cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Pathways in Athletic Administration

This chapter explores the career pathways for becoming an athletic director (AD) at National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divisions I, II, and III institutions based on gender, race, and ethnicity. The lack of diversity in athletic administrative positions, especially at the AD level, within colleges and universities is analyzed. Limited scholarships and their impact on gender, race, and ethnicity that affect career paths up to the ADs and especially in NCAA Divisions I, II, and III are also examined. Role models and mentoring and their positive effects on the career behavior and aspirations of African American youth are also scrutinized.
Facilitating Stimulus Effects of Reward and Punishment

It is the presumption, if not the dictum, of investigators concerned with “basic” psychological research that relatively focused or circumscribed study of a particular problem will often uncover a general principle of behavior. This chapter seeks to illuminate such an outgrowth from the history and current extension of research on “shock-right” facilitation, one of several seemingly paradoxical effects of punishment (see Fowler, 197lb). The phenomenon in question was first detected and theoretically elaborated by Karl Muenzinger (1934). He reported that rats were facilitated in learning a visual discrimination when electric shock was administered for the correct, food-reinforced (“right”) response, and virtually as well as when the same intensity of shock was administered to other animals for the incorrect, non-food-reinforced response (“shock wrong”). The generality of the shock-right facilitation effect did not go uncontested, however, and it is to George Wischner’s credit that the phenomenon was first empirically delimited (Wischner, 1947) and then subsequently elaborated in a systematic program of research that he and the author conducted (e.g., Fowler and Wischner, 1969).
Tolerance Within Community: Does Social Capital Affect Tolerance?

Tolerance is valuable in the development of any U.S. community. Individuals of varying religious beliefs, political leanings, and sexual orientations constitute communities. These differences can create unwanted divisions within the community if tolerance is not present. Examining through the framework of social capital theory, specifically civic engagement and social embeddedness, the present study seeks to understand what impacts an individual to be more tolerant of others. In the current study, tolerance is a broad measure that combines various types of individual characteristics into one dependent variable, including tolerance levels of different races, religious beliefs, and sexual orientations. Using independent measures of social capital in the form of civic engagement and social embeddedness, the study expects those individuals who have more instances of civic engagement and social embeddedness will be more tolerant of others compared to those with no or low levels of either civic engagement or social embeddedness.
Police Officers’ Trust in Their Agency: Does Self-Legitimacy Protect Against Supervisor Procedural Injustice?:

We examined whether police officer self-legitimacy moderates the effect of supervisor procedural injustice on organizational trust. Data from a sample of sheriff’s deputies (N = 510) were used to t...
Fresh Osteochondral Allograft to the Humeral Head for Treatment of an Engaging Reverse Hill-Sachs Lesion: Technical Case Report and Literature Review

Posterior dislocation of the shoulder is rare, occurring in approximately 2% to 4% of all shoulder dislocations.18,32 Through a mechanism similar to that first characterized by Hill and Sachs,17 these dislocations have the potential to result in impaction fractures of the anterior aspect of the humeral head.32,33 These so-called reverse Hill-Sachs or McLaughlin26 lesions are estimated to occur in 86% of acute traumatic posterior shoulder dislocations35 and are often clinically significant, giving rise to persistent shoulder instability in approximately 35% of cases.32 An array of treatment options are described in the literature, dependent on factors including but not limited to the location, size, and scale of the defect; mechanism of recurrence; chronicity of the dislocation; and, importantly, the patient’s age, prior activity, and postoperative goals.
Report Writing: Communicating the Results of a Multiple Regression

This chapter explains how to write a good executive report of a statistical analysis. Communication is an essential management skill, and statistical summaries can help communicate the basic facts of a situation in a direct and objective way. The executive summary is a paragraph at the beginning that describes the most important facts and conclusions from the work. The introduction consists of several paragraphs in which the background, the questions of interest, and the dataset you have worked with are described. The analysis and methods section helps to interpret the data by presenting graphic displays, summaries, and results, which you explain as you go along. The conclusion and summary move back to the big picture to give closure, pulling together all of the important thoughts for readers to remember. A reference is a note indicating the kind of material that is taken from an outside source and giving enough information so that the reader can obtain a copy. The appendix contains all supporting material that is important enough to include but not important enough to appear in the text of the report.
Unveiling polarization in social networks: A matrix factorization approach

This paper presents unsupervised algorithms to uncover polarization in social networks (namely, Twitter) and identify polarized groups. The approach is language-agnostic and thus broadly applicable to global and multilingual media. In cases of conflict, dispute, or situations involving multiple parties with contrasting interests, opinions get divided into different camps. Previous manual inspection of tweets has shown that such situations produce distinguishable signatures on Twitter, as people take sides leading to clusters that preferentially propagate information confirming their individual cluster-specific bias. We propose a model for polarized social networks, and show that approaches based on factorizing the matrix of sources and their claims can automate the discovery of polarized clusters with no need for prior training or natural language processing. In turn, identifying such clusters offers insights into prevalent social conflicts and helps automate the generation of less biased descriptions of ongoing events. We evaluate our factorization algorithms and their results on multiple Twitter datasets involving polarization of opinions, demonstrating the efficacy of our approach. Experiments show that our method is almost always correct in identifying the polarized information from real-world twitter traces, and outperforms the baseline mechanisms by a large margin.
21st Century Maritime Power‐Politics in the Indian Ocean Region with Special Reference to the Bay of Bengal

The aim of this paper is to project the emerging power-relations in the maritime realm between geopolitical players in the Indian Ocean region. These power-relations involve military shields and spears, infrastructure development, alignment–alliance relations, international trade routes, critical choke points, energy, and above all geopolitical implications. The methods followed in the paper are content analysis, case-method, interview, observation, and so forth. The paper concludes that emerging power polarizations are visible and are gradually taking a tangible shape in the form of military–economic condominium, presumably coming from opposite directions.
Bayesian failure-rate modeling and preventive maintenance optimization

Abstract New results are derived for the optimal preventive maintenance schedule of a single item over a finite horizon, based on Bayesian models of a failure rate function. Two types of failure rate functions—increasing and bathtub shapes—are considered. For both cases, optimality conditions and efficient algorithms to find an optimal maintenance schedule are given. A Bayesian parametric model for bathtub-shaped failure rate functions is used, while the class of increasing failure rate functions are tackled by an extended gamma process. We illustrate both approaches using real failure time data from the South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company in Bay City, Texas.
Dentate gyrus neurogenesis ablation via cranial irradiation enhances morphine self-administration and locomotor sensitization.

Adult dentate gyrus (DG) neurogenesis is important for hippocampal-dependent learning and memory, but the role of new neurons in addiction-relevant learning and memory is unclear. To test the hypothesis that neurogenesis is involved in the vulnerability to morphine addiction, we ablated adult DG neurogenesis and examined morphine self-administration (MSA) and locomotor sensitization. Male Sprague-Dawley rats underwent hippocampal-focused, image-guided X-ray irradiation (IRR) to eliminate new DG neurons or sham treatment (Sham). Six weeks later, rats underwent either MSA (Sham = 16, IRR = 15) or locomotor sensitization (Sham = 12, IRR = 12). Over 21 days of MSA, IRR rats self-administered ~70 percent more morphine than Sham rats. After 28 days of withdrawal, IRR rats pressed the active lever 40 percent more than Sham during extinction. This was not a general enhancement of learning or locomotion, as IRR and Sham groups had similar operant learning and inactive lever presses. For locomotor sensitization, both IRR and Sham rats sensitized, but IRR rats sensitized faster and to a greater extent. Furthermore, dose-response revealed that IRR rats were more sensitive at a lower dose. Importantly, these increases in locomotor activity were not apparent after acute morphine administration and were not a byproduct of irradiation or post-irradiation recovery time. Therefore, these data, along with other previously published data, indicate that reduced hippocampal neurogenesis confers vulnerability for multiple classes of drugs. Thus, therapeutics to specifically increase or stabilize hippocampal neurogenesis could aid in preventing initial addiction as well as future relapse.
Social Contagion of Global Consumers

Modern consumers experience an impressive connectivity in the form of information-sharing and influence about products and brands. This process is almost similar to the spread of a virus within a population; therefore, recently it has been referred to as social contagion (Van den Bulte 2011). Although social contagion is a very active process, it does not mean there are no other alliances among consumers. In my earlier book (Samli 1995), I discussed, Wa, Inhwa, and Quanxis, factors which are still very much in existence alongside the new activity of social contagion.
Considerations and Conversations in the Neighborhood of Protest

In this chapter, the text concludes with commentary on the analyses, presented in Chapters 3–6, of the performatives of protest in regard to their differing ways of fulfilling the renovated felicity conditions, introduced in Chapter 2. The analyses are compared and contrasted regarding their fulfillment of the presuppositional conditions regarding convention, circumstance, words, persons, effects, and positionings, as well as the aspirational conditions of thoughts, intention, risk, commitment, and subsequent actions. Questions of identity in terms of convocativity as well as how these speech acts attain pragmatic legitimacy through the fulfillment of the felicity conditions are also reviewed. The book closes with a consideration of questions concerning the relationship between emerging technologies and protest. These questions include: Is it possible now to have a meta-narrative of grassroots activism? What does Marshal McLuhan’s dictum, “The medium is the message” mean today? What are the emerging relationships between physical public space and virtual public space? What are the dark sides of the burgeoning use of social media in an era of increased state surveillance of those same media?
Use of electronic health record data to evaluate overuse of cervical cancer screening.

Background National organizations historically focused on increasing use of effective services are now attempting to identify and discourage use of low-value services. Electronic health records (EHRs) could be used to measure use of low-value services, but few studies have examined this. The aim of the study was to: (1) determine if EHR data can be used to identify women eligible for an extended Pap testing interval; (2) determine the proportion of these women who received a Pap test sooner than recommended; and (3) assess the consequences of these low-value Pap tests. Methods Electronic query of EHR data identified women aged 30–65 years old who were at low-risk of cervical cancer and therefore eligible for an extended Pap testing interval of 3 years (as per professional society guidelines). Manual chart review assessed query accuracy. The use of low-value Pap tests (ie, those performed sooner than recommended) was measured, and adverse consequences of low-value Pap tests (ie, colposcopies performed as a result of low-value Pap tests) were identified. Results Manual chart review confirmed query accuracy. Two-thirds (1120/1705) of low-risk women received a Pap test sooner than recommended, and 21 colposcopies were performed as a result of this low-value Pap testing. Conclusion Secondary analysis of EHR data can accurately measure the use of low-value services such as Pap testing performed sooner than recommended in women at low risk of cervical cancer. Similar application of our methodology could facilitate efforts to simultaneously improve quality and decrease costs, maximizing value in the US healthcare system.
Obstacles to Assessment of PTSD in Longitudinal Research

Despite the burgeoning literature on the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder, there are few empirical findings to guide clinicians and researchers in anticipating how individuals with PTSD will fare over a time span of years. This chapter first briefly overviews current findings about the course of PTSD and then identifies reasons why longitudinal investigations of PTSD have been largely bypassed by PTSD researchers.
Factors influencing the use of electronic health record systems to provide follow-up care to cancer survivors.

182Background: One of the expected benefits of electronic health records (EHRs) is their interoperability to remotely access and exchange clinical information across systems and clinicians. Cancer ...
A new family of dissimilarity metrics for discrete character matrices that include inapplicable characters and its importance for disparity studies.

The use of discrete character data for disparity analyses has become more popular, partially due to the recognition that character data describe variation at large taxonomic scales, as well as the ...
Stress and Coping Profiles and Cardiometabolic Risk in Low-Income African American Women.

Abstract Background: The complex interplay of psychological stress appraisal, biology, chronically stressful environments, and individual coping mechanisms can impact and tax physiological adaptive...
Telegraph Law and How it Should Affect Modern Telecommunications Law

A brief analysis of precedence created by telegraph law and its application to modern telecommunications in the United States.
Review of The Silent Sex: Gender, Deliberation, and Institutions by Christopher F. Karpowitz and Tali Mendelberg (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2014)

Review of The Silent Sex: Gender, Deliberation, and Institutions by Christopher F. Karpowitz and Tali Mendelberg (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2014).
Review: Why Karen Carpenter Matters by Karen Tongson

Karen Tongson. Why Karen Carpenter Matters . Austin: University of Texas Press, 2019. 152 pp. I never cared about Karen Carpenter, not really. Sure, I've driven through the Missouri Ozarks with my older sister, both of us singing along to “Top of the World” and dreaming of life in California (
Overexpression of OsSPL14 results in transcriptome and physiology changes in indica rice ‘MH86’

Oryza sativa SPL14 (OsSPL14), identified as the IDEAL PLANT ARCHITECTURE1 or WEALTHY FARMER’S PANICLE gene, plays a critical role in regulating rice plant architecture. Here, OsSPL14-overexpression transgenic rice plants had shorter growth periods, short narrow flag leaves, and thick green leaves compared with wild type ‘MH86’ plants (WT). Additionally, transgenic lines had higher chlorophyll a (Chl a), chlorophyll b (Chl b), and carotenoid (Car x) contents at both seedling and mature stages. Expression of OsSPL14 increased at transcriptional level, and OsSPL14 protein level was substantially increased in transgenic lines relative to WT. A transcriptome analysis identified 473 up-regulated and 103 down-regulated genes in the transgenic plants. The expression of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) involved in carotenoid biosynthesis, abscisic acid (ABA) metabolism, and lignin biosynthesis increased significantly. Most of DEGs participated in “plant hormone signal transduction” and “starch and sucrose metabolism” were also up-regulated in the transgenic plants. In addition, there were higher ABA and gibberellin acid 3 (GA3) levels in OsSPL14-overexpression rice plants at seedling and tillering stages compared with WT. In contrast with that of WT, lignin and cellulose contents of culm increased distinctly. Also, silicon and potassium contents increased dramatically in transgenic lines. Meanwhile, the chalkiness ratios and chalkiness degrees decreased, and the gel consistency levels improved in transgenic lines. Thus, overexpression of OsSPL14 influenced growth period, leaf development, hormonal levels, culm composition, and grain quality characters of rice, which provides more insight into the function of OsSPL14.
Direct Computation of LFSR-Based Stored Tests for Broadside and Skewed-Load Tests

Using both broadside and skewed-load tests for delay faults provides a higher fault coverage and more compacted test sets. An earlier work showed that it is possible to share input test data between broadside and skewed-load tests, and thus reduce the input test data volume. This article develops an algorithm for computing stored tests that can be used for applying both broadside and skewed-load tests in the context of a specific test data compression method. Under this method, a programmable linear-feedback shift register is used for on-chip decompression. In the stored test data, a stored test consists of a seed and two primary input vectors. The seed determines the scan-in state of the applied broadside or skewed-load test as well as the additional scan-in vector required for a skewed-load test. In the algorithm developed in this article, stored tests are computed directly without first computing broadside or skewed-load tests. This avoids situations where the tests cannot be compressed or do not have common input test data.
Ethnic Disparities in Mental Health and Movement Behaviors During Childhood: Examining the Longitudinal Developmental Patterns

The purpose of this study was to examine the longitudinal developmental patterns of mental health (i.e., physical, psychosocial, and executive functioning) and movement behaviors (i.e., sedentary behavior and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity [MVPA]) between Hispanic and non-Hispanic children. We tracked 153 children for 3 years from kindergarten (time 1) to third grade (time 2; 91 Hispanic; mean age = 5.36, SD = .48). Physical, psychosocial, and executive functioning was assessed using validated surveys, while school-based sedentary behavior and MVPA were assessed by accelerometers. A 2 × 2 (time × ethnicity) factorial repeated measures MANCOVA (gender and SES as covariates) revealed significant ethnicity effect (p = .05) and time by ethnicity interaction effect (p .05) but higher executive functioning (p .05) over time. Ethnic disparities in mental health between Hispanic and non-Hispanic children exist but may reduce from early to middle childhood. The longitudinal changes relative to ethnicity highlight the need for tailored interventions to address health disparities in mental health and movement behaviors between Hispanic and non-Hispanic children.
COVID-19-Associated Acute Kidney Injury and Quantified Protein Catabolic Rate: A Likely Effect of Cytokine Storm on Muscle Protein Breakdown.

Rationale & Objectives Previously we reported a cohort of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)–associated acute kidney injury (AKI) with striking biochemical evidence of tissue breakdown in the absence of apparent rhabdomyolysis. We sought to quantify the extent of tissue catabolism in similar patients. Study Design During acute peritoneal dialysis (PD) in patients with COVID-19–associated AKI, we measured urea Kt/V adequacy and calculated the daily urea nitrogen generation rate while quantifying daily protein intake. Setting & Population We did calculations in 8 patients with COVID-9–associated AKI undergoing acute PD at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. As a comparator, we obtained urea kinetic parameters from our database of ambulatory patients receiving maintenance PD. Exposure or Predictors 8 patients with COVID-19–associated AKI undergoing acute PD. Outcomes Urea nitrogen generation rate in relation to daily protein intake. Analytical Approach Urea nitrogen generation rate from urea kinetics was related to measured daily dietary protein intake in these patients and we compared it with this relationship in ambulatory maintenance PD patients for whom both parameters were calculated from urea kinetics. Results Urea nitrogen generation rate in patients with AKI was 10.2±5g/d, which is more than 2-fold higher than for stable outpatients receiving maintenance PD (4.7±3g/d) despite similar dietary protein intake (74.8±11 vs 67.2±29g/d, respectively). This strongly suggests endogenous protein breakdown, probably from muscle. Urea nitrogen generation rate in these patients with AKI corresponds to 315g/d of ongoing muscle breakdown and cumulative 2.5kg of muscle breakdown during the early course of AKI. Limitations Small number of participants and assumptions in comparing urea nitrogen generation rate with protein intake. Conclusions In highly catabolic patients, an endogenous source of urea generation such as muscle protein breakdown seems to be the most likely explainable cause for our findings. This is the first study that we are aware of to quantify the degree of endogenous protein breakdown induced by COVID-19–related cytokine storm.
Application of attached algae flow-ways for coupling biomass production with the utilization of dilute non-point source nutrients in the Upper Laguna Madre, TX.

Abstract The purpose of this study is to determine the potential for an attached algae flow-way system to efficiently produce algal biomass in estuarine surface waters by utilizing dilute non-point source nutrients from local urban, industrial, and agricultural discharges into the Upper Laguna Madre, Corpus Christi, Texas. The study was conducted over the course of two years to establish seasonal base-line biomass productivity and composition for bioproducts applications, and to identify key environmental factors and flow-way cohorts impacting biomass production. For the entire cultivation period, continuous ash-free biomass production at 4 to 10 g/m2/day (corresponding to nutrient recovery at 300 to 500 mg of nitrogen/m2/day and 15 to 30 mg of phosphorus/m2/day) was successfully achieved without system restart. Upon start-up, a latency period was observed which indicates roles for species succession from relatively low productivity, high ash content pioneer periphytic culture composed primarily of benthic diatoms from the source waters to higher productivity, reduced ash content, and more resilient culture mainly composed of filamentous chlorophyta, Ulva lactuca. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to identify environmental factors driving biomass production, and machine learning (ML) models were constructed to assess the predictive capability of the data set for system performance using the local multi-season environmental variations. Environmental datasets were segregated for ML training, validation, and testing using three methods: regression tree, ensemble regression, and Gaussian process regression (GPR). The predicted ash-free biomass productivity using ML models resulted in root-squared-mean-errors (RSME) from 1.78 to 1.86 g/m2/day, and R2 values from 0.67 to 0.75 using different methods. The greatest contributor to net productivity was total solar irradiation, followed by air temperature, salinity, and pH. The results of the study should be useful as a decision-making tool to application of attached algae flow-ways for biomass production while preventing algal blooms in the environment.
Effects of Individual and Neighborhood Characteristics on Childhood Blood Lead Testing and Elevated Blood Lead Levels, A Pennsylvania Birth Cohort Analysis.

BACKGROUND Despite declining lead exposure among U.S. children, childhood blood lead level (BLL) undertesting and elevation remains a public health issue. This study explores the impacts of maternal, infant, and neighborhood characteristics on the receipt of lead testing and having elevated BLLs (EBLLs) among children under age two. METHODS Pennsylvania infants born in 2015 and 2016 were followed to 24 months. Birth certificate data were linked to 2015 through 2018 blood lead surveillance data and neighborhood data on household income, poverty, and the burden of houses built before 1970. Generalized linear mixed models were used to examine the individual and neighborhood characteristics independently and/or interactively affecting the likelihood of lead testing and of having EBLLs. RESULTS A total of 48.6% of children were tested for BLLs, and 2.6% of them had confirmed EBLLs. The likelihood of lead testing and of having EBLLs among non-Hispanic black children was respectively 7% and 18% higher than white children. Children born to mothers with the lowest educational attainment (<high school), with self-payment as a payment source for delivery, and without WIC enrollment were at higher risk of undertesting. Children living in neighborhoods of the lowest quartile of household income and the highest quartile of poverty and old housing were more likely to have EBLLs. Different neighborhood characteristics modified the associations between some individual factors (such as race/ethnicity, payment source for delivery, and WIC enrollment) and the odds of undertesting and of having EBLLs. CONCLUSION This cohort analysis provides more accurate estimates of lead screening rates and the percentages of EBLLs than cross-sectional analysis. Some maternal and infant demographics significantly impact the risk of undertesting and of having EBLLs, and some of the effects vary across different neighborhood characteristics. These findings can help lead prevention programs to target screening and treatment resources to children with specific characteristics.
Byzantine-robust Federated Learning through Spatial-temporal Analysis of Local Model Updates.

Federated Learning (FL) enables multiple distributed clients (e.g., mobile devices) to collaboratively train a centralized model while keeping the training data locally on the client. Compared to traditional centralized machine learning, FL offers many favorable features such as offloading operations which would usually be performed by a central server and reducing risks of serious privacy leakage. However, Byzantine clients that send incorrect or disruptive updates due to system failures or adversarial attacks may disturb the joint learning process, consequently degrading the performance of the resulting model. In this paper, we propose to mitigate these failures and attacks from a spatial-temporal perspective. Specifically, we use a clustering-based method to detect and exclude incorrect updates by leveraging their geometric properties in the parameter space. Moreover, to further handle malicious clients with time-varying behaviors, we propose to adaptively adjust the learning rate according to momentum-based update speculation. Extensive experiments on 4 public datasets demonstrate that our algorithm achieves enhanced robustness comparing to existing methods under both cross-silo and cross-device FL settings with faulty/malicious clients.
Cognitive Apprenticeship in STEM Graduate Education: A Qualitative Review of the Literature:

The future is dependent on the STEM graduate education system, emphasizing the importance of STEM graduate programs in producing highly trained expert researchers. The cognitive apprenticeship (CA)...
Multimodal immunostimulation to control BRCA1-defective ovarian carcinoma

Depending on intensity and duration, STING1 (stimulator of interferon response cGAMP interactor 1) signaling can restrain or promote tumor progression via both cancer cell-intrinsic and -extrinsic pathways. Bruand et al. recently identified a novel STING1-driven immunosuppressive pathway that can be targeted toward superior disease control in preclinical models of homologous recombination deficient (HRD) ovarian carcinoma.
Good News for Valve-Sparing Surgery in Marfan Syndrome.

Marfan syndrome is the most common inherited connective tissue disorder in humans, but has an uncommonly unfavorable natural history [(1)][1]. Life expectancy is shortened by about one-third, usually because of aortic dissection and rupture in the third decade of life [(2)][2]. Over the past 40
Autophagosome-proteolysis contribute to CKD-induced muscle atrophy

Autophagy-lysosome system was reportedly activated in muscle cells during catabolic conditions. we hypothesized that proteolysis through autophagosomes may participate in CKD-induced muscle protein...
Multilayer nanoengineering techniques for fabrication of opto-chemical probes

This report presents a succession of theoretical and experimental work on sensors using the LbL technique to produce spectroscopic devices on optical fibers and micro/nano carriers using fluorescence and surface plasmon resonance interactions as specific biosensors. Examples of engineering opto-chemical transducers for in vitro, in vivo, and intracellular biochemical analysis are given to demonstrate the versatility of the process.
Retiring together or working alone: The impact of spousal employment and disability on retirement decisions

Husbands and wives often coordinate retirement decisions, as many married workers withdraw from the labor force at about the same time as their spouses. However, joint retirement behavior may differ for couples in which one spouse retires with health problems. In those cases, the able-bodied spouse may delay retirement to compensate for the earnings lost by the disabled spouse. This paper examines the retirement decisions of husbands and wives and how they interact with spousal health and employment, using data from the 1992-1998 waves of the Health and Retirement Study. The results indicate that both men and women are more likely to retire if their spouses have already retired than if they are still working. However, they are less likely to retire if their spouses appear to have left the labor force because of health problems, especially when spouses are not yet eligible for Social Security retirement benefits. There is no evidence that spousal caregiving demands affect retirement rates.
Fat-soluble vitamin concentrations in hypercholesterolemic children treated with colestipol.

In summary: (1) Colestipol therapy plus diet reduced total cholesterol 19 +/- 3% in 11 hypercholesterolemic children after two months and 13 +/- 5% after two years in five children. (2) Diet therapy did not significantly reduce serum concentration of any of the fat-soluble vitamins or folate. (3) During 24 months of colestipol therapy plus diet serum vitamin A and E concentrations did decrease in the five patients with good drug adherence (vitamin A, 68 +/- 11 vs 35 +/- 4 microgram/100 ml, P less than .005) (vitamin E, 14 +/- 1 vs 11 +/- 1 microgram/ml, P less than .05). However, those concentrations remained within normal limits. (4) Colestipol therapy plus diet had no effect on prothrombin time, serum 25-hydroxycholecalciferol, folate, or calcium metabolism (as studied by sequential determination of serum total and ionized calcium phosphorus, alkaline phosphatase, and parathyroid hormone).
Quality of care for preschool children with asthma: the role of social factors and practice setting.

Objective. To determine whether patient race or source of payment is associated with differences in the quality of inpatient and outpatient treatment for young children with asthma. Design. Structured medical record review. Setting. Tertiary care pediatric hospital. Patients. We studied 354 patients aged 1 to 6 years discharged with asthma between October 1, 1989 and September 30, 1990. Measures. We developed indicators of the quality of asthma care provided before and during hospitalization and planned after discharge. Outpatient indicators were the use of inhaled beta-agonists and the use of preventive anti-inflammatory medications (inhaled steroids or cromolyn sodium) before admission. In-hospital indicators were the intensity of inhaled beta-agonist therapy in the emergency department and length of stay. Planning for post-hospital care was assessed by the prescription of a nebulizer for home use. We examined associations between these indicators and patient race and source of payment, and explored the influence of primary-care practice type on these associations. Results. After adjustment for potential confounders, we found that Hispanic patients were less likely than white patients to have taken inhaled beta-agonists before admission. Both black and Hispanic patients were less likely than white patients to have taken anti-inflammatory medications. When we adjusted for the patients9 primary-care practice type, the effect of patient race did not persist for these indicators of outpatient care. We found no differences by patient race in emergency department care or length of hospital stay. However, black and Hispanic patients were much less likely to be prescribed a nebulizer for home use upon discharge. After adjustment for confounders, there were no differences in the quality of asthma care by source of payment. Conclusions. We found that young children of racial minorities admitted for an asthma exacerbation were less likely to have received maximally effective preventive therapy. We also identified marked differences in the quality of care planned after hospital discharge for black and Hispanic patients, compared with white patients. Particularly in an era of health reform, attention should focus on barriers to high-quality care for underserved children, who are already at high risk for asthma-related morbidity.
STATISTICAL EPISTASIS NETWORKS REDUCE THE COMPUTATIONAL COMPLEXITY OF SEARCHING THREE-LOCUS GENETIC MODELS

The rapid development of sequencing technologies makes thousands to millions of genetic attributes available for testing associations with various biological traits. Searching this enormous high-dimensional data space imposes a great computational challenge in genome-wide association studies. We introduce a network-based approach to supervise the search for three-locus models of disease susceptibility. Such statistical epistasis networks (SEN) are built using strong pairwise epistatic interactions and provide a global interaction map to search for higher-order interactions by prioritizing genetic attributes clustered together in the networks. Applying this approach to a population-based bladder cancer dataset, we found a high susceptibility three-way model of genetic variations in DNA repair and immune regulation pathways, which holds great potential for studying the etiology of bladder cancer with further biological validations. We demonstrate that our SEN-supervised search is able to find a small subset of three-locus models with significantly high associations at a substantially reduced computational cost.
Bottom Interaction in Ocean Acoustic Propagation

Abstract : The long term objective is to understand the dominant physical mechanisms responsible for propagation and scattering over distances from tens to thousands of kilometers in the deep ocean where the sound channel is not bottom limited. The specific goal is to study the role of bottom interaction and bathymetry on the stability, statistics, spatial distribution and predictability of broadband acoustic signals observed just above and on the deep seafloor (greater than the critical depth). What is the relationship between the seismic (ground motion) noise on the seafloor and the acoustic noise in the water column? What governs the trade-offs in contributions from local and distant storms and in contributions from local and distant shipping? How effective is seafloor bathymetry at stripping distant shipping noise from the ambient noise field? This project addresses the effects of environmental variability induced by ocean internal waves, internal tides and mesoscale processes, and by bathymetric features including seamounts and ridges, on the stability, statistics, spatial distribution and predictability of broadband acoustic signals... (quote from the Ocean Acoustics web page). Understanding long range acoustic propagation in the ocean is essential for a broad range of Navy applications such as the acoustic detection of ships and submarines at long ranges, avoiding detection of ships and submarines, long range command and communications to submerged assets, and improving understanding of the environment through which the Navy operates.
Squalene Synthetase: III. MECHANISM OF THE REACTION

Abstract Studies on the properties of the reaction and the mechanism of conversion of farnesyl pyrophosphate to squalene have been carried out with purified yeast squalene synthetase. The general properties of the yeast enzyme are similar to those of the enzyme obtained from mammalian liver. A divalent metal ion (Mg++ or Mn++) is essential for the formation of presqualene pyrophosphate, but not for the conversion of this compound to squalene. However, the rate of the latter reaction is increased in the presence of Mg++. Yeast squalene synthetase activity is inhibited by concentrations above 50 mm of farnesyl pyrophosphate, by N-ethylmaleimide, and to a lesser extent by iodoacetamide. Hence it is evident that a sulfhydryl group or other nucleophile is required for enzyme activity. Yeast squalene synthetase has a maximum enzyme activity at pH 7.3 to 7.5. However, great differences in enzyme activity were found, depending on the buffer used. These differences are due in part to ionic strength, and possibly to a direct effect of phosphate ion on enzymatic activity. Initial velocity studies for the formation of squalene and presqualene pyrophosphate from farnesyl pyrophosphate have shown that the mechanism of the condensing reaction is ping-pong. Initial velocity kinetics and product inhibition studies for the reduction of presqualene pyrophosphate to squalene have shown that this reaction is sequential ordered. In the reduction reaction NADPH is the first substrate to bind to the enzyme, followed by presqualene pyrophosphate. The first product to be released is pyrophosphate, followed by squalene. The last product to leave the enzyme is NADP. A chemical mechanism for squalene synthesis is presented.
Activity and Heat Stability of Trehalase from the Mycelium and Ascospores of Neurospora

Abstract Trehalases from the ascospores of Neurospora tetrasperma and the mycelium of N. crassa were compared. Enzymes from both sources have identical electrophoretic mobilities, Km's, responses to pH, immunological reactions, and activities in low-molarity buffers. Because both enzymes are so similar, conclusions about the properties of the ascospore enzyme may, be made by studying mycelial trehalase. Mycelial trehalase is most active and stable in low-molarity buffers. The enzyme exists in at least three species; the smallest has a molecular weight between 105,000 and 125,000 and is predominant in low-molarity buffers at 37 C. The stability of trehalase to heating at 65 C can be increased by increasing enzyme concentration and by the addition of polyols. Ascospores contain large amounts of trehalose, which protects trehalase from heat inactivation at 65 C. The importance of this phenomenon in vivo and its relationship to the localization of trehalase in ascospores is discussed.
Chapter 13 - Music Training Enhances Spatial-Temporal Reasoning in Preschool Children

This chapter provides all the details of the striking Preschool study with three-year-old children that demonstrated that piano keyboard training enhances spatial-temporal reasoning in contrast to other control training. These effects last long enough to have major educational implications. The publicity associated with these results has been even greater than with the Mozart effect results. It has been clearly documented that young students have difficulty understanding the concepts of proportion that are heavily used in math and science, and that no successful program has been developed to teach proportional math in the school system. It is predicted that an enhanced ability to evolve temporal sequences of spatial patterns as a result of music training can lead to an enhanced conceptual mastering of proportional math. Clearly these findings are of strong interest to parents and educators, as well as scientists. This chapter also includes an important but technical section on testing, probability, statistics, and experimental design.
Assay of Growth Hormone-like Activity in Blood Plasma A Comparison of two Methods

Growth hormone has been shown to increase the uptake of sulfur-35 into tibial epiphyseal cartilage as well as to increase the width of the cartilage plate in linear fashion with increasing dosage. That growth hormone is not alone responsible has been experimentally demonstrated by the increase in both responses effected by injections of human albumin and insulin, and the decrease produced by ACTH. Tests on human blood plasma indicated the following: (1) The blood specimens of patients with the same clinical syndrome do not always yield similar values when tested by these methods. (2) The blood of hypophysectomized patients can increase both the sulfur uptake and epiphyseal cartilage width. (3) Blood of patients with active acromegaly does not always stimulate the sulfur uptake or increase the cartilage width. (4) In a number of cases in which the sulfur uptake was increased, the tibia test was negative. Conversely, the tibia test occasionally was positive when there was no increase in sulfur uptake. (5) In a few cases in which the tests were repeated on the same patient, the results were not in agreement. (6) In only 7 cases (of 40) was there good correlation between the two methods. Other growth factors in blood can interfere with the specificity of both methods for the measurement of growth hormone.
Lukasiewicz' insect: the role of continuous-valued logic in a mobile robot's sensors, control, and locomotion

The ability to physically realize a colony of insect-like robots presents numerous problems. A hexapod robot controlled by a computational sensor is proposed as a solution to some of these problems. Stiquito is a small nitinol-propelled robot. It is controlled by a computational sensor implemented with Lukasiewicz logic arrays (LLAs). The computational sensor includes an electronic retina, an implicit controller, and a gait generator. Measured and simulated results illustrate the unifying effect of Lukasiewicz logic on the design of the robotic system. >
Guided Test Generation for Finding Worst-Case Stack Usage in Embedded Systems

Embedded systems are challenging to program correctly, because they use an interrupt programming paradigm and run in resource constrained environments. This leads to a class of faults for which we need customized verification techniques. One such class of faults, stack overflows, are caused when the combination of active methods and interrupt invocations on the stack grows too large, and these can lead to data loss and other significant device failures. Developers need to estimate the worst-case stack usage (WCSU) during system design, but determining the actual maximum value is known to be a hard problem. The state of the art for calculating WCSU uses static analysis, however this has a tendency to over approximate the potential stack which can lead to wasted resources. Dynamic techniques such as random testing often under approximate the WCSU. In this paper, we present SIMSTACK, a framework that utilizes a combination of static analysis and a genetic algorithm to search for WCSUs. We perform an empirical study to evaluate the effectiveness of SIMSTACK and show that SIMSTACK is competitive with the WCSU values obtained by static analysis, and improves significantly over a random algorithm. When we use only the genetic algorithm, SIMSTACK performs almost as well as the guided technique, but takes significantly longer to converge on the maximum WCSUs.
Comparison of Risk Assessment Methodologies for Exposure of Mink to PCBs on the Kalamazoo River, Michigan

Risk assessments are generally based on exposures predicted by use of simple models of accumulation from abiotic compartments or the diet. The use of tissue-specific measurements of residue concentrations in wildlife tissues is more accurate and subject to less uncertainty, but these data are often not available. This report compares the results of two different site-specific approaches for assessing the risk of PCBs to mink residing along the Kalamazoo River, MI. The first approach was based on hepatic concentrations of PCBs and 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin equivalents (TEQs) of mink. The second approach was based on measured concentrations of both PCBs and TEQs in the diets of mink. For each of these methodologies, assessments were based on no observed adverse effect levels (NOAELs) or concentrations (NOAECs) and lowest observed adverse effect levels (LOAELs) or concentrations (LOAECs). Samples of mink (Mustela vison) and its diet were collected from within the Kalamazoo River Area of Concern (KR...
Improving Curd-Forming Properties of Homogenized Milk

Summary The factors which alter the rate of rennet action and curd tension of non-homogenized milk have a similar action on rate of coagulation but very little or no effect on the curd tension obtained by rennet action on homogenized milk. Practically normal curd-making properties were restored to homogenized’ milk by concentrating it or by adding to it low-heat, nonfat dry milk solids or low-heat concentrated skimmilk. The treatments may have practical commercial applications. These data suggest that reduction of curd tension by homogenizing may be caused by adsorption of casein on the newly created surfaces of fat.
Interagency and international collaboration for space solar power implementation

This paper proposes a plan for space solar power (SSP) project governance by US and foreign agencies and participation by industry, universities, and other non-governmental organizations. SSP research has typically focused on the technical aspects, rather than others that are equally important. NASA alone could never implement SSP, because it lacks the expertise required. This paper begins to bridge the gap between technical aspects and these other areas. I allocate SSP project governance among agencies with relevant experience and that are responsive to a successful clean power program, and I propose project management by an internationally-represented committee. A framework for interagency collaborations is outlined detailing the motivations for cooperation for each agency, company, university, or organization, and the issues associated with collaboration on interagency and international levels.