cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Water table decline alters growth and survival of Salix gooddingii and Tamarix chinensis seedlings.

In the western United States, many native riparian forests are declining downstream from dams and diversions, primarily due to a lack of successful regeneration of native species. Conceptual models have been described that incorporate stream flow characteristics that promote successful regeneration of western riparian Populus seedlings. However, these models need to be calibrated for additional species and specific stream characteristics. In this study, we examined the growth and survival of two dominant Sonoran desert riparian tree species, a native Salix gooddingii, and an exotic, Tamarix chinensis, to simulated water table declines at rates of 0, 1, 2, and 4 cm/day. Salix seedlings performed best in the 0 cm/day treatment in which the soil was saturated and showed decreasing survival and growth with increasing rates of water table decline. Root-to-shoot ratios were high for Salix, but root elongation rates were low with an emphasis on lateral root development. This root growth pattern may be an adaptation to habitat where Salix typically grows, near the stream channel where the water table is shallow but the likelihood of flood scour is high. Lateral root development may help to protect Salix seedlings from late season flood scour. Tamarix seedlings showed consistently high survival across all treatments and had the greatest growth in the 0 and 1 cm/day treatments. Tamarix seedlings had greater root elongation rates in response to water table decline relative to the control, with the greatest elongation in the 1 cm/day treatment. Greater root elongation rates and higher drought tolerance allowed Tamarix seedlings to persist in dry soils where Salix seedlings died. Differences in growth and survival of these two species in response to water table decline will need to be incorporated into management practices to promote successful native riparian tree regeneration. # 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Capstone presentation: Isn't all reality really virtual?

Arguably, the concept that is referred to today as “virtual reality” is as old as humanity itself. Humans seem particularly predisposed to psychological travel between physical and virtual reality and have invented many ingenious ways technologies to do so. The latest advance is immersive VR technology, which allows face-to-face social interaction in three-dimensional settings via digital avatars. Blascovich will discuss conceptual and metaphysical issues with a focus on a structural model of social influence within virtual environments and illustrative experiments.
Resistence in Cognitive Therapy

Every cognitive therapist knows that clients do not always complete their homework assignments. They may also arrive late to their sessions, “forget” their sessions, argue with their therapists, or do many other things that demonstrate what is commonly called “resistance” We sometimes attribute such behavior to lack of motivation to change or blame ourselves for not using the proper techniques. Rarely, however, do we see this resistance as something natural to be worked with, not something abnormal to be worked against.
Synthesis and Turnover of Norepinephrine in the Heart of the Spontaneously Hypertensive Rat

The kinetics of norepinephrine (NE) metabolism in the heart was studied in genetically hypertensive and normotensive control Wistar rats. Concentrations of endogenous NE were similar in the two groups. However, rates of synthesis of NE were reduced in these hypertensive rats, whether calculated from the rate of decline (fractional turnover rate) of cardiac tritiated NE (3H-NE) after intravenous injection, or estimated from levels of 14C-NE in the heart after injection of the precursor14C-L-tyrosine. In experiments with 3H-NE the synthesis rate of NE was 30.2 ng/hour/g heart in control and 18.2 ng/hour/g heart in hypertensive rats. The levels of 14C-NE found in the heart of normotensive rats given 14C-tyrosine were up to 1.4 times those found in hypertensive rats. These findings indicate a reduced rate of release of NE in this form of hypertension and, rather than implicating NE as a primary factor, suggest a secondary, compensatory mechanism.
Characterization of populations of rapid-cycling Brassica rapa L. selected for differential waterlogging tolerance

By challenging a heterogenous population of plants (rapid-cycling Brassica rapa L.) with waterlogging stress, we selected plants which differed in their response to root zone hypoxia. These individuals were placed into «tolerant» and «sensitive» populations based on foliage colour after waterlogging and were then mass-pollinated and re-selected over seven generations to produce the stable populations described. To assess responses to root zone hypoxia in the selected populations, plants were grown for 1 week after germination under normal watering conditions and then subjected to waterlogging stress for up to 8 d. Under control conditions, no differences were found between the tolerant and sensitive populations in any of the parameters studied
Injury-Induced Functional Plasticity in the Peripheral Gustatory System

Combining unilateral denervation of anterior tongue taste buds with a low-sodium diet in rats results in a rapid, dramatic, and selective attenuation of neurophysiological sodium taste responses from the intact side of the tongue. The transduction pathway responsible for the attenuated response is through the epithelial sodium channel (Hill and Phillips, 1994). Current experiments extend these findings by detailing the effects of experimentally induced injury on taste responses from anterior tongue taste receptors in sodium-restricted rats. Experiments focused on functional salt taste responses from the intact chorda tympani nerve in sodium-restricted rats in which a gustatory nerve was sectioned that innervates the anterior tongue (chorda tympani), the posterior tongue (glossopharyngeal), or palatal taste receptors (greater superficial petrosal) or in which a nongustatory nerve was sectioned that also has its target in the anterior tongue (trigeminal). An additional group was studied that received thermal injury to the anteroventral tongue. Substantial and selective suppression of sodium salt responses occurred in a graded manner generally related to the distance from the target field of the injury to anterior tongue taste buds. The order of effectiveness was: chorda tympani section > trigeminal section > thermal injury = glossopharyngeal section > greater superficial petrosal section. These results support the hypothesis that local, diffusible factors liberated from immune-derived cells as a result of neural and/or epithelial damage are involved in regulating the transduction pathway responsible for sodium salt sensation, and that these factors may become evident through dietary sodium restriction.
The reactions of silane in the afterglow of a helium nitrogen plasma

Optical emission and infrared spectroscopy have been used to study the reactions of nitrogen atoms with silane introduced into the afterglow of an atmospheric-pressure helium–nitrogen plasma. Our experimental observations show that the direct reaction between silane and ground-state nitrogen atoms is slow, with an estimated rate constant no greater than 4 × 10−16 cm3 s−1, which is 2 × 102–3 × 105 times lower than the values previously reported. Using numerical modelling based on the spectroscopic measurements, we propose that silane dissociation occurs via a two-step process in which energy is first transferred to the molecule from vibrationally excited N2 and then the activated species collides with N atoms to form SiH3 and NH. A kinetic model has been developed that allows one to predict the distribution of gas-phase intermediates generated in a remote plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition process for silicon nitride.
The Old Man Out: An Intergroup Analysis of Intergenerational Communication Among Gay Men

Many writers have examined the appearance-oriented nature of gay culture. Complementarily, scholars have explored some of the socio-psychological experiences of younger, as well as older, gay men. However, research and theory have not examined communication issues and problems at the intersection of these research domains. Our analysis represents the first systematic attempt to address communication between younger and older gay men in terms of social identity theory and related constructs (such as social comparison and the “black sheep effect”) and in light of younger gay men's fears of growing older in a gay culture that places an excessively high value on physical appearance. In line with social identity theory, we suggest that some discrimination against older gay men may be, in part, a social creativity strategy invoked to communicatively enhance compromised self- or sexual-orientation social esteem.
the exchange of men in 19th-century Negeri Sembilan (Malaya)

The exchange of women (or rights over them) is a much-noted feature of systems of marriage and affinity, and is often regarded as a universal within the domain of affinal alliance. It is becoming increasingly apparent, however, that certain systems of marriage and affinity do not revolve around exchanges of women, but focus instead on exchanges of men and transactions over their labor power and productivity in particular. This paper elaborates on the latter position and discusses a 19th-century society of Malay Muslims who traced their descent from the Sumatran Minangkabau and resided in the state of Negeri Sembilan, Malaya. My analyses of property relations, marriage ceremonies, and funerary rituals highlight the structure and dynamics of the system as well as its theoretical significance [marriage and affinity, exchange, property relations, Negeri Sembilan, Malaya].
Combined Dynamic Voltage Scaling and Adaptive Body Biasing for Heterogeneous Distributed Real-time Embedded Systems

While dynamic power consumption has traditionally been the primary source of power consumption, leakage power is becoming an increasingly important concern as technology feature size continues to shrink. Previous system-level approaches focus on reducing power consumption without considering leakage power consumption. To overcome this limitation, we propose a two-phase approach to combine dynamic voltage scaling (DVS) and adaptive body biasing (ABB) for distributed real-time embedded systems. DVS is a powerful technique for reducing dynamic power consumption quadratically. However, DVS often requires a reduction in the threshold voltage that increases subthreshold leakage current exponentially and, hence, subthreshold leakage power consumption. ABB, which exploits the exponential dependence of subthreshold leakage power on the threshold voltage, is effective in managing leakage power consumption. We first derive an energy consumption model to determine the optimal supply voltage and body bias voltage under a given clock frequency. Then, we analyze the tradeoff between energy consumption and clock period to allocate slack to a set of tasks with precedence relationships and real-time constraints. Based on this two-phase approach, we propose a new system-level scheduling algorithm that can optimize both dynamic power and leakage power consumption by performing DVS and ABB simultaneously for distributed real-time embedded systems. Experimental results show that the average power reduction of our technique with respect to DVS alone is 37.4% for the 70-nm technology.
Abiotic-biotic characterization of Pt/Ir microelectrode arrays in chronic implants.

Pt/Ir electrodes have been extensively used in neurophysiology research in recent years as they provide more inert recording surface as compared to tungsten or stainless steel. While floating microelectrode arrays consisting of Pt/Ir electrodes are an option for neuroprosthetic applications, long-term in vivo functional performance characterization of these FMAs is lacking. In this study, we have performed comprehensive abiotic-biotic characterization of Pt/Ir arrays in twelve rats with implant periods ranging from one week up to six months. Each of the FMAs consisted of 16-channel, 1.5mm long, and 75µm diameter microwires with tapered tips that were implanted into the somatosensory cortex. Abiotic characterization included (1) pre-implant and post-explant scanning electron microscopy to study recording site changes, insulation delamination and cracking, and (2) chronic in vivo electrode impedance spectroscopy. Biotic characterization included study of microglial responses using a panel of antibodies, such as Iba1, ED1, and anti-ferritin, the latter being indicative of blood-brain barrier disruption. Significant structural variation was observed pre-implantation among the arrays in the form of irregular insulation, cracks in insulation/recording surface, and insulation delamination. We observed delamination and cracking of insulation in almost all electrodes post-implantation. These changes altered the electrochemical surface area of the electrodes and resulted in declining impedance over the long-term due to formation of electrical leakage pathways. In general, the decline in impedance corresponded with poor electrode functional performance, which was quantified via electrode yield. Our abiotic results suggest that manufacturing variability and insulation material as an important factor contributing to electrode failure. Biotic results show that electrode performance was not correlated with microglial activation (neuroinflammation) as we were able to observe poor p
Transverse Doppler Current Profilers

A new type of doppler acoustic current profiler (DCP) based on the transverse doppler principle is presented. A transverse DCP measures velocity perpendicular to an acoustic beam by measuring the differential doppler shift between the outputs of two or more receiving transducers using coherent processing. The governing equations for a transverse DCP are presented and the procedure for designing a transverse DCP is outlined. Results from operating a prototype transverse DCP system in Chesapeake Bay adjacent to a main shipping channel and in the Bear Cut channel near the port of Miami are discussed. Possible applications of transverse DCP systems include monitoring of water flow in shipping channels as well as oceanographic measurement.
The impact of device scaling and power supply change on CMOS gate performance

Based a new empirical mobility model that is solely dependent on V/sub gs/, V/sub t/, and T/sub ox/ and a corresponding saturation drain current (I/sub dsat/) model, the impact of device scaling and power supply voltage change on CMOS inverter's performance is investigated in this paper. It shows that the T/sub ox/ which maximizes inverter's speed may be thicker than reliability consideration requires. In addition, very high speed can be achieved even at low V/sub dd/ (for low power applications) if V/sub t/ can be lowered.
Hippocampal theta activity and behavioral sequences in a reward-directed approach locomotor task.

Hippocampal rhythmic slow wave activity (theta) has been implicated in the processing of stimuli associated with movement. This study determined whether the theta rhythm showed phase relationships or changes in amplitude and frequency with the onset of stimuli and behavioral sequences in a skilled locomotor approach task. Rats with bipolar electrodes spanning CA1 approached a stall, turned to enter it, approached and depressed a treadle, waited 1.35 s, and approached a milk reward located forward either to the right or to the left. Auditory cues indicated the location of the reward during the waiting period and at the reward onset. A video capture system (20-ms sampling) was synchron- ized to the hippocampal recording system (10-ms sampling). Behavioral events identified by motion analysis were used to generate averages of hippocampal slow wave activity, theta peak amplitudes, and intervals between peaks. Theta activity at 8-10 Hz was almost continuous during the behavioral sequences. Phase relations with stimuli or movement onsets occurred infrequently and were not consistent across the four sub- jects. Theta peak amplitude and frequency decreased as the rat slowed locomotion in the stall and reached the treadle. Onset of locomotion directed to a reward location occurred on a positive peak of averaged theta activity. When locomotion had short latencies, increases in theta frequency appeared after the onset but, when it had longer latencies, fre- quency increases appeared 200 ms before onset. The results indicate that the execution of instrumental movement modulates both theta amplitude and frequency, and that the preparation for locomotion modulates theta frequency. V C 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
An integrated software immune system: a framework for automated network management, system health, and security

Maintaining the integrity of large-scale networks is becoming an increasingly daunting task as networks expand at an unprecedented rate. The majority of present network monitoring and maintenance tools require a substantial investment in human resources to sift through vast quantities of information, to detect problems, and manually resolve them. Computer immunology is the solution to ever-increasing network maintenance overhead. This paper seeks to define computer normality through a policy-driven process and provide a framework for conserving network health. The goal is to automate network management as much as possible. This methodology combines the benefits of two existing systems as well as incorporates other critical elements to provide an integrated, flexible, versatile system.
EFFECTS OF CHRONIC EXPOSURE TO SIMULATED MICROGRAVITY ON SKELETAL MUSCLE CELL PROLIFERATION AND DIFFERENTIATION

Cell culture models that mimic long-term exposure to microgravity provide important insights into the cellular biological adaptations of human skeletal muscle to long-term residence in space. We developed insert scaffolding for the NASA-designed rotating cell culture system (RCCS) in order to study the effects of time-averaged microgravity on the proliferation and differentiation of anchorage-dependent skeletal muscle myocytes. We hypothesized that prolonged microgravity exposure would result in the retardation of myocyte differentiation. Microgravity exposure in the RCCS resulted in increased cellular proliferation. Despite shifting to media conditions promoting cellular differentiation, 5 d later, there was an increase in cell number of approximately 62%, increases in total cellular protein (52%), and cellular proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) content (2.7 times control), and only a modest (insignificant) decrease (10%) in sarcomeric myosin protein expression. We grew cells in an inverted orientation on membrane inserts. Changes in cell number and PCNA content were the converse to those observed for cells in the RCCS. We also grew cells on inserts at unit gravity with constant mixing. Mixing accounted for part, but not all, of the effects of microgravity exposure on skeletal muscle cell cultures (53% of the RCCS effect on PCNA at 4–6 d). In summary, the mechanical effects of simulated microgravity exposure in the RCCS resulted in the maintenance of cellular proliferation, manifested as increases in cell number and expression of PCNA relative to control conditions, with only a modest reciprocal inhibition of cellular differentiation. Therefore, this model provides conditions wherein cellular differentiation and proliferation appear to be uncoupled.
The Sociology of Famine

Famines have both historical and contemporary relevance. Their occurrence often has far-reaching consequences for segments of populations; major cataclysms cause their occurrence. Only recently has their sociological significance received attention. The argument exists that despite the appearance of famine as having largely medical consequences and ecological causes, significant social causes and consequences play a part as well. The world system and the state are major actors in the development and unfolding of famines. Indigenous class structure, community, family and individual roles suffer temporary and, possibly, long-term alteration as a result.
On the Meaning of the Question "How Fast Does Time Pass?"

In this paper I distinguish interpretations of the question ``How fast does time pass?’’ that are important for the debate over the reality of objective becoming from interpretations that are not. Then I discuss how one theory that incorporates objective becoming—the moving spotlight theory of time—answers this question. It turns out that there are several ways to formulate the moving spotlight theory of time. One formulation says that time passes but it makes no sense to ask how fast; another formulation says that time passes at one second per supersecond; and a third says that time passes at one second per second. I defend the intelligibility of this final version of the theory.
Police Innovation and Crime Prevention: Lessons Learned From Police Research Over the Past 20 Years

In a recent volume (Weisburd and Braga, 2006), a group of leading scholars presented contrasting perspectives on eight major innovations in American policing developed over the course of the 1980s and 1990s. In response to rising crime rates and growing public dissatisfaction, police departments needed to improve their performance and innovation provided the opportunity to make these improvements. These innovations included community policing, “broken windows” policing, problem-oriented policing, “pulling levers” policing, third-party policing, hot spots policing, Compstat, and evidence-based policing. These strategies represented fundamental changes to the business of policing. However, as many police scholars and executives point out, improving police performance through innovation is often not straightforward. Police departments are highly resistant to change and police officers often experience difficulty in implementing new programs (Sparrow, Moore, and Kennedy, 1990; Capowich and Roehl, 1994; Sadd and Grinc, 1994). The available evidence on key dimensions of police performance associated with these eight innovations, such as crime control effectiveness and community satisfaction with services provided, is also surprisingly limited. These observations are not unique to the policing field. For example, as Elmore (1997) suggests, the field of education was awash in innovation during the 1990s, but there is little evidence examining whether those innovations advanced the performance of schools, students, or graduates.
The major determinants in normal and pathological gait.

Human locomotion is a phenomenon of the most extraordinary complexity in which so great are the multitude of individual motions occurring simultaneously in the three planes of space that analysis is difficult without some unifying principle. The adoption of the concept that fundamentally locomotion is the translation of the center of gravity through space along a pathway requiring the least expenditure of energy supplies the necessary unifying principle which permits of qualitative analysis in terms of the essential determinants of gait. The six major determinants are pelvic rotation, pelvic tilt, knee and hip flexion, knee and ankle interaction, and lateral pelvic displacement. The serial observations of irregularities in these determinants provides insight into individual variation and a dynamic assessment of pathological gait. Pathological gait may be viewed as an attempt to preserve as low a level of energy consumption as possible by exaggerations of the motions at unaffected levels. Compensation is reasonably effective with the loss of one determinant of which that at the knee is the most costly. Loss of two determinants makes effective compensation impossible and the cost of locomotion in terms of energy is increased threefold with an inevitable drain upon the body economy.
Does Writing Have a Future?, by Vilém Flusser: translated by Nancy Ann Roth. Introduction by Mark Poster Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2011. xxvii + 178 pp. $60.00 (cloth). $20.00 (paperback).

If the title of the text under review is not sufficient warning, Vilem Flusser (1920–1991) was a provocateur. With roots in 1920s and ‘30 s Prague and the intersecting Czech, German, and Jewish cul...
Psychiatry in the Nursing Home

After facts were presented revealing a need for psychiatric services to nursing homes, the historical development of the nursing home was discussed. Relationships between society's expectations and government policy were described, as were three key variables that interact in the placement and care of a resident in a long-term care facility. An interdisciplinary approach to resident care was presented, along with a discussion of sexuality. Various functions of the psychiatric consultant were examined. Teaching and training, rather than taking over roles of the staff were emphasized.
Violence, dandyism and the literary self-portraiture of Quentin Crisp

This essay argues that, although he is often characterized as aristocratic and defiant, the literary dandy fundamentally is the object of the types of violence identified by Galtung: direct, structural, and cultural. These three kinds can be traced throughout dandyism’s history, from the historical rise of “Beau” Brummell to more contemporary literary theorizing, as matters of acknowledging direct violence’s common proximity to the dandy, noting the dandy’s strong structural connection to his modern celebrity analogue, and understanding how the dandy transforms the economic and cultural relations of the commodity. Each of these aspects serve to reduce the literary dandy to a state of abjection. As a result of this antagonism, author and literary dandy Crisp adopts a form of life-writing in his memoir The Naked Civil Servant that can be identified as the literary self-portrait, a confessional and contrarian sub-genre theorized by Beaujour. The authorship of the self-portrait, then, serves as a defensive tactic that rewrites and reinterprets the violence of the dandy’s opponents.
Robust direct visual odometry using mutual information

Robust vision-based state estimation in real-world indoor and outdoor environments is a challenging problem due to the combination of drastic lighting changes and limited dynamic range of commodity cameras. This limitation is at odds with the fundamental constancy of illumination assumption made in image-intensity based tracking methodologies. We present and experimentally validate a Mutual Information (MI) based dense rigid body tracking algorithm that is demonstrably robust to drastic illumination changes, and compare the performance of this algorithm to a canonical Sum of Squared Differences based Lucas-Kanade tracking formulation. Further, we propose a novel approach that combines the robustness benefits of information-based measures and the speed of traditional intensity based Lucas-Kanade tracking for robust state estimation in real-time.
Electrospun Template Architecture and Composition Regulate Neutrophil NETosis In Vitro and In Vivo .

Mounting evidence indicates that neutrophils, first responders to an implanted biomaterial, prime the microenvironment for recruited immune cells by secreting factors and releasing neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) through NETosis. In this study, we investigated the role of electrospun template architecture and composition in regulating NETosis. Electrospun polydioxanone (PDO), collagen type I (COL), and blended PDO-COL templates (PC) were fabricated with small-diameter (0.25-0.35 μm) and large-diameter (1.0-2.00 μm) fibers. Neutrophil-template interactions were evaluated in vitro for 3 and 24 h with human neutrophils, and the PDO templates were studied in vivo (rat subcutaneous model) for 1 and 7 days. Template-bound NETs were quantified by fluorescent microscopy and an On-cell Western assay. The in vitro results indicate that larger fiber diameters reduced NETosis on PDO templates, whereas the incorporation of COL attenuated NETosis independent of fiber diameter. The in vivo results similarly revealed a lower degree of NETs on large-diameter PDO templates at 1 day, resulting in marginal tissue integration of the templates at 7 days. In contrast, the small-diameter PDO templates, which were coated in a large amount of NETs at 24 h in vivo, were surrounded by capsule-like tissue at 7 days. These preliminary in vivo results validate the in vitro model and signify NETosis as a potentially significant physiological response and a critical preconditioning event for the innate immune response to templates. In conclusion, these results demonstrate the importance of characterizing the neutrophil's acute confrontation with biomaterials to engineer templates capable of promoting in situ regeneration.
Analysis of Klebsiella pneumoniae infection in 75 preterm infants

Objective To analyze the clinical characteristics of Klebsiella pneumoniae infection in preterm infants. Methods Clinical data of 75 preterm infants infected with Klebsiella pneumoniae treated in BaYi Children's Hospital from February 6,2008 to February 10,2010 were retrospectively analyzed.The difference of auxiliary examination between early-onset and late-onset infection group were compared by two independent samples t test.Spearman correlation analysis and non-conditional Logistic regression analysis were used to analyze the high risk factors and the prognostic factors of Klebsiella pneumoniae infection in preterm infants. Results The incidence of Klebsiella pneumoniae infection was 2.8％ (75/2721) in preterm infants,and the mortality rate was 9.3％ (7/75). There were 71 cases of Klebsiella pneumoniae sepsis and 4 cases of Klebsiella pneumoniae pneumonia.Among 75 cases,63 cases were early-onset infection (onset age≤72 h) and 12 were late-onset infection (onset age＞72 h).All patients presented with poor response,heart rate during quiet sleep ＞ 160/min and low oxygen saturation.The mean corpuscular volume and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration in early-onset Klebsiella pneunoniae infection cases were higher than those in late-onset neonates [(128.87±24.60) fl vs (113.72±13.54) fl,t=-2.07,P＜0.05and (38.11±2.15) pg vs (36.98±1.05) pg,t=-2.76,P＜0.05].Low birth weight and caesarean section were associated with early-onset Klebsiella pneumoniae sepsis (r=0.250 and -0.240,P＜0.05). The prognosis of Klebsiella pneumoniae infection was associated with hospital stay and duration of premature rupture of membranes (r=0.368 and 0.318,P＜0.05). Conclusions There were no specific clinical manifestations for Klebsiella pneumoniae infection in preterm infants.Preterm infants with low birth weight,long duration of premature rupture of membranes,delivered by caesarean section and received invasive operation are likely to develop Klebsiella pneumoniae infection. Key words: Infant, premature; Klebsiella pneumoniae; Klebsiella infections
U.S. Government Statistics on the World Wide Web

The U.S. Government produces and provides massive amounts of statistics. Government initiatives have made much of the statistical information emanating from its various federal agencies, departments, and offices digitally accessible on the Internet. Assisting users in locating specific statistics can be one of the most challenging duties librarians have. This article provides a guide to government sources that will help librarians locate health statistics for researchers, health professionals, health consumers, and others. Some selected sites may be an endpoint of the search, and others may offer a solid beginning to a complex answer. Links are also provided to gateway Web sites, where a search strategy utilizing some of the tips discovered while compiling this list can be used to help promote successful outcomes. As always, it is recommended to use evaluative criteria to assess information quality as well as integrity of the data.
Measurement of skeletal muscle glycogen status in critically ill patients: a new approach in critical care monitoring

Critically ill patients experience hypermetabolism increas ing substrate utilization, especially glucose oxidation. Glycogen is the main source of glucose in the body, being 85% and 15% stored in skeletal muscle and liver respectively. Since glycogen stores are limited we evaluated the hypothesis that critical illness could be associated with glycogen depletion leading to skeletal muscle catabolism for gluconeogenesis and eventually resulting in cachexia, an important determinant of future ICU survival and ICU-acquired weakness.
Prebiotics and Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Dietary fiber, specifically prebiotics, is the primary source of energy for the gut microbiota and thus has the potential to beneficially modify microbiota composition. Prebiotics have been used in both in vitro studies and with animal models of colitis with largely positive results. Human studies are few and have been conducted with only a few select prebiotics, primarily fructan-containing fibers. Although disease activity and inflammatory markers have improved, more needs to be learned about the specific prebiotic compounds and how they can be used to best improve the gut microbiota to counter changes induced by inflammatory bowel disease.
Increased Osteoporosis and Hospitalization in Non-Cystic Fibrosis Bronchiectasis (NCFBr) Adults with Desaturation during 6 Minute Walk Test: a Five-year Study

Non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis (NCFBr) characterized by parenchymal destruction and ventilation/perfusion mismatch may cause hypoxia. Hypoxia strongly stimulates osteoclast-mediated bone resorption. We examined whether desaturation during 6 minute walk test (6MWT) was associated with increased osteoporosis and hospitalization in NCFBr. We enrolled 49 NCFBr and measured FEV 1 , 6MWT, and oxygen saturation by pulse oximetry (SpO 2 ) during 6MWT at baseline and every 3-6 moths for 5 years. Desaturation group was defined as a fall in SpO 2 ≥10% or NCFBr with desaturation group (n=34) had higher CT scores, lower FEV 1 and less walking distance. T score was significantly decreased in desaturation group (-3.7±1.1) compared to non-desaturation group (-2.2±0.7, p 2 (r= 0.46; p Non-cystic bronchiectasis patients with desaturation during 6MWT, who had lower FEV 1 and higher disease severity, were associated with accelerated osteoporosis and increased frequency of hospitalization.
Women musicians of Uzbekistan: from courtyard to conservatory

Tanya Merchant's monograph, a study of women's performance and pedagogy, investigates how women have established a place in the conservatory and the music canon in Uzbekistan. Based on interviews o...
Two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy of coordination complexes: From solvent dynamics to photocatalysis

Abstract Two-dimensional infrared (2D-IR) spectroscopy is a powerful technique capable of accessing structure and dynamics with ultrafast time resolution in a wide range of chemical contexts. Since the early development of 2D-IR and related nonlinear IR spectroscopy methods, coordination complexes have been used primarily due to their well-defined structures and large transition intensities. As research interests have broadened to include catalysis and photocatalysis, however, 2D-IR spectroscopy has found great success in characterizing structural dynamics in a wide range of coordination complexes.
Die wesentlichen Aussagen des Grundgesetzes zur Wirtschaft

Das Grundgesetz enthalt zahlreiche Aussagen zur Wirtschaft, die zwar nicht zu einer abgesonderten oder in sich abgeschlossenen „Wirtschaftsverfassung“1 verdichtet sind, die aber gleichwohl in einem gewissen inneren Zusammenhang stehen, der bei der Verfassungsinterpretation zu berucksichtigen ist2: Neben den zumindest auch auf die wirtschaftliche Betatigung bezogenen Grundrechten der Art. 2 Abs. 1, 3, 9, 12, 14 GG zahlen hierzu insbesondere das Rechtsstaatsprinzip, die Sozialstaatsklausel und das Prinzip der reprasentativen parlamentarischen Demokratie. Diese Bereiche des Wirtschaftsverfassungsrechts werden erganzt durch Regelungen uber die Gesetzgebungs- und Verwaltungszustandigkeiten, durch die Verpflichtung der Haushaltswirtschaft in Bund und Landern auf das gesamtwirtschaftliche Gleichgewicht (Art. 109 GG), durch die Finanzverfassung (Art. 104 a ff. GG) sowie durch allgemeine Verfassungsprinzipien. Hinzu kommt eine Reihe weiterer Grundgesetzbestimmungen, die — wie etwa die Meinungs-, Presse-, Kunst- und Forschungsfreiheit (Art. 5 GG), das Recht zur Errichtung von Privatschulen (Art. 7 Abs. 4 GG) und die mit Art. 24 GG verbundene Problematik der Geltungsprioritat des Europaischen Gemeinschaftsrechts — enge oder — wie etwa die Freizugigkeit (Art. 11 GG; Schutz auch der wirtschaftlichen Freizugigkeit) und die Unverletzlichkeit der Wohnung (Art. 13 GG; Schutz auch der Geschaftsraume) — mehr periphere Beruhrungspunkte mit der Wirtschaftstatigkeit aufweisen3.
Manganese superoxide dismutase regulates mTORC2 mediated UVB-induced mitophagy

Mitochondria are major sites of energy metabolism that control numerous cellular events including immunity and cancer development. Previously, we reported the dual roles of MnSOD in early- and late- carcinogenesis stages. However, how MnSOD regulates the chain of events in the pathologically normal epithelial cells that have been exposed to carcinogens is unknown. Here, we show that UVB radiation causes nitration and inactivation of MnSOD activity in vitro and in vivo leading to initiation of mitochondrial injury and mitophagy. In primary human keratinocytes, exposure to UVB radiation decreases mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation, increases glycolysis, increases the expression of autophagy-related genes, and enhances AKT phosphorylation and cell proliferation. Interestingly, UVB initiates a prosurvival mitophagy response by mitochondria-mediated reactive oxygen species (ROS) signaling via the mammalian target of the rapamycin complex 2 (mTORC2) pathway. Exposure to UVB increases rictor but not raptor expression, and overexpression of rictor increases mitophagy. Conversely, knock-down of rictor but not raptor abrogates UVB-induced mitophagy responses. Furthermore, fractionation and proximity-ligation assays reveal that mitochondrial ROS- mediated mTOC2 translocation to mitochondria is necessary for UVB-induced mitophagy. Importantly, pretreatment with MnTnBuOE-2-PyP5+ (MnP), a mitochondrial superoxide dismutase mimetic, attenuates mTORC2 activation and suppresses UVB-induced mitophagy. Exposure to UVB radiation increases cell transformation as assessed by soft-agar colony survival assay and pretreatment with MnP or 3-MA, a known autophagy inhibitor, abrogates UVB-induced cell transformation. These results demonstrate for the first time that MnSOD is a redox sensitive protein that maintains mitochondrial health and prevents UVB-induced mitophagy and cell transformation by regulating the activity of the mTORC2 complex.
Top Ten Tips Palliative Care Clinicians Should Know About Caring for Patients with Left Ventricular Assist Devices.

Abstract Advanced heart failure (HF) is a common condition that leads to significant suffering for patients and their families. Left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) can improve both the quantity...
Automated Surgical Term Clustering: A Text Mining Approach for Unstructured Textual Surgery Descriptions

High costs in health care and everlasting need for quality improvement in care delivery is increasingly becoming the motivating factor for novel predictive studies in health care informatics. Surgical services impact both the operating theatre costs and revenues and play critical role in care quality. Efficiency of such units relies extremely on effective operational planning and inventory management. A key ingredient to such planning activities is the structured and unstructured data available prior to the surgery day from the electronic health records and other information systems. Unstructured data, such as textual features of procedure description and notes, provide additional information while structured data alone is not sufficient. To effectively utilize textual information using text mining, textual features should be easily identifiable, i.e., without typographical errors and ad hoc abbreviations. While there exists numerous spelling correction and abbreviation identification tools, they are not suitable for the surgical medical text as they require a dictionary and cannot accommodate ad hoc words such as abbreviations. This study proposes a novel preprocessing framework for surgical text data to detect misspellings and abbreviations prior to the application of any text mining and predictive modeling. The proposed approach helps extract the most salient text features from the unstructured principal procedure and additional notes by effectively reducing the raw feature set dimension. The transformed (text) feature set thus improves subsequent prediction tasks in surgery units. We test and validate the proposed approach using datasets from multiple hospitals’ surgical departments and benchmark feature sets.
Growing up in Neuropsychology

While my endeavors as a neuropsychologist do not yet constitute a true “body of work”, I have been active in the field for a number of years. I have been influenced by many mentors and colleagues, (many of whom have contributed to this volume), but no one more so than my father. I have a lifetime of experiences to share, and only a few pages on which to convey them.
Solving Bayesian Inverse Problems via Variational Autoencoders

In recent years, the field of machine learning has made phenomenal progress in the pursuit of simulating real-world data generation processes. One notable example of such success is the variational autoencoder (VAE). In this work, with a small shift in perspective, we leverage and adapt VAEs for a different purpose: uncertainty quantification in scientific inverse problems. We introduce UQ-VAE: a flexible, adaptive, hybrid data/model-informed framework for training neural networks capable of rapid modelling of the posterior distribution representing the unknown parameter of interest. Specifically, from divergence-based variational inference, our framework is derived such that most of the information usually present in scientific inverse problems is fully utilized in the training procedure. Additionally, this framework includes an adjustable hyperparameter that allows selection of the notion of distance between the posterior model and the target distribution. This introduces more flexibility in controlling how optimization directs the learning of the posterior model. Further, this framework possesses an inherent adaptive optimization property that emerges through the learning of the posterior uncertainty.
Non-sterile fermentation of food waste using thermophilic and alkaliphilic Bacillus licheniformis YNP5-TSU for 2,3-butanediol production.

Abstract Conversion of food waste into 2,3-butanediol (2,3-BDO) via microbial fermentation provides a promising way to reduce waste disposal to landfills and produce sustainable chemicals. However, sterilization of food waste, an energy- and capital-costly process, is generally required before fermentation to avoid any contamination, which reduces the energy net output and economic feasibility of food waste fermentation. In this study, we investigated the non-sterile fermentation of food waste to produce 2,3-BDO using a newly isolated thermophilic and alkaliphilic B. licheniformis YNP5-TSU. Three unitary food waste samples (i.e., pepper, pineapple, cabbage wastes) and one miscellaneous food waste mixture were respectively inoculated with B. licheniformis YNP5-TSU under non-sterile conditions. At 50 °C and an initial pH of 9.0, B. licheniformis YNP5-TSU was able to consume all sugars in food waste and produce 5.2, 5.9, 5.9 and 4.3 g/L of 2,3-BDO within 24 h from pepper, pineapple, cabbage and miscellaneous wastes, respectively, corresponding to a yield of 0.40, 0.38, 0.41 and 0.41 g 2,3-BDO/g sugar. These 2,3-BDO concentrations and yields from the non-sterile fermentations were comparable to those from the traditional sterile fermentations, which produced 4.0–6.8 g/L of 2,3-BDO with yields of 0.31–0.48 g 2,3-BDO/g sugar. Moreover, B. licheniformis was able to ferment various food wastes (pepper, pineapple and miscellaneous wastes) without any external nutrient addition and produce similar 2,3-BDO quantities. The non-sterile fermentation of food waste using novel thermophilic and alkaliphilic B. licheniformis YNP5-TSU provides a robust and energy-efficient approach to convert food waste to high-value chemicals.
Effects of Accounting‐Method Choices on Subjective Performance‐Measure Weighting Decisions: Experimental Evidence on Precision and Error Covariance

Performance‐measure weights for incentive compensation are often determined subjectively. Determining these weights is a cognitively difficult task, and archival research shows that observed performance‐measure weights are only partially consistent with the predictions of agency theory. Ittner et al. (2003) have concluded that psychology theory can help to explain such inconsistencies. In an experimental setting based on Feltham and Xie (1994), we use psychology theories of reasoning to predict distinctive patterns of similarity and difference between optimal and actual subjective performance‐measure weights. The following predictions are supported. First, in contrast to a number of prior studies, most individuals' decisions are significantly influenced by the performance measures' error variance (precision) and error covariance. Second, directional errors in the use of these measurement attributes are relatively frequent, resulting in a mean underreaction to an accounting change that alters performance m...
Modeling and optimization of building mix and energy supply technology for urban districts

Reducing the energy consumption and associated greenhouse gas emissions of urban areas is paramount in research and practice, encompassing strategies to both reduce energy consumption and carbon intensity in both energy supply and demand. Most methods focus on one of these two approaches but few integrate decisions for supply and demand simultaneously. This paper presents a novel model that endogenously simulates energy supply and demand at a district scale on an hourly time scale. Demand is specified for a variety of building uses, and losses and municipal loads are calculated from the number of buildings in the district. Energy supply is modeled using technology-specific classes, allowing easy addition of specific equipment or types of energy generation. Standard interfaces allow expansion of the model to include new types of energy supply and demand. The model can be used for analysis of a single design alternative or optimization over a large design space, allowing exploration of various densities, mixes of uses, and energy supply technologies. An example optimization is provided for a community near San Francisco, California. This example uses 21 building types, 32 combined heat and power engines, and 16 chillers. The results demonstrate the ability to compare performance trade-offs and optimize for three objectives: life cycle cost, annual carbon dioxide emissions, and overall system efficiency.
Linking Teacher Growth and Student Growth

Do students benefit when teachers participate in staff development programs? McNeil (1970) held that the connection has not been firmly established: "Professional leaders seem to have assumed that learners will be better served if teachers become more selfdirected, become more mature, and reach their own personal goals." Teachers, he contended, may appear to be trying to convince the public that anything that is in their interest is in the interest of pupils. Based on McNeil's indictment of our failure to make a connection between teacher growth and student growth, this article will explore the specific ways that staff development can positively affect student learning. Three areas regarding teacher growth that need to be addressed in staff development programs will be examined: (1) the developmental stages that teachers go through in their careers, (2) the impact that teachers who are self-directed learners have on their students, and (3) the relationship between the psychological maturity of a teacher and his or her effectiveness in the classroom.