cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Context of Development for Young Children from Cocaine-Abusing Families

Prolonged cocaine addiction by its very intractable nature defines a way of life, and popular notions about the lifestyle of cocaine abuse have always abounded in stereotypes (Courtwright, 1982; Musto, 1973). One view persisting from the late 19th century portrays the innocent or eccentric but wildly imaginative individual jump-starting his creative slumps with an occasional, absolutely controlled, if not misguided, use of cocaine. Poets, painters, successful businessmen, professors, and physicians may have fallen prey to the temptation from time to time, but at their core they were still contributing members of society. The other, currently more popular, stereotypic extreme is the sinister, dangerous derelict, a thief at the least and murderer at the worst, whose life has been self-destructed by irresponsible cocaine abuse. These are the individuals whom communities abhor, enact laws against, and pursue-they are nameless and isolated outcasts, the criminals, prostitutes, and misfits. Similar negative stereotypes about cocaine use are seen in images of parents who abuse cocaine and in portrayals of children who were exposed to cocaine prenatally. That is, no one abusing cocaine can care for children, and children exposed to cocaine prenatally are universally and irrevocably damaged.
Concepts, Methods, and Theory Building

Space, Time, and Archaeological Landscapes investigates the relationship between the methods and goals of processual archaeology in the 1990s. Processual archaeologists attempt to bring a scientific structure to understanding change in social and economic systems, in the context of theories of adaptation and evolution. The contributors to this volume explore ways to profitably formulate archaeological problems and to link methods with theories in the scientific way associated with the aspirations of processual archaeology. Authors present their research in light of three questions: 1. How can “scientifically compatible” approaches, that is, ones that allow archaeologists to give observations consistent and explicit meanings, be integrated to address the processual questions we bring to the record? 2. Are concepts considered fundamental to archaeology, such as the site, inadequate for a scientific archaeology? If so, what concepts are more compatible with a scientific archaeology? 3. How can scientifically compatible approaches be combined so as to enhance theory building?
Abstract WP281: Post-tPA Care for Acute Stroke Patients; Comparison between Intensive Care Unit Admission and Stroke Unit Admission.

Backgound: The American Stroke Association guidelines for acute stroke indicate that patients receiving tPA can be admitted to an ICU or a stroke unit (SU). Admission to a SU could result in cost s...
On the Omission Errors Due to Limited Grid Size in Geoid Computations

Based on the assumption that the ultra-high frequencies of thes gravity field are produced by the topography variations, we compute the omission errors by using 3 arc-second elevation data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). It is shown that the maximum omission errors to the geoid are in the range of dm, cm and sub-cm level for grid sizes of 5 ′′ , 2 ′′ and 1 ′′ over the contiguous United States (CONUS), respectively. The results suggest that a 1 arc-minute grid size is sufficient for the 1-cm geoid, even for areas with very rough topography. The results also show that the omission errors to gravity are significant even for 1 ′′ grid size, at which the smoothed-out gravity still reaches tens of mGals. The omission errors to gravity at a 5 ′′ grid size peaks above 100 mGals, demonstrating the importance of correction of residual terrain to gravity observations in data gridding or block mean value computations.The results are also compared with those based on Kaula s rule. While the omission errors based on Kaula’s rule are ± 0. 5 and ± 3. 0 cm for 1 ′′ and 5 ′′ grid size, respectively, the RMS values of the omission error in this paper are ± 0. 1 and ± 1. 1 cm. The differences suggest Kaula s rule may overestimate the power of the gravity field at the ultra-high frequency band, which renders the convergence studies of the spherical harmonic series based on Kaula’s rule questionable.
Complex Topologies from Simple Building Blocks: Uranium(IV) Thiophosphates

Six new uranium thiophosphates, Cs5Na6[U(PS4)4](PS4) (1), Rb5Na3[U(PS4)4] (2), CsNa[U(PS4)2] (3), Cs1.67Na0.52I0.19[U(PS4)2] (4), Cs1.033Na1.343I0.376[U(PS4)2] (5), and Rb1.35Na0.93I0.28[U(PS4)2] (6), were obtained from halide flux reactions and characterized using single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The structures of these compounds consist of a pseudotetrahedral uranium unit that in combination with a set of PS4 group coordination modes can result in an isolated [U(PS4)4]8– unit, a [U(PS4)2]2– chain, or a [U(PS4)2]2– slab. Optical and magnetic properties of 3 and 4 were collected. Both compounds exhibit paramagnetic behavior, and CsNa[U(PS4)2] (3) exhibits a magnetic transition at 200–225 K between two paramagnetic states that both have similar effective magnetic moments of 4.13 and 4.19 μB/formula unit, and strong antiferromagnetic interactions with θ = −183 and −172 K, for the high- and low-temperature states, respectively.
A comparison of the Rh = ct and ΛCDM cosmologies using the cosmic distance duality relation

The cosmic distance duality (CDD) relation (based on the Etherington reciprocity theorem) plays a crucial role in a wide assortment of cosmological measurements. Attempts at confirming it observationally have met with mixed results, though the general consensus appears to be that the data do support its existence in nature. A common limitation with past approaches has been their reliance on a specific cosmological model, or on measurements of the luminosity distance to Type Ia SNe, which introduces a dependence on the presumed cosmology in spite of beliefs to the contrary. Confirming that the CDD is actually realized in nature is crucial because its violation would require exotic new physics. In this paper, we study the CDD using the observed angular size of compact quasar cores and a Gaussian Process reconstruction of the H ii galaxy Hubble diagram – without pre-assuming any particular background cosmology. In so doing, we confirm at a very high level of confidence that the angular-diameter and luminosity distances do indeed satisfy the CDD. We then demonstrate the potential power of this result by utilizing it in a comparative test of two competing cosmological models – the R_h = ct universe and ΛCDM – and show that R_h = ct is favoured by the CDD data with a likelihood |${\sim } 82.3{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$| compared with |${\sim } 17.7{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$| for the standard model.
Damage Evolution and Local Strain Redistribution in Composite Laminate with Various Fiber Arrangements

The initiation and gradual development of damage in composites is associated with the degradation of the composite laminate properties. Understanding the characteristics of damage evolution in composite laminates has been one of the major interest in composite studies. There is a lot of progress in this regard, however still there is a lack of clear understanding on how damages are initiated, grown and transformed from one form to another. In this study experiments are conducted to capture the strain localization and cracks formation on the free-edge of composite laminates. Laminates that have a stacking arrangement of (0/−Ɵ/+Ɵ/90)s with plies that have different fiber angles (Ɵ = 15°, 30° and 45°) are manufactured. Coupon samples are made from these laminates and subjected to a uniaxial tension loading until final fracture. Using digital image correlation technique at high magnification, the local deformation field is determined. From the test, it is observed that the strain/stress response of the composite is influenced by the arrangement of the fiber angle of the off-axis plies. From the strain contours obtained on the free-edge, the gradual initiation and growth of matrix cracks is observed to be localized in the 90° plies. In addition, these matrix cracks grow and lead to cause delamination between the 90° plies and neighboring plies. The local strains in each individual ply are seen to fluctuate along with the emergence of cracks at the vicinity of the damage as a result of stress redistribution.
The etiology of DSM-5 alcohol use disorder: Evidence of shared and non-shared additive genetic effects

Abstract Background Alcoholism is a multifactorial disorder influenced by multiple gene loci, each with small effect. Studies suggest shared genetic influences across DSM-IV alcohol dependence symptoms, but shared effects across DSM-5 alcohol use disorder remains unknown. We aimed to test the assumption of genetic homogeneity across the 11 criteria of DSM-5 alcohol use disorder (AUD). Methods Data from 2596 alcohol using individuals of European ancestry from the Study of Addiction: Genetics and Environment were used to examine the genomewide SNP-heritability (h2SNP) and SNP-covariance (rGSNP) between 11 DSM-5 AUD symptoms. Phenotypic relationships between symptoms were examined to confirm an underlying liability of AUD and the SNP-heritability of the observed latent trait and the co-heritabilityamong AUD symptoms was assessed using Genomic-Relatedness-Matrix-Restricted-Maximum-Likelihood. Genetic covariance among symptoms was examined using factor analysis. Results Phenotypic relationships confirmed a unidimensional underlying liability to AUD. Factor and parallel analyses of the observed genetic variance/covariance provided evidence of genetic homogeneity. Additive genetic effects on DSM-5 AUD symptoms varied from 0.10 to 0.37 and largely overlapped (rG-SNP across symptoms ranged from 0.49 - 0.92). The additive genetic effect on the DSM-5 AUD factor was 0.36, 0.14 for DSM-5 AUD diagnosis, and was 0.22 for DSM-5 AUD severity. Conclusions Common genetic variants influence DSM-5 AUD symptoms. Despite evidence for a common AUD factor, the evidence of only partially overlapping genetic effects across AUD symptoms further substantiates the need to simultaneously model common and symptom-specific genetic effects in molecular genetic studies in order to best characterize the genetic liability.
Early‐Motor Phenotype Relates to Neuropsychiatric and Cognitive Disorders in Huntington's Disease

OBJECTIVE To determine the relationships between the motor phenotype and the presence of specific neuropsychiatric and neuropsychological disorders in patients with early motor-manifest Huntington's disease (HD). METHODS From the Enroll-HD study, 3,505 individuals with HD who had ≤5 years of motor symptoms were classified based on the predefined parkinsonism/chorea index into chorea-dominant (n = 1125), parkinsonism-dominant (n = 867), and mixed-motor phenotype (n = 1513) groups. An analysis was performed on the results of the short Problem Behaviors Assessment. This test assesses patients for neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression, irritability/aggression, apathy, obsessive-compulsive behaviors, and psychosis as well as cognitive disorders by using neuropsychological tests such as the Stroop Interference test, Trail Making Test Part A and B, letter fluency, Symbol Digit Modality test, and animal fluency test. RESULTS In these early motor-manifest HD individuals, motor phenotype was associated with neuropsychiatric and cognitive changes. Independent of the age of motor onset, motor duration and severity, CAG repeat expansion, and medication use, the parkinsonism-dominant group had more severe neuropsychiatric disorders (depression, apathy, obsessive-compulsive behaviors, and psychosis) and poorer performance on all cognitive tests than those patients in the mixed-motor phenotype and chorea-dominant groups. The patients in the chorea-dominant group had less apathy and depression than those in the mixed-motor phenotype group. CONCLUSIONS In the early stage of motor-manifest HD, parkinsonism-dominant patients appear to have more severe neuropsychiatric disturbances and more cognitive impairments than those HD patients with chorea-dominant and mixed-motor phenotypes. Future studies should explore the brain mechanisms of these disorders and the possible treatments. © 2020 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.
The Associations Between Multiple Dimensions of Acculturation and Psychological Distress Among Latinx Youth From Immigrant Families

Acculturation includes cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions, but few studies have included all three, and little is known about the ways in which these dimensions interact with contextua...
The Association Between Child Cooking Involvement in Food Preparation and Fruit and Vegetable Intake in a Hispanic Youth Population

Background Cooking interventions have been linked to reductions in obesity and improvements in dietary intake in children. Objective To assess whether child cooking involvement (CCI) was associated with fruit intake (FI), vegetable intake (VI), vegetable preference (VP), and vegetable exposure (VE) in children participating in the Texas, Grow! Eat! Go! (TGEG) randomized controlled trial. Methods Baseline data from TGEG included 1231 3rd grade students and their parents. Conducted in 28 low-income, primarily Hispanic schools across Texas, TGEG schools were assigned to: 1) Coordinated School Health (CSH) only (control group), 2) CSH plus gardening and nutrition intervention (Learn, Grow, Eat & Go! or LGEG group), 3) CSH plus physical activity intervention (Walk Across Texas or WAT group), and 4) CSH plus LGEG plus WAT (combined group). Height, weight, dietary intake, VE, VP, and CCI were collected at baseline and postintervention. Linear regressions were used to assess the relation between baseline CCI and fruit and vegetable (FV) intake, VE, and VP. A priori covariates included age, sex, race/ethnicity, and TGEG treatment group. Results Children who were always involved in family cooking had higher VP and VE when compared with children who were never involved in family cooking (β = 3.26; 95% CI: 1.67, 4.86; P < 0.01 and β = 2.26; 95% CI: 0.67, 3.85; P < 0.01, respectively). Both VI and FI were higher for children who were always involved in family cooking compared with children who never cooked with their family (β = 2.45; 95% CI: 1.47, 3.44; P < 0.01 and β = 0.93; 95% CI: 0.48, 1.39; P < 0.01, respectively). VI and fruit consumption were higher for children who reported being sometimes involved in family cooking compared with children who were never involved in family cooking, (β = 1.47; 95% CI: 0.51, 2.42; P < 0.01, and β = 0.64; 95% CI: 0.20, 1.08; P < 0.01, respectively). Conclusions Results show a positive relation between family cooking and FV intake and preference in high-risk, minority children.
Partnership Across Transitions to Improve Outcomes in the Lower Extremity Total Joint Population.

BACKGROUND With the urgency related to improving quality and creating efficiency in healthcare, partnership is emerging as a critical concept related to transitions of care. PURPOSE This quality improvement project included facilitation of hospital partnership with skilled nursing facilities to improve outcomes associated with the lower extremity total joint arthroplasty population. METHODS The clinical nurse specialist (CNS) utilized a standardized framework to implement partnership strategies with multidisciplinary teams. Outcomes were monitored for the 2 quarters of partnership activities. RESULTS All recommendations for developing a partnership model were facilitated within the project timeline. Patient experience and quality measures remained at, or improved, from baseline and met all strategic targets. Efficiency through episode payment demonstrated improvement at each interval during the study period. Analysis revealed a significant (p < .05) reduction in the mean hospital length of stay. CONCLUSION The CNS practice outcomes suggest that the use of structured partnership strategies between agencies improves efficiency of care and accelerates rapid spread of innovation.
Cyclin A2 is essential for mouse gonocyte maturation.

In mammals, male gonocytes are derived from primordial germ cells during embryogenesis, enter a period of mitotic proliferation, and then become quiescent until birth. After birth, the gonocytes pr...
Explorer51 – Indoor Mapping, Discovery, and Navigation for an Autonomous Mobile Robot

The nexus of robotics, autonomous systems, and artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to change the nature of human guided exploration of indoor and outdoor spaces. Such autonomous mobile robots can be incorporated into a variety of applications, ranging from logistics and maintenance, to intelligence gathering, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR). One such example is that of a tele-operator using the robot to generate a map of the inside of a building while discovering and tagging the objects of interest. During this process, the tele-operator can also assign an area for the robot to navigate autonomously or return to a previously marked area/object of interest. Search and rescue and ISR abilities could be immensely improved with such capabilities. The goal of this research is to prototype and demonstrate the above autonomous capabilities in a mobile ground robot called Explorer51. Objectives include: (i) enabling an operator to drive the robot non-line of sight to explore a space by incorporating a first-person view (FPV) system to stream data from the robot to the base station; (ii) implementing automatic collision avoidance to prevent the operator from running the robot into obstacles; (iii) creating and saving 2D and 3D maps of the space in real time by using a 2D laser scanner, tracking, and depth/RGB cameras; (iv) locating and tagging objects of interest as waypoints within the map; (v) autonomously navigate within the map to reach a chosen waypoint.To accomplish these goals, we are using the AION Robotics R1 Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) rover as the platform for Explorer51 to demonstrate the autonomous features. The rover runs the Robot Operating System (ROS) onboard an NVIDIA Jetson TX2 board, connected to a Pixhawk controller. Sensors include a 2D scanning LiDAR, depth camera, tracking camera, and an IMU. Using existing ROS packages such as Cartographer and TEB planner, we plan to implement ROS nodes for accomplishing these tasks. We plan to extend the mapping ability of the rover using Visual Inertial Odometry (VIO) using the cameras. In addition, we will explore the implementation of additional features such as autonomous target identification, waypoint marking, collision avoidance, and iterative trajectory optimization. The project will culminate in a series of demonstrations to showcase the autonomous navigation, and tele-operation abilities of the robot. Success will be evaluated based on ease of use by the tele-operator, collision avoidance ability, autonomous waypoint navigation accuracy, and robust map creation at high driving speeds.
P154 Impact of Cooking Classes on Students’ Knowledge and Ability to Make Culinary Recommendations for Low-Phe Diets

Background Nutrition students receive traditional theoretical instruction in Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT) concepts. Integrating culinary instruction into academic coursework has been shown to improve medical students’ ability to counsel patients on nutrition-related topics. Little is known on the impact of culinary nutrition for nutrition students. Objective This pilot study examines the impact of a hands-on cooking module on nutrition students’ knowledge of low-phenylalanine (Phe) foods and their ability to make appropriate culinary recommendations to adapt recipes for low-Phe diets. Study Design, Setting, Participants Using quasi-experimental design with a non-probability, purposive sampling technique, students (n = 10) were recruited from advanced MNT classes at San Jose State University and randomly assigned to either control or treatment group. All students received a lecture on PKU and low-Phe diet principles. Following the lecture, the intervention group received a 1-hour culinary module related to the low-Phe diet. A 49-question survey was administered at 3 time points (Pre, post, and 6-week follow-up) with a 100% response rate testing student's knowledge of Phe-containing foods and techniques for adapting standard recipes. Measurable Outcome/Analysis Data was indexed (Knowledge, Cooking Habits, Cooking Confidence, and Application Confidence) and descriptive statistics reported as means compared pre-, post-, and follow-up scores using SPSS version 25. Results The treatment group's mean knowledge of low-Phe foods doubled from 14 (SD = 6.24) to 27.2 (SD = 2.77) from pretest to post-test. The treatment group recipe modification mean test score improved from 4.8/10 (SD = 2.38) questions correct to 6.6/10 (SD = 1.14) after intervention while decreasing for the control group. Conclusions Positive trends indicate improvement in knowledge of low-Phe foods and in participants’ ability to make culinary recommendations for low-Phe recipes. Culinary nutrition may be a beneficial addition to nutrition coursework warranting future investigation with a larger population and a longer cooking module.
Having a Usual Source of Care Is Associated with Longer Telomere Length in a National Sample of Older Adults.

Objective: To provide a potential biological, mechanistic link for the well-established association between primary care access and reduced mortality, this study sought to measure the impact of having a usual source of health care on leukocyte telomere length (LTL). Data Sources: Our study population included 3202 participants aged 50 to 84 years from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999 to 2001. Study Design: Cross-sectional Study. LTLs between people with and without a usual source of care were compared using unadjusted and adjusted linear regression models. Fully adjusted models accounted for demographic characteristics, health conditions, and health behaviors. Principal Findings: After controlling for individual factors, health conditions, and health behaviors, people who had a usual source of health care had significantly longer LTL (β = 89.8 base pairs, P-value = .005) compared with those without a usual source of care; corresponding to approximately 7 years of life. Conclusions: Having a usual source of health care is associated with longer LTL among older adults. This study provides a potential biologic link for the noted association between primary care access and reduced mortality that has been observed at the individual and population level.
Decomposing Income Inequality in the United States, 1962-2018

Income inequality in the United States has been on the rise. To understand why, we use several complementary techniques to decompose total income inequality into components attributable to five personal traits: sex, race, education, occupation, and industry of work. By examining how income differences along these traits add to net inequality, and how their contributions have changed over time, we vet competing hypothesis for the growing earnings gap. Our findings suggest that changes in human capital accumulation, in particular, the returns to education, drove much of the recently observed changes.
Recent Analyses and Current Proposals for Sustainable Global Power Production

In this chapter the results of analyses by a number of authors are summarized, ranging from quite pessimistic assessments of the potential for rapid renewable power generation to a proposal for complete transition to emission-free power production by Jacobson and associates.
Classification of round lesions in dual-energy FFDM using a convolutional neural network: simulation study

The presence of round cystic and solid mass lesions identified at mammogram screenings account for a large number of recalls. These recalls can cause undue patient anxiety and increased healthcare costs. Since cystic masses are nearly always benign, accurate classification of these lesions would be allow a significant reduction in recalls. This classification is very difficult using conventional mammogram screening data, but this study explores the possibility of performing the task on dual-energy full field digital mammography (FFDM) data. Since clinical data of this type is not readily available, realistic simulated data with different sources of variation are used. With this data, a deep convolutional neural network (CNN) was trained and evaluated. It achieved an AUC of 0.980 and 42% specificity at the 99% sensitivity level. These promising results should motivate further development of such imaging systems.
Uncertain Accomodative Policies as Tools for Financial Stability

Uncertainty has been a prominent feature and characteristic recently. Not just in relation to Brexit, ongoing trade wars, and namely global financial markets and volatilities triggered owing to unpredictabilities, but also in matters relating to monetary and unconventional policies. Price stability being a major component of the dual mandates of many leading economies and arguably and probably more important than its other component, namely, maximum employment. In recent times, it is becoming more evident that the central role assumed by inflation as a monetary policy instrument is gradually being eroded by the need for accomodative non conventional monetary policy instruments in the form of government asset purchasing programs or quantitative easing. This was reflected by the European Central Bank's instigated program of purchases of government bonds and more particularly its expanded asset purchase program in January 2015. The need for accomodative monetary policies and namely, unconventional monetary policies is cited as being crucial to fulfilling the ECB's stability mandate. In the ECB's President's words "without new unconventional measures, the ECB would not be able to fulfill its stability mandate." As well as highlighting why unconventional and conventional monetary policies have been propagated as being essential to achieving the dual mandates and goals of leading central bank economies. Drawing from lessons whereby accomodative monetary policies have been instigated as a means of addressing prolonged periods of low inflation, this chapter highlights how such experiences can also be used to bolster the proposition that "since monetary policy space is limited, and since many of the challenges faced are beyond mandates of central banks, these should be addressed through structural and fiscal policies." In this respect, this chapter also draws into perspective, the importance of central bank independence and repercussions of adopting unconventional and conventional monetary policies for facilitating the dual mandates of price stability and maximum employment. More importantly, it also proposes safeguards aimed at ensuring that whilst unconventional monetary policies are being resorted to, the all important objectives of monetary policy and financial regulation, are not undermined.
Atmospheric quenching of vibrationally excited O2/1 Delta/

The paper presents photolysis absorption spectroscopy experimental results which show rapid vibrational quenching of O2(1 Delta, v not less than 1) molecular oxygen fragments in an atmospheric environment. The reactions of this species were determined by flash photolysis of ozone in the Hartley band combined with absorption spectroscopic detection of O2(1 Delta v equals 0) fragments and resonance fluorescence detection of O(3P). It was shown that rapid vibrational deactivation occurs under atmospheric conditions; in addition, an upper limit was determined for the photolytic channel of the O(1D) + O3 yields O2(1 Sigma) reaction.
Abundance Determinations for Interstellar Gas

The results of general abundance studies, using the Copernicus satellite are reviewed. The general pattern of depletion of some elements such as Si, Al, Mn, Fe, and Mg, near the Sun is described. Techniques for obtaining abundances for various species are discussed, as are the aspects of the analysis which are uncertain. Variations in gas phase abundance from region to region are found for Fe and Si, similar to variations now known to exist for Ca and Ti based on visible spectra. A new generation of space instruments, with higher efficiency and resolution, in particular for 920 A < λ < 1400 A, can provide detailed interstellar line profiles, thus putting abundance determinations based on equivalent widths on a more firm footing, and yield more detailed information reflecting the make up and binding energies of interstellar dust particles as well as regional changes in the products of nucleonsynthesis. The most important wavelengths and techniques relevant to these future studies are tabulated and discussed.
Smart Phone Applications in Clinical Practice

Smart phone usage has greatly increased in recent years. Not only has the computing power of these mobile devices dramatically improved but so has the variety of functions they can accomplish—an amazing array of tasks that once would have been considered remarkable. Historically, mental health professionals have been quick to embrace smart phone technology and there are now literally hundreds of applications for practitioners and clients alike. This article discusses the advantages and disadvantages of using smart phone technology in clinical practice and considers the implications for the future of clinical practice.
β-Adrenergic stimulation and rapid pacing mutually promote heterogeneous electrical failure and ventricular fibrillation in the globally ischemic heart

Global ischemia, catecholamine surge, and rapid heart rhythm (RHR) due to ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation (VF) are the three major factors of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). Loss o...
The scalar curvature equation on 2- and 3-spheres

In this article we obtain a priori estimates for solutions to the prescribed scalar curvature equation on 2- and 3-spheres under a nondegeneracy assumption on the curvature function. Using this estimate, we use the continuity method to demonstrate the existence of solutions to this equation when a map associated to the given curvature function has non-zero degree.
Detection, Treatment, and Prevention of Clostridium difficile Infection

Clostridium difficile is a gram-positive anaerobic bacillus responsible for approximately 1 of 5 cases of antibiotic-associated diarrhea. C difficile infection (CDI) is defined by at least 3 unformed stools in a 24-hour period and stool, endoscopic, or histopathologic test results that indicate the presence of this bacteria. The history of CDI research can be divided into early (before 2000) and modern eras (after 2000). C difficile was first described in 1935, and the characteristics and causes of CDI as well as therapies were identified during the early era of research. During the modern era, CDI has become a more common, aggressive nosocomial infection. Our understanding of the epidemiology, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of CDI has increased at a rapid pace. We review features of CDI diagnosis, treatment, and prevention.
Convergence, Oscillations, and Chaos in a Discrete Model of Combat

A piecewise smooth mapping of the three-dimensional Euclidean space is derived from a discrete-time model of combat. The mathematical analysis of this mapping focuses on the effects of discontinuity caused by the defender's withdrawal strategy---a prime component of the original model. Both the asymptotics and the transient behavior are discussed, and all the behavior types noted in the title are established as possible outcomes.
What kind of renewal?: How Labour can rebuild

If the Labour Party is to limit its time in opposition to the next five years, it must be clear about what went wrong and rebuild its vision, movement, and policy platform. Will Straw analyses the party's defeat and considers what shape its renewal should take.
An acid catalyzed step in the catalytic reduction of NO x to N2

Contact of adsorbed ammonium nitrite, NH4NO2, with HCl vapor or a solid acid such as the zeolite HY, significantly lowers the temperature of its decomposition to N2 + H2O. Protonated NH4NO2 decomposes at room temperature. The decomposition of ammonium nitrite is one of the steps in the catalytic reduction of NO x with ammonia or other reductants.
982-69 Referral to Coronary Angiography After Stress Testing: Are There Any Gender Differences in a Population Based Setting?

Previous studies reported conflicting results on gender bias in the referral to coronary angiography after exercise stress testing. Tertiary care center settings and lack of control for comorbidity may contribute to this discrepancy. Referral to angiography was examined in a population based cohort of 413 men and 191 women who had a first stress test in 1987 in Olmsted County MN. At study entry, women were older (55 ± 17 years vs 48 ± 14 years old for men) and more likely to have typical angina (38% vs 29% of men), hypertension (37% vs 30% of men), or a family history of coronary artery disease (72% vs 59% of men) (p l 0.05). The exercise test was more frequently positive in women (19%) than in men (12%) (p = 0.023). There was no gender difference in absolute percentages of referral to angiography: 18% in women and 17% in men (p = 0.80). After adjustment, time to angiography was independently related to: Relative Risk 95% CI P value Positive test 5.5 3.6 to 8.3 0.0001 Symptoms 2.7 1.5 to 4.9 0.0009 Hypertension 1.7 1.15 to 2.56 0.0084 Smoking 1.6 1.1 to 2.4 0.0157 Diabetes 4.2 2.3 to 7.8 0.0001 The risk of angiography was similar between men and women except in asymptomatic patients in whom women were less likely to be referred to angiography (RR 0.17,95% CI 0.02 to 1.27, P = 0.0833). Conclusion No influence of gender on referral to angiography was seen in this population based cohort except in asymptomatic women. Whether this represents under utilization of angiography in women or over utilization in men needs to be further studied.
Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes in Patients with Mismatched Filling Pressures in Advanced Heart Failure: Looking beyond the JVP

Purpose Right atrial (RA) and pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP) are concordant in the majority of heart failure (HF) patients, allowing estimation of volume status by jugular venous pressure (JVP). Pts with discordant filling pressures have been identified while undergoing transplant evaluation. However, the incidence and outcomes of discordant filling pressures have not been evaluated in pts with chronic advanced HF. Methods and Materials The MEDAMACS screening pilot was a multicenter, prospective, observational study of pts with advanced systolic HF, including 116 pts who underwent right heart catheterization (RHC) within 6 months of enrollment. Three strata were defined: 1. Matched high (MH, RA≥11mmHg +PCWP≥20mmHg) 2. Matched low (ML, RA≤10 mmHg+PCWP≤19mmHg) or 3. Mismatched (MM i.e. RA≤10 mmHg+PCWP≥20mmHg). Pts were assessed for outcomes of death, initiation of inotropes, mechanical circulatory support, or transplant. Results Of the 116 pts in this analysis, 25%, 47%, and 28% pts were in the ML, MH and MM groups respectively. 49 events were recorded by 6 months. The majority of pts with in the MM group had low RA pressure and high PCWP. There were no differences between the 3 groups in baseline demographics, HF etiology, EF, or NYHA class. The MH and MM groups included fewer pts tolerating ACE-inhibitors (ML 76%, MH 50%, MM 58%, p=0.07), and mean Cr was higher in the MM group (ML 1.3 mmol/L, MH 1.6mmol/L, MM 1.8mmol/L, p= 0.02). Six-month event free survival was 75%, 67% and 55% for the ML, MH and MM groups respectively (p=0.249). Conclusions Discordant filling pressures were found in 28% of advanced HF patients on medical therapy and were associated with impaired renal function and lower tolerance of neurohormonal antagonists. Despite limited evidence of congestion by JVP assessment, event rates are high for pts with discordant filling pressures, affirming a role for selective use of invasive hemodynamic assessment in this population.
Computerized Heavy-Ion Tomography

Several techniques for heavy-ion computerized tomography are being investigated at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. Using beams of carbon and neon from the Bevalac, we have demonstrated that these methods are feasible and capable of high resolution. We describe in some detail the method of heavy-ion CT imaging using nuclear track detectors, including a discussion of procedures for optical scanning and digitization of data and computerized distortion corrections. Comparisons between a heavy-ion CT image and X-ray CT image of a simple phantom are discussed. Preliminary results from two techniques using active, online detector systems for performing heavy-ion computerized tomography are presented. One method uses a multiplane, multiwire ionization chamber for detecting the heavy ions in a mode allowing true three-dimensional reconstructions. The other technique uses a system of position-sensitive silicon solid-state detectors for spacial information and high-purity germanium detectors to measure accurately the residual energy of the ions.
Mapping applications with collectives over sub-communicators on torus networks

The placement of tasks in a parallel application on specific nodes of a supercomputer can significantly impact performance. Traditionally, this task mapping has focused on reducing the distance between communicating tasks on the physical network. This minimizes the number of hops that point-to-point messages travel and thus reduces link sharing between messages and contention. However, for applications that use collectives over sub-communicators, this heuristic may not be optimal. Many collectives can benefit from an increase in bandwidth even at the cost of an increase in hop count, especially when sending large messages. For example, placing communicating tasks in a cube configuration rather than a plane or a line on a torus network increases the number of possible paths messages might take. This increases the available bandwidth which can lead to significant performance gains. We have developed Rubik, a tool that provides a simple and intuitive interface to create a wide variety of mappings for structured communication patterns. Rubik supports a number of elementary operations such as splits, tilts, or shifts, that can be combined into a large number of unique patterns. Each operation can be applied to disjoint groups of processes involved in collectives to increase the effective bandwidth. We demonstrate the use of Rubik for improving performance of two parallel codes, pF3D and Qbox, which use collectives over sub-communicators.
Incidental and intentional visual memory: What memories are and are not affected by encoding tasks?

Prior research into the impact of encoding tasks on visual memory (Castelhano & Henderson, 2005) indicated that incidental and intentional encoding tasks led to similar memory performance. The current study investigated whether different encoding tasks impacted visual memories equally for all types of objects in a conjunction search (e.g., targets, colour distractors, object category distractors, or distractors unrelated to the target). In sequences of pictures, participants searched for prespecified targets (e.g., green apple; Experiment 1), memorized all objects (Experiment 2), searched for specified targets while memorizing all objects (Experiment 3), searched for postidentified targets (Experiment 4), or memorized all objects with one object prespecified (Experiment 5). Encoding task significantly improved visual memory for targets and led to worse memory for unrelated distractors, but did not influence visual memory of distractors that were related to the target's colour or object category. The diffe...
Fetal transplantation following spinal contusion injury results in chronic alterations in CNS glucose metabolism.

Abstract Glucose utilization of the injured rat spinal cord was determined using the autoradiographic technique of Sokoloff et al. (33). Animals were analyzed chronically (2 and 3 months) after spinal contusion injury alone or when a spinal lesion was followed by subchronic (10 day) intraparenchymal fetal spinal transplantation. At 2 and 3 months postinjury, spinal glucose utilization was reduced in dorsal gray and white matter above and below the lesion site. In addition, sensory regions of the forebrain and brain stem (e.g., nucleus gracilis and ventral posterior medial nucleus of the thalamus) had a lower basal metabolic rate than control animals. Decreased metabolic rates in supraspinal regions were reversed by the presence of a spinal graft at 3 but not at 2 months postinjury. Furthermore, gray matter in animals receiving an intraspinal transplant had elevated glucose utilization rates for several spinal segments rostral and caudal to the lesion epicenter. Graft glucose utilization was higher at 2 months (80-90 μmol/100 g/min) than at 3 months (60-70 μmol/100 g/min) posttransplantation. These data are the first quantitative metabolic imaging of spinal and brain metabolism following spinal contusion injury and fetal transplantation. The study suggests that intraspinal transplants can become functionally integrated with adjacent host gray matter and can chronically alter specific postinjury metabolic patterns.
Soil carbohydrates in aggrading and degrading agroecosystems: influences of fungi and aggregates

Abstract Differences in soil organic carbon, nitrogen and carbohydrates as a result of different tillage practices under continuous cropping were studied in a 12 year old sorghum/rye rotation experiment in the Georgia piedmont. Soil organic C and N concentrations in an aggrading agroecosystem (no-tillage, NT) were significantly higher than in a degrading agroecosystem (conventional tillage, CT) at all dates. Soil carbohydrates followed a pattern similar to total organic C. Carbohydrate concentrations in macroaggregates (>250 μm) from NT surface soils were significantly higher than in microaggregates ( 2000 μm aggregates contained the lowest total organic C concentration. A significantly higher mannose to xylose ratio in microaggregates than in macroaggregates suggested that organic matter (OM) in microaggregates was strongly metabolized by soil microorganisms, but OM in macroaggregates was much less processed. The inhibition of fungi by the fungicide captan significantly reduced the concentrations of soil C and acid-hydrolyzable carbohydrates in NT soils but not in CT soils, indicating that fungi play a more significant role in organic C retention in the NT system than in the CT system.
Electrostatic forces in some hapten-antibody reactions.

THERE is considerable interest in explaining the high specificity characterizing many of the reactions between biomolecules, in terms of interaction forces1–3.
A network-inclusive, optimization-based approach to power system flexibility evaluation

The central task of power system planners is to design and implement a power system with sufficient electricity supply to meet the load at all times and that of their operator counterparts is to deploy the available supply to meet changes in the load and ensure supply matches the load around-the-clock. Power system flexibility-the ability of the resources in the system to respond to the variability and uncertainty of the load-enables planners and operators to manage load and supply uncertainty to achieve the supply-demand balance. A surge in wind and solar development over the past decade has begun to shift the focus from meeting the load to meeting the net load-the load minus the output of wind and solar generators. The net load generally exhibits higher variability and uncertainty than the load alone. With deepening wind and solar penetrations, there is an acute and growing need to evaluate system-wide flexibility to ensure sufficient supply is in place and online so that the additional variability and uncertainty associated with the net load can be effectively managed and the net load reliably and economically met. In this paper we introduce a general methodology for evaluating system-wide flexibility that takes into account supply-and demand-side sources of flexibility and includes network impacts. Furthermore, we describe how this methodology can be applied to give planners and operators a tool to assess the risk of insufficient flexibility.
Detecting Topological Order in a Ground State Wave Function

A large class of topological orders can be understood and classified using the string-net condensation picture. These topological orders can be characterized by a set of data $(N,{d}_{i},{F}_{lmn}^{ijk},{\ensuremath{\delta}}_{ijk})$. We describe a way to detect this kind of topological order using only the ground state wave function. The method involves computing a quantity called the ``topological entropy'' which directly measures the total quantum dimension $D=\ensuremath{\sum}_{i}{d}_{i}^{2}$.
Enhancing teaching excellence through a scientist-science teacher collaborative process

(1993). Enhancing teaching excellence through a scientist-science teacher collaborative process. Journal of Science Teacher Education: Vol. 4, No. 4, pp. 129-136.
Spectrophotometric estimation of protein concentration in the presence of tryptophan modified by 2-hydroxy-5-nitrobenzyl bromide

Abstract A spectrophotometric method makes it possible to determine the concentration of a protein after covalent modification of tryptophan residues by 2-hydroxy-5-nitrobenzyl bromide. Molar absorption coefficients for the 2-hydroxy-5-nitrobenzyl chromophore, reported here in the pH range from 4.0 to 10.9, can be used to correct the protein absorbance values at 280 nm, which then provides the basis for calculating protein concentration in the usual way. The method was tested with α-lactalbumin, β-lactoglobulin, pepsin, and soybean trypsin inhibitor; spectrophotometrically estimated concentrations of these proteins agreed closely with values obtained by amino acid analysis.
Dependence of Thermal Properties on the Copolymer Sequence in Diacetylene-Containing Polycarboranylenesiloxanes

Diacetylene-containing polycarboranylenesiloxane copolymers were prepared by two different methods to yield either alternating or block copolymers with respect to the diacetylene distribution along the backbone. With each method, a set of copolymers was prepared with trisiloxane:carborane:diacetylene molar ratios of 10:9:1, 5:4:1, and 3:2:1. Both sets of copolymers yielded networks upon thermal curing. Even though the two methods produced materials of comparable molecular weights and overall compositions, the variation in the copolymer sequence caused noticeable differences in the calorimetric glass transitions for the copolymers in which the diacetylene group was most concentrated (i.e., the 3:2:1 and 5:4:1 copolymers). The copolymers were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis, and 1H solid-state NMR spectroscopy.