cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Alcohol consumption and suicide

About 90% of people in Western countries use alcohol at some time in their lives, and 40% experience temporary or permanent alcohol-related impairment in some area of life as a result of drinking. Multiple sociocultural and environmental factors influence suicide rates, and thus studies conducted in one nation are not always applicable to other nations. Impulsivity and aggression are strongly implicated in suicidal behaviour. Constructs related to aggression and impulsivity confer additional risk for suicidal behaviour in people with alcohol dependence. Lower serotonin activity is tied to increased aggression/impulsivity, which in turn may enhance the probability of suicidal behaviour. Acute alcohol use is associated with suicide. Suicide completers have high rates of positive blood alcohol. Intoxicated people are more likely to attempt suicide using more lethal methods. Alcohol may be important in suicides among individuals with no previous psychiatric history. Alcohol dependence is an important risk factor for suicidal behaviour. Mood disorder is a more powerful risk factor for suicide among problem drinkers as age increases. All individuals with alcohol use disorders should be assessed for suicide, especially at the end of a binge or in the very early phase of withdrawal. Middle-age and older men with alcohol dependence and mood disorders are at particularly high risk.
A Bayesian approach for integration of physical and computer experiments for quality improvement in nano-composite manufacturing

This paper presents a new Bayesian predictive approach for quality improvement in nano-composite manufacturing that aims to improve the accuracy of computer model simulations by combining physical process data and computer model predictions. Such a data augmentation method is of crucial importance for capital-intensive nano-composite processes for which large experimental studies are usually very costly or impractical. A simulation example and a case study on a real vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) composite manufacturing process are used to illustrate the proposed approach. The results of these studies show that the proposed approach can achieve more accurate predictions of the process variability than pure empirically based or pure simulation-based methods for a given experimental data size. An important practical implication of the results of this work is that, by using the proposed Bayesian method that leverages computational methods with the experimental data, one can accomplish significant reduction in product development costs by reducing the number of physical experiments and improving the prediction accuracy of computer models. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Mechanical Property Measurement at the Micro/Nano Scale

There are three main challenges in measuring the mechanical properties of specimens with minimum dimensions on the order of microns or less — preparation and handling, force application and measurement, and strain measurement. This is a brief overview of the various test methods with emphasis on tensile testing because it produces a uniform stress and strain field, which enables unambiguous property measurements.
Sinogenic orbital and subperiosteal abscesses: Microbiology and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus incidence

OBJECTIVE: To assess the current bacteriology and the incidence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in orbital and subperiosteal abscesses of paranasal sinus disease origin. STUDY DESIGN: Case series with chart review. SETTING: An otolaryngology and ophthalmology specialty hospital. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Fifty-three patients were treated between 1994 and 2008 for orbital or subperiosteal abscess and paranasal sinusitis, confirmed by imaging and surgical intervention; 46 had operative culture specimens and comprise the study cohort. RESULTS: The mean patient age was 28 years; one third were younger than 18. Nearly twice as many patients had subperiosteal (n 30) as had orbital abscesses (n 16). In 12 patients (26%), cultures were negative or grew only skin flora contaminants (coagulase-negative staphylococci, diphtheroids, and Propionibacterium acnes). Fifteen patients (33%) grew more than one pathogen. Streptococci were isolated in 17 of the 46 cases (37%), S. aureus in 13 (28.3%), gram-negative bacilli in eight (17.4%), and anaerobes in nine (19.6%). Methicillin-resistant S. aureus accounted for three (23.1%) of the S. aureus isolates and 6.5 percent of the total cases. CONCLUSION: Abscess cultures grew a mixture of bacteria, including gram-positive cocci, gram-negative bacilli, and anaerobes. Although streptococci were the most common genus of bacteria isolated, S. aureus was the single most common pathogen recovered and one fourth of these cases were methicillin-resistant S. aureus. Given the significant morbidity that may result from inadequate treatment, an antibiotic active against methicillin-resistant S. aureus should be included in the initial broad-spectrum antimicrobial treatment regimen of orbital and subperiosteal abscesses of sinusitis origin until culture results are available.
Case Study of Multiyear Precipitation Variations and the Hydrology of Fort Cobb Reservoir

Impacts of decadal precipitation variations on reservoir inflow, flood releases, and pool elevation were investigated for the Fort Cobb Reservoir, which controls runoff from a 787 km2 agricultural watershed in central Oklahoma. The difference in mean annual precipitation between multiyear dry and wet periods was 33% of the long-term mean and led to a corresponding 100% change in mean reservoir inflow, 170% change in mean annual flood releases from the reservoir, and a maximum drop in conservation pool elevation of 2 m . From a reservoir operations perspective, only the frequency of controlled flood releases was impacted by decadal precipitation variations. These flood releases were sporadic in nature, and the more frequent releases during wet periods were not believed to appreciably enhance stream habitat and riparian vegetation downstream of the reservoir. It was further reasoned that large differences in annual reservoir inflow due to decadal precipitation variations would likely be accompanied by relat...
Simulating stand-level harvest prescriptions across landscapes: LANDIS PRO harvest module design

Forest landscape models (FLMs) are an important tool for assessing the long-term cumulative effects of harvest over large spatial extents. However, they have not been commonly used to guide forest management planning and on-the-ground operations. This is largely because FLMs track relatively simplistic vegetation information such as age cohort presence/absence, forest type, and biomass that are incompatible with tree density and size on which most harvest prescriptions are based. We describe and demonstrate the newly developed harvest module of the LANDIS PRO FLM, which tracks density, size, basal area, and stocking by species age cohorts for each site (cell). With this quantitative information, the module can simulate basal area controlled harvest, stocking-level controlled harvest, and group selection harvest. Through user-specified harvest year (fre- quency), stand ranking, and species and age preference, the new module can simulate a wide variety of harvest prescriptions such as thinning from above and below, shelterwood, clear-cutting, and group selection. We applied the LANDIS PRO harvest module to a large (17 000 km2) central hardwood forest landscape in Missouri. The simulated harvest prescriptions produced realistic stand-scale results when plotted on Gingrich stocking charts. The harvest module improves on previous versions by allowing partial treatment of individual age-classes within a cell and reporting results in metrics commonly used in stand-scale silviculture. It provides a closer link between landscape-scale simulation methods and stand-scale management.
Effect of greenbugs (Homoptera: Aphididae) on yield loss of winter wheat.

The effect of greenbug, Schizaphis graminum (Rondani), feeding on the yield of four winter wheat cultivars commonly grown in Oklahoma was studied. Cultivars tested were ‘Karl’, a recent derivative ‘Karl-92’, and ‘2163’, all greenbug-susceptible cultivars; and ‘TAM-110’, a cultivar with resistance to biotype E greenbugs. The objectives were to determine the effect of different greenbug densities during fall and spring on yield of winter wheat, and to develop mathematical models to quantify the effect of greenbugs on yield loss. The intensity of greenbug infestations achieved in plots by artificial infestation varied among years and growing seasons within a year, but was generally sufficient to cause a reduction in yield. Among yield components, the number of heads per square meter and the number of seeds per head were frequently negatively correlated with the accumulated number of greenbug-days per tiller. Seed weight was rarely affected by greenbug infestation. A regression model estimated yield loss for greenbug-susceptible cultivars at 0.51 kg/ha loss of yield per greenbug-day in years with near normal precipitation, and a loss of 1.17 kg/ha under severe drought conditions. The susceptible winter wheat cultivars exhibited similar yield loss in relation to the intensity of greenbug infestation, as indicated by a common slope parameter in the regression model. Results suggest that the model is robust for predicting yield loss for susceptible cultivars.
Nonverbal Communication of Similarity via the Torso: It's in the Bag

The human body plays a central role in nonverbal communication, conveying attitudes, personality, and values during social interactions. Three experiments in a large, open classroom setting investigated whether the visibility of torso-located cues affects nonverbal communication of similarity. In Experiments 1 and 2, half the participants wore a black plastic bag over their torso. Participants interacted with an unacquainted same-sex individual selected from a large class who was also wearing (or also not wearing) a bag. Experiment 3 added a clear bag condition, in which visual torso cues were not obscured. Across experiments, black bag-wearing participants selected partners who were less similar to them on attitudes, behaviors, and personality compared to the bag-less—and clear bag—participants. Nonverbal cues in the torso communicate information about similarity of attitudes, behavior, and personality; the center of the body plays a surprisingly central role in early-stage person perception and attraction.
Testing a Hierarchical Model of Neuroticism and Its Cognitive Facets: Latent Structure and Prospective Prediction of First Onsets of Anxiety and Unipolar Mood Disorders During 3 Years in Late Adolescence

Neuroticism and several other traits have been proposed to confer vulnerability for unipolar mood disorders (UMDs) and anxiety disorders (ADs). However, it is unclear whether the associations of these vulnerabilities with these disorders are attributable to a latent variable common to all vulnerabilities, more narrow latent variables, or both. In addition, some researchers have suggested that neuroticism predicts UMDs, ADs, and substance use disorders (SUDs) with comparable strength, whereas other researchers have hypothesized that neuroticism is more strongly related to UMDs and ADs. We tested hypotheses about the factor structure of several vulnerabilities and the prospective associations of these latent variables with initial onsets of UMDs, ADs, and SUDs during a 3-year period in 547 participants recruited as high school juniors. Although a general neuroticism factor predicted SUDs, it predicted UMDs and ADs more strongly and especially predicted comorbid UMDs and ADs. There was also mixed support for...
Marketing Niche Entry Decisions: Competition, Learning, and Strategy in Tokyo Banking, 1894–1936

An organization's choice of a branch location can be analyzed as a market niche entry decision. This study builds theory on how an organization's decision makers evaluate market niches on the basis...
SEXUAL DIMORPHISM OF LARGE GULLS (LARUS SPP.)

RECENT•.3⁄4 much attention has been paid to sexual dimorphism in birds in relation to niche utilization. Storer (1966) shows that in three species of accipiters the smaller males take smaller prey on the average than do the females, and he suggests intraspecific competition may be partly responsible for maintaining and increasing the dimorphism, although other basic adaptive functions may also be involved. Smith (1966) found for two species of gulls (Larus glaucoides and L. thayeri) that the difference between the sexes was greatest when the species were allopatric with closely similar species. He suggests (p. 85): "that in the absence of competitors, selection will favor divergence in adaptive features such as bill shape as a means of reducing intraspecific competition." Similarly Selander (1966) notes that in woodpeckers the greatest degree of sexual dimorphism is found in insular species that have no closely related competitors. He further demonstrates a relationship between degrees of sexual divergence in foraging behavior and in bill size in two species of the woodpecker genus Centurus. He believes that sexual divergence is adaptive in alleviating intersexual competition for food and points out that many groups of birds tend to be more sexually dimorphic in bill dimensions than in sizes of other body parts such as wing, tail, or tarsus. This is not always true, even in cases where differences between the sexes in feeding habits have been demonstrated. Thus the European Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) is no more dimorphic in bill size than in winglength, but Newton (1967) shows that the sexes take somewhat different food. Differences in foraging habits have even been demonstrated in the Red-cockaded Woodpecker (Dendrocopos borealis) which shows no sexual dimorphism in bill dimensions (Ligon, 1968). For further instances of intersexual differences in feeding habits see Selander (1966). Obviously more critical information on this subject is needed, and it therefore seems worthwhile to publish the following observations obtained during a study on the feeding habits of several species of large gulls in Iceland (Ingolfsson, 1967). The species studied were the Great Blackbacked Gull (Larus marinus), the Lesser Black-backed Gull (L. ]uscus), the Iceland Gull (L. glaucoides), the Glaucous Gull (L. hyperboreus), and hybrid populations of Herring Gulls (L. arg,ntatus) and Glaucous Gulls, referred to here as L. argentatus/hyperboreus (a paper describing this hybridization is in preparation). Altogether 1,405 gulls were collected at all times of the year, divided among 78 samples (a sample consists of a number of conspecific birds obtained in one locality within the span
Velocity field of the planar shear layer - Compressibility effects

Particle image velocimetry (PIV) is used to measure the instantaneous twodimensional velocity field in turbulent, planar mixing layers at varying levels of compressibility. The structure of the instantaneous velocity and vorticity fields are seen to display similar variation with compressibility as the scalar field, with the spatial intermittency of the velocity field tied to the interfaces of the large-scale structures. The compressible case displays multiple thin sheets of vorticity within the layer, rather than diffuse regions spanning its transverse extent. The importance of the lab-frame Mach number, particularly in compressible layers, is suggested by the presence of steep velocity gradients near the instantaneous sonic line within the mixing layer. In addition to lending structural interpretations such as these, the PIV data may also be used in large-ensemble fashion to provide turbulence statistics previously obtained using pointwise measurement techniques. Finally, the effect of sub-boundary layer mixing enhancement techniques on the velocity field is observed by means of plan-view measurements.
Political and Functional Local Government Consolidation: The Challenges for Core Public Administration Values and Regional Reform

This analysis explores the options for a theoretical model to guide regional collaboration by local governments that is both politically feasible and consistent with core public administration valu...
Strategic Stigma Change (SSC): Five Principles for Social Marketing Campaigns to Reduce Stigma

This column describes strategic stigma change (SSC), which comprises five principles and corresponding practices developed as a best practice to erase prejudice and discrimination associated with mental illness and promote affirming behaviors and social inclusion. SSC principles represent more than ten years of insights from the National Consortium on Stigma and Empowerment. The principles, which are centered on consumer contact that is targeted, local, credible, and continuous, were developed to inform the growth of large-scale social marketing campaigns supported by governments and nongovernmental organizations. Future social marketing efforts to address stigma and the need for evidence to determine SSC’s penetration and impact are also discussed. (Psychiatric Services 62:824–826, 2011)
Improved current-mode control with single-cycle load transient

Non-linear single-cycle load transient improvement structures are proposed for current-mode controlled converters. Two popular variable-frequency current-mode controls are Constant On-Time (COT) and Ramp Pulse Modulation (RPM) due to their fast transient response. However, conventional COT and RPM both need multiple steps to increase the inductor current during load step-up transient. The fastest transient response is a single-cycle response. In this paper, two methods are proposed to achieve single-cycle load transient for currentmode control by improving the present control structures. For both methods of improvement, the operation mechanism of the control remains unchanged during steady-state. The proposed improvements can be used for RPM and COT in single-phase and multiphase.
Chemical hypoxia increases junctional permeability and activates electrogenic ion transport in human intestinal epithelial monolayers

Background. The intestinal epithelial light junction restricts the paracellular permeation of ions and nonelectrolytes. We hypothesized that this function could be altered or disrupted during cellular adenosine triphosphate (ATP) depletion (chemical hypoxia). Methods. T84 monolayers grown on permeable supports were studied by electrophysiologic and flux techniques. Mitochondria and glycolytic inhibitors were used to deplete cellular ATP. Results. Transepithial resistance to passive ion flow (R) rapidly decreased to 36% of control values with chemical hypoxia, an effect that was reversible if control conditions were restored within 1 hour
The Deuteron D-State from Three Body Studies

The deuteron D-state has been a subject of interest to physicists for many years. Recently it has been regarded as a key to the understanding of certain features of the nucleon-nucleon interaction. To see why this is true let us consider some of the history of the deuteron wave function along with some recent developments.
Creep Behavior of Particle-Strengthened Alloys

This chapter discusses the behavior of two types of materials that have creep properties enhanced by second phases. Second-phase particles provide enhanced strength at lower temperatures and the source of this strength has been discussed in the chapter. The strength by particles has been believed to be provided in two broad categories of strengthening, Friedel cutting or Orowan bypassing. Basically, the former involves coherent particles and the flow stress of the alloy is governed by the stress required for the passage of the dislocation through particle. The Orowan stress is determined by the bypass stress based on an Orowan loop mechanism. In the case of oxide dispersion strengthened alloys, in which the particles are incoherent, the low-temperature yield stress is reasonably predicted by the Orowan loop mechanism.
Irreversibility in Statistical Mechanics

The method of statistical mechanics has been referred to many times in earlier chapters without consideration for the details of how it works. Some of those details are helpful in understanding the clues about irreversibility that come from statistical mechanics. In this chapter we try to provide the needed details for the case where the underlying mechanical model is classical (strictly Newtonian).
Federalism and the Soviet Bloc: Monopoly and Deregulation

Federalism is the process by which unity and diversity are politically organized. … It unites without destroying the selves that are uniting. Carl Friedrich (1966: 286–287) It is the state that makes the nation and not the nation the state. Colonel Jozef Pitsudski (quoted in Hobsbawm, 1992: 44–45) In the preceding chapter, we focused on institutional similarities among all the European socialist systems. As we discovered, the structure of socialism created – in theory – strong regimes, weak societies, and rapid economic growth. What happened as socialism evolved, however, was a redistribution of power from the party to the society and expanding limits on economic growth. Thus, the eventual and seemingly sudden collapse of socialism was in fact long in the making. It was the product, ironically, of the very institutions that were to preserve and protect the hegemony of the Communist Party. While institutional commonalities provide the raw material for explaining the regionwide collapse of socialism, they are less helpful in explaining the variations in regime collapse and in the capacity of socialist states to survive the end of the regime. To address these issues, we need to shift our focus from similarities among socialist systems to differences. In this chapter, we focus on two such differences by analyzing the institutional design of the Soviet bloc and socialist federations. As we will see, the bloc and the federations were surprisingly similar in their design and their internal dynamics.
Fear and loathing in a Great Lakes forest: cascading effects of competition between wolves and coyotes

Larger predators can affect smaller predators through intraguild predation and competition, which in turn could have indirect effects on other consumers. We investigated whether gray wolves ( Canis lupus ) generate such effects by reducing predation by coyotes ( Canis latrans ) on snowshoe hares ( Lepus americanus ). We also examined whether wolves indirectly affect abundances of deer mice ( Peromyscus spp.) as part of a wolf–coyote–fox cascade. We compared habitat use by consumers in the high- and low-wolf-use areas of a Great Lakes forest (Wisconsin and Michigan, United States). Coyotes frequented high-wolf-use areas about half as much low-wolf-use areas, which coincided with a tripling of hare browse on saplings in high-wolf-use areas. Foxes ( Vulpes vulpes and Urocyon cinereoargenteus ) frequented high-wolf-use areas almost exclusively. Fewer mice occurred in high-wolf-use areas than low-wolf-use areas in 2011 (approximately one-half) and 2013 (approximately two-fifths), but not in 2012, possibly due to increased food supply. We conclude that wolves may generate cascading effects through changes in coyote distribution that benefit hares and foxes, while also reducing the deer mouse population in some years.
Resiliency analysis and modeling for real-time cardiovascular diagnostic devices

To address the increasing severe challenges with regard to the reliability of medical devices, in this study we propose to investigate the resilience and vulnerability of cardiovascular diagnostic devices as a case study, by using a formal fault injection approach. We develop a generalized model of the ECG-based heart disease detection system using MATLAB/Simulink, which consists of heartbeat detection and classification. Furthermore, we propose a configurable fault generator (FG) to emulate a wide variety of accidential faults occuring within the developed system, to help us explore and understand the most critical data-paths and processing modules, where any faults or unexpected perturbations will cause dramatic impacts on the system accuracy and performance, or even result in system crash in real case.
“Go Steady, Undine!”: The Horror of Ambition in Edith Wharton’s The Custom of the Country

In one of the most cutting remarks about society, in her 1913 novel The Custom of the Country, Edith Wharton points out that what is thought of as society is really like the houses it lives in: “a muddle of misapplied ornament over a thin steel shell of utility” (52). She goes on to suggest that “[t]he steel shell was built up in Wall Street, the social trimmings were hastily added in Fifth Avenue,” and “the union between them was as monstrous and factitious” as that “between the Blois gargoyles on Peter Van Degen’s [one of the nouveau riche characters’] roof and the skeleton walls supporting them” (52; emphasis added). Wharton’s reference to late-Gothic architecture underlines not only the grotesque vacuity of her social surroundings but also the monstrous translation of the Gothic element in the economic landscape of early twentieth-century middle- and upper middle-class New York; the Blois gargoyles in Peter Van Degen’s gaudy residence illustrate the sacrifice of taste, measure, and proportion for the sake of conspicuous consumption, enabled by the business deals of Wall Street and the fashionable world of Fifth Avenue.1 As opposed to this abuse of the Gothic by her contemporaries, Wharton utilizes a vast array of Gothic tropes in the novel to foreground the monstrous effects of late capitalism and unrestrained consumption on the social landscape of early twentieth-century America.
Hemagglutinin Palmitoylation Contributes to Membrane Curvature in Influenza a Virus Assembly and Membrane Fusion

Three cysteine residues in the cytoplasmic tail of influenza virus glycoprotein hemagglutinin (HA) are covalently modified by three fatty acids and highly conserved among HA subtypes. The importance of these S-acylation post-translational modifications is highlighted by a strain-dependence to their role in virus replication either in assembly or in fusion, but the mechanisms by which the modifications exerts any effect are unknown. We studied the effects of HA acylation on influenza virus-like particle (VLP) morphology, glycoprotein spacing, protein incorporation, HA induced curvature, and membrane fusion using cryo-electron tomography (cET), VLP-cell and cell-cell fusion assays, and molecular dynamics. Acylation has a significant effect on VLP envelope curvature but is not a determinant of either VLP morphology or HA lateral spacing. De-acylated mutant HA is correlated with a flatter envelope curvature of the released particles in the absence of the M1 layer compared to wild type HA. The de-acylated mutant HA failed to incorporate an M1 layer within spherical VLP consistent with altered HA-M1 interactions. In cell-cell fusion assays, fusion pore enlargement was not observed, regardless of which strain of influenza was de-acylated (H2 (A/Japan/305/57), H3 (A/Aichi/2/68), H3 (A/Udorn/72)), suggesting that the role of acylation in membrane fusion is viral strain independent. Fusion without pore enlargement could be partially rescued by the expression of M1 and M2 proteins. The spontaneous curvature of palmitate was calculated by molecular dynamic simulations, and was found to be comparable to curvature values derived from VLP size distributions. Our studies indicate that HA acylation is important for both influenza virus assembly and membrane fusion by controlling membrane curvature and modifying HA's interactions with M1.
Four cases of pediatric deep-seated/subcutaneous pyogenic granuloma: Review of literature and differential diagnosis.

Background Pyogenic granulomas are benign, reactive, typically superficial vascular lesions that can be idiopathic or arise secondary to trauma, underlying vascular malformations, infections, physiologic or pathologic endocrine changes, and hormone therapy. Deep-seated/subcutaneous pyogenic granulomas (DSPG) are rarely seen in any age group. Pediatric DSPGs can be a clinical and pathologic challenge because these lesions mimic other vascular lesions, including kaposiform hemangioendothelioma, infantile hemangiomas and vascular malformations. Methods Retrospective search of DSPG excised at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical center between June 2010 and June 2011 was conducted. Clinical information was obtained from patient charts and histologic slides were retrieved and reviewed. Results Of the 106 cases of pyogenic granuloma, 4 (3.8%) were diagnosed as DSPG. We report the details of those 4 cases and compare them with the other pediatric DSPG cases reported in the literature. We also review the histologic differential diagnosis of DSPG in pediatric population. Conclusion Our results suggest that these lesions may not be as rare as inferred by literature, but, rather, underdiagnosed.
Special Topics Regarding the Analysis

Throughout this book we have used Lenth t statistics to conduct individual significance tests for unreplicated designs. Here we discuss modifications to Lenth’s method when there is minimal replication.We also discuss alternatives to Lenth’s method, especially for controlling the experimentwise error. In the previous chapter, we discussed structured sampling within runs in order to study different variance components. Here we illustrate the analysis of such data. This final chapter also discusses analysis for weighted least squares, mixed-model methods, and applications with too many response variables to analyze individually. We conclude with four tips to help one avoid common data analysis errors.
In-home firearm access among US adolescents and the role of religious subculture: Results from a nationally representative study

Religious participation is linked to numerous positive safety outcomes for adolescents. Scant attention, however, has been paid to associations between religious participation and safety risks among adolescents. Using data from Add Health (N = 18,449), a nationally representative school-based sample of US adolescents, this study examines the relationship between adolescents' religious affiliation and easy access to firearms at home. Regression analyses adjust for complex sampling design and compare easy firearm access at home among conservative Protestant adolescents to adolescent firearm access in other religious traditions. Conservative Protestant adolescents have a substantially greater likelihood of easy access to a gun at home compared to adolescents of all other major religious traditions in the United States. Recognizing differences in adolescent firearm access between subcultural groups can help public health interventions more effectively identify and address the needs of vulnerable populations. The paper's conclusion considers suggestions for effective policy and programmatic initiatives.
Counselling users of hearing technology: a comprehensive literature review.

Objective: The purpose of this review is to determine the scope of peer-reviewed empirical research related to counselling in audiology with patients using hearing technology and to identify limita...
Sonographic Evaluation of Complications of Extracranial Carotid Artery Interventions

Carotid endarterectomy and carotid artery stenting are among the most common peripheral vascular procedures performed worldwide. Sonography is the initial and often only imaging modality used in the evaluation of iatrogenic carotid arterial injuries. This pictorial essay provides an overview of the clinical and sonographic findings of complications after interventions in the extracranial carotid arteries, including dissection, fluid collections, pseudoaneurysm, thrombosis, thromboembolism, restenosis, and stent deformation. Grayscale, color, and pulsed Doppler imaging findings are reviewed, and correlations with computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and angiography are provided.
Photocatalytic inactivation of human adenovirus 40: Effect of dissolved organic matter and prefiltration

Abstract Within the Adenoviridae family, human adenovirus 40 (HAdV40) is the most UV resistant serotype. This study explores photocatalytic inactivation of the pathogenic HAdV40 by UV light with TiO2 catalyst in the presence of dissolved organic matter. Scavenging of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by dissolved organics is significant: 9.6 mg(DOC)/L decreases [OH ] by the factor of ∼17.4 with respect to that in deionized water. Regardless of the pre-filter choice ( d pore = 0.03 μm, 0.45 μm, or 0.8 μm), the removal of the total HAdV40 by photocatalytic UV depends linearly on UV254 fluence, Φ 254 , indicating that water quality impacts the DNA damage via fluence attenuation only. In contrast, the removal of infectious HAdV40 depends on the nature of dissolved constituents in the sample; at low Φ 254 , for the same value of fluence photocatalytic UV disinfection is more effective when using the smallest pore size (0.03 μm) pre-filter. The differences in concentration, molecular weight, and type of organic molecules that pass through different prefilters should translate into variations in the extent of quenching. Apparently, filtration through a 0.03 μm membrane produces sufficiently pure permeate for the adenovirus to become an ROS’s target competitive with remaining organic scavengers. Combining a photocatalyst-coated microfiltration membrane ( d pore = 0.8 μm) with UV light into a photocatalytic membrane reactor removes ∼3.0 log of infectious HAdV40 in the high throughput continuous flow process with the initial specific permeate flux of 3322 ± 266 (L m−2 h−1 bar−1). The results point to the potential feasibility of photocatalytic disinfection as a tertiary treatment applied to a relatively high quality effluent typical for membrane filtration plants.
Modernity, Tradition, and the State in Early Soviet History

The question of the historical nature of the Soviet state and its place in existing typologies of modern state power has been an ongoing topic of debate among historians of the Soviet Union. In par...
Single Molecule Pull-down for Quantification of Membrane Receptor Multisite Phosphorylation

The single molecule pull-down (SiMPull) assay allows for capture of individual proteins or macromolecular complexes that can then be interrogated via single molecule imaging. We describe several technical improvements over previous protocols that make it possible to directly detect and quantify the phosphorylation state of thousands of individual membrane receptors, and thereby estimate both the fraction of receptors phosphorylated at specific tyrosine residues and the frequency of multisite phosphorylation. These improvements include 1) the reduction of autofluorescence in the green spectral channel; 2) a simplified imaging chamber that accommodates higher sample number with lower sample volume; 3) corrections for membrane receptor surface expression; 4) three-color multiplex imaging; and 5) corrections for steric hindrance of dual antibody binding. These improvements enabled the first direct detection of multisite phosphorylation on full-length Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) and revealed that phosphorylation fraction varied by tyrosine residue. These SiMPull measurements provide a new level of detail in the status of receptor phosphorylation that was previously inaccessible with traditional biochemical techniques.
Martin Jay: Un encuentro entre la filosofía y la historia

The interview took place in Santiago, Chile in November 2015 and was conducted by Gonzalo Bustamante, professor of political philosophy at Universidad Adolfo Ibanez. Martin Jay in the course of this interview addresses the links between Critical Theory, Cambridge School, and Conceptual History, giving special attention to an “event” as a limited category, critical rationality and the contextual genealogies of the different branches of historical studies mentioned before. Jay concludes that one of the possible limitations of the “in context’ work of authors such as Quentin Skinner and the socalled Cambridge School is given by the impossibility to reduce the perlocutionary effect of events to the illocutionary intentions of the authors. In line with Claude Romano, in the interpretation of Jay, an ‘event’ always has an “an-archic” condition that makes its limitation to previous networks of meaning impossible.
The Effects of Communication Networks and Turnover on Transactive Memory and Group Performance

We theorize that the effect of membership turnover on group processes and performance depends on a group’s communication network. We describe two mechanisms through which communication networks aff...
Solving Towers of Hanoi and Related Puzzles

Starting with the well-known Towers of Hanoi, we create a new sequence of puzzles which can essentially be solved in the same way. Since graphs and puzzles are intimately connected, we define a sequence of graphs, the iterated complete graphs, for our puzzles. To create puzzles for all these graphs, we need to generalize another puzzle, Spin-Out, and cross the generalized Towers puzzles with the the generalized Spin-Out puzzles. We show how to solve these combined puzzles. We also show how to compute distances between puzzle configurations. We show that our graphs have Hamiltonian paths and perfect one-error-correcting codes. (Properties that are $\mathcal{NP}$ -complete for general graphs.) We also discuss computational complexity and show that many properties of our graphs and puzzles can be calculated by finite state machines.
Clinical Diagnosis and Management of Cardiac Allograft Rejection and Maintenance Immunosuppression

Despite improvements in immunosuppression, cardiac rejection accounts for substantial morbidity and mortality following cardiac transplantation (Table 1). In the Cardiac Transplant Research Database (CTRD) studies, the mean cumulative number of treated rejection episodes per patient was 0.8, 1.10, and 1.3 at 3, 6, and 12 months post-transplant, repectively (Figure 1A).1,2 Actuarial freedom from first treated rejection episode was 39% at 6 months and 37% at 12 months (Figure IB). Overall, more than 90% of all rejection episodes occur in the first six months post-transplant.3
Dimension and Hilbert-Samuel Polynomials

In this section we present a characterization of dimension that yields other important invariants and that is well suited to computation using techniques to be developed in Chapter 15. Throughout we shall write R for a local ring with maximal ideal m. All modules will be finitely generated R-modules unless otherwise stated.
Who's Your Data Daddy: Do You Own Your Bits and Bytes?

Corporations collect volumes of personal information from consumers, but it isn’t clear whether the corporation or the individual owns that information. Both corporations and individuals can likely assert some form of right over personal information. The Constitution, federal laws, and common law provide some framework for protecting the privacy of personal information. Some courts that decide privacy issues imply that corporations acquire ownership in personal information through the capture of the information. However, corporate treatment of the use of personal information likely created a property interest in the individual that the information refers to. The two interests are at odds, but the efforts an individual makes to keep the information private may restrict others’ use of that information.
The fierceness of fronted /s/: Linguistic rhematization through visual transformation

This article explores the roles that language and the body play in the iconization of cross-modal personae (see Agha 2003, 2004). Focusing on a community of radical drag queens in San Francisco, I analyze the interplay of visual presentation and acoustic dimensions of /s/ in the construction of the fierce queen persona, which embodies an extreme, larger-than-life, and anti-normative type of femininity. Taking data from transformations—conversations during which queens visually transform from male-presenting into their feminine drag personae—I explore the effect of fluid visual presentation on linguistic production, and argue that changes in both the linguistic and visual streams increasingly invoke qualia (see Gal 2013; Harkness 2015) projecting ‘harshness’ and ‘sharpness’ in the construction of fierce femininity. I argue that personae like the fierce queen become iconized through rhematization (see Gal 2013), a process in which qualic congruences are construed and constructed across multiple semiotic modalities. (Iconization, rhematization, qualia, sociophonetics, gender, personae, drag queens)*
Walk This Way: Run-DMC, Aerosmith, and the Song That Changed American Music Forever

Given the second half of the book’s title (specifically, the Song That Changed American Music Forever), I approached this book with skepticism. Before “Walk This Way” there were “hip-hop” songs on ...
Type II Secretion Promotes Bacterial Growth within the Legionella-Containing Vacuole in Infected Amoebae.

ABSTRACT It was previously determined that the type II secretion system (T2SS) promotes the ability of Legionella pneumophila to grow in coculture with amoebae. Here, we discerned the stage of intracellular infection that is potentiated by comparing the wild-type and T2SS mutant legionellae for their capacity to parasitize Acanthamoeba castellanii. Whereas the mutant behaved normally for entry into the host cells and subsequent evasion of degradative lysosomes, it was impaired in the ability to replicate, with that defect being first evident at approximately 9 h postentry. The replication defect was initially documented in three ways: by determining the numbers of CFU recovered from the lysates of the infected monolayers, by monitoring the levels of fluorescence associated with amoebal monolayers infected with green fluorescent protein (GFP)-expressing bacteria, and by utilizing flow cytometry to quantitate the amounts of GFP-expressing bacteria in individual amoebae. By employing confocal microscopy and newer imaging techniques, we further determined the progression in volume and shape of the bacterial vacuoles and found that the T2SS mutant grows at a decreased rate and does not attain maximally sized phagosomes. Overall, the entire infection cycle (i.e., entry to egress) was considerably slower for the T2SS mutant than it was for the wild-type strain, and the mutant’s defect was maintained over multiple rounds of infection. Thus, the T2SS is absolutely required for L. pneumophila to grow to larger numbers in its intravacuolar niche within amoebae. Combining these results with those of our recent analysis of macrophage infection, T2SS is clearly a major component of L. pneumophila intracellular infection.
Role of GPRC6A in Regulating Hepatic Energy Metabolism

We show that GPRC6A, an osteocalcin-sensing G-protein coupled receptor GPRC6A, uniquely regulates glucose and fatty acid metabolism in the liver. Conditional deletion of GPRC6A in hepatocytes results in hepatic fat accumulation and glycogen depletion associated with impaired glucose and pyruvate tolerance and suppression of FGF-21 in mice. Conversely, knock-in of a human KGKY gain-of-function polymorphism in the 3rd intracellular loop of GPRC6A, in mice results in reduced blood glucose associated with improved glucose, insulin and pyruvate tolerance and increased FGF-21. Hepatic transcriptome analysis shows that GPRC6A has counter regulatory effects on fatty acid oxidation and synthesis and glycolysis and gluconeogenesis, and concordant effects on glycogenesis and glycogenolysis. Taken together, our studies suggest that the level of GPRC6A activation determines how glucose and FAs are utilized by the liver. GPRC6A may be a new therapeutic target for treating metabolic syndrome and its complications.
From "Step Away" to "Stand Down": Tailoring a Smartphone App for Self-Management of Hazardous Drinking for Veterans.

Background: US military veterans who screen positive for hazardous drinking during primary care visits may benefit from a mobile app. Step Away is an evidence-based mobile intervention system for the self-management of hazardous drinking. However, Step Away was not designed for veterans, and differences between veterans and civilians could limit the reach and effectiveness of the app with this population. Objective: The primary objective of this study was to repurpose Step Away to address the needs and preferences of the veteran primary care population. The Method for Program Adaptation through Community Engagement (M-PACE) model was used to guide the adaptation process. This model can serve as a generalizable approach that other researchers and intervention developers can follow to systematically tailor mobile health tools for a new population. Methods: Veteran patients who screened positive for hazardous drinking during a primary care visit (n=12) and peer providers employed by the US Veterans Health Administration (n=11) were recruited to systematically review Step Away and provide feedback on its content and presentation via Web-based surveys and a semistructured interview. Participant feedback was reviewed through an iterative process by key stakeholders who adjudicated which suggested modifications to the app could enhance engagement and effectiveness with veterans while maintaining program integrity. Results: Usability ratings of the individual modules of Step Away were uniformly positive across patients and peers, as was the perceived utility of the app overall. Personalized feedback on the health consequences and costs of drinking, options for customization, and the measurement-based care capabilities of the app were viewed as facilitators of engagement. Conversely, lengthy text, small font, and a lack of interactive features were viewed as potential barriers with the older primary care population. Modifications to create a veteran version of the app (Stand Down: Think Before You Drink) included altering the appearance of the app to incorporate more veteran-centric content, adding links and options for resources and activities for veterans, and reducing the amount of text and adding veteran-specific references and common concerns and triggers for drinking in this population. Conclusions: The M-PACE model provided a systematic approach to repurpose Step Away to fit the needs and preferences of veteran primary care patients who engage in hazardous drinking. Stand Down may serve as an innovative, low-cost means of expanding access to care for veterans who engage in hazardous drinking.
Are Antitakeover Amendments Good for Shareholders? Evidence from the Adoption of Antitakeover Provisions in the Post-SOX Era

By combining a regression discontinuity (RD) design with a novel instrumental variable, I estimate the value of antitakeover provisions (ATPs) adopted between 2006 and 2010. In contrast to evidence...
Unions of Subspaces for Data Modeling and Subspace Clustering

Signals and data are often modeled as vectors belonging to a subspace of a Hilbert space (or Banach space)ℋ, e.g., bandlimited signals. However, nonlinear subsets can also serve as signal model, e.g., signals with finite rate of innovation or sparse signals. Discovering the model from data observations is a fundamental task. The goal of this chapter is to discuss the problem of learning a nonlinear model of the form \(\mathcal{M} = {\cup }_{i=1}^{l}{V }_{i}\) from a set of observations \(\mathbf{F} =\{ {f}_{1},\ldots ,{f}_{m}\}\), where the V i are the unknown subspaces to be found. Learning this nonlinear model from observed data has applications to computer vision and signal processing and is connected to several areas of mathematics. In this chapter we give a brief description of the theoretical as well as the applied aspects related to this type of nonlinear modeling in terms of unions of subspaces.