cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The effect of weather factors on restaurant sales

Weather factors have been shown to affect human behavior and mood. On the other hand, mood has a strong effect on total demand and demand for specific products. In this study, we have tested the effect of 17 different weather factors on the demand for specific restaurant menu items. We have also tested the effect of weather factors on the demand for different menu item categories, on hot and cold, and light, medium, and heavy menu items. The results indicate that different weather factors have different effects on different menu items and that the sales of some items are more affected by weather while others are not affected. These results can be used in the process of menu engineering and for the differential pricing of menu items according to the changes in weather factors.
Student-faculty collaboration in developing and testing infrastructure for a C-based course using robots

The MyroC project provides extensive support (software infrastructure, readings, exam-ples, labs, additional course materials) for a C-based introductory course that emphasizes imperative problem solving and data structures. Past papers have highlighted the collaborative nature of both project development and the course itself, and the model of student-faculty collaboration in course development. MyroC.3.1 expands capabilities for blocking and non-blocking functions, taking and displaying camera images, and porting of the infrastructure to both Linux and Mac OS X. This new release illustrates substantial advantages for student-faculty development and testing, with benefits to the project itself, students in the target introductory course, and students in the development team.
On the Protection of Private Information in Machine Learning Systems: Two Recent Approches

The recent, remarkable growth of machine learning has led to intense interest in the privacy of the data on which machine learning relies, and to new techniques for preserving privacy. However, older ideas about privacy may well remain valid and useful. This note reviews two recent works on privacy in the light of the wisdom of some of the early literature, in particular the principles distilled by Saltzer and Schroeder in the 1970s.
How Capitalist Were the ‘Bourgeois Revolutions’?

The canonical version of the ‘bourgeois revolutions’ has been under attack from both pro-capitalist ‘Revisionist’ historians and ‘Political Marxists’. Neil Davidson’s book How Revolutionary Were the Bourgeois Revolutions? provides a thorough review of the intellectual history of the notion of the bourgeois revolution and attempts to rescue the concept from varied criticism. Despite distancing himself from problematic formulations of the bourgeois revolution inherited from Second-International Marxism, Davidson’s own framework reproduces many of the historical and conceptual problems of this tradition.
Characterization of Soil Compaction at Construction Sites and Woody Plant Response

This study was designed to quantify soil compaction occurring at construction sites and determine the effect of soil compaction on woody plant growth. Soil compaction was measured at 12 sites including residential, commercial, and new road construction. Methods of measurement included bulk density, determined with a nuclear densiometer and by the rubber balloon method, and penetrometer resistance. Bulk density in the construction zone averaged 0.50 g/cm3 (33.09lb/ft3) higher than in an adjacent undisturbed area. Bulk density readings in the construction zone were in the range that has been found to restrict growth of woody plants. Penetrometer resistance was higher in the construction zone, but this was a less reliable method of measure than bulk density for this type of site. A field study was conducted to determine the effect of compaction and puddled soil on the growth of Forsythia ovata Nakai and Cornus sericea L. Treatments included puddled soil and low, medium, and high levels of compaction. Althoug...
Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol-like discriminative stimulus effects of five novel synthetic cannabinoids in rats.

Novel synthetic cannabinoid compounds continue to appear in the market advertised as legal alternatives to marijuana and the older synthetic cannabinoid compounds which are now controlled substances. Most of these newer compounds have been found to act at CB1 receptors, so the purpose of this study was to study the abuse liability of these compounds. Five of these compounds (BB-22, FUB-PB-22, 5F-AMB, NM2201, and MAB-CHMINACA) were tested for their ability to produce discriminative stimulus effects similar to Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC) in rats. The ability of the CB1 receptor inverse agonist rimonabant to antagonize the discriminative stimulus effects of the five test compounds was also tested. All five of the test compounds fully substituted for the discriminative stimulus effects of Δ9-THC at some dose, although MAB-CHMINACA produced an inverted U-shaped dose effect. Rimonabant fully antagonized the Δ9-THC-like discriminative stimulus effects of BB-22, 5F-AMB, NM2201, and MAB-CHMINACA but only reduced the effects of FUB-PB-22 to 40–50 % of Δ9-THC-appropriate responding. These findings suggest that all five of the test compounds produced Δ9-THC-like effects and will likely have abuse liability similar to that of the controlled cannabinoid compounds.
Trying Leviathan: The Nineteenth-Century New York Court Case that Put the Whale and Challenged the Order of Nature

Review of Trying Leviathan: The Nineteenth-Century New York Court Case that Put the Whale and Challenged the Order of Nature . D. Graham Burnett. 2007. Princeton University Press. Pp. 304 color plates, halftones, bibliography, index. $29.95 (cloth). ISBN 9780691129501.
Micro Conditions for Macro Models of Manpower Mobility

This paper combines systems of micro and macro manpower accounts to link heterogeneous labor groups and employment opportunities within and across internal and external labor markets. The resulting framework is then used to construct a time-inhomogeneous model of social mobility in organizations in order to show how conditions in the external labor market affect advancement opportunities in the internal labor market and, vice-versa, the possible effect of conditions in the internal labor market on flows into and out of the external labor market. The model is then shown to converge to an equilibrium in which the aggregate manpower flow parameters become time-homogeneous.
Guanine nucleotide binding proteins regulate epithelial Na+ channels.

Regulation of ion movements via transport proteins is of particular importance in absorbing and secreting epithelia where the intracellular ionic concentrations must be carefully balanced to enable the cells to perform transepithelial electrolytic movements. The ability of epithelia to respond in an acute fashion to environmental signals relies, in part, on their capacity to induce a set of secondary messengers, including the intracellular signals Ca2+, pH and cAMP, generated by interaction of hormones with receptors at the basolateral membrane (1). The resultant physiological response at the apical membrane (e.g. increased Na+ transport) is assumed to develop from the transmission of these second messenger systems through, for example, protein kinases in biochemical pathways which result in the phosphorylation of one or more apical membrane proteins, including the Na+ channel itself (2). Recent evidence from studies of partially purified Na+ channels from the apical membrane of A6 cells suggest that one of the proteins in this complex (of at least 7 proteins) is phosphorylated by cAMP-dependent protein kinase (3). Changes in the intracellular cAMP concentration upon activation of the V2 receptor by vasopressin have been reported to increase Na+ transport in tight epithelia, such as toad urinary bladder and the A6 toad kidney cell line (4,5).
Imposing a Cap on Capital Punishment: A Proposal for Minimizing the Arbitrariness of the Death Penalty

Over the last three decades, the Supreme Court has established complex procedural safeguards in an effort to reduce the arbitrariness of the death penalty. Despite the Court's considerable efforts however, capital punishment is still imposed in an arbitrary fashion. One reason for the continued arbitrariness is that the Court's efforts have focused almost exclusively on the guilt and sentencing phases of capital trials, while imposing few barriers limiting which capital cases are input into the criminal justice system in the first place. Because there are few legal constraints on the sheer number of cases in which prosecutors can pursue the death penalty, the Government is not under sufficient pressure to choose its capital cases carefully. As a result, the death penalty is sought and meted out in some cases, which though terrible, are no worse than the thousands of other murder cases in which prosecutors pursue only life imprisonment. Moreover, because prosecutors in certain jurisdictions file too many capital cases, the criminal justice system lacks the resources to focus sufficient attention on each one. This paper argues that the Court would be better served by imposing a cap on the number of death-penalty prosecutions each jurisdiction can bring in a given year. The cap would be based on the number of murders in a given jurisdiction and the national average of death-penalty prosecutions each year. Such a cap would bring outlying jurisdictions into the mainstream, rather than allowing those counties to seek the ultimate punishment in an excessive number of cases. This paper argues that a cap on death-penalty prosecutions would be more likely to reduce the arbitrariness of capital punishment and would be no more activist than the Court's current death-penalty jurisprudence.
Industrial Scale Membrane Processes

The use of perm-selective membranes for separating mixtures is far from new, and in a sense is as old as the human race, since the kidney purification process involves selective passage of materials through membrane walls. For many decades there has been some commercial use of membranes for liquid mixture separation in dialysis and reverse osmosis. More recently, membrane separations have become big actors on the stage of separation technology, especially in the area of gas recovery and purification. The field has grown quite large and the literature is voluminous. There is now a North American Membrane Society and there has been for some years the Journal of Membrane Science. At several academic institutions throughout the world, including The University of Texas at Austin, there are major programs in membrane research.
Mouse strains and sexual divergence in corneal innervation and nerve regeneration

A variety of mouse strains and sexes are used in studies of corneal wound healing and nerve regeneration. However, there is a gap of knowledge about corneal nerve density and its function in different mouse strains and sexes. In this study, we report a strain divergence of total and substance P (SP) sensory corneal nerves in uninjured mice. The BALB/c mouse showed the highest nerve density, corneal sensitivity, and tear volume followed by CFW and then C57BL/6. No differences were found in total nerves and SP-positive nerves between sexes. After injury damaged the corneal nerves, an important role for mouse strains, biologic sex, and their association to corneal nerve regeneration was identified. All female mice have a faster nerve regeneration rate than males. The molecular mechanism of this sexual divergence involves higher secretion neurotrophic factors in tears, which in turn modulate gene expression in trigeminal ganglion neurons. An important upstream signaling regulator was β-estradiol, and topical treatment with β-estradiol confirmed its function in corneal nerve regeneration. In conclusion, our study shows that the strain and sex of laboratory mice significantly affect the different indicators of corneal innervation and nerve regeneration. Researchers investigating corneal diseases should carefully consider these factors.-Pham, T. L., Kakazu, A., He, J., Bazan, H. E. P. Mouse strains and sexual divergence in corneal innervation and nerve regeneration.
On what to permute in test-based approaches for variable importance measures in Random Forests.

MOTIVATION In bioinformatics applications, it is currently customary to permute the outcome variable in order to produce inference on covariates to test novel methods or statistics whose distributions are poorly known. The seminal publication of Altmann et al. in Bioinformatics uses the same permutation scheme to obtain P-values that can be treated as corrected measure of feature importance to rectify the bias of the Gini variable importance in Random Forests. Since then, such method has been used in applied work to also draw statistical conclusions on variable importance measures from resulting P-values. RESULTS In this paper, we show that permuting the outcome may produce unexpected results, including P-values with undesirable properties and illustrate how more refined permutation schemes can be appropriate to obtain desirable results, including high power in discovering relevant variables. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Representing in the Student Laboratory

In this essay, I will expand the philosophical discussion about the representational practice in science to examine its role in science education through four case studies. The cases are of what I call ‘educational laboratory experiments’ (ELEs), performative models used representationally by students to come to a better understanding of theoretical knowledge of a scientific discipline. The studies help to demonstrate some idiosyncratic features of representational practices in science education, most importantly a lack of novelty and discovery built into the ELEs as their methodology is solidified when it becomes a widely spread educational tool within a discipline. There is thus an irreducible role for the historical development of ELEs in understanding their representational nature and use. The important role of the historical development of ELEs leads to an interesting way that educators can use ELEs as a means of connecting students to important historical developments within their disciplines.
Preliminary efficacy of a lovingkindness meditation intervention for patients undergoing biopsy and breast cancer surgery: A randomized controlled pilot study

Despite more women undergoing treatment for breast cancer and increased survival rates, many women suffer from anxiety and physical symptoms (e.g., pain, fatigue) surrounding diagnosis and surgery. Research investigating the efficacy of psychosocial interventions for breast cancer patients during this period is limited. This randomized controlled pilot study examined the effect of a brief lovingkindness meditation intervention on these key outcomes. Participants were 60 women who underwent core needle breast biopsy, received an abnormal biopsy result, and underwent breast surgery (White = 73.6%; African American = 22.6%; Asian American = 3.8%; Age M = 56). Participants were randomly assigned to one of three treatment conditions at breast biopsy: (1) lovingkindness meditation, (2) music, and (3) usual care. Assessments of anxiety, pain, fatigue, physiologic reactivity, and self-compassion occurred prior to patients’ biopsy, following biopsy, 1 week after receipt of biopsy results, and 1 week following breast surgery. Multilevel modeling analyses demonstrated that lovingkindness meditation significantly improved pain (p = 0.02), self-compassion (p = 0.004), and heart rate (p = 0.02) over time compared to control conditions. There was a trend for anxiety (p = 0.05). Music significantly improved pain (p = 0.04) compared to usual care. These findings provide preliminary evidence for the feasibility and efficacy of a lovingkindness meditation intervention for breast cancer patients during the diagnostic and surgical period. Improving psychological and physical well-being during this time frame has the potential to improve longer-term health outcomes during adjuvant treatment and survivorship. Interventions that cultivate positive adjustment during the diagnostic and surgical period of breast cancer are an important area of future research.
Clinical diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in survivors of pediatric brain tumors.

Survivors of pediatric brain tumors often have neurodevelopmental late effects, such as inattention. Symptoms may mirror those of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which affects ~ 5–8% of the general population. This retrospective study of survivors followed at a large tertiary care center examined the prevalence of a clinical diagnosis of ADHD, and risk factors associated with ADHD diagnosis and ADHD-related medication use. A retrospective chart review of brain tumor survivors (n = 528), diagnosed between 2000 and 2015, who were at least 6 years old and 2 years from the end of tumor-directed therapy or from diagnosis, if no interventions were received. Clinical and demographic data were extracted from the medical record. Survivors were 55.7% male with mean age 8.15 ± 4.4 (0.0–16.0) years at brain tumor diagnosis. The most common diagnoses were low-grade glioma, medulloblastoma, and craniopharyngioma, with 52.5% of tumors supratentorial. Of the survivors, 81.3% received surgery, 40.0% radiation therapy, and 36.6% chemotherapy. Sixty-nine survivors (13.1%) had ADHD diagnoses, 105 (19.9%) had symptoms of ADHD without diagnoses, and 64 (12.1%) had ADHD medication use. ADHD diagnosis was associated with younger age at tumor diagnosis (p = 0.05) and supratentorial tumor location (p = 0.001). ADHD diagnosis was not associated with gender, tumor type, or treatment type. Survivors of brain tumors are at increased risk of ADHD and related symptoms. The greatest increase in risk occurs for survivors with diagnoses at younger ages and supratentorial tumors. Additional research is warranted, as select survivors may benefit from behavioral or pharmacologic ADHD treatments to optimize functioning.
A comparison of information processing abilities of middle and lower class Negro kindergarten boys.

Fifty middle class and 50 lower class Negro kindergarten boys were administered a battery of eight instruments designed to assess specific information processing abilities. An analysis of 19 variab...
COMC: A Framework for Online Cross-domain Multistream Classification

With the tremendous increase of the online data, training a single classifier may suffer because of the large variety of data domains. One solution could be to learn separate classifiers for each domain. However, this would arise a huge cost to gather annotated training data for a large number of domains and ignore similarity shared across domains. Hence, it leads to our problem setting: can labeled data from a related source domain help predict the unlabeled data in the target domainƒ In this paper, we consider two independent simultaneous data streams, which are referred to as the source and target streams. The target stream continuously generates data instances from one domain where the label is unknown, while the source stream continuously generates labeled data instances from another domain. Most likely, the two data streams would have different but related feature spaces and different data distributions. Moreover, these streams may have asynchronous concept drifts between them. Our problem setting, which is called Cross-domain Multistream Classification, is to predict the class labels of data instances in the target stream using a classifier trained on the labeled source stream. In this paper, we propose an efficient solution for cross-domain multistream classification by integrating change detection into online data stream adaptation. The class labels of data instances in the target stream are predicted using the sufficient amount of label information in the related source stream. And the concept drifts along the two independent streams are continuously being addressed at the same time. Experimental results on real-world data sets indicate significantly improved performance over baseline methods.
SimScrumF: a game for supporting the process of teaching Scrum

This paper presents our work in progress using gamification principles to create a simulator for supporting the process of teaching Project Management concepts, specifically the Scrum methodology for the Software Engineering course. We created the SimScrumF - Scrum Simulator, a game that is focused on promoting the engagement of students in the learning process of agile concepts and the Scrum methodology. This game is based on CRPG -- Computer Role-Playing game, where the student controls the actions of a character immersed in some well-defined world. The architecture of the game is multi-language, to facilitate the learning of students from different countries. Our game simulates different circumstances where the student can "live" the different Scrum phases and roles: Product Owner, Scrum Master and member of the Development Team. When the student finishes the sprint and delivers the product to the client, the student will earn more or fewer experience points, depending on the satisfaction of the client. We will describe the details of the implementation of the project and how the student can have real situations in software development.
Review of high intensity ion source development and operation

The Electron Cyclotron Resonance Ion Source (ECRIS) has transformed the nuclear physics research field over the last 47 years. Today, the performance of ion sources is the first parameter that defines the design performance of existing facilities as well as the design approach and performance of new facilities. In this paper, I will review the current "state of the art" performance capabilities for ECRISs as well as other ion sources and how those current capabilities form the primary design criteria for new nuclear physics facilities and set the limiting performance for existing facilities. I will close with a short-term look into the future for these ion sources and other competing types.
The health effects of ultrafine particles

Ultrafine particles (PM0.1), which are present in the air in large numbers, pose a health risk. They generally enter the body through the lungs but translocate to essentially all organs. Compared to fine particles (PM2.5), they cause more pulmonary inflammation and are retained longer in the lung. Their toxicity is increased with smaller size, larger surface area, adsorbed surface material, and the physical characteristics of the particles. Exposure to PM0.1 induces cough and worsens asthma. Metal fume fever is a systemic disease of lung inflammation most likely caused by PM0.1. The disease is manifested by systemic symptoms hours after exposure to metal fumes, usually through welding. PM0.1 cause systemic inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, and coagulation changes that predispose individuals to ischemic cardiovascular disease and hypertension. PM0.1 are also linked to diabetes and cancer. PM0.1 can travel up the olfactory nerves to the brain and cause cerebral and autonomic dysfunction. Moreover, in utero exposure increases the risk of low birthweight. Although exposure is commonly attributed to traffic exhaust, monitored students in Ghana showed the highest exposures in a home near a trash burning site, in a bedroom with burning coils employed to abate mosquitos, in a home of an adult smoker, and in home kitchens during domestic cooking. The high point-source production and rapid redistribution make incidental exposure common, confound general population studies and are compounded by the lack of global standards and national reporting. The potential for PM0.1 to cause harm to health is great, but their precise role in many illnesses is still unknown and calls for more research.
Ultraviolet Photodissociation Dynamics of the 1-Propenyl Radical

Ultraviolet (UV) photodissociation dynamics of jet-cooled 1-propenyl radical (CHCHCH3) were investigated at the photolysis wavelengths from 224 to 248 nm using high-n Rydberg atom time-of-flight (HRTOF) technique. The 1-propenyl radicals were produced from 193 nm photolysis of 1-chloropropene and 1-bromopropene precursors. The photofragment yield (PFY) spectra of the H atom product have a broad peak centered at 230 nm. The H + C3H4 product translational energy P(ET) distribution’s peak near ∼8 kcal/mol, and the fraction of average translational energy in the total available energy, ⟨fT⟩, is nearly a constant of ∼0.12 from 224 to 248 nm. The H atom product has an isotropic angular distribution with the anisotropy parameter β ≈ 0. Quasiclassical trajectory calculations were also carried out using an ab initio ground-state potential energy surface for dissociation of 1-propenyl at the excitation energy of 124 kcal/mol (230 nm). The calculated branching ratios are 60% to the methyl + acetylene products, 16% t...
Using Mobility Data to Understand and Forecast COVID19 Dynamics

Disease dynamics, human mobility, and public policies co-evolve during a pandemic such as COVID-19. Understanding dynamic human mobility changes and spatial interaction patterns are crucial for understanding and forecasting COVID-19 dynamics. We introduce a novel graph-based neural network(GNN) to incorporate global aggregated mobility flows for a better understanding of the impact of human mobility on COVID-19 dynamics as well as better forecasting of disease dynamics. We propose a recurrent message passing graph neural network that embeds spatio-temporal disease dynamics and human mobility dynamics for daily state-level new confirmed cases forecasting. This work represents one of the early papers on the use of GNNs to forecast COVID-19 incidence dynamics and our methods are competitive to existing methods. We show that the spatial and temporal dynamic mobility graph leveraged by the graph neural network enables better long-term forecasting performance compared to baselines.
Irrigation in pine nurseries

This review provides information and opinions about irrigation practices in pine nurseries. Even when nurseries receive more than 15 mm of rainfall week-1, managers irrigate seedbeds to increase germination, increase seed efficiency, and increase root growth. In the southern United States, a 7-month old pine seedling in an outdoor nursery typically receives 2 to 6 kg of water supplied from either sprinklers (39 nurseries) or center-pivot irrigation (12 nurseries). Most nursery managers do not intentionally subject the crop to moisture stress, since most reforestation sites receive adequate rainfall, and many studies show that reducing root mass does not increase seedling performance. In fact, nursery profits can be reduced by more than $13,000 ha-1 when deficit irrigation reduces average seedling diameter by 1 mm. Although some researchers believe that failure to properly drought stress pine seedlings might increase outplanting mortality by up to 75%, research over the past 40 years does not support that myth. When pine seedlings average 5 mm (at the root-collar), water stress is not a reliable method of increasing tolerance to an October freeze event. In several greenhouse trials, researchers grew and tested seedlings that nursery managers would classify as culls (i.e., dry root mass < 0.5 g). Unfortunately, it is common for researchers to make irrigation recommendations without first developing a water-production function curve.
SPAR-2: A SIMD Processor Array for Machine Learning in IoT Devices

In this paper, SPAR-2, a SIMD processor array for migrating machine learning applications into FPGA IoT edge devices is presented. SPAR-2 is a second-generation processorin/ near-memory architecture developed as a programmable overlay for modern FPGAs. In contrast to point designs, SPAR-2 can be programmed to implement different classes of machine learning algorithms. The overlay architecture is based on Processor-In-Memory (PIM) tiles, which integrate bit-serial ALUs with distributed Block RAMs (BRAMs). Forming PIM tiles increases the size of the multiply-accumulate array and on-chip storage capacity. User-visible inference latencies are reduced by exploiting concurrent accesses to weights and partial results stored throughout the distributed BRAMs. The sizing and performance analysis of SPAR-2 running a standard Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) model is provided. Results show that our approach enables packing up to 16,384 processing elements in a Virtex-7 FPGA. Runtime performance comparisons show that SPAR-2 achieves up to 24.51x speedup compared to a High-Level Synthesis (HLS) equivalent design and 1.75x speedup over a previous custom-tuned design.
Synthesis and Applications of ZnO/Polymer Nanohybrids

Because of its distinctive combination of physical properties such as high thermal conductivity, ultraviolet (UV) absorbance, or catalytic behavior, zinc oxide-based nanoparticles have attracted in...
Deaf Users’ Preferences Among Wake-Up Approaches during Sign-Language Interaction with Personal Assistant Devices

Personal-assistant devices like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant are increasingly popular among consumers. Users activate these systems through some type of wake-up approach, e.g. using a wake-word “Alexa” or “Ok, Google.” Voice-based interaction poses accessibility barriers for Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) users, and technologies for sign-language recognition are improving. We therefore explore wake-up interactions for DHH users for potential personal assistant devices that understand sign language commands. Interviews with DHH users (N=21) motivated the design of six wake-up approaches, and we produced video prototypes demonstrating each using a Wizard-of-Oz approach. These prototypes were evaluated in a follow-up study in which DHH users (N=12) identified factors that influenced their preference among approaches. This study contributes empirical knowledge about DHH ASL signers’ preferences and concerns with wake-up interaction, thereby providing guidance for future designers of these systems.
Prevalence of trochlear dysplasia in infants evaluated for developmental dysplasia of the hip

Abstract Purpose The purpose of this study was to define the incidence of trochlear dysplasia in an infant cohort being screened for developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH). Methods Newborns scree...
Condom Use at Coitarche Among Men in Non-Steady Relationships in the United States, 2006-2013.

Abstract Purpose Using U.S. National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) data from 2006 to 2013, we characterized men aged 15–44 years who reported not using a condom at their first vaginal intercourse (coitarche), while in a non-steady relationship with a female partner. Methods Men who reported ever having intercourse were asked about male and female contraceptives used at coitarche. Analysis was restricted to respondents whose first sexual relationship was reported as non-steady, thereby comprising a population for whom condoms are recommended for preventing both pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. Demographic and behavioral factors were examined against condom use, with significant associations included in multivariable logistic regression. We additionally describe young men’s receipt of various components of sex education prior to coitarche. Results Nearly half (43%) of men aged 15–44 in the U.S. reported not using a condom at coitarche during a non-steady relationship. Among these men, coitarche was reported on average at 16 years old; more than one third (37%) endorsed mixed feelings or not wanting to have sex at the time. Older men (adjusted odds ratio [adjOR] 1.07, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.06–1.08), as with men from earlier National Survey of Family Growth cycles, were increasingly likely to have reported unprotected coitarche. Similarly, men reporting coitarche before the age of 15 (adjOR 2.39, 95% CI 1.99–2.87) or having a younger sex partner at coitarche (adjOR 1.73, 95% CI 1.11–2.69) were more likely to have not used condoms. About three quarters of men received at least some form of sex education prior to coitarche. Conclusions Condomless coitarche is commonly reported among men in non-steady adolescent relationships and with mixed feelings about having sex. Condomless coitarche among these men is independently associated with initiating sex before the age of 15 and having sex with a younger female partner. These findings may guide how to structure young men’s sexual education programing.
Acoustic tweezer with complex boundary-free trapping and transport channel controlled by shadow waveguides

Acoustic tweezers use ultrasound for contact-free, bio-compatible, and precise manipulation of particles from millimeter to submicrometer scale. In microfluidics, acoustic tweezers typically use an array of sources to create standing wave patterns that can trap and move objects in ways constrained by the limited complexity of the acoustic wave field. Here, we demonstrate spatially complex particle trapping and manipulation inside a boundary-free chamber using a single pair of sources and an engineered structure outside the chamber that we call a shadow waveguide. The shadow waveguide creates a tightly confined, spatially complex acoustic field inside the chamber without requiring any interior structure that would interfere with net flow or transport. Altering the input signals to the two sources creates trapped particle motion along an arbitrary path defined by the shadow waveguide. Particle trapping, particle manipulation and transport, and Thouless pumping are experimentally demonstrated.
Frontiers of Family Law

The changed nature of adoption - a challenge for the legislators, Caroline Ball Contact after divorce - what has the law to offer?, Liz Trinder Cross-frontier contact between children and their parents - identifying the problems, William Duncan Recent developments and problems in Scottish children's law, Alastair Bissett-Johnson "Please, sir, I want some more" - new developments in the South African saga of child maintenance and children's rights, Brigitte Clark The care standards tribunal of England and Wales - a contribution to human rights, His Hon. Judge David Pearl When cultures clash - Aborigines and inheritances in Australia, Prue Vines Pre-nuptial agreements and financial provision, Gareth Miller.
Automatically Eliciting Task Models from Written Task Narratives

Task models are a key element of model-based user interface design, but they are difficult to build. Written task narratives, on the other hand, are easier to write and helpful in design, but are not formal enough to be used rigorously. To bridge this gap, researchers have developed tools that aid in the extraction of formal task models from scenarios, but the process is still largely one of manually identifying key elements in the text. This paper proposes the use of shallow natural language parsing to automatically extract task information from narratives.
Determination of timing and location of water movement and ice-layer formation by temperature measurements in sub-freezing snow

Measurements of temperature in snow along a vertical profile during the onset of spring melting are used to calculate spatial and temporal temperature gradients and terms of the conduction equation with an internal energy-production term are calculated. Heat-transfer information is combined with stratigraphic observations made during melting and allow detailed determination of the timing and location of heterogeneous water movement and of refreezing. Internal energy production is interpreted as latent heat of refreezing of percolated meltwater. Times and locations of flow and refreezing of meltwater are calculated and compared to stratigraphic observations of layering and changes in density and liquid-water content. Sequences of melt, piping, layering and refreezing seen in calculations and in stratigraphy demonstrate retarded flow at fine-to-coarse transitions, flow along such transitions and refreezing at the transitions to form ice layers. Downslope flow is also observed in the absence of an impermeable horizon to redirect flow from the vertical.
Comparison of Simulated Flow in a Discrete Fracture Laboratory Sample Based on Measured Average and Spatially Varying Hydraulic Conductivity

Fractured rock masses can be characterized by rapid changes in hydraulic conductivity. In this study, the fully characterized pore space geometry for a 0.055 m section of a fracture plane was used to evaluate approaches to developing input parameters for a finite element flow model; average values, random number generated values, and values that reflect the spatial variability of the fracture pore space. Modeled flowrates based on input parameters that reflect the measured spatial variability matched the measured flowrates but not the model flows produced by other input parameters. Clearly, incorporating spatial variability in numerical model inputs provides a more realistic simulation of experimental data than simply assigning averages or random variability to model inputs. The same pore space and flow measurement data were used to demonstrate the scaling-up effect where, for this data set, sub-samples, each, equal to 0.73% of the total sample area and with a combined area equal to 21.78% of the total sample area gave the density and scale (i.e., scale effect) of hydraulic conductivity measurements that were required to obtained a close match between the measured and computed flowrates. The numerical model simulations show that with increasing size of the subsamples the predicted flowrates rapidly converged on the measured flowrates. The spatial variability approach provided in this work, applies equally to both fractured and porous media.
Antisickling effects of 2,3-diphosphoglycerate depletion

Elevation of 2,3-bisphosphoglycerate (2,3-DPG) in sickle erthrocytes (SS RBCs) and concomitant acidification of the cell interior promote polymerization by decreasing the solubility (csat) of deoxyhemoglobin S. The antisickling effect of 2,3-DPG depletion was evaluated after activation of the 2,3-DPG phosphatase activity of bisphosphoglycerate mutase by glycolate-2-phosphate, leading to rapid loss of intracellular 2,3-DPG. To ensure its maximal reduction in a physiologic medium, isosmotic CO2/bicarbonate-buffered saline, pH 7.0, was used. Substitution of K+ for Na+ as the major extracellular cation suppressed K:Cl cotransport, prevented cell shrinkage, and allowed demonstration of the full antisickling effect of 2,3-DPG depletion. The modest effect on solubility per se of removing intraerythrocytic 2,3-DPG (delta Csat = 1.6 g/dL) was amplified into a much larger antisickling effect by interaction with three other cellular variables affecting solubility and polymer content (intracellular pH, O2 saturation, and mean cell hemoglobin concentration). Acting in concert, these four antisickling effects (three solubilizing, one osmotic) reduced polymer fraction of glycolate-treated SS RBCs by 32% to 63%, with a concomitant decrease in sickling of 46% to 95% at the nominal pO2 of the microcirculation (20 mm Hg). A decrement in sickling of this magnitude should significantly ameliorate the vasoocclusive severity of sickle cell disease.
The Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002: Implications for Compensation Contracts and Managerial Risk-Taking

The Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) introduced several governance reforms that considerably increased the total risk exposure of CEOs. We examine the effects of these regulatory changes on compensation contracts of CEOs and their effect on risk taking subsequent to SOX. We find that while overall compensation did not change, salary and bonus compensation increased and option compensation decreased following the passage of SOX. The sensitivity of CEO's wealth to changes in shareholder wealth also decreased after SOX. These results indicate that the pay for performance sensitivity of CEO compensation has declined following SOX. Our results indicate that these changes reduced investments in research and development, and capital expenditures. We also document that the above changes in CEOs' pay for performance sensitivities and their risky investments following SOX are associated with a reduction in stock return volatility. However, we do not find any evidence indicating that these changes are associated with lower future operating performance.
Enrollment in graduate geosciences programs appears unaffected by changes in U.S. Immigration Regulations

This is the first of a series about how academic programs and research in the geosciences in the United States have been affected by tightened U.S. immigration regulations
Traumatic Brain Injury: A Trauma Surgeon's Perspective

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a serious epidemic in the United States. It affects patients of all ages, race, and socioeconomic status (SES). The current care of these patients typically manifest...
Practical Techniques For Designing With Exotic Leather: American Alligator and Emu:

Exotic leather is an important part of the leather industry, which is worth approximately three billion dollars (Sterlacci, 1997). Due to an increased fashion emphasis on exotic leather apparel, it is now considered a fashion staple rather than a trend. This study was part of a larger project, conducted by a multi-faceted team of researchers from academia, government, and industry, designed to broaden and enhance the domestic exotic leather industry. The larger project included regional, national, and international surveys of consumers, retailers, designers, and manufacturers regarding their preferences for exotic leather apparel, their knowledge of exotic leather products, their attitudes toward exotic leather, and their perceptions about the exotic leather market. The purpose of the present component of the project was to design, develop, and execute prototype apparel products made from exotic leather, and to identify special techniques necessary for manipulating leather. Prototype garments were created...
Cellular fate of truncated slow skeletal muscle troponin T produced by Glu180 nonsense mutation in amish nemaline myopathy.

A nonsense mutation at codon Glu180 in exon 11 of slow skeletal muscle troponin T (TnT) gene (TNNT1) causes an autosomal-recessive inherited nemaline myopathy. We previously reported the absence of intact or prematurely terminated slow TnT polypeptide in Amish nemaline myopathy (ANM) patient muscle. The present study further investigates the expression and fate of mutant slow TnT in muscle cells. Intact slow TnT mRNA was readily detected in patient muscle, indicating unaffected transcription and RNA splicing. Sequence of the cloned cDNAs revealed the single nucleotide mutation in two alternatively spliced isoforms of slow TnT mRNA. Mutant TNNT1 cDNA is translationally active in Escherichia coli and non-muscle eukaryotic cells, producing the expected truncated slow TnT protein. The mutant mRNA was expressed at significant levels in differentiated C2C12 myotubes, but unlike intact exogenous TnT, truncated slow TnT protein was not detected. Transfective expression in undifferentiated myoblasts produced slow TnT mRNA but not a detectable amount of truncated or intact slow TnT proteins, indicating a muscle cell-specific proteolysis of TnT when it is not integrated into myofilaments. The slow TnT-(1–179) fragment has substantially lower affinity for binding to tropomyosin, in keeping with the loss of one of two tropomyosin-binding sites. Our findings suggest that inefficient incorporation into myofilament is responsible for the instability of mutant slow TnT in ANM muscle. Rapid degradation of the truncated slow TnT protein, rather than instability of the nonsense mRNA, provides the protective mechanism against the potential dominant negative effect of the mutant TnT fragment.
Trends in prostatic adenocarcinoma tumor volume by visual estimation in prostatectomy specimens

Abstract We retrospectively reviewed 1792 consecutive radical prostatectomies (RP) from 2003 to 2006 at a single institution to establish tumor volume reference values, to determine current trends in visually estimated prostate adenocarcinoma tumor volume, and to characterize cases with no residual cancer on RP. Tumor volumes were recorded and subsequently stratified as very low, 0–1%; low, 1.1–10%; intermediate, 10.1–20%; high, 20.1–50%; and very high, >50%, with incidences of 11.7%, 52.1%, 21.5%, 13.2%, and 1.5%, respectively. The incidence of very low volume tumors increased within the time period (p = 0.04). Seminal vesicle involvement was detected in 5.0% of cases and lymph node metastasis occurred in 1.4%. Volume categories statistically correlated with seminal vesicle invasion (p = 0) and lymph nodes metastases (p = 0). Eleven cases of no residual cancer (0.6%) were identified with a non-statically significant increase during the study (p = 0.07). The rising incidence of very low volume tumors should be considered by clinicians when discussing treatment options with patients. A discrete tumor volume should be provided for RP specimens as it may be an important prognostic factor.
Assessing legitimation in mixed research: a new framework

In this article, we have merged or intersected two typologies: Greene’s (Res Sch 13(1):93–98, 2006) four-domain typology for developing a methodological or research paradigm in the social and behavioral sciences and Onwuegbuzie and Johnson’s (Res Sch 13(1):48–63, 2006) nine-component typology for assessing mixed research legitimation. We argue that merging or interconnecting these typologies present a framework for assessing legitimation in mixed research. Specifically, we demonstrate how the nine types of legitimation map onto Greene’s (Res Sch 13(1):93–98, 2006) four methodological domains and illustrate how legitimation in mixed research, rather than being viewed as a procedure that occurs at a specific step of the mixed research process, is better conceptualized as a continuous iterative, interactive, and dynamic process. Additionally, in presenting this framework, we hope to reduce misperceptions that some researchers have voiced about mixed research.
Beyond Miami: The Ethnic Enclave and Personal Income in Various Cuban Communities in the United States

It is frequently noted that Cubans living in Miami are successful because they benefit from the formation of an enclave economy. Using the 1990 Census Public Use Microdata, this study broadens the examination beyond Miami to address the question of why Cubans living elsewhere have higher earnings than those in Miami. Specifically, I address the question of whether there is a relationship between Cuban ethnic enclave participation and Cuban income. Findings indicate that Cubans in Miami have the lowest personal income. Cubans living in areas with the lowest Cuban populations have the highest incomes. These findings are evidence against the enclave economy hypothesis.
Elastic waves interacting with a thin, prestressed, fiber-reinforced surface film

Elastic surface waves propagating at the interface between an isotropic substrate and a thin, transversely isotropic film are analyzed. The transverse isotropy is conferred by fibers lying parallel to the interface. A rigorous leading-order model of the thin-film/substrate interface is derived from the equations of three-dimensional elasticity for prestressed, transversely isotropic films having non- uniform properties. This is used to study Love waves.