cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The practical implications of wastewater-based illicit drug epidemiology

Abstract Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has recently become one of the most rapidly evolving disciplines engaged in the measurement of population-level (illicit) drug use. While gaps in the current research base remain and further development is beneficial to improve analyses performed through WBE, the approach has partially transitioned from focussing on analytical obstacles and applications to exploring how WBE data can be combined with different data sets and how to most efficiently utilize the elicited information in cooperation with relevant stakeholders. This cooperation would ideally involve cross-governmental and interdisciplinary actors, including scientists, law enforcement agents, health-care workers and policy makers to achieve the most synergistic outcomes. This article provides a synthesis on how WBE, especially in combination with other sources of information, may have significant implications not only for epidemiological research but for the rapid deployment of the gathered information and actual drug policies.
Representation of Women in The Society of Thoracic Surgeons Authorship and Leadership Positions.

Background Recent years have shown a promising increase in women constituting the cardiothoracic (CT) surgery workforce and training positions. It remains unclear whether such change has been accompanied by parallel increases in academic achievement. Methods Online archives from The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) 2015 and 2018 Annual Meetings were reviewed for female representation among oral abstract authors, nominated STS leadership positions, and The Annals of Thoracic Surgery (ATS) Editorial Board. Differences were assessed with χ2 analyses, Fisher’s exact tests, and t tests. Results In 2015, 36 of 336 (10.7%) presenting and senior authors were women (P Conclusions Despite increased representation in the CT surgery workforce, women remain stagnant in their underrepresentation in academic authorship and leadership, particularly at the senior level. There remains ample room for improvement, further validating STS’s recent emphasis on diversity and inclusion.
Promoting effective care: Reducing primary cesarean births through team engagement and standardization of care at a community hospital.

BACKGROUND The overuse of cesarean births (CBs) in the United States has led to increased rates of maternal and infant morbidity and mortality. LOCAL PROBLEM The nulliparous, term, singleton, vertex (NTSV) CB rate at this community hospital was 32.3% in 2017, well above the Healthy People 2020 target of 23.9%. The aim of this project was to decrease the NTSV CB rate by five percentage points in a 7-week period. METHODS Four plan-do-study-act cycles focused on team engagement and process changes. Team huddles utilizing the best practices checklist to standardize care for labor dystocia and abnormal fetal tracings, as well as audits of unplanned CB, were implemented. SQUIRE guidelines were used in the preparation of this manuscript. RESULTS Over 7 weeks, 13 of 55 NTSV patients gave birth by cesarean, resulting in an NTSV CB rate of 23.6%. Fifty-three huddles were held by 218 staff members for 28 patients. Team engagement scores improved from 85% to 98%. Although the effective care CB scores trended upward, the overall mean was 51%. CONCLUSIONS Interdisciplinary team huddles, coupled with the use of a best practices checklist and feedback from audits, achieved a more effective use of CB in the NTSV patient population.
Identification and Characterization of ‘Killer-Modes’ in Organic Semiconductors with Terahertz Spectroscopy

Organic semiconductors are promising modern optoelectric materials, with countless potential applications ranging from flexible displays to photovoltaics. The applicability of these materials is largely driven by their charge carrier mobility, which is strongly influenced by low-frequency vibrations. In this work, the specific low-frequency vibrations that exhibit strong electronphonon coupling, deemed ‘killer-modes’, in organic semiconductors are determined using a combination of terahertz timedomain spectroscopy and solid-state density functional theory. The results of this study enable a concerted synthetic effort to rationally design novel materials, utilizing intermolecular forces to stiffen lattice dynamics, to ultimately improve charge carrier mobility.
Preoperative Chlorhexidine Gluconate Bathing on a Military Medical-Surgical Unit.

Introduction and scope of the problem Surgical site infections (SSIs) are associated with increased length of hospital stays, poor patient outcomes, and increased health care costs making prevention of SSI a high priority for the U.S. Military Health Care System. The focus of this project was to develop and pilot a preoperative antiseptic bathing regimen on an inpatient medical-surgical telemetry unit using 4% chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG), and to compare SSI rates with this new protocol to previous SSI rates on the unit. Materials and methods A literature review guided the development of the protocol and clinical question. A unit project was conducted using SSI rates from an inpatient military medical-surgical telemetry unit over 4 yr. From 2014 to 2016, 3 yr before implementing the protocol, a non-standardized CHG scrub was compared to 12 mo after implementing the standardized 4% CHG protocol in 2017 using up to four daily washings (three evenings and one morning surgery) on inpatient admissions to the unit. SSI rates were compared. Results After implementing a 4-d preoperative bathing regimen with 4% CHG for patients scheduled for surgery, SSI rates decreased from an average rate of 0.0072 infections (7.2 infections per 1,000 surgeries) to 0.0035 infections (3.5 infections per 1,000 surgeries) in the subsequent year of data collection. Although not a statistically significant change, further analysis using a Bayesian Poisson regression model found an 84% probability the new protocol would lower SSI rate by 1 or more cases per 1,000 surgeries on this inpatient unit. Conclusion The findings suggest the proposed approach to control infection that may reduce the number of SSIs on a military medical-surgical unit, but this needs to be demonstrated through further longitudinal research on military surgical units.
Smartphones and the sexual behaviour of Generation Z college men in the USA

This study examined the potential impact of social media including pornography and the online dating tools used by Generation Z college men. Through the narratives provided by young college men on ...
Generalized Fourier Series

In this chapter we suspend the convention of summation over repeated indices, as well as that regarding the values taken by Latin subscripts. Greek subscripts and superscripts continue to take the values 1, 2.
The Politics of Commemorating the Woman Suffrage Movement in New York City: On the Women’s Rights Pioneers Monument:

This article traces the commission, design, and public reception for New York City’s Women’s Rights Pioneers Monument as a case study for the contentious politics of monument-building. The Central ...
Ethnically Segmented Markets

Races often collide in segmented markets where buyers belong to one ethnic group while sellers belong to another. This Article examines one such market: the retail of wigs and hair extensions for African Americans, a multi-billion-dollar market controlled by Korean Americans. Although previous scholarship attributed the success of Korean American ventures to rotating credit and social capital, this Article ascribes their dominance in wigs and extensions to collusion and exclusion, tactics scrutinized under antitrust. This Article is the first to synthesize the disparate treatment of ethnically segmented markets in law, sociology, and economics into a comprehensive framework. Its primary contribution is to forge the concept of ethnically segmented and misaligned (“ESM”) markets, where buyers and sellers are ethnically distinct from one another. ESM markets challenge entrenched paradigms in antitrust. In the wigs and extensions market, the endurance of Korean American retailers confounds conventional notions of market power, which is measured at the firm level. This market suggests that numerous in-group incumbents can compete intensely with one another but collaborate to stymie out-group insurgents.
REIT dividend payout: evidence from the Asia market

Previous studies of real estate investment trust (REIT) dividend policies have focused primarily on REITs listed in the USA. These studies found that REITs in the USA usually distribute dividends not bounded by the tax regulation requirement. The dividend distribution by REIT is negatively related to firm performance including return on assets and growth in earnings. Furthermore, the managers tend to take advantage of the weak monitoring by paying lower dividends. This study focusses on the new emerging REIT market to examine the determinants of REIT dividend payout (selected from five countries or regions in Asia). The preliminary findings demonstrate that the dividend payout level for these REITs is negatively associated with returns on assets which support the agency cost theory. The results also show that the dividend payout level is negatively correlated with board size, which indicates that REITs pay low dividends with weak internal governance monitoring. The effective servicing of these emerging markets may help to ensure quality practices and accountability in these rapidly developing markets.
Chiral magnetic effect search in p+Au, d+Au and Au+Au collisions at RHIC

Metastable domains of fluctuating topological charges can change the chirality of quarks and induce local parity violation in quantum chromodynamics. This can lead to observable charge separation along the direction of the strong magnetic field produced by spectator protons in relativistic heavy-ion collisions, a phenomenon called the chiral magnetic effect (CME). A major background source for CME measurements using the charge-dependent azimuthal correlator (Δ ϒ ) is the intrinsic particle correlations (such as resonance decays) coupled with the azimuthal elliptical anisotropy (v 2 ). In heavy-ion collisions, the magnetic field direction and event plane angle are correlated, thus the CME and the v 2 -induced background are entangled. In this report, we present two studies from STAR to shed further lights on the background issue. (1) The Δ ϒ should be all background in small system p+Au and d+Au collisions, because the event plane angles are dominated by geometry fluctuations uncorrelated to the magnetic field direction. However, significant Δ ϒ is observed, comparable to the peripheral Au+Au data, suggesting a background dominance in the latter, and likely also in the mid-central Au+Au collisions where the multiplicity and v 2 scaled correlator is similar. (2) A new approach is devised to study Δ ϒ as a function of the particle pair invariant mass (m inv ) to identify the resonance backgrounds and hence to extract the possible CME signal. Signal is consistent with zero within uncertainties at high m inv . Signal at low m inv , extracted from a two-component model assuming smooth mass dependence, is consistent with zero within uncertainties.
Enhanced structural and dielectric behaviour of PVDF-PLA binary polymeric blend system

Abstract In this study, we attempted to prepare a binary polymer blend of poly (vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) and poly lactic acid (PLA) by employing solvent casting method. Both PVDF and PLA possessing good piezoelectric properties, are considered for energy storage and energy harvesting applications. PVDF-PLA blends were uniaxially stretched at stretch ratios 1–3 to modify the structural and dielectric properties. Spectroscopic studies such as; Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirmed the improvement in electroactive polar phases of PVDF thus revealing the successful intermolecular interaction between CH2 and CF2 group of PVDF and -C = O or −OH or −CH3 group of PLA leading to good compatibility between both the polymers. Impedance specroscopy measurement confirmed the enhanced dielctric behaviour of unstretched (e’ = 10.5 and tan δ = 0.001) as well as mechanically stretched blend (e’ = 14.4 and tan δ = 0.001) which is ascribed to the formation of smaller spherulites at their interface which eventually facilitated their interfacial polarisation.
Neural stem cells secreting bispecific T cell engager to induce selective antiglioma activity

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most lethal primary brain tumor in adults. No treatment provides durable relief for the vast majority of GBM patients. In this study, we've tested a bispecific antibody comprised of single-chain variable fragments (scFvs) against T cell CD3e and GBM cell interleukin 13 receptor alpha 2 (IL13Rα2). We demonstrate that this bispecific T cell engager (BiTE) (BiTELLON) engages peripheral and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes harvested from patients' tumors and, in so doing, exerts anti-GBM activity ex vivo. The interaction of BiTELLON with T cells and IL13Rα2-expressing GBM cells stimulates T cell proliferation and the production of proinflammatory cytokines interferon γ (IFNγ) and tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα). We have modified neural stem cells (NSCs) to produce and secrete the BiTELLON (NSCLLON). When injected intracranially in mice with a brain tumor, NSCLLON show tropism for tumor, secrete BiTELLON, and remain viable for over 7 d. When injected directly into the tumor, NSCLLON provide a significant survival benefit to mice bearing various IL13Rα2+ GBMs. Our results support further investigation and development of this therapeutic for clinical translation.
Post-translational modification of RNA m6A demethylase ALKBH5 regulates ROS-induced DNA damage response

Faithful genome integrity maintenance plays an essential role in cell survival. Here, we identify the RNA demethylase ALKBH5 as a key regulator that protects cells from DNA damage and apoptosis during reactive oxygen species (ROS)-induced stress. We find that ROS significantly induces global mRNA N6-methyladenosine (m6A) levels by modulating ALKBH5 post-translational modifications (PTMs), leading to the rapid and efficient induction of thousands of genes involved in a variety of biological processes including DNA damage repair. Mechanistically, ROS promotes ALKBH5 SUMOylation through activating ERK/JNK signaling, leading to inhibition of ALKBH5 m6A demethylase activity by blocking substrate accessibility. Moreover, ERK/JNK/ALKBH5-PTMs/m6A axis is activated by ROS in hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) in vivo in mice, suggesting a physiological role of this molecular pathway in the maintenance of genome stability in HSPCs. Together, our study uncovers a molecular mechanism involving ALKBH5 PTMs and increased mRNA m6A levels that protect genomic integrity of cells in response to ROS.
The Effects of High-Intensity Acute Exercise on Face-Name Memory in Healthy Young Adults

The majority of previous research evaluating the effects of acute exercise on episodic memory function have focused on explicit memory tasks involving word-list paradigms. For a more real-world application, the present experiment evaluates whether high-intensity acute exercise can improve episodic memory function of incidentally processed information as well as increase one’s ability to remember names associated with faces (face-name paradigm). A two-arm, parallel-group, randomized controlled intervention was employed. Participants (N = 91; Mage = 20 years) were randomized into one of two groups, including an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group exercised for 20 min on a treadmill at a high-intensity (75% of heart rate reserve), while the control group engaged in a seated, time-matched task. Explicit memory was assessed from an intentional processing face-name paradigm in which participants encoded and subsequently recalled names that were paired with faces. Episodic memory for incidentally processed information was evaluated with a computerized program involving spatial–temporal integration. The mean (SD) number of correctly recalled face-name pairs between the exercise and control groups, respectively, for immediate memory were 11.16 (4.4) and 9.79 (4.3), P > 0.05. Results were similar for incidentally processed information, in that there were no differences between the exercise [7.30 (1.7)] and control [7.52 (1.9)] groups, P > 0.05. Overall, we did not observe evidence that high-intensity acute exercise improves episodic memory for incidentally or intentionally processed information.
Coupled Cluster Studies of Platinum-Actinide Interactions. Thermochemistry of PtAnO n+ ( n = 0-2 and An = U, Np, Pu)

Accurate Pt-An bond dissociation enthalpies (BDEs) for PtAnOn+ (An = U, Np, Pu and n = 0-2) and the corresponding enthalpies for the Pt + OAnOn+ substitution reactions have been studied for the first time using an accurate composite coupled cluster approach. Analogous O-AnOn+ bond dissociation enthalpies are also presented. To make the study possible, new correlation consistent basis sets optimized using the all-electron third-order Douglas-Kroll-Hess (DKH3) scalar relativistic Hamiltonian are developed and reported for Pt and Au, with accompanying benchmark calculations of their atomic ionization potentials to demonstrate the effectiveness of the new basis sets. For the charged PtAnOn+ species (n = 1, 2), a low-spin state (LSS) for which the Pt-An σ bond is doubly occupied is studied together with a high-spin state (HSS) obtained by unpairing the σ bond orbital and placing one electron into the An 5f shell. The relative energies of the two spin states have been compared and qualitatively assessed via natural population and natural bond analyses. The enthalpies for the Pt substitution reactions, i.e., Pt + OAnOn+ → PtAnOn+ + O, are calculated to range from about 14-62 kcal/mol, and the Pt-AnOn+ bond dissociation enthalpies range from about 78-149 kcal/mol for the ground electronic states. For the PtAnO+ species, the LSSs were all predicted to be the ground state, whereas the PtAnO2+ molecules all favored the HSSs. The prediction for PtUO2+ is consistent with previous theoretical findings. The natural bond orbital analyses indicate a triple bond between An and O, with a double to quadruple bond between the An and Pt.
Jutta Haider and Olof Sundin. Invisible Search and Online Search Engines: The Ubiquity of Search in Everyday Life . London, New York: Routledge, 2019. 160p. Hardcover, $160.00 (ISBN: 978-1-138-32860-0).

What is the most recent thing you searched for online? A recipe to try? A favorite brand of clothes on sale? Contact information for your dentist’s office? A movie to watch? Jutta Haider and Olof Sundin, Professors of Information Studies at Lund University, use this prompt in focus group studies with people of different age groups and professions, as one illustration of their central thesis: search engines and online search are deeply embedded in our daily lives, often without our recognition. The responses represent the array of information that is sought online throughout a given day, indicative of the search-ification of everyday life , a key concept explored in this book. Platforms such as Google gather personal data on an immeasurable scale, learning every monetizable component of our lives to more efficiently sell us things while maintaining our attention and driving our continued use. Search engines know so much about our interests, desires, and day-to-day existence. Shouldn’t we know more about them?
254-OR: Bariatric Surgery Influences Insulin Sensitivity through Changes in Subcutaneous Adipose Tissue (SAT) Characteristics

Although literature describes the influence of bariatric surgery on insulin sensitivity (IS) showing improvement in metabolic parameters, including sustained remission of type 2 diabetes and reduction in cardiovascular disease, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Changes in SAT following bariatric surgery make it a key site for investigating mechanisms of glucose control. To test whether changes in SAT are related to improved IS following bariatric surgery, we quantified adipose cell size distribution in SAT harvests, in addition to quantifying insulin resistance (IR) using the steady-state plasma glucose (SSPG) test in 57 obese subjects undergoing bariatric surgery at baseline and one year post surgery. We compared IR and SAT size variables in the post-surgical subjects to those of BMI-matched non-surgical controls. Surgery subjects (n=57) were healthy, morbidly obese men and women without diabetes, ages 23-70, with BMI > 35 kg/m^2, who underwent bariatric surgery, while controls (n=43) were healthy, men and women without diabetes ages 23-70 years with BMIs 22-38.3kg/m^2. Of the surgery subjects, 14 were available at 1 year post-surgery for comparison with controls. Compared to pre-surgery, post-surgery results demonstrated a decrease in average BMI, weight, SSPG, peak diameter, nadir, and percent small cells (p Disclosure A. Lenz: None. T. Mclaughlin: Board Member; Self; January, Inc. E. J. Zanley: None. Funding American Heart Association; National Institutes of Health
Perceptions of Vocal Performance Impairment in Singers with and without Hearing Loss.

ABSTRACT Introduction It is well understood that hearing plays an important role in accurate vocal production. Singers in particular rely on auditory cues and auditory feedback to reproduce specific pitch contours. Therefore, even mild hearing loss may have a detrimental effect on a singer's ability to perform. This study investigates the effect of hearing loss on self-reported vocal production in singers, specifically in the domains of pitch matching, pitch maintenance, vowel production, and dynamic control as well as the effect of hearing loss on vocal handicap. Methods An 18-item electronic self-report survey was distributed to the members of the National Association of Teachers of Singing and to the Voice Foundation. Data collected included demographics, the Singing Voice Handicap Index-10 (SVHI-10), and a series of closed and open-ended questions. Demographic variables, variables related to the SVHI-10, and variables related to the newly introduced survey were included in a hierarchical regression analysis to determine significant relationships. Results Among 206 eligible participants, 37 individuals reported a voice problem, 58 reported hearing loss, and 19 reported concurrent hearing loss and a voice problem. Among males, there were no significant differences between hearing impaired and normal hearing singers in reported pitch matching, pitch maintenance, dynamic control, and vowel matching when those with voice problems were excluded and included. However, in females, when singers with voice problems were excluded, there was a significant difference between hearing impaired and normal hearing singers in pitch matching (P = 0.38). Additionally, when singers with voice problems were included in the female subset, significant differences emerged between the hearing impaired and normal hearing singers in areas of pitch matching (P = 0.01) and vowel matching (P = 0.02). Further, controlling for gender, when excluding voice problems, there was a significant difference between the SVHI-10 scores of normal hearing (mean = 9.03) and hearing impaired participants (mean = 11.30, P = 0.02). This difference continued to be significant when including those with voice problems (normal hearing mean = 9.97, hearing impaired mean=14.1, P Conclusion When controlling for voice problems, singers with hearing impairments subjectively did not perceive that they performed less accurately on pitch matching, pitch maintenance, dynamic control, and vowel matching, yet they scored higher on the SVHI-10 indicating vocal handicap. Further study is needed to characterize the relationship between perceived and measured vocal accuracy in singers with hearing loss.
Multi-level Governance, Climate Change, and Municipal Solid Waste Management: Insights from Murmansk, Russia

The past three decades witnessed a proliferation of academic research on climate change governance in cities around the world. This research has largely focused on case studies of large cities with populations of over several million. However, Arctic cities have received little attention in the urban governance literature, despite being located in the region most impacted by climate change. This paper examines climate change governance in the Russian city of Murmansk, evaluating how the theoretical framework of multi-level governance—derived primarily from EU and North American scholarship and experience—operates in the Russian urban context. We take municipal solid waste (MSW) management in Murmansk as a case study to better understand how climate change issues are framed and governed by the Murmansk city administration. We assess interactions of Murmansk authorities across vertical and horizontal dimensions, with regional authorities and non-state actors (voluntary associations and NGOs) in MSW governance. The research is based on document analysis, news media, and semi-structured interviews with state and non-state stakeholders in Murmansk. Our analysis finds that Murmansk authorities do not frame climate change as a challenge needing to be addressed by explicit climate-related policies. It also shows the absence of major, multi-level governance (MLG) characteristics in the Murmansk case. Our findings suggest further research is needed to better understand urban climate change governance practices in more centralized states like Russia and this contributes to a critical reflection about the limits and utility of the MLG theoretical framework in many parts of the world.
28 GHz Indoor and Outdoor Propagation Measurements and Analysis at a Regional Airport

In the upcoming 5G communication, the millimeter-wave (mmWave) technology will play an important role due to its large bandwidth and high data rate. However, mmWave frequencies have higher free-space path loss (FSPL) in line-of-sight (LOS) propagation compared to the currently used sub-6 GHz frequencies. What is more, in non-line-of-sight (NLOS) propagation, the attenuation of mmWave is larger compared to the lower frequencies, which can seriously degrade the performance. It is therefore necessary to investigate mmWave propagation characteristics for different deployment scenarios of interest, to understand coverage and rate performance in such scenarios. In this paper, we focus on 28 GHz wideband mmWave signal propagation characteristics at Johnston Regional Airport (JNX), a local airport near Raleigh, NC. To collect data, we use an NI PXI-based channel sounder at 28 GHz for indoor, outdoor, and indoor-to-outdoor scenarios. Results on LOS propagation, reflection, penetration, signal coverage, and multipath components (MPCs) show a lower indoor FSPL, a richer scattering, and a better coverage compared to outdoor. We also observe high indoor-to-outdoor propagation losses.
An Officer Walks into a Bar: Acknowledging the Need for Deterrence in Officer and Director Bars

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is the civil regulatory agency responsible for helping to defend and protect the American investor. One significant threat to investor security occurs when an individual, acting as an officer or director, violates a fiduciary duty to his or her employer and its shareholders, risking investor money. These actions could involve insider trading, fraudulent statements in public filings, or other self-serving conduct. Recognizing the importance of deterring such misconduct, Congress gave the SEC the authority to bar certain individuals from serving as officers and directors of public companies. An individual should be barred if he has demonstrated unfitness to serve in that capacity. Unfortunately, the current standard has resulted in inconsistent applications across different types of misconduct and has been unresponsive to both legislative enactments and widespread management misconduct leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, which has eroded its effectiveness as a key deterrence mechanism in the SEC’s arsenal. This Note begins by exploring the roles held by directors and officers and why effective corporate governance is critical to the functioning of the capital markets. Next, this Note discusses how the existing unfitness standard has failed to address Congress’s intent to deter misconduct and has not appropriately responded to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which amended the statutory requirement for granting a bar. Ultimately, this Note proposes a new standard for officer and director unfitness that gives less opportunity for inconsistent results, focuses on the risk of future misconduct, and properly responds to recent legislative enactments and market events such as the 2008 financial crisis.
Book Review: Lifelong Learning in Public Libraries: Principle, Programs, and People

This is a book review of Lifelong Learning in Public Libraries: Principle, Programs, and People. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2012.245p. alk. paper, $45 (ISBN 9780810883567). LC2011-044181.
Monetary Stabilization with and without Government Credibility

N RECENT YEARS, a number of economists, including Lucas ((1972), (1975)), Sargent and Wallace (1975), and Barro (1978), have stressed the difference between anticipated and unanticipated money growth, arguing that while unanticipated money growth affects output, anticipated money growth affects only prices. They have also advanced the idea that private market participants form their expectations rationally, so that anticipated money growth reflects, in particular, the revealed policy behavior of the monetary authorities. These views have led these economists to contend that the monetary authorities can curb inflation rapidly at little cost, in terms of lost output and unemployment, by reducing money growth and simultaneously convincing private market participants that the reduction in money growth will be long-lived. This conclusion is in marked contrast to the one suggested by empirical work on the expectational Phillips curve when proxies for price expectations are derived from the past behavior of prices. A recent survey of such studies by Okun (1978), for example, concluded that in the United States price expectations adjust so slowly, and the effect of excess supply on wage-price decisions is so small, that it costs 6 per cent to 17 per cent of a year's gross domestic product (GDP), in terms of lost output, to obtain a reduction of only one percentage point in the inflation rate for the 1980s. How much truth is there in the new optimistic view? The major potent criticism of it is that this view does not make allowance for the existence of long-term contractual arrangements concerning goods prices and, mainly, wage rates-ar-
Tuberculosis management continues to utilize a large amount of hospital resources in the United States.

Background and Aims The objective of this study is to examine longitudinal trends in hospital admissions attributed to tuberculosis and resulting hospitalization outcomes in the United States for the years 2000–2010. Methods We used the Nationwide Inpatient Sample, which is the largest all-payer and nationally representative in-hospital dataset in the United States. All hospitalizations that had a primary diagnosis for tuberculosis were selected for analysis. Patient characteristics and outcomes including discharge status following hospitalization, length of stay in hospital and hospitalization charges were examined. Results During the study period, a total of 96 431 hospitalizations occurred due to tuberculosis. The mean age of hospitalizations was 48.6 years. Males comprised 64.2% of all hospitalizations; 24.8% were Whites, 25.5% Blacks, 26.5% Hispanics, 14.3% Asians/Pacific Islanders, 1% Native Americans, and 7.9% other/mixed races. Following hospitalization, 72.1% were discharged routinely, 3.4% were transferred to another acute-care hospital, 10.7% to long-term care facilities including skilled nursing facilities, 7.6% to home health care, and 2.1% were discharged against medical advice. There were 3815 patients who died (4% of hospitalizations). The total hospitalization charge for this cohort of patients admitted due to tuberculosis across the United States was $6.96 billion and the total hospitalization days over study period was 1 419 605 days. Conclusion High-risk cohorts who are likely to be hospitalized due to tuberculosis included Blacks and Hispanics. Majority of hospitalization comprised of males. Even though the annual number of hospitalizations reduced over the study period, substantial amounts of resources are used in hospital settings to manage tuberculosis.
Peter the Great: Poltava and the new gubernias, 1707–1709

From the end of 1706 Russia faced Sweden one to one. As Peter wrote to Admiralteets Apraksin, “the war has come to rest with us alone.” The new situation made the internal rivalries of the Russian elite and its relations with Peter even more critical, for the danger existed that Sweden would try to exploit these rivalries and dissensions to its own advantage. There was nothing unexpected or unusual in such a move in the Europe of the early eighteenth century. Spain had tried to use the frondeurs against Mazarin and the young Louis XIV, and Louis himself funded expeditions against his English rivals many times, sending fleets and troops to Ireland and Scotland in the hope of encouraging a rebellion against King William and Queen Anne. Peter himself had begun his war against Sweden in contact with Patkul and other discontented Livonian noblemen. In later years both Peter and Charles XII would simultaneously intrigue with the Jacobites against George I of England. Any dissension, whether dynastic, aristocratic, political, religious, or regional, was fair game for intrigues in time of war. Peter could not expect Charles to be any different, and in fact he was not. From the very moment that Charles disposed of Augustus II, if not before, he intended not merely to defeat Peter but also to encourage a revolt that would end in the overthrow of Peter or the reorganization of the Russian state. This was a threat that Peter had to take into account.
Book review: The Elements of Artificial Intelligence An Introduction Using LISP by Steven L. Tanimoto (Computer Science Press)

The Elements of Artificial Intelligence: an Introduction using LISP is intended (as stated in the preface) for use as the text for an introductory course in artificial intelligence. The author's approach to the subject is stated on the dust jacket (and in the preface, although not as concisely).
Debate: PCI vs CABG: a moving target, but we are gaining.

The treatment of patients with coronary artery disease continues to evolve; all three strategies – medical therapy, surgical revascularization, and percutaneous coronary intervention – have changed. Medical therapy with intense risk-factor modification and treatment with a statin, aspirin, and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, should be used unless contraindicated. Surgical therapy has also changed with the introduction of minimally invasive, beating heart surgery. Percutaneous coronary intervention has perhaps changed the most radically with adjunctive therapy – glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors, thienopyridines, and reliance on stent implantation. The future, with new distal protection devices and drug-coated stents, should continue to see increased numbers of patients who can benefit from percutaneous intervention.
Discrimination in Financial Services: How Should We Proceed?

What we know and what we do not know about financial discrimination are very closely related to what we ought to know. It really is hard to have a very tight boundary between these two issues. I think we ought to know a lot more about households and about businesses. I think we ought to use existing data, and on occasion, we ought to get new data. And, I think we ought to use structural models of behavior.
Positional embeddedness in a community source software development project network: the importance of relationship intensity

This study examines those job and relationship characteristics that explain the positional embeddedness of individuals working in a multi-organization project network. The analysis focuses differentially on three levels of relationship intensiveness: communication, coordination, and collaboration. Data were collected on the work relationships of 46 technical and administrative personnel involved in the Kuali Financial System, a community source software development project involving 12 organizations, 10 of which were colleges and universities, spread across the United States. Results were generally supportive of the hypotheses. Specifically, positional embeddedness was explained by characteristics of the project worker including the task performed, time spent on the task, and influence, as well as the ease of access to others. There was, however, little consistency in the explanatory power of these factors when comparing across levels of relationship intensity. Findings have implications for design of complex research and development projects that involve interactions across multiple organizations.
Immunocompetent Cells among Mouse Thymocytes: A Minor Population

Suspensions prepared from thymuses of TL + mice contain a majority of TL + cells and a minority of TL - cells. The graft versus host reactivity of the TL - population is much greater than that of the whole population, as judged by the numbers of cells required to give splenic enlargements in Simonsen9s assay. It is proposed that the TL - thymocyte represents a stage in the differentiation of TL + thymocytes into immunocompetent lymphocytes.
Method for wafer edge profile extraction using optical images obtained in edge defect inspection process

It is becoming increasingly important to monitor wafer edge profiles in the immersion lithography era. A Nikon edge defect inspection tool acquires the circumferential optical images of the wafer edge during its inspection process. Nikon's unique illumination system and optics make it possible to then convert the brightness data of the captured images to quantifiable edge profile information. During this process the wafer's outer shape is also calculated. Test results show that even newly shipped bare wafers may not have a constant shape over 360 degree. In some cases repeated deformations with 90 degree pitch are observed.
Laser spectroscopy of ( nu =0,R

Rydberg states of ${\mathrm{H}}_{2}$ consisting of a 10F or 10G electron bound to the \ensuremath{\nu}=0,R=1 state of ${\mathrm{H}}_{2}^{+}$ are studied using Doppler-tuned laser spectroscopy of Rydberg-Rydberg transitions. The positions of all such states are measured to a precision of better than 0.01 ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$ and are compared with the predictions of the polarization model. The polarization model is derived from first principles. Nonadiabatic corrections to the dipole polarization energies, calculated for the first time, are found to be expressible in terms of the ${S}_{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}3}$-moment functions of ${\mathrm{H}}_{2}^{+}$. Higher-order adiabatic polarization energies are estimated from calculated higher-order ${\mathrm{H}}_{2}^{+}$ polarizabilities.
Positron‐emission tomographic localization of abnormalities of brain metabolism in patients with minimal hepatic encephalopathy

Many patients with compensated cirrhosis without overt hepatic encephalopathy have deficits in visual-spatial perception, a condition we call minimal hepatic encephalopathy. Five patients with alcohol-induced cirrhosis and nine control subjects underwent positron-emission tomographic imaging of the brain with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose. Patients also underwent neuropsychological and clinical chemistry tests. The patients had mild arterial hyperammonemia (62 +/- 13 mumol/L, range = 11 to 35 mumol/L) and other abnormalities typical of patients with cirrhosis. The patients' mean percentile scores on the digit symbol and block design subtests, from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (revised), and Purdue pegboard test were 11 +/- 7, 24 +/- 7 and 7 +/- 8 (right hand). Tests of vocabulary, memory, and new learning were normal. The technique of statistical parametric mapping was used to identify regions where cerebral 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose uptake and metabolism were abnormal. We noted significant reductions in the cingulate gyrus, a center mediating attention, target analysis and response formulation and significant increases in visual associative regions subserving motion and color perception and object orientation. We suggest that minimal hepatic encephalopathy is due to a deficit in the detection and formulation of responses to visual stimuli, a function of the cingulate, which is a part of the anterior attentional system of the brain. Increases in 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose metabolism may be compensatory. These studies show that brain regions differ in their sensitivity to the agents that cause hepatic encephalopathy and that positron-emission tomography is useful in studying the pathophysiology of this disorder.
Kinetic and Thermodynamic Control of Aldolization in Higher Order Polyquinane Systems

Abstract The direction of aldol cyclization in 2 is strongly influenced by reaction conditions. Through use of fluoride ion in tetrahydrofuran, thermodynamic control sets in to deliver predominantly 8 (after silylation). This procedure is useful for polyquinane construction.
Estrogen Modulation of MgATPase Activity of Nonmuscle Myosin-II-B Filaments

The study tested the hypothesis that estrogen controls epithelial paracellular resistance through modulation of myosin. The objective was to understand how estrogen modulates nonmuscle myosin-II-B (NMM-II-B), the main component of the cortical actomyosin in human epithelial cervical cells. Experiments used human cervical epithelial cells CaSki as a model, and end points were NMM-II-B phosphorylation, filamentation, and MgATPase activity. The results were as follows: 1) treatment with estrogen increased phosphorylation and MgATPase activity and decreased NMM-II-B filamentation; 2) estrogen effects could be blocked by antisense nucleotides for the estrogen receptor-alpha and by ICI-182,780, tamoxifen, and the casein kinase-II (CK2) inhibitor, 5,6-dichloro-1-beta-(D)-ribofuranosylbenzimidazole and attenuated by AG1478 and PD98059 (inhibitors of epithelial growth factor receptor and ERK/MAPK) but not staurosporine [blocker of protein kinase C (PKC)]; 3) treatments with the PKC activator sn-1,2-dioctanoyl diglyceride induced biphasic effect on NMM-II-B MgATPase activity: an increase at 1 nm to 1 microM and a decrease in activity at more than 1 microM; 4) sn-1,2-dioctanoyl diglyceride also decreased NMM-II-B filamentation in a monophasic and saturable dose dependence (EC(50) 1-10 microM); 5) when coincubated directly with purified NMM-II-B filaments, both CK2 and PKC decreased filamentation and increased MgATPase activity; 6) assays done on disassembled NMM-II-B filaments showed MgATPase activity in filaments obtained from estrogen-treated cells but not estrogen-depleted cells; and 7) incubations in vitro with CK2, but not PKC, facilitated MgATPase activity, even in disassembled NMM-II-B filaments. The results suggest that estrogen, in an effect mediated by estrogen receptor-alpha and CK2 and involving the epithelial growth factor receptor and ERK/MAPK cascades, increases NMM-II-B MgATPase activity independent of NMM-II-B filamentation status.
Power control of voice users using pricing in wireless networks

We consider power control for voice users in a wideband CDMA wireless network. We investigate admission control policies that base a new call admission decision not only upon available capacity but also upon the required downlink transmit power and upon the user's willingness to pay. We assume that each voice user has a utility function that describes the user's willingness to pay as a function of downlink SINR. The network is assumed to desire to either maximize total utility of all users or total revenue generated from all users. We present a numerical study of a single cell. We display the optimal power allocation to each user, as a function of the geographical distribution of users, for a selection of different utility function distributions. We demonstrate how prices per code and per unit transmitted power can be used to achieve the optimal power allocation in a distributed fashion, and the variation of these prices with system load.
Note---On Echelon Holding Costs

The authors are indebted to Professor Andrew Szendrovits of McMaster University for pointing out that [Szendrovits, A. Z. A comment on “Optimal and system myopic policies for production/inventory assembly systems”. Management Science, this issue.] the definition of echelon holding cost in [Schwarz, L. B., L. Schrage. 1975. Optimal and system myopic policies for multi-echelon production/inventory systems. Management Sci.21 11, July 1285--1294.] does not relate the echelon holding cost rate at a stage to the more familiar explicit holding cost rate at a stage. As he indicates, if the relation between these two holding costs is not made explicit, a user might mistakenly use incorrect echelon rates. We give here an explicit relationship between stage and echelon rates, and prove that they give equivalent expressions for holding cost.
Antibody to Leukemia Virus: Widespread Occurrence in Inbred Mice

Mice from a wide variety of inbred strains produce immunoglobulin G antibody against murine leukemia virus. This is contrary to the common view that the mouse is immunologically tolerant to its endogenous leukemia virus.
Stiffness and Leakage Characterization of Ceramic-Metallic Rope Seals

Ceramic-metallic rope seals are suitable for use in high-temperature and low-cycle displacement applications. This paper discusses performance aspects that need to be considered during seal selection such as the maximum load generated at assembly and during operation, seal resiliency and leakage performance for a given application. Extensive load-displacement and leakage tests are conducted on several candidate seals. Selected rope seals are of hybrid seal type consisting of ceramic fiber core along with an outer sheath of fine metallic wires. Test parameters include rope manufacturers, rope diameters, and combination of core/sheath materials. Testing is performed on as-received ropes as well as ropes that are heat-treated at temperatures over 1000°F. The load-displacement behavior is non-linear, hysteretic and varies with the number of loading cycles. The force generated by the rope at a given displacement decreases with increasing number of loading cycles for a given displacement. The ropes do not recover to their original size after the first cycle of compression, and the residual height decreases with increasing cycles. The seal behavior tends to saturate after about 5 loading cycles. The rope selection for a particular application needs to consider the saturating residual deflection and maximum force generated. Leakage testing was also performed for rope seals placed in a rectangular race-track type geometry. The seals demonstrate good leakage resistance under desired pressure conditions. The ropes with smaller diameters show the best leakage performance, but exhibit low spring-back.Copyright © 2013 by ASME
Interrupted Enterohepatic Circulation of Bile and Its Effect on Urinary and Biliary Excretion of I131.

Total biliary diversion markedly depressed urinary excretion of I/sup 131/ intravenously administered. The effect was apparent within 2 hr post choledochostomy. Fasting reduced urinary excretion of I/sup 131/ to a minor extent; operative trauma had no effect. Treatment of bile fistula rats with donor bile and/or iodinated drinking water significantly increased I/sup 131/ excretion. I/sup 131/ content of bile was signifi cantly reduced in bile fistula rats only through combined treatment with donor rat bile and iodinated drinking water. I/sup 131/ content in urine paralleled that of sodium under some conditions but not in others. (auth)