cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Functional Knowledge of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis for HIV Prevention Among Participants in a Web-Based Survey of Sexually Active Gay, Bisexual, and Other Men Who Have Sex With Men: Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Awareness of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention is increasing, but little is known about the functional knowledge of PrEP and its impact on willingness to use PrEP. Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the functional knowledge of PrEP among a sample of gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) participating in a Web-based survey of sexually active MSM. Methods: Men at least 18 years old, residing in the United States, and reporting sex with a man in the previous 6 months were recruited through social networking websites. PrEP functional knowledge included the following 4 questions (1) efficacy of consistent PrEP use, (2) inconsistent PrEP use and effectiveness, (3) PrEP and condom use, and (4) effectiveness at reducing sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Ordinal logistic regression was used to identify respondent characteristics associated with PrEP functional knowledge. In a subsample of participants responding to HIV prevention questions, we compared willingness to use PrEP by response to PrEP functional knowledge using logistic regression analysis adjusted for age, race and ethnicity, and education level. Results: Among 573 respondents, PrEP knowledge was high regarding adherence (488/573, 85.2%), condom use (532/573, 92.8%), and STIs (480/573, 83.8%), but only 252/573 (44.0%) identified the correct efficacy. Lower functional PrEP knowledge was associated with minority race/ethnicity (P=.005), lower education (P=.01), and not having an HIV test in the past year (P=.02). Higher PrEP knowledge was associated with willingness to use PrEP (P=.009). Younger age was not associated with higher PrEP functional knowledge or willingness to use PrEP. Conclusions: PrEP knowledge was generally high in our study, including condom use and consistent use but may be lacking in higher risk MSM. The majority of respondents did not correctly identify PrEP efficacy with consistent use, which could impact motivation to seek out PrEP for HIV prevention. Targeted messaging to increase PrEP knowledge may increase PrEP use. [JMIR Public Health Surveill 2018;4(1):e13]
Comparing crop growth and carbon budgets simulated across AmeriFlux agricultural sites using the Community Land Model (CLM)

Abstract Improvement of process-based crop models is needed to achieve high fidelity forecasts of regional energy, water, and carbon exchanges. However, most state-of-the-art Land Surface Models (LSMs) assessed in the fifth phase of the Coupled Model Inter-comparison project (CMIP5) simulated crops as unmanaged C3 or C4 grasses. This study evaluated the crop-enabled version of one of the most widely used LSMs, the Community Land Model (CLM4-Crop), for simulating corn and soybean agro-ecosystems at relatively long-time scales (up to 11 years) using 54 site-years of data. We found that CLM4-Crop had a biased phenology during the early growing season and that carbon emissions from corn and soybean were underestimated. The model adopts universal physiological parameters for all crop types neglecting the fact that different crops have different specific leaf area, leaf nitrogen content and vcmax25, etc. As a result, model performance varied considerably according to crop type. Overall, the energy and carbon exchange of corn systems were better simulated than soybean systems. Long-term simulations at multiple sites showed that gross primary production (GPP) was consistently over-estimated at soybean sites leading to very large short and long-term biases. A modified model, CLM4-CropM’, with optimized phenology and calibrated crop physiological parameters yielded significantly better simulations of gross primary production (GPP), ecosystem respiration (ER) and leaf area index (LAI) at both short (hourly) and long-term (annual to decadal) timescales for both soybean and corn.
Plasma iohexol clearance in automated peritoneal dialysis--its role in adequacy determination.

ObjectiveTo compare the relationship of plasma iohexol clearance to standard adequacy measures in an automated peritoneal dialysis (APD) population.DesignProspective, nonrandomized, open label, sim...
Validating Nursing Diagnoses: An Approach to Reinforce Nursing Process with BSN-Completion Students

An eight-week medical-surgical clinical rotation was used to expose RN students to the process of validating nursing diagnoses. Although limited in scope, students gathered data from the literature, nurse experts, and clinical observations to support defining characteristics of selected nursing diagnoses. Because of the response from students and agency nurses, a more comprehensive experience, to be offered as a nursing elective, is being planned.
Migrants and multinational firms: The role of institutional affinity and connectedness in FDI

Abstract We examine how, and to what extent, migrants in a host country attract foreign direct investment (FDI) from firms based in their country of origin (CO). Introducing the notion of institutional affinity, we argue that increased institutional affinity and increased connectedness of institutional environments of migrants’ CO and country of residence, make a location attractive to CO firms. Empirical analysis of FDI and migration panel data shows that in addition to the traditional factors influencing FDI patterns, there is a collective migrant effect on FDI, and this effect is statistically significant and economically meaningful for migrants from developing countries.
Hide Your Hackable Smart Home from Remote Attacks: The Multipath Onion IoT Gateways

The rapid expansion of IoT-enabled home automation is accompanied by substantial security and privacy risks. A large number of real-world security incidents exploiting various device vulnerabilities have been revealed. The Onion IoT gateways have been proposed to provide strong security protection for potentially vulnerable IoT devices by hiding them behind IoT gateways running the Tor hidden services, in which the gateways can only be accessed by authorized users with the .onion addresses of the gateways and correct credentials. However, the limited bandwidth of Tor makes this approach very impractical and unscalable. To tackle this issue, we present two novel designs of multipath Onion IoT gateway and split channel Onion IoT gateway. The first design implements a customized multipath routing protocol in Tor to construct a multi-circuit anonymous tunnel between the user and the Onion gateway to support applications that require low latency and high bandwidth. The second scheme splits command and data channels so that small-sized command packets are transmitted through the more secure channel over the Tor hidden service, while the less secure data channel over the public network is used for outbound very-high-bandwidth data traffic. Experiment results show that the proposed approaches significantly improve the performance of Onion IoT gateways, so that they can be practically adopted to securely transmit low-latency and high-bandwidth data, such as HD video streams from home surveillance cameras. We also prove the security guarantees of the proposed mechanism through security analysis.
A two-variable generalization of the Kummer–Malmstén formula for the logarithm of the double gamma and double sine functions

Abstract A classical formula due to Kummer and Malmsten expresses the logarithm of the gamma function as a Fourier series. We prove a generalization of this formula which expresses the logarithm of the double gamma function as a double Fourier series. We also obtain a double Fourier series expansion for the logarithm of the double sine function S 2 ( x , ( ω 1 , ω 2 ) ) , and of the two derivations given for this expansion, the first requires that ω 1 and ω 2 are incommensurable, and the second removes this restriction and holds in general. This second derivation relies upon an integral representation of the function log ⁡ S 2 ( x , ( ω 1 , ω 2 ) ) which appears to be new. A generalization of Raabe's formula for the gamma function to a two-variable version for the double gamma function is obtained, and double Fourier series expansions of the double Bernoulli polynomials are derived as well.
A dynamic perspective on the key drivers of innovation-led lean approaches to achieve sustainability in manufacturing supply chain

Abstract In response to the ever-increasing consumer awareness on carbon emissions and government policies, firms consider adopting innovation-led lean approaches to achieve sustainability in the manufacturing supply chain. The behavior of the key drivers of innovation-led lean approaches to achieve sustainability can vary over time and these variations have the potential to significantly affect sustainable outcomes in the manufacturing supply chain. Currently, the study of the dynamic behavior of the key drivers of innovation-led lean approaches and their influence on sustainable performance over a long time in the manufacturing supply chain is still unexplored. Therefore, this study employed fuzzy logic and Technique for Order Performance by Similarity to Ideal Solution (Fuzzy TOPSIS) to prioritize the key drivers of innovation-led lean approaches to achieve sustainability in the manufacturing supply chain based on the evaluations of experts in the Chinese electronics sector. Then, a system dynamics model was developed in this study to investigate the dynamics of the key drivers of innovation-led lean approaches and their influence on sustainable performance over a long time in the manufacturing supply chain. According to the study outcomes, the dynamic behavior of ‘Government regulations’ and ‘Conducive working conditions’ influences sustainable performance exponentially over a long time in the manufacturing supply chain. Our study also reported the dynamics of ‘Cash availability’ and ‘Fundamental knowledge’ and indicate that they are not highly influential on sustainable performance over a long time. This study will insure the key drivers maintain their status to achieve sustainable performance over a long time during implementing innovation-led lean approaches in the manufacturing supply chain.
Taking Sleep Difficulties Seriously in Children With Neurodevelopmental Disorders and ASD

* Abbreviations: ASD — : autism spectrum disorder NDD — : neurodevelopmental disorder In this month’s issue of Pediatrics , the large-scale epidemiological study by Reynolds et al1 finds that close to one half of 2- to 5-year-old children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or a neurodevelopmental disorder (NDD) with some autistic features have significant sleep difficulties. In addition, >1 in 4 children with other NDDs or delays, as well as otherwise healthy children, also have sleep problems.1,2 These sleep difficulties have significant negative consequences, such as exacerbating the social communication deficits in ASD and increasing repetitive and restrictive behaviors.3 They contribute to behaviors such as aggression and self-injury4 and often make life more difficult for the entire family. Pediatricians and nurse practitioners in primary care and more specialized health care providers such as developmental-behavioral pediatricians, child neurologists, psychologists, behavior analysts, and social workers often, but not always, hear from caregivers about these sleep difficulties. Yet, on the basis of the data presented here and elsewhere, whatever is being done currently is not working.5 The good news is that the sleep difficulties experienced by children with ASD and other NDDs are not different from … Address correspondence to Catherine Lord, PhD, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, 760 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095. E-mail: clord{at}mednet.ucla.edu
The Light vs. Dark Triad of Personality: Contrasting Two Very Different Profiles of Human Nature

While there is a growing literature on “dark traits” (i.e., socially aversive traits), there has been a lack of integration with the burgeoning research literature on positive traits and fulfilling and growth-oriented outcomes in life. To help move the field toward greater integration, we contrasted the nomological network of the Dark Triad (a well-studied cluster of socially aversive traits) with the nomological network of the Light Triad, measured by the 12-item Light Triad Scale (LTS). The LTS is a first draft measure of a loving and beneficent orientation toward others (“everyday saints”) that consists of three facets: Kantianism (treating people as ends unto themselves), Humanism (valuing the dignity and worth of each individual), and Faith in Humanity (believing in the fundamental goodness of humans). Across four demographically diverse samples (N=1,518), the LTS demonstrated excellent reliability and validity, predicting life satisfaction and a wide range of growth-oriented and self-transcendent outcomes above and beyond existing measures of personality. In contrast, the Dark Triad was negatively associated with life satisfaction and growth-oriented outcomes, and showed stronger linkages to selfish, exploitative, aggressive, and socially aversive outcomes. This exploratory study of the contrasting nomological networks of the Light vs. Dark Triad provides several ways forward for more principled and data driven approaches to explore both the malevolent and beneficent sides of human nature.
Matter over mind: Liquid phase separation and neurodegeneration

Phase separation of biomolecules leading to the formation of assemblies with distinct material properties has recently emerged as a new paradigm underlying subcellular organization. The discovery that disordered proteins, long associated with aggregation in neurodegenerative disease, are also implicated in driving liquid phase separation has galvanized significant interest in exploring the relationship between misregulated phase transitions and disease. This review summarizes recent work linking liquid phase separation to neurodegeneration, highlighting a pathological role for altered phase behavior and material properties of proteins assembled via liquid phase separation. The techniques that recent and current work in this area have deployed are also discussed, as is the potential for these discoveries to promote new research directions for investigating the molecular etiologies of neurodegenerative diseases.
Disturbance Ecology in the Anthropocene

With the accumulating evidence of changing disturbance regimes becoming increasingly obvious, there is potential for disturbance ecology to become the most valuable lens through which climate-related disturbance events are interpreted. In this paper, I revisit some of the central themes of disturbance ecology and argue that the knowledge established in the field of disturbance ecology continues to be relevant to ecosystem management, even with rapid changes to disturbance regimes and changing disturbance types in local ecosystems. Disturbance ecology has been tremendously successful over the past several decades at elucidating the interactions between disturbances, biodiversity, and ecosystems, and this knowledge can be leveraged in different contexts. Primarily, management in changing and uncertain conditions should be focused primarily on the long-term persistence of that native biodiversity which has evolved within the local disturbance regime, and is likely to go extinct with rapid changes to disturbance intensity, frequency, and type. Where possible, conserving aspects of natural disturbance regimes will be vital to preserving functioning ecosystems and to that native biodiversity that requires disturbance for its continued existence, though these situations may become more limited over time. Finally, scientists must actively propose management policies that incorporates knowledge of disturbance ecology. Successful policies regarding changing disturbance regimes for biodiversity will not merely be reactive, and will recognize that for natural ecosystems as for human society, not all desired outcomes are simultaneously possible.
Post-it Notes: Social Workers and Research Participants Sticking Together

This autoethnography reflects the author's perceptions of a collaborative social work process called qualitative inquiry. Using a quiltmaking metaphor, the author creates a recipe for collaborative learning between qualitative researchers and study participants. The metaphors associated with quiltmaking reflect a participatory action research model, and encourage qualitative researchers to stretch their creativity and collaboration skills.
Critical thermal tolerance of invasion: Comparative niche breadth of two invasive lizards.

Abstract Understanding the evolution of thermal tolerance in ectotherms is particularly important given the current period of rapid change in the environment and thermal climate. Specifically, introduced species have the potential to evolve different thermal tolerances than native populations due to rapid evolution and novel selection pressures. Our study examined critical thermal tolerance in two introduced lizard species, the European wall lizard (Podarcis muralis) in Ohio and Kentucky, and the Mediterranean gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus) from Texas through Alabama. We tested the hypotheses that critical thermal maximum, minimum, and breadth varies among introduced populations of P. muralis and H. turcicus, and that critical thermal tolerance broadens when moving away from the introduction site, because dispersal across novel environments may remove dispersers with narrow thermal tolerances. We found that among P. muralis populations, CTmin and thermal breadth were significantly different. Specifically, when moving away from the introduction site, lizards exhibited increased cold tolerance and broader thermal breadth. Variability in thermal parameters were also lowest at the site closest to the introduction point in P. muralis. In contrast, H. turcicus had no significant differences in critical thermal minimum, maximum, or breadth among sites, or with respect to distance from introduction point. However, we did find little variability in thermal maximum, compared to greater variability in overall tolerance and critical thermal minimums. Thus, this study shows that selection on thermal tolerance and dispersal characteristics occur in novel climatic environments. Understanding how thermal tolerance changes over time can aid in predicting establishment and movement of introduced species, with applications for native species during a time of global climatic change.
Incorporating uncertainty into detection probabilities and receiver-operator characteristic curves

Receiver-operator characteristic (ROC) curves are used in a variety of fields to assess the performance of binary classification algorithms. A variety of metrics can be defined that quantitatively summarize ROC curve performance, including area under the curve (AUC). In measured data, the detection statistic for each trial typically has some uncertainty associated with it. ROC curves generated from limited measured data that ignore this uncertainty can appear stair-stepped, and produce a single value for the AUC, which lacks any estimate of its variance. Incorporating the uncertainty in the detection statistic directly can lead to smooth ROC curves parameterized by a mean and variance, which then lead to AUC’s with both a mean and variance. With this, the significance between two or more ROC curves, and their AUC’s, can be assessed statistically. If the classification algorithm that produced the detection statistics have tuning parameters, the optimal values for these tuning parameters can also be determined, along with their associated variances. This methodology is presented alongside other techniques from literature. [This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC52-07NA27344 and is supported by the Office of Naval Research.]
The modification of three vulnerability theories to assist nursing practice for school‐age children with severe asthma

Purpose Severe asthma is an inflammatory illness associated with adverse health outcomes and behaviors in children, such as decreased quality of life, impaired sleep, and increased medical costs and morbidity. Conclusions Children with severe asthma frequently exhibit a cycle of health and behaviors which contribute to these adverse health outcomes, consisting of decreased physical activity, increased stress, and increased airway inflammation and asthma exacerbations. School-age children, in particular, are a vulnerable population because they not only rely on others for their care but also suffer from a chronic illness and are at risk for unequal healthcare access and health outcomes. Practice implications Currently, there is no one nursing theory that adequately addresses the vulnerability, cycle of health and behaviors, and adverse health outcomes of children with severe asthma. By integrating key concepts from three vulnerability theories and presenting a modified conceptual framework, this paper aims to demonstrate how the use of this new conceptual framework may assist nurses in evaluating the unique needs of school-age children with severe asthma to provide best practices and develop appropriate interventions.
Moral Stewardship of Our Most Precious Resource: Water

This essay first offers an overview of global water problems, then focuses on the situation in the United States. Climate change, deteriorating water infrastructure and increasing demands for water pose major challenges to water providers. Water is central to life itself and we should be moral stewards of our most important resource. Using Pope Francis’s 2016 encyclical, Laudato Si’, as a point of departure, this essay examines cultural uses of water that, at one end, deeply embrace sustainability as a guiding principle and, at the other end, appear narcissistic. Ignoring reality is a time-honored human frailty. We need resolve to tackle imminent water shortages. This essay offers a toolkit of policy options for helping us do so. One critical tool is to use price signals to encourage water conservation. Some have argued that water should be free, as a human right. I too advocate for water as a human right. But precisely because it is a finite resource, we need to discourage wasting water. The use of increasing block rates for water would protect basic access for persons of modest means while it would discourage profligate use of water for discretionary purposes. Finally, we have entered the era of water reallocation. The use of market forces gives us previously unused solutions, such as dry-year lease options, sales of water rights, water exchanges, and forbearance agreements. The toolkit equips us to address the water crisis. Now what we need is the political will and moral courage to act.
Demonstration of the Casimir Force in the 0.6 to 6 μ m Range

The vacuum stress between closely spaced conducting surfaces, due to the modification of the zero-point fluctuations of the electromagnetic field, has been conclusively demonstrated. The measurement employed an electromechanical system based on a torsion pendulum. Agreement with theory at the level of 5% is obtained.
Numerical study of the degree of light scattering strength versus fractal dimension in strong to weak 2D and 3D disordered fractal optical media

Optical scattering strength of fractal optical disordered media with varying fractal dimension is reported. The diffusion limited aggregation (DLA) technique is used to generate fractal samples in 2D and 3D, and fractal dimensions are calculated using the box-counting method. The degree of structural disorder of these samples is calculated using their light localization strength, via the inverse participation ratio (IPR) analyses of the optical eigenfunctions. Results show non-monotonous behavior of the disorder-induced scattering strength with the fractal dimension, attributed to competition between the increasing structural disorder due to the decrease in fractal dimension versus the decrease in scattering centers due to decreasing fractality.
Evaluation of public interest in hair removal techniques using Google trends data.

To the editor,Unwanted hair growth can lead to significant psychological distress (1,2). While many hair removal methods exist in the US, little is known about the relative popularity of different ...
Cultivating Decline: Agricultural Modernization Policy and Adaptive Resilience in the Yangzi Delta

Since it was initiated in the mid-2000s, the Chinese central government’s agricultural modernization policy has had fundamental impacts on China’s agricultural system. Premised on creating a foundation for long-term sustainable development, modernization has broadly expanded large-scale, mechanized farming. Historically, however, China’s Yangzi River Delta achieved long-term sustainable development without capital-intensifying and mechanizing technological innovation. Rather, diverse and autonomous land use and grassroots governance practices facilitated knowledge-sharing, knowledge-building, and adaptation. Drawing on this history as a reference point for analysis, I examine the influence of agricultural modernization policy on adaptive resilience using a case study of a Yangzi Delta township that was an early recipient of central government funding in support of its contemporary effort to expand large-scale farming. I find that the implementation of agricultural modernization policy reform in Ruilin has undermined its resilient practices and features, rendering the township vulnerable to disturbance.
Health Care as a Right for the Human Trafficked

Human trafficking in the United States disproportionately impacts people of color; this has been true since race-based slavery started in the Northern Hemisphere. As in the economic construction of the nation, advances in health care have been facilitated by the use of Black bodies despite the fact that health care was not wholly available to enslaved Black people. The legacy of the devaluation of Black people lives on in pervasive race-based morbidity and mortality disparities. This chapter historically situates Black experiences of US health care in the Middle Passage, chattel slavery, and the Eugenics Movement. The chapter concludes with recommendations on ways to make health care affordable, accessible, and acceptable to people of color and trafficked persons (noting these two groups meaningfully overlap), especially by proportionately allocating healthcare resources to vulnerable and oppressed groups with more poor health outcomes.
Occupational therapy and Beery VMI scores of children with autism spectrum disorder, brachial plexus injury, and cerebral palsy

Data of 107 children (84 males and 23 females) who received occupational therapy services were collected. Data collected included age, gender, prescribed frequency of occupational therapy, number of sessions attended within the six-month timeframe, pre and post Beery Visual Motor Integration scores.
Freedom Now: A New Look at the Impulse Approximation

Recent work on a field-theoretic impulse approximation is described. The operator product expansion is organized according to powers of g(Q2), the effective coupling constant appropriate to momentum transfer Q2, instead of asymptotic dimensional analysis. This allows the calculation of all quark and target mass dependence of lepton-hadron inclusive scattering, order by order in g(Q2). To O(g°), there is scaling in a mass dependent variable, ξ. The correct incorporation of quark masses into the renormalization group analysis is presented; the consequences include the relation of constituent masses to current algebra and the magnitude and shapes of the parton distribution functions for gluons, antiquarks, and heavy quarks.
THEOREMS FOR CHANGE OF VOLUME AND MOMENTS OF VOLUME OF ELASTIC TANKS SUBJECT TO ARBITRARY INTERNAL PRESSURES

Theorems for change of volume and moments of volume of elastic tanks subject to arbitrary internal pressures
PYOGENIC HEPATIC ABSCESS IN INFANCY AND CHILDHOOD

Five cases of childhood pyogenic hepatic abscess at Milwaukee Children's Hospital and 61 cases in the literature were reviewed. Hepatic abscess occurred most often in infants who had sepsis or umbilical infection. Cases in older children were associated with underlying host defense defects, particularly chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) and leukemia. Common clinical findings were fever, abdominal pain and hepatomegaly. Radionuclide scan was useful in diagnosis of lesions larger than 2 cm. Small or microscopic lesions were diagnosed at autopsy. Staphylococcus aureus was the most common etiologic agent. Mortality in all evaluable cases was 27% in patients with CGD and 42% in those without CGD. Open drainage and appropriate antibiotic therapy is the treatment of choice and should lower the mortality of this infection.
Public Health: Rickettsial Infections and Epidemiology

Rickettsial diseases have had a profound impact on human lives for centuries but were poorly understood prior to the beginning of the 20th century. The study of the pathogens is challenging and requires an intimate understanding of arthropod vectors, mammalian hosts, and human nature. This chapter focuses on rickettsial infections of public health importance to humans, primarily focusing on rickettsiae in the United States. It also briefly addresses the global importance of rickettsial pathogens. An understanding of the epidemiology of rickettsial diseases requires not only a look at contemporary public health issues, but also an understanding of the history of these infections and classic approaches to control and prevention. Since the early investigations of Ricketts and others into the origins and ecology of Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF), public health interest in rickettsiae has remained strong in the United States. The chapter concentrates on the historical and current epidemiology and public health importance of rickettsial pathogens known to occur in the United States. R. parkeri infection can be difficult to distinguish from infection with Rickettsia rickettsii, as extensive serologic cross-reactivity occurs between this and other spotted fever group rickettsial (SFGR) species. From 2000 to 2007, 3,126 cases of presumed Ehrlichia chaffeensis and an additional 824 cases classified as "Ehrlichiosis Undetermined/Unspecified/Other Agent (UUOA)" were reported within the United States. Most of these Ehrlichiosis UUOA cases were probably E. chaffeensis or Anaplasma phagocytophilum cases that could not be properly classified.
Biochemical characteristics of heavy metal uptake by Escherichia coli NCP immobilized in kappa-carrageenan beads

A biosorbent was developed with Escherichia coli NCP immobilized in 2.25% k -carrageenan to remove heavy metals from solutions. The NCP is a recombinant E. coli , expressing the Neurospora crassa metallothionein gene that codes for a high-affinity, metal-binding peptide. The NCP has previously been shown to sequester low levels of cadmium (Cd) and other metals from solutions. k -Carrageenan gel encapsulated with the NCP forms an ellipsoidal bead with average diameters of 5.82±0.31 mm along the long axis and 2.70±0.27 mm along the short axis. This study reports physiological and biochemical characteristics of Cd uptake by the biosorbent. Encapsulated cells grew up to 1.82×10 9 cells within individual beads. However, a small amount of the immobilized cells continuously leaked out of the bead during the biosorption experiments when cell numbers reached 9×10 8 cells/bead. Scanning electron micrographs evidenced that encapsulated cells migrated toward the surface area, leaving small clusters of cells embedded in the gel matrix. The maximum, uptake of Cd by the biosorbent was achieved within three hours, while cells were still in the exponential growth phase. Individual cells sequestered the maximum amount of Cd at 2-hour incubation, after which the specific uptake per cell declined significantly as cells appeared to escape from the bead. Results of the specific metal uptake by immobilized cells and free cells were compared to indentify the transport limitation and availability of metals in polymer matrices. There was no apparent microbial limitation present in ellipsoidal-shaped 2.25% k -carrageenan beads. Rather, the immobilized individual cells sequestered more Cd when they were grown in the LB medium than free cells dissolved in saline solutions. Results indicate that the immobilized recombinant cells function as more effective biosorbents than the free cells.
Content on end-of-life care in major pharmacy textbooks

The quantity and quality of end-of-life-care (EOLC) information in commonly used pharmacy textbooks were studied. EOLC content in each of eight best-selling pharmacy textbooks was assigned to 1 of 13 domains; there were a total of 104 possible domains for all eight books. Every mention of EOLC was given a score of 2 for "helpful content present" or 1 for "minimal content present." The quantity of EOLC content was assessed by tabulating the raw number of entries. The average number of EOLC-related entries per book ranged from 1.0 (ethics) to 27.5 (natural history). Eighty-one domains (78%) had fewer than 10 entries, 66 (63%) had 5 or fewer entries, and 28 (27%) had 1 entry or none. The overall quality of content was low, especially in the domains of spiritual issues, ethics, and context of care. The results were consistent with findings for medicine and nursing textbooks. A review of eight commonly used pharmacy textbooks revealed inadequate coverage of EOLC.
The effect of parasitic bipolar transistor on the performance and reliability of scaled vertical power DMOSFETs

The parasitic bipolar transistor inherent in the silicided vertical double diffused MOSFET (DMOSFET) can greatly affect its performance and reliability. Scaled low-voltage power DMOSFETs with TiSi/sub 2/ source contacts were reported and anomalous "kinks" in the output I-V characteristics were observed. It was shown that a high contact resistance of TiSi/sub 2/ contacts to the p-body diffusion caused the high output conductance. In this paper, a two-dimensional (2D) device simulator was used to investigate in detail the impact of the parasitic bipolar transistor on the static and dynamic switching characteristics of scaled silicided power MOSFETs. A mixed device and circuit simulator was used to determine the effect of bipolar parameters on the switching characteristics of devices under resistive and unclamped inductive switching (UIS) conditions. It is shown that a shallow surface-diffused p/sup +/ region is necessary to suppress the parasitic bipolar transistor-induced deleterious effects in developing the next generation of scaled power MOS technologies. >
Nonlinear phase shift of photonic microcavity arrays

Summary from only given. Periodic arrays of photonic microcavities can facilitate significant enhancements of the nonlinear sensitivity over bulk materials. These enhancement occur for very short lengths. Preliminary experimental results are encouraging.
ACSL Code: a high quality code generator for control applications

Honeywell and MGA Software have collaborated to produce ACSL Code, a high-quality C code generator for control applications. ACSL Code was designed using the lessons learned by Honeywell when they developed the language and code generator ControlH, under an ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency) DSSA (Domain-Specific Software Architecture) contract. We describe the language that the algorithm definitions are captured in by the ACSL Code tool, before being translated to C code. The language is designed to capture control algorithms concisely and rigorously. The language has both a textual and a graphical syntax. The textual syntax is a variant of MGA's language ACSL (Advanced Continuous Simulation Language), while the graphical syntax is derived from MGA's graphic modeling language. Highlights of the language include the integration between the textual and the graphical syntaxes, the rich base of presupplied blocks, and strong support for vectors and matrices. We describe our philosophy for code generation, and the ways in which ACSL Code implements that philosophy. The goal of the code generator is to produce software whose quality and structure are comparable to that produced by an experienced software engineer. One important characteristic is that the code produced preserves the structure of the original algorithm definition. Another characteristic is that the generated code is very portable and may be easily inserted into legacy environments. Finally, we present an example of a representative control law definition, and excerpts from the corresponding generated code.
Activation of Hypoxia-inducible Transcription Factor Depends Primarily upon Redox-sensitive Stabilization of Its α Subunit

Hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) is a heterodimeric transcription factor that is critical for hypoxic induction of a number of physiologically important genes. We present evidence that regulation of HIF-1 activity is primarily determined by the stability of the HIF-1α protein. Both HIF-1α and HIF-1β mRNAs were constitutively expressed in HeLa and Hep3B cells with no significant induction by hypoxia. However, the HIF-1α protein was barely detectable in normoxic cells, even when HIF-1α was overexpressed, but was highly induced in hypoxic cells, whereas HIF-1β protein levels remained constant, regardless of pO2. Hypoxia-induced HIF-1 binding as well as the HIF-1α protein were rapidly and drastically decreased in vivo following an abrupt increase to normal oxygen tension. Moreover, short pre-exposure of cells to hydrogen peroxide selectively prevented hypoxia-induced HIF-1 binding via blocking accumulation of HIF-1α protein, whereas treatment of hypoxic cell extracts with H2O2 had no effect on HIF-1 binding. These observations suggest that an intact redox-dependent signaling pathway is required for destablization of the HIF-1α protein. In hypoxic cell extracts, HIF-1 DNA binding was reversibly abolished by sulfhydryl oxidation. Furthermore, the addition of reduced thioredoxin to cell extracts enhanced HIF-1 DNA binding. Consistent with these results, overexpression of thioredoxin and Ref-1 significantly potentiated hypoxia-induced expression of a reporter construct containing the wild-type HIF-1 binding site. These experiments indicate that activation of HIF-1 involves redox-dependent stabilization of HIF-1α protein.
IRF1: a deus ex machina in TH1 differentiation.

The cytokines IFN-γ and IL-12, along with the transcription factors STAT4 and T-bet, are necessary for driving TH1 development. Fresh data now indicate that the transcription factor IRF1 is also essential in this process.
Assessing Relationship Closeness Online

A continuous measure of relationship closeness inspired by the Inclusion of Other in the Self Scale was designed using Java. This new measure allows for closeness to be assessed on a continuous scale of zero to 100, with output values corresponding to the degree of overlap and distance between the objects in the applet. In addition, the applet includes options to enhance its flexibility and usefulness in research applications. In particular, the behavior of the applet, and properties of objects included in it, can be customized. The construction of the applet is described, and methodological and theoretical considerations regarding this new measure are discussed.
Partial characterization of haemoglobin of the bug, Buenoa confusa☆

Abstract The molecular weight of haemoglobin (Hb) from 5th instar larvae of Buenoa confusa was estimated from Sephadex gel filtration and SDS-acrylamide gel electrophoresis. Two Hb fractions eluted from G-100 or G-200 Sephadex columns ranged from 12000 to 14000 and 52000 to 61300 daltons. Another fraction elutes with the void volume in each case. SDS-gel electrophoresis of 3 H δ-ALA (δ-aminolevulinic acid)-labelled Hbs treated with SDS and mercaptoethanol shows that most of the high molecular weight Hbs are aggregates of 14000 dalton monomers (corresponding to the low molecular weight Hb eluted from Sephadex filtration).
Structural optimization of uncertain dynamical systems considering mixed-design variables

Abstract In this paper attention is directed to the reliability-based optimization of uncertain structural systems under stochastic excitation involving discrete–continuous sizing type of design variables. The reliability-based optimization problem is formulated as the minimization of an objective function subject to multiple reliability constraints. The probability that design conditions are satisfied within a given time interval is used as a measure of system reliability. The problem is solved by a sequential approximate optimization strategy cast into the framework of conservative convex and separable approximations. To this end, the objective function and the reliability constraints are approximated by using a hybrid form of linear, reciprocal and quadratic approximations. The approximations are combined with an effective sensitivity analysis of the reliability constraints in order to generate explicit expressions of the constraints in terms of the design variables. The explicit approximate sub-optimization problems are solved by an appropriate discrete optimization technique. The optimization scheme exhibits monotonic convergence properties. Two numerical examples showing the effectiveness of the approach reported herein are presented.
The Complementary Roles of Chest Radiography, Lung Scanning, and Selective Pulmonary Angiography in the Diagnosis of Pulmonary Embolism

The chest X-ray, perfusion lung scan, and selective pulmonary arteriogram were independently reviewed in 104 patients with suspected pulmonary embolism. Thirteen patients also had 133Xe ventilation studies. Of the 45 patients with angiographically-documented pulmonary emboli, 37 had perfusion scans interpreted as high probability of pulmonary embolism (82% sensitivity). Fifty of 59 patients without angiographic evidence of pulmonary embolism had perfusion scans interpreted as low probability of pulmonary embolism, other, or normal (85% specificity). Of the 41 patients with acute pulmonary embolism, only three had normal chest X-rays. In 26 (63%) the abnormality on perfusion scan was more extensive than that on chest X-ray. When both the scan and chest X-ray pointed strongly in the same direction, a correct diagnosis could usually be made, and accuracy was greater than when diagnosis was based on the perfusion scan alone. The lung scan was of limited value in patients with cardiomegaly or left heart failur...
Tetrapyrroles. III. Homochiral dihydropyrromethenones from N-Aminopyrroles and acetylenic acids

Abstract Dihydropyrromethenone 29, a potential precursor for the synthesis of Phytochroem (8). Phycocyanin (9) and Phycoerythrin (10), has been prepared in homochiral form from pyrrolohydrazide 27 by a sequence involving F- induced 5-exo-dig cyclizadon to afford enamide 28, followed by photochemical 3,5-sigmatropic rearrangement.
The cellular basis of the elongation response in submerged deep-water rice

The cellular basis of internode elongation was studied in intact deep-water rice plants (Oryza sativa L. cv. "Habiganj Aman II") and in isolated stem sections. In intact plants, growth was stimulated by submergence in water and by ethylene treatment. In isolated sections, growth was enhanced by submergence, by ethylene, and by exposure of the tissue to an atmosphere of 3% O2, 91% N2 and 6% CO2 or 3% O2, 91% N2, 6% CO2 and 1 μl l(-1) C2H4 (by vol.). Under all these conditions, growth was localized in the intercalary meristem at the bases of the internodes. Autoradiography of [(3)H]thymidine-labeled tissue showed activation of cell division and longitudinal expansion of the intercalary meristem. Increased production of new cells and their subsequent elongation thus form the basis for the growth response to submergence and ethylene treatment in deep-water rice plants.
Neuroinflammation in Pulmonary Hypertension: Concept, Facts, and Relevance

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a progressive lung disease characterized by elevated pressure in the lung vasculature, resulting in right-sided heart failure and premature death. The pathogenesis of PH is complex and multifactorial, involving a dysregulated autonomic nervous system and immune response. Inflammatory mechanisms have been linked to the development and progression of PH; however, these are usually restricted to systemic and/or local lung tissue. Inflammation within the CNS, often referred to as neuroinflammation involves activation of the microglia, the innate immune cells that are found specifically in the brain and spinal cord. Microglial activation results in the release of several cytokines and chemokines that trigger neuroinflammation, and has been implicated in the pathogenesis of several disease conditions such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, hypertension, atherosclerosis, and metabolic disorders. In this review, we introduce the concept of neuroinflammation in the context of PH, and discuss possible strategies that could be developed for PH therapy based on this concept.
Altered load history affects periprosthetic bone loss following cementless total hip arthroplasty

Dual energy x-ray absorptiometry was used to measure periprosthetic, distal femoral, and proximal tibial bone mass in the affected and contralateral limbs of eight patients 10 years after unilateral total hip arthroplasty with a cementless, porous-coated titanium alloy femoral stem. Gait analyses to assess the presence of asymmetries in loading of the lower extremities were also performed 10 years postoperatively. The patients had excellent clinical results and no other significant lower extremity pathology. On the basis of comparison of the affected and unaffected proximal femora, bone loss adjacent to the proximal medial aspect of the femoral stem was determined to be 34% (p < 0.001). However, the patients also had 16% less bone in the ipsilateral proximal tibia (p = 0.003) and 15% less bone in the ipsilateral femur 3 cm distal to the prosthesis (p = 0.007) compared with the contralateral limb. When normalized to the asymmetry in tibial bone mineral content, the estimated proximal medial periprosthetic bone loss was still statistically significant, but the magnitude was reduced from 34 to 17% (p = 0.009). The gait analyses indicated that several measures that influence the loads at the hip and knee joints were reduced in the involved limb compared with the contralateral limb. Furthermore, the bilateral difference in the vertical component of the external force acting on the proximal tibia was correlated with the bilateral difference in tibial bone mineral content (r = 0.80, p = 0.02). These data suggest that two mechanical factors, the local stress-shielding effect of the prosthesis and the global effect of decreased loading of the limb, can both make significant contributions to periprosthetic bone loss. It is apparent that the magnitude of the periprosthetic bone loss related to stress-shielding has been overestimated by as much as 50% in retrospective studies.
Type specimens of Gelidiaceae (Rhodophyceae) described by Nina H. Loomis

Abstract Holotypes of eight species of Gelidiaceae (Rhodophyceae) from California and the Hawaiian Islands, described by Nina H. Loomis in 1960, have been found at the Allan Hancock Foundation, University of Southern California, Los Angeles. The status of those collections which had been designated temporary types in the absence of the holotypes is clarified. At least five of the eight species are conspecific with previously described species. Three species of Gelidiaceae from California, described by Loomis in 1949, are also reviewed, leading to the conclusion that at least two are conspecific with previously described species.