cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Joint Toxicity of Chlorpyrifos and Endosulfan to Pacific Treefrog ( Pseudacris regilla) Tadpoles

Recent ecotoxicology studies have focused on the potential interaction of pesticides and the effects these interactions may have on aquatic ecosystems. We examined the combined effects of two insecticides, endosulfan and chlorpyrifos, that have been previously examined individually on survival, growth, and development of Pacific treefrog (Pseudacris regilla) tadpoles. Historically, both pesticides have been heavily used in the Central Valley of California, been identified in downwind montane areas, and are highly toxic to amphibian larvae. Tadpoles were exposed to chlorpyrifos and endosulfan individually and in combination from Gosner stage 25 through metamorphosis to evaluate the individual effects and the interaction between these insecticides. Chlorpyrifos alone did not affect survival or body size after 30 days, even at concentrations greater than the previously reported LC50. Survival and body size decreased with increasing endosulfan concentrations. The interactive effects of the insecticides depended on concentration and exposure duration. In combination, 137 µg/L chlorpyrifos inhibited the negative effects of endosulfan on growth and survival. The presence of both insecticides in combination facilitated the development of axial malformations. In the presence of endosulfan with either 266 or 394 µg/L chlorpyrifos, malformations occurred in 33 and 87 % of tadpoles, respectively. Our results indicate that organophosphorus and organochlorine pesticides with different modes of action can result in varying interactions depending on their concentrations and on the end points being assessed. Further examination of contaminant impacts on natural aquatic systems should continue to focus on the effects of multiple contaminants and their potential for unpredictable, nonadditive interactions.
Beyond Content, Media, and Carrier: RDA Carrier Characteristics

In moving to Resource Description and Access (RDA), the change from recording a General Material Designation (GMD) to recording separate elements for Content, Media, and Carrier has attracted most of the cataloging world's attention. By themselves, these elements do not provide the user with enough nuance to perform the basic functions of finding, identifying, selecting, and obtaining materials. RDA includes a set of lower-level elements called Carrier Characteristics for describing these resource's properties; however, these elements have not enjoyed as much discussion in the professional literature as have the three higher-tier elements. Details of RDA's carrier characteristics are discussed and their shortcomings are analyzed.
THE CELLULAR PROEMBRYO OF ZAMIA AND ITS CAP CELLS

My experience confirms that of Webber (1901) and of Coulter and Chamberlain (1903), all of whom report that cones of Zamia continue their development for some time (10 days to 2 weeks) after removal from the plant. Webber (1901) was able on several occasions to check the fixation of material shipped and then killed (the interval being several days) with that fixed immediately in the field. He stated that he was unable to find any perceptible differences. Manv hundreds of proembryos in various stages of development were dissected out of the living seeds before being killed and fixed. Even stages in the e,arly development of the proembryo have been obtained without indication of damage. In these early stages the presence of a firm and tenacious archegonial membrane makes such dissections possible. However. in securing most of the very young stages for study the general procedure was to cut out and include a small cube of the surrounding gametophyte tissue. The employment of dissection permitted individual proembryos, or groups of them, to be studied and photographed as whole units; and as a further advantage m,ade it possible to orient and section them accurately. Various 'killing agents were used: Allen-Bouin Type II; Craf III and IV; formalin-acetic acidalcohol; and formalin-propionic acid-alcohol. The usual methods of embedding, sectioning and staining were employed. There are differences of opinion concerning the number of species of Zamia native to Florida. Webber (1901), who studied the plants in the field as well as in several herb-aria, held that there are two
Topology in information theory in topology

We prove that timed capacity in information theory is a Euclidean continuous function of noise. This is a result based on topological methods that benefits work in information theory. Then we show that binary timing capacity is a measure of distance which yields the Euclidean topology on the unit interval, despite the fact that it does not satisfy the triangle inequality. This is a result based on information theoretic methods that benefits topology. These results have important applications in an area known as information hiding, in the study of quantum communication and in domain theory. They appear to raise fundamental questions about the nature of distance itself.
CorrigendumCorrigendum to “Exposure dating of precariously balanced rocks” [Quaternary Geochronology 6 (2011) 295–303]

Corrigendum to “Exposure dating of precariously balanced rocks” [Quaternary Geochronology 6 (2011) 295e303] Greg Balco *, Matthew D. Purvance , Dylan H. Rood d,e,1 Berkeley Geochronology Center, 2455 Ridge Road, Berkeley, CA 94709, USA b Seismological Laboratory, University of Nevada-Reno, Reno, NV 89557, USA c Itasca Consulting Group, Minneapolis, MN 55401, USA Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, USA e Earth Research Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
Engineering quantum dynamics

The ability to perform measurements on a quantum system, combined with the ability to feed back the measurement results via coherent control, allows one to control the system to follow any desired coherent or incoherent quantum dynamics. Such universal dynamical control can be achieved, in principle, through the repeated application of only two coherent control operations and a simple ``Yes-No'' measurement. As a consequence, a quantum computer can simulate an arbitrary open-system dynamics using just one qubit more than required to simulate closed-system dynamics.
Clinical Use of the Anticoagulant Phenylindanedione Report of 74 Cases

Phenylindanedione is an anticoagulant similar in action to the coumarin series of compounds. Like dicumarol, it is effective orally, acts by lowering blood prothrombin content, and its administration is controlled by daily blood prothrombin determinations. A study of the effective dosage, rapidity of action, cumulative effect and hemorrhagic complications produced by this drug shows that it is a practical anticoagulant for clinical use and has certain advantages over dicumarol.
Organized Activity Involvement, Depressive Symptoms, and Social Adjustment in Adolescents: Ethnicity and Socioeconomic Status as Moderators

The current cross-sectional study investigated the links between various dimensions of organized activity involvement and depressive symptoms, loneliness, and peer victimization in an ethnically and economically diverse sample of adolescents (N = 152; 58% female). Results indicate that adolescents who were involved in organized activities for more years also reported lower levels of loneliness. There was evidence of diminishing returns when adolescents were very highly involved in organized activities; those who were either under- or over-involved reported the highest levels of depressive symptoms. Conversely, findings indicate that adolescents who participated in a narrow or wide range of activity contexts reported the lowest levels of depressive symptoms. In addition, results suggested that the relation between organized activity involvement and adjustment differs among adolescents from diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. Findings from the current study also underscore the importance of considering multiple indices of activity involvement when assessing its association with adjustment.
Flexible use of lexical and sublexical information in word recognition

Within the dual-route framework it is hypothesised that readers exhibit flexibility in their use of lexical and non-lexical information in word naming. In the present study, participants named high- and low-frequency regular one-syllable English words embedded within lists of regular or irregular one- or two-syllable English words. A large number of irregular words should bias the reader toward the lexical route, whereas a list consisting exclusively of regular words should allow more efficient use of sublexical information present in the word. Word frequency effects were obtained when the list was dominated by either regular or irregular two-syllable filler words. Furthermore, there was an interaction between frequency and regularity for the onesyllable words, indicating that the frequency effect was significantly larger when the fillers were one-syllable irregular words relative to one-syllable regular words. These results extend those reported for a shallow orthography, and indicate strategic control over the use of phonological and lexical information in English word recognition.
The Emergence of a Twisted Ω-Tube into the Solar Atmosphere

We report the results of a three-dimensional MHD simulation of the dynamic emergence of a twisted, Ω-shaped tube from the top layer of the solar convection zone into the atmosphere and the corona. It is found that the tube segment at the apex of the Ω-tube expands into the stably stratified atmosphere as a result of the magnetic buoyancy instability (or the Parker instability). Our simulation of the emergence of a left-hand-twisted Ω-tube reproduces several major observed features of a newly developing active region described by Strous and coworkers, including the orientation of the arch-filament system, the distribution of the vertical magnetic field on the photosphere, the locations of sunspot formation, and the organized shear flow pattern in the photospheric horizontal velocity field.
Measuring Collaboration Among Grant Partners

Collaboration is a prerequisite for the sustainability of interagency programs, particu- larly those programs initially created with the support of time-limited grant-funding sources. From the perspective of evaluators, however, assessing collaboration among grant partners is often difficult. It is also challenging to present collaboration data to stakeholders in a way that is meaningful. In this article, the authors introduce the Levels of Collaboration Scale, which was developed from existing models and instruments. The authors extend prior work on measuring collaboration by exploring the reliability of the scale and developing a format for visually displaying the results obtained from using the scale.
Deletion of a gene cluster encoding pectin degrading enzymes in Caldicellulosiruptor bescii reveals an important role for pectin in plant biomass recalcitrance

Background: A major obstacle, and perhaps the most important economic barrier to the effective use of plant biomass for the production of fuels, chemicals, and bioproducts, is our current lack of knowledge of how to efficiently and effectively deconstruct wall polymers for their subsequent use as feedstocks. Plants represent the most desired source of renewable energy and hydrocarbons because they fix CO2, making their use carbon neutral. Their biomass structure, however, is a barrier to deconstruction, and this is often referred to as recalcitrance. Members of the bacterial genus Caldicellulosiruptor have the ability to grow on unpretreated plant biomass and thus provide an assay for plant deconstruction and biomass recalcitrance. Results: Using recently developed genetic tools for manipulation of these bacteria, a deletion of a gene cluster encoding enzymes for pectin degradation was constructed, and the resulting mutant was reduced in its ability to grow on both dicot and grass biomass, but not on soluble sugars. The plant biomass from three phylogenetically diverse plants, Arabidopsis (a herbaceous dicot), switchgrass (a monocot grass), and poplar (a woody dicot), was used in these analyses. These biomass types have cell walls that are significantly different from each other in both structure and composition. While pectin is a relatively minor component of the grass and woody dicot substrates, the reduced growth of the mutant on all three biomass types provides direct evidence that pectin plays an important role in biomass recalcitrance. Glycome profiling of the plant material remaining after growth of the mutant on Arabidopsis biomass compared to the wild-type revealed differences in the rhamnogalacturonan I, homogalacturonan, arabinogalactan, and xylan profiles. In contrast, only minor differences were observed in the glycome profiles of the switchgrass and poplar biomass. Conclusions: The combination of microbial digestion and plant biomass analysis provides a new and important platform to identify plant wall structures whose presence reduces the ability of microbes to deconstruct plant walls and to identify enzymes that specifically deconstruct those structures.
Image Improvement from a Sodium-Layer Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics System

A sodium-layer laser guide star beacon with high-order adaptive optics at Lick Observatory (Mount Hamilton, California) produced a factor of 2.4 intensity increase and a factor of 2 decrease in full width at half maximum for an astronomical point source, compared with image motion compensation alone. The image full widths at half maximum were identical for laser and natural guide stars (0.3 arc second). The Strehl ratio with the laser guide star was 65 percent of that with a natural guide star. This technique should allow ground-based telescopes to attain the diffraction limit, by correcting for atmospheric distortions.
Gene Products of Corticosteroid Action in Hippocampusa

We used two methods to examine altered patterns of gene expression in rat hippocampus in response to administered glucocorticoids: analysis of RNA in vitro translation products on 2-d gels and cloning of cDNAs from a rat hippocampal library by differential hybridization (+/- CORT). We determined that two of the CORT-responsive cDNA clones encoded the 35- and 50-kd RNA translation products and identified them as GPDH and GFAP, respectively, by sequence analysis. Cloned mRNAs that increased and decreased in response to CORT were determined to be under positive and negative regulation by glucocorticoids in intact rats. Despite their similarities in glucocorticoid response characteristics, we found three subsets of hippocampal mRNA responses to CORT and shaking stress which differ in temporal and level-dependent aspects of CORT regulation. In addition, GPDH gene expression represents a glucocorticoid-dependent stress response which is rapidly increased in a dose- and stressor-dependent manner. It is a candidate for a sensitive indicator of stress responsiveness in the brain as a function of neuroendocrine activity. Mechanisms of adaptation to stress in the brain are likely to involve responses that are both mediated by glucocorticoids and opposed by them. GFAP and TGF-beta 1 mRNA responses may be examples of the latter, since they are decreased in response to glucocorticoids, are under negative regulation by glucocorticoids in intact rats, and are increased in response to brain injury and disease and during aging. If these astrocytic and microglial responses are involved in cellular defense mechanisms in the brain, then their regulation by glucocorticoids would be important in maintaining and restoring cellular homeostasis in physiological and pathophysiological states. Future studies using these sensitive probes for glucocorticoid-regulated gene expression may identify new mechanisms by which the brain coordinates acute and chronic responses to stress and disease.
Engineered porous metals for implants

Interest is significant in patient-specific implants with the possibility of guided tissue regeneration, particularly for load-bearing implants. For such implants to succeed, novel design approaches and fabrication technologies that can achieve balanced mechanical and functional performance in the implants are necessary. This article is focused on porous load-bearing implants with tailored micro-as well as macrostructures using laser-engineered net shaping (LENS™), a solid freeform fabrication or rapid prototyping technique that can be used to manufacture patient-specific implants. This review provides an insight into LENS, some properties of porous metals, and the potential applications of this process to fabricate unitized structures which can eliminate longstanding challenges in load-bearing implants to increase their in-vivo lifetime, such as in a total hip prosthesis.
FATE OF POST‐COOKING MICROBIAL CONTAMINANTS OF SOME MAJOR MENU ITEMS

The growing complexity of institutional feeding systems presents challenges for protection against post-cooking microbial contamination. Satellite feeding systems, which commonly involve prolonged holding of cooked foods, increase the potential hazards originating from microbial contaminants. To study the fate of post-cooking contaminants, Escherichia coli, Salmonella enteritidis, Salmonella typhimurium, Staphylococcus aureus and Clostridium perfringens were grown as broth cultures and applied to the surfaces of foods. Cooking relatively heavily contaminated ground meat reduced the natural microbial load to a very low count. The resistant flora consisted of vegetative cells and Bacillus spores. The count in the cooked food did not increase after each step in the sequence of treatments involving freezing, warming and holding warm or at room temperature for as much as six hours. Surface inoculated meat loaf and peas were held at 50° or 60°C for up to 2 hr with periodic plate counts using selective media to determine the fate of the specific bacteria being studied. Survival of surface inocula was attributed to surface evaporation cooling the lodgment of bacteria. Covering food with a polyethylene film retarded surface evaporation and increased destruction of surface contaminants.
Chronic myelogenous leukemia: laboratory diagnosis and monitoring.

Rapid developments have occurred both in laboratory medicine and in therapeutic interventions for the management of patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). With a wide array of laboratory tests available, selecting the appropriate test for a specific diagnostic or therapeutic setting has become increasingly difficult. In this review, we first discuss, from the point of view of laboratory medicine, the advantages and disadvantages of several commonly used laboratory assays, including cytogenetics, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), and qualitative and quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). We then discuss, from the point of view of clinical care, the test(s) of choice for the most common clinical scenarios, including diagnosis and monitoring of the therapeutic response and minimal residual disease in patients treated with different therapies. The purpose of this review is to help clinicians and laboratory physicians select appropriate tests for the diagnosis and monitoring of CML, with the ultimate goal of improving the cost-effective usage of clinical laboratories and improving patient care.
Psychosocial Outcomes of Participating in Pediatric Diabetes Camp.

Objective There are approximately 18,400 youth who are newly diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) in the United States each year. Because of the potential for hypoglycemia, frequent need to monitor blood glucose, and other medical care associated with T1DM, children may not be able to participate in the typical summer camp experience. The aims of this study were (1) to evaluate the impact of camp on the child's attitude toward their illness, (2) to evaluate the child's confidence in self-care management of their diabetes, (3) to assess the child's perception and satisfaction with the camp experience, and (4) to evaluate the perception of camp experience by the parents. Design and Sample Thirty-eight parent-child dyads participated in a pretest, posttest quasi-experimental research study evaluating the benefits of a camping experience for the child with T1DM. Results Pre- and postcamp comparisons revealed improved attitude toward illness and improved self-efficacy after the camping experience. Conclusion Results of the study support the psychosocial benefits of a camping experience for children with T1DM. Findings from the study can be used by health care providers as evidence to support the benefits of sending children with T1DM to residential summer camp.
Dynamic stabilization of rapid hexapedal locomotion

SUMMARY To stabilize locomotion, animals must generate forces appropriate to overcome the effects of perturbations and to maintain a desired speed or direction of movement. We studied the stabilizing mechanism employed by rapidly running insects by using a novel apparatus to perturb running cockroaches ( Blaberus discoidalis ). The apparatus used chemical propellants to accelerate a small projectile, generating reaction force impulses of less than 10 ms duration. The apparatus was mounted onto the thorax of the insect, oriented to propel the projectile laterally and loaded with propellant sufficient to cause a nearly tenfold increase in lateral velocity relative to maxima observed during unperturbed locomotion. Cockroaches were able to recover from these perturbations in 27±12 ms (mean ± S.D., N =9) when running on a high-friction substratum. Lateral velocity began to decrease 13±5 ms (mean ± S.D., N =11) following the start of a perturbation, a time comparable with the fastest reflexes measured in cockroaches. Cockroaches did not require step transitions to recover from lateral perturbations. Instead, they exhibited viscoelastic behavior in the lateral direction, with spring constants similar to those observed during unperturbed locomotion. The rapid onset of recovery from lateral perturbations supports the possibility that, during fast locomotion, intrinsic properties of the musculoskeletal system augment neural stabilization by reflexes.
When is a unit of blood transfused relative to its date of expiration

Analysis of computer-generated data from 42,902 transfusions of red cells or whole blood reveales that 30 percent of Rh-positive and 46.5 percent of Rh-negative units of blood will be lost from inventory if the permissible storage time for blood is immediately reduced to 25 days. These data indicate that, should such a reduction be adopted as a means of preventing transfusion-transmitted Yersinia infection, the blood banking industry will have serious difficulties in maintaining an adequate blood supply.
The effect of a CT and MR preauthorization program on ED utilization.

Objectives: To determine if a new outpatient preauthorization process for radiologic studies was associated with a change in emergency department (ED) CT and MRI utilization rates. Methods: This was a retrospective study set in an urban tertiary teaching hospital. Subjects included all nonadmitted ED patients who had either a CT or MRI during a control or preauthorization period. The study group consisted of those patients whose insurance required preauthorization. The control group consisted of those patients for whom preauthorization was not required. We used a multiple regression with autoregressive error adjusting for seasonal and monthly variation to obtain the rates of change of CT and MRI usage over time for the control and preauthorization periods. Results: The control period consisted of 29,303 ED visits over 54 weeks not resulting in hospital admission. The preauthorization period contained 33,858 patients over 64 weeks. The baseline ordering of CT and MRI was not significantly different between the groups. After controlling for seasonal and monthly variation, our results demonstrated that while both insurance groups demonstrated an increase in use of CT and MRI from the control to preauthorization periods, there is a statistically significant increase only in the rate of MRI utilization in the study group during the preauthorization period. Conclusion: A telephone preauthorization process for radiological studies produced a statistically significant change in the rate of ordering MRI studies, but not CT, in the study group. We conclude that this preauthorization process may have resulted in additional ED visits for outpatient MR scans.
An Analytic Framework for Detailed Resource Profiling in Large and Parallel Programs and Its Application for Memory Use

Profiling is an essential and widely used technique to understand the resource use of applications. For example, the memory use of large applications is becoming an important cost factor. Very large systems are typically sized to accommodate designated tasks, and thus, the price, as well as cache and TLB efficiency, depends significantly on the memory footprint of the target applications. Importantly, the increasing use of multicore systems magnifies the problem since memory use grows with the number of parallel tasks. Additionally, the presence of multiple tasks or threads makes the problem of correlating resource use to the program structure harder. Thus, tools that correlate resource use with program structure with quantitative error margins are essential for optimizing the resource use of complex software applications. While efficient tools for the profiling of execution time are available, the choices for detailed profiling of memory use or other hardware resources are very limited. We were unable to find tools that provided sufficiently accurate insight into, e.g., memory use without adding unacceptable overhead in memory use and execution time for the performance analysis of very large applications. In this paper, we present a highly efficient probabilistic method for profiling that provides detailed resource usage information R?(t) indexed by the full location descriptor ? (e.g., process id, thread id, and call chain) and time t. Importantly, we provide an analytical framework, which provides error estimates and allows to analyze and quantitatively optimize a wide variety of profiling scenarios. We employed the probabilistic approach to implement a memory profiling tool that adds minimal overhead and does not require recompilation or relinking. The tool provides the memory use M? (t) for all location descriptors ? over the execution time for single and multithreaded programs. Experimental results confirm that execution time and memory overhead are less than 10 percent of the unprofiled, optimized execution. Importantly, the technique is sufficiently general to be applicable to profiling of other hardware resources as cache or TLB misses over time for all location descriptors with similarly low overhead and across multiple processes, threads, and processors.
Helical poly(arginine) mimics with superior cell-penetrating and molecular transporting properties

Poly(arginine) mimics bearing long hydrophobic side chains adopt a stable helical conformation and exhibit helix-related cell-penetrating properties. Elongating the polypeptide backbone length and increasing side chain hydrophobicity further increase the helicities of poly(arginine) mimics. These helical poly(arginine) mimics show superior cell membrane permeability up to two orders of magnitude higher than that of HIV-TAT peptide and excellent DNA and siRNA delivery efficiencies in various mammalian cells.
d-Wave Pairing in the Presence of Long-Range Coulomb Interactions

The one-band extended Hubbard model in two dimensions near band-filling 1/2 is solved in the fluctuation exchange approximation, including the long-range (1/r) part of the Coulomb interaction, up to 4th neighbor distance. Our results suggest that d_(x^2 - y^2) pairing in the Hubbard model is robust against the inclusion of long-range Coulomb interactions with moderate 1st neighbor repulsion strength V_1. d_(x^2 - y^2) pairing is suppressed only at large V_1 (>~ 0.25U-0.4U), due to incipient charge density wave instabilities.
Variations in the influence of diffuse light on gross primary productivity in temperate ecosystems

a b s t r a c t The carbon storage potential of terrestrial ecosystems depends in part on how atmospheric conditions influence the type and amount of surface radiation available for photosynthesis. Diffuse light, result- ing from interactions between incident solar radiation and atmospheric aerosols and clouds, has been postulated to increase carbon uptake in terrestrial ecosystems. However, the magnitude of the diffuse light effect is unclear because existing studies use different methods to derive above-canopy diffuse light conditions. We used site-based, above-canopy measurements of diffuse light and gross primary produc- tivity (GPP) from 10 temperate ecosystems (including mixed conifer forests, deciduous broadleaf forests, and croplands) to quantify the GPP variation explained by diffuse photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) and to calculate increases in GPP as a function of diffuse light. Our analyses show that diffuse PAR explained up to 41% of variation in GPP in croplands and up to 17% in forests, independent of direct light levels. Carbon enhancement rates in response to diffuse PAR (calculated after accounting for vapor pressure deficit and air temperature) were also higher in croplands (0.011-0.050 mol CO2 per mol photons of diffuse PAR) than in forests (0.003-0.018 mol CO2 per mol photons of diffuse PAR). The amount of variation in GPP and carbon enhancement rate both differed with solar zenith angle and across sites for the same plant functional type. At crop sites, diffuse PAR had the strongest influence and the largest carbon enhancement rate during early mornings and late afternoons when zenith angles were large, with greater enhancement in the afternoons. In forests, diffuse PAR had the strongest influence at small zenith angles, but the largest carbon enhancement rate at large zenith angles, with a trend in ecosystem-specific responses. These results highlight the influence of zenith angle and the role of plant community composition in modifying diffuse light enhancement in terrestrial ecosystems, which will be important in scaling this effect from individual sites to the globe.
Digital computer simulation of three-dimensional ion beam extraction and transport systems

SNOW, a program for the simulation of ion beam extraction from plasmas, has been extended into three dimensions. Basic relaxation techniques are employed, alternately solving for voltages (using Poisson's equation expanded in difference form) and computing trajectories through the device. Electrodes are laid out on a large three-dimensional array for the simulation of voltages. The plasma is simulated on a second array (that may be finer than the voltage matrix) by using a background (Boltzmann) electron distribution balanced with the ion space-charge density at the injection plane. The plasma is determined by its electron temperature and the ion drift energy and spatial distribution. The program automatically determines the shape and location of the plasma surface. It is written in generic FORTRAN 77 and can be run on virtually any computer. >
Measuring Welfare Losses from Urban Water Supply Disruptions

AbstractThe paper evaluates welfare losses from urban water supply disruptions for a sample of 53 urban water utilities in California collectively providing service to over 20 million customers. The analysis accounts for the fact that most water utilities engage in a form of average cost pricing where volumetric rates are used to finance fixed expenses. We estimate utility-specific price elasticities for use in the welfare analysis, which are derived from a demand estimation based on a panel data set of 37 California water utilities. Welfare losses for an annual disruption range from an average of $1,458 per acre-foot of shortage for a 10% supply disruption to an average of $3,426 per acre-foot of shortage for a 30% supply disruption. The results indicate a household-level willingness to pay to avoid an annual disruption of approximately $60–$600 depending on the shortage size and location.
Innovations in behavioral medicine.

Abstract The chapter begins with a brief history of the behavioral medicine movement along with an overview of contemporary activities in the field. Three subsequent sections review technical innovations in major areas of clinical behavioral medicine: treatment, health care delivery, and preventive health care. The final section describes the methodological characteristics of research in behavioral medicine, discusses the field in light of the psychosomatic medicine and behavior modification movements, and calls for a conceptual integration that is authentically behavioristic. Already the quality of research in behavioral medicine appears comparable to that of research in behavior therapy. Even so, when viewed in terms of contemporary methodological desiderata, most of the work is fairly unimpressive. Possibly needed are "hybrid" experimental approaches in which the inferential power of intrasubject phase manipulations and between-subject outcome comparisons are combined. There is good reason to believe that behavioral medicine will follow the historical course of behavior therapy/modification, not the course of psychosomatic medicine. Behaviorally knowledgeable psychologists can become major service providers in liaison with well-informed medical practitioners. Some potentially deleterious influences on the behavioral medicine movement are (inevitable) mentalistic and dualistic thinking and a retreat toward psychosomatic medicine. Field behaviorism as an organizing schema can, in principle, serve as a safeguard against such untoward influences.
Book Review: Re-membering: Putting Mind and Body Back Together Following Traumatic Brain Injury

Author: Ann Millett-Gallant Reviewer: John Derby, PhD Publisher: Author (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, Charleston, SC), 2013. ISBN: ISBN: 978-1490524733 Paper: $8.99, 132 pages
The contribution of ionic currents to rate-dependent action potential duration and pattern of reentry in a mathematical model of human atrial fibrillation

Persistent atrial fibrillation (PeAF) in humans is characterized by shortening of action potential duration (APD) and attenuation of APD rate-adaptation. However, the quantitative influences of particular ionic current alterations on rate-dependent APD changes, and effects on patterns of reentry in atrial tissue, have not been systematically investigated. Using mathematical models of human atrial cells and tissue and performing parameter sensitivity analysis, we evaluated the quantitative contributions to action potential (AP) shortening and APD rate-adaptation of ionic current remodeling seen with PeAF. Ionic remodeling in PeAF was simulated by reducing L-type Ca2+ channel current (ICaL), increasing inward rectifier K+ current (IK1) and modulating five other ionic currents. Parameter sensitivity analysis, which quantified how each ionic current influenced APD in control and PeAF conditions, identified interesting results, including a negative effect of Na+/Ca2+ exchange on APD only in the PeAF condition. At high pacing rate (2 Hz), electrical remodeling in IK1 alone accounts for the APD reduction of PeAF, but at slow pacing rate (0.5 Hz) both electrical remodeling in ICaL alone (-70%) and IK1 alone (+100%) contribute equally to the APD reduction. Furthermore, AP rate-adaptation was affected by IKur in control and by INaCa in the PeAF condition. In a 2D tissue model, a large reduction (-70%) of ICaL becomes a dominant factor leading to a stable spiral wave in PeAF. Our study provides a quantitative and unifying understanding of the roles of ionic current remodeling in determining rate-dependent APD changes at the cellular level and spatial reentry patterns in tissue.
A Celebration of Equality

The author discusses how the ADA leads us further toward the goal which has always guided our country: that all of us are created equal and endowed with an inalienable right to human dignity.
Photoperiods and Housing for Pigeons

Abstract The reproductive response to different lengths of artificial light per 24 hour day and natural light was studied. Photoperiods of 17, 14, 11, and 8 hours in completely enclosed lofts were used as well as open lofts with only natural light. There were four pens per treatment and five pairs of White Carneaux per pen for 44 weeks. All treatments on lights received the same light intensity of 13–16 lux. No significant differences were noted among treatments for the following: egg production with variations from 250–297; percent broken eggs with variations from 4.1–12.6; percent fertility with variations from 92.8–95.9; percent squabs raised with variations from 88.9–96.1; feed per unit of gain with variations from 6.9–8.7. Eggs incubated ranged from 216 eggs for the open lofts to 281 for those pigeons on 14 hours light. Treatment 5, (open lofts) was significantly (P Squab weight of 514 g. and 517 g. for treatments 1 and 2 were significantly (P The number of squabs raised for treatments 1–5 was 220, 201, 199, 146, and 166, respectively.
Measuring the General Retail Trading Area—A Case Study: II:

Editor's Note: This is the frst of a two-part article on the statistical measurement of the extent of a market area. The second will appear in the July issue.
Influence of concurrency, partner choice, and viral suppression on racial disparity in the prevalence of HIV infected women

Abstract In 1992, Watts and May introduced a simple dynamical systems model of the spread of HIV based on disease transmission per partnership including the length of partnership duration. This model allowed for the treatment of concurrent partnerships, although it was hampered by the assumption of an important latent phase which generated a non-autonomous system. Subsequent models including concurrency have been based on networks, Monte Carlo, and stochastic simulations which lose a qualitative understanding of the effects of concurrency. We present a new autonomous deterministic model of the effect of concurrent sexual partnerships that allows for an analytical study of disease transmission. We incorporate the effect of concurrency through the newly derived force of infection term in a mathematical model of the transmission of HIV through sexual contact in a population stratified by sexual behavior and race/ethnicity. The model also includes variations in population mixing (partner choice) and non-uniform Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Treatment (HAART) leading to viral suppression. We use this mathematical model to understand the non-uniform spread of HIV in women who were infected through heterosexual contact. In addition, an analytical study shows the importance of continued condom use in virally suppressed MSM. Numerical simulations of the reproduction number as a function of concurrency, viral suppression level, and mixing show a reservoir of disease present in both heterosexual and MSM populations. Statistical analysis of parameter values show that viral suppression level, mixing and progression to AIDS without viral suppression have a strong correlation (either positive or negative) with the number of HIV positive women. Concurrency and assortative mixing are shown to be essential to reproduce infection levels in women, as reported by 2010 data from the Center for Disease Control (CDC).
Investigation on the status of Secondary and Tertiary hospitals' Capacities in Public Health Emergency Preparedness in Hong Kou district,Shanghai

Objective To explore the status of secondary and tertiary comprehensive hospitals' capacities in public health emergency preparedness in Hongkou and provide scientific basis for development on responding ability of public health outbreaks in medical treatment system.Methods A questionnaire survey was conducted among the hospitals,and analysis was made on the basic conditions on public health outbreak responding,ability of monitoring and early-warning system,ability of on scene emergency care,funds and material supplies and medical treatment and training and drill as well.Results The responding ability of public health outbreaks was enhanced greatly.There were still weak points in construction ability of responding to public health outbreaks.The hospitals' ability of on scene emergency care and medical treatment should be enhanced in the future.The train and drill will be strengthened to enhance the construction ability of responding system to public health outbreaks.Conclusion The emergency responding system for outbreak event of public health had already taken initial shape.The funds input on the emergency responding should be increased on the basis of current situation to enhance the structure of responding ability.
Magnetic resonance imaging in a military setting: a utilization analysis

A prospective study was conducted to evaluate the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) by orthopedic surgeons and residents versus the use of MRI by non-orthopedically trained health care providers in diagnosing knee pathology. Fifty patients initially evaluated by members of one of these groups who underwent subsequent knee MRI evaluation were selected to participate. Two orthopedic examiners individually examined all patients, recording clinical diagnosis and the merit of MRI evaluation in each case. Clinical accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity were compared between groups based on MRI findings. Diagnostic accuracy was similar; however, the orthopedic group displayed greater sensitivity, suggesting better clinical assessment. The study examiners observed both groups using MRI equally inappropriately and found 62% of the imaging studies unjustified. We conclude that knee MRI is used inappropriately in the current military setting. An algorithm is proposed to guide the future use of MRI in the diagnosis and management of knee pathology.
Abstract 464: Knockout of Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 Receptor in Monocyte/Macrophage Promotes Atherosclerosis and Induces an Unstable Plaque Phenotype

We have previously shown that infusion of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) exerts anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant effects and reduces atherosclerotic burden in apolipoprotein E deficient (Apoe-/-) mice. Monocytes/macrophages play a pivotal role in atherogenesis and express high levels of IGF-1 receptor (IGF-1R); however the potential effects of IGF-1 on their function are unknown. Thus, we created monocyte/macrophage specific IGF-1R knockout mice (MΦIgf1rKO) by crossing Igf1r floxed mice with Lysozyme-Cre mice, both on Apoe-/- background, and evaluated atherosclerosis by feeding a high fat diet for 8 wks. MΦIgf1rKO mice had a marked increase in atherosclerotic burden; 41± 12 % and 57 ± 15 % increase in plaque size by en face and cross-section analysis respectively, compared to Igf1r floxed mice (control; n=8, p<0.05). Plaque composition in the aortic root was also substantially altered; MΦIgf1rKO had increased monocyte/macrophage content (anti-Mac3 staining, MΦIgf1rKO, 31 ± 3 % vs. Igf1r floxed, 23...
Simultaneous Impacted Third Molar Extraction and Lateral Ramus Block Graft Harvest for Horizontal Ridge Augmentation: A Case Series.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to confirm the efficiency of using a lateral ramus block graft taken at the time of impacted mandibular third molar removal for horizontal ridge augmentation and implant placement. Patients and Methods Ten patients had grafts obtained from the lateral aspect of the mandible during impacted third molar removal and placed in areas of horizontal ridge deficiency. Results Measurements made on cone-beam computerized tomograms after 4 months showed gains of 2.7 to 3.5 mm and 16 implants were placed successfully. Conclusions In patients with impacted third molars requiring dental implants, simultaneous harvest of a lateral block bone graft is an efficient way of obtaining bone for horizontal ridge augmentation.
The Veterans Affairs Pharmacy System: Perfectly Designed to Achieve the Outcomes It Gets

Thorpe and colleagues report that patients with dementia who had access to medications both within and outside of the VA system were more likely than those with access only within the VA system to ...
The video face book

Videos are often characterized by the human participants, who in turn, are identified by their faces. We present a completely unsupervised system to index videos through faces. A multiple face detector-tracker combination bound by a reasoning scheme and operational in both forward and backward directions is used to extract face tracks from individual shots of a shot segmented video. These face tracks collectively form a face log which is filtered further to remove outliers or non-face regions. The face instances from the face log are clustered using a GMM variant to capture the facial appearance modes of different people. A face Track-Cluster-Correspondence-Matrix (TCCM) is formed further to identify the equivalent face tracks. The face track equivalences are analyzed to identify the shot presences of a particular person, thereby indexing the video in terms of faces, which we call the "Video Face Book ".
Hormesis commonly observed in the assessment of aneuploidy in yeast

Extensive dose response studies have assessed the potential of toxic chemical agents to induce aneuploidy in the yeast model. An assessment of such findings revealed that hormetic-like biphasic dose responses were commonly observed. A preliminary estimate of the frequency of the hormetic responses using a priori entry and evaluative criteria was approximately 65-80%.
Lessons Learned From the Implementation of Seek, Test, Treat, Retain Interventions Using Mobile Phones and Text Messaging to Improve Engagement in HIV Care for Vulnerable Populations in the United States.

In the United States, little is known about interventions that rely on mobile phones and/or text messaging to improve engagement in HIV care for vulnerable populations. Domestic studies using these technologies as part of the National Institute on Drug Abuse “Seek, Test, Treat, Retain” research initiative were queried regarding intervention components, implementation issues, participant characteristics, and descriptive statistics of mobile phone service delivery. Across five studies with 1,135 predominantly male, minority participants, implementation challenges occurred in three categories: (1) service interruptions; (2) billing/overage issues, and; (3) the participant user experience. Response rules for automated text messages frequently frustrated participants. The inability to reload minutes/texting capacity remotely was a significant barrier to intervention delivery. No study encountered confidentiality breaches. Service interruption was common, even if studies provided mobile phones and plans. Future studies should attend to the type of mobile phone and service, the participant user experience, and human subjects concerns.
Clinically Divergent Mutation Effects on the Structure and Function of the Human Cardiac Tropomyosin Overlap

The progression of genetically inherited cardiomyopathies from an altered protein structure to clinical presentation of disease is not well understood. One of the main roadblocks to mechanistic insight remains a lack of high-resolution structural information about multiprotein complexes within the cardiac sarcomere. One example is the tropomyosin (Tm) overlap region of the thin filament that is crucial for the function of the cardiac sarcomere. To address this central question, we devised coupled experimental and computational modalities to characterize the baseline function and structure of the Tm overlap, as well as the effects of mutations causing divergent patterns of ventricular remodeling on both structure and function. Because the Tm overlap contributes to the cooperativity of myofilament activation, we hypothesized that mutations that enhance the interactions between overlap proteins result in more cooperativity, and conversely, those that weaken interaction between these elements lower cooperativ...
From words-as-mappings to words-as-cues: the role of language in semantic knowledge

ABSTRACTSemantic knowledge (or semantic memory) is knowledge we have about the world. For example, we know that knives are typically sharp, made of metal, and that they are tools used for cutting. ...