cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Rappin on the copula coffin: Theoretical and methodological issues in the analysis of copula variation in african-american vernacular english

We explore two unresolved methodological issues in the study of copula variation in African-American Vernacular English, assessing their quantitative and theoretical consequences via multiple variable rule analyses of data from East Palo Alto, California. The first is whether is- contraction and deletion should be considered separately from that of are. We conclude that it should not, because the quantitative conditioning is almost identical for the two forms, and a combined analysis offers analytical advantages. The second issue is whether the alternative methods that previous researchers have used to compute the incidence of "contraction" or "deletion" ("Labov Contraction and Deletion," "Straight Contraction and Deletion," "Romaine Contraction") fundamentally affect the results. We conclude that they do, especially for contraction. We also discuss implications of our analysis for two related issues: the ordering of contraction and deletion in the grammar, and the presence of age-grading or change in progress in East Palo Alto. In this article, we reopen the analysis of one of the oldest and most frequently examined variables in the paradigm of quantitative sociolinguistics: variation between full, contracted, and zero forms of inflected copula and auxiliary be (henceforth "the copula") in African-American Vernacular English (AAVE), as in "Sue is the leader," "She's happy," "He 0 talkin." For convenience, we use the term copula from this point on in its broad sense, to
Housing Policy Impacts on Ethnic Segregation Patterns: Evidence from Dusseldorf, West Germany

Ethnic residential segregation has been of long-standing concern in cities throughout the world. Policy-makers are faced with decisions that potentially have a profound impact on these segregative ...
Recurrent Diseases in the Kidney Transplant

Virtually all diseases affecting the native kidney recur in the kidney transplant with the exception of Alport syndrome, polycystic kidney disease, hypertension, chronic pyelonephritis, and chronic interstitial nephritis. Fortunately, in the majority of patients, recurrence of the original disease has minimal clinical impact, with only approximately 5% of all graft loss occurring as a result of recurrent disease. The primary renal diseases that commonly recur include membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis type II, IgA nephropathy, and focal and segmental glomerular sclerosis. The most common systemic disease that recurs is diabetic nephropathy. Living-related transplantation should be used with caution in patients with the hemolytic uremic syndrome, recurrent focal and segmental glomerular sclerosis, and membranous glomerulonephritis. Fabry disease and primary hyperoxaluria type I are no longer absolute contraindications to kidney transplantation.
Characteristics and role in outcome prediction of continuous EEG after status epilepticus: A prospective observational cohort.

Status epilepticus (SE) is a potentially fatal condition requiring comprehensive assessment and rapid treatment.1 Continuous electroencephalography (cEEG) has an important role in this setting for seizure detection and treatment guidance2 and is recommended for SE management.3 The role of continuous or repeated routine electroencephalography (EEG) in outcome prediction is less clearly defined,4 and with inconsistent findings.5,6 Moreover, most available data regarding EEG patterns and clinical outcome association were published before the introduction of the 2012 American Clinical Neurophysiology Society’s (ACNS) Standardized Critical Care EEG Terminology.7 This terminology clearly defines rhythmic and periodic patterns (RPPs) and also EEG background features. Recently a high interrater agreement has been reported using this terminology.8 Although recent studies have examined some EEG pattern and seizures using this terminology,9 the relationship between EEG patterns categorized by this terminology and SE outcome has not been evaluated. Herein, we describe EEG patterns recorded during the first 24 h of cEEG in a prospectively collected cohort of adult patients with SE and their association with outcome. Key Points Rhythmic or periodic patterns (RPPs) on continuous electroencephalography (cEEG) are present in more than half the patients after status epilepticus. Sixty-eight percent of cEEG recordings show definite seizures, with half of seizures being purely electrographic. EEG background provides independent information regarding outcome after adjustment for relevant clinical findings, as compared to RPPs or seizures. The absence of a posterior dominant rhythm is associated with a greater likelihood of mortality Normal stage II sleep patterns are associated with the likelihood of complete recovery.
Calculation of the strong coupling, αs, from considerations of virtual synchrotron radiation resulting in hadron pair emission

Based upon a recently published work in which a model for hadron pair production via virtual synchrotron radiation in uniform magnetic fields was introduced, an ansatz for calculatingα s is presented. The resulting function is unique within the above-mentioned context. Along with a scheme introduced in which vector mesons arise by virtue of quark spin-flip with accompanying gluon emission, theα s function is used to successfully explain the observed hadronic widths of the ρ,φ, andJ mesons. In addition the hadronic and leptonic widths of the upsilon meson are calculated. Based upon gathered upsilon data, a charge on theb quark of (2e/3) is found to be consistent with the above model. Finally, the derivedα s function is compared with results of gauge-theoretical calculations.
A Monte Carlo comparison of the Type I and Type II error rates of tests of multivariate normality

Many multivariate statistical methods call upon the assumption of multivariate normality (MVN). However, many researchers fail to test this assumption. This omission could be due to either ignorance of the existence of tests of MVN or confusion about which test to use. Although at least 50 tests of MVN exist, relatively little is known about the power of these procedures. The purpose of this study was to examine the power of 13 promising tests of MVN with a Monte Carlo study. Ten thousand data sets were generated from several multivariate distributions. The test statistic for each procedure was calculated and compared with the appropriate critical value. The number of rejections of the null hypothesis of MVN was tabled for each situation. No single test was found to be the most powerful in all situations. The use of the Henze–Zirkler test is recommended as a formal test of MVN. Supplementary procedures such as Mardia's skewness and kurtosis measures and the chi-square plot are also recommended for diagnos...
Therapeutic Hypothermia: Implications for Acute Care Practitioners

The use of therapeutic hypothermia (TH) in acute care medicine has evolved over the past 2 centuries, and its use over the past decade has increased in emergency departments, intensive care units, and operating rooms. Therapeutic hypothermia has several potential clinical applications based on its putative mechanisms of action. It appears to improve oxygen supply to ischemic areas of the brain and decreases intracranial pressure. Mild-to-moderate TH (33 degrees C +/- 1 degrees C) after resuscitation from cardiac arrest is neuroprotective, and also acts on the cardiovascular system with evidence of a decrease in heart rate and increase in systemic vascular resistance. Therapeutic hypothermia decreases cardiac output by 7% for each 1 degrees C decrease in core body temperature, but maintains the stroke volume and the mean arterial pressure. Despite a growing amount of data, this life-saving technique is underutilized in hospitals worldwide. The purpose of this comprehensive review is to show the evolution and the clinical use of TH as it pertains to acute care practitioners.
The Effect of Continuous Infusion Loop Diuretics in Patients With Acute Decompensated Heart Failure With Hypoalbuminemia

Purpose: Hypoalbuminemia is believed to decrease diuretic effectiveness and contribute to diuretic resistance that is observed in patients with nephrotic syndrome. Hypoalbuminemia is also seen in patients with acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF). However, the role of hypoalbuminemia on the effectiveness of continuous infusion diuretics in patients with ADHF is not known.Methods: To evaluate hypoalbuminemia (albumin ≤3 g/dL) and diuretic effectiveness, we performed a retrospective study in 162 patients admitted to a tertiary care center for treatment of ADHF over a 3-year period. All patients received continuous infusion diuretic for at least a 2-day time period.Results: A total of 33 patients were determined to have hypoalbuminemia. Average net urine output over a 2-day study period was similar between patients with and without hypoalbuminemia (−1462 ± 1734 vs −1233 ± 1560 mL, P = .46, respectively). In addition, diuretic doses (furosemide equivalent/24 hours) were similar between the 2 groups (788 ±...
The skin: a mirror to the gut

This review discusses the diseases with involvement of both skin and gut. GI manifestations of vesicobullous disorders and systemic diseases and syndromes involving skin and gut, dermatologic manifestations of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), polyposis syndromes, and GI malignancies have been discussed. Diagnostic and treatment approaches towards these disorders are summarized. Interaction of the skin and gut has always been an area of inquisitiveness. Gastrointestinal (GI) tract can be involved in dermatological disorders or GI diseases can have a dermatological manifestation.
Cloud resolving modeling of the ARM summer 1997 IOP: Model formulation, results, uncertainties, and sensitivities

Abstract A new three-dimensional cloud resolving model (CRM) has been developed to study the statistical properties of cumulus convection. The model was applied to simulate a 28-day evolution of clouds over the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program (ARM) Southern Great Plains site during the summer 1997 Intensive Observation Period. The model was forced by the large-scale advective tendencies and surface fluxes derived from the observations. The sensitivity of the results to the domain dimensionality and size, horizontal grid resolution, and parameterization of microphysics has been tested. In addition, the sensitivity to perturbed initial conditions has also been tested using a 20-member ensemble of runs. The model captures rather well the observed temporal evolution of the precipitable water and precipitation rate, although it severely underestimates the shaded cloud fraction possibly because of an inability to account for the lateral advection of clouds over the ARM site. The ensemble runs reveal t...
In vitro fracture toughness of human dentin.

The in vitro fracture toughness of human dentin has been reported to be of the order of 3 MPa (square root)m. This result, however, is based on a single study for a single orientation, and furthermore involves notched, rather than fatigue precracked, test samples. The present study seeks to obtain an improved, lower-bound, value of the toughness, and to show that previously reported values may be erroneously high because of the absence of a sharp crack as the stress concentrator. Specifically, the average measured critical stress intensity, K(c), for the onset of unstable fracture along an orientation perpendicular to the long axis of the tubules in dentin is found to be 1.8 MPa (square root)m in simulated body fluid (Hanks' balanced salt solution), when tested in a three-point bending specimen containing a (nominally) atomically sharp precrack generated during prior fatigue cycling. This is to be compared with a value of 2.7 MPa (square root)m measured under identical experimental conditions except that the bend specimen contained a sharp machined notch (of root radius 30-50 microm). The effect of acuity of the precrack on the fracture toughness of human dentin is discussed in the context of these data.
Striking the right balance: health workforce retention in remote and rural areas

Ensuring universal access to skilled, mo-tivated and supported health workers, especially in remote and rural communi-ties, is a necessary condition for realizing the human right to health, a matter of social justice. It is also at the core of each and every global health goal – the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals, primary health care, immunization, and control of HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuber-culosis. For none of these goals is attainable if significant population groups are denied access to health workers.Despite recent increased rhetoric, human resources remain a sorely neglected and grossly under-financed engine for health improvement. That is why 1500 global health leaders issued the Kampala Declaration in 2008: “to assure adequate incentives and an enabling and safe envi-ronment for effective retention and equi-table distribution of the health workforce”.
Widespread alternative and aberrant splicing revealed by lariat sequencing

Alternative splicing is an important and ancient feature of eukaryotic gene structure, the existence of which has likely facilitated eukaryotic proteome expansions. Here, we have used intron lariat sequencing to generate a comprehensive profile of splicing events in Schizosaccharomyces pombe, amongst the simplest organisms that possess mammalian-like splice site degeneracy. We reveal an unprecedented level of alternative splicing, including alternative splice site selection for over half of all annotated introns, hundreds of novel exon-skipping events, and thousands of novel introns. Moreover, the frequency of these events is far higher than previous estimates, with alternative splice sites on average activated at ∼3% the rate of canonical sites. Although a subset of alternative sites are conserved in related species, implying functional potential, the majority are not detectably conserved. Interestingly, the rate of aberrant splicing is inversely related to expression level, with lowly expressed genes more prone to erroneous splicing. Although we validate many events with RNAseq, the proportion of alternative splicing discovered with lariat sequencing is far greater, a difference we attribute to preferential decay of aberrantly spliced transcripts. Together, these data suggest the spliceosome possesses far lower fidelity than previously appreciated, highlighting the potential contributions of alternative splicing in generating novel gene structures.
Mitigating the Impact of Component Variations on Narrow-Band Low Noise Amplifiers for System-on-Chip Applications

Given the increasing demand for integrated wireless systems in system-on-chip technology, narrow-band low noise amplifier (LNA) designs must be robust against variations in device parameters and passive component values to improve manufacturing yield for high volume applications. In this paper, we develop two design techniques for reducing the impact of component variations on narrow-band LNA performance. The results demonstrate that by increasing the bandwidth of the narrow-band LNA and applying more conservative design constraints, we can mitigate the reliability implications of process variations on impedance matching, gain, and power consumption to significantly increase yield in integrated wireless applications.
Host Factors Associated With Protection Against Rotavirus Disease: The Skies Are Clearing

Over the past several years, a number of studies have clarified aspects of rotavirus immunology and vaccinology previously considered controversial. In this review, studies that address the following questions will be summarized: Which host factors are responsible for recovery from acute rotavirus infection? Are the host factors responsible for recovery from acute infection the same as those necessary for prevention of infection? What is the relative importance of the nature of the inoculum (e.g., homologous or heterologous host virus and live or inactivated virus), route of inoculation, or virus serotype in vaccine development? What is the immunologic basis by which infection with 1 viral serotype protects against challenge with another serotype (heterotypic protection)?
A DSP-based technique for high-speed A/D conversion to generate coherently sampled sequences

This paper presents a digital signal processor (DSP) based device that will digitize a high speed analog signal. The device takes advantage of a new undersampling strategy which employs two clocks, rather than employing a traditional swept delay generator. The random access memory of the DSP and the signal processing capabilities are employed so that the signal is sampled over an integer number of cycles, thus insuring coherency in the sampled data set. Coherency is important property that eliminates additional unwanted discontinuities in a data set which introduces unwanted artifacts in the signal's spectral content. An illustration of the new device is presented in the paper, in addition to laboratory measurements. The results also indicate that the new technique is competitive with solutions that exist in the current literature.
Nutrient overload, insulin resistance, and ribosomal protein S6 kinase 1, S6K1

Nutrient overload leads to obesity, insulin resistance, and often type 2 diabetes. Whereas increased fat intake is commonly cited as the major factor in diet-induced dysmetabolic states, increased protein consumption also contributes, through elevated circulating amino acids. Recent studies have revealed that ribosomal protein S6 kinase 1, S6K1, an effector of mTOR, is sensitive to both insulin and nutrients, including amino acids. Although S6K1 is an effector of growth, recent reports show that amino acids also negatively affect insulin signaling through mTOR/S6K1 phosphorylation of IRS1. Moreover, rather than signaling through the class 1 PI3K pathway, amino acids appear to mediate mTOR activation through class 3 PI3K, or hVps34. Consistent with this, infusion of amino acids into humans leads to S6K1 activation, inhibition of insulin-induced class 1 PI3K activation, and insulin resistance. Thus, S6K1 may mediate deleterious effects, like insulin resistance, and potentially type 2 diabetes in the face of nutrient excess.
Quantifying the tradeoff between precaution and yield in fishery reference points

A method using Monte Carlo simulations for estimating fishery reference points that accounts for parameter uncertainty is presented. Uncertainties in the input parameters of yield-per-recruit and stock-recruit analyses are propagated to estimate uncertainty in reference points such as FMSY. These uncertainties are used to evaluate the tradeoffs between the risks of overfishing and stock collapse, and the cost of reduced expected yield due to setting fishing mortality below FMSY. At fishing mortalities near FMSY, reduction in fishing mortality substantially decreases the probability of overfishing and stock collapse in exchange for slightly reduced expected yield. At lower fishing mortality rates, the marginal benefit (in terms of lessened risk of overfishing and stock collapse) from further reductions in fishing mortality is less, and the cost in forgone yield is greater. Less resilient “low steepness” stocks require additional precaution due to the risk of complete population collapse. Marine protected areas can also reduce risks of collapse, but at a higher cost in terms of expected yield than effort reduction. Implementation uncertainty (i.e. uncertainty in achieving a fishing mortality target) increases the risk of overfishing as well the loss of yield due to precaution, except at fishing mortalities near or above FMSY.
Interpretable symbolic small-signal characterization of large analog circuits using determinant decision diagrams

A new approach is proposed to generate interpretable symbolic expressions of small-signal characteristics for large analog circuits. The approach is based on a complete, exact, yet compact representation of symbolic expressions via determinant decision diagrams (DDDs). We show that two key tasks of generating interpretable symbolic expressions-term de-cancellation and term simplification-can be performed in linear time in terms of the number of DDD vertices. With the number of DDD vertices many-orders-of-magnitude less than the number of product terms, the proposed approach has been shown to be much more efficient than other start-of-the-art approaches.
Twenty Counseling Maxims

Beginning counselors typically experience difficulty in transitioning from classroom-based counseling skills and theory training to their initial clinical experience. Current training models fail to provide a conceptual bridge of practical value to assist in this transition. Three organizing processes, illustrated through 20 counseling maxims, were developed for skills-trained novice counselors to provide a conceptual foundation for their clinical decision making.
CAUTION: NICHE CONSTRUCTION AHEAD1

This fall, I watched as my neighbors waged war on moles (to be fair, it was the wife's mother and aunt, who became known as the "mole patrol"). It seems the moles were suspected as weapons-of-grass-destruction and were deemed to be dangerous to the way of life of free lawns everywhere. The mole patrol roamed the lawn each evening, pouring all manner of organic and inorganic chemical warfare into the burrows of the unsuspecting moles, setting up conventional implements of physical torture in mole runs, and finally chasing moving tunnels with sharp sticks. To my knowledge, no single mole succumbed to this police action, though I did notice that some crossed borders into a more protective sovereignty and dug up my yard. Not really caring about some dirt mounds in my yard, I found myself instead thinking about the selective forces faced by suburban moles and how their actions modified the microhabitat in which they lived. I did not realize it then, but the moles and the mole patrol they brought down upon themselves through their burrowing behavior are examples of niche construction, wherein organisms modify their surroundings and in doing so, alter patterns of selection. The extended phenotype of the moles-the molehills they created-altered the action of potential predators (the mole patrol). In so doing, the moles indirectly affected the soil environment by causing a variety of chemical cocktails to be poured into the ground. Finally, they relocated to a new and less-challenging selective environment by moving into my yard. As defined by Odling-Smee, Laland, and Feldman, niche construction occurs "when an organism modifies the featurefactor relationship between itself and its environment by actively changing one or more of the factors in its environment" (p. 41). The authors cast a broad net that encompasses such a diversity of biological phenomena that it is hard to imagine a subdiscipline of biology that would not be touched by this concept. As summarized in a lengthy chapter on the evidence for niche construction, virtually all beings, live or dead, fit this broad criterion. Any living organism alters its environment, whether it be as simple and passive as a plant altering the wavelengths of light experienced by itself and others through reflection off of and transmission through its leaves, or as dramatic as the pond habitat created by beavers when they dam a stream. A predator that moves to a new foraging locality when food becomes scarce constructs its niche by relocating and thereby changing the selection it experiences. The mere act of respiration alters the mixture of gases experienced by other organisms in the community. Ironically,
Fiduciary Financial Advisers and the Incoherence of a 'High-Quality Low-Fee' Safe Harbor

Americans now hold trillions of dollars in individual retirement savings accounts. Concerned about conflicts of interest among financial advisers who provide advice to retirement savers, the Department of Labor has proposed imposing fiduciary status and a "best interest" standard on such advisers. To ameliorate the resulting compliance costs, the DOL has also raised the possibility of a safe harbor for certain "high-quality low-fee investments." However, the notion of a "high-quality" investment is in irreconcilable tension with the highly individualized assessment of risk and return that is required by modern portfolio theory, the well-accepted concept from financial economics that has been codified in the "prudent investor rule" as the standard of care for fiduciary investment. This policy incoherence is worrisome because of the potential for the safe harbor to swallow the best interest standard.
Predicting the Use of Learner-Centered Instructional Methods by Undergraduate Social Work Faculty

In this study we used Motivational Systems Theory (MST) to examine how use of learner- centered instructional methods varied based on faculty members’ teaching goals, beliefs about their teaching abilities, and beliefs about the perceived adequacy of teaching resources, after controlling for experience and demographic factors. The population for this study was undergraduate social work educators with a minimum of 1 year of undergraduate social work education teaching experience. Findings suggest that MST factors influence the use of learner- centered teaching methods. Specifically, teaching goals were significant predictors of the use of learner- centered methods.
Development of an Optimization Procedure for Magnetron-Sputtered Thin Films to Facilitate Combinatorial Materials Research

High-throughput experimentation (HTE) is an experimental paradigm that has shown potential for accelerating the evaluation of material systems by synthesizing a sample with a variation of material parameters and using parallel or fast serial characterization. Magnetron sputtering is one of the most widely used thin-film synthesis techniques in the HTE field. One major bottleneck for HTE magnetron sputtering is identifying appropriate sputtering conditions. Here, a Nelder–Mead optimization procedure with soft constraints is used to determine sputtering conditions of a desired deposition rate distribution using a continuum based sputter model. The optimization procedure uses a multiple stage multistart method to overcome issues with initialization and multiple minima. The procedure was validated against a simulated thin film. The method was able to determine a gun power, gun tilt, and substrate height within 1% of the simulation sputtering conditions in 29.8 s. This result is 3–4 orders of magnitude faster ...
Transformation of indium nanoparticles to β-indium sulfide: digestive ripening and visible light-induced photocatalytic properties.

We report the transformation of polydispersed dodecanethiol stabilized indium nanoparticles, obtained from bulk indium shot by evaporation/condensation solvated metal atom dispersion (SMAD) technique, into highly monodispersed partially alkyl thiolate-capped β-indiumsulfide (In2S3) by a postpreparative digestive ripening in high boiling point t-butyltoluene (190 °C) solvent. Upon digestive ripening, the as-prepared polydispersed black indium nanoparticles showed a characteristic color transition from black to cream, pale yellow, yellow, and finally to brown, indicating the transformation of the indium metal nanoparticles into intermediates composed of indium thiolates, sulfides, and polysulfides, and finally into the product In2S3 nanoparticles whose surfaces are partially capped with thiolates. The transformed product (In2S3) was characterized with UV–vis, XRD, EDX, SEM, XPS, and TEM. From XRD and TEM measurements, the average size of the transformed In2S3 nanoparticles is 5 nm. The optical absorbance of...
Heuristic Design of Reaction/Separation Processes with Two Recycles

A recent paper presented a heuristic approach to quickly estimate the optimum tradeoff between reactor size and recycle flow rate during the preliminary conceptual process design of a reaction/separation process. The basic idea is to find the minimum recycle flow rate by designing the process to meet some specified conversion/yield/selectivity criterion, using a very large reactor. A heuristic of setting the actual recycle flow rate equal to 1.2 times the minimum then is used to obtain an approximate optimum design. The process studied had relative volatilities such that only one recycle stream was needed. The purpose of this paper is to extend this work to the case where two recycle streams are required. There is a reactor and three distillation columns with two recycle streams. The desired product C is produced via the reaction A + B → C. An undesired product D is also produced. Two alternative reactions (A + C → D or A + B → D) mean that there is a large recycle of either B or A to achieve high selecti...
Benchmarking of five commercial deformable image registration algorithms for head and neck patients

Benchmarking is a process in which standardized tests are used to assess system performance. The data produced in the process are important for comparative purposes, particularly when considering the implementation and quality assurance of DIR algorithms. In this work, five commercial DIR algorithms (MIM, Velocity, RayStation, Pinnacle, and Eclipse) were benchmarked using a set of 10 virtual phantoms. The phantoms were previously developed based on CT data collected from real head and neck patients. Each phantom includes a start of treatment CT dataset, an end of treatment CT dataset, and the ground-truth deformation vector field (DVF) which links them together. These virtual phantoms were imported into the commercial systems and registered through a deformable process. The resulting DVFs were compared to the ground-truth DVF to determine the target registration error (TRE) at every voxel within the image set. Real treatment plans were also recalculated on each end of treatment CT dataset and the dose transferred according to both the ground-truth and test DVFs. Dosimetric changes were assessed, and TRE was correlated with changes in the DVH of individual structures. In the first part of the study, results show mean TRE on the order of 0.5 mm to 3 mm for all phan-toms and ROIs. In certain instances, however, misregistrations were encountered which produced mean and max errors up to 6.8 mm and 22 mm, respectively. In the second part of the study, dosimetric error was found to be strongly correlated with TRE in the brainstem, but weakly correlated with TRE in the spinal cord. Several interesting cases were assessed which highlight the interplay between the direction and magnitude of TRE and the dose distribution, including the slope of dosimetric gradients and the distance to critical structures. This information can be used to help clinicians better implement and test their algorithms, and also understand the strengths and weaknesses of a dose adaptive approach.
CSF-1 and mouse preimplantation development in vitro

The effects of macrophage colony stimulating factor on the development of the zygote to the blastocyst stage of an outbred strain of mouse have been studied in KSOM, an improved medium that supports a high rate of in vitro development. Macrophage colony stimulating factor accelerates the formation of the blastocyst cavity by day 4 (96 hours post-hCG). It also increases overall embryonic cell number through a differential increase in the number of trophoblast cells, with no significant effect on the number of inner cell mass cells. By day 5 of culture (120 hours post-hCG), colony stimulating factor-treated embryos have about 20 more trophoblast cells than control embryos, an increase of about 30 percent of the total number of cells in a control blastocyst. The maximum response of embryos was obtained at a concentration around 540 U ml-1 colony stimulating factor (identical to 918 Stanley units ml-1), and the cytokine can produce the same effects even if it is present in the medium for only part of the culture period. This in vitro stimulation of preimplantation development with macrophage colony stimulating factor is compatible with continued normal fetal development in vivo.
Problems and Solutions in Surgical Treatment of 100 Consecutive Ureteral Duplications in Children

AbstractSurgical management of 100 children with abnormalities related to ureteral duplication is reviewed. In general, separation of the distal portions of the double ureters is avoided, at least during the initial procedure, because this maneuver represents a significant risk to the blood supply and hence to the integrity of the remaining ipsilateral ureter. Complete ureteral duplication with vesicoureteral reflux is best managed initially by reimplantation of the duplex unit. On the other hand, upper segment heminephrectomy with subtotal ureterectomy is the initial treatment of choice for ureters ending ectopically with or without ureterocele.
Catalytic Carbocation Generation Enabled by the Mesolytic Cleavage of Alkoxyamine Radical Cations

A new catalytic method is described to access carbocation intermediates via the mesolytic cleavage of alkoxyamine radical cations. In this process, electron transfer between an excited state oxidant and a TEMPO-derived alkoxyamine substrate gives rise to a radical cation with a remarkably weak C-O bond. Spontaneous scission results in the formation of the stable nitroxyl radical TEMPO(.) as well as a reactive carbocation intermediate that can be intercepted by a wide range of nucleophiles. Notably, this process occurs under neutral conditions and at comparatively mild potentials, enabling catalytic cation generation in the presence of both acid sensitive and easily oxidized nucleophilic partners.
Police Responses to Runaway and Homeless Youth

This chapter analyzes the diverse strategies that the police use in dealing with street youth. In this chapter, the ways in which the police come into contact with runaway and homeless youth are evaluated. Emphasis is placed on the police’s use of discretion in responding to youth living on the streets. This chapter presents data on arrest rates of street youth and the conditions that may affect whether the police arrest these young people. In this chapter, various conditions such as the police’s danger assessment, demeanor of youth, co-occurring status offenses and crimes, school problems, and family issues are discussed. In this chapter, the obstacles that law enforcement personnel face in responding effectively to runaway and homeless youth are discussed. For example, law enforcement professionals may be limited in their police activities by the extensive amount of time and effort involved in dealing with runaway young people.
Platelets-induced stiffening and strengthening of ice-templated highly porous alumina scaffolds

Abstract This paper describes the effects of the grain-level anisotropy on the microstructure and uniaxial compressive response of the ice-templated alumina scaffolds. Highly porous (~ 80 vol.%) scaffolds were fabricated from alumina powders of equiaxed morphology as well as from powder mixtures containing equiaxed and small amount of platelet particles. Presence of the platelets (diameter 8 μm and thickness 400 nm) led to the formation of the interlamellae bridges, and significantly enhanced the stiffness and compressive strength of the scaffolds. Measured improvement of the mechanical response is rationalized based on the stiffening and strengthening effects exhibited by the intralamella and interlamella platelets.
Effect of microstructure and alloy doping on electromigration in Pb-free solder interconnect

Pb-free solders are studied for electromigration (EM) reliability. Two major EM failure mechanisms are identified in Sn-based Pb-free solders, due to the differences in microstructures and Sn-grain orientation. Rapid depletion of intermetallic-compounds and Under-Bump-Metallurgy are caused by fast diffusion of Cu and Ni along the c-axis of Sn crystals. When c-axis of Sn-grain is not aligned with the current direction, electromigration damage is dominated by Sn self-diffusion, which takes longer to occur. In general, the EM damage in SnCu solder is driven by the fast interstitial diffusion of Ni and Cu away from solder/UBM interface resulting in early fails; while the damage in SnAg solders is mostly dominated by Sn-self diffusion resulting in longer lifetime. The effective activation energy is 0.95 eV for SnAg solder and 0.54 eV for SnCu solder. The power exponent is 2 for SnAg and 1.2 for SnCu. Blech effect is observed only in the solders with Sn-self diffusion dominated failures, not in fast diffusion dominated failures. Therefore, optimizing and control solder microstructure is important to the solder reliability.
Evolution of small defect clusters in ion-irradiated 3C-SiC: Combined cluster dynamics modeling and experimental study

Abstract Distribution of black spot defects and small clusters in 1 MeV krypton irradiated 3C-SiC has been investigated using advanced scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and TEM. We find that two thirds of clusters smaller than 1 nm identified in STEM are invisible in TEM images. For clusters that are larger than 1 nm, STEM and TEM results match very well. A cluster dynamics model has been developed for SiC to reveal processes that contribute to evolution of defect clusters and validated against the (S)TEM results. Simulations showed that a model based on established properties of point defects (PDs) generation, reaction, clustering, and cluster dissociation, is unable to predict black spot defects distribution consistent with STEM observations. This failure suggests that additional phenomena not included in a simple point-defect picture may contribute to radiation-induced evolution of defect clusters in SiC and using our model we have determined the effects of a number of these additional phenomena on cluster evolution. Using these additional phenomena it is possible to fit parameters within physically justifiable ranges that yield agreement between cluster distributions predicted by simulations and those measured experimentally.
Case-Control Assessment of Potential Familial and Environmental Risk Factors for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in Minnesota. (P4.137)

OBJECTIVE: This current paper is one of the largest population-based case-control studies of ALS in the U.S., encompassing the population of the state of Minnesota (>5.2 million people) over the year July 2013-2014. BACKGROUND: Although the etiology of ALS is unknown, a variety of genetic and environmental risk factors have been shown to correlate with disease incidence in patients with ALS. DESIGN/METHODS: Data on age, sex, family history, and various environmental factors, including smoking history, occupation, military service, residential information, education, head trauma, and electrical injury, were collected for each individual registered with the Minnesota/North Dakota/South Dakota chapter of the ALS Association between July 2013 and July 2014 who qualified as a Minnesota resident. Similar data was collected for the control population, which consisted of the subjects’ spouses or primary caregivers. RESULTS: A total of 121 cases of ALS were identified within Minnesota during the year-long time period, with an incidence rate of 2.2 cases per 100,000 person-years (95[percnt] CI 1.8-2.5). A group of 51 cases and 42 controls were recruited for the study. The mean age of the cases versus controls was 65.5 versus 61.0 years, respectively (p=0.02). There was a statistically significant difference between the case and control populations for smoking history in pack-years (p=0.02) and family history of ALS (p=0.02). Borderline significance between the two groups was identified for any military service (p=0.08), as well as for family history of dementia (p=0.09). There was no statistical difference noted in gender distribution, number of biological children, residential history, education, career distribution, head trauma, or electrical injury. CONCLUSIONS: The study results suggest a role for certain environmental risk factors in the development of ALS and support the need for further, more detailed population-based epidemiological investigation of such contributors in a larger sample size. Disclosure: Dr. Harper has nothing to disclose. Dr. Sorenson has nothing to disclose.
Template-Induced Structuring and Tunable Polymorphism of Three-Dimensionally Ordered Mesoporous (3DOm) Metal Oxides.

Convectively assembled colloidal crystal templates, composed of size-tunable (ca. 15–50 nm) silica (SiO2) nanoparticles, enable versatile sacrificial templating of three-dimensionally ordered mesoporous (3DOm) metal oxides (MOx) at both mesoscopic and microscopic size scales. Specifically, we show for titania (TiO2) and zirconia (ZrO2) how this approach not only enables the engineering of the mesopore size, pore volume, and surface area but can also be leveraged to tune the crystallite polymorphism of the resulting 3DOm metal oxides. Template-mediated volumetric (i.e., interstitial) effects and interfacial factors are shown to preserve the metastable crystalline polymorphs of each corresponding 3DOm oxide (i.e., anatase TiO2 (A-TiO2) and tetragonal ZrO2 (t-ZrO2)) during high-temperature calcination. Mechanistic investigations suggest that this polymorph stabilization is derived from the combined effects of the template–replica (MOx/SiO2) interface and simultaneous interstitial confinement that limit the d...
History of Parasympathetic and Sympathetic Monitoring

Historically, heart rate variability (HRV) has been recognized as the primary method for noninvasive monitoring of the autonomic nervous system (ANS), including its parasympathetic and sympathetic branches. HRV, however, is a single independent measure of heartbeat intervals (HBI). Yet the ANS is a system with two independent components. As a measure of a system with two independent components, HRV fails a fundamental law of mathematics. Therefore, it is merely a gross measure of total ANS function. More recently, beat-to-beat blood pressure (btbBP) has been developed in an attempt to better specify sympathetic activity. Again, btbBP fails the fundamental law of math. It is still just based on HBIs and therefore a gross measure of the ANS. More information is needed. This information historically came in the form of symptoms. Yet, as was introduced in the previous chapter, symptoms often are late in the progression of autonomic dysfunction and also often require assumption. MIT and Harvard researchers understood that a second, independent measure was required to clear the ambiguity and the need for assumption. These researchers determined and validated that the second measure is respiratory activity. This chapter introduces the history of confusion caused by HRV and perpetuated by btbBP and resolves the issue with the second independent measure of respiratory activity.
Antennas for Intraoral Tongue Drive System at 2.4 GHz: Design, Characterization, and Comparison

The intraoral Tongue Drive System (iTDS), is a tongue-controlled wireless assistive technology, operated by a number of user-defined voluntary tongue gestures to issue control commands. In this paper, we present a new arch-shaped iTDS, occupying the buccal shelf space in the mouth, without limiting the available space for tongue motions. We describe the design, characterization, and comparison between three types of 2.4-GHz antennas for this system: patch, dipole, and planar inverted-F in terms of gain, directivity, bandwidth, and data communication performance to achieve a robust RF link despite mouth motions. The antennas are designed and simulated in a simple human mouth model and measured in the mouth. Based on simulation and measurement results, using an iTDS prototype made of commercial-off-the-shelf components, the patch antenna has the highest gain in both closed- and open-mouth states, at −10.6 and −9 dBi, respectively. We also measured the propagation loss between the iTDS intraoral antenna and out-of-mouth receiver (Rx) in a real user-case scenario and evaluated the link quality by measuring the packet error rate between the transmitter and RX. The presented antennas have larger bandwidth, smaller area, and higher gain compared to prior work on implantable antennas in the literature, resulting in a robust wireless link for the iTDS application.
When Does Air Resistance Become Significant in Projectile Motion

In an article in this journal, it was shown that air resistance could never be a significant source of error in typical free-fall experiments in introductory physics laboratories. Since projectile motion is the two-dimensional version of the free-fall experiment and usually follows the former experiment in such laboratories, it seemed natural to extend the same analysis to this type of motion. We shall find that again air resistance does not play a significant role in the parameters of interest in a traditional projectile motion experiment.
Matrix Effect Study and Immunoassay Detection Using Electrolyte-Gated Graphene Biosensor

Significant progress has been made on the development of electrolyte-gated graphene field effect transistor (EGGFET) biosensors over the last decade, yet they are still in the stage of proof-of-concept. In this work, we studied the electrolyte matrix effects, including its composition, pH and ionic strength, and demonstrate that variations in electrolyte matrices have a significant impact on the Fermi level of the graphene channel and the sensitivity of the EGGFET biosensors. This is attributed to the polarization-induced interaction between the electrolyte and the graphene at the interface which can lead to considerable modulation of the Fermi level of the graphene channel. As a result, the response of the EGGFET biosensors is susceptible to the matrix effect which might lead to high uncertainty or even false results. Then, an EGGFET immunoassay is presented which aims to allow good regulation of the matrix effect. The multichannel design allows in-situ calibration with negative control, as well as statistical validation of the measurement results. Its performance is demonstrated by the detection of human immunoglobulin G (IgG) from serum. The detection range is estimated to be around 2–50 nM with a coefficient of variation (CV) of less than 20% and the recovery rate for IgG detection is around 85–95%. Compared with traditional immunoassay techniques, the EGGFET immunoassay is label-free and ready to be integrated with microfluidics sensor platforms, suggesting its great prospect for point-of-care applications.
An Experimental Approach to Victim Decision Making

The discussion in Chapter 1 noted that research on crime-victim decision making has relied almost exclusively on self-reports. Reliance on a single methodology, however, is unwise. The study of a phenomenon as complex as victim decision making requires multiple methods, each with different strengths and weaknesses. For our initial study, we decided to use an experimental approach that allowed us to isolate and control key variables involved in victim decision making. This choice reflects our training as experimental social psychologists and the fact that experimental research has provided many fruitful insights into the decisions of bystanders in emergencies (Latane & Darley, 1970; Latane & Nida, 1981).