cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Empirisme intelligent, petites séries de cas et recherche frugale

Un clinicien qui rencontre dans son activite quotidienne sur d’assez longues periodes des malades gagne leur confiance et peut acceder a des connaissances cliniques dont certaines reposent sur des confidences. Cette cueillette 1 clinique est hors de portee des questionnaires construits pour etre applicables en quelques instants quelles que soient la culture et la langue. Le therapeute est a la fois l’acteur et le temoin de sequences evolutives, parfois liees a ses interventions therapeutiques. Son travail clinique une fois formalise peut s’inscrire dans des etudes prometteuses en termes de connaissances des liens entre les interventions des therapeutes et les changements chez les patients grâce a une connaissance fine de leurs troubles et de leurs evolutions. Celles-ci meritent d’etre formalisees afin d’etre reconnues et que leur eventuelle portee generale soit etablie.L’article detaille aussi comment un clinicien attentif peut, en s’appuyant sur des petites series de cas, detecter des regularites a meme de constituer des hypotheses pour d’autres cliniciens. La sagacite d’un observateur permet des decouvertes qui ne sont qu’apparemment dues au hasard. L’auteur souligne l’importance de l’empirisme et de la serendipite dans les progres de la therapeutique psychiatrique. Des tâches importantes d’investigation clinique appartiennent aujourd’hui encore au clinicien. Les transitions entre la remarque clinique, la petite serie de cas, la recherche-action, l’etude-pilote et la recherche clinique doivent etre encouragees. Les etapes a franchir pour contribuer a la marche en avant des connaissances cliniques et therapeutiques sont illustrees. Elles peuvent etre facilitees par des dispositifs de type « Fablab ». Elles s’accommodent du cadre souple et de la reactivite de la recherche frugale.
Spectral analysis of concept maps of high and low gain undergraduate mathematics students

Abstract The purpose of this study was to delineate differences between students who made substantive gains and those who made only limited gains over the course of a semester. The divergent performance of two students, one with high gain and one with low gain, that occurred over a semester was examined. We found that the student with high gain—initial-test to final test—constructs, organizes, and restructures knowledge in ways that are qualitatively different from the processes utilized by the student with low gain. Concept maps and their corresponding schematic diagrams, combined with spectral analysis of those schematic diagrams, interpreted with other data, revealed radically different processes of knowledge construction and organization by these two students. The significant finding is that the student with low gain seems unable to productively integrate new knowledge into an existing structure.
A real-time, automated tongue tracking method for ultrasound biofeedback in speech therapy

Midsagittal ultrasound images of the tongue surface are currently used as feedback on tongue motion for speech therapy, but can be difficult to interpret. Ultrasound biofeedback would benefit from a simplified, immediate representation of tongue motion. Tongue tracking in ultrasound is complicated by reflections from structures near the tongue surface, complex tongue shapes, and rapid, extreme tongue movements. Available programs that trace contours of the tongue surface have not been implemented in real time and can require extensive user input. We offer a tongue tracking method that can operate in real time and requires minimal user input. This method applies a low-pass filter to the B-mode image and then maps the tongue surface based on local brightness maxima within search regions estimated by 2nd-order Taylor series expansions in space and time. Required user input includes a graphically selected calibration point near the tongue surface and relative brightness thresholds for anterior and posterior ends of the tracked surface. Preliminary results show that this method can capture complex, rapid movements of tongue parts during production of American English /r/. Efficient tongue tracking enables real-time analysis of tongue dynamics, offering a valuable tool for speech therapy.
A Multivocal Method Modeling Cross-Cultural Research in Multilingual Educational Settings Connected Through a Transborder Migratory Circuit

This article showcases a visual-ethnographic film technique for generating data of use to linguistic anthropological and sociolinguistic studies of educational settings. It also is being used to foster an intercultural dialog between parents, teachers, administrators, and bilingual early childhood educators and specialists positioned in school districts that serve the same population of students at different ends of a transborder migratory circuit. Findings from prior studies using an earlier version of the video-cued multivocal method employed content analysis to reveal key battleground issues characterizing preschool education, namely language of instruction, academics in the curriculum, multiculturalism and parental involvement (Tobin, Arzubiaga & Adair, 2013). Those studies, however, did not connect sending and receiving school districts. Their analytic approach to coding, moreover offered only a limited use of Bakhtinian concepts. Therefore, the article seeks to investigate how the method can be fine-tuned to better foreground, for instance, how forms of «translanguaging» in schools are made manifest in formal and informal ways as well as the language ideological positioning that emerges in respondents’ answers as they make concrete observations when engaging richly contextualized audio-visual cues evident in the video shortcuts.
Self-regulated learning strategies and achievement goals among preservice physical education teachers:

Self-regulated learning is critical to student academic success as well as healthy lifestyles. Although widely conducted among students from various disciplines, self-regulated learning research se...
Financial Elder Abuse: A (Dis)Confirmatory Analysis

Elder abuse in the United States is all too common, and it is often perpetrated by family members as well as trusted professionals such as attorneys or financial planners. Financial exploitation of elders often goes unreported. This paper investigates the victim and offender characteristics of trusted professionals who commit fraud against people aged 60 and older. This study utilizes the 2009 and 2011 National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) and employs logistic regression to test victim and offender qualities as predictive factors for financial elder abuse. The findings are inconsistent with results from the MetLife Mature Market Institute studies of the same respective years. A surprising find from the data shows that no family-member perpetrated fraud-like activity against an elder at the elder’s residence was reported in either 2009 or 2011. Reasons for these inconsistencies, as well as future research possibilities, are offered.
A Case of Extrapulmonary Tuberculosis Two-Ways.

Tuberculosis (TB) is a widespread epidemic. The World Health Organization estimated 10.4 million cases of tuberculosis in 2016, with 490,000 new cases of multi-drug resistant (MDR) TB.1 The primary presentation of TB is pulmonary. However, in the United States in 2014, 21% of TB cases were extrapulmonary with the most common sites in descending order of incidence being TB lymphadenitis (38.2%), pleural (16.3%), bone and/or joint (10.4%), peritoneal (5.7%), genitourinary (5%), meningeal (4.5%), and laryngeal (0.2%).2
Evaluation of work-as-done in information management of multidisciplinary incident management teams via Interaction Episode Analysis

Multidisciplinary incident management teams (IMTs) are required to operate in resilient ways as emergency situations unfold unexpectedly. Although resilience in emergency management has been widely studied in many emergency contexts, the development of a new method to investigate actual resilient performance of the IMTs under realistic settings has been limited. To address such gap, this paper first introduces Interaction Episode Analysis (IEA), a novel approach to capture and describe emergent team performance. As an exploratory observation study, we apply the IEA to an information management aspect of the IMTs in two emergency exercises carried out in a high-fidelity environment. As a result, the IEA provides comparable sets of episodes as instances of work-as-done, rendering opportunities to further analyze essential elements of interactions between team members as well as information management activities. Moreover, the IEA enables comparisons between the observations and identification of challenges faced by the team in managing incident information and adaptive behaviors used to address the challenges. By gathering more evidences as well as addressing limitations identified in this study, the IEA is expected to serve as a method that facilitates the analysis of work-as-done of complex team work and the reconciliation between work-as-done and work-as-imagined to promote resilience in emergency management.
Grammatical gender acquisition in sequential trilinguals: Influence of a gendered L1 vs. L2

In an investigation of the acquisition of grammatical gender at the initial stage of L3 acquisition, beginner L3 German learners with L1 English/L2 Spanish or L1 Spanish/L2 English were compared in their ability to identify gender errors in a German grammaticality judgement task. L2 Spanish learners significantly outperformed L1 Spanish learners. Potential explanations for group differences include (1) exclusive transfer of L2 grammatical knowledge at the initial stages of L3, as predicted by the L2 Status Factor Model (Bardel & Falk 2007), as well as (2) increased metalinguistic knowledge of gender as a result of instruction in the L2.
Christian Vocation: Defining Relations with Identity Status, College Adjustment, and Spirituality:

A great deal of growth takes place during the college years. Christian college students may be involved in exploring their spirituality and in finding what God is calling them to do, their vocation...
Dialectic and Transposition: Lonergan, Scholasticism, and Grace, in Conversation with Robert Doran:

Lonergan’s well-known student Robert Doran has proposed to ‘transpose’ the concepts of Scholastic theology by identifying them with putatively corresponding elements within consciousness. This arti...
Re-evaluating Okun’s Law: Why all recessions and recoveries are “different”

Abstract This paper explores the relationship between GDP growth, the unemployment rate and employment growth. Using a structural DSGE model and a data-rich estimation approach I am able to estimate the coefficients and correlations between GDP growth and unemployment rate changes, GDP growth and overall employment growth as well as GDP growth and employment growth by sector. I find equivalent estimates when I compare the simulated model with realized data. I then evaluate the effect different types of economic shocks have on these correlations and I find that investment and finance shocks have larger effects on employment growth and the unemployment rate when compared to productivity and other supply-side shocks.
The Benefits and Challenges of Randomized Control Trials in Conflict Environments: Reflections From a Scholar-Practitioner

A greater proportion of international aid spending is targeted towards conflict-affected and fragile environments. Concurrently, donors have higher standards for evidence of what programs are effective. The combination of these two trends provides social psychologists with ample opportunity to understand whether and under what conditions some core theories, such as the contact hypothesis and social identity theory, apply in the field. However, rigorously evaluating the effectiveness of development programs in conflict environments, particularly peacebuilding programs, through Randomized Control Trials (RCTs), comes with numerous challenges. These include (1) insecurity and consistent access to populations; (2) ethics of randomization especially, during a humanitarian crisis; and (3) how to maintain the integrity of a program and research design within a changing context. As a result, implementers are often resistant to conducting RCTs. Based on my experience as a scholar-practitioner, I describe the benefits of RCTs that implementers may be unaware of, such as how RCTs help disentangle the impacts of the program from the changing context, as well as how to address the most common concerns of implementers. The hope is that by better understanding and addressing implementers’ concerns, researchers will have more opportunities to rigorously test programs and theories, simultaneously improving theory and peacebuilding and development interventions globally.
From the Stone Age to our Digital Age: A Theoretical Explication of the Historical Development of International Distribution: An Abstract

In a recent essay, Lusch (2017) took a “long view perspective to the past” to develop four observations that marketing scholars might use as a foundation for examining “economic exchange systems” (i.e., distribution) at all times, in all places, and over all stages of economic development. He observed that four behaviors are endemic to humans: (1) trade or exchange; (2) creation of tools or technology; (3) hidden costs; and (4) institutions “to coordinate exchange and interactions with each other.”
Porous Carbons as Oxygen Reduction Electrocatalysts

In search for new alternative sources of energy carbon materials placed themselves as a valuable alternative to replace efficient noble metal- or transition metal-based catalysts. Even though the search for this kind of efficient catalysts started from the discovery and wonders of graphene, soon it has been established that to bring a catalytic activity for oxygen reduction to graphene an introduction of heteroatoms to its matrix or defect engineering is a must. The intent of this review is to present a brief journey on the development of heteroatom -doped “flat” carbons for an oxygen reduction electrocatalysis, followed by an indication of the role of defects as a general driving force, through heteroatom-doped porous carbons to heteroatom-free porous carbons. The emphasis is on importance of porosity, no necessary that 3-D engineered. The development of that concept is presented in the chronological order. Since to summarize all works on this topic sounds as a rather impossible task, and numerous reviews on the specific aspects of carbon-based metal-free ORR catalysts have been published recently, our intention is to stress the works where other factors than an alteration in the electronic/structure affect or could affect the ORR efficiency. These other factors include oxygen accessibility to small pores and its adsorption there. Even though the development of pores certainly is associated with an increase in the level of defect, the pore- influenced oxygen reduction mechanisms addressed here differs from that on the electronic defects-based catalytic sites.
Characterization of the Gene Repertoire and Environmentally Driven Expression Patterns in Tanner Crab ( Chionoecetes Bairdi )

Tanner crab (Chionoecetes bairdi) are an economically important species that is threatened by ocean warming and Bitter Crab Disease, which is caused by an endoparasitic dinoflagellate, Hematodinium. Little is known about disease transmission or its link to host mortality, or how ocean warming will affect pathogenicity or host susceptibility. To provide a transcriptomic resource for the Tanner crab we generated a suite of RNA-seq libraries encompassing pooled hemolymph samples from crab displaying differing infection status and maintained at different temperatures (ambient (7.5˚C), elevated (10˚C), or decreased (4˚C)). After assembling a transcriptome and performing a multifactor differential gene expression analysis, we found genes influenced by temperature in relation to infection, and detected some of those genes over time at the individual level using RNAseq data from one crab. Biological processes associated with those genes include lipid storage, transcription, response to oxidative stress, cell adhesion, and morphogenesis. Alteration in lipid storage and transcription provide insight into how temperature impacts energy allocation in Hematodinium infected crabs. Alteration in expression patterns in genes associated with morphogenesis could suggest hemocytes were changing morphology and/or type in response to temperature. This project provides insight into how Hematodinium infection could influence crab physiology as oceans warm.
Examining the diagnostic validity of the Berlin Questionnaire in a low-income Black American sample.

Study Objectives: Black individuals and individuals of low socioeconomic status are at increased risk for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The Berlin Questionnaire is one of the most widely used scre...
Preoperative and Intraoperative Blood Pressure Variability Independently Correlate with Outcomes.

Abstract Background Blood pressure variability (BPV) describes visit-to-visit blood pressure (BP) changes independent of hypertension. Preoperative BPV and intraoperative BPV are associated with increased postoperative outcomes. We investigated the impact of both preoperative BPV and intraoperative BPV on elective surgical outcomes, specifically whether preoperative BPV and intraoperative BPV were independent risk factors for surgical complications. Materials and Methods We investigated 600 patients undergoing elective surgery lasting more than two h and who had ≥8 outpatient BP recordings over three preoperative years. Age, sex, ethnicity, BMI, current medical problems, and medications at time of surgery were recorded. BPV was calculated as the standard deviation (SD) of systolic or diastolic BP for the 369 valid patients. Average BPV were compared between adverse outcomes of readmission, wound infection, acute kidney injury, death, myocardial infarction, and cerebral vascular accident. Results Three-hundred-sixty-nine (52.6% male, 47.4% female, 98.1% non–Hispanic) patients (mean age 62.5) were included in the study. Preoperative systolic (P = 0.043) and diastolic (P = 0.009) BPV were higher for patients with the combined endpoint of all adverse events. Preoperative systolic BPV was correlated with intraoperative BPV (P = 0.010). Both systolic and diastolic preoperative BPV was found to be independent from intraoperative BPV. Otolaryngology procedures were associated with less adverse outcomes (P = 0.034), whil antimicrobials (P = 0.022), autonomic drugs (P Conclusion Preoperative DBPV is associated with increased risk of readmission, wound infection and the combined endpoint of all adverse events. Intraoperative systolic blood pressure variability (SPBV) is associated with increased risk of acute kidney injury and the combined endpoint of all adverse events. Preoperative DBPV and intraoperative SBPV are independent risk factors for ninety-d postoperative outcomes. BPV should be considered in individualized risk assessment when assessing patient eligibility for elective procedures.
Evaluating the Consistency of Subjective Activity Assessments and Their Relation to Cognition in Older Adults.

(1) Background: Research examining whether activity engagement is related to cognitive functioning in older adults has been limited to using retrospective reports of activity which may be affected by biases. This study compared two measurements (estimated weekly versus reported daily), and whether these activity assessments were related to cognition in older adults; (2) Methods: Participants from US (n = 199) and Australian (n = 170) samples completed a weekly estimate of activity, followed by 7 consecutive days of daily reporting. Differences between weekly estimates and daily reports were found, such that estimations at the weekly level were lower than self-reported daily information. Multivariate multiple regression was used to determine whether total activity, activity domains and the discrepancy between assessment types (i.e., weekly/daily) predicted cognitive performance across three cognitive domains (fluid, verbal, memory); (3) Results: When activity assessments were totaled, neither predicted cognition; however, when activity was grouped by domain (cognitive, social, physical), different domains predicted different cognitive outcomes. Daily reported cognitive activity significantly predicted verbal performance (β = 1.63, p = 0.005), while weekly estimated social activity predicted memory performance (β = −1.81, p = 0.050). Further, while the magnitude of discrepancy in total activity did not significantly predict cognitive performance, domain specific differences did. Differences in physical activity reported across assessments predicted fluid performance (β = −1.16, p = 0.033); (4) Conclusions: The significant discrepancy between the measurement types shows that it is important to recognize potential biases in responding when conducting activity and cognition research.
Investigations of biochar as a tunable platform for aqueous malathion adsorption and decomposition

Biochar, produced from the slow pyrolysis of biomass, is a carbon-rich platform that is tunable for various applications, including adsorption of aqueous pollutants such as organophosphate pesticides (OPP). In this study, we investigated, using in situ and ex situ techniques, the effects of peak pyrolysis temperature (400 °C and 700 °C) on relevant properties of coir-derived biochar, including surface functional groups, aromaticity, and surface area. When representative biochar samples were dispersed into aqueous solutions of malathion, malathion both adsorbed and decomposed at similar rates and to similar extents. Comparable experiments using coir-derived activated carbon showed a significantly greater rate of malathion adsorption, but no evidence of malathion decomposition. We attribute the former observation to much higher measured surface area of activated carbon, and the latter to a lack of molecular heterogeneity seen in biochar, especially oxygen-containing functional groups such as ethers.
Group Testing Theory

In this chapter, we briefly present an overview of group testing, its basic theory, and construction. We also present a general framework on using group testing for several network security defense schemes as well as discuss new challenges.
Domiciliary administration of intravenous albumin in congenital nephrotic syndrome.

Early management of congenital nephrotic syndrome invariably includes the frequent administration of intravenous human albumin solution. The safety and feasibility of intravenous administration of albumin in the patients’ home setting has not previously been reported. We report a series of seven paediatric patients whose parents were trained in the administration of albumin via a central venous catheter at home, with the aim of minimising hospital admission or attendances. We describe the clinical course of these patients and complication rates ascribed to this strategy. Our results demonstrate that home albumin infusion can be performed safely.
Coping with Outside-the-Box Attacks

There is a long history of security attacks that succeed by violating the system designer's assumptions about how things work. Even if a designer does everything right--within the "obvious" model--such attacks can still succeed. How can we, as designers and verifiers of systems, cope with these "outside-the-box" attacks? The classic examples of assumption-violating attacks are the timing attacks on cryptosystems first introduced by Kocher [1]. Cryptosystems are designed so that an attacker who has black-box access to an implementation (and does not know the secret key) cannot deduce the key. Extensive mathematical analysis of the input-output behavior of cryptographic functions led to the belief (though unfortunately not proof) that an attacker who can observe the input-output behavior of cryptosystems cannot feasibly find the secret key. Kocher showed that even if this is true, the running time of common cryptographic algorithms does depend on the secret key. Though the dependence of running time on the key is complex, Kocher showed how to use randomized experiments to extract enough signal to deduce the key, at least in principle. Brumley and Boneh later showed that such attacks are practical, even across a network[2].
When Are Pooled Panel-Data Regression Forecasts of Exchange Rates More Accurate than the Time-Series Regression Forecasts?

Out-of-sample forecasts of exchange rates in the late 1990s and 2000s generated by timeseries regression models have fared poorly. In mean-square error, these forecasts are typically dominated by the driftless random walk. On the other hand, pooled regression models estimated on panel data (and allowing for fixed eects) have, in many instances, performed much better than forecasts generated by time-series regression models. In this essay we investigate the conditions under which pooled regression forecasts generate more accurate exchange rate predictions than time-series regressions when the available econometric theory says that you should not pool. We oer an explanation that is based on finite sample considerations.
The Questionnaire Looks Self Explanatory, so to Save Time I’ll Just Skip the Skip Instructions

Students in a first- year- experience course provided a Likert -scale rating of how much they learned about topics presented in that course. For comparative purposes, in another question they were asked to rate on the same four-point scale the academic courses taken that semester. The introduction instructed the respondent to leave a blank for the rating of any academic course not taken. With some exceptions, the number of students providing a rating for each of the academic courses exceeded the course’s roster. The number of respondents in excess of the course census was positively related to how many had selected the lowest option: “almost nothing.” Apparently, many respondents used a “satisficing” mode to answer and did not bother to read the instructions to skip non-applicable items. We speculate that their thinking pattern was: I didn’t take the course, so I didn’t learn anything. It is recommended that if general skip instructions are to be used, they need to be made prominent by use of bolding, capitalization, underlining, etc. to focus respondents’ attention. Alternately, one may want to use a “does not apply” option for each item on the list.
sigma-SSA and Its Construction Through Symbolic Interpretation

In this paper, we propose a new variant of SSA called σ-SSA and discuss its construction through symbolic interpretation of programs. By relaxing a condition of SSA form and without violating the fundamental property of static single assignment representation, σ-SSA form results in fewer join functions than the minimal SSA form.
A Generalized Flow Splitting Model for Day-to-day Traffic Assignment

The splitting rate model proposed by Smith and Mounce (2011) establishes a traffic evolution process on a link-node network representation, which overcomes the difficulties in applying traditional path-based models and provides the ease of implementing controls at nodes. While their model offers a new method for modeling traffic evolution, it contains an ad-hoc step of flow adjustment to preserve the flow conservation. This flow adjustment step leads to difficulties in analyzing the system properties. This paper proposes a generalized flow splitting model for day-to-day traffic assignment based on the concept of splitting flow at nodes. The proposed model preserves the flow conservation endogenously by introducing the inflow variable into the formulation. The generalized formulation provides the ease to construct a variety of day-to-day traffic assignment models, and serves as a framework for analyzing the models’ properties, such as the invariance property and the preservation of the Lipschitz continuity and strong monotonicity. Specifically, a proportional-adjustment model and a projection-type model are developed based on the proposed generalized formulation. A numerical example demonstrates the ease of implementing the proposed generalized model, as well as its convergence to user equilibrium.
Enzymatic transformation of morphine by hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase from Pseudomonas testosteroni.

Enzyme preparations from Pseudomonas testosteroni containing α- and β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases catalyzed the oxidation of morphine and codeine by nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide. Morphine was converted in relatively low yield into 14-hydroxymorphinone probably via morphinone as an intermediate. Codeine was converted to codeinone and 14-hydroxycodeinone. Only the conversions at the 6-position were carried out by the hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase. Hydroxylation at the 14-position did occur spontaneously (or enzymatically with a contaminating enzyme) after oxidation at the 6-position.
Opioid growth factor and low-dose naltrexone impair central nervous system infiltration by CD4 + T lymphocytes in established experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, a model of multiple sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system (CNS), characterized by infiltrating myelin-reactive T lymphocytes and demyelinating lesions. Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) is the animal model widely utilized to study MS. EAE is mediated by CD4+ T cells and can be induced in EAE-susceptible mice through immunization with a myelin antigen, such as proteolipid protein 139–151 (PLP139-151) in SJL mice. In this PLP-induced EAE model, autoreactive CD4+ T cells migrate from peripheral tissues into the CNS where they are reactivated resulting in CNS damage. Th1 and Th17 cells produce the pro-inflammatory cytokines IFNγ and IL-17, respectively, that have been shown to have pathogenic roles in EAE and MS. Anti-inflammatory Th2, IL-4 secreting cells, have been indicated to inhibit EAE exacerbation. However, given the inflammatory environment of EAE, Th2 effector cells are outnumbered by Th1/Th17 cells. Regulatory CD4+ T cells suppress immune reactions and have been de...
Determination of Activity of the Enzymes Hypoxanthine Phosphoribosyl Transferase (HPRT) and Adenine Phosphoribosyl Transferase (APRT) in Blood Spots on Filter Paper.

Hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl-transferase (HPRT) deficiency is the cause of Lesch-Nyhan disease. Adenine phosphoribosyl-transferase (APRT) deficiency causes renal calculi. The activity of each enzyme is readily determined on spots of whole blood on filter paper. This unit describes a method for detecting deficiencies of HPRT and APRT. © 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Keywords: Lesch-Nyhan syndrome; HPRT; APRT; radiolabeled enzyme assay
Improved windowing rule for input buffered packet switches

The Letter suggests a simple modification to the Hluchyj-Karol algorithm for windowed access to input-buffered packet switches. The approach offers improved throughput, a certain degree of fairness in access, and relative ease of implementation.
A triply-bridged binuclear hydrazidomolybdenum(V) complex with terminal, bridging, and ‘dangling’ thiolate ligands. The chemical and structural characterization of [HNEt3]2[Mo2(NNPh)(NNHPh)(SCH2CH2S)3(SCH2CH2SH)]·2/3H2NNHPh

The title compound has been obtained by treating [Mo(NNHPh)2(butane-2,3-diolate)2]·H2NNHPh with excess of dimercaptoethane in methanol; X-ray crystallography reveals the first example of a binuclear bis-hydrazido complex and a unique instance of a molybdenum(V) complex exhibiting thiolate co-ordination trans to a strongly π-bonding group.
Judgment research: Implications for clinical practice and testimony in court

Abstract When treating a client or testifying in court, clinicians should be aware of how they make judgments and when their judgments are likely to be correct and when they are likely to be wrong. Research on the validity of judgments is reviewed along with research on the cognitive processes of clinicians. Some of the results are surprising. For example, recent research indicates that clinicians might be able to make moderately valid long-term predictions of violence. Finally, recommendations are made for improving clinical judgment, and comments are made about the appropriate use of statistical prediction rules and automated assessment test reports.
Disruption of the cytoskeleton in Alzheimer's disease.

Abstract Paired helical filaments (PHFs) in Alzheimer's disease are formed from hyperphosphorylated brain tau known as PHF—tau. Many sites of phosphorylation that were thought to be present only in PHF—tau are now known to be normal phosphate acceptor sites in both fetal and rapidly processed adult brain tau. The rapid dephosphorylation of normal brain tau by protein phosphatases 2A and 2B provides an explanation for the apparent absence of phosphates at these sites in the normal adult brain tau obtained postmortem. Although the functional significance of each of these normal phosphate acceptor sites is unknown at this time, emerging evidence suggests that the binding of tau to microtubules is regulated by the simultaneous phosphorylation and dephosphorylation of tau at multiple sites.
Biphasic Hydroformylation of 1,4-Diacetoxy-2-butene : A Kinetic Study

Hydroformylation of 1,4-diacetoxy-2-butene was studied using a water-soluble Rh complex catalyst prepared in situ from [Rh(COD)Cl]2 complex and trisodium salt of tri-(m-sulfophenyl)phosphine (TPPTS) in a biphasic system. The sequence of addition of catalyst precursor, ligand, and reactant/solvent showed a significant effect on leaching of Rh from aqueous to organic phase, and hence, the procedure was optimized to develop a nonleaching and stable biphasic catalyst system. The only hydroformylation product (1,4-diacetoxy-2-formyl butane, DAFB) formed was found to deacetoxylate completely to 2-formyl-4-acetoxybutene (FAB), thus allowing a one-pot synthesis of FAB, an important intermediate for Vitamin A. Experimental data on the concentration−time and CO/H2 consumption−time profiles were obtained, and the effects of DAB concentration, CO partial pressure, H2 partial pressure, and catalyst concentration were studied in a stirred batch reactor over a temperature range of 338−358 K. The effect of aqueous phase ...
Smoothing complements and randomized score functions

This paper establishes connections between two derivative estimation techniques:infinitesimal perturbation analysis (IPA) and thelikelihood ratio orscore function method. We introduce a systematic way of expanding the domain of the former to include that of the latter, and show that many likelihood ratio derivative estimators are IPA estimators obtained in a consistent manner through a special construction. Our extension of IPA is based onmultiplicative smoothing. A function with discontinuities is multiplied by asmoothing complement, a continuous function that takes the value zero at a jump of the first function. The product of these functions is continuous and provides an indirect derivative estimator after an appropriate normalization. We show that, in substantial generality, the derivative of a smoothing complement is a randomized score function: its conditional expectation is a derivative of a likelihood ratio. If no conditional expectation is applied, derivative estimates based on multiplicative smoothing have higher variance than corresponding estimates based on likelihood ratios.
Endocrine effects of cannabis in male rats

Abstract Male Wistar rats were administered either synthetic Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC) or Mexican cannabis extract at doses of 1, 5, 10, 25, and 50 mg of Δ9-THC/kg of body weight. Steroid concentrations in urine and blood were measured using glass capillary gas chromatography and individual metabolites were identified by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Plasma corticosterone and its metabolite were elevated in a dose-response fashion up to 25 mg/kg. While testosterone is unaltered by Δ9-THC, except at 50 mg/kg, ⊙ther metabolites with possible relation to androgen metabolism were elevated. Measurable amounts of estrogens were produced by male rats given the drugs. Additional alterations were seen in the concentrations of conjugated steroids.
Forest Structure, Health, and Mortality in Two Rocky Mountain Whitebark Pine Ecosystems: Implications for Restoration

Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis Engelm.) forests in western North America are increasingly threatened by the exotic pathogen white pine blister rast (Cronartium ribicola J.C. Fisch.). Whitebark pine is designated a high priority species on the candidate list of Endangered or Threatened species, spurring activity to monitor the rast infection and develop restoration strategies. We surveyed two major whitebark pine ecosystems (Northern Divide Ecosystem [NDE], including Glacier National Park, and Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem [GYE], including Yellowstone National Park) to quantify stand density, structure, species composition, blister rust infection, and mortality. We compared ecosystems based on these variables and suggest alternative restoration strategies. Overall stand densities were similar between the two ecosystems; however, NDE forests had only 79 live whitebark trees ha-1 compared to 274 in the GYE. Rust infection, crown kill, and mortality were all significantly greater in NDE forests. Nearly 75% of all whitebark trees in the NDE were dead, and approximately 90% of the remaining whitebark were infected with rust. These high infection and mortality levels suggest that planting rust-resistant whitebark seedlings should be a high-priority restoration strategy in the NDE. Conversely, nearly 30% of large seed-bearing whitebark remain uninfected in the GYE, indicating that avian seed dispersal should be reasonably dependable during good cone years in that ecosystem. Our study preceded a recent bark beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins) epidemic, and provides a comparison of rust-infected whitebark communities in two major ecosystems under virtually beetle-free conditions, and establishes a baseline for assessing impacts of beetles in the future.
Nature of Package-Induced Deformation and the Risk of Fracture in Low-k Dielectric Stacks

The risk of fracture in Interlayer Dielectric (ILD) stack is evaluated for various configurations of flip-chip packages in this paper. A novel analysis on the mechanical behavior of package with a focus on die surface provides the insights into the critical deformation state as well as its location. In Controlled Collapse Chip Connection (C4) process, the reflow phase involves a cooling of the entire package from the reflow temperature to room temperature, and is critical for package induced die cracking (Chip-Package Interaction or CPI). We use commercial finite element software ABAQUS to construct local sub-models of ILD region from global models of a representative 3-D package with component materials modeled as being temperature dependent elastic or elasto-plastic as appropriate. The risk of ILD fracture is systematically investigated using the described approach.Copyright © 2011 by ASME
Parity space approach for enhanced fault detection and intelligent sensor network design in power systems

In this study, the model-based fault detection and isolation (FDI) approach of parity-space is adapted to the diagnosis of sensor faults in power systems. Hardware redundancy is conventionally utilized to overcome this problem. However, this is an expensive solution. Instead, we propose to detect and locate faults by the systematic use of the system's analytical redundancy, with a global view of the system. This redundancy can be used to detect and isolate sensor failure as well. We also give necessary and sufficient conditions for a sensor network to be able detect faults, sensor failures included. Hence, the sensor configuration problem boils down to an optimization problem that can be intelligently guided by our method. The principle of parity-space approach is described in detail and illustrated on a simple power system model. The method is then validated through simulation.
Cost pass-through reimbursement to hospitals and their impacts on operating efficiencies

In both the private and public sectors, it is strongly believed that when goods and services are transferred at full cost, efficiency of operation is not encouraged. A cost pass-through payment mechanism, heavily used by the U.S. Federal Government prior to 1983 to reimburse hospitals for in-patient services, has been blamed for part of the annual double digit escalation in health care costs from 1965 to 1983. A cost pass-through formula is still in use for some types of outpatient care reimbursement (especially clinics and ancillary services); additionally retrospective reviews are still used to determine Medicare “outlier” payments under the present prospective system. Finally some private health care plans still utilize a mixed retrospective/prospective payment system. Hence, the issue is still very relevant to health care professionals. Unfortunately it has been difficult to settle this issue empirically since hospitals are characterized by the provision of multiple services, with no clear resource/product allocations; additionally different client mixes and other uncontrollable factors complicate the issue of measurement of efficiency. We provide some quantitative insights into this issue, using a new formal hypothesis testing procedure developed by Banker (1993) which uses asinputs the technical efficiency ratings from a Data Envelopment Analysis with non-discretionary factors (see Banker and Morey (1986)). The data set involved is for 105 North Carolina hospitals, operating in 1978 (before the era of prospective reimbursement); three distinct outputs, three controllable resources and six descriptors of the hospital (bed size, case mix, etc.) are available for each hospital. Additionally thepercent ofeach hospital's total reimbursement, generated utilizing the cost pass-through formula, was estimated. The hypotheses tested related generally to whether or not an inverse relationship existed between the hospital's inefficiency rating and the extent of its cost pass-through reimbursement. The data supports the widely held belief that hospitals with higher cost pass-through percent reimbursement indeed tended to be less efficient.
Historical trends in the degree of federal income tax progressivity in the United States

Abstract This study examines how the degree of progressivity of the U.S. Federal income tax evolved between 1929 and 2009. Data from the Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Census Bureau, and Bureau of Economic Analysis is used to construct annual tax concentration curves and income concentration curves. Numerical values of four tax progressivity indices are determined. These values suggests that: (i) the degree of progressivity has varied greatly over time, (ii) taxation outcomes have become more progressive over the past four decades, (iii) the period from the early 1950s through 1974 was one of relatively low progressivity, whereas the period from 1975 through 2009 was one of relatively high progressivity, (iv) the most progressive outcomes of the last 67 years have been realized within the past decade, and (v) recent outcomes are much less progressive than were outcomes before 1942.
Robust Topology Using Reconfigurable Radios in Wireless Sensor Networks

Using SDR technology, the distributed algorithm RMA is used by sensor nodes to reconfigure their radio according to some predefined radio-modes, such that the resulting topology is connected to the sink. This mechanism reduces interference and increases data delivery rate. In this paper we extend RMA by adding a low overhead mechanism to be used in the presence of a primary user. Sensor nodes operating on the same frequency as the primary user will reassign their radio-mode such that the resulting topology does not interfere with the primary user. We analyze the performance of our distributed algorithm using ns-3 simulations.
Simulation of Liquid Crystal Anchoring at an Amorphous Polymer Surface from Various Initial Configurations

Abstract We have used atomistic molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the anchoring of a liquid crystal at the surface of an amorphous polymer. The system studied consisted of the nematogen 5CB at the surface of amorphous polyethylene. The simulations indicate a clear tendency to nearly homeotropic anchoring. The fact that two starting configurations, one planar and one homeotropic, lead to similar final configurations indicates that the observed final configurations represent the equilibrium state for the system under consideration.
Synaptic competition in developmental binocular plasticity

Abstract A mathematical model of the possible physiological and biochemical mechanisms responsible for the changes occurring during binocular development is proposed. The model is based on the mechanisms postulated for the occurrence of well known plastic processes, such as posttetanic potentiation, sensitization and heterosynaptic inhibition. Because all these processes are of presynaptic nature, we have postulated that the plastic processes occurring during development are of the same nature. The factors we have considered in our model are: the transmitter pool size, the mobilization or synthesis of the transmitter, the transmitter release by the physiological stimulus, the neuroendocrine and genetic activity. With this model we have simulated the following phenomena during ocular development: (1) normal binocular development; (2) monocular deprivation, including the effects of reversing the occluded eye; (3) binocular deprivation and recovery; and (4) effects of alternating deprivation on mature binocularity. The model also allows us to explain in a natural way the possible changes occurring during denervation or disuse.
Ventricular cerebrospinal fluid hypocretin-1 inversely correlates with glucose levels in cerebrospinal fluid and serum from patients with neurological injuries.

Introduction: Hypocretin-1 is a hypothalamic neuropeptide that may help regulate arousal and feeding behavior and is quantifiable in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). In this retrospective pilot study, hypocretin-1 levels obtained from ventricular CSF of neurologically injured patients were correlated with clinical and laboratory results to test whether arousal or metabolic factors might be related to the level of hypocretin-1.
A new high speed reactance relay

MAINTENANCE of stability on modern interconnected high capacity transmission systems is made considerably easier by the use of relays which not only operate extremely rapidly on line faults, especially three phase short circuits, but refrain from operating on the surges of power which often follow the interruption of the fault current. In this paper a new distance relay is described which, it is stated, seems to go further in the direction of meeting these requirements than anything hitherto described.
Enzymatic Characterization of FliI AN ATPase INVOLVED IN FLAGELLAR ASSEMBLY IN SALMONELLA TYPHIMURIUM

FliI is a protein needed for flagellar assembly in Salmonella typhimurium. It shows sequence similarity to the catalytic β subunit of the F0F1-ATPase and is even more closely related to putative ATPases in Type III bacterial secretory pathways. A His-tagged version of FliI, which was fully functional in complementation tests, was purified to homogeneity. It had an ATPase activity of 0.16 s−1 at 25°C and pH 7, and a Km for ATP of 0.3 mM; Mg2+ was required. The activity was not affected by inhibitors of the F-, V- or P-type ATPases, or inhibitors of the Type I or Type II bacterial secretory pathways. Mutations K188I and Y363S decreased the ATPase activity about 100-fold, increased the Km about 10-fold, blocked flagellar assembly, and were dominant. Other FliI mutations that disrupted flagellar protein export were found near the N terminus; they permitted essentially wild-type ATPase activity, were not dominant, and showed a dosage-dependent phenotype. We propose that FliI has a C-terminal ATPase domain and an N-terminal domain that interacts with other components in the flagellum-specific export apparatus.