cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Cardiac Catheterization: II. Detection and Assessment of Common Cardio‐vascular Abnormalities

Summary The haemodynamic parameters used in detecting and assessing each of several common cardio-vascular abnormalities are presented, and the pertinent catheterization techniques are described. Methods for studying patients with the more common congenital cardiac malformations are for the most part well standardized, and when adequate data are obtained, these are usually easily interpreted. Acquired valvular lesions, especially stenotic ones, can also be evaluated by standard techniques and the severity of such lesions accurately determined. In contrast, methods for studying myocardial function are less satisfactory. The parameters usually employed in assessing myocardial performance are also influenced by extra-myocardial factors, and some of the more meaningful methods of studying myocardial contractility are still too complex and time-consuming for routine use. Except for selective angiocardiography, cardiac catheterization techniques are likewise of only limited help in evaluating patients with ischaemic heart disease.
Evidence for Oxygen DX Centers in AlGaN

Experimental and theoretical evidence is presented for oxygen DX centers in AlxGa1−xN. As the aluminum content increases, Hall effect measurements reveal an increase in the electron activation energy, consistent with the emergence of a deep DX level from the conduction band. Persistent photoconductivity is observed in Al0 39Ga0. 61N:O at temperatures below 150 K after exposure to light, with an optical threshold energy of 1.3 eV, in excellent agreement with first-principles calculations. Unlike oxygen, silicon does not exhibit DX-like behavior, in agreement with previous theoretical predictions.
Simplified normal mode treatment of long-period acoustic-gravity waves in the atmosphere

This paper deals primarily with the effects of geometric dispersion on low-frequnncy mechanical waves generated by nuclear explosions. This dispersion is the result of the stratification of the atmosphere (to be distinguished from dispersion due to changes in physical characteristics due to changing frequency). It is found that the pressure signal can be divided naturally into an early-arriving acoustic-gravity portion (treated in this report) and a later--by about five percent of the travel time--acoustic portion. In general, both portions of the signal are inversely proportional to the range (geometric spreading included), although, at very great ranges, portions of the gravity wave fall off faster by r1/6; the effect of dispersion is to reduce the signal by r-1/2. Most of the signal is composed of many propagating modes which, at a given time and range, will each demonstrate a characteristic frequency. A simplified treatment of this complicated model picture is presented here. It is argued that a ray treatment for the higher-frequency portion is appropriate. It is shown that the frequency of the long-period signal increases with time. So long as the frequency of the received signal is less than the characteristic frequency of the initiating explosive impulse, it is found that the signal has a universal form for the fundamental mode. Such characteristics as yield, range, and phase velocity merely change the scaling of the signal. It is concluded that attenuation is probably not important for the low-frequency signals (below one c/s) usually observed.
Prato: Databases on Demand

Database configuration can be a daunting task as database administrators are often presented with a myriad of configuration options that are difficult to sift through. Prato, a project at HP Labs, is a prototype of a self-managing DBMS service provider that eases this burden by using economic incentives to guide automated DBMS setup and management. Prato offers customers private, virtual, DBMS appliances that can each be sized up to several hundred nodes, and made available on demand, in just a few minutes.
Geophysical Logs and Marine Zones as Useful Coal-Exploration Tools in Southern West Virginia: ABSTRACT

The coal resources study currently in progress at the West Virginial Geological and Economic Survey using gamma-ray logs, density logs, core logs, and marine zones aids in regional correlation problems in the stratigraphically complex, coal-bearing End_Page 901------------------------------ Kanawha Formation (Middle Pennsylvanian) of southern West Virginia. Projecting marine-zone control points onto nearby geophysical and core logs has greatly aided understanding of the complex stratigraphy of the Kanawha Formation, which was deposited in a rapidly subsiding basin. Recent work has indicated problems with several type sections, notably those of the Seth Limestone, Hernshaw coal, Peerless coal, Buffalo Creek coal, and the Buffalo Creek Limestone. Also, it appears that previous mapping of the Dingess Limestone in Boone, Raleigh, Logan, and Mingo Counties (from the West Virginia Geological Survey County Reports) actually represents several separate marine units which were mapped as a single unit. Stratigraphic cross sections, constructed from gamma-ray, density, and core logs and incorporating biostratigraphic information from field investigations of marine zones, allow better correlation of units, more reasonable interpretations, and a new evaluation of the coal measures of the Kanawha Formation in southern West Virginia. End_of_Article - Last_Page 902------------
Cross-layer Optimized Coding Mode Selection for Wireless Video Communications

This paper proposed a coding mode selection method for video transmission over wireless networks. Unlike previous mode selection methods disregarding channel distortion or assuming constant packet loss rate (PLR), this method includes a cross-layer controller to collect both source and channel information. The mode selection process is formulated as a delay constrained distortion minimization problem. The three components in the resulting Lagrange cost function, namely distortion, Lagrange multiplier and packet delay, are estimated with online channel information feedback. Sub optimal coding decision and physical layer modulation and coding scheme (MCS) are determined by the controller for each packet. In our experiment, three coding modes, intra, inter and down sampling, are tested under various channel conditions. Compared to conventional method, 3.6dB to 7.5dB average reduction in distortion is achieved under different channel condition, while down sampling further gains up to 2.2dB distortion reduction in low data rate transmission.
Gravitational corrections to lepton-lepton coulomb scattering

The contributions of order ${e}^{2}{\ensuremath{\kappa}}^{2}$ to the scattering of two electrically charged nonidentical fermions are evaluated. The corrections to the graviton-fermion vertex are finite, and those to the photon-fermion vertex diverge, while the sum of all ultraviolet divergences is proportional to the Born amplitude. No infrared divergences are present in the cross section. The scalar-photon-graviton system is also investigated, with similar conclusions.
ICOS-expressing lymphocytes promote resolution of CD8-mediated lung injury in a mouse model of lung rejection.

Acute rejection, a common complication of lung transplantation, may promote obliterative bronchiolitis leading to graft failure in lung transplant recipients. During acute rejection episodes, CD8+ T cells can contribute to lung epithelial injury but the mechanisms promoting and controlling CD8-mediated injury in the lung are not well understood. To study the mechanisms regulating CD8+ T cell–mediated lung rejection, we used a transgenic model in which adoptively transferred ovalbumin (OVA)-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) induce lung injury in mice expressing an ovalbumin transgene in the small airway epithelium of the lungs (CC10-OVA mice). The lung pathology is similar to findings in humans with acute lung transplant. In the presence of an intact immune response the inflammation resolves by day 30. Using CC10-OVA.RAG-/- mice, we found that CD4+ T cells and ICOS+/+ T cells were required for protection against lethal lung injury, while neutrophil depletion was not protective. In addition, CD4+Foxp3 + ICOS+ T cells were enriched in the lungs of animals surviving lung injury and ICOS+/+ Tregs promoted survival in animals that received ICOS-/- T cells. Direct comparison of ICOS-/- Tregs to ICOS+/+ Tregs found defects in vitro but no differences in the ability of ICOS-/- Tregs to protect from lethal lung injury. These data suggest that ICOS affects Treg development but is not necessarily required for Treg effector function.
Neoplasia of Gallbladder and Biliary Epithelium

Abstract Context.—Diagnosis of biliary neoplasia can be challenging but is essential for the appropriate clinical management of patients. Therefore, it is important to recognize the morphologic fea...
Food and image on the official visitor site of Houston, Texas

Abstract Destination image, referring to the beliefs, attitudes, ideas, and impressions that potential tourists hold about a destination, plays an important role in tourists' decision-making process. Images of a destination come from various sources that target different audiences and serve different purposes. Media sources aimed at a general audience can generate interest in a destination. Non-visitors become potential first-time visitors when they actively seek information from destination-marketing organizations intended to persuade potential visitors in their decision-making process. Thus, media attention represents an opportunity for destinations to develop their image. In recent years, Houston, Texas has gained national recognition in popular media as a food destination. The Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau (GHCVB) expands upon this image through the content of the official visitors website. In this research, content and narrative analyses are used to examine the 16 webpages featured under the website's ‘restaurants’ header. In addition to providing logistical information about eating and drinking in Houston, narratives of local loyalty to an area's restaurants are used to create an attraction for visitors looking for a distinctive local experience, certify the quality of the experience, and offer insight into the nature of the destination. This local perspective has potential applications for other destinations seeking to re-create their image in light of the increased media attention on food.
The Five Pillars of Essentialism: Reification and the Social Construction of an Objective Reality

Drawing on Berger and Luckmann’s discussion of reification, this paper examines the five aspects of essentialism that make the social construction of a seemingly objective reality possible. The five aspects are religion (as typically manifested in the idea of ‘God’), science (as typically manifested in the idea of ‘Nature’), reason (as typically manifested in the notion of ‘Logic’), universalism (as typically manifested in the notion of ‘Everybody’), and eternalism (as typically manifested in the notion of ‘Always’). They constitute the foundations of the process of making the merely intersubjective and conventional seem objective and inevitable.
Lyme disease in California: interrelationship of ixodid ticks (Acari), rodents, and Borrelia burgdorferi.

The association of immature ixodid ticks, several species of rodents, and the Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi Johnson, Schmid, Hyde, Steigerwalt & Brenner, was studied in two habitats in northern California in spring and summer 1985 and yearround in 1986. A total of 428 rodents were collected from ecotonal chaparral and a woodlandgrass–rock outcrop; the former habitat yielded six species, the latter three species. The deer mouse, Peromyscus maniculatus (Wagner), and the pinon mouse, P. truei (Shufeldt), were the dominant species year-round and collectively comprised 78% of rodents captured within chaparral and 87% from the rock outcrop in 1986. In both habitats, rodents were trapped most frequently in winter and spring, and least often in summer and fall. A total of 306 rodent blood films from all six species were assayed for spirochetes by direct immunofluorescence; of these, only one film prepared from P. truei ( n = 123 films from 53 individual mice) was found to contain spirochetes. Immature western black-legged ticks, Ixodes pacificus Cooley & Kohls, and Pacific Coast ticks, Dermacentor occidentalis Marx, were collected from each species of rodent. Larvae of I. pacificus infested P. maniculatus and P. truei in low numbers year-round, but nymphs of this tick rarely parasitized these rodents. D. occidentalis larvae infested P. maniculatus and P. truei in spring and particularly in summer; nymphal ticks infested these mice primarily in summer. The efficiency of visual inspection for collecting immatures of these ticks from P. maniculatus ranged from 45 to 69% in spring and summer, whereas the efficiency of a drop-off technique appeared to be 100%. Spirochetes were detected in <1% of D. ocddentalis larvae ( n = 310) and nymphs ( n = 120), and in «4% of I. pacificus larvae ( n = 75) derived from these hosts. The potential significance of these findings in the enzootiology of B. burgdorferi is discussed.
Analysis of Flow Processes in Detonative Wave Rotors and Pulse Detonation Engines

This study is aimed to make a systematic comparison between performance of pulse detonation engines (PDE) and detonative wave rotors, using a quasi-one dimensional numerical model. The model incorporates almost all major losses including viscous, heat transfer, port mixing, gradual opening and closing of channels losses. Two scenarios of (a) instantaneous detonation and (b) deflagration to detonation transition (DDT) for each engine are considered and flow field of these cases are compared with each other. To make flow field comparisons, the same rotor length, fuel distribution, inlet port size, and frequency are used for both engines. As expected, the outlet flow of the detonative wave rotor is shown to be more uniform than of the PDE, due to its fast rotation and large number of channels. This is more acceptable to turbine blades for gas turbine applications and may provide the combustor for new generation of aircraft engines. Higher pressure gain is produced in the detonative wave rotor configuration due to the mixture pre-compression by a hammer shock. Other advantages of the wave rotor approach are discussed.
The role of heating, winds, and topography on sea level changes in the North Atlantic

Seasonal and interannual-to-decadal variations of large-scale altimetric sea surface height (SSH) owing to surface heating and wind forcing in the presence of topography are investigated using simplified models. The dominant forcing mechanisms are time scale dependent. On the seasonal time scale, locally forced thermosteric height explains most of the SSH variance north of 18°N. First-mode linear long baroclinic Rossby waves forced by changes in the winds and eastern boundary conditions explain most of the variance between 10°N and 15°N and are also important east of Greenland. On interannual-to-decadal time scales, local thermosteric height remains important at several locations in the middle and high latitudes. A topographic Sverdrup response explains interannual-to-decadal SSH between 53°N and 63°N east of Greenland. Farther south, the linear Rossby wave model explains SSH variations on interannual-to-decadal time scales between 30°N and 50°N from mid-basin to the eastern boundary. Propagation of the eastern boundary condition into the interior dominates the interannual-to-decadal SSH signals south of 30°N. The effect from NAO-related heat flux on SSH is small, but forcing the topographic Sverdrup models with NAO-regressed winds gives slightly better agreement with the observed SSH in the subpolar gyre on interannual-to-decadal time scales than using the full winds.
The CO2-H2O system. I. Experimental determination of volumetric properties at 400°C, 10–100 MPa

Abstract Densities of pure CO2 and CO2-H2O mixtures were experimentally determined at 400°C, 10–100 MPa. The data were obtained with a custom-designed high-pressure, high-temperature vibrating-tube densimeter. Conservative estimates of accuracy are P, ± 0.02 MPa, T, ± 0.05°C, and ρ ± 0.0005 to 0.0010 g · cm−3 for low- and high-density mixtures, respectively. Excess molar volumes (Vex) for mixtures are continuously positive, increasing sharply from 0 MPa to maximum values near 30 MPa. Above 30 MPa, Vex decreases rapidly with increasing pressure. Peak values for Vex are large, representing up to 37% of total volume. The isobaric data (Vex vs. X CO 2 ) are nearly symmetric at pressures below 10 MPa, but become strongly asymmetric toward H2O with increasing pressure above 10 MPa. The highest degree of asymmetry coincides with P-T conditions at the critical isochore for pure H2O (∼29.2 MPa at 400°C). With increasing pressure above 30 MPa, asymmetry of the isobaric data shifts toward CO2. Densities for pure CO2 at 400°C, 10–100 MPa, predicted by published equations of state are in fair to excellent agreement with our experimentally determined densities. Previously published density data for mixtures, and excess molar volumes calculated from equations of state, are generally in poor agreement with our results.
Influenza: the vaccines.

The extreme antigenic lability of the influenza A viruses accounts for the less-than-ideal immunization capability of existing vaccines; at the same time, as Dr. Kilbourne explains, this characteristic is making it possible to “breed” viral recombinants in the laboratory that will have the qualities (such as high yield and low virulence) needed to produce vaccines capable of conferring more lasting immunity.
Psychiatric disorders in 36 families with Wolfram syndrome.

Objective The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that heterozygous carriers of the gene for the Wolfram syndrome, who constitute about 1% of the population, are predisposed to significant psychiatric illness. The Wolfram syndrome is an autosomal recessive neurodegenerative syndrome in which 25% of the individuals who are homozygous for the condition have severe psychiatric symptoms that lead to suicide attempts or psychiatric hospitalizations. Method The authors collected questionnaires, death certificates, and hospital records for blood relatives and their spouses in 36 families of individuals with the Wolfram syndrome and compared the proportion of blood relatives who had had psychiatric hospitalizations, had committed suicide, or had self-reported mental illness to the proportion of spouses with the same manifestations. Results The proportion of blood relatives who had had psychiatric hospitalizations, had committed suicide, or had self-reported mental illness significantly exceeded the proportion of spouses with the same manifestations. Conclusions Since heterozygous carriers of the gene for the Wolfram syndrome are 50-fold more common among the blood relatives than among the spouses, the larger proportion among blood relatives is evidence that heterozygous carriers of the gene for the Wolfram syndrome are predisposed to significant psychiatric illness.
Puerto Rican Latina Youth Coming Out to Talk About Sexuality and Identity

ABSTRACTPublic health efforts focused on Latina youth sexuality are most commonly framed by the syndemic of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, a narrow and often heteronormative focus that perpetuates silences that contribute to health inequities and overlooks the growing need for increased education, awareness, and support for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth. This article presents findings from the project Let’s Talk About Sex: Digital Storytelling for Puerto Rican Latina Youth, which used a culturally centered, narrative-based approach for analyzing participants’ own specifications of sexual values and practices. The strength of digital storytelling lies in its utility as an innovative tool for community-based and culturally situated research, as well as in its capacity to open up new spaces for health communication. Here we present two “coming out” case studies to illustrate the value of digital storytelling in supporting the development of meaningful...
Examining Prison Effects on Recidivism: A Regression Discontinuity Approach

The “get-tough” era of punishment led to exponential growth in the rate of incarceration in the United States. Recent reviews of the literature indicate, however, that limited rigorous research exists examining the effect of imprisonment on the likelihood of future offending. As a result, scholars have called for assessment of this relationship, while using methodologies that can better account for selection effects. This study addresses these calls directly by applying regression discontinuity, a methodology well suited to account for selection bias, on a cohort of felony offenders in Florida. Results suggest that prison, as compared to non-incarcerative sanctions, has no appreciable impact on recidivism. Although no differential effects surfaced across race/ethnicity, the analyses indicated that imprisonment exerts a differential effect by gender with the effect being more criminogenic among males than females.
Monitoring the base and emitter resistances in an AlGaAs/GaAs HBT line

A simple method of monitoring the base and emitter resistances of AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) at a given bias is described. This method can also be used to measure the collector capacitance. This does not require any special device structures. No additional measurements are necessary, since it is a part of f/sub T/ measurement. In addition to process control, this allows monitoring of model parameter of the device from run to run. >
Nonprofit Texts: How They Differ from Public Sector Treatments

(2002). Nonprofit Texts: How They Differ from Public Sector Treatments. Public Integrity: Vol. 4, No. 4, pp. 353-359.
Analytical model of source injection for N-type enhancement mode GaN-based Schottky source/drain MOSFET

GaN MOSFET Source/Drain fabrication techniques have been under extensive research, and Ion Implantation (II) and Selective Area reGrowth (SAG) methods have shown the best performance [1, 2]. As an alternative for S/D of GaN MOSFETs beyond II or SAG, the use of metal for S/D of GaN MOSFETs (or Schottky Barrier GaN MOSFET) has been proposed [3]. While a Schottky metal source/drain presents several potential technological advantages [1], one of the greatest issues of GaN Schottky Barrier MOSFETs is that the on-state current is low compared to other GaN MOSFETs that use II or SAG for source and drain. To overcome this issue, a new device structure with gate-to-source/drain overlap was proposed as shown in Fig. 1(c). Synopsis TCAD simulation was performed on the proposed device, which indicated that the on-state current of gate-to-source overlapped device can be increased by 2 orders of magnitude compared to the one without overlap structure, as shown in Fig. 1(b) [4]. This work is devoted to (1) identification of the mechanism that increases the on-state current, (2) development of an analytical model from the mechanism, and (3) physical demonstration of the simulated device.
Non-linear transmission lines for pulse shaping in silicon

Non-linear transmission lines (NLTL) are used for pulse shaping. We developed the theory of pulse propagation through the NLTL. The problem of a wide pulse degenerating into multiple pulses rather than a single pulse is solved by using a novel gradually scaled NLTL. We exploit certain favorable properties of accumulation mode MOS varactors to design an NLTL that can sharpen both rising and falling edges, simultaneously. There is a good agreement among the theory, simulations, and measurements.
Fixational eye movements

There is too much going on around us to see everything at once, or to simultaneously process all the information in our field of view. Instead, we normally direct our gaze to parts of the scene that are particularly meaningful or important. Yet, even when we think that we are keeping our eyes still on an object of interest, our eyes remain in continuous motion. This chapter reviews the different kinds of “fixational” eye movements (the eye movements that occur when our gaze is “fixed” on an object or a point in space). We also discuss the effects that fixational eye movements have on vision and perception, their potential adaptive advantages, and their generation mechanisms. After reading this chapter, you will be able to articulate the importance of fixational eye movements in facilitating and influencing visual perception (for instance, in helping us to see the world and assisting us as we perform specific tasks). You will be able to explain the role of microsaccades (the largest of these small fixational eye movements) in counteracting neural adaptation and visual fading (the perceptual vanishing of an unchanging stimulus). You will also be able to outline the neural generation of microsaccades. In addition, this chapter will help you understand the relationship between fixational eye movements and shifts of attention. Finally, you will be able to describe, in general terms, the potential relevance of fixational eye movements to the diagnosis of neurological disorders.
You Are Not Your Own

Paul’s political theology as been employed negatively as a critique of empire and positively as a means of finding new figures of activism and militancy based around a universalistic claim to equality. I begin by arguing that the return to Paul is nothing new and that the history of Christianity, from Marcion to Luther to Kierkegaard, can be understood as a gesture of reformation where the essentially secular order of the existing or established church is undermined in order to approach the religious core of faith. Paul has always been the figure for a reformation, I argue, motivated by intense political disappointment. The double nature of the address in Paul is fascinating: both how Paul was addressed by the call that transformed him from a persecutor of Jewish Christians into a preacher of Christ’s gospel; and the addressee of Paul’s call, namely the various churches or communities that he established and which are identified as the refuse of the world, the scum of the earth. But the central concern of this Chapter is the idea of faith understood not as the abstraction of a metaphysical belief in God, but rather the lived subjective commitment to an infinite demand. Faith is understood here as a declarative act, as an enactment of the self, as a performative that proclaims itself into existence. Faith is an enactment in relation to a calling that is proclaimed in a situation of crisis where what is called for is a decisive political intervention.
Twenty Years in the Making

In honor of IEEE Internet Computing's 20th anniversary, Editor-in-Chief Brian Blake discusses the articles showcased in this issue to celebrate this special milestone.
A Practical Evaluation of Rate Adaptation Algorithms in HTTP-based Adaptive Streaming

Abstract The HTTP-based Adaptive Streaming (HAS) techniques are widely used in Internet video streaming services, including YouTube and Netflix. The Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH) is the latest international standard that facilitates the interoperability of different HAS techniques of various vendors. DASH specification defines the media presentation description (MPD), which describes a list of available content, URL addresses, and the segment format. The rate adaptation algorithms, however, are not part of the standard, and the details of the algorithms are left to vendors. As a result, there are many different algorithms adopted in both commercial and open source players while the detailed algorithms and their performance are barely understood. In this paper, we investigate the detailed operations of the different players by code level analysis and through reverse engineering. Specifically, we present the pseudo codes of 3 open source players and devise a method to obtain the detailed operation information, e.g., bitrate and buffer amount, of popular streaming players whose source codes are not publicly available. We conduct extensive experiments on our testbed and provide suggestions based on the behaviors of these players, including the repeated over-estimation of the available bandwidth, unfair bitrate selection when multiple players compete for the bandwidth, and insensitivity of Quick UDP Internet Connections (QUIC) protocol to the varying network bandwidth.
Fatigue behavior of freestanding AA2024 and AA7075 cold spray deposits

Abstract This paper examines the fatigue properties of freestanding AA7075 and AA2024 Cold Spray (CS) deposits. In this study, high pressure cold spray was used to make deposits large enough to machine mechanical test specimens free from the substrate. To quantify the mechanical performance, monotonic tensile and stress-controlled fatigue experiments were carried out on the freestanding CS and wrought AA7075 and AA2024 specimens. The experimental fatigue results revealed a reduction in the stress-life behavior of the CS deposits compared to the corresponding wrought material. However, when normalized by their ultimate tensile strengths, the CS specimens compared very well with the wrought materials, especially for the CS AA7075. Post-mortem analysis of the CS specimens revealed that fatigue cracks typically initiated from layer interface defects and subsequent crack propagation was influenced by the CS prior-particle boundaries. The results from this study indicate that refining the layer interface bonding may increase the fatigue resistance of freestanding aluminum alloy CS deposits.
Televisual pregnancy beauty

Theorizing the contours of televisual pregnancy beauty, this essay demonstrates how televisual stylistics construct and communicate a political ideology of pregnancy. When the crime dramas Bones an...
c-Maf in CD4+ T cells: it's all about context.

The role of the transcription factor c-Maf varies in different CD4+ T cell subsets and can be associated with either pro-inflammatory activity or anti-inflammatory activity, depending on the cell context.
Ecological, Morphological, and Behavioral Convergence in Rock-Dwelling Mammals

Much recent research has attempted to document and clarify the process of convergent evolution at various levels of biological organization. Studies have ranged from detailed examples of convergence at the species level (for example, Pianka and Pianka, 1970), through examples of similar evolutionary pathways having been taken by extensive subsets of communities developing within similar macrohabitats (for example, Mares, 1976, 1980, 1983), to an assessment of generally similar patterns of development of entire disjunct ecosystems sharing numerous abiotic parameters (for example, Orians and Solbrig, 1977). There has been some controversy regarding the level of ecological similarity that has developed within unrelated faunas (for example, Schall and Pianka, 1978), and whether or not convergence actually occurs among a broad array of species evolving within apparently similar micro- and macro-habitats in response to what would presumably be broadly similar selective regimes.
Disability, Doctors and Dollars: Distinguishing the Three Faces of Reasonable Accommodation

Despite a decade of litigation, there is no consistent understanding of the reasonable accommodation requirement of Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (the 'ADA'). Indeed, there are three inconsistent distributive outcomes that appear to comport with the reasonable accommodation requirement: cost-shifting, cost-sharing, and cost-avoidance. One reason for such inconsistent outcomes is a failure to develop a coherent and consistent theory of disability. Because disability has been and continues to be medicalized, this Article takes a fresh look at the medical literature on health, illness, and disability. It recommends the use of the experiential health model over the currently accepted functional health model to understand disability in the context of the ADA because it captures the contextual, socially-constructed, and political nature of disability. A second, related reason for inconsistent outcomes is an ambivalent attitude toward the costs of antidiscrimination law, often expressed as a tension between efficiency and rights. This Article examines disability-based discrimination in the workplace in this context, revealing the underlying tension between disability discrimination as a civil rights issue, and the view of disability discrimination as a social safety net issue. Using a theory of disability informed by an experiential definition of health and the distributive analysis to evaluate the three distributive outcomes demonstrates that, although flawed, cost-shifting is the best outcome because it embodies a social-experiential model of disability and the potential for both socioeconomic and political reconstruction.
Numerical Study of Flow/Structure Interaction over a Flexible Plate

We study the coupling between an acoustically loaded flexible plate and the surrounding fluid. We consider two cases: (i) a viscous boundary layer flow is established over the flexible plate, and (ii) the fluid is assumed to be inviscid and excited only by the motion of the flexible plate. In both cases, the evolution of the fluid flow determines the pressure in the fluid which in turn is employed as a source term for the motion of the flexible plate. In the case that the flexible plate oscillates in a viscous boundary layer, we find an increase in disturbance amplitude and vorticity production as well as the formation of transient inflection points in the streamwise velocity field. In the case of an inviscid fluid excited by the motion of the plate, we find that the coupling acts as a stabilizing mechanism so that for a given acoustic loading the nonlinear response of the plate is reduced over the case where the fluid motion is decoupled from the plate response. When the acoustic loading is large, high frequencies tend to predominate as the pressure disturbance is propagated into the far field, leading to a progressive steepening in the pressure disturbance with distance from the flexible plate.
A Study of Granuloma Formation by Molluscan Cells

The development, nature, and functional significance of infectious granulomatoses in mammals, particularly humans, have held a position of central interest in immunopathology for decades. First recognized in patients who had died from tuberculosis, these inflammatory cellular aggregat es, referred to as “tub ercules,” were identified as being comprised of large phagocytic cells or hist iocytes. Furthermore, a prominent feature of each granuloma is the formation of multinucleated giant cells, containing a peripheral zone of lymphocytes, with or without plasma cells.
Thermal conductivity in turbulent plasma: Simulation vs. experiment

Experimental data accumulated over several decades have established that low-frequency, fine-scale turbulence in thermonulcear tokamak plasma determines the quality of thermal insulation provided by the confining magnetic field. Because the economic attractiveness of future fusion power plants depends sensitively upon the quality of thermal confinement ultimately achievable, one would like to learn as much as one can about the turbulence from fundamental physical principles. To date, few quantitative features of plasma turbulence have been elucidated analytically; certainly, despite considerable scientific effort, a fundamental theory of turbulence does not yet exist. In the authors work, they have combined innovative physical models and supercomputer simulations to calculate the turbulent fluxes and fluctuation spectra expected for actual experimental configurations in the L-mode operating regime. There are no free parameters in the theory. Upon comparing the simulation results with data from more than fifty Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor discharges, the authors find that their theoretical results fit the experimentally measured energy confinement times better than prominent empirically derived relations. In addition, the calculated temperature profiles usually agree with the experimental data within the error bars in the central 80% of the plasma column. Recent work reported here indicates that the turbulence in the outermore » 20% of the plasma may be attributable to a longer wavelength mode that is driven unstable by the steeper edge temperature gradients. Some long-standing, prominent and otherwise puzzling experimental results, such as the radial dependence of the turbulent thermal conductivity, are correctly recovered by these simulations. Many important issues remain to be worked out, including the roles of turbulent particle and momentum fluxes, and of turbulence characteristic of other tokamak operating regimes.« less
Solar-induced fluorescence retrievals in the context of physiological, environmental, and hardware-based sources of uncertainty

The terrestrial biosphere is a crucial sink for anthropogenic emissions of carbon to the atmosphere, but is also the source of the largest uncertainties in estimated global carbon budgets. Numerous tower- and satellite-based platforms have recently been established to measure solar-induced fluorescence (SIF), which, as a proxy for photosynthesis, shows great promise for constraining global estimates of gross primary productivity. Nonetheless, published SIF retrievals span two orders of magnitude, illustrating an opportunity for improved characterization of the SIF signal in the context of instrument noise, detector calibrations and limitations, viewing geometry, and typical signal magnitude. In 2017, the Forested Optical Reference for Evaluating Sensor Technology (FOREST) site was established at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as a test-bed for SIF instrument intercomparison and calibration methods development. Further, we empirically characterize the physiological and ecological meaning of SIF by directly linking to carbon exchange with an extensive suite of ground measurements. Following optimizations to our SIF spectrometer deployment, we find that deviations from ideal measurement conditions, including low light or intermittent cloud cover, introduce significant noise outside even dramatic physiological manipulations. It is critical that common standards are developed for SIF measurement systems to ensure validation of data quality and clear linkages to physiological and biophysical parameters. SIF is a promising technique to improve measurement and understanding of local to global trends in primary productivity, but data quality control is a key challenge to tackle with the rapid deployment of new sensors across the globe. This work is an initial evaluation of sensitivities of SIF signals to hardware and methodologies.
Oral health assessment of independent elders in Texas

BACKGROUND The oral health status of older adults in North Texas is largely unknown. METHODS This cross-sectional, pilot study used the Basic Screening Survey for older adults involving a self-administered questionnaire and oral screening examination of 155 adults aged 65 years and older, in four Dallas, TX settings, stratified socioeconomically. Recruitment occurred from July 2012 through March 2014. RESULTS Participants were between 65 and 90 years of age. The sample was predominantly female (64%), reflecting Texas population diversity with 49.7% White, 34.2% Hispanic, 14.2% Black, and 1.8% others. Missing teeth number (P < .019), functional contacts, untreated decay, root decay (P < .05), tooth mobility, root fragments and need for emergency treatment (P < .021) differed significantly regarding site and ethnicity. Participants at the least affluent sites (two) evidenced significant unmet dental needs and suboptimal access to care. In contrast, those at the most affluent sites (also oldest participants) had good oral health and access to care. CONCLUSIONS There are profound oral health disparities in urban North Texas based on socioeconomic status. These findings suggest that poor oral health is not inevitable in the elderly, as long as there is access to care. Larger-scale studies are required to broadly address oral health disparities among elderly Texans.
Abuse of Companies Through Choice of Incorporation

This paper explores the concept of abuse of law in the context of the choice of the state or country of incorporation: Can the choice of a particular jurisdiction constitute “abuse”? The case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on the freedom of establishment for companies has in principle left open the possibility for the Member States to take measures against “abuse” at least in specific cases. We explore two scenarios. First, we highlight cross-border incorporations of private limited companies and look at the systemic consequences of a line of judicial decisions that started with Centros and compare them to regulatory competition and the role of ‘pseudo-foreign incorporation statutes’ in the United States. Second, we look at cross-border mergers, comparing them with ‘reverse mergers’ in the US, a phenomenon that some scholars and practitioners have considered problematic and that allows an ex post choice of jurisdiction for established corporations. While the number of firms making use of these opportunities has remained relatively small, the changes had a systemic effect. Restrictions on the choice of incorporation are often not designed to protect specific stakeholders of the firm (such as shareholders, employees, or creditors), but rather to protect the state’s lawmaking authority concerning companies (corporations) primarily active in its territory. Member States have historically employed restrictions on the choice of incorporation to discourage cross-border incorporations and to protect their laws from regulatory competition. Overall, the CJEU’s case law has left us with a vision for corporate law without space for a doctrine of abuse. The court’s vision is rooted in the idea that informed market participants are informed actors that understand that different laws govern forms of companies from different countries and adjust their expectations accordingly. This ‘self-protection’ model may be at odds with many Continental European traditions but was likely an inevitable consequence of the freedom of establishment. Nevertheless, Member States have been able to able to compensate for the loss of control over some aspects of the law of business organization through insolvencification. Consequently, there does not appear to be a strong need to extend abuse of law as a doctrinal mechanism.
Patient-Reported Satisfaction and Quality of Life in Obese Patients: A Comparison between Microsurgical and Prosthetic Implant Recipients.

Background Patients undergoing autologous breast reconstruction have higher rates of patient-reported satisfaction compared to patients undergoing prosthetic reconstruction. Obesity has been shown to increase postoperative complications in both microsurgical and implant reconstructions. The authors evaluated the effects of microsurgical breast reconstruction and prosthetic breast reconstruction on patient-reported outcomes and quality of life in obese patients. Methods A retrospective review of obese patients who underwent breast reconstruction from January of 2009 to December of 2017 was conducted. Patients were divided into two cohorts: microsurgical and two-stage tissue expander/implant-based reconstruction. BREAST-Q survey response, demographic information, complications, and need for revision procedures were analyzed. Results One hundred fifty-five patients met the inclusion criteria: 75 (48.4 percent) underwent microsurgical breast reconstruction and 80 (51.6 percent) underwent implant-based reconstruction. Cohorts were similar in body mass index, mean mastectomy specimen weight, laterality, indication for surgery, smoking status, and postoperative complications. Microsurgical reconstruction patients were younger (49.0 years versus 53.0 years; p = 0.02) and more likely to have delayed reconstruction [n = 70 (64.2 percent) versus n = 0 (0.0 percent); p = 0.0001]. BREAST-Q responses showed that microsurgery patients were more satisfied with their breasts (Q-Score of 63.4 ± 6.9 versus 50.8 ± 12.8; p = 0.0001), overall outcome (Q-Score 70.5 ± 13.0 versus 60.3 ± 10.8; p = 0.0001), and chest physical well-being (Q-Score of 69.1 ± 10.9 versus 63.8 ± 8.2; p = 0.01). Conclusions Microsurgical breast reconstruction in obese patients yields higher satisfaction with breasts, overall outcomes, and chest physical well-being than implant-based reconstruction. Despite increased postoperative complications associated with obesity, microsurgical breast reconstruction appears to be a good choice for women who understand its risks and benefits and choose to proceed with it.
Packet Completion Time Minimization via Joint D2D and Cellular Communication: A Unified Network Coding Approach

This paper tackles the problem of transmitting a common content to a number of cellular users by means of instantly decodable network coding (IDNC) with the help of intermittently connected D2D links. Of particular interest are broadcasting real-time applications such as video-on-demand, where common contents may be partially received by cellular users due to packet erasures over cellular links. Specifically, we investigate the problem of packet completion time, defined as the number of transmission slots necessary to deliver a common content to all users. Drawing on graph theory, we develop an optimal packet completion time strategy by constructing a two-layer IDNC conflict graph. The higher-layer graph permits us to determine all feasible packet combinations that can be transmitted over the cellular link, while the lower-layer graph enables us to find all feasible network coded packets and identify the set of users that can generate and transmit these packets via intermittently connected D2D links. By combining the higher-layer and the lower-layer IDNC conflict graphs, we demonstrate that finding the optimal IDNC packets to minimize the packet completion time problem is equivalent to finding the maximum independent set of the two-layer IDNC conflict graph, which is known to be an NP-hard problem. We design a scheme that invokes the Bron-Kerbosch algorithm to find the optimal policy. To circumvent the high computational complexity required to reach the global optimum, we establish a polynomial-time solvable low-complexity heuristic to find an efficient sub-optimal solution. The effectiveness of our proposed scheme is verified through extensive numerical results which indicate substantial performance improvement in comparison with existing methods.
Exercise in the heat blunts improvements in aerobic power

PGC-1a has been termed the master regulator of mitochondrial biogenesis. The exercise-induced rise in PGC-1a transcription is blunted when acute exercise takes place in the heat. However, it is unknown if this alteration has functional implications after heat acclimation and exercise training. To determine the impact of 3 weeks of aerobic exercise training in the heat (33 °C) compared to training in room temperature (20 °C) on thermoregulation, PGC-1a mRNA response, and aerobic power. Twenty-one untrained college aged males (age, 24 ± 4 years; height, 178 ± 6 cm) were randomly assigned to 3 weeks of aerobic exercise training in either 33 °C (n = 12) or 20 °C (n = 11) environmental temperatures. The 20 °C training group increased 20 °C $${{\dot{\text{V}}}}$$ O2peak from 3.21 ± 0.77 to 3.66 ± 0.78 L·min−1 (p 0.05). This research indicates that exercise in the heat may limit the effectiveness of aerobic exercise at increasing aerobic power. Furthermore, this study demonstrates that heat induced blunting of the normal exercise induced PGC-1a response is eliminated after 3 weeks of heat acclimation.