cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The contemporary face of gender differences and similarities in depression throughout adolescence: Development and chronicity.

Abstract Background We probe the adolescent gender difference in depression, asking two critical questions. First, most longitudinal studies of gender differences in adolescent depression date from the 1980s and 1990s, raising the need for a body of evidence on whether the developmental pattern is similar or different today. Second, despite the importance of chronicity to depression, we do not know whether there is a gender difference in the chronicity burden of the disorder. Methods In a contemporary longitudinal sample of U.S. adolescents, depression symptoms were assessed at ages 11, 13, 15, and 18, and depression diagnoses were assessed at age 20. To capture the chronicity burden of clinical depression, we assessed for every depressive episode in an individual's lifetime and summed the total number of days spent in episode. Results A gender difference emerged at age 13 for depression symptoms and at ages 13–14 for diagnoses. These findings are similar to those in the 1980s and 1990s despite many social changes that have occurred. However, the magnitude of the gender difference in symptoms at ages 13 and 15 may be larger than those documented previously. Latent growth curve modeling of depression symptoms indicated that girls’ symptoms accelerated early in adolescence whereas boys’ symptoms accelerated later. Although more girls (24%) than boys (15%) experienced major depression or dysthymia by age 20, the chronicity burden among those with depression showed gender similarities (median=2.6% days depressed for boys and 2.4% for girls). Limitations Depression diagnoses were assessed retrospectively; however, symptom data were assessed prospectively, and symptom and diagnostic data converged. The sample was also predominantly White, limiting generalizability. Conclusions In a contemporary adolescent sample we observed gender differences in depression symptoms and diagnoses beginning at age 13. We documented distinct developmental trajectories of depression for adolescent girls and boys, suggesting different developmental windows for depression prevention programs. We also discovered a gender similarity in the chronicity burden of clinical depression.
Leiomyoma of the Foot and Ankle: A Case Series.

Leiomyoma is a benign soft-tissue tumor that can arise in any soft tissue; however, in the extremities, it is usually a subcutaneous mass. Masses in the foot and ankle in general are rare, and few ...
Reducing preterm birth in Iowa with Centering Pregnancy

Centering Pregnancy (CP) is a model of group care that integrates the three major components of care: Health assessment, education, and support, into a unified program within a group setting. Centering model’s evidence showing statistically significant improvements in 1) birth weights of infants born prematurely (gain of 400 gm), 2) a lengthening in the gestation of the babies born prematurely (34 weeks group vs. 32 weeks individual), 3) increased rates of breastfeeding, 4) higher satisfaction with care, and 5) feelings of increased preparation and knowledge. This article describes current efforts at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC) to implement the CP program.
Leadership and Mistakes

No one is perfect and this is never more true than when it comes to leadership. It may be comforting to put leaders on a pedestal and pretend that they are perfect. A more grown up (and more realistic) view, is to remember that they are human like you and me. They make mistakes like all of us. Worshiping them blinds you to fact that they do make mistakes. The good ones make fewer and smaller mistakes and importantly, they don’t have such a big blind spot that they miss their mistakes. Indeed, one of the most profound tests of a leader is how she or he handles those mistakes.
Enriching the semantics of the directed polyline-polygon topological relationships: the DLP-intersection matrix

In this paper, we define an intersection matrix for enriching the semantics of the topological relationships between a directed polyline and a polygon. In particular, we propose the $$\mathcal {DLP}$$ -intersection matrix which enables us to model the origin and destination points, as well as the right- and left-hand sides of the directed polyline. This matrix overcomes the limitation of the well-known DE-9IM, because it allows the representation of the different dimensions of the intersection results at the same time. Accordingly, the geo-operators have been revised and extended in order to address the notions of right- and left-hand sides of a directed polyline, as well as additional notions related to the orientation of the polyline. The $$\mathcal {DLP}$$ -intersection matrix has been implemented by extending the Java Topology Suite methods in order to address the new geo-operators based on the notion of orientation.
Allen v. Breyers: The Missouri Supreme Court's 2016 Decision Adds Clarity (and Confusion) to Insurers' Duty and Right to Defend Their Insureds

In a previous paper, I suggested that the Missouri Supreme Court had adopted a forfeiture penalty for insurers that breached the duty to defend. This paper revises that position based on the December 2016 Missouri Supreme Court decision of Allen v. Bryers in which the court held that to recover damages beyond the applicable liability insurance policy limits, the insured (or an assignee) would have to demonstrate the insurer had acted in bad faith. However, the court confirmed a forfeiture approach up to the liability insurance policy limits. Where an insurer breaches its the duty to defend in a liability insurance policy, the insurer is bound by the result in the underlying case up to its policy limits. The court used an analysis similar to issue preclusion, holding that the insurer is bound by all facts actually litigated and determined in the underlying case. The paper explains this decision, and points out some uncertainty created by the opinion regarding what constitutes bad faith behavior by an insurer under Missouri law with regard to the duty to defend and as to what more beyond unreasonable conduct is required to demonstrate bad faith. The paper concludes by placing the Missouri approach it in its national context by comparing it to the approach by the Restatement of the Law, Liability Insurance. Section 19 of the Restatement also imposes a forfeiture up to the policy limits but only if the breach of the duty to defend was without a reasonable basis. In addition, the Restatement recognizes a kind of "safe harbor" for insurers who defend under a reservation of rights, while in Missouri an insurer is not entitled to reserve its right while at the same time providing a defense (unless the insured specifically consents).
Sparse Representation Using Block Decomposition for Characterization of Imaging Patterns

In this work we introduce sparse representation techniques for classification of high-dimensional imaging patterns into healthy and diseased states. We also propose a spatial block decomposition methodology that is used for training an ensemble of classifiers to address irregularities of the approximation problem. We first apply this framework to classification of bone radiography images for osteoporosis diagnosis. The second application domain is separation of breast lesions into benign and malignant. These are challenging classification problems because the imaging patterns are typically characterized by high Bayes error rate in the original space. To evaluate the classification performance we use cross-validation techniques. We also compare our sparse-based classification with state-of-the-art texture-based classification techniques. Our results indicate that decomposition into patches addresses difficulties caused by ill-posedness and improves original sparse classification.
Characteristics of Medicaid Recipients Receiving Persistent Antipsychotic Polypharmacy.

Antipsychotic polypharmacy (APP) is a common strategy despite guidelines advising against this practice. This article seeks to quantify the prevalence and correlates of APP using Medicaid Analytic eXtract files from 2003 to 2004. Nineteen percent of Medicaid recipients who received an antipsychotic were treated with APP. Individuals who received APP were more likely to be white, male, disabled, between the ages of 18–29, diagnosed with a psychotic disorder, and diagnosed with a higher number of psychiatric conditions. Geographic variation in APP rates was also observed. Quality improvement initiatives may help reduce APP for medically vulnerable patients.
Willis-Ekbom disease/restless legs syndrome in patients with opioid withdrawal.

Abstract Introduction Many patients with opioid use disorder report symptoms similar to restless legs syndrome (RLS) during withdrawal. However, whether these symptoms are true RLS, their predictors and effect of treatment with pregabalin are still unknown. Method A total of 19 consecutive patients with opioid use disorder who were admitted for detoxification were included in this study after obtaining informed consent. Information regarding addiction was noted, and they were screened for RLS every morning and evening. Patients were also asked to provide information regarding their sleep quality during the previous night. To control opioid withdrawal, they were prescribed buprenorphine. Pregabalin was prescribed to patients who developed RLS. For analysis, patients were divided in two groups: those with RLS and those without RLS. Results The average age of the subjects included in this study was 30.2 (±10.4) years. Mean duration of substance abuse was 56.8 (±38.4) months. Ten patients developed symptoms of RLS. Groups with RLS and without RLS were comparable with reference to demographics, laboratory parameters, and dose of buprenorphine that was required to control withdrawal symptoms. On average, RLS appeared after 1.7 days of abstinence. Patients described their symptoms such as crawling, creeping sensation in the muscles or “just pain”. Eight out of 10 subjects reported symptoms limited to legs; however, two described similar problems in their upper limbs as well. A change in sleep pattern was observed with delayed sleep onset at night, delayed wake time in the morning, and spending a major proportion of day asleep. Pregabalin brought significant relief to the symptoms of RLS and sleep quality. Conclusion RLS during opioid withdrawal was an independent illness seen in half of the patients. It appeared to be mediated through mu-receptors, with contributions from other factors. Pregabalin improved symptoms of RLS and quality of sleep in these patients.
Of Awards and Rewards

In August 2017 the European Society of Cardiology awarded me the ESC Gold Medal at their annual meeting. As I said in accepting the award, had I been on the selection committee I am not sure I woul...
Activation of human keratinocytes by Leishmania spp.: divergent effects of Leishmania infantum versus Leishmania major.

All Leishmania infections are initiated in skin, but clinical manifestations vary greatly with infecting species. Leishmania major ( Lm ) causes localized cutaneous lesions, whereas L. infantum ( Li ) causes potentially fatal disseminated disease without skin pathology. Early responses at the skin infection site influence adaptive responses to Leishmania, yet little is known of the role of keratinocytes. We hypothesized that Leishmania induce keratinocytes to produce factors influencing the immune response. Incubation of Li with primary or immortalized human keratinocytes caused a significant increase in pro-inflammatory cytokine transcripts il6 , il8 , tnfa, and il1b measured by RT-qPCR. However, keratinocytes exposed to five distinct Lm isolates did not induce these transcripts, highlighting a species-specific difference in inflammatory response. Similar to live parasites, Li -derived exosomes induced more il8 mRNA compared to control (p Lm -derived exosomes (p Li but not Lm . To examine whether soluble keratinocyte factors influence nearby immune cells, Li -infected human monocytes were cocultured with keratinocytes across a transwell membrane. Soluble products of Li -exposed keratinocytes improved monocyte control of parasite replication compared with unexposed controls (p Lm -exposed keratinocytes across the transwell did not affect monocyte Lm infection. These data suggest that (1) activated keratinocytes may increase monocyte leishmanicidal activity and (2) keratinocytes support an early inflammatory environment, uniquely tailored to each Leishmania species, at the infection site.
Semi-supervised sequence modeling with syntactic topic models

Although there has been significant previous work on semi-supervised learning for classification, there has been relatively little in sequence modeling. This paper presents an approach that leverages recent work in manifold-learning on sequences to discover word clusters from language data, including both syntactic classes and semantic topics. From unlabeled data we form a smooth. low-dimensional feature space, where each word token is projected based on its underlying role as a function or content word. We then use this projection as additional input features to a linear-chain conditional random field trained on limited labeled training data. On standard part-of-speech tagging and Chinese word segmentation data sets we show as much as 14% error reduction due to the unlabeled data, and also statistically-significant improvements over a related semi-supervised sequence tagging method due to Miller et al.
Chaos in Radiative Interactions

Even a casual perusal of the literature reveals a great interest, in many different fields, in chaotic dynamics. Our purpose here is to indicate why chaotic dynamics may be of interest in the study of radiative interactions in quantum optics.
Protein kinase R and the inflammasome

Protein kinase R (PKR) was first identified as a mediator of the double-stranded RNA (dsRNA)–mediated inhibition of protein synthesis in extracts from interferon-treated cells. In a physiological context, viral replication results in production of dsRNA, activation of PKR by autophosphorylation, and phosphorylation of the protein synthesis initiation factor eIF2α. Subsequent biochemical, structural, and genetic analyses have identified the dsRNA and kinase domain structure of PKR, and shown that its deletion from the germline of mice results in impaired resistance to infection by many different viruses. These studies have also opened up roles for PKR in different signaling pathways, the most recent being regulation of the inflammasome. Here we review evidence for this newly ascribed function for PKR and discuss roles in inflammasome regulation and associated diseases.
Regulation of egg formation in the oviduct of laying hen

In the adult hen, the oviduct receives the ovum from the ovary and provides the biological environment for the formation and potential fertilisation of the egg. During egg formation, albumin, from ...
Aprender a aprender en la era digital

Aprender a aprender en la era digital provides a comprehensive, state-of-the-art account that empowers readers to leverage learning technologies to promote second language learner autonomy. Written entirely in Spanish, the book covers a breadth of innovative topics in the teaching of Spanish via and with technology, such as emerging pedagogies, autonomous and participatory learning, learner agency and identity, teacher development, and post-communicative curriculum design. Key features: a novel and unique approach, combining the latest research on learning autonomy and instructional technologies in language learning; an emphasis on the connections between theory and practice, with concrete suggestions for using technology in the classroom; an extensive selection of curricular and pedagogical tools that can be easily adapted to various teaching and learning environments and needs; a broad selection of bibliographical references for further reading and research; a bilingual glossary of key techno-pedagogical terms; a catalogue with over 250 tools for second language learning and teaching, with contextualized examples of their practical application; a comprehensive eResource with a wealth of additional materials, including access to a database of technological tools and best practices in teaching Spanish with technology. Written in a clear and accessible manner, Aprender a aprender en la era digital is ideal for instructors of Spanish at all educational levels. The book will also be of great interest to teachers of languages other than Spanish, as well as graduate students pursuing a degree in Spanish, Educational Technology or Language Education.
Hearing Loss Treatment in Older Adults With Cognitive Impairment: A Systematic Review

Purpose The purpose of this systematic review was to assess studies of treating hearing loss in older adults with cognitive impairment. Of interest to this review is identifying clinical adaptation...
High-Voltage Regrown Nonpolar ${m}$ -Plane Vertical p-n Diodes: A Step Toward Future Selective-Area-Doped Power Switches

We report high-voltage regrown nonpolar ${m}$ -plane p-n diodes on freestanding GaN substrates. A high blocking voltage of 540 V at ~1 mA/cm $^{\textsf {2}}$ (corresponding to an electric field of E ~ 3.35 MV/cm), turn- ON voltages between 2.9 and 3.1 V, specific on-resistance of 1.7 $\text{m}\Omega \cdot \textsf {cm}^{\textsf {2}}$ at 300 A/cm $^{\textsf {2}}$ , and a minimum ideality factor of 1.7 were obtained for the regrown diodes. Our results suggest that Si, O, and C interfacial impurity levels up to $\textsf {2}\times \textsf {10}^{\textsf {17}}$ cm $^{-\textsf {3}}$ , $\textsf {8}\times \textsf {10}^{\textsf {17}}$ cm $^{-\textsf {3}}$ , and $\textsf {1}\times \textsf {10}^{\textsf {19}}$ cm $^{-\textsf {3}}$ , respectively, at the metallurgical junction of ${m}$ -plane, p-n diodes do not result in very early breakdown in the reverse bias although the off-state leakage current in the forward bias is affected. The impact of the growth interruption/regrowth on diode performance is also investigated.
The origin of exosomal miR-1246 in human cancer cells

miR-1246 is considered an oncomiR in various cancer types. However, the origin and biogenesis of miR-1246 remain controversial which often leads to misinterpretation of its detection and biological function, and inevitably masking its mechanisms of action. Using next generation small RNA sequencing, CRISPR-Cas9 knockout, siRNA knockdown and the poly-A tailing SYBR qRT-PCR, we examined the biogenesis of exosomal miR-1246 in human cancer cell model systems. We found that miR-1246 is highly enriched in exosomes derived from human cancer cells and that it originates from RNU2-1, a small nuclear RNA and essential component of the U2 complex of the spliceosome. Knockdown of Drosha and Dicer did not reduce exosomal miR-1246 levels, indicating that exosomal miR-1246 is generated in a Drosha- and Dicer-independent manner. Direct digestion of cellular lysate by RNase A and knockdown of the RNU2-1 binding protein SmB/B' demonstrated that exosomal miR-1246 is a RNU2-1 degradation product. Furthermore, the GCAG motif present in the RUN2-1 transcript was shown to mediate miR-1246 enrichment in cancer exosomes. We conclude that exosome miR-1246 is derived from RNU2-1 degradation through a non-canonical microRNA biogenesis process. These findings reveal the origin of an oncomiR in human cancer cells, providing guidance in understanding miR-1246 detection and biological function. Abbreviations: CRISPR, Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats; miRNA, microRNA; PDAC, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma; RNU2-1, U2 small nuclear RNA; RT-PCR, Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction; sgRNA, single-guide RNA.
A 16-nm Always-On DNN Processor With Adaptive Clocking and Multi-Cycle Banked SRAMs

Always-on subsystems in mobile/Internet of Things (IoT) SoCs process a variety of real-time sensor data deep neural network (DNN) classification workloads in a heavily constrained energy budget. This can be achieved with robust, low-voltage circuits, and specialized hardware accelerators. We present a 16-nm always-on DNN processor, which consists primarily of a microcontroller and a DNN accelerator with on-chip SRAM for the model weights. The design operates robustly from 0.4 to 1-V, with calibration-free automatic voltage/frequency tuning provided by tracking small non-zero razor timing error rates. A novel timing error-driven synchronization-free adaptive clocking scheme significantly reduces the adaptation latency to provide resilience to fast on-chip supply noise and reduce margins. To accommodate the tight energy constraints of always-on IoT workloads, we implement a multi-cycle SRAM read scheme that allows the memory voltage to scale at iso-throughput, improving energy efficiency across the entire operating range. The wide operating range allows for high performance at 1.36 GHz, low-power consumption downs to 750 $\mu \text{W}$ , and state-of-the-art raw efficiency at 16-bit precision of 750 GOPS/W dense or 1.81 TOPS/W sparse.
Reacting to Isolation: How the Political Exclusion of Extreme Right-wing Parties Changes the Party Support

How does right-wing mainstream parties’ political exclusion of extreme right-wing parties (ERPs) affect the support for the parties and change their electoral bases in Western Europe? Using survey ...
Discussion on causes of non-gastrointestinal hemorrhagic anemia in patients with viral hepatitis

Objective To explore the causes of non-gastrointestinal hemorrhagic anemia in patients with viral hepatitis.Methods 30 cases of viral hepatitis patients who had anaemia with non-gastrointestinal bleeding in blood routine test were performed bone marrow aspiration and hemolysis tests.Results The results showed there were 3 cases of unexplained hemolytic anemia,3 cases of thalassaemia,2 cases of iron deficiency anemia,9 cases of reduced or obvious reduced hyperosteogeny.Conclusion For the patients with viral hepatitis,bone marrow aspiration and hemolysis tests should be routinely performed. Key words: Viral hepatitis; Anemia; Bone marrow
Use of vasopressors during esophagectomy is not associated with increased risk of anastomotic leak.

Vasopressor use during esophagectomy has been reported to increase the risk of postoperative anastomotic leak and associated morbidity. We sought to assess the association between vasopressor use and fluid (crystalloid and colloid) administration and anastomotic leak following open esophagectomy. Patients who underwent open Ivor Lewis esophagectomy were identified from a prospective institutional database. The primary outcome was postoperative anastomotic leak (any grade) and analyzed using logistic regression models. Postoperative anastomotic leak developed in 52 of 327 consecutive patients (16%) and was not significantly associated with vasopressor use or fluid administered in either univariable or multivariable analyses. Increasing body mass index was the only significant characteristic of both univariable (P = 0.004) and multivariable analyses associated with anastomotic leak (odds ratio, 1.05; 95% confidence interval, 1.01-1.09; P = 0.007). Of the 52 patients that developed an anastomotic leak, 12 (23%) were grade 1, 21 (40%) were grade 2 and 19 (37%) were grade 3. In our cohort, only body mass index, and not intraoperative vasopressor use and fluid administration, was significantly associated with increased odds of postoperative anastomotic leak following open Ivor Lewis esophagectomy.
Gianturco Z-stent placement for the treatment of chronic central venous occlusive disease: implantation of 208 stents in 137 symptomatic patients.

Purpose To report the technical successes, adverse events, and long-term stent patency rates of Gianturco Z-stents for management of chronic central venous occlusive disease. Methods Overall, 137 patients, with mean age 48.6±16.1 years (range, 16-89 years), underwent placement of Gianturco Z-stents for chronic central venous occlusions. Presenting symptoms included lower extremity edema (n=66, 48.2%), superior vena cava syndrome (n=30, 21.9%), unilateral upper extremity swelling (n=20, 14.6%), hemodialysis fistula or catheter dysfunction (n=11, 8.0%), ascites (n=8, 5.8%), and both ascites and lower extremity edema (n=2, 1.5%). Most common etiologies of central venous occlusion were prior central venous access placement (n=58, 42.3%), extrinsic compression (n=29, 21.2%), and post-surgical anastomotic stenosis (n=27, 19.7%). Number of stents placed, stent implantation location, stent sizes, technical successes, adverse events, need for re-intervention, follow-up evaluation, stent patencies, and mortality were recorded. Technical success was defined as recanalization and stent reconstruction with restoration of in-line venous flow. Adverse events were defined by the Society of Interventional Radiology Adverse Event Classification criteria. Primary and primary-assisted stent patencies were analyzed using Kaplan-Meier analysis. Results In total, 208 Z-stents were placed. The three most common placement sites were the inferior vena cava (n=124, 59.6%), superior vena cava (n=44, 21.2%), and brachiocephalic veins (n=27, 13.0%). Technical success was achieved in 133 patients (97.1%). There were two (1.5%) severe adverse events (two cases of stent migration to the right atrium), one (0.7%) moderate adverse event, and one (0.7%) mild adverse event. Mean follow-up was 43.6±52.7 months. Estimated 1-, 3-, and 5-year primary stent patency was 84.2%, 84.2%, and 82.1%, respectively. Estimated 1-, 3-, and 5-year primary-assisted patency was 92.3%, 89.6%, and 89.6%, respectively. The 30- and 60- day mortality rates were 2.9% (n=4) and 5.1% (n=7), none of which were directly attributable to Z-stent placement. Conclusion Gianturco Z-stent placement is safe and effective for the treatment for chronic central venous occlusive disease with durable short- and long-term patencies.
Single and combined effects of thiacloprid concentration, exposure duration, and water temperature on marbled crayfish Procambarus virginalis.

Abstract The increasing utilization of chemicals and ongoing climate change have a negative impact on aquatic ecosystems. The present study examined combined effects of water temperature, chemical concentration, and duration of exposure to the neonicotinoid thiacloprid on marbled crayfish Procambarus virginalis. Crayfish were exposed to thiacloprid at the environmental concentration of 4.50 μg L−1 and 10% 96LC50 to marbled crayfish, 64.64 μg L−1, at water temperature of 17 and 23 °C for 28 days followed by a 28 day depuration period. No crayfish died during the experiment. Both thiacloprid concentrations at 23 °C showed a synergistic effect with temperature on the biochemical indicators in haemolymph compared to those at 17 °C. Both concentrations of thiacloprid at both temperatures were associated with significant differences from thiacloprid-free controls (P
Long-Term Functional Decline Following Vascular Surgery Among Vulnerable Adults.

BACKGROUND Identification of high-risk patients that may experience functional decline following surgery poses a challenge to healthcare providers. The Vulnerable Elders Survey (VES-13) is a patient-reported tool designed to identify risk for health deterioration based on age, self-rated health, physical function, and functional disabilities. This study was designed to determine whether VES-13 could predict long-term functional decline among patients undergoing vascular surgery procedures. METHODS Vascular surgery patients at an academic hospital were administered VES-13 between May 2018 and March 2019, and those scoring ≥3-points were classified as vulnerable. Each patient's functional status was assessed using the Katz Activities of Daily Living (ADL) and the Lawton-Brody Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (iADL) indices preoperatively and at 2-week, 1-month, and 1-year postoperative time points. Logistic regression models were used to identify independent predictors of functional decline. RESULTS 126 patients (59% male) were assessed before and after minor (56%) and major (44%) vascular procedures, with 55 (43%) meeting criteria for vulnerability. Vulnerable patients were older, had lower baseline functional status, and were more likely than non-vulnerable patients to experience declines in ADLs and iADLs at all time-points (P < 0.05 for all time points). These findings were confirmed in risk-adjusted regression models where vulnerability was associated with an increased likelihood of decline in ADLs (OR:3.3; 95%CI:1.0-10.6; P < 0.05) and iADLs (OR:2.6; 95%CI:1.0-6.6; P = 0.05) at 1-year following surgery. CONCLUSION The patient-reported VES-13 survey identifies vulnerable patients who are at risk for long-term functional decline following vascular surgery. This quick preoperative screening tool can allow surgeons to prepare older patients and caretakers for postoperative functional limitations.
Emulation of the BIS engine

The operation of the BIS monitor remains undescribed, despite 20 years of clinical use and 3000 academic articles. The core algorithmic software (the BIS Engine) can be retrieved from the motherboard of the A-2000 monitor in binary form through forensic disassembly using debugging interfaces left in place by the original designers, opening the possibility of executing the BIS algorithms on contemporary computers through emulation. Three steps were required for emulation. Firstly, the monitor input stage monitor was disassembled to determine how EEG signals can be compatibly presented to the Engine. Secondly, the Digital Signal Processor on which the Engine executes was recreated in software. Thirdly, the Engine code was patched, allowing execution separated from monitor hardware. Code performance under noise load was evaluated. EEG signals and BIS variables were obtained from a 13-year-old child in normal physiological sleep using a modern BIS monitor. BIS values in sleeping children exhibit a wide dynamic range, including values nominally associated with clinical anesthesia, providing a risk-free technique to obtain empirical EEG data that broadly exercise the algorithms. Emulation demonstrated a correlation coefficient of R = 0.943, consistent with correlations between official Engine iterations. Additive white noise in the EEG caused a progressive lifting and flattening of BIS values. Emulation replicates BIS Engine behavior, allowing calculation upon existing EEG datasets or signals from other, potentially remote or wireless, devices. Emulation provides advantages for elucidating the mathematical expression of the algorithms, which remain important as practical constraints on any hypothetical mechanism of action of anesthetics.
Personality and Everyday Functioning in Older Adults With and Without HIV

In a cross-sectional multi-method study of older adults living with and without HIV (n = 202; 69.8% HIV seropositive), we tested associations between personality traits and everyday functioning, and whether these associations differed depending on HIV serostatus. We found that higher levels of conscientiousness and lower levels of neuroticism were associated with higher odds of being clinically independent (vs. dependent) in everyday functioning. These findings replicated across self- and clinician-reports and persisted above and beyond relevant covariates. We found no evidence of interactions between personality and HIV serostatus, suggesting that personality was equally important for everyday functioning regardless of HIV serostatus. Given the present findings and the knowledge that personality is dynamic and amenable to intervention, we discuss two different possible pathways for intervention meant to improve everyday functioning and quality of life among older adults with and without HIV: personality change and personalized medicine.
Are Women Half Men? A Legal Practitioner Perspective

Human rights and equal justice under the law apply to all of humanity. These are the foundations for healthy societies; yet, women in many communities around the globe are silenced, abused, and/or abandoned by the laws of men. In Islamic belief, women are not equal to men; but neither are men equal to women. Islam envisages their roles in society not as competing but as complementary. Instances cited in the holy Quran and hadiths suggests that women status could be less than that of a man. Such instances state that a woman’s situation is different than that of a man in areas of inheritance, marriage, custody, divorce, and witness in court, both in civil and criminal cases. Some Islamic scholars have suggested that her evidence in court is half of a man, because she is inherently weaker (intellectually crippled), in her rational judgment than the man, who is intellectually stronger and forgetfulness is far from his nature. This paper provides an understanding of the application of Shariah law from my practice of defending Shariah cases. I claim only to report my experience within the system of the Shariah Penal law, 2000-2003, as promulgated in Northern Nigeria.
Variation in seasonal timing traits and life history along a latitudinal transect in Mimulus ringens

Seasonal timing traits are commonly under recurrent, spatially variable selection, and are therefore predicted to exhibit clinal variation. Temperate perennial plants often require vernalization to prompt growth and reproduction; however, little is known about whether vernalization requirements change across the range of a broadly distributed species. We performed a critical vernalization duration study in Mimulus ringens, coupled with population genomic analysis. Plants from eight populations spanning the latitudinal range were exposed to varying durations of 4°C vernalization between 0 and 56 days, and flowering response was assessed. RADSeq was also performed to generate 1179 polymorphic SNPs, which were used to examine population structure. We found unexpected life history variation, with some populations lacking vernalization requirement. Population genomic analyses show that these life history variants are highly divergent from perennials, potentially revealing a cryptic species. For perennial populations, minimum vernalization time was surprisingly consistent. However, once vernalized, northern populations flowered almost 3 weeks faster than southern. Furthermore, southern populations exhibited sensitivity to vernalization times beyond flowering competency, suggesting an ability to respond adaptively to different lengths of winter. Mimulus ringens, therefore, reveals evidence of clinal variation, and provides opportunities for future studies addressing mechanistic and ecological hypotheses both within and between incipient species.
Indications of environmental literacy: using a new survey instrument to measure awareness, knowledge, and attitudes of university-aged students

The role of environmental education has received enough attention with applied environmental literacy research completed at the level of elementary and secondary schools curricula, as well as assessments on adults’ environmental literacy at state, national, and even international levels. However, few studies have focused on university-level assessments as means for increasing people’s environmental knowledge. The reported research examines the levels of environmental knowledge and attitudes of Iowa State University (ISU) undergraduate and graduate students registered for the 2007 spring semester. A new survey instrument was developed specifically for this study, accounting for local (Midwestern) and global environmental issues. Students were found to have a “moderate” level of environmental literacy. The results suggested correlations between environmental knowledge and attitudes and students’ demographic characteristics such as age, gender, college, student status, childhood environment, and outdoor activities practiced as a child. 1 Graduate student, primary researcher and author. 2 Associate Professor, co-author. 3 Natural Resource, Ecology and Management Department, Iowa State University.
MO‐FG‐204‐02: Reference Image Selection in the Presence of Multiple Scan Realizations

Purpose: Fusing information from multiple correlated realizations (e.g., 4DCT) can improve image quality. This process often involves ill-conditioned and asymmetric nonlinear registration and the proper selection of a reference image is important. This work proposes to examine post-registration variation indirectly for such selection, and develops further insights to reduce the number of cross-registrations needed. Methods: We consider each individual scan as a noisy point in the vicinity of an image manifold, related by motion. Nonrigid registration “transports” a scan along the manifold to the reference neighborhood, and the residual is a surrogate for local variation. To test this conjecture, 10 thoracic scans from the same session were reconstructed from a recently developed low-dose helical 4DCT protocol. Pairwise registration was repeated bi-directionally (81 times) and fusion was performed with each candidate reference. The fused image quality was assessed with SNR and CNR. Registration residuals in SSD, harmonic energy, and deformation Jacobian behavior were examined. The semi-symmetry is further utilized to reduce the number of registration needed. Results: The comparison of image quality between single image and fused ones identified reduction of local intensity variance as the major contributor of image quality, boosting SNR and CNR by 5 to 7 folds. This observation further suggests the criticality of good agreement across post-registration images. Triangle inequality on the SSD metric provides a proficient upper-bound and surrogate on such disagreement. Empirical observation also confirms that fused images with high residual SSD have lower SNR and CNR than the ones with low or intermediate SSDs. Registration SSD is structurally close enough to symmetry for reduced computation. Conclusion: Registration residual is shown to be a good predictor of post-fusion image quality and can be used to identify good reference centers. Semi-symmetry of the registration residual further reduces computation cost. Supported by in part by NIH R01 CA096679.
Midnight in Paris

Midnight in Paris centers around a group of Americans who are visiting France for both business and pleasure. The movie explores values, happiness, and compatibility in relationships through the ni...
Catholic and Evangelical Supreme Court Justices: A Theological Analysis

The last three decades have witnessed a substantial growth in Catholic and evangelical influence on public life in the United States. Cochran considers the approaches that Catholics and evangelicals have taken toward culture and considers three aspects of Catholic and evangelical theology that are likely to influence law: the nature of law, community, and religious freedom. Cochran argues that the Catholic doctrines help to explain the substantial growth in the number of Catholics appointed to the Court in recent decades. He argues that it is not that presidents who nominate, citizens who support, and senators who confirm Catholic candidates to the Court are necessarily aware of the Catholic doctrines. Cochran reasons that candidates formed in a Catholic culture that is shaped by these doctrines develop habits of thinking that make them attractive Supreme Court candidates. Many legal scholars, both liberal and conservative, argue for very different reasons that religious faith has no place in legal decision making. Cochran considers that position and argues that while the range of cases in which religiously grounded insights affect judges' decisions should be narrow, religious influences in some cases are both unavoidable and valuable.
Review of Leonard Levy: Blasphemy

This review offers a sympathetic reading of Leonard Levy’s massive historical study of “Blasphemy: Verbal Offenses Against the Sacred Voices from Moses to Salman Rushdie.” Levy spotlights the crime of blasphemy and the injustice of its implementation, showing clearly sympathy with the victims of blasphemy, but not valorizing all of them as he tended to do in his previous works. He also makes clear that today’s sweeping free speech protections of virtually all forms of anti-religious rhetoric has had the ironic effect of making America not only a free society but also a “numb society” that is “beyond outrage”.
Vision-Based 3D Scene Analysis for Driver Assistance

We present a vision-based system for traffic sign detection and ego-motion estimation in road scenarios. The system is capable of autonomous scene reconstruction and classification. It is used to pre-select candidate surfaces in the vicinity of the road that should be inspected more closely by a sign recognition system. We compare two approaches based on a binocular and a monocular camera system, respectively. We discuss their advantages and disadvantages for applications in driver assistance systems.
Sustainability as a Route to Broadening Participation in Engineering

Background Sustainability is increasingly a vital consideration for engineers. Improved understanding of how attention to sustainability influences student major and career choice could inform efforts to broaden participation in engineering. Purpose Two related questions guided our research. How do career outcome expectations related to sustainability predict the choice of an engineering career? Which broader sustainability-related outcomes do students perceive as related to engineering? To address both questions, we compared effects for engineering and nonengineering students while controlling for various confounding variables. Design/Method We conducted a survey to collect responses about sustainability and other variables of interest from a national sample of college students in introductory English classes. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and correlational analysis. Results Students who hope to address certain sustainability issues such as energy, climate change, environmental degradation, and water supply are more likely to pursue engineering. Those who hope to address other sustainability issues such as opportunities for women and minorities, poverty, and disease are less likely to do so. Students hoping to address sustainability-related outcome expectations with obvious human relevance are less likely to pursue engineering. Yet those students who perceive “improving quality of life” and “saving lives” as associated with engineering are more likely to pursue the profession. Conclusions Our results suggest that showing students the connection between certain sustainability issues and engineering careers could help those striving to increase and diversify participation in engineering. A broader range of engineers would likely bring new ideas and ways of thinking to engineering for sustainability.
Strategies of Skaldic Poets for Producing, Protecting, and Profiting from Capitals of Cognition and Recognition

This paper uses Pierre Bourdieu’s notions of cultural capital and related concepts to analyze the strategies employed throughout the viking and middle ages by skaldic poets, particularly court poets, to capitalize on their cultural production, or for producing, protecting, and profiting from capitals of cognition and recognition. Among the strategies considered are mystification, or skalds’ claims for transcendent origin and divine inspiration for their art, and the ways in which skaldic poetry is offered as a means of storing and transmitting valued knowledge or information, of displaying both producers’ and consumers’ mastery over a highly technical, artificial, and thus distinguished discourse, and for consecrating or legitimating the social position and power of patrons. The paper concludes by considering, as a point of contrast with the practices of court skalds, the often very different sorts of strategies employed by composers of devotional poetry praising the Christian Trinity or saints.
Cardiogenic shock: Therapy and prevention

Cardiogenic shock is defined as profound circulatory failure resulting in insufficient tissue perfusion to meet resting metabolic demands. It occurs in approximately 7.5% of patients with acute myocardial infarction. Treatment strategies include inotropic agents, use of intra-aortic balloon counterpulsation, and revascularization. Current evidence supports the use of primary angioplasty. Surgery should be considered in patients with triple-vessel disease. If early catheterization is not available, thrombolytic therapy should be given to eligible patients and transfer to an interventional facility should be considered. Effective therapy for shock must also include a prevention strategy. This requires identification of patients at high risk for shock development and selection of patients who are candidates for aggressive intervention.
Design Criteria For Integrated Optical Devices

Experimental results are presented and compared to theory for losses in Ti diffused LiNbO3 3μ wide channel waveguides having bends. The results include loss due to radiation of the energy away from the waveguide as it propagates around a curved portion of a wave-guide. Scattering loss at corner bends, straight to curved junction and curved to curved junctions are also presented. Experimental results of coherent coupling effects between successive abrupt bends to reduce bending losses is also presented.© (1982) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
The paxillin LD motifs

Adapter/scaffold proteins, through their multidomain structure, perform a fundamental role in facilitating signal transduction within cells. Paxillin is a focal adhesion adapter protein implicated in growth factor- as well as integrin-mediated signaling pathways. The amino-terminus of paxillin contains five leucine-rich sequences termed LD motifs. These paxillin LD motifs are highly conserved between species as well as within the paxillin superfamily. They mediate interactions with several structural and regulatory proteins important for coordinating changes in the actin cytoskeleton associated with cell motility and cell adhesion as well as in the regulation of gene expression.
Quantifying the Value of Visual and Haptic Position Feedback During Force-Based Motion Control

Controlling the motion of a prosthetic upper limb without visual feedback is extremely difficult because the wearer does not know the prosthesis' configuration. This paper describes an experiment designed to determine the relative importance of visual and haptic position feedback during targeted force-based motion by non-amputee human subjects as an analogy to prosthetic use. Subjects control the angle of a virtual proxy through an admittance relationship by generating torque at the MCP joint of the right index finger. During successive repetitions of a target acquisition task, the proxy's state is selectively conveyed to the user through graphical display, finger motion, and tactile stimulation. Performance metrics for each feedback condition will provide insights on the role of haptic position feedback and may help guide the development of future upper-limb prostheses