cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Performance effects of information technology synergies in multibusiness firms

Unlike technologies that are applicable in a few specific industries, information technologies have a wide range of applicability across almost all industries. The fundamental principles of good IT management are also applicable in many industries. Thus, firms whose business units operate in different industries have an opportunity to exploit cross-unit IT synergies by applying their IT resources and management processes across multiple units. This study examines sources of cross-unit IT synergy and the conditions under which cross-unit IT synergies improve the performance of multibusiness firms. Building on the resource-based view of diversification and the economic theory of complementarities, the study identifies the relatedness and complementarity of IT resources as two major sources of cross-unit IT synergy. It argues that IT relatedness-the use of common IT infrastructure technologies and common IT management processes across business units-creates sub-additive cost synergies, whereas complementarities among IT infrastructure technologies and IT management processes create super-additive value synergies. In a sample of 356 multibusiness Fortune 1000 firms, the study finds that sub-additive cost synergies arising from the use of related IT resources or management processes do not have any effects on corporate performance, whereas the super-additive value synergies arising from the use of a complementary set of IT resources and management processes have significant effects on corporate performance. The diversification level of the firm moderates the relationship between IT synergies and corporate performance. As the diversification level increases, the performance effects of IT synergies remain positive, but they become weaker. The IT governance mode of the firm (centralized, decentralized, hybrid) does not make a difference in the performance effects of IT synergies.
THz energy confinement in finite-width parallel-plate waveguides

We investigate the TEM-mode energy confinement in finite-width parallel-plate waveguides using THz pulses, and observe a narrowing of the mode profile due to the finite width, although this does not result in better energy confinement.
Volumetric Degenerative Routing for 3D Network-on-chip

As we reach the limits of scaling down of circuits, Three Dimensional Integrated Circuits (3D ICs) offer a very promising opportunity to keep on increasing the processing capacities and speed. In a Multi-Processor System-on-Chip (MPSoC) based embedded system with Network-on-chip (NOC) as the communication architecture [1], routing of the traffic among the Processing Elements (PEs) contributes significantly to the global latency, throughput and energy consumption. Almost all prior studies have focused on 2D NOC designs. The field of 3D integration is relatively new and has emerged to provide an alternate solution for high performance computation. This paper introduces a new routing algorithm which aims to improve performance characteristics of conventional existing algorithms. Volumetric Degenerative Routing, as proposed in this paper, reduces maximum delay by as much as 40%.
An algorithm for selection and design of hybrid power supplies for MEMS with a case study of a micro-gas chromatograph system

Abstract The Wireless Integrated Microsystems (WIMS)-environmental monitor testbed (EMT) is a multi-component microelectromechanical system (MEMS), incorporating complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) materials for high-precision circuits used for integrated sensors such as micro-g accelerometers, micro-gyroscopes, and pressure sensors. The WIMS–EMT duty cycle, like many autonomous MEMS systems, has low-power standby periods for sensing, and high-power pulses for R/F transmission and reception. In this paper, we present results of three strategies for providing power to this system, including (1) specification of a single, aggregate power supply, resulting in a single battery electrochemistry and cell size; (2) specification of several power supplies, by a priori division of power sources by power range; and (3) specification of an arbitrary number of power “bundles,” based on available space in the device. The second approach provided the best results of mass (0.032 kg) and volume (0.028 L) among the three approaches. The second and third approaches provided the best battery lifetime results; both systems produced lifetimes in excess of 2E3 h. Future work will incorporate CMOS operational amplifier (op-amp) technologies to accommodate large voltage fluxes in many MEMS devices, and implementation of our approaches into a user-friendly code.
Influence of Sex on the Survival of Patients With Esophageal Cancer

Purpose The prognostic value of sex for esophageal cancer survival is currently unclear, and growing data suggest that hormonal influences may account for incidence disparities between men and women. Therefore, moving from the hypothesis that hormones could affect the prognosis of patients with esophageal cancer, we investigated the primary hypothesis that sex is associated with survival and the secondary hypotheses that the relationship between sex and survival depends, at least in part, on age, histology, and race/ethnicity. Patients and Methods By using the SEER databases from 1973 to 2007, we identified 13,603 patients (34%) with metastatic esophageal cancer (MEC) and 26,848 patients (66%) with locoregional esophageal cancer (LEC). Cox proportional hazards model for competing risks were used for analyses. Results In the multivariate analysis, women had longer esophageal cancer-specific survival (ECSS) than men in both MEC (hazard ratio [HR], 0.949; 95% CI, 0.905 to 0.995; P = .029) and LEC (HR, 0.920;...
An Overview of the Third National Conference for Counseling Psychology Planning the Future

This report (a) describes the issues and planning process that led up to the Georgia conference and (b) summarizes the background and characteristics of the conference participants.
Teaching Asian American students

Abstract The population of Asian immigrant children has grown rapidly in the past three decades. Public schools need to recognize the cultural characteristics and learning styles of this population in order to work with them effectively. In this article, different backgrounds of Asian immigrants are identified, and Asian cultures related to children's learning are discussed. The methods utilized in this paper include literature review, interview, and observation. Twenty families from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan with thirty‐one children, age ranges from 9 to 21 years, were interviewed. Observations based on the interviews and suggestions for teaching Asian American children are made.
The Role of Offender Risk Assessment: A Policy Maker Guide

One of the foundations of developing effective correctional practices is the adoption of a validated risk assessment instrument. Risk assessments offer correc- tional agencies a clear understanding of the level of risk an offender poses to the com- munity, as well as appropriate targets for change. Agencies that adopt a valid risk assessment recognize that the resources it takes to conduct a risk assessment are offset by the time savings it provides in the long run. The recent advancement from second and third generation tools to fourth generation tools provides even more utility for correctional agencies. Fourth generation tools offer an integrated case plan system that is driven directly from the results of the assessment and assists correctional staff in targeting those criminogenic needs that are identified as moderate risk to high risk. Although adopting a validated risk assessment is only one step in conducting evidence based interventions, it is a necessary step to ensure that agencies are targeting the right offender and are addressing the right targets.
PARP inhibition selectively increases sensitivity to cisplatin in ERCC1-low non-small cell lung cancer cells

Platinum compounds are the foundation of chemotherapy regimens for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) despite poor response rates and limited response duration. It has been reported that tumor expression of excision repair cross-complementation group 1 (ERCC1), a key component in nucleotide excision repair, may correlate with clinical response to platinum agents. We found that most primary lung tumor specimens demonstrated a stronger protein expression of poly (adenosine diphosphate ribose) polymerases 1 (PARP1) than their normal counterparts. Therefore, we hypothesized that combining PARP inhibition with platinum compounds may be an approach to improve platinum-based therapy for NSCLC. Drug combination experiments revealed that two distinct PARP inhibitors, olaparib and veliparib, not only potentiated the cell killing by cisplatin but also conferred cytotoxicity as a single agent specifically in ERCC1-low HCC827 and PC9 but not in ERCC1-high A549 and H157 lung cancer cells. Moreover, small interfering RNA knockdown of ERCC1 in A549 and H157 cells increased their sensitivities to both cisplatin and olaparib in a synergistic manner in our model. Furthermore, mechanistic studies indicated that combined PARP inhibitor and cisplatin could lead to sustained DNA double-strand breaks, prolonged G2/M cell cycle arrest with distinct activation of checkpoint kinase 1 signaling and more pronounced apoptosis preferentially in lung cancer cells with low ERCC1 expression. Collectively, these data suggest that there is a synergistic relationship between PARP inhibition and low ERCC1 expression in NSCLC that could be exploited for novel therapeutic approaches in lung cancer therapy based on tumor ERCC1 expression.
Transvaginal paravaginal repair of high-grade cystocele central and lateral defects with concomitant suburethral sling: report of early results, outcomes, and patient satisfaction with a new technique.

Baden-Walker classification grade III–IV (pelvic organ prolapse quantification [POP-Q] system stage III–IV) cystocele is associated with a constellation of abnormalities including urethral hypermobility, lateral defect, central defect, and concomitant vault and posterior wall prolapse. We describe a new transvaginal paravaginal technique to correct this group of abnormalities and report on our early results. We prospectively evaluated patients with high-grade cystocele who underwent repair with the new transvaginal paravaginal repair. Preoperative evaluation included history and physical examination, dynamic pelvic magnetic resonance imaging, urodynamics, and symptom questionnaire. All patients first underwent a distal urethral polypropylene sling surgery. After repair of the central defect of the cystocele, a paravaginal repair of the lateral defect was performed by using a circular 5 cm × 5 cm soft polypropylene mesh attached proximally to the sacrouterine/cardinal ligament, distally to the bladder neck, and laterally to the infralevator obturator fascia. Postoperative evaluation at 3-month intervals included history and physical examination using the POP-Q system, a voiding dysfunction and incontinence symptom questionnaire, the validated short form of the Urogenital Distress Inventory (UDI-6), a validated global quality-of-life question, and a postvoid residual. We performed the repair in 98 patients with a mean age of 65 years (range, 40 to 86 years). Of these, 26% underwent concomitant vaginal hysterectomy, 45% had enterocele repair, and 94% had rectocele repair. There were 2 complications, including transient ureteral obstruction due to bladder wall hematoma and 1 patient who presented with a recurrent enterocele requiring surgical repair. No patient experienced urinary retention. De novo stress urinary incontinence was seen in 3 patients; de novo urge incontinence was seen in 2 patients. Postoperative POP-Q scores showed 85% of patients with stage 0–I, 13% with stage II, and 2% with stage III anterior vaginal wall prolapse. Of patients with preoperative stress urinary incontinence, 70% reported never experiencing symptoms under any circumstances. Quality of life improved from 4.7 to 1 (P <0.005). Transvaginal paravaginal repair of grade III–IV cystocele using soft polypropylene mesh fixed to the obturator fascia, sacrouterine ligaments, and bladder neck area provides excellent support of the central defect repair as well as repair of the lateral defect. The operation is safe, simple, and outpatient based, and provides excellent anatomic results with minimal complications. Concomitant distal polypropylene sling did not increase the rate of complications and did not compromise results of stress urinary incontinence surgery.
The Role of Family Context in a Social Cognitive Model for Career-Related Choice Behavior: A Math and Science Perspective

Abstract This study applied causal modeling techniques to the Lent, Brown, and Hackett (1994) model of person, contextual, and experiential factors affecting career-related choice behavior. The effects of family context and person input variables on learning experiences, self-efficacy, outcome expectancies, interests, and goals were examined. Data on undergraduate students (n = 791) enrolled in psychology classes at two universities were collected. Results based on a revised path model provided empirical validation of the Lent et al. (1994) model for this college student population. As a family background context variable, parental encouragement was found to have significant direct effects on learning experiences (grades in math and science) and outcome expectancies. Significant direct effects were also found between gender and learning experiences and age and learning experiences. In turn, learning experiences were found to directly influence self-efficacy and outcome expectancies, while self-efficacy and outcome expectancies were both directly related to interests and goals. Self-efficacy also had a significant direct effect on outcome expectancies and interests had a significant direct effect on goals.
Effect of Chorda Tympani Nerve Transection on Salt Taste Perception in Mice

Effects of gustatory nerve transection on salt taste have been studied extensively in rats and hamsters but have not been well explored in the mouse. We examined the effects of chorda tympani (CT) nerve transection on NaCl taste preferences and thresholds in outbred CD-1 mice using a high-throughput phenotyping method developed in our laboratory. To measure taste thresholds, mice were conditioned by oral self-administration of LiCl or NaCl and then presented with NaCl concentration series in 2-bottle preference tests. LiCl-conditioned and control NaCl-exposed mice were given bilateral transections of the CT nerve (LiCl-CTX, NaCl-CTX) or were left intact as controls (LiCl-CNT, NaCl-CNT). After recovery from surgery, mice received a concentration series of NaCl (0–300 mM) in 48-h 2-bottle tests. CT transection increased NaCl taste thresholds in LiCl-conditioned mice and eliminated avoidance of concentrated NaCl in control NaCl-exposed mice. This demonstrates that in mice, the CT nerve is important for detection and recognition of NaCl taste and is necessary for the normal avoidance of high concentrations of NaCl. The results of this experiment also show that the method of high-throughput phenotyping of salt taste thresholds is suitable for detecting changes in the taste periphery in mouse genetic studies.
Dishevelled phosphorylation, subcellular localization and multimerization regulate its role in early embryogenesis

Dishevelled (Dsh) induces a secondary axis and can translocate to the membrane when activated by Frizzleds; however, dominant-negative approaches have not supported a role for Dsh in primary axis formation. We demonstrate that the Dsh protein is post-translationally modified at the dorsal side of the embryo: timing and position of this regulation suggests a role of Dsh in dorsal–ventral patterning in Xenopus. To create functional links between these properties of Dsh we analyzed the influence of endogenous Frizzleds and the Dsh domain dependency for these characteristics. Xenopus Frizzleds phosphorylate and translocate Xdsh to the membrane irrespective of their differential ectopic axes inducing abilities, showing that translocation is insufficient for axis induction. Dsh deletion analysis revealed that axis inducing abilities did not segregate with Xdsh membrane association. The DIX region and a short stretch at the N-terminus of the DEP domain are necessary for axis induction while the DEP region is required for Dsh membrane association and its phosphorylation. In addition, Dsh forms homomeric complexes in embryos suggesting that multimerization is important for its proper function.
Regulation of L-type inward calcium channel activity by captopril and angiotensin II via the phosphatidyl inositol 3-kinase pathway in cardiomyocytes from volume-overload hypertrophied rat hearts

Heart failure can be caused by pro-hypertrophic humoral factors such as angiotensin II (Ang II), which regulates protein kinase activities. The intermingled responses of these kinases lead to the early compensated cardiac hypertrophy, but later to the uncompensated phase of heart failure. We have shown that although beneficial, cardiac hypertrophy is associated with modifications in ion channels that are mainly mediated through mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) activation. This study evaluates the control of L-type Ca(2+) current (I(Ca,L)) by the Ang II/PI3K pathway in hypertrophied ventricular myocytes from volume-overload rats using the perforated patch-clamp technique. To assess activation of the I(Ca,L) in cardiomyocytes, voltages of 350 ms in 10 mV increments from a holding potential of -85 mV were applied to cardiocytes, with a pre-pulse to -45 mV for 300 ms. Volume overload-induced hypertrophy reduces I(Ca,L), whereas addition of Ang II alleviates the hypertrophic-induced decrease in a PI3K-dependent manner. Acute administration of Ang II (10(-6) mol/L) to normal adult cardiomyocytes had no effect; however, captopril reduced their basal I(Ca,L). In parallel, captopril regressed the hypertrophy and inverted the Ang II effect on I(Ca,L) seemingly through a PI3K upstream effector. Thus, it seems that regression of cardiac hypertrophy by captopril improved I(Ca,L) partly through PI3K.
Metabolic response of people with type 2 diabetes to a high protein diet

Background One of the major interests in our laboratory has been to develop a scientific framework for dietary advice for patients with diabetes. Knowledge regarding the metabolic consequences and potential effects on health of protein in people with type 2 diabetes has been a particular interest.
Large-Scale SQP Methods for Optimization of Navier-Stokes Flows

We consider the problem of optimal control of fluids governed by the steady Navier-Stokes equations. The control is affected by the suction or injection of fluid on portions of the boundary, and the objective function represents the rate at which energy is dissipated in the fluid. We show how reduced Hessian successive quadratic programming methods, which avoid converging the flow equations at each iteration, can be tailored to these problems. Both quasi-Newton and Newton variants are developed, and compared to the approach of eliminating the flow equations and variables, which is effectively the reduced gradient method. The examples demonstrate at least an order-of-magnitude reduction in time taken, allowing the optimal solution of realistic two-dimensional flow control problems in little time on a desktop workstation.
CD40 Ligand Trimer Enhances the Response of CD8+ T Cells to Mycobacterium tuberculosis

We investigated the effect of recombinant CD40 ligand trimer (CD40LT) on the functional capacity of peripheral blood CD8(+) T cells from healthy tuberculin reactors that were cultured with Mycobacterium tuberculosis-infected autologous monocytes. CD40LT enhanced the capacity of M. tuberculosis-responsive CD8(+) T cells to produce IFN-gamma by increasing the number of IFN-gamma-producing CD8(+) T cells and the amount of IFN-gamma produced per cell. CD40LT-induced IFN-gamma production was dependent on production of IL-12 and IL-18, but did not require IL-15. CD40LT up-regulated expression of the transcription factors phosphorylated CREB and c-Jun, both of which have been previously shown to stimulate IFN-gamma mRNA transcription by binding to the IFN-gamma promoter. CD40LT also enhanced the capacity of CD8(+) T cells to lyse M. tuberculosis-infected monocytes, and increased CTL activity was associated with higher expression of perforin and granulysin, but not of Fas ligand. We conclude that CD40LT can enhance CD8(+) T cell effector function in response to M. tuberculosis.
The Application of the Wigner Distribution to the Identification of Structure-borne Noise Components

In this paper it is shown that time-frequency analysis of a transient structural response may be used to identify the wave types carrying significant energy through a structure. The identification of various wave types is possible since each is characterized by its own dispersion relation, with the result that each wave type may be associated with characteristic features in the time-frequency domain representation of a structural response. In the work described here, the Wigner Distribution has been used to obtain time-frequency representations of structural transient responses. Practical aspects of the calculation of the Wigner Distribution are discussed briefly, and examples of its application to the analysis of transient structural responses are given. Additionally, time-frequency filtering techniques are described that can be used both to detect the presence of and to quantify the energy carried by both non-dispersive and dispersive waves.
A human power conversion system based on children's play

A method is proposed for harnessing of human power based on children's play in playground and public places, on devices such as the seesaw, merry-go-round and swing. When large numbers of children play in a playground, part of the power of their play can be usefully harnessed resulting in significant energy storage. This stored energy can then be converted to electricity for powering basic, low-power appliances such as lights, fans, communications equipment, and so on. The method provides a low-cost, low-resource means of generation of electricity, especially for use in developing countries. The paper discusses the basic theory behind the method. Results of experiments on a laboratory prototype compressed air human power conversion system using a teeter-totter are presented to illustrate the practical effectiveness of the proposed method.
Treatment of Massive or Submassive Acute Pulmonary Embolism With Catheter-Directed Thrombolysis

The presentation of acute pulmonary thromboembolism (PE) can be highly variable resulting in diagnostic challenges and management difficulties. Current guidelines suggest that therapy must be adjusted based on the severity of PE presentation. Systemic thrombolysis is the standard therapy for acute massive PE; however, systemic thrombolysis carries an estimated 20% risk of major hemorrhage, including a 3% to 5% risk of hemorrhagic stroke. There are data supporting the use of catheter-directed therapy (CDT) in massive and submassive PE, but past studies have limited its use to patients in whom systemic thrombolysis has either failed or was contraindicated. There is a paucity of data comparing the efficacy of CDT compared to systemic thrombolysis in different risk groups. This review will summarize the available data on the techniques and indications and outcomes of CDT for acute PE.
Models of Economic Growth and Land-Augmenting Technological Change in Foodgrain Production

Technological change in foodgrain production as epitomised by the ‘green revolution’ holds potential for substantial acceleration of overall rates of economic growth and change to a pattern of growth favourable to the low-income labouring classes [32].2 Large additions to agricultural production increase the supply of wages goods, and hence the potential for increased employment. Furthermore, the net additions to national income expand the demand for goods and services and increase employment in the non-foodgrains sectors [42]. The nature and extent of these influences depends significantly on the initial distribution of income from the increased foodgrain production, which is in turn importantly influenced by the nature of the underlying technological change. These phenomena appear sufficiently important to merit analysis in models of economic growth and sufficiently complex to appeal to the aesthetic tastes of model-builders.
Troubling Humanities: Literary Jurisprudence and Crimes Against Humanity in Ishiguro’s Remains of the Day and McEwan’s Atonement

This commentary poses the question of the human by asking how the “human” of crimes against humanity relates to the “human” of the humanities. It does so by first considering Hannah Arendt’s Eichmann in Jerusalem (1961) as a text that establishes the representational aporias of banality and ineffability raised by crimes against humanity, not just through its analytical content but also through the use of literary form. The commentary then offers a close reading of two novels, Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day (1989) and Ian McEwan’s Atonement (2001), tracking the ways their “literary jurisprudence,” or engagement with problems of judgment, emerge from the representational cruxes located by Arendt. Rather than read these literary texts as desirable substitutes for legal forms, or as providing ways out of legal aporias, I argue that their literary jurisprudences reveal the challenges of facing the afterlife of judgment, particularly for a humanity left in the wake of ambiguous forms of condemnation an...
Ciprofloxacin for the prevention of postoperative recurrence in patients with crohn's disease: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study

Background The commensal bacterial flora plays a critical role in postoperative recurrence of Crohn’s disease (CD). We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled 6 months pilot trial of ciprofloxacin for the prevention of endoscopic recurrence in patients with CD who underwent surgery.
Auditory Golgi cells are interconnected predominantly by electrical synapses

The mossy fiber-granule cell-parallel fiber system conveys proprioceptive and corollary discharge information to principal cells in cerebellum-like systems. In the dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN), Golgi cells inhibit granule cells and thus regulate information transfer along the mossy fiber-granule cell-parallel fiber pathway. Whereas excitatory synaptic inputs to Golgi cells are well understood, inhibitory and electrical synaptic inputs to Golgi cells have not been examined. Using paired recordings in a mouse brain slice preparation, we find that Golgi cells of the cochlear nucleus reliably form electrical synapses onto one another. Golgi cells were only rarely electrically coupled to superficial stellate cells, which form a separate network of electrically coupled interneurons in the DCN. Spikelets had a biphasic effect on the excitability of postjunctional Golgi cells, with a brief excitatory phase and a prolonged inhibitory phase due to the propagation of the prejunctional afterhyperpolarization through gap junctions. Golgi cells and stellate cells made weak inhibitory chemical synapses onto Golgi cells with low probability. Electrical synapses are therefore the predominant form of synaptic communication between auditory Golgi cells. We propose that electrical synapses between Golgi cells may function to regulate the synchrony of Golgi cell firing when electrically coupled Golgi cells receive temporally correlated excitatory synaptic input.
The death of Empedocles.

Empedocles' jump into Etna has fascinated both scholars and poets from ancient until modern times. ** Diogenes Laertius gave two versions of the jump; Matthew Arnold made it the subject of his long dramatic poem, Empedocles on Etna. The more one probes into the story, the more fascinating it is, as it becomes ever more clear that Empedocles was doomed to die in this particular manner. Not that he actually jumped into the volcano; rather, the manner of his death was determined by his biographers, by historians and compilers and, finally, by Empedocles himself. Empedocles' own works provided the ultimate source for those who wrote about him, and the way in which his philosophy was transformed into biography reveals more about ancient biographers, such as Diogenes Laertius, than it does about Empedocles. There was a tendency in the ancient world to approach any given text as biographical.1 Homer's life was pieced together from the Iliad and Odyssey; Aeschylus was presumed to have fought at Salamis because he describes that battle. Nearly all the biographical data that have come down to us from the ancient critics and historians about the lives of the poets were taken from their own poetry. The same case can be made for the lives of the philosophers. The legend of Empedocles neatly demonstrates this ancient tendency towards a biographical reading. A large enough body of Empedocles' own work is still extant, so that many of the legends and events about his life can be traced back to their original source. Since Empedocles was such a popular figure for the bi-
Revamping the Classroom - Teaching Mobile App Software Development Using Creative Inquiry

Teaching mobile device software development is challenging. Almost everything about it is different from teaching a traditional software development class in which the target computer (on which the software developed by the students is to run) is a laptop or desktop computer. In a mobile device software development course, the target computer is a device (smartphone or tablet) that has a large number of features (Internet access, camera, GPS, gyroscope, media display, etc.) accessible by software. The material that must be covered in such as course is so broad that new approaches to delivering course content must be used. This paper describes the overall method by which we teach such a course. We describe four challenges and explain how we address each. We describe the structure of the course in detail, explain how a class policy of open collaboration and a university program called Creative Inquiry complement the proposed approach. We conclude with student evaluations and examples of apps we have produced over the
The use of mechanical stimulation to obtain the sacral reflex latency: a new technique.

Abstract We determined sacral reflex latencies and morphologies in 18 neurologically normal patients and 83 with neurological disease by stimulating the glans penis or clitoris using electrical and a new technique of mechanical stimulation, and recording from the external urethral sphincter. The results with both stimulation techniques were compared among various diagnostic groups. In normal patients the mean sacral reflex latencies were 35.3 ± 2.5 (standard deviation) msec, with electrical stimulation, and 39.1 ± 4.0 msec, with mechanical stimulation. The mean reflex latencies in patients with lower motor neuron lesions studied by both methods were statistically longer than in normal subjects, and the mean reflex latencies in patients with upper motor neuron impairment studied by both methods were not statistically different from those in normal subjects. The morphological findings of the reflex tracings suggest that both types of evoked responses follow the same general anatomical pathway and both resemble a special human flexor reflex. The mechanical technique has advantages over the electrical technique because it is less painful and in certain instances it is easier to obtain.
Transportation Costs and Service Quality: An Examination of Competing Hypotheses

The tradeoff concept in transportation and logistics is a well-accepted and conventional paradigm for describing the relationships between business and economic variables in logistics systems. For example, the use of premium transportation to enhance customer service is well known. As such, the increased transportation costs may be more than offset by customer time-related or service attribute benefits, by the stimulation of demand, or by channel of distribution coordinative benefits. Thus, it has been generally believed that higher levels of transportation service quality require greater transportation expenditures in a tradeoff-type relationship. This paradigm has been extended recently to the strategic level of management decision making.
A Semi‐parametric Model for Microstructure Analysis of Advanced High‐strength Dual‐phase Steels Considering Sample Variation

Microstructure analysis of advanced high-strength dual-phase steels has attracted increasing attention in recent years, as the microscopic properties of steels significantly affect their material properties and behaviors. As a result, the steel microstructure plays an important role of product quality. However, most of the existing methods only consider a single microstructure sample, while the unit-to-unit variability among different samples is ignored. As a result, they cannot be applied for steel quality control. In this study, we propose a semi-parametric microstructure modeling method that can capture the variation across different microstructure samples. The proposed model can be used for both isotropic materials and anisotropic materials in which the microstructure properties in the vertical direction and those in the horizontal direction are different. The proposed model is applied for both quality control of dual-phase steels and microstructure reconstruction without having to conduct physical experiments. A case study is conducted by applying the developed methods to advanced high-strength steels. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A Psychoanalytic Approach to Marketing

Freud’s work on the unconscious is explored and its relevance to marketing is explored. The unconscious is compared to an iceberg with around fifteen percent of the psyche devoted to consciousness and the subconscious and eighty-five percent devoted to the unconscious, which shapes much of our decision making. The ideas of Gerald Zaltman, a marketing professor at the Harvard Business school, about the role of the unconscious are considered. This leads to a discussion of Freud’s ideas about the relationship between id, ego, and superego in the human psyche and the defense mechanisms of the ego in its never-ending battle with the id and superego. A Fidji perfume advertisement is discussed, which leads to a look at Freud’s ideas on male and female symbolism and the role of symbolism in dreams and other aspects of behavior.
Frequency of empiric antibiotic de-escalation in an acute care hospital with an established Antimicrobial Stewardship Program

Background Expanding antimicrobial resistance patterns in the face of stagnant growth in novel antibiotic production underscores the importance of antibiotic stewardship in which de-escalation remains an integral component. We measured the frequency of antibiotic de-escalation in a tertiary care medical center with an established antimicrobial stewardship program to provide a plausible benchmark for de-escalation.
Recent results of an experimental study on the impact of smoke on digital I & C equipment

Abstract A program to assess the impact of smoke on digital instrumentation and control (I & C) safety systems began in 1994, funded by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of Research. Digital I & C safety systems are likely replacements for today’s analog systems. The nuclear industry has little experience in qualifying digital electronics for critical systems, part of which is understanding system performance during plant fires. The results of tests evaluating the performance of digital circuits and chip technologies exposed to the various smoke and humidity conditions representative of cable fires are discussed. Tests results show that low to moderate smoke densities can cause intermittent failures of digital systems. Smoke increases leakage currents between biased contacts, leading to shorts. Chips with faster switching times, and thus higher output drive currents, are less sensitive to leakage currents and thus to smoke. Contact corrosion from acidic gases in smoke and stray inductance or capacitance are less important contributors to system upset. Transmission line coupling was increased because the smoke acted as a conductive layer between the lines. Permanent circuit damage was not obvious in the 24 h of circuit monitoring. Test results also show that polyurethane, parylene, and acrylic conformal coatings are more effective in protecting against smoke than epoxy or silicone. Common sense mitigation measures are discussed. Unfortunately we are a long way from standard tests for smoke exposure that capture the variations in smoke exposure possible in an actual fire.
Stochastic forecasting of project streams for construction project portfolio management

Construction companies typically work on many projects simultaneously each with its own objectives and resource demands. Consequently, a key managerial function is to allocate financial, equipment, and human resources between these concurrent projects in a way that satisfies the individual project constraints while optimizing the company’s overall objectives. Project portfolio management is concerned with managing multiple projects to accomplish strategic goals. The main concentrations of research so far have been project selection, prioritization and alignment of a portfolio with strategic goals among a pool of awarded projects. The objective of this research is to develop a model capable of generating representative future streams of projects that can be used to assist in strategic planning and portfolio management. This paper reports on an on-going research project aimed at developing and validating a stochastic model of streams of uncertain and unknown future projects and to demonstrate the significance and implications of such uncertainties on project portfolio and strategic planning. The scope of the research is Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) projects. Records of the past 12 years letting information combined with a pool of candidate variables is analyzed to capture characteristics of the time series data and to determine any project characteristic correlations with macroeconomic factors. The performances of the various model components presented indicate the viability of an integrated project stream forecaster that predicts, within a simulation environment, the frequencies of projects and empirical distributions of project duration and cost. The gap in the current body of knowledge is a lack of consideration of the effects of uncertainties associated with future projects, both known (but yet to be awarded to a contractor) and unknown (although statistically quantifiable). It is evident that companies should not just focus on current known projects but also uncertain and unknown future projects. Such a capability, looking into the future, is key to the effective medium and long-term strategic planning for the company. Contractors can, for example, use these stochastic streams of data to test different bidding strategies and to see how sensitive the performance of their portfolio is to changes in different market factors.
Polydopamine-filled bacterial nanocellulose as a biodegradable interfacial photothermal evaporator for highly efficient solar steam generation

Solar steam generation by heat localization is considered to be a highly efficient, sustainable way to alleviate water shortage in resource-limited regions. However, most of the interfacial photothermal evaporators demonstrated so far involve non-biodegradable nanoscale materials, which can quickly pose a significant threat to the environment and ecosystems, especially marine ecosystems, after their disposal. For the first time, a flexible, scalable and, more importantly, completely biodegradable photothermal evaporator for highly efficient solar steam generation is introduced. The bilayered evaporator is comprised of bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) densely loaded with polydopamine (PDA) particles during its growth. The biodegradable foam introduced here exhibits large light absorption and photothermal conversion, heat localization, and efficient water transportation, leading to an excellent solar steam generation performance under one sun (efficiency of ∼78%). The novel material and scalable process demonstrated here can be a sustainable solution to alleviate the global water crisis.
Is reality fundamentally qualitative

Individuals play a prominent role in many metaphysical theories. According to an individualistic metaphysics, reality is determined (at least in part) by the pattern of properties and relations that hold between individuals. A number of philosophers have recently brought to attention alternative views in which individuals do not play such a prominent role; in this paper I will investigate one of these alternatives.
Promoting Athletic Participation for Students with Disabilities: Trends and Issues

Engaging in physical activity is important for school-age children, as it promotes a healthy and active lifestyle. However, barriers to participation in physical education and athletics often preve...
Vom ‚Reisen‘ und ‚friedlichen‘ Sterben – Die wirklichkeitskonstitutive Macht von Metaphern am Beispiel der Hospizbewegung

Wir als Lebende konnen nichts uber den Tod wissen, denn der Tote als einzig moglicher Auskunftgeber kann sein Erlebtes – sein Sterben bzw. Gestorben-sein – den Lebenden nicht mehr mitteilen. Der Tod als das Nicht-Sagbare „verurteilt zum Schweigen“ (Macho 1987: 7), weil er die absolute Grenze jeder subjektiven Erfahrbarkeit markiert. Durch den prinzipiellen, irreversiblen Kommunikationsabbruch stellt er aus soziologischer Sicht aber auch die ultimative Grenze des Sozialen dar.
THE PROBLEM OF SAMPLE CONTAMINATION IN A FLUVIAL GEOCHEMISTRY RESEARCH EXPERIENCE FOR UNDERGRADUATES

Geochemical analyses are difficult because all samples have an unknown composition. As most geoscience programs do not teach “techniques” courses, teaching analytical technique and critical data analysis becomes a priority during the undergraduate research experience. The analysis of rivers is an excellent way to teach geochemical techniques because of the relative ease of sample collection and speed of sample analysis. The sample collection and processing steps, however, are subject to a variety of mistakes that affect sample integrity. This paper focuses on the potential sources of sample contamination during the sampling, filtering, and bottle cleaning processes, and reviews methods to reduce and detect contamination. Training at the beginning of a research program is helpful, but during a ten-week or shorter summer research experience, training time is of necessity short and much learning occurs in the actual research environment. An emphasis on contamination sources and the one million times dilution...
Algal growth in warm temperate reservoirs: Nutrient-dependent kinetics of individual taxa and seasonal patterns of dominance

Samples of lake water were collected from two warm temperate reservoirs in northern Texas (USA), Cedar Creek Lake, and Eagle Mountain Lake, over a period of seven months from winter to summer. Under simulated field conditions, dilution bioassays were applied to assess limitation by N, P and trace nutrients. Growth kinetics of individual phytoplankton taxa in response to several levels of enrichment with N or P were analyzed. In every season studied, growth rates of algal taxa were often nutrient limited, with N-limitation and colimitation being especially common. Cyclotella was the dominant taxon in both lakes on an annual average, reaching its highest biomass in winter. During succession from winter to summer, there was a partial replacement of Cyclotella by cyanobacteria. Estimates of the Monod growth parameters were obtained for 21 taxa under N-limitation, and for 11 taxa under P-limitation. Cyclotella spp. should compete well for N in that its growth affinity was the highest of all the algal taxa we could study.
Christian Counseling, Interpersonal Neurobiology, and the Future:

The emerging field of interpersonal neurobiology (IPNB) suggests complex interrelationship between the mind, the body, the brain (including genetics), the environment, and especially the role of cl...
Diffusion of Forecasting Principles through Software

Do forecasting software programs facilitate good practices in the selection, evaluation, and presentation of appropriate forecasting methods? Using representative programs from each of four market categories, we evaluate the effectiveness of forecasting software in implementing relevant principles of forecasting. The categories are (1) spreadsheet add-ins, (2) forecasting modules of general statistical programs, (3) neural network programs, and (4) dedicated business-forecasting programs. We omitted one important category—demand planning software—because software developers in that market declined to submit their products for review.
Agencies Should Ignore Distant-Future Generations

A theme of many of the papers is that we need to distinguish the notion of intertemporal equity on the one hand and intertemporal efficiency on the other hand. Intertemporal equity refers to the degree to which the current generation should weight the interests of future generations. Intertemporal egalitarianism, for example, holds that the interests of a person living in the future should receive the same weight as the interests of a person living today. Intertemporal efficiency refers to the means by which the current generation should implement the obligations imposed by intertemporal equity. The two distinct ideas are frequently confused in the legal literature; the confusion is embodied by the notion that discounting future costs and benefits entails a rejection of intertemporal egalitarianism. As Louis Kaplow, Dexter Samida and David Weisbach, and Cass Sunstein and Arden Rowell show, an intertemporal egalitarian should endorse discounting so that the choice among projects designed to benefit the future is not distorted—so that one does not choose a regulatory project that transfers wealth to the future less efficiently than saving does.1 Indeed, for the sake of argument, Samida and Weisbach assume intertemporal egalitarianism in the course of reaching their conclusion “that discounting by the opportunity cost of capital is generally appropriate and Pareto dominates any other decision procedure.”2 However, the actual discount rate used by regulatory agencies should almost certainly be higher than the opportunity cost of capital. The latter provides only the ethically appropriate floor for the actual discount rate that ought to be used by agencies. Indeed, beyond a few generations the effective discount rate should be infinity—that is, regu-
Protocol for assembling micro- and nanoparticles in a viscous liquid above a vibrating plate

Abstract In this protocol, we demonstrate the use of a vibrating plate to drive the assembly of micro- and nanoparticles as an approach to high-throughput, large-scale directed assembly in a viscous liquid. Vibration drives the assembly of glass bead microparticles and iron oxide nanoparticles in contact with water over an area of 6400 mm2. We use a scaling analysis to show that there is a competition between acoustic radiation force and vibration-generated fluid flow in a viscous medium, which determines particle transport characteristics. For assembly in a viscous liquid, we find close agreement between the observed experimental results when compared to a numerical solution of the 2D wave equation that describes plate displacement. This model indicates that microparticles migrate along displacement gradients towards displacement anti-nodes where the magnitude of displacement is maximum. We also observe that nanoparticles migrate toward displacement nodes where the magnitude of displacement is zero. • Cost-effective directed assembly technique without the need for microfabrication facilities • Large-scale assembly produces heterogeneously ordered structures on a vibrating substrate