cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Comparative Hepatic Effects of Perfluorooctanoic Acid and WY 14,643 in PPAR-α Knockout and Wild-type Mice

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is a chemical used in the production of fluoropolymers. Its persistence in the environment and presence in humans and wildlife has raised health concerns. Liver tumor induction by PFOA is thought to be mediated in rodents by PPAR-α. A recent US EPA scientific advisory board questioned the contribution of PPAR-α in PFOA-induced liver tumors. Liver response in CD-1, SV/129 wild-type (WT), and PPAR-α knockout (KO) SV/129 mice was evaluated after seven daily treatments of PFOA-NH4 + (1, 3, or 10 mg/kg, p.o.) or the prototype PPARα-agonist Wyeth 14,643 (WY, 50 mg/kg). Livers were examined by light and electron microscopy. Proliferation was quantified after PCNA immunostaining. PFOA treatment induced a dose-dependent increase in hepatocyte hypertrophy and labeling index (LI) similar to WY in WT mice. Ultrastructural alterations of peroxisome proliferation were similar between WY-treated and 10 mg/kg PFOA-treated WT mice. KO mice had a dose-dependent increase in hepatocyte vacuolation but increased LI only at 10 mg PFOA/kg. WY-treated KO mice were not different from KO control. These data suggest that PPAR-α is required for WY- and PFOA-induced cellular alterations in WT mouse liver. Hepatic enlargement observed in KO mice may be due to an accumulation of cytoplasmic vacuoles that contain PFOA.
Anesthetic drugs and bariatric surgery

The prevalence of obesity is increasing worldwide. For severely obese patients, bariatric surgery is the only effective option for sustained weight loss and associated health improvement. As a consequence, the number of bariatric surgical procedures being performed is growing exponentially. Systematic knowledge regarding the effect of obesity on the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of anesthetic agents is generally lacking, and data for morbidly obese (body mass index [BMI] 40-49 kg/m2)) and super-obese patients (BMI > 50 kg/m2) are almost completely non-existent. Most drug-dosing guidelines are based on results from relatively small studies in moderately obese patients. Future systematic pharmacological research is needed for improved and more rational peri-operative care of morbidly obese patients.
The Impact of the Journal of Reading Behavior on Reading Scholarship

The Social Science Citation Index was used to gather data concerning the frequency with which articles published in volumes 1 to 25 of the Journal of Reading Behavior have been cited in professiona...
Critical care nurses provide their perspectives of patients' symptoms in intensive care units.

Background Patients in intensive care units (ICUs) can be adversely affected by distressing symptoms. When critically ill patients are unable to self-report symptoms, ICU nurses become proxy reporters. Objective The purpose of this prospective, descriptive study was to explore how ICU nurses assess and treat distressing symptoms in critically ill patients at high risk of dying. Methods Twenty-two nurses participated in this single-site, prospective, descriptive study and described their patients' symptoms and how the symptoms were being managed in response to interviews that used open-ended questions. Taped interviews were transcribed verbatim, and themes were identified. Results Three major themes were derived from the data: 1) signs of symptoms, (2) treatment of symptoms, and (3) “symptoms” versus “signs.” Most nurses did not make distinctions between the assessment of “signs” of disease and the assessment of “symptoms,” and consequently, signs and symptoms were frequently inventoried collectively. Conclusion Critically ill patients experience a broad range of symptoms. Continued attempts to validate nonverbal measures of symptoms are warranted because lack of such measures may adversely affect symptom treatment for critically ill patients. Furthermore, heightened awareness and increased education of nurses to differentiate between signs and symptoms lay the foundation for increasing attention on symptoms, improving accuracy of symptom assessment, and guiding appropriate symptom management.
Peasants and Debt in Eighteenth-Century Champagne

Recent scholarship about debt in early-modern Europe has replaced an old model of misery and exploitation with a new paradigm that emphasizes the entrepreneurial rationale for going into debt. Reassessment of these arguments on the basis of detailed information about 5,000 rural households in France finds that debt posed a high risk of ruin to nearly half of the region's debtors and that viticulture played a unique role in stimulating a borrowing frenzy in the countryside.
The management of Hodgkin's disease: half a century of change. The Kaplan Memorial Lecture

The results of treating more than 2600 patients with Hodgkin's disease at Stanford over a 35-year period are summarized. It is now a reality that Hodgkin's disease can be cured with initial treatment programs in virtually all patients, except the elderly. Histologic factors, staging methods, and prognostic groups are becoming less and less relevant. The current protocols used at Stanford and elsewhere will be reviewed to emphasize that combined modality is really the key to improving the cure rate and minimizing late complications.
The Role of Antimicrobial Management Programs in Optimizing Antibiotic Prescribing within Hospitals

Managing serious infections is a balance between providing timely and appropriate broad-spectrum empirical therapy for individual patients, which has been consistently shown to improve outcomes, and reducing unnecessary use of antimicrobial agents, which may contribute to the development of antimicrobial resistance. To control the spread of antimicrobial resistance, hospitals commonly implement programs designed to optimize antimicrobial use, supported by infection-control measures. Hospital-based antimicrobial management programs—also called “antimicrobial stewardship programs”—are primarily based on education coupled with a “front-end” approach (i.e., restricting the availability of selected antimicrobial agents) or a “back-end” approach (i.e., reviewing broad-spectrum empirical therapy and then streamlining or discontinuing therapy, as indicated, on the basis of culture and susceptibility testing results and clinical response). Institutional efforts to optimize antimicrobial use should concentrate on patient outcomes, should have multidisciplinary support, and should use a combination of interventions customized to the needs, resources, and information technology infrastructure of the health care institution. Clinicians and policy makers who formulate decisions about the treatment of nosocomial infections face a challenge. They must strike a balance between the benefits of aggressive empirical antimicrobial therapy and the emergence and spread of antimicrobial-resistant pathogens associated with excessive use of antimicrobial agents. Early administration of appropriate antimicrobial agents that have microbiological activity against the organisms most likely to be the cause of an individual’s infection has been consistently shown to improve outcomes for patients. More than 2 decades ago, in a study by Kreger et al. [1], appropriate empirical antimicrobial therapy reduced by 50% the frequency of shock among 612 patients with sepsis due to gram-negative bacteria [2]. Since then, numerous investigators have documented the effect of antimicrobial therapy on mortality [3‐8]. For instance, in a prospective study of 655 infected patients who required admission to an intensive
A framework for collaboration and knowledge management

Two of the most heralded recent Information Technology (IT) advances are Knowledge Management (KMS) and Collaborative Information Systems (CIS), yet neither has become a mainstream part of how many companies and knowledge workers (KWs) accomplish real work on a daily basis. We propose here two conceptual hierarchies for each of these new technologies that we believe independently may provide a structure for organizations and individuals to assess their current level of capability in each area. Further, we assert that the two hierarchies are complementary and can be integrated to provide a framework for IT capability in terms of Intellectual Bandwidth (IB.) In this paper we describe the two hierarchies and then present the integrated framework and introduce the concept of IB as the sum of an organizations' CIS and KMS capabilities. Finally we map sample technologies into the framework and explain how the technologies enable individuals, teams and organizations to achieve various levels of KIS and CIS capability. Future research in this area will focus on developing and validating constructs and measures of IB in terms of both KMS and CIS.
Dissociation of patching by latent membrane protein-1 of Epstein-Barr virus from its stimulation of NF-kappaB activity.

Alterations were made in the amino terminus and the first two transmembrane-spanning regions of the latent membrane protein-1 (LMP-1) of Epstein–Barr virus. These mutant proteins were tested for their abilities to patch and to stimulate NF-κB activity. A subset of these derivatives retains the wild-type topology of LMP-1 in the plasma membrane, but has lost the ability to patch. Deletion of residues 9–20 of LMP-1, which contain potential SH3-binding motifs, abrogates patching of LMP-1. However, mutation of the prolines within these motifs, which eliminates binding of LMP-1 to SH3 domains in vitro, does not prevent patching by LMP-1. Deletion of the first two transmembrane regions of LMP-1 does prevent it patching. Some of the derivatives of LMP-1 which do not patch do stimulate NF-κB activity. Patching by LMP-1 appears to be a higher-order assemblage of protein that is compatible with the stimulation of NF-κB activity but is not necessary for this signalling.
On quantum gauge theories in two dimensions

Two dimensional quantum Yang-Mills theory is studied from three points of view: (i) by standard physical methods; (ii) by relating it to the largek limit of three dimensional Chern-Simons theory and two dimensional conformal field theory; (iii) by relating its weak coupling limit to the theory of Reidemeister-Ray-Singer torsion. The results obtained from the three points of view agree and give formulas for the volumes of the moduli spaces of representations of fundamental groups of two dimensional surfaces.
Conceptualizing interpersonal relationships in the cultural contexts of individualism and collectivism.

The expressed values of European American and Latino children, their parents, and their teachers reveal the multifaceted nature of individualistic and collectivistic conceptions of relationships and the varied ways in which cultural value conflict may be manifested in children's daily developmental settings.
The Cost of Crime to Society: New Crime-Specific Estimates for Policy and Program Evaluation

Estimating the cost to society of individual crimes is essential to the economic evaluation of many social programs, such as substance abuse treatment and community policing. A review of the crime-costing literature reveals multiple sources, including published articles and government reports, which collectively represent the alternative approaches for estimating the economic losses associated with criminal activity. Many of these sources are based upon data that are more than 10 years old, indicating a need for updated figures. This study presents a comprehensive methodology for calculating the cost to society of various criminal acts. Tangible and intangible losses are estimated using the most current data available. The selected approach, which incorporates both the cost-of-illness and the jury compensation methods, yields cost estimates for more than a dozen major crime categories, including several categories not found in previous studies. Updated crime cost estimates can help government agencies and other organizations execute more prudent policy evaluations, particularly benefit-cost analyses of substance abuse treatment or other interventions that reduce crime.
Design and evaluation of a forest landscape change model for western Oregon

This article describes the design and evaluation of a forest landscape model, called LandMod, developed by scaling a forest gap model to operate at a coarser resolution. LandMod is a spatially explicit, stochastic model designed to simulate forest dynamics in the west-central Oregon Cascades over long time frames (500+ years) and large spatial extents (≥18,000 ha) at a relatively fine grain (0.04-1 ha). LandMod tracks diameter growth, death, and regeneration of individual tree species in 5-cm size classes at a 5-year time step. Demographics are modeled using simplified procedures from the PNWGap gap model and statistical abstractions of gap-model behavior. LandMod was parameterized for the three predominant forest types of the western Oregon Cascades. Performance of the underlying equations of LandMod was assessed by comparison of predictions with those of the PNWGap model over an elevation and thinning gradient, and with field observations. Landscape-scale performance was assessed by comparing LandMod predictions of potential natural vegetation with empirically based estimates for an 18,000-ha watershed. Results of performance assessments indicated reasonable predictions with LandMod. Compared to PNWGap predictions and observed stands, percent critical errors ( α = 0.05) of predictions for dominant tree species and stand-level measures with LandMod ranged from 1.4 to 29% with the majority of critical errors less than 15%. LandMod predictions of potential natural vegetation closely matched empirical estimates, with an average overall fit of 94% (S.E. = 0.01). Reasons for prediction error included under-prediction of canopy-stem size in old-growth stands and of mean size of sub-dominant species. Also, simplified light calculations in LandMod resulted in the under-prediction of stem growth under canopy structures induced by certain thinning strategies. Enhancements are recommended to improve model predictions. Intended applications with LandMod include ecological assessments of land-use strategies and research assessments of landscape pattern-process interactions that require explicit consideration of forest structure. © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Best Practices for Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs in the Emergency Department Setting: Results of an Expert Panel

Prescription drug monitoring programs are generally underused in emergency departments (ED) and nationwide enrollment is low among emergency physicians. We aimed to develop consensus recommendations for prescription drug monitoring program policy and design to optimize their functionality and use in the ED. We assembled a technical expert panel with key stakeholders in emergency medicine, public health, and public policy. The panel included academic and community-based emergency physicians, a pediatric fellowship–trained emergency physician, a medical toxicologist, a public health expert, a patient advocate, a legal expert, and two state prescription drug monitoring program administrators. We compiled prescription drug monitoring program policies and characteristics and organized them into domains based on user–prescription drug monitoring program interaction. The panel convened for 3 rounds in which the policies and characteristics were introduced, discussed, and modified in an iterative fashion to achieve consensus. The process yielded policy recommendations and design features, with majority agreement. The panel made 18 policy recommendations within these main themes: enrollment should be mandatory, with an automatic process to mitigate the workload; registration should be open to all prescribers; delegates should have access to prescription drug monitoring program to alleviate work flow burdens; prescription drug monitoring program data should be pushed into hospital electronic health records; prescription drug monitoring program review should be mandatory for patients receiving opioid prescriptions and based on objective criteria; the prescription drug monitoring program content should be standardized and updated in a timely manner; and states should encourage interstate data sharing. An expert panel identified 18 recommendations that can be used by states and policymakers to improve prescription drug monitoring program design to increase use in the ED setting.
Smartphone applications to reduce alcohol consumption and help patients with alcohol use disorder: a state-of-the-art review

Hazardous drinking and alcohol use disorder (AUD) are substantial contributors to USA and global morbidity and mortality. Patient self-management and continuing care are needed to combat these public health threats. However, services are rarely provided to patients outside of clinic settings or following brief intervention. Smartphone applications ("apps") may help narrow the divide between traditional health care and patient needs. The purpose of this review is to identify and summarize smartphone apps to reduce alcohol consumption or treat AUD that have been evaluated for feasibility, acceptability, and/or efficacy. We searched two research databases for peer-reviewed journal articles published in English that evaluated smartphone apps to decrease alcohol consumption or treat AUD. We identified six apps. Two of these apps (A-CHESS and LBMI-A) promoted self-reported reductions in alcohol use, two (Promillekoll and PartyPlanner) failed to promote self-reported reductions in alcohol use, and two (HealthCall-S and Chimpshop) require further evaluation and testing before any conclusions regarding efficacy can be made. In summary, few evaluations of smartphone apps to reduce alcohol consumption or treat AUD have been reported in the scientific literature. Although advances in smartphone technology hold promise for disseminating interventions among hazardous drinkers and individuals with AUD, more systematic evaluations are necessary to ensure that smartphone apps are clinically useful.
Coping Together, Side by side: Enhancing Mother–Daughter Communication Across the Breast Cancer Journey

When I was eight, my mother found it—a tiny lump, barely noticeable. I watched my mother undergo breast cancer surgery, chemotherapy, nausea, hair loss, radiation, and breast reconstruction. Though...
Solution-Processed Planar Perovskite Solar Cell Without a Hole Transport Layer

Solar cells with a structure of ITO/ZnO/CH3NH3PbI3/graphite/carbon black electrode were fabricated by spin coating at ambient conditions. PbI2 thin films were converted into CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite by reacting with CH3NH3I in solution. The incorporation of electrochemically exfoliated graphite improved the fill factor, open circuit potential and short circuit current density. The best device yielded 10.2% power conversion efficiency.
The Perestroika of Soviet Studies: Thinking and Teaching About the Soviet Union in Comparative Perspective

President Gorbachev has fundamentally changed the Soviet political system. Whether Gorbachev survives another month, year, or decade, the Soviet system will not return to the party-state command economy that preceded his tenure. Although the Soviet changes have not yet resulted in the total repudiation of the communist system, as in Eastern Europe, and a neoconservative retrenchment is possible, those of us who study and teach Soviet politics must respond to these developments with a perestroika of Soviet studies and “new thinking” about the Soviet Union. Concepts and techniques formerly alien to Soviet studies must become integral components of our analysis. Even if we cannot completely discard such concepts as totalitarianism, Marxism-Leninism, and democratic centralism, we must begin to include theories of pluralism, constitutionalism, and federalism. Patently, oldstyle Kremlinology and “black box” analysis must be supplemented if not replaced by public opinion polling, studies of electoral behavior, and legislative roll-call analysis. Rather than thinking and teaching about the USSR in isolation or in the narrow context of comparative communism, we should look at Soviet politics from a broader comparative perspective that draws on theories and examples from Western and Third World systems. Quite simply, the restructuring of how we teach and study Soviet politics must be as fundamental and as sweeping as Gorbachev's perestroika of the Soviet system.
Analysis of real-world power quality disturbances employing time-frequency distribution

The traditional method for the analysis of power quality (PQ) disturbances is fast Fourier transform (FFT) which suffers from spectral leakage phenomenon, and results in erroneous assessment in the presence of nonstationary PQ disturbances. Also, it cannot provide any time information as PQ indices are computed in the frequency domain only. Regarding the limitations of the FFT, in this paper Page time-frequency distribution (TFD) method is utilized for the analysis of three-phase nonstationary, nonsinusoidal, and unbalanced PQ disturbances. Utilizing the Page TFD technique, PQ indices such as effective rms voltage and current, apparent power, active power and power factor are redefined in the time-frequency domain, and the efficacy of the proposed method is evaluated by applying it to a synthetic and two real-world PQ disturbances provided by National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The analysis results show that the proposed method provides more accurate results than the FFT, and time-varying signature of the real-world PQ disturbances under nonstationary, nonsinusoidal, and unbalanced operating conditions.
Revised Damping Parameters for the D3 Dispersion Correction to Density Functional Theory

Since the original fitting of Grimme’s DFT-D3 damping parameters, the number and quality of benchmark interaction energies has increased significantly. Here, conventional benchmark sets, which focus on minimum-orientation radial curves at the expense of angular diversity, are augmented by new databases such as side chain–side chain interactions (SSI), which are composed of interactions gleaned from crystal data and contain no such minima-focused bias. Moreover, some existing databases such as S22×5 are extended to shorter intermolecular separations. This improved DFT-D3 training set provides a balanced description of distances, covers the entire range of interaction types, and at 1526 data points is far larger than the original training set of 130. The results are validated against a new collection of 6773 data points and demonstrate that the effect of refitting the damping parameters ranges from no change in accuracy (LC-ωPBE-D3) to an almost 2-fold decrease in average error (PBE-D3).
Physician acceptance of a computerized health maintenance prompting program.

Computer prompting systems remind physicians to perform health promotion/disease prevention (HP/DP) procedures on their patients, but it is unclear how willingly physicians accept these systems. Because acceptance is critical to long-term system success, we assessed attitudes toward a computerized health maintenance program (HMP) prompting system. We surveyed 23 faculty and 52 residents in a general medicine teaching hospital group practice after the HMP had been in use for three years. Sixty-four physicians (85 percent) responded. Almost all (91 percent) agreed that all ongoing-care patients should receive periodic screening—a significant (p Prompting systems improve physician performance of HP/DP procedures. The HMP received a high level of acceptance and was associated with improved attitudes toward HP/PD activities, suggesting that computerized prompting systems should be more widespread.
Two Elementary Properties of Entire Functions and Their Applications

We give two elementary properties for entire functions. The first is a direct consequence of Cauchy's theorem, which implies both Liouville's theorem and the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra. The sec...
Lymphovascular and perineural invasion are associated with poor prognostic features and outcomes in colorectal cancer: A retrospective cohort study.

Abstract Background Lymphovascular and perineural invasion (LVI and PNI) are associated with poor outcomes in several cancers. We sought to identify clinical variables associated with LVI and PNI in colorectal cancer (CRC) and to determine their impact on survival. Methods A retrospective review was performed of the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB), 2004–2011. Patients with CRC and a documented LVI or PNI status were included. Multivariate analysis was conducted to examine the associations between clinical variables and LVI/PNI, PNI and survival, and LVI/PNI and lymph node (LN) status in patients with T1 and T2 tumors. Results In total, 158,777 patients were included. LVI status was documented for 139,026 patients, 26.3% of whom were positive. PNI status was documented in 142,034 patients, 11.1% of whom were positive. The multivariable model identified a number of pathologic and clinical characteristics associated with the presence of LVI and PNI, including a number of features of advanced CRC. PNI was independently associated with reduced survival (HR 3.55, 95%CI 1.78–7.09). In T1 or T2 tumors, LVI and PNI were significantly associated with LN involvement. Conclusions LVI and PNI are associated with advanced CRC. PNI is an independent poor prognostic marker for survival in CRC. LVI and PNI are associated with LN involvement in T1 and T2 tumors. Documentation of LVI and PNI status on biopsy specimens may help in prognostication and decision-making in the management of these early tumors.
Adsorption of poly(ethylene oxide)-containing amphiphilic polymers on solid-liquid interfaces: Fundamentals and applications

The adsorption of amphiphilic molecules of varying size on solid-liquid interfaces modulates the properties of colloidal systems. Nonionic, poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)-based amphiphilic molecules are particularly useful because of their graded hydrophobic-hydrophilic nature, which allows for adsorption on a wide array of solid surfaces. Their adsorption also results in other useful properties, such as responsiveness to external stimuli and solubilization of hydrophobic compounds. This review focuses on the adsorption properties of PEO-based amphiphiles, beginning with a discussion of fundamental concepts pertaining to the adsorption of macromolecules on solid-liquid interfaces, and more specifically the adsorption of PEO homopolymers. The main portion of the review highlights studies on factors affecting the adsorption and surface self-assembly of PEO-PPO-PEO block copolymers, where PPO is poly(propylene oxide). Block copolymers of this type are commercially available and of interest in several fields, due to their low toxicity and compatibility in aqueous systems. Examples of applications relevant to the interfacial behavior of PEO-PPO-PEO block copolymers are paints and coatings, detergents, filtration, and drug delivery. The methods discussed herein for manipulating the adsorption properties of PEO-PPO-PEO are emphasized for their ability to shed light on molecular interactions at interfaces. Knowledge of these interactions guides the formulation of novel materials with useful mesoscale organization and micro- and macrophase properties.
In Situ Electron Microscopy Imaging and Quantitative Structural Modulation of Nanoparticle Superlattices

We use liquid-phase transmission electron microscopy (LP-TEM) to characterize the structure and dynamics of a solution-phase superlattice assembled from gold nanoprisms at the single particle level. The lamellar structure of the superlattice, determined by a balance of interprism interactions, is maintained and resolved under low-dose imaging conditions typically reserved for biomolecular imaging. In this dose range, we capture dynamic structural changes in the superlattice in real time, where contraction and smaller steady-state lattice constants are observed at higher electron dose rates. Quantitative analysis of the contraction mechanism based on a combination of direct LP-TEM imaging, ensemble small-angle X-ray scattering, and theoretical modeling allows us to elucidate: (1) the superlattice contraction in LP-TEM results from the screening of electrostatic repulsion due to as much as a 6-fold increase in the effective ionic strength in the solution upon electron beam illumination; and (2) the lattice ...
Public Choice Issues in International Collective Action: Global Warming Regulation

Although there is a growing literature on scientific estimates and regulatory instruments for international efforts to control greenhouse gas emissions, the underlying political collective action processes have been neglected. We focus on the impact of uncertainty in assessing the benefits and costs of global warming regulation on constituencies and politicians in the bargaining countries. Uncertainty arises due to basic information problems about emissions and their link to global warming, the possible range of temperature changes, and their likely effects across the planet. These information problems also create uncertainty in calculating the net effects of global warming, determining its effective regulation, and assessing compliance by sovereign countries that may be differentially affected. We outline a two-stage analytical framework that describes the positions taken by representatives of negotiating countries and the internal public choice tradeoffs facing politicians when constituents are faced with differential and uncertain effects. We apply the framework to the Montreal Protocol to Control Substances that Damage the Ozone Layer of 1987 for insights in analyzing the Kyoto Protocol of 1997. Additional information will reduce uncertainty over time, and until uncertainty is lowered we conclude that limited regulatory efforts are most likely to generate internal political support within negotiating countries for international collective action.
The Regulation of Lymphocyte Traffic

The distribution of lymphocytes among the tissues of the body is not random. Both the number and the representation of particular functional subsets of lymphocytes are carefully controlled, differing in each lymphoid organ or tissue in a manner that presumably reflects local immune requirements. The tissue distribution of lymphocytes is a function of lymphocyte class, of their previous history or stage of differentiation, and of their antigenic specificity. For example, those lymphocyte populations primarily responsible for humoral immunity (B cells) predominate in the spleen and in the gut-associated Peyer’s patches, whereas T cells, which are primarily regulatory and cytotoxic cells, are the major lymphocyte type in the peripheral lymph nodes and skin (Stevens et al. 1982; Streilein 1978). Functionally and antigenically defined T-cell subsets are also unequally distributed between mucosal and nonmucosal lymphoid tissues (Elson et al. 1979; Kraal et al. 1983). The distribution of certain effector and effector-precursor populations can be even more restricted: especially dramatic is the segregation of IgA- vs. IgG-expressing B cells. Surface IgA-bearing lymphocytes are highly represented in the mucosa-associated lymphoid organs, and the mucosal surfaces attract predominantly IgA-secreting plasma cells (Guy-Grand et al. 1974; reviewed by Lamm 1976). In nonmucosal sites, such as peripheral lymph nodes or the skin, IgA-bearing cells are rare, and most plasma cells secrete IgM or IgG. Lymphocytes can also segregate in vivo on the basis of antigen specificity: antigen-specific B and T cells are disproportionately represented in lymph nodes or spleen challenged with antigen (Kraal et al. 1982; Sprent 1980) and antigen-specific plasma cells accumulate in tissue sites of specific antigen deposition (Husband and Gowans 1978; Husband 1982).
In the Wake of the 2004 Great Indian Ocean Tsunami: Internally Displaced Persons and the Natural Disaster Response in the Maldives

In the early morning hours on December 26, 2004, a magnitude 9.3 earthquake rocked the Indian Ocean, reaching the Republic of the Maldives approximately three and a half hours later. Thousands of Maldivians were displaced from their homes, with many having to leave their homes permanently. This article examines the response of the Government of the Maldives in the immediate aftermath of the 2004 tsunami and over the longer-term. Also, the article discusses the experiences of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) and the host communities, as well as the return migration of IDPs to permanent homes. Specifically, this article discusses the case study of the island of Kandholhudhoo, whose residents were temporarily relocated to eleven different atolls while Dhuvaafaru - their new home and a different island - was being constructed for permanent housing. The article examines best practices and difficulties with the response to natural disasters, managing IDPs, and the reconstruction process.
Lagrangian simulation of oil trajectories in the Florida Straits

A Lagrangian floating oil trajectory model is developed to simulate a continuous surface spill in the Florida Straits. The trajectories are initiated at locations representative of exploratory drilling sites around Cuba's Exclusive Economic Zone and integrated for ten days. The simulation is initialized for different seasons, using leeway-corrected observed winds, ocean currents, different climatologies, and a first-order Markov Lagrangian Stochastic Model. A Monte-Carlo scheme is used to parameterize oil weathering processes collectively. Overall, the simulations exhibit a strong seasonal dependence, where the Florida coast is most affected during the summer and the Cuban coast in the winter. Drilling sites at the center of the Straits show the largest impact on Florida. Cuba is most affected by shoreline locations. A significant amount of oil reaches the Florida coastline within two to ten days, and Cuba is potentially affected within hours. Many simulations project impacts for the Florida Keys, South Florida, and the north shore of Cuba.
Feature selective temporal prediction of Alzheimer's disease progression using hippocampus surface morphometry

Introduction Prediction of Alzheimer's disease (AD) progression based on baseline measures allows us to understand disease progression and has implications in decisions concerning treatment strategy. To this end, we combine a predictive multi-task machine learning method (cFSGL) with a novel MR-based multivariate morphometric surface map of the hippocampus (mTBM) to predict future cognitive scores of patients. Methods Previous work has shown that a multi-task learning framework that performs prediction of all future time points simultaneously (cFSGL) can be used to encode both sparsity as well as temporal smoothness. The authors showed that this method is able to predict cognitive outcomes of ADNI subjects using FreeSurfer-based baseline MRI features, MMSE score demographic information and ApoE status. Whilst volumetric information may hold generalized information on brain status, we hypothesized that hippocampus specific information may be more useful in predictive modeling of AD. To this end, we applied a multivariate tensor-based parametric surface analysis method (mTBM) to extract features from the hippocampal surfaces. Results We combined mTBM features with traditional surface features such as middle axis distance, the Jacobian determinant as well as 2 of the Jacobian principal eigenvalues to yield 7 normalized hippocampal surface maps of 300 points each. By combining these 7 × 300 = 2100 features together with the previous ~350 features, we illustrate how this type of sparsifying method can be applied to an entire surface map of the hippocampus that yields a feature space that is 2 orders of magnitude larger than what was previously attempted. Conclusions By combining the power of the cFSGL multi-task machine learning framework with the addition of AD sensitive mTBM feature maps of the hippocampus surface, we are able to improve the predictive performance of ADAS cognitive scores 6, 12, 24, 36 and 48 months from baseline.
Exploring trusted platform module capabilities: a theoretical and experimental study

Trusted platform modules (TPMs) are hardware modules that are bound to a computer's motherboard, that are being included in many desktops and laptops. Augmenting computers with these hardware modules adds powerful functionality in distributed settings, allowing us to reason about the security of these systems in new ways. In this dissertation, I study the functionality of TPMs from a theoretical as well as an experimental perspective. On the theoretical front, I leverage various features of TPMs to construct applications like random oracles that are impossible to implement in a standard model of computation. Apart from random oracles, I construct a new cryptographic primitive which is basically a non-interactive form of the standard cryptographic primitive of oblivious transfer. I apply this new primitive to secure mobile agent computations, where interaction between various entities is typically required to ensure security. I prove these constructions are secure using standard cryptographic techniques and assumptions. To test the practicability of these constructions and their applications, I performed an experimental study, both on an actual TPM and a software TPM simulator which has been enhanced to make it reflect timings from a real TPM. This allowed me to benchmark the performance of the applications and test the feasibility of the proposed extensions to standard TPMs. My tests also show that these constructions are practical.
Financing seasonal demand

This paper identifies seasonal firms and their peak seasons to provide empirical evidence of the approach these firms take to finance seasonal operations. The seasonal use of funds, which builds before seasonal revenue, is largely financed with transitory sources of credit, such as credit lines, trade credit, and commercial paper. Permanent financing is used only moderately to meet seasonal needs. However, both weak credit market conditions and firm‐level financial constraints limit the ability of seasonal firms to use debt as transitory financing. These frictions result in a partial shift to permanent financing but reduce the seasonal use of funds overall.
Recente ontwikkelingen in de micro-economie

This article provides a nonmathematical survey of the system-wide approach to microeconomics. The allocation character of consumption theory is emphasized and is related to similar characteristics of other areas in the social sciences. The measurement of the change in the quality of consumption is discussed, and also the independence transformation which describes the consumer's preferences and the firm's technology in the simplest possible form. The system-wide approach is compared with conventional economy-wide macromodels.
White collar from start to finish

C. Wright Mills completed his study of the "new" middle classesa decadelong obsession just as the 1940s passed bleakly into history. He had "some hopes," but could not yet know for sure, that ten years of strenuous effort had finally culminated in a work of decisive intellectual significance. Time has justified his expectations. It is now apparent that White Collar belongs to a select group of major theoretical works, all published within a year or two of 1950, expressing a common sense that "reality" had changed than an "era in human sensibility" or a "cultural cycle" was coming to an end. The book remained unusual in its militant advocacy of a radical or adversary stance that, with the decline of Modernism, most intellectuals had come to disavow. But it nevertheless joined such breakthrough works as The Liberal Imagination and The Lonely Crowd, among others, in shifting from "old" toward "newer" forms of sociopolitical and cultural analysis. White Collar retained some assumptions from earlier Progressive and marxist paradigms while also anticipating the 1950s symptomatic concern with "consensus" as well as "conflict," with "status" as well as "class," with elusive psychological as well as hard material reality. This in-between work, put differently, both reflected and darkly foresaw a potentially ominous transformation from the "modern" to what Mills by 1959 would be calling the "post-modern" epoch of human history.1
Media Trends for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration 800-662-HELP Addiction Treatment Referral Services After a Celebrity Overdose.

This evaluation of media trends compared searches on social media for key words after a celebrity overdose and a celebrity suicide.
Fostering social capital in an international multi-stakeholder issue network

Abstract Scholars have theorized that public relations contributes to societies and communities by bringing attention to pressing public issues and fostering social capital in civil society networks. However, the extant research has studied civil society networks of NGOs, donors, and the media in transitional countries. This study extends the public relations model of civil society in two ways. First, it broadens the scope to an international context. Second, it draws from the multi-stakeholder issue network perspective to conceptualize a civil society network as a space where stakeholders of an issue mix their interests as they collectively address a pressing public issue. The literature on international and multi-stakeholder networks suggest that the international scope and the mixing of interests across sectors may restrict the production of social capital. The results from the social network analysis suggests that the mixing of interests across sectoral and geopolitical boundaries did not restrict the production of social capital. Rather, the patterns of the relationships among those on the core and those on the periphery of the network restricted the production of social capital. Such finding demonstrates how public relations’ functions like relationship building can have profound influences on social capital and civil society networks. The implications for public relations theorizing and research are discussed.
Assessment of Arms Import Policies Using a Hierarchical Decision Model and Expert Judgments: Case Study of South Korean Arms Procurement Organizations

Arms import decisions have a significant impact on certain nations. Priorities based on diverse policies are a major cause of conflict and dissent among policy decision makers and practitioners. Th...
Every scar has a story: age and sex-specific conflict rates in wild bottlenose dolphins

Social living brings competition over mates, relationships, and resources, which can translate to direct conflict. In dolphins, tooth rakes received from conspecifics are highly visible and reliable indicators of conflict. New rakes indicate recent conflicts while healed rakes suggest older instances of conflict. Here, we investigate the healing time of conspecific tooth rakes in wild bottlenose dolphins, create a demographic profile of injury risk in the population, and consider the implications for age- and sex-specific aggression. Using photographic and scarring data from the Shark Bay Dolphin Research Project spanning 31 years (N = 269 tooth rakes), healing time was analyzed using a subset of sequential photographs of the same body part over 1–12 years (N = 70 tooth rakes). Ninety percent of tooth rakes in males and 95% of tooth rakes in females were no longer visible within 400 days, with males taking longer to heal than females. Using the full sample, we examined age and sex-effects on the prevalence of new tooth rakes. A negative quadratic model best fitted tooth rake prevalence patterns from ages 0 to 13 and a positive linear regression best fitted tooth rake prevalence patterns from ages 13 to 30. Both analyses revealed significant age and sex effects, where males had more tooth rakes than females. Age differences in tooth rake prevalence may be attributed to life history events such as sexual maturity onset, male-male competition and alliance formation, and sexual coercion. These results contribute to our understanding of the relationship between social conflict and life history strategies in long-lived mammals. In wild dolphins, tooth rake scars indicate conspecific conflict, and the timing of such conflict clarifies the challenges faced during each life history stage. Based on > 30 years of longitudinal data, we created a demographic profile of new tooth rakes to identify patterns of age- and sex-specific received aggression. Males had more tooth rakes than females, but females healed faster than males. Juveniles had the greatest tooth rake prevalence compared to calves and adults, suggesting greater exposure to some level of conflict. Differences in patterns of tooth rake prevalence and aggression have implications regarding the costs of sexual maturity and reproduction in dolphins. To our knowledge, no study has examined the rate of received aggression across the lifespan. Our methods can be applied to other studies of wild marine mammals, where agonistic encounters are difficult to observe, but wounds are apparent.
Stochastic models of influenza outbreaks on a college campus

Disease outbreaks on residential college campuses provide an ideal opportunity for mathematical modelling. Unfortunately, publicly available data are rare and many of these outbreaks are relatively small, confounding traditional data-fitting techniques such as least-squares. Using data from three outbreaks during the 2015 and 2017 flu seasons at Trinity College, we fit several SIR-type stochastic models by approximating the likelihood of each model. We find that stochasticity is a key driver in determining the size of the outbreak, and that it strongly depends on the amount of time between the start of the outbreak and the next school holiday. Our results indicate that in order to prevent or limit the size of an outbreak, school closure is likely to be more effective than increasing the vaccination rate. As influenza is a leading cause of negative academic outcomes, these results offer important guidance for school administrators.
Patterns of Fine Ash Dispersal Related to Volcanic Activity at West Mata Volcano, NE Lau Basin

Extensive deep (>1500 m) non-hydrothermal ash-rich plumes were present in the water column surrounding West Mata submarine volcano (NE Lau basin) during eruptive phases, but were absent when West Mata was quiescent. Deep ash plumes were chemically distinct from hydrothermal plumes originating at West Mata and other hydrothermal sources in the region, and were dominated by very fine shards compositionally similar to the lava erupting at the ~1200 m summit with morphologies indicative of magma degassing and shattering. Deep ash plume layers occurred at variable water depths (and distances above the seafloor) and were transported by local currents to 10’s of km from West Mata. We interpret these deep ash plumes to be syn-eruptively generated ash transported downslope via sediment gravity flows of varying magnitudes, runout distances, and liftoff densities. Final deposition of individual particles will be by settling from suspension (i.e., fallout deposits). The mechanism for initiating gravity flows is uncertain, but their spatial and temporal distribution suggests that eruption column collapse and/or mobilization of unstable volcaniclasts accumulating on steep slopes during the eruption are likely sources. Turbidity within the deep ash plumes decreased by 80% over a 3 week period in 2017, suggesting the eruption that created a new deposit, constrained between March 2016 and November 2017, was likely active as recently as a few weeks to months prior to the FK171110 expedition. Similar deep ash plumes have been observed surrounding other erupting submarine volcanoes. This pattern of syn-eruptive dispersal suggests that fine ash does not have to be lofted high into the water column in event plumes, or enter the ocean from subaerial sources, to be dispersed by local currents and contribute to fallout deposits in regional and distal sediments, which may appear as cryptotephra or thin ash layers if the ash supply exceeds pelagic sedimentation rates; deposits that are often attributed to subaerial eruptions alone. These results also suggest that the presence of deep ash plumes surrounding a submarine volcanic edifice, along with a magmatic-hydrothermal plume above the summit, may be a valuable diagnostic exploration tool for identifying active, or very recently active, submarine eruptions.