cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Sarcopenia defined by a computed tomography estimate of the psoas muscle area does not predict frailty in geriatric trauma patients.

Abstract Introduction The aim of our study was to assess the correlation between frailty & sarcopenia and impact of each condition on outcomes in geriatric trauma patients. Methods We performed a four-year (2013–2016) secondary analysis of our prospectively maintained frailty database and included all trauma patients age ≥65 y who had CT-abdomen. Trauma-Specific-Frailty-Index (TSFI) was used to calculate frailty. Patients were classified as non-frail or frail. Sarcopenia was defined as the lowest sex-specific-quartile of total-psoas-index (TPI). Outcome measures included in-hospital complications, mortality and adverse disposition. Results 325 patients were included in the study, 36% (n = 117) were frail and 24.9% (n = 81) had sarcopenia. There was a weak correlation between frailty and sarcopenia (R 2 = 0.04). The overall rate of complications and mortality was 19.4% and 7.7% respectively. On regression analysis, after controlling for possible confounding variables and frailty status, sarcopenia was associated with adverse disposition (OR:1.41, p = 0.01). However, it was not associated with in-hospital complications (OR:1.21, p = 0.54) or in-hospital mortality (OR:1.12, p = 0.73). Conclusion Sarcopenia as an individual marker might not be an effective screening tool for risk assessment in geriatric-trauma patients. Frailty assessment should be a part of risk assessment and prognostication.
Gastrointestinal Cancer Pain

Many varied pain treatment options exist for pain syndromes secondary to gastrointestinal malignancies and its associated treatments. Systemic therapy using the WHO analgesic ladder is a reasonable initial choice even for practitioners without special training in pain management. Unfortunately, many of these medications are either insufficient when used as monotherapy or associated with intolerable medication-related adverse side effects. In the sections below, we will focus on some techniques that may be considered for common pain syndromes associated with gastrointestinal malignancies.
The Role of Historical Narratives in National Identity Formation: Turkey and Austria

This paper examines the effect of forms of historical narratives on citizenship policies. I show that institutionalized historical narratives make the articulation of new forms of national identity and the adaptation of alternative citizenship models significantly more difficult. I develop a framework of narrative structures based on Stephen Pepper’s conceptualization of organicism, contextualism and mechanism. I claim that, as the Turkish example illustrates, the organicist form of historical discourse leads to inclusionary but homogenizing identity models. Contextual historical discourse on the other hand, fosters a citizenship model where historical minorities can preserve their group rights and still be considered as part of the nation. The contextual mode of argument can be fragile however since neither inclusion nor exclusion is defined based on certain principles; each is historically conditioned. The mechanistic narrative is exclusionary and does not provide legitimization for any form of inclusion. The Austrian example illustrates the contextual, and to a lesser degree, the mechanistic models.
Predicting all-cause and lung cancer mortality using emphysema score progression rate between baseline and follow-up chest CT images: A comparison of risk model performances.

Purpose Normalized emphysema score is a protocol-robust CT biomarker of mortality. We aimed to improve mortality prediction by including the emphysema score progression rate–its change over time–into the models. Method and materials CT scans from 6000 National Lung Screening Trial CT arm participants were included. Of these, 1810 died (445 lung cancer-specific). The remaining 4190 survivors were sampled with replacement up to 24432 to approximate the full cohort. Three overlapping subcohorts were formed which required participants to have images from specific screening rounds. Emphysema scores were obtained after resampling, normalization, and bullae cluster analysis of the original images. Base models contained solely the latest emphysema score. Progression models included emphysema score progression rate. Models were adjusted by including baseline age, sex, BMI, smoking status, smoking intensity, smoking duration, and previous COPD diagnosis. Cox proportional hazard models predicting all-cause and lung cancer mortality were compared by calculating the area under the curve per year follow-up. Results In the subcohort of participants with baseline and first annual follow-up scans, the analysis was performed on 4940 participants (23227 after resampling). Area under the curve for all-cause mortality predictions of the base and progression models 6 years after baseline were 0.564 (0.564 to 0.565) and 0.569 (0.568 to 0.569) when unadjusted, and 0.704 (0.703 to 0.704) to 0.705 (0.704 to 0.705) when adjusted. The respective performances predicting lung cancer mortality were 0.638 (0.637 to 0.639) and 0.643 (0.642 to 0.644) when unadjusted, and 0.724 (0.723 to 0.725) and 0.725 (0.725 to 0.726) when adjusted. Conclusion Including emphysema score progression rate into risk models shows no clinically relevant improvement in mortality risk prediction. This is because scan normalization does not adjust for an overall change in lung density. Adjusting for changes in smoking behavior is likely required to make this a clinically useful measure of emphysema progression.
The Catholic Sexual Abuse Crisis as a Theological Crisis: Emerging Issues:

The sexual abuse crisis has long-term consequences: not only on the victims and survivors of abuse, but also on the theological standing and balance of the Catholic Church throughout the world. The...
Current State of Drones in Healthcare: Challenges and Opportunities

Drones may conjure up images of fun toys or scary instruments of war, but they are increasingly being used as innovative tools for healthcare. To illustrate, a Google search of “drones in healthcare” in April 2016 resulted in 784000 hits, and an identical search 3 years later in April 2019 resulted in 28.6 million hits. There are so many headlines that it can be hard to sift through the hype to determine what role drones have in healthcare today. Thus, in this perspective we aim to briefly examine the current state of drones in healthcare, including a discussion of current challenges and their long-term potential. The story of drones began around 1918 when the US Navy commissioned Charles Kettering, one of the most prolific engineering minds of his time, to build a militarized unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The “Kettering Bug” cost $275000 to make …
TEMPOROMANDIBULAR CONDYLAR OSTEOCHONDROMAS: CHARACTERISTICS AND COMPLICATIONS

Background Benign, solitary osteochondromas arise in response to an event (e.g., trauma, x-radiation), rather than as true neoplasms. Typically, osteochondromas represent 10% to 15% of all bone tumors and approximately 35% of benign bone tumors. They usually develop during a known age range and at largely predictable anatomic sites, whether the osteochondroma is benign or malignant. The most important piece of clinical information is the patient's age, although exceptions exist. Most osteochondromas occur on the metaphysis of appendicular long bones. Clinical and Radiographic findings Three cases are of temporomandibular condylar osteochondromas are presented. All patients were adult males with ages 29, 55, and 56 years. Each tumor arose from the condylar articular surface and developed into abnormal morphologies that followed the outline of adjacent structures. Definitive Interpretation The radiographic findings of an exostotic bony tumor with smooth but irregular outlines, sclerosed cortices, and moderately dense trabeculation confined within the joint capsule were consistent with the radiographic appearance of osteochondroma. Discussion Radiographically, 2-D imaging is adequate to establish an initial radiographic diagnosis. However, more advanced modalities (computed tomography/magnetic resonance imaging [CT/MRI) are indicated to better evaluate the orientation of the tumor and assist in the surgical management. The 3-D imaging of the 3 cases presented here emphasize this point. Positron emission tomography/fluorodeoxyglucose (PET/FDG) imaging has also been recommended for specific cases. MRI may overestimate tumor aggressiveness secondary to the influence of bone marrow and soft tissue edema. The recognition of an osteochondroma is significant because it is benign, but it can lead to disfigurement and loss or altered mandibular function, if not treated.
Differentiating Luminal and Membrane-Associated Nuclear Envelope Proteins

The nuclear envelope (NE) consists of two concentric nuclear membranes separated by the lumen, an ∼40-nm-wide fluid layer. NE proteins are implicated in important cellular processes ranging from gene expression to nuclear positioning. Although recent progress has been achieved in quantifying the assembly states of NE proteins in their native environment with fluorescence fluctuation spectroscopy, these studies raised questions regarding the association of NE proteins with nuclear membranes during the assembly process. Monitoring the interaction of proteins with membranes is important because the binding event is often associated with conformational changes that are critical to cellular signaling pathways. Unfortunately, the close physical proximity of both membranes poses a severe experimental challenge in distinguishing luminal and membrane-associated NE proteins. This study seeks to address this problem by introducing new, to our knowledge, fluorescence-based assays that overcome the restrictions imposed by the NE environment. We found that luminal proteins violate the Stokes-Einstein relation, which eliminates a straightforward use of protein mobility as a marker of membrane association within the NE. However, a surprising anomaly in the temperature-dependent mobility of luminal proteins was observed, which was developed into an assay for distinguishing between soluble and membrane-bound NE proteins. We further introduced a second independent tool for distinguishing both protein populations by harnessing the previously reported undulations of the nuclear membranes. These membrane undulations introduce local volume changes that produce an additional fluorescence fluctuation signal for luminal, but not for membrane-bound, proteins. After testing both methods using simple model systems, we apply the two assays to investigate a previously proposed model of membrane association for the luminal domain of SUN2, a constituent protein of the linker of nucleoskeleton and cytoskeleton complex. Finally, we investigate the effect of C- and N-terminal tagging of the luminal ATPase torsinA on its ability to associate with nuclear membranes.
Role Of Surface Texturing On Heat Transfer Coefficient Enhancement In Spray Impingement Cooling

The role of micro-scale surface roughness on wetting characteristics and heat transfer performance were studied by conducting spray cooling experiments using deionized water. Microtextured surfaces were fabricated using standard lithography technique and etching process. Experimental results obtained reveal a 100% increment in the CHF for micro-textured surfaces with pin fin diameter of 5 microns. Heat transfer coefficients in the two-phase regime were calculated by subtracting the sensible heat from the total heat flux. Surfaces with bigger pillar size and larger spacing (~50 microns) exhibits greater heat transfer coefficient values due to availability of additional floor area for evaporation. Effect of liquid/air flow rates were also studied. Results show improved heat transfer performance for higher liquid flow rates; however, the lowest liquid flow rate tested (30 ml/min) showcased highest values of heat transfer coefficients obtained, indicating the capability of surface to form very thin liquid films at an optimum value of liquid and air flow rates.
Impact of Social Distancing on Individuals Who Use Drugs: Considerations for Emergency Department Providers

The isolation that comes from social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic can be particularly detrimental to the United States' population of people who use drugs. People with substance use disorders may be at risk for return to use, exacerbation of existing mental health disorders, and risky drug practices. In this commentary, we review the risk to people who use drugs and how emergency department providers can best support these individuals during the unprecedented time of social distancing.
Rosacea in Skin of Color

Rosacea, an inflammatory skin condition often presenting with centrofacial erythema and/or acneiform lesions, has been reported less frequently among patients with skin of color and was once considered rare among these populations. However, recent studies have demonstrated a worldwide prevalence of rosacea in skin of color between 4% and 10%. The prevalence of rosacea in dark-skinned populations may be even higher still given the decreased level of suspicion for rosacea as well as difficulty in recognizing the characteristic erythema in these patients. Delayed diagnosis of rosacea may lead to inappropriate or inadequate treatment, higher rates of disease progression, and ultimately greater morbidity in these patient populations. Increased index of suspicion as well as greater reliance on history and alternative physical exam methods should be employed in order to reduce disparities in rosacea management and outcomes.
Smokers' perceptions of different classes of cigarette brand descriptors.

INTRODUCTION Cigarette brand descriptors such as 'light' are banned in several countries and often replaced by alternative descriptors that continue to mislead smokers about the relative risk from those brands. The objective of this study was to evaluate perceptions from current brand descriptors when presented independently of cigarette packaging. METHODS Eighty-eight daily cigarette smokers attended semi-structured interviews at three US research laboratories in 2018-2019 to assess smokers' perceptions of cigarette brand descriptors in four classes of brand features: prestige, connotation, taste, and color. Participants ranked descriptors within each brand feature on perceived harm, attractiveness, and appeal (willingness to try). Ranked perceptions were described using median rankings and percentages. Chi-squared was used to assess demographic effects on perceptions. Spearman's correlation was used to assess the association between harm, attractiveness, and appeal rankings. RESULTS Brand descriptors influenced perceptions of harm, attractiveness, and appeal within each brand feature. Smooth was perceived as the most attractive (42.5%) and appealing (33.0%) taste descriptor. Red was perceived as the most harmful (45.4%) and least appealing (22.7%) color descriptor. Perceptions of certain descriptors differed by demographic characteristics such as sex and age. Rankings of attractiveness and appeal were more strongly correlated (r=0.63) than rankings of harm and appeal (r=0.20, p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS Cigarette manufacturers replaced banned descriptors with alternative descriptors that continue to influence perceptions of cigarettes. Regulatory agencies should closely evaluate all brand descriptors and consider implications for alternative products with fewer regulations.
Antoine Lilti. La Ilustración, entre pasado y presente

Formado en la tradicion de la historia social y cultural francesa de Roger Chartier y Daniel Roche, con el que estudio su doctorado, Antoine Lilti es hoy en dia una de las voces mas importantes en la historiografia del siglo xviii y de la Ilustracion.
Charisma and Learning: Designing Charismatic Behaviors for Virtual Human Tutors

Charisma is a powerful device of communication. Research on charisma on a specific type of leader in a specific type of organization – teachers in the classroom - has indicated the positive influence of a teacher’s charismatic behaviors, often referred to as immediacy behaviors, on student learning. How do we realize such behaviors in a virtual tutor? How do such behaviors impact student learning? In this paper, we discuss the design of a charismatic virtual human tutor. We developed verbal and nonverbal (with the focus on voice) charismatic strategies and realized such strategies through scripted tutorial dialogues and pre-recorded voices. A study with the virtual human tutor has shown an intriguing impact of charismatic behaviors on student learning.
Crowdsourced Manufacturing Cyber Platform and Intelligent Cognitive Assistants for Delivery of Manufacturing as a Service: Review of Fundamental Issues and Outlook

Future cyber manufacturing is envisioned to be fulfilled in a crowdsourcing environment that will engage a large population of manufacturer crowds to collaborate with the cyber platform on a shared understanding of the tasks for delivering manufacturing as a service (MaaS). This review paper is motivated towards a symbiosis of crowdsourcing cyber platform technologies to enhance intelligent decision support to manufacturing planning for achieving MaaS operational goals. The paper reviews the fundamental issues of MaaS through crowdsourcing from a model-based systems engineering perspective that is in line with a systematic framework of platform-driven MaaS. Also discussed is the outlook of analytic and model-based approach for crowdsourced manufacturing in order to enable new cyber manufacturing capabilities that represent a significant transformation of the manufacturing sector. The vision is to facilitate transition from the current practice of focusing on automation and manufacturing informatics within individual enterprise to open manufacturing crowds throughout the cloud platform to fulfill MaaS. The cyber platform and intelligent cognitive assistants enhance MaaS fulfillment by adopting computational modeling and decision analytics to exploit the implicit design and manufacturing knowledge that is incorporated in the library of previously executed manufacturing tasks, which in turn facilitates generation of manufacturing process plans by parametric adjustment of process plans for similar tasks.
Showing Out: Africanisms and Hip-hop Mindfulness as Black Cultural Praxis of Excellence, Resistance, Joy, and Love

In this essay, we center hip-hop culture and Black cultural legacies. We envision and offer a two-fold framework which illuminates the intersection between the two. We explore ways that the Black cultural experience (or better yet Black cultural praxis) has always brilliantly and organically demonstrated the shape and form of a scholarship of consequence. Black cultural praxis, or reflective action with a Black emancipatory influence, has always allowed freedom of movement, freedom of body, freedom of tongue, and freedom of voice. We translate what this cultural praxis teaches and urges regarding the transformation, unbinding, and freeing of both educators and educational spaces. We demonstrate how the intersection of hip-hop culture and Black cultural legacies can be instructive and transformative to educators. We invite educators to reimagine their classroom spaces by not only focusing on learning about hip hop but from it as well.
Reference genome assembly of the big berry Manzanita (Arctostaphylos glauca).

Arctostaphylos (Ericaceae) species, commonly known as manzanitas, are an invaluable fire-adapted chaparral clade in the California Floristic Province (CFP), a world biodiversity hotspot on the west coast of North America. This diverse woody genus includes many rare and/or endangered taxa, and the genus plays essential ecological roles in native ecosystems. Despite their importance in conservation management, and the many ecological and evolutionary studies that have focused on manzanitas, virtually no research has been conducted on the genomics of any manzanita species. Here, we report the first genome assembly of a manzanita species, the widespread Arctostaphylos glauca. Consistent with the genomics strategy of the California Conservation Genomics project, we used Pacific Biosciences HiFi long reads and Hi-C chromatin-proximity sequencing technology to produce a de novo assembled genome. The assembly comprises a total of 271 scaffolds spanning 547Mb, close to the genome size estimated by flow cytometry. This assembly, with a scaffold N50 of 31Mb and BUSCO complete score of 98.2%, will be used as a reference genome for understanding the genetic diversity and the basis of adaptations of both common and rare and endangered manzanita species.
Effects of Taxation on Cash Flows

In this section, we will address the question of why we should include this topic in an engineering economy context. What uniquely Austrian considerations can be added to a more typical treatment of the problem?
Unsupervised activity recognition using automatically mined common sense

A fundamental difficulty in recognizing human activities is obtaining the labeled data needed to learn models of those activities. Given emerging sensor technology, however, it is possible to view activity data as a stream of natural language terms. Activity models are then mappings from such terms to activity names, and may be extracted from text corpora such as the web. We show that models so extracted are sufficient to automatically produce labeled segmentations of activity data with an accuracy of 42% over 26 activities, well above the 3.89% baseline. The segmentation so obtained is sufficient to bootstrap learning, with accuracy of learned models increasing to 52%. To our knowledge, this is the first human activity inferencing system shown to learn from sensed activity data with no human intervention per activity learned, even for labeling.
Community assembly and the emergence of ecosystem pattern

A fundamental problem challenging natural scientists is to understand how macroscopic patterns, such as population abundance distributions and element ratios, emerge and are sustained in ecosystems, given that evolution typically operates most strongly at the level of individuals and their genomes. How do such patterns persist in the face of evolutionary innovation? In this paper, we explore this issue through dynamical models of community assembly and metapopulation dynamics in dynamic landscapes, and discuss individual-based approaches to the control of element cycles.
Quantitative detection of regional left ventricular contraction abnormalities by 2-dimensional echocardiography: Comparison of myocardial thickening and thinning and endocardial motion in a canine model

Abstract Myocardial infarction (MI) was produced in 27 dogs by ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery. Two-dimensional (2-D) echocardiograms were performed through the closed chest before and serially after coronary ligation, in both the acute and healing stages of MI. Two-dimensional echocardiographic studies performed before the animals were killed were analyzed for left ventricular (LV) contraction defects by 2 algorithms—1 involving systolic myocardial thickening and thinning and the other by determining the extent of endocardial motion to derive cavity area shrinkage. Using the thickening algorithm, myocardial dysfunction was detected in 93% of the animals with MI; with the area shrinkage method, contraction abnormalities were detected in 96% of the animals with MI. When the heart was divided from base to apex into 3 short-axis sections, the thickening algorithm showed a trend toward better identification of normal regions than the area shrinkage algorithm. However, in predicting the circumferential extent of MI, the thickening-thinning method of analysis showed no advantage over the endocardial motion method (r = 0.77, standard error of the estimate = 0.16 versus r = 0.76, standard error of the estimate [SEE] = 0.16; p = not significant [NS]). These observations support the concept that either algorithm can be used effectively to detect the presence and quantify the circumferential extent of MI.
Tax Fairness and Folk Justice: Desert, Equity Theory, and Taxation

“The harder you work, the luckier you get.” Quote attributed to South African golfer Gary Player. Our folk justice principle of equity theory – outputs should correspond to inputs – is related to a concept in moral philosophy known as desert . According to desert theory, individuals deserve certain rewards through the actions they perform. Applying this idea to the market economy is controversial: do individuals deserve the market outcomes they receive? This chapter investigates whether the theory of desert can contribute to our understanding of distributive justice and have practical implications for tax policy. The post-Rawlsian consensus has typically rejected this line of thinking in favor of either an approach to distributive justice based on a social contract, for example, as in Rawls’s Theory of Justice , or a utilitarian approach, as developed in the theory of optimal taxation. Both contractarian and utilitarian systems leave little room for desert in their accounts. However, other voices have emerged that question this seeming consensus. New experimental evidence raises the issue of whether individuals designing a social contract within the Rawlsian framework would, in fact, reject notions based on everyday notions of desert. In addition, a leading economist has recently suggested that our moral intuitions do not match the predictions of optimal tax theory and advances an alternative approach to tax policy based on desert.
Auditory and visual distractibility in schizophrenia: Clinical and medication status correlations

Medicated and unmedicated schizophrenics were compared (both n = 18) on visual and auditory digit serial recall tasks with interspersed distraction. It was found that both medicated and unmedicated schizophrenics were distractible auditorally, but that only unmedicated schizophrenics were distractible on visually presented information. Positive, but not negative thought disorder predicted poorer auditory, but not visual, distraction performance for the medicated patients. For the unmedicated patients, positive thought disorder was also associated with auditory, but not visual distraction performance. Negative thought disorder was also a predictor of distraction performance, both visual and auditory, for the unmedicated patients. These results are interpreted in terms of their implications for the effects of medication on absolute performance levels in laboratory tasks and on associations between laboratory and clinical indices.
Effect of aging, position, and temperature on the threshold volume triggering pharyngeal swallows

Abstract Background/Aims: Swallows triggered by direct stimulation of pharyngeal structures may help to prevent aspiration by emptying the pharynx. The aims of this study were to compare the biomechanical events of the pharyngeal and primary swallow, determine the threshold volume of liquid required to trigger the pharyngeal swallows, and determine the effect of aging, position, and temperature on this threshold volume. Methods: Concurrent manometry, video fluoroscopy, and video endoscopy were used to study young and elderly healthy volunteers. Results: During pharyngeal swallows, in contrast to primary swallows, the free portion of the tongue did not make contact with the hard palate. In addition, pharyngeal swallows did not result in oral bolus clearance. All other biomechanical events, including deglutitive glottal function, were similar in both types of swallows. The threshold volume for pharyngeal swallows in young volunteers was significantly smaller than in the elderly ( P Conclusions: Swallowing is readily induced by water stimulation of the pharynx. Pharyngeal swallows do not induce lingual peristalsis or clearance of oral content. The threshold volume of the pharyngeal swallow is significantly higher in the elderly than in the young, but it is not affected by body position or bolus temperature.
Scalability of grid‐ and subbasin‐based land surface modeling approaches for hydrologic simulations

This paper investigates the relative merits of grid-and subbasin-based land surface modeling approaches for hydrologic simulations, with a focus on their scalability (i.e., ability to perform consistently across spatial resolutions) in simulating runoff generation. Simulations are produced by the grid- and subbasin-based Community Land Model at 0.125°, 0.25°, 0.5°, and 1° spatial resolutions over the U.S. Pacific Northwest. Using the 0.125° simulation as the “reference” solution, statistical metrics are calculated by comparing simulations at 0.25°, 0.5°, and 1° resolutions with the 0.125° simulation for each approach. Statistical significance test results suggest significant scalability advantage for the subbasin-based approach compared to the grid-based approach. Basin level annual average relative errors of surface runoff at 0.25°, 0.5°, and 1° resolutions compared to the 0.125° simulation are 3%, 4%, and 6% for the subbasin-based configuration and 4%, 7%, and 11% for the grid-based configuration, respectively. The scalability advantages are more pronounced during winter/spring and over mountainous regions. The source of runoff scalability is found to be related to the scalability of major meteorological and land surface parameters of runoff generation. More specifically, the subbasin-based approach is more consistent across spatial scales than the grid-based approach in snowfall/rainfall partitioning because of scalability related to air temperature and surface elevation. Scalability of a topographic parameter used in runoff parameterization also contributes to improved scalability of the rain-driven saturated surface runoff component, particularly during winter. Hence, this study demonstrates the importance of spatial structure for multiscale modeling of hydrological processes.
Control/structure interaction - Effects of actuator dynamics

The present evaluation of the effects of including actuator dynamics in the formulation of simple control laws for vibration suppression leads, theoretically, to a prediction of substantial interaction between actuator dynamics, structural dynamics, and control-law choices. Attention is given to the problem of closed-loop instability, under the assumptions that (1) the structure is modeled by an asymptotically stable system, (2) vibration-suppression is the purpose of control, and (3) the structure is well modeled by a finite-dimensional linear set of equations with viscous damping, such as a FEM model.
Separated quadrupolar field experiment

We describe an NMR experiment that produces spectra correlating the first-order quadrupolar spectrum and the central transition spectrum of half-integer quadrupolar spins, allowing one to separate the quadrupolar parameters in overlapping spectra under both static and magic-angle-spinning conditions. Promising fields of applications include situations where the sample cannot easily be rotated, or where it cannot be rotated at the magic angle.
Atmospheric Mercury Speciation: Concentrations and Behavior of Reactive Gaseous Mercury in Ambient Air

Knowledge of atmospheric mercury speciation is critical to understanding its fate once released from point sources. The water-soluble compounds of Hg that exist in flue gases (termed reactive gaseo...
Left ventricular volume and endocardial surface area by three-dimensional echocardiography: Comparison with two-dimensional echocardiography and nuclear magnetic resonance imaging in normal subjects☆

Objectives. We evaluated a three-dimensional echocardiographic method for ventricular volume and surface area determination that uses polyhedral surface reconstruction. Six to eight nonparallel, unequally spaced, nonintersecting short-axis planes were positioned with a line of intersection display to overcome limitations associated with two-dimensional echocardiography. Background. Two-dimensional echocardiographic methods of ventricular volume and surface area determination are limited by assumptions about ventricular shape and image plane position. Methods. Left ventricular end-diastolic and end-systolic volumes and endocardial surface areas determined by three-dimensional echocardiography and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging were compared in 15 normal subjects (7 men, 8 women, aged 23 to 41 years, body surface area 1.38 to 2.17 m2). Ten of these subjects also underwent two-dimensional echocardiography; and end-diastolic and end-systolic volumes were determined by the apical biplane summation of discs method and compared with results of NMR imaging. Results. Interobserver variability was 5% to 8% for three-dimensional echocardiography and 6% to 9% for NMR imaging. Both methods were in close agreement on end-diastolic volume (r = 0.92, SEE = 6.99 ml) and end-systolic volume (r = 0.81, SEE = 4.01 ml) and on end-diastolic surface area (r = 0.84, SEE = 8.25 cm2) and end-systolic surface area (r = 0.84, SEE = 4.89 cm2). Three-dimensional echocardiography and NMR imaging correlated significantly better for end-diastolic volume (r = 0.90, SEE = 7.0 ml) and end-systolic volume (r = 0.88, SEE = 3.1 ml) than did two-dimensional echocardiography and NMR imaging (r = 0.48, SEE = 20.5 ml for end-diastolic volume; r = 0.70, SEE = 5.6 ml for end-systolic volume). Conclusions. Three-dimensional echocardiography is an in vivo method of measuring left ventricular end-diastolic and end-systolic volumes and endocardial surface area with results comparable to those of NMR imaging. Additionally, three-dimensional echocardiography is superior to the two-dimensional echocardiographic apical biplane summation method because the technique eliminates geometric assumptions and image plane positioning error.
Partner effects in social interaction.

A person's behavior during social interaction is due not only to the person's dispositional characteristics but is also determined by his or her social partner. If a person consistently elicits the same behavior from others, the person has apartner effect. Partner effects in affect, cognition, and behavior are examined. Partner effects in behavior are presumed to be caused by partner effects in affect and cognition. A social relations analysis of data from six studies which meet rather strict methodological criteria suggests that partner effects are present in affect and cognition but are fairly weak. Further, partner effects are hardly evident at all on behavioral observations of friendliness and dominance, but are more evident in nonverbal behavior, especially gaze. The low level of partner effects is hypothesized to be due to the context in which the research was done, the degree of acquaintance between interaction partners, and the moderating effect of individual differences.
Effects of MeV implanted boron on the optical properties of silica

Abstract Silica was implanted with B ions at 4 MeV with nominal doses of 0.1, 0.3, and 1.0 × 10 16 ions/cm 2 . The optical absorption was measured from 2.7 to 6.2 eV. Bands at 5.85 and 5 eV are observed in the absorption spectra. The magnitude of the absorption increases with increasing dose. However the magnitude of the increase in absorption is not linear with dose with the lowest dose the most efficient on a per ion basis in creating defects which produce these two bands. The 1.0 × 10 16 sample was exposed to 5-eV KrF excimer irradiation with a fluence of 150 mJ/cm 2 per pulse for pulse totals of 1.5, 15 and 30 J/cm 2 . Bleaching of the 5- and 5.85-eV bands is observed and is attributed to the bleaching of defects at 5, 5.5 and 5.85 eV.
Menopausal hormone therapy: what we know now.

Overview This article describes the findings and limitations of the major research thus far on hormone therapy, particularly that of the Women's Health Initiative; examines practice recommendations; clarifies common terminology related to menopause and hormone therapy; and provides the implications for nurses. This is part one of a four-part series on postmenopausal health. Keywords bioidentical hormones, combined estrogen and progestogen therapy, estrogen, estrogen therapy, hormone therapy, menopause, menopausal transition, postmenopause, progestin, progestogen, women's health, Women's Health Initiative.
The design of an automated material handling system for a job shop

Abstract This paper describes the application of techniques developed for the management and control of Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS's) to a traditional job shop manufacturing sheet metal parts on typical sheet fabricating machines. The problem was the design and evaluation of an automated material handling subsystem (MHS) to support the shop. The MHS controlled the shop loading and floor control by its choice of orders to transport and enter the shop. Detailed simulation models were used to simulate the existing shop, the shop with a MHS, and several algorithms for loading and sequencing orders through the shop. This paper describes the shop, the models developed, the algorithms tested, and the simulation results. A highlight of the study was the ease and speed with which multiple models were developed using an interactive simulation generator, CAPS. Of particular interest is the procedure for shop scheduling, downstream pull, which uses heavily loaded machines to provide sequencing alternatives with the objective of “pulling” work through them to reach more lightly loaded machines. Shop output was estimated to increase from 26 orders per day to 45, a 73% increase, and turnaround time to decrease from ten days to two days.
Effect of helium gas bubbles on the creep ductility of an austenitic alloy

Abstract Post-irradiation transmission electron microscopy has been performed on a split heat of a high temperature precipitation-hardened alloy (A-286) containing 0.001 wt % and 0.010 wt % natural boron. After annealing at 760, 845 and 955 °C, foils were prepared from sections taken from close to the fracture of specimens creep-tested to failure. The observations were compared with those previously obtained for undeformed specimens. p]Helium gas bubbles were found to be arranged in spherical shells around coarse precipitates believed to be TiN. Any effect of creep deformation on bubble size was masked by the annealing treatment, and the bubble size did not differ systematically from that observed for the undeformed specimens. The measured increase in creep resistance with increasing helium atom concentration is explained in terms of a reduction of dislocation mobility. It is suggested that the reduced ductility and associated reduction in strain rate sensitivity after irradiation may be very sensitive to the gas bubble distribution. The observation of bubbles on dislocations lying in the boundaries may be particularly significant.
Disease management research using event graphs

Event Graphs, conditional representations of stochastic relationships between discrete events, simulate disease dynamics. In this paper, we demonstrate how Event Graphs, at an appropriate abstraction level, also extend and organize scientific knowledge about diseases. They can identify promising treatment strategies and directions for further research and provide enough detail for testing combinations of new medicines and interventions. Event Graphs can be enriched to incorporate and validate data and test new theories to reflect an expanding dynamic scientific knowledge base and establish performance criteria for the economic viability of new treatments. To illustrate, an Event Graph is developed for mastitis, a costly dairy cattle disease, for which extensive scientific literature exists. With only a modest amount of imagination, the methodology presented here can be seen to apply modeling to any disease, human, plant, or animal. The Event Graph simulation presented here is currently being used in research and in a new veterinary epidemiology course.
Application of bioinformatics-coupled experimental analysis reveals a new transport-competent nuclear localization signal in the nucleoprotein of influenza A virus strain.

Two nuclear localization sequences (NLS) in influenza A virus nucleoprotein (NP) have been demonstrated to be critical for nuclear import of NP and viral ribonucleoprotein complexes. However, a deletion mutant lacking these two signals was still able to localize to the nucleus suggesting the presence of yet another (a third) potential NLS in the NP protein. In order to identify the nature of this potential NLS signal in the NP of a WS/33L influenza virus A strain, we utilized the tools of bioinformatics coupled with functional experimental analyses in the present study. Comparison of the deduced aa sequence of NP of WS/33L strain with the published WS/33 NP sequences revealed that a single amino acid (aa) change (Met to Arg) at position 105 results in converting the flanking regions (between aa position 90–121, a 32-residue stretch) into two classical overlapping bipartite NLS (obpNLS). GenBank search revealed that 9 out of 500 published NP sequences contain a similar Arg at position 105 (instead of Met) with a 100% homology to the obpNLS region. Various NP-green fluorescent protein (GFP) fusion constructs with and without the signal (obpNLS-Arg105) were utilized to understand the functional nature of this signal. We analyzed the transport competency of the expressed chimeric proteins in terms of their cellular localization by confocal immunofluorescence assay. Our analysis revealed that all NP-GFP constructs containing the wild-type (R105) sequence localized predominantly to the nucleus. Constructs lacking the obpNLS or constructs with reverse mutation (R105 to M105) on the other hand exhibited predominant cytoplasmic localization pattern. Interestingly, when the 32 aa obpNLS was fused with an unrelated viral protein (rotavirus NSP6) that has been known to be cytoplasmic protein, the chimeric protein (obpNLS-NSP6) was efficiently transported into the nucleus, indicating an efficient nuclear transport function of the 32-residue obpNLS in the NP of WS/33L strain of influenza A virus. This report while not only establishing a new NLS in the influenza A virus strain, it also reinforces the idea that proper application of bioinformatics-coupled experimental analysis serves as a powerful tool in identifying new functional signals in proteins of interest.
Attenuation of quorum sensing in the pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii using non-native N-Acyl homoserine lactones.

Many bacterial pathogens use quorum sensing (QS) to control virulence. As a result, the development of methods to intercept QS has attracted significant interest as a potential anti-infective therapy. Acinetobacter baumannii has emerged as a pan-drug-resistant pathogen and displays a remarkable ability to persist in hospital settings despite desiccation and antimicrobial treatment. Recent studies have shown that A. baumannii QS mutants have limited motility and fail to form mature biofilms; these phenotypes are linked to its ability to persist on biotic and abiotic surfaces and increase its pathogenicity. A. baumannii uses N-(3-hydroxydodecanoyl)-l-homoserine lactone (OH-dDHL) and its putative cognate receptor, AbaR, for QS. We sought to identify non-native ligands capable of blocking or promoting AbaR activity in A. baumannii for use as chemical probes to modulate QS phenotypes in this pathogen. We screened a focused library of synthetic, non-native N-acyl homoserine lactones (AHLs) to identify such comp...
Effect of C2O stereochemistry on the conformational profile of the side chains of vitamin D analogs.

The occupancy volumes have been explored using molecular mechanics based conformational analysis for the side chain of vitamin D analogs KH 1060, its C2O epimer, 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 and its C2O epimer. Dot maps reflect the sites most accessible by the hydroxyl group. The stereochemistry at C2O causes the hydroxyl group to preferentially populate different (but not exclusively different) regions of space.
Evaluation of a Psychoeducational Group for Seronegative Partners and Spouses of Persons with HIV/AIDS.

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a time-limited psychoeducational group intervention for cohabiting partners and spouses of persons with HIV/AIDS. The goals of the intervention were to dec...
Minimizing Maximum Modal Force in Mistuned Bladed Disk Forced Response

Amplitude magnification is defined as the maximum forced response amplitude of any blade on a mistuned bladed disk divided by the maximum response amplitude of any blade on a tuned bladed disk over a range of engine order excitation frequencies. This paper shows that amplitude magnification can be approximated as the maximum ratio of modal force divided by modal vector magnitude in an isolated family of turbine engine bladed disk modes. An infinite linear mistuning pattern, defined by a constant interblade stiffness increment between an infinite number of blades, is found to minimize the maximum modal force when subjected to engine order N/4 excitation. Linear mistuning, an approximation of the infinite linear mistuning pattern, approximately minimizes the maximum modal force for bladed disks with a finite number of blades when subjected to engine order N/4 excitation. From this theory, 2/N is proposed to be a lower boundary for amplitude magnification. The linear mistuning method is demonstrated to produce very low amplitude magnifications numerically and experimentally. The numerical examples suggest that linear mistuning may produce amplitude magnifications near the absolute minimum possible.
A Qualitative Inquiry of the Counseling Dissertation Process

The authors in this consensual qualitative research study explored the dissertation experiences of 42 graduates (27 counselor educators, 13 counselors, 2 administrators) from 4 midwestern states. Identified domains included impact of environment, competing influences, personality traits, chair influence, committee function, and barriers to completion. An emergent theory reflected the interconnectedness of the dissertation process across internal, relational, and professional factors. Implications related to motivation, personal traits, and identification of barriers in the dissertation process are provided.
From Conference to Journal

Revising and extending conference articles for journal publication benefits both authors and readers. The new articles are more complete, and benefit from peer review, feedback from conference presentation, and greater editorial consistency. For those articles that are appropriate, we encourage authors to do this, and present two examples of such articles in this issue.
Best Practices of Teaching Traditional Beliefs Using Korean Folk Literature

Abstract This paper describes unique traditional values teachers strive to instil in the minds of children in preschools in South Korea. Also, it discusses the importance of teaching values during early childhood as they reflect the thoughts that have guided the lives of Korean people for thousands of years, and are still applicable in modern day Korea. In addition, it explores effective practices of teaching traditional beliefs using folk literature which stimulates the interest of preschool students.