bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Global Laws
Authors: Goldsmith Jack , Wu Tim
Published: November 2020

Alexey Vladimirovich Ivanov, a twenty-something computer geek from Chelyabinsk, Russia, in the Ural Mountains, earned his living hacking the computer networks of American companies. After breaking into a firm’s servers, he would contact it on behalf of “The Expert Group of Protection Against Hackers” and demand thousands of dollars in exchange for tips on how to plug its security holes. One Connecticut company that initially refused to pay received this e-mail from Ivanov:… now imagine please Somebody hack you network (and not notify you about this), he download Atomic software with more then 300 merchants, transfer money, and after this did ‘rm -rf/’ [a Unix command that deletes directories] and after this you company be ruined. I don’t want this, and because this i notify you about possible hack in you network, if you want you can hire me and im allways be check security in you network. What you think about this?... If a firm did not comply with his unsubtle threats, Ivanov would delete its computer files or post its customers’ credit card information on the Web. Not surprisingly, most firms gave in to the extortion. When FBI officials became aware of Ivanov’s scams, they sought help from the Russian police. But as Brendan Koerner explained, “The Russian interior ministry’s ‘Department R,’ which fights cybercrime, can barely keep up with the kontoras in St. Petersburg and Moscow, much less police a distant outpost like Chelyabinsk.” So the FBI took matters into its own hands. Under the guise of a fictional American Internet security firm called “Invita,” the FBI invited Ivanov to the United States to audition for a job identifying flaws in the networks of potential Invita clients. When Ivanov arrived, undercover agents asked him to prove his ability to break into computer networks. Unbeknownst to Ivanov, the FBI was using a “sniffer” keystroke recording program to learn the usernames and passwords for his computers in Russia. After the audition, the FBI arrested Ivanov and, using his usernames and passwords, downloaded incriminating information from his computer in Russia—information later used to convict him.
School Desegregation
Authors: Hochschild Jennifer L. , Scovronick Nathan
Published: November 2020

RACIAL DOMINATION WAS, FROM THE OUTSET, the most glaring flaw in the ideology of the American dream. It began when the dream began, with Captain John Smith’s move to the “New World” in 1607. In his comments are all the elements of the American dream: equal opportunity for all, a chance of success for each, control over our nation’s political and economic future, and virtue, since America was “as God made it when hee created the world.” But enslaved Africans, who arrived in Virginia soon after Smith did, were not “borne to a new life”—or at least not one that allowed participation in the American dream. They were brought into, not out of, “every extremity.” And that terrible irony, the simultaneous invention of American slavery and American freedom, has shaped American society ever since. It has shaped its public schools as well. Desegregation has been our nation’s most direct effort since Reconstruction to come to grips with the evils of racial domination in public schooling. Beginning in the mid-1960s, it was the first as well as one of the largest postwar efforts to make America’s schooling practices fit its ideals. Many of the issues that we discuss in later chapters, such as funding equalization, school reform, the separation of children, and distinctive group treatment, are in part extensions of the successes of school desegregation or reactions to its perceived failures. Controversy over desegregation showed the difficulty in trying to satisfy both the individual and collective goals of the American dream; the experience demonstrated both the power of the ideology and the intractability of its internal conflicts. It continues to reverberate throughout American schooling and society. School desegregation was, on balance, an educational success. Its accomplishments were smaller than its advocates promised and less than they hoped for, but except when done irresponsibly or very unwisely, it improved the chances for black children to attain their dreams and did not diminish the chances for white children. Members of both races usually gained socially from the interaction. If it were politically feasible, a continued effort along these lines would be educationally beneficial. Ending legal segregation in schools and other public facilities, fostering real, not just legal, desegregation, did more to move the American dream from ideology to practice than has any other public policy or private effort.
School Reform
Authors: Hochschild Jennifer L. , Scovronick Nathan
Published: November 2020

AMERICANSGIVE A GRADE OF “B PLUS” to the schools attended by their own children, a “B minus” to the public schools in their community, and a “C” to the public schools nationally. Incumbent politicians extol the impact of the educational reforms they have sponsored while insurgents point to the problems that remain. Some analysts call for an “autopsy” on public education, others insist that such rhetoric represents a “manufactured crisis” comprised of “myths [and] fraud.” The American public education system is not in crisis. Some public schools are impressive and many are doing a good job, although most are not as good as they should be. In a few places, chiefly in poor urban districts (and in some poor rural districts as well), schools are failing miserably; they provide the evidence for people who see a crisis. Once again the most serious problems result from inequality. In part because of home and community influences, poor children often come to school less ready to learn than others, and they face more obstacles to educational success as they grow up. Parents and communities can and must contribute to alleviating this problem, just as social policies such as full employment, universal health insurance, and family allowances could help. As we have seen, however, it is the schools to which we have given the central responsibility to make the American dream work, to provide the structure and tools that all children need to pursue their dreams and maintain democracy. America has chosen to invest in schools rather than these other social policies to try to equalize opportunity; if our nation allows public education to fail the children who most need its help, then the dream is merely a sham. We cannot simultaneously substitute schools for other policies to alleviate poverty and permit schools to shirk the tasks needed to do the job. School reform can help poor children, and others, improve their performance. The movement for high standards has created a mechanism that can help all students to learn more. Preschool, summer school, and small classes can help them.
Climate and Permafrost Dynamics of the Alaskan Boreal Forest
Authors: Hinzman Larry D. , Viereck Leslie A.
Published: November 2020

There are large climatic differences among the boreal regions of the world. The extreme continental climates of central Siberia, with a mean annual temperature of –11°C or colder and precipitation of only 150 mm, for example, contrasts strikingly with the semicoastal climate of Newfoundland, with a mean annual temperature of +5°C and precipitation of 1400 mm. Yet both are considered boreal. This wide range in mean annual temperatures translates into large variation in the soil thermal conditions. Although much of the northern region of the boreal forest is underlain by continuous and discontinuous permafrost, southern regions are entirely permafrost-free. Boreal Canada has been classified into four major ecoclimatic provinces (Ecoregions Working Group 1989). The Subarctic Ecoclimatic Province extends from treeline in northern Canada south to the border with continuous stands of closed spruce. It ranges from the highly continental areas of northern Yukon Territory to the wetter and somewhat warmer regions of the Labrador Peninsula. The Boreal Ecoclimatic Province includes the main body of the boreal forests of Canada from the Mackenzie River east to Newfoundland. It is a complicated province that has been divided into High, Mid-, and Low Boreal, with a wide range of climate conditions. The Subarctic Cordilleran Ecoclimatic Province occurs only at higher elevations in western Canada. Forested areas in this region are usually restricted to valley bottoms or low, south-facing slopes. The Cordilleran Ecoclimatic Province includes the mountain ranges along the west coast and the continental divide from Montana to Alaska and from the Yukon River south to the boundary with the coastal forests. The boreal portion of this province has climates similar to that of the eastern section of the Interior Highland Ecoregion of Alaska (Fig. 2.3, Gallant et al. 1995). Alaska does not fit well into these Canadian ecoclimatic provinces because of differences in elevation, the effects of the two east-west-oriented mountain ranges (the Alaska and Brooks Ranges), and the coastal influences of the Bering Sea to the west and Cook Inlet to the south (Fig. 1.1; Hopkins 1959, Hare and Ritchie 1972). Hammond and Yarie (1996) separated Alaska into 35 ecoclimatic regions, of which nine include areas of boreal forest.
Controls over Forest Production in Interior Alaska
Authors: Yarie John , Van Cleve Keith
Published: November 2020

State factors provide a powerful conceptual basis for understanding current patterns and potential changes in forest productivity (Chapter 1). The BNZ-LTER program has focused on investigations of ecosystem structure and function related to state factors (time, topography, and climate) that account for dramatic spatial variation in productivity and provide a basis for predicting future temporal variation (e.g., climate change). Other state factors are either relatively uniform across the region (e.g., potential biota) or co-vary with topography (i.e., parent material) and are difficult to study as clearly independent factors. State factors have many direct and indirect effects on productivity, and these controls may co-vary in a complex fashion across the landscape. The nitrogen productivity concept provides a mechanistic framework for understanding the effects of environmental variation on forest productivity (Ågren 1985). The nitrogen productivity of a tree or forest stand is defined as the amount of production per unit of foliar nitrogen (gram biomass production per gram foliar nitrogen) in the canopy of the tree or stand. At steady-state nutrition, the growth rate is proportional to the amount of foliar nitrogen and the N-productivity. Biological and chemical processes that occur in soils are an excellent example of the way in which multiple interacting factors influence productivity through their effects on N supply. In interior Alaska, several state factors have a hierarchical influence on forest production. These factors are time (Chapter 7), parent material (Chapter 3), topography (Chapter 2), and macroclimate (Chapter 4). These factors have both direct and indirect effects, many of which vary over time and space. In this chapter we emphasize the influence of the four relatively direct state factors: parent material, topography, time, and climate and a critical “resource” (Chapter 1), soil, which represents the indirect interaction of multiple state factors. The parent material in lowland locations is primarily alluvium or loess over alluvium; thick silt, glacial deposits, or eolian sands are present in some areas (Chapter 3). Organic soils also occur on level surfaces that rarely or never flood. Both alluvial and organic soils usually contain a fine-grained mineral substratum. In addition, limited lowland areas in interior Alaska contain very thick loess deposits.
Solubility of Polymers in Supercritical Carbon Dioxide
Authors: McHugh Mark A.
Published: November 2020

A great deal of information is known about the solvent character of CO2 with a wide range of polymers and copolymers based on well-characterized and systematic solubility studies that are available in the literature (Kirby and McHugh, 1999). Nevertheless, the prediction of polymer solubility in CO2, or any solvent for that matter, presents a formidable challenge since contemporary equations of state are still not facile enough to describe the unique characteristics of a long-chain polymer in solution. The difficulty resides in accounting for the intra- and intersegmental interactions of the many segments of the polymer connected to a single backbone relative to the small number of segments in a solvent molecule. An additional challenge exists to describe the density dependence of the intermolecular potential functions used in the calculations since SCF–polymer solutions (SCF, supercritical fluid) can be highly compressible mixtures. In this brief review, the solvent character of CO2 is described using the principles of molecular thermodynamics and also using a select number of phase behavior studies to reveal the impact of polymer architecture on solubility. To form a stable polymer–SCF solvent solution at a given temperature and pressure, the Gibbs energy, shown in eq. 7.1, must be negative and at a minimum. . . . ΔGmix = ΔHmix − T ΔSmix (7:1) . . . where ΔHmix and ΔSmix are the change of enthalpy and entropy, respectively, on mixing (Prausnitz et al., 1986). Enthalpic interactions depend predominantly on solution density and on polymer segment–segment, solvent–solvent, and polymer segment–solvent interaction energies. The value of ΔSmix depends on both the combinatorial entropy of mixing and the noncombinatorial contribution associated with the volume change on mixing, a so-called equation-of-state effect (Patterson, 1982). The combinatorial entropy always promotes the mixing of a polymer with a solvent. However, the noncombinatorial contribution can have a negative impact on mixing as a result of monomer–monomer interactions that arise due to the connectivity of the segments in the backbone of the polymer chain.
Preparation and Studies of Polymer/Polymer Composites Prepared Using Supercritical Carbon Dioxide
Authors: Kung Edward , Lesser Alan J.
Published: November 2020

Because of the recent emphasis on green chemistry, there has been interest in using supercritical carbon dioxide (sc CO2) as a solvent or swelling agent to aid in polymer processing and polymer chemistry (Adamsky and Beckman, 1994; DeSimone et al., 1992; Hayes and McCarthy, 1998; Kung et al., 1998; Mistele et al., 1996; Romack et al., 1995; Watkins and McCarthy, 1995). Supercritical CO2 is a very weak solvent for most polymers (some fluoropolymers and silicones are exceptions); however, it swells most polymers and dissolves many small molecules (Berens and Huvard, 1989). The density of a supercritical fluid (SCF), and thus its solvent strength, is continuously tunable as a function of temperature or pressure up to liquidlike values. This provides the ability to control the degree of swelling in a polymer as well as the partitioning of small-molecule penetrants between a swollen polymer phase and the fluid phase. The low viscosity and zero surface tension of SCFs allows for fast transfer of penetrants into swollen polymers. The lack of vapor/liquid coexistance in SCFs allows the sorption to proceed without the penetrant solution wetting the substrate surface. Since most of the common SCFs are gases at ambient conditions, the removal and recovery of the solvent from the final product is extremely facile. All of these factors aid in a new method we have developed for preparing polymer composites. This method involves the absorption of a supercritical solution of a monomer, initiator, and CO2 into a solid polymer substrate and subsequent thermal polymerization of the monomer to yield a composite system of the two polymers. We have focused on radical polymerization of styrene within various solid semicrystalline polymer substrates (Hayes and McCarthy, 1998; Kung et al., 1998; Watkins and McCarthy, 1995). Table 10.1 lists a number of systems that we have studied to make polymer–polystyrene composites. The method for preparing the polymer blends listed in Table 10.1 involves the soaking of the substrate polymer in a supercritical solution of styrene, a thermal radical initiator, and CO2 at a temperature where the initiator decomposes very slowly (half-lives of hundreds of hours).
Rheological Properties of Polymers Modified with Carbon Dioxide
Authors: Manke Charles W. , Gulari Esin
Published: November 2020

Use of supercritical fluids (SCFs), particularly supercritical carbon dioxide, as alternative solvents in polymer synthesis and processing is a rapidly growing research area with successful industrial applications (McCoy, 1999). In some cases, the need for alternative solvents is based on environmental concerns, with regulations mandating replacement solvents. An environmentally mandated example is the 1995 ban of the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) as physical blowing agents in the manufacture of polymeric foams after CFCs were classified as class-I-ozone-depleting substances (ODPs). Among the alternative blowing agents are gases like CO2 and N2 and refrigerants such as 1,1-difluoroethane (R152a) and 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane (R134a). Under the foaming conditions, at temperatures above the glass transition temperature of a polymer, and at pressures required for flow of highly viscous polymer melts, these alternative blowing agents are frequently supercritical. When polymers are formed into final products by various melt-processing techniques, such as extrusion, injection molding, blow molding, foaming, and spin-coating, extremely high melt viscosity presents a major difficulty. A common method to moderate the processing conditions is to add a liquid solvent or plasticizer to the melt. Solvents and plasticizers lower the glass transition temperature, Tg, of the polymer so that the polymer can be made to flow at lower pressures and temperatures. Replacing liquid solvents with SCFs presents unique processing advantages. Higher diffusivity and lower viscosity of SCFs, compared with liquid solvents, increase rates of dissolution and mixing. The properties of polymer–SCF solutions are tunable via pressure or temperature changes, thus allowing efficient downstream separations. Most importantly, dissolution of an SCF produces very large reductions in melt viscosity compared with a liquid solvent dissolved in the melt. Whether the interest in using SCFs in polymer synthesis and processing is driven by environmental concerns or processing advantages, it is important to understand the rheological behavior of polymer–SCF mixtures. In this chapter, we describe rheological measurements of polymer melts containing dissolved gases for two polymers, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) swollen with CO2 at 50 °C and 80 °C and polystyrene (PS) swollen with CO2, R152a, and R134a at 150 °C and 175 °C.
Enzyme Genetic Programming
Authors: Lones Michael A. , Tyrrell Andy M.
Published: November 2020

Programming is a process of optimization; taking a specification, which tells us what we want, and transforming it into an implementation, a program, which causes the target system to do exactly what we want. Conventionally, this optimization is achieved through manual design. However, manual design can be slow and error-prone, and recently there has been increasing interest in automatic programming; using computers to semiautomate the process of refining a specification into an implementation. Genetic programming is a developing approach to automatic programming, which, rather than treating programming as a design process, treats it as a search process. However, the space of possible programs is infinite, and finding the right program requires a powerful search process. Fortunately for us, we are surrounded by a monotonous search process capable of producing viable systems of great complexity: evolution. Evolution is the inspiration behind genetic programming. Genetic programming copies the process and genetic operators of biological evolution but does not take any inspiration from the biological representations to which they are applied. It can be argued that the program representation that genetic programming does use is not well suited to evolution. Biological representations, by comparison, are a product of evolution and, a fact to which this book is testament, describe computational structures. This chapter is about enzyme genetic programming, a form of genetic programming that mimics biological representations in an attempt to improve the evolvability of programs. Although it would be an advantage to have a familiarity with both genetic programming and biological representations, concise introductions to both these subjects are provided. According to modern biological understanding, evolution is solely responsible for the complexity we see in the structure and behavior of biological organisms. Nevertheless, evolution itself is a simple process that can occur in any population of imperfectly replicating entities where the right to replicate is determined by a process of selection. Consequently, given an appropriate model of such an environment, evolution can also occur within computers.
The Biology of Integration of Cells into Microscale and Nanoscale Systems
Authors: Simpson Michael L. , McKnight Timothy E.
Published: November 2020

In chapter 5 we focused on the informational interface between cells and synthetic components of systems. This interface is concerned with facilitating and manipulating information transport and processing between and within the synthetic and whole-cell components of these hybrid systems. However, there is also a structural interface between these components that is concerned with the physical placement, entrapment, and maintenance of the cells in a manner that enables the informational interface to operate. In this chapter we focus on this structural interface. Successful integration of whole-cell matrices into microscale and nanoscale elements requires a unique environment that fosters continued cell viability while promoting, or at least not blocking, the information transport and communication pathways described in earlier chapters. A century of cell culture has provided a wealth of insight and specific protocols to maintain the viability and (typically) proliferation of virtually every type of organism that can be propagated. More recently, the demands for more efficient bioreactors, more compatible biomedical implants, and the promise of engineered tissues has driven advances in surface-modification sciences, cellular immobilization, and scaffolding that provide structure and control over cell growth, in addition to their basic metabolic requirements. In turn, hybrid biological and electronic systems have emerged, capable of transducing the often highly sensitive and specific responses of cellular matrices for biosensing in environmental, medical, and industrial applications. The demands of these systems have driven advances in cellular immobilization and encapsulation techniques, enabling improved interaction of the biological matrix with its environment while providing nutrient and respiratory requirements for prolonged viability of the living matrices. Predominantly, such devices feature a single interface between the bulk biomatrix and transducer. However, advances in lithography, micromachining, and micro-/nanoscale synthesis provide broader opportunities for interfacing whole-cell matrices with synthetic elements. Advances in engineered, patterned, or directed cell growth are now providing spatial and temporal control over cellular integration within microscale and nanoscale systems. Perhaps the best defined integration of cellular matrices with electronically active substrates has been accomplished with neuronal patterning. Topographical and physicochemical patterning of surfaces promotes the attachment and directed growth of neurites over electrically active substrates that are used to both stimulate and observe excitable cellular activity.
Atherosclerosis and Arterial Thrombosis
Authors: Becker Richard C. , Spencer Frederick A.
Published: November 2020

The development of atherosclerotic vascular disease represents a major risk for myocardial infarction, stroke, and occlusive peripheral vascular events. Although unique in their own right, atherosclerosis and arterial thrombosis share common origins and are linked by genetic, pathologic, and environmental factors. An increased knowledge base and in-depth understanding of vascular biology has laid the groundwork for prevention and targeted therapies. Coronary atherosclerosis has been described macroscopically over the past century and a half by renowned pathologists and clinicians ranging from Von Rokitansky and Virchow to Osler. The pathologic sequence of events includes an initiating step, defined as the fatty streak, followed by plaque maturation and transition, setting the stage for intravascular thrombosis. The progression of coronary atherosclerosis varies widely among individuals, as does the time course and influence of recognized risk factors. Observations at the microscopic and cellular levels have contributed substantially to unraveling several of the mysteries that surround human atherosclerosis and fostering a clearer view of the mechanisms leading to intravascular thrombosis. It is now evident that the atherosclerotic plaque and its cellular components represent an ideal substrate for thrombus formation. Thus, the term “atherothrombosis” appears fitting. In experimental animals, focal sites of predilection for either spontaneous or dietary induced atherosclerosis can be determined reliably prior to plaque development. These areas are delineated by their in vivo uptake of the protein-binding azo dye Evans blue. Salient features of these lesion-prone areas include increased endothelial permeability and intimal accumulation of plasma proteins, including albumin, fibrinogen, and low-density lipoproteins (LDLs). There is also increased endothelial cell turnover. Overall, the “prelesion” area within endothelial cells takes on a unique appearance, and the surface glycocalyx is two- to fivefold thinner than normal endothelial cells (Caplan et al., 1974). Lesion-prone areas within blood vessel walls exhibit a unique property of blood monocyte recruitment, followed by accumulation of these cells in the subendothelial space, a process that is accelerated in the presence of hyperlipidemia.
Platelet Glycoprotein IIb/IIIa Receptor Antagonists
Authors: Becker Richard C. , Spencer Frederick A.
Published: November 2020

The glycoprotein (GP) IIb/IIIa (αIIb/β3) receptor totalling 50,000 to 70,000 copies per platelet represents a common pathway for platelet aggregation in response to a wide variety of biochemical and mechanical stimuli. Accordingly, it represents an attractive target for pharmacologic inhibition that can be applied to patients with acute coronary syndromes. The evolution of GPIIb/IIIa receptor antagonists began with murine monoclonal antibodies and subsequently expanded to include small peptide or nonpeptide molecules with structural similarities to fibrinogen. There are three intravenous GPIIb/IIIa receptor antagonists that have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration: . . . • Abciximab (ReoPro) . . . . . . • Tirofiban (Aggrastat) . . . . . . • Eptifibatide (Integrilin) . . . Abciximab (ReoPro) is the Fab fragment of the chimeric human–murine monoclonal antibody c7E3. Following an intravenous bolus, free plasma concentrations of abciximab decrease rapidly with an initial half-life of less than 10 minutes and a second-phase half-life of 30 minutes, representing rapid binding to the platelet GPIIb/IIIa receptor. Abciximab remains in the circulation for 10 or more days in the platelet-bound state. Intravenous administration of abciximab in doses ranging from 0.15 mg/kg to 0.3 mg/kg produces a rapid dose-dependent inhibition of platelet aggregation in response to adenosine diphosphate (ADP). At the highest dose, 80% of platelet GPIIb/IIIa receptors are occupied within 2 hours and platelet aggregation, even with 20 μM ADP, is completely inhibited. Sustained inhibition is achieved with prolonged infusions (12 to 24 hours) and low-level receptor blockade is present for up to 10 days following cessation of the infusion; however, platelet inhibition during infusions beyond 24 hours has not been well characterized. Platelet aggregation in response to 5 μM ADP returns to greater than or equal to 50% of baseline within 24 hours of drug cessation. In nearly 2,100 patients undergoing either balloon coronary angioplasty or atherectomy at high risk for ischemic (thrombotic) complications, a bolus of abciximab (0.25 mg/kg) followed by a 12-hour continuous infusion (10 μg/min) reduced the occurrence of death, the occurrence myocardial infarction (MI), or the need for an urgent intervention (repeat angioplasty, stent placement, balloon pump insertion, or bypass grafting) by 35% (EPIC Investigators, 1994).
Aggrenox and Cilostazol
Authors: Becker Richard C. , Spencer Frederick A.
Published: November 2020

The dipyridamole component of Aggrenox and cilostazol, both phosphodiesterase inhibitors, are used predominantly in patients with peripheral vascular and cerebrovascular disease. Aggrenox is a combination platelet antagonist that includes aspirin (25 mg) and dipyridamole (200 mg extended-release preparation). It is typically taken twice daily. Aspirin’s mechanism of action has been discussed previously. Dipyridamole inhibits cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)-phosphodiesterase (PDE) and cyclic-3´, 5´- guanylate monophospate (GMP)-PDE (Bunag et al., 1964). The pharmacokinetic profile of aspirin has been summarized previously. Peak dipyridamole levels in plasma are achieved within several hours of oral administration (400 mg dose of Aggrenox). Extensive metabolism via conjugation with glucuronic acid occurs in the liver. There are no significant pharmacokinetic interactions between aspirin and dipyridamole coadministered as Aggrenox. Dipyridamole inhibits platelet aggregation by two distinct mechanisms. First, it attenuates adenosine uptake into platelets (as well as endothelial cells and erythrocytes). The resulting increase elicits a rise in cellular adenylate cyclase concentrations, resulting in elevated cAMP levels, which inhibit platelet activation to several agonists, including adenosine diphosphate (ADP), collagen, and platelet-activating factor. Dipyridamole also inhibits PDE. The subsequent increase in cAMP elevates nitric oxide concentration, facilitating platelet inhibitory potential (Eisert, 2001). The European Stroke Prevention Study (ESPS)-2 reported that 79.9% of patients experienced at least one on-treatment adverse event. The most common side effects were gastrointestinal complaints and headache. Dipyridamole has vasodilatory effects and should be used with caution in patients with severe coronary artery disease in whom episodes of angina pectoris may increase. Patients receiving Aggrenox should not be given adenosine for myocardial perfusion studies. Plasma concentrations of dipyridamole are approximately 40% higher in patients greater than 65 years of age compared with younger individuals. Aggrenox has not been studied in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). The ESPS-2 included 6,602 patients with ischemic stroke (76% of the total population) or transient ischemic attack who were randomized to receive Aggrenox, dipyridamole alone, aspirin alone, or placebo. Aggrenox reduced the risk of stroke by 22.1% compared with aspirin and by 24.4% compared with dipyridamole. Both differences were statistically significant (p = .008 and p = .002, respectively) (Diener et al., 1996).
Acute Coronary Syndromes
Authors: Becker Richard C. , Spencer Frederick A.
Published: November 2020

For over a century astute clinicians have recognized that prodromal symptoms often precede acute myocardial infarction (MI). The evolution of symptoms was subsequently found to correlate with changes in atherosclerotic plaque composition, morphology, and thrombogenicity, leading to the classification of symptoms that are currently categorized to better delineate diagnostic and management strategies. Acute coronary syndromes (ACSs) are traditionally divided into two separate categories—ST-segment elevation and non–ST-segment elevation ACS—based on the presenting electrocardiogram. The latter category is then subdivided into unstable angina and non–ST-segment elevation MI, based on the absence or presence of elevated cardiac biomarkers, respectively. This chapter considers ST-segment elevation MI and non–ST-segment elevation ACS based on pharmacologic and clinical (diagnostics and routine management) constructs. ST-segment elevation MI (STEMI), in a vast majority of cases, is caused by occlusive thrombosis at a site of plaque rupture. In others, particularly when the stimulus for thrombosis is strong, occlusion may follow minor disruption of the plaque surface (erosion) or occur in areas of endothelial cell injury (activation with inflammatory features and concomitantly impaired vascular thromboresistance). Coronary arterial spasm, in the absence of intrinsic vascular disease (as may be seen with cocaine use), can also impair restrictive blood flow to the myocardium, resulting in cellular death. The goal of pharmacology-based therapy (and mechanical intervention) is to restore myocardial blood flow as quickly and completely as possible. The “open vessel hypotheses” predicts that rapid, complete, and sustained myocardial perfusion through the prompt restoration of physiologic blood flow will minimize (salvage) myocardium, promote ventricular performance, and reduce mortality. Strong support for the open-vessel hypothesis can be traced to the Thrombolysis and Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) trial performed in the 1980s (Dalen et al., 1988; TIMI Study Group, 1985). Patients with patent infarct-related coronary arteries 90 minutes after the initiation of fibrinolytic therapy had an 8.1% mortality at 1 year, compared to a 14.8% mortality among those with an occluded vessel. Since that time, several large-scale clinical trials have confirmed the importance of an open infarct-related coronary artery for early, intermediate, and long-term outcome.
Plaque-Stabilizing Therapies
Authors: Becker Richard C. , Spencer Frederick A.
Published: November 2020

The association between elevated low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and atherothrombotic vascular disease is well established. Lipid-lowering therapies reduce cardiovascular events; however, the mechanism of benefit attributable to HMG CoA reductase inhibitors likely transcends lipids alone by directly or indirectly affecting inflammatory response, endothelial cell resistance, apoptosis, and progenitor cell behavior. Although collectively in the same class of drugs, statins have unique pharmacokinetic profiles. They may also differ in their ability to impact inflammatory responses, endothelial performance including enhanced thromboresistance capability, plaque vulnerability, and vascular thrombosis. Unlike the LDL cholesterol–lowering effect, the “nonlipid”-related properties of statins are less closely tied to dose (Undas et al., 2005). Support for a multifactorial benefit from statin therapy has been derived from a number of clinical trials revealing a nonlinear correlation between LDL cholesterol reduction and protection from clinical events. In the Anglo-Scandinavian Cardiac Outcomes Trial–Lipid Lowering Arm (ASCOT-LLA), 1,934 hypertensive patients (ages 40–75) with at least three other cardiovascular risk factors and either average or below average total cholesterol levels received either atorvastatin (10 mg) or placebo. By 3.3 years of follow-up, there was a marked reduction in cardiovascular death, nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI), and stroke (fatal and nonfatal) in patients receiving low-dose atorvastatin (Sever et al., 2003). Several studies and registries have also shown a benefit attributable to statin use among patients with acute coronary syndromes. Many, with the exception of the Myocardial Ischemia Reduction with Aggressive Cholesterol Lowering (MIRACL), have been post hoc, retrospective analyses or observational studies (Arntz et al., 2000; Aronow et al., 2001; Bybee et al., 2001; Schwartz et al., 2001). However, in the PROVE-IT (Pravastatin or Atorvastatin Evaluation and Infection Therapy) trial (Cannon et al., 2004), 4,162 patients treated with either pravastatin (40 mg daily—moderate-intensity statin therapy) or atorvastatin (80 mg daily—intensive therapy) within 10 days of an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) had a 16% reduction in the likelihood of death (any cause), MI, ACS requiring hospitalization, revascularization, or stroke with more intensive treatment.
Fibrinolytic Agents
Authors: Becker Richard C. , Spencer Frederick A.
Published: November 2020

The generation of plasmin from plasminogen by plasminogen activators (fibrinolytic agents) induces a variety of effects in addition to dissolving fibrin strands, degrading fibrinogen, and inhibiting tissue factor pathway and factor VIII. It also, in high concentrations, causes platelet activation. Thus, fibrinolytic agents have both prothrombotic and antihemostatic properties—the latter of which is often augmented by the concomitant use of anticoagulants and platelet antagonists (see Chapter 12). Bleeding is the most common complication of fibrinolytic (and adjunctive antithrombotic) therapy. The most important predictors of nonintracranial hemorrhage are older age, invasive procedures, low body weight, and female sex (de Jaegre et al, 1992; GISSI 2 Investigators, 1990; GUSTO-III Investigators, 1997; INJECT Investigators, 1995). Predictors of intracranial hemorrhage include age (>65 years), low body weight (<70 kg), hypertension on admission, and alteplase (vs. streptokinase) (GUSTO-III Investigators, 1997). The approach to patient management in cases of fibrinolytic-induced bleeding is summarized in Figure 30.1. It is important to consider antithrombotic agents that may concomitantly increase hemorrhagic potential. Factor VIIa (recombinant; NovoSeven) represents a treatment alternative for life-threatening hemorrhagic complications.
Growing Up in the Twenty-First Century
Authors: Hamburg David A. , Hamburg Beatrix A.
Published: November 2020

During the twentieth century, within only a moment of evolutionary time, human ingenuity has produced an unprecedented vast increase in the destructive power of the human species. It is now possible to inflict immense damage on almost all countries everywhere and pose the threat of annihilation of the entire world. Shortly, there will be no part of the earth so remote that a committed group cannot do immense damage to itself and others far away. The events of September 11, 2001, in New York,Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania have made this clear. Like it or not, conflicts have become everyone’s business. The idea that countries and people should be free to conduct their quarrels on their own terms, no matter how deadly, is outmoded in the nuclear age and in a global world where local hostilities can rapidly become international ones with devastating consequences. Similarly, the notion that tyrants are free to commit atrocities on their own peoples is becoming obsolete, albeit with plenty of resistance. Today, the human species is engaged in an increasingly dangerous proliferation of lethal weaponry, including nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons of mass destruction, as well as the worldwide, wall-to-wall spread of deadly small arms. At the same time, in all parts of the world, we also see evidence of abundant prejudice, hatred, and threats of mass violence. Sadly, the historical record is full of every sort of slaughter based on invidious distinctions of religion, ethnicity, nationality, and other perceived group differences. This record confirms a part of our unique human heritage, one that we will address in more depth in the pages to follow as we seek to learn lessons from our past and search to find ways of overcoming human predispositions to violence in a technological and global era. In a contemporary world full of hatred and violence, widespread knowledge and understanding of deadly conflicts past and present, as well as paths to conflict resolution and prevention of deadly conflict, are an urgent agenda. Such an agenda deserves major educational efforts—not only in schools and universities, but also in community organizations, religious institutions, the media, and the public health system.
Exemplary Programs of Conflict-Resolution Education
Authors: Hamburg David A. , Hamburg Beatrix A.
Published: November 2020

As more has been learned about the antecedents of youth violence and the core elements of effective prevention programs, there has been growing interest in development of multicomponent programs with a sharp focus on conflict-resolution education. This trend has been fueled not only by the nationwide school shootings, which are dramatic and frightening though actually quite rare, but by two other considerations as well. There is a realization that disruptive behavior in the classroom is highly prevalent and that it takes a great toll in terms of both student distress and major erosions of classroom teaching time. Changing demographics have introduced far greater diversity in the schools, and new challenges are confronted with the mix of cultures. Richard Bodine and Donna Crawford of the National Center for Conflict Resolution Education provide a major review and analysis of current and recent specific efforts to educate for conflict resolution in U.S. schools. They present key research findings from the emergent field of conflict-resolution education and include an overview of relevant contributions from the literature on risk factors and resilience in youth development. Based on these data, they have developed a comprehensive four-part program of conflict resolution education. In doing so, they delineated four curricula segments for conflict-resolution education that are independent but also interrelated. These are the process curriculum, the mediation program, the Peaceable Classroom, and the Peaceable School. The four curricula segments represent a nested set of components, each of which can be used independently, but when taken together, as intended, for each additional component added there are increasingly positive results with maximal efficacy and long-term impact when the full program is mounted. When the full program is implemented, it has direct impacts on students, teachers, other school personnel, and parents. Although there are gains with partial implementation, achievement of the full potential of the program depends on the successful implementation of all segments. When possible, there should be continuity of training across grades, usually in the form of short courses, informal follow-up opportunities, or curriculum development. Shared key themes are central to all four segments, and all apply equally to children and adults. These key themes are (a) awareness of biases, (b) learning the skill of good listening, (c) learning the skill of constructive response, and (d) making conscious commitments to mutually beneficial, win-win solutions. Methods used are developmentally appropriate to each age group.
Safety, Health, and Environment
Authors: Wei James
Published: November 2020

There was a time when the primary concerns of the product engineers were the needs of the buyers and consumers of their products, and they concentrated most of their efforts on design and manufacture of products with the goal of meeting their requirements and approval. A product will certainly fail if it does not have the steady and continued confidence of the consumers. The CPI, just like any other industry at that time, were accountable mostly to the consumers. This was a two-party transaction, where the buyer gave the seller money in return for a satisfactory product. This form of two-party transaction is no longer valid, as there are many bystanders whose welfare can be damaged in the transaction and their welfare must also be safeguarded. The manufacturing and marketing of chemical products is now a multiparty transaction, as the public and the governments have forcefully placed themselves into part of the bargain. The product engineers must become cradle-to-grave stewards of their products, and must solve many safety and environmental problems: from the extraction of raw material from farms and mines, to transportation on land and over water, to manufacturing in plants, to use in the customers hands, and finally to recycle back to nature. Before you begin to design the product, you need to focus your attention on the customer and their needs, but you also need to focus your attention on the potential hazards that the product poses to the safety and health of your workforces and the neighbors, and to the environment. You need some familiarity with the history of past mistakes, with the current government regulations, and with methods to deal with these potential problems. Over a long period of history, commercial transactions were primarily a two-party affair, between the seller and the buyer. In the last few decades, a third party has forcefully entered into the transaction, based on concerns about safety and the environment, and on public opinion and government regulations. This is shown in figure 10.1.
Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital
Authors: Coleman James S.
Published: November 2020

There are two broad intellectual streams in the description and explanation of social action. One, characteristic of the work of most sociologists, sees the actor as socialized and action as governed by social norms, rules, and obligations. The principal virtues of this intellectual stream lie in its ability to describe action in social context and to explain the way action is shaped, constrained, and redirected by the social context. The other intellectual stream, characteristic of the work of most economists, sees the actor as having goals independently arrived at, as acting independently, and as wholly self-interested. Its principal virtue lies in having a principle of action, that of maximizing utility. This principle of action, together with a single empirical generalization (declining marginal utility), has generated the extensive growth of neoclassical economic theory, as well as the growth of political philosophy of several varieties: utilitarianism, contractarianism, and natural rights. In earlier works (Coleman 1986a, 1986b), I have argued for and engaged in the development of a theoretical orientation in sociology that includes components from both these intellectual streams. It accepts the principle of rational or purposive action and attempts to show how that principle, in conjunction with particular social contexts, can account not only for the actions of individuals in particular contexts but also for the development of social organization. In the present paper, I introduce a conceptual tool for use in this theoretical enterprise: social capital. As background for introducing this concept, it is useful to see some of the criticisms of and attempts to modify the two intellectual streams. Both these intellectual streams have serious defects. The sociological stream has what may be a fatal flaw as a theoretical enterprise: the actor has no “engine of action.” The actor is shaped by the environment, but there are no internal springs of action that give the actor a purpose or direction. The very conception of action as wholly a product of the environment has led sociologists themselves to criticize this intellectual stream, as in Dennis Wrong’s (1961) “Oversocialized Conception of Man in Modern Sociology.”