cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Engineering photon cascades from multiexciton complexes in a self-assembled quantum dot by a lateral electric field

We demonstrate theoretically that by applying an in-plane electric field it is possible to engineer and tune photon cascades originating from recombination of multiexciton complexes confined in self-assembled quantum dots. We find the multiexciton energies and states as functions of the field using the effective-mass configuration-interaction approach with the effects of electron-hole exchange treated perturbatively, and use Fermi's golden rule to compute the emission spectra. We show that the field-induced Stark shift of the energies of photons emitted by the biexciton and two linearly polarized excitons is strongly renormalized by the electron-hole interactions, which are governed by the separation of electrons and holes induced by the field. As a result, the effective Stark shifts of exciton and biexciton emission lines have opposite signs, leading to a removal of the biexciton binding energy at a finite field. This enables the cascade of a pair of polarization entangled photons in the presence of a finite exciton anisotropic exchange splitting. We compare these emission spectra to those of the charged exciton, the triplet biexciton, and the three-exciton complex. We find that the electric field and Coulomb interactions differentiate the biexciton-exciton cascade from other cascades, facilitating identification of its spectra and practical implementation.
Is glucagonoma of the pancreas a curable disease

Background. Glucagonomas are rare neuroendocrine tumors of the pancreas. Because of its rarity, its natural history is not well understood. Aim. We evaluated the natural history of glucagonomas treated at a teritary care cancer center. Methods. A retrospective analysis of 12 patients during 1970 to 2000 was performed. Six patients (50%) had a tumor located in the head of the pancreas. Results. Abdominal pain (83%) and weight loss (75%) were the most common symptoms. Median tumor size was 6 cm (range 0.04–10). Seven patients (58%) had liver metastases. Five patients (42%) underwent curative resection. Overall median survival was 66 mo, and 5-yr overall survival was 66%. Five-yr overall survival was 83% for patients who had resection versus 50% for the non-resected patients (p=0.04). Patients who were disease-free had a complete resection of the primary tumor and no liver involvement. Conclusions. Glucagonomas generally present with liver metastases at the time of diagnosis. Cure is only possible if the disease is localized and completely resected.
The locus of stimulus probability effect in choice reaction time

A choice reaction time experiment was conducted in which subjects were to respond with one response to either of two stimuli, S1 and S2, and with another response to a third stimulus, S3. The stimuli in the low-compatibility condition were three colors and the responses were letter names. In a high-compatibility condition, S1 and S2 were upper- and lowercases of the same letter and S3 was another letter. The responses were the letter names. The relative frequency of S1 and S2 was manipulated. The results showed a Compatibility by Relative Frequency interaction, with relative frequency affecting reaction time only under low compatibility. It was argued that the stimulus relative frequency affects the response selection stage of information processing.
Effective treatment of Dilantin gingival hyperplasia.

Abstract Three cases are reported in which a positive-pressure appliance was used after gingival surgery in an attempt to prevent recurrence of Dilantin hyperplasia. The appliance appeared to be effective in preventing the recurrence of gingival hyperplasia for extended periods.
High accuracy of arterial spin labeling perfusion imaging in differentiation of pilomyxoid from pilocytic astrocytoma

Pilomyxoid astrocytoma (PMA) is a relatively new tumor entity which has been added to the 2007 WHO Classification of tumors of the central nervous system. The goal of this study is to utilize arterial spin labeling (ASL) perfusion imaging to differentiate PMA from pilocytic astrocytoma (PA). Pulsed ASL and conventional MRI sequences of patients with PMA and PA in the past 5 years were retrospectively evaluated. Patients with history of radiation or treatment with anti-angiogenic drugs were excluded. A total of 24 patients (9 PMA, 15 PA) were included. There were statistically significant differences between PMA and PA in mean tumor/gray matter (GM) cerebral blood flow (CBF) ratios (1.3 vs 0.4, p < 0.001) and maximum tumor/GM CBF ratio (2.3 vs 1, p < 0.001). Area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves for differentiation of PMA from PA was 0.91 using mean tumor CBF, 0.95 using mean tumor/GM CBF ratios, and 0.89 using maximum tumor/GM CBF. Using a threshold value of 0.91, the mean tumor/GM CBF ratio was able to diagnose PMA with 77 % sensitivity, 100 % specificity, and a threshold value of 0.7, provided 88 % sensitivity and 86 % specificity. There was no statistically significant difference between the two tumors in enhancement pattern (p = 0.33), internal architecture (p = 0.15), or apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values (p = 0.07). ASL imaging has high accuracy in differentiating PMA from PA. The result of this study may have important applications in prognostication and treatment planning especially in patients with less accessible tumors such as hypothalamic-chiasmatic gliomas.
Orderly order in protein intrinsic disorder distribution: disorder in 3500 proteomes from viruses and the three domains of life

Intrinsically disordered proteins and intrinsically disordered protein regions are highly abundant in nature. However, the quantitative and qualitative measures of protein intrinsic disorder in species with known genomes are still not available. Furthermore, although the correlation between high fraction of disordered residues and advanced species has been reported, the details of this correlation and the connection between the disorder content and proteome complexity have not been reported as of yet. To fill this gap, we analysed entire proteomes of 3484 species from three domains of life (archaea, bacteria and eukaryotes) and from viruses. Our analysis revealed that the evolution process is characterized by distinctive patterns of changes in the protein intrinsic disorder content. We are showing here that viruses are characterized by the widest spread of the proteome disorder content (the percentage of disordered residues ranges from 7.3% in human coronavirus NL63 to 77.3% in Avian carcinoma virus). For several organisms, a clear correlation is seen between their disorder contents and habitats. In multicellular eukaryotes, there is a weak correlation between the complexity of an organism (evaluated as a number of different cell types) and its overall disorder content. For both the prokaryotes and eukaryotes, the disorder content is generally independent of the proteome size. However, disorder shows a sharp increase associated with the transition from prokaryotic to eukaryotic cells. This suggests that the increased disorder content in eukaryotic proteomes might be used by nature to deal with the increased cell complexity due to the appearance of the various cellular compartments.
Carbon annuities and their potential to preserve tropical forests and slow global warming: an application for small-scale farmers

Carbon annuities have been suggested as a means for rewarding landowners for preserving forests and sequestering carbon. Although this is an intuitively appealing approach, the benefits of the sequestration activities have not been compared with the opportunity cost of preserving the forest. This paper represents an initial attempt at analysing how large carbon annuities must be to induce a landowner in the Amazonian rainforest to accept the annuity and leave the forest intact. The benefits of carbon sequestration are computed based on estimates in the literature on the carbon contained in a hectare of rainforest and the damages associated with a ton of carbon emissions. This is compared with information on household income from Rondonia, Brazil. Our results show that, for the majority of our conservative assumptions about the damages of carbon emissions, the magnitude of an annuity is greater than the income from agriculture. For less conservative assumptions about the damages from global warming, a fraction of the annuity would be a sufficient incentive for small-scale farmers to switch to sustainable techniques that leave the forest intact.
Biological Diversity: Where Is It?

To preserve biological diversity, wealthy nations usually save the large and cuddly species that excite the public’s imagination1. This is not necessarily a bad strategy. The relatively large size of these species means that their population densities are low. Consequently, the minimal numbers required for persistence inhabit large areas and many other less charismatic species are protected under their umbrella. Furthermore, large species are often top predators and thus play crucial, so-called keystone roles in the community’s dynamics. Yet such a species-biased approach is not necessarily appropriate for the great majority of animal species that are not furred and feathered, or for plants, or, indeed, for all organisms in species-rich tropical nations deciding on how to allocate land for national parks. The obvious strategy protects areas of greatest diversity. Two recent papers on mammals by Mares in this issue and Pagel et al.2 illustrate the complex biological issues involved in predicting what diversity might remain after future planners have taken a cookie cutter to their wilderness.
Electrical Synapses: Rectification Demystified

Summary Some electrical synapses rectify — they pass current preferentially in one direction. A new study argues that rectifying junctions result when the two sides of the junction contribute hemichannels with different properties to the gap junction.
Evaluating Archimedean Copula models of wind speed for wind power modeling

Copula theory presents a viable method of modeling dependence structures of random variables when their joint distribution function is not explicitly known. Copulas can be applied to model the wind speed at wind plants, which can be transformed to wind power and used in simulations. As with any application of parametric copulas, the user must decide which copula family to use, and how to select its parameters. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the fit of a popular class of copulas—Archimedean Copulas—to model wind speed dependence. It is proposed that the selection of the copula's parameters be done to achieve a user-specified rank correlation. The determination of appropriate rank correlation coefficients is guided through a developed distance-of-separation dependent rank correlation model of wind speed. Data from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Eastern Dataset are used to develop the models and evaluate the fit of the copulas. It is shown that the Gumbel Archimedean copula family is the best-suited for wind speed dependence structure modeling.
Structured telephone-based outreach using nonmedical personnel can improve adherence to comprehensive care in families of children with sickle cell disease

Comprehensive medical care of patients with sickle cell disease decreases morbidity, mortality, and health care resource utilization. Nonadherence to comprehensive care is a barrier to further improvement in the outcomes of these patients. We investigated the feasibility and acceptability of telephone-delivered structured follow-up, support, and education provided by nonmedical personnel and its impact on adherence to comprehensive measures. A semistructured script was designed that included a series of questions relating to the patient's well-being and health-related behaviors and was administered by a graduate student researcher in genetics. Families of all 202 children followed at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh were attempted to be contacted at 3 monthly intervals from their last contact. A total of 76% [147] of those called were available and willing to talk. Eighteen months after initiation of the study, the number of patients who had not attended comprehensive care clinic for 2 years or more decreased from 46 (19.7%) to 23 patients (9.9%) (P = 0.0019). Similarly, the proportion of eligible patients who had undergone transcranial Doppler screening within the past 12 months increased from 34 to 49% (P = 0.0501). Structured telephone-based follow-up is feasible and well accepted and can lead to improved adherence with comprehensive care measures.
Batch and Semibatch Mini/Macroemulsion Copolymerization of Vinyl Acetate and Comonomers

Three monomer systems, vinyl acetate/butyl acrylate [VAc/BA], vinyl acetate/dioctyl maleate [VAc/DOM] and vinyl acetate/n-methylol acrylamide [VAc/NMA], with large differences in reactivity ratios and water solubilities were selected to carry out the macroemulsion and miniemulsion copolymerizations in batch and semibatch processes. Smaller particle size and greater particle number resulted from the macroemulsion copolymerization in both of batch and semibatch processes. In batch runs, the rate of copolymerization was faster in the macroemulsion polymerization than in the miniemulsion process. The copolymer composition versus conversion curves in the batch and semibatch processes were very different. The difference could be attributed to differences in reactivity ratios and in the ability of various monomers to diffuse across the aqueous phase. It is concluded that the miniemulsion copolymerization in batch or semibatch operations can compensate to some extent, for the poor monomer transport of highly wate...
Role of carotid chemoreflex in respiratory acclimatization to hypoxemia in goat and sheep.

Abstract The role of the carotid body chemoreflex in the ventilatory acclimatization to chronic hypoxia was studied in the unanesthetized goat and sheep. The time-course of changes in ventilation, P CO 2 , pH and P CO 2 of arterial blood and cisternal fluid (CF) were measured before and following exposure to a simulated altitude of 3660–5000 m, with and without intact carotid sinus nerves. At sea level, after section of carotid sinus nerves most animals hypoventilated chronically, and developed mild arterial hypoxemia and hypercapnia. Upon exposure to acute hypoxia, all of the intact animals hyperventilated and CF pH increased from 7.310 to 7.380 whereas after chemodenervation, the increase in ventilation was small and delayed, and CF pH decreased from 7.285 to 7.143. During exposure of the intact animals to chronic hypoxia, hyperventilation accompanied by decreases in arterial and CF P CO 2 reached its peak in two days; these changes partially subsided during the next few days. Partial compensation of respiratory alkalosis occurred during the first day. In contrast, several chemodenervated animals died during chronic hypoxia; the survivors showed either a small decrease or an increase in Pa CO 2 . Thus, an intact peripheral chemoreflex drive during hypoxia in necessary for ventilatory acclimatization which raises the arterial and presumably tissue P CO 2 in spite of alkalosis. The new proposal is that a central tissue metabolic acidosis resulting from a direct effect of acute hypoxia is partly compensated as hypoxia is prolonged. This central compensation decreases ventilatory drive and hence opposes the ventilatory acclimatization during chronic hypoxia initiated by the peripheral chemoreflexes.
A New Proof of Weyl's Formula on the Asymptotic Distribution of Eigenvalues

One of the more perplexing problems of finite particle quantum mechanics is to find the appropriate quantum mechanical description of a given classical mechanical system. Unfortunately, from the mathematical point of view, this problem is not terribly well-posed: Suppose the classical system in question is represented by a symplectic manifold, X, and a classical observable p: X + R. Suppose also for simplicity that this system is a “confined” system in the sense that the sets, p < 1 are all compact. Let H be a Hilbert space and let P be a self-adjoint operator on H, representing a quantum observable. Without specifying anything further about P (for instance, its relation to other observables) there is practically no way of ascertaining whether P is an appropriate quantum counterpart of p. At first glance, the only requirements this appears to impose on P are that the spectrum of P be discrete and that the number of eigenvalues, N(A), less than 1 be finite for all 1. (This is the analogue of the condtion that p < 1 be compact.) By examining the statistical properties of a large aggregate of classical systems, each a copy of (X,p) one can, in fact, say a little bit more about the relation P to p. By comparing classical and quantum partition functions one can show that for Iz large
New surface phases for potassium adatoms on cleaved Si(111)

Abstract In a previous study (B. Reihl and K.O. Magnusson, Phys. Rev. B 42 (1990) 11 839) no change was observed in the LEED pattern from the 2 × 1 pattern of the clean Si(111) surface upon potassium adsorption. In contrast to this paper, we observe six surface phases during room temperature dosing of K on the cleaved Si(111) surface. In addition, we observe a 3 × 1 pattern on the cleaved K Si (111) surface upon annealing. This paper will provide photographs of the new phases observed with LEED. It also will set limits on the K coverage required for these phases using results from photoemission and secondary electron cutoff measurements. Tentative models for these surfaces will be proposed. These new LEED results show a more complex interaction between K and the cleaved Si(111) surface than previously thought and hopefully will encourage further exploration of adsorption on the cleaved Si(111) surface.
Polarization of the RF field in a human head at high field: a study with a quadrature surface coil at 7.0 T.

The RF field intensity distribution in the human brain becomes inhomogeneous due to wave behavior at high field. This is further complicated by the spatial distribution of RF field polarization that must be considered to predict image intensity distribution. An additional layer of complexity is involved when a quadrature coil is used for transmission and reception. To study such complicated RF field behavior, a computer modeling method was employed to investigate the RF field of a quadrature surface coil at 300 MHz. Theoretical and experimental results for a phantom and the human head at 7.0 T are presented. The results are theoretically important and practically useful for high-field quadrature coil design and application.
Almost-synchronous solutions for mutually coupled excitatory neurons

Abstract We consider synchronization in a pair of neurons described by voltage-gated conductance equations and coupled by mutual excitation. Our model neurons have three time scales: the very fast transition between active and inactive states; an intermediate scale during the active portion of a cell’s trajectory; and the slowest during the inter-burst interval. We show that the interplay of time scales can lead to stable “almost-synchronous” solutions in which the jumps between active and inactive states of the two cells happen with a time difference that is a small fraction of the total period of the coupled system. Furthermore, modulation of parameters not affecting time scales can change the stable solution from almost-synchronous to synchronous. We use a geometric analysis that enables us to identify the parts of the trajectories over which the interactions move the coupled trajectory away from synchrony, the parameters responsible for this phenomenon and how the distance from synchrony depends on the time scales and can be modulated.
Simulations of Dual-Vortex Interaction within Environmental Shear

Abstract For over a century it has been known that each vortex in a multiple vortex configuration will move in response to the other vortices. However, despite advances since that time, the complexities of multiple vortex scenarios when sheared environments are present are still not completely understood. The interaction of binary vortices within horizontal environmental shear is explored here through shallow water simulations on a β plane. Due to nonlinear feedbacks, the combination of environmental vorticity (or vorticity gradient) and shear, as well as the multiple vortex situation, results in a more complicated track than for a storm experiencing any individual component. Despite the complexity of these vortex–environment interactions, the use of previous single-vortex studies greatly aids interpretation. Centroid-relative motion of the individual vortices is considered, as well as the propagation of the vortex pair centroid, to understand motion effects of the different vortex–environment combination...
Problems Associated with Conducting Illness Prevention and Health Promotion Research in Developing Countries

Conducting research projects that are related to illness prevention in developing countries is complex and challenging. In this article we discuss those areas common to health programs which pose potential problems to researchers; especially those foreign to the community in which a research project is taking place. Results from past experiences have indicated that failure to involve community members and indigenous research workers can lead to mistrust, misconceptions, and self-protection. Also, whenever villagers feel that the information they give may be used against them, they may be forced to alter or conceal true data. Health investigators and granting agencies must be prepared to acquaint themselves with problems related to communication, transportation, weather, and how local governments function officially and unofficially so as to guard against unrealistic assumptions and expectations. It has also been noted that students from developing countries are often faced with the double dilemma of attempting to ride the roller coaster between two cultures; and in essence, be a part of both when working on research projects with their professors from developed countries.
Common waxbills use carnivore scat to reduce the risk of nest predation

For many animals, nest construction is a prerequisite for successful breeding. The choice of nesting materials is an important component of nest construction, because material properties can influence nest design and, potentially, reproductive success. Common waxbills are small African finches that select carnivore scat as a material to include in, on, and around their nests. I investigated the hypothesis that scat functions to reduce predation risk by documenting its use in a wild population of common waxbills and by conducting an artificial nest experiment. Among natural nests, scat was present in every nest that hatched young, and parents continued to add scat to nests throughout the nestling period. Among artificial nests, those that received experimental additions of carnivore scat survived at a significantly higher rate than did untreated nests, suggesting that scat functions to reduce predation risk. The mechanism by which nests are protected remains unclear, although it is likely that scat acts as an olfactory deterrent and/or camouflage. Researchers have long focused on the implications of nest site characteristics for avian life-history evolution. Results of the present study suggest that nest materials, similar to nest sites, may influence life histories of nest-building animals by affecting predation risk. Key words: artificial nest, carnivore scat, Estrilda astrild, life-history evolution, nest material, nest predation. [Behav Ecol]
The neutral rate of interest and a new monetary policy rule

In this paper, a new monetary policy rule is introduced. The proposed rule is based on Keynes's neutral rate of interest idea, a concept defined in the General Theory. The primary goal of the proposed rule is to ensure that the macroeconomy produces an output equal to its full-employment level. Monetary policy implied by the proposed rule is compared with the actual monetary policy in recent years.
Prevalence and abundance of latently transcribed varicella-zoster virus genes in human ganglia.

In human ganglia latently infected with varicella-zoster virus (VZV), sequence analysis has revealed that five viral genes (VZV genes 21, 29, 62, 63, and 66) are transcribed. However, their comparative prevalence and abundance are unknown. Here, using real-time PCR, we analyzed 28 trigeminal ganglia from 14 humans for RNA corresponding to the five virus genes known to be transcribed in latently infected human ganglia. The most prevalent transcript found was VZV gene 63 (78%), followed by gene 66 (43%), gene 62 (36%), and gene 29 (21%). No gene 21 transcripts were detected in any of the 28 ganglia. VZV gene 63 RNA was also the most abundant (3,710 ± 6,895 copies per 1 μg of mRNA) transcript detected in latently infected human ganglia, followed by VZV gene 29 (491 ± 594), VZV gene 66 (117 ± 85), and VZV gene 62 (64 ± 38). Thus, the repeated detection and high abundance of VZV gene 63 transcripts in latently infected ganglia suggests that VZV gene 63 may be more important for the maintenance of virus latency than the less abundantly transcribed and randomly detected VZV genes 21, 29, 62, and 66.
Nonenzymatic Glycosylation of HDL and Impaired HDL-Receptor–Mediated Cholesterol Efflux

Previous studies have shown that nonenzymatic glycosylation of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) inhibits high-affinity binding to cultured cells and the candidate HDL-receptor protein. Because binding of HDL to its receptor is required for HDL-receptor-mediated cholesterol efflux from cells, we hypothesized that glycosylated HDL3 would have reduced ability to remove cholesterol from cells. HDL3 was glycosylated in vitro to achieve up to 40-50% reductions in free-lysine residues. Glycosylated HDL3 had a slightly greater ability than control HDL3 to sequester cholesterol directly from the plasma membrane, as predicted by changes in lipid composition. This process is independent of HDL-receptor binding and should not be influenced by reduced binding of HDL3. In contrast, efflux of intracellular cholesterol from cells, which is HDL-receptor dependent, was reduced 25-40%. The ability of glycosylated HDL3 to diminish cholesterol esterification was significantly reduced, indicating reduced net cholesterol efflux. Steady-state efflux of LDL-derived cholesterol was also markedly reduced. These findings suggest that nonenzymatically glycosylated HDL is functionally abnormal and might contribute to the accelerated development of atherosclerosis in patients with diabetes mellitus.
The fractional knowledge and algebraic reasoning of students with the first multiplicative concept

Abstract To understand relationships between students’ quantitative reasoning with fractions and their algebraic reasoning, a clinical interview study was conducted with 18 middle and high school students. Six students with each of three different multiplicative concepts participated. This paper reports on the fractional knowledge and algebraic reasoning of six students with the most basic multiplicative concept. The fractional knowledge of these students was found to be consistent with prior research, in that the students had constructed partitioning and iteration operations but not disembedding operations, and that the students conceived of fractions as parts within wholes. The students’ iterating operations facilitated their work on algebra problems, but the lack of disembedding operations was a significant constraint in writing algebraic equations and expressions, as well as in generalizing relationships. Implications for teaching these students are discussed.
Sandtray Therapy: A Familial Approach to Healing Through Imagination

The application of creative techniques in counseling is often tailored to a unique problem, and limited by individual characteristics of the client. One intervention, sandtray therapy, a derivative of play therapy, has gained strong momentum as a creative technique. With greater flexibility for treating a much larger population, sandtray therapy is more applicable for families than other creative approaches. The purpose of the current article is to give an overview of sand tray therapy, as well as provide information regarding its use for working with families. Specifically, the authors discuss exactly how counselors can successfully incorporate sandtray therapy in the familial population setting, and describe its application through case study.
Intimate Partner Violence, Psychological Distress, and Suicidality: A Path Model Using Data from African American Women Seeking Care in an Urban Emergency Department

Intimate partner violence (IPV) and suicidal behavior are major public health problems in the African American community. This study investigated whether or not IPV and suicidal ideation are correlated in urban African American women, and if the IPV–suicidal ideation link is explained by symptoms of depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). With 323 abused African American females, path analysis revealed that: (1) IPV → depressive symptoms → suicidal ideation, and (2) IPV → PTSD symptoms → depressive symptoms → suicidal ideation. When evaluating abused women, depressive and PTSD symptoms and suicidal thoughts must be assessed. Interventions for reducing suicidal behavior in abused, low income African American women should reduce symptoms of depression and PTSD.
Clique-based randomized multiple access for energy-efficient wireless ad hoc networks

A fundamental tradeoff in MAC protocol design for wireless ad hoc networks is between proactive and reactive coordination, where the latter is used to resolve access conflicts whose severity is determined by the former. In this paper, we describe clique-based randomized multiple access (CRMA), a distributed MAC protocol for wireless ad hoc network applications. Of the many objectives in MAC design for this application, CRMA places strongest emphasis on energy efficiency and reliance only on local (one-hop) connectivity information. CRMA forms collection of nodes, or cliques, separated by one hop, and provides the proactive coordination required for clique members to synchronize their wake-sleep cycles. Each clique selects a slot in the clique's frame pseudo-randomly, so that no proactive coordination between cliques required. To limit potential access conflicts CRMA can exploit bandwidth via frequency hopping or spread spectrum coding; these also provide robustness to multi-channel radios to increase performance. With a slight amount of additional proactive coordination, CRMA can also employ what we call predictive conflict resolution, wherein clique members predict access conflicts and resolve them ahead of time.
The Development of Attention Skills in Action Video Game Players.

Previous research suggests that action video game play improves attentional resources, allowing gamers to better allocate their attention across both space and time. In order to further characterize the plastic changes resulting from playing these video games, we administered the Attentional Network Test (ANT) to action game players and non-playing controls aged between 7 and 22 years. By employing a mixture of cues and flankers, the ANT provides measures of how well attention is allocated to targets as a function of alerting and orienting cues, and to what extent observers are able to filter out the influence of task irrelevant information flanking those targets. The data suggest that action video game players of all ages have enhanced attentional skills that allow them to make faster correct responses to targets, and leaves additional processing resources that spill over to process distractors flanking the targets.
University Education and English Ecclesiastical Lawyers 1400–1650

Most recent historians have expressed a negative opinion of the quality of legal education at the English universities between 1400 and 1650. The academic study of law at Oxford and Cambridge, they have stated, was easy, antiquated and impractical. The curriculum had not changed from the form it assumed in the thirteenth century, and it did little to prepare students for their careers. This article challenges that opinion by examining the inner nature of the ius commune, the law that was applied in the courts of the church, and also by examining some of the works of practice compiled by English civilians during the period. Those works show that the negative opinion rests in part upon a misunderstanding of the nature of legal practice during earlier centuries. In fact, concentration on the texts of the Roman and canon laws, as old-fashioned as it seems to us, was well suited for the tasks advocates and judges would face once they left the academy. It also provided the stimulus needed for advance in the law of the church itself; their legal education made available to potential advocates and judges skills that would permit a sophisticated application of the ius commune, one better suited to their times. The article provides evidence of how this happened.1
An evaluation of the EMIT st assay for the detection of tricyclic antidepressant drugs in plasma or serum.

AbstractThe EMIT®st assay for tricyclic antidepressant drugs (TADs) was evaluated for use as a screening technique in the detection of these drugs in serum or plasma. The qualitative assay was found to be rapid, easy to perform, requires no sample or reagent preparations, and reliably detected the TADs in patient samples at concentrations ≥ 200 ng/mL. The technique also detected seventeen of nineteen patient samples with TAD concentrations ranging from 150-199 ng/mL and ten of forty-three samples with concentrations less than 150 ng/mL. The EMIT®st assay was found to be a reliable technique for detecting high concentrations of TADs and is well-suited for use in emergency drug screening situations.
An Evaluation of Transport Protocols in Peer-to-Peer Media Streaming

To solve the scalability issue of the traditional client-server architecture, many media streaming applications have adopted peer-to-peer (P2P) architecture in their implementations. Because of the success of using TCP in client-server streaming applications, most P2P streaming applications also use TCP as their transport protocol. On the other hand, some researchers argue that UDP is a better choice of transport protocol, as it is light-weight and meets the requirements of real-time streaming. However, there is no comparison study of using two transport protocols in global deployment of P2P applications. In this paper, we describe our efforts along this line. We first describe the designs of two P2P streaming systems: one using TCP, and the other using UDP. To simulate real deployment scenarios, both systems are developed based on similar designs used in current popular P2P streaming software products and comparative experiments are carried out on PlanetLab, a global Internet simulation platform.
Use of a SIT Image Detector for Atomic Emission/Fluorescence Spectrometry

A silicon-intensified target vidicon tube (SIT) is evaluated for analytical use in the determination of 17 elements in an Ar-separated C2H2/air flame and 5 elements in an Ar-separated C2H2/N2O flame using combined atomic emission and atomic fluorescence as excited by a 150 W CW EIMAC xenon are lamp. Benefits of combining emission and fluorescence signals in multielement analysis are experimentally shown. Limits of detection are approximately 100 times worse than previously reported by atomic fluorescence alone using a conventional spectrophotometer with the same 150 W EIMAC lamp. Linear dynamic ranges are between ~10 and ~100 for elements analyzed in the C2H2/air flame and are as high as 1000 for elements in the C2H2/N2O flame. Little or no use of the SIT and many similar image detectors for multielement analysis via atomic emission and/or atomic fluorescence is predicted at the present “state of the art.”
In vitro activities of various beta-lactam antimicrobial agents against clinical isolates of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella spp. resistant to oxyimino cephalosporins.

Broth microdilution testing was used to study the activity of several beta-lactam antimicrobial agents, including piperacillin-tazobactam and cefepime, against 108 clinically derived Escherichia coli and Klebsiella sp. strains resistant to oxyimino cephalosporins (i.e., putative extended-spectrum beta-lactamase producers). On the basis of the percentage of susceptible strains, imipenem (100%), cefotetan (> or = 92%), and piperacillin-tazobactam (> or = 86%) were the most active agents. Cefepime activity (52 to 64% susceptible) was comparable to that of cefotaxime (40 to 63% susceptible) and aztreonam (20 to 63% susceptible). Among all beta-lactams tested, imipenem and cefotetan demonstrated the highest and most consistent level of activity and were the least affected by challenges with increased sizes of inocula of these resistant organisms.
Calculation of Temperature Distribution in Glass Tanks by Use of a Special‐Purpose Electric Analog

A low-cost special-purpose electric analog simulating heat flow in a transverse half section of a glass tank is described. It is easily constructed and is useful for studying steady-state temperature distributions and heat-flux densities in regions where convection can be ignored. Results are presented for physically realistic boundary conditions at the outer refractory surface, for an assumed symmetry about the transverse center line, and for three classes of boundary conditions at the free surface of the melt, namely the temperature distribution specified, heat-flux density distribution specified, or a given relation between temperature and heat-flux density. Heat transport by radiation is treated as radiation conductivity, and it is shown that even near the boundaries of the glass the error from this approximation is small provided the boundaries can be treated as blackbodies.
'Veritas, Dogma, and Numbers'

It is a great honor, indeed, to receive an invitation to deliver the annual Frederick Douglass Stubbs Lecture. Dr Stubbs was an outstanding surgeon whose career was so unfortunately and cruelly interrupted by his premature death. The list of previous Stubbs' lecturers reads like a Who's Who of Surgery and I thank you for the opportunity to join this distinguished group. I have chosen to discuss the processes by which surgeons or, for that matter, most physicians formulate their choice of therapy in their common everyday practices. My major thesis is that these practices are frequently driven by dogma, without adequate or rigorous scientific support, and my plea is that we begin to examine more carefully so many things that we accept without question. At the time I decided on this subject, I was unaware that in 1958, Carl Moyers' Stubbs Lecture was titled "A Case for Emphasis on Scientific
Development of an impurity test for 3-tropanyl-3,5-dichlorobenzoate using capillary gas chromatography

A simple, accurate and sensitive capillary gas chromatographic test procedure was developed for the detection and quantification of impurities in bulk 3-tropanyl-3,5-dichlorobenzoate, a drug which is a neural serotonin 5HT3 receptor antagonist. The drug substance was dissolved in acetonitrile and chromatographed on a 30 m×0.32 mm 0.25 μm film DB-5 column operated with a temperature program of 80 to 230°C. A flame ionization detector was used, and the impurities detected in the drug were estimated from peak areas on a percent basis compared to the parent peak. Validation of this procedure included a recovery study of spiked impurities from 0.1 to 1.2% (w/w) and a repeatability study using two different synthesized batch lots of the drug.
Macro- and Microscopic Fluid Transport in Living Tissues: Application to Solid Tumors

Transvascular and interstitial fluid movements are involved in many important biological processes such as convective macromolecular transport and contribute to the mechanical behavior of tissue. Although intimately coupled, there is a tendency in the literature to regard these two fluid-transport mechanisms separately; if the interaction is considered, the description is usually confined to the local level (e.g., transvascular or interstitial perivascular). A general framework presented here combines transvascular and interstitial fluid movement with the mechanics of soft tissue and integrates macro-and microscopic views of the phenomena. On the macroscopic level, interstitial fluid transport is described by adapting the field equations of the poroelastic theory using average field variables defined on a scale of several blood vessel diameters (∼ 1 mm), while transvascular transport is described by a generalized Starling's law. As an example, the model equations have been specialized for a spherical solid tumor and an analytical solution is presented for the transient redistribution of interstitial fluid following a rapid change in vascular pressure or flow. The model describes the overall average profiles of the interstitial fluid pressure and velocity, as well as the dilatation, displacement and stress of the solid matrix. Moreover, on a smaller length scale the model can describe the local fluid movement (perivascular) using the average field variables as boundary conditions. The basic theory provides new insight into understanding the fluid transport in biological tissues and a valuable tool for determining relevant fluid-transport parameters. Implications for improving drug delivery to solid tumors are also discussed.
The New Face of Welfare in the US: From Income Transfers to Social Assistance?

This article describes the 1996 reform of US welfare and reviews its consequences, concluding that the evidence so far is encouraging, but that the full effects of reform are still unknown. It demonstrates how much the essential character of US welfare has altered: the emphasis on changing behaviour rather than making cash payments; the shift in responsibility from federal government to frontline administrators; the move to discretionary rather than rights based decision-making; and the stress on performance rather than on process. Finally, it notes that the language of political debate takes little account of what has already been achieved.
Novel compact tapered microstrip slot antenna for microwave breast imaging

A novel compact tapered microstrip slot antenna has been developed for microwave breast imaging. The antenna is designed assuming that it will be embedded in breast tissues rather than air. By using a microstrip tapered slot with a fork-shaped feeding structure, the designed antenna has achieved a good matching performance at 2 to 8 GHz. The total size of the antenna is only 0.13λ × 0.13λ at the lowest operation frequency 2 GHz. The designed antenna also shows good near-field radiation characteristics. Time domain response of a Gaussian pulse transmission between two identical antennas presents a very low distortion of the pulse shape (pulse broadening). The designed antenna is a potential candidate element of a half-spherical antenna array for radar-based breast cancer detection.
Thyroid Gland Malignancies

Surgery remains the most important effective treatment for differentiated (DTC) and medullary thyroid cancer (MTC). Radioactive iodine (RAI) is another important treatment but is reserved only for DTC whose disease captures RAI. Once patients fail primary therapy, observation is often recommended, as most DTC and MTC patients will have indolent disease. However, in a fraction of patients, systemic therapy must be considered. In recent decades 4 systemic therapies have been approved by the United States FDA for DTC and MTC. Sorafenib and lenvatinib are approved for DTC and vandetanib and cabozantinib for MTC. Anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) is a rare and rapidly progressive form of thyroid cancer with a very high mortality rate. Treatment of ATC remains a challenge. Most patients are not surgical candidates at diagnosis due to advanced disease. External beam radiation and radiosensitizing radiation are the mainstay of therapy at this time. However, exciting new drugs and approaches to therapy are on the horizon but it will take a concerted, worldwide effort to complete clinical trials in order to find effective therapies that will improve the overall survival for this devastating disease.
Mutual Interference of Water Wells

A general equation is developed which describes the relationship between the drawdown of any one well in an array which is pumping at a decreasing rate, the duration of pumping, the distance from the well to the other wells, and the aquifer characteristics for infinite, homogeneous, confined aquifer. The decrease in discharge is introduced by means of the head-capacity curve for each pump. These relationships can be used to predict future drawdown and discharge for any individual well, existing or proposed, in an array having a given geometrical pattern. An example is provided for the case of three wells located at the vertices of an equilateral triangle. The variation of discharge with time for various well spacings for each of the three wells is presented.
Reality Check: Rethinking the Global Software Piracy Problem

This study examines the complex dynamics of the international software piracy problem by focusing on the size of revenue losses made from pirated software. Although a considerable number of cross-national studies have focused on software piracy, there is a widespread but incorrect perception in the policy and academic landscape that ineffective copyright protection of computer software is prevalent mostly in less developed countries with low-income, ineffective legal systems and collectivist culture. By using the estimated value of revenues lost to software piracy as an alternative indicator, this study empirically disproves the conventional understanding of the piracy problem. Our empirical investigation of the impact of various national factors on the per capita value of pirated software confirmed that the present piracy phenomenon in the international market is complex and multi-faceted, involving multiple factors within a nation’s economic, technological and industry-specific capabilities.
Dual Constant Composition Kinetics Studies of the Demineralization of Ceramic Plasma Coated Apatite Surfaces

Calcium phosphate phases such as hydroxyapatite (HAP) and octacalcium phosphate (OCP) have long been considered as model systems for biological minerals. Moreover such phases are involved in ceramic and plasma coated titanium (HPCTI) prosthetic devices. Most of these mineral preparations are mixtures of calcium phosphate phases, as evidenced by X-ray analysis. However, many mineralizing systems involve the formation of metastable intermediates which may subsequently undergo phase transformations. There is therefore considerable interest in investigating the simultaneous growth and dissolution of multiple mineral phases. Based on the Constant Composition (CC) method, the new Dual Constant Composition (DCC) technique has been developed for kinetics studies of the dissolution of the mixed calcium phosphate phases frequently encountered in-ceramic and plasma coated apatite surfaces.
DETERMINING DEPTH FROM REMOTELY-SENSED IMAGES

Remotely-sensed images can provide synoptic or nearly synoptic data for large areas of the sea surface. Photographic and, more recently, radar measurement techniques can resolve the pattern of waves on the water surface and can provide a very dense sampling of kinematical variables of interest, ranging from a complete picture of the wave phase (in the case of single photographs) to horizontal velocity components at the water surface resulting from wind, tides, or waves (in the case of advanced radar techniques). When applied in the coastal zone, these images contain surface waves that are propagating over a complex bottom bathymetry and current field, and that are affected by a combination of shoaling, refraction, diffraction and nonlinear processes. This paper examines two methods to determine bathymetry from surface elevation information. The first is to examine the ability of linear dispersion relationship models to determine bathymetry, in cases with refraction and diffraction, and the second, based on lagged correlation method (and several images), is more generally useful for application.