cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Tools and experiments supporting a testing-based theory of component composition

Development of software using off-the-shelf components seems to offer a chance for improving product quality and developer productivity. This article reviews a foundational testing-based theory of component composition, describes tools that implement the theory, and presents experiments with functional and nonfunctional component/system properties that validate the theory and illuminate issues in component composition.The context for this work is an ideal form of Component-Based Software Development (CBSD) supported by tools. Component developers describe their components by measuring approximations to functional and nonfunctional behavior on a finite collection of subdomains. Systems designers describe an application-system structure by the component connections that form it. From measured component descriptions and a system structure, a CAD tool synthesizes the system properties, predicting how the system will behave. The system is not built, nor are any test executions performed. Neither the component sources nor executables are needed by systems designers. From CAD calculations a designer can learn (approximately) anything that could be learned by testing an actual system implementation. The CAD tool is often more efficient than it would be to assemble and execute an actual system.Using tools that support an ideal separation between component- and system development, experiments were conducted to investigate two related questions: (1) To what extent can unit (that is, component) testing replace system testingq (2) What properties of software and subdomains influence the quality of subdomain testingq
Method for the determination of veratridine and cevadine, major components of the natural insecticide sabadilla, in lettuce and cucumbers

Sabadilla, an insecticide widely used by organic farmers, can be separated into five of its components (veratridine, cevadine, cevine, cevacine, and sabadine) by high-performance liquid chromatogra...
The postsurgical transsexual: empirical and theoretical considerations

Two groups of patients served as subjects for the study. Group I consisted of seven biological males (three whites and four blacks) who received surgery before the organization of the CWRU Gender Identity Clinic; Group II consisted of 14 postsurgical patients (eight biological males, two white, six black; and six white biological females) from the CWRU Gender Identity Clinic. A nine-page, 59-item questionnaire was constructed to collect systematic follow-up data for Group II. Data were collected up to 2 years postsurgery at varying intervals, measuring the sexual, psychological, environmental, economic, parental, family, medical, and social adjustment and functioning of each patient. While surgery provided in the context of a comprehensive Gender Identity Clinic program may lead to moderate social-sexual gains, researchers must begin to focus on the psychological problems not broached by surgery. The recommendation that psychotherapy be attempted with these patients (both pre- and postsurgery) is an important outgrowth of the study. Moreover, the need for a more systematic approach to follow-up, including the use of standardized interviews and clinical assessment tools and adequate control groups, is discussed.
The challenge of outcome evaluation in homeless services: Engagement as an intermediate outcome measure

Abstract Evaluating treatment outcomes for programs serving individuals who are homeless and mentally ill presents many challenges in terms of measures available and timeframes for data collection and analysis. These difficulties pose significant obstacles in terms of responsiveness to the need for short-term justification of program funding and for program modifications to improve operations. Information is presented from a two-site intervention in Michigan, providing outreach and in vivo services to individuals who are homeless and mentally ill, which measured client engagement with project services. The project's use of engagement as an intermediate outcome measure is described. Data is presented supporting the validity of the measure. Documentation is provided on the measure's utility in evaluating program performance and in improving project operations. Discussion follows on interpretation of program-level and individual client differences in engagement status.
Relationship between cyclooxygenase 1 and 2 selective inhibitors and fetal development when administered to rats and rabbits during the sensitive periods for heart development and midline closure.

BACKGROUND: A review of the scientific literature suggested the occurrence of low-level incidences of ventricular septal defect (VSD) and midline defect (MD) in rat fetuses and diaphragmatic hernia (DH), VSD, and MD in rabbit fetuses after maternal exposure to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Aspirin, an NSAID that irreversibly inhibits cyclooxygenase 1 (COX-1) and COX-2, induces DH, VSD, and MD when administered as one dose during the sensitive periods of development in rats. Unlike aspirin, other NSAIDs, including selective COX-2 inhibitors, reversibly inhibit COX activity. To evaluate whether the dysmorphogenesis observed after maternal NSAID exposure correlates with COX-1 or COX-2 inhibition, a series of compounds with different capacities to inhibit COX-1 and COX-2 were administered to pregnant rats and rabbits during the sensitive period for heart development and midline closure. METHODS: The compounds selected, ranked from the most COX-2 selective to the most COX-1 selective based on COX inhibition in a human whole blood assay, were CJ-19,209, meloxicam, diclofenac, diflunisal, ibuprofen, and ketorolac. Rat dams were treated on gestation days (GDs) 9 and 10, and rabbit does were treated on GDs 9, 10, and 11. The doses selected for evaluation represented the maximum tolerable dose for the compound, with the exception of CJ-19,209, which was dosed at 1000 mg/kg. Fetuses were collected by cesarean section on GDs 21 and 29 for rats and rabbits, respectively, and all fetuses were examined for external and visceral developmental anomalies. RESULTS: In rabbits, diflunisal induced DH, VSD, and MD (omphalocele) and single incidences of VSD and MD (gastroschisis) were noted in the ibuprofen group; no other developmental findings were associated with treatment. In rats, ibuprofen, diflunisal, and ketorolac induced increases in the incidence of VSD. In general, the induction of developmental defects was associated with compounds that selectively inhibit COX-1 or have a high ratio of COX-1 to COX-2 inhibition. CONCLUSIONS: Inhibition of COX-1 may be involved in the disruption of heart development, whereas the selective inhibition of COX-2 (as assessed with CJ-19,209) appears to have no effect on heart development and midline closure in rats and rabbits. Birth Defects Research (Part B) 68: 47–56, 2003. r 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
The early history of spinal anesthesia

Abstract The very early development of spinal anesthesia is reviewed, beginning with J. Leonard Corning's experience in New York in 1885. August Bier's first spinal anesthetic in Germany in 1899 is explored in depth, as are the contributions of the American physicians Rudolph Matas, F. Dudley Tate and Guido E. Caglieri.
Effects of Exposure to Alcohol in Mother's Milk on Infant Sleep

Objective. To test the hypothesis that exposure to alcohol in breast milk affects infants' sleep and activity levels in the short term. Methods. Thirteen lactating women and their infants were tested on 2 days, separated by an interval of 1 week. On each testing day, the mother expressed 100 mL of milk, while a small, computerized movement detector called an actigraph was placed on the infant's left leg to monitor sleep and activity patterning. After the actigraph had been in place for ∼15 minutes, the infants ingested their mother's breast milk flavored with alcohol (32 mg) on one testing day and breast milk alone on the other. The infants' behaviors were monitored for the next 3.5 hours. Results. The infants spent significantly less time sleeping during the 3.5 hours after consuming the alcohol-flavored milk (78.2 minutes compared with 56.8 minutes after feeding alcohol in breast milk). This reduction was apparently attributable to a shortening in the longest sleeping bout (34.5 compared with 56.7 minutes for sleeping after breast milk alone) and the amount of time spent in active sleep (25.8 minutes compared with 44.2 minutes after breast milk alone); the decrease in active sleep was observed in all but 2 of the 13 infants tested. Conclusions. Although the mechanisms underlying the reduction in sleep remain to be elucidated, this study shows that short-term exposure to small amounts of alcohol in breast milk produces distinctive changes in the infant's sleep–wake patterning.
A parallel cellular automata with label priors for interactive brain tumor segmentation

We present a novel method for 3D brain tumor volume segmentation based on a parallel cellular automata framework. Our method incorporates prior label knowledge gathered from user seed information to influence the cellular automata decision rules. Our proposed method is able to segment brain tumor volumes quickly and accurately using any number of label classifications. Exploiting the inherent parallelism of our algorithm, we adopt this method to the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). Additionally, we introduce the concept of individual label strength maps to visualize the improvements of our method. As we demonstrate in our quantitative and qualitative results, the key benefits of our system are accuracy, robustness to complex structures, and speed. We compute segmentations nearly 45× faster than conventional CPU methods, enabling user feedback at interactive rates.
Generalized intersection cuts and a new cut generating paradigm

Intersection cuts are generated from a polyhedral cone and a convex set S whose interior contains no feasible integer point. We generalize these cuts by replacing the cone with a more general polyhedron C. The resulting generalized intersection cuts dominate the original ones. This leads to a new cutting plane paradigm under which one generates and stores the intersection points of the extreme rays of C with the boundary of S rather than the cuts themselves. These intersection points can then be used to generate in a non-recursive fashion cuts that would require several recursive applications of some standard cut generating routine. A procedure is also given for strengthening the coefficients of the integer-constrained variables of a generalized intersection cut. The new cutting plane paradigm yields a new characterization of the closure of intersection cuts and their strengthened variants. This characterization is minimal in the sense that every one of the inequalities it uses defines a facet of the closure.
The Rationalizing Logics of Public School Reform: How Cultural Institutions Matter for Classroom Instruction

The research herein uses a mixed methods approach to examine how organizational phenomena at the macro level of analysis translate into phenomena at the micro level. Specifically, the research atte...
Death in pemphigus

Pemphigus is frequently a fatal skin disease. The cause of death and the events leading to it were investigated by examining patient records and autopsy data of thirteen patients who died as a result of this disease at the UCLA Hospital between 1965 and 1980. The diagnosis was confirmed histologically and/or by immunofluorescent studies of the skin and serum. Infection was the most frequent cause of death, and septicemia was found in nine of thirteen cases. The most commonly found organism was Staphylococcus aureus. The skin was usually the source of infection. Nine patients had pneumonia on chest x-ray and autopsy examination. Most patients had low levels of serum proteins and serum albumin. Since the patients were on long-term high doses of corticosteroids, the signs and symptoms of inflammation were often masked. This study demonstrated that for this reason, long-term corticosteroid therapy is one of the significant factors contributing to the death of these patients. A cautious and judicious use of steroids is suggested.
Wrong-path instruction prefetching

Instruction cache misses can severely limit the performance of both superscalar processors and high speed sequential machines. Instruction prefetch algorithms attempt to reduce the performance degradation by bringing lines into the instruction cache before they are needed by the CPU fetch unit. There have been several algorithms proposed to do this, most notably next line prefetching and target prefetching. We propose a new scheme called wrong-path prefetching which combines next-line prefetching with the prefetching of all control instruction targets regardless of the predicted direction of conditional branches. The algorithm substantially reduces the cycles lost to instruction cache misses while somewhat increasing the amount of memory traffic. Wrong-path prefetching performs better than the other prefetch algorithms studied in all of the cache configurations examined while requiring little additional hardware. For example, the best wrong-path prefetch algorithm can result in a speed up of 16% when using an 8 K instruction cache. In fact, an 8 K wrong-path prefetched instruction cache is shown to achieve the same miss rate as a 32 K non-prefetch cache. Finally, it is shown that wrong-path prefetching is applicable to both multi-issue and long L1 miss latency machines.
New ACGME work-hour guidelines and their impact on current residency training practices.

Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) has introduced new work-hour guidelines for residents in ACGME accredited programs that were implemented in July 2003. The new ACGME policies impact several practices in various psychiatry residency programs across the U.S., even though psychiatry has not been at the forefront of the debate regarding work hours. The authors surveyed all psychiatry residency programs in the U.S. and identified several current practices that may infringe on the new ACGME work-hour guidelines. Further interpretation of the new guidelines is needed.
Nash equilibrium for upward-closed objectives

We study infinite stochastic games played by n-players on a finite graph with goals specified by sets of infinite traces. The games are concurrent (each player simultaneously and independently chooses an action at each round), stochastic (the next state is determined by a probability distribution depending on the current state and the chosen actions), infinite (the game continues for an infinite number of rounds), nonzero-sum (the players’ goals are not necessarily conflicting), and undiscounted. We show that if each player has an upward-closed objective, then there exists an e-Nash equilibrium in memoryless strategies, for every e>0; and exact Nash equilibria need not exist. Upward-closure of an objective means that if a set Z of infinitely repeating states is winning, then all supersets of Z of infinitely repeating states are also winning. Memoryless strategies are strategies that are independent of history of plays and depend only on the current state. We also study the complexity of finding values (payoff profile) of an e-Nash equilibrium. We show that the values of an e-Nash equilibrium in nonzero-sum concurrent games with upward-closed objectives for all players can be computed by computing e-Nash equilibrium values of nonzero-sum concurrent games with reachability objectives for all players and a polynomial procedure. As a consequence we establish that values of an e-Nash equilibrium can be computed in TFNP (total functional NP), and hence in EXPTIME.
Characterization and Molecular Mapping of Genes Determining Semidwarfism in Barley

The semidwarf trait is desired in cereal breeding programs for increased lodging resistance. We characterized 27 brachytic (brh) semidwarf mutants in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) and located the genes on barley chromosome linkage maps. All brachytic genes were transferred into the two-rowed cultivar Bowman by backcrossing four to seven times and selecting for semidwarf plants. The brachytic lines were evaluated for 10 phenotypic traits: plant height, awn, peduncle, and rachis internode length, leaf length and width, lodging, grain yield, number of kernels per spike, and kernel weight. We intercrossed the lines to determine which mutants were at independent loci and which were alleles at the same locus. F2 populations from 18 brh semidwarfs were constructed for genetic mapping using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. The brachytic semidwarf near-isogenic lines were significantly shorter than their normal counterparts and most had lower yields (16/27); shorter awns (26/27), peduncles (26/27), and rachis internodes (24/27); and reduced kernel weight (22/27). Twelve of the lines had shorter penultimate leaves and 15 had reduced lodging. Four lines had increased kernels per spike, while one had fewer kernels per spike. Allelism tests and mapping comparisons indicated that the 27 semidwarfs comprise 18 independent genetic loci. SSR mapping placed these loci in five of the seven barley chromosomes. Knowledge of the effects and locations of these brachytic semidwarf genes will help barley breeders select appropriate lines for barley improvement.
Emotional arousal and multiple memory systems in the mammalian brain

Emotional arousal induced by stress and/or anxiety can exert complex effects on learning and memory processes in mammals. Recent studies have begun to link study of the influence of emotional arousal on memory with earlier research indicating that memory is organized in multiple systems in the brain that differ in terms of the "type" of memory they mediate. Specifically, these studies have examined whether emotional arousal may have a differential effect on the "cognitive" and stimulus-response "habit" memory processes sub-served by the hippocampus and dorsal striatum, respectively. Evidence indicates that stress or the peripheral injection of anxiogenic drugs can bias animals and humans toward the use of striatal-dependent habit memory in dual-solution tasks in which both hippocampal and striatal-based strategies can provide an adequate solution. A bias toward the use of habit memory can also be produced by intra-basolateral amygdala (BLA) administration of anxiogenic drugs, consistent with the well documented role of efferent projections of this brain region in mediating the modulatory influence of emotional arousal on memory. In some learning situations, the bias toward the use of habit memory produced by emotional arousal appears to result from an impairing effect on hippocampus-dependent cognitive memory. Further research examining the neural mechanisms linking emotion and the relative use of multiple memory systems should prove useful in view of the potential role for maladaptive habitual behaviors in various human psychopathologies.
High seed dispersal rates in faunally intact tropical rain forest: theoretical and conservation implications

Dispersal limitation may promote high tree-species diversity in rain forest by slowing local competitive exclusion, but evidence is scarce. By comparing the species lists of tree plots with those of nested seedling plots in rain forest at Gunung Palung, we found that the proportion of local seedlings arising from active dispersal events (via wind or animals, but not simply dropped from parent trees) was high: 68% of species and 46% of the individual seedlings. Local seedling species richness was not limited by the local richness of adults. Using these data, a spatially explicit simulation model indicated that dispersal limitation may not contribute substantially to the maintenance of tree diversity in this forest. We predict that the loss of animal seed dispersers would reduce local species richness of seedlings by 60%. While this reduction could possibly increase the influence of dispersal limitation, it would interfere with other mechanisms maintaining diversity.
Distinct transcriptional responses of RNA polymerases I, II and III to aptamers that bind TBP

The TATA-binding protein (TBP) is a general factor that is involved in transcription by all three types of nuclear RNA polymerase. To delineate the roles played by the DNA-binding surface of TBP in these transcription reactions, we used a set of RNA aptamers directed against TBP and examined their ability to perturb transcription in vitro by the different RNA polymerases. Distinct responses to the TBP aptamers were observed for transcription by different types of polymerase at either the initiation, reinitiation or both stages of the transcription cycle. We further probed the TBP interactions in the TFIIIB*DNA complex to elucidate the mechanism for the different sensitivity of Pol III dependent transcription before and after preinitiation complex (PIC) formation. Lastly, the aptamers were employed to measure the time required for Pol III PIC formation in vitro. This approach can be generalized to define the involvement of a particular region on the surface of a protein at particular stages in a biological process.
Improving Intergroup Relations: The Effects of Empathy on Racial Attitudes1

Prior research indicates that information-based intergroup relations programs are only moderately successful (MGregor, 1993; Stephan & Stephan, 1984). In order to explore a means of increasing the effectiveness of techniques used to change attitudes toward out groups, the current study examined the effects of giving Anglo American students information about everyday incidents of discrimination against African Americans either with or without empathy-inducing instructions. The results indicate that reading about discrimination against African Americans or inducing empathy reduces in-group-out-group bias in attitudes toward African Americans vs. Anglo Americans. The implications of these findings for models of the effects of empathy on intergroup relations are discussed.
The dynamics of a size-classified benthic population with reproductive subsidy

This work presents a discrete time model for the dynamics of a size-classified benthic population with planktonic larvae. Recruitment, decoupled from local reproduction by larval dispersal, is represented in the model as an external subsidy to the local population. Analysis of the model reveals the importance of recruitment and growth plasticity in determining the stability of an equilibrium which always exists. Growth plasticity promotes stability, while recruitment plays the opposite role. The stability results provide a scale to which observed levels of recruitment, mortality, and growth can be compared, in terms of their effects on population dynamics.
Summary: Field-Tested Evidence-Informed Assessment and Treatment for Practice in Child Welfare

Mahatma Gandhi, among others like Aristotle, is often credited with the famous quote: “a society’s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members.” More recently, Hurbert H. Humphrey’s last speech in his office (December 30, 1964) echoed this sentiment … “the moral test of a government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in shadows of life; the sick, the needy, and the handicapped.” These vulnerable and in turn, more dependent populations in our society have been the lifeblood of North American social work practice since its inception. Going back further, they were also mentioned in the social policies of the Elizabethan Poor Laws of 1601 in the UK.
Optimal estimation over unreliable communication links with application to cognitive radio

This paper considers state estimation of linear stochastic discrete-time systems through an unreliable network. Packet losses from the sensor to the estimator are assumed to follow a Bernoulli distribution, while information loss is not assumed to be available at the receiver at any time. The optimal estimator provides a satisfactory estimate under unreliable communications as the estimator is used successfully in a Linear Quadratic Gaussian (LQG) controller to stabilize an inverted pendulum system, and comparison with an optimal estimator for which information loss at the receiver is available. The optimal estimator for a cognitive radio system is derived. Cognitive radio is an emerging technology with many promising applications. Cognitive radio can be considered as a combination of packet loss with and without acknowledgement in the dynamical model. An illustrative example shows that the optimal estimator improves the performance largely.
Optimal versus suboptimal combining with imperfect channel knowledge

Optimal combining and suboptimal combining-techniques are investigated for multipath Rayleigh fading channel with additive white Gaussian noise where only imperfect channel knowledge is available at the receiver. The exact bit error performance using optimal combining is derived, whereas the upper bound and lower bound of bit error rate of suboptimal combining are obtained via similar derivation. Numerical results presented for certain channels and estimation models show that when SNR increases, suboptimal combining methods can be used instead of optimal ones in order to reduce the complexity without much performance degradation.
Local Expression of Bovine Decorin by Cell-Mediated Gene Transfer Reduces Neointimal Formation After Balloon Injury in Rats

Decorin is an extracellular matrix (ECM) proteoglycan that may modify vascular smooth muscle cell (SMC) function by altering the response to growth factors and the accumulation of ECM proteins during vascular injury. To investigate these possibilities in vivo, decorin was overexpressed at the site of arterial injury by cell-mediated gene transfer. Fischer rat SMCs were transduced in vitro with a retroviral construct that contained the bovine decorin gene and were subsequently seeded into injured rat carotid arteries. A species-specific antibody to bovine decorin and polymerase chain reaction primers were used to detect bovine decorin and distinguish it from endogenous rat decorin. Immunohistochemical and Northern analyses of rat carotid arteries revealed only low levels of rat decorin expression up to 8 weeks after balloon injury. However, after cell-mediated transfer of bovine decorin, strong expression of bovine decorin was verified by immunohistochemistry and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. Four weeks after injury, the intimal area in vessels seeded with bovine decorin-overexpressing SMCs was significantly reduced by 35+/-4% (mean+/-SEM, n=9; P<0.01). Decorin overexpression also induced a higher intimal nuclear density and decreased volume of ECM. Specifically, immunostaining for versican and fibronectin was markedly reduced. In contrast, immunostaining for collagen type I was increased, and electron microscopy confirmed that collagen accumulation was altered. Bromodeoxyuridine labeling indicated that intimal SMC proliferation was not affected by the expression of bovine decorin. In summary, we demonstrate that gene transfer of the ECM proteoglycan, decorin, into the injured arterial wall reduces intimal ECM volume and alters the composition of the ECM.
A Multiphase Solute Diffusion Model for Dendritic Alloy Solidification

A solute diffusion model, aimed at predicting microstructure formation in metal castings, is proposed for dendritic solidification of alloys. The model accounts for the different length scales existing in a dendritic structure. This is accomplished by utilizing a multiphase approach, in which not only the various physical phases but also phases associated with different length scales are considered separately. The macroscopic conservation equations are derived for each phase using the volume averaging technique, with constitutive relations developed for the interfacial transfer terms. It is shown that the multiphase model can rigorously incorporate the growth of dendrite tips and coarsening of dendrite arms. In addition, the distinction of different length scales enables the inclusion of realistic descriptions of the dendrite topology and relations to key metallurgical parameters. Another novel aspect of the model is that a single set of conservation equations for solute diffusion is developed for both equiaxed and columnar dendritic solidification. Finally, illustrative calculations for equiaxed, columnar, and mixed columnar-equiaxed solidification are carried out to provide quantitative comparisons with previous studies, and a variety of fundamental phenomena such as recalescence, dendrite tip undercooling, and columnar-to-equiaxed transition (CET) are predicted.
Molecular cloning of M6: Identification of a PLP/DM20 gene family

M6 is a membrane glycoprotein that is expressed on central neurons and certain polarized epithelia from early developmental stage. Antibodies against M6 interfere with cerebellar neurite outgrowth in vitro. Two closely related cDNAs were obtained by expression cloning, both of which showed high homology with the major CNS myelin protein PLP/DM20. Although M6 and PLP/DM20 share many molecular characteristics, in situ hybridization revealed nonoverlapping distributions of their mRNAs in mouse CNS. The identification of a gene family including neuron-specific M6 and glia-specific PLP/DM20 in CNS suggests a broader functional role for these molecules than myelination.
Hypertension and risk of uterine leiomyomata in US black women

BACKGROUND Previous studies have found a positive association between hypertension and risk of hysterectomy-confirmed uterine leiomyomata (UL). The association of hypertension with UL confirmed by ultrasound or other surgery is less clear.
Progress and Prospects of Nano-Optoelectronic Devices for Optical Communications

The advances of semiconductor heterojunction lasers and low loss optical fibers enabled a paradigm shift of telecommunications marked by Bell Labs' field trial in 1975. The bandwidth-distance product of data transmitted in a single fiber has increased by 7 orders of magnitude in the last 25 years. The late 1990s, optical communications witnessed another disruptive and yet exhilarating progress enabled by dense wavelength division multiplexed (DWDM) devices and broadband optical fiber amplifiers. WDM (or DWDM) can be explained as a method of sending many channels of data with different wavelengths of light in a single transmission medium, which, in this case, is a single optical fiber. The result is a capability to increase the aggregate transmission capacity with the number of wavelengths, in the hundreds.
The Impact of Pelizaeus-Merzbacher Disease on the Family

The impact of Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease on families and caregivers of affected children has not been well-studied. Parents, relatives, and caregivers from 18 families with 20 affected children with Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease were asked to complete the Children's Health Questionnaire-Parent Form 50, an instrument used to assess health-related quality of life in children and family impact of illness. Mean and standard deviation (S.D.) of subscale scores were calculated and compared with previously published norms. Agreement between mothers and fathers was calculated using Cronbach's test. Mean scale scores in this cohort were lower than previously published norms for the following categories: physical function (25.9 vs 96.1, >2 S.D.); family activity (55.6 vs 89.7, >1 S.D.); and parental time impact (66.2 vs 87.8, >1 S.D.). However, family cohesion (73.3 vs 72.3,
Predictors of self-reported health-related quality of life in systemic lupus erythematosus

Objective. The Medical Outcomes Short Form-36 Survey (SF-36) has been widely used as a measure of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in different populations. SLE patients have consistently reported lower scores compared with the general population. The objective of our study was to identify predictors of HRQOL using SF-36 among patients with SLE enrolled in a 2-year randomized controlled trial (RCT). Methods. We analysed 200 SLE patients enrolled in the Lupus Atherosclerosis Prevention Study (LAPS), an RCT of atorvastatin vs placebo, who completed SF-36 at qualifying, 12- and 24-month (final) visits. Results. At baseline, mean SF-36 domain scores were lower than those of age- and gender-matched population norms. There was no statistical difference reported between Physical Component Summary (PCS), Mental Component Summary and eight domain scores in the atorvastatin vs placebo group at 2 years. In multiple regression analyses, African American patients reported significantly lower scores in Physical Functioning compared with Caucasians. The presence of FM was significantly associated with lower scores in physical functioning, role physical, bodily pain, general health, vitality, social functioning and lower overall mean PCS scores. The Physician’s Global Assessment of disease activity was associated with multiple SF-36 domains in univariate analysis. Conclusion. This longitudinal study confirmed lower scores reported across all SF-36 domains. No one explanatory variable was independently associated with all domain scores. FM was independently associated with poorer HRQOL in most domains, underscoring the need for effective treatments for FM in SLE.
Radiographic Indicators of Surgery and Functional Outcome in Ponseti-Treated Clubfeet.

Background:Evaluation of the results of treatment for clubfoot by the Ponseti technique is based on clinical and functional parameters. There is a need to establish universally recognized quantitat...
Status of Alkaline Flooding Technology

Very few review papers on alkaline flooding have been published in the petroleum literature. One paper gives an extensive review of caustic mechanisms to improve oil recovery, followed by a brief description of a few trials. The other paper summarizes the field tests completed, in progress and planned by 1983. This paper will not repeat a detailed discussion of mechanisms and a presentation of individual field projects. Only a brief summary of mechanisms is provided. It summarizes the overall performance of field projects from a statistical analysis. It focuses on the technical aspects of alkaline flooding which were not addressed from the previous reviews. Specially, this paper covers the following topics: Mechanisms of alkaline flooding, Alkaline reactions with oil, water and rocks, oil recovery versus acid number, oil recovery versus interfacial tension, technical screening criteria, laboratory and numerical simulation work, summary of field alkaline projects, problems associated with alkaline flooding, alkaline flooding in heavy oil reservoirs and remarks on future developments. Keywords: Alkaline flooding, oil recovery, acid number, interfacial tension, heavy oil reservoir Cite this Article: Sheng JJ. Status of Alkaline Flooding Technology. Journal of Petroleum Engineering & Technology. 2015; 5(1): 44–50p.
The United States and Asia in 2010: Uncertain Relations

As China asserts itself, neighbors look to the United States for support. The Obama administration is providing it, but faces multiple issues, from Korea to the Afghan situation. U.S. policy toward China is being frustrated on maritime, military, and currency issues. America is balancing engagement, security reassurances, and conflict avoidance.
What is a Minimum Adequate Farm Income

PROMINENT among the needs of planning groups in agriculture has been some valid answer to the question of what constitutes the minimum adequate farm income. The answer has frequently rested either on authority or expediency. To many it has appeared a moral issue and, therefore, not susceptible of rational or empirical solution. To others it has seemed to belong to the specialist-the home economist and the budget expert. However vexatious the problem, it is nevertheless inescapable. Without some reliable solution there is no adequate objective for many farm programs, no satisfactory answer to the subsidiary questions of what is an adequate size of farm or what is an economic unit. The approach most widely employed is that of the budget which specifies that an expenditure of a given number of dollars for food, clothing, housing, recreation, education, etc. is the least expenditure for which an adequate supply of these commodities can be obtained. These expenditures added together yield a sum which is thought of as a minimum adequate income. Such budgets rest on slight scientific or pragmatic foundations. The exception is, of course, food. In the instance of nutrition more valid scientific standards of adequacy of diet have been developed and are in current use. There is no lack of specifications on what constitutes adequate housing but these specifications are in the nature of a trade agreement among professional housers and depend more on unanimity than on evidence. In the matters of clothing, recreation, and education there is not even unanimity. An equally serious objection to the budget procedure concerns the technique employed. The householder's problem is one of choice in the distributing of a given income. The technique he employs is one of preference or substitution. The budget experts' arithmetic is based on addition. Customarily an adequate income is the sum of a series of expenditures in adequate amounts for purposes considered proper or necessary. At almost every step moral issues intrude. We have to deal not only with whether one or two suits of clothes are sufficient, whether one movie a month is essential and two are excessive but whether an allowance should be made for tobacco, liquor, and a better automobile. It is obvious that if provision is not made for certain of these wants which may on moral
Implementation of an Electronic Prescription Writer in Ambulatory Care

Oceanview Medical Center (OMC) successfully implemented a home grown, inpatient, computerized physician ordering entry system (CPOE). In early 2004, OMC launched a small pilot group as the need for a similar ordering entry system in ambulatory care was rising. Doctors, nurses, and programmers collaborated to develop an electronic prescription writer for ambulatory clinical setting. The system was named RxWriter and was designed to operate with the OMC electronic medical record system (OMCEMR, also home grown) to support prescription generation, easier communication of patient information, more efficient clinic workflow, automatic medication monitoring, and quality improvement.
Childhood Reports of Food Neglect and Impulse Control Problems and Violence in Adulthood

Food insecurity and hunger during childhood are associated with an array of developmental problems in multiple domains, including impulse control problems and violence. Unfortunately, extant research is based primarily on small convenience samples and an epidemiological assessment of the hunger-violence link is lacking. The current study employed data from Wave 1 (2001-2002) and Wave 2 (2004-2005) of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC). The NESARC is a nationally representative sample of non-institutionalized U.S. residents aged 18 years and older. Participants who experienced frequent hunger during childhood had significantly greater impulsivity, worse self-control, and greater involvement in several forms of interpersonal violence. These effects were stronger among whites, Hispanics, and males. The findings support general theoretical models implicating impulse control problems as a key correlate of crime and violence and add another facet to the importance of ameliorating food neglect in the United States.
The transport of urate in frog gastric mucosa.

AbstractThe mechanism for the transport of urate was examined using the gastric mucosa of the frog. After short circuiting the tissue to zero potential, both the unidirectional serosal to mucosal and the mucosal to serosal flux of urate were found to be a direct function of the initial concentration of urate. The serosal to mucosal permeability coefficient averaged 6.5 ± 0.8 × 10−10 cm/sec; a value not different from the mucosal to serosal permeability coefficient of 7.7 ± 0.8 × 10−10 cm/sec. These results suggest that urate passes through the gastric mucosa by passive diffusion only. When compared to the small intestine and proximal tubule of the rat the permeability coefficient for urate is significantly lower. Though the gastrointestinal tract is a potential route for the elimination of uric acid, the stomach does not appear to play a major role.
Phase Stability and Role of Ternary Additions on Electronic and Mechanical Properties of Aluminum Intermetallics

First principles total energy local density method have addressed the problems of (i) bonding, cohesion and phase stability and (ii) the role of ternary additions, anti-phase boundaries (APB's) and other faults in determining the structural, electronic and mechanical properties of aluminum intermetallic alloys. A key goal has been to attempt to understand, at the electronic level, fundamental quantities that may be related to the crucial brittleness vs. ductility issue in high temperature Ni and Ti and other aluminides. Other contrasts between observed ductility properties of related systems (e.g., NiAl and RuAl) are related to their differing electronic and bonding properties, particularly the nature of p-d hybridization and the directional properties of their electronic charge distrubutions - especially for states near the Fermi energy.
Attention to Individuals Mixed Methods for N-of-1 Health Care Interventions

In several ways, randomized controlled trials represent a high standard of rigor in clinical biomedical research. Randomized controlled trials fail, however, to yield knowledge applicable to specific individuals. This article presents a methodological rationale for a mixed methods approach to n-of-1 clinical studies that attends to the preferences and concerns of individuals while attaining high standards of qualitative and quantitative rigor. An illustrative research design involving a hypothetical music therapy intervention for a quality of life outcome is examined in some detail and a concluding argument is made that the proposed mixed methods approach is especially appropriate for early-stage research interventions intended to generate explanatory hypotheses.
Application of transmission line condition monitoring technology based on Internet of Things in smart grid

In order to meet the demands of real-time monitoring of transmission line state in the construction of the smart grid,this paper adopts the transmission line condition monitoring system based on Internet of Things technology,PON technology and the fuzzy expert diagnostic technology.Through a large number of experiments and field pilots,ideal results are got.It can obtain the transmission line state in real time and make accurate judgments,which verifies the accuracy and the implementation feasibility of the system.This system has many advantages of comprehensive collection of information,stable network,high output accuracy,simple deployment and so on.
White matter hyperintensities, incident mild cognitive impairment, and cognitive decline in old age.

Objective Examine the association of white matter hyperintensities (WMH) with risk of incident mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and rate of decline in multiple cognitive systems in community-based older persons. Methods Participants (n = 354) were older persons initially free of cognitive impairment from two ongoing longitudinal epidemiologic studies of aging. All underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for quantification of WMH and gray matter volumes and detailed annual clinical evaluations including 17 cognitive tests. Proportional hazards models were used to examine the relationship between WMH and incident MCI, and mixed-effects models were used to examine the relationship between WMH and decline in global cognition and five specific cognitive systems. Results During up to about 6 years of follow-up (mean = 4.1), 106 (30% of 354) persons developed MCI. In a proportional hazards model adjusted for age, gender, and education, WMH volume was associated with a substantially increased risk of MCI (P < 0.001). Thus, a person with a high WMH volume (90th percentile) was about 2.7 times more likely to develop MCI compared to a person with a low volume (10th percentile). WMH volume also was associated with an increased rate of decline in global cognition (P < 0.001), perceptual speed, working memory, episodic memory, and semantic memory. Associations persisted after adjustment for total gray matter volume, vascular risk factors, and vascular diseases. Interpretation WMH contribute to the development of MCI and are associated with progressive decline in multiple cognitive systems in old age.
Die Zahl Drei

Die Zahlen 1 und 2 waren zahm, ordentlich und gutmutig. Eine klare Struktur regiert uberall. Bei der Zahl 3 ist das anders. Nun sturzen wir gleich Alice in ein Kaninchenloch, in eine Welt springender Zahlen, chaotischer Dynamik und Wahlparadoxa. Bei vielen Fragestellungen steht die Drei fur die Unmoglichkeit. Aber keine Angst: Eine Ziege hinter Tur Nummer 3 bleibt Ihnen erspart.
Human Serum Albumin Domain I Fusion Protein for Antibody Conjugation.

Bioorthogonal labeling of antibodies enables the conjugation of compounds, such as small molecules or peptides, which expand targeting capacity or enhance cytotoxicity. Taking advantage of a cyclohexene sulfonamide compound that site-selectively labels Lys64 in human serum albumin (HSA), we demonstrate that domain I of HSA can be used as a fusion protein for the preparation of antibody conjugates. Trastuzumab fusions were expressed at the N-terminus of the light chain or the C-terminus of the heavy chain enabling conjugation to small molecules. Moreover, these conjugates retained HER2 binding and proved to be highly stable in human plasma. Antibody conjugation via HSA domain I fusion should therefore have broad utility for making serum-stable antibody conjugates, particularly for antibody–drug conjugates.
How do we make indoor environments and healthcare settings healthier

It is now well accepted that our modern lifestyle has certain implications for our health (Schaub et al., ), mainly as a result of our willingness to remove ourselves from the biological diversity of our natural environments (Roduit et al., ), while still being drawn inextricably to interact with it (Kellert and Wilson, ). Much of our interaction with the biological world is shaped by our interaction with the microbiological world. The bacteria, fungi, viruses, archaea and protists that comprise the microbiome of this planet, are also key to the development and normal functioning of our bodies. Our immune system is built to shepherd our microbial exposure, ensuring that microbial organisms that we need are kept close (but not too close), and that less-desirable organisms are expelled or killed before they can do too much damage. By moving from a life interacting with nature on a regular basis, to a life in which we isolate ourselves physically from natural microbial exposure, we may have instigated one of the great plagues of the 21st century; chronic immune disorders.