cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
On the Problem of The Tempest: The Problem of Political Philosophy

Understanding the world requires that we objectively see the world, that we apply categories or general terms that identify what it is at which we are looking. From where do we get these general terms or categories? If we get them from observing the particular, these general terms are corrupted by experience. In order for a category or form to retain its objectivity it must be uncontaminated by any one particular; it must be, as it were, hatched like Athena from the head of Zeus, so that it can serve to illuminate not just a particular, but the particular. What we seem to need is something like Plato’s forms, i.e. categories we get in advance from birth, for if we rely on our experience of the particular to generate categories the terms we would use to understand the world would have already been formed by the world they would objectively explain. It is with this problem in mind, which we call the problem of political philosophy, that Shakespeare composes The Tempest, for in The Tempest Prospero’s island seems to solve this problem. It makes intelligible the forms or the universals, i.e., the categories, by means of which the particulars are made intelligible. The problem of The Tempest is how to go from the world of theory or intelligibility to the world of practice or of combining theory and practice. The marriage of theory and practice would seem to constitute the plot of The Tempest, for Prospero asserts that everything he does is for his daughter Miranda, and what Prospero wants most is to marry his daughter to Ferdinand, the prince of Naples, and have her transported back to Naples. As we learn, Miranda has received tutoring from Prospero, and is very much a creature of theory for she loves to look. The word theory comes from a Greek verb (qeavomai) which means to look. Miranda’s name, moreover, in Latin means wonderful. In marrying Miranda and Ferdinand, Prospero reconstitutes the failed partnership of theory and practice that went awry back in Milan, when his brother Antonio allied with Alonso and had Prospero placed on the open sea in a rickety boat. This was the ceremonial unhinging of theory and practice that almost cost Prospero his life and exposed Naples and all of Italy to naked self-interest. Theory was placed on the open sea with nothing to support it but a prayer and the supplies provided by the generosity of Gonzalo, whose very name (i.e., “Gonzo”) and character brings to mind theoretical extravagance. Theory unhinged from practice gave theory nothing to do but look – Miranda is its beneficiary. And, practice disconnected from theory descends into complete moral turpitude, as exemplified by Antonio. The problem of The Tempest is how to unite theory and practice, thought and action, but as The Tempest suggests this is no easy problem. The Tempest illuminates why.
The Multi-stage Protocol

This chapter generalizes the three-stage protocol into a family of multi-stage protocols. It compares the multi-stage protocol with single-photon protocols and illustrates how a multi-photon protocol can be made secure against man-in-the-middle attack. Since a multi-photon protocol is, in general, subject to photon-siphoning attacks, the protocol introduces another variable to thwart such attacks. Parts of this chapter are based on the authors’ work previously reported in [1, 2, 3].
Diet Quality Scores Inversely Associated with Postmenopausal Breast Cancer Risk Are Not Associated with Premenopausal Breast Cancer Risk in the California Teachers Study.

Background Evidence for the association between diet and breast cancer risk is inconsistent Thus, research that compares indexes of overall diet quality may provide new insight. Objective We examined the association between diet quality indexes and pre- and postmenopausal breast cancer risk in a large prospective cohort. Methods This was a prospective analysis of 96,959 women, aged 22-104 y, in the California Teachers Study cohort (1995-2011). Diet quality was characterized by 4 different indexes. Specifically, we examined Alternate Mediterranean Diet (aMED), Alternative Healthy Eating Index-2010 (AHEI-2010), Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), and Paleolithic index (PALEO) scores with the risk of developing breast cancer. We used multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models to derive HRs and 95% CIs for breast cancer risk. Results In the analysis of 42,517 women at risk of premenopausal breast cancer, there was no association between any of the indexes and incident breast cancer (346 cases). In the analysis of 54,442 women at risk of postmenopausal breast cancer at baseline, higher AHEI-2010, aMED, and DASH scores were inversely associated with incident breast cancer (3523 incident cases). Respectively, HRs (95% CIs) comparing quintile 5 to quintile 1 (reference) for AHEI-2010, aMED, and DASH indexes were 0.87 (0.78, 0.97; P-trend = 0.004), 0.91 (0.82, 1.02; P-trend = 0.03), and 0.89 (0.80, 1.00; P-trend = 0.03). The PALEO score was not associated with postmenopausal breast cancer (HR for quintile 5 compared with quintile 1: 1.05; 95% CI: 0.94, 1.17). Conclusions Diet quality indexes that emphasize intake of whole grains, vegetables, fruits, legumes, and nuts and seeds and de-emphasize red and processed meats and sugar-sweetened beverages were modestly associated with a lower risk of incident postmenopausal breast cancer risk. However, they were not associated with premenopausal breast cancer, and the PALEO score was not associated with cancer risk regardless of menopausal status.
Mapping Connective Actions in the Global Alt-Right and Antifa Counterpublics

The study examines how the Alt-Right and the Antifa counterpublics build counteridentities and influences through three connective actions: crowdsourced gatekeeping, hashtag-based framing, and political jamming. By studying social networks of Twitter-based information flows and semantic networks based on hashtag co-occurrence, coupled with bot-detection algorithms, the study presents how counterpublics build like-minded communities for information sharing and use Twitter mentions to seek rapport with fellow counterpublic members and challenge ideological opponents. Both counterpublics adopt counteractions to varying degrees in the form of oppositional framing, mockery, and trolls. Their hashtags suggest that the Alt-Right is a transnational alliance of populism and ethnonationalism capitalizing on U.S. President Donald Trump and his Make America Great Again movement, whereas Antifa’s identity is more decentralized and activist-oriented, defined by progressive causes, offline rallies, and cyber operations. The results of the study shed light on digitally mediated counterpublics and how connective actions support their goals.
Embedded Corrosion Sensing with ZnO-PVDF Sensor Textiles

Corrosion in underground and submerged steel pipes is a global problem. Coatings serve as an impermeable barrier or a sacrificial element to the transport of corrosive fluids. When this barrier fails, corrosion in the metal initiates. There is a critical need for sensors at the metal/coating interface as an early alert system. Current options utilize metal sensors, leading to accelerating corrosion. In this paper, a non-conductive sensor textile as a viable solution was investigated. For this purpose, non-woven Zinc (II) Oxide-Polyvinylidene Fluoride (ZnO-PVDF) nanocomposite fiber textiles were prepared in a range of weight fractions (1%, 3%, and 5% ZnO) and placed at the coating/steel interface. The properties of ZnO-PVDF nanocomposite meshes were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), x-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and d33 meter. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) testing was performed during the immersion of the coated samples to validate the effectiveness of the sensor textile. The results offer a new option for sub-surface corrosion sensing using low cost, easily fabricated sensor textiles.
The Provision of Acute Pediatric Surgical Care by Adult Acute Care General Surgeons : Is There a Learning Curve?

BackgroundAt our hospital, acute surgical care of children aged 6 and older is managed by adult acute care surgeons. Previously published data from a 10-year experience with this model demonstrated...
Utilization of regional anesthesia for open reduction and internal fixation of clavicular fractures is associated with increased same-day discharge and not readmissions.

Background Regional anesthesia is becoming increasingly used for analgesia in clavicular surgery. The purpose of the study is to examine same-day discharge and readmissions in patients with clavicular fractures receiving open reduction and internal fixation, comparing those who received regional anesthesia to those that did not. Methods The National Surgical Quality Improvement Program registry was used to build a retrospective cohort with the primary and secondary outcomes of same-day discharge and readmission rates, respectively. The independent variable was type of anesthesia (ie, regional vs general). Unadjusted univariable followed by multivariable logistic regression analysis for the association of each covariate with the primary and secondary outcome was performed. A p Results A total of 2300 patients were included, in which 346 (15.0%) of received a nerve block. The only factor associated with same-day discharge on crude analysis was the use of a nerve block (OR 1.70, 95% CI 1.21 to 2.40, p Conclusion Regional anesthesia use in patients with clavicular fractures is associated with higher odds for same-day discharge. There is no significant difference in the rates of hospital readmission within a 30-day period. Level of Evidence IV, retrospective case series.
Thinking Outside the Box: Development of an Audit Tool to Track Reusable Instruments Outside of SPD

Background Infection Control (IC) standard IC.02.02.01 is the most common finding by The Joint Commission (TJC). The primary focus for proper implementation of this standard has historically been the Sterile Processing Department (SPD) and endoscopy lab. This study, however, focuses on bedside staff's implementation of IC.02.02.01 by deploying an internally developed audit tool to quantify knowledge and compliance with safe instrument transport. Methods Meetings with SPD were held to ascertain the list of departments utilizing instrumentation undergoing HLD or sterilization. Infection Prevention (IP) developed a nine-question audit tool to measure elements of guidelines from the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI), the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN), and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). A rating for each question of ‘Yes,’ ‘No,’ or ‘Not Applicable’ and one open-ended question of ‘Other findings’ was included. An IP and a member of SPD leadership visited each department. The standardized monitoring tool was completed, and recommendations on practice changes were communicated. Results Twenty-three patient care areas were identified as receiving reusable instrumentation from SPD. Each area was evaluated using the audit tool, and no area was found to be 100% compliant. The most often cited non-compliant measures were: (1) staff not wearing appropriate personal protective equipment and (2) compliance with moistening and removing gross soil at the point of use. Conclusions Decentralized hospital departments working with reusable instrumentation are sometimes forgotten when educating on the importance of standard IC.02.02.01. After auditing the end user in this study, IP determined that more education on bloodborne pathogen exposure and the importance of precleaning at point of use are needed. Routine compliance monitoring with a standardized tool is helpful to quickly find staff knowledge gaps and address issues.
Improved co-scheduling of multi-layer printing path scanning for collaborative additive manufacturing

Additive manufacturing processes, especially those based on fused filament fabrication mechanism, have a low productivity. One solution to this problem is to adopt a collaborative additive manufact...
Modelling spatial and spatial-temporal data: a Bayesian approach: by Robert Haining and Guangquan Li, 2019, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, ISBN: 978-1-4822-3742-9 (hardcover), pp. 608+xxvi, $129.95

Knowledge on statistical theory and regression concepts are essential to read, comprehend, appreciate, and use the rich contents of this fascinating book. This well-written book is a good source fo...
Heart Rate Reduction Following Beta- Blocker Up-Titration is Associated With Patients with Heart Failure with Reduced Ejection Fraction

Introduction Lower resting heart rate (HR) is associated with favorable outcomes in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF, ≤40%). Clinical trials supported the benefits of beta-blockers in HFrEF patients have implied that targeting a lower resting HR ( Hypothesis Greater reduction in resting HR with beta-blocker uptitration is associated with improved outcomes in patients with HFrEF. Methods We identified HFrEF patients with at-least 3 follow-up visits for purpose of beta-blocker up-titration, with serially documented resting HR that defined “hypo-responder” or “hyper-responder” if their changes were in the lowest or highest quartile, respectively. Primary outcome was composite of all-cause mortality or heart failure (HF) hospitalization. Results In our cohort of 997 patients (median age 62.7 [IQR 53, 73] years), 246 were hyper-responders (median HR decrease of 22 [IQR 17, 31] bpm, 77% achieved target HR Conclusions Greater reduction in resting HR following beta-blocker up-titration was associated with decreased risk of all-cause mortality and HF hospitalization.
Self-obtained vaginal swabs are not inferior to provider-performed endocervical sampling for Emergency Department diagnosis of Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Chlamydia trachomatis.

OBJECTIVE Provider-performed endocervical sampling (PPES) in the diagnosis of Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) and Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) may be difficult to perform in a busy emergency department (ED) due to patient preference, availability of the pelvic examination room, or provider availability. Our objective was to assess if self-obtained vaginal swabs (SOVS) were noninferior to PPES in the ED diagnosis of NG/CT using a rapid nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT). METHODS We conducted a prospective observational cohort study in a single ED. Participants were adult female English- and Spanish-speaking patients in whom the ED provider felt that NG/CT testing was warranted. Each patient had SOVS and PPES performed. For SOVS, a research associate reviewed a one-page handout describing the procedure but gave no other assistance. Patients answered survey questions regarding acceptability of SOVS and symptomatology. We established a minimum sensitivity of 90% for SOVS to be considered clinically noninferior to standard PPES. RESULTS A total of 533 patients completed enrollment and answered survey questions, 515 of whom had laboratory results for both SOVS and PPES. There were 86 patients with a positive result: 29 with NG, 47 with CT, and 10 with coinfection. SOVS had a sensitivity of 95% (95% confidence interval = 88% to 99%) for the detection of NG/CT when compared to PPES. SOVS were felt to be an acceptable collection method in 93% of patients and 75% preferred SOVS to PPES. CONCLUSION SOVS are noninferior to PPES in NG/CT diagnosis using a rapid NAAT in ED patients and surveys indicate high patient acceptability.
Is hay for the birds? Investigating landowner willingness to time hay harvests for grassland bird conservation

Birds in agricultural environments have exhibited steep global population declines in recent decades, and effective conservation strategies targeting their populations are urgently needed. In grasslands used for hay production, breeding birds’ nest success improves substantially if hay harvests are delayed until after mid-July. However, few studies have investigated private hay producers’ willingness to alter their harvesting practices, which is a critical factor for bird conservation where most land is privately owned, such as in the North American Great Plains. We surveyed Nebraska hay producers to examine whether livestock production, wildlife knowledge, and hunting activity affects their willingness to alter haying practices for bird conservation. The majority (60%) of respondents expressed willingness to delay harvesting hay to allow birds time to nest successfully. Livestock producers and those more knowledgeable about wildlife were more willing to delay hay harvests, whereas active hunters were less willing to do so. Our findings suggest that a majority of private producers show a high potential for engaging in grassland bird conservation activities. Landowners’ willingness to participate in bird conservation programs and actions could be further encouraged through extension and education efforts connecting hay producers with information, support, and funding for bird conservation.
Updated analysis of gauge-based rainfall patterns over the western tropical Pacific Ocean

Abstract This work considers observed changes in tropical Pacific Ocean rainfall amounts and the influence of climate variability cycles upon them. Observations were taken from the Comprehensive Pacific Rainfall Database (PACRAIN), using strict data selection criteria of >99% data completeness from eight locations for the period 1971–2017. These data were used to analyze temporal and spatial rainfall patterns based on several indicators that considered rainfall amount and frequency, 95th percentile extreme rainfall events, and length of consecutive rain/drought events. These indicators were also computed using satellite-derived observations from the Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP), as a means to compare gauge-based values with nearby estimates from the GPCP product. Results show a temporal pattern that tended towards a reduction in rainfall amounts and frequency across the tropical Pacific Ocean. The impact of phase changes of the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO) was also examined. There was some evidence of the impact of the IPO, as well as of the El-Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO), when seasonal and monthly trends in these indicators were analyzed. Comparison of the temporal patterns observed from the rain gauges with the trends computed using the GPCP estimates showed inconsistencies that varied considerably when comparing trends calculated at different island locations. Future work should consider further comparison of GPCP and gauge-based rainfall trends, as well as the attribution of climate change and other climate variability cycles to these trends.
The FATE Landscape of Sign Language AI Datasets: An Interdisciplinary Perspective

Sign language datasets are essential to developing many sign language technologies. In particular, datasets are required for training artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) systems. Though the idea of using AI/ML for sign languages is not new, technology has now advanced to a point where developing such sign language technologies is becoming increasingly tractable. This critical juncture provides an opportunity to be thoughtful about an array of Fairness, Accountability, Transparency, and Ethics (FATE) considerations. Sign language datasets typically contain recordings of people signing, which is highly personal. The rights and responsibilities of the parties involved in data collection and storage are also complex and involve individual data contributors, data collectors or owners, and data users who may interact through a variety of exchange and access mechanisms. Deaf community members (and signers, more generally) are also central stakeholders in any end applications of sign language data. The centrality of sign language to deaf culture identity, coupled with a history of oppression, makes usage by technologists particularly sensitive. This piece presents many of these issues that characterize working with sign language AI datasets, based on the authors’ experiences living, working, and studying in this space.
Leveraging Multiple CNNs for Triaging Medical Workflow.

High hospitalization rates due to the global spread of Covid-19 bring about a need for improvements to classical triaging workflows. To this end, convolutional neural networks (CNNs) can effectively differentiate critical from non-critical images so that critical cases may be addressed quickly, so long as there exists some representative image for the illness. Presented is a conglomerate neural network system consisting of multiple VGG16 CNNs; the system trains on weighted skin disease images re-labelled as critical or non-critical, to then attach to input images a critical index between 0 and 10. A critical index offers a more comprehensive rating system compared to binary critical/non-critical labels. Results for batches of input images run through the trained network are promising. A batch is shown being re-ordered by the proposed architecture from most critical to least critical roughly accurately.
Dinosaurs: Who are the dinosaurs?

Chapter objectives Learn basic relationships among tetrapods – particularly amniotes Understand something about the course of tetrapod evolution Learn who dinosaurs are (and are not) Become familiar with the characters that diagnose Dinosauria Finding the history of life In the preceding chapter, we explored the methods that scientists use to learn the identity and origin of all organisms. Now we will apply those techniques – diagnostic characters hierarchically distributed on cladograms – to properly position dinosaurs within the biota. The history of life will unfold as we systematically encounter each bifurcation in the cladistic road, reconstructing the path of evolution until we reach Dinosauria. We will be looking at increasingly small subgroups, each characterized by a suite of diagnostic characters. The appearance of each of those suites of diagnostic characters represents new features, forged by evolutionary processes. We'll go with Glinda the Good Witch's suggestion that “it's always best to start at the beginning.” In the beginning Modern life is generally understood to be monophyletic. It's united by the possession of RNA, DNA, cell membranes with distinctive chemical structure, a variety of amino acids (proteins), the metabolic pathways (that is, chemical reaction steps) for their processing, and the ability to replicate itself (not simply grow). Notice we said “modern” life – for who knows how many forms of molecular life arose, proliferated, and died out very early in Earth's history – before the thing that we now call “life” finally prevailed?
Review of Scientific Evidence in Civil and Criminal Cases (Fourth Edition)

Media coverage of the O.J. Simpson trial focused global attention on the forensic sciences and the role of scientific and medical evidence in the courtroom. There was little discussion, however, of books that present a scholarly overview of the subject. Scientific Evidence in Civil and Criminal Cases is one of those texts. Now in its fourth edition, this treatise has more than doubled in size, scope, and value since publication of the original manuscript by Moenssens, Moses, and Inban in 1973. Substantial additions and revisions in the 1995 text appropriately reflect not only developments in the field but also the wisdom and insight gained from the authors' nearly 100 years of combined experience in legal practice and scholarship.
Infection with Porphyromonas gingivalis, a potential risk factor for chronic systemic disease.

In this chapter, periodontal disease will be used as an example of a polymicrobial disease that represents a potential risk factor for chronic systemic diseases. The chapter focuses on Porphyromonas gingivalis, a predominant periodontopathogenic bacterium that can leave the oral cavity, enter the circulatory system, and invade the vascular endothelium and cardiac tissues. Periodontal disease has a polymicrobial etiology. An extensive combination of bacteria, fungi, and even viruses has been reported to be present simultaneously within infected periodontal sites. Periodontal disease induces chronic inflammation in the oral cavity, and chronic inflammation from various sources is linked with increased cardiovascular risk. Cardiovascular diseases include atherosclerosis, coronary artery disease, cerebrovascular disease, and peripheral arterial disease. Periodontitis may exacerbate preexisting chronic conditions, like rheumatoid arthritis, renal disease, and diabetes mellitus. P. gingivalis can be actively transported across inflamed gingival tissues, and this may occur during infection. The most convincing evidence of P. gingivalis as a potential risk factor for chronic systemic diseases is its ability to invade vascular endothelial and coronary artery cells. P. gingivalis and its extracellular products induce the production of proinflammatory cytokines in epithelial cells and induce the production of proinflammatory cytokines, cell adhesion molecules, and inflammatory genes in endothelial cells. The variability of virulent properties among strains may reflect the extreme adaptability of P. gingivalis and the ability to specialize in the function of the tissue, thereby becoming a catalyst to the development of chronic systemic diseases.
A kaleidoscope of learning styles: Instructional supports that meet the diverse needs of distant learners

Our library intends to create a tutorial to assist students in library research. In preparation, we need to understand the diverse learning needs of students. Some students seem to thrive in the online environment while others feel at a loss. A review of learning styles literature reveals that many adult learners require personalized, interactive learning environments. The author reviewed library tutorials to identify models of library instruction that meet the needs of such students. This paper serves as background and literature review for an interactive workshop on learning styles and the Internet, which was presented at the conference.
Copyright Misuse and the Limits of the Copyright Monopoly

Although both the antitrust and intellectual property laws are intended to foster innovation and efficiency, the former do so by outlawing monopolies and the latter by protecting them. These disparate methods cause antitrust law and intellectual property law to coexist in a state of permanent tension. Until recently, that tension was reduced by the limited duration of patents and copyrights. However, with exponential growth of innovation and invention in technology has come rapid obsolescence of many inventions. Software and hardware become obsolete in a matter of a few years or months. The postindustrial era has therefore reinvigorated the conflict between intellectual property law and antitrust law. At the nexus of this tension, one will find the doctrines of patent and copyright misuse. Unfortunately, neither the 1976 Copyright Act nor the antitrust statutes addresses the tension between the two bodies of law. In the copyright field, however, the dangers inherent in any monopoly have spawned legal doctrines, such as the misuse defense, designed to prevent abuse of the monopoly. The purpose of this Article is to discuss the current status of the copyright misuse doctrine and predict its probable future course. Until 1990, no federal circuit court and only one federal district court 8 accepted the copyright misuse defense, making such predictions difficult. Since 1990, however, acceptance of the defense (in theory, at least) has become quite broad. The questions now are: what are the tenets of the doctrine and when will the defense most likely succeed?
Through the bioethical retrospectoscope

Abstract A retrospectoscope is understood here as a fictional instrument through which the past history of certain ideas can help the understanding of their present sense, including the awareness of how our ideas may have drifted off the path. Concretely, this retrospectoscope will seek out the origins of the ethical principles that are so prominent in contemporary bioethics and show how interpretations of these principles have led contemporary bioethics astray, making paradoxes and dilemmas out of what should be resolutions and illuminations. This essay explores, in particular, how the principle of autonomy originated in the protection of subjects of biomedical research and then moved into the relationship between physicians and patients. This shift took place without sufficient recognition of the significant differences between these settings. Respect for autonomy clearly has priority as an ethical principle in the endeavor of medical research. It may not have such priority, at least not in the same sense, in medical practice. The Belmont Report (which concerned medical research) defined Respect for Persons as “the ethical conviction that individuals should be treated as autonomous agents…”, and stated that this autonomy was self-determination. Clinical medicine, however, differs from research radically. It begins with a person bringing an apparently compelling need to a practitioner. Healing is a helping activity, focused on response to a specific request from a specific person in need. The primary moral quality of this activity is the formation of a trusting alliance between physician and patient, in which the focus on the patient's needs is straight and clear, communication is honest and illuminating, and acceptance and collaboration are real. At the same time, the therapeutic relationship must often be formed at a time when the autonomy of the patient is often buried deeply under pain, debility, and physical and moral distress, or extinguished by radically altered mental status. If one wishes to express that alliance in moral terms, one might still invoke the same phrase, Respect for Persons. But that phrase should take on a quite different meaning in the therapeutic alliance than it has in the research enterprise. Unfortunately, in most of the current literature the issue of Respect is focused almost entirely on Informed Consent, the procedure in which autonomy is supposed to be realized.
FEELING SAFE: INTERGENERATIONAL CONNECTIONS AND NEIGHBORHOOD DISORGANIZATION AMONG URBAN AND RURAL AFRICAN AMERICAN YOUTH

Neighborhood disorganization and the perception of neighborhood disorganization are linked to several adverse outcomes for youth. Disorganized communities often lack the social structures to promote well-being, maintain social control, and provide an environment in which youth feel safe. Intergenerational connections, similar to cultural attributes of collectiveness and extended family found among people of African ancestry, was expected to be linked to less perceived neighborhood disorganization. Neighborhood type, rural versus urban, was also investigated as a moderator of the relationship between intergenerational connections and perceived neighborhood disorganization. Participants were 564 elementary, middle, and high school students who were recruited from urban and rural schools in a mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Students completed measures of Intergenerational Connections and Neighborhood Disorganization along with demographic items. The findings indicated that higher levels of intergenerational connections were associated with perceptions of less disorganized neighborhoods. A significant interaction was found between neighborhood type and intergenerational connections. Intergenerational connections lowered perceptions of disorganization in urban neighborhoods such that youth in neighborhoods with high intergenerational connections reported lower disorganization than those in areas of low intergenerational connections. This effect was not found for youth in rural neighborhoods. Benefits and methods for increasing intergenerational connections among African American youth are discussed.
Utility and feasibility of ultrasound-guided access in patients with critical limb ischemia.

Background Patients with advanced peripheral vascular disease (PVD) and critical limb ischemia (CLI) require immediate revascularization to improve blood flow and prevent amputation. Vascular, and especially tibial, access is arguably a very important part of the procedure. Utilization of ultrasound (US) guidance to access the peripheral vessels will maximize success and decrease the risk of complications. Methods This is a retrospective analysis of patients admitted to our institution between 2010 and 2011. Eighty-six patients with 191 lesions underwent revascularization for advanced PVD and CLI. US guidance was utilized to access the vascular bed in an antegrade or retrograde fashion in 100% of these patients. Data collected included success rate and time to access using US. Immediate in hospital and 30 day outcomes were also documented. Results The average age of patients was 69.8 years, with 69.7% male patients. All tibial access (33.7%) was obtained under US guidance. Obtaining vascular access using US was achieved in 95.3% of patients. At discharge, access site complications were limited to one patient (1.1%) with a pseudoaneurysm; no access complications related to the tibial vessels. At 30 days, there was one major amputation (1.1%) and one vascular access complication (1.1%). Conclusion US guided access is a feasible and safe procedure that can aid in accessing vascular conduits in patients with CLI. Applying this technique across the board in CLI patients decreases the risk of immediate complications and facilitates accessing tibial arteries. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Phase transitions in a sequence-structure channel

We study an interesting channel which maps binary sequences to self-avoiding walks in the two-dimensional grid, inspired by a model of protein folding from statistical physics. The channel is characterized by a Boltzmann/Gibbs distribution with a free parameter corresponding to temperature. We estimate the conditional entropy between the input sequence and the output fold, giving an upper bound which exhibits an unusual phase transition with respect to temperature.
Optical detectors and millimeter-wave amplifiers: structures for integration and their performance

The modulation-doped field-ffect transistors (MODFETs) based on 111-V materials have demonstrated low-noise and high power gain performance at millimeter-wave frequencies beyond 100 GHz. Use of these devices for high speed optoelectronic receivers will depend heavily on integrated circuits (OEICs) built with optical detector and transistor amplifier structures. This overview paper examines the limitations of compatible MSM detector diode and a transimpedance amplifying MODFET circuit and projects the performance of a receiver based on them with 23 Gb/s response. I.
Photoprotons from carbon

Abstract The angular and energy distributions of photoprotons from C12 have been measured from 6.75 to 21 MeV proton energies with an E, dE/dx coincidence-counting spectrometer and with 65 MeV maximum gamma-ray energy. The spectrometer consisted of a CsI(Tl) crystal as the E detector and a silicon p-n junction diode as the dE/dx detector. The data were analysed in 1 MeV intervals, and the equation for electric dipole-electric quadrupole interference in a direct interaction −a + b sin2θ + A cos θ + B sin2θcosθ — fitted to the data of each energy bin by the least-squares method. The results indicate that the direct interaction model with E1–E2 interference gives a good description of the interaction, with the magnitude of the interference increasing with increasing proton energy. The energy spectra show the existence of a small resonance near 13 MeV proton energy.
A College Professor Teaches a Fourth-Grade Media Literacy Unit on Television Commercials Lessons Learned by the Students—And by the Teacher

This ethnographic-style article chronicles the author’s experiences teaching fourth-grade students media literacy. The 4-day lesson plan combined persuasive techniques articulated by Aristotle and media aesthetics as well as the creation of a “television commercial” to enable the students to become more critical media consumers and gain better media literacy skills. The four lessons emphasize the importance of adapting to audiences and remind readers that teaching is a two-way process.
Gustatory Perception and Behavior in Drosophila melanogaster

The sense of taste is essential for the survival of virtually all animals. Considered a 'primitive sense' and present in the form of chemotaxis in many bacteria, taste is also a sense of sophistication in humans. Regardless, taste behavior is a crucial activity for the world's most abundant (insects) and most successful (mammals) inhabitants, providing a means of discrimination between nutrient-rich substrates, such as sugars and amino acids, from harmful, mostly bitter-tasting chemicals present in many plants. In this review, we present an update on progress in understanding taste perception in the model fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. An introduction to the fly's taste system will be presented first, followed by a description of relevant behavioral assays developed to quantify taste perception at the organismal level and a short overview of electrophysiological studies performed on taste cells. The focal point will be the recent molecular-genetic investigations of the gustatory receptor (Gr) genes, which is complemented by a comparison between Drosophila and mammalian taste perception and transduction. Finally, we provide a perspective on the future of Drosophila taste research, including three specific proposals that seem uniquely applicable to this exquisite model system and cannot, at least currently, be pursued elsewhere.
Estimation of calf:cow ratios of Pacific walruses for use in population modeling and monitoring

We report on a method of visually classifying Pacific walruses (Odobenus rosmarus) to sex and age class with the goal of estimating calf:cow ratios. Development of this method began in 1958 by Dr. F. H. Fay and was used during six surveys in the Chukchi Sea between 1981 and 1999. We estimate calf:cow ratios using beta-binomial models to allow for overdispersion and use Monte Carlo simulations to assess the reliability of prior surveys and quantify sample sizes required for future surveys. Calf:cow ratios did not vary by region, date, or by the number of cows in a group. However, higher ratios were observed in the morning and evening than during the day, indicating haul out behavior of cows varies by reproductive status. Adjusted for solar noon, few calves were observed in 1981 (3:100), 1984 (6:100), and 1998 (5:100), while substantially more were observed in 1982 (15:100) and 1999 (13:100). Classifying between 200 and 300 groups with cows (~1,600–2,300 individual cows) will yield calf:cow ratios with ~20%–30% relative precision. Tagging studies that examine hauling-out behavior of cows with and without calves relative to time-of-day are necessary to better understand how to interpret calf:cow ratios.
‘Born to be a mother’: The cultural construction of risk in infertility treatment in the U.S.

As American society has become increasingly medicalized, biomedically shaped constructions of risk have begun to dominate traditional cultural constructions. This paper examines how the quest for a pregnancy affects the construction of risk by women in infertility treatment in the United States. Findings are based on a longitudinal, qualitative study with 275 persons (132 couples and 11 women) who experienced infertility. Because women's involvement in medical treatment was greater than that of men and because they were more intent on treatment, women assumed the role of final arbiter of what was a risk, and which risks to take. Women perceived more risks than men and were more willing to take risks than men. Notions of risk changed for both women and men, however, as they proceeded through medical treatment. This research suggests that once infertility is medically designated as a disease, both patients and practitioners pursue a 'cure' through a well-delineated pattern of medical treatment, despite the risks of such treatment and independent of the likelihood of success. When medical views of risk and responsibility are teamed with women's persistence in the pursuit of a pregnancy, medical treatment may be taken to extremes. Americans consider risk-taking to be their prerogative when personal histories reflect strong cultural mandates about norms, values, rights, and responsibilities, and these in turn are interpreted as health-related by both consumers and health professionals. As a consequence, the forces that trigger medicalization are activated and medical technology is given potentially limitless scope.
Absence of transforming growth factor‐β responsiveness in the tamoxifen growth‐inhibited human breast cancer cell line CAMA‐1

Tamoxifen has been an effective antiestrogen in suppressing breast cancer growth which is estrogen-responsive or dependent. Early studies have provided circumstantial evidence that transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) may be an autocrine mediator of tamoxifen action. Therefore, it is both fundamentally important and clinically relevant to investigate the relationship between tamoxifen and TGF-beta. In this study, we demonstrated that CAMA-1 cells, which are sensitive to tamoxifen inhibition, did not respond to TGF-beta growth inhibition. The type I and II TGF-beta receptors were undetectable by the radio-ligand affinity labeling technique. Despite the presence of a normal TGF-beta type II receptor gene, the mRNA transcript of the gene was undetectable by the extremely sensitive Intron-differential RNA/PCR method. The possibility that the lack of TGF-beta receptors might be intimately linked to the absence of normal retinoblastoma (Rb) gene products, as suggested by previous studies of retinoblastoma cells, was further investigated. The lack of TGF-beta receptor expression was found due to reasons other than the absence, deletion or abnormality of the Rb gene because a normal Rb gene and its hyper- and hypo-phosphorylated protein products were detected in CAMA-1 cells. In conclusion, our results suggest that the TGF-beta system is not obligatory for antiestrogen growth inhibition of CAMA-1 cells.
Application of statistical potentials to protein structure refinement from low resolution ab initio models.

Recently ab initio protein structure prediction methods have advanced sufficiently so that they often assemble the correct low resolution structure of the protein. To enhance the speed of conformational search, many ab initio prediction programs adopt a reduced protein representation. However, for drug design purposes, better quality structures are probably needed. To achieve this refinement, it is natural to use a more detailed heavy atom representation. Here, as opposed to costly implicit or explicit solvent molecular dynamics simulations, knowledge-based heavy atom pair potentials were employed. By way of illustration, we tried to improve the quality of the predicted structures obtained from the ab initio prediction program TOUCHSTONE by three methods: local constraint refinement, reduced predicted tertiary contact refinement, and statistical pair potential guided molecular dynamics. Sixty-seven predicted structures from 30 small proteins (less than 150 residues in length) representing different structural classes (alpha, beta, alpha;/beta) were examined. In 33 cases, the root mean square deviation (RMSD) from native structures improved by more than 0.3 A; in 19 cases, the improvement was more than 0.5 A, and sometimes as large as 1 A. In only seven (four) cases did the refinement procedure increase the RMSD by more than 0.3 (0.5) A. For the remaining structures, the refinement procedures changed the structures by less than 0.3 A. While modest, the performance of the current refinement methods is better than the published refinement results obtained using standard molecular dynamics.
Modeling class loaders in Java PathFinder version 7

The class loading mechanism is one of the essential components of the Java runtime environment. Java class loading is performed on-demand, allows multiple, user extensible class loaders, and can associate a separate type namespace with each class loader. Previous versions of the Java Pathfinder (JPF) model checker only provided a single, hardcoded class loading mechanism. As one of the cornerstones of the upcoming JPF version 7 (JPF v7), we have implemented a standard Java conforming class loader infrastructure. Our implementation does not only support different class loaders and type namespaces, but also allows explicit instantiation of multiple bootstrap class loaders which is essential for model checking of distributed applications - the primary motivation for our work. With the new class loading mechanism, such applications can be mapped to threads using different bootstrap class loaders, thus effectively separating all static fields between application threads. In addition, the JPF v7 class loading is considered to be the basis for future verification of Java security properties.
Urinary retention secondary to labial adhesions

Abstract Mild degrees of labial adhesions are often asymptomatic, and require no treatment. When symptoms occur, medical treatment often results in labial separation with alleviation of symptoms. Surgical separation is recommended for patients in whom medical therapy has failed. The authors report on a patient whose labial adhesions resulted in urinary retention. The need for immediate surgical separation of the fused labia in such patients is emphasized.
Tradable permits and unrealized gains from trade

With the advent of tradable permit programs for bad outputs (e.g., SO2 emissions); concerns arose over whether the theoretical gains from trade would be realized. We will employ a methodology that calculates the potential gains accruing to coal-fired electric power plants from implementing a tradable permit program. The magnitude of the potential gains in a plant's kilowatt hour output from a tradable permit program relative to its observed production provides insights into the existence of intertemporal allocative inefficiencies and spatial allocative inefficiencies after the implementation of a tradable permit program.
Protein Phosphatase-Dependent Circadian Regulation of Intermediate-Term Associative Memory

The endogenous circadian clock is a principal factor modulating memory across species. Determining the processes through which the circadian clock modulates memory formation is a key issue in understanding and identifying mechanisms to improve memory. We used the marine mollusk Aplysia californica to investigate circadian modulation of intermediate-term memory (ITM) and the mechanisms through which the circadian clock phase specifically suppresses memory using the operant learning paradigm, learning that food is inedible. We found that ITM, a temporally and mechanistically distinct form of memory, is rhythmically expressed under light-dark and constant conditions when induced by either massed or spaced training. Strong circadian regulation of ITM occurs with memory exhibited only by animals trained during the early subjective day; no apparent memory is expressed when training occurs during the late subjective day or night. Given the necessity of multiple persistent kinase cascades for ITM, we investigated whether protein phosphatase activity affected circadian modulation. Inhibition of protein phosphatases 1 and 2A blocked ITM when animals were trained during the early (subjective) day while resulting in phase-specific memory rescue when animals were trained late in the subjective day and early night. In contrast, inhibition of calcineurin did not block ITM when animals were trained during the early day and permitted ITM when animals were trained during the late subjective day, early evening, and throughout the night. These results demonstrate that levels of protein phosphatase activity are critical regulators of ITM and one mechanism through which the circadian clock regulates memory formation.