cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Drivers of 30- and 90-day Postoperative Death After Neoadjuvant Chemoradiation for Esophageal Cancer

Background Neoadjuvant chemoradiation, followed by esophagectomy, is a standard of care for locally advanced esophageal cancers. The ChemoRadiOtherapy plus Surgery versus Surgery alone (CROSS) trial reported a 30-day mortality rate of 6%. We sought to evaluate 30- and 90-day mortality in similar patients in the United States and identify predictors of higher mortality rates. Methods The National Cancer Database was used to identify patients with cT3-4/N+ esophageal cancers treated with neoadjuvant chemoradiation followed by esophagectomy. Bivariate univariable and multivariable regression analysis was used to identify predictors of 30- and 90-day mortality. Results We identified 7691 patients. Readmission within 30 days of surgery occurred in 6.0% of patients. Mortality was 2.9% at 30 days and 7.2% at 90 days. Positive surgical margins conferred a more than doubled risk of 30- and 90-day mortality, 5.5% vs 2.7% and 14.6% vs 6.8% (both P Conclusions Postoperative death at 30 and 90 days after neoadjuvant chemoradiation and esophagectomy appears to be on par with randomized data. Positive surgical margins, squamous cell carcinomas, age 69 and older, readmission within 30 days, and conversion from a minimally invasive operation to an open operation all carry a 90-day mortality risk exceeding 10%.
Using Internalizing Symptoms to Predict Math Achievement among Low-Income Urban Elementary Students.

Due to environmental risk factors, internalizing problems are especially common among low-income racial/ethnic minority students attending urban schools. However, relatively little is known about the relationship between symptoms of anxiety or depression and academic achievement among this vulnerable student population. The present study examines the relationship between self-reported ratings of internalizing behavior and students’ math achievement assessed later in the school year. The sample consisted of a predominantly Latino group of 406 children, aged 8–11, in an urban and low-SES district in the USA. Results indicated that internalizing symptoms were negatively predictive of math achievement (β = − .276; R2 = 0.076). However, when anxiety and depressive symptoms were entered simultaneously as separate variables, depressive symptoms were negatively associated with math achievement (β = − .421), whereas anxiety was positively associated with math achievement (β = .129; R2 = 0.130). Implications for identification and intervention related to internalizing problems in urban and low-income schools are discussed.
A semi-automatic procedure to support the detection of rapid-moving landslides using spaceborne SAR imagery

Abstract. The increasing availability of free-access satellite data represents a relevant opportunity for the analysis and assessment of natural hazards. The systematic acquisition of spaceborne imagery allows monitoring areas prone to geo-hydrological disasters, providing relevant information for risk evaluation and management. In case of major landslide events, for example, spaceborne radar data can provide an innovative solution for the detection of slope failures, even in case of persistent cloud cover. The information about extension and location of the landslide-affected areas may support decision-making processes during the emergency responses. In this paper, we present a semi-automatic procedure, based on Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images, aimed to facilitate the detection of rapid-moving landslides. The procedure evaluates changes of radar backscattered signals associated to land cover modifications, that may be also caused by mass movements. The procedure requires an initial manual selection of some parameters, and is able to execute automatically the download and pre-processing of images, the detection of SAR amplitude changes, and the identification of areas potentially affected by landslides, which are then displayed in a geo-referenced map. This map should help decision-makers and emergency managers to organize field investigations. The processes automatization is implemented with specific scripts running on a GNU/Linux operating system and exploiting modules of Open Source software. We tested the processing chain, in back analysis, on an area of about 3000 km2 in central Papua New Guinea that in February/March 2018 was struck by a severe seismic sequence that triggered numerous widespread landslides. In the area, we simulated a periodic survey of about seven months, from 12 November 2017 to 6 June 2018, downloading 36 Sentinel-1 images and performing 17 change detection analyses automatically. The procedure resulted in statistical and graphical evidences of widespread land cover changes occurred just after the most severe seismic events. Most of them can be interpreted as mass movements triggered by the main seismic shocks.
The Exhibition and Characterization of Seven Salted Paper Prints

Seven salted paper prints from the 1840s and 1850s in the permanent collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art were included in the exhibition, Paradise of Exiles: Early Photography in Italy, fro...
High concentrations of urinary ethanol metabolites in neonatal intensive care unit infants

Infants in the neonatal intensive care unit may be exposed to ethanol via medications that contain ethanol as an excipient and through inhalation of ethanol vapor from hand sanitizers. We hypothesized that both pathways of exposure would result in elevated urinary biomarkers of ethanol. Urine samples were collected from infants in incubators and in open cribs. Two ethanol metabolites, ethyl sulfate (EtS) and ethyl glucuronide (EtG), were quantified in infants’ urine. A subset of infants both in incubators and open cribs had ethanol biomarkers greater than the cutoff concentration that identifies adult alcohol consumption. These concentrations were associated with the infant having received an ethanol-containing medication on the day of urine collection. When infants who received an ethanol-containing medication were excluded from analysis, there was no difference in ethanol biomarker concentrations between the incubator and crib groups. Some infants who received ethanol-containing medications had concentrations of ethanol biomarkers that are indicative of adult alcohol consumption, suggesting potential exposure via ethanol excipients.
Comment: Can we trust administrative codes for identification of stroke cases?

Epidemiologic studies are critical to understand stroke incidence and mortality rates. Rannikmae et al.1 provide a unique analysis of the accuracy of health record administrative stroke codes by combining outpatient, inpatient, and death records. Authors leveraged the power of the United Kingdom Biobank (UKB), a large, prospective, longitudinal study of British volunteers. They identified primary stroke codes from hospital admissions, primary care and specialist visits, and death certificates in 17,249 UKB participants from Scotland. They created and reviewed vignettes of relevant medical records to confirm diagnosis of stroke.
Exploring the Diets of Adults with Obesity and Type II Diabetes from Nine Diverse Countries: Dietary Intakes, Patterns, and Quality

Background: Calorie-dense diet is a main driver of the global epidemics of obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2DM). While various dietary strategies and patterns are efficacious in reducing risk and improving glycemic control, dietary intake and diet quality have been inadequately studied among individuals who remain living in their native environments. There is also little published on dietary patterns of diverse ethnic, cultural, or regional populations. Objective: To explore dietary intakes, patterns and overall diet quality in adults with obesity and T2DM from diverse countries. We hypothesized that individuals sharing a common clinical phenotype (age, BMI, years since T2DM diagnosis and inadequate glycemic control) would demonstrate comparable high calorie “western” dietary patterns and low diet quality despite differences in geographic regions and cultures. Design: Diet data were acquired from 611 adults in Argentina, Germany, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey and the USA via three 24-h diet recalls. Contribution of 168 foods to 14 primary food groups was confirmed by Spearman’s rank-order correlations and Principle Component Factor Analysis identified dietary patterns. Diet quality was assessed using the Healthy Eating Index 2015. Results: Eleven dietary patterns were extracted; the most common were a “Mediterranean-like” pattern shared by six countries and a “Calorie Dense” pattern shared by five countries. Also common were “Lacto-Vegetarian, “Pesco-Vegetarian,” and “Vegan” patterns. Only 2.1% of subjects had good diet quality (HEI-2015 score >80). Conclusions: The diet pattern data suggest that influences of more traditional region-specific diets remain. However, overall diet quality was poor and may contribute to inadequate glycemic control, possibly due to excess intake of high calorie/nutrient poor foods, which may be associated with global transitions occurring in the available food supply.
Examining material constitutive response under dynamic compression and large plastic strains using in situ imaging of hole closure

Abstract For understanding material performance under dynamic loading, there is significant interest in the strain rate dependence of material response and in the degree to which high-rate response depends on initial material state. Experimental tests at high strain rates (> 10 3 / s ) often use measurement of shape change to infer flow strength behavior. Given stress and strain heterogeneities, inferences about flow strength behavior from those observations are facilitated by comparisons with advanced simulations. A new plate impact-based experimental test is described, consisting of in situ X-ray imaging to observe the closure of a cylindrical hole during the passage of a pressure pulse of controlled amplitude and duration. With the goal of providing unique data regarding plastic response at high strain rates, the closure of the hole is measured through time using multi-frame imaging. A first set of experiments on copper examines the role of starting microstructure on material flow behavior. The experimental observations are compared with predictions from direct numerical simulations using the Preston-Tonks-Wallace (PTW) and the Mechanical Threshold Stress (MTS) flow strength models. The quantitative utility of the overall approach is demonstrated in that the results provide information about MTS model parameters associated with high-rate hardening behavior, with the parameters having been unconstrained by quasi-static experimental data.
Gut Microbiome Predicts Clinically Important Improvement in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Abstract Background Rapid advances in the past decade have shown that dysbiosis of the gut microbiome is a key hallmark of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Yet, the relationship between gut microbiome and clinical improvement in RA disease activity remains unclear. In this study, we explored the gut microbiome of patients with RA to identify features that are associated with, as well as predictive of, minimum clinically important improvement (MCII) in disease activity. Methods Whole metagenome shotgun sequencing was performed on 64 stool samples, which were collected from 32 patients with RA at two separate time-points. The Clinical Disease Activity Index (CDAI) of each patient was measured at both time-points to assess achievement of MCII; depending on this clinical status, patients were distinguished into two groups. Multiple linear regression models were used to identify microbial taxa and biochemical pathways associated with MCII while controlling for potentially confounding factors. Lastly, a deep-learning neural network was trained upon gut microbiome, clinical, and demographic data at baseline to classify patients according to MCII status, thereby enabling the prediction of whether a patient will achieve MCII at follow-up. Results We determined that MCII status can explain a significant proportion of the overall compositional variance in the gut microbiome (R2 = 3.8%, P = 0.005, PERMANOVA). Additionally, by looking at patients’ baseline gut microbiome profiles, we observed significantly different microbiome traits between patients who eventually showed MCII and those who did not. Taxonomic features include alpha- and beta-diversity measures, as well as several microbial taxa, such as Coprococcus, Bilophila sp. 4_1_30, and Ruminococcus sp. Functional profiling identified thirteen biochemical pathways, most of which were involved in the biosynthesis of L-arginine and L-methionine, to be differentially abundant between the MCII patient groups. In addition to these observations at baseline, we found microbiome features that vary differently in fold-change (from baseline to follow-up) between the two patient groups. These results could suggest that, depending on the clinical course, gut microbiomes not only start at different ecological states, but also are on separate trajectories. Finally, the neural network proved to be highly effective in predicting which patient will achieve MCII (balanced accuracy = 90.0%), demonstrating potential clinical utility of gut microbiome profiles. Conclusions Our findings confirm the presence of taxonomic and functional signatures of the gut microbiome associated with MCII in RA patients. Ultimately, the gut microbiome may aid in the development of non-invasive tools for predicting future prognosis in RA. Trial registration N/A
Global kidney chains

Kidney failure is a worldwide scourge, made more lethal by the shortage of transplants. We propose a way to organize kidney exchange chains internationally between middle-income countries with financial barriers to transplantation and high-income countries with many hard to match patients and patient-donor pairs facing lengthy dialysis. The proposal involves chains of exchange that begin in the middle-income country and end in the high-income country. We also propose a way of financing such chains using savings to US health care payers.
PepVAE3: variational autoencoder framework for antimicrobial peptide generation and activity prediction

Abstract New methods for antimicrobial design are critical for combating pathogenic bacteria in the post-antibiotic era. Fortunately, competition within complex communities has led to the natural evolution of antimicrobial peptide (AMP) sequences that have promising bactericidal properties. Unfortunately, the identification, characterization, and production of AMPs can prove complex and time consuming. Here we report a peptide generation framework, PepVAE3, based around variational autoencoder (VAE) and antimicrobial activity prediction models for designing novel AMPs using only sequences and experimental minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) data as input. Sampling from distinct regions of the learned latent space allows for controllable generation of new AMP sequences with minimal input parameters. Extensive analysis of the PepVAE3-generated sequences paired with antimicrobial activity prediction models supports this modular design framework as a promising system for development of novel AMPs, demonstrating controlled production of AMPs with experimental validation of predicted antimicrobial activity.
A Description and Examination of Fluorescence in Nine North American Firefly Species (Coleoptera: Lampyridae)

Fluorescence across the family Lampyridae has been documented sporadically but not comprehensively in formal research. Fireflies (Coleoptera: Lampyridae), best known for their bioluminescence, are also fluorescent. This fluorescence has been documented in several genera within the clade but is still an often overlooked aspect of firefly physiology in the common understanding of the species. To this end, the purpose of this study was to document and describe the fluorescence in nine species of North American fireflies, across three genera. Each species was photographed and a description of the fluorescent pattern was provided, as well as measurements of the specific spectral sensitivity of the fluorescent excitation and emission wavelengths. These data are intended to provide an identification guide of sorts to different firefly fluorescence, as well as documenting definitively its presence in several firefly genera.
Analyzing and documenting an internet website using NoteCards

Corporate websites are an important component in the world-wide web. The traditional way of creating these websites leads to a variety of structural problems that reduce the effective­ ness of the websites. These problems are difficult to locate and correct using the ad hoc analysis methods that currently exist. This paper introduces a new technique to analyze and document websites. The technique uses the NoteCards hypertext environment to build a visual model of the website. The model is semantically rich, dynamically extensible, and allows interactive update. The result of using this technique is a website that is easier to use, easier to update, and fully documented. The technique is described and demonstrated on a small website. INTRODUCTION The internet and the world-wide web have had a phenomenal impact on organizations and society. Individuals can search for library citations, study satellite maps, and check current sports scores in a single login session. Corporate users can view product information, order merchan­ dise, and track shipping progress without the aid of company employees. Even the language has changed. It is common to hear conversations concerning web addresses, ftp sites and homepages. In the five years since the first web browser programs were distributed, the internet and its associated global connectivity have forever changed the way we interact and communicate with each other. A key component of the world-wide web is the corporate website. These internet entities are the equivalent of a virtual storefront for the corpioration. They provide information about the organization, advertise its products, and create customer goodwill through promotions. When customers need information about a company, they go to the website in the same way they would go to a physical store for more tangible products. In the future, dynamic client/server interaction will further enhance the importance of these web entities.
Evolutionary history of the marsupials and an analysis of osteological characters: Background to the analysis of metatherian cruropedal evidence

More than a century has thus elapsed since the first Mesozoic mammal was made known. In that time, which includes almost the entire history of the science of vertebrate paleontology, most students of fossil mammals have been concerned in some way with the group, from Cuvier to our contemporaries. Yet the known mammalian faunas stand out like lights in the vast darkness of the Age of Reptiles – and very dim lights most of them are. This mammalian prehistory is two to four times as long as the “historical period” which followed it, and yet the materials for the latter are literally many thousand-fold those for the former. This however, only makes close scrutiny of the Mesozoic mammals which are known the more necessary, and the results which are to be obtained from them the more precious. Simpson (1928, p. 7) The bony skeletons in a museum give such good feeling for what the animals must have been like that we tend to forget what a skeleton is. We are looking only at the compression members of a structure whose tension members have rotted away.…. Bones have no functional meaning without their muscles, tendons, and ligaments, which move them and hold them together. Contrarily, of course, muscles and tendons must act against something comparatively unyielding, such as bone, cuticle, or water. Currey (1984, p. 185)
Rehabilitation following total hip arthroplasty.

Abstract Rehabilitation professionals play an important role in the comprehensive postoperative management of the patient who has undergone a total hip replacement. Understanding the general surgical considerations that eventually impact the rehabilitation process is essential. Coordination of physicians, physical and occupational therapists, social services, and family members results in better quality of care. The technology and design of hip prostheses and fixation methods impact the functional outcome of total hip arthroplasty. Professionals involved in total hip arthroplasty rehabilitation should also understand the potential complications following total hip arthroplasty that oftentimes cause delays or revisions in the rehabilitation program. When these are combined with appropriate preoperative patient selection and education, as well as postoperative physical and occupational therapy programs, most patients are able to achieve a satisfactory functional outcome, including independence in basic activities of daily living and independent ambulation with an assistive device.
Fisheries of the United States

During the last half century, or somewhat more, the United States has been one of the major fish producing countries of the world. Between 1930 and the late 1940s it was second only to Japan. Since that time it has declined in total production compared to other countries, was down to sixth in rank for a short while, and in 1982 it ranked fourth, exceeded by Japan, the USSR, and mainland China. This is not as bad as it sounds, however, because the United States is somewhat more particular than these other countries in the kinds of fish and shellfish it eats, and we have turned to imports to supply additional quantities of those kinds of fish that we cannot produce at home. In 1982, for example, we imported 5,644 million pounds of all kinds of fishery products, for a total supply of 12,011 million pounds. The total production in the world in 1981 was 74.8 million metric tons or about 167,552 million pounds, so the United States uses about 7 percent of total world production. If we consider the foreign catch in the United States Fishery Conservation Zone (within 3 and 200 miles of the United States coast), it comes to about 1,654,690 metric tons or about 3,707 million pounds. So the total catch by United States and foreign fishermen around our coast out to 200 miles is about 15,733 million pounds, or about 9.4 percent. Thus, the potential United States catch off our coasts and in some foreign waters is probably in the neighborhood of 16,000 million pounds or about 10 percent of total world production.
Operations and Spectral Sequences. I

Using methods developed by W. Singer and J. P. May, we describe a systematic approach to showing that many spectral sequences, determined by a filtration on a complex whose homology has an action of operations, possesses a compatible action of the same operations. As a consequence, we obtain W. Singer’s result for Steenrod operations on Serre spectral sequence and extend A. Bahri’s action of Dyer-Lashof operations on the second quadrant Eilenberg-Moore spectral sequence.
Impressions of Privacy in the Media: Does Greater Public Awareness of Privacy Concerns Influence Legislative Action?

Conceptions about privacy have historically been challenged by new technologies. Cultural ideas about privacy tacitly presuppose a certain social and technological environment – one in which wrong is defined by both the feasibility of society and the wrongdoer. However, as new technologies emerge, new wrongs – and possibilities for wrongs – can occur, challenging the tacit presuppositions on which conceptions of privacy formerly relied. Over the past decade, the emerging landscape of digital communication technologies has transformed all aspects of society – from the way people shop, to the way people bank, to the way the people date. These massive shifts have left many Americans concerned over the privacy of their personal lives and information and many policy makers scrambling to make sense of digital technology’s new primacy in our nations’ concepts of civil liberty. Our purpose in this white paper is to add to the transforming policy debate surrounding technology and privacy. Our interest is the relationship between public understanding on the issues and actors surrounding technology and privacy and government’s response. Specifically we question whether public awareness of privacy violations results in government action at the legislative level. The study asks four main questions. First, how do different media outlets shape public awareness of privacy issues? Second, is there a correlation between media coverage and government discourse? Third, does increased media coverage result in any momentum towards legislative action or regulation? And fourth, what implications do the answers have on the analysis and debate of privacy policy and for the design and development of information systems? Answers to these questions will aide in future I3P research by providing a better understanding on the relationship between beliefs about individual privacy, information technologies, and data security. Further, a better understanding of whether public awareness translates into legislative action can aide in informing policy makers on the effectiveness of information policy as well as science and technology policy.
Further Experiments in Counting Ability: Canaries and Mynas

Zusammenfassung Untersucht wurden 10 Kanarienvogel und 5 Mainas (Gracula religiosa intermedia), vor allem auf einfaches successives Abzahlen, Verknupfung der Anzahl von Objekten mit ihrer Beschaffenheit, und Mehrfachaufgaben (Abzahlen auf x, y, z je nach Befehlsanweiser). Weitere Aufgaben forderten die Auswahl eines von mehreren gleichzeitig nebeneinander gebotenen Objekten (Simultanwahlen) und Simultan-Successiv-Ubertragungen. Besonders beachtet wurde die Frage, wieweit Bewegungsrhythmen und Kinaesthetik am Abzahlen beteiligt waren. Abzahlen: 1 Alle Vogel lernten, im Entlanggehen an einer Reihe von Kammerchen, deren jedes ein gleiehes Objekt enthielt, das allein belohnte soundsovielte (Positivobjekt) zu wahlen (Tab. 2 und 4). 2 Ein Kanarienvogel lernte, das neunte zu wahlen (Tab. 4). 3 Zur Probe auf die Rhythmus- bzw. Kinaesthetikhypothese wurde der Kafig ans vorherige Ende der Reihe gestellt, so das die Kanarienvogel rechts herum in die Kammerchen eintreten musten statt links herum wie vorher. Das senkte die Leistung eines Vogels betrachtlich (Tab. 5 und 8). Zudem gingen sie nach einer Falschwahl auch kafigwarts zuruck und wiederholten “fur rechts herum” dieselbe Bewegungsfolge, die sie sich vorher “fur links herum” angewohnt hatten. Beides spricht fur die Rhythmushypothese. Verknupfung der Anzahl von Objekten mit ihrer Art. 1 In einem ersten Dressurgang lernte der Kanarienvogel 2, je nach der Anzahl von Objekten in der ersten Kammer, in die zweite oder die dritte zu gehen. 2 Im letzten Dressurgang schien dieser Vogel zwei Objekte in der ersten Kammer mit derselben Objektart, gleich ob in Kammer 2 oder 3, assoziiert zu haben (Tab. 7), doch war der Befund nicht voll beweiskraftig. Mehrfach-Aufgaben. 1 7 Vogel lernten, blind durcheinander je nach Art des Positivobjektes das zweite bzw. das dritte Objekt zu wahlen (Tab. 9 und 10). 2 Ein Maina schien die Dreifachaufgabe gelernt zu haben, ebenso je nach dem Positivobjekt auf 2 bzw. 3 bzw. 4 zu handeln. Zwei Kanarien versagten (Tab. 11). Weitere Befunde: Simultanaufgaben mislangen oder hatten widerspruchsvolle Ergebnisse; nur ein Kanarienvogel lieferte gesicherte Werte. Alle Vogel zeigten mancherlei Intentionsbewegungen, aber diese waren weder auffallig noch haufig. Alle Vogel waren vorubergehend mehr oder weniger stark unlustig, ja sie verweigerten die Arbeit wohl vor allem dann, wenn die Aufgabe zu schwer war.
Cloning, expression and characterization of a family-74 xyloglucanase from Thermobifida fusca

Thermobifida fusca xyloglucan-specific endo-beta-1,4-glucanase (Xeg)74 and the Xeg74 catalytic domain (CD) were cloned, expressed in Escherichia coli, purified and characterized. This enzyme has a glycohydrolase family-74 CD that is a specific xyloglucanase followed by a family-2 carbohydrate binding module at the C terminus. The Michaelis constant (Km) and maximal rate (Vmax) values for hydrolysis of tamarind seed xyloglucan (tamXG) are 2.4 micro m and 966 micro mol xyloglucan oligosaccharides (XGOs) min-1. micro mol protein-1. More than 75% of the activity was retained after a 16-h incubation at temperatures up to 60 degrees C. The enzyme was most active at pH 6.0-9.4. NMR analysis showed that its catalytic mechanism is inverting. The oligosaccharide products from hydrolysis of tamXG were determined by MS analysis. Cel9B, an active carboxymethylcellulose (CMC)ase from T. fusca, was also found to have activity on xyloglucan (XG) at 49 micro mol.min-1. micro mol protein-1, but it could not hydrolyze XG units containing galactose. An XG/cellulose composite was prepared by growing Gluconacetobacterxylinus on glucose with tamXG in the medium. Although a mixture of purified cellulases was unable to degrade this material, the composite material was fully hydrolyzed when Xeg74 was added. T. fusca was not able to grow on tamXG, but Xeg74 was found in the culture supernatant at the same level as was found in cultures grown on Solka Floc. The function of this enzyme appears to be to break down the XG surrounding cellulose fibrils found in biomass so that T. fusca can utilize the cellulose as a carbon source.
Occupational fatalities among driver/sales workers and truck drivers in the United States, 2003-2008

BACKGROUND: This study provides a national profile of occupational fatalities among truck drivers and driver-sales workers. METHODS: Data from the 2003-2008 Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries were used. Cases were extracted specifically for occupational subcategories included in the Driver/Sales Workers and Truck Drivers occupational category: Driver/Sales Workers, Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers, and Light Truck or Delivery Services Drivers. RESULTS: In 2003-2008, the group Driver/Sales Workers and Truck Drivers had 5,568 occupational fatalities, representing 17% of all occupational fatalities in the United States. The majority of these fatalities were in the subgroup Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers (85%) and due to transportation incidents (80%). Older and male drivers had higher fatality rates than their counterparts. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest a need for targeted interventions to reduce highway fatalities among heavy truck drivers. Better employment data are needed to separate the three occupational subcategories by worker characteristic and employment history for use in research and prevention efforts. Am. J. Ind. Med. 9999:1-10, 2014. Published 2014. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA. Language: en
A global response induced in Escherichia coli by redox-cycling agents overlaps with that induced by peroxide stress

Escherichia coli treated with nontoxic levels of the superoxide-generating redox-cycling agents menadione and paraquat showed dramatic changes in protein composition as monitored by two-dimensional gel analysis. The distribution of proteins synthesized after treatment with these agents overlapped significantly with that seen after hydrogen peroxide treatment, and it included all the proteins in the oxyR regulon. The redox-cycling agents also elicited the synthesis of at least 33 other proteins that were not seen with hydrogen peroxide, including three heat shock proteins, the Mn-containing superoxide dismutase, the DNA repair protein endonuclease IV, and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase. At least some of these redox-inducible proteins appear to be part of a specific response to intracellular superoxide. E. coli is thus equipped with a network of inducible responses against oxidative damage, controlled in multiple regulatory pathways.
Fracture Resistance in Line Pipe

The results of the full-scale experimental work in this project are identification of the important parameters that affect and control fracture propagation. The most important parameter identified is temperature. Indication to date are that stress level has little or no effect on propagation characteristics over a significant range and that normal variations in backfill around the pipe also have no effect. Wall thickness has been found to have an effect on propagation speed at temperatures where cleavage fracture occurs. In the laboratory phase of the work, fracture tests are being developed which can be used to predict full-scale behavior accurately; thus one of the main objectives of the program is being accomplished. Both the Charpy V-notch impact test and the newly developed Battelle drop-weight tear test have shown good correlations with full-scale behavior of the plain-carbon, semi-killed materials. Work is continuing to obtain the same correlations with fully-killed steels, columbium and vanadium-treated materials, and quenched and tempered materials. (18 refs.)
Ad Hoc UAV Ground Network (AUGNet)

*† ‡ § , This paper describes an implementation of a wireless mobile ad hoc network with radio nodes mounted at fixed sites, on ground vehicles, and in small (10kg) UAVs. The ad hoc networking allows any two nodes to communicate either directly or through an arbitrary number of other nodes which act as relays. We envision two sce narios for this type of network. In the first, the UAV acts as a prominent radio node that connects disconnected ground radios. In the second, the networking enables groups of UAVs to communicate with each other to extend small UAVs' operational scope and range. The network consists of mesh network radios assembled from low -cost commercial off the shelf components. The radio is an IEEE 802.11b (WiFi) wireless interface and is controlled by an embedded computer. The network protocol is an implementation of the Dynamic Source Routing ad hoc networking protocol. The radio is mounted either in an environmental enclosure for outdoor fixed and vehicle mounting or directly in our custom built UAVs. A monitoring architecture has been embedded into the radios for de tailed performance characterization and analysis. This paper describes these components and performance results me asured at an outdoor test range .
Longitudinal rates of annual eye examinations of persons with diabetes and chronic eye diseases.

Abstract Objective To assess the rate of annual eye examinations over time among older Americans with diabetes and chronic eye diseases. Design Longitudinal analysis of Medicare claims data. Participants Random sample of Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 years or older. Methods Beneficiaries were followed between 1991 and 1999, unless mortality or enrollment in a health maintenance organization for > 6 months in a given 12-month period intervened. All claims data (both physician and facility) during this time were analyzed for the presence of International Classification of Diseases 9 codes consistent with 1 of the 3 study conditions and the performance of eye examinations. Main outcome measures Claims submitted by optometrists, ophthalmologists, or other providers of eye care for subjects with diabetes, glaucoma, or age-related macular degeneration (ARMD). Rates were calculated on the basis of a 15-month time window for annual examinations rather than for 12 months to allow for less than full compliance with the guidelines for various reasons (e.g., bad weather). Results Among those with diabetes in this population, 50% to 60% had annual eye examinations in a 15-month period. Of those followed for at least 75 months after diagnosis, about three quarters had one or more 15-month gaps between visits. For subjects diagnosed with glaucoma, most visit rates were in the 70% to 90% range per 15-month period. The percentage of subjects with at least one 15-month period with no visits was considerably lower than for diabetes. The patterns for those with ARMD were in between those for diabetes and glaucoma. Over a nine-year period, only slightly over half of persons with at least one of the study conditions complied with practice guidelines. Conclusions Annual eye examinations for persons diagnosed with diabetes, glaucoma, and ARMD are important for detecting potentially treatable vision loss among those already diagnosed with these conditions. Currently, actual rates of eye examinations for persons diagnosed with the study conditions fall far short of recommended rates. As such, approaches to enhancing longitudinal follow-up of those already in the eye care system are needed.
The choreographed dynamics of bacterial chromosomes

Despite decades of study, the exquisite temporal and spatial organization of bacterial chromosomes has only recently been appreciated. The direct visualization of specific chromosomal loci has revealed that bacteria condense, move and position their chromosomes in a reproducible fashion. The realization that bacterial chromosomes are actively translocated through the cell suggests the existence of specific mechanisms that direct this process. Here, we review bacterial chromosome dynamics and our understanding of the mechanisms that direct and coordinate them.
A Comparison of Motor Delays in Young Children: Autism Spectrum Disorder, Developmental Delay, and Developmental Concerns

This study assessed motor delay in young children 21-41 months of age with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and compared motor scores in children with ASD to those of children without ASD. Fifty-six children (42 boys, 14 girls) were in three groups: children with ASD, children with developmental delay (DD), and children with developmental concerns without motor delay. Descriptive analysis showed all children with ASD had delays in gross motor skills, fine motor skills, or both. Children with ASD and children with DD showed significant impairments in motor development compared to children who had developmental concerns without motor delay. Motor scores of young children with ASD did not differ significantly on motor skill measures when compared to young children with DD.
Why Not a World City? Astana, Ankara, and Geopolitical Scripts in Urban Networks

Abstract The world cities literature typically examines how and why certain cities achieve world city status, but this article examines why some actors eschew the world city competition and choose not to engage the discourse, despite deploying the very same urban development tactics. Through a case study of Astana, Kazakhstan's new capital city, I argue that state- and nation-building concerns in the era of independence have prevailed over interests in engaging the free market and liberalist narratives that accompany the world cities discourse. Demonstrating how the Nazarbayev regime has largely modeled its Astana project on Ataturk's development of Ankara, I jointly examine geopolitical discourses that shape how the relationship between the two cities is narrated and interpreted by elite and ordinary citizens alike. Drawing on data from interviews, focus groups, and participant observation conducted in Kazakhstan from 2009–2011, I demonstrate how these identities support the Nazarbayev regime's state-dom...
The course of peripheral pulmonary arterystenoses in children

Five children, ranging in age from 20 months to 10 years, with varying degrees of peripheral pulmonary artery stenoses, were evaluated on two occasions, an average of 5.8 years apart. They remained asymptomatic and showed no clinical, electrocardiographic, or roentgenographic evidence of progression of their disease. Serial right heart catheterization and angiocardiography showed that the cross-sectional areas of the stenotic sites grew with the child and did not become relatively more stenotic.
Transient Gamma-Ray Spectrometer Observation of the Bright Gamma-Ray Burst GRB 950822

The Transient Gamma-Ray Spectrometer (TGRS) on the Wind satellite is designed to perform spectroscopy of bright gamma-ray bursts in the ~20-8000 keV energy range, having a resolution 5-30 times better than that of earlier generation detectors. GRB 950822 was the brightest burst observed by TGRS in its first year of operation, with a peak flux (1024 ms) of ~78.3 photons cm-2 s-1 and a fluence (50-300 keV) of ~1.4 × 10-4 ergs cm-2; therefore, the GRB data in this paper represent the first high-resolution spectroscopy ever performed on a burst of this brightness. The continuum spectrum of GRB 950822 has the classical gamma-ray burst shape and exhibits typical evolution from hard to soft over the course of the burst. We found no evidence of line features or any other spectral fine structure with significance greater than 3.5 σ in our data.
Galois Module Structure and Elliptic Functions

Let K be a quadratic imaginary number field and Rf the ring class field module f over K, f ∈ N. Let Of denote the order of conductor f in K and let g*, g be proper Of-ideals such that g*2 ⊆ g ⊆ g*. Let τ denote the Weber function and let I denote an auxiliary Of-ideal. For certain extensions Rf(τ(1 | Ig))/Rf(τ(1 | Ig*)) it is shown that the ring of integers in Rf(τ(1 | Ig)) is a free rank one module over the associated order of Rf(τ(1 | Ig))/Rf(τ(1 | Ig*)).
Increased recruitment of TATA-binding protein to the promoter by transcriptional activation domains in vivo

The rate at which the TATA-binding protein (TBP) interacts with the TATA element and promotes transcription by RNA polymerase II was determined in yeast cells. A TBP derivative with altered TATA-element specificity was rapidly induced, and transcription from promoters with appropriately mutated TATA elements was measured. Without a functional activator protein, basal transcription was observed only after a lag of several hours. In contrast, GCN4-activated transcription occurred rapidly upon induction of the TBP derivative. These results suggest that accessibility of TBP to the chromatin template in vivo is rate limiting and that activation domains increase recruitment of TBP to the promoter.
A co-classification approach to learning from multilingual corpora

We address the problem of learning text categorization from a corpus of multilingual documents. We propose a multiview learning, co-regularization approach, in which we consider each language as a separate source, and minimize a joint loss that combines monolingual classification losses in each language while ensuring consistency of the categorization across languages. We derive training algorithms for logistic regression and boosting, and show that the resulting categorizers outperform models trained independently on each language, and even, most of the times, models trained on the joint bilingual data. Experiments are carried out on a multilingual extension of the RCV2 corpus, which is available for benchmarking.
The Political Economy of Agricultural Credit: The Case of Bolivi

A theoretical framework is established to show that agricultural credit programs in less developed countries can be used for political purposes because of (a) government-controlled supply; (b) implicit income transfers associated with concessionary interest rates, delinquency, and inflation that can be used as patronage for politically influential borrowers; and (c) ease of implementation under guise of economic objectives. The framework is applied to Bolivia. Within that country's political context, large income transfers to a few influential farmers strongly suggest the importance of political factors in credit allocation with consequent effects on income distribution, development, and debilitation of financial institutions.
Could information theory provide an ecological theory of sensory processing

The sensory pathways of animals are well adapted to processing a special class of signals, namely stimuli from the animal's environment. An important fact about natural stimuli is that they are typically very redundant and hence the sampled representation of these signals formed by the array of sensory cells is inefficient. One could argue for some animals and pathways, as the author does in this review, that efficiency of information representation in the nervous system has several evolutionary advantages. Consequently, one might expect that much of the processing in the early levels of these sensory pathways could be dedicated towards recording incoming signals into a more efficient form. The author explores the principle of efficiency of information representation as a design principle for sensory processing. He gives a preliminary discussion on how this principle could be applied in general to predict neural processing and then discuss concretely some neural systems where it recently has been shown to...
An Adjustment for the Effects of Observation Time on Mean Temperature and Degree-Day Computations.

Abstract Biases in mean temperatures due to differing times of daily maximum and minimum temperature observation cause problems in evaluation of temporal and spatial anomalies in temperature and derived degree day values. These biases were examined using six years (1973–78) of digitized hourly temperature data taken at Oneonta, New York. An annual mean temperature difference of 2.5°F is noted between means computed with the 0600 LST and 1500 IST observation times, with individual monthly differences as high as 4.4°F. Maximum seasonal degree day biases were 743 heating degree days (HDD) (10.2%), 169 cooling degree days (CDD) (43.3%), and 299 growing degree days (GDD) (14.3%). A modified version of the Blackburn method for adjusting mean temperature data for observation time bias is presented. The modified method involves adjusting data to a “true” mean obtained by averaging all hourly temperature values for the 24-hour period ending at midnight, rather than adjusting to the midnight standard observational ...
Inexpensive Heat Transfer Equipment to Demonstrate the Effect of Extended Surfaces on the Convection Heat Transfer Rate

Extended surfaces are used specifically to increase heat transfer rate between a solid and an adjacent fluid. The rate of heat transfer is from the solid surface to the fluid is governed by the Newton’s law of cooling. A simple inexpensive apparatus to demonstrate the effect of the length of the extended surface and the effect of different materials on the heat transfer rate was developed with the assistance of senior students enrolled in a senior project. Using this apparatus student was able to determine the temperature gradient and calculate the heat losses to the surroundings assuming infinitely long extended surface or negligible heat loss from the tip of the extended surface. Experiments were performed on three different materials, aluminum, copper and stainless steel by maintaining the base of the fin at a constant temperature and taking temperature measurements at regular intervals along the length of the extended surface. The apparatus was developed to be portable and used in a class room environment to enhance the understanding of heat transfer principles during a lecture rather than in a laboratory situation. The visual communication is much more powerful in many learning situations; the spoken word may be redundant. The feedback from the students was overwhelmingly positive. The paper describes the apparatus, method of construction and experimental results in a graphical form with discussion questions and answersCopyright © 2005 by ASME
Increase in sodium contamination from glass as a function of time after cleaning

Abstract Pipets that had been leached with acid, rinsed with deionized water, dried, protected from air-borne contamination, and then stored for varying periods, were tested to determine their extractable Na. When tested immediately, they contributed no detectable Na to the eluting fluid ( Significant errors may occur in the analysis of dilute Na solutions unless glass pipets are used immediately after acid cleaning or substituted by plastic pipets.