cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Diminishing Benefits of U.S. Cross-Listing: Economic Consequences of SEC Rule 12h-6

On March 21, 2007, SEC passed Rule 12h-6 to make it easier for cross-listed firms to deregister from the U.S. market and escape its regulatory costs. Using difference-in-difference tests, we find that, on average, Rule 12h-6’s passage induced an increase in voting premium, a decline in equity raising, and a decline in cross-listing premium. These effects are observed for exchange-listed firms, and for firms from countries with weak investor protection. We conclude that while cross-listed firms are still valued at a significant premium over non-cross-listed firms, the rule decreased the value of commitment to the U.S. regulatory system.
Integrated Photonics Institute for Manufacturing Innovation (IP-IMI): Providing state-of-the-art integrated photonics manufacturing technology for U.S. Industry, Academia, and Government

The IP-IMI is a government/industry collaboration creating an integrated photonics manufacturing ecosystem in the US. Commercial foundries and optimized standard component libraries will enable high quality manufacturing, test, and packaging for fabless photonic circuit designers.
A UV-Vis photoacoustic spectrophotometer.

A novel photoacoustic spectrophotometer (PAS) for the measurement of gas-phase and aerosol absorption over the UV–visible region of the spectrum is described. Light from a broadband Hg arc lamp is filtered in eight separate bands from 300 to 700 nm using bandpass interference filters (centered at 301 nm, 314 nm, 364 nm, 405 nm, 436 nm, 546 nm, 578 and 687 nm) and modulated with an optical chopper before entering the photoacoustic cell. All wavelength bands feature a 20-s detection limit of better than 3.0 Mm–1 with the exception of the lower-intensity 687 nm band for which it is 10.2 Mm–1. Validation measurements of gas-phase acetone and nigrosin aerosol absorption cross sections at several wavelengths demonstrate agreement to within 10% with those measured previously (for acetone) and those predicted by Mie theory (for nigrosin). The PAS instrument is used to measure the UV–visible absorption spectrum of ambient aerosol demonstrating a dramatic increase in the UV region with absorption increasing by 300%...
Effects of strain differences and D-amphetamine sulfate on avoidance performance

The purpose of this experiment was to investigate strain differences and amphetamine effects on avoidance performance of the Maudsley MR and MNR strains of rats. It was predicted that with amphetamine avoidance performance of the nonreactive strain would be enhanced more than that of the reactive strain. There was no significant difference in performance between the two strains; however, groups which received amphetamine had better performance than those receiving placebo.
Six types of food-borne pathogens in food contamination investigation report of Guang′an

Objective:By Guang′an six types of food Salmonella,Listeria monocytogenes,intestinal hemorrhagic Escherichia coli EHECO157:H7,Staphylococcus aureus,Vibrio parahaemolyticus contamination investigation,a preliminary identification of potential the above-mentioned high-risk pathogen contamination of food,food-borne pathogens in this region caused by sudden public health events of scientific basis for laboratory investigations.Methods:The randomly selected representative of the six categories in this region of food,based on national standard method,the samples were carried out Salmonella,Listeria monocytogenes,intestinal hemorrhagic Escherichia coli EHECO157:H7,Staphylococcus aureus and parahaemolyticus Vibrio Isolation,biochemical and serological identification.Results:The six categories of 827 food samples,a total of 141 pathogens were detected,the total detection rate of 17.1%;of these isolated Salmonella 51,and the detection rate of 6.2%;Listeria monocytogenes 66,and the detection rate of 7.9%;Staphylococcus aureus 14,and the detection rate of 1.7%;Vibrio parahaemolyticus 8,and the detection rate of 0.97%;EHECO157:H7 2 strains,and the detection rate of 0.24%.Conclusion:The six types of food in Guang′an have a certain degree of contamination of food-borne pathogens,including raw meat and milk is the main contaminated food,Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella bacteria are the major pathogen contamination of food.
I Believe in Santa

My parents dropped me off at Baltimore’s Penn Station, and I was now standing alone on the platform waiting for the Amtrak train to New York, where I would change for the “Adirondack” to Montreal. I had my backpack, my Peugeot bicycle, and my large suitcase. My parents were on their way home, and there was no turning back. Like Ramanujan, who ran away to Vizagapatnam after he flunked out of college, I was running away having dropped out of high school. Of course, we had different reasons for running. Ashamed of having lost his scholarship, Ramanujan had simply disappeared. I was fleeing my pressure-cooker of a life, but I had left with my parents’ knowledge and consent.
Groups of Free Quadratic Algebras

In this chapter we provide the set of isomorphism classes of free separable quadratic algebras over a commutative ring R with a group structure and focus on the properties of this group as well as those of its graded analogue. These will be important in Chapter 7 in the analysis of the Clifford algebra of a quadratic module. Certain “projective” versions of these groups will have crucial impact on the structure of the Brauer and Witt groups over R. See Chapters 13 and 14.
Do-It-Yourself Arabic Word Processing

This article is a personal account of how I, a professor of Arabic with no computer background, managed to get Arabic word-processing capabilities out of the computing facilities already intact in my college, with relatively little capital outlay. Although many of the details would be different at other institutions, it is clear that the same basic strategies could be followed to get word-processing capabilities anywhere the basic computing facilities already exist. Before I begin my story, I should explain that there are Arabic word processors “out there” of varying qualities. CPT, Wang, Apple, Merganthaler, Xerox, and others have products either out or almost out which range in cost from a few thousand to almost a hundred thousand dollars. Except for the Xerox product, the Arabic on the screen is rather ugly, but when connected to a letter quality Arabic printer the hard copy of most is acceptable.
Impact of BRAF mutation and effectiveness of BRAF inhibitor on the brain metastases in patients with metastatic melanoma.

9048 Background: Brain metastases continue to be the major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with metastatic melanoma. The impact of BRAF mutations and effectiveness of BRAF inhibitors o...
Beyond Ketamine and Phencyclidine: Analytically Confirmed Use of Multiple Novel Arylcyclohexylamines

Background: Methoxetamine and 3-methoxy-phencyclidine are novel arylcyclohexylamines whose use and clinical toxicity are poorly reported in the medical literature. We report a case of analytically ...
Dynamics of modulated beams in spectral domain

Abstract General formalism for describing dynamics of modulated beams along linear beamlines is developed. We describe modulated beams with spectral distribution function which represents Fourier transform of the conventional beam distribution function in the 6-dimensional phase space. The introduced spectral distribution function is localized in some region of the spectral domain for nearly monochromatic modulations. It can be characterized with a small number of typical parameters such as the lowest order moments of the spectral distribution. We study evolution of the modulated beams in linear beamlines and find that characteristic spectral parameters transform linearly. The developed approach significantly simplifies analysis of various schemes proposed for seeding X-ray free electron lasers. We use this approach to study several recently proposed schemes and find the bandwidth of the output bunching in each case.
Review of the effects of Five Factor Model personality traits on network structures and perceptions of structure

Abstract We review recent research on Five Factor Model personality and social network analysis to assess how structures develop and are perceived. Extraversion and agreeableness relate consistently to personal but not workplace networks. Extraverts are more likely to seek connections, whereas agreeable individuals receive connections from others. Openness predicts network diversity and is marginally related to position when groups pursue collective goals. Conscientiousness is associated with maintaining certain personal relationships, but is strongly related to central positions in workplace networks. Neuroticism has no consistent relationship with network size or composition, and is differentially related to network positions, depending on the context.
Evaluation of a confocal WSI scanner for FISH slide imaging and image analysis

Background: Technological advances contribute to the maturation of digital pathology in clinical and research applications. However, there are only few reports on fluorescence scanning especially on confocal fluorescence imaging technology in digital pathology, which has superior depth resolution compared to wide-field fluorescence imaging. Here, we explored the features of a confocal WSI scanner for typical diagnostic and research imaging applications of fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) assay.Methods: Multi-layer stacking (Z-stack) which stores all image information from each layer, and extended focus which stores the optimal image information from all scanned layers, featured in the Pannoramic Confocal scanner (3DHISTECH Ltd., Budapest, Hungary) were employed in digitizing 14 FISH slides (ALK, EGFR, and multi-gene). The slides were scanned with a 40× water immersion objective producing a final image with pixel resolution of 0.1625 µm/pixel. Z-stack and extended focus were used for N=6, 13, and 26 multiple layers scanning at 1, 0.4, and 0.2 µm depth intervals respectively. Single-layer scanning was also done for comparison. Scanning time and resultant file size were recorded. The CaseViewer from 3DHISTECH was used to visualize images and export the annotated regions, and the exported images were further analyzed in Imaris (Bitplane, Zurich, Switzerland) for 3-dimensional reconstruction, nuclear segmentation, and the quantification and co-localization analysis of dots inside nuclei. Quantification data from Imaris were imported into Excel for statistic analysis.Results: Confocal fluorescence scanning of FISH slides enabled sharper image than wide-field scanning, although it required longer scanning time and larger file storage. More intra-nuclear dots were quantified from multi-layer Z-stack images than single-layer images, and the Z-stack increased scanning time and image file size. Furthermore, there were a reduced in the number of dots and an increased in the number of co-localized dots in extended-focus images compared to Z-stack. Dots in multiple channels were quantified and analyzed automatically, which supports clinical diagnosis of gene amplification, deletion, and translocation. Three-dimensional reconstruction of Z-stack produced precise measurement of spatial distance, which supports molecular research.Conclusion: Confocal provides sharper image than wide-field for FISH slide scanning. Extended focus reduces file size and storage, but could cause inaccurate analysis due to misinterpretation of overlapping information. Z-stack scanning provides high volume image information for spatial analysis. We foresee confocal multi-layer scanning as a digital pathology application tool for FISH imaging in both clinical and research in future.
Analytical solution of a five-degree-of-freedom inverse kinematics problem for the handling mechanism of an agricultural robot

Computing joint commands in real time by solving an inverse kinematic (IK) problem is an important manipulation task that is commonly encountered in agricultural operations such as fruit harvesting, disease detection and leaf sampling. To date, different numerical and analytical approaches have been proposed, and many of them are able to take constraints into account. In this study, a set of analytical algorithms is investigated to quickly solve the constrained five-degree-of-freedom inverse kinematic problem. The constraints due to actuator limitations and mechanical design of the mechanism are utilised in generating the solution sets for joint variables. Also a suboptimal solution for the inverse kinematic problem within this set is derived. The proposed methods are compared with a typical numerical solution based on non-linear constrained optimisation. It is shown that the proposed analytical and suboptimal semi-analytical solutions can be found in a much quicker fashion as compared to the non-linear constrained optimisation approach. The algorithms are validated by the handling mechanism in a ground robot platform specifically designed to operate in strawberry orchards.
A combination of ontogeny and CNS environment establishes microglial identity.

Microglia, the brain's resident macrophages, are dynamic CNS custodians with surprising origins in the extra-embryonic yolk sac. The consequences of their distinct ontogeny are unknown but critical to understanding and treating brain diseases. We created a brain macrophage transplantation system to disentangle how environment and ontogeny specify microglial identity. We find that donor cells extensively engraft in the CNS of microglia-deficient mice, and even after exposure to a cell culture environment, microglia fully regain their identity when returned to the CNS. Though transplanted macrophages from multiple tissues can express microglial genes in the brain, only those of yolk-sac origin fully attain microglial identity. Transplanted macrophages of inappropriate origin, including primary human cells in a humanized host, express disease-associated genes and specific ontogeny markers. Through brain macrophage transplantation, we discover new principles of microglial identity that have broad applications to the study of disease and development of myeloid cell therapies.
Alignment and Clustering of Breast Cancer Patients by Longitudinal Treatment History

Longitudinal treatment histories may offer valuable information about clinical practice patterns to the clinical researcher as part of data exploration, cohort identification, or discovery of potentially beneficial or harmful practices in the health care community. We present a novel approach to temporal clustering of patient treatment information based on the semantic similarity of longitudinal histories. Using combined breast cancer registry data from two neighboring health care institutions, we constructed a database of longitudinal treatment histories that included surgical procedures, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and hormone replacement therapy. We then did pair-wise similarity comparisons of treatment histories, and used the similarity measures to cluster patients with machine learning methods. An evaluation of our results found that patients clustered on stage of breast cancer and type of treatment provided. We propose that this approach can be applied towards identification of similar cohorts, and for discovery of novel or anomalous clinical practice patterns.
Marketing Your Library's Electronic Resources: A How-To-Do-It Manual for Librarians, 2nd edition. (2018), by Marie R. Kennedy and Cheryl LaGuardia. London: Facet Publishing, 281 pp., $65.00 (paperback), ISBN: 9781783302673.

This is the second edition of a well-received 2014 volume that ultimately made its way into 900 libraries all over the world after receiving favorable reviews in more than a dozen professional and ...
Pore Pressure Responses of Overconsolidated Soils in a Partially Drained Piezocone Penetration Test

AbstractThis study investigated the pore pressure responses of overconsolidated (OC) soils during a piezocone penetration test (PCPT). The influences of overconsolidation ratio (OCR) and hydraulic ...
Sex-Related Hip Strength Measures Among Professional Soccer Players.

Lower-extremity musculoskeletal injuries in soccer are common among sexes. However, it remains unknown whether differences between sexes exist with regard to absolute or relative hip strength and how these differences may relate to injury. In the current study, we performed a retrospective cross-sectional analysis of pre-season data from male ([male sign]n = 21) and female ([female sign]n = 19) professional United States soccer organizations. Two years of pre-season data were collected for peak strength of lower extremity and hip musculature (no duplicates used). A 2 x 2 multivariate analysis of variance was used to detect differences in hip strength between sexes and dominant compared with nondominant legs. For all significant multivariate effects indicated by Wilks lambda and follow-up univariate analysis, a Tukey's post hoc test was used for pairwise univariate comparisons. A 2-tailed independent-samples T-test was used for comparison of height, body mass, body mass index (BMI), mean leg length, and strength ratios between dominant and nondominant limbs between sexes. Type I error was set at [alpha] = 0.05 for all analyses. Height ([male sign]183.1 +/- 6.8 cm, [female sign]170.0 +/- 5.5 cm), body mass ([male sign]79.0 +/- 8.7 kg, [female sign]65.1 +/- 5.6 kg), BMI ([male sign]23.5 +/- 1.3 kg[middle dot]m-2, [female sign]22.5 +/- 1.4 kg[middle dot]m-2), and mean leg length ([male sign]95.5 +/- 4.34 cm, [female sign] 88.3 +/- 3.24 cm) differed between groups (p < 0.05). Sex differences (p < 0.05) were also found for hip abduction (dominant [male sign]19.5 +/- 3.6 kg, [female sign]17.3 +/- 2.2 kg; nondominant [male sign]18.5 +/- 3.7 kg, [female sign]16.0 +/- 2.3 kg), adduction (dominant [male sign]19.8 +/- 3.0 kg, [female sign]16.7 +/- 2.3 kg; nondominant [male sign]20.1 +/- 2.9 kg, [female sign]17.6 +/- 2.9 kg), external rotation (dominant [male sign]21.7 +/- 3.4 kg, [female sign]17.7 +/- 2.4 kg; nondominant [male sign]21.6 +/- 3.9 kg, [female sign]16.8 +/- 2.1 kg), and dominant hamstring strength ([male sign]27.9 +/- 6.5 kg, [female sign]23.0 +/- 4.9 kg). The ratio of hip internal to external rotation strength differed in the nondominant leg ([male sign]1.1 +/- 0.2, [female sign]0.9 +/- 0.2, p < 0.05). No significant differences were found between males and females when measures were normalized to body mass. These findings provide baseline pre-season normative data for professional soccer athletes and indicate that strength differences can be expected among different sexes, but are attenuated with attention to body mass. Further research should indicate how pre-season strength measures relate to injury.
Risk Factors and Outcomes in Redo Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting.

Background Reoperative coronary artery bypass grafting (redo-CABG) has declined during the last decade, while use of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has increased. The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate risk factors, in-hospital mortality, and long-term survival between first-time CABG and redo-CABG. Methods From January 2009 to December 2015, 2,581 patients underwent first-time CABG procedures while 132 underwent isolated redo-CABG. Logistic regression was used to identify risk factors predictive of redo-CABG and after propensity matching the in-hospital morbidity and long-term all-cause mortality were compared. Results Risk factors for redo-CABG were prior PCI, dyslipidaemia, diabetes and hypertension. After propensity matching there were no significant differences between the redo-CABG (n = 126) and first-time CABG groups (n = 232) in baseline characteristics. The adjusted in-hospital mortality was 3.1% for redo-CABG and 2.1% for first-time CABG (p = 0.55). Redo-CABG required significantly more intraoperative red blood cells (p = 0.03), platelets (p Conclusions Prior PCI after first time CABG and the risk factors for atherosclerotic disease are predictive for redo-CABG. An increased use of blood products is required during redo-CABG. After propensity matching, in-hospital mortality and long-term survival for redo-CABG is comparable to first-time operation. Re-sternotomy does not impact the survival in redo-CABG.
Effect of fiber architecture on tensile fracture of 3D woven textile composites

Abstract 3D woven composites offer higher damage tolerance and resistance to delamination. Understanding how the architecture influences the tensile failure of the composite is imperative to ensure proper use. In this work the tensile response of two different woven architectures is investigated to determine how failure initiates in the composite in each case. Z-fiber reinforced materials were compared against layer-to-layer architectures. Details of the failure were examined both through digital image correlation and also through post inspection analysis using a dye penetrant. The results show that there is an architecture dependent strain field and these localizations lead to the onset of failure in these materials.
Robust beam orientation optimization for intensity-modulated proton therapy.

Purpose Dose conformality and robustness are equally important in intensity modulated proton therapy (IMPT). Despite the obvious implication of beam orientation on both dosimetry and robustness, an automated, robust beam orientation optimization algorithm has not been incorporated due to the problem complexity and paramount computational challenge. In this study, we developed a novel IMPT framework that integrates robust beam orientation optimization (BOO) and robust fluence map optimization (FMO) in a unified framework. Methods The unified framework is formulated to include a dose fidelity term, a heterogeneity-weighted group sparsity term, and a sensitivity regularization term. The L2, 1/2-norm group sparsity is used to reduce the number of active beams from the initial 1162 evenly distributed noncoplanar candidate beams, to between two and four. A heterogeneity index, which evaluates the lateral tissue heterogeneity of a beam, is used to weigh the group sparsity term. With this index, beams more resilient to setup uncertainties are encouraged. There is a symbiotic relationship between the heterogeneity index and the sensitivity regularization; the integrated optimization framework further improves beam robustness against both range and setup uncertainties. This Sensitivity regularization and Heterogeneity weighting based BOO and FMO framework (SHBOO-FMO) was tested on two skull-base tumor (SBT) patients and two bilateral head-and-neck (H&N) patients. The conventional CTV-based optimized plans (Conv) with SHBOO-FMO beams (SHBOO-Conv) and manual beams (MAN-Conv) were compared to investigate the beam robustness of the proposed method. The dosimetry and robustness of SHBOO-FMO plan were compared against the manual beam plan with CTV-based voxel-wise worst-case scenario approach (MAN-WC). Results With SHBOO-FMO method, the beams with superior range robustness over manual beams were selected while the setup robustness was maintained or improved. On average, the lowest [D95%, V95%, V100%] of CTV were increased from [93.85%, 91.06%, 70.64%] in MAN-Conv plans, to [98.62%, 98.61%, 96.17%] in SHBOO-Conv plans with range uncertainties. With setup uncertainties, the average lowest [D98%, D95%, V95%, V100%] of CTV were increased from [92.06%, 94.83%, 94.31%, 78.93%] in MAN-Conv plans, to [93.54%, 96.61%, 97.01%, 91.98%] in SHBOO-Conv plans. Compared with the MAN-WC plans, the final SHBOO-FMO plans achieved comparable plan robustness and better OAR sparing, with an average reduction of [Dmean, Dmax] of [6.31, 6.55] GyRBE for the SBT cases and [1.89, 5.08] GyRBE for the H&N cases from the MAN-WC plans. Conclusion We developed a novel method to integrate robust BOO and robust FMO into IMPT optimization for a unified solution of both BOO and FMO, generating plans with superior dosimetry and good robustness.
Stereotactic body radiotherapy with periprostatic hydrogel spacer for localized prostate cancer: toxicity profile and early oncologic outcomes.

Multiple phase I-II clinical trials have reported on the efficacy and safety of prostate stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) for the treatment of prostate cancer. However, few have reported outcomes for prostate SBRT using periprostatic hydrogel spacer (SpaceOAR; Augmenix). Herein, we report safety and efficacy outcomes from our institutional prostate SBRT experience with SpaceOAR placement. Fifty men with low- or intermediate-risk prostate cancer treated at a single institution with linear accelerator-based SBRT to 3625 cGy in 5 fractions, with or without androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) were included. All patients underwent SpaceOAR and fiducial marker placement followed by pre-treatment MRI. Toxicity assessments were conducted at least weekly while on treatment, 1 month after treatment, and every follow-up visit thereafter. Post-treatment PSA measurements were obtained 4 months after SBRT, followed by every 3–6 months thereafter. Acute toxicity was documented per RTOG criteria. Median follow up time was 20 (range 4–44) months. Median PSA at time of diagnosis was 7.4 (2.7–19.5) ng/ml. Eighteen men received 6 months of ADT for unfavorable intermediate risk disease. No PSA failures were recorded. Median PSA was 0.9 ng/mL at 20 months; 0.08 and 1.32 ng/mL in men who did and did not receive ADT, respectively. Mean prostate-rectum separation achieved with SpaceOAR was 9.6 ± 4 mm at the prostate midgland. No grade ≥ 3 GU or GI toxicity was recorded. During treatment, 30% of men developed new grade 2 GU toxicity (urgency or dysuria). These symptoms were present in 30% of men at 1 month and in 12% of men at 1 year post-treatment. During treatment, GI toxicity was limited to grade 1 symptoms (16%), although 4% of men developed grade 2 symptoms during the first 4 weeks after SBRT. All GI symptoms were resolving by the 1 month post-treatment assessment and no acute or late rectal toxicity was reported > 1 month after treatment. Periprostatic hydrogel placement followed by prostate SBRT resulted in minimal GI toxicity, and favorable early oncologic outcomes. These results indicate that SBRT with periprostatic spacer is a well-tolerated, safe, and convenient treatment option for localized prostate cancer.
Student Perceptions in Homeland Security and Emergency Management Education: Experiential Learning Survey:

Background: Experiential learning is a common instructional method for Homeland Security and Emergency Management (HSEM) education. Purpose: The purpose of this research was to pilot the use of the...
Vanishing vacuum energy

Abstract The vacuum energy problem arises because quantum fields fluctuate even at the absolute zero of temperature. These “zero-point” ( T = 0 ) vacuum fluctuations have non-zero energy. Since in general relativity all types of energy generate the space-time curvature, vacuum energy must enter the Einstein field equation as a source term. Here I find that vacuum energy is zero if and only if the vacuum equation of state embodies relativistic invariance.
Going the distance for procurement of donation after circulatory death livers for transplantation—Does reimbursement reflect reality?

Donation after circulatory death (DCD) liver transplantation (LT) has increased slowly over the past decade. Given that transplant surgeons generally determine liver offer acceptance, understanding surgeon incentives and disincentives is paramount. The purpose of this study was to assess aggregate travel distance per successful DCD versus deceased after brain death (DBD) liver procurement as a surrogate for surgeon time expenditure and opportunity cost. All consecutive liver offers made to Michigan Medicine from 2006 to 2017 were analyzed. Primary outcome was the summative travel distance (spent on all attempted procurements) per successful liver procurement that resulted in LT. Donation after circulatory death liver offer acceptance was lower than DBD liver offers, as was proportion of successful procurements among accepted offers. Overall, 10 275 miles were travelled for accepted DCD liver offers, resulting in 23 successful procurements (mean 447 miles per successful DCD liver procurement). For accepted DBD liver offers, 197 299 miles were travelled, resulting in 863 successful procurements (mean 229 miles per successful DBD liver procurement). On average, each successful DCD liver procurement required 218 more miles of travel than each successful DBD liver procurement. Current reimbursement policies poorly reflect increased surgeon travel (and time) expenditures between DCD and DBD liver offers.
79 Factors associated with perception of life expectancy in assault-injured urban youth: an emergency department sample

Statement of Purpose This study aimed to identify factors associated with perception of minimized life expectancy in assault-injured youth, a population at-risk for future assault-related injuries. Methods/Approach Assault-injured youth (n=188; ages 10–15 years; 61% male; 96% black) were recruited from two urban pediatric emergency departments (Baltimore, MD, Philadelphia, PA) to participate in a mentoring intervention to prevent violence. At enrollment, youth were asked ‘Do you think you will live to 35?’; youth responding ‘yes’ (optimistic life expectancy) were compared to youth responding ‘maybe’ (uncertain life expectancy) using descriptive statistics, t-tests and chi-square analysis. Results Although there were no differences between the groups in age, gender or socioeconomic status, youth with an uncertain life expectancy (31.4%, n=59) were more likely to have a family member injured by violence (61.0% vs. 43.4%, p=0.028) or in a gang (42.1% vs. 19.2%, p=0.002) and less likely to take steps to avoid a fight (57.6% vs. 76.7%, p=0.01) or think about consequences before acting (70.7% vs. 87.6%, p=0.007). These youth were also more likely to believe that revenge is a good thing (47.4% vs. 29.0%, p=0.019), and think about suicide (42.9% vs. 7.9%, p Conclusions One third of assault-injured early adolescents expressed uncertainty of living until age 35. Several risk factors and behaviors were identified as being associated with possible risk of premature death. Significance and Contributions To Injury And Violence Prevention Science Perception of risk of premature death is present in a sizable proportion of assault-injured youth. Future work should investigate the impact that an uncertain life expectancy has on future behaviors and response to violence prevention interventions.
Oh What FUN We've Had! Reflections on the Past and a Look to the Future

In 2011 FUN celebrated 20 years of training tomorrow's neuroscientists today. Over the past two decades we've become an international organization of members dedicated to excellence in teaching and research at the undergraduate level. FUN has enacted its mission through our flagship journal JUNE, student travel awards, faculty awards, education workshops, and regional conferences. More recent initiatives include the equipment loan program, department/program consulting service, the honor society Nu Rho Psi, and neuroscience study abroad opportunities. FUN is poised to continue enhancing undergraduate neuroscience education and research over the next 20 years.
Journalism’s Ethical Progression: A Twentieth-Century Journey

The inherent advantage of teaching journalism ethics is also a pitfall. When each day’s news produces a fresh lineup of sinners and saints, what students gain in immediacy can get lost in the absen...
Optimal Oracles for Point-to-Set Principles.

The point-to-set principle \cite{LutLut17} characterizes the Hausdorff dimension of a subset $E\subseteq\R^n$ by the \textit{effective} (or algorithmic) dimension of its individual points. This characterization has been used to prove several results in classical, i.e., without any computability requirements, analysis. Recent work has shown that algorithmic techniques can be fruitfully applied to Marstrand's projection theorem, a fundamental result in fractal geometry. In this paper, we introduce an extension of point-to-set principle - the notion of \textit{optimal oracles} for subsets $E\subseteq\R^n$. One of the primary motivations of this definition is that, if $E$ has optimal oracles, then the conclusion of Marstrand's projection theorem holds for $E$. We show that every analytic set has optimal oracles. We also prove that if the Hausdorff and packing dimensions of $E$ agree, then $E$ has optimal oracles. Moreover, we show that the existence of sufficiently nice outer measures on $E$ implies the existence of optimal Hausdorff oracles. In particular, the existence of exact gauge functions for a set $E$ is sufficient for the existence of optimal Hausdorff oracles, and is therefore sufficient for Marstrand's theorem. Thus, the existence of optimal oracles extends the currently known sufficient conditions for Marstrand's theorem to hold. Under certain assumptions, every set has optimal oracles. However, assuming the axiom of choice and the continuum hypothesis, we construct sets which do not have optimal oracles. This construction naturally leads to a generalization of Davies theorem on projections.
Promoting goal-driven performance evaluation: a case study of an urban park in Florida, USA

The Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) advocates evaluating built landscape projects’ performance and collecting evidence to guide future practice. However, in the first few years of landscape...
Evaluation of the Ford GrFRP lightweight car

In 1978, as a follow–up to the build by Ford Motor Company of a Graphite Fibre Reinforced Plastic (GrFRP) car, a test programme was conducted to answer questions relating to durability and structural rigidity, fuel economy and performance, ride, noise levels, etc. This report discusses the tests performed and attempts to interpret them in light of the material differences between steel and the composites used in the prototype car. Special emphasis is placed on the similarities and differences in body and frame stiffness and on the noise and vibration characteristics. Results of some limited crush and durability testing are also included.
Some Implications of Arrow’s Theorem for Voting Rights

Arrow's theorem proves that no voting procedure can meet certain conditions of both fairness and logic. In this note, Grant Hayden explores the ramifications of the theorem for qualitative vote dilution. After describing Arrow 's argument, Mr. Hayden considers four democratic voting proceduresthe Condorcet method, the amendment procedure, the Borda count, and cumulative voting-in the light of the theorem. He then explores some of the theoretical and practical implications of the theorem. In the remainder of the note, Mr. Hayden discusses how well section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and its judicial interpretation in Thornburg v. Gingles accord with the dictates of Arrow's theorem, ultimately concluding that the courts should consider the first two in the light of the theorem.
Primary debulking surgery vs. neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by interval debulking surgery for patients with advanced ovarian cancer.

To compare the survival of patients with stage IIIC or IV epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) who were treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) followed by interval debulking surgery (IDS) or primary debulking surgery (PDS), and to investigate how to improve the survival of patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer. We retrospectively reviewed 339 patients with stage IIIC or IV EOC from January 2005 to December 2010 treated at West China Women’s and Children’s Hospital wherein 114 and 225 patients underwent NAC followed by IDS and PDS, respectively. No difference was observed in progression-free survival (PFS) or overall survival (OS) between NAC group and PDS group (PFS: 11 vs. 10 months, p = 0.629; OS: 25 vs. 25 months, p = 0.992). Patients with residual tumors that measured 0.1–1 cm at IDS following NAC had a statistically significant lower median OS compared to patients with no residual tumor, but comparable to that with residual tumors that measured >1 cm at IDS following NAC. The independent predictors of OS are size of residual tumor (p < 0.001), FIGO stage (p < 0.001), and age (p = 0.003). NAC followed by IDS provides equal survival compared with PDS. Debulking to small residual tumors with a maximum diameter of less than 1 cm provides a smaller but still significant benefit for patients with PDS but a relatively minor effect with IDS following NAC. To improve the survival of patients with advanced ovarian cancer, the definition of “optimal” in IDS following NAC should be defined as no residual tumor.
Ser-Ap-Es® (Ciba)

Ser-Ap-Es is a combination of three antihypertensives. Hydralazine is a direct vascular smooth muscle relaxing agent. Hydrochlorothiazide is a diuretic that also relaxes vascular smooth muscle, and reserpine lowers blood pressure by depleting catecholamine stores.
Using XML as a flexible, portable test script language

This paper describes the objectives, rationale, implementation and benefits of using Extensible Markup Language (XML) as a test script language in support of a variety of US Army weapon systems. XML provides the ability to implement a simple, flexible, controllable and portable test script language. The use of third party XML parsing and development tools results in decreased test script development times, increased productivity and increased potential for test script reusability and portability.
What Ever Happened to Acetabularia? Bringing a Once-Classic Model System into the Age of Molecular Genetics

In the 1930s Acetabularia acetabulum made major contributions to understanding how the genomes in a cell coregulate development and morphogenesis. Unique and elegant experiments were possible because of two features of this marine alga: it is a large unicell that withstands amputation and intra- and interspecific grafting and it has only one nucleus (until it reproduces) which resides in the base of the organism. At a time when the role of nucleic acids was unclear and decades before their chemical nature was defined, these features of Acetabularia enabled the relative contributions of the nucleus and the cytoplasm to growth, development, and morphogenesis to be distinguished. In addition, grafting and amputation phenomena suggested the existence of mRNA nearly 30 years before its discovery. This review documents the decline in use of the system, justifies why it is well worth resuscitating, and summarizes advances in methodology that make that renaissance possible.
Linear variational Diophantine techniques in mass balance of chemical reactions

Linear algebraic techniques based on minimization of thermodynamic functional and/or other constraints are illustrated for mass balance of chemical reactions that do not exhibit stoichiometrically unique solutions in the linear algebraic vector space. The techniques demonstrate elegant casting of chemical equations in terms of generalized linear Diophantine matrices and generalized elimination and variational schemes.
Chapter 8. Chronic Pulmonary Inflammation and Other Therapeutic Applications of PDE IV Inhibitors

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses some of the important, recent developments in the medicinal chemistry and pharmacology of phosphodiesterase (PDE IV) inhibition. Within the past few years, extensive medicinal chemistry research has resulted in the discovery of potent and selective inhibitors of specific cyclic nucleotide PDEs. Among the PDEs that has received recent attention, PDE IV continues to be an attractive target for the treatment of inflammatory diseases. The attraction of PDE IV inhibition, as a therapy for asthma derives from the potential of elevating cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) levels, selectively in the airway smooth muscle and the inflammatory cells involved in the asthmatic response. There continues to be significant research in the discovery of novel and selective PDE IV inhibitors. A number of N-substituted derivatives have been prepared and their PDE IV inhibition data have been reported. Carbamate is a representative member of this class and is approximately 10-fold more potent at inhibiting human PDE IV than rolipram. The ability of PDE IV inhibitors to increase intracellular cAMP levels that subsequently inhibits the production and/or release of cytokines, such as TNFα, have led to an increased interest in their use as therapeutic agents for pathologies, in which cytokine over expression and/or deregulation has been implicated. The recently reported positive clinical data, using TNFα-neutralizing antibodies for the treatment of arthritis, has stimulated investigation on the use of PDE IV inhibitors for rheumatoid arthritis. Again, the nonspecific PDE inhibitor has been in clinical trials for the treatment of HIV-infected individuals because of its ability to down-regulate TNFα activity through the inhibition of TNFα synthesis. It is, therefore, likely that selective PDE IV inhibitors, with their ability to suppress TNFα secretion from immune cells must continue to be evaluated for their therapeutic potential.
Kinetics and regulation of hepatoma mitochondrial NAD(P) malic enzyme.

Kinetic studies of Morris 7777 hepatoma mitochondrial NAD(P) malic enzyme were consistent with an ordered mechanism where NAD adds to the enzyme before malate and dissociation of NADH from the enzyme is rate-limiting. In addition to its active site, malate apparently also associates with a lower affinity with an activator site. The activator fumarate competes with malate at the activator site and facilitates dissociation of NADH from the enzyme. The ratio of NAD(P) malic enzyme to malate dehydrogenase activity in the hepatoma mitochondrial extract was found to be too low, even in the presence of known inhibitors of malate dehydrogenase, to account for the known ability of NAD(P) malic enzyme to intercept exogenous malate from malate dehydrogenase in intact tumor mitochondria (Moreadith, R.W., and Lehninger, A.L. (1984) J. Biol. Chem. 259, 6215-6221). However, NAD(P) malic enzyme may be able to intercept exogenous malate because according to the present results, it can associate with the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, which could localize NAD(P) malic enzyme in the vicinity of the inner mitochondrial membrane. The activity levels of some key metabolic enzymes were found to be different in Morris 7777 mitochondria than in liver or mitochondria of other rapidly dividing tumors. These results are discussed in terms of differences among tumors in their ability to utilize malate, glutamate, and citrate as respiratory fuels.
Emergency Medical Services Backboard With a Pressure Dispersion Liner

Spinal immobilization is of utmost importance when caring for major trauma victims. Because of the potential for spinal cord injury, trauma victims must be secured to a rigid backboard. Patients are held in position by placing blocks on either side of their head, straps across their forehead, chest, and legs. The goal of using a hard backboard is to reduce the chances of damaging the victim’s neurological functions because of movement of unstable or injured vertebrae. These backboards serve their function of patient immobilization but present another problem for the patient. They have been associated with a skin breakdown condition called decubitus ulcers (bed sores). Bed sores are areas of damaged skin and tissue that develop when sustained pressure causes a restriction of blood circulation to vulnerable parts of the body. Without adequate blood flow, the affected tissue dies. Some patients may be secured to these boards for up to four hours waiting to undergo x-rays. This is more than enough time for ulcers to reach Stage IV which is the deepest and most destructive ulcer. The incidence of pressure ulcers in newly admitted patients has been reported as high as 59% and 50% have been reported at the sacral region [1, 2]. In experimental studies performed on dogs it has been shown that a constant pressure of only 60mmHg for one hour is enough to cause irreversible tissue damage [3]. When the patients are on the backboards it has been shown that there is often a high pressure spike at the sacral prominence where average maximum interface pressure spike of 260mmHg have been noted. When a thin but very heavy gel pad was added to the backboard, the sacral interface pressure was reduced to an average maximum pressure of 188 mmHg [4]. The objective of this project is to develop a backboard with a light pressure dispersion liner to reduce interface pressures on pressure sensitive areas in the supine position.Copyright © 2009 by ASME
More than a Work Support? Issues around Integrating Child Development Goals into the Child Care Subsidy System.

Over the past decade, policymakers have become increasingly concerned about the development of low-income children, as well as about helping low-income parents work. Yet, all too often, child development and parental work goals are seen as separate. As a result, key parental work support services that affect children (such as child care subsidies) have not had a sustained focus on supporting the development of the children that they serve—even though subsidies are now estimated to serve more than 2 million low-income children. This article describes current approaches to child care subsidies, and identifies a number of the issues and opportunities facing those who want to integrate a stronger child development focus into the subsidy system. It concludes with a discussion of important questions that policymakers, practitioners, and researchers can explore if they want to help the subsidy system achieve a better balance between supporting parental work and supporting child development. © 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.
Demand Pull Technology Transfer Applied to the Field of Assistive Technology

Technology transfer has generally had little impact on the assistive technology industries serving small, highly fragmented “disability markets.” Persons with disabilities often require specialized, relatively sophisticated technology. Third-party payer reimbursement rates and the low levels of disposable income among disability populations often cap product pricing. Transferring technology to these industry segments therefore poses special challenges. In October 1998, the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Technology Transfer initiated the “Demand-Pull Project on Wheeled Mobility.” Successful transfers resulting from this project demonstrate that a systematic technology transfer process can be successfully applied to industries serving specialized and underserved niche markets.
Ankle Injuries: Reduce the Risk by Using a Soccer-Specific Warm-Up Routine

Injuries to the ankle are among the most common injuries for soccer players at any age. Soccer coaches should be aware of current research and best practices that suggest it is possible to decrease the incidence of soccer players' ankle injuries by providing an appropriate warm-up to utilize prior to practices and games. This article introduces two soccer-specific warm-ups (FIFA 11+ and the PEP) that have been designed as an attempt to reduce ankle injuries and other injuries. The description of these two programs include a brief overview of the activities, relevant research findings on their effectiveness, resources and weblinks for more detailed information including videotaped demonstrations, and tips on how to implement a new soccer warm up routine.
Fast £1-norm Nearest Neighbor Search Using A Simple Variant of Randomized Partition Tree

Abstract For big data applications, randomized partition trees have recently been shown to be very effective in answering high dimensional nearest neighbor search queries with provable guarantee, when distances are measured using £ 2 norm. Unfortunately, if distances are measured using £ 1 norm, the same theoretical guarantee does not hold. In this paper, we show that a simple variant of randomized partition tree, which uses a different randomization using 1-stable distribution, can be used to efficiently answer high dimensional nearest neighbors queries when distances are measured using £ 1 norm. Experimental evaluations on eight real datasets suggest that the proposed method achieves better £i -norm nearest neighbor search accuracy with fewer retrieved data points as compared to locality sensitive hashing.