cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Determination of mixture properties via a combined Expanded Wang-Landau simulations-Machine Learning approach

Abstract Even-sampling methods have allowed for the evaluation of the density of states, providing access to all thermodynamic properties at once. However, these methods become highly intensive for multicomponent systems. We develop a combined Expanded Wang-Landau-Machine Learning (EWL-ML) approach to predict efficiently and accurately the thermodynamics of mixtures. We show that only a fraction of the EWL results is necessary to train a neural network and provide results in very good agreement with experiments. The resulting speed-up is expected to considerably increase the range and complexity of systems that can be studied with even-sampling methods.
Distributed Algorithm via Continuously Differentiable Exact Penalty Method for Network Optimization

This paper proposes a distributed optimization framework for solving nonlinear programming problems with separable objective function and local constraints. Our novel approach is based on first reformulating the original problem as an unconstrained optimization problem using continuously differentiable exact penalty function methods and then using gradient based optimization algorithms. The reformulation is based on replacing the Lagrange multipliers in the augmented Lagrangian of the original problem with Lagrange multiplier functions. The problem of calculating the gradient of the penalty function is challenging as it is non-distributed in general even if the original problem is distributed. We show that we can reformulate this problem as a distributed, unconstrained convex optimization problem. The proposed framework opens new opportunities for the application of various distributed algorithms designed for unconstrained optimization.
Deep materials informatics: Applications of deep learning in materials science

The growing application of data-driven analytics in materials science has led to the rise of materials informatics. Within the arena of data analytics, deep learning has emerged as a game-changing technique in the last few years, enabling numerous real-world applications, such as self-driving cars. In this paper, the authors present an overview of deep learning, its advantages, challenges, and recent applications on different types of materials data. The increasingly availability of materials databases and big data in general, along with groundbreaking advances in deep learning offers a lot of promise to accelerate the discovery, design, and deployment of next-generation materials.
A Probabilistic Approach to Design Switching Attacks against Interconnected Systems

In this paper we study an attack design problem for interconnected systems where the attacker compromises a subsystem at each time, which is selected randomly based on a pre-computed probabilistic rule. The objective of the attacker is to degrade the system performance, which is measured based on a quadratic function of the system state, while remaining undetected from a centralized detector. First, we derive an explicit expression for the detection probability, analyze its properties, and compute an upper bound. Then, we use our upper bound to formulate and numerically solve a non-convex optimization problem for the computation of optimal attack strategies. Finally, we validate our results and show that our probabilistic attack strategy outperforms a deterministic attack strategy that compromises a fixed subsystem at each time.
Automated grouping of medical codes via multiview banded spectral clustering.

Abstract Objective With its increasingly widespread adoption, electronic health records (EHR) have enabled phenotypic information extraction at an unprecedented granularity and scale. However, often a medical concept (e.g. diagnosis, prescription, symptom) is described in various synonyms across different EHR systems, hindering data integration for signal enhancement and complicating dimensionality reduction for knowledge discovery. Despite existing ontologies and hierarchies, tremendous human effort is needed for curation and maintenance – a process that is both unscalable and susceptible to subjective biases. This paper aims to develop a data-driven approach to automate grouping medical terms into clinically relevant concepts by combining multiple up-to-date data sources in an unbiased manner. Methods We present a novel data-driven grouping approach – multi-view banded spectral clustering (mvBSC) combining summary data from multiple healthcare systems. The proposed method consists of a banding step that leverages the prior knowledge from the existing coding hierarchy, and a combining step that performs spectral clustering on an optimally weighted matrix. Results We apply the proposed method to group ICD-9 and ICD-10-CM codes together by integrating data from two healthcare systems. We show grouping results and hierarchies for 13 representative disease categories. Individual grouping qualities were evaluated using normalized mutual information, adjusted Rand index, and F1-measure, and were found to consistently exhibit great similarity to the existing manual grouping counterpart. The resulting ICD groupings also enjoy comparable interpretability and are well aligned with the current ICD hierarchy. Conclusion The proposed approach, by systematically leveraging multiple data sources, is able to overcome bias while maximizing consensus to achieve generalizability. It has the advantage of being efficient, scalable, and adaptive to the evolving human knowledge reflected in the data, showing a significant step toward automating medical knowledge integration.
Ovarian, uterine, and cervical cancer patients with distant metastases at diagnosis: most common locations and outcomes.

To determine the location patterns of distant metastases at initial staging and outcomes of ovarian, uterine, and cervical cancer patients. Data were obtained from the SEER database from 2010 to 2015. Analyses were performed using Kaplan–Meier and multivariate Cox proportional hazard methods. Of 3035 patients (median age: 63, range: 17–95) with stage IV gynecologic cancer, ovarian, uterine, and cervical cancers were present in 42%, 40%, and 18% of the cohort. The proportion of lung, liver, bone and brain metastases were identified in 38%, 57%, 4%, and 1% of ovarian cancer patients, 62%, 22%, 13%, and 3% of uterine cancer patients, and 59%, 16%, 23%, and 2% of cervical cancer patients, respectively. The 5-year disease-specific survival for all patients was 19%. Those with liver metastases had survival rates of 26% compared to 15% for lung, 13% for bone, and 6% for brain (p < 0.0001). Patients with ovarian, uterine, and cervical cancers had survival rates of 28%, 12%, and 12%, respectively (p < 0.0001). On multivariate analysis, brain metastasis (HR = 1.64, 95% CI 1.21–2.22, p < 0.01), uterine (HR = 1.77, 95 CI 1.56–2.02, p < 0.0001) and cervical (HR = 1.35, 95% CI 1.11–1.63, p < 0.01) cancers, and lack of insurance (HR = 1.41, 95% CI 1.16–1.73, p < 0.001) were independent predictors for poorer survival. Age, year, region, and race did not affect prognosis. Stage IV ovarian cancer most frequently metastasizes to the liver, whereas uterine and cervical cancers spread more to the lung. Overall, these patients have poor prognosis, particularly those with uterine or cervical primary disease or brain metastases.
Federal and State Efforts in the Implementation of Kindergarten Entry Assessments (2011-2018)

In this study, we examined states’ kindergarten entry assessment (KEA) policies between 2011 and 2018 and the possible impact federal funding policies may have had in their implementation. Between ...
Gender Issues in Academic Hospital Medicine: a National Survey of Hospitalist Leaders

Gender inequities are documented in academic medicine. Within General Internal Medicine (GIM), there are fewer female division directors and first and last authors on publications. With gender parity in US medical school graduates and with Academic Hospital (AH) medicine being a relatively newer discipline, one might postulate that AH would have less gender inequity. A national survey of AH programs was developed via literature review and expert recommendations. Domains included program and faculty information. Gender of the leader was determined via website or telephone call. Leaders of AH programs associated with the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC). Programs without a primary teaching hospital or hospitalist program and those not staffed by university-affiliated physicians were excluded. Description and characteristics of leaders and programs including a multivariable analysis of gender of hospitalist leaders and the portion of female faculty. 59% response rate (80 of 135); there were no differences between responders/non-responders in NIH funding (p = 0.12), type of institution (p = 0.09), geographic region (p = 0.15), or year established (p = 0.86). Reported number of female and male faculty were approximately equal. 80% of hospitalist leaders were male; 37% of male hospitalist leaders were professors, no female leaders were professors. In univariate and multivariate analysis only the number of hospitals staffed was a significant predictor of having a female hospitalist leader. There were no significant predictors of having fewer female faculty. This study demonstrated gender inequality in academic hospital medicine regarding leadership and rank. Though there was equal gender distribution of faculty, among leaders most were men and all “full professors” were men. As diversity benefits the tripartite mission research on methods, initiatives and programs that achieve gender equity in leadership are needed.
4-Carboalkoxylated Polyvalerolactones from Malic Acid: Tough and Degradable Polyesters.

Eight 4-carboalkoxyvalerolactones (CRVLs), varying in the composition of their alkyl (R) side chains, were synthesized from malic acid and subjected to ring-opening transesterification polymerizati...
Peru: A Wholesale Reform Fueled by an Obsession with Learning and Equity

After decades of expansion, the Peruvian education system had relatively high levels of access, but low and heterogeneous quality. The depth of the learning crisis was seen in 2013, when Peru ranked last in PISA. The country responded by implementing an ambitious reform which built on previous efforts, which is described in detail in this chapter. The reform was composed of four pillars: (i) Revalorize teachers’ career by making selection and promotion meritocratic, attracting the best into the profession, and supporting teacher professional development through school-based coaching; (ii) Improve the quality of learning for all by revising the curriculum, expanding early childhood education and full-day schooling, providing direct support to schools (through lesson plans and school grants) and carrying out several deep institutional reforms to the university system; (iii) Effective management of the school and the education system, including the use of learning assessment data for school planning. This entailed increasing school autonomy, introducing meritocracy in the selection of principals, and creating a culture of evidence-based decision making; and (iv) Close the infrastructure gap. The reform process required strong political and financial commitment and resulted in impressive improvements in student learning. Most importantly, it led to a change in mindsets towards a focus on learning.
Association of polymorphisms in androgen production, uptake, and conversion chain (APUC) genes with mortality of prostate cancer patients.

5528Background: Genes involved in APUC may affect prognosis in PC. We tested the association of four SNPs involved in the APUC pathway: hydroxy-delta-5-steroid dehydrogenase, 3 beta-and steroid del...
δ-Catenin engages the autophagy pathway to sculpt the developing dendritic arbor

The development of the dendritic arbor in pyramidal neurons is critical for neural circuit function. Here, we uncovered a pathway in which δ-catenin, a component of the cadherin–catenin cell adhesion complex, promotes coordination of growth among individual dendrites and engages the autophagy mechanism to sculpt the developing dendritic arbor. Using a rat primary neuron model, time-lapse imaging, immunohistochemistry, and confocal microscopy, we found that apical and basolateral dendrites are coordinately sculpted during development. Loss or knockdown of δ-catenin uncoupled this coordination, leading to retraction of the apical dendrite without altering basolateral dendrite dynamics. Autophagy is a key cellular pathway that allows degradation of cellular components. We observed that the impairment of the dendritic arbor resulting from δ-catenin knockdown could be reversed by knockdown of autophagy-related 7 (ATG7), a component of the autophagy machinery. We propose that δ-catenin regulates the dendritic arbor by coordinating the dynamics of individual dendrites and that the autophagy mechanism may be leveraged by δ-catenin and other effectors to sculpt the developing dendritic arbor. Our findings have implications for the management of neurological disorders, such as autism and intellectual disability, that are characterized by dendritic aberrations.
Technoeconomic analysis of co-hydrothermal carbonization of coal waste and food waste

The aim of this research was to evaluate the technoeconomic prospect of hydrochar production through co-hydrothermal carbonization of coal waste (CW) and food waste (FW). A process flow diagram was developed that considered seven reactors, six pumps, and other necessary equipment for producing 49,192 kg/h hydrochar. Three different cases were considered for the economic analysis. Case II considered both CW and FW transportation cost while cases I and III considered only FW and only CW transportation, respectively. The economic analysis revealed the break-even costs to be $62.24 per ton for case I, $69.90 per ton for case II, and $60.26 per ton for case III. The fixed capital investment (FCI) was $11.4M for all the cases while total capital investment (TCI), working capital (WC), and manufacturing costs were higher for case II compared to cases I and III. A sensitivity analysis examined the effect of nine different variables on the break-even cost. The raw materials’ cost as well as their transportation costs significantly affected the corresponding break-even cost. Additionally, increasing the hydrochar production capacity has drastically decreased the break-even cost. However, the analysis also revealed that excessive increase of production capacity can have negative impact on the process economics.
Costs and Their Assessment to Users of a Medical Library: A Game-Theoretic Method for Allocating Joint Fixed Costs')

This paper is part of a larger study which identifies how costs arise in the formation and operation of a service institution like a library that provides a variety of related and interrelated services to a heterogeneous mix of users.
Emerging Trends in Polymers, Composites, and Nano Biomaterial Applications

This chapter introduces synthetic polymers, carbon-based composites, and carbon nanotube-based biomaterials. The implementation of hydrogels for drug delivery carriers and tissue engineering applications is discussed. Further, the enhancement of mechanical properties with nano-filled polymers for dental restorations and structural applications is elaborated. The efficacy of bio-functional coatings with elastomeric polymers loaded with anti-proliferation drugs for cardiovascular devices is presented. Finally, the use of carbon nanotubes is demonstrated for high-fidelity bio-sensing.
'Involved': A Verbal Tic In Science Writing For A Popular Audience

Writers for publications that try to explain science to a lay audience, often say when quoting someone’s comments on the work in question that the commentator was “not involved” with the work. This short article explores the meaning of “involved” and the implications the writer wants us to draw from this non-involvement.
Parental cardiovascular health predicts time to onset of cardiovascular disease in offspring.

BACKGROUND Cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors are transmitted from parents to children. We prospectively examined the association between parental cardiovascular health (CVH) and time to onset of CVD in the offspring. METHODS AND RESULTS The study consisted of a total of 5967 offspring-mother-father trios derived from the Framingham Heart Study. Cardiovascular health score was defined using the seven American Heart Association's CVH metrics attained at ideal levels: poor (0-2), intermediate (3-4), and ideal CVH (5-7). Multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazards regression models, Kaplan-Meier plots, and Irwin's restricted mean were used to examine the association and sex-specific differences between parental CVH and offspring's CVD-free survival. In a total of 71 974 person-years of follow-up among the offspring, 718 incident CVD events occurred. The overall CVD incidence rate was 10 per 1000 person-years [95% confidence interval (CI) 9.3-10.7]. Offspring of mothers with ideal CVH lived 9 more years free of CVD than offspring of mothers with poor CVH (P < 0.001). Maternal poor CVH was associated with twice as high hazard of early onset of CVD compared with maternal ideal CVH (adjusted Hazard Ratio 2.09, 95% CI 1.50-2.92). No statistically significant association was observed in the hazards of CVD-free survival by paternal CVH categories. CONCLUSIONS We found that offspring of parents with ideal CVH had a greater CVD-free survival. Maternal CVH was a more robust predictor of offspring's CVD-free survival than paternal CVH, underscoring the need for clinical and policy interventions that involve mothers to break the intergenerational cycle of CVD-related morbidity and mortality.
Neurological Substrate of the HVS

Considerable information may be gleaned from the vast neuroscientific literature regarding the functionality (and limitations) of the Human Visual System (HVS). It is often possible to qualitatively predict observed psychophysical results by studying the underlying visual “hardware”. For example, visual spatial acuity may be roughly estimated from knowledge of the distribution of retinal photoreceptors. Other characteristics of human vision may also be estimated from the neural organization of deeper brain structures.
Innovation for Business Growth

OVERVIEW:Profitable business growth that creates shareholder value is restricted by core barriers and gaps in the third generation (3G) of innovation management currently practiced by most industrial organizations. The barriers and gaps are: (1) the basic principles of current innovation management which limit its scope and strategy; (2) the current organizational capability and architecture for innovation; (3) current “best practices” which restrict innovation, including marketing and R&D, to what the customer perceives is needed. Twelve new principles and practices define a 4G management that helps overcome these limitations in current practice.
Relativistic eikonal amplitude and radiative corrections

A relativistic eikonal amplitude for the generalized ladder diagrams with radiative corrections to all orders is derived. The connection between this approach and the graphical analysis of infra-red divergence in quantum eleetrodynamics is explicitly exhibited. The discrepancy between the Levy-Sucher formula and that of Schiff is resolved. Inclusion of radiative corrections due to nonsoft mesons at the vertices of a hard interaction is investigated, and the difference with results obtained by other authors is noted.
Joint Registration and Segmentation of Serial Lung CT Images in Microendoscopy Molecular Image-Guided Therapy

In lung cancer image-guided therapy, a real-time electromagnetic tracked microendoscopic optical imaging probe is guided to the small lung lesion of interest. The alignment of the pre-operative lung CT images as well as the intra-operative serial images is often an important step to accurately guide and monitor the interventional procedure in the diagnosis and treatment of these small lung lesions. Registering the serial images often relies on correct segmentation of the images and on the other hand, the segmentation results can be further improved by temporal alignment of the serial images. This paper presents a joint serial image registration and segmentation algorithm. In this algorithm, serial images are segmented based on the current deformations, and the deformations among the serial images are iteratively refined based on the updated segmentation results. No temporal smoothness about the deformation fields is enforced so that the algorithm can tolerate larger or discontinuous temporal changes that often appear during image-guided therapy. Physical procedure models could also be incorporated to our algorithm to better handle the temporal changes of the serial images during intervention. In experiments, we apply the proposed algorithm to align serial lung CT images. Results using both simulated and clinical images show that the new algorithm is more robust compared to the method that only uses deformable registration.
Detection of e Antigen and Antibody: Correlations With Hepatitis B Surface and Hepatitis B Core Antigens, Liver Disease, and Outcome in Hepatitis B Infections

Abstract Testing for e antigen and antibody (anti-e) was performed by immunodiffusion and counterelectrophoresis in patients with polyarteritis nodosa fulminant hepatitis, and chronic active hepatitis (CAH), in 59 asymptomatic carriers of hepatitis B surface antigen (HB,Ag) who underwent liver biopsy, and in 150 carriers followed with sequential SGPT determinations. Counterelectrophoresis was more sensitive than immunodiffusion. Neither e antigen nor anti-e was found in the absence of HB,Ag. Among HB,Ag-positive patients with polyarteritis nodosa and CAH, e antigen was found in 16 of 18 and 13 of 22, respectively. It was not found in any of 43 patients with fulminant hepatitis, of whom 24 were HB,Ag-positive. The e antigen was detected in none of 13 biopsied carriers with normal histology, 4 of 28 with nonspecific changes, and 11 of 18 with CAH or chronic persistent hepatitis. Conversely, anti-e was present in 9 of 13 with normal biopsy, 7 of 28 with nonspecific changes, and none of 18 with CAH or chronic persistent hepatitis. The e antigen was found more commonly in nonbiopsied carriers with elevated SGPT, and anti-e in those with normal SGPT. Six carriers whose antigenemia terminated spontaneously had anti-e. The presence of e antigen correlated with a high titer of HB,Ag, and with immunofluorescent detection of hepatitis B core antigen in the nuclei of hepatocytes. Conversely, anti-e was associated with significantly lower titers of serum HB,Ag ( P
On the attitude motion of a self-excited rigid body

Leimanis (1965) has published a monograph, which contains Boedewadt's solution of Euler's equations of motion for a symmetric rigid body subject to a time-independent, self-excitement in a body-fixed direction. In addition, the monograph provided also Boedewadt's solution for the corresponding angles of rotation. It is pointed out that the solution of Euler's equations of motion provides a poor approximation to the problem of nearly symmetric rigid bodies in cases in which a high degree of accuracy (less than 1 percent error) is required. A much more accurate approximate solution has been provided by Longuski (1980). The result given by Leimanis in the case of the Eulerian angles is incorrect for arbitrary constant torques. The approximate solution given by Longuski, however, is extremely accurate and suitable for computer design work and error analysis of spacecraft performance. The present investigation is concerned with a review of the solutions and the specific regions of validity of the solution for the Eulerian angles.
Time to Get Off the Diagnosis Dime Onto the 10th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases

The ICD-10 becomes a legal standard for diagnosis coding in the United States on 1 October 2015. This commentary explains why it is time to move to the ICD-10.
Metal-centered oxidation decreases nitrile hydration activity of bioinspired (N2S3)Ru-PPh3 precatalysts

Abstract A series of ruthenium(II) nitrile hydration catalysts based on the pentadentate ligand 4,7-bis(2′-methyl-2′-mercaptopropyl)-1-thia-4,7-diazacyclononane and its sulfur-oxidized derivatives has been oxidized at the metal center yielding their ruthenium(III) counterparts. Metal-centered oxidation results in complete loss of nitrile hydration activity for the dithiolato (RS−/RS−) parent complex. The sulfur-oxidized thiolato/sulfinato (RS−,RSO2−) derivative displays a decrease in turnover number from 238 ± 23 to 3 ± 1 upon oxidation of Ru(II) to Ru(III). A similar decrease in turnover number from 242 ± 23 to 7 ± 3 is observed upon metal-centered oxidation of the sulfenato/sulfinato (RSO−, RSO2−) derivative. The inactive complex [(4,7-bis(2′-methyl-2′-mercaptopropyl)-1-thia-4,7-diazacyclononane)(triphenyl-phosphine)ruthenium(III)]hexafluorophosphate has been synthesized and characterized by electronic spectroscopy, electron paramagnetic resonance, and single crystal X-ray diffraction studies.
The RNA World as a Model System to Study the Origin of Life

Understanding how life arose is a fundamental problem of biology. Much progress has been made by adopting a synthetic and mechanistic perspective on originating life. We present a current view of the biochemistry of the origin of life, focusing on issues surrounding the emergence of an RNA World in which RNA dominated informational and functional roles. There is cause for optimism on this difficult problem: the prebiotic chemical inventory may not have been as nightmarishly complex as previously thought; the catalytic repertoire of ribozymes continues to expand, approaching the goal of self-replicating RNA; encapsulation in protocells provides evolutionary and biophysical advantages. Nevertheless, major issues remain unsolved, such as the origin of a genetic code. Attention to this field is particularly timely given the accelerating discovery and characterization of exoplanets.
Efficient visible through SWIR focal plane MTF measurement

Raytheon Vision Systems (RVS) has developed an efficient method to measure MTF on Visible through MWIR small pixel FPAs. The measured data was obtained using an advanced but low cost test set with sub μm target projection on the FPA and real time display of the LSF as the slit is walked through focus. The test set is commercially procured, maintained and calibrated, provides target and filter holders and a light source. The analysis summary includes references from simplified MTF published analysis tools and a list of artifacts to be aware of when measuring MTF. The SWIR and MWIR detectors have a Mesa structure geometry for improved MTF performance and the Visible has state of the art crosstalk control to provide excellent MTF performance. The modeled data is compared to measured tilted slit MTF measured data and shows close agreement.
Transfer of carbon atoms from mevalonate to n-fatty acids.

Abstract The distribution of 14C in the unsaponifiable (neutral) and saponifiable (acidic) components of tissue lipids was examined 4, 24, and 72 hours after the subcutaneous injection of [2-14C]mevalonate into 9-day-old rats. Of the total radioactivity contained in the unsaponifiable plus saponifiable material, 7 to 33% was in the acidic fraction obtained from the brain, spinal cord, and the skin, most of it (90% in the brain and spinal cord) being associated with palmitate and stearate in the ratio of 8:2 or 7:3, 4 hours after the injections. Seventy-two hours after the injections the stearate became slightly more heavily labeled than palmitate in these three organs. The palmitate and stearate from the kidney and lung lipids became labeled also, but not as extensively as in the three organs of ectodermal origin. In contrast the n-fatty acids from liver did not contain detectable isotopic label. The incorporation of label into the two fatty acids in the brain and skin increased linearly with increasing doses of mevalonate. It is postulated that label from [2-14C]mevalonate is diverted through a shunt to 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl-CoA and free acetoacetate which is utilized preferentially for fatty acid synthesis in the brain, spinal cord, and the skin. Mechanisms which could account for the recycling of carbon atoms from intermediates of sterol biosynthesis are presented.
Alimentary Lipemia Is Enhanced in Fiber-Fed Rats

The effect of dietary fiber on the pattern of postprandial lipemia was examined in two studies with male Wistar rats. In the first study, groups of rats were killed after food deprivation (0 h) or 1, 4.5 or 8.5 h after a high fat test meal containing either cellulose (CL) or oat bran (OB). Plasma triglycerides (TG) were higher in the OB group at 4.5 h compared with both the 0-h and the CL-groups at 4. 5 h. In both groups, LDL and TG-rich lipoprotein cholesterol (TRL-C) concentrations were higher at 8.5 h than at 0 h; HDL cholesterol was significantly lower at 8.5 h than at 0 h for the OB group only. The enhanced lipemia when OB was fed may stimulate cholesterol movement from HDL to LDL and TRL. To examine whether TRL secretion rates were responsible for the enhanced lipemia, a second study was conducted. Rats were fitted with jugular catheters and allowed to recover. Two groups were fed either CL or OB and infused with Triton-1339 (400 mg/kg). Two control groups were not fed and were infused with either Triton or saline. Rats were killed 2.5 h after infusion. Plasma TG was 10-fold higher in the Triton group than in the saline group, but did not differ between the OB and CL groups. The relative contribution of TRL-C to total cholesterol was significantly greater in the Triton control than in the OB and CL groups. Enhanced secretion of TRL was not responsible for the lipemia observed in the first study. Rather, alterations in clearance rate were responsible.
Instructional Interventions for Improving Proofreading and Editing Skills of College Students

This article summarizes a dissertation study designed to determine the effectiveness of instructional interventions that focus on proofreading and editing skills of first-year college students enrolled in business communication courses. The study used a pretest-posttest quasiexperimental control group design and collected data from 56 participants based on the results of the Grammar and Mechanics Diagnostic Assessment for two experimental groups and a control group. The results of the project were compiled and analyzed using descriptive statistics and a repeated measures analysis of variance.
Constitutive Model of a Transversely Isotropic Bingham Fluid

constitutive theory is presented for a transversely isotropic, viscoplastic (Bingham) fluid. The theory accounts for threshold (yield) and viscous flow characteristics through inclusion of a potential function serving the dual role of a threshold function and a viscous flow potential. The arguments and form of the potential function derive from the theory of tensorial invariants. The model reduces to a transversely isotropic model of perfect plasticity in the limit of vanishing viscosity. In the limit of isotropy, it reduces to the Hohenemser-Prager generalization of Bingham's model. A characterization procedure is prescribed based on correlation with experiments conducted under simple states of stress. Application is made to polymer melts filled with talc particles. ©2002 ASME
Persistent self-organization of sandpiles.

We have studied the avalanche fluctuations resulting from the grain-by-grain quiescent perturbation of real sandpiles of various sizes. Contrary to previous reports, we find the attribute of self-organization, namely, a power-law distribution of avalanche sizes, to be the generic behavior, independent of system size. However, as the system size is increased, the power-law behavior is supplemented by uniformly large, periodic avalanches that carry away the dominant fraction of the total avalanched mass. Additionally, we find that a scale invariance in pile-mass fluctuations depends on the ratio of pile to grain diameters.
Reduced serum and hypoxic culture conditions enhance the osteogenic potential of human mesenchymal stem cells.

Current protocols for inducing osteogenic differentiation in mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) in culture for tissue engineering applications depend on the use of biochemical supplements. However, standard in vitro culture conditions expose cells to ambient oxygen concentrations and high levels of serum (21 % O2, 10 % FBS) that do not accurately recapitulate the physiological milieu. While we and others have examined MSC behavior under hypoxia, the synergistic effect of low serum levels, such as those present in ischemic injury sites, on osteogenic differentiation has not been clearly examined. We hypothesized that a concomitant reduction of serum and O2 would enhance in vitro osteogenic differentiation of MSCs by more accurately mimicking the fracture microenvironment. We show that serum deprivation, in conjunction with hypoxia, potentiates osteogenic differentiation in MSCs. These data demonstrate the role of serum levels in regulating osteogenesis and its importance in optimizing MSC differentiation strategies.
Long-term consequences of childhood physical and sexual abuse

Psychiatric nurses are confronted daily with individuals who are suffering from the consequences of trauma. Physical and sexual abuse is associated with acute psychiatric symptomatology in children and may progress to a spectrum of psychiatric and medical disorders in adults, ranging from the extreme adaptive reactions seen in multiple personality disorder and refractory psychosis to intermediate adaptive reactions present in borderline personality disorder to more delimited reactions manifest in chronic headaches and unremitting pelvic pain. Subjects sampled in inpatient, outpatient, psychiatric, medical, criminal, and community settings describe the link between histories of widespread abuse and various intractable and common disorders. This article presents the state-of-the-art knowledge of the long-term sequelae of childhood physical and sexual abuse by critically reviewing the initial uncontrolled investigations and mounting evidence from controlled studies.
Patterns and correlates of personal, family, and prior placement variables in an interagency community based system of care

We examined interrelationships among personal, family, and prior service utilization data collected on young people selected to participate in a Chicago suburban area system of care, with a detailed consideration of a subset of 176 White participants aged 9–20 years. Data obtained through a review of archival information and then analyzed included WISC IQ grade retention, medication status, DSM diagnostic group, adjudication, marital status of parents, living situation before selection, maternal employment, public assistance status, family risk status, and placement history. Results showed that IQ and specific DSM diagnostic category were not important correlates of personal, family, or placement variables, although having a DSM diagnosis of any kind was. Family risk factors, including family history of mental illness, substance abuse, criminal conviction, and violence in the family, were related to other family variables, primarily. Adjudication and prescribed medication appeared to have been alternative responses to these young people's problems. A cluster analysis of these system of care participants' placement histories indicated five clusters characterized by varied personal and family correlates, as well as different patterns of placement usage.
Reflux in foot veins is associated with venous toe and forefoot ulceration.

Objective To determine the prevalence of foot vein incompetence in a group of patients with chronic venous insufficiency and to assess the association of this, with venous ulceration located on the forefoot. Methods A total of 20 consecutive patients (21 limbs) with active or healed venous ulceration was prospectively studied with duplex ultrasound of the superficial and plantar foot veins. In these, four extremities had venous ulceration involving the forefoot. Specifically, the superficial venous arch near the metatarsal heads, the foot portion of the great and small saphenous veins, the anterior arch veins on the foot dorsum, and the plantar veins were interrogated with a 12-MHz probe. Results Reflux was found in 32% of pedal vein segments in CEAP C5, C6 legs, with ulceration involving only the gaiter area (mean number of incompetent foot segments, 1.6 ± 1.2). Pedal reflux was present in 65% of foot vein segments when forefoot ulceration was present (mean number of incompetent foot segments, 3.3 ± 1.3). Student t-test for the difference in the mean number of incompetent foot vein segments was significant (P Conclusions Venous ulceration can affect the forefoot and toe areas and is associated with reflux in the pedal vein segments.
Efferent cortico-cortical projections of the prefrontal cortex in the rhesus monkey.

Summary The efferent cortical projections of the prefrontal cortex were studied in rhesus monkeys using silver impregnation techniques. The projections from the prefrontal cortex are directed, in general, to the temporal, parietal and limbic (cingulate) cortex. However, different sectors of the prefrontal cortex, in particular the principal sulcus, show preferences for specific cortical regions (Fig. 4). The rostral part of the principal sulcus sends limited projections to the cingulate gyrus and to the rostral part of the superior temporal sulcus and gyrus. The middle sector has widespread connections with the cingulate gyrus as well as with the rostral and middle parts of the superior temporal sulcus. In contrast, the projections from the caudal third are directed to the parietal lobe and to the rostral as well as caudal parts of the superior temporal sulcus. Areas above and below the principal sulcus display poor reciprocal connectivity except for an area dorsal to the arcuate sulcus and the region between the fronto-orbital and arcuate sulci. The orbital cortex receives projections primarily from the lower bank of the principal sulcus and from the area below it, but few, if any, projections from the upper bank and regions dorsal to it.
Should We Support Illiberal Religious Democracies

The terms on which the US will agree to settle the conflict in Afghanistan reflect a much greater issue that the US faces in the Middle East: will it support only those who seek to establish democratic regimes that also respect individual, or ally itself with the often much more powerful groups that may be democratic, but are likely to foster regimes based on Shari'a law? At the very least, the West should urge all to respect the right to life, call on regimes to negotiate with protesters rather than machine-gunning them, and insist that protesters follow the Egyptian and Tunisian model of peaceful uprising. Beyond such liberal basics, it is best to let each nation work out its own regime. As a matter of policy, in order to support democratic groups and evolving democratic regimes in the Middle East, western governments had best be prepared to ally themselves with political forces whose liberal credentials, one must recognise, are evolving but not yet particularly high.
Anchor-cum-Relay Nodes for Localizing a Mobile Source and Relaying Source Signals

The problem of selecting anchor-cum-relay (ACR) nodes for the dual purpose of tracking a mobile source as well as serving as relays for the source signal is considered. The proposed approach uses particle filters (PFs) with node selection based on the received signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) along with a localization constraint derived through the Fisher information matrix (FIM). The detail steps of implementation are given. A posterior Cramer-Rao lower bound approach is also explored to exploit information from previous node selections. Numerical results demonstrate that the proposed FIM-SNR approach achieves more than 16 dB in average source localization mean-squared error (MSE) over nearest node (NN) selection, while performing very close to FIM-based optimal localization. At the same time, the proposed FIM-SNR provides a received SNR nearly identical to NN selection but outperforming FIM-based selection's SNR by more than 5.5 dB.
Single molecule fluorescence correlation spectroscopy of single apoptotic cells using a red-fluorescent caspase probe.

The detection of single molecules in single cells has enabled biochemical analyses to be conducted with high sensitivity and high temporal resolution. In this work, detection of apoptosis was studied by single molecule fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) in single living cells. Caspase activity was assayed using a new red fluorogenic probe that avoids the spectral overlap of green fluorescent probes and cell autofluorescence. This new probe, 2SBPO-Casp, was synthesized by coupling a water-soluble Nile Blue derivative (2SBPO) to an aspartic acid residue. Upon apoptosis induction and caspase activation, free 2SBPO dye is shown to accumulate inside the cell after probe cleavage. In previous work in our lab, single molecule fluorescence in single apoptotic cells was detected 45 min after induction using a rhodamine 110-based probe. However, significant statistical analysis was needed to exclude false positives. The use of 2SBPO-Casp overcomes the autofluorescence problem and offers a steady fluorescence signal. In our single molecule FCS measurements, Ramos cells were determined apoptotic on the basis of their correlation coefficient value (R2). Cells that contain an R2 ≥ 0.65 were identified as highly correlated and therefore determined to be apoptotic. Single apoptotic cells identified in this manner were found as early as 30 min after induction and the number of apoptotic cells reached a peak value at the 3rd hour, which is consistent with other techniques. Using single molecule techniques and a new apoptosis probe, the temporal dynamics were elucidated with better sensitivity and resolution than in previous studies.
Physics-based constraints for correction of geometric distortions in gradient echo EP images via nonrigid registration

Geometric distortion is a well-recognized problem in echo planar (EP) images. One strategy for the correction of these distortions is to register an EP image to a reference image, such as a high resolution anatomical MR image in which geometric distortion is minimal. Non-rigid registration methods, which warp images locally, have been used for this purpose. While a physics-based distortion model for spin-echo (SE) EP image has been developed and used as a constraint in nonrigid registration algorithms, such a model for gradient-echo (GE) EP image has not been investigated. Here, we propose to use a physics-based model for GE EP image that incorporates a term that takes dephasing into consideration. To evaluate this technique, we generate a distortion-free EP image using an MR simulator we have developed. We then distort the image and modify its intensity values using a real field map and an analytical expression that includes dephasing. The geometric distortion computed from the field map is used as the ground truth to which the deformation fields obtained with our method is compared. We show that including the dephasing term improves the results.
Regionalization of forest pattern metrics for the continental United States using contiguity constrained clustering and partitioning

Abstract Technological advances have created new opportunities for defining and mapping ecological and biogeographical regions on the basis of quantitative criteria while generating a need for studies that evaluate the sensitivity of ecoregionalizations to clustering methods and approaches. In this study, we used a novel regionalization algorithm, regionalization with dynamically constrained agglomerative clustering and partitioning (REDCAP), to identify hierarchical regions based on measures of forest extent, connectivity, and change for 2109 watersheds in the continental U.S. Unlike regionalizations developed using non-spatial clustering techniques, REDCAP directly incorporates a spatial contiguity constraint into a traditional hierarchical clustering method, resulting in contiguous regions that optimize a homogeneity measure. Results of our analyses identified nine- and eighteen-class Forest Pattern Regions that reflected the influence of natural and anthropogenic factors structuring forest extent and fragmentation. Because these regions are defined by the forest pattern metrics themselves, rather than pre-defined political or ecological units, they provide a valuable means for visualizing forest pattern information and quantifying forest patterns across a large, diverse geographic area. In contrast, regionalizations of the same data using two non-spatial methods ( k -means clustering and non-spatial average linkage clustering) resulted in more homogeneous classes composed of many discontiguous units. While it should not be viewed as a replacement for non-spatial clustering techniques, REDCAP provides an alternative approach to developing ecological regionalizations by placing greater emphasis on maintaining the spatial contiguity of units, a property that may be desirable in many broad-scale regionalizations because it reduces data complexity and facilitates the visualization and interpretation of ecological or biogeographic data.
Taxing sugar-sweetened beverages: a survey of knowledge, attitudes and behaviours

Objective: To assess current beverage consumption patterns and anticipated reaction to an added 20 % tax on these products. Design: A random-digit dialled telephone interview lasting 20 min was administered to assess demographics, beverage consumption behaviours and intentions regarding consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages in the event of an additional tax on these beverages. Setting: Respondents were recruited throughout the USA. Subjects: The study included 592 adults. Results: Sixty-nine per cent of respondents reported consuming at least one prepackaged sugar-sweetened beverage in the past week; those who consumed sugar-sweetened beverages averaged seven pre-packaged beverages per week. Ninety-one per cent knew that frequent consumption of soft drinks increases risk of obesity. Thirty-six per cent supported a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages with greatest support among those aged 18–24 years, those with BMI , 30 kg/m 2 and those with higher levels of education (P , 0?05). Over one-third of respondents said that they would cut back on their sweetened beverage consumption in the event of an added 20 % tax on these beverages. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that an added tax on these beverages could influence some to cut down on their consumption, reducing their risk of obesity and related illnesses.