cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Prevalence and comparisons of alcohol, candy, energy drink, snack, soda, and restaurant brand and product marketing on Twitch, Facebook Gaming and YouTube Gaming.

OBJECTIVE: To compare and evaluate the prevalence of food and beverage marketing on the livestreaming platforms Twitch, Facebook Gaming and YouTube Gaming, as well as examine growth of food and beverage marketing on these platforms over a 17-month period of data collection. DESIGN: Cross-sectional data were analysed across three livestreaming platforms and six food and beverage categories: alcohol, candy, energy drinks, snacks, sodas and restaurants. SETTING: Stream titles of livestreamed events as well as corresponding hours watched on Twitch, Facebook Gaming and YouTube Gaming. PARTICIPANTS: None. RESULTS: There were significant differences between the use of food and beverage brand mentions in stream titles across all three studied platforms (P < 0·05), as well as hours watched across platforms (P < 0·05). Energy drinks dominated food and beverage brand mentions across platforms, followed by restaurants, soda and snacks. All platforms demonstrated growth over the 17-month data collection period. Post-hoc analyses revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic impacted both immediate and sustained growth across all platforms, with the greatest impact observed on the Twitch platform. CONCLUSIONS: Food and beverage marketing as measured through stream titles is widely prevalent across the three most popular livestreaming platforms, particularly for energy drinks. Food marketing on these platforms experienced growth over the past 17 months which was accelerated substantially by the COVID-19 pandemic. Future work should assess the sustained impact this growth may have on marketing practices and eating behaviour.
Prospective Analysis of Minimum Pricing Policies to Reduce Excessive Alcohol Use and Related Harms in U.S. States.

Objective Increasing the price of alcohol is an effective strategy for reducing excessive consumption and alcohol-related harms. Limited research is available on how the establishment of a minimum price for alcoholic beverages might be an effective strategy to reduce this health risk behavior and what impact that might have in the United States. This study describes alcohol minimum pricing (MP) policy options for consideration in the United States, assesses implementation feasibility and effectiveness, and discusses implications for implementation. Method Three alcohol pricing policy options for reducing excessive drinking were compared in this prospective analysis: alcohol taxation (status quo in states), minimum unit pricing (MUP) by unit of alcohol (e.g., 0.6 oz. [14 g] of pure alcohol), and MP by specified amount of an alcoholic beverage type (e.g., liter of beer). For each policy, five implementation-related domains were analyzed: political feasibility, public acceptability, implementation cost, health equity, and legal feasibility. Effectiveness was also evaluated based on literature. Results Alcohol MP policies, particularly MUP, could be feasible to implement and cost-efficient for reducing excessive alcohol consumption and related harms in the United States. MP policies are likely to have modest public acceptability in the United States. Although the political feasibility of MP policies is uncertain and would likely vary across states, international research suggests that MP might be a feasible pricing strategy that can be used in conjunction with alcohol taxes. Conclusions Alcohol MP can be part of a comprehensive approach for reducing excessive drinking and related harms; however, factors such as state-level differences in alcohol control regulation may influence policy implementation.
Who Can Best Judge the Judges

V VIRGINIA, the mother of states, must sometimes be puzzled by so antic an offspring as California. Hence I bring you reassuring word that when California is good, despite its massive growing pains, it is very, very good. In recent years it has developed an outstanding system of courts in which judges can wvork with impartiality and independence, keeping their distance from the popular or powerful influences that chronically beset legislatures. We can be grateful for such judges and still recognize that even the best of them are as much in need of responsible critics as anyone else. In addressing myself to the question of who can best judge the judges, I shall in due course report on how California has confronted the question. First, however, by way of obtaining a perspective on how judiciously people are apt to judge the judges at the ballot box, we might consider how judiciously people judge their fellows outside the courtroom. Assume, as we like to do in the law, that you are newly arrived in a faraway land to conduct operations for the Old Caution Company, a national firm engaged in excavating tar pits and recreating them in panorama for museums. You lease a tar pit of great speculative interest. Excavations all around reveal masses of tar, oozing with fragments of prehistoric animals as well as oil. In no time you confront fractious problems of judgment. The neighboring tar pit owners are confounding the din of their excavations with earsplitting sound trucks to attract the tourist trade. You complain to Old Caution's local lawyer that they are battering your delicate decibel system, adding that there ought to be a law. "There is," he responds. "The trouble is that your neighbors see nothing wrong with uncivil behavior when those sound trucks are bringing in so much tourist money."
CHAPTER 7 – Agricultural Sustainability

Publisher Summary This chapter argues that achieving sustainability of any agricultural system is a societal and not just an agricultural responsibility, which should be greeted with pleasure by those in agriculture. Sustainability is favored as an achievement, but there is little agreement on its nature, on what is to be sustained and how it is to be accomplished in agriculture. The chapter also discusses the management of weed. The natural world is manipulated to produce food, and weeds are an inevitable part of food production, but the emphasis on control has obscured the right question, which is a systemic, holistic one that accepts transformation of nature as a necessary prerequisite to food production, but rejects domination of nature. Short-term solutions are developed and employed to deal with weed problems. Weed science and successful, sustainable agriculture systems are, or should be, derived from studies in applied ecology. Experiments designed to ask why questions based on the ecological principles that regulate the abundance and distribution of weedy species in disturbed, cropped environments will be asking the right questions to achieve a sustainable agriculture.
Mechanistic Aspects of Folded Protein Transport by the Twin Arginine Translocase (Tat).

The twin arginine translocase (Tat) transports folded proteins of widely varying size across ionically tight membranes with only 2–3 components of machinery and the proton motive force. Tat operates by a cycle in which the receptor complex combines with the pore-forming component to assemble a new translocase for each substrate. Recent data on component and substrate organization in the receptor complex and on the structure of the pore complex inform models for translocase assembly and translocation. A translocation mechanism involving local transient bilayer rupture is discussed.
A Note on the EDF Preemption Behavior in “Rate Monotonic Versus EDF: Judgment Day”

In G. C. Buttazzo, Real-Time Syst., vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 5–26, 2005, the author empirically compared earliest deadline first (EDF) and rate monotonic (RM) scheduling algorithms and made a few EDF preemption behavior observations based on data obtained from the first 1000 time units of scheduling activities. However, based on test settings given in (G. C. Buttazzo, Real-Time Syst., vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 5–26, 2005), the first 1000 time units occupies only a small percentage of the entire task set’s hyper-period. We extend EDF preemption behavior study by extending scheduling activities from the first small percentage of a hyper-period of a given task to the entire hyper-period. The extended experiments indicate that the number of preemptions occurred at the beginning of a task set’s hyper-period does not necessarily represent the trend for the entire hyper-period. Hence, comparisons and conclusions made based on a small percentage of a scheduling interval over a task set’s hyper-period may not be accurate. Second, the total number of preemptions within a task set’s hyper-period does not decrease when the task set total utilization increases which is different from the observation obtained in (G. C. Buttazzo, Real-Time Syst., vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 5–26, 2005). We also investigate the impact of execution time differences among tasks on the preemption behavior.
public/private distinction

The public private distinction has been a mainstay of liberal political theory but has come under criticism from feminists and communitarians, among others. Criticisms have included whether the distinction is normative or empirical, how and whether lines can be drawn between the public and the private, and whether considerations of justice apply within institutions such as the family that have traditionally been regarded as private. Keywords: liberalism; John Stuart Mill; Harm principle; individualism; privacy
Comparison of Tamoxifen and Testosterone Propionate in Male Rats: Differential Prevention of Orchidectomy Effects on Sex Organs, Bone Mass, Growth, and the Growth Hormone—IGF‐I Axis

Testis dysfunction can weaken bone and reduce muscle mass as well as impair sexual function. Testosterone (T) therapy has useful effects on sex organs, bone, and muscle in T-deficient males, but prostate concerns can preclude T use in some men. Although estrogens or other drugs can protect bone in men, gynecomastia makes estrogens unappealing, and other drugs may also be undesirable in some cases. Selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) inhibit estrogen-evoked sex organ growth but mimic estrogen effects on bone and cholesterol and are advantageous for some women. SERMs may also be useful in men who must avoid androgens. As a preclinical test of this idea, tamoxifen (a SERM) and testosterone propionate (TP, a classic androgen) were compared for their efficacy in preventing varied effects of orchidectomy (ORX) in adult male rats. ORX led to ventral prostate and seminal vesicle atrophy and decreases in somatic growth, proximal tibia bone mineral density (BMD), and serum growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I). ORX also increased anterior pituitary glandular kallikrein, serum cholesterol, and body temperature. Pituitary prolactin (PRL) content was unaltered. ORX effects on sex organs, somatic growth, IGF-I, cholesterol, body temperature, and pituitary kallikrein were prevented by TP at 1 mg/kg (3 doses per week), but BMD and GH were unresponsive. ORX effects on BMD and GH were prevented by TP at 10 mg/kg, but this dose evoked supraphysiologic increases in sex organs and PRL, failed to restore somatic growth, and further reduced IGF-I. Tamoxifen (1 mg/kg daily) prevented ORX effects on BMD, GH, and cholesterol without altering basal or TP-induced sex organ growth and further reduced IGF-I and somatic growth. Tamoxifen did not alter basal PRL but blocked increases caused by TP at 10 mg/kg. In summary, tamoxifen prevented ORX effects on bone and cholesterol in male rats without affecting sex organs or PRL and might be useful for men who must avoid androgens. Unexpectedly, a TP dose that replicated testis effects on sex organs and other targets had no effect on BMD or GH, and a larger TP dose that restored BMD and GH was worse at replicating normal male physiology. In addition, correlation/regression results suggested that the GH-IGF-I axis contributes to changes in BMD.
A Privacy Manager for Cloud Computing

We describe a privacy manager for cloud computing, which reduces the risk to the cloud computing user of their private data being stolen or misused, and also assists the cloud computing provider to conform to privacy law. We describe different possible architectures for privacy management in cloud computing; give an algebraic description of obfuscation, one of the features of the privacy manager; and describe how the privacy manager might be used to protect private metadata of online photos.
Role mining in the presence of noise

The problem of role mining, a bottom-up process of discovering roles from the user-permission assignments (UPA), has drawn increasing attention in recent years. The role mining problem (RMP) and several of its variants have been proposed in the literature. While the basic RMP discovers roles that exactly represent the UPA, the inexact variants, such as the δ-approx RMP and MinNoise-RMP, allow for some inexactness in the sense that the discovered roles do not have to exactly cover the entire UPA. However, since data in real life is never completely clean, the role mining process is only effective if it is robust to noise. This paper takes the first step towards addressing this issue. Our goal in this paper is to examine if the effect of noise in the UPA could be ameliorated due to the inexactness in the role mining process, thus having little negative impact on the discovered roles. Specifically, we define a formal model of noise and experimentally evaluate the previously proposed algorithm for δ-approx RMP against its robustness to noise. Essentially, this would allow one to come up with strategies to minimize the effect of noise while discovering roles. Our experiments on real data indicate that the role mining process can preferentially cover a lot of the real assignments and leave potentially noisy assignments for further examination. We explore the ramifications of noisy data and discuss next steps towards coming up with more effective algorithms for handling such data.
Defining and Conceptualizing Social Work Entrepreneurship

This article presents the results of a study investigating social work students’ and professionals’ perceptions of social work entrepreneurship (SWE). A purposive sample of 52 social work professionals and 82 social work students was selected to participate in a survey that used a two-item closed-ended and five-item open-ended questionnaire. Despite the study limitation imposed by self-selection of the sample, the findings help to define and conceptualize social work entrepreneurship. The author makes a case for including entrepreneurial training in the social work curriculum.
The effect of fluid viscosity on coupled tube/fluid vibrations

This paper presents an analytical study of coupled vibration of two coaxial tubes separated by an imcompressible viscous fluid. Tube vibrations are in beam modes and fluid motion is assumed to take place in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the tubes. First, the fluid forces acting on the tubes associated with small tube displacements are obtained in closed form based on the linearized two-dimensional Navier-Stokes equation. Then free and forced vibrations of the coupled tube/fluid system are analyzed. Finally, numerical results for free vibrations of simply supported tubes are presented for several cases to illustrate the effect of various sytem parameters.
The Diné Educational Philosophy (DEP) and its incorporation into the Associate of Science Degree Program in Public Health at Diné College

Dine College was established by an Act of the US Congress in 1968 as the first Native American tribally-controlled college. It is chartered by the Navajo Nation and operates eight campuses to serve...
Mass residuals in implicit finite volume models for overland and groundwater flow

Summary A primary advantage in using the finite volume method for simulating groundwater flow and overland flow is the conservation property or the ability to conserve mass. However, when implicit finite volume methods are used with large time steps, small cell areas, or parameters with extreme value ranges, the conservation of mass equation becomes slightly unbalanced with a residual. Problems with large mass residuals can be predicted using the condition number of the solution matrix, and the convergence criterion used in the sparse matrix solver. The amount of practical guidance available on how to manage the magnitude of the mass residual or the matrix condition number is limited. To address this need, the current paper shows the usefulness of the mesh ratio. The mesh ratio is a dimensionless number that is a function of the mesh resolution and the temporal resolution. It is directly related to the condition number of the matrix, which in turn affects the mass residual and the model run time. During the current study, several numerical experiments are carried out to determine how the mesh ratio and the water level are related to the condition number, how the critical mesh ratio is related to the number of cells, how the run time is related to the mesh ratio, and how the mass residual is related to the mesh ratio. The results are useful in creating guidelines for mesh design during large-scale model applications. These guidelines can be applied to reducing the mass residual and the run time. The usefulness of the mesh ratio is illustrated using a Regional Simulation Model (RSM) (Lal, A.M.W., Van Zee, Randy, Belnap, Mark, 2005. Case study: model to simulate regional flow in South Florida. Journal of Hydraulic Engineering 131 (4), 247–258) application in south Florida.
Arrest As Displaced Aggression

Applied to police officers, displaced aggression theory would suggest that an officer primed for a negative affect by a personal family conflict will be more likely to arrest, and less likely to sh...
Phenacenes: A Family of Graphite Ribbons. 2. Syntheses of Some [7]Phenacenes and an [11]Phenacene by Stilbene-like Photocyclizations

It is proposed that members of the family of polycyclic aromatic compounds with an extended phenanthrene-like structural motif be designated as [n]phenacenes, where n is the number of fused benzene rings. [n]Phenacene molecules are related to layers of graphite in the way that ribbons are related to sheets. In order to investigate the properties of [n]phenacenes as materials, methods for the syntheses of these molecules have been developed that involve Wittig reactions and stilbene-like photocyclizations for the construction of carbon−carbon bonds. The solubilities of the unsubstituted [n]phenacene molecules decrease dramatically with increasing n; [7]phenacene, the largest known example, melts with decomposition at 565 °C and is essentially intractable for chemical investigation owing to its extreme insolubility. This solubility problem was solved by incorporating alkyl substituents. 2,13-Di-n-pentyl[7]phenacene, 2,13-di-tert-butyl[7]phenacene, and 15,18-di-n-pentyl[7]phenacene (mp 325, 290, and 235 °C, ...
Laser-triggered superconducting opening switch

We report the results of an experimental and modeling investigation of a high temperature superconducting opening switch. The switch was fabricated using a thin film of YBaCuO on a strontium titanate substrate and a Ar-Ion laser was used as a trigger source. When one of the critical parameters of a superconductor exceeds the critical value it makes a transition to a non-superconducting state (high resistance state). The change in resistance of a superconducting thin film due to electromagnetic radiation can be accounted for by two mechanisms:1 (1) the photon interacts with the thin film through optically induced phase process in the relative weak " boundary Josephson junctions" between the grains and (2) the radiation simply heats the thin film above the critical temperature (T). The dependence of the switching characteristics (switching time off resistance) on the bias (operating temperature and operating current) and trigger intensity will be discussed. Also the results of model based on heat equations and circuit laws will be discussed. 1.© (1991) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Reliability Analysis for Hazardous Waste Treatment Processes

The reliability of a treatment process is addressed in terms of achieving a regulatory effluent concentration standard and the design safety factors associated with the treatment process. This methodology was then applied to two aqueous hazardous waste treatment processes: packed tower aeration and activated sludge (aerobic) biological treatment. The designs achieving 95 percent reliability were compared with those designs based on conventional practice to determine their patterns of conservatism. Scoping-level treatment costs were also related to reliability levels for these treatment processes. The results indicate that the reliability levels for the physical/chemical treatment process (packed tower aeration) based on the deterministic safety factors range from 80 percent to over 99 percent, whereas those for the biological treatment process range from near 0 percent to over 99 percent, depending on the compound evaluated. Increases in reliability per unit increase in treatment costs are most pronounced at lower reliability levels (less than about 80 percent) than at the higher reliability levels (greater than 90 percent, indicating a point of diminishing returns. Additional research focused on process parameters that presently contain large uncertainties may reduce those uncertainties, with attending increases in the reliability levels of the treatment processes.
Terahertz imaging performance model for concealed weapon identification

Terahertz imaging is becoming more viable for many applications due to advances in detector and emitter technologies. One of the applications for THz imaging is the detection and identification of concealed weapons (e.g., in airport security screening lines). The path described here provides an imaging performance model for the application of concealed weapon identification. The approach is the typical U.S. Army target acquisition model for sensor performance prediction coupled to the acquire methodology for weapon identification performance prediction.
Gastric abnormalities in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) fed amine-supplemented diets or chicken gizzard-erosion-positive fish meal

Abstract Fish meals produced from fish containing high levels of histamine can be acutely toxic to chickens, causing gizzard erosion (GE), black vomit disease, and death after 3–5 days of feeding. Fish meals are sometimes selected for aquaculture use on the basis of chicken toxicity testing, although little scientific evidence exists to support this practice. In this study, growth, feed intake, and development of gastric abnormalities were assessed in juvenile rainbow trout fed diets containing fish meal acutely toxic to chickens, or fed casein or fish meal diets supplemented with histamine and two suspected potentiators of histamine toxicity, putrescine and cadaverine, and abusively heated. No signs of acute toxicity or mortality occurred in the groups of fish during the course of the 16-week study. Fish fed diets containing GE-positive fish meal had distended stomachs, but no gastric lesions or cellular abnormalities. Similar effects were obtained by feeding diets containing casein or GE-negative fish meal supplemented with histamine (2000 mg/kg dry diet). The addition of putrescine and cadaverine (500 mg/kg dry diet each) to the histamine-supplemented diets had no further effect. Feed consumption, feed efficiency, and growth were similar among dietary treatments, indicating that stomach distention did not reduce feed intake or impair gastric function. This study showed that rainbow trout are less sensitive than chickens to GE-positive fish meal and that there is no correlation between positive GE score and the nutritional value of the fish meal for rainbow trout. This study also showed that stomach distention resulting from feeding diets containing GE-positive fish meal could be duplicated by feeding diets supplemented with 2000 mg histamine/kg diet.
Conflicting visions in American art museums

By their nature, American art museums are pluralistic institutions. They cannot be simply characterized as the hobbies of affluent amateurs, or ivory towers for research or, despite appearances, playgrounds for “the people”. To some extent they are all of these together, but with more or less emphasis on each, depending upon the support which each of the principal sets of actors is capable of mustering. Trustees, curators, and managers each possess a legitimacy which they have used to effect the pursuit of their unofficial goals, some of which converge with those of the institution itself. The level of success they attained is modified by trends external to the institution, including scholarly and professional developments, art market activity, pressure from aspiring elites, and the emergence of new funding sources.
Analysis of adaptive WRED and CBWFQ algorithms on tactical edge

The military precedence-based assured service (PBAS) has been a prominent topic of discussion for the past several years. Whereas there are no official PBAS requirements for such converged services in the GIG, there is a general consensus that a PBAS capability is needed for the military operation under bandwidth constraint environment and that the associated functions and requirements should be clearly defined and documented. Each of network-centric projects also develops its own unique DSCP plan to support specific PBAS capability. One of the hardest challenges is to support the end-to-end QoS interoperability with different DSCP plans across these networks. This paper provides stochastic models for adaptive WRED and CBWFQ algorithms to analyze delay and throughput of each DSCP flow of a DSCP plan. It is time consuming for network-centric project engineer to use a packet level granularity simulator when investigating the performance and behavior of large and complex networks. This analytical model provides a simple tool to help network engineer understand and manage DSCP plan more effectively in support of various network deployment scenarios.
Academic Characteristics of Incarcerated Youth and Correctional Educational Programs: A Literature Review.

A literature review of the academic characteristics of incarcerated youth and the academic correctional education programs serving them was conducted.The outcomes of the review indicated incarcerated adolescents function in the low-average to below-average range of intelligence, perform academically between fifth- and ninth-grade levels, and have histories of high rates of academic failure and grade retention.The predominant feature of correctional education academic programs serving these youth is a broad continuum of curricular offerings, ranging from elementary school to postsecondary school levels. However, the availability of special education services for youth with disabilities varies from state to state. Effective instructional strategies for incarcerated youth appear to be direct instruction and tutoring-based approaches. Implications of the findings for program development are discussed.
VLF signatures of lightning‐induced heating and ionization of the nighttime D‐region

48.5 kHz signals from a transmitter in Silver Creek, Nebraska, propagating to Huntsville (HU), Alabama over a approximately 1200 km Great Circle Path (GCP) exhibit characteristic amplitude changes which appear within 20 ms of cloud-to-ground (CG) flashes located within 50 km of the path. Data are consistent with the heating of ionospheric electrons by the electromagnetic (EM) pulse from lightning producing ionization changes in the D-region over the thunderstorm.
Public Choice Principles of Redistricting

This paper uses fundamental principles of public choice, mainly the median voter theorem, to develop a simple theory of redistricting. The focus is on how closely policy outcomes correspond to majority rule. The main results are: (1) Potential policy bias in favor of nonmajority groups is structurally linked to the number of legislative seats and the population, and the structure of most states puts them very close to the theoretically maximum bias. (2) Random districting, which might seem like the essence of neutrality, does not eliminate policy bias on average. (3) Traditional principles of compact, contiguous districts that respect existing political boundaries, stressed in the Supreme Court's Shaw v. Reno decision, minimize the chance of nonmajoritarian outcomes.Our analysis also offers a gerrymandering explanation for the positive relation between seats and spending that is usually taken as support for the "Law of 1/n."
Tissue Engineered Meniscus Repair Influence of Cell Passage Number, Tissue Origin, and Biomaterial Carrier

Objective. Studies have shown that meniscal repairs have better outcomes over both partial and total meniscectomies. Tissue engineering strategies to repair meniscus tears have been explored using cell sources that involve a donor as well as a period of in vitro cell expansion before use. This study explored cell sources that could be easily harvested and rapidly isolated by enzymatic digestion and cannulated delivery. Methods. Bovine menisci were used to create a bucket handle tear. Cell lines were established from meniscus, synovium, and adipose tissue and fluorescently labeled. At passages P2, P4, and P8, cells were added to the defect from the following experimental groups: cells alone, collagen gel, collagen scaffold, or hyaluronic acid. Menisci constructs were xenografted subcutaneously onto the dorsum of athymic rats and incubated for 3, 6, and 9 weeks, at which time they were retrieved and processed for histology. Results. Meniscal cells were able to repair defects faster and significantly better than adipose or synovium derived cells. Adipose cells were the least effective in comparison. Repair was significantly better at 9 weeks compared with 6 and 3 weeks. Macroscopic examination of menisci that received cell implants showed the thickest tissue in menisci that had collagen implants, and the thinnest fill occurred in menisci treated with cells alone. Histology confirmed no cells or integrative repair in the control specimens. Conclusions. Delivery of cells alone outperformed the additional use of biomaterials. Our results suggest a strategy that would use both meniscus and synovial cells for arthroscopic meniscal repair.
Textile-templated electrospun anisotropic scaffolds for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine

Cardiovascular diseases, specifically myocardial infarction and end-stage heart failure represent some of the major pathologies that threaten human life. Here we present a novel approach for a bioactive cardiac patch based on a combination of biomedical and textile manufacturing techniques in concert with nano-biotechnology based tissue-engineering stratagems. The technological goal is to create BioNanoTextiles™ (BNT) by using “conventional” fabrics as templates for creating three-dimensional nanofibrous scaffolds. Electrospinning nanofibrous scaffolds templated after “ordinary” textiles is a novel way to create complex-patterned, 3-D scaffolds intrinsically mimicking some of the anisotropic structural features of the ventricular wall's extracellular matrix. In preliminary studies, we established that this approach will yield anisotropic 3-D scaffolds with mechanical properties dependent upon the yarn type of the textile-templates. These scaffolds are biocompatible, as inferred from their support of H9C2 cardiac myoblast adhesion which promotes their proliferation as well as cardiac-like anisotropic organization. The use of textile manufacturing strategies will enhance the complexity of the 3-D scaffold structures and enable their commercialization, while providing an opportunity for the textile industry to advance established “low-tech” manufacturing technologies into the realm of “high-tech” BioNanoTextiles.
Solid State Structures and Solution Behavior of Titanium(IV) Octahydrobinaphtholate Complexes. Examination of Nonlinear Behavior in the Asymmetric Addition of Ethyl Groups to Benzaldehyde

In several asymmetric reactions, H8-BINOL-based catalysts (H8-BINOL = 5,5‘,6,6‘,7,7‘,8,8‘-octahydro-1,1‘-bi-2-naphthol) exhibit higher levels of enantioselectivity than analogous catalysts based on BINOL. A comparison of structures of titanium complexes prepared from H8-BINOL and BINOL was, therefore, undertaken. Reaction of (rac)-H8-BINOL with 1 equiv of titanium tetraisopropoxide resulted in formation of the dimer (meso)-[(H8-BINOLate)Ti(O-i-Pr)2]2 [(meso)-6], which was characterized crystallographically. In a similar fashion, use of (rac)-BINOL led to formation of the dimer (meso)-[(BINOLate)Ti(O-i-Pr)2]2 [(meso)-7]. The torsional angles between the aryl rings of the H8-BINOLate and BINOLate ligands in these complexes were 63.2(5)° and 55.7(4)°, respectively. The larger torsional angle of the H8-BINOLate ligand results in an increase in the bite angle of the ligand by just over 2°. Upon dissolving dimers (meso)-6 and (meso)-7, equilibria between the homo- and heterochiral dimers were observed. Reaction...
Effect of Vessel Stiffening and High Pulsatility Flow on Contractile Function and Proliferation of Small Arterial Cells

Recent studies have identified arterial stiffening as a predictor of some vascular diseases such as pulmonary hypertension, which is characterized by dysfunction of small arteries. Stiffening is shown to cause changes in blood flow, extending high pulsatile flow into small arteries that normally experience steady flow conditions (Chui 2004). However, few studies have investigated the mechanisms underlying the effects of arterial stiffening on vascular remodeling. We hypothesized that arterial stiffness effects dysfunction of downstream vascular endothelium and smooth muscle through changes in flow pulsatility. Previously we developed a flow system to study the influence of pulse flow waves, by modulating upstream stiffness, on downstream mimetic vascular cell co-culture. With this system, the present study examines contractile and proliferating protein expressions of smooth muscle cell (SMC) co-cultured with endothelial cell (EC). The endothelium, directly interfaces with the blood flow, and transduces mechanical signals to underlying SMC (Stegemann 2005). We recently showed that high pulsatile flow induced EC dysfunction. Therefore, we further asked whether high pulsatility flow would cause characteristic changes of small arterial SMC in the hypertension condition such as smooth muscle hyperplasia (increased cell proliferation) and hypertrophy (increased contractile proteins) (Voelkel 1997), and whether these changes would be mediated by EC dysfunction.© 2010 ASME
The effect of bretylium tosylate on the normal and digitalis-sensitized dog heart

Abstract Investigations were made of the effect of bretylium tosylate, an antiarrhythmic drug, on automaticity, atrioventricular conduction time, intraventricular conduction time, and sinus rate in the digitalis-sensitized and normal, intact dog heart. Bretylium and acetylstrophanthidin decreased sinus rate 27 and 18 per cent, respectively. Acetylstrophanthidin given after bretylium pretreatment caused a 36 per cent decrease in sinus rate. Bretylium and acetylstrophanthidin each increased atrioventricular conduction time (P-H interval). With right atrial pacing at a constant rate, bretylium increased atrioventricular conduction time 36 per cent while acetylstrophanthidin increased this time by 25 per cent. Together, bretylium and acetylstrophanthidin increased conduction time 111 per cent, chiefly in the A-V-H subinterval. Bretylium initially increased then subsequently decreased automaticity. The average ventricular escape time increased 190 per cent by bretylium. Acetylstrophanthidin, given after bretylium, decreased ventricular escape time 50 per cent, as compared to 80 per cent when given alone. Bretylium produced ventricular premature systoles and ventricular tachycardia in 7 of 17 dogs during the short period of increased automaticity. This finding as well as the effect to decrease sinus rate and to increase atrioventricular conduction time may limit the clinical usefulness of bretylium.
THE MATERNAL-TO-ZYGOTIC TRANSITION IN EMBRYONIC PATTERNING OF CAENORHABDITIS ELEGANS

Maternal factors laid down in the oocyte regulate blastomere identities in the early Caenorhabditis elegans embryo by activating zygotic patterning genes and restricting their expression to the appropriate lineages. A number of early-acting zygotic genes that specify various cell fates have been identified recently and their temporal and spatial regulation by maternal factors has begun to be elucidated.
A reference model for production control

Abstract The paper describes a reference model from which specific models for production control can be built. The reference model consists of a six-level Factory Automation Model (FAM) which provides the structure for allocating the various tasks in a manufacturing enterprise and furnishes a useful mechanism for expressing control and information flow. Details of activities at the various levels of this FAM are described by a network of Generic Action Models which are overlaid on the FAM structure.
Prevalence of Ancylostoma braziliense in Dogs From Alachua and Marion Counties, Florida, United States

A convenience collection of fecal samples from 148 dogs in northern Florida was examined for the presence of Ancylostoma braziliense eggs by using centrifugal sugar flotation and polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). Of the 148 samples, 64 (43.2%) contained hookworm eggs. DNA from 42 samples was successfully amplified using PCR; using RFLP, 2 samples were identified as containing DNA of A. braziliense (4.8% of the 42 successfully amplified samples).
Examining the evidence for The International Confederation of Midwives’ essential competencies for midwifery practice

Summary Objective: to present the evidence for inclusion of selected midwifery tasks (skills) as essential practice competencies for midwives throughout the world. The tasks addressed are those presented to the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) Council of Delegates in 2002 for discussion and adoption, based on the fact that during field-testing, notable variance was encountered. Key conclusions and implications for practice: evidence-based practice should be characterised by the use of best practices derived from rigorous research, combined with and balanced by client perspectives and the expert judgement based on the critical thinking of the clinician. Much of midwifery practice is considered an art based on common sense, tradition, and woman-centred approaches to caring, as most of the women who seek midwifery care are healthy and require a health-promotion model of care that may not easily lend itself to examination by scientists or clinicians. However, when intervention is indicated to save the lives of mother, baby, or both, those interventions must be based on the best available evidence from a variety of sources leading to the most effective choices for action. The ICM Essential Competencies for Midwifery Practice (2002) are based on evidence derived from a variety of quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Expert clinical consensus may serve as to the best form of evidence at certain points in the evolution of knowledge. Every midwife needs to understand where the gaps exist in supporting traditional practices that have yet to be fully examined in a scientific manner. In summary, a multi-matrix or triangulated approach may be most appropriate to the delineation of evidence underpinning best midwifery practice.
TRPA1 mediates bladder hyperalgesia in a mouse model of cystitis

Urinary bladder pain is a primary symptom associated with interstitial cystitis/painful bladder syndrome. We used systemic injections of cyclophosphamide (CYP), an alkylating antineoplastic agent, to induce cystitis and examine the roles of 2 channels previously demonstrated to be required for inflammatory visceral hyperalgesia: transient receptor potential vanilloid-1 (TRPV1) and ankyrin-1 (TRPA1). Injection of CYP (100 mg/kg, i.p.) every other day for 5 days was accompanied by bladder edema and urothelial ulceration, but without significant plasma extravasation or infiltration of neutrophils. Toluidine blue staining showed a significant increase in the number of degranulated bladder mast cells after CYP treatment. Despite this mild pathology, CYP-treated mice exhibited bladder hyperalgesia 1 day after the final injection that persisted 7 days later. Although many previous studies of visceral hyperalgesia have reported changes in dorsal root ganglion neuron TRPV1 expression and/or function, we found no change in bladder afferent TRPV1 expression or sensitivity on the basis of the percentage of bladder afferents responsive to capsaicin, including at submaximal concentrations. In contrast, the percentage of bladder afferents expressing functional TRPA1 protein (i.e., those responsive to mustard oil) increased ∼2.5-fold 1 day after CYP treatment, and remained significantly elevated 7 days later. Moreover, bladder hyperalgesia was reversed by acute treatment with the TRPA1 antagonist HC-030031 (300 mg/kg, i.p.). Our results indicate that CYP-induced bladder hyperalgesia can be induced without robust inflammation or changes in primary afferent TRPV1. However, significant changes were observed in TRPA1 expression, and blockade of TRPA1 alleviated CYP-induced bladder hyperalgesia.
Serum tumor marker decline is an early predictor of treatment outcome in germ cell tumor patients treated with cisplatin and ifosfamide salvage chemotherapy.

Background. Serum tumor marker regression (alpha-fetoprotein [AFP] and human chorionic gonadotrophin [hCG]) was studied in patients treated with ifosfamide-based chemotherapy for cisplatin-resistant germ cell tumors (GCT) to investigate the role of marker regression as a predictor of treatment outcome. Methods. Fifty-four patients treated with cisplatin and ifosfamide-containing therapy were the subject of this retrospective analysis. The serum tumor marker half-life (T1/2) for the first two cycles of therapy was calculated for each patient using all marker values Day 7 through the end of the second treatment cycle. A calculated T1/2 for hCG of less than or equal to 3 days or a calculated T1/2 for AFP of less than or equal to 7 days was defined as appropriate marker regression; any T1/2 greater than these values was considered prolonged. A variable designated “marker decline” was defined to indicate whether the serum tumor marker half-life of AFP and/or hCG was satisfactory or unsatisfactory for each individual patient. Both univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to investigate “marker decline” as a predictor for response, event-free survival (time to death or relapse), and overall survival. Results. Satisfactory marker decline predicted an improved event-free survival and overall survival. The median event-free survival for patients with an unsatisfactory marker decline was 5.8 months versus 20.7 months for patients with a satisfactory marker decline. Survival for patients with an unsatisfactory marker decline was 6.3 months versus 20.7 months for those patients with a satisfactory marker decline. Further evaluation demonstrated that hCG decline was a stronger predictor for improved survival than AFP decline. A multivariate analysis performed on selected clinical variables using a Cox regression model demonstrated that marker decline, pre-treatment hCG, and primary site were independent predictors for event-free and overall survival. Conclusions. The rate of serum AFP and/or hCG decline during the first two cycles of therapy was predictive for event-free and overall survival in GCT patients treated with ifosfamide-based salvage therapy. Those patients with an appropriate serum tumor marker decline had a longer event-free and overall survival. When evaluated separately, the rate of hCG decline was more predictive of treatment outcome than decline of AFP. The rate of serum tumor marker regression during the first two cycles of therapy is a clinically useful tool in assessing treatment outcome at an early point in therapy and may thereby identify patients who could benefit from a change to more intensive therapy.
Terbutaline vs albuterol for out-of-hospital respiratory distress: randomized, double-blind trial.

Objective: To determine the efficacy and safety of single doses of subcutaneous terbutaline (terb) or nebulized albuterol (alb) during out-of-hospital treatment for respiratory distress from asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Methods: Patients aged >18 years who had respiratory distress were enrolled in a double-placebo, double-blind, randomized trial. Paramedics measured respiratory severity using an empiric score [respiratory rate, wheezing, speech, and peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR)], and the patients rated their own respiratory distress using a visual analog scale (VAS). The patients received 02 plus alb (2.5 mg) and saline injection (n = 40) or terb (0.25 mg) and saline aerosol (n = 43). Results: The groups were similar with respect to age, gender, initial empiric scores (median score 9 for both groups), PEFRs (89 ± 84 L/min, mean ± SD, for alb vs 97 ± 84 L/min for terb), and respiratory distress VAS scores. Both groups showed significant improvement in their respiratory distress VAS scores by the time of ED arrival. The alb group had a greater improvement in respiratory distress VAS score than did the terb group (p < 0.05). Empiric scores, PEFR scores, and hospital admission frequencies were not significantly different. No complication was observed. Conclusion: The out-of-hospital administration of either aerosolized alb or subcutaneous terb reduced respiratory severity. Albuterol provided greater subjective improvement in respiratory distress.
The migration of hematopoietic progenitors from the fetal liver to the fetal bone marrow: Lessons learned and possible clinical applications

The ontogeny of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) is complex, with multiple sites of embryonic origin as well as several locations of expansion and maturation in the embryo and the adult. Hematopoietic progenitors (HPs) with diverse developmental potential are first found in the yolk sac, aorta-gonad-mesonephros region and placenta. These progenitors then colonize the fetal liver (FL), where they undergo expansion and maturation. HSCs from the FL colonize the fetal bone marrow (FBM), governed by a complex orchestration of transcription programs including migratory molecules with chemotactic activity, adhesion molecules, and molecules that modulate the extracellular matrix. Understanding the mechanisms that regulate the patterns of HSC migration between FL and FBM could improve the engraftment potential of embryonic stem cell–derived HPs, because these cells might display a migratory behavior more similar to early HPs than to adult HSCs. Understanding the changes in migratory behavior in the context of FL to FBM HSC migration could lead to new approaches in the treatment of blood malignancies. We will review the current knowledge in the field of FL to the FBM HSCs migration during development, focusing on changes in expression of molecules important for this process and exploring its clinical applications.
Connections and critique: Feminist pedagogy and science teacher education

In this article, we authors and feminist science and teacher educators share assignments we developed and used in our undergraduate and graduate teacher education classes. We designed these varied assignments to help students feel comfortable with science, to begin to understand and critique the many ways science has been narrowly and powerfully shaped and has marginalized significant groups of individuals, and to begin to deconstruct scientific knowledge and construct alternative views of science and science education that are gender and culture sensitive. We also challenged them to use what they were learning to develop pedagogical strategies that would be inviting to their own students. The focus of the article is our students' reactions to these assignments and how these reactions—both inviting and resisting—informed us about their notions of science, of teaching, of themselves as learners, and of the social context in which they would teach. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 35: 897–918, 1998.