cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Treatment for persons with substance use disorders: mediators, moderators, and the need for a new research approach.

This article describes two major studies (i.e. Project MATCH and the US Department of Veterans Affair Effectiveness Study) of mediators and moderators of drinking behavior change following treatment, and considers alternatives to the dominant paradigm that has guided treatment research for more than two decades. Both studies were designed to test the “Technology Model” of therapeutic change, which postulates that patient attributes and treatment process elements, respectively, constitute mediators and moderators of change in drinking and drug use following treatment. The studies show that matching to therapeutic orientation is not an essential ingredient to substantially enhanced outcomes, as previously believed. They also indicate that the mediational mechanisms underlying several of the most popular therapies are different than what is suggested by their proponents. The inability of the Technology Model to explain, much less improve, the effectiveness of addiction treatment suggests the need for a new paradigm. It may be more fruitful to look for matching in larger populations at the level of communities or treatment systems, where a wider range of settings and therapeutic interventions can be evaluated. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Differential effects of ovarian steroids and raloxifene on serotonin 1A and 2C receptor protein expression in macaques.

To further understand the role of ovarian hormones in the function of the serotonin neural system, we investigated the effects of estradiol (E), progesterone (P), and raloxifene on 5HT 1A and 2C receptor protein expression in the dorsal raphe region using Western blot analysis. Adult rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) were ovariectomized (Ovx) and implanted with Silastic capsules containing E or P. In the first paradigm, animals that had been Ovx for 6–16 months were treated for 1 month with E (E1) or E + P (EP1) and compared to animals that were untreated and Ovx for 5 months (n = 4 per group). In the second paradigm, comparisons were made between animals that were Ovx and untreated for 5 months, or Ovx and immediately implanted with Silastic capsules containing E or E + P for 5 months (E5, EP5), or administered raloxifene in the diet for 5 months (Ral5) (n = 4 per group). The dorsal raphe region was harvested, homogenized and a crude membrane fraction was obtained for examination of receptor proteins. In the first paradigm, 5HT1A receptor protein expression was significantly lower in E1 and EP1 treatment groups compared to the Ovx-control group (ANOVA P = 0.01; posthoc P < 0.03), but 5HT2C receptor expression was unaffected by 1 month of E or EP treatment. In the second paradigm, there was no difference in 5HT1A receptor expression between the Ovx-control group and the E5 group, but 5HT1A receptor expression was significantly suppressed in the EP5 group (ANOVA P = 0.04; posthoc P < 0.05). In addition, 5HT2C expression increased in the E5 treatment group relative to the Ovx-control group. Addition of P to the E5 regimen prevented the E5-induced increase in 5HT2C receptor expression and significantly reduced 5HT2C receptor expression to a level below that observed in the Ovx-control group (ANOVA P = 0.001; posthoc P < 0.05). Thus, 5HT1A receptor may lose sensitivity to the suppressive effect of E after 5 months, whereas the 5HT2C receptor increases. However, addition of P in the EP5 regimen maintains the regulatory effects observed with 1 month of treatment. 5HT1A receptor protein levels were higher with raloxifene treatment than in Ovx-control animals (P < 0.01), suggesting that raloxifene may antagonize residual E in Ovx animals.
Self-assembled colloidal crystals from ZrO2 nanoparticles.

Ordered three-dimensional (3-D) assemblies of nanocrystalline zirconia were synthesized from aqueous suspensions of ZrO2 nanoparticles without the need for hydrocarbon surfactants or solvents to control colloidal crystal growth. Nanoparticles were suspended in mild acid and subsequently titrated from low to neutral pH. The solubility was reduced as the surfaces were neutralized, promoting assembly of the nanoparticles into ordered monoliths. TEM measurements indicated the formation of three-dimensional, hexagonal faceted, micrometer-sized colloidal crystals composed of 4 nm diameter ZrO2 nanoparticles. Lacking organic surfactants, the colloidal crystals were exceptionally robust and were sintered at high temperatures (300−500 °C) for further stability. Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) measurements demonstrate that the samples become progressively more amorphous above 350 °C, although some ordered domains of nanoparticles persist. Additionally, the heat treatment dramatically increases the surface area ...
The safety hazard

Since the public reporting of radiation accidents, there has been an unprecedented effort on the part of national societies, departments, and clinics to improve the quality of care for patients receiving radiation therapy. Benchmarks and quality standards that encourage safe practices have been proposed and are currently being floated through Congress. Yet there remains confusion as well as a lack of adequate response to the problems confronting the complexity and risk associated with modern radiation treatment. The “Target Safely” effort from the American Society for Radiation Oncology is designed to develop broad measures and efforts that enhance safety.1 However, problems with safety and quality standards like these are that they tend to be too general, lack uniformity in taxonomy or scope, rely upon historic metrics that may have emerged without a sufficient evidence base, focus too narrowly on avoiding complications, and fail to address the role of culture in radiation oncology clinics. That said, the effort to establish broad foundations of a safety environment is valuable; it’s just not clear how that will translate to meaningful safety at the level of the patient. Another contributing factor is that most clinics are removed from the high-level, abstract ideals of safety and guidelines. We live in an environment where clinical intuition and work-arounds are the norm and, quite frankly, expected. Yet perhaps nothing contributes more to poor outcomes and unsafe treatment. Medical intuition implies a trust in our treatment decision against a bet for the patients’ future yet we only have hindsight to know whether we were right or wrong. We do not play enough of an active role in
The effect of isoprene on the properties of spinach thylakoids and phosphatidylcholine liposomes

Abstract: Isoprene is emitted from the leaves of some plants. It was recently reported that exogenous isoprene delays the onset of leaf damage during controlled increases in leaf temperature (Singsaas et al. Plant Physiology 115: 1413–1420 [1997[17). Thylakoid membranes are presumed to be the site of action based upon isoprene's hydrophobicity, production in chloroplasts, and effect upon chlorophyll fluorescence at high temperatures. In an attempt to discern the mechanistic basis for isoprene's thermoprotective role, we studied the effect of exogenous isoprene on the peroxidation, permeability, and stability of spinach thylakoids and phosphatidylcholine liposomes. Isoprene, supplied at either 18 or 21 μ1 L1, had no effect upon the rate of liposome peroxidation in the presence of a hydroxyl radical-generating system. Isoprene also did not affect liposome peroxidation at high temperatures. Neither the proton permeability of thylakoids nor the leakage of a fluorescent probe from liposomes was influenced by exogenous isoprene, when measured at several temperatures. Isoprene did not affect the stability of thylakoid membrane proteins during a temperature increase, as shown by differential scanning calorimetry. Therefore, despite the use of a variety of techniques to investigate fundamental membrane parameters, we were unable to demonstrate an effect of isoprene.
Short Interval Leaf Movements of Cotton

Gossypium hirsutum L. cv. Lankart plants exhibited three different types of independent short interval leaf movements which were superimposed on the circadian movements. The different types were termed SIRV (short interval rhythmical vertical), SIHM (short interval horizontal movements), and SHAKE (short stroked SIRV). The 36-minute period SIRV movements occurred at higher moisture levels. The 176-minute period SIHM occurred at lower moisture levels and ceased as the stress increased. The SHAKE movements were initiated with further stresses. The SLEEP (circadian, diurnal) movements ceased with further stress. The last to cease just prior to permanent wilting were the SHAKE movements.
Construction of class 2 graphs with maximum vertex degree 3

Abstract A new method is developed for constructing graphs with maximum vertex degree 3 and chromatic index 4. In particular an infinite family of edge-critical graphs with an even number of vertices is constructed; this disproves the Critical Graph Conjecture.
Identifying Genes for Pollen-Stigma Recognition in Crucifers

Abstract Recent progress in genomic analysis has made genome-wide genetic and molecular scanning a realistic approach for the study of intra-specific mating incompatibility in crucifers. We describe the development of a directed genetic screen in Brassica and the isolation of a panel of induced mutations to self-compatibility which should facilitate the molecular cloning and functional analysis of loci required for self-incompatibility. Transfer of knowledge gained by the analysis in Brassica to other crucifers is accomplished by comparative mapping of the relevant loci in Brassica,Arabidopsis and related species. These approaches hold the promise of elucidating the genetic basis of mating system transitions within the crucifer family.
Globalization’s bystanders: Does trade liberalization hurt countries that do not participate?

Summary This paper uses trade theory to examine the effects of trade liberalization on countries that do not participate in it. These include both countries that fail to participate in multilateral trade negotiations, and also countries that lie outside of preferential trading arrangements such as free trade areas. The analysis suggests that, while it is theoretically possible for excluded countries to gain from trade liberalization through improved terms of trade, several reasons suggest that they are more likely to lose.
Effects of Coyote Population Reduction on Swift Fox Demographics in Southeastern Colorado

The distribution and abundance of swift foxes (Vulpes velox) has declined from historic levels. Causes for the decline include habitat loss and fragmentation, incidental poisoning, changing land use practices, trapping, and predation by other carnivores. Coyotes (Canis latrans) overlap the geographical distribution of swift foxes, compete for similar resources, and are a significant source of mortality amongst many swift fox populations. Current swift fox conservation and management plans to bolster declining or recovering fox populations may include coyote population reduction to decrease predation. However, the role of coyote predation in swift fox population dynamics is not well-understood. To better understand the interactions of swift foxes and coyotes, we compared swift fox population demographics (survival rates, dispersal rates, reproduction, density) between areas with and without coyote population reduction. On the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site, Colorado, USA, we monitored 141 swift foxes for 65,226 radio-days from 15 December 1998 to 14 December 2000 with 18,035 total telemetry locations collected. Juvenile swift fox survival rate was increased and survival was temporarily prolonged in the coyote removal area. Adult fox survival patterns were also altered by coyote removal, but only following late-summer coyote removals and, again, only temporarily. Coyote predation remained the main cause of juvenile and adult fox mortality in both areas. The increase in juvenile fox survival in the coyote removal area resulted in a compensatory increase in the juvenile dispersal rate and an earlier pulse in dispersal movements. Adult fox dispersal rate was more consistent throughout the year in the coyote removal area. Coyote removal did not influence the reproductive parameters of the swift foxes. Even though juvenile survival increased, swift fox density remained similar between the areas due to the compensatory dispersal rate among juvenile foxes. We concluded that the swift fox population in the area was saturated. Although coyote predation appeared additive in the juvenile cohort, it was compensatory with dispersal.
Colds and Influenza-Like Illnesses in University Students: Impact on Health, Academic and Work Performance, and Health Care Use

BACKGROUND Upper respiratory tract illnesses (URIs) are a major cause of morbidity among adults, with substantial direct and indirect costs to society, but their impact among university students has not been well described. We sought to assess the impact of URIs (colds and influenza-like illnesses [ILIs]) on the health, academic and work performance, and health care use of university students. METHODS This was a cohort study of college students at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities campus (Minneapolis-St. Paul), who were recruited during October 2002 and followed up from November 2002 through April 2003. All 42,000 registered students were invited via e-mail to participate. Baseline information was obtained in October 2002. Monthly follow-up information about colds or ILIs was obtained for the period of November 2002 through April 2003. Data were collected by use of Internet-based questionnaires. RESULTS Of 4919 volunteers, 3249 completed all follow-up surveys. The mean age was 22.7 years; 68% of the volunteers were female. Ninety-one percent had > or = 1 URI (83% had > or = 1 cold, and 36.7% had > or = 1 ILI). These URIs caused 6023 bed-days, 4263 missed school days, 3175 missed work days, and 45,219 days of illness. Of the cohort, 22.2% had > or = 1 health care visit, and 15.8% used antibiotics to treat a URI; 27.8% did poorly on a test and 46.3% did poorly on a class assignment. ILIs versus colds had a much greater impact on all parameters (e.g., general health level was 55%-60% lower with ILI vs. no URI and 33%-39% lower for colds vs. no URI; P < .001 for each). CONCLUSION Colds and ILIs were common and associated with substantial morbidity in university students. Enhanced efforts to prevent and control URIs, especially influenza vaccination, could improve the health and well-being of the 17 million college and university students in this country.
The Effect of Tranexamic Acid on Blood Loss and Transfusion Rate in Primary Total Knee Arthroplasty

Allogeneic blood transfusions remain common in primary total knee arthroplasty. We reviewed our experience with 2269 consecutive primary total knee arthroplasties in 2069 patients over a 3.5 year period. In our cohort, 1838 received no TXA, 330 received TXA via IV infusion, and 130 had TXA applied topically. The need for blood transfusion, as well as hematocrit levels immediately after surgery in the recovery room and the day of discharge were recorded. Tranexamic acid infusion demonstrated a statistically significant decrease in blood transfusion (P=0.001), as did topical application of TXA (P=0.019). The transfusion rate without TXA was 6.5% (120/1839) but only 0.3% (1/330) with TXA infusion. There were no transfusions (0/130) with topical TXA. Statistical differences were also noted in both immediate post operative and day of discharge hematocrit levels in patients having TXA infusion while those values for patients with TXA irrigation failed to obtain statistical significance. No significant change in the rate of symptomatic deep venous thrombosis or pulmonary embolism was noted.
ESecRout: An Energy Efficient Secure Routing for Sensor Networks

In this paper, we present an Energy Efficient Secure Routing Protocol for Sensor Networks (ESecRout). The protocol uses the symmetric cryptography to secure messages, and uses a small cache in sensor nodes to record the partial routing path (previous and next nodes) to the destination. It guarantees that the destination will be able to identify and discard the tampered messages and ensure that the messages received are not tampered with. Simulation shows ESecRout's performance comparison with the non-secure routing protocol AODV [1] and the secure routing protocol SAODV [2]. Our protocol needs a little more route discovery overhead (about 8%) and costs a little more energy (about 8%) than AODV, but it performs much better than SAODV which needs much more route discovery overhead (about 33%) and costs much more energy (35%) than AODV. Simulation results also show that the packet delivery ratio and packet latency of AODV, SAODV, and ESecRout are almost the same. Thus, we show that our protocol ESecRout provides energy efficient secure routing.
Mandated Recognition of Employee Stock Option Expense – The Case of Canada

On December 18, 2003 the Accounting Standards Board of Canada announced that all firms registered in Canada would be required to expense stock options-based compensation effective January 1, 2004. While a few firms had voluntarily opted to expense stock options prior to this date, the vast majority of firms had not. This study investigates the market reaction to this announcement by listed firms in the Toronto Stock Exchange that continued to disclose option expense rather than report it in the financial statement. We find no average market reaction by our sample firms affected by this mandate around the announcement date, but a significantly negative market reaction during the 5-day window around the issuance date of the exposure draft. However, in cross-sectional tests around the mandated expense announcement date, we find a significant negative relationship between the cumulative abnormal returns and the Black–Scholes value (and number) of options outstanding and of options granted the previous year. These results suggest that the magnitude of the market reaction to the mandated expense announcement is related to the firm's usage of options. Our results provide further evidence that stock prices may not fully impound information disclosed in footnotes.
Identification of the Immunoproteasome as a Novel Regulator of Skeletal Muscle Differentiation

While many of the molecular details of myogenesis have been investigated extensively, the function of immunoproteasomes (i-proteasomes) in myogenic differentiation remains unknown. We show here that the mRNA of i-proteasome subunits, the protein levels of constitutive and inducible proteasome subunits, and the proteolytic activities of the 20S and 26S proteasomes were significantly upregulated during differentiation of skeletal muscle C2C12 cells. Knockdown of the i-proteasome catalytic subunit PSMB9 by short hairpin RNA (shRNA) decreased the expression of both PSMB9 and PSMB8 without affecting other catalytic subunits of the proteasome. PSMB9 knockdown and the use of i-proteasome-specific inhibitors both decreased 26S proteasome activities and prevented C2C12 differentiation. Inhibition of the i-proteasome also impaired human skeletal myoblast differentiation. Suppression of the i-proteasome increased protein oxidation, and these oxidized proteins were found to be more susceptible to degradation by exogenous i-proteasomes. Downregulation of the i-proteasome also increased proapoptotic proteins, including Bax, as well as cleaved caspase 3, cleaved caspase 9, and cleaved poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), suggesting that impaired differentiation is likely to occur because of significantly increased apoptosis. These results demonstrate for the first time that i-proteasomes, independent of constitutive proteasomes, are critical for skeletal muscle differentiation of mouse C2C12 cells.
THE PREDICTION OF AIR TRAVEL AND AIRCRAFT TECHNOLOGY TO THE YEAR 2000 USING THE DELPHI METHOD

Abstract A Delphi forecast for air traffic and technology during the 1990–2000 decade was carried out as part of the Department of Transportation Climatic Impact Assessment Study. The planning of the Delphi Survey and the selection of participants is described. The methods for carrying out the analyses are described including the use of computers. The criterion for evaluating the degree of consensus and the need for additional iterations is outlined. Finally the results of the survey are presented. The general conclusion is that air traffic will grow at slower rates than it has in the past and no major new developments in aircraft technology are foreseen. Supersonic flight is predicted to grow but at a slow rate.
Evaluation of Huntington II Project on Computer Simulation

This paper reports on the findings of an evaluation of the use of computer simulation packages in secondary schools. It focuses on the results of an attitude inventory of a larger study which was funded by the National Science Foundation. One of the significant findings is the detection of a positive shift in students' attitudes toward computer simulations.
Curriculum Compacting: The Best Way to Bridge the Education of School-House Giftedness and Creative/Productive Giftedness in China:

The controversial about education of school-house giftedness and education of creative/productive giftedness in China has become heated in the past few years. Educational reform, however, is not an either-or choice, i.e. replacing education of school-house giftedness with that of creative/productive giftedness. These two types of education are different from each other, but they are usually interactive. This article discusses the possible combination of these two types of education through curriculum compacting. It further discusses the necessity and possibility of curriculum compacting, and concludes that the combination of examination education and curriculum compacting is the best way to reach the goal of education of creative/productive giftedness in China.
In Vivo and in Vitro binding of platinum to metallothionein

The in vivo binding of platinum to metallothionein (MT) has been observed in rat tissues following injections of the cis and trans isomers of DDP (dichlorodiammineplatinum(II]. Platinum in either cis-DDP or trans-DDP does not directly induce MT; platinum-MT is produced by the replacement of previously bound zinc in the protein. The binding of Pt(II) to MT depends on the availability of SH groups in MT. Preinjection with CdCl2 significantly enhances the association of Pt(II) with MT fractions compared to the degree of association resulting from injections with either cis-DDP or trans-DDP without CdCl2 pretreatment. In vitro experiments in which tissue extracts including a known (Cd,Zn)-MT were incubated with either cis-DDP or trans-DDP show that these isomers differ with respect to the transfer of Pt to MT; the equilibrium in both cases was reached when approximately 40% of the available Pt is bound to MT but with this equilibrium value attained in 2 h in the case of trans-DDP and only after 72 h in the case of cis-DDP. Pt-MTs were also formed by a series of incubation steps in which a native MT was used to prepare the apoprotein which was subsequently incubated with either cis-DDP or trans-DDP. Spectrophotometry established that a shoulder occurs at 285 nm for the Pt-MTs resulting from the incubation with either isomer. A competitive double-antibody radioimmunoassay for MT demonstrated that these Pt-MTs had complete cross-reactivity with a native (Cd,Zn)-MT. Gel filtration of tissue extracts after either in vivo or in vitro treatment with DDP showed that Pt was bound to a molecular species with properties characteristic of MT. These results were verified by atomic absorption spectrophotometry and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis assays.
Broadcasting for Peace and Human Rights

Forging Peace: Intervention, Human Rights and the Management of Media Space. Edited by Monroe E. Price, Mark Thompson. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2002. 416 pp., $64.95 cloth (ISBN: 0-253-34197-3), $27.95 paper (ISBN: 0-253-21573-0). How should the international community react to the incendiary use of the media to encourage genocide during civil wars, as occurred in Rwanda and Bosnia? How can international peace operations confront and overcome the manipulative propaganda often used by host governments to incite violence against segments of their populations? What roles do international legal rules play in forging acceptable standards and practices for the media in war-torn societies? These questions underpin the main aim of Forging Peace , namely, to examine the ways in which international organizations, both governmental and nongovernmental, have promoted pluralist, independent media in recent postconflict situations. The actions advocated—called information intervention—offer feasible and lawful ways to prevent mass human rights atrocities, the leitmotiv of this volume. Forging Peace begins with an excellent introductory chapter by Mark Thompson and Monroe Price that spells out the characteristics and instruments of information intervention as a lawful instrument of human rights protection. Thereafter, the volume is divided into four sections. The first section contains an interview by Mark Thompson of Jamie Metzl, in which Metzl elaborates on his original definition of information intervention (Metzl 1997). Having thus defined the concept, the second section analyzes the moral, legal, and practical implications of information intervention. In an authoritative discussion, Stephanie Farrior assesses hate propaganda's relevance for human rights law. Such broadcasts violate the norms of decency inherent in free information freely broadcast, and Farrior rightly concludes that we need to rethink the legal status of such pernicious misinformation. In a companion piece, Eric Blinderman critiques the lawfulness of information intervention as it relates to sovereignty under international legal rules. Although current law prohibits jamming broadcasts within a state …
Enabling accessible interfaces to digital library content

Most of the web interfaces are primarily designed for people with sight, with visually rich features that makes effective use of the tools to enhance visual usability but in process making it impossible for users who are blind or visually impaired to use them. In this work, our goal is to improve participation to NSF's National Science Digital Library (NSDL) by teachers, librarians, and learners who are blind. The middleware for accessible information spaces on NSDL (MAISON) is enhancing the accessibility of NSDL, its internal and external resources and existing services (such as strand maps of educational benchmarks). Relying on cutting-edge, context-aware graph segmentation, filtering and summarization, and concept propagation techniques, the middleware provides information space adaptation, reduction, and preview services through open web-based service APIs to enable implementation of informative navigation interfaces that are able to reduce the complexity of the information space and provide previews to prevent user disorientation.
Two Cases of Blastomycosis from a Common Source: Use of DNA Restriction Analysis to Identify Strains

Two friends, one with AIDS, developed severe pulmonary blastomycosis but differed markedly in clinical course. The human immunodeficiency virus-negative patient responded completely to ketoconazole; the patient with AIDS died of progressive disseminated infection despite treatment with fluconazole and amphotericin B. Epidemiologic investigation suggested a common source of infection, but serologic evaluation and environmental cultures were unrevealing. EcoRI digestion of the Blastomyces dermatitidis isolates showed identical restriction fragment patterns that differed from patterns obtained from other clinical isolates. Analysis using a Histoplasma capsulatum ribosomal DNA probe that cross-hybridizes with B. dermatitidis showed that the isolates from the two patients were identical and different from others. Thus, the patients were probably infected with the same strain, possibly from a common source. These data indicate the critical role of cellular immunity in patients with blastomycosis, show that there are multiple genotypes of B. dermatitidis, and suggest that DNA restriction analysis is a useful epidemiologic tool.
Lifetime persistence and clonality of chromosome aberrations in the peripheral blood of mice acutely exposed to ionizing radiation.

Abstract Spruill, M. D., Nelson, D. O., Ramsey, M. J., Nath, J. and Tucker, J. D. Lifetime Persistence and Clonality of Chromosome Aberrations in the Peripheral Blood of Mice Acutely Exposed to Ionizing Radiation. As the measurement of chromosomal translocations increases in popularity for quantifying prior radiation exposure, information on the possible decline of these “stable” aberrations over time is urgently needed. We report here information about the persistence of radiation-induced chromosome aberrations in vivo over the life span of a rodent. Female C57BL/6 mice were given a single whole-body acute exposure of 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4 Gy 137Cs γ rays at 8 weeks of age. Chromosome aberrations were analyzed from peripheral blood samples at various intervals between 1 day and 21 months after exposure. Aberrations were detected by painting chromosomes 2 and 8. Translocations decreased dramatically during the first 3 months after irradiation, beyond which time the frequencies remained relatively constant out t...
Welfare Effects of Market Making in Continuous Double Auctions

We investigate the effects of market making on market performance, focusing on allocative efficiency as well as gains from trade accrued by background traders. We employ empirical simulation-based methods to evaluate heuristic strategies for market makers as well as background investors in a variety of complex trading environments. Our market model incorporates private and common valuation elements, with dynamic fundamental value and asymmetric information. In this context, we compare the surplus achieved by background traders in strategic equilibrium, with and without a market maker. Our findings indicate that the presence of the market maker strongly tends to increase not only total surplus across a variety of environments, but also background-trader surplus in thin markets with impatient investors, with urgency captured by a limited trading horizon. Comparison across environments reveals factors that influence the existence and magnitude of benefits provided by the market maker function.
Sensory Processing and Motor Issues in Autism Spectrum Disorders

Although sensory processing and motor abnormalities are not among the three pathognomonic features of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs; American Psychiatric Association, 2000), many studies have found children with autism to have a higher incidence of both compared to the typically developing population. Atypical sensory processing may limit participation in meaningful activities, such as playing with others or participating in other social activities. Children who have motor impairments also tend to engage in less diversity of activities than do other children, with more frequent participation in quiet recreational activities and less frequent participation in social activities, especially social activities that are spontaneous (Brown & Gordon, 1987; Margalit, 1981; Sillanpaa, 1987). Significant differences were seen in participation between children with ASD and typically developing children in the number of activities in which children participate, the numbers of individuals with whom they participate, and the variety of environments in which they participate (Hilton, Crouch, & Israel, 2008). Both sensory processing and motor abnormalities can limit children with ASD from participation in meaningful activities.
Tinker and Student Free Speech

A discussion of student speech that could be considered distracting to some together with a discussion of the lack of consistency in the law in applying the First Amendment in cases before the court. Tinker is one of the most notable cases for the rights of student free speech and the decision and how it relates to current cases is examed in a thorough manner.
Leveraging Slack Capacity in IaaS Contract Cloud Services

This paper develops pricing and capacity planning models for a cloud provider taking into account the trade-off between service reliability and capacity utilization. The provider's objectives are to optimally allocate resources, price different types of cloud services, and ultimately extract the maximum revenue from the market. We first analyze two basic types of cloud services: contract and on-demand. We then propose hybrid models in which the two basic services simultaneously exist. For each hybrid model, we determine an optimal capacity planning strategy, optimal reservation fee, optimal per-usage fee, and corresponding service reliability. We conduct experiments to study how optimal solutions change with respect to critical system parameters such as service rate, market size, and service reliability. Our work provides a framework for resource allocation, service provision, and strategic planning in cloud computing practice.
Simple liquid-liquid partition system for isolation of labeled oleic acid from mixtures with glycerides

Oleic acid has a partition coefficient, upper phase/lower phase, of 1.9 (22 degrees C) in the liquid-liquid partition system described herein. Tri-, di-, and monoolein are found almost exclusively in the lower (organic) phase. Oleic acid can be quantitatively removed from mixtures of triglyceride and partial glycerides by means of this partition system under conditions resembling those in a lipase assay.
Sixth Graders Take on Television: Media Literacy and Critical Attitudes of Television Violence The research was supported by a service learning grant from the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of MassachusettsAmherst.

This study outlines the effectiveness of a media literacy curriculum in changing attitudes about media violence through critical discussions and analytical viewing exercises. Ninety-three sixth graders participated in a curriculum focusing on “high-risk” ways of presenting violence in the media. Results of a one-group, pre-test post-test design suggest that participation in the curriculum was associated with an increase in critical attitudes about the topic. Open-ended responses also demonstrated enhanced sophistication in analyzing media violence after the curriculum. The study has potentially important implications for media education and media violence.
We Are All Fishes Now: DiGRA, Feminism, and GamerGate

Following DiGRA 2014, our Fishbowl was used by some members of the GamerGate movement as proof of the “nefarious” dealings within our academic community. Some have asked the question of whether our Fishbowl “The Playful is Political” should have been accepted, given the negative attention on DiGRA it engendered and ongoing ramifications of that attention on the feminist game studies community. In what follows, we argue why our Fishbowl was an important first step in broaching a larger conversation about identity, diversity, and gaming.
A novel approach to determining compute headroom on a server platform

The ability to perform performance and power aware workload placement in the datacenter is vital to optimizing overall operational efficiency of the IT as well as the infrastructure itself. Traditional methods of measuring workload performance such as Operating System (OS) based performance counters do not deliver a consistent picture of the intricate relationship between compute resource consumption and its impact on the power and thermal profile of the compute node. As a result, the traditional methods constitute a barrier to effectively optimizing compute resource consumption in a holistic manner in the datacenter, perpetuating the management silos that exist between Information Systems and the supporting infrastructure, and impacting optimization of the primary cost drivers of a datacenter and the integration of performance sensitive applications. In this paper we present a new metric to correlate compute resource consumption with power to provide insights into the computational efficiency of the node for improved workload placement. We provide the theoretical background, followed by demonstrative examples and data to showcase the efficacy of this new approach. We finally conclude with specific recommendations based on this approach to help data centers achieve resource optimization.
The Effectiveness of a Preventive Recall Strategy in Children Following Dental Rehabilitation Under General Anesthesia

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A PREVENTIVE RECALL STRATEGY IN CHILDREN FOLLOWING DENTAL REHABILITATION UNDER GENERAL ANESTHESIA By Amanda Kerns, DDS A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Dentistry at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2016 Thesis Advisor: Elizabeth Berry, DDS, MPH, MSD Vice Chair, Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatric Dentistry Purpose: This was a prospective randomized controlled trial assessing the impact of a preventive strategy following full-mouth dental rehabilitation (FMDR) in children with early childhood dental caries. Methods: 130 patients completed FMDR and were included in the analysis. Caries risk assessment (CRA), dental exam, and a caregiver oral health knowledge (OHK) questionnaire was completed for each patient. Patients were randomized into two groups; intervention returned at 3 and 6 months and control returned at only 6 months post-surgery. At each recall, CRA and dental exam information was recorded, and at the six month recall, all caregivers completed the OHK questionnaire. Results: Actual recall data showed a statistically significant difference in CRA at six months, with 71.8% of patients in the control and 44.8% of patients in the intervention assessed as high caries risk.
Prenatal Identification of the Fetas at Risk

Efforts to upgrade and intensify neonatal care generally result in improved newborn salvage rates; however, institution of a special type of care directed even earlier to the mother and the fetus prior to delivery may be preventative. Variables influencing placental growth, fetal development, gestational age and birth weight are among the major factors discussed.
Project Planning under Uncertainty Using Scenario Analysis

An important component of risk management relates to project schedule uncertainty. To address this issue, a scenario (i.e., macro-level approach) for modeling and analyzing projects with significan...
Water, Culture, and Gender: An Analysis from Bangladesh

In most of rural Bangladesh, the proliferation of tubewells that pump up groundwater has increased people’s access to drinking water over the last couple of decades. Most of the tubewells found in households, markets, schools, mosques, and other locations are privately owned, although the government has also installed some public tubewells. The government and development agencies heavily promoted these devices as ‘safe’ water sources compared to surface water (e.g., ponds and rivers), which is often chemically and pathogenically contaminated (and frequently led to high morbidity and mortality rates from water-borne diseases). However, the tubewell water that was deemed a public health success story only a few years ago is now poisoning millions of people, as naturally occurring, tasteless, odourless, colourless, carcinogenic arsenic is showing up in drinking water drawn from these wells.
Water-soluble co-polyelectrolytes by selective modification of cellulose esters

Cellulose-based materials are well-suited for biomedical uses, because of their abundance, renewable nature, biodegradability, and relatively low cost. However, the set of commercially available cellulose esters and ethers is limited in number and diversity, and contains no cationically charged cellulose esters. Herein we report a simple, efficient strategy for synthesizing cationic, water-soluble co-polyelectrolytes from commercial, hydrophobic, renewable-based cellulose esters. Cellulose acetate (degree of substitution (DS) 1.78, CA320S), was the exemplary starting material for preparing these cationic polyelectrolytes by a reaction sequence of phosphine-catalyzed bromination and subsequent displacement by an aromatic amine, affording high reaction conversions. We show that these modification techniques can be carried out with essentially complete regio- and chemoselectivity, proceeding in the presence of multiple ester groups, yet preserving those groups. Availability of these novel polysaccharide-based electrolytes starting from uncharged, commercial, inexpensive cellulose esters may open up multiple new application areas, including in several aspects of gene or drug delivery.
Landmark detection with surprise saliency using convolutional neural networks

Landmarks can be used as a reference to enable people or robots to localize themselves or to navigate in their environment. Automatic definition and extraction of appropriate landmarks from the environment has proven to be a challenging task when pre-defined landmarks are not present. We propose a novel computational model of automatic landmark detection from a single image without any pre-defined landmark database. The hypothesis is that if an object looks abnormal due to its atypical scene context (what we call surprise saliency), it then may be considered as a good landmark because it is unique and easy to spot by different viewers (or the same viewer at different times). We leverage state-of-the-art algorithms based on convolutional neural networks to recognize scenes and objects. For each detected object, a surprise saliency score, a fusion of scene and object information, is calculated to determine if it is a good landmark. In order to evaluate the performance of the proposed model, we collected a landmark image dataset which consists of landmark images, as we have defined them with surprise saliency above, and non-landmark images. The experimental results show that our model achieves good performance in automatic landmark detection and automatic landmark image classification.
The Status of Inertial Confined Fusion Research in the US

I thought I would give you essentially a status report of what is happening in inertial confinement fusion (ICF) in the US. First of all, I hope you are all aware that ICF involves the use of a powerful, pulsed driver, with a pulse length that is typically 0.01 ns to 0.1 ns, and driving a very small target (which contains DT fuel) to compressions that are the order of 1000 times liquid density. The driver must do this job with a pulse shaped such that the shocks converge at the target centre, the dissipation of the shock energy heats the core, and the core ignites; the alpha particle range is short compared to the pellet size, allowing the burn to propagate, inertially, through the fuel. The burn-up is typically about a 30%. And that is essentially the physics of how a target should work.
Cutting the Profession’s Gordian Knot: A Call for Evidence-Based Practice in Counseling

ABSTRACTThe expression “cutting a Gordian knot” refers to dealing with an intractable situation with decisive action. The counseling profession needs to take decisive action on the Gordian knot of evidenced-based practice (EBP), yet incorporating EBP while retaining the profession’s core humanistic values is a challenge. Collaborative leadership among practitioners, counselor educators, and students is needed to conduct EBP research for the counseling field. A guide to developing intraprofessional relationships and suggested research approaches are provided.
Forming Judgements and Contributing to Debates: Religion and Contemporary Society

This essay explores the materials, assignments, and approaches of a lower-division introductory undergraduate course, Religion and Contemporary Society . Based on my experiences at the University of Colorado at Boulder, I propose that, with support, sustained engagement with theory enriches more traditional approaches by cultivating critical thinking skills and inviting undergraduate students to learn about and participate in ongoing conversations and debates in the academic study of religion.
New Detections of Metal-Bearing Molecules in IRC+10216: from Chemistry to Nucleosynthesis

The carriers of the metallic elements in interstellar gas are at present uncertain. If these elements exist as atoms, they are likely to be a major contributor to the electron density and the main source of neutralization for complex molecular ions. On the other hand, metals might be condensed onto grains. Certainly there are large depletions of these elements in diffuse gas, but do they apply to dense material as well? Alternatively, the metallic elements could be contained in simple molecules. It has been postulated that these elements should be inert in cold gas, but in actuality, few gas-phase reactions involving metals have been studied experimentally.
Regulation of ionic channels by G proteins.

Signals may flow through membranes by a pathway composed of three elements: receptor, G protein and effector. At present we know of about 80 different receptors, about 15 different G proteins and about 15 different effectors (1,2). The primary structures of noradrenergic, dopamine, 5-hydroxytryptamine and rhodopsin receptors are similar indicating that the receptors form a family (2). The predicted secondary structures have seven membrane spanning a helices with the greatest differences among receptors occurring in the cytoplasmic linkers (3). The G proteins also form a family in which heterogeneity resides largely in the a subunits for which some 15 different cDNAs have been described (4,2). Two to four forms of the β subunit have been described and there are at least three forms of the y subunit (4,2). By contrast, the effectors are quite different from each other and there appears to be no homology among adenylyl cyclase (AC) (4), cGMP phosphodiesterase (PDE) and voltage-dependent ionic channels (5,6), although the predicted secondary structures of AC and voltage-gated channels are similar. Within this group, voltage-gated channels clearly are a family (7).
Smooth Interpolation of Data by Efficient Algorithms

In 1934, Whitney (Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 36:63–89, 1934; Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 36:369–389, 1934; Ann. Math. 35:482–485, 1934) posed several basic questions on smooth extension of functions. Those questions have been answered in the last few years, thanks to the work of Bierstone et al. (Inventiones Math. 151(2):329–352, 2003), Brudnyi and Shvartsman (Int. Math. Res. Notices 3:129–139, 1994; J. Geomet. Anal. 7(4):515–574, 1997), Fefferman (Ann. Math. 161:509–577, 2005; Ann. Math. 164(1):313–359, 2006; Ann. Math. 166(3):779–835, 2007) and Glaeser (J. d’ Analyse Math. 6:1–124, 1958). The solution of Whitney’s problems has led to a new algorithm for interpolation of data, due to Fefferman and Klartag (Ann. Math. 169:315–346, 2009; Rev. Mat. Iberoam. 25:49–273, 2009). The new algorithm is theoretically best possible, but far from practical. We hope it can be modified to apply to practical problems. In this expository chapyer, we briefly review Whitney’s problems, then formulate carefully the problem of interpolation of data. Next, we state the main results of Fefferman and Klartag (Ann. Math. 169:315–346, 2009; Rev. Mat. Iberoam. 25:49–273, 2009) on efficient interpolation. Finally, we present some of the ideas in the proofs.
Fibrosis in distinct tissues.

The collection of articles in this special issue of Connective Tissue Research brings to attention the complexity of fibrosis, the clinical challenges associated with excessive accumulation of fibr...