cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Estimating above-ground net primary productivity of the tallgrass prairie ecosystem of the Central Great Plains using AVHRR NDVI

Above-ground net primary productivity ANPP is indicative of an ecosystem's ability to capture solar energy and convert it to organic carbon or biomass, which may be used by consumers or decomposers, or stored in the form of living and nonliving organic matter. Annual and interannual variation in ANPP is often linked to climate dynamics and anthropogenic influences, such as fertilization, irrigation, above-ground biomass harvest, and so on. The Central Great Plains grasslands occupy over 1.5 million km2 and are a primary resource for livestock production in North America. The tallgrass prairies are the most productive grasslands in this region, and the Flint Hills of North America represent the largest contiguous area of unploughed tallgrass prairie 1.6 million ha. Measurements of ANPP are of critical importance to the proper management and understanding of climatic and anthropogenic influences on tallgrass prairie. Yet, accurate, detailed, and systematic measurements of ANPP over large geographic regions do not exist for this ecosystem. For these reasons, this study was conducted to investigate the use of the normalized difference vegetation index NDVI to model ANPP of the tallgrass prairie. Many studies have established a positive relationship between the NDVI and ANPP, but the strength of this relationship is influenced by vegetation types and can vary significantly from year to year depending on land use and climatic conditions. The goal of this study was to develop a robust model using the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer AVHRR biweekly NDVI values to predict tallgrass ANPP. This study was conducted using ANPP measurements from a watershed within the Konza Prairie Biological Station KPBS as the primary study area, with additional measurements from the Rannells Flint Hills Prairie Preserve RFHPP and biennial ANPP measurements by Kansas State University KSU students from tallgrass areas near Manhattan, Kansas. Data from the primary study site covered the period of 1989–2005. The optimal period for estimating ANPP using AVHRR NDVI composite data sets was found to be late July. The Tallgrass ANPP Model TAM explained 54% coefficient of determination, R 2 = 0.54, p < 0.001 of the year-to-year variation in ANPP. The creation of 1.0 km × 1.0 km resolution ANPP maps for a four-county ∼7000 ha area for years 1989–2007 showed considerable variation in annual and interannual ANPP spatial patterns, suggesting complex interactions among factors influencing ANPP spatially and temporally.
Expanding Perspectives in Care of the Speaking Voice

Summary The effective voice clinician has always had to borrow from various disciplines: voice science, otolaryngology, psychology, and speech-language pathology. Such eclecticism requires, however, that the clinician integrate the perspectives of these various disciplines into some kind of theoretical clinical bias. One bias might be that with greater use of instrumentation in voice therapy, the voice clinician must not substitute data collection for attending to the feelings of the patient. By using the clinical input from various disciplines, for example, voice clinicians might develop a useful clinical perspective that vocal hyperfunction is one of the primary causes of many voice disorders. Consequently, from such a clinical view might come a treatment perspective that can clearly define the problem (too much effort while speaking) and offer a rationale for voice remediation.
A Characterization for Dominant Strategy Implementation

We introduceaperfectpricediscriminatingmechanismforallocationprob- lems with private information. A perfect price discriminating mechanism treats a seller, for example, as a perfect price discriminating monopolist who faces a price schedule that does not depend on her report. In any perfect price discriminating mechanism, every player has a dominant strategy to truthfully report her private infor- mation. We establish a characterization for dominant strategy implementation: Any outcome that can be dominant strategy implemented can also be dominant strategy implemented using a perfect price discriminating mechanism. We apply this charac- terization to derive the optimal, budget-balanced, dominant strategy mechanisms for public good provision and bilateral bargaining.
General Analysis of Covariance Models for the Split Block and Related Block Designs

Exact test statistics and confidence intervals for a general split block ANOCOVA model are derived. With a single covariate, each statistic for testing main effect A, main effect B, and the AxB interaction has one less numerator degree of freedom than its counterpart in the ordinary ANOVA without a covariate. Sufficient conditions on the model parameters which allow these lost numerator degrees of freedom to be regained are given, as are exact statistics and confidence intervals for the corresponding reduced models. A note of caution is offered when constructing test statistics for reduced versions of the general model using the method of generalized least squares. General analysis of covariance models for two other block designs are presented.
Grouping and dimensionality reduction by locally linear embedding

Locally Linear Embedding (LLE) is an elegant nonlinear dimensionality-reduction technique recently introduced by Roweis and Saul [2]. It fails when the data is divided into separate groups. We study a variant of LLE that can simultaneously group the data and calculate local embedding of each group. An estimate for the upper bound on the intrinsic dimension of the data set is obtained automatically.
Home Foreclosure, Health, and Mental Health: A Systematic Review of Individual, Aggregate, and Contextual Associations

Background The U.S. foreclosure crisis intensified markedly during the Great Recession of 2007-09, and currently an estimated five percent of U.S. residential properties are more than 90 days past due or in the process of foreclosure. Yet there has been no systematic assessment of the effects of foreclosure on health and mental health.
Why are there few algae on snail shells? The effects of grazing, nutrients and shell chemistry on the algae on shells of Helisoma trivolvis

Summary 1. Freshwater snails often lack visible growths of algae on their shells. We tested three possible mechanisms that may account for this (grazing, snail-derived nutrients and chemical defences), using the ramshorn snail Helisoma trivolvis. 2. The experiments were carried out in floating plastic enclosures in a pond and comprised seven treatments. Grazing treatments were: a lone snail (ungrazed, as self-grazing does not occur), Helisoma with conspecifics, Helisoma with the co-occurring pond snail Physa sp., empty shells with Helisoma, and ungrazed empty shells. Nutrient effects were possible in all treatments with occupied shells (lone snail; Helisoma with conspecifics, and with Physa) versus absent in other treatments. Testing for chemical defences compared algae on fresh empty shells, weathered shells (outer organic periostracum layer absent) and boiled fresh shells (with denaturization of susceptible proteins). 3. Diatoms dominated algal assemblages on snail shells. Although the upright diatom Gomphonema gracile was abundant on all shells, it was dominant on the shells of snails housed with other snail grazers (either Helisoma or Physa). 4. Only the lone snail (nutrients but no grazing) showed higher algal biomass, so presumably any nutrient effect in the treatments with grazers was masked. Both Helisoma and Physa were observed apparently grazing on Helisoma shells, and consequently algal biomass in multi-snail treatments was similar to that on empty shells. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that algal density was highest near the aperture of live snails, but not empty shells; this is consistent with a nutrient addition effect. There was no evidence of chemical defences against algal growth. 5. In soft-bottomed freshwater habitats with abundant snails, shells of living snails provide nutrient-augmented substrata that may indirectly boost overall snail production.
Quantitative assessment of surface roughness using backscattered ultrasound : the effects of finite surface curvature

We have previously described a technique to quantify surface fibrillatory changes in osteoarthritic articular cartilage. In that study, the angular distribution of the scattered acoustic field from an insonifying source directly related to the distribution of surface fibrillatory changes. In the current study, we demonstrate a more sensitive method to quantify surface roughness, the effect of global surface curvature in estimating surface roughness and the utility of using focused transducers in circumventing this potential problem for in vivo work. Phantoms composed of acrylic rods with and without sandpaper grit (about 15 to 72 microns, mean particle size) applied to the surface were scanned. A more robust angular scattering technique to measure the angle dependent data was employed, in which the integrated squared pressure amplitude over a finite time window (mean power) was measured as a function of incident acoustic angle for varying surface roughnesses and radii of curvature. We show that the potential dynamic range for making roughness discriminations diminishes with decreasing radius of curvature of the acrylic rod phantoms using an unfocused transducer. This effect is minimized with use of a focused transducer. Roughness effects are most evident at sufficiently large angles where incoherent scattering dominates. We conclude that the roughness of cylindrically curved surfaces can be quantitatively assessed using a focused ultrasound beam at sufficiently large incident angles, given that the focal spot size is sufficiently smaller than the radius of curvature of the surface.
les îles Marquises: ethnography from another beachhead

Book reviewed in this article: Islands and Beaches: Discourse on a Silent Land: Marquesas 1774–1880. GREG DENING Marquesan Encounters: Melville and the Meaning of Civilization. T. WALTER HERBERT, JR
Toward globally optimal resource management in large-scale real-time distributed computer systems

This paper discusses the issues and promising approaches in obtaining rigorous specifications of the quality-of-service (QoS) requirements associated with application functions and using such specifications as the main driver for cost-effective resource allocation. The application environments in which component failures must be handled with sufficient efficiency in order not to miss the application objectives and also execution resource requirements of various application functions can change dynamically, are considered. The importance of structuring various resource users, i.e., application software components and middleware components, in easily analyzable forms, is emphasized. A promising middleware architecture that supports application software structured in real-time object-oriented forms and also manages execution resources for fault-tolerant system operations, is presented.
Effects of Placebo versus Guanabenz on Hypertensive Out-Patients

The objectives of this study were two-fold: (1) 1 4-week multicentre, randomized, double-blind efficacy comparison of placebo and guanabenz acetate, a new centrally acting antihypertensive drug, in 168 hypertensive out-patients and (2) a more accurate determination of the incidence of drug-related, non-specific side-effects. Both treatment groups were comparable: 68% female, 63% black, mean age 53 years; 57% mild, 32% moderate, 11% moderately severe hypertensives. Seventy-six placebo patients completed 4 weeks and had a mean supine diastolic blood pressure (SDBP) decrease from 105 to 101 mm Hg (p < 0.01). Seventy-nine guanabenz patients completing 4 weeks had a mean SDBP decrease from 104 to 92 mm Hg (p < 0.01). All of the placebo responses and 10/12 mm Hg of the guanabenz response occurred during Week 1. Clinically significant individual SDBP decreases occurred in thirty-one (41%) placebo and fifty-five (70%) guanabenz-treated patients (p < 0.01). Mean daily guanabenz dose was 24 mg. Drug-related biochemical or electrocardiographic abnormalities were absent. Side-effects of sedation and dry mouth were recorded two and three times more frequently, respectively, in guanabenz as compared to placebo patients. Side-effects usually occurred within Week 1 and diminished in incidence thereafter. Consequently, in these patients it appeared that: (1) guanabenz was an effective, well-tolerated drug, (2) placebo effects on efficacy were significant, occurred early and remained stable, and (3) placebo and guanabenz side-effects were mainly sedation and dry mouth.
Disinfection of an infrared coagulation device used to treat hemorrhoids.

Infrared coagulation devices are used to treat internal hemorrhoids, and as semicritical items should undergo high-level disinfection between patients. We developed and validated a method for disinfecting an infrared coagulation device that cannot be immersed in disinfectant solution.
Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) and related disorders

Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), which has many genetic causes, is characterized by multi-system inflammation. HLH is a reactive process resulting from prolonged and excessive activation of antigen presenting cells (macrophages, histiocytes) and CD8(+) T cells. Hemophagocytosis, which is mediated through the CD163 heme-scavenging receptor, is a hallmark of activated macrophages/histiocytes and is the characteristic finding for which the disorder was named. The majority of genetic causes identified to date affect the cytotoxic function of NK and T cells, crippling immunologic mechanisms that mediate natural immune contraction. The predominant clinical findings of HLH are fevers (often hectic and persistent), cytopenias, hepatitis and splenomegaly. Due to the life-threatening implications of the diagnosis of genetically determined HLH, antiinflammatory therapy, often consisting of steroids, etoposide or antithymocyte globulin (ATG), should be instituted promptly, followed by curative hematopoietic cell transplantation. Secondary HLH, associated with autoimmune disorders or viral infections in teens and adults, also carries a significant mortality rate and should be managed in consultation with specialists familiar with the diagnosis and treatment of such disorders.
Evaluation of a Simple System for Preparation of Individual Orders of Prime Rib

This section is intended to supply the readers with quick information on recent developments in Hospitality Education and Research.Research Notes may consist of: (1) new research findings including preliminary data from pilot studies; (2) reports on small research projects not requiring extensive presentation; (3) case study reports that describe a truly new phenomenon; (4) methodological comments; (5) brief theoretical statements that are either an original contribution or comments on previously published studies. All such notes must be prepared in the appropriate Hospitality Education and Research Journal style and not exceed 3000 words.
First Do No Harm: The Case for Vaginal Birth After Cesarean

“Once a cesarean, always a cesarean” was first articulated by Dr. E. B. Cragin in 1916, and for most of the 20th century in the United States, this was how women who had a cesarean delivery gave birth following subsequent pregnancies...
Chronic disease risks in young adults with autism spectrum disorder: forewarned is forearmed.

Abstract An emerging, cost-effective method to examine prevalent and future health risks of persons with disabilities is electronic health record (EHR) analysis. As an example, a case-control EHR analysis of adults with autism spectrum disorder receiving primary care through the Cleveland Clinic from 2005 to 2008 identified 108 adults with autism spectrum disorder. In this cohort, rates of chronic disease included 34.9% for obesity, 31.5% for hyperlipidemia, and 19.4% for hypertension. Compared with a control cohort of patients from the same health system matched for age, sex, race, and health insurance status, adults with autism spectrum disorder were more likely to be diagnosed with hyperlipidemia (odds ratio = 2.0, confidence interval = 1.2–3.4, p = .012). Without intervention, adults with autism spectrum disorder appear to be at significant risk for developing diabetes, coronary heart disease, and cancer by midlife.
The impact of inbreeding depression on population survival depending on demographic parameters

Inbreeding depression is a critical phenomenon for conservation of small populations, especially concerning the captive breeding of endangered animals whose effective population size may be very low. In order to manage such captive populations on a long-term basis, assessment of the interactions between demographic and genetic parameters and their consequences on the population survival probability is essential. Therefore, we examined (1) the relative importance of initial population size and carrying capacity on the survival probability of a population, (2) the impact of a bottleneck in an already inbred population. For this purpose, a stochastic model taking into account the effect of genes responsible for inbreeding depression was built. It was concluded that the population survival probability is very sensitive to the carrying capacity. Moreover, in inbred populations, a large increase in the extinction rate results from a second bottleneck. With two founders, survival is high as long as the carrying capacity is not very small (above a few decades), whereas a second bottleneck has a dramatic effect, even when the carrying capacity approaches 100. Consequently, previous inbreeding should be considered in the case of reintroduction. Reason for reintroduction failure could be successive bottlenecks, with the associated deleterious effects of inbreeding.
Most People Are Happy

Myers and Diener (1995) asked “Who is happy?” but examined the question of who is more and who is less happy In fact, most people report a positive level of subjective well-being (SWB), and say that they are satisfied with domains such as marriage, work, and leisure People in disadvantaged groups on average report positive well-being, and measurement methods in addition to self-report indicate that most people's affect is primarily pleasant Cross-national data suggest that there is a positive level of SWB throughout the world, with the possible exception of very poor societies In 86% of the 43 nations for which nationally representative samples are available the mean SWB response was above neutral Several hypotheses to explain the positive levels of SWB are discussed
Wrinkling instabilities in polymer films and their applications

Surface wrinkles are commonly observed in polymer films driven by mechanical instability when the stress exceeds a critical value. Recently, wrinkling instability has been utilized as a versatile patterning platform to create unique surface patterns for a wide range of applications that are related to surface topography and its dynamic tuning. In this review, we discuss three mechanisms to create large-area surface wrinkles via thermal stress, osmotic pressure and mechanical stress applied on bilayer and gradient polymer films. We briefly compare the governing physics in each system, and how to control the wrinkle pattern order, characteristic wavelength and amplitude, orientation and interactions under different geometrical confinements. We then present various technological applications that harness wrinkling effects, including optical components, responsive microfluidic channels, thin-film metrology, tunable wetting and directed assembly of liquid crystal molecules, flexible electronics and particle sorting.
Scan power reduction through test data transition frequency analysis

Significant reductions in test application times can be achieved through parallelizing core tests; however, simultaneous test of various cores may result in exceeding power thresholds, endangering the SoC being tested. Test power dissipation is exceedingly high in scan-based environments wherein scan chain transitions during the shift of test data further reflect into significant levels of circuit switching unnecessarily. Scan chain modification helps mitigate this problem as it enables the reduction of transitions in the test stimuli to be inserted to the modified scan chain and in the response to be collected through the scan-out pin. The proposed modifications in the scan chain consist of inverter insertion and scan cell reordering, leading to significant power reductions with neither area nor performance penalty whatsoever A computationally efficient algorithm is presented to identify the optimal scan chain modification based on the transition frequency analysis of the test data. Experimental results confirm the considerable reductions in scan chain transitions. The consequent reduced power dissipation possible under the proposed scheme enables rapid, reliable testing of SoCs.
Varicella Zoster Virus Meningitis in a Previously Immunized Child

We are reporting a previously well 5-year-old child with varicella-zoster meningitis who had a history of a previous immunization against varicella. This child also developed a transient sensorineural hearing loss. The child was treated with acyclovir and made a full recovery.
Lightning field behavior around grounded airborne systems

Abstract A variety of innovative airborne concepts are being developed to capture the wind energy available at higher altitudes, facilitate wireless communication and provide heavy lift capability. These airborne systems will be in close proximity to cloud cover and exposed to increased risk of lightning strikes. A two-dimensional physics based formulation that was recently developed to investigate the potential field behavior about circular sections was used to develop uniform and tapered cylindrical elements. These elements were then combined to approximate the total charge and lightning behavior about an airborne wind turbine and a heavy lift airship. Surface electrical charge and lightning collection area are developed as a function of elevation, body shape, cloud cover and leader properties. The surface charge density is utilized to compute the degree of field intensification on the body periphery in order to determine the level of susceptibility of the airborne system to lightning strikes. It was observed that as airborne bodies move closer to the thundercloud the ambient potential field becomes more highly perturbed and leads to greater risk of lightning strikes. The lightning collection area was shown to increase with elevation of the airborne body and decrease with increase in the leader propagation angle.
TLR9/MyD88 signaling is required for class switching to pathogenic IgG2a and 2b autoantibodies in SLE

Loss of tolerance in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) leads to the generation of autoantibodies, which accumulate in end-organs where they induce disease. Here we show that immunoglobulin (Ig)G2a and 2b autoantibodies are the pathogenic isotypes by recruiting FcγRIV expressing macrophages. Class switching, but not development, of IgM anti-self B cells to these pathogenic subclasses requires the innate immune receptor Toll-like receptor (TLR)9 and MyD88 signaling. In their absence, switching of autoreactive B cells to the IgG2a and 2b subclasses is blocked, resulting in reduced pathology and mortality. In contrast, switching of anti-self B cells to IgG1 is not perturbed and generation of nonautoreactive IgG2a and 2b antibodies is not impaired in TLR9-deficient mice. Thus, the TLR9 pathway is a potential target for therapeutic intervention in SLE.
Nanoparticulate Coating of Functional Ceramics by the Vapor, Solid and Liquid Phase Reactions

Microstructure control of ceramics is expected to produce novel functions or to improve properties. Nanocomposite powders of functional ceramics were fabricated by vapor, solid and liquid phase reactions, respectively. Superconducting bulk materials were fabricated by thermal plasma method and mist pyrolysis method. Microstructure control of powders for sintering contributed to improve the microstructure at grain boundaries and to introduce magnetic flux pinning centers, both resulted in the improvement of superconducting transport current property. On the other hand, a magnetic nanocomposite for the remote sensing of stress in structural ceramics was fabricated by sol-gel method and solid state reaction. Successfully introduced nano-dispersoids of ferromagnetic materials by the sintering of nanocomposite powders resulted in the harmonization of added functionality and proper mechanical properties. Magnetic response to applied stress in structural ceramic matrix was detected as the result of amplified magnetostriction caused by the nano-size effect on ferromagnetic dispersoids.
Weighted median based filters for the complex domain

Weighted median (WM) filtering structures for complex-valued samples have been proposed but none of them allows the use of complex-valued weights. This paper defines complex-valued weighting for median filters with complex-valued input samples. Two different approaches to the handling of weights in the complex domain are presented, both derived from characteristics of complex-valued linear filters, resulting in two definitions of the complex weighted median filter. The LMS optimizations of the proposed filtering schemes are also presented. Simulations are shown illustrating the performance of the new complex WM filter structures compared with previous approaches to the problem and with classical linear filters.
Pilot Study of a Mindfulness-Based Group Intervention for Individuals with Parkinson’s Disease and Their Caregivers

This pilot study assessed the feasibility and impact of an 8-week mindfulness-based group intervention on cognitive and emotional functioning for individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and their caregivers. Twenty-five percent of those initially recruited dropped out before completing the study. The final sample (N = 39; 29 patients/10 caregivers) was 53.8 % male, 89.7 % Caucasian, with a mean level of education of 16.77 years (SD = 2.51), and ranged in age from 50 to 82 (M = 65.64, SD = 7.62). Mindfulness levels significantly increased for all participants from pre- to immediate-post. A significant improvement was seen for self-reported symptoms of depression and self-reported language functioning. Patient participants uniquely showed significant improvement on mental flexibility and complex attention tasks and reported significantly fewer emotional and cognitive symptoms associated with PD. Participant compliance with assigned home mindfulness practice was measured with homework tracking logs, and participants reported an average of 20 min/day, 6 days/week. Participants attended an average of six classes. Homework compliance significantly correlated with improvement in mindfulness levels, apathy and anxiety symptoms, and on working memory and mental flexibility tasks. Better class attendance was also associated with increased mindfulness and reduced apathy symptoms. Increased mindfulness was related to fewer symptoms of apathy and anxiety and better PD-related quality of life. These results show promise for the use of mindfulness-based interventions to improve emotional and cognitive functioning in individuals with PD and their caregivers and suggest that efforts to increase participant retention and encourage homework compliance and class attendance are important for optimizing outcomes in future trials.
High-bandwidth packet switching on the raw general-purpose architecture

The switching of packets and other performance-critical tasks in modem Internet routers are done done using application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) or custom-designed hardware, while existing general-purpose architectures have failed to give a useful interface to sufficient bandwidth to support high-bandwidth routing. By using an architecture that is more general-purpose routers can gain from economies of scale and increased flexibility compared to special-purpose hardware. We propose the use of the raw general-purpose processor as both a network processor and switch fabric for multigigabit routing. We show that the raw processor, through its tiled architecture and software-exposed onchip networking, has enough internal and external bandwidth to deal with multigigabit routing
Comparative Dispersal of Homalodisca coagulata and Homalodisca liturata (Homoptera: Cicadellidae)

Abstract California’s viticulture and ornamental industries have suffered significant losses since the introduction of Homalodisca coagulata (Say), an important vector of the Pierce’s disease bacterium. A better understanding of the factors that influence the dispersal of H. coagulata, as well as other native sharpshooters could enhance our ability to institute areawide management programs. Studies were conducted to establish the validity of an immunoglobulin G (IgG) protein marker for sharpshooter dispersal studies, to compare the dispersal of H. coagulata with that of a native sharpshooter Homalodisca liturata Ball, and to develop a better understanding of the factors that influence their dispersal. Field trials showed that the marker remained detectable for at least 19 d and did not affect sharpshooter survival. Four concentrations (0.04, 0.2, 1, and 5 mg/ml) and two different IgG markers (chicken and rabbit) were effective for marking sharpshooters. In mass-mark-recapture studies, ≈95% of the marked i...
Pathophysiology of Pulmonary Hypertension in Chronic Parenchymal Lung Disease

Pulmonary hypertension commonly complicates chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and interstitial lung disease. The association of chronic lung disease and pulmonary hypertension portends a worse prognosis. The pathophysiology of pulmonary hypertension differs in the presence or absence of lung disease. We describe the physiological determinants of the normal pulmonary circulation to better understand the pathophysiological factors implicated in chronic parenchymal lung disease-associated pulmonary hypertension. This review will focus on the pathophysiology of 3 forms of chronic lung disease-associated pulmonary hypertension: idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and sarcoidosis.
Genetically engineered grafts to study xenoimmunity: a role for indirect antigen presentation in the destruction of major histocompatibility complex antigen deficient xenografts.

Background. The genetic enginering of xenogeneic donor species for transplantation may provide a means of attenuating the potent immune response elicited by tissues from foreign species. Because of their well-established role in allograft rejection, a logical target for genetic manipulation is the genes encoded by the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). In the current study we examined whether skin, keart, or pancreatic islet xenografts harvested from lines of transgenic mice rendered deficient in MHC antigen expression by gene disruption would exhibit a survival benefit when transplanted to xenogeneic rat recipients
Family Firms Going Public: The Impact of Governance and Legitimacy on IPO Performances

Recently, the interests in the performance of family firms in the capital market are on the rise. However studies on long-term performance give us little information about the performance of family firms in the initial public offering (IPO) markets. Building on agency theory, we investigated the effect of three IPO signals in family firm IPOs. Practices such as the appointment of outside non-family directors and waiting longer before going public significantly reduce underpricing. In addition, family owners' intent to retain large percentage of share in the long run is an indication of original shareholders' level of confidence in their own companies. Such confidence helps reduce after market investors' uncertainty and thus underpricing. On the other hand, family ownership at the IPO positively moderates the impact of non-family directors on underpricing.
Mallory–Weiss Syndrome

Gastrointestinal hemorrhage caused by gastroesophageal laceration was first reported by Quincke in 1879; however, the association with retching and vomiting was described by Mallory and Weiss in 1929 (Mallory and Weiss, Am J Med Sci, 178:506–514, 1929; Quincke, Deutsch Arch Klin Med, 24(72), 1879). The prevalence of Mallory–Weiss syndrome has been reported at between 3 and 15 % of all patients with acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding (Sugawa et al., Am J Surg, 145(1):30–3, 1983; van Leerdam, Best Pract Res Clin Gastroenterol, 22(2):209–24, 2008; Yin et al., Eur J Intern Med, 23(4):e92–6, 2012). Mortality associated with Mallory–Weiss tears has been shown to be similar to gastric and duodenal ulcers in at least one series (Marmo et al., Gastrointest Endosc, 75(2):263–72, 272.e1, 2012). The occurrence of gastroesophageal laceration without hemorrhage is difficult to quantify and their clinical significance is debatable.
Tungsten toxicity, bioaccumulation, and compartmentalization into organisms representing two trophic levels.

Metallic tungsten has civil and military applications and was considered a green alternative to lead. Recent reports of contamination in drinking water and soil have raised scrutiny and suspended some applications. This investigation employed the cabbage Brassica oleracae and snail Otala lactea as models to determine the toxicological implications of sodium tungstate and an aged tungsten powder-spiked soil containing monomeric and polymeric tungstates. Aged soil bioassays indicated cabbage growth was impaired at 436 mg of W/kg, while snail survival was not impacted up to 3793 mg of W/kg. In a dermal exposure, sodium tungstate was more toxic to the snail, with a lethal median concentration of 859 mg of W/kg. While the snail significantly bioaccumulated tungsten, predominately in the hepatopancreas, cabbage leaves bioaccumulated much higher concentrations. Synchrotron-based mapping indicated the highest levels of W were in the veins of cabbage leaves. Our results suggest snails consuming contaminated cabbag...
Husband-wife interaction over revealed differences.

the conditions operating. For example, we have often found particular exceptions to predicted rank positions in cases where one of the members disagrees with the others persistently, and so tends to attract or receive a disproportionate amount of communication. And we have also found exceptions when two highly interactive and agreeing members form a sub-group vis-a-vis a third neglected or rejected member. The average empirical tendencies described constitute a base-line expectation for the detection of discrepancies or exceptions which we believe will be useful in diagnostic and comparative analysis of particular groups. There are many sorts of experimental predictions that can now be made with an increased degree of accuracy through the use of the ordered matrix. The importance of the generalizations will be much increased as we are better able to identify and measure the effects of various kinds of conditions on them.
What Do We Want from the Just War Tradition? New Challenges of Surveillance and the Security State

The nature and scope of government surveillance have intensified debates about liberty and security in a post-9/11 world. Critics of the just war tradition argue it is not able to constructively address these new challenges. Defenders often simply re-affirm its various criteria in making retrospective judgments or clarifying principles. By contrast, this article argues that our political moment—marked by the arbitrary exercise of power, the prospect of permanent war, and the rapid speed of global politics—reinforces the need to frame just war thinking within a constructive account of statecraft and practical reasoning. In particular, I highlight moral (rather than simply legal) dimensions of authority and intention which reveal a fundamental question about what we want from the just war tradition in relation to democratic social criticism and the possibility of political morality.
Chemotherapy of experimental infections of mice with Schistosomatium douthitti, Schistosoma mansoni and Schistosoma japonicum.

Of the three clinically important schistosomes, Schistosoma mansoni is the only species that has been maintained in the laboratory with ease for large screening programs. A drug effective at one dose level against one species of schistosoma may, however, be partially effective or ineffective against other species in the genus. Thus, drugs screened against S. mansoni are not necessarily effective against Schistosoma japonicum (Vogel and Minning, 1948; Pesigan, 1951). In the present paper we have compared the activity of several drugs against Schistosomatium douthitti, S. mansoni and S. japonicum.
Spatiotemporal fluctuations of protein folding in living cells

Protein folding landscapes and protein-protein interaction landscapes are subject to modulation by many factors inside living cells: crowding, electrostatics, hydrophobic interactions, and even hydrodynamic phenomena. The resulting spatiotemporal fluctuations in protein folding rates, protein stability, protein structure, protein function, and protein interactions are the subject of a recent generation of experiments, as well as in-cell modeling. We discuss some specific examples of how the cell modulates energy landscapes and leads to fluctuations that may, in some cases, simply be a consequence of statistical physics, but, in other cases, may be exploited by the cell to improve its fitness.
Scaphoid fractures. Problems associated with nonunion and avascular necrosis.

Summary Nonunion and avascular necrosis following scaphoid fractures are persistent problems that continue to occur from unrecognized injuries, inadequate immobilization techniques, or insufficient treatment time. Bone grafting by means of dorsal or volar inlay techniques utilizing cortical cancellous grafts have proved successful in nearly 90 per cent of cases. When a bone graft does fail, repeat bone grafting remains the procedure of choice. When avascular necrosis occurs either from the initial injury or as a result of surgical treatment, it can be expected to resolve provided fracture union is achieved. Ununited avascular scaphoid fractures uniformly result in post-traumantic degenerative arthritis.
Planar graphene vacuum transistor performance potential

We have considered the opportunities and challenges of fabricating a planar vacuum transistor using the edge of a single layer graphene sheet as a field emission electron source. The emission current needed to produce significant gain and power at mm-wave frequencies is roughly 100mA/mm. Simple arguments suggest such emission currents are possible.
Stability differences in the NMR ensembles of amyloid β fibrils

Alzheimer’s Disease is characterized by the formation of amyloid beta (Aβ) fibril plaques in the brain. These fibrils can be probed by solid state NMR (ssNMR), which leads to an ensemble of configurations that are compatible with the NMR signals. Typically, only the lowest energy conformer is considered in computer simulations that probe the stability of fibrils and their binding with drug candidates. This restriction could produce data that are not physiologically relevant if the NMR entries differ significantly in stability or binding affinities. In order to study this effect, we have investigated the variance in stability between members of NMR ensembles. Our test cases are a patient-derived Aβ-fibril model and two in vitro Aβ-fibril models from a previous study we performed on comparative stability. The latter two models allow us also to compare different staggering patterns. We observe significant variations in molecular flexibility, compactness and secondary structure, suggesting that the full NMR e...
U-47700 Reply

We appreciate the comments by Dr. Vo et al. for our recent case report regarding U-47700.[1] They suggest that the patient we described likely ingested a benzodiazepine that we did not test for, ra...
Age-Related Changes in Hemostasis in Children with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia; Influences of Peg-Asparaginase Upfront and Native E Coli Asparaginase during Remission Induction Therapy.

Alterations in hemostasis are frequently observed in children with ALL. Although increased thrombin generation is already present at diagnosis, thromboembolism is reported only after initiation of antileukemic therapy and mainly in children older than 10 years, indicating a relationship between disease, age and antileukemic treatment. During their development children will undergo physiological changes in hemostasis. These age-related changes might be related to the risk for symptomatic thrombo-embolic disease. The current report presents the results of a prospective study on coagulation and fibrinolysis parameters in 121 children with newly diagnosed ALL. The DCOG (Dutch Childhood Oncology Group) ALL-9 remission induction protocol consists of weekly vincristine injections and oral dexamethasone 6 mg/m2 during 4 weeks. From day 29, the dexamethasone dose is tapered and E. coli Asparaginase Paronal® is introduced, twice weekly at 6000 IU/m2 iv for 2 weeks. 64 children were studied according to this protocol, 57 children additionally received 1000 IU/m2 PEG-Asparaginase iv before the start of remission induction chemotherapy. Blood samples were collected at diagnosis (day -5) and 5 days after the PEG-Asparaginase administration at the start of regular induction chemotherapy (day 0), and immediately before each Paronal® infusion to analyze procoagulant (fibrinogen, F II, F V, F VII, F IX, F X) and anticoagulant factors (AT, prot C, prot S) and parameters of thrombin generation (F1+2, TAT) and fibrinolysis (a2-antiplasmin, plasminogen, PAP, D-dimer). At diagnosis a situation of enhanced thrombin generation was found (elevated levels of F1+2 and TAT) and signs of consumption coagulopathy (increased D-dimer together with hypofibrinogenemia). The effect of one dose of 1000 IU/m2 PEG-Asparaginase resulted five days later in a decrease of procoagulant and anticoagulant proteins; thrombin generation decreased, fibrinolysis did not increase further. 1000 IU/m2 PEG-Asparaginase induced an asparagine depletion lasting 4 weeks. The asparagine depletion did not result in a persistent inhibition of coagulation protein synthesis as all coagulation parameters at day 29 and at day 43 did not differ between patients who did or did not receive PEG-Asparaginase window-treatment. If we divided the children in three age groups (1–5, 6–10 and 11–16 years) the 11–16 year old children showed a greater decline in procoagulant and in anticoagulant factor levels compared to the younger children during Paronal® treatment. Also the fibrinolytic potential (a2-antiplasmin and plasminogen) was significantly more decreased in children older than 11 years during Paronal® treatment. Activation markers concerning thrombin generation and fibrinolysis did not change along time after day 29. Conclusion: Age-related changes in hemostasis underline the increased risk of thrombosis during ALL induction treatment for children between 11 and 16 years of age compared to younger children.
Comparison of cycloplegic refraction between Grand Seiko autorefractor and Retinomax autorefractor in the Vision in Preschoolers-Hyperopia in Preschoolers (VIP-HIP) Study.

Purpose To evaluate the agreement of cycloplegic refractive error measures between the Grand Seiko and Retinomax autorefractors in 4- and 5-year-old children. Methods Cycloplegic refractive error of children was measured using the Grand Seiko and Retinomax during a comprehensive eye examination. Accommodative error was measured using the Grand Seiko. The differences in sphere, cylinder, spherical equivalent (SE) and intereye vector dioptric distance (VDD) between autorefractors were assessed using the Bland-Altman plot and 95% limits of agreement (95% LoA). Results A total of 702 examinations were included. Compared to the Retinomax, the Grand Seiko provided statistically significantly larger values of sphere (mean difference, 0.34 D; 95% LoA, −0.46 to 1.14 D), SE (mean, 0.25 D; 95% LoA, −0.55 to 1.05 D), VDD (mean, 0.19 D; 95% LoA, −0.67 to 1.05 D), and more cylinder (mean, −0.18 D; 95% LoA, −0.91 to 0.55 D). The Grand Seiko measured ≥0.5 D than Retinomax in 43.1% of eyes for sphere and 29.8% of eyes for SE. In multivariate analysis, eyes with SE of >4 D (based on the average of two autorefractors) had larger differences in sphere (mean, 0.66 D vs 0.35 D; P P Conclusions Under cycloplegia, the Grand Seiko provided higher measures of sphere, more cylinder, and higher SE than the Retinomax. Higher refractive error was associated with larger differences in sphere and SE between the Grand Seiko and Retinomax.
Fastidious and Furious: Reporting Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing for Fastidious or Infrequently Isolated Bacteria

Abstract Antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) of fastidious bacteria is an essential yet challenging exercise for the clinical microbiology laboratory. An understanding of bacterial growth requirements is essential to ensure optimal recovery of pathogens. A working knowledge of reference methods for antimicrobial susceptibility testing, such as agar and broth microdilution, as well as knowledge of modifications to these systems, will aid the laboratory in the selection of the appropriate AST method to meet regulatory requirements and ensure quality results for patient care. The establishment of AST breakpoints and interpretive criteria is dependent upon the AST methodology used and the regulatory standard applied by the laboratory. AST should be performed when clinically relevant, as testing of isolates not implicated in true infection may result in inappropriate antimicrobial therapy. This review discusses methods for AST, medium requirements, quality control, and site-specific AST result reporting, as well as testing and reporting recommendations for both common and uncommon fastidious bacteria implicated in human infection. AST testing methods for mycobacteria and Nocardia spp. are not reviewed in this manuscript.
ICER review

The 13th International Computing Education Research conference was held in mid-August in Tacoma, Washington, USA. The conference venue was in the downtown campus of the University of Washington Tacoma. At ICER this year we had a record number of submissions (108), and the highest attendance ever: 157, of which 55 were students, 34 were international visitors from outside the US and 93 first time ICER attendees.
Spontaneous thrombosis of large splenorenal shunt during balloon-occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration in a patient with chronic persistent hepatic encephalopathy. Is this catheter assisted trans-venous occlusion?

Large spontaneous portosystemic shunts in cirrhosis are implicated in recurrent and/or chronic persistent hepatic encephalopathy. In long standing cases, these shunts lead to portal vein thrombosis and hepatic dysfunction. Balloon-occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration (BRTO) is an endovascular technique that is usually employed for shunt closure in the patients manifesting the features of chronic hepatic encephalopathy. There are several reports documenting systemic and portal vein thrombosis as a part of the procedure. We report first time a patient in whom the difficult and partial BRTO procedure led to the extensive thrombosis of the large splenorenal shunt itself without sclerosant instillation.