cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Games for Peace: Empirical Investigations with PeaceMaker

This chapter presents an investigation on decision making in a dynamic and complex situation, the solution of international conflict and the achievement of peace. We use an award winning video game to collect behavioral data, in addition to questionnaire surveys given to players. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of the most difficult political problems of our times, and PeaceMaker represents the historical conditions of the conflict and provides players with an opportunity to resolve the conflict. Students in an Arab-Israeli history course played PeaceMaker from the perspectives of the Israeli and Palestinian leaders at the beginning and end of the semester. We recorded and analyzed their actions in the game and information on their personality, religious, political affiliation, trust attitude, and number of gaming hours per week. Results indicate the number of actions taken in the game alone cannot distinguish between good and bad performers. Rather, individual identity variables such as religious and political affiliation, personal affiliation to the conflict, and general trust disposition relate to the scores obtained in the game. We discuss the implications for policy and general conflict resolution and present our ideas for future research.
Abstract 5241: Nitric oxide-releasing naproxen prevents muscle invasive bladder cancer

Bladder cancer is the second most common and a leading cause of death among genitourinary cancers worldwide. Particularly, untreated muscle invasive bladder cancer has high mortality (>85% patients) leading to death within 2 years of diagnosis. Preventing this deadly form is highly imperative since the currently available options to patients with invasive disease remained essentially unchanged and no effective drugs have been approved in past two decades. Several non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents (NSAIDs) have shown promising chemopreventive activity in many cancers. The common adverse events with NSAIDs, especially gastrointestinal (GI) morbidities, including complications in both upper and lower GI tract drives the need for development of safer agents. To overcome this various nitric oxide (NO)-linked NSAIDs have been synthesized. Here we investigated the NO-releasing Naproxen (NO-Naproxen) with proven anti-inflammatory and GI protecting effects for its efficacy in preventing bladder cancer. Transgenic mouse model (UPII-SV40T; n = 30/group) that develop muscle invasive urothelial tumors were generated, genotyped and fed modified AIN-76A diet containing NO-naproxen (0, 300 and 600 ppm) starting at 6 weeks of age. At 40 weeks age, control (0 ppm) and experimental diet (300 and 600 ppm) fed mice were euthanized and urinary bladders were analyzed. Control diet fed male and female transgenic mice developed high grade, invasive transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) of bladder resulting in significant increase in bladder weights (140.2±9.8 mg; p Citation Format: Venkateshwar Madka, Altaf Mohammed, Qian Li, Yuting Zhang, Stanley Lightfoot, Xue-Ru Wu, Vernon Steele, Levy Kopelovich, Chinthalapally V. Rao. Nitric oxide-releasing naproxen prevents muscle invasive bladder cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 5241.
Treatment Options for Patients with Adhesive Capsulitis (Frozen Shoulder)

Adhesive capsulitis is a common disorder which involves glenohumeral pain and loss of range of motion in the active and passive planes. This condition was called “periarthritis scapulohumerale” by DuPlay (1896). Adhesive capsulitis is also commonly termed “frozen shoulder.” This terminology was coined by Codman in 1934. However, it was Neviaser (1945) who first used the term adhesive capsulitis. The consensus definition by American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons is “a condition of uncertain etiology which is characterized by significant restriction of both active and passive shoulder motion that occurs in the absence of a known intrinsic shoulder disorder” (Matsen et al. 1993; Zuckerman et al. 1994).
A Comprehensive Feature and Data Mining Study on Musician Memory Processing Using EEG Signals

There has been much interest in the beneficial effects of musical training on cognition. Previous studies have indicated that musical training was related to better working memory and that these behavioral differences were associated with differences in neural activity in the brain. However, it was not clear whether musical training impacts memory in general, beyond working memory. By recruiting professional musicians with extensive training, we investigated if musical training has a broad impact on memory with corresponding electroencephalography (EEG) signal changes, by using working memory and long-term memory tasks with verbal and pictorial items. Behaviorally, musicians outperformed on both working memory and long-term memory tasks. A comprehensive EEG pattern study has been performed, including various univariate and multivariate features, time-frequency (wavelet) analysis, power-spectra analysis, and deterministic chaotic theory. The advanced feature selection approaches have also been employed to select the most discriminative EEG and brain activation features between musicians and non-musicians. High classification accuracy (more than 95 %) in memory judgments was achieved using Proximal Support Vector Machine (PSVM). For working memory, it showed significant differences between musicians versus non-musicians during the delay period. For long-term memory, significant differences on EEG patterns between groups were found both in the pre-stimulus period and the post-stimulus period on recognition. These results indicate that musicians memorial advantage occurs in both working memory and long-term memory and that the developed computational framework using advanced data mining techniques can be successfully applied to classify complex human cognition with high time resolution.
Can sudden cardiac death be murder

A problem faced by police, medical examiners, and prosecutors is the course of action to be pursued when a criminal act results in emotionally precipitated death in the absence of physical injury or contact. The determination of proximate causation may be difficult if there is no autopsy evidence of life-threatening physical trauma nor any historical evidence of physical contact between the victim and the assailant. The usual circumstance is a robbery or burglary during which, or shortly after, a victim collapses. The victim is usually found to be suffering from severe coronary atherosclerosis and its complications.
Effect of Various Combinations of Medium, Diluent and Incubation Conditions on Recovery of Bacteria from Manufacturing Grade and Grade A Raw Milk1

Recovery of microorganisms from manufacturing grade and Grade A raw milk was determined using 18 plating combinations which consisted of three media, three diluents, and two incubation temperatures. Plating conditions specified in Standard Methods for doing the Standard Plate Count was one of the 18 combinations used. Combinations studied consisted of Standard Methods Agar, Schaedler Agar, and Eugonagar as plating medium; phosphate buffered distilled water, 0.1% peptone water, and Ringer solution as diluent; and 28 C for 72 h and 32 C for 48 h as incubation temperature. Forty manufacturing grade and 40 Grade A raw milk samples were plated using each of the 18 combinations. Highest mean counts were obtained for both grades of milk with the combination of Standard Methods Agar, phosphate buffered distilled water, and 28 C for 72 h. Samples, diluents, media, and samples × diluents interaction had a highly significant (P<.01) effect on counts of manufacturing grade milk samples; while samples, media, and temperatures had a highly significant (P<.01) effect on counts of the Grade A raw milk samples. Nonsignificant differences were obtained in counts of the manufacturing gradesamples with eight of 17 plating combinations when compared with counts obtained with Standard Methods. Counts for Grade A samples obtained with six of 17 combinations were similar to counts obtained with Standard Methods.
MicroRNAs as Harbingers of High-Risk Carotid Artery Atherosclerotic Disease?

Atherosclerosis of the extracranial internal carotid artery is a common contributor to stroke. Imaging modalities, such as vascular ultrasound of the neck, can readily identify significant carotid artery stenosis, and guidelines recommend treatment with carotid endarterectomy (CEA) to prevent future stroke in symptomatic patients with signs of cerebral embolism.1 However, therapeutic decision-making for patients with asymptomatic extracranial carotid artery stenosis remains a challenge. Studies performed >20 years ago demonstrated that surgical CEA reduced the rate of stroke in select patients with asymptomatic carotid stenosis compared with medical therapy.2 Since that time, medical treatment of atherosclerotic disease has intensified, including the use of statins, which were not used routinely in these earlier trials. Similarly, improvements in surgical treatment for carotid artery stenosis have reduced postoperative surgical risk, and carotid artery stenting may also offer a noninferior interventional approach in patients. Indeed, it has been argued that the decline in risk with more aggressive medical management coupled with reduced risk with advanced surgical interventions provides again clinical equipoise in patients with asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis, raising the question of whether carotid revascularization is still warranted.1 Article, see p 633 Although a variety of risk stratification tools can be used for patients with asymptomatic carotid stenosis, such as unstable plaque characteristics on vascular ultrasound, analysis for silent brain infarcts by imaging, or assessment for intraplaque hemorrhage on magnetic resonance imaging, none have provided compelling insights linking earlier pathophysiological signals in the carotid atherosclerotic plaque that may readily prognosticate cerebral embolic events.1 Identification of circulating biomarkers released from unstable carotid plaques could in theory serve as predictors of cerebral embolic events, thereby, capturing high-risk individuals who could benefit from more intensive therapy, including surgical revascularization. In this context, the study by Eken et al3 provides a strong foundation for …
Quantification of nasal airflow resistance in English bulldogs using computed tomography and computational fluid dynamics

Stenotic nares, edematous intranasal turbinates, mucosal swelling, and an elongated, thickened soft palate are common sources of airflow resistance for dogs with brachycephalic airway syndrome. Surgery has focused on enlarging the nasal apertures and reducing tissue of the soft palate. However, objective measures of surgical efficacy are lacking. Twenty-one English bulldogs without previous surgery were recruited for this prospective, pilot study. Computed tomography was performed using conscious sedation and without endotracheal intubation using a 128 multidetector computed tomography scanner. Raw multidetector computed tomography data were rendered to create a three-dimensional surface mesh model by automatic segmentation of the air-filled nasal passage from the nares to the caudal soft palate. Three-dimensional surface models were used to construct computational fluid dynamics models of nasal airflow resistance from the nares to the caudal aspect of the soft palate. The computational fluid dynamics models were used to simulate airflow in each dog and airway resistance varied widely with a median 36.46 (Pa/mm)/(l/s) and an interquartile range of 19.84 to 90.74 (Pa/mm)/(/s). In 19/21 dogs, the rostral third of the nasal passage exhibited a larger airflow resistance than the caudal and middle regions of the nasal passage. In addition, computational fluid dynamics data indicated that overall measures of airflow resistance may significantly underestimate the maximum local resistance. We conclude that computational fluid dynamics models derived from nasal multidetector computed tomography can quantify airway resistance in brachycephalic dogs. This methodology represents a novel approach to noninvasively quantify airflow resistance and may have utility for objectively studying effects of surgical interventions in canine brachycephalic airway syndrome.
A survey of computational kits for young children

This paper presents a survey of computational kits that enable young children (ages 7 years old and under) to explore computing ideas and practices. We examined physical, virtual, and hybrid kits across three different perspectives: how they are designed, how they support children to explore computational concepts and practices, and how they enable children to engage in a range of projects and activities. Based on our analysis, we present design suggestions and opportunities to expand the possibilities in how children can engage in computing, what kinds of projects children can make, and what kinds of computational ideas children can explore.
The Role of Neuroinflammation in Parkinson's Disease

Publisher Summary Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder, after Alzheimer's disease (AD). It is characterized by progressive degeneration of dopamine (DA)-producing neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) that results in a drastic depletion of DA in the striatum, to which these neurons project (nigrostriatal pathway), yet to a lesser extent other dopaminergic neurons are also affected. Neuropathologic and neuroradiologic studies indicate that neuroinflammation is characterized by a glial response that in certain diseases may be present prior to significant loss of neurons. It was once believed that the blood–brain barrier (BBB) prevented access of immune cells to the brain and, as a result, the immune system and the central nervous system were relatively independent of each other. However, it has become clear that the permeability of the BBB can be regulated under normal conditions and may increase or become dysregulated in disease states. The brain is fully capable of mounting an inflammatory response. Data from postmortem studies provided the first evidence for neuroinflammatory processes in PD. These cells were identified by their immunoreactivity to human leukocyte antigen DR (HLA-DR), a cell-surface receptor belonging to the MHC class II. This key finding was confirmed by other investigators using additional markers, such as HLA-DP, HLA-DQ, HLA-DR (CR3/43), CD68, and ferritin. The presence of neuroinflammatory processes at postmortem has also been confirmed on a molecular basis.
Prospects for Manipulating Bloch Oscillations in Biased Superlattices Through Femtosecond Pulse Shaping

Coherent subpicosecond charge oscillations have been observed in several recent experiments performed on GaAs/GaALAs quantum well1 and superlattice2 samples. In such experiments a single femtosecond laser pulse photoexcites from the valence band to a superposition state consisting of two or more eigenfunctions in the conduction band. The time-varying interference between these wave functions gives rise to an ultrafast wave packet motion. This wave packet motion manifests itself as periodic tunneling between the two wells in a coupled quantum well system or as a Bloch oscillation in a biased superlattice.
Students with Learning Disabilities

The historical roots of the field of learning disabilities go back over 150 years, even though the term is one of the most recent in the area of special education. Lerner (1985) divided the history of learning disabilities into four distinct periods. These included the foundation phase (1800–1930), which emphasized basic scientific research related to the brain, and the transition phase (1930–1960) during which time the brain research was applied to the study of children. More recent phases were the integration phase (1960–1980) at which time learning disabilities were recognized within school programs, and the contemporary phase (1980 to the present), which reflects emerging and future directions. When these phases are studied more closely, two important points are noted. First, the field of learning disabilities had its origins firmly implanted within a medical model. For example, an evolution of medically related terms were used to describe children who were having learning and behavioral problems. These included brain injured, perceptually handicapped, minimal brain dysfunction, and the Strauss syndrome. Even today, there are vestiges of this theoretical base applied in the schools. The second point is that the actual acknowledgment of the term learning disability as an educational disability is relatively recent. In fact, the history of the actual term learning disability is relatively short yet extremely complex.
Model-completions for Abelian lattice-ordered groups with finitely many disjoint elements

Abstract This paper axiomatizes classes of Abelian lattice-ordered groups with a finite upper bound on the number of pairwise disjoint positive elements; finds model-completions for these theories; derives corresponding Nullstellensatze; determines which model-completions eliminate quantifiers; and examines quantifier elimination in a different language and for positive formulas.
Manning the Helm: The Coast Guard's New Leadership Team Should Launch a Critical Self-Study, Which Will Help the Service Navigate Challenging Political Currents

The US Coast Guard’s value to the nation is its versatile, highly adaptive, multimission character. The defining attribute of the service is its readiness. For the Coast Guard, its semper paratus motto is no mere Baron Munchhausen brag. Like the Marine Corps, the Coast Guard prides itself on being most ready when others are least ready. As technology compresses geography and reaction times, maritime-domain awareness backed by effective border control will be increasingly important to the nation’s security. Coast Guard leadership must resist being forced by budget constraints to retreat into the pre-9/11 “boat-in-the-barn” approach to maritime security and safety.
Fertility-Dependent Acoustic Variation in Women’s Voices Previously Shown to Affect Listener Physiology and Perception:

Previous research demonstrates that listeners perceive women's voices as more attractive when recorded at high compared to low fertility phases of the menstrual cycle. This effect has been repeated with multiple voice recording samples, but one stimuli set has shown particularly robust replications. First collected by Pipitone and Gallup (2008), women were recorded counting from 1-10 on approximately the same day and time once a week for 4 weeks. Repeatedly, studies using these recordings have shown that naturally cycling women recorded at high fertility are rated as more attractive compared to voices of the same women at low fertility. Additionally, these stimuli have been shown to elicit autonomic nervous system arousal and precipitate a rise in testosterone levels among listeners. Although previous studies have examined the acoustic properties of voices across the menstrual cycle, they reach little consensus. The current study evaluates Pipitone and Gallup's voice stimuli from an acoustic perspective, analyzing specific vocal characteristics of both naturally cycling women and women taking hormonal contraceptives. Results show that among naturally cycling women, variation in vocal amplitude (shimmer) was significantly lower in high fertility recordings compared to the women's voices at low fertility. Harmonics-to-noise ratio and variation in voice pitch (jitter) also fluctuated systematically across voices sampled at different times during the menstrual cycle, though these effects were not statistically significant. It is possible that these acoustic changes could account for some of the replicated perceptual, hormonal, and physiological changes documented in prior literature using these voice stimuli.
Old Sinitic *Mᵞag, Old Persian Maguš, and English “Magician”

The 1980 discovery at Chou-yuan (site of an important Western Chou palace complex) of two small human heads with Caucasoid features sculpted from mollusk shell raises questions concerning East-West contact during the early Chou period (roughly eighth century B.C.E.). A similar head from Anyang dating to about half a millennium earlier suggests that the contact was of long standing and that it centered in the Shang and Chou courts. On top of one of the Chou heads is engraved the oracle bone form of the graph for wu, namely , identifying the figure as a ritual specialist. Normally wu is translated as “shaman,” but it is here proposed that “mage” be adopted as a more accurate equivalent. Various types of evidence are adduced in support of this proposal, including the Old Sinitic reconstruction of wu, i.e., *mᵞag, which indicates a direct linkage with Old Persian magus, the original source of Magianism.
Ring-Focusing Fresnel Acoustic Lens for Long Depth-of-Focus Focused Ultrasound With Multiple Trapping Zones

This paper describes a novel acoustic transducer with dual functionality based on 1-mm-thick lead zirconate titanate (PZT) substrate with a modified air-cavity Fresnel acoustic lens on top. Designed to let ultrasound waves focus over an annular ring region, the lens generates a long depth-of-focus Bessel-like focal beam and multiple trapping zones based on quasi-Airy beams and bottle beams. With 2.32 MHz sinusoidal driving signal at 150 $\text{V}_{\mathrm {pp}}$ , the transducer produces a focal zone with 9.9 mm depth-of-focus and 0.8 MPa peak pressure at a focal length of 31.33 mm. With 2.32 MHz continuous sinusoidal drive at 30–35 $\text{V}_{\mathrm {pp}}$ , the transducer is able to trap multiple polyethylene microspheres (350–1, $000~\mu \text{m}$ in diameter and 1.025–1.130 g/cm3 in density) in water either simultaneously (when suspended by mechanical agitation or released from water surface) or sequentially (when placed one after another with a pipette). The largest particles the transducer could trap are two 1-mm-diameter microspheres stuck together (1.07 mg in weight, lifted by buoyancy and $0.257~\mu \text{N}$ acoustic-field-induced force). When the transducer is moved laterally, some firmly trapped microspheres follow along the transducer’s movement, while being trapped. When trapped, some microspheres can rotate due to the rotation torque generated by the quasi-Airy beams. [2020-0184]
Bacterial immunotherapy for cancer induces CD4-dependent tumor-specific immunity through tumor-intrinsic interferon-γ signaling

Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) immunotherapy for bladder cancer is the only bacterial cancer therapy approved for clinical use. Although presumed to induce T cell-mediated immunity, whether tumor elimination depends on bacteria-specific or tumor-specific immunity is unknown. Herein we show that BCG-induced bladder tumor elimination requires CD4 and CD8 T cells, although augmentation or inhibition of bacterial antigen-specific T cell responses does not alter the efficacy of BCG-induced tumor elimination. In contrast, BCG stimulates long-term tumor-specific immunity that primarily depends on CD4 T cells. We demonstrate that BCG therapy results in enhanced effector function of tumor-specific CD4 T cells, mainly through enhanced production of IFN-γ. Accordingly, BCG-induced tumor elimination and tumor-specific immune memory require tumor cell expression of the IFN-γ receptor, but not MHC class II. Our findings establish that a bacterial immunotherapy for cancer is capable of inducing tumor immunity, an antitumor effect that results from enhanced function of tumor-specific CD4 T cells, and ultimately requires tumor-intrinsic IFN-γ signaling, via a mechanism that is distinct from other tumor immunotherapies.
Public interest in elective urological procedures in the COVID-19 pandemic: A google trends analysis

AbstractIntroduction:We sought to characterize public interest in elective urological procedures amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and specifically after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services an...
Centralized softening as a solution to chloride pollution: An empirical analysis based on Minnesota cities.

Chloride is a key component of salt, used in many activities such as alkali production, water treatment, and de-icing. Chloride entering surface and groundwater is a concern due to its toxicity to aquatic life and potential to degrade drinking water sources. Minnesota being a hard-water state, has a high demand for water softening. Recent research has found that home-based water softeners contribute significantly to chloride loading at municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Because of this, many WWTPs would now require water quality based effluent limits (WQBELs) to comply with the state’s chloride water quality standards (WQS), unless they install chloride treatment technologies, which are limited and cost-prohibitive to most communities. A potential solution to this problem, is shifting from home-based water softening to a system where water is softened at drinking water plants, before reaching homes, i.e. centralized softening, analyzed in this paper based on its ability to address both chloride pollution and water softening needs, at reasonable cost. We estimate lifetime costs of three alternative solutions: centralized softening, home-based softening, and a Business as Usual (BAU) or baseline alternative, using annualized 20-year loan payments and Net Present Value (NPV), applied to 84 Minnesota cities with matching data on drinking water plants and WWTPs. We find that centralized softening using either Reverse Osmosis (RO) or lime-softening technologies is the more cost-effective solution, compared to the alternative of home-based softening with end-of-pipe chloride treatment, with a cost ratio in the range 1:3–1:4. Between the two centralized softening options, we find RO-softening to be the lower cost option, only slightly more costly (1.1 cost ratio) than the BAU option. Considering additional environmental and public health benefits, and cost savings associated with removal of home-based softeners, our results provide helpful information to multiple stakeholders interested in an effective solution to chloride pollution.
Efficacy of Recombinant Zoster Vaccine in Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Background & Aims Individuals with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have an increased risk of herpes zoster (HZ) infection. Although the efficacy of recombinant zoster vaccine (RZV) is high among immunocompetent individuals, little is known about its effect among immunosuppressed individuals with IBD. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort study among individuals in the national Veterans Affairs Healthcare System diagnosed with IBD on or before January 3, 2018, the earliest date of RZV vaccinations. We collected data on 7008 and 26,292 eligible patients with IBD in the 50- to 60-year and >60-year age groups, respectively. We identified veterans who received RZV and compared the incidence of HZ between vaccinated versus unvaccinated individuals. We performed multivariable Cox regression with time varying analysis to determine the risk of HZ among the vaccinated (full dose and single dose separately) versus unvaccinated cohort, stratified by IBD medications. Results The crude HZ incidence rate after full dose vaccination of RZV when compared with the unvaccinated group was lower in both the 50- to 60-year age group (0.00 vs 3.93 per 1000 person-years) and >60-year age group (1.80 vs 4.57 per 1000 person-years). RZV vaccination was associated with a significantly lower risk of HZ among the 50- to 60-year and >60-year age groups, although this was limited by low HZ event rates. Conclusion RZV vaccination was associated with decreased risk of HZ infection among both the 50- to 60-year and >60-year age groups. Greater efforts should be made to vaccinate all patients with IBD with RZV.
Optimal Siting, Sizing and Bid Scheduling of a Price-Maker Battery on a Nodal Wholesale Market

The market for battery storage is set to boom in the coming years. This trend may be explained by a combination of factors ranging from a falling cost of batteries to a growing need to address uncertain and unflexible renewable energy generation. It is well known that capital costs remain too high for a large-scale lithium-ion battery storage to be profitable solely by arbitrating a wholesale market. However, we show that by carefully selecting a battery's siting and size with respect to its influence on prices and congestion, a battery storage can still be profitable on a nodal wholesale market. To that end, we develop a price-maker mixed-integer optimization framework that maximizes a depreciated battery storage revenue and yields the optimal siting and size of that battery storage. Furthermore, it can be used to optimize the bidding schedule of a battery storage in a nodal transmission-constrained wholesale market. We conducted multiple simulations to illustrate and confirm the need for this approach. Namely, we compared price-maker and price-taker results on available data from the New Zealand nodal wholesale market.
Enhancing hospitalists smoking cessation counseling and billing compliance by education intervention: a quality improvement project.

Smoking causes an estimated 480,000 deaths every year. At our institute, tobacco treatment services (TTS) provide inpatient counseling and hospitalists have an essential role in providing education and replacement medications at discharge. Our project focused on increasing knowledge among hospitalists to improve the frequency of smoking cessation consultation and utilization of pharmacotherapy, accompanied by appropriate documentation and billing. We used baseline data from March 2018 to February 2019. Educational intervention was implemented from March 2019 to June 2019. Post-intervention results are reported from July 2019 to February 2020. Pre- and post-intervention periods' results were compared. A significantly higher number of patients received TTS counseling during the post-intervention phase compared to pre-intervention (54 vs. 41%, p < 0.0001). A significantly higher number of patients were prescribed inpatient medications (42% to 48%, p = 0.004) and at the time of discharge (22% to 31%, p < 0.0001). However, there was a significant decrease in physician billing from pre-intervention to post-intervention, dropping from 19.5% to 16.2% (p = 0.012). Physicians' gender, experience level, and loss of incentives impacted their consultation and billing behaviors. Future studies should continue to address the importance of TTS and physician behavior on increasing inpatient smoking cessation counseling and treatment.
Ethical Considerations in Forensic Science Services

Forensic science has for a long time been the gateway through which many criminal investigations have traveled towards their eventual destination. The availability and use of forensic science services have been previously discussed in several studies, which revolve around the diverse problems of geographical areas. However, the reports have largely been confined to statistics regarding the laboratories and their related interactions with law enforcement agencies. A strategic question that has been left untouched is the availability and even the existence of truly neutral forensic science services in the United States. To what extent are forensic science services available equally to the police, prosecution, and defense? What, if any, are the influences that could affect the availability and reliability of forensic science services? These influences, if not properly accounted and controlled for, could ultimately affect the continued assimilation process of forensic science and the criminal justice system.
Marginal notes: A male view from the 1st Women in Archaeology Conference, Albury, February 1991

It will take some time before we can judge the full impact on Australian archaeology of the first Women in Archaeology Conference. But we can be sure there will be one. In style and content it was quite unlike any other conference in Australia and the participants I spoke to all described it as outstanding and above all stimulating.
Anatomy of a Coal-Fired Power Plant

This chapter discusses the processes in a coal-fired power plant, from coal receipt to gases being emitted from the stack; the water usage and treatment and ash handling are also discussed. Subsequent chapters will focus on combustion and gasification as they are related to clean coal usage. This chapter, however, will focus on the details of a conventional coal combustion power plant to illustrate the importance of this technology. This is especially true as developing countries such as China and India are constructing new coal-fired power plants at record numbers and clean coal or emissions control have only recently become a priority.
Datafly: A System for Providing Anonymity in Medical Data

We present a computer program named Datafly that maintains anonymity in medical data by automatically generalizing, substituting, inserting and removing information as appropriate without losing many of the details found within the data. Decisions are made at the field and record level at the time of database access, so the approach can be used on the fly in role-based security within an institution, and in batch mode for exporting data from an institution. Often organizations release and receive medical data with all explicit identifiers, such as name, address, phone number, and Social Security number, removed in the incorrect belief that patient confidentiality is maintained because the resulting data look anonymous; however, we show that in most of these cases, the remaining data can be used to re-identify individuals by linking or matching the data to other databases or by looking at unique characteristics found in the fields and records of the database itself. When these less apparent aspects are taken into account, each released record can be made to ambiguously map to many possible people, providing a level of anonymity which the user determines.
Phenological responses of Oryza sativa, O. glaberrima and inter-specific rice cultivars on a toposquence in West Africa

Phenological properties of rice cultivars, particularly crop duration, determine their yield potential, local agronomic suitability and ability to escape from drought. Crop duration of a given cultivar depends mainly on photoperiod (PP) and temperature, but is also affected by the crop establishment practice and environmental stresses. A sample of 84 ecologically and genetically diverse rice cultivars was sown on five dates between May and September 1997 on the flooded-lowland (transplant), hydromorphic and upland levels of a toposequence at 7° 52′ N in Cote d'Ivoire, in order to characterize the cultivars' phenological responses. In the upland, life-saving sprinkler irrigation was applied when drought symptoms were visible. A non-replicated design augmented with four replicated checks (four replications per ecosystem) was used. Phenology was characterized by date of emergence, first heading, 50% flowering and maturity. The period from emergence to flowering was subdivided into three phases following a simple model used at IRRI to characterize germplasm for photoperiodism. For each ecosystem and cultivar, the basic vegetative period (BVP) was estimated by subtracting 30 d from the duration to flowering at the sowing date associated with the shortest duration, and expressed in degree-days (dd), assuming a base temperature of 10 °C. The PP-sensitive phase (PSP) was estimated by subtracting BVP+30 d from the time to flowering. PP-sensitivity (PS) was calculated from the apparent change in PSP between 12.0 and 12.5 h mean astronomic daylength during the PSP, by regression across dates. Cultivars differed strongly in BVP (300 to 1200 dd) and PS (0 to 1000 dd). The BVP was generally longer in the lowland than in the hydromorph, and mostly longer in the upland than in the hydromorph, possibly due to transplanting shock (lowland) and drought (upland). Many cultivars, particularly upland-adapted japonicas, had a greater PS in the lowland than in the upland. Principal-component and cluster analyses based on BVP and PS in each of the three ecosystems established three large and three small groups of cultivars having common phenological responses. The linkage groups were associated with ecotypes (lowland vs upland, traditional vs improved) and genetic groups (O. sativa japonica and indica, O. glaberrima, inter-specific progenies). The groups were seen to represent past selection strategies by farmers and recent breeding strategies, with respect to achieving yield stability in the various ecosystems. For example, indigenous selection strategies for O. sativa upland rices seem to have favored a long BVP, whereas from O. glaberrima, which generally has a superior initial vigor, cultivars with a short BVP have been selected. The authors conclude that the modern upland rice breeding strategy for the region on the basis O. sativa, which aims at drought escape using a short BVP, is paralleled by existing indigenous O. glaberrima materials. Efforts to utilize these materials for breeding are ongoing.
Comparison of analyzing power and polarization in the reaction 3H(p, n)3He: (I). New analyzing power results below 4 MeV

Abstract Neutron analyzing powers are measured for the 3 H(p, n) 3 He reaction both for θ c.m. ≅45° between 1.75 and 4.0 MeV and as A y ( θ ) for six energies between 2.48 and 3.9 MeV. These data confirm earlier Los Alamos results in the region of overlap, supporting their earlier findings of large differences between the analyzing power and pre-1976 polarization data in this reaction. Charge-independent R -matrix calculations fitting all nucleon-trinucleon data are shown to provide a reasonably accurate description of the A y data over most of the energy range, and establish the ordering of the lowest P-wave T = 0 levels of 4 He as J π = 0 − , 2 − and 1 − , in order of increasing energy. These R -matrix calculations also predict for the first time appreciable differences between A y and P y . The high sensitivity of the magnitude of the differences to the level parameters suggests that meaningful information on charge symmetry properties of the nuclear interaction will be difficult to determine from experimental differences in these observables.
A suboptimality condition for generalized control systems

A suboptimality theorem, i.e. an e-maximum principle for generalized control systems is proven which also applies in cases if there is no optimal trajectory. We apply the result to obtain a suboptimality theorem for differential inclusion problems.
Hybrid all-SiC MOS-gated bipolar transistor (MGT)

A MOS-gated bipolar transistor structure (called MGT), which consists of a MOSFET driving an npn bipolar junction transistor in a Darlington configuration, is experimentally demonstrated in SiC in hybrid form with a 6H-SiC lateral RESURF MOSFET driving high-voltage 4H-SiC implanted-emitter BJT. SiC MGT has several advantages over SiC IGBT, such as wider Safe Operation Area (SOA) as well as faster switching. The hybrid transistor has a forward drop of 5 V at 50 A/cm/sup 2/ and rise and fall times of 0.8 /spl mu/s and 2.5 /spl mu/s, respectively.
Immunohistochemistry versus Microsatellite Instability Testing For Screening Colorectal Cancer Patients at Risk For Hereditary Nonpolyposis Colorectal Cancer Syndrome: Part I. The Utility of Immunohistochemistry

The utility of immunohistochemical detection of DNA mismatch repair (MMR) protein in screening colorectal tumors for hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) syndrome has been the focus of much intensive research over the last 10 years. Particular attention has been given to the relative usefulness of immunohistochemistry (IHC) versus testing of tumor microsatellite instability (MSI). Earlier work that focused on mutL homolog 1 (MLH1) and mutS homolog 2 (MSH2) has created a false impression that IHC has a lower sensitivity than MSI testing in predicting germline mutation. More recent studies that included postmeiotic segregation increased 2 (PMS2) and MSH6, on the other hand, have demonstrated an IHC predictive value that is virtually equivalent to that of MSI testing. Such added value of PMS2 and MSH6 can be explained by the biological and biochemical properties of the MMR proteins. On the premise that IHC with PMS2 and MSH6 is as sensitive as MSI testing, given that IHC is easily available and generally inexpensive and, importantly, identifies the affected gene, it is reasonable to regard IHC as a more optimal first-line screening tool than MSI testing for identifying HNPCC. MSI testing can provide a fallback position in equivocal situations, while remaining an important research tool. However, for IHC to be used as a first-line screening test requires that both pathologists and clinicians be aware that IHC results may be construed as "genetic information," and that appropriate procedures should be established to ensure patient understanding and consent.
Long-Term Follow-Up of the Cheilectomy for Degenerative Joint Disease of the First Metatarsophalangeal Joint.

Cheilectomy is the surgical resection of 20% to 30% of the dorsal metatarsal head and proximal phalanx. The present retrospective study evaluated the long-term efficacy of aggressive cheilectomy to address degenerative joint disease of the first metatarsophalangeal joint. To our knowledge, this is the second longest duration study to date to evaluate the long-term efficacy of the cheilectomy procedure, with a mean follow-up period of 7.14 years (range 39 weeks to 14.87 years). The mean patient age was 55.71 ± 9.51 years, and 37 (65%) of the patients were female. Age, sex, foot type, and preoperative radiographic parameters of hallux rigidus were also evaluated and correlated. The mean percentage of success with this operation was 87.69%. Of the 58 patients, 51 (87.93%) experienced no limitations in their daily activities. Only 2 patients (3.33%) subsequently required subsequent arthrodesis. The results of the present study suggest that cheilectomy offers long-term satisfaction for patients with hallux rigidus and is an acceptable alternative to the joint destructive procedure of first metatarsophalangeal arthrodesis.
The Relationship Between Toxics Release Inventory Discharges and Mortality Rates in Rural and Urban Areas of the United States

Background: Potential environmental exposures from chemical manufacturing or industrial sites have not been well studied for rural populations. The current study examines whether chemical releases from facilities monitored through the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) program are associated with population mortality rates for both rural and urban populations. Methods: We used the TRI database, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention age-adjusted mortality data, and additional county-level covariate data to conduct a national study at (N = 3,142) of the association between amounts of on-site TRI air and water releases for the years 1988-2006 and total age-adjusted mortality rates for the years 1999-2006, after controlling for the effects of other risk variables. Results: Results of multiple linear regression analyses indicated significantly higher adjusted mortality rates associated with greater water and air releases in both rural and urban counties. The strongest associations between TRI releases and rural mortality rates were found when 8 or more prior years of TRI release data were used to study subsequent mortality. Conclusion: The results support the use of the TRI as a public reporting tool and a research tool, and demonstrate that greater amounts of air and water TRI releases are related to mortality outcomes for both rural and urban populations.
Explicating Correlates of Juvenile Offender Detention Length: The Impact of Race, Mental Health Difficulties, Maltreatment, Offense Type, and Court Dispositions

Detention and confinement are widely acknowledged juvenile justice system problems which require further research to understand the explanations for these outcomes. Existing juvenile court, mental health, and child welfare histories were used to explicate factors which predict detention length in this random sample of 342 youth from one large, urban Midwestern county in the United States. Data from this sample revealed eight variables which predict detention length. Legitimate predictors of longer detention length such as committing a personal crime or violating a court order were nearly as likely in this sample to predict detention length as other extra-legal predictors such as race, court disposition for mental health problems, child welfare involvement, and child physical abuse victimization. Many of the factors that increase duration of detention are actually disadvantages that these youth endure; therefore preventative and intervention measures are in order.
Generalized Langevin theory for many-body problems in chemical dynamics: Gas-surface collisions, vibrational energy relaxation in solids, and recombination reactions in liquids

Model classical trajectory simulations of gas‐solid inelastic collisions, vibrational energy relaxation of a diatom in a solid, and atomic recombination reactions in a liquid are presented. These simulations are first applications of the molecular timescale generalized Langevin equation (MTGLE) theory [S. A. Adelman, Adv, Chem. Phys. 44, 143 (1980)] for condensed phase energy transfer and chemical reaction processes. The main conclusions of these model studies are as follows: (i) The MTGLE theory often provides computationally practical methods for condensed phase chemical problems. These methods are applicable with equal ease to both solid and liquid state processes. (ii) The equivalent harmonic chain heatbath modeling for reducing many‐body chemical problems to effective few‐body problems often converges rapidly. This rapid convergence is found for both short (subpicosecond) timescale processes (gas–solid collisions) and long (nanosecond) timescale processes (vibrational energy relaxation). (iii) The si...
Fast neutrons and Π-1 mesons in cancer therapy

Radiotherapy is unique as a medical specialty in that it depends upon physical sources of energy deposition within tissues to bring about profound and complex biological changes for the purpose of eradicating cancerous growths. Thus, it has the broadest interface with both physical and biological sciences of any clinical discipline. It is for this reason that progress in radiotherapy is continually stimulated by advances in bothphysical and biological sciences. In recent years, increasing attention has been focused on high energy particle radiations as possible additions to the therapeutic armamentarium, in an effort to improve the results obtainable with x and y radiations. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how some accelerator produced radiations, fast neutrons and Π mesons, might be of potential value to radiotherapy.
EFFECTS OF NALOXONE AND CLONIDINE ON GONADOTROPIN SECRETION IN EARLY PUBERTAL BOYS

To investigate mechanisms of neuroendocrine regulation of gonado-tropin secretion during puberty, we studied 3 early pubertal boys with delayed adolescence (range: CA 13 7/12 - 17 2/12; BA 11 6/12 - 13 6/12 yrs)by: 1) antagonism of endogenous opiates (naloxone); and 2) a- adrenergic stimulation (clonidine) . From 2000h to 0800h on two consecutive study days, blood was obtained every 20 min for plasma LH (mIU/ml)while patients A and B received i.v. infusions of saline or naloxone (1 mg/ m2/hr). On Day 3, testosterone (T) enanthate (A=75 mg/m2, B=50 mg/m2) was administered i.m. The protocol was repeated 1 week later when x plasma T was 9.9 and 8.8 ng/ml in A & B, respectively. Results are shown below (A/B, x ± SE). In patient C, plasma gonadotropins were measured q20 min for 36h before and 24h after clonidine, 0.15 mg p.o. A significant increase (p<.01) in mean LH was first apparent 5h after clonidine and persisted for at least 19h (LH x ± SE: control day/night 1.7 ± 0.1/5.1 ± 0.2; clonidine day/night 3.3 ± 0.2/6.3 ± 0. 3). These studies suggest the following: 1) endogenous opiates do not influence nocturnal LH secretion in early pubertal boys before or after short term exposure to adult male range concentrations of T and 2) increasing α-adrenergic tone may be important for augmentation of LH secretion during puberty.