cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Bioactivity of vitronectin adsorbed on nanophase alumina promotes osteoblast adhesion

The role of the conformation and bioactivity of adsorbed vitronectin in enhancing osteoblast (the bone-forming cells) adhesion on nanophase (that is, grain sizes less than 100 nm) alumina was investigated in the present in vitro study. Results obtained from surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) provided the first evidence of increased unfolding of vitronectin adsorbed on nanophase alumina. This conclusion was further supported by dose-dependent inhibition of cell adhesion on nanophase alumina pretreated with vitronectin following preincubation of osteoblasts with either Arginine-Glycine-Aspartic Acid-Serine (RGDS) or Lysine-Arginine-Serine-Arginine (KRSR) to block respective cell-membrane receptors. These events, namely enhanced unfolding of vitronectin that leads to exposure of bioactive epitopes (such as RGDS) in adsorbed vitronectin may explain the observed increased osteoblast adhesion on nanophase alumina.
Thermal stress analysis of the planar SOFC bonded compliant seal design

A new materials joining approach known as the bonded compliant seal (BCS) has recently been developed for hermetically sealing the cell and window frame components in planar solid oxide fuel cell stacks. At the heart of the BCS is a thin deformable metal foil that is designed to decouple the effects of differential thermal expansion between the two components and thereby mitigate the generation of potentially destructive thermal stresses in the stack. While preliminary viability of the BCS design has been demonstrated in small-scale rotationally symmetric test specimens, issues concerning the scale-up of this seal to a size and shape that is prototypic of full-size stacks are addressed here. Finite element analysis was undertaken to investigate the magnitudes of thermally induced stress, strain, and part deflection in the cell, seal, and window frame components under uniform heating and cooling conditions. From the point of stress mitigation, particularly in the brittle ceramic cell, the initial BCS design appears to function quite well by accommodating the mismatch thermal strains as elastic and plastic strain within the sealing foil. However, the model predicts that some bowing will take place within the cell. While the amount of bowing is likely manageable through proper design of the adjacent interconnects, it is believed that a substantial portion of the predicted bow can be eliminated via minor adjustments to the various seal parameters.
Addendum to: on Novikov's conjecture for cocompact subgroups of a lie group

Let Γ be a discrete cocompact torsion-free subgroup of a Lie group G (with finitely many connected components) and K be a maximal subgroup of G. If N is a closed manifold homotopically equivalent to the double coset space M=K\GΓ, then N×R3 and M×R3 are homeomorphic. Earlier, the authors had proved this under the extra assumption that G is linear and analytic.
Prospective Intervention of a Novel Levothyroxine Dosing Protocol Based on Body Mass Index after Thyroidectomy.

Background Weight-based postoperative levothyroxine (LT4) dosing often fails to appropriately dose overweight and underweight patients. Previously, we created an LT4-dosing algorithm based on BMI. We hypothesize that more patients will achieve euthyroidism at their postoperative visit with the use of the protocol. Study Design A prospective evaluation was performed of our previously published BMI-based LT4 dosing. All adults who underwent thyroidectomy for benign disease between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2013 were included; the new protocol was implemented in October 2012. Serum TSH was measured for all patients 6 to 8 weeks postoperatively, and adjustments were based on TSH. Results Three hundred and thirty patients were included, with 54% undergoing thyroidectomy after institution of the protocol. The groups were well matched. Before protocol implementation, LT4 was dosed solely by weight and 25% of patients were euthyroid at initial follow-up. After the protocol, 39% of patients were euthyroid (p = 0.01). The percentage of patients who were given too high a dose of LT4 remained the same (46% vs 42%), and there was a significant reduction in the number of patients who were given too little (29% vs 19%; p = 0.05). The effect was most profound in patients with low and normal BMI, and there were slight differences between sexes. Conclusions Although correct initial dosing of LT4 remains challenging, this dosing protocol that we developed and implemented has improved patient care by increasing the number of patients who achieve euthyroidism at the first postoperative visit. We have made a change to our original protocol to incorporate sex differences into the calculation.
A New Measure of Dispersion

The measures of dispersion in common use are: (1) the standard deviation; (2) average deviation; (3) quartile deviation; and (4) the range. It is generally admitted that the merit of the range as a meas? ure of dispersion lies in its simplicity of determination and interpre? tation. To calculate its probable error has not been attempted; but were this done it would have little significance, for the range itself is not a constant function of a distribution, since, in general, it increases with an increase in population. The range is therefore unsatisfactory as a measure of dispersion, because it undoubtedly has a large probable error, and also because its significance varies as populations of different sizes are being considered. The probable errors of the other three measures are given in the sec? ond column of the accompanying table. The values in columns 2 and 3 must be multiplied by the standard deviation of the distribution, and the values in columns 2_and 4 must be divided by the square root of the number of cases (Vn) before they will serve in any particular prob? lem. For purposes of comparison of different measures, these factors are here omitted.
Cromolyn Sodium in the Treatment of Asthma Associated with Aspirin Hypersensitivity and Nasal Polyps

The control of asthma by therapy with cromolyn sodium was studied in 28 adults with late-onset asthma associated with hypersensitivity to aspirin and nasal polyps. Four-week periods of treatment with the drug or a placebo were compared in a double-blind crossover study. A subsequent eight-week open trial in 20 patients was compared to their period of receiving placebo. There was slight but significant improvement in the forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV 1 ; P 1 (P
Parameterization of Tropical Cirrus Ice Crystal Size Distributions and Implications for Radiative Transfer: Results from CEPEX

Average ice crystal size distributions are parameterized as functions of temperature and ice water content (IWC), based on observations in cirrus produced as outflows of deep convection made during the Central Equatorial Pacific Experiment (CEPEX), as the sum of a first-order gamma function, describing ice crystals with melted equivalent diameters (Dm) less than 100 mm, and a lognormal function, describing larger ice crystals. The fit parameters are chosen to minimize the chi-squared function describing the difference between observed and parameterized distribution functions. The parameterization is mass conserving, accurately represents small ice crystals, and is easily integrable. The parameterization gives accurate estimates of mass, area, and number contained in different size ranges. The radiative properties estimated from midlatitude parameterizations are compared with those estimated from this parameterization using anomalous diffraction theory. As opposed to some previous studies, small crystals do not dominate the mass and radiative properties of cirrus. Comparison with midlatitude observations shows that size distribution shape can vary substantially depending on where, when, and how the cirrus is measured and on how it forms.
Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of everyday memory lapses in older adults

Everyday memory lapses experienced by older adults (OAs) were examined using a daily-diary checklist and retrospective questionnaire. In Experiment 1, 138 younger and 138 OAs indicated the frequency of forgetting of 16 memory lapses, and whether each occurred daily during the course of a week. OAs reported more memory lapses on the questionnaire, but not the daily diary. OAs reported more frequently forgetting names and words, while younger adults had more difficulty with appointments and personal dates. Fewer memory lapses on the daily diary were related to better performance on a laboratory-memory measure for OAs. In Experiment 2, 62 OAs returned for a five-year follow-up and endorsed experiencing more memory lapses on the daily diary compared to baseline, specifically forgetting more names and words, but not the retrospective questionnaire. Daily checklist memory lapses again correlated with the laboratory-memory measure. A daily checklist may be a viable way to assess everyday memory lapses.
Techniques for Determining Average Density and Related Parameters in Two-Phase Cryogenic Flow Systems

Two-phase flow is difficult to avoid in cryogenic systems. Each time such systems are cooled to operating temperatures, two-phase flow is encountered unless the system pressure is maintained well above the critical pressure. In addition, many applications involve the low-pressure vaporization of cryogenic liquids in heat exchangers which must operate continuously in the two-phase region. In order to design such systems, a knowledge of the complicated distributions of gas and liquid must be known so that hydrodynamic and heat transfer analyses can be made. Both gross and detailed structure measurements are of interest. These include the average density, fluid quality (mass of vapor/total mass of fluid), void fraction (volume occupied by the gas/total volume), void distribution, flow regimes, and local velocities. In this paper various techniques for investigating these items will be discussed.
The Effects of Chilling and Non-Chilling on Further Processed Fowl

Abstract Fowl meat which was cooked immediately after evisceration (without chilling) had significantly higher yields (based on eviscerated and chilled weights) than conventionally chilled carcasses. Deboned yields (based on eviscerated weights) of Leghorn type hens that had been cooked at 100° C. for 3 hours averaged 27.5% for chilled carcasses and 29% for non-chilled carcasses. Mean shear values of breast meat for non-chilled birds were significantly higher than chilled fowl (10.8 kg./g. vs. 9.3 kg./g.). There were no significant differences between chilled and non-chilled fowl meat in moisture content after cooking and deboning.
Some mechanisms affecting sea-surface temperature anomaly formation in the North Pacific

Among the various terms entering the heat budget of an oceanic volume close to the ocean surface and affecting sea-surface temperature (SST) anomalies, advection in the large current systems appears to be of importance in the West Pacific. Long-term trends in this advection appear to be coupled, to a certain extent, to forcing by zonal wind stress in the North Pacific trade-wind region. Variability of SST on time scales of the order of months off the coast of Japan seems to be governed, at least in part, by current meanders, and in the open ocean by winds-stress operated mechanisms.
AB0893 Presence of Antibodies to Cyclic Citrullinated Peptides in Juvenile-Onset Systemic Lupus Erythematosu

Objectives To determine the prevalence of antibodies to cyclic citrullinated peptides (anti-CCP) in patients with juvenile-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (JSLE) and its potential clinical significance. Methods Anti-CCP was measured in sera from patients with JSLE (n=47), juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA, n=54) and the sera from age-matched healthy children (n-40) using the third generation of anti-CCP ELISA commercial kit. The association of anti-CCP with other laboratory parameters and clinical features, especially arthritic symptoms in JSLE was also analyzed. T-test, Mann-Whitney U test, Chi-square and Fisher9s exact test were used for statistical analysis. Results Out of the 47 JSLE patients, 6 (13%) were anti-CCP positive,which was significantly higher than that of the healthy controls (13% vs 0, P 0.05). As one of the initial symptoms, arthritis was ohserved in 25 of 47 JSLE patients and no one had developed deforming athropathy. There was no statistical difference in anti-CCP positivity between JSLE patients with and without articular involvement (16% vs 9%, P>0.05). Anti-CCP was not detected in any of the 3 patients with JSLE who had experienced ioint pain and limited activity during 3 years foIlow-up. Conclusions Anti-CCP could be detected in patients with JSLE.It is noteworthy when differentiate from juvenile idiopathic arthritis, but the presence of anti-CCP does not relate with the occurrence of arthritis at presentation and persistence of arthritis in JSLE. Disclosure of Interest None declared DOI 10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-eular.5615
A Regression Model for Market Segmentation Studies

A model is developed for incorporating the long-standing marketing research effort of explaining variation in observed consumption behavior into the more recent notion that such behavior has an inh...
Asians demonstrate reduced sensitivity to unpredictable threat: a preliminary startle investigation using genetic ancestry in a multiethnic sample.

Research has indicated that individuals of Asian descent, relative to other racial groups, demonstrate reduced emotional responding and lower prevalence rates of several anxiety disorders. It is unclear though whether these group differences extend to biomarkers of anxiety disorders and whether genetic differences play a role. The present study compared self-identified Caucasians, Latinos, and Asians (total N = 174) on startle response during a baseline period and while anticipating unpredictable threat–a putative biomarker for certain anxiety disorders–as well as predictable threat. In addition, the association between genetic ancestry and startle response was examined within each racial group to determine potential genetic influences on responding. For the baseline period, Asian participants exhibited a smaller startle response relative to Caucasian and Latino participants, who did not differ. Within each racial group, genetic ancestry was associated with baseline startle. Furthermore, genetic ancestry mediated racial group differences in baseline startle. For the threat conditions, a Race × Condition interaction indicated that Asian participants exhibited reduced startle potentiation to unpredictable, but not predicable, threat relative to Caucasian and Latino participants, who did not differ. However, genetic ancestry was not associated with threat-potentiated startle in any racial group. The present study adds to the growing literature on racial differences in emotional responding and provides preliminary evidence suggesting that genetic ancestry may play an important role. Moreover, reduced sensitivity to unpredictable threat may reflect a mechanism for why individuals of Asian descent are at less risk for particular anxiety disorders relative to other racial groups.
Tax and the Philosopher's Stone

In the Myth of Ownership: Taxes and Justice (Oxford 2002), Liam Murphy and Thomas Nagel discuss the relationship between tax policy and contemporary political philosophy. Murphy and Nagel essentially argue for the priority of political philosophy over tax policy. For them, there is little room for tax policy per se; they argue that tax policy ought to serve the ends of a philosophical conception of justice. They maintain that questions of fairness are, in and of themselves, irrelevant to tax policy, which should be understood as a slave to philosophical conceptions of justice. While we embrace Murphy and Nagel's central claim that it makes little sense to engage arguments over tax policy without an antecedently held conception of distributive justice and that questions of tax policy must be consistent with that conception, we argue that some aspects of their argument are ultimately too strong. Traditional metrics of tax policy analysis such as the benefit principle and the equal sacrifice principle are neither completely irrelevant to tax policy, nor inconsistent with all versions of political liberalism. We distinguish between "pre-institutional" and "post-institutional" conceptions of liberalism, and between "maximizing" and "non-maximizing" conceptions of distributive justice. We argue that while Murphy and Nagel's argument is powerful in the context of maximizing, post-institutional conceptions, it is less persuasive in the context of pre-institutional versions of liberalism and, perhaps, in the context of non-maximizing versions of post-institutional liberalism. Finally, we conclude by arguing that the central claims of Murphy and Nagel's argument are, to some extent, in tension with what they take to be their view's practical applications.
Structural Uncertainty of Markov Models for Advanced Breast Cancer: A Simulation Study of Lapatinib

Objective. To examine the impact of structural uncertainty of Markov models in modeling cost-effectiveness for the treatment of advanced breast cancer (ABC). Methods. Four common Markov models for ABC were identified and examined. Markov models 1 and 2 have 4 health states (stable-disease, responding-to-therapy, disease-progressing, and death), and Markov models 3 and 4 only have 3 health states (stable-disease, disease-progressing, and death). In models 1 and 3, the possibility of death can occur in any health state, while in models 2 and 4, the chance of dying can only occur in the disease-progressing health state. A simulation was conducted to examine the impact of using different model structures on cost-effectiveness results in the context of a combination therapy of lapatinib and capecitabine for the treatment of HER2-positive ABC. Model averaging with an assumption of equal weights in all 4 models was used to account for structural uncertainty. Results. Markov model 3 yielded the lowest incremental...
Angelina Grimké Weld

In her last public speech Angelina Grimke proceeded despite the siege of the building by an anti-abolitionist mob. This was her only speech to be transcribed — in a shorthand process that was called phonographic. Her oratory shows that she had become adept at improvisation. Bracketed comments about the mob’s assault were added by the transcriber.
Missing the trees for the forest? Bottom-up policy implementation and adaptive management in the US natural resource bureaucracy

For decades, natural resource agencies in the United States have attempted to restore ecosystems using adaptive management, a process that emphasizes experimental learning to reduce uncertainty. Most studies show that it rarely occurs in practice and explain implementation failures as organizational issues. This study draws on policy implementation theory to suggest that behaviors and attitudes of individuals may better explain implementation gaps. This comparative case study finds differences between experts implementing adaptive management in the Fish and Wildlife Service and the United States Geological Survey. These include differences in attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors aimed at promoting individual autonomy, performance standards, and defending individual interests on the job. Policy implications are twofold: first, that individual behaviors impact adaptive management implementation and intrinsic motivation to perform such functions. Second, regardless of agency, experts view their work as a so...
Measuring progress and value of IC implementation technology

Over the past decade, "Moore's Law" has become increasingly well-understood as being a law of "value scaling": success of new electronics- and semiconductor-based products depends on improved cost-efficiency, utility, and value. Design Automation (DA) provides fundamental tools and methodologies that glue together disparate technological advances --- across architectures, circuits, process and integration --- into actually-realized product and system benefits. However, it is still unknown how to measure and credit "progress" of DA with respect to realized product- and system-level benefits. Thus, it is also challenging for industry, academia and funding entities to envision, and define, RD (ii) establishing "upper bounds" on future progress (e.g., for 3DIC layout); (iii) robust rank-ordering of alternative design enablements (e.g., including routing tools and interconnect stack options); and (iv) lowering barriers to measuring progress and value of academic research results in "more real-world" contexts.
The Binomial, Poisson, and Normal Distributions

In this chapter we consider in some detail the binomial, Poisson, and normal distributions. Although the binomial distribution has its own applications, part of its importance lies in the fact that both the Poisson and normal distributions can be derived as limiting cases.
Characterization of S-thiolation and expression of the [pi] class of rat glutathione S-transferase and its application as a marker for rat hepatocarcinogenesis

94 INTRODUCTION 96 MATERIALS AND METHODS 102 RESULTS 111 DISCUSSION 142 REFERENCES 150 GENERAL CONCLUSION 158 REFERENCES 163 ACKNOWLEDGMENT 183 APPENDIX. THE PURIFICATION OF THE 71 CLASS OF RAT GLUTATHIONE S-TRANSFERASE (rGST P1-1)FR0M A MODIFIED SOLT-FARBER TREATED MALE RAT LIVER 184
The repair of pyrimidine dimers via a DNA-glycosylase mechanism.

The pyrimidine dimer is the major photoproduct produced in DNA after UV irradiation. Ever since the repair of UV damage was first described, the pathway for the excision repair of these adducts was presumed to consist of four steps: incision near the damage site; excision of the damaged nucleotides; replacement of the missing nucleotides by DNA polymerase and finally ligation. Although the understanding of excision repair has increased in recent years1 the requirement for these four basic steps has remained for nucleotide excision repair. The discovery of DNA glycosylases which are very specific for a particular damaged base in DNA2 led to a two step pathway for the incision process. The glycosylic bond between the base and the sugar is broken resulting in an apurinic or apyrimidinic (AP) site in the DNA leaving the phosphodiester backbone intact. These AP sites are then cleaved by the damage specific AP endonucleases and the AP site is removed as in nucleotide excision repair.
Analysis of the top 100 most influential papers in benign prostatic hyperplasia.

Introduction: The fund of knowledge on benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) has been growing since the 1970s. Citation analysis is a tool by which we can quantify influence of specific articles and assess the growth of a certain topic. This paper seeks to identify trends, as well as draw attention to the most influential BPH-related papers, authors, and journals. Many analogous studies have been done, but none in the field of BPH. Methods: We used Thomson Reuters Web of Science to collect articles pertaining to BPH in a two-step fashion. We identified 117 keywords relevant to BPH and using these 117 words, we were able to identify 7302 total articles. These articles were organized by number of citations. Of the top 200 articles, 100 articles were excluded based on title and abstract analysis. One hundred articles were included for final analysis, as this is the standard of citation analysis. Results: Overall, total citations were slightly correlated with journal impact factor. Author analysis revealed no significant difference between authorship and average citations. Topic analysis showed the most cited topic was surgical management with 657.35 citations per year. Study design analysis showed the predominant study design was the randomized control trial. Conclusions: By using the two-step methodology, we were able to create a list of the top 100 most influential articles in the field of BPH. In doing so, we illustrated the growth of the field over time and paid tribute to the myriad of papers, authors, and journals that have shaped the field to this day.
Integration of Faith Community Nursing into Health Care Systems: Stimulating Community-Based Quality Care Strategies

Integration of the faith community nurse into health care systems and networks is foundational to placing more emphasis on whole person health, prevention, health promotion, and the role of the church in health. There are limited dollars being dedicated to inclusion of prevention in the current health care systems. Inclusion of faith community nursing into reimbursement systems supports more emphasis on prevention. This chapter will present current models of care where the work of faith community nurses is currently documenting community benefit dollars through cost savings and cost avoidance.
What Does Quality Mean in the Context of White Institutional Space

In recent years, quality has been increasingly infused into discussions of U.S. mathematics education reform not only for the sake of improving outcomes such as test scores but also to preserve the interests of the larger white population, including economic and educational advantage. To support my claims, I first provide an abbreviated version of what I have been calling a race-critical analysis of mainstream mathematics education, drawing on sociological understandings of race and racism. In doing so, I highlight my characterization of mathematics education research and policy as instantiations of white institutional space and discuss the interest convergence principle as one of the mechanisms used to preserve white interests in such spaces. Implicit in my arguments is the suggestion that the preservation and protection of white interests in mathematics education cannot be disconnected from larger frameworks of racism and processes of racialization that exist in U.S. society.
An approach to classifying subjective cognitive decline in community-dwelling elders

Introduction Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) may be an early symptomatic manifestation of Alzheimer's disease, though published research largely neglects how to classify SCD in community-based studies. Methods In neuropsychologically intact Einstein Aging Study participants (n = 1115; mean age = 78; 63% female; 30% non-White), we used Cox models to examine the association between self-perceived cognitive functioning at baseline (using three different approaches) and incident amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) with covariates of age, sex, education, race/ethnicity, general (objective) cognition, depressive symptoms, and four other SCD-related features. Results After a median of 3 years, 198 participants developed aMCI. In models that included all the variables, self-perceived cognitive functioning was consistently associated with incident aMCI as were age, general cognition, and perceived control; apolipoprotein E (APOE) e4 allele status was significant in one model. We set cut points that optimized the diagnostic accuracy of SCD at various time frames. Discussion We provide an approach to SCD classification and discuss implications for cognitive aging studies.
Explicit Consideration of Vibrational Anharmonicity in Molecular Crystals with Quantum-Mechanical Simulations

The vibrations of atoms within a crystalline lattice can give insight into properties of materials. In particular, vibrational anharmonicity is responsible for many critical phenomena, such as thermal effects, specifically in the low frequency range. While vibrational anharmonicity can be measured spectroscopically, quantum-mechanical simulations traditionally can not take anharmonicity into account. In this work, two recently developed methods, the VCI and VSCF models, are used to calculate the explicit anharmonicity in molecular crystals.
Type-I superconductivity in ScGa 3 and LuGa 3 single crystals

We present evidence of type-I superconductivity in single crystals of ScGa${}_{3}$ and LuGa${}_{3}$, from magnetization, specific heat, and resistivity measurements: low critical temperatures ${T}_{c}=2.1$--2.2 K; field-induced second- to first-order phase transition in the specific heat, critical fields less than 240 Oe; and low Ginzburg-Landau coefficients $\ensuremath{\kappa}$ $\ensuremath{\approx}$ 0.23 and 0.30 for ScGa${}_{3}$ and LuGa${}_{3}$, respectively, are all traits of a type-I superconducting ground state. These observations render ScGa${}_{3}$ and LuGa${}_{3}$ two of only several type-I superconducting compounds, with most other superconductors being type II (compounds and alloys) or type I (elemental metals and metaloids).
Availability and readability of online patient information on clubfoot: assessment of paediatric hospital clubfoot web pages.

Abstract Purpose To determine the availability and readability of online patient information (OPI) provided by paediatric hospitals in the United States using clubfoot as a model condition Methods ...
The Impacts on Education of Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage and Lessons from Abortion Jurisprudence

The Impacts on Education of Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage and Lessons from Abortion Jurisprudence by Lynn D. Wardle
Crowdsourcing as a Knowledge Search Method in Digital Journalism: Ruptured Ideals and Blended Responsibility

This article examines crowdsourcing as a knowledge-search method and an open journalistic practice in digital journalism. The study draws on data from four cases in which professional journalists used crowdsourcing in their investigations. Crowdsourcing resulted in an efficient knowledge discovery and a continuous flow of tips to journalists and thus benefited journalistic investigations. The horizontal and vertical transparency in crowdsourced journalism supported the knowledge-search process. However, the high volume of submissions in some cases made the journalists compromise the journalistic norm of data verification, which resulted in publishing unverified information. Crowdsourcing as an open journalistic practice thus ruptures journalistic norms and creates pressure for new ones to emerge, such as blended responsibility, in which the responsibility for data accuracy is shared by the journalists and the readers. The article extends the examination of open journalistic practices and contributes to the understanding of their impact on digital journalism.
Structural Behavioral Models for Rights-Based Fisheries

Rights-based management is prevalent in today's developed-world fisheries, yet spatiotemporal models of fishing behavior do not reflect such institutional settings. We develop a model of spatiotemporal fishing behavior that incorporates the dynamic and general equilibrium elements of catch-share fisheries. We propose an estimation strategy that is able to recover structural behavioral parameters through a nested fixed-point maximum likelihood procedure. We illustrate our modeling approach through a Monte Carlo analysis and demonstrate its importance for predicting out-of-sample counterfactual policies.
Semantically Diverse Constrained Queries

Location-Based Services are often used to find proximal Points of Interest (PoI) – e.g., nearby restaurants, museums, etc. – in a plethora of applications. However, one may also desire that the returned proximal objects exhibit (likely) maximal and fine-grained semantic diversity. For instance, rather than picking several close-by attractions with similar features – e.g., restaurants with similar menus; museums with similar art exhibitions – a tourist may be more interested in a result set that could potentially provide more diverse types of experiences, for as long as they are within an acceptable distance from a given (current) location. So far, we introduced a topic modeling approach based on Latent Dirichlet Allocation, a generative statistical model, to effectively model and exploit a fine-grained notion of diversity, based on sets of keywords and/or reviews instead of a coarser user-given category. More importantly, for efficiency, we devised two novel indexing structures – Diversity Map and Diversity Aggregated R-tree. In turn, each of these enabled us to develop efficient algorithms to generate the answer-set for two novel categories of queries. While both queries focus on determining the recommended locations among a set of given PoIs that will maximize the semantic diversity within distance limits along a given road network, they each tackle a different variant. The first type of query is kDRQ, which finds k such PoIs with respect to a given user’s location. The second query kDPQ generates a path to be used to visit a sequence of k such locations (i.e., with max diversity), starting at the user’s current location.
From consumer panels to big data: An overview on marketing data development

This work explores marketing data development beginning with consumer panels and extending into today’s Big Data. Its intent is to overview how Big Data builds on the former and how each possesses uniqueness. For example, a key strength of consumer panel data is its ability to link consumer characteristics with purchase behavior, while Big Data and its lack of structure has concerns with consumer characteristic revelation, yet can provide strong consumer insights. Overall, the study overviews the potential, issues and future of Big Data in the context of marketing.
Outlook for Consumer/Patient Engagement in Health Care -- 30 Years into the Experiment

This paper summarizes highlights from the Employee Benefit Research Institute's (EBRI) December 2008 policy forum, titled "Outlook for Consumer/Patient Engagement in Health Care--30 Years into the Experiment," which took a detailed look at consumer-directed health plans and related issues. Policy forum participants heard two very different presentations on the prospects for consumer-directed plans. One speaker was optimistic, saying consumer-directed plans have worked because individuals in these plans have substituted less expensive care for more expensive care in order to minimize their out-of-pocket costs. Another speaker was skeptical, saying consumerism will have a "marginal impact" but will not solve the problem of rising health care costs. Two speakers discussed value-based insurance design in which employers attempt to tailor their health plans to balance the demonstrated value of a service against its cost. Value-based design encourages consumers to use health services when the clinical benefits exceed the cost and at the same time discourages the use of services when the benefits do not justify the cost. Value-based design seeks to influence consumer behavior by linking co-payments to the use of a clinically demonstrated benefit, while consumer-driven health plans use tax-sheltered accounts for much the same purpose. Value-based design is still relatively limited in use, shows some cost-saving potential, but questions about the concept remain, the speakers said.
Lymph node hemophagocytosis in rickettsial diseases: a pathogenetic role for CD8 T lymphocytes in human monocytic ehrlichiosis (HME)?

Human monocytic ehrlichiosis (HME) and Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) are caused by Ehrlichia chaffeensis and Rickettsia rickettsii, respectively. The pathogenesis of RMSF relates to rickettsia-mediated vascular injury, but it is unclear in HME. To study histopathologic responses in the lymphatic system for correlates of immune injury, lymph nodes from patients with HME (n = 6) and RMSF (n = 5) were examined. H&E-stained lymph node tissues were examined for five histopathologic features, including hemophagocytosis, cellularity, necrosis, and vascular congestion and edema. The relative proportions of CD68 macrophages, CD8 and CD4 T lymphocytes, and CD20 B lymphocytes were evaluated by immunohistochemical staining. Hemophagocytosis was similar in HME and RMSF, and was greater than in control cases (p = .015). Cellularity in HME was not different from controls, whereas RMSF lymph nodes were markedly less cellular (p < 0.002). E. chaffeensis-infected mononuclear phagocytes were infrequent compared to R. rickettsii-infected endothelial cells. More CD8 cells in lymph nodes were observed with HME (p < .001), but no quantitative differences in CD4 lymphocytes, macrophages, or B lymphocytes were identified. Hemophagocytosis, CD8 T cell expansion, and the paucity of infected cells in HME, suggest that E. chaffeensis infection leads to macrophage activation and immune-mediated injury.
Families of elderly stroke patients. Effects of home care.

Elderly stroke patients and their families were studied to determine 1) the health effects of providing home care on family caregivers, 2) whether or not caregivers actually providing care in the home experience different effects than caregivers whose family members live in nursing homes, and 3) factors associated with any observed deleterious effects of caregiving. One hundred forty-seven stroke patients were eligible for study. Of these, 101 were available for follow-up; 89 family caregivers were interviewed (88%). Caregivers reported both positive and negative effects of providing home care. When actual home caregivers were compared with potential caregivers (those with family members in institutions), no differences in effects were seen. The relationship between each of three health effects (general, social, and emotional) and patient and caregiver attributes was explored. No factors were found to be related to poorer perceived general health. Dependent patient functional status and additional life stress were both associated with diminished social activity and emotional ill-health. In the latter instance, insufficient social activity and help from family were additional risk factors. If policy is going to advocate home care, its consequences for family caregivers must be known.
One-Way ANOVA

In this and the following chapters, we apply the general theory of linear models to various special cases. This chapter considers the analysis of one-way ANOVA models. A one-way ANOVA model can be written $$y_{ij} = \mu + \alpha_{i} + e_{ij}, \quad i = 1, \cdots, t, \quad j = 1, \cdots, N_i,$$ where \({\rm E}(e_{ij}) = 0, {\rm Var}(e_{ij}) = \sigma^2, {\rm and \ Cov}(e_{ij}, e_{j^{\prime}}, e_{{i^\prime j^\prime}}) = 0 {\rm when} (i, j) \neq (j^\prime, j^\prime)\). For finding tests and confidence intervals, the e ij s are assumed to have a multivariate normal distribution. Here α i is an effect for y ij belonging to the ith group of observations. Group effects are often called treatment effects because one-way ANOVA models are used to analyze completely randomized experimental designs.
Hepatitis C virus: Propagation, quantification, and storage

Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) is a leading cause of chronic liver diseases, including chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. It is well known for its restricted tropism and does not replicate well in animal species other than humans and chimpanzees. Since classical in vitro propagation of natural HCV isolates is not possible, we provide a protocol for the rescue of infectious virus from cDNA clones (genotype 1a pH77S and genotype 2a pJFH-1) transfected as RNA into permissive cells. Because these two molecular clones behave differently in their ability to propagate and produce infectious virus, we describe different methods for propagation of these two viral strains. We also provide methods for infectious virus titration, which can be accomplished by counting foci of infected cells following immunostaining for viral antigen expression in cells infected with serial dilutions of a virus harvest (fluorescent focus, or FFU, assay).
Brain death in Islamic ethico-legal deliberation: challenges for applied Islamic bioethics

Since the 1980s, Islamic scholars and medical experts have used the tools of Islamic law to formulate ethico-legal opinions on brain death. These assessments have varied in their determinations and remain controversial. Some juridical councils such as the Organization of Islamic Conferences' Islamic Fiqh Academy (OIC-IFA) equate brain death with cardiopulmonary death, while others such as the Islamic Organization of Medical Sciences (IOMS) analogize brain death to an intermediate state between life and death. Still other councils have repudiated the notion entirely. Similarly, the ethico-legal assessments are not uniform in their acceptance of brain-stem or whole-brain criteria for death, and consequently their conceptualizations of, brain death. Within the medical literature, and in the statements of Muslim medical professional societies, brain death has been viewed as sanctioned by Islamic law with experts citing the aforementioned rulings. Furthermore, health policies around organ transplantation and end-of-life care within the Muslim world have been crafted with consideration of these representative religious determinations made by transnational, legally-inclusive, and multidisciplinary councils. The determinations of these councils also have bearing upon Muslim clinicians and patients who encounter the challenges of brain death at the bedside. For those searching for 'Islamically-sanctioned' responses that can inform their practice, both the OIC-IFA and IOMS verdicts have palpable gaps in their assessments and remain clinically ambiguous. In this paper we analyze these verdicts from the perspective of applied Islamic bioethics and raise several questions that, if answered by future juridical councils, will better meet the needs of clinicians and bioethicists.
Data protection using recursive inverse function

Data security and privacy have emerged to become an important issue in various types of applications. Although many cryptographic cyphers are proposed to leverage the issue, they normally suffer from the problems of either requiring large power/bandwidth consumption or employing linear system which is easy to break. To solve the problem of traditional cyphers, we have proposed a new hardware security primitive: recursive inverse function (RIF) designed on the field-programmable gate array (FPGA). The RIF takes advantage of a pair of inverse functions, building a recursive scheme for message encryption and decryption. The inverse functions are defined as a pair of functions where each function implements a mapping being inverse to the mapping of the other function. On the top of it, the recursive structure guarantees the input-output mapping to be statistically extremely hard to predict. The RIF can be easily implemented using hierarchical lookup-table (LUT) structures with low delay and power overhead. Using our proposed RIF structure, we have demonstrated how the RIF can be incorporated into a processor design to enable the data protection. Finally, we implement our scheme on a Xilinx Spartan-6 FPGA device to analyze the performance and the overhead.
Framing Assessment for Career Services: Telling Our Story

This chapter provides career professionals with an overview of current assessment practices and a framework for understanding how to bring practitioner-led assessment activities into daily practice.
The He+/H+ Abundance in the Orion Nebula from Infrared Space Observatory Measurements*

Using the Short Wavelength Spectrometer on the Infrared Space Observatory, we measured in the Orion Nebula several components of the He I Brα transition, the first detections to the best of our knowledge in an H II region, and the H I Brα line. A value of He+/H+=0.085±0.003 is inferred from these data and is typical of previous values found for Orion. The IR method to obtain He+/H+ is very insensitive to extinction. The measurement of the weak He I 2.855 μm (5p 3Po→4s 3S) flux permits an assessment of Te in the He+ region. Its flux relative to the flux of He I 4.0490 μm (5g 3G→4f 3Fo, 5g 1G→4f 1Fo blend) is roughly ∝Te (for Te range applicable to most H II regions and planetary nebulae) and depends little on Ne. From our measured ratio, using Ne = 104 cm-3, Te is slightly less than 104 K. We stress that many IR measurements of a hydrogen line are likely to also include one or more significant helium line contributions. Attributing all of the flux to the stronger H I line will result in underestimates for abundance ratios relative to H+. This has usually not been taken into account in the past when deriving abundances of other ions/elements relative to H. Errors in the velocity and line width inferred may also occur by failure to consider the blended He component. Because the strongest He I lines will generally be on the blue side of their counterpart H I line, interpreting a blended feature as only H I will cause a spurious bias to lower velocities.
Two murine homologs of the Drosophila single-minded protein that interact with the mouse aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator protein.

Drosophila single-minded, which acts as a positive master gene regulator in central nervous system midline formation in Drosophila, its two mouse homologs SIM1 and SIM2, and the mammalian aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) and aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator (ARNT) proteins are members of the basic-helix-loop-helix.PAS family of transcription factors. In the yeast two-hybrid system, we demonstrate strong constitutive interaction of ARNT with SIM1 and SIM2 and fully ligand-dependent interaction of ARNT with AHR. Both the helix-loop-helix and the PAS regions of SIM1 and of ARNT are required for efficient heterodimerization. SIM1 and SIM2 do not form homodimers, and they do not interact with AHR. We also failed to detect homodimerization of ARNT. The interaction of ARNT with SIM1 was confirmed with in vitro synthesized proteins. Like AHR, in vitro synthesized SIM1 associates with the 90-kDa heat shock protein. SIM1 inhibits binding of the AHR.ARNT dimer to the xenobiotic response element in vitro. Introduction of SIM1 into hepatoma cells inhibits transcriptional transactivation by the endogenous AHR.ARNT dimer. The mouse SIM1. ARNT dimer binds only weakly to a proposed DNA target for the Drosophila SIM.ARNT dimer. In adult mice mRNA for SIM1 was expressed in lung, skeletal muscle, and kidney, whereas the mRNA for SIM2 was found in the latter two. ARNT is also expressed in these organs. Thus mouse SIM1 and SIM2 are novel heterodimerization partners for ARNT in vitro, and they may function both as positive and negative transcriptional regulators in vivo, during embryogenesis and in the adult organism.
Variation of Gaussian Curvature under Conformal Mapping and its Application

We characterize conformal mapping between two surfaces, S and S∗, based on Gaussian curvature before and after motion. An explicit representation of the Gaussian curvature after conformal mapping is presented in terms of Riemann-Christoffel tensor and Ricci tensor and their derivatives. Based on changes in surface curvature, we are able to estimate the stretching of non-rigid motion during conformal mapping via a polynomial approximation.
Separation and quantitation ofcis- andtrans-thiothixene in human plasma by high-performance liquid chromatography

A high-performance liquid chromatographic procedure is described for the separation ofcis andtrans isomers of thiothixene, a thioxanthene derivative used as an antipsychotic agent. A radial compression module (RCM-100) was used with both silica and cyanopropyl cartridges. A fixed-wavelength UV detector (254 nm) was used in these studies for quantitation. Mesoridazine is used as an internal standard because of its separation characteristics and reproducible quantitation. C18 Sep-Pak cartridges are used for biological sample cleanup. Plasma samples from patients treated with thiothixene (Navane) were assayed forcis andtrans-thiothixene. Notrans-thiothixene was detectable andcis-thiothixene concentrations ranged from 0 to 22.5 ng/ml.