cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Fluorescence Spectroscopy in Environmental and Hydrological Sciences

One of man’s earliest scientific endeavours involved observations of fluorescence and phosphorescence effects which, over time, led to our present understanding of the underlying electron structure of matter. In the newer disciplines such as hydrology and environmental science the earliest application of fluorescence involved tracing the flow of surface-waters from point to point. This rather minimal use of the fluorescence effect was the only early major hydrologic application and even today remains a workhorse method. In the past, a drawback to the use of fluorescence data to produce more detailed results was the lack of specificity. This has not been true for the past fifteen years. Advances in light sources, light detection, electronics, and optics have resulted in techniques for adding njore specificity to fluorescence data. In much of the work discussed in this paper, excitation-emission matrix (EEM) patterns are utilized as pattern recognition techniques and as semi-quantitative techniques to follow the transport of natural and anthropogenic materials in hydrologic systems.
Diagnosis and management of gonorrhoea in primary care

With cases of gonorrhoea on the rise, Simon Browes shares best practice for prevention and diagnosis
Arterial elasticity as a risk factor for early cardiovascular disease among testicular cancer survivors treated with platinum-based chemotherapy: a cross-sectional pilot study.

Purpose Testicular cancer survivors who have received platinum-based chemotherapy are at risk for premature cardiovascular disease. The etiology of this risk is not well understood. This pilot study explores the impact of platinum-based chemotherapy on endothelial function. Methods Testicular cancer survivors <30 years old at the time of diagnosis who received platinum-based chemotherapy between 2002 and 2012, as well as 17 similarly aged male controls, were identified. Consented subjects underwent vascular assessment using the HDI/PulseWave CR-2000 Cardiovascular Profiling System and the Endo-PAT2000 system. Biomarkers and functional test markers were compared among cases, controls, and a group of historical controls using two sided two-sampled t-tests and Wilcoxon rank-sum tests. Results Thirteen survivors with a median age of 30.2 years and body mass index of 27.3 were enrolled, along with 17 healthy controls with a median age of 27.1 years and body mass index of 24.8. Median time from chemotherapy was 4.7 (range: 0.8-14) years. There was no statistical difference in reactive hyperemia peripheral arterial tonometry ratio between cases and controls (p = 0.574). There was no statistical difference in small or large artery elasticity between cases and controls (p = 0.086) or between cases and historical controls (p = 0.729). There was also no statistical difference in the blood levels of circulating endothelial cells, von Willebrand factor, and vascular cell adhesion molecules. There was a trend toward increased metabolic syndrome in cases (15%) as compared to recruited controls (6%), though this difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.565). Conclusion Testicular cancer survivors have no clinically significant difference in endothelial function compared to controls 4 years after the completion of chemotherapy. Further research is needed to explore the secondary modifiable causes that may contribute to the risk of premature cardiovascular disease.
Departing and Returning: Sense of Agency as an Organizing Concept for Understanding Social Media Non/use Transitions

Recent work has identified a variety of motivations for various forms of technology use and non-use. However, less work has closely examined relationships between those motivations and the experiences of transiting among these different forms of use and non-use. This paper fills that gap by conducting a qualitative interview- and diary-based study where participants were asked to deactivate their Facebook account. An abductive analysis suggests participants' experiences can be organized under the conceptual umbrella of sense of agency, which refers to an individual's perception that their actions are under their own control. The analysis shows how, across disparate motivations, all participants took actions that increased their own subjective sense of agency, regardless of whether they returned to Facebook or not. The discussion applies this conceptual lens to prior studies of technology use and non-use. Doing so shows how sense of agency may provide an organizing orientation for understanding subjective experiences of use and non-use.
A Longitudinal Examination of the Impact of Major Life Events on Physical Activity.

Background. Despite promotion of physical activity guidelines, less than one third of U.S. adults are sufficiently active and an even larger number of older adults fail to meet guidelines. To addre...
Infants Prefer Those Who ‘Bow Out’ of Zero-Sum Conflicts

Cooperation and conflict are basic to human social life. From early infancy, humans seem to recognize cooperation and to prefer cooperative individuals. They also seem to recognize conflict, expecting larger individuals or those with more allies to prevail. The present paper asks how infants feel about others who either win or lose (by yielding) in a conflict. We present a total of nine experiments. In four of the experiments, infants ages 10 to 16 months watched vignettes showing two puppets in a conflict. Infants preferred (reached for) the puppet that yielded to another puppet, rather than the puppet who was yielded to. Five more experiments ruled out alternative explanations for the main findings, including that the infants preferred the yielding puppet because it helped the other puppet achieve its goal. These results are striking in light of earlier findings showing that only five months later, at age 21 months, children emphatically prefer the winner (non-yielding puppet) in such conflicts. These results suggest that humans go through a dramatic developmental shift during the second year of life in the way they evaluate individuals based on the outcomes of conflict.
Development of an Associate Degree Program National Council Licensure Exam for Registered Nurses Preparation Course to Enhance Student Success

Abstract An associate degree nursing program identified a downward trend in National Council Licensure Exam for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN), negatively impacting program outcomes. In response, a 1-hour hybrid capstone course taken in conjunction with graduating senior courses was developed. The course incorporates simulation and NCLEX preparation. Implementation of the capstone course has proven to be an invaluable asset to the program, with upward trends in both Health Education Systems Incorporated and NCLEX-RN pass scores.
Investigation of pre-existing reactivity to biotherapeutics can uncover potential immunogenic epitopes and predict immunogenicity risk.

Despite recent advances in the development of tools to predict immunogenicity risk of biotherapeutic molecules, the ability of a protein to elicit the formation of anti-drug antibodies (ADA) remains one of the most common causes for termination of clinical development programs. In this study, we use ADA assays to detect and measure pre-existing reactivity or the ability of a molecule to produce an ADA-like response in serum from treatment-naive, healthy donors. We report herein that the magnitude of pre-existing reactivity evaluated pre-clinically and expressed as the 90th percentile of Tier 2 inhibition correlates with the subsequent rate of ADA emergence in the clinic. Furthermore, a multi-domain biotherapeutic (IgG-scFv bispecific antibody) showed the highest pre-existing reactivity and incidence of treatment-emergent ADA (TE-ADA) (57% and 93%, respectively). Using the components of the multidomain molecule in the Tier 2 step of the ADA assay, we were able to identify the scFv as the target of the serum pre-existing reactivity. Most importantly, the domain specificity of pre-existing ADA was the same as that of the TE-ADA from patients treated with the molecule. Based on these data, we propose the evaluation of the magnitude and of the domain specificity of pre-existing reactivity as a powerful tool to understand the immunogenic potential of novel biotherapeutics.
Perioperative serum albumin and its influence on clinical outcomes in neonates and infants undergoing cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass: a multi-centre retrospective study.

Hypoalbuminemia is associated with morbidity and mortality in critically ill children. In this multi-centre retrospective study, we aimed to determine normative values of serum albumin in neonates and infants with congenital heart disease, evaluate perioperative changes in albumin levels, and determine if low serum albumin influences post-operative outcomes. Consecutive eligible neonates and infants who underwent cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass at one of three medical centres, January 2012-August 2013, were included. Data on serum albumin levels from five data points (pre-operative, 0-24, 24-48, 48-72, 72 hours post-operative) were collected. Median pre-operative serum albumin level was 2.5 g/dl (IQR, 2.1-2.8) in neonates versus 4 g/dl (IQR, 3.5-4.4) in infants. Hypoalbuminemia was defined as <25th percentile of these values. A total of 203 patients (126 neonates, 77 infants) were included in the study. Post-operative hypoalbuminemia developed in 12% of neonates and 20% of infants; 97% occurred in the first 48 hours. In multivariable analysis, perioperative hypoalbuminemia was not independently associated with any post-operative morbidity. However, when analysed as a continuous variable, lower serum albumin levels were associated with increased post-operative morbidity. Pre-operative low serum albumin level was independently associated with increased odds of post-operative hypoalbuminemia (OR, 3.67; 95% CI, 1.01-13.29) and prolonged length of hospital stay (RR, 1.40; 95% CI, 1.08-1.82). Lower 0-24-hour post-operative serum albumin level was independently associated with an increased duration of mechanical ventilation (RR, 1.35; 95% CI, 1.12-1.64). Future studies should further assess hypoalbuminemia in this population, with emphasis on evaluating clinically meaningful cut-offs and possibly the use of serum albumin levels in perioperative risk stratification models.
Respiratory System Lymphatic Disorders

The lymphatic system begins to develop by the end of the sixth embryonic week. By the eighth week, six primary lymph sacs emerge as buds from the adjacent developing veins. The lymphatic vessels develop in a manner similar to that of the blood vessels and join the primitive lymph sacs. By the ninth week of gestation, there are two large lymphatic vessels (the right and left thoracic ducts) that subsequently merge to form the thoracic duct. Failure of the many connections to form between the embryonic lymphatic channels results in congenital malformations of the lymphatic system, alteration in lymphatic drainage, and development of lymphatic disease.
Growth from Birth to 30 months for Infants Born with Congenital Gastrointestinal Anomalies and Disorders.

Objective This study aimed to investigate growth among neonates with gastrointestinal disorders. Study Design Inclusion criteria included neonates with gastroschisis, omphalocele, intestinal atresia, tracheoesophageal fistula, Hirschsprung's disease, malabsorption disorders, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, and imperforate anus born between 2010 and 2018. Anthropometrics were collected for the first 30 months, and a subgroup analysis was performed for gastroschisis infants. Results In 61 subjects, 13% developed severe growth failure within the first month. One-, four-, and nine-month weight and length z-scores were less than birth weight in all infants (p Conclusion In a cohort of infants with gastrointestinal disorders, growth failure was followed by catch-up growth.
Approval Voting in Circular Societies: Piercing Numbers and Agreement

In the system of approval voting, individuals vote for all candidates they find acceptable. Many approval voting situations can be modeled geometrically and thus, geometric concepts such as the piercing number, can have a natural interpretation. In this paper we explore piercing numbers and agreement in the setting where preferences can be modeled by arcs on a circle -- i.e., in circular societies. We give bounds on piercing and agreement in circular societies with fixed-length approval sets. We also present probabilistic results about the average piercing number for such circular societies.
TIDAL BREAKUP OF BINARY STARS AT THE GALACTIC CENTER AND ITS CONSEQUENCES

The tidal breakup of binary star systems by the supermassive black hole (SMBH) in the center of the galaxy has been suggested as the source of both the observed sample of hypervelocity stars (HVSs) in the halo of the Galaxy and the S stars that remain in tight orbits around Sgr A*. Here, we use a post-Newtonian N-body code to study the dynamics of main-sequence binaries on highly elliptical bound orbits whose periapsides lie close to the SMBH, determining the properties of ejected and bound stars as well as collision products. Unlike previous studies, we follow binaries that remain bound for several revolutions around the SMBH, finding that in the case of relatively large periapsides and highly inclined binaries the Kozai resonance can lead to large periodic oscillations in the internal binary eccentricity and inclination. Collisions and mergers of the binary elements are found to increase significantly for multiple orbits around the SMBH, while HVSs are primarily produced during a binary's first passage. This process can lead to stellar coalescence and eventually serve as an important source of young stars at the Galactic center.
MultiPIM: A Detailed and Configurable Multi-Stack Processing-In-Memory Simulator

Processing-in-Memory (PIM) has being actively studied as a promising solution to overcome the memory wall problem. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a PIM simulation infrastructure to help researchers quickly understand existing problems and verify new mechanisms. However, existing PIM simulators do not consider architectural details and the programming interface that are necessary for a practical PIM system. In this letter, we present MultiPIM, a PIM simulator that models microarchitectural details that stem from supporting multiple memory stacks and massively-parallel PIM cores. On top of the detailed simulation infrastructure, MultiPIM provides an easy-to-use interface for configuring PIM hardware and adapting existing workloads for PIM offloading.
Applications of carbon nanomaterials in perovskite solar cells for solar energy conversion

Abstract The energy issues and environmental concern have led to intense research activities in renewable energy conversion, such as photovoltaic (PV) to convert solar energy into electricity. Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) based on metal halides are rapidly emerging as the most promising and competing PV technology due to its high record power conversion efficiencies and potentially low production costs. Conductive carbon materials, which are abundantly available and low-cost, are introduced into the PSCs. This article provides a mini review of applications of carbon materials for perovskite solar cells. Firstly, a brief introduction of the development of perovskite solar cell is provided. Secondly, applications of carbon nanomaterials in perovskite solar cells are presented and discussed. Finally, an outlook and perspective on the future research directions of carbon nanomaterial for perovskite solar cells is provided.
GIS Day across the Association of Research Libraries: Outreach, Education, and Collaboration

GIS Day is an annual, international celebration of geographic information systems (GIS) and geospatial technologies that provides organizations with an opportunity to help others learn about the real-world applications and positive societal impacts of geography and GIS, highlight services, and celebrate accomplishments. Many academic libraries participate in GIS Day programs, using this well-known event to engage with their campus and local communities. In this article, we build on earlier research conducted by Weimer, Olivares, and Bedenbaugh to reassess the landscape of Association of Research Libraries (ARL) member involvement in GIS Day programs and, in particular, how these events demonstrate the educational and collaborative aspects of geospatial information services in libraries. For our web content analysis, we specifically focus on gathering information about GIS Day programs in 2019 and 2020, allowing for an examination of how libraries participating in GIS Day responded to the operational challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as new opportunities that may have emerged during this period. Finally, we offer our own 2020 GIS Day program as a brief example highlighting how it led to our first cross-institutional collaboration and fostered new opportunities for promoting and partnering on digital scholarship projects at our institutions. © 2021 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
Children's Particulate Matter Exposure Characterization as Part of the New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study.

As part of the New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study, children 3 to 5 years of age participated in a personal PM2.5 exposure study. This paper characterizes the personal PM2.5 exposure and protocol compliance measured with a wearable sensor. The MicroPEM™ collected personal continuous and integrated measures of PM2.5 exposure and compliance data on 272 children. PM2.5, black carbon (BC), and brown carbon tobacco smoke (BrC-ETS) exposure was measured from the filters. We performed a multivariate analysis of woodstove presence and other factors that influenced PM2.5, BC, and BrC exposures. We collected valid exposure data from 258 of the 272 participants (95%). Children wore the MicroPEM for an average of 46% of the 72-h period, and over 80% for a 2-day, 1-night period (with sleep hours counted as non-compliance for this study). Elevated PM2.5 exposures occurred in the morning, evening, and overnight. Median PM2.5, BC, and BrC-ETS concentrations were 8.1 μg/m3, 3.6 μg/m3, and 2.4 μg/m3. The combined BC and BrC-ETS mass comprised 72% of the PM2.5. Woodstove presence, hours used per day, and the primary heating source were associated with the children’s PM2.5 exposure and air filters were associated with reduced PM2.5 concentrations. Our findings suggest that woodstove smoke contributed significantly to this cohort’s PM2.5 exposure. The high sample validity and compliance rate demonstrated that the MicroPEM can be worn by young children in epidemiologic studies to measure their PM2.5 exposure, inform interventions to reduce the exposures, and improve children’s health.
Irony, Ltd., and the Future of Art

Unless my title is ironic — and it isn’t — it must be tendentious, since it presupposes that irony is Limited (that is, has limits) and that art does indeed have a future. 1 The only questions then remaining would be what the limits are and what art will look like in that future. But neither of those first assumptions is self-evident or for that matter evident at all. We have heard talk (and shall hear more here) about the end or the death of art - something of a future, although not one that promises much comfort; and by far the greater emphasis in modern views of irony (the importance attached to irony is largely modern) has been on the absence in irony of all and any limits. I propose to discuss these two views (and their alternatives) in light of what I claim to be an underlying connection between them; that is, in the relationship between art and irony. Even if art and irony were not related in any deep sense, the questions of what the limits of each were individually would warrant discussion; with a connection, that question becomes more pressing still.
Risk Factors for Unscheduled 30-day Readmission after Benign Hysterectomy.

OBJECTIVES Readmission rates after hysterectomy have been reported, but specific risk factors for readmission have not been fully delineated. We aimed to determine risk factors for and implications of 30-day unscheduled readmission after benign hysterectomy using data from the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program. METHODS We identified benign hysterectomy procedures recorded at all participating National Surgical Quality Improvement Program institutions between 2011 and 2012. Outcomes of interest were 30-day unscheduled readmission rates, variables associated with readmission, and complication and mortality rates associated with readmission. Bivariate analyses were performed using Pearson χ(2) and independent t tests for categorical and continuous variables, respectively. Multivariable regression analysis was performed to identify factors independently associated with readmission. RESULTS In total, 21,228 hysterectomies were identified during the study period. Thirty-day readmission rates were 3.8% for abdominal hysterectomy, 2.7% for laparoscopic hysterectomy, 2.9% for laparoscopic-assisted vaginal hysterectomy, and 3.0% for vaginal hysterectomy. Readmission was associated with increased perioperative complications (49.2% vs 6.1%, P < 0.001), return to the operating room (26.3% vs 0.6%, P < 0.001), and mortality (0.3% vs 0.01%, P < 0.001). The most common complications in patients requiring readmission were surgical site infections (28.4%), sepsis (12.8%), urinary tract infection (9.7%), and blood transfusion (6.7%). Variables that were independently associated with 30-day readmission after multivariable regression analysis included younger age (odds ratio [OR] 0.98/year, P < 0.001), smoking (OR 1.28, P = 0.01), diabetes mellitus (OR 1.47, P = 0.008), dyspnea (OR 1.48, P = 0.04), bleeding disorders (OR 1.82, P = 0.04), American Society of Anesthesiologists class ≥ 3 (OR 1.32, P = 0.009), prior surgery within 30 days (OR 3.60, P = 0.04), longer operative time (OR 1.20 per hour of operative time, P < 0.001), inpatient status (OR 1.36, P = 0.001), and longer length of hospital stay (OR 1.04/day, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS Using a large national database, we identified several patient-related and procedural risk factors for unscheduled 30-day readmission after hysterectomy. Readmission was associated with significantly higher rates of complications, a return to the operating room, and a 30-fold increase in mortality. Our findings reinforce the importance of patient selection and optimization of comorbidities before hysterectomy. Future research should aim to further delineate differential risks of readmission by surgical route as well as modifiable risk factors for readmission.
An experimental analysis of ongoing verbal behavior: reinforcement, verbal operants, and superstitious behavior.

Four adult humans were asked to asked to “find” and talk about a particular topic to a person in an adjoining room, and were instructed that they would hear a short beep (the only form of reply from the other person) when they were talking about the topic, or were “close” to the topic. In Session 1, the experimenter in the adjoining room presented the beeps in the manner of shaping, or the differential reinforcement of successive approximations, “toward” the designated topic. In Session 2, the same conditions were in effect but the experimenter was unable to hear the subject and the beeps were presented noncontingently in a way that roughly matched the frequency and distribution of presentations in Session 1. In Session 3, shaping conditions were again in effect but with a different topic than that designated for Session 1. Audio recordings were transcribed in a way that was designed to show the progress of shaping over time. These and additional forms of supporting data and accompanying rationale are presented and discussed in detail. Issues raised by the methodology and results of the experiment include the nature of the verbal operant, superstitious verbal behavior, and a variety of methodological issues relevant to the experimental analysis of ongoing or continuous verbal behavior.
Environmental influences on DNA superhelicity: The effect of ionic strength on superhelix conformation in solution☆

Abstract The techniques of small-angle X-ray scattering and analysis that have been developed by the authors are used to investigate the influence of ionic strength on the superhelical conformation of native COP608 plasmid DNA in solution. For salt concentrations below 0.1 m , the superhelicity is partitioned between twisting (Tw) and writhing (Wr) in the ratio Δ Tw Wr = 2 . Near the physiological salt concentration, [Na+] = 0.2 m , a co-operative transition is observed in which the pitch angle of the toroidal superhelix is drastically decreased. This results in an almost complete relaxation of writhe. At salt concentrations in excess of the threshold for this transition, the superhelical partitioning occurs in the ratio Δ Tw Wr > 25 . Energetic considerations support the suggestion that this transition results from co-operative, superhelical B to Z transconformation reactions at susceptible sites. A method is discussed that will enable the direct measurement of this secondary structural transition by means of X-ray scattering.
Sources of Mutagenic Activity in Urban Fine Particles

Samples were collected during the winter of 1984-1985 in the cities of Albuquerque, NM and Raleigh NC as part of a US Environmental Protection Agency study to evaluate methods to determine the emission sources contributing to the mutagenic properties of extractable organic matter (EOM) present in fine particles. Data derived from the analysis of the composition of these fine particles served as input to a multi-linear regression (MLR) model used to calculate the relative contribution of wood burning and motor vehicle sources to mutagenic activity observed in the extractable organic matter. At both sites the mutagenic potency of EOM was found to be greater (3-5 times) for mobile sources when compared to wood smoke extractable organics. Carbon-14 measurements which give a direct determination of the amount of EOM that originated from wood burning were in close agreement with the source apportionment results derived from the MLR model.
Embracing the Random in the Self-Organizing Psyche

The history of the idea of randomness in the Nineteenth Century is presented as a backdrop to Freud's understanding of randomness in the psyche. Next, the role of the random event in nonlinear dynamical systems theory is discussed. Then, a revision of the traditional psychoanalytic view of the synthetic function of the ego is proposed based on the process of self-organization in which random elements are utilized in the emergence of new systemic structures. A theory of dreaming is elaborated which transcends the traditional dichotomy of dreams as either random events or meaningful psychological contents. Finally, remarks about psychoanalytic treatment as a process of self-organizing incorporation of the random are offered.
Overall evaluation of Skylab (EREP) images for cartographic application

The author has identified the following significant results. The importance of photomap products derived from Skylab type imagery for portrayal of previously unmapped (or poorly mapped) areas is recognized as truly significant. Updating of maps of any scale from Skylab type imaging can only be accomplished on a selective basis. Relative positional accuracy commensurate with 1:100,000 scale (Sl90A) or even 1:50,000 (S190B) is considered correct. However, many features required on such maps cannot be properly identified or classified from such imagery. The comprehensive updating of larger scale maps requires supplementary photography or ground truth.
The cost of ruling, cabinet duration, and the "median-gap" model

In a recent article Paldam and Skott (1995) provide atheoretical explanation for an important empirical phenomenonin democratic countries: incumbent governments tend to losevotes. In this paper, I show that Paldam and Skott'stheoretical explanation for this ``cost of ruling'' ispotentially much stronger than they recognize. Specifically,when generalized in a straightforward way, their modelexplains not only the cost of ruling itself, but also a secondwell established empirical fact: that the longer an incumbentgovernment has been in power, the more votes it loses.Further, this generalization of the model produces twoadditional empirical hypotheses that have not yet been testedin the empirical literature.
Measurement of stacking fault energy from dislocation interactions

The theories and methods applied to the determination of the stacking fault energy (γ) using techniques of direct observation of dislocation configurations are reviewed. The four principal methods, utilizing dislocation nodes, multiple ribbons, stacking fault tetrahedra, and faulted dipoles, are discussed in detail. Different theoretical treatments are compared wherever possible. Experimental procedures and quantitative measurement methods are reviewed, concentrating on transmission electron microscopy techniques. Detailed examples of the application of each method are given. For γ/μb in the range of 2×10−4 to 5×10−3 (μ the shear modulus,b the Burgers vector), measurements on dislocation nodes or multiple ribbons in favorable cases should permit determinations of the stacking fault energy to a precision of 5 pct. For larger values of γ/μb (up to 12×10−3) measurements can be made on tetrahedra or faulted dipoles with less precision. Larger values of the stacking fault energy require high resolution studies of dislocations; these techniques are not yet well established. Possible sources of systematic bias are discussed. Two significant theoretical problems remain concerning the treatment of the dislocation core and the use of anisotropic elasticity. It is of prime importance to characterize as carefully as possible the materials studied if accurate results are desired.
Higher education in a box

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how transfer students interact with a higher education setting that is reacting to new state‐mandated accountability goals, and to understand higher education institutions and their environments when faced with new accountability measures. The larger purpose of the study is to develop a grounded theory that helps all players understand the tensions that exist between the state, the universities, and transfer students.Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents a qualitative study using Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory.Findings – The paper finds that interactions between the systems played a large role in the transfer students' perceptions of their experiences at a four‐year institution. The universities in this study, and their transfer student policies, reflect an environment that was influenced by and influenced transfer students' perceptions.Research limitations/implications – To date no research has been found that incorporates the ecological mo...
Randomness and inductions from streaks: "Gambler's fallacy" versus "hot hand".

Sometimes people believe that a run of similar independent events will be broken (belief in thegambler’s fallacy) but, other times, that such a run will continue (belief in the hot hand). Both of these opposite inductions have been explained as being due to belief in a law of small numbers. We argue that one factor that distinguishes these phenomena is people’s beliefs about the randomness of the underlying process generating the events. We gave participants information about a streak of events but varied the scenarios in such a way that the mechanism generating the events should vary in how random the participants would judge it to be. A manipulation check confirmed our assumptions about the scenarios. We found that with less random scenarios, the participants were more likely to continue a streak.
Marital adjustment and stability following traumatic brain injury: A pilot qualitative analysis of spouse perspectives

BACKGROUND Traumatic brain injury (TBI), causing various impairments and functional changes, may adversely impact marital relationships. However, dynamics of the interactions that contribute to these marital difficulties are complex and poorly understood. There has been little research on marital quality and stability in families of a person with TBI. OBJECTIVE By identifying themes of marital adjustment and stability, this qualitative exploratory study examines how a spouse who has experienced TBI affects the marital relationship. METHODS Two gender-specific focus groups, each with 5 spouses of individuals living with the effects of TBI, were conducted to collect data on marital interactions that were analyzed for themes related to marital adjustment and stability. The data were analyzed using grounded theory, and then relational theories were applied as a framework for organizing the metacodes and concepts. RESULTS This study suggests that, after TBI, changes in family dynamics and the way spouses perceive those dynamics affect movement toward pulling together or pulling apart. CONCLUSION Changes in spousal perceptions, interactions, responsibilities, and reactions to brain injury may impact marital stability and satisfaction. Further study is warranted to better understand and determine whether and how awareness of these changes may be incorporated into treatment.
High order correlations in speckle fields

Polarimetric investigation of fully resolved speckle patterns provides a direct measure of the joint distribution of Stokes vector elements. In the case of highly diffusive media, Gaussian statistics are usually invoked to describe the field distribution and subsequently determine the polarization distribution. However, it has been shown that various types of globally unpolarized field distributions can arise in practice, and that second order polarization correlations can be used as a means for discriminating these various ensembles. We examine polarization correlations as they relate to the thickness and morphological structure of bulk scattering media. We also comment on the usefulness of the complex degree of mutual polarization as a discriminator in this regime.
Axisymmetric transient solutions of the heat diffusion problem in layered composite media

Abstract An analytical/numerical method for solving the problem of non-stationary heat diffusion in multilayered slabs is presented. This is an extension of previous methods that have been used to solve transient heat diffusion problems in one-dimension. In this work, two-dimensional semi-infinite media are considered and double integral transforms are used to obtain the corresponding transfer matrix form from the governing partial differential equations. Numerical techniques are used to compute the overall transfer matrices of the system and to numerically invert them in order to obtain transient results. Difficulties encountered with the numerical operations and ways to circumvent these are presented. The developed methodology has been applied to two-layered configurations.
SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS AND NEUROTIC DISORDER

Sir—Glyn Lewis and colleagues (Aug 22, p 605) conclude “The UK has experienced one of the largest increases in income inequality within the western market economies over the past 20 years, and this inequality may have had adverse consequences for the mental health of the population”. The main finding in the crosssectional study was a correlation between prevalence of neurotic disease and people who did not have access to a car and who rent their homes. Lewis and colleagues also provide references for increased prevalence of neurotic disease and for increased income inequality. However, they give no data on whether an increase in income inequality is directly related to increased neurotic disease. If their conclusion is correct, one would expect that the proportion of people who rent their homes and who do not have access to cars has increased over the past 20 years, which they do not attempt to show. This scenario would also assume that these variables were just as good predictors of standard of living 20 years ago as they are now (which is probably the case). Has the proportion of people who live in rented accommodation and do not have access to a car in the UK increased over the past 20 years?
Non-contact optical fibre phased array generation of ultrasound for non-destructive evaluation of materials and processes

Abstract The use of non-contact laser techniques for the generation of ultrasound has extended the limits of the application of traditional ultrasonic techniques. This paper focusses on the use of one such non-contact laser technique, known as ‘optical fibre array’, to generate shear and surface waves. The shear wave experimental directivity pattern results are presented and compared with the theoretical results of a single source and an array source. The experimental directivity results for the surface wave are also presented, and compared with the theoretical results. The data show that the array enhances signal generation in the forward direction for both shear and surface waves. The array gain is also discussed. The receiver for the directivity measurements was a contact piezoelectric transducer.
Cardiac catheterization in acquired lesions of the heart or lungs.

Right heart catheterization is the only practical mean to verify the clinical diagnosis of primary pulmonary hypertension during life. The differential diagnosis of this syndrome is briefly discussed. Studies of right heart catheterization in patients with chronic obstructive emphysema have demonstrated the following data: 1.Cardiac output is increased at rest in a certain number of cases, but this finding is not the rule, especially in late stages. 2.Pulmonary resistance may be increased at rest and shows a further increase during exercise. 3.Right ventricular work is markedly increased during physical exercise. 4.Different findings of pulmonary arterial pressure, arterial O2 saturation, and cardiac output in different patients may reflect a different extent or type of vascular changes, possibly because the patients were in different stages of an evolutionary process.
Semiclassical study of the ionization spectra of Rydberg atoms driven by intense half-cycle pulses

We present a new semiclassical method, based on an extension of the van Vleck-Gutzwiller propagator, for the study of bound-free transition amplitudes of Rydberg H atoms, initially prepared in quasi-one-dimensional Stark states (n = 100), which are ionized by intense half-cycle pulses. Oscillations in the ionization spectra are described by interference between pairs of classical path amplitudes. The rate of the oscillations depends linearly on the initial principle quantum number n, and the amplitude of the oscillations depends sensitively upon the pulse length and whether the initial state is orientated with or against the direction of electromagnetic polarization.
The current state of the reflector antenna art

The current state of the reflector antenna art is presented in the form of a review article, intended primarily for engineers who are new in the field. The properties of paraboloidal antennas are related to aperture efficiency, surface tolerance, feed defocusing, and aperture blocking. Other reflector shapes considered are offset-fed paraboloids, classical and offset Cassegrain systems, shaped-dual reflectors, and scanning reflectors. Properties of contoured-beam systems are reviewed. Structures and materials are reviewed for ground stations and satellite-borne reflectors. Emphasis is placed on specific hardware examples for each principle or concept. Near-field probing, dichroic surfaces, and techniques of surface metrology are presented as examples of promising areas for new developments.
Formalizing the Rule of Law in Prussia: The Supreme Administrative Law Court, 1876–1914

In the epilogue to his authoritative 1957 intellectual history, The German Idea of Freedom, Leonard Krieger concluded his exploration of German political thought from the Reformation to the Second Empire by excoriating the German liberal middle class, and especially the National Liberal Party, for its compromise with the authoritarian state and the landed aristocracy. He singled out for particular scorn the Rechtsstaat theory of Rudolf Gneist: Rudolf Gneist's doctrine of the Rechtsstaat, from which all oppositional elements had now been removed, set the tone for the adaptation of the old liberal political ideal to cover the legal reality of the new national state … The concept of Rechtsstaat, that barometer of 19th-century liberalism, was no longer defined in terms of a state which permitted to the individual rights apart from the state. It became now simply the kind of state whose power was articulated in legal modes of action — that is, in measures which conformed to general rules.
Steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopic probing of microstructures and properties of perfluorinated polyelectrolyte membranes

A systematic luminescence spectroscopic study of the microstructures and properties of Nafion®, the Dow Chemical films, and the newly synthesized sulfonimide ionomer membrane is reported. The strongly environment-sensitive luminescent probes 6-propionyl-2-(N,N-dimethylamino)naphthalene, 4-(N,N-dimethylamino)benzonitrile, pyrene, and ethidium bromide were used. The results suggest that the different perfluorinated ionomer membranes have generally similar properties with respect to the luminescent molecular probes and that the membrane structures consist of a substantial region that may be characterized as a heterogeneous mixture of water molecules and branches of the perfluorinated polymers. In addition, the effects of thermally stressing the ionomer membranes in an aqueous solution at temperatures up to 250°C on the properties of the membranes are evaluated and discussed.
Suppressor Selection for Amino Acid Replacements Expected on the Basis of the Genetic Code

In studies with A protein mutants of the tryptophan synthetase of Escherichia coli, missense supressors have been used to select for codon changes and corresponding amino acid replacements that are normally unobservable. The technique has permitted the detection of additional amino acid replacements expected on the basis of the genetic code.
Plasma exchange for severe attacks of inflammatory demyelinating diseases of the central nervous system

Plasma exchange has not been widely accepted as a treatment for multiple sclerosis. However, several uncontrolled studies have suggested that patients with severe attacks of MS and other inflammatory demyelinating disease may improve rapidly after plasma exchange treatment. We recently completed a randomized, sham-controlled, crossover clinical trial of plasma exchange in 22 patients with idiopathic inflammatory demyelinating diseases of the central nervous system. Twelve had MS and ten had other inflammatory demyelinating disease syndromes. Forty-two percent of patients experienced moderate or greater recovery over 2 weeks of active treatment administered every other day while only 6% of patients experienced similar improvement while receiving sham treatment. Three patients who failed the sham treatment subsequently improved rapidly after crossover to active treatment; no patient who failed active treatment improved after crossover to sham. This study illustrates the importance of designing randomized clinical trials based on the treatment regimen and patient population studied in the uncontrolled reports that suggested treatment efficacy. Plasma exchange should be considered for patients with idiopathic inflammatory demyelinating disease syndromes when they have failed corticosteroid therapy.
Survival, differentiation, and migration of high-purity mouse embryonic stem cell-derived progenitor motor neurons in fibrin scaffolds after sub-acute spinal cord injury

Embryonic stem (ES) cells can be differentiated into many neural cell types that hold great potential in cell replacement therapies following spinal cord injury (SCI). Coupling stem cell transplantation with biomaterial scaffolds can produce a unified combination therapy with several potential advantages including enhanced cell survival, greater transplant retention, reduced scarring, and improved integration at the transplant/host interface. Undesired cell types, however, are commonly present in ES-cell derived cultures due to the limited efficiency of most ES cell induction protocols. Heterogeneous cell populations can confound the interaction between the biomaterial and specific neural populations leading to undesired outcomes. In particular, biomaterial scaffolds may enhance tumor formation by promoting survival and proliferation of undifferentiated ES cells that can persist after induction. Methods for purification of specific ES cell-derived neural populations are necessary to recognize the full potential of combination therapies involving biomaterials and ES cell-derived neural populations. We previously developed a method for enriching ES cell-derived progenitor motor neurons (pMNs) induced from mouse ES cells via antibiotic selection and showed that the enriched cell populations are depleted of pluripotent stem cells. In this study, we demonstrate the survival and differentiation of enriched pMNs within three dimensional (3D) fibrin scaffolds in vitro and when transplanted into a sub-acute dorsal hemisection model of SCI into neurons, oligodendrocytes and astrocytes.
Investigations of surrogate cellular membranes using neutron reflectometry.

The nonperturbative nature of neutron reflectometry (NR) coupled with its isotopic sensitivity has made it an ideal candidate for the study of model biological membranes at the solid–liquid interface. In this article, methods are presented for the creation and characterization of supported model membranes which can mimic many of the critical attributes of cell membranes. It is demonstrated that NR can characterize the structure, composition and organization of model membranes deposited on solid, nanoporous and polymer supports. Additionally, in situ NR measurements of the interactions between model membranes and external stimuli are presented. Finally, an investigation of the adherence region of live mouse fibroblast cells is described.
A Quantitative Structure Property Relation Correlation of the Dielectric Constant for Organic Chemicals

The dielectric constant (e) or relative static permittivity of a material represents the capacitance of the material relative to a vacuum and is important in many industrial applications. Nevertheless, accurate experimental values are often unavailable, and current prediction methods lack accuracy and are often unreliable. Reported here is the development and testing of a new QSPR (quantitative structure property relation) correlation of e for organic chemicals. On the basis of the regression analysis and tests of the correlation in prediction mode, the average absolute percent error is expected to be less than 3 % when applied to hydrocarbons and nonpolar compounds and less than 18 % when applied to polar compounds with e values ranging from 1.0 to 50.0. The correlation requires values for the dipole moment, solubility parameter, van der Waals area, and refractive index. We show also that density functional calculations of the dipole moment using B3LYP/6-311+G(3df,2p) can be used in the e correlation, wh...