cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Behavior of parturient ewes in group-lambing pens with and without cubicles

Abstract Maternal behavior was examined in 301 multiparous ewes (2–6 years of age) that were of predominantly Suffolk or Targhee breeding. The ewes gave birth in either a normal lambing pen (control) or in a similar pen modified by the addition of 8 cubicles (cubicles). Approximately 100 ewes were present in each pen at a time, creating a density of 1 ewe m−2. Within the cubicle treatment, comparisons were made between the ewes which gave birth inside a cubicle (CUB-I, n = 64) and those that gave birth outside the cubicles (CUB-O, n = 92). CUB-I ewes spent less time moving about (P In comparing the cubicle system and the control pen, it was found that interference with ewes and lambs was less in the cubicle treatment (P
Ordinal response prediction using bootstrap aggregation, with application to a high-throughput methylation data set.

Many investigators conducting translational research are performing high-throughput genomic experiments and then developing multigenic classifiers using the resulting high-dimensional dataset. In a large number of applications, the class to be predicted may be inherently ordinal. Examples of ordinal outcomes include Tumor-Node-Metastasis (TNM) stage (I, II, III, IV); drug toxicity evaluated as none, mild, moderate, or severe; and response to treatment classified as complete response, partial response, stable disease, or progressive disease. While one can apply nominal response classification methods to ordinal response data, in so doing some information is lost that may improve the predictive performance of the classifier. This study examined the effectiveness of alternative ordinal splitting functions combined with bootstrap aggregation for classifying an ordinal response. We demonstrate that the ordinal impurity and ordered twoing methods have desirable properties for classifying ordinal response data and both perform well in comparison to other previously described methods. Developing a multigenic classifier is a common goal for microarray studies, and therefore application of the ordinal ensemble methods is demonstrated on a high-throughput methylation dataset.
Adaptability experiments in the RAID distributed database system

A series of experiments is being conducted on the RAID distributed database system to study the performance and reliability implications of providing static and dynamic adaptability. The authors' studies of the cost of their adaptable implementation were conducted in the context of the concurrency controller and the replication controller. It is shown that adaptable implementations can be provided at costs comparable to those of special-purpose implementations. The experimentation with dynamic adaptability focuses on concurrency control. It is shown that dynamic adaptability can result in performance benefits and that system reconfiguration can be accomplished dynamically with less cost than stopping the system, performing reconfiguration, and then restarting the system. The authors' examination of the costs of providing greater data availability includes studying the replication control and atomicity control subsystems of RAID. The cost associated with increasing availability in an adaptable scheme of replication control and commit protocols is demonstrated. >
Nanofabric PLA architecture with Redundancy Enhancement

Fundamental electronic structures such as diodes and FETs have been shown to be constructed using selectively doped semiconducting carbon nanotubes or silicon nanowires (CNTs, SiNWs) at nanometer scale. Memory and Logic cores have been proposed, that use the configurable junctions in 2D crossbars of CNTs. These memory and logic arrays at this scale exhibit a significant amount of defects that account for poor a yield. Configuration of these devices in the presence of defects demands an overhead in terms of area and programming time. This work introduces a PLA configuration that makes use of fixed and adaptive redundancy in terms of the number of nanowires. This is done in order to simplify the process of programming the PLA, increase the yield, reduce the time complexity, and in turn, reduce the cost of the system.
Ligand-mediated decrease of thyroid hormone receptor-α1 in cardiomyocytes by proteosome-dependent degradation and altered mRNA stability

Tri-iodo-l-thyronine (T3) is essential for maintaining normal cardiac contractile function by regulating transcription of numerous T3-responsive genes. Both hormone availability and relative amount...
Bulk and shear rheology of silica/polystyrene nanocomposite: Reinforcement and dynamics

Bulk and shear rheological studies were performed on a 10 wt % silica nanoparticle-filled polystyrene nanocompo- site. The limiting moduli in glassy and rubbery states are higher for the nanocomposite than for the neat polymer; the increase is consistent with hydrodynamic reinforcement and is slightly higher than the lower bound of the rule of mixtures prediction. All evidence indicates that the presence of nanopar- ticles does not significantly change the polymer dynamics associated with glass transition, except to increase the Tg by 3 K. Comparison of the bulk and shear retardation spectra sug- gests that the underlying mechanisms for both responses are similar at short times and that the long-time chain modes available to the shear are not available to the bulk, consistent with Plazek's earlier findings. In addition, T 2Tg and TV c scal- ing, along with the findings of thermorheological complexity, are discussed. V C 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2015, 53, 621-632
The historical development of interferons as multiple sclerosis therapies

Human interferon (IFN) β is the first therapeutic agent to convincingly reduce the multiple sclerosis relapse rate and retard disability. To achieve this significant treatment advance over 15 years of preliminary work was necessary, encompassing over 15 controlled trials which employed each of the three human interferons. Important insights into the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS) were gained, especially from the findings of the single IFN-γ trial. This short history describes the unfolding of our current understanding of the place for IFNs in the management of MS. The contribution of the patients who have participated is recognized and their courage acknowledged. The final role for IFN treatment of MS is unclear, but future studies will be required to define the best IFN, optimal dose, and route of administration and patient selection for long-term management of MS.
Recognition and localization of a 3D polyhedral object using a neural network

This paper proposes a centroidal profile (CP) and neural network based 3D object recognition and localization method (PRONET). In PRONET approach, CP patterns are extracted from a multiview model of a 3D CAD representation of an object. Correspondences are also saved in the CP pattern. A three-layer feed-forward neural network is trained with these CPs. By matching a CP pattern of the given image with that of the neural network, approximate orientation of the object and line-to-line correspondence between image features and CAD features are obtained. An iterative model posing method then calculates the more exact pose of the object based on initial orientation and correspondence. The advantages of this method are (1) since time-consuming portions of the task are executed off-line, an object can be quickly recognized in the execution stage, and (2) correspondences between 2D image features and 3D model features can be quickly obtained by matching a single CP pattern, instead of creating many hypotheses and then trying to verify each, and (3) PRONET is tightly integrated with the CAD system.
Nonlinear Thinking About Molecular Energy Transfer

Although solvent molecules move about randomly in a liquid, an experiment showed that changing their initial arrangement affected the rate of a chemical process.
Valuing thoughts, ignoring behavior: The introspection illusion as a source of the bias blind spot

People see themselves as less susceptible to bias than others. We show that a source of this bias blind spot involves the value that people place, and believe they should place, on introspective information (relative to behavioral information) when assessing bias in themselves versus others. Participants considered introspective information more than behavioral information for assessing bias in themselves, but not others. This divergence did not arise simply from diVerences in introspective access. The blind spot persisted when observers had access to the introspections of the actor whose bias they judged. And, participants claimed that they, but not their peers, should rely on introspections when making self-assessments of bias. Only after being educated about the importance of nonconscious processes in guiding judgment and action—and thereby about the fallibility of introspection—did participants cease denying their relative susceptibility to bias.
Participation in a program that helps families with one teen pregnancy prevent others.

Abstract Study Objective: To define the optimal target population for a home- and clinic-based mentoring program designed to help one teen pregnancy–families prevent others, by prospectively determining who might be willing to participate in an intervention of this type. Design/Setting/Participants: Pregnant 13-to-19 year olds in a comprehensive, adolescent-oriented maternity program and their younger, nulliparous, 10-to-16 year old sisters were asked to participate in the intervention. Results: Only 27 (61%) of the 44 eligible families agreed to participate and 9 (33%) of these 27 families withdrew within 6 months. Older sisters from nonparticipating families were significantly more likely to be over 16 years of age at conception (53% compared to 15%; P = .01), and younger sisters from families that withdrew were significantly more likely to be over 14 years of age or under 12 years of age at enrollment (63% vs 22%; P = .03). Ultimately, 75% of the families in which the older sister was less than 17 years of age at conception joined the program and only 16% of the families in which the younger sister was 12-to-14 years of age at enrollment withdrew within 6 months. Conclusions: Investigators testing the efficacy of programs for preventing pregnancies among teen mothers and their nulliparous, younger sisters could minimize selection bias by prospectively targeting families in which the older sister became pregnant before she was 17 years old and the younger sister is 12 to 14 years old.
The role of the cosurfactant in the miniemulsion copolymerization of vinyl acetate and n-butyl acrylate

Le coagent de surface (hexadecane) joue plusieurs roles, notamment dans la formation de gouttelettes submicroniques de monomere et en retenant le monomere dans les gouttelettes amorcees mais il influence peu la cinetique. C'est la presence de gouttelettes submicroniques stables qui la modifie en deplacant le mecanisme de nucleation de la phase aqueuse vers les gouttelettes de monomere
Fearful and Associated Responses of Caged White Leghorn Hens: Genetic Parameter Estimates,

Abstract Data were obtained from hens kept in three-bird cages in two, full-year experiments. Feather damage and loss scores, several fear-indicating variables, and measures of egg production were analyzed to obtain estimates of heritabilities and genetic and phenotypic correlations. Heritability estimates were slightly biased because data on individual hens were not available for most traits. Heritability estimates of productivity traits were fairly consistent with values obtained by others, except for age at sexual maturity, which was exceptionally low. Estimated heritability of egg number, based on a 15-day palpation period following full-year egg production, was also low. Feather score appeared to be moderately heritable. Heritability estimates involving escape and avoidance behavior and duration of induced tonic immobility indicate that those fear-related traits should respond to selection, if measured appropriately. None of the correlation coefficient estimates involving associations among feather scores, fear-inducing variables, and measures of egg production differed significantly from zero.
Women’s Resources and Use of Strategies as Risk and Protective Factors for Reabuse Over Time:

Using a longitudinal and ecological approach, we investigated the relationships between women's material and emotional resources and strategies and their ability to stay safe over time in a sample of 406 help-seeking African American women. The multivariate analysis demonstrated that social support served as a protective factor and resistance strategies as risk factors for reabuse during a 1-year period. It also showed an interaction between social support and history of violence such that for participants who had experienced the most severe violence, social support did not serve as a protective factor; however, for the other participants, those with the least amount of social support had a 65% predicted probability of reabuse during the next year, compared to a 20% predicted probability for women reporting the highest level of social support. Policy and programmatic implications of these findings are discussed.
Ordered Delinquency The “Effects” of Birth Order on Delinquency

Juvenile delinquency has long been associated with birth order in popular culture. While images of the middle child acting out for attention or the rebellious youngest child readily spring to mind, little research has attempted to explain why. Drawing from Adlerian birth order theory and Sulloway's born-to-rebel hypothesis, I examine the relationship between birth order and a variety of delinquent outcomes during adolescence. Following some recent research on birth order and intelligence, I use new methods that allow for the examination of between-individual and within-family differences to better address the potential spurious relationship. My findings suggest that contrary to popular belief, the relationship between birth order and delinquency is spurious. Specifically, I find that birth order effects on delinquency are spurious and largely products of the analytic methods used in previous tests of the relationship. The implications of this finding are discussed.
An indirect adaptive external neuro-controller for series capacitive reactance compensator in damping power oscillations

With a properly designed external controller, the series capacitive reactance compensator (SCRC) can be used to damp low frequency power oscillations in a power network. Conventionally, linear control techniques are used to design the external controller around a specific operating point where the nonlinear system equations are linearized. However, at other operating points its performance degrades. Nonlinear adaptive neuro-controllers offer an attractive approach to overcome this SCRC control problem. In this paper, a new indirect adaptive external neuro-controller (INDAEC) using radial basis function neural networks (RBFNN) is proposed to improve the damping performance of the SCRC. This nonlinear INDAEC needs no mathematical model of the SCRC and the power network. Results are included to show that it provides improved damping performance over a wide range of operating conditions
Stigma, Reflected Appraisals, and Recovery Outcomes in Mental Illness:

Drawing on modified labeling theory and the reflected appraisals process and using longitudinal data from 129 mothers and their adult children with schizophrenia, we estimate models of the effects of mothers’ stigmatized identity appraisals of their mentally ill children on reflected and self-appraisals, and how appraisals affect outcomes (symptoms, self-efficacy, life satisfaction). Results indicate that initial symptoms and functioning are related to how significant others think about their ill family members, how persons with mental illness think others perceive them, and how they perceive themselves. Part of the effects of initial symptoms and functioning on reflected appraisals are due to mothers’ appraisals. A small part of the effects of outcomes on self-appraisals are due to others’ and reflected appraisals. Stigmatized self-appraisals are related to outcomes, but reflected appraisals do not affect outcomes directly. Implications for modified labeling theory and social psychological processes in recovery from mental illness are discussed.
Population Genetic Structure of the Prairie Skink (Eumeces septentrionalis): Nested Clade Analysis of Post Pleistocene Populations

We sequenced two regions of the mitochondrial genome, ND4 and d-loop, from 64 Eumeces septentrionalis to assess intra- and interspecific population differentiation. We constructed haplotype genealogies for nine Eumeces septentrionalis septentrionalis populations in previously glaciated regions and used nested clade analysis to examine the role of vicariance and dispersal in shaping the population structure of E. s. septentrionalis in the northern part of its range following Pleistocene paleoclimatological events. In addition, we used DNA sequence data to compare populations of the northern subspecies (E. s. septentrionalis) with the southern subspecies (Eumeces septentrionalis obtusirostris) to determine whether specific level differentiation is evident. For populations of E. septentrionalis in previously glaciated areas, nested clade analyses revealed isolation by distance with restricted gene flow at both haplotype and upper clade levels as the inferred geographical pattern reflecting the lack of overlapping haplotypes in distant populations. These results suggest that colonization of E. septentrionalis into previously glaciated areas was from a single source with restricted gene flow. These results do not support past population fragmentation or colonization from multiple, genetically distinct source populations. Parsimony and maximum likelihood phylogenetic analyses showed reciprocal monophyly between northern (E. s. septentrionalis) and southern (E. s. obtusirostris) subspecies with uncorrected sequence divergence ranging from 6.7-7.0%. These results, combined with the morphological differences found in previous studies, suggest that these allopatric populations are on separate evolutionary trajectories.
Hemorrhage from a pituitary macroadenoma after a minor trauma.

To the Editor: Pituitary hemorrhage is a rare and possibly life-threatening condition caused by acute bleeding in the pituitary gland, usually within a macroadenoma. In this letter we report a case of a large pituitary hemorrhage that fared well with relatively mild sequelae. An 80-year-old Caucasian woman presented with severe headaches of two days duration that started after a fall in the yard without loss of consciousness. She took aspirin for the headaches without effect. CT of the head showed a suprasellar hemorrhage. MRI showed pituitary enlargement, 20 x 19 x 16 mm, with enhancement in the caudal right aspect of the pituitary gland (Fig. 1-3). The pituitary gland extended cephald to about the optic chiasm. There was blood within the right suprasellar cistern extending into the prepontine cistern along the clivus. On physical exam there were no remarkable findings except for a blood pressure of 148/105 mmHg. Her white blood cell count was 6000 /mm 3 , hemoglobin 13 g/dl, hematocrit 39%, platelets 214000 /mm 3 , prothrombine time 15.7 seconds and INR 1.22. The patient had no significant past medical history. She reported no breast discharge, vision problems or seizures. The patient did not smoke or drink and was on no medications and looked younger than her age. The possibility of a ruptured aneurysm was investigated and excluded on a four-vessel cerebral arteriogram. The clinical and radiological picture was more consistent with a bleeding from a macroadenoma than with a pituitary apoplexy because of the subtle changes in the hormonal homeostasis. The patient was first admitted to ICU then transferred to the floor after four days and discharged two days later. Four years afterward the patient was seen on a follow-up visit; she was on levothryoxine, bromocriptine and risedronate and was doing fine. This case is interesting because of its presentation. Few similar cases of pituitary hemorrhage or apoplexy after a minor trauma were reported in the literature [1-3]. An adenoma may grow silently in a patient and reach considerable measurements and then suddenly reveal itself after a minor trauma in form of hemorrhage or apoplexy. In our case, what may have contributed to the radiological picture is that the patient with evident brain atrophy (as seen on CT) tried to treat pain with aspirin, a strong antiaggregant. This probably prevented a small vascular injury in the pituitary adenoma from occluding itself turning a microscopic-size bleeding into a radiologically-sizable one. In a recently reported study
BUC, a simple yet efficient concurrency control technique for mobile data broadcast environment

Due to the limited bandwidth of the wireless channel, data should be organized and presented to the user based on need. Moreover when a number of users have similar data interests, data broadcast can be used to manage sending the needed data to the listening users. This eases the impact of limited bandwidth and improves the performance of the mobile system. We propose a concurrency control algorithm that solves the inconsistency problem that may be observed by the client during the broadcast. We use broadcasted and updated cycles (BUC) for the purpose of conflict checking. Our technique is simple, yet efficient in both space and overhead.
Stroke Causing Pure Brachial Monoparesis

We studied 15 consecutive patients with acute brachial monoparesis due to stroke. There were 12 men and 3 women aged 45–78 years (mean, 61). Stroke workup included brain imaging, carotid duplex, echocardiography, and blood tests. In nine patients, the arm weakness was mainly distal, and in six it was equal distally and proximally. Tendon reflexes in the affected arm compared to the contralateral arm were symmetrical in 10, increased in 3, and decreased in 2 patients. In 14 patients, brain imaging showed a stroke in the middle cerebral artery branch territory superficially corresponding to the symptoms; and magnetic resonance imaging was negative in 1. Fourteen strokes were ischemic, and 1 was hemorrhagic. Of the 14 patients with ischemic stroke, 6 had > 50% ipsilateral extracranial cartoid artery stenosis, 4 had a serious source of cardiac emboli, and in 4 the cause of stroke was not identified. Our findings suggest that sudden brachial monoparesis should be considered a middle cerebral artery branch territory nonlacunar stroke syndrome. The etiologies of stroke causing pure brachial monoparesis are varied and include carotid artery disease, cardiac embolism, and intracerebral hemorrhage.
Human-Building Interaction Framework for Personalized Thermal Comfort-Driven Systems in Office Buildings

AbstractCentrally controlled heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in commercial buildings are operated by building management systems (BMS) based on the predefined operational settings and a set of assumptions. Despite the high rate of energy consumption by HVAC systems in commercial buildings, observations showed that a significant portion of the occupants remain dissatisfied with thermal conditions. One of the main reasons is that HVAC systems do not take into account personalized comfort preferences in their operational rules. This study proposes a framework to integrate building occupants in the HVAC control loop, learn their comfort profiles, and control the HVAC system based on occupants’ personalized comfort profiles. The framework fuses occupants’ comfort perception indices (i.e., comfort votes provided by users and mapped to a numerical value), collected through participatory sensing, and ambient temperature data, collected through a sensor network, and computes occupants’ co...
MORPHOLOGIC CHANGES ACCOMPANYING SENESCENCE OF CULTURED HUMAN DIPLOID CELLS

The lysosomes of serially propagated human fibroblasts gradually transform to residual bodies which increase in number and size, and show progressive degenerative changes. There is an accompanying, and less regular, decrease in the number of cytoplasmic polyribosomes and an increased number of glycogen particles. The onset of these morphologic alterations occurs shortly after culture initiation and precedes any marked decrease in the rate of cellular growth; however, in their extreme form these changes may be related to the ultimate cessation of cellular multiplication ("senescence"). The lysosomal changes were seen only in those cell strains which eventually showed senescence, and were absent or minimal either in cell lines which can be propagated indefinitely ("spontaneous" and viral transformants, cancer cells), or in skin sections from aging subjects.
Two‐Photon Imaging in Live Rodents

Two-photon imaging is an innovative optical technique that has quickly become state of the art for imaging fluorescent signals in a variety of organisms. With many advantages over conventional confocal microscopy, such as greater image resolution, deeper access (approximately 400 microm), and much less photo damage, two-photon microscopy has already proven to be an extremely useful tool for imaging live cells or tissue. Due to its tremendous versatility, recent efforts have adapted this technique to allow visualization of fluorescent cells directly in living animals. This unit describes a basic procedure for performing two-photon imaging in vivo as applied to the dorsal surface of the brain in live anesthetized mice or rats. The protocol outlines a surgical preparation to enable the capture of stable, high-resolution (<1 microm) images of fluorescently labeled neurons in intact brain with very little detrimental effect to either cells or tissue.
A revision of the Australian endemic water beetle genus Gymnanthelius Perkins (Coleoptera: Hydraenidae)

The Australian endemic water beetle genus Gymnanthelius Perkins is revised, based on the study of 1,995 specimens. Five new species are described: G. lamingtonensis (Queensland, Lamington, Binna Burra), G. maxipunctus (New South Wales), G. opacicollis (Victoria, Traralgon Creek., 0.2 km N. Hogg Bridge , 5.0 km NNW Balook), G. porchi (Victoria, Possum Hollow Falls, W. br. Tarwin River, 5.6 km SSW Allambee), and G. tunicus (Victoria, Traralgon Creek., 0.2 km N. Hogg Bridge , 5.0 km NNW Balook). A key to the eight known species is given. High resolution digital images of all holotypes are presented (online version in color), geographic distributions are mapped, and the male genitalia are illustrated. Available microhabitat data indicate that Gymnan-
Funding Expanded School Mental Health Programs

Mental health services for students across the developmental spectrum are often limited and difficult to access (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, 2008). For example, about 70 % of school-aged children and adolescents with a mental health disorder do not receive treatment (Greenberg et al., 2003). Because education in the USA is an entitlement for all children, schools have been identified by the federal government as a natural setting and best site to provide mental health treatment and prevention services due to the large number of children and adolescents who can be reached in a school location (Anglin, 2003). In recognition of the value of providing services directly where students are, over the past 20 years, policies and programs that integrate mental health services into schools have flourished, and research continues to demonstrate their positive impacts on educational and mental health outcomes of students. The Surgeon General’s report on Children’s Mental Health (US Department of Health and Human Services, 2000) and the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health (New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, 2003) while identifying schools as a major setting for providing mental healthcare utilization children and adolescents did not address funding issues related to how to finance these recommended services. Developing and sustaining funding streams to support the delivery of school mental health services and prevention programs continues to be an obstacle at local, state, and national levels (Evans et al., 2003).
The (Sodium plus Potassium)-Transport ATPase

The (Na+ + K+) ATPase (EC 3.6.1.3) is the enzymatic expression of the principal active cation-transport system in eucaryotic cells. In a number of tissues—brain, electric organ, kidney, salt glands, etc.—it constitutes the main mechanism for producing physiological work. Thus the mechanism of this enzyme is of great interest both in terms of cell physiology and molecular biology. The questions of most fundamental interest relate to (1) how the free energy of hydrolysis of ATP is channeled into vectorial work, (2) the molecular structure of the ionophoric mechanism, and (3) how the active transport mechanism is regulated to conform to the requirements of the cell.
A Bargaining Model for Predicting Price Adjustments to Technological Change

The application of economic theory to problems of price-quantity adjustments in bargaining situations has been limited by the importance of variables which are not subject to quantification. This paper shows how some of these behavioral variables can be incorporated into an economic model to increase the predictability of the equilibrium adjustments between two segments of an industry. In this article, experimental work done by Siegel and Fouraker on individual behavior under bargaining conditions is incorporated into an economic model based on theoretical propositions developed by Edgeworth, Fellner, and others. The absolute limits of the bargaining range are established by the minimum profits acceptable to the firms engaged in negotiation. The equilibrium position within this range is determined by the distribution of bargaining power. The model is illustrated with the Michigan asparagus industry, in which a technological change in harvesting resulted in substantial shifts in the distribution of profits. The bargaining negotiations between producers and processors established a series of new prices for the raw product. On the basis of the analytical model, the outcome of the adjustment is hypothesized to be within a relatively narrow range of prices. This hypothesis is tested against the empirical evidence of actual adjustments in the industry and implications for further group action by producers are presented.
Case records of the Massachusetts General Hospital. Case 3-2014. A 61-year-old woman with gastrointestinal symptoms, anemia, and acute kidney injury.

A 61-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital because of vomiting, diarrhea, anemia, and acute kidney injury. Physical examination was normal. Laboratory testing and a diagnostic procedure were performed.
Childhood-Onset Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Childhood-onset disease represents 10–20% of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) cases. The demographic characteristics largely parallel those seen in adult-onset disease, although the female:male ratio is less skewed in children, and may approach equal in very early onset SLE. The genetic contribution is thought to be stronger in childhood-onset disease, and this is supported by younger onset of disease in cases of familial lupus. The clinical manifestations of pediatric lupus are also similar to those seen in adults. However, children generally present with more severe disease and higher prevalence of lupus nephritis. This, together with their longer lifetime burden of disease, means that patients with childhood-onset SLE have higher morbidity and mortality overall. They may experience greater effects of medication toxicity due to higher cumulative exposure and exposure during their critical period of growth.
RESEARCH ON THE CORRELATION OF EFFLUX PUMP GENES AND DRUG RESISTANCE PHENOTYPIC OF Acinetobacter baumannii ISOLATED FROM HOSPITAL

Objective To research the correlation of efflux pump genes( adeB gene、qacEΔSUⅠ1) and drug resistance phenotypic expression of Acinetobacter baumannii strains isolated from hospital. Methods The polymerase chain reaction( PCR) technology and drug sensitive test were used to carry out observation on the detection of drug resistance gene and drug resistance of Acinetobacter baumannii strains isolated from inpatient and environment of some general hospital in Shanghai. Results The positive rates of drug efflux pump adeB gene of Acinetobacter baumannii strains isolated from inpatient and environment of this hospital was 84. 21% and 74. 29% respectively. The positive rates of disinfectant resistance gene qacEΔSUⅠ1 of Acinetobacter baumannii strains isolated from inpatient and environment of this hospital was 89. 47% and94. 29% respectively. The carriage of adeB and qacEΔSUⅠ1 genes may have correlation with the antibiotics drug resistance. Conclusion The multi- drug resistance Acinetobacter baumannii strains carrying disinfectant resistance genes have spread in the environment,which put a challenge on the current disinfection and isolation measures.
Intrauterine Growth Restriction, Small for Gestational Age, and Experimental Obesity

Both high and low birth weight (LBW) have a programmed predisposition to adult metabolic syndrome, which is exacerbated by exposure to Western high-fat diets. This review discusses animal models of obesity, including programming during embryonic, fetal, and postnatal periods. Programming affects a diversity of organ systems, but we focus specifically on central appetite function and peripheral adipogenesis/lipogenesis. Appetite is regulated by hypothalamic orexigenic and anorexigenic pathways, the neurons of which receive central (e.g., synaptic) and peripheral (e.g., leptin, ghrelin, insulin) input which adjust orexigenic drive. In humans, appetite pathways are well developed while satiety circuits are notably less functional, contributing to the difficulty of self-motivated dietary weight loss. The analysis of neural stem cell cultures (NSCs) has provided an insight into how leptin and insulin deficiency, associated with LBW, may permanently affect development of hypothalamic appetite pathways and thus program ingestive behavior. In regards to programmed adiposity, we review the pivotal role of the adipogenic transcription factor PPARγ, which promotes both adipogenesis and lipogenesis, contributing to the development of obesity. Neonatal leptin supplementation may prevent programmed obesity in animal models of LBW. Although this hormone may be considered as an additive for LBW humans, additional studies are needed prior to clinical intervention. Further research is needed for approaches to the optimization of fetal growth throughout pregnancy. In the interim, maternal breastfeeding of LBW and normal weight newborns should be encouraged.
Public Enterprise Reform: A Challenge for the World Bank

In the oil-producing countries of the Middle East, many members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have developed labor markets that depend heavily onforeign labor. Can policymakers there look to Singapore and Malaysia for lessons in managing foreign labor in the context of persistent excess demand for labor concurrent with emerging unemployment among nationals? The emerging economies of Singapore and Malaysia have labor markets with large foreign components because excess labor demand was for a long time met by foreign workers. Immigration policy to manage the inflow of expatriate labor in the two countries consists of highly regulated work permit systems that differentiate workers by nationality, skill level, and sector of activity. The associated permit fees vary across these parameters. Has immigration policy effectively managed foreign labor flows? These two countries' containment of the foreign labor force at a time of rapid, sustained growth suggests that it has. It is not enough to establish a stable macroeconomic climate with favorable investment incentives (as Kuwait has learned). In Singapore and Malaysia, complementary measures help make their immigration policies effective. Those measures include nationalization policies that limit opportunities for expatriates, institutional capacity to implement and enforce policy, a macroeconomic environment conducive to growth and job creation, and wage and employment policies that are mutually reinforcing. Trends in employment composition in both Singapore and Malaysia support the assertion that foreign labor policy effectively targets workers with skills at both extremes of the scale to fill gaps in labor demand unmet by nationals. But the news is not all good. A huge informal sector of illegal foreign workers in both countries suggests a degree of policy failure. Household survey data from Malaysia show that foreign workers earn less than their citizen counterparts. Foreign labor shares in labor markets in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries range from 50 to 90 percent of the total labor force in the context of persistent excess demand for labor concurrent with emerging unemployment among nationals. Policymakers could look to Singapore and Malaysia for lessons in managing foreign labor. But replicating Singapore's or Malaysia's immigration policies alone, without addressing existing employment and pay distortions, may have limited success, given the very different economies and institutional environments in the GCC. This paper - a product of the Social and Economic Development Group, Middle East and North Africa Region - is part of a larger effort in the region to study labor issues affecting development and growth. The author may be contacted at eruppert@worldbank.org.
Vacuum System and Modeling for the Materials Plasma Exposure Experiment

Understanding the science of plasma-material interactions (PMI) is essential for the future development of fusion facilities. The design of divertors and first walls for the next generation of long...
Effects of alcohol consumption on blood pressure in hypertensive women.

ABSTRACTBackground: Problem drinking carries significant health burdens, including an increased risk of hypertension. The effect of chronic alcohol intake on blood pressure (BP) in women is understudied and poorly understood. Objectives: We sought to examine the relationships between drinking habits and BP in hypertensive women. Methods: We analyzed drinking habits in 113 women followed in the Brigham and Women's Hospital Hypertension Clinic for at least one year. Results: Among these women with well-controlled hypertension, baseline diastolic BP was significantly lower in moderate drinkers compared with women who rarely or never drank. Changes in both systolic and diastolic BP over 12 months showed a significant negative association with changes in percent drinking days. In contrast, there was a trend toward higher baseline systolic BP among those women who consumed more drinks per drinking day. Conclusions: Among these women with controlled hypertension, our data failed to demonstrate an association bet...
Territorial behaviour in southern red-backed and Ozark zigzag salamanders: effects of sex, species and ownership

When both males and females are territorial, spatial and aggressive behaviour can vary between the sexes. We examined differences in exploratory and competitive behaviour between males and females and residents and intruders of two species, the Ozark zigzag (P. angusticlavius) and southern red-backed (P. serratus) salamanders. For exploratory behaviour, males and females differed in distance traveled based on species, but females of both species were significantly more cautious than males about leaving territories. In competition trials, male and female territory residents (owners) did not differ in defensive behaviour, but female intruders were more aggressive than male intruders. Overall, P. angusticlavius showed more aggressive behaviour, explored more, and were less cautious about leaving territories than P. serratus. Female intruders of both species fight harder, potentially to gain territories, and are more cautious about leaving territories, which may indicate that the cost of not having a territory is greater for females.
Assembly of Shaker K-Channels from a Random Mixture of Subunits Carrying Different Mutations

Homo-multimeric membrane proteins are functional entities formed by the stable association of identical subunits that recognize each other to form an homogeneous population. With the advent of recombinant DNA technology, the manipulation of protein phenotypes combined with their heterologous expression has given rise to a whole new set of phenomena: heterogeneous populations with intermediate or combined phenotypes. They appear when different variants of the same protein are expressed in the same cell at the same time. The study of the statistical composition of these heterogeneous protein populations may lead to a better understanding of the mechanisms of synthesis, subunit association, and assembly of membrane proteins.
Who Is the Donor

A woman with high-risk MDS underwent peripheral blood stem cell transplantation from an unrelated male donor with a 9/10 HLA-antigen match. On day +32 after the transplant (a Friday), she was transferred to a local hospital. The discharge letter was faxed to hematology secretarial office. The following day, her hemoglobin was 8.0 g/dl, platelet count 85 × 109/l, and neutrophils 4.1 × 109/l. Two units of leucodepleted red cells were selected for transfusion to the patient. First unit was transfused uneventfully; transfusion was stopped halfway through the second unit, after the intervention of the duty consultant who realized that the units had not been irradiated.
Intelligence: From Genes to Genius in the Quest for Control

Intelligence is an elusive concept that will be with us for the indefinite future. It is a highly problematic term, born of the observation that individuals differ in their accomplishments, skills, and ability to profit from experience with sufficient stability that certain predictions can be made to pragmatic advantage. Understandably, the concept is anthropocentric. It was formulated in response to observations by humans of humans. That origin has complicated the formulation of a perspective concerning the sources of human intelligence. Our perspective is the comparative framework, which holds that human attributes had their origins in evolution that might be traced in part even today in extant animal forms.
Filter-and-Convolve: A Cnn Based Multichannel Complex Concatenation Acoustic Model

We propose a convolutional neural network (CNN) based multichannel complex-domain concatenation acoustic model. The proposed model extracts speech-specific information from multichannel noisy speech signals. In addition, we design two CNN templates that have wide applicability and several speaker adaptation methods for the multichannel complex concatenation acoustic model. Even with a simple BeamformIt beamformer and the baseline language model, our method obtains a word error rate (WER) of 5.39% on the CHiME-4 corpus, outperforming the previous best result by 13.06% relatively. Using an MVDR beamformer, our model outperforms the corresponding best system by 9.77% relatively.
New international standards for high pressure therapeutic ultrasound fields

High pressure levels of strongly focused therapeutic transducers create new challenges for formulating international standards for measurement and simulation. Earlier efforts of Working Group 6, High Intensity Therapeutic Ultrasound and Focusing Transducers, Technical Committee 87 of the International Electrotechnical Commission, resulted in a standard for measuring high power (up to 500 W) and a specification for measuring ultrasound fields at lower amplitudes using existing linear methods and scaling up to higher therapeutic levels. Presently, work is underway on a new document to describe direct approaches for characterizing ultrasound pressure fields in water up to 100 MPa through the use of state of the art optical and robust hydrophones. Because the real goal of our efforts is to determine therapeutic pressure levels in tissue at a target site, we have initiated work on a second hybrid approach which combines characterization of the radiated field close to the transducer in water with nonlinear field simulation programs. In this way the characterization data which preserve the uniqueness of a particular transducer are used as input to a simulator program for realistic field prediction. Our group is addressing how to simulate nonlinear propagation in heterogeneous absorbing tissues accurately and to benchmark simulation software.
Trimming Device for Obtaining Direct Shear Specimens from Samples of Stiff Fissured Clay Shale

A device has been developed at the U. S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station for obtaining direct shear specimens of hard, brittle soils, the use of which has resulted in a reduction in man-hours for specimen preparation from 3 or 4 h to 50 or 60 min per specimen. This device, which has proved to be superior to any previous apparatus used for obtaining direct shear specimens of such soils, is fitted to the base of a commercially available unconfined compression apparatus of the hand-operated type. Samples found untrimmable heretofore can now be tested, because a sample is held rigidly during trimming operations, and the time of exposure to air drying (and subsequent deterioration) has been reduced substantially.
Assessing the Impacts of Urban Water-Use Restrictions at the District Level: Case Study of California’s Drought Mandate

AbstractThis paper estimates feasible water savings for a sample of nine urban water districts in California during the height of the 2012–2016 drought, just prior to the implementation of mandator...
The Geoglyph as a Medium for Anarchist Ritual

Geoglyphs are widely seen as an expression of past sacred landscapes. In this article, I offer a new theoretical approach to geoglyphs, interpreting them as a distinctly anarchic and decentralized medium for ritual activity. When we define geoglyphs as large-scale images, and exclude other phenomena such as earthworks, it is clear that their occurrence is actually quite limited in space and time. Almost all known examples of geoglyphs are located in the Americas, and they are particularly associated with ‘middle-range’ societies, rather than states or empires. Geoglyphs produced by hunter-gatherer communities are also comparatively rare. I regard this pattern as a direct consequence of the anarchist affordances of the geoglyph medium. In agricultural societies where regional integration and incipient centralization were taking place (e.g. the ancient Nasca), geoglyphs provided a decentralizing counterbalance. I therefore theorize the incorporation of geoglyph-based ritual practices as a historically situated process of constitutional reform, whereby ancient peoples consciously sought to redistribute power and authority.