cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Nonparametric Analysis in Accounting Research

Advancements in statistical packages and computing power have made various forms of nonparametric estimation accessible to empirical researchers. However, these methods have been underutilized in accounting research, and many accounting researchers may have limited exposure on how to apply these tools. This study explores two nonparametric estimation techniques: kernel density estimation and locally weighted regression. We focus on the practical implementation of these methods, including settings in which they may be useful, key inputs over which researchers have discretion, and sample code to program them. We contribute to the tax, audit, and methodological literatures by providing two illustrative examples of how nonparametric techniques may be used in accounting. First, we analyze time-trends of effective tax rates (ETRs) in the financial service industry using kernel density estimates. Our results document that the distribution of ETRs among financial services firms has become less focused around the mean over time, with more probability mass occurring for below-average ETRs. Second, we study the relation between audit fees and size using nonparametric regression and document that omitting small firms due to sample attrition may introduce nonlinearity to the relation. This result is not readily apparent without visualizing the data and is difficult to discern using OLS regressions. Additionally, we demonstrate the flexibility of nonparametric analysis across broad areas of accounting research and discuss how these techniques may be used to complement ordinary least squares regression and guide research design choices.
Wilson’s Syndrome (Low T3 Syndrome)

Wilson’s syndrome or “low T3 syndrome” is a pseudo-medical diagnosis that describes a constellation of common and nonspecific symptoms, some of which overlap with that of hypothyroidism. The hallmark of this “disorder” is insufficient T3 that responds to T3 administration. This chapter will explain in detail the lack of scientific evidence that supports Wilson’s syndrome by exploring the molecular action of thyroid hormone including its regulation and mechanism, examining the evidence for T3 therapy in treating hypothyroidism, and illustrating how to approach a typical case that presents with this “disorder.” A summary table with thyroid disorders that cause low T3 levels is included at the end of the chapter.
CASH: compiler assisted hardware design for improving DRAM energy efficiency in CNN inference

The advent of machine learning (ML) and deep learning applications has led to the development of a multitude of hardware accelerators and architectural optimization techniques for parallel architectures. This is due in part to the regularity and parallelism exhibited by the ML workloads, especially convolutional neural networks (CNNs). However, CPUs continue to be one of the dominant compute fabric in data-centers today, thereby also being widely deployed for inference tasks. As CNNs grow larger, the inherent limitations of a CPU-based system become apparent, specifically in terms of main memory data movement. In this paper, we present CASH, a compiler-assisted hardware solution that eliminates redundant data-movement to and from the main memory and, therefore, reduces main memory bandwidth and energy consumption. Our experimental evaluations on a set of four different state-of-the-art CNN workloads indicate that CASH provides, on average, ~40% and ~18% reductions in main memory bandwidth and energy consumption, respectively.
Rotator cuff to deltoid and pectoralis tendon to anatomic neck distances: methods for anatomic restoration of humeral height and tuberosity position in proximal humerus fractures for operative fixation and arthroplasty

Introduction Proper anatomic tuberosity reduction and restoration of humeral height during surgical treatment of proximal humerus fractures leads to fewer complications and better outcomes. In the presence of significant displacement and comminution in proximal humerus fractures, the assessment of the correct tuberosity position and humeral height can be challenging. The goal of this cadaveric study was to provide new and useful measurements for intraoperative guidance of proper tuberosity position and humeral height when treating proximal humerus fractures with open reduction internal fixation, anatomic hemiarthroplasty, or reverse total shoulder arthroplasty. Methods A total of 28 cadaveric shoulders were dissected with a deltopectoral approach. The distance between the insertion of the supraspinatus tendon and the superior aspect of the deltoid tendon was measured (cuff to deltoid distance [CDD]). Secondly, the distance between the superior aspects of the pectoralis major tendon to the medial aspect of the anatomic neck (PND) was measured. Further, we sought to determine if these measurements would correlate to patient height and differ between gender. Results The average age of the donors was 65.3 years (64% male). The CDD and PND were 87.6 ± 10.6 and 16.6 ± 6.9 mm, respectively (mean ± standard deviation). There were no differences between females and males for the CDD (86.9 ± 9.4 vs. 87.2 ± 15.2 mm, P = .96) and PND (16.3 ± 9.1 vs. 17.1 ± 5.9 mm, P = .76). There was no correlation between the cadaver height and CDD (R2 = 0.1) and PND (R2 = 0.3). Discussion In this study, we describe 2 new measurement tools that can readily be applied intraoperatively during surgical treatment of proximal humerus fractures to aid in tuberosity reduction and humeral height assessment. These measurements were found to be independent of patient height and gender and can be used as a reference tool for most patients.
The Concept of Odious Debt: Some Considerations

Despite the popularity of the term among advocates of debt forgiveness, there is little agreement on a workable definition of odious debts and there are but few examples where the concept has been invoked in law to justify non-payment of sovereign debts. Most often, these have been cases when a successor state or government has refused to honor certain debts contracted by its predecessor state or government. Repudiating sovereign debts on broader grounds - such as that money may have been misused by the borrower or that results were not as hoped for at the outset of lending - would create real risks not only of reduced financial flows to poorer countries as a result of the danger of ex post challenges to lenders' claims, but also of moral hazard and lack of project ownership. This paper presents a discussion of the extant legal and financial environment facing developing country sovereign borrowers and develops a proposed approach within this environment to address issues of concern underlying the concept of odious or illegitimate debt. The authors make the case for focusing attention on codes of conduct along the lines of the Equator Principles and on refining forward-looking attempts to increase aid effectiveness and recover stolen assets.
Spreading Curricular Reform: A Social Network Analysis

The purpose of this study was to inform not only the education field but also any industry undergoing large-scale reform of the types of organizational roles and relational ties that drive momentum...
Synchrophasor spoofing detection and remediation for wide-area damping control

Abstract Evolving cyber-attack threats put at risk automatic closed-loop systems to be incorporated in the smart grid. Wide-area control systems are particularly vulnerable to signal spoofing attacks due to sensor remoteness and dependence on satellite communication for time synchronization. A successful cyber-attack on a wide-area controller has the potential to reduce relative stability of the power system or worse, destabilize it. As such, detection algorithms must be deployed as defense against such attacks with the ability to autonomously correct for detected tampering or misoperation. The Spoof Catch and Restore Routine ( S C R 2 ), a combination of three real-time spoof detectors, each requiring limited information about the plant, is presented. Nonlinear simulations of a compromised wide-area control system deployed in the Western Interconnection show the effectiveness of S C R 2 in detecting both delay-type and counterfeit-type spoofing attacks on wide-area sensors.
Prospects and limitations for large numbers of multi-layers in optical data storage

ABSTRACT Media considerations for a multiple-layered system using conv entional thin films are presented in detail. The media are designed and fabricated for various geometries of thin film coatings to satisfy the optimum media condition minimizing inter-layer crosstalk for conventional reflectiv e volumetric optical data storage systems. 1. INTRODUCTION Several multiple-layer data storage technologies are under inve stigation. For example, dual-layer recording is now at a practical engineering stage for system development in several formats, such as DVD and BD, and performance of systems using more than two conventional reflective layers for BD has been reported. 1 Performance of systems using two-photon fluorescent media with 100s of layers is understood, 2 but these systems exhibit low readout data rate with a single beam optical pickup. It was shown that the number of layers using conventional thin-film technology is mainly limited by layer transmittance. 2 Previous work showed that the inter-layer crosstalk for multi-layer conventional reflective thin-film systems is minimized in the optimum media condition at certain inter-layer spacings, as shown in Fig. 1.
Predictive value of fetal lung volume in prenatally diagnosed skeletal dysplasia.

Objective Pulmonary hypoplasia is a major cause of death in lethal skeletal dysplasias. We hypothesize that in fetuses with prenatally diagnosed skeletal dysplasia, comparison of observed-to-expected (O/E) lung volume will help predict lethality. Study design We conducted a retrospective chart review of patients referred for evaluation of suspected fetal skeletal anomalies. Twenty-three pregnancies were identified with confirmed fetal diagnosis of skeletal dysplasia for which fetal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed between 21 and 38 weeks of gestation and ultrasound biometry data were available. Femur length to abdominal circumference ratio (FL/AC) and O/E lung volumes were calculated. The association between O/E lung volume, FL/AC, and lethality was measured using logistic regression. Results Lethality was significantly associated with O/E lung volume (p = 0.002) and FL/AC (p = 0.0476). Analysis with receiver-operating characteristic curves suggested that O/E lung volume of 47.9% or FL/AC of 0.124 could be useful clinical cutoffs in the prediction of lethality. Conclusion In fetuses with skeletal dysplasia, fetal MRI-derived O/E lung volume was predictive of lethality. When evaluating a fetal skeletal dysplasia, fetal MRI may be considered in cases for which ultrasound-based lethality prediction is ambiguous or uncertain in order to provide families with the most complete and accurate information. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
IMR-Pathload: robust available bandwidth estimation under end-host interrupt delay

Many paths in PlanetLab cannot be measured by Pathload. One of the main reasons for this is timing irregularities caused by interrupt moderation of network hardware, which delays generation of interrupts for a certain period of time to reduce per-packet CPU overhead. Motivated by this problem, we study Pathload in detail under various end-host interrupt delays and find that its trend detection mechanism becomes susceptible to non-negligible interrupt delays, making it unable to measure network paths under such conditions. To overcome this, we propose a new method called IMR-Pathload (Interrupt Moderation Resilient Pathload), which incorporates robust trend detection algorithms based on signal de-noising techniques and reliably estimates available bandwidth of network paths under a wide range of interrupt delays. Through experiments in Emulab and Internet, we find that IMR-Pathload substantially improves Pathload's measurement reliability and produces accurate bandwidth estimates under a variety of real-life conditions.
Optimizing Boosting with Discriminative Criteria

We describe the use of discriminative criteria to optimize Boosting based ensembles. Boosting algorithms may create hundreds of individual classifiers in order to fit the training data. However, this strategy isn’t feasible and necessary for complex classification problems, such as real-time continuous speech recognition, in which only the combination of a few of acoustic models is practical. How to improve the classification accuracy for small size of ensemble is the focus of this paper. Two discriminative criteria that attempt to minimize the true Bayes error rate are investigated. Improvements are observed over a variety of datasets including image and speech recognition, indicating the prospective utility of these two criteria.
Robot application of a brain computer interface to staubli TX40 robots - early stages

A Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) is a system that allows individuals with severe neuromuscular disorders to communicate and control devices using their brain waves. It has been demonstrated that a non-invasive scalp-recorded ElectroEncephaloGraphy (EEG) based BCI paradigm can be used by a disabled individual for long-term, reliable control of a personal computer. This BCI paradigm allows users to select from a set of symbols presented in a flashing visual matrix by classifying the resulting evoked brain responses. The same BCI paradigm and techniques can be used in a straightforward implementation to generate high-level commands for controlling a robotic manipulator in three dimensions according to user intent. The robot application is envisioned to provide superior dimensional control over alternative BCI techniques, as well as provide a wider variety of practical functions for performing everyday tasks. This paper describes the early stages toward providing disabled individuals a new level of autonomy for performing everyday tasks, hence improving their quality of life. The objective of the initial experiment is to demonstrate that an EEG-based BCI can provide accurate and reliable high-level control of a robotic manipulator. A man-machine interface between the human brain and the robotic manipulator is developed and the early stages of insight into the practicality of a BCI operated assistive manipulation device are explored.
Abstract 4316: BNIP3 suppresses mammary tumorigenesis and metastasis through negative regulation of Warburg effect and HIF-1α

Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA BNIP3 is a hypoxia-inducible protein involved in mitochondrial dynamics and mitophagy that is up-regulated at pre-malignant stages of various human cancers, including breast cancer but down-regulated at later stages of tumorigenesis. To examine the role of BNip3 in tumor progression, we crossed BNip3 null mice to the MMTV-PyMT mouse model of breast cancer. Loss of BNip3 promoted primary tumor growth in vivo and tumor cell proliferation in vitro and was associated with increased aerobic glycolysis and reduced mitochondrial respiration. BNip3 null tumor cells also showed increased invasive properties that were cell intrinsic and transplantable to wild-type host mice. Consistently, there was reduced latency to lung metastasis in the MMTV-PyMT;BNip3-/- mice and increased numbers of metastases compared to control mice. BNip3 null tumors exhibited increased mitochondrial mass, but a greater fraction of mitochondria were dysfunctional with reduced membrane potential and decreased metabolite uptake compared to BNip3 wild-type tumor cells. Consistently, increased proliferation of BNip3 null tumor cells was associated with increased carbon flux from glucose to lipid and nucleic acids. Interestingly, although mitochondria were less efficient at uptake of pyruvate and glutamine, the rate of production of Krebs cycle intermediates was increased. This indicates that defective mitochondria due to inefficient mitophagy can induce the Warburg effect, as originally proposed by Warburg himself. Loss of BNip3 also resulted in more hypoxic tumors that expressed increased levels of Hif-1α and its target genes and showed increased angiogenesis, although blood vessels were abnormal possibly explaining increased tumor hypoxia, thus suggesting a negative feedback loop between Hif-1α and its target gene, BNip3. Inhibition of glycolysis or inhibition of HIF activity reduced proliferation in BNip3 null tumor cells to the levels observed in control cells. Significantly, BNip3 null tumor cells underwent autophagic flux as efficiently as wild-type cells demonstrating for the first time that inhibition of mitophagy has a distinct tumorigenic consequence to general inactivation of autophagy, as reported elsewhere. These results demonstrate that BNip3 has tumor and metastasis suppressor properties required to maintain mitochondrial integrity, promote oxidative metabolism and mitigate against the metastasis promoting activities of hypoxia and glycolytic metabolism. Citation Format: Aparajita Hoskote Chourasia, Kristin Tracy, Michelle Boland, Marina Sharifi, Kay F. Macleod. BNIP3 suppresses mammary tumorigenesis and metastasis through negative regulation of Warburg effect and HIF-1α. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 4316. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-4316
The Social Life of Tsotel

No other compound in Tibetan medical pharmacology seems to be as fascinating, controversial, and enigmatic as tsotel (btso thal, lit. ‘cooked ash’), the processed mercury sulphide ash that provides the base material of many of the popular Tibetan ‘precious pills’ (rin chen ril bu). The compound contains—apart from numerous herbs and other ingredients—eight metals and eight rock components. Tsotel practices, which can be traced back to the thirteenth century in Tibet, are considered the pinnacle of Tibetan pharmacology. The commercial value of tsotel gives it a strong economic and social life of its own. This paper analyses the social life of tsotel from an anthropological perspective and sketches key aspects of tsotel’s biography, which in one way or the other are linked to medical, political, and religious perceptions of mercury: tsotel events with their political and institutional agendas; the value of tsotel as a medical, religious, and political commodity; safety and toxicity debates; and tsotel’s religious and political efficacy. I argue that the social life of tsotel is increasingly linked to perceptions of toxicity and safety because of its chief ingredient, mercury, being contested in a globalised arena of tightened international regulations as well as the recent attention given to heavy metal toxicity issues in Asian medicines. Also, several fundamental misconceptions of the substance of mercury itself, its processed form of mercury sulphide, and of the contamination of herbal ingredients with heavy metals will be highlighted. Examples are based on ethnographic fieldwork with Tibetan medical practitioners and pharmacologists in India and Nepal.
History of linear matrix inequalities in control theory

The purpose of this paper is to give a historical view of linear matrix inequalities in control and system theory. Not surprisingly, it appears that LMIs have been,involved in some of the major events of control theory. With the advent of powerful convex optimization techniques, LMIs are now about to become an important practical tool for future control applications.
The outcome of pregnancy in patients with treated and untreated prolactin-secreting pituitary tumors

Abstract Few data document pregnancy risks in patients with prolactin-secreting pituitary tumors, particularly risks relating to the likelihood and severity of increased tumor size. This study presents three groups of women with such lesions. Group 1 consisted of 47 women with transsphenoidal resection who were euprolactinemic postoperatively. Of this group 20 of 22 previously infertile women conceived 25 pregnancies. Group 2 was composed of 17 women who were operated upon but in whom prolactin was still raised (>50 ng/ml) postoperatively and bromocriptine was subsequently used. Seven of these 17 patients were previously infertile, and six of the seven have conceived. In group 3 22 infertile women with small pituitary tumors were not operated upon but received bromocriptine. Eighteen of these patients have achieved 24 pregnancies. Methods of diagnosis, surveillance during pregnancy, and medical and surgical management are presented. Only two patients, both in group 3, developed signs of expanding tumor size in pregnancy.
Regional anesthesia for the trauma patient: improving patient outcomes

Trauma is a significant health problem and a leading cause of death in all age groups. Pain related to trauma is frequently severe, but is often undertreated in the trauma population. Opioids are widely used to treat pain in injured patients but have a broad range of undesirable effects in a multitrauma patient such as neurologic and respiratory impairment and delirium. In contrast, regional analgesia confers excellent site-specific pain relief that is free from major side effects, reduces opioid requirement in trauma patients, and is safe and easy to perform. Specific populations that have shown benefits (including morbidity and mortality advantages) with regional analgesic techniques include those with fractured ribs, femur and hip fractures, and patients undergoing digital replantation. Acute compartment syndrome is a potentially devastating sequela of soft-tissue injury that complicates high-energy injuries such as proximal tibia fractures. The use of regional anesthesia in patients at risk for compartment syndrome is controversial; although the data is sparse, there is no evidence that peripheral nerve blocks delay the diagnosis, and these techniques may in fact facilitate the recognition of pathologic breakthrough pain. The benefits of regional analgesia are likely most influential when it is initiated as early as possible, and the performance of nerve blocks both in the emergency room and in the field has been shown to provide quality pain relief with an excellent safety profile.
How algorithms shape our networked world

In their hearts, computers, smartphones, and other mobile devices are simply quantifying information and sewing it together however we tell them to. But these devices aren't mere objects; they are the nervous system for a networked world. Their effects are broad, deep, and often quite difficult to discern, extending far off the desktop into our everyday lives.
Should Significance Tests be Banned? Introduction to a Special Section Exploring the Pros and Cons

Significance testing of null hypotheses is the standard epistemological method for advancing scientific knowledge in psychology, even though it has drawbacks and it leads to common inferential mistakes These mistakes include accepting the null hypothesis when it fails to be rejected, automatically interpreting rejected null hypotheses as theoretically meaningful, and failing to consider the likelihood of Type II errors Although these mistakes have been discussed repeatedly for decades, there is no evidence that the academic discussion has had an impact A group of methodologists is proposing a new approach simply ban significance tests in psychology journals The impact of a similar ban in public-health and epidemiology journals is reported
Air-Based Measurements of Permeability in Pebbly Sands

We considered small-scale measurement of permeability in pebbly sands having coarser grains supported in a finer grained matrix (fine packing). Our central question was whether air-based measurements are representative if made with a permeameter tip seal pressed in the sand matrix. We created pebbly sands and variably sorted sands, with systematic variation in aspects of their fine packing. We made permeability measurements by inserting the tip seal of an air permeameter in the matrix of these samples and compared them to the permeability of the composite sample determined by both water-based methods and theory. The air-permeameter measurements made in this way represent the permeability of the composite mixtures of coarser and finer grains and allow for the discernment of permeability between samples with different matrix compositions, ranging from fine to coarse sand. Furthermore, the collective results show that permeability differences in the pebbly sands and variably sorted sands with fine packing, however measured, are primarily due to differences in matrix permeability and not due to differences in the size or the percentage of the coarser grains.
Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma

Medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) is a malignancy that arises from the calcitonin-producing parafollicular cells of the thyroid gland. MTC is a rare type of thyroid cancer, constituting only 5–10% of cases. Of nearly 54,000 cases of thyroid cancer reported to The US National Cancer Base from 1985 to 1995, 2,000 are MTC. Seventy-five percent of MTC cases are sporadic, while the remaining are associated with inherited germ-line mutations in the RET (rearranged during transfection) proto-oncogene. MTC can also coexist with other neoplasia, constituting the MEN-2A and MEN-2B syndromes; these interesting familial syndromes will be discussed in further detail in other sections of this chapter. Following anaplastic thyroid cancer, MTC has the second worst prognosis of all thyroid cancers; average 10-year survival is 50–80%, but this rate varies greatly based on age and TNM stage at the time of diagnosis. Unfortunately, half of all MTC patients present with metastases; 10-year survival in these patients is only 20%. Like other thyroid cancers, MTC occurs more frequently in women, with a female to male ratio of two to one.
Feeding deterrency of some pyrrolizidine, indolizidine, and quinolizidine alkaloids towards pea aphid (Acyrthosiphon pisum) and evidence for phloem transport of indolizidine alkaloid swainsonine

The feeding deterrency of a series of pyrrolizidine, indolizidine, and quinolizidine alkaloids and selected derivatives was measured against the pea aphid (Acyrthosiphon pisum Harris). The indolizidine alkaloid, castanospermine, was intensely active (ED50, 20 ppm) as were the quinolizidine alkaloids, but only modest feeding deterrency was observed with most of the pyrrolizidine alkaloids tested. The insect survival rate of aphids on a castanospermine-supplemented diet over 24 hr was also very low relative to the controls. Castanospermine does not inhibit aphid trehalase. The indolizidine alkaloid swainsonine occurred in the honeydew of pea aphid feeding on the locoweed,Astragalus lentiginosus. Since the pea aphid is a phloem feeder, swainsonine must be transported in the phloem.
Vertical mixing in the deep ocean

SEVERAL authors1–3 have reported in situ observations of light scattering intensity in the deep ocean, which reveal the widespread occurrence of an ∼1 km thick layer of suspended mineral and organic matter above the ocean floor. The thickness of this nepheloid layer is several orders of magnitude greater than the characteristic thickness of the turbulent Ekman layer at the ocean floor4. Analysis of observations of the nepheloid layer in the western North Atlantic indicates that an average vertical mixing coefficient, A, ∼100 cm2 s−1 is required to maintain the layer2 in the lowest kilometre or so of the ocean. This value is significantly greater than the traditional (1 cm2 s−1) estimate based on water mass analysis5,6 of vertical eddy diffusivity in the deep ocean.
A New Condenser for a Sun-Powered Continuous Laser

A new optical condenser to concentrate sunlight effectively from a parabolic collector into a laser rod is described. The condenser has a conical part made of material of high refractive index with a field lens on the wider end of the cone, which faces the parabolic collector. Radiant flux concentrated into the narrow end of the cone is transferred into a small solid integrating sphere with highly reflecting walls. The laser rod is embedded in the sphere and is pumped from all sides by radiation reflected from the walls. Photometric data and performance characteristics of this condenser used with an arc-lamp source are presented. A sun-powered system is proposed and compared to the arc-lamp system.
An Open Trial of an Acceptance-Based Behavioral Intervention for Weight Loss

Abstract Innovative approaches are urgently needed to improve behavioral treatment for weight loss. The weight regain that is so common after treatment may be a result of an environment that makes it challenging to adhere, long-term, to a dietary and physical activity regimen. This study was designed to test, via a 12-week open trial, the preliminary feasibility, acceptability, effectiveness, and possible mechanisms of action of a behavioral treatment that was modified to incorporate acceptance-based therapy components designed to (a) bolster participants’ commitment to behavior change, (b) build distress-tolerance skills, and (c) promote mindful awareness of eating behaviors and goals. Participants (n = 29) were overweight or obese women. Among completers (n = 19; 34% attrition), weight loss averaged 6.6% of body weight at posttreatment and 9.6% at 6-month follow-up (n = 14; 52% attrition). Intention-to-treat weight losses were 4.5% at posttreatment and 6.6% at 6-month follow-up. Psychological variables targeted by the intervention (e.g., cognitive restraint, disinhibition, urge-related eating behavior, emotional eating, eating-related experiential acceptance, mindfulness and motivation) changed in the expected directions, and many of these changes were consistent with decreases in weight loss. Moreover, despite the limitations of the single-group design, this pilot study demonstrated the preliminary feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of a novel, acceptance-based behavioral treatment for obesity. One potential implication is that behaviorally based weight loss interventions might be improved by overlaying an acceptance-based framework.
Short-term increments of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) and IGF-binding protein-3 predict the growth response to growth hormone (GH) therapy in GH-sensitive children

Schwarze CP, Wollmann HA, Binder G, Ranke MB. Short-term increments of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) and IGF-binding protein-3 predict the growth response to growth hormone (GH) therapy in GH-sensitive children. Acta Paediatr 1999; Suppl 428:200-8. Stockholm. ISSN 0803-5326 The present study included a cohort of 42 children aged between 1.7 and 15.4 years, who presented with short stature and growth failure. Basal and generated serum levels of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and IGF-binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3), measured in an IGF generation test following four or seven daily injections of growth hormone (GH), 0.1 IU/kg (0.033 mg/kg), were analysed in these patients. The growth response to 1 year of GH treatment, 0.6 IU/kg/week (0.2 mg/kg/week), was also investigated. Median height velocity of these patients increased from-1.6 SDS (range, -4.6 to -0.3 SDS) to 3.3 SDS (range, -0.2 to 7.1 SDS) after 1 year of GH treatment, and median height SDS increased by 0.7 SDS (range, 0.1 to 2.2 SDS). Strong correlations were observed between basal and generated IGF-I and IGFBP-3 levels. The increase in IGEBP-3 levels in response to GH in the generation test was a strong predictor of the growth response to GH therapy. All the patients in the present study could be differentiated from patients with GH insensitivity syndrome (GHIS) using the criteria of a diagnostic scoring system for GHIS. The most valuable parameters were the increases in IGF-I and IGFBP-3 levels in the generation test, which excluded 95.2% of the patients from a diagnosis of GHIS. □ Growth hormone treatment, insulin-like growth factor I, insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3, insulin-like growth factor generation test
Long-term remission of malignant brain tumors after intracranial infection: a report of four cases.

Objective This report describes four patients with malignant brain tumors in whom regression or cure seems to be related to infection with bacteria. Methods An analysis of the four clinical cases reported and a review of the literature produced a comprehensive body of both experimental and clinical data concerning the antineoplastic properties of bacteria. Results Although direct oncolytic effects from bacteria have been suggested, immune adjuvant responses to tumor suppression are emphasized. In one of our patients, infiltration of numerous granulocytes and lymphocytes into the tumor at the time of initial surgery was observed, suggesting that a spontaneous immune reaction had begun. Also, in two other patients, tumor aggression occurred in association with a bacterial process that was not in direct contact with the tumor. In three of the cases described, Enterobacter aerogenes was recovered from the microbial cultures. Whether the presence of this organism was coincidental or whether this organism plays an important role in tumor defense is not known; however, a specific cross-reactive immunological attack to the tumor is suggested. Conclusion The case histories presented in conjunction with the relevant literature reviewed support the concept that microbial infections may influence immune responses in brain tumor defense.
Hydrogen Evolution from Soy-Bean Root Nodules

Wilson and Burris1 reviewed the evidence implicating hydrogenase in biological nitrogen fixation and suggested two working hypotheses for the mechanism of nitrogen fixation which included the participation of hydrogenase. The relation between hydrogenase and nitrogen fixation was strengthened further when Kamen and Gest2 discovered Rhodospirillum rubrum to be a nitrogen fixer and found that nitrogen, either as such or as ammonium, inhibited its photoproduction of hydrogen. Purified hydrogenase preparations from Clostridium pasteurianum have shown spectral changes when exposed to nitrogen relative to spectra under hydrogen, oxygen, nitric oxide or a vacuum3. Although the initial report4 of hydrogenase in root-nodule bacteria was not verified by later, more extensive tests5 with nodules and bacteria from nodules, Wilson6 recently has reported that a preparation of disintegrated soy-bean nodules exhibited spectral shifts in the presence, as compared to the absence, of hydrogen, suggestive of the activity of a hydrogenase. The absence of a clear demonstration of hydrogenase in nodules often has been cited in discussion of the comparative biochemistry of nitrogen fixation as an irregularity. Evidence from the present communication removes this irregularity and establishes a further point of uniformity among nitrogen-fixing agents.
Food consumption, activity, and overweight among elementary school children in an Appalachian Kentucky community.

In the U.S., child overweight is on the rise and is implicated in later adult chronic illness. Given that overweight is hardly tractable, prevention as compared to treatment is seen as a better alternative for lowering the risk of long-term health consequences. To increase the success of prevention efforts, many argue that programs must be "culturally sensitive and targeted toward specific populations at greater risk. However, there exists a limited understanding of how overweight is distributed across the landscape, among and within populations and groups. This paper reports the prevalence of overweight among 54 school children in a rural, Appalachian community with a high rate of poverty, and it compares boys to girls. Thirty-seven percent of boys and 10.3% of girls are overweight, based on the 90th percentile body mass index (BMI). Analysis of food intake indicates a pattern of food consumption that is high in fatty and sugary foods and low in fruit and vegetable consumption. Analysis of activity indicates that children report more low-intensity activity than high; that overweight children report more episodes of video/computer play compared to nonoverweight children; and that boys spend more time than girls in front of the computer/television screen.
Maximal non- hamilton-laceable graphs

For bipartite graphs the property of being Hamilton laceable is analogous to the property of being Hamilton connected for simple graphs. in this paper it is proven that all of the graphs obtained by deleting fewer than m − 1 edges from either of the complete bipartite graphs Km, m or Km, m+1 are Hamilton laceable. It is also proven that the deletion of m − 1 edges results in a non-Hamiltonlaceable graph if and only if the graph is either the complement of the star K1,m−1 in Km, m or Km, m+1 or else the complement in K3,3 of a pair of nonadjacent edges.
COMPARISON OF WAIS AND WAIS-R SCORES AMONG BRIGHT ADULTS AGED 20-34

IQs on the WAIS and WAIS–R of 23 women and 22 men showed means on the former to be higher than on the latter and some difference in relative contribution of subtests to over-all IQ.
Calcium Looping Process (CLP) for Enhanced Noncatalytic Hydrogen Production with Integrated Carbon Dioxide Capture

The calcium looping process (CLP) is one of the clean coal technologies being developed for the production of hydrogen (H2) and electricity from coal-derived syngas. It integrates the water−gas shift reaction with in situ carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur, and halide removal in a single-stage reactor. In the CLP, a regenerable calcium-based sorbent is used to react with and remove CO2, sulfur, and halide impurities from the synthesis gas during the production of H2. The removal of CO2 creates a favorable equilibrium and drives the water−gas shift reaction forward per Le Chatelier’s principle enabling the production of high-purity H2. In this investigation, the feasibility and optimum process conditions for the production of H2 in the absence of a water−gas shift catalyst have been described. Calcium oxide (CaO) sorbent has been found to enhance H2 yield to a large extent even in the absence of a water−gas shift catalyst. Specifically, at high pressures, high carbon monoxide (CO) conversion and H2 purity (>99%)...
Sex Differences in the Relationship of Dietary Fatty Acids to Cognitive Measures in American Children

Because the first neurons evolved in an environment high in the n-3 (omega-3) fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), this fatty acid became a major component of neural structure and function and makes up 10% of the dry weight of the human brain. Since n-3 fatty acids must come from the diet, this suggests a possible positive role for dietary n-3 fatty acids in cognition and a possible negative role for n-6 fatty acids, which compete with n-3 for access to critical enzymes. Because human females must provide DHA for the growth of the unusually large brains of their offspring from maternal fat stored during childhood, their need for DHA is especially great. We used stepwise regression to determine whether particular dietary fatty acids and other nutrients were related to cognitive performance in over 4000 American children aged 6 to 16 from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III); a variety of possible biological, social and environmental risk factors were statistically controlled. In this context the only dietary factors related to cognitive performance were n-3 and n-6 fatty acids. Dietary n-3 fatty acids were positively related to cognitive test scores in male and female children, while n-6 showed the reverse relationship, significantly so in females. In female children the positive effects of n-3 intake were twice as strong as in males and exceeded the negative effects of lead exposure. This suggests that increasing dietary intake of n-3 and decreasing n-6 fatty acids may have cognitive benefits in children, especially in females.
Development of a Simple Mechanical Impact System as a Non-Explosive Seismic Source

A Simple Mechanical Impact System (SMIS) was developed recently as a non-explosive seismic source. The SMIS consists of an impact head, a steel rod with extensions, and an anchoring system. The system is small and simple, and can be conveniently installed in a shallow borehole oriented in any direction. The SMIS was developed to address two problems commonly associated with non-explosive seismic sources: insufficient seismic strength and lack of repeatability. Field tests have shown that it is possible to produce clear and repeatable signals with this system even when the SMIS is installed in a coal seam.
Internet-based Interventions Have Potential to Affect Short-term Mediators and Indicators of Dietary Behavior of Young Adults

Abstract Objective Evaluate a theory-based, Internet-delivered nutrition education module. Design Randomized, treatment-control design with pre-post intervention assessments. Setting and Participants Convenience sample of 160 young adults (aged 18-24) recruited by community educators in 4 states. Study completers (n = 96) included a mix of racial/ethnic groups and family demographics, but were predominately white females without children. Intervention A Transtheoretical Model (TTM)-based, stage-tailored Internet program, FV controls received nontailored messages in a comparable format. Main Outcome Measures and Analysis TTM constructs at baseline, immediately postviewing, and at 30-day follow-up were compared via chi-square, McNemar's test, and logistic regression. Qualitative use and acceptability indicators were collected postviewing (treatment only). Results Of baseline respondents, 86.5% completed the study. At follow-up, self-efficacy, decisional balance, and selected processes improved for both groups, with only marginal advantages for the theory-based version. Fruit and vegetable consumption changes were similar for both groups. Qualitative measures of knowledge, confidence, and motivation improved (not measured for controls). Favorable ratings of treatment program acceptability and personal relevance were reported. Conclusions and Implications The Internet is a favorable option for reaching young adults with nutrition messages. This study did not identify strong advantages of theory-based tailoring, especially for fruit consumption, which had weaker barriers than vegetable consumption among this target audience.
The sequential path to transformation management

Abstract The requirement for organizational transformation presents a troubling paradox for would-be leaders of change. To achieve significant and lasting transformation, everything about the organization must change. But changing everything at once is simply impossible. In seeking a way through this paradox, the article suggests a sequence of interventions. This is what needs to occur first, second, third, and so on, if transformation is to be effective. Underlying that sequence are the concepts of customer alignment and learning. Driving that sequence is a transformation in leadership style that addresses first sequentially and then simultaneously the twin demands of what Bert Spector refers to a ‘taking charge and letting go’.
A questionnaire measure of individual differences in stimulus screening and associated differences in arousability

This paper presents the rationale for a questionnaire measure of individual differences in stimulus screening—namely, individual differences in automatic (i.e., not conceptual or intentional) screening of irrelevant stimuli and rapid habituation to distracting, irrelevant stimuli. The information rate-arousal hypothesis implies that screeners who impose a hierarchy of importance or pattern on the various components of a complex situation thereby reduce its information rate and should be less arousable than nonscreeners. In confirmation of these theoretical notions, the primary component of the questionnaire, low arousability, was directly correlated with the second component, speed of habituation to intense stimuli, and with all other components representing screening in various sense modalities. That is, all components of the questionnaire were intercorrelated and represented a unitary dimension of individual differences in information processing. Also, as predicted, screeners were underrepresented among characteristically aroused persons and among females relative to males. The final 40-item questionnaire, which consists of nine intercorrelated components, is balanced to control for acquiescence and is free of social desirability bias. Applications of the measure in studies of environmental psychology are discussed.
Pay as incentive or pay as reward? The case of Taiwan

Abstract By the 1980s, Taiwan had gradually transformed itself from an economy in which labor was plentiful, while capital was in short supply, into an economy in which a surplus of capital was accompanied by a shortage of labor. For labor economists interested in rapidly evolving labor markets, there are many intriguing questions arising out of this transition. This study explores how conventional labor market and efficiency wage theories apply during this transformation. Based on monthly data over the period 1982–2007, we examine the linear causality between pay and productivity using Geweke's [Geweke, J. (1982). Measurement of linear dependence and feedback between multiple time series. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 77 , 304–313] linear feedback technique. The results indicate that both pay as reward and pay as incentive behaviors are significant in the Taiwanese economy, with pay as incentive especially strong in the manufacturing sector.
A bi-criterion approach to minimizing inventory costs on a single machine when early shipments are forbidden

Abstract In this paper, the concept of job earliness as a measure of inventory costs for single machine scheduling is introduced. The justification of earliness as a cost is presented. It is pointed out that the Japanese have long recognized earliness as a cost. The addition of earliness greatly complicated finding an optimum solution, since reducing earliness may require the insertion of machine idle time. Another measure commonly used to represent inventory cost is flowtime. In this paper, a combination of earliness and flowtime is used to represent total inventory costs. Some preliminary results are presented illustrating the complexity of solving this problem.
Multiband RF-interconnect for reconfigurable network-on-chip communications

One of the key benefits of the scaling of CMOS is that the switching speed of the transistor improves over each technology generation. According to ITRS, fT and fmax, will be 600GHz and 1 THz, respectively, in 16nm CMOS technology. With the advance in CMOS mm-wave circuits, hundreds of GHz bandwidth will be available in the near future. In addition, compared with CMOS repeaters charging and discharging the wire, EM waves travel in a guided medium at the speed of light which is about 10ps/mm on silicon substrate. The question here is: How can we utilize over hundreds of GHz of bandwidth in a future mobile system through RF-I while concurrently achieving ultra-low power operation and dynamic allocation in bandwidth to meet future Network-on-Chip needs?
Effect of Seasonal Changes on Protozoans Inhabiting Artificial Substrates in a Small Pond

Summary Effects of seasonal variation on the structure of protozoan communities were investigated by comparing interactive, equilibrium communities that had colonized polyurethane foam artificial substrates. Substrates were colonized near the surface and bottom of a 1 m deep, eutrophic pond and sampled at weekly or bi-weekly intervals over an annual cycle. No seasonal differences were apparent. Numbers of species were relatively constant except during periods of heavy rainfall or ice melt. Species numbers were significantly, negatively correlated with dilution of the water column. Similarity between samples decreased with increasing time between samples; however, samples taken as much as 30 weeks apart retained a small, residual similarity. Residual similarity was interpreted to be a core community of species. Cluster analysis revealed a generally orderly transition in species composition over time. Stable species numbers in these communities and the rapid change and recovery of species numbers during perturbations make these communities especially valuable in assessing acute impacts on freshwater ecosystems.