cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Dynamic control of hepatic glucose metabolism: Studies by experiment and computer simulation.

The rates of storage and release of carbohydrate by the liver are deterined by the plasma concentrations of several bloodborne signals; most important are the concentrations of glucose, and the hormones insulin and glucagon. To understand the complex control relationships of these three signals as they affect the liver, their individual dynamic influences have been determined experimentally, and they have been integrated by means of a computer simulation of the pathways of hepatic glycogen metabolism. The simulation studies have led to specific hypotheses about the biochemical effects of glucose and insulin on the liver. The simulation studies have also led to the conclusion that glucose exerts a rapid moment-to-moment influence on the rate of uptake of glucose by the liver. Insulin, however, by exerting a slower influence on the sensitivity of the liver to glucose, is very effective in “optimizing” the amount of glucogen with the liver stores during food intake. Thus, integrated experimental and simulation studies can lead to a view of a physiological regulating system which does not emerge from either approach used alone.
EXPERIMENTS ON TURBULENT MIXING IN A PARTIALLY IONIZED GAS

Experimental studies were performed on the turbulent mixing of a partially ionized primary jet with a cool secondary stream. The round primary jet was partially ionized argon, and the annular secondary stream was helium at ambient temperature. Both flows were at atmospheric pressure and were subsonic. Local physical measurements of total gas enthalpy, dynamic pressure, and secondary gas concentration were obtained using a calorimetric probe technique. No electric or magnetic fields were applied, so that the plasma was neutral, and prior analytical estimates had indicated that the existence of equilibrium between the electrons and the heavy particles could be assumed. These conditions then allowed the calculation of temperature, velocity, and specie concentration profiles at the various axial positions. Peak temperatures were found to be 23,800 deg R, corresponding to about 25% singly ionized argon concentration. The existence of a potential core was verified, and it was found that the decay of the plasma jet was extremely rapid. It was also found that mass spreads more rapidly than energy, which in turn spreads more rapidly than momentum. The boundaries defining the spreading of these quantities were nonconical, as compared with the conical result at low temperature. The effects of ionization, asmore » distinct from those due purely to high temperature, appeared to be negligible except for the onset of radiation, which can become a significant energy transfer mechanism above about 21,000 deg R. ( auth)« less
Propensity for Hemorrhage and Thrombosis in Chronic Myeloproliferative Disorders

Polycythemia vera (PV) and essential thrombocythemia (ET) are two myeloproliferative disorders (MPDs) with frequent thrombotic and hemorrhagic complications. Thrombosis is often the cause of mortality in PV and ET; hemorrhage occurs more commonly in idiopathic myelofibrosis patients, but is rarely fatal. Thromboses may occur in arteries or veins. Splanchnic, portal, hepatic, and splenic vein thromboses are not uncommon and thrombosis is also thought to cause placental vascular insufficiency and fetal wastage during pregnancies in MPD patients. These complications may result because of altered interactions between platelets, white blood cells, or endothelial cells, due to either altered receptor expression, receptor-ligand interactions, or signaling events. Age, leukocytosis, increased hematocrit, and a history of thrombotic events are risk factors for thrombosis. In determining a link between clonality and thrombosis using X-chromosome inactivation patterns in patients with ET, those who were polyclonal were less likely to experience thromboses. The search for hypercoagulability in these patients led to identification of changes in the expression patterns of coagulation proteins from the coagulation cascade. Mutations in factor V Leiden were examined and the incidence of mutations did not vary between normal and MPD patients. However, mutations in factor V Leiden were found to be risk factors for venous thrombotic events. Similarly, presence of a prothrombin gene mutation showed a higher risk for venous thromboembolic events. Proteolyzed thrombospondin appeared to contribute to hypercoagulability, and acquired von Willebrand factor disorder gave rise to hemorrhagic complications. These findings provide several potential reasons for thrombotic and hemorrhagic complications in MPD patients. Therefore, the best therapy for these patients is reduction of their platelet counts to less than 450,000/microL and close regulation of their hematocrits. The role of leukocytosis in bleeding or hemorrhage in this population remains to be elucidated.
Realizability of p-point, q-line graphs with prescribed point connectivity, line connectivity, or minimum degree

It is well known that certain graph-theoretic extremal questions play a central role in the study of information network vulnerability. These extremal problems are special cases of the general question of realizability of graph invariants. For example a (p, Δ, δ, λ) graph is a graph having p-points, maximum degree Δ, minimum degree δ, and line-connectivity λ. An arbitrary quadruple of integers (a, b, c, d) is called (p, Δ, δ, γ) realizable if there is a (p, Δ, δ, γ) graph with p = a, Δ = b, δ = c, and γ = d. Necessary and sufficient conditions for a quadruple to be (p, Δ, δ, γ) realizable were recently given by the authors. In another manuscript they gave the solution to (p, Δ, δ, k) realizability, where k denotes the point connectivity. In this work we give necessary and sufficient conditions for (p, q, k), (p, q, γ), and (p, q, δ) realizability, where q denotes the number of lines of a graph.
Fractal modeling of airborne laser altimetry data

Abstract Airborne laser altimetry is a remote sensing technique that can provide high resolution data on the roughness of the landscape both for estimating water balance components and for distinguishing between landscapes. Models of the scale-dependent roughness are needed to find scales most appropriate for these purposes. Our objectives were to apply fractal scaling to high-resolution profiling laser altimetry data and to determine fractal parameters for differentiating land cover. Data were collected at the USDA-ARS jornada Experimental Range in New Mexico over grass-dominated and shrub-dominated sites along four transects at each site. Scale-dependent root-meansquare (RMS) roughness and data power spectrums were computed from 100,000 data points (∼2 km) from each transect. A linearity measure and piecewise linear approximation were applied to find intervals of the fractal scaling. The RMS roughness data had two intervals of self-affine fractal scaling on grass transects and four such intervals on shrub transects. Reduction in the number of data points did not lead to a decrease in roughness but caused a smoothing dependency of fractal dimension on scale. Ten- and hundred-meter scales were appropriate for distinguishing between grass and shrub transects on the basis of fractal dimensions.
Suppression of green peach aphid (Myzus persicae) (Sulz.), citrus mealybug (Planococcus citri) (Risso), and two spotted spider mite (Tetranychus urticae) (Koch.) attacks on tomatoes and cucumbers by aqueous extracts from vermicomposts

Vermicomposts are produced through interactions between earthworms and microorganisms in the breakdown of organic wastes. Aqueous extracts were prepared in commercial brewing equipment (Growing Solutions Inc.) from vermicomposts processed from pre-consumer food waste. The ratio of vermicompost to water was 1 to 5 v:v to produce a 20% aqueous solution. The effects of soil drenches at dilutions of 20%, 10%, and 5% vermicompost extracts, were compared with those of deionized water, in the suppression of green peach aphids, mealybugs, and two spotted spider mites attacking tomatoes and cucumbers, in greenhouse cage experiments. Tomatoes and cucumber seedlings were germinated and grown for four weeks in 25 cm diam. pots containing a soil-less growth medium Metro-Mix 360 and thinned to 4 plants per pot. They were then put under cages (40 cm � 40 cm � 40 cm) with a 0.2 mm mesh, with one pot containing 4 plants in each treatment cage. Plants were treated with soil drenches of 5%, 10%, or 20% vermicompost extracts or a deionized water control to field capacity, at germination and at weekly intervals thereafter. In each experiment, either 100 green peach aphids, mealybugs, or two spotted spider mites were released into each cage (25 pests per test plant), on leaves of the same plant species. Each vermicompost extract treatment and the deionized water control were replicated 4 times per pest cage experiment laid out in a randomized complete block design. Numbers of pests were counted and damage was rated (0, none to 5, total) on days 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 and 14 after pest release into the cages. All of the vermicompost extracts suppressed pest establishment on the plants, and their rates of reproduction for all three species of pests, significantly. They also caused some of the pests on the plants receiving the higher extract application rates to die after 14 days of treatment. The higher the rate of extract application the greater was the suppression of the pests. We concluded that the most likely cause for the unacceptability of the plants to pests and decreased reproduction and mortality, was the uptake of soluble phenolic materials from the vermicompost extracts into the plant tissues. These compounds are known to make plants unattractive to pests and to affect pest rates of reproduction and survival. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Measured Response of Roof Diaphragms and Wall Panels in Tilt‐Up Systems Subjected to Cyclic Loading

Abstract An experimental program was developed to study the strength and deformation capacity of tilt‐up structures with plywood roof diaphragms. Two models of tilt‐up systems were constructed and tested in the laboratory. The structures were representative of one‐story warehouse construction in the western U.S. The overall dimensions of the two test specimens were the same; however, the number and distribution of reinforced concrete wall panels were varied. Each specimen was subjected to a series of lateral load reversals. Two aspects of the measured response of the test specimens are discussed in this paper: the in‐plane displacements of the plywood roof diaphragm and the transverse response of the perimeter wall panels. The wall panels experienced nearly rigid‐body rotation during the entire testing series, and the observed nonlinear response of the test specimens may be attributed to the inherent flexibility of the plywood diaphragm.
Symbolic math applications to constructive solid geometry and finite element analysis

Techniques are developed for dealing with parametric constructive solid geometry. They include methods of generating the side constraints to ensure that the object is still the same conceptually as that originally entered by the engineer. These are generated at the same time the constructive solid geometry (CSG) model is converted to a B-REP representation. In addition, a speedup technique for finite element analysis is developed. Empirical work shows that it is 20 times faster than running the equivalent NASTRAN deck.
Treatment comparison in randomized clinical trials with nonignorable missingness: A reverse regression approach

A common problem in randomized clinical trials is nonignorable missingness, namely that the clinical outcome(s) of interest can be missing in a way that is not fully explained by the observed quant...
Statistical modeling of footprints of QIM steganography

In this paper, a new model is proposed to characterize distortion due to message embedding. The proposed statistical model is used to develop a parametric steganalysis technique to attack quantization index modulation (QIM) steganography. We have shown that quantization with message embedding (a.k.a. QIM) introduces relatively stronger disturbance in the local-correlation in the test-image than quantization without message embedding. Presented steganalysis technique exploits rich spatial/temporal correlation in the natural images to estimate local-randomness in the test-image. The local-randomness estimated from the test-image is modeled using generalized Gamma distribution (GGD). A binary hypothesis test, based on generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRT), is used to detect the QIM-stego image. Simulation results show that the proposed method can successfully distinguish between the quantized-cover and the QIM-stego with very low false alarm rates.
Sequence of testing for monoclonal gammopathies.

Abstract The first test for recognition of monoclonal gammopathies should be serum protein electrophoresis with high-resolution agarose gel. Serum protein electrophoresis should be performed whenever multiple myeloma, Waldenstrom’s macroglobulinemia, primary amyloidosis, or a related disorder is suspected. Immunofixation is critical for the differentiation of a monoclonal from a polyclonal increase in immunoglobulins. Quantitation of immunoglobulins should be performed with a rate nephelometer. The viscosity of serum should be measured if the patient has signs or symptoms of hyperviscosity syndrome. A 24-hour urine specimen should be obtained for determination of the total amount of protein excreted each day. Immunofixation of the urine should be performed on every patient who has an M-protein level greater than 1.5 g/dL (15 g/L) in the serum or in whom multiple myeloma, Waldenstrom’s macroglobulinemia, primary amyloidosis, or a related disorder is suspected.
Ultrafast picket fence pulse trains to enhance frequency conversion of shaped inertial confinement fusion laser pulses.

A high-frequency train of 5–100-ps pulses (picket fence) is proposed to improve significantly the third-harmonic frequency conversion of Nd:glass lasers that are used to generate high-contrast-shaped pulses for inertial confinement fusion (ICF) targets. High conversion efficiency of the low-power foot of a shaped ICF pulse is obtained by use of a low duty cycle, multi-gigahertz train of ∼20-ps pulses with high peak power. Even with less than 10% duty cycle, continuous illumination is maintained on the target by a combination of temporal broadening schemes. The picket fence approach is analyzed, and the practical limits are identified as applied to the National Ignition Facility laser. It is found that the higher conversion efficiency allows ∼40% more third-harmonic energy to be delivered to the target, potentially enabling the larger drive needed for high-yield ICF target designs. In addition, the frequency conversion efficiency of these short pulses saturates much more readily, which reduces the transfer of fluctuations at the fundamental and thus greatly improves the power stability of the third harmonic.
Investigating the C−Cl Antibonding Character in the ππ* Excited State of Vinyl, Allyl, and Propargyl Chloride: Emission Spectra and ab Initio Calculations

We report the emission spectra of dissociating vinyl, allyl, and propargyl chloride upon photoexcitation at 199 nm. To provide a better understanding of the mixed electronic character in the Franck−Condon region of the excited states accessed, we also present ab initio calculations at the configuration interaction level for these three molecules. These experimental and theoretical results indicate large differences in the contribution of nσ*C-Cl and πσ*C-Cl character to these predominantly ππ*CC/C⋮C transitions. We present arguments based on the symmetry of the pertinent molecular orbitals to explain this observed variation. We conclude by considering how the differing electronic character of the excited state in these molecules may influence the branching ratios to C−Cl fission and HCl elimination products observed in the photodissociation of vinyl, allyl, and propargyl chloride.
Evaluation of Procedure-Based Scoring for Hands-On Science Assessment

This article evaluates a procedure-based scoring system for a performance assessment (an observed paper towels investigation) and a notebook surrogate completed by fifth-grade students varying in hands-on science experience. Results suggested interrater reliability of scores for observed performance and notebooks was adequate (>.80) with the reliability of the former higher. In contrast, interrater agreement on procedures was higher for observed hands-on performance (.92) than for notebooks (.66). Moreover, for the notebooks, the reliability of scores and agreement on procedures varied by student experience, but this was not so for observed performance. Both the observed-performance and notebook measures correlated less with traditional ability than did a multiple-choice science achievement test. The correlation between the two performance assessments and the multiple-choice test was only moderate (mean = .46), suggesting that different aspects of science achievement have been measured. Finally, the correlation between the observed-performance scores and the notebook scores was .83, suggesting that notebooks may provide a reasonable, albeit less reliable, surrogate for the observed hands-on performance of students.
Menexenus—son of Socrates

The Menexenus is also known as Plato's Epitaphios or Funeral Oration. The body of the work is a fictional funeral oration, composed as an example of what should be said at a public funeral for Athenians who have fallen in war. The oration is framed by an encounter between Socrates and a certain Menexenus, an eager young man who thinks he has reached the end of education and philosophy, but who is still rather young to take an active party in the city's affairs. Nevertheless, he is anxious to follow in the tradition of his family, which (Socrates tells us) has always provided someone to look after the Athenians (τινα μν πιμeλητν). Menexenus' interest in public affairs has led him to attend a meeting of the Council at which a speaker was to be chosen to compose and deliver the funeral oration at the imminent public funeral. However, no final decision was reached at the meeting, and Menexenus remarks that by the time the choice is made, the speaker will have almost to improvise his speech. Socrates gently mocks Menexenus' respect for public orators, saying that speeches about a dead person follow a predictable pattern; a speaker exaggerates all a dead person's good points and minimizes all the bad, so that one who has died appears a paragon of virtue even if he was not really good for much. Socrates claims that listening to such public orations, when not only individuals but also the state is eulogized, always makes him feel that in living in Athens he is living in the Islands of the Blessed.
Hospital breastfeeding policies in the Philadelphia area: a comparison with the ten steps to successful breastfeeding.

: Background: The purpose of this study was to describe the current status of hospital breastfeeding policies and practices in the southeastern Pennsylvania Delaware Valley and the degree to which the hospitals are implementing the WHO/UNICEF Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding. Methods: A descriptive case study design was used to collect data. From 38 hospitals with maternity services in the Philadelphia area, maternal and child health directors, nurse managers, staff nurses, lactation consultants, and childbirth educators were interviewed to determine each hospital's policies and practices, using a questionnaire addressing formal and informal breastfeeding policies. Information from the interviews was used to compare each hospital's policies with the WHO/UNICEF Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative. A classification system was developed to classify hospitals by level of implementation for each of the Ten Steps. Results: Most surveyed hospitals were implementing four of the steps and partially implementing the remaining six. Thirty-seven percent of the surveyed hospitals were classified as high implementers and 63 percent as partial implementers of the Ten Steps overall. Key issues that affect implementation of each step were identified through in-depth discussion of several questions. Conclusions: Areas identified as needing the greatest attention by hospitals were health care professional breastfeeding education, breastfeeding initiation, and support of the breastfeeding mother, particularly in the postdischarge stage.
Expression of smooth muscle myosin light chain 17 and unloaded shortening in single smooth muscle cells

The functional significance of the variable expression of the smooth muscle myosin heavy chain (SM-MHC) tail isoforms, SM1 and SM2, was examined at the mRNA level (which correlates with the protein...
Safety verification of a fault tolerant reconfigurable autonomous goal-based robotic control system

Fault tolerance and safety verification of control systems are essential for the success of autonomous robotic systems. A control architecture called mission data system (MDS), developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, takes a goal-based control approach. In this paper, a method for converting goal network control programs into linear hybrid systems is developed. The linear hybrid system can then be verified for safety in the presence of failures using existing symbolic model checkers. An example task is simulated in MDS and successfully verified using HyTech, a symbolic model checking software for linear hybrid systems.
Mechanisms of Insulin Action on Sympathetic Nerve Activity

Insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia may contribute to the development of arterial hypertension. Although insulin may elevate arterial pressure, in part, through activation of the sympathetic nervous system, the sites and mechanisms of insulin-induced sympathetic excitation remain uncertain. While sympathoexcitation during insulin may be mediated by the baroreflex, or by modulation of norepinephrine release from sympathetic nerve endings, it has been shown repeatedly that insulin increases sympathetic outflow by actions on the central nervous system. Previous studies employing norepinephrine turnover have suggested that insulin causes sympathoexcitation by acting in the hypothalamus. Recent experiments from our laboratory involving direct measurements of regional sympathetic nerve activity have provided further evidence that insulin acts in the central nervous system. For example, administration of insulin into the third cerebralventricle increased lumbar but not renal or adrenal sympathetic nerve activity in normotensive rats. Interestingly, this pattern of regional sympathetic nerve responses to central neural administration of insulin is similar to that seen with systemic administration of insulin. Further, lesions of the anteroventral third ventricle hypothalamic (AV3V) region abolished increases in sympathetic activity to systemic administration of insulin with euglycemic clamp, suggesting that AV3V-related structures are critical for insulin-induced elevations in sympathetic outflow.
Does Democracy “Travel”? Some Thoughts on Democracy and Its Cultural Context

The fundamental question is whether the non-Western world is capable of developing our form of liberal democratic self-government, despite our differences in tradition and culture. The author taps on several critical differences of interpretation of what we consider to be integral to our form of government, such as John Locke's concept of “civil society”; the idea of “pluralism”; and the concept of “inherent human rights” counsel, which have distinctly different meanings in the West compared to those of Central and Eastern Europe. Interestingly, the differences are indicative of the profound cultural and historic differences of the societies engaged in the interpretation and adaption of these ideas. The author is optimistic in the regard of democracy “traveling,” provided that individuals recognize their own identity within the democratic society and acquire practice in exercising their freedoms. In this way, not only will democracy flourish under previously dictatorial regimes, but will continue to persist where it is already established.
Analysis of rectangular waveguide containing uniaxial medium with aligned optic axis

A rectangular waveguide filled with uniaxial medium is treated. Different orientations of the optic axis are considered. Results of wave decompositions with respect to the optic axis are presented and compared with conventional transverse-to-z solutions. Computations show that the effect of anisotropy not only changes the field distributions, but also leads to changes of dominant modes in the waveguide.
Tracing multimedia benchmarks with five degrees of validation

In this paper we have extended our methodology, presented earlier in [1], for generating and validating representative traces. Our novel technique was applied to a relatively realistic and difficult multimedia benchmark suite called MediaMark. We have also introduced a new metric called the K-metric (Khalid - metric) that was used for validation. The aim of our present research was to demonstrate that the proposed methodology can be successful even for complex and challenging benchmarks like multimedia benchmarks. Earlier our methodology was shown to be the most successful one as compared to the popular contemporary techniques for tracing relatively simple and primitive suite of applications contained within SPEC™95 benchmark suite [1]. Experimental results in this article demonstrate that our methodology works in the worst case scenarios.
Structural analysis of musical signals for indexing and thumbnailing

A musical piece typically has a repetitive structure. Analysis of this structure will be useful for music segmentation, indexing and thumbnailing. This paper presents an algorithm that can automatically analyze the repetitive structure of musical signals. First, the algorithm detects the repetitions of each segment of fixed length in a piece using dynamic programming. Second, the algorithm summarizes this repetition information and infers the structure based on heuristic rules. The performance of the approach is demonstrated visually using figures for qualitative evaluation, and by two structural similarity measures for quantitative evaluation. Based on the structural analysis result, this paper also proposes a method for music thumbnailing. The preliminary results obtained using a corpus of Beatles' songs show that automatic structural analysis and thumbnailing of music are possible.
Gestational weight gain and later maternal health: are they related?

In 2009, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the National Re-search Council (NRC) published new recommendations for gesta-tional weight gain (GWG) (1). This ﬁrst revision in almost 20 yrevealed many gaps in the scientiﬁc literature. Notable amongthese was the dearth of information relating GWG to long-termmaternal health. In particular, there is concern that excessiveGWG is a risk factor for postpartum weight retention (1, 2),whichmaycontributetomaternalobesityandits midlifesequelae.The new IOM/NRC guidelines were innovative in 2 importantways. First, a central element in their development was the ex-plicit consideration of the simultaneous trade-offs in outcomesbetween mothers and their offspring. For example, high GWGis associated not only with an increased risk of excessive post-partum weight retention but also with a decreased risk of deliv-ering a small-for-gestational-age infant. Second, a quantitativerisk analysis was performed to extend consideration of this risktrade-off for many years into the future (1). This was hamperedby lack of data on how to weigh the severity of the competinglong- and short-term outcomes for mother and child across therange of GWG.Giventhechallengesfacedbytheexpertcommitteeinrevisingthe GWG guidelines, the article by Fraser et al (3) in this issueof the Journal is noteworthy. They used data from 3877 of the14,541 women in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents andChildren (ALSPAC) to examine the association between prepreg-nancy weight and GWG with maternal body mass index (BMI),waist circumference, and blood pressure 16 y after the birth of thestudy child.ThewomenstudiedbyFraseretal(3)deliveredin1991–1992.Relatively few (4%, 94 of 2356) of them were obese [BMI (inkg/m
Simple models for dynamic hysteresis which add frequency-dependent losses to static models

The broadening of magnetic hysteresis with increasing frequency of excitation may be represented in an electrical equivalent circuit by placing a resistor in parallel with an inductor whose core is the magnetic material represented by a static hysteresis model. This broadening can be controlled as an arbitrary function of frequency by changing the resistance with frequency. This, in turn, may be accomplished by using a parallel set of linear resistors, each placed in series with a bandpass filter, in place of a single resistor. This technique is illustrated by a simulation of both fast pulse excitations and moderate frequency sinusoidal excitations for 3C81 ferrite material using an equivalent circuit containing just three resistive parallel branches along with the static hysteresis model of Jiles and Atherton.
Surgical versus nonoperative treatment for lumbar disc herniation: four-year results for the Spine Patient Outcomes Research Trial (SPORT).

Study design Concurrent prospective randomized and observational cohort studies. Objective To assess the 8-year outcomes of surgery versus nonoperative care. Summary of background data Although randomized trials have demonstrated small short-term differences in favor of surgery, long-term outcomes comparing surgical with nonoperative treatment remain controversial. Methods Surgical candidates with imaging-confirmed lumbar intervertebral disc herniation meeting Spine Patient Outcomes Research Trial eligibility criteria enrolled into prospective randomized (501 participants) and observational cohorts (743 participants) at 13 spine clinics in 11 US states. Interventions were standard open discectomy versus usual nonoperative care. Main outcome measures were changes from baseline in the SF-36 Bodily Pain and Physical Function scales and the modified Oswestry Disability Index-AAOS/Modems version assessed at 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months, and annually thereafter. Results Advantages were seen for surgery in intent-to-treat analyses for the randomized cohort for all primary and secondary outcomes other than work status; however, with extensive nonadherence to treatment assignment (49% patients assigned to nonoperative therapy receiving surgery versus 60% of patients assigned to surgery) these observed effects were relatively small and not statistically significant for primary outcomes (bodily pain, physical function, Oswestry Disability Index). Importantly, the overall comparison of secondary outcomes was significantly greater with surgery in the intent-to-treat analysis (sciatica bothersomeness [P > 0.005], satisfaction with symptoms [P > 0.013], and self-rated improvement [P > 0.013]) in long-term follow-up. An as-treated analysis showed significant surgical treatment effects for primary outcome measures (mean change, surgery vs. nonoperative care; treatment effect; 95% confidence interval): bodily pain (45.3 vs. 34.4; 10.9; 7.7 to 14); PF (42.2 vs. 31.5; 10.6; 7.7 to 13.5); and Oswestry Disability Index (-36.2 vs. -24.8; -11.3; -13.6 to -9.1). Conclusion Carefully selected patients who underwent surgery for a lumbar disc herniation achieved greater improvement than nonoperatively treated patients; there was little to no degradation of outcomes in either group (operative and nonoperative) from 4 to 8 years. Level of evidence 2.
An Introduction to Topology

In this and the following chapter we will be studying General, or Point-Set Topology; a branch of mathematics which is central to much of modern economic theory. The first two results of this section, although not actually a part of this subject, will frequently be used in our development.
Poorly differentiated synovial sarcoma of the lumbar spine in a fourteen-year-old girl. A case report.

Synovial sarcoma is a highly malignant soft-tissue tumor of mesenchymal origin that accounts for approximately 5.8% to 10% of all soft-tissue sarcomas1,2. Nearly 90% of these tumors are discovered in an extremity, with the majority involving the lower limbs1-3. Synovial sarcoma within the lumbar spine has been mentioned in only a handful of reports in the English-language literature4-9, typically as part of a case series or as the subject of study for various imaging modalities. Occurrence in the pediatric population at this location is even rarer. The purpose of the present report is to describe the case of a fourteen-year-old girl with lumbar synovial sarcoma and to document the treatment algorithm that was used. The patient was informed that data concerning the case would be submitted for publication, and she consented. A fourteen-year-old girl with no related medical history presented to her pediatrician in November 2001 with unresolved lower back pain two weeks after being struck in the lumbar region while playing soccer. Following this incident, she began experiencing paresthesias in the left lower extremity (and occasionally the right lower extremity) and on questioning was able to recall a history of mild and occasional low-back pain during the previous two months. Physical examination revealed a firm, fixed palpable mass in the lumbar paraspinal muscles, and the patient was referred for imaging studies. No neurologic examination was noted at that time. A magnetic resonance imaging scan of limited quality secondary to patient movement showed a large lesion that was located mostly in the lumbar paraspinal muscles with extension into the spinal canal at the L3-L4 level with resultant compression of the thecal sac. The patient was referred for orthopaedic consultation and was transferred to Fletcher Allen Health Care in …
The role of the high-mobility group box1 protein–Toll like receptor pathway in diabetic vascular disease

Abstract Objectives: Increased Toll like receptors (TLRs) especially 2 and 4 have been demonstrated in obesity, metabolic syndrome (MetS) and diabetes resulting in increased cellular inflammation. Since we have shown increased TLR2 and 4 activities in both T1DM and T2DM and MetS, we wanted to elucidate the mechanisms of this sterile inflammation. In T1DM, T2DM and MetS we have shown that high mobility group box 1 protein (HMGB-1), a non-histone DNA binding protein is increased and could be a potential activator of TLRs since it has previously shown to activate TLR2, 4 and 9. We examined the role of HMGB-1 in patients and animal models of diabetes and MetS to determine how important it is as an activator of TLR mediated inflammation and its role in diabetic vascular complications. Methods: A Medline search was conducted using the terms HMGB-1, TLRs and diabetes. Results: HMGB-1 levels are increased in patients with diabetes and MetS, and associated with increased biomediators of inflammation. Furthermore data supported a role of HMGB-1 in both diabetic microvascular and macrovascular complications. Conclusions: HMGB-1 interaction with TLRs is implicated in diabetic complications and could be important therapeutic target.
Radiation Damage Characterization in Ar+ Implanted GaN

Damage microstructure evolution in GaN films implanted with argon ions (Ar+) as a function of implantation temperature was studied by cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM). After irradiation at room temperature, the implanted layer contained mostly isolated point defects. Implantation at elevated temperatures significantly reduced the number of isolated point defects. Numerous dislocations and regions exhibiting strain-contrast were observed after implantation at 300 oC. Bombardment at 600 oC resulted in formation of a new type of defect. Along with the partial dislocations and the strained regions, precipitates composed of carbon and nitrogen were identified by electron energy loss spectroscopy. These precipitates were formed in the vicinity of the Ar+ projected range where the amount of radiation damage was maximal. The high concentration of defects facilitated redistribution of carbon atoms introduced during the GaN film growth and resulted in the formation of precipitates. No precipitates were observed after implantation at 1000 oC. Consideration of the TEM results in conjunction with ion channeling data showed that presence of the precipitates correlated with a reverse annealing damage accumulation mode, which manifests itself as an increase of backscattering yield with increasing implantation temperature. The results of our study indicated that the carbon impurity in as-grown GaN films enhances the radiation damage accumulation rate and consequently has to be taken into account when ion implantation doping of GaN is performed.
Reality and Semantic Representation

There is an exciting semantic program, defended primarily in the recent works of Donald Davidson and Gilbert H?rman,1 which makes use of both classical truth-conditional semantic method and contemporary transfor mational syntax, and which is believed to provide illuminating semantical ac counts of particular natural languages to which it is applied. I shall call this program, composed of Davidson's and Harman's common methodology together with the semantical and metatheoretical claims which it encap sulates, "the DMetatheory."
Molecular Design and Synthetic Approaches to Electron-Transporting Organic Transistor Semiconductors†

This review covers the various classes of molecular structures that may be used as the basis for the synthesis of organic semiconductors that favor electron transport in field-effect transistors and related electronic and optoelectronic devices. The types of compounds include tetracarboxylic diimides, heterocyclic oligomers, fullerenes, and metal complexes. Approaches to polymers are also mentioned. Although brief discussions of transistor operation and applications are included, the emphasis is on the rationale for choosing these structures, and synthetic routes to them. Performance of exemplary compounds in transistors is also discussed.
A stable aminothioketyl radical in the gas phase.

We report the first preparation of a stable aminothioketyl radical, CH3C•(SH)NHCH3 (1), by fast electron transfer to protonated thioacetamide in the gas phase. The radical was characterized by neutralization–reionization mass spectrometry and ab initio calculations at high levels of theory. The unimolecular dissociations of 1 were elucidated with deuterium-labeled radicals CH3C•(SD)NHCH3 (1a), CH3C•(SH)NDCH3 (1b), CH3C•(SH)NHCD3 (1c), and CD3C•(SH)NHCH3 (1d). The main dissociations of 1 were a highly specific loss of the thiol H atom and a specific loss of the N-methyl group, which were competitive on the potential energy surface of the ground electronic state of the radical. RRKM calculations on the CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVTZ potential energy surface indicated that the cleavage of the S–H bond in 1 dominated at low internal energies, Eint < 232 kJ mol–1. The cleavage of the N–CH3 bond was calculated to prevail at higher internal energies. Loss of the thiol hydrogen atom can be further enhanced by dissociations ...
The Badger-Bauer rule revisited: correlation of proper blue frequency shifts in the OC hydrogen acceptor with morphed hydrogen bond dissociation energies in OC-HX (X = F, Cl, Br, I, CN, CCH).

Potential morphing has been applied to the investigation of proper blue frequency shifts, Δν0 in CO, the hydrogen acceptor complexing in the hydrogen bonded series OC–HX (X= F, Cl, Br, I, CN, CCH). Linear correlations of morphed hydrogen bonded ground dissociation energies D0 with experimentally determined Δν0 free from matrix and solvent effects demonstrate consistency with original tenets of the Badger–Bauer rule (J. Chem. Phys. 1937, 5, 839–51). A model is developed that provides a basis for explaining the observed linear correlations in the range of systems studied. Furthermore, the generated calibration curve enables prediction of dissociation energies for other related but different complexes. The latter include D0 for H2O–CO, H2S-CO, and CH3OH–CO which are predicted by interpolation and found to be 355(13), 171(11), and 377(14) cm–1 respectively from available experimentally determined proton acceptor shifts. Results from this study will also be discussed in relation to investigations in which CO h...
Phased array functional imaging of neonate's neurological disorders

We have developed an optical Imaging system, Dual Wavelength Phased Array system (DWLPA) that can be used for testing neonate’s brain function. A phased array system consists of 16 sets of phase cancellation optodes, 0 and 180 degree laser sources with a detector in middle. For this purpose, 9 sets of lasers each with 780 and 830 nms (20 mwatt) and 4 detectors, (PMT-T08 Hamamatsu) are placed on a probe, 4×9 cm. These optodes make 16 combinations of triangle; each has a function of phase cancellation. Thus all the probe areas were filled with 16 triangles and can be seen as sensitive to heterogeneity. The optodes separation is 2.5 cm for each array, and data information is taken by a detector in the middle when each two sources at 1 and 180 degree ignite at once. The actual images are made by subtracting from resting state to active state of cortex when physicians test for neurological examinations, hearing, touching, and visual display. The subtraction can cancel outcome of artifacts caused by inconsistent hair, probe pressure to the head, and slightly dislocated probe angles. The results show that like adults, we saw functions of cortices. The significant is that these blood volume changes by the stimulation can be detected much earlier stage of life than the development of EEG (electrical encephalogram) and Evoked potential. Thus the usefulness of this optical technology can be very beneficial. It implies that neonates already develop circulatory response from the metabolic needs of neurons in the area. We conclude that this technology, namely PA imaging system has a superior S/N ratio by the fact flat it has 180 degree shift for 2.5 cm resolution. These methods can be used clinically to detect infant’s neurological dysfunction before EEG and other test can be used.
Dose-Volume Response Relationship for Brain Metastases Treated with Frameless Single-Fraction Linear Accelerator-Based Stereotactic Radiosurgery

Background: Our aim was to identify a dose-volume response relationship for brain metastases treated with frameless stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS). Methods: We reviewed patients who underwent frameless single-fraction linear accelerator SRS for brain metastases between 2007 and 2013 from an institutional database. Proportional hazards modeling was used to identify predictors of outcome. A ratio of maximum lesion dose per mm-diameter (Gy/mm) was constructed to establish a dose-volume relationship. Results: There were 316 metastases evaluated in 121 patients (2 - 33 mm in the largest diameter). The median peripheral dose was 18.0 Gy (range: 10.0 – 24.0 Gy). Local control was 84.8% for all lesions and was affected by location, peripheral dose, maximum dose, and lesion size (p values < 0.050). A dose-volume response relationship was constructed using the maximum dose and lesion size. A unit increase in Gy/mm was associated with decreased local failure (p = 0.005). Local control of 80%, 85%, and 90% corresponded to maximum doses per millimeter of 1.67 Gy/mm, 2.86 Gy/mm, and 4.4 Gy/mm, respectively. Toxicity was uncommon and only 1.0% of lesions developed radionecrosis requiring surgery. Conclusions: For brain metastases less than 3 cm, a dose-volume response relationship exists between maximum radiosurgical dose and lesion size, which is predictive of local control.
Early phylogeny and subclass division of the Crinoidea (Phylum Echinodermata)

A stepwise approach is employed to determine the phylogeny of the initial crinoid radiation during the Arenig and Llanvirn series of the Ordovician. Parsimony-based character analysis is completed first on Arenig crinoids and then for Arenig and Llanvirn crinoids combined. The topology from well-resolved trees of this early crinoid radiation indicates that the Crinoidea should be subdivided into six subclasses. A new subclass and new order, Aethocrinea and Aethocrinida, respectively, are proposed for crinoids with four circlets of plates in the aboral cup: lintels, infrabasals, basals, and radials. This aboral cup construction is best displayed by Aethocrinus, one of the oldest known crinoids (?Tremadoc-Arenig). However, this primitive aboral cup construction is also present in two Llanvirn crinoids, Perittocrinus and Tetracionocrinus. The Aethocrinea was a small, short-lived radiation of crinoids with this design that was different from those of other crinoids. Two families in the Aethocrinida are the Aethocrinidae, which includes Aethocrinus, and the Perittocrinidae, which includes Perittocrinus and Tetracionocrinus. In addition to the Aethocrinea, the following crinoid subclasses are recognized based on character analyses of these earliest crinoids: Cladida, Camerata, Disparida, Flexibilia, and Articulata.
Isn't This Statutory Rape?

“Isn't this statutory rape?” our colleague asks. The answer is… “maybe.” Statutory rape laws were first enacted to protect minors from older predators. States differ considerably in the legal definition of statutory rape.
Multiple Phases—Mass Transfer

This chapter focuses on how mass moves between phases and the factors that control the rate of this process. People often face the processes that require moving molecules between different phases in order for the outcome they desire to take place. For example, a “simple” catalytic hydrogenation of a liquid-phase unsaturated molecule, such as benzene, is not really so simple because it requires many mass transfer steps to occur prior to reaction. The hydrogen molecule must move from the gas phase to the liquid phase. Once there, it must diffuse through the liquid and to the catalyst particle's outer surface. From the surface, it must now move from outside to inside the particle. Next, it needs to adsorb onto the internal surface, and then diffuse to the active site and react with a benzene molecule, which also has undergone all the same liquid-phase steps of mass transfer and diffusion. All of this must occur before the reaction can take place. Then, the product must leave the active site and the catalyst in a reversal of these steps. One can imagine that the rate at which these molecular transfers between and within phases take place will affect the rates that one observes. If the molecules transfer quickly compared to the pace at which they are reacted, then the reaction rate will control the rate of disappearance of benzene. If, however, the rates of benzene or hydrogen transport are slow, then one or both of these may limit the rate of conversion to that of the rate of arrival of the reactants at the active site. In other words, if the chemistry is “fast,” which it should be with an effective catalyst, then it “waits” on the physical transport processes.