cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Harmonic Motion Imaging of Pancreatic Tumor Stiffness Indicates Disease State and Treatment Response.

Purpose: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) is a common, deadly cancer that is challenging both to diagnose and to manage. Its hallmark is an expansive, desmoplastic stroma characterized by high mechanical stiffness. In this study, we sought to leverage this feature of PDA for two purposes: differential diagnosis and monitoring of response to treatment. Experimental Design: Harmonic motion imaging (HMI) is a functional ultrasound technique that yields a quantitative relative measurement of stiffness suitable for comparisons between individuals and over time. We used HMI to quantify pancreatic stiffness in mouse models of pancreatitis and PDA as well as in a series of freshly resected human pancreatic cancer specimens. Results: In mice, we learned that stiffness increased during progression from preneoplasia to adenocarcinoma and also effectively distinguished PDA from several forms of pancreatitis. In human specimens, the distinction of tumors versus adjacent pancreatitis or normal pancreas tissue was even more stark. Moreover, in both mice and humans, stiffness increased in proportion to tumor size, indicating that tuning of mechanical stiffness is an ongoing process during tumor progression. Finally, using a brca2–mutant mouse model of PDA that is sensitive to cisplatin, we found that tissue stiffness decreases when tumors respond successfully to chemotherapy. Consistent with this observation, we found that tumor tissues from patients who had undergone neoadjuvant therapy were less stiff than those of untreated patients. Conclusions: These findings support further development of HMI for clinical applications in disease staging and treatment response assessment in PDA.
Inpatient Adherence to Topical Glaucoma Medications before and after an Educational Intervention.

Purpose To assess the inpatient adherence rate and factors associated with adherence to topical glaucoma medications (TGMs) at a single academic institution throughout hospitalization before and after an educational intervention. Design Nonrandomized, comparative, retrospective study. Participants Inpatients 18 years of age and older admitted to a single academic hospital from January 2014 through June 2019 with a diagnosis of glaucoma who also received TGMs. Methods The medication administration record during admission was examined closely to determine if the TGMs were reconciled and administered correctly before and after an educational intervention with inpatient providers. A simple intervention reached various health care providers through an educational e-mail, communication in a weekly newsletter, and a morning report presentation. Adherence was defined as administration of more than 75% of recommended doses during the inpatient stay. Other collected variables included length of stay and primary diagnosis on admission. Main Outcome Measures Adherence rate to inpatient administration of TGMs. Results One hundred eighty-four patients (n = 142 before intervention; n = 42 after intervention) were included. The preintervention group had a total of 275 TGMs, of which 207 (75.3%) were administered in accordance with the adherence definition of this study. After the intervention phase, 49 of 56 (87.5%) TGMs were administered with appropriate adherence (P = 0.047). Adherence was associated significantly with a known outpatient medication regimen (P = 0.006) and correct admission reconciliation (P Conclusions When glaucoma patients requiring topical treatment are admitted, approximately one quarter of patients seem to not receive their medications appropriately. In this study, a simple educational intervention was able to improve adherence. To prevent daily fluctuations in intraocular pressure for vulnerable glaucoma patients, inpatient adherence to appropriate medication administration should be stressed continuously. While in the care of health care providers, inpatients should be afforded at least the opportunity to maintain adequate adherence, just as is carried out for other medications related to other chronic medical conditions.
AML-320: PD-1 Inhibition Facilitates the Anti-AML Response of Co-Targeting BCL-2 and Methyltransferases through Modulation of the Immune Microenvironment

Background Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a hematopoietic malignancy with an increased incidence among older patients. The long-term survival of older AML patients treated with established therapies remains poor. The BCL-2 inhibitor venetoclax with hypomethylating agent (HMA) improved response rates (CR/CRi> 65%) in newly diagnosed older AML patients, with median response duration of 11.3 months. Increased expression of program death-1 (PD-1) on T-cells is associated with AML immune-suppression, which contributes to chemoresistance. Venetoclax preserves T-cells immunity by sparing central memory T-cells and enhances anti-PD-1 efficacy in immune-competent mouse models in vivo. These findings prompted us to test the hypothesis that reactivation of immune function by PD-1 inhibition facilitates responses to venetoclax and decitabine. Results We examined serial peripheral blood (PB) samples from patients (n= 6) before and after decitabine and venetoclax (Dec_Ven, NCT03404193 ). The combination of Dec_Ven effectively reduced CD33+/CD34+ cells and increased CD3+ T-cells. The reduction of CD33+/CD34+ cells positively correlated with the depletion of circulating blasts (R = 0.64, p = 0.0001). Dec_Ven rapidly (Days 1–3) activated T-cells by upregulating CD69 and PD-1 in both CD4 and CD8 cells but led to T-cells exhaustion with persistently upregulated PD-1 and loss of CD69 on Days 3–8. Mass cytometry CyTOF immune profiling demonstrated that Dec_Ven reduced naive T-cells (CD45RA+CCR7+) but spared or increased frequencies of the central (CD45RA-CCR7+) and effector memory (CD45RA-CCR7-) CD4 or CD8 cells. In parallel, serum cytokine levels of IL2, IL-6, and INFg were increased with Dec_Ven therapy. To test if targeting PD-1 can amplify the anti-leukemia effect, PB cells from newly diagnosed AML patient pre- and post Dec_Ven were treated with anti-CD3 and anti-PD-1 in vitro. Blockade of PD-1 reduced CD33+/CD34+ cells in baseline sample (67% vs. 34%) and synergistically eliminated the residual leukemia cells in sample obtained on Day 3 following Dec_Ven therapy (4.5% post-Dec_Ven alone vs. 1.9% with anti-CD3/PD-1). Conclusions Our data indicate that combination Dec_Ven induces T-cells exhaustion but selectively preserves effector T-cells immune subsets. The “triple” combination therapy of HMA, venetoclax, and PD-1 antagonist may increase durability of responses by enhancing T-cell function and is being tested in clinical trial NCT02397720 . Funding This work is supported by R01CA235622.
Graph Convolutional Networks for traffic anomaly.

Event detection has been an important task in transportation, whose task is to detect points in time when large events disrupts a large portion of the urban traffic network. Travel information {Origin-Destination} (OD) matrix data by map service vendors has large potential to give us insights to discover historic patterns and distinguish anomalies. However, to fully capture the spatial and temporal traffic patterns remains a challenge, yet serves a crucial role for effective anomaly detection. Meanwhile, existing anomaly detection methods have not well-addressed the extreme data sparsity and high-dimension challenges, which are common in OD matrix datasets. To tackle these challenges, we formulate the problem in a novel way, as detecting anomalies in a set of directed weighted graphs representing the traffic conditions at each time interval. We further propose \textit{Context augmented Graph Autoencoder} (\textbf{Con-GAE }), that leverages graph embedding and context embedding techniques to capture the spatial traffic network patterns while working around the data sparsity and high-dimensionality issue. Con-GAE adopts an autoencoder framework and detect anomalies via semi-supervised learning. Extensive experiments show that our method can achieve up can achieve a 0.1-0.4 improvements of the area under the curve (AUC) score over state-of-art anomaly detection baselines, when applied on several real-world large scale OD matrix datasets.
Abstract PS14-04: A picture worth a thousand words - “classic” inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) appearance associated with overall survival

Background: IBC is considered a clinical diagnosis characterized by rapid onset of diffuse skin changes in the setting of a breast cancer diagnosis. A wide variety of visual changes are accurately diagnosed as IBC. Here, we sought to determine whether the most subjectively “classic” appearing presentation (swollen, involved breast with nipple inversion and diffuse skin change) was associated with worse outcomes. Method: We reviewed the images and charts of patients from the prospective IBC registry from the MD Anderson IBC Clinic. Breast medical photographs were reviewed by a non-expert and the visual presentation was scored as classic (as above), not classic, and in between. Comparative analyses were used to assess differences between patient groups using Chi-squared test, or Fisher’s exact test for categorical variables. Wilcoxon rank sum test was used for continuous measures. We used the Kaplan Meier estimator and the log-rank test to investigate association between scoring and survival distributions. Cox proportional hazard regression was employed to assess the impact of important covariates on the overall survival. Results: We analyzed 245 IBC patients with median age 55 (range, 26-81), M0 vs. M1 status (157 and 88 patients, respectively), 68 TNBC vs. 177 non-TNBC patients. The classic presentation was significantly associated with smoking, post-menopausal status, and metastatic disease at presentation (P = 0.002, 0.018, and 0.004, respectively). Presentation was significantly associated with OS in univariate analysis (P Conclusions: A visual inspection of presentation photograph for “classic” appearance, obvious swelling, skin change, and nipple inversion, independently predicted poorer OS in IBC. Further work is warranted to understand the differences in classic and non-classic presentations, and the relationship between smoking and breast cancer presentation. Citation Format: Wintana Balema, Diane Liu, Yu Shen, Randa El-Zein, Megumi Kai, Beth Overmoyer, Kathy D Miller, Carisa Le-Petross, Naoto T Ueno, Wendy A Woodward. A picture worth a thousand words - “classic” inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) appearance associated with overall survival [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2020 San Antonio Breast Cancer Virtual Symposium; 2020 Dec 8-11; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(4 Suppl):Abstract nr PS14-04.
Physician survey regarding updated PCV13 vaccine recommendations for adults ≥65 years

Background In June 2019, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended discontinuing the routine use of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) among adults aged ≥65 years and instead recommended PCV13 be used based on shared clinical decision making (SCDM). Objectives We wanted to assess among primary care physicians (1) knowledge and attitudes regarding the new SCDM PCV13 recommendation and (2) how the new recommendation will affect their likelihood of recommending PCV13 to adults aged ≥65 years. Design This was done by mail and internet-based survey, which was conducted October 2019 through January 2020. The study was carried out on a nationally representative sample of general internists (GIMs) and family physicians (FPs). Results The response rate was 64% (617/968, GIM 57%, FP 71%). Only 41% of respondents were aware of the SCDM PCV13 recommendation in adults aged ≥65 years; 76% agreed (37% "Strongly," 39% "Somewhat") that their patients aged ≥65 years will get confused by having a SCDM recommendation for PCV13 and a routine recommendation for the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPSV23); 60% agreed (18% "Strongly," 42% "Somewhat") that they were unsure of what points to emphasize when having a SCDM conversation with an adult aged ≥65 years about receiving PCV13. Just over 50% reported they would be less likely to recommend PCV13 for adults aged ≥65 years as a result of the new recommendation, but 42% reported that their recommendation for PCV13 would not change. Conclusions Word of the new ACIP recommendation for PCV13 for adults aged ≥65 years needs to be further disseminated. Investigation into why some physicians do not plan to change their recommendations is warranted.
Patent Law: An Open-Access Casebook

Patent Law: An Open-Access Casebook is a comprehensive casebook covering all the fundamentals of the United States patent system. It is designed to be used as the primary text in a 3-credit or 4-credit patent law course. Any portion of the casebook may also, of course, be used separately.
Climate change: helping nature survive the human response

Climate change poses profound, direct, and well-documented threats to biodiversity. A significant fraction of Earth's species is at risk of extinction due to changing precipitation and temperature regimes, rising and acidifying oceans, and other factors. There is also growing awareness of the diversity and magnitude of responses, both proactive and reactive, that people will undertake as lives and livelihoods are affected by climate change. Yet to date few studies have examined the relationship between these two powerful forces. The natural systems upon which people depend, already under direct assault from climate change, are further threatened by how we respond to climate change. Human history and recent studies suggest that our actions to cope with climate change (adaptation) or lessen its rate and magnitude (mitigation) could have impacts that match—and even exceed—the direct effects of climate change on ecosystems. If we are to successfully conserve biodiversity and maintain ecosystem services in a warming world, considerable effort is needed to predict and reduce the indirect risks created by climate change.
Integrated optoelectronic interconnects using liquid-crystal-on-silicon VLSI

The various optical interconnection schemes that have been developed for the implementation of neural network architectures are reviewed. Volume holography in photorefra.ct.ive crystals is the most powerful interconnection method for this application. The use of liquid crystal smart pixel technology for the realization of the nonlinear activation function of the neurons is described. A novel method for combining liquid crystal devices and photorefractive holograms that leads to a very compact and versatile package, is presented.
Biochemical and immunochemical analysis of the arrangement of connexin43 in rat heart gap junction membranes.

A 43 × 10^3 M_r protein (designated connexin43 or Cx43) is a major constituent of heart gap junctions. The understanding of its arrangement in junctional membranes has been extended by means of site-directed antibodies raised against synthetic peptides of Cx43. These represent part of the first extracellular loop (EL-46), the cytoplasmic loop (CL-100), the second extracellular loop (EL-186) and carboxy-terminal sequences (CT-237 and CT-360). All of the antibodies raised reacted with their respective peptides and the Cx43 protein on Western blots. By immunoelectron microscopy two of the antibodies (CL-100 and CT-360) were shown to label the cytoplasmic surface of isolated gap junction membranes. Immunofluorescent labeling at locations of neonatal cardiac myocyte-myocyte apposition required an alkali/urea treatment when the EL-46 and EL-186 antibodies were used. Immunoblot analysis of endoproteinase Lys-C-digested gap junctions revealed that the Cx43 protein passed through the lipid bilayer four times. Alkaline phosphatase digestion of isolated junctions was used to show that the CT-360 antibody recognized many phosphorylated forms of Cx43. Our results unequivocally confirm models of the organization of Cx43 that were based on a more limited set of data and a priori considerations of the sequence.
Vector quantized binary features for visual pose measurement

Visual pose measurement computes the translation and orientation of an object based on an image. The problem is made difficult by background clutter, partial occlusions, and illumination variations. This paper presents a solution to these problems with a new algorithm for planar, visual pose measurement based on compressed, binary subtemplates. For a given object, we take a sequence of training images as the object rotates. On each training image, we detect binary edges and pick binary edge subtemplates as features to model the object. These features are compressed using the Lloyd algorithm, a conventional image compression technique. We detect the object in an image using a Hough transform. We demonstrate the algorithm on images with background clutter, partial occlusions, and illumination variations.
SENSORY AND PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF MUFFINS MADE WITH WAXY WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR

ABSTRACT The quality of muffins made with different amounts (0, 15, 30, 45 and 60%) of waxy whole wheat flour (WWWF) blended with conventional whole wheat flour were characterized. High amounts of WWWF blends produced darker but acceptable crust color. WWWF formulations had a softer crumb on day 0 and day 4, but greater firmness after 16 days storage. Samples did not differ in springiness on day 0, but a slight decrease occurred in all samples, and WWWF samples were slightly less springy after 16 days. Proton (1H) NMR showed two distinct relaxation times, indicative of water migration from the crumb of the muffin to the crust. Sensory evaluation showed high overall likability, except for muffins made with 60% WWWF. The 60% muffins had lower volume than all other formulations. Results show that 15–30% WWWF produces a softer, moister muffin, but this advantage is lost after 8–16 days storage. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS This study shows that 15–30% waxy whole wheat flour blended with conventional whole wheat flour produces softer and moisture whole wheat muffins, with good consumer acceptability. Muffins with WWWF remained softer for 4–8 days, but were firmer than control after 16 days storage. Waxy whole wheat flour also adds additional fiber, so its inclusion in blends with conventional whole wheat may help in the development of higher fiber products with a softer and moister crumb.
Sex is not an independent risk factor for survival in differentiated thyroid cancer

Objectives/Hypothesis To determine the impact of sex on disease-specific survival (DSS) in differentiated thyroid cancer. Study Design Retrospective analysis of population database. Methods Adult patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) or follicular thyroid carcinoma (FTC) were identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Database between 1988 and 2003. Patients were grouped according to tumor type (PTC or FTC), with age, sex, tumor size, extension, and nodal or distant metastases recorded. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to compare DSS based on sex in each group. Results We identified 36,725 patients, of which 77% were female and 23% were male. PTC represented 91.3% of patients and FTC the remaining 8.7%. Males with PTC and FTC were diagnosed at an older age and were significantly more likely to present with advanced-stage disease. In patients ≥45 years old, DSS was similar in male and female patients; however, in patients <45 years old, DSS was significantly worse in males. When compared by stage, DSS was similar among male and female patients with stage II PTC; however, males with stage I PTC had a minimally reduced DSS. Stage-stratified analysis revealed no DSS difference between male and female patients with FTC. Conclusions Male sex does not portray an independent survival risk in differentiated thyroid cancer when survival is compared by disease stage. Men present at a later age with more advanced disease, which may explain their poorer survival seen in some studies. Level of Evidence 4. Laryngoscope, 123:2913–2919, 2013
Osteosarcoma as a second malignant neoplasm.

Purpose: The aim of this study is to compare primary and secondary osteosarcomas using data from the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program. Methods: Osteosarcoma cases were identified in the SEER Cancer Incidence Public-Use Database, 1973–96 (1511 primary and 133 secondary osteosarcomas). Secondary osteosarcomas were further classified as occurring within or outside the previously irradiated field. Comparisons among groups were performed by nominal logistic regression. Survival analyses were performed using Kaplan–Meir and proportional hazards regression. Results: Secondary osteosarcomas were more likely to have a non-extremity primary site and an older age at diagnosis (>40 years) (<0.0001 for both). Secondary osteosarcoma cases continued to be more likely to have a non-extremity site when excluding those occurring within the radiation field. Five-year overall survival was 50% lower for secondary osteosarcomas for both extremity and non-extremity sites. Primary malignancies associated with secondary osteosarcomas included 14 lymphomas/leukemias, six sarcomas, 54 carcinomas, and seven other cancers. Secondary osteosarcomas occurring within a field of radiation were more likely to occur at a younger age, have a malignancy with a primary morphology other than carcinoma, a non-limb site, and a longer duration between their primary malignant neoplasms and the development of osteosarcoma. No difference in the overall survival was noted between secondary osteosarcomas occurring within an irradiated field and those that did not. Conclusions: Secondary osteosarcomas are associated with carcinomas especially in the elderly. Although a 50% decreased 5-year survival was observed for secondary osteosarcomas in this study, this might not reflect the current outcomes with more aggressive therapy.
Sensitivity Analysis Of Amplitude Variation With Offset (Avo) In Fractured Media

The variation in seismic P to P reflection amplitude with offset (AVO) caused by a system of fractures embedded in an isotropic background is investigated. Additionally. a sensitivity analysis of AVO parameters with respect to the fracture system parameters is made. The fracture system is assumed to be aligned vertically or horizontally and can be gas filled or fluid filled. Elastic constants are calculated by using formulations of Schoenberg (1988). From the elastic constants, the reflection amplitude as a function of angle is calculated using equations from Ruger (1997). Theoretical results for a single interface between fractured and unfractured media, both with and without lit.hology change, show opportunities for ext.ract.ion of crack density information from seismic Pwave dat.a collected in fractured geothermal or hydrocarbon reservoirs. For vertically oriented fract.ures, wide angle data (> 30°) is crucial for the estimat.ion of fractur,' parameters. INTRODUCTION The behavior of seismic P to P reflection amplitude versus offset (AVO) has been extrllsively studied in the petroleum industry for its usefulness as a hydrocarboll indicator. Laboratory and theoretical research has shown that t.he behavior of seismic P to P reflect.ion amplitudes is anomalous when gas is present in the pore spaces of porous rocks. This result is obtained theoretically by combining the Gassman (1951) equation for bulk compressibilit.y with the Zoeppritz (1919) equations, which predict reflection amplitudes caused by the velocity and density contrasts. The Gassman equations are not readily applicable t.o non-porous rocks, however. There has been less research specifically aimed 4-1
Effect of exercise training on adenyl cyclase and phosphodiesterase in skeletal muscle, heart, and liver.

Abstract Adaptive changes in the activities of adenyl cyclase and phosphodiesterase in response to exercise training were studied in muscle, heart, and liver. Basal adenyl cyclase activities were increased in muscle and decreased in heart as a result of training. Epinephrine-stimulated adenyl cyclase activity of heart was depressed by training. Fluoride-stimulated adenyl cyclase activity was not altered by training in any of the tissues studied. Phosphodiesterase activity was depressed in liver of trained rats but unaltered in muscle and heart. These changes in adenyl cyclase and phosphodiesterase activities suggest that the capacity to respond to hormones may be altered by training.
Fiber-optic spectrochemical emissions sensor: a detector for volatile chlorinated compounds

Abstract We present a fiber-optic sensor developed to measure volatile chlorine-containing compounds in the gas phase. This unique sensor, called the HaloSnif TM , is based on the atomic emission of chlorine. The HaloSnif sensor uses a critical orifice air inlet (a 50 μm capillary tube) and a radio frequency (r.f.) excited helium plasma to excite the ambient air sample. A fiber-optic cable transmits the chlorine emission intensity to a signal-processing module, where it is optically filtered and amplified. The HaloSnif system consists of a miniaturized probe (∼ 10 cm × 4 cm), fiber-optic cable, r.f. power supply, and a flow-control and signal-processig module. The compact robust system has been successfully field-tested at several waste-remediation sites. The detection limit for trichloroethylene in air is 1 ppm, with over four orders of linear response. Furthermore, HaloSnif is capable of measuring concentrations of any gas-phase chlorine-containing compound.
The impact of the global financial crisis on firm‐level risk of the S&P 500

Purpose – This paper aims to assess the impact of the global financial crisis of 2007‐09 on the risk structure of S&P 500 firms by examining their market, active, and residual risks before and during the crisis.Design/methodology/approach – The classic one‐factor model is estimated for each firm in the S&P 500 to decompose risk into market, active, and residual components. Five sets of regression estimates based on monthly return data are used: 2002‐06, 2003‐07, 2004‐08, 2005‐09, and 2006‐10. The estimates provide insight into the risk structure of S&P 500 firms before and during the crisis.Findings – The average correlation coefficient between S&P 500 firms rose during the crisis from 0.20 to 0.35, an increase of 75 percent. Although the results indicate that active and residual risks are significant across the firms and across the periods, the impact of the financial crisis was mostly on market risk. The increase in risks was pronounced for financial firms, especially insurance companies, and industrial...
Measuring noise correlation for improved video denoising

The vast majority of previous work in noise reduction for visual media has assumed uncorrelated, white, noise sources. In practice this is almost always violated by real media. Film grain noise is never white, and this paper highlights that the same applies to almost all consumer video content. We therefore present an algorithm for measuring the spatial and temporal spectral density of noise in archived video content, be it consumer digital camera or film orginated. As an example of how this information can be used for video denoising, the spectral density is then used for spatio-temporal noise reduction in the Fourier frequency domain. Results show improved performance for noise reduction in an easily pipelined system.
Community Development and the Encogido Syndrome

Community development has become an international movement of wide dimensions and great fervor in the past decade or two. It is rooted in even earlier movements that were concerned primarily with "grass-roots" solutions of domestic problems in the 1930's. These in turn drew on the previous work of sociologists and social actionists who viewed the shift from rural to urban life with alarm.
Rate constants for use in modeling

The current status of quantitative understanding of reaction rate constant data for use in combustion modeling is discussed. It is pointed out that simple biomelecular and unimolecular reactions can be tabulated as functions of various physically meaningful parameters over wide ranges of temperature and pressure. Also discussed are the more complicated problems of complex surfaces and their manifestations. Major emphasis is placed on the underlying framework for critical evaluation of rate data. We point out that currently used values for 2 C H 3 → k + C 2 H 5 + H are incompatible with the reverse reaction and that the temperature dependence of the branching ratio Download : Download full-size image can be understood in terms of an energy-dependent transition state for the NH channel.
Learned taste aversion induced by cortical spreading depression.

Abstract Male albino rats were cannulated and placed on a 24 hr water deprivation schedule. The animals were allowed 10 min access to water in a large animal cage for 5 days. On the sixth day of deprivation the animals were randomly divided into 6 groups and given either 12 percent KC1, 25 percent KC1, or Ringers solution applied unilaterally or bilaterally to the cortex immediately after access to 8 percent sucrose. On the seventh day of deprivation, each rat was placed in a two-choice situation with the sucrose solution and water. Only the unilateral and bilateral 12 percent KC1 groups developed an aversion to the sucrose. These results indicate that CSD has aversive as well as amnesic properties, there exists a gradient of amnesia, dependent on concentration, and that the cortex is not necessary for learning a taste aversion.
Graphics interface tool development in a problem solving environment

A Problem Solving Environment (PSE) is an integrated system of application tools that support the solution of a given problem, or a set of related problems. Paramount in the development of such environments is the design, specification and integration of user interface tools that communicate between the application tools of the system and the user. Typically these interactions are object oriented and involve the interaction with tool parameters, which in many applications (CAD/CAM, Imaging Systems, Image Processing), are represented by graphical data. This paper describes a user-interface tool development system in which both textual and graphical display, and interaction techniques are integrated under a single model. This allows the user to interact with tool parameters in either graphical or textual modes, and to have the parameters displayed in the manner most relevant to the problem set.
Oxygen affinity of bird blood.

Abstract The oxygen dissociation curves were determined for blood from seven species of birds. The shape of the avian dissociation curve was similar to mammalian dissociation curves. The half saturation pressures (P50) of bird blood were similar to those of mammals and decreased with increasing body size. The findings contradict the common belief that the oxygen affinity of bird blood generally is lower than that of mammalian blood.
Specular and diffuse x-ray scattering from tungsten/carbon multilayers having a high reflectivity at 10 keV.

X-ray scattering measurements at 10 keV from multilayers having a period of 24.8 {angstrom} and consisting of 100 W/C bilayers are reported. Specular scans revealed first order reflectivities in the range 73.5% to 78.0% with bandpasses in the range of 1.5% to 1.7%. Total roughness (or interface grading) values deduced from fitting were in the range 2.5 to 3.0 for the last-to-grow surface of the W layers. Diffuse scattering measurements were made in a novel geometry that permitted investigation of in-plane momentum transfers up to 0.2 {angstrom}{sup {minus}1}. This is roughly an order of magnitude larger than is possible in conventional rocking scans. A power law dependence of the diffuse scattering after integration over a ''Brillioun zone'' is found. The exponent of this power law, 1.75, when interpreted using a logarithmic correlation function leads to a value of 1.0 {angstrom} for the correlated roughness.
Marine macroalgae: an untapped resource for producing fuels and chemicals

As world energy demand continues to rise and fossil fuel resources are depleted, marine macroalgae (i.e., seaweed) is receiving increasing attention as an attractive renewable source for producing fuels and chemicals. Marine plant biomass has many advantages over terrestrial plant biomass as a feedstock. Recent breakthroughs in converting diverse carbohydrates from seaweed biomass into liquid biofuels (e.g., bioethanol) through metabolic engineering have demonstrated potential for seaweed biomass as a promising, although relatively unexplored, source for biofuels. This review focuses on up-to-date progress in fermentation of sugars from seaweed biomass using either natural or engineered microbial cells, and also provides a comprehensive overview of seaweed properties, cultivation and harvesting methods, and major steps in the bioconversion of seaweed biomass to biofuels.
Stiffness Change of a Graphite Epoxy Laminate Under Reverse Fatigue Loading

The stiffness of a flat specimen, made of graphite epoxy (T300/934), was measured during reverse fatigue loading. Laminates of basic layup, unidirectional cross-ply and angle-ply, as well as multidirectional (isotropic) layup, were tested. It was found that all the laminates exhibit rapid stiffness degradation on the last (third) fatigue stage. Except for the 0-deg unidirectional laminate, the last stage starts at about 70 to 80 percent of the fatigue life, regardless of the load level and the final mode of failure (tension or compression). It is shown that, for this material, stiffness degradation is a result of crack accumulation, mainly along the fibers, even for the fiber dominated laminates. This general phenomenon can serve to predict usable safe life of laminates under fatigue loading.
Platelet-inhibiting drugs in the prevention of clinical thrombotic disease (first of three parts).

(Second of Three Parts) Coronary Heart Disease In coronary heart disease, there is evidence that platelets may be involved, both by their incorporation into occlusive thrombi and by embolization of aggregates into the microcirculation.3–5,38 , 39 The conduct of clinical trials in coronary heart disease presents major difficulties, the most important of which relates to the large number of patients required to perform the study in a reasonable time, since the incidence of the end points, myocardial infarction and death, is low. If a primary prevention study were performed on randomly selected middle-aged subjects without evidence of overt coronary-artery disease, and myocardial . . .
Controlling chemotherapy side effects.

Abstract Severe nausea and vomiting are commonly experienced by cancer patients after receiving chemotherapy treatments. Moreover, approximately 25% of these patients develop conditioned aversions to treatment and become nauseated before they receive their chemotherapy injections. The use of deep muscle relaxation hypnosis in conjunction with guided imagery to control pre- and post-chemotherapy nausea and emesis is discussed. Theoretical and clinical issues raised by this application of hypnosis in cancer treatment are also addressed.
The interactivity design and realization of a Web-based course computer basic

The interactive is a major factors which students with learning difficulties especially for the web-based course. So the interactive design of the web-based courses is a very important element. On the basis of instructional interaction definition, this paper summarized the student and learning resources' interactivity. And descript the details of interactive design in building the web-based course computer basic. And introduces the design of this course and related.
Future Trends in Dental Education

One cannot discuss the present status o f dentistry as a profession, or the arts and science of dentistry as it is practiced, without including the subject o f dental education. Also, one cannot predict the future status o f dentistry or the future trends in practice and in research with­ out giving consideration to the trends in dental education. Like all o f the professions in the health field, dentistry depends largely on edu­ cation and depends entirely for its per­ sonnel on the dental education programs. Although there are many factors that have an effect on the future o f any o f the professions, and a study o f these will help one to predict many o f the changes which will occur, it would seem that a study o f the trends in dental education and a study o f what the dental schools envision for the future is probably the best single index o f what the future holds for the dental practitioner. It should be pointed out that the im­ portance of dental education to the fu ­ ture o f the profession is not determined solely by the undergradate programs in dentistry existing today, or by those which have been the basis for training the m a­ jority o f dentists who are still in practice. I f the scope o f the profession were lim­ ited to the undergraduate programs that were in existence at the time the practi­ tioner obtained his professional training, we would find it definitely restricted,, be­ cause only about 46,000 practicing den­ tists, or about 53 per cent o f those now in practice, are graduates o f the present curriculum requiring a minimum o f two years o f predental college study and four years o f professional training. This means that the remaining 40,000 dentists ob ­ tained their basic study under shorter courses taken prior to 1935, which is only 22 years ago. However, the dental schools and other institutions, as well as both the local and state dental societies, have done a great deal in the way o f providing continuing educational experience de­ signed to permit the dentist to avail him­ self o f new information and to make it possible for him to employ the currently taught methods and technics in his prac­ tice.
Testing theories of regulatory behavior

Many decisions by regulators have been analyzed over the last two decades in an effort to test regulatory behavioral theories. As a result, the interest group theory of behavior has gained a considerable following and the public interest theory has been largely dismissed. However, many of these tests are inadequate; with the regulatory decisions analyzed, both the interest group and public interest theories lead to the same predictions. To properly distinguish between these theories, a set of necessary conditions that a regulatory decision must satisfy is developed. Based on these conditions and the extant empirical literature, public interest concerns of regulators cannot be dismissed, and a more general theory of regulatory behavior is suggested.
Polynomials and primitive elements in Galois rings

Abstract A primitive element of the Galois ring GR ( p n , m ) is an element of the group U of units whose order is the exponent of U . We show that, for almost all odd prime powers p m where c divides p m − 1, if f is a polynomial over GR ( p n , m) satisfying certain conditions, then there is a primitive element γ in the ring such that f (γ) is a c th power. We also show that for almost all Galois rings, if f satisfies certain conditions then f (α) is a primitive element for some α in the ring. These theorems are generalizations of Madden's results on primitive elements in finite fields.
Dynamics of Salivary Gland Morphogenesis

Salivary glands form during embryonic development by a complex process that creates compact, highly organized secretory organs with functions essential for oral health. The architecture of these glands is generated by branching morphogenesis, revealed by recent research to involve unexpectedly dynamic cell motility and novel regulatory pathways. Numerous growth factors, extracellular matrix molecules, gene regulatory pathways, and mechanical forces contribute to salivary gland morphogenesis, but local gene regulation and morphological changes appear to play particularly notable roles. Here we review these recent advances and their potential application to salivary gland tissue engineering.
Anti-tetanus toxoid antibody production after mismatched T cell-depleted bone marrow transplantation

We explored B-cell function after tetanus toxoid (TT) immunization in 12 children with severe combined immunodeficiency disease or leukemia who were long-term survivors of an HLA-matched sibling or haplocompatible T cell-depleted parental bone marrow transplant (BMT), 10 of their healthy donors, and 13 normal controls. Specificin vivo andin vitro anti-TT antibody (Ab) production were measured by ELISA. We studied donors' and recipients' peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and mixed E− (non-T cells) and E+ cells (T cells) spontaneously and after stimulation by TT in the absence or presence of interleukin-2 (IL-2), IL-4, and IL-6. Five of the 12 patients and all donors and controls responded within vivo anti-TT Ab.In vitro anti-TT Ab production correlated with thein vivo response. All seven of the nonresponders were either fully engrafted or mixed chimeras (donor T cells but autologous B cells and monocytes). We could not identify a T-cell defect in four of the five nonresponders who were tested. In contrast, E− cells from three of three responders cooperated with fresh donor E+ cells even when they shared only one HLA haplotype. In three of seven nonresponders,in vitro anti-TT Ab production was restored after the addition of IL-4 or IL-6 but not IL-2. Our results suggest that the humoral immunodeficiency that exists post mismatched T cell-depleted BMT is either a B-cell, a monocyte, or a B-cell/T-cell cooperation defect which, in some patients, may be correctible with the addition of a cytokine. Also, it is not necessary to engraft donor B cells to achieve normal antibody responses and the ability to respond does not appear to correlate with pretransplant chemotherapy.
The Forms and Processes of War Diffusion Research Update on Contagion in African Conflict

As part of an ongoing project, we have investigated the existence of conflict diffusion in the post-World War II international system. The initial systemwide tests of our Warring Border Nation model of positive spatial diffusion were replicated successfully in a study of conflict in the African region that appeared in this journal. Although both the systemwide and African regional studies demonstrated the existence of conflict diffusion, the present article begins to specify exactly which processes are operative by unpacking the earlier results and their attendant methodologies. To describe what positive spatial diffusion looks like in Africa—the states for which it holds and the conditions under which it does so—we present a series of analyses that exclusively utilize the variables that are central to the argument: borders, types of borders, and factors related to the “treatment” of having a Warring Border Nation.
Maternal Perceived Quality of Life Following Childbirth

Objective To examine preterm, near-term, and term mothers' self-reported quality of life in the early postpartum period. Design Prospective, longitudinal repeated measures design. Setting Four medical centers in the Midwest. Patients/Participants A convenience sample of 184 mothers of either a preterm, near-term, or term infant. Main Outcome Measure Maternal Postpartum Quality of Life tool. Results Mothers of preterm infants scored significantly lower on the subscale psychological/baby of the Maternal Postpartum Quality of Life tool compared to mothers of near-term and term infants. Conclusions Infant gestational age at birth has relevance for maternal quality of life during the postpartum period. Health care professionals need to be cognizant relative to infant gestational age and individualize nursing care.
Common Mechanism for RNA Encapsidation by Negative-Strand RNA Viruses

The nucleocapsid of a negative-strand RNA virus is assembled with a single nucleocapsid protein and the viral genomic RNA. The nucleocapsid protein polymerizes along the length of the single-strand genomic RNA (viral RNA) or its cRNA. This process of encapsidation occurs concomitantly with genomic replication. Structural comparisons of several nucleocapsid-like particles show that the mechanism of RNA encapsidation in negative-strand RNA viruses has many common features. Fundamentally, there is a unifying mechanism to keep the capsid protein protomer monomeric prior to encapsidation of viral RNA. In the nucleocapsid, there is a cavity between two globular domains of the nucleocapsid protein where the viral RNA is sequestered. The viral RNA must be transiently released from the nucleocapsid in order to reveal the template RNA sequence for transcription/replication. There are cross-molecular interactions among the protein subunits linearly along the nucleocapsid to stabilize its structure. Empty capsids can form in the absence of RNA. The common characteristics of RNA encapsidation not only delineate the evolutionary relationship of negative-strand RNA viruses but also provide insights into their mechanism of replication. IMPORTANCE What separates negative-strand RNA viruses (NSVs) from the rest of the virosphere is that the nucleocapsid of NSVs serves as the template for viral RNA synthesis. Their viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase can induce local conformational changes in the nucleocapsid to temporarily release the RNA genome so that the viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase can use it as the template for RNA synthesis during both transcription and replication. After RNA synthesis at the local region is completed, the viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase processes downstream, and the RNA genome is restored in the nucleocapsid. We found that the nucleocapsid assembly of all NSVs shares three essential elements: a monomeric capsid protein protomer, parallel orientation of subunits in the linear nucleocapsid, and a (5H + 3H) motif that forms a proper cavity for sequestration of the RNA. This observation also suggests that all NSVs evolved from a common ancestor that has this unique nucleocapsid.
Ten Years’ Experience Using an Integrated Workers’ Compensation Management System to Control Workers’ Compensation Costs

This work presents 10 years of experience using an Integrated Workers' Compensation Claims Management System that allows safety professionals, adjusters, and selected medical and nursing providers to collaborate in a process of preventing accidents and expeditiously assessing, treating, and returning individuals to productive work. The hallmarks of the program involve patient advocacy and customer service, steerage of injured employees to a small network of physicians, close follow-up, and the continuous dialogue between parties regarding claims management. The integrated claims management system was instituted in fiscal year 1992 servicing a population of approximately 21,000 individuals. The system was periodically refined and by the 2002 fiscal year, 39,000 individuals were managed under this paradigm. The frequency of lost-time and medical claims rate decreased 73% (from 22 per 1000 employees to 6) and 61% (from 155 per 1000 employees to 61), respectively, between fiscal year 1992 and fiscal year 2002. The number of temporary/total days paid per 100 insureds decreased from 163 in fiscal year 1992 to 37 in fiscal year 2002, or 77%. Total workers' compensation expenses including all medical, indemnity and administrative, decreased from $0.81 per $100 of payroll in fiscal year 1992 to $0.37 per $100 of payroll in fiscal year 2002, a 54% decrease. More specifically, medical costs per $100 of payroll decreased 44% (from $0.27 to $0.15), temporary/total, 61% (from $0.18 to $0.07), permanent/partial, 63% (from $0.19 to $0.07) and administrative costs, 48% ($0.16 to $0.09). These data suggests that workers' compensation costs can be reduced over a multi-year period by using a small network of clinically skilled health care providers who address an individual workers' psychological, as well as physical needs and where communication between all parties (e.g., medical care providers, supervisors, and injured employees) is constantly maintained. Furthermore, these results can be obtained in an environment in which the employer pays the full cost of medical care and the claimant has free choice of medical provider at all times.