cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effect of low-dose, repeated exposure of contaminants of emerging concern on plant development and hormone homeostasis.

Treated wastewater is increasingly used to meet agriculture's water needs; however, treated wastewater contains numerous contaminants of emerging concern (CECs). With exposure and uptake of CECs, phytotoxicity and health of crop plants is of concern, but is poorly understood. This study evaluated the effect of low-dose, chronic exposure to a mixture of 10 CECs, including 4 antibiotics, 3 anti-inflammatory drugs, 1 antiepileptic, 1 beta-blocker, and 1 antimicrobial, on lettuce (Lactuca sativa) and cucumber (Cucumis sativa L.) plants. The CEC mixture was added in nutrient media at 1 to 20X of their typical levels in treated wastewater effluents. Biological endpoints including germination, growth, phytohormone homeostasis, and CEC bioaccumulation were determined. Exposure to the CEC mixture did not affect the germination rate of lettuce seeds, but stimulated root elongation and increased the root-to-shoot biomass ratio during a 7 d cultivation. A dose-dependent decrease in biomass was observed in cucumber seedling after a 30 d exposure, with the highest rate CEC treatment resulting in decreases of 51.2 ± 20.9, 26.3 ± 34.1, and 33.2 ± 41.7% in the below-ground, above-ground, and total biomass, respectively. Levels of abscisic acid were significantly elevated (p < 0.05) in the leaves, but decreased (p < 0.05) in the roots. The dose-response of auxin was characterized by a hormesis effect. A significant 6-fold increase in the stem auxin level was observed at the 1X CEC rate, followed by a decrease to 2-fold the control at the 20X rate. Leaf auxin concentrations also significantly increased at the 1X CEC rate to 16-fold, followed by a decrease at the highest CEC rate. The results of this study suggeste that chronic exposure to low levels of CEC mixtures may compromise the fitness of plants, and the impairments are underlined by alterations in hormone balances.
Dietary and Weight Loss Benefits of a National Sugar-sweetened Beverage Health Warning Policy: A Microsimulation Analysis (OR28-02-19)

Overconsumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) is a major contributor to obesity in the United States. To reduce SSB consumption, five U.S. states have proposed requiring front-of-package health warnings on SSBs. Randomized trials indicate that SSB health warnings reduce SSB purchases, but uncertainty remains regarding how these reductions translate into population-level dietary and health outcomes. We aimed to quantify the effects of a national SSB health warning policy on U.S. adults’ dietary behaviors and weight outcomes. We developed and validated a Monte Carlo microsimulation model of dietary behaviors and bodyweight using dietary and anthropometric data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Using estimates from existing literature, we simulated how an SSB health warning policy would affect SSB intake and, in turn, how changes in SSB intake would affect total energy intake. We then incorporated a validated model of weight change to translate changes in total energy intake into changes in weight over time. We used the model to simulate the impact of a national SSB health warning policy on SSB intake, total energy intake, body mass, and obesity among U.S. adults over a five-year period. Uncertainty analyses simulated scenarios when varying assumptions about three key model parameters: (1) the extent to which warnings would reduce SSB intake, (2) the degree of caloric compensation following a reduction in SSB intake, and (3) the extent to which warnings’ impact would increase or decrease over time. Implementing a national SSB health warning policy would reduce average SSB intake by 26.2 calories/day (95% uncertainty interval [UI] = −32.8, −19.4) and total energy intake by 32.4 calories/day (95% UI = −37.9, −26.7). These dietary changes would reduce average BMI by 0.6 kg/m² (95% UI = −0.7, −0.5) and obesity prevalence by 2.1 percentage points (95% UI = −3.2pp, −0.9pp). BMI reductions would be largest among adults who are Black or Hispanic, have low educational attainment, or have low income. Obesity reductions persist when assuming warning efficacy decreases over time and when using conservative estimates of warning impact or caloric compensation. Implementing a national SSB health warning policy could reduce SSB consumption, average BMI, and obesity among U.S. adults. National Institutes of Health.
Picturing care: an introduction

No state can function without citizens who are produced and reproduced through care. If public discussions do not explicitly address this question, then the care dimensions of life remain hidden in...
Some Truths Don’t Matter: The Case of Strong Sustainability

The proponents of strong sustainability have advanced four main arguments for the non-substitutability of natural capital: the existence argument, the Aristotelian argument, the motivation argument...
The Value of Pluralism in the Academy

Sustaining a climate that encourages free speech and free inquiry is a persistent challenge in the university setting, just as it is in society more broadly. Appropriate institutional protections and policies can help protect against the censorious suppression of unorthodox views, but the problem of self-censorship by faculty and students alike might be a harder problem to solve. Creating safeguards so that dissenters from local orthodoxies do not fear reprisals is only a first step toward reducing the temptation to self-censorship. Constructing a pluralistic intellectual environment and nurturing a culture of critical dialogue and skeptical inquiry will help draw out a more robust exchange of ideas.
Foot Deformities in Hajdu-Cheney Syndrome: A Rare Case Report and Review of the Literature.

Introduction Hajdu-Cheney syndrome (HCS) is a rare autosomal dominant disease characterized by acroosteolysis, wormian skull bones with persistent skull sutures, premature loss of teeth, micrognathia, short stature, hypermobility of the joints, neurologic manifestations such as basilar invagination with subsequent paresthesia, hearing loss, and speech alterations, and osteoporosis with tendency to pathologic fractures of long bones and vertebrae as well as painful hands and feet. Very few cases have been earlier reported in the literature. Case Report We report a case of a 50-year-old female with bilateral foot deformities as a manifestation of the rare genetic disorder HCS. Surgical management of the left foot consisted of Morton's neuroma excision and Weil osteotomy with proximal interphalangeal joint resection and Kirschner wire fixation of the second and third metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joints. Recurrent subluxation of the left second MTP joint was observed at 5-week follow-up. The right foot was treated similarly 7weeks after the initial operation. The post-operative course of the right foot was complicated by bone resorption and nonunion of the second and third metatarsal Weil osteotomies. Conclusion Management of complex foot deformities associated with HCS can be challenging and have not previously been described in the literature. Underlying bone and connective tissue abnormalities intrinsic to the syndrome may increase the risk of recurrence after surgical correction. Consideration should be given to such post-operative complications when treating foot deformities in a patient with HCS.
Fee-Shifting Bylaws: An Empirical Analysis

Shareholder litigation has long played a central but highly controversial role in American corporate governance. In 2014, the Delaware Supreme Court took a step that had the potential to reduce the amount of such litigation dramatically. In its landmark ATP Tour, Inc. v. Deutscher Tennis Bund (“ATP”) decision, the Court embraced the legality of so-called fee-shifting bylaws. Such bylaws typically require plaintiff shareholders to bear a corporation’s litigation expenses if their suit does not succeed on the merits. Only a year later, however, the Delaware legislature overruled ATP by adopting legislation banning fee-shifting provisions. From a policy perspective, the crucial question is whether this prohibition benefits shareholders? Many scholars have weighed in on the policy issue. But, to date, no empirical study has examined the ATP decision’s impact on shareholder wealth. The present article fills this gap. Using a hand-collected data set on fee-shifting provisions, I show that the legalization of fee-shifting bylaws reduced shareholder wealth.
Parodying Palin: How Tina Fey's Visual and Verbal Impersonations Revived a Comedy Show and Impacted the 2008 Election

AbstractWith political comedy playing a significant role in the 2008 presidential election, NBC’s faltering 34-year-old Saturday Night Live, in particular, benefited in a ratings surge from comedienne Tina Fey playing Governor Sarah Palin and from the real governor’s cameo appearance. This study presents an analysis of the visual and verbal dimensions of a series of political parodies that aired on Saturday Night Live in fall 2008, their impact on the governor’s image, and the soaring viewership on online video outlets. We argue that in order to be literate of these parodies, viewers must understand the confluence of verbal, visual, and contextual elements.
A Human Microbiota-Associated Murine Model for Assessing the Impact of the Vaginal Microbiota on Pregnancy Outcomes

Disease states are often linked to large scale changes in microbial community structure that obscure the contributions of individual microbes to disease. Establishing a mechanistic understanding of how microbial community structure contribute to certain diseases, however, remains elusive thereby limiting our ability to develop successful microbiome-based therapeutics. Human microbiota-associated (HMA) mice have emerged as a powerful approach for directly testing the influence of microbial communities on host health and disease, with the transfer of disease phenotypes from humans to germ-free recipient mice widely reported. We developed a HMA mouse model of the human vaginal microbiota to interrogate the effects of Bacterial Vaginosis (BV) on pregnancy outcomes. We collected vaginal swabs from 19 pregnant African American women with and without BV (diagnosed per Nugent score) to colonize female germ-free mice and measure its impact on birth outcomes. There was considerable variability in the microbes that colonized each mouse, with no association to the BV status of the microbiota donor. Although some of the women in the study had adverse birth outcomes, the vaginal microbiota was not predictive of adverse birth outcomes in mice. However, elevated levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the uterus of HMA mice were detected during pregnancy. Together, these data outline the potential uses and limitations of HMA mice to elucidate the influence of the vaginal microbiota on health and disease.
Screening for perinatal depression with the Patient Health Questionnaire depression scale (PHQ-9): A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Abstract Objectives Perinatal depression (PND) is a prevalent and disabling problem both during pregnancy and the postpartum period. The legacy screening measure has been the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). This systematic review examines the validity of the PHQ-9 as a screener for PND. Methods The following databases were searched from January 2001 (when the PHQ-9 was first published) through June 2020: MEDLINE, Embase, and PsychInfo. Studies that compared the PHQ-9 to a criterion standard psychiatric interview were used to determine the operating characteristics of sensitivity, specificity and area under the curve (AUC). Studies comparing the PHQ-9 to the EPDS and other depression scales evaluated convergent validity. Results A total of 35 articles were eligible for criterion (n = 10) or convergent (n = 25) validity. Meta-analysis of the 7 criterion validity studies using the standard PHQ-9 cut point ≥10 showed a pooled sensitivity, specificity and AUC of 0.84, 0.81 and 0.89, respectively. Operating characteristics of the PHQ-9 and EPDS were nearly identical in head-to-head comparison studies. The median correlation between the PHQ-9 and EPDS was 0.59, and categorical agreement was moderate. Conclusions The PHQ-9 appears to be a viable option for perinatal depression screening with operating characteristics similar to the legacy EPDS.
Soybean androgenesis II: non-gametophytic morphologies in isolated microspore culture

Gametophytic embryogenesis is a process capable of accelerating trait discovery and cultivar development in plant-breeding programs. However, recalcitrance to morphogenic stimuli has limited such work in many crops of interest, especially among fabaceous species such as soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merrill). In complementary studies, donor plant and culture conditions were documented to successfully divert isolated soybean microspores from a gametophytic pathway; these findings were reinforced through transcriptomic analysis of microspores subjected to pretreatment temperature stress, suggesting cellular dedifferentiation through suppression of the pollen developmental program. In the present study, cytological characteristics were observed in isolated microspore culture, which evidenced non-gametophytic development. These phenotypes included (i) inhibition of daughter cell specialization, (ii) pollen dimorphism, and (iii) exine rupture, among others. The outlined morphologies were placed into the context of established gametophytic embryogenesis platforms, further supporting previous claims of cell fate redirection in soybean microspores. The present study provides insight into gametophytic embryogenesis induction via isolated microspore culture and may prove useful for the investigation of soybean androgenesis.
Estimating Heterogeneous Treatment Effect on Multivariate Responses Using Random Forests

Estimating the individualized treatment effect has become one of the most popular topics in statistics and machine learning communities in recent years. Most existing methods focus on modeling the heterogeneous treatment effects for univariate outcomes. However, many biomedical studies are interested in studying multiple highly correlated endpoints at the same time. We propose a random forest model that simultaneously estimates individualized treatment effects of multivariate outcomes. We consider a popular study design where covariates and outcomes are measured both before and after the intervention. The proposed model uses oblique splitting rules to partition population space to the neighborhood that experiences distinct treatment effects. An extensive simulation study suggests that the proposed method outperforms existing methods in various nonlinear settings. We further apply the proposed method to two nutrition studies investigating the effects of food consumption on gastrointestinal microbiota composition and clinical biomarkers. The method has been implemented in a freely available R package MOTE.RF at https://github.com/boyiguo1/MOTE.RF .
Examining racial disparities in male breast cancer.

6555Background: Male breast cancer (MBC) accounts for approximately 1% of all breast cancers. Racial disparities have not been examined in MBC. Methods: Within a large, integrated health delivery s...
Impact of Meeting Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Benchmarks on Spoken Language

This study compared preschool spoken language outcomes for children with hearing loss who met the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) guidelines to those who did not, as well as compare...
Time to specialty care and mortality after cardiac arrest

Abstract Introduction Out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients are often transported to the closest emergency department (ED) or cardiac center for initial stabilization and may be transferred for further care. We investigated the effects of delay to transfer on in hospital mortality at a receiving facility. Methods We included OHCA patients transported from the ED by a single critical care transport service to a quaternary care facility between 2010 and 2018. We calculated dwell time as time from arrest to critical care transport team contact. We abstracted demographics, arrest characteristics, and interventions started prior to transport arrival. For the primary analysis, we used logistic regression to determine the association of dwell time and in-hospital mortality. As secondary outcomes we investigated for associations of dwell time and mortality within 24 h of arrival, proximate cause of death among decedents, arterial pH and lactate on arrival, sum of worst SOFA subscales within 24 h of arrival, and rearrest during interfacility transport. Results We included 572 OHCA patients transported from an outside ED to our facility. Median dwell time was 113 (IQR = 85–159) minutes. Measured in 30 min epochs, increasing dwell time was not associated with in-hospital mortality, 24-h mortality, cause of death and initial pH, but was associated with lower 24-h SOFA score (p = 0.01) and lower initial lactate (p = 0.03). Rearrest during transport was rare (n = 29, 5%). Dwell time was associated with lower probability of rearrest during transport (OR = 0.847, (95% CI 0.68–1.01), p = 0.07). Conclusions Dwell time was not associated with in-hospital mortality. Rapid transport may be associated with risk of rearrest. Prospective data are needed to clarify optimal patient stabilization and transport strategies.
Neurological and clinical outcomes in infants and children with a fetal diagnosis of asymmetric ventriculomegaly, interhemispheric cyst, and dysgenesis of the corpus callosum.

Objective Advances in prenatal imaging have facilitated improvements in the fetal diagnosis of congenital anomalies. Asymmetric ventriculomegaly, interhemispheric cyst, and dysgenesis of the corpus callosum (AVID) is a constellation of congenital anomalies reported in fetal imaging. However, few data are available regarding postnatal outcomes of infants and children with a fetal diagnosis of AVID. The authors sought to report the neurodevelopmental outcomes of patients diagnosed with AVID before birth at a single institution. Methods An institutional fetal imaging database was queried to identify cases with ventriculomegaly, interhemispheric cyst, and dysgenesis of the corpus callosum over a 10-year study period from 2000 to 2019. Overall, 41 maternal-infant dyads who met imaging criteria for AVID were identified; medical records were reviewed for prenatal variables including gestational age at birth, perinatal complications including fetal demise, and postnatal variables including demographics, mortality, hydrocephalus diagnosis and management, epilepsy, and neurodevelopmental outcomes at 2 years or the last follow-up. Results Among 41 patients, 25 (61%) were male. A slight majority of patients (55%) were born before 36 weeks of gestational age, and 27 patients (68%) were delivered via cesarean section because their head size precluded vaginal delivery. There were 8 incidences of fetal demise, 1 pregnancy was terminated, and 32 patients were born alive. Neonatal or early infant death occurred in 5 patients. Two children died during follow-up after the neonatal period (ages 7 months and 7 years). Twenty-six children survived to at least the 2-year follow-up, all of whom required treatment for hydrocephalus. Of those 26 children, 12 (46%) had a diagnosis of epilepsy, 14 (54%) could sit independently, 4 (16%) were in mainstream school, 16 (62%) had expressive language, and 7 (28%) had near-normal development without seizures. Conclusions Among 41 maternal-fetal dyads with AVID, a majority of children survived to the 2-year follow-up, although all developed hydrocephalus. Many continued to have seizures, but expressive language use, attendance at mainstream school, and near-normal development without seizures were not infrequent. These data are critical for prenatal counseling and to establish the natural history of a diagnosis with limited outcome data.
Relationship between Heavy Drug and Alcohol Use and Problem Use Among Adolescents

Adolescent drinking and drug use1 has attracted a lot of attention from policy makers, researchers, and the public at large. There are concerns about use because of the unknown effects of alcohol and drugs on maturation in terms of psychological and physiological development and the acquisition of skills such as coping. Of greater importance, however, is the issue of problem use called abuse, misuse, or heavy use.
Ameliorating Pain in Nursing Homes: A Collaborative Quality‐Improvement Project

Objectives: To evaluate a multifaceted intervention to improve pain-management processes of care and outcomes in nursing homes. Design: Quasi-experimental, pretest/posttest. Setting: Nursing homes in Rhode Island. Participants: Twenty-one facilities. Intervention: This project used a multifaceted collaborative intervention involving audit and feedback of pain management, education, training, coaching using rapid-cycle quality-improvement techniques, and inter-nursing home collaboration. Measurements: Pain-management processes of care and outcomes, measured using chart review and the Minimum Data Set. Results: Of 21 facilities, 17 completed the project. Postintervention, nursing homes increased the use of appropriate pain assessments (3.9% vs 43.8%, P<.001), pain intensity scales (15.6% vs 73.9%, P<.001), and nonpharmacological treatments (40.5% vs 81.9%, P<.001). Prescriptions of World Health Organization Step II or Step III pain medications for residents with daily moderate or severe pain showed trends towards improvement (40.8% vs 50.6%, P=.057), but prescription of any pain medication (93.3% vs 94.6%, P=.710), change in pain medication (29.0% vs 30.1%, P=.386), and prescription of pain medications on a regularly scheduled basis (67.9% vs 69.5%, P=.370) did not. There was a 41.1% reduction in prevalence of pain (12.2% vs 7.2%, P=.032) between the pre- and postintervention time periods in the nursing homes that completed the project, whereas all the other facilities in Rhode Island (n=72) had only a 12.1% reduction (12.7% vs 11.2%, P=.286) during the same period. Conclusion: A multifaceted intervention improved pain-management process and outcome measures in nursing homes.
Metrics for Multiagent Systems

A Multiagent System (MAS) is a software paradigm for building large scale intelligent distributed systems. Increasingly these systems are being deployed on handheld computing devices that rely on non-traditional communications mediums such as mobile ad hoc networks and satellite links. These systems present new challenges for computer scientists in describing system performance and analyzing competing systems. This chapter surveys existing metrics that can be used to describe MASs and related components. A framework for analyzing MASs is provided and an example of how this framework might be employed is given for the domain of distributed constraint reasoning.
The Association Between Sociodemographic Factors, Participation in Assistance Programs, and Food Insecurity Among Oregon Residents

ABSTRACT We measured food insecurity and investigated whether sociodemographics and assistance program use were associated with food insecurity in a random sample of working-age Oregonians (N = 343) using hierarchical logistic regression. About 14% of Oregonians were food insecure. Food insecurity was significantly associated with less education, unemployment, household income 30% of income for housing. Having a household member who had used Social Security Insurance or frequented a food bank increased the odds of food insecurity, whereas Food Stamp Program participation decreased the odds of food insecurity. This study supports previous research linking food insecurity to human capital and economic factors and can inform public health programs and policies designed to lower food insecurity.
A measurement study of scheduler-based attacks in 3G wireless networks

Though high-speed (3G) wide-area wireless networks have been rapidly proliferating, little is known about the robustness and security properties of these networks. In this paper, we make initial steps towards understanding these properties by studying Proportional Fair (PF), the scheduling algorithm used on the downlinks of these networks. We find that the fairness-ensuring mechanism of PF can be easily corrupted by a malicious user to monopolize the wireless channel thereby starving other users. Using extensive experiments on commercial and laboratory-based CDMA networks, we demonstrate this vulnerability and quantify the resulting performance impact. We find that delay jitter can be increased by up to 1 second and TCP throughput can be reduced by as much as 25-30% by a single malicious user. Based on our results, we argue for the need to use a more robust scheduling algorithm and outline one such algorithm.
Using Architectural Style as a Basis for System Self-repair

An increasingly important requirement for software systems is the capability to adapt at run time in order to accommodate varying resources, system errors, and changing requirements. For such self-repairing systems, one of the hard problems is determining when a change is needed, and knowing what kind of adaptation is required. Recently several researchers have explored the possibility of using architectural models as a basis for run time monitoring, error detection, and repair. Each of these efforts, however, has demonstrated the feasibility of using architectural models in the context of a specific style. In this paper we show how to generalize these solutions by making architectural style a parameter in the monitoring/repair framework and its supporting infrastructure. The value of this generalization is that it allows one to tailor monitoring/repair mechanisms to match both the properties of interest (such as performance or security), and the available operators for run time adaptation.
Optimization of Data-Parallel Field Expressions in the POOMA Framework

The POOMA framework is a C++ class library for the development of large-scale parallel scientific applications. POOMA's Field class implements a templated, multidimensional, data-parallel array that partitions data in a simulation domain into sub-blocks. These subdomain blocks are used on a parallel computer in data-parallel Field expressions. In this paper we describe the design of Fields, their implementation in the POOMA framework, and their performance on a Silicon Graphics Inc. Origin 2000. We focus on the aspects of the Field implementation which relate to efficient memory use and improvement of run-time performance: reducing the number of temporaries through expression templates, reducing the total memory used by compressing constant regions, and performing calculations on sparsely populated Fields by using sparse index lists.
Panel Discussion: Creating A Spirit Of Inquiry In The Classroom

A paucity of published literature exists related to the use of panel discussion as a teaching strategy. This article describes the panel discussion, the underpinnings of constructivism and the use of panel discussion to create a constructivist classroom environment. Details of planning, evaluating, and challenges of a panel discussion are also provided.
Analysis of brain scan images using genetic algorithms

Genetic algorithms are used to automatically quantify the three types of brain tissue: cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), white matter, and gray matter. The quantification technique utilizes a statistical model of the noise and partial volume effect, and fits a derived probability density function to that of the data. The results are compared with those obtained by a tree annealing algorithm.
NF-κB Signaling Participates in Both RANKL- and IL-4–Induced Macrophage Fusion: Receptor Cross-Talk Leads to Alterations in NF-κB Pathways

NF-κB activation is essential for receptor activator for NF-κB ligand (RANKL)-induced osteoclast formation. IL-4 is known to inhibit the RANKL-induced osteoclast differentiation while at the same time promoting macrophage fusion to form multinucleated giant cells (MNG). Several groups have proposed that IL-4 inhibition of osteoclastogenesis is mediated by suppressing the RANKL-induced activation of NF-κB. However, we found that IL-4 did not block proximal, canonical NF-κB signaling. Instead, we found that IL-4 inhibited alternative NF-κB signaling and induced p105/50 expression. Interestingly, in nfκb1(-/-) bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMM), the formation of both multinucleated osteoclast and MNG induced by RANKL or IL-4, respectively, was impaired. This suggests that NF-κB signaling also plays an important role in IL-4-induced macrophage fusion. Indeed, we found that the RANKL-induced and IL-4-induced macrophage fusion were both inhibited by the NF-κB inhibitors IκB kinase 2 inhibitor and NF-κB essential modulator inhibitory peptide. Furthermore, overexpression of p50, p65, p52, and RelB individually in nfκb1(-/-) or nfκb1(+/+) BMM enhanced both giant osteoclast and MNG formation. Interestingly, knockdown of nfκb2 in wild-type BMM dramatically enhanced both osteoclast and MNG formation. In addition, both RANKL- and IL-4-induced macrophage fusion were impaired in NF-κB-inducing kinase(-/-) BMM. These results suggest IL-4 influences NF-κB pathways by increasing p105/p50 and suppressing RANKL-induced p52 translocation and that NF-κB pathways participate in both RANKL- and IL-4-induced giant cell formation.
Invited Commentary: A Critical Look at Some Popular Meta-Analytic Methods

Meta-analysis is essential for obtaining reproducible summaries of study results and valuable for discovering patterns among study results. A good meta-analysis will highlight and delineate the subjective components of these processes and vigorously search for sources of heterogeneity. Unfortunately, these objective are not always met by common techniques. For example, a scatterplot is an objective summarization if the data are uncensored, but inferred patterns should be regarded as subjective recognitions of the analyst, not objective data properties. Random-effects summaries encourage averaging over important data patterns, divert attention from key sources of heterogeneity, and can amplify distortions produced by publication bias; such summaries should only be used when important heterogeneity remains after a thorough search for the sources of such heterogeneity. Quality scoring adds the analyst's subjective bias to the results, wastes information, and can prevent the recognition of key sources of heterogeneity; it should be completely replaced by meta-regression on quality items (the score components).
MATHEMATICAL ANALYSIS of CRITICAL PARAMETERS IN ASEPTIC PARTICULATE PROCESSING SYSTEMS

A sensitivity analysis of a one-dimensional heat transfer model for a heat-hold-cool aseptic system of food products containing particulates was completed for eighteen different design, product, and process control parameters. All of the parameters, except the direct effect of the fluid specific heat, were determined to be statistically significant in influencing the accumulated lethality of the processes. the most influential parameters were surface heat transfer coefficient in the hold tube at the fluid-particle interface, exit temperature of the fluid from the heater, initial temperature, holding tube size, and holding tube-U value. the process/product-related parameters that are significant in the establishement of a process are: particle diameter, surface heat transfer coefficient in the hold tube at the fluid-particle interface, thermal properties of the fluid and particulates, maximum heater velocity ratio, maximum hold tube velocity ratio, surface heat transfer coefficient in the heater at the fluid-particle interface, product flow rate, and particle to fluid ratio.
A framework to facilitate cyber defense situational awareness modeled in an emulated virtual machine testbed

Modern computer networks and the cyber attacks launched against them grow more complex each year. Analyzing network information can be complex and time consuming. Network defenders are routinely un...
Identification of an Asymmetrically Localized Sensor Histidine Kinase Responsible for Temporally and Spatially Regulated Transcription

Caulobacter crescentus undergoes asymmetric cell division, resulting in a stalked cell and a motile swarmer cell. The genes encoding external components of the flagellum are expressed in the swarmer compartment of the predivisional cell through the localized activation of the transcription factor FlbD. The mechanisms responsible for the temporal and spatial activation of FlbD were determined through identification of FlbE, a histidine kinase required for FlbD activity. FlbE is asymmetrically distributed in the predivisional cell. It is located at the pole of the stalked compartment and at the site of cell division in the swarmer compartment. These findings suggest that FlbE and FlbD are activated in response to a morphological change in the cell resulting from cell division events.
Searching for cointegration in a dynamic system

Summary Outlying events or regime changes may mask cointegration relationships, rendering cointegration tests uninformative. To address this issue we propose tests to detect whether a cointegration relationship holds in any one or more parts of the sample. Specifically, we test the null hypothesis of r0, which can be zero, stable cointegrating vectors against the alternative hypothesis of more than r0 cointegrating vectors existing in some subsample. The tests proposed follow Breitung (2002). They are non-parametric in nature and are invariant to linear transformations of the series. A distinctive feature is that they allow us to detect the hidden cointegration when the system is affected by an unknown number of regime changes of unknown timing. We analyse the limiting distributions and provide tables of critical values. Various extensions are then discussed which incorporate a priori information to improve the power. A simple correction is also proposed to yield improved finite sample performance. Finally simulations are conducted to evaluate the size and power in finite samples.
The forces between moving charges

This straightforward statement of the present generally accepted theory is a correlation of widely scattered material well-known to scholars in the field, but heretofore not collected.
A spiking neural model for the spatial coding of cognitive response sequences

The generation of sequential responses is a fundamental aspect of cognitive function, encompassing processes such as motor control, linguistic expression, memory recall and thought itself. There is considerable evidence that complex cognitive responses (such as voluntary actions) are constructed as chunked sequences of more elementary response primitives or synergies, which can themselves be seen often as sequences of simpler primitives. Almost all neural models of sequence representation are based on the principle of recurrence, where each successive item is generated by preceding items. However, it is also interesting to consider the possibility of purely spatial neural representations that result in sequential readout of pre-existing response elements. Such representations offer several potential benefits, including parsimony, efficiency, flexibility and generalization. In particular, they can allow response sequences to be stored in memory as chunks encoded by fixed point attractors. In this paper, we present a simple spiking neuron model for the flexible encoding and replay of response sequences through the impulsive triggering of coding patterns represented as fixed point attractors. While not intended as a detailed description of a specific brain region, the model seeks to capture fundamental control mechanisms that may apply in many parts of the nervous system.
Non-orthogonal modes in passive photonic crystals

There has been significant interest in the non-orthogonal modes in resonator systems in the context of the excess noise factor in laser cavities. Conventional non-orthogonal modes are created by the gain of the laser cavity during a round trip since gain makes the propagation of light non-unitary. Here, we theoretically demonstrate that these non-orthogonal modes can also be generated in passive photonic crystal systems. We further show that it can have a broader implication in optical resonator systems. In particular, we probe the characteristics of non-orthogonal modes in a resonator system by looking at the transport properties.
β-Diketiminate ligand backbone structural effects on Cu(I)/O2 reactivity: Unique copper-superoxo and bis(μ-oxo) complexes

Copper(I) and -(II) complexes of β-diketiminate ligands with identical flanking 2,6-diisopropylphenyl groups but divergent backbone substitution patterns were prepared and structurally characterized, and reactions of the Cu(I) species with O2 at low temperature were explored. Despite being far removed from the coordinated metal ion, the different backbone patterns significantly influence the steric encumbrance exerted by the ligands, as revealed by differences in (a) the structural features of the Cu(I) and Cu(II) complexes and (b) the course of the oxygenation reactions of the Cu(I) compounds. With the less hindered ligand, a rare example of a neutral bis(μ-oxo)dicopper complex was identified on the basis of its diagnostic spectral features (UV−vis, resonance Raman, EPR) and the stoichiometry of O2 uptake (Cu:O2 = 2:1). In contrast, oxygenation of the Cu(I) complexes supported by the more hindered ligands yielded novel (superoxo)copper complexes, identified by a Cu:O2 ratio of 1:1, a lack of an EPR signa...
Iron compounds and iron catalysts: Activity in reactions relevant to direct coal liquefaction

Abstract The catalytic activity of various iron compounds was studied using a model compound, 4-(1-naphthylmethyl)bibenzyl, which exhibits distinct decomposition patterns for radical, ion-radical or acidic environments. It was found that selective carbon cleavage takes place when dry iron compounds such as iron (III) oxide, sulfated iron oxides or FeOOH are used in the presence of sulfur. Acidic sites of the Bronsted type become active when the sulfated iron oxides are reacted in the presence of small amounts of water. Also, acidic activity can be induced in mixtures of iron (III) oxides with sulfur when heated in the presence of small amounts of water.
Inter-parent agreement on four preschool behavior rating scales : Effects of parent and child gender

This study investigated inter-parent agreement on four preschool behavior rating scales. Sixty-four cohabiting biological parents rated their four and five year-old children's positive and negative behaviors. Results indicated low to moderate inter-parent correlations across all four preschool behavior rating scales for the total sample. Although mean score differences were not significantly different by parent or child gender, absolute differences between pairs of mothers' and fathers' ratings were large and consistent across instruments, as well as by gender of child and gender of parent. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Controlled reperfusion prevents neurologic injury after global brain ischemia in a novel ischemic brain model

Recent investigations have revealed that the state of post-ischemic brain recirculation is of major importance in recovery from sudden death, and we developed an isolated global ischemic brain model that excludes the confounding variables of bypass, donor blood, and whole body damage to investigate the strategy of controlled reperfusion. This study examines primary damage of cerebral function and tissue with uncontrolled brain reperfusion following 30 minutes of brain ischemia, and tests whether controlled brain reperfusion can attenuate the damage.
State Infrastructure and the Geography of Employment

The effects of state public capital investment on economic growth is an important question that has been the focus of a recent substantial research effort. But the majority of this research has ignored these investments’influence on the intra-state pattern of economic activity. Yet if external agglomeration economies are important determinants of growth, then investments may indirectly affect growth by fostering or discouraging agglomeration. This paper discusses the effect of state infrastructure investments on the distribution of employment within states and the implications of these spatial effects for aggregate state employment growth. Preliminary empirical results suggest that state infrastructure investments tend to redistribute growth from areas of dense employment to other parts of the state. This redistribution may diminish agglomeration benefits offered by cities, which has the potential to reduce state growth. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications of the work for research and policy.
Shifting ethics: debating the incentive question in organ transplantation

The paper reviews the discussion within transplantation medicine about the organ supply and demand problem. The focus is on the evolution of attitudes toward compensation plans from the early 1980s to the present. A vehement rejection on ethical grounds of anything but uncompensated donation--once the professional norm--has slowly been replaced by an open debate of plans that offer financial rewards to persons willing to have their organs, or the organs of deceased kin, taken for transplantation. The paper asks how this shift has occurred and what it tells us about the dynamics of bioethical debates, both within professional circles and in wider public arenas.
Stimulation of adenylate cyclase activity in rat thymocytes in vitro by 3,5,3'-triiodothyronine.

In view of our previous demonstration that T3 promptly increases the cAMP concentration in freshly isolated rat thymocytes in vitro, we studied the effects of T3 on adenylate cyclase activity in a crude thymocyte plasma membrane preparation. In common with adenylate cyclase in other tissues, the enzyme in rat thymocytes was activated by NaF, GTP, 5′- guanylylimidodiphosphate, and β-adrenergic agonists and was inhibited by high concentrations of calcium. In the presence of 1 μM Ca+2, T3 induced a time-dependent increase in adenylate cyclase activity that was statistically significant between 1 and 2 min and maximum between 2 and 5 min after hormone addition. As judged from observations made at 5 min, the effect of T3 was dose dependent over the range 1 nm to 1 nm. The stimulatory effect of T3 was calcium dependent, since it was abolished by EGTA at a concentration (0.5 HIM) that did not alter basal enzyme activity, and the effect of T3 in the presence of EGTA was restored by the addition of either 0.1 or 1...
The Abundance Cycles of Arboreal Mosquitoes during Six Years at a Sylvan Yellow Fever Locality in Panama.

The problem of how sylvan yellow fever crossed from eastern Panama through the Canal Zone area and into western Panama and Central America in the period since 1948 has been a subject of much interest. Recent papers which deal with the matter in part have been those of Trapido, Galindo and Carpenter (1955) and Trapido and Galindo (1956a). It has been pointed out that the forest canopy mosquito fauna known to be involved in the transmission of sylvan yellow fever becomes depauperate during the dry season characteristic of the Pacific slope, and that the gap in the mountain system marked by the location of the Panama Canal is an area of transition from the wet and dry deciduous forest conditions of the Pacific slope to the wet rain-forest conditions of the Caribbean slope of western Panama. But on the Pacific side of eastern Panama there is also a gradual transition from tropical deciduous forest in the lowlands and on lower slopes to climatic and vegetation conditions approaching those of tropical rain-forest on the upper slopes (Trapido and Galindo, 1956b). The purpose of the present communication is to present the results of six years of collecting forest canopy mosquitoes at Cerro La Victoria, some 15 miles east of the Panama Canal, and to demonstrate the magnitude of the year to year fluctuations in the populations of these mosquitoes as this may be related to the maintenance of the sylvan yellow fever cycle in the area.
Educational computing in the elementary classroom

Abstract Educational computing is one of several textually organized processes embedded in the social and cultural context of mass compulsory schooling. The work of teachers and students in the classroom is shaped by the administrative organization of schooling and by the cultural and political organization of the society. Data is drawn from interviews, observations and textual analyses of an urban school in Canada. The article suggests a line of research into the textual organization of educational computing. Further, the analysis brings into view the cultural spaces in elementary school classrooms within which a critical analysis of educational computing can be developed.
Prostate cancer: Better use of bone scans in prostate cancer.

Bone scanning for radiographical staging of prostate cancer is common; however, its current use in clinical practice is not in line with the published guidelines. A recent study comparing the performance of current practice with that of guideline recommendations found that following the American Urological Association guidelines consistently for newly diagnosed patients with prostate cancer would result in better outcomes.
THE CHARACTERIZATION OF COMPLEX SYSTEMS OF CHEMICAL REACTIONS

A method is presented for the enumeration of possible overall chemical reactions and mechanisms, based on an initial choice of elementary reactions connecting a set of chemical species. Such a procedure furnishes an important tool for the study of complex reaction systems. The method is presented in such a way as to be readily implemented by computer solution, which is indispensable for many systems.
Design and Realization of Scaled Operations Monitoring and Management Platform of Electric Vehicles

Introduction the development of electric vehicles at home and abroad, depth analysis of the development characteristics and charging for electric service business model. Determine the functional requirements for the electric vehicles scaled operation monitoring management platform, and then presents a platform design ideas. Abstract layered architecture design of platform according to functional features, the platform is divided into the user layer, application layer, service layer and communication layer, followed concrete realization of every layer, while put forward plug-in design thinking as well as providing the data source service concept, in order to meet users to expand and upgrade requirements for the platform and continue extension of the platform services. Through on-site engineering applications, the platform has achieved satisfactory results.
Sterol geochemistry of sediments from the western North Atlantic Ocean and adjacent coastal areas

Abstract Core sections from coastal bay, continental slope, and continental rise surface sediments of the western North Atlantic were analyzed for sterols. Changing rate or type of sediment input, bioturbation, and chemical conversion appear to be processes important in controlling the distribution of sterols in these sediments. Comparisons of individual sterol distributions and variations in the ratio of Soxhlet-extractable to non-extractable saponified sterols indicate that for the western North Atlantic, the extent to which each process is dominant varies with proximity to shore. Evidence is presented to show that sterols in the deep sea may be at least partially terrigenous in origin and not all biogenically derived in the surface waters. These sterols, and by analogy other labile organic compounds, may serve as a source of carbon for benthic organism metabolism.