cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The role of family interactions in HIV risk for gay and bisexual male youth: A pilot study

ABSTRACTDespite ongoing prevention efforts, young gay and bisexual males continue to engage in sexual behaviors that place them at disproportionately high risk for HIV infection. Parental monitoring and parent–child communication have been found to be associated with low-risk sexual behavior among heterosexual youth, but the role of family interactions for gay and bisexual male youth remains largely unexplored. To help address this gap, an exploratory study of recorded and coded interactions among 35 gay and bisexual youth and their parents was done to begin to identify which types of family interactions were associated with youth high-risk sexual behavior. Parent–son communication that was mutual and low in conflict was found to be most prevalent among youth with the fewest reported high-risk sexual behaviors. These preliminary findings, along with a case example, demonstrate how social workers can coach families to engage in productive and potentially influential interactions that reduce HIV-related sex...
Analysis on epidimic situation of malaria in Sichuan Province from 1995 to 2004

20 316 malaria cases and 271 falciparum malaria cases with 22 deaths were reported from 1995 to 2004 in Sichuan Province.Among the ten years,a total of 10 127 629 blood sliders of the patients with fevers were detected,from which 12 312 malaria cases were confirmed with the positive rate of 0.122%.Compared with 1995(0.92■),the malaria incidence in 2004(0.054■) reduced by 94.1%.The malaria incidence was decreased and transmission scope narrowed gradually in the decade.Effective managements of mobile population must be carried out to control the epidemic and transmission of malaria.
Quality assurance and surgical practice.

Excellence in surgical practice is measured by medical audit, utilization review, tissue committees, and credentials committees. Continuing medical education and risk management also contribute to quality assurance programs.
Ants, Elephants, and Experimental Design: Understanding Science and Examining Connections Between Species Interactions and Ecosystem Processes

The dynamic nature of science is important to understand when science is used to make decisions about complex issues involving the environment and sustainability. Therefore, it is important for students learning about these topics to understand the scientific process and be able to effectively critique different experimental designs, understand the strengths and limitations of any given study, and recognize the roles that incomplete information and uncertainty play in science. To address student understanding of the nature of science, an activity was developed using a video abstract from a peer-reviewed article (Goheen and Palmer, Curr Biol 20:1768–1772, 2010) that examines the role of mutualisms in shaping ecosystem properties. After completing this activity, students should be able to (1) interpret data from published graphs, (2) identify key components of experimental design, (3) discuss inferences that can be made from results generated by different experimental designs, (4) identify and describe interspecific interactions, and (5) explain how interactions at one level of ecological organization (e.g., communities) can influence processes at other levels (e.g., ecosystems).
SU-F-T-667: Development and Validation of Dose Calculation for An Open-Source KV Treatment Planning System for Small Animal Radiotherapy

Purpose: An open-source, convolution/superposition based kV-treatment planning system(TPS) was developed for small animal radiotherapy from previously existed in-house MV-TPS. It is flexible and applicable to both step and shoot and helical tomotherapy treatment delivery. For initial commissioning process, the dose calculation from kV-TPS was compared with measurements and Monte Carlo(MC) simulations. Methods: High resolution, low energy kernels were simulated using EGSnrc user code EDKnrc, which was used as an input in kV-TPS together with MC-simulated x-ray beam spectrum. The Blue Water™ homogeneous phantom (with film inserts) and heterogeneous phantom (with film and TLD inserts) were fabricated. Phantom was placed at 100cm SSD, and was irradiated with 250 kVp beam for 10mins with 1.1cm × 1.1cm open field (at 100cm) created by newly designed binary micro-MLC assembly positioned at 90cm SSD. Gafchromic™ EBT3 film was calibrated in-phantom following AAPM TG-61 guidelines, and were used for measurement at 5 different depths in phantom. Calibrated TLD-100s were obtained from ADCL. EGS and MNCP5 simulation were used to model experimental irradiation set up calculation of dose in phantom. Results: Using the homogeneous phantom, dose difference between film and kV-TPS was calculated: mean(x)=0.9%; maximum difference(MD)=3.1%; standard deviation(σ)=1.1%. Dose difference between MCNP5 and kV-TPS was: x=1.5%; MD=4.6%; σ=1.9%. Dose difference between EGS and kV-TPS was: x=0.8%; MD=1.9%; σ=0.8%. Using the heterogeneous phantom, dose difference between film and kV-TPS was: x=2.6%; MD=3%; σ=1.1%; and dose difference between TLD and kV-TPS was: x=2.9%; MD=6.4%; σ=2.5%. Conclusion: The inhouse, open-source kV-TPS dose calculation system was comparable within 5% of measurements and MC simulations in both homogeneous and heterogeneous phantoms. The dose calculation system of the kV-TPS is validated as a part of initial commissioning process for small animal radiotherapy. The kV-TPS has the potential for accurate dose calculation for any kV treatment or imaging modalities.
The Institutions Curse: Natural Resources, Politics, and Development

The 'resource curse' is the view that countries with extensive natural resources tend to suffer from a host of undesirable outcomes, including the weakening of state capacity, authoritarianism, fewer public goods, war, and economic stagnation. This book debunks this view, arguing that there is an 'institutions curse' rather than a resource curse. Legacies endemic to the developing world have impelled many countries to develop natural resources as a default sector in lieu of cultivating modern and diversified economies, and bad institutions have also condemned nations to suffer from ills unduly attributed to minerals and oil. Victor Menaldo also argues that natural resources can actually play an integral role in stimulating state capacity, capitalism, industrialization, and democracy, even if resources are themselves often a symptom of underdevelopment. Despite being cursed by their institutions, weak states are blessed by their resources: greater oil means more development, both historically and across countries today.
States of Nostalgia in the Genre of the Future: Panem, Globalization, and Utopia in The Hunger Games Trilogy

This chapter is a close analysis of the representation of post-apocalyptic North America (Panem) in the three novels comprising Suzanne Collins’s blockbuster The Hunger Games trilogy: The Hunger Games (2008), Catching Fire (2009), and Mockingjay (2010). Smith and Korsnack argue that scholars have yet to consider the trilogy’s uneasy relation to the dystopian genre with which it is universally identified. Instead, they propose that a close consideration of the relationship between setting and genre in the series reveals points at which its dystopian critique lapses into other varieties of utopian form, specifically the anti-utopia and the conservative utopia.
Capturing RNA Folding Free Energy with Coarse-Grained Molecular Dynamics Simulations

We introduce a coarse-grained RNA model for molecular dynamics simulations, RACER (RnA CoarsE-gRained). RACER achieves accurate native structure prediction for a number of RNAs (average RMSD of 2.93 A) and the sequence-specific variation of free energy is in excellent agreement with experimentally measured stabilities (R2 = 0.93). Using RACER, we identified hydrogen-bonding (or base pairing), base stacking, and electrostatic interactions as essential driving forces for RNA folding. Also, we found that separating pairing vs. stacking interactions allowed RACER to distinguish folded vs. unfolded states. In RACER, base pairing and stacking interactions each provide an approximate stability of 3–4 kcal/mol for an A-form helix. RACER was developed based on PDB structural statistics and experimental thermodynamic data. In contrast with previous work, RACER implements a novel effective vdW potential energy function, which led us to re-parameterize hydrogen bond and electrostatic potential energy functions. Further, RACER is validated and optimized using a simulated annealing protocol to generate potential energy vs. RMSD landscapes. Finally, RACER is tested using extensive equilibrium pulling simulations (0.86 ms total) on eleven RNA sequences (hairpins and duplexes).
The Future of the Cytokine Discipline

The study of cytokines has evolved from the detection of functional activities present in tissue culture supernatants to the characterization of the three-dimensional molecular structures of the cytokines and their receptors. Investigators studying cytokines need to have specialized expertise in using cytokine assays, assessing their receptor interactions, signal transduction, gene activation, and biological effects, and in the therapeutic utilization of agonists and antagonists. Cytokinology can therefore be considered a discipline. In this article, I have considered studies leading to the identification of novel cytokines, potential producers of cytokine mimics such as viruses and the microbiome, and the complex interactions of the cytokine network with our vital functions. Our ever-increasing success in using cytokines and, in particular, cytokine inhibitors therapeutically suggest that cytokinology will eventually become an independent discipline.
Biomechanically-Determined Guidelines for Occupational Pushing and Pulling:

Background: In an attempt to reduce heavy lifting exposures, the manual materials handling burden has shifted towards pushing and pulling. Pushing and pulling may pose a biomechanical risk due to excessive loads placed onto the lumbar spine, particularly in anterior/posterior (A/P) shear (Knapik and Marras 2009). The only risk limits available in the scientific literature for pushing and pulling were psychophysically-determined, relying on the assumption that subjective perception of an individual’s maximum acceptable external forces corresponds to biomechanical tolerance (Snook and Ciriello 1991). However, individuals are unlikely able to sense biomechanical loading on critical tissues in the spine due to the lack of nociceptors in the intervertebral disc (Adams et al. 1996). As such, the objective of this study was to create a set of biomechanically-determined risk limits for occupational pushing and pulling that are protective of the low back.Methods: Sixty-two subjects (31 male, 31 female) performed o...
Prediction Score for Anticoagulation Control Quality Among Older Adults

Background Time in the therapeutic range (TTR) is associated with the effectiveness and safety of vitamin K antagonist (VKA) therapy. To optimize prescribing of VKA, we aimed to develop and validate a prediction model for TTR in older adults taking VKA for nonvalvular atrial fibrillation and venous thromboembolism. Methods and Results The study cohort comprised patients aged ≥65 years who were taking VKA for atrial fibrillation or venous thromboembolism and who were identified in the 2 US electronic health record databases linked with Medicare claims data from 2007 through 2014. With the predictors identified from a systematic review and clinical knowledge, we built a prediction model for TTR, using one electronic health record system as the training set and the other as the validation set. We compared the performance of the new models to that of a published prediction score for TTR, SAMe‐TT 2 R 2 . Based on 1663 patients in the training set and 1181 in the validation set, our optimized score included 42 variables and the simplified model included 7 variables, abbreviated as PROSPER (Pneumonia, Renal dysfunction, Oozing blood [prior bleeding], Staying in hospital ≥7 days, Pain medication use, no Enhanced [structured] anticoagulation services, Rx for antibiotics). The PROSPER score outperformed SAMe‐TT 2 R 2 when predicting both TTR ≥70% (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve 0.67 versus 0.55) and the thromboembolic and bleeding outcomes (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve 0.62 versus 0.52). Conclusions Our geriatric TTR score can be used as a clinical decision aid to select appropriate candidates to receive VKA therapy and as a research tool to address confounding and treatment effect heterogeneity by anticoagulation quality.
Covariation in couples' nightly sleep and gender differences.

Abstract Objectives For most partnered adults, sleep is not an individual-level behavior―it is a shared health behavior with a partner. This study examined whether perceived nightly sleep duration and sleep quality covaried within couples and whether the unique influence of partner sleep on individual sleep differed by gender. Design Eight consecutive days of diary data. Participants US hotel employees and their spouses/partners (N = 76 from 38 couples, 600 daily observations). Measurements Each day, couples separately reported their previous night's sleep duration (in hours) and sleep quality (1 = very unsatisfactory to 5 = very satisfactory). Analyses adjusted for sociodemographic, family, work, and day-level characteristics. Results Dyadic multilevel modeling revealed positive covariation in nightly sleep duration within couples. After controlling for the effects of contextual covariates, partner influence on individual sleep duration was more apparent in men's sleep. When a female's sleep duration was longer or shorter than usual, their male partner's sleep duration was also longer or shorter than usual, respectively. However, a female's sleep was not significantly predicted by her male partner's sleep duration after taking into account the effects of her sleep on the male partner's sleep and contextual covariates. Sleep quality covaried on average across days between partners, and this association did not differ by gender. Conclusions Our results demonstrate positive covariation in sleep duration and sleep quality within couples. Couples' sleep duration covaried night-to-night, and their sleep quality covaried on average across days. A male's sleep duration is predicted by the female partner's sleep duration but not vice versa. Future research should examine health consequences of couple sleep covariation.
Quantitative study of color category boundaries.

We use World Color Survey (WCS) data to design quantitative methods to study color categorization, with the focus on the “geometric” properties of categories, in particular, on studying their shape, and creating a consistent methodology to identify category boundaries. We introduce the notion of “No Man’s Land” and “Some Man’s Land” to distinguish color chips that belong to no color category and those that belong to some color category. We introduce a “color-stimulus-strength” function that characterizes color boundaries. While categories may come in a variety of shapes, and their boundaries are nonuniform and can vary in thickness, there are universal patterns that emerge. For example, the boundary-to-category-mass ratio is a decreasing function of category strength (i.e., stronger categories have relatively thinner boundaries), and boundary mass obeys a “square root”-like law as a function of category mass (i.e., roughly speaking, color categories behave like 2D circles). We further identify a relationship between color boundaries and Shannon’s entropy, which can be calculated by using the field data of the WCS. We find that depending on the informational content of a given chip, it can belong to three distinct types: (I) strongly belonging to a color category; (II) belonging to a boundary between two or more categories; (III) not belonging to a category or a boundary. The last two cases can be interpreted in terms of evolution and temporal dynamics of color categories.
Clinical features and outcomes of children with culture-negative septic arthritis.

BACKGROUND Septic arthritis is a serious infection, but the results of blood and joint fluid cultures are often negative in children. We describe here the clinical features and management of culture-negative septic arthritis in children at our hospital and their outcomes. METHODS We performed a retrospective review of a cohort of children with septic arthritis who were hospitalized at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia between January 2002 and December 2014. Culture-negative septic arthritis was defined as a joint white blood cell count of >50000/μL with associated symptoms, a clinical diagnosis of septic arthritis, and a negative culture result. Children with pretreatment, an intensive case unit admission, Lyme arthritis, immunodeficiency, or surgical hardware were excluded. Treatment failure included a change in antibiotics, surgery, and/or reevaluation because of a lack of improvement/worsening. RESULTS We identified 157 children with septic arthritis. The patients with concurrent osteomyelitis (n = 28) had higher inflammatory marker levels at presentation, had a longer duration of symptoms (median, 4.5 vs 3 days, respectively; P < .001), and more often had bacteremia (46.4% vs 6.2%, respectively; P < .001). Among children with septic arthritis without associated osteomyelitis, 69% (89 of 129) had negative culture results. These children had lower C-reactive protein levels (median, 4.0 vs 7.3 mg/dL, respectively; P = .001) and erythrocyte sedimentation rates (median, 39 vs 51 mm/hour, respectively; P = .01) at admission and less often had foot/ankle involvement (P = .02). Among the children with culture-negative septic arthritis, the inpatient treatment failure rate was 9.1%, and treatment failure was more common in boys than in girls (17.1% vs 3.8%, respectively; P = .03). We found no association between treatment failure and empiric antibiotics or patient age. No outpatient treatment failures occurred during the 6-month follow-up period, although 17% of the children discharged with a peripherally inserted central catheter line experienced complications, including 3 with bacteremia. CONCLUSIONS The majority of septic arthritis infections at our institution were culture negative. Among patients with culture-negative infection, empiric antibiotics failed for 9% and necessitated a change in therapy. More sensitive diagnostic testing should be implemented to elucidate the causes of culture-negative septic arthritis in children.
Screens and Sizing

During crushing and simple sizing operations it is necessary or convenient at various stages in the processing to separate the material into particular lots designated by a certain size dimension. This is done by screening, for the following specific purposes: (i) to grade particles into quantities of a specified size; (ii) to remove undersize or oversize material from the rest of the rock being processed; (iii) to have a correctly sized product from an operation; and (iv) to have a correctly sized feed to an operation.
Home Sweet Home? Decorating Magazines as Contexts for Art Education

This article explores home decorating magazines as gendered pedagogical sites that are especially concerned with art education. First, it describes the wider economic conditions in which these magazines fulfill functions of promoting longing and consumption related to the home. Then, it considers learner/teacher relations and the kinds of discourses communicated through these documents in which craft and aesthetic instruction are nested and entangled. Finally, it suggests ways that understanding these magazines as pedagogical contexts can help educators use and analyze images and curricula within them. Relying on critical media and feminist analyses, a case is made that home decorating magazines are influential in fostering obdurate, taken-for-granted assumptions related to the nature of art education as a school subject.
Prescription and Nonprescription Sleep Product Use Among Older Adults in the United States

Objective Older adults commonly use products that may be used to promote sleep, such as benzodiazepines and over-the-counter medications, but the current extent of use of both prescription and nonprescription products specifically for sleep in the United States is unknown. Methods Respondents in this cross-sectional, nationally representative survey (the National Poll on Healthy Aging) of community-dwelling older adults aged 65–80 (n = 1,065) reported difficulty initiating sleep or early awakening (“sleep symptoms”) and use of prescription medication or nonprescription aids to promote sleep (“sleep product”), including prescription sleep medication, over-the-counter (OTC) sleep aids, prescription pain medication, and herbal/natural sleep aids. Logistic regression was used to determine the association of respondent sociodemographic and clinical characteristics with the use of sleep products. Results Sleep symptoms were endorsed by 67.7% of respondents (95% confidence interval [CI] 64.7%–70.7%). Use of a sleep product was reported by 35.4% (95% CI 32.4%–38.6%), with 21.9% (95% CI 19.4%–24.7%) using OTC sleep aids, 12.5% using herbal/natural aids (95% CI 10.6%–14.8%), 8.3% using prescription sleep medication (95% CI 6.7%–10.3%), and 5.0% using prescription pain medication (95% CI 3.8%–6.7%). Self-reported fair/poor mental health (relative to excellent/very good) was associated with increased odds of sleep product use (adjusted odds ratio 2.28, 95% CI 1.10–4.72, p = 0.03). Conclusion More than a third of older adults use medications or aids to help with sleep—most commonly OTC aids. Clinicians should routinely ask older patients about sleep-related difficulties and the use of nonprescription sleep aids.
99mTechnetium pyrophosphate scintigraphy with cadmium zinc telluride cameras is a highly sensitive and specific imaging modality to diagnose transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis.

Transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis (ATTR) is a rare, but underdiagnosed, cardiomyopathy. Traditionally diagnosed invasively, ATTR can be diagnosed with non-invasive 99mTechnetium pyrophosphate (99mTc-PYP) planar scintigraphy. Non-planar imaging has not been validated for ATTR diagnosis. Here, we develop and validate a Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT) protocol for diagnosing ATTR. Forty-three subjects (24 ATTR, 19 non-ATTR) were imaged with Philips Dual-Head Anger (planar) and General Electric CZT cameras. Myocardial uptake was quantified by heart-to-contralateral (H/CL) ratios. CZT scans were quantified by two readers blinded to planar H/CL, with one repeating blinded quantification. Using the previously validated diagnostic threshold (H/CL ≥ 1.5), sensitivity and specificity of CZT scintigraphy was measured. McNemar’s test and Pearson’s correlation coefficient were calculated. Among subjects (76.7% male, age 77 ± 9), there was no significant difference in proportion of ATTR-positive identification between modalities. There was high correlation between CZT and planar H/CL ratios (r = 0.92, P < 0.0001), with low intra- [ICC = 0.89 (0.80-0.94)] and inter-observer [ICC = 0.80 (0.65-0.89)] variability. CZT scintigraphy had 100% sensitivity and specificity for diagnosing ATTR. 99mTc-PYP CZT imaging is as highly sensitive and specific diagnosing ATTR as planar imaging. These findings are clinically salient given the emergence of disease-modifying ATTR therapies, as it could expand diagnostic capability.
Identifying Opportunities for Relationship-Focused Robotic Interventions in Strained Hierarchical Relationships *

When disagreements arise in hierarchical relationships, relationship members sometimes prefer conflict management strategies that avoid or quickly end the overt conflict even if the relationship is left in a state of dissatisfaction. Our lab has proposed that a peripheral robotic agent may be able to support these types of relationships during conflict. In this paper, we present the results of an IRB-approved human-robot interaction study that examines how the members of a hierarchical relationship involved in conflict respond to the presence of an unengaged robot. This study serves as a baseline for additional studies. The unengaged robot appears to have a minimal influence on the interaction. The observed conflicts followed the patterns typically described in mediation literature. Our lab previously proposed a computational model to identify weakness and alienation in these relationships. We discuss a partial implementation of this model, and its ability to recognize problems in certain relationships within the data collected. Based on our observations, and the performance of the model’s partial implementation, we suggest considerations that need to be made for an intervening robotic agent.
Information gain from isotopic contrast variation in neutron reflectometry on protein-membrane complex structures.

A framework is applied to quantify information gain from neutron or X-ray reflectometry experiments [Treece, Kienzle, Hoogerheide, Majkrzak, Losche & Heinrich (2019). J. Appl. Cryst. 52, 47-59], in an in-depth investigation into the design of scattering contrast in biological and soft-matter surface architectures. To focus the experimental design on regions of interest, the marginalization of the information gain with respect to a subset of model parameters describing the structure is implemented. Surface architectures of increasing complexity from a simple model system to a protein-lipid membrane complex are simulated. The information gain from virtual surface scattering experiments is quantified as a function of the scattering length density of molecular components of the architecture and the surrounding aqueous bulk solvent. It is concluded that the information gain is mostly determined by the local scattering contrast of a feature of interest with its immediate molecular environment, and experimental design should primarily focus on this region. The overall signal-to-noise ratio of the measured reflectivity modulates the information gain globally and is a second factor to be taken into consideration.
Variation in Inflammatory Biomarkers Among Demographic Groups Significantly Affects Their Accuracy in Diagnosing Periprosthetic Joint Infection.

Abstract Background Diagnosis of periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) is a multistep process that involves performing various tests including erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C-reactive protein (CRP). The latter two tests, despite being used at all times for PJI diagnosis, are known to be nonspecific and substantially affected by demographic characteristics, including age, gender, race, and body mass index. It is unknown how these variations affect the diagnostic utility of serological markers for PJI. Methods Institutional databases were queried to identify patients undergoing revision arthroplasty between 2010 and 2018, in whom preoperative serum ESR and CRP was performed. Patient demographics were collected, and patients were cross-referenced with an internal database to determine their infection status. Analyses were performed to determine how ESR and CRP varied with respect to demographic factors, including age, gender, race, and infection status. Given that patient infection status was known at the time of revision, conclusions were drawn about the effect of these variations in inflammatory markers on the diagnostic utility of ESR and CRP. Results The value of ESR increased by age was higher in females and African American race. No significant differences were observed in the value of CRP among the demographic factors, although a slight positive trend was observed with respect to age. The variation in inflammatory markers significantly affected the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of ESR and CRP for PJI diagnosis. Conclusion Understanding how the accuracy of diagnostic tests varies with respect to demographic factors can help physicians avoid subjecting patients to unnecessary additional testing and reach more accurate diagnoses of PJI.
Taxes and the Cannabis Business

The legal availability and use of marijuana is on the rise. More than half the states in the country allow its use for medical purposes, eight of which also permit it for recreational purposes. The manufacture, sale, and use of marijuana is largely a cash business because it is still against the federal Controlled Substance Act. Most banks will not allow such businesses to open a bank account as a result. This case addresses the ethical issues faced by a CPA who is asked to accept the client's request to hold back reporting 25% of the cash sales as taxable income, arguing that since it is a cash business no one would be the wiser. The tax accountant does not want to go along with the firm's request as she knows it would be wrong to do so. She values honesty and integrity in tax reporting and is concerned about violating the AICPA rules of professional conduct, especially the acts discreditable rule. In preparation for a meeting with her superiors, the tax accountant considers ways to effectively voice her values by responding to the likely reasons and rationalizations she might encounter. The associate teaching note addresses the stakeholders, how to build a coalition to support her position, and the most powerful and persuasive responses she can make to positively influence her superiors. Excerpt UVA-OB-1256 Giving Voice to Values Sept. 28, 2018 Taxes and the Cannabis Business Cannabis and the Law On January 5, 2018, the Pew Research Center released the results of a survey of the support in America for the legalization of marijuana. About six in ten (61%) Americans said the use of marijuana should be legalized, an increase from 57% one year prior but nearly double what it was in 2000 (31%). As of 2018, 29 states plus the territories of Guam and Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia allowed marijuana use for medical purposes. Eight of these states and Washington, DC, also permitted marijuana use for recreational purposes.
Food safety: A policy history and introduction to avenues for economic research

Foodborne illness ranks seventh globally among major health hazards, falling between air pollution and tuberculosis. Yet food safety is relatively understudied by economists. This paper provides an introduction to food safety for economists new to the subject. It presents an overview of the problem, the history of major policy reforms, and the structure of food safety governance in the United States and internationally. It identifies potential opportunities for economists in interdisciplinary food safety research and presents one example of this kind of collaboration, namely research focused on identifying the food sources of US Campylobacter infections. JEL CLASSIFICATION I1; Q17; Q18
Present and potential future experimental evidence supporting a multicomponent dark matter scenario

We briefly review the arguments for a multicomponent dark matter scenario which contains both the higgsino of natural supersymmetry (susy) and one or both of two other well-motivated particles—the axion and the higgson. This scenario has become increasingly compelling because of increasingly strong constraints from experiment and observation: (1) The predicted density of natural neutralinos (higgsinos with masses of $$\sim $$ 100–300 GeV/c $$^2$$ ) is $$\sim $$ 5–25 times smaller than the observed dark matter density, because the cross section for annihilation of light higgsinos in the early universe is large. (2) The coupling to nuclei through Higgs exchange (with a natural admixture of gaugino components in a particle that is dominantly higgsino) makes it difficult to evade the very low upper limits on the cross sections for scattering off nuclei in direct detection experiments. (3) Indirect detection experiments and Planck have imposed retrictive upper limits on the annihilation cross section. (4) CMS and ATLAS have obtained lower limits on the masses of some susy particles that are relatively high, up to about 2 TeV. Since the axion and axion dark matter experiments have already been extensively reviewed, here we emphasize a candidate which is similar to the neutralino in some respects—with spin 1/2 and R-parity $$=-1$$ —but which has a substantially smaller cross section for both annihilation and scattering, and which, therefore, has the potential to be consistent with (1) observations of the dark matter abundance, (2) spin-independent and spin-dependent scattering in direct detection experiments, (3) observations of gamma rays, antiprotons, etc. in indirect detection experiments, and (4) the LHC limits on masses of susy particles. The present theory also contains susy, with both the lightest neutralino and lightest higgson being stable dark matter particles (since neither can decay into a set of particles containing the other). This theory predicts a doubly rich variety of new particles whose existence can be tested in the foreseeable future.
Bribery and the Multinationals in Latin America: Only the Tip of the Iceberg

The current fervor over bribery and other questionable payments made by or on behalf of large multinational corporations (MNCs) is due to several factors. First is the awareness that since the end of World War I, multinational enterprises have needed international guidelines for their conduct.1 However, mere awareness of a need for control was not enough to stir action; the real precipitating factors were the scandal and the discoveries of Watergate.2 Impropriety, beginning in the Office of the President of the United States and filtering throughout the political, economic and business sectors of our society, shocked the consciences of Americans and the rest of the world. A sense of moral indignation over the abuse of power, and the use of money to achieve that end, encouraged demands for investigation and disclosure of information concerning the practices of corporations involved in making questionable payments at home and abroad.
V Fluctuations, Instabilities and Chaos in the Laser-Driven Nonlinear Ring Cavity

Publisher Summary This chapter explains fluctuations, instabilities, and chaos in the laser-driven nonlinear ring cavity. The laser-like systems of modern optics exhibit many of these properties in an especially uncluttered setting, where their essential features are not hidden by irrelevant complexity. This fact, has gained prominence with the recent appearance of new theoretical results for several such systems. Among these are the driven nonlinear cavity and the laser with saturable absorber, which exhibit hysteresis and other properties analogous to those of first-order phase transitions. In particular, the ring cavity with a nonlinear medium shows the universal approach to chaotic behavior as a mechanism for optical chaos. The chapter presents the stationary response of the nonlinear ring cavity to an injected field utilizing the Maxwell–Bloch equations for a medium of two-level atoms. In addition, the chapter discusses time-dependent behavior of the nonlinear ring cavity. It describes the deterministic switching in the bistable region utilizing the Maxwell–Bloch equations. Further, the chapter explains the sequence of instabilities present in the nonlinear ring cavity with fast transverse relaxation.
On the use of wavelets in inverting the Radon transform

Some new results on constrained image reconstruction are presented. Given constraints on pixel values and the statistics of additive noise in the projections, it is shown how to compute the minimum mean-square estimate of the reconstructed image. The authors also present some results on the use of the wavelet transform to perform spatially varying filtering of the image and show how noise can be suppressed in flat areas of the image. They then combine the previous results into a new constrained image reconstruction procedure, in which image constraints are applied in the wavelet domain. The new procedure improves the reconstructed image not only in locations where wavelet constraints are applied, but also in other regions. >
Nonlinear observer-based speed control of a synchronous reluctance motor

This paper presents a design for a closed-loop sensorless control scheme for a synchronous reluctance motor. The sensorless controller operates in an estimated dq reference frame and is a combination of an input/output linearization speed controller and a full order nonlinear observer. The control scheme is implemented in the laboratory using a real-time DSP, a three-phase inverter, and a 100 watt motor. The implementation does not require measurement of the motor terminal voltage and, instead, relies on compensation for the nonideal behavior of the inverter. Experimental results show successful tracking of a varying speed command.
A Comparison of Male and Female Title I ADA Discrimination Allegations in Relation to Employer Characteristics

This investigation determined if there is a difference in the proportion of Title I workplace discrimination allegations filed by females in comparison to males under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in relation to the employer characteristics. Findings are reported and implications for future research and vocational rehabilitation practice.
A neutralization-resistant Theiler's virus variant produces an altered disease pattern in the mouse central nervous system.

Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus infection of mice is an animal model for human demyelinating diseases. To further define the role of this virus in the disease process, we selected a virus variant resistant to neutralization by a monoclonal antibody to VP-1. This virus variant was then injected into SJL/J mice. Central nervous system tissue was compared between variant virus- and wild-type virus-infected mice. Within the brain, no large differences were observed between the two groups as to the distribution of inflammatory infiltrates around the injection site and the number of viral antigen-positive cells during the first weeks of the observation period. In contrast, in the spinal cord major differences were found between variant virus- and wild-type virus-infected mice regarding the number of inflammatory lesions, infected cells, and the size of the areas involved with time. By immunohistochemistry, equivalent numbers of infected cells could be found in the spinal cord 1 week postinfection (p.i.): however, after that time, the number of infected cells in the wild-type virus-infected mice continued to increase, whereas the virus-positive cells from the variant virus-infected mice gradually decreased. Thus, the number of viral antigen-containing cells peaked by 1 week p.i. in the variant virus-infected animals. Conversely, the number of infected cells in the spinal cords from mice inoculated with wild-type virus steadily increased until 8 weeks p.i. At this time (8 weeks p.i.), no more variant virus antigen-positive cells could be observed within the spinal cord. Plaque assay of central nervous system tissue confirmed these differences between the two groups observed by immunohistochemistry. No infectious variant virus could be isolated after 2 weeks p.i. from the brain and 4 weeks p.i. from the spinal cord, whereas infectious wild-type virus could be detected up to the end of the observation period (12 weeks p.i.). Virus which was isolated from variant virus-infected mice still retained the neutralization-resistant phenotype. These studies emphasize the important biological in vivo activity of Theiler's virus VP-1 in determining neurovirulence.
Groundlayer vegetation gradients across oak woodland canopy gaps1

Abstract Pavlovic, N., R. Grundel, and W. Sluis (U.S. Geological Survey, Great Lakes Science Center, 1100 N. Mineral Springs Rd., Porter, IN 46304). J. Torrey Bot. Soc. 133(2): 225–239. 2006.—Frequency of groundlayer plants was measured across oak woodland canopy gaps at three sites in northwest Indiana to examine how vegetation varied with gap size, direction along the gap edge, and microhabitat. Microhabitats were defined as under the canopy adjacent to the gap, along the gap edge, and within the gap. Gap-sites consisted of gaps plus adjacent tree canopy. Gaps were classified as small (16 ± 1 m2), medium (97 ± 8), and large (310 ± 32). Neither richness nor diversity differed among microhabitats, gap sizes, or edges. Similarity between microhabitats wthin a gap-site increased as the distance between plots decreased and as the difference in PAR decreased, the latter explaining twice the variation in percent dissimilarity compared to Mg concentration, A horizon depth, and litter cover. Diervilla lonicera, ...
Multiple Langerhans Cell Nodules in an Incidental Thymectomy

The isolated appearance of Langerhans cell histiocytosis in the thymus is quite rare. We report the finding of multiple small Langerhans cell nodules in the thymus of an 11-month-old infant who had undergone thymectomy in the course of surgical correction of tetralogy of Fallot. The subtle appearance of some of these nodules and aggregates was unlike the pattern of massive thymic infiltration seen in 7 previously reported cases of thymic Langerhans cell histiocytosis in childhood. This difference led us to consider whether these aggregates might be common in the thymus but overlooked in thymus glands removed incidental to cardiac surgery. We examined histologic material from 22 sequential thymectomy specimens removed during cardiac surgery from infants and children. None (0/22) had cohesive aggregates of Langerhans cells, as were seen in the index patient's thymus. Our patient's small thymic nodules resemble more closely a pattern found in adult patients with myasthenia gravis who have been incidentally shown to have Langerhans cell histiocytosis.
Medical devices in the home: a unique challenge for the FDA.

OBJECTIVE With the rising numbers of elderly populations and those with chronic diseases, the Home Healthcare field has inevitable expanded within the United States. Patients, more specifically home-bound patients, are becoming increasingly dependent on medical technology to help sustain and improve their quality if life. Often times, home care patients, or care recipients, depend on a properly functioning medical device for recovery. As efficient as this method may be, home healthcare also comes along with many challenges involving use and management of medical devices. Difficulties regarding device function, use, the environment, and human factors can all serve as factors to jeopardize patient safety. FDA recognizes that devices need to be safe and capable of meeting needs in an uncontrolled home environment. PARTICIPANTS Major stakeholders such as manufacturers, distributors, human factor specialists, professional health organizations, healthcare professionals, patient/caregivers, and other government agencies. RESULT FDA would assure that manufacturers are designing and testing devices for the home, that proper training and education to use the device are available and completed, and the public knows how to report problems with their devices. METHODS FDA launched the Medical Device Home Use Initiative in April 2010 which proposed different methods that can support safety and safe use of medical devices in the home environment. CONCLUSION FDA faces many challenges in assuring safe usage of medical devices in the home. FDA hopes that stakeholders can also become actively involved in working with us to address a total life cycle approach on device safety.
Urban unemployment and non-immiserizing growth

Abstract One purpose of this paper is to show that in the Harris-Todaro economy, economic expansion can not be immiserizing. Another purpose of this paper is to examine the implications of economic expansion for urban unemployment as well as sectoral outputs for the case of non-neutral technical change. Finally, it is shown that a damaging property of the Harris-Todaro model, that capital accumulation causes unemployment to rise whereas labor growth causes it to fall, is at least partially rectified by the incorporation of land as a scarce factor in the agricultural sector.
A window into the world of trogons

A review of Trogons and Quetzals of the World by Paul A. Johnsgard. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2000, 223 pp., $49.95, hardbound.
Quantizing solitons without using a box

Radiative corrections to soliton solutions can be computed directly in an infinite volume provided that sufficient care is exercised in regulating the ultraviolet divergences of the theory. This remark is illustrated with a computation of the first quantum correction to the mass of a sine-Gordon soliton. (AIP)
Evidence-based ethics for neurology and psychiatry research

American bioethics, historically arising out of theology and philosophy, has been dominated by the method of normative analysis. Ethics as policy, however, requires in addition a solid evidence base. This paper discusses the background conditions that make neurotherapeutics research particularly challenging. Three key ethical issues are discussed within an evidence-based ethics framework: the ethical challenges arising from changes in the financial incentive structures for academic researchers and their institutions, the challenges of risk—benefit analysis for neurotherapeutics protocols testing innovative interventions, and the evolving issues surrounding impaired decision-making capacity and surrogate consent for research. For each of these issues, selected empirical data are reviewed, areas for further inquiry are noted, and the need for development of novel methods for bioethics policy research is discussed.
Potential transmission and transients during corrosion: Applications to corrosion monitoring

The transmission of potential along a passive metal/electrolyte interface, which is important in corrosion monitoring, has been considered for transitory and sustained corrosion processes. The observed signals are modified and delayed by the passive surface. Using a transmission line as the equivalent circuit of a pipe and incorporating the impedance characteristics of the passive-metal/solution interface, enabled an analysis of the effectiveness of corrosion monitoring methods to be carried out.
Postural modes and control for dexterous mobile manipulation: the UMass uBot concept

We present the UMass uBot concept for dexterous mobile manipulation. The uBot concept is built around Bernstein's definition of dexterity—“the ability to solve a motor problem correctly, quickly, rationally, and resourcefully” [1]. We contend that dexterity in robotic platforms cannot arise from control alone and can only be achieved when the entire design of the robot affords resourceful behavior. uBot-6 is the latest robot in the uBot series whose design affords several postural configurations and mobility modes. We discuss these dexterous mobility options in detail and demonstrate the strength of dexterous mobility.
Preparation of segmented semifluorinated poly(aryl ether)s from aromatic trifluorovinyl ethers and oligo(ethylene glycol)s

A series of new segmented semifluorinated polyaryl ethers (PAEs) containing a biphenyl segmented by semifluorinated oligoethylene (SFE) units were prepared by nucleophilic addition of a commercial oligo(ethylene glycol)s to 4,4′-bis(4-trifluorovinyloxy)biphenyl. These new thermoplastics were characterized by 1H and F19 nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR). Gel permeation chromatography (GPC) analysis displayed number average molecular weights (Mns) from 9000 to 13,000. Thermal properties of the polymers were studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). DSC chromatograms displayed glass transition temperatures (Tgs) from 11 to 1°C. The onsets of degradations were observed by TGA analysis between 313 to 333°C in air and 326 to 363°C in nitrogen, respectively. A second onset of degradation was observed from 452 to 470°C for all polymers. In addition, crystalline morphologies were studied by tapping mode atomic force microscopy (TM-AFM) and showed needle-like crystallites. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015, 132, 41798.