cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
When Elites Wage War: Violence and Social Coercion Along the Chaco Meridian

Chaco Canyon, Aztec Ruins, and Paquime represent large, complex, and some suggest sequential sites in the prehistoric Greater Southwest. Chaco Canyon and Paquime, in particular, were both characterized by architectural complexity, an impressive range of material culture, increasing population size and an influx of migrants during the peak of their populations. Despite this, skeletal evidence suggests that there was also an increase in strife, inequality, and violence. This has been attributed to a ruling class of high status individuals or elites who needed to use increasingly violent forms of social coercion to maintain control. The presence of these elites has been account for at each of these three sites, as has the evidence of their violent control. Despite this, Chaco Canyon has often times been considered to be a relatively “peaceful” period in prehistory though analysis of skeletal remains suggests otherwise. Paquime, however, has been considered a very violent place, with evidence of endemic warfare and violent throughout its occupation. Analysis of the skeletal remains from these three sites suggests that women and children were not buffered from this violence and trauma. A high level of malnutrition among nonelite individuals was present at Chaco Canyon, as is levels of nonlethal violence, despite its supposedly peaceful nature. Malnutrition and nonlethal trauma among nonelites was found at Aztec Ruins as well. At Paquime, there is evidence of malnutrition among nonelites, as well as evidence that elite individuals were targeting nonelite women and children for sacrifice.
Valuing Highly Profitable Sports Franchises – A Hybrid Income and Market Approach

What if a zero-income NBA franchise only had sportsmen ownership value (utility value) because it consistently produced zero profit? If so, then a Hybrid Income and Market Approach method that adjusts for the weaknesses in the comparables would take the $320 million as the zero-profit value of owning an NBA franchise (because of the utility value of owning it) and add to it the capitalization of earnings value of the $50 million in income (which is just a purely financial value of owning a franchise, the same as owning a black box that produces $50 million each year). At a discount rate of 9% and annual growth rate in earnings of 3%, this implies an “income-driven” value of $833 million which would be added to the utility value of $320 million to get $1.15 billion in value (this is a simplification given that no other adjustments have been made).
Next-Generation Sequencing for the Diagnosis of Monogenic Disorders of Insulin Secretion

Studies of monogenic disorders of β-cell function have led to a greater understanding of the β-cell physiology and have improved the diagnosis and treatment of patients with these rare conditions. These disorders include single-gene defects associated with increased insulin secretion, causing hypoglycemia, and decreased insulin secretion, resulting in diabetes.
Vocabulary Facilitates Speech Perception in Children with Hearing Aids

Purpose We examined the effects of vocabulary, lexical characteristics (age of acquisition and phonotactic probability), and auditory access (aided audibility and daily hearing aid [HA] use) on spe...
You get what you pay for: agency resources and local economic development policies

This paper examines the relationship between and the effects of resource allocation and levels of professionalism on local economic development policies and strategies. In short, it asks a basic question; do cities get what they pay for in terms of economic development? A value judgment is, of course, inherent in this question; "what you pay for" serves as a euphemism for "good" economic development programs and policies. That is, if a local government devotes more budget and staff resources toward economic development, is the city more likely to implement effective economic development policies? Thus, this research examines the relationship between the resources and the professionalism of the local economic development agency, and the corresponding economic development goals and techniques employed in those communities.
Large volume syringe pump extruder for desktop 3D printers

Syringe pump extruders are required for a wide range of 3D printing applications, including bioprinting, embedded printing, and food printing. However, the mass of the syringe becomes a major challenge for most printing platforms, requiring compromises in speed, resolution and/or volume. To address these issues, we have designed a syringe pump large volume extruder (LVE) that is compatible with low-cost, open source 3D printers, and herein demonstrate its performance on a PrintrBot Simple Metal. Key aspects of the LVE include: (1) it is open source and compatible with open source hardware and software, making it inexpensive and widely accessible to the 3D printing community, (2) it utilizes a standard 60 mL syringe as its ink reservoir, effectively increasing print volume of the average bioprinter, (3) it is capable of retraction and high speed movements, and (4) it can print fluids using nozzle diameters as small as 100 µm, enabling the printing of complex shapes/objects when used in conjunction with the freeform reversible embedding of suspended hydrogels (FRESH) 3D printing method. Printing performance of the LVE is demonstrated by utilizing alginate as a model biomaterial ink to fabricate parametric CAD models and standard calibration objects.
Fine structure of the astrocyte-like neuroglial cell in the planarian Dugesia dorotocephala

Astrocyte-like neuroglial cells in the planarian central nervous system were studied by electron microscopy. The neuroglial cell observed in Dugesia dorotocephala is multipolar, extending 3 or 4 major cytoplasmic processes, each with many smaller daughter branches. The nucleus is often irregular, which seems to be related to the terminals of the cytoplasmic processes. Many glycogen granules, mitochondria, granular endoplasmic reticulum, lysosomes and phagosomes are characteristically observed in the cytoplasm of the neuroglial cells. Within phagosomes, debris of nerve or neurosecretory fibers appear in various degrees of disintegration. These neuroglial cells are closely associated with bundles of nerve fibers, nerve cells, neurosecretory cells, muscle fibers and other neuroglial cells. They also form gap junctions with each other in a manner similar to astrocytes of higher animals. A comparison of the planarian neuroglial cell with the migratory, phagocytic reticular cell reveals several similarities but also some important differences. That is, both cells have functions of phagocytosis, nutrient transportation and junctional communication, but their shapes and locations as well as phagocytized material are different from each other. From an evolutionary point of view, these observations suggest that the planarian neuroglial cell is not merely a reticular cell that has migrated from the mesenchyme, but represents a distinct cell type; e.g. a primitive astrocyte that transports nutrients for neurons and phagocytizes degenerating neurons, in addition to its role as a supporting element of the central nervous system.
The Role of Surface Contaminants in the Solid-State Welding of Metals

Although no unified theory of solid state welding has been developed, the generally agreed upon requisite for producing a solid state weld is that metallic surfaces must be brought sufficiently close together that short-range interatomic attractive forces operate. In general, this involves both (1) intimate mating of surfaces and (2) removal of surface barriers to atomic bonding.
Strivers 2.0: Digital Inequalities, Channel Preferences, & Opportunity Structures

This article begins to shed light on how information capital informs the use of new media for information seeking and evaluation. Drawing on material culled from focus group interviews with high school students in an agricultural region of California, this article examines highly motivated information seekers called “Strivers.” Strivers are committed to academic excellence in preparation for college. However, while they share the same goals, not all Strivers have access to the same informational resources. Access to new media, traditional media, and social networks all contribute to Strivers’ information capital, which in turn informs their encounters with information in online venues. To reveal the deep and deleterious impact of informational inequality as it relates to digital inequality, Strivers are examined in light of their normative access to informational resources. Analysis reveals that Strivers’ use of new media is alternately enhanced or diminished by access to other informational resources used in tandem with digital technologies. Most important, the article reveals that information capital is critical to the development of strategies towards online information seeking and information evaluation. Further, multi-channel information strategies are ultimately internalized by MCIS Agentic Strivers as the ability to evaluate information as experts. By contrast, ERIS Dependent Strivers internalize educator-reliant strategies as necessary to validate information with expert opinions other than their own.
Visual tracking of resident space objects via an RFS-based multi-Bernoulli track-before-detect method

In this paper, we propose a fast and reliable track-before-detect approach to simultaneously detect, track, and identify an unknown and variable number of resident space objects (RSOs) without any prior information and any explicit detection, which leads to better space domain awareness. Specifically, we use the point spread function concept to propose a separable likelihood function as the observation model in the random finite set-based multi-Bernoulli filtering framework. This framework clearly distinguishes RSOs from any counterfeit objects and detects and tracks them immediately after their respective appearance in background cluttered telescope imagery data. The extensive experimental results on the TAOS dataset demonstrate the robustness of the proposed method in detecting and tracking RSOs with the average optimal subpattern assignment localization error less than 2 pixels in image sequences with the signal to noise ratio as low as 9 dB and under the conditions of varying illumination and occlusion.
Lines of Advance in Treating People of Color with Borderline Personality Disorder: Alloying the “gold” of Vocational Rehabilitation with the “Copper” of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

AbstractPeople of color with borderline personality disorder (PoCwBPD), in particular African-Americans and Latinxs in the inner city, present a special population at risk for unemployment and long...
A simple protective housing for hung framed artworks

The following is a quick and simple Archival Fluted Board four-flap housing designed to protect framed artworks from the ingress of light and dust and from physical damage when stored on vertical a...
Bioengineering in women's health, volume 2: pregnancy—from implantation to parturition

This special issue of Interface Focus is the second of two sets of articles on the topic of bioengineering in women's health. This second issue in the series focuses on pregnancy, a dynamic time in...
2912 Quality of Life Following Hysterectomy: A Randomized Clinical Trial of Laparoscopic vs Abdominal Hysterectomy

Study Objective To compare long-term quality of life outcomes of patients undergoing laparoscopic vs. abdominal hysterectomy for non-cancerous gynecologic conditions. Design Randomized controlled trial. Setting Academic teaching hospital. Patients or Participants All patients undergoing hysterectomy from the benign gynecology service with clinical uterine size Interventions Women were randomized to laparoscopic (TLH or LAVH) or abdominal (TAH) hysterectomy with evaluation of clinical and patient reported outcomes (PROs) using validated questionnaires including quality of life (SF12), body image (BIS), sexual functioning (SAQ), and physical activity (AAS) measured at baseline, hospital discharge, 2 weeks, 6 weeks, 6 months and 12 months postoperatively. Measurements and Main Results 94 patients underwent abdominal (48) or laparoscopic (46) hysterectomy. There were no differences in demographics including median age, BMI, race, comorbidities or surgical indication. There were no significant differences in operative time, estimated blood loss, uterine weight, surgical complications, nor Clavien-Dindo grade. PROs were systematically collected with 95% completing follow up to 12 months. Conclusion Comparisons of clinical outcomes after laparoscopic vs. abdominal hysterectomy are well-documented and our study affirms these findings of diminished pain, shorter hospital stay and earlier return to activities after laparoscopic hysterectomy. This study demonstrates overall quality of life improves up to 1 year after hysterectomy, regardless of route, but is significantly better in patients undergoing laparoscopic hysterectomy as early as 2 weeks postoperatively. Body image improves after either type of hysterectomy and is more dramatically improved after laparoscopic hysterectomy as early as 6 weeks postoperatively. Compared to abdominal hysterectomy, sexual functioning is significantly better after laparoscopic hysterectomy and continues to be better up to 12 months postoperatively. PROs of quality of life, pain, body image, physical activity, and sexual functioning improve after hysterectomy regardless of route of surgery; for several outcomes, laparoscopic hysterectomy confers earlier, and more substantial, improvements over abdominal hysterectomy.
Impaired neural differentiation and glymphatic CSF flow in the Ccdc39 rat model of neonatal hydrocephalus: genetic interaction with L1cam.

Neonatal hydrocephalus affects about one child per 1000 births and is a major congenital brain abnormality. We previously discovered a gene mutation within the coiled-coil domain-containing 39 (Ccdc39) gene, which causes the progressive hydrocephalus (prh) phenotype in mice due to lack of ependymal-cilia-mediated cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) flow. In this study, we used CRISPR/Cas9 to introduce the Ccdc39 gene mutation into rats, which are more suitable for imaging and surgical experiments. The Ccdc39prh/prh mutants exhibited mild ventriculomegaly at postnatal day (P)5 that progressed into severe hydrocephalus by P11 (P<0.001). After P11, macrophage and neutrophil invasion along with subarachnoid hemorrhage were observed in mutant brains showing reduced neurofilament density, hypomyelination and increased cell death signals compared with wild-type brains. Significantly more macrophages entered the brain parenchyma at P5 before hemorrhaging was noted and increased expression of a pro-inflammatory factor (monocyte chemoattractant protein-1) was found in the cortical neural and endothelial cells in the mutant brains at P11. Glymphatic-mediated CSF circulation was progressively impaired along the middle cerebral artery from P11 as mutants developed severe hydrocephalus (P<0.001). In addition, Ccdc39prh/prh mutants with L1 cell adhesion molecule (L1cam) gene mutation, which causes X-linked human congenital hydrocephalus, showed an accelerated early hydrocephalus phenotype (P<0.05-0.01). Our findings in Ccdc39prh/prh mutant rats demonstrate a possible causal role of neuroinflammation in neonatal hydrocephalus development, which involves impaired cortical development and glymphatic CSF flow. Improved understanding of inflammatory responses and the glymphatic system in neonatal hydrocephalus could lead to new therapeutic strategies for this condition.This article has an associated First Person interview with the joint first authors of the paper.
11 – Human Subjects

Publisher Summary Section e of the PHS 398 Research Plan concerns research that involves human subjects. Such research is subject to a number of federal regulations. The Office for Human Research Protections in the US Department of Health and Human Services administers the procedures for Federal-wide Assurance of Protection for Human Subjects, and the rules and regulations for Institutional Human Subjects Review Boards. If individual's research includes human subjects or human materials, one must become familiar with all of the rules and regulations. These are included in the latest PHS 398 Instructions. In addition, one must certify that researcher and project staff have completed the “required education in the protection of human research participants.” Multiple items are listed for response in section e of the research plan provides a table to guide through the level of detail required for each of a number of scenarios. This section has no page limitation. For most proposals, the material in section e is only a summary that is largely for clerical purposes; it should not exceed one-half page in length unless there is a special issue.
Do empirical observations support commonly-held climate change range shift hypotheses? A systematic review protocol

Among the most widely anticipated climate-related impacts to biodiversity are geographic range shifts, whereby species shift their spatial distribution in response to changing climate conditions. In particular, a series of commonly articulated hypotheses have emerged: species are expected to shift their distributions to higher latitudes, greater elevations, and deeper depths in response to climate change, reflecting an underlying hypothesis that species will move to cooler locations to track spatial changes in the temperature of their current range. Yet, many species are not demonstrating range shifts consistent with these hypotheses. Resolving this discrepancy and providing effective explanations for the observed variability in species’ range shifts is urgently needed to help support a range of natural resource management decisions. Here, we propose a protocol to review the body of evidence for commonly-held climate change range shift hypotheses at the species level focusing on observed latitudinal, longitudinal, elevational, and depth shifts in response to temperature and precipitation changes. We aim to answer the question: what is the impact of anthropogenic climate change (specifically changes in temperature and precipitation) on species ranges? In this review protocol, we propose to conduct a systematic search of literature from internet databases and search engines in English. Articles will be screened in a two-stage process (title/abstract and full text) to evaluate whether they meet a list of eligibility criteria (e.g., presents species-level data, compares > 1 time period). Initial data coding and extraction will be completed by four reviewers and checked by a secondary reviewer from among our co-authors. We will perform a formal meta-analysis to document estimated effect size using the subset of available range-shift data expressed in distance per time (e.g., km/decade). We will also use multinomial logistic regression models to assess the probability that species are shifting in a direction that supports our hypotheses (i.e. towards higher latitudes, greater elevations, and deeper depths). We will account for study methodology as a potential source of variation.
Windows of sensitivity to toxic chemicals in the development of the endocrine system: an analysis of ATSDR's toxicological profile database.

This review utilizes the robust database of literature contained in toxicological profiles developed by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. The aim was to use this database to ide...
Histologic comparison in two Doberman pinschers with a dilated cardiomyopathy phenotype.

Abstract Idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a common acquired cardiac disease in large breed dogs with a high prevalence in Doberman pinschers. It is characterized histologically by attenuated wavy fibers and fatty infiltration with degeneration. The phenotypic appearance of DCM includes ventricular dilation with systolic dysfunction and ventricular arrhythmias. These changes can be caused by other etiologies, including infectious, toxic, metabolic, and nutritional deficiencies. Chagas disease is the result of an infection with the protozoal parasite, Trypanosoma cruzi, transmitted by an insect vector. Histopathology of the myocardium is characterized by inflammation, fibrosis, and pseudocysts containing T. cruzi amastigotes. Differentiating idiopathic DCM from infectious myocarditis can be challenging when the clinical presentation and diagnostic test results are similar in affected dogs. We present thoracic radiographs, echocardiography, and post-mortem histopathology images obtained from two Doberman pinschers with similar signalment, clinical presentation, and electrocardiographic and echocardiographic appearance but with different appearing radiographs and different etiologies for their heart disease, one with idiopathic DCM and one with myocarditis attributed to Chagas disease, to highlight the value of considering alternative etiologies for DCM to guide additional clinical evaluation and owner counseling.
Use of 3D Printed Models to Determine Accurate Bone Cuts during a Periacetabular Osteotomy for Developmental Hip Dysplasia

The periacetabular osteotomy (PAO) is a powerful tool to delay the progression of hip arthritis by reorienting the acetabulum. This study aimed to use three-dimensional (3D)-printed models of the pelvis, reconstructed from the computed tomography (CT) scans of patients, to model how the level of dysplasia and its location ilium osteotomy affect radiographic outcomes following PAO. This pilot study aims to determine if preoperative 3D printing/planning can assist in predicting radiographic outcomes. We performed a retrospective review of five patients with differing levels of hip dysplasia for whom we had obtained CT scans before PAO surgery. For each patient, we printed two pelvis models that would undergo standardized cuts of the PAO procedure, with variations only in the distance of the ilium start point (one-third of the distance between the anterior superior iliac spine and anterior inferior iliac spine [AIIS] vs. two-thirds of the distance). We then mobilized the acetabular fragment into eight reproducible positions in space by moving the ilium cut a combination of 0, 1, or 2 cm anterior/lateral. Each position of the newly realigned acetabula was examined under fluoroscopy to obtain a standardized anteroposterior view, and to obtain standardized radiographic measurements in the form of lateral center edge angle (CEA), acetabular depth, Tonnis angle, and acetabular inclination. We performed 80 simulations of the PAO with varying degrees of acetabular mobilization. On average, in the models where the supra-acetabular cut was closer to the AIIS, we found more significant degrees of radiographic correction, regarding Tonnis angles (12.91 vs. 7.95, p = 0.0175), acetabular inclination (20.25 vs. 9.875, p = 0.027), and lateral CEA (11.75 vs. 2.5, p = 0.061). Patients who had greater dysplasia also had more significant degrees of radiographic Tonnis angle correction with the same mobilization movements of the acetabula (p = 0.005). When utilizing 3D printing to model PAO in dysplasia pelvises, we found that both a higher level of preoperative dysplasia and starting the supra-acetabular osteotomy closer to the AIIS were associated with more powerful corrections following smaller manipulations.
Reducing forecasting error by optimally pooling wind energy generation sources through portfolio optimization

Abstract Generation variability is generally accepted as one of the key challenges in enabling wider penetration of renewable energy sources in general, and wind energy in particular. It is widely documented that it is often possible to reduce the severity of generation intermittency by pooling together generation from geographically (or technologically) diverse sources. This paper aims at evaluating the potential for a similar approach targeted at addressing the related issue of limited predictability of wind energy generation. Specifically, a portfolio optimization model for intelligently constructing a wind energy portfolio for a given harvesting region with the goal of reducing the prediction error is proposed. The mathematical model, based on Conditional Value-at-Risk (CVaR) optimization methodology, is used to evaluate potential improvement in (day ahead) generation predictability for a collection of locations in the USA. The study concludes that pooling indeed can significantly reduce wind energy generation forecasting error, with the effect largely dependent on the size of the harvesting region. Further, if advanced optimization techniques are used, it is possible to balance this reduction with average generation output. Consequently, the results imply that the positive effect of pooling diverse wind resources can be an important factor in planning for generation expansion projects.
Evaluation of Pork Production Contracts

Pork production occurs under numerous forms of organizational structures ranging from sole proprietorship, where one individual provides the necessary capital and bears all risks, to those where multiple individuals and/or entities pool resources such as labor, capital, and management and risk sharing. One organizational method which has received an increased focus in recent years is contracting. Contract production is an arrangement which blends the various production resources and parties and spells out the division of responsibilities for supplying those resources (i.e., capital, labor, management). To effectively evaluate contract production arrangements it is necessary to compare the responsibilities and resources provided by each party with the respective expected returns
Molecular Hydrogen Formation in the Early Universe: New Implications From Laboratory Measurements

Author Institution: Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA; Charles University Prague, Faculty of Mathematics and; Physics, Institute of Theoretical Physics, 180 00 Praha 8, Czech Republic; Zentrum fur Astronomie der Universitat Heidelberg, Institut fur Theoretische Astrophysik, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany; Department of Physics/PAMO, Universite Catholique; de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve B-1348, Belgium
A low-voltage metal-programmable SRAM compiler for gate array

A faster and more area efficient metal-programmable SRAM compiler for a 3.3 V 0.65 mu m effective CMOS sea-of-gates (SOG) array has been designed. A base cell, optimized for memory, features reduced bit and word-line parasitics in order to improve speed and provide high density SRAMs for ASIC applications. >
ABSORPTIVE AND DIGESTIVE FUNCTION OF THE JEJUNUM AFTER JEJUNOILEAL BYPASS FOR TREATMENT OF HUMAN OBESITY

Abstract Rates of absorption of leucine, glycylleucine, and glucose, and rates of hydrolysis of maltose were determined in the jejunum of a group of obese persons before and at intervals (between 2 and 20 months) after jejunoileal bypass for the treatment of obesity. The leucine absorption rate was significantly reduced after the bypass, but the absorption rates of glycylleucine and glucose as well as the hydrolysis rate of maltose were unchanged. Light microscopic investigation of the jejunal mucosa, obtained by a peroral biopsy technique before and at 7 months after the bypass operation, did not reveal any change in the histological appearance of this tissue. The plasma aminograms of all 7 patients were compared before and at intervals after the bypass operation; all exhibited a constant pattern of change that was characterized by significant increases in the concentrations of serine and glycine and by significant decreases in the concentrations of valine, isoleucine, leucine, tyrosine, and phenylalanine. This pattern of change, which is characteristic of protein depletion, persisted during the entire period of observation. Two of these 7 patients developed laboratory evidence of hepatic dysfunction. It is concluded that (1) protein depletion is common to all patients with jejunoileal bypass with or without hepatic dysfunction; and (2) protein depletion results in a sustained reduction in free amino acid absorption in the jejunum.
Heat balance during preoptic heating and cooling in the ground squirrel, Citellus tridecemlineatus

Abstract 1. 1. Ground squirrels respond to heating of the preoptic area by decreasing metabolism and body temperature (Tb) 2. 2. The transient change in heat balance during preoptic heating indicates increased heat loss at air temperatures of 8 and 22°C but no change at 33°C. These effects are reversed after long-term displacements of preoptic temperature (Tp). 3. 3. Cooling of the preoptic area causes increased metabolism and body temperature with little change in heat balance at air temperatures of 8 and 22°C but marked decreases in heat balance at 33°C. 4. 4. Responses to changes in preoptic temperature are reversed when body temperature changes significantly because the preoptic thermoregulatory signal is somehow reset or over-ridden by input from deep-body receptors.
Characterizing back surface loss of skin thickness and presence of corrosion by time-resolved infrared radiometry

This paper describes the use of time-resolved infrared radiometry (TRIR) to identify characteristic temperature-time signatures resulting from different subsurface thermal structures in aging aircraft. Central to the TRIR technique is the analysis of the temperature- time signatures at various locations as a step heating pulse is applied to the structure. Of particular interest is determining whether a signature can be identified which discriminates the presence of corrosion product from the simple thinning of the aircraft skin as might occur as a result of a previous repair. A technique is proposed which implements both area and localized heating sources. The area heating source provides one-dimensional heating of the specimen and allows suspect areas to be rapidly detected. A localized heating source is then used to further characterize the suspect regions.© (1993) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Near-surface structure of lithographic ink–fountain solution emulsions on model substrates

Abstract By means of confocal laser scanning microscopy, we present direct visual evidence of droplet interactions in emulsions of lithographic ink and fountain solution deposited on homogeneous surfaces of varying surface energies. Fountain solutions with gum arabic and isopropyl alcohol additives were emulsified in a thermoset ink and deposited between parallel plates that differed in whether or not they had been treated with the hydrophobic compound poly( para -xylylene) (PPX). To enhance the dynamics of the deposition process, these emulsions were subjected to high strain amplitude oscillatory shear flow. We measured the surface coverage of the fountain solution on the lower plate. The time evolution of droplet size and number on hydrophilic and hydrophobic glass surfaces was quantified as a function of the two fountain solution additives, gum arabic and isopropyl alcohol. Interestingly, although ink wetted the two substrates, both fountain solutions showed increased coverage on the hydrophobic substrate relative to the hydrophilic substrate. We explain the observations by considering the interplay of coalescence suppression due to the surfactant nature of the additives coupled with the changing surface energy due to the addition of the surfactant. The analysis provides direct visual evidence of the complexity of droplet interactions that contribute to the performance of lithographic printing of ink–fountain solution emulsions.
Using a course management system to create a training course for student employees

The User Services unit of Information Technologies at the University of Delaware operates nine public computing facilities and employs about 150 students who work as assistants in these sites. The Smith Hall site is the home of the I/O Services Desk, a classroom, and a public computing site. The I/O services area is the drop-off location for test scoring and frequency scan jobs (bubble scan sheets), and the site assistants follow outlined procedures to submit these jobs for processing. In addition, a large printing operation is located in this area, and the site assistants act as printer operators for these devices. Because of the I/O services responsibilities, students who work in the Smith Hall site require additional training.We are currently developing a training course for Smith site assistants using WebCT (course management software). In this training course, we will consolidate all training materials-all training materials will be accessible from one location. All training information previously communicated verbally will be documented, so that training for all students will be delivered consistently. We plan to add a quiz component to the training course to evaluate an assistant's understanding of the material. Also, in creating this course, we will have the opportunity to review and update our training to include a module that addresses customer service skills. This training will be mandatory, and we plan to entice new employees to complete the training quickly by offering a pay increase upon completion of the course.After we use the training course for several months, we will evaluate other features of WebCT to determine whether their use would benefit us in the management of student employees. We will present the modules of our student training course during our poster session and discuss the process of creating this course.
Economics of reducing menstruation with trimonthly-cycle oral contraceptive therapy: comparison with standard-cycle regimens.

Abstract Objective To evaluate whether, and under what circumstances, trimonthly-cycle oral contraceptive pill (OCP) therapy is cost saving over standard-cycle OCP therapy for reducing the severity of menstrual-related symptoms. Methods We created three economic models, with each model representing a unique cost perspective (societal, private third party, and patient), to estimate the incremental annual costs associated with women taking trimonthly-cycle rather than standard-cycle OCP. Direct costs considered were costs for OCP prescriptions, female hygiene products, generic over-the-counter pain relievers and iron tablets, home pregnancy tests, and physician visits for menstrual-related concerns. Indirect costs considered were lost wages due to menstruation-related disability and opportunity costs of physician visits. We derived base-case and sensitivity range estimates from prior literature, public use data, expert opinion, and cross-sectional survey data that we collected from 59 adult women taking standard-cycle OCP visiting a large, community-based gynecology office. All costs were adjusted to 2002 US dollars. Results Under base-case assumptions that both regimens were equivalently priced ($1.16/pill) and trimonthly OCP reduces hygiene product use by 50%, annual societal costs per person were $460 for trimonthly OCP and $501 for standard OCP (incremental cost savings = $41). Assuming no difference in monthly drug copayment costs between the two regimens ($5.00), annual private third-party costs were nearly identical at $365 per regimen. Annual patient costs were $95 for trimonthly OCP and $136 for standard OCP. Trimonthly OCP remained cost saving to society as long its price remained below a 9% premium to standard OCP prices. The degree to which trimonthly OCP reduces hygiene product use also significantly influenced the cost difference between the two regimens. Conclusion Compared with standard-cycle OCP, trimonthly-cycle OCP appears to be associated with significant societal and patient cost savings. These savings are highly conditional upon trimonthly OCP being priced similarly to standard OCP.
Vibration-based secure side channel for medical devices

Implantable and wearable medical devices are used for monitoring, diagnosis, and treatment of an ever-increasing range of medical conditions, leading to an improved quality of life for patients. The addition of wireless connectivity to medical devices has enabled post-deployment tuning of therapy and access to device data virtually anytime and anywhere but, at the same time, has led to the emergence of security attacks as a critical concern. While cryptography and secure communication protocols may be used to address most known attacks, the lack of a viable secure connection establishment and key exchange mechanism is a fundamental challenge that needs to be addressed. We propose a vibration-based secure side channel between an external device (medical programmer or smartphone) and a medical device. Vibration is an intrinsically short-range, user-perceptible channel that is suitable for realizing physically secure communication at low energy and size/weight overheads. We identify and address key challenges associated with the vibration channel, and propose a vibration-based wakeup and key exchange scheme, named SecureVibe, that is resistant to battery drain attacks. We analyze the risk of acoustic eavesdropping attacks and propose an acoustic masking countermeasure. We demonstrate and evaluate vibration-based wakeup and key exchange between a smartphone and a prototype medical device in the context of a realistic human body model.
Case-only analysis of treatment-covariate interactions in clinical trials

Differential effectiveness of treatments across subgroups defined by pretreatment variables are of increasing interest, particularly in the expanding research field of pharmacogenomics. When the pretreatment variable is difficult to obtain or expensive to measure, but can be assessed at the end of the study using stored samples, nested case-control and case-cohort methods can be used to reduce costs in large efficacy trials with rare outcomes. Case-only methods are even more efficient, and reliable under a range of circumstances.
Functional Improvement after One- and Two-Eye Cataract Surgery in the Salisbury Eye Evaluation

Purpose To determine the impact that cataract and cataract surgery have on clinical measurements of vision, reading speed, objective mobility performance, and subjective visual functioning. Design Prospective, population-based study. Participants A total of 1739 Salisbury Eye Evaluation (SEE) participants without previous cataract surgery with bilateral baseline best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) of logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) ≤0.3 (≥20/40) or cataract surgery between rounds 1 and 2. Methods Participants were categorized on the basis of cataract surgery by round 2 into no surgery, unilateral surgery, or bilateral surgery. Visual performance, mobility-based tasks, and the Activities of Daily Vision Scale (ADVS) were measured at baseline and 2 years. Mobility score was converted into a z score by subtracting the participant's time from the population baseline average and then dividing by the standard deviation. Comparisons were made between the no surgery and surgery groups using multivariate linear regression. Main Outcome Measures Change in bilateral BCVA in logMAR, contrast sensitivity, reading speed in words per minute (wpm), mobility score, and ADVS. Results During the study period, 29 participants had cataract surgery on both eyes, 90 participants had unilateral surgery, and 1620 participants had no surgery. After adjusting for baseline value, demographics, depression, and mental status, the unilateral surgery group's BCVA improved 0.04 logMAR ( P = 0.001) and the bilateral group's BCVA improved 0.13 compared with no surgery ( P z score decreased 0.18 more than that of the no surgery group ( P = 0.02), whereas the bilateral group showed a 0.18 z score improvement compared with no surgery ( P = 0.19). Change in reading speed significantly improved in the unilateral and bilateral groups compared with no surgery (12 and 31 wpm, respectively). The bilateral surgery group showed significant positive change in ADVS compared with no surgery (5 points of relative improvement; P = 0.01), whereas the unilateral group showed a 5-point relative decline ( P Conclusions Cataract negatively affects both subjective quality of life and objective performance measures. Unilateral cataract surgery improves visual functioning, but the largest gains are found in patients who undergo second-eye cataract surgery. This finding supports second-eye cataract surgery for patients with visual or functional symptoms even after successful first-eye surgery. Financial Disclosure(s) The author(s) have no proprietary or commercial interest in any materials discussed in this article.
Hydrogen Oxidation and Evolution on Platinum Electrodes in Base: Theoretical Study

Electrode potential dependent activation energies for electron transfer have been calculated for the hydrogen evolution and hydrogen oxidation reactions on platinum in base using the local reaction center model and constrained variation theory. Comparison is made with previous calculations for these reactions in acid using the same approach and with experimental literature results for acid and base. The results of the calculations are consistent with the Tafel−Volmer mechanism for H2 oxidation and a mixture of Tafel−Volmer and Heyrovsky−Volmer mechanism for H2 evolution in basic electrolyte on platinum surfaces.
Chlorine radicals measured in Eyjafjallajökull volcanic plume

[1] When the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull erupted in spring 2010, it disrupted commercial air travel, stranding passengers across Europe and beyond. In response to the lack of information on the volcanic ash load and dispersion, scientific instruments were deployed on a number of special flights to observe the composition and chemistry of the volcanic plume and included three deployments aboard a Lufthansa aircraft of the Civil Aircraft for the Regular Investigation of the Atmosphere Based on an Instrument Container (CARIBIC) observational instrument package. Baker et al. report on the first observation-based estimates of chlorine radical concentrations in the volcanic plume. Previous studies had suggested that chlorine radicals could exist in volcanic plumes. This study, the first to identify chlorine radical chemistry and quantify chlorine radicals in a volcanic plume, will help researchers to more fully understand volcanic chemistry, particularly halogen chemistry, and its effects on the atmosphere. (Geophysical Research Letters, doi:10.1029/2011GL047571, 2011)
Helical Distortion in Tryptophan- and Lysine-Anchored Membrane-Spanning α-Helices as a Function of Hydrophobic Mismatch: A Solid-State Deuterium NMR Investigation Using the Geometric Analysis of Labeled Alanines Method

We used solid-state deuterium NMR spectroscopy and geometric analysis of labeled alanines to investigate the structure and orientation of a designed synthetic hydrophobic, membrane-spanning α-helical peptide that is anchored within phosphatidylcholine (PC) bilayers using both Trp and Lys side chains near the membrane/water interface. The 23-amino-acid peptide consists of an alternating Leu/Ala core sequence that is expected to be α-helical, flanked by aromatic and then cationic anchors at both ends of the peptide: acetyl-GKALW(LA)6LWLAKA-amide (KWALP23). The geometric analysis of labeled alanines method was elaborated to permit the incorporation and assignment of multiple alanine labels within a single synthetic peptide. Peptides were incorporated into oriented bilayers of dilauroyl- (di-C12:0-), dimyristoyl- (di-C14:0-), or dioleoyl- (di-C18:1c-) PC. In the C12:0 and C14:0 lipids, the 2H-NMR quadrupolar splittings for the set of six core alanines could not be fit to a canonical undistorted α-helix. Rather, we found that a model containing a helical distortion, such as a localized discontinuity or “kink” near the peptide and bilayer center, could fit the data for KWALP23 in these shorter lipids. The suggestion of helix distortion was confirmed by 2H-NMR spectra for KWALP23 in which Leu8 was changed to deuterated Ala8. Further analysis involving reexamination of earlier data led to a similar conclusion that acetyl-GWW(LA)8LWWA-amide (WALP23) is distorted in dilauroyl-PC, allowing significant improvement in the fitting of the 2H-NMR results. In contrast, WALP23 and KWALP23 are well represented as undistorted α-helices in dioleoyl-PC, suggesting that the distortion could be a response to hydrophobic mismatch between peptide and lipids.
EFFECT OF DEFORMATION RATE AND MOISTURE CONTENT ON RICE GRAIN STIFFNESS1

Grains of brown rice, paddy variety IR-8, were subjected to two types of uniaxial compressive loading, constant displacement rate and sinusoidally varying stress, to determine behavior over a wide range of time scale. Grains from four different moisture level groups were used. With a time decrease from 120 to 1.6 × 10−4s the relaxation modulus increased 15, 25, 16 and 20 fold at respective moisture contents of 12, 17, 22 and 27%. A master relaxation curve for each moisture content is presented. Understanding the viscoelastic behavior of brown rice as a function at time and moisture content is basic to the solution of stress-strain analysis problems.
An experimental study of 99mTc pertechnetate abdominal scans in jejunal intussusception: Preliminary results

Recent communications have related the diagnosis of small bowel intussusceptions to abnormal accumulations of the radiopharmaceutical /sup 99m/Tc pertechnetate on abdominal scans. Considering the pathophysiological alterations attendant to intussusceptions, we have attempted an experimental model to examine these changes in temporal sequence. This study was initiated to understand the etiology better and to characterize the abnormalities noted on the /sup 99m/Tc pertechnetate abdominal scans.
Transport and magnetic properties of ferromagnetic GaAs/Mn digital alloys

Abstract Magnetic and transport properties of two-dimensional (2D) Mn layers in GaAs/Mn digital alloys have been determined as a function of Mn layer coverage. Ferromagnetism was observed in samples having more than 10% Mn in each Mn-containing layer. The Curie temperature showed a strong correlation with the effective spin density in the digital alloy samples. Magnetotransport studies revealed activated behavior hole conductivity consistent with variable range hopping in two dimensions. The general features of magnetoresistance and the anomalous Hall effect are similar to those seen in metallic ferromagnetic GaMnAs. However, the temperature dependence of the observed negative magnetoresistance follows the pattern seen in insulating ferromagnetic GaMnAs.