cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Service Management—Academic Issues and Scholarly Reflections from Operations Management Researchers*

Services are now a larger portion of the economy than manufacturing for every nation on Earth, and services are an overwhelming portion of Western economies. While decision-making research has begun responding to this change, much of the scholarly work still addresses manufacturing issues. Particularly revealing is the field of operations management (OM), in which the proportion of manuscripts dedicated to services has been estimated at 3%, 6%, and 7.5% by various authors. We investigate several possible reasons for the neglect of services in research, including the difficulty in defining services, viewing services as derivative activities, a lack of defined processes, a lack of scale in services, and the effect of variability on service performance. We argue that times have changed, and none of these reasons is valid anymore. We sound the warning that failure to emphasize services in our research and teaching may signal the decline of the discipline. We note the proportion of OM faculty in business schools has shrunk in the past 10 years. Finally, we examine a selection of service research agendas and note several directions for high-impact, innovative research to revitalize the decision sciences. With practitioners joining the call for more research in services, the academic community has an exciting opportunity to embrace services and reshape its future.
Performance measurement for managing infrastructure assets

Performance measures are central to managing infrastructure assets, since they provide quantitative benchmarks and express values and preferences that are important for decision making. For example, one performance measure for decisions on upgrading an electrical power line is the improvement in service reliability, measured in terms of annual customer interruption hours. This paper first presents an overall framework for developing performance measures for infrastructure decision-making. The framework is then illustrated with an example that involves a decision of whether or not to place overhead power lines underground in order to improve performance measured as service reliability, health and safety, operation and maintenance cost, and impacts on property values.
Differential effect of ω‐conotoxin on release of the adrenergic transmitter and the vasoconstrictor response to noradrenaline in the rat isolated kidney

1. The effects of the Ca2+ channel blockers omega-conotoxin (omega-CgTx), nifedipine and diltiazem, on the increase in tritium overflow and perfusion pressure elicited by renal nerve stimulation (RNS), veratridine (Vt) and potassium chloride (KCl), and on the vasoconstrictor response produced by noradrenaline (NA) were investigated in the isolated kidney of the rat perfused with Tyrode solution and prelabelled with [3H]-noradrenaline ([3H]-NA). 2. RNS (1-4 Hz), Vt (15-90 nmol) and KCl (150-500 mumol) produced renal vasoconstriction and enhanced the tritium overflow in a frequency- and concentration-dependent manner, respectively. 3. Administration of omega-CgTx (50 nM) inhibited RNS-, Vt- and KCl-induced overflow of tritium; the associated renal vasoconstriction produced by RNS or Vt but not by KCl was inhibited. In contrast, omega-CgTx failed to alter the vasoconstrictor response elicited by exogenous NA. 4. Infusion of nifedipine (10 microM) enhanced the tritium overflow elicited by RNS and KCl but not by Vt; a low dose of nifedipine (1.4 microM) enhanced the tritium overflow elicited by all these stimuli. Low doses of diltiazem (6 microM) failed to alter the tritium overflow produced by these stimuli. However, higher doses of diltiazem (60 microM) reduced the tritium overflow elicited by RNS or Vt but enhanced that caused by KCl. The renal vasoconstriction produced by RNS, Vt and KCl as well as by exogenous NA was inhibited by low and high doses of nifedipine and diltiazem. 5. These data suggest that (a) RNS, Vt and KCl enhance the release of adrenergic transmitter by promoting the influx of Ca2+ into the nerve terminal through specific Ca2+ channels, probably N-type Ca2+ channels that are distinct from those located in the vascular smooth muscle and (b) co-CgTx could be a useful tool to differentiate between Ca2+ channels at the adrenergic nerve terminal and vascular smooth muscle.
A liver X receptor and retinoid X receptor heterodimer mediates apolipoprotein E expression, secretion and cholesterol homeostasis in astrocytes

Apolipoprotein E (apoE) is an important protein involved in lipoprotein clearance and cholesterol redistribution. ApoE is abundantly expressed in astrocytes in the brain and is closely linked to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). We report here that small molecule ligands that activate either liver X receptors (LXR) or retinoid X receptor (RXR) lead to a dramatic increase in apoE mRNA and protein expression as well as secretion of apoE in a human astrocytoma cell line (CCF-STTG1 cells). Examination of primary mouse astrocytes also revealed significant induction of apoE mRNA, and protein expression and secretion following incubation with LXR/RXR agonists. Moreover, treatment of mice with a specific synthetic LXR agonist T0901317 resulted in up-regulation of apoE mRNA and protein in both hippocampus and cerebral cortex, indicating that apoE expression in brain can be up-regulated by LXR agonists in vivo. Along with a dramatic induction of ABCA1 cholesterol transporter expression, these ligands effectively mediate cholesterol efflux in both CCF-STTG1 cells and mouse astrocytes in the presence or absence of apolipoprotein AI (apoAI). Our studies provide strong evidence that small molecule LXR/RXR agonists can effectively mediate apoE synthesis and secretion as well as cholesterol homeostasis in astrocytes. LXR/RXR agonists may have significant impact on the pathogenesis of multiple neurological diseases, including AD.
Culture and complementary therapies

Complementary therapies are becoming increasingly popular in cultures dominated by biomedicine. Modalities are often extracted from various healing systems and cultural contexts and integrated into health care, expanding the focus from treatment of disease to the promotion of health. The cultural aspects of biomedicine are presented and compared and contrasted with other healing systems. Three healing systems; traditional Chinese medicine, Yoga, with roots in Ayurvedic medicine and Shamanic healing illustrate these fundamental differences in approaches to healing. A reverse example of isolating one healing intervention from biomedicine and interpreting it through other cultural lenses is presented. Implications are drawn for practice and research.
Septocingulate and septohippocampal cholinergic pathways: involvement in working/episodic memory

The contribution of the septohippocampal cholinergic pathway to performance of a working/episodic memory task was compared to that of the septocingulate cholinergic path. The septocingulate and septohippocampal cholinergic pathways were selectively destroyed in male Sprague-Dawley rats using site-specific injections of the anti-neuronal immunotoxin 192-IgG saporin into either the hippocampus or the cingulate cortex. 192-IgG-saporin selectively destroys cholinergic neurons and terminals that express the p75 neurotrophin receptor. Following extensive pre-operative training, working memory was assessed using a delayed nonmatch to sample eight arm radial maze task, with delays of 1, 4 and 8 h. The group with lesions of the septohippocampal cholinergic pathway displayed performance deficits on this task which were not related to length of delay. In contrast, the group with lesions of the septocingulate cholinergic pathway did display delay-dependent deficits which were observed at the 4- and 8-h delays, but not at the 1-h delay. These data suggest that the septocingulate cholinergic pathway is critically involved in working/episodic memory but that the septohippocampal cholinergic pathway is either not contributing to working/episodic memory per se or it is involved only at shorter delays.
Laser printing of conformal and multi-level 3D interconnects

A crucial challenge in three-dimensional multi-chip assemblies is to establish electrical connections between discrete devices. Here, we apply laser printing of congruent voxels of silver nanopaste for the fabrication of conformal and 3D multi-level interconnects. By controlling laser fluence, various 3D electrodes including freestanding tabs and side contacts over vertical walls can be directly printed without the need for sacrificial layers, chemical etching or electroplating. The electrical characteristics of the printed interconnects are similar to those currently in use by the semiconductor industry. These results are a promising step forward in the generation of customized interconnects for 3D microelectronics.
Simulating partially coherent fields and other special beam classes in turbulence

Optical coherence theory traditionally deals with the properties of randomly fluctuating fields over long time averages. For certain applications (such as optical communications) and special beam classes (such as vortex beams), however, the averaging process can obscure important physical aspects of the field behavior. We demonstrate a new method of simulating partially coherent fields of nearly arbitrary spatial and temporal coherence. Over sufficiently long time intervals, these simulations produce the expected average properties. The results are used to gain insight into the propagation properties of partially coherent fields through atmospheric turbulence.
Inclusion of weak high-resolution X-ray data for improvement of a group II intron structure.

It is common to report the resolution of a macromolecular structure with the highest resolution shell having an averaged I/σ(I) ≥ 2. Data beyond the resolution thus defined are weak and often poorly measured. The exclusion of these weak data may improve the apparent statistics and also leads to claims of lower resolutions that give some leniency in the acceptable quality of refined models. However, the inclusion of these data can provide additional strong constraints on atomic models during structure refinement and thus help to correct errors in the original models, as has recently been demonstrated for a protein structure. Here, an improved group II intron structure is reported arising from the inclusion of these data, which helped to define more accurate solvent models for density modification during experimental phasing steps. With the improved resolution and accuracy of the experimental phases, extensive revisions were made to the original models such that the correct tertiary interactions of the group II intron that are essential for understanding the chemistry of this ribozyme could be described.
Advantages of the caudocranial left anterior oblique left ventriculogram in adult heart disease.

Abstract Biplane axial left cineventriculography represents the most accurate diagnostic technique for evaluating acquired and congenital heart disease. However, data have accumulated to indicate that without angled views of the left ventricle, the diagnosis will be incomplete and inaccurate in a significant number of patients. Left ventriculography is the acknowledged standard for left ventricular performance. However, comparison of the conventional or nonangled left anterior oblique left ventriculogram with the angled views of the left ventricle obtained with either two dimensional ultrasound or radionuclide left ventriculography may in many cases be invalid because dissimilar views are compared. The cranial-left anterior oblique view allows more accurate assessment of the precise degree and extent of asynergy, left ventricular aneurysms and ventricular septal defects. Left ventricular outflow tract abnormalities such as discrete subaortic stenosis and the obstructive form of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy can easily be distinguished. Lesions involving the mitral valve, especially mitral valve prolapse, are readily evaluated. Lastly, comparison with noninvasive tests of left ventricular performance can be more accurately performed.
Imprint of transition metal d orbitals on a graphene Dirac cone

We investigate the influence of SiO${}_{2}$, Au, Ag, Cu, and Pt substrates on the Raman spectrum of graphene. Experiments reveal particularly strong modifications to the Raman signal of graphene on platinum, compared to that of suspended graphene. The modifications strongly depend on the relative orientation of the graphene and platinum lattices. These observations are theoretically investigated and shown to originate basically from hybridization of electronic states in graphene and $d$ orbitals in platinum. It is expected that, quite generally, hybridization between graphene and any material with $d$ orbitals near the Fermi level will result in an imprint on the graphene Dirac cone, which depends sensitively on the relative orientation of the respective lattices.
Reflective writing as a window on preservice teachers' thought processes

Abstract This paper presents an in-depth analysis of the writing of two secondary preservice teachers involved in assignments designed as a programmatic feature to promote reflective thinking during a university teacher education practicum. It provides a contextually framed description of the participants' revelations throughout their 15-week final field experience. A weekly journal, daily lesson analyses, and two focused videotaped analyses offered a window on preservice teachers' deliberation. Data revealed that while studies of writing indicate that such assignments, possess the potential to lead to higher level thinking, written assignments were more useful in making participants' cognitive processes explicit than in their actively constructing knowledge about teaching and learning. Implications for facilitating reflectivity include consideration of choice of writing task and an audience beyond the supervisor.
How does religiosity enhance well-being? The role of perceived control.

Religiousness and spirituality (R/S) are consistently linked with positive indicators of well-being, but the mechanisms behind these associations remain largely unknown. We hypothesize that an individual's level of perceived control (PC) acts as a mediator of this relationship and that this effect is stronger in older adults. Participants were 529 adults from the Notre Dame Study of Health and Well-Being (aged 31–88). Regression analyses tested both mediating and moderating functions of PC for three different R/S components (religious practices, daily spiritual experiences, and religious/spiritual coping); composite variables were used for PC and subjective well-being (SWB) in all analyses. These effects were tested using the full sample, as well as separately by age group (early midlife, aged 31–49; late midlife, aged 50–59; and later life, aged 60 and over), in order to discover any age differences that may exist. Results revealed differences by both R/S dimension and age group: PC partially mediated the religious practices-SWB relationship in the full sample and in the later life group; the effects of religious/spiritual coping and spiritual experiences on SWB were partially mediated by PC in the full sample, the late midlife group, and the later life group; and none of the R/S-SWB relationships were mediated in the early midlife group. Moderating effects were indicated by significant interactions between PC and spiritual experiences in the full sample, PC and religious coping in the full sample, and PC and religious practices in the later life group.
Monolayers prepared from phosphazene functionalized fluorocarbon surfactants

Surface pressure vs surface area measurements, surface plasmon spectroscopy, imaging by atomic force microscopy (AFM), and molecular modeling have established the formation of well-packed monolayers from hexakis(tetrahydroperfluorododecanoxyl)cyclotriphosphazene, IT, with the hydrophilic phosphazene ring lying on the water surface and the fluorinated aliphatic chains protruding into the air. This molecular orientation was preserved upon transferring the monolayers to solid substrates, where different load force behaviors have been observed for well-ordered, randomly packed, and spin-coated layers by the approaching AFM tip.
Heights of auroral‐zone currents

The heights in the atmosphere at which the electric currents flow which cause the violent changes in magnetic field observed in the vicinity of the auroral zone have important bearing on the origin of those currents. If the currents flow at low heights where the collision-frequency of ions or electrons is comparable with or greater than their gyromagnetic frequencies dynamo-action is a likely cause of them. On the other hand if the currents flow at great heights where the collision-frequency is very much less than the gyromagnetic frequency some other cause of the currents is indicated, such as streaming of electrified particles under the influence of the Earth's permanent field and the original momentum of the particles, as was suggested by Birkeland.
The Paradox of Urban Environmentalism: Problem and Possibility1

Over half of the world's population (3 billon people) now lives in urban environments. The combination of people, industry, and commerce enmeshed in environments over-determined by plans, designs, and configurations that continue to emphasize ease, efficiency, and spatial sprawl over ecological constraints and sustainability help to make urban environments the primary contributors to multiple types of ecological degradation. With this in mind, urban environments demand greater sustained theoretical and practical attention than has been and is the norm under status quo approaches to urbanism that pay little regard to ecological constraints and under traditional models of environmentalism informed by an anti-urban bias. Fortunately, an emerging form of urban environmentalism exists that recognizes the central ecological role of urban environments. This emerging form of urban environmentalism also recognizes urban environments to be the places where environmental problems are often most severe and where envi...
Chemoprevention of prostate cancer with lycopene in the TRAMP model

BACKGROUND Dietary lycopene combined with other constituents from whole tomatoes was previously found to have greater chemopreventive effects against prostate cancer as compared to pure lycopene provided in a beadlet formulation. We hypothesized that tomato paste would have greater chemopreventive effects in transgenic adenocarcinoma of the mouse prostate (TRAMP) mice relative to equivalent lycopene doses provided from lycopene beadlets.
Radiation effects on biomembranes

Radiation damage can be produced by directly-ionizing radiation, such as α particles, β particles, protons, etc., indirectly by γ and x rays, which cause ejection of fast electrons from target atoms, as well as by neutrons which generate recoil protons and other nuclei. In all cases the resulting charged particles excite or ionize other molecules in so-called “primary-events” (Lea, 1955). The energy of the absorbed radiation is deposited in localized, randomly distributed packages, which may be separated as much as several 1000 A for x and γ rays or as little as a few A for densely ionizing radiation such as α particles. About 50–100 electron volts (eV) (1200–2000 kcal/ mole) are released or transferred in gases per “primary event,” with about 34 eV required to generate an ion pair. This must be compared with an average bond energy of 3 eV. Although the energy released per “primary event” is large, few of these (~106/cell) are required to cause cell death.
Student Disability and Experiential Education

As a significant percentage of students in higher education today have one or more disabilities, it is important for instructors to be aware of what disabilities, and how disabilities, impact student performance. Students with a wide range of disabilities can encounter significant obstacles when experiential instructional methods are implemented assuming that learners are disability-free. This article presents a taxonomy of disabilities and illustrates how experiential instruction can place students with disabilities in situations where they may not do well. The article also evaluates Universal Design, an approach to course design and management that attempts to address a range of student disabilities and learning styles. Finding that this approach does not fully address the problems of the experiential classroom, three strategies are proposed that increase the likelihood that all students, including those with disabilities, will have satisfying and successful experiences in courses using experiential methods.
DHHC-7 and -21 are palmitoylacyltransferases for sex steroid receptors

Classical estrogen, progesterone, and androgen receptors (ERs, PRs, and ARs) localize outside the nucleus at the plasma membrane of target cells. From the membrane, the receptors signal to activate kinase cascades that are essential for the modulation of transcription and nongenomic functions in many target cells. ER, PR, and AR trafficking to the membrane requires receptor palmitoylation by palmitoylacyltransferase (PAT) protein(s). However, the identity of the steroid receptor PAT(s) is unknown. We identified the DHHC-7 and -21 proteins as conserved PATs for the sex steroid receptors. From DHHC-7 and -21 knockdown studies, the PATs are required for endogenous ER, PR, and AR palmitoylation, membrane trafficking, and rapid signal transduction in cancer cells. Thus the DHHC-7 and -21 proteins are novel targets to selectively inhibit membrane sex steroid receptor localization and function.
Understanding Dual Career Couples

The increasing number of clients seeking to maintain a dual career life-style has increased the need for counselors to educate themselves to the unqiue set of concerns, needs, and characteristics particular to dual career partners and their families. This article presents an overview of the published literature delineating the variables associated with this life-style, including the numerous benefits or incentives, the common conflicts and stressors, and the personality dynamics shared by these men and women. In addition, the article will describe dysfunctional coping strategies as well as adaptive strategies employed by individuals attempting to manage the coupling of both career and family.
Qualifying Sociopolitical Consciousness: Complicating Culturally Responsive Pedagogy for Faith-Based Schools

This article explores the intersection of culturally responsive pedagogy and faith-based schooling. The author presents a portion of a larger ethnographic research project conducted at a Catholic e...
Performing and optimizing individualized actuarial prediction of post-prostatectomy PSA control with a Clinical Outcome Prediction Expert (COPE)

Rational treatment decision requires accurate projection of the clinical course of a patient. Current methods in clinical outcome analysis mostly focus on population data. We investigated the applicability and optimization of the widely used actuarial method to project an individual's clinical outcome. We designed and implemented COPE (Clinical Outcome Prediction Expert), which performs, assesses and optimizes individualized actuarial prediction. The program was applied to analyze a post-prostatectomy database. Stratified actuarial curves are used to project individual outcomes. The area under the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve was used to measure predictive performance. We applied COPE to search for the optimal cut-off time and cut-off probability for prediction. The pre-treatment PSA (prostate-specific antigen), the Gleason score and the AJCC (American Joint Commission on Cancer) clinical T-stage were used as predictors. We found that the optimal range of the cut-off probability was 65% to 75% and the cut-off time was 44 to 52 months for all predictors. Optimization greatly simplifies the risk stratification and improves the predictive power of the Gleason score. The optimized multivariate risk score has the highest ROC area of 0.77 among all predictors. This study shows that ROC-optimized risk stratification improves the accuracy of clinical outcome prediction.
Diversion and Political Survival in Latin America

In spite of its long history among scholars of international conflict, empirical evaluations of diversionary theory have produced contrasting—even contradictory— results. We offer three reasons for these differences: choice of unit of analysis; failure to model the reciprocal relationship between threats to the survival of political leaders on one hand, and international conflict participation on the other; and measurement error in operationalizations of the independent variable—the incentive of leaders to divert. We construct an empirical test that addresses all of these concerns. Our analysis of data from Latin America during the period 1960-99 reveals robust evidence in support of diversionary theory. The results also expose the biasing effects associated with the failure to control for reciprocal causation and measurement problems.
The Efficacy of Nicarbazin as a Prophylactic Drug in Cecal Coccidiosis of Chickens

Abstract NICARBAZIN * a new prophylactic anti-coccidial drug has received favorable comment in reports by investigators in 1955. Cuckler, Malanga, Basso and O’Neil (1955) reported the antiparasitic activity of molecular complexes of certain substituted carbanilides, of which Nicarbazin is a representative. Cuckler and Malanga (1955) stated that Nicarbazin effectively inhibited all of 40 allegedly resistant field strains of coccidia, including those that were markedly resistant to sulfaquinoxaline, nitrophenide, nitrofurazone and sulfamerazine. Barber (1955) reported that this drug (1) did not retard normal weight gains in unexposed chickens, (2) protected chickens exposed to Eimeria tenella from mortality, cecal damage, and decreased rate of weight gain, and (3) permitted the development of immunity among exposed chickens. Because of these reports and also because of the need for improved prophylactic as well as therapeutic coccidial medication, it was decided to further investigate the efficacy of this new drug by comparing it with two of the …
Transfusion therapy for sickle cell disease: a balancing act

Transfusion therapy is a key intervention in decreasing morbidity and mortality in patients with sickle cell disease (SCD). Current indications for acute and chronic transfusion therapy have significantly increased the number of RBC units transfused to patients with SCD worldwide. This review summarizes transfusion management for the treatment or prevention of neurologic and perioperative complications, acute chest syndrome, and acute anemia associated with SCD. Despite the recognized benefits of transfusion therapy, it is not without the risks of iron overload, alloimmunization, and delayed hemolytic transfusion reactions. Transfusional iron overload management includes automated RBC exchange, noninvasive imaging to monitor iron burden, and iron chelation with parenteral or oral agents. Although limited and extended RBC antigen matching reduces antibody formation, the prevalence of RBC alloimmunization in patients with SCD remains high. Recent studies demonstrate that RH genetic diversity in patients with SCD contributes to Rh alloimmunization, suggesting that even more refined RBC matching strategies are needed. Advances in molecular blood group typing offer new opportunities to improve RBC matching of donors and recipients and can be of particular benefit to patients with SCD.
92–96 GHz GaN power amplifiers

We report the test results of a family of 92-96 GHz GaN power amplifiers (PA) with increasing gate peripheries (150 µm to 1200 µm). The 1200 µm, 3-stage PA produces 2.138 W output power (Pout) with an associated PAE of 19% at 93.5 GHz (V D =14V). The amplifier offers Pout over 1.5W with associated PAE over 17.8% in the 92–96 GHz bandwidth. The measured data show that the maximum Pout scales linearly with increasing gate periphery at an almost constant PAE around 20%. This demonstrates the high efficiency of on-chip power combining and enables W-band high power single chip solid state power amplifiers.
Growth-Phase-Specific Modulation of Cell Morphology and Gene Expression by an Archaeal Histone Protein

ABSTRACT In all three domains of life, organisms use nonspecific DNA-binding proteins to compact and organize the genome as well as to regulate transcription on a global scale. Histone is the primary eukaryotic nucleoprotein, and its evolutionary roots can be traced to the archaea. However, not all archaea use this protein as the primary DNA-packaging component, raising questions regarding the role of histones in archaeal chromatin function. Here, quantitative phenotyping, transcriptomic, and proteomic assays were performed on deletion and overexpression mutants of the sole histone protein of the hypersaline-adapted haloarchaeal model organism Halobacterium salinarum. This protein is highly conserved among all sequenced haloarchaeal species and maintains hallmark residues required for eukaryotic histone functions. Surprisingly, despite this conservation at the sequence level, unlike in other archaea or eukaryotes, H. salinarum histone is required to regulate cell shape but is not necessary for survival. Genome-wide expression changes in histone deletion strains were global, significant but subtle in terms of fold change, bidirectional, and growth phase dependent. Mass spectrometric proteomic identification of proteins from chromatin enrichments yielded levels of histone and putative nucleoid-associated proteins similar to those of transcription factors, consistent with an open and transcriptionally active genome. Taken together, these data suggest that histone in H. salinarum plays a minor role in DNA compaction but important roles in growth-phase-dependent gene expression and regulation of cell shape. Histone function in haloarchaea more closely resembles a regulator of gene expression than a chromatin-organizing protein like canonical eukaryotic histone. IMPORTANCE Histones comprise the major protein component of eukaryotic chromatin and are required for both genome packaging and global regulation of expression. The current paradigm maintains that archaea whose genes encode histone also use these proteins to package DNA. In contrast, here we demonstrate that the sole histone encoded in the genome of the salt-adapted archaeon Halobacterium salinarum is both unessential and unlikely to be involved in DNA compaction despite conservation of residues important for eukaryotic histones. Rather, H. salinarum histone is required for global regulation of gene expression and cell shape. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that H. salinarum histone, strongly conserved across all other known salt-adapted archaea, serves a novel role in gene regulation and cell shape maintenance. Given that archaea possess the ancestral form of eukaryotic histone, this study has important implications for understanding the evolution of histone function.
Method to Characterize the Air Flow and Water Removal Characteristics During Vacuum Dewatering. Part II—Analysis and Characterization

This is part II of a study reported earlier on a method to characterize the air flow and water removal characteristics during vacuum dewatering. This article presents experimental data and analysis of results from the use of a cyclically actuated vacuum dewatering device for removing moisture from wetted porous materials such as paper with the intermittent application of vacuum and accompanying air flow though the material. Results presented include sheet moisture content as a function of residence time and hence water removal rate under a variety of process conditions. Also, experimental results on air flow through the wet porous structure and hence the role and importance of air flow during vacuum dewatering are presented. Vacuum dewatering process conditions include exit solids content between 11 and 20% solid under applied vacuum conditions of 13.5 to 67.7 kPa (4 to 20 in. Hg). Regression analysis indicated that the exit sheet moisture content exhibited a nonlinear relationship with residence time wit...
Surgical Margins in the Treatment of Nonmelanoma Skin Cancer and Mohs Micrographic Surgery

Traditional surgical treatment of nonmelanoma skin cancer includes excision with subsequent evaluation of surgical margins, either via frozen sections intraoperatively or after excision and closure. Accurate communication between surgeon and pathologist regarding the meaning of surgical margins should be confirmed. Recurrences of tumor growth may in part be attributed to asymmetrical tumor growth patterns with extension of tumor in an unanticipated direction. Mohs micrographic surgery is an outpatient procedure that maximizes surgical margin evaluation while minimizing the amount of tissue that must be excised. This article will discuss the concept of surgical margins in excisions of nonmelanoma skin cancer and the role of Mohs micrographic surgery.
A low-gate-leakage-current GaAs MESFET with a thin epitaxial silicon layer

An n-channel depletion-mode GaAs MESFET with an Al gate and a 6-A epitaxial Si layer between the metal and the GaAs, grown in situ by molecular beam epitaxy, is described. Its DC electrical characteristics are compared with a similar control structure grown without the Si layer. The gate leakage current in the Al/Si/GaAs MESFETs was three to four orders of magnitude lower than in the control structure, due to all increased barrier height in the Al/Si/n-GaAs Schottky gate of 1.04 eV, versus 0.78 eV for the Al/n-GaAs structure. The differences in threshold voltages, I-V characteristics, and transconductances between the two devices are consistent with an enhanced effective barrier height for the Al/Si/GaAs MESFET. >
Value added on integrated solution of RFID enhanced asset traceability system

With cloud computing rising, as a base infrastructure, data center is getting more and more attentions. Design and implementation of automatic and accurate asset management has become an important task for data center management. Although there are many asset management solutions with RFID, the value of asset traceability in data center management is not being considered as a whole infrastructure. The key issue to add values on traceability of asset is to integrate the traceability system with the business process management and use the traceability data to support making decisions for manager and improve performance of business management. This paper proposes a framework of integrated solution of RFID enhanced asset traceability system. Beyond traditional understanding of asset tracking values, more potential benefits are discussed. And an illustrative case study is presented with the proposed integration framework.
Routine Use of Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring in Potential Living Kidney Donors

Background and Objectives: Most transplant centers exclude prospective living kidney donors with hypertension from donation. Centers routinely identify hypertension using BP measured in the clinic, but it is not clear that clinic BP accurately detects the presence or absence of hypertension in potential donors. We therefore conducted a prospective study to determine the impact of routine ambulatory BP monitoring on diagnosis of hypertension in potential donors and the value of other baseline characteristics in predicting ambulatory BP results. Design, Setting, Participants, & Measurements: We compared classification of hypertension status by clinic BP and by ambulatory BP monitoring in 178 potential living kidney donors. Results: Of 63 individuals with hypertension by clinic BP, 62% had white-coat hypertension by ambulatory BP and were therefore eligible to donate. Of 115 individuals who were normotensive by clinic BP, 17% had masked hypertension by ambulatory BP and were excluded from donation. Individuals with masked hypertension were older, were more likely to be male, and had a somewhat higher clinic BP than individuals with sustained normotension. Individuals with white-coat hypertension had a somewhat lower clinic diastolic BP than individuals with sustained hypertension. Conclusions: Routine ambulatory BP monitoring may identify a large number of individuals with white-coat hypertension and a smaller but significant number of individuals with masked hypertension, ensuring adequate protection of potential donors and accurate assessment of donor risk. Differences in baseline characteristics are small and are not clinically useful in distinguishing individuals with masked hypertension from individuals with sustained normotension or individuals with white-coat hypertension from individuals with sustained hypertension, demonstrating the importance of ambulatory BP monitoring in this population.
Study of Different Implementation Approaches for a Maximum Power Point Tracker

This paper studies the design of a maximum power point tracker (MPPT) for low power portable solar array applications. The discussion will compare different digital and mixed signal implementation approaches of the same perturb and observe algorithm, in particular: simple P&O algorithm on the duty cycle, P&O algorithm using an analog inner voltage control loop and finally using a digital voltage control loop programmed into the micro controller. This research shows that the method of implementation (analog, digital) has an influence on the robustness of the MPPT particularly in suddenly changing illumination conditions
Chronic severe constipation: Prospective motility studies in 25 consecutive patients

The purpose of this study was to determine the patterns of gastrointestinal and anal sphincter motility in 25 consecutive patients with severe constipation. Three patterns of abnormal motility were observed in 68% of the patients: (a) isolated anal sphincter dysfunction (20%), (b) a generalized disorder of gastrointestinal motility (24%), and (c) rectosigmoid dysfunction (24%). The remaining patients had either a previously unrecognized primary disorder leading to constipation or the irritable bowel syndrome. Duration of symptoms, laxative usage, or other historical features failed to distinguish each of the groups. Anal sphincter dysfunction was diagnosed by demonstrating impaired sphincter relaxation during rectal distention. Generalized motor disorders were diagnosed by demonstrating impaired colonic and esophageal function together with an abnormality in gastric emptying. Rectosigmoid dysfunction was manifest by an impaired rectosigmoid motor response to feeding without evidence of other organ dysfunction. These studies indicate that a high percentage of patients with more severe degrees of constipation have a serious but sometimes treatable disorder of bowel function, rather than the irritable bowel syndrome.
Absence or hypoplasia of a pulmonary artery with anomalous systemic arteries to the lung.

SUMMARY The pulmonary vascular plexus at one stage of embryologic development has important dorsal branches from the aorta which normally disappear. These vascular communications with the aorta or its branches may persist when there is faulty development of the pulmonary artery. Although most recently reported cases of anomalous systemic arteries to the lungs have been discovered because of the associated presence of bronehiogenic cysts, bronchiectasis or sequestration of lung tissue, anomalous arteries from the aorta or its branches may enter grossly normal pulmonary tissue. Anomalies of the bronchial branching and lobar development may also be present. The clinical features and the radiologic findings in cases of absence of the pulmonary artery to one lung are presented with illustrative examples. Two cases with a hypoplastic lung receiving a considerable blood flow through systemic arteries are discussed. The effect of ligation of these systemic arteries is reported. The clinical and physiologic questions which anomalous vascular communications to the lungs present are briefly considered.
Cyclin D1 antisense RNA destabilizes pRb and retards lung cancer cell growth

To investigate the role of cyclin D1 in the regulation of lung cancer cell growth, we created five stably transfected cell lines carrying a cyclin D1 antisense construct. The transfected cells exhi...
Behavioral and Non-pharmacological Management of Narcolepsy

Narcolepsy symptoms such as excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS), sleep attacks, and cataplexy have been shown to have significant impact on quality of life in this patient population. While pharmacotherapy is the first line of therapy, practically all patients with narcolepsy utilize some non-pharmacological strategy to manage symptoms of narcolepsy and practitioners commonly recommend such strategies as adjunct treatments. While these non-pharmacological approaches are commonly used and recommended, there are not yet any specific clinical recommendations or guidelines. Nonetheless, existing research provides some evidence indicating that non-pharmacological approaches may be useful for improving symptoms of narcolepsy. Napping approaches have received most research attention with benefits found on improving daytime sleepiness, alertness, and performance. However, the results across studies are not consistent and recommendations of optimal timing and duration of nap schedules remain undetermined. Dietary approaches received some limited attention and this review highlights the importance of diet and weight concerns in this population. Few studies assessed other strategies (e.g., extended nighttime sleep, temperature manipulations) and such approaches require further exploration. Taken together, research to date is encouraging and supports further investigation of non-pharmacological treatments in the management of narcolepsy.
Regulation of Parathyroid Secretion by Chromogranin a Amino Terminal Peptides

Our working hypothesis is that N-terminal chromogranin A (CGA) peptides regulate parathyroid hormone (PTH) secretion in the parathyroid gland as part of the array of regulatory mechanisms in calcium homeostasis. The evidence in support of this hypothesis falls into several categories: the N-terminal peptides are naturally produced; naturally derived peptides are biologically active; highly purified and characterized synthetic peptides are biologically active; neutralizing antibodies stimulate PTH secretion; there are specific structural requirements for biological activity; the peptide acts via a G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) mechanism. These data, as well as future directions, are reviewed below.
Exploiting unused storage resources to enhance systems' energy efficiency, performance, and fault-tolerance

The invention of better fabrication materials and processes in solid-state devices has led to unprecedented technological breakthroughs in computer hardware. Today's system software, however, often cannot take full advantage of the hardware's rapidly improving capabilities, thus resulting in idling resources, e.g., unoccupied memory and disk space. To make hardware operate more efficiently and to reduce the amount of idle resources, this thesis proposes several techniques that can harness such resources to the benefit of users. Although there are many different types of hardware resources, this thesis focuses on the reclamation of idle resources in the storage hierarchy. First, we implemented a pure software technique to reduce the power dissipation of main memory. By aggregating unmapped and unused memory pages and powering down unused memory ranks, a significant amount of energy can be saved with little or no performance degradation. Next, we explored several architectural-level solutions that can more aggressively reduce energy, but at the expense of performance. We also developed techniques to exploit unused disk capacity to improve disks' performance and energy-efficiency. These techniques are realized in our implementation of the Free Space File System (FS2). Unlike traditional file systems where extra disk space is not used, FS2 actively makes use of it to hold replicas of temporally-related data blocks that were poorly placed by the underlying file system. Using contiguous regions of free disk space to place related data blocks closer to one another enables in disk heads to work more efficiently. Free disk space may also be used to enhance the fault-tolerance of disks. The placement of replicas is shown to be critical to both the fault-tolerance and performance of file systems that make use of replicas. However, without a thorough understanding of how disks fail and how data become corrupted when failures occur, good data placement strategies are difficult to devise. We studied a large number of failed disks and analyzed their failure characteristics. This characterization study will help design more fault-tolerant file systems that can take advantage of today's large capacity hard drives.
Biofeedback for Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia and Tanden Breathing among Zen Monks: Studies in Cardiovascular Resonance

Resting heart rate is characterized by several overlapping oscillations at several frequencies. Oscillations at each frequency is related to a specific set of reflexes that plays a role in cardiovascular homeostasis. Recent research on biofeedback training to increase the amplitudes of these frequencies has found that people can accomplish this task by breathing at frequencies that resonate with oscillations at slower frequency ranges. The slower heart rate oscillations appear to reflect baroreflex activity. Such biofeedback training may exercise the baroreflexes and thereby increase baroreflex efficiency and decrease vulnerability to disorders characterized by autonomic hyperreactivity (e.g., asthma, hypertension, anxiety disorders). Zen monks have a low rate of cardiovascular disease, and also breathe very slowly during the practice of Zazen, causing resonance with oscillations in cardiovascular variables related to heart rate and blood pressure control. One very experienced monk breathed at a rate of approximately once/minute, and appeared to stimulate reflexes that control vascular tone and body temperature.
Primary care physician perspective on management of patients with depression.

OBJECTIVE: To discuss the relationship between the primary care physician and other health care professionals and best practice strategies in the management of depression. SUMMARY: Useful chronic clinical models can transform a visit between a patient with depression and the primary care provider from an unfocused encounter to one that is anticipated, planned, and productive. With the proper decision and organizational support to manage their patients with depression, primary care providers will have the increased confidence to treat these patients and have more knowledge about the treatment plan, whether that is a referral or continuation of treatment in the provider.s office. CONCLUSION: The primary care provider must recognize that he or she cannot work alone. In addition to decision support and clinical information systems, there needs to be a delivery system that supports a depression care manager and identifies the patient as the key player in the system. Participation and cooperation by the entire health care system will determine the success of such depression care models.
Thought and Action to Date Towards a Conceptual Framework-Four Position Papers

Disarmament and development have in the past been treated as two separate subject areas . Each one has been pursued in its own right, at the political level as well as in terms of research. This was, for instance, reflected in two separate UN Resolutions for the 1970s, one calling for the Disarmament Decade and the other for the Second Development Decade . At the research level, disarmament has been incorporated as an integral part in only a few 'world order studies' published in the 1970s; in the RIO Report 'arms reduction' was covered in one of the ten major sections each of which was devoted to one major problem area.