cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Obesity and Its Influencing Factors Among Primary and Middle School Students in Gansu Mine Area

Objective To study the prevalence of obesity and overweight among primary and middle school students in Gansu mine area,and to explore the influencing factors.Methods An across-sectional study was conducted among 1 462 primary and middle school students aged 7-16 years old.The prevalence rates of obesity and overweight were determined by using the body mass index(BMI).A case-control study was carded out among 1 416 pairs,and ordinal logistic regression analysis was used to study the risk factors for obesity.Results The prevalence rate of overweight was 8.3%(10.9% for male,5.8% for female),the prevalence rate of obesity was 7.5%(9.1% for male,5.8% for female)and the rate of obesity and overweight was 15.8%(20.0% for male,11.6% for female).The difference of prevalence of obesity or overweight in the primary and middle school students was significant between different sexes and ages.The risk factors to obesity and overweight were heredity,male,partiality for fatty meat,fastidious about food,frequency of drinking and eating too much.Conclusion Obesity and overweight are common among primary and middle school students in Gansu mine area,and more attention should be paid to childhood obesity.
The Internet of Things in Healthcare: Potential Applications and Challenges

Exciting new applications of Internet of Things (IoT) technology are arising, particularly in healthcare, where the leveraging effects can significantly improve patients' well-being while alleviating the problem of scarce resources. But the hype around these applications far outpaces the reality. Furthermore, there is a real risk that these leveraging technologies will disassociate caregivers from patients, potentially resulting in a loss of caring. In this article, the authors review some of the most promising applications for IoT in healthcare and the significant challenges ahead.
Anti-inflammatory and Quinone Reductase Inducing Compounds from Fermented Noni (Morinda citrifolia) Juice Exudates

A new fatty acid ester disaccharide, 2-O-(β-d-glucopyranosyl)-1-O-(2E,4Z,7Z)-deca-2,4,7-trienoyl-β-d-glucopyranose (1), a new ascorbic acid derivative, 2-caffeoyl-3-ketohexulofuranosonic acid γ-lactone (2), and a new iridoid glycoside, 10-dimethoxyfermiloside (3), were isolated along with 13 known compounds (4–16) from fermented noni fruit juice (Morinda citrifolia). The structures of the new compounds, together with 4 and 5, were determined by 1D and 2D NMR experiments, as well as comparison with published values. Compounds 2 and 7 showed moderate inhibitory activities in a TNF-α-induced NF-κB assay, and compounds 4 and 6 exhibited considerable quinone reductase-1 (QR1) inducing effects.
Endogenous phospholipids of swine liver: effect of fat deprivation on molecular species of phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine

Three 1-yr-old swine and two 2.5-wk-old swine were fed a fat-free diet for 1 month and 5 months, respectively. The hepatic phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine were fractionated by silver ion thin-layer chromatography. A distinctive feature of the chromatographic procedure was the development of the chromatograms at low temperatures: -10 degrees C for phosphatidylcholine and 4 degrees C for phosphatidylethanolamine. The chromatographic fractions were hydrolyzed with phospholipase A(2), and the fatty acids were characterized. Significant concentrations of odd-chain saturated and unsaturated fatty acids were found in the swine deprived of fat for 5 months. The major molecular species of phosphatidylcholine in both groups contained monoenoic fatty acids: 16:0/18:1(n - 9), 18:0/18:1(n - 9), and 18:1(n - 9)/18:1(n - 9). Their concentrations changed only slightly with the diet. The molecular species of phosphatidylethanolamine were more sensitive to dietary changes. In the swine deprived of fat for 1 month, about 50% of the molecular species of phosphatidylethanolamine contained tetraenoic fatty acids: 16:0/20:4(n - 6), 18:0/20:4(n - 6), and 18:1(n - 9)/20:4(n - 6). The phosphatidylethanolamine of animals deprived of fat for 5 months contained only 3% molecular species with tetraenoic acids, 18:0/20:4(n - 6), but 36% molecular species with trienoic acids: 18:0/20:3(n - 9), 18:1(n - 9)/20:3(n - 9), 18:0/19:3(n - 8), 16:0/20:3(n - 9), and 17:0/20:3(n - 9). Doubly unsaturated species, such as 18:1(n - 9)/18:1(n - 9), 18:1(n - 9)/20:3(n - 9), and 18:1(n - 9)/20:4(n - 6), were found in both groups of swine, although their total concentrations were higher in the group deprived of fat for a longer period.
Homol'ovi III Ground Stone in the Raw: A Study of the Local Sandstone Used to Make Ground Stone Artifacts

ABSTRACTStudies of raw material variation and its influence on material selection, manufacture, and use of ground stone tools are often neglected in ground stone analysis. Sandstone, a material that forms a large part of many Anasazi ground stone assemblages, is particularly diverse, and even materials obtained from the same outcrop may vary significantly in physical properties and characteristics. In this preliminary study of a sample of unburned sandstone artifacts from Homol'ovi III, we document variation in the types of cement present in ground stone artifacts made of Shinarump and Moenkopi sandstone and analyze how these differences apparently influenced raw material selection and use of these lithic artifacts.
What Did You Do

Although answering these questions may feel like grunt-work documentation, the information you provide helps your reader evaluate the validity of your study. For example, describing your sample speaks to whether your sample adequately represents the population from which it is drawn (i.e., external validity).
The Impact of Retailer Use of Point-Of-Purchase Advertising on Sales of Instant-Game Lottery Tickets

This paper investigates the relationship between retailer use of various types of point-of-purchase (POP) advertising and retailer sales of instant-game lottery tickets. Analysis of individual-store sales and POP advertising suggests that POP advertising that identifies the retailer as a lottery vendor, such as that visible from the outside of the store, may contribute more to instant-ticket sales than an increase in in-store POP items. This study takes into account the placement and visibility of POP advertising items.
Carboxyl groups and the proton pump of bacteriorhodopsin.

Chemical modification and spin-labeled studies of purple membranes isolated from Halobacterium halobium have provided the first evidence for buried carboxyl residues within the hydrophobic, membrane-protein domains. Spin label data showed that modification of buried carboxyl residues resulted in loss of protein activity. A pH-sensitive, chromophoric reporter group demostrated that a carboxyl residue in a hydrophobic membrane environment interacts with the retinal chromophore of bacteriorhodopsin. These results appear consistent with the idea that carboxyl residues in hydrophobic environments may be a general feature required for activity of membrane proton pumps.
Full quantum simulation, design, and analysis of Si tunnel diodes, MOS leakage and capacitance, HEMTs, and RTDs

The Nanoelectronic Engineering Modeling software (NEMO) has been used to model the quantum electron and hole transport and charge in a wide variety of material systems and semiconductor devices. This paper provides an overview of NEMO's current status, its applications, and its theoretical extensions.
The Application of Failure Analysis in Procuring and Screening of Integrated Circuits

The procedure for the testing, screening, and lot rejection of integrated circuits for the Apollo Guidance and Navigation Computer is described. The procedure, based on a knowledge of failure modes, failure mechanisms and contributing causes to failures in the manufacturing of devices, attempts to increase the reliability of integrated circuits. This is accomplished by screening and analyzing weak devices and using the generated data to quantitatively assess the lot for acceptance, rework or rejection. The technique, which is primarily aimed toward high-usage high-volume devices, was developed after extensive testing of many tens of thousands of integrated circuits. The process documents included in the appendix contain stress test procedures, classification of failure modes, numerical rejection limits per class of failure modes, internal visual rejection criteria, and leak test procedures. To emphasize the need for the described technique, data is presented showing variations among vendors and variation among procurement lots shipped from a single vendor. The contributing factors to the variations are discussed. A discussion of the evolution of the process documents is presented. The ultimate goal of the documents is the elimination or minimization of detected failure modes, Failure studies have shown that some failure modes are screenable with high confidence whereas attempts to screen other types of failure modes merely decrease the life of the device. In the later case, the detection durng short term stressing of devices which exhibit long time dependent failure modes is a low probability event.
The Truth is Revolutionary: Mills and Turner as Theoreticians of Participatory Democracy

AbstractCritical analyses of the writings of political philosopher R.A. Turner have gained renewed attention. Turner's advocacy of participatory democracy paralleled that of American sociologist C. Wright Mills, whose own theories have experienced a revival among academics and activists as an alternative to the rise of neoliberal economic policies. Despite the international isolation of apartheid-era South Africa, it experienced social changes in the 1960s and 1970s paralleling those in North America and Western Europe. Mills' call for scholars and activists to forge a New Left rooted in sociological imagination was realised in the American civil rights and anti-war movements of the 1960s. Similarly, Rick Turner's own philosophy of radical politics, elucidated in The Eye of the Needle, found shape within the anti-apartheid resistance in 1970s South Africa. Turner went further than Mills in his practice of public sociology, fusing theory and praxis through his participation in the anti-apartheid struggle. ...
ODEs with Wave PDE Actuator Dynamics

In Chapter 15 we provided a first extension of the predictor feedback concept to systems whose actuator dynamics are infinite-dimensional and more complex than a simple pure delay. We provided a design for actuator dynamics governed by the heat PDE.
Minimizing the adverse effects of bias and low repeatability precision in photogrammetry software through statistical analysis

Abstract While photogrammetry is widely implemented in fields such as archaeology and cultural heritage, the accuracy of this method has yet to be fully addressed. It is imperative that digital photogrammetry models depicting sites of cultural heritage have accurate dimensions to avoid misunderstandings and incorrect analysis. This paper outlines a new method for minimizing the adverse effects of bias and low repeatability precision in photogrammetry software. Specifically, this paper quantitatively addresses the effects of systematic error during scaling of digital photogrammetry models as well as the random error due to a repeatability issue inherent to photogrammetry software. The method was developed using statistical analysis and robust uncertainty calculations and validated through multiple case studies.
Early relief of pruritus in atopic dermatitis with crisaborole ointment, a non-steroidal, phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor

Pruritus occurs in all patients with atopic dermatitis and requires quick relief to reduce disease exacerbation and improve quality of life. Crisaborole ointment is a non-steroidal phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor for the treatment of mild-to-moderate atopic dermatitis. This post hoc analysis explores crisaborole ointment for early relief of pruritus in patients with mild to moderate atopic dermatitis from 2 phase III studies. Patients received crisaborole or vehicle twice daily for 28 days. Pruritus was graded on a 4-point scale of none (0) to severe (3). Early improvement in pruritus required a score of none (0) or mild (1), with a ≥ 1-grade improvement from baseline on day 6. Significantly more patients experienced early improvement in pruritus with crisaborole than with vehicle (56.6% vs 39.5%; p< 0.001), including at earliest assessment (day 2, 34.3% vs 27.3%; p = 0.013). Crisaborole is a topical treatment option that can rapidly relieve atopic dermatitis-associated pruritus.
Fragmentation of QRS complex during ventricular pacing is associated with ventricular arrhythmic events in patients with left ventricular dysfunction.

BACKGROUND QRS fragmentation (fQRS) during baseline ventricular conduction, a myocardial fibrosis marker, is associated with increased risk of ventricular tachyarrhythmias but may not manifest unless ventricular activation change is provoked. We examined the association of fQRS during right ventricular (RV) pacing with death and ventricular tachyarrhythmia in patients with left ventricular (LV) dysfunction undergoing electrophysiology study (EPS). METHODS AND RESULTS Study participants had LV dysfunction (ejection fraction 2 notches on R/S waves identified in ≥2 contiguous standard electrocardiographic leads representing anterior, inferior, or lateral ventricular segments. Primary outcomes were ventricular tachyarrhythmias that were symptomatic or required intervention and total and cardiac deaths. In all, 528 patients participated (mean age, 65 years; male sex, 80%). Of them, 312 (59%) had ischemic cardiomyopathy and mean (SD) left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) of 33.2% (9.5%); 457 (87%) had implantable cardiac devices (implanted defibrillator, n = 380). Mean (SD) follow-up was 3.2 (3.0) years. fQRS during RV pacing was observed in 292 patients (60%) in any ventricular segment. Patients with fQRS during RV pacing had 2.5 higher rate of ventricular tachyarrhythmia events than patients with no fQRS (hazard ratio [95% CI], 2.45 [1.5-4.2]; P < 0.01), after correcting for baseline ventricular conduction defect and QRS duration, LVEF, inducible sustained ventricular tachycardia, diabetes mellitus, chronic kidney disease, and ischemic cardiomyopathy. CONCLUSIONS RV stimulation can unmask fQRS, and it is associated with increased risk of ventricular tachyarrhythmia in LV dysfunction.
Deer-Vehicle Collisions Along the Suburban-Urban Fringe

Deer-Vehicle Collisions (DVCs) are a significant problem in many areas of the United States (Conover et al. 1995). In 2002 alone, there were over 1.5 million DVCs resulting in over 1 billion dollars in damages, 150 human fatalities, and approximately 1.5 million white-tailed deer deaths (Curtis and Hedlund 2005). In sum, there are roughly 4,100 accidents/day resulting in over 2.7 million dollars of damage/day. DVCs are an increasing hazard to motorists as human development spreads into rural areas where residents commute daily to urban locations. Furthermore, through urban sprawl cities further encroach into environments where wildlife have no choice but to interact with humans. In many cases these interactions can have negative impacts for both humans and wildlife.
Push-pull sorbent-based pheresis treatment in an experimental canine endotoxemia model: preliminary report.

The Biologic-DTPF System (DTPF), an extracorporeal blood treatment device with potential to treat sepsis, was tested in a preliminary study using a canine endotoxemia model. Six dogs were used and they formed four treatment groups, as control group (n=1) and three groups based on the type of sorbent present in the plasma filter (PF) system: sham treatment with no sorbent (n=1), charcoal as sorbent (n=2), and charcoal/silica as sorbent ("silica" group, n=2). Cardiodynamic data were recorded before treatment and every 30 minutes, and blood samples were collected to determine blood chemistry and to detect the levels of endotoxin and selected plasma cytokines: interleukin-1 (IL-1), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor (TNF). The dogs were given Escherichia coli endotoxin (2 mg/kg) as an intravenous drip (extended over a period of 30 minutes). Thirty minutes after the end of infusion all animals except the control were treated with the DTPF system for four hours. To determine the effect of treatment, data collected at one hour from the initiation of treatment until the end of treatment were compared between control and treated dogs. The endotoxin levels in the control dog were higher (P 0.05) and higher levels (P 0.05). In the control dog, the mean arterial pressure (MAP) fell and then remained low but stable at 1-4 hours. The charcoal group had lower MAP than the control dog at 1-4 hours (P < 0.05). The silica group had higher MAP levels similar to the control dog. After treatment, the control dog had higher (P < 0.05) values of hematocrit, hemoglobin, calcium, potassium, and albumin compared to the treated groups. As expected for a system removing plasma during sepsis, the DTPF System had some adverse effects on the physiologic status of the dogs, especially when loaded with charcoal sorbent only. The findings of the present study suggest that the filters are capable of eliminating endotoxin and there is some evidence of cytokine removal. Although the charcoal dogs did poorly, addition of silica to the sorbent offset any negative effects. Further work is underway to improve the efficiency of the system, primarily to enhance the capacity of the sorbents for cytokines. A more realistic canine sepsis model with mortality after several days (the Escherichia coli- infected intraperitoneal clot) will also be considered in future studies.
Heme Protein Reactions: Models, Concepts, and Problems

The binding of a small ligand such as O2 or CO to a heme protein is one of the simplest biological processes. Nevertheless even the reaction $${\text{Mb}}\,{\text{ + }}\,{\text{CO}}\, \leftrightarrow \,{\text{MbCO,}}$$ (1) the binding of CO to the “simple” storage protein myoglobin, is extremely complex. The complexity makes a quantitative description difficult but at the same time reactions of the type (1) become tools to explore protein properties. Goals of such studies are the phenomenological description of the reaction (1), the understanding of the reaction mechanisms involved in (1), the characterization and classification of the protein motions that accompany the ligand binding, and the connection between the protein structure and the parameters of reaction (1). None of these goals has been fully reached. Here I try to sketch some results and some problems and controversies.
Quantitative analysis and optimization of magnetization precession initiated by ultrafast optical pulses

Magnetic storage and magnetic memory have recently shifted towards the use of magnetic thin films with large perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) to simultaneously satisfy the requirements in storage density and thermal stability. Understanding the magnetic switching process and its dependence on the Gilbert damping (α) of materials with large PMA is crucial for developing low-power consumption, fast-switching, and high-thermal stability devices. The need to quantify α of materials with large PMA has resulted in the development of the all-optical ultrafast Time-Resolved Magneto-optical Kerr Effect (TR-MOKE) technique. While TR-MOKE has demonstrated its capability of capturing magnetization dynamics of materials with large PMA, a quantitative analysis regarding the operational optimization of this emerging technique is still lacking. In this paper, we discuss the dependence of the TR-MOKE signal on the magnitude and angle of the applied field, by utilizing a numerical algorithm based on the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation. The optimized operational conditions that produce the largest TR-MOKE signals are predicted. As an experimental verification, we conduct TR-MOKE measurements on a representative sample of a tungsten-seeded CoFeB PMA thin film to show the excellent agreement of the model prediction with measurements. Our analysis results in a better understanding of the external field influence on the magnetization precession processes. The results of this work can also provide guidance on selecting operational conditions of the TR-MOKE technique to achieve optimal signal-to-noise ratios and thus more accurate measurements of magnetization dynamics.
Asian scholarship in selected journals related to Chinese older people

This study assessed Asian scholarship in top-ranked social work and international gerontological journals, with a particular focus on Chinese older people. Two of the authors empirically assessed t...
The emergence of network governance in U.S. National Forest Administration: causal factors and propositions for future research.

Abstract Since its establishment in the early twentieth century, the U.S. Forest Service has periodically evolved its approach to decision-making and management for the millions of hectares of national forest under its authority. Starting in the 1990s, a complex governance regime emerged in which non-Forest Service entities—such as state and other federal agencies, non-governmental organizations, public utilities, rural communities, and others—contribute resources and legitimacy to processes that include decision-making, project funding and implementation, monitoring, and changes to management rules and procedures. This review analyzes the origins of an emergent governance regime and provides a framework for analyzing contemporary patterns of national forest administration, structured around three key elements. Legitimacy is a necessary component of any continued public resource management regime, and in the current period this resource is (re)constructed through networks of governmental and non-governmental actors, with collaborative processes playing a central role. Capacity is needed to implement and evaluate resource management decisions, and the capacity of the Forest Service is frequently augmented through partnerships with non-federal entities. Institutional innovation is often needed to align Forest Service constitutional and operational rules with socially legitimate management actions, and this process may occur most often in situations characterized by the involvement of network actors. Five propositions are presented as contributions to a research agenda on national forest governance. This framework contributes to a better understanding of the causes and consequences of environmental governance changes affecting federal forest landscapes, key ecosystem processes, and the livelihoods of human communities throughout the U.S.
Bone Remodeling and Disc Morphology in the Distal Unfused Spine After Spinal Fusion in Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis

Abstract Background Morphologic changes in the vertebral body in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) have been associated with curve development and progression. Yet, after an AIS spinal surgery, the impact of the global and local spinal realignment on the vertebral body and intervertebral disc morphologic changes, particularly in the distal unfused spine, have not been determined. Questions/Purposes To determine the changes in the unfused lumbar vertebrae and disc morphology two years after spinal fusion in AIS patients undergoing selective thoracic fusion (STF). Patients and Methods A total of 58 patients with Lenke type 1 AIS who underwent STF with a minimum two-year follow-up and 20 nonscoliotic adolescents were included. Biplanar stereoradiography of the spine at preoperative, early postoperative, and two-year follow-up were used to generate 3D models of the spine. Lumbar spine vertebral and intervertebral heights (anterior, posterior, left, and right) and the degree of wedging in the frontal and sagittal plane were calculated in the local coordinate system of the vertebral bodies. The morphology of vertebrae and discs were compared between the pre- and postoperative visits of AIS patients and nonscoliotic controls. Results Lumbar lordosis was not statistically different between the pre- and post-operative AIS and controls, p > .05. The contribution of the lumbar vertebral bodies and discs' sagittal wedging to the total L1–L5 lordosis were 20% and 80%, respectively, for nonscoliotic controls and 61% and 39%, respectively, for AIS patients at two-year follow-up. The decrease in the anterior and left heights of the disc between the preoperative and two-year follow-up was significant, p Conclusion Patients undergoing STF for Lenke 1 AIS are able to achieve normal lumbar lordosis after surgery but seem to regain their sagittal alignment by morphologic changes in the disc more so than the vertebral body. A larger contribution of the vertebral sagittal wedging to the total lumbar lordosis at two years post STF was observed when these variables were compared to the nonscoliotic adolescents. Level of Evidence Level IV.
The effect of phonetic complexity on speaker race and sex identifications

Abstract: The purpose of this investigation was to determine the effect of phonetic complexity on speaker race and sex identifications. A total of 20 speakers, 10 white (five males and five females) and 10 black (five males and five females), recorded four kinds of auditory stimuli, representing four levels of phonetic complexity: (1) four isolated vowels (/i/, /u/, /ae/, and /α/); (2) four monosyllabic words (light, rain, base, and side); (3) four bisyllabic words (sunlight, rainbow, baseball, and sidewalk); and (4) four sentences (the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, the rainbow is a division of white light, he caught the baseball, and that sidewalk is broken). A total of four master tapes were constructed, one for each kind of auditory stimulus. Twenty judges, 10 females and 10 males, participated in four listening sessions, one for each of the four master tapes. In each session they were asked to judge the race and sex of the speaker of each auditory stimulus as well as the confidence of each decision on a seven-point confidence rating scale. Results of their judgments indicate the following: (1) phonetic complexity had a significant effect on speaker race identifications, as evidenced by a progressive increase in listener accuracy from the simplest to the most complex auditory stimuli; (2) phonetic complexity did not appear to play a major role in speaker sex identifications, as evidenced by the lack of a regular trend in listener accuracy from simple to complex stimuli; (3) listener accuracy for sex judgments was always considerably greater than for race judgments at each of the four levels of phonetic complexity investigated; and (4) for each of the four kinds of auditory stimuli, listener accuracy for both race and sex judgments was better than that expected by chance guessing. Discussion of additional findings, including race and sex identifications based on differences in listener sex, speaker race and sex, and specific stimuli, as well as implications of these findings, are presented.
The Intercontinental Terminals Chemical Fire Study: A Rapid Response to an Industrial Disaster to Address Resident Concerns in Deer Park, Texas

On Sunday, 17 March 2019, a fire erupted at the Intercontinental Terminals Company (ITC, Deer Park, La Porte, TX, USA), resulting in a large fire that blazed for several days. In response, we rapidly launched disaster response activities to monitor air pollutants (total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs), fine particulate matter (PM2.5), black carbon (BC), and ultra-fine particles (UFPs) during the fire in two affected communities. To assess immediate health effects and residential air quality, we also rapidly launched a pilot study, the Deer Park Chemical Fire (DeeP Fire) Study, in which we administered health surveys and installed samplers to monitor air quality outdoors of resident homes for up to six weeks. In both communities, mean ambient concentrations of PM2.5, BC and TVOCs were higher during the first week of the fire than a week after it was extinguished. Thirteen residents participated in the DeeP Fire Study. Most residents reported experiencing respiratory symptoms and some reported being bothered by at least one post-traumatic stress disorder symptom during the fire and two weeks afterwards. In the months following the fire, the 7-day mean ambient concentration of benzene from 12 homes was 0.13 ± 0.10 parts per billion (ppb) and the 6-week mean ambient concentrations of PM2.5 and TVOCs were 13 ± 6 µg/m3 and 108 ± 98 ppb, respectively. All residents requested and received individualized air monitoring reports. Surveillance systems that enable real-time monitoring of the environmental health impact during a major industrial incident are needed to provide timely information to adequately respond to a disaster in the future.
Differential Impact on Isolated REM Sleep without Atonia by Varying Antidepressant Therapies.

Background REM sleep without atonia (RSWA) is characterized by increased phasic or tonic muscle activity in electromyography channels during polysomnography and usually causes REM sleep behaviour disorder, but RSWA also exists within healthy populations without dream-enactment behaviour, especially in psychiatric populations receiving antidepressant therapies. Evidence for differential impact of antidepressants on RSWA, and whether RSWA persists or resolves following changes in antidepressant therapy, remains limited. Case We present a 56-year-old woman with depression undergoing 3 polysomnograms while receiving 3 different distinct antidepressants. Her first polysomnogram demonstrated elevated REM sleep without atonia while receiving a tricyclic antidepressant. Following a switch to fluoxetine, her second polysomnogram showed greater elevation of REM sleep without atonia After a subsequent therapeutic switch to buproprion, a third polysomnogram showed interval decrease in RSWA amounts, lower than the initial levels found during tricyclic antidepressant administration. Results/outcomes A switch from fluoxetine to bupropion was associated with markedly reduced RSWA amounts. Conclusion/interpretation The polysomnography findings in this case suggest that the type of antidepressant treatment differentially impacts levels of RSWA. The potential importance and implication to practicing psychiatrists is that bupropion, with selective action on dopamine reuptake rather than serotoninergic or acetylcholinergic neurotransmission, may have lesser tendency toward increasing REM sleep muscle activity levels. Additional prospective studies comparing polysomnographic RSWA in psychiatric populations are needed. Declaration of interest/funding The authors have no financial support, off-label use, or conflict of interest to declare.
Statistical analysis of two arm randomized pre-post designs with one post-treatment measurement

Background Randomized pre-post designs, with outcomes measured at baseline and after treatment, have been commonly used to compare the clinical effectiveness of two competing treatments. There are vast, but often conflicting, amount of information in current literature about the best analytic methods for pre-post designs. It is challenging for applied researchers to make an informed choice. Methods We discuss six methods commonly used in literature: one way analysis of variance ("ANOVA"), analysis of covariance main effect and interaction models on the post-treatment score ("ANCOVAI" and "ANCOVAII"), ANOVA on the change score between the baseline and post-treatment scores ("ANOVA-Change"), repeated measures ("RM") and constrained repeated measures ("cRM") models on the baseline and post-treatment scores as joint outcomes. We review a number of study endpoints in randomized pre-post designs and identify the mean difference in the post-treatment score as the common treatment effect that all six methods target. We delineate the underlying differences and connections between these competing methods in homogeneous and heterogeneous study populations. Results ANCOVA and cRM outperform other alternative methods because their treatment effect estimators have the smallest variances. cRM has comparable performance to ANCOVAI in the homogeneous scenario and to ANCOVAII in the heterogeneous scenario. In spite of that, ANCOVA has several advantages over cRM: i) the baseline score is adjusted as covariate because it is not an outcome by definition; ii) it is very convenient to incorporate other baseline variables and easy to handle complex heteroscedasticity patterns in a linear regression framework. Conclusions ANCOVA is a simple and the most efficient approach for analyzing pre-post randomized designs.
Conjugate-Franson interferometry for testing nonlocality of time-energy entangled biphotons

We report the first experimental demonstration of a conjugate-Franson interferometer, i.e., a nonlocal interferometer that can certify time-energy entanglement. Our measured 96% visibility tightly bounds the temporal correlation of biphotons generated by spontaneous parametric down-conversion.
CONNECT: a measure of continuity of care in mental health services.

This paper introduces a measure of continuity of care (CONNECT) developed for mental health services research. CONNECT addresses qualities of interpersonal interaction in service-user/practitioner relationships through 13 scales and one single-item indicator. The scales are grouped into five domains: knowledge, flexibility, availability, coordination, and transitions. Domains were derived from ethnographic data. Service users rate responses to items using 5-point scales The measure is administered in interview format. CONNECT was developed for use with persons who have serious mental illness. Preliminary testing included cognitive interviews and two pilot studies. The results of a field test in which 400 persons with serious mental illness completed CONNECT indicate that the measure is easily administered and produces well-distributed responses. Five scales meet the .80 criterion for internal-consistency reliability for group-level research. Estimates of 2-week test-retest reliability indicate fair-to-good agreement. A broad initial validation strategy including known groups and convergent validity assessments produced results that will inform and focus future efforts. Next steps in the measure development process are discussed.
The magnetic field of the equatorial magnetotail from 10 to 40 earth radii

A statistical study of IMP 6, 7, and 8 magnetotail magnetic field measurements near the equatorial plane reveals new information about various aspects of magnetospheric structure. More magnetic flux crosses the equatorial plane on the dawn and dusk flanks of the tail than near midnight, but no evidence is found for a dependence on the interplanetary magnetic field sector polarity. Field magnitudes within 3 earth radii of the equatorial plane near dawn are more than twice as large as those near dusk for Xsm = -20 to -10 earth radii. The frequency of occurrence of southward fields is greatest near midnight, and such fields are seen almost twice as often for Xsm = -20 to -10 earth radii as for Xsm beyond -20 earth radii. This latter result supports the idea that the midnight region of the tail between 10 and 20 is a special location where neutral lines are particularly apt to form. Such a neutral line will approach nearest the earth in the midnight and premidnight region, where substorms are thought to have their onset.
An Update of 'Loosening Your Collar: Alternative Implementations of QQQ Collars': Credit Crisis and Out-of-Sample Performance

This study provides an update to Szado and Schneeweis [2010]. The original study covered the period from March 1999 through May 2009. This updated study extends the period of analysis through September 2010. The credit crisis and the associated decline in equity markets rekindled new interest in option based equity collars and in protective strategies in general. In this paper we consider the performance of passive and active implementations of the collar strategy on the QQQ ETF as well as on a sample small cap equity mutual fund. As expected, the results of the analysis show that a passive collar is most effective (relative to a long underlying position) in declining markets and less effective in rising markets. This study also considers a more active implementation of the collar strategy. Rather than simply applying a set of fixed rules as for the passive collar, in the active collar adjusted strategy, we apply a set of rules which adapt the collar to varying economic and market conditions. This approach is similar to applying a set of tactical asset allocation rules to a set of investments. There are of course an unlimited number of conditioning factors that can be used to determine the strategy implementation. In this paper, for purposes of presentation, we combine three conditioning factors that have been suggested in academic literature (momentum, volatility, and a compound macroeconomic factor (unemployment and business cycle)) to generate a dynamic collar adjusted trading strategy. For the period of analysis, the active collar adjustment strategy tends to outperform the passive collar both in-sample as well as out-of-sample. Judgments as to the particular benefits of the passive and active collar strategies are, of course, dependent on the risk tolerance of the individual investor.
An Exploratory Study Using Hands-On Physical Models in a Large Introductory, Earth Science Classroom: Student Attitudes and Lessons Learned

Students in nine large (n=160), introductory, undergraduate, earth science classes manipulated physical models to enhance their conceptual learning. During each model activity, students worked within predetermined groups to make observations that emphasized key concepts and challenged inaccurate student conceptions of the target phenomenon. Data from student interviews and classroom observations indicated that the students believed that manipulating the models increased their attentiveness in class and provided a visual aid that they could later recall on the exam. Classroom observations indicated that students often used the models to explain the concepts to their peers, and also suggested that group dynamics may have contributed to the success of this pedagogy.
Persulfate Oxidation and Diphenylcarbazide Photometric Determination of Chromium in Super Alloys

The quantitative analysis of Cr in super alloys with the presence of a wide variety of elements, Al, B, C, Co, Cu, Hf, Fe, Mn, Mo, Ni, Nb, P, Si, S, Ti, Ta, W, Zr; and trace amounts (a few ppm) of Pb, Se, Bi, Tl and Te has been studied. Persulfate oxidation and diphenylcarbazide photometric method were studied with the purpose of developing a relatively fast and reliable measurement for Cr by wet chemical analysis. The results indicate that the latter is supperior to the former in practical view. In the photometric method, solid sample (0.1g alloys) when treated with HClO4 and H2SO4 took ca. 72 hrs. for complete dissolution. When treated with HCl followed by HNO3, 0.1 g alloys were completely dissolved within 1&1/2; hours. The best experimental conditions for diphenylcarbazide photometric determination of Cr was thus established. Photometric determination of Cr complexes was made at 540 nm.
The Informational Turn in Philosophy

This paper traces the application of information theory to philosophical problems of mind and meaning from the earliest days of the creation of the mathematical theory of communication. The use of information theory to understand purposive behavior, learning, pattern recognition, and more marked the beginning of the naturalization of mind and meaning. From the inception of information theory, Wiener, Turing, and others began trying to show how to make a mind from informational and computational materials. Over the last 50 years, many philosophers saw different aspects of the naturalization of the mind, though few saw at once all of the pieces of the puzzle that we now know. Starting with Norbert Wiener himself, philosophers and information theorists used concepts from information theory to understand cognition. This paper provides a window on the historical sequence of contributions made to the overall project of naturalizing the mind by philosophers from Shannon, Wiener, and MacKay, to Dennett, Sayre, Dretske, Fodor, and Perry, among others. At some time between 1928 and 1948, American engineers and mathematicians began to talk about `Theory of Information' and `Information Theory,' understanding by these terms approximately and vaguely a theory for which Hartley's `amount of information' is a basic concept. I have been unable to find out when and by whom these names were first used. Hartley himself does not use them nor does he employ the term `Theory of Transmission of Information,' from which the two other shorter terms presumably were derived. It seems that Norbert Wiener and Claude Shannon were using them in the Mid-Forties. (Yehoshua Bar-Hillel, 1955)
Introduction to Primary Progressive Aphasia

Over a century after the initial description of aphasia due to neurodegenerative illness, controversy remains over what constitutes a primary progressive aphasia (PPA). There are three main forms of PPA: nonfluent, semantic, and logopenic. The nonfluent variant, associated with volume loss in the left posterior inferior frontal gyrus, is characterized by effortful and sometimes apractic speech as well as agrammatism. The semantic variant is most often associated with atrophy of the left anterior temporal pole, and involves the loss of contextual knowledge, which manifests as failure to use or recognize previously familiar words. Whereas the semantic and nonfluent variants are considered forms of frontotemporal dementia, the logopenic variant involves atrophy of the left temporoparietal junction, and is most often a consequence of Alzheimer‘s disease pathology. The tendency of each variant to associate with distinct histopathologies suggests a potential for unique treatments for each form of PPA. Accurate diagnoses will lead to more effective therapies.
Building a Nursing Workforce for the 21st Century

Today, as health-care reform begins expanding health-care coverage and access and as our population ages, we face a significant nursing shortage.To address the challenge of educating enough nurses with the skill sets required for the 21st century, the Center to Champion Nursing in America (CCNA), the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the U.S. Employment andTraining Administration, and the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration cosponsored two national Nursing Education Capacity Summits. This article provides the national view of the initiatives resulting from the summits and further explores the challenges in nursing education and nursing practice to ensure enough well-prepared nurses for the future.
Neural correlates of emotional response inhibition in obsessive-compulsive disorder: A preliminary study

Failure to inhibit recurrent anxiety-provoking thoughts is a central symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Neuroimaging studies suggest inhibitory control and disgust processing abnormalities in patients with OCD. However, the emotional modulation of response inhibition deficits in OCD and their neural correlates remain to be elucidated. For this preliminary study we administered an adapted affective response inhibition paradigm, an emotional go/no-go task, during fMRI to characterize the neural systems underlying disgust-related and fear-related inhibition in nine adults with contamination-type OCD compared to ten matched healthy controls. Participants with OCD had significantly greater anterior insula cortex activation when inhibiting responses to both disgusting (bilateral), and fearful (right-sided) images, compared to healthy controls. They also had increased activation in several frontal, temporal, and parietal regions, but there was no evidence of amygdala activation in OCD or healthy participants and no significant between-group differences in performance on the emotion go/no-go task. The anterior insula appears to play a central role in the emotional modulation of response inhibition in contamination-type OCD to both fearful and disgusting images. The insula may serve as a potential treatment target for contamination-type OCD.
Course 16 - Prospects for Strong Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics with Superconducting Circuits

This chapter discusses the prospects for strong cavity quantum electrodynamics (cQED) with superconducting circuits. It propose that the combination of one-dimensional superconducting transmission line resonators, which confine their zero point energy to extremely small volumes, and superconducting charge qubits, which are electrically controllable qubits with large electric dipole moments, constitutes an interesting system to access the strong-coupling regime of cavity quantum electrodynamics. This combined system constitutes an advantageous architecture for the coherent control, entanglement, and readout of quantum bits for quantum computation and communication. Among the practical benefits of this approach are the ability to suppress radiative decay of the qubit while still allowing one-bit operations, a simple and minimally disruptive method for readout of single and multiple qubits, and the ability to generate tunable two-qubit entanglement over centimeter-scale distances. In the structures described in the chapter, the emission or absorption of a single photon by the qubit is tagged by a sudden large change in the resonator transmission properties making them potentially useful as single photon sources and detectors.
Analyzing U.S. nurse turnover: Are nurses leaving their jobs or the profession itself?

Objective: To examine and compare factors associated with making the decision to vacate a job (organizational turnover) versus leaving the profession (professional turnover) among registered nurses (RN) in the United States (U.S.). Methods: Nationally representative data from the 2008 National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses was used. The sample consisted of 8,796 RNs who held an active RN license as of March 10, 2008, but changed a place of work or left the profession entirely. The analysis has been performed using SAS, version 9.3. Results: The results of binary logistic regression revealed that RNs who reported work-related disability (OR = 14.51; p -value: < .001), illness (OR = 3.32; p -value: < .001), experienced high physical demands (OR = 1.57; p -value: < .001) or burnout (OR = 1.39; p -value: < .001), were unsatisfied with their schedule (OR = 2.16; p -value: < .001), or staffing arrangements (OR = 1.41; p -value: < .001) were more likely to leave the profession. Whereas RNs who reported high levels of stress (OR = 0.59; p -value: < .001) were unsatisfied with the organization’s leadership (OR = 0.22; p -value: < .001), unsatisfied with their opportunity to advance their career (OR = 0.56; p -value: < .001), or were not adequately compensated (OR = 0.63; p -value: < .001), were more likely to leave the organization. Conclusions: Policy makers and health care managers should be aware of the different factors that are associated with RNs’ decision to leave the profession or an organization. Health care managers involved in the development of nurse retention strategies should address organizational leadership and consider development of comprehensive career development programs. Policy makers should consider allocating additional resources to ensure that RN workforce is of adequate size, is qualified, and is able to provide high quality care in the U.S..