cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Breast imaging in transgender women: a review

Transgender women are increasingly evaluated in breast imaging centers. Radiologists should be familiar with a range of imaging findings related to feminizing hormone therapy and breast augmentations as well as benign and malignant lesions seen in this population. A growing body of literature has suggested that feminizing hormone therapy may increase the risk of breast cancer, prompting professional organizations to develop screening guidelines. The aim of this paper is to review common breast imaging findings in transgender women, recent data on the association between feminizing hormone therapy and breast cancer, and guidelines for breast cancer screening. Knowing these unique imaging features in transgender women is essential for providing competent care and reducing health care disparities.
Developing diagnostic assessment of breast lumpectomy tissues using radiomic and optical signatures.

High positive margin rates in oncologic breast-conserving surgery are a pressing clinical problem. Volumetric X-ray scanning is emerging as a powerful ex vivo specimen imaging technique for analyzing resection margins, but X-rays lack contrast between non-malignant and malignant fibrous tissues. In this study, combined micro-CT and wide-field optical image radiomics were developed to classify malignancy of breast cancer tissues, demonstrating that X-ray/optical radiomics improve malignancy classification. Ninety-two standardized features were extracted from co-registered micro-CT and optical spatial frequency domain imaging samples extracted from 54 breast tumors exhibiting seven tissue subtypes confirmed by microscopic histological analysis. Multimodal feature sets improved classification performance versus micro-CT alone when adipose samples were included (AUC = 0.88 vs. 0.90; p-value = 3.65e−11) and excluded, focusing the classification task on exclusively non-malignant fibrous versus malignant tissues (AUC = 0.78 vs. 0.85; p-value = 9.33e−14). Extending the radiomics approach to high-dimensional optical data—termed “optomics” in this study—offers a promising optical image analysis technique for cancer detection. Radiomic feature data and classification source code are publicly available.
The Persian Gulf in the 1940s and the Question of an Anglo-American Middle East: THE PERSIAN GULF IN THE 1940S

Using archival materials dating from the early 1940s before most conventional analyses of the cold war begin, this article reappraises current views on Anglo-American cooperation in the Middle East. It proposes that antagonism between American ‘new deal internationalism’ and British ‘guided development’ created a dysfunctional rather than a ‘special’ relationship. Two different versions of western overseas capitalism were competing for primacy, with the ‘free world’ central to American projections being predicated on opening up rather than sustaining Britain's political and economic ascendancy in the region. Although the British were left with prime military responsibilities after 1947, these implied no civil-sector prerogatives; instead, American policy advanced new core–periphery development principles which assumed unrestricted access to indigenous client-allies. In subsequent crises, this determined American disassociation from Britain's Middle Eastern interests in all but progressively reduced form, notwithstanding spasmodic doubts during future moments of cold war strategic ‘overstretch’ elsewhere in the world.
Mortgage Modification and Strategic Behavior: A Contrarian Interpretation of the Countrywide Financial Corporation Settlement

Christopher Mayer, Edward Morrison, Thomas Piskorski and Arpit Gupta of Columbia University have recently published in the Law and Finance eJournal a comprehensive study demonstrating the significant impacts on strategic default rates of the widely publicized Countrywide Financial Corporation settlement of 2008. While their study is comprehensive and carefully done, their implicit assumption that strategic defaults are something to be discouraged rather than encouraged, a position that I have criticized in my earlier work, undercuts the usefulness of their work for policy guidance. From their perspective the Countrywide settlement provides a cautionary tale about difficult trade-offs to be faced in loan modification policy design, whereas I regard it instead as providing some encouragement regarding loan modification initiatives.
Promise And Peril: Charter Schools, Urban School Reform, and the Obama Administration

In this essay, Charles Payne and Tim Knowles argue that given President Obama's support of charter schools, it is time for educators and policymakers to closely consider both the possibilities and the limitations of these schools in the context of urban school reform. The authors discuss the unique flexibility of charter schools—namely in staffing, time, budgetary autonomy, governance, and protection from district policies—as a significant source of their potential effectiveness. However, they also note the major challenges these schools face, as evidenced by variability in achievement results, sustainability, and quality of instruction. The authors suggest that these strengths and challenges must be considered together, and that the administration must focus on the elements of effective schooling for all children. Drawing upon this kind of evidence, the authors conclude, will lead to a more grounded and less partisan debate about urban education.
Estimating stable carbon isotope values of microphytobenthos in the Arctic for application to food web studies

Most studies on Arctic food webs have neglected microphytobenthos as a potential food source because we currently lack robust measurements of δ13C values for microphytobenthos from this environment. As a result, the role of microphytobenthos in high latitude marine food webs is not well understood. We combined field measurements of the concentration of aqueous carbon dioxide and the stable carbon isotopic composition of dissolved inorganic carbon (δ13CDIC) from bottom water in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas with a set of stable carbon isotopic fractionation factors reflecting differences in algal taxonomy and physiology to estimate the stable carbon isotope composition of microphytobenthos-derived total organic carbon (δ13Cp). The δ13Cp for Phaeodactylum tricornutum, a pennate diatom likely to be a dominant microphytobenthos taxon, was estimated to be −23.9 ± 0.4 ‰ as compared to a centric diatom (Porosira glacialis, δ13Cp = −20.0 ± 1.6 ‰) and a marine haptophyte (Emiliana huxleyi, δ13Cp = −22.7 ± 0.5 ‰) at a growth rate (µ) of 0.1 divisions per day (d−1). δ13Cp values increased by ~2.5 ‰ when µ increased from 0.1 to a maximum growth rate of 1.4 d−1. We compared our estimates of δ13Cp values for microphytobenthos with published measurements for other carbon sources in the Arctic and sub-Arctic. We found that microphytobenthos values overlapped with pelagic sources, yet differed from riverine and ice-derived carbon sources. These model results provide valuable insight into the range of possible isotopic values for microphytobenthos from this region, but we remain cautious in regard to the conclusiveness of these findings given the paucity of field measurements currently available for model validation.
The Use of Earnings Forecasts in Stock Recommendations: Are Accurate Analysts More Consistent?

Abstract: We examine how analysts’ conflicting incentives to be either accurate or optimistic affect their choice to generate stock recommendations with rigorous valuation models or growth-based heuristics. Consistent with prior research the average analyst recommendation is negatively associated with rigorous valuation models and positively associated with growth-based heuristics, we document that these associations are weakest for the most accurate analysts and strongest for the least accurate analysts. We also find evidence consistent with consistency between recommendations and valuation models underlying the positive future returns from trading on the most accurate analysts’ recommendations. Our results are consistent with reputation incentives to be accurate mitigating the use of optimistic growth-based models in generating stock recommendations.
Identification of Chemical Inhibitors of β-Catenin-Driven Liver Tumorigenesis in Zebrafish

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most lethal human cancers. The search for targeted treatments has been hampered by the lack of relevant animal models for the genetically diverse subsets of HCC, including the 20-40% of HCCs that are defined by activating mutations in the gene encoding β-catenin. To address this chemotherapeutic challenge, we created and characterized transgenic zebrafish expressing hepatocyte-specific activated β-catenin. By 2 months post fertilization (mpf), 33% of transgenic zebrafish developed HCC in their livers, and 78% and 80% of transgenic zebrafish showed HCC at 6 and 12 mpf, respectively. As expected for a malignant process, transgenic zebrafish showed significantly decreased mean adult survival compared to non-transgenic control siblings. Using this novel transgenic model, we screened for druggable pathways that mediate β-catenin-induced liver growth and identified two c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) inhibitors and two antidepressants (one tricyclic antidepressant, amitriptyline, and one selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) that suppressed this phenotype. We further found that activated β-catenin was associated with JNK pathway hyperactivation in zebrafish and in human HCC. In zebrafish larvae, JNK inhibition decreased liver size specifically in the presence of activated β-catenin. The β-catenin-specific growth-inhibitory effect of targeting JNK was conserved in human liver cancer cells. Our other class of hits, antidepressants, has been used in patient treatment for decades, raising the exciting possibility that these drugs could potentially be repurposed for cancer treatment. In support of this proposal, we found that amitriptyline decreased tumor burden in a mouse HCC model. Our studies implicate JNK inhibitors and antidepressants as potential therapeutics for β-catenin-induced liver tumors.
Developmental Psychology: Philosophy, Concepts, Methodology

All scientific concepts, theories, and research methods are built on sets of fundamental, often implicit, assumptions termed metatheoretical. This chapter examines the history and contemporary developmental theoretical and methodological implications of two alternative widely held metatheories – split and relational. Split metatheory emerged from Cartesian dualism. It dichotomizes the world into elemental pure forms that stand as antinomies, resolved only by suppressing the reality of one member of the pair. This metatheory generates atomism, reductionism, foundationalism, the assumption of strictly additive complexity or aggregates, and a neo-positivist methodology. Relational metatheory emerged from a holistic ground. It synthesizes splits into integrated wholes, mends antinomies (e.g., brain and body, subject and object, nature and nurture, and continuity and discontinuity) and promotes relative standpoints of inquiry. Relational metatheory generates part-whole analysis, the assumption of nonadditive complexity or dynamic systems, and a retroductive (abductive) methodology. Keywords: concepts; dynamic systems; methods; relational metatheory; split metatheory; transformational change; variational change
EAGL: An Elliptic Curve Arithmetic GPU-Based Library for Bilinear Pairing

In this paper we present the Elliptic curve Arithmetic GPU-based Library EAGL, a self-contained GPU library, to support parallel computing of bilinear pairings based on the Compute Unified Device Architecture CUDA programming model. It implements parallelized point arithmetic, arithmetic functions in the 1-2-4-12 tower of extension fields. EAGL takes full advantage of the parallel processing power of GPU, with no shared memory bank conflict and minimal synchronization and global memory accesses, to compute some most expensive computational steps, especially the conventional-Montgomery-based multi-precision multiplications. At the 128-bit security level, EAGL can perform 3350.9 R-ate pairings/sec on one GTX-680 controlled by one CPU thread. Extensive experiments suggest that performance tradeoffs between utilization of GPU pipeline vs. memory access latency are highly complex for parallelization of pairing computations. Overall, on-chip memory is the main performance bottleneck for pairing computations on the tested GPU device, and the lazy reduction in $ \mathbb{F}_{q^{2}} $ gives the best performance. Increasing the size of on-chip memory, together with caching and memory prefetching modules are expected to offer substantial performance improvement for GPU-based pairing computations.
Childhood, Agency and Education Reform

This article provides commentary on the relationship between childhood and agency within the context of education reform. The prominence of a `child-centred' social science and the trends in childc...
URTNA, AFROVISION, and satellite broadcasting: The birth of a television news exchange system in Africa

The Union of National Radio and Television Organizations of Africa (URTNA) has played a leading role in providing a radio and television program exchange system in Africa for the past three decades. With the birth of AFROVISION in 1991, URTNA expanded its operations to include television news exchange via satellite to its member organizations, marking the cooperative beginnings of African nations’ quest to break their dependency on international news agencies. This article explores the evolution of AFROVISION up to its implementation and provides an historical look at URTNA and its program exchange operations.
Seasonal variation in the accumulation and degradation of thyrotropin-releasing hormone by frog skin in vitro.

Abstract The possible seasonal variation of the TRH content in the abdominal skin and blood of frogs ( Rana pipiens ) was determined. TRH was quantitated by radioimmunoassay after acidic extraction and column chromatography. It was found that there was considerable variability in the TRH content of the skin and blood among individual frogs and there was no seasonal variation in the TRH content in either tissue. Abdominal skins were capable of TRH accumulation and degradation in vitro . Skins from fall frogs accumulated significantly more exogenously added TRH than skin from frogs collected during the remaining months. The majority of the TRH degrading activity could be accounted for by the activity of TRH deamidase. The deamidated products were released to the incubation medium. The rate of TRH degradation was slightly higher in skins from fall frogs than in those from frogs which had been collected during the other seasons.
A hybrid method for calculating the radiated wave energy of deep earthquakes

Abstract The energy radiated as waves is a parameter vital to the understanding of earthquake rupture physics. Calculations of this energy, however, are difficult and wrought with uncertainty. We developed a new hybrid method for the calculation of radiated wave energy and other key seismic parameters. The method calculates these parameters in an internally consistent and objective manner, allowing for robust comparison between parameters and across earthquakes. In addition, the method does not require deconvolution or filtering of data, thus results contain all recorded high frequencies. We use the method to calculate source–time functions, seismic moment, duration, and radiated wave energy for 19 recent, deep (depth>292 km) earthquakes ranging in size from M w =6.5 to 8.2. We compute effective seismic efficiency for the three largest events. The principle result is that the effective seismic efficiencies are less than 0.3. If earthquake rupture adhered to the Orowan model, then the average frictional stress during rupture is equal to the final shear stress on the fault plane, and the seismic efficiency is 1. But since the measured seismic efficiency is less than 1, the rupture process of these large deep earthquakes partitions more energy into friction and the average frictional stress during rupture is higher than the final fault plane stress.
Laparoscopic versus open resection for appendix carcinoid

Background Since an increasing number of appendectomies are performed via laparoscopy, it is crucial to determine the impact of this approach on appendix carcinoid (AC) outcome. The goal of this study was to compare results of laparoscopic (LAP) versus open (OP) appendectomy for AC according to intend to treat approach.
Temporal and Spatial Trends in a Long-Term Study of Gas-Phase PCB Concentrations near the Great Lakes

Atmospheric concentrations of gas-phase polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were measured at three sites near the Great Lakes as part of the Integrated Atmospheric Deposition Network (IADN). Air samples were collected every 12 days beginning in November 1990. Mean yearly values ranged from 89 to 370 pg/m3. Concentrations at the more urban site near Lake Erie (Sturgeon Point) were about two times higher than concentrations at the two more remote sites near Lake Superior (Eagle Harbor) and Lake Michigan (Sleeping Bear Dunes). Multiple regression analysis was used to relate atmospheric PCB concentrations to meteorological conditions. As expected, atmospheric temperature had a very significant effect on gas-phase PCB concentrations. Including wind speed and wind direction in the regression analysis improved the predicted values only slightly. Atmospheric levels of PCBs have remained unchanged as a function of time near Lake Superior but have declined slightly over time near Lakes Michigan and Erie. The rate cons...
Lewis' imperatives of right

NOTES '"On the Logic of 'Commitment,'" Philosophical Studies, 10:23-27 (February 1959). 'This argument is closely related to (and indeed inspired by) one provided by T. Dahlquist against accepting the formula " (p & 0 (p D q) ) -+ Oq" as a theorem of deontic logic. See L. Aqvist, The Moral Philosophy of Richard Price (Uppsala: Library of Theoria No. 5, 1960), p. 148n. 3"Deontic Logic," in Logical Studies (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1957), pp. 58-74. 'A. R. Anderson, The Formal Analysis of Normative Systems (New Haven: Yale Sociology Department, 1956), pp. 29-30. 6 See note 2 above. 6"A Note on Deontic Logic and Derived Obligation," Mind, 65:507-9 (1956). Von Wright's suggestion was followed up by N. Rescher in "An Axiom System for Deontic Logic," Philosophical Studies, 9:24-30 (January-February 1958). ' Formal Logic (New York: Oxford University Press, 1955 ), p. 224. 'Anderson, Formal Analysis of Normative Systems, pp. 57-59.
Context and Isolation: The Teaching Experience in an Elementary School

The thesis of this study is that teachers evolve responses to all levels of their occupational experience-ideological, organizational, and interpersonal-in relative isolation. This isolation is seen as a function of the discontinuity between our facility in articulating norms and values appropriate to teaching and our inability to intervene effectively to make such norms and values operable. The thesis is developed through an analysis of data organized in terms of the various contexts in which teaching proceeds-the classroom, the school, the school district, and the parent-community.
Efficient network tomography for internet topology discovery

Accurate and timely identification of the router-level topology of the Internet is one of the major unresolved problems in Internet research. Topology recovery via tomographic inference is potentially an attractive complement to standard methods that use TTL-limited probes. Unfortunately, limitations of prior tomographic techniques make timely resolution of large-scale topologies impossible due to the requirement of an infeasible number of measurements. In this paper, we describe new techniques that aim toward efficient tomographic inference for accurate router-level topology measurement. We introduce methodologies based on Depth-First Search (DFS) ordering that clusters end-hosts based on shared infrastructure and enables the logical tree topology of a network to be recovered accurately and efficiently. We evaluate the capabilities of our algorithms in large-scale simulation and find that our methods will reconstruct topologies using less than 2% of the measurements required by exhaustive methods and less than 15% of the measurements needed by the current state-of-the-art tomographic approach. We also present results from a study of the live Internet where we show our DFS-based methodologies can recover the logical router-level topology more accurately and with fewer probes than prior techniques.
Aspect and species influences on nitrogen and phosphorus accumulation in Arizona chaparral soil‐plant systems

Abstract To improve understanding of nutrient relationships and factors affecting nutrient patterns in chaparral ecosystems a study was conducted to quantify the effect of aspect and shrub species on accumulation of N and P in a mature chaparral ecosystem. Components of shrub biomass, litter, and soil were sampled from 32 randomly selected soil‐plant systems, eight each of Cercocarpus betuloides and Quercus turbinella on north and south aspects, and analyzed for N and P. Shrub species influenced dry matter accumulation, with Cercocarpus accumulating more biomass in leaves, stems, and litter than Quercus. Similarly, N concentration and accumulation were greater in Cercocarpus systems than in Quercus systems. This was attributed to the ability of Cercocarpus to form symbiotic relationships with actinomycetes capable of N fixation. Phosphorus accumulation was much greater in Cercocarpus biomass than in Quercus. Aspect significantly influenced P concentration of soil, with higher concentrations occurring on n...
Sexual orientation and associated characteristics among north american academic psychiatrists

We mailed questionnaires inquiring about a range of personal and professional attributes to 972 North American psychiatrists at five leading medical schools in the United States and Canada. Of these, 49% (435 psychiatrists) responded. Of the respondents, 90.9% reported being exclusively heterosexual, 3.5% predominantly heterosexual, and 5.6% bisexual/homosexual. Analyses were performed to assess the relationship between sexual orientation and other variables. We found that exclusive heterosexuals were more likely than other psychiatrists to be Jewish (p = .002), to have first‐degree relatives with psychiatric illness (p =.015), and to have conducted research after residency training (p = .034). Exclusively heterosexual psychiatrists were less likely to have used recreational drugs (p = .025), or to prescribe psychotropic medications to none of their patients (p = .017). Sexual orientation was not correlated with a variety of other personal and professional characteristics. The findings suggest that gay me...
Intraspinal AAV Injections Immediately Rostral to a Thoracic Spinal Cord Injury Site Efficiently Transduces Neurons in Spinal Cord and Brain

In the vast majority of studies utilizing adeno-associated virus (AAV) in central nervous system applications, including those published with spinal cord injury (SCI) models, AAV has been administered at the level of the cell body of neurons targeted for genetic modification, resulting in transduction of neurons in the vicinity of the injection site. However, as SCI interrupts many axon tracts, it may be more beneficial to transduce a diverse pool of supraspinal neurons. We determined if descending axons severed by SCI are capable of retrogradely transporting AAV to remotely transduce a variety of brain regions. Different AAV serotypes encoding the reporter green fluorescent protein (GFP) were injected into gray and white matter immediately rostral to a spinal transection site. This resulted in the transduction of thousands of neurons within the spinal cord and in multiple regions within the brainstem that project to spinal cord. In addition, we established that different serotypes had disparate regional specificity and that AAV5 transduced the most brain and spinal cord neurons. This is the first demonstration that retrograde transport of AAV by axons severed by SCI is an effective means to transduce a collection of supraspinal neurons. Thus, we identify a novel, minimally invasive means to transduce a variety of neuronal populations within both the spinal cord and the brain following SCI. This paradigm to broadly distribute viral vectors has the potential to be an important component of a combinatorial strategy to promote functional axonal regeneration.
The use of an electrothermal plasma gun to simulate the extremely high heat flux conditions of a tokamak disruption

Disruption damage conditions for future large tokamaks like ITER are nearly impossible to simulate on current tokamaks. The electrothermal plasma source SIRENS has been designed, constructed, and operated to produce high density (> 1025/m3), low temperature (1–3 eV) plasma formed by the ablation of the insulator with currents of up to 100 kA (100 μs pulse length) and energies up to 15 kJ. The source heat fluence (variable from 0.2 to 7 MJ/m2) is adequate for simulation of the thermal quench phase of plasma disruption in future fusion tokamaks. Different materials have been exposed to the high heat flux in SIRENS, where comparative erosion behavior was obtained. Vapor shield phenomena has been characterized for different materials, and the energy transmission factor through the shielding layer is obtained. The device is also equipped with a magnet capable of producing a parallel magnetic field (up to 16 T) over a 8 msec pulse length. The magnetic field is produced to decrease the turbulent energy transport through the vapor shield, which provides further reduction of surface erosion (magnetic vapor shield effect).
Multifunctional and multicomponent heterostructured one-dimensional nanostructures: advances in growth, characterisation, and applications

AbstractMulticomponent nanostructures are of immense importance due to their diverse functionality, improved stability and unique properties. In this regard, heterostructures based on one-dimensional (1D) nanostructures, such as nanotubes and nanowires, will be critical in the future development, miniaturisation and enhanced performance of devices. Of particular importance are radially or axially heterostructured nanowires that can have composition modulation in radial or axial directions with abrupt or non-abrupt interfaces. These heterostructures have immense potential in multifunctional and multicomponent nanoelectronics, optoelectronics, sensors, photocatalysts, solar cells, batteries, biomedical devices and analytical platforms. Different materials can be incorporated into radial or axial nanowire heterostructures via suitable and compatible growth method(s). This article reviews the most recent and pioneering developments in the area of radially and axially heterostructured 1D nanostructures. In add...
A characterization of the extensions of symmetric designs

Abstract Let D be a quasi-symmetric design with block intersection numbers 0 and y. For any fixed block B of D, let DB denote the incidence structure whose points are the points of D not in B and whose blocks are the blocks of D disjoint from B. If D is an extension of a symmetric design, Cameron showed that DB is a design and the parameters of D are exactly one of four types. We prove the converse: If DB is a design, then D is the extension of a symmetric design.
Peroxyacetyl nitrate and peroxypropionyl nitrate during SCOS 97-NARSTO.

Peroxyacyl nitrates [RC(O)OONO2] play an important role in urban air quality and tropospheric chemistry. They also receive attention as mutagens, phytotoxins, and possible air quality indicators of changes in vehicle fuel composition. Ambient concentrations of PAN (R = CH3) and PPN (R = C2H5) have been measured during summer 1997 at two southern California locations, Azusa (July 14-October 16) and Simi Valley (June 18-October 16). The highest concentrations were 4.8 ppb for PAN and 0.72 ppb for PPN in Azusa and 3.0 ppb for PAN and 0.28 ppb for PPN in Simi Valley. Ambient levels of PAN and PPN during summer 1997 were lower than those measured in the last three studies carried out in southern California in the summers of 1990, 1991, and 1993. Average PPN/PAN concentration ratios were about the same in Azusa (0.142+/-0.025, n = 132) and in Simi Valley (0.135+/-0.028, n = 138). The PPN/PAN ratio measured in Azusa was the same as that measured at that location in 1993 prior to the introduction in 1996 of California Phase 2 reformulated gasoline. Diurnal variations of PAN and PPN generally followed those of ozone with respect to time of day but not with respect to amplitude. The PAN/ozone ratio was lower in Simi Valley than in Azusa, and daytime minima were recorded at both locations. The amount of PAN lost by thermal decomposition accounted for large fractions of the amount of PAN formed (measured + decomposed) during daytime hours at both locations. The amount of PAN lost by thermal decomposition was higher in Azusa and was up to ca. 8.5 ppb, i.e., 4-5 times more than that measured, when afternoon temperatures were ca. 40 degrees C.
Kinetics of ordering and spinodal decomposition in the pair approximation

The kinetics of atomic ordering and phase separation in inhomogeneous systems were investigated employing microscopic master equations in the pair approximation. For a homogeneous system at completely thermodynamic equilibrium, the kinetic equations produce the same equilibrium states as the cluster variation method. We studied the kinetics of both short- and long-range order and spinodal decomposition kinetics, as well as the morphological pattern formation and evolution. It is shown that the development of long-range order and growth of concentration wave amplitudes are significantly delayed due to the decreases in driving forces as a result of short-range order relaxation in the pair approximation as compared to that obtained from the point approximation with the same initial condition. It is demonstrated that the kinetics obtained by assuming the pair distribution functions always at equilibrium is found to be a good approximation for the pair approximation. The effect of bond energies on the ordering kinetics will be discussed.
Direct white light emission from inorganic–organic hybrid semiconductor bulk materials

Hybrid semiconductors of the general formula 2D-[Cd2Se2(ba):Te] (ba = bultylamine) emit direct white light upon illumination of UV-LED. The band gap and photoluminescence properties of this group of materials can be systematically tuned by changing the composition and doping level. The sample with 25 mol% of Te corresponds to the CIE coordinates of (0.29, 0.35), which is closest to the equi-energy white point (0.33, 0.33). These hybrid materials are also highly photoconductive with large gain under illumination of visible light.
The great migration of bone marrow-derived stem cells toward the ischemic brain: Therapeutic implications for stroke and other neurological disorders

Accumulating laboratory studies have implicated the mobilization of bone marrow (BM)-derived stem cells in brain plasticity and stroke therapy. This mobilization of bone cells to the brain is an essential concept in regenerative medicine. Over the past ten years, mounting data have shown the ability of bone marrow-derived stem cells to mobilize from BM to the peripheral blood (PB) and eventually enter the injured brain. This homing action is exemplified in BM stem cell mobilization following ischemic brain injury. Various BM-derived cells, such as hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) and very small embryonic-like cells (VSELs) have been demonstrated to exert therapeutic benefits in stroke. Here, we discuss the current status of these BM-derived stem cells in stroke therapy, with emphasis on possible cellular and molecular mechanisms of action that mediate the cells' beneficial effects in the ischemic brain. When possible, we also discuss the relevance of this therapeutic regimen in other central nervous system (CNS) disorders.
Two Cross-Equatorial Sections at 110°W

Abstract A section along 110°W in the eastern Pacific from about 6°N to 6°S was occupied in March and June of 1981. Measurements consisted of absolute velocity profiles and CTD cuts. The large-scale structure of the subsurface zonal flow remained relatively invariant between these cruises. The Equatorial Undercurrent and North and South Equatorial Undercurrents appear as strong eastward flows, separated by westward currents. Away from the equator, comparison of currents estimated geostrophically with the direct observations indicate that the two techniques are in agreement within estimated errors except close to the surface. In the vicinity of the equator the geostrophic technique in general fails and the directly measured currents must be used. During March, within 3° of the equator from the surface to 700 m, the flow was more eastward by about 0.15 m s−1; than in June. In March, the flow and temperature fields were relatively symmetric about the equator. By June, strong asymmetries had developed. In the...
Quantifying laboratory and field variability to assess potential for carbon sequestration

Accurate measurements of soil organic carbon (SOC) levels are essential to assess changes in C sequestration rates. To this end we conducted studies to evaluate laboratory variability in SOC concentration measured at USDA-ARS laboratories in Akron, CO, Cheyenne, WY, and Lincoln, NE. At the Akron laboratory we also evaluated field spatial variability within common cropping treatments in order to assess the potential to quantify significant changes in SOC content associated with rotations of varying cropping intensities. Our data showed very low coefficients of variation for SOC values from each of the three laboratories, and the same average SOC values for soils from each treatment. For mitigating spatial variability, the data showed that a 10-ha field required 10 cores, the 0.2-ha field, 2 cores, and the 0.02-ha field, one core, in order to achieve a difference of ≤10% from the mean 95% of the time. With respect to cropping intensity, all rotations with fallow contained statistically the same SOC levels, ...
Factors controlling the mode by which a catalyst operates in the graphite-oxygen reaction

Abstract Variations in the catalytic action of metals on the graphite-oxygen reaction is discussed in terms of differences in the wetting characteristics of the catalyst on the graphite edge regions. It is shown that metals which readily form oxides exhibit a strong interaction with the oxygenated graphite surface and attack by the edge recession mode. In contrast, catalysts which remain in the metallic state have a weaker interaction with the graphite and function by a channeling action. An explanation for the catalytic inactivity of certain metals in this reaction is also presented.
Pubic bone injuries in primiparous women: Magnetic resonance imaging in detection and differential diagnosis of structural injury

Objective To evaluate the utility of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in diagnosing structural injury in primiparous women at risk for pelvic floor injury. Methods This was an observational study of 77 women who underwent 3T MRI after delivery. Women were operationally defined as high risk (n = 45) for levator ani muscle tears (risk factors: second-stage labor >150 min or 35 years and birth weight >4000 g) or low risk (n = 32): vaginally delivered without these risk factors (n = 12); delivered by Cesarean section after secondstage labor >150 min (n = 14) or delivered by Cesarean section without labor (n = 6). All women were imaged using fluid-sensitive MRI sequences. Two musculoskeletal radiologists reviewed images for bone marrow edema, fracture, pubic symphysis measurements and levator ani tear. Results MRI showed pubic bone fractures in 38% of women at high risk for pelvic floor injury and in 13% of women at low risk for pelvic floor injury (χ 2 (3) = 9.27, P = 0.03). Levator ani muscle tears were present in 44% of the high-risk women and in 9% of the low-risk women (χ 2 (3) = 11.57, P = 0.010). Bone marrow edema in the pubic bones was present in 61% of women studied across delivery categories. Complex patterns of injury included combinations of bone marrow edema, fractures, levator ani tears and pubic symphysis injuries. No MRIdocumented injuries were present in 18% of women at high risk and 44% at low risk for pelvic floor injury (χ 2 (1) = 6.2, P = 0.013). Conclusions Criteria identifying primiparous women at risk for pelvic floor injury can predict increased risk of bone and soft tissue changes at the pubic symphysis. Fluid-sensitive MRI has utility for differential diagnosis of structural injury in postpartum women. Copyright  2012 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Breeding bird dynamics in a primaeval temperate forest: long–term trends in Biatowieza National Park (Poland)

Numerical vanation of the breeding bird community, its ecological subunits (guilds) and the 26 most numerous constituent species is analysed over 20 yr period (1975–1994), and related to variation in supply of defoliating caterpillars, tree seed crop, numbers of rodents and winter weather Maximum rates of increase between two years were less than twofold in most species Changes in numbers of individual species/guilds were either independent of each other or in parallel The pattern of numerical vanation was not related to taxonomic affinities, type of nest site, food types, or migratory habits Whole bird community and 13 of 26 species showed long–term increasing trends, only three species declined Numbers remained basically stable during the first decade, increases were concentrated to the second decade Except tropical migrants (no long–term change) other migratory groups increased in numbers None of the measured environmental vanables showed parallel trends, which could account for the recorded trends Long–term trends and year–to–year fluctuations were not correlated The short–term variation in bird numbers was to some extent correlated with (in decreasing order of importance) abundance of defoliating caterpillars, winter seventy, and changes in rodent numbers No correlation with tree seed crop was found Overall, a substantial part of the vanation in breeding bird numbers could not be explained by that set of factors This could be due to birds using wider spectrum of food sources than those measured, varying predator pressure and/or strong influences from outside the forest, swamping local relationships
Finding Our Roots An Exercise For Creating a Personal Teaching Philosophy Statement

Teaching philosophy statements clarify why we do what we do in the classroom, and the process of drafting a philosophy offers an opportunity for developmental reflection. Personal teaching philosophies can be grounded in the shared foundation of historical educational philosophies. The authors offer here for facilitators a reflective card-sort exercise that helps surface the philosophical roots of personal teaching philosophies and helps teachers create or renew a teaching philosophy statement. They explain the exercise activities and typical outcomes based on their experiences facilitating the exercise. The authors conclude with insights and considerations for facilitators.
Expertise and the width of the visual filter in fingerprint examiners

Methods:! • We tested 4 Experts and 4 age-matched novice for three 90 minute sessions. • Face and fingerprint trials were intermixed. • EEG data was collected at 1000 Hz and bandpass filtered between .1 and 30 Hz. • We used 32 channels and removed eye artifacts using the EEGLab toolbox (Delorme, A. & Makeig, S., 2004). • Masking noise was generated by bandpass filtering white Gaussian noise with a 2 octave passband and presented additivity on a gamma-calibrated monitor at 120 Hz. • Accuracy was computed at each noise frequency band and plotted against the center frequency.
Spirituality, AIDS, and Sexuality

Some religions, such as many Buddhist schools and traditional Hinduism, believe all sexual desire, whether gay or straight, must be transcended in order to achieve salvation. Neo-Pagan religions are almost unanimous in their acceptance of same-sex relationships as equal to heterosexual ones. But many orthodox leaders in Christianity, Islam, and Judaism maintain the sinfulness of gay and lesbian lifestyles, which may complicate treatment with AIDS victims. This paper explores ways to help gays and lesbians integrate their spiritual beliefs with their sexual orientation. A brief examination of religious texts is offered, but it is recommended that counselors and psychologists avoid theological debates. Instead, therapists can engage clients in psycho-theological discussions. Clients are asked to describe the nature of the Divine (e.g., is this an entity that focuses on punishment or forgiveness?), whether there is a design to the universe, and how the Divine shows love to those who seek him/her. Spiritualit...
First on the List: Effectiveness at Self-Regulation and Prioritizing Difficult Exercise Goal Pursuit

Identifying and understanding the goal pursuit strategies that distinguish effective self-regulators from less effective self-regulators is important for elucidating how individuals achieve their goals. We suggest that the timing of plans for difficult goal pursuits is one differentiation. A pilot study shows that effective self-regulators tend to believe they are best suited to pursue difficult goals earlier in the day, and two studies provide evidence that effective and less effective self-regulators differ in the timing of their plans for difficult goal pursuits. Results indicate that when exercising is perceived as difficult goal pursuit, effective self-regulators prioritize that difficult goal pursuit by planning to exercise earlier in the day whereas less effective self-regulators plan exercise for later in the day.
Exstrophy of cloaca with omphalocele: two cases.

In a preliminary study we examined 24 patients with suspected biliary tract abnormality. In 50% of the patients the direct investigation could be performed. The procedure lasted 15 minutes on average and was very well tolerated. The endoscopic diagnosis in these 12 patients was compared with the subsequent results of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography. The diagnostic yield of both techniques was similar and common bile duct stones were seen in five of the patients. Since no x-ray exposure is necessary, this new technique should be used as a complementary procedure with ultrasonography in the preoperative evaluation of obstructive jaundice in pregnancy.
Comparison of study designs for acute otitis media trials.

Summary Background A framework for evaluating the efficacy of antibiotics in development as well as those currently approved for acute otitis media (AOM) is needed. Objective Review strengths and limitations of various antibiotic trial designs and their outcome measures. Methods A review of 157 published trials involving 36,710 subjects for the treatment of AOM. Results AOM trials have three designs: (1) clinical, clinical diagnosis and assessment of outcomes; (2) single tympanocentesis, microbiologic diagnosis (by middle ear fluid culture) and clinical assessment of outcomes; and (3) double tympanocentesis, microbiologic diagnosis and microbiologic outcome assessment. Identifiable strengths and limitations of each design are reviewed. Case definitions for entry of children in trials of AOM vary widely. The lack of stringent diagnostic criteria in a clinical design allows for inclusion of a significant proportion of children with a non-bacterial etiology (i.e., viral AOM or otitis media with effusion). Tympanocentesis increases diagnostic accuracy at study entry; however, the procedure is confounding because of its potentially therapeutic benefit and the procedure is not performed in a uniform manner. A second tympanocentesis allows a high sensitivity to detect microbiologic eradication, but it does not correlate with clinical outcomes in half of the cases. The timing of outcome assessment also varies widely among trials. Conclusions Improved clinical diagnosis criteria for AOM are needed to enhance specificity; emphasis on a bulging tympanic membrane has the best evidence base. Tympanocentesis within study designs has merits. At study entry it assures diagnostic accuracy but may alter outcomes and it is useful to document microbiologic outcomes but lacks specificity for clinical outcomes. For all designs, test of cure assessment 2–7 days after completion of therapy seems most appropriate.
A neural network approach to modeling fuzzy preference relations for multiple criteria decision making

Abstract This paper describes a neural network approach for modeling decision makers' fuzzy preference structures. A general feedforward neural network is introduced as a representation of membership function for fuzzy preference relations. A new learning algorithm is proposed for training the neural network to learn fuzzy preference structures. Simulation results show that the proposed neural network approach is capable of modeling a variety of fuzzy preference structures.
State‐of‐the‐Art Adsorption and Membrane Separation Processes for Hydrogen Production in the Chemical and Petrochemical Industries

Abstract This review on the use of adsorption and membrane technologies in H2 production is directed toward the chemical and petrochemical industries. The growing requirements for H2 in chemical manufacturing, petroleum refining, and the newly emerging clean energy concepts will place greater demands on sourcing, production capacity and supplies of H2. Currently, about 41 MM tons/yr of H2 is produced worldwide, with 80% of it being produced from natural gas by steam reforming, partial oxidation and autothermal reforming. H2 is used commercially to produce CO, syngas, ammonia, methanol, and higher alcohols, urea and hydrochloric acid. It is also used in Fischer Tropsch reactions, as a reducing agent (metallurgy), and to upgrade petroleum products and oils (hydrogenation). It has been estimated that the reforming of natural gas to produce H2 consumes about 31,800 Btu/lb of H2 produced at 331 psig based on 35.5 MM tons/yr production. It is further estimated that 450 trillion Btu/yr could be saved with a 20% ...
Evaluation of the use of albumin controls in Rh phenotyping.

The significance of albumin control tests in Rh phenotyping of patients with positive direct antiglobulin tests has been evaluated. Anti-Rh sera from five commercial manufacturers were employed in testing and albumin control tests with 22 per cent and 30 per cent albumin run in parallel. Correct Rh typings were determined by the use of saline active anti-Rh reagents. In some instances false positive Rh typings were obtained, but were recognized as such because the albumin control test was positive. However, some false positive Rh typings were obtained even though both the 22 per cent and 30 per cent albumin control tests were negative.
High-Power Magnetically Actuated Microswitches Fabricated in Laminates

We report on a microelectromechanical magnetic dc switch that operates at low control voltage (3 V), magnetically latches at on/off stage, and switches large voltages and currents, both dc and ac, in under 3 ms. The device, which measures 3 mm t 3 mm fully packaged, has been measured to handle 0.97 A at 10.6 Vdc (10.2 W) and 15 W at 110 Vac. This represents a remarkable power-handling capability for such a small device, which is almost impossible to achieve in conventional microelectromechanical system devices. The device is constructed using laminate MEMS technology, which is fully compatible with large-scale manufacturing by advanced microelectronics packaging manufacturers. This device has important applications in electronic switching applications for dc circuits, ac circuits, and, potentially, for RF circuits.
Hope for rehabilitation and vice versa.

ObjectivesTo use Snyder's (1989, 1994b) hope theory as a framework for understanding rehabilitation goals and designing effective interventions.ConclusionsAccording to this theory, hope reflects the perceived capacity to generate routes to desired goals (called pathway thinking) along with the assoc