cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The U.S. Department of Labor's Tractor and Machinery Certification Program: management styles and perceptions held by community stakeholders and instructors.

A mixed-mode, descriptive study was conducted on the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Tractor and Machinery Certification Program. Legislated by the Fair Labors Standards Act, the Hazardous Occupations Order in Agriculture (HOOA) was enacted in 1968 as a public policy measure to reduce the number of injuries to youth on farms. An educational exemption allows youth 14 and 15 years of age to work for hire after they successfully complete a training program. In the 40+ years since the legislation went into effect prescribing such training exemptions, deficiencies and variations have occurred in the quality of the educational program and the system by which agencies certify young people. To gain a better understanding of the DOL Tractor and Machinery Certification program, community stakeholders were asked to identify management practices, curriculum resources, and perceptions of the DOL program. The study design used qualitative data from 49 agricultural representatives participating in regional focus groups and quantitative data from 330 community instructors responding to an electronic-formatted questionnaire (representing a 70.7% response rate) in an effort to answer the question: “What is the current status of the DOL Tractor and Machinery Certification program in the United States?” The findings revealed that 55.2% of the instructors taught a qualifying DOL program. Of these, the certification was administered through an Extension or 4-H program (68.7%), an agricultural education program (24.7%), or as a combination of Extension and agricultural education (6.0%). Course instructors believed the training was beneficial to students and had opportunity to attract more students than currently enrolled. These instructors placed a higher value on standardized teaching materials than on standardized testing procedures; they also supported the need for additional teaching aids, which included hands-on activities, videotapes, student workbooks, and DVDs. Study participants did not believe the program should be offered in its entirety as a self-study program but suggested that portions of the training could be offered in that manner. The local instructors identified four primary issues that would increase the effectiveness of the DOL Tractor and Machinery Certification program: community awareness, employer support, access to teaching resources, and enforcement of the legislation.
Sensitivity in the decoupling of non-linear control systems†

The problem of decoupling the inputs and outputs of non-linear control systems is considered for the situation where the system parameters are subject to variations or disturbances. The exact decoupling is obtained by an adaptive state feedback controller which requires full knowledge of the instantaneous values of the system parameters. By utilizing the parameter sensitivity concept an approximate adaptive decoupling controller is synthesized in the present paper which is shown to decouple the system to first (or higher) order in the variations of the system parameters from their known nominal values. The sensitivity equations which generate the state sensitivity function required for the synthesis are derived. The results of the paper actually provide the tools for reducing the system sensitivity to parameter variations when the final goal is the improvement of decoupling.
Monophyly and phylogeny of Monarda (Lamiaceae): Evidence from the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of nuclear ribosomal DNA

Abstract The phylogenetic relationships of the 16 species of Monarda (Lamiaceae) were investigated using sequences of the internal transcribed spacer regions of nuclear ribosomal DNA. Thymus and Mentha were used as outgroups, and Blephilia, Clinopodium, Conradina, Hesperozygis, Monardella, Pycnanthemum, and Ziziphora were included in the ingroup to test the monophyly of Monarda. Two parsimony searches were performed after removing redundant sequences from the analysis: one with indels scored as missing and a second with indels treated as binary characters. Both searches yielded congruent results, but the treatment of indels as binary characters resulted in considerably more resolution within Monarda. There was strong support for the monophyly of Monarda and a close relationship was found between Monarda, Blephilia, and Pycnanthemum. The molecular phylogeny was completely congruent with the infrageneric classification of the genus. Our results were consistent with hypotheses of hybridization between M. fis...
Alteration in Water Relations Caused by Disease

Changes in water relations occur in plants infected by many pathogens, particularly those invading vascular tissues. The major impact of water deficits is reduced productivity. As Kozlowski (1978) has pointed out, the difference in productivity of crops grown with and without irrigation in arid regions is indicative of the great impact of water stress on plants.
Analysis of GaAs and Si solar cell arrays for earth orbital and orbit transfer missions

Silicon and gallium arsenide arrays were studied and compared for low earth orbit (LE), geosynchronous orbit (GEO), and LEO to GEO electric propulsion orbit transfer missions. The sensitivities of total cost to parameters such as mission duration, array cost, cover glass thickness, and concentration ratio were determined along with cost tradeoffs between silicon and gallium arsenide arrays for selected mission classes. Results indicate that development of the technology for low cost, light weight concentrators should be increased and that cost reduction efforts for gallium arsenide cells be pursued.
Application of multi-scale spatial and spectral analysis for predicting primate occurrence and habitat associations in Kibale National Park, Uganda

Abstract Remote sensing has made important contributions to biodiversity conservation planning through the measurement of deforestation rates, habitat fragmentation, habitat degradation, and isolation of protected areas in human altered landscapes. Progress in using remote sensing together with field data for the development of robust habitat suitability models has been more modest. In this paper, we present a habitat suitability model developed by relating field data on habitat characteristics and habitat selection of a medium-sized primate (redtail monkey, Cercopithecus ascanius ) with a small home range (in contrast to many studies that focus on large-bodied, wide-ranging animals) to satellite-derived data, for predicting animal occurrence. We examined the relative performance of two high-resolution satellite sensors (2.5 m resolution Quickbird and 30 m resolution Landsat ETM+) in capturing patterns of habitat selection by redtail monkeys in Kibale National Park. Overall, our analyses suggest that a model combining data from both the Quickbird and ETM+ sensors predicts monkey presence–absence best, and that, individually, ETM+ data are better predictors than Quickbird data. Moreover, model fit was best at larger scales (ETM+ 120 m, 150 m and 240 m pixels). These results have important implications for future habitat modeling, biodiversity analyses and conservation studies given Landsat's temporal and spatial resolutions, long history of use, relatively well-developed methods for processing and analysis, and relatively low cost in comparison with many higher resolution sensors.
Insulin resistance predicts the risk for recurrent coronary events in post-infarction patients

Background: We investigated the risk for recurrent coronary events associated with insulin resistance in post-infarction patients from the Thrombogenic Factors and Recurrent Coronary Events (THROMBO) study. Methods: The association between insulin resistance expressed by Homeostatic Model As­sessment 2 for Insulin Resistance (HOMA2-IR) and the risk for recurrent coronary events was investigated in a cohort of 1,032 patients evaluated 2 months after myocardial infarction (MI) with a follow-up of 26 months. The endpoint for the study was recurrent coronary event defined as cardiac death, nonfatal MI, or unstable angina, whichever occurred first. We used time dependent survival analysis and Cox proportional hazards regression method to determine the association between HOMA2 categorized as high > 75th percentile and endpoints after adjustment for relevant clinical covariates and series of thrombogenic and dyslipogenic factors. Results: High HOMA2-IR defined as in fourth quartile (≥ 2.4) was associated with increased risk for recurrent coronary events (HR 1.44; CI 1.03–2.01; p = 0.03) after adjustment for the clinical covariates: age, gender, diabetes, prior MI, pulmonary congestion, coronary artery bypass grafting and percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty. The highest risk of cardiac events was observed in non-obese patients (body mass index [BMI] ≤ 30 kg/m2) with high HOMA2-IR (HR 1.5; CI 1.02–2.22; p = 0.038). The plasma level of plasminogen activa­tor inhibitor-1 was associated with higher risk for recurrent coronary events in patients with insulin resistance (HR 1.79; CI 1.05–3.03; p = 0.03, interaction p = 0.018). Conclusions: In conclusion, insulin resistance predicts recurrence of coronary events in post-infarction population. HOMA2-IR is better than BMI in stratifying risk of recurrent coronary events.
Effectiveness of the Size Matters Handwriting Program

The purpose of the research was to study changes in handwriting legibility among kindergarten, first- and second-grade students in response to the Size Matters curricular-based handwriting program. A two-group pre-post-test design was implemented at two public schools with half of the classrooms assigned to receive the Size Matters program and the other continuing to receive standard instruction. All participants completed two standardized handwriting measures at pre-test and after 40 instructional sessions were completed with the classes receiving the handwriting program. Results identified significant changes in legibility in the handwriting intervention group for all three grades when compared with the standard instruction group. The results of this study support the use of a curricular-embedded handwriting program and provide the foundation for future research examining the impact of handwriting legibility on learning outcomes.
Automatically identifying localizable queries

Personalization of web search results as a technique for improving user satisfaction has received notable attention in the research community over the past decade. Much of this work focuses on modeling and establishing a profile for each user to aid in personalization. Our work takes a more query-centric approach. In this paper, we present a method for efficient, automatic identification of a class of queries we define as localizable from a web search engine query log. We determine a set of relevant features and use conventional machine learning techniques to classify queries. Our experiments find that our technique is able to identify localizable queries with 94% accuracy.
Observation in a discharge of short-lived atomic states by intracavity absorption

Optical absorption in short-lived excited states of atomic neon caused by dye-laser intracavity absorption has been observed. The states were excited by a microwave discharge in neon gas produced by a microwave cavity located inside the optical cavity of the dye laser. All transitions arising from the 2p manifold of states that are usually seen in emission are here seen in absorption. Best theoretical estimates of the number density of each of the 2p states in the discharge is about 105–107/cm3, and the mean lifetime of the states is about 19 × 10−9 sec.
High temperature DC and RF performance of p-type diamond MESFET: comparison with n-type GaAs MESFET

The DC and RF performance of a p-type diamond MESFET is simulated and compared with the simulated performance of an n-type GaAs MESFET over the operating temperature range, 300-923 K. Power performance of a diamond MESFET is shown to improve with increasing temperature and to exceed that of a GaAs MESFET when operated at temperatures higher than 550 and At 923 K the simulated diamond MESFET produces about 0.8 W/mm of output power for an operating frequency of 5 GHz. Small signal current gain for a diamond MESFET is also found to increase with temperature. The cut-off frequency, f/sub T/, of a diamond MESFET at 923 K is comparable with that of a GaAs MESFET at room temperature. It is concluded that there are microwave power applications of MESFET's in p-type diamond but otherwise conventional design is limited to high temperature. >
A WEIGHTED THREE-POINT-BASED STRATEGY FOR VARIANCE ESTIMATION

In manufacturing processes, it is widely accepted that uncertainty plays an important role and should be taken into account during analysis and design processes. However, uncertainty quantification of its effects on an end-product is a very challenging task, especially when an expensive computational effort is already needed in deterministic models such as sheet metal forming simulations. In this paper, we focus our work on the variance estimation of the system response. A weighted three-point-based strategy is proposed to efficiently and effectively estimate the variance of the system response. Three first-order derivatives for each variable are used to estimate the nonlinear behavior and variance of the system. The details of the derivation of the approach are presented in the paper. The optimal locations of the three points along each axis in the standard normal space and weights for input variables following normal distributions are proposed as (-1.8257,0.0,+1.8257) and (0.075,0.850,0.075), respectively. For input variables following uniform distributions U(-1,1), the optimal locations and weights are proposed as (-0.84517, 0.0,+0.84517) and (0.04667,0.90666,0.04667), respectively. The proposed approach is applicable to nonlinear and multivariable systems as well as problems having no explicit function such as those design simulations based on finite element methods. The significant accuracy improvement over the traditional first-order approximation is demonstrated with a number of test problems. The proposed method requires significantly less computational effort compared with the Monte Carlo simulations. Discussions and conclusions of this work are given at the end of the paper.
Self-commissioning training algorithms for neural networks with applications to electric machine fault diagnostics

The main limitations of neural network (NN) methods for fault diagnostics applications are training data and data memory requirements, and computational complexity. Generally, a NN is trained offline with all the data obtained prior to commissioning, which is not possible in a practical situation. In this paper, three novel and self-commissioning training algorithms are proposed for online training of a feedforward NN to effectively address the aforesaid shortcomings. Experimental results are provided for an induction machine stator winding turn-fault detection scheme, to illustrate the feasibility of the proposed online training algorithms for implementation in a commercial product.
DEVIANT DERVISHES: SPACE, GENDER, AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF ANTINOMIAN PIETY IN OTTOMAN ALEPPO

In the letters he wrote from Aleppo in 1600, the British merchant William Biddulph described the daily life of this dynamic center of the East–West trade, the city where spices and silks from India and Iran were exchanged for English broadcloth and New World silver in one of the world's largest covered bazaars. He also presented Muslim practices and religious beliefs, emphasizing those features that seemed to him most unusual and reprehensible. His contempt fell firmly on a fixture of the early modern Islamic street, the ecstatic, antinomian Muslim saint: They also account fooles, dumbe men, and mad men,…Saints. And whatsoever such mad men say or doe…or strike them, and wound them, yet they take it in good part, and say, that they shall have good lucke after it. And when such mad men die, they Canonize them for Saints, and erect stately Monuments over their graves, as we have here many examples, especially of one (who being mad) went always naked, whose name was Sheh Boubac…they…erected an house over his grave, where…they are Lampes burning night and day, and many idle fellows (whom they call Darvises) there maintained to looke unto his Sepulchre…
Friends' and Acquaintances' Conversations I: Perceived Differences

Although interaction and intimacy are widely recognized as key concepts in understanding personal relationships, comprehensive theories of differences between intimate and non-intimate relationships have been grounded primarily in self-reports of general communication patterns rather than in observed interaction. This study was designed to investigate what observable cues in conversations distinguish friends' from acquaintances' conversations. Excerpts from 36 conversations were audio taped and played to observers who judged whether the conversations were between friends or acquaintances and what cues they used to make their judgments. Those cues served as the basis for an inductively derived category system. Major findings were that judges were 80 percent accurate and their judgments were based on a wide variety of cues. About half of the cues that could be coded reliably fell into three categories: mutual knowledge, intimacy of self-disclosure and relaxation. The other half, however, were dispersed acro...
Towards a targeted multi-drug delivery approach to improve therapeutic efficacy in breast cancer

Importance of the field: Significant improvements in breast cancer treatments have resulted in a significant decrease in mortality. However, current breast cancer therapies, for example, chemotherapy, often result in high toxicity and nonspecific side effects. Other treatments, such as hormonal and antiangiogenic therapies, often have low treatment efficacy if used alone. In addition, acquired drug resistance decreases further the treatment efficacy of these therapies. Intra-tumor heterogeneity of the tumor tissue may be a major reason for the low treatment efficacy and the development of chemoresistance. Therefore, targeted multi-drug therapy is a valuable option for addressing the multiple mechanisms that may be responsible for reduced efficacy of current therapies.Areas covered in this review: In this article, different classes of drugs for treating breast cancer, the possible reasons for the drug resistance in breast cancer, as well as different targeted drug delivery systems are summarized. The curre...
Secondary vestibulocerebellar projections to flocculonodular lobe in a prosimian primate, Galago senegalensis

The organization of vestibulocerebellar projections to the flocculonodular and adjacent cortices were studied in Galago using horseradish peroxidase (HRP). Implants of HRP pellets or injections (0.14-0.95 microliter) were placed in floccular, parafloccular, nodular, and uvular cortices. Following survival times of 18-25 hours animals were killed via transcardiac perfusion of heparinized saline followed by a buffered solution of paraformaldehyde and glutaraldehyde. Tissues were processed using DAB as the chromogen. Consequent to floccular implants HRP-positive cells are found bilaterally in medial (MVN), spinal (SpVN), and superior (SVN) vestibular nuclei. Labeled neurons are present in the ipsilateral subgroup y and interstitial nucleus of the eighth nerve. The prepositus hypoglossal nuclei also contained HRP-positive somata. A column of labeled cells is present exclusively in dorsomedial MVN subsequent to injection of the paraflocculus. Injections of nodular cortex reveal a distinct bilateral projection to this cortical area. Many labeled cells are located in SpVN, MVN, SVN, subgroups x and y, the interstitial nucleus, and the ganglion of the eighth nerve. Labeled somata are concentrated in dorsal and dorsolateral SpVN and in a bandlike configuration in subgroup x. HRP-reactive cells appear to have a differential rostrocaudal distribution in MVN, while the majority of positive cells in SVN are found in central portions of the nucleus. After HRP injection into the transition area between nodular and uvular cortices, labeled neurons are present in MVN, SpVN, and the prepositus hypoglossal nucleus. A similar distribution of HRP-positive cells is seen following injections of ventral uvula; however, cells are markedly fewer in number. In no case, subsequent to injection of the flocculonodular lobe and adjacent cortices, are HRP-labeled neurons found in the lateral vestibular nucleus.
Protocol verification using flows: An industrial experience

We prove the parameterized correctness of one of the largest cache coherence protocols being used in modern multi-core processors today. Our approach is a generalization of a method we described last year that uses data type reduction and compositional reasoning to iteratively abstract and refine the protocol and uses invariants derived from protocol “flows” to make the abstraction-refinement loop converge. Our prior work demonstrated the value of sequencing information that appeared within the linear flows describing a protocol in design documents. This paper extends the notion of flows to capture intricate scenarios seen in real industrial protocols and demonstrates that there is also valuable information in the interaction among flows. We further show that judicious use of flows is required to make the method converge and identify which flows are most suitable.
SIRT1 inhibits the mouse intestinal motility and epithelial proliferation.

Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1), a NAD+-dependent histone deacetylase, is involved in a wide array of cellular processes including glucose homeostasis, energy metabolism, proliferation and apoptosis, and immune response. However, it is unknown whether SIRT1 plays any physiological role in the regulation of intestinal homeostasis and motility. Thus the aim was to define SIRT1 expression and function in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract under physiological conditions. Forty 12–14-wk-old SIRT1 knockout (KO) and wild-type (WT) mice were fasted 21 h and/or refed 3 h. Fasted mice were injected intraperitoneally with bromodeoxyuridine (120 mg/kg body wt) 2 h before euthanasia. SIRT1 protein was localized to gastric and intestinal epithelial nuclei and was responsive to the nutritional status. SIRT1 was required for intestinal epithelial homeostasis. The SIRT1 KO mice showed enhanced crypt proliferation and suppressed villous apoptosis, resulting in increased intestinal villous height. In the SIRT1 KO intestine, the abundance of Forkhead box protein O1 and p53 protein decreased, whereas the subcellular localization of β-catenin protein accumulated mainly in the crypts. The SIRT1 KO mice showed accelerated gastric emptying rate with increased abundance of ghrelin mRNA and protein in the stomach. Moreover, the SIRT1 KO mouse intestine showed enhanced ex vivo spontaneous contraction. We concluded that, SIRT1 plays a critical role in the control of intestinal homeostasis (by promoting apoptosis and inhibiting proliferation) and gastrointestinal motility (by reducing gastric emptying and intestinal contractile activity), implicating a novel role for SIRT1.
Vertical Structure of Wintertime Teleconnection Patterns.

Abstract Orthogonal rotated principal component analysis of the wintertime, Northern Hemisphere, 5-day mean sea level pressure field yielded five modes which are of some dynamical interest. One can be identified with the well-known North Atlantic Oscillation and another with the Pacific/North American pattern. Three of the other modes are highly baroclinic in the sense that their sea level pressure patterns and their associated 500 mb height patterns are different in shape and opposite in polarity over substantial areas. These more baroclinic patterns attain their largest amplitudes in the vicinity of the Himalayas and Rockies. Their spatial patterns evolve very differently in the lower and middle troposphere: the sea level pressure patterns exhibit a distinctive eastward and/or equatorward phase propagation, parallel to contours of surface elevation, along the northern and/or eastern side of the mountain ranges, while the corresponding 500 mb patterns evolve in a manner consistent with the concept of Ros...
The Impact of Spinal Cord Injury on Female Sexuality, Menstruation and Pregnancy: A Review of the Literature

Spinal cord injury (SCI) results in alterations in sexual functioning. This area has been studied in depth in males; however, the literature pertaining to female sexual dysfunction after injury is sparse and focused primarily on menstruation and pregnancy. This report reviews the literature on female sexuality, menstruation and pregnancy after SCI and discusses the findings.
Abstract 401: The Lineage-specific Transcription Factor PU.1 Prevents Heterochromatinization of Macrophage-specific Genes During Hematopoietic Differentiation

We are using a quantitative approach to determine the fractional occupancy of nucleosomes at gene regulatory regions (i.e. enhancers and promoters) in primary mouse macrophages. This has allowed us to determine the dynamics of nucleosome removal at regulatory regions upon pro-inflammatory gene induction (Gjidoda, A. et al. 2014 Nucleosomes are stably evicted from enhancers but not promoters upon induction of certain pro-inflammatory genes in mouse macrophages. PLoS ONE 9(4): e93971). Moreover, we are interested in understanding how an accessible chromatin architecture is established at regulatory regions during macrophage differentiation, so that the transcriptional machinery can be recruited to these sites in mature cells. These studies have shown that the lineage-specific transcription factor PU.1 has to be present in hematopoietic progenitors to mark macrophage-specific genes for later induction. Using a previously established macrophage differentiation system from a PU.1-/- mouse as well as primary macrophages, we find that in the absence of PU.1 binding to the enhancer of a macrophage-specific gene, the enhancer is bound by PRC2 as cells are differentiated into mature macrophages. This leads to wrapping of the whole gene locus into heterochromatin, which is associated with tri-methylation of H3K27 and increased nucleosome occupancy. Our results show that one role of lineage-specific transcription factors is to prevent heterochromatinization of cell-type specific genes during differentiation to allow their expression in mature cells.
Punitive Damages and the Supreme Court: A Tragedy in Five Acts

This is a critique of Supreme Court jurisprudence concerning punitive damages. The author claims that the Supreme Court erred in the first of its recent treatments of punitive damages, and that this error has been compounded, resulting in a possibly incoherent state of current law. The various episodes in this jurisprudence are discussed in turn.
Chimeric Filoviruses for Identification and Characterization of Monoclonal Antibodies

UNLABELLED Recent experiments suggest that some glycoprotein (GP)-specific monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) can protect experimental animals against the filovirus Ebola virus (EBOV). There is a need for isolation of MAbs capable of neutralizing multiple filoviruses. Antibody neutralization assays for filoviruses frequently use surrogate systems such as the rhabdovirus vesicular stomatitis Indiana virus (VSV), lentiviruses or gammaretroviruses with their envelope proteins replaced with EBOV GP or pseudotyped with EBOV GP. It is optimal for both screening and in-depth characterization of newly identified neutralizing MAbs to generate recombinant filoviruses that express a reporter fluorescent protein in order to more easily monitor and quantify the infection. Our study showed that unlike neutralization-sensitive chimeric VSV, authentic filoviruses are highly resistant to neutralization by MAbs. We used reverse genetics techniques to replace EBOV GP with its counterpart from the heterologous filoviruses Bundibugyo virus (BDBV), Sudan virus, and even Marburg virus and Lloviu virus, which belong to the heterologous genera in the filovirus family. This work resulted in generation of multiple chimeric filoviruses, demonstrating the ability of filoviruses to tolerate swapping of the envelope protein. The sensitivity of chimeric filoviruses to neutralizing MAbs was similar to that of authentic biologically derived filoviruses with the same GP. Moreover, disabling the expression of the secreted GP (sGP) resulted in an increased susceptibility of an engineered virus to the BDBV52 MAb isolated from a BDBV survivor, suggesting a role for sGP in evasion of antibody neutralization in the context of a human filovirus infection. IMPORTANCE The study demonstrated that chimeric rhabdoviruses in which G protein is replaced with filovirus GP, widely used as surrogate targets for characterization of filovirus neutralizing antibodies, do not accurately predict the ability of antibodies to neutralize authentic filoviruses, which appeared to be resistant to neutralization. However, a recombinant EBOV expressing a fluorescent protein tolerated swapping of GP with counterparts from heterologous filoviruses, allowing high-throughput screening of B cell lines to isolate MAbs of any filovirus specificity. Human MAb BDBV52, which was isolated from a survivor of BDBV infection, was capable of partially neutralizing a chimeric EBOV carrying BDBV GP in which expression of sGP was disabled. In contrast, the parental virus expressing sGP was resistant to the MAb. Thus, the ability of filoviruses to tolerate swapping of GP can be used for identification of neutralizing MAbs specific to any filovirus and for the characterization of MAb specificity and mechanism of action.
Consistency of Bayes Estimates for Nonparametric Regression: A Review

This paper reviews some recent studies of frequentist properties of Bayes estimates. In nonparametric regression, natural priors can lead to inconsistent estimators; although in some problems, such priors do give consistent estimates.
Upper aerodigestive tract manifestations of cicatricial pemphigoid

Cicatricial pemphigoid is a chronic mucosal blistering disorder with a predilection for subsequent scar formation. Many physicians may be unaware of the various presentations and sequelae of this uncommon disease. This report of the largest series to date focuses on the upper aerodigestive tract manifestations of this disease. During the years 1975 to 1985, 142 patients with cicatricial pemphigoid were seen at the Mayo Clinic. There were 93 women and 49 men; the age range was 21 to 92 years. Mucosal lesions occurred most often in the mucous membranes of the oral cavity and conjunctiva. Involvement of the pharynx, larynx, and esophagus was less common. Stenosis of the nasopharynx or larynx necessitated surgical repair in several persons and caused obstructive sleep apnea in two. The otolaryngologist can make an important contribution to the early recognition, diagnosis, and management of the complications of cicatricial pemphigoid.
Isomerization reactions of olefinic hydrocarbons in presence of aluminosilicates communication 2

1. In presence of an aluminosilicate catalyst at 250°, acyclic and cyclic olefin hydrocarbons undergo considerable structural changes, which are readily explained by means of a mechanism scheme in which the intermediate formation of cyclopropane derivatives is postulated. The following are the most characteristic types of isomeric transformations:1) isomerization of normal olefins Into monoalkylalkenes in which the alkyl group stands at the double bond; 2) formation of dialkylalkenes from monoalkylalkenes in which the alkyl side group is well removed from the double bond; 3) breakdown of a grouping at a quaternary carbon atom, except in those cases in which, in addition to a quaternary carbon, there is a tertiary carbon at the double bond; 4) in the isomerization of CT (and higher) cycloalkenes, a mixture of two parts of six-membered and one part of five -membered naphthenes informed; 5) in hydrocarbons having a primary-secondary double bond; migration of the double bend so as to form unsymmetrically substituted ethylene derivatives readily occurs; 6) reduction in the number of carbon atoms in alkyl side groups occurs. 2. The overall result of the catalytic transformations of olefinic hydrocarbons in presence of aluminosilicate should be regarded as the summative effect of isomerization and hydrogen-redistribution processes, and the unsaturated hydrocarbons that are mainly formed are those which have the least tendency to undergo isomerization under the experimental conditions and which are readily saturated at a later stage owing to the redistribution of hydrogen. The most characteristic forms of saturated C2-C2 hydrocarbons obtained at 250° we consider to be: 2-methylalkanes; 2,3-, 2,4-, and 2,5-dimethylalkanes; methylcyclopentane; methylcyclohexane; and also 1,3-dimethylcyeiopentane and 1,4-dimethylcyclohexane.
Geographies of race and ethnicity II: Environmental racism, racial capitalism and state-sanctioned violence

In this report I argue that environmental racism is constituent of racial capitalism. While the environmental justice movement has been a success on many levels, there is compelling evidence that i...
CoYoT1 Clinic: Innovative Telemedicine Care Model for Young Adults with Type 1 Diabetes.

Abstract Background: Young adults with type 1 diabetes (T1D) face many challenges in managing their diabetes, resulting in suboptimal glycemic control and often loss to follow-up. Comprehensive strategies are needed to engage this population in diabetes care and improve outcomes. This pilot study investigated the feasibility and acceptability of the Colorado Young Adults with Type 1 Diabetes (CoYoT1) Clinic—an innovative clinical care model for young adults with T1D, incorporating telemedicine and peer interactions. Subjects and Methods: Forty-five patients with T1D, 18–25 years of age, participated in this study. Patients completed one routine, diabetes clinic appointment, using Health Insurance Portability and Accountability–approved, Web-based videoconferencing from a location of their choosing. The clinic visit consisted of an individual appointment with a diabetes provider and a group appointment with other young adults, facilitated by a certified diabetes educator. Patients completed a satisfaction ...
Pulsed dye laser fragmentation of ureteral calculi: initial clinical experience.

AbstractThe pulsed dye laser, emitting at wavelengths of 504nm. for 1 µsec. at a frequency of 5Hz. transmitted via a 250 mu. in diameter silicon-coated quartz fiber, was passed into the ureter through the working channel of a 9.5F rigid ureteroscope. Seventeen patients with ureteral calculi too large to be extracted directly, who were unable to be treated by extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy or who otherwise would have required transureteral or percutaneous ultrasonic stone removal, underwent attempted stone fragmentation by pulsed dye laser application. Of the 17 calculi 16 were fragmented to spontaneously passable or easily extractable fragments. There was no significant ureteral injury, thermal or otherwise, attributable to laser energy action. At 3-month followup 15 of the 17 ureters had improved and 2 showed evidence of ureterscopic injury. The mechanism of stone fragmentation by laser is small volume “shock wave” formation.
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology

Behavioral ecology is a scientific discipline that is primarily concerned with the ways in which the various behaviors of animals have evolved by natural selection. Sociobiology is the part of behavioral ecology that deals with social behavior. The first book devoted to behavioral ecology appeared in 1962; the first scientific journal, in 1976; and the first scientific society, in 1986. Social behavior had long been studied, notably by Nobel Prize winning ethologists in the 1950s and 1960s, but the term sociobiology was coined in 1975. The origins of the major themes of behavioral ecology came in the 1960s from the population biology of behavior, when new theories regarding spacing, sexual behavior, and aid-giving behavior spurred research.
Price Competition Within the Large Audit Firm Oligopoly: A Panel Data Analysis of Initial Engagements

We study audit pricing and quality for companies that switch from one BigN firm to another. In addition to present day policy interest in the competitiveness and quality of the large audit firm / public company market, and longstanding policy interest in the pricing and quality of initial audit engagements, our motivation stems from contrary predictions in the theoretical literature and mixed evidence in the empirical literature. We collect a series of balanced panel datasets of BigN auditees from the first eight years of disclosure of U.S. audit fees and estimate a series of fixed-effect regressions. We report evidence of economically significant discounting of initial audits for companies that switch among BigN firms but that audit fees then increase substantially for the second-year audit. To the extent restatements and going-concern opinions are adequate proxies, our results do not suggest differential audit quality for companies that pay lower audit fees when switching among BigN firms. Overall, our paper is the first to study BigN switching with a comprehensive sample that spans several years using a panel data design, to document economically significant amounts of initial audit fee discounts (that vary over time in a manner consistent with recent audit market changes and primarily vanish the very next year) and to examine the association between initial audit fee discounts and multiple proxies for audit quality.
Nanophotonic control of heat: New fundamental effects and applications

We discuss our efforts in developing nanophotonic structures for the control of thermal radiation. These structures enable new spectral, angular, and reciprocal properties of thermal radiation, and new applications such as radiative cooling.
Skin-Set, Wound Healing, and Related Defects

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses important physiological and biochemical research that impacts these costly wound-related problems. It also discusses the formation and maturation of native tuber periderm and its relationship to tuber skin-set development. Skinning wounds are difficult to control during harvest unless the tuber periderm has matured so that the skin is set and resistant to skinning injury. The structure of tuber periderm and the maturational changes that result in resistance to tuber skinning injury are of fundamental importance in developing physiological approaches to enhance skin-set and reduce associated losses. The current status of this relatively young research area is described. The chapter also discusses tuber wound-healing in detail. The process of wound-induced suberization to heal skinned, cut, and so-called bruised areas covers a vast research plane. It includes information on the induction and regulation of suberization, and the composition, biosynthetic pathways, assembly, and molecular structure of suberin. These areas of suberin physiology and biochemistry are not fully understood, but they are of great importance in mitigating infection, defect development, and other losses. Suberin is somewhat of an enigma that is often misunderstood and poorly described in conjunction with wound healing and wound periderm development. Consequently, the section covers what is currently considered an appropriate terminology and description of suberin. The chapter discusses wound-related defects including shatter bruise, blackspot bruise, growth cracks, and skinning. These defects directly affect food losses and market quality. The physiology and biochemistry of these defects are discussed in relation to wounding and suberization.
To Swap or Not To Swap

Domain swapping is a form of protein oligomerization in which identical structural units are exchanged among protomers within an oligomer. In this issue of Structure, Assar et al. (2016) report domain-swapped dimers of hCREBPII, pinpointing a single hydrogen bond and protein concentration as two critical regulators of the monomer/dimer balance.
Measuring Ideology on the Courts

Measuring ideology on the courts is important, yet challenging. This paper discusses various approaches, ranging from calculating percent conservative scores to measures based on sophisticated measurement models, emphasizing two themes. First, scholars should not assume that all ideological measures work in all research contexts. I identify specic
Being Mindful of Appearance: Receptivity, Neutralization, Discursivity

Sensibility in general is a capacity [ Fahigkeit] for receptivity. The Transcendental Aesthetic of the Critique of Pure Reason establishes that sensibility contributes intuited ingredients, both material and formal, in order to make possible the thorough determination of objects and their cognition. Intuition, defined as an immediate relation to something, occurs in humans only by means of sensibility. Since human intuition is sensible, it is a capacity for receptivity rather than a faculty for the creative or even spontaneous grasp of entities. Following Kant’s general subjectivization of Leibniz’s principle of determination and his limitation of this principle to experience, we can interpret the spontaneity of the faculty of intellect or understanding as the categorially articulated matrix of experiential possibility and we can interpret the receptivity of the capacity for sensible intuition as the human openness towards the actual given in experience. In the Critique of Judgment,§76; Kant aligns possibility with understanding and actuality with sensible intuition.190
Comparison of dual frequency comb absorption spectra of air-broadened water vapor up to 1300K with HITRAN online and HITEMP2010 models

We compare water-vapor absorption models generated with HITRAN Online and HITEMP2010 to measurements with a dual-comb spectrometer. For strong lines up to 1300K, HITRAN Online is a more accurate predictor of strengths, shapes, and positions.
Performance in Takeover and Characteristics of Non-driving Related Tasks during Highly Automated Driving in Younger and Older Drivers:

This paper aims to examine the effect of age and various characteristics of non-driving related activities during highly automated driving on subsequent performance in notified takeovers among youn...
Going up or down? Effects of power deprivation on luxury consumption

Abstract People who feel powerless seek status to restore their power. Although researchers have shown consumers who feel powerless prefer luxury products, it is difficult to draw practical implications from previous studies due to the research design and methods used. Through three experiments, this study confirmed the power deprivation effects on luxury consumption and provided practical implications for luxury brand managers and retail mall managers. Specifically, the present study found that people in the low power (vs. high power) condition 1) prefer bigger sizes and more brand logos (i.e., conspicuous) on luxury clothing and handbags and 2) prefer status-associated luxury brands and dislike status-effacing mass market brands. Furthermore, power (vs. powerlessness) was elicited by going up (vs. down) an escalator and looking down (vs. up) the shopping mall from above (vs. below).
Why Do New Cities Form

The rationale behind incorporating a new municipality has evolved since the very first cities and continues to change. The provision of public services that were the mainstay of incorporation proceedings at the turn of the twentieth century has given way to concerns over growth, land use, and exclusionary practices. Today, annexation threats from nearby existing communities, the desire to control growth and development, racial and socio-economic prejudices and the provision of public services are but a few reasons explored through case studies in this chapter. Additionally, new municipalities are also changing how they provide the public services that they do offer by contracting with existing governments or private corporations as identified by Miller in his work which examined California incorporations. In the end, incorporation activity is often the result of a myriad of local concerns that when combined, results in an effort to incorporate a new municipality.
Endothelin receptor antagonist preserves microvascular perfusion and reduces ischemic brain damage following permanent focal ischemia.

Synthesis and release of the potent vasoconstrictor peptide endothelin-1 (ET-1) increases following cerebral ischemia and has previously been shown to mediate the delayed hypoperfusion associated with transient global ischemia. In this study we assessed the impact of ET-1 on perfusion and infarct volume in a focal model of cerebral ischemia by use of the selective ETA receptor antagonist Ro 61-1790 (affinity for ETA receptor 1000 fold greater than ETB receptor). Control rats subjected to permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) showed extensive reductions in microvascular perfusion 4 h post-MCAO that were significantly attenuated by Ro 61-1790 pretreatment (10 mg/kg, i.v.). Ro 61-1790 concomitantly and significantly reduced the ischemic lesion volume in the same animals. This effect was maintained 24 h post-MCAO providing that the animals received additional i.v. injections of 5 mg/kg Ro 61-1790 at 5 h and 8 h after MCAO. These findings demonstrate that ETA receptor antagonism partially preserves tissue perfusion following focal ischemia and that this effect is associated with significant neuroprotection. The results also support the hypothesis that vasoactive mediators, and ET-1 in particular, are important contributors to the pathogenesis of cerebral ischemic injury.
Improved Health and Insurance Status Among Cigarette Smokers After Medicaid Expansion, 2011-2016.

Objectives:The high concentration of smokers among subgroups targeted by the Affordable Care Act and the historically worse health and lower access to health care among smokers warrants an evaluation of how Medicaid expansion affects smokers. We evaluated the impact of Medicaid expansion on smoking behavior, access to health care, and health of low-income adults, and we compared outcomes of all low-income people with outcomes of low-income current smokers by states’ Medicaid expansion status.Methods:We obtained data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (2011-2016) for low-income adults aged 18-64. We estimated multivariable linear ordinary least squares probability models using a quasi-experimental difference-in-difference approach to compare smoking behavior, access to health care, and health between people in expansion states and nonexpansion states and, specifically, on low-income adults and the subgroup of low-income current smokers.Results:Compared with low-income smokers in nonexpansi...
Right ventricular stroke work correlates with outcomes in pediatric pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is characterized by elevated pulmonary artery pressures (PAP) and pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR). Optimizing treatment strategies and timing for transplan...
Building Student Engagement, Inclusion, and Retention

This article presents experiential games and activities to enhance the community learning environment, and demonstrates their application and benefits for college students. The games and activities...