cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Seizures in patients with glioma treated with phenytoin and levetiracetam

e13020 Background: Seizures are common in patients with glioma. Phenytoin, traditionally used for these patients, can be associated with intolerable side effects and potentially alters the metaboli...
Oxygen vacancy-driven evolution of structural and electrical properties in SrFeO3−δ thin films and a method of stabilization

Epitaxial SrFeO3−δ (SFO) thin films have been grown on various substrates by pulsed laser deposition. The structural and electrical properties of SFO thin films are monitored with time in different atmospheres at room temperature, showing time-dependent crystal structure and electrical conductivity. The increased out-of-plane lattice parameter and resistivity over time are associated with the increased oxygen vacancies density in SFO thin films. The epitaxial strain plays an important role in determining the initial resistivity, and the sample environment determines the trend of resistivity change over time. An amorphous Al2O3 passivation layer has been found to be effective in stabilizing the structure and electrical properties of SFO thin films. This work explores time dependent structure and properties variation in oxide films and provides a way to stabilize thin film materials that are sensitive to oxygen vacancies.
A case study for integrated STEM outreach in an urban setting using a do-it-yourself vertical jump measurement platform

The purpose of this study was to develop and deploy a low cost vertical jump platform using readily available materials for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education and outreach in the inner city. The platform was used to measure the jumping ability of participants to introduce students to the collection and analysis of scientific data in an engaging, accessible manner. This system was designed and fabricated by a student team of engineers as part of a socially informed engineering and design class. The vertical jump platform has been utilized in 10 classroom lectures in physics and biology. The system was also used in an after school program in which high school volunteers prepared a basketball based STEM outreach program, and at a community outreach events with over 100 participants. At present, the same group of high school students are now building their own set of vertical jump platform under the mentorship of engineering undergraduates. The construction and usage of the vertical jump platform provides an accessible introduction to the STEM fields within the urban community.
ALLERGIC REACTION UPON INTRAVITREAL ADMINISTRATION OF ANTI–VASCULAR ENDOTHELIAL GROWTH FACTOR AGENTS

Purpose:To describe the patient's allergic response to anti–vascular endothelial growth factor drugs after receiving intravitreal bevacizumab for choroidal neovascularization.Methods:Clinical case report.Results:Formal allergy evaluation revealed hypersensitivity to bevacizumab and ranibizumab, but
Operative Anatomy of the Medial Gastrocnemius Recession vs the Proximal Medial Gastrocnemius Recession

Background:Isolated gastrocnemius contracture (IGC) is associated with various foot and ankle pathologies. To address the problem of IGC, a number of gastrocnemius lengthening procedures have been ...
Urodynamics in the Evaluation of the Patient with Multiple Sclerosis: When Are They Helpful and How Do We Use Them?

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune inflammatory disease that results in damage to the myelin sheaths of the nerves in the central nervous system. Urinary urgency, frequency, and urgency incontinence are the most common symptoms, occurring in 37% to 99% of patients. Voiding symptoms (hesitancy, feeling of incomplete bladder emptying, and occasionally urinary retention) are also common in this population, occurring in 34% to 79% of patients. Traditionally, filling cystometry combined with pressure/flow studies has been a cornerstone of the initial evaluation of all patients with neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction, although recently that practice has been challenged.
Beyond Flexibility and Convenience: Using the Community of Inquiry Framework to Assess the Value of Online Graduate Education in Technical and Professional Communication

Online learning modes can provide convenience and flexibility to students. But communicating the value of online education in technical and professional communication should not end there. Program ...
Police harassment and the politicization of Jewish youth in interwar Bessarabia

ABSTRACTThe article analyzes how regionalist antagonism and ideological bias mediated Romanian police officials’ surveillance of the Jewish community in interwar Bessarabia. It compares the characterizations of Jewish politics found in police files from Bessarabia with those in Yiddish-language autobiographies by Bessarabian Jewish young people. Because officials attributed subversive, conspiratorial intent to movements across the Jewish political spectrum, they were never motivated to acquire more than a cursory understanding of the complex Jewish political arena they were surveilling. Had their intelligence not been hampered by lack of relevant language skills, mistrust of all Bessarabians regardless of ethnicity, and antisemitic stereotypes, officials might have seen that the young people they found so threatening were involved in highly ineffective and powerless politics. Instead, Romanian officials and Bessarabian Jewish youth were caught in a cycle of intractable cultural misunderstanding: police ha...
Consensus achievement of leadership, organisational and individual factors that influence safety climate: Implications for nursing management

Aim To validate a framework of factors that influence the relationship of transformational leadership and safety climate, and to enable testing of safety chain factors by generating hypotheses regarding their mediating and moderating effects. Background Understanding the patient safety chain and mechanisms by which leaders affect a strong climate of safety is essential to transformational leadership practice, education, and research. Methods A systematic review of leadership and safety literature was used to develop an organising framework of factors proposed to influence the climate of safety. A panel of 25 international experts in leadership and safety engaged a three-round modified Delphi study with Likert-scored surveys. Results Eighty per cent of participating experts from six countries were retained to the final survey round. Consensus (>66% agreement) was achieved on 40 factors believed to influence safety climate in the acute care setting. Conclusions Consensus regarding specific factors that play important roles in an organisation's climate of safety can be reached. Generally, the demonstration of leadership commitment to safety is key to cultivating a culture of patient safety. Implications for Nursing Management Transformational nurse leaders should consider and employ all three categories of factors in daily leadership activities and decision-making to drive a strong climate of patient safety.
Geometry and Size Effects in Response of Composite Structures Subjected to Water-Based Impulsive Loading

The load-carrying capacity of composite structures under water-based impulsive loads is an important consideration in design. The performance is inherently geometry and size dependent. Studies of the issues must be in relation to materials, structural geometries, and loading conditions. Analyses have focused on the role of fiber orientation, fiber stiffness, and incident impulse intensity on the deformation and failure in monolithic carbon-fiber and glass-fiber/epoxy composite plates and cylinders of similar mass and thickness. In experiments, structures are subjected to impulsive loads of different intensities generated using the Underwater Shock Loading Simulator (USLS), a novel projectile-impact-based impulsive loading facility. In situ high-speed digital imaging has been used to study the deformation and failure, focusing on the effects of load intensity, failure modes, and material heterogeneity. The experiments are combined with fully dynamic 3D Coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian (CEL) finite element simulations accounting for the effects of fluid–structure interactions (FSI) and in-ply and inter-ply cracking and failure. It is found that the carbon-fiber laminates provide higher blast resistance, but transmit a greater fraction of the incident impulse to the supports than the glass-fiber laminates. Damage through in-ply and inter-ply cracking in the carbon-fiber laminates is ~25% of that in the glass-fiber laminates. In the case of cylindrical structures, results show that cylindrical sandwich structures have superior blast resistance than cylindrical monolithic structures of equal mass with only relatively minor increases in wall thickness.
Myeloid neoplasms with features intermediate between primary myelofibrosis and chronic myelomonocytic leukemia

Monocytosis can develop during disease course in primary myelofibrosis simulating that seen in chronic myelomonocytic leukemia, and should not lead to disease reclassification. In contrast, at presentation, rare cases have clinical, morphologic, and molecular genetic features truly intermediate between primary myelofibrosis and chronic myelomonocytic leukemia. The taxonomy and natural history of these diseases are unclear. We identified cases which either: (1) fulfilled the 2008 World Health Organization criteria for primary myelofibrosis but had absolute monocytosis and, when available, chronic myelomonocytic leukemia-related mutations (ASXL1, SRSF2, TET2) or (2) fulfilled criteria of chronic myelomonocytic leukemia but had megakaryocytic proliferation and atypia, marrow fibrosis, and myeloproliferative-type driver mutations (JAK2, MPL, CALR). Patients with established primary myelofibrosis who developed monocytosis and those with chronic myelomonocytic leukemia with marrow fibrosis were excluded. By combining the pathology databases of two large institutions, six eligible cases were identified. Patients were predominantly male and elderly with monocytosis at diagnosis (average 17.5%/2.3 × 103/μl), organomegaly, primary myelofibrosis-like atypical megakaryocytes admixed with a variable number of chronic myelomonocytic leukemia-like hypolobated forms, variable myelodysplasia, marrow fibrosis and osteosclerosis. All had a normal karyotype and no myelodysplasia-associated cytogenetic abnormalities. Five of the patients in whom a more extensive molecular characterization was performed showed co-mutations involving JAK2 or MPL and ASXL1, SRSF2, TET2, NRAS, and/or KRAS. Disease progression has occurred in all and two have died. Rare patients present with features that overlap between primary myelofibrosis and chronic myelomonocytic leukemia and are thus difficult to classify based on current World Health Organization criteria. Biologically, these cases likely represent primary myelofibrosis with monocytosis, dysplasia, and secondary (non-driver) mutations at presentation. Alternatively, they may represent a true gray zone of neoplasms. Their clinical behavior appears aggressive and innovative therapeutic approaches may be beneficial in this particular subset.
Curcumin/Turmeric as an Environment-friendly Stain for Proteins on Acrylamide Gels

Proteins separated on sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gels are generally stained with calorimetric/fluorescent dyes. All currently used stains are generally toxic or involve reagents that are toxic. We find that a polyphenol, namely curcumin (derived from turmeric obtained from rhizomes of the perennial herb Curcuma longa), heat-solubilized in water can serve as a non-toxic and environment-friendly fluorescent/colorimetric reversible protein stain. Curcumin, the yellow pigment found in the rhizomes of the perennial herb Curcuma longa (turmeric), is insoluble in aqueous solvents. However, heat-solubilization renders 1.5% of curcumin soluble in water. Curcumin solubilized in ethanol or alkali, is ineffective in staining proteins. Heat-solubilized curry spice turmeric similarly stains proteins. Staining occurs in 30 minutes and staining sensitivity almost equals that of Coomassie brilliant blue (CBB). De-staining is not required. Excess curcumin/turmeric can be discarded into the sink. Binding of proteins by silver inhibits curcumin binding, suggesting similarity of protein binding by silver and curcumin. It costs US$1.5–2.0 to stain a mini-gel with curcumin, while turmeric costs less than 0.005 cent. CBB staining/de-staining costs about 2 cents. Curcumin/turmeric, thus, can serve as an ideal non-toxic protein stain.
Marriage Makes Cents: How Law & Economics Justifies Same-Sex Marriage

Andrew Koppelman's book presents the legal and moral case for gay equality. He contends that various arguments, such as privacy and sex discrimination, justify the equal treatment of gay men and lesbians. By analogizing the struggle for equality to the debate surrounding same-sex marriage, Koppelman suggests that although change will come, the courts are presently too far ahead of public opinion to recognize same-sex marriage. This Book Review examines how law and economics removes the debate to a pragmatic theater, compelling recognition of same-sex marriage. Disputes about homosexuality evoke visceral emotions. l Religious views, stereotypes, and social pressures all contribute to the negative preconceptions of gay men and lesbians, and the public discourse on homosexuality has long been dominated by disgust, confusion, and ignorance.2 Thus, efforts of gay men and lesbians to seek legal recognition and validation for their relationships have been faced with hostility, largely derived from these negative cultural attitudes, rather than from any internallogic.3 Andrew Koppelman confronts this prejudice in his book, The Gay Rights QJlestion in Contemporary American Law.4 Historically, the United States Supreme Court has been hesitant to identify gay men and lesbians as a suspect class; therefore it has not applied heightened scru* Staff Writer, BOSTON COLLEGE THIRD WORLD LAw JOURNAL (2002-2003). 1 Gary Chartier, Natural Law, Same-Sex Marriage, and the Politics of Virtue, 48 UCLA L. REv. 1593, 1599 (2001). 2 See Jack M. Battaglia, Religion, Sexual Orientation, and Self-Realization: First Amendment Principles and Anti-Discrimination Laws, 76 U. DET. MERCY L. REv. 189, 204 (1999); Timothy E. Lin, Social Norms and Judicial Decisionmaking: Examining the Role of Narratives in Same-Sex Adoption Cases, 99 COLUM. L. REV. 739, 741 (1999). g William N. Eskridge, A History of Same-Sex Marriage, 79 VA. L. REV. 1419, 1423 (1993). 4 ANDREW KOPPELMAN, THE GAY RIGHTS QUESTION IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN
Rhetorical Histories and Arms Negotiations

The essay argues that the use of historical events as rhetorical artifacts has served to sustain cold war assumptions and attitudes; that rhetorical events provide composites for rhetorical histori...
Intracranial pressure modulates aqueous humour dynamics of the eye.

Key points An elevation in intracranial pressure (ICP) lowers conventional outflow facility (increases aqueous outflow resistance) of rat eyes. The reduction in outflow facility correlates with an increase in intraocular pressure (IOP). The effect of ICP elevation on outflow facility and IOP is blocked by TTX. The results indicate that aqueous humour dynamics is modulated by ICP-driven neural feedback from the brain. This feedback mechanism may act to stabilize translaminar pressure across the optic nerve head and may provide a new avenue for glaucoma therapy. Abstract While intraocular pressure (IOP) is a well-known risk factor for glaucoma, intracranial pressure (ICP) is attracting heightened interest because of its influence on optic nerve head biomechanics. Studies have shown that ICP can have marked impacts on posterior eye health by modifying the translaminar pressure gradient across the optic nerve. There is also growing evidence that IOP and ICP may be interconnected, although the mechanism of their putative interaction is unknown. We sought to test the hypothesis that ICP modulates IOP by altering aqueous humour dynamics. The anterior chamber and lateral ventricle of anaesthetized Brown-Norway rats were cannulated with fine-gauge needles connected to a programmable pump and saline reservoir, respectively. ICP was manipulated by varying reservoir height, and eye outflow facility (C) was determined from the pump flow rate required to hold IOP at different levels. C was 22 ± 4 nl/min/mmHg at resting ICP and 13 ± 3 nl/min/mmHg when ICP was raised 15 mmHg, a reduction of 41 ± 13% (n = 18). The decrease in outflow facility was independent of blood pressure, reversible, scaled with ICP elevation and correlated with increases in resting IOP. It was physiological in origin because C returned to baseline values after the rats were killed and corneal application of TTX though ICP remained elevated. These results indicate that a neural feedback mechanism driven by ICP regulates conventional outflow facility in rats. The mechanism may protect the eye from translaminar pressure swings and may offer a new target for glaucoma treatment.
Abstract P401: Associations Between High-density Lipoprotein Subclasses and Coronary Artery Calcification Vary by Menopausal Stage. The Study of Women's Health Across the Nation Hdl Ancillary Study

Objective: Higher levels of high-density lipoproteins cholesterol (HDL-C) may not always be cardio-protective in midlife women. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy HDL subclasses have sho...
Pharyngeal Versus Esophageal Stasis: Accuracy of Symptom Localization

Purpose The purpose of this article was to determine whether patients who complain of bolus stasis are accurate at localizing bolus stasis as measured by a videofluoroscopic swallowing study with an esophagram. Method This study used a prospective analysis of outcomes data from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Voice and Swallow Outcomes database in patients with complaints of bolus stasis who completed the combined videofluoroscopic swallowing study and esophagram to determine the accuracy of bolus stasis localization. Results Dysphagia evaluation was completed in 301 patients with complaints of bolus stasis. Patients with complaints of bolus stasis in the throat (i.e., pharynx and cervical esophagus) were less accurate at localizing bolus stasis than patients with complaints in the thoracic esophagus (p < .001). Esophageal stasis was the most common finding regardless of complaint location. Conclusion Patients are poor at localizing bolus stasis, and esophageal stasis is common in patients who complain of pharyngeal stasis. This work supports a comprehensive evaluation of both the pharynx and the esophagus for patients with complaints of bolus stasis in the throat. Future research should focus on identifying symptom profiles that could lead to targeted swallowing evaluations based on patient history and complaint.
Comparisons of the Metabolic Intensities at Heart Rate, Gas Exchange, and Ventilatory Thresholds.

PURPOSE This study compared the VO2 corresponding to the critical heart rate (CHRVO2 ) and the physical working capacity at the heart rate fatigue threshold (PWChrtVO2 ) to the gas exchange threshold (GET), ventilatory threshold (VT), and respiratory compensation point (RCP). METHODS Nine runners (mean ± SD, age 23 ± 3 years) completed an incremental test on a treadmill to determine VO2peak, GET, VT, and RCP. The CHRVO2 and PWChrtVO2 were determined from 4 separate constant velocity treadmill runs to exhaustion and HR and time to exhaustion were recorded. Differences among the thresholds were examined with a one-way repeated measures ANOVA (p ≤ 0.05). RESULTS The GET (38.44 mL×kg-1×min-1, 78% VO2peak), VT (37.36 mL×kg-1×min-1, 76% VO2peak), and PWChrtVO2 (38.26 mL×kg-1×min-1, 77% VO2peak) were not different, but were lower than the RCP (44.70 mL×kg-1×min-1, 90% VO2peak; p = 0.010, p < 0.001, p = 0.001, respectively). The CHRVO2 (40.09 mL×kg-1×min-1, 81% VO2peak) was not different from the GET (p = 1.000), VT (p = 0.647), PWChrtVO2 (p = 1.000), or RCP (p = 0.116). CONCLUSIONS These results indicated that the initial metabolic intensities at CHR and PWChrt lie within the heavy and moderate intensity domains, respectively. Therefore, the PWChrt may provide a relative intensity more appropriate for untrained populations, while the CHR may be more appropriate for more trained populations.
The New Oil & Gas Governance

As technologies change and the scale of human activity grows, so, too, does the law. The surge of oil and gas production in the United States, spurred by hydraulic fracturing in shale formations, has fomented a sea change in oil and gas law, substantially infusing this area with more complex environmental and property principles. While not as momentous as the transformation of tort law in the transition from horse drawn carriages to automobiles, the expansive reshaping of oil and gas law amounts to a legal revolution. Widespread demands for legal and policy-based solutions to the environmental and social impacts of drilling and fracking have transformed three key areas of the field. First, through lobbying and the courts, concerned residents and environmental groups have reshaped oil and gas conservation law—principles to support maximum fossil fuel production—into environmental conservation law. They have also begun to imbue local governments with more authority over oil and gas development. This is most dramatically demonstrated by sweeping Colorado legislation in 2019, which required a substantial reconfiguration of the state’s oil and gas agency, expanded state environmental regulation of oil and gas development, and gave local governments substantial regulatory authority in the areas. And small landowners with scant resources, as compared to the abundant wealth of the oil and gas industry, have begun to transform the common law of oil and gas. They have forced courts to reconsider long-held assumptions about the right of companies to produce as much oil and gas as possible without paying for the attendant damages. Finally, citizens and environmental groups, through a protracted campaign in the courts, have extended procedural environmental protections and state constitutional environmental rights to the oil and gas realm. The full extent of this legal revolution remains to be seen, and as this Essay also explores, the transformation of the law—although trending toward more environmental protection—is by no means uniform. Oil and gas law is more state centric than most other fields, and as scholars of federalism would predict, courts and legislatures, facing disparate demands, histories, and political economic forces, have created a spectrum of new policies.
Genotypic similarity among algal symbionts corresponds to associations with closely related coral hosts

Mutualisms where hosts are coupled metabolically to their symbionts often exhibit high partner fidelity. Most reef-building corals form obligate symbioses with specific species of photosymbionts, dinoflagellates in the family Symbiodiniaceae, despite needing to acquire symbionts early in their development from environmental sources. Three Caribbean acroporids (Acropora palmata, A. cervicornis, and their hybrid A. prolifera) are geographically sympatric across much of their range in the greater Caribbean, but often occupy different depth and light habitats. Both species and their hybrid associate with Symbiodinium 'fitti', a genetically diverse species of symbiont that is specific to these hosts. Since the physiology of the dinoflagellate partner is strongly influenced by light (and therefore depth), we investigated whether S. 'fitti' populations from each host source were differentiated genetically. We generated shallow genome sequences of acroporid colonies sampled from across the Caribbean. Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) among S. 'fitti' strains were identified by aligning sequences to a ~600 Mb draft assembly of the S. 'fitti' genome, assembled from an A. cervicornis metagenome. Phylogenomic and multivariate analyses revealed that allelic variation among S. 'fitti' partitioned to each host species, as well as their hybrid, rather than by biogeographic origin. This is particularly noteworthy because the hybrid, A. prolifera, has a sparse fossil record and may be of relatively recent origin. Many of the SNPs putatively under selection were non-synonymous mutations predicted to alter protein efficiency. Differences in allele frequency among S. 'fitti' populations from each host taxon may correspond to distinct phenotypes that thrive in the different cellular environments found in each acroporid. The non-random sorting among genetically diverse strains, or genotypes, to different hosts could be the basis for lineage diversification via disruptive selection, leading to ecological specialization and ultimately speciation.
Creative metacognition and self-ratings of creative performance: A 4-C perspective

Abstract Creative metacognition (CMC) refers to a combination of self- and contextual-knowledge used to make decisions about one's own creative efforts and accomplishments. Competent creators use CMC to judge whether their contributions might be considered creative. Do novice creators have the ability estimate their own level of creativity? The purpose of this study was to examine this question. Specifically, this article reports on an exploratory study that examined whether elementary students' domain specific mini-c and little-c self-ratings aligned with external ratings of creativity. Students (N = 242) completed three performance tasks (i.e., a visual, verbal, and scientific task). Immediately following each task, students were asked to judge whether their resulting product was creative at the mini-c level (i.e., creative to the self, but not others) and little-c level (i.e., recognized as creative by others). External raters also scored the creativity of each completed task. Results indicate that students were able to differentiate their performance on different creative domains (i.e., visual, verbal, scientific) and across levels of quality (i.e., mini-c and little-c). In addition, their self-ratings were also predictive of creativity scores as assigned by expert raters. The specific patterns of the relationships between students' self-ratings and creativity are discussed and implications for subsequent research are provided.
What people believe about detecting infectious disease using the senses

Abstract Do you believe you can tell if people are sick with infectious diseases by looking at, listening to, or smelling them? Research on pathogen detection and avoidance suggests that perceivers respond with caution both to true signs of infection and to cues only heuristically associated with infection threat. But what do perceivers actually believe about the effectiveness and use of specific sensory modalities for infection detection? In several studies, U.S. participants reported perceptions of effectiveness and likelihood of using each of the major senses to identify infection threat in two types of targets: people and food. Results revealed prioritization of sight and sound with person targets and prioritization of sight and smell with food targets. These patterns appear consistent with the use of “safe senses” (avoidance of cues involving high perceived transmission risk). Beliefs about sensory use also varied depending on the specific feature being examined, with different patterns of sensory beliefs associated with evaluation of pathogenic danger than with evaluation of desirability and fit with normative standards. We discuss these lay beliefs in the context of recent calls for descriptive research in psychology as well as their implications for current and future work on the behavioral immune system.
Particle inertia effects on average drag force of free settling particles

In this paper, free settling of monodisperse particles is studied using particle resolved direct numerical simulations. In simulations, immersed boundary method is used for fluid-particle interactions and particle-particle interactions are obtained using discrete element method. It is observed both velocity fluctuations and particle microstructures can be affected by size of domain for smaller settling Reynolds number and volume fraction of particles. For finite Reynolds number (Re≥10); the variance of fluctuations of particle velocity saturates at some constant value by increasing the domain size. It is observed from simulations that the saturation of velocity fluctuations of settling particles is due to wake-induced interactions between particles.
Immersion, presence, and episodic memory in virtual reality environments.

Although virtual reality (VR) represents a promising tool for psychological research, much remains unknown about how properties of VR environments affect episodic memory. Two closely related charac...
PAM4 Transmission Experiment and Scalability Simulations on Multi-wavelength Selective Crossbar Switch

We demonstrate a multi-wavelength selective crossbar switch with up to two wavelength switching capability per crosspoint. The switch has a mean path loss of 2.43 dB. We demonstrate an error free high speed PAM 4 transmission at 111.16 Gbps. We also report bounds on the port count of the switch.
Chi-Square Test

The chi-square (χ2) test was developed by Karl Pearson in 1900; this is often regarded as a seminal event in the history of statistics. The test and the statistical distribution on which it is based have wide application not only in psychology and the behavioral sciences but also in numerous related disciplines. Its two principal uses are to test the independence of two variables and to assess how well a theoretical model or set of a priori probabilities fits a set of data (goodness of fit). In both cases the test is typically thought of as a nonparametric procedure involving observed (O) and expected (E) frequencies. The expected frequencies may be determined either theoretically or empirically. The basic formula for calculating χ2 is Keywords: nonparametric statistics; research design; statistical analysis; multivariate analysis
Bacterial endocarditis: Report of a case in which a true musical diastolic murmur appeared and disappeared

Abstract A case of acute bacterial endocarditis due to a gamma (nonhemolytic) streptococcus, in which death occurred in spite of massive penicillin therapy, has been reported. A true musical diastolic murmur, caused by perforation of two cusps of the aortic valve, occurred during the course of the disease. This was accompanied by severe congestive heart failure. With the disappearance of the musical quality of the aortic diastolic murmur, there was a prompt lessening of the pulse pressure and a progressive improvement in the symptoms and the degree of heart failure. What was interpreted as evidence of improvement was in reality increase in the size of vegetations on the aortic valve which produced occlusion of the perforations of the valve.
Raccoon: closing digital side-channels through obfuscated execution

Side-channel attacks monitor some aspect of a computer system's behavior to infer the values of secret data. Numerous side-channels have been exploited, including those that monitor caches, the branch predictor, and the memory address bus. This paper presents a method of defending against a broad class of side-channel attacks, which we refer to as digital side-channel attacks. The key idea is to obfuscate the program at the source code level to provide the illusion that many extraneous program paths are executed. This paper describes the technical issues involved in using this idea to provide confidentiality while minimizing execution overhead. We argue about the correctness and security of our compiler transformations and demonstrate that our transformations are safe in the context of a modern processor. Our empirical evaluation shows that our solution is 8.9× faster than prior work (GhostRider [20]) that specifically defends against memory trace-based side-channel attacks.
Microbial transformation of nitroaromatic compounds in sewage effluent

The transformation of mono- and dinitroaromatic compounds was measured in sewage effluent maintained under aerobic or anaerobic conditions. Most of the nitrobenzene, 3- and 4-nitrobenzoic acids, and 3- and 4-nitrotoluenes and much of the 1,2- and 1,3-dinitrobenzenes disappeared both in the presence and absence of oxygen. Under anaerobiosis, 2,6-dinitrotoluene and 3,5-dinitrobenzoic acid disappeared slowly, but no loss was evident in 28 days in aerated sewage. Aromatic amines did not accumulate during the aerobic decomposition of the mononitro compounds. They did appear in nonsterile, but not in sterile, sewage incubated aerobically with the dinitro compounds and anaerobically with all the chemicals. Analysis by gas chromatography and combined gas chromatography-mass spectrometry showed that aniline was formed from nitrobenzene, toluidine was formed from 3- and 4-nitrotoluenes, and aminobenzoic acid was formed from 3- and 4-nitrobenzoic acids under anaerobiosis, and that nitroaniline was formed from 1,2- and 1,3-dinitrobenzenes, aminonitrotoluene resulted from 2,6-dinitrotoluene, and aminonitrobenzoic acid was a product of 3,5-dinitrobenzoic acid under both conditions. The isomeric forms of the metabolites were not established. Aniline, 4-toluidine, and 4-aminobenzoic acid added to sewage disappeared from aerated nonsterile, but not from sterile, sewage or sewage in the absence of oxygen. 2-Nitroaniline, 2-amino-3-nitrotoluene, and 2-amino-5-nitrobenzoic acid added to sewage persisted for at least 60 days in aerobic or anaerobic conditions. Gas chromatographic and gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric analyses demonstrated that acetanilide and 2-methylquinoline were formed from aniline, 4-methylformanilide and 4-methylacetanilide were formed from 4-toluidine, 2-methylbenzimidazole was a product of 2-nitroaniline, and unidentified benzimidazoles were formed from 2-amino-3-nitrotoluene in the absence of oxygen, and that 2-nitroacetanilide and 2-methyl-6-nitroacetanilide were formed from 2-nitroaniline and 2-amino-3-nitrotoluene, respectively, in the presence or absence of oxygen. It is suggested that the transformations of widely used nitroaromatic compounds should be further studied because of the persistence and possible toxicity of products of their metabolism.
Flooding and Liquidity on the Bayou: The Capitalization of Flood Risk into House Value and Ease-of-Sale

The existing literature focuses on how perceived flood risk affects house value. Search theory, however, implies that flood risks will be capitalized into both house price and liquidity. This article draws on search theory to develop an empirical approach for estimating flood risk capitalization into both price and selling time. The results show the mix of price and liquidity capitalization varies by level of flood risk as well as across housing market phases. Regardless of the specific capitalization pattern, the results illustrate that focusing solely on price without allowing for concomitant liquidity capitalization can yield estimates that understate the full impact of flood risk on house transactions.
Another Rare Unstable Hemoglobinopathy: Hemoglobin Casper/Southampton Associated with Moyamoya Disease.

A 9-year-old right-handed girl with a history of hemolytic anemia, status post-splenectomy, and previously identified right frontal encephalomalacia presented with a 1-month history of episodic right upper extremity weakness and ‘garbled’ speech. Her neurological examination was notable for episodes of nonfluent speech and dysarthria, some right-left confusion, and episodic distal right arm weakness and paresthesias. Her laboratory studies were notable for a macrocytic hemolytic anemia and thrombocytosis, but negative for hypercoagulable, inflammatory, cardiac, infectious, and autoimmune markers. Extensive hematological testing performed for anemia 3 years earlier had revealed an Hb Casper mutation. However, she never returned for follow-up until her current presentation. There was no known family history of strokes, cardiac issues or hematologic abnormalities. An initial MRI showed multiple foci of impeded diffusion in the left frontal lobe ( fig. 1 a, b). Fluid-attenuated inversion-recovery (FLAIR) imaging showed an increased T2 signal involving the left hemispheric leptomeninges and perivascular spaces ( fig. 1 c) and chronic right frontal encephalomalacia (not shown). Subsequent conventional angiography showed an occlusion of the petrous right internal carotid artery (ICA) with distal reconstitution of the right middle cerebral artery (MCA) and A1 segments through prominent vascular collaterals (not shown), and an occlusion of the proximal supraclinoid left ICA ( fig. 1 d arrow) with skull base collateral reconstitution of the left anterior cerebral artery (ACA) ( fig. 1 d, e). Left Received: August 28, 2014 Accepted: February 27, 2015 Published online: May 21, 2015 E X T R A
Is Intent Relevant

The role of intent in federal antitrust cases has been characterized as “unsettled” and “controversial.” Many lower courts, scholars, and practitioners recognize that intent evidence is relevant in antitrust cases. But jurists and scholars oriented by neoclassical economic theory disagree. Using the developments in the behavioral economics literature, this Article reexamines the relevancy of intent evidence in civil antitrust cases. The analysis is organized around two issues: First is intent legally relevant in civil antitrust cases? Second if intent evidence is relevant, for what purpose? Intent evidence, this Article concludes, is relevant. The behavioral economics experiments confirm what many have long accepted: intent matters. Greed does not always motivate us. Greed is not necessary for a market economy to thrive. Competition need not be zero-sum warfare. But the literature has two important implications. First, intent may be helpful, but to a lesser degree than some courts and scholars assume, in assessing the likely anti-competitive effects. Second, intent evidence can be more important than courts may otherwise assume under neoclassical theory. People rely on intent when coding and punishing behavior as unfair and unreasonable, which in turn can promote a market economy and overall societal welfare.
Toxicity of cadmium to bacteria

The toxic levels of cadmium forPseudomonas aeruginosa and a species ofAeromonas were shown to be 700–750 ppm and 225 ppm respectively. These levels are much higher than those reported in other studies. Adaptation and growth at high levels occurred only after several weeks of incubation.
Sex differences in attributions for sex‐typed tasks1

Recent studies have indicated that males make more egotistical attributions than females, that is, males make more internal attributions for success and more external attributions for failure than females do. These sex differences in attributions were examined in terms of male/female differences in expectancies for success and ego-involvement in the tasks. Male and female subjects succeeded or failed on a masculine or a feminine task. It was found that males made more egotistical attributions than females on the masculine task, but females made more egotistical attributions than males on the feminine task. A covariance analysis revealed that these sex differences in attributions could be explained in terms of the differences between the males and females in expectancy for success and in ego-involvement. Finally, it was found that ego-involvement was a more important determinant of egotisical attributions in the present study than was expectancy.
Tungstate and vanadate-doped polypyrrole/aluminum flake composite coatings for the corrosion protection of aluminum 2024-T3

Polypyrrole (PPy) doped with either tungstate or vanadate as counter anions was synthesized by chemical oxidative polymerization on the surface of aluminum (Al) flakes. This resulted in the deposition of PPy on the surface of the Al flakes leading to the formation of doped PPy/Al flake composite pigments. These composite pigments were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, conductive-atomic force microscopy, four-point probe conductivity, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Furthermore, these composites were incorporated in an epoxy-amide binder system in order to formulate a primer for an aluminum 2024-T3 substrate. The coatings were exposed to the Prohesion test conditions and corrosion resistance properties were monitored by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, DC polarization, galvanic coupling, and scanning electrochemical microscopy measurements. It was found that the doped PPy/Al flake coatings provided sacrificial protection to the underlying aluminum 2024-T3 substrate. Additionally, the release of dopants from PPy backbone resulted in the passivation in the defect areas improving the corrosion protection ability.
Cottonwood Seed Source Trials in Central Kansas

Cottonwood trees from 133 sources and 17 states were tested in eastern Kansas provenance study as part of the North Central regional forest Tree improvement Project (NC-99). Sources from the central region of the study grew well. Northern latitude sources had the poorest height growth. Southern source survival was very low. Trees from Missouri grew best. Twenty eight sources had 50 percent or better survival. Height growth had a strong relationship to seed source origin. Populations from latitudes similar to Kansas appear to be best for growth in Kansas.
On the proportionality of fine mass concentration and extinction coefficient for bimodal size distributions

Abstract For a bimodal size distribution of ambient aerosol the upper particle size limit of the fine aerosol fraction can be chosen in such a way that the extinction coefficient for light scattering and absorption is directly proportional to the fine mass concentration, regardless of the magnitude of the coarse mass concentration. With the size parameters of the modes taken to be the “grand average continental” values of Whitby, the upper size limit is 3.4 μm (aerodynamic diameter). Consequently, the extinction coefficient could be inferred from a measurement of the fine mass concentration only, even in arid regions where coarse aerosol concentrations usually far exceed the fine.
Perturbation methods in large scale systems

Perturbation Methods are physically motivated tools to model dynamic interactions in naturally decentralized hierarchical structures. Application of the singular perturbation approach to differential game problems is discussed. Perturbation methods are useful for dealing with systems that can be approximated by a system of simpler structure. The difference between the actual system structure and the simplified system structure is modelled as a set of parameters which when neglected result in the simplified system. Two classes of perturbation methods are of interest: regular perturbations and singular perturbations. In regular perturbations, neglecting the parameters simplifies the system but does not reduce its order, e.g., perturbation parameters representing weak coupling among interconnected systems. In singular perturbations neglecting the parameters reduces the order of the system, e.g., perturbation parameters representing fast modes in a two-time scale system. The parameterization of the model simplifying process has provided analytical tools to study the behavior of simplified models. One aspect of perturbation analysis which I would rather emphasize here is its use to show the well-posedness of control design problems. To make myself clear I will consider a specific example, i.e. the linear quadratic optimal control problem where the system equations contain perturbation parameters either regularly or singularly. If the optimization problem is solved for the actual model and for the simplified model where the perturbation parameters are neglected, then it is well-known that for sufficiently small parameters the two solutions are sufficiently close. This basic continuity property of the solution has a theoretical as well as a practical significance. Differential game problems do not necessarily have the well-posedness property of the optimal control problem. A recent investigation of singularly perturbed Nash and Stackelberg strategies reveals an important relation between well-posedness and feedback information. It has been also found that while a direct simplification of the system may lead to an ill-posed simplified problem, an alternative simplification which takes into consideration the particular problem in hand may be well-posed. These and other aspects of well-posedness of design problems are now under investigation.
The structure of segments of the anisotropic band of muscle. II. Preparation and properties of A segments from vertebrate skeletal muscle.

The anisotropic band of skeletal muscle is a complex structural assembly of the protein myosin and associated nonmyosin components. To study the relationships among these proteins, aggregates of thick myofilaments held together at the M line (A segments) have been prepared from fresh and glycerol extracted chicken pectoralis and rabbit psoas muscles and from fresh frog sartorius muscle. The structure of the A segments included several thick filaments, an M line, and a bare zone or pseudo-H zone, lateral to the M line. Most of the A segments exhibited a pattern of eleven periodic stripes in each half lateral to the bare zone. The A segments from fresh muscle displayed these stripes more consistently than did the A segments from glycerinated muscle. Some of the major stripes appeared to be double, and there were two subdivisions between the stripes nearest the bare zone. The more lateral of the major A band stripes, however, had one subdivision between them. The M line consisted of three prominent medial stripes and two fainter lateral stripes. In the M lines of rabbit A segments the lateral stripes were located well into the bare zone whereas the lateral stripes of M lines in chicken A segments were closer to the three medial M line stripes. Our results on the preparation and properties of A segments are compared with those of other investigators.
Catalysts for the thermo-catalytic cracking (TCC) process: Interactions between the yttria in yttria-doped alumina aerogel and the mono-oxide MoO3, CeO2, and bi-oxide MoO3–CeO2 species

Abstract The influence of yttria used as a doping agent for catalyst support, on the dispersion and the resistance to sintering of MoO3, CeO2 and bi-oxide MoO3–CeO2 species in the TCC catalysts has been investigated. Characterization techniques used included N2 adsorption, X-ray diffraction, Raman, thermogravimetric analysis, and iso-electric point (IEP). It was explicitly found that yttria-doped alumina aerogel is by far more capable of homogenously dispersing the active molybdenum species and significantly retarding their sintering at quite high-calcination temperature than conventional alumina and alumina aerogel. Characterization results of supported mono-oxide MoO3 catalysts have clearly indicated that the fraction of (surface) tetrahedral monomolybdate species increases in the detriment of crystalline MoO3 as we varied the support from conventional alumina to yttria-doped alumina aerogel with increasing amounts of the yttria loading. This can be attributed to the incorporation of yttria into alumina aerogel network, which led to a change in the support surface charge (IEP) and subsequently the stability of surface molybdate species. The dispersion degree of ceria (substituted ceria) on supported mono-oxide CeO2 was improved as well, upon using yttria-doped alumina aerogel. Such improvement was attributed to the formation of stronger Ce–Y–O bond, and/or the formation of CeO2–Y2O3 solid solution. In the bi-oxide MoO3–CeO2, characterization results have indicated the presence of surface interaction between Mo and Ce, probably through the formation of surface “Mo–O–Ce” type phase between the dispersed ceria and the molybdate monolayer. This interaction, which was highly favourable over yttria-doped alumina surface, contributed significantly to the overall surface stability of Mo–Ce catalysts.