cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Optimization of Buckypaper-enhanced Multifunctional Thermoplastic Composites

A series of flattened-nanotube reinforced thermoplastic composites are sizably fabricated as a function of buckypaper loading. The effects of the volume fraction, nanotube alignment and length on the tensile performance of the composites are factored into a general expression. The incorporation of self-reinforcing polyphenylene resin (Parmax) into a highly aligned buckypaper frame at an optimal weight ratio boosts the tensile strength and Young’s modulus of the buckypaper/Parmax composite to 1145 MPa and 150 GPa, respectively, far exceeding those of Parmax and aligned buckypaper individually. The composite also exhibits improved thermal (>65 W/m-K) and electrical (~700 S/cm) conductivities, as well as high thermoelectric power (22 μV/K) at room temperature. Meanwhile, the composite displays a heterogeneously complex structure. The hexyl groups of Parmax noncovalently interact with the honeycomb structure of the flattened nanotube through π-stacking and CH-π interaction, correspondingly improving the dispersity of polymer on the nanotube surface and the interfacial stress transferring while the high alignment degrees of nanotube facilitate phonon and charge transport in the composites.
The Great Medicine Road, Part 2, Narratives of the Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails, 1849

Review of: The Great Medicine Road, Part 2, Narratives of the Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails, 1849, edited by Michael L. Tate, with Will Bagley and Richard Rieck
Stroke and Infection: Tuberculosis, Brucellosis, Syphilis, Lyme Disease and Listeriosis

Abstract This chapter reviews central nervous system infections caused by tuberculosis, Lyme disease, syphilis, brucellosis, and listeriosis. A systematic review of the pathogenesis, clinical features, diagnosis, and treatment is provided, with an emphasis on pathogenesis. Common diagnostic features include a cerebrospinal fluid analysis showing lymphocytic pleocytosis, elevated protein content, and a low glucose level. Findings of characteristic imaging are reviewed in each case. In many cases, pathogenesis is related to an obliterative endarteritis that leads to thrombosis and ischemic stroke. A common theme among the various central nervous system infections is that they may present at any stage of disease and have highly variable presentations. A high index of suspicion is needed in cases where central nervous system infection presents as stroke, as failure to diagnose the infection early may lead to additional morbidity and mortality.
Hypoglycemia and the Autonomic Nervous System

Widespread implementation of regimens to rigorously control blood sugar in patients with diabetes has led to an increased incidence of severe iatrogenic hypoglycemic events with substantial morbidity and mortality. Hypoglycemia provokes a sequence of counterregulatory metabolic, neural, and clinical responses. Insulin secretion decreases whereas glucagon, epinephrine, norepinephrine, pancreatic polypeptide, cortisol, and growth hormone increase. The sympathetic, parasympathetic, and sympatho-adrenal divisions of the autonomic nervous system are activated in response to the falling blood sugar. The spectrum of reduced counterregulatory hormone responses (in particular epinephrine) and decreased symptom perception of hypoglycemia because of decreased autonomic nervous system activation following recent antecedent hypoglycemia has been termed “hypoglycemia induced autonomic failure.” This leads to a vicious cycle of hypoglycemia unawareness that induces a further decrease in counterregulatory hormone responses to hypoglycemia. This vicious cycle occurs commonly in diabetic subjects in strict glycemic control. The reduced epinephrine response to antecedent hypoglycemia occurs in the absence of diabetic autonomic neuropathy as measured by standard tests of autonomic function. The presence of autonomic neuropathy, however, further attenuates the epinephrine response to hypoglycemia in diabetic subjects after recent hypoglycemic exposure. The mechanisms of hypoglycemia induced autonomic failure are not fully elucidated.
The effects of frusemide and Dorbanex on the pharmacokinetic profile of benoxaprofen in elderly subjects

The pharmacokinetic profile of benoxaprofen following a single oral administration of 600 mg was studied in twelve elderly subjects. Six received concomitantly 40 mg of frusemide and six received 10 ml of Dorbanex. These findings are compared to the previously determined pharmacokinetic profile of benoxaprofen in elderly subjects at St John’s Hospital, London SW11.
Variable-Redundancy Error Control Schemes

Conventional ARQ schemes employ a high-rate code for error detection only. This maximizes the throughput during good channel conditions. However, their throughput degrades rapidly as the channel conditions deteriorate. This degradation can be postponed by embedding FEC in the protocol (e.g. hybrid-ARQ) to correct common errors, and by requesting retransmissions only when uncorrectable errors are detected. The net effect of using a more powerful code for both error detection and correction is an increase in the amount of redundancy in the transmitted message, which reduces the maximum throughput achievable. Conventional ARQ, FEC, as well as hybrid-ARQ are essentially fixed-redundancy schemes. Nonstationary channels such as those encountered in digital mobile communications require adaptive error control. Fixed-redundancy schemes are not suitable for use on these channels since the the coding redundancy is either “too much” under good channel conditions, or “too little” under bad channel conditions, wasting bandwidth in the former case and increasing retransmission frequency in the latter.
Morbid obesity in total hip arthroplasty: What does it mean?

Abstract Obesity affects 34% of the U.S. population, and the number of obese patients undergoing elective total hip arthroplasty (THA) is increasing each year. The objective of this study is to summarize the current scientific findings regarding the outcomes of THA in the morbidly obese (BMI > 40kg/m 2 ) patients. Specifically, our goal is to identify the incidence of complications and the influence on clinical and functional outcome measures in morbidly obese patients undergoing elective primary THA. A systematic review was performed identifying all of the studies from the PubMed, Medline, EBSCO and Cochrane Library databases that reported outcomes of primary THA in morbidly obese [body mass index (BMI) ≥ 40kg/m 2 ] patients. We identified 13 articles that met inclusion criteria for systematic review. These studies included 15,906 primary THAs in morbidly obese patients. Morbidly obese patients underwent THA at a significantly younger age compared to the non-morbidly obese cohort (63 years versus 70 years) comparator group. Eleven of the 13 studies reported complication rates in morbidly obese versus non-obese patient cohorts. Eight of the 11 studies reported increased complication rates in morbidly obese patients. Of the 13 studies, 9 had documented outcome scores in morbidly obese patients. All studies concluded that morbidly obese patients had the poorest overall preoperative and postoperative functional scores. Seven of the studies also documented the net gain in functional scores after THA between the morbidly obese and the non-morbidly obese groups. No difference was found between the groups. Morbidly obese patients undergo primary THA at a significantly younger age than non-obese patients. Furthermore, morbidly obese patients have a higher perioperative complication rate. Overall outcome measures are worse in the pre operative and the post operative phase in the short- and the medium-term follow-up time intervals. However, morbidly obese patients have similar functional gains as non-morbidly obese patients following THA.
The Synergistic Information Professions: Applications of the Information Process

Information studies is the set of basic principles that underlie the information professions. Information professions are those in which the theories and principles are those of the information process—in other words, those professions that provide services that allow people to become informed. For purposes of this overview the information professions are grouped into two main categories—institutions (libraries, archives, museums) and organizations (knowledge management, management information systems, information architecture). Librarianship is the profession that has evolved around the management of libraries—institutions that house deliberately-constructed collections of publications for the common use of a group of people. Archives and Records Management are professions that manage the raw data of history, the sources from which scholars create filtered narratives; their role is to preserve the historical record of society. Information professionals who work in museums might be, or might work alongside, archeologists, anthropologists, classicists, and scientists for whom the acquisition and analysis of artifacts is a primary science. Museums have archivists whose job is to focus on the internal records of the museum. There will also be conservationists and preservationists whose job it is to see that the artifacts are maintained and not allowed to deteriorate. Knowledge management is the largely corporate school of thought having to do with the means by which organizations create and govern their collective knowledge base. The information process is central to the roles of all information professionals, facilitating the transfer of messages among humans for the purpose of allowing them to become informed. Information professionals all serve as gatekeepers in their cultures.
Computer Simulations of Sorption in Model Cylindrical Pores

Computer simulations of the sorption of krypton in several model micropores at 120 K are reported. The pores were taken to be cylindrical, some straight-walled and some with constrictions created by allowing the radii to vary sinusoidally with position along the pore axis; however, the pore walls were rough and heterogeneous on the atomic scale due to the inclusion of atomic structure in the interaction model. Isotherms and energies of adsorption are presented that include the regions of capillary condensation-evaporation. The properties of the pores were varied by changing the strength of the atom-pore wall interaction. As the interaction was weakened, a gradual approach to non-wetting behavior was observed. In nearly all cases, the classical theory based on the Kelvin equation fails to describe the observations.
The bounded search tree algorithm for the closest string problem has quadratic smoothed complexity

Given a set S of n strings, each of length l, and a nonnegative value d, we define a center string as a string of length l that has Hamming distance at most d from each string in S. The Closest String problem aims to determine whether there exists a center string for a given set of strings S and input parameters n, l, and d. When n is relatively large with respect to l then the basic majority algorithm solves the CLOSEST STRING problem efficiently, and the problem can also be solved efficiently when either n, l or d is reasonably small [12]. Hence, the only case for which there is no known efficient algorithm is when n is between log l/ log log l and log l. Using smoothed analysis, we prove that such CLOSEST STRING instances can be solved efficiently by the O(nl + ndċdd)-time algorithm by Gramm et al. [13]. In particular, we show that for any given CLOSEST STRING instance I, the expected running time of this algorithm on a small perturbation of I is O(nl + ndċd2+o(1)).
The effect of Jun dimerization on neurite outgrowth and motif binding

Abstract Axon regeneration is a necessary step toward functional recovery after spinal cord injury. The AP-1 transcription factor c-Jun has long been known to play an important role in directing the transcriptional response of Dorsal Root Ganglion (DRG) neurons to peripheral axotomy that results in successful axon regeneration. Here we performed ChIPseq for Jun in mouse DRG neurons after a sciatic nerve crush or sham surgery in order to measure the changes in Jun's DNA binding in response to peripheral axotomy. We found that the majority of Jun's injury-responsive changes in DNA binding occur at putative enhancer elements, rather than proximal to transcription start sites. We also used a series of single polypeptide chain tandem transcription factors to test the effects of different Jun-containing dimers on neurite outgrowth in DRG, cortical and hippocampal neurons. These experiments demonstrated that dimers composed of Jun and Atf3 promoted neurite outgrowth in rat CNS neurons as well as mouse DRG neurons. Our work provides new insight into the mechanisms underlying Jun's role in axon regeneration.
Laser Synthesis, Processing, and Spectroscopy of Atomically-Thin Two Dimensional Materials

Atomically-thin two-dimensional (2D) materials display widely varying electronic and vibronic properties compared to their bulk counterparts. Laser interactions with 2D materials are central to their development. Here we attempt to overview recent progress and define the current challenges in the broad range of laser interactions involved in the synthesis, processing, and optical characterization of 2D materials as the field has emerged from graphene and h-BN to encompass a multitude of other atomically-thin semiconducting, superconducting, thermoelectric, etc. 2D materials as “building blocks” for future energy applications and devices. Here, we first focus on challenges in the synthesis and processing of mainly semiconducting 2D layers for optoelectronics, and the advantages offered by non-equilibrium laser processing. Then, we review the optical characterization techniques that are being developed to serve as remote probes of their electronic and vibronic properties, as well as their structure, stacking, and atomistic alignment. Together, examples will be shown how these developments are already being merged to fulfill the promise for tailored synthesis and assembly of these exquisite materials with real-time in situ control of structure and optoelectronic properties.
Na rota do socialismo de Estado

Neste artigo, Michel Burawoy revisita o mundo esquecido do Socialismo de Estado, refletindo sobre suas experiencias como operario na Hungria (1983-1988) no crepusculo da Uniao Sovietica (1991) e em seus desdobramentos sobre o mercado (1992-2002). Pelo prisma do chao de fabrica, o autor examina as peculiaridades da producao socialista e como esta forjou a consciencia da classe trabalhadora, deixando os trabalhadores despreparados para a catastrofe que se abateu sobre eles durante a transicao capitalista. Mais amplamente, Burawoy lida com as limitacoes do seu metodo de caso estentido e com os desafios que o Socialismo de Estado impos ao marxismo.
The Kappa Opioid Receptor Is Associated With Naltrexone-Induced Reduction of Drinking and Craving

Abstract Background Naltrexone is a nonselective opioid receptor antagonist used as a treatment for alcohol use disorder. However, only modest clinical effects have been observed, possibly because of limited knowledge about the biological variables affecting the efficacy of naltrexone. We investigated the potential role of the kappa opioid receptor (KOR) in the therapeutic effect of naltrexone. Methods A total of 48 non-treatment-seeking heavy drinkers (16 women) who met DSM-IV criteria for alcohol dependence participated in two alcohol drinking paradigms (ADPs) separated by a week of open-label naltrexone (100 mg daily). Craving, assessed with the Alcohol Urge Questionnaire and the Yale Craving Scale, and drinking behavior were recorded in each ADP. Prior to naltrexone initiation, KOR availability was determined in the amygdala, hippocampus, pallidum, striatum, cingulate cortex, and prefrontal cortex using positron emission tomography with [11C]LY2795050. Results Participants reported lower levels of craving (Yale Craving Scale: −11 ± 1, p Conclusions The KOR is implicated in drinking and craving following naltrexone therapy in alcohol use disorder.
Diverse Roles of Heat Shock Proteins in Immune Activation and Tolerance: A Comprehensive Review of Mechanisms and Therapeutic Relevance

Heat shock proteins (HSP) are a broad set of proteins that are induced by a variety of cellular stresses. These proteins predominantly act as chaperones of other proteins in the cell. Since inflammation and infection are a source of physiologic cellular stress, it is unsurprising that the heat shock protein response and the immune response are closely linked. In this chapter, we explore ways in which HSP participate in diverse immune activities, as well as the therapeutic relevance of HSP-immune crosstalk. Firstly, HSP have been found to positively influence the process of immune activation by stimulating innate immune cells and aiding in antigen processing and presentation. Numerous vaccine strategies have been devised based on the finding that HSP can assist in entry of tumor antigens into antigen processing and presentation pathways. These vaccines, which largely consist of HSP-peptide-complexes, have produced striking therapeutic effects in animal tumor models and early clinical studies. In a seeming paradox, HSP have been shown to support immune tolerance and protect against various forms of autoimmunity in mouse models, possibly through the production of IL-10 by regulatory T-cells. These findings have similarly led to efforts to develop HSP-based therapeutic strategies to reduce inflammation associated with arthritis and other inflammatory conditions. We discuss these concepts in detail, and attempt to shed light on why and how HSP influence the immune system to shift towards activation or tolerance.
STAT6 induces expression of Gas6 in macrophages to clear apoptotic neutrophils and resolve inflammation

Efferocytosis of apoptotic neutrophils (PMNs) by alveolar macrophages (AMФs) is vital for resolution of inflammation and tissue injury. Here, we investigated the role of AMФ polarization and expression of the efferocytic ligand Gas6 in restoring homeostasis. In the murine model of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced acute lung injury (ALI), we observed augmented temporal generation of cytokines IL-4 and TSG6 in bronchoalveolar fluid (BALF). Interestingly, we also observed increased expression of antiinflammatory markers consistent with a phenotype shift in AMФs. In particular, AMФs expressed the efferocytic ligand Gas6. In vitro priming of bone marrow–derived macrophages (BMMФs) with IL-4 or TSG6 also induced MФ transition and expression of Gas6. TSG6- or IL-4–primed BMMФs induced efferocytosis of apoptotic PMNs compared with control BMMФs. Adoptive transfer of TSG6- or IL-4–primed BMMФs i.t. into LPS-challenged mice more rapidly and effectively cleared PMNs in lungs compared with control BMMФs. We demonstrated that expression of Gas6 during AMФ transition was due to activation of the transcription factor signal transducer and activator of transcription-6 (STAT6) downstream of IL-4 or TSG6 signaling. Adoptive transfer of Gas6-depleted BMMФs failed to clear PMNs in lungs following LPS challenge and mice showed severely defective resolution of lung injury. Thus, activation of STAT6-mediated Gas6 expression during macrophage phenotype transition resulting in efferocytosis of PMNs plays a crucial role in the resolution of inflammatory lung injury.
Eplet mismatch analysis and allograft outcome across racially diverse groups in a pediatric transplant cohort: a single-center analysis

HLA eplet mismatch load has been suggested as an improvement to HLA antigen mismatch determination for organ selection. Given that eplet mismatches are determined based on amino acid sequence difference among HLA alleles, and that the frequency of HLA alleles varies between racial groups, we investigated the correlation between eplet mismatch load and allograft outcomes in 110 pediatric kidney transplant recipients who received their first organ from a donor of the same race (SRT) versus a donor of a different race (DRT). Adjusted modified Poisson regression was used to assess the interaction between eplet mismatch load and race mismatch and its effect on outcome. Caucasians and living donor recipients had lower eplet mismatched loads against their donors compared with non-Caucasian and deceased donor recipients. Overall, for the entire population, the risk of de novo HLA-DSA development was significantly increased with higher eplet loads (p < 0.001). Compared with the SRT group, the DRT group had higher eplet loads when compared with their donor, for HLA class I but not HLA class II molecules; however, there was no significant difference in the incidence of de novo HLA-DSA between the 2 groups. The risk of rejection increased significantly for DRT compared with SRT, only when class I eplet load was ≥ 70 (p = 0.04). Together this data show that eplet mismatch load analysis is an effective tool for alloimmune risk assessment. If considered for donor selection, acceptable eplet mismatch loads determined from studies in homogenous populations may restrict transplantation across racially diverse donor and patient groups with no evidence of poor outcome. Therefore, an acceptable eplet mismatch load threshold must consider the heterogeneity of the transplant population.
Correlation of New Criteria for Malnutrition Assessment in Hospitalized Patients: AND-ASPEN Versus SGA

Objectives: Identifying malnutrition in the hospitalized patient is important as it correlates with increased morbidity. The Subjective Global Assessment (SGA) is recognized in the literature as a ...
AN UNUSUAL CASE OF LEFT VENTRICULAR METASTASIS FROM PRIMARY LUNG CANCER

Metastatic cancers to the heart are rare neoplasms. The right side of the heart is more commonly involved in metastasis than the left side. We report a case of left ventricular metastasis from primary lung cancer, which was detected on whole body PET/CT imaging and on Transthoracic Echocardiography
Evaluating the use of Drones in the area of Transportation/Construction

Drones are proving out as a valuable tool and growing quickly in the world of technological advances. The applications of these vehicles are spreading widely in the areas of remote sensing, real time monitoring, goods delivery, security, defense, surveillance, infrastructure inspection. Although, the intent behind creating this tool was remote sensing. Smart drones will be the next big innovation and modification, which would have much wider applications especially in the field of infrastructure where it can reduce risks and lower costs. Current direct evaluation techniques are tedious, and the information caught is frequently not led in a precise manner with the areas tested not being geographically correct and the resulting reports being delivered past the point of no return. These were the reasons, which have increased the demand and usage of unmanned vehicles. In this research paper, we present critical review of main advancements of Drones in the area of transportation and agriculture. We present all the research related to civil applications in those areas and challenges including traffic monitoring, Bridge condition assessment, Roadway asset detection and many other applications related to infrastructure inspection enhancement. The paper also contributes with a discussion on the opportunities, which are opened, and the challenges that need to be addressed. Findings from the case studies, it is reported that around 25% of the bridges in united states are deficient and need continuous monitoring for enhancements to prevent any hazard. Unmanned vehicles could be a great help in monitoring these bridges and other important components of transportation, which can efficiently minimize the cost as well as the time spent on inspection for each of this component, as manual inspection requires labor and time which would be subsequently reduced by incorporating the usage of drones in the area of transportation.
Training Organizations in Use of a Modified Stream Visual Assessment Protocol.

The Stream Visual Assessment Protocol (SVAP) was evaluated as a means to increase watershed surveys in New Jersey. Groups were trained in an SVAP modified for New Jersey streams. Participants in three training workshops were surveyed to determine the usefulness of SVAP as a cost-effective method to evaluate watershed health. Many respondents found that the workshops were helpful due to the "hands-on" aspect and the combination of classroom and field components to the training. Additional technical support and follow up to the trainings was essential to achieve the program's objective of getting additional groups collecting information on watershed health.
Charting a professional course for academic gynecologic oncology mentors

Abstract Objectives To describe the transition from a mentee to mentor role in a cohort of academic gynecologic oncologists by studying the evolution of authorship placement in peer reviewed publications by current gynecologic oncology (GO) fellowship directors. Methods Current GO fellowship directors were identified from the ACGME website. A Pubmed search identified all publications by all listed fellowship directors. Number of publications, and order of authorship were counted by years since medical school graduation. Milestones representing likely career transition points were developed and tracked. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize the individuals and associated institutions. Time to event curves were compared using the Kaplan Meier method. Results The study cohort comprised 58 GO fellowship program directors. The median time since medical school graduation was 22 years. Eight unique milestones reflecting the relative frequencies of authorship placement were studied. The median time to accomplishing these milestones ranged from 6 to 18 years. The timing of milestone attainment suggests a stepwise progression of events and was associated with both individual and institutional factors. Conclusions In this cohort of 58 fellowship directors, a roadmap to mentorship was identified, that includes several measurable milestones, and representative times to attain each. Further analyses identified a set of factors associated with the rate of progression. We hope these findings can inform the evolution of mentorship in gynecologic oncology. It is possible that initiatives focused on mentorship training might include milestone tracking to facilitate development.
It’s All Fun and Games Until Someone Gets Hurt: An Interactional Framing Theory of Work Social Sexual Behavior

The #MeToo Movement has brought increased interest and urgency to research on workplace sexual harassment (SH). Although previous SH research is rich, there remain unanswered questions about how SH...
Mechanistic dissection of increased enzymatic rate in a phase-separated compartment

Biomolecular condensates concentrate macromolecules into discrete cellular foci without an encapsulating membrane. Condensates are often presumed to increase enzymatic reaction rates through increased concentrations of enzymes and substrates (mass action), although this idea has not been widely tested and other mechanisms of modulation are possible. Here we describe a synthetic system where the SUMOylation enzyme cascade is recruited into engineered condensates generated by liquid–liquid phase separation of multidomain scaffolding proteins. SUMOylation rates can be increased up to 36-fold in these droplets compared to the surrounding bulk, depending on substrate KM. This dependency produces substantial specificity among different substrates. Analyses of reactions above and below the phase-separation threshold lead to a quantitative model in which reactions in condensates are accelerated by mass action and changes in substrate KM, probaby due to scaffold-induced molecular organization. Thus, condensates can modulate reaction rates both by concentrating molecules and physically organizing them. A chemically induced dimerization strategy was used to recruit SUMOylation enzymes into condensates, enabling quantification of the effect of phase separation on the activity of a SUMOylation enzyme cascade reaction.
Centering Families: Advancing a New Vision for School Psychology

At the turn of the current century, Sheridan and Gutkin shared perspectives on the status and future of school psychology. Limitations of then-standard school psychological practices focusing on a ...
Impact of Early Exposure to Robotic Surgery Among Pre-clinical Medical Students on Career Choice and Simulation Skills:

We aimed to assess whether early exposure of medical students to robotic surgery training influences their interest in a surgical career and improves scores on objective simulation tasks. Medical s...
Insulin-Dependent Brain Organization and Diabetes Mellitus

When adult female rats (first generation) were injected with 30 mg of streptozotocin per kg body weight (b.w.) on the first day of pregnancy they developed a mild gestational diabetes. Their offspring (second as well as third generation) displayed increased plasma insulin levels in neonatal life and hypoplasia of the hypothalamic ventromedial nuclei throughout life as well as altered hypothalamic monoamine and β-endorphin concentrations. In adulthood, the offspring exhibited decreased tolerance and increased susceptibility to streptozotocin diabetes, associated with enhanced spleen cell cytotoxicity against β-cells. Such teratogenetic diabetes susceptibility is only transmitted on the maternal side via gestational diabetes, leading to pre- or early postnatal hyperinsulinism. Thus, hyperinsulinism during brain organization, produced by impaired glucose tolerance in pregnancy, is a predisposing teratogenetic factor for the development of diabetes in the offspring. Our experimental data are in agreement with clinical findings: (1) Diabetes transmission between generations was found to be 2–3 times higher on the maternal side than on the paternal side. (2) Subjects born in periods with high food supply showed a significantly higher diabetes prevalence than those born in periods with shortage of food supply. (3) A significantly decreased prevalence of childhood-onset diabetes could be achieved in Berlin/GDR since 1973 by improving systematically diagnostic and therapeutic measures for gestational diabetics.
U.S. Consumers’ Valuation of Quality Attributes in Beef Products

A sample of U.S. consumers were surveyed in a choice based experiment in the Fall of 2005 and Spring 2006 to elicit Consumers' preferences for quality attributes in beef products. Based on the resulting data, a random coefficients logit model is estimated, and Consumers' willingness to pay for these quality attributes in beef products is obtained. The results indicate that consumers have strong valuation for traceability, grass-fed, and U.S. origin attributes in a standard rib-eye steak and are willing to pay a premium for these attributes.
Analysis of accelerated failure time data with dependent censoring using auxiliary variables via nonparametric multiple imputation

We consider the situation of estimating the marginal survival distribution from censored data subject to dependent censoring using auxiliary variables. We had previously developed a nonparametric multiple imputation approach. The method used two working proportional hazards (PH) models, one for the event times and the other for the censoring times, to define a nearest neighbor imputing risk set. This risk set was then used to impute failure times for censored observations. Here, we adapt the method to the situation where the event and censoring times follow accelerated failure time models and propose to use the Buckley-James estimator as the two working models. Besides studying the performances of the proposed method, we also compare the proposed method with two popular methods for handling dependent censoring through the use of auxiliary variables, inverse probability of censoring weighted and parametric multiple imputation methods, to shed light on the use of them. In a simulation study with time-independent auxiliary variables, we show that all approaches can reduce bias due to dependent censoring. The proposed method is robust to misspecification of either one of the two working models and their link function. This indicates that a working proportional hazards model is preferred because it is more cumbersome to fit an accelerated failure time model. In contrast, the inverse probability of censoring weighted method is not robust to misspecification of the link function of the censoring time model. The parametric imputation methods rely on the specification of the event time model. The approaches are applied to a prostate cancer dataset.
Electron‐Transfer Rate Enhancements in Nanosized Waterpools

An enhancement in the electron-transfer rates of metal complexes confined to a nanoscale environment within a sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl)sulfosuccinate/water/isooctane reverse micelle (RM) are reported. The rate constants increase up to two orders of magnitude relative to those in bulk water. These rate enhancements are attributed to changes in solvation (owing to location within the RM) and ion pairing.
Applying the International Law of Sovereign Immunity to the States of the Union

A state of the Union may preserve its immunity from suit in its own courts, and the Constitution restricts its amenability to suit in the federal courts.' Yet in Nevada v. Hall2 the Supreme Court held that in a motor-vehicle accident case a state cannot claim a constitutional immunity from suit in the courts of a sister state.3 The Court indicated, however, that if a suit involved a defendant state's "capacity to fulfill its own sovereign responsibilities," different constitutional considerations might control.4 In vigorous dissents Justices Blackmun5 and Rehnquist6 argued that the reasoning of the majority precluded even this possibility. Justice Rehnquist suggested that in making such distinctions in the future, the Court would be "truly adrift on uncharted waters."7 It may be, however, that there already is a chart to these waters, discoverable from the majority's reasoning though not obvious from the opinion. That chart is the international law of sovereign immunity.8
The Design of a Tool Kit for Case-Based Design AIDS

This paper extends the discussion of Case-Based Design Aids (CBDAs) presented at the 1992 AI in Design Conference (Domeshek and Kolodner, 1992). After reviewing the CBDA concept and its motivation, we discuss progress in implementing such systems, and focus on the generalization of our original CBDA (first developed to support architects with the conceptual design of buildings) into a tool kit applicable to a wide range of design domains. Experience in gathering and organizing case materials, and consideration of more use-scenarios have led us to reorganize and refine many aspects of the original proposal. Here we report our experience building CBDAs for architecture and for jet aircraft subsystem design using the CBDA tool kit Design-MUSE.
Assessing chronic illness care for diabetes in primary care clinics.

Article-at-a-Glance Background The Chronic Illness Care model suggests that six structural dimensions of primary care teams are important in improving the quality of diabetes care. A study was conducted to assess the degree to which these dimensions, as represented in the Assessment of Chronic Illness Care (ACIC) survey, are implemented in primary care practices and to examine their relationship with selected quality of care process measures for Type 2 diabetes. Methods The survey was completed in 20 primary care clinics (30 patients in each clinic) by caregivers, administrative, staff, and an external observer. Results Overall, administrative staff were more likely to rate their clinics higher on each structural dimension in the ACIC survey than caregivers or the external observer. The observer's and the caregivers' assessments were more consistently correlated with quality of care measures than were the administrative staff assessments. Decision support, and to a lesser degree delivery system design and self-management, were most frequently correlated with quality of care measures. Discussion Redesigning primary care practices to improve the quality of diabetes care requires accurate assessment of the structures of care directly related to quality measures. A version of the ACIC tool tailored to diabetes management can be used to examine structural dimensions in primary care clinics but may be more valid if completed by caregivers or an independent observer than by administrative staff.
Parkinson's disease and the gut: 'the wheel is come full circle'.

It is both ironic and remarkable that now, almost 200 years later, the question of interaction between the gut and the brain in Parkinson’s disease (PD) has resurfaced to become the subject of a veritable tsunami of fascinating and tremendously important research that has potential ramifications not only for understanding the pathophysiology of PD but also for its treatment and even its diagnosis. During the past 30 years, gastrointestinal (GI) dysfunction has gained recognition as one of the more frequent and troublesome nonmotor features of PD [2, 3] and pathology within the enteric nervous system (ENS), including Lewy body formation and alphasynuclein deposition, has been identified as part of the disorder [4–6]. Loss of dopamine neurons within the ENS also has been reported [6]. Braak et al. have proposed that PD actually has its genesis within the ENS and spreads from there via the vagus nerve to the central nervous system (CNS), initially establishing a beach-
Modeling Cross-Category Purchases in Sponsored Search Advertising

A unique aspect of sponsored search advertising is that it allows firms to track what products consumers initially search for and what products they eventually buy after visiting their website – something that is typically hard to acquire in physical world settings. Based on a unique dataset that contains information on what keyword advertisements induced consumers to arrive on a firm’s website and what products they eventually bought in that session, we build a model to map consumers’ search-to-purchase behavior in the online world. We analyze the relationship between consumers’ search for products in a specific category and their propensity to buy products within that category. In addition, we examine spillovers from search resulting in purchases across other product categories in the same session. The model is estimated on purchases from four categories (bath, bedding, kitchen, and home decor) using a unique 6 month panel dataset of several hundred keywords collected from a large nationwide retailer that advertises on Google. Our model allows us to decompose the latent utility of a product category into intrinsic utility from that product category and extrinsic utility from joint purchases of that category with other ones. With regard to the intrinsic utilities, we find that there is a considerable amount of spillovers between the initial search and the final purchase behavior such that consumers who start a search for a product in one category purchase products from a different category, in addition to purchasing from the original category they searched for. However, such search-purchase spillover effects accruing from a given advertisement are not necessarily symmetric between any two given product categories. With regard to the extrinsic utilities, we see evidence of positive cross-category interdependence for retailer-specific keywords. In addition, we find that brand-specific and generic keywords are less likely to induce cross-category purchases. Based on our empirical estimates, we conduct counterfactual experiments to derive insights into changes in overall profitability when firms were to engage in personalized price discounts and targeting via sponsored search advertisements. Our analyses suggest that retailers can benefit from providing personalized targeting and recommendations based on consumer search and cross-category purchase patterns during sponsored search advertising.
Fiber architecture of canine abdominal muscles.

During respiration, abdominal muscles experience loads, not only in the muscle-fiber direction but also transverse to the fibers. We wondered whether the abdominal muscles exhibit a fiber architect...
Policy History and the Sublime Immodesty of the Middle-Aged Professor

The idea of policy history arises from an awareness of“something missing.” In the view of some social scientists, politics and public policy too often have been treated ahistorically by their disciplines, with evidence subordinated to theory. For some historians, the apparent waning of disciplinary interest in political history has been similarly distorting. Because of these things, social scientists, political historians, and more than a few social historians increasingly function as “policy historians,”as scholars especially alive to the vagaries and contingency of public policy and its history.
Hospital-acquired acute kidney injury.

AbstractAcute kidney injury (AKI) is a common clinical syndrome in hospitalized patients associated with high morbidity and mortality rates. Despite several years of improvement in the medical care of the severely ill, there has been little improvement in outcome. Furthermore, effective means of preventing and treating AKI have remained elusive. Although dialysis has been the mainstay of treating AKI for > 40 years, several questions regarding its application remain unsettled, including method (continuous vs intermittent), timing, and dose. The purpose of this review is to summarize recent advances in the epidemiology and treatment of AK1 in hospitalized patients.
Optimizing the fast Rydberg quantum gate

The fast phase gate scheme, in which the qubits are atoms confined in sites of an optical lattice, and gate operations are mediated by excitation of Rydberg states, was proposed by Jaksch et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 2208 (2000)]. A potential source of decoherence in this system derives from motional heating, which occurs if the ground and Rydberg states of the atom move in different optical lattice potentials. We propose to minimize this effect by choosing the lattice photon frequency {omega}, so that the ground and Rydberg states have the same frequency-dependent polarizability {alpha}({omega}). The results are presented for the case of Rb.
The effect of platelet membrane antibodies on aggregation and release.

Summary. Human platelets were preincubated with Fab fiagments derived from two types of platelet antibodies: (1) antibody to whole platelet membranes, and (2) antibody to the major platelet membrane glycoprotein. Subsequently platelet aggregation and release of [14C]serotonin in response to adenosine diphosphate (ADP), adrenaline, thrombin, and collagen were evaluated. Following incubation with the anti-membrane antibody, significant inhibition of both aggregation and serotonin release was observed. The pattern of inhibition of ADP- and thrombin-induced aggregation and release differed from the inhibition noted after the addition of adrenaline or collagen. Treatment of platelets with the anti-membrane glycoprotein antibody had no effect on subsequent aggregation induced by ADP, adrenaline, thrombin or collagen.
Verbal-nonverbal correspondence training with ADHD children.

This study presents a general description of the applicability of verbal-nonverbal correspondence-training procedures in the management of five cases with Attention-Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (AD...
An algebraic factorisation scheme for spectral element solution of incompressible flow and scalar transport

A spectral element algorithm for solution of the unsteady incompressible Navier-Stokes and scalar (species/heat) transport equations is developed using the algebraic factorisation scheme. The new algorithm utilises Nth order Gauss-Lobatto-Legendre points for velocity and the scalar, while (N-2)th order Gauss-Legendre points are used for pressure. As a result, the algorithm does not require inter-element continuity for pressure and pressure boundary conditions on solid surfaces. Implementations of the algorithm are performed for conforming and non-conforming grids. The latter is accomplished using both the point-wise matching and integral projection methods, and applied for grids with both polynomial and geometric non-conformities. Code validation cases include the unsteady scalar convection equation, and Kovasznay flow in two-and three-dimensional domains. Using cases with analytical solutions, the algorithm is shown to achieve spectral accuracy in space and second-order accuracy in time. The results for the Boussinesq approximation for buoyancy-driven flows, and the species mixing in a continuous flow micro-mixer are also included as examples of applications that require long-time integration of the scalar transport equations.
FACS Purification of Bone Marrow-Derived Epidermal Populations in Mice: Langerhans Cells and Thy-1+ Dendritic Cells

A method was developed which allows for the separation and purification of Langerhans cells (LC) and Thy-1+ cells (Thy-1+dEC) from mouse epidermis. Epidermal cell (EC) suspensions were subjected to Ficoll separation, and the resulting interface EC were harvested. These EC were then "tagged" with the appropriate monoclonal antibody and sorted into positive and negative populations using the Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorter (FACS). Preparations of viable LC and Thy-1+dEC were obtained with 94-98% and 94-99% purities, respectively.
Ambulatory computer-assisted behavior therapy for obesity: An empirical model for examining behavioral correlates of treatment outcome

Abstract A behavioral treatment program for obesity was implemented in the natural environment through the use of hand-held computers. Participants were 40 mild-to-moderately overweight females, randomly assigned either to computer-assisted behavior therapy alone or to computer-assisted behavior therapy augmented by participation in a support group. Participants in the computer-assisted behavior therapy alone condition were given varying instructions regarding how many days per week to use the computer program (either 4 or 7 days per week). In addition to implementing treatment, the computer program was used to unobtrusively conduct a “behavioral audit” of each participant's frequency of utilization of each program feature, and to maintain a log of all self-report data on caloric intake and exercise. The treatment outcome data showed that participants who were instructed to use the program 7 days per week lost the most weight and that participation in a support group was not critical to treatment effectiveness. Also of interest was the fact that behavioral indicators of adherence to the treatment regimen had much higher correlations with total weight loss than did self-reported caloric intake or self-reported exercise. The behavioral indicators most highly correlated with weight loss were daily frequency of making self-reports, daily frequency of viewing motivational statements, daily frequency of viewing goal-related feedback, and total days of program use. Computer-assisted behavior therapy conducted in the natural environment is viewed as providing a powerful means for examining behavioral correlates of treatment outcome.
On electroporation of cell membranes and some related phenomena

Abstract Electroporation and other related cell membrane phenomena induced by an applied electric field, either a direct (dc), an alternating (ac), or a dc shifted radio-frequency electric field, reflect the electrical properties and hence the basic structure and molecular interactions of a cell membrane. The importance of studying these phenomena, thus, goes beyond their practical application in genetic engineering, agricultural research and biotechnology. One recent development in this area, namely, the electroactivation of membrane proteins by an ac field, pomises to yield crucial data on how a cell can process and transmit electric signals for the regulation of its internal activities and communication with other cells (T.Y. Tsong, Trends Biochem. Sci., 14 (1990) 89). Knowledge of cellular designs of these events would have far reaching implications concerning our ability to understand cell membrane functions, especially with respect to mechanisms of cellular energy and signal transduction (T.Y. Tsong, Annu. Rev. Biophys. Chem., 19 (1990) 83).