cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Dose Constraints to Prevent Radiation-Induced Brachial Plexopathy in Patients Treated for Lung Cancer

Purpose As the recommended radiation dose for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) increases, meeting dose constraints for critical structures like the brachial plexus becomes increasingly challenging, particularly for tumors in the superior sulcus. In this retrospective analysis, we compared dose-volume histogram information with the incidence of plexopathy to establish the maximum dose tolerated by the brachial plexus. Methods and Materials We identified 90 patients with NSCLC treated with definitive chemoradiation from March 2007 through September 2010, who had received >55 Gy to the brachial plexus. We used a multiatlas segmentation method combined with deformable image registration to delineate the brachial plexus on the original planning CT scans and scored plexopathy according to Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 4.03. Results Median radiation dose to the brachial plexus was 70 Gy (range, 56–87.5 Gy; 1.5–2.5 Gy/fraction). At a median follow-up time of 14.0 months, 14 patients (16%) had brachial plexopathy (8 patients [9%] had Grade 1, and 6 patients [7%] had Grade ≥2); median time to symptom onset was 6.5 months (range, 1.4–37.4 months). On multivariate analysis, receipt of a median brachial plexus dose of >69 Gy (odds ratio [OR] 10.091; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.512–67.331; p = 0.005), a maximum dose of >75 Gy to 2 cm 3 of the brachial plexus (OR, 4.909; 95% CI, 0.966–24.952; p = 0.038), and the presence of plexopathy before irradiation (OR, 4.722; 95% CI, 1.267–17.606; p = 0.021) were independent predictors of brachial plexopathy. Conclusions For lung cancers near the apical region, brachial plexopathy is a major concern for high-dose radiation therapy. We developed a computer-assisted image segmentation method that allows us to rapidly and consistently contour the brachial plexus and establish the dose limits to minimize the risk of brachial plexopathy. Our results could be used as a guideline in future prospective trials with high-dose radiation therapy for unresectable lung cancer.
White space networking beyond the TV bands

The proliferation of mobile devices has led to a dearth of spectrum for wireless data communication. Several efforts are underway to alleviate this spectrum crunch. A recent approach has been the innovative use of the TV spectrum where policy makers, researchers and the industry worked together to enable dynamic spectrum access of unused TV spectrum, also called the white spaces. Wireless devices can either sense the spectrum or consult with a geo-location database to learn about available TV channels it can use for wireless communication. However, mobile devices are expected to demand additional spectrum beyond what is available as the TV white spaces. One obvious question to ask is whether the technology enabler for white space networking, i.e. dynamic spectrum access, is viable in other portions of the spectrum? At Microsoft Research we have been investigating techniques to network devices over the white space spectrum for the last seven years. In this talk I will first present our research over the years, followed by an overview of the current-day policy and industry landscape of white space technology in the TV bands. More recently, we have been investigating the use of white space technologies in other portions of the spectrum. I will present some of this work, and conclude with research challenges that remain to be solved.
Enzymatic Degradation of Poly(ethylene glycol) Modified Dextrans

Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), with molecular weight 2,000 and 5,100, were conjugated to dextran (T40) with three different degrees of substi tution. The biodegradation of the six PEG-dextran conjugates was evaluated, using dextranase, isolated rat cecum cell free extracts (CFE), and rat liver lysosomal enzymes. All the substrates were degraded by dextranase; however, the rate of the degradation decreased with an increase in the degree of modification as well as in the molecular weight of PEG. When incubated with CFE, these conjugates were degraded with reduced rates, but a similar trend was observed, indicating the presence of an endo-acting dextranase in the rat cecum contents. The modified dextrans, however, resisted degradation by lyso somal enzymes in vitro during 36 h incubation at 37°C. The degradation of modified dextrans was evaluated by gel permeation chromatography (GPC). For the degradation of dextran conjugates by dextranase, two additional methods were also employed, i.e., static light scatter...
New P2Y12 antagonists.

Purpose of reviewThe P2Y12 antagonist clopidogrel has a well established role as an antithrombotic agent in the settings of percutaneous coronary intervention and acute coronary syndromes. However, clopidogrel has a number of disadvantages that have led to the development of new P2Y12 antagonists. T
Natural variation in elemental composition of sagittae from red drum

Concentrations of calcium, strontium, sodium, and potassium were measured along chronological transects of sectioned sagittae from adult red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus), using a wavelength-dispersive electron microprobe. Coarse sampling involved triplicate measurements at the centre of each opaque (winter) and translucent (summer) zone. Fine sampling was performed in duplicate at equidistant points (15 μm apart) spanning four opaque zones (3 years of life). Concentrations of strontium generally increased with distance from the core (age). Other elements showed no consistent long-term trends. Sodium and potassium showed consistent differences between winter and summer otolith zones for ages 6 to 15, but calcium and strontium did not show this seasonal difference. Sampling through these zones on a finer spatial scale confirmed the winter/summer differences as cyclic trends. There was general concordance between annual variation in sodium and potassium concentrations in otoliths and concurrent trends in sea temperature, but significant departures in agreement suggested that temperature was not the immediate determinant of sodium and potassium incorporation. It is suggested that the roughly seasonal patterns of variation in otolith sodium and potassium concentrations may be a result of reproductive activity.
Decreased clearance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa from airways of mice deficient in lysozyme M.

Lysozyme is a ubiquitous and abundant, cationic, antimicrobial polypeptide of leukocytes and epithelia, but its biological function in host defense is largely unexplored. To ascertain the role of lysozyme during bacterial infection of murine airways, we exposed the airways of lysozyme M- deficient (lys M / ) mice to the pulmonary patho- gen Pseudomonas aeruginosa and examined the host's response to infection. Despite partial com- pensation as a result of the appearance of lysozyme P in the infected airways of lys M / mice, these lys M / mice showed decreased clearance of P. aeruginosa compared with their lys M / or lys M / littermates. Lysozyme contributes to optimal clearance of P. aeruginosa from the murine airways. J. Leukoc. Biol. 78: 1081-1085; 2005.
Sequences in Gibbon Ape Leukemia Virus Envelope That Confer Sensitivity to HIV-1 Accessory Protein Vpu

HIV-1 efficiently forms pseudotyped particles with many gammaretrovirus glycoproteins, such as Friend murine leukemia virus (F-MLV) Env, but not with the related gibbon ape leukemia virus (GaLV) Env or with a chimeric F-MLV Env with a GaLV cytoplasmic tail domain (CTD). This incompatibility is modulated by the HIV-1 accessory protein Vpu. Because the GaLV Env CTD does not resemble tetherin or CD4, the well-studied targets of Vpu, we sought to characterize the modular sequence in the GaLV Env CTD required for this restriction in the presence of Vpu. Using a systematic mutagenesis scan, we determined that the motif that makes GaLV Env sensitive to Vpu is INxxIxxVKxxVxRxK. This region in the CTD of GaLV Env is predicted to form a helix. Mutations in the CTD that would break this helix abolish sensitivity to Vpu. Although many of these positions can be replaced with amino acids with similar biophysical properties without disrupting the Vpu sensitivity, the final lysine residue is required. This Vpu sensitivity sequence appears to be modular, as the unrelated Rous sarcoma virus (RSV) Env can be made Vpu sensitive by replacing its CTD with the GaLV Env CTD. In addition, F-MLV Env can be made Vpu sensitive by mutating two amino acids in its cytoplasmic tail to make it resemble more closely the Vpu sensitivity motif. Surprisingly, the core components of this Vpu sensitivity sequence are also present in the host surface protein CD4, which is also targeted by Vpu through its CTD.
Preprocedural fasting and adverse events in procedural sedation and analgesia in a pediatric emergency department: are they related?

Study objective Fasting time before procedural sedation and analgesia in a pediatric emergency department (ED) was recently reported to have no association with the incidence of adverse events. This study further investigates preprocedural fasting and adverse events. Methods Data were analyzed from a prospectively generated database comprising consecutive sedation events from June 1996 to March 2003. Comparisons were made on the incidence of adverse events according to length of preprocedural fasting time. Results Two thousand four hundred ninety-seven patients received procedural sedation and analgesia. Four hundred twelve patients were excluded for receiving oral or intranasal drugs (n=95) or for receiving sedation for bronchoscopy by nonemergency physicians (n=317). A total of 2,085 patients received parenteral sedation by emergency physicians. Age range was 19 days to 32.1 years (median age 6.7 years); 59.9% were male patients. Adverse events observed included desaturations (169 [8.1%]), vomiting (156 [7.5%]), apnea (16 [0.8%]), and laryngospasm (3 [0.1%]). Fasting time was documented in 1,555 (74.6%) patients. Median fasting time before sedation was 5.1 hours (range 5 minutes to 32.5 hours). When the incidence of adverse events was compared among patients according to fasting time in hours (0 to 2, 2 to 4, 4 to 6, 6 to 8, >8, and not documented), no significant difference was found. No patients experienced clinically apparent aspiration. Conclusion No association was found between preprocedural fasting and the incidence of adverse events occurring with procedural sedation and analgesia.
Generalized filtered back-projection reconstruction in breast tomosynthesis

Tomosynthesis reconstruction that produces high-quality images is a difficult problem, due mainly to the highly incomplete data. In this work we present a motivation for the generalized filtered backprojection (GFBP) approach to tomosynthesis reconstruction. This approach is fast (since non-iterative), flexible, and results in reconstructions with an image quality that is similar or superior to reconstructions that are mathematically optimal. Results based on synthetic data and patient data are presented.
Multi-view clustering via canonical correlation analysis

Clustering data in high dimensions is believed to be a hard problem in general. A number of efficient clustering algorithms developed in recent years address this problem by projecting the data into a lower-dimensional subspace, e.g. via Principal Components Analysis (PCA) or random projections, before clustering. Here, we consider constructing such projections using multiple views of the data, via Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA).Under the assumption that the views are un-correlated given the cluster label, we show that the separation conditions required for the algorithm to be successful are significantly weaker than prior results in the literature. We provide results for mixtures of Gaussians and mixtures of log concave distributions. We also provide empirical support from audio-visual speaker clustering (where we desire the clusters to correspond to speaker ID) and from hierarchical Wikipedia document clustering (where one view is the words in the document and the other is the link structure).
EmErgEncy post-firE rEhabilitation trEatmEnt EffEcts on burnEd arEa Ecology and long-tErm rEstoration

The predicted continuation of strong drying and warming trends in the southwestern United States underlies the associated prediction of increased frequency, area, and severity of wildfires in the coming years. As a result, the management of wildfires and fire effects on public lands will continue to be a major land management priority for the foreseeable future. Following fire suppression, the first land management process to occur on burned public lands is the rapid assessment and emergency treatment recommendations provided by the Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) team. These teams of specialists follow a dynamic protocol to make post-fire treatment decisions based on the best available information using a range of landscape assessment, predictive modeling, and informational tools in combination with their collective professional expertise. Because the mission of a BAER team is to assess burned landscape and determine if stabilization treatments are needed to protect valued resources from the immediate fire effects, the evaluation of treatment success generally does not include important longer term ecological effects of these treatments or the fates of the materials applied over the burned landscape. New tools and techniques that have been designed or modified for BAER team use are presented in conjunction with current post-fire treatment effectiveness monitoring and research. In addition, a case is made to monitor longer term treatment effects on recovering ecosystems and to make these findings available to BAER teams.
Dynamic programming and the backpacker's linear search problem

A backpacker approaches a road with a marker on it, desirous of finding the marker but having only a rough idea of where it is located. It is well known among backpackers that it is best to aim either right or left of the marker, since otherwise it will not be clear which way to turn upon reaching the road. The problem of deciding exactly where to aim can be formalized as a modification of the Linear Search Problem. This paper does so, and also discusses dynamic programming as a solution method.
Adversity and Syndemic Production Among Men Participating in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study: A Life-Course Approach

Objectives. We tested a theory of syndemic production among men who have sex with men (MSM) using data from a large cohort study.Methods. Participants were 1551 men from the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study enrolled at 4 study sites: Baltimore, Maryland–Washington, DC; Chicago, Illinois; Los Angeles, California; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Participants who attended semiannual visits from April 1, 2008, to March 31, 2009, completed an additional survey that captured data about events throughout their life course thought to be related to syndemic production.Results. Using multivariate analysis, we found that the majority of life-course predictor variables (e.g., victimization, internalized homophobia) were significantly associated with both the syndemic condition and the component psychosocial health outcomes (depressive symptoms, stress, stimulant use, sexual compulsivity, intimate partner violence). A nested negative binomial analysis showed that the overall life course significantly explained variability ...
Design, Modeling and Simulation of a Closed-Loop Controller for a Dual Backplate MEMS Capacitive Microphone

This work reports the design, modeling and simulation of an all electrostatic, analog closed-loop controller for a dual backplate MEMS capacitive microphone. In this work, a Simulink model which incorporates the key dynamics of the sensor, interface circuit, and sense and feedback non-linearities has been developed. Sinusoidal and step response of the open and closed loop systems were simulated. The closed loop system has a loop gain of 38 dB and a phase margin of 42deg. The simulations predict that the maximum diaphragm displacement for a \m drop test is attenuated from 6.2 pm to 7.1 times 10-2 pm (38 dB attenuation).
Coat protein fold and maturation transition of bacteriophage P22 seen at subnanometer resolutions.

Bacteriophage P22 is a prototypical biological machine used for studying protein complex assembly and capsid maturation. Using cryo-EM, we solved the structures of P22 before and after the capsid maturation at 8.5 A and 9.5 A resolutions, respectively. These structures allowed visualization of � -helices and � -sheets from which the capsid protein fold is derived. The capsid fold is similar to that of the coat protein of HK97 bacteriophage. The cryo-EM shows that a large conformational change of the P22 capsid during maturation transition involves not only the domain movement of individual subunits, but also refolding of the capsid protein.
North Dakota Pharmacists' Need for Drug Information: 1990 VS 1980

A survey of North Dakota pharmacists was done to determine if significant changes in drug information needs had occurred since an identical survey done 10 years ago. The survey was mailed to 183 practitioners selected at random and a 60% response rate was obtained. There were small but statistically significant increases in the number of questions pharmacists receive and the time spent looking for drug information. However, pharmacists did not use a greater number of books or journals than in 1980. Overall, it appears that North Dakota pharmacists are still underutilized as drug information resources.
Chernobyl 137Cs used to determine sediment accretion rates at selected northern European coastal wetlands

Sediment cores were collected from five coastal wetlands along the North Sea (England and Netherlands) and Baltic Sea (Poland). 137Cs dating was used to assess sediment accret Ion rates, including rates based on the 137Cs peak from the 1986 accident at Chernobyl. Peaks from the Chernobyl fallout were found in cores from the Oder and Vistula Rivers in Poland, from the Eastern Scheldt in the Netherlands, and in one of the two cores from Stiffkey Marsh, U.K. No evidence of Chernobyl falloul was found in cores from Dengie Marsh, U.K. The Chernobyl 13’Cs peak serves as an excellent marker for short-term accretion rates because of its high activity. Vertical accretion rates (cm yr-l) based on 1963 and 1986 peaks were similar at most sites; differences may be due to large inputs of sediment from storms or recent accumulation of organic matter. Large differences in sediment characteristics and accretion rates were found between samples from Poland and western Europe. Vertical accretion rates over the period 1963-1986 ranged from 0.26 to 0.85 cm yr-’ and from 0.30 to 1.90 cm yr-l over the 1986-199 1 period. Vertical accretion rates for the period 1963-199 1 were greater than the rates of relative sea-level rise for all cores, so it does not seem that any of these sites are in imminent danger of excessive flooding. The Chernobyl 137Cs peak will be especially useful for studies of short-term (i.e. very recent) sedimentation in the near futur’: and for comparisons of sediment processes over different time scales.
Exclusion of AN Isospin Fifth Force from Kaon Decay

The conjecture of Boynton et al. that anomalous gravitational interactions are related to an isospin coupling is shown to be in conflict with kaon decay data. An alternative coupling to B—2L is in conflict with the Eotvos data which originally motivated the new experiment.
A Novel Approach Toward Development of a Rapid Blood Test for Breast Cancer

Mammography remains the diagnostic test of choice for breast cancer, but 20% of cancers still go undetected. Many serum biomarkers have been reported for breast cancer but none have proven to represent effective diagnostic strategies. ProteinChip mass spectrometry is an innovative technology that searches the proteome for differentially expressed proteins, allowing for the creation of a panel or profile of biomarkers. The objective of this study was to construct unique cancer-associated serum profiles that, combined with a classification algorithm, would enhance the detection of breast cancer Pretreatment serum samples from 134 female patients (45 with cancer, 42 with benign disease, 47 normal) were procured prospectively following institutional review board-approved protocols. Proteins were denatured, applied onto ProteinChip affinity surfaces, and subjected to surface enhanced laser desorption/ionization (SELDI) time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The SELDI output was analyzed using Biomarker Pattern Software to develop a classification tree based on group-specific protein profiles. The cross-validation analysis of cancer versus normal revealed sensitivity and specificity rates of 80% and 79%, and for cancer versus benign disease, 78% and 83%, respectively. When 2 different chip surfaces were combined the sensitivity and specificity increased to 90% and 93%, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of this technique are comparable to those of mammography and, if confirmed in a larger study, this technique could provide the means toward development of a simple blood test to aid in the early detection of breast cancer. The combination of SELDI ProteinChip mass spectrometry and a classification- and regression-tree algorithm has the potential to use serum protein expression profiles for detection and diagnosis of breast cancer.
Expression for the intracellular potential in a cell monolayer due to exposure to an extremely low frequency electromagnetic field

We have utilized the method of Fromter to model the intracellular potential distribution in an osteoblast monolayer. This model treats the monolayer as a transmission line in the form of a thin, circular membranelike sheet, i.e., Heaviside's Bessel Cable. Furthermore, the influence of gap-junctional coupling on the potential distribution has been accounted for to a certain extent in this model.
Free expansion study of liquid nitrogen

The phenomenas involved in the free expansion of liquid/superc ritical hydrogen are of great importance in many space applications. In this study, liquid nitrogen was substituted for hydrogen due to practical reasons. An experimental setup was designed to study the free expansion process when liquid/supercritical nitrogen is injected into an evacuated chamber. The effects of nozzle size, upstream pressure, and downstream pressure were studied. During the experiment, three different nozzle sizes were tested. When the pressure inside the expansion chamber was below the triple point, the nitrogen injected into the chamber solidified in two different forms. For the smallest nozzle, the solid formation occurred inside the nozzle, whereas, for the larger nozzles, the fluid solidified after being sprayed into the expansion chamber. No solidification was observed at chamber pressures higher than the triple point pressure. It was also found that supercritical nitrogen acts like a liquid in the free expansion process. Nomenclature Cd = coefficient of discharge d = nozzle orifice diameter g = gravitational acceleration L = length m = mass flow rate mN2 = mass of liquid nitrogen P = pressure Pc = critical pressure R = gas constant of nitrogen T = temperature t = time U = internal energy V = volume of the expansion chamber p = density
Real-Time PCR Methodology for Selective Detection of Viable Escherichia coli O157:H7 Cells by Targeting Z3276 as a Genetic Marker

ABSTRACT The goal of this study was to develop a sensitive, specific, and accurate method for the selective detection of viable Escherichia coli O157:H7 cells in foods. A unique open reading frame (ORF), Z3276, was identified as a specific genetic marker for the detection of E. coli O157:H7. We developed a real-time PCR assay with primers and probe targeting ORF Z3276 and confirmed that this assay was sensitive and specific for E. coli O157:H7 strains (n = 298). Using this assay, we can detect amounts of genomic DNA of E. coli O157:H7 as low as a few CFU equivalents. Moreover, we have developed a new propidium monoazide (PMA)–real-time PCR protocol that allows for the clear differentiation of viable from dead cells. In addition, the protocol was adapted to a 96-well plate format for easy and consistent handling of a large number of samples. Amplification of DNA from PMA-treated dead cells was almost completely inhibited, in contrast to the virtually unaffected amplification of DNA from PMA-treated viable cells. With beef spiked simultaneously with 8 × 107 dead cells/g and 80 CFU viable cells/g, we were able to selectively detect viable E. coli O157:H7 cells with an 8-h enrichment. In conclusion, this PMA–real-time PCR assay offers a sensitive and specific means to selectively detect viable E. coli O157:H7 cells in spiked beef. It also has the potential for high-throughput selective detection of viable E. coli O157:H7 cells in other food matrices and, thus, will have an impact on the accurate microbiological and epidemiological monitoring of food safety and environmental sources.
NIR-2015 Brazil—Highlighting South America

C aipirinha! If you don’t know what this is, ask anyone who attended the 17 ICNIRS conference in Foz do Iguacu, Parana State, Brazil. The caipirinha is the national cocktail of Brazil and is composed of crushed cane sugar and limes, filled to the top of the glass with cachaca and shaken with ice—a refreshing and delicious drink in the tropical heat that averaged above 35°C in late October. For those of us residing in the northern hemisphere, it was a wonderful last gasp of summer before we returned to slide into the early stages of a long winter. I have been looking forward to NIR-2015 for over two years since my first ICNIR conference in La Grande Monte, France, and this conference was exceptional in every way. A sincere bravo goes to the Organising Committee for selecting the venue and location in the vicinity of the National Park of Foz do Iguacu at the border of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay, and one of the seven Natural Wonders of the World. As a contributor to the Wildlife and Ecology session of the conference, the setting and experience of the tropical environment and its biodiversity was especially rewarding. I believe we now have about 100 pictures of a particular Toucan and several friendly coati. The cultural heritage of Brazil and other countries of South America were on display from the beginning when performances in traditional costumes and dance followed the opening presentation by Phil Williams, winner of the ICNIRS Karl Norris Award. While Phil gave an enlightening and inspiring presentation, the performers punctuated the mood of the evening with music, balancing acts and an array of colourful costumes that ranged from barely there to a full-feathered assembly of birdwings. The most memorable act was the bead whirler who gave a close shave to one of our conference participants—brave man! ICNIRS participants from around the world answered the call and formed several conga lines to celebrate South America with the dancers and musicians and to take in the experience. The opening night continued with a meet-and-greet caipirinha cocktail hour that set the stage for a wonderful week of networking, exchange of scientific ideas and formation of new partnerships. Soren Balling Engelsen, winner of the Tomas Hirschfeld award, opened the scientific sessions with his plenary talk offering a thorough view of the evolution of NIR and chemometrics and what the future may hold. The morning session focused on Phil Williams with the ICNIRS Karl Norris Award medal presented by Ana Garrido. Photo: Organising Committee—NIR 2015
Copyright and Paratext in Computer Gaming

Adoption of information technologies is dependent upon the availability of information to be channeled via such technologies. On-line multiplayer role-playing games have become an important social and business feature of the Internet. The virtual worlds that game players inhabit now encompass population counts and economic activity greater than that of many nations in the physical world. The activity of players participating in an on-line game community is closely tied to paratexts that may include magazines, websites, and even devices that lie outside the formal boundaries of the game, but which are intimately bound up in the transmission of knowledge and culture surrounding the game. In this paper, I examine the legal structures that foster or inhibit particular gaming paratexts. Such laws are in some senses extrinsic to the "magic circle" of the game, but these external rules are deployed as constraints to enforce the internal logic of the game. Typically this occurs in cases where violation of the game's internal parameters would affect the owner's external marketing or business control. Commercial game developers may use copyright and related anti-circumvention laws to enforce preferred readings of the game, largely by dominating the paratexts associated with their product. Examining the control of paratexts yields important insights into the logic of legal rubrics governing on-line gaming.
Molecular diffusion of CF3SF5 in pure water and artificial seawater

Abstract We have experimentally determined the diffusion coefficient for trifluoromethyl sulfur pentafluoride (CF 3 SF 5 ) in pure water and artificial seawater over a temperature range of − 2.0 ° C to 30.0 ° C. A working gas standard containing known concentrations of CF 3 SF 5 and sulfur hexafluoride (SF 6 ) was prepared. The working standard was allowed to diffuse across a water barrier, stabilized with agar gel, and the diffused gas was swept into a gas chromatograph with an electron-capture detector to measure the resulting gas mixing ratio. The mixing ratios for both CF 3 SF 5 and SF 6 were measured to determine the diffusivity for each species. The diffusion coefficient for SF 6 was determined during these experiments as a check against existing literature values and to validate our experimental setup. The experimental data were fit to the Arrhenius equation to yield the following equations D CF 3 SF 5 = 0.0015 exp (-12.9/RT) and D SF 6 = 0.037 exp (-19.8/RT), where R is the gas constant in units of kilojoules per mole per kelvin and T is the temperature in kelvin. At the mean temperature of the ocean, 18 ° C, D CF 3 SF 5 = 7.02 × 10 -6 ± 9.9% and D SF6 = 1.03 × 10 -5 ± 13.8 % cm 2 /s. The diffusion coefficients for SF 6 matched the literature data within 4.3% for all temperatures.
Responses Within Nonfederal Hospitals in Pennsylvania to the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990

Background and Purpose. This study described responses within nonfederal hospitals in Pennsylvania to the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). Subjects. The target population consisted of all 277 nonfederal hospitals licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of Health and Department of Public Welfare. Methods. Questionnaires were mailed to the 270 chief administrators for the 277 hospitals. Results. One hundred seventeen questionnaires (43.3%) were returned. More facilities had trained their managers regarding the ADA versus their nonmanagerial employees. Overall, 80.3% of the hospitals had an ADA committee or coordinator. Fifty-four percent of the respondents reported that job accommodations cost less than $500. Approximately 45% of the participants cited that the percentage of new construction costs spent to increase accessibility in their hospitals was less than 4.9%. More complaints and legal matters were received by facilities regarding the employment provisions of the ADA rather than the accessibility provisions. Conclusion and Discussion. The results suggest that hospitals need to monitor ADA-related expenses, more employee training is needed to ensure the ADA's success, and more representation is needed on hospital committees by rehabilitation personnel and individuals with disabilities.
Introduction to the Milestones in Autoimmune Bullous Diseases

Autoimmune blistering diseases represent a group of rare, acquired disorders characterized by overlapping features, resistance to treatment, and potential lethality. Relatively recent research initiatives in laboratories throughout the World have yielded notable advances in the understanding of these diseases, including their nosology, pathophysiology, associations, and epidemiology. These advances were almost exclusively based on the study of affected patients (i.e., applied translational research). More specifically, light microscopy studies showed that the pemphigus group of diseases was characterized by intraepidermal blister formation resulting from cell-cell dysadhesion, while the pemphigoid group of diseases was characterized by subepidermal blister formation resulting from cell-matrix dysadhesion. Immunofluorescence microscopy studies showing that patients with these diseases have in situ deposits of immunoreactants in skin at the site of blister formation as well as circulating autoantibodies that bind normal human skin at the same sites demonstrated that these disorders are autoimmune in nature and characterized by a specific loss of tolerance to autoantigens in skin (Figure 1). Studies showing that autoantibodies were specific for patients with a given disease allowed such immunoreactants to serve as disease ‘‘markers’’ as well as probes for the recovery, characterization, and cloning of corresponding target autoantigens. Interestingly, such target autoantigens typically represent important structural proteins in skin that mediate either cell-cell or cell-matrix adhesion – vital biological processes that have been shown to be directly impaired by the effect of patients’ autoantibodies. Immunobullous disorders are among the best understood autoimmune diseases in man. Basic and translational research in this field have advanced understanding of autoimmunity and fostered the application of new and advanced therapies. The following articles review this subject in detail and provide insights about the future of research in this and related content areas.
Man vs. machine

Deception is an inevitable component of human interaction. Researchers and practitioners are developing information systems to aid in the detection of deceptive communication. Information systems are typically adopted by end users to aid in completing a goal or objective (e.g., increasing the efficiency of a business process). However, end-user interactions with deception detection systems (adversarial systems) are unique because the goals of the system and the user are orthogonal. Prior work investigating systems-based deception detection has focused on the identification of reliable deception indicators. This research extends extant work by looking at how users of deception detection systems alter their behavior in response to the presence of guilty knowledge, relevant stimuli, and system knowledge. An analysis of data collected during two laboratory experiments reveals that guilty knowledge, relevant stimuli, and system knowledge all lead to increased use of countermeasures. The implications and limitations of this research are discussed and avenues for future research are outlined. We present adversarial systems as a novel/growing area of IS research.Knowledge of a deception system's operations increases countermeasure use.Presenting deceivers with relevant stimuli increases countermeasure use.Truth tellers use countermeasures when aware of the system's functionality.An extensive set of novel countermeasures is identified.
Great longevity of speckled hind (Epinephelus drummondhayi), a deep-water grouper, with novel use of postbomb radiocarbon dating in the Gulf of Mexico

Growth characteristics are poorly understood for speckled hind (Epinephelus drummondhayi), a tropical deep-water grouper of economic importance that is considered overfished. Age has been validated for early growth, but the validity of adult age estimates is unknown. A few studies of growth zones in otoliths have revealed maximum age estimates of 15–35 years, which have been uncritically assumed as longevity. To answer questions about adult age, bomb radiocarbon dating was used to provide validated age estimates. A novel aspect of this study was use of the postbomb radiocarbon decline period (ca. 1980–2004) to age younger fish, an approach that was validated with known-age otoliths. Bomb radiocarbon dating provided valid length-at-age estimates ranging from ∼5 years to more than 45 years. Age was unexpectedly greater than previous estimates for more than half the fish used in this study, and longevity may approach 60–80 years. This study extends the utility of bomb radiocarbon dating by more than 20 years...
Regulating Industrial Homework: The Triumph of "Sacred Motherhood"

In 1934 Katherine Budd, a thirty-four-year-old deserted mother of two, sued the National Recovery Administration (NRA) for prohibiting her from making artificial flowers at home. Asking "What harm can it do anyone if I work in my room and make a few dollars a week to keep a home together for my children?" Budd challenged the right of the New Deal agency to ban industrial homework, piecework done in the home for an outside manufacturer. Defended by the employer-backed Homework Protective League and supported by much of the anti-New Deal press, Budd presented herself as the embodiment of wronged womanhood: "I earned that money working in a clean, sunny room in my own home, working about 5 hours a day and having plenty of time for my housework. If the blue eagle code provisions continue, I must go to work in some loft-if I can get a job-and my children, perhaps, to an orphanage. " ' Budd and her defenders viewed the homework ban as an infringement on a woman's right both to work and to care for children, but social planners and social feminists thought the NRA codes a powerful tool to sweep away the evil of the sweatshop and its "child," industrial homework. In the eyes of most New Dealers, industrial homework curtailed factory employment, undercut wage and health standards, and lowered family purchasing power, thus impeding the recovery effort. Equally important, from their viewpoint, such labor commercialized the home, undermining, as the Labor Department's Women's Bureau put it, the "normal demands of home and children upon the housewife and mother." Restricting industrial homework through the NRA codes of fair competition would bolster factory employment and would ultimately aid the New Deal to put "the forgotten man" back to work. It would make possible for millions the long-sought "family wage, " an income high enough for a man to support his nonwaged wife and children. By making homework less profit-
Effects of Alternative Types of Influence Strategies under Different Channel Dependence Structures

Scenarios were used in a factorial design to analyze how a broker's dependence on a principal interacts with the principal's use of influence strategies to affect the broker's behavior. Results ind...
Technical Aspects of Lung Isolation

Lung isolation is the cornerstone of thoracic anesthesia. The indications for lung isolation vary according to procedure- and patient-related factors (Box 9-1). This chapter focuses on the technical aspects of lung isolation.
Pathways to an Elite Education: Application, Admission, and Matriculation to New York City's Specialized High Schools.

Abstract New York City's public specialized high schools have a long history of offering a rigorous, college preparatory education to the city's most academically talented students. Though immensely popular and highly selective, their policy of admitting students using a single entrance exam has raised questions about diversity and equity in access. In this paper, we provide a descriptive analysis of the “pipeline” from middle school to matriculation at a specialized high school, identifying group-level differences in application, admission, and enrollment. In doing so, we highlight potential points of intervention to improve access for under-represented groups. Controlling for other measures of prior achievement, we find Black, Hispanic, low-income, and female students are significantly less likely to qualify for admission to a specialized high school. Differences in application and matriculation rates also affect the diversity in these schools, and we find evidence of middle school “effects” on both app...
Leaderless Consensus: The State of the Art

With the reduced cost of hardware due to technological advancements and efficient elastic networks, distributed systems size is increasing to meet better availability requirements. Existing consensus-based transactional systems show limited scalability due to either their reliance on a single leader or increased complexity in ordering mechanism. In this position paper we outline state-of-the-art solutions, highlight their weaknesses, and propose a vision to enhance leaderless consensus protocols by using reliable fast deliveries.
Falling in and out of love with Endymion: A Poetic Romance; rereading King Lear

Contest, test, trial “I stood tip-toe” closes in a relay of mirrorings: a moon-enchanted poet conceives a moon-raptured shepherd conceiving a mythic shepherd (Endymion) beloved by a Moon-goddess. All are inspired poets, with Keats in the production-line. The worldly genesis of Endymion: A Poetic Romance (the longest poem he'd ever write, ever publish) was a compact made in spring 1817 with Hunt and Shelley to see who could finish a 4,000-line poem by the end of the year. With Poems just out, Keats was eager for a major project. He wrote through 1817, had proofs by the next winter, and a publication at the end of April 1818 – the only one of the three to succeed. He was doubly energized: A Poetic Romance was not only a venture into a promising genre but also keyed to Keats's romance of being “a Poet.” “As to what you say about my being a Poet,” he wrote to George, and Bailey, I have no right to talk until Endymion is finished – it will be a test a trial of my Powers of Imagination and chiefly of my invention which is a rare thing indeed – by which I must make 4000 Lines of one bare circumstance and fill them with Poetry … why endeavor after a long Poem? To which I should answer … a long Poem is a test of Invention which I take to be the Polar Star of Poetry … Did our great Poets ever write short Pieces? … I put on no Laurels till I shall have finished Endymion. In vocation as well as theme – visionary imagination with an erotic vibe – Endymion would be a test of length and strength, a work of invention that would prove Keats's poetry to the world. In the “old tale” (4.786), a young man's dreams of a Moon-goddess end in his being “Ensky'd” (778) with her – its “felicity” (782) an embodiment of Keats's “favorite Speculation” to Bailey: “we shall enjoy ourselves here after by having what we call happiness on Earth repeated in a finer tone and so repeated” ( K 70 ).
Dynamical properties of shift maps on inverse limits with a set valued function

Set-valued functions from an interval into the closed subsets of an interval arise in various areas of science and mathematical modeling. Research has shown that the dynamics of a single-valued function on a compact space are closely linked to the dynamics of the shift map on the inverse limit with the function as the sole bonding map. For example, it has been shown that with Devaney’s definition of chaos the bonding function is chaotic if and only if the shift map is chaotic. One reason for caring about this connection is that the shift map is a homeomorphism on the inverse limit, and therefore the topological structure of the inverse-limit space must reflect in its richness the dynamics of the shift map. In the set-valued case there may not be a natural definition for chaos since there is not a single well-defined orbit for each point. However, the shift map is a continuous single-valued function so it together with the inverse-limit space form a dynamical system which can be chaotic in any of the usual senses. For the set-valued case we demonstrate with theorems and examples rich topological structure in the inverse limit when the shift map is chaotic (on certain invariant sets). We then connect that chaos to a property of the set-valued function that is a natural generalization of an important chaos producing property of continuous functions.
Biological and environmental surface interactions of nanomaterials: characterization, modeling, and prediction

The understanding of nano-bio interactions is deemed essential in the design, application, and safe handling of nanomaterials. Proper characterization of the intrinsic physicochemical properties, including their size, surface charge, shape, and functionalization, is needed to consider the fate or impact of nanomaterials in biological and environmental systems. The characterizations of their interactions with surrounding chemical species are often hindered by the complexity of biological or environmental systems, and the drastically different surface physicochemical properties among a large population of nanomaterials. The complexity of these interactions is also due to the diverse ligands of different chemical properties present in most biomacromolecules, and multiple conformations they can assume at different conditions to minimize their conformational free energy. Often these interactions are collectively determined by multiple physical or chemical forces, including electrostatic forces, hydrogen bonding, and hydrophobic forces, and calls for multidimensional characterization strategies, both experimentally and computationally. Through these characterizations, the understanding of the roles surface physicochemical properties of nanomaterials and their surface interactions with biomacromolecules can play in their applications in biomedical and environmental fields can be obtained. To quantitatively decipher these physicochemical surface interactions, computational methods, including physical, statistical, and pharmacokinetic models, can be used for either analyses of large amounts of experimental characterization data, or theoretical prediction of the interactions, and consequent biological behavior in the body after administration. These computational methods include molecular dynamics simulation, structure–activity relationship models such as biological surface adsorption index, and physiologically-based pharmacokinetic models. WIREs Nanomed Nanobiotechnol 2017, 9:e1440. doi: 10.1002/wnan.1440 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.
Chemical Stability of Lithium 2-Trifluoromethyl-4,5-dicyanoimidazolide, an Electrolyte Salt for Li-Ion Cells

Lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF6) is ubiquitous in commercial lithium-ion batteries, but it is hydrolytically unstable and corrosive on electrode surfaces. Using a more stable salt would confer multiple benefits for high-voltage operation, but many such electrolyte systems facilitate anodic dissolution and pitting corrosion of aluminum current collectors that negate their advantages. Lithium 2-trifluoromethyl-4,5-dicyanoimidazolide (LiTDI) is a new salt that was designed specifically for high-voltage cells. In this study we demonstrate that in carbonate electrolytes, LiTDI prevents anodic dissolution of Al current collectors, which places it into a select group of corrosion inhibitors. However, we also demonstrate that LiTDI becomes reduced on lithiated graphite, undergoing sequential defluorination and yielding a thick and resistive solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI), which increases impedance and lowers electrode capacity. The mechanistic causes for this behavior are examined using computational chemi...