cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The pros and cons and countermeasures of starting their own businesses for private college students

This paper analyzed the pros and cons of starting their own businesses for private college students.It discussed the strategies and solutions how to overcome the drawbacks of college students starting their own businesses,and some new ideas are put forward.For example: a clear entrepreneurial purpose and choosing the right business opportunity are the keys to do a good job in their own businesses for private college students.Ensure not to affect the academic career is the premise to choose business for private college students.And they should handle the relationship between entrepreneurship and learning time.What's more,based on the teaching innovation,to improve the students' business basic quality,and to handle well several relationships in innovation and entrepreneurship education are the fundamental ways to overcome the shortcomings of private college students starting their own businesses.The practice shows that,in accordance with the proposed seven measures of this paper,a certain effect can be achieved.
Role of mesangial cell in glomerular response to volume and angiotensin II

We have examined the physiological role of the mesangial cell in the regulation of glomerular hemodynamics utilizing mesangial cell lysis by the administration of antithymocyte antibody serum (ATS) 24 h before micropuncture evaluation. Plasma volume expansion (PVE) in normal NaCl-depleted rats increased single-nephron glomerular filtration rate (SNGFR) by 30% because of increases in single-nephron plasma flow (SNPF), whereas glomerular capillary hydrostatic pressure (PG) remained constant. SNGFR did not increase with PVE in NaCl-depleted ATS rats despite increases in SNPF, and PG increased significantly (51 +/- 2 to 67 +/- 3 mmHg) because of afferent arteriolar dilation, whereas efferent resistance remained elevated. Angiotensin II (ANG II) infusion in normal rats decreased SNGFR because of reductions in SNPF and the glomerular ultrafiltration coefficient (LpA), whereas the hydrostatic pressure gradient (delta P) increased. In ATS rats ANG II infusion did not change SNGFR, LpA, or delta P. These in vivo studies suggest that the mesangial cell plays an important role in the regulation of LpA, efferent arteriolar resistance, and the regulation of PG, whereas this cell exerts little effect on the afferent arteriole.
Advanced Particle Control for Electric Discharge Light Systems

We report on the results of an experimental and modeling study of a gas curtain mitigation system designed to prevent debris generated by a discharge light source from depositing on plasma-facing optics. The intent of the gas curtain is to entrain debris and deflect it away from sensitive optics. To facilitate the experimental portion of this study, a new laboratory was constructed that include two new roots-based vacuum pumps. This new experimental setup facilitated operation of the gas curtain at flow rates greater than ten times previously achievable while maintaining ten times lower pressure in the chamber. The experimental results showed a 100x reduction in particulate deposition rate and a 17x reduction in erosion with the gas curtain operational. The modeling results agreed quite well with the experimental measurements and will be used as a predictive tool for future design improvements.
Alternate glycemic markers reflect glycemic variability in continuous glucose monitoring in youth with prediabetes and type 2 diabetes.

Objective To determine whether the alternate glycemic markers, fructosamine (FA), glycated albumin (GA), and 1,5-anhydroglucitol (1,5AG), predict glycemic variability captured by continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) in obese youth with prediabetes and type 2 diabetes (T2D). Study Design Youth with BMI ≥85th%ile, 10-18 years, had collection of fasting plasma glucose (FPG), hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), FA, GA, and 1,5AG and 72 hours of CGM. Participants with HbA1c ≥5.7% were included. Relationships between glycemic markers and CGM variables were determined with Spearman correlation coefficients. Linear models were used to examine the association between alternate markers and CGM measures of glycemic variability—standard deviation (SD) and mean amplitude of glycemic excursions (MAGE)—after controlling for HbA1c. Results Total n = 56; Median (25th%ile, 75th%ile) age = 14.3 years (12.5, 15.9), 32% male, 64% Hispanic, 20% black, 13% white, HbA1c = 5.9% (5.8, 6.3), FA=211 mmol/L (200, 226), GA= 12% (11%, 12%), and 1,5AG = 22mcg/mL (19, 26). HbA1c correlated with average sensor glucose, AUC, SD, MAGE, and %time > 140 mg/dL. FA and GA correlated with average and peak sensor glucose, %time >140 and >200 mg/dL, and MAGE. GA also correlated with SD and AUC180. 1,5AG correlated with peak glucose, AUC180, SD, and MAGE. After adjusting for HbA1c, all 3 markers independently predicted MAGE; FA and GA independently predicted SD. Conclusions Alternate glycemic markers predict glycemic variability as measured by CGM in youth with prediabetes and T2D. After adjusting for HbA1c, these alternate markers continued to predict components of glycemic variability detected by CGM.
Microparticles from stored red blood cells promote a hypercoagulable state in a murine model of transfusion.

Abstract Background Red blood cell-derived microparticles are biologically active, submicron vesicles shed by erythrocytes during storage. Recent clinical studies have linked the duration of red blood cell storage with thromboembolic events in critically ill transfusion recipients. In the present study, we hypothesized that microparticles from aged packed red blood cell units promote a hypercoagulable state in a murine model of transfusion. Methods Microparticles were isolated from aged, murine packed red blood cell units via serial centrifugation. Healthy male C57BL/6 mice were transfused with microparticles or an equivalent volume of vehicle, and whole blood was harvested for analysis via rotational thromboelastometry. Serum was harvested from a separate set of mice after microparticles or saline injection, and analyzed for fibrinogen levels. Red blood cell-derived microparticles were analyzed for their ability to convert prothrombin to thrombin. Finally, mice were transfused with either red blood cell microparticles or saline vehicle, and a tail bleeding time assay was performed after an equilibration period of 2, 6, 12, or 24 hours. Results Mice injected with red blood cell-derived microparticles demonstrated an accelerated clot formation time (109.3 ± 26.9 vs 141.6 ± 28.2 sec) and increased α angle (68.8 ± 5.0 degrees vs 62.8 ± 4.7 degrees) compared with control (each P Conclusion Red blood cell-derived microparticles induce a transient hypercoagulable state through accelerated activation of clotting factors.
Generating real-time robotics control software from SysML

In this paper, we outline an approach for auto-generating real-time robotics control code from hierarchical state machines and hardware configurations encoded in Systems Modeling Language (SysML). We propose a software architecture that provides an abstract SysML layer with access to device state information and a set of primitive device commands, such as move_actuator and release_brake, allowing a user to build up a complete functional state machine directly in SysML. The SysML diagram is then exported to a standard SCXML file format and subsequently used to auto-generate hardware control code. Once this architecture is in place, the only explicit code elements that need to be written are the primitive device commands, which can be easily unit tested and reused across different systems. The motivation for this work was the need for a test bed that enables the rapid prototyping of mechanisms and control algorithms for a spacecraft that could ultimately be used for preparing Martian rock samples for their return to Earth. To this end, our software system was also designed to allow for the run-time specification of the hardware layout in SysML, with the hardware-level control functions kept agnostic to the specific parameters or communication bus of any particular device. Further, we outline a system for specifying both the state machine and hardware configuration in the MagicDraw IDE in such a way that the system can be simulated before any code is generated. The resultant software system is easy to debug, understand, and allows users to choose how much information is encoded as a visual or text-based representation.
Spatial Autocorrelation Parameter Estimation for Massively Large Georeferenced Datasets

Features often linked to datasets classified as “big spatial data” include: massive in size, complex (e.g., contain spatial autocorrelation), and the failure of conventional/standard analysis techniques originally designed for more modest sample sizes. These features characterize remotely sensed data, whose sizes may only be in the hundreds of thousands or millions, but whose spatial weights matrix sizes are the squares of these numbers. Consequently, spatial scientists have found that conventional spatial statistical/econometric techniques designed to handle data with n in the hundreds or thousands fail to handle practical sized remotely sensed images. This chapter outlines revised techniques to circumvent this restriction for spatial autoregression analyses. It also lays a foundation for extending findings reported here to sizeable irregular surface partitionings.
Modal Propellant Gauging

Since 2011, the Modal Propellant Gauging (MPG) team, consisting of multidisciplinary undergraduate researchers from Carthage College, has been developing and testing a fuel gauging system for use in microgravity environments. Using experimental modal analysis (EMA) techniques, the goal of the MPG project is to develop a flight ready technology that gauges fuel in microgravity environments by correlating the modal response of a 1-g equilibrium surface to the microgravity surface response at the same fluid fill level. The technology has been tested aboard parabolic flights via a manned parabolic flight payload. The payload consists of two propellant tanks and is designed to measure the modal response of each propellant tank to an injected white noise signal via piezoelectric sensors. Flight data shows that the MPG method can measure fuel with greater than or equal to 1% resolution at and below 50% fill levels. Under funding from the Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium during the summer of 2017, the MPG team made improvements to the parabolic flight payload in addition to designing a new payload for use aboard a Blue Origin New Shepard research flight scheduled for the first half of 2018.
New York's 'Convenience of the Employer' Rule is Unconstitutional

This Article argues that New York's convenience of the employer doctrine is unconstitutional as a matter of law and ill-advised as a matter of tax policy. For Commerce Clauses purposes, interstate travel is a form of interstate commerce. In using the concept of employer convenience to tax a nonresident employee for days the employee works at his out-of-state home, New York levies unapportioned income taxation in violation of the dormant Commerce Clause. In Due Process terms, the extraterritorial taxation caused by the employer convenience doctrine unconstitutionally projects New York's taxing authority beyond New York's borders to tax income earned in the employee's state of residence. Moreover, New York's employer convenience rule is misguided as a matter of tax policy as the rule drives jobs, firms, and taxpayers from New York.
Automatic phonetic base form generation based on maximum context tree.

To improve the performance and the usability of the speech recognition devices, it is necessary for most applications to allow users to enter new words or personalize words in the system vocabulary. The voicetagging technique is a simple example of using speaker dependent spoken samples to generate baseform transcriptions of the spoken words. More sophisticated techniques can use both spoken samples and text versions of the new words to generate baseform transcriptions. In this paper, we propose a maximum context tree (MCT) based approach to the problem. Comparison is made to the common decision tree based method and Pronunciation by Analogy (PbA) approach. The new approach gives exact baseform transcription for in-vocabulary words and it shows better performance than decision tree. It performs significantly better than PbA approach with less memory usages. MCT uses the word segment probability rather than frequency count used in PbA. MCT uses the full context for the focus letter to overcome the some deficiencies in the PbA approach.
Examination and assessment

Good physiotherapy practice requires an accurate examination, assessment and recording of each patient’s physical state, taking into account individual psychosocial and environmental needs. This must be followed by continued re-assessment and review.
Critical Volume of Human Myocardium Necessary to Maintain Ventricular Fibrillation.

Background: Abnormal QT intervals, long QT or short QT, have been epidemiologically linked with sudden cardiac death because of ventricular fibrillation (VF). Consequently, Food and Drug Administra...
The U.S. import demand for spices and herbs by differentiated sources

Abstract This research applies the Rotterdam model to estimate U.S. import demand for source-differentiated spices and herbs and medicinal plants. The price structure indicates that U.S. import demand for both, spices and herbs are inelastic, with demand responding the most to import prices of herbs from North America and the least to import prices of herbs from Asia and Africa. Asian herbs and medicinal plants are dominant and can substitute for the other sources in the U.S. market, whereas, North America is the largest provider of spices and significantly substitutes for spices from other regions. Expenditure elasticities reveal that herbs and medicinal plants from Asia and spices from South America have the most to gain from an expansion in the U.S. herbs and spices market. The U.S. preference trend for both, spices and herbs as well as medicinal plants from Asia is decreasing, whereas, it is increasing from all other regions.
Inferring elastic moduli of drops in acoustic fields

Acoustically levitated drops serve as non-contact mini-laboratories from which one can infer material properties from the response of the drop to the acoustic radiation force. Oddly enough, the oscillatory problem is more well-developed than the static problem. Analysis of the static acoustic deformation of Newtonian liquid drops is well established, yielding the inference of the surface tension. But the static deformation of an elastic drop is less well studied. The present work aims to enable the inference of elastic moduli from static deformations of acoustically levitated drops. The drop will be modeled as an incompressible, linear elastic solid undergoing small axisymmetric deformations. The axisymmetric interior stress and displacement fields will be found using Love's strain potential. The traction boundary condition can be calculated using linear acoustic theory . The measured static deformation of experimentally levitated drops with known material properties (polymer and protein gels) will be compared to the predictions of the theory. Time permitting, a finite element computational model will also be employed for comparison.Acoustically levitated drops serve as non-contact mini-laboratories from which one can infer material properties from the response of the drop to the acoustic radiation force. Oddly enough, the oscillatory problem is more well-developed than the static problem. Analysis of the static acoustic deformation of Newtonian liquid drops is well established, yielding the inference of the surface tension. But the static deformation of an elastic drop is less well studied. The present work aims to enable the inference of elastic moduli from static deformations of acoustically levitated drops. The drop will be modeled as an incompressible, linear elastic solid undergoing small axisymmetric deformations. The axisymmetric interior stress and displacement fields will be found using Love's strain potential. The traction boundary condition can be calculated using linear acoustic theory . The measured static deformation of experimentally levitated drops with known material properties (polymer and protein gels) will be com...
J’ai couru vers le Nil

Alaa Al-Aswany's The Yacoubian Building, published in Egypt in 2002 (and in English translation in 2004), was an unsparing fictional critique of Egyptian society set in Hosni Mubarak's Cairo in 199...
Effect of selective abortion on seed germination and post-germination performance of offspring

Hermaphroditic angiosperms, especially outcrossers, generally produce many more flowers and ovules than they can mature into fruits and seeds. One of the several hypotheses to account for the production of ‘excess’ flowers is selective abortion, which has been shown to increase offspring quality in plants. Our primary aim was to review the literature on the effects of selective abortion on seed germination and post-germination offspring vigour. Of 14 case studies (11 species in 10 genera and four families of flowering plants), germination percentage or rate (speed) increased in six and did not increase in eight, whereas post-germination offspring performance increased in 11 and did not increase in three. In six of the eight cases in which germination was not increased, seedling/juvenile vigour was increased. Seed mass was less likely to influence seed germination than seedling/juvenile vigour. Although selective abortion has been shown to increase progeny vigour of the early life history stages of plants, neither its demographic nor evolutionary importance has been demonstrated.
Hybrid particle-in-cell simulations of laser-driven plasma interpenetration, heating, and entrainment

Kinetic-ion, quasineutral, fluid-electron particle-in-cell simulations of interpenetrating carbon–carbon plasma flows in 2D RZ cylindrical geometry are presented. The simulations are initialized with solid density targets that are subsequently irradiated by 1014 W/cm2 intensity lasers using a raytracing package. The ablation, interpenetration, heating, slowing, entrainment, and stagnation of the plasma flows evolve self-consistently within the code. The particle density, velocity phase space, and fits to the velocity distribution functions are used, along with analytical collisional stopping rates, to interpret the dynamics of the flow evolution. Comparisons to multifluid simulations are described and used to highlight ion-kinetic effects in the setup. Synthetic Thomson scattering diagnostic signals are generated using detailed knowledge of the plasma distribution functions. The large scale of the system, 1 × 1 mm for 2 ns, and the detailed dynamics extracted demonstrate that such hybrid codes are powerful tools for the design and evaluation of laboratory-scale high-energy-density plasma physics experiments.Kinetic-ion, quasineutral, fluid-electron particle-in-cell simulations of interpenetrating carbon–carbon plasma flows in 2D RZ cylindrical geometry are presented. The simulations are initialized with solid density targets that are subsequently irradiated by 1014 W/cm2 intensity lasers using a raytracing package. The ablation, interpenetration, heating, slowing, entrainment, and stagnation of the plasma flows evolve self-consistently within the code. The particle density, velocity phase space, and fits to the velocity distribution functions are used, along with analytical collisional stopping rates, to interpret the dynamics of the flow evolution. Comparisons to multifluid simulations are described and used to highlight ion-kinetic effects in the setup. Synthetic Thomson scattering diagnostic signals are generated using detailed knowledge of the plasma distribution functions. The large scale of the system, 1 × 1 mm for 2 ns, and the detailed dynamics extracted demonstrate that such hybrid codes are powerfu...
Clinical CT Performance Evaluation

This chapter focuses on CT performance evaluations from the perspective of the clinical medical physicist. A clinical physicist may need to evaluate a CT system under several different circumstances such as acceptance testing, annual testing, post-service testing, and accreditation testing. Each of these has a slightly different purpose, and the physicist should ensure that the scope of a specific evaluation is appropriate for the situation and regulatory environment. In this chapter we describe a set of procedures that should be considered when designing such an evaluation.
To Share or Not to Share: Effect of Peer-to-Peer Mentoring on Dynamics of Graduate Life

A simulation model has been developed in this paper to show how a peer-to-peer mentoring setting for sharing work-in-progress research can influence the academic journey of graduate students. The authors have used their personal experience in design, development, and establishment of such a setting to formulate dynamic reference modes of behavior and the model structure. Simulation results show that achieving a balance between smooth graduate research journey, depth of subject matter knowledge, and sharing work-in-progress could be challenging. A hypothetical optimal idea-sharing frequency exists though. We found, through model simulations, that over-sharing, under-sharing, or premature sharing have significant consequences for graduate life. Regardless of its value, keeping the optimal sharing frequency constant might help the students to improve upon their socio-academic life.
Pregnant Women in Trials of COVID-19: A Critical Time to Consider Ethical Frameworks of Inclusion in Clinical Trials.

Ethical issues abound during this unprecedented international public health crisis of Covid-19. While the trade-off between societal and individual interests that occurs at the intersection of public health ethics and clinical ethics affects all populations, this calculus has particular relevance for pregnant women and the question of when they will have access to new Covid-19 therapies and vaccines. Pregnant women are a "scientifically complex" population whose inclusion in clinical research must be done with consideration of the unique state of pregnancy. Yet research on the impact of Covid-19 on pregnant women is lagging. In a rush to prevent and treat SARS-CoV-2 infection, it is crucial that the interests of pregnant women be prioritized to enable them to make autonomous, informed decisions about participating in clinical trials. The global pandemic calls for a revisiting of frameworks for the inclusion of pregnant women in research, as these women have an important stake in the prevention and treatment of Covid-19.
Effect of Time, Temperature, and Transport Media on the Recovery of Listeria monocytogenes from Environmental Swabs.

ABSTRACT Environmental monitoring for Listeria monocytogenes in food processing environments is key for ensuring the safety of ready-to-eat foods. For sampling, swabs are often hydrated with a wetting or transport medium that may contain neutralizers and other ingredients. After swabbing the environment, the swabs may then be transported or shipped cold to an off-site laboratory for testing, ideally within 48 h. Extended shipping times may subject the pathogen to increased temperatures in the presence of the wetting medium, organics, and other chemicals from the processing facility that could confound detection. This study evaluated growth and detection of L. monocytogenes on stainless steel exposed to either buffer or sodium hypochlorite before drying. Swabs were rehydrated with Butterfield's phosphate buffer, neutralizing buffer, Letheen broth, or Dey-Engley neutralizing broth before swabbing. Swabs were stored in the presence of no added food, cheese whey, or ice cream under both optimal (4°C) and suboptimal (15°C) temperatures for up to 72 h. Overall, there was no growth of L. monocytogenes at 4°C through 72 h of storage, although enrichment from these swabs was dependent on the presence and type of food matrix. Pathogen growth during storage at 15°C was more variable and depended on both the food matrix and transport media used, with Dey-Engley and Letheen broths allowing for the highest population increases. Overall, more enrichments resulting in L. monocytogenes detections were observed when using Letheen broth and neutralizing buffer than Dey-Engley broth, which resulted in fewer detections at 15°C. Logistic regression and Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel analyses determined that storage temperature, transport media, and food matrix all significantly affected detection of L. monocytogenes, whereas storage time did not have a clear effect on recovery from swabs. HIGHLIGHTS
Therapies for hepatocellular carcinoma: overview, clinical indications, and comparative outcome evaluation—part one: curative intention

Locoregional therapies can be offered to hepatocellular carcinoma patients as a bridge to transplant, to downstage disease burden for transplant eligibility, or for disease control to prolong survival. Systemic therapies also play a large role in HCC treatment, occasionally in conjunction with other methods. This manuscript reviews the various treatment options for HCC with a historically noncurative intent.
Association of prostate cancer polygenic risk score with number and laterality of tumor cores in active surveillance patients.

Background Prostate cancer (PCa) is characterized by its tendency to be multifocal. However, few studies have investigated the endogenous factors that explain the multifocal disease. The primary objective of the current study is to test whether inherited PCa risk is associated with multifocal tumors in PCa patients. Methods Subjects in this study were PCa patients of European ancestry undergoing active surveillance at Johns Hopkins Hospital (N = 805) and NorthShore University HealthSystem (N = 432). The inherited risk was measured by genetic risk score (GRS), an odds ratio-weighted and population-standardized polygenic risk score based on known risk-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms. PCa multifocality was indirectly measured by the number and laterality of positive tumor cores from a 12-core systematic biopsy. Results In the combined cohort, 35.7% and 66.3% of patients had ≥2 tumor cores at the initial diagnostic biopsy and on at least one subsequent surveillance biopsy, respectively. For tumor laterality, 7.8% and 47.8% of patients had bilateral tumor cores at diagnostic and surveillance biopsies, respectively. We found, for the first time, that patients with higher numbers of positive cores at diagnostic and surveillance biopsies, respectively, had significantly higher mean GRS values; p = .01 and p = 5.94E-04. Additionally, patients with bilateral tumors at diagnostic and surveillance biopsies, respectively, had significantly higher mean GRS values than those with unilateral tumors; p = .04 and p = .01. In contrast, no association was found between GRS and maximum core length of tumor or tumor grade at diagnostic/surveillance biopsies (all p > .05). Finally, we observed a modest trend that patients with higher GRS quartiles had a higher risk for tumor upgrading on surveillance biopsies. The trend, however, was not statistically significant (p > .05). Conclusions The associations of GRS with two measurements of PCa multifocality (core numbers and laterality) provide novel and consistent evidence for the link between inherited PCa risk and multifocal tumors.
The Inclusion of Scattering in the Simulation of Quantum Well Devices

Scattering is incorporated into the Wigner function simulations of Resonant Tunneling Diodes (RTD’s) via a modified relaxation time approximation. The effects of scattering on the behavior of the “quantum trajectories” is examined, and the behavior of the density, the current, and the translent response of the RTD are examined in light of the trajectory findings.
Chapter VIII Stochastic programming

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on stochastic programming. The stochastic programming model can be viewed as an extension of the linear and nonlinear programming models to decision models where the coefficients that are not known with certainty have been given a probabilistic representation. In the context of the mathematical programming models, some versions of this model were introduced and there had been a number of simple stochastic programming models, which had been formulated in inventory theory—micro-economics and system maintenance. The chapter reviews the useful properties of expectation functionals and analyzes the type of constraints and objective functions that arise in various stochastic programming. The questions of sensitivity and stability of the solution with respect to perturbations of the underlying probability measure, and the implications of these results for stochastic programs are presented in the chapter.
TRADE UNION RENEWAL AND LABOR TRANSNATIONALISM IN SOUTH AFRICA: THE CASE OF SATAWU

This article links labor transnationalism with local union revitalization. Through an in-depth case study, it describes the renewal of the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union as a result of its participation in a global union campaign. This effort first expanded formal rights for workers through the establishment of an International Framework Agreement, which then promoted deeper mobilization from below. I conclude that global unionism can inspire local renewal processes, and that strategies which guarantee the formal rights of workers are effective when used in tandem with local mobilization-based strategies.
Integrating hardware experiences into a computer architecture core course

A core curriculum computer architecture course is designed with a significant hardware component. The course builds upon prior student coursework in logic design and organization, revisiting some of this material from a fresh perspective as it builds toward simulation-based presentation of central architecture topics. The course introduces an inexpensive, take-home lab kit, which students use for project work on their own PC. The lab kit supports introductory, hardware-based activities in digital logic and microprocessor programming. The goal of the work is to provide students with accessible, hands-on learning experiences as a component of a traditional computer architecture course, while not requiring the space, equipment, and personnel resources of a dedicated hardware laboratory. This paper presents the design of the course, including both hardware and simulation-based assignments, and observations after 4 iterations of the course.
Mill’s Ambivalence about Duty

Consequentialists agree that deontic notions such as obligation, permission, and prohibition should be understood in terms of evaluative notions about the good. For instance, duty or obligation should be understood as serving or promoting the good in some way. In a familiar slogan, consequentialists believe that the good is prior to the right (Rawls, 1971). Utilitarians are consequentialists who conceive of the good in terms of happiness or well-being. Within the constraints set by consequentialist and utilitarian essentials, there are important family disputes. Consequentialists, in general, and utilitarians, in particular, disagree over the justification of consequentialist and utilitarian essentials, the proper conception of the good, in general, and happiness or well-being, in particular, and the exact relation between the good and the right.
Bimodal Programming: A Survey of Current Clinical Practice

Purpose The purpose of this study was to determine the current clinical practice in approaches to bimodal programming in the United States. To be specific, if clinicians are recommending bimodal stimulation, who programs the hearing aid in the bimodal condition, and what method is used for programming the hearing aid? Method An 11-question online survey was created and sent via email to a comprehensive list of cochlear implant programming centers in the United States. The survey was sent to 360 recipients. Results Respondents in this study represented a diverse group of clinical settings (response rate: 26%). Results indicate little agreement about who programs the hearing aids, when they are programmed, and how they are programmed in the bimodal condition. Analysis of small versus large implant centers indicated small centers are less likely to add a device to the contralateral ear. Conclusions Although a growing number of cochlear implant recipients choose to wear a hearing aid on the contralateral ear,...
Evidence of Magnetic Merging from Low‐Altitude Spacecraft and Ground‐Based Experiments

Magnetic-reconstruction models of magnetospheric phenomena and the airborne and ground-based measurement data supporting such models are reviewed and illustrated with diagrams and graphs. The primary emphasis is on the correlation of east-west flows on the dayside with the y component of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), and consideration is given to z-component IMF effects, magnetospheric convection for a northward IMF, and evidence based on particle distributions.
A model-based approach to reactive self-configuring systems

This paper describes Livingstone, an implemented kernel for a model-based reactive self-configuring autonomous system. It presents a formal characterization of Livingstone's representation formalism, and reports on our experience with the implementation in a variety of domains. Livingstone provides a reactive system that performs significant deduction in the sense/response loop by drawing on our past experience at building fast propositional conflict-based algorithms for model-based diagnosis, and by framing a model-based configuration manager as a propositional feedback controller that generates focused, optimal responses. Livingstone's representation formalism achieves broad coverage of hybrid hardware/software systems by coupling the transition system models underlying concurrent reactive languages with the qualitative representations developed in model-based reasoning. Livingstone automates a wide variety of tasks using a single model and a single core algorithm, thus making significant progress towards achieving a central goal of model-based reasoning. Livingstone, together with the HSTS planning and scheduling engine and the RAPS executive, has been selected as part of the core autonomy architecture for NASA's first New Millennium spacecraft.
Financial Risk – Global Tax Jeopardy

Global leaders must take advantage of their opportunities to create a environment that allows individual motivation. CEO’s have multiple resources at their command to effect positive change but it will always require the ability to execute decisions. Management can not be neutral. It is not enough to design the unique strategy that is necessary for a firm to be triumphant; a leader must also flawlessly implement the tactic. When the global tax jeopardy (or benefit) is structured into the vision and mission of the organization, the ethical policies of the firm must reflect the positive goals of the business.
Friendship Group Composition and Juvenile Institutional Misconduct

The present study examines both the patterns of friendship networks and how these network characteristics relate to the risk factors of institutional misconduct for incarcerated youth. Using friendship networks collected from males incarcerated with California's Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), latent profile analysis was utilized to create homogeneous groups of friendship patterns based on alter attributes and network structure. The incarcerated youth provided 144 egocentric networks reporting 558 social network relationships. Latent profile analysis identified three network profiles: expected group (67%), new breed group (20%), and model citizen group (13%). The three network profiles were integrated into a multiple group analysis framework to examine the relative influence of individual-level risk factors on their rate of institutional misconduct. The analysis finds variation in predictors of institutional misconduct across profile types. These findings suggest that the close friendships of incarcerated youth are patterned across the individual characteristics of the youth's friends and that the friendship network can act as a moderator for individual risk factors for institutional misconduct.
Fluorescence spectra of some simple coumarins.

Abstract The fluorescence spectra of six representative coumarins containing hydroxyl and/or alkoxyl substituents have been determined and compared on several commercial instruments. Measurements in methanol, dilute sulfuric acid, and dilute alkaline buffer permitted characterization of coumarin type, and observation of the change of fluorescent intensity with time allowed further refinement. Application of the method to paper chromatogram eluates, combined with an inherently high degree of sensitivity, should make it especially useful in the investigation of natural products.
Patterns of violence in Karachi, Pakistan

I welcome the paper by Chotani et al on violence in Pakistan and the empirical nature of the exploration.1 It is also encouraging to see Injury Prevention raise the issue of violence in developing countries, as it is a neglected health problem. However, from the Pakistani context, there are several contextual and explanatory points that are needed to clarify some of the issues raised in the paper and also to add to them. 1. Macroeconomic changes have affected Pakistani society for the past two decades with important impacts on the health and social sectors.2 One of the …
Multifunctional Electro-Optical Sensors For Precision Munitions

Precision munitions employ various electro-optical sensors that enable them to accurately locate and strike targets. These electro-optical sensors perform a variety of functions, including hot spot detection, false target discrimination, stand-off fuzing, range to the target, aimpoint selection and potentially target profiling. Of interest are three primary electro-optic sensor categories: passive IR, active IR and dual mode (IR/MMW) sensors. Examples of fielded and prototype sensors built for these three categories are presented and discussed.
Identification of a constellation from a position

A table is presented which permits rapid determination of the constellation in which an object is located from its 1875.0 position. Directions for accessing and using the table are given. The historical background to the table's development is briefly stated.
Enamel hypoplasia in ancestral Puebloan populations from southwestern Colorado: I. Permanent dentition

Dental enamel hypoplasias are used to examine metabolic disruption experienced during early childhood by ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) inhabitants of southwestern Colorado. The hypoplasia sample consists of the permanent anterior dentition from 147 individuals from Montezuma County and Mesa Verde National Park. Using the individual as the basis of analysis, the study compares different time periods of occupation of the region with respect to prevalence and timing of hypoplasia occurrence. The frequency of enamel hypoplasia in the combined regional sample is high, affecting 90% of the individuals and 66% of the anterior teeth. The earliest onset of hypoplasia in individuals occurs most commonly at 2.5–3.0 years, and the peak age for enamel disruption is 3.0–3.5 years. There are no significant differences in hypoplasia frequency or timing between males and females or between adults and subadults. The level of childhood stress appears to have increased significantly with time from the Basketmaker III to the Pueblo I and Pueblo II periods, then decreased slightly during the Pueblo III. The differences between the Pueblo I, II, and III periods are not significant. The Pueblo II sample from Yellow Jacket Canyon sites 5MT1 and 5MT3 and the Dolores Pueblo I sample show the highest levels of childhood stress in comparison to other Puebloan populations inhabiting this region prior to A.D. 1300. Am. J. Phy. Anthropol. 102:351–367, 1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Keynote Speaker: Virtual Reality: Current Uses in Medical Simulation and Future

Virtual reality has gone from research to educational tool to indispensible clinical application in patient care. A brief review of the current status of the use of VR in medicine will provide the springboard for the current gaps that provide future opportunities in simulation as well as an introduction to new advanced technologies that are revolutionizing medicine and which will require VR for educational and training support and clinical applications. Some topics for discussion are virtual patients, cadavers and autopsies, surgical rehearsal, robotic surgery, suspended animation, regeneration and tissue engineering. The challenge: how creatively can VR support these incredible new technologies? The grand challenge n how will 3-D stereolithography revolutionize the practice of medicine? Have you bought your Makerbot yet?
Colony founding by pleometrosis in the fire ant, Solenopsis invicta

Newly mated queens of the fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, found colonies either alone (haplometrosis) or by joining with other newly mated queens (pleometrosis). Surveys after mating flights showed that nests and queens were usually aggregated in space, that queens were aggregated among occupied nest chambers, and that the occurrence and degree of pleometrosis was related to the mean queen density. Queens and nests were strongly associated with slightly higher ground, away from rainwash areas and puddles.
Suicide Among Veterans in 16 States, 2005 to 2008: Comparisons Between Utilizers and Nonutilizers of Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Services Based on Data From the National Death Index, the National Violent Death Reporting System, and VHA Administrative Records

Objectives. We sought to compare suicide rates among veterans utilizing Veterans Health Administration (VHA) services versus those who did not.Methods. Suicide rates from 2005 to 2008 were estimated for veterans in the 16 states that fully participated in the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS), using data from the National Death Index, NVDRS, and VHA records.Results. Between 2005 and 2008, veteran suicide rates differed by age and VHA utilization status. Among men aged 30 years and older, suicide rates were consistently higher among VHA utilizers. However, among men younger than 30 years, rates declined significantly among VHA utilizers while increasing among nonutilizers. Over these years, an increasing proportion of male veterans younger than 30 years received VHA services, and these individuals had a rising prevalence of diagnosed mental health conditions.Conclusions.The higher rates of suicide for utilizers of VHA among veteran men aged 30 and older were consistent with previous reports a...
New CRIME plots

In the mid‐1990s, the chromosome region maintenance 1 (Crm1) protein was identified in yeast as the product of a gene that is essential for proliferation and chromosome stability (Nishi et al , 1994). Its human homologue, CRM1, was subsequently shown to interact with the nucleoporin CAN, which is a component of oncogenic fusion proteins found in leukaemia cells (Fornerod et al , 1997). These authors also noticed a homologous domain at the amino‐terminus of CRM1, importin β and other proteins—now known to interact with the GTPase Ran—and named it the CRIME domain for ‘CRM1, importin β etc’. Several laboratories soon discovered that CRM1 is the export vector for proteins from the nucleus to the cytoplasm and that it recognizes the nuclear export signal (NES) in these proteins. Export requires RanGTP to stabilize the complexes that are formed by CRM1 and NES‐containing proteins. These data shifted the focus towards the export function of CRM1 and, since then, its involvement in the cell cycle has been somewhat neglected. However, recent findings now put CRM1 at the front of the mitotic stage and contribute to a more general reappraisal of the role of transport factors in mitosis. In the August issue of Nature Cell Biology , Wang et al (2005) have addressed the role of CRM1 in the control of centrosome duplication. Centrosomes are major microtubule (MT)‐organizing centres in mammalian somatic cells and form the spindle poles at mitosis. More than a century ago, Boveri observed that tumour cells typically contain many centrosomes compared with only one or two in normal cells. Whether supernumerary centrosomes are a cause or a consequence of aneuploidy is still a matter of debate, but it has been suggested that their presence can facilitate the propagation of aneuploidy, particularly in certain cancer types (D'Assoro et al , 2002). A complex regulatory …
The dielectric properties of certain ZnO-Al2O3-SiO2 glass-ceramics

An original study has been made of the influence of additions of alkaline-earth metal oxides (CaO, SrO, BaO) at the expense of ZnO on the dielectric properties of certain ZnO-Al2O3-SiO2 glass-ceramics. Tests were carried out at 20° C at frequencies of 105 to 1010 Hz and at temperatures up to 400° C at a frequency of 9.37 × 109 Hz. X-ray diffraction analysis showed that the major crystalline phase in all cases was Zn2SiO4 and this was little changed in proportions or lattice parameters by the additions. Some changes in secondary crystal phases were noted but no positive identification of crystals containing Ca2+, Sr2+ or Ba2+ was made. It is concluded that the alkaline-earth metal ions are essentially contained in the residual glassy phase and that the major contribution to the dielectric losses is by the residual glassy phase. Increase in the BaO content causes a loss peak to move to lower frequencies (in the range > 1010 to 108 Hz) and this is believed to be partly due to the BaO additions rendering the network of the residual glassy phase more open, and partly due to the heavy mass of the Ba2+ ions. A similar effect was not observed for additions of CaO and SrO. Furthermore, it appears that the alkaline-earth metal oxide additions are restricting deformation of the network of the residual glassy phase.
Robert G. McQueen (1924–1994)

Robert “Bob” McQueen, who applied the methods of shock wave compression to study the behavior of Earth materials at high pressure and temperature, died October 18, 1994, after a brief illness. He had been an AGU Fellow since 1988. Bob grew up in Des Moines, Iowa, and graduated from high school in 1942. He briefly attended Stanford until he was called into service in 1943. He resumed study at Denver University in 1946 and completed a masters degree in mathematics in 1949. He was hired as a weapons designer by Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory in 1949 during the defense research expansion triggered during the emerging cold war. Bob's interest in the Earth's interior developed in the 1950s when he began to study equations of state of metals and silicates using shock waves.