cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Comparisons across depression assessment instruments in adolescence and young adulthood: an item response theory study using two linking methods.

Item response theory (IRT) methods allow for comparing the utility of instruments based on the range and precision of severity assessed by each instrument. As adolescents and young adults can display rapid increases in depressive symptoms, there is a crucial need to sensitively assess mild elevations of symptoms (as an index of initial risk) and moderate-severe symptoms (as an indicator of treatment disposition). We compare the information assessed by the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) to the newly developed Patient Reported Outcome Measurement Information System – Depression measure (PROMIS-Depression), and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies – Depression (CES-D) scale. The present work is based on data from two fully independent samples of community adolescents and young adults. One sample completed the BDI and CES-D (n = 1,482) and the second sample (n = 673) completed the PROMIS-Depression measure and the CES-D. Using two different IRT-based linking methods, (1) equating based on common items and (2) concurrent calibration methods, analyses revealed that the PROMIS-Depression measure assessed information over the widest range of depressive severity with greatest measurement precision relative to the other instruments. This was true for both the 28-item and 8-item versions of the PROMIS-Depression measure. Findings suggest that the PROMIS-Depression measure assessed depression severity with greatest precision and over the widest severity range of the assessed instruments. However, future work is necessary to demonstrate that the PROMIS-Depression measure has reliable associations with external criteria and is sensitive to treatment response.
France's new nuclear doctrine

The new nuclear deterrence doctrine announced by President Jacques Chirac in January 2006 has rightly been recognized as a milestone, although in fact several of the key changes in policy were set forth in June 2001. While France remains determined to deter major power threats, its main new preoccupation is deterring regional powers by making clear that it has developed more employable nuclear options. The innovations announced in January 2006 include the focus on deterring state sponsors of terrorism, the threat to attach an enemy's ‘capacity to act’, the more discriminate and controllable employment options, the willingness to launch ‘final warning’ strikes, the description of ‘strategic supplies’ as a potential vital interest, and the presentation of nuclear deterrence as the foundation of a strategy of prevention and, when necessary, conventional military intervention. Several factors may have led Chirac to make the speech at this juncture. These include maintaining the credibility of deterrence and presidential power, sustaining the budgetary effort required for the nuclear posture, clarifying French deterrence doctrine for external and internal audiences, and sending a message of autonomy to Iran's and France's key European partners. The new doctrine's implications include its significance for deterrence and non-proliferation and for France's relations with its partners in NATO and the European Union.
Shock compression of aragonite and implications for the equation of state of carbonates

Hugoniot equation of state and release adiabat results are presented for c cut crystals of aragonite, the high-pressure polymorph of calcite, shocked to pressures of up to 40 GPa. A Hugoniot elastic limit is observed at 2.5±0.8 GPa and is similar to that of calcite, which, depending on orientation, ranges from 1.5 to 2.5 GPa. A phase transition, possibly displacive, occurs between 5.5 and 7.6 GPa. Above shock pressures of ∼10 GPa, the aragonite and calcite Hugoniots are nearly coincident, suggesting transformation of both polymorphs to the same phase. Model calculations, attempting to characterize the high pressure CaCO_3 phase are presented. Aragonite release adiabats centered at pressures between 9 and 14 GPa indicate that states with apparent zero-pressure densities from 2.9 to 3.2 g/cm^3 are achieved upon decompression from progressively greater shock pressures. Observed unloading paths from shock pressures above 17 GPa are significantly and consistently shallower (in a density-pressure plane) than those from lower pressures, and zero-pressure densities up to 20% below that of the initial aragonite density are achieved upon unloading; these features suggest that vaporization is occurring upon unloading. According to theoretical shock temperature and entropy calculations, however, the minimum shock pressure for vaporization upon release for aragonite is 55 GPa (and 33 GPa for calcite), significantly higher than the observed value.
Methodological considerations in the evaluation of differential components of supplementary education programs

Abstract Details procedures to be followed in analyzing multiple program options and time allocation for significant effects. A multiple-option supplementary education program was evaluated by the application of multiple regression analysis as a general data analytic system. One analysis reports the relative merits of supplementary education components when more than one type of program was operated by the same school system and when the criteria for evaluation were end-of-year achievement tests. A second evaluation demonstrates that an analysis of program input variables such as aide time allocation did produce significant improvement in achievement when an analysis of the differential effect of the input variables was considered. An incidental outcome of this study was that significant improvement in reading and mathematics achievement for children in supplementary education programs was more likely to occur with second- and third-grade pupils than with thise at later grade levels.
Elasticity problems of a slender Z-crack

The configuration of a Z-shaped crack is defined by a web length, two flange lengths, and two flange-web angles. A Z-shaped crack is said to be slender if the flange-web ratios are small. These ratios may then be characterized by a slenderness parameter e. The associated elasticity problems are solved asymptotically in terms of this small parameter. Formal asymptotic expansions are developed, and explicit procedures are given for obtaining a solution accurate to the order of e. This solution is fundamental to the determination of the maximum energy-release rate in linear clastic fracture mechanics. Using the maximum-energy-release-rate criterion, a tension-compression specimen with a crack is studied in the accompanying paper.
A new silicone rubber duplicating material advantageous for teaching and research in physical anthropology

Room temperature vulcanizing silicone rubber is an excellent duplicating material which has many advantages when compared to other available materials. A silicone mold of an object is flexible for an indefinite period of time, dimensionally stable, remarkably heat stable, and resists weathering and oxidation. A silicone mold is simply prepared without incurring damage to the duplicated object. Successive casts of various types of materials can be made from the mold. The physical anthropologist may use this material in preparing casts for display or as a teaching aid, and for research purposes.
A Primer on the IMF`s Information Notice System

This paper describes the methodology and the data used to compute nominal and real effective exchange rate indices in the International Monetary Fund`s Information Notice System (INS). In particular, it highlights improvements to the INS implemented over 1994-96, including modifications to the computational methodology, use of updated data, and extension of the INS to recent Fund members.
Pluggable Watchdog: Transparent Failure Detection for MPI Programs

This paper presents a framework and its techniques that can detect various types of runtime errors and failures in MPI programs. The presented framework offloads its detection techniques to an external device (e.g., extension card). By developing intelligence on the normal behavioral and semantic execution patterns of monitored parallel threads, the presented external error detectors can accurately and quickly detect errors and failures. This architecture allows us to use powerful detectors without directly using the computing power of the monitored system. The separation of hardware of the monitored and monitoring systems offers an extra advantage in terms of system reliability. We have prototyped our system on a parallel computer system by using an FPGA-based PCI extension card as a monitoring device. We have conducted a fault injection experiment to evaluate the presented techniques using eight MPI-based parallel programs. The techniques cover ~98.5% of faults, on average. The average performance overhead is 1.8% for techniques that detect crash and hang failures and 6.6% for techniques that detect SDC failures.
Battle of the Online Brands Disney Loses Internet Portal War

The Walt Disney Company attempted to establish its Go Network as a viable brand name Internet portal that would serve as an integral vehicle to cross-promote its array of content and services online. The Go Network’s subsequent collapse occurred several months after Disney settled a vexing trademark lawsuit brought by the rival GoTo portal site, and more curiously, just days after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved America Online’s (AOL’s) acquisition of Time Warner. However, this analysis calls into question Disney’s cross-promotional strategies via the Go Network as well as its inability to establish a prominent brand name for the portal and posits that these factors contributed more appreciably to the Go Network’s failure.
Differentiating tower karst (fenglin) and cockpit karst (fengcong) using DEM contour, slope, and centroid

The complex geometry of tropical karst landforms poses particular challenges for morphometric analysis, morphological classification and evolutionary assessment. Detailed geomorphological studies of the two most spectacular forms—tower karst (fenglin) and cockpit karst (fengcong)—have employed time consuming and labor intensive field surveys, which have yielded inconclusive and ambiguous results. This paper tests a novel discriminatory approach utilizing contour, slope and centroid derived from the ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model to differentiate between cockpit and tower karst in the Guilin area of southern China. Morphological indices are calculated to compare and contrast geomorphic variations using Object-Based Image Analysis (OBIA). The results suggest that the method provides a feasible means of differentiating between tower and cockpit landforms, and that OBIA offers a fast and semi-automatic way to extract morphological parameters.
Efficient type inference using ranked type variables

The Damas-Milner type inference algorithm (commonly known as algorithm W) is at the core of all ML type checkers. Although the algorithm is known to have poor worst-case behavior [8], in practice well-engineered type checkers will run in approximately linear time. To achieve this efficiency, implementations need to improve on algorithm W's method of scanning the complete type environment to determine whether a type variable can be generalized at a let binding. Following a suggestion of Damas, most ML type checkers use an alternative method based on ranking unification variables to track their position in the type environment.Here we formalize two such ranking systems, one based on lambda depth (used in the SML/NJ compiler), and the other based on let depth (used in OCaml, for instance). Each of these systems is formalized both with and without the value restriction, and they are proved correct relative to the classic algorithm W. Our formalizations of the various algorithms use simple abstract machines that are similar to small-step evaluation semantics.
The School-Wide Evaluation Tool (SET): A Research Instrument for Assessing School-Wide Positive Behavior Support.

Schools throughout the country are now encouraged to implement school-wide positive behavior support (PBS) procedures as a way to improve their behavioral climate, safety, and social culture. Resea...
Syncope Evaluation in the Emergency Department Study (SEEDS) A Multidisciplinary Approach to Syncope Management

Background—The primary aim and central hypothesis of the study are that a designated syncope unit in the emergency department improves diagnostic yield and reduces hospital admission for patients with syncope who are at intermediate risk for an adverse cardiovascular outcome. Methods and Results—In this prospective, randomized, single-center study, patients were randomly allocated to 2 treatment arms: syncope unit evaluation and standard care. The 2 groups were compared with 2 test for independence of categorical variables. Wilcoxon rank sum test was used for continuous variables. Survival was estimated with the Kaplan-Meier method. One hundred three consecutive patients (53 women; mean age 6417 years) entered the study. Fifty-one patients were randomized to the syncope unit. For the syncope unit and standard care patients, the presumptive diagnosis was established in 34 (67%) and 5 (10%) patients (P0.001), respectively, hospital admission was required for 22 (43%) and 51 (98%) patients (P0.001), and total patient-hospital days were reduced from 140 to 64. Actuarial survival was 97% and 90% (P0.30), and survival free from recurrent syncope was 88% and 89% (P0.72) at 2 years for the syncope unit and standard care groups, respectively. Conclusions—The novel syncope unit designed for this study significantly improved diagnostic yield in the emergency department and reduced hospital admission and total length of hospital stay without affecting recurrent syncope and all-cause mortality among intermediate-risk patients. Observations from the present study provide benchmark data for improving patient care and effectively utilizing healthcare resources. (Circulation. 2004;110:3636-3645.)
Design of multigigabit multiplexer-loop-based decision feedback equalizers

This paper presents novel approaches for pipelining of parallel nested multiplexer loops and decision feedback equalizers (DFEs) based on look-ahead techniques. Look-ahead techniques can be applied to pipeline a nested multiplexer loop in many possible ways. It is shown that not all the look-ahead approaches necessarily result in improved performance. A novel look-ahead approach is identified, which can guarantee improvement in performance either in the form of pipelining or parallelism. The proposed technique is demonstrated and applied to design multiplexer-loop-based DFEs with throughput in the range of 3.125-10 Gb/s.
Ad Hoc Humanity: UN Peacekeeping and the Limits of International Community in Gaza

ABSTRACT In this article, I explore the work of the first UN peacekeeping force: the UN Emergency Force (UNEF) in Gaza (1956–67). UNEF's experience helped shape the basic principles of UN peacekeeping. First-generation peacekeeping was defined in significant part by its limits: need for consent, constraints of its mission, and attenuated knowledge of and involvement with the local population. Peacekeeping was intended to assert global ideals and expand the reach of the “international community.” The idea of international community is instantiated in global laws and institutions, but it also finds expression at the small scale when the “international” personnel come into contact with “locals.” The limits of peacekeeping missions in turn shaped the kinds of relationships that could develop on the ground. Anthropological attention to these complicated, sometimes messy encounters can help both policy makers and scholars understand the limits and possibilities of peacekeeping as a site of international community.
Synthesis of central functionalized asymmetric triblock copolymers for surface modification and switchable surface properties

Well-defined central functionalized asymmetric triblock copolymers (CFABC) were designed as a new type of polymer-brush surface modifier with a short central functionalized block that could form chemical bonds with a suitable substrate surface. A combination of sequential living anionic polymerization and polymer modification reactions was used for the synthesis of two CFABCs: polystyrene-b-poly(4-hydroxystyrene)-b-poly(methyl methacrylate) (3) and polystyrene-b-poly(4-urethanopropyl triethoxysilylstyrene)-b-poly(methyl methacrylate) (4). The central block of 3, poly(4-hydroxystyrene), was synthesized with a protected monomer, p-[(tert-butyldimethylsilyl)oxy]styrene, for the polymerization step, and this synthesis was followed by the hydrolysis of the silyl protecting group. To obtain polymer 4, the phenol functionality in 3 was converted to triethoxysilyl groups by a quantitative reaction with isocyanato propyl triethoxysilane. Gel permeation chromatography and NMR characterization indicated that the block copolymers possessed controlled molecular weights and narrow molecular weight distributions. Preliminary atomic force microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis of the polymer brushes were reported. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 38: 3742–3750, 2000
Teaching Research Using an Information Literacy Paradigm

Legal research technology has changed dramatically in the last fifteen years, and traditional legal research instruction needs to be modified for the modern age. This article introduces the concept of information literacy as the ideal framework for a new paradigm for legal research pedagogy, and offers advice (including five basic foundational principles) about teaching legal research using an information literacy paradigm.
Calculus for Functions of Noncommuting Operators and General Phase-Space Methods in Quantum Mechanics. III. A Generalized Wick Theorem and Multitime Mapping

The new $c$-number calculus for functions of noncommuting operators, developed in Paper I and employed in Paper II to formulate a general phase-space description of boson systems, deals with situations involving equal-time operators only. In the present paper extensions are presented for the treatment of problems involving boson operators at two or more instants of time. The mapping of time-ordered products onto $c$-number functions is studied in detail. The results make it possible to evaluate time-ordered products of boson operators by phase-space techniques. The usual Wick theorem for boson systems is obtained as a special case of a much more general theorem on time ordering. Our method of derivation appears to provide the first direct proof of Wick's theorem as well as a clear insight into its true meaning. A closed expression is also obtained for the time-evolution operator in terms of the solution of the $c$-number differential equation for the phase-space equivalent of this operator. The new calculus is also applied to the problem of evaluating normally ordered time-ordered, and also the antinormally ordered time-ordered, correlation functions.
Comparison of new and existing spectrophotometric methods for the analysis of tobramycin and other aminoglycosides

New indirect spectrophotometric methods of analysis of tobramycin using the derivatizing agents o-phthaldialdehyde, fluores-camine, and dansyl chloride were developed and compared with existing methods. Optimum reaction conditions were established for the complex formation between tobramycin and each reagent. The sensitivity and reproducibility of these new procedures were compared with results obtained using published methods. Of the new methods, the o-phthaldialdehyde and fluorescamine procedures were more sensitive and reproducible than the dansyl chloride procedure. Further, these procedures were subsequently applied to the analysis of aqueous solutions of other aminoglycosides including amikacin, neomycin, gentamicin, and kanamycin.
Introduction to the special ACS issue of population research and policy review

This article presents a brief history of the American Community Survey's development. It also provides an overview of the structure and content of this special issue of Population Research and Policy Review.
False Faces and Broken Lives: An Exploratory Study of the Interaction Behaviors Used by Male Sex Offenders in Relating to Victims

This study examines the use of self-presentation strategies and manipulation by male sex offenders in grooming a victim for a sexual relationship. The study finds that male sex offenders use multiple categories of self-presentation strategies in their interactions with victims with the supplication strategy being present in a majority of reports of such interactions. Furthermore, the research reveals that the male sex offender uses manipulation to isolate and groom the victim for a sexual relationship in conjunction with coercive tactics to ensure the victim does not reveal the true nature of their relationship to other people. Findings are discussed in the context of luring communication theory and applications of the findings.
A highly resilient routing algorithm for fault-tolerant NoCs

Current trends in technology scaling foreshadow worsening transistor reliability as well as greater numbers of transistors in each system. The combination of these factors will soon make long-term product reliability extremely difficult in complex modern systems such as systems on a chip (SoC) and chip multiprocessor (CMP) designs, where even a single device failure can cause fatal system errors. Resiliency to device failure will be a necessary condition at future technology nodes. In this work, we present a network-on-chip (NoC) routing algorithm to boost the robustness in interconnect networks, by reconfiguring them to avoid faulty components while maintaining connectivity and correct operation. This distributed algorithm can be implemented in hardware with less than 300 gates per network router. Experimental results over a broad range of 2D-mesh and 2D-torus networks demonstrate 99.99% reliability on average when 10% of the interconnect links have failed.
Seeing the Pedagogies, Practices, and Programs Urban Students Want

Discussions of school and teacher quality now occur regularly in the United States: The ways in which teachers are licensed and assessed are frequently subjects of heated debates. Most concepts of teacher and school effectiveness focus narrowly on educators' subject area proficiency and students' performance on high-stakes assessments. Missing in most of these discussions are the voices of diverse city youth, who might suggest teacher traits and school and teacher practices and curricula that would be particularly effective for urban high school students. Adolescents' points of view are especially important to consider in light of city community members' multigenerational disengagement from school, which is evident in decades of elevated high school dropout rates. The research on which this article reports used visually based methods with which city students are already proficient in order to access their perceptions of teacher and school quality.
Internal Marketing and the Antecedents of Nurse Satisfaction and Loyalty

Employee satisfaction and retention are critical issues that influence the success of any organization. Yet, one of the most critical problems facing the worldwide health care industry is the shortage of qualified nurses. Recent calls have been made within the traditional nursing literature for research that utilizes marketing and business models to better understand nurse satisfaction and retention. The purpose of this study is to develop scales that can be used to empirically test a model of the proposed antecedents of nurse job satisfaction and loyalty which have been used widely in the internal marketing and the relationship-marketing literature. Specifically, the study will investigate the degree to which structural bonding, social bonding, financial bonding activities, and quality of care impact how well nurses are satisfied with their job and their commitment to the organization. The results show that quality of care most impacted nurse satisfaction and loyalty, followed by structural, social, and financial bonds.
Psoriasis and Vascular Disease: An Unsolved Mystery

Psoriasis is an immune disease most commonly recognized for its skin and joint manifestations. These produce significant physical, social, and psychological distress in affected patients and resultant reductions in their quality of life. As expected, these concerns are vital in providing symptomatic improvement and in selecting an individualized therapy. Yet, the approach in management of these patients is likely to change given the growing body of evidence linking psoriasis and vascular disease. Stemming from an anecdotally described relationship, the association between psoriasis and vascular disease has become a focus of current research to further elucidate the pathophysiology underlying and connecting these two diseases. This article includes a review of the classical cardiovascular risk factors, the atherothrombotic markers, and the environmental stressors associated with psoriasis, as well as a critical review of the observed vascular diseases, the proposed mechanism of atherosclerosis, and the benefits of treatment of psoriasis.
Identifying musical difficulties as they relate to congenital amusia in the pediatric population

Abstract Introductions/Objectives Approximately 4% of the population fails to develop basic music skills and can be identified as “amusic”. Congenital amusia (CA), or “tone deafness”, is thought to be a hereditary disordera predominantly affecting the perception and production of music. The gold standard for diagnosis is the Montreal Battery for Evaluation of Amusia (MBEA). This study aims to pinpoint factors in the history that may help identify amusic children and to determine if amusic pediatric patients can be identified using a widely available, shorter test validated in adults. Methods Subjects ages 7–17 years were recruited to take an online test, validated against the MBEA, for CA. The sections tested recognition of “off-beat” (OB), “mistuned” (MT), and “out-of-key” (OOK) conditions. Parents filled out a questionnaire regarding the subject's past medical, educational, musical exposure, and family history. Results Of 114 subjects recruited, complete data was available on 105 with a mean age of 12.5 years. According to adult criteria, 63/105 (60%) of subjects scored in the “amusic” range. Children >10 years of age scored significantly higher on the off-beat section ( p = 0.001) and total scores ( p = 0.025). Subjects who were born prematurely scored significantly lower ( p = 0.045). Children whose father had difficulties with music scored significantly lower on the off-beat section ( p = 0.003) and total scores ( p = 0.008). Conclusions CA is a disorder that has implications for quality of life. Earlier identification may help elucidate the pathogenesis of the condition and, in the future, the institution of prompt treatment. Further studies are needed to identify the most appropriate and convenient tests, as well as the optimal timing of testing, for reliably diagnosing CA in children.
The Promise of Pragmatism: Modernism and the Crisis of Knowledge and Authority

For much of the 20th century, pragmatism has held the dominant point of view in American politics, law, education and social thought in general. After suffering a brief eclipse in the post-World War II period, pragmatism has experienced a revival, especially in literary theory and such areas as poststructuralism and deconstruction. In this critique of pragmatism and neopragmatism, the author traces the attempts of thinkers from William James to Richard Rorty to find a response to the crisis of modernism. He analyzes the limitations of pragmatism from a historical perspective and asks whether America's one original contribution to the world of philosophy has actually fulfilled its promise.
Real-time 3D image-guided HIFU therapy

Real-time three-dimensional ultrasound imaging (4D US) was utilized to monitor the treatment site during high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) treatment. To obtain real-time monitoring during HIFU sonication, a 4D US imaging system and HIFU were synchronized and interference on the US image adjusted so that the region of interest was visible during treatment. The system was tested using tissue mimicking phantom gels and chicken breast tissue. The 4D US showed hyperechoic spots at the focal region of the HIFU transducer which then slowly faded after HIFU treatment. The hyperechoic regions were used as an indication of coagulative necrosis which occurs at temperatures higher than 60 °C. Different intensities of HIFU were applied to observe the difference in lesion formation and to determine the threshold intensity that produced hyperechoic regions due to the thermal and mechanical effects of focused ultrasound waves. The position, orientation, and shape of various lesions were examined in the three dimensional ultrasound images, and the volume of the lesions was measured. These volumes were compared to the volume measurements obtained from dissection of the tissue and phantom gels.
Effectiveness of Knee Injury and Anterior Cruciate Ligament Tear Prevention Programs: A Meta-Analysis.

Objective Individuals frequently involved in jumping, pivoting or cutting are at increased risk of knee injury, including anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears. We sought to use meta-analytic techniques to establish whether neuromuscular and proprioceptive training is efficacious in preventing knee and ACL injury and to identify factors related to greater efficacy of such programs.
Autonomy, Isotretinoin and iPLEDGE: The Ethics of Burdensome Regulation and Use of Teratogenic Medication

The United States Food and Drug and Administration (FDA) approved isotretinoin (Accutane™) in 1982 for the treatment of nodulocystic acne. While there is well-documented efficacy for the FDA-stated indication and keratinizing disorders, there is equally significant and well-documented associated teratogenicity. The US government has instituted three progressively more involved programs intended to eliminate fetal exposure to isotretinoin. The current risk management program (RMP), known as iPLEDGE, was initiated in 2005.
Lack of effect of dietary choline on cholesterol absorption in rat.

SummaryThe effect of dietary choline on the intestinal absorption of cholesterol was studied by 2 different technics. The results indicate that under the conditions of these experiments, choline did not influence cholesterol absorption.
Challenges in Optical Finishing of Reaction Bonded Silicon Carbide

Optical finishing of RB SiC is a challenge, due to its two-phased microstructure. Here we summarize the techniques which have been applied to resolve this issue, and provide a summary of the current state-of-the-art.
Compliance Deconstructed: When you break it down, compliance is largely about ensuring that business processes are executed as expected.

The topic of compliance becomes increasingly complex each year. Dozens of regulatory requirements can affect a company’s business processes. Moreover, these requirements are often vague and confusing. When those in charge of compliance are asked if their business processes are in compliance, it is understandably difficult for them to respond succinctly and with confidence. This article looks at how companies can deconstruct compliance, dealing with it in a systematic fashion and applying technology to automate compliance-related business processes. It also looks specifically at how Microsoft approaches compliance to SOX.
SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL VARIATION OF THE SEDIMENTATION RATES IN OKINAWA TROUGH SINCE THE LATE PLEISTOCENE AND THEIR CONTROLLING FACTORS

By using the collected chronological data of 33 sediment cores from Okinawa Trough,the sedimentation rates(SR) in different chronological sections of these cores were calculated.The results show very large spatial-temporal variations of the sedimentation rates in the trough.Spatially,there is an increasing trend of the SR from the north to the south,and the SR is much larger in the western slope of the trough than that in the eastern slope.Temporally,the SR increased greatly from late Pleistocene to Holocene.Owing to the result that the sediment in the trough was mainly composed of the terrigenous detritus,we suggest that the variability of the SRs in different parts and different chronological sections in the Okinawa Trough just reflected the complexity of the sedimentation environment and material origins,and mainly resulted from the variation of the sedimentation processes and sediment budget in different sites and ages.Meanwhile,the paleoceanological changes,the shifts of the Kuroshio Currents since the last deglaciation in this area also played an important role in this variation of the SRs.However,the event sedimentation,such as the volcanic event,and turbidites can also take great effect on the sediment accumulation in Okinawa Trough,thus,the effect of event sedimentation could not be less-estimated.
N-terminal domain of complexin independently activates calcium-triggered fusion

Complexin activates Ca(2+)-triggered neurotransmitter release and regulates spontaneous release in the presynaptic terminal by cooperating with the neuronal soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptors (SNAREs) and the Ca(2+)-sensor synaptotagmin. The N-terminal domain of complexin is important for activation, but its molecular mechanism is still poorly understood. Here, we observed that a split pair of N-terminal and central domain fragments of complexin is sufficient to activate Ca(2+)-triggered release using a reconstituted single-vesicle fusion assay, suggesting that the N-terminal domain acts as an independent module within the synaptic fusion machinery. The N-terminal domain can also interact independently with membranes, which is enhanced by a cooperative interaction with the neuronal SNARE complex. We show by mutagenesis that membrane binding of the N-terminal domain is essential for activation of Ca(2+)-triggered fusion. Consistent with the membrane-binding property, the N-terminal domain can be substituted by the influenza virus hemagglutinin fusion peptide, and this chimera also activates Ca(2+)-triggered fusion. Membrane binding of the N-terminal domain of complexin therefore cooperates with the other fusogenic elements of the synaptic fusion machinery during Ca(2+)-triggered release.
Change in Disagreements About Money, Time, and Sex and Marital Outcomes

Using data from the National Survey of Families and Households, an actor-partner interdependence model explored change in the frequency of disagreements and marital outcomes among 796 paired couples, early in marriage. Disagreements about money, time spent together, and the sexual relationship increased over 5 years. Money disagreements predicted disagreements about time and sex for husbands. Spillover findings showed disagreements about money and sex were related negatively to marital satisfaction. Disagreements in all three areas predicted marital instability for husbands, although only disagreements about money and time predicted marital instability for wives. Crossover findings showed husbands’ disagreements about money to be related negatively to wives’ marital satisfaction. Implications of the current findings are discussed.
Predictive models of cytotoxicity as mediated by exposure to chemicals or drugs

AbstractPredicting cytotoxicity is a challenging task because of the complex biological mechanisms behind it. Cytotoxicity due to toxin – biologically produced poison – is known to play a substantial role in a disease process. Two objectives in this research are to derive robust general predictive cytotoxicity models to minimize unnecessary toxicity. The first objective is to build accurate predictive statistical models for cytotoxicity data based on lymphoblastoid cell lines obtained from in vitro studies. This could be an important step for accomplishing a goal in biomedecial/biophamarceutical research, by obtaining the best medical outcomes by minimizing toxicity in regard to a person’s genetic profile. The second objective is to build predictive models to predict population-level cytotoxicity for unknown compounds based on chemical structural features. These two objectives were accomplished by a proposed variable selection process, the random forests, and the least absolute shrinkage and selection ope...
Renal Physiology Resources

ABSTRACTRenal physiology is the study of all functions of the kidney. There is a mnemonic, A WET BED, that helps one remember kidney functions: A) maintenance of ACID-base balance; W) maintenance of WATER balance; E) balance of ELECTROLYTES; T) removal of TOXINS; B) control of BLOOD pressure; E) production of ERYTHROPOIETIN; and D) metabolism of vitamin D. This article will highlight interactive websites and tutorials that may serve as supplemental material for teaching and learning renal physiology for allied health, nursing, and medical students.
Toward a Sociology of Privacy

What are, and what should be, the boundaries between self and society, individuals and groups? To address these questions, we synthesize research on privacy that is relevant for two foundational sociological issues: social order and inequality. By synthesizing work on a narrow yet fundamental set of issues, we aim to improve our understanding of privacy as well as provide a foundation for understanding contemporary privacy issues associated with information and communication technology. We explore the role of privacy in maintaining social order by examining the connections of privacy with social control and with group cohesion. We also discuss how inequality produces variation in privacy and how this variation in turn contributes to inequality. Throughout the review we identify potential directions for sociological research on privacy generally and in the context of new technologies. Our discussion highlights implications of privacy that extend beyond individual-level concerns to broader social, structura...
FATES: a flexible analysis toolkit for the exploration of single-particle mass spectrometer data

Abstract. Single-particle mass spectrometer (SPMS) analysis of aerosols has become increasingly popular since its invention in the 1990s. Today many iterations of commercial and lab-built SPMSs are in use worldwide. However, supporting analysis toolkits for these powerful instruments are outdated, have limited functionality, or are versions that are not available to the scientific community at large. In an effort to advance this field and allow better communication and collaboration between scientists, we have developed FATES (Flexible Analysis Toolkit for the Exploration of SPMS data), a MATLAB toolkit easily extensible to an array of SPMS designs and data formats. FATES was developed to minimize the computational demands of working with large data sets while still allowing easy maintenance, modification, and utilization by novice programmers. FATES permits scientists to explore, without constraint, complex SPMS data with simple scripts in a language popular for scientific numerical analysis. In addition FATES contains an array of data visualization graphic user interfaces (GUIs) which can aid both novice and expert users in calibration of raw data; exploration of the dependence of mass spectral characteristics on size, time, and peak intensity; and investigations of clustered data sets.
A Likelihood Story: The Theory of Legal Fact-Finding

For over 50 years, courts and scholars have tried to conceptualize fact-finding, and burdens of persuasion, in terms of the probability of facts given the evidence. The exercise has not produced a satisfying theory of fact-finding. The problem is reliance on probability. Fact-finding is not about probability. It’s about likelihood. The difference between these concepts is substantial. Where probability theories of fact-finding ask about the probability of the facts given the evidence, the proposed likelihood approach asks about the probability of the evidence given different assumptions about the facts. Where probability theories measure subjective beliefs, the likelihood approach measures the relative weight of evidence alone. Using the statistical properties of likelihoods, I show that every burden of persuasion in use today can be reduced to the same simple rule of likelihood reasoning. This likelihood theory of fact-finding closely mirrors the procedure of adversarial litigation, and solves all of the paradoxes, difficulties, and unacceptable implications that have long frustrated probability theories of fact-finding.
Medical Malpractice in Bariatric Surgery: a Review of 140 Medicolegal Claims.

Given the current rate of obesity in the USA, it has been estimated that close to half of the US adult population could be obese by 2030, resulting in greater demand for bariatric procedures. Our objective was to analyze malpractice litigation related to bariatric surgery. We conducted a retrospective review of Westlaw (Thompson Reuters) of all bariatric operations that resulted in the filing of a malpractice claim. Each case was reviewed for pertinent medicolegal information related to the procedure, claim, and trial. The search criteria yielded 298 case briefs, of which 140 met inclusion criteria. Thirty-two percent (n = 49) of cases involved male plaintiffs (patients). Mean patient age with standard deviation (SD) was 43 (10) years. The most common procedure litigated was the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (76 %, n = 107). Overall, the most common alleged reason for a malpractice claim was delay in diagnosis or management of a complication in the postoperative period (n = 66, 47 %), the most common of which was an anastomotic leak (45 %, n = 34). Death was reported in 74 (52 %) cases. Fifty-seven cases (47 %) were decided in favor of the plaintiff (patient), with a median award payout of $1,090,000 (interquartile range [IQR] $412,500 to $2,550,000). Delay in diagnosing or managing complications in the postoperative setting, most commonly an anastomotic leak, accounted for the majority of malpractice claims. Measures taken to identify and address anastomotic leaks and other complications early in the postoperative period could potentially reduce the amount of filed malpractice claims related to bariatric surgery. Level of Evidence: III
Integrated circuit technology options for RFIC's-present status and future directions

This paper summarizes the technology tradeoffs that are involved in the implementation of radiofrequency integrated circuits for wireless communications. Radio transceiver circuits have a very broad range of requirements-including noise-figure, linearity, gain, power dissipation. The advantages and disadvantages of each of the competing technologies-Si CMOS, and BJT, Si/SiGe HBTs, and GaAs MESFETs, PHEMTs and HBTs are examined.
Improving the quality of service for critical flows in Smart Grid using software-defined networking

A Smart Grid system involves many applications, such as power grid state monitoring and control, demand response, distribution automation, distributed generation and microgrids. They will generate a large volume of data traffic over the grid with different quality of service (QoS) requirements, which present challenges to the existing network architecture and protocols. In this paper, we propose to develop a framework based on software-defined networking to address the QoS issue in Smart Grid systems. We focus on providing better service for critical flows by dynamically setting up forwarding paths in the data plane. To that end, the control program will monitor the status of the network and direct critical flows over a better path by installing OpenFlow rules on the switches. We develop a path searching algorithm and implement it as a module for the Floodlight controller. The performance evaluations show that our approach can significantly improve the throughput obtained by the critical flows, compared with the shortest path routing algorithm used in current networks.
Emotional Intelligence of Nurse Managers: An Exploratory Study.

OBJECTIVEThe purposes of this study are to determine the level of emotional intelligence (EI) among nurse managers (NMs) in an academic medical center and determine the relationship of EI and demographic variables.BACKGROUNDEmotional intelligence is a concept that warrants further research in nursin
Evaluation of Accommodation Response to Monovision for Virtual Reality

Emerging virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) systems can produce highly immersive experiences, but also induce visual discomfort, eyestrain, and nausea for some users. One of the sources of these symptoms is the lack of natural focus cues in all current VR/AR near-eye displays. These displays project stereoscopic image pairs, driving the vergence state of the eyes to arbitrary distances. However, the accommodation, or focus state of the eyes, is optically driven to a fixed distance. In this work, we empirically evalaute monovision: a simple, yet unconventional method for potentially driving the accommodation state of the eyes to two distances by allowing each eye to drive focus to a different distance.
Botulinum Toxin Therapy: Future Perspectives

Emerging literature suggests new potential applications for botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) therapy in clinical medicine. This chapter discusses four areas in which, in the author’s opinion, botulinum toxin has a potential to make a major impact in patient care. The disciplines likely to benefit from the use of botulinum toxins include Orthopedics (ostheoarthritis), Cardiology (atrial fibrillation), Psychiatry (depression), and Autonomic System (prevention of radiation damage to salivary glands).
Clinical outcomes and prognostic factors of transcatheter aortic valve implantation in bicuspid aortic valve patients.

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the outcomes of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) in patients with bicuspid aortic valve stenosis (AS). Methods: From April 2012 and December 2016, 108 patients with bicuspid AS underwent TAVR using the Sapien XT (34 patients) and Sapien 3 (74 patients) valves. Procedural and clinical outcomes were assessed according to VARC-2 criteria and compared between the two devices. Results: In the overall cohort, the majority of patients were male (71.3%) with an intermediate surgical risk and a mean Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) score of 5.2%. Compared to the Sapien XT group, the Sapien 3 group had a significantly lower STS score (3.3%±2.0% vs. 6.7%±3.6%; P=0.001). Compared to the Sapien XT group, the Sapien 3 group had a significantly lower rate of moderate or severe paravalvular leak (2.7% vs. 14.7%; P=0.03) and higher device success (97.3% vs. 82.4%; P=0.006). There were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of 30-day all-cause mortality, stroke, life-threatening bleeding, major vascular complication and acute kidney injury (stage 2 or 3). Cumulative all-cause mortality at 1-year follow-up was 6.9%. There were no significant differences in cumulative event rates for all-cause mortality at 1-year follow-up between the two groups (9.4% vs. 4.6%; log-rank P=0.47). By univariate analysis, major vascular complication was significantly associated with overall all-cause mortality [hazard ratios (HR): 7.57; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.51–37.86; P=0.014]. Conclusions: TAVR using the balloon-expandable valves provided acceptable procedural and clinical outcomes in patients with bicuspid AS. The new-generation Sapien 3 valves showed improved procedural outcomes compared to the early-generation Sapien XT valves.