cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
General Structures of Primal Scaling Interior Point Methods

In this paper, we explore the general structure of primal scaling interior point methods. Specifically, we are able to analyze the primal scaling path-following method, potential reduction method and low-complexity affine scaling method under one simple framework. We believe that this approach provides a simple but inside analysis to understand interior point methods.
Funding Opportunities in Endoscopic Imaging Research

Advances in gastrointestinal endoscopy have greatly enhanced the clinicians' ability to diagnose and treat many digestive disorders. During the last 30 years, some new therapeutic endoscope techniques have become the standard of care, and other newer evolving technologies are being evaluated. Despite these endoscopic advances, there has been expressed concern that federal funding of endoscopic research has lagged behind other evolving technologic and scientific discoveries. This article provides an overview of the background of one federal agency's attempt to engage the endoscopy community in the research enterprise through a variety of mechanisms of career development, grant support, and endoscopic research and development.
The response of transplanted articular cartilage to growth hormone.

The response of transplanted articular cartilage in dogs to a biological stimulus was studied by injecting the recipient of the homograft with growth hormone and observing the activity of H3-hydroxyproline and 35S. There was a tenfold increase in activity of H3-hydroxyproline and 35S in those animals which received growth hormone.
Two New Species of Myersiohyla (Anura: Hylidae) from Cerro De La Neblina, Venezuela, with Comments on Other Species of the Genus

Fil: Faivovich, Julian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Oficina de Coordinacion Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales; Argentina; American Museum of Natural History. Division of Vertebrate Zoology (Herpetology); Estados Unidos de America; Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Oficina de Coordinacion Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales. Division Herpetologia; Argentina;
Effects of quinidine on renal biochemistry and function in young and old rats.

Abstract Nephrotoxic effects of quinidine in male Fischer-344 rats in ages of 3-4 months and 20-22 months were evaluated. Renal cortical slice oxygen consumption, accumulation of p-aminohippurate and tetraethyl ammonium were inhibited in vitro. No age-related differences were observed. Quinidine decreased respiratory control index and ADP/O ratio in both age groups. Quinidine administration at 75 mg/kg/day for four days reduced tetraethylammonium transport in both young and old. Blood urea nitrogen increased in the old, but not in the young rats. Serum creatinine levels were elevated in both age groups. Renal cortical slice oxygen consumption decreased in the young but not in the old rats after quinidine administration. No changes in RCI or ADP/O ratio were observed in the two age groups. The results indicate that Fischer-344 rats in the ages of 20-22 months are not increasingly susceptible to quinidine-induced nephrotoxicity.
Tobacco cessation, the dental profession, and the role of dental education

This article describes the development of a comprehensive, interdisciplinary, tobacco cessation program based on twenty years of experience at the Indiana University (IU) School of Dentistry. It reviews the relationship between tobacco use and oral health, the nature of nicotine addiction and cessation approaches involving nicotine replacement therapy. In the early 1980s, tobacco control curriculum and cessation guidelines were introduced at the IU School of Dentistry and cooperative efforts initiated with other U.S. and Canadian dental schools. During the past decade, an interdisciplinary Nicotine Dependence Program has been developed to serve outpatients receiving treatment at all hospitals on the IU Medical Center campus. It is hoped that the models described here will be of value to other dental schools developing educational curricula and tobacco control and cessation programs.
The Orwellian Military Commissions Act of 2006

In three decisions in 2004 and 2006, the Supreme Court of the United States rejected the sweeping claims by President Bush that his role as Commander in Chief entitled him to detain persons indefinitely and, if he chose, to subject them to war crimes trials before military commissions that did not have all of the procedural protections of courts martial. The Court’s rulings, however, left open the possibility that, notwithstanding the treaty obligations of the United States under the Geneva Conventions, Congress could authorize the President to take the steps that he could not take unilaterally. In the Military Commissions Act (MCA) of 2006, Congress did just that. However, despite its title, the MCA does far more than authorize military commissions. Most significantly, it eliminates the statutory right of aliens declared by the government to be ‘unlawful enemy combatants’ and detained indefinitely on that basis, to seek a writ of habeas corpus from a federal court. To be sure, the MCA provides some right of access to federal court for persons convicted of war crimes by military commissions or found to be unlawful enemy combatants by a military ‘combatant status review tribunal’ or equivalent body, but even then, it severely curtails opportunities for judicial relief. In this and other respects, the MCA purports to confer rights that, upon close inspection, prove illusory. For example, it uses the language of the Geneva Conventions, even while forbidding courts to look to international and foreign sources to construe that language. The MCA is, more broadly, an exercise in misdirection. It is, in a word, ‘Orwellian’.
Dynamics of correlated genetic systems VI. Variation in recombination rates in experimental populations of Drosophila melanogaster

Recombination fractions among four chromosome 3 enzyme loci were measured over a 20 generation period in experimental populations of Drosophila melanogaster. The experimental populations were initiated with complete pairwise linkage disequilibria among the marker loci, thereby providing an initial structure favorable to selection for recombination modification. The recombination data show no evidence of directional changes in recombination rates among the marker loci, although variation in estimates, both between families within generations and between generations was large. These materials also yielded much lower estimates for recombination fractions for the centromeric region of the third chromosome than previously reported. Taken in total, the experimental results show no evidence for recombination modification, although the results do indicate ample genetic variance for recombination rates.
Mechanisms of amino acid-stimulated insulin secretion in congenital hyperinsulinism

The role of amino acids in the regulation of insulin secretion in pancreatic beta-cells is highlighted in three forms of congenital hyperinsulinism (HI), namely gain-of-function mutations of glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH), loss-of-function mutations of ATP-dependent potassium channels, and a deficiency of short-chain 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase. Studies on disease mouse models of HI suggest that amino acid oxidation and signaling effects are the major mechanisms of amino acid-stimulated insulin secretion. Amino acid oxidation via GDH produces ATP and triggers insulin secretion. The signaling effect of amino acids amplifies insulin release after beta-cell depolarization and elevation of cytosolic calcium.
Injectable myocardial matrix as a scaffold for myocardial tissue engineering

Current injectable materials utilized in myocardial tissue engineering have been borrowed from other tissue engineering applications and have not been specifically designed for the myocardium. We have recently tested the feasibility of using an injectable form of myocardial extracellular matrix that would provide cardiac specific matrix cues as well as be amenable to minimally invasive delivery. We have demonstrated that this material self-assembles in vivo to form a nanofibrous scaffold, which supports the infiltration of neovasculature. We have also demonstrated that this material may be delivered minimally invasively through a catheter.
A comparative study of MIMO detection algorithms for wideband spatial multiplexing systems

The implementation of wideband MIMO systems poses a major challenge to hardware designers due to the huge processing power required for MIMO detection. To achieve this goal with a complete VLSI solution, channel coding and MIMO detection are preferably separated so that each of them can be fitted into a single chip. In this paper, a comparative study is presented regarding various uncoded adaptive and non-adaptive MIMO detection algorithms. Intended to serve as a reference for system designers, this comparison is performed from several different perspectives including theoretical formulation, simulated BER/PER performance, and hardware complexity. All the simulations are conducted within MIMO-OFDM framework and with a packet structure similar to that of the IEEE 802.11a/g standard. As the comparison results show, the RLS algorithm appears to be an affordable solution for a wideband MIMO system targeted at gigabit wireless transmission. As a direct result of this work, an ASIC for a 25 MHz wideband 8 /spl times/ 8 MIMO-OFDM system using RLS has been designed and fabricated.
Increasing Confidence in Concurrent Software through Architectural Analysis

Mission critical real-time and embedded software systems often use significant degree of concurrency within their architecture designs. Experience has shown that common problems surrounding the design of these systems include underspecified performance requirements; underspecified state-dependent behavior; and inadequately capturing concurrent interactions. Dynamic architectural models capturing the overall behavioral properties of the software system are often constructed using ad hoc techniques with little consideration given to the resulting performance or implications of concurrent behavior until the project reaches implementation. To address this issue and thus increase the confidence that a concurrent software architecture design will behave as desired, we have developed an approach to augment UML-based software designs with colored Petri nets, thus increasing the analytical capabilities at design time. An illustration of this approach using a rover control case study is included in this paper.
New York's Chief Judge Kaye: Her Separate Opinions Bode Well for Renewed State Constitutionalism at the New York Court of Appeals

When Judith Kaye was elevated by New York's then-Governor Mario Cuomo to the center seat of the state's highest court, she was already a national leader in promoting judicial federalism. In her judicial opinions as an Associate Judge of the Court of Appeals, as well as in her scholarly writings and presentations, Kaye had earned a reputation among academics and state court judges nationwide for examining and extolling the independent state constitutional protection of individual rights and liberties. It was thus to be fully expected that her tenure as Chief Judge would see an increased reliance at the court on state constitutional law. In this article, Professor Bonventre surveys the dissenting and separate concurring opinions authored by Kaye during her ten years on the court prior to her elevation as Chief Judge. These opinions pointed to a probable change in the court's direction when Kaye was appointed to replace her successor, Sol Wachtler. He had become increasingly conservative and increasingly hostile to independent state constitutional adjudication. An examination of the court's constitutional decisions shortly following Kaye's ascendancy to the center seat does, in fact, show a significant change in the court's direction more in line with those of the new Chief Judge.
Management of Fertilizers and Water for Ornamental Plants in Urban Landscapes: Current Practices and Impacts on Water Resources in Florida

Rapid population growth and urbanization in Florida have increased the number of urban landscapes that receive fertilization and irrigation. Consequently, maintenance of these landscapes may contribute to water shortages and water quality degradation. This article 1) describes the current fertilizer and water use practices that are used by homeowners and landscape professionals; 2) summarizes the research related to nutrient and water use by landscape plants; and 3) provides an overview of the critical issues that should be considered as we evaluate the need for improved management of water and nutrients in urban landscapes.
Preliminary observations on a new derivative of isoniazid (Ro 2-4969).

Summary1. Ro 2-4969, a compound of low solubility, related to isoniazid, has been administered experimentally to human subjects to determine the rate and extent of absorption from the gastrointestinal tract. 2. The compound or its derivatives appeared in the plasma and, probably because of slow absorption, detectable and clinically significant amounts remained for a longer period than when the highly soluble isoniazid was administered. 3. The drug administered in a single daily dose of 10 mg/kg/day was found to maintain drug concentrations of one μg/ml of plasma without dangerous cumulative effect. 4. No toxic reactions have been observed in 26 patients treated for 2 months or more.
Economy and Ethical Community

One of the most pathbreaking achievements of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right is its conception of the economy as a system of needs belonging to civil society which is one of three spheres of ethical community intermediary between the family and the state. Nonetheless, Hegel’s identification of the economy as an element of ethical community has been pervasively ignored or misinterpreted, leading Hegel to be commonly placed among the many who question the ethical standing of economic relations and thereby place modernity under suspicion.
Abstract 229: Patients’ Undergoing Cardiac Catheterization May Not Have Adequate Knowledge to Make Informed Decisions About Treatment

Objective: To be able to fully participate in a shared decision-making process, patients should be sufficiently knowledgeable about the risks and benefits of all available options, such that they can state informed preferences for care. Our objective was to assess knowledge about treatment options for coronary artery disease (CAD) and factors that are associated with a greater knowledge level about treatment. Methods: Cross-sectional survey of patients from four hospitals who were referred for cardiac catheterization for evaluation for CAD. The survey included 9 questions asking basic knowledge about the treatment options, 15 questions assessing decision-making processes (discussion of risks and benefits of treatment, preferred method of decision-making, and treatment preferences), demographics, and medical history. Knowledge was measured as the number of correct responses to the 9 questions about CAD treatment. Factors associated with a greater amount of knowledge were determined using multivariate linear regression. Results: One hundred forty-seven patients were surveyed around the time of cardiac catheterization with or without PCI. The sample had a mean age of 62 ±11 years, was 64% (94 of 147) male, 70% white (103 of 147), and 64% (94 of 147) had education beyond high school. Twenty-nine percent (43 of 147) of patients had prior myocardial infarction, 44% (64 of 147) had prior PCI, and 18% (26 of 147) had prior bypass surgery. The majority of patients (81%, 119 of 147) stated a preference for shared decision-making; however, when asked about their preferred treatment option, 46% (67 of 147) of patients indicated either that they were not sure what treatment they would choose or wanted their doctor to decide. The mean knowledge score was 5.0 ± 1.5 (range 1-8). In a multivariate linear regression model, white race (p=0.005), higher educational level (p<0.001), preference for shared decision-making (p=0.02), and a more robust discussion about treatment risks (p=0.047) were associated with a higher knowledge score. Age, sex, and prior cardiac history were not associated with knowledge level. Conclusions: Patients making decisions about CAD treatment may not have enough knowledge to make an informed decision, resulting in a substantial number of patients who were not sure which treatment they preferred. This may in part be due to incomplete discussions, particularly about treatment risks. Interventions to ensure more complete counseling, particularly for non-white and less educated patients, and encourage shared decision-making may improve patients’ ability to make informed decisions about treatment.
Transitional Justice, Civil Society and the Development of the Rule of Law in Post-Conflict Societies

This article provides an overview of the contribution of NGOs and civil society more broadly to efforts to achieve transitional justice around the world. The first section concentrates on civil society within post-conflict states. While conflict conditions often impose severe constraints, the persistence of civil society groups both during and after the conflict goes a long way toward gauging the prospects for transitional justice. Although civil society groups are often the most vocal advocates of transitional justice, their relationship with governments seeking accountability for past abuses is frequently rocky. Second, I examine the role of global civil society in the pursuit of transitional justice after a conflict. Indeed, a growing stratum of activism and expertise has developed in the area of human rights, and these groups have been potent advocates of transitional justice. At the same time, international pressure may sometimes be unwelcome and even counterproductive to the broader goal of social reconciliation that motivates transitional justice. I conclude with some reflections on the relationship between civil society, transitional justice, and the rule of law in post-conflict societies.
The Comparison and Revelation of the Vocational Ability Standards of College Counselors in China and America

Based on the sino- US vocational ability standards of counselors,the comparison is made in the aspects of theory,strategy and the content of such standards,in order to obtain the revelation of the improvement of the construction of counselor team and of their ability. Colleges should promote the counselors' specialization through structural reform,enhance the localization of theory of college students study and development,improve the humility of work through the development of ideological education,and enhance the scientification of work through Assessment and evaluation.
In defense of body weight.

Obesity and reducing are age-old problems, going back at least to the time of Socrates. The problem involves equilibrium in energy balance—which is extremely resistant to measures to alter it.
Familial Vesicoureteral Reflux: A Prospective Study

A prospective study was established to identify the incidence of vesicoureteral reflux in the siblings of patients with reflux. Of 78 patients with reflux 104 siblings were screened with an awake voiding cystogram and 34 (32 per cent) were found to have reflux. Of these 34 siblings 25 (73 per cent) had no abnormal voiding symptoms or history of urinary tract infection. The highest incidence of reflux was found in the siblings of those patients with radiographic evidence of renal scarring. Early detection and followup in this high risk group may be a vital tool in determining more about the natural history of vesicoureteral reflux and its relationship to renal damage.
False alarm reduction in critical care.

High false alarm rates in the ICU decrease quality of care by slowing staff response times while increasing patient delirium through noise pollution. The 2015 Physio-Net/Computing in Cardiology Challenge provides a set of 1,250 multi-parameter ICU data segments associated with critical arrhythmia alarms, and challenges the general research community to address the issue of false alarm suppression using all available signals. Each data segment was 5 minutes long (for real time analysis), ending at the time of the alarm. For retrospective analysis, we provided a further 30 seconds of data after the alarm was triggered. A total of 750 data segments were made available for training and 500 were held back for testing. Each alarm was reviewed by expert annotators, at least two of whom agreed that the alarm was either true or false. Challenge participants were invited to submit a complete, working algorithm to distinguish true from false alarms, and received a score based on their program's performance on the hidden test set. This score was based on the percentage of alarms correct, but with a penalty that weights the suppression of true alarms five times more heavily than acceptance of false alarms. We provided three example entries based on well-known, open source signal processing algorithms, to serve as a basis for comparison and as a starting point for participants to develop their own code. A total of 38 teams submitted a total of 215 entries in this year's Challenge. This editorial reviews the background issues for this Challenge, the design of the Challenge itself, the key achievements, and the follow-up research generated as a result of the Challenge, published in the concurrent special issue of Physiological Measurement. Additionally we make some recommendations for future changes in the field of patient monitoring as a result of the Challenge.
Biocompatibility of reduced graphene oxide nanoscaffolds following acute spinal cord injury in rats.

Background Graphene has unique electrical, physical, and chemical properties that may have great potential as a bioscaffold for neuronal regeneration after spinal cord injury. These nanoscaffolds have previously been shown to be biocompatible in vitro; in the present study, we wished to evaluate its biocompatibility in an in vivo spinal cord injury model. Methods Graphene nanoscaffolds were prepared by the mild chemical reduction of graphene oxide. Twenty Wistar rats (19 male and 1 female) underwent hemispinal cord transection at approximately the T2 level. To bridge the lesion, graphene nanoscaffolds with a hydrogel were implanted immediately after spinal cord transection. Control animals were treated with hydrogel matrix alone. Histologic evaluation was performed 3 months after the spinal cord transection to assess in vivo biocompatibility of graphene and to measure the ingrowth of tissue elements adjacent to the graphene nanoscaffold. Results The graphene nanoscaffolds adhered well to the spinal cord tissue. There was no area of pseudocyst around the scaffolds suggestive of cytotoxicity. Instead, histological evaluation showed an ingrowth of connective tissue elements, blood vessels, neurofilaments, and Schwann cells around the graphene nanoscaffolds. Conclusions Graphene is a nanomaterial that is biocompatible with neurons and may have significant biomedical application. It may provide a scaffold for the ingrowth of regenerating axons after spinal cord injury.
POAM in starlight: seven years of SAM measurements

At the Starfire Optical Range in 2011, the first measurements of photonic orbital angular momentum in starlight were made. Although that survey conclusively demonstrated that POAM exists in starlight, the survey was limited. We have subsequently obtained access to the SAM data archive with its seven years of data. Here the SAM data is analyzed to include the two metrics, branch point density, ρ , and the conversion efficiency η, that were used in the analysis of the 2011 observations.
Sex-Specific Associations between One-Carbon Metabolism Indices and Posttranslational Histone Modifications in Arsenic-Exposed Bangladeshi Adults

Background: Posttranslational histone modifications (PTHMs) are altered by arsenic, an environmental carcinogen. PTHMs are also influenced by nutritional methyl donors involved in one-carbon metabolism (OCM), which may protect against epigenetic dysregulation. Methods: We measured global levels of three PTHMs, which are dysregulated in cancers (H3K36me2, H3K36me3, H3K79me2), in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 324 participants enrolled in the Folic Acid and Creatine Trial, a randomized trial in arsenic-exposed Bangladeshi adults. Sex-specific associations between several blood OCM indices (folate, vitamin B12, choline, betaine, homocysteine) and PTHMs were examined at baseline using regression models, adjusted for multiple tests by controlling for the false discovery rate (PFDR). We also evaluated the effects of FA supplementation (400 µg/day for 12 weeks), compared with placebo, on PTHMs. Results: Associations between choline and H3K36me2 and between vitamin B12 and H3K79me2, differed significantly by sex (Pdiff < 0.01 and < 0.05, respectively). Among men, plasma choline was positively associated with H3K36me2 (PFDR < 0.05), and among women, plasma vitamin B12 was positively associated with H3K79me2 (PFDR < 0.01). FA supplementation did not alter any of the PTHMs examined (PFDR = 0.80). Conclusions: OCM indices may influence PTHMs in a sex-dependent manner, and FA supplementation, at this dose and duration, does not alter PTHMs in PBMCs. Impact: This is the first study to examine the influences of OCM indices on PTHMs in a population that may have increased susceptibility to cancer development due to widespread exposure to arsenic-contaminated drinking water and a high prevalence of hyperhomocysteinemia.
Genetic Identification of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Immortalization Genes.

Hematopoietic cancer is thought to arise from small populations of immortalized cancer stem cells that give rise to phenotypically diverse cells with less proliferative capacity. Cancer stem cell immortalization genes represent attractive drug targets for treating human cancer. We have found that immortalized cell lines can be generated in vitro following infection of mouse bone marrow cells with replication defective murine stem cell virus (MSCV). Immortalized myeloid progenitors can be selected in the presence of SCF plus IL-3 while immortalized multi-potent early hematopoietic progenitor cells can be selected with SCF and Flt3 ligand. So far, more than 80 such lines have been generated and they exhibit many properties attributed to cancer stem cells; they undergo unlimited self-renewal yet are able to give rise to phenotypically diverse cells with less proliferative capacity and in some cases they are leukemogenic in transplanted hosts. Immortalization often results from the insertional mutagenesis of human leukemia gene orthologues or genes that regulate them. Insertional mutagenesis by MSCV thus produces cells that share many properties attributed to cancer stem cells and may mark a subset of genes important for the immortalization of leukemic stem cells.
Equation of state of 3 He near its liquid-vapor critical point

We report high-resolution measurements of the pressure coefficient (∂P/∂T)ρ for3He in both the one-phase and two-phase regions close to the critical point. These include data on 40 isochores over the intervals−0.1≤t≤+0.1 and−0.2≤Δρ≤+0.2, wheret=(T−T c )/T c and Δρ=(ρ−ρ c )/ρ c . We have determined the discontinuity Δ(∂P/∂T)ρ of (∂P/∂T)ρ between the one-phase and the two-phase regions along the coexistence curve as a function of Δρ. The asymptotic behavior of (1/ρ) Δ(∂P/∂T)ρ versus Δρ near the critical point gives a power law with an exponent (γ+β−1)β−1=1.39±0.02 for0.01≦Δρ≤0.2 or−1×10 −2≤t≤−10 −6 , from which we deduce γ=1.14±0.01, using β=0.361 determined from the shape of the coexistence curve. An analysis of the discontinuity Δ(∂P/∂T)ρ with a correction-to-scaling term gives γ=1.17±0.02. The quoted errors are fromstatistics alone. Furthermore, we combine our data with heat capacity results by Brown and Meyer to calculate (∂μ/∂T)ρ c as a function oft. In the two-phase region the slope (∂2μ/∂T 2)ρc is different from that in the one-phase region. These findings are discussed in the light of the predictions from simple scaling and more refined theories and model calculations. For the isochores Δρ≠0 we form a scaling plot to test whether the data follow simple scaling, which assumes antisymmetry of μ−μ (ρ c ,t) as a function of Δγ on both sides of the critical isochore. We find that indeed this plot shows that the assumption of simple scaling holds reasonably well for our data over the range‖t‖≤0.1. A fit of our data to the “linear model” approximation is obtained for‖Δρ‖≤0.10 andt≤0.02, giving a value of γ=1.16±0.02. Beyond this range, deviations between the fit and the data are greater than the experimental scatter. Finally we discuss the (∂P/∂T)ρ data analysis for 4 He by Kierstead. A power law plot of (1/ρ) Δ∂P/∂T)ρ versus Δρ belowT c leads to γ=1.13±0.10. An analysis with a correction-to-scaling term gives γ=1.06±0.02. In contrast to 3 He, the slopes (∂2μ/∂T 2)ρc above and belowT c are only marginally different.
Molecular model of fission yeast centrosome assembly determined by superresolution imaging

Microtubule-organizing centers (MTOCs), known as centrosomes in animals and spindle pole bodies (SPBs) in fungi, are important for the faithful distribution of chromosomes between daughter cells during mitosis as well as for other cellular functions. The cytoplasmic duplication cycle and regulation of the Schizosaccharomyces pombe SPB is analogous to centrosomes, making it an ideal model to study MTOC assembly. Here, we use superresolution structured illumination microscopy with single-particle averaging to localize 14 S. pombe SPB components and regulators, determining both the relationship of proteins to each other within the SPB and how each protein is assembled into a new structure during SPB duplication. These data enabled us to build the first comprehensive molecular model of the S. pombe SPB, resulting in structural and functional insights not ascertained through investigations of individual subunits, including functional similarities between Ppc89 and the budding yeast SPB scaffold Spc42, distribution of Sad1 to a ring-like structure and multiple modes of Mto1 recruitment.
EOQ Rides Again

Despite the criticisms of Woolsey [25] and others, the classical “EOQ” model of Inventory Theory remains useful, both pedagogically and as a stepping-stone towards more realistic variants. Prominent among these are: (a) the one in which stock-outs are permitted but penalized, and (b) the one in which deliveries are gradual (i.e., continuous) rather than instantaneous. Here we also deal with a variant containing both features, (a) and (b). (In addition, a less common variant is considered.) In the spirit of Harris’s original (1913) presentation, the use of calculus is avoided entirely. Instead, it is shown explicitly how all the variants can be solved by “reduction” to the basic model, which is in turn treated by using the simply-proved “base case” of the arithmetic-geometric mean inequality.
Gout and comorbidity: a nominal group study of people with gout.

Comorbidities are common in patients with gout, yet qualitative research is lacking. The study objective was to examine the impact of gout on comorbidities. Nine nominal groups were conducted. Patients with gout discussed and rank-ordered their concerns in response to the question, “How does gout or its treatment affect your other conditions and their treatment?” Nine nominal groups had 45 gout patients, with mean age 61 years (standard deviation (SD) 10.7) and mean gout duration 14.9 years (SD 12). Of these, 62% were men, 45% African-American, 51% married and 63% were currently using allopurinol. The most frequently cited highly ranked concerns among the nine nominal groups were: (1) interaction of gout medication with medications for other medical conditions (three groups); (2) worsening of other medical comorbidities, including hospitalizations (seven groups); (3) worsening of anxiety and depression (three groups); (4) significant dietary changes for gout that contrasted with diet for other conditions (three groups); (5) new diseases diagnosed due to gout (three groups); (6) irreversible joint damage (three groups); (7) inability to exercise and weight gain (four groups); and (8) gout misdiagnosed as another health condition (three groups). Other domains ranked highly were: (1) impact of gout on daily life and activities, including the ability to work and social activities (six groups); (2) medication side effects, real and perceived (nine groups); (3) weight loss due to gout related to frequent flares (one group); and (4) cost and burden (three groups). Gout and the medications used for its treatment have a significant effect on comorbidities and their management. These findings provide insights into potential targets for improving outcomes in patients with gout.
Age-Dependent Changes in Skeletal MuscleRegeneration

The aging of multicellular organisms is characterized by structural and functional changes at all levels, ranging from the molecular to the organismal. These changes are generally manifested as a gradual decline in physiological function associated with characteristic histological and morphological changes. Whereas steady-state functional changes may be subtle in some tissues, the reduced ability to respond to stress is a general property of aged tissues and is often quite pronounced. Normal regenerative responses are impaired, typically with less rapid and ultimately less effective repair. Tissues such as epithelia of skin and gut, skeletal muscle, and liver that display a rapid and complete wound healing response in young individuals of the species begin to display impaired healing with age (Fry et al., 1984; Martin et al., 1998; Ashcroft et al., 2002; Li et al., 2004). Instead of restoring the tissue to the pre-injury state, the wound healing response in elderly individuals instead is characterized by ineffective regenerative processes, such as fibrogenesis and adipogenesis (Everitt et al., 1985; Sadeh, 1988; Abrass et al., 1995; Gagliano et al., 2002). The result is that the healed tissue is less capable of normal physiological function and even less capable of subsequent effective regeneration. The focus of this chapter is the effects of aging on the process of muscle regeneration. We will first discuss briefly some of the characteristics of aged skeletal muscle. We will then review the observable changes in the regenerative response in aged muscle compared to young muscle. Finally, we will discuss the cellular and molecular bases of those changes, addressing separately the properties
The prevalence of terraced treescapes in analyses of phylogenetic data sets.

The pattern of data availability in a phylogenetic data set may lead to the formation of terraces, collections of equally optimal trees. Terraces can arise in tree space if trees are scored with parsimony or with partitioned, edge-unlinked maximum likelihood. Theory predicts that terraces can be large, but their prevalence in contemporary data sets has never been surveyed. We selected 26 data sets and phylogenetic trees reported in recent literature and investigated the terraces to which the trees would belong, under a common set of inference assumptions. We examined terrace size as a function of the sampling properties of the data sets, including taxon coverage density (the proportion of taxon-by-gene positions with any data present) and a measure of gene sampling “sufficiency”. We evaluated each data set in relation to the theoretical minimum gene sampling depth needed to reduce terrace size to a single tree, and explored the impact of the terraces found in replicate trees in bootstrap methods. Terraces were identified in nearly all data sets with taxon coverage densities < 0.90. They were not found, however, in high-coverage-density (i.e., ≥ 0.94) transcriptomic and genomic data sets. The terraces could be very large, and size varied inversely with taxon coverage density and with gene sampling sufficiency. Few data sets achieved a theoretical minimum gene sampling depth needed to reduce terrace size to a single tree. Terraces found during bootstrap resampling reduced overall support. If certain inference assumptions apply, trees estimated from empirical data sets often belong to large terraces of equally optimal trees. Terrace size correlates to data set sampling properties. Data sets seldom include enough genes to reduce terrace size to one tree. When bootstrap replicate trees lie on a terrace, statistical support for phylogenetic hypotheses may be reduced. Although some of the published analyses surveyed were conducted with edge-linked inference models (which do not induce terraces), unlinked models have been used and advocated. The present study describes the potential impact of that inference assumption on phylogenetic inference in the context of the kinds of multigene data sets now widely assembled for large-scale tree construction.
Promoting Positive Transitions Through Coherent Instruction, Assessment, and Professional Development: The TRIAD Scale-Up Model

The fundamental question of whether preschool effects “fade” is hotly debated in arenas of theory, research, and policy. Few of these debates consider the role of transitions. Might it be that poor transitions are at least partly to blame? That is, if transitions are neglected, present educational contexts may be unintentionally aligned against the long-lasting impact of early interventions. We conducted a series of studies of an implementation of a scale-up model that evaluated the persistence of effects of a research-based model for scaling up. The largest of these research projects was explicitly based on the theory that fade-out of effects would be mitigated by attention to transitions. Results indicated that the intervention condition that included the model’s transition strategies maintained gains of the pre-K mathematics intervention better than the condition that did not include such strategies. However, more extensive and effective transition strategies should be developed and evaluated that expand on children’s learning in preschool and thereby completely close equity gaps in mathematics through the primary grades.
Name Calling: Identifying Stigma and the 'Civil Union'/'Marriage' Distinction

The Connecticut marriage equality case, Kerrigan v. Comm'r of Public Health, 957 A.2d 407 (Conn. 2008), turns on a threshold determination that the state legislature's distinction between 'civil union' and 'marriage' creates a cognizable injury of constitutional dimension. The court’s short explanation of its conclusion hinges on two social facts. First, 'marriage' names a long-standing, complex, and revered social institution, while 'civil union' is a new name with virtually no history. Second, the 'civil union'/'marriage' distinction is framed against a historical background of stereotyping, discrimination, and prejudice against gays and lesbians. The court's explanation, while accurate, is all too brief. This Article elaborates some aspects of everyday naming practices involving social identity and kinship, in order to assist us in understanding the injury that comes from mandating two distinct names for the core family relationship. It considers (1) the problem of family identity underlying Juliet’s 'What’s in a name' soliloquy in William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet; (2) Louis Althusser's concept of interpellation; (3) the feminist critique of language and names, focusing in particular on the 'Miss'/'Mrs.'/'Ms.' controversy; and (4) the way in which concrete, diffuse, everyday social practices of naming and recognition are multiscalar, and interact with larger legal and social structures around recognition, dominance, and subordination. With these considerations in mind, it is easier to see that the 'civil union'/'marriage' distinction has a cultural meaning that will create a stigmatic injury by reinforcing and activating dormant, dispersed sites of stereotyping and prejudice against gays and lesbians. Moreover, the distinction will reinforce a preexisting sense of second-class status, which is arguably a violation of a broad version of a guarantee of dignity under a principle of equal protection. The 'civil union'/'marriage' distinction thus involves and facilitates name calling and identifying stigma - just as the Connecticut Supreme Court concluded.
RELATION BETWEEN DNA REPAIR, CHROMOSOME ABERRATIONS, AND SISTER CHROMATID EXCHANGES

ABSTRACT Ordinary chromosome aberrations and sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs), which are two types of cytogenetic endpoints that are currently being used to determine the effects of mutagens and carcinogens on chromosomes, differ in several aspects. A) Double stranded DNA breaks, which are induced by X Rays, lead to aberrations but not to SCEs. B) Ordinary chromosome aberrations that are induced by ultraviolet light are photoreactivable, whereas we now have found in chick embryo cells that even though thymine dimers are removed by PR light, the yield of UV-induced SCEs is unaffected. C) Aberrations induced by UV or “UV-like,” but not “X-ray-like” mutagens are higher in XP cells than in normal cells, whereas SCEs are higher in XP cells after treatment with all three types of mutagens. D) The aberration yields are related to the amount of excision repair as measured by unscheduled DNA synthesis or repair replication whereas SCE yields are not. E) Aberrations are increased by application of caffeine after treatment with UV light or chemical mutagens but SCEs are not, and in post-replication defective XP variant cells, UV-induced SCE levels are as in normal cells. Taken as a whole these data indicate that although aberrations are dependent upon excision repair and post-replication repair as measured in ordinary experiments, SCEs are not. The lesions that result in SCEs do not seem to be thymine dimers or alkylation products at the N7 position of guanine. Since SCEs are induced by long-lived lesions that disappear with time, minor photoproducts, or alkylation products, that are not measured in excision repair or post-replication repair experiments seem to be the lesions responsible for SCE formation, which is contrary to the findings for chromosome aberrations.
HOMBSAT—An Instrument for Measuring Home-Buyer Satisfaction

Improving customer satisfaction has been identified as one of the most important challenges facing businesses, Keeping customers satisfied is rapidly becoming the way companies differentiate themse...
Finite Density Aggregation

I review some recent work on Finite Density Aggregation done in collaboration with Anna Hasenfratz and Mihaly Horanyi (Ref. 1).
Chapter 4 Ultrafast optical pulses

Publisher Summary This chapter applies the term “ultrafast” to pulses that have a temporal duration less than 50 fs. This is an arbitrary boundary, as there are interesting phenomena that can be observed with longer pulses, and there are many phenomena that require much shorter time frames to be observed (such as the orbital dynamics of a bound electron). The electromagnetic properties of short pulses are reviewed and the techniques of generating ultrafast pulses are explored. A major issue that has always accompanied the generation of ultrafast pulses is in measuring these pulses. Usually to measure a time event, a person would like an even shorter event to characterize the pulse he/she wants to measure. The dilemma of measuring ultrafast pulses has been a challenging task, but there are now well-established methods. The chapter also reviews some of the preferred temporal characterization techniques, including one that provides information on the spectral phase of the pulses.
Hemorrhoidectomy: Indications and risks

Hemorrhoids are a common cause of perianal complaints and affect 1-10 million people in North-America and with similar incidence in Europe. Symptomatic hemorrhoids are associated with nutrition, inherited predisposition, retention of feces with or without chronic abuse of laxatives or diarrhea. Increased pressure and shearing force in the anal canal may lead to severe changes in topography with detachment of the hemorrhoids from the internal sphincter and fibromuscular network resulting in bleeding, itching, pain and disordered anorectal function, even incontinence. The significance of hemorrhoids for anal continence (corpus cavernosum) is recognized. In most instances, hemorrhoids are treated conservatively; the surgeon is contacted when conservative measures have failed or complications, e.g., thrombosis, have occurred. 4 degrees prolapsed internal hemorrhoids are the main indication for hemorrhoidectomy: high (Parks) or low (Milligan-Morgan) ligation with excision, closed hemorrhoidectomy (Ferguson) or stapler hemorrhoidectomy. Thrombosed external hemorrhoids are primary treated by incision and secondary by excision. Complications after operative treatment of external thrombosed hemorrhoids are rare. After standard hemorrhoidectomy for internal hemorrhoids approximately 10% may have a complicated follow-up (bleeding, fissure, fistula, abscess, stenosis, urinary retention, soiling, incontinence); there may be concomitant disease, e.g., perianal cryptoglandular infection, causing complex fistula/abscess, which is associated with an increased risk (30-80%) for complications, e.g., incontinence. Other treatment options, e.g., sphincterotomy, anal stretch, have been accused to cause more complications, e.g., incontinence in 30-50% of cases. However, incontinence is a complex phenomenon; it is evident that an isolated single injury is normally not a sufficient cause, e.g., injury of the internal sphincter. The majority of patients may present with prior obstetric injury, perianal infection or Crohn's disease and other comorbidity. Therefore all systemic and regional disorders, causing incontinence, should be excluded before starting manometric, neurophysiological and sonographic investigations. Variation and overlap in test results, patient-, instrument- or operator-dependent factors ask for cautious interpretation. There is vast evidence that the demonstration of muscle fibers in hemorrhoidectomy specimens is a normal feature. In conclusion, standard hemorrhoidectomy with proper indication is a safe procedure. If complications occur, it is in the interest of the patient and surgeon to perform a thorough investigation.
Singlewide: chasing the American Dream in a rural trailer park

Singlewide: Chasing the American Dream in a Rural Trailer Park tackles an iconic but understudied aspect of the rural landscape: mobile home parks. Mobile homes, or manufactured housing as they are...
Extinction to amphetamine-associated context in female rats is dependent upon conditioned orienting

Females are considered more susceptible to the reinforcing effects of drugs and subsequently at increased risk for drug abuse and relapse after treatment. Estrogen is known to facilitate drug effects in females. However, other factors which contribute to the incidence of drug abuse are important to identify in order to recognize early risk factors and develop effective prevention and treatment schemes. Cue-directed behavior (aka sign tracking) has been implicated as a behavioral phenotype which identifies populations susceptible to drug abuse, partly due to its association with impulsivity and heightened dopamine function. In this study, we investigate the viability of conditioned orienting (a form of cue-directed behavior) as a potential phenotype which predicts drug proclivity in female rats. In addition, we examine any influence endogenous female hormones across the estrous cycle may have on conditioned orienting and drug proclivity. Utilizing an amphetamine-conditioned place preference task, results suggest that the orienting phenotype is an effective predictor of drug proclivity in females. Rats exhibiting enhanced orienting behavior show more robust preference for an amphetamine-associated context and are more resistant to extinction of this preference than nonorienting counterparts. Furthermore, both conditioned orienting behavior and conditioned place preference are minimally influenced by the estrous cycle.