Crossover: online pests plaguing the off line world

During the past 10 years, several technological trends have emerged that significantly and positively affected today's world. Two in particular are noteworthy: the apparently unbounded desire to network any and all devices and deployment of Microsoft's operating systems in everything from consumer PCs and business servers to embedded devices. We could well see the telecommunications boom; the rise of the Internet, and the rush to connect everything to it as one of humanity's milestones, not far removed from, that of the invention of the telephone or telegraph. Computer networking, over the Internet, particularly, has democratized the publishing of information, made massive amounts of information and services accessible to the general public, and enabled new business models. But everything has a dark side. Along with its benefits, the Internet has brought about such things as cybercrime, computer worms, online fraud, spam, and denial-of-service attacks, among other online unpleasantness. This down side is considered in the article.     

Placebo-induced conversion reaction: A neurobehavioral and EEG study of hysterical aphasia, seizure, and coma.

A patient in her mid-20's with an alleged idiosyncratic reaction to phenytoin (Dilantin) was studied by an objective double-dissociation method. Under carefully monitored conditions an iv saline placebo was administered. A variety of dose-dependent pseudoneurologic symptoms developed, including hysterical aphasia, pseudoseizures, and profound unresponsiveness. Optokinetic nystagmus, the visual threat reflex, corneal reflex, the auditory startle response, and responses to deep pain were completely lost. Despite the dramatic nature of symptoms, however, the EEG remained normal, and S responded to cues she overheard concerning her "drug" level. Later, no reactions occurred when, thinking it was something else, S actually received phenytoin. Hysterical aphasias and the implications for afferent theories of conversion reactions are discussed. A speculative model that pertains to dissociative phenomena (e.g., hidden-observer effect, selective awareness, and amnesia) and the controlled aspect of consciousness is suggested. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Towards a product design assessment of visual analytics in decision support applications: a systematic review

There is currently an increasing effort to develop visual analytics (VA) tools that can support human analytical reasoning and decision making. In the last decade, advances in this field has allowed the application of various kinds of VA systems in real-world settings. While this represents a promising start from a product design perspective, part of the challenge to the research community is that current VA tools have evolved without due consideration of standardized design criteria and processes. Accordingly, some questions remain to be addressed on what are the useful, underlying attributes of effective VA tools and how their impact can be measured in human-product interaction. These considerations indicate a need to identify a specific range of VA tools and assess their capabilities through state-of-the-art empirical analysis. To address these issues, we conducted a systematic review of 470 VA papers published between 2006 and 2012. We report on the bibliometric techniques, the evaluation attributes and the metrics that were used to sample and analyze the body of literature. The analysis focused mainly on 26 papers that implemented visual analytics decision support tools. The results are presented in the form of six inductively derived design recommendations that, when taken together, uniquely contribute to the fields of product design and visual analytics.     

半透膜仪采集空气中多氯联苯采样速度与其结构和性质定量构效关系研究

根据MOPAC2009软件包中PM6算法得到的分子描述符研究半透膜仪(SPMDs)采集大气中多氯联苯(PCBs)采样速度(R_(air))的定量构效关系(QSPR)模型,并分析影响R_(air)的关键因素。以半经验PM6算法得到的分子量子化学描述符作为预测变量,采用偏最小二乘算法(PLS)构建了R_(air)的QSPR模型。根据交叉验证,所得到的最佳模型中PLS成分解释的因变量的累积变异(Q~2_(cum))为0.683,这表明该模型具有良好的预测能力和稳健性。通过外部验证和将实验测得的R_(air)与预测得到的R_(air)进行比较,对所构建模型的稳定性和可靠性进行了验证,结果表明无论是训练组还是预测组,其预测值与实测值间均具有较好的线性关系,线性相关系数均大于0.8376。对PCBs采样速度R_(air)的主要影响因素为PCBs与SPMDs中甘油三油酸酯分子间的相互作用大小和为将PCBs溶解在甘油三油酸酯中形成洞穴所需能量要求。     

HIGH-DIELECTRIC-LOADED FILMS

The development of high-dielectric compositions of inorganic dielectrics dispersed in an organic matrix is described. Such composites have potential value in the construction of in situ capacitors in circuit boards. A large number of commercial barium titanates as well as a variety of commercial and experimental ceramic bodies were evaluated as loading materials. Several commercial resins were examined for use as the binder. The material having the highest dielectric constant (46.9) is a commercial barium titanate dispersed at 82.5% loading in Amoco's P-1700 Polysulfone.     

Mkscan—An interactive scanner generator

Mkscan is a tool for generating and editing scanners. It has been designed with ease of use in mind. The tol is interactive and uses a full screen interface. No attempt is made to provide an all-purpose tool that can generate a recognizer for any regular language. Instead, mkscan has been tailored to suit the lexical structure of common programming languages and command languages. Using mkscan, a scanner for Pascal can be created in under ten minutes–including the time taken to type the list of keywords.     

Index of pretreatment intensity predicts outcome of high-dose chemotherapy and autologous progenitor cell transplantation in chemosensitive relapse of Hodgkin's disease

PURPOSE: To identify prognostic factors in patients with chemosensitive relapsed Hodgkin's disease treated by high-dose chemotherapy with autologous progenitor cell transplantation (HDC) and to compare the duration of treatment-free remission prior to HDC with the progression-free survival after HDC in individual patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Forty-five consecutive patients were analyzed retrospectively. We devised an index of pretreatment intensity (IPTI) based number of different chemo- and radiotherapy regimens given between diagnosis and HDC and on the duration of disease. RESULTS: With a median follow-up of 47 months the post-transplant event-free survival (EFS) was 44% and the overall survival (OAS) was 62% at four years. The IPTI allowed to discriminate between a low and a high-risk group with a four-year post-transplant EFS of 66% and 11% and a OAS of 87% and 28%, respectively (P = 0.0001). Of the 39 patients with sufficient follow-up after HDC, post-transplant EFS lasted on average > or = 18.5 months longer than the pretransplant treatment-free remission. CONCLUSIONS: HDC with the CBV regimen confers significant benefit to patients with chemosensitive relapsed Hodgkin's disease. The IPTI may help to select patients with a good response to HDC and to identify poor prognosis patients suitable for experimental protocols or palliative care only.     

Prediction of response during interferon alfa 2b therapy in chronic hepatitis C patients using viral and biochemical characteristics: a comparison

Patients with chronic hepatitis C (n = 103) were treated for 24 weeks with interferon alfa 2b and followed up for 24 weeks after cessation of therapy (week 48). When hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA at week 48 was used to assess interferon response, 15 (14.6%) were virological complete responders, and all have remained HCV RNA negative for a mean of 3 years. At week 48, 3 of 15 virological complete responders had elevated alanine transaminase (ALT) values. When serum ALT level was used at week 48 to determine response to interferon, 20 (19.4%) were biochemical complete responders. However, 8 of the 20 patients with normal ALT levels were HCV RNA positive at week 48, and 7 of these individuals have had a recurrence of elevated ALT levels within 3 years after cessation of treatment. These findings indicate that measurement of HCV RNA was more accurate than ALT in determining true responses to interferon therapy. Identification of nonresponders early during the course of interferon treatment showed that an elevated ALT level at week 12 was 92% predictive (odds ratio 3.7) but misidentified 33% (5 of 15) of the patients who were virological complete responders at week 48. In contrast, a positive HCV RNA at week 12 of treatment was 98% predictive (odds ratio 35.5) and misidentified only 6.7% (1 of 15) of the virological complete responders. Thus, positive HCV RNA at week 12 of therapy was more accurate in identifying eventual virological nonresponders than measurement of ALT at this time. Termination of interferon therapy in patients who were HCV RNA positive at week 12 would result in a 27% reduction in the direct medical costs and keep patients from undergoing unnecessary treatment. Therefore, testing for HCV RNA at week 12 to identify nonresponders and then discontinuing their treatment is practical, cost-efficient and beneficial both to patients and to third-party payers.