cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Enhancing School Engagement in At-Risk, Urban Minority Adolescents Through a School-Based, Adult Mentoring Intervention

ABSTRACT The current study investigated whether a 5-month, adult mentoring intervention delivered by school personnel could enhance the school engagement of ninth grade urban minority adolescents. Compared to 20 at-risk students who did not receive an intervention, 20 at-risk students who were randomly assigned to mentoring exhibited significantly less decline during the first year of high school in perceived teacher support and decision making and were less likely to enter the discipline system. The effects were stronger and included sense of school belonging for participants who were “mentored as intended.” Moreover, mentee and mentor reports of relationship quality were associated with changes in mentored participants' school-related cognitions and behaviors. The findings indicate that adult mentoring may help to prevent normative declines in urban minority youths' school engagement.
An all-D amino acid peptide model of α1(IV)531-543 from type IV collagen binds the α3β1 integrin and mediates tumor cell adhesion, spreading, and motility

Type IV collagen promotes integrin-mediated cell adhesion, spreading, and motility. Several regions within the triple-helical domain of type IV collagen have been identified as tumor cellular recognition sites. Among these regions, the α1(IV)531−543 sequence, designated l-Hep-III, promotes integrin-mediated tumor cell adhesion and directly binds to the α3β1 integrin [Miles, A. J., et al. (1994) J. Biol. Chem. 269, 30939−30945; Miles, A. J., et al. (1995) J. Biol. Chem. 270, 29047−29050]. We have presently compared the activities of the all-d enantiomeric peptide model of α1(IV)531−543, designated d-Hep-III, with l-Hep-III, for promoting the adhesion, spreading, and motility of metastatic melanoma and breast carcinoma cells. d-Hep-III was found to support melanoma and breast carcinoma cell adhesion, spreading, and motility in a dose-dependent fashion similar to that of l-Hep-III. The adhesions of melanoma and breast carcinoma cells to both type IV collagen and fibronectin were effectively inhibited by l-He...
Consumption, Credit, and Institutions: Using Field Research and Theory to Consider Poverty Alleviation

This paper discusses the role of social, institutional, and psychological factors in the consumption and borrowing behavior of low-income households, and makes arguments in favor of policy interventions to alleviate some of the challenges of these households. Focus group evidence and findings on the current behaviors and borrowing patterns of low-income families are provided to support and motivate this perspective on consumption and policy. While the data are drawn from a specific region, the observations and findings could be generalized to other communities after accounting for different cultural and social characteristics. This research provides an in-depth understanding of the challenges confronted by low-income individuals at achieving their economic desires for lives of basic dignity, explores both economic and non-economic motivations, and provides insights useful for policy deliberation and model development.
Thermal nanoimprint fabrication of chalcogenide glass waveguide resonators

We demonstrated thermal nanoimprint fabrication of low loss waveguides and microring resonators in thermally evaporated and solution processed chalcogenide glass films. A high micro-ring quality factor of 75,000 is achieved at 1550 nm wavelength.
Stackelberg strategies and incentives in multiperson deterministic decision problems

Discrete and continuous-time two-person decision problems with a hierarchical decision structure are studied, and the applicability and appropriateness of a function-space approach in the derivation of causal real-time implementable optimal Stackelberg (incentive) strategies under various information patterns are discussed. Results on existence and derivation of incentive strategies for dynamic games formulated in abstract inner-product spaces, in the absence of any causality restriction on the leader's policies, are presented; these results are extended and specialized in two major directions: (1) discrete-time dynamic games, and (2) derivation of causal, physically realizable optimum affine Stackelberg policies for both discrete and continuous-time problems.
CELL TYPE-DEPENDENT REGULATION OF THE ACTIVITY OF THE NEGATIVE REGULATORY ELEMENT OF THE HEPATITIS B VIRUS CORE PROMOTER

Abstract The Hepatitis B virus core promoter regulates the expression of the core protein, the precore protein, and the viral DNA polymerase. This promoter is transactivated by HNF4, a liver-enriched transcription factor, through an HNF4 binding site located upstream of the core promoter. The transactivation activity of HNF4 on the core promoter is antagonized by a negative regulatory element (NRE) located upstream of the HNF4 binding site. While the NRE can effectively antagonize HNF4 to suppress the core promoter in HeLa cervical carcinoma cells, it has only a marginal suppressing activity on the core promoter in Huh7 hepatoma cells. By performing deletion-mapping experiments, we have found that the NRE contains at least three independent subregions named NREα, NREβ, and NREγ. Each of these three subregions possesses a weak suppressing activity, but together they generate a strong synergistic suppressing effect on the core promoter. The NREγ subregion is active in both HeLa and Huh7 cells and is bound by a protein factor slightly less than 130 kDa in molecular mass. The NREα and NREβ subregions are active in HeLa cells but not in Huh7 cells. Thus, the marginal suppressing effect of the NRE observed in Huh7 cells was mostly due to the activity of the NREγ subregion. No clear protein factor binding sites could be identified in the NREα and NREβ subregions when the HeLa nuclear extract was used for the DNaseI-footprinting analysis, indicating weak or no protein association with these two subregions in this cell type. However, extensive protein factor binding sites could be identified throughout the sequences of these two subregions when the Huh7 nuclear extract was used for the analysis. These results indicate that a different set of protein factors binds to the NREα and NREβ subregions in Huh7 cells and may account for the inactivity of these two subregions in this cell type. Thus, our results indicate that the cell type-dependent activity of the NRE is due to differential regulation of the activities of the NREα and NREβ subregions by the cell types. This regulation is most likely mediated by cell type-dependent protein factors.
EBM: evidence to practice and practice to evidence

Rationale The purpose of this paper is to explore new perspectives about difficulties academicians may have communicating with clinicians, obtaining subjects, and gaining compliance for their research. Aims and Objectives Evidence-based medicine (EBM) has been defined as an integration of best research evidence, clinical expertise, and patient values; however, clinical observation and experience are placed last in the evidence hierarchy with the randomized controlled trial held as the standard for clinical intervention. This paper describes how the hierarchical model of power in the research community obstructs new areas of knowledge, and how clinicians create resistance. Methods Foucault gave new perspectives describing how power circulates through individuals within organizational discourse. Drawing on literature and experience, and using a framework based on postmodern theoretical concepts, this paper examines patterns of discourse, subjectivity, resistance, and power/knowledge within the physical therapy profession. Results The hierarchical discourse of medical knowledge produces opposition rather than collaboration between researcher, clinician, and patient. Alleviating perceptions of dominance and creating connections produces cohesion within medical communities. Conclusions Evidence to practice and practice to evidence redefines EBM as a circular integration of best research evidence, clinical expertise, and patient values.
Seasonal nutrient dynamics in the vegetation on a southern Appalachian watershed

Nutrient dynamics in vegetation play an important role in determining the circulation and storage of nutrients in an ecosystem. The major objectives of this study were to estimate the plant nutrient pools (K, Ca, Mg, and Na) on a hardwood forest watershed at Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory, North Carolina, on a seasonal basis and to relate any observed trends to seasonal productivity and phenology. Late-summer nutrient standing crops in the vegetation were calculated to be 551 kg/ha Ca, 233 kg/ha K, 48 kg/ha Mg, and 48 kg/ha Na. Nitrogen P, and K concentrations in the leaves decreased seasonally, whereas Ca concentrations increased and Mg and Na concentrations remained relatively constant. Nutrient concentrations in the woody portion of the plants remained relatively constant. Standing crops of all nutrients increased seasonally with slight decreases of N and K in the leaves in the fall. Major conclusions of the study were (1) individual species and different plant components have nutrient storage-pool turnover times ranging from one year to several hundred years. Canopy species are important in long and short term nutrient cycles; nutrient-rich understory species such as Cornus florida are important in the annual cycle; and evergreen species are important in cycles of intermediatemore » length because of nutrient storage in their perennial leaves. (2) Even though most of the annual nutrient uptake is recycled the same season (92 percent, 79 percent, 93 percent and 68 percent of K, Ca, Mg, and Na uptake, respectively), the total accumulation of nutrients is considerable in a mature forest stand.« less
Sites of melatonin action in the brain of the house sparrow, Passer domesticus

The pineal gland and its hormone melatonin are important for the generation of circadian rhythms by passerine birds such as the house sparrow, Passer domesticus. The sites of melatonin action within the brain of this species were determined by employing two techniques. First, the distribution of 2[125I]iodomelatonin (IMEL) binding was determined by in vitro incubation in IMEL, autoradiography, and computer image analysis. Data from these experiments indicated reversible IMEL binding in a wide array of cerebral structures primarily associated with vision. Second, the effects of exogenous melatonin on cerebral uptake of the metabolic marker 2-deoxy[14C]glucose (2DG) were determined. Many of the same structures that bind IMEL also exhibited decreased 2DG uptake in response to melatonin administration, whereas structures that did not bind IMEL were unaffected by the hormone. The data suggest that much of the house sparrow's visual world is modulated on a circadian basis via the circadian secretion of melatonin. These observations are discussed in the context of avian circadian organization and the role it may play in the behavioral physiology of the bird.
Extent of Oxidation of Hydrocarbons Desorbing from the Lubricant Oil Layer in Spark-ignition Engines

The extent of oxidation of hydrocarbons desorbing from the oil layer has been measured directly in a hydrogen-fueled, spark-ignited engine in which the lubricant oil was doped with a single component hydrocarbon. The amount of hydrocarbon desorbed and oxidized could be measured simultaneously as the dopant was only source of carbon-containing species. The fraction oxidized was strongly dependent on engine load, hydrogen fuel-air ratio and dopant chemical reactivity, but only modestly dependent on spark timing and nitrogen dilution levels below 20 percent. Fast FID measurements at the cylinder exit showed that the surviving hydrocarbons emerge late in the exhaust stroke. © Copyright 1996 Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc.
Analysis of the CDF biorthogonal MRTD method with application to PEC targets

We consider the biorthogonal Cohen-Daubechies- Feauveau (CDF) wavelet family in the context of a biorthogonal multiresolution time-domain (bi-MRTD) analysis. A disadvantage of previous bi-MRTD analyses is an inability to handle abrupt changes in material properties, particularly for a perfect electric conductor (PEC). A multiregion method is proposed to address PEC targets. The proposed method is based on the fact that the CDF bi-MRTD may be viewed as a linear combination of several conventional finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) solutions. The implementation of the connecting surface is also simplified. Several numerical results are presented, with comparison to analytic and FDTD results.
A scanning micromirror with stationary rotation axis and dual reflective surfaces for 360° forward-view endoscopic imaging

We report a novel dual-reflective MEMS mirror for full-circumferential-scanning (FCS) (360°), forward-view endoscopic imaging applications. A unique electrothermal dual-folded-bimorph (DFB) actuator that can generate large rotation angles with a stationary rotation axis is employed. The fabricated devices demonstrate over 90° mechanical rotation angles at frequencies up to 60 Hz with driving voltages of less than 12 V. A fast response with a cut-off frequency above the device's mechanical resonance of 447 Hz has been achieved. FCS patterns have been experimentally obtained by combining both the mirror surfaces. The measured radius curvature and surface roughness of the mirror are about 0.65 m and 30 nm, respectively.
Supporting the SBML layout extension

Motivation: Researchers studying large or complex biochemical networks would benefit from the ability to automatically create lucid visualizations and store them in a portable and widely accepted format. Summary: Two modules, SBMLSupportLayout and SBWAutoLayout, support reading, creating, manipulating and writing layout information for biochemical models. SBMLSupportLayout can read, update, add and render model layout information. SBWAutoLayout can automatically layout models, graphically manipulate model layout and generate layout information for models without layout information. Availability: SBMLSupportLayout and SBWAutoLayout are distributed with the Systems Biology Workbench (SBW), which can be downloaded from http://www.sys-bio.org. Additionally, their visualization and layout capabilities are available online at http://www.sys-bio.org/Layout. Both modules run on Win32, Linux and the Mac OS X version is forthcoming. Contact: [email protected]
Advancements in technologies: new opportunities to investigate factors contributing to differential technology and information use

Technology use has been of interest to both practitioners and researchers for over a decade; however, the use of information manipulated and rendered by technologies has been largely ignored. One reason for this has been the difficulty in separating information use from technology use. Historically, information technologies have been rather passive, and merely gathered information to inform a human decision maker, which made it difficult to determine if the technology user made use of the information. Recent advances in expert systems technology have enabled the concurrent investigation of technology and information use because expert systems generate explicit courses of action for users to follow, which can be observed. Using an expert system, this empirical study investigated technology and information use to determine their impact on the organisation.
BMP and FGF regulate the development of EGF-responsive neural progenitor cells

Temporal changes in progenitor cell responses to extrinsic signals play an important role in development, but little is known about the mechanisms that determine how these changes occur. In the rodent CNS, expression of epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFRs) increases during embryonic development, conferring mitotic responsiveness to EGF among multipotent stem cells. Here we show that cell-cell signaling controls this change. Whereas EGF-responsive stem cells develop on schedule in explant and aggregate cultures of embryonic cortex, co-culture with younger cortical cells delays their development. Exogenous BMP4 mimics the effect of younger cells, reversibly inhibiting changes in EGFR expression and responsiveness. Moreover, blocking endogenous BMP receptors in progenitors with a virus transducing dnBMPR1B accelerates changes in EGFR signaling. This involves a non-cell-autonomous mechanism, suggesting that BMP negatively regulates signal(s) that promote the development of EGF-responsive stem cells. FGF2 is a good candidate for such a signal, as we find that it antagonizes the inhibitory effects of younger cortical cells and exogenous BMP4. These findings suggest that a balance between antagonistic extrinsic signals regulates temporal changes in an intrinsic property of neural progenitor cells.
A New Chromogenic Crown Ether 4″-Cyano-2″, 6″-dinitro-4′-aminobenzo-15-crown-5 as an Alkali Metal Extraction Reagent

Abstract A new chromogenic crown ether 4″-cyano-2″, 6″-dinitro-4′-aminobenzo-15-crown-5 (HL) has been synthesized. Upon dissociation of the amine proton the yellow colored HL gives a purple anion L− and extracts K+ ion into chloroform as a colored complex. A linear range of 10–700 ppm K+ in the presence of excess Na+ is possible using this new chromogenic crown ether reagent.
A cyber-physical power system test bed for intrusion detection systems

The rapid advancement of technology used in operation, monitoring, and control introduces several threats against power system. Cyber-physical power system vulnerabilities are increasing and the consequences of attack can be catastrophic. Understanding power system phenomena and attacks is vital to identifying and detecting such events. Researchers require a suitable power system test bed that can provide a platform for simulation of power system events and attacks. An essential part of such a test bed is the ability to provide software and hardware interaction to mimic real world scenarios. This paper presents a test bed for the development of an intrusion detection system (IDS) for power systems. The test bed consists of a power system modeled on a real time digital simulator (RTDS), a data collection and processing engine, and a MATLAB/RSCAD parameter calculation engine. This test bed provides a platform for hardware in the loop (HIL) simulation, power system attacks, and generates data sets required by cyber security researchers. Coordinated distance protection and overcurrent protection schemes are implemented on the IEEE 9 bus system and a 3-generator 4 bus system [11]. Fault, contingency and cyber-attack scenarios have been developed for both power systems. Selected relevant simulation results are presented.
A Task-Centered Instructional Strategy.

AbstractBased on a review of instructional design models, previous papers identified first principles of instruction. These principles prescribe a cycle of instruction consisting of activation, demonstration, application, and integration. These instructional phases are best implemented in the context of real-world tasks. A Pebble-in-the-Pond approach to instructional development prescribes a task-centered, content-first instructional design procedure, which implements these first principles in the resulting instructional products. This conceptual paper elaborates the component analysis and instructional strategy phases of this instructional design model. This paper also integrates previous instructional strategy prescriptions from Component Display Theory with the content components of knowledge objects. The strategy for teaching within the context of a whole task consists of applying strategy components to these various knowledge components in a way that enables learners to see their interrelationships a...
Reliability and Validity of a Nutrition and Food-Label Knowledge Test for Women with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Valid and reliable measures of nutrition knowledge are needed for program evaluation to develop predictive models of learning, food intake, and health behavior. The food label is an essential component of diabetes education. This study describes how an instrument designed to assess knowledge of food labels was pretested for reliability and validity. Five people assessed the test for face validity and rated the test at least 4 on a 5-point scale. The index of content validity was 0.76 based on a review of the test by five dietitians. The test was used to evaluate a nutrition intervention for women with diabetes using a pretest/post-test control-group design (n = 43). The coefficient of stability was 0.86 using the test–retest method among participants in the control group. The reliability estimate for internal consistency was 0.81 based on Kuder-Richardson formula 20. Item analysis found individual questions to be within acceptable limits. Participants in the experimental group showed significant gains in knowledge at post-test (p < .01), supporting the instructional sensitivity of the test. The approach used to assess the reliability and validity of an instrument was feasible and effective and is recommended prior to implementing a test for outcome evaluation.
System issues in boundary-scan board test

Boards have evolved into complex systems and even collections of interacting systems. Test engineers struggle to find out how these systems are initialized and booted because of poor documentation. While boundary-scan (IEEE Std 1149.1) is a powerful test tool, test engineers are finding out that yesterday's DFT rules and test approaches may actually be detrimental to successfully testing systems on a board. One culprit is the boot up process of the board and even individual ICs. The author attempts to answer the question of what can be done to address this.
Ferroelectric Thin Films of Bismuth-Containing Layered Perovskites: Part I, Bi4Ti3O12

Ferroelectric thin films of bismuth-containing layered perovskite Bi4Ti3O12 have been fabricated by a metalorganic decomposition (MOD) method. Crack-free and crystalline films of ∼5000 A thickness have been deposited on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrates. Different heat treatments have been studied to investigate the nucleation and growth of perovskite Bi4Ti3O12 crystallites. If the same composition and final annealing temperature are used, films with different orientations are obtained by different heating schedules. These films show a large anisotropy in ferroelectric properties. Theoretical considerations are presented to suggest that nucleation control is responsible for texture and grain-size evolution. Moreover, the origin of the ferroelectric anisotropy is rooted in the two-dimensional nature of layered polarization.
Effect of Dietary Selenium and Mercury and 203Hg Metabolism in Chicks

Abstract Two levels of selenium (0 or 10 p.p.m.) as Na2SeO3 and two levels of mercury (100 or 200 p.p.m.) as HgCl2 were added alone or in combination to a commercial diet and fed to day-old White Leghorn male chicks. The chicks were orally dosed with 203Hg after seven days of feeding the diets and counted in a whole body counter at 0, 4, 8, 12, 24, 36 and 60 hours after dosing. Ninety-six hours after dosing the liver, kidneys, lungs, breast muscle and tibia were removed and tissue 203Hg determined. Feeding the diets containing selenium and/or mercury for 10 days had no effect on growth, feed conversion or mortality. Dietary selenium (10 p.p.m.) did not influence 203Hg whole body retention but mercury increased the loss. The combinations of dietary mercury and selenium increased the rate of 203Hg loss for the first 12 hours after dosing. The kidney and liver had the highest amounts of 203Hg 96 hours after dosing.
Molecular simulations of DD-Peptidase, a model b-Lactam-binding protein: synergy between X-ray crystallography and computational chemistry

Using computer model building, the three-dimensional structure of an enzyme from Streptomyces R61 that is inhibited by s-lactam antibiotics has been constructed starting from incomplete X-ray crystallographic data for this 37.4 kDa protein. The so-called DD-peptidase catalyzes transpeptidation and hydrolysis of peptides terminating in D-Ala-D-Ala and is a model for bacterial transpeptidases and carboxypeptidases essential in the biosynthesis of the peptidoglycan layer of the cell wall. The structure, which was completed with the SYBYL molecular modeling package, has been refined by energy minimization and molecular dynamics using Quanta/CHARMm software. A simulation of 105 ps was run with waters of solvation in the active site. From these computations, the interatomic distances between the active serine and key residues around the active site were determined. Inadequacies at reproducing geometric details of the s-lactam ring of a cephalosporin are pointed out which are typical of most commercially available force fields.
Determination and prospective validation of normal values of diastolic parameters in 16-frame Tc-99m MIBI gated myocardial perfusion spect

Abstract Background: We aimed to evaluate diastolic function (DFx) in pts with normal myocardial perfusion and systolic function by 16 frame-gated Tc-99m MIBI myocardial perfusion SPECT (MPS) using a new algorithm in QGS software (Cedars-Sinai) which quantifies DFx parameters from the interpolated left ventricle (LV) volume / time curve. Methods: 56 patients (pts) [mean age 52.3 yrs (46 males)] with normal exercise stress MPS were studied. All reached 85% of MPHR. None had hypertension, resting ECG abnormality or known valvular or cardiac disease. The peak filling rate (PFR, in EDVs/sec), the time to peak filling (TTPF, in msec), as well as EDV, ESV and EF (%) were calculated from the filling and volume curves of MPS acquired 15–60 minutes after exercise stress. PFR and TTPF normal limits were obtained by applying a 2 SD threshold to the 56 pts and were then prospectively validated in another 20 consecutive pts [mean age 58.8 yrs (15 males)] with normal MPS and same pre-scan exclusion criteria. Student's-t test was used to assess the differences between groups and Pearson's correlation was used to assess the relationship among clinical (age, HR), systolic and DFx parameters. Results: QGS was successful in identifying LV DFx parameters in all pts. Mean HR was 73.57±8.68 bpm. Mean PFR and TTPF values were 2.57±0.47 and 163.62±19.95 respectively. PFR correlated with age, HR, and EF (r= 0.544, 0.388, and 0.564 respectively, all p 55 yrs old had lower PFR (p Conclusion: Assessment of the LV DFx using QGS analysis in 16-frame gated MPS is feasible. Normal limits of DFx parameters have been determined and prospectively validated. A decrease of PFR with aging was observed. DFx parameters from 16 frame gated MPS may provide useful adjunctive information in comprehensive MPS reporting.
Strategic Decision Processes in the Realm of Strategic Alliances

This chapter constitutes, to the best of my knowledge, the first review of the empirical literature on strategic decision processes in the realm of strategic alliances. I focused my review on those decision processes that are strategic, i.e., that deal with the question of how alliance-related strategies are formulated and implemented, and what impact formulation and implementation have on alliance and partner firm performance. By providing a synthesis of empirical findings on decision processes in interfirm collaborations, I intend to make two contributions: (1) outline the substantial body of knowledge that this research stream — in contrast to the fragmented and incoherent body of research on general alliance processes (Bell et al. 2006; Hennart 2006) — has accumulated, and discuss both its academic and managerial relevance; and (2) based on this review, I suggest a number of promising avenues for future research.
Book Review: Eric M. Uslaner. The Moral Foundations of Trust. Cambridge University Press, 2002

(2003). Book Review: Eric M. Uslaner. The Moral Foundations of Trust. Cambridge University Press, 2002. Administrative Theory & Praxis: Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 149-153.
Is episodic memory uniquely human? Evaluating the episodic-like memory research program

Recently, a research program has emerged that aims to show that animals have a memory capacity that is similar to the human episodic memory capacity. Researchers within this program argue that nonhuman animals have episodic-like memory of personally experienced past events. In this paper, I specify and evaluate the goals of this research program and the progress it has made in achieving them. I will examine some of the data that the research program has produced, as well as the operational definitions and assumptions that have gone into producing that data, in order to call into question the ultimate value of the episodic-like memory research program. I argue that there is a gap between the claims that the research program makes and the data it uses to support these claims, and that bridging this gap is essential if we want to claim that human episodic memory has a meaningful analog in animals. I end with some suggestions of how to potentially fix these problems.
Tunneling effect in 1,5 H-migration of a prototypical OOQOOH

Abstract Propane is the smallest molecule that can serve as a model of the chemistry of diesel autoignition. Diesel autoignition requires H-migration reactions of the type OOCH 2 CH 2 CH 2 OOH → HOOCH 2 CH 2 C HOOH. Previous studies of this type of H-migration reaction accounted for tunneling (through-barrier processes) using 1-D models of the reaction coordinate, namely, the Eckart or Wigner approximations. Here we present the first study to use multi-dimensional approaches, specifically, small- and large-curvature tunneling, to treat through-barrier processes. Calculations are carried out using the P olyrate program and make use of the M05-2X/6-31+G(d,p) level of theory.
Non-Paraxial Solution to Inverse Scattering in Optical Coherence Tomography

The analytic solution for inverse scattering in optical coherence tomography is formulated for fields that are non-paraxial. Such a solution is important in high numerical-aperture experiments where the paraxial approximation may not be valid.
On Second-Order Recurrences

(1965). On Second-Order Recurrences. The American Mathematical Monthly: Vol. 72, No. 5, pp. 500-506.
Cognitive orientation, identified curative factors, and depression as predictors for treatment outcomes in group therapy programs for alcoholism.

More emphasis is being placed on identifying patients' characteristics and attributes which exert important mediating effects on treatment octcomes in therapy (Bergin & Lambert, 1978). This study reports work recently undertaken in several alcohol grouptreatment facilities to initiate development of referral and treatment models based on patients' cognitive orientation, curative factors identified during therapy, and sociodemographic characteristics to improve the efficacy of therapy. It was reasoned that more selective assignment of patients to compatible therapy conditions would result in improved outcomes. If facilitative combinations could be identified, then such information could be useful in initial referral decisions and subsequent assignments to group therapy. The investigation studied 42 alcoholics from four group-treatment facilities (University Hospital, Veterans Administration Facility, Residential Community Hospital, and a Community Outreach Program) in upstate New York. Therapeutic groups were quite varied in orientation. The research design was quasi-experimental with repeated measures of all assessments occurring at 3-mo. intervals over 9 mo. Measurements included an assessment of cognitive orientation (Pepper, 1942) which places patients into categories of formism, mechanism, organicism, or contextualism, and the Zung Depression Scale (Zung, 1965), an abbreviated questionnaire on curative factors (I. D. Yalom, personal communication, 1979). A host of patients' sociodemographic factors including age, race, sex, marital status, education, religion, and number of children were recorded. Patients' experience or membership in Alcoholics Anonymous was also noted. Improvements and decrements in treatment outcomes were assessed with the Drinking Behavior Interview (Shelton, Hollister, & Gocka, 1969) which examines patterns of drinking, and level of social and occupational impairment in a semi-strumred 45-min. interview. Several specific findings emerged from the analysis as well as a general recommendation regarding referral and ueatment procedures. Patients' cognitive orientation
Building Energy Management in the FZI House of Living Labs

The FZI House of Living Labs is a research and demonstration environment that facilitates interdisciplinary research, development, and evaluation in real-life scenarios. It consists of various Living Labs addressing different research topics. In the Living Lab smartEnergy, solutions for the energy system of the future are investigated. For this reason, the whole FZI House of Living Labs has been equipped with building automation, distributed generation, thermal and electrical storage, and technologies that enable the flexibilization of energy supply and demand. The equipment, among others, includes a photovoltaic and battery storage system, a micro combined heat and power plant, and an adsorption chiller. A building energy management system was developed that integrates various communication technologies, and hence enables monitoring, data recording, visualization, and the integrated optimization of the devices and systems. This way, flexibilities can be utilized with regard to different optimization goals such as an increased self-consumption, or the provisioning of grid-supporting services.
Genetic parameters and trends for litter traits in U.S. Yorkshire, Duroc, Hampshire, and Landrace pigs.

Records on 251,296 Yorkshire, 75,262 Duroc, 83,338 Hampshire, and 53,234 Landrace litters born between 1984 and April of 1999 in herds on the National Swine Registry Swine Testing and Genetic Evaluation System were analyzed. Animal model and restricted maximum likelihood procedures were used to estimate variances of animal genetic (a), maternal genetic (m), permanent environmental, and service sire, and the covariances between a and m for number born alive (NBA), litter weight at 21 d (L21WT), and number weaned (NW). Fixed effects of contemporary groups were included in the analysis. Based on a single-trait model, estimates of heritabilities were 0.10, 0.09, 0.08, and 0.08 for NBA; 0.08, 0.07, 0.08, and 0.09 for L21WT; and 0.05, 0.07, 0.05, and 0.05 for NW in the Yorkshire, Duroc, Hampshire, and Landrace breeds, respectively. Estimates of maternal genetic effects were low and ranged from 0.00 to 0.02 for all traits and all breeds. Estimates of permanent environmental effects ranged from 0.03 to 0.08. Estimates of service sire effects ranged from 0.02 to 0.05. A bivariate analysis was used to estimate the genetic correlations among traits. Average genetic correlations over the four breeds were 0.13, 0.15, and 0.71 for NBA with L21WT, NBA with NW, and L21WT with NW, respectively. Average genetic trends were 0.018 pigs/yr, 0.114 kg/yr, and 0.004 pigs/yr for NBA, L21WT, and NW, respectively. Although estimates of heritabilities for litter traits were low and similar across breeds, genetic variances for litter traits were sufficiently large to indicate that litter traits could be improved through selection. This study presents the first set of breed-specific estimates of genetic parameters available from large numbers of field records. It provides information for use in national genetic evaluations.
Historical Review of Hip Equipment

This paper is one person’s endeavor to write a systematic account of the development of Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) equipment from the purchase of the first cold-wall HIP vessel through the first part of 1970.
Management of skin and soft-tissue infections at a community teaching hospital using a severity-of-illness tool

OBJECTIVES Skin and soft-tissue infections (SSTIs) encompass a diverse range of infections of varying severity. The Clinical Resource Efficiency Support Team (CREST) scoring system stratifies patients into four classes (I = least severe to IV = most severe) based on the Standardized Early Warning Score (SEWS). The objective of this study was to apply CREST to hospitalized patients with SSTIs in order to quantify disease severity and evaluate appropriateness of antibiotic management. METHODS This was a retrospective, hypothesis-generating, single-centre evaluation of hospitalized patients with SSTIs admitted in 2011. Based on CREST classification, the empirical antimicrobial choices were categorized as appropriate, over-treatment or under-treatment. RESULTS A total of 369 patients were screened and 200 met the inclusion criteria. The majority of patients were classified as either CREST class I (n = 68) or class II (n = 102). Over-treatment was more common in the less severe classes (88% and 32% in class I and class II, respectively; P < 0.05). Sixty-three percent of class I (n = 43) were over-treated due to both the use of intravenous antibiotics when oral therapy was sufficient and use of unnecessarily broad-spectrum antibiotics. In contrast, 25% (n = 26) of class II were over-treated due to use of unnecessarily broad-spectrum antibiotics. Overall clinical failure rates remained low with only 1%, 4% and 17% of patients unable to achieve initial response in class II, class III and class IV. CONCLUSIONS Retrospective application of CREST identified opportunities to improve the management of SSTIs. CREST can be of great value in discriminating less-severe SSTIs, which can be treated on an outpatient basis.
Submodular maximization with multi-knapsack constraints and its applications in scientific literature recommendations

Submodular maximization problems belong to the family of combinatorial optimization problems and enjoy wide applications. In this paper, we focus on the problem of maximizing a monotone submodular function subject to a d-knapsack constraint, for which we propose a streaming algorithm that achieves a (1/1+2D − e)-approximation of the optimal value, while it only needs one single pass through the dataset without storing all the data in the memory. In our experiments, we extensively evaluate the effectiveness of our proposed algorithm via an application in scientific literature recommendation. It is observed that the proposed streaming algorithm achieves both execution speedup and memory saving by several orders of magnitude, compared with existing approaches.
Clarifying an elusive construct: A systematic review of writing attitudes.

Although research recognizes that student attitudes toward writing have the potential to influence a variety of writing outcomes, there is no consensus as to what writing attitude signifies. Further, disparities between conceptualizations of writing attitude make the extant literature difficult to reconcile. In the present study, we systematically review writing attitude research published between 1990 and 2017. Our search procedure and quality analysis led to the retention of 46 articles examining the writing attitudes of students and teachers. Relatively few studies (n = 10) provided an explicit definition of writing attitudes. Further, although the authors of many studies (n = 16) conceptualized writing attitude as including a measure of liking/disliking writing, there was considerable variability in both conceptualization and operationalization throughout the literature, with some studies including measures of self-efficacy, perceived value, and other related constructs. Student writing attitudes were measured in a majority of the included studies (n = 33), and teacher writing attitudes were measured in substantially fewer studies (n = 6). Based on the findings of this review, we offer suggestions for researchers making inferences from studies of writing attitudes. Themes of the reviewed literature and implications for future research are also discussed.
The Transcendence of π and e

(1904). The Transcendence of π and e. The American Mathematical Monthly: Vol. 11, No. 12, pp. 219-223.
Surgeon Variability and Factors Predicting for Reoperation Following Breast-Conserving Surgery.

Reoperation after breast-conserving surgery (BCS) is common and has been partially associated with the lack of consensus on margin definition. We sought to investigate factors associated with reoperations and variation in reoperation rates across breast surgeons at our cancer center. Retrospective analyses of patients with clinical stage I–II breast cancer who underwent BCS between January and December 2014 were conducted prior to the recommendation of ‘no ink on tumor’ margin. Patient demographics and tumor and surgical data were extracted from medical records. A multivariate regression model was used to identify factors associated with reoperation. Overall, 490 patients with stage I (n = 408) and stage II (n = 89) breast cancer underwent BCS; seven patients had bilateral breast cancer and underwent bilateral BCS procedures. Median invasive tumor size was 1.1 cm, reoperation rate was 22.9% (n = 114) and varied among surgeons (range 15–40%), and, in 100 (88%) patients, the second procedure was re-excision, followed by unilateral mastectomy (n = 7, 6%) and bilateral mastectomy (n = 7, 6%). Intraoperative margin techniques (global cavity or targeted shaves) were utilized in 50.1% of cases, while no specific margin technique was utilized in 49.9% of cases. Median total specimen size was 65.8 cm3 (range 24.5–156.0). In the adjusted model, patients with multifocal disease were more likely to undergo reoperation [odds ratio (OR) 5.78, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.17–15.42]. In addition, two surgeons were found to have significantly higher reoperation rates (OR 6.41, 95% CI 1.94–21.22; OR 3.41, 95% CI 1.07–10.85). Examination of BCS demonstrated variability in reoperation rates and margin practices among our breast surgeons. Future trials should look at surgeon-specific factors that may predict for reoperations.
Abstract 2098: Clinical Predictors of Hepatic Fibrosis in Chronic Heart Failure

Background : Chronic heart failure (HF) may lead to irreversible liver injury and cirrhosis. However, the clinical features associated with advanced liver disease in HF patients are poorly defined. We sought to determine the clinical predictors of hepatic fibrosis in HF patients undergoing evaluation for heart transplant or ventricular assist device (VAD). Methods : Of 873 patients evaluated by the Advanced Heart Disease Service at our hospital from 1995–2006, we identified 61 patients who had liver tissue available for analysis. Pathologic specimens were obtained from the transjugular approach (n=35), at the time of VAD implantation (n=8), or at autopsy (n=18). Electronic medical records were reviewed for medical history and clinical data. Biopsy specimens were reviewed by a dedicated pathologist and scored for hepatic fibrosis. Tissue was insufficient for scoring in 2 patients. Student’s t-test and Chi-Square tests were used to compare clinical characteristics between patients with and without fibrosis. Results : Of the 59 patients with sufficient tissue for analysis, 47 had hepatic fibrosis on liver biopsy. As shown (Table), patients with hepatic fibrosis had worse renal function and were more likely to have moderate or severe tricuspid regurgitation (TR) (OR 5.0; 95% CI 1.2–21.7) and obstructive or mixed liver function (LFT) abnormalities (OR 5.0; 95% CI 1.4–22.4) than patients without hepatic fibrosis. There was no association between hepatic fibrosis and gender, age, type of cardiomyopathy, duration of symptoms, left or right ventricular function, filling pressures, hepatitis C status or abnormal abdominal imaging. Conclusions : Hepatic fibrosis is common in patients with advanced HF. Renal insufficiency, significant TR and abnormal LFTs were associated with hepatic fibrosis, but the predictive value of other clinical features is limited. Liver biopsy may be the best assessment of hepatic fibrosis in HF patients prior to transplantation or VAD.
Recombining Trees for One-Dimensional Forward Rate Models

There exist two classes of interest rate models. Short rate models (HW, CIR, BDT), easy in pricing and tough in calibration and forward rate models (HJM, BGM), easy in calibration and tough in pricing. Parameters in short rate models have no natural interpretation in terms of market volatility but many options can be priced on recombining trees. We find particularly inconvenient the procedure of fitting the initial yield curve - necessary for many short rate models. Parameters of forward rate models (especially BGM) have direct link to market volatility but there exists a common prejudice that recombining trees cannot be applied to forward rate models. This paper is an attempt to construct a model allowing both recombining trees and "calibration without programming". We would like to call both presented models "simplest possible term structure models" - at least we do not know any simpler model.
Investigation of Missing-Cluster Defects in UiO-66 and Ferrocene Deposition into Defect-Induced Cavities

Advancing our understanding of the defect formation mechanism in metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) is critical for the rational design of the material’s structure. In particular, the defects in the UiO-66 framework have been shown to have a significant impact on the framework functionality and stability. However, the effects of synthesis conditions on defect formation are elusive and our understanding of missing-ligand and missing-cluster defects in UiO-66 is far from clear. In this work, we demonstrate that the formation of missing-cluster (MC) defects is due to the large number of partially deprotonated ligands in synthesis solution. The proposed mechanism is verified by a series of syntheses controlling the defect formation. The results show that the quantity of MC defects is sensitive to deprotonation reagents, synthesis temperature, and reactant concentration. The pore size distribution derived from the N2 adsorption isotherm at 77 K allows accurate and convenient characterization of the defects in UiO...
In vitro activity of EDTA and TOL-463 against Neisseria gonorrhoeae

Neisseria gonorrhoeae quickly develops drug resistance. Time-kill curves revealed that EDTA and TOL-463 inhibit growth similar to penicillin, ciprofloxacin, and azithromycin. Furthermore, synergistic and additive antimicrobial interactions occurred when EDTA and TOL-463 were combined with penicillin or azithromycin, respectively, suggesting that further investigations into these unconventional antimicrobials may be advantageous.
Discussion on the distributed intelligent development of energy internet

Energy Internet is a major innovation in energy development, it involves the concept of Internet of Things, all the existing energy information (distributed generation, supply, consumption) can be connected through the network, get timely feedback, and select control according to demand. Energy development has undergone a micro-energy network, centralized supply, and then to distributed, decentralized, and to achieve ubiquitous state. Now in the distribution of the need for energy stations, there need to achieve synergy among the distribution energy. The Energy Internet distributed collaboration requires artificial intelligence to support its distribution, and distributed optimization synergy in turn requires a lot of artificial intelligence tools. Blockchain technology, as a distributed and shared database technology, has been applied to the concept of energy Internet because of its centrality, transparency, fairness and openness.
Description of the LINK system used for MUC-5

Over the past five years, we have developed a natural language processing (NLP) system called LINK. LINK is a unification-based system, in which all syntactic and semantic analysis is performed in a single step. Syntactic and semantic information are both represented in the grammar in a uniform manner, similar to HPSG (Pollard and Sag, 1987).