cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Hypoxia-Inducible Factor-2α Regulates GM-CSF–Derived Soluble Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor 1 Production from Macrophages and Inhibits Tumor Growth and Angiogenesis

Macrophage secretion of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in response to the hypoxic tumor microenvironment contributes to tumor growth, angiogenesis, and metastasis. We have recently demonstrated that macrophages stimulated with GM-CSF at low O(2) secrete high levels of a soluble form of the VEGF receptor 1 (sVEGFR-1), which neutralizes VEGF and inhibits its biological activity. Using small interfering RNA targeting to deplete hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α or HIF-2α in murine macrophages, we found that macrophage production of sVEGFR-1 in response to low O(2) was dependent on HIF-2α, whereas HIF-1α specifically regulated VEGF production. In our current report, we evaluated the growth of B16F10 malignant melanoma in mice with a monocyte/macrophage-selective deletion of HIF-1α or HIF-2α (HIF-1α(flox/flox)- or HIF-2α(flox/+)/LysMcre mice). GM-CSF treatment increased intratumoral VEGF and sVEGFR-1 in control mice, an effect that was associated with a decrease in microvessel density. GM-CSF treatment of HIF-1α(flox/flox)/LysMcre mice induced sVEGFR-1 but not VEGF, resulting in an overall greater reduction in tumor growth and angiogenesis compared with control mice. In addition, real-time PCR for melanoma-specific genes revealed a significantly reduced presence of lung micrometastases in HIF-1α(flox/flox)/LysMcre mice treated with GM-CSF. Conversely, GM-CSF treatment induced VEGF but not sVEGFR-1 in HIF-2α(flox/+)/LysMcre mice, and, correspondingly, GM-CSF did not decrease tumor growth, angiogenesis, or lung metastasis in these mice. This study reveals opposing roles for the HIFs in the regulation of angiogenesis by tumor-associated macrophages and suggests that administration of GM-CSF might be an effective means of inducing sVEGFR-1 and inhibiting tumor growth and angiogenesis in patients with melanoma.
Validation and verification of simulation models

In this paper we discuss validation and verification of simulation models. Four different approaches to deciding model validity are described; two different paradigms that relate validation and verification to the model development process are presented; various validation techniques are defined; conceptual model validity, model verification, operational validity, and data validity are discussed; a way to document results is given; a recommended procedure for model validation is presented; and accreditation is briefly discussed.
Generalized Ring Signatures

Ring signature was first introduced in 2001. In a ring signature, instead of revealing the actual identity of the message signer, it specifies a set of possible signers. The verifier can be convinced that the signature was indeed generated by one of the ring members, however, she is unable to tell which member actually produced the signature. In this paper, we propose a generalized ring signature scheme and a generalized multi-signer ring signature based on the original ElGamal signature scheme. The proposed ring signature can achieve unconditional signer ambiguity and is secure against adaptive chosen-message attacks in the random oracle model. Comparing to ring signature based on RSA algorithm, the proposed generalized ring signature scheme has three advantages: (1) all ring members can share the same prime number and all operations can be performed in the same domain; (2) by combining with multi-signatures, we can develop the generalized multi-signer ring signature schemes to enforce cross-organizational involvement in message leaking. It may result in a higher level of confidence or broader coverage on the message source; and (3) the proposed ring signature is a convertible ring signature. It enables the actual message signer to prove to a verifier that only she is capable of generating the ring signature.
Exchange Rate Exposure of Korean Companies: Pre- and Post-Economic Crisis Analysis *

This paper examines the relationship between exchange rate movement and individual company's valuation, or exchange rate exposure, in a small open developing economy, specifically South Korea. This paper finds that about 20% of the Korean company's stock performance is statistically significantly impacted by the exchange rate fluctuations. This paper also finds that there is a structural change in the relationship between the exchange rate return and the stock returns before and after the economic crisis. One of the interesting findings of this paper is that the currency depreciation has significantly different impact on the larger companies and on the smaller companies. Before the economic crisis, the currency depreciation has improved the smallest 50 companies' competitiveness in the international markets, thus improving their stock returns. After the crisis, the stock returns of the smallest 50 companies are negatively correlated to the currency depreciation. This is largely due to the short-term foreign debt obligations, recessionary economic conditions, and government's policy heavily favoring larger chaebol companies during the economic crisis period.
Near‐Infrared Fluorescent Sensors based on Single‐Walled Carbon Nanotubes for Life Sciences Applications

A review. Many properties of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) make them ideal candidates for sensors, particularly for biol. systems. Both their fluorescence in the near-IR range of 820-1600 nm, where absorption by biol. tissues is often minimal, and their inherent photostability are desirable attributes for the design of in vitro and in vivo sensors. The mechanisms by which a target mol. can selectively alter the fluorescent emission include primarily changes in emission wavelength (i.e., solvatochromism) and intensity, including effects such as charge-transfer transition bleaching and exciton quenching. The central challenge lies in engineering the nanotube interface to be selective for the analyte of interest. In this work, the authors review the recent development in this area over the past few years, and describe the design rules that the authors have developed for detecting various analytes, ranging from stable small mols. and reactive oxygen species (ROS) or reactive nitrogen species (RNS) to macromols. Applications to in vivo sensor measurements using these sensors are also described. In addn., the emerging field of SWCNT-based single-mol. detection using band gap fluorescence and the recent efforts to accurately quantify and utilize this unique class of stochastic sensors are also described in this article. [on SciFinder(R)]
A Framework for Testing RESTful Web Services

While web services greatly reduce the cost and complexity of integrating systems; they also introduce a number of additional challenges for testing because web services require standards, API, communication protocols and architecture that are not fully supported by traditional software testing methods and tools. In this paper, we discuss a software framework for providing a variety of test inputs for web service depended software, including predetermined test cases, replay of previous data, and generation of random test cases through data perturbation from a provided template.
Endovascular management of traumatic peripheral arterial injuries

Abstract Background Traumatic injuries to peripheral arterial vessels are increasingly managed with endovascular techniques. Early small series have suggested that endovascular therapy is feasible and decreases operative blood loss, but these data are limited. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and outcomes of endovascular management of nonaortic arterial trauma. Materials and methods We reviewed records of traumatic nonaortic arterial injuries presenting at an urban level 1 trauma center from December 2009–July 2013. Patients undergoing treatment in interventional radiology and patients whose injuries occurred >72 h before presentation were excluded. Demographics, indicators of injury severity, operative blood loss, transfusion requirements, and clinical outcome were compared between patients undergoing endovascular and open management using appropriate inferential statistics. Results During the study period, 17 patients underwent endovascular interventions and 20 had open surgery. There were 19 upper extremity and/or thoracic outlet arterial injuries, 15 lower extremity injuries and 11 pelvic injuries. Endovascular cases were completed using a vascular imaging C-arm in a standard operating room. Estimated blood loss during the primary procedure was significantly lower with endovascular management (150 versus 825 cc, P Conclusions Our experience with endovascular management demonstrates its feasibility with commonly available tools. Operative blood loss may be significantly decreased using endovascular techniques. Further study is needed to refine patient selection criteria and to define long-term outcomes.
Aspheric wave-front recording optics for holographic gratings

The geometric theory of aspheric wave-front recording optics is extended to include the fourth-order groove parameters that correspond to the fourth-order holographic terms in the light-path function. We derived explicit expressions of the groove parameters by analytically following an exact ray-tracing procedure for a double-element optical system that consists of a point source, an ellipsoidal mirror, and an ellipsoidal grating blank. Design examples of holographic gratings for an in-plane Eagle-type vacuum-UV monochromator are given to demonstrate the capability of the present theory in the design of aspheric wave-front recording optics.
Scaling limits and the Schramm-Loewner evolution

These notes are from my mini-courses given at the PIMS summer school in 2010 at the University of Washington and at the Cornell probability summer school in 2011. The goal was to give an introduction to the Schramm-Loewner evolution to graduate students with background in probability. This is not intended to be a comprehensive survey of SLE.
Starvation-induced cleavage of the tRNA anticodon loop in Tetrahymena thermophila.

Amino acid deprivation triggers dramatic physiological responses in all organisms, altering both the synthesis and destruction of RNA and protein. Here we describe, using the ciliate Tetrahymena thermophila, a previously unidentified response to amino acid deprivation in which mature transfer RNA (tRNA) is cleaved in the anticodon loop. We observed that anticodon loop cleavage affects a small fraction of most or all tRNA sequences. Accumulation of cleaved tRNA is temporally coordinated with the morphological and metabolic changes of adaptation to starvation. The starvation-induced endonucleolytic cleavage activity targets tRNAs that have undergone maturation by 5′ and 3′ end processing and base modification. Curiously, the majority of cleaved tRNAs lack the 3′ terminal CCA nucleotides required for aminoacylation. Starvation-induced tRNA cleavage is inhibited in the presence of essential amino acids, independent of the persistence of other starvation-induced responses. Our findings suggest that anticodon loop cleavage may reduce the accumulation of uncharged tRNAs as part of a specific response induced by amino acid starvation.
The integration of irradiation and surgery as the treatment for selected cancers

Combinations of radiation therapy with surgery originated when the surgeon thought he had transected cancer. Unrealistic expectations, however, plagued these combinations until it was appreciated that the dose required to eradicate a given cancerous mass varied primarily with its volume and the associated oxygen tension of its cells. This helped to establish the rationale for combining irradiation and surgery and enabled the radiation therapist to more closely tailor dose needs to each specific clinical problem. Tailoring of dose remains crude. Our greatest errors continue to be attributable to poor definition of tumor extent and the underestimation of residual tumor volume. We need more precise information from the surgeon and pathologist along with greater knowledge of patterns of spread. To the degree that such added information becomes available, we have the means to increase loco-regional control rates.
Economics, Public Service Motivation, and Pay for Performance: Complements or Substitutes?

ABSTRACT This article summarizes what we can learn from personnel economics about the likely empirical veracity of the statements regarding the efficacy of pay for performance in the public sector: If pay is based on public service performance, and if people work for pay, then pay for performance will align motivation and performance. I argue instead that the predominant conclusion from the economics literature, which focuses on the private sector, is that in many contexts usually thought to characterize public as well as private sector employment, motivation, pay, and performance are more likely to be substitutes at critical margins. The consequence is that performance pay may have unintended adverse consequences. It is not widely used in many complex private sector organizations and probably should not be widely used in similar public sector operations.
Effects of Configuration Interaction on Intensities and Phase Shifts

The interference of a discrete autoionized state with a continuum gives rise to characteristically asymmetric peaks in excitation spectra. The earlier qualitative interpretation of this phenomenon is extended and revised. A theoretical formula is fitted to the shape of the $2s2p^{1}P$ resonance of He observed in the inelastic scattering of electrons. The fitting determines the parameters of the $2s2p^{1}P$ resonance as follows: $E=60.1$ ev, $\ensuremath{\Gamma}\ensuremath{\sim}0.04$ ev, $f\ensuremath{\sim}2 \mathrm{to} 4\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$. The theory is extended to the interaction of one discrete level with two or more continua and of a set of discrete levels with one continuum. The theory can also give the position and intensity shifts produced in a Rydberg series of discrete levels by interaction with a level of another configuration. The connection with the nuclear theory of resonance scattering is indicated.
The “All or None” Principle and its Implications

(1910). The “All or None” Principle and its Implications. American Physical Education Review: Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 1-5.
Seasonal Behavioral Variation and Its Relationship to Thermoregulation in Ruffed Lemurs (Varecia Variegata Variegata)

Seasonal behavioral variation has been described in lemur species throughout Madagascar, and has been related to pronounced island-wide environmental seasonality. Although there are regional differences in rainfall patterns, ambient temperature appears to vary in consistent, seasonal cycles throughout Madagascar. Data collected during a field study of black and white ruffed lemurs (Varecia variegata variegata) in northeastern Madagascar demonstrated that ruffed lemurs reduced activity levels and travel distances, and increased feeding, sunning, and hunched sitting during the months with the lowest temperatures. Lemurs appear to respond to predictable annual cycles of temperature change with behavioral and social mechanisms rather than purely physiological ones. Ambient temperature is proposed to be a major determinant of seasonal variation in lemur behavior. These hypotheses have implications for the evolution of lemur social organization. The goal of this paper is to focus attention on the relationship between thermoregulation and behavior in lemurs and to suggest a set of issues that merit detailed study.
Litigation In the Interest of Children Does Anybody Win

"Is test-case litigation a sensible way to promote the welfare of children?" This question, posed by the Foundation for Child Development, was the starting point for the contributors to the book In the Interest of Children: Advocacy, Law Reform, and Public Policy (1985).1 Edited by Robert H. Mnookin of Stanford Law School, In the Interest of Children is the product of a distinguished legal study group who intensively examined five Supreme Court cases involving diverse arenas of child and family policy: Bellotti v. Baird (1979) (adolescent abortion), Goss v. Lopez (1975) (school disciplinary procedures), Pennhurst State School and Hospital v. Halderman (1981, 1984) (rights of institutionalized mentally retarded persons), Roe v. Norton (1975; Maher v. Doe, 1977) (child support enforcement), and Smith v. OFFER (1977) (foster care). According to Mnookin (personal communication, July 31, 1985), the cases were chosen because they were important "hard cases," typified by indeterminancy (cf. Mnookin, 1975) and unclear policy choices. Indeed, a common theme through the case reports is disagreement among self-defined child advocates about the proper means of meeting children's best interests and even what those interests are (cf. Melton, 1983a; Mnookin, 1978; Rogers & Wrightsman, 1978).
The Preservation of Historic Buildings and Ancient Monuments

(1922). The Preservation of Historic Buildings and Ancient Monuments. Transactions of the Newcomen Society: Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 91-92.
Markovian and Non-Markovian Modeling of Membrane Dynamics with Milestoning

We exploit atomically detailed simulations and the milestoning theory to extract coarse grained models of membrane kinetics and thermodynamics. Non-Markovian and Markovian theories for the phosphate group displacements are used to coarsely represent membrane motions. The construction of the two models makes it possible to examine their consistency and accuracy. The equilibrium and fluctuations of the phosphate groups along the normal to the membrane plane are estimated, and milestoning equations are constructed and solved. An optimal Markovian model is constructed that reproduces exactly the equilibrium and mean first passage time (MFPT) of the non-Markovian model. The equilibrium solution of both models is favorably compared to distributions obtained from straightforward molecular dynamics simulations. The picture for the kinetics is complex. Multiple local relaxation times of the mass density are illustrated emphasizing the non-Markovian characteristics of the process. In Markovian modeling, only a sing...
Comparison of Silk Maysin, Antibiosis to Corn Earworm Larvae (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), and Silk Browning in Crosses of Dent × Sweet Corn

J. Econ. Entomol. 92(3): 746-753 (1999) Sweet corn is one of the highest ranking vegetable crops in the United States in terms of both market value and total acreage: it also ranks among the top vegetable crops in terms of pesticide usage. Ear damage caused by insects is the most significant concern to producers. An estimated 25-40 insecticide applications may be made in a single season to control ear-feeding insects. Plant resistance is an alternative strategy to alleviate environmental concern when pesticides are used. In this study we investigated the feasibility of transferring antibiosis to corn earworm. Helicoverpa zea (Boddie), from dent corn with high silk maysin to sweet corn. Relationships among silk maysin concentration, antibiosis to corn earworm, and silk browning in their F 2 segregating populations were determined. Lyophilized high maysin silks bioassays produced low larval weights, thus providing evidence that damage to sweet corn by corn earworm could be reduced by increasing silk maysin concentration. Simple correlation coefficients indicated a highly significant negative association between silk maysin concentrations and 8-d corn earworm larval weights (r -0.80, P< 0.0001). Silk browning was also closely associated with silk maysin concentrations and antibiosis. Diets containing mid-dark silks reduced larval weights by 68% compared with larval weights (588 mg) on the bean diet control. Maysin analyses and dry-silk bioassays also revealed that if maysin is present in F 2 plants from sweet corn kernels, it is always in a higher concentration than in plants from dent kernels, These results suggest that sweet corn parents in these populations may have a recessive gene, which may be closely linked to sh2 locus enhancing/regulating maysin synthesis when crossed to a maysin producing dent parent.
Merrimac-high-performance and highly-efficient scientific computing with streams

Advances in VLSI technology have made the raw ingredients for computation plentiful. Large numbers of fast functional units and large amounts of memory and bandwidth can be made efficient in terms of chip area, cost, and energy, however, high-performance computers realize only a small fraction of VLSI's potential. This dissertation describes the Merrimac streaming supercomputer architecture and system. Merrimac has an integrated view of the applications, software system, compiler, and architecture. We will show how this approach leads to over an order of magnitude gains in performance per unit cost, unit power, and unit floor-space for scientific applications when compared to common scientific computers designed around clusters of commodity general-purpose processors. The dissertation discusses Merrimac's stream architecture, the mapping of scientific codes to effectively run on the stream architecture, and system issues in the Merrimac supercomputer. The stream architecture is designed to take advantage of the properties of modern semiconductor technology---very high bandwidth over short distances and very high transistor counts, but limited global on-chip and off-chip bandwidths---and match them with the characteristics of scientific codes---large amounts of parallelism and access locality. Organizing the computation into streams and exploiting the resulting locality using a register hierarchy enables a stream architecture to reduce the memory bandwidth required by representative computations by an order of magnitude or more. Hence a processing node with a fixed memory bandwidth (which is expensive) can support an order of magnitude more arithmetic units (which are inexpensive). Because each node has much greater performance (128 double-precision GFLOP/s) than a conventional microprocessor, a streaming supercomputer can achieve a given level of performance with fewer nodes, reducing costs, simplifying system management, and increasing reliability.
The Helping Relationship and Socialization of Children: Some Perspectives on Tutoring

By these means a few good boys, selected for the purpose, as teachers of the respective classes, form the whole school, teach their pupils to think rightly, and mixing in all the little amusements and diversions, secure them against the contagion of ill example, or the force of ill habits; and, by seeing that they treat one another kindly, render their condition contented and happy [Andrew Bell, 1797].
Wideband interdigitated-electrode p-HgCdTe photomixers at 25 µm

An essential component of far-infrared (FIR) heterodyne radiometers being developed1,2 for investigations of extraterrestrial molecular species (e.g., H2) is a wideband photomixer. Photoconductors are very attractive for this application as they operate at much lower electric fields than photodiodes, which have limited wideband performance in the FIR because of tunneling.3 Even in the case of photoconductors small electrode separations are necessary to minimize the electric field (and carrier velocity) needed to achieve high photoconductive gain at high frequencies. The interdigitated-electrode (IDE) structure enables both small electrode separations and active areas large enough for efficient detection.
Infantile hemangiomas and structural anomalies: PHACE and LUMBAR syndrome

In a subset of patients, infantile hemangiomas may be associated with structural anomalies. Structural anomalies may affect the upper body (PHACE Syndrome) or the lower body (LUMBAR Syndrome). Since their initial descriptions, improved understanding of these two syndromes has lead to recognition of a broader phenotypic spectrum than initially recognized. This paper aims to provide an updated review of the presentation, associated anomalies, and management of PHACE and LUMBAR syndromes, two well-characterized syndromes associated with IH.
Sustainability Trends and Natural Resource Use in U.S. Cotton Production

Cotton is a natural fiber that takes up carbon dioxide from the environment when grown; however, it requires various resources to be cultivated in a financially viable way. Resources such as fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides, and irrigation water can create environmental impacts as well as present significant costs to the grower. Understanding the efficacy of technologies and grower practices is an important aspect of developing best practices and guiding future research. To better understand the grower needs, practices, and resource use efficiency, a survey was conducted in 2015 with 925 U.S. cotton grower respondents. This survey gathered data on field performance, pest pressures, growing practices, and other parameters that were used to examine the resources used per pound of cotton lint as well as estimate the greenhouse gas emissions and energy use from cotton cultivation. In general, growers who used various precision agricultural technologies reported higher performing fields with higher resource use efficiencies than non-precision technology adopters.
Lexical Sorting in Snobol

Alphabetical sorting routines useful in processing natural language texts are explored in this article. Four basic algorithms (Bin, Bubble, Tree and Chain sorts) and five SNOBOL implementations of these algorithms are discussed. In addition, the authors deal with problems of program-defined special character sets and sorting orders diverging from standard machine collating sequence, as well as questions of producing reverse-alphabetized word lists. Comparative running times for these programs on representative corpora of varying sizes are tabulated and compared. For those readers unfamiliar with SNOBOL, the article offers a brief introduction to the language sufficient to allow understanding of these and many other SNOBOL programs. Thus the programmer who works with other languages can both familiarize himself with SNOBOL, and at the same time learn enough to translate the sort programs into his usual language. Reference is also made to SPITBOL, a recently developed high-speed compiler for SNOBOL.
Integrating Team-Based Design Across the Curriculum at a Large Public University

Despite high enrollments and budget cutbacks affecting many programs, students still need design experience which prepares them for a globally competitive workforce. We demonstrate that team design projects can be threaded across the curriculum even at large institutions with high departmental student to faculty ratios (∼50:1). We assessed student outcomes with an undergraduate population of nearly 500 students using a mixed-methods approach. Students reported increased confidence in their engineering, design, and teamwork skills after completing the projects.
Clinical Relevance of Humanized Mice

Mice have been used in basic science research over decades as small in vivo models to study human immunity and disease. Despite their shortcomings, they have yielded valuable information that lead to the development of effective therapies against cancer and other infectious diseases. However, the appearance of HIV in the 1980s posed a major challenge; the virus only targeted human CD4 T cells, thus rendering mouse models not useful to study the disease. In the late 1980s, researchers at various institutions began developing chimeric mouse models. Immunodeficient mice were transplanted with human immune cells or hematopoietic tissues that gave rise to chimeric mice that carried a somewhat functional human immune system. These early chimeric animals proved quite valuable in the study of HIV pathogenesis and latency. However, the lack of peripheral reconstitution limited the scope of many studies. During the past few years, more advanced models have been developed. The new chimeric animals have been peripherally reconstituted with most if not all lineage cells of the human immune system. As such, humanized mice were no longer used only for HIV but also for other diseases including cancer. Here, we will discuss the older and newer systems and examine their relevance in the development of new and effective therapies against disease.
Carbon storage in the Mississippi River delta enhanced by environmental engineering

River deltas have contributed to atmospheric carbon regulation throughout Earth history, but functioning in the modern era has been impaired by reduced sediment loads, altered hydrologic regimes, increased global sea-level rise and accelerated subsidence. Delta restoration involves environmental engineering via river diversions, which utilize self-organizing processes to create prograding deltas. Here we analyse sediment cores from Wax Lake delta, a product of environmental engineering, to quantify the burial of organic carbon. We find that, despite relatively low concentrations of organic carbon measured in the cores (about 0.4%), the accumulation of about 3 T m−2 of sediment over the approximate 60 years of delta building resulted in the burial of a significant amount of organic carbon (16 kg m−2). This equates to an apparent organic carbon accumulation rate of 250 ± 23 g m−2 yr−1, which implicitly includes losses by carbon emissions and erosion. Our estimated accumulation rate for Wax Lake delta is substantially greater than previous estimates based on the top metre of delta sediments and comparable to those of coastal mangrove and marsh habitats. The sedimentation of carbon at the Wax Lake delta demonstrates the capacity of engineered river diversions to enhance both coastal accretion and carbon burial. Substantial amounts of organic carbon have been buried in the Wax Lake delta, USA, over the past 20 years, according to sediment analyses. This suggests that river diversions can lead to both coastal accretion and carbon sequestration.
Coiled coils unspring protein origami.

Self-assembling sequences of protein coiled coils create polyhedral nanostructures for advanced applications in biomedicine, chemistry and materials science.
Trends in infants reported to child welfare with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS)

Abstract Background Substance abuse among caregivers is a known risk factor for child maltreatment, and some of these children subsequently come to the attention of the child welfare system. The recent opioid epidemic has led to rising numbers of women who use opioids during pregnancy and infants born with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), raising the question of whether there has been a consequent rise in the numbers of these infants reported to the child welfare system. The purpose of this study is to examine the trend in the number and percentage of infants reported to the child welfare system with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) from 2004 to 2014, and determine whether the trend is distinct from the trend in the percentage of infants reported with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). Methods We analyzed National Child Abuse & Neglect Data System (NCANDS) data on reports of infants (aged Results The number of reports of infants with NAS for the 10 states was the lowest at 3073 in 2009 and highest at 4806 in 2014. The average percentage of cases of NAS reported rose from 4.72% in 2004 to 9.19% in 2014. The results of the GEE revealed a significant main effect of Substance Type (p = 0.015) and Year (p = 0.009), indicating that overall, averaged across time, the percentage of NAS reports was greater than the percentage of FASD reports and averaged across substance type, the percentage of substance-related reports increased over time. Discussion NAS reports increased significantly over time, most pronounced between 2010 and 2014, while the trend for FASD reports did not show significant change over the study period. Moreover, the child welfare reports data obtained from the 10 state sample aligned with national NAS incidence data. Although recent efforts to curb prescribing and other means of supply have been implemented, it remains to be seen whether the large rise seen will continue or be ameliorated by these public health initiatives. However, overall these findings suggest that immediate efforts are needed to prepare the child welfare system for this trend, as well as to treat opioid addiction among women of child bearing age.
The Effectiveness of Health Care Information Technologies: Evaluation of Trust, Security Beliefs, and Privacy as Determinants of Health Care Outcomes

Background The diffusion of health information technologies (HITs) within the health care sector continues to grow. However, there is no theory explaining how success of HITs influences patient care outcomes. With the increase in data breaches, HITs' success now hinges on the effectiveness of data protection solutions. Still, empirical research has only addressed privacy concerns, with little regard for other factors of information assurance. Objective The objective of this study was to study the effectiveness of HITs using the DeLone and McLean Information Systems Success Model (DMISSM). We examined the role of information assurance constructs (ie, the role of information security beliefs, privacy concerns, and trust in health information) as measures of HIT effectiveness. We also investigated the relationships between information assurance and three aspects of system success: attitude toward health information exchange (HIE), patient access to health records, and perceived patient care quality. Methods Using structural equation modeling, we analyzed the data from a sample of 3677 cancer patients from a public dataset. We used R software (R Project for Statistical Computing) and the Lavaan package to test the hypothesized relationships. Results Our extension of the DMISSM to health care was supported. We found that increased privacy concerns reduce the frequency of patient access to health records use, positive attitudes toward HIE, and perceptions of patient care quality. Also, belief in the effectiveness of information security increases the frequency of patient access to health records and positive attitude toward HIE. Trust in health information had a positive association with attitudes toward HIE and perceived patient care quality. Trust in health information had no direct effect on patient access to health records; however, it had an indirect relationship through privacy concerns. Conclusions Trust in health information and belief in the effectiveness of information security safeguards increases perceptions of patient care quality. Privacy concerns reduce patients' frequency of accessing health records, patients' positive attitudes toward HIE exchange, and overall perceived patient care quality. Health care organizations are encouraged to implement security safeguards to increase trust, the frequency of health record use, and reduce privacy concerns, consequently increasing patient care quality.
Small Business Development and Poverty Allerviation in Alexandra South Africa

is clear that since 1994 a turning point in the policy shaping the South African small business sector has seen the increased participation of the private sector and local communities. However, over the year the most significant development in the sector is the pivotal role allocated by both the government and the private sector to small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) in poverty alleviation and transformation processes. The paper critically assesses the role of the small business sector in poverty alleviation in Alexandra and to examine both government and private sector initiatives for supporting small business development for poverty alleviation. It is observed that small businesses are not playing the expected role due to number of constraints including a lack of policy that deals adequately with the semi-formal and informal business sectors, the predominant sectors in Alexandra. There is also a shortage of small business development agencies that would help in developing a culture of entrepreneurship and business management skills. The overall finding indicates that with positive interaction between development agencies, and small businesses in Alexandra, predominantly informal and semi-formal SMMEs in Alexandra could not only alleviate poverty but could also contribute to the general transformation process.
A Queer Revolution: Reconceptualizing the Debate Over Linguistic Reclamation

The debate over linguistic reclamation, the appropriation of a pejorative epithet by its target(s), is generally conceived of as a simple binary of support and opposition. I offer an alternative conceptualization that shows both the complex contrasts and commonalities within the debate. Specifically, I identify three perspectives: (1) that the term is inseparable from its pejoration and therefore its reclamation is opposed; (2) that it is separable from its pejoration and therefore its reclamation is supported; and (3) that it is inseparable from its pejoration and therefore its reclamation is supported. Additionally, by examining different goals within and across reclamations, I demonstrate the difficulty of assigning a fixed outcome of success or failure. Although the term queer serves as the primary case study, the terms black, nigger, cunt, and dyke supplement and expand the discussion from a specific study of queer to linguistic reclamation in general.
Thromboxane A2/Prostaglandin H2 Receptors: A Growing Family of Receptor Subtypes

The presence of TXA2/PGH2 receptors on platelets, blood vessels and vascular smooth muscle has been established using both pharmacologic (1–2,5) and radioligand binding studies (3,6). However, debate exists as to whether or not platelet and vascular TXA2/PGH2 receptors are different. Pharmacological studies using human platelets and blood vessels from different species supported the notion that they were different (7, 8). However, since these studies crossed species and often used only a single compound, the possibility of species difference versus true receptor heterogeneity remained uncertain. Mais et al. (8–10) using analogues of 13-azapinane TXA2 provided pharmacological evidence that in the human and dog, the platelet and vascular TXA2/PGH2 receptors were different. Morinelli et al. (11) also provided pharmacological evidence that platelet and vascular receptors were different, using analogues of 10,10 difluoro TXA2. However, other pharmacologic and radioligand binding studies have failed to find differences between the platelet and vascular receptors even when crossing species (12–14). Thus, it remains controversial whether platelet and vascular TXA2/PGH2 receptors are different.
Characteristics and origin of myogenic response in isolated gracilis muscle arterioles.

Responses to changes in intravascular pressure of isolated rat gracilis muscle arterioles were investigated under no-flow conditions. First-, second-, and third- order arterioles were isolated and ...
The Jacobian and Abel’s Theorem

Let X be a compact Riemann surface of genus g ≥ 1. We use the description of X in terms of a convex 4g − gon as in §14, and the corresponding basis a i, b j of H 1(X, ℤ).
Managing the low-socioeconomic-status prostate cancer patient

Management of patients with low socioeconomic status and/or low literacy who have prostate cancer presents a challenge to healthcare professionals. Improving treatment outcomes for these men requires specific educational programs to provide a better understanding of prostate cancer including careful posttreatment follow-up to ensure they have recovered well, that the cancer is not progressing and that complications are not proving troublesome. Practice nurses and health educators/navigators can play an important role in achieving these objectives. Education and knowledgeable advice can lead to earlier diagnosis of prostate cancer, improved patient participation in the treatment decision-making process and effective management of posttreatment complications.
What Do We Mean by Realism? And How—And What—Does Realism Explain?

“Realist” has different senses in different uses—necessarily and appropriately, but with considerable potential for obscurity or even confusion. This lack of precision and clarity, I will argue, is inescapable. (If it is a “problem,” it is irresolvable.) There is no defining core to realism; no set of criteria by which we can sort arguments, explanations, actions, or outcomes as realist or non-realist. “Realism” is a complex and multidimensional “thing” that, as we will see as we proceed, appears in our analytical practice in varied ways. This essay seeks to specify some of the principal ways that “realism” addresses “the world” in order to improve our understanding of the character and content of explanatory appeals to “realism.”
Analysis of Shoulder Displacement During Activities of Daily Living and Implications on Design of Exoskeleton Robotics for Assessment

Stroke is a leading cause of upper-limb impairment and a motivating factor behind the development of robotic technologies for arm assessment and rehabilitation. The shoulder is one of the most complex joints in the body and a potential source of human-exoskeleton misalignment. This paper presents histograms of shoulder displacement during 18 activities of daily living (ADLs) and demonstrates the shoulder joint translations that must be accommodated if misalignment is to be avoided during natural reach and grasp movements of the arm.
Combination of Cystatins 9 and C Modulates Serum Biomarkers Associated with Inflammation and Provides Prophylactic as Well as Long-Term Protection against Multidrug-Resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae .

We have identified recombinant human cystatins 9 (rCST9) and C (rCSTC) as a combination immunotherapeutic treatment against multidrug-resistant (MDR) New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase-1 (NDM-1)-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae We evaluated the lasting protection of rCST9/rCSTC treatment against MDR NDM-1 K. pneumoniae pneumonia. Results showed that rCST9/rCSTC treatment modulated endogenous serum biomarkers, cystatins 9 and C and amyloid A, associated with poor patient outcomes and provided prophylactic and long-term protection in a murine model of pneumonia.
A Conceptual Framework of Entrepreneurial Finance

This article proposes a framework and core content for entrepreneurial finance (EF) that distinguishes EF from corporate finance. The Realms of Entrepreneurial Finance (REF) framework builds on exi...
Discovering archaeological landscapes in parks and protected areas

Monitoring cultural resources in parks and protected areas is greatly enhanced using Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR). For this example, a pilot inventory of cultural resources is illustrated fo...
Patterns of voicing-conditioned vowel duration in French and English

Because the variation in vowel duration conditioned by following obstruent voicing has been found to be much greater in English than in other languages, a phonological rule of vowel-lengthening has been proposed for English. This conclusion, however, has been based on studies that do not take into account a number of other factors which influence vowel duration. A comparison of vowel duration in English and French monosyllables shows that, particularly sentence-finally and medially under focus, when inter-language differences in final obstruent realization are taken into account, obstruent voicing has a substantial influence on vowel duration in both languages. In words occurring in unstressed medial position, the variation in vowel duration is much smaller, but equally so in both languages, once inter-language differences in prosodic structure and syllable structure are taken into account. These results suggest that languages universally exhibit fairly similar, physiologically conditioned, voicing-dependent variation in vowel durations. Under certain conditions of word length, syllabic structure, stress, position in word and utterance, and speaking tempo, voicing-induced differences are enhanced, while under others they are obscured. A general phonetic account in terms of timing control thus seems more appropriate than a language-specific phonological rule, even for a language like English.
Non-invasive digital thermal monitoring and flow-mediated dilation in systemic sclerosis.

OBJECTIVES The fingers, toes, and tips of the nose and ears have specialised structural and functional features for thermoregulation, and are the most common areas of Raynaud's phenomenon in systemic sclerosis. Digital thermal monitoring (DTM) of vascular reactivity assesses Doppler ultrasound hyperemic, low frequency, blood velocity of radial artery and fingertip vascular function. Flow mediated dilation (FMD) is an indirect measure of endothelial function, perfusion, and vasodilator ability. In this study, we investigated the cross-sectional correlation of FMD and DTM variables to inform an optimised noninvasive study of SSc endothelial function. A student's T-test was used to compare means of DTM across binary variables. METHODS Consented SSc registry patients were included in this analysis. The subjects were prepared for FMD and DTM per standardised guidelines. The SSc clinical features were recorded. Spearman's Rank Correlation was used to assess the strength of a relationship FMD and DTM variables. RESULTS Thirty-four SSc subjects had FMD and DTM performed on the same day. Relative (0.42, p=<0.02), absolute FMD (0.41, p<0.02), and shear rate (0.32, p<0.07) were weakly, but significantly correlated with the DTM. Reactive hyperemia (-0.44, p=0.000) was weakly inversely, but significantly related with DTM. Baseline diameter and flow were not significantly related to the DTM. CONCLUSIONS This non-invasive study of SSc endothelial function suggests that macrocirculation (including relative and absolute FMD, shear rate, and peak hyperemia) and microcirculatory thermoregulation (characterised by DTM) are significantly correlated, thus warrants further prospective study.
Decreasing Patient Dwell Times for Outpatient Cardiac Nuclear Medicine Studies: The Benefits of SMART Goals, Scope Limitations, and Society Guidelines in Quality Improvement

Abstract Background We describe a quality improvement project to improve patient dwell times for outpatient cardiac nuclear medicine exams. Preliminary data indicated that the mean patient dwell time was about 270 minutes. Our specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goal was to reduce patient dwell times for outpatient pharmacologically stressed cardiac nuclear medicine exams by 60 minutes over the course of 2 months. Methods An interdisciplinary team was formed which used staff interviews and workflow observation to create a cause and effect diagram as well as a process map. Review of the national guidelines for cardiac nuclear medicine exams identified rest and stress intervals as intervention targets. A new protocol was designed and implemented. Results The mean patient dwell time was improved from 270 to 184 minutes. Conclusions Overall, we found that a clear specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goal, limited scope, and national guideline review allowed for a successful quality improvement project.
The Hyperbolic Case: Two Real Characteristics

As an illustration of a set of two linear hyperbolic partial differential equations, we consider first longitudinal vibration in a bar, and second transverse vibration in a string. We begin by deriving the equations that govern these two cases of vibration, which are similar in form. We examined the coefficients in these equations in Chapter 7 and established that the system is hyperbolic. We write the differential equations in the characteristic directions, and both determine and examine the solution.