cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Isobaric Labeling Quantitative Metaproteomics for the Study of Gut Microbiome Response to Arsenic

Quantitative metaproteomics is a relatively new research field that applies proteomics techniques to study microbial proteins of the microbiome and holds great potential in truly quantifying the functional proteins actually expressed by microbes in the biological environment, such as the gastrointestinal tract. The significant association between arsenic exposure and gut microbiome perturbations has been reported; however, metaproteomics has not yet been applied to study arsenic-induced proteome changes of the microbiome. Most importantly, to our knowledge, isobaric-labeling-based large-scale metaproteomics has not been reported using the advanced database-search approaches such as MetaPro-IQ and matched metagenome database-search strategies to provide high quantification accuracy and fewer missing quantification values. In the present study, a new experimental workflow coupled to isobaric labeling and MetaPro-IQ was demonstrated for the metaproteomics study of arsenic-induced gut microbiome perturbations. The advantages of this workflow were also discussed. For all 18 fecal samples analyzed, 7611 protein groups were quantified without any missing values. The consistent results of expression profiles were observed between 16S rRNA gene sequencing and metaproteomics. This isobaric-labeling-based workflow demonstrated the significant improvement of quantitative metaproteomics for gut microbiome study.
Formal verification of SysML diagram using case studies of real-time system

System and software engineers use SysML models for the graphical modeling of the embedded systems. The SysML models are inadequate to express the discrete controllers with continuously evolving variables. The real-time constraints such as discrete and continuous dynamics are considered to be an important aspect in embedded systems. The lack of support of real-time aspect in SysML model can lead to inexplicit modeling of the embedded systems. The imprecise modeling could cause catastrophic results when an embedded system gets operational. In this paper, we propose hybrid automata-based semantics that supports the discrete and continuous behavior in upgraded SysML block diagram. The upgraded SysML block diagram is used for the modeling of the embedded system. Furthermore, we use model checker PRISM for the early design verification of upgraded SysML block diagram. Finally, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed approach with the help of two case studies “temperature control system” and “water level control system”.
Chiral micellar electrokinetic chromatographic separation for determination of L- and D-primary amines released from murine islets of Langerhans

D-Amino acids have been located in various tissues including the endocrine portion of the pancreas, the islets of Langerhans. D-Serine (D-Ser) is of particular interest since it is an agonist for the ionotropic N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors. To examine the potential release of D-Ser and other D-amino acids from islets, a chiral micellar electrokinetic chromatography method was developed by derivatizing primary amines with 2,3-naphthalenedicarboxaldehyde and to achieve resolution of the enantiomers, two surfactants were used in the separation, sodium dodecyl sulfate and sodium deoxycholate. With the optimized conditions, 36 small molecule standards, including four internal standards, were evaluated. For the 17 compounds that were fully resolved, limits of detection were less than 10 nM. The resulting optimized separation method produced high efficiency peaks, with an average of 300 000 theoretical plates per peak and a peak capacity of 120. The method was used to examine the release of small molecules from groups of 50 murine islets of Langerhans. A peak was detected from islets incubated with 20 mM glucose that co-migrated with a D-Ser standard, although its level was below the quantifiable limit.
Precambrian Si isotope mass balance, weathering, and the significance of the authigenic clay silica sink

Abstract The geological cycles of carbon and silicon are linked via the silicate weathering feedback, but growing understanding of reverse weathering—the formation of authigenic clay minerals via back reaction of silica with cations—indicates that the nature of the connection between these two elemental cycles may be more complex than previously assumed. Recent carbon cycle modeling has suggested that enhanced reverse weathering during Precambrian time could have played an important role in regulating climate. The topology of the Precambrian silica cycle, including the size of the authigenic clay sink and its influence on the carbon cycle, is challenging to reconstruct due to inherent preservation biases in the rock record. Here we used an alternative approach using Si isotope values to invert for the magnitudes of Precambrian silica fluxes, by assuming that the silica cycle must be in mass balance with the bulk silicate Earth over geological time scales with respect to Si isotopes. To estimate uncertainties associated with these flux reconstructions, we used Monte Carlo simulations based on the natural variation exhibited in Si isotope ratio data from the Precambrian sedimentary record (n = 2118, spanning ~3.8 Ga to ~525 Ma) and modern authigenic clays (n = 123). The perspective of Si isotope mass balance shows that the previously observed increase in chert δ30Si values across Precambrian time is a signal of an evolving silica cycle rather than a secular change in seawater temperature. Results yielded a secular increase in the relative contribution of the authigenic clay sink across most of Precambrian time—this view is consistent with previous interpretations of a concomitant decrease in the concentration of dissolved silica in seawater. This result is consistent among a variety of model versions incorporating different assumptions about the abundance of iron formations and possible relationships between authigenic clay formation and concepts that invoke slow growth in the absolute amount of the continental crust. This approach also highlights key areas where improving Si isotope records could further enhance our constraints on the Precambrian silica cycle, and its relationship with the carbon cycle and climate stability.
Confirmation of endotracheal tube placement using disposable fiberoptic bronchoscopy in the emergent setting

Background Patients intubated in the prehospital setting require quick and definitive confirmation of endotracheal (ET) tube placement upon arrival to the emergency department (ED). Direct and adjunct strategies exist, but each has limitations and there is no definitive gold standard. The utility of bronchoscopy in ED intubation has been studied, but scant literature exists on its use for ET tube confirmation. This study aims to assess effectiveness, ease and speed with which ET tube placement can be confirmed with disposable fiberoptic bronchoscopy. Methods Emergency medicine residents recruited from a 3-year urban residency program received 5 minutes of active learning on a simulation mannequin using a disposable, flexible Ambu aScope interfaced with a monitor. With residents blinded, the researcher randomly placed the ET tube in the trachea, esophagus or right mainstem. Residents identified ET tube position by threading the bronchoscope through the tube and viewing distal anatomy. Each resident underwent 4 trials. Accuracy, speed and perceptions of difficulty were measured. Results Residents accurately identified the location of the ET tube in 88 out of 92 trials (95.7%). The median time-to-guess was 7.0 seconds, IQR (5.0-10.0). Average perceived difficulty was 1.6 on a scale from 1-5 (1 being very easy and 5 being very difficult). No tubes were damaged or dislodged. Conclusion While simulation cannot completely replicate the live experience, fiberoptic bronchoscopy appears to be a quick and accurate method for ET tube confirmation. Further studies directly comparing this novel approach to established practices on actual patients are warranted.
Reflections on a Christian Perspective on Studying Family Law

One of the most conflict-ridden aspects of Christian lawyering may be family law. While challenging emotionally, personally, and spiritually, this area of law practice can provide compassionately positive opportunities for lawyerly ministry and service in family law practice. Describing a lawyer as a healer of human conflict – a professional to whom clients bring their brokenness and interpersonal struggles, needing help, begging for guidance, maybe even hoping for curative measures - this short piece posits that the state of the family in our culture today opens up incredible opportunities for the body of Christ to offer new hope to a struggling world, particularly in family law.
Gate Leakage Current and Time-Dependent Dielectric Breakdown Measurements of Commercial 1.2 kV 4H-SiC Power MOSFETs

Gate leakage current and constant-voltage time-dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB) measurements at room temperature and elevated temperatures of commercially available large-area 1.2 kV 4H-SiC power MOSFETs are performed to investigate their gate oxide reliability and better understand their failure modes. It is shown that Fowler-Nordheim (F-N) tunneling current is the dominant mechanism contributing to the gate leakage current. Despite anomalous gate leakage current behaviors that could be caused by interface states densities ( $D_{it}$ )and near interface oxide traps, leakage currents at normal operating condition ( $V_{G}=20 \ \mathrm{V}$ at 28°C) are less than 100 pA for all vendors. Extrapolation from TDDB measurements shows that the predicted lifetimes when $V_{G}=20\mathrm{V}$ at both 28°C and 175°C are far longer than the targeted 10 years.
Antithrombotics after Intracranial Hemorrhage in Patients with Left Ventricular Assist Devices

Purpose Decisions regarding if or when to resume antithrombotics (anticoagulation or antiplatelets) after intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) in patients with left ventricular devices (LVADs) remain controversial and available data to guide management is limited. We aim to explore antithrombotic practices following ICH in LVAD patients and identify most effective strategies. Methods Using a retrospective analysis of our institutional LVAD database between 11/2012 and 5/2018, we identified all patients who suffered ICH. We recorded type and timing of antithrombotic resumed following ICH. Primary outcome events included subsequent ischemic stroke or TIA, pump thrombosis, systemic thrombosis, re-hemorrhage, and extracranial bleeding; death was a secondary outcome. Other variables collected included age, sex, and year of LVAD placement. Descriptive and nonparametric survival analyses were performed. Results A total of 36 adult patients met our criteria. Median age was 54.5 years (IQR 38-56), 28% were women, and 25% non-white. Forty-four percent of procedures occurred after 2014 and ICH occurred a median of 266 days (IQR 110-689) after LVAD implantation. Antiplatelets were held in 83% of patients for a median duration of 20 days (IQR 5.5 days to never restarted) and anticoagulation held in 92% for a median of 5 days (IQR 3-27). After ICH, 19 patients suffered 25 outcome events including 19 primary events (3 ischemic strokes/TIAs, 3 pump thromboses, 4 systemic thrombotic events, 7 re-hemorrhage, and 2 systemic hemorrhages). Kaplan-Meier survival free of a primary outcome was 89%, 72% and 58% at 7, 14 and 30 days post-ICH, respectively. Most of the 36 patients died (n=26, 72%), 12 within 90 days of the index ICH. There were no significant associations between survival free of a primary event and timing of anticoagulation, age > 60, sex, or LVAD placement before vs after 2014. Conclusion Ischemic and hemorrhagic complications occurred at similar, high rates following intracranial hemorrhage in LVAD patients, with no evidence of increased risk of re-hemorrhage with early anticoagulation. Future study is necessary to identify specific risk factors for rebleeding and re-thrombosis in these patients to reduce levels or morbidity and mortality following intracranial hemorrhage.
Hard Metal Lung Disease: Update in Diagnosis and Management

Hard metal lung disease is a rare entity due to cobalt and tungsten carbide exposure. This review summarizes the literature focusing on pathogenesis, clinical features, diagnosis, and management. Theories for pathogenesis include immunogenic activation, oxidant injury, and induction of hypoxia-inducible factor in macrophages. Multinucleated giant cells with bizarre cannibalistic features are the most common pathological finding; however, it is not pathognomonic. Corticosteroids remain the mainstay of treatment based on data from small studies. Hard metal lung disease exposure can lead to an occupational asthma or parenchymal lung disease, potentially leading to respiratory failure. A history of exposure and clinical findings along with appropriate radiographic and pathological findings are essential to establish a diagnosis. Treatment options include exposure cessation, corticosteroids, immunosuppressive therapies, and lung transplantation.
A Theoretical Study of Multidomain Ferroelectric Switching Dynamics With a Physics-Based SPICE Circuit Model for Phase-Field Simulations

In this article, the multidomain nature of ferroelectric (FE) polarization switching dynamics in a metal–ferroelectric–metal (MFM) capacitor is explored through a physics-based phase-field approach, where the 3-D time-dependent Ginzburg–Landau (TDGL) equation and Poisson’s equation are self-consistently solved with the SPICE simulator. Systematically calibrated based on the experimental measurements, the model well captures transient negative capacitance (NC) in pulse switching dynamics, with domain interaction and viscosity being the key parameters. It is found that the influence of pulse amplitudes on voltage transient behaviors can be attributed to the fact that the FE free energy profile strongly depends on how the domains interact. In addition, we extract the domain viscosity dynamics during polarization switching according to the experimental measurements. For the first time, a physics-based circuit-compatible SPICE model for multidomain phase-field simulations is established to reveal the impact of domain interaction on the NC effect and microscopic domain evolution. The findings of this article may have important implications for the charge boost induced by the stabilization of NC in an FE/dielectric (DE) stack since the so-called capacitance matching needs to be designed at a specific operating voltage or frequency.
Energy Management System in Naval Submarines

An optimal energy scheduling procedure is essential in an isolated environment such as naval submarines. Conventional naval submarines include diesel-electric propulsion systems, which utilize diesel generators along with batteries and fuel cells. Submarines can charge the batteries by running diesel-electric generators only at the surface or at snorkeling depth. This is the most dangerous time for submarines to be detectable by acoustic and non-acoustic sensors of enemy assets. optimizing the energy resources while reducing the need for snorkeling is the main factor to enhance underwater endurance. This paper introduces an energy management system (EMS) as a supervisory tool for the officers onboard to plan energy schedules in order to complete various missions. The EMS for a 4,000-ton class conventional submarine is developed to minimize snorkeling and satisfy various conditions of practically designed missions by optimally scheduling the power system components such as Lithium-ion batteries, Proton-exchange membrane fuel cells, and diesel-electric generators. Eventually, the optimized energy schedules with the minimum snorkeling time are produced by the EMS for two mission scenarios. More importantly, this EMS performs deterministic and stochastic operational scheduling processes to provide secured optimal schedules which contains outages in the power generation and storage systems.
Sequential Bifurcation Trees to Chaos in Nonlinear Time-Delay Systems

Abstract In this book, the global sequential scenario of bifurcation trees of periodic motions to chaos in nonlinear dynamical systems is presented for a better understanding of global behaviors an...
Calculation, principle or bias? Information preference and ethical decision-making

This study proposes a novel information preference perspective to integrate ethics, managerial decision-making and risk. It argues that individuals confronting complex decisions, which involve risk...
The COVID-19 pandemic: A time for veterinary leadership in one health

The COVID-19 pandemic is a wake-up call for leaders of the North American veterinary profession. Veterinary professionals constitute an invaluable workforce capable of delivering public services essential to weathering the current pandemic and preventing future pandemics. Yet North American veterinary professionals are often underutilized in efforts that could maximize their contributions to public health and research. Misguided public perception about the utility of the profession might hinder One Health partnerships between veterinary professionals and diverse collaborators. Society in general demands that leadership across several levels of the profession expand and diversify efforts aimed at greater public service while preserving societal benefits stemming from companion animal care. The pandemic's most deeply rooted effects could lie in its potential degradation of global food security, which can be better preserved if more veterinarians embrace their public health foundations. The pandemic is an opportunity and obligation for change. Failing to seize this moment could undermine public health and global security for generations.
A nationally representative study on discharge against medical advice among those living with epilepsy.

PURPOSE Discharges against medical advice (DAMA) are associated with adverse patient outcomes among those with epilepsy. Our goal was to examine trends and factors associated with DAMA among those living with epilepsy. METHODS A retrospective cross-sectional study was performed using the 2003-2014 National Inpatient Sample database. ICD-9-CM diagnosis codes were used to identify admissions of patients with epilepsy. Following outcomes were examined among epilepsy patients: proportion and predictors of DAMA, 12-year DAMA trends and causes of admissions. RESULTS In 2014, of the 187,850 admissions in patients with epilepsy, 3783 (2.01 %) were DAMA. Male sex, Black race, younger age, lower household income, Medicaid/self-pay/other as primary payer, lower Elixhauser comorbidities index, weekend admission, non-elective admission, hospital in northeast region, and urban nonteaching hospital were all associated with DAMA. There was a significant increase in the proportion of DAMA in people with epilepsy from 2003 to 2014 (1.13 %-2.01 %, p < 0.0001). The top reasons of admissions for epilepsy patients who were DAMA were: epilepsy/convulsion (21.02 %), alcohol- (8.86 %) and substance-related disorders (3.75 %), and diabetes mellitus with complications (3.33 %). CONCLUSIONS Our findings provide opportunities to understand DAMA among those living with epilepsy, which is more prevalent in socially-disadvantaged populations. This study highlight the need to develop electronic medical records-based prediction tools that could be used at the point-of-care to enable the early identification of people at risk for DAMA, since it is often likely preventable. Future mixed methods studies are recommended to identify facilitators of DAMA and strategies for prevention.
Adipose to serum ratio and mixtures of persistent organic pollutants in relation to endometriosis: Findings from the ENDO Study.

Abstract Background Endometriosis is an estrogen-dependent disease. Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and their mixtures may play an etiologic role. Objectives We evaluated an adipose-to-serum ratio (ASR) of lipophilic EDCs and their mixtures associated with incident endometriosis. Methods We quantified 13 polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners, 6 polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) congeners, and 11 organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in serum and omental fat among women from the ENDO Study (2007–2009) aged 18–44 years diagnosed with (n=190) or without (n=283) surgically-visualized incident endometriosis. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) between ASR and endometriosis were estimated using logistic regression models adjusted for age (years), body mass index (kg/m2), serum cotinine (ng/ml), and breastfeeding conditional on parity. Bayesian hierarchical models (BHM) compared estimated associations for adipose and ASR to serum. Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) estimated change in latent health and 95% posterior intervals (PI) between chemical mixtures and endometriosis. Results Select ASR for estrogenic PCBs and OCPs were associated with an increased odds of an endometriosis diagnosis, but not for anti-estrogenic PCBs or PBDEs. Across all chemicals, BHMs generated ORs that were on average 14% (95% PI: 6%, 22%) higher for adipose and 20% (95% PI: 12%, 29%) higher for ASR in comparison to serum. ORs from BHMs were greater for estrogenic PCBs and OCPs, with no differences for PBDEs. BKMR models comparing the 75th to 25th percentile were moderately associated with endometriosis for estrogenic PCBs [adipose 0.27 (95% PI: 0.18, 0.72) and ASR 0.37 (95% PI: 0.06, 0.80)] and OCPs [adipose 0.17 (95% PI: 0.21, 0.56) and ASR 0.26 (95% PI: 0.05, 0.57)], but not for antiestrogenic PCBs and PBDEs. Discussion ASR added little insight beyond adipose for lipophilic chemicals. BKMR results supported associations between ASR and adipose estrogenic PCB and OCP mixtures and incident endometriosis. These findings underscore the importance of choice of biospecimen and considering mixtures when assessing exposure-disease relationships.
Image-Based Prediction of Respiratory Diseases Including COVID-19 Using Convolutional Neural Networks

Respiratory diseases such as COVID-19, Pneumonia, SARS, and Streptococcus have caused severe worldwide public health concerns. Specifically, COVID-19, as an emerging worldwide pandemic, imposed the most critical challenge to all scientists and researchers for prognosis, diagnosis, and treatment of COVID-19 infection. This study aims to predict the aforementioned 4 respiratory diseases and normal people with chest X-ray and CT scan images using convolutional neural networks. A total of 1,156 images has been collected from 3 published databases. The combined dataset was enriched by empowering augmentation techniques and visual filters such as rotation and lung segmentation. The noises for augmentation include Gaussian and Speckle noises with zero mean and variance of 0.05, 0.10, and 0.20, and Salt and Pepper noise with 50% and 75% ratio. The customized convolutional neural network reached a prediction accuracy of 94% in classifying the test images into the normal and 4 disease categories, and 92%, 93%, and 92% as average precision, recall, and F1-score over all categories, respectively.
Models of Large Networks: Computer-Oriented Approaches

This chapter takes up the second mainstream of modeling techniques for large neural networks—those that make extensive use of large-scale digital computers or particularly lend themselves to realization on large-scale computers. A germinal source work which has greatly influenced much subsequent work in this area was published in 1943 by McCulloch and Pitts. This paper has been extremely influential in propagating the so-called automata-theoretic view of neural-network dynamics which has been taken over, or at least influenced, by many analytically oriented researchers as well, as we saw in the previous chapter. In this chapter we discuss this basic source paper, its ramifications, and several contemporary examples of computer-oriented approaches to large neural networks.
Irrigation Management Service and Mosquito Control

Irrigation Management Service (IMS) is a program of the Bureau of Reclamation, Department of the Interior, for improving irrigation efficiency and increasing agricultural productivity. This study was made to determine if the program reduced the breeding of mosquitoes among irrigated crops and the creation of mosquito larval habitats. The data reported showed that there was reduced mosquito production among IMS orchards. However, the IMS was not found to be associated with a reduction of or with minimizing mosquito production or larval infestations in standing water habitats among alfalfa, corn, or sugar beet crops.
Banned in Kansas: Motion Picture Censorship, 1915 - 1966

Review of: "Banned in Kansas: Motion Picture Censorship, 1915–1966," by Gerald R. Butters, Jr.
Coherence Co-constructed: Using Coherence for Analysis and Transformation of Social Conflicts

Narrative coherence is a much-debated subject, primarily because different approaches to coherence leave us with an either/or predicament. We can either pay attention to rather modernist approaches that attempt to map meaning structures in a given text to locate points of coherence; or, we can pay attention to critical approaches that suggest even seeking coherence results in confirming with dominant discourses and narratives in a given context. This article is an attempt in reconciliation between these two approaches to provide an alternative approach to the question: what makes texts cohere? Using a political rally ad Turkish Prime Minister used to counter the protests that took place in Turkey during the summer of 2013, the article demonstrates how coherence is constructed as a relationship between a text and an audience based on semiotic markers that refer to historical and ideological narratives.
Salient region detection based on compactness with manifold ranking

The salient region detection aims at completely highlighting the entire objects of interest in an image. It is a challenging problem while a hot topic in computer vision, and has been applied to numerous vision problems such as image compression and object detection. In this paper, we propose a bottom-up salient region detection method via considering the spatial variance of color features in the image space with diffusion process. By considering the spatial distribution of color similarity, foreground and background regions are extracted preliminarily. Besides, in order to produce a pixel-accurate saliency map covering the salient objects more uniformly, we propagate the saliency information through the diffusion process. Experimental results on public benchmark databases show that the proposed approach can uniformly cover salient object regions and effectively suppress background regions.
Molecular perspectives on the genetics of mosquitoes.

Publisher Summary This chapter presents molecular perspectives on the genetics of mosquitoes. The chapter reviews various recent molecular studies performed on mosquitoes of the genera Anopheles, Culex, and Aedes. These genera include the principal vectors of three major groups of human pathogens: malaria parasites of the genus Plasmodium, filarial worms of the genera Wuchereria and Brugia, and numerous arboviruses. Anophelines are the only mosquitoes known to transmit human malaria parasites, a group of organisms that may be responsible for more morbidity and mortality worldwide than any other human pathogen. Anophelines also transmit filarial worms as do Culex and Aedes species. The chapter also discusses how molecular techniques are used to reveal genetic differentiation, both for the identification of cryptic species and for the understanding of population structure and evolution. The chapter describes the genome organization on the basis of reassociation kinetics, molecular cloning, and genome mapping. The chapter discusses the molecular biology of specific physiological systems, including insecticide resistance, immune mechanisms, oogenesis, and salivation. The identification of endogenous mobile elements and potential transformation systems for both cell lines and embryos are also described in the chapter.
New Multilevel Converter Based on Cascade Connection of Double Flying Capacitor Multicell Converters and Its Improved Modulation Technique

This paper proposes a new multilevel converter based on the cascade connection of double flying capacitor multicell (DFCM) converters, as multilevel modules, to decrease the voltage diversity of the flying capacitors. Furthermore, a new switching pattern based on the phase-shifted pulse-width modulation technique is proposed to reduce the voltage ripple across the flying capacitors. Moreover, the proposed modulation technique reduces the rms value of the current flowing through flying capacitors. This results in an increase in the life time of flying capacitors and a decrease in the capacitance of the flying capacitors, to keep the same amount of the ripple, meaning a reduction in the physical size of the converter. In addition, this paper presents an analytical approach to calculate the average and rms currents of the insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs)/diodes in the DFCM converter in a closed-form expression. The derived closed-form equations to calculate the average and rms currents of the IGBTs/diodes are utilized to investigate the conduction power losses in a DFCM converter and the proposed multilevel converter. Numerical results of the derived closed-form equations match the simulation results well, which validates the derived equations. Furthermore, simulation results and experimental measurements of the proposed multilevel power converter, configured by cascading two two-cell five-level DFCM converters, are presented to validate the performance of the proposed converter as well as the suggested modulation technique.
Gustav Mahler's Symphonic Landscapes

In this study Thomas Peattie offers a new account of Mahler's symphonies by considering the composer's reinvention of the genre in light of his career as a conductor and more broadly in terms of his sustained engagement with the musical, theatrical, and aesthetic traditions of the Austrian fin de siecle. Drawing on the ideas of landscape, mobility, and theatricality, Peattie creates a richly interdisciplinary framework that reveals the uniqueness of Mahler's symphonic idiom and its radical attitude toward the presentation and ordering of musical events. The book goes on to identify a fundamental tension between the music's episodic nature and its often-noted narrative impulse and suggests that Mahler's symphonic dramaturgy can be understood as a form of abstract theatre.
Futures trading activity and stock price volatility: some extensions

An earlier investigation by Bessembinder and Seguin employed open interest data to demonstrate that heavy (unexpected) trading activity in stock index futures is destabilizing. This article re-examines the issue in the framework of the commitments of four groups of traders in the S&P 500 index futures market: hedgers (institutional traders), large speculators, small traders and spreaders. Finding that surges in institutional commitments in index futures are followed by increased levels of price variability. The results are not conclusive on whether portfolio insurance strategies contribute to this relationship. Moreover, there is no evidence that the participation of other futures traders, notably large speculators and small traders, is destabilizing. An implication is that the current margins structure that favours institutional traders is ill-suited to the goal of volatility-control. The release of the commitment of trader data which provides open interest information on an ex post basis is found to hav...
Views of Adolescents and Parents on Pediatric Research Without the Potential for Clinical Benefit

Objective Critics argue that pediatric research without the potential for clinical benefit is unethical because it treats children as mere means, exposing those who cannot consent to risks for the benefit of others. The present survey was designed to assess whether this claim is consistent with the views of adolescents who actually participate in research, or their parents. Methods Interviews were conducted with adolescents participating in research at the NIH Clinical Center or Seattle Children's Hospital, and their parents, from June 2008 through April 2010. Results Interviews were completed with 177 of 186 adolescent/parent pairs (response rate= 95.2%). Overall, 90% of the adolescents and parents were willing to have the adolescent undergo a few extra blood draws, and 65% were willing to have the adolescent undergo an extra skin biopsy, for research purposes. The vast majority felt that the adolescents were making an important contribution to help others, and 80.8% of the adolescents felt proud to be doing so. Respondents overall were equally willing to have the adolescent face risks to help others in a research study or in a charitable activity. Conclusions The views and experiences of these respondents do not support the claim that pediatric research without the potential for clinical benefit treats subjects as mere means. Instead, the findings provide proof of principle for the claim that non-beneficial pediatric research involves a type of charitable activity which offers children the opportunity to contribute to a valuable project to help others.
Budgeting for Time-Bombs: Recent General Accounting Office Reports on the Crises of the Nuclear Weapons Complex and the Savings and Loan Industry

This article discusses an emerging problem—how to budget for time-bombs. Time-bombs are a current or a potential disaster that requires enormous sums of funds to arrest, contain or fix. Two examples are provided: the savings and loan insolvencies and the nation's aging nuclear weapons complex. The author discusses the General Accounting Office reports on those subjects and analyzes how time-bomb budgeting has changed budget processes and decision making.
Microbial transformation of ethylpyridines

Pyridine and its derivatives have been found as pollutants in the environment. Although alkylpyridines constitute the largest class of pyridines contaminating the environment, little information is available concerning the fate and transformation of these compounds. In this investigation ethylpyridines have been used as model compounds for investigating the biodegradability of alkylpyridines. A mixed culture of ethylpyridine-degrading microorganisms was obtained from a soil that had been exposed to a variety of pyridine derivatives for several decades. The enrichment culture was able to degrade 2-, 3-, and 4-ethylpyridine (100 mg/L) at 28° C and pH 7 within two weeks under aerobic conditions. The degradation rate was greatest for 2-ethylpyridine and least for 3-ethylpyridine. Transformation of ethylpyridines was dependent on substrate concentration, pH, and incubation temperature. Studies on the metabolic pathway of 4-ethylpyridine revealed two products; these chemicals were identified by MS and NMR analyses as 4-ethyl-2(1H)-pyridone and 4-ethyl-2-piperidone. 6-Ethyl-2(1H)-pyridone was determined to be a product of 2-ethylpyridine degradation. These results indicate that the transformation mechanism of ethylpyridines involves hydroxylation and reduction of the aromatic ring before ring cleavage.
Laparoscopic Fundoplication Yields Low Postoperative Pulmonary Complications in Neurologically Impaired Children

ABSTRACT Neurologically impaired (NI) children with gastroesophageal reflux (GER) are a subset of patients with a high incidence of early postoperative pneumonia and recurrence of reflux after open...
Purification of eukaryotic cytoplasmic elongation factor 2 and organellar elongation factor G by an affinity binding procedure

A rapid affinity binding procedure for obtaining highly purified organellar elongation factor G (EF-G) and cytoplasmic elongation factor 2 (EF-2) in excellent yields from whole cell extracts is described. The procedure involves the addition of ribosomes, GTP, and fusidic acid to a crude cell extract. The fusidic acid stabilizes the formation of a translocase—GDP—ribosome complex which can be recovered from the extract by high-speed centrifugation. The translocase is then released from the ribosomes by a high salt wash. To purify organellar EF-G, 70 S ribosomes from Escherichia coli are used. If 80 S ribosomes such as those from wheat germ are used instead of 70 S ribosomes, EF-2 can be selectively purified from the cell extract. This procedure has been applied to the purification of both cytoplasmic and chloroplast translocases of Euglena gracilis . Chloroplast EF-G and cytoplasmic EF-2 can be separated from each other and from the vast majority of the proteins in the postribosomal supernatant with yields in both cases of 60% or greater.
Urethral catheter removal 3 days after radical retropubic prostatectomy is feasible and desirable

The purpose of this work was to assess the feasibility of urethral catheter removal 3 days after radical retropubic prostatectomy (RRP). Twenty-two patients who underwent RRP with a watertight eight-suture vesicourethral anastomosis had their urethral catheter removed usually on postoperative day (POD) 3. The average day of urethral catheter removal was POD 3.2. At 3 months, 56% of patients required no or one protective pad to stay dry and 68.4% of patients ‘never leaked’ or ‘leaked occasionally’. Following RRP, the urethral catheter can be removed as early as POD 3 if the intraoperative anastomosis is watertight without compromising urinary continence.
Memory functions and relaxation functions of some spin systems

Abstract The method of recurrence relations has proved to be a powerful tool in the understanding of time evolutions of many-body systems such as an electron gas, classical harmonic chains, and spin systems on a lattice. We review the method and its applications to the dynamics of spins in the one-dimensional XY and transverse Ising models, and the spin van der Waals model.
cDNA detection and analysis

In the continuing search for a full-length cDNA cloning method, there is no clear winner. Perfecting these techniques may require the re-engineering of reverse transcriptase. There now exist two reasonably linear methods for deriving expression signatures from small amounts of biological material, but advances in serial analysis of gene expression provide a quantitative, if expensive, alternative to these methods.
Diabetic Renal Disease in African Americans

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is the No. 1 cause of end-stage renal disease in the United States and is highly prevalent in African Americans. Almost all DN in African Americans is caused by type 2 diabetes. Glycemic control and control of blood pressure are essential to prolong renal survival and to protect against cardiovascular events. Among African Americans, diabetic nephropathy seems to affect women more than men, which may be related to increased rates of obesity and diabetes in African American women. In addition to gender, the development of albuminuria, family history, and possibly birth weight are factors that predict progression of renal disease in African Americans with DN. The impact of glycemic control, appropriate antihypertensives, and the optimal level of blood pressure control in African Americans with advanced DN require further study. This article will review the clinical characteristics, risk factors, predictors of disease progression, and treatment of diabetic nephropathy in African Americans.
The Crucifix and German Constitutional Culture

On August 10, 1995, the Federal Constitutional Court in Germany released a decision overturning a Bavarian regulation that required that a cross be installed in every primary school classroom. The Court declared the regulation null and void, stating in the "guiding principle" of the decision, "Installing a cross or crucifix in the instructional rooms of a state-run, compulsory school that is not a confessional school violates Article 4, Paragraph 1 of the Basic Law" (Bundesverfassungsgericht [BVerfG] 1995b:2477). The Basic Law-the name given to the West German constitution of 1949-states in that article, "Freedom of faith, of conscience, and freedom of creed, religious or ideological [weltanschaulich], shall be inviolable" (Hucko 1987:194).' The decision occasioned a public uproar in Bavaria and among the major political parties of the former West Germany. For many Bavarian Catholics, the decision represented an unauthorized federal intervention in state affairs and an attempt to limit the religious expression of a community, in this case the overwhelmingly Catholic population of Bavaria within the majority Protestant population of Germany as a whole. In these respects, the controversy resembled debates in the United States over prayer in public schools or the display of religious symbols in state institutions. But the specific way the debate unfolded illuminated fundamental differences between the constitutional cultures of the
Effect of antenna porphyrins and phthalocyanines on the photochromism of benzospiropyrans in poly(methyl methacrylate) films

Photochromic materials have optical properties that change reversibly in response to irradiation. The benzospiropyran used in this work undergoes a transmission change of approximately 90% at 550 nm; however, a reasonable reaction rate for both the forward and reverse reaction is necessary for applications such as smart windows in buildings. The time constant for colorless spiropyrans to darken to the merocyanine form under ultraviolet radiation is of the order of 10 min, but the reverse reaction is very much slower. The objective of this work was to increase the reaction rate for the reverse bleaching reaction. This was achieved by modifying the benzospiropyran in a poly(methyl methacrylate) matrix by the addition of one of seven porphyrins or phthalocyanines. We report second-order rate constants obtained from the slope of the reciprocal of the maximum absorption amplitude vs. time. These constants characterize the initial reaction rate. Data taken with an FTIR spectrometer showed that every porphyrin increased the initial reaction rate, with phthalocyanine showing the fastest reversion rate, 21-fold that of the unmodified benzospiropyran. One vanadyl phthalocyanine showed an eight-fold increase. The effect on the visible reaction rate was determined using vanadyl phthalocyanines, and a particular vanadyl phthalocyanine increased the initial reaction rate by a factor of approximately three.
ASENTAMIENTO, AGRICULTURA Y PASTORALISMO DURANTE EL PERIODO FORMATIVO EN EL VALLE DEL COLCA, PERÚ

Este articulo presenta una vision preliminar de la ocupacion formativa en el valle del Colca, ubicado en la sierra suroccidental peruana. A partir de datos recuperados de una prospeccion sistematica de la parte central del valle, se define por primera vez el patron de asentamiento del periodo Formativo. Se presenta un resumen descriptivo de un estilo de ceramica local asociada con la ocupacion formativa, y se caracteriza la naturaleza de los asentamientos de agricultores y pastores tempranos, junto con una discusion de los complejos agricolas ubicados en las laderas y en el fondo del valle. El patron de asentamiento se caracteriza por una ocupacion dispersa de pequenas aldeas, sin indices de centralizacion politica o desigualdades economicas. Sin embargo, hay evidencia de infraestructura agricola en la forma de grandes y complejos recintos amurallados "agro-mortuorios" en el fondo del valle, que se caracterizan por gruesas murallas y que integran cistas mortuorias y silos alrededor de campos de cultivo. A diferencia de estudios anteriores que sugirieron que la agricultura temprana en el valle del Colca se desarrollo mayormente en las zonas superiores de las laderas, los resultados que aqui se presentan muestran una modificacion antropogenica inicial con fines agricolas tanto en las extensas pampas del fondo del valle como en sus laderas.
Theoretical Skill of Monte Carlo Forecasts

Abstract The theoretical skill of Monte Carlo approximations to the stochastic dynamic forecasting technique proposed by Epstein is examined by means of an extension of earlier atmospheric predictability studies that used the test-field model of two-dimensional turbulence. The fundamental statistical hydrodynamical concept of an ensemble of phase paths evolving in a dynamical phase space is reviewed and used to define the statistical properties of a finite Monte Carlo sample. The application of a linear regression step to arrive at a final best estimate of the state of the atmosphere is also discussed. The resulting forecasts approach the climatological mean at forecast times so late that all skill has been lost. For an ideal case with an observing resolution, hopefully achievable in the 1980s with satellite-based sensors, it is found that the. Monte Carlo procedure leads to the greatest improvement in mean-square vector wind forecast skill in the 6- to 10-day range. For another case corresponding roughly...
Finite-dimensional description of non-newtonian vortex flows

The application of finite-dimensional dynamical systems theory to non-Newtonian vortex flow indicates the presence of complex temporal dynamics that is attributed to shear thinning and normal stress (giving rise to the so-called Weissenberg rod climbing phenomenon). These aspects are examined for Rayleigh-Benard thermal convection and Taylor-Couette rotational flow, in an attempt to elucidate on the mechanisms behind the onset and destabilization of secondary vortex flow common to these and possibly other non-Newtonian flows in the transition regime. Three transition scenarios are particularly explored, namely, the transition to chaos via intermittency, quasiperiodicity and period doubling.
References and Reading Lists for Imaging Informatics Professionals: Preparing for Certification

As most picture archiving and communication system (PACS) administrators or imaging informatics professionals are aware, the Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine (SIIM, formerly SCAR) is sponsoring an effort to provide certification in the growing field. SIIM members believe that this society is the most qualified to provide guidance in the development of an exam and certification because we are an unbiased nonprofit organization. We are working with the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (ARRT) to help develop and administer the test, not because we believe a Certified Imaging Informatics Professional should have a background in radiologic technology but because the ARRT has vast experience with developing and administering examinations. Many of the people who intend to take the examination have asked how to prepare for it. Of course, attending professional meetings and PACS Administration courses, including those offered by SIIM, are a good way to meet others in the profession as well as to learn new ways to solve problems. We have attempted to put together a reading list for those who also wish to prepare for the examination by reading and studying at home.