cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Data Curation and Code Checks: What, Why and How?

In the past few decades, there has been a movement towards transparency in research among journals, funders and research groups. Transparent practices include openly sharing data and code underlying published research results. We support this movement as a key step towards increasing the credibility and quality of research. We also go further, to make the case that it will take community investment in data curation in order to ensure that shared data and code are usable. In this paper, we describe what we mean by data curation and lay out our process of checking data and performing code checks within our research group. By sharing our process, we add to the growing body of literature on the need for dedicating resources to making sure that shared materials are accessible and usable to data users.
Abdominal Approaches to Tissue Containment and Extraction in Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery

Abstract Study Objective To show different abdominal methods of tissue containment and specimen extraction techniques as an alternative to electromechanical morcellation (EMM). Design A stepwise surgical tutorial using a narrated video (Canadian Task Force classification III). Setting An academic tertiary care hospital. Interventions Minimally invasive gynecologic surgery requires the extraction of large tissue specimens through small incisions. EMM was largely used until recently when the Food and Drug Administration issued a statement on its safety. In this video, we present alternative techniques to EMM as well as different methods of tissue containment. Uteri specimens are contained using a 3M Steri-Drape isolation bag (3M Healthcare, Maplewood, MN) and, alternatively, the Alexis Containment Extraction System (Applied Medical, Rancho Santa Margarita, CA). The contained specimen is manually extracted through the 2.5-cm umbilical port incision using the paper roll technique described here. Conclusion These techniques for tissue containment and extraction provide an alternative to EMM. They allow the minimally invasive surgeon to contain and retrieve large specimens. When used appropriately, these techniques can decrease conversion rates to open abdominal surgery. They are easily reproducible with a minimal learning curve.
COATINGS FAILURES IN PLANTS AND INDUSTRIAL ENVIRONMENTS

Protective paintwork is an important item in construction and maintenance operations in industrial plants. A properly selected and applied coating system will reduce the rate of corrosion and therefore the costs associated with corrosion. In industrial plants, coating failures may occur if incorrect coating material is used or the materials are poorly applied. Coating failures may appear during application, during drying/curing, or after a certain period of service life. There are many reasons why coatings fail and it requires a lot of experience to find the exact cause. In this paper, case studies of coating failures that were experienced in industrial plants will be presented showing how the varied causes of failure were established as well as the remedial actions that were undertaken. The goal is to demonstrate how to specify the most cost effective coating systems and application procedure for various requirements in plants.
Kantian Phenomenalism Without Berkeleyan Idealism

Phenomenalist interpretations of Kant are out of fashion. The most common complaint from anti-phenomenalist critics is that a phenomenalist reading of Kant would collapse Kantian idealism into Berkeleyan idealism. This would be unacceptable because Berkeleyan idealism is incompatible with core elements of Kant’s empirical realism. In this paper, I argue that not all phenomenalist readings threaten empirical realism. First, I distinguish several variants of phenomenalism, and then show that Berkeley’s idealism is characterized by his commitment to most of them. I then make the case that two forms of phenomenalism are consistent with Kant’s empirical realism. The comparison between Kant and Berkeley runs throughout the paper, with special emphasis on the significance of their theories of intentionality.
El Dios mortal. ¿Implica la globalización una progresiva desaparición de los estados?

El articulo critica, desde una perspectiva neoinstitucionalista y estrategico-relacional, la hipotesios de que la globalizacion implica la erosion o la desaparcion del Estado. Se analiza en primer lugar las funciones, estructuras y evolucion del Esatdo liberal alnl estado regulador. Y en segundo lugar, se revisa la naturaleza del sistema neoliberal de Estados en la era global. Se argumenmta que el proceso en juego es el de cracion de nuveo estatismo neoliberal de raiz autoritaria.
A Neglected Epidemic

Imagine a global epidemic with more than 10 million new cases and 1.7 million deaths in a single year, far greater than the 28,600 cases and 11,315 deaths that were caused by Ebola virus disease in West Africa in 2014 and 2015. In addition, this imagined epidemic affects every country and kills about 25% of patients with HIV/AIDS in Africa. And think about a half million patients with the disease who are resistant to treatment, who represent a threat to communities and to health care providers. One does not need a great imagination to recognize that this is the current . . .
T cell dysfunction and patient age are associated with poor outcomes after mechanical circulatory support device implantation.

Abstract Immunologic impairment may contribute to poor outcomes after implantation of mechanical circulatory support device (MCSD), with infection often as a terminal event. The study of immune dysfunction is of special relevance given the growing numbers of older patients with heart disease. The aim of the study was to define which immunologic characteristics are associated with development of adverse clinical outcomes after MCSD implantation. We isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from patients pre- and up to 20 days post-MCSD implantation and analyzed them by multiparameter flow cytometry for T cell dysfunction, including terminal differentiation, exhaustion, and senescence. We used MELD-XI and SOFA scores measured at each time point as surrogate markers of clinical outcome. Older patients demonstrated increased frequencies of terminally differentiated T cells as well as NKT cells. Increased frequency of terminally differentiated and immune senescent T cells were associated with worse clinical outcome as measured by MELD-XI and SOFA scores, and with progression to infection and death. In conclusion, our data suggest that T cell dysfunction, independently from age, is associated with poor outcomes after MCSD implantation, providing a potential immunologic mechanism behind patient vulnerability to multiorgan dysfunction and death. This noninvasive approach to PBMC evaluation holds promise for candidate evaluation and patient monitoring.
Location and Orientation of Electrically Small Transmitting and Receiving Antenna Pairs with Common Linear Polarization and Beam Direction for Minimal Mutual Coupling

In measurements of electromagnetic scattering (such as by a radar), one needs to transmit (from an antenna) an incident wave which in turn scatters from the object of interest (the target), the scattered field being sensed in turn via some receive antenna. The far-field amplitude decays with distance r proportional to r -1. Similarly the scattered far field is proportional to r -1 for a total decay of the received signal (voltage) proportional to r -2. If the same antenna is used for both transmission and reception (monostatic), there is then a problem in accurately measuring the scattered signal in the presence of the transmitted signal. One can use time gating to separate these if the time duration is shorter than the round-trip transit time to the target. So a short pulse in transmission offers some advantages. However, the transmitted signal should decay sufficiently rapidly in the source and antenna, noting the possibility of small reflections and resonances, which carry out in time. The decay should be sufficiently rapid such that at the round-trip time from the target the signal is negligible compared to the scattered signal in the antenna.
Audiences for Science Communication in the United States

The US National Science Foundation collects biennial data on views about science and technology (S&T). Analyses have typically focused on the degree to which demographics, knowledge, and attitudes ...
Regions of Validity for Models of Regeneration of Sintered Supported Metal Catalysts

The crystallite splitting model of regeneration of sintered supported metal catalysts is described quantitatively and is compared with the thermodynamic redispersion models. It is suggested that the former approach is particularly applicable in modeling the behavior of larger particles and of all sized particles at relatively small regeneration times, while the latter approach is similarly useful for smaller particles and after longer regeneration times.
Mesh and Boundary Considerations in the Numerical Modeling of Large 3-D Electromagnetic NDT Geometries

Numerical modeling is particularly useful for simulating the energy/defect interactions associated with electromagnetic methods of nondestructive testing, because of the relative ease with which the awkward boundary conditions and shapes can be handled. With the increasing availablity of commercial code it is worthwhile reminding the potential NDT user of the old computer adage “garbage in, garbage out”, as many modeling situations, particularly those associated with large pipeline structures, can present formidable discretization problems in 3D to even the most sophisticated of today’s computers, and one must take care in the choice of mesh used for any given problem. This paper describes some situations where mesh choice plays a significant role in the accuracy of numerical code predictions. Two examples considered here, for illustrating these difficulties are (i) the remote field eddy current method and (ii) the flux leakage method, for inspecting ferromagnetic pipelines.
Duplicate Bridge Tournaments

In this chapter we describe a connection between quadratic residues and design of duplicate bridge tournaments.
A Participant-Observer's Perspective on Psychotherapy Integration

Jacobson has raised a number of issues about the usefulness of psychotherapy integration. Some of his concerns stem from his doubt that people are capable of change, and some that appear to be the result of a misinterpretation of what constitutes psychotherapy integration. This article attempts to clarify some of these misunderstandings, which seem to be the result of equating psychotherapy integration with the integration of theories. Comments are also made about the research underpinings related to work in this area.
The African During the War, 1943–1944

As World War II was coming to an end the African was able to resume printing under the leadership of A. Balfour Linton. This chapter examines the articles published during his leadership, which discuss African, United States, and Caribbean news, African History and Culture and explores the contributions of Amy Jacques Garvey as an associate contributor. In addition to informing the readers of the glorious African past in the African History Installments, the primary themes published were the affects of imperialism and colonialism across the diaspora and unity between African-Americans and Black West Indians.
What to Do Instead of Null Hypothesis Significance Testing or Confidence Intervals

Based on the banning of null hypothesis significance testing and confidence intervals in Basic and Applied Psychology (2015), this presentation focusses on alternative ways for researchers to think about inference. One section reviews literature on the a priori procedure. The basic idea, here, is that researchers can perform much inferential work before the experiment. Furthermore, this possibility changes the scientific philosophy in important ways. A second section moves to what researchers should do after they have collected their data, with an accent on obtaining a better understanding of the obtained variance. Researchers should try out a variety of summary statistics, instead of just one type (such as means), because seemingly conceptually similar summary statistics nevertheless can imply very different qualitative stories. Also, rather than engage in the typical bipartite distinction between variance due to the independent variable and variance not due to the independent variable; a tripartite distinction is possible that divides variance not due to the independent variable into variance due to systematic or random factors, with important positive consequences for researchers. Finally, the third major section focusses on how researchers should or should not draw causal conclusions from their data. This section features a discussion of within-participants causation versus between-participants causation, with an accent on whether the type of causation specified in the theory is matched or mismatched by the type of causation tested in the experiment. There also is a discussion of causal modeling approaches, with criticisms. The upshot is that researchers could do much more a priori work, and much more a posteriori work too, to maximize the scientific gains they obtain from their empirical research.
Ochsner Research Update, 2015-2016

The 2015-2016 academic year has been productive on multiple fronts. For example, in the area of basic science/translational research, the Laboratory of Translational Cancer Research has continued to employ its molecular genetics approach to determine optimal treatment programs for patients with
Radiomics-based convolutional neural network for brain tumor segmentation on multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging.

Accurate segmentation of gliomas on routine magnetic resonance image (MRI) scans plays an important role in disease diagnosis, prognosis, and patient treatment planning. We present a fully automated approach, radiomics-based convolutional neural network (RadCNN), for segmenting both high- and low-grade gliomas using multimodal MRI volumes (T1c, T2w, and FLAIR). RadCNN incorporates radiomic texture features (i.e., Haralick, Gabor, and Laws) within DeepMedic [a deep 3-D convolutional neural network (CNN) segmentation framework that uses image intensities; a top performing method in the BraTS 2016 challenge] to further augment the performance of brain tumor subcompartment segmentation. We first identify textural radiomic representations that best separate the different subcompartments [enhancing tumor (ET), whole tumor (WT), and tumor core (TC)] on the training set, and then feed these representations as inputs to the CNN classifier for prediction of different subcompartments. We hypothesize that textural radiomic representations of lesion subcompartments will enhance the separation of subcompartment boundaries, and hence providing these features as inputs to the deep CNN, over and above raw intensity values alone, will improve the subcompartment segmentation. Using a training set of N = 241 patients, validation set of N = 44, and test set of N = 46 patients, RadCNN method achieved Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) scores of 0.71, 0.89, and 0.73 for ET, WT, and TC, respectively. Compared to the DeepMedic model, RadCNN showed improvement in DSC scores for both ET and WT and demonstrated comparable results in segmenting the TC. Similarly, smaller Hausdorff distance measures were obtained with RadCNN as compared to the DeepMedic model across all the subcompartments. Following the segmentation of the different subcompartments, we extracted a set of subcompartment specific radiomic descriptors that capture lesion disorder and assessed their ability in separating patients into different survival cohorts (short-, mid- and long-term survival) based on their overall survival from the date of baseline diagnosis. Using a multilinear regression approach, we achieved accuracies of 0.57, 0.63, and 0.45 for the training, validation, and test cases, respectively.
Neural Networks for Detection of Process Change in Manufacturing Systems

Two design prototypes of neural network for on-line process chnage detection in dynamic model-switching environments are presented. The process model is assumed to follow either an ARMAX or a non-linear Volterra representation. The connection strengths of the first neural network are adaptable parameter estimates of the underlying process model. The second prototype is based on the learning vector quantization procedure. Two important design considerations are discussed; i.e., what type of distance measures are suitable for process change detection and how the neural networks should be trained for on-line applications. Various change detection measures and training procedures are also discussed. Finally, on-line performance of the proposed neural networks is demonstrated via computer simulation experiments.
PEDIATRIC ORTHOPEDIC RADIOGRAPH REDUCTION: A QUALITY IMPROVEMENT INITIATIVE:

Background:Children are more vulnerable to ionizing radiation which increases health risks later in life including cancer. An interdepartmental team developed an algorithm to guide providers orderi...
Effect of shelter-in-place on emergency department radiology volumes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to significant disruptions in the healthcare system including surges of infected patients exceeding local capacity, closures of primary care offices, and delays of non-emergent medical care. Government-initiated measures to decrease healthcare utilization (i.e., “flattening the curve”) have included shelter-in-place mandates and social distancing, which have taken effect across most of the USA. We evaluate the immediate impact of the Public Health Messaging and shelter-in-place mandates on Emergency Department (ED) demand for radiology services. We analyzed ED radiology volumes from the five University of California health systems during a 2-week time period following the shelter-in-place mandate and compared those volumes with March 2019 and early April 2019 volumes. ED radiology volumes declined from the 2019 baseline by 32 to 40% (p < 0.001) across the five health systems with a total decrease in volumes across all 5 systems by 35% (p < 0.001). Stratifying by subspecialty, the smallest declines were seen in non-trauma thoracic imaging, which decreased 18% (p value < 0.001), while all other non-trauma studies decreased by 48% (p < 0.001). Total ED radiology demand may be a marker for public adherence to shelter-in-place mandates, though ED chest radiology demand may increase with an increase in COVID-19 cases.
Elective proximal aortic surgery in patients with renal insufficiency

Background To evaluate preoperative risk factors and postoperative outcomes in patients with preoperative renal insufficiency undergoing open surgical repair of the aortic root, ascending aorta, or aortic arch. Methods Our institutional database was reviewed for all patients undergoing elective aortic root, ascending aorta, and aortic arch open repairs. Patients were separated into two groups based on renal function. Patients with preoperative renal insufficiency were compared to those with normal renal function. Regression analyses were used to identify independent predictors of short and long term postoperative outcomes. Results The cohort consisted of 2140 patients, of which 55 had preoperative renal insufficiency (PRI). Patients with PRI were older and had worse cardiovascular risk profiles. On presentation, PRI patients were more likely to have lower ejection fraction. There was no difference in operative mortality between the two groups. The most frequent major postoperative complications among renal insufficiency patients were reoperation for bleeding (9.1%, P = .02). Logistic regression analysis indicated that PRI and left ventricular ejection fraction were independent predictors of major adverse events. Long-term survival was significantly reduced in preoperative renal insufficiency patients in the unmatched cohort. Conclusions Aortic patients with preoperative renal insufficiency have a higher risk profile of mortality. Renal insufficiency remains an independent predictor of adverse outcomes following aortic surgery and understanding this patient population can guide physicians to improve outcomes.
Adolescents' perceptions of maternal response to negative affect predict emotional reactivity during mother-daughter interaction: A multi-modal assessment.

Parental socialization of emotion consists of parental behaviors that scaffold child emotional reactivity and regulation. The current study examined whether adolescents' perceptions of their mothers' supportive versus non-supportive responses to negative emotions could predict adolescent emotional reactivity. Thirty adolescent girls (Mage = 14.41 [1.55]) reported on how their mothers typically respond to their negative emotions and then completed a laboratory-based mother-adolescent interaction task. A multi-modal assessment of adolescent emotional reactivity during the interaction included adolescents' skin conductance levels (SCLs) and state anxiety, and mother-daughter interactions were behaviorally coded to assess how often dyads engaged in both negative and positive escalation (i.e., a pattern of negative or positive behavior of one partner being reciprocated by the other). Adolescents who reported that their mothers used more non-supportive responses to their negative emotion tended to exhibit higher SCL and engage in more negative escalation with their mothers during the interaction task. Furthermore, adolescents' SCL was positively correlated with both their state anxiety levels and negative escalation during the task. Together, these findings suggest that adolescents who perceive their mothers as less supportive of negative emotions are more likely to exhibit greater negative emotionality during parent-adolescent interaction, which may relate to risk for emotional disorders.
Systematic review of family engagement interventions in neonatal, paediatric, and adult ICUs

Aims and objectives The purpose of this systematic review was to evaluate interventions that have been used to engage families in direct care activities (active family engagement) in adult, paediatric, and neonatal intensive care unit (ICU) settings. Background Family engagement is universally advocated across ICU populations and practice settings; however, appraisal of the active family engagement intervention literature remains limited. Search strategy Ovid Medline, PsycArticles & PsycInfo, Scopus, and CINAHL were searched for family interventions that involved direct care of the patient to enhance the psychological, physical, or emotional well-being of the patient or family in neonatal, paediatric, or adult ICUs. Inclusion/exclusion criteria Studies were included if an active family engagement intervention was evaluated. Studies were excluded if they were not published in English or reported non-interventional research. Results A total of 6210 abstracts were screened and 19 studies were included. Most studies were of low to moderate quality and were conducted in neonatal ICUs within the United States. Intervention dosage and frequency varied widely across studies. The interventions focused on developmental care (neonatal ICU) and involved families in basic patient care. Family member outcomes measured included satisfaction, stress, family-centred care, confidence, anxiety, and depression. Most studies found improvements in one or more outcomes. Conclusions There is a paucity of literature about active family engagement interventions, especially in adult and paediatric populations. The optimal dosage and frequency of family engagement interventions remains unknown. Our systematic review found that data are limited on the relationship between family engagement and patient outcomes, and provides a timely appraisal to guide future research. Relevance to clinical practice Further research on the efficacy of family engagement interventions is warranted. The translation of active family engagement interventions into clinical practice should also be supported.
Persistent images: Encountering film history in contemporary cinema

As Andrew Utterson prefaces, Persistent Images first and foremost presents an assemblage of cinematic-mnemonic encounters, of ‘meeting[s] of mediation and memory that beckon the historian’ to appro...
Murine Intrarectal Instillation of Purified Recombinant Clostridioides difficile Toxins Enables Mechanistic Studies of Pathogenesis.

ABSTRACT Clostridioides difficile is linked to nearly 225,000 antibiotic-associated diarrheal infections and almost 13,000 deaths per year in the United States. Pathogenic strains of C. difficile produce toxin A (TcdA) and toxin B (TcdB), which can directly kill cells and induce an inflammatory response in the colonic mucosa. Hirota et al. (S. A. Hirota et al., Infect Immun 80:4474–4484, 2012) first introduced the intrarectal instillation model of intoxication using TcdA and TcdB purified from VPI 10463 (VPI 10463 reference strain [ATCC 43255]) and 630 C. difficile strains. Here, we expand this technique by instilling purified, recombinant TcdA and TcdB, which allows for the interrogation of how specifically mutated toxins affect tissue. Mouse colons were processed and stained with hematoxylin and eosin for blinded evaluation and scoring by a board-certified gastrointestinal pathologist. The amount of TcdA or TcdB needed to produce damage was lower than previously reported in vivo and ex vivo. Furthermore, TcdB mutants lacking either endosomal pore formation or glucosyltransferase activity resemble sham negative controls. Immunofluorescent staining revealed how TcdB initially damages colonic tissue by altering the epithelial architecture closest to the lumen. Tissue sections were also immunostained for markers of acute inflammatory infiltration. These staining patterns were compared to slides from a human C. difficile infection (CDI). The intrarectal instillation mouse model with purified recombinant TcdA and/or TcdB provides the flexibility needed to better understand structure/function relationships across different stages of CDI pathogenesis.
The Weight is Over...Obesity Does Not Adversely Affect Venoarterial Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Outcomes

Purpose Obesity may complicate the effective cannulation and delivery of veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO). With rising global body mass indices (BMI), obesity is becoming an increasingly more prevalent comorbidity in severe cardiogenic shock yet its impact on outcomes is not well-described. This study examined the relationship between BMI and VA-ECMO outcomes to better inform clinical decision making. Methods Clinical data from all 574 cardiogenic shock patients who received VA-ECMO at our institution from March 2008 to January 2019 were analyzed. Patients were dichotomized into two groups: BMI ≥35kg/m2 (n=91) and BMI Results Median BMI was 28.4 kg/m2 (IQR 24.6-32.5) with a range of 14.0-69.1kg/m2. Patients with BMI≥35kg/m2 were significantly more likely to be younger, less likely to be male, and had a significantly higher rate of type 2 diabetes. Overall cohort survival to discharge was 46% (n=267/574), and was not different between the obese and non-obese cohorts (46% vs. 46% p=1.00). Obese patients were more likely to need CVVH while in-hospital (45% vs. 34%, p=0.046). Controlling for preoperative risk factors, multivariable logistic regression identified being underweight (BMI Conclusion Clinicians need not treat obesity as a negative prognostic factor in cardiogenic shock requiring VA-ECMO. The results of this study suggest that being underweight, rather than obese, portends a poorer prognosis for these patients.
Capturing an elusive but critical element: Natural protein enables actinium chemistry.

Actinium-based therapies could revolutionize cancer medicine but remain tantalizing due to the difficulties in studying and limited knowledge of Ac chemistry. Current efforts focus on small synthet...
A thin, high penetration depth phased array transducer with a metamaterial acoustic backing for cardiac imaging with X-ray computed tomography compatibility

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is one of the leading causes of death globally. Computed tomography coronary angiography (CTCA) is a non-invasive procedure for the diagnosis of CAD. However, CTCA is negatively affected by cardiac motion and thus requires the use of ECG data to ensure the CT system only acquires data during periods of cardiac quiescence. Ultrasound-based cardiac gating can improve the reliability of CTCA by providing more accurate cardiac quiescence detection. To identify cardiac quiescence and thus the time periods for CT acquisition, a 92-element phased array ultrasound transducer was designed for CT compatibility. This array incorporates an acoustic metamaterial within its backing, enabling a thinner transducer with improved CT compatibility. The fabricated array has a bandwidth of 58% and SNR of 17.7 dB. Radiographic properties of the array were characterized using a clinical CT system, and ultrasound imaging performance was evaluated by acoustic characterization, phantom imaging, and in vivo imaging in one human volunteer. The developed array transducer could be useful for providing cardiac gating during CTCA imaging.
Inhibition of ALK2 with bicyclic pyridyllactams.

Abstract Activin receptor-like kinase 2 (ALK2) has been implicated as a key target in multiple rare diseases. Herein, we describe the design of a novel bicyclic lactam series of potent and selective ALK2 inhibitors. This manuscript details an improvement in potency of two orders of magnitude from the initial bicyclic structure as well as a two-fold improvement in cellular potency from the original monocyclic inhibitor. Furthermore, we provide a detailed strategy for progressing this project in the future.
Food Resources and Their Utilization

Biology is by far a more difficult subject than physics. It is much more complex, and it has more variables. It is more difficult to do a controlled experiment and to understand the basic laws of nature which apply in biology than it is in physics. The complexity of problems in biology means that the subject should be attacked with all the skills and tools available.
The Regulators of Complement Activation (RCA) Gene Cluster

The complement system is a potent recognition and effector pathway that plays a major role in the immune response. It mediates the destruction and disposal of immune complexes and foreign substances through interactions between complement proteolytic fragments deposited on targets and complement receptors on cell surfaces. To faciliate this process, and to prevent damage to self-tissue, a remarkable family of control proteins (the regulators of complement activation or RCA proteins) has evolved (see recent reviews of Hourcade et al., 1989; Campbell et al., 1988 and Reid and Day, 1989). Each member interacts with a derivative of C4 and/or C3, shares a repeating polypeptide motif, and is encoded at a single genetic region, the RCA cluster.
Effect of Water on the Sound Velocities of Ringwoodite in the Transition Zone

High-pressure elasticity studies will play a central role in efforts to constrain the potential hydration state of the Earth's mantle from seismic observations. Here we report the effects of 1 wt% H 2 O (as structurally bound OH) on the sound velocities and elastic moduli of single-crystal ringwoodite of Fo 90 composition, thought to be the dominant phase in the deeper part of the transition zone between 520 and 660-km depth. The experiments were made possible through development of a GHz-ultrasonic interferometer used to monitor P and S-wave travel times through micro-samples (30-50 μm thickness) under hydrostatic compression in the diamond-anvil cell. The velocity data to ∼10 GPa indicate that hydrous ringwoodite supports 1-2% lower shear-wave velocities than anhydrous ringwoodite at transition zone pressures, though elevated pressure derivatives (K' = 5.3 ± 0.4 and G' = 2.0 ± 0.2) bring calculated hydrous P-velocities close to anhydrous values within their mutual uncertainties above ∼12 GPa. Corresponding V P /V S ratios are elevated by ∼2.3% and not strongly dependent on pressure. Velocities for hydrous ringwoodite are calculated along a 1673 K adiabat using finite-strain theory and compared with existing data on anhydrous ringwoodite and various radial seismic models. It may be possible to distinguish hydration from temperature anomalies by low S-velocities associated with "normal" P-velocities and accompanying high V P /V S ratios. The presence of a broadened and elevated 410-km discontinuity, together with depressed 660-km discontinuities and intervening low S-wave anomalies along with high V P / V S ratios are the most seismologically diagnostic features of hydration considering the available information from mineral physics.
Social Work Practice and the Law, by Lyn K. Slater and Kara R. Fink

Starting from the premise that clients benefit from the integration of the legal and social work professions, this excellent introduction to the legal arena is written for social workers entering a...
I Did Not Return a Master, But Well Cudgeled Was I: The Role of “Body Techniques” in the Transmission of Venezuelan Stick and Machete Fighting

RESUMEN Este articulo examina la manera en que los atributos del cuerpo son cultivados y “disciplinados” para ser reconocidos como miembro de un grupo social. Ubicado en el noreste de Venezuela, este articulo examina el modo de pelea con palos, machetes y cuchillos transmitido por medio de un grupo social particular. Siguiendo una descripcion de los distintos contextos donde se desarrollan estos metodos locales de combate armado identificados como “Garrote de Lara.”, este articulo sugiere que pisar y ver no son solo atributos fisicos pero “tecnicas del cuerpo.” Ellos son modos socialmente mediados para mirar, sentirse y moverse en el medio ambiente. Se parte de la idea de que las respuestas habituales de una comunidad hacia acciones violentas interpersonales, estan determinadas por factores historicos y ecologicos especificos.
Natural selection and fitness entropy in a density-regulated population.

ABSTRACT The entropy H ( p o ,p *) of a population with the initial allele frequency p o given the equilibrium polymorphic frequency p * has been proposed as a measure of natural selection. In the present paper, we have extended this concept to include a particular aspect of density-dependent selection. We compared size trajectory of a population initially at genetic equilibrium, N ( t ), with the size trajectories of populations not initially at p *, N ( t ), but which do eventually converge to a common equilibrium allele frequency and equilibrium density, N *. The following experimentally testable hyopthesis was established. The total area defined by the difference between the trajectories of N ( t ) and N ( t ) as they converge to N * is directly proportional to the fitness entropy when population size is transformed using the density-dependent fitness value. Two properties of this relationship were noted. First, it is independent of the magnitude of natural selection and, secondly, it does not depend upon the initial population density as long as the equilibrium and nonequilibrium populations have the same initial numbers. This hypothesis was evaluated with experimental data on the flour beetle Tribolium castaneum .
Robust adaptive Wiener filtering

A recent paper by Anderes and Paul [1] analyze a regression characterization of a new estimator of lensing from cosmic microwave observations, developed by Hu and Okamoto [2, 3, 4]. A key tool used in that paper is the application of the robust generalized shrinkage priors developed 30 years ago in [5, 6, 7] to the problem of adaptive Wiener filtering. The technique requires the user to propose a fiducial model for the spectral density of the unknown signal but the resulting estimator is developed to be robust to misspecification of this model. The role of the fiducial spectral density is to give the estimator superior statistical performance in a “neighborhood of the fiducial model” while controlling the statistical errors when the fiducial spectral density is drastically wrong. One of the main advantages of this adaptive Wiener filter is that one can easily obtain posterior samples of the true signal given the unknown data. These posterior samples are particularly advantageous when studying non-linear functions of the signal, cross correlating with other independent measurements of the same signal and can be used to propagate uncertainty when the filtering is done in a scientific pipeline. In this paper we explore these advantages with simulations and examine the possibility of widespread application in more general image and signal processing problems.
Carcinoma of the endolarynx: results of irradiation

Irradiation at the University of Michigan in the 1960's was carried out in 192 patients with endolaryngeal carcinoma. Thirty-two and 66% of the cases were located in the supraglottic and glottic regions respectively. Cases were classified in stages after appropriate TNM grouping. Results were analyzed with respect to tumor location, size, and dose-time relationship. Early lesions were controlled more often than advanced ones. Radical surgery to the primary and/or neck improved overall survival, which was 89% at 5 years for 127 glottic carcinoma cases and 61% for 61 patients with supraglottic tumors. No significant complications were found following radiation therapy.
Stereotype threat engenders neural attentional bias toward negative feedback to undermine performance

Stereotype threat, a situational pressure individuals experience when they fear confirming a negative group stereotype, engenders a cascade of physiological stress responses, negative appraisals, and performance monitoring processes that tax working memory resources necessary for optimal performance. Less is known, however, about how stereotype threat biases attentional processing in response to performance feedback, and how such attentional biases may undermine performance. Women received feedback on math problems in stereotype threatening compared to stereotype-neutral contexts while continuous EEG activity was recorded. Findings revealed that stereotype threatened women elicited larger midline P100 ERPs, increased phase locking between anterior cingulate cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (two regions integral for attentional processes), and increased power in left fusiform gyrus in response to negative feedback compared to positive feedback and women in stereotype-neutral contexts. Increased power in left fusiform gyrus in response to negative feedback predicted underperformance on the math task among stereotype threatened women only. Women in stereotype-neutral contexts exhibited the opposite trend. Findings suggest that in stereotype threatening contexts, neural networks integral for attention and working memory are biased toward negative, stereotype confirming feedback at very early speeds of information processing. This bias, in turn, plays a role in undermining performance.
Ignition of a combustible mixture by an inert hot particle

The method of matched asymptotic expansions is applied through second order for the study of the ignition of a combustible mixture by an inert particle via steady state analysis. The activation energy is assumed to be large, and the inverse of a reduced activation energy β is taken as the perturbation parameter. The critical Damkohler number Δcr above which ignition is expected to occur is obtained up to 0(β). This second order solution is in better agreement with the numerical calculation of the transient case1 than the first order solution of the steady case by Law2 in predicting the ignition criterion. The previously used ignition criterion of zero slope on the surface1 is found to occur after the ignition of the combustible mixture, and hence is justified.
Metabolism of monoterpenes: Demonstration of the hydroxylation of (+)-sabinene to (+)- cis-sabinol by an enzyme preparation from sage (Salvia officinalis) leaves

Abstract A microsomal preparation from the epidermis of Salvia officinalis leaves catalyzed the NADPH- and O 2 -dependent hydroxylation of the monoterpene olefin (+)-sabinene to (+)- cis -sabinol. The reaction catalyzed is a key step in the biosynthesis of C3-oxygenated thujane monoterpenes, and the hydroxylase is highly specific for (+)-sabinene as substrate. The hydroxylase from leaf homogenates was solubilized and characterized with regard to reaction conditions, inhibitors, and activators. Activity was partially inhibited by rabbit anti-rat cytochrome P-450 and by CO, and the latter inhibition was reversed by 450 nm light. A CO-difference spectrum and type I substrate binding spectrum were obtained. The hydroxylase meets most of the established criteria for a cytochrome P -450-dependent mixed function oxygenase and represents one of very few enzyme systems of this type to be isolated from leaves of a higher plant.
Seasonal and diel variation of atmospheric mercury concentrations in the Reno (Nevada, USA) airshed

Abstract This paper describes total gaseous mercury (TGM) concentrations measured in Reno, Nevada from 2002 to 2005. The 3-year mean and median air Hg concentrations were 2.3 and 2.1 ng m −3 , respectively. Mercury concentrations exhibited seasonality, with the highest concentrations in winter, and the lowest in summer and fall. A well-defined diel pattern in TGM concentration was observed, with maximum daily concentrations observed in the morning and minimum in the afternoon. A gradual increase of TGM concentration was observed in the evening and over night. The early morning increase in TGM was likely due to activation of local surface emission sources by rising solar irradiance and air temperature. The subsequent decline and afternoon minimum in TGM were likely related to increased vertical mixing and the buildup of atmospheric oxidants during the day resulting in increased conversion to oxidized species that are quickly deposited, coupled with weakening of the surface emissions processes. The described diel pattern was seasonally modulated with the greatest amplitude in variation of TGM concentrations occurring in the summer. It is suggested based on the comparison of diel TGM pattern with other gaseous pollutants that natural source surface emissions are a dominant source of TGM in the study area.
Mechanisms of stiffening and strengthening in media-equivalents fabricated using glycation.

We have recently reported that glycation can be exploited to increase the circumferential tensile stiffness and ultimate tensile strength of media-equivalents (MEs) and increase their resistance to collagenolytic degradation, all without loss of cell viability (Girton et al., 1999). The glycated MEs were fabricated by entrapping high passage adult rat aorta SMCs in collagen gel made from pepsin-digested bovine dermal collagen, and incubated for up to 10 weeks in complete medium with 30 mM ribose added. We report here on experiments showing that ME compaction due to traction exerted by the SMCs with consequent alignment of collagen fibrils was necessary to realize the glycation-mediated stiffening and strengthening, but that synthesis of extracellular matrix constituents by these cells likely contributed little, even when 50 micrograms/ml ascorbate was added to the medium. These glycated MEs exhibited a compliance similar to arteries, but possessed less tensile strength and much less burst strength. MEs fabricated with low rather than high passage adult rat aorta SMCs possessed almost ten times greater tensile strength, suggesting that alternative SMCs sources and biopolymer gels may yield sufficient strength by compositional remodeling prior to implantation in addition to the structural remodeling (i.e., circumferential alignment) already obtained.
Asteroid 4179 Toutatis: 1996 Radar Observations

We report initial results of daily delay/Doppler observations of Toutatis with the Goldstone 8510-MHz (3.5-cm) radar during November 25 - December 3, 1996. Using the physical model of Toutatis derived form 1992 radar observations (Hudson and Ostro 1995, Science 270, 84-86) to analyze the new data, we obtain refined estimates of the asteroid's orbit, spin state, and surface properties.
Incidence and short-term outcomes of primary and revision hip replacement in the United States.

Background: The purpose of this study was to use 2003 nationwide United States data to determine the incidences of primary total hip replacement, partial hip replacement, and revision hip replacement and to assess the short-term patient outcomes and factors associated with the outcomes. Methods: We screened more than eight million hospital discharge abstracts from the 2003 Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Nationwide Inpatient Sample and approximately nine million discharge abstracts from five state inpatient databases. Patients who had undergone total, partial, or revision hip replacement were identified with use of International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) procedure codes. In-hospital mortality, perioperative complications, readmissions, and the association between these outcomes and certain patient and hospital variables were analyzed. Results: Approximately 200,000 total hip replacements, 100,000 partial hip replacements, and 36,000 revision hip replacements were performed in the United States in 2003. Approximately 60% of the patients were sixty-five years of age or older and at least 75% had one or more comorbid diseases. The in-hospital mortality rates associated with these three procedures were 0.33%, 3.04%, and 0.84%, respectively. The perioperative complication rates associated with the three procedures were 0.68%, 1.36%, and 1.08%, respectively, for deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism; 0.28%, 1.88%, and 1.27% for decubitus ulcer; and 0.05%, 0.06%, and 0.25% for postoperative infection. The rates of readmission, for any cause, within thirty days were 4.91%, 12.15%, and 8.48%, respectively, and the rates of readmissions, within thirty days, that resulted in a surgical procedure on the affected hip were 0.79%, 0.91%, and 1.53%. The rates of readmission, for any cause, within ninety days were 8.94%, 21.14%, and 15.72%, and the rates of readmissions, within ninety days, that resulted in a surgical procedure on the affected hip were 2.15%, 1.61%, and 3.99%. Advanced age and comorbid diseases were associated with worse outcomes, while private insurance coverage and planned admissions were associated with better outcomes. No consistent association between outcomes and hospital characteristics, such as hip procedure volume, was identified. Conclusions: Total hip replacement, partial hip replacement, and revision hip replacement are associated with different rates of postoperative complications and readmissions. Advanced age, comorbidities, and nonelective admissions are associated with inferior outcomes. Level of Evidence: Therapeutic Level III. See Instructions to Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.