cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Simpson's paradox, moderation and the emergence of quadratic relationships in path models: an information systems illustration

While Simpson's paradox is well-known to statisticians, it seems to have been largely neglected in many applied fields of research, including the field of information systems. This is problematic because of the strange nature of the phenomenon, the wrong conclusions and decisions to which it may lead, and its likely frequency. We discuss Simpson's paradox and interpret it from the perspective of path models with or without latent variables. We define it mathematically and argue that it arises from incorrect model specification. We also show how models can be correctly specified so that they are free from Simpson's paradox. In the process of doing so, we show that Simpson's paradox may be a marker of two types of co-existing relationships that have been attracting increasing interest from information systems researchers, namely moderation and quadratic relationships.
Local real‐time forecasting of ozone exposure using temperature data

Rigorous and rapid assessment of ambient ozone exposure is important for informing the public about ozone levels that may lead to adverse health effects. In this paper, we use hierarchical modeling to enable real‐time forecasting of 8‐hr average ozone exposure. This contrasts with customary retrospective analysis of exposure data. Specifically, our contribution is to show how incorporating temperature data in addition to the observed ozone can significantly improve forecast accuracy, as measured by predictive performance and empirical coverage. We adopt two‐stage autoregressive models, also introducing periodicity and heterogeneity while still maintaining our objective of forecasting in real time. The entire effort is illustrated through modeling data collected at the Village Green monitoring station in Durham, North Carolina.
Camp and audience scenes in late iron age rock drawings from Khawtsgait, Mongolia

Abstract Previous studies of petroglyphs in Mongolia have focused on the abundant Bronze Age examples. Recently, however, in the Khawtsgait site in southern Mongolia, two petroglyphs have come to light presenting a major departure from Bronze Age examples in subject, mode of representation, and parallels with funerary art. One depicts a nomadic camp scene head on, the other presents what seems to be a scene about an altar with a seated figure, possibly female, and standing figures. Relatively close parallels to these figures exist in art found in funerary contexts particularly in Xiongnu sites and the Pazyryk tombs in the Russian Altai. Together with these finds, the new Khawtsgait site provides new evidence of Iron Age material culture and funerary beliefs, along with the continuing links of the Mongolian plateau with the steppe west of the Altai.
Effects of HIV-1 gp120 and tat on endothelial cell sensescence and senescence-associated microRNAs.

The aim of this study was to determine, in vitro, the effects of X4 and R5 HIV-1 gp120 and Tat on: (1) endothelial cell senescence and (2) endothelial cell microRNA (miR) expression. Endothelial cells were treated with media without and with: R5 gp120 (100 ng/mL), X4 gp120 (100 ng/mL), or Tat (500 ng/mL) for 24 h and stained for senescence-associated β-galactosidase (SA-β-gal). Cell expression of miR-34a, miR-217, and miR-146a was determined by RT-PCR. X4 and R5 gp120 and Tat significantly increased (~100%) cellular senescence versus control. X4 gp120 significantly increased cell expression of miR-34a (1.60 ± 0.04 fold) and miR-217 (1.52 ± 0.18), but not miR-146a (1.25 ± 0.32). R5 gp120 significantly increased miR-34a (1.23 ± 0.07) and decreased miR-146a (0.56 ± 0.07). Tat significantly increased miR-34a (1.49 ± 0.16) and decreased miR-146a (0.55 ± 0.23). R5 and Tat had no effect on miR-217 (1.05 ± 0.13 and 1.06 ± 0.24; respectively). HIV-1 gp120 (X4 and R5) and Tat promote endothelial cell senescence and dysregulation of senescence-associated miRs.
Semantic Data Stream Mapping and Shape Constraint Validation Based on Collaboratively Created Annotations

Due to the Internet of Things, more and more data streams like environmental or traffic observations become publicly available over Web APIs. However, most of these APIs are still provided with ambiguous key-value pairs which do not contain any explicit semantics and are therefore hard to be processed without further data understanding and data transformation. We address this issue by mapping these data streams to a stream with explicit semantics based on collaboratively created annotations. Moreover, we enable shape constraint validation for observation messages which are evaluated on-the-fly. These shape constraints allow for generic pre-processing of data streams without further coding. To evaluate our approach, we process non-semantic data streams of public and private environmental observation stations, map them using explicit semantics from a semantic wiki platform and validate each message based on shape constraints from the same wiki platform. Any change on the metadata in the wiki immediately affects the resulting message stream without the need of adopting the code.
[16] Biomolecular vibrational spectroscopy

Publisher Summary The vibrational spectroscopy can provide amazingly detailed information about the structure of biological systems, and it has the unique capability of being able to determine structure and structural changes of individual atomic groups within complex biological systems with high time resolution and under functional conditions. Along with these unique capabilities there are a number of practical and instrumental limitations that must be understood to ensure that the experiment will be feasible and that the desired information will be obtained. This chapter also describes the various possible techniques and should provide sufficient information to address these issues for a particular system of interest. Therefore, the chapter also presents the application of vibrational spectroscopy to BR with an emphasis on the relation among the various approaches, the kinds of information that can be obtained, and the unique problems and opportunities that each approach encumbers.
Kinematics and conservation of mass

This chapter as well as appendix A may be thought of as introductory for the main story that I have to tell. In appendix A, I introduce the mathematical language that we shall be using in describing phenomena at phase interfaces. In this chapter, I describe how the motions of real multiphase materials can be represented using the continuum point of view. To bring out the principal ideas as clearly as possible, I have chosen to confine my attention in these first chapters either to a material composed of a single species or to a material in which there are no concentration gradients. The conditions under which these results are applicable to multicomponent materials will be clear later.
Directional and anteroposterior asymmetry of common white markings in the legs of the Arabian horse: response to selection

Arabian bay horses manifest, on the average, more common white markings in their hind legs than their forelegs (anteroposterior asymmetry) and more common white markings in their left legs than their right legs (directional asymmetry). To determine if genetic variation exists for these types of asymmetry, the phenotypic response was studied in bay foals when their dams and sires were selected for the directions of fore-hind and left-right differences. In the fore-hind studies, the quantitative shifts in the bay foals were in the direction specified by the selection scheme and the observed deviations were all statistically significant. The shifts were also consistently in the direction favored by selection in the left-right studies, but only two of six observed deviations were statistically significant using a one-tailed test of significance. Thus, only marginal statistical evidence is available to support the observed consistent responses to selection in the left-right studies. These differential responses are reflected in the magnitudes of the heritability estimates. Based on the overall results, it is concluded that both types of asymmetry have a genetic basis in the Arabian horse, but much more genetic variation is present for anteroposterior asymmetry than for directional asymmetry.
On Characterizing Univariate and Multivariate Exponential Distributions with Applications

In this paper we discuss characterizations of the univariate exponential distributions and various multivariate exponential distributions and extensions, as well as applications of these characterizations.
Planning Theory (North American)

Through the first half of the twentieth century the ‘theory of town planning’ was largely articulated in working plans, and in textbooks integrating ‘architecture and urbanism.’ The planning movement did not develop a distinctive theorizing tradition assessing the connection between the design of planning practices, processes or institutions, and the character of plans. In the second half of the century, all of that changed—though not everywhere in quite the same way. Some of the builders of the new epistemic community devoted to planning theory imagined that they might in time satisfy the aspirations of practitioners and educators for a cogent theory that would guide professional city and regional planning. By the end of the century, however, that promise seemed to most members of the community of theorists either misguided in principle or unachievable in practice. The community acted as a loosely coupled network of contending groups. Planning theory—in the singular—appeared as a misrepresentation of the varied products of those plural circles. The theorists have, however, provided a bridge across domains and a counterbalance to local practices and professional doctrines. Those were, however, powerful enemies. Theorists—offering at their best only criticism, questions, and suggestive intimations—lived at the margins of the professional planning enterprise.
The Foundations of Morality and the Human Sciences

In his important book, Radical Reflection, Calvin Schrag has recently concerned himself with the question about the possibility, i.e., the true origin, of the human sciences and of philosophical anthropology.1 In his view such an examination is necessary in view of the current crisis in the sciences of man as well as in philosophical anthropology. The fact that there is a crisis in these disciplines is acknowledged by scientists and philosophers alike. Yet there is no agreement on the nature and the origin of the crisis, and of the factors that have occasioned it. Our understanding of the nature of the crisis is complicated by the fact that each individual human science is in a crisis of its own. In psychology, sociology, anthropology, political science, economics, and history this crisis was in part the consequence of a reductionist and naturalistic attitude adopted by many scientists in these fields. The crisis shows itself there equally in the proliferation of various models and conceptions of man. Schrag does not see the source of the crisis in specialization, the increasing preoccupation with quantification and formalization, or even the claim that the sciences of man have become technological with respect to both procedures and goals. In his view, to identify the root of the crisis a more fundamental disproportion is to be articulated. Some authors have sought the source of the crisis in the proliferation of “philosophies” in our contemporary world. Schrag rejects this line of thought, also, and concludes that what is needed is a move to a more radical form of reflection that antedates the conceptualization and typification that is already at work in the formalization of both philosophy and science.2
A Framework for Privacy-Preserving Medical Document Sharing

Health information systems have greatly increased availability of medical documents and benefited healthcare management and research. However, there are growing concerns about privacy in sharing medical documents. Existing approaches for privacy( preserving data sharing deal mostly with structured data. Current privacy techniques for unstructured medical text focus on detection and removal of patient identifiers from the text, which may be inadequate for preserving privacy and data utility. We propose a novel framework to extract, cluster, de(identify and anonymize patient medical documents. Our framework integrates the approaches developed in both data privacy and health informatics fields. The key novel elements of this framework include (i) a meta(learning approach to extract personal and health information from documents; (ii) a recursive partitioning method to cluster patient documents by medical concept; and (iii) a cluster(level value(enumeration method for anonymization. A prototype system has been implemented and evaluated to demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed framework.
Demonstration of a speckle nulling algorithm and Kalman filter estimator with a fiber injection unit for observing exoplanets with high-dispersion coronagraphy

High-dispersion coronagraphy (HDC) combines high contrast imaging techniques with high spectral resolution spectroscopy to observe exoplanets and determine characteristics such as chemical composition, temperature, and rotational velocities. It has been demonstrated in lab that with monochromatic light, a fiber injection unit (FIU), in which an optical fiber is used to couple to light from the exoplanet, could be used to direct exoplanet light to a high-resolution spectrograph, with robust performance and speckle suppression that exceeds conventional image-based speckle nulling. We now demonstrate in lab a FIU based speckle nulling scheme with a Kalman filter estimator. We currently find that speckle nulling with a Kalman filter is more stable and outperforms traditional speckle nulling by 10% in suppression in the presence of white detector noise.
Poisoning Attacks on Data-Driven Utility Learning in Games

Game theory has been employed for modeling agents' decisions in various science and engineering fields. Game theoretic analysis often assumes that the utility function of each agent is known a priori, and yet this assumption does not hold for many real-world applications. The combination of Internet of Things (IoT) and advanced data analysis techniques has stimulated fruitful research on learning agents' utility functions from data. Just as many other data-driven methods, utility learning also suffers from potential security risks. Due to the great economic value of accurate forecasting of agents' behaviors, there are huge incentives for adversaries to attack utility learning methods by poisoning training datasets and mislead predictions to achieve malicious goals. In this paper, we introduce and analyze optimal poisoning attack strategies in order to understand adversarial actions and further encourage potential defenses. Moreover, we study how an adversary might disguise the attacks by mimicking normal actions. The proposed attack strategies are evaluated on both synthetic and real-world social energy game data, and the results show that the root mean squared error in predicting agents' actions increases by up to 67 % by adding only 5 % well-crafted poisoning training instances.
Sketching NLP: A Case Study of Exploring the Right Things To Design with Language Intelligence

This paper investigates how to sketch NLP-powered user experiences. Sketching is a cornerstone of design innovation. When sketching, designers rapidly experiment with a number of abstract ideas using simple, tangible instruments such as drawings and paper prototypes. Sketching NLP-powered experiences, however, presents challenges, i.e. How to visualize abstract language interaction? How to ideate a broad range of technically feasible intelligent functionalities? As a first step towards understanding these challenges, we present a first-person account of our sketching process when designing intelligent writing assistance. We detail the challenges we encountered and emergent solutions, such as a new format of wireframe for sketching language interactions and a new wizard-of-oz-based NLP rapid prototyping method. Drawing on these findings, we discuss the importance of abstraction in sketching and other implications.
Symptoms, Audiometric and Vestibular Laboratory Findings, and Imaging in a Concurrent Superior Canal Dehiscence Syndrome and Vestibular Schwannoma: A Case Report.

Dizziness is a common complaint that can arise from multiple systems in the body. Objective vestibular tests are used to understand the underlying function of the vestibular system and whether or not it may be contributing to the dizziness symptoms experienced by the patient. Even when comprehensive case history is consistent with an otologic etiology, audiometric and vestibular tests are ordered to objectively characterize inner ear function to help further refine the differential diagnoses and aid in guiding treatment options. Few reports in the literature describe audiometric and vestibular results in patients with multiple concurrent otologic etiologies. This case provides a description of audiometric, vestibular, and imaging results in a case of concurrent bilateral superior canal dehiscence, right-sided vestibular schwannoma, and right-sided posterior canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. The patient’s symptoms and laboratory findings are described in detail and, where appropriate, highlight challenges that may arise in interpretation. A case report. The patient presented for evaluation of dizziness, asymmetric hearing loss, and autophony. Comprehensive audiometric evaluation shows asymmetric sensorineural hearing loss and an air-bone gap at 250 Hz in the right ear. Vestibular evaluation shows right caloric asymmetry along with abnormal cervical vestibular– and ocular vestibular–evoked myogenic potentials, with the left ear showing results consistent with the third-window pathology. Comprehensive assessment of symptoms and critical thinking while performing testing are necessary when examining multiple concurrent otologic etiologies in a patient. Knowledge of anticipated test results and physiology may help the audiologist to synthesize results and make appropriate clinical recommendations as part of the multidisciplinary team.
People-powered discovery

In The Crowd and the Cosmos, astrophysicist Chris Lintott joins a growing cadre of authors focusing on the contributions of volunteers to the scientific enterprise, documenting the lessons learned from these projects, as well as trends in astronomy that opened the doors for new ways of doing science—from making data more open and remotely accessible to analyzing big data with machine learning.
UAS Flight Path Planning for Dynamic, Multi-Vehicle Environment

This paper proposes a new path planning method for Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) flying in a dynamic 3D environment shared by multiple aerial vehicles posing potential conflict risks. It primarily targets applications such as Urban Aerial Mobility (UAM). A new multi-staged algorithm is designed that combines Artificial Potential Field (AFP) method and Harmonic functions with Kalman filtering and Markov Decision Process (MDP) for dynamic path planning. It starts with estimating the aircraft traffic density in the area and then generates the UAS flight path in a way to minimize the risk of encounters. Hardware-in-the-loop simulations of the algorithm in various scenarios are presented, with a RGB-D camera (RealSense™) and Pixhawk autopilot to track the target. Numerical simulations show satisfactory results for path planning in various scenarios with increasing degree of complexity.
Feeling Poor, Feeling Rich, or Feeling Middle-Class

Based on their objective economic situation and comparing with their peers, individuals form perceptions of their economic position in a society. Data from the three waves of the Life in Transition surveys of European countries show that these perceptions systematically deviate from the rankings obtained using consumption levels. People position themselves in the middle ranks in larger numbers than those who are in the middle ranks according to their consumption levels. Correspondingly, many people who objectively are classified in the top, richest, or bottom, poorest, ranks subjectively feel that they are in the middle class. This puzzling “bunching in the middle” is the focus of this paper. Explanations are tested and discarded that consider subjective perceptions as misperceptions or the result of other mistakes due to data limitations (such as tail bias). The paper concludes that rather than reflecting a subjective assessment of the distribution of welfare, subjective rankings reveal subjective economic well-being. The paper show that monetary consumption is a strong predictor of subjective economic well-being, but that the latter is influenced by many other factors, including economic security, proxied by employment status or other measures of human capital, such as health and education. These findings have policy relevance, since redistribution measures aiming at simply protecting consumption levels may not be sufficient to restore the economic well-being provided by having fulltime secure types of employment.
Facelift Surgery Turns Back the Clock: Artificial Intelligence and Patient Satisfaction Quantitate Value of Procedure Type and Specific Techniques.

BACKGROUND Patients desire facelifting procedures to look younger, refreshed, and attractive. Unfortunately, there are few objective studies assessing the success of types of facelift procedures and ancillary techniques. OBJECTIVES The authors sought to utilize convolutional neural network algorithms alongside patient-reported FACE-Q outcomes to evaluate perceived age reduction and patient satisfaction following various facelift techniques. METHODS Standardized preoperative and postoperative (1-year) images of patients who underwent facelift procedures were analyzed by 4 neural networks to estimate age reduction after surgery (n = 105). FACE-Q surveys were employed to measure patient-reported facial aesthetic outcome. We compared (1) facelift procedure type: skin-only vs superficial musculoaponeurotic system (SMAS)-plication, vs SMAS-ectomy; and (2) ancillary techniques: fat grafting (malar) vs no fat grafting. Outcomes were based on complications, estimated age-reduction, and patient satisfaction. RESULTS The neural network preoperative age accuracy score demonstrated that all neural networks were accurate in identifying our patients' ages (mean score = 100.4). SMAS-ectomy and SMAS-plication had significantly greater age-reduction (5.85 and 5.35 years, respectively) compared with skin-only (2.95 years, P < 0.05). Fat grafting compared to no fat grafting demonstrated 2.1 more years of age reduction. Facelift procedure type did not affect FACE-Q scores; however, patients who underwent fat grafting had a higher satisfaction with outcome (78.1 ± 8 vs 69 ± 6, P < 0.05) and decision to have the procedure (83.0 ± 6 vs 72 ± 9, P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS Artificial intelligence algorithms can reliably estimate the reduction in apparent age after facelift surgery. Facelift technique, like SMAS-ectomy or SMAS-plication, and specific technique, like fat grafting, were found to enhance facelifting outcomes and patient satisfaction.
The Utility of Pain Scale to Assess Verifiable vs Non-Verifiable Pain in United States Emergency Departments.

Introduction We sought to examine the utility of self-reported pain scale by comparing emergency department (ED) triage pain scores of self-reported but non-verifiable painful conditions with those of verifiable painful conditions using a large, nationally representative sample. Methods We analyzed the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS) 2015. Verifiable painful conditions were identified based on the final diagnoses in the five included International Classification of Diseases 9th revision codes. Non-verifiable painful conditions were identified by the five main reasons for visit. Only adults 18 years of age or older were included. The primary outcome variable was the pain scale from 0 to 10 at triage. We performed descriptive and multivariate analyses to investigate the relationships between the pain scale and whether the painful condition was verifiable, controlling for patient characteristics. Results There were 55 million pain-related adult ED visits in 2015. The average pain scale was 6.49. For verifiable painful diagnoses, which were about 24% of the total visits, the average was 6.27, statistically significantly lower than that for non-verifiable painful conditions, 6.56. Even after controlling for the confounding of patient characteristics and comorbidities, verifiable painful diagnoses still presented less pain than those with non-verifiable painful complaints. Older age, female gender, and urban residents had significantly higher pain scores than their respective counterparts, controlling for other confounding factors. Psychiatric disorders were independently associated with higher pain scores by about a half point. Conclusion Self-reported pain scales obtained at ED triage likely have a larger psychological component than a physiological one. Close attention to clinical appropriateness and overall patient comfort are more likely to lead to better health outcomes and patient experiences than focusing on self-reported pain alone.
The Lesbian South: Southern feminists, the women in print movement, and the queer literary canon

Jaime Harker’s book is a pleasure to read. Not often does an academic study show the passion of its writer, share the genesis for its becoming, or remind its readers that a real human is behind its...
Tools in Their Toolbox: How Community College Faculty Transfer Industry Experience Into Their Teaching:

Objective: This study is aimed at understanding the ways in which faculty at community colleges utilize their industry experiences to inform their teaching. Method: The research drew on Merriam’s b...
Discoverability of information on clinical trial data-sharing platforms

Objective: This study was intended to (1) provide clinical trial data-sharing platform designers with insight into users’ experiences when attempting to evaluate and access datasets, (2) spark conversations about improving the transparency and discoverability of clinical trial data, and (3) provide a partial view of the current information-sharing landscape for clinical trials. Methods: We evaluated preview information provided for 10 datasets in each of 7 clinical trial data-sharing platforms between February and April 2019. Specifically, we evaluated the platforms in terms of the extent to which we found (1) preview information about the dataset, (2) trial information on ClinicalTrials.gov and other external websites, and (3) evidence of the existence of trial protocols and data dictionaries. Results: All seven platforms provided data previews. Three platforms provided information on data file format (e.g., CSV, SAS file). Three allowed batch downloads of datasets (i.e., downloading multiple datasets with a single request), whereas four required separate requests for each dataset. All but one platform linked to ClinicalTrials.gov records, but only one platform had ClinicalTrails.gov records that linked back to the platform. Three platforms consistently linked to external websites and primary publications. Four platforms provided evidence of the presence of a protocol, and six platforms provided evidence of the presence of data dictionaries. Conclusions: More work is needed to improve the discoverability, transparency, and utility of information on clinical trial data-sharing platforms. Increasing the amount of dataset preview information available to users could considerably improve the discoverability and utility of clinical trial data.
Dealing with uncertainty in clinical reasoning: A threshold model and the roles of experience and task framing.

INTRODUCTION Uncertainty is integral to clinical practice and clinical reasoning but has proven difficult to study and model. Little is known about how clinicians manage uncertainty. According to evidence-based medicine theory, clinicians should utilise new information to reduce uncertainty until reaching action thresholds for further information gathering or treatment. We examined the impact of experience and task framing on uncertainty thresholds and the extent to which these thresholds guided clinical decisions. Finally, we sought to determine the impact of framing by having participants provide threshold responses as a range or as specific numbers. METHODS One hundred sixty-eight fourth-year medical students, 93 residents and 72 faculty were presented a case of viral pneumonia with a suspected superimposed bacterial infection. Participants identified their testing and treatment thresholds with either a specific number or an inter-threshold range of probabilities that would compel them to test further. Afterwards, they were told the patient had a 20% pre-test probability of a superimposed infection and asked whether they would treat the patient with antibiotics, order additional testing or neither. Responses were compared with their previously stated threshold values to assess decision-making consistency. RESULTS Testing thresholds were 15.8%, 20.6% and 25.8%, treatment thresholds were 78.5%, 71.6% and 73.4% and threshold spans (difference between testing and treatment thresholds) were 62.7, 51 and 47.6 for students, residents and faculty, respectively. Sixty-four percent of respondents made judgements consistent with their thresholds, 28% escalated their decision (doing more than their thresholds predicted) and 7.6% de-escalated their decision (doing less than their thresholds predicted). Framing had an impact on both faculty and resident decisions and a larger impact on students. DISCUSSION These findings help us understand how clinical reasoning and threshold determinations vary with clinical experience. As uncertainty can lead to unnecessary testing and cognitive discomfort, examining decision thresholds helps us ascertain how diagnostic and treatment decisions are made.
Assessing the relationship between syringe exchange, pharmacy, and street sources of accessing syringes and injection drug use behavior in a pooled nationally representative sample of people who inject drugs in the United States from 2002 to 2019.

Provision of sterile syringes is an evidence-based strategy of reducing syringe sharing and reusing and yet, access to sterile syringes through pharmacies and syringe exchange programs (SEPs) in the United States remains inadequate. This nationally representative study examined associations between obtaining syringes from pharmacies, SEPs, and sterilizing syringes with bleach and risk of syringe borrowing, lending and reusing syringes in a pooled cross-sectional dataset of 1737 PWID from the 2002–2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Logistic regression was used to produce odds ratios (OR) of the odds of injection drug behaviors after adjusting for obtaining syringes from SEPs, pharmacies, the street, and other sources and potential confounders of race, ethnicity, sex, education, and insurance coverage. Obtaining syringes through SEPs was associated with lower odds of borrowing (OR = .4, CI95% = .2, .9, p = .022) and reusing syringes (OR = .3, CI95% = .2, .6, < .001) compared to obtaining syringes on the street. Obtaining syringes from pharmacies was associated with lower odds of borrowing (OR = .5, CI95% = .3, .9, p = .037) and lending (OR = .5 CI95% = .3, .9, p = .020) syringes. Using bleach to clean syringes was associated with increased odds of borrowing (OR = 2.0, CI95% = 1.3, 3.0, p = .002), lending (OR = 2.0, CI95% = 1.3, 3.0, p = .002) and reusing syringes (OR = 2.4, CI95% = 1.6, 3.6, p < .001). Our findings support provision of syringes through pharmacies and SEPs as a gold-standard strategy of reducing sharing and reuse of syringes in the US.
Making it Strange Technically

As one would expect from Darwin after knowing his physiological and univocal theories, the couplet art that he practiced was blatant aestheticism — artificial, technically intricate, and very much removed from everyday life. Like modern Formalists, Darwin is continually conscious of what is “literary” about literature, and takes great pains to thicken the language of his couplets. Ironically, the weakest thing in much of his couplet art is that he chooses word patterns and “devices” that are not artificial enough in the sense that by the time he uses them they are too familiar as thickening devices for poetic language. Again, what is most interesting, though, is his theory and the problems it created for his art because his problems are still to a great extent our problems. The Russian Formalist and American New Criticism movements have produced a theory of literature based on the “scientific” study of taste and imaginative motion much more sophisticated and various than Darwin’s, but with some of the same problems. This makes his early ratiocinations all the more important for study.
Alterations in protein and nucleic acid metabolism of thymocytes produced by adrenal steroids in vitro.

Abstract Thymocytes from cortisol-treated rats, incubated in vitro, showed a lower incorporation of radioactive precursors into ribonucleic acid, deoxyribonucleic acid, and protein than did cells from control animals. Thymolytic steroids present in vitro at concentrations of 10-10 m to 10-5 m in the thymocyte suspensions caused similar inhibitions. Good correlation was found between relative potency of the steroids tested in vitro and their reported potency assessed in vivo.
Reactive disulfides trigger Ca2+ release from sarcoplasmic reticulum via an oxidation reaction.

Abstract Reactive disulfide compounds (RDSs) with a pyridyl ring adjacent to the S-S bond such as 2,2'-dithiodipyridine (2,2'-DTDP), 4,4'-dithiodipyridine, and N-succinimidyl 3(2-pyridyldithio)propionate (SPDP) trigger Ca2+ release from sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) vesicles. They are known to specifically oxidize free SH sites via a thiol-disulfide exchange reaction with the stoichiometric production of thiopyridone. Thus, the formation of a mixed S-S bond between an accessible SH site on an SR protein and a RDS causes large increases in SR Ca2+ permeability. Reducing agents, glutathione (GSH) or dithiothreitol reverse the effect of RDSs and permit rapid re-uptake of Ca2+ by the Ca2+, Mg2+-ATPase. The RDSs, 2,2'-DTDP, 4,4'-dithiodipyridine and SPDP displaced [3H]ryanodine binding to the Ca2+-receptor complex at IC50 values of 7.5 +/- 0.2, 1.5 +/- 0.1, and 15.4 +/- 0.1 microM, respectively. RDSs did not alter the rapid initial phase of Ca2+ uptake by the pump, stimulated ATPase activity, and induced release from passively loaded vesicles with nonactivated pumps; thus they act at a Ca2+ release channel and not at the Ca2+, Mg2+-ATPase. Efflux rates increased in 0.25-1.0 mM [Mg2+]free then decreased in 2-5 mM [Mg2+]free. Adenine nucleotides inhibited the oxidation of SHs on SR protein by RDSs and thus reduced Ca2+ efflux rates. However, once RDSs oxidized these SH sites and opened the Ca2+ release pathway, subsequent additions of nucleotides stimulated Ca2+ efflux. In skinned fibers, 2,2'-dithiodipyridine elicited rapid twitches which were blocked by ruthenium red. These results indicate that RDSs trigger Ca2+ release from SR by oxidizing a critical SH group, and thus provide a method to covalently label the protein(s) involved in causing these changes in Ca2+ permeability.
Study of dry delineation with Argon sputtering on FIB-milled copper profile

Samples prepared for S EM imaging after Focused Ion Beam (FIB) milling often require staining or delineation on the cross section to distinguish the different layers/features of the device structure. Wet staining using Buffered Oxide Etch (BOE), is one of the most common and economical decoration methods. Since we tetching is difficult to control, artifacts such as copper void and film over-etch may be induced in the samples. Hence, Reactive Ion Etch (RIE) dry staining was considered as the alternative method. In this paper, the RIE dry stain results from several tests with varying RIE staining process parameters revealed unwanted surface contamination on the sample cross section. Further evaluation was performed to study if RIE dry staining with post Argon sputter cleaning is effective to remove the contamination generated on the samples during RIE dry staining.
Session 2: Device technology&#8212;Device patterning techniques [breaker page]

Start of Session 2: Device Technology-Device Patterning Techniques. International Ballroom East (Chairman: V.L. Rideout; Organizer: R.F.W. Pease).
Design of a real time system for nonlinear enhancement of video streams by an integrated neighborhood dependent approach

In this paper, we propose an efficient VLSI architecture for real time enhancement of video containing non-uniform and low light conditions. The nonlinear transfer function is determined by the cumulative distribution function of the previous frame. A dataflow design technique is used to construct a pipelined multimodule architecture. The design is capable of processing 73 1024/spl times/1024 video frames per second.
Tradable Permits for Common‐Pool Resources: An Assessment

Scholars often attribute deterioration in common-pool resources (CPRs) to ill-defined property rights and suggest privatization and tradable permit markets as a solution to the commons problem. CPRs are heterogeneous, differing in physical characteristics and use patterns. Regulating their use requires tailored policy solutions that cohere with these characteristics. This paper examines factors that contribute to a well-performing tradable permit market. While the literature offers rich empirical analyses of individual tradable permit markets, it has not provided an analytical framework enabling comparative analysis of these markets. This paper develops and employs an analytical framework for comparing across markets. The comparative analysis of market performance suggests that markets are not successful in all environmental problems and all demand situations. Further, it shows that even some markets frequently cited as exemplary successes have been that for nonmarket-related reasons. On the other hand, this comparative analysis identifies sources of success for markets that partial analytical frameworks would have predicted to fail.
Iodine-containing radio-opaque polyphosphazenes

The first poly(organophosphazenes) with iodinated side groups for possible use as radio-opaque biomaterials are reported. Depending on the types of side groups present, these polymers may be biostable or bioerodible. Single-substituent polymers with 4-iodophenoxy or 4-iodophenylanaline ethyl ester units as the only side groups were prepared. Although a single-substituent polymer with 3,5-diiodotyrosine ethyl ester groups was difficult to synthesize, probably because of steric hindrance, mixed-substituent polymers that contained the non-iodinated ethyl esters of glycine, alanine, or phenylalanine plus a corresponding iodinated substituent could be synthesized. 31P, 1H, and 13C NMR spectroscopy techniques were used to follow the linkage of the side groups to the phosphazene skeleton and to establish the ratios of the different side groups. Hydrolysis of the iodo-amino acid/non-iodinated amino acid side group species in deionized water at 37 °C followed a bulk hydrolysis profile, with the rates dependent on the structure of the side groups. The effectiveness of these polymers as X-ray opaque materials was examined by the use of the poly(organophosphazenes) and conventional organic polymers as filters for copper Kα or rhenium–tungsten–molybdenum radiation. The phosphazene polymers that contained iodine in the side groups were opaque to X-rays, whereas the conventional organic polymers were essentially transparent to the same radiation.
Pregnancy and breast cancer: The other side of the coin

Early full-term pregnancy is thought to be one of the most effective means of decreasing lifetime breast cancer risk. Paradoxically, young women diagnosed with breast cancer shortly after giving birth have a higher risk of dying from their disease. These seemingly opposing effects have been largely attributed to mammary epithelial stem cell differentiation and precancerous cell proliferation, respectively, induced by pregnancy-associated hormonal changes. However, recent studies suggest that remodeling of the cellular microenvironment and extracellular matrix during pregnancy and involution may contribute to the enhanced invasive and metastatic potential of breast carcinomas and thus lead to their worse clinical outcome.
LIFE-CYCLE TRANSITIONS AND POLITICAL PARTICIPATION: THE CASE OF MARRIAGE

Etude des consequences des changements de statut marital sur la participation politique ; le statut marital etant considere comme le point marquant de la continuite et de la transition dans l'histoire de vie d'un individu et le mariage comme cadre favorisant l'interaction et l'interdependance des deux partenaires. L' analyse est fondee sur les donnees d'une etude de socialisation menee entre 1965 et 1982 aupres de parents, de descendants et d'epoux. Il apparait que les transitions maritales affectent la participation politique de quatre manieres : 1) les partenaires ajustent leurs niveaux d'activite politique apres le mariage afin de devenir plus semblables l'un a l'autre, 2) tous types de transition marital, notamment le mariage chez les individus jeunes, tend a faire diminuer la participation, 3) neanmoins l'effet global du mariage est puissamment mediatise par le niveau de participation du partenaire, 4) ces effets de mediation sont plus forts dans le cas d'activites politiques demandant des efforts collectifs ou dependent des ressources conjointes du couple
African American Emerging Adults’ Perspectives on Taking Asthma Controller Medication Adherence in the “Age of Feeling In-Between”

This study included African Americans with asthma in emerging adulthood, a developmental period largely neglected in the research literature but known to be a time of great risk asthma morbidity and mortality. We conducted thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews (N = 19) to explore barriers to adherence in the context of the transition into adulthood. Key themes for non-adherence emerged after careful follow-up prompting by the interviewer: forgetting to take medications, deciding not to take medications as prescribed, and systemic barriers. Clinicians and researchers interested in improving adherence should carefully assess barriers to adherence when working with this population. Effective adherence interventions should target both intentional and unintentional reasons for non-adherence behavior and take into account the unique developmental needs of emerging adults.
Slow and superluminal light based on four-wave mixing in semiconductor optical amplifiers

Both optically and electrically controllable slow and superluminal light are demonstrated via four-wave mixing in semiconductor optical amplifiers. Tunable delays up to 1.2 ns are achieved for 0.5 GHz, corresponding to a RF phase change of 1.2 p.
The thermogenic effect of a carbohydrate feeding during exposure to 8,12 and 27° C

The increased metabolic heat production in humans exposed to cold stress results from an increased oxidation of both carbohydrate and fat to provide energy to sustain temperature homeostasis. Research suggests that dietary manipulations may enhance metabolic heat production, thereby delaying hypothermia. Therefore, the present investigation examined the thermogenic effect of a sequential timed feeding regime of either a carbohydrate (CHO) or a placebo beverage (PL) before and again midway through 120 min of exposure to 8, 12 and 27° C in well-nourished men. The following were examined: tissue insulation (I), rectal temperature (Tre), mean skin temperature\(\bar T_{{\text{sk}}}\), metabolism (M), time-weighted heat production and respiratory exchange ratio (R).Tre, ΔTre,\(\bar T_{{\text{sk}}}\)M, ΔM,I and time-weighted heat production revealed no significant differences between treatment (PL vs CHO) at any temperature (8, 12 and 27° C). However,Tre decreased (P < 0.05) as time increased at 8, 12 and 27° C while M increased (P < 0.05) andI decreased (P < 0.05) at 8 and 12° C. At 8 and 27° C,R differed (P < 0.05) between the PL and CHO treatments. In addition, at 8 and 12° C,R increased (P < 0.05) across time reflecting the feeding. From these data it appears that while substrate utilization differed between dietary treatment (8 and 27° C) and across time, this feeding regime did not differentially affectT,Tre,\(\bar T_{{\text{sk}}}\) andI during 120 min of exposure to 8, 12 and 27° C.
Delaying reinforcement in an autoshaping task generates adjunctive and superstitious behaviors.

Rats were autoshaped to touch a lever upon its insertion into an operant chamber on a 45 s random time schedule. Occurrence of a reinforced touch on each of 12 lever insertions per session and nose-pokes at the retracted lever were monitored, as was exploratory rearing activity. Delays of 2, 4 or 8 s interposed between the retraction of the lever, which occurred either after 15 s or after a touch response, and delivery of the food pellet reward, resulted in progressively slower acquisition of the extended lever touch response. However, if rats had already acquired the response under immediate reinforcement conditions, the delays subsequently introduced did not cause a decline in autoshaped touch responding. Nose-pokes at the retracted lever occurred during both intertrial and reinforcement delay intervals over the course of autoshaping. The appearance and frequency of these (adjunctive or superstitious) behaviors depended upon the reinforcement delay and behavioral history. These interval behaviors offer measurements of learning not based on arbitrary criteria; they thus provide information about effects on endpoints, or a more global approach to learning.
Semi-infinite positron emission tomography

In this paper, we develop a refined version of the mathematical model introduced by Shepp and Vardi for positron emission tomogrpahy. This model replaces the usual finite-dimensional linear system by a nonstandard integral equation in which the data-space is finite-dimensional, but the unknown emission intensities are represented by a mathematical measure on the region of interest. Since our measure might not be representable by a density, this is also a refinement of the integral equation model mentioned (but not analyzed) in the work of Vardi, Shepp, and Kaufman. As in the finite-dimensional model, we obtain an iteration procedure which generates a sequence of functions. Such a functional iteration has already been proposed by other researchers for solving a general class of positive linear ill-posed inverse problems. However, unlike the original finite-dimensional problem, the convergenec of this infinite- dimensional version remains an open question. This paper demonstrates examples in which these iterates are continuous functions, but does not converge to a density. We also discuss a feasible approach for settling the convergence question.© (1995) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.