cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Maximum-Likelihood Estimation: Computational Aspects

This chapter discusses the computational aspects of maximum likelihood estimation. The maximum-likelihood-estimation procedure is a standard statistical estimation technique that sets the parameters of a model equal to numbers θ called estimates. The technique is used in many econometric and statistical-inference problems, including multiple regression, discriminant analysis, and contingency tables. Maximum likelihood also seems to be the best estimation method for discrete choice models. The evaluation of the likelihood function generally involves the calculation of a choice probability for each one of the observations in the data set, which must be done with one of the evaluation methods. The shortcut derivative-evaluation method can be applied to likelihood functions of choice-based samples and random samples with ranked alternatives. For choice-based samples, one can calculate the gradient of the first term of equation with the shortcut method and then add to it the gradient of the second term, which can be easily calculated numerically from other equation. For general likelihood functions, a stationary point can either be a local minimum, a local maximum, or a saddle point, that is, a point that is neither a minimum nor a maximum. The type of stationary point is given by the definiteness of the Hessian matrix. If the Hessian of the log-likelihood function does not have full rank, one cannot tell whether a local maximum or minimum has been reached.
Rapid and economical data acquisition in ultrafast frequency-resolved spectroscopy using choppers and a microcontroller

Spectrometers and cameras are used in ultrafast spectroscopy to achieve high resolution in both time and frequency domains. Frequency-resolved signals from the camera pixels cannot be processed by common lock-in amplifiers, which have only a limited number of input channels. Here we demonstrate a rapid and economical method that achieves the function of a lock-in amplifier using mechanical choppers and a programmable microcontroller. We demonstrate the method's effectiveness by performing a frequency-resolved pump-probe measurement on the dye Nile Blue in solution.
Fatigue resistance of a hot corrosion exposed disk superalloy at varied test temperatures

The fatigue resistance of the hot corrosion pitted ME3 disk superalloy was investigated. Low cycle fatigue specimens were subjected to hot corrosion exposures that produced pits on the gage sections. These specimens were tested at varied temperatures and strain ranges. Corrosion pitting influenced fatigue life and failure mode by varying degrees, depending on temperature and strain range. As observed through interrupted tests, fatigue cracks initiated at a smaller fraction of life for high-temperature tests, in comparison to that at low temperatures. Correspondingly, the crack initiation failure mode changed significantly with test temperature. While cracks initiated from the hot corrosion pits for all test conditions, at 704 °C the intergranular initiation failure mode was dominant, whereas at the lower temperatures cracks initiated within the pits from crystallographic facets. Finite element analyses were performed to quantify the effect of varying pit dimensions and spacing on elastic stress concentrat...
Green Narratives: How Affective Responses to Media Messages Influence Risk Perceptions and Policy Preferences About Environmental Hazards

This study examined the relationships between narrative involvement, affect, risk perceptions, and environmental policy preferences. Experiment 1 involved a 3 (news, documentary, entertainment) × 2...
A New Model of Proliferative Vitreoretinopathy

PURPOSE. TO design a new model of proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) that would not rely on the addition of exogenous cells. The release of endogenous cells from surrounding attachments seems to be an early event in the pathogenesis of PVR. Because the proteolytic enzyme dispase dissociates tissues, the hypothesis was that an intraocular injection of dispase could trigger events that would cause PVR. The requirement for a surgical retinal break at the time of dispase injection was also examined. METHODS. One eye of Dutch Belted rabbits was injected with 0.003 U to 1.0 U dispase in the subretinal space or vitreous cavity. Control rabbits received a saline injection. An intentional retinal tear was created in animals in some groups. Observations were made for at least 10 weeks after surgery. RESULTS. Proliferative vitreoretinopathy developed in response to subretinal or intravitreal dispase, with or without creation of a controlled retinal break. Increased severity of PVR correlated with increasing doses of dispase. Evidence of PVR included preretinal membranes, distortion of myelin wings and retinal vessels, fixed retinal folds, and traction retinal detachment. Proliferative vitreoretinopathy did not develop in saline-treated control animals. CONCLUSIONS. Dispase initiated the development of PVR without the addition of exogenous cells, growth factors, or cytokines typically found in PVR membranes. A cascade of events was probably triggered by dispase, causing native cells and factors to produce PVR. The dispase model of PVR was technically easy to perform, permitted a clear view of the retina, and had a high success rate in development of PVR. (Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 1998;39: 2157-2164)
Effects of Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor on White Matter Integrity in Middle-Aged Adults: A Voxel-Based Diffusion Tensor Imaging Study (S39.006)

Objective: To relate circulating Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) levels to measures of Fractional Anisotropy (FA) using Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) in the Framingham Heart Study (FHS) Offspring cohort. Background: Previous work from FHS has related higher serum BDNF concentration with decreased risk of incident stroke and dementia and lower white matter hyperintensity burden. BDNF is also inducible by exercise, social contact and caloric restriction, factors that promote cognitive reserve. We now explore the spatial distribution of subtle white matter (WM) injury associated with serum BDNF and whether integrity of implicated tracts may relate with cognitive performance in domains previously associated with vascular risk factors and vascular brain injury. Methods: In 577 FHS Offspring (mean age 58.9±8.1 yrs; 40.9[percnt] W), we related, at voxel level, FA measures derived from DTI to BDNF levels using multivariate linear regression, adjusting for age, gender, intracranial volume (ICV) and time between clinical and MRI exams (Δt). We then used generalized linear models to relate integrity of tracts implicated in BDNF associations with performance in visuospatial memory and executive function domains, adjusting for age, gender, ICV, Δt and education. Results: Greater BDNF was independently associated with higher FA in voxels that covered 44 cc of the WM. WM tracts showing the most benefit included the corpus callosum (9.4cc) and the corona radiata (8.2cc). Preserved integrity of BDNF-related WM tracts, was also associated with better executive function, including in the superior longitudinal fasciculus (3.0 cc, p<0.05). Conclusions: In our community-based, stroke-free middle-aged sample, elevated BDNF has a subtle, positive effect on WM microstructural integrity in specific tracts whose integrity was also found to be associated with preserved executive function. These data can expand our understanding of the structural pathways in the brain implicated in BDNF mediated preservation of cognitive reserve and protection from vascular brain injury. Disclosure: Dr. Maillard has nothing to disclose. Dr. Satizabal has nothing to disclose. Dr. Beiser has nothing to disclose. Dr. Himali has nothing to disclose. Dr. Chen has nothing to disclose. Dr. Vasan has nothing to disclose. Dr. Seshadri has nothing to disclose. Dr. DeCarli has nothing to disclose.
O-98: The phosphodiesterase 3 inhibitor ORG 9935 inhibits oocyte maturation in the naturally-selected dominant follicle in rhesus macaques

Background: The study was conducted to determine whether the phosphodiesterase (PDE) 3 inhibitor ORG 9935 prevents the resumption of meiosis in primate oocytes during natural menstrual cycles. Study Design: Regularly cycling adult female macaques (n=8) were followed during the follicular phase and then started on a 2-day treatment regimen of human recombinant gonadotropins to control the timing of ovulation. Monkeys received no further treatment (controls) or ORG 9935. Oocytes were recovered by laparoscopic follicle aspiration 27 h after an ovulatory stimulus, cultured in vitro in the absence of inhibitor and inseminated. The primary outcome was the meiotic stage of the oocyte. Results: In six ORG 9935 cycles, five of the recovered oocytes were germinal vesicle (GV)-intact, and one exhibited GV breakdown (GVBD). In contrast, all three oocytes that recovered during control cycles were GVBD (pb.05). None of the ORG 9935-treated oocytes underwent fertilization compared with 2/3 (67%) from controls. Conclusions: These results demonstrate that ORG 9935 blocks resumption of meiosis in the naturally selected dominant follicle in primates and suggest that PDE3 inhibitors have potential clinical use as contraceptives in women. © 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Stereoselective acetylation of hemicellulosic C5-sugars

The stereoselective peracetylation of α-d-xylose (1) and α-l-arabinose (4) using a combination of triethylamine and acetic anhydride in the presence or absence of a catalytic amount of dimethylaminopyridine (DMAP) is described. The peracetylated d-xylose and l-arabinose alpha pyranose anomers 2α and 5α are obtained in 97% and 56% yields respectively. The peracetylated d-xylose beta pyranose anomer 2β is obtained in 71% yield through simple modification of the reaction conditions. Details regarding synthesis and isolation optimization studies under different conditions are presented below. The stereoselective peracetylation reactions disclosed here have been used to separate mixtures of d-xylose and l-arabinose as their peracetylated derivatives 2β and 5α in 47% and 42% yields and can provide pure pentoses after deacetylation.
A computational analysis of in vivo VEGFR activation by multiple co-expressed ligands

The splice isoforms of vascular endothelial growth A (VEGF) each have different affinities for the extracellular matrix (ECM) and the coreceptor NRP1, which leads to distinct vascular phenotypes in model systems expressing only a single VEGF isoform. ECM-immobilized VEGF can bind to and activate VEGF receptor 2 (VEGFR2) directly, with a different pattern of site-specific phosphorylation than diffusible VEGF. To date, the way in which ECM binding alters the distribution of isoforms of VEGF and of the related placental growth factor (PlGF) in the body and resulting angiogenic signaling is not well-understood. Here, we extend our previous validated cell-level computational model of VEGFR2 ligation, intracellular trafficking, and site-specific phosphorylation, which captured differences in signaling by soluble and immobilized VEGF, to a multi-scale whole-body framework. This computational systems pharmacology model captures the ability of the ECM to regulate isoform-specific growth factor distribution distinctly for VEGF and PlGF, and to buffer free VEGF and PlGF levels in tissue. We show that binding of immobilized growth factor to VEGF receptors, both on endothelial cells and soluble VEGFR1, is likely important to signaling in vivo. Additionally, our model predicts that VEGF isoform-specific properties lead to distinct profiles of VEGFR1 and VEGFR2 binding and VEGFR2 site-specific phosphorylation in vivo, mediated by Neuropilin-1. These predicted signaling changes mirror those observed in murine systems expressing single VEGF isoforms. Simulations predict that, contrary to the 'ligand-shifting hypothesis,' VEGF and PlGF do not compete for receptor binding at physiological concentrations, though PlGF is predicted to slightly increase VEGFR2 phosphorylation when over-expressed by 10-fold. These results are critical to design of appropriate therapeutic strategies to control VEGF availability and signaling in regenerative medicine applications.
Sequence statistics of tertiary structural motifs reflect protein stability.

The Protein Data Bank (PDB) has been a key resource for learning general rules of sequence-structure relationships in proteins. Quantitative insights have been gained by defining geometric descriptors of structure (e.g., distances, dihedral angles, solvent exposure, etc.) and observing their distributions and sequence preferences. Here we argue that as the PDB continues to grow, it may become unnecessary to reduce structure into a set of elementary descriptors. Instead, it could be possible to deduce quantitative sequence-structure relationships in the context of precisely-defined complex structural motifs by mining the PDB for closely matching backbone geometries. To validate this idea, we turned to the the task of predicting changes in protein stability upon amino-acid substitution—a difficult problem of broad significance. We defined non-contiguous tertiary motifs (TERMs) around a protein site of interest and extracted sequence preferences from ensembles of closely-matching substructures in the PDB to predict mutational stability changes at the site, ΔΔGm. We demonstrate that these ensemble statistics predict ΔΔGm on par with state-of-the-art statistical and machine-learning methods on large thermodynamic datasets, and outperform these, along with a leading structure-based modeling approach, when tested in the context of unbiased diverse mutations. Further, we show that the performance of the TERM-based method is directly related to the amount of available relevant structural data, automatically improving with the growing PDB. This enables a means of estimating prediction accuracy. Our results clearly demonstrate that: 1) statistics of non-contiguous structural motifs in the PDB encode fundamental sequence-structure relationships related to protein thermodynamic stability, and 2) the PDB is now large enough that such statistics are already useful in practice, with their accuracy expected to continue increasing as the database grows. These observations suggest new ways of using structural data towards addressing problems of computational structural biology.
Imperfect Competition and Monopolies

In this note, we look at what happens when there are only few producers. For simplicity, we start with a market with only one supplier, a monopolist. We analyze the price the monopolist charges and the amount of output he or she produces, how those decisions affect overall welfare, and in what circumstances government intervention can increase overall welfare. Excerpt UVA-GEM-0105 Jun. 15, 2011 IMPErfect Competition and Monopolies The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was seen by many as a victory for democracy and the free market. In the wake of this momentous event, we have learned that introducing a market economy to non-market economies is not easy at all. There is more to a functioning market economy than having demand equal supply through free decision making on the part of consumers and producers. There are many institutions necessary for a market economy to function well. Property rights have to be defined well to determine who owns what, there needs to be the rule of law in order to enforce contracts, there have to be institutions that will look at whether all products are safe and comply with pollution standards, and so on. When listening to the public debate, one almost gets the impression that deciding for more or less government intervention or more or less market freedom is purely an ideological decision. This note helps us think about the market and how it allocates resources in a somewhat more nuanced way. As is well understood and often argued, in many instances, market transactions give way to the most efficient allocation of resources, and they create the highest welfare (highest producer and consumer surplus). They ensure that only those consumers who care most about a product buy that product and that only the lowest-cost firms get to produce the goods that are sold. What is often forgotten is that this optimal outcome only materializes under certain conditions. For example, there has to be a sufficient number of suppliers, so that no individual firm can set the price (has market power), there has to be full information so that both consumers and producers are fully informed about the quality of the product, and there also cannot be any externalities (i.e., social costs associated with pollution). In this note, we look at what happens when there are only few producers. For simplicity, we start with a market with only one supplier, a monopolist. We analyze the price the monopolist charges and the amount of output he or she produces, how those decisions affect overall welfare, and in what circumstances government intervention can increase overall welfare. . . .
Erratum: Field Evaluation of Pearl Millet for Chinch Bug (Heteroptera: Blissidae) Resistance

The Abstract of an article appearing in Volume 42, Issue 4 (pages 467-480) inadvertently contained an extraneous phrase. The corrected Abstract is printed below in its entirety. The authors and editorial board apologize for this oversight. The chinch bug, Blissus leucopterus leucopterus (Say) (Heteroptera: Blissidae), is the most important insect pest of pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L. R. Br.) production in the southeastern and central United States. Chinch bug feeding causes stunting and leaf sheath necrosis of the young seedlings and loss of crop stand in severe infestations. Sixteen germplasm entries (including hybrids and inbreds) of pearl millet were screened for chinch bug resistance on two planting dates. ‘Dove’ proso millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) was interplanted in two-row strips among experimental plots to attract adult chinch bugs and establish initial chinch bug infestations. Use of a proso millet trap crop strip was effective in establishing chinch bug infestations for screening of pearl ...
Social media e-cigarette exposure and e-cigarette expectancies and use among young adults

Abstract A vast majority of U.S. young adults use social media such as Facebook and Instagram daily. Research suggests that young adults are commonly exposed to e-cigarette-related marketing or user-generated content on the social media they use. Currently, however, there is limited empirical evidence as to how social media e-cigarette exposure is associated with e-cigarette use beliefs and behavior. In particular, limited evidence exists to support the proposition that social media e-cigarette exposure is uniquely associated with e-cigarette use, even after adjusting for the effects of e-cigarette use in young adults' in-person or ‘offline’ social networks. This study was conducted to test the hypotheses that 1) social media e-cigarette exposure is associated with e-cigarette use outcome expectancies and current e-cigarette use; and 2) the association between social media and e-cigarette use is linked via outcome expectancies. We collected cross-sectional data from a sample of 470 young adult college students in Hawaii. Hypotheses were tested by fitting a structural equation model to the data. The model accounted for the associations of demographic variables, cigarette smoking history, as well as e-cigarette use in individuals' actual social networks with expectancies and behavior. Results indicated that social media e-cigarette exposure was associated with current e-cigarette use indirectly through two of the four positive outcome expectancies examined, namely, positive “smoking” experience and positive sensory experience. We discuss the implications of the findings in the context of tobacco control efforts.
Rathayibacter agropyri (non O'Gara 1916) comb. nov., nom. rev., isolated from western wheatgrass (Pascopyrum smithii).

Aplanobacter agropyri was first described in 1915 by O’Gara and later transferred to the genus Corynebacterium by Burkholder in 1948 but it was not included in the Approved Lists of Bacterial Names in 1980 and, consequently, is not recognized as a validly published species. In the 1980s, bacteria resembling Corynebacterium agropyri were isolated from plant samples stored at the Washington State Mycological Herbarium and from a diseased wheatgrass plant collected in Cardwell, Montana, USA. In the framework of this study, eight additional isolates were recovered from the same herbarium plant samples in 2011. The isolates are slow-growing, yellow-pigmented, Gram-stain-positive and coryneform. The peptidoglycan is type B2γ containing diaminobutyric acid, alanine, glycine and glutamic acid, the cell-wall sugars are rhamnose and mannose, the major respiratory quinone is MK-10, and the major fatty acids are anteiso-15 : 0, anteiso 17 : 0 and iso-16 : 0, all of which are typical of the genus Rathayibacter . Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences placed the strains in the genus Rathayibacter and distinguished them from the six other described species of Rathayibacter . DNA–DNA hybridization confirmed that the strains were members of a novel species. Based on phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic characterization, it appears that strains CA-1 to CA-12 represent a novel species, and the name Rathayibacter agropyri (non O’Gara 1916) comb. nov., nom. rev. is proposed; the type strain is CA-4T (=DSM 104101T;=ATCC TSD-78T).
Essential Elements of Early Post Discharge Care of Patients with Heart Failure

Heart failure is associated with an enormous burden on both patients and health care systems in the USA. Several national policy initiatives have focused on improving the quality of heart failure care, including reducing readmissions following hospitalization, which are common, costly, and, at least in part, preventable. The transition from inpatient to ambulatory care setting and the immediate post-hospitalization period present an opportunity to further optimize guideline concordant medical therapy, identify reversible issues related to worsening heart failure, and evaluate prognosis. It can also provide opportunities for medication reconciliation and optimization, consideration of device-based therapies, appropriate management of comorbidities, identification of individual barriers to care, and a discussion of goals of care based on prognosis. Recent studies suggest that attention to detail regarding patient comorbidities, barriers to care, optimization of both diuretic and neurohormonal therapies, and assessment of prognosis improve patient outcomes. Despite the fact that the transition period appears to be an optimal time to address these issues in a comprehensive manner, most patients are not referred to programs specializing in this approach post hospital discharge. The objective of this review is to provide an outline for early post discharge care that allows clinicians and other health care providers to care for these heart failure patients in a manner that is both firmly rooted in the guidelines and patient-centered. Data regarding which intervention is most likely to confer benefit to which subset of patients with this disease is lacking and warrants further study.
Linking cognitive science and technology in the preparation of school administrators

As educational systems grow increasingly diverse and decreasingly centralized, integrating the latest finding in both cognitive science and technology can serve as a motivating force in transforming school leadership. Tomorrow's school administrators must be able to function in conditions of paradox, uncertainty, and discontinuity, where their tasks will be continuously modified by a widening arena of community stakeholders. As their roles are reshaped, effective leaders must redefine their significance within a paradox of both flexibility and control. Traditional examinations off instructional leadership have been grounded in learning formal disciplines, general skills, and specific knowledge. A new synthesis argues that pedagogical approaches in how information is presented is equally as important as content of curriculum [Perkins and Saloman 1989]. The most recent cognitive research indicates that the applied meaning of new synthesis in the classroom means teaching school subjects as high-order thinking, critical processing, and real-world applications. This message is equally important in a first grade classroom or in a graduate level university course. A technology-oriented instructional approach to information accessing and processing parallels this new thinking in the cognitive sciences in a way that few traditional classroom resources can claim. It empowers learners of all ages to process new knowledge in more useful and applicable formats that link formal learning with real world problem solving, and perhaps for the first time since the term individualized learning was coined decades ago, technological approaches to learning present the workable structure to actualize this term.
Challenges in Design of Heterarchical Controls for Dynamic Logistic Systems

Principles of design, development and evolution of distributed systems in several disparate domains are reviewed in this paper with the objective of shedding new light on control design in the domain of logistic systems for production, transportation, etc. The spectrum of available organizational structures is reviewed and the case is made for choosing heterarchical structures. Then, principles for designing control systems and building and evolving organizations with heterarchical structures are reviewed. Finally, the design of web services is reviewed, providing another set of principles that are expected to be useful for designing heterarchical controls for dynamic logistic systems.
Children and Consent to Participate in Research

The contemporary concept of consent for participation in scientific investigation utilizing minors provides an array of perplexing issues set against an unsettled backdrop. However, this situation compares favorably to but a few years ago when research consent issues were not actively examined. The recent and drastic increase in the literature on research consent issues generally, and consent issues when the participants are minors specifically, attests to the rising concern within the scientific community and regulatory agencies for those upon whom experimentation is conducted. But at this point one could hardly characterize the movement as a uniform set of marchers headed toward a well-defined horizon. Indeed, for every eloquent and well-reasoned view there exists an equally articulate and plausible counter-argument. And although it is not usually explicitly stated, diverse assumptions about the competency of minors appear to be at the base of most of these arguments. Whereas there may be an overall agreement that research participants, and especially those from vulnerable populations such as children, require respect and protection from harm and undue invasion, views about how to achieve these aims vary greatly.
The 7 Habits of Highly Suspicious Hedge Funds

“Insights” features the thoughts and views of the top authorities from academia and the profession. This section offers unique perspectives from the leading minds in investment management.
Discussion: effects of caudate nuclei removal versus frontal cortex lesions in kittens.

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses that in new born kittens, the early lesion of a subcortical structure, like the caudate nucleus, may have a more marked impact upon neurobehavioral development than pure cortical damage. The cortical area selected for comparison is the frontal region. The results of similar lesions to these structures in adult cats have provided one with a baseline for evaluating lesion effects and age variable in kittens in the final outcome of the injuries. The strategy has been to ablate as much of the caudate or frontal cortical areas as possible to avoid masking compensatory effects by remaining portions of these structures and with the intention of initially disclosing gross functional defects. The eventually larger, unequivocal defects resulting from extensive ablations will guide one in the future in a finer grain analysis of the consequences of localized lesions.
Waterborne Chemical Communication: Stimulus Dispersal Dynamics and Orientation Strategies in Crustaceans

Many animals obtain information about conspecifics or heterospecifics that is transmitted in waterborne chemical plumes or trails. The ability to use chemicals for distance communication minimally requires that the receiver of a chemical signal be able to detect and identify the chemical constituents. Since animals often use plumes or trails to find conspecifics, they frequently must also be able to extract directional and distance information from odor plumes and trails. As odor plumes are strongly affected by flow dynamics, whether animals can even detect chemical signals, or use them to navigate towards a source, are strongly contingent on the fluid physical environment. Here I review basic information on how to quantify the relevant fluid physical aspects of the environment, and discuss major findings concerning the relationship between odor-guided navigation, odor plume structure, and the fluid dynamic environment. A major result is that greater flow or more properly, fluid mixing, diminishes the ability of crustaceans to extract the information required for efficient navigation. Despite this straightforward conclusion, the consequences of turbulent mixing for chemical communication are not as easy to predict for several reasons. First, animal size and mobility are an important factor in how animals respond to changes in odor plume structure. Thus, the consequences of increased turbulence depend on the interaction between animal size and scale, and scales of spatial and temporal variation in odor signal structure; not all animals will be affected equally by turbulent mixing. Second, increased flow or mixing will cause plumes to be dispersed more widely, potentially increasing the active space of the signal if concentrations remain high enough to be detected. Finally, chemical signaling often may involve reciprocal information transfer, where a given animal acts as both a sender and a receiver. Differences in the perceptive abilities of animals may make it difficult to predict how fluid mixing affects this process. Given that much of what we know about the mechanisms and ecological consequences of waterborne chemical communication has been derived from examining predator–prey interactions, there is considerable potential for similar investigations in systems where social communication is mediated by the transmission of chemicals via flow.
Orbital Floquet Engineering of Exchange Interactions in Magnetic Materials

We present a scheme to control the spin-exchange interactions by manipulating the orbital degrees of freedom using a periodic drive. We discuss two different protocols for orbital Floquet engineering. In one case, a periodic drive modifies the properties of the ligand orbitals which mediate magnetic interactions between transition-metal ions. In the other case, we consider drive-induced mixing of $d$ orbitals on each magnetic ion. We first find that an AC Stark shift of orbitals induces a change comparable to that induced from photoinduced hopping schemes, but expands the applicable frequency ranges. Next, we find that radiatively induced coherent vibrations provide a realistic path for Floquet orbital engineering with short pulses of electric fields weaker than 0.5 V/\AA{} producing $5%--10%$ changes in the magnetic coupling of Mott insulators such as the rare-earth titanates.
Proteinase 3 (PR3)-antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitic neuropathy in diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis: a rare duo

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is characterised by non-inflammatory vasculopathy, autoimmunity and widespread fibrosis. While the presence of antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCAs) has been reported in SSc, their association with ANCA-associated vasculitis is exceedingly rare. Myeloperoxidase ANCA is more common than proteinase-3 ANCA, and glomerulonephritis is the most common clinical presentation of ANCA-associated vasculitis in SSc. ANCAs have been associated with the adverse disease outcomes in SSc, including higher mortality per recent reports. A 65-year-old man with diffuse cutaneous SSc for 6 years presented with new-onset peripheral neuropathy. Workup revealed a positive proteinase-3 and cytoplasmic ANCA, and histopathology confirmed an inflammatory vasculitic neuropathy. The patient was successfully treated with rituximab. Our case highlights the importance of checking ANCA in SSc at baseline, given the risk of disease-related complications, even years later. Tissue biopsy is often warranted for confirmation of vasculitis and prompt treatment can optimise long-term outcomes.
We Need a New National Strategy for Hepatitis C Virus Screening

* Abbreviation: HCV — : hepatitis C virus Over the last decade, hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections nationwide have been on the rise. Primarily driven by widespread injection drug use, the epidemiology of HCV is now dramatically different compared with 10 years ago.1 An infection that was mostly prevalent among adults born between 1945 and 1965 (baby boomers) is now just as common, if not more so, among young adults, including women of childbearing age.2,3 These women with HCV infection get pregnant and ultimately deliver infants with perinatal exposure.4 Because there are few systems in place to track and subsequently test these infants, several studies have demonstrated that most exposed infants never receive HCV testing of any kind.5,6 These data have largely come from single institutions, single health systems, or city public health systems.6–9 In this issue of Pediatrics , Lopata et al10 were able to use the Tennessee Medicaid database to demonstrate on a state level that >75% of infants with HCV exposure are never tested. The advantages of this particular study are the availability of data over a 10-year time span across an entire state, particularly one that touches the Appalachian region, where … Address correspondence to Ravi Jhaveri, MD, Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital, 225 E Chicago Ave, Box 20, Chicago, IL 60611-2991. E-mail: ravi.jhaveri{at}northwestern.edu
Race for profit: how banks and the real estate industry undermined black homeownership: by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 2019, 349 pp., US$30 (hardcover)

In clinical fashion, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor’s book Race for Profit examines the implementation and impact of late 1960s and early 1970s federal housing policy changes that responded to the urban c...
Kondo Response of a Single Antiferromagnetic Chromium Trimer.

The triangular Cr trimer $({\mathrm{Cr}}_{3})$ is a fundamental component in a number of frustrated, antiferromagnetic systems. We have used atomic manipulation and scanning tunneling spectroscopy to probe the local behavior of this basic magnetic substructure by fabricating and analyzing individual Cr trimers at the surface of gold. We find that Cr trimers can be reversibly switched between two distinct electronic states. This phenomenon can be explained as the Kondo response of a spin-switching, magnetically frustrated nanocluster. Such behavior is consistent with noncollinear magnetic states predicted for Cr trimers whose structures differ by the position of a single atom.
3.01 – Calibration Methodologies

The Methodologies chapter of the Linear Regression Modeling section offers an integrated treatment of multivariate calibration methods from an algorithm point of view. Examples with MATLAB script and real spectral data are provided for principal component regression, partial least squares, and Tikhonov regularization, including the special case of Tikhonov regularization known as ridge regression. Intermodel comparisons are made both graphically and numerically in terms of prediction errors and degrees of freedom. Model discussions focus on the bias/variance (harmony) tradeoff in conjunction with parsimony.
Protean power: a second look

This paper restates the central point of Protean Power, pushes the analysis forward by engaging each of the commentators, and concludes by underlining the importance of uncertainty and potentialities and mapping some of the areas that need further attention.
Effect of endoplasmic reticulum stress on endothelial ischemia-reperfusion injury in humans.

Endoplasmic reticulum stress contributes to ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury in rodent and cell models. However, the contribution of endoplasmic reticulum stress in the pathogenesis of endothelial...
Benign Multicystic Peritoneal Mesothelioma Presenting as a Colonic Mass

Benign multicystic peritoneal mesothelioma (BMPM) is a rare neoplasm of the abdominal mesothelium (i.e., peritoneum, mesentery, and omentum). We present the case of a 74-year-old male who presented with a right paracolic gutter fluid collection and cystic mass. The patient underwent diagnostic laparoscopy with resection of the mass. The final pathology revealed BMPM. The pathogenesis may have been related to longstanding diverticular disease, which could prove to be an underrecognized risk factor for the development of BMPM. Therefore, this case suggests a broadened differential diagnosis to include BMPM in specific cases of pre-operatively diagnosed colonic masses. The patient is disease-free 11 months post-operatively.
Managing the Supply Chain Through Cooperatives and Contract Integration

Since the enactment of the Capper–Volstead Act in 1914, marketing cooperatives have been policy dependent. As contract agriculture has become more prevalent, cooperatives have been forced to adopt a supply chain management mode in order to be competitive. Increased demands for equity capital have forced cooperatives to seek means of attracting investor capital. State governments have responded by creating the legal basis for the formation of new generation cooperatives. These new institutional structures are controversial in the eyes of those who believe cooperatives should adhere to their traditional cooperatives principals. During this period of adjustment in the structure of agriculture, USDA and the federal government have failed in supporting bargaining cooperatives, despite increased contract integration. States have stepped in to provide more research and technical assistance support to cooperatives in the face of declining USDA and federal support. Policies supporting cooperatives are based on the ability of cooperatives to enhance allocative and dynamic efficiency, while providing nonmarket social justice benefits to farmers and consumers.
Axial spondyloarthritis: the heart of the matter

A variety of cardiovascular clinical manifestations have been described in patients with spondyloarthritis, especially in well-established ankylosing spondylitis. These include both structural heart disease, conduction defects and ischemic heart disease. The true prevalence of cardiovascular involvement in patients with axial spondyloarthritis, including non-radiographic disease needs to be further defined.
Global Outsourcing Decision Making and its Impact on U.S. Organizational Effectiveness: the Rationale and the Outcomes

In this article, we review the scholarly literature on multinational managerial decision making, global outsourcing and organizational effectiveness and the prevailing theories found in empirical studies, theoretical models and research. We identify the various rationales for managerial decision making in global outsourcing as an independent variable and study the relationship and impacts that exist with the dependent variable of organizational effectiveness. Further, we identify what may be considered alignment in managerial decision making and organizational effectiveness through theories on core purpose and values, systems, and five forces and conjecture what additional aligning characteristics are instrumental within the ‘black box’ of organizational effectiveness. Next, we discuss topics of misalignment in organizational effectiveness and make recommendations leading to changes and further exploration in managerial decision making. Last, we offer topics for further investigation.
Placing Malpractice in Perspective

Excerpt Articles in the popular press ( 1 ), some of which refer to a "malpractice crisis," have brought the issues of medical malpractice to many consumers of health services. Their reactions to s...
An expert system for mineral identification

The purpose of this research was the implementation of an Expert System for Mineral Identification. The Expert System can be used to support the teaching of mineral properties at college level and hence promote effective and meaningful learning of scientific observations in Earth Science. The software application is designed to have a simple interface and easy to follow help. For this project 32 different minerals were used. The software can be easily expanded to accommodate more minerals. The pilot test taken by students gave a positive response in making learning of mineral identification through computers more effective.
Evaluating the Information Content and Money Making Ability of Forecasts from Exchange Rate Equations

This paper evaluates a particular set of equations for the dollar/yen and dollar/mark exchange rates. The forecasts from the equations dominate both forecasts from the random walk model and forecasts using the forward rate. The results also suggest that money may be able to be made in the forward markets using the equations.
The Theory of Telephone Demand

Meaningful empirical analysis of telephone demand must be accompanied by theory. At the time of the 1980 book, most existing studies of telephone demand were guided by the general canons of neoclassical demand theory, but the standard statement that demand depends upon price and income is of limited usefulness. The telephone and the network to which it belongs possess a number of singular features that must be taken into account in modeling its demand. By 1980, these features had been examined at a theoretical level in several places, but the discussions were highly abstract and had little impact empirically.
Interaction of human rheumatoid synovial collagenase (matrix metalloproteinase 1) and stromelysin (matrix metalloproteinase 3) with human alpha 2-macroglobulin and chicken ovostatin. Binding kinetics and identification of matrix metalloproteinase cleavage sites.

Abstract The homologous proteinase inhibitors, human alpha 2-macroglobulin (alpha 2M) and chicken ovostatin, have been compared with respect to their "bait" region sequences and interactions with two human matrix metalloproteinases, collagenase and stromelysin. A stretch of 34 amino acid residues of the ovostatin bait region sequence was determined and the matrix metalloproteinase cleavage sites identified. Collagenase cleaved a X-Leu bond where X was unidentified, whereas the major cleavage site by stromelysin was at the Gly-Phe bond, 4 residues on the COOH-terminal side of the collagenase cleavage site. Collagenase cleaved the alpha 2M bait region at the Gly679-Leu680 bond, and stromelysin at Gly679-Leu680 and Phe684-Tyr685 bonds. Sequence similarity in the bait region of members of the alpha-macroglobulin family is strikingly low. The kinetic studies indicate that alpha 2M is a 150-fold better substrate for collagenase than type I collagen. Structural predictions based on the bait region sequences suggest that a collagen-like triple helical structure is not a prerequisite for the efficient binding of tissue collagenase to a substrate. The binding of stromelysin to alpha 2M is slower than that of collagenase. Stromelysin reacts with ovostatin even more slowly. Despite the preference of chicken ovostatin for metalloproteinases, human alpha 2M, a far less selective inhibitor, reacts more rapidly with collagenase and stromelysin. These results suggest that alpha 2M may play an important role in regulating the activities of matrix metalloproteinases in the extracellular space.
Communication behaviors of infants of teen mothers. An exploratory study.

Abstract Purpose: To study the relationship between motherinfant interaction and an infant's preverbal communication skills among a group of teenage mothers and their infants, 13 teenage mother-infant pairs were videotaped in a free-play setting. The infants were then videotaped in a structured setting, with an examiner, designed to elicit preverbal communication behaviors. Mothers were Methods: Mothers' interactions were assessed from the free-play setting using the Parent-Infant Interaction Scale. The infants' preverbal communication behaviors were measured using the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales. Both the frequency of communication behaviors and the range of purposes of these behaviors were assessed. Results: A significant correlation was identified between a mother's interaction scores and the range of purposes for which her infant used communication behaviors ( p Conclusions: Infants whose mothers scored poorly on the Parent-Infant Interaction Scale used most of their communication behaviors to demand or protest. Infants from more optimally interacting dyads used communication behaviors for social interaction and commentary as well as to demand or protest. Maternal interaction and an infant's early communication skills appear to be related in this exploratory study.
Psychology, psychiatry, and brain neuroscience in pain medicine: new tools for a new science.

The seminal roles of cognitive, emotional, and social processes in shaping the experience of pain have been appreciated, at least to some degree, for a very long time. However, it is only in the relatively recent past that tools such as functional neuroimaging have permitted investigation of the interface between such factors and the neurobiology of pain processing. As one example, consider the case of placebo effects in pain research [1,2]. It has long been recognized that the perception of pain is not dictated solely by noxious input, and that administration of inert “treatments” could have powerful analgesic effects in certain individuals, under particular conditions, though the mechanisms underlying these effects remained mysterious. Thanks to multidisciplinary research in a number of laboratories around the world, we now understand that …
Are TIM proteins involved in asthma development or pathology

Asthma is a common chronic disease affecting millions of individuals. The last several decades have witnessed a large increase in the incidence of asthma in industrialized countries, which has often been attributed to increased sanitation and subsequent decreased incidence of infectious disease. The inverse correlation between cleanliness and atopy has led to the hygiene hypothesis, which posits that decreased exposure to particular infectious agents can result in a shift in the immune balance of certain (genetically predisposed) individuals, leading to pathologic type 2 immune responses to innocuous agents, or allergens. Although the hygiene hypothesis is far from proven, there is ample indirect evidence that, for example, increased exposure to hepatitis A virus (HAV) correlates inversely with development of atopic asthma [1].
Prevalence of QT Interval Prolongation in Patients Admitted to Cardiac Care Units and Frequency of Subsequent Administration of QT Interval-Prolonging Drugs

Background Cardiac arrest due to torsades de pointes (TdP) is a rare but catastrophic event in hospitals. Patients admitted to cardiac units are at higher risk of drug-induced QT interval prolongation and TdP, due to a preponderance of risk factors. Few data exist regarding the prevalence of QT interval prolongation in patients admitted to cardiac units or the frequency of administering QT interval-prolonging drugs to patients presenting with QT interval prolongation.