cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Too much of a good thing: resource provisioning alters infectious disease dynamics in wildlife

Provisioning of abundant food resources in human-altered landscapes can have profound effects on wildlife ecology, with important implications for pathogen transmission. While empirical studies have quantified the effects of provisioning on host behaviour and immunology, the net interactive effect of these components on host–pathogen dynamics is unknown. We use simple compartmental models to investigate how provisioning-induced changes to host demography, contact behaviour and immune defence influence pathogen invasion and persistence. We show that pathogen invasion success and equilibrium prevalence depend critically on how provisioning affects host immune defence and that moderate levels of provisioning can lead to drastically different outcomes of pathogen extinction or maximizing prevalence. These results highlight the need for further empirical studies to fully understand how provisioning affects pathogen transmission in urbanized environments.
Icosahedral fracture tessellation of early Mesoproterozoic Laurentia

The boundaries of the Laurentian craton conform to edges of two adjacent faces on a truncated icosahedral projection of Earth. The congruence of the geology and the icosahedral tessellation has tectonic significance. It apparently originated as a large-scale fracture pattern during the tectonically quiet early Mesoproterozoic, 100–200 m.y. after Paleoproterozoic consolidation of a parent supercontinent. Homogeneous stretching of the young supercontinent across a geoid high above an insulated and thermally expanded mantle may have induced the fractures. Neoproterozoic and Cambrian rift zones exploited the icosahedral fractures during breakout of Laurentia, and miogeoclines accumulated along the margins. The Grenville and Appalachian orogenies appear to have shortened the tessellation. Because of its high geometric symmetry, the rift tessellation may provide a reference frame for restoration of an early Mesoproterozoic supercontinent.
The interaction of substituted catechols with some binuclear copper(II) compounds

Four dicopper(II) complexes were tested as catalysts for the air oxidation of several substituted o-diphenols. The oxidation reactions were followed by measuring the change in the optical spectra and by measuring the oxygen uptake. The oxidase activities decreased with a decrease in pH and increased for o-diphenols with good electron donating substituents in the para position. Because of their complexity, the oxidation products were not identified and characterized. Lack of characterized products prevented an analysis of the reaction mechanism.
Patient care, resident stress, and government regulation.

The Department of Health of New York State has taken the lead in addressing the problem of resident fatigue, which has been perceived as a possible cause of errors in patient care. The suggested solutions are also designed to alleviate stress among house officers due to overlong work hours with very sick patients. Different specialties have different types of problems with the proposed solution. For example, surgical residents do a certain minimum number of operations that cannot be scheduled conveniently to conform with the recommended residency schedules. In this discussion we will outline the reactions of the chairs and program directors of departments of pediatrics in the state of New York. New York may not be alone in these changes—legislation has been introduced in other states, and their health departments are considering similar recommendations. In New York the health commissioner has the mandate to regulate without
Combination therapy of an inhibitor of group VIA phospholipase A2 with paclitaxel is highly effective in blocking ovarian cancer development.

We and others have shown that calcium-independent phospholipase A 2 (iPLA 2 ) is involved in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). Hence, we propose that iPLA 2 is a potential effective and novel target for EOC. We tested this concept and found that bromoenol lactone (BEL), a selective inhibitor of iPLA 2 , significantly inhibited EOC metastatic tumor growth in mouse xenograft models using human SKOV3 and HEY ovarian cancer cells. Moreover, the combination of BEL with paclitaxel (PTX), one of the most commonly used therapeutic agents in EOC, almost completely blocked tumor development in the xenograft mouse model. BEL showed no detectable cytotoxic effects in mice. Another iPLA 2 inhibitor, FKGK11, also inhibited tumor development in the xenograft mouse model, supporting that the major target of action was iPLA 2 . The additional effects of BEL with PTX in vivo likely stem from their distinct cellular effects. BEL and FKGK11 reduced adhesion, migration, and invasion of EOC cells in vitro ; the reduced ability to adhere, migrate, and invade seems to increase the vulnerability of tumor cells to PTX. These results provide an important basis for the development of new treatment modalities for EOC.
Fractionation of Cu and Zn isotopes during adsorption onto amorphous Fe(III) oxyhydroxide: Experimental mixing of acid rock drainage and ambient river water

Abstract Fractionation of Cu and Zn isotopes during adsorption onto amorphous ferric oxyhydroxide is examined in experimental mixtures of metal-rich acid rock drainage and relatively pure river water and during batch adsorption experiments using synthetic ferrihydrite. A diverse set of Cu- and Zn-bearing solutions was examined, including natural waters, complex synthetic acid rock drainage, and simple NaNO3 electrolyte. Metal adsorption data are combined with isotopic measurements of dissolved Cu (65Cu/63Cu) and Zn (66Zn/64Zn) in each of the experiments. Fractionation of Cu and Zn isotopes occurs during adsorption of the metal onto amorphous ferric oxyhydroxide. The adsorption data are modeled successfully using the diffuse double layer model in PHREEQC. The isotopic data are best described by a closed system, equilibrium exchange model. The fractionation factors (αsoln–solid) are 0.99927 ± 0.00008 for Cu and 0.99948 ± 0.00004 for Zn or, alternately, the separation factors (Δsoln–solid) are −0.73 ± 0.08‰ for Cu and −0.52 ± 0.04‰ for Zn. These factors indicate that the heavier isotope preferentially adsorbs onto the oxyhydroxide surface, which is consistent with shorter metal–oxygen bonds and lower coordination number for the metal at the surface relative to the aqueous ion. Fractionation of Cu isotopes also is greater than that for Zn isotopes. Limited isotopic data for adsorption of Cu, Fe(II), and Zn onto amorphous ferric oxyhydroxide suggest that isotopic fractionation is related to the intrinsic equilibrium constants that define aqueous metal interactions with oxyhydroxide surface sites. Greater isotopic fractionation occurs with stronger metal binding by the oxyhydroxide with Cu > Zn > Fe(II).
Realizations and McMillan Degree

In this section, we examine in detail some important connections between the theory of state space linear systems and the theory of input-output linear systems. These connections comprise an elegant and aesthetically appealing segment of linear system theory, and their development, which has occurred largely over the last thirty-five years, has been carried out painstakingly (and, some might argue, ad nauseum) by many of the more widely respected researchers in the field. From the standpoint of building intuition about mathematical modeling, there is much to be gained from investigating the ways in which state space systems give rise to input-output systems, and vice versa. Furthermore, many fundamental engineering questions involving the analysis and synthesis of various real-world processes may be phrased and answered in terms of realization theory of time-invariant linear systems, which is addressed in the pages which follow.
Energy-efficient relay selection for QoS provisioning in MIMO-based underwater acoustic cooperative wireless sensor networks

In recent years, the MIMO-based underwater acoustic (UWA) wireless sensor networks have attracted significant research attention because of its wide and critical applications in marine research, oceanography, marine commercial operations, offshore oil industry, and defense systems. The cooperative-communications-based wireless relay networks have been widely cited as a very efficient technique to enhance the transmission and lifespan performances of the wireless networks. However, how to make the energy-efficient relay selection in the MIMO-based UWA wireless sensor networks, particularly under the harsh underwater wireless environments with the stringent power supply constraint, have been not well understood, neither thoroughly studied. To overcome the above problems, in this paper we propose the optimal relay selection scheme to minimize the energy consumption while guaranteeing the quality of service (QoS) of each link over the MIMO-based UWA cooperative wireless sensor networks. We use the Finite-state Markov chain to model the UAW channel. Moreover, we also incorporate MIMO multiplexing-gain and diversity-gain techniques, as well as residual relay energy in the relay selection process. We implement our proposed optimal relay selection scheme by the linear programming (LP) technique. We conduct the simulations to validate and evaluate our proposed scheme, showing its superlatives over the other existing schemes.
A Qualitative Analysis of Sexual Victimization Narratives

The current study examined qualitatively 78 sexual victimization narratives to (a) investigate variability within Sexual Experiences Survey (SES) categories to determine whether these events shared contextual features, (b) investigate variability between SES categories to determine whether these events were contextually distinct, and (c) identify emerging contextual features of victimization experiences. Results revealed considerable variation in both within- and between-SES severity categories. Qualitative analysis also identified several emerging contextual features of victimization narratives, such as the after-party situation. Findings suggest that qualitative research may expose contextual variability in sexual victimization experiences not currently captured by quantitative measures of sexual victimization.
A NEW INVARIANT INFINITESIMAL METRIC

Given a complex space X, we shall define a new infinitesimal form of what is known as the Kobayashi pseudo-distance dx. At each point x of X, defines a pseudo-norm in the tangent space TxX; it satisfies the usual conditions for a norm except that may vanish for a nonzero vector υ. It turns out that the new pseudo-metric is the double dual of the old pseudo-metric Fx defined in [2] and [4]. This means that the indicatrix of is the convex hull of the indicatrix of Fx. In particular, . Advantages of over Fx are two-fold. First, satisfies the usual convexity condition, i.e., . (In [3] Lang calls Fx a semi-length function since it does not, in general, satisfy the convexity condition.) Second, it is defined on Zariski tangent spaces. It can be easily shown that is upper semicontinuous at nonsingular points of X. The upper semicontinuity for Fx is known also only in the nonsingular case. Although , it can be shown, at least when X is nonsingular, that induces dx.
Applying system of systems and systems engineering to the military modernization challenge

The challenge of modernizing the current force of military combat systems is one of competing priorities. While planning for future capability requirements and modernization efforts, military acquisition program managers must also consider the immediate demands from the field as the United States is engaged on multiple fronts. These competing demands, along with the challenge of managing large groups of complex systems, motivate the need for an expedient and repeatable systems engineering process. The U.S. Army's Program Executive Office for Ground Combat Systems developed such an approach to support analysis of acquisition programs to meet future capability needs. This paper describes the systems engineering approach and illustrates its usefulness.
On the Nature of Neighbourhood

The paper advances the conceptualisation of neighbourhood by specifying it as a bundle of spatially based attributes associated with clusters of residences, sometimes in conjunction with other land...
Cocaine-dependence and cocaine-induced paranoia and mid-latency auditory evoked responses and sensory gating ☆

Cocaine-dependence has been shown to affect the amplitudes of the P50 mid-latency auditory evoked response (MLAER) as well as P50 sensory gating. The effects on subsequent MLAERs (N100 and P200) have not been examined. The objective of the current study was to further assess the effects of chronic cocaine use on the P50, N100, and P200 components. Thirty-four, at least three weeks abstinent, cocaine-dependent individuals and 34 age and gender matched healthy controls were examined. The amplitudes, latencies and gating measures were calculated and compared between the groups. The N100 and P200 were significantly smaller in patients as compared to control subjects. Sensory gating of the P50, the N100, and the P200 were deficient in cocaine-dependent subjects. Latencies of all measured components were prolonged in subjects who reported developing paranoia while intoxicated. Finally, a positive correlation was found between length of abstinence and evoked response amplitudes. We conclude that the effects of cocaine on sensory gating extend beyond the P50 to the N100 and the P200 components. The data also suggest that prolonged latency of the evoked potentials may be a correlate of cocaine-induced psychosis. Finally, the data suggest that some recovery of amplitude and gating occurs with abstinence.
A chemotaxonomic analysis of cannabinoid variation in Cannabis (Cannabaceae).

Cannabinoids are important chemotaxonomic markers unique to Cannabis. Previous studies show that a plant’s dry-weight ratio of D9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) to cannabidiol (CBD) can be assigned to one of three chemotypes and that alleles BD and BT encode alloenzymes that catalyze the conversion of cannabigerol to CBD and THC, respectively. In the present study, the frequencies of BD and BT in sample populations of 157 Cannabis accessions were determined from CBD and THC banding patterns, visualized by starch gel electrophoresis. Gas chromatography was used to quantify cannabinoid levels in 96 of the same accessions. The data were interpreted with respect to previous analyses of genetic and morphological variation in the same germplasm collection. Two biotypes (infraspecific taxa of unassigned rank) of C. sativa and four biotypes of C. indica were recognized. Mean THC levels and the frequency of BT were significantly higher in C. indica than C. sativa. The proportion of high THC/CBD chemotype plants in most accessions assigned to C. sativa was ,25% and in most accessions assigned to C. indica was .25%. Plants with relatively high levels of tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCV) and/or cannabidivarin (CBDV) were common only in C. indica. This study supports a two-species concept of Cannabis.
Nondestructive Characterization of Adhesive Bond Strength in Laminated Safety Glass

Laminated safety glass is widely used in windshields for automobiles and other moving vehicles; architectural applications, as in windows for skyscrapers; and bulletproof glass for military and security uses. Laminated safety glass consists of two or more glass sheets bonded with an interlayer of transparent, adherent plastic. The glass sheets in windshield laminates are made from either plate glass, float glass, chemically tempered glass or sheet glass and are approximately 0.1 inches (2.54 mm) thick.1–2 The plastic interlayer is made of a thermoplastic material called polyvinyl butyral (PVB) with thicknesses of 0.015 inches (0.381 mm) or more commonly used.3,4
Occupational Therapy With Patients With Multiple Personality Disorder: Personal Reflections

Patients with multiple personality disorder are being admitted to acute care psychiatric units with increasing frequency. Occupational therapists have been confronted with setting treatment goals and designing interventions for this population with little information available in the occupational therapy literature. This paper describes how one therapist, the author, reviewed psychiatric and psychological literature on multiple personality disorder to delineate a role for occupational therapists who are working with this special population on an acute care psychiatric unit within the context of existing programs.
Full Time Course Kinetics of the Streptokinase-Plasminogen Activation Pathway

Our previously hypothesized mechanism for the pathway of plasminogen (Pg) activation by streptokinase (SK) was tested by the use of full time course kinetics. Three discontinuous chromogenic substrate initial rate assays were developed with different quenching conditions that enabled quantitation of the time courses of Pg depletion, plasmin (Pm) formation, transient formation of the conformationally activated SK·Pg* catalytic complex intermediate, formation of the SK·Pm catalytic complex, and the free concentrations of Pg, Pm, and SK. Analysis of full time courses of Pg activation by five concentrations of SK along with activity-based titrations of SK·Pg* and SK·Pm formation yielded rate and dissociation constants within 2-fold of those determined previously by continuous measurement of parabolic chromogenic substrate hydrolysis and fluorescence-based equilibrium binding. The results obtained with orthogonal assays provide independent support for a mechanism in which the conformationally activated SK·Pg* complex catalyzes an initial cycle of Pg proteolytic conversion to Pm that acts as a trigger. Higher affinity binding of the formed Pm to SK outcompetes Pg binding, terminating the trigger cycle and initiating the bullet catalytic cycle by the SK·Pm complex that converts the residual Pg into Pm. The new assays can be adapted to quantitate SK-Pg activation in the context of SK- or Pg-directed inhibitors, effectors, and SK allelic variants. To support this, we show for the first time with an assay specific for SK·Pg* that fibrinogen forms a ternary SK·Pg*·fibrinogen complex, which assembles with 200-fold enhanced SK·Pg* affinity, signaled by a perturbation of the SK·Pg* active site.
Roundoff noise generated by orthogonal building blocks in signal processing structures

The statistics of roundoff errors produced by the multiplication of a random input vector with an orthogonal matrix can be expressed in terms of the characteristic function of the input vector. The case of a 2*2 orthogonal matrix is analyzed by assuming that the input probability mass function follows a jointly Gaussian envelope. It is found that for small dynamic ranges the two errors are not necessarily uncorrelated. However, they are uncorrelated for large dynamic range. The lossless FIR (finite-impulse-response) lattice with quantizers is considered as an example. >
Islanding Detection Using a Coordinate Transformation Based Phase-Locked Loop

The acceptance rate at which distributed generation (DG) resources are being allowed to connect to the electric utility grid is rapidly increasing. To ensure the proper and safe usage of these resources, protection schemes known as islanding detection algorithms must be implemented to disconnect a DG from the grid such that they do not inadvertently feed a fault or other islanding events. This paper proposes a quasi-active islanding detection algorithm to minimize/eliminate non-detection zones (NDZs), as well as to further mitigate any perturbations needed to detect an islanding event. Simulations confirmed by experimental results show the feasibility and effectiveness of the scheme.
Robust filtering for discrete-time systems with saturation and its application to transmultiplexers

This paper considers the problem of robust filtering for discrete-time linear systems subject to saturation. A generalized dynamic filter architecture is proposed, and a filter design method is developed. Our approach incorporates the conventional linear H/sub 2/ and H/sub /spl infin// filtering as well as a regional l/sub 2/ gain filtering feature developed specially for the saturation nonlinearity and is applicable to the digital transmultiplexer systems for the purpose of separating filterbank design. It turns out that our filter design can be carried out by solving a constrained optimization problem with linear matrix inequality (LMI) constraints. Simulations show that the resultant separating filters possess satisfactory reconstruction performance while working in the linear range and less degraded reconstruction performance in the presence of saturation.
Understanding Ungulate Herbivory—Episodic Disturbance Effects on Vegetation Dynamics: Knowledge Gaps and Management Needs

Herbivory by wild and domestic ungulates is a chronic disturbance that can have dramatic effects on vegetation dynamics. Herbivory effects, however, are not easily predicted under different combinations of episodic disturbance such as fire, timber harvest, drought, and insect defoliation. This lack of predictability poses a substantial obstacle to effective management of ungulate herbivory. Traditional models of vegetation transition in forested ecosystems have ignored the influences of ungulate herbivory, while research on effects of herbivory have typically excluded other disturbances. Of the 82 contemporary studies on ungulate herbivory we examined, only 15 (18%) considered the interactions of herbivory with episodic disturbances. Moreover, only 26 (32%) evaluated vegetation response to ungulate herbivory beyond the simplistic treatment levels of herbivory versus no herbivory. Only 31 (38%) used a repeated-measures design of sampling responses over 3 or more time periods. Finally, just 7 (9%) explicitly made inferences to large landscapes such as watersheds, which are often used for management planning. We contend that useful landscape research on herbivory must examine the interactions of ungulate grazing with other disturbance regimes at spatial extents of interest to forest and rangeland managers and under varying ungulate densities and species. We identify herbivory models that could accommodate such information for forested landscapes in western North America. Such models are essential for identifying knowledge gaps, designing future studies, and validating relations of ungulate herbivory on landscapes where episodic disturbances are common, such as those of western North America.
Chapter 12 Knowledge Incorporation in Motor Representation

Summary We argue for a broader approach to motor learning research that entails an expansion of present theoretical and methodological constraints. Current theories do not provide adequate explanatory power for the observed richness and diversity of human motor behaviour. Our experimental work, as described in this paper, has repeatedly forced us to confront this point. We contend that motor learning is controlled at the cognitive level and is substantially influenced by people's goals, by what knowledge they possess, and by the incorporation of new knowledge with old. This knowledge, combined in a mental representation or model of the task, is acted upon by strategic and heuristic processes. For example, the speed-accuracy trade-off function might be more profitably explored in terms of the highest level of a mental or cognitive representation of the task (see Anderson, 1983). Most of our own research has concerned the knowledge structures utilized in performing a task. This work has highlighted the use of knowledge across boundaries of traditional domains. Knowledge incorporation, as explored in the Knowledge of Results paradigms might be fruitfully investigated in terms of information updating and accessibility (see Kolodner, 1984, for a.i. attempts tograpple with this issue). Experimental data presented here concern the effect of verbal labels on movement pduction; they emphasize a process-representation dependency. Evidence is provided to document: 1. that the ease with which subjects integrate and use knowledge extends across domains; 2. that the nature of the representation for positioning tasks is spatial; 3. that production is not necessarily the mirror image of what is encoded; and 4. that verbal reports can provide valuable insights into subjects' strategic and heuristic processes. Zimny (1985) provides further evidence for the fruitfulness of a cognitive approach in an experiment investigating contextual interference effects. While the experimental information available to subjects was constrained by the task, concurrent verbal reports again indicated that a startling range of information was accessed by subjects in performing the task. Acquisition and recall data document the usual contextual interference effects. Recognition data initially appeared to conform to this pattern. However, all recognition errors were foils that maintained spatial information but deviated as to starting position. Further analysis by trial indicated that blocked presentation created difficulty in retrieving a pattern after a filled interval while random presentation did not. Verbal reports also support a notion of the differential accessibility of the pattern. A brief theoretical interpretation based on these data is offered for contextual interference
Psycholinguistic coherence of emotion states.

PSYCHOLINGUISTIC COHERENCE OF EMOTIONAL STATES Jim A. Yockey February 22, 2006 How do words represent emotional states, and how closely are they clustered to an actual emotion? Opinions vary as to how many emotions there are, and whether (or which) emotions are basic. Generally, many agree that basic emotions include fear, anger, joy, sadness, and disgust. Some researchers include surprise, shame, interest, and others as derived emotions. However, all proponents of basic emotions confirm that each emotion reflects a unique motivational and behavioral tendency. These basic emotions are significant in that they represent distinct modes of action and are physiologically distinguishable. Yet, what of the myriad of other words humans use to describe those same emotions? Curiously, many researchers, including neuroscientists, have approached this topic without understanding how well “representative language” describes emotional states. This question prompts my inquiry of how closely correlated emotionally descriptive words are to each other. This study design is a triadic comparison of selected emotion words in two studies; a Positive/Negative word mix, then all Positive or all Negative word presentations to volunteer subjects. The purposes and outcome parameters of this research is to explore how emotion words actually cluster. Utilizing an online survey questionnaire, subjects were presented ten emotion words, three at a time, from which they were asked to select the two most similar. An important
Antimicrobial Effects of Trisodium Phosphate Against Bacteria Attached to Beef Tissue.

Sliced beef tissue was artificially contaminated with Salmonella typhimurium, Listeria monocytogenes and Escherichia coli O157:H7. The contaminated tissue was immersed in 8, 10 and 12% solutions of...
Recurrent Endometrial Malakoplakia

The microscopic diagnosis of endometrial malakoplakia was made in a 69-year-old diabetic woman with metrorrhagia. Eight months later, her clinical symptoms returned. Repeat curettage confirmed the original diagnosis and established the case as the first example of recurrent endometrial malakoplakia.
What to do with incidental thyroid nodules identified on imaging studies? Review of current evidence and recommendations.

Purpose of review To discuss the problem of incidental thyroid nodules (ITN) detected on imaging; summarize the literature for workup methods; and provide recommendations based on current evidence. Recent findings ITN are a common problem, seen in 40-50% of ultrasound and 16% of computed tomography (CT) and MRI studies that include the thyroid. The personal and financial costs of workup frequently outweigh the benefits when considering that the majority of ITN are benign; 25-41% of patients undergo surgery after biopsy, of which more than half ultimately result in a benign diagnosis, and small thyroid cancers have an indolent course. Workup should consider reduction in unnecessary workup in addition to cancer diagnosis. The Society of Radiologists in Ultrasound recommendations have been proposed for ITN detected on ultrasound and found to reduce workup by 30%. For ITN detected on CT, MRI, or PET/CT, a three-tiered system categorization method reduces workup of ITN by 35-46%. Summary The ideal approach to selecting ITN detected on imaging for workup would not be to diagnose all cancers, but to diagnose cancers that have reached clinical significance, while avoiding unnecessary tests and surgery in patients with benign nodules, especially those who have limited life expectancy. The three-tiered system and the Society of Radiologists in Ultrasound recommendations are supported by existing studies and focus on reducing unnecessary biopsy.
Community, family and leisure immersion

This study explores the ambiguous term ‘community’ and how close groups of people come to form one. By extracting two core elements, often attributed to designations of community, mutual affection and shared appreciation, this study elucidates how fans of the rock band Jerry Joseph & the Jackmormons established close bonds referred to as family through their lengthy and passionate involvement in the leisure outlet of a music scene. Due to extensive personal involvements in various music scenes, fans ultimately came to find the music and coterie of Jerry Joseph & the Jackmormons as a place where they could address their individual needs in the comfort of like-minded others who, over time, came to define the closeness of their relationships as family through shared love of music, interaction and care for each other’s well-being.
Psychopathometric studies on patients with internal diseases. Differentiation of mental phenomena with basic internal processes from organic psycoses

Es wurden 27 durchschnittlich intelligente Patienten, die sich wegen einer internistischen Erkrankung in stationarer Behandlung befanden, mit dem Defekttest (nach Kinzel) gepruft. Die Untersuchung galt der Frage, ob dieses Verfahren, das den Schweregrad irreversibler psychischer Schaden in 8 Variablen quantitativ abschatzt, wirklich „Defektspezifisches“ mist oder nur so etwas wie „seelische Beeintrachtigung uberhaupt“. Da auch internistische Patienten, zumal als Kranke einer Universitatsklinik, psychischen Belastungen unterworfen sind, bot sich eine Gegenuberstellung der Testergebnisse zwischen dieser Patientengruppe und den durchschnittlich intelligenten Personen mit Spatsyndrom nach Hirnkontusion an. Es zeigte sich, das das Verfahren zwischen den beiden Krankengruppen trennt. Hinsichtlich der Auspragungsstarke seelischer Beeintrachtigungen differenzierten die Summe aller Untertests (Gesamtergebnis) und zwei Einzelvariablen signifikant zwischen den Stichproben (p jeweils ≤ 0.01 nach der Methode von Wilcoxon). Die Personen mit Defektsyndrom nach Hirnkontusion wiesen schwerere seelische Ausfalle auf. Was die Auspragungsrichtung betrifft, so liesen sich innerhalb der vier Fragebogenvariablen durch eine Aufgabenanalyse zwei Itemcluster aussondern: In einem ersten Fragenkomplex von 9 Items ist die grosere Nahe zur ideellen Norm fur die Kranken mit Defektsyndrom gesichert (p ≤ 0,05), in einem zweiten von 21 Items weisen die internistischen Patienten weniger starke Ausfalle auf (p ≤ 0,01). Von den zwei noch verbleibenden Variablen differenzierte eine hinsichtlich des Auspragungsgrades erst dann signifikant (p ≤ 0,05), nachdem fur sechs in diesem Untertest nicht geprufte Patienten mit Defektsyndrom der aus den ubrigen Leistungen ermittelte Durchschnittswert mit verrechnet wurde. Bei einer letzten Variable schlieslich konnte infolge der Diskrepanz zwischen Aufwand und Bedeutung auf eine Itemanalyse verzichtet werden. Die bisherigen Untersuchungsergebnisse beweisen ohnehin, das der Defekttest „Defektspezifisches“ zumindest insoweit mist, als er seelische Zustandlichkeiten und Verhaltensformen, wie sie fur internistische Patienten typisch sind, klar abgrenzt vom irreversiblen psychischen Schaden nach Hirnkontusion.
Interactive app traffic: An action-based model and data-driven analysis

Many popular smartphone apps involve human interaction through the entire session; e.g. apps for web browsing, making reservations and online gaming. In this work, we characterize bi-directional interactive app traffic in the timescale of seconds, that is shaped by the human interaction. We collect and analyze a dataset comprising 1500 interactive app sessions. The combined uplink and downlink traffic bursts are the outcome of user-server interactions, which we label as actions. Within each action, we discover high correlation between the number of uplink and downlink packets reaching 0.98. Our study reveals that the distribution of action duration and interarrival can be approximated with exponential or gamma distributions. The analysis provides insights on the temporal characteristics of bi-directional packet bursts associated with actions, during an app session. We show that action-based service at access points (APs), where actions constitute the service units rather than packets, can reduce service delay by 50%.
Application of Imagery Techniques to Special Populations

This article provides insights into the use of imagery procedures with special populations. After an overview of various imagery techniques that have been used to enhance motor performance with normal persons, studies dealing with the elderly, brain and spinal cord injuries, neoplasms, and persons with mental handicaps are discussed. Issues are addressed concerning the use of imagery techniques by the researcher and practitioner. The final section of this paper deals with possible applications of imagery techniques with special populations.
In Vitro and In Vivo Evaluation of Potential Toxicity of Industrial Particles

Alveolar macrophages (AM) protect the lungs by phagocytosis and digestion of inhaled irritant particles and infectious agents. Reduced activity of the AM system can impair the lung’s defensive capacity and increase susceptibility to respiratory disease. Since resistance to infection may be lowered by exposure to an inhalation hazard, changes in the major functional characteristics of AM can be used to monitor environmental stresses in the intact animal. In addition, since these cells can be obtained easily by tracheobronchial lavage and maintained in culture, they are frequently used in in vitro cellular toxicology to assess the potential inhalation hazard of various substances.
Viral Oncolysis or Virotherapy

The concept of using a virus to “kill” a tumor dates back to the beginning of the 1990’s when it was noticed that occasionally a tumor would shrink following a viral infection. This concept was tested from the 1950s until the 1970s in animal models, and in a few human trials. Success was limited and the practice of viral oncolysis, or “virotherapy,” was met with skepticism. Renewed interest arose following the development of recombinant DNA technology. Recombinant adenovirus and herpesvirus were explored as anticancer agents. Initial efforts to develop their use was delayed due to the death of a patient. New vectors were produced in the 1990s using various viruses, engineered to bind preferentially to tumor cells. Some of these viruses contain transgenes coding for proteins that stimulate the immune system. Within the last few years, clinical trials using various genetically engineered viruses have been initiated. There have not been any toxic side effects, although long-term data are still not available. Preliminary data from a construct of herpes simplex 1 carrying the gene for GCSF shows a positive response against melanoma. A number of biotech companies are now involved in virotherapy; thus, one can conclude that the future of virotherapy as a major tool for the treatment of cancer looks promising.
Experimental branch cooling increases foliar sugar and anthocyanin concentrations in sugar maple at the end of the growing season

Autumnal leaf anthocyanin expression is enhanced following exposure to a variety of environmental stresses and may represent an adaptive benefit of protecting leaves from those stresses, thereby al...
Asymmetric Business Cycle Effects and Tourism Demand Cycles

This study examines the relationship between business and tourism demand cycles in Aruba and Barbados during 1970–2015. The study uses a 2SLS method and is grounded in the output gap approach. The ...
A Slow Ramble in the Acid-Fast Lane

This chapter does not present a comprehensive description of the currently recognized species in the genus Mycobacterium, nor does it include tables of features, phenetic dendrograms or phylogenetic matrices. It is rather a history of the development of a modern mycobacterial taxonomy written to illustrate the mutual influences upon one another of an increasingly urgent practical need for a consistent taxonomy of this genus and the gradual emergence of sophisticated tools for taxonomic analysis. This, then, is an essentially anecdotal history of the evolution of mycobacterial taxonomy from the time around the late 1940’s when Ruth Gordon was introducing polythetic principles to the study of the rapid growers while the taxonomic interest in slow growers was largely expressed in the search for virulence tests to distinguish among “ varieties” of tubercle bacilli, and extending to the present, when nucleic acid sequences and probes are making their contributions to the polyphasic systematic mosaic of this important genus.
Political Influence and Its Relation to the Federal Prosecution of Public Corruption

In the US, federal prosecutors are appointed by the president, confirmed by the Senate, and have significant discretion over which cases they choose to take to court. Federal prosecutors handling an overwhelming majority of corruption cases invites the possibility of political influence in the monitoring of corruption. Additionally, political disparities across states may result in differences in corrupt behavior. Using individual case level data, I examine the effect political influence has on federal corruption cases, with a particular emphasis on states that are an important focus in the next presidential election. I find that corruption convictions tend to be higher in politically important states. This effect seems more significant in Democratic administrations. In addition, it seems that federal prosecutors are most biased when it comes to corruption crimes labeled as “federal.”
Pop Culture and Nobrow Culture

Chapter 2, Arthur Berger’s “Pop Culture and Nobrow Culture-From Li’l Abner to Discourse Theory and Back: A Culture Critic’s Odyssey” offers a personal chronicle of the birth and growth of popular culture studies. It all comes to a head in the early 1960s with the uber-popular comic strip L’il Abner and an unwary graduate student, who set out to pen a thesis on it-the first American study on comic books. From the institutional tiffs and personal fallings-out to tales of piqued pride and full-scale prejudice, we get a front-row seat overview of the decades of scholarly controversies over Main Street’s assault on Art Lane.
The Dark Side of the Relationship between the Rule of Law and Liberalism

Liberalism, democracy, and the rule of law are often thought to constitute a seamless unity, reflected in contemporary Western liberal democracies. That understanding, while not incorrect, does not tell the whole story. This article traces out a long historical pattern in which liberalism and the rule of law have combined to restrict the exercise of democracy. This pattern will be exposed by elaborating on four contexts: the shift in political theory from classical liberalism to modern social welfare liberalism; the shift from the common law to legislation as the primary source of law; resort to the rule of law by liberals from the eighteenth century to the present; and the contemporary implementation of neoliberal reforms in developing countries around the world. The article will argue that liberalism has enjoyed an opportunistic relationship with the rule of law, a relationship which has taken different forms over time, though repeatedly evincing an anti-democratic tendency on behalf of property rights.This relationship is a source of skepticism about the rule of law, and harbors the potential to discredit the rule of law in the eyes of many around the world. This article lays out this "dark side" of their relationship in an effort to separate what the rule of law requires from what liberalism wants.
13.2 Impacts of Vegetation Clearance on Channel Change: Historical Perspective

This chapter begins with a historical perspective of the knowledge of and research on the effects of vegetation clearance on channel change, and reviews examples, first from North America and then more globally, of channel changes associated with vegetation clearance. Over the long term, the fluvial system, itself, offers a dependable archive of channel change, but because vegetation clearance is often synchronous with other land-use changes, hydrologic manipulations, and climate change, relationships between vegetation clearance and channel change remain important topics of study and debate.
Binding kinetics and substrate selectivity in HIV-1 protease-Gag interactions probed at atomic resolution by chemical exchange NMR.

Abstract The conversion of immature noninfectious HIV-1 particles to infectious virions is dependent upon the sequential cleavage of the precursor group-specific antigen (Gag) polyprotein by HIV-1 protease. The precise mechanism whereby protease recognizes distinct Gag cleavage sites, located in the intrinsically disordered linkers connecting the globular domains of Gag, remains unclear. Here, we probe the dynamics of the interaction of large fragments of Gag and various variants of protease (including a drug resistant construct) using Carr−Purcell−Meiboom−Gill relaxation dispersion and chemical exchange saturation transfer NMR experiments. We show that the conformational dynamics within the flaps of HIV-1 protease that form the lid over the catalytic cleft play a significant role in substrate specificity and ordered Gag processing. Rapid interconversion between closed and open protease flap conformations facilitates the formation of a transient, sparsely populated productive complex between protease and Gag substrates. Flap closure traps the Gag cleavage sites within the catalytic cleft of protease. Modulation of flap opening through protease−Gag interactions fine-tunes the lifetime of the productive complex and hence the likelihood of Gag proteolysis. A productive complex can also be formed in the presence of a noncognate substrate but is short-lived owing to lack of optimal complementarity between the active site cleft of protease and the substrate, resulting in rapid flap opening and substrate release, thereby allowing protease to differentiate between cognate and noncognate substrates.
Parental characteristics and functional constipation in children: a cross-sectional cohort study

Objective To evaluate personality, psychological health, physical health and childrearing practices in mothers and fathers of children with functional constipation (FC) compared with mothers and fathers of healthy controls. Design Cross-sectional cohort study. Setting Outpatient paediatric gastroenterology clinic at a tertiary hospital in the Netherlands. Patients Parents of children (4–16 years) presenting with FC were included between January 2010 and August 2012. Participating parents were asked to recruit parents of another child of the same age without FC as their own controls. Data of 116 mothers and 115 fathers of 127 children with FC, and 84 mothers and 73 fathers of 91 children without FC were collected. Main outcome measures Parental characteristics were evaluated by using the NEO Five-Factor Inventory to assess personality, the Brief Symptom Inventory and Physical Symptom Checklist to assess psychological and physical health and the Ghent Parental Behavior Scale to assess childrearing practices. Results Mothers of constipated children had significant higher scores on the neuroticism personality factor and reported higher rates of overall psychological distress and depression. Both mothers and fathers of children with FC reported significant more physical symptoms than parents of children without FC. Mothers of children with FC showed more positive childrearing practices compared with controls. Conclusions Personality, psychological and physical health, and childrearing practices differ significantly between parents of children with FC and parents of control subjects. Parental factors should be taken into account when evaluating children with FC.
Nanoporous distributed Bragg reflectors on free-standing nonpolar m-plane GaN

We report the fabrication of m-plane nanoporous distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs) on free-standing GaN substrates. The DBRs consist of 15 pairs of alternating undoped and highly doped n-type ([Si] = ∼3.7 × 1019 cm−3) GaN. Electrochemical (EC) etching was performed to convert the highly doped regions into a porous material, consequently reducing the effective refractive index of the layers. We demonstrate a DBR with peak reflectance greater than 98% at 450 nm with a stopband width of ∼72 nm. The polarization ratio of an incident polarized light source remains identical after reflection from the DBR, verifying that there is no drop in the polarization ratio due to the interfaces between the porous layers. We also quantify the porosity under various EC bias conditions for layers with different doping concentrations. The bias voltage controls the average pore diameter, while the pore density is primarily determined by the doping concentration. The results show that nanoporous DBRs on nonpolar free-standing GaN are promising candidates for high-reflectance, lattice-matched DBR mirrors for GaN-based resonant cavity devices.
Not in our Journals – Digital Media Technologies and the LGBTQI Community

This position paper highlights the mainstream educational communications and technology (ECT) research and development community’s continued lack of interest towards issues located at the intersection of digital media technologies and LGBTQI stakeholders, providing evidence and commentary in this regard. The paper goes on to articulate a rationale for why our field needs to pay more attention to this increasingly visible and significant segment of the stakeholder population, basing its arguments on demographics, intersectionality, and systems thinking. Finally, the paper presents the following potential areas to explore in regard to digital media technologies and LGBTQI stakeholders: workplace/performance issues, cyberbullying, assisting at-risk learners, media for empowerment/emancipation, and identity construction within mediated spaces.
Demography, Development, and Diversity of Health Behavior

This chapter provides an integration of major points and findings presented in Volume III. Although its contents primarily reflect the contributions to this volume, rather than the larger body of scholarship about how health behaviors are distributed across and within populations, they are consistent with such knowledge. The section on future directions is the major exception to this statement concerning content, including as it does some additional perspectives. The chapter’s organizing framework is a “work in progress” and is intended to become the foundation for a future synthesis and integration of this larger body of knowledge.