cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Opting Out? Cohort Differences in Professional Women's Employment Rates from 1960 to 2005

Over the past 50 years, women's roles have changed dramatically—a reality captured by substantial increases in employment and reductions in fertility. Yet, the social organization of work and family life has not changed much, leading to pervasive work-family conflict. Observing these strains, some scholars wonder whether U.S. women's high employment levels are sustainable. Women's employment in professional and managerial occupations—the core of the analyses offered in this article—merits particular interest because of the material and symbolic implications for gender equality. In a cohort analysis of working-age women born between 1906 and 1975, I show that employment levels among college-educated women in professional and managerial occupations have increased across cohorts. Full-time, year-round employment rates continue to rise across cohorts, even among women in historically male professions and mothers of young children. Although labor force participation rates have stopped rising, they have stalled...
Mishima's seppuku speech: A critical‐cultural analysis

The Japanese writer/performer/militant Mishima Yukio forced a public trial of Post World War II Japan on November 25, 1970 that culminated in his carrying out a self‐imposed sentence of seppuku (ritual suicide). During the process of this spurious trial, Mishima assumed the positions of judge, jury, condemned, and executioner. With the assistance of four members of his private army, he took hostage the Commanding General of the Jieitai (Japan's Self Defense Forces); appealed to nearly 1,000 Jieitai soldiers to realize their constitutional and cultural illegitimacy; then committed seppuku. This essay is a critical analysis that begins by addressing theoretical and methodological issues for a transcultural rhetoric. It then describes the language and logic of Mishima's seppuku speech; examines its genesis in existential, spatial, and temporal themes; and strives finally to place Mishima's discourse in an axiological relation to his personal history, Japanese cultural practice, the socio‐political world, and...
A Workflow-Based Non-intrusive Approach for Enhancing the Survivability of Critical Infrastructures in Cyber Environment

The focus of this paper is on vulnerabilities which exist in Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems. Cyber attacks targeting weaknesses in these systems can seriously degrade the survivability of a critical system. Detailed here is a non-intrusive approach for improving the survivability of these systems without interruption of their normal process flow. In a typical SCADA system, unsafe conditions are avoided by including interlocking logic code on the base system. This prevents conflicting operations from starting at inappropriate times, and provides corrective action or graceful shut-down of the system when a potentially unsafe condition is detected. If this code or these physical devices are manipulated remotely, the system can fail with unpredictable results. In the proposed approach, a workflow is constructed on a system outside of the attack path and separate from the process under control. The workflow is a combination of the functional behavior of a SCADA system and a model generated by cyber attack scenarios in that system. A cause and effect relationship of commands processed by the SCADA system is simulated in the workflow to help detect malicious operations. The workflow will then contain functional and survivability knowledge of the underlying system. Failures induced by the introduction of malicious logic will be predicted by simulating the fault in the workflow. Modeling these modes of failure will be valuable in implementing damage control. This model is event driven and conducts simulation externally, hence does not interfere with normal functionality of the underlying systems.
Trehalose and Other Carbohydrates in Diapausing and Starving Boll Weevils

Anthonomus grandis Boheman (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) was studied to determine the effects of diapause and starvation on trehalose and glycogen levels. When corrections were made for the greater dry weight of diapausing boll weevils, there was little if any difference in trehalose levels between diapausing and reproducing adults and between males and females. The effects of starvation also were small because trehalose levels in weevils starved for 12–20 hours were about normal. Glycogen may have been metabolized at a more rapid rate in starved reproducing than in starved diapausing weevils. But trehalose levels were maintained in weevils starved 12–20 hours because the trehalose content of reproducing weevils was equal to or slightly higher than that of diapausing weevils. On a dry-weight basis, glycogen levels in weevils fed bolls continually were greater in reproducing than in diapausing individuals. Because levels of glycogen and trehalose were no greater in diapausing than in reproducing weevils, the increased longevity of overwintering diapausing weevils cannot be caused by accumulations of glycogen or trehalose.
HEMOPOIEITC SPLEEN COLONY STUDIES II. ERYTHROPOIESIS

The polycythemic repression of erythropoiesis and the restoration of erythropoiesis by specific stimulation were studied in the spleen colony system in irradiated mice. 1. A 5 day period of erythropoietin stimulation (exogenous erythropoietin) or repression (polycythemia) of the bone marrow donor only, does not significantly alter the number or type of colonies formed by the transplanted marrow cells. 2. Erythropoietin stimulation did not alter the number or type of endogenous colonies formed in mice receiving 580 R. Erythropoietin repression (polycythemia) markedly reduced the growth but not the number of erythroid colonies, while not affecting the other types of colonies formed endogenously. 3. Erythropoietin stimulation of the irradiated recipient during colony growth did not alter the number or type of spleen colonies formed by transplanted marrow. Erythropoietin repression by polycythemia during colony growth completely suppressed the appearance of morphologically erythroid colonies without significantly altering the incidence of the other colony types. This effect of polycythemia was completely prevented by exogenous erythropoietin. Irradiated mice are therefore presumed to be secreting sufficient erythropoietin for maximal erythroid colony development. 4. The erythroid colonies suppressed by polycythemia were recognizable as microscopic foci of undifferentiated cells. Exposure of these foci to erythropoietin stimulation at different periods in their development was manifested by different degrees of growth and differentiation, from which it is apparent that erythropoietin stimulates not only morphological differentiation but also rapid mitosis. Retransplantation of either erythroid or of neutrophilic primary spleen colonies gave rise to both erythroid and neutrophilic secondary spleen colonies. The percentage of erythroid secondary colonies was slightly but significantly higher among the progeny of transplanted erythroid primary colonies than among the progeny of transplanted neutrophilic primary colonies. On the basis of these and other results, a working hypothesis is proposed for factors controlling the growth and differentiation of spleen colonies from transplanted bone marrow. It is postulated that most but perhaps not all spleen colony-forming units are pluripotent hemopoietic stem cells. It is further postulated that hemopoietic-inductive microenvironments (HIM) of different kinds exist in both the spleen and the bone marrow, and that these determine the differentiation of pluripotent stem cells into each of the lines of hemopoietic differentiation. Erythropoietin therefore may "induce" erythroid differentiation of only those stem cells under the influence of an erythroid HIM. Alternatively erythropoietin may act only as a growth and function stimulant of those stem cells that have been "induced" by an erythroid HIM into a state of erythropoietin responsiveness. In the latter case morphological differentiation presumably results from the functional activity stimulated by ESF.
Structural and Magnetic States in Layered Manganites: An Expanding View of the Phase Diagram

Colossal magnetoresistive (CMR) manganites display a spectacular range of structural, magnetic, and electronic phases as a function of hole concentration, temperature, magnetic field, etc. A1though the bulk of research has concentrated on the 3-D perovskite manganites, the ability to study anisotropic magnetic and electronic interactions made available in reduced dimensions has accelerated interest in the layered Ruddlesden-Popper (R-P) phases of the manganite class. The quest for understanding the coupling among lattice, spin, and electronic degrees of freedom (and dimensionality) is driven by the availability of high quality materials. In this talk, the authors will present recent results on synthesis and magnetic properties of layered manganites from the La{sub 2{minus}2x}Sr{sub 1+2x}Mn{sub 2}O{sub 7} series in the Mn{sup 4+}-rich regime x >0.5. This region of the composition diagram is populated by antiferromagnetic structures that evolve from the A-type layered order to G-type ''rocksalt'' order as x increases. Between these two regimes is a wide region (0.7 < x < 0.9) where an incommensurate magnetic structure is observed. The IC structure joins spin canting and phase separation as a mode for mixed-valent manganites to accommodate FM/AF competition. Transport in these materials is dominated by highly insulating behavior, although a region close to x = 0.5 exhibits metal-nonmetal transitions and an extreme sensitivity to oxygen content. They suggest two possible explanations for this transport behavior at doping just above x = O.5: localization by oxygen defects or charge ordering of Mn{sup 3+}/Mn{sup 4+}sites.
On the combination of two visual cognition systems using combinatorial fusion

When combining decisions made by two separate visual cognition systems, statistical means such as simple average (M 1) and weighted average (M 2 and M 3), incorporating the confidence level of each of these systems have been used. Although combination using these means can improve each of the individual systems, it is not known when and why this can happen. By extending a visual cognition system to become a scoring system based on each of the statistical means M 1, M 2, and M 3 respectively, the problem of combining visual cognition systems is transformed to the problem of combining multiple scoring systems. In this paper, we examine the combined results in terms of performance and diversity using combinatorial fusion, and study the issue of when and why a combined system can be better than individual systems. A data set from an experiment with twelve trials is analyzed. The findings demonstrated that combination of two visual cognition systems, based on weighted means M 2 or M 3, can improve each of the individual systems only when both of them have relatively good performance and they are diverse.
A Simple Approach to Gas Chromatographic Microanalysis of Alcohols in Blood and Urine by a Direct-Injection Technique

An ultra-micro method utilizing direct sample Injection Is described for the simultaneous Identification and quantification of ethanol, methanol, Isopropanol, and acetone In blood and urine by gas chromatography. AIIquots of whole blood, serum, plasma, or urine and an Internal standard, 1-propanol, are mixed together In equal parts. One microllter of the mixture Is then Injected Into a Shimadzu GC-4BM gas chromatograph equipped with 8 flame Ionization detector. The glass column, 3-mm I.d. x 2-m long, Is packed with 0.2% Carbowax 1500 on 801100 Carbopak C (Supalco, Inc., Bellelento, PA #SP-1827). The column Is fitted with s precolumn glass insert filled with a loosely packed sllanlzed glass wool plug that 8ct8 as a trap for the nonvolatile protein material of the blood end urine specimens. The optimal operating condltions for the gas chromatograph are: column temperature 120~ Injector temperature 100"C; carrier gas flow 20 ml/mln; hydrogen and sir pressure set st optimal conditions for 8 hydrogen flame. The relative retention times of the eluted compounds to the Internal standard, l-propsnol, are: ethanol 0.51; methanol 0.37; acetone 0.65; and Isopropanol 0.78. A simple micro method Is also described for the celiaclion and storage of blood for alcohol determination. The techniques provide a rapid, reproducible procedure for the individual or simultaneous ultra-micro analysis of alcohols cominertly encountered in clinical or forensic toxicology.
Yield strength of thin-film parylene-c

For the first time, the yield strength of thin-film parylene-c is measured from membrane load-deflection experiments and surface profile analysis. To do so, the onset pressure which causes plastic deformation of the membrane is first experimentally measured. Then a new 2-step displacement model, together with the energy minimization technique, is developed to convert the onset pressure to the yield strength on the pre-stressed parylene membrane under a uniform pressure loading. The results depict a Yield Strength of 59 MPa (or 0.012 of strain) for thin-film parylene-c in comparison to 55 MPa reported by parylene vendor (measured from large samples). To double check with the result, the balloon model is further used to compare with the stress value from our model at the center of parylene membranes and good agreements are obtained.
Exploring bi-directional and SMS messaging for communications between Public Health Agencies and their stakeholders: a qualitative study.

Background Communication technologies that enable bi-directional/two-way communications and cell phone texting (SMS) between public health agencies and their stakeholders may improve public health surveillance, ensure targeted distribution of alerts to hard-to-reach populations, reduce mortality and morbidity in an emergency, and enable a crucial feedback loop between public health agencies and the communities they serve. Building on prior work regarding health care provider preferences for receiving one-way public health communications by email, fax or SMS, we conducted a formative, exploratory study to understand how a bi-directional system and the incorporation of SMS in that system might be used as a strategy to send and receive messages between public health agencies and community-based organizations which serve vulnerable populations, health care providers, and public health workers. Our research question: Under what conditions and/or situations might public health agencies utilize bi-directional and/or SMS messaging for disseminating time-sensitive public health information (alerts, advisories, updates, etc.) to their stakeholders?
Clinical Presentation and Outcomes of Coronary In-Stent Restenosis Across 3-Stent Generations

Background—Clinical presentation of bare metal stent in-stent restenosis (ISR) in patients undergoing target lesion revascularization is well characterized and negatively affects on outcomes, whereas the presentation and outcomes of first- and second-generation drug-eluting stents (DESs) remains under-reported. Methods and Results—The study included 909 patients (1077 ISR lesions) distributed as follows: bare metal stent (n=388), first-generation DES (n=425), and second-generation DES (n=96), categorized into acute coronary syndrome (ACS) or non-ACS presentation mode at the time of first target lesion revascularization. ACS was further classified as myocardial infarction (MI) and unstable angina. For bare metal stent, first-generation DES and second-generation DES, ACS was the clinical presentation in 67.8%, 71.0%, and 66.7% of patients, respectively (P=0.470), whereas MI occurred in 10.6%, 10.1%, and 5.2% of patients, respectively (P=0.273). The correlates for MI as ISR presentation were current smokers ...
Long-Term Outcomes and Patterns of Failure After Surgical Resection of Small-Cell Lung Cancer

Abstract Background The role of surgical resection as a treatment option for early-stage small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) is controversial, and few data exist regarding the patterns of treatment failure in these patients. Patients and Methods The medical records of all patients receiving definitive surgical management of SCLC at Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN) from January 1, 1985 to December 31, 2012 were reviewed. Estimates of survival and recurrence risk were recorded using the Kaplan-Meier method, and comparative analyses were performed with Cox regression analysis. Results A total of 54 patients were identified. The median follow-up period was 5.9 years. At 5 years, overall survival was 37% and recurrence-free survival 44%. Intrathoracic recurrence, the most frequent treatment failure, occurred in 14 patients, with an estimated intrathoracic recurrence-free survival at 3 years of 64.4%. Patients undergoing wedge resection or segmentectomy, rather than lobectomy or pneumonectomy, had an increased risk of intrathoracic recurrence (hazard ratio, 3.5; P = .01). Overall survival was improved at 5 years after lobectomy or pneumonectomy compared with wedge resection or segmentectomy (48% vs. 15%, respectively; P = .03). Conclusion Surgical resection of SCLC can achieve reasonable treatment outcomes and can be considered for well-selected patients with clinical early-stage disease. Intrathoracic recurrence is the most common site of treatment failure. Caution should be taken with patients who are unable to tolerate at least lobectomy, because they are at a high risk of local recurrence.
σ2 Receptors: Regulation of Cell Growth and Implications for Cancer Diagnosis and Therapeutics

σ Receptors are expressed in the brain, as well as in many other tissues throughout the body. While much is being learned regarding functions of these receptors in the central nervous system, less is known regarding functions in the periphery. The nearly ubiquitous expression across tissues suggests a global function. Upregulation of σ2 receptors in rapidly proliferating cells, down regulation in quiescent cells, and the ability of σ2 agonists to inhibit cell proliferation and induce apoptosis suggest a role of σ2 receptors in cell growth control. This is further supported by the ability of σ2 receptors to modulate several signaling pathways known to regulate proliferation and cell survival. Current evidence suggests that σ2 receptors may be useful targets for development of antineoplastic agents that will be effective against drug-resistant tumors. They can also be targeted by noninvasive imaging agents that will be able to detect many types of tumors,monitor their growth, and perhaps detect and treat tumors at metastatic sites. Further exploration with respect to elucidation of σ2 receptor structure, delineation of endogenous ligands, mechanisms of cell growth control, and development of selective receptor probes as agonists and imaging agents is clearly warranted.
Radiation Therapy in Gastric and Ocular Marginal Zone Lymphomas.

1. Michelena HI, Khanna AD,MahoneyD, et al. Incidence of aortic complications in patients with bicuspid aortic valves. JAMA. 2011;306(10):1104-1112. 2. Tribouilloy C, Rusinaru D, Sorel C, et al. Clinical characteristics and outcome of infective endocarditis in adults with bicuspid aortic valves: a multicentre observational study. Heart. 2010; 96(21):1723-1729. 3. Li JS, Sexton DJ, Mick N, et al. Proposed modifications to the Duke criteria for the diagnosis of infective endocarditis. Clin Infect Dis. 2000;30(4):633-638. 4. Tleyjeh IM, Steckelberg JM, Murad HS, et al. Temporal trends in infective endocarditis: a population-based study in Olmsted County, Minnesota. JAMA. 2005;293(24):3022-3028.
A modern conceptualization of phobia in al-Balkhi’s 9th century treatise: Sustenance of the Body and Soul

Morbid fears and phobias have been mentioned in religious, philosophical and medical manuscripts since ancient times. Despite early insights by the Greeks, phobias did not appear as a separate clinical phenomenon in Western medicine until the 17th century and has evolved substantially since. However, robust investigations attempting to decipher the clinical nature of phobias emerged in pre-modern times during the oft-overlooked Islamic Golden Era (9th-12th centuries); which overlapped with Europe's medieval period. An innovative attempt was made by the 9th century Muslim scholar, Abu Zayd al-Balkhi, in his medical manuscript "Sustenance of the Body and Soul," to define phobias as a separate diagnostic entity. Al-Balkhi was one of the earliest to cluster psychological and physical symptoms of phobias under one category, "al-Fazaa", and outline a specific management plan. We analyze al-Balkhi's description of phobias, according to the modern understanding of psychiatric classifications and symptomatology as described in the DSM-5.
Resources for Teaching: Examining Personal and Institutional Predictors of High-Quality Instruction

Policymakers and researchers have for many years advocated disparate approaches to ensuring teachers deliver high-quality instruction, including requiring that teachers complete specific training requirements, possess a minimum level of content knowledge, and use curriculum materials and professional development resources available from schools and districts. In this paper, we investigate the extent to which these factors, which we conceptualize as resources for teaching, predict instructional quality in upper elementary mathematics classrooms. Results show that teachers’ mathematical knowledge and their district context explained a moderate share of the variation in mathematics-specific teaching dimensions; other factors, such as teacher experience, preparation, non-instructional work hours, and measures of the school environment, explained very little variation in any dimension.
Cytochrome P450 and Lipoxygenase Metabolites on Renal Function

Arachidonic acid metabolites have a myriad of biological actions including effects on the kidney to alter renal hemodynamics and tubular transport processes. Cyclooxygenase metabolites are products of an arachidonic acid enzymatic pathway that has been extensively studied in regards to renal function. Two lesser-known enzymatic pathways of arachidonic acid metabolism are the lipoxygenase (LO) and cytochrome P450 (CYP) pathways. The importance of LO and CYP metabolites to renal hemodynamics and tubular transport processes is now being recognized. LO and CYP metabolites have actions to alter renal blood flow and glomerular filtration rate. Proximal and distal tubular sodium transport and fluid and electrolyte homeostasis are also significantly influenced by renal CYP and LO levels. Metabolites of the LO and CYP pathways also have renal actions that influence renal inflammation, proliferation, and apoptotic processes at vascular and epithelial cells. These renal LO and CYP pathway actions occur through generation of specific metabolites and cell-signaling mechanisms. Even though the renal physiological importance and actions for LO and CYP metabolites are readily apparent, major gaps remain in our understanding of these lipid mediators to renal function. Future studies will be needed to fill these major gaps regarding LO and CYP metabolites on renal function.
Responses of Rat Sacral Spinal Neurons to Mechanical and Noxious Thermal Stimulation of the Tail

Douglass, Diana K. and E. Carstens. Responses of rat sacral spinal neurons to mechanical and noxious thermal stimulation of the tail. J. Neurophysiol. 77: 611–620, 1997. In this study we investigat...
A Reliable and Secure Cloud Storage Schema Using Multiple Service Providers

Despite the many advantages provided by cloud-based storage services, there are still major concerns such as security, reliability and confidentiality of data stored in the cloud. In this paper, we propose a reliable and secure cloud storage schema using multiple service providers. Different from existing approaches to achieving data reliability using redundancy at the server side, we propose a reliable and secure cloud storage schema that can be implemented at the client side. In our approach, we view multiple cloud-based storage services as virtual independent disks for storing redundant data encoded using erasure codes. Since each independent cloud service provider has no access to a user's complete data, the data stored in the cloud would not be easily compromised. Furthermore, the failure or disconnection of a service provider will not result in the loss of a user's data as the missing data pieces can be readily recovered. To demonstrate the feasibility of our approach, we developed a prototype cloud-based storage system that breaks a data file into multiple data pieces, generates an optimal number of checksum pieces, and uploads them into multiple cloud storages. Upon the failure of a cloud storage service, the application can quickly restore the original data file from the available pieces of data. The experimental results show that our approach is not only secure and fault-tolerant, but also very efficient due to concurrent data processing.
Regulatory Races: The Effects of Jurisdictional Competition on Regulatory Standards

This article surveys the literature on regulatory arbitrage in four settings: labor regulation, environmental protection, corporate governance, and banking and finance. For a regulatory race to occur, firms must migrate across state or country borders in response to geographic differences in the costs and benefits of regulation, and governments must shape their regulatory policies with the aim of affecting those migration flows. We find that both these conditions hold only in rare circumstances. Instead, the much more common outcome is for political pressures within jurisdictions to produce a heterogeneous pattern resembling Tiebout sorting. Such regulatory convergence as occurs is more often the result of deliberate harmonization or imitation.
Use of multiple enzymes in sequential in-gel digestions improves sequence coverage of botulinum neurotoxins for confident subtyping by mass spectrometry

s Toxins 2011 / Toxicon 68 (2013) 60–123 102 Use of multiple enzymes in sequential in-gel digestions improves sequence coverage of botulinum neurotoxins for confident subtyping by mass spectrometry D. Wang, J. Baudys, J. Rees, S.R. Kalb, J.R. Barr Division of Laboratory Science, National Center for Environmental Science, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA E-mail address: dov2@cdc.gov (D. Wang). Purpose of study: To develop a method for subtyping of botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) by mass spectrometry with high sequence coverage. Methods used: Samples were separated by gel electrophoresis. The bands of interest were sliced, reduced, and alkylated followed by in-gel digestion with individual enzymes of various specificities. Sequential digestions were performed by re-digesting each of the gel bands with a select number of enzymes. The peptide mixtures were analyzed by LC-MS/MS on a FT-LTQ instrument. Summary of results: A SDS-PAGE purified protein, BoNT/A1, was initially examined with six commonly used enzymes. Four of these enzymes, including trypsin, chymotrypsin, Asp-N, and Lys-C resulted in substantial sequence coverage individually and yielded unique peptides that contributed to extended sequence coverage after a combination of the results. The data demonstrate that sequential digestion of up to four times on the same gel piece with different enzymes led to increased sequence coverage. A systematic study assessed the effect of different combinations of enzymes, sequential order and reaction conditions. As a result, 1285 of 1295 total amino acid residues of the BoNT/A1 protein were covered by a pool of detected peptides under one specific combination using a few micrograms of the protein. This nearcomplete sequence coverage should enable highly confident determination of known or unknown subtypes of BoNT. The strategy was applied to all serotypes of botulinum neurotoxins and significant improvements were observed in comparison with conventional single digestion methods. In addition, the primary sequence of a botulinum neurotoxin present in a carrot juice sample was almost completely determined (99% sequence coverage) and thus allowed the identification of its subtype and specific strain. Conclusions: Our study demonstrates in-gel digestion with the combination of different enzymes and various sequential orders improves the subtyping of botulinum neurotoxins by mass spectrometry. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.toxicon.2012.07.118 Effects of botulinum-neurotoxin-complexing proteins on lymphatic cells L. Wang , Y. Sun , B.R. Singh a,b a BBTech Inc. Dartmouth, MA, USA Botulinum Research Center, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth,
In-situ TEM Study of Bismuth Nanostructures

Nanostructured thermoelectric materials have attracted lots of interest in recent years, due to their enhanced performance determined by their thermoelectric dimensionless figure of merit. However, because of equipment limitations, not much work has been done on combining simultaneous transport measurements and structural characterization on individual nanostructured thermoelectric materials. With an integrated TEM-STM system, we studied the structural behavior and electrical properties of bismuth (Bi) nanobelts and nanoparticles. Results showed that clean Bi nanostructures free of oxides can be produced by in-situ high temperature electro-migration and Joule annealing processes occurring within the electron microscope. Preliminary electrical measurements indicate a conductivity of two orders of magnitude lower for Bi nanoparticles than that for bulk Bi. Such in-situ studies are highly advantageous for studying the semimetal-semiconductor transition and how this transition could enhance thermoelectric properties.
High-Resolution Whispering Gallery Mode Force Micro- Sensor Based on Polymeric Spheres

Previous experimental studies of whispering gallery mode (WGM) sensors have indicated that microspheres with diameters ranging between 300-950 μm may have force resolutions reaching 10N [1]. In the present, we expand on the previous investigatons. Here, we carry out a systematic analysis and experiments to investigate the sensitivity, resolution and bandwidth limits of WGM-based force sensors. Expressions for WGM shifts due to applied force in the polar direction are obtained for microspheres of various dielectric materials, in the diameter range of 300-950 μm. The analyses are compared with experimental results for Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) Polydimethylsyloxane (PDMS) microsphere sensors. The present analysis shows that the strain effect on WGM shifts dominate over that of mechanical stress. It also indicates that force sensitivities of the order of a 1pN are possible using hollow PDMS spheres. The sensor bandwidths (based on the mechanical properties of the sensor material alone) range between 1 kHz and 1 MHz. These results have significance also from the point of view wall shear stress since the same force sensing concept can be used for the development of high-sensitivity skin friction sensors.
Concomitant multiple myeloma spectrum diagnosis in a central retinal vein occlusion: a case report and review

Multiple myeloma is a neoplastic plasma-cell disorder resulting from malignant plasma cells in the bone marrow. It can cause a hyperviscosity syndrome secondary to the paraproteinaemia associated with the disease. The increased hyperviscosity can lead to retinal vein occlusions and other ocular problems that may challenge clinicians. In patients with multiple myeloma and hypertension and/or diabetes mellitus, retinal changes appear similar and changes due to one disease or the other may be difficult to determine. A 48-year-old white female presented to the clinic with a complaint of blurry vision in her left eye. A full comprehensive ocular examination revealed a central retinal vein occlusion presumably from the patient's history of hypertension, diabetes mellitus and hypercholesterolaemia. Further bloodwork revealed monoclonal protein in the patient's serum and an increased percentage of plasma cells in the bone marrow. She was diagnosed with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance, part of the multiple myeloma disease spectrum. She was referred to a retinal specialist for initiation of intravitreal injections of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor. Multiple myeloma has been implicated in younger patients as an underlying cause of retinal vein occlusions. Multiple myeloma should be considered as a differential diagnosis in young patients with retinal vein occlusions, even if other risk factors for venous occlusion like hypertension, diabetes mellitus and hypercholesterolaemia are present. Timely referral to the patient's primary care physician and haematologist is important for appropriate treatment and control of underlying systemic conditions.
Research on Phase Equilibrium for CO_2-methanol Binary System Based on PC-SAFT Theory

Combined with statistical associating fluid theory(PC-SAFT),took the molecular parameters as an input derived from the simulated pure fluids,the phase equilibrium of supercritical carbon dioxide-methanol and carbon dioxide-ethanol binary systems in the determined range of temperatures were calculated and analyzed.The impact of temperature,pressure and two-phase density on the interfacial properties was analyzed.Finally,the calculated results of PC-SAFT equation were compared and analyzed with the experimental data.
Ovarian hyperandrogenism with normal and abnormal histologic findings of the ovaries

Thirty-one patients with clinical features of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCO) were studied to determine the correlation between biochemical and histologic findings. The biochemical features investigated were the effects of adrenocortical and ovarian suppression by dexamethasone and oral contraceptives (Ovulen) on plasma free androgens. Four patients showed a histologic picture consistent with PCO (Group A), and five had histologically normal ovaries (Group B). The remaining 22 patients had no tissue available for histologic examination (Group C). The baseline values of plasma free testosterone (FTel) were higher and those of testosterone-binding globulin (TeBG) were lower (p percent changes. As Group B patients resemble those of Group A biochemically and clinically, except for possibly being less hyperandrogenic, the concept of ovarian hyperandrogenism should be expanded to include patients with no anatomic ovarian abnormality, particularly in milder cases.
Natural history of chronic hepatitis C

Globally it is estimated there are 200 million persons with chronic hepatitis C virus infection. The infection becomes persistent in 50–80 % of persons who are exposed to hepatitis C virus. Chronic infection with hepatitis C virus is a major cause of cirrhosis, end-stage liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma. The prognosis of chronic hepatitis C is highly variable and many host, viral and environment factors influence outcome. Approximately 25 % of persons with chronic hepatitis C will progress to cirrhosis over a 25–30 year period and be at risk for complications of end-stage liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma. Modeling data predicts that the number of individuals with cirrhosis is expected to double by 2030. Many of these individuals will be at risk for end-stage liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma. Could substantially reduce risk of cirrhosis, decompensation, cancer, and liver-related deaths.
Description and Evaluation of a Measurement Technique for Assessment of Performing Gender

The influence of masculinity and femininity on behaviors and outcomes has been extensively studied in social science research using various measurement strategies. In the present paper, we describe and evaluate a measurement technique that uses existing survey items to capture the extent to which an individual behaves similarly to their same-gender peers. We use data from the first four waves of The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), a nationally representative sample of adolescents (age 12-18) in the United States who were re-interviewed at ages 13-19, 18-26, and 24-32. We estimate split-half reliability and provide evidence that supports the validity of this measurement technique. We demonstrate that the resulting measure does not perform as a trait measure and is associated with involvement in violent fights, a pattern consistent with theory and empirical findings. This measurement technique represents a novel approach for gender researchers with the potential for expanding our current knowledge base.
Genetic, Developmental, and Receptor-Level Influences on Nicotine Withdrawal-Associated Deficits in Learning

While smoking prevalence rates have fallen dramatically over the last several decades, tobacco abuse remains one of the leading causes of preventable death. In smokers, changes in cognition during periods of abstinence are associated with relapse. Therefore, understanding the effects of nicotine on cognition underlying neural changes could advance the treatment of nicotine addiction. This chapter explores the relationship between nicotine withdrawal and changes in learning and memory as demonstrated in animal models. Of particular importance is how nicotine acts in the hippocampus and how withdrawal from chronic nicotine leads to deficits in hippocampal-dependent learning. In addition, this chapter will explore how genetic variation modulates the effects of nicotine withdrawal on learning. Specifically, we know that the heritability of nicotine withdrawal-associated deficits in learning is moderate to strong. Finally, the chapter will conclude with an examination of age-dependent effects of nicotine withdrawal and how early and late adolescents differ from adults in sensitivity to the effects of nicotine on learning.
Decentralized online optimization with heterogeneous data sources

We consider stochastic optimization problems in decentralized settings, where a network of agents aims to learn decision variables which are optimal in terms of a global objective which depends on possibly heterogeneous streaming observations received at each node. Consensus optimization techniques implicitly operate on the hypothesis that each node aims to learn a common parameter vector, which is inappropriate for this context. Motivated by this observation, we formulate a problem where each agent minimizes a global objective while enforcing network proximity constraints that may encode correlation structures among the observations at each node. To solve this problem, we propose a decentralized stochastic saddle point algorithm inspired by Arrow and Hurwicz. We establish that under a constant step-size regime the time-average suboptimality and constraint violation are contained in a neighborhood whose radius vanishes with the iteration index. Further, the time-average primal vectors converge to the optimal objective while satisfying the network proximity constraints. We apply this method to an online source localization problem and show it outperforms consensus-based schemes.
ACCELERATION OF CONVERGENCE OF WAVEFORM RELAXATION ITERATIONS FOR SECOND ORDER LINEAR SYSTEM

The solution of second order linear systems of differential equations by waveform relaxation techniques is investigated. It is demonstrated that overlapping of components of the system improves significantly the speed of convergence of the resulting waveform relaxation iterations.
Multidimensional Computational Methods

Scientists and engineers wishing to compute with the mathematical objects and operations of dimensioned linear algebra require software tools somewhat different from the tools currently available. The study of computational methods for dimensioned quantities can be called multidimensional methods, analogous to traditional numerical methods. This chapter presents compact data structures for representing dimensioned quantities and efficient algorithms for performing the standard operations of linear algebra. Manipulations such as products, inverses, eigenstructure decomposition, singular value decomposition can be carried out with dimensioned scalars, vectors, and matrices, but we need efficient algorithms to check constraints and compute dimensions. Although the dimensional structures may be more intricate, it is shown that the space and time complexities required for dimensioned operations are no higher than the complexities of the corresponding standard algorithms for dimensionless quantities. Thus, there is no significant computational burden added due to the dimensioned nature of the matrices, for large matrices at least.
An Oral GnRH Antagonist for Endometriosis — A New Drug for an Old Disease

Endometriosis, a chronic gynecologic disease characterized by attachment and proliferation of endometrial cells outside the endometrial cavity, occurs in 6 to 10% of women of reproductive age1 and is associated with dysmenorrhea, nonmenstrual pelvic pain, dyspareunia, and infertility. The disease is also associated with an increased prevalence of depression, reduction in sexual satisfaction, disrupted personal relations, and loss of work leading to substantial economic cost. The pathogenesis is incompletely understood, but estrogen is integral to endometrial proliferation and function. Although surgical treatment of endometriosis-associated pelvic pain results in symptomatic improvement in most patients,2 medical treatment remains the mainstay of long-term . . .
On the decomposition of order-separable posets of countable width into chains

A partially ordered set X has countable width if and only if every collection of pairwise incomparable elements of X is countable. It is order-separable if and only if there is a countable subset D of X such that whenever p;q 2 X and p < q, there is r 2 D such that prq. Can every order-separable poset of countable width be written as the union of a countable number of chains? We show that the answer to this question is "no" if there is a 2-entangled subset of IR, and "yes" under the Open Coloring Axiom.
An Unusual Triple-Decker Variant of the Tetragonal BaAl4-Structure Type: Synthesis, Structural Characterization, and Chemical Bonding of Sr3Cd8Ge4 and Eu3Cd8Ge4.

Reported are the synthesis and the crystal structures of the new ternary phases Sr3Cd8Ge4 and Eu3Cd8Ge4. The structures of both compounds have been established by single-crystal and powder X-ray diffraction methods. They crystallize in the tetragonal space group I4/mmm (No. 139, own structure type, Pearson symbol tI30) with Z = 2, and lattice parameters as follows: a = 4.4941(14) A; c = 35.577(7) A for Sr3Cd8Ge4, and a = 4.4643(12) A; c = 35.537(9) A for Eu3Cd8Ge4, respectively. The most prominent feature of the structure is the complex [Cd2Ge] polyanionic framework, derived by unique ordering of the Cd and Ge atoms in fragments that bear resemblance to the BaAl4 structure type. Temperature dependent DC magnetization measurements indicate that Eu3Cd8Ge4 displays Curie-Weiss paramagnetic behavior with no sign of magnetic ordering in the measured range. Theoretical considerations of the electronic structure on the basis of the tight-binding linear muffin-tin orbital (TB-LMTO-ASA) method are also presented and discussed.
Abstract P325: Utilization of Cardiac Rehabilitation in Eligible Medical Cardiac Patients

Introduction: Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is recommended for patients who suffer an acute coronary syndrome (STEMI, non-STEMI, or unstable angina), stable angina, or who receive a percutaneous coro...
Plant pathogenic fungi decrease in soil inhabited by seed-dispersing ants

One benefit of animal-mediated seed dispersal is that dispersers may deposit the seeds in protected or enriched microhabitats favorable for seedling survival. Ants are a common seed disperser, and seeds deposited in soils occupied by ant colonies have higher germination and survival rates, benefits attributed to enriched soil conditions and protection from seed predators and fire. Fungal pathogens also devastate young plants, and fungal protection may be an additional benefit of ant-mediated seed dispersal. Ants secrete anti-microbial compounds that appear to suppress the spread of fungal and bacterial diseases in ant colonies, and they confer fungal pathogen protection to the seeds they handle. If fungal protection is a potential benefit of ant-mediated dispersal, we expected that ant-occupied soil (soils inhabited by ants for colony nesting) would contain fewer phytopathogenic fungi than proximate soils without ant nests. We tested this hypothesis with ant soils from the Aphaenogaster rudis complex; the dominant seed-dispersing ants in eastern deciduous forests. We investigated published Aphaenogaster soil fungi data and conducted our own metataxonomic analysis of ant-occupied and unoccupied soils to identify phytopathogenic fungi and investigate whether ant colony presence corresponds with reduced plant fungal pathogens in the soil. We found reduced phytopathogenic fungi presence and richness in soils containing ant colonies as compared to nearby control soils indicating that the presence of ant colonies was concomitant with a reduction in plant pathogens. Ant chemical secretions protect colonies from microbial pathogens in the crowded, moist nest conditions. Plant seeds also thrive in these locations and environments, where they are subject to phytopathogenic fungi. Multiple hypotheses explain the benefits ant-mediated seed dispersal provides plants, but heretofore, fungal protection has been suggested, but not tested. Soil occupation by ants corresponds to phytopathogenic fungi declines, which have the potential to benefit plants.
Lithiation and Delithiation Processes in Lithium–Sulfur Batteries from Ab Initio Molecular Dynamics Simulations

Lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries are a promising alternative to the Li-ion technology due to their high theoretical capacity and low cost. Unlike intercalation compounds, the sulfur cathode undergoes a series of complex electrochemical reactions that give rise to substantial structural and morphological changes. Here, we report ab initio molecular dynamics simulations of the lithiation and delithiation reactions that are important in Li–S batteries. The lithiation is studied on two low-energy surfaces, (100) and (001), of sulfur (S8), whereas delithiation is studied on the (111) surface of lithium sulfide (Li2S). The effect of electrolyte is included by constructing interfacial systems between these surfaces and dimethoxyethane, a widely used liquid electrolyte. During both lithiation and delithiation, a layer-by-layer reaction pattern is revealed. The evolution of atomistic structure and reaction voltage during lithiation and delithiation is studied, and the microscopic reaction mechanisms are analyzed. D...
Room-Temperature C-H Functionalization Sequence under Benchtop Conditions for the Undergraduate Chemistry Laboratory.

An iridium(III)-mediated C–H functionalization sequence involving a concerted cyclometalation–deprotonation/migratory insertion pathway is reported for the undergraduate chemistry laboratory. The air- and water-stable iridacycle intermediates are readily isolated and characterized by NMR spectroscopy. Both steps of the experiment are performed at room temperature under benchtop conditions, rendering the protocol suitable for a wide range of student skill levels.
Surveys of Physical Growth and Maturation

Scientific interest in growth may have its origin in anthropology and medico-biology. Anthropometry as part of human biology has no restrictions concerning the anatomical parts or regions of the human body. Measurements as such, relationships between different parts of body, and proportional aspects can be established and compared for different races and ethnic groups. These measurements may be related to physiological and psychological characteristics of populations, may give insight into pre-historic events (i.e., origin and evolution of mankind), and may be used for ergonomic purposes in labour and sport.