cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Parents' perceptions of their child's emotional illness and psychiatric treatment needs.

PROBLEM The purpose of this study was to describe how parents define their child's emotional illness and psychiatric treatment needs. SUBJECTS The sample consisted of 19 parents and one grandparent (N = 20) who had recently admitted their child to a short-term psychiatric unit. METHODS Qualitative methods, utilizing a semistructured interview. Data were analyzed using the constant comparative method. Substantive codes were combined to derive the key concepts and themes in the interviews. FINDINGS The findings of this study center on themes related to parents' efforts to control the current behavioral crisis, treatment acceptability, family needs, explanatory formulations, and securing the child's future. CONCLUSIONS Implications for treatment include how nurses might tap into parents' perceptions to facilitate parent' professional communication.
Lipopolysaccharide-binding protein and bactericidal/permeability-increasing factor during hemodialysis: clinical determinants and role of different membranes.

The host response to the presence of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is complex and varied. Two closely related endogenous serum proteins, LPS-binding protein (LBP) and bactericidal/permeability-increasing factor (BPI), regulate delivery of LPS to CD14 antigen on effector cell surfaces and modulate the host response to LPS. In the study presented here, plasma levels of LBP and BPI were measured, predialysis, 15 min into dialysis and postdialysis in patients dialyzed with cellulose, cellulose-tri-acetate (CTA), and polysulfone dialyzers. Further, the association between LBP levels and BPI release during hemodialysis and clinical and laboratory characteristics of patients, complement activation represented by plasma C3a levels, and monocyte cytokine production represented by interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) synthesis was also studied. Predialysis plasma levels of LBP were 14,459 +/- 544, 13,889 +/- 1362 and 12,622 +/- 6305 ng/mL, respectively, with cellulose, CTA, and polysulfone dialyzers, and postdialysis levels were 17,834 +/- 861, 20,979 +/- 8485 and 18,177 +/- 1656 ng/mL, respectively. Postdialysis plasma levels of LBP were consistently higher than predialysis levels with all three dialyzers (P
Dell Computer: Business to Business Over the Web in 2001

Dell Computer (UVA-C-2144) describes the Dell business model and its adaptation to the Web in detail. This second case provides an update through March 2001 and contains a summary of some of the company's more important events since the first case was written.
Bisulfite Degrades Aflatoxin: Effect of Temperature and Concentration of Bisulfite.

Bisulfite reacted with aflatoxin B1 and G1 resulting in their loss of fluorescence. The reaction was first order with rate depending on bisulfite (or the bisulfite and sulfite) concentration(s). Aflatoxin G1 reacted more rapidly with bisulfite than did aflatoxin B1. In the presence of 0.035 M potassium acid phthalate-NaOH buffer (pH 5.5) plus 1.3% (vol/vol) methanol at 25 C, the reaction rate constant for degradation of aflatoxin G1 was 2.23 × 10-2h- and that for aflatoxin B1 was 1.87 × 10-2h- when 50 ml of reaction mixture contained 1.60 g of K2SO3. Besides bisulfite concentrations, temperature influenced reaction rates. The Q10 for the bisulfite-aflatoxin reaction was approximately 2 while activation energies for degrading aflatoxin B1 and aflatoxin G1 were 13.1 and 12.6 kcal/mole, respectively. Data suggest that treating foods with 50 to 500 ppm SO2 probably would not effectively degrade appreciable amounts of aflatoxin. Treating foods with 2000 ppm SO2 or more and increasing the temperature might reduce aflatoxin to an acceptable level.
Evaluation of Dermal Myelinated Fibers in Diabetic Polyneuropathy (IN1-1.002)

Objective: We hypothesize that patients with diabetic polyneuropathy (DPN) will have evidence of demyelination in dermal myelinated fibers compared to healthy controls. Background Glabrous skin is enriched with myelinated fibers due to vertically oriented intrapapillary myelinated fiber endings (IME) to mechanoreceptors, the most common being Meissner corpuscles (MC). Therefore, biopsy of glabrous skin affords a minimally invasive method to investigate myelinated nerves. Design/Methods: Eight diabetic patients (3 with type 1, 5 with type 2) and six healthy age matched controls with mean age 55 vs. 51 were evaluated with clinical examination, the Michigan Diabetic Neuropathy Score (MDNS), nerve conduction studies (NCS), autonomic testing, and the Michigan Neuropathy Screening Instrument (MNSI). Immunohistochemistry was performed on 2 and 3 mm skin punches from the lateral index finger and distal leg, respectively. Results were analyzed with Kruskal Wallis or Wilcoxan Rank Sum test. Results: Peroneal motor conduction velocity, amplitude, composite autonomic severity score, MDNS and MNSI were significantly different in diabetic patients (p=0.04 to Conclusions: In conclusion, abnormalities in dermal myelinated fibers and mechanoreceptors are observed in DPN patients compared to controls. Further studies of dermal myelinated fibers may be helpful in elucidating the mechanism of demyelination in DPN. Supported by: NINDS K23 NS056009 to A.C. P., NINDS R01 R01NS066927-01 to J.L., Vanderbilt Diabetic Research Training Center, and Vanderbilt CTSA grant 1 UL1 RR024975. Disclosure: Dr. Myers has nothing to disclose. Dr. Li has nothing to disclose. Dr. Artibee has nothing to disclose. Dr. Peltier has nothing to disclose.
Oxidative Stability and Initial Decomposition Reactions of Carbonate, Sulfone, and Alkyl Phosphate-Based Electrolytes

The oxidative stability and initial oxidation-induced decomposition reactions of common electrolyte solvents for batteries and electrical double layer capacitors were investigated using quantum chemistry (QC) calculations. The investigated electrolytes consisted of linear (DMC, EMC) and cyclic carbonate (EC, PC, VC), sulfone (TMS), sulfonate, and alkyl phosphate solvents paired with BF4–, PF6–, bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide (FSI–), difluoro-(oxalato)borate (DFOB–), dicyanotriazolate (DCTA–), and B(CN)4– anions. Most QC calculations were performed using the M05-2X, LC-ωPBE density functional and compared with the G4MP2 results where feasible. The calculated oxidation potentials were compared with previous and new experimental data. The intrinsic oxidation potential of most solvent molecules was found to be higher than experimental values for electrolytes even after the solvation contribution was included in the QC calculations via a polarized continuum model. The presence of BF4–, PF6–, B(CN)4–, and FSI– anions...
Amines as Potential Synergists for Ethoxyquin in Dehydrated Alfalfa

Abstract THOMPSON (1950) and Bickoff et al. (1954) showed that ethoxyquin (6-ethoxy-2,2,4-trimethyl-l,2-dihydroquino-line, EQ) is an effective antioxidant for protecting β-carotene in dehydrated alfalfa (Medicago saliva). Since it had been demonstrated (Olcott and Kuta, 1959; Olcott, 1962) that alkylamines act as effective synergists for ethoxyquin in purified fat systems, it appeared of interest to determine whether alkylamines might also be useful as additives for dehydrated alfalfa. β-carotene was determined by the method of Thompson and Bickoff (1951). Antioxidants and antioxidant mixtures were added as follows: 7 μ M of each antioxidant with or without 100 μ M of amine was dissolved in 10 ml. of 30 percent acetone-petroleum ether. This solution was added to 10 grams of dried alfalfa meal, and the mixture was stirred with a glass-rod in the dark until the solvent had evaporated. Two gram samples were then transferred to screw-top bottles in a draft oven at 50°C. (122°F.)…
77 EFFICACY OF AZALANSTAT IN INHIBITING HEME OXYGENASE ACTIVITY IN NEWBORN MICE.

Heme oxygenase (HO) catalyzes the degradation of heme to produce bilirubin. Because excess bilirubin production can lead to the development of jaundice, use of HO-inhibiting drugs, such as metalloporphyrin analogs of heme, may be a promising treatment strategy for the prevention of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia. We and our collaborators reported that imidazole dioxolanes also can inhibit in vitro HO activity with selectivity for the inducible HO-1 isozyme and do not affect NOS or sGC, in contrast to metalloporphyrins. The objective of this study was to investigate the efficacy of the imidazole dioxolane Azalanstat (AZA) toward inhibiting in vivo HO enzyme activity in newborn mice. AZA (500 μmol/kg) or vehicle (7.9% cyclodextran) was administered to 7-day-old FVB mice via intraperitoneal injections. At 0.25, 0.5, 2, 3, and 24 hours after administration, mice were sacrificed and liver, spleen, and brain harvested. Tissues were then sonicated in buffer. HO activity was quantitated by gas chromatography and calculated as pmoles of carbon monoxide (CO) produced/h/mg fresh weight. Percent inhibition (mean ± SD) of tissue HO activity from treated versus control mice at each time point is shown below (n ≥ 3 for each tissue, *p ≤ .05): HO activity was maximally inhibited (in bold) in the spleen (54%) and brain (40%) within 30 minutes and in the liver (27%) within 3 hours after AZA treatment. HO activity in the spleen and liver returned to control levels within 24 hours in contrast to the brain, where significant inhibition remained. At 0.25 to 3 hours after AZA treatment, the spleen was most effectively inhibited, followed by the brain and then the liver. We conclude that AZA effectively inhibits HO activity, and its action is immediate and short acting as well as tissue dependent. Thus, imidazole dioxolanes may be attractive alternative compounds for use in the treatment of neonatal jaundice. Further study is required to identify more potent derivatives and to elucidate their particular mechanism of inhibition. This work was study was supported in part by National Institutes of Health grant #HL68703, the Mary L. Johnson Research Fund, and the Christopher Hess Research Fund.
Genotypic Context and Epistasis in Individuals and Populations

Genes encode components of coevolved and interconnected networks. The effect of genotype on phenotype therefore depends on genotypic context through gene interactions known as epistasis. Epistasis is important in predicting phenotype from genotype for an individual. It is also examined in population studies to identify genetic risk factors in complex traits and to predict evolution under selection. Paradoxically, the effects of genotypic context in individuals and populations are distinct and sometimes contradictory. We argue that predicting genotype from phenotype for individuals based on population studies is difficult and, especially in human genetics, likely to result in underestimating the effects of genotypic context.
The Effects of War on Bonobos and Other Nonhuman Primates in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

War is awful for people and for wildlife. The “Great African War” of the 1990s and 2000s was the worst in modern African history. An estimated 3.9 million people died while wildlife clearly suffered. The purpose of this chapter is to look at the effects of the war and subsequent political instability on the people and nonhuman primates living in the Lomako Forest. To do this, we compared the prewar and postwar ranging and community demographics data of two bonobo communities living near the N’deli site in the Lomako Forest. One community was not directly observed in the study area after the war while the second moved outside of their former range and saw a decrease in community number and average group size. We also compared the prewar and postwar demographics of four monkey species living in the forest. For all of the species, average group size was lower while for three out of the four species the population density decreased as well. Overall, the population density of monkeys living in Lomako went from 165 to 83.6 individuals/km2. These results suggest an increase in hunting pressures faced by nonhuman primates because of an increasingly hungry human population with little income. Finally, we comment on the ethics of habituating primates in politically unstable regions.
CEMIS Indonesia: Community-Based Assessment and Monitoring of Living Conditions with the Help of a House Card

The implementation of Chapter 7 on Human Settlements of Agenda 21 provides great opportunities for Governments to address the complex environmental and health problems of cities and expand their productive bases. A Community-based Environmental Management Information System (CEMIS) has been developed by UNCHS (Habitat) to promote effective management approaches which will assist Governments to address the complex problems of cities and the sustainable development of human settlements.
Engineering Aspects of Commercial High Altitude Flying

This paper presents the twenty or more principal problems encountered in the designing of aeroplanes for passenger service at altitudes of about 20,000 to 30,000 feet, together with a discussion of the recent attempts made in the United States to solve these problems. Particular attention is given to the design features of pressure cabins for maintaining low altitude air pressure at high altitudes.
A Speaker Count System for Telephone Conversations

In telephone conversations, only short consecutive utterances can be examined for each speaker, therefore, discriminating between speakers in such conversations is a challenging task which becomes even more challenging when no information about the speakers is known a priori. In this paper, a technique for determining the number of speakers participating in a telephone conversation is presented. This approach assumes no knowledge or information about any of the participating speakers. The technique is based on comparing short utterances within the conversation and deciding whether or not they belong to the same speaker. The applications of this research include three-way call detection and speaker tracking, and could be extended to speaker change-point detection and indexing. The proposed method involves an elimination process in which speech segments matching a chosen set of reference models are sequentially removed from the conversation. Models are formed using the mean vectors and covariance matrices of Linear Predictive Cepstral Coefficients of voiced segments in the conversation. The use of the Mahalanobis distance to determine if two models belong to the same or to different speakers, based on likelihood ratio testing, is investigated. The relative amount of residual speech is observed after each elimination process to determine if an additional speaker is present. Experimentation was performed on 4000 artificial conversations from the HTIMIT Database. The proposed system was able to yield an average speaker count accuracy of 78%.
Vulnerabilidad y prácticas de información: experiencias de migrantes latinos (indocumentados) en EE.UU.

Este articulo explora las practicas de informacion (busqueda, uso y distribucion de la informacion) de los migrantes latinos, en particular de aquellos que estan indocumentados en la frontera entre Mexico y EE. UU, y en Seattle, Washington. En estos contextos se generan practicas de informacion diferentes. En la frontera encontramos mas practicas de pobreza de informacion tipo “pequeno mundo”, las cuales se van ampliando y consolidando a medida que se fortalece el sentido de pertenencia despues de pasar mas tiempo establecidos en EE. UU. Sin embargo, la vulnerabilidad y la transitoriedad se mantienen, ante el riesgo permanente de deportacion. Los hallazgos del estudio en comunidades colombianas se presentan en otro articulo complementario, en este mismo volumen. A traves de la fotografia participativa y entrevistas no estructuradas, exploramos las vivencias y las practicas de informacion de comunidades marginadas, y las relacionamos con como vivencian la transitoriedad a lo largo de las distintas etapas de la experiencia migratoria. Tambien discutimos como las etapas de la migracion pueden no ser suficientes para dar cuenta de los constantes cambios e iteraciones en las experiencias de los migrantes que estudiamos.
Small negative strokes in cloud-to-ground lightning flashes

Recent analyses of data obtained from lightning locating systems (LLSs) suggest that the minimum estimated peak current in negative cloud-to-ground lightning strokes that create new ground terminations is about −2kA. This minimum is close to the detection threshold of the LLSs and is lower than what is usually considered when evaluating the performance of lightning protection systems.
Differential receipt of sentinel lymph node biopsy within practice-based research networks.

6104 Background: Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) for breast cancer was introduced into clinical practice in the late 1990s as an alternative to axillary lymph node dissection (ALND). Provider-bas...
Assay development and high-throughput screening for small molecule inhibitors of a Vibrio cholerae stress response pathway

Antibiotics are important adjuncts to oral rehydration therapy in cholera disease management. However, due to the rapid emergence of resistance to the antibiotics used to treat cholera, therapeutic options are becoming limited. Therefore, there is a critical need to develop additional therapeutics to aid in the treatment of cholera. Previous studies showed that the extracytoplasmic stress response (σE) pathway of Vibrio cholerae is required for full virulence of the organism. The pathway is also required for bacterial growth in the presence of ethanol. Therefore, we exploited this ethanol sensitivity phenotype in order to develop a screen for inhibitors of the pathway, with the aim of also inhibiting virulence of the pathogen. Here we describe the optimization and implementation of our high-throughput screening strategy. From a primary screen of over 100,000 compounds, we have identified seven compounds that validated the growth phenotypes from the primary and counterscreens. These compounds have the potential to be developed into therapeutic agents for cholera and will also be valuable probes for uncovering basic molecular mechanisms of an important cause of diarrheal disease.
Data Envelopment Analysis with Aggregated Inputs and a Test of Allocative Efficiency When Input Prices Vary Across Firms

Data Envelopment Analysis with Aggregated Inputs and a Test of Allocative Efficiency When Input Prices Vary Across Firms
Improved model correlation through optimal parameter ranking using model reduction algorithms: Augmenting engineering judgment:

As the complexity and scales of dynamic models increase, novel and efficient model correlation methodologies are vital to the development of accurate models. Classically, to correlate a Finite Elem...
Laparoscopy and Robotics in Stress Urinary Incontinence and Pelvic Reconstructive Surgery

The prevalence of pelvic floor disorders such as urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse (POP) has seemingly increased over the last several decades. This increase could be attributed to longer life expectancy as well as the increased awareness of such disorders amongst health-care professional and patients. A recent epidemiological study found that the prevalence of at least one pelvic floor disorders among US women was 23.7% with the majority of them being affected by urinary incontinence [1]. Approximately 10% of women undergo surgery for treatment of urinary incontinence or POP. Thirty percent of these women will subsequently undergo one or more procedures after the first repair [2]. Proportionate to this increase in surgical management of pelvic floor disorders has been growth in the utilization of minimally invasive surgical treatments. Laparoscopic and robotic techniques allow surgeons to apply their open surgical skills in a minimally invasive fashion.
IWGS 2017 workshop report: the 8th ACM SIGSPATIAL International Workshop on Geostreaming: Redondo Beach, CA, USA - November 7, 2017

The ACM SIGSPATIAL International Workshop on Geostreaming (IWGS) was held for the eighth time in conjunction with the 25th ACM SIGSPATIAL International Conference on Advances in Geographic Information Systems (ACMGIS 2017). The workshop has been a successful event that attracted participants from both academia and industry. The workshop addressed topics that are at the intersection of data streaming and geospatial systems. The workshop fostered an environment where geospatial researchers can benefit from the advances in geosensing technologies and data streaming systems.
Morphologic Examination of Sequential Bone Marrow Biopsies after Nonmyeloablative Stem Cell Transplantation Complements Molecular Studies of Donor Engraftment

Abstract Context.—Nonmyeloablative stem cell transplantation (NMSCT) is a mode of immunotherapy increasingly employed in treating hematologic, lymphoid, and solid tumors. Patients are monitored principally by molecular analysis of donor engraftment. Objective.—To determine the role of morphologic examination of bone marrow after NMSCT. Design.—Seventy-three patients undergoing NMSCT under the Campath 1H (humanized anti-CD52 antibody) protocol were studied. Pretransplant and sequential posttransplant bone marrow specimens were evaluated and the findings were correlated with corresponding engraftment data. Results.—Pretransplant bone marrow specimens from 43% of the patients were involved by disease, and these marrow specimens were significantly more cellular than those that were free of disease. Morphologically detectable disease was still present in day 14 posttransplant marrow specimens in more than one half of these patients, but there was no difference in engraftment in those with or without marrow dis...
Consistency Analysis in Bloom: a CALM and Collected Approach

Distributed programming has become a topic of widespread interest, and many programmers now wrestle with tradeos between data consistency, availability and latency. Distributed transactions are often rejected as an undesirable tradeo today, but in the absence of transactions there are few concrete principles or tools to help programmers design and verify the correctness of their applications. We address this situation with the CALM principle, which connects the idea of distributed consistency to program tests for logical monotonicity. We then introduce Bloom, a distributed programming language that is amenable to high-level consistency analysis and encourages order-insensitive programming. We present a prototype implementation of Bloom as a domain-specific language in Ruby. We also propose a program analysis technique that identifies points of order in Bloom programs: code locations where programmers may need to inject coordination logic to ensure consistency. We illustrate these ideas with two case studies: a simple key-value store and a distributed shopping cart service.
Genetic Regulation of Liver Microsomal CYP2E1 Activity among Strains of the Viviparous Fishes Poeciliopsis occidentalis and Poeciliopsis lucida

The use of CYP2E1 (cytochrome P4502E1) expression as a biomarker for xenobiotic contamination may be useful, but for full understanding of the response, components of inheritance need to be understood. CYP2E1 expression was examined in P. lucida (M61-31), two strains of P. occidentalis (V87-15 and AV76-7), and their F1, F2, and backcross progeny. Phenotypic expression of CYP2E1 in Poeciliopsis has two distinct components – maximal activity and temperature optimum (T0) (Kaplan et al. 1991). In all P. occidentalis and P. lucida crosses, CYP2E1 activity segregated in up to three phenotypic groups. In F1 individuals (P. lucida×P. occidentalis V87-15), an overdominant phenotype was generated in 50% of the progeny. The P. lucida phenotype was absent suggesting a maternal effect on the F1 phenotype. Backcrosses of these F1 progeny to P. lucida females resulted in a recovery of the P. lucida phenotype while maintaining expression of an overdominant phenotype in 50% of the progeny. Among F2 progeny, an overdominant phenotype was expressed less often as compared to the F1 generation, and parental phenotypes were observed in equal numbers. Phenotypic expression patterns of CYP2E1 activity among F1 fish changed significantly with replacement of P. occidentalis V87-15 by P. occidentalis AV76-7. The P. lucida and P. occidentalis phenotype was equally distributed among progeny without evidence of an overdominant phenotype. Backcrosses of F1 progeny to P. lucida females resulted in equal amounts of the parental phenotypes. Backcross of an F1 male to a P. occidentalis AV76-7 female increased the P. occidentalis phenotype at the expense of the P. lucida phenotype in resulting progeny. Backcross of a F1 female to a P. lucida male resulted in equal distribution of the parental phenotypes. In addition, a greater number of F2 fish expressed the P. occidentalis phenotype as compared to the P. lucida phenotype. No significant difference in the sex ratios was seen in any of the crosses with the exception of one backcross.
Genetic Approaches to Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia

Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) remains a common and challenging complication of prematurity, with limited effective strategies at the neonatologist’s disposal. Throughout the years, our understanding of this complex syndrome has broadened. Instead of solely attributing this disease to the effects of prematurity and injuries to the lung from mechanical ventilation, it is now accepted to be a multifactorial disease. Recent research efforts have focused on investigating the gene-environment interactions that may influence an infant’s susceptibility toward the development of BPD. So far, success has been limited but promising, offering hope that in the future, novel therapies will be available to ameliorate the risk for BPD.
Interactive Effects of Naturalistic Drinking Context and Alcohol Sensitivity on Neural Alcohol Cue-Reactivity Responses.

Background Considerable evidence indicates that a low level of subjective response to alcohol's acute effects (i.e., low sensitivity) is associated with enhanced risk for alcohol use disorder (AUD). Recent work suggests that the highest risk response profile consists of blunted sensitivity to alcohol's sedation-like effects, coupled with enhanced sensitivity to alcohol's stimulation-like effects (i.e., differential sensitivity). A largely separate body of work indicates that enhanced reactivity to alcohol-related cues is associated with increased AUD risk. Aims The current research examined the extent to which variability in alcohol response phenotypes is associated with enhanced P3 event-related potential (ERP) responses to alcohol-related pictures (ACR-P3), and whether this reactivity varies according to depicted drinking contexts. Methods Eighty young adults (aged 18 to 33 years) completed a self-report measure of alcohol sensitivity (the Alcohol Sensitivity Questionnaire) and viewed images depicting drinking in naturalistic contexts, alcohol and nonalcohol beverages in isolation (devoid of naturalistic drinking context), and neutral nonbeverage control images while ERPs were recorded. Results Results indicated that blunted sensitivity to alcohol's sedative-like effects was differentially associated with enhanced ACR-P3 but reduced P3 reactivity to nonalcohol cues. Variation in sensitivity to alcohol's stimulant-like effects was not associated with differential ACR-P3. Contrary to predictions, these effects were not potentiated by drinking contexts. Conclusions The current results replicate and extend previous work linking low alcohol sensitivity with enhanced incentive salience for alcohol-related cues and suggest that cues depicting drinking contexts are less likely to differentiate high-risk from low-risk drinkers.
Gateway Literacy Retention Policies: Perspectives and Implications from the Field

South Carolina’s Read to Succeed Law (RTS) is different than the other 15 states’ literacy-based third grade retention laws. It mandates literacy intervention training for in-service and pre-service teachers. Research indicates academic gains from retention are short-lived, diminishing over time and increasing drop-out rates. Through a statewide survey, this study identifies educators’ perceptions and knowledge of retention and the RTS policy, and examines the relationship between knowledge and perceptions. Educators were not familiar with retention research or RTS specifics, but favored retention. Implications include the need for more teacher training regarding new state policies and the efficacy of their foundations. This study provides evidence that policymakers should consider the means of implementation and shoulder accountability for a structured and equitable support system.
Uncertainty Quantification for High-Dimensional Sparse Nonparametric Additive Models

Statistical inference in high-dimensional settings has recently attracted enormous attention within the literature. However, most published work focuses on the parametric linear regression problem....
Human-Animal Interaction and Child Health and Development

As pet ownership rates grow, the role of human-animal interaction (HAI) in promoting health and well-being of both human and animals is becoming an important area of public health research. In particular, it is important to explore the relationship between HAI and youth health and development. This chapter will explore how HAI fits into a framework of developmental science, and explore the theoretical underpinnings of youth-animal relationships. In addition, this chapter will review current research on HAI and youth social-emotional development, physical health, and cognition, and will also outline potential risks and challenges to child-pet interactions. Finally, we discuss research progress and future challenges within this area of child health and development.
STUDENT DEBT EFFECTS ON FINANCIAL WELL-BEING: RESEARCH AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS: STUDENT DEBT EFFECTS ON FINANCIAL WELL-BEING

Reviewing the data regarding effects of student debt on students’ financial outcomes following college – whether successful graduation or premature exit – makes clear that there is a price to pay for having to borrow money to go to college. Indebted college graduates have lower net worth, less home equity, and compromised ability to accumulate assets, as compared to their peers with the same level of education but no student debt. They may also experience poorer educational outcomes, with independent effects on earning power and, then, later wealth accumulation. Especially given the relationship between initial household wealth and children's later educational outcomes, these findings about the post‐college financial outcomes of indebted students and graduates raise the specter of ongoing, sustained, and cross‐generational perpetuation of societal divides. In the United States, higher education is valued not just as a good in itself, but also as a means to the end of greater economic security and the primary lever for economic mobility. Evaluating student loans through this lens underscores the long‐term, volatile, and often hidden effects of student loan dependence and raises the stakes for consideration of alternative approaches to higher education finance.
Phytochemical and In Vitro Genotoxicity Studies of Standardized Ficus deltoidea var. kunstleri Aqueous Extract

The present study was carried out to assess the genotoxicity potential of Ficus deltoidea var. kunstleri aqueous extract (FDAE) using standard in vitro assays. The DNA damage of V79B cells was measured using the alkaline comet assay treated at 0.1 mg/mL (IC10) and 0.3 mg/mL (IC25) of FDAE together with positive and negative controls. For in vitro micronucleus assay, the V79B cells were treated with FDAE at five different concentrations (5, 2.5, 1.25, 0.625, and 0.3125 mg/mL) with and without S9 mixture. The bacteria reverse mutation assay of FDAE was performed on Salmonella typhimurium strains TA98, 100, 1535, 1537, and Escherichia coli strain WP2uvrA using pre-incubation method in the presence or in the absence of an extrinsic metabolic system (S9 mixture). FDAE at 0.1 and 0.3 mg/mL significantly increased DNA damage in both comet tail and tail moment (p < 0.05). No significant changes were detected in the number of micronucleated cell when compared to control. Tested at the doses up to 5000 µg/plate, the FDAE did not increase the number of revertant colonies for all strains. In conclusion, further investigation needs to be conducted in animal model to confirm the non-genotoxicity activities of FDAE.
MRI-based Texture Analysis of Trabecular Bone for Opportunistic Screening of Skeletal Fragility.

CONTEXT Many individuals at high risk for osteoporosis and fragility fracture are never screened by traditional methods. Opportunistic use of imaging obtained for other clinical purposes is required to foster identification of these patients. OBJECTIVE The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate texture features as a measure of bone fragility, by comparing clinically acquired magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans from individuals with and without a history of fragility fracture. METHODS This study retrospectively investigated 100 subjects who had lumbar spine MRI performed at our institution. Cases (n = 50) were postmenopausal women with osteoporosis and a confirmed history of fragility fracture. Controls (n = 50) were age- and race-matched postmenopausal women with no known fracture history. Trabecular bone from the lumbar vertebrae was segmented to create regions of interest within which a gray level co-occurrence matrix was used to quantify the distribution and spatial organization of voxel intensity. Heterogeneity in the trabecular bone texture was assessed by several features, including contrast (variability), entropy (disorder), and angular second moment (homogeneity). RESULTS Texture analysis revealed that trabecular bone was more heterogeneous in fracture patients. Specifically, fracture patients had greater texture variability (+76% contrast; P = 0.005), greater disorder (+10% entropy; P = 0.005), and less homogeneity (-50% angular second moment; P = 0.005) compared with controls. CONCLUSIONS MRI-based textural analysis of trabecular bone discriminated between patients with known osteoporotic fractures and controls. Further investigation is required to validate this promising methodology, which could greatly expand the number of patients screened for skeletal fragility.
Four centuries of documentary sources concerning the sea level rise in Venice

Four centuries of written documentary sources concerning sea level rise (SLR) in Venice are analysed to complete the study of potential proxies. This literature has been useful to advance knowledge in history of science and to recover scientific data. Several case studies have been found and discussed, but only two had complete information to reach quantitative sea level values. The first one was reported by Manfredi (1732) and is representative of the 1500–1730 period. The second was by Zendrini (1821) who gave a benchmark in 1810. The results are compared with the multiproxy SLR reconstruction for the 1350–2016 period (Camuffo et al. 2017). Manfredi constitutes an independent verification of this multiproxy series.
Institutions, Growth and Human Capital

We use the experience of ex-socialist countries to examine the role of macro, meso and micro institutions in catch up/fall behind growth. Greater experience of state-level government fosters growth; the extent of socialist entrenchment measured by years under socialism hurts it; and joining the EU boosts it. The higher than OECD level of human capital at transition is not sufficient to overcome the self-serving behavior of old socialist elite/new opaque business networks that emerge to exploit the complex environment upon communism’s collapse. Accepting and implementing the European Union regulations and norms upon joining it permits building of transparent networks and lifts growth. Human capital is the most important factor for growth, not total factor productivity. Suggesting dichotomy between institutions and human capital is misleading. Skilled labor needs right institutions to create value it is capable of - institutions’ effect on growth is channeled through human capital.
A predictive analytical model of thermal conductivity for aluminum/transition metal high-entropy alloys

Abstract A predictive analytical model for the thermal conductivity of Aluminum/transition metal based high-entropy alloys based on contributions from the electron and lattice subsystems is presented. Lattice conductivity is modeled as an oscillator damped by electron-phonon and defect scattering. Electron subsystem conductivity is dominated by scattering from the aperiodic crystal potential arising from alloying atom induced lattice disorder; its effect was quantitatively calculated using a virtual crystal approximation. We show that model predictions agree with published values and for an exemplar high-entropy alloy largely based on transition (i.e., non-refractory) elements, AlxCoCrCuyFeNi. Within this alloy system, the crystal structure varies between face centered cubic and body centered cubic depending on composition and temperature, and it was found that thermal conductivity behaves as a weighted-average composite of the multiple phases.
An Experimental Model of Bias in Mental Testing

The necessary condition for test bias in the psychometric sense is the existence of group membership by test-item statistical interactions. To my knowledge; there is no disagreement on this point and the rationale has been fully developed elsewhere (Jensen, 1980). Attention here is focused on such statistical interactions and on bias as defined in this specific psychometric context.
What’s Next for VEBAs? The Impact of Declining Employer-Provided Health Care Coverage and the Affordable Care Act

A voluntary employee beneficiary association or VEBA, is a U.S. tax-exempt organization set up to pay for employee health and welfare benefits. The 2007 establishment of a stand-alone VEBA trust funded by the Big Three US automakers and managed by the UAW seemed to mark a defining moment for employer-provided retiree health care benefits. After years of declining employer-provided medical benefits, the VEBA trust seemed to offer an innovative structure to maintain these promises while moving the liability off of the employer's balance sheet. Nevertheless, the 2008 financial crisis and government-assisted bailouts of GM and Chrysler immediately tested the stand-alone VEBA structure. Additionally, the passage of the Affordable Care Act is expected to accelerate the decline of employer-provided retiree health care benefits. With retirees able to receive medical coverage through the Affordable Care Act's health care exchanges, the number of VEBA plans has already begun to decline. VEBAs will still serve a purpose as a tax-advantaged benefit funding mechanism and will be important for companies in financial distress looking to reduce the level and uncertainty of their significant benefit liabilities.
Stereo X-Ray Radiography of Composite Materials

X-ray radiography has long been one of the primary methods of nondestructive evaluation of materials to assess their integrity and serviceability. Composite materials, which as a class exhibit inherent internal complexity, pose a challenge to conventional radiographic methods. This present paper reviews the basic issues of radiographic as applied to composite materials. The need and basis for selection of enhancing agents is discussed. Examples of typical composite material flaws and damage are presented along with interpretations of their radiographic images. A method of producing stereo x-ray images of these materials is explained and the benefits in improved damage location and analysis are discussed. Finally a method for producing stereographic images using a standard 35 mm slide projector is described.
ASIC architectures for the 90s

Alternatives in Application Specific IC (ASIC), including MOS and bipolar arrays, standard cells, macro-cells, application specific compilers and wafer - scale integration will be compared. Applicable technology, design time, testability, performance, cost and development tools will be discussed from the point of view of the user, the vendor and the CAD tool designer.
Effect of current density on electroplated CoPt thick films

In this paper, we report on the influence of electrodeposition current density on the structural and magnetic properties of plated equiatomic CoPt magnetic thick films. Films are electroplated using constant current density, ranging 25–200 mA/cm2, and subsequently annealed at 700°C for 40 min. It is found that electroplating current density has a strong influence over the plating rate, surface roughness, grain size, and order parameter. However, current density does not strongly affect the atomic composition of the plated film and only modestly influences the magnetic properties, namely coercivity. The films exhibit quasi-isotropic magnetic properties with the best results for a sample plated at 100 mA/cm2, yielding H ci = 900 kA/m, and in-plane squareness of 0.95 for a 3-µm-thick film having an rms surface roughness of 20 nm.
Dendritic cells: Potential role in cancer therapy

Dendritic cells (DC) are extremely potent antigen presenting cells, uniquely capable of sensitizing naive T cells to protein antigens and eliciting antigen specific immune responses. Studies of human DC isolated from peripheral blood indicate that these cells can be used to stimulate and expand antigen specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, in vitro. On the basis of these findings we have initiated pilot clinical studies to investigate the ability of DC pulsed ex vivo with tumor associated proteins to stimulate host anti-tumor immunity when re-infused as a vaccine. In the first such study DC pulsed with tumor derived idiotype protein were infused into patients with low grade malignant B cell lymphoma who had failed conventional chemotherapy. The majority of treated patients developed T cell mediated anti-idiotype immune responses and some of the patients experienced tumor regression. These results suggest that DC based immunotherapy is a potentially useful approach to B cell lymphoma and raises the possibility that the approach may prove useful in the treatment of other tumors as well.
Topological excitations near the local critical point in the dissipative two-dimensional X Y model

The dissipative $XY$ model in two spatial dimensions belongs to a new universality class of quantum-critical phenomena with the remarkable property of the decoupling of the critical fluctuations in space and time. We have shown earlier that the quantum-critical point is driven by proliferation in time of topological configurations that we termed warps. We show here that a warp may be regarded as a configuration of a monopoles surrounded symmetrically by antimonopoles so that the total charge of the configuration is zero. Therefore the interaction with other warps is local in space. They, however, interact with other warps at the same spatial point logarithmically in time. As a function of dissipation warps unbind leading to a quantum phase transition. The critical fluctuations are momentum independent but have power-law correlations in time.
Adapting the contents of computer-based instruction based on knowledge tests maintains effectiveness of nutrition education

Background: Nutrition education of many medical students continues to be inadequate. Computer-based instruction in nutrition is a resource that introduces a new level of flexibility for instructors and students while maintaining a high level of educational quality. Previous evaluations have demonstrated the efficacy of our programs on nutrient physiology and the role of nutrition in the disease process, but some students complained about the time spent on content that they had covered in other courses. Objective: We wanted to explore the effectiveness of an abbreviated program version that bypassed topics that the students had mastered already. Design: Multiple-choice questions were used to determine knowledge of 117 second-year medical students in each of the main knowledge areas covered by our Nutrition and Cancer instructional module. The students were then randomly assigned to complete either the full version or a shortened version adapted to their demonstrated knowledge. Four days later the same as well as new questions were used to compare knowledge gain between the 2 groups. Results: The shorter time spent with the tailored version than with the full version (2.5 h versus < 1.5 h) decreased learning efficacy to only a small extent. More tailored-version users than full-version users were interested in further computer-based instruction (59% versus 41%, P < 0.05), suggesting better acceptance. Conclusions: Our experience underscores the power of computer-based instruction to bring nutrition education to medical students. The newly developed adaptive features of the nutrition programs may also be helpful for practicing physicians to efficiently bridge knowledge gaps.
Elizabeth Barrett BrowningÃ¢â¬â¢s Textual Bodies and the Rhetoric of Gender in Nineteenth-Century Critical Discourse

This essay examines the fetishistic transformation of Elizabeth Barrett BrowningA¢â¬â¢s poetry into metaphorical bodies by her nineteenth-century reviewers. Men have historically laid claim to reason by disavowing the body; within this logic women, inextricably linked to their bodies, cannot write the kind of poetry valued by Victorian literary society. However, Barrett Browning does write the kind of poetry restricted to masculine imagination, and she does threaten to rival male contemporaries. In as much, she disavows the ideologically marked female body. I suggest the recurring corporealization of Barrett BrowningA¢â¬â¢s poetry signifies reviewersA¢â¬â¢ efforts to locate her body at the site of its supposed disappearance. Its materialization in critical discourse as a disabled body, conveniently aligned with the authorA¢â¬â¢s crippled autobiographical body, implies the need to produce a visible, familiar, and governable figure of femininity. However, the discursive slippage from which emerges a monstrous figure of female authorship suggests the inability of ideology to control and contain its own aberrations.
Differential proliferative effects of transforming growth factor-beta on human hematopoietic progenitor cells.

Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF beta) regulates cell growth and differentiation in numerous cell systems, including several hematopoietic lineages. We used in vitro cultures of highly enriched hematopoietic progenitor cells stimulated by natural and recombinant growth factors to investigate the biologic effects of TGF beta 1 and TGF beta 2 on erythroid (CFU-E and burst-forming unit (BFU)-E), granulocyte-macrophage (CFU-GM) and multilineage (i.e., granulocyte, erythroid, macrophage, and megakaryocyte; CFU-GEMM) colony-forming cells. In the absence of exogenous CSF, neither TGF beta 1 nor TGF beta 2 supported progenitor cell growth. In the presence of recombinant or natural CSF, picomolar concentrations of TGF beta 1 inhibited growth of CFU-E, BFU-E, and CFU-GEMM and enhanced growth of day 7 CFU-GM. Inhibition of CFU-E and BFU-E by human and porcine TGF beta 1 was similar, ranging from 17 to 73% over a concentration range of 0.05 to 1.0 ng/ml, and was largely independent of the type of burst-promoting activity used (rIL-3 vs cell line 5637-conditioned medium). Inhibition of CFU-GEMM ranged from 79 to 98% over a concentration range of 0.25 to 1.0 ng/ml. The inhibitory effect of TGF beta 1 was progressively lost when its addition was delayed for 40 to 120 h, suggesting a mode of action during early cell divisions. In contrast, growth of CFU-GM stimulated by plateau concentrations of human rG-CSF, rGM-CSF, and rIL-3 was enhanced up to 154 +/- 22% by human TGF beta 1. Porcine platelet-derived TGF beta 2 was essentially without effect on the progenitor populations examined. These results support the hypothesis that TGF beta may play role in the regulation of hematopoietic progenitor cell proliferation by differentially affecting individual lineages and is apparently capable of doing so in the relative absence of marrow accessory cells.