cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Review of multicenter studies by multiple institutional review boards: characteristics and outcomes for perinatal studies implemented by a multicenter network

Objective The objective of the study was to describe characteristics and outcomes of a review of multisite perinatal studies by individual institutional review boards (IRBs) and identify barriers and opportunities for streamlined IRB review. Study Design We compared the review of 5 collaborative protocols by individual IRBs at National Perinatal Research Consortium centers from 2007 through 2012. Three randomized trials, 1 observational study, and 1 follow-up study of a trial were selected. IRB logs and communications were reviewed and abstracted by trained team members. Results Seven or 8 IRBs reviewed each protocol. Monthly IRB meeting frequency varied from 1 to 6. Full board review was required by all IRBs for the primary trials but not by all for the observational protocols. The overall duration from submission to approval ( P = .024) and number of stipulations ( P = .007) differed across protocols but not across IRBs. However, times from submission-to-IRB review ( P = .011) and IRB review-to-initial letter ( P P 60 days) were few and not consistent across IRBs or protocols. Most stipulations were stylistic or editorial modifications rather than regulatory requests. All protocols were approved without changes, and no more than 1 IRB meeting was needed at each site. Conclusion Findings confirm unnecessary duplication and variability and some similarities in IRB review processes and outcomes for multisite perinatal studies. This may help guide initiatives to streamline IRB review and reduce research delays and burdens.
PRAYER AND MARITAL INTERVENTION: ASKING FOR DIVINE HELP . . . OR PROFESSIONAL TROUBLE?

My selected title for this response piece reflects the late David Larson's identification of religion as the university's “anti–tenure topic.” Beach, Fincham, Hurt, McNair, and Stanley (hereafter, the authors) have stepped upon some dangerous soil. However, this statement is intended as a welcome, not a threat. I appreciate the authors' efforts to break new ground in an important but highly sensitive domain.
Current Status of Urodynamics for Evaluation of Incontinence

Urinary incontinence, defined by the International Continence Society as the complaint of any involuntary leakage of urine, remains a condition with profound impact for the individual patient and global medical economics. The etiology of a patient’s urinary incontinence can be difficult to determine, even when using a combination approach of symptom appraisal, thorough history and physical examination, and noninvasive testing. Urodynamic evaluation provides an objective analysis of the storage and voiding aspects of detrusor function, often delineating the underlying mechanisms for bladder or sphincter dysfunction resulting in incontinence. This review summarizes current literature regarding recommendations for utilization of urodynamics in the evaluation of incontinence. Herein we recap the available data regarding use of urodynamics in intrinsic sphincter deficiency, overactive bladder, bladder outlet obstruction, and neurological disease. We intend for these data to highlight the need for a structured evaluation and treatment of urinary incontinence and appropriate use of resources to accommodate the dual missions of patient care and fiscal responsibility.
Wnts and TGF beta in synaptogenesis: old friends signalling at new places.

The formation of mature synaptic connections involves the targeted transport and aggregation of synaptic vesicles, the gathering of presynaptic release sites and the clustering of postsynaptic neurotransmitter receptors and ion channels. Positional cues are required to orient the cytoskeleton in the direction of neuronal outgrowth, and also to direct the juxtaposition of synaptic protein complexes at the pre- and postsynaptic membranes. Both anterograde and retrograde factors are thought to contribute positional information during synaptic differentiation, and recent studies in vertebrates and invertebrates have begun to uncover a new role in this process for proteins that are essential for pattern formation in the early embryo.
Determination of the Amplitude and the Phase of Scattered Fields by Holography

It is shown how both the amplitude and the phase of a scattered field may be determined by holography. It is estimated that information about details down to about nine wavelengths of light can be obtained by this technique. The result is of importance for unambiguous determination of the three-dimensional structure of semitransparent objects, such as are frequently encountered, for example, in biology.
ATP-facilitated Chromatin Assembly with a Nucleoplasmin-like Protein from Drosophila melanogaster

To gain a better understanding of the factors that can mediate chromatin assembly, we have purified and cloned a core histone-binding protein from Drosophila melanogaster embryos. This protein resembles Xenopus laevis nucleoplasmin, and it has therefore been termed dNLP, for Drosophila nucleoplasmin-like protein. dNLP is a nuclear protein that is present throughout development. Both purified native and recombinant dNLP bind to core histones and can function in the assembly of approximately regularly spaced nucleosomal arrays in a reaction that additionally requires DNA, purified core histones, ATP, and a partially purified fraction (containing at least one other assembly activity). We also analyzed the properties of an N-terminally truncated version of dNLP, termed dNLP-S, and found that the deletion of the N-terminal 31 residues of dNLP results in a loss of the specificity of the interaction of dNLP with core histones. We then compared the abilities of dNLP and Drosophila nucleosome assembly protein-1 (dNAP-1) to promote the decondensation of Xenopus sperm chromatin, a process that can be mediated by nucleoplasmin. We observed that dNAP-1, but not dNLP, was able to promote the decondensation of sperm chromatin. These and other data collectively suggest that dNLP may participate in parallel with other histone-binding proteins such as dNAP-1 in the assembly of chromatin.
Hypoxia―Inducible Factors 1α and 2α Exert Both Distinct and Overlapping Functions in Long Bone Development

The hypoxia-inducible factors have recently been identified as critical regulators of angiogenic-osteogenic coupling. Mice overexpressing HIFalpha subunits in osteoblasts produce abundant VEGF and develop extremely dense, highly vascularized long bones. In this study, we investigated the individual contributions of Hif-1alpha and Hif-2alpha in angiogenesis and osteogenesis by individually disrupting each Hifalpha gene in osteoblasts using the Cre-loxP method. Mice lacking Hif-1alpha demonstrated markedly decreased trabecular bone volume, reduced bone formation rate, and altered cortical bone architecture. By contrast, mice lacking Hif-2alpha had only a modest decrease in trabecular bone volume. Interestingly, long bone blood vessel development measured by angiography was decreased by a similar degree in both DeltaHif-1alpha and DeltaHif-2alpha mice suggesting a common role for these Hifalpha subunits in skeletal angiogenesis. In agreement with this idea, osteoblasts lacking either Hif-1alpha or Hif-2alpha had profound reductions in VEGF mRNA expression but only the loss of Hif-1alpha impaired osteoblast proliferation. These findings indicate that expression of both Hif-1alpha and Hif-2alpha by osteoblasts is required for long bone development. We propose that both Hif-1alpha and Hif-2alpha function through cell non-autonomous modes to promote vascularization of bone and that Hif-1alpha also promotes bone formation by exerting direct actions on the osteoblast.
Selective rate enhancement of etching processes by acoustic agitation

The authors introduce a novel method of etching materials in which an acoustic wave is introduced to agitate a selected area of a sample that is exposed to an etchant. A ZnO acoustic transducer is fabricated on one side of a material sample (glass or silicon). The other side is exposed to an etchant where up to 4 W of electrical power is applied to the transducer at 300-500 MHz. The creation of a variety of pits and trenches is shown on the etched sides of glass and silicon substrates without the use of masks. High-quality surface finishes are demonstrated. Etch-rate enhancement as high as 51:1 is shown, and this enhancement is characterized as a function of applied power. Efficient creation of holes is demonstrated by launching the wave through several layers of glass and etching all the way through the layer exposed to the etchant. >
Exploratory and directed analysis of medical information via dynamic classification trees

Medical data are often voluminous, incomplete, and nonnumeric, making analysis with traditional statistical techniques difficult at best. A generic medical data-analysis system called FRID (finding rules in data), which can handle this type of data, is proposed. Incorporating partitioning heuristics, FRID can be used to initiate broad-based exploratory analysis. The system's flexible design also allows a specific search for the probability of a disease given a single symptom. Results from experiments using this system are presented, as well as plans for its future use. >
Peer-Tree: a peer-to-peer message forwarding structure for relaying messages in mobile applications

In this paper, we present a DHT-like peer-to-peer message forwarding structure used for relaying messages in applications consisting mobile entities. To facilitate relaying messages, each mobile entity sets up multiple beacons at other entities. A beacon is an ordered list of mobile entities along a path going from the entity which holds the beacon to the entity which sets up the beacon. Two functionalities are used in relaying data messages to their destinations: the beacon-seeking mechanism and the beacon-routing mechanism. Before a data message obtains a beacon, it is forwarded under the beacon-seeking mechanism which helps a data message to obtain a beacon leading to the destination of the data message. After a data message obtains a beacon, it is forwarded under the beacon-routing mechanism to forward a data message to its destination along the path prescribed in the beacon. The efficiency of this peer-to-peer message forwarding structure is evaluated by the efficiency of routing data messages when it is applied in mobile wireless networks as an embedded forwarding structure. From the evaluation, this peer-to-peer message forwarding structure exhibits high rates of successful data message delivery, low consumption on network bandwidth, and robustness to unstable conditions.
Efficient routing to reduce the cost of add-drop multiplexers in WDM optical ring networks

This paper considers a network design problem introduced which resource allocation is performed within a Wavelength Division Multiplexing optical ring network to reduce overall equipment cost. The problem can be summarized as follows. The Add-Drop Multiplexers (ADM's) that are used to terminate lightpaths in an optical (SONET/SDH) ring are expensive and therefore a naive implementation that places ADM's for each wavelength at every node would waste expensive resources. However, by carefully assigning connections to wavelengths and routing the resulting lightpaths, one may avoid terminating all wavelengths at every node, and thereby reduce the number of ADM's needed.
Modeling Urban Water Demand within a GIS Using a Population Mobility Model

An important factor in the accuracy of water distribution network simulations is the accuracy of the associated water demand estimates. Water demand has both a spatial and temporal component, and the poor characterization of either can have significant consequences on the results of water distribution network models. Both the temporal and spatial characteristics of water demand are dependent on a wide range of variables describing the demographic, economic, environmental, cultural and legal structure of a community. Each of these variables has a geographic component and geographic information systems, therefore, is a powerful tool that can be used to improve the accuracy of water demand models. In this research, we demonstrate an urban scale water demand modeling approach within a geographic information system that accounts for both the spatial and temporal characteristics of water demand. The spatial component of water demand is improved using high-resolution datasets on the location of residences, businesses, schools, and other water consumers with unit use coefficients. The temporal component is improved using an activity based population mobility model. The combination of these models and data in a geographic information system produces an urban scale water demand model that can be easily interfaced with water distribution models to provide detailed analyses of system operation. Water demand models are demonstrated for Chicago, IL.
Building ultra-low false alarm rate Support Vector Classifier ensembles using Random Subspaces

This paper presents the Cost-Sensitive Random Subspace Support Vector Classifier (CS-RS-SVC), a new learning algorithm that combines random subspace sampling and bagging with Cost-Sensitive Support Vector Classifiers to more effectively address detection applications burdened by unequal misclassification requirements. When compared to its conventional, non-cost-sensitive counterpart on a two-class signal detection application, random subspace sampling is shown to very effectively leverage the additional flexibility offered by the Cost-Sensitive Support Vector Classifier, yielding a more than four-fold increase in the detection rate at a false alarm rate (FAR) of zero. Moreover, the CS-RS-SVC is shown to be fairly robust to constraints on the feature subspace dimensionality, enabling reductions in computation time of up to 82% with minimal performance degradation.
Form of multicomponent Fickian diffusion coefficients matrix

The form of multicomponent Fickian diffusion coefficients matrix in thermodynamically stable mixtures is established based on the form of phenomenological coefficients and thermodynamic factors. While phenomenological coefficients form a symmetric positive definite matrix, the determinant of thermodynamic factors matrix is positive. As a result, the Fickian diffusion coefficients matrix has a positive determinant, but its elements — including diagonal elements — can be negative. Comprehensive survey of reported diffusion coefficients data for ternary and quaternary mixtures, confirms that invariably the determinant of the Fickian diffusion coefficients matrix is positive.
TouchTools: leveraging familiarity and skill with physical tools to augment touch interaction

The average person can skillfully manipulate a plethora of tools, from hammers to tweezers. However, despite this remarkable dexterity, gestures on today's touch devices are simplistic, relying primarily on the chording of fingers: one-finger pan, two-finger pinch, four-finger swipe and similar. We propose that touch gesture design be inspired by the manipulation of physical tools from the real world. In this way, we can leverage user familiarity and fluency with such tools to build a rich set of gestures for touch interaction. With only a few minutes of training on a proof-of-concept system, users were able to summon a variety of virtual tools by replicating their corresponding real-world grasps.
Nano CNC milling of two different designs of 0.22 THz TWT circuits

To satisfy the growing interest in high power (∼1–200 W) THz sources, our research group has been working on various technologies to miniaturize vacuum electronic devices while keeping the power levels high and offering wide instantaneous bandwidth operation. We have manufactured two different designs of 0.22 THz circuit structures including input/output couplers to WR4 waveguide. We have used nano CNC milling as our primary approach and we were able to achieve excellent surface finish and meet the high tolerance requirements of the high frequency wide bandwidth traveling wave tube circuit.
Plasma membrane calcium ATPase plays a role in reducing Ca2+-mediated cytotoxicity in PC12 cells

In many cell types, cell death induced by a variety of insults is accompanied by an increase in intracellular calcium. The Ca(2+) homeostatic mechanisms affected by such insults, however, have not been fully determined. Recent evidence indicates that kainic acid-induced seizures alter plasma membrane calcium ATPase mRNA expression within vulnerable hippocampal cell populations before the onset of cell death. We examined the effects of altering plasma membrane calcium ATPase expression on cell vulnerability in rat pheochromocytoma 12 cells. Pheochromocytoma 12 cells are vulnerable to Ca(2+) overload induced by the Ca(2+) ionophore A23187. Reverse transcriptase-PCR and Western blot data indicated that plasma membrane calcium ATPase isoform 4b constitutes a major calcium pump isoform in the pheochromocytoma 12 cells. Therefore, permanently transfected pheochromocytoma 12-derived cell lines were established that either over-expressed plasma membrane calcium ATPase isoform 4b, or suppressed the expression of the endogenous plasma membrane calcium ATPase isoform 4. Over-expressing clones were less vulnerable to Ca(2+)-mediated cell death induced by A23187 whereas "antisense" clones were considerably more susceptible. These data indicate that regulation of plasma membrane calcium ATPase expression may be critical to cellular survival when cells are exposed to pathological increases in intracellular calcium.
Gender and Motivation: A Study of the Athletic and Academic Motivations of Division I Female College Basketball Players

Student-athletes are an incredibly vulnerable population. Many dream of a professional career, but statistically very, very few will make it. Even if they have the talent, and the luck (which the v...
A Culturalist Theory of Political Change

Eckstein introduces the political cultural approach as one of two viable options for theory in political science, the other being rational-choice theory. He then explains why the “cumulative socialization” process that he associates with culture leads to what he calls “expectations of continuity.” In short, since earlier learning builds on later learning, people acquire considerable inertia to their orientations toward the world and cannot easily accommodate rapid, extensive change. But, Eckstein acknowledges, if the cultural approach fails to incorporate change, it offers little help in explaining a world in which change is ubiquitous. Instead political culture theory predicts that certain changes are likely while others are not. For instance, people routinely alter their actions in efforts to maintain their preferred social patterns in moderately new situations. Particularly among the members of modern societies, for whom such new situations are common, Eckstein thinks that social patterns capable of accommodating considerable flexibility gradually develop. But new situations that confront people with large-scale contextual changes likely will overwhelm culture-bound creatures. Faced with such circumstances, people are apt to lapse into various forms of incoherent and fragmented reactions rather than deftly revising their actions in ways that maintain their social patterns. Thus revolutionary transformations through which societies attempt to realize unprecedented objectives are not likely to achieve their intended outcomes.
Politics by other means : Justus von Liebig and the German translation of John Stuart Mill's Logic

Compared with other scientists of the nineteenth century, the German chemist Justus von Liebig (1803–73) was a complex figure. In part, this was because Liebig established such broad borders for his science. Chemical methods, popular and professional publications about chemistry, technological applications, promoting the car and even politics – all were central concerns stemming from Liebig's notion of chemistry as the central science.When Liebig discovered John Stuart Mill's Logic, a work on the philosophy of science, it struck a deep chord within him. Mill's high praise for Liebig's chemistry certainly provided Liebig with a means to promote his own reputation. In addition, Mill's Logic presented science as a central method for the general reform of society, a goal Liebig was himself struggling to define in the early 1840s. In the scientific method, Mill discovered a ‘rule by the elite’, which he could never find nor justify in his political philosophy. This was a rule that greatly appealed to Liebig, and he set out to ensure that Mill's work was translated and published in German. Though many details of this transaction are known, this paper seeks to investigate the relationship between Liebig and Mill's book, and the significance of this relationship for understanding Liebig's role as a gatekeeper and inter-relations between science and politics.
A parametrix for the ∂̄-Neumann problem on pseudoconvex domains of finite type

Abstract We construct a parametrix for the ∂ -Neumann problem on any pseudoconvex domain of finite type which reduces completely the study of (isotropic) Lp-Sobolev and Holder estimates to those for ∂ b and □b. We also establish the “maximal” (nonisotropic) estimates in the case of D(q) domains and provide a precise comparison of the Bergman and Szego projections (and of the canonical solutions to ∂ with respect to these two operators). The argument is substantially simpler than the known ones for the cases of strongly pseudoconvex domains and pseudoconvex domains of finite type in C 2 .
Classification of the Alveolar Ridge Width: Implant-Driven Treatment Considerations for the Horizontally Deficient Alveolar Ridges

Among many techniques advocated for the horizontally deficient alveolar ridges, ridge-split has many advantages. Here, treatment management strategies of the horizontally collapsed ridges, especially the ridge-split approach, are discussed and a clinically relevant implant-driven classification of the alveolar ridge width is proposed, with the goal to assist an operator in choosing the proper bone augmentation technique. Comparison and advantages of two commonly used techniques, ridge-split and block bone graft, are presented.
Induction therapy: clinical and quality of life outcomes in aged renal transplant recipients.

Background One primary purpose of transplant is to improve quality of life (QOL) in renal transplant recipients (RTRs) ≥50 yr of age, where death with a functioning graft limits life years gained. We aimed to determine the impact of induction therapy, with its subsequent effects on rejection, infection, and readmissions, on QOL. Methods Subanalysis of patients ≥50 yr of age that participated in a single-center, prospective, risk-stratified, randomized, open-label study. Two hundred RTRs ≥ 50 yr of age. Interventions All patients received either rabbit antithymocyte globulin (rATG) or interleukin 2 receptor antagonists (IL-2RA) in addition to tacrolimus (FK), mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), and corticosteroids in a randomized fashion. Outcome analyses included safety, efficacy, and QOL. Results Results reported 1 yr post-transplant. Of 111 patients ≥50 yr old, 48 received IL-2RA and 63 received rATG. Baseline characteristics were similar between groups. Patients that received rATG had a trend toward lower acute rejection rates, fewer readmissions, and fewer supratherapeutic tacrolimus troughs, with similar rates of infections. QOL analysis demonstrated patients that received rATG were significantly more likely to have improvements in physical and social functioning after transplant. Conclusions Contrary to the common practice, T-cell depletion in recipients ≥50 yr of age may be beneficial.
On the nonexistence of energy functions for power systems with losses

The author demonstrates the nonexistence of a general, global energy function for power systems with losses. He also shows that under certain conditions there does exist a Lyapunov function (defined on a compact set of the state space) which can be incorporated into direct methods for the stability analysis of power systems with losses. >
Improving sexual rehabilitation services: the patient's perspective.

Objectives The purpose of this study was to examine, from the perspective of persons with spinal cord injury (SCI), the efficacy of sexual rehabilitation services. This input was sought to provide relevant information for enhancing services and for purposes of curricular planning. Method Data from 12 persons with SCI were gathered through interviews. Qualitative methodology was used to analyze interview transcripts. The results were categorized into the following themes: descriptions of sexual rehabilitation services received, evaluation of services received, and recommendations for improving services. Results The majority of participants reported receiving some type of sexual rehabilitation services, but many reported dissatisfaction with the quality and quantity of sexuality-related services received. A complex interplay of factors such as age, gender, severity of injury, time since injury, mood, sexual experience before injury, and marital status seemed to influence the participants' needs, preferences, and readiness for these services. Conclusion The results provide information about how future services can be improved and what benefits and limitations exist in the role of occupational therapy in sexual rehabilitation.
Direct mining of discriminative and essential frequent patterns via model-based search tree

Frequent patterns provide solutions to datasets that do not have well-structured feature vectors. However, frequent pattern mining is non-trivial since the number of unique patterns is exponential but many are non-discriminative and correlated. Currently, frequent pattern mining is performed in two sequential steps: enumerating a set of frequent patterns, followed by feature selection. Although many methods have been proposed in the past few years on how to perform each separate step efficiently, there is still limited success in eventually finding highly compact and discriminative patterns. The culprit is due to the inherent nature of this widely adopted two-step approach. This paper discusses these problems and proposes a new and different method. It builds a decision tree that partitions the data onto different nodes. Then at each node, it directly discovers a discriminative pattern to further divide its examples into purer subsets. Since the number of examples towards leaf level is relatively small, the new approach is able to examine patterns with extremely low global support that could not be enumerated on the whole dataset by the two-step method. The discovered feature vectors are more accurate on some of the most difficult graph as well as frequent itemset problems than most recently proposed algorithms but the total size is typically 50% or more smaller. Importantly, the minimum support of some discriminative patterns can be extremely low (e.g. 0.03%). In order to enumerate these low support patterns, state-of-the-art frequent pattern algorithm either cannot finish due to huge memory consumption or have to enumerate 101 to 103 times more patterns before they can even be found. Software and datasets are available by contacting the author.
Simple waves do not avoid eigenvalue crossings

General one-parameter families of matrices avoid eigenvalue crossings. It is shown that the matrices associated with the simple waves of nonlinear systems of conservation laws do not obey this rule: a subset of simple waves with nonzero measure has crossing eigenvalues. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The Evolutionary Ecology of Drosophila

In this review I have attempted to summarize a number of topics with which I am familiar that have significance for the field of evolutionary ecology. Since a good deal of this work includes laboratory studies, the following section provides a detailed description of the ecology of Drosophila (usually melanogaster) in the laboratory environment. This is followed by a section on the population dynamics of Drosophila, with particular attention paid to sources of bias that are inherent in certain experimental techniques. The next section considers the mechanisms and evolution of intra- and interspecific competition. This is followed by a section examining tradeoffs and correlations in Drosophila life-history traits and the consequences of density-dependent natural selection. The last section summarizes a rapidly growing literature on the habitat and oviposition preference of Drosophila. Several recent reviews touch upon areas of the ecology and evolution of Drosophila that I will not address (Parsons, 1980, 1981; Barker and Starmer, 1982). In this review I have attempted to develop a critical review of certain major topics and, I hope, unify certain disparate observations rather than be comprehensive in my citations. To all those whose work I have failed to cite I offer my apologies.
Floral affinity and benefits of dietary mixing with flowers for a polyphagous scarab, Popillia japonica Newman

Many generalist herbivores, especially adult beetles, are facultative florivores, feeding on leaves but readily accepting floral tissues when available. We speculated that day-flying beetles with high energetic requirements would benefit from dietary mixing with nutrient-rich flower tissues and favor them during foraging. We tested that "Floral Affinity Hypothesis" with Popillia japonica, a day-active ruteline scarab that feeds intermittently throughout its adult life on multiple plant species. In field tests with six species of flowering hosts, far more landings occurred on flowers than on foliage for all plants except Hibiscus syriacus which bears flowers along the main stem rather than terminally. Trials with elevated plants showed that height of the floral display contributes to beetles' landing on flowers. Flower petals generally were preferred over leaves in laboratory choice tests. Nitrogen and water content were comparable or higher in foliage than in petals, but plant sugars were much higher in petals. Longevity and fecundity of beetles provided single-plant diets of Hibiscus, Rosa x hybrida, or Trifolium flowers for 3 weeks were as high, or higher, than for beetles fed foliage of Tilia cordata, a highly suitable resource. As expected, rotating flowers or Tilia foliage with marginally suitable Quercus palustris foliage enhanced those parameters relative to a diet of Quercus alone, but beetles provided high-quality Tilia foliage also benefitted from dietary mixing with flowers. Nearly all past dietary mixing studies concerned immature insects, for which growth rate is paramount. Opportunistic florivory by adult beetles represents a type of dietary mixing wherein the premium may be calorie-rich food for fueling flight muscles, with ensuing reproductive benefits.
Anti-Catholicism in Germany, Britain, and the United States: A Review and Critique of Recent Scholarship

The past two decades have seen an efflorescence of works exploring cultural anti-Catholicism in a variety of national contexts. But so far, historians have engaged in little comparative analysis. This article is a first step, examining recent historical literature on modern British and American anti-Catholicism, in order to trace the similarities and distinctiveness of the turn-of-the-century German case. Historians are most likely to be acquainted with American nativism, the German Kulturkampf, continental anticlericalism, and the problems of Catholic Emancipation and the Irish Question in Britain. Many of the themes and functions of anti-Catholic discourse in the West transcended national and temporal boundaries. In each case, the conceptualization of a Catholic ‘other’ is a testament to the tenacity of confessionalism in an age formerly characterized as one of inexorable secularization. Contemporary observers often agreed that religious culture—like history, race, ethnicity, geography, and local custom—played a role in the self-evident distinctiveness of peoples and nations, in their political forms, economic performance, and intellectual and artistic contributions. We will see how confessionalism remained a lens through which intellectuals and ordinary citizens, whether attached or estranged from religious commitments, viewed political, economic, and cultural change.
Abrupt climate change revisited

Taken together, evidence from east Greenland's mountain moraines and results from atmospheric models appear to provide the answer to a question which has long dogged abrupt climate change research: namely, how were impacts of the Younger Dryas (YD), Dansgaard–Oeschger (D–O) and Heinrich (H) events transmitted so quickly and efficiently throughout the northern hemisphere and tropics? The answer appears to lie in extensive winter sea ice formation which created Siberian-like conditions in the regions surrounding the northern Atlantic. Not only would this account for the ultra cold conditions in the north, but, as suggested by models, it would have pushed the tropical rain belt southward and weakened the monsoons. The requisite abrupt changes in the extent of sea ice cover are of course best explained by the turning on and turning off of the Atlantic's conveyor circulation.
Hormonal regulation of oligopeptide transporter Pept-1 in a human intestinal cell line

The intestinal oligopeptide transporter (cloned as Pept-1) has major roles in protein nutrition and drug therapy. A key unstudied question is whether expression of Pept-1 is hormonally regulated. In this experiment, we investigated whether insulin has such a role. We used a human intestinal cell monolayer (Caco-2) as the in vitro model of human small intestine and glycylglutamine (Gly-Gln) as the model substrate for Pept-1. Results showed that addition of insulin at a physiological concentration (5 nM) to incubation medium greatly stimulates Gly-Gln uptake by Caco-2 cells. This stimulation was blocked when genistein, an inhibitor of tyrosine kinase, was added to incubation medium. Studies of the mechanism of insulin stimulation showed the following. 1) Stimulation occurred promptly (30-60 min) after exposure to insulin. 2) There was no significant change in the Michaelis-Menten constant of Gly-Gln transport, but there was a nearly twofold increase in its maximal velocity. 3) Insulin effect persisted even when Golgi apparatus, which is involved in trafficking of newly synthesized Pept-1, was dismantled. 4) However, there was complete elimination of insulin effect by disruption of microtubules involved in trafficking of preformed Pept-1. 5) Finally, with insulin treatment, there was no change in Pept-1 gene expression, but the amount of Pept-1 protein in the apical membrane was increased. In conclusion, the results show that insulin, when it binds to its receptor, stimulates Gly-Gln uptake by Caco-2 cells by increasing the membrane population of Pept-1. The mechanism appears to be increased translocation of this transporter from a preformed cytoplasmic pool.
The Masculinization of the Female Hero in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland

This article focuses on alternate versions of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and their contrasting expressions of feminism through the main character Alice, with a special emphasis on Tim Burton’s 2010 film adaptation. It discusses Burton's attempt to depict Alice as a feminist heroine by replacing her feminine tendencies with patriarchal and masculine qualities. Alice is ultimately transformed into the role of a man in order to provide her with a sense of empowerment in both a military and capitalistic sense. Burton's method of developing Alice as a heroine through a male guise is being employed in other modern female oriented fantasy films: harming the image of what it truly means to be a feminist.
Same day administration of pegfilgrastim with dose dense doxorubicin in early breast cancer patients

671 Background: Pegfilgrastim is indicated to decrease the incidence of febrile neutropenia in patients with non-myeloid malignancies receiving myelosuppressive chemotherapy. In licensing studies, patients received a single dose of pegfilgrastim on day 2 of each chemotherapy cycle, which added an extra visit for day 2 administration. We administered pegfilgrastim to a series of early breast cancer patients on the same day of chemotherapy. We reviewed charts retrospectively to assess both efficacy and safety. Methods: Data on blood counts, toxicity and chemotherapy dosing was collected from July 1, 2003 to May 6, 2005 for all patients with early breast cancer who received sequential or combination doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide and paclitaxel on a 14 day schedule. Herceptin was given with paclitaxel and/or cyclophosphamide in 2 patients. Results: 64 patients with a median age of 50 years (range 22–67 years) were treated. 14 patients had stage I disease, 39 stage II and 11 stage III disease. Forty-one patien...
The Pension Penalty Associated with Changing Employers

There are various costs associated with changing jobs. One potentially significant cost is the reduction or loss of pension benefits associated with the old job. Even if one is fully vested, a large reduction in pension benefits may occur. Amounts of increases in salary from a new job necessary to make up for pension losses are calculated for combinations of years and other factors. A rule of thumb is calculated for the portion of the salary increase that needs to be tax-sheltered in order to leave a worker economically unaffected by a job change.
America's Other Growth Rate: What the U.S. Obesity Epidemic and Healthcare Cost Crisis Mean for the Rest of the World

Increasing obesity rates in the United States have fueled soaring healthcare costs and exacerbated recent fiscal and economic challenges. This phenomena, however, is not unique to the U.S. and many countries, including low and middleincome countries, are seeing increasing numbers of people who are obese or overweight. Finding ways for societies to achieve the benefits of economic growth without suffering concurrent epidemics of obesity and related diseases represents a central challenge to sustainable development. For countries where this epidemic has already taken hold, new policy thinking is needed to mitigate this burden. Meanwhile, emerging nations must define new pathways for development that bypass or minimize these pitfalls. Proactive public policies, innovations in healthcare delivery, and refashioning the lifestyles adopted with growth represent potential avenues through which countries can navigate this issue.
Interfacial tension and surface elasticity of carbon black (CB) covered oil-water interface.

Carboxyl-terminated carbon black (CB) particles have been proposed as readily available, biocompatible dispersants to stabilize oil-in-water emulsions after an oil spill. Since the reduction in interfacial tension and the increase in interfacial elasticity are the key parameters which relate interfacial mechanics to emulsion stability, this investigation explores the effect of CB adsorption and surface coverage on oil–water interfacial tension and elasticity. Flocculation of CB was explored as ionic strength was increased from 0 to 0.6 M, approximately the salinity of seawater. As salinity increases, CB aggregates into larger particles from 100 nm to 6 μm. The interfacial tension and dilational viscoelasticity were measured for two systems: a drop of a CB suspension in oil and an inverted oil drop in a CB suspension. For the arrangement of a CB suspension drop in oil, most of the CB settles and accumulates toward the bottom of the drop with only small surface adsorption and no appreciable effect is observ...
Monitoring mental health treatment acceptance and initial treatment adherence in veterans Veterans of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom versus other veterans of other eras

Identifying factors that influence mental health outcomes in veterans can aid in the redesign of programs to maximize the likelihood of early resolution of problems. To that end, we examined demographic and clinical process data from 2,684 veterans who scored positive on a mental health screen. We investigated this data set for patterns and possible predictors of mental health referral acceptance and attendance. The majority of patients had not received mental health treatment within the last two years (76%). Veterans of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) were more likely to accept a mental health referral for depression but were equally likely to attend a mental health visit as other era veterans. Decreased acceptance was associated with provider type and contact method, clinic location, depression only, and specific age ranges (65-74). Among those who accepted a referral, decreased attendance was associated with clinic location, depression only, and retirement. No variables predicted OEF/OIF acceptance/attendance. In conclusion, our findings illustrate the importance of close, continual monitoring of clinical process data to help reveal targets for improving mental health care for veterans.
Energetics of Growth for Black-Bellied Tree Ducks

BERNSTEIN. 1967. Physiological responses of the giant hummingbird, Patagona gigas. Comp. Biochem. Physiol. 23:797-813. SCHMIDT-NIELSEN, K. 1970. Energy metabolism, body size and the problems of scaling. Fed. Proc. 29:1524-1532. WEST, G. C. 1960. Seasonal variation in the energy balance of the tree sparrow in relation to migration. Auk:306-329. WEST, G. C., AND J. S. HART. 1966. Metabolic responses of evening grosbeaks to constant and fluctuating temperatures. Physiol. Zool. 39:171184.
Modified Mesoporous Silica Gas Separation Membranes on Polymeric Hollow Fibers

Thin, continuous, mesoporous silica membranes are formed on polymeric hollow fibers via liquid-phase coating at roomtemperature and aging with tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) vapor at 100 °C. After liquid extraction of the surfactant template and mesopore infiltration with an aminoalkyloctasilsesquioxane, the membrane displays CO2-selective gas permeation properties.
Finding Their Way: Long Range Air Navigation Development, 1919-1939

The Navy began its aeronautical expansion of the Interwar years with the navigational feat of the first aerial transatlantic crossing. Bookended with the stellar accomplishments of naval aviation in oceanic power projection during World War II, the Bureau of Aeronautics appears at first glance to have been a pioneering force in the field of air navigation between 1919 and 1939. Close scrutiny reveals an entirely different narrative that illustrates the difficulties of Bureau of Aeronautics leadership in meeting their objectives within the administrative framework of the “steam Navy.” Competing channels of innovation, internecine conflicts and changing doctrinal emphasis put the Bureau of Aeronautics behind its sister service and commercial enterprise in addressing the requirements of long-distance, over-water navigation.
Genetic algorithm optimization of point charges in force field development: challenges and insights.

Evolutionary methods, such as genetic algorithms (GAs), provide powerful tools for optimization of the force field parameters, especially in the case of simultaneous fitting of the force field terms against extensive reference data. However, GA fitting of the nonbonded interaction parameters that includes point charges has not been explored in the literature, likely due to numerous difficulties with even a simpler problem of the least-squares fitting of the atomic point charges against a reference molecular electrostatic potential (MEP), which often demonstrates an unusually high variation of the fitted charges on buried atoms. Here, we examine the performance of the GA approach for the least-squares MEP point charge fitting, and show that the GA optimizations suffer from a magnified version of the classical buried atom effect, producing highly scattered yet correlated solutions. This effect can be understood in terms of the linearly independent, natural coordinates of the MEP fitting problem defined by t...
Accuracy and robustness of a simple algorithm to measure vessel diameter from B-mode ultrasound images

Measurement of changes in arterial vessel diameter can be used to assess the state of cardiovascular health, but the use of such measurements as biomarkers is contingent upon the accuracy and robustness of the measurement. This work presents a simple algorithm for measuring diameter from B-mode images derived from vascular ultrasound. The algorithm is based upon Gaussian curve fitting and a Viterbi search process. We assessed the accuracy of the algorithm by measuring the diameter of a digital reference object (DRO) and ultrasound-derived images of a carotid artery. We also assessed the robustness of the algorithm by manipulating the quality of the image. Across a broad range of signal-to-noise ratio and with varying image edge error, the algorithm measured vessel diameter within 0.7% of the creation dimensions of the DRO. This was a similar level of difference (0.8%) to when an ultrasound image was used. When SNR dropped to 18 dB, measurement error increased to 1.3%. When edge position was varied by as much as 10%, measurement error was well maintained between 0.68 and 0.75%. All these errors fall well within the margin of error established by the medical physics community for quantitative ultrasound measurements. We conclude that this simple algorithm provides consistent and accurate measurement of lumen diameter from B-mode images across a broad range of image quality.
The Comic Sublime

At the outset of his first major work, The Quintessence of Ibsenism, Shaw salutes the ‘pioneers of the march to the plains of heaven’ (C 19: 15). The combination in this figure of ‘pioneers’ and ‘plains of heaven’, of a word evoking the progress of society and a phrase evoking the progress of self into new moral territory, this fusion of social Darwinism and Bunyanesque Christianity, describes the most characteristic thrust of his imagination. Both his dramatic and discursive writing carry forward, under the banner of Socialism, a vision of perfectibility at once collective and individual. The imperative of general progress is at the same time a psychological imperative, for Shaw’s work typically dramatises conflict between the egoism of the commonplace social self and the higher egoism of moral passion.
A Mediterranean Diet in Relation to Subclinical Vascular Conditions

Abstract Adherence to a Mediterranean-style diet may be associated with the risk of vascular outcomes including stroke, cardiac disease, and cognitive impairment through its effects on blood vessels and related vascular damage. White matter lesions, brain infarction, and arterio/atherosclerosis are often subclinical. This chapter reviews the current evidence for a relationship between a Mediterranean diet and these subclinical vascular conditions. While some studies support a potential role of adherence to a Mediterranean diet in decreasing the burden of these subclinical vascular conditions, limited research has been conducted; therefore, the findings are scant and inconclusive. More research is needed on whether such vascular damage lies on causal pathways linking a Mediterranean diet with clinical vascular events in order to help identify patients who may benefit most from dietary changes and to support the use of these common subclinical markers in future clinical trials examining dietary interventions for improving brain health.
Two missing components for Solid Media Transmission: Amplifiers and manifolds

Solid Media Transmission (SMT) is a new technology for transmitting robot actuation. SMT is similar to pneumatic or hydraulic transmissions, but uses solid balls and spacers rather than fluids to transmit force and displacement. SMT has been developed recently as a promising solution for specialized robot applications, including the challenges of confined space and strong magnetic field in Magnetic Resonance (MRI) scanners. Until now, SMT has lacked two capabilities compared to hydraulic and pneumatic devices: (1) manifolds, which can balance force among multiple inputs, and (2) amplifiers, which enable displacement scaling by trading force for displacement resolution. This paper introduces an SMT implementation for each of these missing components, provides scalable designs, parametric optimizations, hardware verifications, and ends with suggestions for future work.