cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A comparison of US and Norwegian regulation of coumarin in tobacco products.

Objective: This paper examines policy processes regarding why the USA and Norway have not regulated coumarin in tobacco. Design: A qualitative analysis of all tobacco industry documents regarding coumarin since the 1950s from the 1998 US Master Settlement Agreement and subsequent legal settlements. Additional data were collected from newspaper reports, general internet search engines, journal articles, scholarly reports, court cases, statutes, regulations, and informal correspondence with tobacco control experts in Norway. Main outcome measure: An overview, summary, and analysis of all documents related to coumarin. Results: In the USA from 1954 until 1985 when coumarin was reportedly removed from domestic cigarettes, but not from pipe tobacco until 1996, and not at all from imported Indian bidi cigarettes, regulatory efforts were stymied. In Norway, from 1973 to the present, the tobacco industry has never disclosed whether its tobacco products contain coumarin. In both the USA and Norway, the extreme delay and lack of vigorous evidence gathering and significant remedies were caused by tobacco industry assertions that revealing tobacco additives was a violation of trade secrets, and by weak regulatory authority and efforts to regulate coumarin. Conclusion: Vigorous and expeditious regulatory investigations and remedies for harmful additives in tobacco, such as coumarin, can protect the public health. Astute insider and outsider political advocacy by health advocates is required to hold elected officials and civil servants publicly accountable for failing to enact disclosure laws and to engage in effective regulatory efforts.
Cultural Orientation and Coping With Perceived Discrimination Among African American Youth

This study sought to explore whether the resonance of certain orientations and dimensions asserted to be distinctive of Black culture (affect, communalism, and spirituality) and mainstream American culture (competition, effort optimism, and individualism) wer related to the strategies used by African American youth to cope with perceived discrimination. Participants wer 120 African American youth from two geographical regions in the United States (northern Alabama, n = 71; central Ohio, n = 49). The findings suggested that orientations and corresponding dimensions of Black culture and mainstream American culture might evidence varying degrees of resonance among African American youth from disparate social-environmental contexts. The findings also indicated that spirituality and effort optimism wer related to greater use of self-reliance/problemsolving coping strategies, whereas communalism was related to lower use of externalizing coping strategies. The implications of cultural orientation for the adjustm...
Rainbow: a toolbox for phylogenetic supertree construction and analysis

Summary: Rainbow is a program that provides a graphic user interface to construct supertrees using different methods. It also provides tools to analyze the quality of the supertrees produced. Rainbow is available for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux. Availability: Rainbow is a free open-source software. Its binary files, source code, and manual can be downloaded from the Rainbow web page: http://genome.cs.iastate.edu/Rainbow/
Activity of Three-β-Hydroxysteroid Dehydrogenase in Granulosa Cells Treated in Vitro with Luteinizing Hormone, Follicle-Stimulating Hormone, Prolactin, or a Combination

ABSTRACT Three-β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3β-HSD) is a key enzyme in the pathway that produces progesterone. Hy-Line hens (W36, W98, and Brown) were subjected to mild heat stress [36°C for 24 h (acute heat stress, AHS) or 2 wk (chronic heat stress, CHS)] or maintained at 22°C (thermoneutral, TN). Granulosa cells (GC) from the 3 largest follicles were isolated, dispersed, and incubated with luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), prolactin (PRL), a combination, or no hormone (control), and then with pregnenolone nitro blue tetrazolium to determine 3β-HSD activity. Treatment by LH (TN, P = 0.04; AHS, CHS, P
Improved design technique of a microwave class-E power amplifier with finite switching-on resistance

The class-E amplifier is a highly efficient amplifier for microwave power applications. Due to the complexity involved, previous analytical efforts assumed either zero switch resistance and/or infinite drain (collector) inductance, which resulted in less than optimum designs. In this paper, we take the effect of both the finite switching-on resistance and finite drain inductance into account, and present an improved and optimized design technique. A 1.9 GHz CMOS class-E power amplifier, which can deliver 0.25 W of output power, was analyzed as an example of this new design technique. Excellent agreement between the theoretical analysis and simulation results is reported, pointing the way towards the optimized design of the class-E stage for microwave applications.
The physiological basis for symptoms in Guillain-Barré syndrome.

An experimental humorally induced focal demyelinative lesion of peripheral nerve is described. Associated with this lesion, conduction block appears rapidly--as early as 30 minutes in some axons--and progresses to completion within four hours. Small-diameter myelinated axons block before those of larger diameter. Recovery of conduction occurs in 6 to 15 days. This model provides a basis for understanding the time course of onset and recovery in acute Guillain-Barre syndrome and raises the possibility that a humoral mechanism might be important in the pathogenesis of the disease.
Die Frage nach den Beziehungen Zwischen den Drei Verschiedenen Evidenzen im Urteilen und den Drei Verschiedenen Begriffen von Urteil

Die Antwort auf die Frage danach, wie sich die drei verschiedenen Evidenzen im Urteilen einerseits und die drei verschiedenen Begriffe von Urteil andererseits zueinander verhalten, ist auch schon durch den Versuch, festzustellen, um welche Evidenzen im Urteilen und um welche Begriffe von Urteil es sich bei den drei verschiedenen Evidenzen im Urteilen und bei den drei verschiedenen Begriffen von Urteil im Sinne der Dreischichtung der formalen Logik als formaler Apophantik bzw. apophantischer Analytik uberhaupt handelt — aber auch durch die Antwort auf die Frage nach den Beziehungen zwischen den drei verschiedenen Stufen bzw. Schichten der Apophantik und den drei verschiedenen Evidenzen im Urteilen sowie durch die Antwort auf die Frage nach den Beziehungen zwischen den drei verschiedenen Stufen bzw. Schichten der Apophantik und den drei verschiedenen Begriffen von Urteil —, weitgehend vorweggenommen worden und last sich also folgendermasen zusammenfassen: In der Tat ist es nicht die Verknupfung von einerseits dem verworrenen Urteilen bzw. der Evidenz der Verworrenheit, dem deutlichen Urteilen bzw. der Evidenz der Deutlichkeit und dem klaren Urteilen bzw. der Evidenz der Klarheit und andererseits dem verworrenen Urteil, dem deutlichen Urteil und dem klaren Urteil, die man braucht, um die Dreischichtung nachvollziehen zu konnen; vielmehr stimmen, erstens, das Urteilen im weitesten Sinne bzw. die Evidenz im weitesten Sinne und der weiteste Urteilsbegriff bzw. das Urteil im weitesten Sinne, zweitens, das deutliche Urteilen bzw. die Evidenz der Deutlichkeit und das deutliche Urteil bzw. der Begriff des deutlichen Urteils und, drittens, das klarea Urteilen bzw. die Evidenz der KlarheitA und das klarea Urteil bzw. der Begriff des klarena Urteils miteinander uberein, und darin besteht auch die echte correspondentia zwischen den drei verschiedenen Evidenzen im Urteilen und den drei verschiedenen Begriffen von Urteil, die der Dreischichtung der apophantischen Analytik zugrunde liegt.
Control of Primary Particle Size and the Onset of Aggregate Formation: The Effect of Energy Release in Nanoparticle Collision and Coalescence Processes

During coalescence, the surface area of theparticle decreases, resulting in a heat release associated with the resulting lower surface energy. In a growthprocessparticle heating competes with heat transfer by conduction to the cooler carrier gas and radiation. This temperature increase can be extremely important and should be accounted for when modeling collision/coalescenceprocesses. The heat release associated withparticle coalescence may reduce the coalescence time by as much as a few orders of magnitude. In addition, under some conditions there is insufficient time for theparticles to cool to the gas temperature before another collision event takesplace. It is shown that accounting for energy release and heat transfer effects have a dramatic effect onprimaryparticle formation and the onset of aggregate formation. The results of the work indicate that to grow the largestprimaryparticles one should operate at lowpressures and high volume loadings.
The Study of Coping

A primary focus of this volume centers on a pivotal domain of the stress process; namely, those conditions having the capacity to blunt what would otherwise be the severe stressful impact of difficult life experiences. Generically, these conditions are referred to as mediators (or moderators). In addition to coping, they include social support, mastery or sense of control, self-esteem, and, potentially, various personality dispositions. Although my attention in this chapter is largely confined to coping, much of my discussion is equally applicable to other mediators. Regardless of the particular mediator that is under study, there is usually a single question that draws the interest of the researcher to it: Does it help to account for the fact that people experiencing the same stressors are differentially affected by them?
Immunofluorescent studies on aphakia, a mutation of a gene involved in the control of lens differentiation in the mouse embryo.

Abstract Aphakia, an autosomal recessive single gene mutation in the mouse, seriously affects the development of the ocular lens. Up to advanced stages of lens invagination morphogenesis proceeds normally. In the late lens cup and early lens vesicle stage, however, the epithelium of the lens rudiment becomes disorganized and the lumen of the vesicle fills up with rounded cells, apparently released from the epithelium. The lens stalk persists frequently. Probably as a consequence of the aphakic state other parts of the eye secondarily become abnormal. Immunofluorescent studies were done on embryonic normal and aphakia eyes with antisera against adult mouse crystallins. In the normal embryo the first positive reactions were found in the late lens cup stage ( 10 3 4 –11 days of gestation). By Day 12 all cells of the lens vesicle were brightly fluorescent. A day later the cells of the posterior wall, now lens fibers, had elongated sufficiently to obliterate the lumen of the vesicle. The entire organ was highly fluorescent, indicating that all of its cells contained large amounts of crystallins. The mutant lens, studied over the same time span, showed no reaction at all. The most likely explanation is, that the multiple structural genes, which normally must be involved in the production of the crystallins, are not expressed up to this time in the mutant. The combination of morphological and biochemical defects suggests that the gene involved in the mutation somehow functions in the control of lens differentiation.
Inhibition of autophagy as a strategy to augment radiosensitization by the dual phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitor NVP-BEZ235.

We investigated the effect of 2-methyl-2-{4-[3-methyl-2-oxo-8-(quinolin-3-yl)-2,3-dihydro-1H-imidazo[4,5-c]quinolin-1-yl]phenyl} propanenitrile (NVP-BEZ235) (Novartis, Basel Switzerland), a dual phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitor currently being tested in phase I clinical trials, in radiosensitization. NVP-BEZ235 radiosensitized a variety of cancer cell lines, including SQ20B head and neck carcinoma cells and U251 glioblastoma cells. NVP-BEZ235 also increased in vivo radiation response in SQ20B xenografts. Knockdown of Akt1, p110α, or mTOR resulted in radiosensitization, but not to the same degree as with NVP-BEZ235. NVP-BEZ235 interfered with DNA damage repair after radiation as measured by the CometAssay and resolution of phosphorylated H2A histone family member X foci. NVP-BEZ235 abrogated the radiation-induced phosphorylation of both DNA-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit (DNA-PKcs) and ataxia telangiectasia mutated. Knockdown of either p110α or mTOR failed to decrease the phosphorylation of DNA-PKcs, suggesting that the effect of the drug was direct rather than mediated via p110α or mTOR. The treatment of cells with NVP-BEZ235 also promoted autophagy. To assess the importance of this process in radiosensitization, we used the autophagy inhibitors 3-methyladenine and chloroquine and found that either drug increased cell killing after NVP-BEZ235 treatment and radiation. Knocking down the essential autophagy proteins autophagy related 5 (ATG5) and beclin1 increased NVP-BEZ235-mediated radiosensitization. Furthermore, NVP-BEZ235 radiosensitized autophagy-deficient ATG5(−/−) fibroblasts to a greater extent than ATG5(+/+) cells. We conclude that NVP-BEZ235 radiosensitizes cells and induces autophagy by apparently distinct mechanisms. Inhibiting autophagy via pharmacologic or genetic means increases radiation killing after NVP-BEZ235 treatment; hence, autophagy seems to be cytoprotective in this situation. Our data offer a rationale for combining NVP-BEZ235 along with an autophagy inhibitor (i.e., chloroquine) and radiation in future clinical trials.
Atrophic vaginitis in breast cancer survivors: a difficult survivorship issue

Management of breast cancer includes systematic therapies including chemotherapy and endocrine therapy can lead to a variety of symptoms that can impair the quality of life of many breast cancer survivors. Atrophic vaginitis, caused by decreased levels of circulating estrogen to urinary and vaginal receptors, is commonly experienced by this group. Chemotherapy induced ovarian failure and endocrine therapies including aromatase inhibitors and selective estrogen receptor modulators can trigger the onset of atrophic vaginitis or exacerbate existing symptoms. Symptoms of atrophic vaginitis include vaginal dryness, dyspareunia, and irritation of genital skin, pruritus, burning, vaginal discharge, and soreness. The diagnosis of atrophic vaginitis is confirmed through patient-reported symptoms and gynecological examination of external structures, introitus, and vaginal mucosa. Lifestyle modifications can be helpful but are usually insufficient to significantly improve symptoms. Non-hormonal vaginal therapies may provide additional relief by increasing vaginal moisture and fluid. Systemic estrogen therapy is contraindicated in breast cancer survivors. Continued investigations of various treatments for atrophic vaginitis are necessary. Local estrogen-based therapies, DHEA, testosterone, and pH-balanced gels continue to be evaluated in ongoing studies. Definitive results are needed pertaining to the safety of topical estrogens in breast cancer survivors.
Managing the Public Sphere: Journalistic Construction of the Great Globalization Debate

There is little consensus on what constitutes open, deliberative media discourse. We offer a simple, measurable, and comparative model based on 3 aspects of source and issue construction in news accounts: access, recognition, and responsiveness. The model is applied to coverage of 2001-2003 World Economic Forum (WEF) meetings and protests against the organization's role in global economic policies. Both demonstrators and WEF participants were granted news access, but WEF actors were recognized more formally and given greater input in news content, including ownership claims to many activist issue positions. Journalistic deference to the WEF communication agenda limited mutual responsiveness. The journalistic process systematically managed the debate about globalization on terms that favored elites over citizen-activists.
The cultural domain of marriage

Schneider has shown that the cultural opposition between the orders of law and nature structures the culture of American kinship. In this article it is shown that the collective representations of kinship and personality are closely related and that the orders of law and nature in marriage express two aspects of personality that are experienced in marital diffuse, enduring solidarity.
Creating Safe and Welcoming Schools for LGBT Students: Ethical and Legal Issues

This article addresses ethical and legal issues associated with creating safe and welcoming schools for lesbian, gay, biattractional, and transgender (LGBT) youth and for students who simply do not conform to gender-role stereotypes. Ethical principles and standards that create a responsibility for educators to foster a learning environment respectful of the worth and dignity of all students are discussed first. Law related to discrimination against and harassment of LGBT students is then summarized. Special attention is given to the controversy ignited by the U.S. Department of Education's 2010 interpretation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 that requires schools receiving federal funds to take steps to prevent bullying of students on the basis of sex, including harassment based on a student's nonconformity to gender role expectations. Finally, implications of ethical principles and law for school district practices regarding LGBT students are identified.
Gene trap mutagenesis: a functional genomics approach towards reproductive research

We have entered a new era of genomics in biomedical research with the availability of genome-wide sequences and expression data, resulting in the identification of a huge number of novel reproductive genes. The challenge we are facing today is how to determine the function of those novel and known genes and their roles in normal reproductive physiology, such as gamete production, pregnancy and fertilization, and the disease physiology such as infertility, spontaneous abortion and gynecological cancers. Mouse genetics has contributed tremendously to our understanding of the genetic causes of human diseases in the past decades. The establishment of mouse mutations is an effective way to understand the function of many reproductive proteins. One of the fast-growing mouse mutagenesis technologies—gene trap mutagenesis—represents a cost-effective way to generate mutations because of the public availability of mouse embryonic stem (ES) cell lines carrying insertional mutations and the continuing expansion of those ES gene trap cell lines. We review here the gene trapping technology and in particular examine its efficacy in generating mouse mutations for reproductive research. Even with the existing gene trap cell lines, many of the genes important for reproductive function through traditional knockout and chemical mutagenesis have been trapped, demonstrating gene trapping’s efficacy in mutating genes involved in reproductive development. Comparing genes expressed in specific reproductive sub-cellular organelles and in the entire testis and ovary with gene trap lines in the International Gene Trap Consortium (IGTC) database, we could identify a significant portion of those genes as having been trapped, representing a great resource for establishing mouse models for reproductive research. Establishment and analysis of these mouse models, for example, could help with identifying genetic abnormalities underlying male infertility and other reproductive diseases.
The Law Student's Bill of Rights (1882)

Reproduced herein with learned commentary is a report from the first Student-Faculty Relations Committee ever to convene in a law school. That Committee was formed in the winter of 1882 by Dean Langdell of the Harvard Law School. Outraged at the incomprehensible instruction of a new faculty member (one Professor Holmes), dozens of Harvard 1Ls petitioned for a tuition refund or, in the alternative, admission to Yale. The students' threats were dropped when Langdell promised to "arrange something else" for Holmes - a judgeship, as it turns out - and after the Committee produced the subsequently ratified Bill of Rights. Dean Langdell's endorsement of the Bill of Rights demonstrates that he was interested not only in constructing arid legal taxonomies, but also in the education of law students. Here the modern reader must resist presentism. Strange as it may now seem, both of these objectives were at the time treated as worthy goals. Langdell's purpose is amply reflected in various inter-office memoranda that were later published as the Formalist Papers, particularly No. 10 (concerning the potential of self-interested faculties to dominate law school decision-making at student expense). Needless to say, the purpose of the modern law school is to oversell its reputation. Still, despite the passage of time and this shift in orientation, the Law Student's Bill of Rights speaks directly to our contemporary predicament.
Neuro at the Nanoscale Diffraction-Unlimited Imaging with STED Nanoscopy

Recent breakthroughs in fluorescence microscopy have pushed spatial resolution well beyond the classical limit imposed by diffraction. As a result, the field of nanoscopy has emerged, and diffraction-unlimited resolution is becoming increasingly common in biomedical imaging applications. In this review, we recap the principles behind STED nanoscopy that allow imaging beyond the diffraction limit, and highlight both historical and recent advances made in the field of neuroscience as a result of this technology.
Tailoring the Wetting Properties of Surface-Modified Nanostructured Gold Films

Nanostructured gold films with a dendritic morphology were synthesized by electrodeposition on porous Si surfaces. The films were modified by methyl-terminated self-assembled monolayers, resulting in the formation of superhydrophobic surfaces with a contact angle near to 180° and undetectable hysteresis. Gradual smoothening of the dendritic features of the Au surfaces could be achieved by argon ion etching, resulting in a continuously tunable wetting angle. Below a contact angle of 150°, these surfaces showed increased adhesion and significant contact-angle hysteresis.
Creation of dune depressions by foredune accretion

Many depressions in coastal dunes created by wave erosion and eolian deposition are erroneously called blowouts. Examination of one such depression at Island Beach State Park, New Jersey, indicates cyclical development: storm erosion and beachdune movement, formation of crenulations, seaward foredune expansion, shore-perpendicular ridge growth creating hollows, and increased local relief by eolian accretion. The cycle may be renewed by major storm erosion. Wave processes have a leading role in location, orientation, and shape of dune hollows. DEPRESSIONS in vegetated coastal dunes, usually called blowouts, are generally assumed to be created by wind scour that had been preceded by vegetation destruction. Although the word "blowout" has been applied rather indiscriminately to any bare sand depression in a dune, the term should be used to describe features that originate or are maintained by deflation. Depressions of noneolian origin in dunes may be created by house removal or wave erosion and overwash. Also depressions may be created when a new foredune forms seaward of a preexisting dune ridge. We use the term "hollow" to distinguish these depressions from ones of different origin. The purpose of this study is to examine the origin, dynamics, and morphology of dune hollows. Using data obtained from aerial photographs, we classified dune depressions at Island Beach State Park, New Jersey, and identified differences between hollows and other depressions. We then charted the development of three hollows through time. Field data for one of them are presented to quantify the role of the wind in modifying the form of a
Acute benzodiazepine toxicity exacerbated by concomitant oral olanzapine

Improvements in antiemetic therapy constitute a major advance in oncology. A recent poll of the oncology community by the American Society of Clinical Oncology ranked it as one of the top 5 advances in cancer in the last 50 years. Emetogenicity of chemotherapy is defined by risk of emesis in the patient given no antiemetics; high-risk regimens cause nausea and vomiting in >90% of patients, moderate risk in 30%-90%, and low risk in <30%. This risk profile serves as the basis for empiric antiemetic prophylaxis and offers alternatives to refractory patients. Modern antiemetic prophylaxis is extremely effective for high-risk chemotherapy, reducing the risk for breakthrough nausea and vomiting to 0%-13% in the acute setting (<24 hours from receipt of chemotherapy) and to 25%-30% in the delayed setting (24-72 hours from receipt of chemotherapy).
Enhanced prion detection in biological samples by magnetic particle extraction and real-time quaking-induced conversion

Prions have been demonstrated in body fluids and excreta using bioassay, but at levels too low for detection by conventional direct-detection assays. More rapid and sensitive detection of prions in these clinically accessible specimens would be valuable for diagnosis and investigations of transmission, environmental impact, and interventions. In addition to very low concentrations of prions, in vitro amplification assays are challenged by the presence of inhibitors in these complex sources. Here, we leverage the prion attribute of avid metal binding with the versatile power of real-time quaking-induced conversion (RT-QuIC) to enhance and simplify detection of chronic wasting-disease prions in biological samples. Iron oxide particle binding and magnetic extraction combined with RT-QuIC permitted rapid analysis of the low concentrations of prions in saliva, urine, faeces, and cerebrospinal fluid. These methods are pertinent to ante-mortem detection, monitoring, and surveillance, and could conceivably be applicable to other protein-misfolding disorders.
Copper, zinc and calcium: imaging and quantification in anterior pituitary secretory granules

The anterior pituitary is specialized for the synthesis, storage and release of peptide hormones. The activation of inactive peptide hormone precursors requires a specific set of proteases and other post-translational processing enzymes. High levels of peptidylglycine α-amidating monooxygenase (PAM), an essential peptide processing enzyme, occur in the anterior pituitary. PAM, which converts glycine-extended peptides into amidated products, requires copper and zinc to support its two catalytic activities and calcium for structure. We used X-ray fluorescence microscopy on rat pituitary sections and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry on subcellular fractions prepared from rat anterior pituitary to localize and quantify copper, zinc and calcium. X-ray fluorescence microscopy indicated that the calcium concentration in pituitary tissue was about 2.5 mM, 10-times more than zinc and 50-times more than copper. Although no higher than cytosolic levels, secretory granule levels of copper exceeded PAM levels by a factor of 10. Atp7a, which transports copper into the lumen of the secretory pathway, was enriched in endosomes and Golgi, not in secretory granules. If Atp7a transfers copper directly to PAM, this pH-dependent process is likely to occur in Golgi and endosomes.
What Is a Security Awareness Program

Not all attacks are technical. Now that we have built technical defenses around our networks, social engineering is used in the majority of recent breaches. The only defense against social engineering is an engaging security awareness program. A security awareness program helps with the development and enforcement of policies while at the same time helping to set the limits of what is acceptable and what is not acceptable behavior by the users of an organization's computer and telecommunication services. A security awareness program helps to limit risks of breaches to an organization's sensitive and confidential data. A security awareness program is defined as a formal program with the goal of training users of potential threats to an organization's information and how to avoid situations that might put the organization's data at risk.
Conversion Disorder, Functional Neurological Symptom Disorder, and Chronic Pain: Comorbidity, Assessment, and Treatment

This paper examines the overlap of conversion disorder with chronic pain conditions, describes ways to assess for conversion disorder, and provides an overview of evidence-based treatments for conversion disorder and chronic pain, with a focus on conversion symptoms. Conversion disorder is a significant problem that warrants further study, given that there are not many well-established guidelines. Accurate and timely assessment should help move treatment in a more fruitful direction and avoid unnecessary medical interventions. Advances in neuroimaging may also help further our understanding of conversion disorder. Creating a supportive environment and a collaborative treatment relationship and improving understanding of conversion symptoms appear to help individuals diagnosed with conversion disorder engage in appropriate treatments. Novel uses of earlier treatments, such as hypnosis and psychodynamic approaches, could potentially be beneficial and require a more vigorous and systematic study. There are treatments that produce significant improvements in functioning and reduction of physical symptoms from conversion disorder even for very severe cases. Hypnotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and inpatient multidisciplinary treatment with intensive physiotherapy for severe cases have the most evidence to support reduction of symptoms. Components of treatment for conversion disorder overlap with treatments for chronic pain and can be used together to produce therapeutic effects for both conditions. Treatment needs to be tailored for each individual’s specific symptoms.
Fully invariant wavelet enhanced minimum average correlation energy filter for object recognition in cluttered and occluded environments

A fully invariant system helps in resolving difficulties in object detection when camera or object orientation and position are unknown. In this paper, the proposed correlation filter based mechanism provides the capability to suppress noise, clutter and occlusion. Minimum Average Correlation Energy (MACE) filter yields sharp correlation peaks while considering the controlled correlation peak value. Difference of Gaussian (DOG) Wavelet has been added at the preprocessing stage in proposed filter design that facilitates target detection in orientation variant cluttered environment. Logarithmic transformation is combined with a DOG composite minimum average correlation energy filter (WMACE), capable of producing sharp correlation peaks despite any kind of geometric distortion of target object. The proposed filter has shown improved performance over some of the other variant correlation filters which are discussed in the result section.
Follow-up of Extremely Preterm Infants; the Long and the Short of It.

* Abbreviation: EF — : executive function The study by Cheong et al,1 “Changing neurodevelopment at 8 years of children born extremely preterm since the early 1990s” in this issue of Pediatrics , once again reminds us of the challenges and limitations of follow-up studies. The authors have done a commendable job following 3 cohorts (1991 to 1992, 1997, and 2005) of extremely preterm infants from 22 to 27 weeks' gestation to 8 years of age. Although the authors previously had shown that there was no improvement in moderate to severe disability at 8 years between 1991 to 1992 and 1997,2 their report3 of all 3 cohorts at 2 years of age identified a significant decrease in severe disability (15.4% to 3.7%) and severe developmental delay (14.8% to 3.7%) between 1997 and 2005 attributed to improvements in perinatal interventions. The Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Third Edition ,4 however, which was first used with the 2005 cohort, is known to underestimate developmental delay. In addition, Bayley scores are not strong predictors of school-age outcomes.5,6 The purpose of the current study was to additionally compare neurodevelopmental outcomes of the … Address correspondence to Betty R. Vohr, MD, Department of Pediatrics, Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, 101 Dudley St, Providence, RI 02905. E-mail: bvohr{at}wihri.org
Nanosponge Tunability in Size and Crosslinking Density

We describe a protocol for the synthesis of linear polyesters containing pendant epoxide functionality and their incorporation into a nanosponge with controlled dimensions. This approach begins with synthesis of a functionalized lactone which is key to the pendant functionalization of the resulting polymer. Valerolactone (VL) and allyl-valerolactone (AVL) are then copolymerized using ring-opening polymerization. Post-polymerization modification is then used to install an epoxide moiety on some or all of the pendant allyl groups. Epoxy-amine chemistry is employed to form nanoparticles in a dilute solution of both polymer and small molecule diamine crosslinker based on the desired nanosponge size and crosslinking density. Nanosponge sizes can be characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging to determine the dimension and distribution. This method provides a pathway by which highly tunable polyesters can create tunable nanoparticles, which can be used for small molecule drug encapsulation. Due to the nature of the backbone, these particles are hydrolytically and enzymatically degradable for a controlled release of a wide range of hydrophobic small molecules.
Solving linear arithmetic with SAT-based model checking

We present LIAMC, a novel decision procedure for (quantifier-free) linear arithmetic over both integers modulo 2N (LIA n ) and integers (LIA). There is no need to explain our motivation to design a new efficient decision procedure for the widely used LIA logic. A LIA n decision procedure can be extremely useful in the context of software (SW) verification. SW verification usually requires to reason about arithmetic constraints over finite integers. To that end, modern SW verification tools commonly use fixed-width bit-vector (BV) solvers. However, BV solvers' efficiency drops dramatically as the width increases. To solve the performance problem, LIA solvers are applied, but they are imprecise as they cannot handle integer overflow. An efficient LIA N solver would be the ideal solution in this context. Our decision procedure LIAMC is based on a transformation of linear arithmetic into safety verification. We treat integers as unbounded streams of bits over time. More precisely, for each input integer, the least significant bit (LSB) corresponds to time 0 in the corresponding stream, and the k-th bit corresponds to the bit received at time k. LIAMC then uses SAT-based model checking (SATMC) to solve the resulting problem. In order to achieve efficiency, LIAMC uses two forms of generalization. First, if it finds a formula to be unsatisfiable for width N, it tries to generalize this result for all the widths. Second, if LIAMC finds a formula to be satisfiable for width N, it tries to “extend” and thus generalize the assignment to a wider target width. To evaluate LIAMC we used the QF_LIA subset of SMT-COMP'16, and ran two sets of experiments. First, we reinterpreted the QF_LIA over fixed-width bit-vectors of varying widths and compared LIAMC in LIAn mode to both Boolector and Z3. LIAMC solved the most satisfiable instances out of the three even for the shortest width 32. Second, we compared LIAMC to CVC4 and Z3 on the original QF_LIA benchmarks. LIAMC was able to solve many instances that had not been solved by the other solvers.
High-Gain Air Lasing by Multiphoton Pumping of Atomic Species

The possibility of achieving high-gain lasing from a remote location in air opens up numerous opportunities for the development of new concepts. Backward lasing has generated the most interest, since it may provide a high-sensitivity method for the detection of greenhouse gases, gas leakage from pipelines and refineries, pollution, illicit chemical and nuclear processing activities, chemical gas attacks, and the presence of explosives and hazardous materials. Other applications of high-gain air lasing are of significant interest and include “around-the-corner” illumination, clandestine communication, and a local “guide star” for the correction of aero-optical distortion. This chapter presents results of remote lasing in atmospheric pressure air from oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen as well as backward lasing from inert gas species.
How Hollywood Applies Industrial Strategies to Counter Market Uncertainty: The Issue of Financing and Exhibition

In this chapter, we analyze how the major Hollywood studios try to contain the risks inherent in film financing, production, and distribution. We provide a critical review of the literature on industrial strategies of the “Hollywood system,” notably financing and exhibition. We approach our analysis from a political economy perspective that considers how these strategies, even those not directly related to actual production, influence media content in specific ways. We reaffirm De Vany’s observation that while these strategies are designed to reduce uncertainty in the film industry, they actually result in homogenous film production with a focus on specific genres and established intellectual properties.
AIM CORPORATION: A BUSINESS FRAUD CASE STUDY

ABSTRACT The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (2016) indicates that asset misappropriation is the most common form of occupational fraud. Based upon a real company, this case contains six f...
Abstract 13189: CV-Ecosystem Model: Workplace Wellness With Individualized Medicine

Introduction: At-work stress is rapidly becoming a significant contributory cause of occupational disease, while sedentary work and dietary indiscretion, taken together, have contributed to cardiov...
Activating the Economic Processes to Meet Human Material Need and to Satisfy Human Wants

All economic systems are organized around four economic processes — production, distribution, exchange, and consumption — and four economic functions — transforming, moving, transferring, and using. A fifth central function, which derives from the other four but is not subordinate to them, is providing employment opportunities. The fmal purpose of the system is to meet the two principal aspects of human material need — physical need and the need for work as such — and to satisfy human wants.
Simplified Seismic Slope Displacement Procedures

Simplified seismic slope displacement procedures are useful tools in the evaluation of the likely seismic performance of earth dams, natural slopes, and solid-waste landfills. Seismically induced permanent displacements resulting from earthquake-induced deviatoric deformations in earth and waste structures are typically calculated using the Newmark sliding block analogy. Some commonly used procedures are critiqued, and a recently proposed simplified procedure is recommended for use in engineering practice. The primary source of uncertainty in assessing the likely performance of an earth/waste structure during an earthquake is the input ground motion, so the proposed method is based on the response of several realistic nonlinear fully coupled stick-slip sliding block models undergoing hundreds of recorded ground motions. The calculated seismic displacement depends primarily on the ground motion’s spectral acceleration at the degraded period of the structure and the structure’s yield coefficient and fundamental period. Predictive equations are provided for estimating potential seismic displacements for earth and waste structures.
How programming can be visualized: a practical approach

Visualization can be incorporated into the programming process such as Plan Composition, Language Constructs, and Program Execution (Control Flow). A Plan identifies a specific task, such as a programming problem, which itself may consist of other Plans. A Plan can be represented by an icon which can hide its details. Language Constructs, such as loops or decisions that are used to implement Plans can be represented visually. Animation of program execution can be used to illustrate the flow of data. This visual programming process is integrated in the development of a new environment known as Visual Plan Construct Language or VPCL.
Usefulness of Biaxial Left Atrial Dimension Measurements by Echocardiography

Left atrial dimension (LAD) has been shown to mirror the magnitude of pulmonary blood flow. Additionally, left atrial dimension is useful for following patients with mitral insufficiency and obstruction. However, a single Diane measurement of the left atrium can be misleading if the left atrium is not spherical. To determine the probability of detecting non-spherical left atrium we performed biaxial measurements on 6 2 randomly selected patients. The Z-axis-LAD(ZLAD) was measured via the precordial approach, the Y-axis (YLAD) was measured by the suprasternal notch utilizing a special transducer. The correlation coefficient for all patients was.97 (±.17 S.E.E.). The mean YLAD was 1.96 (±.10 SE). Mean ZLAD was 1.89 (±10 SE). Some patients were detected who had a nonspherical left atrium as determined by the biaxial measurement. Some of these had pectus excavatum, others did not.
Sport and Social Change: The Prophetic Dimension

If sport can be understood as a kind of religion, then one may reasonably wonder about whether or not sport has a prophetic dimension. In other words, sport often has been understood to reflect the dominant values of culture. But does sport challenge those values, as religions throughout time have challenged the values of their cultures? This chapter argues that sport indeed has a prophetic dimension. In fact, at a time when sport increasingly is taking on various functions that are stereotypically the purview of institutional religion, the prophetic dimension of sport is needed more than ever. In making his case, the author draws upon the work of sociologist Harry Edwards, ethicist Robert L. Simon, and journalist/author Dave Zirin.
Exploring Challenges and Solutions Facing STEM Careers in the 21st Century: A Human Resource Development Perspective:

The ProblemScience, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professions are recognized by educators and business leaders as being pillars to national economies that vie for wealth and prosp...
Use of the gamma-ray perturbed angular correlation (PAC) technique for monitoring liposomal phospholipid bilayer integrity.

A membrane labeling method based on the principle of gamma-ray perturbed angular correction (PAC) was developed to monitor the structural integrity of liposomal membranes. The reporter group was 111In(III) complexed with the lipophilic diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA) derivative of dipalmitoylphosphatidylethanolamine (DPPE) embedded in the phospholipid bilayers of small unilamellar liposomes. Using this method, complete chemical digestion of the constituent phospholipids in these DTPA-conjugated liposomes by phospholipase A2 or phospholipase C in the presence of Ca2 + was found not to be followed by an immediate disruption of the liposomal membrane. Compared with other methods, the method developed permits the continuous noninvasive monitoring of the micro-environment of the lipid bilayer at the molecular level. It may potentially be applicable to evaluate liposomal fusion, screen for penetration enhancers under development for enhancement in mucosal drug penetration, and monitor liposomal degradation within the living animal.
The Quality of Life Perception Gap in Prison Health Care Settings: Rater Disparities among Incarcerated Patients and Peer Caregivers

Peer caregivers are specially-trained incarcerated persons who support the needs of patients in correctional health care settings. Their role is of particular importance in light of the growing population of older adult prisoners with complex health problems in U.S. prisons. The purpose of the current study was to examine the disparity between patient and peer caregiver ratings of patient quality of life (QoL) in a sample of correctional health dyads (n = 52) in a state prison system. The current study also aimed to identify which patient and caregiver characteristics were most closely associated with emerging disparities. The sample and measures were described using frequencies and descriptive statistics. Patient QoL was measured using the McGill Quality of Life Scale-Cardiff Short Form and rater disparity was calculated at the individual- and group-level. Potential correlates were identified using bivariate statistics. Main results indicate group-level disparities were smallest among psychological and physical QoL (d = .06), and largest regarding existential QoL (d = .22). Few bivariate relationships were meaningful in effect, though patient characteristics accounted for 79% of emerging associations (viz. primary diagnosis). Though disparities emerged, peer caregivers in correctional health settings have unique strengths regarding assessment of patient QoL. Implications related to reducing dyadic disparities and targeting caregiver training regarding the importance of patient existential QoL are discussed.
Large Scale Parallelization Using File-Based Communications

In this paper, we present a novel and new file-based communication architecture using the local filesystem for large scale parallelization. This new approach eliminates the issues with filesystem overload and resource contention when using the central filesystem for large parallel jobs. The new approach incurs additional overhead due to inter-node message file transfers when both the sending and receiving processes are not on the same node. However, even with this additional overhead cost, its benefits are far greater for the overall cluster operation in addition to the performance enhancement in message communications for large scale parallel jobs. For example, when running a 2048-process parallel job, it achieved about 34 times better performance with MPI_Bcast() when using the local filesystem. Furthermore, since the security for transferring message files is handled entirely by using the secure copy protocol (scp) and the file system permissions, no additional security measures or ports are required other than those that are typically required on an HPC system.
Fingerprint verification using mutual information

One of the most reliable biometric identification methods has been fingerprint verification, which is in use over a century all over the world. Fingerprint verification became inexpensive, more reliable and less time consuming after the introduction of the Automatic Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS). Today, fingerprints are used broadly as an authentication to access a computer, bank account, building, car, etc., apart from identifying criminals, which was the major use of fingerprints years ago. There are several algorithms available for fingerprint verification. This paper aims at verifying the reference fingerprint against the target fingerprint using the Mutual Information algorithm where the input images undergo translation and rotation processes in the preprocessing stage and calculates the mutual information values for each step of rotation and translation. The ultimate aim is to find the best alignment of fingerprints by maximizing the mutual information.
Validity of Transformative Experiences: An Unfolding:

In this article, we explore the concept of validity as it applies to transformative experiences, asking how can we know when individuals are transformed as the result of some experience? What crite...
The essence of crystallography

According to the contents of Professor Ladd’s engaging book, the essence of Crystallography is group theory, and specifically space groups. Much of his book consists of the theory and application o...