cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effect of mulch, irrigation, and soil type on water use and yield of maize

Abstract Tillage practices that maintain crop residues on the soil surface help reduce evaporation of soil water, which can benefit high water use crops such as maize ( Zea mays L.). Management practices, climatic conditions, and soil type may affect how well a crop responds to surface residue. We conducted experiments with short season maize in 1994 and 1995 in Bushland, TX, USA, utilizing a rain shelter facility that has lysimeters containing monolithic cores of the Pullman (fine, mixed, thermic Torrertic Paleustolls), the Ulysses (fine-silty, mixed, mesic Aridic Haplustolls), and the Amarillo (fine-loamy, mixed, thermic Aridic Paleustalfs) soil series. In 1994, the treatments were a flat wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) straw and coconut ( Cocus nucifera L.) fiber mulch of 4 Mg ha −1 with infrequent irrigations totaling 25% and 75% of long-term average rainfall for the growing season (200 mm). The 1995 treatments were similar, but used a heavier mulch of 6.7 Mg ha −1 and more frequent irrigations totaling 60% and 100% of long-term average rainfall. The mulch was applied at the 3-leaf growth stage. Mean potential grass reference evapotranspiration for the vegetative and reproductive growth stages in 1994 was 6.6 and 6.3 mm day −1 , respectively, and in 1995 it was 6.8 and 7 mm day −1 , respectively. The mulched and bare soil surface treatments used similar amounts of water in each year. In 1994, mulch did not affect yield, yield components, or leaf area index (LAI). No significant differences occurred in plant available water (PAW) between mulched and bare soil treatments from emergence through harvest. In 1995, mulch increased grain yield by 17%, aboveground biomass by 19%, and grain water use efficiency (WUE) by 14% compared with bare soil treatments. Mulched treatments also maintained significantly greater PAW compared with bare soil treatments until near anthesis and, after anthesis, LAI was significantly greater in the mulched treatments compared with the bare soil treatments. In 1995, mulch significantly increased grain yield and grain WUE of the maize crop in the Pullman soil, grain yield and biomass WUE of the crop in the Amarillo soil, and had no significant effect on the crop in the Ulysses soil compared with the bare soil treatments. The significant increase in water use efficiency in 1995 was the result of soil water being used for crop growth and yield rather than in evaporation of soil water. The more favorable soil water regime in 1995 compared with 1994 between the mulched and bare soil treatments was possibly due to the higher evaporative demand environment, the increase in mulch mass, and the increased irrigation frequency. This was especially important in soils where textural characteristics affected both rooting and soil water extraction by maize which limited its ability to tolerate water stress.
Dissociation between skeletal muscle microvascular Po2 and hypoxia-induced microvascular inflammation

Systemic hypoxia (SHx) produces microvascular inflammation in mesenteric, cremasteric, and pial microcirculations. In anesthetized rats, SHx lowers arterial blood pressure (MABP), which may alter m...
Edge‐Crack Resistance Curves in Supercritical Ceramics

In this paper the growth of edge cracks in zirconia-reinforced ceramics is analyzed theoretically with the supercritical transformation model. The injection of an initial edge crack by a damage process is modeled in an approximate manner. Subsequent crack growth under the application of a remote tensile stress models the evolution of the transformed region as the crack advances. For the range of initial crack sizes considered, nominal resistance curves depend strongly on a transformation-toughening parameter. The analysis may have a bearing on the indentation/bend method of testing fracture toughness.
Experimental validation of a novel multiphase nonlinear VRM controller

By combining the concepts of multiple-sliding-surface and integral-variable-structure controls, we develop a robust controller for a multiphase 9 V VRM, which comprises four parallel DC-DC synchronous buck converters operating at 300 kHz. The advantages of the control scheme are its simplicity in design, good dynamic response, robustness, ability to nullify the bus-voltage error and the error between the load currents of the converter modules, and ability to reduce the impact of high-frequency dynamics due to parasitics on the closed-loop control system. Unlike a conventional variable-structure controller (VSC), which achieves superior transient performance by optimizing (and hence, by varying) the switching frequency, the novel controller is able to retain the excellent dynamic performance of a conventional VSC and yet maintain a constant-frequency operation of a PWM controller under 'steady-state' condition. The latter is achieved by obtaining a duty-ratio signal; however, unlike a PWM controller, the new controller calculates the duty ratio based on Lyapunov's stability criterion. Thus, the new controller also enables interleaved operation of the VRM modules.
Malignant Sertoli Cell Tumor of the Testis With a Large Retroperitoneal Mass in an Elderly Man

CASE REPORT A 78-year-old man presented with a new growth in his right testis which was uncomfortable, but not painful. He reported a progression in growth over the past few months, and stated that it was doubled in size in the previous month. His past medical history included mumps as a child, hypertension, and recurrent urolithiasis with reported spontaneous passage of calcium oxalate calculi several months prior to this presentation. Physical exam revealed a moderately enlarged right hydrocele and a firm right testicular mass as well as right inguinal adenopathy consisting of non-tender, small nodes. There was no evidence of gynecomastia.
Zero-delay joint source-channel coding for the Gaussian Wyner-Ziv problem

We study the zero-delay joint source-channel coding problem of transmitting a Gaussian source over a Gaussian channel in the presence of side information known only to the receiver. To achieve zero-delay, after applying scalar quantization to the source, the properly scaled analog information, namely the quantization error, is superimposed on the scaled digital information, i.e., the quantized source, and then transmitted. At the decoder, two decoding schemes are proposed, both of which estimate digital component first, followed by the analog component. It is shown that both schemes, when optimized over all related parameters, are superior to pure analog transmission for high enough correlation between source and side information. The robustness of one of the proposed HDA schemes against varying channel and side information conditions is also compared with that of the purely analog scheme.
Design and Potential Performance of Goal-Oriented Job Scheduling Policies for Parallel Computer Workloads

To balance multiple scheduling performance requirements on parallel computer systems, traditional job schedulers use many parameters that can be configured to define job or queue priorities. Offering many parameters seems flexible, but in reality tuning the values for the parameters is highly challenging. To simplify the task of resource management, we propose goal-oriented policies, which allow system administrators to specify high-level performance objectives, rather than tuning low-level scheduling parameters. We study the design of goal-oriented policies, including (1) appropriate multi-objective models for specifying trade-offs between objectives, (2) efficient search algorithms for searching the best schedule at each scheduling decision point, and (3) appropriate performance measures to be optimized in the objectives with respect to two common performance requirements: preventing starvation and favoring shorter jobs. We compare goal-oriented policies with widely used backfill policies. Policies are evaluated by simulation using ten monthly workloads that ran on a Linux cluster (IA-64) from NCSA. Our results show that by automatically optimizing performance according to the given objectives through search, goal-oriented policies can simultaneously outperform FCFS-backfill and LXF-backfill, which are designed in favor of the maximum wait and average slowdown, respectively.
A Longitudinal Study of the Impact of Market Structure, Firm Structure, Strategy, and Market Orientation Culture on Dimensions of Small-Firm Performance

The purpose of this article is to determine market orientation’s relative impact on small-business performance, compared to other influences, in an integrated model using longitudinal data. Contrary to expectations based on the management literature, the results indicate weak causal relationships between market environment, small-firm structure, and small-firm strategy. The results further indicate weak influences of these variables, but strong and consistent influences of market orientation, on various measures of small-firm performance. Contrary to expectations based on business policy literature, relative product quality and new product success were not significant influences on profitability, perhaps due to the significant influence of market orientation on these variables. In addition, although increases in growth/share had a significant short-term influence on increases in profitability, high levels of previous years’ firm growth/share had a negative influence on current profitability. The previous year’s level of firm coordinating systems and market competitive intensity has a significant impact on the level of small-firm market orientation.
Bending and twisting of soft materials by non-homogenous swelling

Soft materials such as biological tissues and gels undergo morphological changes, motion, and instabilities when subjected to external stimuli. We examine how thin elastic plates undergo rapid bending and buckling instabilities after non-homogenous exposure to a favorable solvent that swells the network. An unconstrained beam bends along its length, while a circular disc bends and buckles with multiple curvatures. In the case of a disc, a large-amplitude transverse travelling wave rotates azimuthally around the disc. We provide theoretical interpretations inspired by the complementary thermal expansion problem of transient shape changes triggered by non-homogenous time-dependent heating, which allows collapse of time-dependent swelling data onto universal curves. Control of dynamical, swelling-induced shape changes provides new directions for the utilization of soft materials.
Prediabetes Assessment and Follow-up in Older Veterans With Schizophrenia

Objectives Assess glycemic monitoring and follow-up. Design Retrospective study using administrative data (October 2001–September 2005). Setting Veterans Health Administration. Participants A nationwide sample of 39,226 outpatients aged 50 years or older with schizophrenia. Patients had no diagnosis or medications for diabetes at baseline. Measurements Hemoglobin A1c tests; blood glucose tests with same-day low-density lipoprotein to approximate fasting glucose. Glycemic tests were combined to indicate a) prediabetic dysglycemia (100–125 mg/dL proxy fasting glucose or 5.8%–6.4% hemoglobin A1c) and b) diabetic dysglycemia (≥126 proxy fasting glucose or ≥6.5% A1c). Results Approximately one-third of patients (32%; 12,587) had proxy fasting blood glucose or A1c tests in 2002; multiple tests were rare. The proportion tested increased to 40% by 2005. Test results suggested prediabetic dysglycemia for 5,345 tested patients (42% of those tested) and diabetic dysglycemia for 1,287 tested patients (10%) at baseline. In multivariate regression models, glycemic testing was associated with dyslipidemia, hypertension, and younger age. Dysglycemia was associated with hypertension, dyslipidemia, and older age. Follow-up treatment/diagnosis of diabetes occurred for 8% of patients (11% of those tested) and was associated with baseline dysglycemia, hypertension, and younger age. Mortality (15% during the 4-year study) was higher among untested and untreated patients. Conclusions Dysglycemia was prevalent among older patients with schizophrenia, although monitoring and follow-up were uncommon. Follow-up treatment correlated with survival. Despite evident utility of testing, few at-risk patients with schizophrenia were adequately monitored, diagnosed, or treated for dysglycemia.
Transmission of Mycoplasma bovis and the Syndromes that Result in Beef and Dairy Cattle

Infections with Mycoplasma bovis can result in several syndromes of importance for dairy and beef cattle of all ages. These diseases continue to require the attention of practitioners due to poor response to treatment and the marginal effectiveness of prophylaxis. We explore here parameters of transmission of the infections, and how practitioners can use this knowledge to develop management strategies. General concepts about transmission of the mycoplasma are followed with specific description of several different mycoplasma mastitis clinical presentations. Issues with transmission and mastitis are outlined. Pneumonia and polyarthritis, and middle ear infections in dairy calves are described next and transmission of infection differences are highlighted. Examples of presentations of pneumonia and polyarthritis in beef calves are presented together with discussion of some of the transmission questions that are commonly raised when considering this disease.
MoodTracker: Monitoring collective emotions in the workplace

Accurate and timely assessment of collective emotions in the workplace is a critical managerial task. However, perceptual, normative, and methodological challenges make it very difficult even for the most experienced organizational leaders. In this paper we present a MoodTracker — a technological solution that can help to overcome these challenges, and facilitate a continuous monitoring of the collective emotions in large groups in real-time. The MoodTracker is a program that runs on any PC device, and provides users with an interface for self-report of their affect. The device was tested in situ for four weeks, during which we received over 3000 emotion self-reports. Based on the usage data, we concluded that users had a positive attitude toward the MoodTracker and favorably evaluated its utility. From the collected data we were also able to establish some patterns of weekly and daily variations of employees' emotions in the workplace. We discuss practical applications and suggest directions for future development.
Theoretical Weighting of Photogrammetric Equations

The fundamental resection formulas of photogrammetry suggest a weighting scheme based on the standard deviations of the ratios of image coordinates to focal length. These ratios are functions of random variables having aposteriori means and variances. A theoretical development and formulation of the standard deviations of these ratios indicate that: (1) The weights are maximum at the photo principal point and decrease toward the photoedges; and (2) the range of weight factors from center to edge is greater for smaller focal lengths. Weights vary by a factor of 2.00 for a camera focal length of 75 mm, 1.64 for a 100 mm focal length, 1.44 for 125 mm, 1.32 for 150 mm, 1.09 for 300 mm, 1.04 for 450 mm, and 1.02 for 600 mm.
Methylmalonic Acid and Homocysteine as Indicators of Vitamin B-12 Deficiency in Cancer

Background/Aims Normal or high serum vitamin B-12 levels can sometimes be seen in a B-12 deficient state, and can therefore be misleading. High levels of Methymalonic Acid (MMA) and Homocysteine (HC) have been identified as better indicators of B-12 deficiency than the actual serum B-12 level itself. We evaluated the prevalence of vitamin B-12 deficiency using appropriate cut-off levels of vitamin B-12, MMA and HC, and determined the relationship between serum levels of vitamin B-12, MMA and HC in cancer.
Prediction of Lipid Uptake by Prosthetic Heart Valve Poppets from Solubility Parameters

Most prosthetic heart valves currently implanted consist of a silicone rubber poppet situated within a metallic cage. Recent reports indicate that gradual deterioration of the poppet can occur and lead to serious valve malfunction. Physical changes (variance) observed in recovered prosthesis include discoloration, swelling, and cracking. A major cause of variance is believed to be lipid accumulation. This article presents an assessment of the solubility of lipids in silicone rubber and other commonly used poppet materials. The analysis is based on solubility parameter theory that is based on principles derived from thermodynamic considerations. The results of this analysis predict that highly polar compounds, such as phospholipids or proteins, should not be present in silicone rubber poppets, which is in agreement with observations.
'Foaming the Runway' for Homeowners: U.S. Bankruptcy Courts Preserving Homeownership in the Wake of the Affordable Modification Program

Since 2008, Congress has enacted manifold legislation aimed at reversing the effects of a housing crisis, but each law has ultimately inured to the benefit of banks and financial institutions. Homeowners have rarely, if at all, experienced benefits of the legislation and often have experienced greater harm. In fact, banks and financial institutions have systematically leveraged their bailouts to pressure individual homeowners to continue paying in full mortgages on properties that no longer hold value. These results evidence the failure of the Home Affordable Modification Program ("HAMP") and other federal programs, but bankruptcy courts in the United States offer homeowners an alternative remedy: a forum in which banks must negotiate with homeowners in good faith and a mechanism for permanent modification of home mortgages. This Article discusses the ineffective assistance provided to individual homeowners under the Home Affordable Modification Program. Part II of this Article argues that the unequal protection provided by the bailout legal structures and the manner by which these programs entrench an emergent economic and political structure result from the neoliberal economic project. Part III of this Article describes how homeowners turned to the U.S. bankruptcy courts for alternatives to mortgage foreclosure in state court. Part IV discusses the authority under the Bankruptcy Code and bankruptcy rules for the implementation of formal mortgage modification programs. Part V describes how various courts address mortgage modification through existing practices. Part VI discusses, as a detailed example, the Middle District of Florida's residential mortgage modification mediation program. Finally, this Article considers whether bankruptcy court is an effective forum for mortgage modification.
Pink Bollworms (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae): Effects of Low Concentrations of Selected Insecticides on Mating and Fecundity in the Laboratory

Pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders), moths treated with low doses of certain insecticides had a lower percentage of mating, laid fewer eggs, and, in some cases, had a reduced number of eggs hatch. The synthetic pyrethroids cyfluthrin, fenpropathrin, fenvalerate, flucythrinate, and permethrin all caused reductions in mating during the first 24-h period after treatment. The insecticides also reduced the number of eggs laid. Reductions in mating and oviposition caused by treatment with azinphosmethyl, methylparathion, trichlorfon, carbaryl, and chlordimeform were usually associated with or were the result of high mortality. Avermectin B1, an experimental compound from Merck, Sharpe and Dohme (MK-936), completely prevented mating and oviposition at the LD10 and LD50 with little mortality among the treated insects. Hatching of eggs was also reduced by these treatment levels of Avermectin B1. These tests show that, in addition to causing mortality, treatments of moths with certain insecticides may cause population suppression through reduced mating, fecundity, and hatching of eggs.
Age-Based Outpatient Antibiotic Prescribing In The United States From 2000 To 2010

revised) RESULTSCONT’D AGE-BASED OUTPATIENT ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIBING IN THE UNITED STATES FROM 2000 TO 2010 Lee GC1,2, Daniels KR1,2, Lawson KA1, Attridge RT2,3, Lewis JS2, Frei CR1,2 1The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX , USA, 2University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA, 3University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, TX, USA
Population Suppression of the Almond Moth and the Indianmeal Moth (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) by Release of Trichogramma pretiosum (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) into Simulated Peanut Storages

A biological control test in simulated peanut storages indicated that release of Trichogramma pretiosum Riley, a parasite of moth eggs, has considerable potential for suppression of stored-product Lepidoptera. Suppression of the almond moth, Cadra cautella (Walker), and the Indianmeal moth, Plodia interpunctella (Hubner), was dependent on numbers of T. pretiosum released and on frequency of releases. Percentage of total population suppression was as much as 41.7%for the almond moth and 57.4% for the Indianmeal moth. Trichogramma spp. may be useful as part of an integrated peanut pest control program based on biological agents.
The Dubin-Johnson Syndrome: Electron Microscopic Observation of Hepatic Pigment— A Case Study

Pigment was recognized by light microscopy in a biopsy specimen of liver from a patient with the Dubin-Johnson syndrome. By electron microscopy, the pigment corresponded to dense bodies which consisted of aggregates of osmiophilic dense materials intermixed with fine granular and globular material, measuring 0.9 to 3 µ in diameter. Histochemically, a strong acid phosphatase activity was present in portions of these dense bodies. This finding suggests hepatic lysosomal dysfunction as the possible pathogenesis of this disorder.
Developing a videocassette program for pharmacy education.

The development of a videocassette program to educate pharmacists about congestive heart failure (CHF) is described. The CHF videocassette program was developed to provide the equivalent of four hours of instruction to pharmacists in continuing-education programs or Pharm.D. degree programs. CHF was chosen as the topic because it is a common medical problem that pharmacists likely would encounter, and the material would lend itself well to visual illustration. A program-development team consisting of a pharmacist-author, an educational-design specialist, and a writer-producer was established. The group dealt first with treatment of ideas, or discussions of ways in which the educational material could best be illustrated. The pharmacist-author developed the text for the program, and the writer-producer converted the text into a script with numbered scenes. Information that could be presented more appropriately in written format was gathered into a supplemental guidebook. A storyboard script that linked the text with the audio and visual elements was developed with the help of a professional director and medical illustrator, and the program was filmed using volunteer and professional actors as well as simple animation. The program comprises two videocassettes that are 40 and 44 minutes long, respectively. The estimated cost of the production was +28,000, which includes estimates of the value of time volunteered by the pharmacist-author, educational-design specialist, nonprofessional talent, and secretaries. The program has been used for six continuing-education programs and two classes of Pharm.D. students; subjective evaluations of the program have been favorable. Videocassette technology can be applied successfully to educational programs for pharmacists.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Neuroendocrine regulation of the menstrual cycle.

Neuroendocrine regulation of the menstrual cycle is discussed. Normal reproductive function in the human female is the result of complex interactions among the brain the pituitary and the ovary. Recognition of the key role of the central nervous system in this integrated system has provided a logical basis for the well-known relationship between psychoneuroendocrine disorders and menstrual dysfunction and led to major improvements in the diagnosis and treatment of some menstrual disorders. Studies of the patterns of gonadotropin secretions in the human female have shown that during neonatal and prepubertal phases follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) secretion is greater than luteinizing hormone (LH) and pulsatile LH secretory pattern is absent. With the approach of puberty LH secretion increases during sleep and at the completion of puberty the adult secretory pattern is achieved resulting in greater LH than FSH secretion and cyclic LH surge during the reproductive phase. The cyclic LH surge ceases in the perimenopausal phase and levels of both gonadotropins increase. The pituitary gonadotropin secretory capacity increases markedly between the early and late follicular phases as demonstrated by the effects of a constant infusion of synthetic gonadotropin-releasing hormone given over a 4-hour period to the same subjects. The role of dopamine in menstrual cycle regulation was indicated by its effect on LH at different follicular phase stages. Dopamine had a small inhibitory effect on circulating LH levels on Day 2 or Day 12 but on Day 14 elevated LH levels were markedly suppressed then rebounded on dopamine withdrawal.
Symbolism and imagery in a group of chronic schizophrenics.

(1978). Symbolism and Imagery in a Group of Chronic Schizophrenics. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy: Vol. 28, No. 1, pp. 73-80.
Going to the palais: a social and cultural history of dancing and dance halls in Britain, 1918–1960

For much of the twentieth century, dancing rivalled the cinema as Britain’s most widespread and popular leisure form, and yet, unlike the cinema, went largely unexamined by historians. That began t...
THREE DIMENSIONAL GRAPHICS

This chapter describes level curves of a surface and the central projection of surfaces. The cross-sectional views of a surface, such as level curves, are very useful in determining the way a surface looks. The chapter focuses on the development of a complete three-dimensional view of a surface. There are many ways to represent, or map, a three-dimensional object onto a two-dimensional chart. In attempting to graph surfaces in three dimensions, the same problem is faced. The chapter presents one of the most common methods for projecting a three-dimensional object onto a two-dimensional surface: the central projection. In this projection, a three-dimensional object is looked at from some point in space, which is called the view point.
Perturbation of A Nonlinear Elliptic Biological Interacting Model with Multiple Species

In this paper, we investigate the effects of perturbations on the coexistence state of the general competition model for multiple species. Previous work by Kang, Lee and Oh (see [11]) established sufficient conditions for the uniqueness of the positive solution to the following general elliptic system for multiple competing species of animals: \[\Delta u_{i} +u_{i}g_{i}(u_{1},u_{2},\ldots ,u_{i},u_{i+1},\ldots ,u_{N}) =0 \ \mbox{in} \ \Omega, \ u_{i}|_{\partial\Omega} = 0\]for $i = 1,\ldots ,N$. That is, they proved that under certain conditions, the species can coexist and that the coexistence state is unique at fixed rates. In this paper, we extend their uniqueness results by perturbing functions $g_{i}$'s of the above model, and applying super-sub solutions, maximum principles and spectrum estimates. Our arguments also rely on some detailed properties for the solution of logistic equations. By applying these techniques, we obtain sufficient conditions for the existence and uniqueness of a time independent coexistence state for the perturbed general competition model.
Histone Methylation in Heart Development and Cardiovascular Disease

Cardiovascular development and homeostasis are regulated by a group of core cardiac transcription factors in a coordinated temporal and spatial manner. Histone methylation is an emerging epigenetic mechanism for regulating gene transcription. Interplay among transcription factors and histone lysine modifiers plays important role in cardiovascular development and diseases. Aberrant expression and mutation of the histone lysine modifiers during development and in adult life can cause either embryonic lethality or congenital heart diseases, and influences the response of adult hearts to pathological stresses. In this review, we describe basics of histone methylation, and current body of literature on the role of several common histone methylations and their modifying enzymes in cardiovascular development, congenital and adult heart diseases.
Survival of Listeria monocytogenes During Manufacture and Storage of Cottage Cheese.

Cottage cheese was made by the short-set procedure in pilot-plant-sized vats from pasteurized skim milk inoculated to contain 104 - 105 Listeria monocytogenes (strains Scott A or V7)/ml. Half the curd from each trial (two trials with each strain of L. monocytogenes ) was creamed and half remained uncreamed. Numbers of L. monocytogenes were determined by surface-plating samples diluted in Tryptose Broth (TB) on McBride's Listeria Agar (MLA). Initial TB dilutions were then stored at 3°C and plated on MLA after 2, 4, 6 and 8 weeks or until L. monocytogenes was recovered. Selected L. monocytogenes colonies from each sample were serologically confirmed. Results for both strains indicate that during manufacture, numbers of L. monocytogenes remained relatively constant until after cooking of curd was completed. All samples analyzed after cooking curd 30 min at 57.2°C (135°F) contained fewer viable L. monocytogenes than could be detected by our methods (10 or 100 CFU/g or ml). Both strains were recovered from cold-enrichment samples, indicating that small numbers of the organism survived the cheesemaking process. Using direct plating onto MLA, L. monocytogenes was recovered from 43 of 112 (38.4%) cottage cheese samples during storage at 3°C for up to 28 d. After cold-enrichment in TB for up to 8 weeks, 59 of 112 (52.7%) samples were positive for L. monocytogenes . Greater numbers of L. monocytogenes , particularly strain Scott A, were found in creamed rather than uncreamed cottage cheese; however, numbers seldom exceeded 100/g.
Intercultural communication and disabilities from a communication complex perspective

Intercultural communication presents a number of challenges that are less of an issue in same-culture interactions. This is important because travel and technological capability enable more and more immigrants, business people, tourists, etc. to engage in such interactions. One group of people that comprises 10% of the world population, the disabled, is increasingly being mainstreamed within cultures as well as traveling to other countries. Research finds that the disabled are often marginalized and discriminated against within their own country. When the abled enter an intercultural interaction with the disabled the communication challenges are even greater. Communication Complex, a metatheoretical perspective on communication that embraces a constitutive definition of communication combined with a neuroscience understanding of interaction, offers a deeper, yet highly practical explanation of the level of complexity that such an encounter entails. This article offers a brief introduction to this way of understanding intercultural communication, along with the suggestion that future studies and practical guides should take disabilities into account when analyzing or building skills.
A broad, multi-faceted view of healthcare industry transformation

ABSTRACTThe U.S. Healthcare industry is arguably undergoing its greatest transformation ever. In this special issue of the Journal of Enterprise Transformation we are pleased to be able to offer a series of articles that provide an unusually diverse and broad perspective on this transformation and the impact that information technologies may have on understanding, facilitating, and sustaining it.
Use of photonic jets produced by dielectric microspheres for increasing sensitivity and angle-of-view of MWIR detectors

Recently, it was experimentally demonstrated (K.W. Allen et al., APL 108, 241108 (2016)) that microspheres can be used as contact microlenses to enhance the efficiency of collection of light by individual pixels in mid wave infrared (MWIR) focal plane arrays (FPAs). In this work, using finite difference time domain (FDTD) modeling, we optimized the designs of such FPAs integrated with microspheres for achieving maximal angle of view (AOV) as a function of the index of refraction and diameter of the spheres. We also designed structures where the spheres are partly immersed in a layer of photoresist. Our designs are developed for both front-side and back-side illuminated structures. Compared to standard microlens arrays, our designs provide much larger angle of view reaching ~15 degrees for front-illuminated and ~4 degrees for back-illuminated structures. Our designs allow decreasing the sizes of photosensitive mesas down to wavelength-scale dimensions determined by the minimal waists of the focused beams produced by the dielectric microspheres, so-called photonic jets. This opens a principle possibility to reduce the dark current and increase the operating temperature of MWIR FPAs. We also discuss the techniques of fabrication of such FPAs integrated with a large number of microspheres and show that suction assembly of microspheres is a promising method of obtaining massive-scale integration of microspheres onto the individual pixels with very small concentration of defects.
Promoting Compliance When Faith Gets in the Way.

ABSTRACT:Sixty-six percent of U.S. Christians report they believe God can heal supernaturally, 68% have prayed for someone to be healed supernaturally by God, and 27% state they have experienced a miraculous physical healing. Christians who hold such beliefs may struggle with seeking and adhering to
Preoperative evaluation for epilepsy surgery: Process improvementAuthors Respond:

I read with interest the results of the Drees et al.1 study and agree with the process improvements highlighted to reduce the time for epilepsy surgery (ES) evaluation. My personal experience working in a level IV comprehensive epilepsy center has been as follows. Potential ES patients are identified relatively early and time for ES evaluation is relatively short provided patients are seen in the office practice setting of individual epileptologists. Patients seen in this setting tend to be more involved in their care, they have commercial medical insurance, and the treating …
Multiphoton lifetime imaging of endogenous fluorescence in normal and precancererous epithelial tissues in vivo

3848 This study uses multiphoton fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) to characterize the fluorescence lifetime of normal and neoplastic epithelial tissues in vivo. Multiphoton FLIM is a promising tool for the study and diagnosis of cancer in vivo because it non-invasively provides chemically specific information about tissue fluorophores and fluorophore microenvironment, and it is independent of fluorescence intensity. This technique exploits the intrinsic fluorescence of molecules already present in tissue, such as the metabolic coenzyme reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH), thus obviating the need for exogenous contrast agents. Multiphoton microscopy can generate high resolution, three-dimensional fluorescence images deep within tissue while maintaining tissue viability, thus allowing for the visualization of cellular and sub-cellular structures. Our group has previously shown that multiphoton microscopy of epithelial tissues reveals statistically significant differences in tissue morphology and endogenous fluorescence intensity between normal, pre-cancerous and cancerous tissues (Skala et al., Cancer Res, 2004 in review). The current study provides an additional layer of functional information by characterizing changes in the fluorescence lifetimes and relative abundance of fluorophores in normal (n=9) and pre-cancerous (n=9) epithelial tissues in vivo in the dimethylbenz(α)anthracene (DMBA) treated hamster cheek pouch model of carcinogenesis. Time-domain fluorescence lifetime images were collected at multiple depths in tissue at a two-photon excitation wavelength of 780 nm. The epithelium of the normal cheek pouch had two lifetime components, 0.25 ± 0.04 ns and 1.92 ± 0.09 ns, which agree with published values for free and protein-bound NADH, respectively. The superficial keratin layer of the normal cheek pouch also had two lifetime components, 0.23 ± 0.03 ns and 1.78 ± 0.16 ns. The short and long lifetime components, as well as the relative contribution of the long lifetime component decreased with depth in the epithelium of normal tissues. The short and long lifetime components in the epithelium and superficial keratin layer of pre-cancerous tissues were statistically lower than that of normal tissues (keratin layer: 0.21 ± 0.02 ns and 1.58 ± 0.21 ns, epithelium: 0.22 ± 0.05 ns and 1.57 ± 0.19 ns, p
Gender differences in the evaluation of aggravating and mitigating circumstances: the mediating role of attributional complexity*

At the penalty phase of a capital trial, jurors endorse and weigh aggravators and mitigators. The purpose of the current studies was to examine how gender differences in attributional complexity re...
Stability under Arbitrary Switching

Given a family of systems (1.1), we want to study the following question: when is the switched system (1.3) asymptotically stable for every switching signal σ? We are assuming here that the individual subsystems have the origin as a common equilibrium point.
Roadblocks to Terawatt Solar Photovoltaics

As shown in Table 2.3, solar photovoltaics has to be deployed at a scale of tens of peak terawatts or it will make little impact on our future energy mix. Terawatt-scale deployment of any of the cell technologies in Fig. 2.1 requires massive amounts of natural resources such as electricity and raw materials. The limited supplies of these resources will likely prevent many of them from reaching terawatt scales. This chapter begins with a discussion on requirements for a terawatt-scale low-cost high-efficiency solar cell technology.
Engine Limit Management with Sliding Modes

This chapter develops a method to maintain critical engine variables within allowable limits, without the disadvantages associated with the standard min–max approach. Guidelines for the association of sliding mode regulators to logic max or min selectors are given, along with an \({\mathcal{H}}_{2}/{\mathcal{H}}_{\infty }\) sliding coefficient synthesis method. Simulations using the CMAPSS nonlinear engine model are included.
Editor’s Comments to Foster and Sarkar

The papers by Foster and Sarkar are essentially a dialogue and to complement each other, comprehensively review the current argument of whether the environment induces genomic responses in bacteria. The basic issue dates at least to the early 19th century. Although Lamarck is often credited with having been the first major proponent of the idea of organic evolution, he is probably most often associated with the infamous notion of acquired heredity (broadly accepted at the time) presented in Zoological Philosophy (1809). The first part of his case was correct, when he observed that “the environment affects the shape and organization of animals,” not directly, but by the sequence of “altered need” leading to “changed functions.” Clearly his notions of how this evolution might be affected, and inherited, pre-dated Darwinian selection and our modern Synthetic Theory, where we understand the environment serving only to select given genetic fitnesses from an ever changing genomic library. However as a result of recent studies, evidence for a Neo-Lamarckian mechanism for evolutionary change is now being considered; Foster and Sarkar summarize and critically examine this recent research to present the case of an adaptive genome in a balanced perspective.
Data Gathering, Storage, and Post-Processing

In this chapter we give an overview of the different components needed in an end-to-end wireless sensor network monitoring system. Using two case studies with vastly different data throughput we show selected examples of components commonly found in data collection networks and use actual deployments as motivating examples. Specifically, the Life Under Your Feet soil monitoring project focus on extreme duty-cycling and low data rate communications while the data center monitoring network RACNet emphasizes high throughput and efficient channel utilization.
Why Do Some Children Have Trouble Learning Measurement Concepts

from the end of the ruler, and Johnny had trouble. He lined up the end of the ruler with the end of the object, just as he had done before, but he kept getting the wrong answer. Even after the teacher explained that he must line up the 0 with the endpoint, he was confused. Johnny had learned how to manipulate his ruler and read off the answer without really understanding that his answer represented the distance between the beginning point and the endpoint of the object. Results of the National Assessment
Effects of anesthesia on cerebral blood flow, metabolism, and neuroprotection:

Administration of anesthetic agents fundamentally shifts the responsibility for maintenance of homeostasis from the patient and their intrinsic physiological regulatory mechanisms to the anesthesiologist. Continuous delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the brain is necessary to prevent irreversible injury and arises from a complex series of regulatory mechanisms that ensure uninterrupted cerebral blood flow. Our understanding of these regulatory mechanisms and the effects of anesthetics on them has been driven by the tireless work of pioneers in the field. It is of paramount importance that the anesthesiologist shares this understanding. Herein, we will review the physiological determinants of cerebral blood flow and how delivery of anesthesia impacts these processes.
Time-dependent behavioral data from zebrafish reveals novel signatures of chemical toxicity using point of departure analysis.

Abstract High-content imaging of larval zebrafish behavior can be used as a screening approach to rapidly evaluate the relative potential for chemicals to cause toxicity. However, most statistical methods applied to these data transform movement values to incidence-based “hits” and calculate lowest effect levels (LELs), which loses individual fish resolution of behavior and defies hazard ranking due to reliance on applied dose levels. We developed a parallelizable workflow to calculate benchmark dose (BMD) values from dynamic, high-content zebrafish behavior data that scales for high-throughput chemical screening. To capture the zebrafish movement response from light to dark stimulus, we summarized time-dependent data using both area under the curve and the immediate change at the transition point into two novel metrics that characterized abnormal behavior as a function of chemical concentration. The BMD workflow was applied to calculate BMD10 values of 1060 ToxCast chemicals for 24 zebrafish endpoints, including behavior, mortality and morphology. The BMD10 values provided better precision and separation than LELs for clustering chemicals since they were derived from models that best-fit their concentration-response curves. Analysis of BMD10 values revealed behavioral signatures as the most sensitive endpoints. High concordance in chemical activity was observed between ToxCast in vitro data and zebrafish in vivo behavioral data, however ToxPi analysis indicated that rankings based on in vitro data were not a reliable predictor of in vivo rankings for lower potency chemicals. This analysis method will enable the use of high-content zebrafish behavioral screening data for BMD analysis in toxicological hazard assessment.
Writing for Nonprofits in a Professionally-Oriented Institution: Using Rhetorical Genre Studies to Teach Flexibility

Teaching rhetorical flexibility within a nonprofit environment to professionally-oriented students can be challenging because the seemingly transactional genres of nonprofit communication, such as grant applications, do not appear to invite improvisation. This genre analysis assignment from a Writing for Nonprofits course asks students to reflect on the intersections of their own values as emerging communications professionals and the rhetorical choices they made while writing in a nonprofit genre of their choice. To complete the assignment described here, students created a "personal code" that describes their professional values and used the code to write a genre analysis that examines the rhetorical choices made in a nonprofit genre. This "reflective genre analysis" allows students to recognize their own agency in the negotiation of genre and reinforces the idea that professional behavior is rhetorical and situational.
Explicit Ensemble Prediction of Hail in 19 May 2013 Oklahoma City Thunderstorms and Analysis of Hail Growth Processes with Several Multimoment Microphysics Schemes

AbstractHail forecast evaluations provide important insight into microphysical treatment of rimed ice. In this study we evaluate explicit 0–90-min EnKF-based storm-scale (500-m horizontal grid spac...
Phosphatidylethanol Homologs in Blood as Biomarkers for the Time Frame and Amount of Recent Alcohol Consumption

Abstract Phosphatidylethanol (PEth) is a minor metabolite of ethanol, a phospholipid that is synthesized, stored in membranes of red blood cells (RBCs), and measured in whole blood samples. A unique feature of its pharmacokinetics in RBCs is the lack of a critical catabolic enzyme, which is unlike all other cell types studied. The elimination half-life of PEth is 4–7 days, which provides a window of detection up to 28 days during abstinence. Using high-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectroscopic detection, PEth levels can be detected in whole blood samples even after a single standard alcohol drink (14 g ethanol). There are 48 known homologs of PEth in RBCs. PEth 16:0/18:1 is predominant, representing about 37% of total PEth. PEth 16:0/18:2 and 16:0/20:4 are additional homologs with different pharmacokinetic characteristics to more accurately estimate amount and time frame of alcohol consumption.
Accounting for biases in survey-based estimates of population attributable fractions.

This paper discusses best practices for estimating fractions of mortality attributable to health exposures in survey data that are biased by observed confounders and unobserved endogenous selection. Extant research has shown that estimates of population attributable fractions (PAF) from the formula using the proportion of deceased that is exposed (PAFpd) can attend to confounders, whereas the formula using the proportion of the entire sample exposed (PAFpe) is biased by confounders. Research has not explored how PAFpd and PAFpe equations perform when both confounding and selection bias are present. We review equations for calculating PAF based on either the proportion of deceased (pd) or the proportion of the entire sample (pe) that receives the exposure. We explore how estimates from each equation are affected by confounding bias and selection bias using hypothetical data and real-world survey data from the National Health Interview Survey–Linked Mortality Files, 1987–2011. We examine the association between cigarette smoking and all-cause mortality risk in the US adult population as an example. We show that both PAFpd and PAFpe calculate the true PAF in the presence of confounding bias if one uses the “weighted-sum” approach. We further show that both the PAFpd and PAFpe calculate biased PAFs in the presence of collider bias, but that the bias is more severe in the PAFpd formula. We recommend that researchers use the PAFpe formula with the weighted-sum approach when estimates of the exposure-outcome relationship are biased by endogenous selection.
The domestic geopolitics of racial capitalism

In this paper, we analyze the racialized burden of toxicity in the US as a case study of what we call “domestic geopolitics.” Drawing on the case studies of Badin, North Carolina, and Flint, Michig...