cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The experience of working with dual diagnosis in an early intervention in psychosis team

This paper presents the outcomes of a small qualitative study investigating the experience of mental health practitioners working with dual diagnosis in an early intervention in psychosis (EIP) team with a focus on the use of a specifically developed screening tool. Interviews were conducted with mental health professionals who were employed as care co‐ordinators within an EIP team. Grounded theory was adopted as a method for making sense of the data obtained. Six themes that emerged from the data are described: the importance of the cycle of change in treatment planning; service accountability and responsibility; the nature of psychotic illness; assumptions about substance use; confidence; and using the tool as part of the recovery process. These themes were discussed in relation to research surrounding psychosis, substance use and screening methods.Despite identifying the importance of a more integrated method of working with this complex service user group, gaps remain in practice. Modifications to the screening tool are recommended and a need for substance‐use‐specific interventions training for practitioners working within EIP services is identified.
Effects of Wall Perturbations on TM Modes in Arbitrarily-Shaped Cylindrical Wave Guides

It is shown that any reduction in cross-sectional area of an arbitrarily-shaped homogeneously-filled cylindrical wave guide must increase the cutoff frequency of the TM (transverse magnetic) modes. This result is proven mathematically and is demonstrated by comparing data for rectangular, circular, polygonal, and ridge conducting wave guides. This result is not true for all TE (transverse electric) modes. This result can be useful for waveguide component design.
MDM -1 and MDM -2: Two Mutator -Derived MITE Families in Rice

Numerous miniature inverted repeat transposable elements (MITEs) are present in the rice genome but their transposition mechanisms are unknown. In this report, we present evidence that two novel MITE families may have arisen from Mutator-related transposable elements and thus may use a transposition mechanism similar to that of Mutator elements. Two families of novel MITEs, namely, MDM-1 and MDM-2, were identified by searching for MITEs nested with Kiddo, a previously identified MITE family. MDM-1 and MDM-2 bear hallmarks of Mutator elements, such as long terminal inverted repeats (LTIRs), 9-bp target-site duplications (TSDs), and putative transposase binding sites. Strikingly, the MDM-1 family has a 9-bp terminus identical to that of a rice Mutator-like element ( MULE-9) and the MDM-2 family has an 8-bp terminus identical to that of the maize autonomous Mutator element MuDR. A putative transposase homologous to MURA protein is identified for the MDM-2 family. Thus, these two novel MITE families, with a total copy number of several hundred in rice, are designated Mutator-derived MITEs ( MDMs). Interestingly, sequence decay analysis of MDM families revealed a number of insertion site duplications (ISDs) in the alignment gaps, and widespread historical nesting events are proposed to account for the existence of these ISDs. In addition to its value for discovering new MITEs, the nesting analysis approach used in this study simultaneously identifies MITE insertion polymorphisms.
C-reactive protein measurement in the patient with vascular disease

C-reactive protein (CRP) is becoming more frequently measured in patients with vascular disease. Awareness of why CRP levels are measured, knowledge of normal versus elevated levels, ability to obtain accuracy in measurement, and teaching appropriate for patients with vascular disease may enhance the care given by vascular nurses. The purpose of this article is to provide a guide for vascular nurses in understanding the role of the serum marker CRP for patients with vascular disease.
Integral-Transform Formulation of Diffraction Theory*

An exact integral-transform formulation of the theory of the diffraction of monochromatic scalar waves from an infinite plane boundary with known boundary values is developed from first principles. The formulation is analogous to the Fourier-transform formulation of Fraunhofer diffraction, except that it is exact and is valid for both Fresnel and Fraunhofer diffraction. The known wavefunction on the boundary is expanded into a linear superposition of point-convergence patterns. The point-convergence pattern is defined as the pattern of the wavefunction that must exist on the boundary in order to produce a Dirac delta-function distribution of the wavefunction on a plane of observation that is parallel to the boundary. This pattern is described by a point-convergence function h determined by the position of the delta-function singularity on the plane of observation and the distance of that plane from the boundary. The point-convergence function is orthogonal to a function g called the point-divergence function. Together, g and h serve as kernels for a new integral transform called the diffraction transform. The pattern of the wavefunction on the plane of observation is the diffraction transform of the wavefunction on the boundary. We show that g represents the field of a dipole while h cannot be expressed by an ordinary function and must be defined as a functional. Successive diffraction transformations are discussed, and the transform formulation of Fraunhofer diffraction is obtained as a special case from the diffraction-transform theory.
SPECIFICITY AND SOCIAL PROBLEM-SOLVING: RELATION TO DEPRESSIVE AND ANXIOUS SYMPTOMOLOGY

Abstract Social problem-solving has been associated with depressive and anxious symptomology. However, these studies have traditionally not explored whether these associations are specific or associated with shared variance between these symptoms. In the current study, measures of depressive and anxious symptoms and social problem-solving were administered to 245 undergraduate students. Partial correlations and regression analyses were conducted to explore the specificity of associations between depressive and anxious symptoms. Results indicated that social problem-solving orientation and problem-solving skills were associated with depressive and anxious symptoms, but that these results remained significant only to depressive symptoms when anxiety was statistically controlled. Results also supported the primary role of negative problem-solving orientation and the importance of assessing problem orientation and skills dimensions. Discussion centers on the meaning of the results in relation to problem-solvi...
Heterogeneity in the amount of ionic cadmium necessary to elicit cell death in independent cultures of human proximal tubule cells.

Eleven separate isolates of human renal proximal tubule cells (HPT) were analyzed for toxic response to ionic cadmium exposure over a 16-day period in vitro. This study demonstrates a heterogeneous response to Cd2+ exposure in isolates from different individuals with some individuals nearly 3-times more sensitive to ionic cadmium exposure than others. There was no apparent correlation to the race, sex or age of the individuals in the response to cadmium. In addition, readily identifiable culture artifacts, i.e., culture age, passage number, had no influence on the response to Cd2+ exposure and the different isolates had homogeneous baseline HPT properties and morphology. This difference in response to Cd2+ may reflect a heterogeneous response within the human population to cadmium exposure.
Photochemistry of methyl- and n1-benzyl-n5-cyclopentadienyltricarbonyltungstein(II)

Abstract Irradiation of solutions of n5-C5H5W(CO)3R (R  CH3n1-CH2C6H5) in cyclohexane at ca. 310490 nm leads to the formation of [n5-C5H5W(CO)3]2 and methane and of n5-C5H5W5(CO)2(n3-CH2C6H5) and some [n5-C5H5W(CO)3]2, respectively. When the irradiation is carried out in the presence of excess P(C6H5)3, the photoproducts are n5-C5H5W(CO)2[P(C6H5)3]CH3 (R  CH3) and n5-C5H5W(CO)2(n3-CH2C6H5) and trace [n5-C5H5W(CO)3]2 (R  n1-CH2C6H5). Photolysis of the n5-C5H5W(CO)3R in the presence of benzyl chloride affords n5-C5H5W(CO)3Cl (R  CH3) and both n5-C5H5W(CO)2(n3-CH2C2H5) and n5-C5H5W(CO)3Cl (R  n1-CH2C6H5), the relative amounts of the latter products depending on the quantity of added C6H5CH2Cl. Irradiation of n5-C5H5W(CO)3-CH3 in the presence of both P(C6h5)3 and C6H5CH2Cl affords n5-C5H5W(CO)2-[P(C6H5)3]CH3, but no n5-C5H5W(CO)3Cl. It is proposed that the primary photo-reaction in these transformations is dissociation of a CO group from n5-C5H5W-(CO)3R to generate n5-C5H5W(CO)2R, which can either combine with L to form a stable 18 electron complex, n5-C5H5W(CO)2(L)R (L  CO, P(C5H5)3; LR  n3-CH2C6H5), or lose the group R in a competing, apparently slower step. This proposal receives support from the observation that, light intensifies being equal, n5-C5H5W(CO)3CH3 undergoes a considerably faster photoconversion to [n5-C5H5W(CO)3]2 under argon than under carbon monoxide.
The Role of Evidence-Based Medicine in Disease Management

Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is the conscientious application of scientific best practice by clinicians in concert with the patient’s understanding and values. Recent studies by the Institute of Medicine (Washington, DC, USA) and others have noted the gap that exists between scientifically supported approaches to care and day to day practice by clinicians. Compounding this problem of non-adherence by providers, researchers have noted that patient compliance also falls short. As a result, avoidable costs from inappropriate variability in practice patterns coupled with patient noncompliance are a significant focus of payor attention.
Maxwell's demon. (I) A thermodynamic exorcism

Abstract It is shown that Maxwell's demon is unable to accomplish his task not because of considerations related to irreversibility, acquisition of information, and computers and erasure of information but because of limitations imposed by the properties of the system on which he is asked to perform his demonic manipulations. The limitations emerge from two recent but related developments of which Maxwell was completely unaware. One is an exposition of thermodynamics as a nonstatistical theory, valid for all systems, both large and small, including a system with only one degree of (translational) freedom, and for all states, both thermodynamic or stable equilibrium states and states that are not thermodynamic equilibrium, including states encountered in mechanics. In this theory, entropy is proven to be a nondestructible, nonstatistical property of any state in the same sense that inertial mass is a nonstatistical property of any state. In Part I, the demon is shown to be incapable of accomplishing his task because this would be equivalent either to reducing the nondestructible and nonstatistical entropy of air in a container without compensation by any other system, including himself, or to extracting only energy from the air under conditions that require the extraction of both energy and entropy. The second development is a unified, quantum-theoretic interpretation of mechanics and the thermodynamics just cited. In this theory: (a) the quantum-theoretic probabilities of measurement results are represented by a density operator ρ that corresponds to a homogeneous ensemble of identical systems, identically prepared; homogeneous is an ensemble in which every member is described by the same density operator ρ as any other member, that is, the ensemble is not a statistical mixture of projectors (wave functions); said differently, experimentally (as opposed to algebraically) the homogeneous ensemble cannot be decomposed into mixtures either of pure states or other mixtures; (b) the value 〈A〉 of any observable is not given by any particular measurement result but by the average of an ensemble of measurement results, that is, 〈 A 〉=∑ i a i /N , where A is the Hermitian operator representing the observable, ai the measurement result of A from the ith member of the ensemble, and N→∞, that is, the number of members of the ensemble; and (c) in a thermodynamic equilibrium state, molecules do not move—each molecule has a zero value of momentum. In Part II, the demon is shown to be incapable of accomplishing his task because this requires the sorting of air molecules into swift and slow and in thermodynamic equilibrium there are no such molecules—all the molecules are at a standstill. It is worth noting that this conclusion would not be generally valid if the ensemble for ρ were not homogeneous, that is, if the ensemble were a statistical mixture of different subensembles. But then, the ensemble would not be subject to the laws of physics.
Identification of the Nuclear Export and Adjacent Nuclear Localization Signals for ORF45 of Kaposi's Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus

Open reading frame 45 (ORF45) of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus 8 (KSHV) is an immediate-early phosphorylated tegument protein and has been shown to play important roles at both early and late stages of viral infection. Homologues of ORF45 exist only in gammaherpesviruses, and their homology is limited. These homologues differ in their protein lengths and subcellular localizations. We and others have reported that KSHV ORF45 is localized predominantly in the cytoplasm, whereas its homologue in murine herpesvirus 68 is localized exclusively in the nucleus. We observed that ORF45s of rhesus rhadinovirus and herpesvirus saimiri are found exclusively in the nucleus. As a first step toward understanding the mechanism underlying the distinct intracellular distribution of KSHV ORF45, we identified the signals that control its subcellular localization. We found that KSHV ORF45 accumulated rapidly in the nucleus in the presence of leptomycin B, an inhibitor of CRM1 (exportin 1)-dependent nuclear export, suggesting that it could shuttle between the nucleus and cytoplasm. Mutational analysis revealed that KSHV ORF45 contains a CRM1-dependent, leucine-rich-like nuclear export signal and an adjacent nuclear localization signal. Replacement of the key residues with alanines in these motifs of ORF45 disrupts its shuttling between the cytoplasm and nucleus. The resulting ORF45 mutants have restricted subcellular localizations, being found exclusively either in the cytoplasm or in the nucleus. Recombinant viruses were reconstituted by introduction of these mutations into KSHV bacterial artificial chromosome BAC36. The resultant viruses have distinct phenotypes. A mutant virus in which ORF45 is restricted to the cytoplasm behaves as an ORF45-null mutant and produces 5- to 10-fold fewer progeny viruses than the wild type. In contrast, mutants in which the ORF45 protein is mostly restricted to the nucleus produce numbers of progeny viruses similar to those produced by the wild type. These data suggest that the subcellular localization signals of ORF45 have important functional roles in KSHV lytic replication.
Model-based curve evolution technique for image segmentation

We propose a model-based curve evolution technique for segmentation of images containing known object types. In particular, motivated by the work of Leventon et al. (2000), we derive a parametric model for an implicit representation of the segmenting curve by applying principal component analysis to a collection of signed distance representations of the training data, The parameters of this representation are then calculated to minimize an objective function for segmentation. We found the resulting algorithm to be computationally efficient, able to handle multidimensional data, robust to noise and initial contour placements, while at the same time, avoiding the need for point correspondences during the training phase of the algorithm. We demonstrate this technique by applying it to two medical applications.
Corporations, collective action and corporate governance: One size does not fit all

A review of the theory and evidence on corporate governance indicates several related themes. First, corporate governance is multidimensional. Second, corporate governance is an endogenous response to a firm’s economic environment. Third, the role of different governance mechanisms varies across industries. New analysis of a sample of 1235 US corporations from 40 different industries in the year 2000 confirms the empirical regularities reported in prior research. The central policy implication of the prior research and new supporting evidence is that one size does not fit all in corporate governance.
Use of the Internet by women seeking information about potentially teratogenic agents.

Abstract Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate if the Internet provides evidence-based information to women seeking information about teratogenic risk factors and women's risk perception. Furthermore, we evaluated the possible risk related to teratogen exposure in the study sample and analysed age, gravidity, educational level, geographic location, marital status and type of exposure compared to a control group made up of women who did not use the Internet to search for teratogen-related information. Study design Between October 2008 and June 2009, a questionnaire was administered to pregnant women calling our Teratology Information Service concerning a suspected teratogenic exposure. Results Fifty-seven percent ( n = 116) of callers had used the Internet to find medical information about their exposure, while 43% ( n = 87) had not. Internet users had a medium-high level of education and consulted the Internet because of its convenience, usually early in their pregnancy. We verified the accuracy of the information the women obtained from the Internet and found that 59.5% ( n = 69) of women received evidence-based answers; 18.1% ( n = 21) were informed that their exposure was dangerous when it was not; 4.3% ( n = 5) were wrongly reassured; and the rest ( n = 18) were not able to interpret the data they found or found no relevant information. Conclusions Internet use during pregnancy is a widespread phenomenon as the Internet offers the opportunity to share apprehensions and doubts with other women, but it can often lead to increased and unjustified anxiety. Medical information published on websites cannot be considered a substitute for informed medical advice, and patients should not take any action before consulting with a health care professional.
Estimation of triggered‐lightning dart‐stepped‐leader currents from close multiple‐station dE/dt pulse measurements

The modified transmission line model is used to derive the vertically propagating leader-step currents necessary to radiate measured dart-stepped-leader dE/dt pulses from triggered lightning at close range (<400 m) and low altitude (<70 m). The model-predicted dE/dt pulses were compared with measured dE/dt pulses at nine locations ranging from 27 to 391 m from the channel base for four dE/dt pulses radiated from two triggered dart-stepped leaders. The dE/dt pulses at the closest station, 27 m, were unipolar, dominated by electrostatic and induction components of the radiated dE/dt, and of opposite polarity to the more distant initial dE/dt peaks. The other, more distant, eight stations exhibited bipolar dE/dt pulses, being more or less dominated by the dE/dt radiation component. The derived leader-step current has a slow front that precedes a fast transition to peak amplitude followed by a slow decay to zero after several microseconds. For the four modeled dE/dt pulses, the estimated causative leader-step current peak amplitudes varied from 0.9 to 1.8 kA, the half-peak widths ranged from 370 to 560 ns, the charge transfers were about 1 mC, and the peak current derivatives were about 10 kA/µs. The upward propagation speeds of the leader-step current were from 1.1 to 1.5 × 108 m/s with exponential spatial current decay constants from 13 to 27 m. One dE/dt pulse is analyzed in more detail by studying changes in model-predicted waveforms versus current initiation altitude and by examining the effect of varying model input parameters.
Detergent Formula Effect on Transport of Nutrients to Ground Water from Septic Systems

Two groups of new septic systems in coarse-textured soils overlying shallow ground water were monitored for two years to determine the potential of contamination of individual ground-water supply from the use of phosphate- built (PO4) or carbonate-built (CO3) detergents. The distribution of nutrients and chloride in the shallow aquifer were examined to trace contamination from the septic systems. The data were evaluated statistically, and a stochastic nutrient transport model was compiled to simulate ground- water contamination by nutrients for a five-county region. The stochastic modeling of the data showed that neither detergent caused delivery of total phosphorus to ground water in concentrations above 0.1 mg/1 as P. However, total nitrogen was removed more efficiently from systems receiving PC4-built than CO3-built detergents. The total nitrogen from septic systems reached the ground water in concentrations of 39 and 69 mg/1 as N from PO4- and CO3-built detergent use, respectively, The detergent formula has a substantial effect on ground-water contamination by nitrogen from septic systems.
The Polyphosphate Bodies of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Possess a Proton-pumping Pyrophosphatase and Are Similar to Acidocalcisomes

Acidocalcisomes are acidic calcium storage compartments described initially in trypanosomatid and apicomplexan parasites. In this work, we describe organelles with properties similar to acidocalcisomes in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Nigericin and NH4Cl released45Ca2+ from preloaded permeabilized cells, suggesting the incorporation of a significant amount of this cation into an acidic compartment. X-ray microanalysis of the electron-dense vacuoles or polyphosphate bodies of C. reinhardtii showed large amounts of phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, and zinc. Immunofluorescence microscopy, using antisera raised against a peptide sequence of the vacuolar type proton pyrophosphatase (H+-PPase) of Arabidopsis thaliana which is conserved in the C. reinhardtii enzyme, indicated localization in the plasma membrane, in intracellular vacuoles, and the contractile vacuole where it colocalized with the vacuolar proton ATPase (V-H+-ATPase). Purification of the electron-dense vacuoles using iodixanol density gradients indicated a preferential localization of the H+-PPase and the V-H+-ATPase activities in addition to high concentrations of PPi and short and long chain polyphosphate, but lack of markers for mitochondria and chloroplasts. In isolated electron-dense vacuoles, PPi-driven proton translocation was stimulated by potassium ions and inhibited by the PPi analog aminomethylenediphosphonate. Potassium fluoride, imidodiphosphate,N,N′-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide, andN-ethylmaleimide also inhibited PPi hydrolysis in the isolated organelles in a dose-dependent manner. These results indicate that the electron-dense vacuoles of C. reinhardtii are very similar to acidocalcisomes with regard to their chemical composition and the presence of proton pumps. Polyphosphate was also localized to the contractile vacuole by 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole staining, suggesting, with the immunochemical data, a link between these organelles and the acidocalcisomes.
Treatment of relapsing autoimmune pancreatitis with immunomodulators and rituximab: the Mayo Clinic experience

Background There is a paucity of data on long-term management of type 1 autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP), a relapsing steroid-responsive disorder. Objective We describe our experience with treatment of relapses and maintenance of remission using steroid-sparing immunomodulators (IMs) and induction of remission using rituximab (RTX). Methods We obtained details of disease relapse and treatment in 116 type 1 AIP patients from clinic visits, medical records and telephone interviews. We compared relapse free survival in those treated with IMs versus those treated with steroids alone, assessed patients’ response to RTX, and identified treatment-related complications. Results During a median follow-up of 47 months, 52/116 AIP patients experienced 76 relapse episodes. The first relapse was treated with another course of steroids in 24 patients, and with steroids plus IM in another 27 patients; subsequent relapse-free survival until a second relapse was similar in the two groups (p=0.23). 38 patients received an IM for >2 months; failure or intolerance of IM therapy occurred in 17 (45%). 12 patients with steroid or IM intolerance/resistance were treated with RTX, an antiCD20 antibody; 10 (83%) experienced complete remission and had no relapses while on maintenance therapy. Treatment-limiting side effects related to RTX were uncommon. Conclusions In type 1 AIP relapses are common. Relapse-free survival is similar in those treated with steroids plus IM compared to those treated with steroids alone. Nearly half the patients on IMs will relapse during treatment. RTX is effective in the treatment of both IM resistant and steroid intolerant patients.
Towards spoken clinical-question answering: evaluating and adapting automatic speech-recognition systems for spoken clinical questions

Objective To evaluate existing automatic speech-recognition (ASR) systems to measure their performance in interpreting spoken clinical questions and to adapt one ASR system to improve its performance on this task. Design and measurements The authors evaluated two well-known ASR systems on spoken clinical questions: Nuance Dragon (both generic and medical versions: Nuance Gen and Nuance Med) and the SRI Decipher (the generic version SRI Gen). The authors also explored language model adaptation using more than 4000 clinical questions to improve the SRI system's performance, and profile training to improve the performance of the Nuance Med system. The authors reported the results with the NIST standard word error rate (WER) and further analyzed error patterns at the semantic level. Results Nuance Gen and Med systems resulted in a WER of 68.1% and 67.4% respectively. The SRI Gen system performed better, attaining a WER of 41.5%. After domain adaptation with a language model, the performance of the SRI system improved 36% to a final WER of 26.7%. Conclusion Without modification, two well-known ASR systems do not perform well in interpreting spoken clinical questions. With a simple domain adaptation, one of the ASR systems improved significantly on the clinical question task, indicating the importance of developing domain/genre-specific ASR systems.
Addressing the oral healthcare needs of special needs children: pediatric nurses' self-perceived effectiveness.

OBJECTIVES To examine the oral health knowledge and practices of pediatric nurses who coordinate healthcare services for special needs children and to identify those factors that influenced their perceived effectiveness in managing their patients' oral health needs. METHODS Self-reported data were collected from 376 nurses employed at Children's Medical Services who responded to an online survey. Likert scale scores were used to specifically assess the nurses' perceived effectiveness in addressing the oral health needs of special needs children. RESULTS Characteristics significantly associated with special needs pediatric nurses who described themselves as "effective or very effective" included: the self-perception of being very knowledgeable about basic oral health, receiving four or more hours of continuing education training, and securing dental appointments for the majority of their pediatric special needs patients with minimal waiting times. CONCLUSION Findings reveal that oral health knowledge significantly influenced nurses' perceived effectiveness in addressing the oral health needs of special needs children, as well as their ability to secure timely dental appointments. These results support the need to incorporate oral health education into nursing curricula and expand upon the dental workforce available and willing to treat disabled patients.
Stereospecificity of monoacylglycerol acyltransferase activity from rat intestine and suckling rat liver

The stereospecificity of monoacylglycerol acyltransferase from rat intestinal mucosa and suckling rat liver microsomes was examined using sn-1,2-diacylglycerol kinase from Escherichia coli. With 2-monooleoyl glycerol and palmitoyl-CoA, 88 and 87.9% of the diacylglycerol synthesized by the intestinal mucosa and suckling liver, respectively, was demonstrated to be the sn-1,2-isomer. Analysis of similar preparations of these diacylglycerol products by gas-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry indicated that most of the remaining diacylglycerol was the 1,3-isomer that probably arose via acyl-migration. These results indicate that monoacylglycerol acyltransferase is stereospecific. Measurement of acyltransferase activities in microsomes using 1- and 2-monoacyl- and monoalkylglycerols as substrates indicated that the monoacylglycerol acyltransferases from suckling liver and intestinal mucosa have different substrate specificities.
Antiguan Methodism and antislavery activity: Anne and Elizabeth Hart in the eighteenth-century black Atlantic

Around 1790, two young sisters born into a slaveholding free black family began instructing Antiguan slaves in literacy and Christianity. The sisters, Anne (1768–1834) and Elizabeth (1771–1833) Hart, first instructed their father's slaves at Popeshead—he may have hired them out rather than using them on his own crops—then labored among enslaved women and children in Antiguan plantations and in towns and ports like St. John's and English Harbour. Soon the sisters came to write about faith, slavery, and freedom. Anne and Elizabeth Hart were moderate opponents of slavery, not abolitionists but meliorationists. When compared to their black American, British, and West African contemporaries, the Hart sisters illuminate the birth of a black antislavery Christianity in the late eighteenth century precisely because they never became abolitionists. The Hart sisters shared with their black contemporaries a vivid sense of racial identity and evangelical Christianity. Yet as meliorationists, the Hart sisters did not oppose slavery as an institution, but rather the vice it spread into the lives of blacks. The difference between the Hart sisters and their contemporaries such as Richard Allen, Quobna Ottobah Cugoano, Olaudah Equiano, Lemuel Haynes, and John Marrant—all luminaries of black abolitionism of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries—was that the abolitionists felt themselves citizens of a modern nation-state characterized by power that could be used against slave traders and slaveholders. The Hart sisters never thought of themselves as citizens and abjured political means, including revolution, of ending slavery. This essay aims to describe the Hart sisters' faith and antislavery activity and to analyze the difference between meliorationism and abolitionism in terms of a black writer's ability or inability to identify as a citizen of a modern nation-state.
Soft Electrical Equalization for Optical Channels

Optical channels are limited in terms of data rate and fiber length due fiber non-linearity, chromatic dispersion and polarization mode dispersion. Electrical equalization is an attractive way to combat these forms of non-linear dispersion. With the advent of powerful error-correcting codes, equalizers must be able to work in an iterative fashion by exchanging soft information with the decoder. We will compare two such soft equalizers, the forward-backward equalizer and the Monte Carlo equalizer, and evaluate their performance.
Relation between regional function and coronary blood flow reserve in multivessel coronary artery stenosis.

In the setting of chronic coronary stenoses, percent wall thickening (%WT) both at rest and during catecholamine stimulation can be abnormal despite normal resting myocardial blood flow (MBF). We h...
Problem Discovery And Problem Solving In Unstructured Situations: Using The Pan-Pacific Enterprises Simulation With University Students

Simulations and games provide students with real-world experiences in a safe, controlled environment. Properly designed exercises can increase the effectiveness of classroom instruction and promote higher-order learning. Pan-Pacific Enterprises: Strategic Decision Making (2003) is a problem solving and communications simulation suitable for undergraduate and graduate students. Students are given a resource allocation problem and told to solve the problem in small groups outside of class. In class, each group has the opportunity to integrate its small group solution into a company-wide strategic plan. The core problem of the simulation is that the various groups are given different goals so they arrive at different solutions. These differences provide the entire class with an ambiguous problem with no obvious solution. The class as a whole has to develop a method to integrate the sometimes conflicting solutions.
Solenodon paradoxus (Soricomorpha: Solenodontidae)

Abstract: Solenodon paradoxus Brandt, 1833, is a large lipotyphlan insectivore commonly called the Hispaniolan solenodon. S. paradoxus is 1 of 2 extant species in the genus Solenodon, and 2 subspecies are recognized. The species is one of few venomous mammals with venom delivery through a channel in a modified lower incisor. Current distribution is limited to the Dominican Republic and southern Haiti. S. paradoxus is listed as “Endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources; threats to conservation include habitat loss, fragmentation, and degradation, predation by exotic carnivores, and persecution from farmers.
From Paper to Peace? Compliance with UN Security Council Resolutions in Civil Wars

Under which circumstances and why do warring factions comply with third-parties’ demands for the cessation of hostilities, and when do such calls go unheeded? The existing literature on multilateral conflict management and compliance with international regimes does not offer empirical answers to these questions; leaving researchers and policy-makers alike with little guidance on how the multilateral actors can most effectively impact on the behavior of governments and rebel groups engaged in armed conflict. This study aims at closing this lacuna. Based on the current literature on cooperation, compliance, and conflict management, it develops a theory of compliance with United Nations Security Council resolutions in civil wars. Using a new dataset coded and compiled for this study at the International Peace Institute, it then tests this theory by analyzing civil-war parties’ compliance with all requests for military de-escalation addressed by the Security Council to factions in twenty-four civil wars between 1989 and 2003, using multilevel MLE models. The paper is the first large-n quantitative analysis of compliance with United Nations Security Council resolutions in armed conflict. The paper finds that compliance with Security Council resolutions in civil wars is strongly correlated with the conflict-management ecology and the compliance strategy pursued by the United Nations, and that it is also associated with great-power dynamics in the Security Council and the linkage between the Council’s effort and ongoing peace processes.
Health Care Financing and Information Technology: A Historical Perspective

After reading this chapter, you should know the answers to these questions: How did health care insurance contribute to rapid growth in health care spending during the 1970s through the 1980s? What helped to stem the growth of health care spending in the mid-1990s? What new and old causes contributed to accelerated growth again in the late 1990s and early 2000s? How has health care financing influenced the development of health care information technology? What are health maintenance organizations (HMOs), prepaid group practices, preferred–provider organizations (PPOs), point-of-service (POS) plans, and high deductible plans? How do these groups provide incentives to reduce health care costs? How have employers and managed care organizations acted to improve health care quality and to reduce health care spending? How have changes in fiscal designs and incentives affected the development and adoption of health care information technology? How can health care information systems help health care institutions to respond to the changing financial environment?
Contextinator: Addressing Information Fragmentation with a Web-Based Project Manager

The web browser has become a central workspace for knowledge workers, where they make use of cloud-based applications to access and store their information. While this solution helps reduce the difficulty of syncing information between our numerous devices, it reintroduces and proliferates faults of the desktop, particularly information fragmentation. Information fragmentation is an increasingly important issue, as cloud-based applications typically silo their data, resulting in a replication of storage and organization in the absence of a unifying structure. To probe whether knowledge workers encounter information fragmentation and in what manner, we created Contextinator, a tool that assists in coordinating data for web-based projects. Contextinator provides a method for providing the centralized, unifying structure that cloud based storage makes difficult.
A Newer Arytenoid Adduction Technique for One-Vocal-Fold Paralysis

Among various surgical techniques of arytenoid adduction, lateral cricoarytenoid muscle (LCA) pull operation has been newly developed as a further improved treatment of choice for one-vocal-fold paralysis. This operation has been conducted under a local anesthetic condition through a 10mm×8 mm thyroplasty window created just anterior to the oblique line and 7 mm to 8 mm cranial to the lower edge of the thyroid cartilage. In the window, several pices of 4-0 Ti-cron stiches are passed and tied securely at different points of the atrophic LCA bundle. Those threads then are fixed anteriorly and inferiorly to the thyroid cartilage. Direction as well as strength of the threads on the thyroid cartilage are all decided with reference to intra-operative voice improvement of individual patients. A total of 38 patients with one-vocal-fold paralysis underwent LCA pull operation over the periods of 1987 through 1994. In 32 of the cases (84.2%), vocal-fold fixation occurred at the intermediate position preoperatively. In the other 5 cases (13.2%), it occurred at the paramedian position preoperatively. The remaining one case showed median fixation of a vocal fold yet to present weaker and diplophonic voice preoperatively. All the patients had complained not only of marked breathy voice, aphonia, weaker voice or diplophonia but also of intermittent aspiration preoperatively. LCA pull operation outcome:1. Successful medialization of the vocal fold resulted in 90.6%.2. Normal thickness of the vocal fold resulted in 92.3%.3. Straight status of the vocal fold from the preoperatively bowed status resulted in 86.7%.4. Successful adjustment of vocal-fold level difference resulted in 75%.5. Extension of maximum phonation time exceeding 5 seconds up to 30 seconds resulted in 68.4%.6. Clearer, volumef ul non-breathy voice resulted in 75.8%.7. Successful elimination of diplophonia resulted in 93.5%.8. Louder voice instead of weaker voice resulted in 78.9%.9. Resolution of aspiration problem resulted in 88.5%.10. None of the cases showed postoperative air-way problems.
Tables of Collision Integrals for the (m,6) Potential Function for 10 Values of m.

Tables of collision integrals are presented for the (m, 6) potential function for 87 reduced temperatures for each of 10 values of m. The exponents m used were m = 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 30, 40, 50, and 75. Comparisons are made with five other calculations for the case m = 12. The accuracy of the calculation appears to be at least several parts in 10,000.
Vapor-phase atomic-controllable growth of amorphous Li2S for high-performance lithium-sulfur batteries.

Lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries hold great promise to meet the formidable energy storage requirements of future electrical vehicles but are prohibited from practical implementation by their severe capacity fading and the risks imposed by Li metal anodes. Nanoscale Li2S offers the possibility to overcome these challenges, but no synthetic technique exists for fine-tailoring Li2S at the nanoscale. Herein we report a vapor-phase atomic layer deposition (ALD) method for the atomic-scale-controllable synthesis of Li2S. Besides a comprehensive investigation of the ALD Li2S growth mechanism, we further describe the high performance of the resulting amorphous Li2S nanofilms as cathodes in Li–S batteries, achieving a stable capacity of ∼800 mA·h/g, nearly 100% Coulombic efficiency, and excellent rate capability. Nanoscale Li2S holds great potential for both bulk-type and thin-film high-energy Li–S batteries.
Dynamic Observation on Health Condition of Medical X-ray Workers in Dalian City

[Objective]To observe the effect of long-term exposure of low-dose radiation on workers so as to ensure their health,and provide basic information for the diagnosis of occupational diseases.[Methods]Prospective study was adopted to observe medical X-ray workers in Dalian City for 4 years.The internal changes and influencing factors were studied,selecting workers without radiation exposure for control study.[Results]The indicators such as neurasthenic syndrome,the incidence of hand injuries,eye lens opacity rate,peripheral blood,abnormal rate of micronucleus and chromosome aberration rate of medical X-ray workers were significantly higher than those of control group,the differences were significant.[Conclusion]Long-term exposure of low-dose radiation has a certain effect on workers' health.It is important to strengthen radiological protection,to regular health monitoring,to implement the "Occupational Disease Prevention Law",and ensure the health and safety of radiation workers.
Kant on Freedom, Law, and Happiness: Life, Liberty, and Property: Rawls and Kant

Until recently, Kant's political philosophy has had little impact on American political thinking and political philosophy. Reasons for this are not hard to find. First, of course, the basic framework of American political thought was laid down in the 1770s and 1780s, a decade or two before Kant's “Doctrine of Right” was published – the U.S. Constitution, indeed, predates Kant's work by exactly ten years. But there also appears to be a fundamental philosophical difference between Kant's political theory and the basic tenets of American political thought. The signers of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the framers of the Constitution in 1787 asserted a wide rather than narrow scope for their new government, including among its proper ends the advancement of its citizens' happiness or welfare as well as the preservation of their lives and liberty. The Declaration of Independence states that “Governments are instituted among men” in order to secure their “inalienable rights” to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” The Preamble to the Constitution states that its purpose is “to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity” In neither case is there any explicit acknowledgment of the potential for conflict between the goal of securing life, justice, tranquillity, and the blessings of liberty, on the one hand, and the aim of advancing the happiness and welfare of the citizenry on the other.
Strategies for achieving <200 ps coincidence timing resolution with highly multiplexed SiPM arrays

Maintaining excellent timing resolution in time-of-flight positron emission tomography (TOF-PET) at system scale requires an enormous amount of high speed, high bandwidth electronic channels and components. Therefore, to minimize cost and complexity of a system's back-end architecture and data acquisition, many analog signals are multiplexed to a fewer channels using techniques that encode timing, energy, and position information. With progress in the development silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) having lower dark noise, after pulsing, and cross talk along with higher photodetection efficiency, a coincidence timing resolution (CTR) well below 200 ps FWHM is now easily achievable using single pixels of 20 mm long, lutetium-based inorganic scintillators. However, multiplexing many SiPMs channels to a readout will unavoidably degrade CTR. This work investigates the trade-offs between high analog multiplexing ratios and achievable CTR. Using information gained from test boards that multiplex many channels, a prototype detector read-out comprising a 4×4 array of SiPMs with a 16:2 multiplexing ratio (one channel for timing, one for energy and position information) is presented.
Chromatin loops and causality loops: the influence of RNA upon spatial nuclear architecture

An intrinsic and essential trait exhibited by cells is the properly coordinated and integrated regulation of an astoundingly large number of simultaneous molecular decisions and reactions to maintain biochemical homeostasis. This is especially true inside the cell nucleus, where the recognition of DNA and RNA by a vast range of nucleic acid-interacting proteins organizes gene expression patterns. However, this dynamic system is not regulated by simple "on" or "off" signals. Instead, transcription factor and RNA polymerase recruitment to DNA are influenced by the local chromatin and epigenetic environment, a gene's relative position within the nucleus and the action of noncoding RNAs. In addition, major phase-separated structural features of the nucleus, such as nucleoli and paraspeckles, assemble in direct response to specific transcriptional activities and, in turn, influence global genomic function. Currently, the interpretation of these data is trapped in a causality dilemma reminiscent of the "chicken and the egg" paradox as it is unclear whether changes in nuclear architecture promote RNA function or vice versa. Here, we review recent advances that suggest a complex and interdependent interaction network between gene expression, chromatin topology, and noncoding RNA function. We also discuss the functional links between these essential nuclear processes from the nanoscale (gene looping) to the macroscale (sub-nuclear gene positioning and nuclear body function) and briefly highlight some of the challenges that researchers may encounter when studying these phenomena.
Synthesis of (-)-Hebelophyllene E: An Entry to Geminal Dimethyl-Cyclobutanes by [2+2] Cycloaddition of Alkenes and Allenoates.

The first synthesis of hebelophyllene E is presented, along with assignment of its previously unknown relative configuration through synthesis of epi-ent-hebelophyllene E. Development of a catalytic enantioselective [2+2] cycloaddition of alkenes and allenoates provides access to the required chiral geminal dimethylcyclobutanes. Key to its success is the identification of a novel oxazaborolidine catalyst which promotes the cycloaddition in high enantioselectivities with good functional-group tolerance (9 examples, up to 97:3 e.r.). Thus, a late-stage cycloaddition using a fully functionalized alkene, followed by a diastereoselective reduction allows a concise entry to this class of natural products.
A space-time domain decomposition method for high-fidelity electromagnetic simulation

This paper addresses a growing need for space-time parallel simulation capability in electromagnetics (EM) applications. Currently time-dependent EM solvers are typically parallel only in space. The sequential-in-time nature of these solvers can achieve good parallel scaling when the number of spatial mesh points per core is large. But the parallel efficiency quickly deteriorates and even saturates if spatial parallelism has been fully exploited. We proposed a new time domain EM solver to harvest parallelism in both spatial and temporal dimension. The spatial parallelism is achieved by discontinuous Galerkin formulation, and the temporal parallelism is enabled by Krylov subspace method based exponential integrator. The improved parallel performance over space-only parallel time-domain solvers is validated by numerical examples.