cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Current Structural Engineering Reference Sources

The goal of this paper is to provide a quick reference and guide for structural engineers and researchers, especially graduate students, who are interested in the current reference sources. This paper is divided into three parts: (1)Areas and disciplines related to structural engineering; (2)international resources; and (3)domestic resources. The bibliography is intended to include as many reference sources as information retrieval directs, in English and other languages; however, no attempt was made to render this exhaustive.
Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia: Dermatological Features

G.Y. Wu et al. (eds.), Atlas of Dermatological Manifestations of Gastrointestinal Disease, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-6191-3_34, © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013 Clinical signs and features include: Also known as Osler-Weber-Rendu disease • Eighty percent present as spontaneous epistaxis [ • 1 ] Arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) occur throughout • the body including the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, lungs, liver, brain/spinal cord Cutaneous lesions start to appear in adulthood and • increase with age [ 1 ] Lesions appear as small macular telangiectasia that are • 1–2 mm in diameter and blanch [ 1 ] Telangiectasia commonly occur on lips, tongue, palate, • face (sun-exposed areas), nares, ears, conjunctiva, chest, hands, and feet (see Fig. 34.1 ) [ 1 ] Fingertips can develop painful ulcers from the • telangiectasia Pathogenesis of this disease involves: Autosomal dominant mutations: hereditary hemor• rhagic telangiectasia (HHT)1, mutation in ENG on chromosome 9; HHT2, mutation in ACRVL1 / ALK1 on chromosome 12; HHT3, mutation on chromosome 5q; HHT4, mutation on chromosome 7p; HHT with juvenile polyposis, mutation of SMAD4 ; HHT2 with primary pulmonary hypertension, mutation of BMPRII on chromosome 2 [ 2, 3 ] Mutations lead to aberrant response to transform ing • growth factor beta (TGFb ) family signals for angiogenesis Ultimately signal errors cause blood vessels to mature • inappropriately Histopathological features include: Initially see dilatation post-capillary venules • Ultimately dilated post-capillary venules enlarge and • connect with arterioles eliminating capillary bed Vessels are often thin walled and surrounded by fi brosis • A perivascular lymphocytic in fi ltrate may also be noted • around involved vessels The diagnosis is made using a combination of: Curacao criteria: (1) epistaxis; (2) telangiectasias at • characteristic sites; (3) visceral AVMs in GI tract/liver/ lungs/brain/spinal cord; (4) family history: de novo mutation is rare and the disease has a nearly 100% penetrance by age 40 [ 4 ] If • £ 3 of above, HHT can be diagnosed; if £ 2, HHT is suspected; if only 1, HHT is unlikely In children with a parent who has HHT, cannot rule out • HHT until genetic tests con fi rm no mutation [ 2 ] Genetic testing reveals mutation in 80–90% of cases • The differential diagnosis should include: Von Willebrand disease • Treatment options include [ 4 ] : Mostly cosmetic for cutaneous lesions • Long-pulsed Nd: YAG (neodymium-doped yttrium alu• minum garnet) laser is effective Skin grafts effective for painful ulcerations on • fi ngertips Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia: Dermatological Features
Neural tube defects, micronutrient deficiencies, and Helicobacter pylori: A new hypothesis

BACKGROUND: Previous findings for the Texas Neural Tube Defects Project suggested that while maternal access to nutrients is adequate, bioavailability of nutrients to the fetus is compromised in NTD-affected pregnancies. Helicobacter pylori could cause nutrient loss to the fetus. Folate, B12, and ferritin are depleted in H. pylori infection; these same deficiencies are related to NTD risk. METHODS: Using H. pylori IgG ELISA Test System, we tested for H. pylori serum antibodies in participants in the population-based case-control study component of the Texas Neural Tube Defect Project conducted along the Texas-Mexico border. Case-women had pregnancies affected by NTD (anencephalus, spina bifida, encephalocele) and resided and delivered in one of the 14 Texas-Mexico border counties from 1995 through 2000. Control-women were study area residents delivering normal live births during the same period. RESULTS: Of 225 case- and 378 control-women, 103 cases and 156 controls provided questionnaire and H. pylori antibody data. H. pylori seropositivity was modestly associated with NTD-affected pregnancies (OR 1.4; 95% CI: 0.8–2.4). ORs of 2.0 or greater were seen in women younger than age 25 and with less than 7 years education. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings intimate that H. pylori could play a role in NTD causation in certain populations. While results did not provide compelling support for this proposal, subgroup findings prompt us to advocate an evaluation of this hypothesis in developing nations among populations with higher prevalence of H. pylori, marginal nutrient intake, and young childbearing age. Birth Defects Research (Part A) 79:617–621, 2007. 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Investing in Collaboration: Preservice Special Educators and Their Readiness for Home School Collaboration.

Home-school collaborations offer the promise of increased social and academic outcomes for students with disabilities. This qualitative study examines the practices of 25 preservice special education teachers and their implementation of state standards to collaborate with families of children with disabilities in schools during student teaching. Respondents’ responses were categorized into two main themes of direct and indirect collaboration activities. Direct collaboration included invitations, meetings conversations, and sharing information. Indirect collaboration included training. Although the preservice special education teachers evidenced typical family involvement strategies, a more integrated connection between theory and practice is necessary for creating effective homeschool collaborations.
Laser Negative Ion Spectroscopy

The electron affinities of atoms, free radicals, and small molecules are parameters of fundamental interest to the practicing chemical kineticist. Moreover, since the electron affinity is typically of the order of the correlation energy, a precise determination of the electron affinity of an atom or molecule provides a very sensitive test of the accuracy of quantum calculations.
Conversational case-based reasoning

Case-based reasoning (CBR) is a problem solving methodology that focuses on reusing lessons obtained from previous (possibly generalized) experiences towards solving new problems (Kolodner, 1993; Aamodt & Plaza, 1994; Watson, 1999; Bergmann, 2002). Originally conceived by cognitive scientists, since 1993 the CBR community has focused primarily on issues of interest to artificial intelligence researchers and practitioners. Some research topics of particular interest include case representation and indexing, solution retrieval and adaptation, learning (e.g., case acquisition), and integrating case-based approaches with others. Some motivating applications have included those related to customer support, recommender systems, knowledge management, diagnosis, the health sciences, and legal reasoning.
The Other Forgotten War: Understanding Atrocities during the Malayan Emergency

Many scholars cite the British reoccupation of Malaya after World War II as an example of a successful counterinsurgency. However, this success did not come without notable casualties; almost 5,000 civilians died during the conflict. In the village at Batang Kali, on December 12, 1948, a patrol of the Scots Guards shot twenty-five Chinese villagers. While official reports claimed that they shot the civilians while they were trying to escape, in line with informal British policy, later revelations suggest that the unit shot the villagers without provocation. The war in Malaya often threw British units into dangerous situations; the communists used their knowledge of the jungle terrain and terrorist tactics to secure advantage against the more numerous and well-armed British. Yet Batang Kali is the only recorded case of a British unit killing large numbers of civilians. Why did the Scots Guards decide to kill these villagers while other patrols in similar situations did not? I outline the dependent variable in this case, the various units actively engaged in combat in Malaya between 1948 and 1952. I then explore the most common explanations for the Scots Guards’ actions and reveal why they are not helpful in explaining why other units did not similarly kill civilians. To better understand this variation, I explore three alternative explanations: Did the military socialize units in the laws of war and appropriate behavior toward civilians? Did government leaders encourage units to kill civilians? Finally, did different units’ subcultures make them more likely to kill civilians? I find that while the British military and senior leaders did not adequately socialize units to accept the laws of war, some junior leaders were able to discipline their units and prevent participation in war crimes. Some junior leaders, however, refused to enforce organizational norms and supported a countercultural subculture that resisted tactical innovation and may have contributed to the unit’s participation in war crimes.
TH-AB-201-10: A New Technique for Fluoroscopic Radiation Field Size Confirmation

Purpose: The confirmation of congruence between the radiation field and displayed image is an important part of routine fluoroscopic quality assurance testing. However, this test can be challenging, inaccurate, wasteful, or involve unnecessary staff exposure. This work describes a simple, accurate, inexpensive, and safe technique to complete this measurement. Methods: This technique relies on two easily-constructed custom components: (1) radiochromic film strips made from blank film sheets and a laser printer, and (2) a lead blocker fabricated from lead sheets and a CR-type cassette housing. A standard collimation test tool is positioned near the fluoroscopic image receptor and imaged with an open collimator. Based on this image, small radiochromic film strips are positioned on the collimation tool at the edges of displayed image. Without moving the collimation tool or film strips, the 1/8-inch lead blocker is slid in between the collimation tool and image receptor. The blocker protects the image receptor and simultaneously drives the system to maximum output, which rapidly darkens the radiochromic film strips. The deviation between the radiation field and displayed image is recorded using the millimeter scale printed on directly on the film strips. Results: The efficacy of this technique was demonstrated on over 50 fluoroscopy systems in the Henry Ford Health System (including both fixed and mobile C-arms, classic R&F rooms, and both image intensifier and flat panel detector systems). The test was performed with the operator in control room or behind mobile radiation shield. The total cost of disposable materials for each test was less than $1. Accuracy within 1–2 mm was achieved for each edge of the radiation field. Conclusion: An accurate, economical, and safe technique was successfully implemented to measure the congruence of the radiation field and displayed image in fluoroscopy systems.
Obstructive jaundice secondary to Morgagni hernia in an infant with Fontan circulation

The vast majority of congenital diaphragmatic cases present with severe respiratory distress in the immediate neonatal period. Obstructive jaundice secondary to CDH is a rare presenting symptom, previously unreported with Morgagni type hernias which comprise 2% of all CDHs. Although the safety of minimally invasive repair for CDH has been shown previously, there has been little data on its safety for patients with complex congenital cardiac disease. In this case report, we present an 18-month old infant with Fontan circulation presenting with jaundice secondary to Morgagni hernia who ultimately underwent laparoscopic repair. A brief discussion of the safety of laparoscopic surgery in patients post-Fontan is included.
Vitamin K Nutrition and Osteoporosis

Although the abundance of vitamin K-dependent proteins in bone suggests an important function, the precise role of vitamin K in skeletal health remains to be determined. Serum concentrations of vitamin K are reportedly reduced in older individuals and persons with osteoporotic fracture. Whether this is causally related to vitamin K insufficiency or simply reflects inadequate nutritional status is unclear. Circulating levels of undercarboxylated osteocalcin may be a sensitive marker of vitamin K inadequacy and have been reported to be increased in both postmenopausal women and individuals who sustained hip fracture. It is also possible that vitamin K indirectly affects the skeleton via control of renal calcium excretion. The effect of vitamin K antagonists (oral anticoagulants) on both renal calcium excretion and bone density is controversial. Thus, many of the reports implicating a role for vitamin K insufficiency in the development of osteoporosis are conflicting. This review summarizes current knowledge regarding a possible role of vitamin K insufficiency in the pathogenesis of osteoporosis.
Relationships between impact and low-strain-rate hydrogen embrittlement of titanium alloys

Abstract Hydrogen embrittlement of titanium alloys is generally separated into two types: impact embrittlement, which occurs in alpha-titanium alloys, and low-strain-rate embrittlement, which occurs in alpha-beta alloys. Data are presented which show that either low-strain-rate embrittlement or impact embrittlement can occur in alpha-compound, alpha-beta, or beta alloys depending on alloy composition and hydrogen content. These results suggest that both types of embrittlement are different manifestations of the same basic embrittling process, the rejection of hydride from solution in titanium, and that the type of embrittlement observed is related to the kinetics of hydride rejection. If hydride precipitates rapidly, impact embrittlement is observed. If hydrogen is held in supersaturation, strain-induced precipitation leads to low-strain-rate embrittlement.
Spectroscopic studies of the thermal modification of the Fe/Al2O3 interface

Abstract A combination of high resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy (HREELS) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) has been applied to the investigation of thin metallic iron films on Al2O3. Two thermally-activated processes have been observed at the Fe/Al2O3 interface. In the temperature region 90–400 K, agglomeration of iron occurs to produce larger clusters of iron (process I). In the temperature region 400–900 K, little change is observed in the thin film, except for some enhancement of the elastic scattering of 3.8 eV electrons, and some small changes in Auger intensity. Above ∼ 900 K, diffusion of the iron into the Al2O3 film occurs, resulting in the production of a clean Al2O3 surface by 1200 K. (process II). It has been demonstrated that the diffusion of metallic iron into Al2O3 is not accompanied by oxidation of iron. In addition to the study of the Fe/Al2O3 interface, it was found that an iron oxide film on Al2O3 does not agglomerate into clusters below ∼ 900 K, but that iron oxide diffusion into Al2O3 occurs above ∼ 900 K.
Interferon-lambda: a new addition to an old family.

The discovery and initial description of the interferon-λ (IFN-λ) family in early 2003 opened an exciting new chapter in the field of IFN research. There are 3 IFN-λ genes that encode 3 distinct but highly related proteins denoted IFN-λ1, -λ2, and -λ3. These proteins are also known as interleukin-29 (IL-29), IL-28A, and IL-28B, respectively. Collectively, these 3 cytokines comprise the type III subset of IFNs. They are distinct from both type I and type II IFNs for a number of reasons, including the fact that they signal through a heterodimeric receptor complex that is different from the receptors used by type I or type II IFNs. Although type I IFNs (IFN-α/β) and type III IFNs (IFN-λ) signal via distinct receptor complexes, they activate the same intracellular signaling pathway and many of the same biological activities, including antiviral activity, in a wide variety of target cells. Consistent with their antiviral activity, expression of the IFN-λ genes and their corresponding proteins is inducible by infection with many types of viruses. Therefore, expression of the type III IFNs (IFN-λs) and their primary biological activity are very similar to the type I IFNs. However, unlike IFN-α receptors which are broadly expressed on most cell types, including leukocytes, IFN-λ receptors are largely restricted to cells of epithelial origin. The potential clinical importance of IFN-λ as a novel antiviral therapeutic agent is already apparent. In addition, preclinical studies by several groups indicate that IFN-λ may also be useful as a potential therapeutic agent for other clinical indications, including certain types of cancer.
On the convergence of Newton's method for a class of nonsmooth operators

We provide an analog of the Newton-Kantorovich theorem for a certain class of nonsmooth operators. This class includes smooth operators as well as nonsmooth reformulations of variational inequalities. It turns out that under weaker hypotheses we can provide under the same computational cost over earlier works [S.M. Robinson, Newton's method for a class of nonsmooth functions, Set-Valued Anal. 2 (1994) 291-305] a semilocal convergence analysis with the following advantages: finer error bounds on the distances involved and a more precise information on the location of the solution. In the local case not examined in [S.M. Robinson, Newton's method for a class of nonsmooth functions, Set-Valued Anal. 2 (1994) 291-305] we can show how to enlarge the radius of convergence and also obtain finer error estimates. Numerical examples are also provided to show that in the semilocal case our results can apply where others [S.M. Robinson, Newton's method for a class of nonsmooth functions, Set-Valued Anal. 2 (1994) 291-305] fail, whereas in the local case we can obtain a larger radius of convergence than before [S.M. Robinson, Newton's method for a class of nonsmooth functions, Set-Valued Anal. 2 (1994) 291-305].
Diurnal electrical potentials of plant leaves under natural conditions

Abstract Surface electrical potentials of leaves of beans ( Phaseolus vulgaris L.), cucumber ( Cucumis sativus L.) and cherry ( Prunus avium L.) were measured continuously and repeatedly over 3–4 day periods, mainly during fine weather. Potentials were monitored with a non-contacting electrostatic voltmeter. Leaves exhibited a diurnal rhythm of potentials with highest voltages after mid-day (+ 120 V max. recorded) and minimum potentials, near zero, at night. On dry, sunny days the polarity of leaves was consistently positive, at night polarity varied between neutral, positive and negative (− 30 V max.). Among the various weather factors examined that might influence leaf potentials, solar radiation and leaf surface temperatures were most intimately associated with electrical changes. Increases in leaf potentials could be detected within a few minutes of sunrise. Potentials were highest on hot, sunny days and lowest on overcast, cool days. Significant potential changes occurred when leaves were severed. Severance of leaves from plants growing in dry soil resulted in a rapid surge of leaf voltage (+) followed by a gradual decline. In contrast, severance of leaves from plants growing in flooded soil resulted in a reversal of polarity and a rapid increase in negative potential. When a severed leaf was electrically reconnected to the plant, its potential would revert back (approx.) to the level before severance. It was also discovered that when plants growing in dry soil were irrigated, leaf potentials increased rapidly. This study has revealed that there are significant patterns of diurnal variations of electrical potential of leaves under natural conditions. The reason for these changes is not understood.
Phage WO of Wolbachia: lambda of the endosymbiont world.

The discovery of an extraordinarily high level of mobile elements in the genome of Wolbachia , a widespread arthropod and nematode endosymbiont, suggests that this bacterium could be an excellent model for assessing the evolution and function of mobile DNA in specialized bacteria. In this paper, we discuss how studies on the temperate bacteriophage WO of Wolbachia have revealed unexpected levels of genomic flux and are challenging previously held views about the clonality of obligate intracellular bacteria. We also discuss the roles this phage might play in the Wolbachia -arthropod symbiosis and infer how this research can be translated to combating human diseases vectored by arthropods. We expect that this temperate phage will be a preeminent model system to understand phage genetics, evolution and ecology in obligate intracellular bacteria. In this sense, phage WO might be likened to phage λ of the endosymbiont world.
Organische Phosphorverbindungen XX. Zur Kenntnis der Reaktion von primären aliphatischen Phosphinen mit Schwefel und von Phenylphosphin mit rotem Selen

Primary aliphatic phosphines yield tetraalkyl-cyclotetraphosphine tetrasulfides when treated with sulfur in any ratio.
Finance Capital and the Formation of the New Industrial Structure in Russia

The rapid and at the same time extremely contradictory development of Russia's reforms in 1992-93 accelerated the growth of the share of the private sector, led to the emergence of financially powerful private companies as well as high rates of centralization and concentration of private capital. Before our very eyes, substantial changes are taking place in the organization and conduct of private business that in our view attest to a new relationship between economic forces in the nation, to the advent of important new trends that influence the basic features of the future economy: the structure of property and its ownership, forms of production organization, the degree of competitiveness of the market, the investment propensity of economic agents, and so forth.
THE DEATH OF PEER REVIEW

THE DEATH OF PEER REVIEW? It's morning and I sit down at my workstation to check email. There are three messages from authors in Europe, Japan and the west coast asking what has happened to their manuscripts. They sent them in X (3, 6, 8) months ago and haven't heard a thing about their editorial fate. I go to my department mailbox and find an equal number of faxes from authors elsewhere in the world asking the same questions. Dutifully, I check the files of the BSSA to find out which associate editor is handling the paper and forward the messages accordingly. Sometimes I shock myself by finding out that the paper in question is one that I am handling. I find one review is in the me but we are waiting for the second. Later, a new paper arrives in the mail. I decide to handle it myself. Choosing...
Targeting of the catalytic subunit of protein phosphatase-1 to the glycolytic enzyme phosphofructokinase.

In this study, we demonstrate that the catalytic subunit of rabbit muscle protein phosphatase-1 (PP1) binds to muscle phosphofructokinase (6-phosphofructo-1-kinase, PFK). A protein of 85 kDa was isolated from rat muscle by affinity chromatography on PP1-Sepharose and was identified as phosphofructokinase by partial amino acid sequence analysis. This novel finding of a protein-protein interaction between PP1 and PFK was confirmed by reciprocal experiments in which the binding of PP1 to PFK-agarose was demonstrated. Elution of PP1 from PFK-agarose was maximal at ca. 0.4 M NaCl. The specificity of binding was demonstrated by isolation of PP1 from a partially purified rabbit muscle PP1 preparation. All four known isoforms of PP1 (PP1alpha, PP1gamma1, PP1gamma2, and PP1delta) were shown to bind to PFK-agarose. The activity of PP1 was only partially inhibited by PFK. The preformed complex between PP1 and PFK did not bind to inhibitor-2-Sepharose. The stoichiometry of binding of PP1 to the PFK monomer was found to be 1:1 in the isolated PP1.PFK complex. An interaction between PP1 and PFK in muscle extracts was demonstrated by their coimmunoprecipitation. Our findings raise the interesting possibility that PP1 may be targeted to PFK, and may be physiologically relevant in the context that PFK and other glycolytic enzymes have been shown to be micro-compartmentalized by binding to F-actin. This in turn points to a role for PP1 in control of glycolytic flux by protein phosphorylation-dephosphorylation mechanisms.
Series Representations of a Bivariate Singly Noncentral t-Distribution

Abstract This article presents a derivation of the probability density function and the cumulative distribution function of two correlated t statistics, for the central and singly noncentral case. The distribution of the ratios of means to standard deviations of a bivariate normal sample, is considered in particular.
Epigenetic effects in eukaryotic gene expression.

In the broadest terms, epigenetic phenomena in eukaryotes depend on the interaction of alleles or repeated sequences or on the mitotic inheritance of chromatin states or methylation patterns. One of the most exciting aspects of the study of epigenetic phenomena is the insight that can be gained into the structure and assembly of higher-order chromatin structures, an important subject that has proved refractory to current biochemical methodologies. Rapid progress in the study of gene inactivation in fungi, plants, and invertebrates will provide new hypotheses to be tested in mammals. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
An Imaging Tactile Sensor With Magnetostrictive Transduction

The objective of this paper is to describe a novel development for an imaging tactile sensing system. At the heart of this sensor is a magnetostrictive transductor using amorphous ferromagnetic material VITROVAC4040. The principle of the sensor, the construction, performance and its prospective applications are described. An imaging tactile sensor with hundreds of force sensors fits into a space the size of a fingertip. Each magnetoelastic force sensor is constructed as a transformer-pressductor type. The sensor yields an array of 256 individual data points with a center-to-center distance of 2.5 mm. A flat elastmetric contact surface is mounted over the sensing array to protect the sites from contamination. The magnetoelastic material is potentially good for force feedback and tactile imaging sensors because of its outstanding sensitivity, wide dynamic range, good linearity, low hysteresis and low temperature error. The sensor has been successfully tested using two objects to be recognized, and the results have been illustrated.
Role of binding entropy in the refinement of protein–ligand docking predictions: Analysis based on the use of 11 scoring functions

We present results of testing the ability of eleven popular scoring functions to predict native docked positions using a recently developed method (Ruvinsky and Kozintsev, J Comput Chem 2005, 26, 1089) for estimation the entropy contributions of relative motions to protein-ligand binding affinity. The method is based on the integration of the configurational integral over clusters obtained from multiple docked positions. We use a test set of 100 PDB protein-ligand complexes and ensembles of 101 docked positions generated by (Wang et al. J Med Chem 2003, 46, 2287) for each ligand in the test set. To test the suggested method we compared the averaged root-mean square deviations (RMSD) of the top-scored ligand docked positions, accounting and not accounting for entropy contributions, relative to the experimentally determined positions. We demonstrate that the method increases docking accuracy by 10-21% when used in conjunction with the AutoDock scoring function, by 2-25% with G-Score, by 7-41% with D-Score, by 0-8% with LigScore, by 1-6% with PLP, by 0-12% with LUDI, by 2-8% with F-Score, by 7-29% with ChemScore, by 0-9% with X-Score, by 2-19% with PMF, and by 1-7% with DrugScore. We also compared the performance of the suggested method with the method based on ranking by cluster occupancy only. We analyze how the choice of a clustering-RMSD and a low bound of dense clusters impacts on docking accuracy of the scoring methods. We derive optimal intervals of the clustering-RMSD for 11 scoring functions.
The impact energy of a moored tanker under the action of regular waves

The influence that factors such as mooring line conditions, fender arrangements, dolphin arrangements, degree of ship loading, waves of long period, wave direction, and wind on the impact energy of a moored tanker were studied. Based on systematic test data, a semi-empirical formula was developed to calculate the impact energy of the moored ship on the berthing facilities under the action of regular waves. It was shown by experiment that this method is suitable for calculating the impact energy of moored ships of capacities as great as 200 X 10/sup 3/ t.
Periodontal disease is associated with increased risk of future cardiovascular diseases

Abstract Original Article Janket SJ, Baird AE, Chuang SK, Jones JA. Meta-analysis of periodontal disease and risk of coronary heart disease and stroke. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol Endod 2003;95(5):559–69. Level of Evidence 2a Purpose Meta-analysis of cohort studies on the relationship between periodontal disease and risk for cardiovascular disease and to address possible causes for conflicting results Source of Funding None stated Type of Study/Design Meta-analysis of cohort studies
Coronal Mass Ejection Propagation and Expansion in Three-dimensional Space in the Heliosphere Based on Stereo/SECCHI Observations

We report on several new findings regarding the kinematic and morphological evolution of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) in the inner heliosphere using the unprecedented STEREO/SECCHI observations. The CME tracking is based on the three-dimensional Raytrace model, which is free of the projection effect, resulting in true CME velocities. We also measure the cross section size of the CME and hence its expansion velocity. For the four major CME events investigated, we find that their leading edge (LE) velocity converges from an initial range between 400 km s{sup -1} and 1500 km s{sup -1} at 5-10 R{sub sun} to a narrow range between 500 km s{sup -1} and 750 km s{sup -1} at 50 R{sub sun}. The expansion velocity is also found to converge into a narrow range between 75 km s{sup -1} and 175 km s{sup -1}. Both LE and expansion velocities are nearly constant after 50 R{sub sun}. We further find that the acceleration of CMEs in the inner heliosphere from {approx}10 to 90 R{sub sun} can be described by an exponential function, with an initial value as large as {approx}-80 m s{sup -2} but exponentially decreasing to almost zero (more precisely, less than {+-}5 m s{sup -2} consideringmore » the uncertainty of measurements). These results provide important observational constraints on understanding CME dynamics in interplanetary space.« less
The Foreign Language Classroom: A Forum for Understanding Cultural Stereotypes

All foreign language educators agree on the importance of including the study of culture in a foreign language course. However, the methodology for teaching culture lags far behind recent innovations in foreign language teaching itself. Too many culture courses emphasize only the rote memorization of cultural “facts” and fail to help students acquire the sensitivity to understand deeper cultural values. This article proposes a series of practical classroom activities designed to increase cross-cultural sensitivity. The first exercises help sharpen students' awareness of their own (U.S.) cultural background. Subsequent activities focus on differences between U.S. culture and the target culture. Foreign photographs and advertisements are used to teach students to observe and interpret cultural differences. Students interview foreigners to gain a new perspective on U. S. culture. Use of any or all of these activities in the classroom should heighten cultural sensitivity, discourage stereotyping, and develop cross-cultural adaptation skills.
Intelligent Search Lifecycle Architecture for Mass Media Using SOA

Mass communicat ion in general and mass media specifically confront rising challenges to collect information faster at lower cost. These challenges must be coordinated with organization's strategic, tactical, and operational needs via the align ment of Informat ion Technology (IT) with the business strategy. A successful IT strategic plan is based on four main p riorities. These are IT-Mass med ia alignment escalation, IT governance enhancement, IT significance imp rovement, and IT investments grade. In this study, the IT strategic plan follows a timetable via a road map and is exposed to altera- tion based on the business process changes . The development o f IT strategic plan consists of five phases. These phases in- clude the purpose of the plan, the business requirement, and the business requirements' validation. The phases also include the procedures needed for eliminating the gaps between the state of "to be" and the IT processes state, and the plan a p- proval. The ult imate goal is a Modern Mass Media Industry. This paper provides an innovative solution to accomplish this goal by accelerat ing mass media processes time. The p rocess' time is accelerated via an Intelligent Search Lifecycle Arch i- tecture (ISLA ); which integrates Search Engine, Informat ion Ext raction, Informat ion Retrieval, Data Min ing and Data Warehouse using Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA). The design methodology of the study of this solution is a post-positivist approach to empirical research. A prototype is created and examined in order to validate the concepts.
Pancreatic Cancer Patients Who Smoke and Drink Are Diagnosed at Younger Ages

Background & Aims Cigarette smoking is an established risk factor for pancreatic cancer, but there is conflicting evidence regarding the effects of alcohol consumption. The effects of cigarettes and alcohol on age of sporadic pancreatic cancer diagnosis have not been examined; we evaluated the independent and synergistic effects of lifetime cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption on age at pancreatic cancer diagnosis in the United States. Methods We analyzed data on cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption from the IMPAC Services, Inc Cancer Information Resource File (CIRF), collected from June 1, 1993, to December 31, 2003, for 29,239 reported, histologically confirmed cases of pancreatic adenocarcinoma. We also analyzed data on cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption for 820 histologically confirmed cases of pancreatic adenocarcinoma from the University of Michigan Pancreatic Cancer Registry (UMPCR), collected from January 2004 to October 2007. Results Current cigarette smokers were diagnosed at significantly younger ages than never smokers, according to data from the CIRF and UMPCR (8.3 and 6.3 y, respectively); the UMPCR data indicated dose effects. Past and current alcohol consumption were associated with younger age at diagnosis in both databases. Current smokers who were current drinkers were diagnosed significantly earlier (CIRF, 10.2 y; UMPCR, 8.6 y) than abstainers. Past cigarette smoking was associated modestly with younger diagnosis age. Conclusions Cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption were associated with younger age at pancreatic cancer presentation and have a combined effect on diagnosis age. Past cigarette smoking is less influential. Smoking cessation programs could help prevent pancreatic cancer. To view this article's video abstract, go to the AGA's YouTube Channel.
Advanced Aluminium and Hybrid Aerostructures for Future Aircraft

Alcoa has made a fundamental shift in its aerospace R&D program, broadening its scientific and engineering portfolio by creating an integrated, strategic, long-term initiative. The ultimate goal is to help re-define the future performance, cost and value of the metallic and hybrid aerostructures that the company feels will be required to meet the mission requirements of tomorrow’s aircraft. Having intensely studied various structural options, Alcoa believes Hybrid Structural Assembly optimized with a combination of Advanced Aluminum and Hybrid Components offer the best opportunities to maximize structural performance. Not only do the new alloys, notably 3rd Generation Al-Li alloys and high strength and high toughness 7xxx alloys provide structural performance enhancements, they also offer dramatic improvements in corrosion resistance. In this paper, several advanced alloys and structural concepts targeted for next generation wing and fuselage applications and large scale test article results supporting Alcoa’s optimism for Advanced Metallic and Hybrid Structures are reviewed.
Small deformations of the Prasad-Sommerfield solution

I study solutions of the static Euclidean anti-self-dual SU(2) Yang-Mills equations which differ by a small perturbation from the Prasad-Sommerfield solution. I find explicit expressions for two series of perturbation mode functions of angular momentum l and even and odd parity, and classify the modes according to several criteria. There are seven nondilatational modes which have singularities removable by gauge transformation: 3 translations (l = 1), 1 gauge mode (l = 0), and a family of 3 odd-parity gauge modes (l = 1). The translations and l = 0 gauge modes have nonvanishing, and normalizable, projections into the background gauge, while the odd-parity l = 1 modes have vanishing projection into the background gauge. Among the singular modes, there are an infinite number of modes, irregular at r = 0, which nonetheless satisfy the boundary conditions for finite-energy solutions on the sphere at infinity. I show, by discussing the analogous problem of the axially symmetric solutions of the stationary Einstein equations, that non-normalizable modes are relevant in determining whether a spherically symmetric solution of a nonlinear system has axially symmetric extensions. The analysis of perturbations around the Prasad-Sommerfield solution implies that if an axially symmetric extension exists, it cannot bemore » reached by integration out along a tangent vector defined by a nonvanishing, nonsingular small-perturbation mode of the class explicitly constructed.« less
Partitioning of Cholesterol and Ganglioside GM1 in Phase Separated Lipid Bilayers Imaged by Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry

Secondary ion mass spectrometry has been used to image the distribution of cholesterol and ganglioside GM1 in model membranes composed of palmitoyl sphingomyelin (PSM) and dioleoylphosphatidylcholine (DOPC) best described as the canonical lipid-raft composition. Isotopic labeling or fluorination of each lipid bilayer component allowed the generation of molecule specific images using the NanoSIMS50L instrument at Stanford University. Simultaneous detection of six different ion species, including secondary electrons, were used to generate ratio images whose signal intensity values could be correlated to composition through the use of calibration curves from standard samples. Images of this system indicate the presence of three compositionally distinct phases corresponding to: 1) the interdomain region; 2) large domains (d>3μm); and, 3) small domains (d=200nm-1μm) localized within the large domains. Although semi-quantitative compositional analysis of these distinct phases suggests that both the small and large domains have similar cholesterol content, the large domains were also GM1 and DOPC-rich while the small domains were also PSM-rich. Since the interdomain region is primarily PSM-rich, this seems to suggest that the small domains do not correspond to kinetically trapped interdomain regions and that their more than doubled cholesterol content makes them instead a completely different phase. Furthermore, the average diameter (d = 380nm ± 230nm) of these small domains suggests they might correspond to the formation of nanometer scale domains thus supporting the lipid raft hypothesis.
Optimizing the impact of genomics on drug discovery and development

The central challenge is to identify chemicals of sufficient specifity to exploit molecular biological insights.
Uniform epitaxial growth of Pt on Fe3O4 nanoparticles; synergetic enhancement to Pt activity for the oxygen reduction reaction

A synthetic strategy for achieving uniform shell-like epitaxial growth of Pt on Fe3O4 nanoparticles is introduced. The method involves the controlled high-density loading of Pt2+ by the linear growth of repeatedly stacked units of [Pt(NH2OH)4]2+ and [PtCl4]2−, followed by a subsequent reduction step. In comparison to commercial Pt-based fuel cell catalysts, the resulting Pt–Fe3O4 hybrid nanostructures were found to exhibit improved Pt specific activity for the electroreduction of oxygen in alkaline media, which is attributed to charge transfer from Fe3O4 to Pt. The Pt shell-type structure of the Pt–Fe3O4 hybrids was found to protect the Fe3O4 cores from corrosion, thus ensuring catalyst stability. A uniform Pt coating was also deposited evenly over SiO2 microspheres using this method, thus demonstrating its potential as a general strategy for platinum deposition on essentially any amine-functionalized surface.
Biased-Interaction Theory of Psychosexual Development: “How Does One Know if One is Male or Female?”

A theory of gender development is presented that incorporates early biological factors that organize predispositions in temperament and attitudes. With activation of these factors a person interacts in society and comes to identify as male or female. The predispositions establish preferences and aversions the growing child compares with those of others. All individuals compare themselves with others deciding who they are like (same) and with whom are they different. These experiences and interpretations can then be said to determine how one comes to identify as male or female, man or woman. In retrospect, one can say the person has a gendered brain since it is the brain that structures the individual’s basic personality; first with inherent tendencies then with interactions coming from experience.
Binding of Sulfonylureas to Serum Albumin: A Response

Abstract Crooks and Brown (1) suggested substantial disagreements between their findings and mine (2). Disagreement between the results is complicated by the fact that a different method was used in each article. Equilibrium dialysis is an old, established method for studying protein binding, and there is a substantial literature of findings with this experimental approach. The new method used by Crooks and Brown, dynamic dialysis, first described by Meyer and Guttman (3) has not been used as extensively as equilibrium dialysis.
Effectiveness of a clinical decision support system to identify heparin induced thrombocytopenia

Background Subtle decreases in platelet count may impede timely recognition of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT), placing the patient at increased risk of thrombotic events. Objective A clinical decision support system (CDSS) was developed to alert physicians using computerized provider order entry when a patient with an active order for heparin experienced platelet count decreases consistent with HIT. Methods Comparisons for timeliness of HIT identification and treatment were evaluated for the year preceding and year following implementation of the CDSS in patients with laboratory confirmation of HIT. Results During the intervention time period, the CDSS alert occurred 41,922 times identifying 2,036 patients who had 2,338 inpatient admissions. The CDSS had no significant impact on time from fall in platelet count to HIT laboratory testing (control 2.3 days vs intervention 3.0 days P = 0.30) and therapy (control 19.3 days vs intervention 15.0 days P = 0.45), and appeared to delay discontinuation of heparin products (control 1.3 days vs. intervention 2.9 days P = 0.04). However, discontinuation of heparin following shorter exposure duration and after smaller decrease in platelet count occurred during the intervention period. The HIT CDSS sensitivity and specificity were each 87% with a negative predictive value of 99.9% and positive predictive value of 2.3%. Conclusions Implementation of a CDSS did not appear to improve the ability to detect and respond to potential HIT, but resulted in increased laboratory testing and changes in clinician reactions to decreasing platelet counts that deserve further study.
Rank-indexed hashing: A compact construction of Bloom filters and variants

Bloom filter and its variants have found widespread use in many networking applications. For these applications, minimizing storage cost is paramount as these filters often need to be implemented using scarce and costly (on-chip) SRAM. Besides supporting membership queries, Bloom filters have been generalized to support deletions and the encoding of information. Although a standard Bloom filter construction has proven to be extremely space-efficient, it is unnecessarily costly when generalized. Alternative constructions based on storing fingerprints in hash tables have been proposed that offer the same functionality as some Bloom filter variants, but using less space. In this paper, we propose a new fingerprint hash table construction called Rank-Indexed Hashing that can achieve very compact representations. A rank-indexed hashing construction that offers the same functionality as a counting Bloom filter can be achieved with a factor of three or more in space savings even for a false positive probability of just 1%. Even for a basic Bloom filter function that only supports membership queries, a rank-indexed hashing construction requires less space for a false positive probability as high as 0.1%, which is significant since a standard Bloom filter construction is widely regarded as extremely space-efficient for approximate membership problems.
Certification Options for Secondary School Principals

This article describes four certification options for prin cipals : (I) traditional, (2) approved program, (3) intern ship, and (4) competency-based. The authors point out that the trend is toward greater flexibility. Internships will increase as more emphasis is placed on field experi ence and on-the-job performance, they say.
Effect of ethacrynic acid, a glutathione-S-transferase inhibitor, on nitroglycerin-mediated cGMP elevation and vasorelaxation of rabbit aortic strips

Abstract The effects of ethacrynic acid (ECA), an inhibitor of glutathione-S-transferase, on both the pharmacologic and biochemical responses of aortic tissue to nitroglycerin (GTN) were evaluated. Using the rabbit aortic strip model, relaxation responses to 0.6 μM GTN were measured with and without ECA (0.2 mM) pretreatment. These same strips were frozen, and the concentrations of cGMP in the strips were measured using a 3H-labeled radioimmunoassay. Both the relaxation response and the increase in cGMP upon GTN treatment were reduced significantly by pretreatment of the strips with ECA. A correlation was observed between the decreases in the pharmacodynamic and biochemical responses upon ECA pretreatment. cGMP levels in strips treated with sodium nitroprusside, which generates nitric oxide by mechanisms distinct from that for organic nitrates, were not decreased by ECA pretreatment. These observations suggest that the mechanism of GTN action involves a glutathione-S-transferase-mediated metabolic step for GTN and that the isozyme(s) involved in this activation process may be inhibited by ECA.