cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Child-Mother Attachment of Six-Year-Olds and Social Competence at School

89 children and their mothers participated in a study examining the association between attachment and peer social competence. During the summer following kindergarten, quality of attachment was assessed from reunion episodes following a 1-hour separation. In the fall, measures of sociometric status, peer behavior nominations, and peer liking ratings were collected. Teachers completed liking ratings and ratings of behavior problems and competence. Consistent with longitudinal studies of infant attachment and peer relations, insecurely attached boys were less well liked by peers and teachers, were perceived as more aggressive by classmates, and were rated by teachers as less competent and as having more behavior problems than were their secure counterparts. No such associations emerged for girls. Possible explanations for unanticipated differences in the pattern of results for boys and girls are discussed.
Stability of a segmented supercritical driveline with non-constant velocity couplings subjected to misalignment and torque

Abstract With the trend toward high-speed, lightweight, supercritical drivelines, it is increasingly important to understand all instability phenomena associated with realistic driveline configurations. Furthermore, it is important to understand the interaction between different instability mechanisms. One well-known phenomenon that occurs with supercritical shafts is whirl instability due to internal (rotating-frame) shaft damping. Whirl instability occurs at shaft speeds above the first critical speed and is related to the internal/external-damping ratio. Another less explored instability phenomena is parametric instability caused by non-constant velocity flexible couplings, e.g., U-joint couplings or disk couplings, combined with driveline misalignment and load-torque. Previous research examined stability of various single U-joint/shaft systems without shaft internal damping. However, it is difficult to fully understand the stability of more realistic multi-U-joint/flexible shaft drivelines based on the single U-joint studies due to the more complicated shaft speed kinematics and misalignment configurations of multi-U-joint systems. In this paper, the non-dimensional, linear, periodically time-varying equations-of-motion for a segmented triple-U-joint driveline with shaft internal damping are derived. Torsional and lateral shaft flexibly and their effects on the shaft speed kinematics are included in the model. Numerical Floquet theory is used to explore the effects of internal/external damping ratio, misalignment, load-inertia and load-torque on the stability of the driveline operating at both sub and supercritical speeds. It is discovered that misalignment and load-torque have both stabilizing and destabilizing effects. On one-hand, misalignment and load-torque tend to stabilize internal damping-induced whirl, however, they cause instability at speeds near bending–bending and bending–torsion sum-type combination frequencies. Finally, it is shown that external damping is not always effective for stabilizing the misalignment and torque induced parametric instabilities.
Stochastic quantization study of the quantum-mechanical motional narrowing of molecular vibrational spectra.

The natural width of molecular vibrational spectra arises from anharmonic coupling with zero-point vibrations of other modes. The stochastic quantization of Nelson describes a quantum-mechanical state as a Markovian random process in which the position is a time-dependent random variable even in a pure stationary state. As a consequence, the zero-point fluctuation is shown to give rise to the quantum-mechanical motional narrowing of molecular vibrational spectra.
Simplifying the interaction between cognitive models and task environments with the JSON Network Interface

Process models of cognition, written in architectures such as ACT-R and EPIC, should be able to interact with the same software with which human subjects interact. By eliminating the need to simulate the experiment, this approach would simplify the modeler’s effort, while ensuring that all steps required of the human are also required by the model. In practice, the difficulties of allowing one software system to interact with another present a significant barrier to any modeler who is not also skilled at this type of programming. The barrier increases if the programming language used by the modeling software differs from that used by the experimental software. The JSON Network Interface simplifies this problem for ACT-R modelers, and potentially, modelers using other systems.
Design Calculations for A-C Generators

This paper presents simplified formulas and curves for rapid and accurate evaluation of steady-state and transient performance of a-c generators. The calculations provide for the determination of no-load, zero-power-factor and full-load field current, short-circuit ratio, leakage reactance, synchronous reactance, transient reactance, substransient reactance, transient open-circuit and short-circuit time constants, and d-c time constant. A simple formula is proposed for rough approximation of no-load core loss. These formulas and curves apply to very small machines with semi-enclosed slots, very short air gaps and high flux densities in the iron, as well as to the larger machines covered by previous papers on this subject.
Membrane Channel activity and Translocation of Tetanus and Botulinum Neurotoxins

This review centers on the structure and function of ionic channels formed by clostridial neurotoxins. Questions regarding their structure, the pathways for their formation, and their role in translocating the toxic moiety across an endocytotic membrane are discussed.
Transitional states of ribonucleic acid and morphogenesis in synchronous single generations of Blastocladiella emersonii

Abstract The biochemistry of morphogenesis in the water fungus, Blastocladiella emersonii , was studied in cultures in which from ten million to four hundred million plants were grown synchronously for a single generation. Thus, chemical changes per cell were established at different stages in ontogeny. The point of no return in morphological differentiation was associated with a biochemical differentiation of the internal pool of the cell's ribonucleic acid. The results are discussed in terms of previous studies on the induced synthesis of enzymes presumed to play a roll in morphogenesis in Blastocladiella .
A morphological and histochemical evaluation of sexual dimorphism in androgen-insensitive pseudohermaphroditic mice.

Examination of the morphology in the submandibular salivary gland, adrenal gland and renal cortex of androgen-insensitive, tfm/ Y mutant mice has revealed predominantly female characteristics. A sexual dimorphism in alkaline-phosphatase (AP) activity was seen in the submandibular salivary gland of this strain of mice; the AP activity in the mutants was similar to females. There was no dimorphism in renal AP activity.
Sensitivity of serum apolipoprotein A-IV levels to changes in dietary fat content

Abstract The distinctive biological properties of apolipoprotein A-IV suggest that its concentration in serum should be specifically regulated by dietary triglyceride. To test this hypothesis, serum lipids, lipoprotein cholesterol, and apolipoprotein levels were measured in 10 normolipidemic male subjects whose dietary fat intake was isocalorically modified over a range of 10%–50% of total calories. Serum apolipoprotein A-IV levels changed significantly from baseline in response to each dietary modification. Apolipoprotein A-IV levels decreased by 21% during the first week of the low-fat (10%) diet, increased to 12% over baseline during the first week of the moderate-fat (25%) diet, and increased further to 35% over baseline during the first week of the high-fat (50%) diet. Unexpectedly, during the second week of each dietary period, apolipoprotein A-IV levels demonstrated statistically significant trends back toward baseline, which were opposite in direction and proportional in magnitude to the changes during the first week. Nonetheless, serum apolipoprotein A-IV levels, but not apolipoprotein A-I or apolipoprotein B levels, were significantly and positively correlated with the percent of total daily caloric intake ingested as dietary fat. It was concluded that serum apolipoprotein A-IV levels are extremely sensitive to acute changes in dietary fat content and over the range of fat intake examined in this study are significantly correlated with the percent of total calories consumed as dietary triglyceride. Furthermore, the results also suggest that apolipoprotein A-IV may be subject to a rapidly acting autoregulatory mechanism.
Quantification of Liver Fat with Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Intracellular fat accumulation is common feature of liver disease. Intracellular fat (steatosis) is the histologic hallmark of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease but also may occur with alcohol abuse, viral hepatitis, HIV and genetic lipodystrophies, and chemotherapy. This article reviews emerging MR imaging techniques that attempt to quantify liver fat. The content provides an overview of fatty liver disease and diseases where fat is an important disease feature. Also discussed is the current use and limitation of nontargeted biopsy in diffuse liver disease and why quantitative noninvasive biomarkers of liver fat would be beneficial.
Optimal direction finding with partially calibrated arrays

This paper is concerned with the problem of optimal (maximum likelihood) direction of arrival (DOA) estimation in situations where the sensor array is calibrated over only a portion of the DOA space. Situations such as this often arise in airborne direction finding when skywave multipath is present. A parameterization is proposed for partially calibrated arrays (PCAs), and the identifiability of the model is discussed for both uncorrelated and correlated signals. It is shown how the signal and noise subspace fitting algorithms are generalized to handle PCAs, and a detection scheme is proposed for individually determining the number of signals arriving from calibrated and uncalibrated directions. The results of several simulation examples are included to validate the analysis.
Effective peering for multi-provider content delivery services

Peering allows service providers to handle traffic surges without over-provisioning, reduce the cost of dedicated infrastructure, and leverage the specialization and prices of partner providers. We develop a peering system for multi-provider content delivery based on a cost-optimized peer selection algorithm. We formulate a cost model for evaluating competing peering strategies, and use measurement data collected from globally distributed network probe stations, large-scale Web sites, and existing service provider infrastructures to empirically evaluate proposed peering strategies. Our analysis shows that our peer selection algorithm is significantly more efficient than greedy alternatives, in terms of minimizing service cost and respecting network delay and server capacity thresholds, over a broad range of real-world scenarios.
Lung cancer osteopontin isoforms exhibit angiogenic functional heterogeneity.

Objective Osteopontin is a multifunctional phosphoprotein with an important but poorly understood role in non–small cell lung cancer pathogenesis. We hypothesize that osteopontin isoforms ( OPNa , OPNb , and OPNc ) have divergent roles in non–small-cell lung cancer angiogenesis and divergent impact on vascular endothelial growth factor secretion. Methods We examined mRNA expression using reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction primers for 3 osteopontin isoforms in non–small-cell lung cancer and immortalized bronchial epithelial cell lines, and correlated expression with osteopontin secretion into media detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Angiogenic properties conferred by osteopontin isoforms were evaluated by transfecting cDNA plasmids specific to each isoform and controls into non–small-cell lung cancer cell lines, H153 and H358 (low endogenous osteopontin) and A549 and H460 (high endogenous osteopontin), analyzing conditioned media on a bovine capillary endothelial platform, and measuring vascular endothelial growth factor levels by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results OPNa mRNA expression correlated with osteopontin secretion in cell lines ( r = 0.912, P = .0006). OPNa overexpression significantly increased tubule length compared with controls, OPNb had a similar, but less pronounced effect, and OPNc significantly decreased tubule length compared with controls in each cell line. OPNa overexpression was associated with significant increases in vascular endothelial growth factor secretion, whereas OPNb had no effect and OPNc overexpression was associated with significant decreases in vascular endothelial growth factor compared with controls in each cell line. Conclusion We demonstrated divergent effects of osteopontin isoforms on non–small-cell lung cancer angiogenesis and vascular endothelial growth factor secretion. OPNa overexpression was associated with increased bovine capillary endothelial tubule length and vascular endothelial growth factor secretion, whereas OPNc was associated with decreases in both. These findings may lead to therapeutic strategies for selective isoform inhibition in non–small cell lung cancer.
A rare endobronchial neurilemmoma (Schwannoma).

Primary neurogenic tumors of the lung are rare. Often, their histologic behavior presents a treatment dilemma. We present a case of benign endobronchial neurilemmoma managed by means of YAG laser resection together with a brief discussion of the management options available for these tumors. (Chest 1989; 95:461)
The impact of timing in data aggregation for sensor networks

This paper evaluates the effect of timing in data aggregation algorithms. In-network aggregation achieves energy-efficient data propagation by processing data as it flows from information sources to sinks. Our goal is to show that the decision of when to "clock out" data as it is processed by nodes have significant performance impact in terms of data accuracy and freshness. Using the sensor network paradigm where all nodes produce information periodically, we compare three aggregation timing policies. Through extensive simulations we show that setting up the clock out timer based on a node's position in the aggregation tree results in a beneficial "cascading effect", yielding considerable energy efficiency, yet maintaining data accuracy and freshness.
The role of the protein tyrosine phosphatase CD45 in regulation of B lymphocyte activation.

The transmembrane protein tyrosine phosphatase CD45 is expressed throughout B cell development and differentiation, with the exception of terminally differentiated plasma cells on which its expression is down regulated. Numerous studies using CD45-deficient B cell lines and CD45-deficient mice have clearly demonstrated that CD45 plays an important role in modulating the signal that is transduced via the B cell antigen receptor by regulating the phosphorylation state of Src family kinases. Spatial and temporal controls enable CD45 to promote B cell antigen receptor signal transduction by constitutively maintaining Src family kinases in a partially active state, such that the B cell is able to effectively respond to an antigenic challenge. Moreover, CD45 is required for optimal activation of Ca2+-dependent and MAP kinase-dependent signal transduction pathways in the B cell. The net result is that CD45 affects the B cell response by controlling the relative threshold of sensitivity to a given antigenic stimu...
Implementation of Artificial Neural Network for Real Time Applications Using Field Programmable Analog Arrays

This paper presents a method of realizing artificial neural networks (ANNs) hardware implementation using field programmable analog arrays (FPAAs). A simplified realization for neurons with piecewise linear activation functions is used to reduce the complexity of the neural network architecture. A feedforward neural network is implemented using multi-chip FPAAs. Anadigm's commercially available AN221E04 FPAA chips are adopted as the platform for simulation and experiments. The FPAA based ANN classifies two groups of data with zero error at a speed of 6.0 million connections per second (MCPS). The result is more than 1400 times faster than software implementation. The ANN architecture is also expandable to perform more complicated tasks by incorporating more FPAA chips into the implementation. The programmability of the FPAA makes rapid prototyping possible.
Simultaneous amplification and detection of specific hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus genomic sequences in serum samples

A sensitive and specific two-stage polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique was developed for the simultaneous amplification and detection of specific genomic sequences of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) in serum samples. Initially, HCV-RNA was reverse transcribed to cDNA. This cDNA and DNA from HBV were then co-amplified using primer pairs derived from conserved regions of HBV and HCV nucleotide sequences. The specificity of PCR products was confirmed by liquid hybridization analysis using 32P end-labeled oligomer probes specific for the target HBV and HCV nucleotide sequences. Independent human serum samples, positive and negative by PCR for both HBV-DNA and HCV-RNA, were used as controls. We tested sera from nine donors, of which seven were reactive for HBsAg, anti-HBc, and anti-HCV (multiantigen test), one of whom was reactive for anti-HCV and anti-HBc, and one of whom was reactive for HBsAg and anti-HBc. The assay detected HBV- and HCV-specific genomic sequences in eight of eight sera reactive for both HBV and HCV serological markers and also in the serum that was reactive for HBV markers only.
Neurobiological Consequences of Long-Term Estrogen Therapy

Postmenopausal women demonstrate an increased incidence of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Epidemiological evidence suggests that estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) may reduce the risk or delay the onset of AD, yet recent clinical trials found no cognitive benefits of ERT in women with mild to moderate AD. This review suggests that the timing of estrogen administration may explain these conflicting results. Chronic administration has neurobiological consequences that can affect neural and immune function, but a therapy designed to mimic the natural cycle of fluctuating hormones may more effectively slow the progression of AD in postmenopausal women.
Equilibrium unfolding of the retinoid X receptor ligand binding domain and characterization of an unfolding intermediate

Abstract The retinoid X receptor (RXR) is a ligand-activated transcription factor that plays an important role in growth and development and the maintenance of cellular homeostasis. A thermodynamic ultraviolet circular dichroism, tryptophan fluorescence and ligand binding activity with guanidine as a chemical denaturant are consistent with a two step mechanism. The dimeric LBD equilibrates with a monomeric intermediate (Δ G 0 (H 2 O) equal to 8.3 kcal/mol) that is in equilibrium with the unfolded state (Δ G 0 (H 2 O) equal to 2.8 kcal/mol). The intermediate was characterized by analytical ultracentrifugation, spectroscopy, and collisional fluorescence quenching, which imply that the monomeric intermediate maintains a high degree, but not all, of native secondary structure. Although intrinsic fluorescence from native and intermediate suggests little change in tryptophan environments, fluorescence intensities from fluorescein reporter groups differ significantly between the two structures. Analysis of the collisional quenching results imply that the intermediate is characterized by tryptophans with increased accessibility to small solutes and less overall compactness than the native protein.
A 2.05 GVertices/s 151 mW Lighting Accelerator for 3D Graphics Vertex and Pixel Shading in 32 nm CMOS

Advanced lighting computation is the key ingredient for rendering realistic images in high-throughput 3D graphics pipelines. It is the most performance and power-critical operation in programmable vertex and pixel shaders due to the large number of complex floating-point (FP) multiplications and exponentiations [1]. Performance and energy-efficiency of geometry rendering can be significantly improved by hardware acceleration of lighting computations, which is leveraged by vertex/pixel shader programs residing in the memory of a programmable 3D graphics engine [2] (Fig. 10.4.1). A single-cycle throughput lighting accelerator targeted for on-die acceleration of 3D graphics vertex and pixel shading in high-performance processors and mobile SoCs is fabricated in 32nm high-k metal-gate CMOS [3] (Fig. 10.4.1). Ambient, diffuse, and specular components of the Phong Illumination (PI) equation [4] are computed in parallel in the log domain with 4-cycle latency and 560mV-to-1.2V operation. A high-accuracy 5-segment piecewise linear (PWL) approximation-based log circuit (FPWL-L) with low Hamming weight coefficients, a 32×32b signed truncated specular multiplier, and a high-precision 4-segment PWL approximation-based anti-log circuit (FPWL-AL) enable accurate fixed-point log-domain computation of PI lighting. Five FP multiplications and one FP exponentiation are transformed to five fixed-point additions and one fixed-point multiplication, respectively, resulting in single-cycle lighting throughput of 2.05GVertices/s (measured at 1.05V, 25°C) in a compact area of 0.064mm2 (Fig. 10.4.7) while achieving: (i) 47% reduction in critical path logic stages, (ii) 0.56% mean vertex lighting error compared to a single-precision FP computation, (iii) 354μW active leakage power measured at 1.05V, 25°C, (iv) scalable performance up to 2.22GHz, 232mW measured at 1.2V, and (v) peak energy efficiency of 56GVertices/s/W, measured at 560mV, 25°C.
Follow the Money: What Really Drives Technology Innovation in Construction

Technology enthusiasts, academics, and software companies remain concerned about the slow pace of innovation in the construction industry. Tools are widely available that seem to provide eminently sensible and glaringly apparent improvement to the process of design and construction of buildings and facilities. Why aren’t they used? Because the monetary implications are not well considered. This paper explores the real business motivations of the construction and design firms who take on risk and reap reward in technology adoption. If they are motivated by enlightened economic self interest, it’s clear why innovation is slow. Interested observers who wish to direct their work to the relevant issues can benefit from considering why and how the economic value of innovations actually flows through the system. Several financial models are proposed for representing those impacts. Innovation will come from other sources following disruptive business models. Four major methodologies promise true innovation – supply chain optimization, knowledge management, 3D design, and wrap-up economic models. These are likely to be adopted by new innovators and not by established firms. Why bother? Who keeps the money? Innovation champions strive to identify process cost savings which should result from adoption of technologies. It’s also important to identify economic motivation: in particular, who benefits from the savings? A construction management firm competing to win negotiated contracts may gravitate to high tech, state of the art tools that complement its self image and the interests of its early adopter employees. However, this construction management firm is also likely to be retained on some form of cost plus a fee contract. Ergo, any savings that it generates are not retained in the firm, but rather are passed on to the Owner. If this is the case, the returns are small; so the investments must be small as well. (This circumstance is represented in Figure 1 as an alternative contractual relationship on an open book payment method).
Potential waves for pitch-angle scattering of near-equatorially mirroring energetic electrons due to the violation of the second adiabatic invariant

[1] Bounce and MLT averaged diffusion rates due to gyroresonance scattering by plasmaspheric hiss, lightning generated whistlers, and whistlers due to VLF transmitters inside the plasmasphere; and chorus waves outside the plasmasphere; are computed in high resolution in pitch-angle. The computed rates show that another scattering mechanism is required to provide pitch-angle scatting for nearly equatorially mirroring particles at low energies outside the plasmasphere and at a wide range of energies in the slot region. We show that magnetosonic waves and ElectroMagnetic Ion Cyclotron (EMIC) waves can be in bounce resonance with electrons for a wide range of energies and pitch-angles, and may be responsible for the scattering of electrons with equatorial pitch-angels close to 90°. Bounce resonance may also result in an in-situ acceleration of equatorially mirroring particles.
Trade Wars: Canada's Reaction to the Smoot-Hawley Tariff

Strange as it seems, the infamous Smoot-Hawley Tariff might have had an expansionary effect on the U.S. economy. Basic macroeconomic principles indicate that the direct effect of a tariff increase is expansionary. This expansionary effect might be offset by retaliatory increases in foreign tariffs. Barry Eichengreen has recently questioned whether significant retaliation to Smoot-Hawley occurred. This article demonstrates that the tariff increases enacted during 1930 in Canada—the largest trading partner of the United States—were in direct response to Smoot-Hawley. The conventional wisdom that Smoot-Hawley hurt the U.S. economy may be right after all.
Synchronized streaming media in VLSI education

Synchronized streaming media (SSM) is a mechanism for presenting educational materials either via the Internet or for local delivery from a bulk storage device like a CD or DVD. The term Synchronized Streaming Media refers to a presentation which consists of still images, text, or slides delivered in synchronization with either an audio or a video narration. The goal of SSM is to simulate a lecture situation for students working in a remote learning environment. Early attempts at developing remote learning focused on distributing class notes electronically. Today students can benefit from hearing a lecture as well as seeing materials being presented. Using SSM, students are able to control the rate of the presentation, to explore supplementary material; they can call up ancillary problem solving tools, and use the rich environment of a computing system as they view a lecture. This rich learning environment has been shown to improve the overall understanding and comprehension obtained by students in a variety of technical courses. This talk describes how SSM has been used in an introductory course on VLSI design. Methods developing SSM presentations are described and strategies for effectively using SSM technology in this environment are discussed.
Reinforcement Learning Methods for Continuous-Time Markov Decision Problems

Semi-Markov Decision Problems are continuous time generalizations of discrete time Markov Decision Problems. A number of reinforcement learning algorithms have been developed recently for the solution of Markov Decision Problems, based on the ideas of asynchronous dynamic programming and stochastic approximation. Among these are TD(λ), Q-learning, and Real-time Dynamic Programming. After reviewing semi-Markov Decision Problems and Bellman's optimality equation in that context, we propose algorithms similar to those named above, adapted to the solution of semi-Markov Decision Problems. We demonstrate these algorithms by applying them to the problem of determining the optimal control for a simple queueing system. We conclude with a discussion of circumstances under which these algorithms may be usefully applied.
Assessing the Disconnect between Grade Expectation and Achievement in a Business Statistics Course.

In an institutional review board–approved study aimed at evaluating differences in learning between a large-sized introductory business statistics course section using courseware assisted examinations compared with small-sized sections using traditional paper-and-pencil examinations, there appeared to be a severe disconnect between the final grades students expected to receive and the grades they actually earned. Given that the core-required business statistics course has, for many years, had a reputation among students as being anxiety producing, this disconnect was quite surprising. Using student responses to a survey administered early in the semester, demographic information was available that enabled assessment of this disconnect.
Mass spectrometry in structural and stereochemical problems–CXCIII: On the combined hydroxyl and water loss in nitrophenylhydrazones

The mass spectrum of valeraldehyde o-nitrophenylhydrazone displays only a low intensity peak (3% relative abundance) corresponding to the loss of 35 mass units from its molecular ion contrary to data previously published. Mention is also made of the fragmentation of 5-nonanone 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazone in view of a recent challenge to a published rationalization for the electron impact promoted fragmentation for this compound.
The retention interval hypothesis and backward associations

Abstract The retention interval hypothesis has been shown to account for both superior and equal forward associations in paired-associate learning under the study-test method vis-a-vis the anticipation method, on the basis of short-term memory processes occurring during the retention interval. Since the basic relative temporal relationships between the two learning methods remain essentially the same when backward associations are considered, the hypothesis should predict either superior or equal performances for the study-test method when compared with the anticipation method. To test these theoretical expectations, backward associations were compared under both item presentation methods using three different lists in three experiments. Significantly superior backward associations resulted under the study-test method as compared with the anticipation method in Experiments 1 and 2, where learning was intermediately difficult. However, performance differences between the two methods in backward association...
Health Disparities Beginning in Childhood: A Life-Course Perspective

In this article we argue for the utility of the life-course perspective as a tool for understanding and addressing health disparities across socioeconomic and racial or ethnic groups, particularly disparities that originate in childhood. Key concepts and terms used in life-course research are briefly defined; as resources, examples of existing literature and the outcomes covered are provided along with examples of longitudinal databases that have often been used for life-course research. The life-course perspective focuses on understanding how early-life experiences can shape health across an entire lifetime and potentially across generations; it systematically directs attention to the role of context, including social and physical context along with biological factors, over time. This approach is particularly relevant to understanding and addressing health disparities, because social and physical contextual factors underlie socioeconomic and racial/ethnic disparities in health. A major focus of life-course epidemiology has been to understand how early-life experiences (particularly experiences related to economic adversity and the social disadvantages that often accompany it) shape adult health, particularly adult chronic disease and its risk factors and consequences. The strong life-course influences on adult health could provide a powerful rationale for policies at all levels--federal, state, and local--to give more priority to investment in improving the living conditions of children as a strategy for improving health and reducing health disparities across the entire life course.
Muscular Forces and Joint Angles in Small-Handed Pianists: A Pilot Study on the 7/8 Size Keyboard versus the Full Size Keyboard

This pilot study examined whether the use of a 7/8 keyboard contributed to the physical ease of small-handed pianists in comparison with the conventional piano keyboard. A secondary research question focused on the transition from one keyboard to the other. For the purposes of this study, we adopted David Steinbuhler's postulated hand span of 8 inches or less as defining a “small-handed' pianist. The goal was to measure muscle loading and hand span during performance of the excerpt. Data collection included each participant being monitored using electromyography via surface electrodes, which were attached to the upper back/shoulder, parts of the hand and arm, and the masseter muscle of the jaw. Subjects were also fitted with electrogoniometers to capture how the span from the first metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joint to the fifth MCP joint moved according to performance demands, as well as recording wrist flexion and extension, radial and ulnar deviation. The findings were that small-handed pianists preferred...
Pharmacology Review: Newer Antibiotics: Imipenem/cilastatin and Meropenem

The carbapenem antibiotics imipenem/cilastatin and meropenem offer therapeutic options for unusual and highly antibiotic-resistant organisms encountered in the neonatal intensive care unit. The agents have a very broad spectrum of antibiotic activity, favorable safety profiles, and good drug penetration into all body sites, making them a reasonable choice for term and preterm infants who have difficult-to-treat infections. Although a moderate amount of pharmacokinetic data support the safe use of carbapenem antibiotics in neonates, the broad-spectrum activity of the agents dictates that their use be limited to the treatment of highly resistant, nosocomially acquired bacteria and mixed aerobic and anaerobic infections. Carbapenems are beta-lactam antibiotics that have broad-spectrum aerobic and anaerobic activity. Like other beta-lactam antibiotics, they exert an antibacterial effect by binding penicillin-binding proteins, thereby disrupting bacterial cell wall synthesis. Because imipenem is rapidly degraded by renal proximal tubule dipeptidases, it is marketed in combination with the dipeptidase inhibitor cilastatin. Meropenem is stable to renal dipeptidases and requires no cilastatin. In adults and older children, imipenem and meropenem have been used extensively for treatment of a wide variety of infections, most notably intra-abdominal, gynecologic, lower respiratory tract, and urinary tract. These clinical uses, particularly in mixed and highly resistant infections, reflect the broad-spectrum activity of carbapenems against important clinical pathogens. Imipenem and meropenem have excellent in vitro activity against streptococci (including S pyogenes , S agalactiae , and viridans group streptococci), enterococci, pneumococci, and methicillin-susceptible (but not methicillin-resistant) staphylococci. These drugs also are active against almost all enteric gram-negative rods (GNRs) (eg, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella, Enterobacter, Serratia, Citrobacter, Proteus sp) and most nonenteric GNRs (eg, Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter sp). A notable exception is Stenotrophomonas maltophilia . Anaerobes, including Bacteroides fragilis and clostridia, are very susceptible to carbapenem antibiotics. Although in vitro susceptibility data suggest that imipenem offers superior gram-positive activity and …
Active Learning with Constrained Topic Model

Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) is a topic modeling tool that automatically discovers topics from a large collection of documents. It is one of the most popular text analysis tools currently in use. In practice however, the topics discovered by LDA do not always make sense to end users. In this extended abstract, we propose an active learning framework that interactively and iteratively acquires user feedback to improve the quality of learned topics. We conduct experiments to demonstrate its effectiveness with simulated userinput on a benchmarkdataset.
The Law of Maintenance and the Obligations Of Lordship: A Case Study

As part of continuing work on the law of maintenance, in The Law of Maintenance and the Obligations of Lordship: A Case Study, this paper focuses on two important legal and social norms in medieval disputing. Maintenance was a legal concept describing conduct that involved assisting or supporting the litigation of another person. Statutes prohibiting maintenance were an important weapon directed at misuse of the legal system, especially by powerful individuals and officials. Lordship was an important medieval social and political institution. ‘Good lordship’ meant that lords were supposed to protect and support their tenants, household members, and retainers in their litigation and other disputes. An interesting issue raised by the prohibitions on maintenance is their relationship to the obligations of lordship. To study the relation between lordship and maintenance, he focuses on the mid-15th century litigation involving the servants of Sir John Fastolf, a wealthy and well known 15th century knight. Despite what may appear to be a conflict between the prohibitions on maintenance and obligations of lordship, he concludes that it is doubtful whether the exercise of 'good lordship' was usually illegal maintenance.
Role of Nitrogen in Activated Sludge Process

Study of the effect of nitrogen limitation on metabolic activities of activated sludge has been conducted by using a completely mixed continuous flow bench-scale activated sludge unit. The system was operated at various dilution rates with and without cellular recycle, and was maintained at a constant temperature 26—1°C and pH of 6.5. The results show that the concentration of nitrogen in the feed will significantly affect the contents of sludge phosphorus, sludge protein, and carbohydrate as well as the morphological configuration of sludge organisms. However, the results obtained from the system with cellular recycle show that the substrate utilization rate and sludge yield coefficient are independent of nitrogen concentration in the feed. The rate of oxygen utilization is higher in the nitrogen-rich activated sludge system than the nitrogen-deficient activated sludge system, but the endogenous respiration rate constant is identical in both systems.
Limitations of Prostate-specific Antigen Testing After a Prostate Cancer Diagnosis

Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is frequently used in isolation to guide treatment decisions in men with recurrent prostate cancer, a practice discouraged by prostate cancer working groups and guidelines. Instead, PSA should be used with imaging and other factors to make treatment decisions.
Use of APACHE II on the HELP System

The APACHE (for acute physiological and chronic health evaluation) II system uses the values of clinical parameters measured in the first 24 hours of an ICU admission to estimate the likelihood of in-hospital mortality [1]. For patients in the LDS Hospital STRICU, the numerical APACHE II score is calculated automatically by the HELP system from clinical data already present in the computerized patient database and from hand-entered data. The APACHE II scores are printed in a report format each day for the STRICU medical director to review. The scores are also used as a measure of severity of illness when clinical studies from LDS Hospital are reported.
Abstract 124: Collaterals Determine Risk of Early Territorial Stroke and Hemorrhage in the SAMMPRIS Trial

Background: The degree of collateral circulation is a powerful risk factor for recurrent stroke in the setting of medical therapy for symptomatic intracranial atherosclerosis. The impact of collaterals on the short-term risk for stroke in patients treated by stenting or intensive medical therapies is not known. We systematically evaluated baseline angiographic features of collateral circulation and antegrade flow across intracranial stenoses in randomized subjects of the multicenter SAMMPRIS trial and correlated these to their 30-day risk of ischemic stroke. Methods: Digital review of baseline angiograms in SAMMPRIS was conducted to score ASITN/SIR collateral grade and TICI antegrade flow, blind to other data. Dichotomized collateral and TICI scores (none/partial versus complete) were analyzed independently and in combinations with trial endpoints of territorial ischemic stroke or stroke in territory (SIT) and intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) within 30 days in the intensive medical and stenting arms of the study. Log-rank tests with follow-up time censored at 30 days were used in the analysis. Results: Collaterals could be assessed on 376/424 baseline angiography studies available for digital imaging review for the 451 randomized subjects in SAMMPRIS (186 medical, 190 stenting). Early territorial stroke (SIT) occurred in 6/186 (3.2%) subjects in the medical arm and 20/190 (10.5%) after stenting. SIT was not associated with TICI in either arm, whereas collaterals exerted a potent protective influence in medical (p=0.067) and stented (p=0.004) cases, with 0/66 (0%) SIT in the medical arm and 0/51 (0%) SIT in the stented arm when collaterals were complete. SIT in medical cases was associated with partial TICI/partial collaterals (5/25 (20.0%)) versus complete TICI/partial collaterals (1/95 (1.1%)) and partial TICI/complete collaterals (0/66 (0%)), p Conclusions: Patients with impaired collateral flow associated with severe intracranial stenosis had the highest risk for stroke within 30 days, both with intensive medical therapy and as a complication of angioplasty and stenting.
The nucleophilicity of a dialkylcarbene: unusual activation parameters for additions of adamantanylidene to simple alkenes.

Computational and experimental results demonstrate that adamantanylidene (1) behaves as a highly reactive nucleophile toward common alkenes. It is the only known saturated nucleophilic carbene that lacks direct or vinylogous heteroatomic substitution. The activation energy and enthalpy for addition of 1 to methyl acrylate are the most negative values yet encountered in any carbene–alkene addition.
Threshold Analysis in Monolayer Semiconductor Nanolaser by Surface Plasmon Enhancement

We have examined the lasing threshold requirements for optically pumped surface plasmon based nanolasers with 2D materials as active medium, which is an excellent research tool as an on-chip nanoscale light source.
The Influence of Platinum Surface Morphology on the Electrooxidation of Methanol in Alkaline Solutions

In this work we compare methanol oxidation characteristics in pH 0 and pH 14 electrolytes, and examine the effect of methanol concentration and platinum surface condition (e.g. H-UPD, OH adsorption, Pt oxidation/reduction, planar, nanoporous) on the oxidation current. We observe that in rotating disc electrode (RDE) experiments the oxidation currents on smooth platinum decrease with increasing rotation rate. We show that this decrease is associated with increasing the rate at which oxidation intermediates are swept into the bulk electrolyte before being fully oxidized. To increase the dwell time of intermediates a platinum electrode with 3 nm length scale surface porosity was synthesized by dealloying a Pt-Cu alloy. We then perform the same RDE experiments and show that in this case the methanol oxidation current increases with increasing convection. We attribute this behavior to the trapping of reaction intermediates that otherwise were swept away on the polished sample.
Forceps: trial and failed.

Trial of forceps is seldom needed but does have a place in modern obstetrics. Above all it must be gentle, and the operator must be prepared to undertake cesarean section, which can be performed immediately without added risk to mother or infant.
Treaty Interpretation and the New American Ways of Law Reading

The aim of this article is to introduce the reader to developments in treaty interpretation theory and practice in the United States. It is designed, in particular, to guide readers from other countries in understanding that endeavour and in situating it in the context of theories of interpretation being developed and contested in other fields of American law. There has been a veritable explosion of theoretical writing on interpretation in such fields as Constitutional law, the construction of statutes and the interpretation of contracts. That mass can only be tersely summarized here. These theories arose in an environment influenced bow by intellectual currents and by political power struggles in the United States; the former aspect suggests that they might be exportable whereas the latter indicates that they may be specific to the United States. This article explores whether those modes might make a useful contribution to the process of construing treaties or whether, on the other hand, they might threaten the degree of international consensus that presently prevails about the meaning of treaties. Such disagreement might complicate both the jobs of the drafters of an agreement between nations with divergent traditions and the tasks of tribunals and other interpreters who are called upon to generate authoritative readings of conventions. Would it, on the other hand, bring forth interpretations that are more just or better?
In Vivo and In Vitro Evaluation of Alkaline, Acid, and Physical Treatments of Whole Plant Sorghum Grain Silage for Cattle1

Whole plant sorghum grain silage (WPS) was harvested at 40% dry matter and stored in plastic bag silos to investigate the influence of chemical and physical processing upon nutrient utilization. An IVDMD study compared four different chemicals applied as a percent of WPS dry matter (AH = 1% ammonium hydroxide, SH = 1.5% sodium hydroxide, SA = 1.5% sulfuric acid, and C = control) and three physical processes (rolled WPS, selective rolling of grain in WPS, and nonrolled control WPS) in a factorial arrangement. An interaction (P < .01) between chemical treatment and physical WPS processing was observed when grain and stover were subjected separately to IVDMD procedures. Rolling of WPS, grain, or chemical treatments resulted in similar grain IVDMD after 48 h. Physical processing of stover and grain was associated with less variable IVDM than chemical treatments. A cattle feeding study was conducted to compare WPS treated (percent of DM) with either 1.8% anhydrous ammonia (AA), 2.0% sodium hydroxide (SH), or 1.8% sulfuric acid (SA), or untreated WPS to serve as control (C). Steers fed AA WPS gained 24% more (P < .05) live weight more (P < .05) efficiently and retained 28% more (P < .05) empty body energy than steers fed C WPS. Similar parameters for steers fed either SH or SA WPS indicated opposite (P < .05) trends when compared to steers fed C WPS. This probably resulted from improper incorporation of these chemicais into WPS with spray nozzles attached to a commercial Silopress at time of filling 100-t plastic silos.
Physical conditioning of the immature athlete.

SUMMARY Physical conditioning has become an established aspect of high level athletic activity. It can and should start at an early age, particularly when it is viewed in the perspective of general physical fitness, and if precautions are observed. Strength, flexibility, and cardiorespiratory endurance form the basis of sound conditioning programs. Expensive equipment is by no means a necessity.