cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Trends in Hearing Loss Among Adolescents.

OBJECTIVES: Our aim with this article is to evaluate whether the prevalence of hearing loss is increasing among adolescents living in the United States. METHODS: All available data about hearing loss among adolescents from the large, federally funded National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) were analyzed. By using the 4 data releases between 1994 and 2010 (a total of 6891 adolescents), the prevalence of adolescent hearing loss >15 and ≥25 dB at low frequencies (0.5, 1, and 2 kHz) and high frequencies (3, 4, 6, and 8 kHz) for bilateral, unilateral, and any loss were calculated. RESULTS: Only 13 of 90 comparisons of prevalence across combinations of degree, frequency, and laterality of hearing loss revealed a statistically significant increase at P CONCLUSIONS: With previous analyses of NHANES data from 1994 to 2006, researchers showed that hearing loss among US adolescents was increasing. Based on the NHANES data from 1994 to 2010 that are now available, there is no consistent evidence that hearing loss among adolescents in the United States is increasing. Results reveal that conclusions about trends using data from 2 time points can be misleading. NHANES should resume collecting audiometric data as part of their data collection protocol so that trends in the prevalence of childhood hearing loss can be documented.
Standards in Simulation

Simulation should be mapped to curriculum and end-of-program outcomes. Placement and sequence of simulations may vary among programs. State Board of Nursing regulations and other accrediting bodies’ guidelines should be reviewed before substituting simulation for clinical hours. Simulation education, certification and accreditation are available from simulation organizations. Resources are available on the web to assist faculty developing simulations.
CodeSlinger: a case study in domain-driven interactive tool design for biomedical coding scheme exploration and use.

CodeSlinger is a desktop application that was developed to aid medical professionals in the intertranslation, exploration, and use of biomedical coding schemes. The application was designed to provide a highly intuitive, easy-to-use interface that simplifies a complex business problem: a set of time-consuming, laborious tasks that were regularly performed by a group of medical professionals involving manually searching coding books, searching the Internet, and checking documentation references. A workplace observation session with a target user revealed the details of the current process and a clear understanding of the business goals of the target user group. These goals drove the design of the application’s interface, which centers on searches for medical conditions and displays the codes found in the application’s database that represent those conditions. The interface also allows the exploration of complex conceptual relationships across multiple coding schemes.
Alcohol, Youth, and the Justice System

Alcohol clearly is the drug of choice among youth. The vast majority of persons under 21 have consumed it, a significant minority drink heavily, and few youth have difficulty obtaining it. Although in all states the minimum legal drinking age now is 21, and most states prohibit sales to or possession by minors, alcohol misuse and attendant problems are commonplace among adolescents. The most serious of these problems, the three leading causes of death among adolescents—unintentional injuries, homicide, and suicide—also are correlated with alcohol use (US Department of Health and Human Services, 1991). Alcohol-related traffic crashes account for 20% of all deaths of youth between 15 and 20 (Snyder & Sickmund, 1995). Alcohol abuse also is frequently associated with adolescent criminal or delinquent behavior, particularly violent offenses against persons (e.g., Elliott, Huizinga, & Menard, 1989). Nevertheless, scholarly examination of underage drinking as a criminal justice rather than health and safety problem has rarely captured much criminological attention, while drunk driving has been considered a “junk crime” (Ross, 1984).
Automatic labeling of cortical sulci for the human fetal brain based on spatio-temporal information of gyrification

Accurate parcellation and labeling of primary cortical sulci in the human fetal brain is useful for regional analysis of brain development. However, human fetal brains show large spatio-temporal changes in brain size, cortical folding patterns, and relative position/size of cortical regions, making accurate automatic sulcal labeling challenging. Here, we introduce a novel sulcal labeling method for the fetal brain using spatio-temporal gyrification information from multiple fetal templates. First, spatial probability maps of primary sulci are generated on the templates from 23 to 33 gestational weeks and registered to an individual brain. Second, temporal weights, which determine the level of contribution to the labeling for each template, are defined by similarity of gyrification between the individual and the template brains. We combine the weighted sulcal probability maps from the multiple templates and adopt sulcal basin-wise approach to assign sulcal labels to each basin. Our labeling method was applied to 25 fetuses (22.9-29.6 gestational weeks), and the labeling accuracy was compared to manually assigned sulcal labels using the Dice coefficient. Moreover, our multi-template basin-wise approach was compared to a single-template approach, which does not consider the temporal dynamics of gyrification, and a fully-vertex-wise approach. The mean accuracy of our approach was 0.958 across subjects, significantly higher than the accuracies of the other approaches. This novel approach shows highly accurate sulcal labeling and provides a reliable means to examine characteristics of cortical regions in the fetal brain.
Increased Use of Natural Gas in Blast Furnace Ironmaking: Mass and Energy Balance Calculations

In blast furnace ironmaking, coke can be partially replaced by injected natural gas. Tuyere injection of cold natural gas is commonly practiced in North America. In this work, limits to the tuyere injection rate have been quantified with mass and energy balances. The fundamental origin of the limits is the endothermicity of methane injection. In principle, shaft injection of preheated and partially combusted methane would obviate the endothermic effect. However, the thermal and chemical energy parameter indicates that the energy requirement in the lower part of the furnace—to melt hot metal and slag—might not be met in the case of shaft injection. Tuyere injection of preheated methane might be a feasible alternative. Calculated combustion kinetics support the feasibility of partial combustion of preheated methane (with sub-stoichiometric oxygen) before injection.
Optical stereolithography of antifouling zwitterionic hydrogels

This paper reports the rapid 3D printing of tough (toughness, UT, up to 141.6 kJ m-3), highly solvated (φwater∼ 60 v/o), and antifouling hybrid hydrogels for potential uses in biomedical, smart materials, and sensor applications, using a zwitterionic photochemistry compatible with stereolithography (SLA). A Design of Experiments (DOE) framework was used for systematically investigating the multivariate photochemistry of SLA generally and, specifically, to determine an aqueous SLA system with an additional zwitterionic acrylate, which significantly increases the gelation rate, and the resilience of the resulting hybrid hydrogels relative to an equivalent non-ionic polyacrylamide hydrogel. Specifically, the resulting zwitterionic hybrid hydrogels (Z-gels) can be tuned over a large range of ultimate strains, ca. 0.5 < γult < 5.0, and elastic moduli, ca. 10 < E < 1000 kPa, while also demonstrating a high resilience under cyclic tensile loading. Importantly, unlike traditional chemistry, increasing the elastic modulus of the Z-gels does not necessarily reduce the ultimate strain. Moreover, the Z-gels can be rapidly printed using a desktop commercial SLA 3D printer, with relatively low photoirradiation dosages of visible light (135 to 675 mJ cm-2 per 50-100 μm layer). Compared with the counterpart polyacrylamide hydrogels, the Z-gels have greater antifouling properties and exhibit 58.2% less absorption of bovine serum albumin.
It’s All Relative! Engaging Nursing and Exercise Science Students in Chemical Education Using Medical Case Studies

Chemical education for health profession curricula has the rigorous task of balancing chemical concepts in relation to healthcare and concepts presented on health profession graduate school admissi...
Evaluation of Implementation Strategies of Onsite Water-Conserving Technologies in Three Urban Neighborhoods

AbstractThis paper addresses a knowledge gap that exists for citywide or neighborhood-wide applications of onsite water-conserving technologies, such as rainwater and graywater systems. A framework...
Chapter 20 – Vehicle Modeling

Picoscopic modeling requires explicit models for vehicles that are separated from driver models so that the effects of improved driving strategies and cooperation between drivers can be examined at a great level of detail. As an attempt in this direction, this chapter introduces a simple dynamic interactive vehicle model that requires little calibration effort and few computational resources. The dynamic interactive vehicle model takes as input a driver’s desired acceleration, deceleration, and steering, and outputs vehicle dynamic responses, including longitudinal and lateral accelerations and yaw velocity.
Inflammation Drives Alternative First Exon usage to Regulate Immune Genes including a Novel Iron Regulated Isoform of Aim2

Determining the layers of gene regulation within the innate immune response is critical to our understanding of the cellular responses to infection and dysregulation in disease. We identified a conserved mechanism of gene regulation in human and mouse via changes in alternative first exon (AFE) usage following inflammation, resulting in changes to isoform usage. Of these AFE events, we identified 50 unannotated transcription start sites (TSS) in mice using Oxford Nanopore native RNA sequencing, one of which is the cytosolic receptor for dsDNA and known inflammatory inducible gene, Aim2. We show that this unannotated AFE isoform of Aim2 is the predominant isoform transcribed during inflammation and contains an iron-responsive element in its 5′UTR enabling mRNA translation to be regulated by iron levels. This work highlights the importance of examining alternative isoform changes and translational regulation in the innate immune response and uncovers novel regulatory mechanisms of Aim2.
Is a Friend in Need a Friend Indeed? Inclusion and Exclusion in Mutual Insurance Networks in Southern Ghana

Mutual insurance has been shown, theoretically and empirically, to be incomplete and limited by asymmetric information and lack of enforcement mechanisms. While some research has shown that networks based on kinship, neighborhood and ethnicity may provide a locus of insurance and thus a way of overcoming these problems, these studies are not fine enough to predict the inclusion and exclusion of individuals. Using data from rural Ghana, we examine the role of social relations in obtaining assistance in the face of shocks. We examine this at both the intra-household and community levels. At the household level, asking for and receiving assistance from the spouse is related to gender, the quality of the marital relationship, and the wealth of household members. At the community level, asking for and receiving help are correlated with membership in a major lineage, participation in secular organizations, the individual?s fostering history, and anticipated land inheritance. We also show that these factors differ depending on whether the shortfall was for a household or personal item (as perceived by the respondent). This work helps us to identify individuals who are more likely to fall outside of mutual insurance networks and require interventions to help them cope with risk.
Sacred or Profane: Celebrating Female Sexuality in East-Central African History and the Missionary Response

Over the many pre-colonial centuries of East-Central African history, sexual relations between women and men intersected with custom, ritual, and production in a variety of ways. East-Central Africans of the nineteenth century viewed sexuality as normal and ordinary and not at all as furtive or forbidden. The sex act was capable of conveying spiritual potency in liminal contexts or, if misused could be dangerous. These ideas were embedded and expressed in cultural practices going back many centuries. At least two sets of customary practices-- labia stretching and the prohibition of sexual intercourse prior to and during manufacturing activity-- date to the beginnings of settlement by Bantu speakers in the region more than two thousand years ago. Ritual sexual intercourse accompanied a variety of ceremonies in different communities, from those consecrating a new village to those securing the safety of a newborn. The frank acceptance of sexuality put East-Central Africans at odds with European missionaries. Ironically these same missionaries recorded, in great detail, most of the local ceremonies involving sex or sexuality, since they believed they had to understand them in order to transform them. Sex, according to East-Central Africans, was to be enjoyed but was also both dangerous and healing. The degree of gender parity found far back in time in these matrifocal societies was also, notably, reflected in customs that encouraged and enhanced female as well as male sexuality.
Florid sympathetic ophthalmia.

A 32 year-old male sustained a perforating firework-related open globe injury of his right eye, underwent an exploration and repair within twenty-four hours, and developed a bilateral granulomatous...
Messages Communicated Through Mathematics Content for Elementary Teachers Course Syllabi: A Focus on Mathematical Disposition and Collaboration

Professional organisations have provided recommendations for prospective elementary teachers (PTs) to engage in mathematics coursework designed for teachers. In this study, 37 syllabi obtained from instructors of these courses – termed Mathematics Content for Elementary Teachers (MCfET) courses in this paper – were analysed through the lens of messages communicated about the nature of mathematics teaching and learning. Findings indicate that the syllabi in this study communicated messages about mathematical content as well as messages related to mathematical disposition and the role of collaboration in the mathematics classroom. Syllabi presented mathematical disposition messages in two forms: mathematical (i.e., seeing mathematics in the world, mathematics as a sense-making activity) and personal (i.e., belief in oneself, self-assessment), while other syllabi presented potential to promote mathematical disposition. The role of collaboration was described in general and mathematical terms. Careful construction of these messages can help PTs develop a productive mathematical disposition and consider the role of collaboration as they prepare to teach mathematics.
Recurrent Neural Networks for Time Series Data

In this chapter, we discuss neural networks that are specifically tailored to solve problems where the inputs are time series data, i.e., inputs that represent a sequence of values. We begin with the simplest such network, the basic recurrent neural network, where the output of a neuron can be an input to itself. We discuss how these networks function and demonstrate some issues with such a construction, including vanishing gradients when the input sequences are long. We then develop a more sophisticated network, the long short-term memory (LSTM) network to deal with longer sequences of data. Examples include predicting the frequency and shift of a signal and predicting the behavior of a cart-mounted pendulum
The Brownian loop soup stress-energy tensor.

The Brownian loop soup (BLS) is a conformally invariant statistical ensemble of random loops in two dimensions characterized by an intensity $\lambda>0$. Recently, we constructed families of operators in the BLS and showed that they transform as conformal primary operators. In this paper we provide an explicit expression for the BLS stress-energy tensor and compute its operator product expansion with other operators. Our results are consistent with the conformal Ward identities and our previous result that the central charge is $c = 2 \lambda$. In the case of domains with boundary we identify a boundary operator that has properties consistent with the boundary stress-energy tensor. We show that this operator generates local deformations of the boundary and that it is related to a boundary operator that induces a Brownian excursion starting or ending at its insertion point.
Feeding, Growth, and the Thermal Environment of Cabbage White Caterpillars, Pieris rapae L.

Abstract Laboratory studies of temperature effects on short‐term feeding and growth rates were combined with field data on thermal environments to explore the consequences of temperature variation for growth of caterpillars of the cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae. Mean short‐term (24‐h) consumption and growth rates of fourth‐instar P. rapae feeding on collard leaves increased continuously with increasing temperatures between 10° and 35°C, peaked at 35°C, and declined rapidly with temperatures above 35°C. Physical models can mimic temperatures of real fifth‐instar caterpillars under collard leaves within 1°–2°C in sunny summer conditions in Seattle, Washington. Continuous recordings of operative temperatures of model caterpillars in a collard garden suggest that, at the timescale of the duration of the fifth instar (5–8 d in the field), P. rapae caterpillars frequently experience temperatures spanning a 25°C range, they spend most of their time at temperatures well below those that maximize growth, an...
Crystal structure of poly[(μ3-thio­cyanato-κ3N:S:S)(tri­methyl­phosphine sulfide-κS)copper(I)]

In the title compound, [Cu(NCS)(C3H9PS)]n, the thio­cyanate ions bind the CuI atoms covalently, forming infinite –Cu—SCN—Cu– chains parallel to the a axis. Each CuI atom is also coordinated to a tri­methyl­phosphine sulfide group via a Cu—S bond. Two crystallographically independent chains propagate in opposite directions, and are held together in a ribbon arrangement by long bonds between CuI atoms in the first chain and thio­cyanate S atoms in the second, with Cu—S = 2.621 (1) A. The geometry around the CuI atoms in the first chain is distorted tetra­hedral, with angles involving the long Cu—S bond much less than ideal, and the S—Cu—N angle between the phosphine sulfide S atom and the thio­cyanate N atom opening out to 133.19 (9)°. Each CuI atom in the second chain appears to be disordered between two positions 0.524 (4) A apart, with occupancy factors of 0.647 (6) and 0.353 (6). The CuI atom in the major site is in a distorted trigonal–planar configuration, with the S—Cu—N angle between the phosphine sulfide and the thio­cyanate N atom again opened out, to 137.01 (15)°. The CuI atom in the minor site, however, forms in addition a long bond [Cu—S = 2.702 (5) A] to the phosphine sulfide of the first chain, not the thio­cyanate S atom, to provide a further link between the chains.
The Real and Illusory after September 11, 2001, in Elfriede Jelinek's Bambiland and Babel

Elfriede Jelinek's play with media and violence is particularly relevant after the events of September 11, 2001. Her 2003 drama Bambiland and the accompanying triad of monologues in Babel (2004) exist in the medial and reality rubble of the twin towers and the “war on terror.” Jelinek mimes the transformation of war into television by the twenty-four hour news cycle and the transmission of “live” events that compose the natural outgrowth of the September attacks. A media war in Iraq—a counter-reaction that must be understood as a reaction to television images —sought to create a new illusory system out of the twin towers' collapse; Bambiland and Babel attempt to hack this replacement system. Through this hack the dramas test whether overwhelming media with its own violence can politicize the virtual against the virtualization of politics and violence.
Do–It–Yourself Urban Design: The Social Practice of Informal “Improvement” Through Unauthorized Alteration:

There are numerous ways in which people make illegal or unauthorized alterations to urban space. This study identifies and analyzes one that has been largely ignored in social science: explicitly f...
Carbohydrate metabolism and cervical (uterine) carcinoma.

Abstract The classical glucose tolerance test was per[ormed on 26 ambulatory, nonhospitalized, biopsy-proved squamous cell cervical carcinoma patients and compared with similar testing of 26 age- and sex-paired individuals without cancer. Three items deserve special mention. First, the [requency of glycosuria in the cancer group is approximately fourfold that observed in the noncancer persons. Second, the frequency of elevated blood glucose levels in the cancer group is approximately twofold that in the noncancer group. Third, the mean blood glucose values at every temporal point are statistically higher in the oncologic group versus those without cancer.
Modification of the Transition between States

Step 5: State. Review the entry into and exit from the states listed in Step 2 as it occurs in therapy or is reported for current relationships. When indicated, describe the states of the therapist or the therapist-patient pair. Describe the effect of interventions on the transitions between states. Include the effect of new external events on states and continuation of process after therapy when such data are available. If physical or chemical treatments have been used, describe changes in state in relation to the time of treatment with these agents. If the patient’s environment changes during treatment, including description of such factors as economic, historical, ecological, or social events.
Compressing subbanded image data with Lempel-Ziv-based coders

A method of improving the compression of image data using Lempel-Ziv-based coding is presented. Image data is first processed with a simple transform, such as the Walsh Hadamard Transform, to produce subbands. The subbanded data can be rounded to eight bits or it can be quantized for higher compression at the cost of some reduction in the quality of the reconstructed image. The data is then run-length coded to take advantage of the large runs of zeros produced by quantization. Compression results are presented and contrasted with a subband compression method using quantization followed by run-length coding and Huffman coding. The Lempel-Ziv-based coding in conjunction with run-length coding produces the best compression results at the same reconstruction quality (compared with the Huffman-based coding) on the image data used.
Bridging Theory and Practice

New Public Management (NPM) and New Public Service (NPS) are major reform approaches promoted and debated in the public affairs literature as competing alternatives to the traditional bureaucratic paradigm. Research has focused more on theoretical and prescriptive questions than on empirical analysis of these approaches in practice. The present study examines their application in the context of local school districts. Findings suggest that elements of both approaches are common in local school districts, with the efficiency goal of NPM dominating budgetary practices. Districts tend not to adopt these reforms comprehensively, however, and some elements are far more widespread than others. Findings identify political and management variables associated with NPM and NPS approaches, as well as economic variables associated with an NPS approach. Specifically, a recent failure to meet adequate yearly progress, based on federal No Child Left Behind legislation, is a significant positive predictor for both NPM an...
SAT-Based Counterexample Guided Abstraction Refinement

We describe new techniques for model checking in the counterexample guided abstraction/refinement framework. The abstraction phase 'hides' the logic of various variables, hence considering them as inputs. This type of abstraction may lead to 'spurious' counterexamples, i.e. traces that cannot be simulated on the original (concrete) machine. We check whether a counterexample is real or spurious with a SAT Checker. We then use a combination of Integer Linear Programming (ILP) and machine learning techniques for refining the abstraction based on the counterexample. The process is repeated until either a real counterexample is found or the property is verified. We have implemented these techniques on top of the model checker NuSMV and the SAT solver Chaff. Experimental results prove the viability of these new techniques.
Tiger e-learning system

There are many ways to present educational materials in the classroom, including but not limited to: video, pictures, power point, handouts, animation, etc. But because of limited time and resources, it is difficult or almost impossible for an instructor to make all of the information available for all of the students at the same time. With the dramatic increase in the internet and technology, communication, and information are made more available to everyone. This paper is going to describe the development and initial experiences of a web based learning system, Tiger E-Learning System that was developed to facilitate instructors with functionalities to manage courses, educational materials, and keeping track of the student learning progress.
Long-term study of cell-mediated responses to Borrelia burgdorferi in the laboratory mouse.

Abstract Borrelia burgdorferi infection of disease-susceptible (C3H) and -resistant (BALB) mice resulted in impaired proliferation to both T- and B-cell mitogens up to 30 days after inoculation. Interleukin-2 and -4 production was also impaired, paralleling the T-cell response to concanavalin A. Impaired lymphocyte proliferation could not be attributed to diminished numbers of T or B cells and was found to depend on the lymphoid organ (spleen or lymph node) examined. Prostaglandin production accounted for part of this immune dysfunction. Attempts to assess antigen-specific proliferation to B. burgdorferi were inconsistent, and delayed-type hypersensitivity responses were not detected. Adoptive transfer of T-enriched cells from chronically infected donors failed to prevent infection and disease development in recipient C3H mice. The current study emphasizes caution in the study of B. burgdorferi antigen-specific assays and argues against the role of a vigorous T-cell response in Lyme borreliosis in infected laboratory mice.
Social Capital and Human Mortality: Explaining the Rural Paradox with County-Level Mortality Data

The “rural paradox” refers to standardized mortality rates in rural areas that are unexpectedly low in view of well-known economic and infrastructural disadvantages there. We explore this paradox by incorporating social capital, a promising explanatory factor that has seldom been incorporated into residential mortality research. We do so while being attentive to spatial dependence, a statistical problem often ignored in mortality research. Analyzing data for counties in the contiguous United States, we find that: (1) the rural paradox is confirmed with both metro/non-metro and rural-urban continuum codes, (2) social capital significantly reduces the impacts of residence on mortality after controlling for race/ethnicity and socioeconomic covariates, (3) this attenuation is greater when a spatial perspective is imposed on the analysis, (4) social capital is negatively associated with mortality at the county level, and (5) spatial dependence is strongly in evidence. A spatial approach is necessary in county-level analyses such as ours to yield unbiased estimates and optimal model fit.
Selection for high voluntary wheel-running increases speed and intermittency in house mice (Mus domesticus)

In nature, many animals use intermittent rather than continuous locomotion. In laboratory studies, intermittent exercise regimens have been shown to increase endurance compared with continuous exercise. We hypothesized that increased intermittency has evolved in lines of house mice (Mus domesticus) that have been selectively bred for high voluntary wheel-running (wheel diameter 1.12 m) activity. After 23 generations, female mice from four replicate selection lines ran 2.7 times more revolutions per day than individuals from four random-bred control lines. To measure instantaneous running speeds and to quantify intermittency, we videotaped mice (N=41) during a 5-min period of peak activity on night 6 of a 6-day exposure to wheels. Compared with controls (20 revs min(-1) while actually running), selection-line females (41 revs min(-1)) ran significantly faster. These instantaneous speeds closely matched the computer-recorded speeds over the same 5-min period. Selection-line females also ran more intermittently, with shorter (10.0 s bout(-1)) and more frequent (7.8 bouts min(-1)) bouts than controls (16.8 s bout(-1), 3.4 bouts min(-1)). Inter-bout pauses were also significantly shorter in selection-line (2.7 s) than in control-line (7.4 s) females. We hypothesize that intermittency of locomotion is a key feature allowing the increased wheel-running performance at high running speeds in selection-line mice.
'So you want to be a clinician-educator...': designing a clinician-educator curriculum for internal medicine residents.

Background: Despite a growing demand for skilled teachers and administrators in graduate medical education, clinician-educator tracks for residents are rare and though some institutions offer ‘resident-as-teacher’ programs to assist residents in developing teaching skills, the need exists to expand training opportunities in this area.Methods: The authors conducted a workshop at a national meeting to develop a description of essential components of a training pathway for internal medicine residents. Through open discussion and small group work, participants defined the various roles of clinician-educators and described goals, training opportunities, assessment and resource needs for such a program.Results: Workshop participants posited that the clinician-educator has several roles to fulfill beyond that of clinician, including those of teacher, curriculum developer, administrator and scholar. A pathway for residents aspiring to become clinician educators must offer structured training in each of these four...
Blunt Chest Trauma: Extrapericardial Cardiac Tamponade by a Mediastinal Hematoma

Mediastinal hematoma resulting from blunt chest trauma can cause compression of the right ventricle and extrapericardial cardiac tamponade. The diagnosis in this instance was aided by conventional two-dimensional echocardiography in addition to hemodynamic measurements. The atypical aspects of this form of cardiac tamponade are discussed.
Female preference in the context of male–male interactions in Maylandia zebra of Lake Malawi

The mbuna cichlids of Lake Malawi are a diverse, monophyletic, and recently derived clade. Sexual selection is thought to have accelerated their rapid diversification, though the mechanism by which this has occurred remains unknown. In this study, we examine the effect that male–male interactions have on female preference. We first used a short interaction experiment as a proxy for male dominance. We then measured female preference for (1) a single, isolated male; (2) a group of three, highly ranked males, relative to a group of lower ranked males; and (3) a group of three, mixed-ranked males against a similar group of mixed-rank males. We found that male dominance was highly correlated with male standard length. Female preference for male standard length and for dominance rank was significant in both isolated and group interactions. However, females only showed preference for groups of interacting males when males were segregated by dominance rank, not when groups were composed of both dominant and subordinate males. The results suggest that male–male contests influence female mating decisions. By investigating the rules that dictate the outcomes of such interactions we can elucidate the role that behavior plays in the diversification of this species-rich lineage.
Does the Threat of the Death Penalty Affect Plea Bargaining in Murder Cases? Evidence from New York’s 1995 Reinstatement of Capital Punishment

This article investigates whether the death penalty encourages defendants charged with potentially capital crimes to plead guilty in exchange for lesser sentences. I exploit a natural experiment in New York State: the 1995 reinstatement of capital punishment, coupled with the public refusal of some prosecutors to pursue death sentences (N.Y. Penal Law 125.25 [McKinney 1975]). Using individual-level data on all felony arrests in the state between 1985 and 1998, I find the death penalty leads defendants to accept plea bargains with harsher terms, but does not increase defendants' overall propensity to plead guilty. A differences-in-differences analysis of a national cross-section of homicide defendants confirms these results.
Articulation Quality Is Inversely Related to Redundancy When Children or Adults Have Verbal Control

Abstract Early research on spoken language established that words extracted from their original sentential contexts were often very hard to understand. Their intelligibility was modulated by the context from which they were taken: Words excised from highly predictive contexts were less intelligible than ones taken from less predictive contexts, suggesting that talkers compensate for weak context by improving articulation. Curiously, the only study to use children as talkers in this paradigm found the reverse pattern—better intelligibility of words from predictive contexts. Experiment 1 of the current study replicated this odd result, and showed that it only occurred when children were reading prepared materials; the “normal” adult-like pattern was found in the children's spontaneous conversation. Experiment 2 demonstrated that adults can be induced to produce the “reverse” pattern, when they are placed in a challenging reading situation. Experiment 3 showed that adults with high verbal skills produce the normal adult-like pattern when reading aloud, whereas adults with only average verbal skills do not. Collectively, the results indicate that the traditional effect of redundancy can be found only when talkers have good control of the production situation. Children as young as ten can in fact compensate for contextual weakness through articulatory enhancement, but only in conversational situations that afford such control.
A theory of phenomenal geometry and its applications.

The geometry of perceived space (phenomenal geometry) is specified in terms of three basic factors: the perception of direction, the perception of distance or depth, and the perception of the observer’s own position or motion. The apparent spatial locations of stimulus points resulting from these three factors thereupon determine the derived perceptions of size, orientation, shape, and motion. Phenomenal geometry is expected to apply to both veridical and illusory perceptions. It is applied here to explain a number of representative illusions, including the illusory rotation of an inverted mask (Gregory, 1970), a trapezoidal window (Ames, 1952), and any single or multiple point stimuli in which errors in one or more of the three basic factors are present. It is concluded from phenomenal geometry that the size-distance and motion-distance invariance hypotheses are special cases of the head motion paradigm, and that proposed explanations in terms of compensation, expectation, or logical processes often are unnecessary for predicting responses to single or multiple stimuli involving head or stimulus motion. Two hypotheses are identified in applying phenomenal geometry. It is assumed that the perceptual localization of stimulus points determines the same derived perceptions, regardless of the source of perceptual information supporting the localizations. This assumption of cue equivalence or cue substitution provides considerable parsimony to the geometry. Also, it is assumed that the perceptions specified by the geometry are internally consistent. Departures from this internal consistency, such as those which occur in the size-distance paradox, are considered to often reflect the intrusion of nonperceptual (cognitive) processes into the responses. Some theoretical implications of this analysis of phenomenal geometry are discussed.
Strict matching matroids and matroid algorithms

A simple characterization of the set MCOLOOP of coloops in the strict matching matroid of an undirected graph G - (V,n) is provided, which allows the Edmonds decomposition of G to be produced in O(|V|5/2) Based on this decomposition, we have the following results' Two graphs associated with G are produced in . One is a bipartite graph with at most edges whose transversal matroid is isomorphic to the strict matching matroid of G; the other is a directed graph with at most edges, represending the strict gammoid dual to the strict matching matroid. The matroid components of the strict matching matroid of G are produced in , where ∂ is the matching defect of G and K(G) number of component G(V MCOLOOP). We show how to list the bases of the strict matching matroid of G and also calculate its Whitney and Tutle polynomials, in where N is the number of bases in the matroid.
Enhanced UV penetration due to ozone cross‐section changes induced by CO2 doubling

Models predict that CO_2 doubling in the atmosphere cools the stratosphere by as much as 10°C. We argue that this effect alone, through the temperature dependence of the ozone spectrum, can result in an increase of a few percent in UV-B (280–320 nm) penetration at the Earth's surface. The increase in Erythema-weighted UV radiation is about 1%. Future spectral observations of UV at the surface could distinguish this effect from any result of changes in ozone abundance.
Some observations on game ranching in Southern Africa

Abstract In recent years in East and Southern Africa, increasing pressure of Man and domesticated animals on the natural environment has caused a rapid deterioration of soil, vegetation, and water resources, together with widespread destruction of wildlife. The use of vegetation by wild animals in semi-arid areas such as the ‘lowveld’ of Rhodesia tends to be far more efficient than is its use by cattle. Game ranching —the scientific management of many species of wild animals in their natural habitat—has been carried out successfully in Rhodesia and South Africa for a number of years. In protein-hungry Africa, with its great unsatisfied demand for meat, game ranching, if practised more widely, could help to satisfy some of this demand. This is in addition to the obvious need for the conservation of wild animals for scientific and aesthetic reasons and as a source of delight to, and revenue from, increasing numbers of tourists. Statistical information is given particularly for game ranching in Rhodesia (Table I) and for various provinces and national parks in South Africa.
[Limbs of tetrapods--an actual problem of evolution]

The tetrapod limb is among the most intensively studied developmental systems in tetrapods. Earlier models based on a symmetrical determination of the early limb bud were recently questioned by new observations documenting a predominance of the postaxial axis during limb development. These findings are at variance with observations on limb reduction in a number of fossil reptile clades. Recent investigations corroborate the hypothesis of a decoupling of the patterns and sequence of chondrification and ossification in limb development. Ontogenetic repatterning may establish new topological patterns of connectivity among constituent elements in a biological structure as cartilage is replaced by bone. To view chondrification and subsequent ossification of cartilaginous precursors as decoupled processes bears directly on conjectures of homology of limb elements, and also requires the distinction of two separate mechanisms of limb reduction: truncation of morphogenesis and failure of ossification.
Evidence for Lack of Homing by Sea Lampreys

Abstract Recently metamorphosed sea lampreys Petromyzon marinus were captured in the Devil River, a tributary to Lake Huron, during summer and autumn 1990. They were tagged with a coded wire tag and returned to the river to continue their migration to Lake Huron to begin the parasitic (juvenile) phase of their life. During the spawning run in spring 1992 when the tagged animals were expected to mature and return to spawn, sea lampreys were trapped in nine tributaries to Lake Huron, including the Devil River; 47,946 animals were examined for coded wire tags, and 41 tagged animals were recovered. None of the 45 mature sea lampreys captured in the Devil River in 1992 were tagged, a proportion (0%) significantly lower than the proportion of the recently metamorphosed sea lampreys tagged in 1990. The distribution of tag recoveries among streams lakewide, however, was proportional to catch. Tagged sea lampreys did not appear to home, but instead seemed to select spawning streams through innate attraction to oth...
Privatizing Correctional Institutions: An Organizational Perspective

The privatization of jails and prisons became a growth industry during the second half of the 1980s and the 1990s. Although the private sector has provided diverse services for adult correctional institutions for a long time during the 20th century, the operation and management of entire facilities is a relatively new phenomenon. This article analyzes, on a theoretical level, the organizational changes that occur when private corporations are contracted to operate adult correctional facilities. The major theoretical concepts reviewed are goal orientation, cui bono—who are the primary beneficiaries of the organization, the organization-set, and “steering versus rowing.” This article concludes with some suggestions that should be taken into consideration when correctional privatization decisions are being made.
Service Climate in Restaurants

This study focused on identifying the most relevant dimensions of service climate in restaurant settings. A series of confirmatory factor analysis were performed to check the construct validity of the service climate using data collected in a field survey of 452 frontline employees working in 31 different foodservice establishments. Four dimensions of service climate were identified: service vision, service training, supervisor support, and reward and recognition. The validated 22-item scale of service climate can be used as a potential tool for evaluating the service climate in foodservice establishments.
Cavity QED: Lasing under strong coupling

Lasing and strong coupling can coexist in a single quantum dot coupled to a photonic-crystal-nanocavity mode. This provides important clues towards the realization of a single-quantum-dot nanolaser.
Impaired prefrontal inhibition in schizophrenia: relevance for cognitive dysfunction

In schizophrenia, critical deficits in cognitive functions appear to reflect altered neural processing in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Given the essential role of inhibitory neurotransmission in mediating these cognitive functions, we sought to determine whether abnormalities in the inhibitory circuitry of the PFC may contribute to the cognitive deficits of schizophrenia. In situ hybridization analyses in postmortem brain tissue from subjects with schizophrenia revealed that a subset of GABA neurons in PFC layers 1-5 do not express detectable levels of the mRNAs encoding glutamate decarboxylase (GAD(67)), a synthesizing enzyme for GABA, or the GABA membrane transporter (GAT-1), which is responsible for the reuptake of GABA into the nerve terminal. Furthermore, the affected GABA neurons appear to include chandelier cells, since decreased expression of GAT-1 mRNA is associated with decreased GAT-1 protein immunoreactivity in chandelier neuron axon terminals. Finally, immunocytochemical studies revealed that decreased GAT-1 immunoreactivity in chandelier neuron axon terminals is associated with an increase in a marker of GABA(A) receptors at the postsynaptic targets of chandelier neuron axons, the axon initial segment (AIS) of pyramidal neurons. These findings suggest that schizophrenia is associated with an up-regulation of GABA(A) receptors at pyramidal neuron AIS in response to deficient GABAergic input from chandelier neurons. Selective disruptions in inhibitory neurotransmission are likely to distort aspects of pyramidal neuron function important for working memory tasks, and thus may contribute to cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia.
Low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) and cell-to-cell communication in bone marrow stromal cells.

Abstract Low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) is an established therapy for fracture repair and has been used widely in the clinics, but its underlying mechanism of action remains unclear. The aim of the current research was to determine the effect of LIPUS on gap junctional cell-to-cell intercellular communication in rat bone marrow stromal cells (BMSC) in vitro and to determine whether the ability of BMSCs to communicate by gap junctions would affect their response to LIPUS. Single or daily-multiple LIPUS treatment at 1.5 MHz, 30 mW/cm2, for 20 min was applied to BMSC. We demonstrated that BMSC form functional gap junctions and single LIPUS treatment significantly increased the intracellular dye transfer between BMSC. In addition, activated phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and p38 by LIPUS stimulation was diminished when cells were treated with a gap junction inhibitor 18β-glycyrrhetinic acid (18β). We further demonstrated that 18β diminished the significant increase in alkaline phosphatase activity following LIPUS stimulation. These results suggest a potential role of gap junctional cell-to-cell intercellular communication on the effects of LIPUS in BMSC.
Embodied, Embedded Language Use

Language use has a public face that is as important to study as the private faces under intensive psycholinguistic study. In the domain of phonology, public use of speech must meet an interpersonal "parity" constraint if it is to serve to communicate. That is, spoken language forms must reliably be identified by listeners. To that end, language forms are embodied, at the lowest level of description, as phonetic gestures of the vocal tract that lawfully structure informational media such as air and light. Over time, under the parity constraint, sound inventories emerge over communicative exchanges that have the property of sufficient identifiability.Communicative activities involve more than vocal tract actions. Talkers gesture and use facial expressions and eye gaze to communicate. Listeners embody their language understandings, exhibiting dispositions to behave in ways related to language understanding. Moreover, linguistic interchanges are embedded in the larger context of language use. Talkers recruit the environment in their communicative activities, for example, in using deictic points. Moreover, in using language as a "coordination device," interlocutors mutually entrain.
New Technique for Sampling Sea Lamprey Larvae in Deepwater Habitats

Abstract We describe an effective device for sampling for the larvae of sea lampreys Petromyzon marinus in waters too deep to wade and sample with backpack electrofishing equipment (> 1 m). The sampler uses electricity to stimulate emergence of larvae from the substrate and a pump to move them to the surface for collection. Capture efficiency was negatively related to larval length, but it seems possible to correct population density estimates to account for this factor if length data are collected from the catch.