cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Toward the resolution of an explosive radiation—A multilocus phylogeny of oceanic dolphins (Delphinidae)

Oceanic dolphins (Delphinidae) are the product of a rapid radiation that yielded ∼36 extant species of small to medium-sized cetaceans that first emerged in the Late Miocene. Although they are a charismatic group of organisms that have become poster children for marine conservation, many phylogenetic relationships within Delphinidae remain elusive due to the slow molecular evolution of the group and the difficulty of resolving short branches from successive cladogenic events. Here I combine existing and newly generated sequences from four mitochondrial (mt) genes and 20 nuclear (nu) genes to reconstruct a well-supported phylogenetic hypothesis for Delphinidae. This study compares maximum-likelihood and Bayesian inference methods of several data sets including mtDNA, combined nuDNA, gene trees of individual nuDNA loci, and concatenated mtDNA+nuDNA. In addition, I contrast these standard phylogenetic analyses with the species tree reconstruction method of Bayesian concordance analysis (BCA). Despite finding discordance between mtDNA and individual nuDNA loci, the concatenated matrix recovers a completely resolved and robustly supported phylogeny that is also broadly congruent with BCA trees. This study strongly supports groupings such as Delphininae, Lissodelphininae, Globicephalinae, Sotalia+Delphininae, Steno+Orcaella+Globicephalinae, and Leucopleurus acutus, Lagenorhynchus albirostris, and Orcinus orca as basal delphinid taxa.
Kinetics of cell detachment: Effect of ligand density

Cell adhesion to substratum is often mediated by binding between cell surface receptors and substrate ligands. Substrates can be derivatized with different types and densities of ligands, but how substrate chemistry determines cellular function, such as adhesion strength, has not been demonstrated quantitatively. We employ a numerical methodology developed by Dembo and colleagues (9), who investigated membrane peeling under conditions of excess ligand density, to investigate the kinetics and strength of cell peeling from ligand coated surfaces for arbitrary ligand density. We show there are two asymptotic limits to peeling strength, as quantified by the critical tension: a high ligand density limit, where the critical tension is independent of ligand density and depends logarithmically on the receptor density; and a low ligand density limit, in which the critical tension depends logarithmically on the ligand density but is independent of receptor density. In between these limits, we numerically determine the critical tension. The critical tension is always a weak function of the dissociation constant between ligand and receptor. Furthermore, we show how the rate of peeling, for tensions above the critical tension, depends on ligand density and the mechanical properties of the receptor-ligand bonds. Interestingly, we illustrate when small increases in ligand density should alter cellular behavior, inducing a change to spreading onto a substrate from peeling up from a substrate. In total the predictions of this paper provide criteria for the design of ligand-coated substrate that provide for the proper adhesion strength and dynamics of detachment of cells from surfaces.
A comparative study of academic partnerships from a student perspective

Research shows that students who are engaged in their academic work are motivated by the need to succeed, need for self-expression, personal curiosity, and desire to fostering positive peer relationships. Engaging assignments help shape their understanding, allow them to explore their creative side, while interacting and teaming up with their peers. In this paper, we present a comparative study of various approaches and partnerships for teaching hands-on engineering classes, including the pros and cons of technology students partnering with industry, non-profit organizations, or interdisciplinary school collaborations vs. traditional in-class course assignments. The findings are based on a survey conducted among undergraduate and graduate students at Fairfield University. The focus group consisted of a mix of students who have worked with either one or more organizations as part of their academic work. The study also focuses on the issues and challenges while working with various organizations, and the results are presented from the students' perspective.
Receptor activator of NF‐κB ligand protein expression in UMR‐106 cells is differentially regulated by parathyroid hormone and calcitriol

Expression of the cytokine, receptor activator of NF-κB ligand (RANKL), is stimulated by both parathyroid hormone (PTH) and calcitriol in osteoblasts. Most studies have examined the effects on RANKL mRNA, and less information is available on the protein products. We have determined the effects of PTH, the adenylate cyclase stimulator forskolin, and calcitriol, alone and in combination, on endogenous RANKL protein expression in UMR-106 rat osteoblastic osteosarcoma cells by Western blotting and enzyme immunoassay (EIA). PTH and forskolin dose dependently increased a ∼52 kDa band in whole cell lysates that was detected by both C- and N-terminal directed RANKL antibodies. Calcitriol treatment produced little or no expression of this ∼52 kDa band, but markedly increased the expression of a ∼32 kDa band that was only detected with an antibody directed to the N-terminus of RANKL. An EIA based on RANKL binding to OPG detected a large increase in RANKL expression following calcitriol treatment, and much smaller increases with PTH or forskolin. The combination of PTH and calcitriol or forskolin and calcitriol elicited effects similar to those of PTH and forskolin alone, as detected by both Western blotting and EIA. In contrast to the effects on protein, all agents increased RANKL mRNA expression, with the greatest effects seen with the co-treatments. The results indicate that PTH, likely through effects on cyclic AMP, has a different effect on RANKL processing than calcitriol. The ∼52 and ∼32 kDa RANKL products appear to interact differently with OPG, which could affect responses to the agents in target cells. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Flicker: a dynamically adaptive architecture for power limited multicore systems

Future microprocessors may become so power constrained that not all transistors will be able to be powered on at once. These systems will be required to nimbly adapt to changes in the chip power that is allocated to general-purpose cores and to specialized accelerators.This paper presents Flicker, a general-purpose multicore architecture that dynamically adapts to varying and potentially stringent limits on allocated power. The Flicker core microarchitecture includes deconfigurable lanes--horizontal slices through the pipeline--that permit tailoring an individual core to the running application with lower overhead than microarchitecture-level adaptation, and greater flexibility than core-level power gating.To exploit Flicker's flexible pipeline architecture, a new online multicore optimization algorithm combines reduced sampling techniques, application of response surface models to online optimization, and heuristic online search. The approach efficiently finds a near-global-optimum configuration of lanes without requiring offline training, microarchitecture state, or foreknowledge of the workload. At high power allocations, core-level gating is highly effective, and slightly outperforms Flicker overall. However, under stringent power constraints, Flicker significantly outperforms core-level gating, achieving an average 27% performance improvement.
A systematic self-observation study of consumers' conceptions of practical wisdom in everyday purchase events

Abstract This project introduces the method of Systematic Self-Observation (SSO) to business researchers, compares it to other modes of introspection, and illustrates its application in a study of consumers' conceptions of their practical wisdom (or lack thereof) during ongoing purchase events. Qualitative data analysis is combined with hierarchical linear modeling analyses. Results are discussed in terms of how this application extends the SSO method as well as consumer behavior and wisdom theories. Discussion also addresses opportunities for future use of SSO.
Some thoughts on communication handicap and hearing impairment.

This issue provides a special opportunity to bring together a body of research from around the world that has focused on a common problem, the effects of noise on speech communication in normally-h...
A Phase I dose escalation trial of continuous infusion paclitaxel to augment high dose cyclophosphamide and thiotepa plus stem cell rescue for the treatment of patients with advanced breast carcinoma

BACKGROUND Paclitaxel, an effective chemotherapeutic agent in the management of breast carcinoma, may have activity in women whose disease has recurred after high dose chemotherapy. With this is mind the authors explored the addition of a 120-hour continuous infusion of paclitaxel to a previously reported regimen comprised of high dose cyclophosphamide and thiotepa. METHODS Thirty-one women with advanced breast carcinoma (30 patients with Stage IV disease and 1 patient with Stage IIIB disease) underwent harvest and cryopreservation of bone marrow and/or peripheral blood progenitor cells. High dose cyclophosphamide (2.5 g/m2) and thiotepa (225 mg/m2) were administered intravenously on Days -7, -5, and -3. Paclitaxel was administered as a 120-hour continuous infusion starting on Day -7. RESULTS Three patients were treated at the initial cohort dose of 50 mg/m2 (over 120 hours), 6 patients at 100 mg/m2, 6 patients at 125 mg/m2, 6 patients at 150 mg/m2, 6 patients at 180 mg/m2, and 4 patients at 210 mg/m2. All patients completed the treatment protocol as planned with no associated transplant-related deaths. Mucositis as evidenced by either stomatitis or noninfectious diarrhea was experienced by all patients and was determined to be the dose-limiting toxicity at the 210 mg/m2 dose level. One patient with dose-limiting mucositis required intubation for airway protection and also experienced Grade 3 (according to the Cancer and Leukemia Group B common toxicity grading scale) pulmonary and neurologic toxicity. Only one Grade 3 toxicity was encountered below the maximum tolerated dose in a patient who developed diffuse alveolar hemorrhage at a dose of 125 mg/m2. No allergic reactions or clinical evidence of peripheral neuropathies were encountered. Cardiac, hepatic, and renal toxicities were minimal. Response rates in this previously treated patient population were difficult to assess in light of the high incidence of bone metastases; an overall response rate of 24% was obtained. CONCLUSIONS Paclitaxel at a dose of 180 mg/m2 as a 120-hour continuous infusion may be added safely to high dose cyclophosphamide and thiotepa with autologous stem cell rescue. Further studies are ongoing to evaluate the efficacy and further define the toxicity of this recommended Phase II dose. Cancer 1998;83:1540-1545. © 1998 American Cancer Society.
Combined Input-Crosspoint Buffered Packet Switch with Flexible Access to Crosspoints Buffers

The performance of Internet routers is greatly defined by the adopted switch architecture. Combined input-crosspoint buffered (CICB) packet switches are being considered of research interest because of their high switching performance. One of the main requirements in these switches is that the amount of memory needed to achieve 100% throughput under flows with high data rates must be proportional to the number of ports and crosspoint buffer size, which is set by the distance between the line cards and the buffered crossbar. Therefore, long distances between the line cards and the buffered crossbar can make a CICB switch costly to implement or infeasible. In this paper, we propose and discuss two CICB packet switches with flexible access to crosspoint buffers. The proposed switches allow an input to use any available crosspoint buffer at a given output, instead of having rigid access where an input can only access a dedicated crosspoint buffer at a given output, as is the case on previous existing architectures. The proposed switches provide high switching performance and support long distances between the buffered crossbar and the line cards, while using crosspoint buffers of small size. Our switches reduce the required crosspoint buffer size by a factor of TV, where TV is the number of ports, keep service of cells in sequence, and use no speedup
The covariation of religion and politics during the transition to young adulthood: challenging global identity assumptions

This study was undertaken to examine the relation between religion and politics in terms of identity and beliefs, as well as the relations among identity and beliefs, during the transition to young adulthood. Data were obtained from 209 college students using self-administered questionnaires. Constructs included religious and political identity diffusion, foreclosure, moratorium and achievement, as well as intrinsic religiosity, church/temple importance, Christian orthodoxy, political involvement, and faith in government. Correlational analyses revealed that the only significant relations between religion and politics was for identity foreclosure and moratorium, and that none of the religious beliefs were significantly correlated with political beliefs. Hierarchical regression analyses, controlling for gender and year in college, indicated that religious diffusion proved to be the most powerful (negative) predictor of religious beliefs; similarly, political diffusion was the most powerful (negative) predictor of political involvement. Religious achievement was associated with higher levels of intrinsic religiosity. The findings provide additional validity for the construct of identity diffusion. At the same time, the inconsistent and low covariation between religious and political identity suggests that focus on global identity has limited utility.
Differential protein mapping of ovarian serous adenocarcinomas: identification of potential markers for distinct tumor stage.

Ovarian serous carcinomas (OSCs) comprise over half of all ovarian carcinomas and account for the majority of ovarian cancer-related deaths. We used a 2-dimensional liquid-based protein mapping strategy to characterize global protein expression patterns in 19 OSC tumor samples from 15 different patients to facilitate molecular classification of tumor stage. Protein expression profiles were produced, using pI-based separation in the first dimension and hydrophobicity-based separation in the second dimension, over a pH range of 4.0−7.0. Hierarchical clustering was applied to protein maps to indicate the tumor interrelationships. The 19 tumor samples could be classified into two different groups, one group associated with low stage (Stage 1) tumors and the other group associated with high stage (Stages 3/4) tumors. Proteins that were differentially expressed in different groups were selected for identification by LTQ−ESI−MS/MS. Fourteen of the selected proteins were overexpressed in the low stage tumors; 46 ...
STRUKTUR-REAKTIVITATS-BEZIEHUNG BEI DER REAKTION VON HOCHREAKTIVEM ZINK MIT ALKYLBROMIDEN

Zink ist anders! Die Reaktion von organischen Bromiden mit Magnesium oder Lithium verlauft unselektiv, nicht aber die analoge Umsetzung mit hochreaktivem Zink (Zn*): Das Metall inseriert bevorzugt in tertiare Kohlenstoff-Halogen-Bindungen, selektive Umsetzungen sind daher moglich [Gl. (a)]. Diese Befunde wurden durch kinetische Untersuchungen von Konkurrenzreaktionen quantifiziert.
Sleep duration and weight change in midlife women: The SWAN sleep study†

Objective: Short sleep duration has been associated with higher current BMI and subsequent weight gain. However, most prior longitudinal studies are limited by reliance on self-reported sleep duration, and none accounted for the potential confounding effect of sleep-disordered breathing. The associations of sleep duration with current BMI and BMI change were examined among 310 midlife women in the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN) Sleep Study (2003-2005). Methods: Sleep duration was assessed for approximately one month with concurrent wrist actigraphy and sleep diaries. The presence and severity of sleep-disordered breathing was quantified using the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) based on in-home polysomnography. BMI was assessed annually through core SWAN visit 10 (2006 and 2008). Results: Mean BMI increased from 29.6 (SD = 7.8) kg/m2 to 30.0 (SD = 8.0) kg/m2 over an average of 4.6 years (SD = 1.0) of follow-up. In cross-sectional analyses controlling for AHI, demographic variables, and several potential confounding variables, actigraphy (estimate = -1.22, 95% confidence interval (CI): -2.03, -0.42) and diary (estimate = -0.86, 95% CI -1.62, -0.09) measures of sleep duration were inversely associated with BMI. Each hour of less sleep was associated with 1.22 kg/m2 greater BMI for actigraphy sleep duration, and a 0.86 kg/m2 greater BMI for diary sleep duration. Longitudinal associations between sleep duration and annual BMI change were nonsignificant in unadjusted and fully adjusted models. Conclusion: In this cohort of midlife women, cross-sectional associations between sleep duration and current BMI were independent of sleep-disordered breathing, but sleep duration was not prospectively associated with weight change.
Adjuvant radiotherapy use and patterns of care analysis for margin-positive prostate adenocarcinoma with extracapsular extension: postprostatectomy adjuvant radiotherapy: a SEER analysis.

Objectives To perform a patterns of care analysis for patients with prostate cancer and high-risk pathologic factors following radical prostatectomy with regards to adjuvant radiation. Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted using the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program. We identified men from 2004 to 2005 with prostate adenocarcinoma (PA) who had undergone radical prostatectomy (RP) and were found to have extracapsular extension (ECE) with positive margins. Results We identified 1427 PA patients with ECE and positive margins after an RP. Most were clinically staged as T1 or T2 before surgery (95.8%). Using the D'Amico Risk Stratification, 52.0% were high-risk, 39.7% were intermediate-risk, and 8.3% were low-risk. Of these, 18.2% (260) received ART, whereas 81.8% (1167) did not. Those who received ART had worse prognostic factors, such as Gleason scores >7 (38.5% vs 24.8%; P 10 (44.6% vs 35.2%; P = .0045), pathologically positive lymph nodes (11.5% vs 6.4%; P = .006), and D'Amico high-risk disease (66.8% vs 48.7%; P Conclusions Less than 20% of patients with pT3 disease and positive margins received ART in the study period just before the publication of randomized data demonstrating an improvement in biochemical failure with ART in this SEER retrospective analysis. This is the largest patterns of care analysis to date of ART in patients with margin-positive pT3 prostate adenocarcinoma.
ORCHIOPEXY FOR IMPALPABLE TESTIS: HIGH SPERMATIC VESSEL DIVISION IS A SAFE MANEUVER

AbstractPurpose: This review was performed to assess the effect of protecting the collateral circulation between spermatic and vasal vessels by leaving a strip of peritoneum attached to the lower spermatic cord in patients in whom the spermatic vessels needed to be divided to bring the testis into good scrotal position.Materials and Methods: Between 1983 and 1994, 22 boys were encountered in whom 1 testis was always normal in size and position, and the other was intra-abdominal and would not be in normal scrotal position after complete cord straightening. A strip of peritoneum had been left attached to the spermatic cord before full mobilization. After high division of the spermatic vessels the testes were brought in the mid scrotum during the same operation.Results: All testes remained in scrotal position except 1 which retracted and was subsequently removed. None became atrophic.Conclusions: Division of the spermatic vessels, the Fowler-Stephens maneuver, can safely be performed during an initial operat...
Normal forms for automorphisms of universal coxeter groups and palindromic automorphisms of free groups

We explicitly construct Markov languages of normal forms for the groups in the title of the paper and closely related groups. A Markov language of normal forms is a choice of "preferred spelling" for each group element such that the collection of choices is particularly simple in a language theoretic sense.
Personalizing and Empowering Environmental Education Through Expressive Writing

The authors explored the perceived effects of an environmental expressive writing exercise by using a modified phenomenological method. The authors asked preservice teachers enrolled in a required public university science and society education course to compose multigenre compositions describing personal environmental impacts, followed by written reactions to the assignment. A group of 5 students from the course participated in interviews in which the authors investigated their backgrounds, attitudes, and experiences related to the expressive writing project. Analysis of the participants' multigenre projects, interviews, and written reactions suggested that students enjoyed the assignment, personalized the content, and indicated empowerment to act responsibly through knowledge gains and refinements of beliefs and values.
Marriage and Child Well-Being: Research and Policy Perspectives

Over the past decade, the linkages between marriage and child well-being have attracted the attention of researchers and policy makers alike. Children's living arrangements have become increasingly diverse and unstable, which raises important questions about how and why family structure and stability are related to child outcomes. This article reviews new research on this topic, emphasizing how it can inform policy debates about the role of marriage in reducing poverty and improving child outcomes. It also pays special attention to new scholarship on unmarried, primarily low-income families, the target of recent federal marriage initiatives, to appraise the potential contributions of family research to ongoing policy discussions.
Representation of Colors in the Blind, Color-Blind, and Normally Sighted

Human adults with normal vision, with three types of color-blindness, or with complete absence of vision since birth rank-ordered the similarities of all pairs of colors corresponding to nine hue names. When presented with the names only, subjects with any color vision produced rankings for which multidimensional scaling yielded Newton's color circle. When subjects were presented with the colors themselves, the recovered color circle remained the same for the normally sighted but collapsed along the red-green dimension for the color-blind. Based on their rankings by color names, the totally blind subjects all fell outside the range of the color-normal subjects but partly overlapped the color-deficient subjects; a rare rod monochromat roughly approximated the color-normal subjects. These results, along with those of Marmor (1978) and Izmailov and Sokolov (this issue), suggest how visual experience, language, and innate structure contribute to the mental representation of colors.
Integrating the Theory of Work Adjustment and Attachment Theory to Predict Job Turnover Intentions

In this study, we integrated research on the Minnesota Theory of Work Adjustment (TWA) and Attachment Theory to test a model predicting turnover intentions among 131 working adults in a variety of industries. Consistent with TWA, the results revealed that needs–supplies (N-S) fit was positively related to job satisfaction and that job satisfaction partially mediated the relationship between N-S fit and turnover intentions from the current job. Anxious and avoidant attachment did not have direct effects on TWA constructs, but the relationship between fit perceptions and job satisfaction was moderated by avoidant attachment such that the relationship was weaker for highly avoidant employees. We discuss the implications of these results for future vocational research on work adjustment and the effects of attachment dynamics in the workplace.
The Intellectual Role of the Early Catholic Episcopate

The intellectual dominance of the clergy is an important feature of Catholic Christianity in the second and third centuries. If one goes through the roll of Christian writers from the period, one finds very few laymen: Hermas, Justin, Tertullian, Minucius Felix. The great majority were ordained men, including a disproportionate number of bishops: Ignatius, Polycarp, Dionysius of Corinth, Irenaeus, Melito, Theophilus, Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius of Alexandria, Cyprian, to give but a partial list.
Shifting the burden of proof

‘Dialectical foundationalists’, including Jonathan Adler, Robert Brandom, Adam Leite and Michael Williams, claim that some asserted propositions do not require defence just because an interlocutor challenges them. By asserting such a proposition, the speaker shifts the burden of proof to the interlocutor. ‘Dialectical egalitarians’ claim that all asserted propositions require defence when challenged. I elucidate the dispute between dialectical foundationalists and egalitarians, and I defend a broadly egalitarian stance against several prominent objections.
Performance examinations of multiple time-stepping algorithms on stampede supercomputer

Our examinations of the methodical implementation of the multiple time-stepping algorithms on the Stampede supercomputer reveal a speedup factor of 23 over single time-stepping algorithm, for the same problem, with the combined algorithmic and hardware accelerations. More specifically, the MTS algorithm is 11.5 times faster than the STS algorithm; the GPU-enabled system performs 2 times faster than the CPU-only system. Combining these speedups and using MTS algorithm on the Stampede with 16 GPU nodes, we can simulate 1- ms multiscale phenomena of flowing platelets in blood vessels within approximate 37 days, enabling practical modeling of millisecond-scale biological phenomena with spatial resolutions at the nanoscales. The mathematical algorithms and the advances of computer hardware, such as the Stampede supercomputer, that can be leveraged allow us to explore the new frontiers of cutting-edge applications in medical and life sciences.
Assessing Violence Risk in Threatening Communications

Violence risk assessment is an important and challenging task undertaken by mental health professionals and others, in both clinical and nonclinical settings. To date, computational linguistic techniques have not been used in the risk assessment process. However they could contribute to the current threat assessment process by allowing for early detection of elevated risk, identification of risk factors for violence, monitoring of violent intent, and determination of threat level. We analyzed a sample of communications to judges that were referred to security personnel for evaluation as constituting potential threats. We categorized them along multiple dimensions including evidence of mental illness, presence and nature of any threat, and level of threat. While neither word countbased or topic models were able to effectively predict elevated risk, we found topics indicative of persecutory beliefs, paranoid ideation, and other symptoms of Axis I and Axis II disorders.
Endoscopic ultrasound: State-of-the-art GI tumor staging

Videoendoscopy has truly enlarged the scope of diagnostic and therapeutic gastroenterology. However, videoendoscopic examinations are limited to the mucosal surface. Endoscopic ultrasound allows the endoscopist a view beyond the intestinal wall which opens the door to a variety of new gastroenterologic techniques. The evaluation of plain images in combination with contrast-enhanced imags has been found to be helpful when applied to CT and MRI. A similar advantage may be found for endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) studies. The efficacy of EUS with and without contrast enhancement is critically reviewed.
Building Communities, Bridging Gaps: Alexander George's Contributions to Research Methods

This article assesses Alexander L. George's seminal contributions in six areas of political psychology and qualitative case study methods. These include George's work on psycho logical inputs in political processes, the intersection of history and political science, methods of within-case analysis such as process tracing, the use of structured, focused case comparisons (SFCC), the development of typological theories, and the connections among theory, empirical research, teaching, and policy. The article concludes with an analysis of four ongoing dimensions of George's research agenda: the need to integrate theories on purposive, cognitive, social, and motivational dynamics of decision making; the importance of methodological safeguards against our own cognitive biases as researchers; ways of integrating qualitative, quantitative, formal, and experimental research methods; and ways of modeling and testing theories on causal complexity.
Evaluating the decision accuracy and speed of clinical data visualizations

Clinicians face an increasing volume of biomedical data. Assessing the efficacy of systems that enable accurate and timely clinical decision making merits corresponding attention. This paper discusses the multiple-reader multiple-case (MRMC) experimental design and linear mixed models as means of assessing and comparing decision accuracy and latency (time) for decision tasks in which clinician readers must interpret visual displays of data. These tools can assess and compare decision accuracy and latency (time). These experimental and statistical techniques, used extensively in radiology imaging studies, offer a number of practical and analytic advantages over more traditional quantitative methods such as percent-correct measurements and ANOVAs, and are recommended for their statistical efficiency and generalizability. An example analysis using readily available, free, and commercial statistical software is provided as an appendix. While these techniques are not appropriate for all evaluation questions, they can provide a valuable addition to the evaluative toolkit of medical informatics research.
Relationship between hydrogen sulfide levels and HDL-cholesterol, adiponectin, and potassium levels in the blood of healthy subjects

Abstract Hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S) is an important signaling molecule whose blood levels have been shown to be lower in certain disease states. Increasing evidence indicates that H 2 S plays a potentially significant role in many biological processes and that malfunctioning of H 2 S homeostasis may contribute to the pathogenesis of vascular inflammation and atherosclerosis. This study examined the fasting blood levels of H 2 S, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, adiponectin, resistin, and potassium in 36 healthy adult volunteers. There was a significant positive correlation between blood levels of H 2 S and HDL-cholesterol ( r = 0.49, p = 0.003), adiponectin ( r = 0.36, p = 0.04), and potassium ( r = 0.34, p = 0.047), as well as a significant negative correlation with LDL/HDL levels ( r = −0.39, p = 0.02). This is the first demonstration of an association of circulating levels of H 2 S with the HDL, LDL, and adiponectin homeostasis in the blood of healthy humans.
Utility of Splenic Macrophage Aggregates as an Indicator of Fish Exposure to Degraded Environments

Abstract The utility of splenic macrophage aggregates (MAs) as an indicator of fish exposure to degraded environments was evaluated in several species of estuarine fishes as part of the Environmental Protection Agency's Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program–Estuaries (EMAP-E). Using image analysis, we measured the number and mean size of MAs per square millimeter on tissue sections of spleen from 983 fishes representing seven species from 266 stations scattered across coastal estuaries of the Gulf of Mexico. At 16 stations, at least one fish exhibited a high density of MAs (>40 MAs/mm2). Densities of MAs that exceeded 40/mm2 correlated with exposure to either hypoxic conditions or sediment contamination. Fisher's exact test showed that the observed frequencies of joint occurrence between high numbers of MAs and both high sediment contaminants and low dissolved oxygen were significantly greater than the expected background frequencies. For all 16 sites where MAs were greater than 40/mm2, sediment...
Excel as a Qualitative Data Analysis Tool

Qualitative research seeks to examine the interconnections in rich, complex data sources. The statistical tools of quantitative methods separate out pieces of data in a manner that defeats the purpose. But, like quantitative researchers, qualitative researchers often still find themselves overwhelmed by the amount of data and equally in need of tools to extend their human senses. This has led the development of a number of software packages designed for this purpose. An often overlooked option, however, is Microsoft Excel. Excel is generally considered a number cruncher. However, its structure and data manipulation and display features can be utilized for qualitative analysis. In this article, the authors discuss data preparation, analysis, and presentation, including discussion of lesser known features of Excel.
Mental health of college students and their non-college-attending peers: results from the National Epidemiologic Study on Alcohol and Related Conditions.

Context Although young adulthood is often characterized by rapid intellectual and social development, college-aged individuals are also commonly exposed to circumstances that place them at risk for psychiatric disorders. Objectives To assess the 12-month prevalence of psychiatric disorders, sociodemographic correlates, and rates of treatment among individuals attending college and their non–college-attending peers in the United States. Design, Setting, and Participants Face-to-face interviews were conducted in the 2001-2002 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (N = 43 093). Analyses were done for the subsample of college-aged individuals, defined as those aged 19 to 25 years who were both attending (n = 2188) and not attending (n = 2904) college in the previous year. Main Outcome Measures Sociodemographic correlates and prevalence of 12-month DSM-IV psychiatric disorders, substance use, and treatment seeking among college-attending individuals and their non–college-attending peers. Results Almost half of college-aged individuals had a psychiatric disorder in the past year. The overall rate of psychiatric disorders was not different between college-attending individuals and their non–college-attending peers. The unadjusted risk of alcohol use disorders was significantly greater for college students than for their non–college-attending peers (odds ratio = 1.25; 95% confidence interval, 1.04-1.50), although not after adjusting for background sociodemographic characteristics (adjusted odds ratio = 1.19; 95% confidence interval, 0.98-1.44). College students were significantly less likely (unadjusted and adjusted) to have a diagnosis of drug use disorder or nicotine dependence or to have used tobacco than their non–college-attending peers. Bipolar disorder was less common in individuals attending college. College students were significantly less likely to receive past-year treatment for alcohol or drug use disorders than their non–college-attending peers. Conclusions Psychiatric disorders, particularly alcohol use disorders, are common in the college-aged population. Although treatment rates varied across disorders, overall fewer than 25% of individuals with a mental disorder sought treatment in the year prior to the survey. These findings underscore the importance of treatment and prevention interventions among college-aged individuals.
State-Owned Enterprises in the Current Regime of Investor-State Arbitration

The rise of state-owned companies and sovereign wealth funds (together SOEs) poses many new questions for the regime of investor-state arbitration. Extant literature treats all SOEs the same and limits its focus to the doctrinal treatment of SOEs. This article, by studying Chinese SOEs, demonstrates the complexity of the structure and management of SOEs and their relations with the State. This paper constructs an analytic framework for properly treating SOEs under the current system. The four factor model (distance from the political centre, characteristics of state ownership, sector, and SOE leadership) may facilitate ICSID tribunals' decision-making with regard to the standing of SOE investors and the application of attribution rules.
Correlation of Ge E' defect sites with second-harmonic generation in poled high-water fused silica.

Second-harmonic generation (SHG) in poled high-water fused silica was found to be linearly dependent on the relative concentration of Ge E′ defect sites (<10−15 defect sites/cm3) for the highly pure UV-grade material. For commercial-grade material characterized by higher concentrations of Ge E′ defects sites, the SHG appeared to saturate at approximately 0.5 pm/V. No dependence of the SHG was found on the relative concentration of Ge E′ defects sites in poled commercial-grade low-water fused silica.
Municipal water services in Guatemala: exploring official perceptions

In Guatemala, water services are frequently interrupted, water pressure is inadequate and tap water is often unsafe to drink. Water providers face the challenge of maintaining water systems and improving water services to provide reliable and safe drinking water. Understanding the perspectives of government officers may help in finding solutions to overcome this challenge. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore officers' opinions and views on municipal water services. Interviews were complemented with content analysis of technical and official documents. Factors identified as determinants of the low quality of water services include low political will, lack of institutional development, low investment in water infrastructure, low household compliance with water systems, and low community participation in the water sector. Findings and policy implications are discussed.
Design and performance evaluation of unbuffered self-routing networks for wide-band packet switching

The design of several unbuffered self-routing networks for wideband packet switching is presented. These networks possess many attractive characteristics, including simple node design, simple fault diagnosis, tolerance of faults, tolerance of unbalanced load, and packets delivered in sequence. It is shown, through analysis and simulation, that the maximum throughput of an unbuffered self-routing network is greater for fixed packet lengths than for exponentially distributed packet lengths. This means that the maximum throughput of an unbuffered self-routing network will be different for such applications as ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) and frame-relay, if they do not have the same packet length distribution. >
Substrate-correlated interface polarity reversal at a carbon nanotube/fullerene junction

Understanding of the electronic structure at organic donor/acceptor interfaces is vital to further develop organic photovoltaic technologies. We have observed a reversed interfacial potential difference at a carbon nanotube/fullerene interface when it is formed on aluminum oxide (Al2O3) compared to when it is formed on silicon dioxide (SiO2). We do not observe this in a polymer/fullerene junction. We hypothesize the cause is a combination of poorer screening of a more reactive substrate (Al2O3) by the nanotubes (which are a thinner, more conductive film than the polymer film) and greater static dipolar disorder at the Al2O3 interface. The static dipolar disorder leads to stable trapping of otherwise mobile charges, which may originate from the carbon nanotubes, the externally applied potential, or low lying static charges from the insulating substrate.
The automorphism group of a hermitian superalgebra

A class of Lie superalgebras, which includes the conformal superalgebra of ordinary space-time was introduced in [Sternberg and Wolf]. As they depend on the choice of a hermitian structure on the even and odd parts of a supervector space we shall call them Hermitian superalgebras. The group of automorphisms of the conformal superalgebra was determined in [Sternberg]. It was shown to have two components. In this paper we shall describe all the automorphisms of any hermitian superalgebra. We shall also show that the conformal superalgebra is the only superalgebra g=g0⊕g1 with a real eight dimensional odd subspace (g1=C2,2) on which the even subalgebra (g0=(u(2,2)/u(1))⊕u(1)) acts irreducibly via the defining representation of u(2,2) on C2,2 shifted by the character that makes the supertrace equal to zero. Finally, we shall give a geometrical interpretation of the connected components of the automorphism group of this superalgebra by studying the Clifford algebras C(q+2,2) for q=0,1, and 2
New Design Criteria for USBR Penstocks

New design criteria for nonembedded and embedded penstocks as adopted by the Bureau of Reclamation are presented. Nonembedded penstocks include supported penstocks exposed to view and penstocks encased in a protective layer of concrete in which the concrete is not considered to contribute structural strength. The embedded penstocks are circular steel liners embedded in mass concrete in which the design load is distributed between the steel shell and the embedding concrete. These criteria are applicable to bends, but are not applicable to bifurcations, trifurcations, lateral branches, or tunnel liners. Use of higher strength steels for penstock installations dictated a reappraisal of allowable design stresses to take proper advantage of the higher yield points and the ultimate tensile strengths of these steels. The criteria consider design loads based on design conditions, methods of stress analysis, quality control of steel plates, quality control of fabrication and erection, and hazard of failure in setting allowable design stresses, methods of stress analysis, and requirements for hydrostatic pressure testing and nondestructive testing of welds.
On Cauchy's Inequalities for Hermitian Matrices

(1978). On Cauchy's Inequalities for Hermitian Matrices. The American Mathematical Monthly: Vol. 85, No. 6, pp. 486-487.
Personalized Compass: A Demonstration of a Compact Visualization for Direction and Location

Maps on mobile/wearable devices often make it difficult to determine the location of a point of interest (POI). For example, a POI may exist outside the map or on a background with no meaningful cues. To address this issue, we present Personalized Compass, a self-contained compact graphical location indicator. Personalized Compass uses personal a priori POIs to establish a reference frame, within which a POI in question can then be localized. Graphically, a personalized compass combines a multi-needle compass with an abstract overview map. We analyze the characteristics of Personalized Compass and the existing Wedge technique, and report on a user study comparing them. Personalized Compass performs better for four inference tasks, while Wedge is better for a locating task. Based on our analysis and study results, we suggest the two techniques are complementary and offer design recommendations. In this demonstration, we present an iOS application comparing Personalized Compass with Wedge for map-based location and direction tasks.
Analysis of different detection methods for influenza virus

Methods of detection of influenza virus primarily include virus isolation, serological examination, and rapid detection of influenza virus. Rapid detection methods include immunological methods and genetic examination techniques( RT-PCR, Real-Time, gene chips, LAMP, and NASBA). These detection methods were compared and analyzed in this article,hoping to provide a guideline for the application of the detection methods in the prevention and control of influenza epidemic.
Pigmented Villonodular Synovitis: Potential Pitfall on Oncologic 18F-FDG PET/CT.

PurposeThis study evaluated the semiquantitative and qualitative appearance of pigmented villonodular synovitis (PVNS) and giant cell tumor of the tendon sheath (GCTTS) on 18F-FDG PET/CT.Patients and MethodsAn institutional review board–approved retrospective review was performed for patients diagno
Draft Genome Sequences for Seven Streptococcus parauberis Isolates from Wild Fish in the Chesapeake Bay.

ABSTRACT Streptococcus parauberis is a pathogen of cattle and fish, closely related Streptococcus uberis and Streptococcus iniae. We report the genomes of seven S. parauberis strains recovered from striped bass (Morone saxatilis) in the Chesapeake Bay. The availability of these genomes will allow comparative genomic analysis of Chesapeake Bay S. parauberis strains versus S. parauberis cultured from other animal hosts and geographic regions.
Future Directions in Training FAI Surgeons

Hip arthroscopy and FAI treatment present challenges to mastery as well as to education. Some studies suggest competency in hip arthroscopy after 30 procedures. This should be interpreted with caution, however, as few studies exist and most involve one surgeon with simple arthroscopic cases only. Likely, 60–90 reconstructive procedures are required for competency due to the high complexity of hip arthroscopy and particularly treatment of FAI. Skills labs and simulations may offer avenues for supplemental training in hip arthroscopy. Standardization of teaching FAI treatment and hip arthroscopy is lacking. Evidence-based recommendations must be established and should be based on level of training, continued education, and collaboration.
Modulation of Low-Frequency Acoustic Vibrations in Semiconductor Nanocrystals through Choice of Surface Ligand

Recent experimental and theoretical results have highlighted the surprisingly dominant role of acoustic phonons in regulating dynamic processes in nanocrystals. While it has been known for many years that acoustic phonon frequencies in nanocrystals depend on their size, strategies for tuning acoustic phonon energy at a given fixed size were not available. Here, we show that acoustic phonon frequencies in colloidal quantum dots (QDs) can be tuned through the choice of the surface ligand. Using low-frequency Raman spectroscopy, we explore the dependence of the l = 0 acoustic phonon resonance in CdSe QDs on ligand size, molecular weight, and chemical functionality. On the basis of these aggregated observations, we conclude that the primary mechanism for this effect is mass loading of the QD surface and that interactions between ligands and with the surrounding environment play a comparatively minor yet non-negligible role.
Selective CO2 Capture from Flue Gas Using Metal–Organic Frameworks―A Fixed Bed Study

It is important to capture carbon dioxide from flue gas, which is considered one of to be the main cause of global warming. CO2/N2 separation by novel adsorbents is a promising method for reducing ...