cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Burden of Alzheimer's Disease–Related Mortality in the United States, 1999–2008

Objectives: To update and examine Alzheimer's disease�related mortality trends according to age, sex, race and ethnicity, geography, and other case characteristics for a 10-year period. Design: Trend and comparative analyses of the U.S. multiple-cause-of-death records for 1999 to 2008. Setting: United States. Participants: Participants were decedents with Alzheimer's disease (AD) coded as underlying or associated cause of death; decedents with other forms of dementia or cognitive disorder were excluded. Measurements: Case frequency, age-specific death rates, and crude and age-adjusted mortality rates were estimated for all AD decedents from the sampled period. Measures of AD mortality burden were compared with those of other leading causes of death (e.g., diabetes mellitus, stroke). Results: From 1999 to 2008, 879,281 AD-related deaths were identified. The age-adjusted mortality rate for AD increased from 45.3 per 100,000 population (95% confidence interval (CI) = 45.0�45.7) in 1999 to 50.0 per 100,000 population (95% CI = 49.7�50.3) in 2008. The average age at death was 85.9. Differences in AD-related deaths varied according to sex, race and ethnicity, and geography. The number of AD-related deaths and age-specific mortality for persons aged 85 and older (n = 532,338, 1,096.6 per 100,000 population) were comparable with those from the same age group who died from diabetes mellitus (n = 488,593, 1,006.5 per 100,000 population). Conclusion: The burden of AD-related mortality was substantial for the period 1999 to 2008. This burden is expected to grow rapidly as the baby boomer generation ages. Findings from this study may have important implications for present and future planning in medicine, social services, public policy, and public health.
Experience with anxiety and depression treatment studies: implications for designing irritable bowel syndrome clinical trials

This report highlights various considerations regarding the potential effects of concurrent psychiatric conditions and a history of abuse in patient volunteers for clinical trials in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Even though many studies have used psychological rating scales to assess personality and psychological traits of patients with IBS, the prevalence of the different psychiatric diagnoses (i.e., categorical assessment) in patients with IBS has only recently been assessed systematically. Recent studies of treatment-seeking patients have indicated that the majority of individuals (50% to 90%) who seek treatment for IBS have a lifetime history or currently have one or more common psychiatric conditions: major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social phobia, somatization disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Traditional clinical wisdom is that the presence of a psychiatric disorder increases the likelihood that an IBS patient will seek treatment. However, recent data suggest that IBS and psychiatric disorders are associated regardless of treatment-seeking status. Patients with psychiatric disorders should be included in clinical IBS studies, because this reflects the actual patient population. Extrapolating from the psychiatric literature, inclusion of patients with IBS with mild to moderate anxiety or depression is warranted.
1.3 Millimeter Continuum Observations of Cold Molecular Cloud Cores

The results of a 1.3 mm continuum survey of cold IRAS sources known to be associated with star formation regions are presented. A dozen sources were detected, eleven of which were mapped. By combining these observations with those of other observers and IRAS, the properties of the extended dust envelopes in which these IR sources are embedded can be studied. 81 refs.
World Food In The 1990s: Production, Trade, And Aid

There is considerable disagreement about whether trends in world food supply are favourable or not, and in this book contributors from various scholarly backgrounds interpret past trends in world food trade, aid and security and propose new policy options for the 1990s. They address the problems facing the distribution of global economic growth and trade between industrialized and developing countries while exploring the effects that supply, demand, assistance programmes, foreign aid and other policy variables have on the evolving world trade and food system. This book should prove of interest to a range of scholars and policymakers dealing with food, health, human rights, Third World development, agricultural economics, international political economy and trade policy.
The decay of Eu147 to levels in Sm147

Abstract The electron capture of Eu147 has been investigated with magnetic and scintillation spectrometers, and coincidence and gamma-gamma directional correlation techniques. Eu147 decays with a 23.6±1.0 d half-life to levels in Sm147 at 122, 198, 800 and 1079 keV. A decay scheme is proposed.
Leptin Is Inversely Associated With Lung Function in African Americans, Independent of Adiposity: The Jackson Heart Study

Leptin, a 16-kDa protein, has proinflammatory properties and has been linked to respiratory physiological responses in majority white populations. Little is known, however, about the relationship of leptin with lung function in nonwhites. Cross-sectional associations of circulating serum leptin concentrations with forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV(1)), FEV in 6 s (FEV(6)), and vital capacity (FVC), assessed by spirometry, were examined in 4,679 African-American men and women participants (54.3 ± 12.4 years; 62.7% women) in the Jackson Heart Study (JHS). The independent association of leptin was examined in relation to FEV(1), FEV(6), and FVC% predicted after adjustment for age, education, smoking status, pack-years of cigarette smoking, respiratory medication use, and menopausal status in women; additional adjustment included total body weight, waist circumference, and BMI. Serum leptin was inversely related to FEV(1), FEV(6), and FVC% predicted values in men. A dose-response relationship was observed with men in the highest leptin quartile having a significantly lower lung function compared to men in the lower leptin quartile. BMI significantly modified this relationship in women: leptin was most consistently associated with lung function in obese women, less consistent in overweight women, and absent in normal-weight women. Serum leptin concentration was strongly, inversely, and independently associated with lung function in African Americans, especially African-American men and obese women.
Transesterification of Camelina Sativa Oil Using Heterogeneous Metal Oxide Catalysts

Camelina sativa oil provides a reliable solution for biodiesel production by providing a sustainable, low-input biofuel feedstock option in some climates. In the present study, optimization of the transesterification of camelina sativa oil using different heterogeneous metal oxide catalysts, i.e., BaO, SrO, MgO, and CaO, was evaluated. The results of comparative experiments showed that the most effective catalyst was 1 wt % BaO, which showed an >80% yield of camelina to biodiesel conversion in 3 h at 100 °C. The relative order of the effectiveness of the catalysts was BaO > SrO > CaO > MgO. These catalysts were characterized with X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Brunauer−Emmett−Teller (BET) to obtain their physical and chemical properties. The important variables affecting the methyl ester yield during the transesterification reaction are the molar ratio of alcohol/oil, catalyst amount, and reaction temperature. The fuel properties of biodiesel produced were compared to Ame...
Programming and Planning

Some 15 years ago, I argued in the Annals that the word program entered the vocabulary of computer developers from the ENIAC project. Within the ENIAC, the term referred to the control signal that synchronized and directed the actions of the machine's individual units. "It is convenient in discussing the ENIAC to distinguish between the numerical circuits (which operate on signals representing numbers) and the programming circuits (which recognize when and how a unit is to operate and which then stimulate the numerical circuits to operate)," wrote Adele and Her mann Goldstine in their initial published paper on the ENIAC. Eight years would pass before the field would shift the usage of the word program away from the electronic circuits that controlled the machine toward the symbolic instructions that describe a set of opera tions to be set in motion by those circuits. In the intervening time, engineers more commonly used the word planning to describe the process of preparing a list of instructions for a computer. Konrad Zuse called his programming language PlanKalcul. The Mathematical Tables Project, which operated on the cusp of the electronic computing era, was gov erned by a planning committee. The initial articles on programming techniques by John von Neumann and Herman Goldstine were called "Planning and Coding Problems for an Electronic Computer." The term plan derived from the production engineer ing field, a discipline that developed in the 1920s in England in response to the production demands of World War I. The story of its usage shows how the con cept of programming started to develop and suggests, as authors such as Michael Mahoney have argued, that programming owes much to production engineering and the fields that derived from it, notably systems engineering.
Effect of lectins and sugars on primary sperm attachment in the horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus L

The apical regions of motile Limulus spermatozoa readily adhere to the outer layer of the egg envelope. Shortly after this adherence or primary attachment, the sperm acrosome reaction occurs, resulting in a stronger adhesion (secondary attachment). A sperm attachment assay that quantified the number of spermatozoa attaching to egg sections was utilized to identify components involved in primary attachment. The number of spermatozoa attached was examined after treatment of either egg sections or spermatozoa with various compounds. Egg sections treated with asparagus pea lectin (250 micrograms/ml) bound significantly fewer spermatozoa as compared to those exposed to wheat germ agglutinin, concanavalin A, and garden pea lectin. Furthermore, sperm attachment was also greatly reduced when egg sections were first incubated with the glycosidase, alpha-L-fucosidase (less than or equal to 5% of controls). Treatment of spermatozoa with alpha-L-fucose, fucoidan, or p-aminophenyl fucoside also reduced sperm attachment when compared to Millipore-filtered artificial seawater controls. Egg sections were treated with fluorescein-conjugated lectins to confirm that the lectins actually bound to portions of the egg envelope and that various sugars are present in the egg envelope. Evidence suggests that the methylpentose, alpha-L-fucose, plays an important role in primary sperm attachment in Limulus.
A PARAMETRIC ANALYSIS OF THE THERMAL SHEAR LOCALIZATION IN EHL FILMS

Experiments and computer simulations [1] have revealed some unusual results of elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) associated with a high degree of thermally induced inhomogeneous shear across the lubricant film, or thermal shear localization. The results include the development of a sizable film dimple in the central EHL region [2] and a dramatic reduction in EHL traction [3, 4]. In this study, a theoretical analysis is carried out to determine the conditions under which the thermal shear localization may develop in EHL films. For a Newtonian lubricant obeying the Barus law of viscosity, a dimensionless group-parameter is identified that fully governs the degree of the thermal inhomogeneous shear. Results are presented that show the critical range of values of this parameter corresponding to the onset of the shear localization. The analysis is also extended to lubricants with non-Newtonian behavior. Results suggest that the same dimensionless group-parameter may be used to measure the degree of the shear localization when the lubricant viscosity in the parameter is replaced by an effective viscosity that accounts for the non-Newtonian effect. Reference [5] presents details of the theoretical formulation and results analysis.Copyright © 2005 by ASME
Iterative inter-symbol interference canceling receiver for direct space-time GF(q) LDPC modulation

Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless communication systems enhance reliability and improve throughput for a given total transmit power. In actual systems, the channel and noise parameters must be estimated to capture the MIMO gains. In this paper, we couple a direct, q-ary Galois field [GF(q)], low-density parity-check (LDPC) space-time coding and modulation scheme with a receiver that iterates between decoding the transmitted symbols, estimating the convolutive MIMO channel with pilots and symbol decisions, and removing inter-symbol interference. The result is a powerful system that outperforms linear space-time equalization and performs within one decibel of a system with perfect channel knowledge and no inter-symbol interference.
Anticryptosporidial Activity of Lasalocid and Other Ionophorous Antibiotics in Immunosuppressed Rats

The anticryptosporidial activities of three ionophorous antibiotics were assessed in dexamethasone-immunosuppressed rats infected with Cryptosporidiurn parvurn. When administered prophylactically, lasalocid prevented infection in a dose-dependent manner, whereas monensin and salinomycin were ineffective. Therapeutically, lasalocid eliminated established overt infections of the intestine, although infection persisted in the common bile duct and intestinal infection recurred after lasalocid treatment was stopped. These findings suggest that lasalocid is a potentially useful anticryptosporidial agent but that long-term continuous administration may be necessary in the immunocompromised host
RNA Polymerase Active Center: The Molecular Engine of Transcription

RNA polymerase (RNAP) is a complex molecular machine that governs gene expression and its regulation in all cellular organisms. To accomplish its function of accurately producing a full-length RNA copy of a gene, RNAP performs a plethora of chemical reactions and undergoes multiple conformational changes in response to cellular conditions. At the heart of this machine is the active center, the engine, which is composed of distinct fixed and moving parts that serve as the ultimate acceptor of regulatory signals and as the target of inhibitory drugs. Recent advances in the structural and biochemical characterization of RNAP explain the active center at the atomic level and enable new approaches to understanding the entire transcription mechanism, its exceptional fidelity and control.
Incorporating “Fuzzy” Data and Logical Relations in the Design of Expert Systems for Nuclear Reactors

This paper applies the method of assigning probability in Dempster Shafer Theory (DST) to the components of rule-based expert systems used in the control of nuclear reactors. Probabilities are assigned to premises, consequences, and rules themselves. This paper considers how uncertainty can propagate through a system of Boolean equations, such as fault trees or expert systems. The probability masses assigned to primary initiating events in the expert system can be derived from observing a nuclear reactor in operation or based on engineering knowledge of the reactor parts. Use of DST mass assignments offers greater flexibility to the construction of expert systems in two important respects.
Acute Infection of a Documented Seminal Vesicle Cyst via Hematogenous Seeding

INTRODUCTION Genital abnormalities have been reported in up to 12 percent of men with unilateral renal agenesis.(1) There have also been reports of neurofibromatosis patients manifesting ipsilateral renal agenesis.(2) Abnormal development of the mesonephric duct between the fourth and thirteenth week of embryonic life seems to be the origin of such cysts, which can have a variable clinical presentation.(3) The presence of seminal vesicle cysts in patients with renal agenesis is well documented.(4,5) Approximately 68 percent of all seminal vesicle cysts are associated with renal agenesis.(1) Here we report a 26-year old patient with neurofibromatosis type 1, unilateral renal agenesis, and a known seminal vesicle cyst who presented to the Emergency Department with bacteremia caused by an infected dual lumen hemodialysis catheter.
Reading based IQ estimates and actual premorbid cognitive performance: discrepancies in a college athlete sample.

The present study sought to evaluate the Wechsler Test of Adult Reading (WTAR) Full-Scale IQ (FSIQ) estimate as an index of premorbid ability in a sample 574 of healthy college athletes participating in a sports concussion management program. We compared baseline neuropsychological test performance with the WTAR FSIQ estimate obtained at baseline. Results revealed that the discrepancy between actual neuropsychological test scores and the WTAR FSIQ estimate was greatest for those with estimated FSIQs greater than 107. The clinical implication of this finding was evaluated in the 51 participants who went on to sustain a concussion. For individuals with higher IQ estimates, the WTAR estimate obtained post-concussion suggested greater post-concussion decline than that indicated by comparison with actual baseline neuropsychological performance. (JINS, 2012, 18, 139–143)
Absenteeism in a Low Status Work Environment

The article presents information on a study which examined absenteeism and its correlates in a low status work environment in the United States. It discusses the relationship between job dissatisfa...
Novel circuitry and molecular pathogenic mechanisms in Huntington's disease

Methods HD is caused by a CAG repeat expansion encoding an expanded glutamine repeat near the N-terminus of the huntingtin protein. How mutant huntingtin (mhtt) causes progressive and selective degeneration of striatal and cortical neurons, leading to symptoms of HD, remains unclear. In this presentation, I will describe a novel reductionist approach to use Cre/LoxP conditional Bacterial Artificial Chromosome (BAC) transgenic mouse models expressing full-length mhtt to dissect circuitry and molecular pathogenic mechanisms in HD.
The Insider Threat Security Architecture: A Framework for an Integrated, Inseparable, and Uninterrupted Self-Protection Mechanism

Providing an uninterruptable self-protection mechanism that is totally integrated into and inseparable from the computing system that is being protected ensures a complete, affordable, and assured compliance with system security audits. This paper presents the Insider Threat Security Architecture (ITSA) and describes its various components. It presents a security scenario where privileged users can compromise the system that they protect and how that same scenario can be mitigated under the ITSA framework. It also describes the foundational premise that this framework is built upon. It draws the distinction between the proposed approach and the traditional most common approach to providing system protection. It emphasizes the unquestionable importance of making the self-protection mechanism as an integral part of the core components of the system that is being protected.
Modulation of glutamatergic transmission by bergmann glial cells in rat cerebellum in situ.

We obtained patch-clamp recordings from neuron-glial cell pairs in cerebellar brain slices to examine the contribution of glutamate (Glu) uptake by Bergmann glial cells to shaping excitatory postsy...
Acting "Tough" in a "Tough" World An Examination of Fear Among Urban African American Adolescents

African American adolescents (132 males and 128 females; age M = 14.8 years, SD = 0.92) enrolled in an urban community social skills development program participated in a study assessing the relationship among perceptions of family and community social support, fear of calamitous events, depression, and anger expression. Expressing fear of calamitous events that were considered harmful but not necessarily lethal was related to increased depression, whereas expressing fear of lethal calamitous events was related to increased anger expression. Results are discussed in terms of issues of race, gender, and adolescent development.
Targeting Host Syntaxin-5 Preferentially Blocks Leishmania Parasitophorous Vacuole Development in Infected Cells and Limits Experimental Leishmania Infections

Our previous observations established a role for syntaxin-5 in the development of Leishmania parasitophorous vacuoles (LPVs). In this study, we took advantage of the recent identification of Retro-2, a small organic molecule that can cause the redistribution of syntaxin-5; we show herein that Retro-2 blocks LPV development within 2 hours of adding it to cells infected with Leishmania amazonensis. In infected cells incubated for 48 hours with Retro-2, LPV development was significantly limited; furthermore, infected cells harbored four to five times fewer parasites than infected cells incubated in vehicle alone. In vivo studies revealed that Retro-2 curbed experimental L. amazonensis infections in a dose-dependent manner. Retro-2 did not have any appreciable effect on the host cell physiological characteristics; furthermore, it had no apparent toxicity in experimental animals. An unexpected, but welcome, finding was that Retro-2 inhibited the replication of Leishmania parasites in axenic cultures. This study is significant because it identifies an endoplasmic reticulum/Golgi SNARE as a potential target for the control of Leishmania infections; moreover, it suggests that small organic molecules can be identified that can selectively disrupt the vesicle fusion machinery that promotes the development of pathogen-containing compartments without exerting toxic effects on the host.
WARTIME FINANCE AND THE TERM STRUCTURE OF INTEREST RATES

THIs STUDY concerns itself with two primary undertakings: (1) it provides an addition to current theory on the term structure of interest rates; and (2) it tests a model of the term structure presented by Franco Modigliani and Richard Sutch in the Journal of Political Economy and in the Papers and Proceedings of the American Economic Association. The theoretical contribution centers around the role of the period for which a participant intends to be in the debt market, or "horizon." It is argued that whatever is the participant's purpose for being in the market, he cannot operate without a time horizon. Moreover, since a horizon is implicit in any decision about debt market participation it therefore should be accorded a role in the decision-making process. A game-theoretic approach is used to introduce a horizon to the two primary schools of term structure thought, the "expectations" hypothesis and the "segmentation" hypothesis. It is the presence of this horizon, along with the presence of uncertainty, which ultimately allows the two hypotheses to be blended into a more complete explanation of the term structure of interest rates. The resulting model is then tested using an approach taken by Modigliani and Sutch as mentioned. Data from the war period, 1941 through 1951, are used for the empirical tests. The justification for this is that, if debt supply affects the yield structure at all, it should be evident in these data. Most studies conclude that debt maturity has little effect on the yield curve, but these studies generally examine periods when no particular debt maturity changes were being undertaken. This study finds that sufficiently large debt maturity changes can affect the yield curve both directly and through the expectations-formulation mechanism. The evidence of direct effects is in agreement with that found by Modigliani and Sutch in a postwar test of the model. The evidence that debt maturity changes affect expectations is consistent with growing evidence on how expectations are formulated.
Golomb rectangles as folded rulers

A correspondence between two-dimensional Golomb rectangles and one-dimensional Golomb rulers is given. Results are translated from rulers to rectangles. The extension of these results to an arbitrary number of dimensions is given. A new bound is developed on the number of ones in a Golomb array of any dimension. Some new optimum Golomb squares, rectangles, and higher dimensional arrays are given.
Calendaring for wide area networks

Datacenter WAN traffic consists of high priority transfers that have to be carried as soon as they arrive alongside large transfers with pre-assigned deadlines on their completion (ranging from minutes to hours). The ability to offer guarantees to large transfers is crucial for business needs and impacts overall cost-of-business. State-of-the-art traffic engineering solutions only consider the current time epoch and hence cannot provide pre-facto promises for long-lived transfers. We present Tempus, an online traffic engineering scheme that exploits information on transfer size and deadlines to appropriately pack long-running transfers across network paths and time, thereby leaving enough capacity slack for future high-priority requests. Tempus builds on a tailored approximate solution to a mixed packing-covering linear program, which is parallelizable and scales well in both running time and memory usage. Consequently, Tempus is able to quickly and effectively update its solution when new transfers arrive or unexpected changes happen. These updates involve only small edits to existing transfers. Therefore, as experiments on traces from a large production WAN show, Tempus can offer and keep promises to long-lived transfers well in advance of their actual deadline; the promise on minimal transfer size is comparable with an offline optimal solution and outperforms state-of-the-art solutions by 2-3X.
A Journal-Neutral Ratio for Marketing Faculty Scholarship Assessment

This article proposes a journal-neutral Publication to Citation Ratio (PCR) to complement qualitative methods to evaluate a marketing educator’s scholarship for reappointment, promotion, tenure, and post-tenure review (RPTP) decisions. We empirically establish a minimum time period to evaluate scholarship data, then benchmark publication and citation counts from a sample of 270 marketing educators. The purpose is to equally represent the academic ranks and business school emphasis (teaching to research intensive) to describe “how much scholarship is good enough.” Discussion includes significant findings useful for RPTP decisions.
Estimating the effect of discretionary spending on corruption: evidence from Brazilian municipalities

This paper analyzes the relationship between discretion of public spending and corruption in answering to the following research question: tighter procurement rules, as a proxy to discretion in spending, result in lower prevalence of corruption in Brazilian municipalities? The empirical strategy conducted here draws from a two-stage least squares (2SLS) regression approach locally estimated in each cutoff of procurement categories. Results show, however, that lower discretion is associated with higher corruption prevalence to most cutoffs of Law 8.666/93 in both purchases and works subgroups.
The diagnosis of adult-onset haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis: lessons learned from a review of 29 cases of bone marrow haemophagocytosis in two large academic institutions

Aims Haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is divided into paediatric (primary) and adult (secondary) types. While paediatric-HLH has been extensively characterised, similar studies in adults are limited. This study aims to evaluate the significance of the HLH diagnostic criteria as well as other clinical parameters in adults with bone marrow evidence of haemophagocytosis. Methods We conducted a 10-year retrospective search of the pathology archives of two institutions for cases with bone marrow haemophagocytosis. We included those cases that fulfilled the currently established HLH diagnostic criteria. For the 29 cases that met inclusion criteria, we assessed clinical features, co-morbidities, therapy and clinical outcome. The effect of 19 clinical variables on mortality outcomes was assessed using logistic and hazard regression analyses. Results Of cases for which an aetiology could be identified, infectious diseases were the most common association (14 of 19, 74%). Fever and elevated ferritin were the most frequently available criteria used to establish HLH. The overall mortality rate was 61% despite HLH-specific therapy, which had been initiated in 48% of the cases. The remaining cases were treated with supportive therapy and antibiotics. The most statistically significant marker of mortality was an elevated absolute neutrophil count (ANC), a feature not typical of HLH. Conclusions Since elevated ANC correlates with poor outcomes in sepsis, and not HLH, we postulate that many of the patients fulfilling HLH diagnostic criteria in this study likely had sepsis/systemic inflammatory response syndrome rather than HLH. Our results highlight the need to define HLH diagnostic criteria specific to the adult population.
Nuclear pairing gap: how low can it go?

The pairing gap for $^{53}\mathrm{Ca}$ obtained from new experimental data on the masses of $^{52--54}\mathrm{Ca}$ has the smallest value yet observed. This is explained in the framework of the nuclear shell model with schematic and realistic Hamiltonians as being due to shell gaps around the low-$j$ orbital $1{p}_{1/2}$. Minima in the pairing gaps for all nuclei are shown and discussed.
The Relationship between Crash Rates and Drivers' Hazard Assessments Using the Connecticut Photolog

Previous research into drivers' ability to assess road hazards has focused on experimenter, or expert, defined hazards. The present study attempted to use a more objective definition of hazard by comparing drivers' ratings of hazard for a series of road segments with the actual crash rates for those segments. Forty-one transportation professionals (operationally defined as “Experts”) and 38 undergraduate students (“Novices”) participated. A personal computer was used to display 24 randomly selected road segments from the 1994 Connecticut Photolog to participants, who then responded to a 6-item hazard perception survey (based on Groeger & Chapman, 1996). A Mann-Whitney U analysis indicated that the correlations between drivers' perceptions of hazard and actual crash rates were significantly higher for Experts than for Novices. Implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.
Preparation of regional maps showing natural and man-made geologic hazards

Geologic hazards are those natural geologic processes or man-made geologic conditions that represent a present-day or future hazard to man's life, health, or property. Planning for development of a region requires a thorough study of all the geologic hazards and an assessment of their potential impact upon proposed land uses. A program is now under way in the State of Oklahoma to prepare a series of regional maps showing geologic hazards. Data are compiled from all available sources onto large-scale base maps and aerial photographs, and these data then are transferred to, and published on, regional maps, normally at scales of 1∶250,000 to 1∶750,000. Natural geologic hazards important in Oklahoma include earthquakes, landslides, expansive soils, floods, karst terrain, and salt dissolution. Man-made geologic hazards important in Oklahoma include underground mining, strip mining, and disposal of industrial wastes.
Political Order in Ordo Salutis: A Wesleyan Theory of Political Institutions

Any attempt by persons in the Wesleyan tradition to develop a political ethic out of their own theological sources is bound to be bur dened and frustrated by the unrepentantly undemocratic character of John Wesley's political thought. It might help to point out that Wesley was a vigorous defender of individual liberties, that he was a constitu tionalist rather than simply a "monarchist" (however he might define himself), that he certainly was no political absolutist, and that he should not be labeled a 'Tory" without further qualification.1 But these signif icant acknowledgments cannot erase or neutralize the facts that Wesley repudiated republicanism, refuted—to his own satisfaction—the Lock ean contractual theory of the origin of government and political author ity, argued that power descended from above, and considered the common people unfit to participate in politics.2 These points of resist
Quality Teaching as Moral Practice: Cultivating Practical Wisdom

To engage in quality teaching, requires more than just technical skills; it requires the moral capacities to achieve worthwhile aims. We posit teachers need “practical wisdom,” which cultivates teachers’ capacities to conduct themselves purposefully in the moment-to-moment episodes of human interaction by discerning the most useful questions to ask and to employ the most effective techniques to achieve intended aims. Teacher education, then, must nurture the teacher’s ability to discern both what to do and what is worth doing. This is a developmental moral practice, developed over time and situated in the contexts and dilemmas teachers find themselves in.
The "fakeability" of the attitudes toward disabled persons scale: form B.

The purpose of this study was to provide evidence for or against the "fakeability" of the Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons Scale: Form B. Form B of the Scale was administered to 25 women, between the ages of 19 and 24, studying at a midwestern university. Seven days later, the subjects retook the test and were instructed to fake their answers so that they would receive a higher score. The difference between the true scores and the fake scores were not found to be significant, and it was concluded that the Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons Scale: Form B is not "fakeable."
Etiology of Leukemia in Children with Down Syndrome

Down syndrome (DS) or trisomy 21 is the most common congenital genetic abnormality in the United States, and affected individuals have a unique predisposition to develop acute leukemias early in life. It is estimated that children with DS have a 40- and 150-fold increased risk of developing acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML), respectively. The increase in leukemia risk is likely caused by endogenous alterations of genetic factors, including imbalances in chromosome 21-localized genes and altered biochemical pathways in DS cells. The hallmark features of DS-AML include the early development of a precursor disorder known as transient abnormal myelopoiesis (TAM), which clinically resembles AML but is transient in nature, and the presence of GATA1 (Xp11.23) mutations, which are detectable in the majority of TAM and DS-AML cases. On the other hand, DS-ALL leukemogenesis is linked to alterations in the CRLF2 gene and associated mutations affecting pathways involving either the JAK2 or RAS genes. In this chapter we review current concepts of mechanisms leading to mutagenesis and leukemia in DS.
EUS-guided portal pressure gradient measurement with a simple novel device: a human pilot study.

Background and Aims Portal hypertension (PH) is a serious adverse event of liver cirrhosis. The hepatic venous pressure gradient or portal pressure gradient (PPG) accurately reflects the degree of PH and is the single best prognostic indicator in liver disease. This is usually obtained by interventional radiology (IR), although it is not routinely performed. Recently, we developed a simple novel technique for EUS-guided PPG measurement (PPGM). Our animal studies showed excellent correlation between EUS-PPGM and IR-PPGM. We present the first human pilot study of EUS-PPGM in patients with liver disease. Methods EUS-PPGM was performed by experienced endosonographers using a linear echoendoscope, a 25-gauge fine-needle aspiration needle, and a novel compact manometer. The portal vein and hepatic vein (or inferior vena cava) were targeted using a transgastric–transduodenal approach. Clinical parameters of PH were evaluated in each patient. Feasibility was defined as successful PPGM in each patient. Safety was based on adverse events captured in a postprocedural interview. Results Twenty-eight patients underwent EUS-PPGM with 100% technical success and no adverse events. PPG ranged from 1.5 to 19 mm Hg and had excellent correlation with clinical parameters of portal hypertension including the presence of varices ( P = .0002), PH gastropathy ( P = .007), and thrombocytopenia ( P = .036). PPG was increased in patients with high clinical evidence of cirrhosis ( P = .005). Conclusion This novel technique of EUS-PPGM using a 25-gauge needle and compact manometer is feasible and appears safe. Given the availability of EUS and the simplicity of the manometry setup, EUS-guided PPG may represent a promising breakthrough for procuring indispensable information in the management of patients with liver disease.
Use of Orthogonal Factors for Selection of Variables in a Regression Equation-An Illustration

SUMMARY Selection of explanatory variables in the regression equation has been a prime problem in constructing a prediction equation. This paper describes and gives an illustration of a selection technique which makes use of the orthogonality among factors extracted from the correlation matrix. Using the factors not as new variables, but merely as the reference frame, we can identify a near orthogonal subset of explanatory variables. It is indicated that this approach provides the model builder with the flexibility that is not available in the conventional, purely mechanical, selection methods. SELECTION of explanatory variables in multiple regression analysis has been a prime problem in the analysis of unplanned data. The interdependency among the explanatory variables makes it difficult to determine empirically the contribution of each independent variable to the observed variation of the dependent variable. Various alternative selection techniques have been proposed, but the criterion employed in each technique seems quite arbitrary and is known to provide different solutions for the same problem (Draper and Smith, 1966, p. 163). Attempts to include more variables in the equation are often frustrated by near singularity of the normal equation system, and make estimates of regression coefficients highly sensitive to small changes in the original data. Resulting equations often contain coefficients with theoretically incorrect signs restricting the use of the equation as a functional relationship explaining the system under study. This paper describes an approach to the problem of selection of variables in regression analysis. This method purports to come up with a prediction equation in accordance with the principle of parsimony in terms of minimum interdependency among variables. The technique can be viewed as a use of the principal components regression proposed by Kendall (1957). In the procedure to be described, however, we make use of orthogonality among components, using the components not as new variables but merely as the reference frame to identify a near orthogonal subset of explanatory variables. Selection of such variables minimizes overlapping of information supplied by explanatory variables in the regression.
Regulating Debt Collection

Debt collection. It often starts as a late night call carrying threats of being thrown in prison, ruin at the workplace, and trouble for the family unless you pay up. While the law actually prohibits some of these tactics, most consumers do not know their legal rights, which leave much to be desired, or fail to exercise them when faced with the harassing practices of some debt collectors. Moreover, the debt collection industry as a whole — both massive and sophisticated — lacks the incentives to self-police or internally punish bad actors. In July 2016 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a proposal aimed at overhauling the entire debt collection industry — both as to how collectors interact with consumers and how debts are bought and sold. Consumer protection groups have lauded the new rules as a win for average Americans, while consumer credit firms caution that some of the provisions go too far and risk crippling the collection industry, which would have an adverse effect on the ability of people to obtain the type of everyday credit that makes the wheels of the economy turn. This Article explores the proposed rules and critiques the places where they fall short or go too far, as well as considers future developments and issues that will arise from their enactment.
Testing self-energy embedding theory in combination with GW

We present a theoretical framework and implementation details for self-energy embedding theory (SEET) with the GW approximation for the treatment of weakly correlated degrees of freedom and configuration interactions solver for handing the strongly correlated degrees. On a series of molecular examples, for which the exact results are known within a given basis, we demonstrate that SEET(CI/GW) is a systematically improvable and well controlled method capable of giving accurate results and well behaved causal self-energies and Green's functions. We compare the theoretical framework of SEET(CI/GW) to that of GW+DMFT and comment on differences between these to approaches that aim to treat both strongly and weakly correlated simultaneously.
Towards Analyzing MongoDB NoSQL Security and Designing Injection Defense Solution

An increasing number of people and companies have started to use NoSQL database for data management and database design. It has efficient and powerful functions for big data while doing analysis and generalization. In today's world, tons of data need to be stored and executed every second, which possibly brings malicious information into the databases. NoSQL databases, similarly to SQL databases, can be hacked, injected with malicious codes, or even destroyed, thus security has been a critical issue for big data analysis using NoSQL databases. In this paper, we analyze the malicious injection in NoSQL databases and propose defense approaches by the utilization of JavaScript and HTTP. MongoDB is one of the most stable and secure NoSQL databases among all NoSQL databases. We demonstrate server-side JavaScript and HTTP injection attacks and propose defense measures to promote the security of MongoDB, which will help NoSQL databases programmers and designers be aware of injection mechanism and build a more secure data environment.
Confounding in Observational Studies using Standardized Test Data: Careful Disentanglement of Statistical Interpretations and Explanations

Standardized testing of public school students has been, and continues to be, a focal point of the political side of education reform. The use of standardized test results to set policies and identify problem schools requires some understanding of what factors contribute to high or low overall scores. Many large datasets at the state and national levels contain information about mean scores (i.e., average class size, poverty level, teacher salary, etc.); it is tempting to create statistical models, draw cause-and-effect conclusions, and perhaps set policy based on statistically significant relationships observed in these data; for example, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP, US National Center for Education Statistics, n.d.); Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center, n.d.); Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, n.d.). However, many examples of confounding, that is, the apparent associations between the variables that change depending on which covariates are selected, can be found in these associations. In this chapter, some results using standardized testing data are presented, which demonstrate by example the difficulties inherent in making conclusions or comparisons based on observational data and disentangling second- and third-order influences on these relationships. First, some statistical terminology is reviewed, and some simplified, fabricated examples are presented to illustrate concepts. Next, a dataset containing scores for the Illinois Standardized Achievement Test (ISAT, Illinois State Board of Education, n.d.), taken by Grade 8 students in Illinois public schools, is used to demonstrate confounding relationships. Finally, the Scholastic Achievement Test (SAT, College Board, n.d.) scores by state are used to show some misleading rankings of states’ average scores.
Insurer's Tort Liability for Issuing Policy without Insurable Interest--A Comment

The rule which requires an insurable interest in the object or person insured has more often than not been a benefit to the insurer than to the insured. It is the insurer who raises it in defense to an action to recover the proceeds, and who escapes liability if it is shown lacking.l Not even a waiver of the requirement may be proved against the insurer.2 And not infrequently the insurer is permitted to keep the premiums collected on the policy.3 The want of insurable interest usually has been a matter of importance when a contractual obligation between the parties to the policy was being contested. Never until recently was it used to undergird a tort action against an insurance carrier. Thus it is of special interest that the first attempt to take the ingredient of insurable interest out of its contractual context and employ it in support of a tort action was successful. The case in mind is Liberty Nat'l. Life Ins. Co. v. Weldon.4 An aunt purchased from the three defendant insurers separate policies on the life of her niece, naming herself as the beneficiary of the policies. Alabama law did not recognize an insurable interest in the aunt-niece relationship per se.s There being no financial interest in the continuance of the child's life, she neither living with nor being supported by the aunt, the latter was totally lacking in insurable interest. The policies were, therefore, void and unenforceable, a point conceded by all parties. The aunt then murdered the niece by feeding her arsenic. The aunt was executed. A wrongful death action6 against the insurers was subsequently instituted by the father of the child, who predicated the case on the proposition that the acts of issuing
Outer ear construction: is advocacy part of treatment?

The author explains why ear reconstruction is not enhancement surgery, and argues that the American system of health care reimbursement sometimes makes advocating for reimbursement part of treatment. Virtual Mentor is a monthly bioethics journal published by the American Medical Association.
Research on Computer Supported Cooperative Work

Publisher Summary Computer supported cooperative work (CSCW) is the name of the research area that studies the use of computing and communication technologies to support group and organizational activity. CSCW as a field has emerged more recently than human-computer interaction and therefore, in many ways, is less mature. The field of CSCW has mostly been at the stage of building point systems. Proponents of user-centered design argue that an understanding of the work situation, the group members, and the task specifics is critical for designing new systems. This is difficult when the antecedent knowledge is missing. One reason for this state of affairs is that the prerequisite understanding of groups and organizations is itself only just emerging. As a result, a considerable amount of research that appears under the rubric of CSCW is basic research about the nature of groups, organizations, and work. But, trial and error from creative system builders is too slow a discovery process. This chapter reviews CSCW research. The chapter begins by describing some of the methods and issues involved in CSCW research. It considers a conceptual perspective that provides a framework for describing the human use of CSCW systems. It also presents a brief survey of recent research results. Finally, the chapter discusses some general research issues for the future.