cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Winterization strategies for bulk storage of cucumber pickles

Abstract Cucumbers are commercially fermented and stored in bulk in outdoor open top fiberglass tanks. During winter, snow and ice that accumulates around and on top of tanks influence heat transfer in an unpredictable manner, often compromising quality. This study evaluates the performance of inexpensive and resilient fermentation tank insulation and provides an estimate of heat loss associated with strategies for storage and preservation of fermented cucumbers during winter. Three insulation configurations were explored: conical top-cover, flat top-cover, and perimeter insulation. Changes in temperature during storage were experimentally studied in different tank configurations. A mathematical model was developed to simulate temperature profiles and heat loss in an idealized fermentation/storage vessel. Comparisons of the insulated tank configurations suggested a significant difference in temperature between a flat cover and uncovered tank when exposed to temperatures characteristic of the spring season in Pinconning, MI.
Improving Human Papillomavirus Vaccine Use in an Integrated Health System: Impact of a Provider and Staff Intervention.

Abstract Purpose Acceptance and coverage of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in the United States has been suboptimal. We implemented a multifaceted provider and staff intervention over a 1-year period to promote HPV vaccination in a regional health care system. Methods The intervention was conducted in nine clinical departments from February 2015 to March 2016; 34 other departments served as controls. The intervention included in-person provider and staff education, quarterly feedback of vaccine coverage, and system-wide changes to patient reminder and recall notifications. Change in first-dose HPV vaccine coverage and series completion were estimated among 11- to 12-year-olds using generalized estimating equations adjusted for age and sex. Results HPV vaccine coverage in the intervention departments increased from 41% to 59%, and the increase was significantly greater than that seen in the control departments (32%–45%, p = .0002). The largest increase occurred in the quarter after completion of the provider and staff education and a patient reminder and recall postcard mailing ( p = .004). Series completion also increased significantly system wide among adolescents aged 11–12 years following mailing of HPV vaccine reminder letters to parents of adolescents aged 12 years rather than 16 years. Conclusions HPV vaccine uptake can be improved through a multifaceted approach that includes provider and staff education and patient reminder/recall. System-level change to optimize reminder and recall notices can have substantial impact on HPV vaccine utilization.
The Religious Facebook Experience: Uses and Gratifications of Faith-Based Content:

This study explores why Christians (N = 335) use Facebook for religious purposes and the needs engaging with religious content on Facebook gratifies. Individuals who access faith-based content on F...
High-Performance Virtual Machine Migration Framework for MPI Applications on SR-IOV Enabled InfiniBand Clusters

High-speed interconnects (e.g. InfiniBand) have been widely deployed on modern HPC clusters. With the emergence of HPC in the cloud, high-speed interconnects have paved their way into the cloud with recently introduced Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) technology, which is able to provide efficient sharing of high-speed interconnect resources and achieve near-native I/O performance. However, recent studies have shown that SR-IOV-based virtual networks prevent virtual machine migration, which is an essential virtualization capability towards high availability and resource provisioning. Although several initial solutions have been pro- posed in the literature to solve this problem, our investigations show that there are still many restrictions on these proposed approaches, such as depending on specific network adapters and/or hypervisors, which will limit the usage scope of these solutions on HPC environments. In this paper, we propose a high-performance virtual machine migration framework for MPI applications on SR-IOV enabled InfiniBand clusters. Our proposed method does not need any modification to the hypervisor and InfiniBand drivers and it can efficiently handle virtual machine (VM) migration with SR-IOV IB device. Our evaluation results indicate that the proposed design is able to not only achieve fast VM migration speed but also guarantee the high performance for MPI applications during the migration in the HPC cloud. At the application level, for NPB LU benchmark running inside VM, our proposed design is able to completely hide the migration overhead through the computation and migration overlapping. Furthermore, our proposed design shows good scaling when migrating multiple VMs.
Four Decades of Academic Career in Electromagnetic Research and Education

With focus on electromagnetic technologies and their broader applications, my four-decade career in academia has indeed been a joyful journey highlighted with accomplishments, innovations, entrepreneurship, and unique contributions to engineering education. It all started with a time-domain method for broadband characterization of biological substances; then I was fortunate to pioneer the use of computer-aided tomography (CAT) scans in biomedical modeling and electromagnetic simulations and later moved on to novel designs of antenna arrays for wireless communication; propagation modeling using geospatial resources, e.g., Google Earth™; use of genetic programming for 3D metamaterial designs; and the recent development of the cardiopulmonary stethoscope technology for monitoring vital signs and assessment of lung water content. All along, I continued to promote the use of multimedia and simulation tools in electromagnetic education, culminating with the publication of the Computer Applications in Engineering Education journal which is in its 25th year of publication by John Wiley and Sons. The highlights of my career illustrate how the love of and belief in electromagnetics can transcend challenges in achieving a balanced scholarly academic career in research and education.
Measuring the impacts of administrative policies on student performance in higher education

In this study, we investigate the joint impacts of class size, modality of content delivery and instructor workloads on 1078 student performances from 2010 through 2014 in a required College of Bus...
Experience with 105 patients with priapism: update review of all aspects.

AbstractA 26-year experience with all aspects of priapism is reviewed in 105 children and adults. The etiology of the priapism was idiopathic or drug-induced, or owing to sickle cell disease, trauma, neoplasia, leukemia, papaverine-phentolamine injections and total parenteral alimentation. The pathophysiology of prolonged erection is discussed. Treatment is reviewed in respect to initial studies before the type of shunting procedure required is selected. Various shunt techniques are presented with outcome. Complications and their possible causes are discussed, and the importance of medicolegal risk is emphasized. Impotence is a common sequela of priapism. (J. Urol., 140: 980–983, 1988)
Estimation of specific radioactivity of steroids biosynthesized from labeled precursors.

In 1963, it was suggested that steriods containing electrophoric groups could be detected by the electron capture cell following gas-phase chromatography [1,2]. Subsequent to these publications, our laboratory observed that the chloroacetate of pure testosterone and of pure 20-reduced progesterone could be detected in submicrogram amounts by electron capture [3]. Methods were later developed for the estimation of testosterone [3], estradio[4, 5], and progesterone [6] in biological fluids utilizing electron capture of steroid chloroacetates.
Exploring how external stakeholders shape social innovation in sport for development and peace

Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine how innovative SDP organizations’ interactions with external stakeholders influence the social innovation process. Innovation represents the implementation of new or improved ways to promote social change. The authors conducted semi-structured interviews and focus groups with 48 SDP leaders representing organizations located across six continents. Innovative SDP agencies engaged in numerous non-financial relationships with a strong emphasis on collective learning, a shared willingness to spread the risk of innovation across organizational boundaries, and a reciprocal process for co-creating new and improved solutions for how sport can be used better to promote positive social change. Social innovation in the context of SDP emerged across different levels (intra-, inter-, and extra-group) from a collective and interactive process between SDP organizations and external stakeholders. Their innovation activities included identifying opportunities and generating ideas for implementing new practices and scaling creative solutions. This study extends the existing SDP literature and underscores the need to adopt a more specific external perspective when examining the process of innovation in sport organizations.
Variations of cingulate sulcal organization and link with cognitive performance

The sulcal morphology of the human medial frontal cortex has received marked interest because of (1) its remarkable link with the functional organization of this region, and (2) observations that deviations from ‘normal’ sulcal morphological variability correlate with the prevalence of some psychiatric disorders, cognitive abilities, or personality traits. Unfortunately, background studies on environmental or genetic factors influencing the ontogenesis of the sulcal organization in this region are critically lacking. We analysed the sulcal morphological organization in this region in twins and non-twin siblings, as well as in control subjects for a total of 599 subjects from the Human Connectome Project. The data first confirm significant biases in the presence of paracingulate sulci in left vs right hemispheres in the whole population (twin: p < 2.4.10−9; non-twin: p < 2.10−6) demonstrating a clear general laterality in human subjects. Second, measures of similarity between siblings and estimations of heritability suggest significant environmental factors, in particular in-womb environment, and weak additive genetic factors influencing the presence of a paracingulate sulcus. Finally, we found that relationships between sulcal organization and performance in cognitive, motor, and affective tests depend on the twin status (Twins versus Non-twins). These results provide important new insights to the issue of the significance of sulcal organization in the human medial frontal cortex.
The Relationship between Mass Media Availability and the Multicountry Diffusion of Consumer Products

This article proposes and tests a relationship between mass media availability and new product sales in a multicountry environment. Theoretical support is derived from the behavioral and modeling l...
A New Method To Find The Nash Equilibrium Point in Financial Transmission Rights Bidding Problem.

Financial transmission right (FTR) is an important tool and an especially feature for stopping congestion charges in restructured electricity markets. Participants in the transmission market as players are assumed to be a generation company (Gencos) which also take part in an energy market and able to buy their require FTRs. In this regard, there are two types of FTR: obligation or option. There are three main questions which immediately arise for each player who is placed in the market. First, which type of FTR is the best choice second, how much power is needed to generate by each player and third, how bid prices should be offered. Deciding on these trade-offs is difficult and requires definition of special matrices to measure risk in each possible condition in the transmission market. These matrices include: possibility of flow direction alteration, probable forward and reverse power flow on each line, maximum and minimum offering FTRs and the worst condition of load variation which influence on each players decision. Based on these matrices, players try to maximize their expected payoffs by taking into account the associated risks. Supposing these matrices are known to respective players, the FTR bidding problem is modeled as a bi-level optimization based on the Nash equilibrium game theory with the upper sub-problem representing player profit maximization and the lower sub-problem representing the optimal solution to the market clearing. An eight-bus system with six players is simulated to verify the proposed method and the obtained results are illustrated the complex interaction between FTR obligation and FTR option bidding strategies. Furthermore, the results are demonstrated to be consistent between the impacts of FTR type, forecast bid offer of the other players and players preferred risk levels on FTR bidding strategies.
Scalability strategies for automated reaction mechanism generation

Abstract Detailed modeling of complex chemical processes, like pollutant formation during combustion events, remains challenging and often intractable due to tedious and error-prone manual mechanism generation strategies. Automated mechanism generation methods seek to solve these problems but are held back by prohibitive computational costs associated with generating larger reaction mechanisms. Consequently, automated mechanism generation software such as the Reaction Mechanism Generator (RMG) must find novel ways to explore reaction spaces and thus understand the complex systems that have resisted other analysis techniques. In this contribution, we propose three scalability strategies — code optimization, algorithm heuristics, and parallel computing — that are shown to considerably improve RMG's performance as measured by mechanism generation time for three representative simulations (oxidation, pyrolysis, and combustion). The improvements create new opportunities for the detailed modeling of diverse real-world processes.
Risk Factors for Long-term Mortality and Patterns of End-of-Life Care Among Medicare Sepsis Survivors Discharged to Home Health Care.

Importance Despite a growing recognition of the increased mortality risk among sepsis survivors, little is known about the patterns of end-of-life care among this population. Objective To describe patterns of end-of-life care among a national sample of sepsis survivors and identify factors associated with long-term mortality risk and hospice use. Design, Setting, and Participants This cohort study assessed sepsis survivors who were Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries discharged to home health care using national Medicare administrative, claims, and home health assessment data from 2013 to 2014. The initial and final primary analyses were conducted in July 2017 and from July to August 2019, respectively. Exposures Sepsis hospital discharge and 1 or more home health assessments within 1 week. Main Outcomes and Measures Outcomes were 1-year mortality among all sepsis survivors and hospitalization in the last 30 days of life, death in an acute care hospital, and hospice use among decedents. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with 1-year mortality and hospice use. Results Among 87 581 sepsis survivors who were Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries discharged to home health care, 49 323 (56.3%) were aged 75 years or older, 69 499 (79.4%) were non-Hispanic white, and 48 472 (55.3%) were female. Among the total survivors, 24 423 (27.9%) people died within 1 year of discharge, with a median (interquartile range) survival time of 119 (51-220) days. Among these decedents, 16 684 (68.2%) were hospitalized in the last 30 days of life, 6560 (26.8%) died in an acute care hospital, and 12 573 (51.4%) were enrolled in hospice, with 5729 (45.6%) using hospice for 7 or fewer days. Several factors were associated with 1-year mortality, including a cancer diagnosis (odds ratio [OR], 3.66; 95% CI, 3.50-3.83;P Conclusions and Relevance The findings of this study suggest that death within 1 year after sepsis discharge may be common among Medicare beneficiaries discharged to home health care. Although 1 in 2 decedents used hospice, aggressive care near the end of life and late hospice referral were common. Readily identifiable risk factors suggest opportunities to target efforts to improve palliative and end-of-life care among high-risk sepsis survivors.
An integrated microfluidic platform for selective and real-time detection of thrombin biomarkers using a graphene FET

Lab-on-a-chip technology offers an ideal platform for low-cost, reliable, and easy-to-use diagnostics of key biomarkers needed for early screening of diseases and other health concerns. In this work, a graphene field-effect transistor (GFET) functionalized with target-binding aptamers is used as a biosensor for the detection of thrombin protein biomarker. Furthermore, this GFET is integrated with a microfluidic device for enhanced sensing performances in terms of detection limit, sensitivity, and continuous monitoring. Under this platform, a picomolar limit of detection was achieved for measuring thrombin; in our experiment measured as low as 2.6 pM. FTIR, Raman and UV-Vis spectroscopy measurements were performed to confirm the device functionalization steps. Based on the concentration-dependent calibration curve, a dissociation constant of KD = 375.8 pM was obtained. Continuous real-time measurements were also conducted under a constant gate voltage (VGS) to observe the transient response of the sensor when analyte was introduced to the device. The target selectivity of the sensor platform was evaluated and confirmed by challenging the GFET biosensor with various concentrations of lysozyme protein. The results suggest that this device technology has the potential to be used as a general diagnostic platform for measuring clinically relevant biomarkers for point-of-care applications.
Root to shoot and carbon to nitrogen ratios of maize and soybean crops in the US Midwest

Abstract Root traits are important to crop functioning, yet there is little information about how root traits vary with shoot traits. Using a standardized protocol, we collected 160 soil cores (0−210 cm) across 10 locations, three years and multiple cropping systems (crops x management practices) in Iowa, USA. Maximum root biomass ranged from 1.2 to 2.8 Mg ha−1 in maize and 0.86 to 1.93 Mg ha−1 in soybean. The root:shoot (R:S) ratio ranged from 0.04 to 0.13 in maize and 0.09 to 0.26 in soybean. Maize produced 27 % more root biomass, 20 % longer roots, with 35 % higher carbon to nitrogen (C:N) ratio than soybean. In contrast, soybean had a 47 % greater R:S ratio than maize. The maize R:S ratio values were substantially lower than literature values, possibly due to differences in measurement methodologies, genotypes, and environment. In particular, we sampled at plant maturity rather than crop harvest to minimize the effect of senescence on measurements of shoots and roots. Maximum shoot biomass explained 70 % of the variation in root biomass, and the R:S ratio was positively correlated with the root C:N measured in both crops. Easily-measured environmental variables including temperature and precipitation were weakly associated with root traits. These results begin to fill an important knowledge gap that will enable better estimates of belowground net primary productivity and soil organic matter dynamics. Ultimately, the ability to explain variation in root mass production can be used to improve C and N budgets and modeling studies from crop to regional scales.
Student Teaching and the Geography of Teacher Shortages

We use a unique dataset of student teaching placements in the State of Washington and a proxy for teacher shortages, the proportion of new teacher hires in a school or district with emergency teach...
Duration of labor induction in nulliparous women with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and maternal and neonatal outcomes.

The objective of this study was to quantify the association between duration of labor induction in nulliparous women with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and maternal and neonatal morbidity. Th...
Overspilling small craters on a dry Mars: Insights from breach erosion modeling

Abstract Understanding when, where, and how frequently liquid water was stable on Mars since the Late Noachian/Early Hesperian (3.2-3.9 Ga) is important for understanding the evolution of Mars' climate and hydrology. Some relatively young features on Mars require multiple wetting events to form, whereas others are consistent with single wetting events. Small and rare exit breach craters or “pollywogs” are craters between 0.5 and 15 km in diameter with valleys leading away from the lowest point on their rims but no visible inlet valleys. These craters must have been filled with water to the point of overspill to form the observed valleys. The two possible water sources are precipitation and groundwater. In this paper we use measurements from Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) of 18 pollywog craters (21 outlet valleys) and a fixed channel width 0-D breach erosion model to determine whether pollywog exit breach valleys are consistent with a single crater overspill event, or if their formation requires multiple overspill events. Our model, which we compare to a selection of dam breaching events on Earth, predicts runaway erosion for two pollywog exit breaches. No runaway erosion is observed. We discuss potential explanations for this mismatch between the data and our model. We show that the majority of pollywog craters on Mars are consistent with formation during a single crater overspill event, incorporating a work around for the long-standing problem of unknown grainsize into our approach. Three pollywog craters require either multiple events or sustained water supply to drive erosion. We discuss potential source mechanisms for crater-filling water and conclude that pollywogs either formed in a single erosion event, driven by groundwater discharge, or through many small erosion events, driven by draining of small meltwater lakes formed on crater-filling bodies of ice.
Convalescent Plasma for Infectious Diseases: Historical Framework and Use in COVID-19

Convalescent plasma has emerged as a promising therapeutic agent for patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), has received emergency use authorization, and is being widely used during the COVID-19 pandemic. Passive antibody therapy via plasma or serum has been successfully used to treat infectious diseases for more than a century. Passive antibody administration is based on the presumption that convalescent plasma or serum contains therapeutic antibodies that can be passively transferred to the plasma recipient. There are numerous examples in which convalescent plasma has been used successfully as post-exposure prophylaxis and treatment of infectious diseases, including previous coronavirus outbreaks. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, convalescent plasma was demonstrated to be safe and potentially effective among patients infected with COVID-19. This review provides an overview of the historical uses of convalescent plasma therapy, summarizes current evidence for convalescent plasma use for COVID-19, and highlights future antibody therapies.
Vices-paradox in trauma: Positive alcohol and drug screens associated with decreased mortality.

Abstract Background Improved survival in trauma patients with acute alcohol intoxication has been previously reported. The effect of illegal and controlled substances on mortality is less clear. We hypothesized that alcohol, illegal and controlled substances are each independently associated with lower odds of mortality in adult trauma patients. Methods The Trauma Quality Improvement Program (2010–2016) was queried for patients screening positive for alcohol, illegal or controlled substances on admission. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine odds of mortality. A similar analysis was used after stratification by injury severity scale (ISS). Results From 1,299,705 adult patients, 660,135 were screened for substance use. Of these patients, 497,872 were male, 227,995 (34.5 %) screened positive for alcohol, 155,437 (23.5 %) for illegal substances and 90,259 (13.7 %) for controlled substances. Mortality rate was 6.2 % with alcohol, 5.1 % with illegal substances, and 5.7 % with controlled substances compared to 8.0 % with no substance use (p 16. Conclusion Patients positive for alcohol, illegal or controlled substances have 12 %, 17 %, and 28 % decreased odds of mortality, respectively. This paradoxical association should be confirmed with future clinical studies and merits basic science research to identify biochemical or physiological components conferring a protective effect on survival in trauma patients.
Abstract 632: Growth hormone deficiency in childhood germ cell tumor survivors

Introduction: Germ cell tumors (GCTs) are a rare heterogenous group of cancers accounting for 3% of childhood cancers and 15% of cancers in adolescents. Cure rates for GCTs exceed 90% and GCTs currently comprise the 3rd largest group of childhood cancer survivors in the United States. Little systematic evidence exists on late effects of cancer treatment in this group. Treatment for GCTs includes some combination of chemotherapy, radiation, and gonadectomy; interventions that place survivors at high risk for developing endocrinopathies. One of the most common endocrinopathies experienced by childhood cancer survivors is growth hormone deficiency (GHD). In this analysis, we evaluated the prevalence of growth hormone deficiency among GCT survivors. Methods: Participants were previously enrolled in the Germ Cell Tumor Epidemiology Study (GaMETES), which is a case parent triad study conducted using the Children9s Oncology Group registry protocols. Data on late effects and outcomes are currently available for a subset of the participants who have provided additional consent for a follow-up study including a self-administered questionnaire and medical record retrieval. GHD was identified via self-report and validated through medical records. Treatment information was abstracted from the medical records. Results: In this interim analysis, 230 participants completed the self-administered questionnaire, including 61 with ovarian tumors, 40 with testicular tumors, 38 extragonadal tumors, and 92 intracranial tumors. Thirty-six of the participants reported having growth hormone deficiency (GHD), all of whom had intracranial germ cell tumors (iGCTs). Thus, the prevalence of GHD among iGCT survivors was 39.1%. We validated 45 questionnaire responses against chart review of iGCT patients. Among these 45, 24 (53.33%) iGCT survivors had GHD. Participants who were treated with high doses of cranial radiation (>30 Gy) were more likely to have GHD (OR = 2.3, 95% CI 0.4-13.1). Conclusions: Growth hormone deficiency is highly prevalent in survivors of childhood intracranial germ cell tumors. The increased prevalence is likely related to the propensity for germ cell tumor involvement of the pituitary stalk, chemotherapy and cranial radiation. Exposure to higher cumulative doses of cranial radiation is associated with higher risk for developing growth hormone deficiency. Citation Format: Diana W. Lone, Karim T. Sadak, Bradley S. Miller, Aubrey K. Hubbard, Jeannette Sample, Michelle Roesler, Jenny N. Poynter. Growth hormone deficiency in childhood germ cell tumor survivors [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021; 2021 Apr 10-15 and May 17-21. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(13_Suppl):Abstract nr 632.
Human Dignity-Centered Business Ethics: A Conceptual Framework for Business Leaders

This paper is a contribution to the discussion of how religious perspectives can improve business ethics. Two such perspectives are in natural law of antiquity and recent Catholic social doctrine and teaching (CSD/T). This paper develops a conceptual framework from natural law and CSD/T that business leaders can adopt to build an ethos of humanistic management. This “Human Dignity-Centered” framework fills the gap between time-tested Christian norms and contemporary firm-leaders’ concrete needs. “Human dignity” is used as a rhetorical device to convey the idea that firms are composed of dynamic social networks, with an ultimate purpose of serving human needs. Ultimately, the principles and virtues the framework employs have a logic that should inspire excellence, as ethical practices and concern for human welfare lay a foundation for long-term business prosperity. In a one-frame visual representation, this paper portrays: firm leadership challenges; a transforming ethical prism of principles and virtues; and results and feedback mechanisms. The accompanying narrative describes each element and how each affects humanistic management. Finally, illustrative company examples and questions are provided to illustrate how the framework can be used to benefit human flourishing. The framework provides an adjunct to current formulations of improving managerial excellence.
Stress-Intensity Distributions for Natural Flaw Shapes Apprximating ‘Benchmark’ Geometries

Because of its importance and frequency of occurrence, considerable effort has been devoted to the modeling of subcritical surface crack growth in recent years. Due to the geometrical complexities involved, available solutions are generally constrained to elastic numerical models implying self-similar crack growth. By selecting specific geometries (known as 'benchmark' geometries) and solving for stress-intensity factor distributions, several of these numerical models have recently exhibited reasonable agreement by assuming semi-elliptic crack shapes (see Ref 6). Over the past decade, the first author and his colleagues have evolved an experimental technique which couples the field equations of linear elastic fracture mechanics with the frozen stress photoelastic method for generating natural crack shapes and their corresponding stress-intensity distributions where neither are known a priori. The present paper focuses upon the application of this technique to two surface crack geometries approximating benchmark geometries and comparing with results from the recent literature in order to assess the validity of the semi-elliptic crack shape assumption for the surface crack in numerical models and to quantify any observed deviations. Results show that shallow crack shapes (a/2c 0.30 a/T 0.30) are accurately described by the semi-ellipse assumption, and the experimental stress-intensity distributions seem to be predicted with reasonable accuracy in regions of highest values. The deeper cracks, however (a/2c 0.30 a/T 0.75), exhibit a deviation in shape from a quarter-ellipse in the form of bulging near the points of intersection of the flaw border with the plate front surface, and the accompanying maximum stress intensities are some 25 percent higher than the values predicted in Ref 6 using semi-elliptic crack models with the same aspect ratio and a/T.
Vestibulospinal, reticulospinal and interstitiospinal pathways in the cat.

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews the properties and motor actions of three descending systems: the vestibulospinal tracts, the reticulospinal tracts, and the interstitiospinal tract. The vestibulospinal tracts are the most direct pathways between the labyrinth and spinal motoneurons. The medial vestibulospinal tract (MVST) is the predominant direct pathway to axial motoneurons, the lateral vestibulospinal tract (LVST) the only direct pathway to limb motoneurons; not much is known about the recently discovered caudal vestibulospinal tract. The role of these direct pathways in functionally meaningful vestibulospinal reflexes remains to be determined. The reticulospinal tracts consist of three groups of descending fibers: one descending in the ventromedial funiculus (RST m ), one in the ipsilateral ventrolateral funiculus (RST i ), and one in the contralateral ventrolateral funiculus (RST c ). Excitatory RST m neurons scattered throughout nucleus reticularis (n.r.) pontis candalis and the dorsal part of n.r. gigantocellularis establish direct synaptic connections with motoneurons supplying a wide variety of muscles throughout the body. The reticulospinal systems receive major direct inputs from many different regions including vestibular nuclei, suggesting that they participate in vestibulospinal reflexes. The interstitiospinal tract, which has not been studied extensively, includes neurons that establish direct excitatory connections with neck motoneurons, but do not establish direct connections with limb and back motoneurons.
The theatre as an instrument of the criticism of ideologies

It is the thesis of the paper that the arts of the twentieth century have gone much further in the criticism of customary modes of thought than have both the sciences and the various critical philosophies which exist today. Moreover, they have not only developed an abstract principle of criticism, they have also studied the psychological conditions under which criticism can be expected to become effective. Some plays and the theoretical essays of Ionesco are analysed as an example. It is pointed out that Ionesco resembles Bacon in that he believes in an unchangeable basis of humanity from which all ideologies proceed. An attempt is made to free Ionesco from these dogmatic elements, theoretically, as well as practically (i.e. as regards the performance of his plays) and to utilize to the full his contributions to a theatre that is free of prejudice, and fully critical.
Laryngeal aging and acoustic changes in male rat ultrasonic vocalizations

This study examined changes in the acoustic and temporal structure of ultrasonic vocalizations as a function of age and correlated acoustic changes with vocal fold microstructure. Ultrasonic vocalizations were recorded in three age groups of male rats: aged (24-26 months), middle-aged (17-18 months), and young (4-5 months). Acoustic and structural changes in vocal fold tissue were evident by 18 months of age. Histological analyses revealed decreased density of elastin and hyaluronic acid and increased collagen density in the middle-aged and aged groups compared to the young rats. Laryngeal microstructure correlated with some of the ultrasonic acoustic features. These results show that male Long Evans rats experience changes in ultrasonic acoustic structure by middle age, and these changes correlate with deterioration in laryngeal microstructure. Ultrasonic vocalizations can be used as a model system for age-related degeneration in vocal fold structure and function.
Characterizing the Efficiency and Effectiveness of Regulatory Institutions

This study briefly surveys contributions to our understanding of performance-drivers in infrastructure sectors. One task facing analysts and policy-makers involves evaluating the impacts of particular features of regulatory institutions. Here, particular attention is given to methodologies for evaluating regulatory agencies, since regulatory governance is one of the key factors influencing sector outcomes.
Geoarchaeology of the AkrotiriAetokremnos rockshelter, Southern Cyprus

Akrotiri Aetokremnos is a collapsed rockshelter on the southern coast of Cyprus. Excavations revealed a 1-m-thick package of sandy deposits preserved beneath massive roof-fall blocks. These deposits contained cultural materials in direct association with extinct pygmy hippopotamus and other fauna. Based on 31 radiocarbon assays, the site was occupied around 10,600 B.P. Four major stratigraphic units were defined, with cultural features and artifacts concentrated in Strata 2 and 4. Most of the sediments that accumulated in the rockshelter are a product of roof fall, disintegration of bedrock (attrition), and wind action. In addition, a small volume of slopewash entered the back of the shelter through solution cavities and is confined to less than 5% of the site. Although some of the strata have been slightly affected by leaching and clay translocation, there is no evidence of soil development in the shelter. The physical and geochemical properties of the strata indicate that the sediments and associated cultural materials rapidly accumulated on the floor of the shelter soon before the roof collapsed and isolated the underlying deposits from subareal weathering and other site-disturbance processes. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Treatment of Acute Sore Throats: A Comparison of Pediatricians and General Physicians

A questionnaire study of pediatricians and general physicians indicated that significant differences exist between these two groups in how they manage acute sore throats in children and how they treat streptococcal pharyngitis. The overall approach to the management of patients with sore throats was considered inadequate in 21% of the pediatricians and in 76% of the general physicians. When treatment of confirmed streptococcal pharyngitis was examined, an overall rating based on the antibiotic employed, the dosage prescribed, and the duration of therapy indicated that 88% of the pediatricians and 41% of the general physicians claimed they provided adequate treatment for streptococcal infections. These findings suggest the need for redirecting approaches to physician education for improving the health care of children.
Phosphorylation of p21cip1 at Ser98 mediates a negative feedback in ASK1 signaling pathways

Proc Amer Assoc Cancer Res, Volume 46, 2005 5480 Previously our laboratory has found that rapamycin, an inhibitor of mammalian Target of Rapamycin (mTOR), induces sustained JNK activation in cells lacking functional p53 or where expression of p21cip1 was absent. Sustained activation of JNK signaling and phospho-c-Jun was associated with cell death. In contrast, the cellular response of p53/p21 expressing cells is only a transient increase in phospho-c-Jun as p21cip1 interacts with ASK1 to abrogate the cell death signal. Since rapamycin-induced signal transduction is necessary for the association of p21cip1 and ASK1 we asked how signal pathways regulate their association. Potentially disruption of this interaction could provide a molecular target for cancer therapy. Using adenoviral vectors expressing the deleted N- or C-terminal ASK1 proteins, we found that the kinase domain is involved in its association with p21cip1. Furthermore, expression of the kinase dead mutant ASK1 K709R nearly completely abolishes this interaction, indicating that the kinase activity of ASK1 is necessary for the p21cip1-ASK1 association. We hypothesize that either ASK1 or its downstream effector kinase, JNK, modifies p21cip1 allowing for the p21cip1/ASK1 interaction. Using a JNK-selective inhibitor (SP600125), we found that the activity of JNK is required for p21cip1/ASK1 association. To find out which residue of p21cip1 might be modified by ASK1/JNK, we generated a point mutation of p21cip1 at a putative JNK phosphorylation site (Ser98). Our data show that the p21S98A mutant protein failed to associate with ASK1, while mutant p21S98E, that mimics the phosphorylation of Ser98, constitutively associated with ASK1. These data suggest that the phosphorylation of Ser98 is required for their association. While the results suggest that JNK phosphorylates p21cip1 at Ser98 and mediates its association with ASK1, but in vivo kinase assays failed to prove that Ser98 is phosphorylated by JNK. In contrast, ASK1 can phosphorylate p21 at Ser98 both in vitro and in vivo, and this can be inhibited by JNK kinase inhibitor SP600125. Phosphorylation mediated association of p21cip1 /ASK1 subsequently inhibits ASK1 activity. Our current model is that in the presence of p21cip1 activated ASK1 phosphorylates p21cip1 at Ser98, this phosphorylation leads to the binding of p21cip1 to ASK1, and inactivates ASK1. The role of JNK in this process is under investigation. Supported by CA77776 and ALSAC.
Effects of pain severity and CT imaging on analgesia prescription in acute appendicitis.

Abstract Background Previously, analgesics were avoided in suspected appendicitis to avoid masking the diagnosis. We determined use of analgesia in patients with appendicitis to determine recent trends over time and explore predictors of use of analgesia. Methods A retrospective review of the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey 2006–2010 was conducted including emergency department (ED) patients with acute appendicitis ( ICD-9-CM 540.xx). The association between demographic and clinical information with ED visit prescription of analgesics/opioids was determined using univariate ( χ 2 ) and multivariate (logistic regression) analyses. Results There were an estimated 763000 ED patient visits for acute appendicitis from 2006 to 2010. Mean age was 32, 74% were under age 19, 69% were male. Sixty-four percent of patients received any analgesia in the ED and 58% received an opioid; use of analgesics did not change over time. Of all patients, 68% had computed tomographic (CT) imaging. There was a positive trend in analgesic use with increasing pain (27% for no pain to 71% for severe pain, P = .08); a similar trend was seen for opioids but was not significant ( P = .12). Analgesic use was lower for elderly (age >65) patients (odds ratio [OR] 0.09, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.01-0.56) and private insurance (OR 0.14, 95% CI 0.05-0.43), and higher for patients with CT scans (OR 3.73, 95% CI 1.61-8.66). Pain severity was not associated with administration of analgesics after controlling for other factors. Conclusions Use of analgesia and opioids analgesia has remained stable over time. Factors associated with prescription of any analgesia and opioids were older age and payment source. Use of CT was associated with prescription of analgesics.
Psychological and environmental correlates of HPA axis functioning in parentally bereaved children: preliminary findings.

This study examined bereaved children’s HPA-axis functioning (cortisol awakening response; CAR) in relation to psychological distress, coping, and surviving parents’ grief reactions. Participants included 38 children (20 girls) with recent parental loss (previous 6 months) and 28 of their surviving caregivers (23 women) who were assessed using self-report instruments and in-person, semistructured interviews. Interviews involved discussions about the child’s thoughts and feelings related to the loss. Participants provided 3 saliva samples at home (awakening, 30 minutes later, and evening) over 3 successive days, beginning on the day following the interview. Results show a significant relation between dampening of the child’s Day 1 CAR and more symptoms of anxiety (r =− .45), depression (r =− .40), posttraumatic stress (r =− .45), and maladaptive grief (r =− .43), as well as higher levels of avoidant coping (r =− .53). Higher levels of parental maladaptive grief were also associated (r =− .47) with a dampening of the child’s Day 1 CAR. Our results raise the possibility that blunted CAR may be a result of accumulating allostatic load and/or a result of emotionally challenging events (discussions regarding the deceased) and their subsequent processing (or lack thereof) within the family, which may be particularly stressful for those bereaved children experiencing high levels of psychological distress, avoidant coping, and parental maladaptive grief. Parental loss during childhood is a significant public health problem, with the most recent projected estimate of 25 million newly orphaned youth worldwide in 2010 alone (UNAIDS, UNICEF, & USAID, 2004). Symptoms of distress are evident in parentally bereaved children (Goenjian et al., 2009; Kaplow, Saunders, Angold, & Costello, 2010), and a significant minority (approximately 10%; Dowdney, 2000; Melhem, Porta, Shamseddeen, Walker Payne, & Brent, 2011) exhibits clinically disruptive grief reactions. The biological, psychological, and environmental predictors of such reactions are still largely
Influencing university students' achievement and motivation in a technology course

Abstract The authors investigated the interactive and differential effects of professors' instructional methods and university students'conceptual levels on students' achievement and motivation in a course designed to teach computer technologies. As predicted, matching high-conceptual-level persons with student-centered instruction and low-conceptual-level learners with teacher-centered instruction enhanced students' achievement and motivation in the classroom. In addition, an unpredicted main effect for type of instruction was discovered with respect to motivation-regardless of conceptual level, students exposed to student-centered instruction demonstrated greater motivation than did students exposed to teacher-centered instruction. These findings have ramifications for the design and implementation of computer technology courses and deserve further research.
Effect of imperfect salt rejection on concentration polarization in reverse osmosis systems

Abstract A study of the two-dimensional boundary layer equations describing reverse osmosis in a flat membrane duct reveals the existence of maximum concentration polarization phenomenon corresponding to a particular value of salt rejection ratio, which is contrary to the common belief that the extent of concentration polarization always increases as membranes become more perfect. A one-dimensional model is used to analyze the same problem and explicit relationship between membrane characteristics, operating variables and the presence of maximum concentration polarization is presented.
Fever: pathological or physiological, injurious or beneficial?

Abstract Fever, the body's most manifest sign of infectious illness, is only one of a concatenation of complex, nonspecific host defense responses to infectious pathogens termed the acute-phase response. It develops in most endotherms via the activation of a combination of various autonomic and behavioral mechanisms. It also occurs in many ectotherms, most usually as the result of behavioral processes alone. Although fever may shorten disease duration and improve survival, antipyretic medications are nonetheless routinely prescribed, with apparently negligible adverse effects on the course and outcome of the disease. The popularity of antipyretics is probably due mostly to their moderating effects of the discomfort level and consequent alleviation of the anxiety of afflicted patients and/or their caregivers. But is treatment of fever really indicated? Would letting fever run its natural course be better? Recent data suggest that, while heat/fever may kill some pathogenic microbes, this would not seem to be its principal role. Rather, heat/fever would appear to serve an important adjuvant function by enhancing the effectiveness of certain selective, stimulus-activated adaptive immune responses and thereby helping to compartamentalize the acute-phase response to the infected site. But arguably even more important may be its temporal modulation of the stimulus-induced generation of TNFα, IL-1β and IL-6 early during the innate immune response, thereby obviating the risk of the potential harmful effects that could result from their dysregulated co-expression.
A splicing component adapted to gene silencing.

Methods for gene silencing, such as RNA interference1 and antisense2, have transformed the study of molecular, cellular and organismal biology and opened up new therapeutic opportunities. In this issue, Gunderson and colleagues3, present an alternative technology for reducing gene expression based on approx25-nucleotide sequences called U1 adaptors. This approach could be applied to genes that are refractory to silencing by current methods or could be used in combination with other methods to achieve greater silencing potency...