cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Early Childhood Teachers’ Pedagogical Reasoning About How Children Learn During Language and Literacy Instruction

The knowledge that teachers hold about children’s learning is important to teachers’ practice. Few studies have examined how early childhood teachers use such knowledge during moment-to-moment instruction for language and literacy learning. This study employed a phenomenological approach to understand the knowledge that eight early childhood teachers used to inform their pedagogical reasoning during language and literacy activities. Stimulated recall interviews about practice were conducted with the prekindergarten teachers. Results indicated that the teachers used multiple sources of knowledge to inform their pedagogical reasoning that included: conceptions about how children learn; knowledge about specific children and the learning goals for these children; factors related to the school context; and ideas about themselves as teachers. The analyses revealed that the teachers’ various sources of knowledge functioned together to influence their enacted practice. Implications for professional learning and policy are discussed.
Brain drain in academic medicine: Dealing with personnel departures and loss of talent

The phenomenon of “brain drain,” (BD) or the unanticipated and significant loss of skilled people and the talent they represent via voluntary turnover, continues to be a significant problem across many academic medical centers. This BD is a result of a multifactorial interplay between personal, professional, institutional, peer-driven, and socioeconomic factors and affects mainly academic healthcare organizations characterized by a specific set of leadership, economic, and competitive preconditions. Institutional impact of BD, both financial and nonfinancial, can be profound and is often underappreciated. Financial considerations of BD include loss of clinical and non-clinical income, contraction of institutional expertise, severance and recruitment expenses, as well as costs of onboarding new faculty. This article focuses on how to identify risk factors for BD at both institutional and personnel levels. Proposed steps for prevention and early intervention are outlined. The following core competencies are addressed in this article: Professionalism, Practice-based learning and improvement, Systems-based practice, Interpersonal skills, and Communication.
E-cigarette Use, Cigarette Smoking, Dual Use, and Problem Behaviors Among U.S. Adolescents: Results From a National Survey

Abstract Purpose There is a need to obtain greater clarity regarding adolescents' e-cigarette use and the associations of use with a wider range of risk behaviors. This study examines the associations among past-month e-cigarette use only, traditional cigarette smoking only, dual use (i.e., concurrent e-cigarette use and cigarette smoking), school-related (i.e., truancy and poor academic performance) risk behaviors, and substance-related (i.e., alcohol use, binge drinking, marijuana use, illicit drug use, and nonmedical prescription drug use) risk behaviors. Methods Data were collected via self-administered questionnaires from a nationally representative sample of 8,696 high school seniors. Results An estimated 9.9% of U.S. high school seniors reported past-month e-cigarette use only, 6.0% reported past-month cigarette smoking only, and 7.3% reported past-month dual use. School- and substance-related risk behaviors had strong associations with past-month e-cigarette use. Adolescents who only used e-cigarettes had significantly greater odds of all school- and substance-related risk behaviors relative to nonusers. Dual users had significantly greater odds of frequent/daily e-cigarette use as well as all school- and substance-related risk behaviors relative to those who only used e-cigarettes. Finally, adolescents who engaged in frequent/daily e-cigarette use had significantly greater odds of binge drinking, marijuana use, other illicit drug use and nonmedical prescription drug use, relative to experimental e-cigarette users. Conclusions E-cigarette use is common among U.S. adolescents, and there are robust associations between e-cigarette use and school- and substance-related risk behaviors. There is evidence that e-cigarette use clusters with risk behaviors and appears to represent a problem behavior, especially dual use of e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes.
Frequency-dependent stability of CNT Joule heaters in ionizable media and desalination processes

Water shortages and brine waste management are increasing challenges for coastal and inland regions, with high-salinity brines presenting a particularly challenging problem. These high-salinity waters require the use of thermally driven treatment processes, such as membrane distillation, which suffer from high complexity and cost. Here, we demonstrate how controlling the frequency of an applied alternating current at high potentials (20 Vpp) to a porous thin-film carbon nanotube (CNT)/polymer composite Joule heating element can prevent CNT degradation in ionizable environments such as high-salinity brines. By operating at sufficiently high frequencies, these porous thin-films can be directly immersed in highly ionizable environments and used as flow-through heating elements. We demonstrate that porous CNT/polymer composites can be used as self-heating membranes to directly heat high-salinity brines at the water/vapour interface of the membrane distillation element, achieving high single-pass recoveries that approach 100%, far exceeding standard membrane distillation recovery limits. Electro-oxidation of CNT Joule heaters can be eliminated through the application of sufficiently high a.c. frequencies, which enables their use as self-heating membranes in membrane distillation.
VAYU: Accelerating stream processing applications through dynamic network-aware topology re-optimization

Abstract Stream processing applications for online analytics are commonly used in domains ranging from sensor data processing to social networking. To achieve high-throughput, stream processing engines support pipelined execution, low-overhead fault-tolerance, and efficient group communication overlays. The throughput of pipelined application workflows is significantly impacted by dynamic system state. In particular, we show that a single bottleneck in the pipeline (congested link or an overloaded operator) can drastically impact the system throughput. In this paper, we present a number of techniques for addressing bottlenecks in stream engines. Our techniques fall into two major classes – network-aware routing for fine grained control of streams; and dynamic overlay generation for optimizing performance of group communication operations. To enable fast workflow re-optimization, we present a light-weight protocol for consistent modification of pipelines. We present detailed algorithms, their implementation in a real system, and address issues of fault tolerance and performance. We evaluate performance of the proposed techniques in the context of three real applications. We show that our techniques improve performance by 20% to 200%, under various overheads, relative to a baseline representative of current implementations. We demonstrate that our techniques are robust to highly dynamic state, as well as complex congestion patterns. Given the widespread use of streaming systems and the need for dealing with dynamic system state, our techniques represent a significant and practical improvement.
Tetradymites as thermoelectrics and topological insulators

Tetradymites are M2X3 compounds — in which M is a group V metal, usually Bi or Sb, and X is a group VI anion, Te, Se or S — that crystallize in a rhombohedral structure. Bi2Se3, Bi2Te3 and Sb2Te3 are archetypical tetradymites. Other mixtures of M and X elements produce common variants, such as Bi2Te2Se. Because tetradymites are based on heavy p-block elements, strong spin-orbit coupling greatly influences their electronic properties, both on the surface and in the bulk. Their surface electronic states are a cornerstone of frontier work on topological insulators. The bulk energy bands are characterized by small energy gaps, high group velocities, small effective masses and band inversion near the centre of the Brillouin zone. These properties are favourable for high-efficiency thermoelectric materials but make it difficult to obtain an electrically insulating bulk, which is a requirement of topological insulators. This Review outlines recent progress made in bulk and thin-film tetradymite materials for the optimization of their properties both as thermoelectrics and as topological insulators. Tetradymite-type materials, such as Bi2Te3, have for decades been of interest as excellent thermoelectrics near ambient temperature and have recently enabled many seminal studies on topological insulators. In this Review, we discuss the recent progress in optimizing the properties of bulk and thin-film tetradymites for such studies.
Nonparametric Analysis of Non-Euclidean Data on Shapes and Images

The article presents some of the basic theory for nonparametric inference on non-Euclidean spaces using Frechet means that has been developed during the past two decades. Included are recent results on the asymptotic distribution theory of sample Frechet means on such spaces, especially differentiable and Riemannian manifolds. Apart from this main theme and its applications, a nonparametric Bayes theory on Riemannian manifolds is outlined for the purpose of density estimation and classification. A final section briefly discusses the problem of machine vision, or robotic recognition of images as Riemannian manifolds.
Remarks on Halasz-Montgomery Type Inequalities

The aim of the Halasz-Montgomery inequality is to derive distributional properties for Dirichlet polynomials $$ F(t) = \sum\limits_{n\sim M} {{a_n}{n^{it}}\,\left( {\left| t \right| < T} \right)} $$ (1.1) (n ~ m = n proportional to M) from properties of the ζ-function or its partial sums. It is based on the simple Hilbert space inequality $$ \sum\limits_{r \leqslant R} {\left| {\left\langle {\xi, {\varphi_r}} \right\rangle } \right|} \leqslant \left\| \xi \right\|{\left( {\sum\limits_{r,s \leqslant R} {\left| {\left\langle {{\varphi_r},{\varphi_s}} \right\rangle } \right|} } \right)^{1/2}} $$ (1.2) .
Experimental analysis of childhood psychopathology: A laboratory matching analysis of the behavior of children diagnosed with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

The behavior of children diagnosed with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has been hypothesized to involve differential sensitivity to parameters of reward and punishment. However, support for these theories has been limited because, in part, of the methods used to investigate them. The current study examined the behavior of six ADHD children and six comparison children on a computer task designed to present different parameters of reinforcement by using concurrent reinforcement schedules. A quantitative analysis of the sensitivity to changing contingencies of reinforcement was conducted by examining the performance of the children across five experimental conditions. Results suggest that although there may have been several mediating variables, children diagnosed with ADHD may show less sensitivity to changing parameters of reinforcement rate as measured by response ratios and time allocation to two concurrently available alternatives. Implications of these results are discussed in terms of the utility of such experimental methods in the study of childhood behavior disorders.
Hormonal Regulation of Parental Care in Insects

Publisher Summary This chapter demonstrates the potential of insects for hormonal studies of care. The diversity of parental care among insects can be exploited by both narrow and broad phylogenetic comparisons. In many cases, parental species are closely related to nonparental species, providing clear examples of how the physiology of a nonparental ancestor might have been modified during the evolution of subsocial behavior. One key to comprehending the role of a hormone in parental care will be to understand its effects outside the parental period and its function in closely related species without care. Broad phylogenetic comparisons of taxa employing the same hormones and endocrine glands provide answers to the question of whether convergent social behavior is based on convergent physiology. Among insects, there is a striking variation in the level of juvenile hormone (JH) during parental care. JH is typically considered a gonadotropic hormone in adults, having a role both in directing vitellogenesis in the fat body and in facilitating the uptake of vitellogenin.
Complete Visitability for Autonomous Robots on Graphs

We consider the distributed setting of N autonomous mobile robots operating on graphs following Look-Compute-Move cycles and communicating with other robots using colored lights under the robots with lights model. We assume obstructed visibility under which a robot cannot see another robot if a third robot is positioned between them on the straight line connecting them. We introduce and study the fundamental problem of repositioning N robots on the nodes of a graph so that each robot has a path to all others without visiting an intermediate node that is occupied by any other robot (which we call the Complete Visitability problem). This problem is of interest due to its relationship to the problems of information collection, scattering, flocking, and dispersion on graphs. This problem generalizes the Complete Visitability problem studied in the literature, where the goal was to reposition the robots on a plane so that each robot sees all others. We have the following four results: We first show that it is impossible to solve Complete Visitability on arbitrary graphs, irrespective of the number of colors, time, and the robot activation setting (fully synchronous, semi-synchronous, or asynchronous). We then give an algorithm that solves Complete Visitability on grid graphs using 7 colors in the semi-synchronous setting. The algorithm uses 6 colors in the fully synchronous setting. The algorithm is collision-free. We then show that the total number of moves by any robot is ?(h) and the runtime is O(h 2) in our algorithm, where h denotes the number of layers of robots in the initial configuration. We also show that the number of moves bound is asymptotically tight and any Complete Visitability algorithm has runtime ?(h) in grid graphs. We finally show that the algorithm and bounds for grid graphs extend to hexagonal tessellation graphs under chirality – robots agree on left and right directions.
Loss of muscle mass during preoperative chemotherapy as a prognosticator for poor survival in patients with colorectal liver metastases.

Abstract Background The survival impact of specific body composition changes during preoperative chemotherapy in patients with colorectal liver metastases undergoing curative-intent surgery remains unclear. This study aimed to determine the impact of changes in body weight and muscle mass during preoperative chemotherapy on survival after hepatectomy in patients with colorectal liver metastases. Methods Consecutive patients with colorectal liver metastases undergoing preoperative chemotherapy and curative hepatectomy during 2009–2013 were retrospectively analyzed. Recurrence-free and overall survival were examined according to body compositions, including muscle mass, as measured by skeletal muscle index (area of muscle [cm2]/square of height [m2]), and body weight before and after preoperative chemotherapy. Results The median follow-up duration in overall 169 patients was 47 months. Skeletal muscle index and body weight changed significantly during chemotherapy (skeletal muscle index: –0.52 cm2/m2, P = .03; body weight: +1.1 kg, P = .002). Patients with major muscle mass loss (≥7%) had significantly shorter median RFS than patients with no or minor muscle mass loss ( Conclusion Major loss of muscle mass but not body weight loss during preoperative chemotherapy is significantly associated with poor recurrence-free survival after hepatectomy in patients with colorectal liver metastases. The mechanisms mediating this association may inform future trials on maintaining muscle mass with dedicated nutrition and exercise programs to improve outcomes.
Clinical review of Clostridium difficile infection: an update on treatment and prevention.

Introduction: Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) has become a significant healthcare-associated infection and is strongly associated with antibiotic use. Practice guidelines have recently been r...
Spanning Individual and Organizational Levels: Meeting the Promise of Meso

The promise of the meso paradigm, for scholars and managers alike, lies in its capability to capture the multi-faceted and multi-causal nature of complex organizational processes. In particular, th...
Wideband Radiation Reconfigurable Microstrip Patch Antenna Loaded With Two Inverted U-Slots

A wideband rectangular microstrip patch antenna with reconfigurable radiation patterns is proposed in this paper, which contains two symmetrically inverted U-slots, and incorporates two coaxial probes along the resonant length of the patch. By controlling the phase shift of applied currents through these probes, the antenna can be set to excite either the SUM or the Difference mode, in accord with the TM01 and TM02 modes, respectively. Unlike previous endeavors on U-slot microstrip antennas, a wide impedance bandwidth of 68% is realized, along with stable polarization and symmetrical radiation patterns. It is worth mentioning that the thickness of the substrate is very small, which is in the order of $0.02 \lambda _{d}$ , where $\lambda _{d}$ is the wavelength in the dielectric medium at the center frequency of 3 GHz. The slot and patch parameters are numerically analyzed to achieve wide bandwidth along with symmetric radiation patterns. The realized null depth in the Difference mode is well below −30 dB, which makes the proposed antenna well suited for monopulse radar applications. The antenna covers a frequency range of 1.98–4 GHz. A prototype is fabricated and tested. Good agreement between the measured and simulated results is observed.
Limb Correction of Geostationary Infrared Imagery in Clear and Cloudy Regions to Improve Interpretation of RGB Composites for Real-Time Applications

AbstractRed–green–blue (RGB) composites are increasingly used by operational forecasters to interpret vast amounts of satellite imagery by reducing several bands into a single, easily understood pr...
Tackling Taboo Topics: A Review of the Three Ms in Working Women’s Lives:

In North America and Western Europe, women now compose almost half the workforce but still face disparities in pay and promotions. We suggest that women’s natural experiences of the three Ms (i.e.,...
The structure of the RCAN1:CN complex explains the inhibition of and substrate recruitment by calcineurin

Regulator of calcineurin 1 (RCAN1) is an endogenous inhibitor of the Ser/Thr phosphatase calcineurin (CN). It has been shown that excessive inhibition of CN is a critical factor for Down syndrome and Alzheimer's disease. Here, we determined RCAN1's mode of action. Using a combination of structural, biophysical, and biochemical studies, we show that RCAN1 inhibits CN via multiple routes: first, by blocking essential substrate recruitment sites and, second, by blocking the CN active site using two distinct mechanisms. We also show that phosphorylation either inhibits RCAN1-CN assembly or converts RCAN1 into a weak inhibitor, which can be reversed by CN via dephosphorylation. This highlights the interplay between posttranslational modifications in regulating CN activity. Last, this work advances our understanding of how active site inhibition of CN can be achieved in a highly specific manner. Together, these data provide the necessary road map for targeting multiple neurological disorders.
FastSecAgg: Scalable Secure Aggregation for Privacy-Preserving Federated Learning.

Recent attacks on federated learning demonstrate that keeping the training data on clients' devices does not provide sufficient privacy, as the model parameters shared by clients can leak information about their training data. A 'secure aggregation' protocol enables the server to aggregate clients' models in a privacy-preserving manner. However, existing secure aggregation protocols incur high computation/communication costs, especially when the number of model parameters is larger than the number of clients participating in an iteration -- a typical scenario in federated learning. In this paper, we propose a secure aggregation protocol, FastSecAgg, that is efficient in terms of computation and communication, and robust to client dropouts. The main building block of FastSecAgg is a novel multi-secret sharing scheme, FastShare, based on the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), which may be of independent interest. FastShare is information-theoretically secure, and achieves a trade-off between the number of secrets, privacy threshold, and dropout tolerance. Riding on the capabilities of FastShare, we prove that FastSecAgg is (i) secure against the server colluding with 'any' subset of some constant fraction (e.g. $\sim10\%$) of the clients in the honest-but-curious setting; and (ii) tolerates dropouts of a 'random' subset of some constant fraction (e.g. $\sim10\%$) of the clients. FastSecAgg achieves significantly smaller computation cost than existing schemes while achieving the same (orderwise) communication cost. In addition, it guarantees security against adaptive adversaries, which can perform client corruptions dynamically during the execution of the protocol.
Confidence bands for a log-concave density

We present a new approach for inference about a log-concave distribution: Instead of using the method of maximum likelihood, we propose to incorporate the log-concavity constraint in an appropriate nonparametric confidence set for the cdf $F$. This approach has the advantage that it automatically provides a measure of statistical uncertainty and it thus overcomes a marked limitation of the maximum likelihood estimate. In particular, we show how to construct confidence bands for the density that have a finite sample guaranteed confidence level. The nonparametric confidence set for $F$ which we introduce here has attractive computational and statistical properties: It allows to bring modern tools from optimization to bear on this problem via difference of convex programming, and it results in optimal statistical inference. We show that the width of the resulting confidence bands converges at nearly the parametric $n^{-\frac{1}{2}}$ rate when the log density is $k$-affine.
Enabling multi-hop ad hoc networks through WiFi Direct multi-group networking

With the increasing availability of mobile devices that natively support ad hoc communication protocols, we are presented with a unique opportunity to realize large scale ad hoc wireless networks. Recently, a novel ad hoc protocol named WiFi Direct has been proposed and standardized by the WiFi Alliance with the objective of facilitating the interconnection of nearby devices. However, WiFi Direct has been designed following a client-server hierarchical architecture, where a single device manages all the communications within a group of devices. In this paper, we propose and analyze different practical solutions for supporting the communications between multiple WiFi Direct groups using Android OS devices. By describing the WiFi Direct standard and the limitations of the current implementation of the Android WiFi Direct framework, we present possible solutions to interconnect different groups to create multi-hop ad hoc networks. Experimental results show that our proposed approaches are feasible with different overhead in terms of energy consumption and delay at the gateway node. Additionally, our experimental results demonstrate the superiority of techniques that exploit the device ability to maintain simultaneous physical connections to multiple groups, enabling multi-hop ad hoc networks with low overhead.
Tuning Lattice Thermal Conductance by Porosity Control in Ultrascaled Si and Ge Nanowires

Porous nanowires (NWs) with tunable thermal conductance are examined as a candidate for thermoelectric devices with high efficiency. Thermal conductance (σl) of porous NWs is calculated using the phonon dispersion obtained from a modified valence force field model. Porosity in the NWs break the crystal symmetry leading to the reduction in ballistic σl. [100] Si and Ge NWs show similar percentage reductions in σl for the same amount of porosity. The model predicts an anisotropic reduction in σl in SiNWs, with [111] showing the maximum reduction followed by [100] and [110] for a similar hole radius. The reduction in σl is attributed to phonon localization and anisotropic mode reduction.
Decrease in Protein Level in Final Finishing Phase of High Lean Gain Swine

At times the price of feed protein sources is high relative to the price of corn. Producers are then tempted to reduce the amount of protein in the diet, especially during the final finishing phase. Also, there is increasing interest in niche market pork production. Many of these markets require a modest amount of carcass fat. One possible strategy to add carcass fat is to reduce the protein content of the diet. The objective of this trial was to evaluate the effect of lower protein content of the diet on growth rate and fat deposition of a modern lean genetic line of finishing pigs.
ADRs, Analysts, and Accuracy: Does Cross Listing in the United States Improve a Firm's Information Environment and Increase Market Value?

This paper investigates the relation between cross listing in the United States and the information environment of non-U.S. firms. We find that firms that cross list on U.S. exchanges have greater analyst coverage and increased forecast accuracy than firms that are not cross listed. A time-series analysis shows that a change in analyst coverage and forecast accuracy occurs around cross listing. We also document that firms that have more analyst coverage and higher forecast accuracy have higher valuations. Furthermore, the change in firm value around cross listing is correlated with changes in analyst following and forecast accuracy, suggesting that cross listing enhances firm value through its effect on the firm's information environment. Our findings support the hypothesis that cross-listed firms have better information environments, which are associated with higher market valuations.
Light responses of mammalian cones

Cone photoreceptors provide the foundation of most of human visual experience, but because they are smaller and less numerous than rods in most mammalian retinas, much less is known about their physiology. We describe new techniques and approaches which are helping to provide a better understanding of cone function. We focus on several outstanding issues, including the identification of the features of the phototransduction cascade that are responsible for the more rapid kinetics and decreased sensitivity of the cone response, the roles of inner-segment voltage-gated and Ca2+-activated channels, the means by which cones remain responsive even in the brightest illumination, mechanisms of cone visual pigment regeneration in constant light, and energy consumption of cones in comparison to that of rods.
Radial Flow of Compressible Fluids Between Discs

Numerical solutions are obtained for the one-dimensional radial flow of a compressible fluid between parallel discs. A general discussion of the variations of pressure, density, velocity and temperature along the radius of the disc is then given. The present investigation covers both subsonic and supersonic flows, a range not previously covered in the literature.
Abstract 038: Cumulative Exposure To Sleep Disordered Breathing From Childhood Through Young Adulthood Is Associated With Impaired Endothelial Function

Introduction: Clinical and population-based studies in adults have shown that sleep disordered breathing (SDB) is associated with impaired endothelial function. However, there is a lack of populati...
SRNoC: A Statically-Scheduled Circuit-Switched Superconducting Race Logic NoC

Temporal encoding has been shown to be a natural fit for single flux quantum (SFQ) superconducting computing since SFQ already encodes information with the presence or absence of voltage pulses. However, past work in SFQ has focused on binary-encoded networks on chip (NoCs). In this paper, we propose superconducting rotary NoC (SRNoC), a NoC where both data and control paths operate in the temporal domain following the race logic (RL) convention. Therefore, SFQ chips with temporal compute or memory can use SRNoC to avoid converting between the temporal and binary domains that would result from using a binary-encoded NoC. Using RL also enables SRNoC to be area-efficient, mitigating SFQ technology’s low device density. SRNoC treats pulses as independent packets and delivers them to outputs without changing their value, i.e. preserving the RL convention. SRNoC operates on a fixed, rotating connection schedule between inputs and outputs. In each connection window, multiple pulses (packets) can be transmitted sequentially. SRNoC provides $13.1\times$ higher throughput per port per Josephson junction (JJ) compared to the best-performing of three demonstrated NoCs.
Weights and Measures

Matters have not been made simpler for either the doctor or nurse by the fact that two systems of measure are currently used in dosage. The older system, the apothecary system, is used only in this country and Great Britain. It is the system of grains and minims, of drams and ounces. Its only virtue is that it is well known in these parts. It is cumbersome and difficult to handle when precise measurmeent of dosage is required. It remains with us only because it is well known and because it is so difficult to change habits, either personal or national, once they are well established. The older physicians, especially, who were taught only the apothecary system in medical school, resist all attempts to change over into a better system. Nurses who were trained years ago also have great difficulty in making the shift. The nurse, however, is in an entirely different position from the doctor, for he can choose what he wants to use, while the nurse must operate in the system of measurement the doctor decides to use. Although the apothecary system is slowly being discarded, she must learn all about it and know how to handle it with facility. The British imperial measure involves only minor differences in the larger quantities.
An Ultrasonic Ray-Trace Code for Complex Geometry Applications

Many applications of ultrasonic testing (UT) are made difficult by the complex geometrical shape of the part to be inspected. A simple ray-trace analysis of the geometry may suffice to determine transducer positions and beam angles to provide adequate coverage of the region to be interrogated. In addition, however, the analyst must have estimates of backscattered amplitudes to determine if flaw signals are measurable. Thus, a combination of complex-geometry ray tracing with calculations of flaw-scattering amplitudes is required for the design and optimization of UT procedures.
Design and Implementation of Intelligent Manufacturing Systems: From Expert Systems, Neural Networks, to Fuzzy Logic

The introduction of artificial intelligence, neural networks, and fuzzy logic into industry has given a new perspective to manufacturing processes in the U.S. and abroad. To help readers keep pace, this book addresses topics of intelligent manufacturing from a variety of theoretical, empirical, design, and implementation perspectives.
Odor conditioning with morphine: Conditioned preference, aversion, and analgesia

The dose-dependent effects of morphine on odor conditioning in rats were examined in two experiments. Subjects received one odor paired with either a low dose of morphine (0.5 mg/kg; Experiment 1A) or a high dose of morphine (10.0 mg/kg; Experiment 1B), alternating with another odor paired with saline. In Experiment 1A, subjects spent significantly more time over the morphine-paired odor than over the saline-paired odor in a spatial-odor preference test (odor preference). In Experiment 1B, subjects spent significantly less time over the morphine-paired odor than over the saline-paired odor (odor aversion). In Experiment 2, pairing an odor with a high dose of morphine (10.0 mg/kg) produced a conditioned analgesic response, measured by paw-lick latency. These studies demonstrate that an odor may serve as an effective stimulus to which the motivational and analgesic effects of morphine can be conditioned.
TOWARDS A JURISPRUDENCE OF SUSTAINABILITY IN A TIME OF TRANSITION

In recent decades, an increasing number of disturbing trends have prompted many scientists and policy analysts to suggest that, as a species, we may be on the verge of a major transition or turning point. Persistent negative trends in resource availability, biodiversity, environmental quality and human well-being indicate that the current global development model may be damaging Earth’s essential systems and processes beyond recovery. Environmental law, as it exists in most countries, has not succeeded in controlling the impacts and effects of this development model. A jurisprudence of sustainability is necessary, based on a set of principles that will ensure a more proactive, scientifically-based, integrated, communal and transparent approach to development regulation.
Bioavailability of soybean isoflavones depends upon gut microflora in women

Soybean isoflavones have been proposed to be anticarcinogenic, but their effective doses have not been established. To study their bioavailability, seven women consumed 3.4, 6.9, or 10.3 mumol isoflavones/kg body wt in soymilk in each of three meals of a liquid diet on one of three feeding days that were separated by 2-wk washout periods. Subjects were randomly assigned to doses in a cross-over design. Plasma, urine and fecal isoflavones were measured by reverse phase HPLC. In two subjects, fecal isoflavone recovery was 10-20 times that in the other five subjects. Average 48-h urinary recoveries of ingested daidzein and genistein were 16 +/- 4 and 10 +/- 4%, respectively, at all three doses among the five subjects excreting only small amounts of isoflavones in feces, whereas urinary recoveries of daidzein and genistein in the two subjects who excreted large amounts of fecal isoflavones were 32 +/- 5 and 37 +/- 6%, respectively. Urinary isoflavone excretion was nearly zero in all subjects at 48 h after dosing. Average plasma concentration of genistein at 24 h after the breakfast isoflavone dose in subjects excreting large amounts of fecal isoflavones was significantly greater by 2.5-fold than in subjects who excreted small amounts of fecal isoflavones (P < 0.05). In vitro anaerobic incubation of isoflavones with human feces showed that intestinal half-life of daidzein and genistein may be as little as 7.5 and 3.3 h, respectively. These data suggest that human isoflavone bioavailability depends upon the relative ability of gut microflora to degrade these compounds.
The Law of the Lifegivers: The Domestication of Desire

The Law of the Lifegivers: The Domestication of Desire. Rene Devisch and Claude Brodeur. Langhorne, PA: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1999. 268 pp.
Porosity effects on low-k dielectric film strength and interfacial adhesion

The elastic modulus and hardness of low k dielectric films rapidly decrease as porosity increases. By contrast, interfacial adhesion is relatively insensitive to porosity. Adhesion energy values measured by the four-point bend method are similar for porous and non-porous films. Additionally, interfacial adhesion is much stronger for polymer films than for organosiloxane films, regardless of porosity. E-beam treatments significantly improve the modulus and hardness of porous organosiloxane films, sacrificing only a slight increase in dielectric constant. Solid-state NMR and pore size measurements indicate that the improved mechanical properties result from a cross-linking mechanism rather than macroscopic densification. TOFSIMS results show that the increased dielectric constant results from carbon loss and an increase in silanol concentration. E-beam treatments, however, do not improve interfacial adhesion significantly.
A Tale of Two Border Cities: Community Context, Ethnicity, and Homicide*

Objective. Using Poisson-based negative binomial regression, we estimate the effect of neighborhood factors on homicides in two cities (San Antonio, Texas and San Diego, California) that have large Mexican-origin populations. Methods. Three independent data sources (official homicide police reports, medical examiner records, and the U.S. Census) are used to construct the dependent homicide, and independent neighborhood, variables. Census tracts represent the unit of analysis, which serve as a proxy for neighborhoods. Given the spatial nature of the data, spatial estimation procedures were also modeled. Results. Spatial proximity to violence, neighborhood disadvantage, and affluence (in San Antonio) consistently buffered homicide across neighborhoods, even in heavily populated Latino neighborhoods. Conclusions. Spatial embeddedness and neighborhood characteristics are important for improving our understanding about ethnic neighborhood variations in levels of violence. Comparative approaches across places, namely, Latino-dominated cities, can yield considerable insight into how the local context intersects race/ethnicity and violent crime.
Machining time estimation for magnetic abrasive processes

Abstract Here we present the magnetic abrasive process which is used to finish and size those workpieces that have been produced using standard machine tools. The process is proved to be very effective in achieving the desired finish size and roundness of the workpieces. We develop an empirical expression to estimate the machining time to produce a workpiece with specified roundness. The expression has been verified through a series of experiments.
Individual differences in food perceptions and calorie estimation: an examination of dieting status, weight, and gender.

People frequently place foods into “health” or “diet” categories. This study examined whether (1) evaluations of “healthiness/unhealthiness” influence “caloric” estimation accuracy, (2) people evaluate foods for “healthiness/unhealthiness” or “weight gain/loss” differently, and (3) food evaluations differ by gender, diet status, and weight. Also, undergraduate dieters attempting to lose weight on their own were compared to obese weight loss program participants. Undergraduate students (N=101) rated eight “healthy” and “unhealthy” foods on perceived “healthiness/unhealthiness,” “weight loss/gain capacity” and “caloric” content. Open-ended questions inquiring why a food was “healthy/unhealthy” or would “contribute to weight gain/loss” were coded into independent food categories (e.g., high fat). Results indicate that calories were systematically underestimated in healthy/weight loss foods, while they were systematically overestimated in unhealthy/weight gain foods. Dieters were more accurate at estimating “calories” of healthy foods and more attentive to the foods’ fat, “calorie”, and sugar content than non-dieters. Overweight participants commented more on fat and sugar content than normal weight participants. Undergraduate dieters used fewer categories for evaluating foods than weight loss program participants. Individual difference characteristics, such as diet-status, weight, and gender, influence people's perceptions of foods’ healthiness or capacity to influence weight, and in some instances systematically bias their estimates of the caloric content of foods.
John Tyndall’s Vertical Physics: From Rock Quarries to Icy Peaks

I analyze, through the work of the Irish physicist John Tyndall (1820–1893), the close relationship formed in the mid-nineteenth century between advances in the physical sciences and the rise of mountaineering as a sport. Along with groundbreaking experimental research in the physical sciences, Tyndall worked throughout his career to define and popularize the study of physics. He also was a pioneering mountaineer during the golden age of mountaineering. As he practiced his science, from rock quarries to the study of the blue sky, Tyndall’s interests in the fundamental forces of Nature brought him to the summits of mountains. His sojourns to the mountains, in turn, affected the manner in which he approached his researches. His science and mountaineering were tellingly mixed, and worked in unison to shape public perceptions of what physicists did during a period of increasing specialization and popularization of the field.
Hybridization of bean leaf leucyl-tRNA with nuclear DNA and with chloroplast DNA

Abstract DNA-RNA hybridization studies were carried out between leucyl-tRNA, prepared from a system isolated from bean leaves, and DNA from the nuclei or the chloroplasts of similar cells. Significant levels of hybridization were observed with both sources of DNA. However, annealing of leucyl-tRNA with chloroplast DNA is more than twice that with the same level of nuclear DNA. Approximately 0.025% of the chloroplast DNA forms ribonuclease-resistant hybrids with green leaf leucyl-tRNA whereas less than 0.011% of the nuclear DNA is involved.
Assessment of Students’ Critical-Thinking and Problem-Solving Abilities Across a 6-Year Doctor of Pharmacy Program

Objective. To determine the feasibility of using a validated set of assessment rubrics to assess students’ critical-thinking and problem-solving abilities across a doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) curriculum. Methods. Trained faculty assessors used validated rubrics to assess student work samples for critical-thinking and problem-solving abilities. Assessment scores were collected and analyzed to determine student achievement of these 2 ability outcomes across the curriculum. Feasibility of the process was evaluated in terms of time and resources used. Results. One hundred sixty-one samples were assessed for critical thinking, and 159 samples were assessed for problem-solving. Rubric scoring allowed assessors to evaluate four 5- to 7-page work samples per hour. The analysis indicated that overall critical-thinking scores improved over the curriculum. Although low yield for problem-solving samples precluded meaningful data analysis, it was informative for identifying potentially needed curricular improvements. Conclusions. Use of assessment rubrics for program ability outcomes was deemed authentic and feasible. Problem-solving was identified as a curricular area that may need improving. This assessment method has great potential to inform continuous quality improvement of a PharmD program.
Circadian changes in responses of newts, Notophthalmus viridescens , to ACTH

Differential counts of the leucocytes of adult newts,Notophthalmus viridescens, maintained in constant darkness and at a temperature of 11.0∓0.5 ° C, were made at eight times during circadian periods. The relative numbers of white cells varied only slightly through these solar-days (Table 1). However, in animals living under the same constant conditions and injected during one of four different periods of 24-hour days with bovine ACTH, the levels of increases in neutrophils evoked by treatment with the hormone varied with solar frequency (Table 2). Decreases in lymphocytes, also apparent in ACTH-treated newts, were of similar degrees during 24-hour days (Table 2). The circadian changes in the severity of neutrophilia are discussed in relation to other cycles known forNotophthalmus.
Hospice experiences and approaches to support and assess family caregivers in managing medications for home hospice patients: a providers survey.

Background:Hospice providers need to ensure that informal, unpaid caregivers can safely manage medications to alleviate pain and distressing symptoms in patients near the end of life.Aim:This study characterizes hospice providers’ self-reported experiences and approaches to helping caregivers’ medication management for home hospice patients.Design:Survey with mixed-method analysis.Setting/Participants:Surveys were administered to a convenience sample of 98 hospice providers (74 nurses, 6 physicians, 11 social workers, 7 chaplains) from 5 Chicago-based agencies in the United States.Results:Among respondents, 67% rated ensuring proper medication management as “most important” in hospice care delivery, and 33% reported frequently encountering caregivers with problems managing medications. To assess if caregivers had problems managing medications, two categories of approaches emerged from the data: prospective approaches and retrospective warning signs when a problem occurred (e.g. identifying medication nona...
Mobbing: Workplace Violence in the Academy

Abstract Incidents of workplace violence are becoming all too common at colleges and universities. Generally, one thinks of shootings and assaults in relation to campus workplace violence. However, mobbing and bullying of faculty by other faculty are types of workplace violence that, while very common, are rarely discussed or reported. This article raises awareness of the problem, profiles victims, describes stages, and suggests tactics for addressing the issue.
Safe and cost-effective ultrasound guided removal of retained intrauterine device: our experience

Abstract Objectives To evaluate the efficacy and difference in cost of ultrasound guided removal of retained intrauterine device (IUD). Study design A total of 23 women underwent ultrasound-guided retrieval of retained IUDs between January 2013 and March 2014. Transvaginal ultrasound was performed in all cases to assess the localization of the IUD. Under transabdominal ultrasound guidance, either the crochet type IUD hook (Gyneas, Goussainville, France) or Alligator forceps were used to grasp the IUD and remove it from the uterine cavity. The costs of the ultrasound guided procedure and the hysteroscopic removal of the IUD were compared. Results Twenty-three patients who failed IUD removal in the clinic were referred to our department for ultrasound-guided removal. All patients had an IUD present in the uterine cavity. Eleven patients had Paragard IUDs (48%), eight had Mirena IUDs (35%), three had Lippes loop (13%), and one had a ring IUD (4%). The patients’ ages ranged from 20–56 years. The IUDs were in place for 8 months to 23 years. Of the 23 patients with retained IUDs, 19 were successfully removed (83%), and 4 underwent hysteroscopic removal of IUD. The IUD removal cost in the operating room on average was $3562 US dollars and the cost of ultrasound-guided removal was $465 US dollars. Conclusions Retained intrauterine devices with or without strings can often be safely removed in an office-based setting under ultrasound guidance at less cost than in the operating room, even in cases with embedded IUDs. Implications Our experience leads us to propose in-office IUD removal under ultrasound guidance as the first line in management of retained IUDs after failed removal by conventional practices. Ultrasound provides numerous advantages including direct visualization in a less invasive manner than hysteroscopy. Three-dimensional imaging can also be used for enhanced perspective.