cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
ACUTE PULMONARY ALLOGRAFT REJECTION: Mechanisms, Diagnosis, and Management

Rejection is a common complication following lung transplantation, and can lead to considerable short- and long-term morbidity. As numbers and survival rates of lung transplant recipients increase, it is apparent that acute rejection can occur months or years after transplantation, and may be resistant to standard therapies. Mechanisms of acute rejection have been well studied in other solid organ transplant recipients, and are beginning to be addressed in the lung recipient. This article addresses some of the common issues of diagnosis and management of acute rejection which arise frequently during the care of lung transplant recipients.
Refining the knowledge base of a diagnostic expert system: an application of failure-driven learning

This paper discusses an application of failure-driven learning to the construction of the knowledge base of a diagnostic expert system. Diagnosis heuristics (i.e., efficient rules which encode empirical associations between atypical device behavior and device failures) are learned from information implicit in device models. This approach is desireable since less effort is required to obtain information about device functionality and connectivity to define device models than to encode and debug diagnosis heuristics from a domain expert. We give results of applying this technique in an expert system for the diagnosis of failures in the attitude control system of the DSCS-III satellite. The system is fully implemented in a combination of LISP and PROLOG on a Symbolics 3600. The results indicate that realistic applications can be built using this approach. The performance of the diagnostic expert system after learning is equivalent to and, in some cases, better than the performace of the expert system with rules supplied by a domain expert.
Awareness of a rape crisis center and knowledge about sexual violence among high school adolescents.

Abstract Study Objective This study examined awareness among adolescents of a local rape crisis center as well as their knowledge about sexual violence. Design The Cleveland Rape Crisis Center (CRCC) conducts sexual violence prevention programs for high school students. A written, anonymous survey was distributed to students prior to the start of the program. Students were asked if they had heard of the CRCC; knowledge about sexual violence was assessed with a series of 7 statements (rape myths) that participants identified as true or false. Surveys were reviewed retrospectively. Analyses were carried out for individual questions and frequencies compared using chi-square analysis. Results A total of 1633 surveys were collected; 1118 (68.5%) participants were female and 514 (31.5%) were male; ages ranged from 12 to 19 years. Respondents described themselves as being of European descent (45.9%), African descent (26.2%), or mixed race (17.7%). Just over half (863, 52.9%) of survey respondents had heard of the CRCC. Over half (950, 58.2%) of participants answered 5 or more questions correctly (range of correct answers 0 to 7). In general, more participants who were aware of the CRCC were able to identify statements about rape correctly ( P P Conclusion Awareness of the CRCC was associated with increased knowledge about sexual violence.
Pseudoxanthoma elasticum: the paradigm of ectopic mineralization disorders – diagnosis and treatment

Pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE) is a prototypic heritable disorder of ectopic mineralization, manifesting with characteristic skin findings, ocular involvement and cardiovascular problems, with considerable morbidity and mortality. The clinical manifestations are of late onset, yet progressive, resulting in loss of visual acuity and occasionally leading to blindness. Cardiovascular problems include hypertension, intermittent claudication, occasional hemorrhagic bleeding and early myocardial infarcts. The classic form of the disease is inherited in an autosomal recessive fashion due to loss-of-function mutations in the ABCC6 gene. PXE-like cutaneous changes can also be observed in other ectopic mineralization disorders due to mutations in the GGCX or ENPP1 gene. In addition, a number of unrelated acquired and heritable conditions can mimic the cutaneous findings of PXE. Thus, accurate diagnosis, aided by skin histopathology and mutation analysis, is required for proper classification with prognostic implica...
CO/sub 2/ lidar: a somewhat different view of clouds

Observation of clouds by infrared CO/sub 2/ lidar provides information unique in some respects to that obtained by lidars that operate at wavelengths in or near the visible. Large differences in refractive index and scattering size parameter are the main reasons behind this uniqueness. These characteristics of CO/sub 2/ lidar can be used to measure an average cloud drop size, to discriminate between ice and water particles using two wavelengths, and to simplify interpretation of backscatter measurements from nonspherical ice particles. >
Assessment of UGT polymorphisms and neonatal jaundice.

Elevation of the serum bilirubin level is a common, if not universal, finding during the first week of life. This can be a transient phenomenon that resolves spontaneously or can signify a serious or even life-threatening condition. There are many causes of hyperbilirubinemia and related therapeutic and prognostic implications. The diseases in which there is a primary disorder of the metabolism of bilirubin will be reviewed regarding their clinical presentation, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment. These disorders—Gilbert's syndrome and Crigler-Najjar Syndrome—both involve abnormalities in bilirubin conjugation secondary to deficiency of bilirubin uridine diphosphate glucuronosyltransferase. The purpose of this article is to review the current understanding of the genetic polymorphisms that result in these diseases and discuss recent advances in diagnosis and treatment.
Sensory Processing in Schizophrenia: Neither Simple nor Intact

This special issue focuses on the theme of sensory processing dysfunction in schizophrenia. For more than 50 years, from approximately the time of Bleuler until the early 1960s, sensory function was considered one of the few preserved functions in schizophrenia (Javitt1). Fortunately, the last several decades have brought a renewed and accelerating interest in this topic. The articles included in the issue range from those addressing fundamental bases of sensory dysfunction (Brenner, Yoon, and Turetsky) to those that examine how elementary deficits in sensory processing affect the sensory experience of individuals with schizophrenia (Butler, Kantrowitz, and Coleman) to the question of how sensory-based treatments may lead to improvement in remediation strategies (Adcock). Although addressing only a small portion of the current complex and burgeoning literature on sensory impairments across modalities, the present articles provide a cross-section of the issues currently under investigation. These studies also underscore the severe challenges that individuals with schizophrenia face when trying to decode the complex world around them.
Interleukin-1β and Tumor Necrosis Factor-α Produce Distinct, Time-dependent Patterns of Acute Arthritis in the Rat Knee

Interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) synergistically induce and sustain arthritis. Two competing hypotheses of arthritis induction are 1) that TNF preferentially mediates infl...
The changing financial landscape : opportunities and challenges for the Middle East and North Africa

Economists have come to acknowledge that finance matters for development more, and in more ways than had been recognized for a long time. Changes in the financial services industry are providing immense possibilities for economic development. Grais and Kantur present a framework to help understand the changes occurring in the financial landscape. They also attempt to lay out the opportunities and the challenges the Middle East and Northern Africa region faces in light of these changes. The framework views financial development as a two-way, continuous, and dynamic interaction between, on the one hand, three driving forces shaping the industry and, on the other hand, four stylized dimensions of financial services. These driving forces jointly modify the financial landscape and are at the same time influenced by the effects of these changes. The three driving forces are financial liberalization, technological changes, and market innovation in response to demands for financial services. The four dimensions of financial services that are altered by the forces at play are disintermediation, institutionalization, modernization, and globalization. The authors provide a strategic perspective on the opportunities and challenges the profound changes in the financial industry bring to the Middle East and North Africa region, its policymakers, and market participants.
Duration and Consistency of Historical Selection are Correlated with Adaptive Trait Evolution in the Streamside Salamander, Ambystoma barbouri

A fundamental challenge in evolutionary biology concerns estimating the extent to which ecological trade-offs may impose constraints on adaptive evolution. Novel ecological stressors may limit adaptive evolution of naive lineages that have experienced historically different selective regimes. Regarded as recently derived from a pond-breeding ancestor, streamside salamanders face the novel and strong selection pressure of breeding in streams with fish predators. A statistical phylogenetic approach was used to test whether adaptive evolution of antipredator performance phenotypes in streamside salamanders was positively associated with: (1) estimated per-lineage duration of coexistence with predatory fish; and (2) consistency of this predator selective-regime within lineages. Average durations of fish contact were computed for each salamander lineage on a set of chronograms. Selection consistency was determined by estimating the number of ecological transitions between fish and fishless states using stochastic character mapping. Historical selection in streamside salamanders can be generally characterized as unstable, apparently punctuated by the stochastic loss and recolonization of predatory fish in most lineages. We found that the efficacy of antipredator phenotypes in salamanders is strongly related to historical duration, as well as consistency, of selection imposed by predatory fish.
Effects of suburbanization on foodweb stoichiometry of detritus-based streams

AbstractChanges to nutrient loads may affect the stoichiometry of urban or suburban stream food webs. We quantified foodweb stoichiometry in 9 detritus-based headwater streams draining forested or suburban watersheds in northeastern, coastal Massachusetts (USA). We measured C, N, and P content (%C, %N, %P) and relative ratios (C∶N∶P) of basal food resources and macroinvertebrate consumers in each stream. Greater dissolved nutrient concentrations in suburban streams did not cause significant changes in overall elemental content (%C, %N, %P) of basal food resources, but their N∶P ratios decreased in high-nutrient streams, indicating that higher nutrients do affect food quality. The nutrient content of most macroinvertebrate taxa consuming these altered food resources was unaffected by suburban nutrient enrichment. However, some taxa deviated from strict homeostasis. Samples of these stoichiometrically variable taxa from the most enriched suburban streams had variable %N, a result suggesting that shifts in %...
Practical techniques for reducing radiation exposure during cerebral angiography procedures

Purpose DSA remains the gold standard imaging method for the evaluation of many cerebrovascular disorders, in particular cerebral aneurysms and vascular malformations. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the effect of modifying DSA frame rate, fluoroscopic and roadmap pulse rates, and flat panel detector (FPD) position on the radiation dose delivered during routine views for a cerebral angiogram in a phantom model. Materials and methods Adult skull and abdomen/pelvis anthropomorphic phantoms were used to compare the radiation dose metrics Ka,r (in mGy), PKA (in μGym 2 ), and fluoroscopy time (in minutes) after modification of fluoroscopic pulses per second (p/s), DSA frames per second (f/s), and FPD position and collimation in three components of a cerebral angiogram: (1) femoral artery access, (2) roadmap guidance, and (3) biplane cerebral DSA. Results For femoral artery access, DSA protocols resulted in significantly higher doses than those utilizing fluoroscopy alone (p=0.007). Roadmaps using 3 p/s or 4 p/s delivered significantly less dose than higher pulse rates (p=0.008). The ranges of delivered doses for biplane cerebral DSA were 347.3–1188.5 mGy and 3914.54–9518.78 μGym 2 . The lowest radiation doses were generated by the variable frame rate DSA protocols. Conclusions Replacing femoral arterial access evaluations by DSA with fluoroscopy, utilizing lower pulse rates during fluoroscopy and roadmap guidance, and choosing variable frame rates for DSA are simple techniques that may be considered by operators in their clinical practices to lower radiation dose during cerebral angiography procedures.
Influence of chlorine substituents on rates of oxidation of chlorinated biphenyls by the biphenyl dioxygenase of Burkholderia sp. strain LB400.

Biphenyl dioxygenase from Burkholderia (Pseudomonas) sp. strain LB400 catalyzes the first reaction of a pathway for the degradation of biphenyl and a broad range of chlorinated biphenyls (CBs). The effect of chlorine substituents on catalysis was determined by measuring the specific activity of the enzyme with biphenyl and 18 congeners. The catalytic oxygenase component was purified and incubated with individual CBs in the presence of electron transport proteins and cofactors that were required for enzyme activity. The rate of depletion of biphenyl from the assay mixture and the rate of formation of cis-biphenyl 2,3-dihydrodiol, the oxidation product, were almost equal, indicating that the assay accurately measured enzyme-specific activity. Four classes of CBs were defined based on their oxidation rates. Class I contained 3-CB and 2,5-CB, which gave rates that were approximately twice that of biphenyl. Class II contained 2,5,3′,4′-CB, 2,3,2′,5′-CB, 2,3,4,5-CB, 2,3,2′,3′-CB, 2,4,5,2′,5′-CB, 2,5,3′-CB, 2,5,4′-CB, 2-CB, and 3,4,5-CB, which gave rates that ranged from 97 to 35% of the biphenyl rate. Class III contained only 2,3,4,2′,5′-CB, which gave a rate that was 4% of the biphenyl rate. Class IV contained 2,4,4′-CB, 2,4,2′,4′-CB, 3,4,5,2′-CB, 3,4,5,3′-CB, 3,5,3′,5′-CB, and 3,4,5,2′,5′-CB, which showed no detectable depletion. Rates were not significantly correlated with the aqueous solubilities of the CBs or the number of chlorine substituents on the rings. Oxidation products were detected for all class I, II, and III congeners and were identified as chlorinated cis-dihydrodiols for classes I and II. The specificity of biphenyl dioxygenase for the CBs examined in this study was determined by the relative positions of the chlorine substituents on the aromatic rings rather than the number of chlorine substituents on the rings.
The Changing Concepts of Amyloid

Abstract The first issue of the Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, published 75 years ago, contained an article by Richard Jaffe on the experimental induction of amyloidosis in mice. This publication was one of a series of milestones that have marked our ongoing and evolving concept of amyloidosis, beginning with the first description by Virchow more than a century ago. Since that time, scientific understanding of amyloidogenesis has expanded through the involvement of newly developed techniques, such as biochemical analysis, electron microscopy, and molecular genetics. As a result of these investigations, it is now known that amyloidoses comprise an entire family of sporadic, familial and/or inherited, degenerative, and infectious disease processes, linked by the common theme of abnormal protein folding and deposition. This article seeks to provide a synopsis of the present state of our knowledge with regard to these disorders, including current terminology, classification, major clinical syndr...
Evaluation of the Antioxidant Effects of Dried Milk Mineral in Cooked Beef, Pork, and Turkey

This study was done to determine the optimum level of dried milk mineral (MM) to inhibit lipid oxidation in various ground meats, Cooked ground beef and pork required 2% MM to maintain thiobarbituric acid (TBA) values Cette etude determine la teneur optimale de mineraux de lait deshydrate pour inhiber l'oxydation lipidique dans des viandes hachees variees. Les viandes de boeuf et de porc necessitent 2% de mineraux pour maintenir des valeurs d'acide thiobarbiturique inferieures a 1,0 apres 14 jours d'entreposage, en comparaison a 1% pour la viande de dinde. Parmi les elements mineraux (phosphate, calcium et citrate), les polyphosphates sont les plus efficaces pendant l'entreposage.
Neutropenic Colitis After Treatment of Acute Myelogenous Leukemia With Idarubicin and Cytosine Arabinoside

• Objective: To determine the gastrointestinal toxic effects of idarubicin and cytosine arabinoside combination therapy in patients with newly diagnosed acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). • Patients and Methods: We performed a single-institution retrospective analysis of the incidence of neutropenic colitis in patients with newly diagnosed AML receiving idarubicin and cytosine arabinoside combination therapy. Using pharmacy records, we identified 78 patients who received idarubicin during the study period of January 1997 to September 1998 and who agreed to a review of their medical records. Patients with preexisting bowel conditions were excluded from this analysis. We used a strict definition of neutropenic colitis that included clinical findings (severe abdominal pain, diarrhea, hematochezia, and/or peritoneal AML = acute myelogenous leukemia; CT = computed tomography
Understanding teamwork in high-risk domains through analysis of errors

Trauma care is an example of dynamic, complex, and safety-critical teamwork. The staff in trauma centers works under time pressure and lacks effective information technologies to support teamwork and reduce errors. This work presents a qualitative study that looked at the teamwork errors and their causes to better understand the challenges in providing computerized support for this user group.
Protecting user interfaces through copyright: the debate

This paper will provide an overview of the legal controversy about the extent of copyright protection that is appropriate for software user interfaces. The controversy reflects different views of how traditional principles of copyright law should be applied to software. After a brief introduction to copyright principles, the paper will set forth an argument for maximal copyright protection for software user interfaces, and then an argument for minimal copyright protection for user interfaces. Both arguments apply copyright principles; they simply draw on different parts of copyright doctrine in doing so. The paper does not aim to resolve the debate, but only to familiarize the user interface design community of the legal context in which the debate is taking place.
A Multiple Goals Analysis of Families Attempting to Encourage U.S. Service Members to Seek Behavioral Health Care Linking the GPA Model and Confirmation Theory

Drawing on the goals-plans-action (GPA) model and confirmation theory, this study explores associations between family members’ primary and secondary goals, planning (i.e., subgoals related to accomplishing the primary goal), and messages encouraging military service members (SMs) to seek behavioral health care. Family members (N = 244) of SMs who had been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan described what they would say in a scenario where their SM was displaying mental health symptoms and provided importance ratings for primary and secondary goals as well as subgoals. Based on confirmation theory, messages were coded for levels of acceptance, challenge, and autonomy support. Primary goals predicted multiple dimensions of confirmation, both directly and indirectly through subgoals, but the direction of these effects often ran contrary to one another. Secondary goals also predicted confirmation after controlling for primary goal importance. Implications for the GPA model, confirmation theory, and programs tha...
Some Learning Opportunities from the Imus Affair

The author discusses the broader issues of free speech under the surface of the Don Imus affair, where that commentator made a gratuitous slur about the Rutgers women's basketball team. He balances this gaff against the good deeds of the same personality, comparing this with similar provocative remarks made by other well-known public figures. The media is cited for an overreaction to the Imus incident, and all these components are discussed in light of what free speech means.
The New Cambridge History of India: Parties and politics

Party politics in India display numerous paradoxical features, which reveal the blending of Western and modern forms of bureaucratic organization and participatory politics with indigenous practices and institutions. India's leading political party, the Indian National Congress, is one of the oldest in the world, yet it has not succeeded in providing the nucleus for an institutionalized party system which can be fitted easily into any one of the conventional categories of party systems known in the West. There has been a strong Marxist and Communist revolutionary tradition in modern Indian political history. However, unlike other such traditions in most parts of Asia, its dominant parties and movements have neither succeeded in threatening the stability of the Indian state nor been threatened with physical extinction as in Indonesia, but have instead been integrated in the form of reformist political parties within routine politics in the country. The diversities and social fragmentation of Indian society have produced a proliferation of regional and other political parties which often give to each state in the Indian Union a unique party system imperfectly integrated into the “national party system.” Some characteristically Indian features pervade virtually all parties in the country — factionalism, dynastic succession to leadership, and the presence of ideological differences among the parties without ideological cleavage in the party system. Indian politics are distinctive among contemporary developing societies in having had forty-five years of nearly continuous—excepting the brief Emergency period — competitive electoral politics in which also alternation in power has occurred in all the Indian states and at the Center as well. Here, also, there are numerous paradoxical features and indigenous adaptations of an essentially British electoral system. These include: varying, but often quite high turnout rates among a population still overwhelmingly agrarian and illiterate; a special form of representation for “untouchables” or Scheduled Castes; electoral arenas not yet fully dominated and controlled by organized political parties; and the critical importance of the electoral process as a mechanism for the successive introduction of groups of voters, particularly caste groups, into politics, which impart to the Indian electoral process a quality which is quite different from the classic ideal of the electoral arena as a place where the “independent intelligence of the individual voter” is exercised.
The Gentle Electronic Nature of Pulsed Beam Annealing, or Does It Really Go Superfluid?

Until recently two theories of what may be occurring during pulsed laser/electron/ion beam annealing of Si, Ge, GaAs, and other semiconductors enjoyed credence. One held that the material became hot and underwent normal thermal melting. The other held that the material annealed in the presence of a hot dense plasma of excited free carriers, electrons and holes. A closer examination of previous experiments, as well as new experiments, particularly those of Marquardt et al., which indicate an absence of free carrier absorption in the infrared, make both these theories untenable. They also make possible a more sophisticated understanding of what really is happening. The present status of this subject is reviewed. In particular the available evidence that the plasma excited by the pulsed radiation undergoes a boson condensation to a superfluid phase is described.
Nonbinary LDPC codes for optical communications

The nonbinary LDPC codes providing the coding gain of more than 10.5 dB at BER of 10-12 with redundancy of 12. 59% are proposed for the use in long-haul high-speed optical transmission.
Behavior Coding Using Computer Assisted Audio Recording: Findings from a Pilot Test

Behavior coding, a pretesting method that involves the systematic application of standardized codes to behaviors that interviewers and respondents display during the question/response process, has recently been enhanced by the use of Computer Audio Recorded Interviewing (CARI) system. Traditionally, interviewers used cassette tape recorders to capture a relatively small number of interviewers. CARI is built in to the CATI/CAPI instrument and allows for digital capture of all interviews (notwithstanding consent from the respondent). The Census Bureau piloted the use of CARI for evaluation of the 2010 American Community Survey (ACS) Content Test. This test was carried out to evaluate changes to existing questions that were designed to enhance data quality, and to evaluate alternative ways of asking about new topic areas. Interviews (or designated subsets of interviews) were recorded and coded in a total of 1,427 households. The coded interviews were conducted in both English and Spanish (1,092 and 335 cases, respectively) and they were recorded in CATI and CAPI modes (726 and 701 cases, respectively). This paper will provide highlights of the findings from behavior coding on a number of topic areas. It will also highlight the unique enhancements offered by CARI, such as: (1) dramatically increasing the volume and consequent range and diversity of recordings for more targeted analysis; (2) allowing researchers to listen to interviews during data collection in order to tailor behavior codes for the project; (3) allowing researchers to monitor the behavior coding operation in real time for quality assurance; (4) allowing the coder to see the actual screen display as the interviewer saw it when asking the questions; (5) allowing the coder to see the data keyed in to the instrument, enabling the identification and tabulation of keying errors; and (6) allowing behavior coding of both CATI and CAPI interviews, thus lessening the differences in effects of a centralized data collection facility versus a dispersed field staff not accustomed to regular monitoring and coaching.
Government as reinsurer for very-high-cost persons in nongroup health insurance markets.

ABSTRACT: Fear of adverse selection drives carriers in nongroup insurance markets to compete in their use of selection mechanisms to screen out high-risk applicants. This contributes to economic in...
Inhibition studies with Streptococcus faecalis; quinolines.

Summary1. Ninety-three quinolines were tested against Streptococcus jaecalis in the presence of limiting amounts of folic acid. Ten of the quinolines were toxic to the organism when they were in the medium at concentrations of 8.0 to 200 νg/ml. The toxicity of 3 of the 10 inhibitors could be abolished. The inhibition of N-(2-diethylaminoethyl)-(7-chloro-3-methylquinolyl−4) - mercaptoacetamide was reversed by citrovorum factor, that of 7-chloro−4-(4-diethylaminobutylamino)-3-nitroquinoline was abolished by thymine, and that of N-2-diethylaminoethyl-6-methoxy-3-methylquinolyl − 4) - mercaptoacetamide was overcome by thymidine. The remaining 7 were not studied further since their degree of inhibition did not compare sufficiently favorably with that of some of the better known anti-folics. 2. None of 5 anti-malarials examined chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, sontoquine, primaquine, and isopentaquine) interfered with the utilization of folic acid. Thus, these differ metabolically from pyrimethamine which has b...
Mechanisms by which porcine somatotropin enhances pig growth performance

Previous studies have demonstrated that porcine somatotropin (pST) markedly increases pig growth performance. This has created interest in developing a pST-based product and gaining a better understanding of the mechanisms by which pST increases growth rate, improves feed efficiency and alters carcass composition. We have found that pST decreases adipose tissue growth rate by suppressing lipogenic rate and blunting lipogenesis is a chronic effect and is associated with a marked decrease in activity of several lipogenic enzymes. The pST-induced increase in muscle growth is associated with an increase in insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) concentration in plasma. We have purified a subunit of the carrier (binding) protein which transports IGF-I in pig plasma. This protein appears to play a role in transendothelial transport of IGF-I from plasma to the target tissue. We have also identified strategies which increase the effect of pST on growth performance. Collectively, these results indicate that a better understanding of pST action will lead to ways to further enhance the effectiveness of pST in stimulating growth performance. The benefit of this to animal agriculture will be discussed.
A Case for Extending Task Dependencies

Tasks offer a natural mechanism to express asynchronous operations in OpenMP as well as to express parallel patterns with dynamic sizes and shapes. Since the release of OpenMP 4 task dependencies have made an already flexible tool practical in many more situations. Even so, while tasks can be made asynchronous with respect to the encountering thread, there are no mechanisms to tie an OpenMP task into a truly asynchronous operation outside of OpenMP without blocking an OpenMP thread. Additionally, producer/consumer parallel patterns, or more generally pipeline parallel patterns, suffer from the lack of a convenient and efficient point-to-point synchronization and data passing mechanism. This paper presents a set of extensions, leveraging the task and dependency mechanisms, that can help users and implementers tie tasks into other asynchronous systems and more naturally express pipeline parallelism while decreasing the overhead of passing data between otherwise small tasks by as much as 80 %.
Evaluating vacuum and steam process on hardwood veneer logs for export

There is an immediate need to develop and adopt new treatment technologies for eliminating insect pest and tree pathogens from veneer logs moved in trade. This is largely due to the current phase-out of methyl bromide and the uncertainty associated with the efficacy of potential alternatives. Vacuum and steam in combination has a proven and reliable record for commercially sanitizing a variety of commodities, including cotton, spices and textiles among others. This study was designed to evaluate basic parameters of vacuum and steam application on five high value hardwood veneer log species in an effort to ascertain the feasibility of continued treatment development. Relative heating rates to log center, damage and value loss assessment due to treatment, and overall energy used during treatment were recorded for logs treated individually in a flexible polymer chamber. At 200 mm Hg vacuum, time to reach 56 °C for 30 min to core ranged from 17 to 29 h, depending on density and log diameter. End checking varied by species, but veneer sawn from logs was largely unaffected in terms of yield and value. Energy used during treatments ranged from 54 to 205 kWh for individual logs. Results suggest that vacuum and steam as a phytosanitary treatment for hardwood veneer logs has potential and should be explored further.
Venture Capital Backing, Investor Attention, and Initial Public Offerings

We propose and empirically analyze a new channel through which venture capitalists (VCs) may add value at IPO to the private firms that they invest in. We hypothesize that the IPOs of VC-backed firms garner greater “investor attention” (in the sense of Merton (1987)), allowing the IPO underwriters of such firms to perform two information-related roles more efficiently during the IPO book-building and road-show process: information dissemination, where the lead underwriter disseminates noisy information about various aspects of the IPO firm to institutional investors; and information extraction, where the lead underwriter extracts information useful in pricing the IPO firm equity from institutional investors. Based on this investor attention channel, we develop and test several implications for the IPO characteristics of VC-backed firms. We use a hand-collected dataset of pre-IPO media coverage as a proxy for investor attention in our empirical analysis. Our results are summarized as follows. First, IPOs of VC-backed firms attract greater investor attention than those of non-VC-backed firms; further, while the IPOs of both high- and low-reputation VC-backed firms attract greater investor attention than those of non-VC-backed firms, the IPOs of high-reputation VC-backed firms attract greater investor attention than those of low-reputation VC-backed firms. Second, VC-backed firms are associated with larger absolute values of IPO offer price revisions, greater IPO and after-market valuations, larger IPO initial returns, greater institutional investor equity holdings, and greater analyst coverage post-IPO. Our interaction tests reveal that, even after controlling for the direct effect of VC-backing, there is an incremental positive effect of higher investor attention received by VC-backed firms on various IPO characteristics. Our dynamic analysis of IPO firm valuation in the three years post-IPO shows that the valuation of VC-backed firms falls to a greater extent than those of non-VC-backed firms corresponding to investor attention fading with time, with the valuation of firms that received the greatest investor attention at IPO falling to the greatest extent. Our instrumental variable analysis shows that the positive relation we document between VC-backing, investor attention, and various IPO characteristics is causal.
The “Uncertainty Principle” as an Entry Criterion in Stroke Clinical Trials: Bias Towards Null Findings (P2.382)

Objective: To investigate under what conditions the use of the “uncertainty principle” as an entry criterion in stroke clinical trials may bias trial results. Background: In addition to standard clinical trial entry criteria, “uncertainty principle (UP)” randomized trials instruct investigators to only enroll patients when the individual enrolling doctor is uncertain whether that particular patient will benefit from the tested treatment. The use of personal equipoise (“gray zone”) as an enrollment in stroke trials (e.g. EC-IC bypass, ECST, and IST-3) has engendered controversy. Design/Methods: We analyzed the impact of UP randomization in model stroke populations under four conditions: 1) enrollment without UP, and enrollment using UP by 2) treatment enthusiasts, 3) treatment skeptics, and 4) treatment agnostics. Results: When physicians lacked insight into the population that would benefit from therapy, treatment effect estimates of UP randomized trials matched those not using the UP and accorded with true treatment effects. However, when physicians did have such insight, use of the UP biased findings toward the null. For a model with true treatment effect improving outcomes by relative risk 1.3, UP trials estimated treatment effects by relative risk 1.0 with treatment agnostics, 1.1 with skeptics, and .91 with enthusiasts. Conclusions: When investigators accurately judge which patients will benefit from therapy, using the uncertainty principle can substantially influence randomized trials toward null findings for treatments that are actually beneficial. This bias should be considered when interpreting stroke trial results. Disclosure: Dr. Vyas has nothing to disclose. The University of California, Regents receive funding for Dr. Saver9s services as a scientific consultant regarding trial design and conduct to BrainsGate, Covidien, Stryker, Boehringer Ingelheim (prevention only), and St. Jude Medical. Dr. Saver has rece
From Infantilizing to World Making: Safe Spaces and Trigger Warnings on Campus

Student requests for trigger warnings and safe spaces have emerged following widespread concern over the mishandling of cases of sexual violence on college campuses. Recent media attention to such interventions has been critical, framing them as coddling students and failing to prepare them for the real world. These criticisms conflate the desire for safety with the feeling of comfort or freedom from offense or challenge. Student requests for trigger warnings and safe spaces bring trauma into the public sphere and create spaces in academic settings for students to exist without expectations that they are fully healed. This article examines student requests for safe spaces or trigger warnings in the United States in discussions about trauma and healing in academia and shifts the dialogue to provide a queer feminist theoretical framework for understanding these requests as world-making projects that provide an account of public trauma and a sense of collective vulnerability.
Anthropology Now and Then in the American Museum of Natural History

The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody'd move. You could go there a hundred thousand times, and that Eskimo would still be just finished...
Potential water requirements of increased ethanol fuel in the USA

To mitigate climate impacts associated with energy consumption, renewable fuel policies have been established in the USA that encourage production and use of corn ethanol. Current fuel usage of corn ethanol is approximately 15 billion gallons/year (57 billion liters/year), with nearly all of this in the form of E10 (10% blend in gasoline). There is now interest in increasing fuel ethanol usage to achieve nationwide levels of E20 or greater. Due to lack of capacity and poor economics, cellulosic ethanol cannot contribute significantly to increased fuel ethanol production in the near term. Thus, rapid growth of fuel ethanol usage implies expansion of corn ethanol beyond current levels. The objective of this study was to assess the potential water requirements of expanding corn ethanol to provide for nationwide E20 fuel by 2025. A simple modeling approach was used to assess the water requirements for producing 12.5 billion gallons (47.3 billion liters) corn ethanol in the baseline year of 2013 and 24.3 billion gallons (92.0 billion liters) in three future year scenarios of 2025. Irrigation water and process water were considered but not natural rainfall. Baseline inputs regarding corn acreage, crop yields, and irrigation patterns were obtained from the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) for each of the 29 corn-producing states in the USA. The three future year scenarios differed in how the required expansion of corn cropping was allocated across the states, thereby resulting in different irrigation patterns. As a consequence of differing irrigation requirements, the water intensity of corn ethanol (L water/L ethanol) varied by approximately two orders of magnitude over the 29 corn-producing states. In the 2013 baseline, the water intensity of corn ethanol in Iowa (with 1% irrigated corn acreage) was 5.5 L/L, while that in neighboring Nebraska (with 56% irrigated corn acreage) was 427 L/L. All three future year scenarios result in substantial increases in total volumetric water requirements—from 62 to 161% compared to the 2013 baseline. Increasing ethanol blend fuels from E10 to E20 in the near future will require significant expansion of corn cropping in the USA, which will increase irrigation demands. The amount of increased water usage will depend upon the geographic distribution of the cropping expansion. Expansion into already water-stressed areas will exacerbate existing water concerns.
Our Class Has Twenty-five Teachers.

questions before, often shortly after giving directions and receiving a negative response to the age-old query "Are there any questions?" Of course no questions arise until the teacher is busy doing something else. Then confused and puzzled looks on the students' faces appear and the questions start. Wouldn't it be nice to escape this frustrating situation? As teachers, we know that we do not have the full attention of all children all the time. Some students ask many questions and need constant reassurance that they are on the right track, and some don't ask questions and end up not comprehending the material. Consequently, it is often necessary to reteach or to answer the same question many times.
Ethical Issues for Children With Cancer

Abstract With approximately 15,000 children and adolescents diagnosed with cancer in United States each year, pediatric cancer is a relatively rare diagnosis, yet it remains the leading cause of death by disease in children. Fortunately, effective treatments are available for most pediatric cancers, with average cure rates nearing 80%. However, due to their developmental immaturity and need for parents or surrogate decision makers to make medical decisions on their behalf, a number of ethical issues must be considered during the treatment of a child with cancer. Indeed, ethical issues including consent to participate in research studies, refusal of care, and end-of-life decisions all provide additional challenges beyond the obvious efforts to treat a child diagnosed with cancer. This chapter will provide a brief overview of these topics with the purpose of stimulating interest and discussion in these issues.
Convection-Diffusion Model of Lithium-Bismuth Liquid Metal Batteries

The liquid metal battery is composed of two liquid metals with different electronegativity separated by molten salt. The three layers self-segregate based on density allowing for easy manufacturing and scaling. Lithium (Li) is one of the most widely researched anode materials, and when coupled with bismuth (Bi) cathodes, it gives a liquid metal battery that has an open circuit voltage of 0.9 V. Such a system has demonstrated impressive rate capabilities, ultra-long life cycle, and low energy cost. Here we present a two-dimensional physics-based model for Lithium-Bismuth liquid metal batteries. The model takes into account dynamical changes in the battery, including surface concentration and fluid flow. By solving the convection-diffusion equation in Bi electrodes, we are able to investigate the effect fluid flow on kinetic losses and concentration profiles in real time. The outcome of this work allows us to link electrochemistry and fluid dynamics in liquid metal batteries. Moreover, the model can also be used to guide future development of battery management systems.
Role of immunotherapy in bacillus Calmette-Guérin-unresponsive non-muscle invasive bladder cancer

Intravesical instillation of live attenuated bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) is the gold standard for patients with intermediate- and high-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). BCG-failures include a heterogenous population of patients who share a designation of disease recurrence or progression following BCG and include patients with complete unresponsiveness to BCG, patients who respond initially but develop relapse and, in some cases, patients who are intolerant to BCG due to side effects. Given the efficacy and relatively rapid approval of several monoclonal antibodies against PD-L1 or PD-1 for advanced and metastatic bladder cancer, the role of these checkpoint inhibitors in BCG-relapsing disease at various disease stages is under consideration. Data supporting a role for immune checkpoint inhibitors is largely theoretical with limited supportive data from animal models and from clinical evidence of increased PD-L1 expression in BCG-unresponsive tumors. Current trials in BCG-unresponsive disease are underway and expected to provide insight regarding these concepts.
Effect of taurine on biliary metabolites of glutathione in liver perfused with the pyrrolizidine alkaloid, monocrotaline.

Pyrrolizidines are a group of hepatotoxic plant alkaloids6,9. Certain pyrrolizidines are also toxic to lung, heart, the central nerve system, and other organs. Hepatic bioactivation is required for the expression of toxicity8.
An Experimental Investigation of Gender Differences in Wage Negotiations

There is a consensus that there is a gap between male and female wages. This paper investigates whether this is due to a negotiation gap, and what mechanisms can alleviate it, by examining whether females ask for less in a controlled bargaining setting that accurately models relevant aspects of negotiating over a starting salary. The results are stark: females ask for less, and earn less than males. Providing social information eliminates the negotiation gap, and more importantly, the wage gap.
Varieties of European Crises

In the last decade of the twentieth century and the first decade of the twenty-first century, Western Europe has been subject to a variety of currency and financial crises. These came in two major waves. The first round began in the late 1980s with banking crises or near-crises in the Nordic countries caused by bursting real estate bubbles in the Nordic countries as well as in Belgium and the United Kingdom. The breakup of the Soviet Union contributed as well. While the Nordic banking sectors were still in crises, the European Monetary System of adjustably pegged exchange rates blew up in 1992 and 1993. (Strictly speaking, what fell was the system's exchange rate mechanism, where in the 1993 part of the crisis, the bands of permissible exchange rate fluctuations were broadened so widely as to become virtually meaningless.) The second wave came toward the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century and began with the spread of the US subprime mortgage crisis across the globe. Not all the crises of the first wave were due to defective exchange rate policies, however, nor was all of the second wave due to contagion from the US crisis. Careful analysis of these episodes has shown that there were a number of different types of crises with different primary causes.
Approximate Computing for Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) Neural Networks

Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) networks are a class of recurrent neural networks that are widely used for machine learning tasks involving sequences, including machine translation, text generation, and speech recognition. Large-scale LSTMs, which are deployed in many real-world applications, are highly compute intensive. To address this challenge, we propose AxLSTM, an application of approximate computing to improve the execution efficiency of LSTMs. An LSTM is composed of cells, each of which contains a cell state along with multiple gating units that control the addition and removal of information from the state. The LSTM execution proceeds in timesteps, with a new symbol of the input sequence processed at each timestep. AxLSTM consists of two techniques—Dynamic Timestep Skipping (DTS) and Dynamic State Reduction (DSR). DTS identifies, at runtime, input symbols that are likely to have little or no impact on the cell state and skips evaluating the corresponding timesteps. In contrast, DSR reduces the size of the cell state in accordance with the complexity of the input sequence, leading to a reduced number of computations per timestep. We describe how AxLSTM can be applied to the most common application of LSTMs, viz. , sequence-to-sequence learning. We implement AxLSTM within the TensorFlow deep learning framework and evaluate it on 3 state-of-the-art sequence-to-sequence models. On a 2.7 GHz Intel Xeon server with 128 GB memory and 32 processor cores, AxLSTM achieves $ {1.08\times -1.31 \times }$ speedups with minimal loss in quality, and $ {1.12 \times -1.37 \times }$ speedups when moderate reductions in quality are acceptable.