cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Northern Drakensberg Range Gulella Species (Gastropoda, Pulmonata, Streptaxidae): Gulella inobstructa van Bruggen, 1965, Revisited, or Types are Not Typical

ABSTRACT Gulella inobstructa van Bruggen, 1965, was described from two adult shells from Magoebaskloof. Additional material shows that the range of variation in shell dimensions is quite considerable and that the type specimens indeed are far from typical, also as regards apertural dentition. This taxon is a narrow-range endemic in a limited area in Mpumalanga/Limpopo provinces, South Africa. The partly sympatric G. perspicua (Melvill & Ponsonby, 1893) has a shell that in many respects is similar to that of the above taxon. However, apart from various minor differences, the suture of G. perspicua is always excavated, so that shells of both taxa normally can be differentiated without undue trouble.
The physiologic basis for the management of ventricular assist devices.

Mechanical ventricular assist devices are now approved as destination therapy for terminal heart failure. It is the purpose of this review to discuss the physiology of this technology that is considered in outpatient care. The currently available pulsatile devices are solely dependent of preload volume and, when placed in the automatic mode, can maintain physiologic cardiac outputs with exercise. However, because of their dependence on preload volume, there are unique physiologic consequences; device bradycardia represents volume depletion, device tachycardia reflects volume overload. The differential diagnosis of left ventricular assist device dysfunction includes native right ventricular failure, native left ventricular recovery, or other technical considerations. The management of biventricular mechanical support as well as arrhythmia management and the role of echocardiographic assessment in this unique patient population will be discussed. Expertise in outpatient management of such devices is now a requisite for subspecialists in heart failure. In the future, technical innovations may simplify management for professionals, patients, and their families.
Colonoscopy: As Good as Gold?

Colonoscopy, as a gold standard, has lost some of its glitter. Nevertheless, it remains the preeminent procedure for diagnosing and treating colonic neoplasia. The data on colonoscopy accuracy, suc...
Cross‐cultural negotiating processes

Suggests that, in this age of the global economy, cross‐cultural negotiations are becoming increasingly important in the management and marketing process of many companies. Compares the cross‐cultural negotiation behaviour and differences in the perceived processes between product‐oriented and consumer‐product firms. Reports on significant differences between the two groups and provides analysis.
Identification of store-independent and store-operated Ca2+ conductances in Caenorhabditis elegans intestinal epithelial cells

The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans offers significant experimental advantages for defining the genetic basis of diverse biological processes. Genetic and physiological analyses have demonstrated that inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3)–dependent Ca2+ oscillations in intestinal epithelial cells play a central role in regulating the nematode defecation cycle, an ultradian rhythm with a periodicity of 45–50 s. Patch clamp studies combined with behavioral assays and forward and reverse genetic screening would provide a powerful approach for defining the molecular details of oscillatory Ca2+ signaling. However, electrophysiological characterization of the intestinal epithelium has not been possible because of its relative inaccessibility. We developed primary intestinal epithelial cell cultures that circumvent this problem. Intestinal cells express two highly Ca2+-selective, voltage-independent conductances. One conductance, IORCa, is constitutively active, exhibits strong outward rectification, is 60–70-fold more selective for Ca2+ than Na+, is inhibited by intracellular Mg2+ with a K1/2 of 692 μM, and is insensitive to Ca2+ store depletion. Inhibition of IORCa with high intracellular Mg2+ concentrations revealed the presence of a small amplitude conductance that was activated by passive depletion of intracellular Ca2+ stores. Active depletion of Ca2+ stores with IP3 or ionomycin increased the rate of current activation ∼8- and ∼22-fold compared with passive store depletion. The store-operated conductance, ISOC, exhibits strong inward rectification, and the channel is highly selective for Ca2+ over monovalent cations with a divalent cation selectivity sequence of Ca2+ > Ba2+ ≈ Sr2+. Reversal potentials for ISOC could not be detected accurately between 0 and +80 mV, suggesting that PCa/PNa of the channel may exceed 1,000:1. Lanthanum, SKF 96365, and 2-APB inhibit both IORCa and ISOC reversibly. Our studies provide the first detailed electrophysiological characterization of voltage-independent Ca2+ conductances in C. elegans and form the foundation for ongoing genetic and molecular studies aimed at identifying the genes that encode the intestinal cell channels, for defining mechanisms of channel regulation and for defining their roles in oscillatory Ca2+ signaling.
Sorting Almost Ordered Arrays

This paper presents an algorithm for sorting a collection of items that are already almost sorted. It is assumed that each item has a sorting key associated with it and that it is desired to arrange the items so that their keys are in ascending order. If duplicate keys are encountered only the item associated with the 'latest' occurrence of the duplicated key is preserved, earlier occurrences being discarded. The need for such an algorithm is most obvious in the case of on-line record editing in a timesharing environment where most of the records or sentences will have been entered correctly, but occasionally there will be a replacement of an old record or the insertion of new ones into already entered text. This algorithm first constructs a table with one entry in the table for each part of the source text that is internally ordered. It then performs an A'-way merge of the parts.
Regenerated cellulose fibers from waste bagasse using ionic liquid

Regenerated cellulose fibers from bagasse and wood were produced under various processing conditions using the ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (BMIMCl) as a solvent. Two different ionic liquid solutions were prepared with 6 wt% of bagasse cellulose and 6 wt% of wood cellulose. The solutions were extruded with a dry-jet and wet-spinning method using water as a coagulation bath. A thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) was used to measure the thermal properties of these regenerated fibers. Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) was used to determine the thermal mechanical property of the regenerated cellulose fibers and wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) was used to measure the degree of crystallinity, as well as the degree of crystal orientation for those experimental fibers. To evaluate the quantity of ionic liquid residue in the regenerated fibers, the instrumental methods of FT-IR and mass spectrometry were applied to test the residues of BMIMCl in the regenerated fibers. Research results indica...
Currently available antimicrobial agents and their potential for use as monotherapy

Infectious diseases remain a serious and now re-emerging threat to human life, contributing to over ten million deaths per year. Treatment of major infectious diseases with antibacterial agents creates an ongoing and escalating public health issue that currently leads to more problems than solutions. By processes of adaptation and survival, bacteria consistently develop mechanisms to overcome the effects of the newest and most potent antibacterial compounds. Simultaneously, progressively fewer antibacterial agents are being developed by pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Although this dilemma is an inherent trade-off and has no imminent resolution, the most prudent paradigm to pursue is the judicious use of antibacterial agents in the most limited way possible to attain the desired treatment results. One straightforward approach to antimicrobial stewardship is to use a single agent as opposed to combination therapy, so as to subject bacteria to lower total antibiotic exposure whenever feasible. This article reviews current trends in antibacterial drug development and describes a context for adherence to monotherapy with newer agents.
Application design for wearable and context-aware computers

To effectively integrate wearable computers into ubiquitous computing environments, we must address several important challenges. How do we develop social and cognitive application models? How do we integrate input from multiple sensors and map them to users' social and cognitive states? How do we anticipate user needs? How do we interact with users? To address mobile-application design challenges, the authors created four user interface models that map problem-solving capabilities to application requirements.
Throughput analysis, optimal buffer allocation, and traffic imbalance study of a generic nonblocking packet switch

A general model is presented to study the performance of a family of space-domain packet switches, implementing both input and output queuing and varying degrees of speedup. Based on this model, the impact of the speedup factor on the switch performance is analyzed. In particular, the maximum switch throughput, and the average system delay for any given degree of speedup are obtained. The results demonstrate that the switch can achieve 99% throughput with a modest speedup factor of four. Packet blocking probability for systems with finite buffers can also be derived from this model, and the impact of buffer allocation on blocking probability is investigated. Given a fixed buffer budget, this analysis obtains an optimal placement of buffers among input and output ports to minimize the blocking probability. The model is also extended to cover a nonhomogeneous system, where traffic intensity at each input varies and destination distribution is not uniform. Using this model, the effect of traffic imbalance on the maximum switch throughput is studied. It is seen that input imbalance has a more adverse effect on throughput than output imbalance. >
Instability mechanism for bright solitary-wave solutions to the cubic–quintic Ginzburg–Landau equation

We address the stability of solitary waves to the complex cubic–quintic Ginzburg–Landau equation near the nonlinear Schrodinger limit. It is shown that the adiabatic method does not capture all possible instability mechanisms. The solitary wave can destabilize owing to discrete eigenvalues that move out of the continuous spectrum upon adding nonintegrable perturbations to the nonlinear Schrodinger equation. If an eigenvalue does move out of the continuous spectrum, then we say that an edge bifurcation has occurred. We present a novel analytical technique that allows us to determine whether eigenvalues arise in such a fashion, and if they do, to locate them. Using this approach, we show that Hopf bifurcations can arise in the cubic–quintic Ginzburg–Landau equation.
Psychosocial recovery from a cardiac event: The influence of perceived control

Objective To determine the relationship between patients' feelings of control at baseline and psychosocial recovery 6 months after their cardiac event. Patients One hundred seventy-six patients who had had myocardial infarction, had undergone coronary artery bypass or both. Design In this longitudinal, comparative survey patients with high perceptions of control were compared with those with low perceptions of control at baseline to determine differences in psychosocial recovery 6 months later. Outcome Measures Psychosocial recovery was operationalized as anxiety, depression, and hostility (measured by Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist) and overall psychosocial adjustment to illness (measured by Psychosocial Adjustment to Illness Scale). Results Significant differences were seen in psychosocial recovery between patients with feelings of high control versus those with feelings of low control ( p =0.006). Patients with feelings of high control at baseline were less anxious ( p =0.002), less depressed ( p =0.001), less hostile ( p =0.02), and had better psychosocial adjustment ( p =0.009) at a 6-month follow-up than those with feelings of low control. Conclusion Feelings of perceived control are important for psychosocial recovery after a cardiac event.
Late Measures of Brain Injury After Neonatal Hypoxia–Ischemia in Mice

Background and Purpose— This work was undertaken to determine to what degree long-term neurofunctional outcome of neonatal hypoxic–ischemic (HI) brain injury in mice correlates with anatomical extent of cerebral damage assessed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and histopathology. Methods— On postnatal day 7, mice were subjected to HI. At 7 to 9 weeks after HI neurofunctional outcome was assessed by water-maze, rota-rod, and open-field test performance, followed by cerebral MRI and histopathology evaluation. Results— At 10 weeks after HI, MRI revealed ipsilateral brain atrophy alone or with porencephalic cyst formation and contralateral ventriculomegaly. Adult HI-affected mice, especially those that developed a porencephalic cyst, demonstrated significant neurofunctional deficit compared with age-matched naive mice. HI-affected mice with ipsilateral cerebral atrophy but without porencephaly demonstrated no or an intermediate level of neurofunctional deficit. Neurobehavioral assessment of mice subjected...
International Harvester in Russia: The Washington-St. Petersburg Connection?

Diplomatic historians have frequently cast American foreign policy from 1890 to 1915 as handmaiden to the expansion of American enterprise in foreign markets, but the relationship between government and business was neither one-sided nor simple. Government officials had their own agenda of objectives for which they wanted business support, sometimes even trying to use specific firms as their agent. Business itself did not speak with a single voice — policies which one firm might find beneficial, another found detrimental. Moreover, business was only one among various interest groups competing for attention and influence in the policymaking process. This case study of International Harvester's efforts to gain government assistance for the development of a Russian branch factory uncovers these intertwined threads of intersecting and conflicting objectives and interest groups, revealing the tangled complexity of business-government relations in this turbulent era.
Maturation of the Oocyte-Cumulus Cell Complex in Mice: Specificity of Epidermal Growth Factor Activity

Fully grown mammalian oocytes within the ovary remain arrested in prophase 1 of meiosis until the preovulatory gonadotropin surge, at which time the resumption of meiotic maturation is stimulated in a specific group of graafian follicles. This event is heralded by dissolution of the nucleus, a process termed germinal vesicle breakdown (GVB). The mechanism by which oocytes are induced to mature in vivo is poorly understood. Because GVB occurs spontaneously when meiotically competent oocytes are removed from the ovary and placed in culture, it appears that the ovary provides inhibitory input that maintains meiotic arrest. Indeed, various follicular fluid components have been shown to suppress the spontaneous maturation of oocytes (1,2).
A Rational Framework for Interpreting the Behavioral Effects of Atmospheric Ions

Air ionization is a normal phenomenon in the vicinity of electrical equipment. These atmospheric ions apparently have a significant effect upon man's performance. In general, the behavioral observations of past studies indicate that negative ions normalize subjects under some stress and positive ions have debilitating effects. The experimental studies done to date, however, have been deficient in instrumentation and control of interacting variables, and lacked a rational framework. This paper offers a first approximation of a rational framework for interpreting previous experiments and it is hoped it will generate a systematic series of experiments. The hypothesis offered is concerned with ion effects on adrenocortical secretion and a number of pertinent studies are considered from this standpoint.
Evidence of magma intrusion at Fourpeaked volcano, Alaska in 2006-2007 from a rapid-response seismic network and volcanic gases

article i nfo On September 17th, 2006, Fourpeaked volcano had a widely-observed phreatic eruption. At the time, Fourpeaked was an unmonitored volcano with no known Holocene activity, based on limited field work. Airborne gas sampling began within days of the eruption and a modest seismic network was installed in stages. Vigorous steaming continued for months; however, there were no further eruptions similar in scale to the September 17 event. This eruption was followed by several months of sustained seismicity punctuated by vigorous swarms, and SO2 emissions exceeding a thousand tons/day. Based on observations during and after the phreatic eruption, and assuming no recent pre-historical eruptive activity at Fourpeaked, we propose that the activity was caused by a minor injection of new magma at or near 5 km depth beneath Fourpeaked, which remained active over several months as this magma equilibrated into the crust. By early 2007 declining seismicity and SO2 emission signaled the end of unrest. Because the Fourpeaked seismic network was installed in stages and the seismicity was punctuated by discrete swarms, we use Fourpeaked to illustrate quantitatively the efficacy and shortcomings of rapid response seismic networks for tracking volcanic earthquakes.
Patient study of in vivo verification of beam delivery and range, using positron emission tomography and computed tomography imaging after proton therapy.

Purpose: To investigate the feasibility and value of positron emission tomography and computed tomography (PET/CT) for treatment verification after proton radiotherapy. Methods and Materials: This study included 9 patients with tumors in the cranial base, spine, orbit, and eye. Total doses of 1.8–3 GyE and 10 GyE (for an ocular melanoma) per fraction were delivered in 1 or 2 fields. Imaging was performed with a commercial PET/CT scanner for 30 min, starting within 20 min after treatment. The same treatment immobilization device was used during imaging for all but 2 patients. Measured PET/CT images were coregistered to the planning CT and compared with the corresponding PET expectation, obtained from CT-based Monte Carlo calculations complemented by functional information. For the ocular case, treatment position was approximately replicated, and spatial correlation was deduced from reference clips visible in both the planning radiographs and imaging CT. Here, the expected PET image was obtained from an analytical model. Results: Good spatial correlation and quantitative agreement within 30% were found between the measured and expected activity. For head-and-neck patients, the beam range could be verified with an accuracy of 1–2 mm in well-coregistered bony structures. Low spine and eye sites indicated the need for better fixation and coregistration methods. An analysis of activity decay revealed as tissue-effective half-lives of 800–1,150 s. Conclusions: This study demonstrates the feasibility of postradiation PET/CT for in vivo treatment verification. It also indicates some technological and methodological improvements needed for optimal clinical application.
New Small Molecular Weight Agents for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy

The development of new BNCT agents requires a priori that the compounds that are synthesized possess the capability of distinguishing between tumor, contiguous normal tissues and other tissues in the path of the neutron beam. This must be achieved not in trace amounts but in levels of the order of 20–50 micrograms of B-10 per gram of tumor or approximately 109 boron atoms per cell1. The question which has plagued the synthetic chemists involved is how can this be accomplished? Information derived from cancer chemotherapy has not been helpful per se since the basis for success or failure of such agents has been strictly a biological and not a concentration endpoint. In the case of radiopharmaceuticals used as cancer diagnostic agents, the chemical amounts are at such trace levels that one cannot extrapolate from this information to estimate what would be the concentration and tissue differentials expected where significant amounts of material are administrated as required for BNCT.
Abstinence-induced changes in plasma apolipoprotein levels of alcoholics

Abstract Plasma lipids, including total cholesterol, plasma triglycerides, high density lipoprotein cholesterol and several apolipoproteins were measured in eight otherwise healthy male alcoholics at the beginning and during a 4-week inpatient abstinence treatment program. The initial triglyceride and apolipoprotein A-II levels were higher and apolipoprotein B was lower in alcoholics than in 12 nondrinking control subjects. During the alcohol abstinence there was a parallel fall in the levels of high density lipoprotein cholesterol, and apolipoproteins A-I and A-II and a rise in apolipoprotein B. The changes in apolipoproteins C-III and E were less consistent. These findings suggest that, even in otherwise healthy alcoholics, elevated levels of apolipoproteins A-I and A-II on admission are ameliorated during abstinence of several weeks.
Temporal and spatial control of neural effects following intracerebral microinfusion

Spatial and temporal control of neural drug delivery is critical for many therapeutic applications and analyses of brain patterns and behavior. Specifically, for localized injections that serve to deliver drug or inactivate an isolated tissue region in order to observe changes in neural activity at that site, excess distribution into surrounding regions may confound analysis or adversely affect healthy tissue. Here, we develop a mass transport model that simulates a short period of initial infusion of inactivating drug, followed by a successive convective wash with artificial cerebrospinal fluid (aCSF), while tracking the regions of tissue that are above a certain threshold concentration of inactivating agent. We analyze the effect of parameters such as effective diffusion coefficient, extracellular volume fraction, and injectate concentration upon spatiotemporal distribution profiles. Further, we observe the effects of following the initial injection with a wash-out period with aCSF upon the breadth of the volume affected by the injectate. These simulations indicate that, by injecting small volumes of drug at low concentrations and following them with an aCSF flush, a well-delineated region of tissue can be altered for a controlled duration.
Differentiating Culture Samples Representing Coagulase-Negative Staphylococcal Bacteremia from Those Representing Contamination by Use of Time-to-Positivity and Quantitative Blood Culture Methods

Differentiating true coagulase-negative staphylococcal infection from contamination has an important impact on therapeutic implications. Time to positivity reflects bacterial density and may help in the interpretation of blood cultures. We retrospectively reviewed the records of 272 patients from June 2005 to January 2008 for clinical characteristics, microbiological data, and therapeutic outcome. Four groups were identified. The first three groups, as follows, included patients with one positive quantitative blood culture: the low-colony-count group ( 100 CFU/ml). The control group included patients with two positive quantitative blood cultures and definite coagulase-negative staphylococcal bloodstream infection. The high-colony-count group had shorter time to positivity (≤16 h) than did the low-colony-count group (P 20 h (P = 0.001), than did the moderate-colony-count group. Even though antibiotics were not provided in 71% of cases and central venous catheter was retained in 83%, the low-colony-count group had a favorable outcome, suggesting that 100. Similar to the positive control group, these patients required an active therapeutic approach. A time to positivity of >20 h indicates possible contamination with a CFU of <10, and active therapy may not be required.
Examining An Online Investment Research Service: The Motley Fool

The Motley Fool has been described as “the most popular Internet stock chat website” (Hirschey et al, Financial Analysts Journal, 1999). Per the company’s website, the mission of the privately-held multimedia financial services company is to educate, amuse, and enrich” in order “to build the world’s greatest investment community” ( www.fool.com/press/about.htm ). The Motley Fool notes that their products are designed to “help people take control of their financial lives”. While other internet financial services exist, this article examines the performance of the investment services/advice provided by The Motley Fool (TMF) because of its notoriety. We use investment publications, information posted on the company’s website, and academic research for our analysis. Our findings show that, despite the popularity of TMF, investors need to critically evaluate TMF financial recommendations. Considerable time and effort are required to effectively manage financial resources and, undoubtedly, there will be mistakes, even by financial advisors such as TMF. It is doubtful that performance that beats the market can be accomplished in 15 minutes per year as suggested by TMF.
Differences in vulnerability factors for depressive episodes in African American and European American adolescents.

Background Although intervention tailoring could lower the burden of adolescent depression, few studies have examined differences in vulnerability factors between African American and European American youth. Methods We determined and compared the prevalence, relative risk, and population-attributable risk (PAR) of baseline vulnerability factors predicting depressive episodes at 1-year follow-up in a nationally representative sample of African American and European American adolescents. Results The leading (highest PAR) vulnerability factors for African American adolescents were demographics, while the top vulnerability factors for European American youth were current depressed affect and low perceived family connectedness. Unique vulnerability factors for African American youth were (1) neither parent finished high school, (2) believing oneself unintelligent, and (3) running away from home. Avoidant problem solving, divorce, poor residential father relationship, sexual relationships, and delinquent behaviors did not predict depressive episodes in African American adolescents but did in European American. Low family and peer connectedness were important common vulnerability factors for both groups. Conclusions Differing patterns of vulnerability suggest that alternative strategies may be better suited to preventing depression among African American youth. A first step may lie in understanding what mediates the effect of low parental educational status on future depression risk.
MITRAL APPARATUS DYNAMIC CHANGES AFTER ACUTE MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION: COMPREHENSIVE QUANTITATIVE 3D ECHOCARDIOGRAPHIC ASSESSMENT

The mitral apparatus is a dynamic structure comprised of left ventricle (LV), mitral leaflet, annulus and papillary muscle that changes shape through the cardiac cycle. The impact of myocardial infarction (MI) on 3D dynamics of the mitral apparatus is unknown. We studied the relationship between LV
Math Anxiety, Need for Cognition, and Learning Strategies in Quantitative Communication Research Methods Courses

To understand student learning in undergraduate quantitative communication research methods course, this study examined relationships between perceptions of course topic difficulty, course topic understanding, and their relationship with students’ level of math anxiety, need for cognition, and learning strategies. A total of 196 participants voluntarily took part in this study. Results revealed that a higher level of math anxiety leads to a higher level of perceived learning difficulty for topics in the course and leads to a lower level of content understanding of the topics. For topics related to “Research Methods and Measurement,” a higher level of need for cognition results in a lower level of perceived learning difficulty and results in a higher level of content understanding. Use of critical thinking learning strategy has a significantly positive effect on perceived content understanding of topics related to “Research Methods and Measurement,” as does elaboration learning strategy on that of “Statist...
Evolution of Surface Roughness of a Strained Epitaxial Film Due to Interface Misfit Dislocations

The appearance of misfit dislocations at the interface between a strained layer and its substrate induces a nonuniform chemical potential along the surface of the layer. Under the assumption that the resulting chemical potential gradient will drive coherent mass rearrangement by surface diffusion, a model of evolution of surface shape is considered which leads to estimates of the surface roughness induced by this mechanism.
Uncertainty Analysis of the Niagara River Hexachlorobenzene Toxic Concentrations

This paper presents some preliminary results of the application of an analytical solution to a one-dimensional advective-dispersive-reactive equation accounting for input from Lake Erie and other point and non-point discharges as well as for transport and kinetic processes along the Niagara River. The objective of this paper is to compare the modeled toxic concentrations of Hexachlorobenzene (HCB) at the exit of the Niagara River, with the field measurements taken at the same location. This comparison is performed in terms of probabilistic analysis. The uncertainty of the model output is estimated from the uncertainty of the stochastic variables and parameters used in the model. The uncertainty analysis provides a better understanding of the influence the stochastic model components have on the overall final results. Estimation of this uncertainty is performed by means of the First-OrderSecond-Moment Method (FOSM). Risk and reliability analysis is introduced here as a tool to aid in defining waste discharge limits at the point and non-point source level that would enable fulfillment of the established water quality criteria. The results of the uncertainty analysis of the Niagara River HCB toxic loadings can be a valuable instrument for assessing the kinetic and transport processes along the River and offers a starting point for improvement on the traditional deterministic modeling work.
The Feds are Already Here: The Federal Role in Municipal Debt Finance

Should the federal government be involved in the regulation of municipal debt finance? The answer is arguably not. But this theoretical dispute is not the focus of this Article because, in fact, the federal government already regulates municipal debt finance extensively, generally much more extensively than the states regulate their municipalities’ use of debt. The primary source of federal regulation is the securities laws. Less well-known is that federal tax law also serves as an important constraint. This Article surveys and critically evaluates these federal laws, and comes to three tentative conclusions. First, the current federal oversight “system,” unplanned and ad hoc as it is, has been effective. Second, in part because the current system has never been thought of as a comprehensive system, there are low-hanging fruit in terms of making the system work better. To the extent the federal government does not put these reforms in place, states should. Third, even an optimally operating federal overlay does not absolve the states from more careful regulation of the financial affairs of their localities, particularly as to the use of debt. Above all, what the federal government does not - and ought not - do is provide localities with the expertise to use debt optimally; this is another area where the states should focus their reform efforts.
Liver Transplantation in 2016 An Update

Liver transplantation is a lifesaving intervention for patients with decompensated cirrhosis, certain malignancies, and genetic disorders associated with disordered liver metabolism. This commentary will discuss the indications for liver transplantation, the evaluation of liver transplant candidates, prioritization of candidates on the waiting list, and post-transplant care.
Oncomelania snail recurrence after schistosomiasis transmission interrupted in Chuxiong City

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the status of Oncomelania snail recurrence after schistosomiasis transmission interrupted in Chuxiong City, Yunnan Province, so as to provide the evidence for establishing the control strategy. METHODS: The data of snail surveillance since 1994 were collected and analyzed. RESULTS: The schistosomiasis endemic situation was stable, but the area with snails increased again seriously. In the years when the snail area was most (27.8 hm2 in 2004 and 28.0 hm2 in 2005) , it reached 12.9 times of the standard level. CONCLUSION: The Oncomelania snail recurrence is obvious, therefore, the snail severance still need to be strengthened.
The clinical use of epididymal aspiration cultures in the management of selected patients with acute epididymitis.

AbstractCulture and sensitivity testing of specimens obtained by percutaneous and intraoperative needle aspiration of the epididymis have been of clinical importance in choosing proper antimicrobial therapy in selected patients with acute non-venereal epididymitis. We have found aspiration cultures to be valuable in patients 1) with indwelling urethral catheters, 2) who fail to respond to initial antimicrobial therapy, 3) who have epididymitis found on surgical exploration for torsion of the testicle and 4) with recurrent epididymitis in whomthe etiologic agent is uncertain.
ENERGY DEPENDENCE OF PROTON-ALPHA BREMSSTRAHLUNG

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the energy dependence of proton–alpha (p–α) bremsstrahlung. Bremsstrahlung in proton–alpha scattering was measured for incident proton energies of 22 MeV and 45 MeV at the UCLA Cyclotron Laboratory. The chapter also describes an experiment in which the final state proton and alpha, but not the photon, is detected. A. M. Green derived theoretical p–α bremsstrahlung cross-sections in which off-energy shell proton–nucleus transition matrices are expanded about their on-shell values at the initial and final energies, the expansion parameter being the ratio of the average photon energy to twice the final and initial relative energies. The chapter illustrates the energy dependence of p–α bremsstrahlung at 70°–30°. A. M. Green, while discussing the Zurich data, attributed this to the presence of the lithium ground state resonance in the region of final state energies. The second order terms contain a part of the single scattering graphs and not just the re-scattering.
Nucleophile-Assisted Alkene Activation: Olefins Alone Are Often Incompetent

Emerging work on organocatalytic enantioselective halocyclizations naturally draws on conditions where both new bonds must be formed under delicate control, the reaction regime where the concerted nature of the AdE3 mechanism is of greatest importance. Without assistance, many simple alkene substrates react slowly or not at all with conventional halenium donors under synthetically relevant reaction conditions. As demonstrated earlier by Shilov, Cambie, Williams, Fahey, and others, alkenes can undergo a concerted AdE3-type reaction via nucleophile participation, which sets the configuration of the newly created stereocenters at both ends in one step. Herein, we explore the modulation of alkene reactivity and halocyclization rates by nucleophile proximity and basicity, through detailed analyses of starting material spectroscopy, addition stereopreferences, isotope effects, and nucleophile–alkene interactions, all obtained in a context directly relevant to synthesis reaction conditions. The findings build on...
Hybrid advanced control of flexible multipurpose continuous tablet manufacturing process via direct compaction

Abstract The direct compaction continuous pharmaceutical tablet manufacturing process considered in this study is highly interactive and has time delays for several process variables due to sensor placements, that indicate that a simple feedback regulatory control system (e.g. PI(D)) by itself may not be sufficient to achieve the tight process control as imposed by regulatory authorities. This process comprises of coupled dynamics involving slow and fast responses indicating the requirement of a hybrid control scheme such as an advanced hybrid MPC-PID control scheme. In this article, an efficient plant-wide hybrid MPC-PID control strategy for an integrated continuous pharmaceutical tablet manufacturing process via direct compaction has been designed in silico. The designed hybrid control system has been implemented in a first principle model-based flowsheet that was simulated in gPROMS (PSE). Results demonstrated enhanced performance of critical quality attributes (CQAs) under the hybrid control scheme compared to only PID or MPC control schemes thus illustrating the potential of hybrid control scheme in improving pharmaceutical manufacturing operations. A systematic methodology for design and implementation of hybrid MPC-PID control system has been also developed that can be employed for other processes.
Neurochemical Factors in Auditory Stimulation and Development of Susceptibility to Audiogenic Seizures

Susceptibility to audiogenic seizures has been observed in several higher animal species, including man. Several inbred strains of mice are known that show either resistance or susceptibility to convulsive seizures during the presentation of an auditory stimulus, and these differences have been attributed to specifically defined genetic backgrounds (1, 2). Mice of the C57BL/6 strain are known to be highly resistant to such seizures (1, 2). In recent studies, Henry (3) and Jumonville (4) reported, independently, that the genetically seizure-resistant C57BL/6 mice can be induced to develop high susceptibility by prior exposure to auditory stimulation during a sensitive period of postnatal development. Similar effects of priming by sound in inducing susceptibility to audiogenic seizures have also been found in other resistant strains of mice (5, 6, 7). It has now been made clear that susceptibility to audiogenic seizures is not only determined by genetic differences but that it is also inducible by prior auditory input, at least in some strains of mice. The findings on this phenomenon of acoustic priming from several behavioral studies and their neurological implications have been reviewed and discussed in the article by K. R. Henry and R. Bowman in this volume.
Commuting episodes in the United States: Their correlates with experiential wellbeing from the American Time Use Survey

Abstract For many Americans, commuting to and from work is a time-consuming activity that is often thought of as unpleasant. Some studies have also suggested that commuting’s unpleasantness increases with its duration. Three years of the American Time Use Survey’s Wellbeing Module provided an opportunity to extend our understanding of commuting in a representative sample of 37,088 individuals living in the United States who provided a detailed account of yesterday’s activities and rated the wellbeing associated with a portion of those activities. Commuting episodes were rated high in stress and tiredness and much lower in meaningfulness compared with other activities of the day. However, level of wellbeing was also determined by whether the commute was to work or to home, with tiredness low in the former case and very high in the latter. Longer commutes were weakly associated with increased stress and tiredness. These findings confirm that commuting is a low wellbeing experience and add to our understanding of this common activity.
First-Mover Advantage in the Internet-Enabled Market Environment

The past quarter century has been characterized by major and game changing market developments such as the evolution of the competitive market environment from a physical market environment (PME) to an Internet-enabled market environment (IME) that encompasses both the physical and electronic marketplaces, and the digitization of an increasing number of information products. Such developments raise questions concerning the extent to which extant perspectives on first-mover advantage developed in the context of the PME hold in the IME, generally, and for information products in digital form specifically. This chapter addresses this issue by developing a conceptual framework that focuses on selected sources of first-mover advantage delineated in the extant literature and advancing two sets of propositions. The first set of propositions focus on sources of first-mover advantage (network externalities, consumers’ non-contractual switching costs, technological leadership and innovations, consumers’ information asymmetry and consumption experience asymmetry, spatial resource position and installed capacity) that can be expected to have a greater versus lower effect in the IME relative to the PME. The second set of propositions focus on the moderating effect of product form (information products in digital form versus information products in analog form and non-information products).
The UDP-glucuronosyltransferases and cancer susceptibility

CN04-01 The UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs) are a superfamily of enzymes that detoxify a diverse range of compounds by their conjugation to glucuronic acid in a reaction with a hydrophilic co-substrate, UDP-glucuronic acid (UDPGA). The attached sugar alters the biological properties of the compound and enhances its excretion in the urine or bile, usually converting substrates into less pharmacologically active, more water soluble products and facilitating their removal from the body via the urine or bile. In addition to a variety of endogenous compounds like steroids and bilirubin, the UGTs are highly active against a variety of xenobiotic substrates including many pharmacologic agents and drugs as well as carcinogens. Glucuronidation is a major mode of metabolism for an important group of carcinogens in tobacco and tobacco smoke, the tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs), and the structurally-related agents, nicotine and its metabolite cotinine. This presentation will focus on recent studies examining the UGTs involved in the N-glucuronidation of TSNAs, nicotine and cotinine, and the identification of a UGT2B10 haplotype that is associated with significantly decreased N-glucuronidation capacity in human liver microsomes. Utilizing microsomes from HEK293 cells over-expressing individual UGTs, only UGTs 1A4 and 2B10 exhibited N-glucuronidating activity against the TSNAs 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanol (NNAL), the major procarcinogenic metabolite of 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK), N′-nitrosonornicotine, N′-nitrosoanabasine and N′-nitrosoanatabine. The KMs for UGT2B10 were 6-22-fold lower than those of UGT1A4 against these TSNAs, and were similar to those observed for human liver microsomes (HLM). The overall activity of UGT2B10 was 3-27-fold higher than UGT1A4 against these TSNAs as determined by Vmax/KM after normalization by levels of UGT2B10 versus UGT1A4 mRNA. Similarly, UGT2B10 exhibited high N-glucuronidation activity against both nicotine and cotinine with apparent KMs that were 37- and 3-fold lower than that observed for UGT1A4 against nicotine and cotinine, respectively. The KM of microsomes from UGT2B10-overexpressing cells for nicotine and cotinine was similar to that observed for human liver microsomes (HLM) against both substrates. Since real-time PCR analysis demonstrated that UGT2B10 was expressed at a level that, on average, was 26% higher than that observed for UGT1A4 in a screening of normal liver tissue specimens from 20 individual subjects, these data suggested that UGT2B10 is likely the most active UGT isoform in human liver for the N-glucuronidation of TSNAs. To study the potential association between UGT2B10 genotypes and NNAL-N-glucuronidation activity in HLM, four common UGT2B10 haplotypes (termed A through D) were identified by genotyping three tagSNPs within the UGT2B10 locus. Haplotype C was found to be significantly (P
On Transform Coding Tools Under Development For VP10

Google started the WebM Project in 2010 to develop open source, royaltyfree video codecs designed specifically for media on the Web. The second generation codec released by the WebM project, VP9, is currently served by YouTube, and enjoys billions of views per day. Realizing the need for even greater compression efficiency to cope with the growing demand for video on the web, the WebM team embarked on an ambitious project to develop a next edition codec, VP10, that achieves at least a generational improvement in coding efficiency over VP9. Starting from VP9, a set of new experimental coding tools have already been added to VP10 to achieve decent coding gains. Subsequently, Google joined a consortium of major tech companies called the Alliance for Open Media to jointly develop a new codec AV1. As a result, the VP10 effort is largely expected to merge with AV1. In this paper, we focus primarily on new tools in VP10 that improve coding of the prediction residue using transform coding techniques. Specifically, we describe tools that increase the flexibility of available transforms, allowing the codec to handle a more diverse range or residue structures. Results are presented on a standard test set.
Mitigation Techniques against Ionospheric Scintillation on UHF Satellite Links

The effects of ionospheric scintillation on the performance of a UHF (240 MHz) satellite communications link are deduced from experimental data. Scintillation data from the polar cap region and the auroral oval region taken during the 1980-81 period are presented. The performance of the Air Force Satellite Communications (AFSATCOM) digital data satellite link is described for two high latitude sites. The AFSATCOM system uses noncoherent binary frequency shift keying (FSK) modulation at 75 b/s and matched filter detection. Performance is described in terms of bit-error-rate (BER), character-error-rate (CER), and message-error-rate (MER). The recorded bit stream of the experimental data was used as the basis for the evaluation of several scintillation fading mitigation techniques. These techniques, which do not involve coding and interleaving, are shown to improve link performance significantly for the mitigated messages. The penalty paid in reduced channel throughput rate is moderate.
Error Probability of a Noncoherent MFSK/FH Receiver in the Presence of Interference and Gaussian Noise

The error probability of a noncoherent MFSK/FH receiver in the presence of interference and thermal Gaussian noise is presented. The interference is assumed to be either partial-band or full-band noise-like or CW (Continuous-Wave) tones, and it hits randomly a fixed number of matched filter channels of the receiver. An expression for error probability for the noise-like interference is obtained; that for CW interference involves some untractable integrals which are evaluated by numerical schemes, called modified Hermite Gaussian quadrature formulas. It is found that the schemes are not only highly effective but also accurate. Numerical examples for error probabilities and receiver degradation are given as a function of interference-to-signal power and signal-to-noise spectral density (Eb/No) ratios.
A Deeper Sense of Place: Stories and Journeys of Collaboration in Indigenous Research

Jay T. Johnson and Soren C. Larsen, eds. Corvallis, OR: Oregon State University Press, 2013. 248 pp., photos, illustrations, index. $22.95 paper (ISBN 978-0-87071-722-2).How can one be a geographer...