cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Image understanding for converting images into natural language text sentences

The efficient processing, association and understanding of multimedia based events or multi-modal information is a very important research field with a great variety of applications, such as knowledge discovery, document understanding, human computer interaction, etc. A good approach to this important issue is the development of a common platform for converting different modalities (such as images, text, etc) into the same medium and associating them for efficient processing and understanding. Thus, this talk here presents the development of a methodology capable for automatically converting images into natural language (NL) text sentences using image processing-analysis methods and graphs with attributes for object recognition, and image understanding. Then it converts graph representations into NL text sentences. Moreover, it presents a methodology for transforming NL sentences into Graph representations and then into Stochastic Petri-nets (SPN) descriptions in order to offer a common model of representation of multimodal information and at the same time a way of associating “activities or changes” in image frames for events representation and interpretation. The selection of the SPN graph model is due to its capability for efficiently representing structural and functional knowledge where other models cannot. Simple illustrative examples are provided for proving the concept presented here.
Push/pull in recent Mexican migration to the U.S.

Interpretations of the “alien invasion” of illegal Mexican immigrants center around two positions: a “push” and a “pull” theory. Treating the migration as a labor migration, a set of hypotheses is ...
Toddler regulation of distress to frustrating events: Temperamental and maternal correlates.

Seventy-three mothers and their 18-month-old toddlers were observed in a series of laboratory procedures designed to assess relations among physiological arousal, frustration distress, emotion regulation and maternal interactive style. Physiological arousal was assessed using baseline measures of vagal tone and heart period. Distress was assessed across four separate episodes designed to elicit the intensity, frequency, duration and latency of the distress response to frustrating events. Regulation was assessed by examining the child,s behaviors (aggression, distraction, mother-orientation, constructive coping) when confronted by the four frustration tasks. Maternal interactive style was assessed by examining mothers, strategies for child behavior management (negative controlling, positive guidance, preemptive interference) during four mother-child tasks. Distress to the frustrating tasks was related to aggression/acting-out behaviors, and negatively related to the use of more adaptive strategies. Maternal interference was related to distress to the frustrating events, while maternal positive guidance was related to the use of distraction and mother-oriented regulating behaviors. These findings are discussed in terms of the adaptive value of emotion regulation in early development.
Localization of Knops system antigens in the long homologous repeats of complement receptor 1.

BACKGROUND: The Sla (Knops system) located on complement receptor 1 (CR1) has been associated with malarial rosetting, a process associated with severe malarial infections. Moreover, the long homologous repeats (LHRs) B and C of CR1 were implicated in rosette formation. As a step toward mapping the location of Knops system antigens, truncated CR1 proteins have been expressed and their ability to inhibit antibodies to the high-incidence Knops system antigens was assessed. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Individual LHRs (A, B, C, and D) of CR1 of the common CR1*1 (F) allotype were expressed as secreted forms in 293T cells. Their abilities to specifically neutralize Knops system antibodies were tested by both hemagglutination and flow cytometry. RESULTS: Three examples of anti-Kna (n = 6) were almost completely inhibited by LHR-C and three by LHR-D. Two examples of anti-McCa (n = 2) and seven examples of anti-Sla (n = 8) were inhibited by LHR-D. Both examples of anti-Yka (n = 2) were partially inhibited by LHR-D. CONCLUSION: The high-incidence Knops system antigens reside within LHR-D and to a lesser extent within LHR-C. Because of the role of Sla antigen in malaria rosetting, these results indicate that LHR-D may represent an additional malaria interaction region in CR1.
A Method of Calibration of Moxon-Rae Detectors

A method of calibration of the Moxon-Rae type gamma-ray detectors used in neutron capture crosssection measurements with underground nuclear explosions is described. The method consists of measuring the activation and detector signal in individual resonances in samples of 197Au and 238U exposed to a neutron beam from an underground nuclear explosion. The resonances are resolved by time of flight. Since both the activation and the corresponding detector signal are known, the efficiency can be determined without measuring the incident neutron flux or sample capture cross section.
The tulipmania: Fact or artifact?

The famous tulipmania, which saw the reported prices of several breeds of tulip bulbs rise to above the value of a furnished luxury house in 17th century Amsterdam, was an artifact created by an implicit conversion of ordinary futures contracts into option contracts in an imperfectly successful attempt by Dutch futures buyers and public officials to bail themselves out of previously incurred speculative losses in the impressively price-efficient, fundamentally driven, market for Dutch tulip contracts. There was thus nothing maniacal about prices in this period. Despite outward appearances, the tulipmania was not a bubble because bubbles require the existence of mutually-agreed-upon prices that exceed fundamental values. The “tulipmania” was simply a period during which the prices in futures contracts had been legally, albeit temporarily, converted into options exercise prices.
American Medical Association’s Youth Violence Prevention Training and Outreach Guide

This article describes the development and contents of a training and outreach guide Connecting the Dots to Prevent Youth Violence: A Training and Outreach Guide for Physicians and Other Health Professionals (the Guide) on youth violence prevention for healthcare providers developed by the American Medical Association. The Guide, was developed to help translate recommendations made by the Commission for the Prevention of Youth Violence in their 2000 report, Youth and Violence: Medicine, Nursing, and Public Health: Connecting the Dots to Prevent Violence, into healthcare practice. The Guide, which will also be available in Spanish in early 2006, is structured as a speaker's kit and includes prepared speeches, case studies, issue briefs, and copies of screening tools and patient education materials from a variety of sources appropriate for use in the clinical setting. Results of a preliminary evaluation of the Guide indicate that the training can be effective in increasing providers' awareness about the problem of youth violence and encouraging them to incorporate into healthcare visits violence prevention activities such as screening youth for exposure to violence and educating patients and caregivers on strategies for reducing the risk for violence.
The Pique Technique: Overcoming Mindlessness or Shifting Heuristics?

An unusual request can increase compliance in situations in which the typical response to the request is refusal. This procedure, called the pique technique, is said to be effective because the unusual request causes people to give mindful consideration to it. We tested this explanation in 2 studies. Passersby were asked for either a common amount of change or 37 cents. Participants who inquired about the unusual amount were given either a specific or an uninformative reason. The pique technique increased compliance, but only when participants stopped to ask about the request. These participants gave more money, regardless of the reason provided. The findings failed to support the notion that an unusual request leads to a mindful consideration of it. A direct-mail fundraiser lists several suggested amounts for donations, including one for $22. A traffic sign directs drivers to slow their vehicles to 19 mph. And a stationery store distributes coupons that give customers 23% off the regular price of any item. Intended or not, each of these real-life examples appears to be taking advantage of a compliance procedure known as the pique technique (Santos, Leve, & Pratkanis, 1994). The technique is designed to increase compliance in situations in which people typically pay little attention to the request or routinely reject it. Practitioners of the tactic present individuals with an unexpected request, such as asking for an unusual amount of money. If successful, the procedure leads to higher rates of compliance than a condition in which the request is presented in a predictable and uninteresting manner. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the pique technique, Santos et al. (1994) had undergraduates act as panhandlers on the Santa Cruz, California, wharf. The location was selected because wharf visitors typically ignore the panhandlers who congregate there. The experimenters asked passersby for money, using either a traditional request (“a quarter” or “any change”) or an unusual request (“17 cents” or “37 cents”). A higher percentage of passersby gave money when presented with the unusual request than when hearing the
Response of Finite Cracks in Orthotropic Materials due to Concentrated Impact Shear Loads

The elastodynamic response of an infinite orthotropic material with a finite crack under concentrated in-plane shear loads is examined. A solution for the stress intensity factor history around the crack tips is found. Laplace and Fourier transforms are employed to solve the equations of motion leading to a Fredholm integral equation on the Laplace transform domain. The dynamic stress intensity factor history can be computed by numerical laplace transform inversion of the solution of the Fredholm equation. Numerical values of the dynamic stress intensity factor history for several example materials are obtained. The results differ from mode I in that there is heavy dependence upon the material constants. This solution can be used as a Green's function to solve dynamic problems involving finite cracks and in-plane shear loading.
Self-Appraisal of Illness Questionnaire (SAIQ): relationship to researcher-rated insight and neuropsychological function in schizophrenia ☆

The Self-Appraisal of Illness Questionnaire (SAIQ) is a self-report instrument designed to assess attitudes toward mental illness among persons receiving psychiatric treatment. This instrument was developed for use in community settings, adapted closely from the Patient's Experience of Hospitalization questionnaire. In order to examine the validity of the SAIQ, a factor analysis was first conducted on the items of this instrument in a sample of 59 outpatients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective illness. Three factors emerged: Need for Treatment, Worry, and Presence/Outcome of Illness. Next, to examine the concurrent validity of these three SAIQ subscales, they were correlated with researcher rated insight scales and neuropsychological tests. Results indicated that the Need for Treatment and Presence/Outcome subscales were significantly correlated with both researcher-rated insight scales and with neuropsychological tests of executive functioning. The Worry subscale was not associated with either researcher-rated insight scales or neuropsychological tests. It was concluded that the Need for Treatment and Presence/Outcome subscales may be used in combination as a brief screening instrument for clients with schizophrenia receiving outpatient psychiatric treatment who may be at risk for treatment non-compliance due to a lack of insight into illness.
Inconsistent use of host plants by the Alaskan swallowtail butterfly: adult preference experiments suggest labile oviposition strategy

The Alaskan swallowtail butterfly ( Papilio machaon aliaska ) uses three unrelated plant species as hosts: Cnidium cnidiifolium (Apiaceae), Artemisia arctica (Asteraceae), and Petasites frigidus (Asteraceae). The research presented here investigated whether there are any consistent patterns in host choice by P. m. aliaska females. 2. The first two experiments were designed to test if P. m. aliaska host preference is constant or if it changes from day to day. If host preference is labile, the experiments were designed to also test whether a female's diet breadth narrows or expands over time. 3. The third experiment tested the host preferences of female offspring from several wild-caught P. m. aliaska females. If P. m. aliaska individuals are specialised in their host use, then all of the offspring from a single female would likely prefer the same host-plant species. This experiment was also designed to test the Hopkins' host selection principle; does the food plant on which a female is reared as a larva influence her future choices when she is searching for host plants for her own offspring? 4. The results from all of these experiments indicate that P. m. aliaska females vary greatly in their oviposition behaviour and in their preferences for the three host plants. Most populations appear to consist of generalists with labile oviposition behaviour. There is no evidence to support the Hopkins' host selection principle. 5. It is suggested that the generalised selection of host plants by P. m. aliaska females may be a 'bet-hedging' strategy and that this strategy may maximise reproductive fitness in an unpredictable environment.
Anatomical reconstruction for chronic lateral ankle instability in the high-demand athlete: functional outcomes after the modified Broström repair using suture anchors

Background: Modification of the Brostrom repair with suture anchors has been used to address chronic lateral ankle instability. However, there are few studies in the literature reporting the functional outcomes after this particular procedure in the high-demand athlete. Hypothesis: Anatomical reconstruction of the lateral ankle ligaments for chronic instability will return the high-demand athlete functionally to his or her previous level of activity. Study Design: Case series; Level of evidence, 4. Methods: Sixty-two patients who had grade III ankle sprain that failed at least a 6-month course of supervised conservative management with a preinjury Tegner score of ≥6 underwent a variant of the Gould-modified Brostrom procedure with suture anchors for lateral ankle instability. Each patient was given the Tegner and Karlsson questionnaire at the 6-month, 1-year, and 2-year time points. Range of motion of the operative ankle was also assessed. The mean age was 19.6 years (range, 16-26 years), and 10 patients were lost to follow-up. Results: The mean follow-up was 29 months (minimum, 24 months) in the remaining 52 patients (84%). Mean Tegner scores at the 1- and 2-year time points were 8.2 (range, 5-9) and 8.6 (range, 5-9), respectively. The mean Karlsson scores were 92 ± 5.2 and 95 ± 3.1 at the 1- and 2-year time points, respectively. Range of motion was equal to the contralateral ankle in all but 3 patients at the 2-year follow up. A 6% major complication rate included 3 reruptures. Conclusion: Anatomical ligament reconstruction for chronic lateral ankle instability using a variant of the Gould-modified Brostrom procedure with suture anchors was effective in returning high-demand athletes to their preinjury functional level.
Burial cementation in the Swan Hills Formation (Devonian), Rosevear Field, Alberta, Canada

ABSTRACT Saddle dolomite, anhydrite and coarsely crystalline, late mosaic calcite cements in the Devonian Swan Hills Formation at the Rosevear Field in Alberta, Canada are interpreted from petrographic and geochemical evidence as the products of burial diagenesis. These inferred burial cements are commonly found as a partial to complete filling of moldic and vuggy porosity in massive replacement dolostones. Fluid inclusions (Th = 125-159°C; Tm = -18 to -22°C), 87Sr/86Sr ratios (0.7101-0.7115), enrichment in Ba and Zn, and light 18O values (- 6 to - 11.2, PDB) suggest that saddle dolomite precipitated from hot, radiogenic brine with salinities six times greater than seawater. Ions for saddle dolomite precipitation may have been sourced from off-reef shales, the Precambrian basement, Middle Devonian halite, Mesozoic clastics and Swan Hills replacement dolomite undergoing pressure solution. In the presence of a "normal" paleogeothermal gradient (30°C/km), saddle dolomite would have formed in the Late Cretaceous-Paleocene, at depths of 3-5 km. This time corresponds to the emplacement of gas at the Rosevear Field. Dolomite-hosted anhydrite cement with nonradiogenic 87Sr/86Sr (0.7083) and low 34S compositions (15 to 23 CDT) has been quantitatively modeled using a two-component mixing equation to constrain fluid and ion sources. The results indicate that ions for cementation were derived from fluids that passed through and dissolved Middle Devonian anhydrite. This produced a Sr-rich brine with nonradiogenic 87Sr86Sr and low 34S. These fluids mixed with radiogenic formation water already in the reservoir to precipitate anhydrite cement with the observed isotopic composition Fluid inclusions (Th = 90 to 170°C; Tm = -6 to -17°C) and elevated 87Sr/86Sr compositions (0.7105-0.7173) in coarsely crystalline, late mosaic calcite support precipitation during the hydrological transformation of the Western Canada Basin into a topographically-controlled flow regime. The reduced precipitation temperatures of some fluid inclusions in late mosaic calcite compared to saddle dolomite may be attributed to the decrease in western basin paleogeothermal gradients following the Laramide Orogeny. The presence of calcitized anhydrite, coarsely crystalline calcite with light 13C values (-5.4 to -13.2 PDB), S-enriched pyrite, and 8% H2S in reservoir gases provide evidence for thermochemical sulfate reduction during burial diagenesis at Rosevear.
A Power Index for Individuals and Coalitions

“Power is a major explanatory concept in the study of social choice. It is used in studies of relations among nations, of community decision making, of business behavior, and of small-group discussion. Partly because it conveys simultaneously overtones of the cynicism of Realpolitik, the glories of classical mechanics, the realism of elite sociology, and the comforts of anthropocentric theology, power provides a prime focus for disputation and exhortation in several social sciences.” (March [26, p.39].) A general exposition of the notion of power and of attempts to study and explain politics by analyzing power relationships is given by Dahl [11].
Is glycemic variability important to assessing antidiabetes therapies

Traditionally, statistical estimation of glycemic variability includes computing standard deviation of glucose readings or related statistics (eg, M value, mean amplitude of glucose excursions, and so forth). We advocate an alternative approach using risk measures of variability, which have substantial clinical and numerical advantages. In addition, continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) data have clinically important inherent temporal structure that should be taken into consideration. Thus, temporal variability methods are discussed for the analysis and interpretation of CGM output.
Robust and In-Situ Self-Testing Technique for Monitoring Device Aging Effects in Pipeline Circuits

Runtime monitoring of aging effects in pipeline circuits is the key to dynamic reliability management techniques which can maximize the performance and energy-efficiency under a reliability envelope without imposing worst-case margin. The existing monitoring techniques are, however, severely limited: for sensor-based techniques, monitoring accuracy is significantly compromised due to the mismatches in aging conditions between sensors and the target circuits, as well as random variation of aging effects; for in-situ techniques, measurement results are sensitive to environmental variations during test phases, also severely reducing monitoring accuracy. We propose a new technique that enables accurate in-situ aging monitoring even under large environmental variations by (i) scaling the supply voltage for temperature-insensitive delay and (ii) reconfiguring target paths into ring oscillators, whose oscillation periods are measured and compared to pre-aging measurement to estimate aging-induced delay degradations. With additional accuracy-improving strategies, the technique achieves highly-accurate monitoring with an error of 15.5% across the temperature variations in self-test phases from 0°C to 80°C, exhibiting >30× improvement in accuracy as compared to the conventional technique operating at nominal supply voltage.
Texture analysis with variational hidden Markov trees

A variational Bayes formulation of the hidden Markov tree (HMT) model is proposed for texture analysis, utilizing a multilevel wavelet decomposition of imagery. The variational method yields an approximation to the full posterior of the HMT parameters. Texture classification is based on the posterior predictive distribution or marginalized evidence, with example results presented.
An Analysis of Attendance at Major League Baseball Spring Training Games

This article examines the determinants of game-day attendance during Major League Baseball’s 2002 spring training season in Florida. The model of game-day attendance includes location, quality of game, and time and weather variables. A censored Tobit estimation procedure is used to estimate the model. Results indicate that the quality of the game, average ticket price, and several location-specific factors affect attendance. Specifically, results suggest that changes in income have no effect on attendance while increases in ticket prices cause reductions in attendance. Furthermore, estimates of the price elasticity of demand for Major League Baseball during the spring training season are consistent with unitary elasticity. We also find that a number of factors unique to spring training, such as a nonresident fan base and split squads of players, significantly affect game-day attendance.
Advanced SCAMP's demodulator design for performing envelope recovery from hardlimited samples

A digital demodulator is described for use in envelope detection in Advanced SCAMP, a prototype portable EHF satellite communications terminal. A simple hardware implementation is made possible by processing one-bit hardlimited samples of the received signal and by carefully choosing the sample period and the frequency of the reference oscillator. A nonlinear transformation was performed on the I and Q accumulations to reduce the output variation due to input phase angle. Performance data for the Advanced SCAMP implementation showed that using the proposed transformation extended the linear operating region by approximately 8 dB, resulting in a well-behaved envelope discriminant up to 75 dB-Hz. >
Comparative metabolism of o‐toluidine by the abalone (Haliotis rufescens) and flatfish (Platichthys stellatus)

Abalone and flatfish excreted 2-nitrosotoluene and N-acetyl-o-toluidine, respectively, as the only biotransformation products of o-toluidine. The elimination of o-toluidine over a 4-h period was high for both species (greater than 80%), but the total extent of metabolism was low (less than 2%). A Sprague-Dawley rat was used to compare the metabolic pathways typically found in mammals with those found in the marine organisms. Metabolism of o-toluidine by the rat was extensive (greater than 95%), and ring-hydroxylated conjugates were rapidly eliminated. The metabolic capabilities of terrestrial vertebrates are more extensive than those found in aquatic organisms and may reflect the greater need for water conservation in terrestrial species. Aquatic organisms such as molluscs may not be at a disadvantage, however, because many such compounds are likely to be eliminated by passive diffusion.
BUSINESS STRATEGY AND PERFORMANCE IN GHANA: AN EXPLORATORY ASSESSMENT

There is a death of academic work investigating the effectiveness of competitive strategies in retail organizations in emerging nations, particularly within sub-Saharan Africa. This study investiga...
Joint channel, doppler shift and time-delay estimation for spread-spectrum communications

A'digital spread-spectrum receiver design is presented for communication over multipath channels with aevere doppler shifts. The receiver considered uses a digital coherent RAKE combiner, coupled with an extended Kalman filter (EKF) based estimator for channel parameters and pseudo-noise .(PN) code delay. Receiver performance is evaluated by computing average bit-error rate (BER) "ersus iterations of the EKF joint estimator, using both fixed and time-varying channels. It is shown that the BER obtained using the EKF joint estimator closely tracks the op timum BER obtained when the channel, delay and doppler parameters are known exactly.
Photorefractive properties of Cr/Mo co-doped SBN:60

The effect on the photorefractive and optical properties by varying Cr and Mo dopant concentrations equally in co-doped SBN:60 is investigated. We report the effect on the absorption, two-beam coupling, speed of response, and diffraction efficiency. From these measurements the role of the donor and acceptor density is determined.
Effect of stress acting upon the solid network in the two-phase zone during solidification

Having taken the solid network movement in the two-phase zone into consideration, this paper develops the original local solute redistribution equation. The additional term div V′s in the new equation is dependent on the history of an effective stress σ′ acting upon the solid network. The solidifying isotherm advances quickly and there is not enough time to make the solid network compressible at large cooling rates. With decreasing cooling rate, movement of the isotherm is gradually slowed and there is enough time to make the network deformed. It is suggested that the compressibility due to the normal stress may produce “channel space” filled by unstable flow under the conditions of small cooling rate during solidification. The calculated results have demonstrated that the back-flow toward the centerline increases when the stress is considered.
Immunochemical and Biological Properties of the Outer Membrane-Associated Lipopolysaccharide and Protein of Rochalimaea quintana

The outer membrane complex of Rochalimaea quintana was isolated by use of ethylene-eiaminetetraacetate and was compared biochemically and biologically both with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) isolated by phenol-water extraction of whole organisms and with lipids isolated by chloroform-methanol extractions of the phenol-water insoluble residues. The outer membrane consisted of protein and LPS components, as distinguished by precipitin tests with sera from patients with trench fever or tests with hyperimmune animal sera. The outer membrane protein component, but not LPS, also reacted with sera from infections with Rickettsia tsutsugamushi. The LPS contained 2-keto-3-deoxy-octonate and heptose. The outer membrane and phenol-extracted LPS were reactive in the chick embryo lethality test, limulus assay, and complement activation. Outer-membrane activity was confined to the LPS component. The lipid extracts were reactive in chick embryo lethality and limulus assays, but did not activate complement.
Understanding Health Literacy and its Impact on Delivering Care to Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Health literacy (HL) is the extent to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information that is needed to make appropriate health decisions. As adults with inflammatory bowel disease engage in complex health decisions throughout their lives, attention is needed regarding the influence of HL on the lives of people with inflammatory bowel disease. About one-third of adults in the United States have limited HL. Limited HL is a potentially modifiable risk factor that has been associated with barriers to patient-provider communication and worse health outcomes for people with a range of chronic diseases. Gastroenterologists must recognize the role of HL in their practice. Limited HL can affect a patient's ability to understand the purpose of a screening test for colorectal cancer, understand the concept of an asymptomatic yet chronic disease, ask questions in an office visit and engage in shared decision making. Gastroenterologists must approach each patient as potentially having limited HL and use clear communication strategies in all encounters. Currently, there is a lack of training, education, and support for health care providers to meet the needs of patients with limited HL. More research is needed in inflammatory bowel disease to understand the impact of limited health literacy on health outcomes in this population and develop effective systems-based interventions to reduce the health literacy burden on patients.
Posterior Compartment Repair

Posterior compartment prolapse is a herniation of the posterior vaginal wall or anterior rectal wall into the lumen of the vagina. These defects may result from pudendal nerve damage or disruption of connective tissue and muscular attachments [1]. Many factors, including childbirth, aging, estrogen withdrawal, chronic abdominal straining, and heavy labor, weaken the pelvic floor and its associated support structures. Childbirth can cause stretching of the prerectal and pararectal fasciae with detachment of the prerectal fascia from the perineal body, allowing rectocele formation. In addition, childbirth damages and weakens the levator musculature and its fascia, attenuating the decussating prerectal levator fibers and the attachment of the levator ani to the central tendon of the perineum. The result is a convex sagging of the levator plate with a loss of the normal horizontal vaginal axis. The vagina becomes rotated downward and posteriorly, no longer providing horizontal support. These anatomic changes allow downward herniation of the pelvic organs along this new vaginal axis. There are also genetic factors that predispose women to this condition.
Systemic and Topical Use of Green Tea Polyphenols for Healthy Skin

Tea, a popular beverage with its origins in southeast Asia, generally refers to an infusion derived from processed leaves, leaf buds, and internodes of the plant Camellia sinensis. There are four types of C. sinensis teas commonly available on the market – black, oolong, green, and white – which differ in their modes of processing, and in the case of white tea, maturity. (“Red tea” generally refers to an infusion derived from the South African Rooibos plant.) Green tea is produced from fresh leaves of the plant; unlike the black and oolong varieties, green tea is derived from fresh C. sinensis leaves that are steamed and dried at high temperatures before any oxidation and polymerization of polyphenolic compounds has taken place.
The Role of Literary Mentors in Writing Development: How African American Women's Literature Supported the Writings of Adolescent Girls.

Coupling Royster's (2000) conceptual framework of zamani with Rosenblatt's (1978) reader response theory, the researcher explored the ways African American women's writings supported, nurtured, and...
Dynamic Mechanical Properties of Cross-Linked Rubbers. II. Effects of Crosslink Spacing and Initial Molecular Weight in Polybutadiene

Abstract The complex shear compliances of eight samples of polybutadiene crosslinked by cumyl peroxide and four samples crosslinked by sulfur have been measured over a frequency range from 0.2 to 2 cps at temperatures from − 6 to 45° C by a torsion pendulum. On four of the samples, measurements were extended by the Fitzgerald transducer from 45 to 600 cps at temperatures from − 71 to 55°. The vulcanizates had been prepared from polymers of two different molecular weights (180,000 and 510,000) with sharp molecular weight distribution; the physical crosslink density ranged from 0.57 to 2.68×10−4 mole/cm3, and the chemical crosslink density calculated following Kraus ranged from 0.22 to 1.49×10−4 mole/cm3. The mechanical data were all reduced to T0=298° K by shift factors calculated from the equation log aT=−3.64(T−T0)/(186.5+T−T0). In the transition zone of frequencies, the viscoelastic functions of the cumyl peroxide vulcanizates were closely similar, except for a shift toward lower frequencies with increa...
Music Teachers' Lateral Knowledge

Music teachers' curricular knowledge has been studied in disciplinary contexts but not in relation to the ways teachers utilize knowledge of disciplines outside of their primary specializations to form valid interdisciplinary connections (lateral knowledge), or how this knowledge is constructed in contexts of practice. The purpose of this study was to examine the dimensions of music teachers' lateral knowledge and to describe how teachers draw on this knowledge to plan interdisciplinary experiences for students. Participants in the study were five urban elementary and middle school music teachers, ranging in experience from 2 through 36 years, involved in a summer professional development institute. Semi-structured interviews and artifact elicitation were used to probe teachers' curricular practices, beliefs about the validity of interdisciplinary curriculum, and lateral knowledge of subjects outside of music. Portraits of two music teachers' lateral knowledge are provided, followed by a discussion of themes drawn from interviews with all five participants.
Extraction and HPLC Analysis of the Squalene in Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch.

Objective To determine squalene in Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch by HPLC.MethodsThe oil in root and seed of Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch.was extracted by Soxhlets extractor with petrolether,squalene was separated by TLC and HPLC.ResultsThe content of squalene in Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch.was low(in olive and palm about 1.16%).HPLC established in this thesis was suitable to analyze squalene,the HPLC conditions were as follows: column: Waters Corporation C18 column;mobile phase,V(acetonitrile)∶V(methanol)=60∶40;detection wavelength,210nm;flow rate,2ml/min;temperature,30℃.ConclusionThe determination method of aqualene in Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fish was established.
Temperature Dependence of Silicon Properties

To understand the physics of operation of silicon power devices in a cryogenic environment, it is first important to completely comprehend the variation of certain key silicon properties with temperature. In silicon, a reduction in temperature has an affect on the availability of free carriers, forbidden bandgap, intrinsic carrier concentration, carrier mobilities, carrier lifetimes and impact ionization coefficients. This chapter summarizes the currently accepted models of temperature dependence of these silicon properties.
Mixed Rasch Models for Measurement in Cognitive Psychology

To apply standard unidimensional IRT models to ability measurement, it must be assumed that individuals at the same level of performance are in fact comparable. That is, individuals with the same estimate on the latent trait are interchangeable and thus can have identical interpretations given to their scores. Such interpretations, of course, depend on the construct validity of the trait measure, which includes both the construct representation and nomothetic span aspects (Embretson, 1983). The construct representation aspect of validity involves the meaning of the construct, in terms of the processes, strategies, and knowledge that are directly involved in performance. Construct representation is an aspect of internal validity. The nomothetic span aspect concerns the significance of the trait, which includes the relationship of trait scores to other measures, demographics and criteria. Nomothetic span is primarily the external validity of the measure.
First Application of 7-T Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Endoscopic Endonasal Surgery of Skull Base Tumors

Background Successful endoscopic endonasal surgery for the resection of skull base tumors is reliant on preoperative imaging to delineate pathology from the surrounding anatomy. The increased signal-to-noise ratio afforded by 7-T MRI can be used to increase spatial and contrast resolution, which may lend itself to improved imaging of the skull base. In this study, we apply a 7-T imaging protocol to patients with skull base tumors and compare the images with clinical standard of care. Methods Images were acquired at 7 T on 11 patients with skull base lesions. Two neuroradiologists evaluated clinical 1.5-, 3-, and 7-T scans for detection of intracavernous cranial nerves and internal carotid artery (ICA) branches. Detection rates were compared. Images were used for surgical planning and uploaded to a neuronavigation platform and used to guide surgery. Results Image analysis yielded improved detection rates of cranial nerves and ICA branches at 7 T. The 7-T images were successfully incorporated into preoperative planning and intraoperative neuronavigation. Conclusions Our study represents the first application of 7-T MRI to the full neurosurgical workflow for endoscopic endonasal surgery. We detected higher rates of cranial nerves and ICA branches at 7-T MRI compared with 3- and 1.5-T MRI, and found that integration of 7 T into surgical planning and guidance was feasible. These results suggest a potential for 7-T MRI to reduce surgical complications. Future studies comparing standardized 7-, 3-, and 1.5-T MRI protocols in a larger number of patients are warranted to determine the relative benefit of 7-T MRI for endonasal endoscopic surgical efficacy.
Changes in Arrest Rate as a Function of Probation and Participant Criminal History Risk: Does Probation Work Best With Lower Risk Probationers?:

The purpose of this study was to determine whether criminal history risk moderates the effect of probation on future reoffending. A sample of 327 participants from the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY97) who had been on probation were compared with 327 propensity score matched members of the NLSY97 who had been arrested but not placed on probation. Probation and arrest data analyzed between 1999 and 2008 failed to support the presence of an overall effect for probation. When the sample was divided into higher criminal history risk (one or more prior arrests) and lower criminal history risk (no prior arrests), however, probation was found to reduce recidivism in the lower criminal history risk group but not in the higher criminal history risk group. Accordingly, probation appeared to have a small but significant ameliorative effect on future offending in lower criminal history risk offenders.
The Role of Emotional Exhaustion, Vigor, and NA in the Abusive Supervision – Outcome Relationship

Drawing on trait activation theory, we examined the processes linking perceived abusive supervision to subordinate self-report job performance and subordinate job satisfaction by focusing on the me...
Calibration of hurricane imaging radiometer C-band receivers

The laboratory calibration of airborne Hurricane Imaging Radiometer's C-Band multi-frequency receivers is described here. The method used to obtain the values of receiver front-end loss and injected noise diode temperature is presented along with the expected RMS uncertainty in the final calibration. Internal Warm load was excluded from the calibration due to an apparent anomaly.
WSO: Developer-Oriented Transactional Orchestration of Web-Services

WSO (Web-Services Orchestration) addresses a broad set of failure scenarios that become relevant when web-service implementations encapsulate multiple web-service calls to other systems. Network timeouts introduce uncertainty about the success or failure of a given API call: in certain scenarios, simply retrying the operation may make the situation worse. In order to guarantee pseudo-atomicity of a web-service call sequence, the failure of one API call implies that other, successfully completed, API calls may have to compensated for before retrying the original set of web-service calls. Even if no failure occurs, orchestration of a web-service to deal with edge-cases (such as expiration of credentials) can be difficult to implement correctly. In this paper we describe an approach to solving such scenarios which we have implemented in our WSO project. To facilitate use of WSO, the programming model is designed to wrap existing code rather than requiring rewriting code. We show the benefits of WSO in the context of a motivating scenario and also present a before/after comparison.
A Developmental Framework for Psychological Assessment of Pediatric Conditions

In the assessment of the psychological components of a pediatric condition, both informal and standardized procedures can be useful in understanding the impact of the condition on the child and the family. Both assessment processes imply an in-depth understanding of development and developmental issues as they relate to the child and the family. This chapter focuses on developmental considerations, but development itself must be viewed in the context of the family, environment, and culture. The importance of an ecologic approach is stressed in chapters that follow.
Pupil-linked arousal modulates behavior in rats performing a whisker deflection direction discrimination task.

In this study, we for the first time demonstrated that head-fixed rats were able to discriminate different directions of whisker movement. Interestingly, we found that the pupil dilated more when d...
Signal Separation Motivated by Human Auditory Perception: Applications to Automatic Speech Recognition

It is believed that computational auditory approaches are potentially extremely useful in ameliorating some of the most difficult speech recognition problems, specifically the recognition of speech presented at low SNRs, speech masked by other speech, speech masked by music, and speech in highly reverberant environments. The solution to these problems using CASA techniques is likely to depend on the ability to develop several key elements of signal processing, including the reliable detection of fundamental frequency for isolated speech and for multiple simultaneously-presented speech sounds, the reliable detection of modulations of amplitude and frequency in very narrowband channels, and the development of across-frequency correlation approaches that can identify frequency bands with coherent microactivity as they evolve over time. I am extremely optimistic that effective solutions for these problems are within reach in the near future.
Source Term Characterization for the Maxey Flats Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Site

The results of source term characterization studies for the Maxey Flats low-level radioactive waste disposal site show that because of the long residence time of water accumulations in the trenches...
The Spark of Life and the Unification of Intelligence, Health, and Aging:

General intelligence (g) represents the factors that influence performance across all academic and cognitive domains. The search for these factors has been ongoing for more than a century and has f...
Prolonged survival after craniectomy with skull reconstruction and adjuvant definitive radiation therapy in three dogs with multilobular osteochondrosarcoma

Multilobular osteochondrosarcoma is an uncommon canine tumor but presents a treatment challenge when arising on the skull. This retrospective case series study aimed to describe outcome of a multimodality treatment approach involving aggressive surgical resection and adjuvant definitive radiation therapy in a group of dogs with multilobular osteochondrosarcoma of the calvarium. Clinical, imaging, treatment, and outcome data were collected from retrospective review of medical records. Three dogs met inclusion criteria. The presenting clinical complaint was the presence of a mass effect of the skull in all three dogs and concurrent neurologic abnormalities in one dog. Advanced imaging revealed aggressive lytic and proliferative tumors arising from the calvarium in all three dogs. All dogs were treated surgically with a modified craniectomy, repaired with a titanium mesh-polymethyl methacrylate bone cement implant or a low prolife titanium mesh plate and followed by adjuvant definitive radiation therapy with 2.5 Gy per fraction for 22 daily fractions. There were no major immediate surgical complications and radiation was well tolerated overall. Neurologic improvement was seen in the patient that presented with neurologic disease. Survival times from surgery were 387, 422, and 730 days and from the time of radiation were 358, 397, and 677 days. Findings in this sample of three dogs supported the use of aggressive therapy with a combination of surgical craniectomy and cranioplasty utilizing a titanium mesh implant and high dose definitive radiation therapy for local control and prolonged survival times in dogs with multilobular osteochondrosarcoma of the skull.
The Hemostatic Bandage: Suture-Less Enucleation Partial Nephrectomy

Abstract Introduction: Renorrhaphy at the time of robot-assisted laparoscopic enucleation partial nephrectomy is technically challenging.1–3 Our objective is to describe a novel technique with sutu...
The Effect of Psychosocial Factors on Outcomes in Patients With Rotator Cuff Tears: A Systematic Review.

Purpose To determine whether psychosocial factors affect patient-reported outcomes in individuals with rotator cuff tears or after rotator cuff repair. Methods A systematic review was conducted using a computerized search of the PubMed and Web of Science electronic databases in adherence with the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses) guidelines. Articles were then evaluated based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale was used to assess study quality and risk of bias. Because of study heterogeneity and varied levels of evidence, meta-analysis was not possible. Results Of 980 identified articles, 15 met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. In those reported, the visual analog scale correlation with distress scales ranged from –0.476 to 0.334, depending on outcome, with a trend toward increased pain in patients with distress. The depression subscale of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale was negatively correlated with the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons score in 2 of 3 studies (–0.309 to 0.235). Six studies evaluated the presence of psychosocial factors and their correlation with patient-reported outcomes prior to surgery. These showed a significant correlation between rotator cuff pathology and psychological distress (i.e., depression or anxiety) as identified on standardized patient-reported outcome measures. Nine studies evaluated psychosocial factors either before and after surgery or only postoperatively. Of these 9 studies, 3 found no statistically significant differences in outcomes as related to psychosocial factors. In contrast, 6 of 9 reported an association between outcomes and psychosocial factors. Moreover, 2 of these 6 studies reported a direct relationship between patient expectations and outcomes, with 1 of these 2 studies finding that higher expectations improved baseline scores on the mental component summary of the Short Form 36 (r = 0.307). One study found significant differences in mental status in patients with rotator cuff tears based on age and sex. Conclusions This review found that most studies support that psychosocial factors do significantly influence the level of disability and pain experienced by patients preoperatively; however, 3 of 9 studies showed significant improvements in postoperative pain and function even with significant psychosocial confounders. These studies, however, do support that there is a direct relation between patient expectations and outcomes in rotator cuff surgery. Level of Evidence Level IV, systematic review of Level I through IV studies.
Linear Maps on Hilbert Spaces

A special tool called the adjoint helps provide insight into the behavior of linear maps on Hilbert spaces. This chapter begins with a study of the adjoint and its connection to the null space and range of a linear map.