cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Small RNAs establish gene expression thresholds

The central role of small RNAs in regulating bacterial gene expression has been elucidated in the past years. Typically, small RNAs act via specific basepairing with target mRNAs, leading to modulation of translation initiation and mRNA stability. Quantitative studies suggest that small RNA regulation is characterized by unique features, which allow it to complement regulation at the transcriptional level. In particular, small RNAs are shown to establish a threshold for the expression of their target, providing safety mechanism against random fluctuations and transient signals. The threshold level is set by the transcription rate of the small RNA and can thus be modulated dynamically to reflect changing environmental conditions.
Televisions in the Bedrooms of Racial/Ethnic Minority Children: How Did They Get There and How Do We Get Them Out?

The purpose of this study was to describe the prevalence of TVs in the bedrooms of an urban, largely racial/ethnic minority population of children and parents’ reasons for putting the TV in their child’s room. The authors surveyed 200 parents of children age 2 to 13 years in a primary care clinic; 57% of the children were non-Hispanic black, 33% were Hispanic. Sixty-seven percent of all children had a TV in the room where they slept; high rates of TVs were present in bedrooms of black (70%) and Hispanic (74%) children compared with white children (22%). The top 3 reasons parents cited for putting a TV in the room where their child sleeps were (a) to keep the child occupied so that the parent could do other things around the house, ( b) to help the child sleep, and (c) to free up the other TVs so that other family members could watch their shows.
Localization strategies for large-scale airborne deployed wireless sensors

Localization is the process of finding the geometric locations of wireless sensor nodes according to some real or virtual coordinate system. It is an important task when direct measurements of the wireless sensor locations are not available. From the various techniques evolved in localizing sensor nodes, one approach is to use the received signal strength to predict the location of unknown sensing devices. In this paper, passive localization algorithms are developed, presented and tested. The algorithms perform region-based localization of stationary wireless sensors with respect to a frame of reference using received signal strength of the sensors. The reported work is conducted in two phases, theoretical development then simulation and hardware testing. In the first phase, localization algorithms were developed to predict the location of wireless sensor nodes. We categorized localization of sensors in three different classes. In class-I, localization is done for sensors that are in the communication range of at least three head nodes. In class -II, localization is done for sensors in the communication range of two head nodes, and in class-III, localization is done for sensors that are in the communication range of only one head node. In the second phase, the three different categories were tested by simulation then using hardware. A test-bed was established using the crossbow (MICAz) hardware and used to measure the sensors transmission signal strength. Then, the localization software provided with these signal strength as input to predict the location of each wireless sensor nodes. The algorithm developments, the simulation and hardware preliminary test results of the localization algorithms are presented in this paper.
What Can We Learn from Hedonic Models When Housing Markets Are Dominated by Foreclosures

Hedonic property value models have been frequently used to value environmental amenities because markets for these goods usually do not exist. Typically, researchers cite Rosen’s (1974) seminal work, which allows one to interpret functions of the hedonic regression coefficients as the marginal willingness to pay for the environmental good. A key assumption needed for the Rosen result to hold is market equilibrium. Recent years have witnessed extreme circumstances—such as wild swings in housing prices, high levels of mortgage default, and, most significantly, high levels of foreclosure—in which this assumption is unlikely to hold. In this article, we address the issue of how we interpret the coefficient estimates for environmental goods in hedonic property value models when markets are dominated by foreclosures. We then focus on housing market conditions when interpreting the hedonic literature on (airport) noise, Superfund sites, air quality, and flood risk.
Near-field radiative heat transfer between parallel structures in the deep subwavelength regime

Thermal radiation between parallel objects separated by deep subwavelength distances and subject to large thermal gradients (>100 K) can reach very high magnitudes, while being concentrated on a narrow frequency distribution. These unique characteristics could enable breakthrough technologies for thermal transport control and electricity generation (for example, by radiating heat exactly at the bandgap frequency of a photovoltaic cell). However, thermal transport in this regime has never been achieved experimentally due to the difficulty of maintaining large thermal gradients over nanometre-scale distances while avoiding other heat transfer mechanisms, namely conduction. Here, we show near-field radiative heat transfer between parallel SiC nanobeams in the deep subwavelength regime. The distance between the beams is controlled by a high-precision micro-electromechanical system (MEMS). We exploit the mechanical stability of nanobeams under high tensile stress to minimize thermal buckling effects, therefore keeping control of the nanometre-scale separation even at large thermal gradients. We achieve an enhancement of heat transfer of almost two orders of magnitude with respect to the far-field limit (corresponding to a 42 nm separation) and show that we can maintain a temperature gradient of 260 K between the cold and hot surfaces at ∼100 nm distance.
Effect of an Enrichment Program on DAT Scores of Potential Dental Students from Disadvantaged Backgrounds

The objectives of this study were to explore whether Dental Admission Test (DAT) training in an enrichment program for potential dental students increases the participants' Perceptual Achievement Test (PAT) and academic average (AA) scores and whether the length of the program and personal factors such as the number of disadvantages correlate with the DAT scores. Data were collected from 361 students in the summer enrichment program at one dental school between 1994 and 2011. Their baseline, midpoint, and end of program PAT and AA DAT scores were collected. Seventy students self-reported official scores. These students' PAT scores increased from 14.40 at baseline to 17.09 at midpoint to 17.84 at program end (p<0.001), and their AA scores increased from 13.53 to 14.09 to 15.12 (p<0.001). Their official scores were higher than the beginning scores (PAT: 14.42 vs. 16.15; p<0.001; AA: 13.61 vs. 16.23; p<0.001). The longer the program, the more the students improved their official scores (PAT: r=0.35; p=0.003; AA: r=0.24; p=0.044). The more disadvantages the students self-reported, the better their official test scores were (PAT: r=0.40; p<0.001; AA: r=0.43; p<0.001). This study found that the DAT training during summer enrich- ment programs for students from disadvantaged backgrounds led to significant improvements in their DA T scores. The longer the programs, the more the students improved; and the more disadvantages the students had, the more they benefitted.
Microtubules Inhibit E-Cadherin Adhesive Activity by Maintaining Phosphorylated p120-Catenin in a Colon Carcinoma Cell Model

Tight regulation of cadherin-mediated intercellular adhesions is critical to both tissue morphogenesis during development and tissue homeostasis in adults. Cell surface expression of the cadherin-catenin complex is often directly correlated with the level of adhesion, however, examples exist where cadherin appears to be inactive and cells are completely non-adhesive. The state of p120-catenin phosphorylation has been implicated in regulating the adhesive activity of E-cadherin but the mechanism is currently unclear. We have found that destabilization of the microtubule cytoskeleton, independent of microtubule plus-end dynamics, dephosphorylates p120-catenin and activates E-cadherin adhesion in Colo 205 cells. Through chemical screening, we have also identified several kinases as potential regulators of E-cadherin adhesive activity. Analysis of several p120-catenin phosphomutants suggests that gross dephosphorylation of p120-catenin rather than that of specific amino acids may trigger E-cadherin adhesion. Uncoupling p120-catenin binding to E-cadherin at the membrane causes constitutive adhesion in Colo 205 cells, further supporting an inhibitory role of phosphorylated p120-catenin on E-cadherin activity.
Allometry among Structures of Proboscises of Vanessa cardui L. (Nymphalidae) and Its Relationship to Fluid Uptake

ABSTRACT. The morphometrics of proboscises of Vanessa cardui were examined to determine potential allometric growth relationships. Butterfly mass and six proboscis measurements were recorded from V. cardui reared on artificial diet treatments, in conjunction with fluid uptake rates. Log10 transformed data revealed negative allometry with proboscis length, butterfly mass, and drinking region length as the independent variables. Fluid uptake rates, however, had a nearly isometric relationship with most proboscis measurements, but not the total number of sensilla styloconica, which indicated inverse allometry with fluid uptake rates. The patterns exposed here show that the studied proboscis structures are important predictors for fluid uptake, but the selection pressures associated with feeding strategies and the substrates from which V. cardui feed favor a particular proboscis architecture, deviations from this configuration might require different feeding strategies and food sources.
Effective Feedback Design Using Free Technologies

Feedback plays a critical role in student learning and performance. However, providing students with effective feedback is challenging in online environments because of physical separation between ...
Canonic real-valued radix-2n FFT computations

Fast Fourier transform (FFT) is an important digital signal processing (DSP) algorithm for analysis of the phase and frequency components of a time-domain signal. Canonic real-valued FFT (RFFT) approach improves the computation performance by completely eliminating arithmetic redundancies. The major advantage of the canonic RFFTs is that these require the least butterfly operations and only involve real datapath when mapped to architectures. In this paper, we study the performances of canonic RFFT computations for different radix factorizations. We compare various radices RFFTs along with their canonic variants from both arithmetic and architectural perspectives. It is shown that decimation-in-frequency (DIF) RFFT structures require less twiddle factor operations than their decimation-in-time (DIT) counterparts. However, we also show that canonic RFFTs may not be desirable when taking the cost of twiddle factor operations as the major consideration.
On the Regularity of the Pluricomplex Green Functions

We study an exterior Dirichlet problem for the homogeneous complex Monge-Ampere equation that arises in the pluripotential theory. As a consequence we prove the C 1, 1 regularity of the plruicomplex Green function for the union of a finite collection of strongly pseudoconvex domains in ℂ n .
Mechanism of Intestinal Absorption of Thiamin

Discussion and ConclusionsOur data show that injections of thyroxin do not increase the rate of intestinal absorption of thiamin chloride in rats as they do in the case of dextrose and other substances susceptible to phosphorylation. This observation would indicate that phosphorylation plays no dominant part in determining the rate of intestinal absorption of thiamin or that thyroxin has no stimulating effect on the rate of enzymic formation of the pyrophosphate ester linkage. The stimulating effect of thyroxin may be limited to the phosphorylating processes involving the mono-phosphoric acid ester, as in the transport of dextrose across the intestinal mucosa. The conclusion that phosphorylation plays no part in the intestinal absorption of thiamin is supported also by the work of Ochoa,10 who found that in vitro intestinal tissue, in contrast to liver tissue, possesses little ability to phosphorylate thiamin.Two observations made during the course of our experiments indicate that absorption of thiamin in...
The Preparation of Vital Neutral Red

Neutral red iodide suitable for vital staining was prepared by condensing nitrosodimethylanilin hydrochloride with m-toluylenediamine and the indamine, toluylene blue, was obtained. This was subjected to air oxidation and converted to the eurhodine, neutral red. The purification of this dye was brought about by converting it into its comparatively insoluble stannous chloride double salt, filtering, dissolving in water, and precipitating the neutral red iodide with potassium iodide solution. This was re-dissolved in water, reprecipitated with potassium iodide solution and crystallized from 95% ethanol. The uncrystallized dye was also found satisfactory for vital staining. Several other preparations of neutral red iodide were made, using a somewhat different procedure than that given above, and it was generally found that satisfactory stains were obtained only when the preparation was free from toluylene blue.The chloride of the color base was prepared by continuing the air oxidation of the toluylene blue u...
Multiple-Timestep ab Initio Molecular Dynamics Using an Atomic Basis Set Partitioning.

This work describes an approach to accelerate ab initio Born–Oppenheimer molecular dynamics (MD) simulations by exploiting the inherent timescale separation between contributions from different atom-centered Gaussian basis sets. Several MD steps are propagated with a cost-efficient, low-level basis set, after which a dynamical correction accounts for large basis set relaxation effects in a time-reversible fashion. This multiple-timestep scheme is shown to generate valid MD trajectories, on the basis of rigorous testing for water clusters, the methanol dimer, an alanine polypeptide, protonated hydrazine, and the oxidized water dimer. This new approach generates observables that are consistent with those of target basis set trajectories, including MD-based vibrational spectra. This protocol is shown to be valid for Hartree–Fock, density functional theory, and second-order Moller–Plesset perturbation theory approaches. Recommended pairings include 6-31G as a low-level basis set for 6-31G** or 6-311G**, as we...
Schleiermacher, Kierkegaard, and the problem of first immediacy

Manifold expressions of a particular critique appear throughout Soren Kierkegaard’s pseudonymous corpus: for Kierkegaard and his pseudonyms faith is categorically not a first immediacy, and it is certainly not the first immediate, the annulment of which concludes the first movement of Hegelian philosophy. Kierkegaard’s pseudonyms make it clear that he holds the Hegelian dogmaticians responsible for the promulgation of this misconception, but when Kierkegaard’s journals and papers are consulted another transgressor emerges: the renowned anti-idealist F.D.E. Schleiermacher. I address the extent to which this particular indictment is justified; over-against Gerhard Schreiber, I argue that this characterization of Schleiermacher’s view of religion is indeed a de facto critique. I begin by presenting and demonstrating the ubiquity of the phenomenon at the heart of Schleiermacher’s conception of perfect God-consciousness, then proceed to apply criticisms raised by Kierkegaardian pseudonyms Judge William, Vigilius Haufniensis, Johannes Climacus, and Anti-Climacus, supplemented with concerns raised by Kierkegaard himself, in order to demonstrate that these criticisms do indeed apply to and problematize Schleiermacher’s view.
Gang Prevention and Intervention

When I first met Inspector Allen Davis in the summer of 2008 he had not long returned from a trip to the United States, which, in his own words, had ‘revolutionized’ his thinking about gang intervention. This admission worried me. Allen had visited California, the state people usually visit to learn how not to intervene with gangs. In Los Angeles County alone there are an estimated 1000 gangs and over 80,000 gang members. Approximately 10,000 young people have been killed in gang conflicts there over the past two decades (Howell, 2012). But here was Allen telling me that he’s found the secret to gang prevention. And predictably for an American gang project, it was an acronym: GREAT.
Apoptosis in Bone Cells

Apoptosis is an important regulatory process that, in combination with cell division, determines not only cell numbers, but also the shape and volume of individual organs (Kerr et al. 1972; Wyllie et al. 1980). It is critical during embryonic development for the elimination of superfluous cells, such as the connective tissue between developing fingers (a bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-dependent process; Zou and Niswander 1996; Yokouchi et al. 1996), and for ensuring that folding and rotation of primitive tissues occur at precise times. High mitotic and low apoptotic rates ensure the rapid growth of highly malignant tumors (Mooney et al. 1995), while induction of massive apoptosis is a major mechanism of action of most chemotherapeutic agents (Lowe et al. 1993) and irradiation therapy (Lee and Bernstein 1993) to reduce tumor volume. Large-scale apoptosis of breast cells follows the cessation of lactation and leads to the associated reduction in breast size, and shrinkage of prostatic tissue after orchidectomy occurs by a similar mechanism (Reed 1994). Because bone is a hormonally sensitive tissue, it is possible that apoptosis of bone cells could be a major determinant of bone shape and volume and, as with the breast and prostate, the amount of tissue present is likely to be regulated by the activity of hormones and growth factors.
International Advertising: Using Hofstede’S (1980) Framework as a Basis for Standardization

This research addresses the standardization versus adaptation of international advertising. It is suggested that Hofstede’s (1980)framework may be used as a segmentation tool to standardize advertising across clusters of the population that share common cultural attributes. Propositions are offered Limitations are discussed.
Implementing Voice over AAL2 on a Network Processor

Publisher Summary The flexibility and programmability of next-generation network-processing units (NPU) make them a key component of next-generation telecommunications equipment. NPUs can support a variety of packet-processing applications, with a variety of different requirements. This chapter discusses the special requirements and challenges presented by the Voice over AAL2 (VoAAL2) application. The architecture and design of a VoAAL2 application developed for the Intel IXP2400 processor is described, and the features of an NPU that are required to support this type of application are discussed. With strict quality of service requirements and asynchronous inputs, VoAAL2 can be performed on an NPU. The application is most naturally implemented using an asynchronous programming model. It is found that the IXP2400 naturally supports such a programming model. Support for asynchronous components that span microengines can be improved by adding support for a distributed lock manager.
Finite versus infinite: An insufficient shift

Abstract The shift graph G S is defined on the space of infinite subsets of natural numbers by letting two sets be adjacent if one can be obtained from the other by removing its least element. We show that this graph is not a minimum among the graphs of the form G f defined on some Polish space X , where two distinct points are adjacent if one can be obtained from the other by a given Borel function f : X → X . This answers the primary outstanding question from [8] .
Assessing Cognitive Phenotypes in Zebrafish

Zebrafish are becoming increasingly utilized in behavioral studies as a model of human learning and memory. The existing studies indicate that this species is capable of a variety of cognitive processes, demonstrating its value as a model organism. Popular zebrafish behavioral paradigms to assess various aspects of learning and memory include the startle response, novel tank, learned spatial alternation, three-chamber tank, T-maze and plus maze. Each paradigm is sensitive to pharmacological, genetic and/or experimental manipulations, and within each test specific methodologies and apparatuses have been developed to accommodate the abilities and limitations of this aquatic model, as reviewed here.
Collective treatment of the pairing Hamiltonian: (I). Formulation of the model

Abstract We develop a treatment of the pairing force problem in terms of two collective variables: the intrinsic deformation α and the gauge angle φ. The comparison between the results obtained solving the corresponding quantum mechanical Hamiltonian and those obtained by an exact diagonalization shows the adequacy of the present approach.
Ibrutinib treatment improves T cell number and function in CLL patients

BACKGROUND. Ibrutinib has been shown to have immunomodulatory effects by inhibiting Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) and IL-2–inducible T cell kinase (ITK). The relative importance of inhibiting these 2 kinases has not been examined despite its relevance to immune-based therapies. METHODS. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients on clinical trials of ibrutinib (BTK/ITK inhibitor; n = 19) or acalabrutinib (selective BTK inhibitor; n = 13) were collected serially. T cell phenotype, immune function, and CLL cell immunosuppressive capacity were evaluated. RESULTS. Ibrutinib markedly increased CD4+ and CD8+ T cell numbers in CLL patients. This effect was more prominent in effector/effector memory subsets and was not observed with acalabrutinib. Ex vivo studies demonstrated that this may be due to diminished activation-induced cell death through ITK inhibition. PD-1 and CTLA-4 expression was significantly markedly reduced in T cells by both agents. While the number of Treg cells remained unchanged, the ratio of these to conventional CD4+ T cells was reduced with ibrutinib, but not acalabrutinib. Both agents reduced expression of the immunosuppressive molecules CD200 and BTLA as well as IL-10 production by CLL cells. CONCLUSIONS. Ibrutinib treatment increased the in vivo persistence of activated T cells, decreased the Treg/CD4+ T cell ratio, and diminished the immune-suppressive properties of CLL cells through BTK-dependent and -independent mechanisms. These features provide a strong rationale for combination immunotherapy approaches with ibrutinib in CLL and other cancers. TRIAL REGISTRATION. ClinicalTrials.gov {"type":"clinical-trial","attrs":{"text":"NCT01589302","term_id":"NCT01589302"}}NCT01589302 and {"type":"clinical-trial","attrs":{"text":"NCT02029443","term_id":"NCT02029443"}}NCT02029443. Samples described here were collected per OSU-0025. FUNDING. The National Cancer Institute.
Representation of Quivers

This chapter introduces another aspect of the current research on representation of algebras. This Une of work began with the papers [34] and [35] of P. Gabriel. He gave an explicit construction of the indecomposable modules for certain finite dimensional F-algebras. The most surprising part of Gabriel’s result is a link between the representation theory of algebras and the Dynkin diagrams that occur in the study of semisimple Lie algebras. This relation between associative and Lie algebras was clarified by Bernstein, Gel’fand and Ponomarev in [18]; they showed that many algebraic problems can be formulated as questions about the representations of quivers. The characterization of finite representation type for certain associative algebras and the structure theory of semisimple Lie algebras are such problems.
138 Following the trail of investments in public health research to trace racial health disparities

Public health investments aim to improve health of all people. Hence it is important to assess whether public health investments accurately reflect the public health burden for both white and black Americans. We used potential years of life lost (PYLL) to examine if the investments made in public health funding, publications, and training align with the PYLL burden of white and black Americans. In a cross-sectional study, we compared the PYLLs across 39 causes of death by race using all-cause US mortality data from 2014 and 2015. We also examined the relationship of race with cause-of-death-specific PYLL and key indicators of public health investment: federal funding (National Institute of Health reports), number of publications (Pubmed), and training (course offerings at top five schools of public health) using linear spline models and graphical analysis. We found that homicide was the number one contributor to PYLL among black Americans, and the 12th contributor to PYLL among white Americans. Firearm-related violence accounted for 88% of black homicide PYLL and 71% of white homicide PYLL. Despite its high burden of PYLL, homicide was the focus of few grants or publications. No courses at top public health schools were dedicated solely to firearm-related violence/homicide research training. While Black Americans are disproportionately affected by homicide and the majority of homicide PYLL for both black and white Americans is attributed to firearm-related violence, we see a dramatic under representation of homicide and firearm-related violence research in public health funding, research, and training. In addition to lives lost, large PYLL captures the loss of human potential that can push families into poverty and societies toward heightened inequality. The medical and public health community must do more to address this public health crisis by calling for greater funding and improved training opportunities in homicide and firearm-related violence research.
Planning a Change Easily (PACE): A Randomized Controlled Trial for Smokers Who Are Not Ready to Quit

Smoking cessation programs are efficacious and have been validated to assist the 10% to 30% of smokers who are ready to quit in the next 30 days. While the majority of smokers want to quit smoking in the future, only 69% are planning to quit within the next year. Planning a Change Easily (PACE) is a nation-wide, telephone-based comparative effectiveness, randomized controlled trial for smokers not ready to quit (SNRTQ). This project, as well as its intervention components, outcomes, and hypotheses are discussed. This study will compare the effectiveness of four intervention conditions that could potentially help SNRTQ to quit smoking: Brief Advice, Motivational Interviewing, Rate Reduction, and Motivational Interviewing plus Rate Reduction combined. Rate Reduction conditions will include the provision of nicotine replacement therapy in the form of gum. Approximately 840 participants will be recruited and randomized to the four intervention conditions. The main outcomes for this study include self-report prolonged and point prevalence abstinence with biochemical verification of cessation. Secondary outcomes include quit attempts, cost-per-quit, and cost-effectiveness analyses. Informed by evidenced-based interventions, strong clinical guidelines, and economic analysis, PACE has the potential for significant public health impact. Results could readily be disseminated and translated to tobacco quitlines, which are present in all 50 states and are offered free to the public.
Tile-based rigidization surface parametric design study

Inflatable technologies have proven useful in consumer goods as well as in more recent applications including civil structures, aerospace, medical, and robotics. However, inflatable technologies are typically lacking in their ability to provide rigid structural support. Particle jamming improves upon this by providing structures which are normally flexible and moldable but become rigid when air is removed. Because these are based on an airtight bladder filled with loose particles, they always occupy the full volume of its rigid state, even when not rigidized. More recent developments in layer jamming have created thin, compact rigidizing surfaces replacing the loose volume of particles with thinly layered surface materials. Work in this area has been applied to several specific applications with positive results but have not generally provided the broader understanding of the rigidization performance as a function of design parameters required for directly adapting layer rigidization technology to other applications. This paper presents a parametric design study of a new layer jamming vacuum rigidization architecture: tile-based vacuum rigidization. This form of rigidization is based on layers of tiles contained within a thin vacuum bladder which can be bent, rolled, or otherwise compactly stowed, but when deployed flat, can be vacuumed and form a large, flat, rigid plate capable of supporting large forces both localized and distributed over the surface. The general architecture and operation detailing rigidization and compliance mechanisms is introduced. To quantitatively characterize the rigidization behavior, prototypes rigidization surfaces are fabricated and an experimental technique is developed based on a 3-point bending test. Performance evaluation metrics are developed to describe the stiffness, load-bearing capacity, and internal slippage of tested prototypes. A set of experimental parametric studies are performed to better understand the impact of variations in geometric design parameters, operating parameters, and architectural variations on the performance evaluation metrics. The results of this study bring insight into the rigidization behavior of this architecture, and provide design guidelines and expose tradeoffs to form the basis for the design of tile-based rigidization surfaces for a wide range of applications.
The Quest for Predicting Sustained Shunt Response in Normal-Pressure Hydrocephalus: An Analysis of the Callosal Angle's Utility

Background Diagnosing normal-pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) and selecting patients who will experience a sustained benefit from fluid diversion surgery remains challenging. This study seeks to evaluate the association between the callosal angle (CA) and the long-term postoperative response to ventriculoperitoneal shunt surgery in a different subgroup population than previously studied to assess its generalizability. Methods We studied 72 patients with idiopathic NPH who underwent ventriculoperitoneal shunt surgery and had at least 18 months of follow-up between 2000 and 2016. We recorded their pre- and postoperative symptoms according to the NPH Eide scale and their comorbidities with the Kiefer index. Their CA, as well as Evans' Index, ventricular height, and transependymal signal were measured. Multivariable statistical models were used to determine which factors were associated with postoperative improvement while we controlled for the presence of the NPH triad. Results Fifty-nine patients (82%) demonstrated a successful response to surgery at their first postoperative follow-up. However, this declined to 54 patients (75%) at 1 year and 45 (62.5%) patients at their last follow-up. When we controlled for the presence of the triad of symptoms, the CA significantly predicted a good, sustained response to surgery; for every degree decrease in the CA, a patient is 4% more likely to experience benefit from surgery. Conclusions The CA is a useful preoperative prognostic tool for predicting which patients will experience a sustained benefit from surgery. Further studies are required to clarify this disease in the context of old age, comorbidity, and possible concomitant neurodegenerative diseases.
Program Evaluation in Doctoral-Level Counselor Education Preparation: Concerns and Recommendations

Within the context of intentional collaboration between doctoral-level program evaluation and counselor educators, this article addresses the need for advanced training in program evaluation for pr...
Iconic approach for data annotating, searching and correlating

This chapter presents the current state-of-the-art in iconic descriptive approaches to annotating, searching, and correlating that are based on the concepts of compound and composite icons, the iconic annotation process, and iconic queries. Specific iconic languages used for applications such as video annotation, military use and text annotation are discussed. Graphical coding principals are derived through the consideration of questions such as: How much information can a small icon convey? How many attributes can be displayed on a small icon either explicitly or implicitly? The chapter also summirizes impact of human perception on icon design.
Recent Developments in the Design of Image and Video Processing ICs

Hardware support for image processing is very important in emerging applications such as desktop publishing, medical imaging, and multimedia. In the past, computational needs for intensive image processing tasks, such as image analysis of satellite data and pattern recognition, were satisfied with custom, complex, and expensive image processing architectures [1], [2] However, the latest scientific workstations have enough compute power for low-cost desktop image processing. Furthermore, traditional image processing operations, such as texture mapping and warping, are now combined with conventional graphics techniques. Hence, there is an increased interest for accelerated image and video processing on low cost computational platforms, such as personal computers and scientific workstations.
Women's Morality: A Test of Carol Gilligan's Theory

The purpose of this paper is to analyze male and female perspectives of morality, using Carol Gilligan's theory of gender differences. The hermeneutic–dialectic mode of inquiry was used to understand the process and outcome of the participants' perspectives. Three discourses were utilized to examine the notion of morality of the women participants, the men participants, and a final discourse in which both sexes were brought together. The women demonstrated few personal boundaries in their understanding of morality whereas the men's approach remained abstract and detached. The majority of both group members, however, showed potential to understand the social realm of the others' dominant approach to morality, but no consensus was reached. The gender distinct moral language continued to persist throughout the final discourse and the subjective versus intellectual approach remained more comfortable for each respective group. The findings are consistent with Gilligan's theory and the causes are understood from both a psychological and sociological viewpoint.
Neutron deformation in 165Ho.

We report asymmetries in the forward-angle differential cross sections for pion single-charge-exchange scattering from oriented and unoriented $^{165}\mathrm{Ho}$ nuclei. These asymmetries are directly related to the neutron deformation of a nucleus that has a large charge quadrupole moment. The measured asymmetry extrapolated to 0\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{} is -0.020\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.024. In the model of Chiang and Johnson, this value implies a quadrupole deformation ratio ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\beta}}}_{2}^{\mathit{n}}$/${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\beta}}}_{2}^{\mathit{p}}$=0.84\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.08, indicating that the excess neutrons are less deformed than the protons. This result conflicts with the predictions of the best available Hartree-Fock models based on Skyrme interactions. We also report on asymmetries of the nonresonant continuum and of the giant dipole resonances.
Community-Acquired Pneumonia in the Immunocompromised Host

The past two decades have witnessed a remarkable change in the care and prognosis of individuals who are immunocompromised as a consequence of an underlying disease and/or its therapy. Prolonged patient survival has resulted from important advances in organ and bone marrow transplantation, in the therapy of a variety of autoimmune disturbances, in the management of an increasing number of malignancies, and in the treatment of AIDS. This has resulted in the return of these individuals to their families, the workplace, and the community at large. At the same time, care patterns have also changed. Whereas in the past, care of these individuals had been largely the province of academic subspecialists, increasingly these patients are being cared for by practitioners in the community. The most common problems encountered in these patients are the infectious disease problems that result from the interaction of the patient’s state of immunocompromise and community-acquired pathogens. Of these infectious disease problems, the most common serious infection is pneumonia. Pneumonia in the immunocompromised patient represents a particular challenge to the clinician for several reasons. On the one hand, a diverse array of
Bayesian Accelerated Reliability Growth of Complex Systems

Today's competitive global business environment and continually increasing product complexity have created a need to shorten product development time while guaranteeing high reliability for customers. In this context, reliability growth programs and accelerated life testing (ALT) have become the tools of choice to help companies achieve their product reliability goals as fast as possible. One of the most popular statistical models for analyzing reliability growth data is the Crow-AMSAA model, which struggles to incorporate ALT data when the product has multiple failure modes. Moreover, key system components may be developed independently and without incorporating the testing results in the product reliability estimation. Thus, companies may be performing unnecessary testing at the system level.
Sketchy communication: An experiential exercise for learning about communication in business

To be an effective communicator, students need to learn how to select the appropriate means of communication and be aware of potential obstacles. The model of communication process can be an effect...
Contact mechanics of a gel under constrained swelling

Abstract Gels have been widely explored in many engineering applications, in which they often swell with mechanical constraints. In this paper, we study mechanics of contact between a constrained swelling gel and a rigid spherical probe. We first derive an analytical form of the surface Green's function of a laterally constrained swelling gel occupying a half space. We then obtain an analytical form of the relationship between the indentation force and indentation depth for a spherical rigid indenter pressing onto a laterally constrained swelling gel, with and without taking account of the adhesion. Our theory also uncovers the influences of the constrained swelling ratio of the gel on the contact area (as well as its eccentricity), pull-off force and critical distance at separation. The essential parts of the analytical results are validated by finite element simulations. The results obtained in this article may help to better interpret experimental measurements from indentation tests of swollen gels.
EasyCrash: Exploring Non-Volatility of Non-Volatile Memory for High Performance Computing Under Failures.

Emerging non-volatile memory (NVM) is promising for building future HPC. Leveraging the non-volatility of NVM as main memory, we can restart the application using data objects remaining on NVM when the application crashes. This paper explores this solution to handle HPC under failures, based on the observation that many HPC applications have good enough intrinsic fault tolerance. To improve the possibility of successful recomputation with correct outcomes and ignorable performance loss, we introduce EasyCrash, a framework to decide how to selectively persist application data objects during application execution. Our evaluation shows that EasyCrash transforms 54% of crashes that cannot correctly recompute into the correct computation while incurring a negligible performance overhead (1.5% on average). Using EasyCrash and application intrinsic fault tolerance, 82% of crashes can successfully recompute. When EasyCrash is used with a traditional checkpoint scheme, it enables up to 24% improvement (15% on average) in system efficiency.
The Cost of Code Violations: How Building Codes Shape Residential Sales Prices and Rents

Existing literature suggests a positive correlation between building codes and housing prices. Yet studies rarely differentiate between resolved and unresolved code violations, or between residenti...
Crop signalling: A novel crop recognition technique for robotic weed control

Weed control is a significant cost for speciality crop producers, especially on organic farms. Agricultural operations are still largely dependent on hand weeding that is labour intensive and labour shortages and rising wages have led to a surge in food production costs. Thus, there is an inherent need to automate weed control and contain both labour costs and demands. Automatically distinguishing weeds from the crop plant is a complex problem since weeds come in a wide variety of colours, shapes, and sizes, and crop plant foliage is often overlapped with itself or occluded by the weeds. Current technology in commercial use, cannot reliably and effectively perform the differentiation task in such complex scenarios in real-time. As a solution to this problem, our team at the University of California, Davis has developed a novel concept called crop signalling, a technology to make crop plants machine readable and reliably distinguishable from weeds for automatic weed control. Four different techniques have been investigated and developed to make smart crop marking systems such as a) systemic markers, b) fluorescent proteins, c) plant labels and d) topical markers. Indoor experiments have been conducted for each method. Field experiments, using plant labels and the topical markers methods, have been successfully conducted for real-time weed control in tomato and lettuce. The results demonstrated that robots could automatically detect and distinguish 99.7% of the crop plants with no false positive errors in dense complex outdoor scenes with high weed densities. The crop/weed differentiation was thus effective, fast, reliable, and commercialisation of robotic weed control using the technique may be feasible.
The effect of child mental health service use on child safety and permanency in substance misusing families

Abstract Research has shown that parental substance misuse leads to a great number of adverse child protection outcomes for children including delays in reunification and reentry into out-of-home care. Although studies suggest that provision of behavioral health services for children can serve as a protective factor in this regard, empirical evidence for the beneficial effect of these services for families experiencing substance misuse is lacking. This study examined whether receipt of children’s behavioral health services mitigated the effects of parental substance misuse with regard to child safety and permanency outcomes. The study sample included all children who either entered or exited out-of-home care in Florida anytime between July 2007 and June 2010 and were enrolled in the Child Welfare-Prepaid Mental Health plan. Data were obtained from the Florida Safe Families Network (FSFN) and Medicaid claims data sets. Cox regression was used to examine time to reunification and time to reentry into care. Findings revealed that parental substance misuse was significantly negatively associated with family reunification. The presence of parental substance misuse significantly reduced the likelihood of family reunification, whether or not children received mental health services. However, children who received mental health services and were reunified with their parents were almost three times less likely to reenter out-of-home care – even in families experiencing parental substance misuse. Receipt of behavioral health services was differentially associated with time to reunification and reentry into out-of-home care. As child welfare systems strive to become more family focused, e.g. addressing parent and child needs, these findings suggest that mental health service delivery to children in foster care remains important.
Mindfulness and nocturnal rumination are independently associated with symptoms of insomnia and depression during pregnancy.

Abstract Background Insomnia and depression are highly prevalent perinatal complications. Ruminating on stress is etiologically implicated in both disorders, and ruminating while trying to fall asleep has been linked to insomnia and depression during pregnancy. Incompatible with rumination is everyday mindfulness, i.e., living with intentional and nonjudgmental awareness of internal and external experiences in the present moment. Responding to stress mindfully may protect against stress-related perinatal complications such as insomnia and depression. The present study described the association between everyday mindfulness and nocturnal rumination, and examined whether these trait characteristics were independently related to perinatal insomnia and depression. Methods Cross-sectional and secondary analysis of existing data from 65 pregnant women recruited from a multisite hospital in Metro Detroit, MI, USA. Subjects completed online surveys including the Insomnia Severity Index, Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, Presleep Arousal Scale, and the revised Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale. Results Over half (53.8%) of women screened positive for clinical insomnia and 12.3% screened positive for major depression. Women high in mindfulness, relative to those low in mindfulness, reported less nocturnal rumination (Cohen's d=1.16), insomnia symptoms (Cohen's d=1.24), and depressive symptoms (Cohen's d=1.35). Multivariate linear regression revealed that both mindfulness (β=-.24, p=.03) and rumination (β=.38, p Conclusions Ruminating in bed at night is strongly associated with insomnia and depression during pregnancy, whereas mindfulness may potentially protect against these stress-related perinatal complications.
Understanding the Oxygen-Sensing Pathway and Its Therapeutic Implications in Diseases

Maintaining oxygen homeostasis is a most basic cellular process for adapting physiological oxygen variations, and its abnormality typically leads to various disorders in the human body. The key molecules of the oxygen-sensing system include the transcriptional regulator hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF), which controls a wide range of oxygen responsive target genes (eg, EPO and VEGF), certain members of the oxygen/2-oxoglutarate-dependent dioxygenase family, including the HIF proline hydroxylase (PHD, alias EGLN), and an E3 ubiquitin ligase component for HIF destruction called von Hippel-Lindau. In this review, we summarize the physiological role and highlight the pathologic function for each protein of the oxygen-sensing system. A better understanding of their molecular mechanisms of action will help uncover novel therapeutic targets and develop more effective treatment approaches for related human diseases, including cancer.