cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Constrained Entropy Models; Solvability and Sensitivity

The paper presents an analysis of the constrained entropy maximization model from the point of view of geometric programming. While the original entropy maximization model consists of maximizing the entropy of a system subject only to constraints that the solution be a probability measure, the models considered here contain an additional set of linear constraints. These constrained models have been the subject of a wide range of applications in transportation and geographical analysis. Using the duality theory of geometric programming, we develop the dual to the constrained model, which as in the case of the original model is unconstrained except for the positivity restrictions on the dual variables. In addition, this duality theory enables us to study the solvability of the model and the impact of changes in the model parameters on the solution. The sensitivity analysis provides approximations to the optimal solution to problems with perturbed data without requiring the re-solving of the model. This analysis is appropriate for changes in the right hand sides of the constraints, the coefficients in the constraints, and the objective function coefficients. Since the constraint coefficients correspond to the objective function exponents in the primal geometric program, the analysis provides a means of studying such changes is any geometric program. The computational aspects of the procedures are illustrated on a trip distribution problem.
Phase II study of capecitabine combined with gemcitabine in the treatment of androgen-independent prostate cancer previously treated with taxanes.

BACKGROUND The primary objective of the current study was to evaluate the effectiveness of capecitabine and gemcitabine in the treatment of patients with androgen-independent prostate cancer (AIPCa) who experienced disease progression after taxane therapy. The secondary objective was to evaluate the safety and tolerability of the combination of capecitabine and gemcitabine in these patients. METHODS Patients with AIPCa, either metastatic or unresectable disease, and prior taxane therapy were eligible. Patients were treated with 800 mg/m2 of capecitabine orally twice daily (1600 mg/m2 per day) for 14 days, and 800 mg/m2 of gemcitabine intravenously on Days 1 and 8. This regimen was repeated every 21 days. Response to therapy was determined by measuring prostate-specific antigen concentration. RESULTS Sixteen patients participated in this study from June 2003 to January 2004. There were no responses as defined by a 50% decline in prostate-specific antigen. The study was terminated early because the response rate was not projected to exceed 30% (rejection error of 10%). Toxicities were notable: 3 patients had Grade 3 thrombocytopenia, 4 patients had Grade 3 neutropenia, and 3 patients had Grade 3 infections (according to the National Cancer Institute Common Toxicity Criteria [version 2.0]). Eight patients (50%) required dose reduction or treatment interruption. CONCLUSIONS The combination of capecitabine and gemcitabine for the salvage treatment of patients with AIPCa was associated with significant toxicities and was ineffective for induction of disease regression. Cancer 2006. © 2006 American Cancer Society.
Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in Lake Michigan forage fish

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) were analyzed in 88 forage fish samples collected from Lake Michigan in 1995 and in 2002/2003. Lipid-normalized total PBDE concentrations ranged from 149 to 1094 ng/g. Total PBDEs in alewife and deepwater sculpin did not change significantly from 1995 to 2002/2003, while the levels in bloater chub and the slimy sculpin decreased. BDE-47 was the most abundant congener in the fish. All of the forage fish were depleted in BDE-99 relative to what would be expected based on the congener composition of the commercial formulation in use. The deepwater sculpins were particularly lacking in BDE-99. Changes in the food web brought about by the dramatic decline of Diporeia abundance (due to the invasion of zebra and quagga mussels) may have affected the levels of PBDEs in some of the forage fish.
Spousal Alternatives and Marital Relations

This analysis merges marital history data for respondents in the National Survey of Families and Households with census data describing the sex composition of their local marriage markets to examine the impact of the availability of spousal alternatives on subjective measures of marital relations. The authors find significant bivariate associations between the sex composition of the local marriage market and husbands' and wives' marital happiness, perceived likelihood of divorce, and anticipated change in happiness if divorced. However, the effects of the sex composition of the local marriage market on these measures of marital quality are not significant after adjusting for racial differences. Racial differences in these subjective measures of marital quality cannot be explained by racial differences in mate availability, socioeconomic status, and other dimensions of sociodemographic background.
Addressing complications of intention-to-treat analysis in the combined presence of all-or-none treatment-noncompliance and subsequent missing outcomes

SUMMARY We study the combined impact that all-or-none compliance and subsequent missing outcomes can have on the estimation of the intention-to-treat effect of assignment in randomised studies. In this setting, a standard analysis, which drops subjects with missing outcomes and ignores compliance information, can be biased for the intention-to-treat effect. To address all-or-none compliance that is followed by missing outcomes, we construct a new estimation procedure for the intention-to-treat effect that maintains good randomisation-based properties under more plausible, nonignorable noncompliance and nonignorable missing-outcome conditions: the 'compound exclusion restriction' on the effect of assignment and the 'latent ignorability' of the missing data mechanism. We present both theoretical results and a simulation study. Moreover, we show how the two key concepts of compound exclusion and latent ignorability are relevant in more complicated settings, such as right censoring of a time-to-event outcome.
Estimates of critical dimensions of spherical and slab reactors

Abstract : UNDER THE ASSUMPTIONS OF CONSTANT ENERGY OF NEUTRONS AND ISOTROPY OF THE COLLISION-FISSION PROCESS, THE DETERMINATION OF THE CRITICAL MASS OF SPHERICAL AND SLAB REACTORS IS EQUIVALENT TO THE DETERMINATION OF TWO OF THE EIGENVALUES OF A LINEAR INTEGRAL OPERATOR T. In the theory of radiative transfer in homogeneous plane parallel atmospheres with isotropic scattering, this same operator is an important one known as the truncated Hopf operator. The theory also applies to stratified slab and spherical reactors in which the physical properties can change from stratum to stratum. This observation is developed and then applied to reactors with a homogeneous core surrounded by a homogeneous reflector. Numerical results are given for the bare homogeneous reactors. (Author)
Generation of minimal vertex covers for row/column allocation in self-repairable arrays

This paper lays foundations for an approach to on-chip row/column allocation that exploits certain properties offered by laterally connected networks of simple threshold devices. As a sample application, it is demonstrated how electronic implementations of these networks can be used as the basis for effective memory array repair systems that require little hardware overhead.
Desmin filaments and cardiac disease: Establishing causality

Abstract Background: Gene targeting studies indicate that desmin is not required for embryonic myogenesis and heart formation but is essential for maintaining the structural and functional integrity of myocytes. Desmin-null mouse hearts developed hypertrophy and dilatation. However, the expression of desmin is very often upregulated rather than downregulated in many cardiac diseases. Altered distribution of desmin protein has been observed in dilated cardiomyopathy, as well as desminopathies to which a number of mutations of desmin and a missense mutation of αB-crystallin (CryAB) have been linked. Methods and Results: Using mouse transgenesis, we have recently demonstrated that modest overexpression of a mutant form of either desmin or CryAB in the heart leads to aberrant aggregation of desmin and CryAB proteins, disruption of the normal desmin network, perturbation of myofibril alignment, and distortion of the nuclear shape. The transgenic hearts develop concentric cardiac hypertrophy and diastolic malfunction at the early stage and ventricular dilatation and congestive heart failure subsequently. Moderate overexpression of either wild-type protein, however, did not cause discernible morphological and functional abnormalities or increased mortality. Conclusions: Thus cardiac overexpression of wild-type desmin is not detrimental whereas aberrant aggregation of desmin and disruption of the desmin network remodel the heart and compromise cardiac function.
Optimal filtering for crypto-deterministic systems with application to delay systems with unknown initial data

A result of Friedland for efficient filtering in the presence of a static bias is extended to the case where the bias signals are given by the response of persistent autonomous systems with random initial conditions. It is shown that the optimal filter decouples into a bias free and a bias error correction filter. We apply the results to filtering of a system with delay when the initial data is missing. Theses results have potential applications in secure communication, synchronization and networked control.
SPECIFICITY OF THE IMMUNE RESPONSE TO THE 2, 4-DINITROPHENYL AND 2, 4, 6-TRINITROPHENYL GROUPS LIGAND BINDING AND FLUORESCENCE PROPERTIES OF CROSS-REACTING ANTIBODIES

The principal results of the present study are: ( a ) the failure to find an antibody subset that binds a cross-reacting ligand better than the comparable homologue in spite of the use of isolation methods that select for such antibody molecules; ( b ) the isolation of antibody subsets with virtually indistinguishable average intrinsic association constants for homologous and cross-reacting ligands, but which nevertheless have physical properties (Qmax and relative fluorescence coefficient) that readily distinguish these subsets according to their origin in response to antigenic stimulation with DNP- or with TNP-protein; ( c ) the demonstration, by precipitin reaction and measurement of association constants for homologous and cross-reacting haptens, of generally greater cross-reactivity among high affinity anti-DNP and anti-TNP antibodies, i.e. low affinity antibodies are generally more discriminating; ( d ) the selection of anti-DNP and anti-TNP antibody subsets that are distinctive in their ability to show spur formation in gel diffusion reactions with homologous and cross-reacting antigens. These results suggest that in the initial cellular response to antigenic stimulation, DNP-BγG and TNP-BγG stimulate virtually nonoverlapping sets of antigen-sensitive cells, despite the great similarity of these two immunogens. With prolonged stimulation this specificity wanes, giving rise to a more degenerate response evident in the greater cross-reactivity of the antibodies produced later in immunization.
A set of CS 1 labs utilizing graphical objects and inheritance

A series of weekly CS 1 labs utilizing C++ have been developed, implemented and tested in a student lab environment. Of particular interest is the emphasis on mathematics and the early and extensive use of objects and graphics, including simple animation. Many basic concepts (e.g., objects, files, and functions) are introduced and expanded over several weeks, and important themes recur throughout a series of labs (e.g., file processing and bar charts, classes and inheritance). Included are preview, lab and follow-up exercises, check-off and grade sheets, weekly topics and hints for instructors, additional programming exercises that are extensions of the lab material and a student reference manual.
Monopoly Pricingand Regulatory Oversight

This paper analyzes the interaction between a regulator and monopolist in the determination of the price for the monopolist's product, where only the monoplast knows ex ante its true marginal cost of production. The regulator observes the market price proposed by the monopolist and decides whether to hold a rate hearing, where suck a hearing is a costly means of verifying the monopolist's marginal cost. Subsequent to a rate hearing, the regulator can impose a market price for the monopolist's product; in the absence of a rate hearing, the market price is set equal to the monopolist's proposed price. Equilibrium behavior by the monopolist and regulator is characterized, and the degree of regulatory “activism,” as defined by the probability a rate hearing is held, is seen to vary ex post with the monopolist's true marginal cost.
The Realization of Large-Scale Photonic Integrated Circuits and the Associated Impact on Fiber-Optic Communication Systems

Large-scale photonic integrated circuits (LS PICs) have been extensively deployed throughout the fiber optic communication network. This paper discusses the properties of the LS PICs, the interaction between them, and what is necessary to create an optical transport system that fully utilizes the properties of the LS PIC
Cognitive bias modification for anxiety: current evidence and future directions

Cognitive bias modification (CBM) is an innovative approach to modifying cognitive biases that confer vulnerability to anxiety. CBM interventions are designed to directly modify attention and interpretation biases via repeated practice on cognitive tasks. Analogue studies have demonstrated that CBM affects cognitive biases and anxiety in a number of anxiety conditions. Multisession CBM treatments have shown preliminary efficacy for generalized social phobia and generalized anxiety disorder, with effect sizes comparable to existing treatments. However, with any newly developing field, there are a number of important limitations of the existing data that need to be addressed before making firm conclusions regarding CBM’s efficacy for anxiety disorders. This article focuses on the theoretical rationale for CBM and the current evidence from analogue and clinical samples.
Harsh parenting, parasympathetic activity, and development of delinquency and substance use.

Stress response systems are thought to play an important role in the development of psychopathology. In addition, family stress may have a significant influence on the development of stress response systems. One potential avenue of change is through alterations to thresholds for the activation of stress responses: Decreased threshold for responding may mark increased stress sensitivity. Our first aim was to evaluate the interaction between thresholds for parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) responding, operationalized as resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), and harsh parenting in the prediction of development of delinquency and adolescent substance use (resting RSA as a biomarker of risk). The second aim was to evaluate if resting RSA changes over time as a function of harsh parenting and stress reactivity indexed by RSA withdrawal (altered threshold for stress responding). Our third aim was to evaluate the moderating role of sex in these relations. We used longitudinal data from 251 children ages 8-16 years. Mother-reports of child delinquency and RSA were acquired at all ages. Adolescents self-reported substance use at age 16 years. Family stress was assessed with child-reported harsh parenting. Controlling for marital conflict and change over time in harsh parenting, lower resting RSA predicted increases in delinquency and increased likelihood of drug use in contexts of harsh parenting, especially for boys. Harsh parenting was associated with declining resting RSA for children who exhibited greater RSA withdrawal to stress. FINDINGS support resting PNS activity as a moderator of developmental risk that can be altered over time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved). Language: en
Disseration chosen for award

The doctoral dissertation of Arthur L. Baehr (U.S. Geological Survey) has been selected for the $2000 Award given by Engineering-Science, a consulting firm in Arcadia, Calif., in collaboration with Association of Environmental Engineering Professors. His dissertation, “Immiscible Contaminant Transport in Soils with Emphasis on Gasoline Hydrocarbons,” was directed by M. Yavuz Corapcioglu (City College of New York) who will share the monetary award with Baehr.
Sparse Manifold Clustering and Embedding

We propose an algorithm called Sparse Manifold Clustering and Embedding (SMCE) for simultaneous clustering and dimensionality reduction of data lying in multiple nonlinear manifolds. Similar to most dimensionality reduction methods, SMCE finds a small neighborhood around each data point and connects each point to its neighbors with appropriate weights. The key difference is that SMCE finds both the neighbors and the weights automatically. This is done by solving a sparse optimization problem, which encourages selecting nearby points that lie in the same manifold and approximately span a low-dimensional affine subspace. The optimal solution encodes information that can be used for clustering and dimensionality reduction using spectral clustering and embedding. Moreover, the size of the optimal neighborhood of a data point, which can be different for different points, provides an estimate of the dimension of the manifold to which the point belongs. Experiments demonstrate that our method can effectively handle multiple manifolds that are very close to each other, manifolds with non-uniform sampling and holes, as well as estimate the intrinsic dimensions of the manifolds.
Symbolic and Sub-Symbolic Representations in Computational Models of Human Cognition What Can be Learned from Biology?

The debate over symbolic versus sub-symbolic representations of human cognition has been continuing for thirty years, with little indication of a resolution. The argument is this: Does the human cognitive system use symbols as a representation of knowledge, and does it process symbols and their respective constituents? Or does the human cognitive system use a distributed representation of knowledge, and is it somehow capable of processing this distributed representation of knowledge in a complex and meaningful way? This paper argues for an integrated symbolic and sub-symbolic approach to the representation of cognition. The lines of reasoning used as evidence to bolster this argument for an integrated approach are the cognitive architecture the Adaptive Character of Thought-Rational (ACT-R), and biology, where it is argued that symbolic and sub-symbolic representations of cognition are part of an intellectual continuum, with sub-symbolic representations at the low end and symbolic representations at the h...
Prey Chemicals Do Not Affect Perch Choice by an Ambushing Lizard, Sceloporus malachiticus

To ascertain whether an ambush forager might select ambush posts bearing chemical cues, I presented emerald swifts (Sceloporus malachiticus) a choice between two ambush posts affording minimally overlapping views. One post was labeled with chemical cues from mealworms, the other was unlabeled. Occupancy of ambush posts was random with respect to mealworm scent. It appears that ambush foragers use chemical cues neither to locate and identify prey nor to select ambush posts.
Assessing the Impacts of Rusty Crayfish (Orconectes rusticus) on Submergent Macrophytes in a North-Temperate U.S. Lake Using Electric Fences

ABSTRACT Electric “fences” were used along with hand removal to experimentally reduce rusty crayfish (Orconectes rusticus) densities in a lake. The goals of this experiment were to determine the impacts of crayfish on three macrophytes species, Potamogeton amplifolius, P. richardsonii and Elodea canadensis and to assess the effectiveness of our electric fences. While future enhancements of our experimental design will be more effective in lakes, we were able to significantly reduce crayfish densities in electric plots compared to non-electric control plots using the electric fence method. Even at reduced densities, crayfish had a large selective impact on the macrophytes. Potamogeton richardsonii and E. canadensis were eliminated within a matter of days in the control plots and within 3 wk in the electric plots. P. amplifolius, on the other hand, survived in both plots; although crayfish reduced shoot and root dry weight in the non-electric control plots. Our results have implications for future macrophyt...
Nutrition and cancer education: Ten years of progress

The Nutrition Education and Research Program at the University of Nevada School of Medicine was awarded two separate NIH/NCI R25 cancer education grants over a ten-year period. With this support, a four-year longitudinal nutrition curriculum was implemented, including the required 20-hour freshman Medical Nutrition Course, junior and senior nutrition electives, and a senior assignment in nutrition and cancer during the rural rotation with faculty preceptors. Funding has also supported nutrition integration into the basic science courses, patient care courses, and specialty clerkships. A unique nutrition fellowship for medical students who specialize in nutrition during their four years of training and graduate with special Qualifications in Nutrition (SQIN) has also been instituted. The curriculum reflects a longitudinal, interdisciplinary, but flexible, integration of nutrition into an already crowded medical school education.
Current Algebra on the Conformal Boundary and the Variables of Quantum Gravity

I argue that scattering theory for massless particles in Minkowski space should be reformulated as a mapping between past and future representations of an algebra of densities on the conformal boundary. These densities are best thought of as living on the momentum space light cone dual to null infinity, which describes the simultaneous eigenstates of the BMS generators. The currents describe the flow of other quantum numbers through the holographic screen at infinity. They are operator valued measures on the momentum light cone, with non-zero support at P = 0, which is necessary to describe finite flows of total momentum, with zero energy-momentum density, on the asymptotic holographic screen. Jet states, the closest approximation to the conventional notion of asymptotic particle state, have finite momentum flowing out through spherical caps of finite opening angle, with the zero momentum currents vanishing in annuli surrounding these caps. Although these notions are valid both in field theory and quantum gravity, I’ll argue that they form the basis for understanding the holographic/covariant entropy principle in the latter framework, where the densities form a complete set of operators. The variables on a finite area holographic screen are restrictions of those at infinity. The restriction is implemented by a cutoff on the Euclidean Dirac spectrum on the screen, which is a generalized UV/IR correspondence.
A systematic review of tobacco use among adolescents with physical disabilities.

Abstract Objective To provide a systematic review of tobacco use among adolescents with physical disabilities. Study design A systematic review. Methods A search was performed of English articles published prior to December 2014 in the PubMed database for studies examining smoking rates among adolescents with and without physical disabilities. Ten studies were retrieved (all cross-sectional surveys) of which six compared adolescent populations from nationally representative samples and four examined those based on convenience sampling. Pooled analyses of smoking rates by disability status were performed. Results In studies from nationally representative samples (n = 6 studies), adolescents with physical disabilities were significantly more likely to use tobacco as compared to adolescents without (pooled analyses = 29.7% vs 23.3%). However, in studies from non-representative samples, adolescents with physical disabilities were less likely to use tobacco as compared to adolescents without (pooled analyses = 22.7% vs 39.1%). Conclusions Adolescents with physical disabilities may have an increased risk of tobacco use relative to those without disabilities. Tailored tobacco use prevention and cessation strategies may be appropriate for this high-risk population. Future longitudinal studies which determine factors associated with tobacco use among adolescents with different disabilities should be considered to reduce the disproportionate tobacco use in this population.
Pluripotential stem cell differentiation in hemopoietic colonies.

To determine if mononuclear cells proliferating in murine hemopoietic spleen colonies were pluripotential in addition to possessing kinetic features of stem cells, we performed sequential studies of mice during their recovery from a split-dose irradiation regimen of 850 roentgens leg shielded-3-hr interval-850 roentgens leg irradiated (850R L.S. 3- L.I.). Injecting tritiated thymidine during stem cell compartment repletion 3 and 4 days after 850R L.S. 3- L.I. resulted in heavily labeled mononuclear cells resembling medium to large leptochromatic lymphocytes in the portion of spleen removed an hour after injection. The splenic remnant obtained from the same mouse 24-48 hr later contained lightly labeled erythroblasts, myeloid cells, and lymphoid cells. Grain counts suggested that erythroblasts and their precursors had undergone about four divisions, myeloid cells and their precursors two to three divisions, and lymphoid cells and their precursors two to three divisions during the 48-hr period. Similar studies in plethoric mice demonstrated the labeling of mononuclear cells on day 4 and their differentiation to myeloid and lymphoid cells by day 6. This finding confirmed that the labeled mononuclear cells were not exclusively erythroblast progenitors. On the basis of these and previous studies of post-irradiation survival and erythropoietic recovery, we conclude that these endogenous monomuclear cells, which resemble medium to large leptochromatic lymphocytes and replicate during stem cell compartment repletion, are pluripotential hemopoietic stem cells.
Calculated Stability and Structure of Nickel Ferrite Crystal Surfaces in Hydrothermal Environments

A comprehensive theoretical investigation of nickel ferrite (NiFe2O4) surfaces is undertaken to understand the structure and stability of nanocrystallites that would be present under conditions of hydrothermal synthesis (HTS). In particular, the focus is on conditions characteristic to an operating pressurized water nuclear reactor (PWR). Solid–liquid equilibrium is assumed between bulk nickel ferrite and the aqueous environment saturated with respect to nickel ferrite. A theoretical framework is developed in which the surface energies are evaluated in terms of concentrations of aqueous metal cations, pH, temperature, and pressure. The energies of the bare and water terminated surfaces are calculated and discussed. Surfaces that have more metal cations exposed are found to be more stable. Water adsorption on the nickel ferrite surfaces is an exothermic process, with the magnitude of exothermicity decreasing as a function of temperature. At temperatures relevant to operating PWRs, the energy gain due to wa...
Structure and Properties Changes During Ion Bombardment of Crystalline Fe75B25

Ribbons of Fe75B25, prepared by quenching from the melt, were mostly amorphous. After annealing at 773 K, the ribbons were entirely crystalline, with the phases Fe3B, Fe2B and α -Fe. Annealed ribbons were bombarded at RT with 4 MeV argon ions, at a damage rate of 7 × 10−4 dpa sec−1 near the surface. The Fe3B was completely converted to an amorphous form at 0.15 dpa, the lowest damage level at which amorphization of a metal alloy has been reported. The Fe2B disappeared by about 1.5 dpa. The α -Fe disappeared between 17 and 50 dpa, apparently by ion beam mixing rather than direct amorphization. Amorphous films also were prepared by sputtering at low power level, and crystallized at 773 K, which also caused sintering. Bombardment with argon ions produced major changes in resistivity and magnetic coercive force at the same low damage levels that caused amorphization of Fe3B. Hc of the bombarded film was the same as in an as-quenched amorphous ribbon. The relatively high resistivity of as sputtered amorphous film was apparently due to the porosity in the columnar cell walls. With present technology, it should be possible to produce amorphous films or structures of Fe3B at rates approaching 50 m2 hr−1.
Psychiatric behavior disorders at an international airport.

During a seven-year period 49 individuals were brought by police to the County Hospital for psychiatric observation from nearby San Francisco International Airport. All of these individuals were severely disturbed. Generally they were acting out, psychotic individuals characterized by paranoia, anxiety, and euphoria. Their illnesses, probably began before they went to the airport and did not occur as a result of flight or anticipation of flight. Twenty-two (44%) of these patients had only brief treatment at the County Hospital and 27 (56%) were sent to another hospital. Most of the latter were soon ready for release to the community. The evidence suggests that the best public health approach to these psychiatric behavior disorders is by detection and management at the airport rather than attempts at prevention.
The interaction of Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin with receptor claudins

Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin (CPE) has significant medical importance due to its involvement in several common human gastrointestinal diseases. This 35 kDa single polypeptide toxin consists of two domains: a C-terminal domain involved in receptor binding and an N-terminal domain involved in oligomerization, membrane insertion and pore formation. The action of CPE starts with its binding to receptors, which include certain members of the claudin tight junction protein family; bound CPE then forms a series of complexes, one of which is a pore that causes the calcium influx responsible for host cell death. Recent studies have revealed that CPE binding to claudin receptors involves interactions between the C-terminal CPE domain and both the 1st and 2nd extracellular loops (ECL-1 and ECL-2) of claudin receptors. Of particular importance for this binding is the docking of ECL-2 into a pocket present in the C-terminal domain of the toxin. This increased understanding of CPE interactions with claudin receptors is now fostering the development of receptor decoy therapeutics for CPE-mediated gastrointestinal disease, reagents for cancer therapy/diagnoses and enhancers of drug delivery.
Coupled electrostatic and material surface stresses yield anomalous particle interactions and deformation

Like-charges repel, and opposite charges attract. This fundamental tenet is a result of Coulomb's law. However, the electrostatic interactions between dielectric particles remain topical due to observations of like-charged particle attraction and the self-assembly of colloidal systems. Here, we show, using both an approximate description and an exact solution of Maxwell's equations, that nonlinear charged particle forces result even for linear material systems and can be responsible for anomalous electrostatic interactions such as like-charged particle attraction and oppositely charged particle repulsion. Furthermore, these electrostatic interactions and the deformation of such particles have fundamental implications for our understanding of macroscopic electrodynamics.
North American Great Plains bison bonebeds: Exploring human impacts to scavenging carnivores through carnivore utilization taphonomy

Abstract Data concerning carnivore modification and utilization of North American zooarchaeological assemblages have often been used to understand site formation processes and rarely discussed beyond descriptions of tooth marks present or overall percentages of elements with modifications. This paper describes the results of a taphonomic analysis concerning degree of carnivore utilization for eight bison bonebeds from Wyoming and Colorado (Casper, Jones-Miller, Horner II, Hawken, Cordero Mine, Kaplan-Hoover, Cache Hill, and Glenrock). Carnivore utilization is used to identify patterns in overall use of carrion material as opposed to recording discrete modification marks such as punctures or pits. Results demonstrate carnivore utilization varies temporally, with assemblages from the Paleoindian and Late Plains Archaic periods exhibiting abundant tooth marks and the heaviest utilization of bison carcasses, and assemblages from the Early to Middle Plains Archaic periods displaying the least amount of utilization. These results are evaluated with a consideration of carnivore scavenging behaviors to elucidate relationships between humans and carnivores, specifically with regards to changes in human population sizes. By scavenging human-produced carrion, carnivores built a reliance on humans, further demonstrating the long-term impacts humans had on carnivore behaviors.
Merging with for-profits: flawed strategy. Such affiliations benefit neither the Catholic hospital nor society.

Some Catholic healthcare organizations, seeking new sources of capital, are eyeing mergers with for-profit systems. However, such mergers raise questions about their effects on both the mission of particular Catholic institutions and the well-being of society at large. For-profit organizations are driven by the pursuit of profit. They market ?products.? This pursuit naturally shapes their decision-making rationales, employee relations, and business priorities. Not for-profits, on the other hand, provide ?public goods?--goods that for-profits either will not provide or will not provide adequately--and this mission shapes their priorities, decision making, and employee relations differently. What is more, economic power is unequal between the two kinds of organization. Since not-for profits are seeking capital when they merge with for profits, they usually do so from a position of relative disadvantage. When conflicts arise, the for-profit partner generally prevails. The not-for-profit partner then finds itself, not merged with, but acquired by the for-profit. Throughout U.S. history, not-for-profits have performed a function neglected by both government and private companies. Now, in the 1990s, the whole social welfare framework of our society is under attack. A moral-political crisis questions the very concept of the voluntary sector. If Catholic healthcare organizations allow themselves to be swallowed by for-profits, who will care for the voiceless and the vulnerable?
Tracking the Evolution of Infrastructure Systems and Mass Responses Using Publically Available Data.

Networks can evolve even on a short-term basis. This phenomenon is well understood by network scientists, but receive little attention in empirical literature involving real-world networks. On one hand, this is due to the deceitfully fixed topology of some networks such as many physical infrastructures, whose evolution is often deemed unlikely to occur in short term; on the other hand, the lack of data prohibits scientists from studying subjects such as social networks that seem likely to evolve on a short-term basis. We show that both networks—the infrastructure network and social network—are able to demonstrate evolutionary dynamics at the system level even in the short-term, characterized by shifting between different phases as predicted in network science. We develop a methodology of tracking the evolutionary dynamics of the two networks by incorporating flows and the microstructure of networks such as motifs. This approach is applied to the human interaction network and two transportation networks (subway and taxi) in the context of Hurricane Sandy, using publically available Twitter data and transportation data. Our result shows that significant changes in the system-level structure of networks can be detected on a continuous basis. This result provides a promising channel for real-time tracking in the future.
Measurement of faculty anesthesiologists' quality of clinical supervision has greater reliability when controlling for the leniency of the rating anesthesia resident: a retrospective cohort study.

Our department monitors the quality of anesthesiologists’ clinical supervision and provides each anesthesiologist with periodic feedback. We hypothesized that greater differentiation among anesthesiologists’ supervision scores could be obtained by adjusting for leniency of the rating resident. From July 1, 2013 to December 31, 2015, our department has utilized the de Oliveira Filho unidimensional nine-item supervision scale to assess the quality of clinical supervision provided by faculty as rated by residents. We examined all 13,664 ratings of the 97 anesthesiologists (ratees) by the 65 residents (raters). Testing for internal consistency among answers to questions (large Cronbach’s alpha > 0.90) was performed to rule out that one or two questions accounted for leniency. Mixed-effects logistic regression was used to compare ratees while controlling for rater leniency vs using Student t tests without rater leniency. The mean supervision scale score was calculated for each combination of the 65 raters and nine questions. The Cronbach’s alpha was very large (0.977). The mean score was calculated for each of the 3,421 observed combinations of resident and anesthesiologist. The logits of the percentage of scores equal to the maximum value of 4.00 were normally distributed (residents, P = 0.24; anesthesiologists, P = 0.50). There were 20/97 anesthesiologists identified as significant outliers (13 with below average supervision scores and seven with better than average) using the mixed-effects logistic regression with rater leniency entered as a fixed effect but not by Student’s t test. In contrast, there were three of 97 anesthesiologists identified as outliers (all three above average) using Student’s t tests but not by logistic regression with leniency. The 20 vs 3 was significant (P < 0.001). Use of logistic regression with leniency results in greater detection of anesthesiologists with significantly better (or worse) clinical supervision scores than use of Student’s t tests (i.e., without adjustment for rater leniency).
Movement and collision of Lagrangian particles in hydro-turbine intakes: a case study

ABSTRACTStudies of the stress/survival of migratory fish during downstream passage through operating hydro-turbines are normally conducted to determine the fish-friendliness of the hydro-turbine units. This study applies a modelling strategy based on flow simulations using computational fluid dynamics and Lagrangian particle tracking to represent the travel of live fish and autonomous sensor devices through hydro-turbine intakes. For the flow field calculation, the simulations were conducted using a Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes turbulence model and an eddy-resolving technique. For the particle-tracking calculation, different modelling assumptions for turbulence forcing, mass formulation, buoyancy, and release conditions were tested. The modelling assumptions are evaluated with respect to datasets collected using a laboratory physical model and an autonomous sensor device deployed at Ice Harbor Dam (Snake River, State of Washington, USA) at the same discharge and release point modelled in the present wo...
Limited Liability Property

This Article offers a theory of secured credit that aims to answer fundamental questions that have long percolated in the bankruptcy and secured transactions literatures. Are security interests property rights, contract rights, or something else? Why do secured creditors enjoy a priority right that, in bankruptcy, requires them to be paid in full before other debt holders recover anything? Should we care that secured credit creates distributional unfairness when companies cannot pay their debts? This Article argues that security interests are best understood as a form of “limited liability property.” Limited liability—the privilege of being legally shielded from liability that would normally apply—has long been considered the quintessential feature of equity interests. But limited liability is in fact a critical feature of security interests as well. When examined closely, security interests enable their holders to assert several privileges of ownership without bearing any of ownership’s concomitant burdens. In seeking to explain security interests, this Article offers a comprehensive account of capital investment more generally, systematically examining the various property-like interests held in corporate capital structures. Though critics have bemoaned the inequity associated with the priority right in bankruptcy—a secured debtholder can get all its assets back in the event of a bankruptcy while unsecured creditors like unpaid employees get nothing—this priority right is an inevitable consequence of recognizing security interests as a form of direct ownership. The real problem lies in the scope of secured debt holders’ limited liability protections. While equity holders enjoy limited liability, in return they are paid only after other claims in the event of insolvency. Secured lenders, by contrast, collect first, and are thus arguably overprotected. Understanding security interests as limited liability property, then, offers a more elegant way to understand capital investment at the theoretical level while also helping us recognize when and where our system of secured debt may need reform.
Re-evaluation of a LEED Platinum Building: Occupant experiences of health and comfort.

Background There is a need to better understand the perceived experiences of workers in green buildings as the literature to this point has been mixed. Objectives To re-evaluate occupant experiences within a LEED platinum building and investigate current experiences in general. Methods An online post occupancy evaluation (POE) survey of 62 occupants of LEED Platinum building on a US college campus is reported. The online survey addressed indoor environmental quality in relation to health, productivity and satisfaction. Results Of the respondents, 38.7% had participated in a prior POE of this building in 2011 and results were compared for this subgroup, as well as for overall results. There was a significant increase in satisfaction with office workstations and air freshness as compared to 3 years earlier. However, there was also a significant increase in reported frequency of all physical symptoms. When looking just at the current POE results, control over features of the workstation had a significant relationship with most outcomes of interest. Conclusion While improvements have been noted, issues continue to exist that have implications for health, productivity and satisfaction. The results of this study have implications for the ergonomic design of workstations and indoor environmental quality within LEED buildings.
Why cardiologists should be on social media - the value of online engagement.

Social media through its inherent quality of personal engagement has changed the way we follow current events, learn about new advances in cardiovascular advancements, and communicate within our pe...
Enhanced specific surface area and thermal conductivity in ultrathin graphite foams grown by chemical vapor deposition on sintered nickel powder templates

Abstract The specific surface area and effective thermal conductivity of ultrathin graphite foams (UGFs) grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) have been limited by the large pore sizes of reticulated nickel foam templates. Here we show that nickel templates formed by sintering of low-cost nickel powder can reduce pore size and increase specific surface area. Accordingly, the effective density of a free-stranding graphite foam grown on the high-surface area templates can be increased by an order of magnitude relative to one grown on a reticulated nickel foam template. This increase is accomplished without increasing the thickness of the CVD graphite or decreasing the structural quality of the graphite. Based on experiments with nickel powder with and without the reticulated nickel template present, we found that both the particle size and sintering temperature influenced template morphology. Because of a 68-times increase in the volumetric specific surface area of a graphite foam synthesized on a sacrificial sintered powder template compared to a UGF grown on a reticulated template, we have been able to increase the relative graphite density and effective thermal conductivity from 0.87 ± 0.09% to 8.4 ± 0.3% and from 2.1 ± 0.3 Wm−1K−1 to 16.3 ± 1.1 Wm−1K−1, respectively.
DNA reassociation kinetic analysis of the brine shrimp, Artemia salina

Abstract DNA reassociation kinetics have been partly elucidated for the brine shrimp Artemia salina , using calf thymus DNA as a standard. The Artemia single-copy DNA sequences comprise 45% of the genome; sequences having a repetition frequency of about 2–90 are not detectable. The average repetition frequency of the intermediately redundant DNA component is about 5,000 copies. Reassociation kinetic data are consistent with a unit genome size of 1.5 pg.
Neutrophil Inflammation in COPD

COPD is a disease of chronic inflammation which persists in patients after smoking cessation and intensifies as the disease progresses [1–3]. Patients with COPD, particularly those at risk for more frequent or severe exacerbations, exhibit an exaggerated innate immune response associated with elevated levels of inflammatory mediators and evidence of oxidative stress [1, 4–7]. Lung inflammation plays a key role in the pathophysiology of COPD and affects the airways, lung parenchyma, and pulmonary vasculature. Inflammation is not limited to the lung compartment. Systemic inflammation is an established feature of COPD, often accompanied by inflammation in the heart, blood vessels, and skeletal muscle which contribute significantly to disease morbidity and mortality [6, 8–10].
Early articular cartilage degeneration in a developmental dislocation of the hip model results from activation of β-catenin

Developmental dislocation or dysplasia of the hip (DDH) is one of the most common deformities in children. Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most frequent long-term complication. The molecular mechanism of early articular cartilage degeneration in DDH is still unclear. It is well known that β-catenin plays a crucial role in articular cartilage degeneration. The objective of this study was to verify the relationship between β-catenin and DDH cartilage degeneration. We used a DDH model that was established by modification of swaddling position in newborn Wistar rats. The hips were isolated from the DDH model rats and untreated control group at the age of 2, 4, 6 and 8 weeks. β-Catenin gene and protein were investigated by quantitative (q)RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry. Collagen X and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-13, markers of early cartilage degeneration, were assessed by qRT-PCR. Primary chondrocytes were cultured from cartilage of two groups at the age of 8 weeks. Expression of β-catenin, collagen X and MMP-13 was detected. Continued high expression of β-catenin was observed in cartilage from DDH model rats. mRNA and protein expression of β-catenin was significantly increased in primary chondrocytes of the DDH model compared with the control group. Collagen X and MMP-13 expression was higher in the cartilage and chondrocytes from DDH model rats than the control group. Our findings suggest that early cartilage degeneration in DDH may result from activation of β-catenin signaling.
Demographic, Parental, and Personal Factors and Youth Athletes' Concussion-Related Knowledge and Beliefs.

Context: Currently, significant attention is focused on improving care for patients with concussions through legislative mandates that include educational interventions. Few researchers have exami...