cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Direct Democracy in Switzerland: Trends, Challenges and the Quest for Solutions

Direct democracy is deeply rooted in Switzerland. It is based on the high level of confidence in citizens encapsulated in the principle in dubio pro populo—in case of doubt, consult the people. There are two main instruments of direct democracy in Switzerland: popular initiatives and referendums. They are based on a double majority—a majority of votes and a majority of cantons. The Federal Constitution of 18 April 1999 is used as an instrument enabling the people to participate in the political process. One of the main objectives is to show the difficulty in making direct democracy comply with International Law and the Rule of Law. Popular initiatives have evolved from instruments of political opposition—favourable to minority opinions—to divisive tools used by political parties such as the Eurosceptic, xenophobic and populist Swiss people’s party for electoral purposes. Thus the 9 February 2014 popular initiative limiting immigration from the European Union through quotas and national preferences—approved by 50.3 % of the votes—challenges Switzerland’s commitments towards the European Union.
Sympathetic Nucleation of Ferrite

Configurations of ferrite crystals have been found in a plain carbon steel which appear to have resulted from the nucleation of new ferrite crystals at the interphase boundaries of previously formed crystals despite the high carbon concentrations which necessarily develop at these boundaries. This phenomenon has been termed sympathetic nucleation. An attempt has been made to reconcile the occurrence of sympathetic nucleation with current nucleation theory.
Towards an optical black hole: surface reshaping for an optimal optical coupling into turbid medium

Light propagation in a turbid medium is typically considered for flat or regular surfaces. However, such an approximation often does not reflect an experimental reality, and, in this report, we attempt to optimize the surface of a scattering medium to improve the optical coupling into the medium. By making conical microchannels in a turbid medium using short-pulsed laser micro-drilling, we show that we were able to substantially increase the photon life-time and diffusion radius in the medium.
Abnormal Organogenesis in the Cardiovascular System

The relative importance of genetic and environmental factors in cardiovascular development has been long debated (cf. Goerttler, 1958, 1970). In a review of the experimental production of cardiovascular defects, Wilson (1960) stressed the importance of nongenetic hemodynamic factors. Analyses of the etiology of congenital heart disease (Nora, 1968; Nora et al., 1970; Neill, 1972) have shown that a clearly defined genetic etiology is demonstrable in only a small proportion of the victims (<5%); these analyses were interpreted in terms of a multifactorial theory, which assumes that environmental stresses produced congenital heart disease to the greatest extent in those individuals most predisposed genetically.
Prostaglandin E2 inhibits Tr1 cell differentiation through suppression of c-Maf

Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), a major lipid mediator abundant at inflammatory sites, acts as a proinflammatory agent in models of inflammatory/autoimmune diseases by promoting CD4 Th1/Th17 differentiation. Regulatory T cells, including the IL-10 producing Tr1 cells counterbalance the proinflammatory activity of effector Th1/Th17 cells. Tr1 cell differentiation and function are induced by IL-27, and depend primarily on sustained expression of c-Maf in addition to AhR and Blimp-1. In agreement with the in vivo proinflammatory role of PGE2, here we report for the first time that PGE2 inhibits IL-27-induced differentiation and IL-10 production of murine CD4+CD49b+LAG-3+Foxp3- Tr1 cells. The inhibitory effect of PGE2 was mediated through EP4 receptors and induction of cAMP, leading to a significant reduction in c-Maf expression. Although PGE2 reduced IL-21 production in differentiating Tr1 cells, its inhibitory effect on Tr1 differentiation and c-Maf expression also occurred independent of IL-21 signaling. PGE2 did not affect STAT1/3 activation, AhR expression and only marginally reduced Egr-2/Blimp-1 expression. The effect of PGE2 on CD4+CD49b+LAG-3+ Tr1 differentiation was not associated with either induction of Foxp3 or IL-17 production, suggesting a lack of transdifferentiation into Foxp3+ Treg or effector Th17 cells. We recently reported that PGE2 inhibits the expression and production of IL-27 from activated conventional dendritic cells (cDC) in vivo and in vitro. The present study indicates that PGE2 also reduces murine Tr1 differentiation and function directly by acting on IL-27-differentiating Tr1 cells. Together, the ability of PGE2 to inhibit IL-27 production by cDC, and the direct inhibitory effect on Tr1 differentiation mediated through reduction in c-Maf expression, represent a new mechanistic perspective for the proinflammatory activity of PGE2.
Pathology of CNS Tumors

The incidence of CNS tumors is 7–10 per 100,000 (Parkin and Muir 1992). These include parenchymal tumors as well as other non-CNS intracranial lesions like meningioma. CNS tumors can be organized according to the cell of origin, location, or behavior. Consideration of metastatic lesions provides an additional criterion for organization into primary and secondary lesions. Most presentations and classifications are based on the cell of origin, including the recent classification protocols established by the World Health Organization (WHO) (Kleihues et al. 1993; Burger 1995). The bulk of this chapter is organized according to the cell of origin. The cell of origin is not known for all CNS tumors. The identity of the hemangioblastoma stromal cell, for example, is not known. The bulk of the mature central nervous system cellular population consists of neurons, astrocytes, oligodendrocytes,and ependymal cells. These are all derivatives of the primitive embryona neuroectoderm. The most common intraparenchymal neoplasms arise from the astrocyte and will be discussed first.
Atypical chronic myeloid leukemia: A rare entity with management challenges

The aim of our study was to review the clinicopathologic features and management of atypical chronic myeloid leukemia (aCML). Relevant manuscripts published in English were searched using PubMed. aCML is diagnosed as per WHO 2016 classification in the presence of leukocytosis ≥13 × 109/l with circulating neutrophil precursors ≥10%, monocytes less than 10%, minimal basophils, hypercellular bone marrow with granulocytic proliferation and dysplasia, bone marrow blast less than 20% and absence of BCR/ABL fusion gene. Common cytogenetic features and mutations include trisomy 8, and mutations in SETBP1 and ETNK1. Median survival is 1-2 years. Hematopoietic stem cell transplant may be the only curative option. Ruxolitinib and dasatinib are emerging therapeutic options. Thus, aCML is a rare entity with poor survival. Novel therapies are needed.
Beyond Social Science History: Population and Environment in the US Great Plains

This essay advocates for broadening social science history to include an even larger horizon, in order to reach a new level of understanding of human society in the past. It builds on and shares insights from twenty years of research that integrates environmental knowledge and environmental science into a history of social change, while simultaneously trying to understand in detail how people changed the environment. The focus of the research is the demographic, social, agricultural, and environmental history of the U.S. Great Plains, from the 1870s to the end of the twentieth century. Beyond supporting the argument for a broader interdisciplinary vision of history, the essay shows how the Great Plains environment was changed by human action, and the ways that the environment shaped human behavior in turn. The history of the Plains shows that the impact of human action on the land was dramatic and unmistakable. People radically changed land cover, but their actions were only one factor in causing events like the Dust Bowl, and only one part of the measurable increase in greenhouse gases. At the same time, the environment also constrained and shaped human behavior, even though it had less to do with family organization than broad trends in social change in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The environment's most dramatic contribution was to spur out-migration in the 1930s when drought caused wide-spread agricultural failure, further confirmation of the importance of going beyond purely social factors to understand how people lived in the past.
A systems perspective on the role mentors play in the cultivation of virtue

Mentoring during training and the early career is one possible means of cultivating virtue in the practice of science. To examine its perceived impact, we approached virtue and its cultivation usin...
Teaching access control with domain type enforcement

Access control systems have become significantly more sophisticated in order to meet the security demands of Internet-based computing. Students must be trained formally to deal with the complexity of these modern systems, to ensure correctness and to encourage the use of sophisticated technology when appropriate. In this paper, we describe our application of the Domain Type Enforcement (DTE) access control model to enhance education in this area. We believe its use can significantly enhance education in the fundamentals of access control.
Personalized medicine in the adjuvant chemotherapy of stage II colon cancer--are we there yet?

Over the past few years, significant efforts have focused on developing and validating molecular biomarkers to better define the subset of patients with stage II disease who might derive benefit from adjuvant therapy.
Randomized Feasibility Trial of a Low Tidal Volume-Airway Pressure Release Ventilation Protocol Compared With Traditional Airway Pressure Release Ventilation and Volume Control Ventilation Protocols.

Objectives:Low tidal volume (= tidal volume ≤ 6 mL/kg, predicted body weight) ventilation using volume control benefits patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome. Airway pressure release ventilation is an alternative to low tidal volume-volume control ventilation, but the release breaths gen
Brains, Buddhas, and Believing: The Problem of Intentionality in Classical Buddhist and Cognitive-Scientific Philosophy of Mind

Many contemporary Buddhists engaged in dialogue with the natural sciences, particularly neuroscience, argue that Buddhism’s worldview, grounded in the doctrines of non-self (ātman), “interdependent...
Cardiopulmonary phenotypic discordance is common in Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence of discordant cardiopulmonary function among patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) in our clinic. METHODS Retrospective chart review from 1999 to 2017. INCLUSION CRITERIA DMD patients age ≥ 18 years, alive, with discordant cardiopulmonary function. No patients received glucocorticoid therapy. Discordant cardiopulmonary function was defined as either: good heart function (EF ≥ 40%) and bad lung function (FVC 2 patients (nine patients with deletion of exon 44; three patients with deletion of exon 51; three patients with duplication of exon 2). Among the 15 patients with a shared genotype, eight patients (53%) had discordant cardiopulmonary function (five patients in group A, three patients in group B). Twenty-six patients had a deletion involving or distal to exon 45. Ten of these patients (38%) had discordant cardiopulmonary function (eight patients in Group A, two patients in Group B). CONCLUSION In our cohort of DMD patients, discordant cardiopulmonary function was common (present in one-third of our patients), and the dystrophin genotype did not reliably predict a patient's cardiopulmonary phenotype. If confirmed by larger, multi-center studies, our findings have significant implications for predicting patient prognosis, evaluating DMD therapies, and designing new DMD therapies.
Robust Trajectory Tracking Control Design for Nonholonomic Mobile Robot (NMR)

This paper addresses the problem of trajectory tracking for kinematic model of unicycle-type nonholonomic mobile robot. These robots are difficult to stabilize and control due to their non-integrable constraints. Due to this problem, it is difficult to establish a systematic model for tracking. In this paper, the proposed controller is defined in a two-step process. First, a robust state feedback point-to-point stabilization control is designed using Sliding Mode Controller (SMC). In the second step, the controller is modified so as to address the tracking problem for the constant as well as time-varying reference trajectories. The proposed control scheme is shown to provide for desired robustness properties in presence of the parametric variations, in the region of interest. The state-feedback control scheme is then extended to output feedback by incorporating a High Gain Observer. With the help of Lyapunov analysis and appropriate simulations, it is shown that the proposed output feedback control scheme achieves the required control objectives and provides for the desired performance in the presence of parametric variations.
Empirical Assessment of Software Documentation Strategies: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Source code documentation is an important part of teaching students how to be effective programmers. But what evidence do we have to support what good documentation looks like? This study utilizes a randomized controlled trial to experimentally compare several different types of documentation, including traditional comments, self-documenting naming, and an automatic documentation generator. The results of this experiment show that the relationship between documentation and source code understanding is more complex than simply "more is better," and poorly documented code may even lead to a more correct understanding of the source code.
Effects of Diabetes Numeracy on Glycemic Control and Diabetes Self-Management Behaviors in Patients on Insulin Pump Therapy

Diabetes numeracy (DN) skills are crucial in patients on insulin pump therapy. Little evidence exists regarding DN in this patient population. This exploratory, observational, cross-sectional study assessed the DN levels of patients on insulin pump therapy and potential relationships with glycemic control and self-management behaviors. Seventy-two patients on insulin pump therapy were recruited from one specialty endocrinology clinic. Subjects completed validated tools to measure DN [Diabetes Numeracy Test (DNT-15)] and self-management behaviors [Diabetes Self-Management Questionnaire (DSMQ)]. A general diabetes questionnaire assessed socioeconomic information and self-efficacy. Additional self-management behaviors and glycemic control data were collected from patients’ medical records. Patients were categorized into two groups based on DNT-15 scores to explore potential relationships between DN scores and patient characteristics, glycemic control, and self-management behaviors. Average age was 52 ± 15 years, glycosylated hemoglobin (A1C) was 7.7% ± 1.2% (61 mmol/mol), duration of diabetes was 28 ± 15 years, and duration of pump use was 3.4 ± 1.3 years. The average DNT-15 score was 87.5% ± 18%. Forty-three participants (60%) scored ≥ 90% and 29 participants (40%) scored < 90%. Eighteen percent were unable to calculate the carbohydrate content from a nutrition label. Participants with lower DNT-15 scores had higher A1C levels (8.0% vs. 7.5%, p = 0.04), were older (58.3 vs. 47.7, p = 0.003), were more likely to describe their diabetes self-care as poor (p = 0.04), and were less confident in using their pump features (p = 0.02) than those with higher DNT-15 scores. Many patients on insulin pump therapy have deficiencies with DN which may be associated with older age and higher A1C levels.
Rotational diffusion anisotropy of proteins from simultaneous analysis of 15N and 13C alpha nuclear spin relaxation.

Current methods of determining the rotational diffusion tensors of proteins in solution byNMR spectroscopy exclusively utilize relaxation rate constants for backbone amide 15N spins.However, the distributions of orientations of N-H bond vectors are not isotropic in manyproteins, and correlations between bond vector orientations reduce the accuracy and precisionof rotational diffusion tensors extracted from 15N spin relaxation data. The inclusion of both13Cα and 15N spin relaxation rate constants increases the robustness of the diffusiontensor analysis because the orientations of the Cα-Hα bond vectors differ from theorientations of the N-H bond vectors. Theoretical and experimental results for calbindin D9k,granulocyte colony stimulating factor, and ubiquitin, three proteins with different distributionsof N-H and Cα-Hα bond vectors, are used to illustrate the advantages of thesimultaneous utilization of 13Cα and 15N relaxation data.
A Randomized Waitlist-Control Group Study of a Culturally Tailored Parent Education Intervention for Latino Parents of Children with ASD.

This two-site randomized waitlist-control study (n = 96 mother–child dyads) examined the efficacy of a psychoeducation program as compared to usual care to empower Latina mothers and improve their confidence in and use of evidence-based practices (EBPs) for their children with ASD. A secondary aim was to improve child outcomes. Compared to control group, we found significant positive changes in the treatment group in maternal confidence of and frequency in use of EBPs, child social communication and the number of EB services the child received. We found no significant differences for the treatment group in family empowerment or in child challenging behaviors. This RCT presents evidence of an efficacious intervention for Latino children with ASD and their mothers in California and Illinois.
Living in a Material World - From Naming and Shaming to Knowing and Showing: Will New Disclosure Regimes Finally Drive Corporate Accountability for Human Rights?

Faced with less than optimal voluntary initiatives and in the absence of binding legislation, what mechanisms can interested stakeholders use as leverage to force corporations to take a more proactive role in safeguarding human rights, particularly due diligence issues in the supply chain? Can new disclosure and procurement requirements provide enough incentives to have a measurable impact on the behavior of transnational corporations based in the United States? This Article argues that federal and state governments should take advantage of the fact firms are adapting to more rigorous transparency and due diligence demands from socially responsible investors, international stock exchange listing requirements, and enterprise risk management processes. Corporations respond to incentives and penalties. Governments can and should require stronger procurement contractual terms for contractors and subcontractors. The contract could require: (1) executive level, Sarbanes-Oxley like attestations regarding human rights policies due diligence on impacts within the supply chain; (2) an audit by certified third parties and (3) suspension or debarment from contracts as well as clawbacks of executive bonuses and a portion of board compensation as penalties for false or misleading attestations. Companies that do not want to participate in government contracting programs will not have to complete the attestation or due diligence process but the benefits of participating will outweigh the costs. The large number of participating firms will likely lead to the practice becoming an industry standard across sectors, thereby forestalling additional legislation, shareholder resolutions and name and shame campaigns thus eventually leading to benefits for all stakeholders including those most directly affected.
Seventy years of understory development by elevation class in a New Hampshire mixed forest: management implications

New England forest managers are faced with numerous environmental issues, such as global warming, nutrient depletion, and species declines that could influence the choice of appropriate silvicultural techniques and objectives. On the Bartlett Experimental Forest, New Hampshire, 70 years of change on more than 400 remeasured cruise plots by elevation classes ranging from 600 to 2,700 ft showed no evidence of environmental impacts. The major, and only dominant, agent of change was natural succession. Time-tested silvicultural approaches remain valid.
Unanticipated Stressful and Rewarding Experiences Engage the Same Prefrontal Cortex and Ventral Tegmental Area Neuronal Populations

Brain networks that mediate motivated behavior in the context of aversive and rewarding experiences involve the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and ventral tegmental area (VTA). Neurons in both regions are activated by stress and reward, and by learned cues that predict aversive or appetitive outcomes. Recent studies have proposed that separate neuronal populations and circuits in these regions encode learned aversive versus appetitive contexts. But how about the actual experience? Do the same or different PFC and VTA neurons encode unanticipated aversive and appetitive experiences? To address this, we recorded unit activity and local field potentials (LFPs) in the dorsomedial PFC (dmPFC) and VTA of male rats as they were exposed, in the same recording session, to reward (sucrose) or stress (tail pinch) spaced 1 h apart. As expected, experience-specific neuronal responses were observed. Approximately 15-25% of single units in each region responded by excitation or inhibition to either stress or reward, and only stress increased LFP theta oscillation power in both regions and coherence between regions. But the largest number of responses (29% dmPFC and 30% VTA units) involved dual-valence neurons that responded to both stress and reward exposure. Moreover, the temporal profile of neuronal population activity in dmPFC and VTA as assessed by principal component analysis (PCA) were similar during both types of experiences. These results reveal that aversive and rewarding experiences engage overlapping neuronal populations in the dmPFC and the VTA. These populations may provide a locus of vulnerability for stress-related disorders, which are often associated with anhedonia.
The comprehensive genetic architecture of brain white matter

Abstract White matter keeps human brain globally connected and shapes communication and connectivity patterns among brain regions. White matter microstructure influences brain structural integrity and may underpin brain functions and disorders. Although under strong genetic control, a large number of genetic variants of white matter remain undiscovered. Here we analyzed the genetic architecture of white matter using diffusion magnetic resonance image (dMRI) of 42,279 individuals (35,101 in the UK Biobank). The dMRIs were consistently processed to generate 215 neuroimaging traits, including 105 measures from tract-specific functional principal component analysis. Genome-wide association analysis identified hundreds of novel independent risk variants (P
Third-Degree Heart Block Associated With Saddle Pulmonary Embolism: A Rare Sequelae of COVID-19-Induced Hypercoagulable State

The pathophysiology of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) involves multi-organ dysfunction, particularly involving the respiratory, cardiovascular and hematological systems. This dysfunction is partly due to systemic inflammation causing a wide array of pathological sequelae thus posing a significant challenge to management despite the advances in treatment made thus far. In this report, we present a COVID-19 patient who developed a transient complete heart block and was temporarily paced as a complication of a saddle pulmonary embolus (PE). The mechanism of complete heart block is unclear, may be related to strain, ischemia, or vagal response. We believe that this is a unique sequence of events in a COVID-19 patient and, to our knowledge, is the first of its kind to be reported.
That Takes the BISCUIT: Predictive Accuracy and Parsimony of Four Statistical Learning Techniques in Personality Data, with Data Missingness Conditions

Abstract. The predictive accuracy of personality-criterion regression models may be improved with statistical learning (SL) techniques. This study introduced a novel SL technique, BISCUIT (Best Ite...
Distributed throughput optimal scheduling in the presence of heavy-tailed traffic

The heavy tailed traffic in wireless networks fundamentally challenges the applicability of conventional throughput optimal scheduling algorithms. To encounter this, the stability performance of distributed maximum weight scheduling algorithms (DMWS), which are known to be throughput optimal under light tailed environment, is first analyzed.More specifically, it is shown that heavy tailed traffic can significantly degrade the stability performance of DMWS. In particular, it is proven that if a user with light-tailed traffic arrivals has the average traffic rate λ below a threshold λ*, it will experience bounded queueing delay. Otherwise, if λ is larger than a threshold λ′, its queueing delay is necessarily of infinite mean. To address this problem, the distributed maximum weight-α scheduling (DMWS-α) algorithm is proposed, which makes the scheduling decision based on the queue lengths raised to the α-th power. It is demonstrated that DMWS-α is throughput optimal with respect to moment stability in the sense that if the traffic arrivals rates are within the network stability region, all network users with light-tailed traffic arrivals always have bounded queueing delay with finite mean and variance.
Counseling and consenting women with cancer on their oncofertility options: a clinical perspective.

Over the past decade, professional and lay organizations have raised awareness of the damaging effects some cancer treatments can have on the fertility of young women. Despite this progress, counseling and consenting cancer patients about their fertility remains complicated. Literature from the American Society for Clinical Oncology [1] (ASCO) outlines treatment regimens that may affect fertility; however, these regimens continue to evolve, making it difficult to predict how an individual’s fertility may be compromised. After fertility counseling, some women elect to preserve gametes or embryos prior to cancer treatment, but doing so does not guarantee future fertility.
Rapid furcation involvement associated with a devitalizing mandibular first molar

Literature reports and journal articles on endodontic-periodontic relationships are numerous. Presented is a brief review of the diagnostic tests, the classification of endoperiodontic lesions, and a clinical report that covers an unusually rapid development of furcation involvement associated with a tooth that became nonvital.
Optimum detergency conditions with nonionic surfactants: I. Ternary water-surfactant-hydrocarbon systems

Abstract Enhanced videomicroscopy was used to observe the dynamic behavior that occurred when pure straight-chain hydrocarbons were contacted with pure nonionic surfactant-water mixtures at various temperatures. Detergency experiments at Shell Development Company determined the ability of the same surfactants to remove the same oils from small fabric samples. For a given system maximum rates of both oil solubilization (from videomicroscopy) and oil removal (from detergency) occurred near the phase inversion temperature (PIT). In these systems, the PIT was well above the surfactant cloud point and, in most cases, in the temperature range where the surfactant-water mixture contained lamellar liquid crystal. The detergency mechanism under these conditions appears not to be rollback but some combination of solubilization and emulsification.
Sins from the Past and Lessons for the Future: Eliminating Apartheid in South African Public Accommodations and the Challenge to an Enlightened Judiciary

This article examines the role of judges in the creation and maintenance of Apartheid in the area of public accommodations. Repudiating the theory that the judiciary was powerless this article contends that the judiciary contributed to the enhancement of Apartheid in public accommodations. Through judicial reasoning that reflected racial bias, more often than not, judges went beyond the legislative mandate in upholding racial segregation and discrimination in public facilities. Oftentimes, the judges appeared to be deaf, dumb, and blind to the harmful realities of Apartheid. Most of their decisions, and the reasoning upholding them, represent a judicial endorsement of a system based on racial oppression. It would be a mistake not to recognize the judiciary's role such oppression and consequently fail to address potential problems created by these judges. Accordingly, in order to completely eliminate all vestiges of Apartheid in public accommodations, not only must there be statutory and constitutional guarantees of equal access to facilities, but there must be a change in judicial interpretation of these new laws.
Preliminary assessment of three new designs of prosthetic prehensors for upper limb amputees.

At present, upper-limb amputees have a basic choice of a hook or a hand for the prosthetic prehensor. In the USA about two-thirds of upper-limb amputees wear hooks and about one-third wear hands. Either of these options represents a compromise. The hook is more functional and the hand is more cosmetic. Some amputees solve the dilemma by having one of each and interchanging them as work and social situations dictate. However, they would prefer to have one acceptable prehensor, and they want one which is functional, is attractive, and does not necessarily have to look like a hand.In an attempt to meet the desires of upper-limb amputees, three prosthetic prehensors or “terminal devices” have been designed and developed into models. This article describes the preliminary assessment of these new designs.
A synthesis procedure for large-scale asynchronous finite state machines

This paper presents an efficient synthesis procedure for asynchronous finite state machines (FSMs). A merged flow table is first generated from a behavioral description of a FSM. Based on the bipartite characteristics of the adjacency diagram, a race-free state assignment algorithm using bipartite graphs is applied. Several MCNC FSM benchmarks have been tested. Results show that the presented procedure can handle reasonably large asynchronous FSMs. >
Adolescents becoming smokers: the roles of stress and coping methods.

Abstract Purpose: To examine the relationship of stress and coping methods to smoking status (never-smoker, experimenter, and current smoker) among an inner-city, clinic-based, adolescent population, as well as to examine the prevalence of smoking and related behaviors in this population using a cross-sectional survey. Methods: A self-administered questionnaire that included the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), negative life events (LES), and a coping measures scale was used with 954 clinic patients aged 12–21 years. Demographic characteristics were compared using analysis of variance and Chi-square test. The Kruskal-Wallis analysis of variance was used to compare the values of each scale among smoking-status groups. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the relationship of smoking status to PSS, LES, and coping methods. Results: The overall prevalence of smoking in this population was 26%. The age of onset was 13.3 years for current smokers vs. 15.5 for experimenters ( p p Conclusions: One in four inner-city youth report smoking. Higher levels of stress and greater use of negative coping methods were found in current smokers than in experimenters and never-smokers.
Ab initio cluster calculations of hydrogenated GaAs(001) surfaces

Hydrogen adsorption on the (2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}4) and (4\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}2) reconstructions of gallium arsenide (001) has been studied by internal reflectance infrared spectroscopy and ab initio cluster calculations with density-functional theory. The calculations are made on ${\mathrm{Ga}}_{5}{\mathrm{As}}_{4}{\mathrm{H}}_{11,13},$ ${\mathrm{Ga}}_{4}{\mathrm{As}}_{5}{\mathrm{H}}_{11,13},$ and ${\mathrm{Ga}}_{7}{\mathrm{As}}_{8}{\mathrm{H}}_{19}$ clusters, which model the arsenic- and gallium-dimer termination of the semiconductor surface. Excellent agreement has been achieved between the vibrational frequencies predicted by the theory and those observed in experiments. On the (2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}4), hydrogen adsorbs on arsenic dimers to form isolated and coupled arsenic-monohydrogen bonds, and arsenic-dihydrogen bonds. Conversely, on the (4\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}2), hydrogen adsorbs on gallium dimers to form terminal and bridged gallium hydrides. The latter species occur in isolated or coupled structures involving two or three Ga atoms.
Specific heats of lipid dispersions in single phase regions

Differential scanning calorimetry has been used for the first time to measure the specific heat, Cp, as a function of temperature in the single phase regions above and below the main phase transition temperature, Tm, for dispersions of saturated phosphatidylcholines and phosphatidylethanolamines. Within error limits Cp, when expressed per gram, does not vary in any systematic way with chain length or headgroup. Its temperature dependence in both single phase regions qualitatively resembles that of n-alkanes. Contributions to Cp from intrachain vibrations and interchain van der Waals' interactions have been calculated and account for nearly all the measured Cp at temperatures above Tm. However, these contributions do not yield the observed temperature dependence below Tm. It is conjectured that such a temperature dependence arises from the unhindering of chain vibrations as the lipids undergo thermal expansion, and the result of a preliminary calculation which supports this conjecture is presented.
On Practical Abduction

: In this paper practical reasoning is understood in the Aristotelian sense as reasoning leading to action or to an intention to do something. Georg Henrik von Wright and a number of other philosophers have tried to assimilate certain forms of such reasoning to deductive reasoning. Many examples of practical reasoning, including some examples given by Aristotle, do not fit a deductive or quasi-deductive model. It is argued that instances of good practical reasoning often resemble abductive rather than deductive or inductive reasoning, and that the principles governing abduction, including the Principle of Economy, are applicable to practical reasoning.
Postoperative Radiotherapy After Surgical Resection of Thymoma: Differing Roles in Localized and Regional Disease

Purpose To analyze the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) registry data to determine the impact of postoperative radiotherapy (PORT) for thymoma and thymic carcinoma (T/TC). Methods and Materials Patients with surgically resected localized (LOC) or regional (REG) malignant T/TC with or without PORT were analyzed for overall survival (OS) and cause-specific survival (CSS) by querying the SEER database from 1973–2005. Patients dying within the first 3 months after surgery were excluded. Kaplan-Meier and multivariate analyses with Cox proportional hazards were performed. Results A total of 901 T/TC patients were identified (275 with LOC disease and 626 with REG disease). For all patients with LOC disease, PORT had no benefit and may adversely impact the 5-year CSS rate (91% vs. 98%, p = 0.03). For patients with REG disease, the 5-year OS rate was significantly improved by adding PORT (76% vs. 66% for surgery alone, p = 0.01), but the 5-year CSS rate was no better (91% vs. 86%, p = 0.12). No benefit was noted for PORT in REG disease after extirpative surgery (defined as radical or total thymectomy). On multivariate OS and CSS analysis, stage and age were independently correlated with survival. For multivariate CSS analysis, the outcome of PORT is significantly better for REG disease than for LOC disease (hazard ratio, 0.167; p = 0.001). Conclusions Our results from SEER show that PORT for T/TC had no advantage in patients with LOC disease (Masaoka Stage I), but a possible OS benefit of PORT in patients with REG disease (Masaoka Stage II–III) was found, especially after non-extirpative surgery. The role of PORT in T/TC needs further evaluation.
Is that deal worth my time? The interactive effect of relative and referent thinking on willingness to seek a bargain

Abstract Prior research on relative thinking has suggested that the willingness to seek a bargain depends not only on the absolute value of the bargain but also on the price of the product. For example, a discount of $10 seems more appealing on a product whose regular price is $20 than a product whose regular price is $60. By invoking the interactive role of consumers' reference prices, the authors delineate the specific conditions under which the same $10 discount can seem less appealing when the price is $20 than when it is $60. They present a formal model that simultaneously incorporates the effects of relative and referent thinking and yields novel predictions, which are supported in four laboratory experiments. Their results reveal that deviation from the reference price determines when relative thinking holds and when it gets reversed. Specifically, the relative-thinking effect holds when the actual price is the same as expected, it reverses when the actual price deviates from the expected price, bu...
Echoes of the Guillotine: Berlioz and the French Fantastic

Abstract The fantastic, theorized as an expression of the anxieties, fears, and political beliefs of the generation of young French writers born in the decades directly following the Revolution and Terror, has long been viewed primarily as a literary genre. Observed in light of this artistic movement, Berlioz9s most famous work, Symphonie fantastique , emerges as a musical manifestation of fantastic techniques, and Berlioz himself as an important contributor to the Fantastic culture that swept nineteenth-century France. Using Tzvetan Todorov9s narrative theory, I identify two techniques fantastic authors exploit that are most useful in understanding Symphonie Fantastique : an intentional ambiguity of form, and a privileging of ambiguous ““thresholds”” over teleological plot resolution. In pursuing a new explanation of the symphony9s strange deviations from musical norms, I highlight the many different ways the symphony has been understood and analyzed by prominent musicologists over the past 180 years. By now, musicologists have effectively demonstrated that Berlioz was not the ““incompetent genius”” (in Charles Rosen9s wry formulation) he was long considered to be; however, the fact that there is still disagreement and debate over Symphonie Fantastique9s deviations from normative form and content, as well as what those deviations might mean, demonstrates the highly fraught signifying structure of the music. Locating the symphony9s use of fantastic tropes and techniques demonstrates that many of its strangest aspects——those ““failures”” that have been the subject of musicological debate since 1835——come into focus when we take its title seriously and regard the work as a symphony in the fantastic genre.
Potential Field from an Active Nerve in an Inhomogeneous, Anisotropic Volume Conductor - The Forward Problem

A previously described, forward solution for the problem of determining surface potentials on a long circular limb arising from electrical nerve activity within the limb is used to solve the inverse problem, namely, the recovery of source nerve potentials from limb surface potentials. The inverse problem is solved by means of a two-dimensional (2-D) digital filter which has the advantages of simplicity, speed, and ease of implementation compared to any other solution method.
Psychosocial treatment efficacy for disruptive behavior problems in very young children: a meta-analytic examination.

Abstact Objective Service use trends showing increased off-label prescribing in very young children and reduced psychotherapy use raise concerns about quality of care for early disruptive behavior problems. Meta-analysis can empirically clarify best practices and guide clinical decision making by providing a quantitative synthesis of a body of literature, identifying the magnitude of overall effects across studies, and determining systematic factors associated with effect variations. Method We used random-effects meta-analytic procedures to empirically evaluate the overall effect of psychosocial treatments on early disruptive behavior problems, as well as potential moderators of treatment response. Thirty-six controlled trials, evaluating 3,042 children, met selection criteria (mean sample age, 4.7 years; 72.0% male; 33.1% minority youth). Results Psychosocial treatments collectively demonstrated a large and sustained effect on early disruptive behavior problems (Hedges' g=0.82), with the largest effects associated with behavioral treatments (Hedges' g=0.88), samples with higher proportions of older and male youth, and comparisons against treatment as usual (Hedges' g=1.17). Across trials, effects were largest for general externalizing problems (Hedges' g=0.90) and problems of oppositionality and noncompliance (Hedges' g=0.76), and were weakest, relatively speaking, for problems of impulsivity and hyperactivity (Hedges' g=0.61). Conclusions In the absence of controlled trials evaluating psychotropic interventions, findings provide robust quantitative support that psychosocial treatments should constitute first-line treatment for early disruptive behavior problems. Against a backdrop of concerning trends in the availability and use of supported interventions, findings underscore the urgency of improving dissemination efforts for supported psychosocial treatment options, and removing systematic barriers to psychosocial care for affected youth.
Managers as Initiators of Trust: An Exchange Relationship Framework for Understanding Managerial Trustworthy Behavior

In many approaches to interpersonal and organizational trust, researchers focus on employees' perceptions that their managers are trustworthy. We turn the tables, however, and examine the antecedents of managerial trustworthy behavior and the challenge of initiating trust. Drawing on agency and social exchange theories, we present an exchange relationship framework that identifies organizational, relational, and individual factors that encourage or constrain managerial trustworthy behavior.
Preparation of inside-out vesicles from erythrocyte membranes inactivates the pathway for oleic acid incorporation into phospholipid

The pathway for membrane phospholipid fatty acid turnover in situ may be important in the regulation of the composition and turnover of the lipid microenvironment of membrane proteins. This pathway has been characterized further by studying the activation and incorporation of [9,10(n)-3H]oleic acid and transesterification of [1-14C]oleoyl-CoA into membrane phospholipids by isolated erythrocyte membrane ghosts and inside-out vesicles derived from these ghosts. Erythrocyte ghosts and sealed vesicles of defined orientation prepared from them have been widely employed in studies of the function of membrane proteins, particularly those which mediate the transport of ions and sugars. Preparation of inside-out vesicles from ghosts by exposure to alkaline hypotonic conditions results in elution of some membrane proteins but no loss of membrane phospholipid. Compared to ghosts, the ability of inside-out vesicles to activate and incorporate [9,10(n)-3H]oleic acid into phospholipid is diminished by over 90% and the ability of inside-out vesicles to transesterify [1-14C]oleoyl-CoA to phospholipid is diminished by over 50%. These findings indicate that exposure of erythrocyte membranes to the alkaline hypotonic conditions required for inside-out vesicle preparation results in loss or inactivation of both acyl-CoA ligase and acyl-CoA-lysophospholipid acyltransferase activities. This lability of the enzymes for in situ phospholipid fatty acid turnover should be considered in the design and interpretation of studies concerned with elucidation of the relationship between phospholipid fatty acid turnover and the regulation of membrane protein function in this membrane preparation.
Structural colors, cosmetics, and fabrics

Structural colors are non-pigment colors that originate from the scattering of light from ordered microstructures, thin films, and even irregular arrays of scatterers. Examples include the flashing sparks of colors in opals and the brilliant hues of some butterflies such as Morpho rhetenor. Structural colors arise in nature from one or more of a palette of physical mechanisms that are now understood quite well and can be implemented industrially to produce structurally colored paints, fabrics, and cosmetics.
Influence of the Polydispersity of Polymeric Surfactants on the Enantioselectivity of Chiral Compounds in Micellar Electrokinetic Chromatography

Poly(sodium undecenoyl-L-leucinate) (poly-L-SUL) was fractionated by the use of different molecular weight cutoff (MWCO) filters to narrow the polydispersity of the macromolecular sizes of the polymeric surfactant. The resulting polymeric surfactant fractions were characterized by the use of three techniques: (1) pulsed field gradient nuclear magnetic resonance (PFG-NMR) was used to determine the hydrodynamic radii, (2) analytical ultracentrifugation (AUC) was used to determine the molecular weights, and (3) steady-state fluorescence was used to determine the polarity of the nonfractionated and fractionated polymeric surfactants. From the data acquired from PFG-NMR, AUC, and fluorescence, it was noted that the hydrodynamic radii and molecular weight of the fractionated poly-L-SUL increased, while the polarity decreased with the increase in the size of the MWCO filter. However, a similarity in physical properties was observed between the nonfractionated and 10−30K fractionated poly-L-SUL except for the hy...
Free and forced oscillations of a dynamic system with “linear hysteretic damping” (non-linear theory)

Abstract Using a non-linear model of “linear hysteretic” damping proposed by Reid, a study is made of the free and forced oscillations of a dynamic system with “linear hysteretic” damping. Exact solutions are presented for both free and forced oscillations and comparison is made with approximate solutions obtained by the Krylov-Bogoliubov-Van der Pol method.
Foreign threats to national security and an alternative model to local enforcement of US immigration laws

Recent attempts to commit terrorist attacks provide evidence of the continuing threat to the USA by foreign-born legal immigrants. Recent legislative changes to immigration policies, such as Arizona Immigration Bill 1070, call for increased involvement of local law enforcement. This bill has generated a strong negative reaction from both public special interest groups and police leadership, as those opposed to this type of legislation argue that it will have a detrimental impact on already fragile relationships between local law enforcement and immigrant communities. Other Western democratic countries have utilized alternative models to address their illegal immigration. The authors propose to explore the Netherlands Aliens Police as an alternative model to the Arizona Immigration Bill.
Stem cell maintenance: aMPLe splicing choices

In this issue of Blood, Xiao et al provide a direct link between the OTT protein and regulation of splicing of the RNA for c-MPL, which encodes the thrombopoietin receptor.1