cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The nature of advocacy vs. paternalism in nursing: clarifying the ‘thin line’

Title. The nature of advocacy vs. paternalism in nursing: clarifying the ‘thin line’. Aim. This paper is an exploration of the concepts of advocacy and paternalism in nursing and discusses the thin line between the two. Background. Nurses are involved in care more than any other healthcare professionals and they play a central role in advocating for patients and families. It is difficult to obtain a clear definition of advocacy, yet the concepts of advocacy and paternalism must be compared, contrasted, and discussed extensively. In many situations, only a thin line distinguishes advocacy from paternalism. Data sources. A literature search was conducted using PubMed and CINAHL databases (2000–2008) as well as a library catalogue for texts. Discussion. Four case stories were described in order to discuss the ‘thin line’ between advocacy and paternalism and develop communication strategies to eliminate ambiguity. Weighing the ethical principles of beneficence and autonomy helps to clarify advocacy and paternalism and provides an avenue for discussion among nurses practicing in a variety of settings. Implications for nursing. Advocacy and paternalism should be discussed at interdisciplinary rounds, and taken into consideration when making patient care decisions. It is difficult to clarify advocacy vs. paternalism, but strategies such as knowing the patient, clarifying information, and educating all involved are initial steps in distinguishing advocacy from paternalism. Conclusion. Truly ‘knowing’ patients, their life experiences, values, beliefs and wishes can help clarify the ‘thin line’ and gain a grasp of these difficult to distinguish theoretical concepts.
Historical perspectives on technology in GI endoscopy

Advances in the last 125 years that led to modern endoscopy have been punctuated by three essential technological inventions—electric light in 1879, which first made endoscopy possible; fiberoptics in 1956, which made endoscopy flexible and safe; and the charge coupled device in 1969, which made endoscopy electronic. The paper deals at some length with the development of fiberoptics. As the result of flexible safe endoscopes, the greatest advances in gastrointestinal diseases have taken place in only the last 45 years. This article sketches some of the truly revolutionary changes that have occurred in the last half century in the understanding and treatment of esophageal diseases, peptic ulcer, diseases of the colon, and biliary/pancreatic diseases, and not least in the development of minimal invasive surgery.
HIV/AIDS, Religion, and Human Rights: A Comparative Analysis of Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Iran

This article’s central aim is to debunk the overly simplified, paradigmatic, and essentialist description of certain types of Muslim sexuality, arguing that such essentialist characterization of Muslims ignores the nonunique social determinants (poverty, education, and sociostructural exclusions) of HIV/AIDS risk in an increasingly globalized world. To support this argument, we rely on a thematic and comparative analysis. A reoccurring theme in this project is that issues of public health, human rights, justice, and social empowerment are inextricably intertwined. Having established a conceptual framework linking health and human rights, we use a comparative analysis of the cases of Iran, Indonesia, and Bangladesh in an attempt to single out similarities and differences among these cases. All these cases hold a majority Muslim population (at 98%, 86%, and 89%, respectively) and are also representative of the two primary strands of Islam: Shi’a and Sunni. Additionally, each of these states has signed the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and reports the progress of their HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention efforts to United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, the United Nations organization tasked with monitoring and combating the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Paraneoplastic neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder associated with metastatic carcinoid expressing aquaporin-4.

Importance Reports of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) occurring in the setting of neoplasia suggest that aquaporin-4 autoimmunity may in some cases have a paraneoplastic basis. Observations In this case report, we describe a patient with NMOSD whose test results were seropositive for aquaporin-4 IgG and who had a hepatic metastasis from a small-bowel neuroendocrine tumor. The tumor cells expressed aquaporin-4 immunoreactivity. She presented to the Neurology Department at Wayne State University with bilateral leg weakness, ascending paresthesias, and decreased sensation. Conclusions and Relevance This case extends the context of NMOSD as a paraneoplastic disorder.
Mutational analysis of a lactogenic hormone reveals a role for lactogen-specific amino acid residues in receptor binding and mitogenic activity

Mutant forms of mouse placental lactogen-II (PL-II) have been generated to assess the role of specific amino acid residues and protein regions in binding to the PRL receptor and in mitogenic activity. Conversion of any of three lactogen-specific residues significantly reduced both of these hormone functions; mutation of the two other lactogen-specific amino acids revealed only minimal effects unless these changes were coupled with a second mutation. Deletions within the PL-II protein all resulted in a complete loss of function, but switching regions between PL-II and proliferin, another member of the prolactin family in the mouse, did yield a chimeric protein with some PRL-like activity. This activity was increased substantially by conversion of one amino acid residue in the proliferin region to the corresponding lactogen-specific residue. The locations of the amino acids that have been found to affect hormone function are predicted to be closely apposed in the folded protein, suggesting that this region ...
Verification of NC machining processes using swept volumes

A numerically controlled (NC) machining verification method is developed based on a formulation for delineating the volume generated by the motion of a cutting tool on the workpiece (stock). The motion of a cutting tool is modeled as a surface undergoing a sweep operation along another geometric entity where machine tool trajectory includes translational and rotational movements. A rank-deficiency condition is imposed on the Jacobian of the sweep to determine the singular surfaces. Singular entities are then intersected to determine sub-entities that may exist on the boundary of the volume. A perturbation method is used to identify the boundary envelope of the material volume to be removed. Numerical examples illustrating the formulation are presented. Benefits of this method are its ability to depict and visualize the manifold and to compute a value for the volume.
Intragastric Feeding in Type I Glycogen Storage Disease: Factors Affecting the Control of Lactic Acidemia

Intragastric Feeding in Type I Glycogen Storage Disease: Factors Affecting the Control of Lactic Acidemia
Leadership strategies for managing conflict

Abstract This article discusses the impact of conflict in small group development theory. It views conflict as a positive, normally occurring behavior and presents leadership strategies involving withdrawal, suppression, integration, compromise, and power. The article examines a situational contingencies and provides examples of these contingencies, and presents a rationale for strategy selection and intervention.
Functional organization of vagal reflex systems in the brain stem of the goldfish, Carassius auratus

The coordination of secretory and motor responses to food within the alimentary canal requires well organized brain stem reflex systems. In the goldfish, Carassius auratus, three vagal reflex systems control three phases of ingestion and digestion. The orobranchial system sorts food from substrate, the pharyngeal chewing organ prepares items deemed to be food for digestion and absorption, and the abdominal system regulates the digestion of food. Each system is represented in the central nervous system by separate sensory and motor nuclei. The aim of the present study was to determine whether the interrelationships among the vagal sensory and motor nuclei reflect the peripheral organization. The sensory nucleus of each vagal system was injected with the neuronal tracer horseradish peroxidase (HRP), in separate cases. HRP injections into the vagal lobe sensory layers (orobranchial system) labeled fibers projecting topographically to the vagal lobe motor layer, but not at all to the pharyngeal or abdominal motor nuclei. Similarly, injections of HRP into the pharyngeal and abdominal sensory nuclei selectively labeled nerve fibers projecting to the pharyngeal and abdominal motor nuclei, respectively. All injections resulted in labeled fibers and/or cells in the lateral reticular formation, and in fibers ascending in the secondary gustatory-visceral tract. Gustatory information from the pharynx is apparently processed in the same brain stem system as pharyngeal general visceral information, suggesting that functional or regional characteristics of visceral sensory information may be more important for brain stem processing than the traditional “special” (gustatory) versus “general” visceral dichotomy. These results indicate that anatomically and functionally separate reflex systems exist within the goldfish vagal visceral nuclei. © 1992 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
A brave new synthetic world

A report of the first meeting on 'Frontiers in Synthetic Biology', Boston, USA, 1-2 December 2008.
Effective suppression of period-doubling in two diffusively coupled logistic maps

We consider a system of two delay diffusively coupled logistic maps. We find that for moderate values of diffusion coupling, the period-doubling sequence is effectively suppressed. Our study supports the existence of certain generic features for systems consisting of two coupled maps.
Concurrent iterative algorithm for Toeplitz-like linear systems

A nonsingular n*n matrix A is given with its short displacement generator. It has small displacement rank bounded by a fixed constant. The class of such matrices generalizes Toeplitz matrices. A good initial approximation to a short displacement generator for A/sup -1/ is readily available. Ways to refine this approximation and numerically compute a displacement generator of A/sup -1/ and the solution vector x=A/sup -1/b to a linear system Ax=b by using O(log/sup 2/n) parallel arithmetic steps and n processors are presented. These results are extended to some other important classes of dense structure matrices. >
Spin-assembled nanofilms for gaseous oxygen sensing

Abstract A nanofilm optical sensor for detection and measurement of gaseous oxygen was developed and shown to quantify oxygen concentration over a wide range of conditions. The sensor was fabricated using the spin assembly of an oxygen-sensitive dye entrapped in a dye/polyion interpolyelectrolyte complex. The sensor demonstrated good correlation to the Stern–Volmer relationship, with linear decay in sensitivity of approximately 1.6% per week. The system also demonstrated some level of pressure sensitivity and corresponding variation of the Stern–Volmer constant, facilitating the possible use of the system as a pressure sensor. Oxygen concentration of the sensor was linear over a range of 0–100%, with a resolution of 0.2%. The high sensitivity, inherent linearity and flexibility of this sensor make it suitable for a variety of applications, including biological respiration studies, environmental monitoring, and cell cultures.
Catalytic Hydroprocessing of p-Cresol: Metal, Solvent and Mass-Transfer Effects

A systematic study of the comparative performances of supported Pt, Pd, Ru and conventional CoMo/Al2O3, NiMo/Al2O3, NiW/Al2O3 catalysts as well as the effects of solvent, H2 pressure and temperature on the hydroprocessing activity of a representative model bio-oil compound (e.g., p-cresol) is presented. With water as solvent, Pt/C catalyst shows the highest activity and selectivity towards hydrocarbons (toluene and methylcyclohexane), followed by Pt/Al2O3, Pd and Ru catalysts. Calculations indicate that the reactions in aqueous phase are hindered by mass-transfer limitations at the investigated conditions. In contrast, with supercritical n-heptane as solvent at identical pressure and temperature, the reactant and H2 are completely miscible and calculations indicate that mass-transfer limitations are eliminated. All the noble metal catalysts (Pt, Pd and Ru) show nearly total conversion but low selectivity to toluene in supercritical n-heptane. Further, conventional CoMo/Al2O3, NiMo/Al2O3 and NiW/Al2O3 catalysts do not show any hydrodeoxygenation activity in water, but in supercritical n-heptane, CoMo/Al2O3 shows the highest activity among the tested conventional catalysts with 97 % selectivity to toluene. Systematic parametric investigations with Pt/C and Pt/Al2O3 catalysts indicate that with water as the solvent, the reaction occurs in a liquid phase with low H2 availability (i.e., low H2 surface coverage) and toluene formation is favored. In supercritical n-heptane with high H2 availability (i.e., high H2 surface coverage), the ring hydrogenation pathway is favored leading to the high selectivity to 4-methylcyclohexanol. In addition to differences in H2 surface coverage, the starkly different selectivities between the two solvents may also be due to the influence of solvent polarity on p-cresol adsorption characteristics.
The maize Gα gene COMPACT PLANT2 functions in CLAVATA signalling to control shoot meristem size

The maize COMPACT PLANT2 locus encodes a Gα subunit; its interaction with leucine-rich receptors suggests a new mode of G-protein signalling that acts through single-pass rather than seven-pass G-protein-coupled transmembrane receptors. In plants the shoot apical meristem stem cells, responsible for stem growth, are maintained by a negative feedback loop between the CLAVATA signalling pathway and the WUSCHEL homeobox gene. In this study, David Jackson and colleagues demonstrate that in maize, the COMPACT PLANT2 (CT2) gene encodes a Gα subunit of a heterotrimeric GTP binding protein. CT2/Gα transmits a stem-cell-restrictive signal from a maize CLAVATA leucine-rich repeat receptor-like protein, FEA2, suggesting a previously unrecognized function for Gα signalling in plants. Single-pass transmembrane receptors act as G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) in plants, challenging the dogma that GPCRs are exclusively seven-transmembrane-domain receptor proteins. Shoot growth depends on meristems, pools of stem cells that are maintained by a negative feedback loop between the CLAVATA pathway and the WUSCHEL homeobox gene1. CLAVATA signalling involves a secreted peptide, CLAVATA3 (CLV3)2, and its perception by cell surface leucine-rich repeat (LRR) receptors, including the CLV1 receptor kinase3 and a LRR receptor-like protein, CLV2 (ref. 4). However, the signalling mechanisms downstream of these receptors are poorly understood, especially for LRR receptor-like proteins, which lack a signalling domain5. Here we show that maize COMPACT PLANT2 (CT2) encodes the predicted α-subunit (Gα) of a heterotrimeric GTP binding protein. Maize ct2 phenotypes resemble Arabidopsis thaliana clavata mutants, and genetic, biochemical and functional assays indicate that CT2/Gα transmits a stem-cell-restrictive signal from a CLAVATA LRR receptor, suggesting a new function for Gα signalling in plants. Heterotrimeric GTP-binding proteins are membrane-associated molecular switches that are commonly activated by ligand binding to an associated seven-pass transmembrane (7TM) G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR)6. Recent studies have questioned the idea that plant heterotrimeric G proteins interact with canonical GPCRs7, and our findings suggest that single pass transmembrane receptors act as GPCRs in plants, challenging the dogma that GPCRs are exclusively 7TM proteins.
Introduction to Special Issue: Traumatic Brain Injury

(2005). Introduction to Special Issue: Traumatic Brain Injury. Preventing School Failure: Alternative Education for Children and Youth: Vol. 49, No. 4, pp. 4-5.
Simulations of the PEP-II transverse coupled-bunch feedback system

We report the results of a computer simulation of the PEP-II transverse feedback (TFB) system including single particle transverse beam dynamics and measured RF cavity higher order modes. The simulation addresses issues such as required FB power and gain, noise, bunch offsets, and varying initial bunch conditions. We also summarize a simulation of a proposed mode of operation of the feedback system where selected individual bunches are driven to large amplitudes in order to trim their current.
EVEREST: an event recognition testbed

Due to their fundamental nature, analyzing the behavior of distributed computations is a complex task. One approach is to monitor the system activity for occurrences of user defined events. As the computation executes, the monitoring system automatically collects and evaluates information pertaining to the defined events, and recognizes event occurrences. The need exists to study various approaches to event recognition in a context in which the strategies can be created and analyzed. This paper presents an EVEnt REcognition teSTbed (EVEREST) specifically designed to address these needs. Commands are provided by which the user can define the behavior to be recognized the configuration of the monitoring system and the strategies to be used in recognizing the event occurrences. Utilizing these directives, EVEREST recognizes occurrences of the defined events during the distributed program's execution. By providing flexible structuring and dynamic configuration of the monitoring system, multiple time view protocols and the separation of event and monitoring specification, EVEREST provides the capability of developing, testing and comparing various approaches to distributed event recognition.
Action plans to reduce hospitalizations for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations: focus on oral corticosteroids.

AbstractObjective:Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with a huge burden of suffering and healthcare expenditures. Patients hospitalized due to COPD have increased risk of death. Starting in 2015, reimbursements by the Centers for Medicaid Medicare Services will be significantly reduced to hospitals with excess 30 day readmissions for COPD. Oral corticosteroid (OCS) therapy is established in improving outcomes in COPD patients treated in the emergency department and hospital. The objective of this article is to review the evidence evaluating home OCS treatment of COPD exacerbations as part of a comprehensive self-management action plan.Methods:We reviewed the English literature via PubMed, Embase, and Scopus using the search terms: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations AND: oral corticosteroids, prednisone, prednisolone, methylprednisolone, treatment, self-management, disease management, written action plans. When pertinent articles were found, we reviewed the relevant...
Mössbauer effect in dehydrated nitroprussides

Abstract Mossbauer spectra were obtained for hydrated and dehydrated sodium, potassium, lithium, cobalt, cadmium, nickel, zinc, manganese and ferrous nitroprussides. All spectra except for ferrous nitroprusside consisted of two dips separated by an amount ranging from about 1.7 to 1.9 mm/sec. In most cases the isomer shift decreased and the quadrupole splitting increased after the compound was dehydrated. The spectrum of 57Fe-enriched ferrous nitroprusside contained eight dips. Linear bridging from the nitroprusside anion to the iron cation is a possible explanation for the complicated spectrum.
A Study of Viscous Flux Formulations for a p-Multigrid Spectral Volume Navier Stokes Solver

In this paper, we improve the Navier---Stokes flow solver developed by Sun et al. based on the spectral volume method (SV) in the following two aspects: the development of a more efficient implicit/p-multigrid solution approach, and the use of a new viscous flux formula. An implicit preconditioned LU-SGS p-multigrid method developed for the spectral difference (SD) Euler solver by Liang is adopted here. In the original SV solver, the viscous flux was computed with a local discontinuous Galerkin (LDG) type approach. In this study, an interior penalty approach is developed and tested for both the Laplace and Navier---Stokes equations. In addition, the second method of Bassi and Rebay (also known as BR2 approach) is also implemented in the SV context, and also tested. Their convergence properties are studied with the implicit BLU-SGS approach. Fourier analysis revealed some interesting advantages for the penalty method over the LDG method. A convergence speedup of up to 2-3 orders is obtained with the implicit method. The convergence was further enhanced by employing a p-multigrid algorithm. Numerical simulations were performed using all the three viscous flux formulations and were compared with existing high order simulations (or in some cases, analytical solutions). The penalty and the BR2 approaches displayed higher accuracy than the LDG approach. In general, the numerical results are very promising and indicate that the approach has a great potential for 3D flow problems.
Adrenalectomy Improves Diabetes in A-ZIP/F-1 Lipoatrophic Mice by Increasing Both Liver and Muscle Insulin Sensitivity

The virtually fatless A-ZIP/F-1 mouse is profoundly insulin resistant, diabetic, and a good model for humans with severe generalized lipoatrophy. Like a number of other mouse models of diabetes, the A-ZIP/F-1 mouse has elevated serum corticosterone levels. Leptin infusion lowers the corticosterone levels, suggesting that leptin deficiency contributes to the hypercorticosteronemic state. To test the hypothesis that the increased glucocorticoids contribute to the diabetes and insulin resistance, we examined the effect of adrenalectomy on A-ZIP/F-1 mice. Adrenalectomy significantly decreased the blood glucose, serum insulin, and glycated hemoglobin levels. Hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamps were performed to characterize the changes in whole-body and tissue insulin sensitivity. The adrenalectomized A-ZIP/F-1 mice displayed a marked improvement in insulin-induced suppression of endogenous glucose production, indicating increased hepatic insulin sensitivity. Adrenalectomy also increased muscle glucose uptake and glycogen synthesis. These results suggest that the chronically increased serum corticosterone levels contribute to the diabetes of the A-ZIP/F-1 mice and that removal of the glucocorticoid excess improves the insulin sensitivity in both muscle and liver.
Mid‐Tudor Politics and Political Culture

Contemporary discussions of Mid-Tudor politics are using the concept of “political culture” to bring nuance to our understanding of the politics of the era. Older debates about the nature of Tudor government have given way to explorations of how politics were shaped by the shared ideas, systems, and social values of the ruling elites and their subjects. These days the boundaries between politics, religion, and popular culture in Tudor England are very blurred. For the current generation of scholars, it is natural to blend high and low, popular and elite together, and to ask how they shaped the people and the decisions that were at the core of an earlier generation’s political history. Consequently, current discussions about Tudor politics are being framed in terms of “political culture” and situated in a wider British context. The dominant model of Tudor politics in the mid to late twentith century assumed government power over the people and argued about just how “top down” the Reformation in England had been. Sir Geoffrey Elton and his many students explored the institutions of governance and debated with Sir John Neale and Geoffrey Dickens about the nature of Tudor government. Was it despotic, centralizing, maturing, modernizing? And did the vagaries of the Reformation alter its nature? Those debates began to lose steam in the late twentith century as many of the people who had studied with Elton and his peers turned to the question of how a monarch could impose religious change. Where were the forces of resistance that one could expect, given the religious wars of their neighbors? And how did institutions respond to the reinvention of their identities? Did people meekly accept the alterations, and did the Reformation fundamentally change people’s relations to government? Many of these questions could only be answered by asking about how religious and political identity worked in Mid-Tudor England. Eamon Duffy’s Stripping of the Altars (1991) combined with Christopher Haigh’s English Reformations (1993) to put the question of religious identity together with politics in ways that prefigured the work of a number of their colleagues and students. Duffy demonstrated the power of
SOCIAL DISTANCE: A STUDY OF CHANGING VIEWS OF YOUNG MORMONS TOWARD BLACK INDIVIDUALS '

S~tmmary.-This study reports the changes of Bogadus Social Distance scores for beginning students at Brigham Young University from 1979 to 1989. A revelation was reported by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in 1978 which permitted black members to receive the Priesthood on an equal basis with whites. An earlier study reported an initial decrease in the social distance toward black members by the university students. This study was designed to ascertain whether that decrease was sustained over the 10-yr. period, or whether the initial decrease may have stemmed from the euphoria felt at the time of the announced revelation. The data support the notion that the change has been genuine and sustained, although not as dramatic as in the period imme&ately following the announcement which gave the Priesthood to black members. Just over 10 yr. ago the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) began to ordain "all worthy male members" to the Priesthood. Male members so ordained can officiate in the ordmances practiced by the church, some of whch are seen as essential to eternal salvation in the life after this. Blacks have been members of the church almost from its inception, but black males have been excluded from the priesthood although their white peers have always been eligible. The official position of the church was that black men could not have the Priesthood because God had not permitted it. Some argued that such exclusion was grounded in one of the church's canons of scripture. The church never had any official doctrine which explicated the reasons for the practice, only that they could not be ordained until the Lord permitted it. The assumption had always been that the time would come when black men could be drdained, but that would be in the Lord's own time. Generally Mormons believed that the time was not imminent. For several years the Mormon church and its members were targeted by various social activists who viewed the exclusion as discrimination growing out of attitudes founded in prejudice. Nevertheless, in spite of the media attention given to the relationship of black members and the Mormon church, the doctrinal change of ordaining black men to the Priesthood came suddenly and without any previous indication that the change was going to
Modulation of the Kir7.1 potassium channel by extracellular and intracellular pH.

Inwardly rectifying K+ (Kir) channels in the apical membrane of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) contribute to extracellular K+ homeostasis in the distal retina by mediating K+ secretion. Multi...
Toward an optimized computer assisted electronics laboratory

This paper describes a project-based educational system recently implemented at the electronics laboratory of our department. This system utilizes a combination of hardware implementation and a specific type of computer simulation assistance, which is initially customized to the particular experiments of the few first laboratory sessions, and becomes progressively modifiable by the student throughout the remaining sessions. Preliminary system performance results are discussed.
How ultrasound technologies have expanded and revolutionized research in reproduction in large animals.

Gray-scale ultrasonic imaging (UI) was introduced in 1980 and initially was used to examine clinically the reproductive tract of mares. By 1983 in mares and 1984 in heifers/cows, UI had become a tool for basic research. In each species, transrectal gray-scale UI has been used extensively to characterize follicle dynamics and investigate the gonadotropic control and hormonal role of the follicles. However, the use of transrectal UI has also disclosed and characterized many other aspects of reproduction in each species, including (1) endometrial echotexture as a biological indicator of circulating estradiol concentrations, (2) relative location of the genital tubercle for fetal gender diagnosis by Days 50 to 60, and (3) timing of follicle evacuation during ovulation. Discoveries in mares include (1) embryo mobility wherein the spherical conceptus (6–16 mm) travels to all parts of the uterus on Days 11 to 15, (2) how one embryo of a twin set eliminates the other without self-inflicted damage, and (3) serration of the granulosum of the preovulatory follicle opposite to the future rupture site as an indicator of imminent ovulation. Studies with color-Doppler UI have shown that vascular perfusion of the endometrium follows the equine embryo back and forth between uterine horns and follows the expansion of the bovine allantochorion throughout each horn. In heifers, blood flow in the CL increases during the ascending portion of an individual pulse of PGF2α metabolite and then decreases. These examples highlight the power of UI in reproduction research. Without UI, it is likely that these and many other findings would still be unknown.
Measurement uncertainty assessment of the scanning laser acoustic microscope and application to canine skin and wound

Accuracy and precision were experimentally evaluated for the scanning laser acoustic microscope (SLAM) by measurements on homogeneous liquids of known ultrasonic properties. Using aqueous solutions of bovine serum albumin, the attenuation coefficient accuracy and precision are +or-12% and +or-15%, respectively. Using Dow Corning 710, a silicone oil, the speed accuracy and precision are +or-2.9% and +or-0.4%, respectively. Precision was assessed using duplicate samples of canine skin and wound tissue. The estimated precisions in the measurement of the attenuation coefficient and speed were +or-16% and +or-1.7%, respectively. >
Fibre Channel based Storage Area Network Modeling using OPNET for Large Fabric Simulations: Preliminary Work

Fibre channel based storage area networks have been a common implementation for data storage in enterprise data centers. As the size of the storage area network tends to grow along with geographical distribution leading to distributed storage area network, also known as large fabric, the network seems to exhibit scaling and stability issues. The scaling and stability issues seem to stem from the construction, route discovery, and management process of the network which are fibre channel-2 level traffic more than the actual I/O data transmission process. To determine the scaling and stability issues of a large fabric, an adequate tool is required. The tool is usually a discrete event simulator since an analytical or hardware simulator tool would not be able to handle the large size of the storage area network and model in detail. In this paper, the preliminary work on modeling and simulations of a fibre channel based storage area network using OPNET as a discrete event simulator are presented. As a preliminary step, the fibre channel host bus adapter and its interactions with the fabric login server of a fibre channel switch during the fabric login process is modeled at the fibre channel-2 level and preliminary simulations are performed.
Genetic Variation at the Mitochondrial Large-Subunit rRNA Locus of Pneumocystis Isolates from Simian Immunodeficiency Virus-Infected Rhesus Macaques

The nucleotide sequences of a segment of the Pneumocystis mitochondrial large-subunit (mt LSU) rRNA gene from rhesus macaques coinfected with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) and Pneumocystis carinii were examined. Of 12 isolates examined, 3 were found to be identical and the others showed substantial sequence variation, with up to 13% divergence among variants. We identified two general sequence types that differed at several sites, including a conserved 26-nucleotide insertion. Four monkeys had evidence of two Pneumocystis variants present simultaneously, indicative of a mixed infection. There was a high degree of variance between the rhesus macaque-derived Pneumocystis mt LSU rRNA gene sequence and the cognate sequences in Pneumocystis organisms derived from other hosts. Analysis of the mt LSU rRNA genes of Pneumocystis organisms derived from rhesus macaques and several other mammalian hosts supports the observation that rhesus macaque-derived Pneumocystis is most closely related to human-derived Pneumocystis. In addition, the data identify the mt LSU rRNA gene as an informative locus for transmission and epidemiological studies of the SIV-rhesus macaque model of Pneumocystis infection.
Tuberculosis and diabetes mellitus: convergence of two epidemics

The link between diabetes mellitus and tuberculosis has been recognised for centuries. In recent decades, tuberculosis incidence has declined in high-income countries, but incidence remains high in countries that have high rates of infection with HIV, high prevalence of malnutrition and crowded living conditions, or poor tuberculosis control infrastructure. At the same time, diabetes mellitus prevalence is soaring globally, fuelled by obesity. There is growing evidence that diabetes mellitus is an important risk factor for tuberculosis and might affect disease presentation and treatment response. Furthermore, tuberculosis might induce glucose intolerance and worsen glycaemic control in people with diabetes. We review the epidemiology of the tuberculosis and diabetes epidemics, and provide a synopsis of the evidence for the role of diabetes mellitus in susceptibility to, clinical presentation of, and response to treatment for tuberculosis. In addition, we review potential mechanisms by which diabetes mellitus can cause tuberculosis, the effects of tuberculosis on diabetic control, and pharmacokinetic issues related to the co-management of diabetes and tuberculosis.
Molecular Minerals™: Lyophillic Colloids for Ceramists

This paper will focus on a novel class of inorganic compounds that we term as molecular minerals™ (MMs). MMs are clusters of ceramic fragments encapsulated with organic ligands. These compounds can be crystallized from solution as molecular single crystals and have well-defined crystal structures that can be described with X-ray diffraction methods. Most importantly, the ceramic clusters are perfectly monodisperse, and conventional synthetic techniques can be applied to facilitate control of size and composition. The organic encapsulate imparts solubility in organic solvents and polymers. More importantly, the solubility is thermodynamically driven to form a single-phase system. Thus, unlike nanoparticles, the stability of clusters in solution is spontaneous rather than kinetically derived. A critical tool for creating MMs is a firm understanding of the fundamental issues governing cluster structure and stability. We have demonstrated a unique synthetic approach to these materials, capable of creating materials with oxo, sulfido, selenido, or tellurido ligands, whose ceramic fragment size can currently be varied from about 0.5 to 2 nm. Both homometallic and heterometallic lanthanide (Ln) complexes incorporating the group 12 metals Zn, Cd, and Hg have been prepared. Relative to prior work on metal organic or organometallic Ln complexes, MMs have unprecedented luminescent properties in terms of emission wavelength, emission intensity, and quantum efficiency. These materials match or exceed the luminescent properties of ceramics, glasses, and nanomaterials, while having the additional advantage of polymer solubility. Solubility facilitates the preparation of transparent molecular mineral nanocomposites that can be fabricated as bulk polymers, fibers, and films.
Area-level socioeconomic status in relation to outcomes in γ-hydroxybutyrate intoxication

Background. Area-level socioeconomic status (SES) may play an important role in drug abuse patterns, including related health outcomes. This may be particularly relevant for γ-hydroxybutyrate (GHB), which is prototypical of “party” drug abuse. Methods. We retrospectively reviewed GHB-related cases reported to the California Poison Control System (CPCS; January 1, 1999 through June 30, 2007). We limited analysis to CPCS calls containing a residential zip code (ZC). The CPCS data were extracted for key case characteristics, including the residential ZC. We linked cases to corresponding 2000 U.S. Census data for area-level measures of SES and demographics. We used multiple logistic regression analysis to test the associations between area-level SES and GHB case severity, taking into account area-level demographics and individual-level GHB high-risk behaviors. Results. We analyzed 210 cases. Taking into account area-level demographics (age and racial mix; urbanicity) and GHB-related high-risk behaviors (use o...
Global Trends in IPO Methods: Book Building vs. Auctions with Endogenous Entry

The U.S. book building method has become increasingly popular for initial public offerings (IPOs) worldwide over the last decade, whereas sealed bid IPO auctions have been abandoned in nearly all of the many countries in which they have been tried. I model book building, discriminatory auctions and uniform price auctions in an environment where the number of investors and the accuracy of investors' information is endogenous. Book building lets underwriters manage investor access to shares, allowing them to: 1) reduce risk for both issuers and investors; and 2) control spending on information acquisition, thereby limiting either underpricing or aftermarket volatility. Since more control and less risk are beneficial to all issuers, the advantages of book building's allocational flexibility may explain why global patterns of issuer choice are surprisingly consistent. My models also predict that offerings with higher expected underpricing will have lower expected aftermarket volatility; that an auction open to large numbers of potential bidders is vulnerable to inaccurate pricing and fluctuations in the number of bidders; and that both book built and auctioned IPOs will exhibit partial adjustment to public information.
Fiber-guided seeding of narrow bandwidth, sub-nanosecond optical parametric pulse generation in PPLN

Narrow bandwidth (70 pm), sub-nanosecond infrared pulses were produced using a signal-seeded, periodically-poled, lithium niobate optical parametric generator pumped at 7.14 kHz by a Yb-doped fiber amplifier, where the signal-seed was guided through the fiber amplifier.
Composite scores for concurrent behaviours constructed using canonical discriminant analysis

0003-3472/$38.00 The Association for the Study of A doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2008.12.011 An animal’s response to a given stimulus may be assessed by measuring more than one type of behaviour. For example, in studies of the chemosensory-based preferences of squamate reptiles for prey organisms, both the frequency of tongue flicking, a behaviour linked to vomerolfaction, and the attempted ingestion of prey-scented objects have been measured. Burghardt (1969; cf. Cooper & Burghardt 1990) proposed combining both tongue-flick counts and biting attacks on scent-laden swabs into a composite index, called the tongue flick–attack score, by which overall preferences for prey-derived chemicals could be compared. In Burghardt’s scheme, an attack, which presumably reflects greater interest in prey-derived cues, was arbitrarily accorded a value equal in weight to the highest number of tongue-flicks displayed by any nonattacking subject to any condition, plus the number of seconds in a trial minus the attack latency. If scores were log-transformed, a value of one was added prior to transformation.
Efficient estimation of multivariate moving average autocovariances

Abstract : This paper proposes a method for estimating the autocovariances of a d-dimensional moving average process of order q. The estimators have the same asymptotic covariance matrix as those obtained by maximizing a Gaussian likelihood, and are obtained by performing a generalized least squares regression of the periodogram on the autocovariance, thus extending Parzen's (1971) estimators for d = 1. (Author)
A balancing act: heterochromatin protein 1a and the Polycomb group coordinate their levels to silence chromatin in Drosophila

The small non-histone protein Heterochromatin protein 1a (HP1a) plays a vital role in packaging chromatin, most notably in forming constitutive heterochromatin at the centromeres and telomeres. A second major chromatin regulating system is that of the Polycomb/trithorax groups of genes which, respectively, maintain the repressed/activated state of euchromatin. Recent analyses suggest they affect the expression of a multitude of genes, beyond the homeotics whose alteration in expression lead to their initial discovery. Our data suggest that early in Drosophila development, HP1a collaborates with the Polycomb/trithorax groups of proteins to regulate gene expression and that the two chromatin systems do not act separately as convention describes. HP1a affects the levels of both the Polycomb complexes and RNA polymerase II at promoters, as assayed by chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis. Deposition of both the repressive (H3K27me3) and activating (H3K4me3) marks promoted by the Polycomb/trithorax group genes at gene promoters is affected. Additionally, depending on which parent contributes the null mutation of the HP1a gene, the levels of the H3K27me3 and H3K9me3 silencing marks at both promoters and heterochromatin are different. Changes in levels of the H3K27me3 and H3K9me3 repressive marks show a mostly reciprocal nature. The time around the mid-blastula transition, when the zygotic genome begins to be actively transcribed, appears to be a transition/decision point for setting the levels. We find that HP1a, which is normally critical for the formation of constitutive heterochromatin, also affects the generation of the epigenetic marks of the Polycomb/trithorax groups of proteins, chromatin modifiers which are key to maintaining gene expression in euchromatin. At gene promoters, deposition of both the repressive H3K27me3 and activating H3K4me3 marks of histone modifications shows a dependence on HP1a. Around the mid-blastula transition, when the zygotic genome begins to be actively transcribed, a pivotal decision for the level of silencing appears to take place. This is also when the embryo organizes its genome into heterochromatin and euchromatin. A balance between the HP1a and Polycomb group silencing systems appears to be set for the chromatin types that each system will primarily regulate.
Soils and Soil Mixtures

Plants can be supported and grown in many types of materials. In fact, observation will show that if a root can penetrate the mixture, then most plants can survive. The crux comes with the question of how well the plant grows in the mixture. Once beyond the question of mere survival, the problem of soils and root substrates becomes complex. Soils, as usually encountered, are complex physically and chemically, and can be thought of as a living organism.
Vector space semantics with frequency-driven motifs

Traditional models of distributional semantics suffer from computational issues such as data sparsity for individual lexemes and complexities of modeling semantic composition when dealing with structures larger than single lexical items. In this work, we present a frequencydriven paradigm for robust distributional semantics in terms of semantically cohesive lineal constituents, or motifs. The framework subsumes issues such as differential compositional as well as noncompositional behavior of phrasal consituents, and circumvents some problems of data sparsity by design. We design a segmentation model to optimally partition a sentence into lineal constituents, which can be used to define distributional contexts that are less noisy, semantically more interpretable, and linguistically disambiguated. Hellinger PCA embeddings learnt using the framework show competitive results on empirical tasks.
The Dangers of Racialized Perceptions and Thinking by Law Enforcement

The death of seventeen-year-old Trayvon Martin, shot by George Zimmerman in a gated Florida community in which Martin's father lived, focused national attention on Florida's Stand Your Ground (SYG) law. That law allows a person to use deadly force in any public place in which the person using force is lawfully present when he or she believes that deadly force is necessary to defend against a threat of death or serious bodily injury, with no retreat necessary. Florida's SYG law had already achieved considerable notoriety before Zimmerman pulled the trigger. But the death of Martin — a young African American man — at the hands of Zimmerman brought out racialized perceptions and reasoning at every step. Public debate centered on the question of racial profiling, and whether Zimmerman had perceived Martin as more threatening than he would have if Martin were a white youth. But largely unnoticed in this discussion was the question of how implicit racial perceptions and biases may have affected not just the actions of Zimmerman, but also the actions of law enforcement. The trial that followed resulted in the acquittal of Zimmerman, but it left unresolved the questions about racialized perceptions and bias that this chapter explores.
Dielectrophoresis-Enhanced Plasmonic Sensing with Gold Nanohole Arrays

We experimentally demonstrate dielectrophoretic concentration of biological analytes on the surface of a gold nanohole array, which concurrently acts as a nanoplasmonic sensor and gradient force generator. The combination of nanohole-enhanced dielectrophoresis, electroosmosis, and extraordinary optical transmission through the periodic gold nanohole array enables real-time label-free detection of analyte molecules in a 5 μL droplet using concentrations as low as 1 pM within a few minutes, which is more than 1000 times faster than purely diffusion-based binding. The nanohole-based optofluidic platform demonstrated here is straightforward to construct, applicable to both charged and neutral molecules, and performs a novel function that cannot be accomplished using conventional surface plasmon resonance sensors.
Negative Returns to Status: The 2009 Expense Scandal and its impact on Parliamentary elites

While we do not dispute that there numerous well-documented positive returns to high status, our intent in this research is to provide a clearer understanding of what processes may explain potential negative returns to status that have increasingly been implicated in recent research. The current literature suggests two potential causal explanations such negative returns to stats: rent extraction (self-serving actions) and targeting by the media. Our objective was to disentangle the degree to which these two explanations either individually or simultaneously account for negative returns to status. We found no support for rent extraction, but consistent support for targeting.