cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Prevalence of Insufficient Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) Greater Among Medicaid Residents Living in Long-Term Care Communities (P01-011-19)

Evaluate the association between insufficient 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] serum levels and healthcare payer source of older adults living in long-term care (LTC) communities. Residents (age >65 yo) of five LTC communities in Central, Texas were recruited to participated in the multi-site, cross-sectional study. A one-year medical history was abstracted from medical records using double-blinded data abstraction and entry protocols. Medical history included but not limited to: diagnosis, medications, history of supplementation, BMI, mini-nutritional assessment, diet order, total mood assessments, hospitalizations and number of infections. Data on payer source and other demographics were also obtained via medical records. Blood draws were collected to measure serum 25(OH)D levels. Logistic regression models were uses to assess the association between insufficient25(OH)Dserum levels (defined as <30 ng/ml) and healthcare payer source. Total vitamin D supplemented per day along with amount provided in meals, body mass index, race, gender, age, years living in community, and diagnosis of liver and renal disease were used as confounders. The 174 participants (89% Caucasian, mean age 83 yo) included 63% females. Payer source was distributed as follows: 55% private pay, 8.6% Medicare, 35% Medicaid, and 1% insurance. Fifty-five % had insufficient25(OH)D serum levels (mean serum level = 32.6 ng/ml; mean supplementation rate of 1138 IU per/d). Insufficient serum levels were seen in 48% of participants with private pay (mean serum level = 36 mg/ml) and 58% with Medicaid (mean serum level = 30.5 ng/ml). Adjusted logistic regression showed that payer source was a significant determinant of insufficient25(OH)D serum levels. Medicaid residents had significantly greater odds of having insufficient 25(OH)D serum levels (adjusted odd ratio (OR) 3.26; CL: 1.25, 8.48; P = 0.015) than private pay participants. Practitioners working in LTC can use these results to ensure equity in the provision of medical nutritional therapy across Medicaid residents and private pay residents. Funding for study was provided through the private funds of research team.
Loss in acoustic metasurfaces: A blessing in disguise

From being an unfavorable consequence to finding itself as the intended imaginary part of a non-Hermitian system, loss has truly emerged as more of a friend than a foe in the context of acoustic metasurfaces. With the promising features of sub-wavelength geometries and the rapid advances in manufacturing techniques that can enable their realization, loss becomes a central topic of discussion. Further, the capability of introducing and tailoring loss allows it to serve as a new degree of freedom in passive wavefront shaping devices. In this review, the authors look back at the recent progress in the field of lossy acoustic metasurfaces. The background behind loss in deep sub-wavelength geometries and the instinctive responses to treat them and exploit them are overviewed, followed by more recent works that embrace and tailor their behavior for unconventional applications. The forthcoming years for acoustic metasurfaces thus hold several promising avenues for exploration, with loss as the protagonist.
Pulmonary venous Doppler patterns and midterm outcomes in fetuses with left-sided obstructive lesions and restrictive atrial septum.

Objective To compare length of stay of the initial neonatal hospitalization and mortality across multiple stages of surgical palliation for infants with left-sided obstructive lesions and severely restrictive or intact atrial septum (I/RAS). Methods Retrospective cohort study of patients prenatally diagnosed with left-sided obstructive lesions and I/RAS, defined by fetal pulmonary venous Dopplers. Results We identified 76 fetal patients with 59 live born intending to pursue intervention. Those with I/RAS had longer durations of mechanical ventilation (P = .031) but no difference in intensive care unit or total length of stay. Survival to discharge from neonatal hospitalization was 41.7% in the I/RAS group and 80.7% in the unrestrictive group (P = .001). There was a higher proportion of deaths between stage 1 and stage 2 in the I/RAS group - 5/9 (55.6%) vs 9/50 (18%) in the unrestrictive group (P = .027). Beyond stage 2 palliation there was trend toward a difference in overall mortality (66.7% in I/RAS vs 35.7% in unrestrictive, P = .05) but no statistically significant difference in transplant-free survival (33.3% in I/RAS vs 53.5% in unrestrictive, P = .11). Conclusion The survival disadvantage conferred by prenatally diagnosed severe atrial septal restriction is most pronounced in the neonatal and early infancy period, with no detectable difference in late midterm transplant-free survival in our cohort.
SunDown: Model-driven Per-Panel Solar Anomaly Detection for Residential Arrays

There has been significant growth in both utility-scale and residential-scale solar installations in recent years, driven by rapid technology improvements and falling prices. Unlike utility-scale solar farms that are professionally managed and maintained, smaller residential-scale installations often lack sensing and instrumentation for performance monitoring and fault detection. As a result, faults may go undetected for long periods of time, resulting in generation and revenue losses for the homeowner. In this paper, we present SunDown, a sensorless approach designed to detect per-panel faults in residential solar arrays. SunDown does not require any new sensors for its fault detection and instead uses a model-driven approach that leverages correlations between the power produced by adjacent panels to detect deviations from expected behavior. SunDown can handle concurrent faults in multiple panels and perform anomaly classification to determine probable causes. Using two years of solar generation data from a real home and a manually generated dataset of multiple solar faults, we show that our approach has a MAPE of 2.98\% when predicting per-panel output. Our results also show that SunDown is able to detect and classify faults, including from snow cover, leaves and debris, and electrical failures with 99.13% accuracy, and can detect multiple concurrent faults with 97.2% accuracy.
Financial toxicity and contralateral prophylactic mastectomy: an analysis using propensity score methods.

Contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM) is increasingly performed in average-risk patients despite the lack of survival benefit. In an era of heightened awareness of healthcare costs, we sought to determine the impact of CPM on financial toxicity in breast cancer. A single-institution propensity-matched analysis of female patients who underwent unilateral mastectomy (UM) with or without CPM for breast cancer over an 18-month period. Patients with a history of genetic predisposition or bilateral cancer were excluded. The validated Comprehensive Score for financial Toxicity (COST) evaluated financial toxicity among participants. Multivariable regression analysis evaluated the relationship between CPM and financial toxicity. Relevant domains of the Breast Q and SF12 instruments were examined as secondary outcomes. Sensitivity analysis was performed using propensity-weighting to examine robustness of results and increase our sample size. Overall, 104 patients were identified, equally distributed across UM and CPM. CPM was not associated with financial toxicity, as evidenced by comparable COST scores (adjusted difference, 1.53 [− 3.24 to 6.29]). Minor complications were significantly lower in UM patients (UM, 8%; CPM, 31%). CPM was associated with significantly higher Breast Q psychosocial well-being score (adjusted difference, 10.58 [1.34 to 19.83]). BREAST Q surgeon satisfaction, SF12 mental and physical component scores were comparable. Similar results were noted on sensitivity analysis involving 194 patients. Choice for CPM was associated with higher minor complications, but led to improved psychosocial well-being without a higher degree of patient-reported financial toxicity. Prospective studies are needed to discern the influence of CPM on the incidence and trajectory of financial toxicity.
The price of a bit: energetic costs and the evolution of cellular signaling

Recent experiments have uncovered a fundamental information scale for cellular signaling networks: the correlation between input and output concentrations of molecules in a signaling pathway corresponds to at most 1-3 bits of mutual information. Our understanding of the physical constraints and evolutionary pressures that determine this scale remains incomplete. By focusing on a basic element of signaling pathways, the kinase-phosphatase enzymatic push-pull loop, we highlight the pivotal role played by energy resources available for signaling and their expenditure: the chemical potential energy of ATP hydrolysis, and the rate of ATP consumption. Scanning a broad range of reaction parameters based on enzymatic databases, we find that ATP chemical potentials in modern organisms are just above the threshold necessary to achieve empirical mutual information values. We also derive an analytical relation for the minimum ATP consumption required to maintain a certain signal fidelity across a range of input frequencies. Attempting to increase signal fidelity beyond a few bits lowers the bandwidth, the maximum characteristic signal frequency that the network can handle at a given energy cost. The observed information scale thus represents a balancing act between fidelity and the ability to process fast-changing environmental signals. Our analytical relation defines a performance limit for kinase-phosphatase networks, and we find evidence that a component of the yeast osmotic shock pathway may be close to the optimality line. By quantifying the evolutionary pressures that operate on these networks, we argue that this is not a coincidence: natural selection on energy expenditures is capable of pushing signaling systems toward optimality, particularly in unicellular organisms. Our theoretical framework is directly verifiable using existing experimental techniques, and predicts that more examples of such optimality should exist in nature.
Characterization of Gene Repression by Designed Transcription Activator-like Effector Dimer Proteins.

Abstract Gene regulation by control of transcription initiation is a fundamental property of living cells. Much of our understanding of gene repression originated from studies of the Escherichia coli lac operon switch, in which DNA looping plays an essential role. To validate and generalize principles from lac for practical applications, we previously described artificial DNA looping driven by designed transcription activator-like effector dimer (TALED) proteins. Because TALE monomers bind the idealized symmetrical lac operator sequence in two orientations, our prior studies detected repression due to multiple DNA loops. We now quantitatively characterize gene repression in living E. coli by a collection of individual TALED loops with systematic loop length variation. Fitting of a thermodynamic model allows unequivocal demonstration of looping and comparison of the engineered TALED repression system with the natural lac repressor system.
Emergence and Evolution of Big Data Analytics in HIV Research: Bibliometric Analysis of Federally Sponsored Studies 2000-2019

Abstract Background The rapid growth of inherently complex and heterogeneous data in HIV/AIDS research underscores the importance of Big Data analytics. Recently, there have been increasing uptakes of Big Data techniques in basic, clinical, and public health fields of HIV/AIDS research. However, no studies have systematically elaborated on the evolving applications of Big Data in HIV/AIDS research. We sought to explore the emergence and evolution of Big Data analytics in HIV/AIDS-related publications that were funded by the US federal agencies. Methods We identified HIV/AIDS and Big Data related publications that were funded by seven federal agencies (i.e., NIH, ACF, AHRQ, CDC, HRSA, FDA, and VA) from 2000 to 2019 by integrating data from NIH ExPORTER, MEDLINE, and MeSH. Building on bibliometrics and Natural Language Processing methods, we constructed co-occurrence networks using bibliographic metadata (e.g., countries, institutes, MeSH terms, and keywords) of the retrieved publications. We then detected clusters among the networks as well as the temporal dynamics of clusters, followed by expert evaluation and clinical implications. Results We harnessed nearly 600 thousand publications related to HIV/AIDS, of which 19,528 publications relating to Big Data were included in bibliometric analysis. Results showed that (1) the number of Big Data publications has been increasing since 2000, (2) US institutes have been in close collaborations with China, Canada, and Germany, (3) University of California system, MD Anderson Cancer Center, and Harvard Medical School are among the most productive institutes and started using Big Data in HIV/AIDS research early, (4) Big Data research was not active in public health disciplines until 2015, (5) research topics such as genomics, HIV comorbidities, population-based studies, Electronic Health Records (EHR), social media, precision medicine, and methodologies such as machine learning, Deep Learning, radiomics, and data mining emerge quickly in recent years. Conclusions We identified a rapid growth in the cross-disciplinary research of HIV/AIDS and Big Data over the past two decades. Our findings demonstrated patterns and trends of prevailing research topics and Big Data applications in HIV/AIDS research and informed fast evolving research areas including HIV comorbidities, genomics, secondary analysis of EHR, social media, machine learning, and Deep Learning as future directions of HIV/AIDS research.
Capturing Miner and Mining Pool Decisions In A Bitcoin Blockchain Network: A Two-Layer Simulation Model

Motivated by the growing interests in Bitcoin blockchain technology, we build a Monte-Carlo simulation model to study the miners’ and mining pool managers’ decisions in the Bitcoin blockchain network. Our simulation model aims to capture the dynamics of participants of these two different parties and how their decisions collectively affect the system dynamics. Given the limited amount of monetary budget and mining power capacity, individual miners decide on which mining pools to join and determine how much hashing power to invest. Mining pool managers need to determine how to appropriately allocate the mining reward and how to adjust the membership fee. In addition to the aforementioned miner and pool behavior, we also characterize the system-level dynamics of the blockchain in terms of mining difficulty level and total hashing power.
Ontology, Set Theory, and the Paraphrase Challenge

In many ontological debates there is a familiar challenge. Consider a debate over X s. The “small” or anti-X side tries to show that they can paraphrase the pro-X or “big” side’s claims without any loss of expressive power. Typically though, when the big side adds whatever resources the small side used in their paraphrase, the symmetry breaks down. The big side plus small’s resources is a more expressively powerful and thus more theoretically fruitful theory. In this paper, I show that there is a very general solution to this problem, for the small side. Assuming the resources of set theory, small can successfully paraphrase big. This result depends on a theorem about models of set theory with urelements. After proving this theorem, I discuss some of its philosophical ramifications.
Extreme Sub-Wavelength Structure Formation from Mid-IR Femtosecond Laser Interaction with Silicon.

Mid-infrared (MIR) wavelengths (2–10 μμm) open up a new paradigm for femtosecond laser–solid interactions. On a fundamental level, compared to the ubiquitous near-IR (NIR) or visible (VIS) laser interactions, MIR photon energies render semiconductors to behave like high bandgap materials, while driving conduction band electrons harder due to the λ2 scaling of the ponderomotive energy. From an applications perspective, many VIS/NIR opaque materials are transparent for MIR. This allows sub-surface modifications for waveguide writing while simultaneously extending interactions to higher order processes. Here, we present the formation of an extreme sub-wavelength structure formation (∼λ/100) on a single crystal silicon surface by a 3600 nm MIR femtosecond laser with a pulse duration of 200 fs. The 50–100 nm linear structures were aligned parallel to the laser polarization direction with a quasi-periodicity of 700 nm. The dependence of the structure on the native oxide, laser pulse number, and polarization were studied. The properties of the structures were studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), cross-sectional transmission electron-microscopy (CS-TEM), electron diffraction (ED), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). As traditional models for the formation of laser induced periodic surface structure do not explain this structure formation, new theoretical efforts are needed.
Riffing on Lysistrata: Gender and Social Critique in Spike Lee’s Chi-raq

This paper examines how Chi-raq, Spike Lee’s 2015 adaptation of Lysistrata, adopts Aristophanes’ motif of the hypersexual woman and uses it to engage in a broader social critique of the hypermascul...
On Expanding the Definition and Use of Procedural Fidelity

Although our field has made significant progress in the measurement of procedural fidelity in research studies, we argue for a more nuanced and expansive perspective on procedural fidelity. Specifi...
What is your research question? A mixed methods evaluation of an academic statistical consulting center.

Abstract Academic consulting centers on research and statistics are the bridge between applied researchers and statisticians and thus at the core of university-wide research. The client-centered evaluation focused on investigating the perspective of the clients in university research and statistical consulting center. A mixed-methods methodology was used in this study, specifically a concurrent triangulation design was implemented to have multiple data sources collected and analyzed simultaneously in order to identify areas of overlapping information. The Research Consulting Scale (RCS) instrument was developed and analyzed using an exploratory factor analysis with 129 participants and resulted in two factors: consulting experience, and consulting facilities. The internal consistency reliability of the scores for these two factors was 0.89 and .86 respectively. These results support the RCS has strong internal consistency. Additionally, client interviews were conducted sampling from those who had responded to the survey in order to gather additional data. Thematic analysis was performed to interview data and resulted in two major themes: consultant expertise and consultancy skills. The results provide a survey instrument and key themes for university consulting centers to focus and assess their efficiency through client’s perspectives.
Cellular growth of 2M-wollastonite in flux growth process relevant to preparation of high aspect ratio particles

High aspect ratio 2M-wollastonite particles were prepared using a flux growth process, in which a unidirectional temperature gradient was established in the melt. The one-dimensional heat transfer caused the crystals to display clear cellular structure. The measured cellular growth rate decreased from ∼12 to 8 μm s− 1 within 20 min of crystallisation time. However, the primary arm spacing remained nearly constant at ∼7.5 μm. B2O3 can significantly lower the melting point of the mixture, which made the handling of the molten silicate mixtures easier. The cellular/dendritic structures were maintained up to a maximum B2O3 content of 20 wt-%. The primary arm spacing increased from ∼8 μm at 8 wt-% B2O3 to ∼40 μm at 20 wt-% B2O3. The corresponding mean aspect ratio of 2M-wollastonite particles decreased from ∼12:1 (a high aspect ratio grade) at 8 wt-% B2O3 to ∼4:1 (a low aspect ratio grade) at 20 wt-% B2O3.
Traceability for microwave power measurements: Past, present, and future

The need for traceable microwave power measurements for use in communications, defense, spectral line investigation, molecular particle signature identification, material property characterization, and many other applications is well known. Traceability for power measurements was established many years ago. The primary method for establishing traceability for power measurements, which is still used today, was developed in the 1960's. This paper will explore the techniques used for establishing past/current traceable power measurements and will also discuss the future directions for power traceability.
Polytopic Approximations of Reachable Sets Applied to Linear Dynamic Games and a Class of Nonlinear Systems

This chapter presents applications of polytopic approximation methods for reachable set computation using dynamic optimization. The problem of computing exact reachable sets can be formulated in terms of a Hamilton-Jacobi partial differential equation (PDE). Numerical solutions which provide convergent approximations of this PDE have computational complexity which is exponential in the continuous variable dimension. Using dynamic optimization and polytopic approximation, computationally efficient algorithms for overapproximative reachability analysis have been developed for linear dynamical systems tikya[1]. In this chapter, we extend these to feedback linearizable nonlinear systems, linear dynamic games, and norm-bounded nonlinear systems. Three illustrative examples are presented.
C3b binding, but not its breakdown, is affected by the structure of the O-antigen polysaccharide in lipopolysaccharide from Salmonellae.

Bacteria whose lipopolysaccharide contains O-antigen side chains activate complement via the alternative pathway. We have shown previously that three strains of Salmonella, differing in the chemical structure of their O-antigens, consumed C3 to different extents when incubated in C4-deficient guinea pig serum. Moreover, sheep erythrocytes coated with lipopolysaccharide purified from these strains mimicked whole cells in C3 consumption, proving that lipopolysaccharide alone could account for these results. We have now measured the deposition of 125I-C3 in this system, and found that C3 deposition parallels C3 consumption in rate and extent, and differs for surfaces bearing different O-antigens, whether tested with bacteria or with erythrocytes coated with purified lipopolysaccharide. We have also examined the fate of C3 on these Salmonellae by measuring the size and quantity of 125I-C3 breakdown fragments by SDS-PAGE, and have determined the kinetics of conversion of C3b to iC3b by using conglutinin, a molecule that binds specifically to iC3b. There is no difference in breakdown of C3b deposited on cells with different O-antigens: all show partial conversion to iC3b and C3dg as indicated by 68,000, 44,000, and 41,000 m.w. bands on reduced SDS gels. Furthermore, for all strains, the Ka of conglutinin binding to iC3b is similar (0.49 to 0.69 X 10(8) M-1), as is the rate of generation of iC3b and the final ratio of iC3b:C3b + iC3b (0.62 to 0.72). We therefore postulate that the fine structure of the O-antigen in lipopolysaccharide determines the magnitude of alternative pathway activation on the bacterial surface by affecting the rate and extent of C3b deposition, but not the rate and extent of breakdown of C3b.
Clinical activity of enzalutamide in Docetaxel‐naïve and Docetaxel‐pretreated patients with metastatic castration‐resistant prostate cancer

Background Two randomized clinical trials have demonstrated a survival advantage with enzalutamide over placebo in both docetaxel (D)-pretreated and D-naive metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) patients. Cross-resistance between androgen receptor-directed therapies and taxanes has been suggested, possibly leading to lower efficacy of enzalutamide in the post-D setting.
Exploring the Boundaries of our Heliosphere: The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) and Solar Probe

This paper briefly highlights two exciting new space missions—the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) and Solar Probe. Between these two, mankind will be able to understand the critical physical processes at the outermost and innermost boundaries of our heliosphere for the first time. IBEX will launch in the summer of 2008 to make energy‐resolved images of energetic neutral atoms emanating from the inner heliosheath, beyond the termination shock, and enable detailed analysis of the global interaction of the heliosphere with the local interstellar medium. At the inner boundary, Solar Probe has been proposed to fly within 3 solar radii of the Sun’s surface, to provide the first in situ, observations down in the solar corona. While very different missions, IBEX and Solar Probe each enable revolutionary scientific discovery at one of the two remaining unexplored boundaries of our heliosphere.
Learner-based factors in L2 reading comprehension and processing grammatical form : Topic familiarity and working memory

This study examines how topic familiarity and working memory capacity affect beginning Spanish learners' reading comprehension and their processing of future tense morphology. Participants included 94 adult learners from an accelerated, beginning Spanish course. In addition to completing a computerized version of a reading span test as a measure of working memory capacity, all learners read texts about familiar or unfamiliar topics and completed recall protocols to measure passage comprehension. They also completed form recognition and tense identification tests to determine processing of future tense morphology. The results revealed consistent effects for topic familiarity on all tasks. Although differences in working memory capacity played some role in learners' comprehension and processing grammatical form, significant findings for working memory emerged depending on participants' previous knowledge about text topics.
Hybrid unsupervised/supervised virtual reality spaces for visualizing cancer databases: an evolutionary computation approach

This paper introduces a multi-objective optimization approach to the problem of computing virtual reality spaces for the visual representation of relational structures (e.g. databases), symbolic knowledge and others, in the context of visual data mining and knowledge discovery. Procedures based on evolutionary computation are discussed. In particular, the NSGA-II algorithm is used as a framework for an instance of this methodology; simultaneously minimizing Sammon's error for dissimilarity measures, and mean cross-validation error on a k-nn pattern classifier. The proposed approach is illustrated with an example from cancer genomics data (e.g. lung cancer) by constructing virtual reality spaces resulting from multi-objective optimization. Selected solutions along the Pareto front approximation are used as nonlinearly transformed features for new spaces that compromise similarity structure preservation (from an unsupervised perspective) and class separability (from a supervised pattern recognition perspective), simultaneously. The possibility of spanning a range of solutions between these two important goals, is a benefit for the knowledge discovery and data understanding process. The quality of the set of discovered solutions is superior to the ones obtained separately, from the point of view of visual data mining.
Phase I and Pharmacokinetic Trial of Gemcitabine in Patients With Hepatic or Renal Dysfunction: Cancer and Leukemia Group B 9565

PURPOSE: To ascertain if hepatic or renal dysfunction leads to increased toxicity at a given dose of gemcitabine and to characterize the pharmacokinetics of gemcitabine and its major metabolite in patients with such dysfunction. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Adults with tumors appropriate for gemcitabine therapy and who had abnormal liver or renal function tests were eligible. Patients were assigned to one of three treatment cohorts: I—AST level less than or equal to two times normal and bilirubin level less than 1.6 mg/dL; II—bilirubin level 1.6 to 7.0 mg/dL; and III—creatinine level 1.6 to 5.0 mg/dL with normal liver function. Doses were explored in at least three patients within each cohort. Gemcitabine and its metabolite were to be measured in the blood in all patients. RESULTS: Forty patients were assessable for toxicity. Transient transaminase elevations were observed in many patients but were not dose limiting. Patients with AST elevations tolerated gemcitabine without increased toxicity, but patients with...
De-Centering, Not Discarding, the “Isms”: Some Friendly Amendments

The authors are sympathetic to much of David Lake's argument in his critique of paradigmatic ‘isms’ in the field. However, they also seek to qualify his diagnosis of the problem and critically assess some of his prescriptions and his efforts to manage epistemological divides in the field. In the process, the authors also clarify certain aspects of ‘analytic eclecticism’.
Diaspora strategies in the sending states of Southeast Asia: Rights, skills and questions of value

Over the past decade there has been a surge of academic and policy interest in the contributions of transnational migrants in furthering national development objectives in their ‘home’ countries. These approaches tend to be bifurcated into two distinct categories: (1) ‘diaspora strategies’ that target the participation in national development objectives of sought-after elite, high-skilled migrants and (2) migration-as-development strategies, which focus on facilitating and channeling the economic and social remittances of nonelite, low-skilled migrants. Although these broad categorizations have never been entirely adequate in capturing the complexity of international migration flows, a conceptual division between them persists, with very real consequences for state policies in migrant-sending countries in Southeast Asia. This paper explores the separation between diaspora strategies and migration-as-development frameworks through a focus on rights and skills, and questions of relative labour value. I argue that while diaspora strategies and migration-as-development frameworks cannot simply be merged, the academic separation between them should be challenged and more in-depth theoretical engagement should be encouraged. I further suggest that migration policy makers should strive to evaluate their migration policies to address the increasing complexities of contemporary migration.
Heavily carbon doped InGaAs lattice matched to InP grown by LP-MOCVD using TMIn, TMGa and liquid CCl/sub 4/

Heavily carbon doped InGaAs lattice matched to InP was grown by LP-MOCVD using all-methyl metalorganics and liquid CCl/sub 4/ as a carbon source. The impact of growth conditions on conduction type and alloy composition of InGaAs was studied. The effect of thermal annealing conditions on the hole concentration and mobility of C-InGaAs was investigated, and carbon displacement from the group III site to the arsenic site as well as reduced hydrogen passivation are suggested as possible mechanisms for the significant increase of hole concentration upon annealing. Base specific contact resistances as low as 5/spl times/10/sup -7/ /spl Omega/-cm/sup 2/ were demonstrated by depositing Ti/Pt/Au non-alloyed ohmic contacts on annealed base layers.
Conductance of a quantum channel containing a small number of impurities

Abstract The crossover properties of the quantum conductance in a 1D constriction from the ballistic to the diffusive regime are investigated analytically. In the ballistic regime, the well-known plateau structures are found. As more impurities are added to the system, we are able to show that interesting “dip” structures should be found when new quantum channels become open. The higher the new quantum channel index, the deeper the dip will be. When the degree of disorder increases, the ensemble-averaged conductance is shown to be reduced, but the dip structure can still be seen as long as the diffusive regime is not reached. Our analytical results are in agreement with recent experiments as well as numerical simulations.
Sugar profiles of seedlings of Zea mays and several weedy panicoid grasses

Sugar profiles were obtained for root, shoot and endosperm tissues from four-day-old seedlings of Zea mays, Setaria faberii, Panicum miliaceum and Sorghum bicolor, and pronounced differences were observed. Sugars in S. faberii roots were especially low compared to Z. mays, with no detectable glucose or fructose (< 0.01 %) and only ∼ 0.03 % sucrose in the former species compared to ∼ 1 % fructose, 9–16 % glucose and 3–4 % sucrose in the latter. Panicum miliaceum roots contained < 0.1 % sucrose and glucose, and the shoots contained - 1/10 as much glucose as Z. mays.
Characteristics of 8-substituted adenine nucleotide derivatives utilized in affinity chromatography.

Abstract Improved methods for the preparation of several 8-substituted adenine nucleotide derivatives are described. Enzymatic properties of these 8-substituted derivatives were investigated by steady state kinetic and inhibition studies. It was found that 8-(6-aminohexyl)-amino DPN+ and TPN+ exhibit relatively high affinity for most DPN+ and TPN+ dependent dehydrogenases. Preliminary nmr studies indicate that the 8-substituted adenine nucleotide derivatives may exist in slightly different ribosyl as well as glycosyl conformations from those of the natural adenine nucleotides. The chemical shift difference between geminal C4 protons of dihydropyridine moiety of DPN+ and TPN+ changes from 0.1 to 0.2 ppm upon the 8-hexyl substitution of the natural coenzymes, indicating a strong interaction between 8-hexyl side chain of adenine moiety and the dihydropyridine moiety of these coenzyme derivatives. However, the folding and fluorescence properties of 8-(6-aminohexyl)-amino DPN+ and TPN+ as well as their reduced analogs in aqueous solutions are not significantly altered as compared to those of natural DPN+ and TPN+. Purification of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase from yeast extracts and human erythrocytes using 8-(6-aminohexyl)-amino-TPN+ -Sepharose column is reported. Preliminary studies on the purification of various kinases using 8-substituted ADP and ATP Sepharose columns are also presented.
Prevalence of activating K-ras mutations in the evolutionary stages of neoplasia in intraductal papillary mucinous tumors of the pancreas.

Objective The purpose of the study was to determine the prevalence of activating K-ras mutations in the pancreas of patients with intraductal papillary mucinous tumors (IPMT) and to analyze their relation to the degree of site-specific histopathologic abnormality. Background Intraductal papillary mucinous tumors of the pancreas have a biologic behavior that is significantly different from pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Activating K-ras mutations, which may be important events in a multistage process of carcinogenesis, have been reported in IPMT. Methods Forty-six different histologic specimens (comprising normal pancreatic ducts, hyperplasia, low-grade dysplasia, high-grade dysplasia-carcinoma in situ, and carcinoma) from 16 patients with IPMT and 9 specimens from patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas were designated by a pathologist. Genomic DNA was extracted from paraffin-embedded tissue sections after microdissection. The K-ras gene was amplified by polymerase chain reaction and subjected to DNA sequencing. Results The K-ras mutations were detected in at least one specimen in 13 (81.2%) of 16 patients with IPMT. All mutations were found in codon 12. No codon 13 mutations were detected. The relative frequency of K-ras mutations in the different stages of IPMT was 16.7% in normal epithelium and papillary hyperplasia, 28.6% in low-grade dysplasia, and 57.1% in high-grade dysplasia-carcinoma in situ and invasive carcinoma. The K-ras mutations were detected in 6 (66%) of 9 pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas. Conclusions The K-ras codon 12 point mutations are as frequent in IPMT as in ductal adenocarcinoma. A stepwise increase in the frequency of codon 12 mutations correlated with the stage of neoplastic evolution to cancer. This finding is consistent with an important role of K-ras gene mutations in the transformation from normal epithelium to invasive carcinoma in the majority of patients with IPMT.
Physiological neuroendocrinology of peptides, steroids and other hormones in cerebrospinal fluid.

Abstract Kee, David B., Jr., and James H. Wood: Physiological neuroendocrinology of peptides, steroids and other hormones in cerebrospinal fluid. Prog. Neuro-psychopharmacol. & Biol. Psychiat. 1985, 9 (1); 55–72. 1. 1. Cerebrospinal fluid acts as a conduit in neuroendocrine regulation. 2. 2. Valid assessment of normal cerebrospinal fluid levels of peptides, steroids and other hormones requires clarification of reference concentrations in control patients and normal volunteers. 3. 3. Awareness of factors which may alter neuronal activity and, in turn, the relative composition of cerebrospinal fluid constituents is essential to the accurate sampling and hormonal analysis of cerebrospinal fluid.
Anthocyanins in Bracts of Euphorbia Pulcherrima as Revealed by Paper Chromatographic and Spectrophotometric Methods.

Lawrence et al (4) identified the red pigment in bracts of poinsettia as an anthocyanin. The methods employed served to identify the principal anthocyanidin (cyanidin), but not the sugar moiety. Blank (2), Robinson and Robinson (5, 6, 7), and Scott-Moncrieff (8) reported that variation in the sugar moiety of the anthocyanin pigment affected color. They found that monoglycosides were redder than the corresponding pentose glycosides, while 3-biosides and 3,5-diglycosides were bluer. The purpose of the present investigation was to isolate and identify by paper Chromatographie and spectrophotometric methods the anthocyanidin as well as the sugar moiety of the anthocyanin in bracts of Euphorbia pulcherrima.
Intrinsically Optimal Bayesian Robust Filtering

When designing optimal filters it is often unrealistic to assume that the statistical model is known perfectly. The issue is then to design a robust filter that is optimal relative to an uncertainty class of processes. Robust filter design has been treated from minimax (best worst-case performance) and Bayesian (best average performance) perspectives. Heretofore, the Bayesian approach has involved finding a model-specific optimal filter, one that is optimal for some model in the uncertainty class. Lifting this constraint, we optimize over the full class from which the original optimal filters were obtained, for instance, over all linear filters. By extending the original characteristics determining the filter, such as the power spectral density, to “effective characteristics” that apply across the uncertainty class, we demonstrate, for both linear and morphological filtering, that an “intrinsically optimal” Bayesian robust filter can be represented in the same form as the standard solution to the optimal filter, except via the effective characteristics. Solutions for intrinsic Bayesian robust filters are more transparent and intuitive than solutions for model-specific filters, and also less tedious, because effective characteristics push through the spectral theory into the Bayesian setting, whereas solutions in the model-specific case depend on grinding out the optimization.
In Their Own Words An Exploratory Study of Bona Fide Group Leaders

Group leadership from a bona fide group theory perspective was examined. Twenty-three effective group leaders were interviewed in depth about what they believe is important in leading groups. Five ...
The interaction of ethical and aesthetic value

In many artworks, both aesthetic and ethical values are present, and both can contribute to the overall artistic value of a work. The question explored in this paper is: does the presence of one kind of value affect the degree of the other? For example, does a work that expresses a morally reprehensible attitude diminish the aesthetic value of a work? Let 'interaction' name the view that the presence of one kind of value affects the degree of the other. We will argue in favour of the existence of interaction. However, we will argue further that such interaction is a contingent feature of artworks and that the most common argument that has been offered for interaction-the affective response argument-fails to identify the main reason why it holds, when it in fact does.
Arthroscopic treatment of full-thickness rotator cuff tears in the athlete

Full-thickness rotator cuff tears in the young athlete are uncommon. The majority of full-thickness cuff tears are seen in the middle-aged recreational athlete. Symptomatic full-thickness cuff tears in these competitive athletes should be arthroscopically repaired. We advocate a double-row arthroscopic rotator cuff repair, which, when compared with a traditional single row repair, better restores the original footprint of the torn rotator cuff. It is our belief that by maximizing the amount of surface area that the torn rotator cuff can heal to bone, a concomitant increase in the healing and mechanical strength of the repaired rotator cuff tendon can be potentially achieved.
Wish list for future features of breast MRI computer aided evaluation

During the 2011 Radiological Society of North America meeting, this author approached one PACS (picture archiving and communication system) workstation manufacturer and asked if analysis of multiphasic examination was offered. It is perhaps shocking that this question was met with a puzzlement and immediate consultation between booth personnel, until finally; someone replied that this option was not yet available. Keep in mind that this is almost 20 years since Kaiser and colleagues first published on the importance of multiphasic breast MR examination [1]. The breast radiologist presented with interpretation of a breast MRI faces the daunting task of examining 1000–2000 images. Although current PACS workstations can easily display large imaging sets (e.g. during MR angiography), the current PACS workstation is not equipped to perform some basic tasks that are easily handled on a dedicated breast MRI workstation. Unfortunately, this requires that the radiologist switch to a dedicated workstation for examination of that breast MRI, then switch back to PACS afterwards to resume examination of the other imaging modalities associated with that patient. Further complicating this is the fact that digital mammography requires use of a high resolution workstation, not usually used for CT and MRI interpretation. The motivation for this presentation is to spur discussion between radiologists, physicists and equipment manufacturers in optimizing the workstation so as to improve radiologist efficiency and improve the quality of breast MRI interpretation.
Current practices for mental health follow-up after psychiatric emergency department/psychiatric emergency service visits: a national survey of academic emergency departments

Abstract Objective The objective was to describe continuity of care approaches for psychiatric emergencies in the emergency department. Methods A national survey of all 138 academic emergency departments in the United States was conducted. Results Most emergency physicians (81%) had no systematic method for identifying psychiatric emergency patients with high recidivism. In order to promote outpatient care, sites commonly reported using intensive interventions, including scheduling outpatient appointments prior to discharge (72%) and in-house case management (64%). Conclusion While systematic identification of repeat psychiatric emergency patients was uncommon, emergency departments reported using a variety of fairly intensive strategies to promote continuity of care with outpatient mental health services.
Thermomechanical properties and equation of state for the γ-polymorph of hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine

The thermomechanical properties of the γ-polymorph of hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) are predicted using a non-reactive fully flexible Smith and Bharadwaj molecular potential using molecular dynamics simulations. The elastic modulus tensor, coefficients of thermal expansion, and lattice constants are calculated as functions of pressure (4–11 GPa) and temperature (200–550 K). Much like α-RDX, the components of the elastic modulus tensor of γ-RDX are found to increase monotonically with pressure, but soften only mildly with increasing temperature. Another interesting observation is that the b-lattice parameter is insensitive to temperature changes and is almost unchanged at higher pressures. A third order Birch–Murnaghan equation of state and the coefficients of thermal expansion are obtained from the pressure–volume–temperature (pVT) data. Around the α–γ phase transition pressure, the coefficients of thermal expansion for γ-RDX are greater than those of α-RDX. In contrast to α-RDX, the coefficients of thermal expansion for γ-RDX exhibit negligible variation with pressure. The predicted values of the thermomechanical properties and crystal parameters agree reasonably well with experimental results and other molecular simulations reported in the literature.
Acculturation and Communication Traits: A study of Cross-Cultural Adaptation among Chinese in America

This study investigated the relationships between acculturation and communication traits. One hundred and seventy-five Chinese across from the United States participated in this study. Participants received a battery of questionnaires in the mail, including the measures of communication apprehension, willingness to communicate, communication competence, argumentativeness, general disclosiveness and cultural identity. Results indicated that as proportion of life in America increased, Chinese identified more with American culture; in turn, they became less fearful, more willing and competent in communication. Their self-disclosure also became less frequent and intimate, but more positive, with longer time living in America. These findings suggest that culture shapes communication traits through exposure to and identification with the host culture to some extent.
Making medical research clinically friendly: a communication-based conceptual framework.

Context: It often takes a long time before the results of medical research are actually used by health care practitioners in day-to-day clinical settings. This problem, referred to as ''the evidence-to-practice gap'', has significant implications for patient health care. Practitioners have difficulty keeping up with the latest information in part because it is reported in hundreds of journals that may not be easily accessed and understood. Approach: This essay conceptualizes the evidence-to-practice gap as a communication problem and suggests how academic research can be translated into messages that are easier for practitioners to access, comprehend and incorporate into their medical practice. A ''translation framework'' shows the importance of targeting messages to specific audiences and provides a communication-based conceptual approach for summarizing research for clinicians. Practical Implications: Targeting the results of academic research to practitioners will decrease the time it takes for patients to benefit from the latest medical evidence. Translation guidelines can help health researchers write more effectively for both academic and practitioner audiences. Since the evidence-to-practice gap is a systemic problem that begins with how we train our health researchers, educators should consider addressing this topic in the health professions classroom. The framework presented here can serve as the basis for an instructional unit on interpreting and reporting research findings. Finally, information technology can play a much larger role in the