cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Screening of Asymptomatic Children for Tuberculosis: Is a Lateral Chest Radiograph Routinely Indicated?

Results: The frequency of an abnormal chest radiograph related to TB was 1.8% (11/605). The PA radiograph showed abnormalities in all 11 (100%)children with radiographic abnormalities. Lateral radiographs showedabnormalities related to TB in 2 (18.2%)of 11 cases found tobeabnormalonPAradiographs. Nine(81.8%)of11 abnormalities onPAradiographswerenotdetectedonthelateralchestradiographs. There was statistical evidence of nonconcordance between PA and lateral chest radiographs in detecting TB-related abnormalities for reviewer 1 (P < .001) and reviewer 2 (P = .004). In cases with abnormalities observed on both PA and lateral radiographs, there were no cases in which information obtained from the lateral chest radiograph resulted in a change in interpretation based on the PA radiograph alone. A high level of agreement was observed between the two independent reviewers in detecting TB-related abnormalities on PA radiographs (k = 0.84, P < .001). Conclusions: A PA radiograph alone is sufficient for TB screening of asymptomatic pediatric patients with positive PPD skin test results in an area non-endemic for TB.
Patterns of Temperature Adaptation in Proteins from the Bacteria Deinococcus radiodurans and Thermus thermophilus

Asymmetrical patterns of amino acid substitution in proteins of organisms living at moderate and high temperatures (mesophiles and thermophiles, respectively) are generally taken to indicate selection favoring different amino acids at different temperatures due to their biochemical properties. If that were the case, comparisons of different pairs of mesophilic and thermophilic taxa would exhibit similar patterns of substitutional asymmetry. A previous comparison of mesophilic versus thermophilic Methanococcus with mesophilic versus thermophilic Bacillus revealed several pairs of amino acids for which one amino acid was favored in thermophilic Bacillus and the other was favored in thermophilic Methanococcus. Most of this could be explained by the higher G+C content of the DNA of thermophilic Bacillus, a phenomenon not seen in the Methanococcus comparison. Here, I compared the mesophilic bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans and its thermophilic relative Thermus thermophilus, which are similar in G+C content. Of the 190 pairs of amino acids, 83 exhibited significant substitutional asymmetry, consistent with the pervasive effects of selection. Most of these significantly asymmetrical pairs of amino acids were asymmetrical in the direction predicted from the Methanococcus data, consistent with thermal adaptation resulting from universal biochemical properties of the amino acids. However, 12 pairs of amino acids exhibited asymmetry significantly different from and in the opposite direction of that found in the Methanococcus comparison, and 21 pairs of amino acids exhibited asymmetry that was significantly different from that found in the Bacillus comparison and could not be explained by the greater G+C content in thermophilic Bacillus. This suggests that selection due to universal biochemical properties of the amino acids and differences in G+C content are not the only causes of substitutional asymmetry between mesophiles and thermophiles. Instead, selection on taxon-specific properties of amino acids, such as their metabolic cost, may play a role in causing asymmetrical patterns of substitution.
Outcomes of Role Stress: A Multisample Constructive Replication

Responses from four separate samples of accountants and hospital employees provided a constructive replication of the Bedeian and Armenakis (1981) model of the causal nexus between role stress and selected outcome variables. We investigated the relationship between both role ambiguity and role conflict--as specific forms of role stress--and job-related tension, job satisfaction, and propensity to leave, using LISREL IV, a technique capable of providing statistical data for a hypothesized population model, as well as for specific causal paths. Results, which support the Bedeian and Armenakis model, are discussed in light of previous research.
THE SOCIAL TURN IN SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

THE SOCIAL TURN IN SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION. David Block. Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh University Press, 2003. Pp. viii + 162. $26.95 paper.This book is devoted to what Block calls the Input-Interaction-Output (IIO) model of SLA. By this model, he means SLA research conducted over the last few decades by Gass, Long, Pica, Swain, and others, generally known as the “interaction hypothesis” and the “output hypothesis.” Block's chief aim is “to critically examine some of the basic notions and assumptions that underpin this model and to suggest a more interdisciplinary and socially informed approach to SLA research” (p. vii). He takes pains to point out that his criticisms are intended to be constructive, noting that his intent is to encourage IIO researchers to look beyond what he views as a psycholinguistic bias in mainstream SLA.
The Influence of Motion and Audio Cues on Driver Performance in an Automobile Simulator

A highway driving simulator with a computer-generated visual display, physical motion cues of roll, yaw, and lateral translation, and velocity-dependent sound/vibration cues was used to investigate the influence of these cues on driver performance. Forty-eight student subjects were randomly allocated to six experimental groups. Each group of eight subjects experienced a unique combination of the motion and audio cues. The control group received a full simulation condition while each of the remaining five groups performanced with certain combinations of motion and sound deleated. Each driver generated nine minutes of continuous data from which five performance measures were derived. Results indicate that the performance measures of yaw, lateral, and velocity deviation are significantly affected by the deletion of cues. In support of the hypothesis that driver performance is augmented by the addition of motion cues, statistically significant negative correlations were obtained between the number of motion cues present and the measures of yaw and lateral deviation. With respect to motion and audio cues, recommendations are made regarding simulator design criteria.
Crystal structure of checkpoint kinase 2 in complex with NSC 109555, a potent and selective inhibitor.

Checkpoint kinase 2 (Chk2), a ser/thr kinase involved in the ATM-Chk2 checkpoint pathway, is activated by genomic instability and DNA damage and results in either arrest of the cell cycle to allow DNA repair to occur or apoptosis if the DNA damage is severe. Drugs that specifically target Chk2 could be beneficial when administered in combination with current DNA-damaging agents used in cancer therapy. Recently, a novel inhibitor of Chk2, NSC 109555, was identified that exhibited high potency (IC50 = 240 nM) and selectivity. This compound represents a new chemotype and lead for the development of novel Chk2 inhibitors that could be used as therapeutic agents for the treatment of cancer. To facilitate the discovery of new analogs of NSC 109555 with even greater potency and selectivity, we have solved the crystal structure of this inhibitor in complex with the catalytic domain of Chk2. The structure confirms that the compound is an ATP-competitive inhibitor, as the electron density clearly reveals that it occupies the ATP-binding pocket. However, the mode of inhibition differs from that of the previously studied structure of Chk2 in complex with debromohymenialdisine, a compound that inhibits both Chk1 and Chk2. A unique hydrophobic pocket in Chk2, located very close to the bound inhibitor, presents an opportunity for the rational design of compounds with higher binding affinity and greater selectivity.
The institutionalization of U.S. political parties: Patronage newspapers

There is general agreement that mass political parties emerged during the Jacksonian era, but there is no consensus about their precise origins. Institutional theorists within political science contend that political parties trace their beginnings to elite who nurtured them within the civil service bureaucracy, whereas theorists in political science who rely on microlevel explanations consider that parties developed to solve problems of social choice and collective action. Historians, in contrast, indicate that newspaper patronage in Washington, DC, beginning with Jefferson, was critical for the emergence of federal political parties. This study systematically examines the empirical implications of that assumption and considers both the organizational and political processes that underlie establishment of newspapers in the Capital, contributing to the understanding that newspapers provided a model both for the civil service and for political parties.
The Self-Concepts of Bereaved Adolescents Sibling Death and Its Aftermath

The focus of this study was to investigate adolescent self-concept and the reactions of 42 adolescents whose siblings had died. After completing the OfferSelf-Image Questionnaire for Adolescents (OSIQ), participants were interviewed about bereavement reactions, perceptions of their personal maturity, effects on school work; and relationships with peers. The adolescents' OSIQ scores fit the results for what Offer has termed "niormal adolescents." However, cluster analysis identified three distinct groups of adolescents clustered according to high, average, and low OSIQ scores. Discriminant analhsis was used to analyze the bereavement reactions of adolescents in these clusters. Perceptions of personal maturi ty, effects on school work and relationships with peers were also examined. Implications of the results are discussed in terms of developmental tasks facing adolescents and potential interventions to assist adolescents in coping successfully with grief.
A Computer Program for Detailed Frequency Response Analysis of Distillation Column Dynamics

A model of a distillation column is developed that includes component and enthalpy balances, equilibrium relationships, variable pressure and complex tray hydraulic relationships. The model is incorporated into a computer program that produces Bode plots of the transfer functions between any input variable and any column variable. The paper includes examples of the use of the program to study column dynamic response and control loop interaction as a function of frequency.
Relationship between semen quality and performance of instrumentally inseminated honey bee queens

Techniques to effectively store honey bee semen must meet some minimally acceptable level of spermatozoa survival. To determine this level, honey bee queens were inseminated using var- ious mixes of fresh and freeze-killed semen, and were allowed to lay eggs in small colonies for three weeks. The queens receiving all freeze-killed spermatozoa (0% fresh) had no spermatozoa in their sper- mathecae, and produced only drone pupae (unfertilized eggs). The proportions of live and dead sper- matozoa (determined by dual fluorescent staining) in the spermathecae of queens receiving 25 to 100% fresh semen were not significantly different at 27 days post-insemination. Queens receiving 50% fresh semen or more produced only worker pupae (all eggs were fertilized). Therefore, a program to improve storage of semen should only have to reach survival levels of 50% of the spermatozoa to have functional semen.
Lighting ``A Century of Progress''

Since the Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893 gave to the world its first large outdoor display, electric illumination has played a vital and striking part in the great expositions. At San Francisco in 1915 the illumination was classed by the International Jury of Award as a ``Decorative Art''; at Chicago in 1933 the lighting was conceded to be an outstanding feature of the exposition in spite of the fact that it was almost an afterthought. In this short article the author gives a general description of the exterior lighting effects; illustrates some of the equipment used and the results obtained. ?Editor.
A well-tested set of primers to amplify regions spread across the avian genome.

1. IntroductionDNA markers have been used to examine a broad range ofbiological problems, including those in phylogen etics, populationgenetics and the identiÞcatio n of individuals. Nuclear loci providea rich source of information regarding evolutionary history andthey allow researche rs to examine many unlinked markers thathave the potential to provide insight the coalescent process as wellas introgress ion or hybridizatio n events (e.g. Maddison, 1997; Nic-hols, 2001 ). Information about the nuclear genome can be collectedby sequencing or by examining single nucleotide polymorphis ms(SNPs) (Sunnucks, 2000; Avise, 2004 ). Unlike mitochondr ialregions where virtually universal primers are available for verte-brates (e.g., Sorenson et al., 1999 ), extensively tested primer setsfor nuclear regions that are likely to work on the majority of spe-cies within a group are not available.In phylogenetic studies, nuclear sequence data have providedadditional insights into avian evolution (e.g., Avise, 2004; Hackettet al., 2008 ). The nuclear genome is heterogeneous , consisting ofcoding regions, introns, untranslated regions (UTRs), andintergeni c regions. The markers exhibit varying patterns of molec-ular evolution (e.g., mutation rates, base composition, etc.), andthus can be used at a variety of different taxonomi c levels for dif-ferent types of phylogeneti c questions. In addition to substitution alvariation , non-coding regions often exhibit length variation , pro-viding indel (insertionÐdel etion) characters that can be added tothe regionOs information content (e.g., Fain and Houde, 2004 ).Populatio n-level questions can be examined using non-codingregions such as introns. Substitutional (and indel) variation of mul-tiple individuals of a single species or a set of closely relatedspecies provide insights into population divergence times andancestral population sizes (e.g., Jennings and Edwards, 2005;Aitken et al., 2004 ). SNPs present in these rapidly evolving regionsare increasingly being used as markers because they provide anopportun ity to assess a large number of unlinked loci for a rangeof population questions (BrumÞeld et al., 2003; Morin et al.,2004 ). In addition to population genetics, SNPs also have thepotential to be used in parentage studies and for quantitativegenetic studies in wild populations.In birds, there are several studies which have published sets ofprimers to amplify nuclear regions, particularly intron regions (e.g.,Friesen et al., 1999, 1997; Primmer et al., 2002; Waltari andEdwards, 2002; Slade et al., 1993; Backstrm et al., 2008 ). How-ever, many of these primers have been tested on a limited set of
Stabilization of perturbed Boolean network attractors through compensatory interactions.

Understanding and ameliorating the effects of network damage are of significant interest, due in part to the variety of applications in which network damage is relevant. For example, the effects of genetic mutations can cascade through within-cell signaling and regulatory networks and alter the behavior of cells, possibly leading to a wide variety of diseases. The typical approach to mitigating network perturbations is to consider the compensatory activation or deactivation of system components. Here, we propose a complementary approach wherein interactions are instead modified to alter key regulatory functions and prevent the network damage from triggering a deregulatory cascade. We implement this approach in a Boolean dynamic framework, which has been shown to effectively model the behavior of biological regulatory and signaling networks. We show that the method can stabilize any single state (e.g., fixed point attractors or time-averaged representations of multi-state attractors) to be an attractor of the repaired network. We show that the approach is minimalistic in that few modifications are required to provide stability to a chosen attractor and specific in that interventions do not have undesired effects on the attractor. We apply the approach to random Boolean networks, and further show that the method can in some cases successfully repair synchronous limit cycles. We also apply the methodology to case studies from drought-induced signaling in plants and T-LGL leukemia and find that it is successful in both stabilizing desired behavior and in eliminating undesired outcomes. Code is made freely available through the software package BooleanNet. The methodology introduced in this report offers a complementary way to manipulating node expression levels. A comprehensive approach to evaluating network manipulation should take an "all of the above" perspective; we anticipate that theoretical studies of interaction modification, coupled with empirical advances, will ultimately provide researchers with greater flexibility in influencing system behavior.
Studies on a Low Molecular Weight Testicular Factor Which Inhibits Binding of FSH to Receptor

Studies on a low molecular weight testicular factor which inhibits the binding of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) to receptors in the mature rat testis are reported. The in vitro binding of labeled-FSH to particulate testicular receptors was inhibited by buffer of water extracts of testes from mature rats. Repeated washings of testicular receptors failed to diminish hormone binding capacity suggesting that the factor responsible for FSH binding inhibition (FSH-BI) was not receptor related. Dialysis decreased FSH-BI activity in rat testes by 60%; FSH-BI activity was observed in the dialysate. 50% of the FSH-BI activity in buffer reconstituted testicular dialysates was lost after heating for 10 minutes at neutral pH in boiling water. FSH-BI passed through a membrane with a MW exclusion of 8000. However it did not pass through a membrane on ultrafiltration with a MW exclusion of 500 and eluted from a Sephadex G-25 column in a position similar to that of bacitracin with an MW of about 1400. Preincubation of highly purified testicular membranes with these FSH-BI fractions decreased the binding of subsequently added labeled-FSH by 76-98% of values obtained when preincubation was with buffer alone. When the same fractions were added to testicular membranes containing preformed hormone receptor complex the degree of labeled-FSH dissociation was 15-39% less than in buffer controls. Buffer extracts of rat liver and kidney also showed FSH-BI activity. Because the presence of an FSH binding inhibitor in target tissue may be relevant to the mechanism of hormone action and its regulation further characterization of this factor is deemed warranted.
Using Genetic Algorithm in Building Domain-Specific Collections: An Experiment in the Nanotechnology Domain

As the key technique to build domain-specific search engines, focused crawling has drawn a lot of attention from researchers in the past decade. However, as Web structure analysis techniques advance, several problems in traditional focused crawler design were revealed and they could result in domain-specific collections with low quality. In this work, we studied the problems of focused crawling that are caused by using local search algorithms. We also proposed to use a global search algorithm, the Genetic Algorithm, in focused crawling to address the problems. We conducted evaluation experiments to examine the effectiveness of our approach. The results showed that our approach could build domain-specific collections with higher quality than traditional focused crawling techniques. Furthermore, we used the concept of Web communities to evaluate how comprehensively the focused crawlers could traverse the Web search space, which could be a good complement to the traditional focused crawler evaluation methods.
Negotiated Collusion: Modeling Social Language and its Relationship Effects in Intelligent Agents

Building a collaborative trusting relationship with users is crucial in a wide range of applications, such as advice-giving or financial transactions, and some minimal degree of cooperativeness is required in all applications to even initiate and maintain an interaction with a user. Despite the importance of this aspect of human--human relationships, few intelligent systems have tried to build user models of trust, credibility, or other similar interpersonal variables, or to influence these variables during interaction with users. Humans use a variety of kinds of social language, including small talk, to establish collaborative trusting interpersonal relationships. We argue that such strategies can also be used by intelligent agents, and that embodied conversational agents are ideally suited for this task given the myriad multimodal cues available to them for managing conversation. In this article we describe a model of the relationship between social language and interpersonal relationships, a new kind of discourse planner that is capable of generating social language to achieve interpersonal goals, and an actual implementation in an embodied conversational agent. We discuss an evaluation of our system in which the use of social language was demonstrated to have a significant effect on users' perceptions of the agent's knowledgableness and ability to engage users, and on their trust, credibility, and how well they felt the system knew them, for users manifesting particular personality traits.
Attributing the variability of eddy-covariance CO2 flux measurements across temporal scales using geostatistical regression for a mixed northern hardwood forest

[1] The relationships between terrestrial carbon dioxide flux and its primary environmental drivers are uncertain because the processes controlling CO2 cycling, especially at ecosystem scales, are not well understood. This uncertainty is compounded by the fact that the importance of controlling processes, and therefore environmental drivers, may differ across temporal scales. This paper presents and applies a geostatistical regression (GR) approach that can be used with eddy‐covariance data to investigate the relationships between carbon flux and environmental variables at multiple time scales, ranging from monthly to daily. The approach uses an adaptation of the Bayes Information Criterion to identify an optimal set of environmental variables that are able to explain the observed variability in carbon flux. In addition, GR quantifies the temporal correlation in the portion of the flux signal that cannot be explained by the selected variables and directly accounts for this correlation in the analysis. This GR approach was applied to data from the University of Michigan Biological Station (UMBS) AmeriFlux site to (i) identify the dominant explanatory variables for Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE), Gross Ecosystem Exchange (GEE), and heterotrophic and autotrophic respiration (Rh+a )a t different temporal scales, (ii) evaluate whether environmental variables can be used to isolate the GEE and Rh+a signals from the NEE measurements, and (iii) determine the impact of temporal scale on the inferred relationships between environmental variables and CO2 flux. The results confirm the strong correlation between respiration and temperature and the influence of solar radiation on carbon uptake during the growing season. In addition, results highlight the influence of variables such as precipitation, vapor pressure deficit, and the fraction of photosynthetically active radiation (fPAR) in carbon cycling at UMBS. Many relationships between flux and auxiliary variables are found to be scale‐dependent. Site‐specific and remote‐sensing leaf area index and fPAR data are not found to be interchangeable at finer temporal scales. Results also show that a linear GR model is able to capture what may initially appear to be nonlinear relationships between flux and environmental variables, because this apparent nonlinearity is found to be explained by the covariability among key auxiliary variables. Finally, results indicate that GR can be used to identify variables that partially isolate GEE and Rh+a from the NEE signal at finer temporal scales at UMBS.
An application-specific array architecture for feedforward with backpropagation ANNs

An application-specific array architecture for Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) computation is proposed. This array is configured as a mesh-of-appendixed-trees (MAT). Algorithms to implement both the recall and the training phases of the multilayer feedforward with backpropagation ANN model are developed on MAT. The proposed MAT architecture requires only O(log N) time, while other reported techniques offer O(N) time, where N is the size of the largest layer. Beside the high speed performance, pipelining of more than one input pattern can be achieved which further improves the performance. >
A filter free class D audio amplifier with 86% power efficiency

This paper presents a single chip class D amplifier with 2.5 W output power and 86% efficiency with an 8 ohm load. This chip uses a pulsed width modulation scheme that eliminates the output filter. It operates with a 2.5 V to 6.5 V supply voltage in a 7 V, 1.2 /spl mu/m, double-poly, triple-metal BiCMOS process. It has an area of 1.5 /spl times/ 1.5 mm/sup 2/ and it achieves a THD as low as 0.04%, with a flatband response between 20 Hz and 20kHz.
Gender and Leadership: A Frame Analysis of University Home Web Page Images

With calls for (business) leaders to contribute to greater global fairness and social justice (BAWB 2006; Maak and Pless Journal of Business Ethics, 88, 537–550, 2009), this paper considers gender equality on University home web page images as one means of communicating equal access to leadership roles for both men and women. Although there are many paths for leadership development, one important purpose of Universities is to create people who will potentially become leaders in our society (Shapiro 2005). We analyzed the home web pages at 24 leading universities to identify implicit messages about gender roles, building on implicit leadership theory and leadership prototypes. Using an adapted version of Goffman’s frame analysis (1979), our results suggest depiction of gender equality in university home web pages, in contrast to studies of print advertisements (cf., Kang Sex Roles, 37(11/12), 979–996, 1997; Lindner Sex Roles, 51(7/8), 409–421, 2004). Our results also identify specific opportunities to depict greater equity and to continue to expand the potential for both women and men to be seen as being capable and belonging on this leadership path.
Functional Mapping of Protective Domains and Epitopes in the Rotavirus VP6 Protein

The purpose of this study was to determine which regions of the VP6 protein of the murine rotavirus strain EDIM are able to elicit protection against rotavirus shedding in the adult mouse model following intranasal (i.n.) immunization with fragments of VP6 and a subsequent oral EDIM challenge. In the initial experiment, the first (fragment AB), middle (BC), or last (CD) part of VP6 that was genetically fused to maltose-binding protein (MBP) and expressed in Escherichia coli was examined. Mice (BALB/c) immunized with two 9-microg doses of each of the chimeras and 10 microg of the mucosal adjuvant LT(R192G) were found to be protected against EDIM shedding (80, 92, and nearly 100% reduction, respectively; P </= 0.01) following challenge. Because CD produced almost complete protection, we prepared four E. coli-expressed, MBP-fused chimeras containing overlapping fragments of the CD region (i.e., CD1, CD2, CD3, and CD4) whose lengths ranged from 61 to 67 amino acid residues. Following i.n. immunization, CD1, CD2, and CD4 induced significant (P </= 0.004) protection (88, 84, and 92% reduction, respectively). In addition, 11 peptides (18 to 30 residues) of the CD region with between 0 and 13 overlapping amino acids were synthesized. Two 50-microg doses of each peptide with LT(R192G) were administered i.n. to BALB/c mice. Five peptides were found to elicit significant (P </= 0.02) protection. Moreover, a 14-amino-acid region within peptide 6 containing a putative CD4(+) T-cell epitope was found to confer nearly complete protection, suggesting a protective role for CD4(+) T cells. Mice that were protected by fragments BC and CD1 and four of the five protective synthetic peptides did not develop measurable rotavirus antibodies in serum or stool, implying that protection induced by these domains was not dependent on antibody. Together, these observations suggest that multiple regions of VP6 can stimulate protection, a region of VP6 as small as 14 amino acids containing a CD4(+) T-cell epitope can stimulate nearly complete protection, and protection mediated by a subset of epitopes in the VP6 protein does not require antibodies in BALB/c mice.
Theory of electric spark machining

The electric spark machining process is becoming of considerable industrial importance in the tool and die industry. A typical electrical system for this process is described and a theory is advanced for the mechanism of operation. The results of experimental tests are reported.
BLTR mediates leukotriene B(4)-induced chemotaxis and adhesion and plays a dominant role in eosinophil accumulation in a murine model of peritonitis.

Leukotriene B4 (LTB4) is a potent chemoattractant active on multiple leukocytes, including neutrophils, macrophages, and eosinophils, and is implicated in the pathogenesis of a variety of inflammatory processes. A seven transmembrane–spanning, G protein–coupled receptor, called BLTR (LTB4 receptor), has recently been identified as an LTB4 receptor. To determine if BLTR is the sole receptor mediating LTB4-induced leukocyte activation and to determine the role of LTB4 and BLTR in regulating leukocyte function in inflammation in vivo, we generated a BLTR-deficient mouse by targeted gene disruption. This mouse reveals that BLTR alone is responsible for LTB4-mediated leukocyte calcium flux, chemotaxis, and firm adhesion to endothelium in vivo. Furthermore, despite the apparent functional redundancy with other chemoattractant–receptor pairs in vitro, LTB4 and BLTR play an important role in the recruitment and/or retention of leukocytes, particularly eosinophils, to the inflamed peritoneum in vivo. These studies demonstrate that BLTR is the key receptor that mediates LTB4-induced leukocyte activation and establishes a model to decipher the functional roles of BLTR and LTB4 in vivo.
Farmland Assessment Through Multiple Regression Analysis

Farmland owners and agricultural producers often require accurate measures of the market value of agricultural parcels. However, there are a number of complicating factors that make estimation difficult. We demonstrate how multiple regression analysis may be used to estimate the market values while controlling for property differences and minimizing human error. We provide an example that uses a set of 545 farmland sales in Minnesota from 2009. Further, we demonstrate how the analysis can be easily replicated by Extension educators for regional farmland price estimation.
Treatment and Prevention of Intravascular Coagulation with Antiserum to Endotoxin

Because of the limited success of antibiotics, we have turned to antiserum against endotoxin to prevent one of the most devastating effects of gram-negative bacteremia: disseminated intravascular coagulation (generalized Shwartzman reaction). This reaction was produced in rabbits by iv injection of endotoxin at 24-hr intervals. Rabbit antiserum to endotoxin injected iv 2 hr before the second dose of endotoxin (treatment of disseminated intravascular coagulation) or 96 hr before the first dose (prevention) decreased the reaction from 90% to 18%. Intravascular coagulation was also prevented by antiserum to both heterologous bacteria and side-chain-deficient mutants, by the 19S immunoglobulins of antisera, and by hyperimmune globulin treated with mercaptoethanol and iodoacetate. Passive protection lasted for at least 30 days. Antiserum prevented the precipitous drop in fibrinogen and platelets that accompanies deposition of fibrin in the glomerulus and elsewhere. These findings indicate that protection by antiserum is independent of antibody to O antigen, does not require complement, and prevents the coagulation disturbances induced by endotoxin.
Insurmountable Conditions’ as a Test of Past Party Decisions: Evidence from Ukraine’s Party of Regions

This work is part of a larger project that uses similar electoral system changes in Russia and Ukraine as windows into party building. In this paper, I compare how two of Ukraine’s main parties, the Party of Regions and Our Ukraine, navigated the move from a mixed electoral system to a closed-list fully PR system by examining their relationships with former district deputies — that is, those who were technically reformed out of office. With findings from this analysis in hand, the paper then considers the implications of past decisions by the Party of Regions on subsequent party discipline, using the party defections that accompanied President Yanukovych’s departure from Kyiv in February 2014 as a litmus test.
Effect analysis of nerve growth factor acupoint injection on noise induced hearing damage in guinea pigs

Objective To observe NGF on noise induced hearing impairment in guinea pigs repair. Methods Forty healthy male guinea pigs were randomly divided into 4 groups respectively,the control group (normal group),model group (hearing loss),acupoint injection group, the intraperitoneal injection group,except the control group,the remaining three groups of guinea pigs were exposed to 24 hours of sound pressure level 100 dB (A) white noise for 7 days. Each group of guinea pigs were used with distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) to determine its amplitude,signal to noise ratio. Results Acupoint injection in group DPOAE amplitude test results and the signal-to-noise ratio of the test results,suggesting that the remaining frequency zone P 0.01 except f0 0.25 Hz (P 0.05); GJB2 gene, SLC26A4 gene expression of point injection group were 8.45 and 6.65 (OD/dL), was significantly lower than that of other observation groups, P 0.05. Conclusion Nerve growth factor acupoint injection can be regarded as a safe and effective new treatment method of noise induced hearing impairment.
What is new in HIV infection

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention and treatment updates include screening recommendations, fourth-generation testing, preexposure prophylaxis, and a paradigm shift; treatment is prevention. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends routine HIV screening in persons 15 to 65 years of age, regardless of risk. Fourth-generation testing is replacing the Western blot and can identify those with acute HIV infection. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the OraQuick In-Home HIV Test; however, there are concerns about reduced sensitivity, possible misinterpretation of results, potential for less effective counseling, and possible cost barriers. Preexposure prophylaxis (effective in select high-risk adult populations) is the combination of safer sex practices and continuous primary care prevention services, plus combination antiretroviral therapy. Concerns for preexposure prophylaxis include the necessity of strict medication adherence, limited use among high-risk populations, and community misconceptions of appropriate use. Evidence supports combination antiretroviral therapy as prevention for acute HIV infection, thus lowering community viral loads. Evidence has increased supporting combination antiretroviral therapy for treatment at any CD4 cell count. Resistance testing should guide therapy in all patients on entry into care. Within two weeks of diagnosis of most opportunistic infections, combination antiretroviral therapy should be started; patients with tuberculosis and cryptococcal meningitis require special considerations.
Emerging minimally invasive procedures for focal treatment of organ-confined prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is the most common malignancy amongst American men. However, the majority of prostate cancer diagnoses are of low risk, organ-confined disease. Many men elect to undergo definitive treatment, but may benefit from focal therapy to maintain continence and potency. This review reports the mechanism of action and outcomes of emerging focal therapies for prostate cancer. We report the mechanism of action of focal cryotherapy, high intensity focused ultrasound, focal laser ablation, and irreversible electroporation. In addition, we reviewed the largest studies available reporting rates of urinary incontinence, erectile dysfunction, biochemical recurrence-free survival (ASTRO), and post-operative adverse events for each procedure. Each treatment modality stated has a unique mechanism in the ablation of cancerous cells. Genito-urinary symptoms following these studies report incontinence and erectile dysfunction rates ranging from 0-15% and 0-53%, respectively. Biochemical disease-free survival was reported using the ASTRO definition. Some treatment modalities lack the necessary follow-up to determine effectiveness in cancer control. No focal therapy studies reported serious adverse events. These minimally invasive procedures are feasible in a clinical setting and show promising functional and disease control results with short to medium-term follow-up. However, each treatment requires additional robust prospective studies as well as its own unique domain to determine biochemical recurrence free survival to properly determine their role in treatment of organ-confined prostate cancer.
Validation of the Behavioral Health Checklist in Diverse Pediatric Primary Care Settings.

Objective Examine the validity and clinical utility of the Behavioral Health Checklist (BHCL), a screening tool with 2 forms (4-7, 8-12 years) developed for use with children of diverse backgrounds. Method At pediatric primary care appointments, the parents of 1274 children completed a demographic form, the BHCL, and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Concurrent validity was examined by conducting correlations between the BHCL and the diagnostic scales of the CBCL. Diagnostic prediction was examined by conducting logistic regression analyses and plotting receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves. Clinical utility was investigated by examining sensitivity, specificity, and kappa corrections for total predictive power. Results The pattern of correlations with the CBCL provided evidence of convergent and discriminant validity for both versions of the BHCL. ROC curve plots provided clear evidence of predictive validity (area under curve values ranged from .84 to .96 across factors and both age-determined versions). Cut-points achieving sensitivity and specificity values of at least .70 were identified for each BHCL factor for each version. Conclusion The BHCL was demonstrated to have strong construct and predictive validity. The predictive validity of each version was demonstrated across genders, socioeconomic status, and racial groups (black or African American and white). The BHCL has promise as a developmentally and culturally effective behavioral health screener for use in pediatric primary care practices.
Women’s human rights may be unicorns, but they can fight wicked witches:

This essay responds to Alasdair MacIntyre’s skeptical claim that human rights are like “witches” and “unicorns”—as in, they don’t exist, and thus cannot be subject to abstract rational justificatio...
Is Outsourced Data More Secure

There has been considerable debate over whether companies can ensure data security and privacy when they outsource services to offshore providers. U.S. laws that protect information and safeguard privacy do not have extraterritorial jurisdiction, which means that, as offshoring proliferates, U.S. corporations are becoming increasingly dependent on foreign laws to protect their interests. The outsourcing and offshoring of financial and professional services have raised ethical questions regarding integrity, objectivity, disclosure, and client confidentiality. This article, first published in The CPA Journal in 2010, discusses these issues.
Alphabetism: The Effects of Surname Initial and the Cost of Being Otherwise Undistinguished

A small literature demonstrates that names are economically relevant. However, this is the first paper to examine the relationship between surname initial rank and male life outcomes, including human capital investments and labor market experiences. Surnames with initials farther from the beginning of the alphabet were associated with less distinction and satisfaction in high school, lower educational attainment, more military service and less attractive first jobs. These effects were concentrated among men who were undistinguished by cognitive ability or appearance, and, for them, may have persisted into middle age. They suggest that ordering is important and that over-reliance on alphabetical orderings can be harmful.
Do Partner Attachment Behaviors Moderate Avoidant Conflict-Resolution Styles and Relationship Self-Regulation?

ABSTRACTRelationship self-regulation refers to the “work” partners put in to keep their relationships healthy. Past relationship self-regulation research has not taken into account distal variables that may affect it, such as respondents’ own and parental avoidant couple conflict-resolution styles. Using data from 4,456 people in their first marriages who completed the RELATionship Evaluation (RELATE) (Busby, Holman, & Taniguchi, 2001), the current study found a positive correlation between parents’ couple avoidant conflict-resolution style and respondents’ avoidant couple conflict-resolution style. Respondents’ avoidant couple conflict-resolution style was also negatively correlated with relationship self-regulation. Perception of partners’ secure attachment behaviors, however, had a significant strong relationship with respondents’ ability to do relationship self-regulation.
Wavelet-Transform-Based Data-Length-Variation Technique for Fast Heart Rate Detection Using 5.8-GHz CW Doppler Radar

The fast detection of heart rate (HR) is challenging when using the noncontact continuous-wave (CW) Doppler radar. Applying the Fourier transform (FT) to the baseband signal analysis, the accuracy is degraded due to the insufficient frequency resolution if using less than 5-s time window to realize fast detection. Moreover, respiratory harmonic peak might be incorrectly picked as the heartbeat signal if its magnitude is larger than the heartbeat peak in frequency spectrum. In this paper, a wavelet-transform-based data-length-variation technique is proposed to realize the fast detection of HR. With this technique, HR can be extracted with 3–5-s data length, and the respiratory harmonics can be distinguished from heartbeat signals, because the frequency of wavelet harmonic is not as tolerant of the change of the data length as heartbeat in the wavelet frequency spectrum. The algorithm is verified by simulation using numerical computing tool and demonstrated by human tests utilizing a 5.8-GHz CW Doppler radar platform. Compared to the traditional frequency domain method using FT, the proposed technique reduces the average error of HR from 26.7% to 3.5% using 3–5-s length of data varied in the range of ±0.5 s.
Puppets, Profiteers and Traitors: Defining Wartime Collaboration in the Dutch East Indies, 1945–1949

According to Philip Piccigallo, the course of the Allied war crimes trials in Asia after the war was set by national policies and interests rather than by the urge to do justice. If the punishment of war crimes served political ends, it is likely that the punishment of wartime collaboration, especially in a colonial context, was even more politicized. This hypothesis is tested by looking at the ideas of the Dutch East Indies government on the prosecution policies regarding wartime collaboration between 1945 and 1949 to determine to what extent the policies were affected by the war of decolonization. This chapter shows that the unexpected proclamation of independence by Indonesian nationalists after the Japanese surrender made the Dutch colonial government revise its ideas. A combination of political, military and practical factors made the Dutch move from a stern position to a more lenient stand on punishing collaborators, but without completely abandoning prosecution for collaboration. On the one hand, definitions and categories of collaboration were narrowed to prevent all Indonesians from being prosecuted for having nationalist feelings and to prevent population groups from alienating themselves from the Dutch. On the other hand, the colonial government created room to include in the definition crimes committed by Indonesian protagonists during the new war.
Estimating the antimicrobial log reduction: part 2. presence/absence assays

This is part 2 of a pair of papers on antimicrobial assays conducted to estimate the log reduction (LR), in the density of viable microbes, attributable to the germicide. Two alternative definitions of LR were defined in part 1, one based on the mean of the log-transformed densities; the other is based on the logarithm of the mean of densities. In this paper, we evaluate statistical methods for estimating LR from an antimicrobial assay in which the responses are presence/absence observations at each dilution in a series of dilutions. We provide a model for the presence/absence data, and, for each definition of LR, we derive the maximum likelihood estimator (mle). Using computer simulation methods, we compare the mle to several alternative estimators, including an estimator based on averaging the log-transformed most probable number (mpn) values. Standard error formulas for the estimators are also derived and evaluated using computer simulations. This investigation results in the following recommendations. If the parameter of interest is based on the mean of log-transformed densities, then the results favor use of the log-transformed mpn method. If, however, the parameter of interest is based on the logarithm of the mean of densities, then the results show that the mle should be used.
Is Water at the Graphite Interface Vapor-like or Ice-like?

Graphitic surfaces are the main component of soot, a major constituent of atmospheric aerosols. Experiments indicate that soots of different origins display a wide range of abilities to heterogeneously nucleate ice. The ability of pure graphite to nucleate ice in experiments, however, seems to be almost negligible. Nevertheless, molecular simulations with the monatomic water model mW with water-carbon interactions parameterized to reproduce the experimental contact angle of water on graphite predict that pure graphite nucleates ice. According to classical nucleation theory, the ability of a surface to nucleate ice is controlled by the binding free energy between ice immersed in liquid water and the surface. To establish whether the discrepancy in freezing efficiencies of graphite in mW simulations and experiments arises from the coarse resolution of the model or can be fixed by reparameterization, it is important to elucidate the contributions of the water–graphite, water–ice, and ice–water interfaces to ...
Complete Genome Sequence of EtG, the First Phage Sequenced from Erwinia tracheiphila.

ABSTRACT Erwinia tracheiphila is the causal agent of bacterial wilt of cucurbits. Here, we report the genome sequence of the temperate phage EtG, which was isolated from an E. tracheiphila-infected cucumber plant. Phage EtG has a linear 30,413-bp double-stranded DNA genome with cohesive ends and 45 predicted open reading frames.