cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Neurosurgery Initiatives in Global Health

The lush mountains and valleys that frame the picturesque town of Mbale at the foot of Mount Elgon 150 miles northeast of Kampala, the capital of Uganda, epitomize the beautiful country Winston Churchill called the “Pearl of Africa.” Cool winds blow in from Lake Victoria and the Indian Ocean, tempering the tropical equatorial climate and bringing precipitation and abundant rainfall that peaks in April and October. Tourists are drawn to the verdant landscapes and natural beauty, but they are impugned by health problems that plague this part of the world. The leading cause of death in Uganda is human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. In fact, almost 40% of all deaths are attributable to an infectious cause; by contrast, just 2.4% of deaths are attributable to ischemic heart disease and 3.9% to stroke (2, 3). The rate of infant mortality in Uganda is almost 10 times as high as that of the United States or the United Kingdom; 1 in 18 Ugandan children die before their first birthday and 1 in 11 die before their fifth
Navigating the Unilateral/Multilateral Divide

This is a draft chapter to be included in “Jus Post Bellum: Mapping the Normative Divide,” edited by Carsten Stahn, Jennifer Easterday and Jens Iverson and published by Oxford University Press in 2014. International law and international organizations are increasingly focused on the aftermath of conflict. Civil wars, failed states and mass atrocities have challenged the international community to reconstruct societies whose political cultures and institutions are barely functional. Many commentators now refer to the normative dimension of this phenomenon as the “jus post bellum,” a legal category that does not yet exist but seems increasingly necessary. This chapter warns of an important dilemma facing the nascent jus post bellum should it seek to regulate all actors in a post-conflict environment. The dilemma emerges from a critical “secondary” rule in international law: the distinction between states acting unilaterally and those acting pursuant to a Security Council Chapter VII mandate. The unilateral/multilateral divide manifests itself in three critical ways in the post-conflict period. First, applicable legal regimes regulate states but not international organizations. Second, the UN Security Council has the legal authority to substitute its policy preferences for existing state-centric law on post-conflict states. Third, the Council, through its powers under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, has effectively multilateralized almost every post-conflict state in the past few decades. The norms applicable to post conflict states are thus highly bifurcated. On the one hand, the existing treaty regimes are state centric in their design and also largely in their application. On the other hand, the Security Council has multilateralized the post-conflict period in almost all respects. The result is that existing post-conflict norms barely regulate the most important actor in the field. Architects of a nascent jus post bellum thus face a dilemma. The new regime can mirror the state-centrism of existing law, in which case it will be of marginal relevance to the UN and UN-sanctioned operations dominating today’s post-conflict missions. Alternatively, the jus post bellum could expand its application to include multilateral actors. But in that case it must provide a convincing justification for subordinating Council authorizations under Chapter VII to a set of treaty-based or customary rules. That seems an impossible task. This chapter does not chart a way out of this dilemma. Instead, it reviews the actors and law applicable to four prominent efforts at post-conflict reconstruction: East Timor (1999), Afghanistan (2001), Iraq (2003) and Libya (2011). It then analyzes how a uniform just post bellum would fare in these cases if international law continued to adhere to the unilateral/multilateral distinction. It concludes that this distinction is too deeply embedded in structural aspects of the international community for it to be surmounted.
Localism and Japanese Emigration at the Turn of the 20th Century

The analysis offers a case study of migration from Wakayama prefecture that sheds light on the significance of translocal connections between sending and receiving societies. While scholars note the macro-level dimensions of migration such as capitalist developments and the need for cheap labor, a fine-grained analysis of various local contexts in which villagers chose to migrate provides a clearer picture of the inner-workings of migration and settlement. A close look at local contexts combining quantitative and qualitative analyses allows an interrogation of migration processes as shaped by immigrants who actively participated in the creation of transnational and translocal relations.
Charting the Intersectional History of Racial Change Efforts by U.S. Evangelicals

In the last decade, American evangelicals have come into the political spotlight in some surprising ways: as racial reconcilers, and advocates of new, deeply multiracial faith-based communities. This racial change sub-movement within American evangelicalism crosses divides that have been constructed over centuries; it surfaces new tensions within and between Christian communities; and it creates opportunities for new kinds of faith-based, cross racial political alliances. This paper traces the history of the evangelical racial change impulse, its expression in certain trends and movements, and its often ambivalent encounter(s) with broader ideas, systems, and policies in (putatively secular) American political culture. I also look at how evangelicals themselves have been writing and thinking about this history. I argue that the ambivalence embedded in evangelicals' sense of their own faith's racial history (a history that is categorically intersectional), and the way evangelicals navigate certain aspects of that history, very much informs the possibilities and limitations of their larger racial change efforts.
Individual-centered education: an any one, any time, any where approach to engineering education

Engineering education is beset by many of the same challenges that have affected American industry. Much has been recommended and implemented to improve engineering education. However, the traditional structure of engineering education remains, even though current exigencies require a fundamental restructuring. In an earlier paper, the author proposed a para/professional model as an alternative to the traditional engineering degree structure (J.M. Tien, 1999). At a more detailed level, the paper proposes to restructure the very nature of how higher education is delivered: from a group-centered activity to an individual-centered approach that would allow any one to access educational material or multimedia courseware at any time and from any where. Fortunately, the enabling technologies for such an individual-centered approach are, for the most, available. Nevertheless, several challenges must be addressed before individual-centered education can become a reality.
Operations Research in Making Marketing Decisions

Operations research, a confusing and mysterious concept to many in marketing, is finding a significant role in analysis and integration of other business functions in support of marketing.The autho...
Prior Capacity of Patients Lacking Decision Making Ability Early in Hospitalization: Implications for Advance Directive Administration

Objective: To investigate the appropriateness of hospitalization as the time to elicit patients’ medical care preferences, the authors evaluated the capability of seriously ill patients to participate in decision making early in hospitalization and their decision making capacity two weeks before hospital entry.
Measuring Price Thresholds by Psychophysics and Latitudes of Acceptance

This article reports the adaptation of an experimental technique for establishing response scales for product classes. Experimental results further validate the price-limit hypothesis first confirm...
MICROSTRUCTURES AND MECHANICAL PROPERTY OF LOW CARBON MANGANESE STEEL WITH GRAIN BOUNDARY ALLOTRIOMORPHIC FERRITE/BAINITE STRUCTURE

Thermo-mechanical controlled process (TMCP) experiments with finish-rolling temperatures (FRT) higher than Ar3 and different coiling temperatures (CT) have been carried out on a low carbon manganese steel. SEM and TEM observations indicated that the finish-rolling deformation performed in the austenite recrystallization region can obtain a microstructure consisting of uniformly distributed ferrite and a certain amount of bainite. Deformation induced ferrite transformation (DIFT) occurred when the FRT decreased to 800℃. Adoption of an accelerated cooling rate of 60℃/s and a coiling temperature of 400℃would promote ferrite distribution along prior austenite grain boundaries, thus making the allotriomorphic ferrite grain refined; meanwhile, the resultant increase in volume fraction of bainite would lead to strength increasing and elongation decreasing, but high yield ratio (σs/σb). The good combination of mechanical properties of the steel with grain boundary allotriomorphic ferrite/bainite duplex microstructures could be gained by controlling FRT (800-850℃), cooling rate (40℃/s) and CT (550℃), in which ferrite grain size was about 8-8.5μm and the volume fraction of bainite about 30%.
Rebalancing Fairness and Efficiency: The Offensive Use of Collateral Estoppel in § 1983 Actions

Two of the American legal system’s core principles, fairness and efficiency, often come into direct conflict. The system must be fair and just to parties, but it must also necessarily focus on efficiency. In an increasingly litigious society, courts must find ways to resolve issues as quickly and as fairly as possible. To this end, the common law tradition has long held through res judicata and collateral estoppel that it is inefficient to allow a party to retry a legal claim or issue respectively, that has already been tried and decided. While these principles promote efficiency, there is also an important constraint in applying res judicata and collateral estoppel: fairness. Our society and judicial system must weigh any attempt to promote efficiency, which may deprive a party of an opportunity to litigate a claim or issue, against principles of fairness. Before a court bars a claim under res judicata or an issue under collateral estoppel, the party asserting the claim or issue must have had a full and fair opportunity to have his or her cause heard by a court of competent jurisdiction. Thus, our legal system balances these competing interests by ensuring that for every claim or issue, everyone is entitled to one day in court. This Note deals with situations where an issue decided definitively in a criminal litigation is raised in a subsequent law suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. This type of situation highlights the intersection of fairness and efficiency, asking when a court should uphold a plaintiff’s use of a holding from an earlier criminal decision to bar relitigation of that issue in the civil defense of a § 1983 claim. In other words, when is offensive collateral estoppel appropriate in § 1983 actions? This Note argues that, in situations where applying the holding of a criminal court decision promotes the overarching goals of efficiency and fairness, courts should apply collateral estoppel in order to prevent relitigation of a question of constitutionality in a subsequent § 1983 case, even though the § 1983 defendant was usually not a party to the earlier, criminal action. This Note also includes fifty state surveys of case law for state rules on collateral estoppel, whether states allow non-mutual offensive collateral estoppel, and state rules on privity.
“We Arrived at Fantastic Shapes”: An Investigation into Students’ Use of Materials to Learn

AbstractBorrowingfrom time-tested learning philosophies, this study examines a visual communication approach to the educational experience and explores how students learn and create using visual, hands-on techniques. Several college students participated in the study. Their hands-on work and brief interviews were videotaped and used to examine the visual/mental processes of learning. Several examples of their work are included.
APOE Genotypes Associate With Cognitive Performance but Not Cerebral Structure: Diabetes Heart Study MIND.

OBJECTIVE Dementia is a debilitating illness with a disproportionate burden in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). Among the contributors, genetic variation at the apolipoprotein E locus ( APOE ) is posited to convey a strong effect. This study compared and contrasted the association of APOE with cognitive performance and cerebral structure in the setting of T2D. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS European Americans from the Diabetes Heart Study (DHS) MIND ( n = 754) and African Americans from the African American (AA)-DHS MIND ( n = 517) were examined. The cognitive battery assessed executive function, memory, and global cognition, and brain MRI was performed. RESULTS In European Americans and African Americans, the APOE E4 risk haplotype group was associated with poorer performance on the modified Mini-Mental Status Examination ( P < 0.017), a measure of global cognition. In contrast to the literature, the APOE E2 haplotype group, which was overrepresented in these participants with T2D, was associated with poorer Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test performance ( P < 0.032). Nominal associations between APOE haplotype groups and MRI-determined cerebral structure were observed. CONCLUSIONS Compared with APOE E3 carriers, E2 and E4 carriers performed worse in the cognitive domains of memory and global cognition. Identification of genetic contributors remains critical to understanding new pathways to prevent and treat dementia in the setting of T2D.
Developing a Hypnotic Relaxation Intervention to Improve Body Image: A Feasibility Study.

Purpose/objectives To determine the content, feasibility, and best outcome of a mind-body intervention involving self-directed hypnotic relaxation to target body image. . Design A five-week, uncontrolled, unblinded feasibility intervention study. . Setting Behavioral therapy offices in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Waco, Texas. . Sample 10 female breast cancer survivors and 1 breast and gynecologic cancer survivor. . Methods Adult women with a history of breast and gynecologic cancer and no major psychiatric history were eligible. The intervention included four face-to-face sessions with a research therapist lasting 40-60 minutes, logged home practice, one telephone check-in call at week 5, and one intervention feedback telephone call to complete the study. Descriptive statistics and paired t-tests were used to test feasibility and content validity. . Main research variables Stress from body changes as measured by the Impact of Treatment Scale, sexual function as measured by the Female Sexual Function Index, and sexual self-image as measured by the Sexual Self-Schema Scale for women were the variables of interest. . Findings The intervention content was confirmed. Changes in scores from the baseline to week 5 suggested that stress from body changes decreased and sexual self-schema and function improved during the intervention. Nine of the 11 women were satisfied with the intervention, and all 11 indicated that their body image improved. . Conclusions Hypnotic relaxation therapy shows promise for improving body image and, in doing so, improving sexual health in this population. Additional testing of this intervention is warranted. . Implications for nursing Hypnotic relaxation therapy is feasible to improve body image and sexual health in women diagnosed with cancer and may be an important intervention that could be offered by nurses and other behavioral therapists.
Lasing without inversion via decay induced coherence

Summary form only given. All the schemes of lasers without inversion (LWI) which so far have been realized experimentally involve external coherent field driving some auxiliary transition in three- or four-level atomic system. In this paper we prove that steady-state lasing without inversion via decay induced coherence in the closed four level atomic system is possible.
Monte Carlo sampling based imminent collision detection algorithm

Imminent collision detection is an important problem for automotive safety, and is critical for driving assistance systems and fully autonomous vehicles. Imminent collision detection systems require very low false alarm rate, due to the potential outcome of the detection result. Most current approaches are based on Kalman filter or its variants and tend to have degraded accuracy when the underlying noise models deviate from the Gaussian assumption. In this paper, we present a Monte Carlo sampling based Imminent Collision Detection algorithm (MCICD) to achieve improved accuracy by faithfully modeling the noise distributions of the sensor measurements. We further demonstrate a Monte Carlo sampling framework to perform the FPR/FNR analysis for any given collision detection system, as the criterion to evaluate the performance of different collision detection approaches. Experiments with synthetic data and a laser scanner based prototype system have been conducted to validate our approach.
The Color of Discretion: How Urban Planners Affect Communities of Color

City planners are influential agents in shaping the culture of communities. Planners design short and long-term projects for housing, transportation, community conservation, and city expansion. They also are tasked with engaging the public on planning decisions such as hosting a town hall meeting. Although planners are vital to the political and social processes of community living, political science research on planning is scarce. Planner can be viewed as a bureaucrats situated in diverse, networked environments where they leverage information asymmetries to influence policy. Using the theory of representative bureaucracy, I observe how the individual characteristics of urban planners affect organizational policy. Data was collected from a survey of public city planners who participated in the Social Capital Benchmark Survey. I find evidence that gender and race are correlated to the organizational policies that positively affect communities of color.
Introduction: Etiology, Presentation, and Diagnosis

Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) dislocation is characterized by displacement of the mandibular condyle from the glenoid fossa that cannot be self-reduced. TMJ dislocation is rare and results in significant pain, malocclusion, and masticatory dysfunction leading to deformity and disability if not adequately addressed.
Revising the Eighteenth-Century Novel: Authorship from Manuscript to Print

Revisions form a natural part of the writing process, but is the concept of revision actually an intrinsic part of the formation of the novel genre? Through the recovery and analysis of material from novel manuscripts and post-publication revisions, Hilary Havens identifies a form of 'networked authorship'. By tracing authors' revisions to their novels, the influence of familial and literary circles, reviewers, and authors' own previous writings can be discerned. Havens focuses on the work of Samuel Richardson, Frances Burney, Jane Austen, and Maria Edgeworth to challenge the individualistic view of authorship that arose during the Romantic period, and argues that networked authorship shaped the composition of eighteenth-century novels. Exploring these themes of collaboration and social networks, as well as engaging with the burgeoning trend towards textual recovery, this work is an important contribution in the study of eighteenth-century novels and their manuscript counterparts.
Quantitative three-dimensional collagen fiber modeling from spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) images (Conference Presentation)

An image processing method was developed for automatically generating three-dimensional models of human uterine collagen fiber networks from spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) images. A novel image processing scheme was used to segment the tissue from the image volume and divide it into “processing regions” that adapt to the tissue topology. Quantitative fiber analysis was performed on b-scan and en-face image patches, enabled by a custom b-scan preprocessing pipeline. Three-dimensional fiber architecture was analyzed in over 100 mosaic volumes from five different patients (2 pregnant, 3 non-pregnant), revealing a highly complex and patient-specific network of fibrous collagen and myocyte bundles.
Self-Talk Monitoring: A How-to Guide for Special Educators:

Self-monitoring has successfully been used to improve academic and behavioral outcomes of students with learning disabilities. Despite the frequent use of self-monitoring interventions and their ac...
WHEN THE MEANS UNDERMINE THE END: THE LEVIATHAN OF SECURITIES LAW AND ENFORCEMENT IN DIGITAL-ASSET MARKETS

Machiavelli famously said that actions of all men, particularly of regulators, should be judged by the results. Paraphrasing Machiavelli, the end justifies the means. This Article addresses a situation where the means undermine the regulatory ends. The focus of this Article is the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), the major capital-market watchdog. Created in the wake of the Great Depression, the SEC pursues a ternary set of objectives, including protecting investors, maintaining efficient markets, and facilitating capital formation. This Article examines a fundamental disconnect between the objectives of the SEC and the actual outcome of its policies in digital-asset markets – the agency’s enforcement efforts under the mantra of protecting investors and providing digital-asset markets with more information have produced an environment with less information. Using two hand-collected datasets, the Article shows that following an increase in enforcement cryptoasset issuers have attempted to comply with securities law by resorting to private placements. This compliance option reduces market transparency and is harmful to the less sophisticated crypto-investors. In contrast, the more sophisticated crypto-investors rely on what the Article calls “the pure-information model” that exists independently of the SEC-enforced regulations. To conclude, in actively enforcing pre-digital-asset law, the SEC has funneled crypto-issuers into inadequate and lackadaisical compliance with exemptions and created a status quo that is antithetical to the SEC’s core mission of protecting investors. This status quo is also harmful to crypto-issuers, who face higher capital costs. As no one wins in this scenario, a reform revising crypto-issuer disclosure is needed.
Replica Wormholes and Holographic Entanglement Negativity

Recent work has shown how to understand the Page curve of an evaporating black hole from replica wormholes. However, more detailed information about the structure of its quantum state is needed to fully understand the dynamics of black hole evaporation. Here we study entanglement negativity, an important measure of quantum entanglement in mixed states, in a couple of toy models of evaporating black holes. We find four phases dominated by different types of geometries: the disconnected, cyclically connected, anti-cyclically connected, and pairwise connected geometries. The last of these geometries are new replica wormholes that break the replica symmetry spontaneously. We also analyzed the transitions between these four phases by summing more generic replica geometries using a Schwinger-Dyson equation. In particular, we find enhanced corrections to various negativity measures near the transition between the cyclic and pairwise phase.
Computer Graphics in Radiology

We concentrate on the problem of producing three-dimensional displays of organ surfaces from computerized tomograms. The theory of such surfaces leads to efficient methods of segmentation, surface detection, visible surface determination, and rendering. The methods have been implemented in software packages especially designed for producing high quality displays inexpensively and efficiently for the medical end-user.
A Biomedical Information System for Combined Content-Based Retrieval of Spine X-Ray Images, Associated Text Information.

We present the status of ongoing work toward the development of a biomedical information system at the Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Communications, a research and development division of the National Library of Medicine (NLM). For any class of biomedical images, the problems confronting the researcher in image indexing are (a) developing robust algorithms for localizing and identifying anatomy relevant for that image class and relevant to the indexing goals, (b) developing algorithms for labeling the segmented anatomy based on its pathology, (c) developing a suitable indexing and similarity matching method for visual data, and (d) associating the text information on the imaged person, indexed separately, for query and retrieval along with the visual information. We are in the process of building a content-based image retrieval system which supports hybrid image and text queries and includes a biomedical image database. The paper describes this prototype CBIR2 system and the algorithms used in it. Image shapebased retrieval is done by image example and user sketch of the vertebrae on the spine x-ray images from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data.
Different responses to soy and estradiol in the reproductive system of prepubertal male rats and neonatal male pigs (373.5)

Concerns have been raised regarding the safety of soy infant formula based on phytochemical components such as genistein, structurally similar to estradiol (E2). To examine potential estrogenic act...
Fenofibrate Attenuates Neutrophilic Inflammation in Airway Epithelia: Potential Drug Repurposing for Cystic Fibrosis

A hallmark of cystic fibrosis (CF) lung disease is neutrophilic airway inflammation. Elevated neutrophil counts have been associated with decreased forced expiratory volume in 1 second and poor clinical measures in patients with CF. Interleukin 8 (IL-8), epithelial neutrophil activating protein 78 (ENA-78), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) contribute to neutrophil activation and disease pathogenesis in the airways of patients with CF. Drugs that modify the production of these chemokines in the airways could potentially benefit CF patients. Thus, we determined the effects of fenofibrate on their production in cell populations obtained from the airways. Human small airway epithelial cells and CF bronchial epithelial cells were treated with IL-1β to induce inflammation. We cotreated the cells with fenofibrate at concentrations ranging from 10 to 50 μM to determine if this drug could attenuate the inflammation. IL-8, ENA-78, TNF-α, GM-CSF, and G-CSF production were measured from the cell culture supernates by ELISA. ANOVA statistical testing was conducted using SPSS 17.0. IL-1β increased the production of each of the chemokines by several fold. Fenofibrate reduced IL-1β induced production of each of these neutrophilic chemokines at the concentrations used. IL-1β increases the production of neutrophilic chemokines in airway epithelial cells. Cotreatment with fenofibrate blunts these processes. Fenofibrate should be explored as a therapeutic option to modulate the abundant neutrophilic inflammation observed in CF.
Phenomenology: a powerful tool for patient-centered rehabilitation

In this essay, we describe phenomenology as a philosophy and methodology that is uniquely suited to aid healthcare professionals to explore and understand the meaning of disability from the perspectives of the patient/client. Emerging in the beginning of the twentieth century as a philosophy for understanding the nature of the world around us, phenomenology has gained traction over the last several years in healthcare as a methodology in rehabilitation research and as a tool in patient-centered care. We explore the basic concepts of phenomenology and provide conceptual links to the exigencies of patient-centered care. Along the way, we discuss recent literature that provides evidence of the use of phenomenology to uncover the lived experiences of individuals with disabilities. We conclude with concrete examples and suggestions to clinicians for strategies to use phenomenology as a tool in patient-centered care.
Resonant formation of Ca+ from the Ca*(4s25d1D2) level explained by autoionization through the 3d{3/2}9f{5/2}, Jπ=2- resonance

The formation of Ca{sup +} ions is measured in an effusive Ca beam by exciting through either the 4{ital s}4{ital p}{sup 1}{ital P}{sub 1} or the 4{ital s}5{ital p}{sup 1}{ital P}{sub 1} state to highly excited Ca{asterisk}(4{ital snd}{sup 1}{ital D}{sub 2}) Rydberg states. In agreement with previous work by McLaughlin and Duquette [Phys. Rev. Lett. {bold 72}, 1176 (1994)], when the Rydberg states are accessed through the 4{ital s}5{ital p}{sup 1}{ital P}{sub 1} state, we detect a large increase in Ca{sup +} ions for {ital n}=25, compared to other high-{ital n} Rydberg states. It had been reported {bold (}Fabrikant [Phys. Rev. A {bold 48}, R3411 (1993)]; McLaughlin and Duquette{bold )} that {open_quote}{open_quote}ground-state{endash}Rydberg-state{close_quote}{close_quote} collisions cause this large increase in ion production and that the result provides a precise value of the electron affinity of Ca through the binding energy of the Rydberg electron. However, a variation of the original experiment in which the same Rydberg states are accessed through the 4{ital s}4{ital p}{sup 1}{ital P}{sub 1} level instead of the 4{ital s}5{ital p}{sup 1}{ital P}{sub 1} level shows no enhancement of ions for any particular Rydberg level. With a three-laser experiment we show that the enhanced ionization effect for the 25{italmore » d} state is due to the 3{ital d}{sub 3/2}9{ital f}{sub 5/2}, {ital J}{sup {pi}}=2{sup {minus}} autoionizing resonance, which is coincidentally accessed from the Ca(4{ital s}25{ital d}{sup 1}{ital D}{sub 2}) state by the 808-nm photon involved in the original experiment by McLaughlin and Duquette. The existence of this resonance close to the experimentally observed energy is also established by {ital R}-matrix calculations. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society.}« less
Using Edge Voxel Information to Improve Motion Regression for rs-fMRI Connectivity Studies

Recent fMRI studies have outlined the critical impact of in-scanner head motion, particularly on estimates of functional connectivity. Common strategies to reduce the influence of motion include realignment as well as the inclusion of nuisance regressors, such as the 6 realignment parameters, their first derivatives, time-shifted versions of the realignment parameters, and the squared parameters. However, these regressors have limited success at noise reduction. We hypothesized that using nuisance regressors consisting of the principal components (PCs) of edge voxel time series would be better able to capture slice-specific and nonlinear signal changes, thus explaining more variance, improving data quality (i.e., lower DVARS and temporal SNR), and reducing the effect of motion on default-mode network connectivity. Functional MRI data from 22 healthy adult subjects were preprocessed using typical motion regression approaches as well as nuisance regression derived from edge voxel time courses. Results were evaluated in the presence and absence of both global signal regression and motion censoring. Nuisance regressors derived from signal intensity time courses at the edge of the brain significantly improved motion correction compared to using only the realignment parameters and their derivatives. Of the models tested, only the edge voxel regression models were able to eliminate significant differences in default-mode network connectivity between high- and low-motion subjects regardless of the use of global signal regression or censoring.
Calculation of the opening wedge for a low tibial osteotomy

Background:Medial opening wedge distal tibial osteotomy, a relatively new technique for treatment of intermediate ankle joint arthritis, is a technically demanding procedure that requires preoperat...
An AT-rich Sequence in Human Common Fragile Site FRA16D Causes Fork Stalling and Chromosome Breakage in S. cerevisiae

Common fragile sites are regions of human chromosomes prone to breakage. Fragile site FRA16D spans the WWOX/FOR tumor suppressor gene and has been linked to cancer-causing deletions and translocations. Using a genetic assay in yeast, we found that a short AT-rich region (Flex1) within FRA16D increases chromosome fragility, whereas three other sequences within FRA16D do not. To our knowledge, this is the first identification of a sequence element within a common fragile site that increases chromosome fragility. The fragility of Flex1 was exacerbated by the absence of Rad52 or the presence of hydroxyurea. Flex1 contains a polymorphic AT repeat predicted to form a DNA structure, and two-dimensional gel analysis showed accumulation of stalled replication forks at the Flex1 sequence that was dependent on AT length. Our data suggest that the FRA16D Flex1 sequence causes increased chromosome breakage by forming secondary structures that stall replication fork progression.
From Rapa Nui to rapamycin: targeting PI3K/Akt/mTOR for cancer therapy

One of the most prominent pathways explored in the area of targeted therapy is the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway, which plays a central role in cell survival and proliferation. Deregulation of this pathway has been implicated in the promotion of cancer cell growth and survival. Inhibition of several steps of this pathway has been shown to confer favorable antitumor activity in a variety of cancer types. This article provides a brief analysis of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway, its importance in tumor pathogenesis and the current status of preclinical and clinical studies targeting signaling components of this pathway.
Controversy on electrophysiology testing in patients with Brugada syndrome.

The debate concerning programmed electrical stimulation (PES) studies in patients with Brugada syndrome (BS) in this issue of HeartRhythm is a contemporary incarnation of earier debates on its use after myocardial infarction (MI). When clinicians were beginning to struggle to find reliable markers for the prediction of the risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD) in post-MI patients, conflicting opinions emerged concerning the value and limitations of PES. The debates included concerns about sufficient sensitivity and specificity of the procedure, the appropriate protocols, and the determination of the most relevant outcome measures. Despite evidence that PES provides prognostic information in post-MI patients with low ejection fractions, its added value as an independent guide to therapy remained unclear. This heated controversy abated short of achieving resolution simply because a number of reports from implanted cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) trials claimed to identify noninvasive and clinical markers of risk that made resolution of the PES debate superfluous.
Share ribs redux

Attempts to examine how commodity price changes affect internal income distribution in competitive Heckscher–Ohlin settings have typically focused on factor-intensity differences among sectors, with each sector having a different factor being used most intensively, as captured by its factor distributive share having maximal value. This paper adopts this specification, but adds the restriction that the shape of the profile of distributive factor shares, from most to least intensively used, be the same among commodities. The focus is on the importance of the amount by which the most intensively used factor differs from the next as well as the rate of decline of shares for the less intensively used factors in any industry. Strong Stolper–Samuelson results are obtained for some share ribs, and oscillating factor returns for others.
Investments in Global Warming Mitigation: The Case of “Activities Implemented Jointly”

This paper examines bilateral cooperation between developed countries (home country) and developing countries (host country) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to enhance carbon dioxide sinks. With the home-host country pair as the unit of analysis, our logistic regression model examines 158 Activities Implemented Jointly (AIJ) investment projects from 1993 until 2002 across 2541 country-pairs. Because the marginal costs of reducing emissions may be lower in developing countries, the AIJ projects served as a policy laboratory to assess whether such investments might be advantageous to both countries in the event future regimes allowed emission credits from such bilateral projects. Instead of investing in home countries where maximum pollution reductions (or carbon sequestration) might be possible, home countries invest in locations where they can conduct their policy experiments at low transaction costs. Prior trade and aid relationships were used as a proxy. Regarding energy projects, location decisions are driven by home countries’ desire to reduce air pollution that they receive from abroad. Geography – proximity of a host country to a home country – in interaction with host country's coal production, is a very important driver of location decision in AIJ energy sector projects. Location of sequestration projects is impacted by the host country's potential for avoiding deforestation as well as by previous aid and trade patterns between a home and a host country. Proximity is not important in this case.
Novel crosstalk between ERK MAPK and p38 MAPK leads to homocysteine-NMDA receptor mediated neuronal cell death

Hyperhomocysteinemia is an independent risk factor for both acute and chronic neurological disorders, but little is known about the underlying mechanisms by which elevated homocysteine can promote neuronal cell death. We recently established a role for NMDA receptor-mediated activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)-MAPK in homocysteine-induced neuronal cell death. In this study, we examined the involvement of the stress-induced MAPK, p38 in homocysteine-induced neuronal cell death, and further explored the relationship between the two MAPKs, ERK and p38, in triggering cell death. Homocysteine-mediated NMDA receptor stimulation and subsequent Ca2+ influx led to a biphasic activation of p38 MAPK characterized by an initial rapid, but transient activation followed by a delayed and more prolonged response. Selective inhibition of the delayed p38 MAPK activity was sufficient to attenuate homocysteine-induced neuronal cell death. Using pharmacological and RNAi approaches, we further demonstrated that both the initial and delayed activation of p38 MAPK is downstream of, and dependent on activation of ERK MAPK. Our findings highlight a novel interplay between ERK and p38 MAPK in homocysteine-NMDA receptor-induced neuronal cell death.
Chemical Methods for the Detection of Protein N-Homocysteinylation via Selective Reactions with Aldehydes

Elevated blood levels of homocysteine (Hcy), hyperhomocysteinemia or homocystinuria, have been associated with various diseases and conditions. Homocysteine thiolactone (Hcy TL) is a metabolite of Hcy and reacts with amine groups in proteins to form stable amides, homocystamides, or N-homocysteinylated proteins. It has been proposed that protein N-homocysteinylation contributes to the cytotoxicity of elevated Hcy. Due to its heterogeneity and relatively low abundance, detection of this posttranslational modification remains challenging. On the other hand, the γ-aminothiol group in homocystamides imparts different chemical reactivities than the native proteins. Under mildly acidic conditions, γ-aminothiols irreversibly and stoichiometrically react with aldehydes to form stable 1,3-thiazines, whereas the reversible Schiff base formation between aldehydes and amino groups in native proteins is markedly disfavored due to protonation of amines. As such, we have developed highly selective chemical methods to de...
It's Time to "Do Economics" with Time-Use Data

Time-use data are old and familiar in survey research, with the first rudimentary efforts going back nearly a century; and large-scale regularly collected data sets have been available in other countries (e.g., Germany, France) since 1965. It is only with the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) since 2003, however, that the US has moved from the derri?re to the avant garde of data quality and quantity in the area of time-use surveys. With a large fraction of the economics profession resident in the US, and with American scholarly economics journals being the most prestigious outlets for economists worldwide, the advent of these data and the wider availability of similar, albeit smaller and/or irregular time-use surveys from other countries present economists with exciting opportunities. The difficulty with these data sets is that they offer us the temptation of the quick tabulation and the simple regression on items that economists have not previously dis cussed: It is very easy to present information on gender differences in time spent in various categories of home production, leisure and personal maintenance and to adjust these for a wide array of other demographic characteristics. It is simple to examine how employment status is correlated with the kinds of non-market activities that people undertake, and even to study how one's spouse's employment status relates to one's non-market activities. Economists can do these calculations, we have done them and, no doubt will continue to produce this kind of research. But where is the economics? What do we have to offer here that could not be done at least as well by sociologists? Unless economists think like economists?use economic theory to model behavior related to time use, discover facts that might alter our theories, and generate predictions derived from those modified theories, we have nothing special to offer in this area. Economists should leave demographic accounting of time use to folks in other disci plines?they may have an absolute advantage in such research, and we certainly lack a comparative advantage in it. What subjects can we as economists study with these data? A by no means exhaustive list of research areas, in some of which a few early studies have already been generated, might include:
Enhanced biofiltration using cell attachment promotors.

H2S polluted airstreams were treated in two biotrickling filter columns packed with polyurethane (PU) foam cubes, one with cubes coated with a solution of 25 mg/L of polyethyleneimine (PEI, coated reactor) and the other containing just plain PU cubes (uncoated reactor) at empty bed residence times (EBRT) ranging from 6 to 60 s. and inlet H2S concentrations ranging from 30 to 235 ppmv (overall loads of up to 44 gH2S/m3bed/h), with overall removal efficiencies (RE) in the range of 90−100% over 125 days. The acclimatization characteristics of the coated reactor outperformed those of the uncoated one, and both the observed elimination capacity (EC) of 77 gH2S/m3bed/h and retention of volatile solids (VS) of 42 mgVS/cube were maxima in the coated reactor. Insights into the controlling removal mechanisms were also provided by means of dimensionless analysis of the experimental data. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) showed that the dominant surviving species in both units belonged to the genus Acid...
Synthesis and characterization of [TiF2(NMe2)2]4 and its use for olefin polymerizations

Abstract An equimolar mixture of TiF4 and Ti(NMe2)4 in CH3CN gave orange crystals of [TiF2(NMe2)2]4 in good yield. This complex is a cyclic tetramer of TiF2(NMe2)2, where each titanium atom is bonded to one terminal fluoride and terminal amide ligands and to two pairs of bridging fluoride and bridging amide ligands. This complex was employed as a catalyst for polymerizations of ethylene, propylene, and styrene in the presence of methylaluminoxane (MAO); the activity was relatively low for these olefin polymerizations.
New RF Control System for the 12 GeV Energy Upgrade of the CEBAF Accelerator at Jefferson Lab

The CEBAF Accelerator at Jefferson Lab presently consists of 50 MeV injector, two anti-parallel superconducting linacs and two arcs for transporting beam between the linacs. By the mid-1990s, the accelerator was providing electrons up to 5.75 GeV. The 12 GeV Upgrade is a major accelerator project aimed at doubling the energy by adding 10 (five per linac) new high gradient cryomodules, each providing 100 MV of field. The new cryomodule will consist of eight 7-cell superconducting cavities operating at an average accelerating gradient of 19.5 mv/m and with an external Q = 3.2 x 10 7 The high gradient, very high quality factor and large Lorentz detuning coefficient (K L up to 4) pose significant challenges beyond what the present analog low level RF (LLRF) control systems can handle reliably; therefore, a new digital LLRF control system has been developed. The main highlights of the new RF Control system include: a RF frontend with low temperature drift and good linearity, a large FPGA platform for digital signal processing, an EPICS Input Output Computer (IOC) using a PC-104 and a digital Self Exciting Loop (SEL) based algorithm. This paper provides an overview of the 6 GeV and 12 GeV Upgrade CEBAF machines, a summary of sources of cavity field variation that drive LLRF system performance, and discusses recent developments and progress in Jefferson Lab's new LLRF system design.
A spatial scale factor for electrophysiological models of myocardium

Abstract In the United States among males 20–64 years old about 1/3 of deaths are classified as ‘sudden cardiac death’, and 1/4 had no forewarning, nor did autopsy turn up any visible cause. The heart just switches from its normally periodic pumping to an alternative mode called ‘fibrillation’ more resembling electrical turbulence. In normal tissue its mechanism is a geometrically re-entrant mode of normal propagation. Everything about this spatial pattern depends upon the magnitude of ‘D’, the one term with dimension involving space in the pertinent biophysical equations. Explicit or implicit estimates in current literature span orders of magnitude. In this article I argue from a diversity of recent experiments for a narrower range of realistic values. It has an important role in the spatio-temporal evolution of fibrillation and in defibrillation.
Cerebral perfusion pressure studies in healthy preterm and term newborn infants

history of diabetes mellitus, and elevated maternal hemoglobin A1C value suggest that the mother may have had gestational diabetes despite the negative antenatal screen. Infants of diabetic mothers are known to be at increased risk for polycythemia2 ~ This patient's course emphasizes two related issues. (1) Newborn infants with hyperviscosity should have careful assessment of renal function, and if this is found to be significantly impaired, partial exchange transfusion may be indicated. (2) Babies with oliguria or renal failure without obvious reason should have a venous hematocrit measured to rule out hyperviscosity as an occult cause, even in the absence of more common symptoms.
Quantitative structure-agonist activity relationship of capsaicin analogues

The MULTIple Computer Automated Structure Evaluation (MULTICASE) methodology has been used to study the quantitative structure-agonist activity relationship of a series of capsaicin agonists. A number of substructures and physicochemical properties of capsaicin analogues were identified as being responsible for high agonist potency. The optimal log P value for the agonist potency as estimated from QSAR analysis is 5.12. It was also found that a cluster of inactive molecules in the database have lipophilicity values below 2.94. Molecular modeling was employed to elucidate the detailed structural features of the pharmacophore of capsaicin analogues. Systematic conformational analysishas shown that the activity of capsaicin analogues strongly depends upon their ability to reach the required conformational profile. Based upon these observations, a three-dimensional pharmacophore model for the capsaicin-receptor interactions is proposed.