cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Work of Kings: The New Buddhism in Sri Lanka

The Work of Kings: The New Buddhism in Sri Lanka. H. L. Seneviratne. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999. xiii. 358 pp., illustrations, bibliography, index.
Declining benzodiazepine use in veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder.

Objective Clinical practice guidelines issued by the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense caution against benzodiazepine use among veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) because of insufficient evidence for efficacy and emerging safety concerns. We examined recent trends in benzodiazepine prescribing among veterans with PTSD in terms of frequency of use, duration of use, and dose. Method Administrative VA data from fiscal years 1999 through 2009 were used to identify veterans with PTSD according to ICD-9 codes extracted from inpatient discharges and outpatient encounters. Benzodiazepine use among these individuals was determined for each fiscal year by using prescription drug files. Modal daily doses were examined by using standard daily dosage units. Results The number of veterans receiving care for PTSD in the VA increased from 170,685 in 1999 to 498,081 in 2009. The proportion of individuals receiving a benzodiazepine decreased during this time period from 36.7% to 30.6%. In addition, the proportion of long-term users (> 90 days) decreased from 69.2% to 64.1%, and daily dose decreased from 2.1 to 1.8 standard daily dosage units. Conclusions Decreasing benzodiazepine use among veterans with PTSD is encouraging. However, the frequency of use remains above 30%, and focused interventions may be required to achieve further reductions. Given the growing number of veterans being diagnosed and treated for PTSD, minimizing benzodiazepine exposure will remain a vital policy issue for the VA.
PUBLIC OPINION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF SPACE TECHNOLOGY

Although many nations around the world are just entering their versions of the Industrial Revolution, two nations have sent scientific instruments into orbits around the sun and are now preparing to send human explorers into space. International law governing outer space is yet to be developed, but already the attitudes of people in various countries toward this new technological revolution are being crystallized. This article and the two that follow are concerned with the response to the new scientific era. Gabriel A. Almond is Professor of Political Science at Yale University and is directing a comparative study of citizenship in modern democracies. His article was presented to the Conference on Space Research held by the Rand Corporation on October 22 and 23, 1959.
Order−Disorder Antiferroelectric Phase Transition in a Hybrid Inorganic−Organic Framework with the Perovskite Architecture

[(CH3)2NH2]Zn(HCOO)3, 1, adopts a structure that is analogous to that of a traditional perovskite, ABX3, with A = [(CH3)2NH2], B = Zn, and X = HCOO. The hydrogen atoms of the dimethyl ammonium cation, which hydrogen bond to oxygen atoms of the formate framework, are disordered at room temperature. X-ray powder diffraction, dielectric constant, and specific heat data show that 1 undergoes an order−disorder phase transition on cooling below ∼156 K. We present evidence that this is a classical paraelectric to antiferroelectric phase transition that is driven by ordering of the hydrogen atoms. This sort of electrical ordering associated with order−disorder phase transition is unprecedented in hybrid frameworks and opens up an exciting new direction in rational synthetic strategies to create extended hybrid networks for applications in ferroic-related fields.
Ultrastructural observations on the aldosterone-stimulated toad urinary bladder epithelium-ATPase activity.

Ultrastructural evidence is presented indicating an increase in membrane-bound ATPase activity of the mucosal epithelium of the toad urinary bladder following exposure of its serosal surface to aldosterone. Although no conclusion could be made as to whether the observed increase in ATPase activity was a direct affect of AIP, or an event secondary to an effect of AIP on other components of the cells, various possibilities are discussed in terms of current physiological information regarding the effects of aldosterone on the epithelium of the isolated toad urinary bladder.
The possibilities of postcolonial praxis in education

This introduction to the special issue explores the possibilities of postcolonial praxis in the field of education. The local/global focus of postcolonial perspectives invites alternative ways of theorizing question of pedagogy, curriculum and research. Postcolonial praxis similarly highlights how questions of differences and identity need to be critically reexamined and how cross racial/ethnic solidarity against dominant ways of being requires new ways of theorizing anti‐oppressive struggles. By critically highlighting issues of gender, we examine three themes relevant in postcolonial praxis: (1) discrepant identities; (2) critical global perspectives; and (3) racialization and ethnic postcolonial discourse.
Dynamic Energy and Reserve Dispatch Solutions for Electricity Market with Practical Constraints: Intelligent Computing Technique

Continuous power supply is crucial for any developing economy and its cost efficiency and reliability is highly dependent on operating reserve. Globally, the power systems are adopting a market based structure to enhance performance. In conventional electricity markets reserve gets a second place as its dispatch is performed after energy allocation but in the competitive market these two commodities are dispatched simultaneously to maximize efficiency and reliability. This study proposes a technique based on interior point algorithm for optimizing the dynamic combined energy and reserve dispatch problem with practical complex equality and inequality constraints such as power balance, generation and reserve capacity limits, ramp-up/down limits, and reserve-energy coupling constraints. To simulate practical outage conditions generator contingencies and their effect on operating cost and reserve dispatch is observed. The proposed algorithm is simulated on MATLAB platform and tested for three different cases of the IEEE 57 bus system with 17 generating units. It is found that the proposed method converges to optimal solution for all tested cases and produces feasible solutions where all complex constraints are completely satisfied.
The Effect of Respiration on the Contrast and Sharpness of Liver Lesions in MRI

This work demonstrates the effects of through-plane motion due to respiration on contrast and sharpness of liver lesions in MRI. The effects of slice coverage with and without such respiratory motion is also reported. This work is comprised of two parts: a theoretical prediction of liver-lesion contrast and blur with and without respiration and an experimental validation using gel phantoms of the predicted results. Both theory and experiment show a loss of contrast, increasing with amplitude of the peak-to-peak motion. The loss of contrast for a 5-mm lesion at normal respiration of 15 mm peak-to-peak superior-inferior motion is approximately 10% with a low order sorted respiratory ordered phase encoding acquisition and approximately 50% for an unsorted acquisition. Lesion blur is greatest for the low order sorted acquisition while the unsorted and high sort acquisitions maintain edge definition. Breath-hold imaging is potentially superior to nonbreath-hold imaging in liver lesion contrast and edge definition, but is more sensitive to inadequate slice coverage.
The evaluation of fee for service and managed care from the viewpoint of people with disabilities in the USA.

In the literature on managed health care there is little presented from the viewpoint of people with disabilities, but this study looks at what is found. Using a sample of 258 persons with disabilities in Massachusetts obtained through a mail survey, no statistically significant differences between the two groups (fee for service or managed care) on a series of relevant variables was found. An evaluation of their health insurance and their primary care physician was asked for and several regression models of the relevant variables related to these two evaluations were tested. It seems that accessibility of the primary care physicians's office and the physician's level of understanding of the person's disability are related in a statistically significant way to their rating of their health insurance. Also it appears that the ease of obtaining an appointment and the physician's level of understanding of the person's disability are related in a statistically significant way to the evaluation of their primary...
Autonomous Individuals or Self-Determined Communities? the Changing Ethics of Research among Native Americans

Ethnographic and biological research among tribal communities demands that a researcher successfully navigate not only the social environment but also the political, legal, and biomedical perspectives that compete in today’s ethics battleground. Health researchers are, therefore, increasingly drawn into the complex arenas of tribal identity, self-determination, and governance. This brief discussion reflects upon almost a decade of research among indigenous groups in the American Southwest, spanning some of the region’s most hostile and unwelcoming years toward outsiders since the Pueblo Revolt. I focus upon the concept in biomedical ethics of individual autonomy, a powerful but inadequate concept for treatment of tribal decision-making and community self-determination. Incompatible with culture mores of strong family, community, and group decision-making, the principle of autonomy serves as an acculturative agent within medical research and treatment. Alternative approaches to consent, and to ethics more broadly, are called for.
Use of Surrogate Models for a Groundwater Pollutant Source Characterization Problem

This paper investigates a groundwater source identification problem in which concentrations at observation wells are used to reconstruct the pollution loading scenario. This inverse problem is solved using a simulation-optimization approach using evolutionary algorithms to conduct the search. Varying levels of complexity may be modeled, leading to different levels of accuracy in predictions of source location, size, and concentration. More complex models will increase the computational effort needed to model pollutant transport as part of a search procedure. In addition, the amount of non-uniqueness will typically increase as the complexity of the problem increases. This paper describes an investigation of surrogate modeling procedures and methods to generate very different solutions to characterize groundwater pollutant source under varying degrees of problem complexity.
Cobalt oxide surface chemistry: The interaction of CoO(1 0 0), Co3O4(1 1 0) and Co3O4(1 1 1) with oxygen and water

Cobalt oxides comprise two readily accessible cation oxidation states: Co 2+ and Co 3+ , which are thermodynamically competitive under common ambient conditions, and redox mechanisms connecting the two states are largely responsible for their success in partial oxidation catalysis. In our studies, CoO(1 0 0), Co 3 O 4 (1 1 0), and Co 3 O 4 (1 1 1) single crystal substrates have been investigated with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), high-resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy (HREELS), and low energy electron diffraction (LEED) for their surface reactivity toward O 2 and H 2 O and for their stability under reducing UHV conditions. There is facile inter-conversion between CoO and Co 3 O 4 stoichiometry at the oxide surface which, despite the compositional variability, remains well ordered in long-range structure. Surface impurities, however, can pin the surface at either CoO or Co 3 O 4 compositional extremes. Contrary to reports of a pressure gap that creates difficulty in oxide hydroxylation under UHV, it is pos sible to hydroxylate both cobalt monoxide and spinel oxide substrates with H 2 O, provided sufficient activation is available to dis sociate the water molecule.
Reduced endogenous GABA-mediated inhibition in the PVN on renal nerve discharge in rats with heart failure

One characteristic of heart failure (HF) is increased sympathetic activation. The paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus (involved in control of sympathetic outflow) has been shown to ha...
Can consumers recognize misleading advertising content in a media rich online environment

The worldwide growth and acceptance of e-commerce provides consumers with the opportunity to shop in computer-mediated interactive environments that simulate direct product experience. However, the phenomenal growth in advertising on the Internet and marketers' ability to rapidly change the content of online ads also create concerns about consumers being exposed to a plethora of potentially misleading advertisements on the Internet. Relatively little research to date has focused on how consumer beliefs are shaped by online advertising claims or are affected by media richness. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Common genetic variation in six lipid-related and statin-related genes, statin use and risk of incident nonfatal myocardial infarction and stroke.

Objective—Genetic polymorphisms are associated with lipid-lowering response to statins, but generalizeability to disease endpoints is unclear. The association between 82 common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 6 lipid- or statin-related genes (ABCB1, CETP, HMGCR, LDLR, LIPC, NOS3) and incident nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI) and ischemic stroke was analyzed according to current statin use and overall in a population-based case-control study (856 MI, 368 stroke, 2686 controls). Methods—Common SNPs were chosen from resequencing data using pairwise linkage disequilibrium. Gene-level analyses (testing global association within a gene) and SNP-level analyses (comparing the number of observed versus expected associations across all genes) were performed using logistic regression, setting nominal statistical significance at p<0.05. Results—No gene-level interactions with statin use on MI or stroke were identified. Across all genes, 2 SNP-statin interactions on MI were observed (1 ABCB1, 1 LIPC) and 5 interactions on stroke (1 CETP, 4 LIPC). The strongest SNP-statin interaction was for synonymous CETP SNP rs5883 on stroke (p = 0.008). Gene-level associations were present for LIPC and MI (p = 0.026), but not other genes or outcomes. SNP-level associations included 3 SNPs with MI (1 LDLR, 2 LIPC) and 2 SNPs with stroke (1 CETP, 1 LDLR). The number of observed SNP associations was no greater than expected by chance.
Ministry by Women Religious and the U.S. Apostolic Visitation

The concurrent investigations of women religious in the United States, begun in 2009, mark a turning point in defining women’s apostolic religious life and ecclesial ministry. Further, the investigations raise interesting questions in ecclesiology and interpretations of the Second Vatican Council. Each is directed by curial offices directly to the institutes and organization involved, rather than via diocesan bishops or, even, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.1 The January 2009 announcement of an Apostolic Visitation of US wom n religious was quickly followed by announcement of a doctrinal investigation of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), the membership group for leadership of 95% of women’s religious institutes in the country. Some commentators implied the combined events were a coordinated attempt by conservative forces in the Church, following a conference held at Stonehill College, Massachusetts at which the speakers presented a single view of apostolic religious life.2 As some women’s leadership struggled to be positive in the face of the Apostolic Visitation, even as others welcomed it, passive aggressive patterns emerged on both sides. The Apostolic Visitation “office”—really one part-time secretary and some volunteer help in addition to the appointed Visitator, Mother Mary Clare Millea, Rome-based superior general of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus—was mostly unresponsive to media as a critical mass of the 325 institutes under scrutiny reportedly refused to complete sections of the Visitation questionnaire, returning only copies of their approved constitutions. Separately, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith assigned Toledo, Ohio Bishop Leonard P. Blair “to review
IMAGES OF FAMILY LIFE OVER THE FAMILY LIFECYCLE

Based on an analysis of 20 family photo albums, this study investigates how the family's depiction of its geographical boundaries as well as of its kin and friendship networks varies over the lifecycle. Results indicate that the geographical boundaries of the family system expand and contract over the lifecycle and are most constricted during the childrearing years. Kin and friends are most likely to be included in the family album during the pre-parental stage and when school age children are present. A more exclusively kin-oriented image of family life emerges during the pre-school years and at late stages of the lifecycle. Theoretical and methodological implications of these findings are discussed.
Paints and coatings monitored by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy

Two algorithms—peak picking and peaks correlation—have been compiled in a portable laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) system and used specifically for spectral fingerprinting of paints and coatings, which contain multiple ingredients and require several application steps. The LIBS technique starts with a laser shot on the specimen surface, detection of the emission of the elements present, and analysis of the sample compositions. The LIBS system has been successfully illustrated for the identification and analysis of coating substrates, surface pretreatments, and primer and topcoat paints obtained in the lab and at field sites. The results indicate that, despite the compositional complexity in organic metal finishing, the spectral fingerprint of paints and coatings can be effectively determined by the LIBS technique. The advantages of LIBS technique over other conventional methods, such as EDX, are that it is quasi-nondestructive (<100 μm of sample size), requires no sample preparation, is fast (within minutes), is user-friendly (for nontechnical personnel), and is capable of application both online and at the field sites.
Understanding HIV protease: Can it be translated into effective therapy against AIDS?

The protease of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has been extensively studied. The structure and function relationships of this protease and its role in HIV life cycle is well known. We have use recombinant HIV protease and mutagenesis technology to study HIV protease and compare it to the eukaryotic aspartic proteases. When putative active-site hydrogen bonds are placed in the HIV protease, the pKa values of two active-site groups are only slightly downshifted. Corresponding removal of these H-bonds from the active sites of pepsin and rhizopuspepsin do not appreciably alter the active-site pKa values. The kcat values are strongly decreased by these mutations. These observations suggest that the active-site H-bonds in HIV protease and other aspartic proteases control the rigidity of the catalytic apparatus but not the ionization of the active-site groups. A mechanism of catalysis by the HIV protease has been suggested based on kinetic and mutagenesis studies.The strategies involved in the development of...
Identification of Dematiaceous Fungi and Their Role in Human Disease

Phaeohyphomycosis is the disease caused by the dematiaceous hyphomycetes or those fungi that are darkly pigmented because of the presence of melanin in their cell wall. Infections with these fungi may remain localized at the site of traumatic inoculation or within the sinuses or may become disseminated. As these fungi pose a significant problem to both the clinician who must treat the patient and the laboratorian faced with identification of the organism, a selection of representative organisms was presented at the meeting entitled "Focus on Fungus Infections." These fungi often infect patients who are not overtly immunocompromised and therefore may be encountered in a wide variety of cases.
Remote development and distance delivery of innovative courses: challenges and opportunities

The Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) offers programs of study at several of RIT's international campuses: Dubrovnik and Zagreb (Croatia), Dubai (United Arab Emirates) and Priatina (Kosovo). At RIT Croatia, some courses are delivered as distance education courses using Polycom, a video conferencing system, supported by other online education tools. Although distance learning methods and tools provide an effective way to offer instructions remotely, delivering a course that emphasizes team-based software development, with laboratory exercises and in-class team activities, creates new challenges that need to be addressed. This paper discusses the authors' experiences with the remote development and delivery of one of those courses - the SWEN-383 Software Design Principles and Patterns course in the Information Technology program at RIT Croatia. The paper first explains the role and need for offering this particular course. It then discusses how the collaborative development of this new course was conducted between the U.S. And the Croatian campuses, including remote delivery from Zagreb to Dubrovnik. The paper concludes with observations and suggestions for those who may engage in such a project in the future.
CH5M3D: an HTML5 program for creating 3D molecular structures

While a number of programs and web-based applications are available for the interactive display of 3-dimensional molecular structures, few of these provide the ability to edit these structures. For this reason, we have developed a library written in JavaScript to allow for the simple creation of web-based applications that should run on any browser capable of rendering HTML5 web pages. While our primary interest in developing this application was for educational use, it may also prove useful to researchers who want a light-weight application for viewing and editing small molecular structures. Molecular compounds are drawn on the HTML5 Canvas element, with the JavaScript code making use of standard techniques to allow display of three-dimensional structures on a two-dimensional canvas. Information about the structure (bond lengths, bond angles, and dihedral angles) can be obtained using a mouse or other pointing device. Both atoms and bonds can be added or deleted, and rotation about bonds is allowed. Routines are provided to read structures either from the web server or from the user’s computer, and creation of galleries of structures can be accomplished with only a few lines of code. Documentation and examples are provided to demonstrate how users can access all of the molecular information for creation of web pages with more advanced features. A light-weight (≈ 75 kb) JavaScript library has been made available that allows for the simple creation of web pages containing interactive 3-dimensional molecular structures. Although this library is designed to create web pages, a web server is not required. Installation on a web server is straightforward and does not require any server-side modules or special permissions. The ch5m3d.js library has been released under the GNU GPL version 3 open-source license and is available from http://sourceforge.net/projects/ch5m3d/ .
Gender Differences and Aggressive Driving Behavior: A Factor Analytic Study

Aggressive driving behavior can be manifested in a wide variety of unsafe driving practices such as tailgating (close following), honking, obscene and rude gestures, flashing high beams at slower traffic, and speeding. According the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 2000 report, aggressive driving was a major cause of traffic accidents and injury. The present study was designed to systematically examine 5 previously developed scales related to aggressive driving behavior using a factor analytic approach. A sample of 253 students were administered these five questionnaires and the data were coded and statistically analyzed using a principal components analysis with Varimax rotation on the 81 items of the five combined scales. Nineteen components accounting for 67.4% of the variance were retained. Component scores were computed for the 19 components and then correlated with gender. Three significant (p Language: en
Urine-Concentrating Mechanism in the Inner Medulla: Function of the Thin Limbs of the Loops of Henle

The ability of mammals to produce urine hyperosmotic to plasma requires the generation of a gradient of increasing osmolality along the medulla from the corticomedullary junction to the papilla tip. Countercurrent multiplication apparently establishes this gradient in the outer medulla, where there is substantial transepithelial reabsorption of NaCl from the water-impermeable thick ascending limbs of the loops of Henle. However, this process does not establish the much steeper osmotic gradient in the inner medulla, where there are no thick ascending limbs of the loops of Henle and the water-impermeable ascending thin limbs lack active transepithelial transport of NaCl or any other solute. The mechanism generating the osmotic gradient in the inner medulla remains an unsolved mystery, although it is generally considered to involve countercurrent flows in the tubules and vessels. A possible role for the three-dimensional interactions between these inner medullary tubules and vessels in the concentrating process is suggested by creation of physiologic models that depict the three-dimensional relationships of tubules and vessels and their solute and water permeabilities in rat kidneys and by creation of mathematical models based on biologic phenomena. The current mathematical model, which incorporates experimentally determined or estimated solute and water flows through clearly defined tubular and interstitial compartments, predicts a urine osmolality in good agreement with that observed in moderately antidiuretic rats. The current model provides substantially better predictions than previous models; however, the current model still fails to predict urine osmolalities of maximally concentrating rats.
Improved decision trees for multi-stream HMM-based audio-visual continuous speech recognition

HMM-based audio-visual speech recognition (AVSR) systems have shown success in continuous speech recognition by combining visual and audio information, especially in noisy environments. In this paper we study how to improve decision trees used to create context classes in HMM-based AVSR systems. Traditionally, visual models have been trained with the same context classes as the audio only models. In this paper we investigate the use of separate decision trees to model the context classes for the audio and visual streams independently. Additionally we investigate the use of viseme classes in the decision tree building for the visual stream. On experiments with a 37-speaker 1.5 hours test set (about 12000 words) of continuous digits in noise, we obtain about a 3% absolute (20% relative) gain on AVSR performance by using separate decision trees for the audio and visual streams when using viseme classes in decision tree building for the visual stream.
Ceramic plasmonic components for optical metamaterials

The performance of metamaterial and transformation-optics devices is limited by losses in their plasmonic components. We show that ceramics (heavily doped-zinc oxide and titanium nitride) could help in overcoming the loss issue in the optical range.
Observational study of caloric and nutrient intake, bone density, and body composition in infants and children with Spinal Muscular Atrophy type I

Clinical experience supports a critical role for nutrition in patients with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). Three-day dietary intake records were analyzed for 156 visits in 47 SMA type I patients, 25 males and 22 females, ages 1 month to 13 years (median 9.8 months) and compared to dietary reference intakes for gender and age along with anthropometric measures and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) data. Using standardized growth curves, twelve patients met criteria for failure to thrive (FTT) with weight for age <3rd percentile; eight met criteria based on weight for height. Percentage of body fat mass was not correlated with weight for height and weight for age across percentile categories. DEXA analysis further demonstrated that SMA type I children have higher fat mass and lower fat free mass than healthy peers (p < 0.001). DEXA and dietary analysis indicates a strong correlation with magnesium intake and bone mineral density (r = 0.65, p < 0.001). Average caloric intake for 1–3 years old was 68.8 ± 15.8 kcal/kg – 67% of peers’ recommended intake. Children with SMA type I may have lower caloric requirements than healthy age-matched peers, increasing risk for over and undernourished states and deficiencies of critical nutrients. Standardized growth charts may overestimate FTT status in SMA type I. 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Beyond beliefs : Religion and the sociology of religion in America

What is the relationship between the official teachings of religious bodies and the beliefs of individual adherents in the United States today? At first glance, this question appears rather straigh...
Percutaneous cholecystostomy as a bridge to definitive endoscopic gallbladder stent placement.

Background & Aims Percutaneous cholecystostomy (PC) is an effective treatment for acute cholecystitis (AC) in patients who are poor surgical candidates, although it is generally used as a bridge to cholecystectomy, given its long-term risks, the need for repeated procedures, and patient dissatisfaction. Ongoing patient comorbidity, however, might preclude cholecystectomy after recovery from the acute illness. Methods Four patients with AC who were poor immediate and long-term candidates for cholecystectomy underwent PC as primary therapy for AC, followed by endoscopic placement of a transpapillary gallbladder stent as definitive long-term management. Results All 4 patients were successfully treated for AC with PC. After recovery, the patients underwent endoscopic gallbladder stent placement and removal of the PC. In 2 cases, endoscopic transpapillary access to the gallbladder was facilitated by advancing a guidewire through the cholecystostomy tract into the duodenum. All patients had favorable outcomes. Conclusions PC as a bridge to permanent therapy with endoscopic gallbladder stenting appears to be a viable strategy in the management of patients with AC who are poor immediate and long-term candidates for cholecystectomy.
Structure-Function Analysis of the Human TFIIB-Related Factor II Protein Reveals an Essential Role for the C-Terminal Domain in RNA Polymerase III Transcription

The transcription factors TFIIB, Brf1, and Brf2 share related N-terminal zinc ribbon and core domains. TFIIB bridges RNA polymerase II (Pol II) with the promoter-bound preinitiation complex, whereas Brf1 and Brf2 are involved, as part of activities also containing TBP and Bdp1 and referred to here as Brf1-TFIIIB and Brf2-TFIIIB, in the recruitment of Pol III. Brf1-TFIIIB recruits Pol III to type 1 and 2 promoters and Brf2-TFIIIB to type 3 promoters such as the human U6 promoter. Brf1 and Brf2 both have a C-terminal extension absent in TFIIB, but their C-terminal extensions are unrelated. In yeast Brf1, the C-terminal extension interacts with the TBP/TATA box complex and contributes to the recruitment of Bdp1. Here we have tested truncated Brf2, as well as Brf2/TFIIB chimeric proteins for U6 transcription and for assembly of U6 preinitiation complexes. Our results characterize functions of various human Brf2 domains and reveal that the C-terminal domain is required for efficient association of the protein with U6 promoter-bound TBP and SNAP(c), a type 3 promoter-specific transcription factor, and for efficient recruitment of Bdp1. This in turn suggests that the C-terminal extensions in Brf1 and Brf2 are crucial to specific recruitment of Pol III over Pol II.
Hamburger Prices and Spatial Econometrics

This paper applies spatial econometrics to hamburger price data to assess the degree of substitutability of products and locations of spatially dispersed franchised chains. First, while intrachain price variation exists, I find that hamburger prices at neighboring outlets of different chains are spatially uncorrelated. I conclude that their products are not close substitutes, which provides an explanation for why price promotions have not raised market share. I do find spatial price correlation, however, among proximate outlets of separate franchisees within the same chain. This finding implies that customers view proximate locations of a chain as substitutes.
Bayesian Spatial Quantile Regression

Tropospheric ozone is one of the six criteria pollutants regulated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency under the Clean Air Act and has been linked with several adverse health effects, including mortality. Due to the strong dependence on weather conditions, ozone may be sensitive to climate change and there is great interest in studying the potential effect of climate change on ozone, and how this change may affect public health. In this paper we develop a Bayesian spatial model to predict ozone under different meteorological conditions, and use this model to study spatial and temporal trends and to forecast ozone concentrations under different climate scenarios. We develop a spatial quantile regression model that does not assume normality and allows the covariates to affect the entire conditional distribution, rather than just the mean. The conditional distribution is allowed to vary from site-to-site and is smoothed with a spatial prior. For extremely large datasets our model is computat...
Chapter 11 Requirements planning

Publisher Summary Material requirements planning (MRP)-based systems provide a framework for managing production, and they serve as extensive information systems for production planning and control. This chapter discusses four main areas in which MRP systems typically have shortcomings and where supplementary models can provide effective decisions support. The first of these dealt with lot sizing. Heuristic procedures for single-level lot sizing have been tested extensively, and discernable conclusions have emerged. The second area dealt with master scheduling, where two model-based perspectives were presented. The third area dealt with capacity planning, where models can go beyond the MRP system response of merely signalling violations. Input/Output models provide some understanding of the relationship between work center capacities and production lead times. The fourth area dealt with buffering techniques. Most of the attention by model builders has been focused on the analysis of demand uncertainty, and in particular, on techniques for hedging with safety stock within the product structure.
Electrophysiological Properties of Avian Basal Ganglia Neurons Recorded In Vitro

The forebrains of mammals and birds appear quite different in their gross morphology, making it difficult to identify homologies between them and to assess how far they have diverged in organization. Nevertheless one set of forebrain structures, the basal ganglia, has been successfully compared in mammals and birds. Anatomical, histochemical, and molecular data have identified the avian homologues of the mammalian basal ganglia and indicate that they are very similar in organization, suggesting that they perform similar functions in the two classes. However, the physiological properties of the avian basal ganglia have not been studied, and these properties are critical for inferring functional similarity. We have used a zebra finch brain slice preparation to characterize the intrinsic physiological properties of neurons in the avian basal ganglia, particularly in the input structure of the basal ganglia, the striatum. We found that avian striatum contains a cell type that closely resembles the medium spiny neuron, the principal cell type of mammalian striatum. Avian striatum also contains a rare cell type that is very similar to an interneuron class found in mammalian striatum, the low-threshold spike cell. On the other hand, we found an aspiny, fast-firing cell type in avian striatum that is distinct from all known classes of mammalian striatal neuron. These neurons usually fired spontaneously at 10 Hz or more and were capable of sustained firing at very high rates when injected with depolarizing current. The existence of this cell type represents an important difference between avian striatum and mammalian dorsal striatum. Our data support the general idea that the organization and functional properties of the basal ganglia have been largely conserved in mammals and birds, but they imply that avian striatum is not identical to mammalian dorsal striatum.
Russia's Great Recession: Lessons for Resource-Rich Countries

The passage of Russia’s “Great Recession” provides an opportunity for academics and policy makers to reflect on policy lessons that could help policy makers deal with future crises, including how to handle the triple challenges — fiscal, financial, and social — in the aftermath of the crisis. This paper offers some tentative policy lessons that could help policy makers in Russia and other resource-rich countries meet these challenges in the future. These tentative lessons are only emerging and are aimed at stimulating debate, based on the broader international experience with this crisis and the ongoing reexamination of policy consensus on economic policy.
Dynamics of Wet Tropical Forests and Their Species Strategies

The physiological ecology of tropical vegetation in general and that of the rainforest in particular is poorly understood. Several factors have contributed to this situation, among which are the forests’ low accessibility, limited availability of accurate and easily portable field instrumentation for ecophysiological research, and the concentration of most physiological ecologists in the temperate zone. The opportunities for innovative research in tropical forests are thus excellent, for these forests are an essentially unexplored ecosystem with very high diversities of species, genotypes, strategies, and biological interactions.
Abstract 11345: Resource Demands and the Incidence of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Within a Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Unit

Background: Econometric evidence suggests exponential declines in the ability to provide critical care services as variable demands exceed a relatively fixed supply of available critical care resources. We hypothesized that increasing demands upon resources within a pediatric cardiac intensive care unit (CICU) is also associated with increases in the incidence and rate of cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Methods and Results: Records from each twelve-hour nursing shift within an eighteen-bed pediatric CICU from 1 July 2010 through 30 April 2014 were retrospectively reviewed. There were 2716 reports available for review from 2769 shifts (97%). During the study period, there were 1,803 surgical and 1,215 medical admissions, accounting for a median census of 15 (interquartile range [IQR] 13-17) patients per shift, and a total of 20,269 patient days (40,538 patient-shifts) over the 44-month study period. Median bed capacity was 83% (IQR 72-94%), and median patient to nursing assignment ratio was 1.5 (IQR 1.4-1.6 patients per nurse assignment). Cardiac arrest (defined as administration of chest compressions) was identified in 138 occasions in 134 shifts, an arrest rate of 3.4 arrests per 1000 patient-shifts. Arrests were no more frequent during night versus day shifts (3.2 v. 3.6 per 1000 patient shifts, p=0.40), nor were they greater during weekend versus weekday shifts (2.9 v. 3.9 per 100 patient-shifts, p=0.14). There was a trend toward an increase in the incidence of cardiac arrest with patient to nurse assignment ratios of less than 1.5 (2.8 v. 3.9 arrests per 1000 patient shifts, p=0.06). Unit occupancy exceeding 85% was associated with a 45% greater rate of cardiac arrest (2.6 v 4.1 arrests per 1000 patient-shifts, 95%CI 0.3 to 2.6 increase, p=0.01). Conclusions: We report a significant increase in the incidence of cardiopulmonary resuscitation at times of greater resource consumption within a pediatric CICU as defined by unit capacity. Multi-institutional studies are necessary to identify generalizable organizational characteristics that may promote efficient allocation of resources and optimize delivery of care to a population of patients at greater risk for significant hospital morbidity.
Effect of Oxygen on the Viability of Young Cultures of Cl. Botulinum

The effect of oxygen on the viability of anaerobic organisms has received little attention, most studies from Pasteur's time to the present having dealt with the effect of oxygen on growth rather than on viability. We have commonly observed that, when young broth cultures of anaerobes, showing by hemacytometer count millions of organisms per cc., were streaked on plates and incubated under anaerobic conditions, only a few colonies will develop. Our aim was to study the influence of oxygen on the viability of young cultures of C1. botulinum. One strain of type A and one of type B were used. Only young cultures were used to eliminate as far as possible the effect of oxygen on spores. Every transfer was accompanied by an agar slant culture to show absence of aerobic contamination. After three or four transfers the organisms were inoculated into beef-heart broth and a toxin titration carried out to make certain
Cocaine and the serotonin saga

To devise ways to treat cocaine addiction, the cellular mechanisms behind that addiction have to be understood. One study goes some way to doing this by generating mice that lack the serotonin-1B receptor. Before this study, nobody could say for sure whether the neurotransmitter serotonin was involved in the processes that underlie vulnerability to cocaine addiction. But the responses of the knockout mice to cocaine now indicate that it is — through this receptor at least.
Energy-Specific Equation-of-Motion Coupled-Cluster Methods for High-Energy Excited States: Application to K-edge X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy.

Single-reference techniques based on coupled-cluster (CC) theory, in the forms of linear response (LR) or equation of motion (EOM), are highly accurate and widely used approaches for modeling valence absorption spectra. Unfortunately, these equations with singles and doubles (LR-CCSD and EOM-CCSD) scale as O(N6), which may be prohibitively expensive for the study of high-energy excited states using a conventional eigensolver. In this paper, we present an energy-specific non-Hermitian eigensolver that is able to obtain high-energy excited states (e.g., XAS K-edge spectrum) at low computational cost. In addition, we also introduce an improved trial vector for iteratively solving the EOM-CCSD equation with a focus on high-energy eigenstates. The energy-specific EOM-CCSD approach and its low-scaling alternatives are applied to calculations of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur K-edge excitations. The results are compared to other implementations of CCSD for excited states, energy-specific linear response ti...
3D Porous Chitosan–Alginate Scaffolds as an In Vitro Model for Evaluating Nanoparticle-Mediated Tumor Targeting and Gene Delivery to Prostate Cancer

Cationic nanoparticles (NPs) for targeted gene delivery are conventionally evaluated using 2D in vitro cultures. However, this does not translate well to corresponding in vivo studies because of the marked difference in NP behavior in the presence of the tumor microenvironment. In this study, we investigated whether prostate cancer (PCa) cells cultured in three-dimensional (3D) chitosan-alginate (CA) porous scaffolds could model cationic NP-mediated gene targeted delivery to tumors in vitro. We assessed in vitro tumor cell proliferation, formation of tumor spheroids, and expression of marker genes that promote tumor malignancy in CA scaffolds. The efficacy of NP-targeted gene delivery was evaluated in PCa cells in 2D cultures, PCa tumor spheroids grown in CA scaffolds, and PCa tumors in a mouse TRAMP-C2 flank tumor model. PCa cells cultured in CA scaffolds grew into tumor spheroids and displayed characteristics of higher malignancy as compared to those in 2D cultures. Significantly, targeted gene delivery...
On the Ancient Idea that Music Shapes Character

Ancient Chinese and Greek thinkers alike were preoccupied with the moral value of music; they distinguished between good and bad music by looking at the music’s effect on moral character. The idea can be understood in terms of two closely related questions. Does music have the power to affect the ethical character of either listener or performer? If it does, is it better (or worse) as music for doing so? I argue that an affirmative answers to both questions are more plausible than it might seem at first.
The Banana Distribution Is Gaussian: A Localization Study with Exponential Coordinates

Distributions in position and orientation are central to many problems in robot localization. To increase efficiency, a majority of algorithms for planar mobile robots use Gaussians defined on positional Cartesian coordinates and heading. However, the distribution of poses for a noisy two-wheeled robot moving in the plane has been observed by many to be a “bananashaped” distribution, which is clearly not Gaussian/normal in these coordinates. As uncertainty increases, many localization algorithms therefore become “inconsistent” due to the normality assumption breaking down. We observe that this is because the combination of Cartesian coordinates and heading is not the most appropriate set of coordinates to use, and that the banana distribution can be described in closed form as a Gaussian in an alternative set of coordinates via the so-called exponential map. With this formulation, we can derive closed-form expressions for propagating the mean and covariance of the Gaussian in these exponential coordinates for a differential-drive car moving along a trajectory constructed from sections of straight segments and arcs of constant curvature. In addition, we detail how to fuse two or more Gaussians in exponential coordinates together with given relative pose measurements between robots moving in formation. These propagation and fusion formulas utilized here reduce uncertainty in localization better than when using traditional methods. We demonstrate with numerical examples dramatic improvements in the estimated pose of three robots moving in formation when compared to classical Cartesiancoordinate- based Gaussian fusion methods.
A phase II study of temsirolimus and liposomal doxorubicin for patients with recurrent and refractory bone and soft tissue sarcomas.

10560 Background: Sarcomas are a heterogeneous group of connective tissue malignancies with limited palliative treatment options in the unresectable, metastatic setting. Standard chemotherapy treat...
An Investigation of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point Programs (HACCP) in Hospital Foodservice Facilities

Abstract LEARNING OUTCOME: To identify the status and trends of implementation of HACCP programs in hospital foodservice facilities. Little information is available regarding trends of HACCP implementation in hospital foodservice settings. The objective of this research was to identify the status of implementation of HACCP programs in hospital foodservice facilities nationwide. A questionnaire was developed to achieve research objectives and sent to a random sample of 500 foodservice directors/managers in the American Society of Hospital Foodservice Administrators 1996-1997 Membership Directory. A total of 177 (28%) facilities responded. The majority of respondents were from acute care facilities (69%) with