cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Epidemiology and Risk Factors for Chronic Kidney Disease

Kidney disease is highly prevalent in the United States population and groups at high risk for increased prevalence of CKD include individuals with a family history of ESRD, diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease. Despite the increased risk of ESRD observed for blacks compared with whites, racial disparities in the prevalence of kidney disease have not been consistently demonstrated in the United States population. Although the reasons for discrepancy in risk of ESRD and CKD have not been established, clinicians should be aware that more rapid progression of CKD among blacks is a possible explanation for this observation and that closer monitoring and intensive care of risk factors associated with progressive renal injury is warranted for blacks with CKD and in other high-risk groups. Therapeutic interventions that delay or prevent progressive kidney disease are well established and incorporated into widely disseminated clinical practice guidelines. These interventions include aggressive blood pressure control with agents that block the renin-angiotensin system, reduction of dietary protein to recommended levels for the American diet, weight loss, smoking cessation, and control of hyperlipidemia. These interventions also reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and should be regarded as essential components of care of CKD. Achieving high levels of medically appropriate care of CKD patients and reduction in risk of progression to ESRD may be delayed by barriers created by individual and regional poverty.
Local André-Oort conjecture for the universal abelian variety

We prove a p-adic version of the Andre-Oort conjecture for subvarieties of the universal abelian varieties. Let g and n be integers with n≥3 and p a prime number not dividing n. Let R be a finite extension of \(W[\mathbb{F}_{p}^{alg}]\), the ring of Witt vectors of the algebraic closure of the field of p elements. The moduli space \(\mathcal{A}=\mathcal{A}_{g,1,n}\) of g-dimensional principally polarized abelian varieties with full level n-structure as well as the universal abelian variety \(\pi:\mathcal{X}\to\mathcal{A}\) over \(\mathcal{A}\) may be defined over R. We call a point \(\xi\in\mathcal{X}(R)\) R-special if \(\mathcal{X}_{\pi(\xi)}\) is a canonical lift and ξ is a torsion point of its fibre. Employing the model theory of difference fields and work of Moonen on special subvarieties of \(\mathcal{A}\), we show that an irreducible subvariety of \(\mathcal{X}_{R}\) containing a dense set of R-special points must be a special subvariety in the sense of mixed Shimura varieties.
Incisional Hernia after Liver Transplantation

Background Incisional hernia is a potential complication of orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT), with various options for repair. Study Design We conducted a retrospective review of a series of adult patients with incisional hernias after OLT to identify risk factors and to compare methods of repair. Results Incisional hernia repair was performed in 44 of 959 patients (4.6%) who underwent OLT from 1999 to 2005. Mean age at time of OLT was 53 years, and 73% were men. One or more complications of OLT occurred in 33 patients (75%) and included reoperation for bile leak or hemoperitoneum (34%), pulmonary problems (27%), early acute rejection (7%), and severe ascites and retransplantation (5% each). Incisional hernia was diagnosed at 419 days (range 62 to 1,524 days) and repaired at 471 days (range 109 to 1,581 days) after OLT. Presentation included pain or discomfort (78%) and incarceration or strangulation (5%); 17% were asymptomatic. Herniorrhaphy techniques included fascial repair with onlay polypropylene mesh reinforcement (n=25, 57%); fascial repair only (n=15, 34%); or inlay mesh sewn to fascial edges (n=4, 9%). Complications of repair included recurrence in seven patients (16%) and wound infection and seroma in one patient each. Recurrence occurred in five patients with primary repair and two with mesh techniques (33% versus 6%, p=0.04). Conclusions Incisional hernia is a late complication of OLT for which male gender and early post-OLT complications are risk factors. Repair is safe when undertaken after acute problems have resolved and is best accomplished using mesh reinforcement of autologous tissue.
An investigation of the viability of UHF RFID for subsurface soil sensors

A study was performed to assess the viability of using ultra-high frequency (UHF) radio frequency identification (RFID) to communicate with subsurface sensors. The results showed that, when the reader operated near the FCC limit, read ranges for the sensorwere greater than a half meter for soil moisture levels of 15% by weight or less. Moisture levels at 15% or greater resulted in significant attenuation or complete loss of signal. Tags also had desireable read ranges for depths up to 15 cm.
Experimental Characterization and Gray-Box Modeling of Spool-Type Automotive Variable-Force-Solenoid Valves With Circular Flow Ports and Notches

In automatic transmission design, electronic control techniques have been adopted through proportional variable-force-solenoid valves, which typically consist of spool-type valves (Christenson, W. A., 2000, SAE Technical Paper Series, 2000-01-0116). This paper presents an experimental investigation and neural network modeling of the fluid force and flow rate for a spool-type hydraulic valve with symmetrically distributed circular ports. Through extensive data analysis, general trends of fluid force and flow rate are derived as functions of pressure drop and valve opening. To further reveal the insights of the spool valve fluid field, equivalent jet angle and discharge coefficient are calculated from the measurements, based on the lumped parameter models. By incorporating physical knowledge with nondimensional artificial neural networks (NDANN), gray-box NDANN-based hydraulic valve system models are also developed through the use of equivalent jet angle and discharge coefficient. The gray-box NDANN models calculate fluid force and flow rate as well as the intermediate variables with useful design implications. The network training and testing demonstrate that the gray-box NDANN fluid field estimators can accurately capture the relationship between the key geometry parameters and discharge coefficient/jet angle. The gray-box NDANN maintains the nondimensional network configuration, and thus possesses good scalability with respect to the geometry parameters and key operating conditions. All of these features make the gray-box NDANN fluid field estimator a valuable tool for hydraulic system design.
PINIP based high-speed high-extinction ratio micron-size silicon electrooptic modulator.

We propose an electro-optic device in silicon based on a p-i-n-i-p device structure for charge transport. The proposed device exhibits carrier injection time of 10 ps and extraction time of 15 ps enabling 100 GHz operation. When integrated into a resonator the micron-size device operates at 40 Gbit/s with 12 dB extinction ratio and 2.25 fJ/bit/micron-length power dissipation. The proposed device is limited in speed only by the photon lifetime of the resonator.
Coordinated effects of insulin-like growth factor I on inhibitory pathways of cell cycle progression in cultured cardiac muscle cells.

Insulin-like growth factor I (IGF I) plays a key role in the regulation of cell proliferation. Progression of the cell cycle is regulated by stimulatory and inhibitory pathways. In order to understand the mechanisms through which IGF I regulates cardiac muscle growth, we have studied the effects of IGF I on inhibitory pathways involving p53 and WAF1 in cultured cardiac muscle cell line H9C2. The onset of DNA synthesis in response to IGF I stimulation was preceded by activation of p53 expression. In addition, IGF I increased p53-dependent and p53-independent induction of WAF1 in H9C2 cells. Dose-response studies showed that IGF I effects on p53-dependent and p53-independent induction of WAF1 occur at physiological concentrations of IGF I. These data indicate that IGF I coordinately regulates inhibitory pathways of cell cycle progression, and that p53-dependent and p53-independent induction of WAF1 may provide negative control mechanisms to regulate stimulatory pathways of cell cycle progression activated b...
Effect of Surfactants on Phosphogypsum Crystallization and Filtration during Wet-Process Phosphoric Acid Production

A nonionic surfactant (CMR-100) containing a mixture of C6–C22 sorbitan esters was tested to improve the filtration rate of phosphogypsum produced from a South Florida phosphate concentrate at different sulfate levels. Tests were carried out on a lab-scale under operating conditions that simulate, to a large extent, the industrial parameters. It was found that the mean diameter of the formed crystals was increased by addition of the surfactant. Equally important, a narrower size distribution was obtained as compared to that in the absence of the surfactant. A significant increase (23 to 31%) in filtration rate, expressed as tons P2O5/m2·day, was achieved due to the surfactants addition. A correlation between crystal size distribution of phosphogypsum and filtration rate is presented in this paper.
Estimating a state-space model from point process observations

A widely used signal processing paradigm is the state-space model. The state-space model is defined by two equations: an observation equation that describes how the hidden state or latent process is observed and a state equation that defines the evolution of the process through time. Inspired by neurophysiology experiments in which neural spiking activity is induced by an implicit (latent) stimulus, we develop an algorithm to estimate a state-space model observed through point process measurements. We represent the latent process modulating the neural spiking activity as a gaussian autoregressive model driven by an external stimulus. Given the latent process, neural spiking activity is characterized as a general point process defined by its conditional intensity function. We develop an approximate expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm to estimate the unobservable state-space process, its parameters, and the parameters of the point process. The EM algorithm combines a point process recursive nonlinear filter algorithm, the fixed interval smoothing algorithm, and the state-space covariance algorithm to compute the complete data log likelihood efficiently. We use a Kolmogorov-Smirnov test based on the time-rescaling theorem to evaluate agreement between the model and point process data. We illustrate the model with two simulated data examples: an ensemble of Poisson neurons driven by a common stimulus and a single neuron whose conditional intensity function is approximated as a local Bernoulli process.
Variable selection for support vector machines in moderately high dimensions

The support vector machine (SVM) is a powerful binary classification tool with high accuracy and great flexibility. It has achieved great success, but its performance can be seriously impaired if many redundant covariates are included. Some efforts have been devoted to studying variable selection for SVMs, but asymptotic properties, such as variable selection consistency, are largely unknown when the number of predictors diverges to infinity. In this work, we establish a unified theory for a general class of nonconvex penalized SVMs. We first prove that in ultra-high dimensions, there exists one local minimizer to the objective function of nonconvex penalized SVMs possessing the desired oracle property. We further address the problem of nonunique local minimizers by showing that the local linear approximation algorithm is guaranteed to converge to the oracle estimator even in the ultra-high dimensional setting if an appropriate initial estimator is available. This condition on initial estimator is verified to be automatically valid as long as the dimensions are moderately high. Numerical examples provide supportive evidence.
MINERALOCORTICOIDS IN ESSENTIAL AND SECONDARY HYPERTENSION INTRODUCTION TO THE SYMPOSIUM

Although the importance of the adrenal gland has been known for over a century, our knowledge of aldosterone is comparatively recent. It has been only since 1950, when Deming and Luetscher (2) discovered sodium-retaining properties in the urine of patients with heart failure, that the existence of mineralocorticoid substances in man has been appreciated. Aldosterone itself was first isolated and subjected to preliminary characterization by Simpson et al. in 1953 (6). Aldosterone is produced within the zona glomerulosa of the adrenal cortex (4), and exists in the circulation in both free and protein-bound forms. The protein binding is probably critical in determining the rate of metabolism and distribution of aldosterone, and in helping explain how aldosterone exhibits powerful hormonal actions despite its apparently low plasma concentrations in the free form.
The Heidelberg version of a textual portion otherwise lost from the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle

Nineteenth-century editors of the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle regarded the now lost Riga MS (= R) as primary, asserting that the only other extant MS for the chronicle, Cpg. 367 (= H), though actually a sister-manuscript, was an ortho-graphically debased copy ofthe former. Obliged because of a large lacuna in R to resort to H (207 va , 37–215 va , 15) for textual continuity, they proceeded, in line with then established practice for MHG, to normalize these lines, thereby sweeping away various details that would have shed light on the dialectal features of H. On the basis of an examination of such details taken from the manuscript portion in question it is argued that the dialect area in which H was written is East Central German.
Guaranteed and prospective Galactic TeV neutrino sources

Recent observations, particularly from the HESS Collaboration, have revealed rich Galactic populations of TeV gamma-ray sources, including a collection unseen in other wavelengths. Many of these gamma-ray spectra are well measured up to $\ensuremath{\sim}10\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{TeV}$, where low statistics make observations by air \ifmmode \check{C}\else \v{C}\fi{}erenkov telescopes difficult. To understand these mysterious sources, especially at much higher energies---where a cutoff should eventually appear---new techniques are needed. We point out the following: (1) For a number of sources, it is very likely that pions, and hence TeV neutrinos, are produced; (2) As a general point, neutrinos should be a better probe of the highest energies than gamma rays, due to increasing detector efficiency; and (3) For several specific sources, the detection prospects for ${\mathrm{km}}^{3}$ neutrino telescopes are very good, $\ensuremath{\sim}1--10$ events/year, with low atmospheric neutrino background rates above reasonable energy thresholds. Such signal rates, as small as they may seem, will allow neutrino telescopes to powerfully discriminate between models for the Galactic TeV sources, with important consequences for our understanding of cosmic-ray production.
An Initial Exploration into the Psychological Implications of Adolescents' Involvement with Professional Wrestling.

Professional wrestling has become an internationally popular type of ‘sport entertainment’ among youth. The professional wrestling industry targets children as consumers for live events, televised ...
Taxonomic review of the genus Xenolecanium Takahashi and description of the new genus Takahashilecanium Kondo (Hemiptera: Coccidae; Coccinae, Paralecaniini)

The genus Xenolecanium Takahashi is reviewed and transferred from the subfamily Myzolecaniinae to the Coccinae (tribe Paralecaniini). The type species Xenolecanium mangiferae Takahashi is redescribed, and Xenolecanium takahashii Kondo sp. nov. from Indonesia is described based on the adult female and first instar nymph. A taxonomic key is provided to separate adult females of the two species of Xenolecanium . Xenolecanium rotundum Takahashi is transferred to become the type species of a new monotypic genus, Takahashilecanium Kondo, which is also placed in the Paralecaniini. The morphological justification for placing Xenolecanium and Takahashilecanium in the Paralecaniini is discussed, and we provide a taxonomic key for separating both genera from all other members of the Paralecaniini.
Voriconazole inhibits melanization in Cryptococcus neoformans

Voriconazole is a triazole antifungal drug that inhibits ergosterol synthesis and has broad activity against yeast and molds. While studying the interaction of voriconazole and Cryptococcus neoformans, we noted that cells grown in the presence of subinhibitory concentrations of voriconazole reduced melanin pigmentation. We investigated this effect systematically by assessing melanin production in the presence of voriconazole, amphotericin B, caspofungin, itraconazole, and fluconazole. Only voriconazole impeded the formation of melanin at subinhibitory concentrations. Voriconazole did not affect the autopolymerization of l-dopa, and 0.5 MIC of voriconazole did affect the gene expression of C. neoformans. However, voriconazole inhibited the capacity of laccase to catalyze the formation of melanin. Hence, voriconazole affects melanization in C. neoformans by interacting directly with laccase, which may increase the efficacy of this potent antifungal against certain pigmented fungi.
EWMA forecast of normal system activity for computer intrusion detection

Intrusions into computer systems have caused many quality/reliability problems. Detecting intrusions is an important part of assuring the quality/reliability of computer systems by quickly detecting intrusions and associated quality/reliability problems in order to take corrective actions. In this paper, we present and compare two methods of forecasting normal activities in computer systems for intrusion detection. One forecasting method uses the average of long-term normal activities as the forecast. Another forecasting method uses the EWMA (exponentially weighted moving average) one-step-ahead forecast. We use a Markov chain model to learn and predict normal activities used in the EWMA forecasting method. A forecast of normal activities is used to detect a large deviation of the observed activities from the forecast as a possible intrusion into computer systems. A Chi square distance metric is used to measure the deviation of the observed activities from the forecast of normal activities. The two forecasting methods are tested on computer audit data of normal and intrusive activities for intrusion detection. The results indicate that the Chi square distance measure with the EWMA forecasting provides better performance in intrusion detection than that with the average-based forecasting method.
Acute Dystonic Reaction and the Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome

Up to 90% of patients on chronic antipsychotic therapy will experience adverse neurologic side effects, with many of these effects attributable to the dopamine-blocking properties of these drugs. Even the newer, “atypical” antipsychotics are increasingly associated with neurologic complications. In the acute care setting, these medications have broad application beyond the management of psychiatric illness. Given the extent of their use, clinicians should be familiar with the spectrum of neurological syndromes that can develop. Some are common, such as akathisia, acute dystonic reaction, tardive dyskinesia, and drug-induced parkinsonism. Others, such as the life-threatening neuroleptic malignant syndrome, are rare yet must be recognized early to affect survival and improve outcome. This discussion highlights 2 idiosyncratic syndromes, acute dystonic reaction and neuroleptic malignant syndrome. The differential diagnosis for both syndromes and their management is discussed.
Viscoelastic properties of plasticized poly(vinyl chloride)

Master curves in stress relaxation for several samples of poly(vinyl chloride) plasticized by varying proportions of dioctyl phthalate [di(2-ethylhexyl phthalate)] are reported and discussed in terms of plasticizer concentration and polymer structure. Modulustemperature curves derived from the data are also shown. Comparisons are given of plasticized compositions of poly(vinyl chloride) and polystyrene. The useful commercial properties of poly(vinyl chloride) are discussed in the light of data on the polymer structure and plasticizer action.
Instabilities in dusty negative ion plasmas

Recently there has been interest in the properties of dusty negative ion plasmas, including dust charging and collective behavior. Electronegative dusty plasmas are of interest from the perspective of both basic physics and applications. Because the addition of negative ions to a dusty plasma can change the dust charge state, and add new sources of free energy such as ion currents, such plasmas could provide useful tools with which to study the physics of dust wave instabilities. Moreover, electronegative dusty plasmas can occur in industrial processing plasma devices, where the control of dust is an issue.
Multidisciplinary management of pediatric intracranial ependymoma.

SUMMARY Pediatric intracranial ependymoma is a rare disease representing approximately 7% of brain tumors in children aged 15 years or younger. Due to the relative rarity of these tumors, a clear standard therapy has been difficult to establish. The mainstay of treatment is surgical resection and the majority of data demonstrate improved outcome with gross total resection. The standard of care also includes postoperative radiation therapy for most patients with grade II and III tumors. Chemotherapy has been used in many capacities in this disease; however, its optimal role is yet to be defined. Current controversies such as treatment with surgery alone in completely resected tumors, use of chemotherapy for subtotally resected tumors and use of adjuvant postradiation chemotherapy are incorporated into the design of the current Children’s Oncology Group clinical trial.
Ethical Issues in the Use of Cost Effectiveness Analysis for the Prioritization of Health Resources

I have distinguished above nine distinct issues about equity and justice that arise in the construction and use of cost effectiveness analysis to minimize the burdens of disease and to maximize health outcomes. In each case the concern for equity is in my view valid and warrants some constraints on a goal of unqualified maximization of health outcomes. There has not been space here to pursue at all fully any of these nine issues regarding equity and justice — each is complex, controversial, and important. In each case, my point has been that there are important ethical and value choices to be made in constructing and using the measures; the choices are not merely technical, empirical, or economic, but moral and value choices as well. Each requires explicit attention by health policy makers using CEA. In a few cases I have indicated my own view about how the potential conflict between equity and utilitarian maximization might be resolved, but in other cases I have simply summarized briefly some arguments for giving the particular concern about equity some weight when it conflicts with maximization of utility. For some of these issues, the literature and research is at a relatively early stage and one cannot be confident about how the issues should be resolved or even about the range of plausible positions and supporting reasons on them. However, this is not grounds for ignoring the issues, but instead for getting to work on them and for ensuring that they receive explicit attention and deliberation in decisions about health resource prioritization and allocation.
Numerical solution of diffraction problems: a method of variation of boundaries. II. Finitely conducting gratings, Padé approximants, and singularities

We recently introduced a method of variation of boundaries for the solution of diffraction problems [ J. Opt. Soc. Am. A10, 1168 ( 1993)]. This method, which is based on a theorem of analyticity of the electromagnetic field with respect to variations of the interfaces, has been successfully applied in problems of diffraction of light by perfectly conducting gratings. We continue our investigation of diffraction problems. Using our previous results on analytic dependence with respect to the grating groove depth, we present a new numerical algorithm that applies to dielectric and metallic gratings. We also incorporate Pade approximation in our numerics. This addition enlarges the domain of applicability of our methods, and it results in computer codes that can predict more accurately the response of diffraction gratings in the resonance region. In many cases results are obtained that are several orders of magnitude more accurate than those given by other methods available at present, such as the integral or differential formalisms. We present a variety of numerical applications, including examples for several types of grating profile and for wavelengths of light ranging from microwaves to ultraviolet, and we compare our results with experimental data. We also use Pade approximants to gain insight into the analytic structure and the spectrum of singularities of the fields as functions of the groove depth. Finally, we discuss some connections between Pade approximation and another summation mechanism, enhanced convergence, which we introduced in the earlier paper. It is argued that, provided that certain numerical difficulties can be overcome, the performance of our algorithms could be further improved by a combination of these summation methods.
Development of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy in direct, non-destructive, and rapid determination of cotton fiber maturity:

Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra of seed and lint cottons were collected to explore the potential for the discrimination of immature cottons from mature ones and also for the determination...
Institutional change in a conflict setting: Afghanistan’s Environment Law

This article examines the development of Afghanistan’s Environment Law to explore the politics of institutional change in a conflict-affected context. Environment was catapulted to prominence in 2002 when it was included in the agenda for reconstruction under the new transitional government. Subsequent efforts to reconstitute Afghanistan’s environmental institutions culminated in the Environment Law written by the United Nations Environment Programme and other international actors, with input from the Government of Afghanistan. The Environment Law was crafted as a model of best practice, intended to modernize Afghanistan’s legislative foundation. However, it experienced significant content drift during the ratification process. As a result, the Environment Law produced institutions that differed in important ways from those initially proposed. Capitalizing on changes made during ratification, I analyze how actors across governance scales interact to translate development models from international to domes...
The Organization and Management of Restaurant Chains: An Empirical Study of the Plural Form

Using data from an ethnographic field study of five restaurant chains, this article describes how the simultaneous use of company and franchise units--the plural form--ameliorates some of the weaknesses and leverages some of the strengths of each arrangement. The article describes four basic elements of the form: organizational structure, control systems, career paths, and strategy-making processes. On each dimension, the distinction between company and franchise arrangements is blurred as each type is embedded in and combined with the other. The article contributes to the market-versus-hierarchy debate by adding another choice: the use of both at once.
Motion Picture Tax Incentives: There's No Business Like Show Business?

The author looks at state tax breaks for filmmakers, focusing on Louisiana. The credits should be reformed to be refundable, not transferable, the author says. Otherwise, they cost the state too much money, he says.
Dendritic assembly of gold nanoparticles during fuel-forming electrocatalysis.

We observe the dendritic assembly of alkanethiol-capped gold nanoparticles on a glassy carbon support during electrochemical reduction of protons and CO2. We find that the primary mechanism by which surfactant-ligated gold nanoparticles lose surface area is by taking a random walk along the support, colliding with their neighbors, and fusing to form dendrites, a type of fractal aggregate. A random walk model reproduces the fractal dimensionality of the dendrites observed experimentally. The rate at which the dendrites form is strongly dependent on the solubility of the surfactant in the electrochemical double layer under the conditions of electrolysis. Since alkanethiolate surfactants reductively desorb at potentials close to the onset of CO2 reduction, they do not poison the catalytic activity of the gold nanoparticles. Although catalyst mobility is typically thought to be limited for room-temperature electrochemistry, our results demonstrate that nanoparticle mobility is significant under conditions at ...
Dramatically Increased pH and Temperature Stability of Chymotrypsin Using Dual Block Polymer-Based Protein Engineering

In this study, we report on multimodal temperature-responsive chymotrypsin-poly(sulfobetaine methacrylamide)-block-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (CT-pSBAm-block-pNIPAm) protein–polymer conjugates. Using polymer-based protein engineering (PBPE) with aqueous atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP), we synthesized three different molecular weight CT-pSBAm-block-pNIPAm bioconjugates that responded structurally to both low and high temperature. In the block copolymer grown from the surface of the enzyme, upper critical solution temperature (UCST) phase transition was dependent on the chain length of the polymers in the conjugates, whereas lower critical solution temperature (LCST) phase transition was independent of molecular weight. Each CT-pSBAm-block-pNIPAm conjugate showed temperature dependent changes in substrate affinity and productivity when assayed from 0 to 40 °C. In addition, these conjugates showed higher stability to harsh conditions, including temperature, low pH, and protease degradation. Inde...
The International Border Agreements Dataset

We introduce a dataset that focuses on the delimitation of interstate borders under international law—the International Border Agreements Dataset (IBAD). This dataset contains information on the agents involved in (e.g. states, third-parties, and colonial powers), methods used during (e.g. negotiation, mediation, arbitration, adjudication, administrative decrees, post-war conferences, and plebiscites), and outcomes of (e.g. full and intermediate agreements) the border settlement process during the period 1816–2001. Our focus on international legal agreements and the process that produces them makes the IBAD valuable for those that study not only territorial conflict, but also international conflict, cooperation, law, and conflict management.
The Law/Medicine Letter: Educating for Leadership

Under a new program, physicians studying for specialty certification will combine traditional medical courses with intensive education in economics, sociology, law, education, management, statistics, and related fields. Similar programs are designed to provide leadership training for law students who wish to acquire medicolegal skills.
Epilogue and conclusion

The changes that swept the Soviet Union during the First Five-Year Plan (1928–32) were sufficiently radical and far-reaching in their consequences to warrant the term “revolution.” The fact that this revolution was made in the name of principles that were consistent with Bolshevism and had been invoked at every opportunity since 1917 should not obscure its specific character. It was more than an acceleration of processes and tendencies underway in previous years – though it was that too. It was a Promethean leap into the unknown which left the Soviet state and society deeply marked – scarred we might say – for many decades to come. Actually, it was several simultaneous revolutions: an agrarian revolution that obliterated communal land tenure, dispossessed millions of households of their livestock and tools and created some 250,000 collective farms; an industrial revolution that transformed the USSR into an industrial power and several millions of its citizens into industrial workers; and a cultural revolution that replaced the pre-revolutionary scientific, technical and cultural elites with a much larger and more plebeian class of mental workers, circumscribed their permissible intellectual discourse, and reduced cultural traffic with other nations to a trickle. Whether it was a political revolution as well is less certain.
Excitation Dynamics in Organic Molecules, Solids, Fullerenes and Polymers

This review deals with excitation dynamics in organic molecules, solids, fullerenes and polymers and various nonlinear optical techniques to probe them. For the benefit of readers not familiar with excitations in organic materials, a brief review of nature of molecular eigenstates and collective excitations in organic solids is presented. This “Fundamental” section is followed by a description of nonlinear optical interactions. Various nonlinear optical techniques using ultrafast laser pulses are discussed under “Experimental Techniques”. Then “selected results” are presented to illustrate the application of these techniques. Finally, to encourage involvements of new researchers in this rich field, the review concludes with a discussion of new opportunities for research.
Estrogens, Progestins, and Headache

Approaches to the therapy of hormone-related headaches are reviewed from the Department of Neurology, Temple University School of Medicine and the Comprehensive Headache Center at Germantown Hospital, Philadelphia, PA, and the Reproductive Endocrine Unit, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH, Bethesda, MD.
Atmospheric observations from the moon: A lunar earth-observatory

A telescope placed on the Moon would be valuable tool for studies of the atmosphere and climate. In this paper, we consider an observatory placed on the Moon to make observations of the Earth's atmosphere. We discuss the properties of such a telescope, the types of observations to be made, the benefits of having a telescope on the lunar surface and difficulties that may be encountered.
What’s Stopping Me: Breaking Bad and Virtue Ethics

Breaking Bad poses a question about morality: if there is no such thing as cosmic justice, what is the point of being good? In this chapter, I argue that the writers of Breaking Bad ably convey a Miltonic account of evil, continue and improve upon the very argument Milton made in Paradise Lost, secularizing it and applying it to our era. Yet I argue that the show ends up offering a critique of Miltonic ethics. It is Aristotelian virtue ethics, and not Miltonic ethics, that offers a better answer to the question “Why be moral?” Walter White’s dramatized life, in other words, is an inadequate response to the question.
Source partitioning of anthropogenic groundwater nitrogen in a mixed-use landscape, Tutuila, American Samoa

This study presents a modeling framework for quantifying human impacts and for partitioning the sources of contamination related to water quality in the mixed-use landscape of a small tropical volcanic island. On Tutuila, the main island of American Samoa, production wells in the most populated region (the Tafuna-Leone Plain) produce most of the island’s drinking water. However, much of this water has been deemed unsafe to drink since 2009. Tutuila has three predominant anthropogenic non-point-groundwater-pollution sources of concern: on-site disposal systems (OSDS), agricultural chemicals, and pig manure. These sources are broadly distributed throughout the landscape and are located near many drinking-water wells. Water quality analyses show a link between elevated levels of total dissolved groundwater nitrogen (TN) and areas with high non-point-source pollution density, suggesting that TN can be used as a tracer of groundwater contamination from these sources. The modeling framework used in this study integrates land-use information, hydrological data, and water quality analyses with nitrogen loading and transport models. The approach utilizes a numerical groundwater flow model, a nitrogen-loading model, and a multi-species contaminant transport model. Nitrogen from each source is modeled as an independent component in order to trace the impact from individual land-use activities. Model results are calibrated and validated with dissolved groundwater TN concentrations and inorganic δ15N values, respectively. Results indicate that OSDS contribute significantly more TN to Tutuila’s aquifers than other sources, and thus should be prioritized in future water-quality management efforts.
Successful correction of familial hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis using prenatal genetic testing and preemptive hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Successful correction of familial hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis using prenatal genetic testing and preemptive hematopoietic stem cell transplantation
Epidemiological investigation of tattoo-like skin lesions among bottlenose dolphins in Shark Bay, Australia.

Bottlenose dolphins are excellent bioindicators of ocean ecosystem health for three reasons: (a) as long-lived apex predators they accumulate biotoxins and contaminants; (b) they are visible, routinely appearing at the water's surface in coastal areas, often coming into close contact with humans; and, (c) they exhibit a range of pathogenic lesions attributable to environmental degradation. In this study, we analyzed tattoo-like skin lesions in a population of Tursiops aduncus studied for 30+years in Shark Bay, Australia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We provide important baseline data by documenting epidemiological patterns of tattoo-like skin lesions in a healthy, free-ranging population that builds on the previous data of tattoo skin disease (TSD) derived from free ranging, stranded, and dead dolphins. Individual dolphins were classified as symptomatic with tattoo-like skin disease if at least one photograph showed a lesion similar to TSD. The average age of infection was 26.6months (±34.8months) with the symptomatic period lasting 137±29.8days. Overall prevalence of tattoo-like skin disease in the population was 19.4%. Age, but not sex, was significant, with yearlings (1-2years) exhibiting tattoo-like lesions more than younger and older calves. Tattoo-like lesions were rare among juvenile and adult dolphins (N=68 calves, 4 juveniles, and 3 adults). We hypothesize that the lower prevalence in youngest calves ( 2years) have infection-acquired immunity, as reported for other small cetaceans. The low prevalence of tattoo-like lesions in Shark Bay compared to other populations with poxvirus is consistent with reproductive and demographic viability analyses. Furthermore, by documenting the demography of the disease, we can monitor changes in the prevalence of tattoo-like lesions as a sentinel indicator of ecosystem health.
Top-of-License Nursing Practice: Describing Common Nursing Activities and Nurses' Experiences That Hinder Top-of-License Practice, Part 1.

OBJECTIVEThe aims of this study were to describe nurses’ perceptions of nursing activities and analyze for consistency with top-of-license (TOL) practice.BACKGROUNDThe Advisory Board Company expert panel proposed 8 TOL core nursing responsibilities representing practice at its potential. Thus far, n
Incorporating temporal dependency on ERP based BCI

In brain computer interface (BCI) systems based on event related potentials (ERPs), a windowed electroencephalography (EEG) signal is taken into consideration for the assumed duration of the ERP potential. In BCI applications inter stimuli interval is shorter than the ERP duration. This causes temporal dependencies over observation potentials thus disallows taking the data into consideration independently. However, conventionally the data is assumed to be independent for decreasing complexity. In this paper we propose a graphical model which covers the temporal dependency into consideration by labeling each time sample. We also propose a formulation to exploit the time series structure of the EEG.
Crack-Tip Diffraction in a Transversely Isotropic Solid

Crack diffraction in a transversely isotropic material is analyzed. The solution is given for the diffracted field generated by incidence of a plane time-harmonic wave on a semi- infinite crack located in a plane normal to the axis of symmetry of the material. The exact solution is obtained by Fourier integral methods and the Wiener-Hopf technique. The diffraction coefficients have been used in the context of the geometrical theory of diffraction to compute high-frequency scattering by a crack of finite length. Applications to scattering by delamina- tions in a medium of periodic layering have been considered for the case that the wavelength and the crack length are of the same order of magnitude, but both are much larger than the larger layer thickness.
On the Concept of Back Stress in Particle Strengthened Alloys

The concept of back stress as applied to the creep behavior of metals and alloys has gained attention in the past decade during which experimental attempts to measure back stresses as well as mechanistically based calculations of creep back stresses have been made. In this paper, we briefly assess and compact the understanding thus far accrued and describe how the back stress analysis can describe the creep behavior of complex particle strengthened alloy systems of practical interest by appropriately identifying the various constituent contributions to the creep back stress of these alloys. The various methods for experimentally determining back stresses are also discussed.
Private Entity Financial Statements: Assurances Required and Achieved

Our study investigates non-SEC practicing certified public accountants’ (CPAs) quantitative assessments of the levels of assurance required and achieved in the performance of AICPA standards-based audits and reviews of non-SEC entities. Our results indicate that CPAs believe that the required level of audit assurance is lower than that illustrated in the professional standards and practice aids. In addition, CPAs believe that the achieved level of assurance in audit engagements is even lower than their assessment of the level of required assurance. The CPAs reported similar responses for the levels of assurance required and achieved in review engagements. Our results have implications for practicing CPAs as well as professional standards setters, practice regulators, and users of audited and reviewed financial statements.
The Power of Negative Thinking: Government Regulation and Economic Performance

Let me start off with a proposition duly overstated—which should fit comfortably with the remarks of other contributors to this conference on supply-side economics: it is futile to focus so heavily on tax incentives to encourage economic activity at a time when the governmental regulatory apparatus is imposing such a vast and rapidly expanding array of obstacles to economic activity.
The role of endothelial leak in pulmonary hypertension (2017 Grover Conference Series)

The canonical transient receptor potential 4 (TRPC4) protein contributes to the molecular make-up of endothelial store-operated calcium entry channels. Store-operated calcium entry is a prominent mode of calcium influx in endothelium. Store-operated calcium entry channels are activated by inflammatory mediators and growth factors, and in endothelium, this process induces inter-endothelial cell gaps that increase permeability. Pulmonary endothelium within extra-alveolar segments, including pulmonary arteries, is especially sensitive to the activation of store-operated calcium entry. Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is characterized by endothelial cell dysfunction in arteries. As one of the topics for the 2017 Grover Conference Series, we examined whether an endothelial cell permeability defect accompanies PAH and, if so, whether TRPC4 contributes to this defect. Through a series of studies conducted over the past five years, we find endothelial cell barrier dysfunction occurs early in the progression of experimental PAH. Endothelium within the arterial segment, and perhaps in other vascular segments, is highly susceptible to disruption secondary to both activation of store-operated calcium entry channels and high flow. This phenomenon partly depends upon TRPC4 channels. We discuss whether endothelial cell hyperpermeability is relevant to human disease, and more specifically, whether it is relevant to all groups of pulmonary hypertension.
Berru Predictive Modeling For Single Multiphysics Systems (Berru-Sms)

This Chapter presents the predictive modeling methodology developed by Cacuci and Ionescu-Bujor (2010a), which will be called the “BERRU-SMS Predictive Modeling” methodology, since it is conceived for a single, albeit large-scale, nonlinear multi-physics system, for which it combines uncertain computational and experimental data in order to predict best-estimate values for model responses and parameters, along with reduced predicted uncertainties for these best-estimate values. In contradistinction to the customary methods used currently for data assimilation, the BERRU-SMS predictive modeling methodology developed by Cacuci and Ionescu-Bujor (2010a) uses the maximum entropy principle to avoid the need for minimizing an arbitrarily user-chosen “cost functional” (usually a quadratic functional that represents the weighted errors between measured and computed responses), thus generalizing and significantly extending the customary “data adjustment” and/or 4D-VAR data assimilation procedures. The BERRU-SMS predictive modeling methodology also provides a quantitative indicator, constructed from sensitivity and covariance matrices, for determining the consistency (agreement or disagreement) among the a priori computational and experimental information available for parameters and responses. This consistency indicator measures, in the corresponding metric, the deviations between the experimental and nominally computed responses. This consistency indicator can be evaluated directly from the originally given data (i.e., given parameters and responses, together with their original uncertainties), once the response sensitivities have become available. Section 1.2 presents the mathematical framework underlying the BERRU-SMS methodology of Cacuci and Ionescu-Bujor (2010a) for both time-independent and time-dependent physical systems. Sections 1.3 and 1.4 present the application of this methodology to perform predictive modeling of two-phase water-flow and, respectively, liquid sodium flow, illustrating the reduction of predicted uncertainties for both the optimally-predicted model responses and calibrated model parameters. Section 1.5 presents the application of the BERRU-SMS predictive modeling methodology to a multi-physics benchmark (BWR-TT2) which involves coupled neutron kinetics/thermal-hydraulics numerical simulations characterized by 6 660 imprecisely known model parameters (6090 macroscopic neutron cross sections, and 570 thermal-hydraulics parameters involved in modeling the phase-slip correlation, transient outlet pressure, and total mass flow), showing reductions of up to 50% in the predicted standard deviation of the optimally predicted benchmark’s power response.