cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Historical Representation of Immigration in Intermediate Elementary and Middle Grade Trade Books

Education initiatives require social studies, history, and civics teachers integrate multiple texts from diverse perspectives and English, reading, and language arts educators spend half their allotted time on non-fiction. The changes are not accompanied with ready-made curricula, which will likely increase the place of non-fiction trade books in various curricula. Historical misrepresentations appear in trade books, yet most topics have not been empirically examined. This inquiry explores trade books’ historical representation of immigration and immigrants’ experiences. The data pool was organized by books intended for students in Intermediate Elementary (3-5) and Middle Grades (6-8), which enabled consideration of spiraling and patterns of representation between grade ranges. Findings included patterns based on grade ranges (genre, integration of primary sources, and representation of immigrants’ motivation), historical misrepresentation (acclimation, Eurocentrism, and xenophobia), and blatant omission (business influence and historical connections to contemporary events). Findings have implications for classroom use, which include literacy circles and suggestions for specific books with topics of intrigue.
Anomalous Origin of the Anterior Choroidal Artery Proximal to an Ipsilateral Fetal Posterior Cerebral Artery: Case Report of an Extremely Rare Anatomic Variant and Discussion of its Clinical Implications.

The anterior choroidal artery (AChA) supplies important cerebral structures such as the internal capsule, optic tract, and lateral geniculate body. It is normally a branch of the communicating segment of the internal carotid artery (ICA) with significant neurological symptomatology if injured. Typically, the AChA originates distal to the posterior communicating artery (PCoA), but rare variants have previously been described. Such anatomical differences are particularly important entities, especially in the context of neuroendovascular procedures, as inadvertent damage to these arteries can have devastating consequences. In this case report, we present an unusual anatomical pattern of the right AChA arising proximal to an ipsilateral fetal PCA.
Opioids on Twitter: A Content Analysis of Conversations regarding Prescription Drugs on Social Media and Implications for Message Design.

As many as 130 lives are lost every day in the United States due to prescription drug misuse. The opioid crisis is gripping the country and disrupting the lives of millions. Not surprisingly, healt...
Electric field change and VHF waveforms of Positive Narrow Bipolar Events in Mississippi thunderstorms

Abstract Positive Narrow Bipolar Events (+NBEs) in Mississippi thunderstorms were studied using fast antennas (FA, bandwidth 16 Hz - 2.6 MHz) and VHF antennas (Log-RF, bandwidth 186–192 MHz). The waveform characteristics of 201 positive NBEs were determined using both sensors. The +NBEs were classified in two ways: by FA waveform into Types A-D and by +NBE occurrence relative to other lightning events into three groups called Isolated, Not-Isolated, and INBE. (An INBE initiates an intracloud flash.) The FA waveform properties of 188 positive NBEs were mainly in reasonable agreement with previous studies. The VHF waveform properties of +NBEs have not been studied previously. The VHF powers of 201 positive NBE ranged from 0.1–88.4 kW with an average value of 7.8 kW. Types C and D positive NBEs tended to be more energetic (average VHF powers of 9.2 and 13.2 kW) than Types A and B (average powers of 1.9 and 4.0 kW). The INBE group of +NBEs had a larger range of VHF powers (0.2–88.4 kW) than the combined power range of the Not-Isolated and Isolated groups (0.1–26.7 kW). The INBE group also had a larger average peak power (9.9 kW) than the Not-Isolated and Isolated Groups (4.0 and 8.7 kW, respectively). However, 53% of INBEs had peak VHF power
Spirituality/religion and pain

Abstract Spirituality and religion can play a key role in pain management. We review the research to identify potential mechanisms and active ingredients for the link between S/R and pain. Demographics and cultural influences are explored relative to the bio-psycho-social-spiritual model of pain. Finally we discuss empirically validated treatments that use S/R components to address pain and clinical considerations when applying S/R pain models in treatment.
Pesticides and their degradates in groundwater reflect past use and current management strategies, Long Island, New York, USA

Abstract Long Island, New York, has a mix of urban/suburban to agricultural/horticultural land use and nearly 3 million residents that rely on a sole-source aquifer for drinking water. The analysis of shallow groundwater ( 300,000 ng/L. The widespread detection of imidacloprid and triazine herbicides, simazine and atrazine, reveal a mixture of current and past use pesticides across the Long Island region. Low concentrations (
What Would the Virtuous Person Eat? The Case for Virtuous Omnivorism

Would the virtuous person eat animals? According to some ethicists, the answer is a resounding no, at least for the virtuous person living in an affluent society. The virtuous person cares about animal suffering, and so, she will not contribute to practices that involve animal suffering when she can easily adopt a strict plant-based diet. The virtuous person is temperate, and temperance involves not indulging in unhealthy diets, which include diets that incorporate animals. Moreover, it is unjust for an animal to be killed for food when this is unnecessary. By contrast, I argue that the virtuous person in an affluent society would eat animals, at least sometimes. I explain how the very virtues thought to motivate “virtuous modest veganism”—compassion, temperance, and justice—motivate the virtuous person to consume some animals.
Phosphorylation of Ser-279/282 and Tyr-265 positions on Cx43 as possible mediators of VEGF-165 inhibition of pregnancy-adapted Ca2+ burst function in ovine uterine artery endothelial cells

Normal pregnancy requires increased uterine endothelial cell driven vasodilation that is related to increases in sustained Ca2+ signaling via increased connexin 43 (Cx43) gap junction function. Preeclampsia, a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy associated with endothelial dysfunction, is also linked with down regulation of Ca2+ driven vasodilator production and increased levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Cx43 function can be acutely down-regulated by phosphorylation of multiple inhibitory residues and VEGF is known to promote phosphorylation of Cx43. Herein, we show that VEGF-165 promotes Cx43 phosphorylation at Ser-279/282 and Tyr-265 residues and blocks pregnancy-adapted Ca2+ signaling in ovine uterine artery endothelial cells (UAEC). Pharmacological Src and ERK kinase pathway inhibitors (PP2 and U0126) reverse these phosphorylations and rescue Ca2+ signaling. We also report a nutraceutical Src inhibitor, t10,c12 conjugated linoleic acid (10,12 CLA), rescues Ca2+ signaling in UAEC and therefore may have therapeutic potential for preeclampsia.
High-Rate Stormwater Treatment with Up-Flow Filtration

The objective of this research is to examine the removal capacities of a high-rate stormwater filtration device, in part developed by engineers at the Universi…
Immunogenetics of Aging

As recently as the late 1960s, a major drawback to an immunological interpretation of aging seemed to be that animals below the vertebrate level did not possess true immunological systems (Walford, 1969). It has been clearly demonstrated by now, however, that at least in echinoderms, annelids, and coelenterates, specific immunocompetence with components of memory or immunorecognition systems or both, exists (Hildemann, 1978). At the same time, it is known that life span may vary independently of phylogenetic or evolutionary position (Hildemann, 1978), and that animals high on the evolutionary scale may display much longer or shorter life spans than animals relatively low on the scale. Broad-ranging possibilities for immunogenetic investigations of aging are therefore evident. Unfortunately, those invertebrates that have been investigated immunologically have not been much studied genetically, and those for which abundant genetic information is available—arthropods, for example—have not been subjected to refined immunological scrutiny. The one form of immune response that is probably common to all metazoa is the recognition of self from nonself, demonstrable experimentally by transplant rejection. Immu-nogenetic information relevant to aging in the usual sense, i.e., variation within the species rather than comparisons between species, derives almost entirely from studies of higher animals subjected to laboratory experimentation or clinical observation, such as the mouse, man, rat, guinea pig, and hamster.
The Rushdie Confrontation: A Clash in Values

In October 1988, when Impact International of London first published its alert on Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses, I dismissed the issue as scarcely worth considering. Sensational novels of this sort, and films as well, generally do not repay the time spent on them, unless some larger concern may make this effort imperative. That moment has arrived and in fact is past due, as the Rushdie affair has gained the attention of the vast Islamic world that stretches from North and West Africa on the Atlantic eastward to Indonesia on the Pacific and has created a confrontation with the West where His Eminence
Delimiting baridine weevil evolution (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Baridinae)

Since the erection of the weevil subfamily Baridinae by Schonherr in 1836, no phylogenetic hypothesis using cladistic methods has been proposed for this extraordinarily diverse group. This study provides the first hypothesis for the evolution of Baridinae using phylogenetic methods, including 301 taxa and 113 morphological characters. Despite fairly well-resolved results, indicating paraphyly of nearly all of the currently recognized intrasubfamilial divisions, no change to the current classification is made. Even though groupings are proposed based on the final results, it is believed that more rigorous analyses need to be made prior to a re-evaluation and subsequent alteration of the current classification. © 2010 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2010.
Some Results on Flexible-Pattern Discovery

Given an input sequence of data, a "rigid" pattern is a repeating sequence, possibly interspersed with "dont care" characters. In practice, the patterns or motifs of interest are the ones that also allow a variable number of gaps (or "dont care" characters): we call these the flexible motifs. The number of rigid motifs could potentially be exponential in the size of the input sequence and in the case where the input is a sequence of real numbers, there could be uncountably infinite number of motifs (assuming two real numbers are equal if they are within some δ > 0 of each other). It has been shown earlier that by suitably defining the notion of maximality and redundancy, there exists only a linear (or no more than 3n) number of irredundant motifs and a polynomial time algorithm to detect these irredundant motifs. Here we present a uniform framework that encompasses both rigid and flexible motifs with generalizations to sequence of sets and real numbers and show a somewhat surprising result that the number of irredundant flexible motifs still have a linear bound. However, the algorithm to detect them has a higher complexity than that of the rigid motifs.
User-Driven Scheduling of Interactive Virtual Machines

We are developing a distributed computing system, Virtuoso, which presents virtual machines (VMs) as its fundamental abstraction to end users. Long-running noninteractive VMs may coexist on the same host used to support VMs being used by highly interactive users. We must simultaneously provide high average computation rates to the non-interactive VMs while keeping the users of the interactive VMs happy. We report here an initial work on using direct user feedback to achieve this balance. The user is provided with a (physical or logical) button that can be pressed when he feels his machine is responding inadequately. In response, the scheduler boosts the priority of his VMs relative to the other VMs in the system. The priority then declines with time. The goal of the control algorithm driven by this mechanism is to maintain a targeted average time between button presses while simultaneously delivering a high compute rate to the other VMs.
Embodied Awareness: Neither Implicit nor Explicit, and Not Necessarily Nonverbal

ABSTRACT— This article offers the concept of embodiedself-awareness (ESA) as a contrast to parental embodiedmentalizing, which is presumed to be implicit and outsideawareness. ESA, which consists of awareness of bothsensorimotor and emotional states, is essential for allforms of human development and self-regulation and islearned via mutual embodied attunement in interpersonalrelationship. Failure to develop ESA reﬂects a dissociationfrom the experience of living in a human body and issymptomatic of attachment problems and a wide varietyof physical and psychological disorders that may be reme-diated through clinical practices that enhance embodiedawareness. KEYWORDS— embodied self-awareness; attunement; parent–infant communicationConsider the difference between learning a new motor skill—-like a tennis stroke or a guitar chord—and delivering a skilledperformance. In the learning phase, repetition and slowing downheighten one’s awareness of the body’s sensations and move-ments, including muscle fatigue, pain, miscoordination, and ﬂu-idity. One also becomes aware of a host of emotions related tothe action and the learning process, such as frustration, impa-tience, or elation. I call these felt sensations embodied self-awareness (ESA): the ability to sense, in the present moment andwithout mediating thought, these sensorimotor feelings alongwith the motivational and emotional feelings that accompanythem. ESA is an essential component of all forms of humandevelopment and well-being. Its absence at any age is a form ofdissociation from the lived body and is often accompanied bysymptoms of depressed moods, feelings of stress and lack of con-trol, attachment insecurity, and chronic physical disease (Fogel,2009).In their review article, Shai and Belsky (2011) deﬁne parentalembodied mentalization (PEM) as ‘‘parents’ capacity to (a)implicitly conceive, comprehend, and extrapolate the infant’smental states from the infant’s whole-body movement (i.e., kines-thetics), and (b) adjust their own kinesthetic patterns accord-ingly’’ (p. 175; emphasis added). Their argument is noteworthybecause it uses the word embodied to bring the infant’s gestures,actions, movements, and postures into the process through whichparents interpret and respond to their infants.Underlying this deﬁnition, however, is the proposition thatPEM is implicit mentalizing (which they describe as ‘‘noncon-scious, nonverbal, automatic’’) and not explicit mentalizing(which they describe as ‘‘verbal, re ﬂective, controlled’’). My con-cept of ESA
Wave optics simulation of anisotropic turbulence

A numerical wave optics approach is introduced for simulating beam propagation through anisotropic turbulence. A recently proposed model for anisotropic turbulence is applied and Gaussian beam propagation through the turbulence is implemented for various turbulence strengths and spectral power law α ranging from 3 to 4. Theoretical irradiance expressions are derived and are used to provide comparisons and verification of the wave optics simulation results. Good agreement is found between the simulations and theory except when the spectral index α approaches 4. This work provides a good starting point for understanding the behavior of Gaussian beam propagation in anisotropic turbulence.
Reinventing the Travois: Encryption/MAC in 30 ROM Bytes

By using a large number of round, we hope to be able to scrounge an Sbox out of nowhere, in an environment for which even TEA and the SAFERs are gross overdesign.
The Starting and Stopping Problem under Knightian Uncertainty and Related Systems of Reflected BSDEs

This article deals with the starting and stopping problem under Knightian uncertainty, i.e., roughly speaking, when the probability under which the future evolves is not exactly known. We show that the lower price of a plant submitted to the decisions of starting and stopping is given by a solution of a system of two reflected backward stochastic differential equations (BSDEs for short). We solve this latter system and we give the expression of the optimal strategy. Further we consider a more general system of $m$ ($m\geq 2$) reflected BSDEs with interconnected obstacles. Once more we show existence and uniqueness of the solution of that system.
Ten‐Point Method of lonogram Reduction

The “ten-point” manual method of ionogram reduction provides true heights at selected frequencies. The method is especially convenient when only the height of maximum density is required, but it can also be used to obtain the complete profile. A single true height is obtained as the average of ten virtual heights sampled at fixed submultiples of the frequency. The sampling points, which depend on the geomagnetic parameters, may be rapidly selected by using the appropriate transparent overlay. A correction for underlying ionization may be incorporated by reading one virtual height from the extraordinary trace.
The health effects of universal health care : evidence from Thailand

This paper exploits the staggered rollout of Thailands universal health coverage scheme to estimate its impacts on whether individuals report themselves as being too ill to work. The statistical power comes from the fact that there is an average of 62,000 respondents in the labor force survey at each survey date and no less than 68 survey dates, most of which are just one month apart. The analysis finds that universal coverage reduced the likelihood of people reporting themselves to be too sick to work: the authors estimate the effect to be -0.004 one year after universal coverage and -0.007 three years after. The estimated effects are much larger among those age 65 and over. Universal coverage had a much larger effect on health (about four times larger) than the Village Fund scheme, which provided free credit to rural households through a subsidized microcredit scheme and which was rolled out around the same time as universal coverage.
Visual Sequence Learning in Infancy: Domain-General and Domain-Specific Associations With Language

Research suggests that nonlinguistic sequence learning abilities are an important contributor to language development (Conway, Bauernschmidt, Huang, & Pisoni, 2010). The current study investigated visual sequence learning (VSL) as a possible predictor of vocabulary development in infants. Fifty-eight 8.5-month-old infants were presented with a three-location spatiotemporal sequence of multicolored geometric shapes. Early language skills were assessed using the MacArthur-Bates CDI. Analyses of children’s reaction times to the stimuli suggest that the extent to which infants demonstrated learning was significantly correlated with their vocabulary comprehension at the time of test and with their gestural comprehension abilities 5 months later. These findings suggest that VSL may have both domain-general and domain-specific associations with language learning.
Participants' barriers to diagnostic resolution and factors associated with needing patient navigation

BACKGROUND Patient navigation (PN) may improve cancer care by identifying and removing patient-reported barriers to care. In 2012, the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer (CoC) announced that health care facilities seeking CoC accreditation must have PN processes in place by January 1, 2015. Given these unfunded mandates, hospitals are looking for cost-effective ways to implement PN. This study examined demographic and psychosocial predictors of barriers to diagnostic resolution among individuals with a cancer screening abnormality enrolled in the Ohio Patient Navigation Research Project. METHODS Data were obtained from patients who received care at 1 of 9 Ohio Patient Navigation Research Project intervention clinics. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression models were used. RESULTS There were 424 participants, and 151 (35.6%) reported a barrier to diagnostic resolution within 90 days of study consent. The most commonly reported barriers were misconceptions about a test or treatment (16.4%), difficulty in communicating with the provider (15.0%), and scheduling problems (11.5%). Univariate analyses indicated that race, education, employment, income, insurance, clinic type, friend support, and physical and psychological functioning were significantly associated with reporting a barrier to diagnostic resolution. Multivariate analyses found that comorbidities (odds ratio, 1.65; 95% confidence interval, 1.04-2.61) and higher intrusive thoughts and feelings (odds ratio, 1.25; 95% confidence interval, 1.10-1.41) were significantly associated with reporting a barrier to diagnostic resolution. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that demographic and psychosocial factors are associated with barriers to diagnostic resolution. To ensure compliance with the CoC mandate and provide timely care to all patients, CoC-accredited facilities can systematically identify the patients most likely to have barriers to care and assign them to PN. Cancer 2015;121:2757-2764. © 2015 American Cancer Society
Trophic dynamics in ecosystem networks: Significance of cycles and storage

Abstract Traditional Lindeman-Hutchinson trophic dynamics, which considers simple or acyclic (α) food chains and food webs without energy storage in compartments, is extended to the realm of compound or cyclic (ω) ecosystem networks with storage. Paths of feeding networks are classified into first passage (π) and extended (multiple) passage (ϵ) types. A methodology is presented that accurately quantifies both types of energy flows, with or without storage, from one compartment to another. It is shown how increased cycling and storage both tend to increase the ratio of indirect to direct flows, and contribute to properties of network amplification and homogenization of energy availability over all trophic levels. These properties of realistic food webs are not present in the classical acyclic food chain paradigm. Consequences include an age distribution of energy within actual organisms, and an apyramidal trophic structure of standing stocks, in which organisms at any trophic distance have about equal access to available energy reurces.
Run time scanner data analysis for HVM lithography process monitoring and stability control

There are various data mining and analysis tools in use by high-volume semiconductor manufacturers throughout the industry that seek to provide robust monitoring and analysis capabilities for the purpose of maintaining a stable lithography process. These tools exist in both online and offline formats and draw upon data from various sources for monitoring and analysis. This paper explores several possible use cases of run-time scanner data to provide advanced overlay and imaging analysis for scanner lithography signatures. Here we demonstrate several use-cases for analyzing and stabilizing lithography processes. Applications include high order wafer alignment simulations in which an optimal alignment strategy is determined by dynamic wafer selection, reporting statistics data and analysis of the lot report and the sub-recipe as a sort of non-standard lot report, visualization of key lithography process parameters, and scanner fleet management (SFM)
Sites for trimethylgallium adsorption on GaAs(001)

Abstract The sites for trimethylgallium (TMGa) adsorption on c(2 × 8) GaAs(001) have been identified by hydrogen titration of the surface before and after adsorbing the organometallic molecules. There are four main adsorption sites on GaAs(001): As dimers, Ga dimers, second-layer As atoms, and second-layer Ga atoms. Hydrogen bonds to each of these sites, producing AsH and GaH species with characteristic stretching vibrations in the infrared spectrum. By monitoring the changes in the vibrational spectra of the hydrides upon coadsorption of TMGa, it has been discovered that this molecule dissociatively adsorbs onto an arsenic dimer. One methyl group is transferred to the As atom of the dimer, while at least one other methyl group is transferred to a second-layer Ga atom. At TMGa coverages ≥ 0.9, the adsorbed gallium atoms combine to form dimers. The distribution of the three methyl groups between one As site and two Ga sites is also consistent with the CH stretching vibrations recorded of these species. This model of trimethylgallium adsorption is further supported by the fact that the total number of valence electrons are conserved throughout the reaction.
Multidrug resistance protein expression in chronic myeloid leukemia: associations and significance.

BACKGROUND Overexpression of the multidrug resistance gene (MDR1) product, the MDR1 protein (MDR1), has been associated with poor prognosis in several hematologic malignancies. The significance of MDR1 levels in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) has not been established. METHODS The authors investigated MDR1 levels and their association with patient and tumor characteristics, responsiveness to therapy, and long term prognosis in 198 CML patients. These included 127 patients in early chronic phase (ECP) CML, 31 patients in late chronic phase (LCP) CML, and 40 patients in accelerated or blastic phase CML. MDR1 expression was analyzed by Western blot analysis and quantitative solid-phase plate radioimmunoassay. MDR1 levels were measured on cell lysates obtained from the bone marrow mononuclear cell fraction. Expression was compared in relation to the median derived from 36 normal control samples. RESULTS Among patients with CML, high levels of MDR1 were found in 73 of 127 ECP (57%), 20 of 31 LCP (65%), 8 of 27 in accelerated phase (30%), and 8 of 13 in blastic phase (62%) (P value not significant). Furthermore, among the 127 ECP CML patients, high MDR1 levels were associated with age ≥50 years (69% vs. 51%; P 700 × 109/L (84% vs. 53%; P < 0.01), and leukocyte counts ≤50 × 109/L (70% vs. 46%; P < 0.01). Response to interferon α (IFN-α) was independent of MDR1 expression; major cytogenetic responses were recorded in 28 of 73 patients with high MDR1 levels and in 16 of 54 patients with low MDR1 levels (38% vs. 30%; P value not significant). No difference in survival based on MDR1 level was observed. A small subset of 17 patients with low MDR1 levels (<1 times normal) had a trend toward worse survival (median, 30 months vs. 73 months; 5-year survival rates of 34% vs. 65%; P = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS The results of the current study demonstrate that MDR1 overexpression was not associated with disease progression, responsiveness to IFN-α therapy, or survival in patients with ECP CML. Cancer 1999;86:805–13. © 1999 American Cancer Society.
Serotonin transporter polymorphism predicts waking cortisol in young girls

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is one of the most prevalent and costly of all psychiatric disorders. The hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA)-axis, which regulates the hormonal response to stress, has been found to be disrupted in depression. HPA dysregulation may represent an important risk factor for depression. To examine a possible genetic underpinning of this risk factor without the confound of current or lifetime depression, we genotyped 84 never-disordered young girls, over a third of whom were at elevated risk for depression, to assess the association between a polymorphism in the promoter region of the serotonin transporter (5-HTT) gene and diurnal variation in HPA-axis activity. This 5-HTT-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) has been previously found to interact with stress to increase risk for depression. We found 5-HTTLPR to be significantly associated with diurnal cortisol levels: girls who were homozygous for the short-allele had higher levels of waking (but not afternoon or evening) cortisol than did their long-allele counterparts. This finding suggests that genetic susceptibility to HPA-axis dysregulation, especially apparent in levels of waking cortisol, is detectable in individuals as young as 9 years of age.
Orientation of coenzyme A substrates, nicotinamide and active site functional groups in (Di)enoyl-coenzyme A reductases.

The stereochemical course of reduction of dienoyl-coenzyme A (CoA) thiolesters catalyzed by the 2,4-dienoyl-CoA reductase from rat liver mitochondria was investigated. The configuration of the double bond in the 3-enoyl-CoA products was determined by 1H NMR, and experiments to determine the stereochemical course of reduction at Cα and Cδ by use of 4-2H-labeled β-nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate, reduced form (NADPH), were conducted in H2O and D2O. Defining the diastereoselectivity of the reaction, catalyzed by the Δ3,Δ2-enoyl-CoA isomerase, facilitated the determination of the stereochemical course of reduction by 2,4-dienoyl-CoA reductase. The absence of solvent exchange of the proton transferred during the Δ3,Δ2-enoyl-CoA isomerase catalyzed equilibration of trans-2- and trans-3-enoyl-CoAs, coupled with the strong sequence homology to enoyl-CoA hydratase support the intramolecular suprafacial transfer of the pro-2R proton of trans-3-enoyl-CoA to the pro-4R position of trans-2-enoyl-CoA. The r...
Legitimacy and fairness in priority setting in Tanzania.

Every health system has to make decisions about how to use limited resources to meet competing claims about diverse health needs. In all systems, national priority setting, including budgeting, generally imposes constraints on other levels of decision-making - be it in states or provinces, districts or cities, or local health authorities, hospitals, or health insurance plans. Decisions at any of these levels often are contested because they create winners and losers, sometimes on matters of life and death. Winners and losers have conflicting interests and claims. What is worse, we lack consensus on the distributive principles capable of resolving disputes about who should get what. Reasonable ethical disagreement thus surrounds these conflicts of claims and interests. In addition, our economic tools for resource allocation, such as costeffectiveness analysis have limited ethical acceptability, for they may controversially push us to maximize aggregate health benefits without adequate consideration of the fairness of the distribution that results. (Published: 7 November 2011) Citation: Global Health Action 2011, 4 : 8472 - DOI: 10.3402/gha.v4i0.8472
Discounted Robust Stochastic Games and an Application to Queueing Control

This paper presents a robust optimization model for n-person finite state/action stochastic games with incomplete information. We consider nonzero sum discounted stochastic games in which none of the players knows the true data of a game, and each player adopts a robust optimization approach to address the uncertainty. We call these games discounted robust stochastic games. Such games allow us to use simple uncertainty sets for the unknown data and eliminate the need to have an a-priori probability distribution over a set of games. We prove the existence of equilibrium points and propose an explicit mathematical programming formulation for an equilibrium calculation. We illustrate the use of discounted robust stochastic games in a single server queueing control problem.
Public Welfare and Human Services: New Directions Under TANF?

With the passage of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the nation's welfare system for poor women and their children was fundamentally transformed. These profound changes have the potential to dramatically alter the nature of state and local welfare agencies and to create new and expanded roles for human service workers, including social workers, both within public welfare agencies and other community agencies. This article reviews the major provisions of TANF and its implications for state welfare agencies and recipients. Roles for human service workers in public welfare are delineated for direct practice, management staff development policy analysis and advocacy, and research.
The CHADS2 score predicts ischemic stroke in the absence of atrial fibrillation among subjects with coronary heart disease: data from the Heart and Soul Study.

Background We sought to evaluate the prognostic performance of the CHADS 2 score for prediction of ischemic stroke/transient ischemic attack (TIA) in subjects with coronary heart disease (CHD) without atrial fibrillation (AF). Methods In 916 nonanticoagulated outpatients with stable CHD and no AF by baseline electrocardiogram, we calculated CHADS 2 scores (congestive heart failure, hypertension, age ≥75 years, diabetes [1 point each], and prior stroke or TIA [2 points]). The primary outcome was time to ischemic stroke or TIA over a mean follow-up of 6.4 ± 2.3 years. Results Over 5,821 person-years of follow-up, 40 subjects had an ischemic stroke/TIA (rate 0.69/100 person-years, 95% CI 0.50-0.94). Compared with subjects with low (0-1) CHADS 2 scores, those with intermediate (2-3) and high (4-6) CHADS 2 scores had an increased rate of stroke/TIA, even after adjustment for age, tobacco, antiplatelet therapy, statins, and angiotensin inhibitors (CHADS 2 score 2-3: HR 2.4, 95% CI 1.1-5.3, P = .03; CHADS 2 score 4-6: HR 4.0, 95% CI 1.5-10.6, P = .006). Model discrimination (c-statistic = 0.65) was comparable with CHADS 2 model fit in published AF-only cohorts. Conclusions The CHADS 2 score predicts ischemic stroke/TIA in subjects with stable CHD and no baseline AF. The event rate in non-AF subjects with high CHADS 2 scores (5-6) was comparable with published rates in AF patients with moderate CHADS 2 scores (1-2), a population known to derive benefit from stroke prevention therapies. These findings should inform efforts to determine whether stroke prevention therapies or screening for silent AF may benefit subjects with stable CHD and high CHADS 2 scores.
In Vitro Metabolism of Aflatoxin B1 with Microsomal Enzymes in the Presence of Selected Nutrients

High pressure liquid chromatography was used to evaluate the effects of several naturally occurring food components (selenium, vitamins A, E, B6 and C) on the in vitro metabolism of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1). AF1 was incubated with a liver microsomal enzyme metabolizing system with varying concentrations of each nutrient. The following nutrients and levels either inhibited or reduced the metabolism of AFB1: sodium selenite (25 μg/mL), d- α-tocopherol (25, 250 and 2500 μg/mL), pyridoxine hydrochloride (2.5 μg/mL), L-ascorbic acid (25 and 2500 μg/mL) and mixture containing 500 μg/mL of each chemical. Retinol acetate at levels of 2.5 and 25 μg/mL increased the level of AFB1 metabolized.
Exploring Advertising in Higher Education: An Empirical Analysis in North America, Europe, and Japan.

This empirical study explores higher education advertising campaigns displayed in five world cities: Boston, New York, Oslo, Tokyo, and Toronto. The study follows a mixed-methods research design relying on content analysis and multimodal semiotic analysis and employs a conceptual framework based on the knowledge triangle of education, research, and innovation. The study reveals that education is overwhelmingly the strongest element emphasized across the five cities and that students constitute the most salient and central element in the majority of the advertisements.
Nitrogen atom transfer and redox chemistry of terpyridyl phosphoraniminato complexes of osmium (IV)

Abstract Rapid reactions occur between [Os VI (tpy)(Cl) 2 (N)]X (X = PF 6 − , Cl − , tpy = 2,2′:6′,2″-terpyridine) and aryl or alkyl phosphi nes (PPh 3 , PPh 2 Me, PPhMe 2 , PMe 3 and PEt 3 ) in CH 2 Cl 2 or CH 3 CN to give [Os IV (tpy)(Cl) 2 (NPPh 3 )] + and its analogs. The reaction between trans -[Os VI (tpy)(Cl) 2 (N)] + and PPh 3 in CH 3 CN occurs with a 1:1 stoichiometry and a rate law first order in both PPh 3 and Os VI with k (CH 3 CN, 25°C) = 1.36 ± 0.08 × 10 4 M − s −1 . The products are best formulated as paramagnetic d 4 phosphoraniminato complexes of Os IV based on a room temperature magnetic moment of 1.8 μ B for trans -[Os IV (tpy)(Cl) 2 (NPPh 3 )](PF 6 ), contact shifted 1 H NMR spectra and UV-Vis and near-IR spectra. In the crystal structures of trans -[Os IV (tpy)(Cl) 2 ( NPPh 3 )](PF 6 )·CH 3 CN (monoclinic, P 2 1 / n with a = 13.384(5) A, b = 15.222(7) A, c = 17.717(6) A, β = 103.10(3)°, V = 3516(2) A 3 , Z = 4, R w = 3.40, R w = 3.50) and cis -[Os IV (tpy)(Cl) 2 (NPPh 2 Me)]-(PF 6 )·CH 3 CN (monoclinic, P 2 1 / c , with a = 10.6348(2) A, b = 15.146(9) AA, c = 20.876(6) A, β = 97.47(1)°, V = 3334(2) A 3 , Z = 4, R = 4.00, R w = 4.90), the long Os-N(P) bond lengths (2.093(5) and 2.061(6) A), acute Os-N-P angles (132.4(3) and 132.2(4)°), and absence of a significant structural trans effect rule out significant Os-N multiple bonding. From cyclic voltammetric measurements, chemically reversible Os V/IV and Os IV/III couples occur for trans -[Os IV (tpy)(Cl) 2 (NPPh 3 )](PF 6 ) in CH 3 CN at +0.92 V (Os V/IV ) and −0.27 V (Os IV/III ) versus SSCE. Chemical or electrochemical reduction of trans -[Os IV (tpy)(Cl) 2 (NPPh 3 )](PF 6 ) gives isolable trans -Os III (tpy)(Cl) 2 (NPPh 3 ). One-electron oxidation to Os V followed by intermolecular disproportionation and PPh 3 group transfer gives [Os VI (tpy)Cl 2 (N)] + , [OS III (tpy)(Cl) 2 (CH 3 CN)] + and [Ph 3 =N=PPh 3 ] + (PPN + ). trans -[Os IV (tpy)(Cl) 2 (NPPh 3 )](PF 6 ) undergoes reaction with a second phosphine under reflux to give PPN + derivatives and Os II (tpy)(Cl) 2 (CH 3 CN) in CH 3 CN or Os II (tpy)(Cl) 2 (PR 3 ) in CH 2 Cl 2 . This demonstrates that the Os VI nitrido complex can undergo a net four-electron change by a combination of atom and group transfers.
Facile functionalization of Ag@SiO2 core–shell metal enhanced fluorescence nanoparticles for cell labeling

We describe a versatile approach for functionalizing core–shell Ag@SiO2 nanoparticles for live-cell imaging. The approach uses physical adsorption and does not need covalent linkage to synthesize antibody-based labels. The surface orientation is not controlled in this approach, but the signal enhancement is strong and consistent. Antibodies were then attached using a non-covalent process that takes advantage of biotin–avidin affinity. Metal-enhanced nanoparticles doped with rhodamine B were used as the luminescent reporter. The enhancement of rhodamine B was between 2.7 and 6.8 times. We demonstrated labeling of CD19+ Ramos B lymphocytes and CD4+ HuT 78 T lymphocytes using anti-CD19 and anti-CD4 nanocomposite labels, respectively. This physical adsorption process can accommodate a variety of fluorophore types, and has broad potential in bioanalytical and biosensing applications.
Is amyloid-β-peptide immunization clinically effective in patients with Alzheimer's disease?

Is amyloid-β-peptide immunization clinically effective in patients with Alzheimer's disease?
Robotic-assisted Laparoscopic Partial Bladder Resection for the Treatment of Infiltrating Endometriosis

This article reveals our surgical approach for treatment of a patient with severe pelvic and infiltrative bladder endometriosis with mucosal involvement using robotic-assisted laparoscopic excision and cystotomy repair. To our knowledge, this is the first case of total robotic-assisted laparoscopic partial bladder resection for the treatment of endometriosis. This article also discusses the pros and cons of robotic-assisted surgery and the current literature on infiltrative bladder endometriosis.
Massively Time-Parallel, Approximate Simulation of Loss QueueingSystems

A time-parallel simulation obtains parallelism by partitioning the time domain of the simulation. An approximate time-parallel simulation algorithm named GG1K is developed for acyclic networks of loss FCFS G/G/1/K queues. In the first phase, a similar system (i.e., a G/G/1/infinity queue) is simulated using the GLM algorithm. Then the resultant trajectory is transformed into an approximate G/G/1/K trajectory in the second phase. The closeness of the approximation is investigated theoretically and experimentally. Our results show that the approximation is highly accurate except when K is very small (e.g., 5) in certain models. The algorithm exploits unbounded parallelism and can achieve near-linear speedup when the number of arrivals simulated is sufficiently large.
Misadventures of a Style: Romanesque art and the Druids in eighteenth‐century France

At a time when Romanesque art scarcely interested French academicians, a certain group of twelfth-century buildings and sculptures attracted a great deal of attention from a handful of antiquarians. Uncertain of what to make of an octagonal chapel at Montmorillon, the antiquarian Bernard de Montfaucon assigned it to Gaul's pagan priests, the Druids. He developed a complex iconographic history around this chapel, and other scholars after him followed his lead by identifying as pagan a score of other twelfth-century structures. This essay explores how the case of mistaken identity intersected with the gradual acceptance in academic study of Romanesque architecture. Consideration of antiquarian methodology, with its categories of knowledge inflected by notions of race and nationalism, sheds light on the pre-history of Romanesque research and on the interpretive tools employed for medieval art's early study.
The Role of Steps on the Micro Structure of Titanium-Oxide Films Deposited by Pld Onto (100) MgO Surfaces

The phenomenon of graphoepitaxy, whereby island nucleation occurs preferentially at steps, is a prime example of a manner in which the substrate morphology (and notably surface steps) can affect the microstructure of as-deposited thin-films. This paper provides a further illustration of the fundamental importance of the substrate morphology to the development of the thin-film microstructure, employing the example of TiO 2 deposited by pulsed-laser deposition (PLD) directly onto specially prepared (100) MgO TEM foils. The same areas of these foils are imaged both before and after deposition.
Channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus, CD4-like molecules.

Abstract Two CD4-like (CD4L) molecules have been identified in channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus. Although phylogenetically related to other vertebrate CD4 molecules, they exhibit only 19% amino acid identity to each other. IpCD4L-1 encodes a predicted protein containing four immunoglobulin domains, a transmembrane region and a cytoplasmic tail containing a p56lck binding site. In contrast, IpCD4L-2 encodes for a similar protein with three immunoglobulin domains. The gene organization of IpCD4L-1 is very similar to that of other vertebrate CD4 genes, while the genomic organization of IpCD4L-2 is different. Southern blots indicate both catfish molecules are likely single copy genes and mapping studies show that both are found on a single Bacterial Artificial Chromosome suggesting close linkage. At the message level, IpCD4L-1 and -2 are expressed in various catfish lymphoid tissues and in non-B-cell peripheral blood leukocytes (PBL). Both messages are upregulated in concanavalin A (ConA) and alloantigen stimulated PBL, but not in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated cultures. In contrast, they are differentially expressed among the catfish clonal T cell lines. While both molecules appear to be T cell specific, their functional significance in catfish is unknown.
A single nutrient feed supports both chemically defined NS0 and CHO fed-batch processes: Improved productivity and lactate metabolism

A chemically defined nutrient feed (CDF) coupled with basal medium preloading was developed to replace a hydrolysate-containing feed (HCF) for a fed-batch NS0 process. The CDF not only enabled a completely chemically defined process but also increased recombinant monoclonal antibody titer by 115%. Subsequent tests of CDF in a CHO process indicated that it could also replace the hydrolysate-containing nutrient feed in this expression system as well as providing an 80% increase in product titer. In both CDF NS0 and CHO processes, the peak lactate concentrations were lower and, more interestingly, lactate metabolism shifted markedly from net production to net consumption when cells transitioned from exponential to stationary growth phase. Subsequent investigations of the lactate metabolic shift in the CHO CDF process were carried out to identify the cause(s) of the metabolic shift. These investigations revealed several metabolic features of the CHO cell line that we studied. First, glucose consumption and lactate consumption are strictly complementary to each other. The combined cell specific glucose and lactate consumption rate was a constant across exponential and stationary growth phases. Second, Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity fluctuated during the fed-batch process. LDH activity was at the lowest when lactate concentration started to decrease. Third, a steep cross plasma membrane glucose gradient exists. Intracellular glucose concentration was more than two orders of magnitude lower than that in the medium. Fourth, a large quantity of citrate was diverted out of mitochondria to the medium, suggesting a partially truncated tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle in CHO cells. Finally, other intermediates in or linked to the glycolytic pathway and the TCA cycle, which include alanine, citrate, isocitrate, and succinate, demonstrated a metabolic shift similar to that of lactate. Interestingly, all these metabolites are either in or linked to the pathway downstream of pyruvate, but upstream of fumarate in glucose metabolism. Although the specific mechanisms for the metabolic shift of lactate and other metabolites remain to be elucidated, the increased understanding of the metabolism of CHO cultures could lead to future improvements in medium and process development.
A critical review of bioassay techniques for actinides in light of ICRP recommendations for monitoring workers

A critical review is presented of bioassay techniques for actinides in light of ICRP recommendations for monitoring workers. It is obvious that very sensitive techniques are required to meet these recommendations. Alpha spectrometry, the most commonly employed technique for measuring actinides in bioassay samples, has limited sensitivity. There are, however, certain techniques which are sensitive enough to meet the recommendations of ICRP, such as, fission track analysis for239Pu and235U, neutron activation analysis for232Th, mass spectrometry for a number of radionuclides, and many techniques for uranium. ICP-mass spectrometry does not have enough sensitivity to be implemented as a method of choice for the bioassay of actinides at present, however, it is quite promising.