cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Field epidemiological study on a varicella outbreak among schoolchildren in Shenzhen

Objective Both epidemiologic characteristics and transmission mode of a varicella outbreak among schoolchildren in Shenzhen city were studied and related control measures were discussed.Methods Case definition was established.Case-finding and face-to-face investigation were conducted,followed by analysis on distributions of time,place and persons of the outbreak.Association between possible modes of transmission and the outbreak was explored.Retrospective cohort study was carried out.Results The overall attack rate of this outbreak was 4.4％ (122 of 2742).The attack rate among primary schoolchildren (8.3％,118/1419) was higher than that in the middle-school children (0.3％,4/1323).There were no statistically significant differences on the attack rates between male and female students.A total of 22 classes from the 9 grades were affected by this outbreak and the aggregation of varicella cases was found in classes.The highest attack rates was found in the students of fifth grade (23.7％),followed by from the third grade (13.4％).The main transmission mode appeared to be close personal contact.The outbreak,with four peaks of incidence,lasted 72 days.Data from the investigation suggested that the primary case was introduced into the school during military training involved by the students.Activities related to physical examination for all the schoolchildren seemed to have contributed to the spread of this disease among classes.Delayed isolation of cases appeared to be the major factor causing the spread of disease among classes.Intensive off-school activities or free community bus for children did not seem to be associated with the spreading of the disease.52.5％ (64/122) of the cases had received one-dose of varicella vaccine,with the median of onset after the vaccination as 7 years.The results demonstrated that one single-dose vaccine or long vaccination period were factors related to the insufficient immunity that causing the outbreak of disease.Conclusion Varicella outbreak has been one of the most grievous public health problems in schools,posting challenges on the implementation of isolation measures,in particular.Once the chain of transmission is in place,it is difficult to make the universal measures effective within a short period. Key words: Varicella; Disease outbreaks; Schoolchildren
An Integrated Exhaustible Resource Model of Copper Market Dynamics

A longstanding problem in the modelling of resource markets in general and mineral markets in particular has been the lack of a model specification suitable for explaining long run as well as short run market adjustments. One possible solution for solving this problem considered here is to integrate relevant aspects of the rational extractions model (REM) and the standard commodity model (SCM) into a single model framework. The REM enables us to explain long run resource depletion and the possibility of rising extraction costs which would provide an incentive for establishing reserve additions. The SCM accommodates resources held in the form of above-ground materials inventories and emphasises short run market equilibrium forces such as production, consumption and inventory holding. The model framework under scrutiny thus embodies dynamic market disequilibrium where stock adjustments affect flow equilibrium in the form of below-ground reserve stocks and above-ground inventory stocks. Other factors frequently neglected, but presently included are production capacity and secondary supply.
Evidence-based medicine: the key to guidelines, disease and care management programmes.

Introduction Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is based on the concept of applying best practice to the diagnosis or treatment of a single patient or clinical question, one patient at one time. Although this is useful as a practitioner seeing patients one at a time, it is limited in its application to populations or to single patients with multiple diseases. I will review how to apply EBM to the structure and implementation of population-based care management programmes. Methods A review of the existing literature on the topic was undertaken in preparation for the First National Disease Management Conference-"Achieving seamless quality care across the continuum"-held between May 25 and 26, 2001. This material has been combined with experience and evidence of the author. Results EBM and practice form the basis of the development of evidence-based guidelines that help lay the path for populations of patients with specific conditions. Care and disease management are the programmes that have been developed to implement evidence-based guidelines and best practice and to produce optimal outcomes in populations with chronic conditions, either single or multiple. Examples are presented to further the understanding of the reader. Conclusions To optimally improve the health of a population, chronic collaborative care programmes must be built and implemented that utilise best practice as defined by evidence in the literature.
Looking for Evidence: Survey Design, Methodological Issues, and Initial Clues

Our primary research goals were twofold: (1) to determine whether, and to what extent, participation in CMS programs can generate political capabilities, and (2) to identify the factors that facilitate or block the development of political capabilities. To achieve these goals, we utilized a mixed methods approach, combining quantitative analysis of participant surveys with ethnographic field research.
Coordination Controllers for Multi-Arm Manipulators – A Case Study

ABSTRACT For a pick and place robot with two entirely independent arms, we obtain controllers that quarantee colllision-free regions in the same workspace, by applying a game-theoretic method. A barrier between dextrous regions for each of the arms is determined. Although the scenario is highly simplified, the method may be applied to a large class of multi-arm robots.
Comparing cognitive load and self-regulatory depletion: Effects on emotions and cognitions

Abstract Prior research has found both similar and different effects of self-regulatory resource depletion and cognitive load. To resolve these seeming contradictions, we experimentally compared the effects of cognitive load and self-regulatory depletion. Ego depletion led participants to pay more attention to pain and to persist less on a pain test, whereas load had opposite effects (Study 1). Load distracted people from processing and reacting to negative emotional content of pictures (Study 2), and boosted positive feelings even without an overt emotion induction (Study 3), whereas depletion did not change how people felt relative to control. Depletion and load had equivalent null effects on visual recognition memory (Study 2) but different effects on semantic processing involving emotional connections (Study 3). Taken together, results suggest that load distracts attention away from, whereas ego depletion undermines top-down control over the processing of pain and negatively-valenced content. We discuss implications for learning and instruction.
What can we do for people with drug-resistant epilepsy? The 2016 Wartenberg Lecture

Treatment goals for epilepsy are no seizures, no side effects, as soon as possible, but these goals are too often unmet. Approximately 1 million people in the United States continue to have seizures despite adequate treatment with antiseizure drugs, representing 40% of those with epilepsy, and 80% of the cost of epilepsy. Drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) can be associated with developmental delay in infants and young children, and severe disability and morbidity in older children and adults, as well as a mortality rate 5-10 times that of the general population. While diagnosis and treatment at a full-service (levels 3 and 4) epilepsy center are demonstrated to improve seizure control, fewer than 1% of people with DRE are referred, and those who are, are referred an average of over 20 years after onset of habitual seizures. A possible reason for this is the misconception that all these epilepsy centers offer is surgery. Specialized multidisciplinary teams, consisting of neurologists, clinical neurophysiologists, neurosurgeons, neuroradiologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, and counselors, which constitute full-service epilepsy centers, can recognize and address pseudopharmacoresistance due to nonadherence, seizures that are not epilepsy, treatable underlying conditions, misdiagnosis of epilepsy syndromes, treatment with the wrong drug or wrong dosage, and lifestyle issues that are remediable. A variety of alternative treatment approaches are offered in addition to surgery, and for patients who continue to have seizures, full-service epilepsy centers have psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, and counselors specialized in recognizing, and addressing, the psychological and social challenges experienced by people with epilepsy. Surgery for epilepsy remains, arguably, the most underutilized of all acceptable medical interventions, and the reasons for this are unclear. Often, excellent surgical candidates are not recognized as such by general neurologists, but if more patients with DRE were referred to full-service epilepsy centers, more surgical candidates would be identified by epilepsy specialists. All patients with medication-resistant epilepsy, defined as failure of 2 appropriate trials of antiseizure drugs due to inefficacy and not intolerance, who continue to be compromised by seizures deserve a timely consultation at a full-service epilepsy center. Early referral provides the best opportunity to avoid irreversible psychological and social problems, a lifetime of disability, and premature death.
Natural gas and the Russia-Ukraine crisis: Strategic restraint and the emerging Europe-Eurasia gas network

Abstract This article explicates the puzzle of strategic restraint in contemporary European-Russian gas relations. The first and second sections compare and contrast successive gas wars since 2006, detailing respective dimensions to restraint and costly paralysis experienced by upstream, downstream, and transit states alike. The third part presents an alternative understanding of energy power politics rooted in social network analysis. It probes the validity of new forms of power, influence, and vulnerability in Russia's evolving gas relations with Europe, as derived from "betweenness centrality" among emerging infrastructure hubs and the quality of corporate alliances across subregions of Central Europe. This includes cursory examination of the credibility and costliness of disruption related to the flexibility and diffusion of gas relationships into/across the northern and southern parts of Central Europe, as well as the social capital within Gazprom's corporate eco-system that bound Russia's lasting prominence as a supplier in these sub-regions. The final section identifies practical guidelines for transcending the current knotty predicament to stabilize commercial trading and peaceful U.S./Euro-Russian energy governance
Inequality in the Labor Market for Native American Women and the Great Recession

This research paper builds on previous literature and documents general changes in the labor market for Native American women that occurred during the Great Recession using extracts of data from the Current Population Survey Annual Earnings file, known as the Merged Outgoing Rotation Groups (MORG). Wages, unemployment, and other labor market variables for Native American women are contrasted with those of Native American men and white women to determine the relative change in labor market inequality that occurred during the Great Recession.
Automated planning and scheduling using calculus of variations in discrete space

In this paper, we propose new dominance relations that can speed up significantly the solution process of planning problems formulated as nonlinear constrained dynamic optimization in discrete time and space. We first show that path dominance in dynamic programming cannot be applied when there are general constraints that span across multiple stages, and that node dominance, in the form of Euler-Lagrange conditions developed in optimal control theory in continuous space, cannot be extended to that in discrete space. This paper is the first to propose efficient node-dominance relations, in the form of local saddle-point conditions in each stage of a discrete-space planning problem, for pruning states that will not lead to locally optimal paths. By utilizing these dominance relations, we present efficient search algorithms whose complexity, despite exponential, has a much smaller base as compared to that without using the relations. Finally, we demonstrate the performance of our approach by integrating it in the ASPEN planner and show significant improvements in CPU time and solution quality on some spacecraft scheduling and planning benchmarks.
Decreasing Total Medication Exposure and Length of Stay While Completing Withdrawal for Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome during the Neonatal Hospital Stay.

Introduction: Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) is a rapidly growing public health concern that has considerably increased healthcare utilization and healthcare costs. In an effort to curtail costs attempts have been made to complete withdrawal as an outpatient. Outpatient therapy has been shown to prolong exposure to medications which may negatively impact neurodevelopmental and behavioral outcomes. We hypothesized that the implementation of a modified NAS protocol would decrease total drug exposure and length of stay while allowing for complete acute drug withdrawal during the neonatal hospital stay. Methods: Data were derived retrospectively from medical records of term (> 37 0/7) infants with NAS who were treated with pharmacologic therapy in the University of Louisville Hospital NICU from 2005 to 2015. The pharmacologic protocol (SP1) for infants treated between 2005 and March 2014 (n= 146) dosed oral morphine every 4 hours and utilized phenobarbital as adjuvant therapy. Protocol 2 (SP2) initiated after March 2014 (n= 44) dosed morphine every 3 hours and used clonidine as adjuvant therapy. Charts were reviewed for demographic information and maternal drug history. Maternal and infant toxicology screens were recorded. The length of morphine therapy and need for adjuvant drug therapy were noted. Length of stay was derived from admission and discharge dates. Results: The length of morphine therapy was decreased by 8.5 days from 35 to 26.5 days (95% CI 4.5 to 12 days) for infants treated with SP2 vs. SP1 (p< 0.001). The need for adjuvant pharmacologic therapy was decreased by 24% in patients treated with SP2 vs. SP1 (p=0.004). The length of stay was decreased by 9 days from 42 to 33 days (95% CI 5.1 to 13 days) for infants treated with SP2 vs. SP1 (p< 0.001). The decreased length of stay resulted in an average reduction of hospital charges by $27,090 per patient in adjusted 2015 US Dollars. Conclusions: The present study demonstrates that total drug exposure and length of stay can be reduced while successfully completing acute withdrawal during the neonatal hospital stay.
Hepatic Failure Due to Cholestatic Hepatitis C in an Immunosuppressed Patient Treated With Elbasvir and Grazeprevir

Hepatitis C-induced cholestatic hepatitis is a well-known fatal complication of postorthotropic liver transplantation and prolonged immunosuppression. Recent studies on direct-acting antiviral agents have shown promising results in terms of morbidity and mortality of this condition in postorthotropic liver, heart, and renal transplant patients. However, hepatitis C-induced cholestatic hepatitis remains a highly fatal condition in non-transplant patients. We report the first-ever use of the oral direct-acting antiviral combination, elbasvir and grazeprevir, in the treatment of a non-liver transplant patient with cholestatic hepatitis.
Positive Outcomes of Optimizing Student-Preceptor Continuity in a Traditional Block Clerkship.

ABSTRACTProblem: Student–preceptor discontinuity during 3rd-year clerkships limits the quality and quantity of supervision, teaching, and feedback. Although longitudinal integrative clerkships increase continuity and are associated with improved student and preceptor experience, they require schoolwide curricular reform. Alternative innovations enhancing student–preceptor relationships within the constraints of a traditional block clerkship may demonstrate similar benefits. Intervention: We piloted a continuity-enhanced general pediatric ambulatory schedule during 2 consecutive clerkship blocks in 2013. Students in the continuity-enhanced model (n = 29) were assigned 1–3 primary clinic preceptors, whereas those in the traditional model (n = 30) worked with 5–8. Data were gathered from student assessments and anonymous student and preceptor surveys. We used t and Fisher's exact tests to compare the two groups and performed thematic analysis of free-text survey comments. Context: Our school utilizes a block...
Naval Blockades in Peace and War: An Economic History since 1750

Preface 1. Introduction: 'Thou shalt not pass' 2. Britain, France and Napoleon's Continental Systems, 1793-1815 3. The United States versus Great Britain, 1776-1815 4. The North blockades the Confederacy, 1861-5 5. International law and naval blockades during World War I: Britain, Germany, and the United States: traditional strategies versus the submarine 6. Legal and economic aspects of naval blockades: the United States, Great Britain, and Germany in World War II 7. The American submarine and aerial mine blockade of the Japanese home islands, 1941-5 8. Blockades without war: from Pacific blockades to sanctions 9. Blockades, war and international law: what it all means Conclusion.
Circuits of the Dorsal Cochlear Nucleus

The dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN) has become more intriguing as more is learned about it because, although its anatomical structure has been examined from many perspectives and the responses of individual cells have been studied for more than 25 years, it is not yet possible to identify a physiological function that is carried out by the DCN. In this paper we will examine what is known about the cells of the DCN and their roles in the circuit in a search for clues concerning their function.
Debating Propositions of Value

A rationale for debating propositions of value in interscholastic contests is advanced. Implications for burden of proof, presumption, and the location of issues in value propositions are considere...
Native Advertising on TV: Effects of Ad Format and Media Context

Native advertising has become popular on websites and social media platforms in recent years. Now the TV industry is starting to develop its own native ads/sponsored content. The current research examined this newer form of native advertising – native video ads on TV. Using advertising format (video vs. text/image) as a within-group variable and media context (news vs. entertainment) as a between-group variable, a repeated measures was run to explore the effects on viewers’ attitude-toward-the-ad, ad trust, brand interest, as well as perceived differences between native ads and traditional advertising formats. In general, participants reported a more favorable attitude toward video native advertising than text/image advertising. Native ads embedded in news content were perceived as more trustworthy than those embedded in entertainment content. Advertising format also seems to affect how participants perceived the differences between native advertising and traditional advertising.
My Prostate Cancer: Patient’s Perspective

On March 6, 2007, I had a robotic-assisted radical prostatectomy and pelvic lymph node dissection for a pT2C, N0, M0, Gleason 3 + 4 adenocarcinoma of the prostate. At my 11-year follow-up, I was disease-free, continent of urine, and as potent as I wanted to be. This is my story.
Economic growth and reduced carbon emissions: the impact of carbon pricing policies

Many countries are adopting carbon pricing policies like carbon taxes and/or carbon cap and trade to address climate change. This paper answers two research questions within this context - what is the impact of carbon policies on the economic growth-carbon emissions nexus? And, does adoption of carbon pricing policies by a country result in an increased incentive to re-locate carbon intensive activities to other countries viz. the so-called 'pollution haven effect'? Results suggest that cap and trade policies significantly reduce energy use per capita and mitigate carbon emissions. Global cap and trade policies are significantly associated with higher economic growth in offshore manufacturing destinations but carbon taxes in adopting nations do not impel a similar effect. Neither type of carbon policy has a significant impact on energy use per capita and carbon intensity in top manufacturing destination countries. Our findings thus do not support a pollution haven effect.
Law, Morality, and Health Care Professionals: A Multilevel Framework

Socio-legal scholars have long been interested in the relationship between law and morality. This article uses a multilevel approach to understanding this relationship by focusing on health care pr...
ON-Resistance in Vertical Power FinFETs

This paper presents the first analytical model for the ON-resistance ( ${R}_{ \mathrm{\scriptscriptstyle ON}}$ ) in vertical power FinFETs. The model allows to extract the channel mobility and series resistance and to separate the current conduction through the bulk fin channel and the accumulation-mode metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) channel. The model was validated by experiments and simulations. The extracted series resistance was verified by measuring a diode fabricated in the same wafer with the FinFETs. At the same time, simulations using the extracted channel mobility and series resistance agreed well with the experiments. The model was then used to analyze a 1200 V GaN vertical power FinFET. The main ${R}_{ \mathrm{\scriptscriptstyle ON}}$ component was identified to be from the drift layer and the substrate, while the gate-modulated channel resistance only accounts for ~13% of the total device ${R}_{ \mathrm{\scriptscriptstyle ON}}$ . Our model enables parameter extraction from the dc characteristics of a single device, and therefore, provides a fast and easy way to understand, analyze, and design vertical power FinFETs. Our model can also be adjusted to allow for fast and accurate parameter extraction in other power transistors with a vertical gate-modulated channel, such as trench MOSFETs.
Effective buprenorphine use and tapering strategies: Endorsements and insights by people in recovery from opioid use disorder on a Reddit forum

Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a public health emergency in the United States. Over 47,000 overdose-related deaths in 2017 involved opioids. Medication-assisted treatment (MAT), in particular, buprenorphine and buprenorphine combination products such as Suboxone, is the most effective, evidence-based treatment for OUD. However, there are a limited number of conclusive scientific studies that provide guidance to medical professionals about strategies for using buprenorphine to achieve stable recovery. In this study, we used data-driven natural language processing methods to mine a total of 16,146 posts about buprenorphine from 1933 unique users on the anonymous social network Reddit. Analysis of a sample of these posts showed that 74% of the posts described users9 personal experiences and that the top three topics included advice on using Suboxone (55.0%), Suboxone dosage information (35.5%) and information about Suboxone tapering (32.0%). Based on two models, one that incorporated 9upvoting9 by other members and one that did not, we found that Reddit users reported more successful recovery with longer tapering schedules, particularly from 2.0 mg to 0.0 mg (median: 93 days; mean: 95 days), as compared to shorter tapering schedules investigated in past clinical trials. Diarrhea, insomnia, restlessness, and fatigue were commonly reported adverse events. Physical exercise, clonidine, and Imodium were frequently reported to help during the recovery process. Due to the difficulties of conducting longer-term clinical trials involving patients with OUD, clinicians should consider other information sources including peer discussions from the abundant, real-time information available on Reddit.
Perceptual modulation of parietal activity during urgent saccadic choices

The lateral intraparietal cortex (LIP) contributes to visuomotor transformations for determining where to look next. However, its spatial selectivity can signify attentional priority, motor planning, perceptual discrimination, or other mechanisms. Resolving how this LIP signal influences a perceptually guided choice requires knowing exactly when such signal arises and when the perceptual evaluation informs behavior. To achieve this, we recorded single-neuron activity while monkeys performed an urgent choice task for which the perceptual evaluation9s progress can be tracked millisecond by millisecond. The evoked presaccadic responses were strong, exhibited modest motor preference, and were only weakly modulated by sensory evidence. This modulation was remarkable, though, in that its time course preceded and paralleled that of behavioral performance (choice accuracy), and it closely resembled the statistical definition of confidence. The results indicate that, as the choice process unfolds, LIP dynamically combines attentional, motor, and perceptual signals, the former being much stronger than the latter.
DNS, RNS und Proteinsynthese

Die Reproduktion der Zelle erscheint uns als auserordentlich faszinierender und komplizierter Vorgang lebender Organismen. Jede Zelle entsteht aus einer elterlichen Zelle, so das bei vielzelligen Organismen aus einer elterlichen Zelle nach Teilung zunachst zwei neue gebildet werden, aus denen nach erneuter Teilung schlieslich vier Zellen entstehen. Der Prozes schreitet zumindest am Anfang in einer geometrischen Reihe fort. Verschiedene Zellgruppen teilen sich verschieden schnell und zu verschiedenen Zeitpunkten, bis am Schlus ein vollstandiger Organismus gebildet ist.
Is intracytoplasmic sperm (ICSI) better than traditional in vitro fertilization (IVF): confirmation of higher blastocyst rates per oocyte using a split insemination design.

To explore the effects of traditional vs. intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) insemination method on the outcome of high-quality blastocyst development in a split sibling oocyte cohort. In this retrospective cohort study, we analyzed 62 ICSI/IVF split cycles. Sibling oocytes were randomly assigned to ICSI or IVF insemination. Two hundred thirty-four ICSI-only cycles and 152 IVF-only cycles were also analyzed for comparison. Blastocysts were graded by Gardner’s embryo grading and were considered a high-quality blastocyst if 3BB or better (Gardner 1999). In the ICSI/IVF split group, (1) ICSI oocytes had a higher fertilization rate per oocyte allocated (73% vs 62%, p < 0.001), (2) more high-quality day 2 embryos (69% vs 55%, p < 0.005), (3) ICSI oocytes had a lower blastulation rate per 2PN (46% vs 54%, p < 0.05), but a higher blastulation rate when calculated per oocyte allocated (40% vs 32%, p < 0.05). The ICSI-only group had a lower fertilization rate (65% vs 70%, p < 0.001) but more high-quality day 2 embryos in comparison to the IVF-only group (68% vs 64%, p < .05). The total high-quality blastulation rate was higher for the IVF-only group per 2PN (49% vs 43%, p < 0.05) and per oocyte retrieved (34% vs 28%, p < 0.05). This distinctive IVF/ICSI sibling oocyte split design demonstrated a higher-quality blastulation rate in the IVF group compared to the ICSI group when calculated per 2PN, but not per oocyte allocated to each insemination procedure.
Job-embedded professional development: implementing co-teaching practices in general education classrooms

This article presents the findings of an empirical research project that focuses on the job-embedded professional development of special education in relation to a school district initiative for gr...
Double Descent in Adversarial Training: An Implicit Label Noise Perspective.

Here, we show that the robust overfitting shall be viewed as the early part of an epoch-wise double descent -- the robust test error will start to decrease again after training the model for a considerable number of epochs. Inspired by our observations, we further advance the analyses of double descent to understand robust overfitting better. In standard training, double descent has been shown to be a result of label flipping noise. However, this reasoning is not applicable in our setting, since adversarial perturbations are believed not to change the label. Going beyond label flipping noise, we propose to measure the mismatch between the assigned and (unknown) true label distributions, denoted as \emph{implicit label noise}. We show that the traditional labeling of adversarial examples inherited from their clean counterparts will lead to implicit label noise. Towards better labeling, we show that predicted distribution from a classifier, after scaling and interpolation, can provably reduce the implicit label noise under mild assumptions. In light of our analyses, we tailored the training objective accordingly to effectively mitigate the double descent and verified its effectiveness on three benchmark datasets.
Developmental Dyslexia and Hyperlexia: Delineation of the Disorders

The history of reading disabilities presented in Chapter 1 shows that, at present, there exists neither a general agreement regarding the description of developmental dyslexia nor a universally accepted definition of it. It is not surprising, therefore, to see a great deal of variation among the populations of poor readers defined as dyslexics by different investigators. Even the recommendation of the committee assigned the task of defining developmental dyslexia — “until more is known, each research project must formulate its own working definition as needed” (Adams, 1969, p. 632) — is not strictly adhered to and the dyslexic population is not clearly defined in many studies. This leads to an overgeneralization of the syndrome of developmental dyslexia and results in a failure to separate disorders that are specific to reading from the ones which are associated with spoken language.
Managing perceived risk for customer retention in e-commerce: The role of switching costs

Purpose – This paper aims to explore how perceived risk affects customer loyalty in e-commerce and how switching costs mediate in the relationship between perceived risk and customer loyalty. Design/methodology/approach – In this paper, structural equation modeling was conducted, and data on Internet shopping habits of 382 consumers in Taiwan were examined. Findings – The findings of this study revealed that lowering perceived risks can increase switching costs, which leads to customer loyalty with the service provider in e-commerce. Research limitations/implications – A sample bias may exist because the sampling was conducted through an online survey in a specific Web site. This study affirmed the theoretical framework regarding the mediation effect of switching costs on perceived risk and customer-loyalty relationships. Practical implications – To avoid the single effect of reducing perceived risk on customer loyalty, practitioners should be difficult for competitors to imitate. This can increase the ba...
Response order effects in the Youth Tobacco Survey: Results of a split-ballot experiment

Response order effects are changes in answers to close-ended questions that arise by varying the order of the response options (Krosnick and Alwin 1987). Two types of response order effects have been documented in previous studies: primacy effects and recency effects (Bishop and Smith 2001; Holbrook et al. 2007; Knauper 1999). Primacy effects, when response options presented earlier in a list of options are selected more often than ones at the end, have been typically observed in paper and pencil self-administered surveys (Krosnick and Alwin 1987). Recency effects, where response options presented later in a list are selected more often, primarily occur in surveys where questions are presented orally (Krosnick and Alwin 1987). Response order effects have been documented with adult respondents, but few studies have examined these effects with children or adolescents (Fuchs 2005). It is believed that no studies on response order effects have been conducted on a tobacco-specific survey. Questionnaires often include non-substantive response options, such as “no opinion” or “don't know,” to allow respondents who have no true opinions to select these options. People with lower education are more likely to be attracted to the “no opinion” response option (Krosnick et al. 2002). As a result, it is recommended that in children's surveys, researchers should minimize the use of non-substantive response categories (Bell 2007). However, in circumstances where it is not possible to avoid using non-substantive response options, no research has shown if the order of these response options has any effect on responses. We assess whether primacy and/or recency effects occur in a self-administered tobacco-related questionnaire among youth and will determine the effects of reversing the order of response options and specifically changing the position of a non-applicable response category. This study is one of very few studies to examine the effect of response order in children's responses, and it is the first to investigate the impact of moving a non-applicable response category from first to last position. To the best of our knowledge, it is also the first to document the presence of response order effects in a tobacco survey and differentiate the effects for tobacco users verses non-users.
The neighborhood food resource environment and the health of residents with chronic conditions: the food resource environment and the health of residents.

Background Residence in disadvantaged neighborhoods is associated with poorer access to healthy foods.
Analytical Chemistry of Organic Compounds Present in Water

This report is a general overview of trace organic analysis as it relates to the contamination of water. The overview includes discussions of the history of the determination of trace levels of organic compounds and the important instruments used currently to make these determinations. Data from three past studies of water pollution are used to provide a better perspective of the possible effects of water contamination. The present status and future directions for the determination of trace levels of organic compounds present in water are also proposed.
“Whatever (Neck Roll, Eye Roll, Teeth Suck)”: The Situated Coproduction of Social Categories and Identities through Stancetaking and Transmodal Stylization

This article examines the argumentative talk of a preadolescent girls' peer group demonstrating both the co-construction of microinteractional identities as well as the coproduction of macro-social identity categories, such as race, class, and gender. Activities of social aggression are performed through embodied styling and stancetaking in the midst of oppositional moves towards a “tagalong” girl. Through transmodal stylization girls openly mock an African American working-class girl using talk associated with wealthy white “Valley Girls,” while simultaneously producing gestures associated with working-class black “Ghetto Girls.” Through the use of different communicative modalities girls simultaneously index multiple culturally salient representations. [stance, style, peer group, conflict talk, identity]
Brazilian spotted fever in Espirito Santo, Brazil : description of a focus of infection in a new endemic region

Abstract Although Brazilian spotted fever is known to occur in several adjacent states, infection with spotted fever group (SFG) rickettsiae has not previously been documented in the Brazilian state of Espirito Santo. We report a cluster of two proven and four suspected cases of Brazilian spotted fever in a small valley near Colatina, Espirito Santo. Four patients died without confirmatory serologic or pathologic studies. The two surviving patients had serologic and/or pathologic evidence of infection with SFG rickettsiae. Results of a survey done in 1991 confirmed the presence of antibodies reactive with SFG rickettsiae in the serum of dogs living in this region. Two of 25 dogs had elevated microimmunofluorescent antibody titers (1:64 and 1:256). Both seropositive dogs were pets of the index cases and lived in the valley where all six human cases were presumed to have acquired their infections. These cases and the results of the canine serosurvey suggest that a focus of virulent disease exists in an area not previously known to be endemic for SFG rickettsiae.
Genetic evidence of contemporary hybridization in one of North America's rarest anurans, the Florida bog frog

When a widespread species is sympatric with a rare, geographically restricted conspecific, recurrent gene flow can pose the risk of extinction for the latter. This can occur via genetic swamping, where the occurrence of hybrids eventually replaces the numerically less abundant species. We took a molecular genetic approach to quantify the occurrence and degree of contemporary hybridization between two species of frog co-occurring in a small geographic area in northwest Florida, USA. The Florida bog frog Lithobates okaloosae is a small ranid limited in distribution to a few acidic seepage and steephead streams that feed the Yellow, Shoal and East Bay river drainages in Walton, Okaloosa and Santa Rosa counties, Florida. The bronze frog Lithobates clamitans is a widespread (Eastern North America) congener. Data from nine microsatellite loci and 350 frogs were analyzed using Bayesian clustering (STRUCTURE) and a Bayesian hybrid classification method implemented in NEWHYBRIDS. Power to detect hybrids with the dataset was assessed through simulations. Both methods detected hybrids in similar proportions (5–10%), including congruent confirmation and rejection of samples previously classified as putative hybrids based on phenotypic characteristics. However, the nine loci lacked sufficient power to differentiate among F1 and backcrossed individuals, leaving open the question of the extent of genetic introgression. Longitudinal genetic monitoring is recommended to evaluate whether the observed level of hybridization represents a long-term threat to the distinction of one of North America’s most geographically restricted frogs.
A four-dimensional deformation of a numerical Godeaux surface

A numerical Godeaux surface is a surface of general type with invariants p9 = q = 0 and K2 = 1. In this paper the moduli space of a numerical Godeaux surface with order two torsion is computed to be eightdimensional; whether or not the moduli space of such a surface is irreducible is still unknown. The surface in this paper is constructed as one member of a four parameter family of double planes. There is a natural involution on the surface, inherited from the double plane construction, which acts on the moduli space. We show that the invariant subspace is four-dimensional and coincides with the family of double planes.
How many disjoint 2-edge paths must a cubic graph have?

In this paper we show that every simple cubic graph on n vertices has a set of at least ⌈ n-4 ⌉ disjoint 2-edge paths and that this bound is sharp. Our proof provides a polynomial time algorithm for finding such a set in a simple cubic graph. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 45: 57–79, 2003 Supported in part by the National Science Foundation under DIMACS grant CCR 91-19999. Supported in part by the National Science Foundation under grant DMS-9970325.
Sediment texture, erodibility, and composition in the Northern Gulf of Mexico and their potential impacts on hypoxia formation

A region of hypoxic waters has formed annually over the past several decades in the northern Gulf of Mexico. This has motivated the studies of mechanisms controlling the development of hypoxia. Both field and laboratory approaches were used to examine sediment texture, erodibility, and composition. Sediment texture analyses show that grain size relates to the proximity to the Mississippi and Atchafalaya river deltas and to the remnants of shifts in the Mississippi and Atchafalaya deltaic lobes. Temporal variability in erodibility relates to seasonal weather patterns, with more energetic wave conditions in winter and spring setting up an active bottom layer that increases erodibility, compared to quiescent summers that allow for seabed consolidation. The amount of eroded material is fairly low until shear stress levels in the bottom boundary layer exceed 0.4 Pa. An organically enriched fluff layer was found at the sediment–water interface, which is highly erodible under low shear stress levels. Eroded volatile suspended solids (a proxy for organic material) vs. increasing levels of shear stress revealed a distinct pattern at all sample areas; higher concentrations of organic material were eroded at the lowest (0.01 Pa) and highest (0.6 Pa) applied shear stresses, and there was a higher ratio of the volatile to total suspended solids at 0.01 Pa. Based on erodibility experiments and modeling data analysis, the low shear stress levels during the quiescent periods in summer were sometimes high enough to resuspend this fluff layer, but not underlying sediment, thereby potentially facilitating the development of bottom water hypoxia.
Reason and Will in Contemporary Social Contract Theory

Social contract theorists rely upon the idea of agreement as a framework for justification, but differ in their characterization of the parties to agreement. Some contract theorists, such as Buchanan and Gauthier, begin with willful agents who are moved solely by their own subjective ends. Rawls, on the other hand, imagines an agreement reached by parties who are moved exclusively by impersonal concerns, which make no reference at all to the parties' particular commitments. This paper criticizes both of these contract views, arguing that subjectivist contract theories fail to acknowledge the role of impersonal reasons in bringing persons to a principled accommodation, while Rawls rejects the legitimate moral claims arising from our particularity The paper defends an alternative contract view, which envisions an agreement reached by persons who are partial to their own interests, but willing to consider impartially the claims of others. One of the many things John Rawls achieved with the publication of A Theory ofJustice was a renewed interest in social contract theory (Rawls 1971). Recent contributions to the contract tradition include James Buchanan's The Limits of Liberty (1975), David Gauthier's Morals by Agreement (1986), Thomas Nagel's Equality and Partiality (1991), T M. Scanlon's "Contractualism and Utilitarianism" (1982), and Rawls's own Political Liberalism (1993). These works all rely upon the idea of agreement as a framework for justification though they differ in their description of the parties to agreement, in the constraints imposed upon the agreement, and in the principles and institutions agreed to by the parties. The varieties of contemporary social contract theory can be divided into three types. First, there are subjectivist contract views, like those of Buchanan and Gauthier, which seek to justify political institutions and cooperative social arrangements by showing that they would be agreed to as rational means of advancing each person's subjective ends. Second, there is Rawlsian contract
Corner transfer matrices and Lorentz invariance on a lattice

Abstract The continuum limit of the Baxter eight-vertex lattice model is the Lorentz invariant massive Thirring/sine-Gordon field theory. Here it is shown that the Baxter model exhibits a continuous symmetry which is an exact lattice generalization generalization of Lorentz invariance, and that the corner transfer matrix recently developed by Baxter is a lattice boost operator. The role of elliptic function parameters as lattice rapidity variables is discussed.
Functional plasticity in cognitive aging: review and hypothesis.

Cognitive aging reflects not only loss but also adaptation to loss. The adult brain is capable of plastic change, including change in cortical representation. This has been seen in association not only with frank lesions but also in healthy individuals as a function of experience and training. This review considers the potential for adult plasticity together with evidence of a relation in old age between regional cortical atrophy/shrinkage and increased activation in neuroimaging. Those cortical regions shown most consistently to shrink in adulthood—prefrontal and parietal cortices—are the same regions showing increased regional activation in aging. Combining several strands of behavioral and neuroimaging evidence, the author argues that functional plasticity alters the course of cognitive aging. The author advances the hypothesis that losses in regional brain integrity drive functional reorganization through changes in processing strategy and makes specific predictions from that hypothesis.
Correlates of community mental health center underservice to non-whites†

The relationships between relatively low utilization rates for non-whites and catchment area demography and center service characteristics were examined for 142 federally funded community mental health centers. Center characteristics were less strongly related to relative utilization by non-whites than were area demographic characteristics. Several characteristics of the black population were among those most highly associated with relative non-white utilization rates.
Norflurazon (SAN-9789) reduces abscisic acid levels in cotton seedlings: A glandless isoline is more sensitive than its glanded counterpart

Abstract Abscisic acid biosynthesis in norflurazon-treated isolines of glanded and glandless cotton ( Gossypium hirsutum L. cv. Stoneville 213) was investigated under controlled growth conditions. Norflurazon (10 to 100 μ M ) reduced abscisic acid by approximately 70 to 80% of control levels in cotyledons of seedlings grown from seeds imbibed in the presence of the herbicide. Chloroplast ultrastructure was disrupted and chlorophyll and carotenoid levels were reduced directly with increased herbicide concentration. Based on disruptions in chloroplast ultrastructure and reductions in pigment levels and abscisic acid concentration, the glanded isoline tolerated approximately 5 to 10 times higher concentrations of norflurazon compared to the glandless isoline. Furthermore, the results indicate that a pathway for abscisic acid biosynthesis in cotton involves carotenoid biosynthesis.
Effect of Cloud Scattering on Line Formation in the Atmosphere of Venus

Abstract Corrections for anisotropic scattering in a cloudy medium are added to a synthetic spectrum analysis by Belton, Hunten and Goody of CO2 bands and a water vapor line in the spectrum of Venus. It is found that to a good approximation the introduction of anisotropic scattering merely renormalizes the theoretical curves so that the corrections can be applied without recalculating the synthetic spectra. Since the line shapes and relative intensities are unaltered, derived pressures and temperatures remain the same. The corrected results indicate that the scattering mean free path in the Cytherian clouds resembles that for terrestrial cirrus clouds and that there is at least 20 times too little water vapor present to be in equilibrium with a water or ice cloud.