cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Comorbidities, Treatment and Ensuing Survival in Men with Prostate Cancer

Comorbidity is poorly integrated into prostate cancer decision making. We sought to characterize treatment type and subsequent survival for men with no more than a single comorbid condition. We conducted a retrospective study of 1,031 veterans with non-metastatic prostate cancer diagnosed in 1997–2004 at the Greater Los Angeles and Long Beach Veterans Affairs Medical Centers and followed until 2010. We used multivariate analyses to determine probabilities and relative risks of undergoing treatment for each health state and competing-risks regression analyses to model non-prostate cancer mortality. Compared with subjects without any comorbid conditions, only men with moderate–severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were less likely to receive definitive treatment for their prostate cancer (RR 0.74; 95% CI 0.44–0.99). Men with all other individual comorbidities were equally likely as men without comorbidity to receive definitive treatment. Compared with men without any comorbidities, a higher hazard rate for non-prostate cancer mortality was identified among men with diabetes without end-organ damage (HR 2.32; 95% CI 1.32–4.08), peripheral vascular disease (HR 2.77; 95% CI 1.14–6.73), moderate-severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (HR 5.46; 95% CI 2.68–11.12), diabetes with end-organ damage (HR 4.27; 95% CI 1.64–11.10), those in need of a mobility device (HR 3.29; 95% CI 1.87–5.80), and men with history of alcoholism (HR 1.77; 95% CI 1.07–2.93). Men with comorbid conditions and health states that portend poor prognoses are nonetheless aggressively treated for their prostate cancer. Advancing age modulates this effect.
Demand Fluctuations in the Ready‐Mix Concrete Industry

I investigate the role of demand shocks in the ready-mix concrete industry. Using Census data on more than 15,000 plants, I estimate a model of investment and entry in oligopolistic markets. These estimates are used to simulate the effect of eliminating short-term local demand changes. A policy of smoothing the volatility of demand has a market expansion effect: The model predicts a 39% increase in the number of plants in the industry. Since bigger markets have both more plants and larger plants, a demand-smoothing fiscal policy would increase the share of large plants by 20%. Finally, the policy of smoothing demand reduces entry and exit by 25%, but has no effect on the rate at which firms change their size.
CPT tests: kaon vs. neutrinos

CPT violation has an impressive limit in the neutral kaon system |m(K{sup 0})-m({bar K}{sup 0})| < 10{sup -18} m{sub K} = 0.50 x 10{sup -18} GeV. However, if viewed as a constraint on the mass-squared, the bound appears weak, |m{sup 2}(K{sup 0})-m{sup 2}({bar K}{sup 0})| < 0.25 eV{sup 2}. the authors point out that neutrino oscillation offers better limits on CPT violation in this case. The comparison of solar and rector neutrino results puts the best limit on CPT violation by far, |{Delta}m{sub {nu}}{sup 2}-{Delta}m{sub {rho}}{sup 2}| < 1.3 x 10{sup -3} eV{sup 2} (90% CL).
Recurrence of colorectal cancer after hepatic resection

Summary Survival estimates of 95, 65, and 49 percent at 1, 3,and 5 years, respectively, after hepatic resection in 77 patients when all gross metastatic cancer was removed compare favorably with the series of Wagner et al of untreated, apparently comparable patients. In the present series, recurrent disease was evident after hepatic resection, most commonly in the lungs; the liver; and locally, in that order. About half of the 45 patients with a second recurrence were operated on, and the recurrence was completely removed in roughly half of these patients. A median survival estimate of 31 months (range 1 to 67 months) after complete removal of the second recurrence was better than the survival estimate of 14 months (range 1 to 18 months) for those in whom the recurrence could not be removed (p
On the Cranial Osteology of the Lagomorpha

Abstract The Section of Mammals, Carnegie Museum of Natural History houses skulls from seven genera of extant lagomorphs (one ochotonid and six leporids). Described and illustrated are the external surfaces of the bones of the skull of the North American pika Ochotona princeps (Richardson, 1828) and also illustrated is the volcano rabbit Romerolagus diazi (Ferrari-Perez, 1893). Comparisons of selected craniomandibular features are made between O. princeps, R. diazi, and the following additional leporids: Pronolagus crassicaudatus (I. Geoffroy, 1832), Lepus capensis Linnaeus, 1758, Oryctolagus cuniculus (Linnaeus, 1758), Sylvilagus nuttallii (Bachman, 1837), and Brachylagus idahoensis (Merriam, 1891). Also included in the comparisons based on published descriptions are the following extinct taxa: Prolagus, the Sardinian pika, a Quaternary ochotonid; Palaeolagus, a late Eocene-Oligocene stem lagomorph; Mimolagus, an early Oligocene mimotonid; Mimotona, a Paleocene mimotonid; Gomphos, an early Eocene stem la...
Page quality: in search of an unbiased web ranking

In a number of recent studies [4, 8] researchers have found that because search engines repeatedly return currently popular pages at the top of search results, popular pages tend to get even more popular, while unpopular pages get ignored by an average user. This "rich-get-richer" phenomenon is particularly problematic for new and high-quality pages because they may never get a chance to get users' attention, decreasing the overall quality of search results in the long run. In this paper, we propose a new ranking function, called page quality that can alleviate the problem of popularity-based ranking. We first present a formal framework to study the search engine bias by discussing what is an "ideal" way to measure the intrinsic quality of a page. We then compare how PageRank, the current ranking metric used by major search engines, differs from this ideal quality metric. This framework will help us investigate the search engine bias in more concrete terms and provide clear understanding why PageRank is effective in many cases and exactly when it is problematic. We then propose a practical way to estimate the intrinsic page quality to avoid the inherent bias of PageRank. We derive our proposed quality estimator through a careful analysis of a reasonable web user model, and we present experimental results that show the potential of our proposed estimator. We believe that our quality estimator has the potential to alleviate the rich-get-richer phenomenon and help new and high-quality pages get the attention that they deserve.
A Crisis in Child Psychiatric Service Delivery: Why Hasn't the Piper Been Paid?

Address reprint requests and correspondence to David A. Mrazek, MD, FRCPsych, Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, Mayo Clinic, 200 First St SW, Rochester, MN 55905 (e-mail: mrazek.david @mayo.edu). In Ecclesiastes, it is written that there is a time to keep silent and a time to speak. I have been asked to speak about the state of psychiatric services for children. What needs to be said is difficult. Over the past decade, expenditures dedicated to the provision of mental health services for children have been reduced dramatically. This was a shortsighted policy during a period of considerable prosperity. The negative consequences of these restrictions in provision of services are measurable. While I have spent much of my career as a clinical researcher, it is my long experience caring for troubled children that allows me to speak with some authority about providing psychiatric care to children. Child psychiatrists are permitted and expected to enter into the inner world of their young patients. This entitlement comes with the responsibility of sharing their patients’ most intensely guarded secrets and deepest fears. It is a world to which few adults gain even minimal admission. Over the past generation there have been many advances in our ability to treat mental illness, most vividly shown by the prolific creation of psychotropic medications. The Food and Drug Administration has approved 21 antidepressants. An issue more critical for children is the emergence of evidence-based reports demonstrating efficacy of preventive interventions. Olds et al reported on an impressive home visitor intervention study that quantified beneficial effects for both young mothers and their children. Many years later, children whose families received intervention were less delinquent and had fewer problems associated with alcohol. Furthermore, the mothers who received this home visiting intervention were less likely to be abusive or neglectful. Evidence now shows that early intervention can actually decrease the expression of depressive illness. A study that targeted teenagers with early symptoms of depression and provided them with group treatment showed that the rate of onset of depressive illness could be nearly cut in half. In light of our advances in providing improved treatments, a report on the mental health of children in the United States should be encouraging. Unfortunately, there A Crisis in Child Psychiatric Service Delivery: Why Hasn’t the Piper Been Paid?
A method for measuring the retained dose in experiments on airborne infection

In experiments on airborne infection one usually wishes to know the dose which each animal has been given. The dose depends on the cloud concentration, the volume inhaled, and the percentage retention of inhaled particles; the cloud concentration alone is readily measurable during the experiment. Techniques have been described, for use in work on respiratory retention, that measure the volume of cloud inhaled and its concentration before and after inhalation, but there are difficulties in applying these to infection experiments and we know of no published example of such use. A common practice is to calculate the dose from measurements of respiratory minute volume and percentage retention made at some other time. An alternative procedure, established by pioneers of quantitative work in this field (Rosebury, 1947; Henderson, 1952), is to measure the cloud concentration and then calculate the intake from a knowledge of the respiratory minute volume of the species exposed (e.g. Guyton, 1947). This takes no account of the proportion of particles exhaled, but this is unimportant in comparative studies so long as the ratio of calculated intake to retained dose remains the same. The conditions
Reichenbach on Natural Evil

In Evil and a Good God Bruce Reichenbach presents a theodicy for natural evil. According to Reichenbach, natural evil consists in suffering and pain and ‘states of affairs significantly disadvantageous to sentient beings’ which have either nonhuman causes or human causes for which no human being can be held morally responsible. He attempts to provide a morally sufficient reason why natural evil exists. In this paper I will evaluate this reason.
Modeling of side wall passivation and ion saturation effects on etching profiles

A novel surface kinetics model is presented for simulating silicon and polysilicon profile evolution in plasma etching processes in which low energy ions and inhibitor forming species are used. It characterizes important phenomena such as the etching of the substrate material through a thin inhibitor layer and the saturation of the etching rate with the ion flux when the etching becomes neutral starved. The simulated profiles by using this model agree very well with experiments done in an inductively coupled high density plasma source as well as in a conventional parallel plate plasma source. >
Pulse-by-pulse predictive current limiter

This paper presents a predictive based current limiting controller for a boost converter that was developed to charge an electric vehicle battery from the vehicle propulsion bus in an automotive bi-directional conversion system. To meet aggressive power density requirements, it was necessary to operate the three-stage interleaved converter magnetics near the edge of saturation of the boost inductors. Under large load transients the converter control needed to operate the converter as a current source to prevent hard saturation of the magnetics. The predictive limiter was used to achieve maximum slew rate while limiting the current. The implementation used background model calculation and lookup tables to minimize real-time computation and associated delay. The paper presents details of the current limiter design for a boost converter; its implementation into a DSP based controller and experimental results. Further enhancements and other applications are also discussed.
Mapping and molecular cloning of the phn (psiD) locus for phosphonate utilization in Escherichia coli.

Abstract The Escherichia coli phn (psiD) locus encodes genes for phosphonate (Pn) utilization, for phn (psiD) mutations abolish the ability to use as a sole P source a Pn with a substituted C-2 or unsubstituted hydrocarbon group such as 2-aminoethylphosphonate (AEPn) or methylphosphonate (MPn), respectively. Even though the E. coli K-12 phosphate starvation-inducible (psi) phn (psiD) gene(s) shows normal phosphate (Pi) control, Pn utilization is cryptic in E. coli K-12, as well as in several members of the E. coli reference (ECOR) collection which are closely related to K-12. For these bacteria, an activating mutation near the phn (psiD) gene is necessary for growth on a Pn as the sole P source. Most E. coli strains, including E. coli B, are naturally Phn+; a few E. coli strains are Phn- and are deleted for phn DNA sequences. The Phn+ phn(EcoB) DNA was molecularly cloned by using the mini-Mu in vivo cloning procedure and complementation of an E. coli K-12 delta phn mutant. The phn(EcoB) DNA hybridized to overlapping lambda clones in the E. coli K-12 gene library (Y. Kohara, K. Akiyama, and K. Isono, Cell 50:495-508, 1987) which contain the 93-min region, thus showing that the phn (psiD) locus was itself cloned and verifying our genetic data on its map location. The cryptic phn(EcoK) DNA has an additional 100 base pairs that is absent in the naturally Phn+ phn(EcoB) sequence. However, no gross structural change was detected in independent Phn+ phn(EcoK) mutants that have activating mutations near the phn locus.
The Role of the LAT–PLC-γ1 Interaction in T Regulatory Cell Function

The interaction between the linker for activation of T cells (LAT) with PLC-γ1 is important for TCR-mediated Ca 2+ signaling and MAPK activation. Knock-in mice harboring a mutation at the PLC-γ1 binding site (Y136) of LAT develop a severe lymphoproliferative syndrome. These mice have defective thymic development and selection and lack natural regulatory T cells, implicating a breakdown of both central and peripheral tolerance. To bypass this developmental defect, we developed a conditional knock-in line in which only LATY136F is expressed in mature T cells after deletion of the wild type LAT allele. Analysis of LATY136F T cells indicated that the interaction between LAT and PLC-γ1 plays an important role in TCR-mediated signaling, proliferation, and IL-2 production. Furthermore, the deletion of LAT induced development of the lymphoproliferative syndrome in these mice. Although Foxp3 + natural Treg cells were present in these mice after deletion, they were unable to suppress the proliferation of conventional T cells. Our data indicate that the binding of LAT to PLC-γ1 is essential for the suppressive function of CD4 + CD25 + regulatory T cells.
A METHOD FOR ESTABLISHING THE REPRESENTATIONAL VALIDITY OF INTERACTION CODING SYSTEMS: DO WE SEE WHAT THEY SEE?

This paper offers a new methodological approach to establishing the validity of interaction coding schemes, and it reports research which applies these procedures to three coding systems that have been used to study small group decision making: Bales' (1950) Interaction Process Analysis System, Fisher's (1970) Decision Proposal Coding System, and Mabry's (1975) Pattern Variable Coding System. The procedures offered here provide a method for determining whether the functions or constructs identified by a coding system are part of the common meanings ascribed to the participants in the interaction. Of the three coding systems evaluated in the study, the IPA System represented subjects' interpretations of decision-making interaction better than the Decision Proposal System, which, in turn, performed better than the Pattern Variable System.
Unsteady Aperiodic Behavior of a Periodically Disturbed Tip-Leakage Vortex

unsteadyperiodicvorticalinflow representativeof anarrayofstator necklace vortices.Thedownstream tip-leakage vortex is disturbed periodically by the vortical inflow shed by those vortex generators. Phase-averaged two-point correlations are measured near the trailing edge of the cascade. The measurement results clearly show that organized, intense, large-scale aperiodic motion exists at each phase time within the tip-leakage-vortex region. The aperiodic fluctuations obtained by linear stochastic estimation have a magnitude of less than � 0:15U1 in all three velocity directions and appear to be organized large-scale structures. The streamwise fluctuations appear as coexisting “rush” and “retard” regions with different shapes, and the crossflow fluctuations appear to be clockwise/ anticlockwise or doubletlike rotating vortical structures with different strengths and center positions. These aperiodic fluctuations make the estimated instantaneous velocity field significantly different from the phaseaveraged periodic velocity field.
Published Case Reports One Woman’s Account of Having Her Confidentiality Violated

This is a personal story regarding one woman’s experience of serving as a case study protagonist and later having a psychologist uncover her identity and retell her life story in the name of scientific investigative journalism. As a participant in a psychological case report, I believed that my confidentiality would be protected. Unfortunately, this case study participant found herself in the middle of the Memory Wars, and that turned out to be the catalyst for an unwanted inquiry into my life. A well-known memory researcher hired a private investigator to find me, gained access to a great deal of private information about me, and published this in detail without my permission. I discuss in this article how these actions affected my life in some very serious ways. I raise several issues about the meaning of my experience for further case study authors and the clients whose lives they present, as well as questions about the duties of psychologists to the subjects of their research and inquiry.
Dietary Soy Protein Isolate Attenuates Metabolic Syndrome in Rats via Effects on PPAR, LXR, and SREBP Signaling

To determine the effects of feeding soy or isoflavones on lipid homeostasis in early development, weanling rats were fed AIN-93G diets made with casein, soy protein isolate (SPI+), isoflavone-reduced SPI+ (SPI-), or casein supplemented with genistein or daidzein for 14 d. PPARalpha-regulated genes and proteins involved in fatty acid degradation were upregulated by SPI+ (P < 0.05) accompanied by increased promoter binding and expression of PPARalpha mRNA (P < 0.05). Feeding SPI- or pure isoflavones did not alter PPARalpha-regulated pathways. SPI+ feeding had similar effects on PPARgamma signaling. SPI+, SPI-, and casein plus isoflavones all increased liver X-receptor (LXR)alpha-regulated genes and enzymes involved in cholesterol homeostasis. Feeding SPI+ increased promoter binding of LXRalpha, expression of the transcription factor mRNA, and protein (P < 0.05). In a second experiment, male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed casein diets from postnatal d (PND) 24 to PND64 or were fed high-fat Western diets containing 5 g x kg(-1) cholesterol made with either casein or SPI+. Insulin resistance, steatosis, and hypercholesterolemia in the Western diet-fed rats were partially prevented by SPI+ (P < 0.05). Nuclear sterol receptor element binding protein (SREBP)-1c protein and mRNA and protein expression of enzymes involved in fatty acid synthesis were increased by feeding Western diets containing casein but not SPI+ (P < 0.05). These data suggest that activation of PPAR and LXR signaling and inhibition of SREBP-1c signaling may contribute to insulin sensitization and improved lipid homeostasis in SPI+-fed rats after consumption of diets high in fat and cholesterol.
Small Bowel Obstruction Masquerading as Acute ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction

ST segment elevation on EKG remains among the most important presentations of acute myocardial infarction. Due to the urgency of intervention for this finding, other clinical scenarios causing ST elevations on EKG may sometimes go unaddressed and can lead to fatal complications. We present a case of an 86-year-old male presenting with small bowel obstruction leading to EKG findings of ST segment elevation in the absence of critical coronary obstruction. The EKG finding resolved after the improvement of small bowel obstruction reflecting the reversible cause of the changes.
Using Hyperlinks To Create A Lecture On Calculating Beta And The Beta Coefficient For Dow Chemical Company

In this paper, we show hyperlinked Power Point lecture slides that show how to calculate the beta coefficient for Dow Chemical Company using the S&P 500 as the market index. This paper shows how to collect data for both Dow Chemical and for the S&P 500 Stock Index, how to calculate monthly returns, and how to run a regression to calculate the beta. The data for both Dow Chemical and for the S&P 500, fifty-one month end prices including dividends, are down loaded from Yahoo! Finance and loaded into an Excel worksheet which is used to calculate monthly returns. The fifty monthly returns are regressed with the S&P Index return as the independent variable and the Dow returns as the dependent variable. The returns are graphed to check that the analyst ran the regression properly.
Finite Fields Exist and are Unique

Let us recapitulate our results so far. We know that there is, for every prime p, a finite field with p elements, viz. the integers (mod p). This field we have denoted by F p . Furthermore, we know by Theorem 4.1 that provided there is an irreducible polynomial of degree m over F p , there exists a field with p m elements. On the other hand, by Theorem 5.1, there can be no finite field with a number of elements which is not a power of some prime number. This leaves two obvious questions: A. For which values of p and m do irreducible polynomials exist? B. Are there any other kinds of finite fields, i.e., ones that are not constructed by using Theorem 4.1?
RESPONSE TO CYNTHIA HOLDER RICH, “MENTAL ILLNESS IN MADAGASCAR: A MODEL OF COMMUNITY-BASED CARE”

As Cynthia described, camp shepherds turn Western healing protocols upside down: within the camp, biomedical treatments are complimentary approaches to traditional supernatural and spiritual healing strategies. In addition to moral understandings that illness is the result of demon possession and individual failings, patients and shepherds also attribute mental illness to relational dysfunction between a patient and God and to relational discord between a patient and other people. A number of the shepherds' strategies are relational and community-oriented approaches to care that try to help patients recover life within community, develop more harmonious relationships with others, and renew their ability to give and receive love and affection.
Cybersecurity: Toward a Meaningful Policy Framework

This critique of Karson K. Thompson’s note, "Not Like an Egyptian: Cybersecurity and the Internet Kill Switch Debate," argues that the U.S. lacks a framework of laws and regulations, "smart" or otherwise, that adequately incentivizes the parties with the greatest capacity to improve our cyber security to do so. It attributes the poor state of U.S. cyber policy to the "bewildering array of overlapping responsibilities" scattered among government offices and departments; the difficult imperative of sharing responsibility among military and civilian authorities; the fact that most of the networks (and the dependent critical infrastructures) that need protecting are in private hands; and the lack of public understanding of the kinds of regulation that are necessary or appropriate. The essay argues that meaningful progress towards an adequate legal framework depends on a broad national debate aimed at defining the public good with regard to cybersecurity, and the inevitable trade-offs among security, privacy, productivity, economic growth, organizational flexibility, military effectiveness, government transparency, and accountability that must be confronted in making sensible cybersecurity policy.
Strange Parallels: Varieties of European Experience, II

OVERVIEW: WIDER DIFFERENCES, CLOSER PARALLELS From the early 1600s to the early 1800s, political and cultural integration in the chief states of both Europe and mainland Southeast Asia showed unprecedented dynamism. Yet, ironically, in this very period the physical capacities of European and Southeast Asian states diverged ever more widely. Consider first the growing power differential. In 1520, recall, although royal authority in France already was more uniform and penetrating than in Burma, Siam, and probably Vietnam, all four realms, along with Muscovy, retained strong patrimonial and solar polity features. Three hundred years later, similarities were less obvious. True, the gravitational pull of Southeast Asian capitals had increased markedly. But tributaries still enjoyed extensive autonomy, and imperial authority still debouched in attenuated zones, not fixed frontiers. Even in the lowland cores of Burma and Siam, royal personality suffused central administration, and tax collections still depended on long patron–client chains that typically pocketed a third or more of total collections. But by 1825 France and other West European states, with Russia in train, had developed increasingly bureaucratic, impersonal systems that operated with growing uniformity within well-demarcated frontiers. European travelers in the 16th century had marveled at Southeast Asian wealth and power. “This King of Pegu hath not any Armie or power by Sea,” declared Cesare Fedrici, an Italian visitor to Burma in 1567, “but in the Land, for People, Dominions, Gold and Silver he farre exceeds the power of the great Turke in treasure and strength.”
Effects of Oral Sodium Supplementation on Indices of Thermoregulation in Trained, Endurance Athletes

Guidelines recommend the consumption of sodium during exercise to replace losses in sweat; however, the effects of sodium on thermoregulation are less clear. To determine the effects of high-dose sodium supplementation on indices of thermoregulation and related outcomes, 11 endurance athletes participated in a double-blind, randomized-sequence, crossover study in which they underwent 2-hrs of endurance exercise at 60% heart rate reserve with 1800 mg of sodium supplementation (SS) during one trial and placebo (PL) during the other trial. A progressive intensity time-to-exhaustion test was performed after the 2-hr steady state exercise as an assessment of exercise performance. Sweat rate was calculated from changes in body weight, accounting for fluid intake and urinary losses. Ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) and heat stress were assessed using verbal numeric scales. Cardiovascular drift was determined from the rise in HR during the 2-hr steady state exercise test. Skin temperature was measured with an infrared thermometer. Dehydration occurred in both SS and PL trials, as evidenced by substantial weight loss (2.03 ± 0.43% and 2.27 ± 0.70%, respectively; p = 0.261 between trials). Sweat rate was 1015.53 ± 239.10 ml·hr(-1) during the SS trial and 1053.60±278.24 ml/hr during the PL trial, with no difference between trials (p = 0.459). Heat stress ratings indicated moderate heat stress ("warm/hot" ratings) but were not different between trials (p = 0.825). Time to exhaustion during the SS trial was 6.88 ± 3.88 minutes and during the PL trial averaged 6.96 ± 3.61 minutes, but did not differ between trials (p = 0.919). Cardiovascular drift, skin temperature, and RPE did not differ between trials (all p > 0.05). High-dose sodium supplementation does not appear to impact thermoregulation, cardiovascular drift, or physical performance in trained, endurance athletes. However, in light of the possibility that high sodium intakes might have other adverse effects, such as hypertension, it is our recommendation that athletes interpret professional recommendations for sodium needs during exercise with caution. Key pointsBased on current professional recommendations to replace sodium losses in sweat during exercise, some endurance athletes consume salt or other electrolyte supplements containing sodium during training and competition, however the effects of sodium on thermoregulation are less clear.High-dose sodium supplementation does not appear to impact thermoregulation, cardiovascular drift, or physical performance in trained, endurance athletes.The possibility remains that high sodium intakes might have other adverse effects. It is our recommendation that athletes interpret professional recommendations for sodium needs during exercise with caution.
Bacillus bifidusLXXI. Studies in bacterial metabolism

The examination of a gram-stained specimen of feces from a normal nursling will usually reveal a multitude of relatively long, slender bacilli, many of them slightly curved, together with a much smaller sprinkling of oval cocci usually occurring in pairs, all retaining the deep blue stain; as well as a few short, gram-negative bacilli and an occasional large, thick bacillus (fig. 10). The cocci and gram-negative bacilli may be dismissed with a wordthey are respectively Micrococcus ovalis, or, as it is more commonly referred to, the enterococcus,' and members of the colon bacillus group. The long, thin rods, which frequently exhibit irregularities in staining, are for the most part B. bifidus. The morphology of this organism, so characteristic of the normal intestinal flora of the nursling, together with its irregularly staining involution forms, was accurately described by Escherich 2 in 1886. This careful observer was unable to induce the organism to grow in any of his cultural mediums, but he did not fail to realize his lack of success, which he discusses in his monograph, at some length. One of his pupils 3 attempted to show that this gram-positive, rodshaped microbe which was so prominently represented in the nursling flora, was a colon bacillus. He believed the bacillus acquired the property of retaining the Gram stain during its sojourn within the infantile alimentary tract, and he records experiments purporting to substantiate this view; but it is now known that this surmise was incorrect.
Influence of Dielectric Anisotropy on the Absorption Properties of Localized Surface Plasmon Resonances Embedded in Si Nanowires

We utilize discrete dipole approximation simulations to provide a detailed picture of the scattering behavior of mid-infrared localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPRs) in selectively doped (i.e., i–n++–i) Si nanowires. Our simulations, and their quantitative comparison to recent experimental results, show that the large refractive indices (n ≈ 3–4) of undoped semiconductors in the infrared and the anisotropic dielectric environment inherent in the nanowire geometry strongly enhance/depress absorption by the longitudinal/transverse LSPR. An examination of “cladding” materials other than Si (e.g., GaAs, Ge, etc.) reveals that this behavior scales with refractive index and that absorption enhancements of at least 35× are possible relative to an isotropic vacuum. We also show how scattering and absorption contribute to the overall extinction and extract a value for the carrier density of Si-based resonators synthesized via the vapor–liquid–solid (VLS) mechanism. Our findings establish a framework for ratio...
Real-Time Viscosity Measurements during the Accelerated Aging of Biomass Pyrolysis Oil

An oak bio-oil was aged at 90 °C using various times and methods. A novel method for aging bio-oils under shear is introduced and compared to standard (quiescent) aging experiments. In a hermetically sealed concentric cylinder rheometer, aging with shear for 8, 16, and 24 h showed increases in viscosity of 57, 300, and 720%, respectively. A similar increase in viscosity was observed after quiescently aging of sealed samples in a forced air oven (100, 120, and 740% after 8, 16, and 24 h, respectively). Another aging experiment under shear consisted of three 8 h aging steps with intermediate viscosity measurements. Viscosity increases were comparable to the 8, 16, and 24 h tests. A control experiment in the rheometer without shear found the increase in viscosity to be 30–50% less than the sheared experiments. The number-average molecular weight increased as samples were heat-treated at 90 °C for longer times. The water content showed small increases and decreases with aging, which was attributed to the hete...
SOLUBLE ST2 AND HIGH SENSITIVITY CARDIAC TROPONIN-T LEVELS PREDICT ATRIAL FIBRILLATION ABLATION OUTCOME

ST2 is associated with cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis. High sensitivity cardiac troponin-T (hs-cTnT) is a marker of cardiac injury. Our hypothesis is that hs-cTnT stratifies ST2 defined risk of atrial arrhythmia (AA) recurrence. 23 patients undergoing AF ablation were enrolled. All underwent wide
DFT Investigation of Early Stages of Nanoindentation in Ni

Density functional theory simulations of diamond tips indenting Ni surfaces are used to study the early stages of nanoindentation. Numerous complex interactions are observed, including Ni-surface deformation during tip approach, the attachment and migration of Ni atoms on the indenter surface, Ni-ejection during early nanoindentation, C–C bond breaking, and C atom removal from the tip. The embedding of C atoms within the Ni sample may explain the tip wear problem encountered during frequent reuse of indenter tips. Since the detailed chemical interactions between the Ni and C atoms play a significant role in all of these behaviors, we conclude that quantum-mechanics-based simulations are critical for even a qualitative assessment of these early stage mechanisms.
Impact of amplified spontaneous emission on picosecond pump measurements of optical nonlinearities in GaAs/AlGaAs multiple quantum wells

Carrier density is the best parameter to characterize optical nonlinearities in multiple quantum wells (MQWs).1 However it is usually obtained by estimation based on the other parameters. In cw measurements the carrier lifetime (which is a function of the carrier density) usually determines the accuracy of this estimation.1
The Big Five Approach

The previous chapter represents a call to action. The relative neglect of personality in research on mass politics has occurred primarily because, for many years, adequate frameworks for the study of personality were unavailable. But this situation has changed. Developments in trait psychology have led to the construction of taxonomies possessing characteristics ideal for research on mass political attitudes and behavior. These frameworks, which have risen to prominence within the past two decades, are broad, multifaceted, well understood, and relatively easy to employ in empirical research. By utilizing one of these contemporary trait approaches, it should be possible to make substantial progress in exploring the potential political impact of variance in personality. The particular perspective adopted in this study is the “Big Five” framework. Research on the Big Five holds that five traits collectively provide a highly comprehensive, hierarchical model of trait structure. Following convention, the broad traits, or dimensions, are labeled here as openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness , and emotional stability . In later chapters, empirical indicators of these traits will be developed and the traits will be introduced as possible predictors of a wide array of actions and attitudes familiar in research on mass politics. As a prelude to those analyses, this chapter offers detailed background on the Big Five for the benefit of those readers who may be unfamiliar with this research tradition and its origins. The discussion addresses three major themes. First, the essential components of the Big Five approach are described.
Bidirectional Laser with an Injected Signal: An Optical Switch

In this paper we propose the use of a bistable two-mode ring laser with an injected signal as an optical switch. The counterpropagating waves in a bidirectional ring laser with a homogeneously broadened active medium displays an instability; the two waves are strongly anti-correlated and lase one at a time. Random switching occurs from one wave to the other when the laser is operated near threshold. This switching is due to the spontaneous emission noise, and the average dwell time of the modes increases exponentially with excitation above threshold.1 It is this regime far above threshold that we are interested in for our application, when the influence of spontaneous emission noise on switching directions is negligibly small. The laser operates as a practical bistable device in this range of operation.
ABAS-II Adaptive Profiles and Correlates in Samples of Children with HFASD or LFASD

This study was conducted to extend the research on the adaptive skills of 55 high-functioning children with autism spectrum disorder (HFASD) and 55 children with ASD and co-occurring intellectual disability (LFASD), ages 6–12, using the Adaptive Behavior Assessment System, Second Edition (ABAS-II). This study examined each group’s adaptive profile, compared adaptive functioning and cognitive ability, and assessed correlates (i.e., age, IQ) of adaptive skills. Results indicated children with HFASD demonstrated cognitive strengths and adaptive deficits, while children with LFASD demonstrated adaptive strengths in the areas of social and conceptual skills, and practical skills commensurate with estimated cognitive ability. Within the HFASD sample, age significantly, negatively correlated with adaptive social ability, while IQ was not significantly correlated with adaptive behavior. Conversely, in the LFASD sample, age did not correlate with adaptive ability, although IQ was significantly related to overall adaptive ability and all domains of the ABAS-II.
Wound repair: basic biology to tissue engineering

Abstract Despite rapid progress in our understanding of wound pathobiology, transformative developments in the care of acute and chronic cutaneous wounds have been elusive. Thus patient quality of life remains poor and the economic burden remains enormous. Although several natural and engineered-skin substitutes are commercially available, many contain tissue cells or cell remnants, which make quality control difficult, shelf-life under ambient conditions short, or user interface less than friendly. Similar problems exist if stem cells are added to wounds. Over the past decade, much work has been done to develop new biomaterials for tissue-engineered skin substitutes and/or stem cell implantation; however, the ability to limit tissue inflammation, inhibit tissue injury progression, and enhance new tissue development in a regenerative, rather than reparative, scar-forming pathway, remains obscure. In this chapter the normal and abnormal pathobiology of cutaneous wounds will be discussed as well as some of the advances in tissue engineering of skin substitutes, biomaterials, stem cell biology, and bioactives as regulators of wound healing or, preferably, regeneration.
Collimator optimization in SPECT based on an LROC ideal observer

In SPECT the collimator is a crucial element of the imaging chain and controls the noise-resolution tradeoff of the collected data. Optimizing collimator design has been a long studied topic, with many different criteria used to evaluate the design. One class of criteria is tasked-based, in which the collimator is designed to optimize detection of a signal (lesion). Here we consider a new, more realistic, task, the joint detection and localization of a signal. Furthermore, we use an ideal observer - one that attains a theoretically maximum task performance - to optimize collimator design. The ideal observer operates on the sinogram data. We consider a family of parallel-hole low-energy collimators of varying resolution and efficiency and optimize over this set. We observe that for a 2-D object characterized by noise due to background variability and a sinogram with photon noise, the optimal collimator tends to of lower resolution and higher efficiency than equivalent commercial collimators. Furthermore, this optimal design is insensitive to the tolerance radius within which the signal must be localized. So for this scenario, the addition of a localization task does not change the optimal collimator. Optimal collimator resolution gets worse as signal size grows, and improves as the level of background variability noise increases. These latter two trends are also observed when the detection task is signal-known-exactly and background variable.
Evaluation of Mice Undergoing Serial Oral Gavage While Awake or Anesthetized

Although oral gavage is the most straightforward approach to achieve precise enteric administration in rodents, it is associated with potential adverse consequences. Here we compare the effects of serial oral gavage in awake compared with anesthetized mice. Female C57BL/6J mice (n = 20 per group) were assigned to 1 of 3 treatment groups (control, awake gavage, or anesthetized gavage) and gavaged daily with 0.2 mL of saline (with no manipulation on weekends) for a total of 18 treatment days. Body weight and clinical appearance were monitored throughout the treatment period, after which mice were euthanized and necropsied. Endpoints evaluated included adrenal gland weight, plasma corticosterone, lymphocyte:neutrophil ratio, and esophageal histopathology. Mean body weight did not differ between groups. Compared with other groups, the awake gavage group had more mice removed (3 of 20) prior to study completion due to body weight loss greater than 10%, with corresponding gross and histopathologic lesions attributed to the gavage procedure. Mice gavaged when awake had an over 20-fold higher incidence of incomplete retention of the administered saline than did anesthetized mice. Of the mice that completed the study, esophageal inflammation was not apparent at necropsy regardless of treatment, with the exception of a single mouse in the awake gavage group. Although WBC and lymphocyte counts were lower in mice in the anesthetized gavage group compared with other groups, none of the endpoints measured to evaluate stress (adrenal gland weight, neutrophil:lymphocyte ratio, plasma corticosterone) differed. These findings support the use of brief isoflurane anesthesia when performing serial oral gavage in mice.
Noncivilian Government Context

The agencies involved with public safety, emergency management, and national security operate under tighter schedules and, typically, more stressful conditions—regardless of government level (i.e., federal, state, local). Individual lives (not just livelihoods) are frequently endangered, both for agency representatives and citizens. Their missions carry a different sense of urgency, and their information assets may be more susceptible to attacks from other nation-state actors or their agents. These are environments that stress-test technology tools, people, and policies/processes. The organizations discussed here operate in at least semi-autonomous fashion, which can lead to challenges with respect to interoperability, in terms of process, recognized lines of authority, and technical platform compatibility. Initiatives underway in the United States to address these challenges include the FirstNet program and CyberStorm exercises.
An intelligent Interactive Learning and Adaptation framework for robot-based vocational training

In this paper, we propose an Interactive Learning and Adaptation framework for Human-Robot Interaction in a vocational setting. We show how Interactive Reinforcement Learning (RL) techniques can be applied to such HRI applications in order to promote effective interaction. We present the framework by showing two different use cases in a vocational setting. In the first use case, the robot acts as a trainer, assisting the user while the user is solving the Towers of Hanoi problem. In the second use case, a robot and a human operator collaborate towards solving a synergistic construction or assembly task. We show how RL is used in the proposed framework and discuss its effectiveness in the two different vocational use cases, the Robot Assisted Training and the Human-Robot Collaboration case.
A Novel Biomarker Panel to Identify Steroid Resistance in Childhood Idiopathic Nephrotic Syndrome.

Idiopathic nephrotic syndrome (NS) is the most common glomerular disorder of childhood. Response to initial treatment with corticosteroids is an indicator of prognosis, as resistant patients often present more progressive disease. In this cross-sectional pilot study, we set out to discover a panel of noninvasive biomarkers that could distinguish steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome (SRNS) from steroid-sensitive nephrotic syndrome (SSNS). Information gleaned from such a panel could yield more individualized treatment plans and prevent unnecessary steroid exposure in patients unlikely to respond. Urine was collected from 50 pediatric patients diagnosed with idiopathic NS at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) was used to discover 13 proteins that were differentially expressed in SSNS vs SRNS in a small 5 × 5 discovery cohort. Suitable assays were found for 9 of the 13 markers identified by iTRAQ and were used in a 25 SRNS × 25 SSNS validation cohort. Vitamin D–binding protein (VDBP), alpha-1 acid glycoprotein 1 (AGP1), alpha-1 acid glycoprotein 2 (AGP2), alpha-1-B glycoprotein (A1BG), fetuin-A, prealbumin, thyroxine-binding globulin and hemopexin, and alpha-2 macroglobulin were measured and combined with urine neutrophil gelatinase–associated lipocalin (NGAL), which had been previously shown to distinguish patients with SRNS. Urinary VDBP, prealbumin, NGAL, fetuin-A, and AGP2 were found to be significantly elevated in SRNS using univariate analysis, with area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUCs) ranging from 0.65 to 0.81. Multivariate analysis revealed a panel of all 10 markers that yielded an AUC of 0.92 for identification of SRNS. A subset of 5 markers (including VDBP, NGAL, fetuin-A, prealbumin, and AGP2) showed significant associations with SRNS and yielded an AUC of 0.85.
Noninvasive Imaging in Adult Congenital Heart Disease.

Multimodality cardiovascular imaging plays a central role in caring for patients with congenital heart disease (CHD). CHD clinicians and scientists are interested not only in cardiac morphology but...