Psychosocial Well-Being.

OBJECTIVES We tested the hypothesis that education's effect on cognitive aging operates in part through measures of material and psychosocial well-being. METHOD Our sample was of non-Latino black and white participants of the National Social Life Health and Aging Project who had valid cognitive assessments in Waves 2 and 3 (n = 2,951; age range: 48-95). We used structural equation modeling to test for mediation and moderated mediation by income, assets, perceived stress, social status, and allostatic load on the relationships between race, education, and cognition at two time points. RESULTS Education consistently mediated the race-cognition relationship, explaining about 20% of the relationship between race and cognition in all models. Income and assets were moderated by race; these factors were associated with cognition for whites but not blacks. Social status mediated the association between race and cognition, and social status and perceived stress mediated the education-cognition pathway. Allostatic load was not a mediator of any relationship. DISCUSSION Education remains the best explanatory factor for cognitive aging disparities, though material well-being and subjective social status help to explain a portion of the racial disparity in cognitive aging.
A Low-Complexity Interference Cancellation Approach for NOMA

Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has been studied during the standardization of the new radio (NR), fifth generation (5G) of mobile communications systems. It has been shown that NOMA could potentially offer a robust performance in highly interfered scenarios. Despite the observed capacity gain and performance, the issue of NOMA receiver complexity may remain as a potential impediment to adoption of NOMA. The proposed advanced receivers for NOMA are more complex than regular interference cancellation receivers used in base stations. A typical advanced receiver for NOMA is composed of a core multi user detector (MUD) and a forward error correction (FEC) decoder that iteratively attempts to estimate and suppress multi-user interference. At each iteration, interference from previously decoded users are reconstructed and cancelled allowing remaining users to be successfully decoded. Among the proposed advanced receivers for NOMA, receivers using expectation propagation algorithm (EPA) has attracted much attention due its high performance. However, high complexity of such iterative decoding architectures has shadowed their performance and capability. In this paper, we investigate the performance of a simplified version of such iterative MUD receiver such as EPA receiver. According to our evaluations, the simplified receiver can maintain a similar performance as the original EPA receiver for packets with low code rates in both low and high interference environment. In case of packets with a higher code rate, the performance is only marginally degraded.
Determination of nitrate removal kinetics model parameters in woodchip bioreactors.

Abstract Woodchip bioreactors have emerged as a viable water management tool to reduce nitrate contamination from agricultural subsurface drainage, wastewater, and stormwater. Understanding of denitrification kinetics is critical to the design and application of field woodchip bioreactors. The denitrification process in woodchip bioreactors generally obeys a model of Michaelis-Menten type enzyme kinetics. The objective of this study was to determine Michaelis-Menten model parameters for nitrate removal in laboratory bioreactors using the fresh, composted and aged woodchips. The results showed that the maximum nitrate removal rates (Vmax) were 2.09, 0.88 and 0.30 mg N/L/h, and the half saturation constants (Km) were 2.60, 2.16 and 2.01 mg N/L for the composted, fresh and aged woodchip bioreactors at 22 °C. The Vmax values decreased to 0.26 and 0.05 mg N/L/h, and the Km values decreased to 1.74 and 1.19 mg N/L when the composted and fresh woodchip bioreactors were operated at 5 °C. Denitrification in woodchip bioreactors can be operationally defined as a zero-order reaction when treating contaminated water with nitrate much higher than the Km values. The nitrate removal efficiency of the bioreactors followed the order of composted woodchips > fresh woodchips > aged woodchips. The average nitrate load reduction rates were 8.81-21.0, 7.36-9.78, and 2.46-3.54 g N/m3/d for the composted, fresh, and aged woodchip bioreactors at influent nitrate concentrations of 10-50 mg N/L and 22 °C. Woodchip composting before bioreactor installation can be used as a practical strategy to enhance denitrification performance of bioreactors.
Real-World Effectiveness and Safety of Ustekinumab in Elderly Crohn’s Disease Patients

The efficacy and safety profile of ustekinumab (UST) in Crohn’s disease (CD) is favorable; however, data in elderly patients are lacking. We aimed to assess the safety and efficacy of UST in elderly CD. We performed a retrospective cohort study of CD patients classified as elderly (age ≥ 65 years at UST initiation) or nonelderly ( 0.05 all). While nearly 90% patients in both groups experienced clinical response to UST, compared to nonelderly, elderly patients were less likely to achieve complete clinical remission (28.2% vs. 52.6%, p = 0.01). On regression modeling, age was not associated with clinical outcomes (p > 0.05 all). Mucosal healing was achieved in 26% elderly and 30% nonelderly patients (p = 0.74). There were no significant differences in infusion reactions (2.6% vs. 6.4%, p = 0.77), infection (5.2% vs. 7.7%, p = 0.7), or postsurgical complications (p = 0.99) by age category. UST is safe and effective in elderly CD. Although limited by sample size and retrospective design, such real-world data can inform biologic positioning in this IBD population.
A case-control study of herd-level risk factors for nursing calf bovine respiratory disease on cow-calf operations

Surveys indicate that approximately 20% of US cow-calf operations recognize nursing calf BRD to be a problem, leading to the possibility that important risk factors could be identified by comparing affected herds to appropriately matched unaffected herds. The objective of this study was to determine herd-level risk factors for nursing calf BRD through a matched case-control study of cow-calf operations in 3 US states.
Adsorption-desorption characteristics of polychlorinated biphenyls on various polymers commonly found in laboratories

Adsorption and desorption of Aroclor 1254 (a mixture of polychlorinated biphenyls [PCBs]) from 0.25% (wt/vol) aqueous solutions of Triton X-100 on polymeric materials common in laboratories (red vacuum rubber, latex, Tygon, Norprene, manosil, polyethylene, polypropylene, phenoxy resin, nylon, and Teflon) is described. Teflon, nylon, and phenoxy resins showed the lowest adsorptions, with efficiencies of 3.4, 22.9, and 33.0%, respectively. The other polymers adsorbed more than 90% of Aroclor 1254 under similar conditions. Adsorption of PCBs was found to increase with the lipophilicity of the polymer and to be irreversible on soft polymers. The variation in the adsorption efficiencies of these polymers toward PCBs is apparently related to variations in the chemical composition, electronic properties, and degree of softness of these polymers. The present study showed that Teflon, with less than 4% adsorption and more than 99% desorption of Aroclor 1254, is the best candidate for use in biological laboratory work.
Understanding the role of negotiation in distributed search among heterogeneous agents

In our research, we explore the role of negotiation for conflict resolution in distributed search among heterogeneous and reusable agents. We present negotiated search, an algorithm that explicitly recognizes and exploits conflict to direct search activity across a set of agents. In negotiated search, loosely coupled agents interleave the tasks of 1) local search for a solution to some subproblem; 2) integration of local subproblem solutions into a shared solution; 3) information exchange to define and refine the shared search space of the agents; and 4) assessment and reassessment of emerging solutions. Negotiated search is applicable to diverse application areas and problem-solving environments. It requires only basic search operators and allows maximum flexibility in the distribution of those operators. These qualities make the algorithm particularly appropriate for the integration of heterogeneous agents into application systems. The algorithm is implemented in a multi-agent framework, TEAM, that provides the infrastructure required for communication and cooperation.
Identification and purification of a non-ceruloplasmin ferroxidase of human serum.

A non-ceruloplasmin ferroxidase (ferroxidase-II) protein was isolated from human serum and completely resolved from ceruloplasmin by DEAE-Sephadex A-50 chromatography. This protein was isolated and purified approximately 500-fold by utilization of the Cohn IV-1 fraction, DEAE-Sephadex A-50 chromatography, and gel filtration on Agarose A-15m, followed by gel filtration on Agarose A-50m. Ferroxidase-II differed from ceruloplasmin in many respects. Three of the most important differences were that ferroxidase-II (a) was yellow rather than blue as ceruloplasmin, (b) it was not inhibited by azide, and (c) it exhibited no p-phenylenediamine oxidase activity. Ferroxidase-II also differed significantly from the known plasma amine oxidases. The ferroxidase activity of ferroxidase-II was not lost by dialysis or ultrafiltration, but was inactivated by heat treatment and was proportional to the protein concentration at all stages of purification. Oxygen consumption with ferroxidase-II was observed simultaneously with iron oxidation. The ferroxidase-II activity in Wilson's disease serum represented a much larger percentage of the total ferroxidase activity than in normal serum. Although ferroxidase-II was decreased in Wilson's disease serum, it was reduced to a lesser extent than the ceruloplasmin ferroxidase activity. Thus ferroxidase-II may account for the lack of correlation of ferroxidase activity with p-phenylenediamine oxidase activity of Wilson's disease serum and may be responsible for the maintenance of near normal iron metabolism despite the low levels of ceruloplasmin.
IGF-I but not the IGF-I variant Long R3IGF-I increases serum IGFBP-3 in adolescent monkeys

Abstract Previous work in rhesus monkeys has shown that both acute or chronic subcutaneous (s.c.) administration of insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I elevates serum concentrations of IGF binding protein (IGFBP)-3. In order to determine whether an analog of IGF-I, which has a reduced affinity for the IGFBPs, has similar effects, a series of studies using adolescent female rhesus monkeys were conducted. In the first study, an s.c. injection of IGF-I (110 mg/kg; n = 6) significantly elevated serum IGFBP-3 concentrations through 7 h following treatment. In contrast, serum IGFBP-3 decreased throughout the day following an injection of Long R 3 IGF-I (110 mg/kg, s.c., n = 5). However, this decrease was not due to the analog treatment as serum IGFBP-3 also declined in a similar fashion in untreated females ( n = 5) sampled on the same schedule. Serum GH levels were acutely suppressed by both IGFs but were not altered in untreated females. In the second study, serum IGFBP-3 were compared between untreated control females ( n = 6) and females treated continuously by s.c. infusion with either Long R 3 IGF-I (120 mg/kg/day, s.c.; n = 5) or IGF-I (120 mg/kg/day, s.c.; n = 5) or IGF-I s.c.; n = 4). Serum IGFBP-3 was consistently elevated by IGF-I infusion, whereas levels in analog-treated monkeys were similar to those in control females. Although acute or chronic administration of Long R 3 IGF-I did not elevate serum IGFBP-3, chronic administration of the analog did not block the acute facilitating effects of IGF-I on serum IGFBP-3. The increase in serum IGFBP-3 following an acute injection of IGF-I (110 mg/kg, s.c.) was not significantly different between untreated females and females receiving a constant s.c. infusion of Long R 3 IGF-I. These data indicate either acutely or chronically administered IGF-I but not its analog Long R 3 IGF-I can elevate serum concentrations of IGFBP-3. Although the analog fails to increase serum IGFBP-3, it does not block the facilitating effects of IGF-I on concentrations of this IGFBP. Taken together, these data suggest that the increase in serum IGFBP-3 by exogenous IGF-I may not be a receptor mediated event but may be the result of IGF-I binding to IGFBP-3 and forming the binary and ternary complex, slowing IGFBP-3 degradation.
MODEL STUDIES OF SALT WATER INTRUSION

Model studies were and are still being used to verify certain theories in ground-water flow systems in general. In complex cases, the model studies may be extremely useful especially when a theoretical rigorous analysis does not exist. The models cannot be considered entirely satisfactory due to the several drawbacks in each type in addition to the normal human errors in experimentation. This paper is concerned only with the viscous flow models. However, a brief summary of the other types of models, which may possibly be used in connection with salt water intrusion problems is given. It should be noted that some of such experiments are not directly related to the field of salt water intrusion. Two main types lie within this category: The gravity flow systems which are analogous to some phases of salt intrusion problems and problems in oil fields which bear general similarities to sea water intrusion zones. In oil fields, gas cycling studies give valuable information to sea water problems. Model studies are used by hydraulic engineers, geologists, petroleum engineers, physicists, foundation engineers and several other professional groups.
Broadband optimal contrast resolution beamforming

This paper proposes a novel receive beamformer architecture for broadband imaging systems that uses unique finite impulse response (FIR) filters on each channel. The conventional delay-and-sum (DAS) beamformer applies receive apodization by weighting the signal on each receive channel prior to beam summation. Our proposed FIR beamformer passes the focused receive radio frequency (RF) signals through multi-tap FIR filters on each receive channel prior to summation. The receive FIR filters are constructed to maximize the contrast resolution of the system's spatial response. The broadband FIR beamformer produces spatial point spread functions (PSFs) with narrower mainlobe widths and lower sidelobe levels than spatial PSFs produced by the conventional DAS beamformer. We present simulation results showing that FIR filters of modest tap lengths (3-7) can yield marked improvement in image contrast and point resolution. Specifically we show that 7-tap FIR filters can reduce sidelobe and grating lobe energy by 30dB and improve contrast resolution by as much as 20dB compared to conventional apodization profiles. This improvement in contrast resolution comes at the expense of a decrease in beamformer sensitivity. We investigate the effects of phase aberration and show in simulation results that the multi-tap FIR beamformer outperforms the unaberrated DAS beamformer by 8-12dB even in the presence of moderate aberration characterized by a root-mean-square strength of 28ns and a full-width at half-maximum correlation length of 3.6mm. We show experimental results wherein multi-tap FIR filters decrease sidelobe energy in the resulting 2D spatial response while achieving a narrow mainlobe. We also show results where the FIR beamformer improves the contrast to noise ratio (CNR) in simulated B-mode cyst images by more than 4dB. Our algorithm has the potential to significantly improve ultrasound beamforming in any application where the system response is reasonably well characterized. Furthermore, this algorithm can be used to increase contrast and resolution in one-way beamforming systems such as acousto-optic and opto-acoustic imaging.
Intraluminal techniques for vena caval interruption and pulmonary embolectomy.

Although most patients who sustain thromboembolism can be managed by anticoagulation, a number of them benefit from mechanical protection against further embolism or require embolectomy for survival. Intraluminal approaches have been developed recently as an alternative to major surgical procedures for these aims and show improved effectiveness and reduced morbidity and mortality rates. Clinical results using the Kimray-Greenfield vena caval filter in 76 patients since 1972 include a mortality rate of 4% within 2 weeks after operation and 17.1% thereafter due to underlying disease. Recurrent thromboembolism was seen in 2.6% and the incidences of thrombophlebitis and extremity edema were comparable to the experience with the Mobin-Uddin umbrella. In contrast to that experience, migration of the filter has not occurred and the postoperative vena cava patency rate at 11 months by venacavography is 97%. Transvenous pulmonary embolectomy has been performed in 22 patients and the development of a steerable catheter with simultaneous insertion of the vena caval filter reduced the operative mortality rate from 40% to 17%. Emboli were removed in 86% of patients and overall survival has been 14 of 22 patients (64%). Catheter embolectomy under local anesthesia provides a useful alternative to open embolectomy requiring cardiopulmonary bypass.
Silicon carbonitride, a new hard material and its relation to the confusion about ‘harder than diamond’ C3N4 ☆

Abstract The claim by Cohen (Science 261 (1993) 307) that powerful computational tools allow us to predict ‘properties of substances even before we have created them’ was made in conjunction with the claim of special properties for a hypothetical phase, C3N4. Among such properties was hardness, and it was asserted that, the covalent form of C3N4 could be ‘harder than diamond.’ This assumption contradicted what chemists have known since 1816 in their experimentation with carbon nitrides. Never was there a single hint of the existence of a covalent, single bond C–N network. In the last decade some 400 papers have been written about this non-existent material of dubious significance (R.C. DeVries, Mater. Res. Innovat. 1 (1997) 161). No C3N4 material has ever been made and the claims on both the chemical composition and crystal structure are clearly in error. The impact of such exaggerated claims on the scientific enterprise cannot be ignored. In contrast, we report herein on a related but real hard material, silicon carbonitride, with the α-Si3N4 crystal structure modified by the introduction of carbon atoms. Synthesis of this Si–N–C crystalline material was possible by using a CH4/H2/N2 microwave plasma etching of solid Si. Films on Si, SiC, Si3N4 and diamond, as well as crystal agglomerates of a few mm3 volume, have been prepared. This phase possesses a micro-hardness lower than cubic boron nitride and a band gap of 3.8 eV. The present experiments indicate that only 6 at.% of C have been incorporated into α-Si3N4. We might suggest that ‘first principles’ calculations be undertaken to explain the limited solubility of carbon in the α-Si3N4 phase.
Intraoperative Epicardial Ultrasound Probe for Visualization of Embedded Coronary Arteries A Novel Approach

The identification of coronary anatomy at the time of cardiac revascularization can be problematic. Preoperative studies (ie, coronary angiography) can aid in the mapping of the coronary anatomy. However, there remain a select few patients with intramyocardial coronaries that provide challenges for surgical dissection during revascularization. Probing the visible portion of the coronary artery, intraoperative cine angiography, thermal angiography, and epicardial Doppler probes have been used to identify the coronary anatomy intraoperatively. Aggressive surgical maneuvers can result in damage and increased time on cardiopulmonary bypass. Previous studies have used epicardial echocardiography on patients undergoing off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting. We report 2 cases in patients undergoing cardiac revascularization on cardiopulmonary bypass where the use of a high-frequency epicardial ultrasound probe facilitated the identification of the embedded coronary arteries. We describe a technique of using antegrade and retrograde cardioplegia administration sequentially to locate the coronary arteries. Easy availability and familiar technology make the epicardial Doppler probe an attractive tool for the identification of embedded coronary arteries.
Dietary proteinase inhibitors alter complement of midgut proteases

Plant serine proteinase inhibitors (Pls) have the potential to restrict the growth and/or development of herbivorous insects. However, there are limitations to the efficacy of these Pls. An insect's susceptibility to a Pl is determined, at least in part, by the relative proportion of proteolytic enzyme activity in the midgut that is suppressed by that inhibitor. Insects adapt to dietary trypsin inhibitor in their host plant by secreting “inhibitor-resistant” trypsin(s). These “inhibitor-resistant” enzyme(s) may be the standard proteinase(s) secreted into the midgut (e.g., Pieris rapae), or may be enhanced following ingestion of proteinase inhibitor (e.g., Helicoverpa zea). In addition, insects may be pre-adapted to specific Pl(s), following adaptation to a Pl from the same family. For example, Pieris rapae is a crucifer specialist that is resistant to cabbage Pl, but is also resistant to Kunitz soybean trypsin inhibitor, a Pl in the same family as cabbage Pl, but from a non-host plant. The ultimate value of this pre-adaptation to herbivory by a species of insect will be determined by the number of different families of Pl in host plant(s) to which the species has adapted, and the distribution of those families among other species of plants. Thus, it is possible that the presence of a plant Pl limits herbivory by insect(s). However, multiple inhibitors, matched to the complement of enzymes in the insect's midgut, may be required to enhance this resistance of plants to herbivorous insects. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
FIXED FIELD ALTERNATING-GRADIENT PARTICLE ACCELERATORS

It is possible, by using alternating-gradient focusing, to design circular accelerators with magnetic guide fields which are constant in time, and which can accommodate stable orbits at all energies from injection to output energy. Such accelerators are in some respects simpler to construct and operate, and moreover, they show promise of greater output currents than conventional synchrotrons and synchrocyclotrons. Two important types of magnetic field patterns are described, the radial-sector and spiral-sector patterns, the former being easier to understand and simpler to construct, the latter resulting in a much smaller accelerator for a given energy. A theory of orbits in fixed-field alternating-gradient accelerators has been worked out in linear approximation, which yields approximate general relationships between machine parameters, as well as more accurate formulas which can be used for design purposes. There are promising applications of these principles to the design of fixed-field synchrotrons, betatrons, and high-energy cyclotrons.
Robust estimation of the correlation matrix of longitudinal data

We propose a double-robust procedure for modeling the correlation matrix of a longitudinal dataset. It is based on an alternative Cholesky decomposition of the form Σ=DLL ? D where D is a diagonal matrix proportional to the square roots of the diagonal entries of Σ and L is a unit lower-triangular matrix determining solely the correlation matrix. The first robustness is with respect to model misspecification for the innovation variances in D, and the second is robustness to outliers in the data. The latter is handled using heavy-tailed multivariate t-distributions with unknown degrees of freedom. We develop a Fisher scoring algorithm for computing the maximum likelihood estimator of the parameters when the nonredundant and unconstrained entries of (L,D) are modeled parsimoniously using covariates. We compare our results with those based on the modified Cholesky decomposition of the form LD 2 L ? using simulations and a real dataset.
Social Interaction and Linguistic Gain During Study Abroad

Abstract: This study investigates the role of social interaction in language gain among study abroad students in France. Using the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI), the Can-Do self-assessment scale (Clark, 1981), a revised version of the Language Contact Profile (LCP; Freed, Dewey, Segalowitz, & Halter, 2001), and preand postdeparture questionnaires, we examine gains in oral proficiency as related to language contact in the study abroad environment. This research shows that language gain is possible during a semester-long study abroad program. It does not uphold the common belief that living situation and contact with authentic media differentiate students who improve from those who do not. Looking at the background of students (age, gender, grade point average, etc.), it reveals that only prior coursework in French correlates strongly with gains in proficiency once abroad. In its most surprising finding, this study suggests that speaking French with Americans may impede proficiency development.
The metaphysical cyborg

In this brief essay, we discuss the nature of the kinds of conceptual changes which will be necessary to bridge the divide between humanity and machine intelligences. From cultural shifts to biotechnological integration, the project of accepting robotic agents into our lives has not been an easy one, and more changes will be required before the majority of human societies are willing and able to allow for the reality of truly robust machine intelligences operating within our daily lives. Here we discuss a number of the questions, hurdles, challenges, and potential pitfalls to this project, including examples from popular media which will allow us to better grasp the effects of these concepts in the general populace.
Simple method for inserting Flash movies into PowerPoint presentations.

OBJECTIVE. This article describes a simple method for inserting Shockwave Flash (Adobe) movies into PowerPoint (Microsoft) slides.CONCLUSION. Shockwave Flash is the latest recommended file format for presenting dynamic data sets in PowerPoint at radiologic society meetings. Unfortunately, the standard method recommended by Microsoft for inserting Flash into PowerPoint is cumbersome and labor intensive. The procedure also can be intimidating for many radiologists. This article offers a solution that entails a simple PowerPoint macro.
Forging a new legacy of trust in research with Alaska Native college students using CBPR.

Objectives. Disparities in the rates of matriculation and graduation are of concern to Alaska Native (AN) students and the universities committed to their academic success. Efforts to reduce attrition require a keen understanding of the factors that impact quality of life (QOL) at college. Yet, a long-standing legacy of mistrust towards research poses challenges to conducting inquiry among AN students. We introduced a partnership between the University of Alaska Fairbank’s Rural Student Services (RSS) and the Center for Alaska Native Health Research (CANHR) within which we conducted the ‘‘What makes life good?’’ study aimed towards developing a QOL measure for AN students. Equally important was building a legacy of research trust among AN partners. Study design. We describe Phase I of a 2-phase study that employed a sequential mixed methods approach. Discussed are facilitators, challenges and lessons learned while striving to adhere to the principles of community-based participatory research (CBPR). Methods. Phase I included formative focus groups and QOL measurement development. The research involved the interplay among activities that were co-developed with the goal of enhancing trust and research capacity. Emphasis was placed on ensuring that data collection and analyses were student driven. Conclusions. All partners resided at the same university. However, trust and collaboration could not be assumed. Working within a collaborative framework, our partnership achieved the aim of developing a culturally informed QOL measure, while also creating an empowering experience for all partners who became co-investigators in a process that might normally be regarded with mistrust. Keywords: Community-based participatory research (CBPR); Alaska Native; quality of life; college students (Published: 25 September 2012) Citation: Int J Circumpolar Health 2012, 71 : 18475 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v71i0.18475