cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Aging Effect on Initial Postural Responses of Unperturbed Foot to Unexpected Slips

Consideration of every aspects of body motion that may contribute to balance recovery after unexpected slips is regarded to be fundamental for thorough understanding of slips and falls mechanism. The objective of current study was to assess the aging effect on the initial postural responses of the unperturbed foot after slip initiation. Totally 20 young and 23 old adults participated in a laboratory study, in which slippery surface was induced without their awareness. Unperturbed foot reaction time, contact velocity, and initial BoS (base of support) were quantified kinematically from motion analysis data after slip start. Apparent toe-touch strategy by unperturbed foot was found to be employed by most individuals. Initial contact dynamics was not found to be affected by either aging or slip outcome. The fact that all the individuals without using toe-touch strategy fell demonstrated the clear importance of unperturbed foot responses to avoid fall accidents. Language: en
Structures and free energy landscapes of aqueous zinc(II)-bound amyloid-β(1-40) and zinc(II)-bound amyloid-β(1-42) with dynamics

Binding of divalent metal ions with intrinsically disordered fibrillogenic proteins, such as amyloid-β (Aβ), influences the aggregation process and the severity of neurodegenerative diseases. The Aβ monomers and oligomers are the building blocks of the aggregates. In this work, we report the structures and free energy landscapes of the monomeric zinc(II)-bound Aβ40 (Zn:Aβ40) and zinc(II)-bound Aβ42 (Zn:Aβ42) intrinsically disordered fibrillogenic metallopeptides in an aqueous solution by utilizing an approach that employs first principles calculations and parallel tempering molecular dynamics simulations. The structural and thermodynamic properties, including the secondary and tertiary structures and conformational Gibbs free energies of these intrinsically disordered metallopeptide alloforms, are presented. The results show distinct differing characteristics for these metallopeptides. For example, prominent β-sheet formation in the N-terminal region (Asp1, Arg5, and Tyr10) of Zn:Aβ40 is significantly decreased or lacking in Zn:Aβ42. Our findings indicate that blocking multiple reactive residues forming abundant β-sheet structure located in the central hydrophobic core and C-terminal regions of Zn:Aβ42 via antibodies or small organic molecules might help to reduce the aggregation of Zn(II)-bound Aβ42. Furthermore, we find that helix formation increases but β-sheet formation decreases in the C-terminal region upon Zn(II) binding to Aβ. This depressed β-sheet formation in the C-terminal region (Gly33-Gly38) in monomeric Zn:Aβ42 might be linked to the formation of amorphous instead of fibrillar aggregates of Zn:Aβ42.
Human granulocyte antigens detected on leukemia cells and a chronic myelogenous cell line.

. Normal human granulocyte alloantigens were found on chronic myelogenous, acute myeloblastic leukemia cells, and a cell line of chronic myeloblastic origin (K562). Antigens were detected by human antisera positive for normal peripheral blood granulocytes but devoid of HLA activity. Very few acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells reacted positively, and none of the chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells seemed to bear granulocyte surface antigens. The recognition of these normal tissue isoantigens on myeloblastic leukemia cells is a necessary prerequisite for the identification of “leukemia-specific” or “leukemia-associated” antigens.
Disasters and Fiscal Policy: Hurricane Impact on Municipal Revenue

This study investigates the fiscal impact of Hurricane Frederic on the city of Mobile, Alabama. The hurricane caused damages of about $1.6 billion in property and other losses in the state, led to an influx of $670 million in recovery funds, and resulted in a $2.5 million increase in municipal revenue for the next 12 months. The long-term impact was negative, however.
What Dairy Employees Think About Their Jobs

Abstract Although technological developments in milking equipment have greatly affected how cows are milked today, there still is no substitute for high quality employees to do the job. Researchers have often overlooked the impact that the milker has on the quality and quantity of milk produced. To gain an understanding of what employees think about their jobs, 30 people were interviewed throughout New Hampshire. All personnel surveyed had primarily milking responsibilities, and their comments provided insights into the characteristics of milkers as well as their frustrations when proper accommodations were lacking. Employers often thought that they would satisfy workers with wages, job security, and promotions. However, employees placed a higher priority on appreciation for work done well and on being invited to give input into the decision-making process.
Neural Network Embedded Monte Carlo Approach for Water Quality Modeling under Input Information Uncertainty

This paper proposes a neural network embedded Monte Carlo ~NNMC! approach to account for uncertainty in water quality modeling. The framework of the proposed method has three major parts: a numerical water quality model, a neural network technique, and Monte Carlo simulation. The numerical model is used to generate desirable output for training and testing sets, and the neural network is used as a universal functional mapping tool to approximate the input-output response of the numerical model. The Monte Carlo simulation then uses the neural network to generate numerical realizations based on a probabilistic distribution of parameters, thus obtaining a probabilistic distribution of the simulated state variables. By embedding a neural network into the conventional Monte Carlo simulation, the proposed approach significantly improves upon the conventional method in computational efficiency. The proposed approach has been applied to uncertainty and risk analyses of a phosphorus model for Triadelphia Reservoir in Maryland. The results of this research show that the NNMC approach has potential for efficient uncertainty analysis of water quality modeling.
Accumulation of Electron Spin Polarization at Semiconductor Interfaces

In this Brief Report we study theoretically the propagation of electron spin polarization through an interface separating two n-type semiconductor regions within the two-component drift-diffusion model in an applied electric field. It is assumed that inhomogeneous spin polarization is created locally by a continuous source of spin polarization and is driven through the boundary by the electric field. The spin polarization distribution is calculated analytically. We find that for specific values of parameters describing the system, the electron spin polarization is accumulated near the interface. A simple analytical expression for the amplitude of spin accumulation as a function of the system parameters is found. The obtained results will be useful in designing new spintronic devices.
Dual-beam encoding for color holographic construction

Abstract Color holographic construction by a dual-beam encoding technique is presented. This technique offers the simplicity of color hologram generation without utilizing a reference beam. The encoding procedure uses the entire aperture of an imaging lens so that high resolution color holographic images, in principle, can be obtained. The reconstructed image quality is found to rely on the depth of field of the test object in conjunction with the spatial frequency of the interference pattern selected in the encoding process. The speckle noise is reduced by white-light reconstruction. Experimental results are presented.
Reducing estimation uncertainty with continuous assessment: tracking the "cone of uncertainty"

Accurate software cost and schedule estimations are essential especially for large software projects. However, once the required efforts have been estimated, little is done to recalibrate and reduce the uncertainty of the initial estimates. To address this problem, we have developed and used a framework to continuously monitor the software project progress and readjust the estimated effort utilizing the Constructive Cost Model II (COCOMO II) and the Unified CodeCount Tool developed by the University of Southern California (USC). As a software project progresses, we gain more information about the project itself, which can then be used to assess and re-estimate the effort required to complete the project. With more accurate estimations and less uncertainties, the quality and goal of project outcome can be assured within the available resources. The paper thus also provides and analyzes empirical data on how projects evolve within the familiar software "cone of uncertainty".
Robot Navigation Using Integrated Retrieval of Behaviors and Routes

RUPART 1 is a hybrid robot control system for navigating a real-world, academic building. Hybrid robot control systems provide robust low-level navigation together with strategic planning abilities. While a hybrid system may produce better overall performance, it is often a complex system that must balance reactive with deliberative tasks, and where learning and adaptation are more difficult to achieve. RUPART addresses the issues of complexity, balance, and learning by using a single case-based-reasoning (CBR) system to store and retrieve cases for both its reactive and deliberative systems. At this stage, the CBR system contains behavior cases, which determine the reactive actions of the robot, and route cases, which determine strategic plans for navigating to a goal location. RUPART will be extended in the future to use CBR to manage multiple goals and higher-level strategic decisionmaking. This first-stage RUPART system retrieves and applies cases that are suitable to its needs: behavior cases to control its reactive behaviors, route cases when planning to reach a new goal. The resulting system can learn new route and behaviors, without the complexity of multiple reasoning and learning algorithms usually entailed by a hybrid control system.
Early height development and species stratification across five climax series in the eastern Washington Cascade range

Reconstruction in twenty single-cohort stands across five climax series on the eastern slope of the Washington Cascade Range found a variety of species combinations and development patterns. Western larch (Larix occidentalis Nutt.) and lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta Dougl. ex Loud) were found to be very competitive species that usually occupied a dominant position in stands in the Abies grandis, Abies lasiocarpa, and Tsuga mertensiana climax series. Interior Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca (Mirb.) Franco) was found in all five climax series and, although its height growth was less than that of western larch or the lodgepole pine, it was usually found in the upper stratum. These results suggest that site classification based on climax potential should be used cautiously when applied to young stand management decisions regarding seral species. For example, the difference between an Abies grandis, and a Tsuga mertensiana climax series is quite large in terms of potential productivity but in either case western larch, if present, will likely dominate these stands.
Fatality Resulting from Methylphenidate Overdose

A case involving an accidental overdose fatality resulting from an intravenous injection of crushed Ritalin (methylphenidate) tablets is presented. The drug was quantified by gas chromatography/nitrogen-phosphorus detection and confirmed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Concentrations of drug were as follows: blood, 2.8 mg/L; bile, 5.7 mg/L; kidney, 3.0 mg/kg; liver, 2.1 mg/kg; and stomach contents, 1.6 mg total. Other drugs and volatile substances were not detected.
Hyperthermia, the Tumor Microenvironment and Immunity

Elevated temperatures produce a wide range of effects in tumor bearing hosts and have been used in cancer therapy. At lower temperatures, in the fever range (FRH) direct tumor cell killing is minimal and cell inactivation is due to profound immune stimulation of a wide range of immune cells under FRH conditions. As temperatures increase above 41 °C, direct cell killing is observed and follows a time and temperature dependent course. Cell death in the “hyperthermia range” (42–47 °C) appears to be due to protein denaturation and is strongly enhanced by properties of the tumor microenvironment such as low glucose and reduced extracellular pH. All cells however possess a powerful resistance mechanism triggered by hyperthermia (thermotolerance), which is mediated by the induction of heat shock proteins (HSPs). HSPs possess molecular chaperone functions, can rapidly repair thermal damage to proteins and lead to thermotolerance. Above 50 °C a different mode of tumor eradication is seen, characterized by cell necrosis and tissue coagulation. The role of the tumor microenvironment in cell killing at these “ablation range” temperatures is not clear. Immune effects of hyperthermia may depend on the mode of cell death that is produced. In broad terms, apoptotic cell death is tolerogenic and absorption of apoptotic cell bodies by immune cells inhibits immunity. Hyperthermia range heating may lead to profound levels of apoptosis and its role in immunity is somewhat ambiguous. However, in the ablation range, cancer cell necrosis dominates and tumor specific immunity is observed, an effect that may play an important role in the outcome of treatment.
Blood pressure dependence of systemic arterial compliance global effects

The temporal relationship of the systemic arterial compliance (C(P)) and blood pressure has not been extensively investigated. The authors utilized their recently developed nonlinear model of the arterial system to examine this relation when the arterial system is subjected to global changes in vascular states and blood pressure. Results show that C(P) is acutely related to both central and peripheral cardiovascular structural and functional alterations.
A modified data normalization method for GC-MS-based metabolomics to minimize batch variation

The goal of metabolomics data pre-processing is to eliminate systematic variation, such that biologically-related metabolite signatures are detected by statistical pattern recognition. Although several methods have been developed to tackle the issue of batch-to-batch variation, each method has its advantages and disadvantages. In this study, we used a reference sample as a normalization standard for test samples within the same batch, and each metabolite value is expressed as a ratio relative to its counterpart in the reference sample. We then applied this approach to a large multi-batch data set to facilitate intra- and inter-batch data integration. Our results demonstrate that normalization to a single reference standard has the potential to minimize batch-to-batch data variation across a large, multi-batch data set.
Studies to reduce material erosion in electrothermal launchers

Plasma erosion processes on insulators and conductors, using the SIRENS electrothermal launcher, have verified the vapor shield concept. The energy transmission factor through the vapor shield was found to vary from 20% to 5% as the heat flux increases. Metals have strong axial erosion dependence, with an average erosion depth of 15-45 mu m/kJ for aluminium and 5-10 mu m/kJ for pure copper. Insulators have uniform ablation along the axial direction, with an average ablation depth of 10-14 mu m/kJ for Lexan. Aluminium has a higher erosion rate with an increase of energy input, while Lexan and pure copper have approximately equal erosion rates which are considerably less than that of aluminium. High-density graphite does not ablate at lower energies, and ablates only slightly at energies above 3 kJ (1-2 mu m/kJ), while molded dense electrographite ablates at a higher rate (1-3 mu m/kJ). Both types of graphite have considerably less ablation than other materials. Lexan and graphites showed greater evidence of the vapor shield effect than aluminium and copper, although there is tendency towards less erosion at higher values of heat fluxes. Multiple exposure of material surfaces demonstrated that insulators have better performance than metallic surfaces. The initial indications for the effect of the magnetic field applied parallel to the material surface revealed a threshold for the onset of the magnetic vapor shielding effect (above 5 T for Lexan). >
Development and characterization of novel 8-plex DiLeu isobaric labels for quantitative proteomics and peptidomics.

Rationale Relative quantification of proteins via their enzymatically digested peptide products determines disease biomarker candidate lists in discovery studies. Isobaric label-based strategies using TMT and iTRAQ allow for up to 10 samples to be multiplexed in one experiment, but their expense limits their use. The demand for cost-effective tagging reagents capable of multiplexing many samples led us to develop an 8-plex version of our isobaric labeling reagent, DiLeu. Methods The original 4-plex DiLeu reagent was extended to an 8-plex set by coupling isotopic variants of dimethylated leucine to an alanine balance group designed to offset the increasing mass of the label's reporter group. Tryptic peptides from a single protein digest, a protein mixture digest, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae lysate digest were labeled with 8-plex DiLeu and analyzed via nanospray liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (nanoLC/MS(2) ) on a Q-Exactive Orbitrap mass spectrometer. Characteristics of 8-plex DiLeu-labeled peptides, including quantitative accuracy and fragmentation, were examined. Results An 8-plex set of DiLeu reagents with 1 Da spaced reporters was synthesized at a yield of 36%. The average cost to label eight 100 µg peptide samples was calculated to be approximately $15. Normalized collision energy tests on the Q-Exactive revealed that a higher-energy collisional dissociation value of 27 generated the optimum number of high-quality spectral matches. Relative quantification of DiLeu-labeled peptides yielded normalized median ratios accurate to within 12% of their expected values. Conclusions Cost-effective 8-plex DiLeu reagents can be synthesized and applied to relative peptide and protein quantification. These labels increase the multiplexing capacity of our previous 4-plex implementation without requiring high-resolution instrumentation to resolve reporter ion signals.
Approximating maximum clique with a Hopfield network

In a graph, a clique is a set of vertices such that every pair is connected by an edge. MAX-CLIQUE is the optimization problem of finding the largest clique in a given graph and is NP-hard, even to approximate well. Several real-world and theory problems can be modeled as MAX-CLIQUE. In this paper, we efficiently approximate MAX-CLIQUE in a special case of the Hopfield network whose stable states are maximal cliques. We present several energy-descent optimizing dynamics; both discrete (deterministic and stochastic) and continuous. One of these emulates, as special cases, two well-known greedy algorithms for approximating MAX-CLIQUE. We report on detailed empirical comparisons on random graphs and on harder ones. Mean-field annealing, an efficient approximation to simulated annealing, and a stochastic dynamics are the narrow but clear winners. All dynamics approximate much better than one which emulates a "naive" greedy heuristic. >
Disaster risk reduction and resettlement efforts at San Vicente (Chichontepec) Volcano, El Salvador: toward understanding social and geophysical vulnerability

Despite a long history of volcanic debris flows on the northern flank of San Vicente Volcano, El Salvador, authorities and communities were ill-prepared for the lahars that occurred on Nov. 7–8, 2009. More than 250 people were killed by lahars resulting from shallow landslides, not to mention millions of dollars (US) in damage to houses, agriculture, and infrastructure. After the disaster, significant aid was invested in the region to reduce risk in future disasters. This case study uses the ethnographic tools of qualitative interviews, participant observation, and review of institutional documents to analyze two particular aspects of disaster risk reduction strategies in the town of Verapaz: 1) relocation of at-risk residents led by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, and 2) hazard monitoring and emergency management training programs led by Civil Protection, the University of El Salvador, and NGOs. The relocation effort, while effective at reducing physical vulnerability to debris flows, failed to incorporate livelihood, social networks, and cultural ties to homes in their project design and implementation. Since diverse livelihoods are keys to survival, and tightly-knit social networks help families share responsibilities and withstand shocks during hardships, many families returned to the high-risk area or opted not to relocate. Others have adapted using unanticipated strategies to benefit from the resettlement effort. On the other hand, the emergency management training and education programs valued local input, knowledge, and action, which has helped increase awareness and improved the overall capacity to manage emergencies through wide, local participation. The different approaches used in the two risk reduction initiatives reveal important lessons regarding the importance of community participation. Challenges derive from narrow understandings of vulnerability on the part of disaster risk reduction experts, who neglected to consider and understand kin networks and residence patterns that help maintain diverse livelihoods, as well as ensure safety and security. As demonstrated in the 2011 Tropical Depression 12E, effective public engagement and empowerment helped bridge the knowledge, awareness, and preparedness gaps that existed prior to the 2009 disaster.
Testing two methods of short-term forecasting of political violence

Abstract Two methods of forecasting violence on a monthly basis were tested in a six month study involving three countries. The two methods were: (1) lagged correlation and regression analysis; and (2) a systems dynamic model of political violence. The data used for the tests as predictor variables included content analysis of State Department cables from the countries concerned, and systematic surveys of intelligence analysts responsible for the countries studied. The results indicated reasonably high forecasting promise for both the two procedures for data-gathering and the two methods of analysis.
Inspiring Girls and their Female After School Educators to Pursue Computer Science and other STEM Careers

The dearth of women, particularly women of color, in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields is a well-known problem (National Academy of Sciences, 2010) . After school and summer programs exist to encourage girls and young women to study and pursue careers in these fields ( National Research Council , 2009) . From evaluations of these programs, we can learn what program participants are gaining, and if longer-term studies are conducted, we might see that these girls are pursuing college majors in STEM or entering the workforce as computer scientists, software developers, or electrical engineers. But what of the educators who lead the programs? Does teaching girls about STEM change educators’ views of STEM learning and careers? In this paper, we look at findings from one program, a computer science after school and summer program for middle school girls implemented in the United States and Canada, focusing on the program leaders to see if they experience changes in their views of STEM and their interest in pursuing STEM careers. These leaders are generally young adult women of color with little background in STEM who are considering next steps in their own careers. Our mixed-methods approach includes surveys, interviews, and observations as data sources.
Preparation of stable gentamicin adenylyl transferase of high specific activity.

Abstract Gentamicin adenylyl transferase is maximally released by osmotic shocking of R factor E. coli in late log phase. Ion-exchange chromatography on DEAE agarose separates stable enzyme from neomycin phosphotransferase II and 99% of the protein recovered from streptomycin sulfate and ammonium sulfate precipitations of osmotic shockates. The procedure gives a 2500-fold increase in purity and a 20-fold increase in yield over the previous purification method.
The Cultural Moral Right to a Basic Minimum of Accessible Health Care

The conception of a cultural moral right is useful in capturing the social-moral realities that underlie debate about universal health care. In assert- ing such rights, individuals make claims above and beyond their legal rights, but those claims are based on the society's existing commitments and moral culture. In the United States such a right to accessible basic health care is generated by various empirical social facts, primarily the conjunction of the legal requirement of access to emergency care with widely held principles about unfair free riding and just sharing of costs between well and ill. The right can get expressed in social policy through either single-payer or mandated insurance. (2) The same elements that generate this right provide modest assistance in determining its content, the structure and scope of a basic minimum of care. They justify limits on patient cost sharing, require comparative effectiveness, and make cost considerations relevant. They shed light on the status of expensive, marginally life extending, last-chance therapies, as well as life support for PVS patients. They are of less assistance in settling contentious debates about screening for breast and prostate cancer and treatments for infertility and erectile dysfunction, but even there they establish a useful framework for discussion. Scarcity of resources need not be a leading conceptual consideration in discerning a basic minimum. More important are the societal elements that generate the cultural moral right to a basic minimum.
The genera of the Ammophilini (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae)

Six genera are recognized in the tribe Ammophilini: Ammophila , Podalonia , Eremnophila , Eremochares , Hoplammophila and Parapsammophila . A synonymical species checklist is given for the last three genera. A key to genera is provided which is based partially on characters heretofore unutilized.
Landowner Characteristics: A Basis for Locational Decisions in the Urban Fringe

Discontiguous urban growth is explained more by landowner characteristics than by parcel characteristics. Discriminant analysis of the sell/hold decisions of owners of undeveloped parcels demonstrated the greater importance of landowner characteristics in determining urban fringe sales. Sales, in turn, exhibit a high degree of association with development in the near term. These results suggest that discontiguous patterns of urban growth arise largely from the scattered availability of sites owned by persons with reservation prices below market value. Institutional constraints on development that rely on rent changes induced by subsidies and penalties will be ineffective.
Using lateral capillary forces to compute by self-assembly

Investigations of DNA computing have highlighted a fundamental connection between self-assembly (SA) and computation: in principle, any computation can be performed by a suitable self-assembling system. In practice, exploration of this connection is limited by our ability to control the geometry and specificity of binding interactions. Recently, a system has been developed that uses surface tension to assemble plastic tiles according to shape complementarity and likeness of wetting [Bowden, N., Terfort, A., Carbeck, J. & Whitesides, G. M. (1997) Science 276, 233-235]. Here the capacity of this system to compute by SA is explored. Tiles were prepared to test the system's ability to generate three structures of increasing complexity: a periodic checkerboard tiling, an aperiodic Penrose tiling, and a computational tiling that simulates a one-dimensional cellular automaton. Matching rules for these tilings were enforced by coating tiles with patterns of hydrophobic and hydrophilic patches or wetting codes. Energetic, kinetic, and mechanistic details of SA explain differences between experimental structures and mathematically ideal ones. In particular, the growth mechanism observed appears incompatible with computations that make use of a chosen input.
Harnessing FPGAs for computer architecture education

Computer architecture is often taught by having students use software to design and simulate individual pieces of a computer processor. We have developed a method that will take this classwork beyond software simulation into actual hardware implementation. Students will be able to design, implement, and run a single-cycle MIPS processor on an FPGA. This paper presents the major steps in this work: the FPGA implementation of a MIPS processor, a debugging tool which provides complete control and observability of the processor, the reduction of the MIPS instruction set into the eight instructions that will be used by the processor, and an assembler that can map any MIPS non-floating point instruction into this set of eight supported instructions.
War or Religion in the Archaeological Record Tiahuanaco, Predatory Empire or Religious Cult?

The nature of the archaeological report has been recently characterized as a reflection of Twentieth century military narratives (Vandkilde, 2003). Here that theory is tested from the results of an earlier formal analysis of archaeological reports (Caldararo,1984) and by contrasting the military narrative with a religious one. The Central Andean site of Tiahuanaco (Tiwanaku) has been designated as the place of origin of a religious cult that spread within the development of a state, expansionist in nature and colonial, though pluralistic. The military nature of this state has been replaced in recent years by a theory of religious cult (Janusek, 2006). The nature of its spread is here paralleled with those of the Kuksu religious movement of Southwest and California Native American peoples as well as the Sanusi movement of North Africa in the Nineteenth century. Tiahuanaco is therefore interpreted as not a military expansion, but rather a spiritual transformation of existing states. This analysis is framed in the context of current theories of warrior cults in archaeological narratives and the nature and style of archaeological reports. Humans are certainly susceptible to ideas and to violence, but in our own time, conversion to philosophical and religious ways of life is a powerful motivation for change as is lifestyle which we have seen in the past fifty years transform the world by global images of modernity. This contrast, war or conversion provides an interesting test of change in the ancient world.
Views on Health Coverage and Retirement: Findings from the 2012 Health Confidence Survey®

This paper examines public opinion surrounding health insurance and retirement. The data come from the EBRI/MGA 2012 Health Confidence Survey (HCS), which explores a broad spectrum of health care issues, including Americans’ satisfaction with health care today, their confidence in the future of the nation’s health care system and the Medicare program, as well as their attitudes toward certain aspects of health care reform. Earlier waves of the HCS are examined, as well. Health care expenses are a key component of spending in retirement. In 2009, health care accounted for 18 percent of expenses for people 85 and older, 15 percent of expenses for people ages 75-84, 12 percent of expenses for people ages 65-74, and 9 percent of expenses for people ages 50-64. Medicare beneficiaries ages 65 and older paid, on average, 13 percent of the cost of their health care services in 2009, while Medicare covered 59 percent, and private insurance covered 14 percent. The availability of health insurance may thus affect retirement decisions. More than one-half of Americans (54 percent) reported that access to health insurance in their retirement decision was extremely important, and another 28 percent reported it was very important in 2012. Overall, more than one-half of workers (53 percent) reported that they planned to work longer than they would like in order to continue receiving health insurance through work, although only 19 percent of retirees reported that they had worked longer than they would have liked in order to continue receiving health insurance through work. In 2003, 15 percent of workers reported that they would retire earlier than planned if they were guaranteed access to health insurance, but by 2012, 27 percent reported that they would retire earlier than planned under that condition. When it came to Medicare reform, more than 60 percent of the population opposed raising the eligibility age for full benefits to 68 and offering a reduced level of benefits at age 62. Twenty-seven percent somewhat opposed such a change in policy, while 36 percent strongly opposed it. However, strong opposition has fallen from 42 percent in 2005 to 36 percent in 2012. Only 1 in 10 (9 percent) strongly favored a policy that would raise the eligibility age for full benefits while lowering it for partial benefits, while 1 in 4 (26 percent) somewhat favored such a policy.The PDF for the above title, published in the January 2013 issue of EBRI Notes, also contains the fulltext of another January 2013 EBRI Notes article abstracted on SSRN: “Tax Preferences and Mandates: Is the Danish Savings Experience Applicable to the United States?”
Estimating Oral Toxicity of Slow-Acting Toxicants Against Subterranean Termites (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae)

A method is described for estimating oral toxicities (μg/g) of slow-acting toxicants against subterranean termites, Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki and Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar). Groups of termites were fed with a known amount of medium containing a dye marker and a toxicant. Marked termites were evaluated for daily mortality after total consumption of the medium. Toxicant doses ingested by termites were derived from the total amount of toxicant in the feeding medium and the biomass of termites engaged in that feeding. Using oral LD 50 estimates in μg/g, the total amount of toxicant required to control a field colony can be projected
Overview of Periodontal Clinical Trials Utilizing AntiInfective or Host Modulating Agents

Abstract Issues in periodontal trials designed to evaluate anti-infective or host modulating agents for the prevention and treatment of periodontal diseases are reviewed in this paper. Clinical trial designs, prevention versus treatment, disease activity, utility of new measurement technologies, ethical and safety issues, selection of outcome variables, and clinical significance are discussed. In general, randomized parallel arm, doubleblinded, controlled clinical trials are most appropriate for testing anti-infective and host modulating agents. New measurement technologies may offer increased measurement resolution and automated data capture; but, depending on their specific application and level of examiner reproducibility, these technologies may or may not result in lowered thresholds for declaring change. Mechanical therapy for common plaque-associated gingivitis and adult Periodontitis is effective, has low risk, and is widely accepted as a minimum standard of care. New agents for treatment of these ...
Nation and Homeland

The homeland of the nation is a spatially extensive, bounded structure of familiarity for the propagation and sustenance of the life of those who dwell within it. The recognition of a homeland conveys a territorial relation of kinship for those who reside and especially are born within the homeland. The spatially extensive, yet bounded land is recognized to be one's own. Keywords: community; nationalism; spatial analysis
Macroeconomics Cannot Evade the Study of Velocity of Money Circulation

Assuming that pursuit of gains from monetary spending by economic agents is the driving force of money circulation in the social and economic system,and defining velocity of money circulation as the change in stock of money from its receiving to payment by economic agents influenced by gains from monetary spending,it then can be proved that velocity of circulation is a vector.The velocity is a blend of velocity of income and velocity of transactions and reflects the comprehensive features of flow and stock of money,institution and transaction,and macro-and micro-variables.Money circulates within the frictional social system and the velocity is a comprehensive reflection of a country's monetary and financial system.
Detection and etiological analysis of an aseptic meningitis outbreak

Objective To investigate the etiology of an aseptic meningitis outbreak at a primary school in Wuxi city. Methods Real-time RT-PCR was used to screen for viruses of interest among throat swab samples.After inoculation with enterovirus-positive swabs,virus strains were isolated from Vero or RD cells.These strains were identified by the serum neutralization test and by sequencing the 3' ends of their VP1 regions.Results Among the 14 throat swabs,none was positive for influenza virus A/B,enterovirus 71(EV71),or coxsackievirus A16(Cox A16).Eight of the 14 swabs were positive for enteroviruses,from which three virus strains were isolated.Based on the serum neutralization test and their VP1region sequences,those three virus strains were identified as ECHO30 enterovirus.Conclusion ECHO30 was the major etiological agent responsible for the outbreak of aseptic meningitis at the primary school in Wuxi city.
Tobler’s Law and Spatial Optimization: Why Bakersfield?

In 1970, Tobler produced a movie simulating population growth in the City of Detroit. He argued that his model did not need to include terms for faraway places like Singapore, while still being relative accurate in his forecast by invoking what he called the first law of geography. In spatial optimization, like the general warehouse location problem (GWLP), it is assumed that all possible linkages need to be included, as arbitrarily dropping potential variables may prevent optimal solutions from being identified. In this article, it is demonstrated that it may be possible to meet such exacting standards in spatial optimization, while at the same time being guided by Tobler’s argument for being simple and frugal. This article gives a demonstration of how this might be achieved using the GWLP as an example. A new model form is proposed which distinguishes between “near” (low cost) allocations and “far” (high cost) allocations and uses both explicit and implicit variables for capacity allocations. Computatio...
SP0145 Environmental and Lifestyle Predictors for the Development of Rheumatoid Arthritis

Genetic and environmental factors interact in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases, including RA. Epidemiologic research over the past few decades has identified several lifestyle and environmental factors that are related to increased risk of developing RA, including cigarette smoking, exposure to crystalline silica, obesity, and most recently dietary factors. I will review some recent research findings on the associations of each of these with risk of RA, and highlight known or suspected interactions with genetic factors. Disclosure of Interest None declared
FIRE Facilities and Site Requirements

This paper describes the buildings and balance of plant systems required to support the Fusion Ignition Research Experiment (FIRE) Project. Facilities and systems are developed on the basis of a greenfield site, with no benefit for existing facilities, but also without any constraints on the potential arrangement. Because FIRE will operate deuterium-tritium plasmas for pulse lengths on the order of 20 seconds, FIRE will require a moderate on-site tritium inventory. FIRE buildings and systems must be designed and licensed to comply with regulations for nuclear facilities. They must also include systems to manage tritium and tritiated water, activated dust, and radioactive waste material. Maintenance activities on FIRE will require the use of remote handling systems to remove and transport tokamak parts to hot cell facilities. Major tokamak service connections will be required to feed power to the copper magnet system and deliver plasma-heating energy to ICRF antennae. Competition for access to the tokamak for service connections and repair activities will constrain the overall arrangement and routing of services. This paper examines the design implications for the fuel supply, vacuum pumping, fuel recovery, cooling, and other balance of plant systems that contribute to the control of radioactive materials. It also examines the design implications for the tokamak test cell, hot cells, structures to house key services, and routing of service connections to the tokamak. Site requirements, a generic site plan, and conceptual building arrangements are provided.
Miscellaneous Adjuvant Analgesics

Acetaminophen is the most commonly used adjuvant analgesic. Commonly combined with opioid formulations for enhanced analgesia and decreased likelihood of abuse.
Evaluating Prospective Teachers: Testing the Predictive Validity of the edTPA:

We use longitudinal data from Washington State to provide estimates of the extent to which performance on the edTPA, a performance-based, subject-specific assessment of teacher candidates, is predictive of the likelihood of employment in the teacher workforce and value-added measures of teacher effectiveness. While edTPA scores are highly predictive of employment in the state’s public teaching workforce, evidence on the relationship between edTPA scores and teaching effectiveness is more mixed. Specifically, continuous edTPA scores are a significant predictor of student mathematics achievement in some specifications, but when we consider that the edTPA is a binary screen of teaching effectiveness (i.e., pass/fail), we find that passing the edTPA is significantly predictive of teacher effectiveness in reading but not in mathematics. We also find that Hispanic candidates in Washington were more than 3 times more likely to fail the edTPA after it became consequential in the state than non-Hispanic White cand...
DEVIATION FROM CLASSICAL ELASTICITY IN THE ACOUSTIC RESPONSE OF AUXETIC FOAMS

ABSTRACT Acoustic properties of an auxetic foam were measured to validate a previously proposed lower bound for Poisson's ratio, ν ≥ 1/5, inferred from classical two-parameter elasticity theory. This limit differs from the commonly reported lower limit of −1 for isotropic materials in the linear elastic range. For a foam measured to have a value of ν > 0.2, agreement was found between the measured flexural resonance frequency of a disk sample and the theoretical value. On the other hand, for an auxetic sample (ν < 0), the prediction from the two-parameter theory was significantly in error. Thus, for materials having ν < 1/5 (auxetic foams, as well as very hard solids such as diamond, germanium, and fused quartz), the equations of classical elasticity are invalid.
How Can a Suicide Screening and Prevention Procedure Be Implemented in a Cancer Center

Suicide in patients with cancer is most common in the first months after a diagnosis. With an overall risk that is already twice that of the general population, the risk increases to as much as 13 times the average suicide risk in those newly diagnosed with cancer.
Mendelian randomization studies of cancer risk: a literature review.

In this paper, we summarize prior studies that have used Mendelian randomization (MR) methods to study the effects of exposures, lifestyle factors, physical traits, and/or biomarkers on cancer risk in humans. Many such risk factors have been associated with cancer risk in observational studies, and the MR approach can be used to provide evidence as to whether these associations represent causal relationships. MR methods require a risk factor of interest to have known genetic determinants that can be used as proxies for the risk factor (i.e., “instrumental variables” or IVs), and these can be used to obtain an effect estimate that, under certain assumptions, is not prone to bias caused by unobserved confounding or reverse causality. This review seeks to describe how MR studies have contributed to our understanding of cancer causation. We searched the published literature and identified 76 MR studies of cancer risk published prior to October 31, 2017. Risk factors commonly studied included alcohol consumption, vitamin D, anthropometric traits, telomere length, lipid traits, glycemic traits, and markers of inflammation. Risk factors showing compelling evidence of a causal association with risk for at least one cancer type include alcohol consumption (for head/neck and colorectal), adult body mass index (increases risk for multiple cancers, but decreases risk for breast), height (increases risk for breast, colorectal, and lung; decreases risk for esophageal), telomere length (increases risk for lung adenocarcinoma, melanoma, renal cell carcinoma, glioma, B-cell lymphoma subtypes, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and neuroblastoma), and hormonal factors (affects risk for sex steroid-sensitive cancers). This review highlights alcohol consumption, body mass index, height, telomere length, and the hormonal exposures as factors likely to contribute to cancer causation. This review also highlights the need to study specific cancer types, ideally subtypes, as the effects of risk factors can be heterogeneous across cancer types. As consortia-based genome-wide association studies increase in sample size and analytical methods for MR continue to become more sophisticated, MR will become an increasingly powerful tool for understanding cancer causation.
Aroused by Laughter: Martial’s Priapic Humor

This essay explores Martial’s Priapic humor, focusing on those epigrams featuring Priapic “space” and the acts of seeing and being seen, whose object is to arouse at times uncomfortable laughter. It follows, and is indebted to, recent classical scholarship on the act of reading as a form of erotic viewing and on the comic or lubricious possibilities of viewing others within domestic or public spaces. Martial offers himself, through his racy epigrams, as an object of titillation to his audience. Indeed, Martial’s literary persona exposes himself for their pleasure and invites his readers, by reading his epigrams aloud, to take him into their mouths. This essay sheds further light on Martial’s humorous and scabrous Priapic persona in order to illustrate the ludic as well as the sexual and gustatory features of the act of reading in an oral culture.
Protected Areas, Optimal Policing and Optimal Rent Dissipation

This paper investigates the effect of positive marginal monitoring and enforcement costs, 'policing cost,' on the optimal exploitation of a fishery under the management of a marine protected area. It is shown that with positive marginal policing cost, the objective of maximum economic yield is no longer optimal, and that some dissipation of economic rent is socially optimal. The relevance of environmental education, the efficacy of policing, and the weightiness of punishments to optimal rent dissipation is discussed. Relevance of the model to other fisheries institutions is claimed.
The puzzle of the South Pacific

Most explanations for the distribution of seamounts and islands invoke hotspots — places where plumes of material from deep within the Earth reach the surface. Combined with the motion of tectonic plates, the result is chains of seamounts and islands. There is difficulty reconciling this view with new data from the South Pacific. But hotspot theory could in this instance be salvageable if one considers a more complicated picture, one whereby hotspots are taken to be more than point sources of heat.