cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effect of Functional Groups on Autothermal Partial Oxidation of Bio-oil. Part 1: Role of Catalyst Surface and Molecular Oxygen

Autothermal partial oxidation is a promising technique to upgrade bio-oil into syngas and commodity chemicals. This work aims to clarify preferred chemical routes in an autothermal system by investigating individually two-carbon molecules containing the functional groups found in bio-oil. Acids, alcohols, aldehydes, esters, ethers, and polyols were reacted over Pt– and Rh–Al2O3 catalysts. Also, to investigate thermal effects independent of O2-induced reactions, these molecules were passed over the same catalysts under similar conditions but in the absence of O2. Oxygen and adsorption geometry (the latter deduced from surface science literature) appear to play a key role in reaction initiation (manifested via overall conversion) and in the subsequent reaction of intermediate compounds. The catalyst identity also played a significant role in the observed product spectrum, and conversion was higher over the Rh catalyst. Polyols, ethers, and acids were the least reactive, while esters were the most reactive. ...
Biophysical Characterization of Rat Caudal Hypothalamic Neurons: Calcium Channel Contribution to Excitability

Neurons in the caudal hypothalamus (CH) are responsible for the modulation of various processes including respiratory and cardiovascular output. Previous results from this and other laboratories ha...
Assembly and Comparison of Plasma Membrane SNARE Acceptor Complexes

Abstract Neuronal exocytotic membrane fusion occurs on a fast timescale and is dependent on interactions between the vesicle SNARE synaptobrevin-2 and the plasma membrane SNAREs syntaxin-1a and SNAP-25 with a 1:1:1 stoichiometry. Reproducing fast fusion rates as observed in cells by reconstitution in vitro has been hindered by the spontaneous assembly of a 2:1 syntaxin-1a:SNAP-25 complex on target membranes that kinetically alters the binding of synaptobrevin-2. Previously, an artificial SNARE acceptor complex consisting of 1:1:1 syntaxin-1a(residues 183–288):SNAP-25:syb(residues 49–96) was found to greatly accelerate the rates of lipid mixing of reconstituted target and vesicle SNARE proteoliposomes. Here we present two (to our knowledge) new procedures to assemble membrane-bound 1:1 SNARE acceptor complexes that produce fast and efficient fusion without the need of the syb(49–96) peptide. In the first procedure, syntaxin-1a is purified in a strictly monomeric form and subsequently assembled with SNAP-25 in detergent with the correct 1:1 stoichiometry. In the second procedure, monomeric syntaxin-1a and dodecylated (d-)SNAP-25 are separately reconstituted into proteoliposomes and subsequently assembled in the plane of merged target lipid bilayers. Examining single particle fusion between synaptobrevin-2 proteoliposomes and planar-supported bilayers containing the two different SNARE acceptor complexes revealed similar fast rates of fusion. Changing the stoichiometry of syntaxin-1a and d-SNAP-25 in the target bilayer had significant effects on docking, but little effect on the rates of synaptobrevin-2 proteoliposome fusion.
Effect of Decoction of Flos Carthami(红花水煎剂) on Tumor Histopathology and Angiogenesis

Objective:To study the effects of different dosages of Decoction of Flos Carthami on tumor histopathology and angiogenesis.Method:Intragastric administration with different dosages of Decoction of Flos Carthami was applied on tumor-bearing mice inoculated H22 tumor cell.10 days later the tumor tissues were weighed and the rates of inhibiting tumor were calculated.Paraffin sections were made and HE staining was done.Then the tumor histopathology changes were observed and microvessel density(MVD) in each group was detected by immunity histochemistry.Result:After intragastric administration with Decoction of Flos Carthami,tumor weights in every group were decreased,and those in the group of middle dosage done most significantly(P0.05).Morphologic changes were obvious on histopathology and microvessel density(MVD) decreased significantly(P0.01).Conclusion:Decoction of Flos Carthami of specified dosage can inhibit tumor growth significantly.The effect is carried out probably by inhibiting tumor tissue's angiogenesis.
Non-exhaustive, Overlapping k -means.

Traditional clustering algorithms, such as k-means, output a clustering that is disjoint and exhaustive, that is, every single data point is assigned to exactly one cluster. However, in real datasets, clusters can overlap and there are often outliers that do not belong to any cluster. This is a well recognized problem that has received much attention in the past, and several algorithms, such as fuzzy kmeans have been proposed for overlapping clustering. However, most existing algorithms address either overlap or outlier detection and do not tackle the problem in a unified way. In this paper, we propose a simple and intuitive objective function that captures the issues of overlap and nonexhaustiveness in a unified manner. Our objective function can be viewed as a reformulation of the traditional k-means objective, with easy-to-understand parameters that capture the degrees of overlap and non-exhaustiveness. By studying the objective, we are able to obtain a simple iterative algorithm which we call NEO-K-Means (Non-Exhaustive Overlapping K-Means). Furthermore, by considering an extension to weighted kernel k-means, we can tackle the case of non-exhaustive and overlapping graph clustering. This extension allows us to apply our NEO-K-Means algorithm to the community detection problem, which is an important task in network analysis. Our experimental results show that the new objective and algorithm are effective in finding ground-truth clusterings that have varied overlap and non-exhaustiveness; for the case of graphs, we show that our algorithm outperforms state-of-the-art overlapping community detection methods.
Maternal Smoking Among Women With and Without Use of Assisted Reproductive Technologies

Abstract Objective: To estimate smoking prevalence during the year before pregnancy and during pregnancy and adverse outcomes among women who delivered infants with and without assisted reproductive technology (ART) using linked birth certificates (BC) and National ART Surveillance System (NASS) data. Methods: Data were analyzed for 384,390 women and 392,248 infants born in Massachusetts and Michigan during 2008–2009. Maternal smoking prevalence was estimated using smoking indicated from BC by ART status. For ART users, to evaluate underreporting, prepregnancy smoking was estimated from BC, NASS, or both sources. Effect of prenatal smoking on preterm and mean birthweight (term only) for singleton infants were examined by ART status. Results: Maternal smoking prevalence estimates were significantly lower for ART users than nonusers (prepregnancy = 3.2% vs. 16.7%; prenatal = 1.0% vs. 11.1%, p < 0.05). When combining smoking information from BC and NASS, prepregnancy smoking prevalence estimates for ART user...
Assessment of pituitary function in patients with serum prolactin levels greater than 100 ng/ml.

Twelve women with galactorrhea-amenorrhea and prolactin levels greater than 100 ng/ml were evaluated with dynamic pituitary challenge testing. Forty-two per cent of the patients had positive findings on polytomography and subsequent surgical confirmation of a pituitary tumor. Patients with tumors had a delayed elevation of growth hormone (GH) and cortisol following induction of insulin hypoglycemia. Patients had increased thyroid-stimulating hormone levels after injection of thyrotropin-releasing factor, but showed blunting of prolactin secretion. Patients with tumors had decreased basal levels of GH and showed a blunted response to luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LRF) stimulation. These patients had normal elevations of follicle-stimulating hormone after LRF challenge. Patients with tumors showed a delay in elevation of GH levels following l-dopa treatment. They also failed to show prolactin suppression following this treatment. There are consistently predictive changes that occur in pitutiary functions in the presence of a pituitary tumor. However, absolute prolactin levels and sellar polytomography are more reliable in diagnosing the presence of a pituitary tumor in the patient with galactorrhea-amenorrhea.
Large‐Scale Changes in Bloater Growth and Condition in Lake Huron

AbstractNative Bloaters Coregonus hoyi have exhibited multiple strong year-classes since 2005 and now are the most abundant benthopelagic offshore prey fish in Lake Huron, following the crash of nonnative Alewives Alosa pseudoharengus and substantial declines in nonnative Rainbow Smelt Osmerus mordax. Despite recent recoveries in Bloater abundance, marketable-size (>229 mm) Bloaters remain scarce. We used annual survey data to assess temporal and spatial dynamics of Bloater body condition and lengths at age in the main basin of Lake Huron from 1973 to 2014. Basinwide lengths at age were modeled by cohort for the 1973–2003 year-classes using a von Bertalanffy growth model with time-varying Brody growth coefficient (k) and asymptotic length () parameters. Median Bloater weights at selected lengths were estimated to assess changes in condition by modeling weight–length relations with an allometric growth model that allowed growth parameters to vary spatially and temporally. Estimated Bloater lengths at age d...
Exercise-induced pulmonary hypertension by stress echocardiography: Prevalence and correlation with right heart hemodynamics

Abstract Objectives The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of exercise-induced pulmonary hypertension (EIPH) in consecutive subjects referred for stress echocardiography for chest pain or shortness of breath and correlate echocardiographic diagnosis of EIPH with hemodynamics at right heart catheterization (RHC). Background Elevated pulmonary pressure can lead to significant morbidity and mortality. EIPH by ehocardiography has been described in patients with connective tissue disease. It's prevalence in the setting of routine clinically indicated stress echocardiography unknown. Methods In a retrospective analysis of 4068 consecutive stress subjects undergoing stress echocardiography, 479 subjects with EIPH were identified. All 479 subjects with EIPH were compared to 479 age and sex matched subjects with normal pulmonary artery pressures post exercise. EIPH was defined as PASP>50mmHg or peak tricuspid regurgitation velocity>3.2m/s. Of 100 patients with EIPH who underwent RHC we identified variables which predicted abnormal hemodynamic findings on RHC. Results The prevalence of EIPH in subjects referred for stress echocardiography was 11.7%. A greater proportion of subjects with EIPH were obese or had lung disease or connective tissue disease. Of 100 subjects who underwent RHC, 65 had abnormal results. Age>55years (OR 5.1, p p =0.02]) were independently associated with abnormal right heart hemodynamics. Conclusions The results demonstrate that 11.7% of patients undergoing clinically indicated stress echocardiography have EIPH. Of those who underwent RHC abnormal hemodynamics were significantly associated with a dilated left atrium or age older than 55years.
Compressive creep behaviour of hot-pressed PbTe

Abstract Creep deformation is of concern in PbTe thermoelectric modules operating for years at high homologous temperatures while being subjected to internal or external stresses. The creep strain rates of hot-pressed PbTe are measured at 400 °C; a power-law is found, with a stress exponent n = 1.7 at low stresses (2–7 MPa) and n = 4.4 at high stresses (7–35 MPa). Creep rates measured at low stresses (4–6 MPa) between 350 and 500 °C provide a creep activation energy Q = 181 ± 18 kJ/mol. The creep parameters and the good hot ductility of PbTe are compared to those for cast Bi 2 Te 3 reported in the literature.
X-ray circular dichroism signals: a unique probe of local molecular chirality

Core-resonant circular dichroism (CD) signals are induced by molecular chirality and vanish for achiral molecules and racemic mixtures. The highly localized nature of core excitations makes them ideal probes of local chirality within molecules. Simulations of the circular dichroism spectra of several molecular families illustrate how these signals vary with the electronic coupling to substitution groups, the distance between the X-ray chromophore and the chiral center, geometry, and chemical structure. Clear insight into the molecular structure is obtained through analysis of the X-ray CD spectra.
Anchoring Chromatin Loops to Cancer.

Although some genomic rearrangements are caused by replication or transcription, the etiology of others is unclear. Reporting in Cell, Canela et al. (2017) reveal that type II topoisomerase-mediated release of torsional strain at chromosomal loop anchors generates DNA double-strand breaks that drive multiple oncogenic translocations in a transcription-independent manner.
Four experiments on the relational dynamics and prosocial consequences of gratitude

AbstractFour experiments utilized experimental inductions of gratitude and behavioral measures of prosociality to explore the effects of 4 variables on gratitude and grateful prosocial outcomes: benefactor similarity (Study 1), intention (Study 2), future benefits (Study 3), and anonymity (Study 4). We consistently found that the receipt of a favor increased prosocial behavior, and this effect was mediated by gratitude. Benefactor similarity did not meaningfully influence either prosocial behavior or gratitude. Although benefactor intention did meaningfully affect gratitude, the effect was too small to influence the mediational effect of gratitude on prosocial behavior. Neither anonymity nor the possibility of future procurement decreased the role of gratitude in distribution; instead, both of these variables may have enhanced the role of gratitude. These data support gratitude as an important component of prosocial behavior and suggest that gratitude may contain an altruistic component, consistent with i...
Towards predictive transferable simulations of ceramic failure in ballistic events

Abstract This work discusses the calibration of an advanced material model for boron carbide and then compares simulations of a ballistic impact event to highly instrumented experiments. The experiments are instrumented using flash x-ray, high-speed video, and photon Doppler velocimetry (PDV). Possible sources for the differences between the simulations and experiments are discussed.
Ending Cervical Cancer Screening in Low-Risk Women After Age 65: Understanding Barriers to Adherence With Evidence-Based Guidelines Among Primary Care Providers.

Background:Current evidence-based cervical cancer testing guidelines recommend that screening of low-risk women ceases after age 65. Despite this, research suggests that continued testing by primar...
Strategies for Improving Homeless People's Access to Mainstream Benefits and Services

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has been funding transitional housing, permanent supportive housing, and related supportive services projects for homeless people since 1988, under the authority granted by the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act of 1987 and its subsequent modifications. When HUD began funding these projects under its Supportive Housing Program (SHP) as competitive grants, and later (starting in 1996) through the Continuum of Care (CoC) process, it gave applicants discretion to use HUD homeless funds for whatever mix of eligible activities they preferred. As a result, by 2000, nearly 60 percent of HUD homeless funds were being used by communities for services such as daycare and drug treatment, while the remaining funds were used for housing.
VC3: A Virtual Cluster Service for Community Computation

A traditional HPC computing facility provides a large amount of computing power but has a fixed environment designed to satisfy local needs. This makes it very challenging for users to deploy complex applications that span multiple sites and require specific application software, scheduling middleware, or sharing policies. The DOE-funded VC3 project aims to address these challenges by making it possible for researchers to easily aggregate and share resources, install custom software environments, and deploy clustering frameworks across multiple HPC facilities through the concept of "virtual clusters". This paper presents the design, implementation, and initial experience with our prototype self-service VC3 platform which automates deployment of cluster frameworks across diverse computing facilities. To create a virtual cluster, the VC3 platform materializes a custom head node in a secure private cloud, specifies a choice of scheduling middleware, then allocates resources from the remote facilities where the desired software and clustering framework is installed in user space. As resources become available from scheduled nodes from individual clusters, the research team simply sees a private cluster they can access directly or share with collaborators, such as a science gateway community. We discuss how this service can be used by research collaborations requiring shared resources, specific middleware frameworks, and complex applications and workflows in the areas of astrophysics, bioinformatics and high energy physics.
Applications of Phase Microscopy to Photothermal Spectroscopy

Numerous photothermal displacement techniques have been developed [1–5] to obtain both thermal and spectroscopic information about substrates and thin films. These techniques rely on interferometry or beam deflection phenomena to measure thermal displacements or gradients in those displacements. The use of phase microscopy (a small spot interferometer) [6–8] to measure surface displacements is advantageous in that it allows such displacements to be measured over a diffraction limited optical spot, typically 1 µm. In addition, typical arrangements provide for both reference and signal beams to reflect from the same substrate thereby allowing a near common path and rejection of many major noise sources (vibration, air turbulence and thermal fluctuation).
Development and Implementation of a Culturally Responsive Mentoring Program for Faculty and Staff of Color

This paper describes a mentoring program for university employees of color and American Indians that employs a culturally responsive mentoring framework. The mission of the program is to foster a community of support and interdependence to assist members to navigate the university systems, so that members can thrive and, ultimately, be successful. The partnership and collaboration among faculty, staff, and students of color across campus has created a robust mentoring network that has organically grown stronger through the diversity of members represented. This paper discusses the history, goals, components, and outcomes of the culturally responsive mentoring program, and the plans for the future. The paper concludes by offering recommendations for individuals, researchers, and administrators who might consider adopting a similar mentoring program to improve retention, recruitment, and satisfaction of employees of color in their respective higher education institutions.
Genetic Genealogical Methods Used to Identify African American Diaspora Relatives in the Study of Family Identity among Ghanaian Members of the Kassena Ethnic Group

Within the phenomenon of families that were separated during the Transatlantic Slave Trade reuniting using genetic genealogy, the methods for identifying ancestral extended relatives has not been explicitly agreed upon within social sciences. Our manuscript is a methodological paper that illustrates the use of autosomal genetic genealogy to identify ancestral extended relatives within the GEDmatch database. We used a sample of nine parent-offspring dyads residing in Ghana along with AncestryDNA, GEDmatch, family-based phasing, and identical by descent (IBD) segment sharing to identify African American ancestral extended relatives of our Ghanaian participants. This method supports the claim that families that were separated during the Transatlantic Slave Trade are reuniting.
CHAPTER XVI – Desmolases

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on desmolases. Aldolase probably occurs in all cells. Muscle is one of the best sources. Aldolase splits fructose-1,6-diphosphate into dihydroxyacetone phosphate and phosphoglyceric aldehyde. Aldolase is highly specific. For the reaction to the right fructose-1,6-diphosphate must be present and for the reaction to the left dihydroxyacetone phosphate must be present. Carboligase links carbon atoms together and it occurs in yeasts, acetic acid bacteria, green plants, muscle, traces, and liver. Carboxylase is another enzyme that is found in yeast, bacteria, fungi, and plants. The action of carboxylase is to split carbon dioxide from pyruvic acid. Coenzyme-free carboxylase can be prepared by dialyzing solutions of the enzyme.
Potentially harmful drug prescription in elderly patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction.

AIMS This study aimed to evaluate the prescription frequency of potentially harmful prescription drugs as defined in current heart failure guidelines among elderly patients with a diagnosis of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction and their association with clinical outcomes. METHODS AND RESULTS We used the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services data from a nationally representative 5% sample for the years 2014-2016 to identify patients admitted to acute care hospitals with a primary diagnosis of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. The primary exposure was filling a prescription for a potentially harmful drug. Potentially harmful drug fills were treated as a time-dependent covariate to examine their association on readmission and mortality. A total of 8993 patients met study criteria. Potentially harmful drugs were prescribed in 1077 (11.9%) patients within 90 days of discharge from the heart failure hospitalization. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents were the most frequently prescribed potentially harmful drug (6.7%) followed by calcium channel blockers (4.7%), thiazolidinedione (0.59%), and select antiarrhythmic (0.33%). Factors independently associated with potentially harmful drug prescription were female gender, Hispanic ethnicity, severe obesity, among others. In the multivariable Cox model, the prescription of a potentially harmful drug was associated with an increased risk of readmission (hazard ratio 1.14; 95% confidence interval 1.05-1.23, P < 0.001). Among drug subgroups, only calcium channel blockers were associated with an increased risk of readmission (hazard ratio 1.225; 95% confidence interval 1.085-1.382, P = 0.0011). CONCLUSIONS In elderly patients discharged with a primary diagnosis of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction on guideline-directed medical therapy, prescription of a potentially harmful drug was frequent. Calcium channel blockers were associated with an increased risk of readmission.
Synchrophasor Data Compression Under Disturbance Conditions via Cross-Entropy-Based Singular Value Decomposition

The increasing deployment of phasor measurement units and the advances of their reporting rates are challenging the present data centers in terms of storing and analyzing large-volume data. Under power system disturbance conditions, it is difficult to retain critical information while compressing the synchrophasor data effectively. This article combines the cross entropy and the singular value decomposition, proposing a novel model to compress the synchrophasor data to an extremely small size yet keep superior accuracy. The proposed model is extensively tested and compared with the state-of-the-art algorithms using the simulated and the FNET/GridEye field-collected data. The result indicates that the proposed algorithm has superior performance in compressing the data while retaining critical information under disturbance conditions.
SharedWealth: Disincentivizing Mining Pools Through Burning and Minting.

Bitcoin has provided a framework for a decentralized currency system. However, the irregular payouts of its winner-takes-all reward strategy have proven to be unacceptable for the miners who are responsible for verifying transactions. To address this problem, miners have formed mining pools to ensure more regular rewards, but these mining pools undermine the decentralization that is one of Bitcoin’s key benefits. Previous work has sought to make it impossible for mining pools to form, but it is not clear that the situation would improve without addressing the economic incentives that lead to the formation of mining pools in the first place.
Growth and Metabolic Changes After Antiretroviral Initiation in South African Children.

BACKGROUND Poor growth and metabolic disturbances remain concerns for children living with HIV (CLHIV). We describe the impact of viral load (VL) on growth and lipid outcomes in South African CLHIV <12 years initiating World Health Organization recommended first-line antiretroviral therapy (ART) from 2012 to 2015. METHODS Z scores for length-for-age (LAZ), weight-for-age (WAZ) and body mass index-for-age were calculated. Lipids (total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein and high-density lipoprotein) were measured. Hemoglobin A1C ≥5.8 was defined as at risk for type 2 diabetes. Mixed effects models were used to assess the association of VL at ART initiation with Z scores and lipids over time. RESULTS Of 241 CLHIV, 151 (63%) were <3 years initiating LPV/r-based ART and 90 (37%) were ≥3 years initiating EFV-based ART. Among CLHIV <3 years, higher VL at ART initiation was associated with lower mean LAZ (s: -0.30, P=0.03), WAZ (s: -0.32, P=0.01) and low-density lipoprotein (s: -6.45, P=0.03) over time. Among CLHIV ≥3, a log 10 increase in pretreatment VL was associated with lower mean LAZ (s: -0.29, P=0.07) trending towards significance and lower WAZ (s: -0.32, P=0.05) as well as with more rapid increases in LAZ (s: 0.14 per year, P=0.01) and WAZ (s: 0.19 per year, P=0.04). Thirty percent of CLHIV were at risk for type 2 diabetes at ART initiation. CONCLUSIONS CLHIV initiating ART <3 years exhibited positive gains in growth and lipids, though high viremia at ART initiation was associated with persistently low growth and lipids, underscoring the need for early diagnosis and rapid treatment initiation. Future studies assessing the long-term cardiometabolic impact of these findings are warranted.
Treatment of Perfectionism in Childhood Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Perfectionism is a cognitive appraisal that can negatively impact mood and anxiety states and has been implicated in obsessivecompulsive disorder (OCD). While there has been considerable research on perfectionism in adults, far fewer investigations have examined the role of perfectionism in children and adolescents with OCD. In this chapter, a case of perfectionism in a 12-year-old female is presented, including specific barriers to the treatment. Successful treatment was made possible by both engagement with the child as well as through separate intervention sessions with the parents aimed at reducing accommodation and attention to parental maladaptive beliefs that interfered with treatment engagement.
Corporate communication through nonviolent rhetoric

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine some of the problems associated with the prevailing rhetoric in corporate communication. It proposes the consideration of nonviolent rhetorical approaches.Design/methodology/approach – This paper explains corporate communication's affinity for aggressive, militaristic language in terms of constraint of time, and expediency and efficiency of standardized communication strategies designed for large‐scale effectiveness. However, such communication strategies run the risk of dehumanizing the intended targets, distancing the individuals, and compromising socially responsible corporate behavior. The recent corporate scandals of unprecedented scale, occurring in spite of vast improvements in communication theory and technology, have highlighted the need for alternative approaches to corporate communication. Further, it examines the prerequisites that must exist for corporate communication based on nonviolent rhetoric to be effective. The conditions that must be p...
Altered Testosterone Feedback in Pubertal Male Rats Raised on Reduced Caloric Intake

A study was conducted to explore the hypothesis that reduced caloric intake increases the negative feedback efficacy of testosterone on gonadotropin secretion. Daily subcutaneous injections of testosterone propionate in oil were administered to either age-matched (37-day-old) or weight-matched (mean = 178 g) ad libitum-fed (control) or underfed rats that received 60% of normal daily food intake from the age of 20 days. Daily doses of testosterone propionate ranged from 25 to 400 micrograms/100 g body weight. Results indicate that reduced caloric intake increases the suppression of serum LH by testosterone propionate in both age-matched and weight-matched underfed rats. On the other hand, the response of serum FSH concentrations to testosterone propionate was affected by reduced diet only in the weight-matched animals. Results suggest that the increased negative feedback of testosterone on LH secretion is a specific diet-induced effect and not merely the result of reduced growth. The altered response in FSH secretion, however, may represent age-associated changes in sensitivity to testosterone rather than diet-induced effects.
Bayesian Disease Mapping: Hierarchical Modeling in Spatial Epidemiology

BACKGROUND Introduction Data Sets Bayesian Inference and Modeling Likelihood Models Prior Distributions Posterior Distributions Predictive Distributions Bayesian Hierarchical Modeling Hierarchical Models Posterior Inference Exercises Computational Issues Posterior Sampling Markov Chain Monte Carlo Methods Metropolis and Metropolis-Hastings Algorithms Gibbs Sampling Perfect Sampling Posterior and Likelihood Approximations Exercises Residuals and Goodness-of-Fit Model Goodness-of-Fit Measures General Residuals Bayesian Residuals Predictive Residuals and the Bootstrap Interpretation of Residuals in a Bayesian Setting Exceedence Probabilities Exercises THEMES Disease Map Reconstruction and Relative Risk Estimation An Introduction to Case Event and Count Likelihoods Specification of the Predictor in Case Event and Count Models Simple Case and Count Data Models with Uncorrelated Random Effects Correlated Heterogeneity Models Convolution Models Model Comparison and Goodness-of-Fit Diagnostics Alternative Risk Models Edge Effects Exercises Disease Cluster Detection Cluster Definitions Cluster Detection using Residuals Cluster Detection using Posterior Measures Cluster Models Edge Detection and Wombling Ecological Analysis General Case of Regression Biases and Misclassification Error Putative Hazard Models Multiple Scale Analysis Modifiable Areal Unit Problem (MAUP) Misaligned Data Problem (MIDP) Multivariate Disease Analysis Notation for Multivariate Analysis Two Diseases Multiple Diseases Spatial Survival and Longitudinal Analyses General Issues Spatial Survival Analysis Spatial Longitudinal Analysis Extensions to Repeated Events Spatiotemporal Disease Mapping Case Event Data Count Data Alternative Models Infectious Diseases Appendix A: Basic R and WinBUGS Appendix B: Selected WinBUGS Code Appendix C: R Code for Thematic Mapping References Index
Interfaith Advocacy Groups in American Politics

This chapter explores the rise of interfaith advocacy groups (IAG) in American politics. IAG are distinct from many other religious advocacy groups in that they represent religious individuals or institutions from different religious traditions who share a commitment to specific political goals or ideologies without a shared set of religious beliefs. This chapter explains the emergence of these types of groups beginning in the 1960s and provides two successful case studies: The Interfaith Alliance and the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition of Minnesota. The Interfaith Alliance is a national advocacy group with members from over 75 religious traditions that was formed to counter the influence of the Religious Right in American politics. The Joint Religious Legislative Coalition represents the organizing bodies of four religious traditions within Minnesota (Catholic, Protestant, Jew, and Muslim). These two examples illustrate both the challenges facing interfaith advocacy efforts and the opportunities that emerge. This chapter argues that Interfaith Advocacy Groups have the potential to be particularly significant players because the social capital developed in groups spanning religious traditions helps group members respond more effectively and more quickly to complex political and social problems as they arise.
Gender and Precarity in Contemporary Italy: Labor, Value, Social Reproduction

This lecture examines the emergence of the discourse and movement concerning precarity, one of the newest movements shaping politics in Europe. It argues that precarity is a constitutive aspects of life and identity, not just a type of contract. It is an essential condition which differs according to gender and is shared especially among young women, migrants and poor people.
Stripline beam position monitor for the MIT-Bates South Hall Ring

The MIT-Bates South Hall Ring (SHR) is an electron storage ring currently being commissioned. It is designed to operate at an RF frequency of 2856 MHz with all of the 1812 buckets filled and a circulating current of 80 mA or greater. This leads to a small charge per bunch and the requirement for beam position monitors. Since there will be 31 such monitors in the vacuum system, it is important to suppress trapped modes which may excite coupled bunch instabilities. The stripline monitor built for the SHR is a stainless steel structure, designed to be manufactured using standard machining techniques and commercial feedthroughs. With proper 50 Ohm matching and a geometry derived from insight from MAFIA calculations, the monitor was constructed having a nearly flat RF response up through 10 GHz over the range of measurement. The stripline electronics allows the measurements with 0.1 mm resolution, maintains orbital harmonics information past the 10th harmonic, and operates over a dynamic range of 1 mA to greater than 80 mA of beam current. >
Evolving Indications for Conventional Pacing

Official guidelines for the indications of conventional permanent pacing are being updated periodically as the indications evolve continually. Also nontraditional indications for pacing emerge, such as marked first-degree AV block, malignant vasovagal syncope, obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. A critical review and analysis of these indications is undertaken in this review article. I N T R O D U C T I O N The indications for conventional pacing evolve continually with periodic upgrading of the well-known ACC/AHA/NASPE guidelines and the development of nontraditional indications such as marked first-degree AV block, malignant vasovagal syncope, obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. Rapid advances in pacemaker technology have provided improved systems to match the needs of patients in the aforementioned special situations. 2 0 0 2 A C C / A H A / N A S P E G U I D E l I N E S C O m P l E T E AV B l O C k The 2002 ACC/AHA/NASPE guidelines designate, like the previous ACC/AHA recommendations, asymptomatic complete AV block (in the absence of co-morbidity) with ventricular escape rates >40 bpm as a class II indication for pacing. The rate criterion of >40 bpm is arbitrary and unnecessary. It is not the escape rate that is critical to stability, but rather the site of origin of the escape rhythm (junctional or ventricular). Rate instability may not be predictable or obvious. Irreversible acquired complete AV block should be a class I indication for pacing. T y P E I S E C O N D D E G R E E AV B l O C k The 2002 ACC/AHA/NASPE guidelines state that type I second-degree AV block is usually due to delay in the AV node irrespective of QRS width. Type I seconddegree AV block with bundle branch block (far less common than narrow QRS type I block) must not be automatically labeled as AV nodal on the basis of this statement. REVIEw University of South Florida College of Medicine, Tampa, Florida, USA HOSPITAL CHRONICLES 2008, 3(1): 16–24 Correspondence to: S. Serge Barold, MD University of South Florida College of Medicine Tampa, Florida, USA E-mail: ssbarold@aol.com kEy wORDS: permanent pacemakers, atrioventricular block, vasovagal syncope, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy,
The effects of exposure duration and practice on the immediate memory spans of children and adults.

Abstract Immediate memory spans for alphabetic items were determined for second-grade, fifth-grade, and adult subjects. Subjects were tested on three days, ten trials per day at each of three exposure durations: 15, 50, and 200 msec. One half of the subjects were presented with exposure durations in an ascending order, the other half in a descending order. The results indicated that immediate memory span increases with age and practice. The exposure duration effect depended on the order and day in which durations were presented. There was a suggestion that the exposure duration effect was also dependent upon the age and sex of the subject. The ordering of array positions from most accurately reported to least accurately reported was identical for all three age levels, indicating that scanning strategies are well established at an early age.
Ultraviolet difference spectroscopic study on the interactions of cellulase from Trichoderma reesei with cellodextrins

The formation of cellodextrin-cellobiohydrolase complex was studied by ultraviolet difference spectroscopy. Upon the binding of cellodextrins (G7‐G3), cellobiohydrolase (EC 3.2.1.91) purified fromTrichoderma reesei produced difference spectra having maxima at 289‐293 nm and 283‐286 nm. These spectra are consistent with prior observations reported for lysozyme and amylase. In this case, water soluble cellulose oligomers (i.e., cellodextrins) are shown to interact with tryptophan residue(s) on cellobiohydrolase. The difference spectral maxima observed at acidic or alkaline pH were shifted. This was accompanied by a marked decrease of binding ability of cellobiohydrolase for cellodextrins. The standard free energy change for the association of cellodextrins to the cellobiohydrolase was an order of 4 kcal/gmol. The association constant of enzyme for substrate decreases by 15‐20% as temperature increases from 20 to 48°C. At 25°C, the dissociation constants for the enzyme with respect to cellohexose and cellotriose were estimated to be 1.19 and 1.37 mM, respectively. A decrease in dissociation constants was observed with an increase in the number of glucosyl units from 3 to 6. This suggests that there may be six or more subsites in the active center of cellobiohydrolase.
Using performance standards to evaluate social programs with incomplete outcome data. General issues and application to a higher education block grant program.

The idea of program evaluation is both simple and appealing. Program outcomes are measured and compared to some minimum performance standard or threshold. In practice, however, evaluation is difficult. Two fundamental problems of outcome measurement must be addressed. The first, which we call the problem of auxiliary outcomes, is that we do not observe outcome of interest. The second, which we call the problem of counterfactual outcomes, is that we do not observe the threshold standard. This article examines how performance standards should be set and applied in the face of these problems in measuring outcomes. The central message is that the proper way to implement standards varies with the prior information an evaluator can credibly bring to bear to compensate for incomplete outcome data. By combining available data with credible assumptions on treatments and outcomes, the performance of a program may be deemed acceptable, unacceptable, or indeterminate.
Interelement relationships in ferromanganese crusts from the central Pacific ocean: Their implications for crust genesis

The fine-scale chemical variations in ferromanganese (Fe-Mn) crusts from the central Pacific Ocean were investigated using a variety of techniques in order to elucidate their genesis. Thirty-seven major, minor and trace elements were determined by ICP-OES and ICP-MS in sub-samples collected at approximately 2 mm intervals throughout the crust sequences. An inverse relationship is observed between the logarithm of the elemental distribution coefficients [log (CMnCsw)] and the mean residence time (tr) of elements in seawater. These associations provide evidence supporting the strong link between seawater and Fe-Mn crust chemistry. Results of factor analysis reveal that elements in crusts can generally be partitioned into four major groups with selected elements displaying associations with several groups. These statistical associations are interpreted to represent hydrogenetic (Mn, Ni, Co, Cu, Ce, Zn), biogenic (Ba, Zn, Cu, Pt, Fe), detrital (Al, Si, Fe) and carbonate fluorapatite (Ca, P, REE) groups. A comparison between elemental associations in fine-scale data from individual crust sequences and bulk compositional data from samples collected in separate locations reveals very similar elemental associations. The similar elemental associations in bulk samples and in fine-scale subsamples from individual crusts are consistent with the notions that hydrogenetic crusts exhibit no significant post-depositional remobilization of elements, and that elemental distributions within crusts reflect the chemistry of oceanic water during the period in which they accreted. Chemical paleotracks are proposed based on factor scores derived from chemical variations as a function of depth in individual crusts. Our results show that there is internal consistency between the chemical evolution, previously proposed seamount paleotracks, and nanofossil biostratigraphy dating results.
Quantitative analysis of the effect of near lens addition on accommodation and myopigenesis.

Purpose. To develop a quantitative, objective, and scientific basis for understanding the effects of applying near bifocal additions (ADDs) on oculomotor control and myopia development. This is imp...
Dissociative protonation and fragmentation: Retro-Friedel-Crafts reactions of heterocyclic drug and metabolite molecules in mass spectrometry

Abstract Identification of drug metabolites by mass spectrometry plays an indispensable role in drug discovery and development. As important pharmacophores, the heterocyclic cores are complicated in protonation especially when substituted with various functional groups. Tolmetin, naratriptan and lansoprazole selected in this study are derivatives of pyrrole, indole and benzimidazole, respectively. In the electrospray mass spectrometry of these heterocyclic drugs and their metabolites, fragmentations through deacylation, dealkylation, desulfoxidation or desulfonation are the prominent dissociation reactions of the protonated molecules. The thermodynamically most favorable sites of protonation for these molecules are determined based on proton affinities of pertinent substructures; however, it has been demonstrated that the major fragmentation is not induced by protonation at these sites. Instead, it is required that the proton be transferred to the carbon positions on the heterocyclic cores to which the acyl, alkyl, sulfoxide or sulfone group is attached. These positions are described as the dissociative protonation sites. It is shown again that the proton affinity at the dissociative site is lower than that at many other positions in the molecules, and proton transfer is required to trigger the fragmentation.
The Effect of Feeding a Semipurified Diet to Chickens Infected with Coccidia

Abstract Four experiments were conducted using broiler chicks to study the effects of feeding a semipurified diet on coccidial infection. Chickens fed a semipurified diet and inoculated with E. tenella had a very mild infection with little or no mortality and no effect on body weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio, and blood cell loss as judged by hematocrit. At necropsy the infected chickens had light cecal lesions. However, no difference in response was observed between chickens fed either the corn-soybean meal or the semipurified diet and inoculated with a mixture of E. acervulina, E. maxima, and E. brunetti. Chickens fed a diet composed of 25% of the corn-soybean meal diet plus 75% of the semipurified diet and inoculated with E. tenella had the same mortality as chickens fed the corn-soybean meal diet. Feeding chickens the semipurified diet as early as 6 days before inoculation did not affect the severity of E. tenella infection. No difference was observed in the intestinal or cecal pH or food passage time of noninfected chickens fed either the corn-soybean meal or the semipurified diet. No differences were found in the number of oocysts discharged between 2 and 9 hr after inoculation expressed as a percentage of the infective dose. The results of these studies show that a semipurified diet ameliorates infection of chickens with the cecal parasite E. tenella but not coccidial infections of the small intestine.
Multiphoton ionization studies of amines with UV-VIS lasers

Three and four photon ionization studies at 355 and 532 nm are presented for the isomeric propylamines and n-pentylamine. Ionic fragmentation patterns and ion yields are presented as a function of laser wavelength and fluence. These time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectra are compared with both electron impact data and the TOF mass spectra of the previously reported butylamines. A brief discussion of the dynamics of the decomposition process is presented in light of the butylamine results and competitive ionic fragmentation pathways.
Bluff-body aerodynamics as applied to vehicles

Abstract This paper discusses the aerodynamics of surface vehicles viewed as bluff or quasi-bluff bodies from the perspective of the wind tunnel practitioner. It summarizes current wind tunnel techniques and illustrates the broad range of contemporary applications through examples drawn primarily from the author's experience.
Sila-pummerer rearrangements at sp2-hybridized carbon

Abstract α-Trimethylsilylvinyl sulfoxides undergo sila-Pummerer rearrangements upon warming in benzene. Alkynes, vinylsulfoxides, and ketene S,O-acetals are obtained as products.
Virtualisation of stress distribution in heart valve tissue

This study presents an image-based finite element analysis incorporating histological photomicrographs of heart valve tissues. We report stress fields inside heart valve tissues, where heterogeneously distributed collagen fibres are responsible for transmitting forces into cells. Linear isotropic and anisotropic tissue material property models are incorporated to quantify the overall stress distributions in heart valve tissues. By establishing an effective predictive method with new computational tools and by performing virtual experiments on the heart valve tissue photomicrographs, we clarify how stresses are transferred from matrix to cell. The results clearly reveal the roles of heterogeneously distributed collagen fibres in mitigating stress developments inside heart valve tissues. Moreover, most local peak stresses occur around cell nuclei, suggesting that higher stress may be mediated by cells for biomechanical regulations.