cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effects of improved access to safety counseling, products, and home visits on parents' safety practices: results of a randomized trial.

Objective To present the results of an intervention trial to enhance parents' home-safety practices through pediatric safety counseling, home visits, and an on-site children's safety center where parents receive personalized education and can purchase reduced-cost products. Design Pediatricians were randomized to a standard- or an enhanced-intervention group. Parents of their patients were enrolled when the patient was 6 months or younger and observed until 12 to 18 months of age. Setting A hospital-based pediatric resident continuity clinic that serves families living in low-income, inner-city neighborhoods. Participants First- and second-year pediatric residents and their patient-parent dyads. Interventions Parents in the standard-intervention group received safety counseling and referral to the children's safety center from their pediatrician. Parents in the enhanced-intervention group received the standard services plus a home-safety visit by a community health worker. Outcomes Home observers assessed the following safety practices: reduction of hot-water temperature, poison storage, and presence of smoke alarms, safety gates for stairs, and ipecac syrup. Results The prevalence of safety practices ranged from 11% of parents who stored poisons safely to 82% who had a working smoke alarm. No significant differences in safety practices were found between study groups. However, families who visited the children's safety center compared with those who did not had a significantly greater number of safety practices (34% vs 17% had ≥3). Conclusions Home visiting was not effective in improving parents' safety practices. Counseling coupled with convenient access to reduced-cost products appears to be an effective strategy for promoting children's home safety.
PERTURBATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE QCD4 MAPS

Abstract The Claudson-Halpern stochastic processes for QCD 4 are verified to all orders of perturbation theory resulting in a number of new finite-time, infrared finite, perturbation expansions of the theory. The map viewpoint shows that the superficial quadratic divergences of QCD 4 , at least in the temporal gauge, are related to the choice of any particular final state configuration in the Feynman path integral formulation.
Energy budgeting for CubeSats with an integrated FPGA

CubeSats are a simple, low-cost option for developing quickly-deployable satellites, however, the tradeoff for these benefits is a small physical size, which restricts the CubeSat's solar panels' size and thus the available power budget and stored energy reserves. These power/energy limitations restrict the CubeSat's functionality and data processing capabilities, which makes leveraging CubeSats for compute-intensive missions challenging. Additionally, increasing sensor capabilities due to technological advances further compounds this functionality limitation, enabling sensors to gather significantly more data than a satellite's limited downlink bandwidth can accommodate. The influx in sensed data, which is particularly high for image-processing applications, introduces a pressing need for high-performance on-board data processing, which preprocesses and/or compresses the data before transmission. FPGAs have been incorporated into state-of-the-art satellites to provide high-performance on-board data processing, while simultaneously reducing the satellites' data processing energy consumption. However, even though FPGAs can provide these capabilities in full-scale satellites, a CubeSat's limited power budget makes integration of FPGAs into CubeSats a challenging task. For example, the commonly used Virtex4QV Radiation Tolerant FPGA family's average power consumption ranges from 1.25 to 12.5 Watts, whereas the CubeSat's power budget ranges from 2 to 8 Watts, with the smallest, cheapest CubeSat systems at the lower end of this range. Therefore, in order to successfully integrate FPGAs into CubeSats, the components' power consumptions must be clearly budgeted with respect to the CubeSat's specific functionalities and orbital pattern, which dictates the available power and stored energy reserves. In this paper, we present two detailed energy reserve budgeting case studies for FPGA-based CubeSats with respect to stored energy reserves for image compression and processing using a Canny edge detector. CubeSat designers can leverage this energy reserve budget with the application-specific components' power consumptions for applications such as hyper-spectral imaging (HSI), ground motion target indication (GMTI), and star tracking to quickly determine maximum payload operational time with respect to specific orbital patterns and mission requirements.
Evolution of fluid compartmentalization in a detachment fold complex

Oxygen, carbon, and strontium isotope variations in vein-filling calcite and quartz cements and their host rocks are used to elucidate the origin, spatial and temporal evolution, and migration pathways of fluids in the detachment Nuncios fold complex, northeastern Mexico. The folded Mesozoic sedimentary sequence contains two regional paleohydrostratigraphic units separated by a unit of low permeability. Two main generations of cements are present in both paleohydrostratigraphic units. Distinct differences exist between δ 18 O, δ 13 C, 87 Sr/ 86 Sr, and fluid-inclusion temperatures of early vein-filling cements in the lower and the upper units. These differences, together with a strong correspondence between early cement and host-rock δ 18 O and δ 13 C values, suggest that early diagenetic fluids were compartmentalized between the two units. Late vein-filling cements have isotopic compositions and fluid-inclusion temperatures that converge to similar values, indicating a change to open fluid flow between the lower and upper units. We hypothesize that the fluid history of the Nuncios fold complex evolved in two main stages: (1) burial diagenesis and early folding, during which fluids were confined within individual units, and (2) late-stage folding, during which increased deformation associated with fold tightening caused the expulsion of fluid from the lower unit into the upper unit.
An adaptive rate-control streaming mechanism with optimal buffer utilization

In this paper, an end-to-end real-time adaptive protocol for multimedia transmission is presented. The bandwidth is dynamically allocated according to the network status, and the client buffer occupancy and playback requirement. The transmission rate is determined by the quadratic probing algorithm that can obtain the maximal utilization of the client buffer and minimal occupation of the network bandwidth. It is also coupled with a congestion control mechanism that can effectively decrease the packet loss rate during network congestion. We investigate the performance of our quadratic probing algorithm in different congestion levels under both the local area net (LAN) and Internet environments. Performance analysis reveals that our approach is more robust in avoiding overflows and underflows in different network congestion levels, and adapting to the changing network delays. Comparisons are made with the fixed rate approach and the rate by playback requirement approach. The experimental results show that our proposed real-time protocol with the rate adjusting quadratic probing algorithm is efficient in utilizing the network resources and decreasing the packet loss ratios.
Quantization index modulation: a class of provably good methods for digital watermarking and information embedding

We consider the problem of embedding one signal (e.g., a digital watermark), within another "host" signal to form a third, "composite" signal. The embedding is designed to achieve efficient tradeoffs among the three conflicting goals of maximizing the information-embedding rate, minimizing the distortion between the host signal and composite signal, and maximizing the robustness of the embedding. We introduce new classes of embedding methods, termed quantization index modulation (QIM) and distortion-compensated QIM (DC-QIM), and develop convenient realizations in the form of what we refer to as dither modulation. Using deterministic models to evaluate digital watermarking methods, we show that QIM is "provably good" against arbitrary bounded and fully informed attacks, which arise in several copyright applications, and in particular it achieves provably better rate distortion-robustness tradeoffs than currently popular spread-spectrum and low-bit(s) modulation methods. Furthermore, we show that for some important classes of probabilistic models, DC-QIM is optimal (capacity-achieving) and regular QIM is near-optimal. These include both additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channels, which may be good models for hybrid transmission applications such as digital audio broadcasting, and mean-square-error-constrained attack channels that model private-key watermarking applications.
A Comparative-Qualitative Research Analysis of Character Education in the Christian School and Home Education Milieu.

Wilhelm, Gretchen Marie. M. Ed. Education Dept., Cedarville University, 2005. A Comparative-Qualitative Research Analysis of Character Education in the Christian School and Home Education Milieu. This qualitative study provides a phenomenological perspective and comparative analysis of character education within the Christian school and home education milieu. The study is based on semi-structured interviews of fifty-two individuals (N = 52) representative of a sampling of Christian educators from four private, evangelical Christian Schools (n = 26) and area home educating families (n = 26). The intent of the researcher was to bring attention to the importance for Christian educators to come to terms with the worldview from which the desire to educate Christian youth in a separate moral community originates. Although the purpose and intent of both sets of educators were in many instances similar, significant deviations in methodology and application were found. The results of this study are defined in four similarities and six differences, suggesting that character education and the juxtaposition of that goal along with the transference of faith was a major contributor to the obvious commitment and calling felt by Christian educators.
The impact of organizational context on innovation adoption in commercial banks

This study examines the linkages between nonstructured factors in an organization's context and dimensions of innovation adoption in organizations. Elements of an organization's context included in this study are size, geographic scope, and product scope; dimensions of innovation are magnitude and speed of adoption and product and process types of innovation. The relationships among these variables are examined by a sampling of empirical data culled from 101 commercial banks in four states: New York; New Jersey; Connecticut; and Massachusetts. We found that: (1) organization size and geographic scope have a stronger association with magnitude than the speed of adoption, while product scope is more strongly linked to the speed of adoption; (2) geographic and product scope influence the propensity to adopt product and process innovations differently; and (3) the pattern of innovation adoption differs among various types of banks.
An Objective Measure of the Motive to Attain Social Power

The development of a 28-item, dichotomously scored, self-report measure of social-power motivation is described. The final form of the measure evidenced a KR-20 of .89 in a second validation sample of 174 undergraduates.
A New Method to Reduce the PAPR in the IRA-OFDM System

First, an Irregular Repeat Accumulate (IRA) coded Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) system is introduced in this paper. To reduce the Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR) of this system, a balance sequence (BS) is inserted in the information bits. The BS can be determined by exhaustive search in the encoding process. But when the length of the BS is long, the time of searching may increase exponentially with the length and it is not practical for the hardware implementation. Thus a low complexity method to dynamically determine the BS is proposed, which uses A periodic Autocorrelation Function (AAF) as the metric, and is shown in this paper , Simulation results show that this method can reduce the PAPR of this system effectively.
On the nature of the defect passivation in polycrystalline silicon by hydrogen and oxygen plasma treatments

The effect of hydrogen and oxygen plasmas on the properties of polycrystalline silicon films and thin-film transistors are investigated. The results clearly demonstrate that an oxygen plasma does not passivate grain boundary defects. However, an oxygen plasma treatment at 300 K still improves the electrical properties of thin-film transistors. >
A new control approach for unity power factor multilevel rectifiers

In recent years, research and development of multilevel converters for high power applications have attracted more attention due to the increased energy awareness in the global. Various topologies and PWM modulation approaches have been reported, however most control methods require fast and real-time calculation; therefore, a high-speed digital microprocessor and high performance A/D converters are necessary, yielding high complexity, high cost, and low reliability. The theory and experiments reported in Manjrekar, M et al. (1998) have demonstrated that one-cycle control is a unified PWM control method in power electronics field. Functioning as an analog computer, it can control all basic power converters at low cost, simply circuitry and high reliability (Bum-Seok Suh et al. (1998), Manjrekar, M et al., (1998), Manjrekar, MD et al. (2000), K. Ma Smedley (1991), Zheren Lai, et al. (1998)). In this paper a new control approach based on one-cycle control is reported to control a single-phase rectifier, theory and simulation have proved that the new control approach is a high performance and low cost solution for a multilevel single-phase rectifier.
Surf-Riding Electron States: Polarization Charge Density Effects Associated with Heavy Ion Motions in Solids

Characterization of charged particle energy loss to electrons in condensed media in terms of polarization waves created by the particle is well known from the early work of Fermi [1], Bohr [2], and others. These polarization waves give rise to an oscillatory potential field extending behind and moving along with the particle [3]. We wish to point out that there may exist quasi-stationary states of electrons in the minima of such a field and that electrons may be captured into these surf-riding states.
Learning rules for anomaly detection of hostile network traffic

We introduce an algorithm called LERAD that learns rules for finding rare events in nominal time-series data with long range dependencies. We use LERAD to find anomalies in network packets and TCP sessions to detect novel intrusions. We evaluated LERAD on the 1999 DARPA/Lincoln Laboratory intrusion detection evaluation data set and on traffic collected in a university departmental server environment.
“It Turned My World Upside Down”: Latino Youths’ Perspectives on Immigration

Few studies have examined the migration and acculturation experiences of Latino youth in a newly emerging Latino community, communities that historically have had low numbers of Latino residents. T...
Donor hepatitis-C seropositivity is an independent risk factor for the development of accelerated coronary vasculopathy and predicts outcome after cardiac transplantation

Abstract Background It is possible, but unproven, that hepatitis C (HCV) infection accelerates atherosclerosis. We evaluated the hypothesis that donor HCV seropositivity predicts mortality and the development of coronary vasculopathy in cardiac transplant recipients. Methods Thirty-four cardiac transplant recipients who were seronegative for HCV at the time of transplantation received hearts from HCV-seropositive donors. We compared the mortality and the incidence of vasculopathy in this group of patients (study group) with a group of 183 successive heart transplant recipients (control group) with no evidence of HCV in the donor or in the recipient. Results After transplantation, 75% of the HCV-seronegative patients who received hearts from HCV-seropositive donors had detectable and persistent viremia (presence of HCV-RNA by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction). After a mean follow-up of 4.2 ± 1.9 years, mortality was 2.8-fold greater in the study group than in controls (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.3–5.7; p = 0.006). The risk of having any vasculopathy after a mean follow-up of 3.4 ± 1.6 years and after adjustment for other significant risk factors was 3-fold greater (hazards ratio, 3.08; 95% CI 1.52–6.20; p = 0.001) in the HCV group compared with controls. The risk of developing advanced vasculopathy was much greater in the study group compared with controls (hazard ratio, 9.4; 97% CI, 3.3–26.6; p = p = 0.005) and vasculopathy ( p = Conclusion We conclude that donor hepatitis-C virus seropositivity is an independent risk factor for increased mortality and for the development of accelerated allograft vasculopathy after cardiac transplantation. These observations may have implications for the use of HCV-positive donors in heart transplant recipients.
Paradigm lost: reconsidering functional form and group hypotheses in marine ecology

Although functional form and functional group models for marine algae have been used extensively, there is little general literature support for these models, and many studies have shown that associated hypotheses are often incorrect. In functional form/group models, a wide range of ecological and physiological functions are assumed to be correlated with general algal form or morphology. In contrast, functional group approaches have been used most successfully in terrestrial and aquatic systems when groupings are based on a particular function rather than overall plant morphology, and when addressing ecosystem-level questions. In this type of functional group approach, a given set of species would likely be grouped differently depending on the function under consideration. Functional groupings are appropriate for many situations and questions, but not all. Certainly, grouping taxa by a particular function can be very useful and often necessary for many ecosystem-level questions and modeling, especially where qualitative results are more important than quantitative predictions, and when there are too many species in a system to consider them all individually. However, when one considers species-species interactions or questions about population biology, the specific responses of individual species must be considered. To make functional group models more useful, we recommend that groupings be based on specific functions (e.g. nutrient uptake rates, photosynthesis rates, herbivore resistance, disturbance resistance, etc.) rather than gross morphology. Explicit testing of performance of a particular function should be made before generalizations can be assumed, and groupings should be used for questions/approaches where they are most appropriate. If models fail when tested, they should be modified using the additional information to generate new hypotheses and models, and then retested.
Germline engineering: the moral challenges.

Not only is the use of germline genetic engineering likely in the long run to be inevitable, there are also no convincing secular moral grounds to forbid this technology in principle. Instead, the general secular moral constraints on the use of germline genetic engineering are either procedural or without predetermined content. Nor can one develop a coherent distinction between eliminating disease and enhancing human abilities. At best, in secular morality one can establish the principle to proceed with care, though the invocation of the precautionary principle argues as much in favor of the development of germline genetic engineering as against its use. Because germline genetic engineering, by eliminating certain genetic defects, offers the prospect of decreasing human suffering and decreasing the use of prenatal diagnosis and abortion, there is an obligation, all else being equal, to change the human genome. In a post-modern world, humans face the challenge of directing their own evolution, although they share no common understanding of human destiny and purpose. Such understandings, though available within religious contexts, are not available to secular bioethics. © 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Carcinoma of the anal canal

There are around 5,000 new cases of anal canal cancer each year in the United States. It is of particular risk in HIV-positive populations. Many cases are related to persistent infection with human papillomavirus (HPV). The treatment of anal cancer has progressed from abdominoperineal resection mandating permanent colostomy in the 1940s through the 1970s to modern chemoradiation with sphincter preservation in around 80% of patients, even with locally advanced disease. The evolution of the treatment paradigm of this disease is a model for the treatment of malignant disease with organ preservation. Multiple randomized trials have been conducted to guide this evolution. Technological developments in the delivery of radiotherapy and anti-cancer pharmaceuticals harbor hope for further improvements in outcomes with possible reductions in toxicity and increases in tumor control. Perhaps most inspiring is the recent development of HPV vaccines that may significantly decrease the incidence of this cancer.
Arterial stiffness following repeated Valsalva maneuvers and resistance exercise in young men

The purpose of this study was to compare arterial stiffness after a bout of resistance exercise (RE) and an experimental condition consisting of repeated Valsalva maneuvers (VMs). Fourteen male participants randomly completed a lower-body, unilateral RE bout and a VM bout designed to alter blood pressure (BP) in a similar pulsatile fashion. Pulse-wave velocity (PWV, measured in metres per second (m·s–1)) was used to measure central and peripheral arterial stiffness and was assessed before and 20 min after each perturbation. Beat-to-beat blood pressure (BP) was assessed during bouts using finger plethysmography. Change in systolic BP, diastolic BP, mean arterial pressure, and pulse pressure were similar during both bouts. Central PWV increased after repeated VMs (7.1 ± 0.3 m/s to 7.8 ± 0.3 m/s), but not after RE (7.2 ± 0.3 m/s to 7.2 ± 0.3 m/s) (interaction, p = 0.032). There was no change in peripheral PWV after VM (8.9 ± 0.3 m/s to 9.3 ± 0.3 m/s) or RE (8.5 ± 0.2 m/s to 8.4 ± 0.2 m/s). Arterial stiffness...
Environmental enrichment utilizing stimulus objects for African lions {Panthera leo leo) and Sumatran tigers {Panthera tigris sumatrae)

Abstract In this study, stimulus objects (frozen blood balls, fresh zebra dung, scented squash, and cardboard boxes) were utilized in an enrichment program aimed to increase the diversity of behaviors exhibited by one female and three male tigers (Panthera tigris sumatrae) and two male lions (Panthera leo leo). Three enrichment sessions consisting of pre-enrichment control, enrichment, and post-enrichment trials of 30-min each were conducted over a two-day period. Stimulus objects were present only in the enrichment trials. The enrichment sessions were replicated three times for each stimulus object. Behavioral states, discrete behaviors, and object-directed behaviors were recorded. Behavioral diversity indices (BDIs) for each trial were calculated using the Shannon Diversity Index. The stimulus objects increased behavioral diversity during the enrichment trials compared to the control trials, but this effect did not persist to the post-enrichment trials the following day. The lions benefited the most fro...
Expression of compstatin in Escherichia coli: Incorporation of unnatural amino acids enhances its activity

Compstatin, a 13-residue cyclic peptide, is a complement inhibitor that shows therapeutic potential. Several previous approaches have improved the activity of this peptide several-fold. In the present study, we have expressed and purified compstatin from Escherichia coli in an effort to increase its potency and to generate it in high yield in a more economical fashion. An intein-based expression system was used to express compstatin in fusion with chitin-binding domain and Ssp DnaB intein, which were later cleaved from the expressed molecule at room temperature and pH 7.0 to yield pure compstatin in one step. The expressed compstatin showed activity similar to the synthetic compstatin in an ELISA-based assay. The same expression system and purification strategy were used to incorporate three tryptophan analogs, 6-fluoro-tryptophan, 5-hydroxy-tryptophan, and 7-aza-tryptophan, into compstatin. Interestingly, incorporation of 6-fluoro-tryptophan increased the activity three-fold relative to wild-type compstatin; in contrast, incorporation of 5-hydroxy- or 7-aza-tryptophan rendered compstatin less active than the wild-type form.
Reward, attention, and HIV-related risk in HIV + individuals

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is often contracted through engaging in risky reward-motivated behaviors such as needle sharing and unprotected sex. Understanding the factors that make an individual more vulnerable to succumbing to the temptation to engage in these risky behaviors is important to limiting the spread of HIV. One potential source of this vulnerability concerns the degree to which an individual is able to resist paying attention to irrelevant reward information. In the present study, we examine this possible link by characterizing individual differences in value-based attentional bias in a sample of HIV+ individuals with varying histories of risk-taking behavior. Participants learned associations between experimental stimuli and monetary reward outcome. The degree of attentional bias for these reward-associated stimuli, reflected in their ability to capture attention when presented as task-irrelevant distractors, was then assessed both immediately and six months following reward learning. Value-driven attentional capture was related to substance abuse history and non-planning impulsiveness during the time leading up to contraction of HIV as measured via self-report. These findings suggest a link between the ability to ignore reward-associated information and prior HIV-related risk-taking behavior. Additionally, particular aspects of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders were related to attentional bias, including motor deficits commonly associated with HIV-induced damage to the basal ganglia.
Why the Right to Health Care is Not a Useful Concept for Policy Debates

In recent years, one of the crucial concepts often invoked in policy debates about the provision of health care is the concept of the right to health care. Some have argued that health care is a privilege and not a right. Others, probably the more prevalent group, insist that there is a right to health care and that it has significant implications for the ways in which health care is provided and for the level of governmental funding of health care for the indigent. Regardless of the position being advocated, there are few serious discussions of the organization and financing of health care that fail to invoke, either explicitly or implicitly, the right to health care.
A Novel Structure for Rayleigh Channel Generation With Consideration of the Implementation in FPGA

For reducing the hardware resource consumption, we propose a novel method of generating Rayleigh channels. First, we propose a basic channel generator built on a recursive structure. Via investigating the dynamic feature of the recursive structure, we find the basic generator is instable. The instability means that errors occurring in the fixed-point computation on field-programmable gate array (FPGA) will be accumulated and thus induce the failure of the channel generation eventually. To solve this problem, we propose an improved Rayleigh channel generator with guaranteed stability. The improved generator manages to preclude the risk of accumulating errors in the fixed-point computation on FPGA. Experiment results show that the memory resources consumed in the proposed generator is one eighth of that in traditional generators, and the accuracy of the generated channel is also guaranteed.
Rotational auto-detachment of dipole-bound anions

Abstract Rotational auto-detachment of acetonitrile, trimethyl-acetonitrile, acetone, and cyclobutanone dipole-bound anions was studied under varying conditions in a Rydberg electron transfer (RET) time-of-flight apparatus. Varying amounts of auto-detachment was observed for anions with similar electron affinity and dipole moment, but different moments of inertia. These results were found to be consistent with predictions based on the calculated rotational spectra for these anions, highlighting the importance of critical binding properties in understanding the stability and lifetime of dipole bound systems.
Efficacy and Phytotoxicity of Methyl Bromide as a Fumigant for the Mexican Fruit Fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Grapefruit

Methyl bromide fumigation doses of 12, 32, 40, and 48 g/m3 were applied to grapefruit, Citrus paradisi Macf., containing immature stages of Mexican fruit fly, Anastrepha ludens (Loew). Treatment time of 2 h and temperature of 26.7 ± 1.1°C were kept constant; the load factor was 50–80%. Analyses of results confirmed that 40 g/m3 for 2 h at 26.7 ± 1.1°C exceeded required quarantine security. Further, these results compared favorably with similar studies on the Caribbean fruit fly, A. suspense Loew, in Florida. Phytotoxicity evaluation showed that Probit 9 security can be achieved without significant injury to fruit when methyl bromide is accurately applied.
Low-Sideband Resonant Subwavelength Grating Array Design

A systematic method for the design of arrayed resonant subwavelength gratings is described. Design goals are peak reflectance of unity, narrow spectral bandwidth, and low sideband reflectivity for use in an arrayed grating structure.
How to be a rigid, dogmatic therapist.

From time to time, one reads papers on how the therapist may be more flexible and open-minded. However, many people (and this includes therapists, since therapists are people) seem to be more comfortable living in a rigid, dogmatic manner. For therapists who have not yet had a chance to read principles aimed at helping them be rigid and dogmatic, the following guidelines are presented. 1. Talk only with colleagues who will agree with what you say. This is a very important rule to follow, because conversations with members of different schools can subtly influence one to be more open-minded about an issue, which is the first step toward changing one's opinion. T o avoid being influenced by others, choose one's friends and drinking companions solely from among those people who already see things the way you do. 2. D o not read books or journal articles. At first blush it may seem that you will be castigated (not castrated) as being narrow and anti-intellectual if books and arcicles are avoided. T o prevent such criticism, claim that you are so pressed with work that, while you would love to read, there is simply not enough time. You will have said all the right words but will still not be faced with new ideas that may conflict with your own. 3. Use diagnostic and therapeutic principles to condemn those who disagree with you. For example, if you are against peace demonstrators, assert that they must be immature, sociopathic types to engage in such behavior. If you are for peace marchers, assert that chose who oppose them must be paranoid schizophrenics. D o not try to back u p your claim with data, as this may weaken your argument, or at least lead you to qualify it. If pressed on the matter, state that your therapeutic sensitivity indicates that y o u assertion is an obvious truth. 4. If you are unsuccessful with a certain type of patient, condemn the patient as untreatable. Under no circumstances should you believe thac the problem may, in some way, reside in yourself. Tell colleagues (but only those who are likely to agree; see Principle 1) that "X patients are untreatable." Occasionally preface your remarks with an "Everyone knows . . ." There are probably more guidelines which could be presented but in keeping with a rigid, dogmatic style, only these four simple principles are enunciated. After all, one of the hallmarks of rigid, dogmatic thinking is its highly simple view of the world. It is only fitting to conclude by saying thac, if one will follow the above-mentioned principles, he will be well on the way toward being a rigid, dogmatic therapist. For best results, do not restrict the practice of rigidicy and dogmatism to the therapeutic hour but engage in it constantly. You will find that it comes easily, and you will enjoy the confidence and structure that your rigid, dogmatic outlook generates.
An image contrast-based pressure sensor

Abstract We present the design of an image contrast based fluid pressure sensing scheme that employs a powerless, low-cost, pressure sensor. The sensor consists of a sealed pressure microchamber whose top surface consists of a deformable, semi-transparent, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membrane and its bottom surface consists of a rigid glass substrate. When the microchamber is pressurized, the membrane is deflected but the position of the glass substrate remains fixed and therefore the distance between them changes with applied pressure. Using a precision z-scanning module, the distance between the top and bottom surfaces is measured using a custom-made image contrast algorithm and the applied pressure is extracted. The image contrast is enhanced by adding food color during the fabrication of the membrane and by patterning the glass substrate with photoresist. The sensor operates over a pressure range of 0–100 mbar, with a ∼2 mbar resolution in the 0–20 mbar pressure range and ∼10 mbar resolution in the 20–100 mbar pressure range. The maximum error was measured to be less than 7% throughout its dynamic range. The novel pressure monitoring concept presented here can be used in various biomedical applications as well as in the consumer electronics industry.
Survey on individual occupational health protection behaviors of welding workers using theory of reasoned action

Objective To apply theory of reasoned action at survey on welding workers occupational health protection behaviors and explore related influencing factors.Methods nine companies were randomly selected from areas with many welding works in Zhejiang Province.All welding workers were surveyed using a questionnaire based on theory of reasoned action.Results 10.06％,26.80％ and 37.50％ of the respondents never or seldom used eyeshade,mask and earplug,respectively.After controlling the socio-demographic factors,welding workers' behavioral belief was correlated with the behaviors of eyeshade、mask and earplug use (x2=31.88,18.77 and 37.77,P＜0.01 ).the subjective norm of company was correlated with all protection behaviors (x2=20.60,10.98 and 19.86,P＜0.01 ),the subjective norm of colleague was correlated with mask and earplug use, (x2=27.43,36.39,P＜0.01),and the subjective norm of family was correlated with mask use (x2=5.73,P＜0.05).Conclusion Theory of reasoned action is suitable for welding worker occupational health related behaviors.It is useful to improve occupational health education,to effectively select health education objective and to tailor health education contents. Key words: Occupational health; Health promotion; Protective devices
Sacred Feathers: The Reverend Peter Jones (Kahkewaquonaby) and the Mississauga Indians

An articulate and deeply committed leader of the Ojibwa people, Peter Jones (1802-1856) played a key role in the Mississauga's adjustment to European culture and their survival as a cohesive group. This biography draws on Jones's letters, diaries, sermons, and his history of the Ojibwas, as well as on the diaries and letters of his English wife.
SU-G-IeP3-12: Preliminary Report On the Experience of Patient Radiation Dose Monitoring and Tracking Systems; PEMNET, Radimetrics and DoseWatch.

Purpose: Three patient radiation dose monitoring and tracking (PRDMT) systems have been in operation at this institution for the past 6 months. There are useful information that should be disseminated to those who are considering installation of PRDMT programs. In addition, there are “problems” uncovered in the process of estimating fluoroscopic “peak” skin dose (PSD), especially, for those patients who received interventional angiographic studies and in conjunction with surgical procedures. Methods: Upon exporting the PRDMT data to Microsoft Excel program, the peak skin dose can be estimated by applying various correction factors including; attenuation due to the tabletop and examination mattress, table height, tabletop translation, backscatter, etc. A procedure was established to screen and divide the PRDMT reported radiation dose and estimated PSD to three different levels of threshold to assess the potential skin injuries, to assist patient follow-up, risk management and provide radiation dosimetry information in case of “Sentinel Event”. Results: The Radiation Dose Structured Report (RDSR) was found to be the prerequisite for the PRDMT systems to work seamlessly. And, the geometrical parameters (gantry and table orientation) displayed by the equipment are not necessarily implemented in the “patient centric” manner which could result in a large error in the PSD estimation. Since, the PRDMT systems obtain their pertinent data from the DICOM tags including the polarity (+ and − signs), the geometrical parameters need to be verified. Conclusion: PRDMT systems provide a more accurate PSD estimation than previously possible as the air-kerma-area dose meter become widely implemented. However, care should be exercised to correctly apply the geometrical parameters in estimating the patient dose. In addition, further refinement is necessary for these software programs to account for all geometrical parameters such as the tabletop translation in the z-direction in particular.
Multi-subsite receptors for multivalent ligands. Application to drugs, hormones, and neurotransmitters.

Detailed structure-activity relationships of many drugs and hormones indicate that ligand-receptor binding involves the interaction of several functional regions on the ligand with complementary receptor "subsites." However most hormone receptor binding models have been based on a simple bimolecular reaction obeying the mass action law. We present a quantitative reinterpretation in pharmacological terms of the theory of flexible polyvalent ligand binding. The model explains: 1) the occurrence of complex binding isotherms showing both apparent heterogeneous and cooperative binding sites; 2) bell-shaped dose response curves; 3) the properties of full and partial agonists; 4) how a given antagonist can be either "competitive" or "noncompetitive" depending on concentration used. The classical simple bimolecular interaction between drug and receptor is a limiting case of the model, when steric hindrance completely prevents multiple receptor occupancy, or when the ligand and the receptor interact in an all-or-none mode.
A Brief Survey of Security Approaches for Cyber-Physical Systems

The security of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) has been recently receiving significant attention from the research community. To this end, this paper sheds the light on a number of security approaches for CPS from two perspectives, namely, control-theoretic and cyber security. Further, threat detectors in various CPS environments are highlighted and discussed. The aim is to demonstrate the lack of coherent approaches that systematically tackle both security aspects of such systems, in addition to pinpointing several insightful research gaps that endeavor to shape future CPS security solutions.
The Spratly 'Rocks' Dispute - A 'Rockapelago' Defies Norms of International Law

The dispute is over hydrocarbon resources and freedom of navigation through commercial international shipping routes and fisheries. Each of the six countries involved has laid claim to the Spratly rocks so they may exploit the resources lying below these uninhabitable, hostile rocks, shoals, coral reefs, and “islands.” Malaysia is the only country which has expressed any interest in preserving the resources for the "common heritage of mankind." Each country, however, is afraid that China is beginning to assert itself in the region by making fallacious claims to the Spratly Rockapelago under their own theories of international law. Each of the remaining five countries makes its valid claim to part of the islands or continental shelf. In this article, a regional compromise and accord is proposed in order to resolve the disputes peacefully. This compromise would not declare who is right or wrong. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the problems of applying traditional international norms to the Spratly Island dispute. In order to set forth these problems, it will first be necessary to describe the geography of the Spratly Islands, their location, physical composition, what exactly is disputed, why, and by whom? Basic law of the sea terminology will be discussed to aid in the description of jurisdictional problems. This discussion will be followed by an explanation of why traditional jurisdictional concepts are impossible to apply to this dispute. International claims by the competing countries will be explored both historically and by discussion of various commentators, questions, and theories about these disputed claims. The main focus of this article centers on the question of whether any nation has any sovereign right to the hydrocarbon deposits believed to be lying beneath the sea adjacent to these rock, shoals, or inlet formations. The final section of the article discusses whether a "regional" or "common heritage of mankind" approach should be used to resolve this dilemma. Various approaches to the main problem will also be discussed and questioned. Furthermore, non-resource allocation, a major concern due to the navigational rights that could be diminished improperly, will be explored. Before discussing these matters further, let us now review what the Spratly Islands are in terms of description and where they are located.
Oral tetrahydrouridine and decitabine for non-cytotoxic epigenetic gene regulation in sickle cell disease: A randomized phase 1 study.

Background Sickle cell disease (SCD), a congenital hemolytic anemia that exacts terrible global morbidity and mortality, is driven by polymerization of mutated sickle hemoglobin (HbS) in red blood cells (RBCs). Fetal hemoglobin (HbF) interferes with this polymerization, but HbF is epigenetically silenced from infancy onward by DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1). Methods and findings To pharmacologically re-induce HbF by DNMT1 inhibition, this first-in-human clinical trial (NCT01685515) combined 2 small molecules—decitabine to deplete DNMT1 and tetrahydrouridine (THU) to inhibit cytidine deaminase (CDA), the enzyme that otherwise rapidly deaminates/inactivates decitabine, severely limiting its half-life, tissue distribution, and oral bioavailability. Oral decitabine doses, administered after oral THU 10 mg/kg, were escalated from a very low starting level (0.01, 0.02, 0.04, 0.08, or 0.16 mg/kg) to identify minimal doses active in depleting DNMT1 without cytotoxicity. Patients were SCD adults at risk of early death despite standard-of-care, randomized 3:2 to THU–decitabine versus placebo in 5 cohorts of 5 patients treated 2X/week for 8 weeks, with 4 weeks of follow-up. The primary endpoint was ≥ grade 3 non-hematologic toxicity. This endpoint was not triggered, and adverse events (AEs) were not significantly different in THU-decitabine—versus placebo-treated patients. At the decitabine 0.16 mg/kg dose, plasma concentrations peaked at approximately 50 nM (Cmax) and remained elevated for several hours. This dose decreased DNMT1 protein in peripheral blood mononuclear cells by >75% and repetitive element CpG methylation by approximately 10%, and increased HbF by 4%–9% (P < 0.001), doubling fetal hemoglobin-enriched red blood cells (F-cells) up to approximately 80% of total RBCs. Total hemoglobin increased by 1.2–1.9 g/dL (P = 0.01) as reticulocytes simultaneously decreased; that is, better quality and efficiency of HbF-enriched erythropoiesis elevated hemoglobin using fewer reticulocytes. Also indicating better RBC quality, biomarkers of hemolysis, thrombophilia, and inflammation (LDH, bilirubin, D-dimer, C-reactive protein [CRP]) improved. As expected with non-cytotoxic DNMT1-depletion, platelets increased and neutrophils concurrently decreased, but not to an extent requiring treatment holds. As an early phase study, limitations include small patient numbers at each dose level and narrow capacity to evaluate clinical benefits. Conclusion Administration of oral THU-decitabine to patients with SCD was safe in this study and, by targeting DNMT1, upregulated HbF in RBCs. Further studies should investigate clinical benefits and potential harms not identified to date. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01685515
Why Leave Now? Examining the Antecedents of CEO Voluntary Turnover

Scholarly research on CEO turnover has primarily focused on CEO dismissal. While this research has advanced our understanding of the executive succession process, much is to be understood about arg...
Multi-cellular transitional organotypic models to investigate liver fibrosis.

Abstract Hepatic fibrosis is the result of wound healing and inflammation resulting in organ dysfunction. Hepatocytes, liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs), Kupffer cells (KCs), and hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) play critical roles in fibrogenesis. As the liver undergoes fibrosis, there are populations of cells that are healthy, fibrotic as well as those undergoing fibrosis. We investigated how a varying mechanical environment could induce changes in hepatic cells. In this study, a gradient in the mechanical properties of the microenvironment resulted in transitioning phenotypes in hepatic cells. We have designed detachable polyelectrolyte multilayers (PEMs) whose elastic moduli ranged from 21 to 43 kPa to serve as Space of Disse mimics. We assembled novel 3D organotypic liver models comprised of hepatocytes, LSECs, HSCs, KCs, and the Space of Disse mimic. We demonstrate how cells in contact with a mechanical gradient exhibit different properties compared to cells cultured using non-gradient PEMs. Significant differences were observed in HSC and KC proliferation between 3D cultures assembled with gradient and non-gradient PEMs. While HSCs on the stiffer regions of the gradient PEMs expressed both GFAP and α-SMA, cells in cultures assembled with homogeneous 43 kPa multilayers primarily expressed α-SMA. Over an 8-day culture, the elastic modulus in the 21 and 43 kPa regions of the gradient PEMs increased by 1.6 and 3.7-fold, respectively. This was accompanied by a 4-fold increase in hydroxyproline. Such in vitro tissues can be used to investigate the effects of liver fibrosis. Statement of Significance We have assembled a liver model assembled with four major primary hepatic cell types to investigate how a varying mechanical environment induces changes in hepatic cells. In this study, a gradient in the mechanical properties of the microenvironment results in transitioning phenotypes in hepatic cells. Our goal was to investigate the interplay between mechanical properties and a multi-cellular engineered liver tissue. In these models, Kupffer cell proliferation and hepatic stellate cell activation occurred due to mechanical cues and inter-cellular signaling across a distance of 2000 μm. These models are unique, in that, fibrosis was initiated purely through changes to the microenvironment. These models were not exposed to fibrogenic factors nor were the models assembled with cells from fibrotic rats. To the best of our knowledge, these are the first liver models that capture how a gradient microenvironment can result in transitioning cellular phenotypes.