A binary CSP instance satisfying the broken-triangle property (BTP) can be solved in polynomial time. Unfortunately, in practice, few instances satisfy the BTP. We show that a local version of the BTP allows the merging of domain values in arbitrary instances of binary CSP, thus providing a novel polynomial-time reduction operation. Extensive experimental trials on benchmark instances demonstra...

Introduction A significant portion of patients treated in emergency departments have nasal fracture. It is important that the otolaryngologist know how to treat such damage. Objectives To evaluate the effectiveness of nasal fracture reduction under local anesthesia and tolerance to the procedure. Methods Twenty-four patients treated in the emergency department with closed reduction under local ...

We consider contributions of R-parity conserving softly broken supersymmetry (SUSY) to neutrinoless double beta (0νββ) decay via the (B-L)-violating sneutrino mass term. The latter is a generic ingredient of any weak-scale SUSY model with a Majorana neutrino mass. The new R-parity conserving SUSY contributions to 0νββ are realized at the level of box diagrams. We derive the effective Lagrangian...

According to amoebic self theory, the boundary defining the self encompasses 3 levels of self-representation--bodily, social, and spatial-symbolic. Study 1 related a newly developed measure of individual differences in sensitivity to boundary threat across these 3 domains to values and disgust sensitivity. Four subsequent studies focused on spatial-symbolic threat sensitivity and related it to ...

In November 2003, after receiving a discrimination complaint from a county employee, the Los Angeles County Office of Affirmative Action Compliance sent a memo to all its equipment vendors asking that they stop using the words “master” and “slave” in reference to computer hardware and other equipment.{1} The memo read in part: “Based on the cultural diversity and sensitivity of Los Angeles Coun...

During the early part of spring 2011 we noticed that we were experiencing more calls than what we would consider “normal” for broken legs. The odd case on individual farms perplexed us, as no reason could be found, and most often the animal involved was a heifer. Then came the case of 4 broken legs in heifers (out of 34) on the one farm over a 4 week period. This was an incredibly unusual event...

An assay system for estimating quantitatively collagenase-like activity present in bone cells has been developed as part of a more general investigation of mechanisms of bone resorption. Methods are described for preparing from bone a C(14)-labeled collagen which is relatively pure and highly resistant to degradation by trypsin although readily broken down by bacterial collagenase. Collagenolyt...

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leakage is a major complication during and after transsphenoidal surgery (TSS) for intra- and suprasellar tumors. To prevent postoperative CSF leakage, various surgical techniques have been used, including sellar floor reconstruction with artificial bone grafts. However, some authors have recently reported infections associated with artificial bone grafts. Most cases a...