cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Does Agency Autonomy Foster Public Participation

Allocation of public resources is an area in which considerations of both economic efficiency and democratic legitimacy are likely to be present. Public administrators are often blamed for being too devoted to the norms of bureaucratic ethos, such as efficiency, effectiveness, and top-down control, and less so to the norms of democratic ethos, such as inclusiveness and bottom-up decision making. This article examines whether managers in agencies with greater budget autonomy are more likely to include the public when allocating resources. Because participation offers an opportunity for agencies to enhance the legitimacy of their decisions, it is expected that the value of citizen input will increase with the degree of agency autonomy. Using data on the practices of citizen participation in budgeting in two state departments—transportation and environment—this study finds that agencies with a higher degree of autonomy tend to be more open to public comment than agencies with more centralized budget processes.
Isofurans: novel products of lipid peroxidation that define the occurrence of oxidant injury in settings of elevated oxygen tension.

We recently reported the discovery of isofurans, novel products of free radical-induced peroxidation of arachidonic acid that exhibit favored formation with increasing oxygen concentrations. In this review, the biochemistry of isofuran formation is compared with that of isoprostanes, with an emphasis on the mechanistic basis for the favored formation of isofurans at elevated oxygen tensions. In addition, the formation of isofurans in various disease states in vivo is also discussed. Parkinson's disease is presented as a disease model involving mitochondrial dysfunction, a situation in which quantification of isofurans can provide a uniquely sensitive indicator of oxidant injury. Measurement of isofurans has also provided unexpected insights into the earliest events in hyperoxic lung injury, an important clinical problem in which measurement of isofurans might prove to be uniquely valuable in the evaluation of approaches to limit this injury. These two settings are then used as models to suggest a variety ...
Association of Polyomavirus Middle Tumor Antigen with Phospholipase C-γ1

Middle tumor antigen (MT) is the primary transforming protein of murine Polyomavirus. MT transforms by associating with and modulating the activities of cellular proteins involved in control of cell proliferation. MT binds to and is phosphorylated by cellular tyrosine kinases. The phosphorylated tyrosines become docking sites for SH2 (Src homology 2) domain-containing molecules. Tyrosine 322 of MT is known to be phosphorylated but has no known binding protein. We have found that phospholipase C-γ1 (PLC-γ1), a SH2 domain-containing protein, coimmunoprecipitates with MT. Tyrosine phosphorylation of PLC-γ1 is elevated in cells expressing MT, suggesting activation of this enzyme by MT. A Tyr-322 → Phe mutation in MT renders it defective in MT-PLC-γ1 interaction and in transformation. From the correlation between transformation and MT-PLC-γ1 interaction, we suggest that PLC-γ1 may play a role in transformation.
Comparing Bayesian and frequentist methods of fisheries models: Hierarchical catch curves

Bayesian inference is an emerging statistical paradigm and is becoming an increasingly used alternative to frequentist inference. Unfortunately, little is known about the efficacy of Bayesian inference and how it relates to the historical methodology of evaluating fisheries related models. Mortality information is routinely used in fisheries management to describe fish population abundance over time and has been historically estimated using catch curves and frequentist inference (i.e., maximum likelihood estimation). The objective of this study was to compare frequentist and Bayesian inference approaches to estimate instantaneous mortality (Z) from a hierarchical catch curve model. The data used in the comparison were from a long term monitoring program of yellow perch Perca flavescens from southern Lake Michigan in addition to a simulated dataset where parameter estimates were compared to known values. Point estimates of Z were similar among both methods. Similarly, Bayesian inference 95% credible intervals were concordant with frequentist 95% confidence intervals. However, the root mean squared error of frequentist inference increased at a higher rate than Bayesian inference with increasing variability in the simulated dataset. Our study builds on the literature that seeks to compare results between these two paradigms to assist managers to make the best decision possible when deciding what statistical paradigm to employ.
The capacity and energy efficiency of wireless ad hoc networks with multi-packet reception

We address the cost incurred in increasing the transport capacity of wireless ad hoc networks over what can be attained when sources and destinations communicate over multi-hop paths and nodes can transmit or receive at most one packet at a time. We define the energy efficiency ·(n) as the bit-meters of information transferred in the network for each unit energy. We compute the energy efficiency of many different techniques aimed at increasing the capacity of wireless networks and show that, in order to achieve higher transport capacity, a lower energy efficiency must be attained. Using the physical model, we compute the throughput capacity of random wireless ad hoc networks in which nodes are endowed with multi-packet reception (MPR) capabilities. We show that λ(n)= Θ (R(n))(1-2/α) / n1/α) bits per second constitutes a tight upper and lower bound for the throughput of random wireless ad hoc networks, where α>2 is the path loss parameter in the physical model, n is the total number of nodes in the network, and R(n) is the MPR receiver range. In doing so, we close the gap between the lower and upper bounds for the throughput capacity of wireless networks in the physical model. Compared to the original result derived for plain routing by Gupta and Kumar, MPR achieves a capacity gain of at least Θ((log n)α-2/2α) when RR(n)= Θ(√log n/n).
Social Capital and Political Culture in Africa, America, Australasia, and Europe

Social Capital and Political Culture in Africa, America, Australasia, and Europe Societies work best, and have always worked best, where citizens trust their fellow citizens, work cooperatively with them for common goals, and thus share a civic culture. A civic community is marked, in Putnam's words, "by an active, public-spirited citizenry, by egalitarian political relations, [and] by a social fabric of trust and cooperation." Vibrant networks and norms of civic engagement are essential for such a community. In societies where distrust is prevalent and horizontal ties of mutual involvement are replaced by hierarchical politics, social capital is absent, and little civic engagement exists. Indeed, the dilemmas of collective action at almost any level can best be solved through networks of reciprocal trust, a key component of social capital and a essential ingredient of democracy. For political stability and government effectiveness, Putnam says, "social capital may be even more important than physical or human capital."' The accumulation of reciprocal trust, as demonstrated by a variety and combination of voluntary efforts for the creation of common goods, helps to build social capital and contributes to effective government. Societies with high levels of social capital function with greater, rather than lesser, participation of citizens. Social capital contributes to the making of civil society. A civic culture exists because citizens have accumulated large amounts of social capital. Although political culture is the term that describes how a society and a collection of leaders and citizens chooses, and has long chosen, to approach national political decisions, high levels of social capital contribute to the creation of a political
Container terminal productivity: a perspective

The increasing competitiveness of the marine transportation industry has brought about demands that container terminal productivity be improved. MARAD, in cooperation with the National Research Council, has responded by developing a number of quantitative measurements for container terminal productivity. In this paper we discuss the problems and prospects of using such measurements to estimate or compare the productivity of terminals or ports. Because physical or institutional factors, or a combination of the two, act to limit the productivity of every container terminal, quantitative productivity comparisons among terminals or ports may lead to misplaced efforts to improve the productivity of particular operational elements in piecemeal fashion. By contrast, a sensible strategy for managing productivity would involve the linking of productivity and cost data, so that existing productivity constraints can be intelligently shifted from one area of operations to another.
Wagner's Parsifal as ritual theater: approaching the numinous unknown

Richard Wagner spent 37 years developing and refining his final work, Parsifal, which he would not call an opera but, rather, a ‘Festival Play for the Consecration of the Stage’. Critical response to Parsifal has historically taken up the work's ambiguous nature as a puzzle to be analyzed and solved, yet treating the opera as a Grail quest for some ultimate meaning reveals more about the seeker than the work and simultaneously errs by distancing the audience from participation in the ritual Wagner orchestrated. Parsifal is deeply psychological in the most radical sense of the word. A depth psychological approach finds the essential value of the work through a direct encounter with the dynamic symbols of the archetypal unconscious, which emerge through Wagner's images and music. Then, the light of understanding emanates from within the drama, from within the music, and from within the landscape and its characters as complex and dynamic autonomous beings – so that it becomes, in Nietzsche's description of P...
Synthesis of Charge-Compensated Octacarbonyltriruthenium Monocarbollide Complexes†

The charge-compensated monocarbon carboranes nido-7-NR3-7-CB10H12 react with [Ru3(CO)12] in toluene at reflux temperatures to give the triruthenium complexes [Ru3(CO)8(η5-7-NR3-7-CB10H10)] [NR3 = NMe3 (1a), NH2But (1b), and NMe2But (1c)]. The molecular structure of 1a has been established by X-ray crystallography. The metal atoms form an essentially isosceles triangle. One Ru atom carries two terminal CO groups and the nido-7-NMe3-7-CB10H10 cage, coordinated in a pentahapto manner. The two boron atoms in the β-sites with respect to the carbon in the CBBBB ring form exopolyhedral three-center, two-electron B−H⇀Ru bonds to the other two Ru atoms. These metal atoms also carry three essentially terminally attached CO ligands. Treatment of 1a with PPh3 in toluene gave, after column chromatography of the mixture, [Ru3(μ-H)(μ3-σ: η5-7-NMe3-7-CB10H9)(CO)7(PPh3)] (2), whereas reaction with CNBut affords [Ru3(CO)7(CNBut)(η5-7-NMe3-7-CB10H10)] (3). The structure of 2 has been established by X-ray crystallography. Th...
Cooperative Micromanipulators for 3D Micromanipulation and Assembly

In this paper we demonstrate coordinated control of multiple micromanipulators for use in automated 3D micromanipulation and assembly tasks. We build on our previous work on caging micromanipulation by using a similar methodology and extend it to the 3D case. Simultaneous movements of the coordinated micromanipulators normal to the caging polygon allows for the transition of 2D planar micro-caging grasps to micro-force closure grasps suitable for 3D micro-transporting tasks. Experimental results illustrate the success and accuracies of both the micro-grasps’ transitions and 3D pick-and-place tasks. Finally, the new 3D transportation primitive is used in conjunction with our previous 2D micromanipulation primitives and an encoded XY stage to semi-autonomously execute some representative 3D microassembly tasks.© 2012 ASME
Hydroxylation and glucoside conjugation in the microbial metabolism of the diterpene sclareol

1. The microbial metabolism of sclareol (1), a labdane diterpene ditertiary alcohol, was studied. Preliminary screening identified a number of microorganisms capable of metabolizing sclareol. 2. Preparative scale fermentation of growing cultures of Bacillus cereus UI-1477 resulted in the production of seven metabolites which have been characterized as 3 beta-hydroxysclareol (2), 2 alpha-hydroxysclareol (3), 18-hydroxysclareol (4), 2 alpha,18-dihydroxysclareol (6), 8 alpha,13 beta-dihydroxy-labd-14-en-3 beta-O-beta-D-glucoside (5), 8 alpha,13 beta-dihydroxy-labd-14-en-18-O-beta-D-glucoside (7), and 8 alpha,13 beta-dihydroxy-labd-14-en-2 alpha-O-beta-D-glucoside (10) by chemical, enzymic, and spectral data, especially 2D-n.m.r. techniques and thermospray liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis.
Is optics a separate discipline

The question posed by the title is important for how optics is taught and how research is funded for optical sciences and engineering. We think that the simple, correct answer to this question is 'yes.' This paper addresses this issue and suggests strategies for raising the profile of optics education at all levels.
Fault-tolerant sub-lithographic design with rollback recovery.

Shrinking feature sizes and energy levels coupled with high clock rates and decreasing node capacitance lead us into a regime where transient errors in logic cannot be ignored. Consequently, several recent studies have focused on feed-forward spatial redundancy techniques to combat these high transient fault rates. To complement these studies, we analyze fine-grained rollback techniques and show that they can offer lower spatial redundancy factors with no significant impact on system performance for fault rates up to one fault per device per ten million cycles of operation (Pf = 10^-7) in systems with 10^12 susceptible devices. Further, we concretely demonstrate these claims on nanowire-based programmable logic arrays. Despite expensive rollback buffers and general-purpose, conservative analysis, we show the area overhead factor of our technique is roughly an order of magnitude lower than a gate level feed-forward redundancy scheme.
Case report 835

A case of parosteal osteosarcoma arising in the radius was presented. The site is uncommon, being represented in about 1% of all reported cases of parosteal osteosarcoma. The clinical and radiographic characteristics of this lesion were described and the histological as well as the differential diagnosis discussed.
On Polynomial Approximation of Square Integrable Functions on a Subarc of the Unit Circle

Let E be an arc on the unit circle and let L^2(E) be the space of all square integrable functions on E. Using the Banach-Steinhaus Theorem and the weak* compactness of the unit ball in the Hardy space, we study the L^2 approximation of functions in L^2(E) by polynomials. In particular, we will investigate the size of the L^2 norms of the approximating polynomials in the complementary arc E of E. The key theme of this work is to highlight the fact that the benefit of achieving good approximation for a function over the arc E by polynomials is more than offset by the large norms of such approximating polynomials on the complementary arc E.
CSF biomarkers of Alzheimer disease “Noncognitive” outcomes

Objectives: To test whether CSF Alzheimer disease biomarkers (β-amyloid 42 [Aβ 42 ], tau, phosphorylated tau at threonine 181 [ptau 181 ], tau/Aβ 42 , and ptau 181 /Aβ 42 ) predict future decline in noncognitive outcomes among individuals cognitively normal at baseline. Methods: Longitudinal data from participants (N = 430) who donated CSF within 1 year of a clinical assessment indicating normal cognition and were aged 50 years or older were analyzed. Mixed linear models were used to test whether baseline biomarker values predicted future decline in function (instrumental activities of daily living), weight, behavior, and mood. Clinical Dementia Rating Sum of Boxes and Mini-Mental State Examination scores were also examined. Results: Abnormal levels of each biomarker were related to greater impairment with time in behavior ( p p p p > 0.115). As expected, abnormal biomarker values also predicted more rapidly changing Mini-Mental State Examination ( p p Conclusions: CSF biomarkers among cognitively normal individuals are associated with future decline in some, but not all, noncognitive Alzheimer disease symptoms studied. Additional work is needed to determine the extent to which these findings generalize to other samples.
A compact model for MM-wave transmission lines and interconnects on lossy CMOS substrates

A methodology for generating a scalable compact model for on-chip transmission lines and interconnects on lossy silicon substrate is presented. The model is demonstrated over 20–60 GHz frequency band using two types of transmission lines built in TSMC's 0.18 µm CMOS technology. Several Coplanar Waveguides (CPW) and Microstrip lines are designed with different lengths to verify the accuracy and scalability of the extracted model. The compact model shows an excellent agreement with measured data with maximum deviation in S 11 magnitude and phase of 9.2% and 5.6%, respectively, and maximum deviation in S 21 magnitude and phase of 10.1% and 6.6%, respectively. Compared to existing model extraction methodologies, the required time for generating the compact model and simulating transmission lines is reduced significantly. The generated models are fully compatible with all commercial circuit simulators.
Oxidation of Si(111)-(7 x 7) as studied by scanning tunneling microscopy.

The initial stages of oxidation of the Si(111)-(7\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}7) surface were studied via scanning tunneling microscopy. Images of the same area of the surface were obtained for various exposures of oxygen. The results show that defect sites act as nucleation centers for the oxidation process. Straight atomic steps commonly found on this surface are relatively insensitive to oxygen exposure.
Planning for embedded systems: A real-time prospective

Abstract We investigate the problem of planning for embedded systems where issues of safety, liveness, and responsiveness are much more important than intelligence. We argue that in such systems, a planning agent should produce a behavioral specification that, when superimposed on running behaviors, preserves the properties critical to the mission of the system. In this respect, we propose the Time-constrained Reactive Automata (TRA) formalism [Best91c] for plan generation and verification.
The recurrence of the initial state in the numerical solution of the Vlasov equation

Abstract The approximate recurrence of the initial state, observed recently in the numerical solution of Vlasov's equation by a finite-difference Eulerian model, is shown to be a property of three independent numerical methods. Some of the methods have exponentially growing modes (Dawson's beaming instabilities), and some others do not. The recurrence is in fact a manifestation of the finite velocity resolution of the numerical methods—a property which is independent of the approximation of a plasma by a finite number of electron beams. The recurrence is shown explicitly in the numerical simulation of Landau damping by three different methods: Fourier-Hermite, the recent variational method of Lewis, and the Eulerian finite-difference method.
Diapause Induction and Duration in Vineyard-collected Metaseiulus occidentalis

Diapausing Metaseiulus occidentalis (Nesbitt) females were recovered from grape leaves in San Joaquin Valley vineyards in California in late September. By early November, all females collected from leaves were in diapause. However, some females (16%) collected from cane buds in early December oviposited within 2 wk after transfer to the laboratory; this increased to 68 and 100% of females collected in early January and early February, respectively. Breaking of leaf buds did not occur until late March.
Determination of benzo(a)pyrene in recycled oils by a sequential HPLC method

Abstract Recently, several procedures have been developed at the National Bureau of Standards to measure some environmentally important contaminants in used lubricating oils. In this paper, a sequential high performance liquid Chromatographie method will be described which can be used to determine the concentration of benzo(a)pyrene in some virgin, used, and recycled oils.
Risk Factors for 30-Day Perioperative Complications after Le Fort Colpocleisis

Purpose: We identified rates of and risk factors for complications after colpocleisis using the American College of Surgeons NSQIP® database.Materials and Methods: Women treated with Le Fort colpocleisis from 2005 to 2011 were identified in the database. Primary outcomes were 30-day complication rates. Secondary outcomes were risk factors for complications and the impact of age and a concomitant sling on morbidity. Clinical and procedural characteristics were compared using the chi-square test and 1-way ANOVA.Results: We identified 283 women, of whom 23 (8.1%) experienced complications. The most common complication was urinary tract infection in 18 women (6.4%). There was 1 death for a 0.4% mortality rate. Increased complications were associated with age less than 75 years (p = 0.03), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (p = 0.03), hemiplegia (p = 0.03), disseminated cancer (p = 0.03) and open wound infection (p = 0.02). Six patients (2.1%) required return to the operating room within 30 days. Complicat...
CORR Insights®: outcome of one-stage cementless exchange for acute postoperative periprosthetic hip infection.

This CORR Insights®is a commentary on the article “Outcome of One-stage Cementless Exchange for Acute Postoperative Periprosthetic Hip Infection” by Hansen and colleagues available at: DOI:10.1007/s11999-013-3079-3. The author certifies that he, or a member of his immediate family, has no funding or commercial associations (eg, consultancies, stock ownership, equity interest, patent/licensing arrangements, etc) that might pose a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted article. All ICMJE Conflict of Interest Forms for authors and Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research® editors and board members are on file with the publication and can be viewed on request. The opinions expressed are those of the writers, and do not reflect the opinion or policy of CORR® or the Association of Bone and Joint Surgeons®. This CORR Insights® comment refers to the article available at DOI: 10.1007/s11999-013-3079-3.
Brain Carbohydrate Metabolism during Experimental Haemophilus influenzae meningitis

Summary: Five-day-old infant rats which acquire Haemophilus influenzae b bacteremia and meningitis after intranasal inoculation have a transient depression in weight gain (2 days), but then continue to grow at the same rate as strain U-11 inoculated controls. Brain lactate, glucose, and glycogen concentrations increase during the first 5 days of disease in infected animals. The increase in brain glycogen can be accounted for by an influx of glycogen containing polymorphonuclear leukocytes. The increased concentrations of glucose and lactate were found not to be due to a change in brain weight to dry weight ratio or the volume of entrapped blood. The mean cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) glucose concentration was higher in animals with meningitis (2.7 mM) in comparison to U-11 inoculated controls (1.8 mM). This increase in brain and CSF glucose concentration appeared secondary to an increased brain uptake of hexoses as manifested by an increased [3H]mannitol uptake. Brain lactate accumulation was not explicable from the data available. There was no evidence of cerebral cortical cellular damage because in vitro oxygen uptake and lactate production were equivalent in control and meningitic animals. The ability of the infant rat brain to maintain cerebral adenosine triphosphate (ATP) content in meningitis and the failure of CSF glucose concentration to decrease might be a reflection of the importance of alternative oxidative substrate (e.g., β-hydroxybutyrate) to the cerebral metabolism of the developing rat brain. Speculation: Infant rats surviving H. influenzae meningitis have on maturation deficits in the acquisition of a learned Skinnerian paradigm, and have reduced cortical dendritic arborization and complexity. With an increased cerebral and CSF glucose content and a normal ATP content during meningitis, the genesis of these lesions may not involve cerebral glucose uptake or oxidative metabolism. Alterations in delivery of substrates to the brain (e.g., cerebral blood flow) or the effect of bacterial products (such as endotoxin) or leukocytes on nervous tissue metabolism might be more profitable areas for future investigations. Any data, however, derived from study of this species should not be directly extrapolated to humans.
Calmodulin- and protein phosphorylation-independent release of catecholamines from PC-12 cells

Catecholamine secretion from PC-12 cells can be triggered by agents that increase intracellular Ca2+ and is enhanced by phorbol esters and agents that elevate intracellular cAMP concentrations. In mutant PC-12 cells lacking cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PK-A) in which protein kinase C (PK-C) was down-regulated, Ca2+-dependent secretion occurred normally but was no longer enhanced by cAMP or phorbol esters. In digitonin-permeabilized PC-12 cells that lacked PK-C and PK-A, a range of calmodulin (CaM) inhibitors failed to block Ca2+-triggered catecholamine release. Moreover, Mn2+, a CaM activator, failed to trigger catecholamine release whereas Ba2+, which does not activate CaM, supported secretion. These results indicate that the basic mechanism of stimulus/secretion coupling in PC-12 cells does not absolutely require a regulated protein phosphorylation- or calmodulin-dependent step.
Effects of three caregiver interventions: support, educational literature, and creative movement.

The primary focus of this study is to compare the effectiveness of three distinct intervention techniques in relieving some of the stress experienced by midlife daughters' caregiving for their frail mothers. The three techniques are: (a) a home-based literature “tip of the week” group, (b) a caregiver's support group, and (c) a creative-movement group. Based on a review of caregiving literature, no other studies have utilized a home-based literature intervention or a creative-movement intervention with midlife daughters providing informal care to frail mothers. As part of the weekly assessment evaluation, participants were asked to rate how helpful the previous week's session was with respect to five mental health variables: irritability, depression, anxiety, stress, and concentration. Overall, the support-based group had higher average scores for each of the five mental health variables and the highest overall mental health score. Future research and promising applications of future intervention programs...
Group process and decision performance in a simulated marketing environment

Abstract This article presents an exploratory study designed to investigate which factors in a group process relate to effective marketing decision making. The study was conducted with 20 teams playing Markstrat, a marketing-simulation game. Results indicate that decision performance is positively related to the attitudes of the group members toward their task, the level of effort they exert, and the degree to which the more effective decision makers emerge from the group process.
The Clinical Utility of Serologic Markers in the Evaluation of the Acute Scrotum

Objective: To examine the presence of interleukin-1 (IL- 1), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and creatine phosphokinase-MM (CPK-MM) in patients with acute scrotal pain and assess their clinical utility in the diagnosis of testicular torsion (TT) and epididymitis. Methods: Twenty-five patients with acute scrotal pain were prospectively en- rolled over a two-year period. History, physical examination, complete blood count, urinalysis, and scrotal ultrasound were performed. Tes- ticular torsion was confirmed by surgical exploration. Epididymitis was diagnosed using physical examination, scrotal ultrasound, and positive urinalysis. Venous blood was assayed for IL-1, IL-6, and CPK- MM in triplicate during the routine drawing of blood in the emergency department. The data are reported as medians 6 interquartile ranges (IQRs). Results: Twenty-five patients with acute scrotal pain were evaluated; 11 with TT, three with torsion of the appendix testis (TAT), ten with epididymitis, and one with varicocele. One patient had both TT and epididymitis. Interleukin-1 was not detectable in either group. The CPK-MM values between TT and epididymitis were virtually identical at 99.8 and 100 IU/L, respectively. The median value for IL- 6 was 1.03 (IQR = 0.19 to 2.86) vs 20.86 (IQR = 2.14 to 65.50) pg/mL in the torsion and epididymitis groups, respectively. The 97.5% CI for the difference of medians of 19.9 was 0.4 to 65.1, p = 0.02. Using re- ceiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis for IL-6, the area under the curve was 0.82 for torsion and 0.67 for epididymitis. Using a cutoff value of IL-6 $ 1.41 pg/mL, the positive predictive value of IL-6 in diagnosing epididymitis was 78.6%, with a negative predictive value of 100% for TT. There were no cases of missed TT on follow-up. Conclusions: This preliminary investigation of serologic markers dem- onstrates that IL-6 is significantly elevated in epididymitis as com- pared with TT. Creatine phosphokinase-MM and IL-1 were not found to be of diagnostic utility. The small sample size of this study precludes a definitive conclusion as to the utility of these markers in the emer- gency department. However, IL-6 may be clinically useful as an ad- ditional element in differentiating the causes of acute scrotal pain, and further study is warranted. Key words: epididymitis; testicular tor- sion; acute scrotum; cytokines; inflammatory mediators; interleukin- 1; interleukin-6; CPK; creatine phosphokinase. ACADEMIC EMER- GENCY MEDICINE 2000; 7:1069-1072
Analysis of a scanning pentaprism system for measurements of large flat mirrors

The optical surface of a large optical flat can be measured using an autocollimator and scanning pentaprism system. The autocollimator measures the slope difference between a point on the mirror and a reference point. Such a system was built and previously operated at the University of Arizona. We discuss refinements that were made to the hardware, the alignment procedure, and the error analysis. The improved system was demonstrated with a 1.6 m flat mirror, which was measured to be flat to 12 nm rms. The uncertainty in the measurement is only 9 nm rms.
GiPSi: An Open Source/Open Architecture Software Development Framework for Surgical Simulation

In this paper we propose an open source/open architecture framework for developing organ level surgical simulations. Our goal is to facilitate shared development of reusable models, to accommodate heterogeneous models of computation, and to provide a framework for interfacing multiple heterogeneous models. The framework provides an intuitive API for interfacing dynamic models defined over spatial domains. It is specifically designed to be independent of the specifics of the modeling methods used and therefore facilitates seamless integration of heterogeneous models and processes. Furthermore, each model has separate geometries for visualization, simulation, and interfacing, allowing the modeler to choose the most natural geometric representation for each case. I/O interfaces for visualization and haptics for real-time interactive applications have also been provided.
Development and assessment of a preliminary randomization-based introductory statistics curriculum

The algebra-based introductory statistics course is the most popular undergraduate course in statistics. While there is a general consensus for the content of the curriculum, the recent Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (GAISE) have challenged the pedagogy of this course. Additionally, some arguments have been made that the curriculum should focus on a randomization approach to statistical inference instead of using asymptotic tests. We developed a preliminary version of a randomization based curriculum which we then implemented with 240 students in eight sections of introductory statistics in fall 2009. The Comprehensive Assessment of Outcomes in Statistics (CAOS) assessment test was administered to these students and showed that students learned significantly more about statistical inference using the new curriculum, with comparable learning on most other questions. The assessment results demonstrate that refining content, improving pedagogy and rethinking the consensus c...
Ependymoma with Signet-Ring Cells

Two patients presented with unusual primary brain tumors having abundant signet-ring cells, for which electron microscopic study was necessary to establish the diagnosis of ependymoma. The light and electron microscopic features of these tumors are discussed, with brief comments on the differential diagnosis.
Police Resentment of the Upper Class

Social class, or socioeconomic status, is an important determinant of individual behavior. Criminologists have generally examined the variable in three ways: social class of the police, reflection ...
Imaging of Human Infection with 131I-Labeled Recombinant Human Interleukin-8

The chemotactic cytokine interleukin-8 (IL-8) plays an important role in attraction and activation of polymorphonuclear leukocytes in infection and inflammation. A pilot study was conducted to determine if radiolabeled IL-8 would depict infection in humans. Methods: Human recombinant IL-8 (rhIL-8) labeled with 131I (specific activity, 0.4–0.7 MBq [11–18 μCi] 131I/μg IL-8) was injected intravenously into 8 diabetic patients with active foot infections and evidence of osteomyelitis, 2 patients with successfully treated osteomyelitis, and 1 patient with cellulitis of the thumb. Results: Focal accumulation of 131I-rhIL-8 was seen in 8 of 8 patients with active foot infection and diffuse uptake was seen in the thumb of the 1 patient with cellulitis. In the 2 patients with successfully treated bone infection, multiphase 99mTc-hydroxyethylene diphosphonate bone scans were negative early, but late-phase (>3 h) uptake depicted degenerative lesions that did not image with 131I-rhIL-8. Conclusion:131I-rhIL-8 accumulates rapidly within infected foci in osteomyelitis and cellulitis but not in successfully treated infections or degenerative joint disease.
Utilization of morning report by acute care surgery teams: results from a qualitative study.

Abstract Background The rigor of handoffs is increasingly scrutinized in the era of shift-based patient care. Acute care surgery (ACS) embraced such a model of care; however, little is known about handoffs in ACS programs. Methods Eighteen open-ended interviews were conducted with ACS leaders representing diverse geographic and practice settings. Two independent reviewers analyzed interviews using an inductive approach to elucidate themes regarding use of morning report (using NVivo qualitative analysis software). Results Twelve of 18 respondents reported using morning report, but only 6 of 12 included attending surgeon–to–attending surgeon handoffs. One of 12 incentivized attending surgeons to participate, 2 of 12 included nursing staff members, and 2 of 12 included physician extenders. Cited benefits of morning report were safe and effective information exchange (2 of 12), quality improvement (2 of 12), multidisciplinary discussion (1 of 12), and resident education (2 of 12). Three of 12 respondents cited time commitment as the main limitation of morning report. Conclusions Morning report is underused among ACS programs; however, if implemented strategically, it may improve patient care and resident education.
A CMOS 5GHz Image-Reject Receiver Front-End Architecture

A fully-integrated double quadrature heterodyne receiver front-end uses a two-stage Lange coupler and achieves a measured image rejection ratio > 55 dB over a 200MHz bandwidth at 5.25 GHz without any tuning or trimming. It also features 23.5 dB gain, -79 dBm sensitivity, 5.6 dB SSB noise figure, -7 dBm IIP3, -18dB SII and 1mm x 2mm chip area in 0.18 mum CMOS.
Isolation of Mycoplasma felis from a Serval (Felis serval) with Severe Respiratory Disease

We report cytologic observations and isolation of Mycoplasma felis in September 1992 from the lower respiratory tract of a 3-week-old captive serval (Felis serval) cub with pneumonia, in Florida (USA). Septic, neutrophilic inflammation with a large, monomor-phic population of unique, pleomorphic, intracellular and extracellular rods was diagnosed from a transtracheal wash. Mycoplasma felis was the only bacterium isolated in significant numbers from the transtracheal wash.
Responding under sequence schedules of electric shock presentation.

Lever pressing by squirrel monkeys was examined under second-order schedules of electric shock presentation in which different discriminative stimuli were associated with consecutive components (sequence schedules). Components were always two-minute fixed-interval schedules, and three different overall schedules were studied. Under an overall eight-minute fixed-interval schedule, the first component completion after at least eight minutes had elapsed produced electric shock. The number of components actually completed ranged from one to four; thus, different discriminative stimuli were occasionally associated with electric shock presentation. Under an overall “yoked” variable-ratio schedule, electric shock was presented after completion of a variable number of components; the required number and the distribution of components were matched to those obtained under the overall eight-minute fixed-interval schedule. Under an overall fixed-ratio schedule, electric shock was presented after completion of four components (chained schedule). Under all three sequence schedules, responding in early components was characterized by a pause followed by a single response after the end of the two-minute interval; responding in later components was characterized by a shorter pause followed by positively accelerated responding. Manipulation of overall schedules of shock presentation in these complex behavioral situations produced changes in responding comparable to those ordinarily obtained after similar manipulation of dependencies under both single and second-order schedules of food presentation. These experiments extend the range of conditions and levels of complexity under which responding can be maintained by presentation of electric shock.
Prion protein degradation by lichens of the genus Cladonia

It has recently been discovered that lichens contain a serine protease capable of degrading the pathogenic prion protein, the etiological agent of prion diseases such as sheep scrapie and cervid chronic wasting disease. Limited methods are available to degrade or inactivate prion disease agents, especially in the environment, and lichens or their serine protease could prove important for manage- ment of these diseases. Scant information is available regarding the presence or absence of the pro- tease responsible for degrading prion protein (PrP) in lichen species and, in this study, we tested the hypothesis that PrP degradation activity in lichens is phylogenetically-based by testing 44 species of Cladonia lichens, a genus for which a significant portion of the phylogeny is well established. We cate- gorized PrP degradation activity among the 44 species (high, moderate, low or none) and found that activity in Cladonia species did not correspond with phylogenetic position of the species. Degradation of PrP did correspond, however, with three classical taxonomic characters within the genus: species with brown apothecia, no usnic acid, and the presence of a cortex. Of the 44 species studied, 18 (41%) had either high or moderate PrP degradation activity, suggesting the protease may be frequent in this genus of lichens.
The Cycling of Partitions and Compositions under Repeated Shifts

In ''Bulgarian Solitaire,'' a player divides a deck ofncards into piles. Each move consists of taking a card from each pile to form a single new pile. One is concerned only with how many piles there are of each size. Starting from any division into piles, one always reaches some cycle of partitions ofn. Brandt proved that forn=1+2+...+k, the cycle is just the single partition into piles of distinct sizes 1,2,...,k. LetD"B(n) denote the maximum number of moves required to reach a cycle. Igusa and Etienne proved thatD"B(n)@?k^[email protected]?1+2+...+k, and equality holds whenn=1+2+...+k. We present a simple new derivation of these facts. We improve the bound toD"B(n)@?k^2-2k-1, whenevern =4. We present a lower bound forD"B(n) that is likely to be the actual value. We introduce a new version of the game, Carolina Solitaire, in which the piles are kept in order, so we work with compositions rather than partitions. Many analogous results can be obtained.
Making those who cannot see look best: effects of visual resume formatting on ratings of job applicants with blindness.

Objective: Although general attitudes toward individuals with disabilities are often positive, these perceptions do not always lead to equal footing in the hiring process. This study examined stereotypes of job applicants perceived to be blind and the role of applicant blindness in hireability ratings made by human resource managers. Specifically, we highlighted a unique challenge for individuals who cannot see: the visual formatting of resumes. Design: Human resource managers (N 249) evaluated the visually formatted or unformatted resumes of hypothetical job applicants who were portrayed as blind or sighted and rated applicant hireability and personality characteristics. Results: Although applicants perceived to be blind were perceived as more conscientious and agreeable by human resource managers, these positive evaluations did not translate into favorable hireability evaluations. Conclusion: Because human resource managers severely penalize applicants who do not attend to visual, nonfunctional resume presentation, applicants who cannot see are apt to find themselves disadvantaged in the hiring process. The implications of these findings for organizations, job seekers, and rehabilitation professionals are discussed.
Optical and Electrical Properties of Antimony Deposits

The reflectances and transmittances of antimony deposits on Al2O3 film substrates have been measured for the 4–140 μ region. The optical and electrical constants for this wavelength region have been evaluated from those measurements. The lattice dielectric constant and the relaxation times for the electrical carriers in antimony have been derived from the change in the electrical properties with wavelength.
Steroidal sapogenins. XL. Simplified procedure for the qualitative detection of cardiac glycosides.

Plant extracts were partially purified with lead hydroxide and the filtrates subjected to ascending paper chromatography. Those cardiac glycosides characterized by an unsaturated 5-membered lactone ring were detected by color reaction with alkaline 3,5-dinitrobenzoic acid spray. The method was checked by paper chromatography of aglycones formed on acid hydrolysis of positive samples, by infrared spectra of these aglycones, and by bioassay of the glycosides. This simplified procedure is satisfactory for screening plant extracts for cardiac glycosides.
Cytotoxic effects of oxysterols produced during ozonolysis of cholesterol in murine GT1-7 hypothalamic neurons

Ozone present in the photochemical smog or generated at the inflammatory sites is known to oxidize cholesterol and its 3-acyl esters. The oxidation results in the formation of multiple “ozone-specific” oxysterols, some of which are known to cause abnormalities in the metabolism of cholesterol and exert cytotoxicity. The ozone-specific oxysterols have been shown to favor the formation of atherosclerotic plaques and amyloid fibrils involving pro-oxidant processes. In the present communication, cultured murine GT1-7 hypothalamic neurons were studied in the context of cholesterol metabolism, formation of reactive oxygen species, intracellular Ca2 + levels and cytotoxicity using two most commonly occurring cholesterol ozonolysis products, 3β- hydroxy-5-oxo-5,6-secocholestan-6-al (ChSeco) and 5β, 6β-epoxy-cholesterol (ChEpo). It was found that ChSeco elicited cytotoxicity at lower concentration (IC50 = 21 ± 2.4 μM) than did ChEpo (IC50 = 43 ± 3.7 μM). When tested at their IC50 concentrations in GT1-7 cells, bot...
Online Resource for Validation of Brain Segmentation Methods

Abstract One key issue that must be addressed during the development of image segmentation algorithms is the accuracy of the results they produce. Algorithm developers require this so they can see where methods need to be improved and see how new developments compare with existing ones. Users of algorithms also need to understand the characteristics of algorithms when they select and apply them to their neuroimaging analysis applications. Many metrics have been proposed to characterize error and success rates in segmentation, and several datasets have also been made public for evaluation. Still, the methodologies used in analyzing and reporting these results vary from study to study, so even when studies use the same metrics their numerical results may not necessarily be directly comparable. To address this problem, we developed a web-based resource for evaluating the performance of skull-stripping in T1-weighted MRI. The resource provides both the data to be segmented and an online application that performs a validation study on the data. Users may download the test dataset, segment it using whichever method they wish to assess, and upload their segmentation results to the server. The server computes a series of metrics, displays a detailed report of the validation results, and archives these for future browsing and analysis. We applied this framework to the evaluation of 3 popular skull-stripping algorithms — the Brain Extraction Tool [Smith, S.M., 2002. Fast robust automated brain extraction. Hum. Brain Mapp. 17 (3),143–155 (Nov)], the Hybrid Watershed Algorithm [Segonne, F., Dale, A.M., Busa, E., Glessner, M., Salat, D., Hahn, H.K., Fischl, B., 2004. A hybrid approach to the skull stripping problem in MRI. NeuroImage 22 (3), 1060–1075 (Jul)], and the Brain Surface Extractor [Shattuck, D.W., Sandor-Leahy, S.R., Schaper, K.A., Rottenberg, D.A., Leahy, R.M., 2001. Magnetic resonance image tissue classification using a partial volume model. NeuroImage 13 (5), 856–876 (May) under several different program settings. Our results show that with proper parameter selection, all 3 algorithms can achieve satisfactory skull-stripping on the test data.
A comparison of CNN and LEGION networks

CNN and LEGION networks have been extensively studied in recent years. These two frameworks share many common features; both employ continuous-time dynamics, are nonlinear, and emphasize local connectivity. In addition, they both have been successfully applied to visual processing tasks and implemented on analog VLSI chips. This paper investigates the relations between the two frameworks. We present their standard versions, and contrast the underlying dynamics and connectivity. We also describe several tasks where both CNN and LEGION have been applied. The comparison reveals fundamental differences between them. CNN is good for early visual processing, whereas LEGION is good for midlevel visual processing. Furthermore, the comparison suggests that a combined network is likely to enhance the overall processing capability.