cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Synthesizing effects for multiple outcomes per study using robust variance estimation versus the three-level model

Primary studies increasingly report information that can be used to provide multiple effect sizes. Of interest in this study, primary studies might compare a treatment and a control group on multiple related outcomes that result in multiple dependent effect sizes to be synthesized. There are a number of ways to handle the resulting within-study "multiple-outcome" dependency. The present study focuses on use of the multilevel meta-analysis model (Van den Noortgate, Lopez-Lopez, Marin-Martinez, & Sanchez-Meca, 2013) and robust variance estimation (Hedges, Tipton, & Johnson, 2010) for handling this dependency, as well as for estimating outcome-specific mean effect sizes. We assessed these two approaches under various conditions that differed from each other in within-study sample size; the number of effect sizes per outcome; the number of outcomes per study; the number of studies per meta-analysis; the ratio of variances at Levels 1, 2, and 3; and the true correlation between pairs of effect sizes at the between-study level. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed.
Fish, finances, and feasibility: Concerns about tidal energy development in the United States

Abstract This article explores stakeholder views on tidal energy in the state of Washington. Through compiling and analyzing three qualitative datasets, we take a triangulated approach to better understand stakeholders’ positive and negative views, concerns, and needs regarding tidal energy and if and how these are represented through print and online news sources. We analyzed comments submitted during the permitting process for the Admiralty Inlet Pilot Tidal Project, comments included as part of a tidal energy mail survey sent to Washington residents, and media articles about tidal energy. We found four types of concern themes within negative views towards tidal energy: environmental, social, economic, and technical. Shared concerns between organized stakeholder groups and resident stakeholders about the project and tidal energy in general included concerns related to the harm to marine life, the loss of native fishing rights, expensiveness of development, increased electricity costs, and the engineering challenge of developing tidal energy. Concerns unique to stakeholder groups for the project included threats from scaling up, issues related to public safety and security, damage to cables, inability to stop the turbine, harm to terrestrial flora, and sediment disruption and contamination. Positive views were commonly associated with the need to address environmental issues, technological innovation and leadership, desire to have a diverse energy portfolio, and economic benefits.
Experiences with interferon-free hepatitis C therapies: addressing barriers to adherence and optimizing treatment outcomes.

Millions of Americans are living with hepatitis C, the leading cause of liver disease in the United States. Medication treatment can cure hepatitis C. We sought to understand factors that contribute to hepatitis C treatment completion from the perspectives of patients and providers. We conducted semi-structured interviews at three Veterans Affairs Medical Centers. Patients were asked about their experiences with hepatitis C treatments and perspectives on care. Providers were asked about observations regarding patient responses to medications and perspectives about factors resulting in treatment completion. Transcripts were analyzed using a grounded thematic approach—an inductive analysis that lets themes emerge from the data. Contributors to treatment completion included Experience with Older Treatments, Hope for Improvement, Symptom Relief, Tailored Organized Routines, and Positive Patient-Provider Relationship. Corresponding barriers also emerged, including pill burden and skepticism about treatment effectiveness and safety. Despite the improved side-effect profile of newer HCV medications, multiple barriers to treatment completion remain. However, providers and patients were able to identify avenues for addressing such barriers.
Managing Communicative Challenges and Interactional Dilemma: Native Speakers’ Responses to Non-Native Speakers’ Lack of Understanding

ABSTRACTPrevious studies suggest non-native speakers (NNSs) use cover strategies to achieve a positive public self-image despite their lack of comprehension when interacting with native speakers (N...
Red States, Blue States: Lessons from the State Death Tax Credit and the 'SALT' Deduction

Since 1861, every version of the federal income tax has included a deduction for state and local taxes (often referred to by its popular acronym “SALT”). Since this provision, the “SALT deduction,” minimizes the effect of state and local taxes on taxpayers, it offers greater benefits to those living in states that impose the highest tax burden — the high-tax “blue” states. In 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act marked a major shift in this long-established federal policy toward state taxes. Among its many provisions, the Act capped the SALT deduction at $10,000 per married couple, providing no Federal tax offset for amounts paid in excess of that amount. In this article, I attempt to address two questions raised by this turn of events. First, how will states respond to this change in federal law? Second, does the capping of the SALT deduction represent a major shift in federal-state relations, an unprecedented attack on blue states, or is it simply politics as usual? My novel approach to the subject is to consider these questions by exploring the similarities and contrasts between the income tax SALT deduction and the estate tax state death tax credit, which was established in 1924 and repealed in 2001. Viewing the 2017 legislation within this broader historical context reveals trends and patterns, providing greater insight than would a study of the SALT deduction in isolation. This approach yields two results. First, analyzing state legislative responses to the 2001 estate tax changes helps to predict how state governments may respond to the 2017 income tax change and thus offers insight into the future evolution of state income tax regimes. Second, placing the 2017 Tax Act in a broader historical context reveals a pattern of federal interference with state tax regimes, yielding lessons about the interdependence of federal and state tax law as well as how a changing political climate can shape tax policy.
Burn Wound Healing and Scarring Pathophysiology

According to the American Burn Association, approximately 486,000 annual burns occur in the United States and approximately 40,000 of these require inpatient hospitalization (Burn Incidence Fact Sheet 2016. American Burn Association. http://ameriburn.org/who-we-are/media/burn-incidence-fact-sheet/. Accessed 29 Aug 2017). With the introduction of early excision and grafting and better critical care management, decreased mortality rates have introduced an opportunity for burn providers to address functional recovery after burn injury including management of late wound complications. Years after patients’ burns have “healed,” they continue to present to clinic with various problems including pruritus, contractures, and cosmesis (Thomspon et al., J Burn Care Res 34:477–482, 2013). In spite of this, clinicians have limited understanding of scar pathophysiology and continue to struggle with management.
Multi-Class Classification of Defect Types in Ultrasonic NDT Signals with Convolutional Neural Networks

The key objective of this work has been to detect and classify different types of flaws encountered in ultrasonic Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) applications. The flaws that are examined for classification are Side Drilled Hole, Flat Bottom Hole, and Rectangular voids with different aspect ratios. Manual inspection of ultrasonic images is often inadequate for classification purposes since it is difficult to visually discriminate the flaws due to their similarities. In particular, voids and holes closer to the edge boundaries (i.e. front or bottom of the structure) make this task especially challenging. We propose to use deep-learning methods to automate the ultrasonic flaw classification. In the proposed setup, the specimen under test is a steel block and immersion based ultrasonic testing has been considered. OnScale multiphysics simulation software has been used for data synthesis and a Convolutional Neural Network based deep learning method has been developed to classify the flaws with one hot encoding method. Preliminary results have been promising with the average classification accuracy of 90%, 93%, 95% and 91% for flat bottom hole, rectangular void with greater width, side drilled hole and rectangular void with greater length, respectively.
Reviving material theories of induction.

Abstract John Norton says that philosophers have been led astray for thousands of years by their attempt to treat induction formally. He is correct that such an attempt has caused no end of trouble, but he is wrong about the history. There is a rich tradition of non-formal induction. In fact, material theories of induction prevailed all through antiquity and from the Renaissance to the mid-1800s. Recovering these past systems would not only fill lacunae in Norton’s own theory but would highlight areas where Norton has not freed himself from the straightjacket of formal induction as much as he might think. This essay begins that recovery.
Ten years of Archival Education and Research Institutes: a snapshot of scholarship

Examining the work of the Archival Education and Research Initiative (AERI) community provides a look into the past, present, and future directions of archival scholarship and education. This paper describes a research project that gathered, surveyed, examined, and created reusable data about the available corpus of abstracts across presentation types delivered at all AERI institutes from 2009 through 2018. In this paper, we describe the methods, process, and challenges that we encountered throughout this project, and discuss the trends, patterns, and topics that emerged during the coding and analysis of the past decade of AERI presentations. Finally, we describe the need for development of sustainable infrastructure and practices that will preserve the record of AERI and its impact on archival scholarship and education.
The Folklore Detective: Forensic Narrative Analysis

This essay will provide an overview of the work of narrative criminologists and how that scholarship overlaps with the work of narrative folklore. Criminologists have long relied on stories as an essential aspect of their work, but “narrative criminology” only entered scholarly conversations of criminologists in the 2000s. Drawing on the case of the West Virginia co-ed murders in 1970, I will demonstrate how narrative criminologists and folklorists might work together to create a new methodology that I’m calling forensic narrative analysis.
Vênus em dois atos

Este ensaio examina a ubiqua presenca de Venus no arquivo da escravidao atlântica e luta com a impossibilidade de descobrir qualquer coisa sobre ela que ja nao tenha sido afirmada. Como figura emblematica da mulher escravizada no mundo atlântico, Venus evidencia a convergencia do terror e do prazer na economia libidinal da escravidao, assim como a intimidade da Historia com o escândalo e o excesso de literatura. Ao escrever no limite do indizivel e do desconhecido, o ensaio mimetiza a violencia do arquivo e tenta repara-la ao descrever tao plenamente quanto possivel as condicoes que determinam a aparicao de Venus e que ditam seu silencio.
Pain Catastrophizing and Kinesiophobia Affect Return to Sport in Patients Undergoing Hip Arthroscopy for the Treatment of Femoroacetabular Impingement

Purpose To assess whether pain catastrophizing and kinesiophobia affect return to sport (RTS) or clinically significant outcome (CSO) achievement in patients undergoing hip arthroscopy for the treatment of femoroacetabular impingement (FAI). Methods Patients undergoing primary hip arthroscopy at a single institution between January 2017 and March 2017 were prospectively enrolled. Patients received the Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia-11 (TSK-11) and Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) questionnaires preoperatively, 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year postoperatively. Patients also received the Hip Outcome Score Sport-Specific (HOS-SS) questionnaire preoperatively and 1 year and 2 years' postoperatively. An RTS questionnaire was completed at final follow-up. Bivariate correlations were conducted between PCS and TSK-11 scores and RTS status and achievement of CSOs of HOS-SS, based on patient acceptable symptom state (PASS) and substantial clinical benefit (SCB). Results Fifty-eight patients with an average age of 31.9 ± 12.2 and body mass index of 24.0 ± 3.8 participated in sport prior to surgery and were included in the study. Forty-two (72.4%) patients returned to sport at 10.5 ± 7.1 months following surgery. There was a significant reduction in TSK-11 and PCS scores at 1-year follow-up (TSK-11, 26.1 ± 6.0 vs 18.6 ± 6.1, P < .001; PCS, 17.7 ± 10.5 vs 4.3 ± 6.8, P < .001) as well as a significant improvement in HOS-SS (P < .001). At 1 year, fair correlations were demonstrated between PCS (r = -0.446, P = .010) and TSK (r = -0.330, P = .029) scores and RTS. Patient who returned to sport had lower PCS (8.5 ± 11.7 vs 3.0 ± 3.7, P = .010) and TSK-11 (21.8 ± 8.5 vs 17.6 ± 4.8, P = .029) scores at 1 year. At 1-year follow-up, PCS (r = -0.572, P = .001) and TSK-11 (r = -0.441, P = .012) scores demonstrated fair correlations with achieving PASS for HOS-SS at 2-year follow-up. Conclusions Patient kinesiophobia and pain catastrophizing at 1-year follow-up were negatively correlated with RTS and achievement of a CSO in sport-related activities at 2-year follow-up. Level of Evidence III, prospective cohort study.
On the Convergence of Stewart's QLP Algorithm for Approximating the SVD

The pivoted QLP decomposition, introduced by Stewart [20], represents the first two steps in an algorithm which approximates the SVD. The matrix AΠ0 is first factored as AΠ0=QR, and then the matrix RTΠ1 is factored as RTΠ1=PLT, resulting in A=QΠ1LPTΠ0T, with Q and P orthogonal, L lower-triangular, and Π0 and Π1 permutation matrices. Stewart noted that the diagonal elements of L approximate the singular values of A with surprising accuracy. In this paper, we provide mathematical justification for this phenomenon. If there is a gap between σk and σk+1, partition the matrix L into diagonal blocks L11 and L22 and off-diagonal block L21, where L11 is k-by-k. We show that the convergence of (σj(L11)−1−σj−1)/σj−1 for j=1,. . .,k, and of (σj(L22)−σk+j)/σk+j, for j=1,. . .,n−k, are all quadratic in the gap ratio σk+1/σk. The worst case is therefore at the gap, where the absolute errors ‖L11−1‖−σk−1 and ‖L22‖−σk+1 are thus cubic in σk−1 and σk+1, respectively. One order of convergence is due to the rank-revealing pivoting in the first step; then, because of the pivoting in the first step, two more orders are achieved in the second step. Our analysis assumes that Π1=I, that is, that pivoting is done only on the first step. Although our results explain some of the properties of the pivoted QLP decomposition, they hypothesize a gap in the singular values. However, a simple example shows that the decomposition can perform well even in the absence of a gap. Thus there is more to explain, and we hope that our paper encourages others to tackle the problem. The QLP algorithm can be continued beyond the first two steps, and we make some observations concerning the asymptotic convergence. For example, we point out that repeated singular values can accelerate convergence of individual elements. This, in addition to the relative convergence to all of the singular values being quadratic in the gap ratio, further indicates that the QLP decomposition can be powerful even when the ratios between neighboring singular values are close to one.
Silicon-packaged GaN power HEMTs with integrated heat spreaders

We present the fabrication and experimental characterization of wafer-level-packaged GaN power HEMTs incorporating embedded copper thermal heat spreader and microfabricated interconnects for GaN-based RF front-ends. The packaging fabrication technology mainly relies on silicon micromachining, metal electroplating, and thermocompression bonding. The presented packaging approach simultaneously addresses thermal management, electrical interconnects, performance, and has size and cost advantages over conventional assembly approaches. Silicon-packaged GaN-on-SiC power switches with slanted field plate technology demonstrated comparable DC IV characteristics with on-wafer measurements (threshold voltage = 0.3 V, static on-resistance = 2 Ω.mm measured at gate bias voltage of 1.5V, and drain and gate leakage current < 10−6 A/mm at gate bias voltage of −2 V). The performance results of Si-packaged GaN devices were consistent with on-wafer measurements, indicating compatibility of the packaging technology with GaN power HEMTs.
Enzymatic ω-Oxidation VI. ISOLATION OF HOMOGENEOUS REDUCED DIPHOSPHOPYRIDINE NUCLEOTIDE-RUBREDOXIN REDUCTASE

Abstract DPNH-rubredoxin reductase, a flavoprotein which functions as an electron carrier in an enzyme system from Pseudomonas oleovorans capable of hydroxylating fatty acids and hydrocarbons, has been isolated in homogeneous form. The apparent molecular weight is 55,000 as judged by sedimentation and diffusion measurements; a similar result was obtained by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate and mercaptoethanol, thereby suggesting the presence of a single polypeptide chain. FAD was identified as the prosthetic group and was shown to be present in the amount of 1 mole per mole of enzyme. The oxidized protein has absorption maxima at 450, 378, and 272 nm, with an A272:A450 ratio of 6.6 and a molar extinction coefficient at 450 nm of 11.0 x 103. The spectrum is that of a flavoprotein apparently free of other prosthetic groups. Metals could not be detected by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The amino acid composition shows a high content of hydrophobic residues, particularly leucine, isoleucine, and valine. The purified enzyme catalyzes the rubredoxin-dependent reduction of cytochrome c in the presence of DPNH and also exhibits diaphorase activity toward ferricyanide.
A novel structured channel estimation method for sparse channels with applications to multi-antenna digital TV receivers

We introduce a novel channel impulse response (CIR) estimation method, for sparse multipath channels, with applications to digital TV receivers with multiple antennas. Our method uses symbol rate samples of the receiver matched filter output, and it is based on blending the least squares based channel estimation and the correlation based channel estimation methods. We first overview the shortcomings of the least squares and the correlation based channel estimation algorithms, where a training sequence is utilized in both cases. The performance of the new channel estimation method is demonstrated, such that the channel estimation becomes more robust, and the overall quality of the estimate improves by recovering the pulse shape which is naturally embedded in the overall channel impulse response. We demonstrate how both methods can be combined effectively to minimize the problems associated with the effective channel delay spread being longer than the known training sequence can support. Examples are drawn from the ATSC digital TV 8-VSB system (see ATSC Digital Television Standard, A/53, 1995) with a multi-antenna receiver. The delay spread for digital TV systems can be as long as several hundred times the symbol duration; however, digital TV channels are, in general, sparse where there are only a few dominant multipaths. Finally, we derive the noise variance estimator.
Adaptive labeling: normalization of speech by adaptive transformations based on vector quantization

A general technique termed adaptive labeling is presented for the normalization of the speech signal. In principle, adaptive labeling is applicable to any sequence of feature vectors of a given dimension. It combines the familiar labeling process executed by a vector quantizer with an adaptive renormalization transformation of the feature vectors proposed here. Adaptive labeling is applied to speech recognition, where the particular interest lies in diminishing the degradation of performance that occurs as a result of changes in the signal characteristics following changes in ambient noise and other recording environment conditions or in response to a change in the characteristics of the talker. Results are presented for a series of experiments using soft and loud noises as well as environments in which microphone-to-speaker distances were allowed to vary. A 5000-word vocabulary with isolated word input was used. >
The Elementary Transformations

In transformational theory, the first result is that there is an equivalence relation among certain subsets of sentences in respect to their word choices. The second result is that the transformations, in each language, are not just an otherwise uncharacterized set of changes from one sentence structure to another. A small number of constants appear in many transformations, and only a few types of structures are seen in the resultants. If, therefore, we consider a transformation as possibly an operation on word-selections, or on the elementary sentence structures that are satisfied by these characteristic word-selections, we may seek to divide such operations into a small set of elementary operations.
Acute Limb Ischemia After Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair

Acute limb ischemia is a potential complication of open surgical and endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms. This complication may present in the early postoperative period or late in follow-up and may be related to technical, patient, and/or graft-related factors. For endovascular aneurysm repair, device-specific factors have been associated with endograft limb occlusion and consequential limb ischemia.
Payoff Information Biases a Fast Guess Process in Perceptual Decision Making under Deadline Pressure: Evidence from Behavior, Evoked Potentials, and Quantitative Model Comparison

We used electroencephalography (EEG) and behavior to examine the role of payoff bias in a difficult two-alternative perceptual decision under deadline pressure in humans. The findings suggest that a fast guess process, biased by payoff and triggered by stimulus onset, occurred on a subset of trials and raced with an evidence accumulation process informed by stimulus information. On each trial, the participant judged whether a rectangle was shifted to the right or left and responded by squeezing a right- or left-hand dynamometer. The payoff for each alternative (which could be biased or unbiased) was signaled 1.5 s before stimulus onset. The choice response was assigned to the first hand reaching a squeeze force criterion and reaction time was defined as time to criterion. Consistent with a fast guess account, fast responses were strongly biased toward the higher-paying alternative and the EEG exhibited an abrupt rise in the lateralized readiness potential (LRP) on a subset of biased payoff trials contralateral to the higher-paying alternative ∼150 ms after stimulus onset and 50 ms before stimulus information influenced the LRP. This rise was associated with poststimulus dynamometer activity favoring the higher-paying alternative and predicted choice and response time. Quantitative modeling supported the fast guess account over accounts of payoff effects supported in other studies. Our findings, taken with previous studies, support the idea that payoff and prior probability manipulations produce flexible adaptations to task structure and do not reflect a fixed policy for the integration of payoff and stimulus information. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Humans and other animals often face situations in which they must make choices based on uncertain sensory information together with information about expected outcomes (gains or losses) about each choice. We investigated how differences in payoffs between available alternatives affect neural activity, overt choice, and the timing of choice responses. In our experiment, in which participants were under strong time pressure, neural and behavioral findings together with model fitting suggested that our human participants often made a fast guess toward the higher reward rather than integrating stimulus and payoff information. Our findings, taken with findings from other studies, support the idea that payoff and prior probability manipulations produce flexible adaptations to task structure and do not reflect a fixed policy.
Parentification of Adult Children of Divorce: A Multidimensional Analysis

The goal of this study was to compare the responses of late adolescent and young adult children of divorce and nondivorce on a new multidimensional measure of parentification assessing the extent and fairness of past and present caregiving in one's family of origin. Three-hundred-and-eighty-two individuals participated. Item analyses and internal consistencies of the different parentification scales were initially conducted on one-half of the sample and cross-validated on the other half. The scores of European and African American participants from the validation sample whose parents either divorced before middle adolescence (N = 35) or never divorced (N = 68) were then compared. The divorced group reported providing more emotional and instrumental caregiving and experiencing more unfairness in their families of origin than did the nondivorced group, although the effect for emotional caregiving was moderated by temporal perspective. Evidence that problematic forms of parentification in children of divorce continue into late adolescence and young adulthood has implications for models of understanding and helping these children and their families.
An investigation of mountain method clustering for large data sets

The Mountain Method of clustering was introduced by Yager and Filev and refined for practical use by Chiu. The approach is based on density estimation in feature space with the highest peak extracted as a cluster center and a new density estimation created for extraction of the next cluster center. The process is repeated until a stopping condition is met. The Chiu version of this approach has been implemented in the Matlab Fuzzy Logic Tool@?. In this paper, we develop an alternate implementation that allows large data sets to be processed effectively. Methods to set the parameters required by the algorithm are also given. Magnetic resonance images of the human brain are used as a test domain. Comparisons with the Matlab implementation show that our new approach is considerably more practical in terms of the time required to cluster, as well as better at producing partitions of the data that correspond to those expected. Comparisons are also made to the fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm, which show that our improved mountain method is a viable competitor, producing excellent partitions of large data sets.
Acupuncture for pilocarpine-resistant xerostomia following radiotherapy for head and neck malignancies.

Objective: Xerostomia is a frequent and potentially debilitating toxicity of radiotherapy (XRT) for cancers of the head and neck. This report describes the use of acupuncture as palliation for such patients. Methods and Materials: Eighteen patients with xerostomia refractory to pilocarpine therapy after XRT for head and neck malignancy were offered acupuncture as palliation. All patients are without evidence of cancer recurrence at the primary site. Acupuncture was provided to three auricular points and one digital point bilaterally, with electrostimulation used variably. The Xerostomia Inventory (XI) was administered retrospectively to provide an objective measure of efficacy. Results: Acupuncture contributed to relief from xerostomia to varying degrees. Palliative effect as measured by the XI varied from nil to robust (pre- minus post- therapy values of over 20 points). Nine patients had benefit of over 10 points on the XI. Conclusions: Acupuncture reduces xerostomia in some patients who are otherwise refractory to best current management. © 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. Acupuncture, Head and neck neoplasms, Radiation therapy, Xerostomia.
Practical application of turbo equalization to underwater acoustic communications

In this paper, we describe linear turbo equalizers (TEQ) and investigate their practical application to underwater acoustic communications. Owing to the ability to achieve a good performance-complexity trade-off, linear TEQ is a good candidate for long reverberant channels, which usually demand high computational complexity. First, we reveal a relationship between two different TEQ structures; channel estimate (CE)-based minimum mean square error (MMSE) TEQ versus direct-adaptive linear TEQ. We show that without inclusion of the second-order a priori statistics, the coefficients of direct-adaptive TEQ converge to linear time-invariant form, though an optimal MMSE solution derived from a priori information is time-variant. Nevertheless, the direct-adaptive TEQ yields performance comparable to the CE-based MMSE TEQ while maintaining lower complexity. This was confirmed through real experiments conducted off the coast of Martha's Vinyard, MA (“SPACE 08”). We also discuss a practical design of a multi-channel least mean square (LMS) TEQ and experiments show that the LMS-TEQ successfully decodes data achieving up to 19.53 kbit/s for 1000 meter distance.
Low- and high-cocaine locomotor responding rats differ in reinstatement of cocaine seeking and striatal mGluR5 protein expression.

Behavioral responsiveness to initial cocaine use varies among individuals and may contribute to differential vulnerability to cocaine addiction. Rats also exhibit individual differences in cocaine's effects and can be classified as low or high cocaine responders (LCRs or HCRs, respectively), based on their initial cocaine-induced locomotor activity (10 mg/kg, i.p.). Here, we used the extinction/reinstatement model to address whether or not LCRs and HCRs differ in (i) extinction/reinstatement of cocaine self-administration behavior and (ii) levels of metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) following these behaviors. During the earliest acquisition sessions, LCRs exhibited significantly greater cocaine intake (0.8 mg/kg/infusion) and cocaine-paired lever responding than HCRs, but intake and lever responding converged by the end of the cocaine self-administration portion of the study. LCRs and HCRs did not differ in cocaine seeking during the first extinction session and extinguished cocaine seeking similarly. HCRs exhibited greater reinstatement than LCRs to lower (2.5 and 5 mg/kg), but not higher (10 mg/kg), i.p. priming doses of cocaine. The effect of drug-paired cues on reinstatement following extinction was complex, with HCRs and LCRs showing the greater effect of cue depending on the order in which cue- and drug-primed tests were given. Western blot analysis revealed that mGluR5 heteromers were significantly higher in the dorsal striatum of HCRs than LCRs following reinstatement testing. Although our previous findings with the LCR/HCR model have uniformly supported the idea that lower initial cocaine-induced activation predicts more ready development of cocaine addiction-like behaviors, here, we show a more complex relationship with cocaine reinstatement.
Controlling the spiking activity in excitable membranes via poisoning

Abstract The influence of intrinsic channel noise on the spontaneous spiking activity of poisoned excitable membrane patches is studied by use of a stochastic generalization of the Hodgkin–Huxley model. Internal noise stemming from the stochastic dynamics of individual ion channels is known to affect the collective properties of the whole ion channel cluster. There exists an optimal size of the membrane patch for which, solely, the internal noise causes a most regular spontaneous generation of action potentials. In addition to the variation of the size of ion channel clusters, living organisms may adopt the densities of ion channels in order to optimally regulate the spontaneous spiking activity. In our model, we selectively control via poisoning the densities of specific, active ion channels. Interestingly enough, by such poisoning of some of the potassium, or the sodium ion channels, respectively, it is possible to either increase, or decrease the regularity of the spike train.
Device selection: A critical strategy in the reduction of catheter-related complications

Medical science has made dramatic strides in the use of innovative drug therapies to improve the lives of patients with life-threatening and chronic illnesses. As new therapies have evolved, so has the way in which they are administered. The transition of care from hospital to home and cost competition forced the home infusion industry to find safe, cost-effective methods to deliver parenteral therapy. Medical device technology has met the challenge with several new devices alternatives. Almost at the same time, three new peripheral device options were introduced: the midline catheter, the peripherally inserted central venous catheter (PICC) , and the peripheral port. While these devices are proving to be safe, cost-effective methods for delivery of parenteral therapy, confusion exists regarding the appropriate use, care and management among the various access devices. Traditionally, device selection was based primarily on the need for short-term or long-term access. Peripheral intravenous catheters were used until venipuncture was no longer possible. Central venous catheters were used only for hemodynamic monitoring in the critically ill, when parenteral nutrition or chemotherapy required prolonged access, or when peripheral veins were exhausted. Now the issues are different; multiple drug regimens are administered in alternate care settings with variable lengths and frequencies of drug administration, multiple device options are available each with variable risks, non-medical caregivers provide care and administer parenteral drugs
Simulation and expected performance analysis of multiple processor Z-buffer systems

The results of expected performance analysis and simulation of three multiple processor Z-buffer architectures are presented. These architectures have been proposed as approaches to applying many processors, working in parallel, to the task of rapidly creating shaded raster images. These architectures are attractive since they offer potentially high performance, in terms of image update rate, at modest cost. All three approaches make use of multiple instances of identical processor modules.The analyses and simulations indicate that substantial gain is possible by applying multiple processors to the task. But, as more and more processors are added, additional gains in performance become smaller and smaller. This result suggests optimal system sizes. The performance of these architectures depends on the processors used, the number of processors, and certain characteristics of the image environments. Each architecture has its own performance characteristics and limitations.
Monitoring the Dehydration of Artificial Skin by Time-Domain Terahertz Transmission Measurements

We quantified the variations in the terahertz-frequency dielectric properties in artificial skin hydrated in saline spanning hypo-normal, normal and hyper-normal physiological conditions, during a 24-hour dehydration period in-vitro.
Response to Comment on “Grain Boundary-Mediated Plasticity in Nanocrystalline Nickel”

O ur study ([ 1 ][1]) reported on the deformation response of nanocrystalline Ni during in situ dark-field transmission electron microscopy (DFTEM) straining experiments and showed what we view as direct and compelling evidence of grain boundary-mediated plasticity. Based on their analysis of the
Toward a more perfect union: Reflecting on trends and issues for enhancing the academic performance of minority transfer students

This chapter discusses policy issues pertaining to minority transfer students and presents a conceptual model for enhancing and facilitating minority transfers.
Decades ahead of her time: advancing stakeholder theory through the ideas of Mary Parker Follett

Though the work of Mary Parker Follett predates the field of stakeholder theory by almost 60 years, and no reference to her work is found in the stakeholder literature, many of the tenets of stakeholder theory echo Follett’s ideas precisely. More importantly, Follett’s work yields a much richer foundation for stakeholder theory, as well as providing direction for its advancement. The article traces both the similarities and differences between Follett’s work and that of contemporary stakeholder theorists, and shows how Follett’s ideas can be used to enhance our current understanding of the theory and improve its implementation.
Spontaneous BOLD signal fluctuations in young healthy subjects and elderly patients with chronic kidney disease.

Spontaneous fluctuations in blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) images are the basis of resting-state fMRI and frequently used for functional connectivity studies. However, there may be intrinsic information in the amplitudes of these fluctuations. We investigated the possibility of using the amplitude of spontaneous BOLD signal fluctuations as a biomarker for cerebral vasomotor reactivity. We compared the coefficient of variation (CV) of the time series (defined as the temporal standard deviation of the time series divided by the mean signal intensity) in two populations: 1) Ten young healthy adults and 2) Ten hypertensive elderly subjects with chronic kidney disease (CKD). We found a statistically significant increase (P<0.01) in the CV values for the CKD patients compared with the young healthy adults in both gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM). The difference was independent of the exact segmentation method, became more significant after correcting for physiological signals using RETROICOR, and mainly arose from very low frequency components of the BOLD signal fluctuation (f<0.025 Hz). Furthermore, there was a strong relationship between WM and GM signal fluctuation CV's (R2 = 0.87) in individuals, with a ratio of about 1:3. These results suggest that amplitude of the spontaneous BOLD signal fluctuations may be used to assess the cerebrovascular reactivity mechanisms and provide valuable information about variations with age and different disease states.
Effect of metoclopramide on gastro-esophageal reflux in anesthetized dogs

Administration of morphine before anesthesia leads to gastro-esophageal reflux (GER) in over 50% of dogs during the subsequent anesthetic. This GER is clinically silent but can lead to aspiration pneumonitis, esophagitis and esophageal stricture. In this prospective clinical study we aimed to determine the effect of metoclopramide on gastro-esophageal reflux (GER) in dogs undergoing elective orthopedic surgery. Dogs were admitted to the study if they were healthy, and had no history of vomiting or dysphagia. Dogs were fasted for an average of 18.2 ± 4.3 (mean ± SD) hours prior to induction of anesthesia. Anesthesia in all dogs included acepromazine, morphine, thiopental and isoflurane in oxygen. By random allocation, half the dogs received metoclopramide (M) as an IV bolus (0.4 mg kg–1) and then infusion (0.3 mg kg–1hour–1), the others received equivalent volumes of saline (S). To measure esophageal pH a sensor-tipped catheter was placed with the tip 5–7 cm cranial to the lower esophageal sphincter, and connected to a computer for continual data collection. The pH of any fluid running from the mouth or nose was measured. Gastro-esophageal reflux was defined as a decrease in esophageal pH below 4 or an increase above 7.5. Fisher's Exact test was used to test significance of differences in incidence between groups. Separate multivariable logistic regression models were created for each outcome to assess the effects of risk factors on outcome. There were seven cases of GER in 16 dogs receiving M and 8/14 in those receiving S. There were no significant differences between M and S treated dogs in age, weight, duration of anesthesia and fasting, thiopental dose or incidence of vomiting. The administration of metoclopramide at this dose did not significantly reduce the incidence of GER in these anesthetized dogs.
ENZYME INACTIVATION BY AN IMMOBILIZED PROTEASE IN A PLUG FLOW REACTOR

Streptomyces griseus protease was immobilized to porous glass and characterized kinetically. The immobilized protease was then used in a plug flow reactor to inactivate enzymes in solution at low concentrations. The glass-bound protease was effective against fungal glucose oxidase and partially effective against soluble S. griseus protease. Some enzymes were more efficiently inactivated by plain or silanized glass without enzyme, presumably due to adsorption. Less tomato pectin methylesterase was inactivated by glass-bound protease than by plain glass. This is most likely due to masking of adsorption sites by the immobilized protease.
Evidence That Human Fcγ Receptor IIA (CD32) Subtypes Are Not Receptors for Oxidized LDL

Abstract Several lines of evidence suggest that clearance of oxidized LDL (oxLDL) immune complexes by macrophage IgG Fc receptors (FcγRs) plays a role in atherogenesis. OxLDL may also be cleared directly by FcγRs, as shown for murine FcγRII-B2. In humans, the homologous FcγR is FcγRIIA (CD32), which is abundantly expressed on monocytes and macrophages and shares 60% sequence identity with murine FcγRII-B2. As murine FcγRII-B2 and human FcγRIIA also share similar IgG ligand-binding properties, the purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that human CD32 is a receptor for oxLDL. For these studies we used transfected Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells, monocytes, and cell lines that functionally express either of two FcγRIIA subtypes (R131 or H131) and assayed binding or degradation of several preparations of oxLDL. The integrity of all oxLDL preparations was checked by studying their ability to react with CHO cells expressing human type I scavenger receptors and by other characteristics of lipoprotei...
Analyzing BSE surveillance in low prevalence countries

If the prevalence of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) varies among cohorts within a population, stratified analysis of BSE surveillance data may allow identification of differences in BSE exposure that are important with respect to the design and evaluation of disease prevention and control measures. In low BSE prevalence populations, however, surveillance at levels that meet or exceed international guidelines may provide insufficient statistical power to distinguish prevalence levels among cohorts. Furthermore, overstratification to account for hypothetical variability in the population may inflate uncertainty in BSE risk estimates.
Carbamate and pyrethroid resistance in the akron strain of Anopheles gambiae

Insecticide resistance in the malaria vector, Anopheles gambiae, is a serious problem, epitomized by the multi-resistant Akron strain, originally isolated in the country of Benin. Here we report resistance in this strain to pyrethroids and DDT (13-fold to 35-fold compared to the susceptible G3 strain), but surprisingly little resistance to etofenprox, a compound sometimes described as a "pseudo-pyrethroid." There was also strong resistance to topically-applied commercial carbamates (45-fold to 81-fold), except for the oximes aldicarb and methomyl. Biochemical assays showed enhanced cytochrome P450 monooxygenase and carboxylesterase activity, but not that of glutathione-S-transferase. A series of substituted α,α,α,-trifluoroacetophenone oxime methylcarbamates were evaluated for enzyme inhibition potency and toxicity against G3 and Akron mosquitoes. The compound bearing an unsubstituted phenyl ring showed the greatest toxicity to mosquitoes of both strains. Low cross resistance in Akron was retained by all analogs in the series. Kinetic analysis of acetylcholinesterase activity and its inhibition by insecticides in the G3 strain showed inactivation rate constants greater than that of propoxur, and against Akron enzyme inactivation rate constants similar to that of aldicarb. However, inactivation rate constants against recombinant human AChE were essentially identical to that of the G3 strain. Thus, the acetophenone oxime carbamates described here, though potent insecticides that control resistant Akron mosquitoes, require further structural modification to attain acceptable selectivity and human safety.
Ponce d'elegans: Genetic Quest for the Fountain of Youth

How likely is it that genetic analysis of organisms such as yeast and nematodes will provide insights into the mechanisms by which humans age? There is no way to answer this question definitively at this time. By identifying homologs of genes identified in these small organisms, it should be possible to test their relevance to vertebrates directly. Possibly the strongest argument for conservation comes from the remarkable level of evolutionary conservation that has been found to exist in other biological processes, such as the control of pattern formation, apoptosis, and the cell cycle. Again and again we discover that different types of organisms use the same mechanisms to control their growth and differentiation. In this light, it would be surprising if the mechanisms that control a process as fundamental and universal as aging were not conserved at some level.If we are lucky, the control of life span will be as elegant and discrete as the control of development and equally accessible to genetic analysis. There still have not been any large-scale unbiased screens carried out for life span mutants in any organism, so we have no idea how many life span genes will be found to exist. We should get going before it is too late.
p38γ Mitogen-activated Protein Kinase Signals through Phosphorylating Its Phosphatase PTPH1 in Regulating Ras Protein Oncogenesis and Stress Response

Phosphatase plays a crucial role in determining cellular fate by inactivating its substrate kinase, but it is not known whether a kinase can vice versa phosphorylate its phosphatase to execute this function. Protein-tyrosine phosphatase H1 (PTPH1) is a specific phosphatase of p38γ mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) through PDZ binding, and here, we show that p38γ is also a PTPH1 kinase through which it executes its oncogenic activity and regulates stress response. PTPH1 was identified as a substrate of p38γ by unbiased proteomic analysis, and its resultant phosphorylation at Ser-459 occurs in vitro and in vivo through their complex formation. Genetic and pharmacological analyses showed further that Ser-459 phosphorylation is directly regulated by Ras signaling and is important for Ras, p38γ, and PTPH1 oncogenic activity. Moreover, experiments with physiological stimuli revealed a novel stress pathway from p38γ to PTPH1/Ser-459 phosphorylation in regulating cell growth and cell death by a mechanism dependent on cellular environments but independent of canonical MAPK activities. These results thus reveal a new mechanism by which a MAPK regulates Ras oncogenesis and stress response through directly phosphorylating its phosphatase.
Critical point theory and boundary value problems with nonlinearities crossing multiple eigenvalues II

(1985). Critical point theory and boundary value problems with nonlinearities crossing multiple eigenvalues. Communications in Partial Differential Equations: Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 107-150.