cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Skeletal Effects of Nitric Oxide: Novel Agent for Osteoporosis

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the skeletal effects of nitric oxide and its isoforms. The predominant nitric oxide synthases (NOS) isoform expressed by bone tissues is eNOS. iNOS is expressed in inflammatory and other pathological situations in osteoblasts, osteocytes, and in osteoclasts. eNOS is also expressed widely in vascular tissues within the bone, and consequent generation of lower levels of nitric oxide (NO) is likely to interact with bone cells. Synthesis of NO by these cells is stimulated by a variety of signals including hormones, cytokines, growth factors, fluid shear stress, and mechanical loading, resulting in a number of distinct physiological and pathophysiological responses. Nitric oxide donor compounds have been clinically used in humans for decades and are well tolerated; headaches are the only demonstrable adverse effects, which depend on the dose and the route of administration. Furthermore, NO has been shown to play a role in various physiological as well as pathological conditions. The most attractive novel indication for NO donor therapy is the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis in men and women. Recent research and developments have created the possibility of using NO donor compounds and designing new complex NO compounds capable of delivering NO directly into target tissues or to the bloodstream more efficaciously in a controlled or pulsatile manner. If a NO donor is proved to be effective in prevention of bone loss and, perhaps reduction of fracture risks, it may become a widely used, safe, and quite cost-effective therapeutic agent to combat osteoporosis.
Estimating Water Flow in Drainage Pipes

Drainage pipe effluent is frequently analyzed to determine the water composition to address nutrient or contaminant transport. The total effluent volume must be known in order to determine the tota...
Multilink for bilingual language production

A major benefit of computational models is their ability to demonstrate which theoretical assumptions are truly necessary to explain a pattern of data. Dijkstra, Wahl, Buytenhuijs, van Halem, Al-jibouri, de Korte, and Rekke (in press) have impressively shown with Multilink that it is possible to account for a range of findings from bilingual lexical decision, word naming, and forward and backward translation tasks with an integrated lexicon, without lateral connections between translation equivalents, and without inhibition. In this commentary, we consider the applicability of the current model to other multilingual language production tasks, and note where the model's assumptions might need revision as its scope is expanded.
The distribution of BCG prostatitis: A clue for pathogenetic processes?

Background We observed in cystoprostatectomy specimens that Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) granulomatous prostatitis tended preferentially to affect the peripheral zone (PZ) and aimed to study the matter, postulating that assessment of its distribution might contribute to understanding pathogenetic processes. Methods Entire prostate glands from 27 men (47-83 years; mean = 69 years), who had previously received intravesical BCG therapy for non-muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma of the bladder, were studied as whole-mount sections to determine the anatomical distribution and histopathological characteristics of BCG prostatitis. Results Twenty-two (81.5%) showed BCG-type granulomatous inflammation. It often radiated from close to the prostatic urethra toward to the gland periphery as a wedge-shaped area related to one or more duct systems. Twenty-one of these prostate glands (95.5%) showed predominantly or exclusively PZ involvement. Eighteen (81.8%) involved only the PZ, while three cases (13.6%) also showed involvement of the transitional zone (TZ). One case (4.5%) involved only the TZ. No granulomas were seen in the central zone or anterior fibromuscular septum. Conclusions Our observations imply the microanatomical arrangement of prostatic ducts is a factor in the pathogenesis of BCG prostatitis. PZ ducts enter the urethra at less obtuse angles than those from other zones and are likely to be more prone to urine reflux and damage from suspended BCG. We speculate that prostatic duct microanatomy could also play a role in the pathogenesis of other prostatic diseases, including conventional prostatitis and adenocarcinoma.
Estimation of Acetylcholine and Choline and Analysis of Acetylcholine Turnover Rates In Vivo

The development within the last 15–20 years of sensitive and specific new methods for the measurement of acetylcholine (ACh) in biological tissues has sparked an explosion of interest in the dynamics of the cholinergic system. Evidence for cholinergic dysfunction in conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, depression, schizophrenia, Huntington’s chorea, Gilles de la Tourette’s syndrome and tardive dyskinesia have furthered the interest in this system and emphasized the need for a greater understanding of cholinergic function.
POST) LEXICAL RULE APPLICATION

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses application of the postlexical rule. The characterization of certain rules as both lexical and postlexical is not the optimal way to capture phonological generalizations that sometimes obey the derived environment constraint, sometimes not. Rather, the relevant restriction appears to be that all and only structure-preserving, or neutralizing, rule applications are constrained to derived environments, with the consequence that structure-building applications of lexical rules need not be structure-preserving. This rendering of the correlation, in turn, calls into question the utility of drawing a basic functional distinction between lexical and postlexical rule modules in the phonology, suggesting instead that the properties of structure preservation and derived environment restriction affiliate in predictable ways with the rules themselves rather than with the components in which they apply. With respect to the radical feature under specification, moreover, the limitation of structure-preserving rule applications to derived environments implies that the allocation of features to phonemes is consistently context-free, thus providing for a more direct association between the relative complexity of representation and any idiosyncrasies of derivation.
Global Patterns of Nicotine and Tobacco Consumption

Humans consume tobacco in dozens of guises, all of which are toxic; globally, a tenth of deaths among adults are caused by tobacco. Tobacco may be combusted (e.g., cigarettes, bidis, kreteks); heated (e.g., waterpipes, hookah, nargile); or taken orally or nasally (e.g., snuff, betel quid, chewing tobacco). The predominant forms vary among cultures, but the use of cigarettes has grown most dramatically in the past century. While smoking rates among women are comparable to those among men in Europe and North America, in other regions the rate is ten or more times higher among men; this gender gap is closing among young people. Per capita tobacco use in the USA doubled in the first half of the twentieth century, and has since declined to less than the 1900 levels. While cigarettes were only 2% of tobacco consumed in the USA in 1900 (half was chewing tobacco) 50 years later they were over 80%. A similar increase in tobacco consumption, and a shift to cigarettes, has been occurring globally, with a concomitant increase in tobacco-related death and disease that is not expected to peak for another two decades.
Surviving All the Way to College: Pathways Out of One of America's Most Crime Ridden Cities.

The purpose of this study is to better understand the factors and processes related to resilience of youth who are among the most at risk for academic failure and involvement in the criminal justic...
Many ways to walk a mile in another's moccasins

Different types of social perspective taking led to different outcomes.Experientially learning about others' perspectives fostered better relationships.Experientially learning about others' perspectives led to greater concessions.Taking the perspective of "vacuous" targets attenuated perspective taking benefits.Virtually and imaginatively walking in the shoes of others led to similar outcomes. The process of social perspective taking holds tremendous promise as a means to facilitate conflict resolution. Despite rapidly accumulating knowledge about social perspective taking in general, scholars know little about how the type of social perspective taking affects outcomes of interest. This study tests whether different ways to "walk a mile in another's shoes" cause different outcomes. By taking advantage of a computer-based simulation (where participants can learn about others by virtually walking around in the shoes of other characters), we assigned participants from Amazon's Mechanical Turk (N=842) to five different perspective taking treatments or a control condition. Results show that perspective takers who receive information about the other party foster more positive relationships and make greater concessions than participants who did not receive information about the other party. Furthermore, those who experientially learned about the other party's perspective felt more positive about their relationships and made greater concessions during the negotiation than those who were simply provided information about the other party's perspective. No differences were found between virtually and imaginatively taking the perspective of others. These findings suggest the importance of accounting for the type of social perspective taking in studying how this social-cognitive process may facilitate conflict resolution.
Numerical simulations of supernova remnants in turbulent molecular clouds

Core-collapse supernova (SN) explosions may occur in the highly inhomogeneous molecular clouds (MCs) in which their progenitors were born. We perform a series of 3-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations to model the interaction between an individual supernova remnant (SNR) and a turbulent MC medium, in order to investigate possible observational evidence for the turbulent structure of MCs. We find that the properties of SNRs are mainly controlled by the mean density of the surrounding medium, while a SNR in a more turbulent medium with higher supersonic turbulent Mach number shows lower interior temperature, lower radial momentum, and dimmer X-ray emission compared to one in a less turbulent medium with the same mean density. We compare our simulations to observed SNRs, in particular, to W44, W28 and IC 443. We estimate that the mean density of the ambient medium is $\sim 10\,$cm$^{-3}$ for W44 and W28. The MC in front of IC 443 has a density of $\sim 100\,$cm$^{-3}$. We also predict that the ambient MC of W44 is more turbulent than that of W28 and IC 443. The ambient medium of W44 and W28 has significantly lower average density than that of the host giant MC. This result may be related to the stellar feedback from the SNRs' progenitors. Alternatively, SNe may occur close to the interface between molecular gas and lower density atomic gas. The region of shocked MC is then relatively small and the breakout into the low density atomic gas comprises most of the SNR volume.
Quantitative Mapping of Specific Ventilation in the Human Lung using Proton Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Oxygen as a Contrast Agent.

Specific ventilation imaging (SVI) is a functional magnetic resonance imaging technique capable of quantifying specific ventilation ― the ratio of the fresh gas entering a lung region divided by the region’s end-expiratory volume ― in the human lung, using only inhaled oxygen as a contrast agent. Regional quantification of specific ventilation has the potential to help identify areas of pathologic lung function. Oxygen in solution in tissue shortens the tissue’s longitudinal relaxation time (T1), and thus a change in tissue oxygenation can be detected as a change in T1-weighted signal with an inversion recovery acquired image. Following an abrupt change between two concentrations of inspired oxygen, the rate at which lung tissue within a voxel equilibrates to a new steady-state reflects the rate at which resident gas is being replaced by inhaled gas. This rate is determined by specific ventilation. To elicit this sudden change in oxygenation, subjects alternately breathe 20-breath blocks of air (21% oxygen) and 100% oxygen while in the MRI scanner. A stepwise change in inspired oxygen fraction is achieved through use of a custom three-dimensional (3D)-printed flow bypass system with a manual switch during a short end-expiratory breath hold. To detect the corresponding change in T1, a global inversion pulse followed by a single shot fast spin echo sequence was used to acquire two-dimensional T1-weighted images in a 1.5 T MRI scanner, using an eight-element torso coil. Both single slice and multi-slice imaging are possible, with slightly different imaging parameters. Quantification of specific ventilation is achieved by correlating the time-course of signal intensity for each lung voxel with a library of simulated responses to the air/oxygen stimulus. SVI estimations of specific ventilation heterogeneity have been validated against multiple breath washout and proved to accurately determine the heterogeneity of the specific ventilation distribution.
Gas-phase stability of derivatives of the Closo-hexaborate dianion B6H62-

B6H62- does not represent a stable gas-phase dianion, but emits spontaneously one of its excess electrons in the gas phase. In this work we address the question whether small stable gas-phase dianions can be constructed from the parent B6H62- dianion by substitution of the hydrogens with appropriate ligands. Various hexa-, tetra-, and disubstituted derivatives B6L62-, B6H2L42-, and B6H4L22- (L = F, Cl, CN, NC, or BO) are investigated with ab initio methods in detail. Four stable hexasubstituted B6L62- (L = Cl, CN, NC, or BO) and three stable B6H2L42- (L = CN, NC, or BO) gas-phase dianions could be identified and predicted to be observable in the gas phase. The trends in the electron-detachment energies depending on various ligands are discussed and understood in the underlying electrostatic pattern and the electronegativities of the involved elements.
Intra-fraction motion prediction in MRI-guided radiation therapy using Markov processes

Internal organ motion during radiation delivery may lead to underdosing of cancer cells or overdosing of normal tissue, potentially causing treatment failure or normal-tissue toxicity. Organ motion is of particular concern in the treatment of lung and abdominal cancers, where breathing induces large tumor displacement and organ deformation. A new generation of radiotherapy devices is equipped with on-board MRI scanners to acquire a real-time movie of the patient's anatomy during radiation delivery. The goal of this research is to develop, calibrate, and test motion predictive models that employ real-time MRI images to provide the short-term trajectory of respiration-induced anatomical motion during radiation delivery. A semi-Markov model predicts transitions between the phases of a respiratory cycle, and a Markov model predicts transitions to future respiratory cycles, leading to accurate motion forecasting over longer-term horizons. The intended application for this work is real-time tracking and re-optimization of intensity-modulated radiation delivery.
ECU Counterfeit Mitigation Using Holistic Approach in Modern Automotive Echo System

Integrated Circuits (ICs) are the brains in a wide range of Electronic Control Units (ECUs) in automotive systems. Counterfeit ECUs exploited by an unauthorized third-party can affect the car's overall performance despite the fact that we have proper hardware security modules in place. Automotive ECUs have traditionally been secured by isolating them within the hardware architecture stack. Consequently, the vehicle's attack surface is limited and it is hard for an attacker to synchronize an attack against the vehicle system. Unfortunately, fraudulent replica of ECU units may be overlooked and they can make their way into the car's CAN bus drivetrain network causing serious threats to the general public safety. A novel solution for the ECU counterfeit problem is proposed, which stems from the use of ECU fingerprint using Physical Unclonable Function (PUF) and the implementation of the Defense in Depth (DiD) model. Implementation effort using hardware Proof of Concept Circuit is under its way and it is in its final stage.
Saliva Collection, Handling, Transport, and Storage: Special Considerations and Best Practices for Interdisciplinary Salivary Bioscience Research

This chapter reviews common practices, identifies special considerations, and recommends best practices for saliva specimen collection methods employed in interdisciplinary salivary bioscience research. We discuss the practical aspects of collecting saliva samples across a variety of research applications, considerations for target populations, environmental factors that affect salivary biomarkers, collection methods, cold chain management and sample handling, transport, and archiving. Best practices are recommended based on the current state of the art.
Vascularized composite allotransplantation in the United States: A retrospective analysis of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network data after 5 years of the Final Rule.

On July 3, 2014, the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) began overseeing vascularized composite allotransplantation/allografts (VCA) in the United States. For the past 6 years, centers performing VCAs have been requested to submit data into a biometric repository, in parallel with systems used by solid organ transplant centers. Currently, 62 VCAs are reported in the entire OPTN database, with 36 of these transplants reported as performed after VCA was added to the OPTN Final Rule. Of these 36 recipients, 16 received uterus transplants, most of which (11) occurred from living donors. Ten patients received hand transplants and 6 received face transplants. Two patients received abdominal wall transplants, 1 patient received a scalp transplant, and 1 patient received a penile transplant. The present manuscript represents the query of a nationalized database for VCA type, immunosuppression treatment, and clinical outcomes for VCAs. This manuscript provides a report of the current VCA data reported to the OPTN after the Final Rule.
A Wi-Fi live streaming Centrifuge Force Microscope for benchtop single-molecule experiments

The ability to apply controlled forces to individual molecules has been revolutionary in shaping our understanding of biophysics in areas as diverse as dynamic bond strength, biological motor operation, and DNA replication. However, the methodology to perform single-molecule experiments has been and remains relatively inaccessible due to cost and complexity. In 2010, we introduced the Centrifuge Force Microscope (CFM) as a new platform for accessible and high-throughput single-molecule experimentation. The CFM consists of a rotating microscope where prescribed centrifugal forces can be applied to microsphere-tethered biomolecules. In this work, we develop and demonstrate a next-generation Wi-Fi CFM that offers unprecedented ease of use and flexibility in design. The modular CFM unit fits within a standard benchtop centrifuge and connects by Wi-Fi to a external computer for live control and streaming at near gigabit speeds. The use of commercial wireless hardware allows for flexibility in programming and provides a streamlined upgrade path as Wi-Fi technology improves. To facilitate ease of use, detailed build and setup instructions are provided, as well as LabVIEW based control software and MATLAB based analysis software. We demonstrate the analysis of force-dependent dissociation of short DNA duplexes of 7, 8, and 9 bp using the instrument. We showcase the sensitivity of the approach by resolving distinct dissociation kinetic rates for a 7 bp duplex where one G-C base pair is mutated to an A-T base pair.
Radiated Spurious Emission Prediction Based on Dipole Moment and Full Wave Simulation

In this paper, an equivalent dipole moment method and full wave simulation are proposed to predict radiated spurious emissions (RSE). The proposed method is utilized in design of a practical electronic device. Based on near field patterns, the radiation physics of 2.4GHz Wi-Fi transmitter harmonics in the device is identified to be a magnetic dipole moment. Reduction of loop size is proved to be an effective method to reduce RSE of 2.4 GHz. In addition, RSE of 5 GHz Wi-Fi transmitter is simulated using a full wave solver and methods to reduce RSE are discussed. Measured RSE results are also shown to validate proposed prediction and mitigation methods.
Urinary tract infections in very low birthweight infants: A two-center analysis of microbiology, imaging and heart rate characteristics.

Background Increased understanding of characteristics of urinary tract infection (UTI) among very low birthweight infants (VLBW) might lead to improvement in detection and treatment. Continuous monitoring for abnormal heart rate characteristics (HRC) could provide early warning of UTIs. Objective Describe the characteristics of UTI, including HRC, in VLBW infants. Methods We reviewed records of VLBW infants admitted from 2005-2010 at two academic centers participating in a randomized clinical trial of HRC monitoring. Results of all urine cultures, renal ultrasounds (RUS), and voiding cystourethrograms (VCUG) were assessed. Change in the HRC index was analyzed before and after UTI. Results Of 823 VLBW infants (27.7±2.9 weeks GA, 53% male), 378 had > / = 1 urine culture obtained. A UTI (≥10,000 CFU and >five days of antibiotics) was diagnosed in 80 infants, (10% prevalence, mean GA 25.8±2.0 weeks, 76% male). Prophylactic antibiotics were administered to 29 (36%) infants after UTI, of whom four (14%) had another UTI. Recurrent UTI also occurred in 7/51 (14%) of infants not on uroprophylaxis after their first UTI. RUS was performed after UTI in 78%, and hydronephrosis and other major anomalies were found in 19%. A VCUG was performed in 48% of infants and 18% demonstrated vesicoureteral reflux (VUR). The mean HRC rose and fell significantly in the two days before and after diagnosis of UTI. Conclusions UTI was diagnosed in 10% of VLBW infants, and the HRC index increased prior to diagnosis, suggesting that continuous HRC monitoring in the NICU might allow earlier diagnosis and treatment of UTI.
Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) to Back Pain

Nonspecific back pain is a vexing complaint that can be difficult to treat, leaving some children and their parents in search of alternative methods to reduce pain. Multiple complementary and alternative approaches have been suggested to treat low back pain. In this chapter, we describe the epidemiology, theory of efficacy, the evidence for, and potential side effects of yoga, Pilates, acupuncture, chiropractic spinal manipulation, cupping, Kinesio taping, and meditation when used to treat back pain. In the adult literature, there are several studies demonstrating non-inferiority or improvement in pain and disability scores using these modalities when compared to the usual treatments of exercise and medication. Generally, the side effects of alternative approaches are minimal. However, in the pediatric population, there is a dearth of evidence about the efficacy of these alternative approaches. In a pediatric patient with back pain, after a thorough evaluation that excludes a serious medical or surgical diagnosis, alternative approaches may be considered.
Connectome-Based Predictive Modelling With Missing Connectivity Data Using Robust Matrix Completion

Combining connectivity data from multiple tasks incorporates complementary information and increases the predictive power of machine learning models. However, as the number of tasks increases, the chances of missing a portion of data also increases, hindering downstream analyses. The most common strategy for handling missing data is to remove participants with missing data and run the analysis only using the complete cases. Though convenient, this approach discards a huge amount of useful information and leaves a smaller subset of data for predictive modelling. To address this issue, we embed Robust Matrix Completion after the feature selection step in the Connectome-based Predictive Modelling (CPM) pipeline so that the participants with missing data can be included. The experimental results on the HCP dataset show that our proposed method significantly improves the predictive performance and outperforms other comparison methods.
Class in Archaic Greece

Archaic Greece saw a number of decisive changes, including the emergence of the polis, the foundation of Greek settlements throughout the Mediterranean and Black Sea, the organization of panhellenic games and festivals, the rise of tyranny, the invention of literacy, the composition of the Homeric epics and the emergence of lyric poetry, the development of monumental architecture and large scale sculpture, and the establishment of 'democracy'. This book argues that the best way of understanding them is the application of an eclectic Marxist model of class struggle, a struggle not only over control of agricultural land but also over cultural ideals and ideology. A substantial theoretical introduction lays out the underlying assumptions in relation to alternative models. Material and textual remains of the period are examined in depth for clues to their ideological import, while later sources and a wide range of modern scholarship are evaluated for their explanatory power.
New batteries and their impact on electric vehicles

The selection of batteries to power electric motor vehicles is discussed. The problem of evaluating battery performance and the availability of different batteries are considered.
Reasoning in logic about continuous systems

Abstract An intelligent agent, reasoning symbolically in a continuous world, needs to infer properties of the behaviors of continuous systems. A qualitative simulator, such as QSIM, constructs a set of possible behaviors consistent with a qualitative differential equation (QDE) and initial state. This set of behaviors is expressed as a finite tree of qualitative state descriptions. In the case of QSIM, this set is guaranteed to contain the “actual” behavior under certain circumstances. We call this property the “soundness” of QSIM. The behavior tree can then be interpreted as a model for statements in a branching-time temporal logic such as Expressive Behavior Tree Logic (EBTL), which we introduce. Because QSIM is sound, validity of an EBTL proposition (necessarily p) implies the corresponding theorem about the dynamical system described by the QDE. Therefore, at least for universals, statements in temporal logic about continuous systems can be proved by qualitative simulation. This allows a hybrid reasoning system to prove such commonsense statements as “what goes up (in a constant gravitational field) must come down”, or to do such expert reasoning about dynamical systems as proving the stability of a nonlinear, heterogeneous controller.
Associative Parallel Containers in STAPL

The Standard Template Adaptive Parallel Library ( stapl ) is a parallel programming framework that extends C++ and stl with support for parallelism. stapl provides a collection of parallel data structures ( pContainers ) and algorithms ( pAlgorithms ) and a generic methodology for extending them to provide customized functionality. stapl pContainers are thread-safe, concurrent objects, i.e., shared objects that provide parallel methods that can be invoked concurrently. They also provide appropriate interfaces that can be used by generic pAlgorithms . In this work, we present the design and implementation of the stapl associative pContainers : pMap , pSet , pMultiMap , pMultiSet , pHashMap , and pHashSet . These containers provide optimal insert, search, and delete operations for a distributed collection of elements based on keys. Their methods include counterparts of the methods provided by the stl associative containers, and also some asynchronous (non-blocking) variants that can provide improved performance in parallel. We evaluate the performance of the stapl associative pContainers on an IBM Power5 cluster, an IBM Power3 cluster, and on a linux-based Opteron cluster, and show that the new pContainer asynchronous methods, generic pAlgorithms (e.g., pfind ) and a sort application based on associative pContainers , all provide good scalability on more than 103processors.
Using Iterated Bagging to Debias Regressions

Breiman (Machine Learning, 26(2), 123–140) showed that bagging could effectively reduce the variance of regression predictors, while leaving the bias relatively unchanged. A new form of bagging we call iterated bagging is effective in reducing both bias and variance. The procedure works in stages—the first stage is bagging. Based on the outcomes of the first stage, the output values are altereds and a second stage of bagging is carried out using the altered output values. This is repeated until a simple rule stops the process. The method is tested using both trees and nearest neighbor regression methods. Accuracy on the Boston Housing data benchmark is comparable to the best of the results gotten using highly tuned and compute- intensive Support Vector Regression Machines. Some heuristic theory is given to clarify what is going on. Application to two-class classification data gives interesting results.
The Failure of the Guardians: Central Banking Reform and the Financial Crisis

There was a "quiet revolution" in central banking during the era of liberalization, which led to the delegation of power to a class of technocrat-guardians who were carefully buffered from direct political control. The credibility of this new central banking regime has been damaged by its failure to anticipate the financial crisis and the quickness with which the technocrats' views about the appropriate role of central banks was abandoned during the crisis itself. Central banking is only one of several areas in which the financial crisis has raised doubts about reforms that empowered technocrats and imposed disciplines on democratic institutions.
In My Back Yard, Please: An Analysis of the Siting and Success of Public Bads in Japan

This paper examines how the concentration of special interest groups affects the placement and success of controversial facilities. It argues that authorities site public bads - nuclear power plants, dams, and airports - in locations where, especially in the long term, there are fewer pressure groups who oppose such facilities and more who support them. The presence of powerful politicians and worsening first sector employment increase the likelihood that a public bad will be placed in a locality. The placement of an initial public bad in an area overcomes an opposition threshold and makes additional sitings far easier than 'greenfields' siting attempts. Using a new dataset on Japan involving approximately 500 observations of villages and towns over the post war period, this paper reveals that special interest groups become more involved in facilities associated with higher levels of risk and that non-political factors, such as higher population density and smaller town size, only occasionally demonstrate exclusionary effects.
Annuity distributions: A new class of compound Poisson distributions

Abstract A discrete random variable N is said to have an annuity distribution if its probabilities satisfy the recursion p n = p n -1 ( a + b/c n ), n = 1,2,3,… where a and b are real constants and c n = (1-e − n δ )/(e δ - 1), −∞ N satisfies a functional equation. This functional equation is used to prove that when N is an unbounded random variable then it is a compound Poisson random variable. It is also shown that the cumulants of N can be expressed as differences of Lambert series.
The relationship of hardiness, sense of coherence, sports participation, and gender to perceived stress and psychological symptoms among college students.

Background This study addresses the issue of why under conditions of stress some people stay physically and psychologically healthy while others become ill. Being able to deal with stress, to cope with the pressures of daily life, and yet stay healthy, is seen as a function of such factors as physical health, psychological health, constitutional predisposition, social support, exercise habits, and personality. Methods This study examined the moderating effects of the personality constructs of hardiness and sense of coherence, sports participation (college varsity athletes and college nonathletes), and gender on the relationship between perceived stress and psychological symptoms. College varsity athletes (n = 135) and college nonathletes (n = 135), all undergraduates at New York University, completed four questionnaires: Hardiness Scale, Sense of Coherence Scale, Daily Hassles Scale, and Profile of Mood States. Participants also completed a background questionnaire providing basic demographic data. Psychological symptoms and perceived stress were the criterion variables: hardiness, sense of coherence, sports participation, and gender were the predictor variables. Correlational analyses were applied to the resulting data and used to answer and to test the research hypotheses. Results There was a significant positive correlation between perceived stress and psychological symptoms among college varsity athletes and college nonathletes. There was a significant positive correlation between the personality scales of Hardiness and Sense of Coherence for both college varsity athletes and college nonathletes. When controlling for gender, college varsity athletes scored significantly higher on hardiness, scored slightly higher on sense of coherence, and reported significantly less perceived stress and significantly fewer psychological symptoms than the college nonathletes. Comparing by gender, no statistically significant mean differences were found on the four main variables. A significant negative correlation was observed between personality hardiness and perceived stress and psychological symptoms for the total sample. However, the college nonathletes subsample showed no significant effect between hardiness and perceived stress. Conclusions Finally, there was a significant negative correlation between sense of coherence and perceived stress and psychological symptoms for both the college varsity athletes and college nonathletes.
The association between the absence of amniotic fluid bacterial inhibitory activity and intra-amniotic infection

We studied the relationship of amniotic fluid bacterial inhibition in 50 patients with intra-amniotic infection to that in 50 matched control patients. Amniotic fluid was collected through a transcervical intrauterine catheter. All infected patients had clinical signs of intra-amniotic infection and greater than or equal to 10 2 colony-forming units per milliliter of a high-virulence organism. None of the control patients became infected. The matching characteristics for the intra-amniotic infection group versus the control group were: interval from rupture of the membranes to delivery (14.30 +/- 7.96 versus 15.00 +/- 7.19 hours, NS), interval from rupture of the membranes to collection of amniotic fluid (12.41 +/- 6.37 versus 12.16 +/- 6.46 hours NS), and gestational age (40.3 +/- 1.6 versus 40.0 +/- 1.6 weeks, NS). All patients were in labor. We tested each sample of amniotic fluid for inhibitory activity to Escherichia coli by a plate-count technique. Thirty-five samples (70%) of intra-amniotic infection fluid were noninhibitory, whereas 16 samples (32%) of control fluid were noninhibitory. The conclusion was that amniotic fluid from patients with intra-amniotic infection was significantly less likely to be inhibitory to E. coli (p less than 0.001).
Locating Zombies in the Sociology of Popular Culture

In this essay, focusing primarily on the cinema of the walking corpse, I provide an overview of zombie studies and suggest potential avenues for sociological inquiry into zombie phenomena. I argue that zombie films, comic books, novels, video games, and the like can be seen as significant cultural objects that reflect and reveal the cultural and material circumstances of their creation. Despite emanating from complex culture-producing institutions and (arguably) capturing extant social anxieties, sociology has remained quiet on zombie phenomena. Issues of significance, history, and definition are discussed. I then locate three avenues of inquiry ideally suited to the sociological toolkit: symptomatic analysis of content, production, and audience response and interaction. I conclude by calling for a multipronged sociological analysis into “zombie culture.”
Cyclins in breast cancer: too much of a good thing

Cyclin E, a key mediator of entry into the cell division cycle, is expressed abundantly in many breast cancers. However, amplification of the cognate gene is observed rarely, leaving the responsible mechanism(s) and its importance in tumorigenesis in doubt. In a recent report, Steve Reed's lab demonstrates that hCdc4/Fbw7 targets cyclin E for ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis and is mutant in a breast cancer cell line with high cyclin E levels. Independent work demonstrates that a Drosophila hCdc4 homologue constrains cyclin E expression in vivo. These results suggest that lesions in protein degradation pathways may contribute to cyclin E deregulation in breast cancer.
Bedside Diagnosis of the ‘Red Eye’: A Systematic Review

Abstract Background In patients with red eye, traditional teachings suggest that photophobia, visual blurring, and eye pain indicate serious eye disease; in patients with presumed conjunctivitis, the finding of purulent drainage traditionally indicates a bacterial cause. The accuracy of these teachings is unknown. Methods A MEDLINE search was performed to retrieve articles published between 1966 and April 2014 relevant to the bedside diagnosis of serious eye disease and bacterial conjunctivitis. Results In patients with red eye, the most useful findings indicating serious eye disease are anisocoria (with the smaller pupil in the red eye and difference between pupil diameters >1 mm; likelihood ratio [LR], 6.5; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.6-16.3) and photophobia, elicited by direct illumination (LR, 8.3; 95% CI, 2.7-25.9), indirect illumination (LR, 28.8; 95% CI, 1.8-459), or near synkinesis test ("finger-to-nose convergence test," LR, 21.4; 95% CI, 12-38.2). In patients with presumed conjunctivitis, complete redness of the conjunctival membrane obscuring tarsal vessels (LR, 4.6; 95% CI, 1.2-17.1), observed purulent discharge (LR, 3.9; 95% CI, 1.7-9.1), and matting of both eyes in the morning (LR, 3.6; 95% CI, 1.9-6.5) increase the probability of a bacterial cause; failure to observe a red eye at 20 feet (LR, 0.2; 95% CI, 0-0.8) and absence of morning gluing of either eye (LR, 0.3; 95% CI, 0.1-0.8) decrease the probability of a bacterial cause. Conclusions Several bedside findings accurately distinguish serious from benign eye disease in patients with red eye and, in patients with presumed conjunctivitis, distinguish bacterial from viral or allergic causes.
Urban Earthquake Disaster Risk Assessment and Management

In the upcoming years, efforts in the field of earthquake disaster risk assessment and management should focus on three main issues: (1) urban risk, (2) a holistic, multidisciplinary approach, and (3) the implementation and dissemination of current knowledge. This paper introduces a series of three complementary projects—in risk assessment, risk management, and risk forecasting, and describes how, individually and collectively, they embody a new philosophy built on these three main issues. The first study attempts to assess the relative overall earthquake disaster risk of cities worldwide, and the relative contributions of various factors to that risk. The second seeks to compare the cost-effectiveness and feasibility of different risk mitigation strategies for a city. The third aims to forecast how a city’s risk, and therefore the most appropriate mitigation strategies, will change over time.
Middle school students' perceptions of safety: a mixed-methods study

BACKGROUND: Active travel to school has been on the decline, despite its beneficial influence on children's current and future well-being. Adults' safety perceptions have been shown to influence children's active travel. Children's perceptions, particularly of safety, may be an important link not only to their present health and travel behaviors, but also their future health and behaviors. This study examined middle school students' perceptions of the built environment and safety. METHODS: Overall, 776 students from 3 schools in Hudson County, New Jersey participated in a visual survey and structured, interactive classroom discussions. Emergent themes from the discussions were tested using multivariate statistical models. RESULTS: Findings suggest that older students, boys, and students who self-identified as black, rated built environment scenes as safer. Students also perceived being near adults, traveling in a group, and using crosswalks as significantly safer and want additional recognition of these to further improve safety. Students perceived that being near a school, in daylight, and aesthetics as factors contributing to safety. CONCLUSIONS: Schools and municipalities may increase programs for students to travel in groups, prioritize maintenance in school zones, and increase the number of crossing guards, particularly outside the immediate school proximity to further improve safety. KW: SR2S Language: en
Modeling the effect of cavity shape on cavitation behavior during hot working

Abstract The effect of cavity shape on cavitation behavior was established using a mesoscale-modeling approach for the two limiting cases of (i) the growth and coalescence of an initial cavity array with no nucleation of new cavities and (ii) the growth and coalescence of cavities including continuous nucleation. The simulations conducted dealt with two-dimensional situations. It was also assumed that the cavity aspect ratio remained constant throughout the deformation-and-cavitation process. Simulation predictions revealed that the average cavity size, as a function of strain, is essentially independent of whether the cavities were spherical or elliptical.
Factors affecting coalescence frequency of droplets in a stirred liquid-liquid dispersion

Liquid-liquid dispersions are commonly used for separations and reaction systems, because the added interfacial area due to dispersion aids in mass transfer and chemical reaction rates. Transient coalescence experiments have been performed for a wide range of dispersed-phase fractions and impeller speeds. A similarity transformation of the experimental drop-size distribution is possible for most of the experiments. The drop-size-dependent coalescence frequency is obtained from an inverse problem procedure previously developed. Over the range of drop sizes encountered in our experiments, the coalescence frequency increases with increases in the size of the coalescing drops, the dispersed-phase fraction, and the impeller speed. For a dispersephase system of neutrally buoyant droplets of benzene/carbon tetrachloride in water, the coalescence frequency is K(v, v′)= 3.72 (10−3)ϕ1.42N(v1/2+v′1/2) as a function of dispersed-phase fraction, ϕ, impeller speed, N2, and volumes of the coalescing droplets, v and v′. The results are compared with previous models for the coalescence frequency. Models predicting an eventual decrease in coalescence rates with drop size are disqualified unless this decrease occurs beyond the sizes observed in our experiments.
End-to-end linearity considerations for photon-limited detection and display systems

End-to-end system studies in the digital acquisition of photon-limited images inevitably lead to the question of setting technical design goals in order to achieve overall linearity. But this itself poses the specific question of which key print/display variables should, in ideal circumstances, be linear with which key scene-acquisition parameters. Within the digital context, intuitive answers gleaned from traditional analog approaches to this question can vary from the confusing to the misleading, and digital attempts at direct emulation of analog systems may in fact off-set the potential advantages implicit in the newer digital technologies. The author has used a digital end-to-end signal-to-noise ratio model to consider some aspects of this linearity question, and to offer solutions based on the combination of SNR optimization appropriate during image acquisition, and the human visual-response characteristics appropriate during display. Some results and conclusions are discussed here, especially those relating to the optimum digital strategy for scene-acquisition.
Shape-function effects and split matching in B→X s ℓ + ℓ -

We derive the triply differential spectrum for the inclusive rare decay $B\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{X}_{s}{\ensuremath{\ell}}^{+}{\ensuremath{\ell}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ in the shape-function region, in which ${X}_{s}$ is jetlike with ${m}_{X}^{2}\ensuremath{\lesssim}{m}_{b}{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}_{\mathrm{QCD}}$. Experimental cuts make this a relevant region. The perturbative and nonperturbative parts of the matrix elements can be defined with the soft-collinear effective theory, which is used to incorporate ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{s}$ corrections consistently. We prove that, with a suitable power counting for the dilepton invariant mass, the same universal jet and shape functions appear as in $B\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{X}_{s}\ensuremath{\gamma}$ and $B\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{X}_{u}\ensuremath{\ell}\overline{\ensuremath{\nu}}$ decays. Parts of the usual ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{s}({m}_{b})$ corrections go into the jet function at a lower scale, and parts go into the nonperturbative shape function. For $B\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{X}_{s}{\ensuremath{\ell}}^{+}{\ensuremath{\ell}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$, the perturbative series in ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{s}$ are of a different character above and below $\ensuremath{\mu}={m}_{b}$. We introduce a ``split matching'' method that allows the series in these regions to be treated independently.
Disabled Veterans, the State, and the Experience of Disability in Western Societies, 1914-1950

Social scientists and historians seeking to conceptualize the processes of identity and group formation among disabled veterans of military service in Western societies usually attribute the rise and development of disabled veterans as a social group to a relationship to the modem welfare state, which has been generous in distributing resources and recognitions to those injured or becoming chronically ill while serving in armed force. In this understanding, disabled veterans attain social identities and form organizations through their efforts to influence state policies and to attain enhanced benefits. The essay argues this perspective is limited by a failure to understand the larger context of the lives of disabled veterans. Through examination of the collective experience of adjustment of adult men to life-transforming impairments, the essay offers an alternative perspective that emphasizes the disabled veterans' agency in seeking to define their own needs in pursuit of a normalized existence. While acknowledging the need for state assistance, disabled veterans have frequently been wary of excessive dependence on the state as limiting the attainment of normalization.
A discussion of some inference issues in order restricted models

Traditional inference methodology in order restricted models oftentimes yields procedures with unexpected properties. There are many scattered results exhibiting anomalies and there is disagreement on which inference procedures are appropriate in particular specific models. The authors contend here that these anomalies are not surprising and are to be expected. They air some of the issues that arise in an effort to shed some light on these problems.