cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Estimating Dental Manpower Requirements on a Statewide Basis

The North Carolina Dental Manpower Study undertook to use epidemiological data on dental disease, data on practice productivity, and estimates of treatment needs to arrive at more useful measures of dental manpower requirements on a statewide and substate regional basis. As in all attempts to plan for health manpower, the North Carolina study relied upon a measure of subjective judgment pertaining to the treatment/services required to deal with certain dental conditions. These judgments, however, were representative of the conventional standards of practice in North Carolina at the time of the study. Though certain important factors necessary to a complete assessment of dental manpower requirements were not directly measured in the study (e.g., consumer demand), estimates of the volume increase in dental-office practice-productivity were derived for the major categories of dental procedures and conditions. In North Carolina this technic is thought to represent a more meaningful approach to dental manpower planning than the conventional manpower-to-population ratio.
Batch scheduling in a multistage, multiproduct manufacturing system – an application

This paper reports the results of our collaborative work with Changde Telecommunication Equipment Company (CTEC) which produces digital transfer control systems for telephone networks. The manufacturing operations consist of two principle stages of module production and system assembly. Critical system components are produced in the module production stage where high inventories were a major managerial concern. We studied CTEC’s module production system and proposed three modifications to reduce inventories and improve system performance. The current system and the proposed modifications were simulated and compared in terms of various operational and financial criteria. The simulation was repeated in its entirety under a high level of demand due to CTEC’s anticipation of increased market share. The results, endorsed by CTEC’s management, demonstrate that significant operational and financial benefits can indeed be realized using the proposed modifications. This study provides motivation for the development of concepts and methodologies that will be useful in future theoretical and practical research.
Strengthening The Nation’s Public Health Infrastructure: Historic Challenge, Unprecedented Opportunity

The nation’s attention has been focused on the vital need for a strong public health infrastructure to protect community health. In this paper we provide an overview of progress during the past decade and point to immediate challenges and opportunities that resulted from recent events. Further, we highlight the need for continued vigilance and broad partnership development if we are to maintain public support for public health. Finally, we point to the need for better language, compelling case reports, and quantitative capacity assessment to guide policymakers and program leaders and to ensure long-term support.
Measurement Of Non-Optical Quality Mirror Surfaces With A 10.6 Micron Interferometer And Optimized Analysis Program

As part of a design study for a balloon-borne 3-m telescope for far-infrared and submillimeter astronomy, it has been necessary to test and evaluate the state-of-the-art for ultra lightweight primary mirror material candidates. In addition to being ultra lightweight (I0kg/m2), the primary mirror of this telescope must operate at -50°C with 300 diffraction limited performance. Evaluating the performance of mirror candidates has required cooling them in a low temperature test chamber while remotely monitoring the surface figure changes at several different temperatures. Some of the test panels were constructed with surfaces not smooth enough to provide recognizable 10p fringes suitable for analysis by standard Fringe techniques. To deal with this problem, we have successfully developed an analysis technique and software for a microcomputer which reliably generates surface maps from pathological interferograms. The programs operate rapidly and can provide a variety of outputs such as surface map averages, differences, Zernike polymonial coefficients, and RMS residuals during the tests. The system can also compensate for camera and test optics field distortions.
Electronically steerable millimeter-wave antennas

In this paper, electronically steerable microstrip and leaky wave antennas using tunable ferroelectric material are proposed. These antennas are lightweight, low volume, low profile, and conformal. They have low fabrication costs and are easily mass produced. They are thin and do not perturb the aerodynamics of a host automobile or aircraft. Linear, circular, and dual polarization are achieved with simple changes in feed position. Beam steering is accomplished by varying the relative phase between radiating elements. In planar array, both horizontal and vertical beam can be combined to provide full scanning capabilities. Tunable ceramic phase shifters are used in these antennas. In microstrip antennas, they are deposited as thin films on the feed lines whereas in the leaky wave antennas they have been used as a traveling waveguide with a ground plane on one side and metallic periodic grating on the opposite side. The dielectric properties of the ferroelectric material are changed by a bias voltage applied to the waveguide which in turn controls the leaky wave direction of the antenna. A simple experiment is presented which shows a good agreement with the theoretical prediction.© (1994) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Kiglapait geochemistry VI: Oxygen isotopes

Abstract The Kiglapait layered intrusion is the first major intrusion found to have all whole rock and calculated liquid δ18O values close to a normal uncontaminated gabbroic value of 6.0. The intrusion experienced no detectable oxygen isotope exchange with its surrounding rocks and cooling of the magma was conductive. The δ18O values of average whole rocks vary smoothly from 6.0 at the base of the Lower Zone to 6.3 at the top of the Upper Zone. The calculated liquid δ18O values lie practically superimposed on the whole rock trend. The whole-rock data and the modelled δ18O of the magma and cumulates rigorously demonstrate that the effect of incoming cumulus phases such as magnetite and augite on the δ18O of the liquid and rocks during fractional crystallization is negligible. The cancelling effects of complementary modal variations among the mafic mineral phases and feldspar, keep the δ18O of the whole rocks constant to within ±0.1 %.. The minor change in δ18O that does occur with fractionation is consistent with the enrichment of residual liquids in feldspar component and the increasing fractionation factor δ Liquid-Fsp with falling temperature. The δ18O values of the country rocks bracket the estimated δ18O of the Kiglapait magma. Modelling with oxygen isotopes indicates that contamination of the intrusion, indicated by published radiogenic Sr and Nd isotopic data, was minor. The most probable contaminant had δ18O≅7.7 and the contamination most likely occurred at >99% solidified. Subsolidus oxygen isotope exchange with an external source appears to have been very minor.
Thermo-elastic moduli of periodic multilayers with wavy architectures

Abstract The recently developed parametric finite-volume direct averaging micromechanics theory for periodic materials is employed to investigate the effective moduli and thermal expansion coefficients of lamellar composites with wavy architectures. In the parametric version, a reference square subvolume is mapped onto a quadrilateral subvolume in the actual discretized microstructure to accurately capture the in situ microstructural details. The mapping is used to construct local stiffness matrices of quadrilateral subvolumes which are employed in the local/global stiffness matrix solution strategy for the unit cell problem within a homogenization framework. Complete set of homogenized moduli and thermal expansion coefficients of multilayers comprised of alternating soft and hard laminae with two types of waviness is generated for the first time as a function of the volume content of the hard phase for two amplitude-to-wavelength ratios. The observed changes in the homogenized mechanical and thermal properties relative to the reference flat-layer configuration depend on the wavy microstructure orientation and become greater with increasing amplitude-to-wavelength ratios. Examination of local stress fields explains the differences observed in the homogenized moduli of multilayers with sinusoidal and corrugated waveforms for the two amplitude-to-wavelength ratios.
Bridged dienes: Synthesis of bicyclo[4.3.1]deca-1,5-diene

Abstract The title compound has been synthesized in several steps from [4.3.1]propell-3-ene; it thermally provides 1,3-divinylcyclohexene.
Innovation Spillovers and Technology Policy

— We examine a model of RD between information sharing and research coordination; between each of the latter and cooperation; between substitute and complementary research paths; between firms being located in the same industry or in different industries. These distinctions matter because, as we show, coordination can arise without cooperation (different industries, complementary research, research design) while cooperation need not induce information sharing (same industry, substitute research, information sharing). In many cases, however, allowing cooperation is sufficient to induce full infonnation sharing/research coordination, in which case the justification, if any, for a technology policy that takes the form of an R&D subsidy lies in encouraging firms to undertake more R&D. Our analysis suggests that cooperative arrangements between firms may often produce too little R&D, and therefore that R&D subsidies can be justified — but not to correct information problems, but other market failures in the amount of R&D firms choose to do.
A three-dimensional dynamic posture prediction model for simulating in-vehicle seated reaching movements: development and validation.

A three-dimensional dynamic posture prediction model for simulating in-vehicle reaching movements is presented. The model employs a four-segment 7-degrees-of-freedom linkage structure to represent the torso, clavicle and right extremity. It relies on an optimization-based differential inverse kinematics to estimate a set of four weighting parameters that quantify a timeconstant, inter-segment motion apportionment strategy. In the development 100 seated reaching movements performed by 10 subjects towards five in-vehicle targets were modelled, resulting in 100 sets of weighting Statistical analysis was then conducted to relate these parameters to and individual attributes. In the validation phase, the generalized model, parameter values statistically synthesized, was applied to novel data sets 700 different reaching movements (towards different targets and/or by subjects). The results demonstrated the model's ability to generate close in prediction: the overall mean time-averaged error in joint angle 5.2°, ...
Proposal for experimental observation of the “Kohn Anomaly”

Abstract Due to the enhancement of the singularity of q = 2kF in the RPA dielectric function of an electron gas by a magnetic field the change in the penetration depth of an electric field in a thin metal film may lead to a detectable change in capacitance. A possible means for studying the Kohn anomaly is proposed on this basis.
Demographic, medical, and psychosocial predictors of benefit finding among caregivers of childhood cancer survivors

Background There is a growing body of literature examining benefit finding, or finding positive outcomes in the face of adversity, among both adults and children with chronic conditions, and to some degree among caregivers. This study examined demographic, medical, and psychosocial predictors of greater benefit finding specifically among caregivers of childhood cancer survivors. Methods Caregivers of children who had completed treatment for cancer (n = 83) completed measures assessing child and caregiver demographic information and caregiver coping (active, acceptance, emotion-focused, and avoidant), optimism, social support, caregiving burden, posttraumatic stress symptoms, illness impact (how much caregivers feel impacted by their child's illness in various domains), and benefit finding (positive outcomes). Result Regression analyses indicated that positive spiritual coping, optimism, and illness impact uniquely predicted overall benefit finding for caregivers of childhood cancer survivors. Conclusion Results point to adaptive tendencies that are associated with finding benefits when caring for a childhood cancer survivor and suggest potential avenues for intervention among this population. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Site-selective energy upconversion in CaF 2 :Ho 3+

From the absorption spectrum of CaF2:Ho3+, Judd–Ofelt intensity parameters were estimated as Ω2=0.018×10-20 cm2, Ω4=0.57×10-20 cm2, and Ω6=0.587×10-20 cm2. Radiative transition probabilities and radiative lifetimes were also estimated for some of the levels. We observed red-to-green, -blue, and -violet energy upconversion in CaF2:Ho3+ with efficiencies of 0.08%, 0.13% and 1.35×10-3%, respectively, on resonant excitation of the 5F5 state. Under site-selective excitation we also found that the blue-upconversion signal intensity was approximately three times larger than that of the green-upconversion signal intensity. On resonantly exciting the 5I4 state we detected strong green upconversion signals from the 5S2 state and found that excited-state absorption from 5I7 was responsible for this process. Upconversion efficiency of the process was determined to be 8.1%. On resonantly exciting the 5I5 state, we detected strong red emission in CaF2:Ho3+ and strong green emission in LaF3:Ho3+. Such a host-dependent upconversion frequency emission is also explained.
Religious ethics and active euthanasia in a pluralistic society

This article sets out a descriptive typology of religious perspectives on legalized euthanasia--political advocacy, individual conscience, silence, embedded opposition, and formal public opposition--and then examines the normative basis for these perspectives through the themes of sovereignty, stewardship, and the self. It also explores the public relevance of these religious perspectives for debates over legalized euthanasia, particularly in the realm of public policy. Ironically, the moral discourse of religious traditions on euthanasia may gain public relevance at the expense of its religious content. Nonetheless, religious traditions can provide a context of ultimacy and meaning to this debate, which is a condition for genuine pluralism. A table setting out the views of various denominations with regard to euthanasia is included.
Indispensable pre-mitotic endocycles promote aneuploidy in the Drosophila rectum

The endocycle is a modified cell cycle that lacks M phase. Endocycles are well known for enabling continued growth of post-mitotic tissues. By contrast, we discovered pre-mitotic endocycles in precursors of Drosophila rectal papillae (papillar cells). Unlike all known proliferative Drosophila adult precursors, papillar cells endocycle before dividing. Furthermore, unlike diploid mitotic divisions, these polyploid papillar divisions are frequently error prone, suggesting papillar structures may accumulate long-term aneuploidy. Here, we demonstrate an indispensable requirement for pre-mitotic endocycles during papillar development and also demonstrate that such cycles seed papillar aneuploidy. We find blocking pre-mitotic endocycles disrupts papillar morphogenesis and causes organismal lethality under high-salt dietary stress. We further show that pre-mitotic endocycles differ from post-mitotic endocycles, as we find only the M-phase-capable polyploid cells of the papillae and female germline can retain centrioles. In papillae, this centriole retention contributes to aneuploidy, as centrioles amplify during papillar endocycles, causing multipolar anaphase. Such aneuploidy is well tolerated in papillae, as it does not significantly impair cell viability, organ formation or organ function. Together, our results demonstrate that pre-mitotic endocycles can enable specific organ construction and are a mechanism that promotes highly tolerated aneuploidy.
Preparation of Tungstate Nanopowders by Sol-Gel Method

Tungstate crystals are considered high-class scintillators to be used as detector material for high-energy radiation. These crystals are frequently used as references in measurements on new luminescent materials. In this paper, we present manufacturing process of nanocrystalline tungstate materials. Lead tungstate (PbWO4), cadmium tungstate (CdWO4), calcium tungstate (CaWO4), and zinc tungstate (ZnWO4) were synthesized via modifying sol-gel process. An advantage of the developed technology is the possibility of manufacturing tungstate powders in nanocrystalline state not only at elevated temperatures but at room temperatures as well. X-ray diffraction method, scanning electron microscopy, and thermal investigations were done to establish structural and morphological state of these materials. For reaching the most dispersible with the lowest agglomeration single-phase system of tungstate materials, there was an established optimal relationship between the system of starting reagents and solvents.
Why do birds of a feather flock together? Developmental change in the use of multiple explanations: Intention, teleology and essentialism

In two studies, 6-12-year-old children (Study 1: N = 58; Study 2: N = 38) and adults (Study 2: N = 22) rank ordered intentional, teleological and essentialist explanations for different behaviours of living-kind groups representing a range of biological kinds from plants to humans. Overall, humans elicited more intentional explanations, insects and plants elicited more essentialist explanations, and intermediate taxa, such as ungulates, elicited more teleological explanations. Children made fewer fine-grained taxonomic distinctions than adults, and the youngest children tended to reject essentialism. The 6-7-year-old children preferred to reason about living-kind behaviours from an intentional and teleological perspective; only towards the end of the elementary school years did children seem to incorporate a biological essentialism. Neither adults nor children were exclusively bound to a particular mode of explanation, but exercised ‘causal flexibility’ across different behavioural contexts.
The Price of the Ticket A Survivor-Centered Appraisal of Trauma Theory

This article takes a critical look at the current trend toward applying trauma theory to the understanding of women's experiences of violence and abuse. Multicultural feminist theories and the author's standpoint as a survivor are used to deconstruct pathologizing and exclusionary assumptions implicit in much trauma work. Elements of a survivor-centered approach are articulated and offered as legitimate ways of knowing. This epistemological shift is intended to give researchers and practitioners a more socially contextualized, culturally inclusive, and strengths-oriented understanding of the social distribution of traumatic injury.
Short Paper: On Optimal Sensing and Transmission Strategies for Dynamic Spectrum Access

The listen-Before-Talk (LBT) strategy has been prevalent in cognitive radio networks where secondary users opportunistically access under-utilized primary band. To minimize the amount of disruption from secondary users to primary signals, secondary users generally are required to detect the presence of the primary user reliably, and access the spectrum intelligently. The sensing time has to be long enough to achieve desirable detection performance. Weaker primary signals require longer sensing time, thereby reduce the secondary transmission opportunities. In this paper, we generalize the packet-level LBT strategy by allowing the secondary user to potentially transmit multiple packets after one sensing, and study the optimal control policy to determine the conditions under which the secondary user should sense the channel. We show that the optimal spectrum access control policy has a simple threshold-based structure, where the secondary user transmits consecutive packets until the estimated probability of the primary user being idle falls below a threshold, and senses the channel otherwise. The result applies to systems with both perfect and imperfect packet collision detection with the primary users.
The cortex as interferometer: The transmission of amplitude, frequency and phase in cortical structures

Abstract Concerning the perceptual phenomenon of object constancy: an object may be represented exhaustively in all its transformations only by introducing phase operators (as well as amplitude). The transmission of phase and a metric capable of handling phase in the central nervous system is thus requisite. Interferometry meets these requirements. The occurence of interferometry in the cortex is shown to be feasible. The cortex, it is suggested, codes frequency spatially and in the time domain. This permits phase, also, to be represented by latency changes in the time of arival of patterning upon the cortex. Latency changes are effected by delay methods and may be considered as a kind of temporal modulation of frequencies. For interferometry to work a carrier and a metric must be provided by the brain. The temporal carrier for cortical information can be constituted of indegenous cortical rhythms synchronized by a thalamic trigger. Great flexibility of measuring power is needed in order to account for the generation of information by the brain. The dipole can be shown to provide the metric capable of just such power.
Aqua-Net: An underwater sensor network architecture: Design, implementation, and initial testing

Underwater sensor networks (UWSNs) have emerged as a powerful technique for a wide range of aquatic applications. New challenges require novel research at every layer of the protocol stack. To efficiently compare various design, algorithms, and protocols, there is a pressing need for a generic architecture for underwater sensor networks. In this paper, we present such an architecture, called Aqua-Set, for various underwater solutions and applications. Aqua-Net follows a layered structure and meanwhile could support cross-layer optimization. It is flexible and easy to use. We have implemented several protocols in Aqua-Net and tested in a lab environment. Specifically, in this paper we present the design, implementation, and testing of a MAC protocol, called UW-Aloha, as a case study. The initial results show that our analysis, and lab testing match very well. We consider Aqua-Net a groundwork and valuable tool for future advances of the underwater sensor network research.
Stearoyl-CoA Desaturase 2 Is Required for Peroxisome Proliferator-activated Receptor γ Expression and Adipogenesis in Cultured 3T3-L1 Cells

Based on recent evidence that fatty acid synthase and endogenously produced fatty acid derivatives are required for adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 adipocytes, we conducted a small interfering RNA-based screen to identify other fatty acid-metabolizing enzymes that may mediate this effect. Of 24 enzymes screened, stearoyl-CoA desaturase 2 (SCD2) was found to be uniquely and absolutely required for adipogenesis. Remarkably, SCD2 also controls the maintenance of adipocyte-specific gene expression in fully differentiated 3T3-L1 adipocytes, including the expression of SCD1. Despite the high sequence similarity between SCD2 and SCD1, silencing of SCD1 did not down-regulate 3T3-L1 cell differentiation or gene expression. SCD2 mRNA expression was also uniquely elevated 44-fold in adipose tissue upon feeding mice a high fat diet, whereas SCD1 showed little response. The inhibition of adipogenesis caused by SCD2 depletion was associated with a decrease in peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) mRNA and protein, whereas in mature adipocytes loss of SCD2 diminished PPARγ protein levels, with little change in mRNA levels. In the latter case, SCD2 depletion did not change the degradation rate of PPARγ protein but decreased the metabolic labeling of PPARγ protein using [35S]methionine/cysteine, indicating protein translation was decreased. This requirement of SCD2 for optimal protein synthesis in fully differentiated adipocytes was verified by polysome profile analysis, where a shift in the mRNA to monosomes was apparent in response to SCD2 silencing. These results reveal that SCD2 is required for the induction and maintenance of PPARγ protein levels and adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 cells.
Clustering e-commerce search engines

In this paper, we sketch a method for clustering e-commerce search engines by the type of products/services they sell. This method utilizes the special features of interface pages of such search engines. We also provide an analysis of different types of ESE interface pages.
The Ethics of In-House Practice

This book chapter examines the complex role that inside counsel (also known as in-house or corporate counsel) play in corporate America. Once viewed as the quality-of-life refuge from private practice, the in-house position is now recognized as “among the most complex and difficult of those functions performed by lawyers” (Hazard 1997, 1011). One reason why the position is so complex and difficult is the ambiguity and internal contradiction in inside counsel’s job description. On the one hand, inside counsel are intentionally carved into the corporate decision-making process to constrain managerial discretion and safeguard the company from legal trouble. Accordingly, inside counsel often have direct responsibility over compliance and are expected to intervene when significant legal risks are at stake. On the other hand, inside counsel are often regarded as mere “advisers” and thus remain subordinate to managerial prerogatives – even with respect to serious legal risks. On this view, inside counsel are expected to defer to business management at whose pleasure they serve. This latter view is consistent with the conventional skepticism about inside counsel’s willingness to check corporate misconduct (DeMott 2005, 967). This chapter explores how inside counsel negotiate these dueling job descriptions by developing an analytical framework based on Rule 1.13 of the American Bar Association’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct and reviewing the existing empirical literature on inside counsel to determine whether and to what degree inside counsel’s behavior conforms to the Model Rules.
Accounting Chair Professorships In 1997

The paper profiles the accounting chair professorships in the United States in 1997. Currently, there are 380 accounting chairholders and professorships at 166 institutions. Data and statistics were obtained from Hasselbacks Accounting Faculty Directory between 1980 and 1997. The number of chair professorships in accounting increased significantly during the 1980s and the first half of the 1990s. However, the rate of increase was reduced after 1995. Most of the 380 chairholders in 1997 were full professors holding CPA certificates. Their most popular teaching/research interests were financial accounting, managerial/cost accounting, auditing and taxation. Most of the chair professors received their last degrees in the 1970s. Texas (Austin) and Illinois produced the largest numbers of graduates with chair professorships, but Carnegie Mellon has the highest percentage of graduates serving as chairholders in 1997.
Women’s Talk about Mentoring and Socialization in Local Policies

Research on mentoring and socialization in organizations determined that there are benefits to mentors, proteges, and organizations derived from these relationships (Burlew, 1991; Kram, 1983). However, previous research largely ignores mentoring and socialization at all levels of politics and political organizations and this study attempts to address this oversight. I pose questions about the extent to which women are mentored in local politics and political organizations. If they are being mentored, who is doing the mentoring? Are they being socialized into politics and political organizations and, if so, by whom? A total of nine women were interviewed and shared their experiences of mentoring and socialization in local politics. Interviewees ranged in age from the early 30s to the late 70s and from School Board to Mayor.
Knowledge transfer between parties of asymmetric knowledge and information: the case of the Bristol Bay sustainable energy programme

This project explores the facilitators and barriers to effective knowledge transfer between parties with asymmetric and incomplete information (Lin et al., 2005). It is intended to close a gap in our understanding of how to effectively share knowledge between parties that do not have the same base knowledge, culture, or motivation. The specific context is that of sustainable energy practices in Alaska as facilitated by University of Alaska Fairbanks Bristol Bay Campus efforts at community outreach. This is set within the broader mandate of; a) sustainable energy practices aimed at reducing cost and reliance on finite energy resources; b) the native communities desire to rebalance traditional and westernised ways of living in local communities.
Viruses and autoimmune diseases in animals other than man.

There has recently been a marked increase in interest on the part of research workers and clinicians in the role of viruses in autoimmune diseases. Much of the stimulus for this has come from laboratories working on analogous or similar diseases of animals in showing that immunologic aberrations triggered by viral infections can cause glomerulonephritis and arteritis. There is a feeling by some that these and other chronic diseases of man, such as rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus, which have defied analysis, may prove to be virus-induced.
Effects of Surface Chemistry on Nonlinear Absorption, Scattering, and Refraction of PbSe and PbS Nanocrystals

Oleic acid capped lead sulfide (PbS) and lead selenide (PbSe) were synthesized, then subjected to a postsynthesis washing in a 1:1 ethanol/hexane solution. The relationship of third order nonlinear optical properties to nanocrystal surface chemistry as affected by washing was analyzed using nanosecond 532 nm Z-scan and measurement of near-IR radiative emission. The results indicated a significant change in optical nonlinearities which emerged only after the nanocrystals were washed in the ethanol/hexane mixture. Transmission electron microscopy of the oleic acid capped PbSe and PbS nanocrystals showed a cubic shape, narrow size distribution and an average size of ∼10 nm. Neither size nor shape of the nanocrystals were modified by the washing process, indicating that all optical differences were related to changes in surface chemistry and the formation of deep trap states. The “as grown” nanocrystals showed high emission efficiency, weak saturable absorption, and a self-defocusing refractive index, n2, det...
Mycocentrospora Verrucosa, The Cause of Foliar Shot—Hole of Euonymus

(1974). Mycocentrospora Verrucosa, The Cause of Foliar Shot—Hole of Euonymus. Mycologia: Vol. 66, No. 1, pp. 170-173.
Beyond Négritude: black cultural citizenship and the Arab question in FESTAC 77

When Nigeria hosted the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC 77) to celebrate the cultural foundations of the ‘Black and African World’, it was fashioned after Senghor's festival mondial des arts negres (FESMAN 66) held in Dakar 11 years earlier. What began as an alliance between festival co-patrons, however, soon developed into a divisive debate over the meanings and horizons of black cultural citizenship. At issue were competing Afrocentric frameworks that clashed over the North African or ‘Arab’ question. Should North Africans fully participate, as Lt-Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo maintained, or should they merely observe as second-class citizens, as Leopold Sedar Senghor resolutely insisted? If Nigeria's expansive and inclusive vision of blackness was motivated and underwritten by its enormous oil wealth, Senghor refused to compromise his position, precipitating a face-off that ultimately lowered Senegal's prestige. To understand why North Africa became the focus of these compe...
The role of antigenic conformation in antigen-antibody complex formation.

Abstract Iron binding imparts a conformational rigidity and compactness to the ovotransferrin molecule. This appears to cause the inaccessibility of certain antigenic sites to antibody in the formation of antigen-antibody complexes. Iron ovotranseferrin had a lower apparent antigenic valence and formed preferably smaller soluble antigen-antibody complexes that ovotransferrin, as measured by fluorescence polarization, saturated ammonium sulfate precipitation, and sedimentation velocity ultracentrifugation experiments. In primary Ab binding tests and in quantitative precipitin tests, however, both antigens gave similar reactivity. These results and the known identity of the primary chemical structure of ovotransferrin and iron ovotransferrin indicated that conformation differences are responsible for the observed immunochemical behavior. Molecular models, based on hydrodynamic measurements on ovotransferrin, iron ovotransferrin, and antibody molecules, also support this view. The antigenic differences between ovotransferrin and iron ovotransferrin were manifested only in the secondary phase of the antigen-antibody complex formation, emphasizing the need for appropriate secondary phase immunochemical techniques in such studies.
Budesonide in grass pollen rhinitis.

To determine the relative efficacy, to compare the incidence of adverse experiences, and to assess the systemic glucocorticoid effect of nasal preparations of budesonide, 200 micrograms bid, and placebo, 50 adult patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis due to grass pollen were studied in a stratified, double-blind parallel group design. After a 2-week baseline period, budesonide nasal spray, 100 microgram per nostril twice a day, was compared with placebo nasal spray over a 4-week treatment period. Supplementary treatment with chlorpheniramine, 4-mg tablets, was permitted when necessary to control symptoms. Daily symptom and medication diaries were kept by the patients. Investigator assessments of symptoms and side effects were made at clinic visits at 2-week intervals. At baseline and again towards the end of the study, blood samples were drawn for the determination of plasma cortisol levels and 24-hour urine samples collected for the measurement of 17-hydroxycorticosteroid output. Of the 24 men and 26 women entering, 49 completed the study. Symptom scores for sneezing, stuffy nose, and nasal secretion all decreased dramatically from baseline when budesonide treatment was started. The decrease in symptoms was greater for budesonide than for placebo (P < .001). There was no difference between budesonide and placebo with regard to eye itch and rescue medication used. Morning nasal washes were taken during the grass season before treatment was started and 16 to 17 days after. They showed a significant decrease in TAME esterase levels in secretions in the budesonide treated patients (P = .03) but not in the placebo-treated patients.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
New Instrument for Placement of Circle Tube Nephrostomy

AbstractThe circle tube nephrostomy recently has become a popular method for supravesical urinary drainage. A new instrument and technique to facilitate placement of the circle tube have been developed and used successfully in 16 patients requiring nephrostomy drainage for ureteral obstruction secondary to advanced pelvic neoplasms. This instrument and technique offer a simple, safe and effective method of establishing circle tube drainage.
Likelihood-Free Inference in Cosmology: Potential for the Estimation of Luminosity Functions

Statistical inference of cosmological quantities of interest is complicated by significant observational limitations, including heteroscedastic measurement error and irregular selection effects. These observational difficulties exacerbate challenges posed by the often-complex relationship between estimands and the distribution of observables; indeed, in some situations it is only possible to simulate realizations of observations under various assumed cosmological theories. When faced with these challenges, one is naturally led to consider utilizing repeated simulations of the full data generation process, and then comparing observed and simulated data sets to constrain the parameters. In such a scenario, one would not have a likelihood function relating the parameters to the observable data. This paper will present an overview of methods that allow a likelihood-free approach to inference, with emphasis on approximate Bayesian computation, a class of procedures originally motivated by similar inference problems in population genetics.
Online multi-resource allocation for deadline sensitive jobs with partial values in the cloud

In many applications including interactive services and big data analytics, a timely result with a good match is often more valuable than a perfect yet delayed result. This fact can be utilized to improve the total utility gain of a cloud computing platform by allowing partial execution of jobs. A fundamental challenge, however, is that in many real environments, scheduling decisions have to be made online without knowledge about future jobs, which makes it difficult to choose between more valuable jobs with large deadlines and less valuable jobs that are more emergent. Moreover, jobs are often heterogeneous in their utilities, deadlines, and demands for different types of resources. In this paper, we study the problem of online scheduling for deadline-sensitive jobs with concave utility functions that can deliver partial results. We develop efficient online multi-resource allocation algorithms that achieve low competitive ratios for both continuous and discrete job models.
Animation Validation of Obese Virtual Pediatric Patients Using a FLACC Pain Scale

We report on an experiment conducted to validate the nonverbal behaviors of our virtual patients as described by the standardized Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, Consolabiltiy scale [1] in relation to whether the virtual patient’s gender or obesity has an affect on the participants’ ability to correctly detect those animations. The results of this experiment provide insight into the feasibility of using a standardized pain scale as a method to validate virtual patients animations.
The Doctrine of Divine Timelessness: An Historical Sketch

Any new understanding of divine timelessness will obviously be indebted to previous theologians and philosophers who have wrestled with this difficult doctrine. The focus of this work is not historical, but a brief survey of the history of the idea of divine timeless eternity may help set the stage for further reflection. Christian thinkers from Origen to Karl Barth have spent time pondering the nature of time and eternity. The history of the idea of eternity in Western thought shows that the originators of the concept of timeless eternity were Greek philosophers.1 The Semitic peoples, who with the Greeks form the root of Western culture, did not have a notion of timeless eternity. For the ancient Egyptians, for example, the gods lived in another kind of time, a “mythic Time” (Assmann, Zeit und Ewigkeit im Alten Agypten, 10). The same could be said of the Hebrews, as we have already seen. Thus the first section of our historical survey will examine the thought of major Greek philosophers on this issue. Then our survey will follow the stream of Christian thought up to the modern period. We reserve two contemporary thinkers, Karl Barth and A. N. Whitehead, for fuller discussion in chapter six.
Constrained Approximation Techniques for Solving Integral Equations

The two standard techniques for numerically solving integral equations are collocation and Galerkin. Both these methods find an approximation via interpolation in that an approximating subspace of dimension n is provided, and the n parameters are found by solving n equations. These methods work well in practice for many equations as is seen for example in [1,2]. However, circumstances may arise when due to numerical error the number of basis functions n needs to be increased to an excessively large value. Also many real problems prescribe conditions on the underlying function, thus constraints on the approximation are introduced. Both these problems can be overcome if instead of interpolating we consider the approximation problem.
'Between Combat boots and Birkenstocks'-Lessons from HIV/AIDS, SARS, H1N1 and Ebola.

Abstract Objectives In late 2013, an Ebola outbreak quickly grew into an epidemic of extraordinary magnitude, killing more people than all previous Ebola outbreaks combined. Although the epidemic was unprecedented, the world had previously experienced several acute public health emergencies requiring global coordination. HIV/AIDS, SARS and H1N1 tested global response, and in each case coordination proved problematic, making the 2013–2015 Ebola epidemic no exception. The purpose of this project was to identify persistent vulnerabilities within global public health emergency response and to identify areas for future research and improvement. Study design Non-systematic review and qualitative interview study. Methods Using PubMed and Google, a comprehensive search of articles connected to the HIV/AIDS, SARS, H1N1 and Ebola responses was conducted. Then, 21 key responders involved in those emergencies, primarily from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, participated in in-depth interviews. The content analysis and in-depth interview data were analysed using MAXQDA analysis software. Results A number of issues emerged, including cultural and political clashes within relevant agencies and a lack of confidence in those agencies, policy barriers that hinder long-term international response, a shortage of personnel and resources, itemized funding streams that limit flexibility to direct resources, and challenges to deploying responders internationally. Conclusions The data suggest that the world remains ill prepared to handle sustained responses and global pandemics. The study identified major vulnerabilities persistent within US-led global public health response and offers recommendations for further focused research to fully understand why these challenges persist.
An efficient semianalytical finite element scheme developed in the Hamiltonian system and its applications in well loggings

An efficient semianalytical finite element method is proposed to simulate electromagnetic wave propagation in layered media. A piecewise homogeneous structure is divided into several layers. Each layer is uniform in the longitudinal direction, and the distributions of geometry and material can be arbitrary on the transverse plane, or cross-section of the layer. To develop this semianalytical finite element scheme, the standard functional corresponding to the vector wave equation is cast to a new form in the Hamiltonian system based on dual variables, which are transverse components of both electric and magnetic fields on the cross-section of the layer. 2D finite elements are employed to discretize the cross-section, and a high precision integration scheme based on the Riccati equations is used to exploit the longitudinal homogeneity in the layer [1]. By transforming a 3D layered problem into a series of 2D problems, this semianalytical finite element method can save a great amount of computational costs and meanwhile achieve a much higher level of accuracy compared with conventional finite element schemes. The flexibility of this semianalytical method can be greatly increased by hybridization with conventional finite elements, and this strategy works well for layered structures with local inhomogeneities such as borehole washouts. Examples will be given to show the applications of this method in borehole resistivity well logging as well as electromagnetic telemetry.
'It means everyone should know their status': exploring lay conceptions of sickle cell trait and sickle cell trait screening among African Americans within middle reproductive age.

Objective: This study examined the meaning of sickle cell trait and sickle cell trait screening from the lay perspective of African Americans.Design and Methods: African Americans (N = 300), ages 1...
Predicting maternal and paternal parent-child aggression risk: Longitudinal multimethod investigation using social information processing theory.

Objective: Given the costly outcomes associated with the physical abuse and harsh discipline of children, identifying pathways leading parents to engage in parent–child aggression (PCA) are critical to prevention and intervention efforts. One model that attempts to identify the processes involved in increasing parents’ risk is an adaptation of Social Information Processing (SIP) theory. The current study investigated whether elements of SIP theory assessed prenatally can predict later PCA risk in a diverse sample of mothers and fathers. Method: This evaluation controlled for parents’ current level of personal vulnerabilities (psychopathology, substance use, domestic violence) or resiliencies (social support, partner satisfaction, coping) to determine the predictive value of the SIP processes in particular. This study used a multimethod approach that included several analog tasks. Dyadic analyses were conducted to contrast 196 mothers and their partners who were enrolled prenatally and then reassessed when their infants were 6 months old. Results: Findings indicate that poor empathy assessed prenatally was associated with greater overreactivity and more negative attributions regarding children’s behavior, which in turn predicted later PCA risk. Moreover, attitudes approving the use of PCA predicted later PCA risk largely due to its connection with negative child attributions, less knowledge of nonphysical discipline alternatives, and higher compliance expectations. Conclusions: The results suggest that elements of the SIP theory can be identified prenatally to estimate later risk of PCA, with some differences in profiles between mothers and fathers. Future directions for evaluating the SIP model and its implications for prevention and intervention are discussed.
Critical flicker fusion frequency in demyelinating and ischemic optic neuropathies

Critical flicker fusion (CFF) frequency is a well-studied test for evaluating demyelinating optic neuritis (ON). Its use in evaluating other optic neuropathies is not well established. The purpose of this study was to compare CFF in ON and non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION). We performed a retrospective review to compare multiple variables for eyes with ON or NAION using two-sided T tests and Chi-square tests. A multivariate linear regression was performed for the dependent variable CFF. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to define a CFF threshold for distinguishing these entities. Unaffected eyes had an average CFF value of 31.5 Hz. CFF values for ON (20.7 Hz ± 7.36) and NAION (24.3 Hz ± 9.03) were not significantly different from each other (P = 0.06). However, the CFF for ON, 18.27 Hz ± 9.29, was significantly lower than for NAION, 23.92 Hz ± 7.02, P = 0.02 when limiting the comparison to moderate and severe disease. An ROC curve demonstrates that a CFF value of ≤24 Hz is 71% sensitive for ON and that a value >24 Hz is 74% specific for excluding ON. A multivariate linear regression model demonstrated that ON contributed to approximately an 8 Hz decrease in CFF compared to NAION. Patients with a CFF of ≤24 Hz have a 2.89 odds ratio (95% CI 1.76–4.01) of having ON. CFF values in eyes with ON were significantly lower compared to eyes with NAION when evaluating moderate and severe disease. Twenty-four hertz may be a useful CFF threshold value when trying to distinguish between these two entities.