cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Brief interventions for at-risk drinking: patient outcomes and cost-effectiveness in managed care organizations.

Aims: Evaluate effectiveness and costs of brief interventions for patients screening positive for at-risk drinking in managed health care organizations (MCOs). Methods: A pre-post, quasi-experimental, multi-site evaluation conducted at 15 clinic sites within five MCO settings. At-risk drinkers (N = 1329) received either: (i) brief intervention delivered by licensed practitioners; or (ii) brief intervention delivered by mid-level professional specialists (nurses); or (iii) usual care (comparison condition). Clinics were randomly assigned to three study conditions. Data were collected on the cost of screening and brief intervention. Follow-up interviews were conducted at 3 and 12 months. Results: Participants in all three study conditions were drinking significantly less at 3-month follow-up, but the decline was significantly greater in the two intervention groups than in the control group. There were no significant differences between the two intervention conditions. Of the patients in the intervention conditions 60% reduced their alcohol consumption by =1 drink per week, compared with 53% of those in the control condition. No differences were found on a measure of the quality of life. Differential reductions in weekly alcohol consumption between intervention and control groups were significant at 12-month follow-up. Average incremental costs of the interventions were $4.16 USD per patient using licensed practitioners and $2.82 USD using mid-level specialists. Conclusion: Alcohol screening and brief intervention when implemented in managed care organizations produces modest, statistically significant reductions in at-risk drinking. Interventions delivered to a common protocol by mid-level specialists are as effective as those delivered by licensed practitioners at about two-thirds the cost.
Epidural cortical stimulation enhances motor function after sensorimotor cortical infarcts in rats

This study examined whether epidurally delivered cortical electrical stimulation (CS) improves the efficacy of motor rehabilitative training and alters neuronal density and/or cell proliferation in perilesion cortex following ischemic sensorimotor cortex (SMC) lesions. Adult rats were pre-trained on a skilled reaching task and then received partial unilateral SMC lesions and implantation of electrodes over the remaining SMC. Ten to fourteen days later, rats received daily reach training concurrent with anodal or cathodal 100 Hz CS or no stimulation (NoCS) for 18 days. To label newly generated cells, bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU; 50 mg/kg) was administered every third day of training. Both anodal and cathodal CS robustly enhanced reaching performance compared to NoCS controls. Neuronal density in the perilesion cortex was significantly increased in the cathodal CS group compared to the NoCS group. There were no significant group differences in BrdU-labeled cell density in ipsilesional cortex. Staining with Fluoro-Jade-B indicated that neurons continue to degenerate near the infarct at the time when cortical stimulation and rehabilitation were initiated. These data indicate that epidurally delivered CS greatly improves the efficacy of rehabilitative reach training following SMC damage and raise the possibility that cathodal CS may influence neuronal survival in perilesion cortex.
Is It Necessary to Make Anchor Tests Mini-Versions of the Tests Being Equated or Can Some Restrictions Be Relaxed?

It is a widely held belief that anchor tests should be miniature versions (i.e., minitests), with respect to content and statistical characteristics, of the tests being equated. This article examines the foundations for this belief regarding statistical characteristics. It examines the requirement of statistical representativeness of anchor tests that are content representative. The equating performance of several types of anchor tests, including those having statistical characteristics that differ from those of the tests being equated, is examined through several simulation studies and a real data example. Anchor tests with a spread of item difficulties less than that of a total test seem to perform as well as a minitest with respect to equating bias and equating standard error. Hence, the results demonstrate that requiring an anchor test to mimic the statistical characteristics of the total test may be too restrictive and need not be optimal. As a side benefit, this article also provides a comparison of the equating performance of post-stratification equating and chain equipercentile equating.
The Future of Spanglish: Global or Tribal?

Abstract Research revolves around the socio-political, linguistic, and cultural aspects of “Spanglish” while considering its future in American society. A speech modality used by many Hispanics in the United States, Spanglish mixes grammatical and lexical elements from both English and Spanish and is primarily used in oral communication. The announcement by the Real Academia Espanola (RAE) to include Estadounidismos (a term coined by the RAE for referring to words used primarily, if not exclusively, in the US by Spanish speakers which are now part of the recognized lexicon) in its upcoming dictionary in 2014 shocked many. Furthermore, it has also placed Spanglish in the center of yet another controversy, as it presents heritage speakers with an opportunity to decide whether or not to remain fragmented or united.
Mothers' Perceptions of Independent and Responsible Behaviors of Their Preschool Children

Twenty-seven tasks which are examples of independent and responsible behavior commonly learned during the preschool years were studied through a questionnaire completed by 242 mothers of 3-, 4-, and 5-yr.-old boys and girls. The mother assessed the age-appropriateness of each task for her child, reported whether her child did the task voluntarily, when told, or never, and whether she expected the task to be done or not. Multivariate analysis of variance yielded significant findings. Age differences were in the expected direction. Girls of each age did more tasks than boys of the same age. The children did “being-alone” tasks most, “care-of-the-physical-self” tasks second, and “helping-in-the-home” tasks least. Implications for parental education and day-care teachers are discussed.
DNA curvature at A tracts containing a non-polar thymine mimic.

We report the first experimental probing of electrostatic interactions on the pyrimidine side of a bent A tract. Although the curvature of short A tracts (A4–A6) has long been studied, its physical origins remain under debate. Current hypotheses include the influence of major-groove hydrogen bonds between propeller-twisted base pairs, electrostatic effects of closely associated minor-groove cations, effects of minor-groove solvation, and stacking effects at the junctions adjacent to the A tract. We investigated this problem through the substitution of thymidines in A5 tracts by difluorotoluene deoxynucleoside (F), a non-polar molecule of the same size and shape which lacks hydrogen bonding and metal-ion complexing capabilities. Ligation experiments with phased A tracts demonstrated that F substitution has asymmetric effects on the bend angle. The strongest effects occurred at the second and third thymines where curvature was reduced from 19.8° to 5.3° and 9.6°, respectively. Moderate effects were observed with substitutions at positions 1 and 4, while substitution at position 5 had no effect on bend angle. The results support the hypothesis that highly localized electrostatic interactions are a principal cause of A-tract curvature. Furthermore, they are most consistent with the notion that local metal-ion complexation at O2 of thymine is a strong component of these interactions.
Role of DNA in condensation and combinative self-assembly

We reveal the vital role of DNA topology and conformation in directing the combinative self-assembly and condensation pathway and morphology.
Base compositional structure of genomes

Abstract We model the base compositional structure of the human and Escherichia coli genomes. Three particular properties are first quantified: (1) There is a significant tendency for any region of either genome to have a strand-symmetric base composition. (2) The variation in base composition from region to region, within each genome, is very much larger than expected from common homogeneous stochastic models. (3) A given local base composition tends to persist over a scale of at least kilobases ( E. coli ) or tens of kilobases (human). Multidomain stochastic models from the literature are reviewed and sharpened. In particular, quantitative measurements of the third property lead us to suggest a significant shift in the style of domain models, in which the variation of A + T content with position is modeled by a random walk with frequent small steps rather than with large quantum jumps. As an application, we suggest a way to reduce the amount of computation in the assembly of large sequences from sequences of randomly chosen fragments.
Field’s logic of truth

Saving Truth from Paradox is a re-exciting development. The 70s and 80s were a time of excitement among people working on the semantic paradoxes. There were continual formal developments, with the constant hope that these results would yield deep insights. The enthusiasm wore off, however, as people became more cognizant of the disparity between what they had accomplished, impressive as it was, and what they had hoped to accomplish. They moved onto other problems that they hoped would prove more yielding. That, at least, was how it seemed to me, so I was delighted to see a dramatically new formal development that is likely to rekindle our enthusiasm. Field didn't build from scratch, of course. Since Thaies, no one has. A construction upon which he particularly relied was given by Saul Kripke (1975), who applied the methods of first-order positive inductive definitions1 to produce "fixed points" for a language with truth-value gaps, evaluations in which a sentence2 (p always receives the same semantic status - true, false,3 or unsettled - as the sentence TOV1). Truth-value gaps were handled by the strong 3-valued semantics of Kleene (1952b, §54), so that a disjunction counts as true iff one or both disjuncts are true and as false iff both disjuncts are false, and similarly for the other connectives.
A Bootstrap Procedure of Propensity Score Estimation.

Propensity score estimation plays a fundamental role in propensity score matching for reducing group selection bias in observational data. To increase the accuracy of propensity score estimation, the author developed a bootstrap propensity score. The commonly used propensity score matching methods: nearest neighbor matching, caliper matching, and Mahalanobis metric matching, are used for evaluating the quality of bias reduction results using propensity scores estimated with or without the bootstrap. The study reveals that the matching results with bootstrap propensity score are better than or comparable to those of matching without bootstrap procedures. With regard to the merit of the bootstrap method in reducing sampling errors and, therefore, improving the accuracy of propensity score estimation, the results of this study imply a great potential to use the bootstrap method in estimating propensity scores. This study provides a preliminary framework for further research in this area.
Generation of mechanical vibrations by penetrating particles

Abstract : Mechanical, or sound, vibrations were observed in ceramic piezoelectric disks of lead-zirconate-titanate (PZT) struck by high energy electrons. Four 1/2 inch thick disks of PZT were used. A wide band, low impedence, common base configuration amplifier was used to examine the induced vibrations. Since the most prominent resonant frequencies of the disks were near 40 kHz (radial mode) and 158 kHz (compressional mode) most of the studies were concentrated on these modes. Electrons of energy 1.00 BeV and 0.20 BeV were used in pulses, each lasting about 1.0 microsecond and contained 10,000 to 1,000,000 to electrons. The cross section of the incident 1.00 BeV beam was about 3 mm x 3 mm. (Author)
Effect of adrenalectomy and dexamethasone treatment on circadian running in the rat.

Abstract Although adrenalectomy resulted in a marked decrease in total wheel running activity in male rats, the circadian rhythm of the running was not altered. Contrary to what has been previously observed in animals with intact adrenal glands, administration of the synthetic glucocorticoid dexamethasone to adrenalectomized animals resulted in an immediate increase in the amount of running with no effect on the circadian distribution of running. It was concluded that the adrenal axis had an influence on an animal's ability to express running behavior, but the adrenal axis had no influence on the neural control of the circadian rhythm of running.
Inverting cascade impactor data for size-resolved characterization of fine particulate source emissions

Abstract In this paper, the inversion processing of cascade impactor data to construe continuous size distributions within fine particulate matter ( PM 2.5 ) is examined for residential oil furnace and fireplace appliance emissions. Impactor data from tests with these emissions sources are selected for the challenges they pose to comprehending the size distributions of aerosol mass and chemical species. In specific, the oil furnace aerosol offers an opportunity to apply data inversion to study a bimodal lognormal distribution in which much of the aerosol mass is impactor-penetrating nanoparticles ( 30 nm ) . The fireplace emissions on the other hand cover the issue of a chemical size distribution, which is subject to particle loss and characterized by a single lognormal, accumulation mode peak. Computational steps relevant to the application of the data inversion are illustrated in detail. Evaluation of correlation coefficients ( ⩾ 0.992 ) indicates that the inversion model predictions fit the impactor data well. Simulations of systematic measurement error ( ± 10 % ) at each impactor stage are shown to have a negligible impact on the inversion results for test data. It is concluded that data inversion can be effective when (i) source emissions contain a portion of particles that falls outside the measurement range of cascade impactors, (ii) a mass size distribution of an individual species is determined without the knowledge of the total mass concentration for that species, or when (iii) losses in the particle charger system are significant.
Self-report and long-term field measures of MP3 player use: How accurate is self-report?

AbstractObjective: This study was designed to evaluate the usage patterns of portable listening device (PLD) listeners, and the relationships between self-report measures and long-term dosimetry measures of listening habits. Design: This study used a descriptive correlational design. Study sample: Participants (N = 52) were 18–29 year old men and women who completed surveys. A randomly assigned subset (N = 24) of participants had their listening monitored by dosimetry for one week. Results: Median weekly noise doses reported and measured through dosimetry were low (9–93%), but 14.3% of participants reported exceeding a 100% noise dose weekly. When measured by dosimetry, 16.7% of participants exceeded a 100% noise dose weekly. The self-report question that best predicted the dosimetry-measured dose asked participants to report listening duration and usual listening level on a visual-analog scale. Conclusions: This study reports a novel dosimetry system that can provide accurate measures of PLD use over tim...
Microstructure and indentation fracture of dysprosium niobate

The high-temperature indentation fracture and microstructures of dysprosium niobate (DyNbO4) were investigated by optical, scanning, and transmission electron microscopy (OM, SEM, and TEM). Polycrystalline samples were sintered at 1350 °C for 3 h and cut into 3 mm disks for TEM. The disks were indented in a Nikon QM (Tokyo, Japan) hot hardness indenter at room temperature up to 1000 °C. Many lamellar twins having different widths were observed by TEM as well as intergranular microcracks. The room temperature hardness was relatively low at 5.64 GPa and decreased with elevated temperatures. Crack lengths were short, showing a typical micro-cracking effect. In the sample indented at 1000 °C, dislocations in periodic arrays were evident, and their density increased markedly due to heavy plastic deformation.
Sample-Based Cameras for Feed Forward Reflection Rendering

This paper presents sample-based cameras for rendering high quality reflections on convex reflectors at interactive rates. The method supports change of view, moving objects and reflectors, higher order reflections, view-dependent lighting of reflected objects, and reflector surface properties. In order to render reflections with the feed forward graphics pipeline, one has to project reflected vertices. A sample-based camera is a collection of BSP trees of pinhole cameras that jointly approximate the projection function. It is constructed from the reflected rays defined by the desired view and the scene reflectors. A scene point is projected by invoking only the cameras that contain it in their frustums. Reflections are rendered by projecting the scene geometry and then rasterizing in hardware
Identification of cognate genes among heterologous strains of group B rotavirus.

Abstract The genetic relatedness of group B rotavirus (GBR) strains has previously been documented by hybridization with probes derived from whole genomic sequences, but the relationship of individual genes of heterologous GBR strains has not been evaluated. Definition of cognate GBR genes would facilitate investigation of the determinants of group specificity, serotype identity, and neutralization epitopes. Therefore, we investigated the genetic relatedness of three GBR strains by means of Northern (RNA) blot hybridization with isotopically labeled probes prepared from each of the 11 genes of the IDIR strain of GBR. Under low-stringency conditions, hybridization between each of the IDIR gene probes and genomic RNA from the ADRV strain of GBR was observed. Genomic RNA obtained from a bovine strain of GBR hybridized with 9 of the 11 IDIR gene probes. In most cases, cognate genes of each of the GBR strains appeared to migrate to similar positions following polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. However, the electropherotype positions of GBR genes 5, 6, and 7 were different for each of the three GBR strains. Identification of these genomic segments among GBR strains should prove helpful in future evaluations of GBR structure and function.
Fabrication and Properties of Carbon Fibers

This paper reviews the research and development activities conducted over the past few decades on carbon fibers. The two most important precursors in the carbon fiber industry are polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and mesophase pitch (MP). The structure and composition of the precursor affect the properties of the resultant carbon fibers significantly. Although the essential processes for carbon fiber production are similar, different precursors require different processing conditions in order to achieve improved performance. The research efforts on process optimization are discussed in this review. The review also attempts to cover the research on other precursor materials developed mainly for the purpose of cost reduction.
A case of Evans' syndrome following influenza vaccine.

Abstract Background Evans' syndrome is an uncommon condition defined by the combination (either simultaneously or sequentially) of immune thrombocytopenia purpura and autoimmune hemolytic anemia with a positive direct antiglobulin test in the absence of known underlying etiology. Objectives We present a case of Evans' syndrome following influenza vaccination. Case Report A 50-year-old man with no prior medical history developed Evans' syndrome 4 days after receiving influenza immunization. The patient improved following treatment with oral prednisone and intravenous immunoglobulin. Conclusion Influenza vaccine is one of the most commonly used vaccines worldwide, with millions of people being vaccinated annually. Despite its wide use, only sparse information has been published concerning any hematological effects of this vaccine. The rarity of such effects supports the safety of using this vaccine.
Automatic isotope identifiers and their features

Isotope identification instruments fulfill an important role in reducing the risk of a successful radiological or nuclear terrorist attack. However, different users and scenarios require different characteristics in these instruments. We examine the various features such as durability, usability, and algorithm found in commercially available instruments and describe the circumstances that favor their use.
Thermal rearrangements of polybutadienes with different vinyl contents

A study was made of the loss of double bonds in equibinary (1,4-1,2) polybutadiene (EB) and in polybutadienes with 30% 1,2, 70% 1,4 (FI), and 10% 1,2, 90% 1,4 (DI) double-bond content, when heated in vacuum under nonpyrolitic conditions (temperature range 220-280 C). These polymers were found to undergo second-order loss of 1,2 unsaturation with similar activation energies (E(sub a) = 34.0 +/- 3 kcal/mole), by analogy to the previously reported thermally induced loss of double bonds in 1,2-polybutadiene (VB) (E(sub a) = 33.6 +/- 3 kcal/mole). Moreover, EB and Fl exhibited also second-order loss of 1,4 unsaturation, with E(sub a) ca. 36 and 40 kcal/mole, respectively, while DI showed negligible loss of 1,4 unsaturation below 260 C, in common with cis-1,4-polybutadiene (CB) (with 2% 1,2 double bonds) examined earlier. The loss of 1,2 double bonds in the various polybutadienes with different vinyl contents is accompanied by substantial methyl production, ranging from about one methyl group formed for every 4-5 vinyl units lost in VB, to one methyl for every two vinyls lost in EB,and to almost one methyl for each vinyl lost in DI or CB. Mechanisms are proposed for the thermally induced loss of 1,2 and 1,4 unsaturation in various polybutadienes and for the accompanying methyl production.
On a Non-Linear Optimization Approach for Proportional Fairness in Ad-Hoc Wireless Networks

In this paper we present a partially asynchronous, fully distributed flow-based access scheme for slotted-time protocols, that guarantees proportional-fairness in ad hoc wireless networks. This problem of providing fairness in wireless networks is considered in the framework of non-linear optimization. We say a medium access control algorithm is proportionally fair with respect to individual end-to-end flows in a network, if the product of the end-to-end flow-success probabilities is maximized.
Diffusion Coefficient of Fluorescent Phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate in the Plasma Membrane of Cells

Phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP(2)) controls a surprisingly large number of processes in cells. Thus, many investigators have suggested that there might be different pools of PIP(2) on the inner leaflet of the plasma membrane. If a significant fraction of PIP(2) is bound electrostatically to unstructured clusters of basic residues on membrane proteins, the PIP(2) diffusion constant, D, should be reduced. We microinjected micelles of Bodipy TMR-PIP(2) into cells, and we measured D on the inner leaflet of fibroblasts and epithelial cells by using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy. The average +/- SD value from all cell types was D = 0.8 +/- 0.2 microm(2)/s (n = 218; 25 degrees C). This is threefold lower than the D in blebs formed on Rat1 cells, D = 2.5 +/- 0.8 microm(2)/s (n = 26). It is also significantly lower than the D in the outer leaflet or in giant unilamellar vesicles and the diffusion coefficient for other lipids on the inner leaflet of these cell membranes. The simplest interpretation is that approximately two thirds of the PIP(2) on inner leaflet of these plasma membranes is bound reversibly.
Exogenous Predictors of National Performance Measures for Emergency Department Crowding

Study objective We explore the relationship between exogenous-level predictors and performance on 4 emergency department (ED) throughput measures approved by the National Quality Forum: median ED length of visit for admitted and discharged patients, median waiting time, and rate of left without being seen. We seek to find predictors for benchmarking and public reporting. Methods This was a study of 424 US hospitals that reported data to the National Hospital Ambulatory Care Survey in 2008 to 2009. Wald F tests and generalized linear models were used to test the relationship between exogenous variables (case mix, age mix, ED volume, teaching status, and Metropolitan Statistical Area status) and performance on the measures. Results Median waiting time was 35 minutes (95% confidence interval [CI] 26 to 43 minutes), median length of visit for patients treated but not admitted was 131 minutes (95% CI 121 to 142 minutes), median length of visit for patients admitted was 244 minutes (95% CI 218 to 270 minutes), and rate of left without being seen was 1.3% (95% CI 0.9% to 1.8%). Most exogenous variables, including ED volume, Metropolitan Statistical Area, teaching hospital status, age mix, and case mix, demonstrated significant association with waiting times and lengths of visit. Older age and a higher proportion of respiratory complaints were associated with differences in rates of left without being seen. Conclusion Several exogenous factors outside of a hospital's control are associated with National Quality Forum–approved ED performance measures, which will have important implications for future benchmarking and public reporting of these data.
Addition of Rifampin to Standard Therapy for Treatment of Native Valve Infective Endocarditis Caused by Staphylococcus aureus

Staphylococcus aureus is a common cause of native valve infective endocarditis (IE). Rifampin is often added to traditional therapy for the management of serious S. aureus infections. There are no large, prospective studies documenting the safety and efficacy of adjunctive therapy with rifampin for treatment of native valve S. aureus IE. We reviewed all cases of definite native valve S. aureus IE confirmed by modified Duke criteria in a large urban hospital between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2005. A retrospective cohort analysis was used to assess the impact of the addition of rifampin to standard therapy. There were 42 cases of S. aureus IE treated with the addition of rifampin and 42 controls. Cases received a median of 20 days of rifampin (range, 14 to 48 days). Rifampin-resistant S. aureus isolates developed in nine cases who received rifampin before clearance of bacteremia (56%), while significant hepatic transaminase elevations also occurred in nine cases, all of whom had hepatitis C infection. Unrecognized significant drug-drug interactions with rifampin occurred frequently (52%). Cases were more likely to have a longer duration of bacteremia (5.2 versus 2.1 days; P < 0.001) and were less likely to survive (79% versus 95%; P = 0.048) than controls. Our results suggest that the potential for hepatotoxicity, drug-drug interactions, and the emergence of resistant S. aureus isolates warrants a careful risk-benefit assessment before adding rifampin to standard antibiotic treatment of native valve S. aureus IE until further clinical studies are performed.
Comparison of MISR and MODIS cloud-top heights in the presence of cloud overlap

Coincident MISR and MODIS cloud-top heights retrieved above two vertically pointing radar sites (ARM-SGP and UK-CFARR) are compared for 54 scenes between March 2000 and October 2003. The difference between MODIS and MISR cloud-top heights is assessed in situations where multiple cloud layers are present in a vertical column (i.e., cloud overlap or multilayered cloud). MISR stereo cloud-top heights are known to be sensitive to low-level clouds of high contrast (between two camera views) even if high clouds with a wide range of optical thicknesses are also present in the scene. MODIS retrieved cloud-top heights do not experience this problem as long as the highest cloud layer has a visible optical thickness greater than approximately 1. Consequently, the difference in cloud-top heights between MODIS and MISR is often large and positive in cloud overlap conditions. In cloud overlap conditions, small differences between MODIS and MISR cloud-top heights can be found where both instruments detect the highest cloud layer or, on the contrary, where they both fail to detect the highest cloud but instead detect some lower level cloud. The comparison with radar cloud-top heights on a 21-scene subset confirmed that large differences are associated with cloud overlap, but also showed that small differences can be found in similar situations if the highest layer is of large contrast (both instruments detect the highest cloud layer) or of extremely small optical thickness (both instruments fail to detect the highest cloud layer). With the use of a cloud-typing technique applied to MODIS data that can also identify areas containing cloud overlap, small differences were found to occur for 60‐70% of all overlap pixels examined here, highlighting the weakness of using the MODIS-MISR cloud-top height differences as a sole indicator for automated cloud overlap detection. While the accuracy of the MODIS cloud-top pressure/height algorithm decreases as the cirrus optical thickness becomes less than 1, the MISR approach may still be able to infer an accurate cloud-top height depending on the cloud contrast between two view angles. However, synergy between the difference in MODIS-MISR cloud-top height analysis and the MODIS cloudtyping method could improve overlap detection for thin cirrus over low cloud situations and provide additional information on the cloud-top height of two distinct layers.
Effect of sequence context and direction of replication on AP site bypass in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Yeast can be readily transformed by single-stranded oligonucleotides (ssOligos). Previously, we showed that an ssOligo that generates a 1-nt loop containing an AP site corrected the -1 frameshift mutation in the lys2DeltaA746 allele. However, these experiments had to be performed in yeast apn1 mutants lacking the major AP endonuclease. In this study, we show that bypass of an AP site can be studied in repair-proficient yeast by using ssOligos that generates a 7-nt loop containing an AP site. The bypass studies performed using the ssOligos that generate a 7-nt loop was validated by demonstrating that the result obtained is similar to those derived using ssOligos containing a 1-nt loop in an apn1 mutant. By using the 7-nt loop system, we showed that the bypass efficiencies of AP sites are dependent on the sequence context that surrounds the lesion and are apparently not affected by the direction of DNA replication. In contrast, the mutagenic specificity of an AP site is not affected by the sequence context or the direction of replication. In all cases, dC is inserted at twice the frequency of dA opposite an AP site, indicating that REV1 is mainly responsible for bypass of AP sites at all lesion sites studied.
DETECTING AND CORRECTING ELECTION FRAUD

I examine the provision of free and fair elections using a decision-theoretic model in which election observers provide a noisy information signal concerning fraud. Monitoring an election is not always worth the cost and so democracy is not always sustainable. A strong preference for fair elections can paradoxically make elections more difficult to monitor. Since fair elections are a public good, municipal election fraud result from Tiebout provision of this local public good. I offer several suggestions for organizations interested in facilitating the diffusion of democracy.
Antisense Masking of an hnRNP A1/A2 Intronic Splicing Silencer Corrects SMN2 Splicing in Transgenic Mice

survival of motor neuron 2, centromeric (SMN2) is a gene that modifies the severity of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a motor-neuron disease that is the leading genetic cause of infant mortality. Increasing inclusion of SMN2 exon 7, which is predominantly skipped, holds promise to treat or possibly cure SMA; one practical strategy is the disruption of splicing silencers that impair exon 7 recognition. By using an antisense oligonucleotide (ASO)-tiling method, we systematically screened the proximal intronic regions flanking exon 7 and identified two intronic splicing silencers (ISSs): one in intron 6 and a recently described one in intron 7. We analyzed the intron 7 ISS by mutagenesis, coupled with splicing assays, RNA-affinity chromatography, and protein overexpression, and found two tandem hnRNP A1/A2 motifs within the ISS that are responsible for its inhibitory character. Mutations in these two motifs, or ASOs that block them, promote very efficient exon 7 inclusion. We screened 31 ASOs in this region and selected two optimal ones to test in human SMN2 transgenic mice. Both ASOs strongly increased hSMN2 exon 7 inclusion in the liver and kidney of the transgenic animals. Our results show that the high-resolution ASO-tiling approach can identify cis-elements that modulate splicing positively or negatively. Most importantly, our results highlight the therapeutic potential of some of these ASOs in the context of SMA.
H-DNA formation by the coding repeat elements of neisserial opa genes.

Summary The coding repeat region of opa genes from Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Neisseria meningitidis determines the expression state of their respective genes through high-frequency addition or deletion of pentanucleotide coding repeat units (CRs; CTTCT). In vitro analyses of cloned opa gene CR regions using single-strand specific nucleases, oligonucleotide protection experiments, and modifications of non-B-DNA residues indicate that the regions form structures resembling H-DNA under acidic conditions in the presence of negative supercoiling. The purine/pyrimidine strand bias and H-palindromic nature of the repeat region are consistent with sequence requirements for H-DNA formation. Sequences flanking the repeat elements are required to form the H-DNA structure in vitro as judged by the pattern of exposed non-B-DNA residues in CR sequences synthesized as oligonucleotides to form β-galactosidase::CR translational fusions. The fusions phase vary by addition and deletion of CR elements and the rate of phase variation increases upon induction of the fusion genes. The opa gene CR region is the first reported bacterial H-DNA structure and is unique in that it ties within the coding sequence for the gene.
Confronting the challenge of learning a flexible neural controller for a diversity of morphologies

The ambulatory capabilities of legged robots offer the potential for access to dangerous and uneven terrain without a risk to human life. However, while machine learning has proven effective at training such robots to walk, a significant limitation of such approaches is that controllers trained for a specific robot are likely to fail when transferred to a robot with a slightly different morphology. This paper confronts this challenge with a novel strategy: Instead of training a controller for a particular quadruped morphology, it evolves a special function (through a method called HyperNEAT) that takes morphology as input and outputs an entire neural network controller fitted to the specific morphology. Once such a relationship is learned the output controllers are able to work on a diversity of different morphologies. Highlighting the unique potential of such an approach, in this paper a neural controller evolved for three different robot morphologies, which differ in the length of their legs, can interpolate to never-seen intermediate morphologies without any further training. Thus this work suggests a new research path towards learning controllers for whole ranges of morphologies: Instead of learning controllers themselves, it is possible to learn the relationship between morphology and control.
In situ preparation and characterization of a conductive and magnetic nanocomposite of polypyrrole and copper hydroxychloride

A nanocomposite of conductive polypyrrole and ferrimagnetic copper hydroxychloride (Cu2Cl(OH)3) was prepared in a single-step via in situ chemical oxidation of pyrrole using CuCl2 as an oxidizing agent. In this study, it was shown that by monitoring the reaction time and conditions, the physical and chemical properties of polypyrrole and Cu2Cl(OH)3 in the nanocomposite can be easily controlled. This resulted in a nanocomposite with optimized conductivity and magnetic properties for a wide variety of applications such as magnetic recording, electromagnetic shielding, sensors, and spintronic devices. The obtained conductivity (0.0006–33 S cm−1) and magnetization (10.25–53.39 emu mol−1) measurements of the nanocomposite were within the range suitable for these applications and were achieved by controlling the reaction conditions and thus the composition of the nanocomposite. With FTIR, XPS and UV-Vis spectroscopy, it was observed that as the reaction proceeds with time under controlled conditions, the oxidation of pyrrole in the presence of CuCl2 leads to significant structural changes in polypyrrole as well as gradual precipitation of Cu2Cl(OH)3. XRD and SEM analysis showed the effect of reaction conditions on the crystallinity and the morphology of the polypyrrole/Cu2Cl(OH)3 nanocomposite. While the chemical and structural variations in polypyrrole were correlated with the conductivity of the nanocomposite, measured via the conductive-AFM technique, the changes in magnetic properties of the nanocomposite were mainly attributed to the variations observed in the crystallinity of Cu2Cl(OH)3.
Graduate Curricula in Software Engineering and Software Assurance: Need and Recommendations

The paper describes the results of two graduate curriculum projects: GSwE2009, which developed Graduate Software Engineering 2009: Curriculum Guidelines for Graduate Degree Programs in Software Engineering and MSwA2010, a current project, which is developing a Master of Software Assurance Reference Curriculum. The authors, who actively participated in the development of the recommendations, discuss the background, identification of the programs objectives and outcomes, relation to the respective Bodies of Knowledge, the audience and the required preparation, proposed curricula architecture, and the implementation comments.
XPS and Magnetization Measurements Study of CrMn Nanoparticles

Cr1-xMnx (x < 6.3 %) alloy in the bulk form is an interesting complex system that behaves in many but not all respects like a spin-glass system. In this study, 14 nm-size CrMn nanoparticles with 5% Mn, were synthesized by ball milling of Cr and Mn particles in Ar atmosphere. After 50 hours of milling, the x-ray diffraction pattern indicated alloying of the two metals Cr and Mn. However XPS data indicated the formation of MnO2 and Cr2O3oxides on the surface of the chromium core in the nanoparticle. These oxides on the surface, like the Cr core, are antiferromagnets. Magnetization (M) measurement at 200 G as a function of temperature (T), after zero-field-cooling, showed that M increased as T increased from 5 K all the way to 330 K, beyond the Neel temperatures of the Cr and the oxides. Even though the magnetization value is in the range of a typical antiferromagnet at all temperatures from 5 to 330 K, the shape of M versus T curve is neither that of an antiferromagnet nor of a spin-glass. It appears that the behavior of the magnetization curve is due to the frustration of the spins by weak fields associated with spin-density-wave and by the existence of the oxides. This frustration should be different from the frustration of the spins due to the ferromagnetic-antiferromagnetic competition in spin-glass systems.
Directed leucocyte migration in response to infection and other stimuli.

Our knowledge of the response of blood leucocytes from normal animals to bacteria and their products has been stimulated in recent years by development of techniques permitting greater understanding and a more quantitative treatment of the process (Martin et al, 1950; Miles and Niven, 1950). The ability of certain organisms to inhibit the migration of leucocytes in vitro has also been correlated in some cases with the production of endotoxins by the organisms (Martin and Chaudhuri, 1952) and with the formation of cell substances apparently associated with the quality of virulence. The objectives of the present study have been to examine the phenomenon of leucocyte migration in response to brucellae and some of their products, to extend the study to leucocytes derived from animals infected with brucellae and other organisms, and finally to determine whether the leucocytes of infected animals or of animals treated in other ways are inherently affected so far as migration capacity is concerned by changes impressed upon the host or whether the leucocytes are merely indirect indicators of plasma alterations.
71 LOVASTATIN IS ANTIARRHYTHMIC IN ISCHEMIC HEART TISSUE BY BLOCKING TRIGGERED ACTIVITY

Background AVID and MADIT-II trials showed that patients with coronary artery disease taking HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors have fewer ICD shocks suggesting anti-arrhythmic effects. Our aim was to analyze the effects of acutely administered lovastatin (LOVA): 1) on ICD defibrillation threshold (DFT) since antiarrhythmics can worsen DFT, and 2) on triggered activity (TA) recorded from ischemic endocardium excised from the anterior wall of anesthetized dogs with anterior descending coronary occlusion. Methods and Results Dogs received LOVA dissolved in DMSO. DMSO alone produced no effect on DFT. LOVA 10 mg IV did not alter effective refractory period and tended to improve defibrillation success (from 20 ± 3 to 17 ± 3 J, P = 0.09 vs control). Ischemic endocardium was studied using standard microelectrode techniques with normal Tyrode9s solution. There were no delayed afterdepolarizations (DADs) or TA at baseline in this depolarized tissue (-71 ± 4 mV). Isoproterenol (5 × 10-7 M) superfusion, produced sustained TA with DAD amplitudes of 4.2 ± 1 mV. LOVA (10-7 M) produced no change in resting membrane potential (-70 ± 4 mV), action potential duration at 90% (from 231 ± 11 to 229 ± 8 msec, ns), action potential duration at 50% (168 ± 7 to 166 ± 6 msec, ns), action potential amplitude (89 ± 5 to 85 ± 5 mV, ns), overshoot (11 ± 1 to 10 ± 1 mV) or DAD amplitude (4.0 ± 1 mV, ns). Interestingly, TA was attenuated to 1-5 complexes with LOVA (p Conclusions These results are consistent with the possibility that a prenylated protein down-stream from the mevalonic acid pathway may underlie this effect. Thus LOVA in concentrations achievable in human plasma may be antiarrhythmic for TA without a deleterious effect on DFT.
Typhoon Avoidance System Software for Vessel Based on ECDIS

A typhoon avoidance system based on ECDIS for vessel has been designed,in which the ECDIS platform superiority is developed and the probability density algorithm of typhoon forecast errors is introduced.In this system the basic data information of typhoon and ship navigation such as ship's positions,routes and typhoon's positions display on ECDIS directly and the probability density algorithm of typhoon forecast errors is adopted,the scheme for typhoon avoidance can be made quickly and accurately to ensure ship's safety of navigation in bad typhoon weather.
Microsurgical anatomy of the short central artery

We studied the origin, length, external diameter, disposition, branching patterns and the perforators ofshort central artery in the circle of Willis in eighty fresh, unfixed cerebral hemispheres (4...
Front-end PPA architecture for three input multiplier

We introduce a new implementation of a three-input multiplier. This multiplier is capable of accepting three binary inputs, and producing the product, a*b*c. Although this implementation requires more space, it reduces the number of clock cycles required to multiply three numbers. In this paper, we present the front end 4-bit partial product array that can be incorporated into a typical multiplier to extend the multiplication to three inputs.
Ice Crystal Engineering - Facing Inside Back Cover

Ice Crystal Engineering LLC 5074 165th Avenue SE Kindred, ND 58051 USA Phone 701-428-9882 Fax 701-428-9884 E-mail info@iceflares.com
From stay to play – A travel planning tool based on crowdsourcing user-generated contents

Abstract Conventional ways of trip planning using online reviews from multiple sources are often cumbersome and uncustomizable. The advance in information and communication technology (ICT) and the surge in user-generated contents (UGC) provide great opportunities to facilitate trip planning. This paper proposes a travel-planning tool by crowdsourcing multiple UGCs to provide customized information for tourists. We harvested hotel customer reviews from TripAdvisor, photo information from Flickr, and travel costs between destinations from Uber. First, we used geospatial data mining approaches to extract tourism attractions information from Flickr; identified multi-facet characteristics of hotels with natural language processing (NLP); and provided travel route recommendations with graph analysis. Second, we developed a web-based interface to let users communicate with the system interactively, which provides integrated recommendations including attractions, hotels, and visit route sequences. Two cities in the United States (i.e. Atlanta and Chicago) were used as cases to illustrate our approaches. The proposed travel planning tool is not only beneficial to support customized travel decision-making, but also supportive for hotel managers with strategic management implications.
Design and Build: Perception of Project Owners and Contractors on Cost in Java, Indonesia

Design-build (DB) is a project delivery that has already been used widely in USA, UK, Singapore and in other countries. However, it is not widely used in Indonesia and there are limited studies available on DB. The purpose of this paper is to quantify project owners’ and contractors’ opinions about the perceived benefits of DB in terms of cost in Java, Indonesia. The quantitative research design using survey study was conducted to evaluate stakeholders’ opinion on the impact of DB on cost. Survey forms with questionnaires were sent to ten project owners and ten contractors. Inferential statistics using t-test was used to compare the perception between them. The result shows that project owners and contractors agree that DB project delivery has some benefits on cost. However, implementation has to be improved in order for DB to be a preferable project delivery option.
Community Residents' Beliefs About Neighborhood Corner Stores in 2 Latino Communities: Implications for Interventions to Improve the Food Environment.

We assessed community residents’ perceptions of corner stores to better understand what facilitates and deters patronage at these food outlets. Data came from 978 household interviews in 2 Latino communities undergoing corner store interventions. Chi-square tests, an independent sample t test, and a multivariate logistic regression were conducted to assess the relationship between residents’ perceptions about corner stores and their reported patronage at these food outlets. Residents reported that corner stores do not sell a variety of fruits and vegetables and are not places where one can get information about healthy eating. Convenience, cleanliness, positive customer service, availability of culturally appropriate items, and availability of quality fresh fruit increased the odds of store patronage. Simply providing healthy foods will not incentivize patrons to purchase them. Corner store interventions can be more effective if they address the characteristics that community residents prioritize.