cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Biology of Oedophrys hilleri (Faust) (Coleoptera:Curculionidae): A Potential New Pest of Peach in the Eastern United States

ABSTRACT: Oedophrys hilleri (Faust), native to East Asia, has become established in the north-eastern United States. This study examined the feeding preferences of adults, larval food and phenology of adults in an unsprayed peach orchard. Adults fed on the foliage of plants in the Rosaceae family preferring peach (Prunus persicae) and pear (Pyrus communis). There was one generation per year, adults were most abundant in late June to early July but were present whenever trees were actively growing. Eggs were laid on the soil surface. Larvae fed on the fine roots and the cambium and xylem tissues of small woody roots of peach trees; roots of other species were not tested. In field observations, adult feeding removed up to 15% of the foliage on individual branches. An estimated high of 337 adults/m2 emerged from the soil under peach trees based on enclosed emergence traps. Although heavily infested trees showed no apparent loss of vigor compared with trees in the same orchard with low levels of defoliation, ...
The Conversation MOP II. Progression Through Scenes in Discourse

Based on previous research demonstrating that a conversation MOP (memory organization packet) exists that organizes scenes (topics) in conversations, this research explores the generalizability of the MOP when faced with differing situational demands. This research tests a normative sequential progression claim of the MOP perspective by examining the degree to which the MOP permits routine progression in topical talk in initial interactions as acquaintance goals vary. As predicted, dyads having similar acquaintanceship goals were found to exhibit similar conversational structures; the conversational structures for dyads having differing acquaintanceship goals were also found to be similar; and the progression of dyads through conversations in terms of transitions between topics also exhibited structural invariance. It was therefore concluded that (a) certain topics of talk occur almost regardless of acquaintanceship desires despite idiosyncratic additions, (b) multiple topics of talk are appropriate at any given point but what is appropriate at one point is not appropriate at other points, and (c) conversational sequencing follows a normative progression. In other words, conversational behavior is both routine and adaptive, although the adaptation is in itself routine.
Being a seasoned nurse in active practice

friedrich l.a., prasun m.a., henderson l. & taft l. (2011) Journal of Nursing Management19, 897–905 Being a seasoned nurse in active practice Aim The purpose of this qualitative study was to discover what rewards and inspires seasoned nurses to continue to practice in acute care after the normal age of nurse retirement, and to identify best practices in retention. Background An aging population and an aging nursing workforce are twin issues that bring urgency to this issue. Seasoned nurses have much to contribute to the workforce, but very few studies have examined strategies to retain them. Methods A grounded theory approach was used in two phases to explore the meaning of being a seasoned nurse. In phase 1, 13 nurses over the age of 62 years were queried about the meaning of being a seasoned nurse actively engaged in acute care nursing. The second phase included 12 nurses in active practice anticipating retirement (aged 55–62 years). Semi-structured interviews were conducted, audiotaped, transcribed and analysed. Results A concept map with four major themes emerged from the data. The themes were identified as (1) pre-existing attitudes and experiences, (2) retention factors, (3) important needs, and (4) unique contributions. Conclusions Seasoned nurses enjoy, and engage in, nursing and derive benefits from continued practice. Further research is needed to determine the relative importance of the factors identified as important to nurses as they anticipate, and experience, retirement. Implication for nurse managers An understanding of these factors can be used to aid nursing leaders to retain seasoned nurses in practice beyond retirement age.
Antiviral therapy of hepatitis C--present and future.

The current recommendations for therapy of chronic hepatitis C are a 6-month course of alpha-interferon in doses of 3 million units 3 times weekly. Patients should have compensated chronic liver disease with elevations in serum aminotransferases, serologic evidence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and chronic hepatitis by liver biopsy. At present, a long-term beneficial response to alpha-interferon occurs in only 10–25% of patients. The modest long-term response rate and the restricted recommendations for use of interferon leave several unresolved issues regarding therapy of this disease. Do patients with atypical, severe or advanced disease warrant therapy? What is the optimal dose and duration of treatment? How can one increase the response rate to interferon? How can one predict which patients are likely to benefit from therapy? Which patients are likely to relapse if therapy is stopped? Ultimately, what is needed to answer these issues are better techniques to assess HCV infection and monitor therapy as well as more effective and better-tolerated agents that can be used alone or in combination with alpha-interferon.
Metabolizable Energy and Digestibility Coefficients of Barley for Chicks as Influenced by Water Treatment or by Presence of Fungal Enzyme

Abstract THE metabolizable energy (M.E.) of ground barley for poultry has been determined by several investigators (Olsson, 1950; Halnan, 1951; Anderson, 1955 Carpenter and Clegg, 1956; Hill et al., 1956, 1960; Potter and Matterson, 1960). In addition, the M.E. of ground barley has been calculated from digestibility coefficients and assumed energy values for the digestible nutrients (Axelsson, 1939; Fraps and Carlyle, 1942; Titus, 1955; Hill et al., 1956). It was shown that the feeding of diets containing water-treated western barley or western barley with added fungal enzyme increased the weight gain of growing chicks over that of chicks fed a diet containing the untreated barley (Fry et al., 1957; Jensen et al., 1957; Willingham et al., 1959). More recently it was found that the M.E. of barley from the same source was increased by water treatment or by the presence of a fungal enzyme (Leong et al., 1962). The objectives of…
The Blackwell Guide to Research Methods in Bilingualism and Multilingualism edited by WEI, LI, & MELISSA MOYER

The article reviews the book "The Blackwell Guide to Research Methods in Bilingualism and Multilingualism," edited by Li Wei and Melissa Moyer.
Explanations and Teleology in Chemistry Education

It has been commonly assumed that teleological explanations are unnecessary and have no place in the physical sciences. However, there are indications that teleology is fairly common in the instructional explanations of teachers and students in chemistry classrooms. In this study we explore the role and nature of teleological explanations and the conditions that seem to warrant their use in chemistry education. We also analyse the learning implications of developing explanations of chemical phenomena within a teleological stance. Our study is based on the qualitative analysis of the instructional explanations presented in traditional chemistry textbooks used in the United States. Our results indicate that teleological explanations are in fact present in these textbooks and help provide an explanatory reason for the occurrence of chemical transformations. Their use is tightly linked to the existence of a rule, principle, or law that governs the behaviour of a chemical system, and that explicitly or implici...
An effect of range-heterogeneous clutter on adaptive Doppler filters

The practical implementation of adaptive Doppler filters requires estimates of clutter parameters to determine the adaptive weights. A method of deriving the estimate via the sample matrix inversion (SMI) algorithm using multiple data snapshots from adjacent range cells is presented. For homogeneous clutter environments, the results of this technique asymptotically approach the optimum (a priori known covariance matrix) as the number of snapshots approaches infinity; this asymptotic behavior does not occur for heterogeneous clutter environments. An equation for the decrease in improvement factor is derived. To promote understanding, the simplified special case of narrowband clutter is considered in detail. In almost all cases, the loss is small. >
Sucrose Analgesia for Minor Procedures in Newborn Infants

OBJECTIVE:T o evaluate the role of intraoral sucrose and other sweet-tasting solutions for the management of pain associated with minor procedures in newborns.DATA SOURCES:A search of MEDLINE articles from 1966 to August 1999 and an extensive review of journals was conducted. MeSH headings included analgesia, sucrose, and neonate.DATA SYNTHESIS:Newborn infants regularly undergo minor invasive procedures for which analgesics are not routinely used. Intraoral sucrose and other sweet-tasting solutions appear to diminish surrogate biomarkers of pain response as evidenced by a reduction in crying time, smaller increases in heart rate, and lower pain scale ratings.CONCLUSIONS:These studies appear to suggest that sucrose solution 0.5 g provides effective analgesia with no reported adverse effects.
Tracking student progress in a game-like learning environment with a Monte Carlo Bayesian knowledge tracing model

The Bayesian Knowledge Tracing (BKT) model is a popular model used for tracking student progress in learning systems such as an intelligent tutoring system. However, the model is not free of problems. Well-recognized problems include the identifiability problem and the empirical degeneracy problem. Unfortunately, these problems are still poorly understood and how they should be dealt with in practice is unclear. Here, we analyze the mathematical structure of the BKT model, identify a source of the difficulty, and construct a simple Monte Carlo BKT model to analyze the problem in real data. Using the student activity data obtained from the ramp task module at the Concord Consortium, we find that the Monte Carlo BKT analysis is capable of detecting the identifiability problem and the empirical degeneracy problem, and, more generally, gives an excellent summary of the student learning data. In particular, the student activity monitoring parameter M emerges as the central parameter.
Amplification and Expression of the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Gene in Human Glioma Xenografts

Xenografts from eight malignant human gliomas were established in athymic mice and were used to study amplification and expression of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene. Tissue identity between biopsy and xenografts was confirmed by karyotypic profiles, which showed that each glioma xenograft retained structural abnormalities, including double minute chromosomes, present in the parent glioma. EGFR gene amplification was found in six of the eight glioma biopsies and their corresponding xenografts. Expression of the EGFR gene was measured by Scatchard analysis, affinity reactions, immunoprecipitations, Western immunoblots, and immunocytochemistry; significant expression of the EGFR gene was only detectable in xenografts with EGFR gene amplification. Moreover, five of the six xenografts with EGFR gene amplification demonstrated structural alterations of the EGFR gene, which was associated with low-molecular-weight EGFR proteins. These xenografts represent an excellent tissue source and in vivo model system for characterizing the epidermal growth factor receptor in malignant human gliomas.
Heart Failure Management Caregiver Versus Care Plan

Over the last 2 decades, improved understanding of the pathophysiology of heart failure has led to significant progress in the treatment of this syndrome. Nevertheless, heart failure remains a clinical problem of truly epidemic proportions, affecting nearly 5 million people in the United States.1,2 Moreover, the lifetime risk of developing heart failure may be as high as 20%, with an annual incidence of new cases of well over a half million per year.1–3 Beyond this human crisis, heart failure also presents a tremendous economic challenge as a result of the enormous costs of caring for this patient population.4 Unfortunately, this clinical and economic burden predictably will continue to increase as further therapeutic advances are made in the treatment of ischemic heart disease, creating an older surviving population at risk for developing heart failure. Although there has been some improvement in heart failure survival over the years, overall mortality remains high at >30% despite the introduction of ACE inhibitor and β-blocker therapies,2,5 which have been proven in landmark trials to markedly improve survival.6,7 This lack of striking improvement in survival rates outside of clinical trials may be a result of the well-documented obstacles faced in effecting appropriate changes in physician behavior,8 which in turn lead to significant under-use of proven medications and therapies.9 It is also possible that the ever-increasing complexity and multitude of recommended treatments is simply daunting and difficult to understand, causing these therapies not to be used, especially by practitioners who lack the time or the expertise to pursue the kind of “micromanagement” required with complex regimens. Numerous studies have attempted to address this issue by comparing the management provided by generalists and by cardiologists. In a small retrospective study of 403 patients, Ansari et al10 found that cardiologist care …
Toward standards in acoustic analysis of voice

Summary A brief summary of the purpose of standardization is presented. This is followed by a few suggestions about methods and procedures in acoustic voice analysis that could benefit from consensus, if not fully developed standards. In particular, better agreement on test utterances, techniques for recording voices, and methods of extracting fundamental frequency is called for. Some new databases and calibration materials are in need of development, with better portability and shareability in mind.
The Royal Forests of Medieval England

The distinction between the forest and the trees is fundamental to this study, for the royal forest of medieval England was a complex institution with legal, political, economic, and social significance. To protect the "beasts of the forest" and their habitat, initially for the king's hunting and later for economic exploitation, an elaborate organization of officials and courts administered a system of "forest law" that was unique to medieval England. The subject can first be studied in detail in the records and chronicles of the Angevin kings, which reflect the restless activity of Henry II and his growing corps of officials that led to the expansion of the area designated as royal forest. At its height in the thirteenth century, an estimated one-fourth of the land area of England and its riches came under the special jurisdiction of forest law. Barons whose holdings lay within the royal forest were restricted in their use of the land, and the activity of all who lived or traveled in the forest was circumscribed. Until the institution of new taxes overshadowed the economic importance of the forest and the king divested himself of large areas of forest in 1327, the extent of the royal forest, with its special jurisdiction, was often a source of conflict between king and barons and was a major political issue in the Magna Carta crisis of 1215. This is the first general history of the royal forest system from its beginning with the Norman Conquest to its decline in the later Middle Ages. The author pays special attention to the development of forest law alongside common law, and the interrelationship between the two types of law, courts, and justices. The preservation of extensive unpublished records of the forest courts in the Public Record Office makes possible this intensive study of the legal and administrative aspects of the royal forest; chronicles and the records of the Exchequer, among other sources, shed light on the political and economic importance of the royal forests in medieval England. The author's ultimate objective is to show the influence of the royal forest upon the daily lives of contemporaries-both the barons who held land and the peasants who tilled land within the royal forests.
Reversal of acute effects of high dose morphine on lymphocyte activity by chlorisondamine.

Abstract To explore the mechanisms mediating the effects of acute morphine on the immune system, effects of ganglionic blockade with chlorisondamine on acute high dose morphine-induced alterations in blood lymphocyte proliferation, white blood cell counts, spleen lymphocyte proliferation and splenic natural killer (NK) cell cytolytic activity were examined in male Sprague–Dawley rats. Two hours after morphine (30 mg/kg, s.c.) administration, blood lymphocyte proliferation (ConA) was decreased 85%; this effect was antagonized by chlorisondamine (5 mg/kg, i.p.). Notably, however, such morphine exposure did not significantly decrease splenic lymphocyte proliferation, although depression of NK cell activity was also evident and appeared to be chlorisondamine-sensitive. Immune effects of morphine 1 h after treatment were somewhat different. In this case, blood lymphocyte proliferation decreased and plasma levels of corticosterone increased, with ED 50 values of 2.2 and 7.8 mg/kg, respectively. Splenic lymphocyte proliferation and NK activity were also significantly depressed in the 1-h exposure paradigm, but only after administration of 30 mg/kg morphine. These results indicate that chlorisondamine blocks the effects of relatively high doses of morphine on blood lymphocyte activity and indicate that blood lymphocyte proliferation is more sensitive to effects of acute morphine exposure than splenic lymphocyte proliferation, NK cell cytolytic activity and activation of the HPA axis.
Building a neuro-fuzzy model for predicting the bacteria bound and internalized by the white blood cells

In this paper, a model to reflect the immunological properties of white blood cells is created. White blood cells kill infectious bacteria. Two kinds of white blood cells — CHO-IIA and THP1 are studied. Bacteria of sizes 5μm and 0.05μm, and an amount of catalytic agent MβCD is added to the white blood cell. Experiments are conducted first by keeping the bacteria size fixed and varying the amount of MβCD to observe their effects on bacteria bound to a cell, and then bacteria internalized by a cell. Later the same experiment is repeated with a different bacteria size. The data collected is used to create a model with inbuilt rules, based on fuzzy logic. The model is trained with back propagation using neuro-fuzzy techniques, in order to improve the model. The results obtained by the model are compared with the actual observed data to compare the efficiency of the model. With training, the Root Mean Squared Error reduced from 0.4099 to 0.3705. Complete software with a Graphical User Interface is built to easily display the output of the model, from user-given input.
Health Behaviors and Utilization among Users of Complementary and Alternative Medicine for Treatment versus Health Promotion

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is a diverse array of health services (such as acupuncture, massage therapy, and chiropractic care), natural products, and self-care therapies that is used by a substantial number of Americans. Nearly 4 out of 10 U.S. adults report recently using CAM (Barnes, Bloom, and Nahin 2008) and in 2007 alone, U.S.$34 billion was spent out of pocket on CAM services and products (Nahin et al. 2009). Nationally representative studies suggest that people who use CAM in general are more likely to be middle-aged, female, affluent, and of poorer health status (Eisenberg et al. 1993, 1998; Astin 1998; Bishop and Lewith 2008), and CAM utilization is associated with a holistic and natural orientation to health (Astin 1998). Qualitative studies suggest reasons for CAM use vary, but generally it is used to complement medical care as a modality to treat illness or for general health and wellness purposes (Astin 1998; Bishop, Yardley, and Lewith 2008). This implies there may be two distinct types of CAM User: those who use it to treat an illness and those who use it to promote health. Typically studies on CAM do not distinguish those who use it to treat an illness from those who use it for health promotion. Assuming that the substantial use of CAM will continue to grow, potential impacts of these two different CAM uses could have profound public health and economic consequences. For instance, differences among CAM User types in the use of conventional health care services could either consume or liberate scarce medical resources. Furthermore, a deeper understanding of these two different types of CAM use would inform future policy decisions regarding CAM's potential involvement in national health care reform efforts. In this study, we sought to estimate the national use of CAM to treat illness versus for health promotion and examine these different CAM Users' sociodemographic characteristics, health behaviors, and use of conventional health services.
The Pharmacy-Level Asthma Medication Ratio and Population Health

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Community pharmacies may be positioned for an increased role in population health. We sought to develop a population-level measure of asthma medication fills and assess its relationship to asthma-related utilization. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective, ecological study (2010–2012). Medication data from a chain of pharmacies ( n = 27) within 1 county were used to calculate a Pharmacy-level Asthma Medication Ratio (Ph-AMR), defined as controller fills divided by controller plus rescue fills. Higher values are superior because they indicate more controller compared with rescue fills. The outcome was the asthma-related utilization rate among children in the same census tract as the pharmacy, calculated by dividing all emergency visits and hospitalizations by the number of children in that tract. Covariates, including ecological measures of poverty and access to care, were used in multivariable linear regression. RESULTS: Overall, 35 467 medications were filled. The median Ph-AMR was 0.53 (range 0.38–0.66). The median utilization rate across included census tracts was 22.4 visits per 1000 child-years (range 1.3–60.9). Tracts with Ph-AMR P = .001). For every 0.1 increase in Ph-AMR, utilization rates decreased by 9.5 ( P = .03), after adjustment for underlying poverty and access. Seasonal variation in fills was evident, but pharmacies in high-utilizing tracts filled more rescue than controller medications at nearly every point during the study period. CONCLUSIONS: Ph-AMR was independently associated with ecological childhood asthma morbidity. Pharmacies may be a community-based leverage point for improving population-level asthma control through targeted interventions.
The Relationship Assessment Scale

This paper offers new information on the reliability and validity of the Relationship Assessment Scale (RAS; Hendrick, 1988), a seven-item generic measure of relationship satisfaction. The RAS shows moderate to high correlations with measures of marital satisfaction, good test-retest reliability and consistent measurement properties across samples of ethnically diverse and age-diverse couples, as well as partners seeking marital and family therapy. The RAS is an appropriate, useful and brief measure for partnered love relationships in a wide variety of research settings.
An analysis of the development of conjunctival papillae and scleral ossicles in the eye of the scaleless mutant.

An analysis was carried out on the number and location of conjunctival papillae and scleral ossicles in chick embryos homozygous for the recessive gene scaleless. There are, on the average, three conjunctival papillae per eye in the mutant, while normal embryos have 14. The mutant is also deficient in the number of scleral ossicles having an average of one ossicle per eye. The ossicles of scaleless mutants in contrast to normals, are variable in size and irregular in shape. They are found in the same region as the papillae which remain after nine days of incubation. Histological examinations indicate a general retardation of the scaleless conjunctival papillae.
Physiological and antioxidant responses of cotton and spurred anoda (Anoda cristata) under nitrogen deficiency

Abstract Spurred anoda is a major competitor with cotton in the southern United States. Physiological and antioxidant responses of two species of cotton (Gossypium barbadense L. cv. ‘Pima S-7’ and Gossypium hirsutum L., Delta and Pine Land Company cv. ‘Delta Pine 5415’) and two accessions of spurred anoda [New Mexico (NM) and Mississippi (MS)] were investigated under nitrogen (N) -sufficient and -deficient conditions in the greenhouse. Pima S-7 had the highest leaf N content of all the plants regardless of treatment. Biomass decreased in all species when N was withheld, with Pima S-7 exhibiting the least reduction and MS the greatest. Plant height decreased in cotton but not spurred anoda under N stress. Height:node ratio increased 9% in MS, but decreased 8% in DP 5415 when they were deprived of N. Withholding N reduced photosynthesis 45% regardless of species. Comparable decreases were found in stomatal conductance and transpiration, suggesting strong stomatal regulation of gas exchange under N stress. T...
The Evolution of Healthcare and Corporate Finance

I give a brief summary of the institutional details of the U.S. healthcare sector with a special emphasis on healthcare finance. In addition to its large size, U.S. healthcare has four unique features that can be used to help answer corporate finance questions: segmented markets, variation in corporate type, extensive data requirements and recent consolidation. I explain how changes over the last 100 years have led to each of these features. Next, I delve deeper into bargaining between insurance companies and hospitals, Medicare pricing, and hospital capital structure decisions during 2008-2012. Finally, I conclude with a brief discussion on how the Affordable Care Act has contributed to these factors.
Second natural history study of congenital heart defects. Pulmonary stenosis: echocardiography.

BACKGROUND Recent advances in the field of echocardiography have made it possible to obtain a complete morphological and hemodynamic assessment of patients with aortic stenosis. Therefore, comprehensive two-dimensional and Doppler examinations were performed on patients with aortic stenosis returning for the Second Natural History Study of Congenital Heart Defects (NHS-2). METHODS AND RESULTS Two hundred thirty-two patients with aortic stenosis underwent comprehensive two-dimensional and Doppler examinations. Of these, 96 were in the medically treated group, 49 had undergone aortic valve replacement, and 87 had had aortic valvotomy. The valve replacement group had a significantly smaller left ventricular diastolic cavity than did the medically treated group; both had smaller dimensions than the valvotomy group. There was no significant difference in left ventricular wall thickness or fractional shortening among the three groups. The valvotomy group had a significantly higher mean aortic valve gradient than did either the medically treated group or the valve replacement group. The degree of aortic regurgitation was more severe in the valvotomy group than in the other two groups. For all patients, there was a direct relation between the aortic valve gradient and the mean wall thickness and an inverse relation between the aortic valve mean gradient and fractional shortening. The only echocardiographic parameter that correlated with the presence or absence of symptomatology was the fractional shortening. CONCLUSIONS These observations provide an objective measurement for assessing the status of the aortic valve and left ventricular response in patients with aortic stenosis returning for NHS-2. Limitations of echocardiography in this study are discussed.
Kumada–Grignard-type biaryl couplings on water

Well-established, traditional Kumada cross-couplings involve preformed Grignard reagents in dry ethereal solvent that typically react, e.g., with aryl halides via Pd catalysis to afford products of net substitution. Therefore, in the work described, which appears to be counterintuitive, exposure of these same aromatic halides to catalytic amounts of Pd(II) and excess magnesium metal in pure water leads to symmetrical/unsymmetrical biaryls, indicative of a net Kumada-like biaryl coupling. Evidence is presented suggesting that Grignard reagents, formed in situ in water, may be involved.
p63/p73 expression mediates cisplatin sensitivity in a subset of triple-negative primary breast cancer: Implications for a new clinical trial

10522 Background: Triple-negative breast cancer (ER-, PgR- and HER2-negative) has a poor prognosis relative to other subtypes, even with the best available chemotherapy. We recently reported that i...
Searching for Market Efficiency

This Comment is a response to Professor Donald Langevoort’s Article, Judgment Day for Fraud-on-the-Market: Reflections on Amgen and the Second Coming of Halliburton, and Professor Geoffrey Miller’s Article, The Problem of Reliance in Securities Fraud Class Actions, both of which offer reactions to, and interpretations of, the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Halliburton Co. v. Erica P. John Fund, Inc., 134 S. Ct. 2398 (2014).As their analyses highlight, the fundamental difficulty of the fraud-on-the-market doctrine is its fuzziness around the edges — there are few guideposts for how broadly or narrowly it should apply. Until now, courts have dealt with this fuzziness by adopting an extremely narrow definition of market efficiency. Halliburton, however, appears to alter the balance by broadening the concept of market efficiency, while simultaneously permitting district courts to police the application of the fraud-on-the-market doctrine on a case-by-case basis. It remains to be seen how much Halliburton will change the legal landscape, but what is certainly true is that district courts will continue to search for ways to cabin the doctrine’s potential scope.
Small molecule inhibition of the Na(+)/H(+) exchange regulatory factor 1 and parathyroid hormone 1 receptor interaction.

We have identified a series of small molecules that bind to the canonical peptide binding groove of the PDZ1 domain of NHERF1 and effectively compete with the association of the C-terminus of the parathyroid hormone 1 receptor (PTH1R). Employing nuclear magnetic resonance and molecular modeling, we characterize the mode of binding that involves the GYGF loop important for the association of the C-terminus of PTH1R. We demonstrate that the common core of the small molecules binds to the PDZ1 domain of NHERF1 and displaces a 15N-labeled peptide corresponding to the C-terminus of PTH1R. The small size (molecular weight of 192) of this core scaffold makes it an excellent candidate for further elaboration in the development of an inhibitor for this important protein–protein interaction.
Donor-Site Morbidity Following Free Tissue Harvest from the Thigh: A Systematic Review and Pooled Analysis of Complications.

Background Donor-site morbidity significantly influences patient satisfaction and quality of life following reconstructive surgery. The relevant donor-site morbidities associated with more commonly utilized thigh-based flaps are reviewed. Methods A systematic search of the MEDLINE and Cochrane databases from 1994 to 2014 was conducted to identify all reports of “anterolateral thigh (ALT),” “vastus lateralis (VL),” “anteromedial thigh (AMT),” “transverse upper gracilis (TUG),” tensor fascia latae (TFL),” “gracilis,” and “rectus femoris (RF),” flaps. Only studies that investigated donor-site outcomes related to pain, paresthesia, wound dehiscence, infection, hematoma, seroma, contour deformity, and/or objective functional performance were included. Case series or anecdotal reports with less than five flaps, non-English, and animal studies were excluded. Results A total of 116 articles representing 4,554 flaps were reviewed, including 2,922 ALT/VL, 148 AMT, 436 TUG, 278 TFL, 527 gracilis, and 243 RF flaps. The most frequently cited donor-site complication was paresthesia (range: 0–36.4%), followed by wound dehiscence (range: 0.9–8.3%), contour deformity (range: 0–5.2%), pain (range: 0–6.3%), and seroma (range: 0.4–2.0%). Despite mixed results regarding functional performance, pooled-analysis of dynamometric studies demonstrated a significant reduction in strength only after RF flap harvest (21%). Conclusions Donor-site morbidity for thigh-flaps is minimal and appears to be well-tolerated by the majority of patients. Nevertheless, the appropriate flap selection is highly individualized, and patients must be informed of potential complications and morbidities specific to each flap. We have established the most current review of donor-site morbidity for thigh-based flaps to aid the surgeon in this important discussion.
Analysis of Economics of the Means Choice to Manage Pollution and Implementation to our Country

On the base of analyzing and Comparing to function mechanism of Pigouvian-tax,Pollute-right trading and Controlling, I will Carry on Static analysis and Comparative static analysis,confirm environmental protection terms and range that means implemented.I will Set up and optimize the model of choosing and choose the concrete conditions of our country on the basis of model.
From the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health, and the Rockefeller University. Emerging viruses: the evolution of viruses and viral diseases.

Challenged by the sudden appearance of AIDS as a major public health crisis, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), together with The Rockefeller University, jointly sponsored the conference "Emerging Viruses: The Evolution of Viruses and Viral Diseases" held 1-3 May 1989 in Washington, DC. It was convened to consider the mechanisms of viral emergence [1] and possible strategies for anticipating, detecting, and preventing the emergence of new viral diseases in the future. To provide a broad perspective, participants comprised virologists, infectious disease specialists, theoretical biologists, historians, epidemiologists, ecologists, and molecular biologists (see below for program and participants).
Malware and Machine Learning

Malware analysts use Machine Learning to aid in the fight against the unstemmed tide of new malware encountered on a daily, even hourly, basis. The marriage of these two fields (malware and machine learning) is a match made in heaven: malware contains inherent patterns and similarities due to code and code pattern reuse by malware authors; machine learning operates by discovering inherent patterns and similarities. In this chapter, we seek to provide an overhead, guiding view of machine learning and how it is being applied in malware analysis. We do not attempt to provide a tutorial or comprehensive introduction to either malware or machine learning, but rather the major issues and intuitions of both fields along with an elucidation of the malware analysis problems machine learning is best equipped to solve.
Angular and flexural limb deformities in foals and yearlings. Part 2: Flexural limb deformities

AbstractFoals can be born with limb deformities or they can be acquired. In this, the second of this series of articles, flexural limb deformities and their treatment are discussed.
"The Effects of Proximal Withdrawal State on Attitudes, Job Search, Intent to Quit and Turnover"

In this paper, we offer the first major test of the underlying theoretical propositions of Proximal Withdrawal States Theory (PWST: Hom, Mitchell, Lee, & Griffeth, 2012). And more importantly, we d...
Genetic Manipulation of Embryonic Stem Cells

Publisher Summary Two remarkable discoveries in the early 1980s, embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and mammalian homologous recombination, enabled one of the greatest advances in biomedical research in the last 50 years. In 2001, these advances were rewarded by the presentation of the Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research to Mario Capecchi, Martin Evans, and Oliver Smithies for “the development of a powerful technology for manipulating the mouse genome with exquisite precision, which allows the creation of animal models of human disease.” It would be very useful to apply the sophisticated methods developed for mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) to genetically manipulate hESCs. However, it has not been easy to translate the methods from mouse to human, and many challenges lie ahead. In this chapter, the genetic tools that have been successfully used to modify hESCs has been introduced and theefforts to genetically modify hESCs are being reviewed. The goal of this chapter is to give a general overview to stimulate thought and discussion on how to best adapt relevant hESC technology to the study and use of hESCs.
Radio continuum surveys: lessons learned

While making and using radio continuum surveys, radio astronomers have had many learning experiences, as in “Oh, no! Not another learning experience!” They include problems with confusion from multiple sources in each beam area, insensitivity to low-brightness sources, correcting source counts for partially resolved or missing sources, and ignoring systematic errors, particularly the consequences of limited dynamic range. The principal lessons that I have learned from these experiences are: (1) The universe is not a vacuum. The design of surveys (and survey telescopes) should take into account known source properties, not just purely instrumental parameters such as “survey speed.” (2) The radiometer equation and Gaussian statistics are insensitive to the most insidious problems that plague radio continuum surveys. More sophisticated mathematical analyses are needed to optimize telescope and survey design. (3) Never forget the difference between flux density (Jy) and peak flux density (Jy beam−1 or K), which is a surface brightness. Ideally a survey is complete to some flux density (a source property), but all survey images are sensitivity limited by surface brightness (Jy beam−1), which depends on the instrumental beam solid angle. (4) Resolution corrections to counts of faint sources are so large and poorly understood that they limit the usefulness of sub-mJy surveys. These lessons are applied to design a possible Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) “wedding cake” survey that could provide a strong extinction-free constraint on the cosmological evolution of the star formation rate over the redshift range 0≤ z . 3 in which most stars were formed.
Space Charge Evolution in XLPE with Long-term Aging under DC Voltage - the Effect of Temperature and Polarity Reversals

DC field long-term breakdown characteristics of commercially available cable-grade cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) and tree retardant XLPE (TR-XLPE) were investigated. At room temperature, under a unipolar field of 50 kV/mm, more than 90% of XLPE specimens survived 52, 000 h (~6 yrs) of aging, whereas all TR-XLPE specimens broke down within less than 1, 200 h. Reversing the polarity increased the life-time of TR-XLPE by more than 20 times but reduced significantly the life-time of the XLPE specimens. At 75 degC and with polarity reversals both materials survived almost 21, 000 h without any breakdown. These results are discussed in terms of the space charge accumulation and retention properties of the two materials with emphasis on the role of additives in determining insulation properties under DC fields.
Towards Long-View Computing Load Balancing in Cluster Storage Systems

In large-scale computing clusters, when the server storing a task's requested data does not have sufficient computing capacity for the task, current job schedulers either schedule the task to the closest server and transmit to it the requested data, or let the task wait until the server has sufficient computing capacity. The former solution generates network load while the latter solution increases task delay. To handle this problem, load balancing methods are needed to reduce the number of overloaded servers due to computing workloads. However, current load balancing methods do not aim to balance the computing load for the long term. Through trace analysis, we demonstrate the diversity of computing workloads of different tasks and the necessity of balancing the computing workloads among servers. Then, we propose a cost-efficient Computing load Aware and Long-View load balancing approach ( CALV ). CALV is novel in that it achieves long-term computing load balance by migrating out an overloaded server data blocks contributing more computing workloads when the server is more overloaded and contribute less computing workloads when the server is more underloaded at different epochs during a time period. Based upon the task schedules, we further propose a task reassignment algorithm that reassigns tasks from an overloaded server to other data servers of the tasks to make it non-overloaded before CALV is conducted. The above methods are for the tasks whose submission times and execution latencies can be predicted. To handle unexpected tasks or insufficiently accurate predictions, we propose a dynamic load balancing method, in which an overloaded server dynamically redirects tasks to other data servers of the tasks, or replicates the tasks’ requested data to other servers and redirects the tasks to those servers in order to become non-overloaded. Finally, we propose a proximity-aware tree based distributed load balancing method to reduce the reallocation cost and improve the scalability of CALV . Trace-driven experiments in simulation and a real computing cluster show that CALV outperforms other methods in terms of balancing the computing workloads and cost efficiency.
Response of confection sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) grown in a semi-arid environment to planting date and early termination of irrigation

Adjustments on planting date and on the time to terminate irrigation may reduce agricultural water use. However, such management practices in regions with extreme weather conditions have the potential to negatively affect yield. A 3-year (2012–2014) study was conducted on a clay-loam soil in a cool, semi-arid environment to (i) determine the response of confection sunflower to planting date and irrigation termination timing and (ii) identify the relative importance of yield components in irrigated confection sunflower across planting dates. Early May planting had considerable negative effects on all studied variables, except on the percentage of large seeds. The highest yield of total and large seeds was obtained from the late May plantings, averaging 3,777 and 3,379 kg/ha, respectively. None of the irrigation strategies affected the measured variables. However, the interaction between planting date and termination of irrigation significantly affected the 1,000-seed weight. Our study revealed the last week of May as suitable planting period for confection sunflower in the semi-arid north-western region of Wyoming, USA, and that irrigation on heavy soils may be terminated as early as at R5.5 stage without a significant yield reduction. The path-coefficient analysis indicated head diameter and the number of seeds per head as important traits that significantly influence the yield of confection sunflower across planting dates.
Editorial: Information integrity in healthcare delivery

The healthcare industry faces constant and relentless pressures to lower costs while maintaining and increasing the quality of service. These central themes have led to the application of an assortment of methodologies designed to explore and utilise the information and knowledge that exist in healthcare and hospital information systems. In addition, the industry also faces challenges that arise from medical errors, the continuing lack of integration of medical databases, slow adoption of advances in information technology and knowledge management, and the demands and implications of HIPPA on the management of health information...
An Application of Convolutional Neural Networks to Aircraft Ejection Seat Testing

The testing of aircraft ejection seats has been an important aspect of testing in the aerospace industry for several decades. Identification and tracking of aircraft ejection seat systems, during field testing, has practical benefits in post-test analysis and real-time tracking applications. This paper proposes a methodology to identify and locate ejection seat systems in a video stream as they are propelled from a dynamic aircraft test bed. The field testing environment is cluttered with natural and man-made artifacts that effect the background appearance and make the video stream data visually noisy. The identification problem involves the extraction of critical information from the video stream and feeding it into a deep learning convolutional neural network that determines the location of the ejection system within the field of view. The results achieved, using the convolutional neural network to identify features of the ejection seat system, were promising. In particular, the convolutional neural network demonstrated an ability to identify objects that were in a different spatial orientation (rotation) than were used to train the network.
Metabolic Spinal Disorders in the Young Athlete

The most important clinical consequences of metabolic spinal diseases in children and adolescents include bone deformations, decreased linear growth, and non-traumatic fractures leading to bone pain and disability. The abnormal bone morphology, mineralization, or microarchitecture of vertebrae can lead to poor mechanical properties and bone failure under loads experienced during athletics. In this chapter, we review basic bone physiology and growth, and discuss various metabolic bone diseases in children. These include primary and secondary osteoporosis, hormonal abnormalities, nutritional deficiencies, and other genetic bone diseases. When a patient presents with spinal pain, a detailed history and physical exam are an essential component of the workup to lead to a correct diagnosis. The presenting visit is also an excellent time to screen for potential risk factors for overall poor skeletal health; thus, reviewing physical activity, nutritional requirements, and hormonal balance is important.
Balance Performance Tuning of Rider-Bikebot Interactions

Human balance skills serve as a central role in many human-machine or human-robot interactions. In this paper, we present a human balance tuning scheme in the rider-bikebot interactions. The rider-bikebot model is first presented to capture the dynamic interactions among the rider movements, steering control, and bikebot balancing. We then present a control design to tune the stiffness and damping effects of the rider-bikebot interactions. The control is designed to guarantee the stability of the rider-bikebot interactions. Experimental results are presented to compare the control performance with that under only human control and the autonomous steering control to illustrate the balancing skill improvements.