cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Replication of Autographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus in five lepidopteran cell lines

Abstract The doubling time, virus yield, and susceptibility of five lepidopteran cell lines, Trichoplusia ni, Spodoptera frugiperda, Heliothis virescens, Plutella xylostella, and Anticarsia gemmatalis to the Autographa californica multiple nuclear polyhedrosis virus (AcMNPV) were compared. Isoelectric focusing provided isoenzyme patterns that specifically characterized each cell line. Cell doubling times ranged from 24 hr (A. gemmatalis) to 30 hr (H. virescens). Although the H. virescens cell line produced the highest viral titer (statistically equivalent to the T. ni cell line), the P. xylostella line produced the greatest number of polyhedral inclusion bodies (PIB). PIB from all five cell lines were virulent for T. ni larvae; PIB from the T. ni and H. virescens lines had the highest and lowest virulence, respectively.
Brief Stochastic optimal control via Bellman's principle

This paper presents a strategy for finding optimal controls of non-linear systems subject to random excitations. The method is capable to generate global control solutions when state and control constraints are present. The solution is global in the sense that controls for all initial conditions in a region of the state space are obtained. The approach is based on Bellman's principle of optimality, the cumulant neglect closure method and the short-time Gaussian approximation. Problems with state-dependent diffusion terms, non-closeable hierarchies of moment equations for the states and singular state boundary condition are considered in the examples. The uncontrolled and controlled system responses are evaluated by creating a Markov chain with a control dependent transition probability matrix via the generalized cell mapping method. In all numerical examples, excellent controlled performances were obtained.
Living memory of Roh Moo Hyun: Group cohesion, cultural politics, and the process of symbolic interaction

This article examines how Roh Moo Hyun, the 16th President of South Korea, was remembered during the several months following his suicide in May 2009. For this purpose, the article focuses on major commemorative texts about Roh published during this period and identifies three recurring themes in the emerging commemorative narrative about him: (1) a defiant dreamer who aspired to build a good society, (2) a nonmainstream politician who challenged the status quo and therefore was destroyed, and (3) a democratic president of common people. Building upon sociological approaches to collective memory, this article situates these themes in the larger sociopolitical context of contemporary Korea and argues that the living memory of Roh helps us understand the role of collective memory in promoting group cohesion, the deeply political nature of memory, and the importance of cultural symbols to the interactive process of constructing the commemorative narrative.
Hydrogen generation catalyzed by fluorinated diglyoxime-iron complexes at low overpotentials.

Fe^(II) complexes containing the fluorinated ligand 1,2-bis(perfluorophenyl)ethane-1,2-dionedioxime (dAr^FgH_2; H = dissociable proton) exhibit relatively positive Fe^(II/I) reduction potentials. The air-stable difluoroborated species [(dAr^FgBF_2)_2Fe(py)_2] (2) electrocatalyzes H_2 generation at −0.9 V vs SCE with i_(cat)/i_p ≈ 4, corresponding to a turnover frequency (TOF) of ~ 20 s^(–1) [Faradaic yield (FY) = 82 ± 13%]. The corresponding monofluoroborated, proton-bridged complex [(dArFg2H-BF2)Fe(py)2] (3) exhibits an improved TOF of ~ 200 s^(–1) (i_(cat)/i_p ≈ 8; FY = 68 ± 14%) at −0.8 V with an overpotential of 300 mV. Simulations of the electrocatalytic cyclic voltammograms of 2 suggest rate-limiting protonation of an Fe“0” intermediate (k_(RLS) ≈ 200 M^(–1) s^(–1)) that undergoes hydride protonation to form H_2. Complex 3 likely reacts via protonation of an Fe^I intermediate that subsequently forms H_2 via a bimetallic mechanism (k_(RLS) ≈ 2000 M^(–1) s^(–1)). 3 catalyzes production at relatively positive potentials compared with other iron complexes.
Genetics and Criminal Behavior

Having agreed to review a book entitled Genetics and Criminal Behavior, I was disconcerted to learn that the 12 contributing authors were all professors of philosophy, rather than behavioral geneticists or social scientists. The book’s chapters are some of the papers originally commissioned for an interdisciplinary conference on this topic, funded in 1992 by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Raucous critics contended that the conference would support racist views and repressive programs of crime control, leading NIH first to terminate their support and then—after a scolding by its parent, the Public Health Service—to reinstate it. The book consists of two parts, “Conceptual and Methodological Issues” and “Assigning Blame and Imposing Punishment.” Part 2 seems like legitimate grist for the philosopher’s mill; if there are individual differences in propensity for crime and violence and if these differences are related, in part, to genetic differences between people, what effect would or should that have on how we assign blame and punishment for criminal behavior? It is interesting that the six philosophers addressing this broad issue found little on which they could agree. Part 1, on the other hand, finds six different philosophers addressing such questions as whether it is possible to have a science of behavior or of criminal behavior, whether twin and adoption studies can tell us anything dependable or useful about the relationship between genetic and behavioral differences, and whether molecular genetics will—in this new century, at least—have anything reliable to say about human behavior, since it has made so little progress in explaining the behavior of the roundworm. Their conclusions are quite pessimistic. Perhaps the fairest way to convey these conclusions would be to quote from the introductory chapter by the editors. One author (Kenneth Taylor) points out that the biological significance of a criminal act depends upon the circumstances in which the behavior takes place and concludes (mysteriously) that “a great deal of research in cognitive science needs to be done before research in genetics becomes relevant” (p. 15). Another author (Ian Hacking) argues that “the basic issue is not so much the relationship between a social classification scheme and a biological one, but rather the more complex relationship between four classification schemes: common or ordinary, legal, psychiatric, and biological” (p. 15). In the end, he questions the relevance of the biological category to the public’s interest in crime. Alan Gibbard “finds some reason to be skeptical about whether genetic differences can account for much of the variation in criminal behavior between individuals” (p. 16). Hacking and Elliot Sober “demonstrate that heritability is not the same thing as inheritance: a trait with high heritability need not be a trait that is inherited” (p. 14). I did not find Genetics and Criminal Behavior to be a useful investment of my time.
Photochromism: Non-Linear Picosecond Kinetics and 3D Computer Memory

Abstract Spectroscopic and kinetic studies have made it possible to observe and assign all of the transient species and determine the formation and decay rates of some photochromic spiropyrans and naphthacenequinones. The non linear properties of these materials were utilized to design and operate a 3D optical memory system.
Adverse histopathologic effects of chemotherapeutic agents in childhood leukemia and lymphoma.

Pathologic material from 84 children with leukemia or lymphoma who died and were autopsied at the University of Wisconsin Hospital between 1967 and 1980 was reviewed to assess the adverse tissue changes due to the chemotherapy administered. In each case the histopathologic findings were correlated with the chemotherapy given.Individual drug dosage is administered (per m2) correlated with the adverse tissue findings at autopsy.Data presented suggest that the drug dose administered should be correlated not only with tumor response but also with tissue effects (some of which produce no noticeable, immediate, clinically apparent changes) to decrease the likelihood of producing irreversible tissue changes.
Human resourec management and a culture of Respect: Effects on employees' organizational commitment

The literature is reviwed to produce a set of 37 Human Resource Management (HRM) activities related to showing respect for the individual. Eighty-eight full-time employees from different organizations and enrolled in a part-time MBA program report HRM department motivation for such activities and the degree to which they are committed to their organizations. Respectful treatmentis indeed perceived to be one of the HRM departments' reasons for performing these 37 activities, although it was not usually the most common reason. After controlling for job satisfaction, subjects' organizational commitment is positively related to the perception that HRM activities are motivated by (a) management's desire to show respect for the individual and (b) management's desire to attact/retain employees. When the company's HRM activities are perceived to be motivated by the firm's desire to improve performance or to comply with the law, there is no significant relationship with organizational commitment.
The Emotional Work of Discomfort and Vulnerability in Multicultural Teacher Education.

This study documents our efforts to implement an ‘ethic of discomfort’ and a ‘pedagogy of discomfort’ in our undergraduate multicultural teacher education courses. Commitments to these moral imperatives inherently involve emotional work for teacher candidates and teacher educators. Such emotional work, particularly in academia, is often invisible and disincentivized. This study examines the following: (1) grappling with students’ emotional reactions that stem from discomfort, (2) engaging in public emotional discourses, (3) negotiating the political dimensions of teaching diverse students, and (4) remaining emotionally available to students as they work through these ideas in their own lives. The implications of this study address the types of preparation and support teacher educators need to facilitate the transformative potential of a pedagogy and an ethic of discomfort. While pre-service teacher education is considered a safe and productive learning space for students to be discomforted, questions are ...
Impact of microbial diversity on rapid detection of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli in surface waters

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) are a physiologically, immunologically and genetically diverse collection of strains that pose a serious water-borne threat to human health. Consequently, immunological and PCR assays have been developed for the rapid, sensitive detection of presumptive EHEC. However, the ability of these assays to consistently detect presumptive EHEC while excluding closely related non-EHEC strains has not been documented. We conducted a 30-month monitoring study of a major metropolitan watershed. Surface water samples were analyzed using an immunological assay for E. coli O157 (the predominant strain worldwide) and a multiplex PCR assay for the virulence genes stx(1), stx(2) and eae. The mean frequency of water samples positive for the presence of E. coli O157, stx(1) or stx(2) genes, or the eae gene was 50%, 26% and 96%, respectively. Quantitative analysis of selected enriched water samples indicated that even in samples positive for E. coli O157 cells, stx(1)/stx(2) genes, and the eae gene, the concentrations were rarely comparable. Seventeen E. coli O157 strains were isolated, however, none were EHEC. These data indicate the presence of multiple strains similar to EHEC but less pathogenic. These findings have important ramifications for the rapid detection of presumptive EHEC; namely, that current immunological or PCR assays cannot reliably identify water-borne EHEC strains.
On the Use of Satellite Data to Infer Surface Fluxes at Meteorological Scales

Abstract For numerical meteorological prediction, the determination of energy, momentum and moisture fluxes at the earth's surface requires knowledge of surface properties at a very coarse spatial resolution. A procedure is described for estimating the important surface properties (diurnal heat capacity, moisture availability) through analysis of high spatial resolution visible and thermal infrared data from satellites. An averaging method is then specified for aggregating or parameterizing local estimates of surface properties to a relatively coarse grid spacing. The method considers grid scale fluxes between ground and atmosphere, specifying that parameterized surface values should yield fluxes equal to those produced by integration of the high spatial resolution description of the surface. This allows estimation of latent and sensible heat exchange with the atmosphere at the large scales of general circulation models. The procedure is illustrated by application to a data set from the Heat Capacity Mapp...
Strategies for eliciting and merging confidential social research data

This report presents, discusses and extends strategic models for representing the process of merging records from different sources when confidentiality of the records is required by law or custom. Examples and variations on the models cover simple situations, such as eliciting anonymous data from previously identified respondents, as well as more complex merge operations, such as merging files from different data archives and merging data under code linkage systems. The versatility and potential corruptibility of the models are also discussed.
What does the pursuit of a high quality of life entail?: Grounding a theoretical model in lived experience

In response to calls for a better understanding of quality of life, we draw upon working professionals’ perspectives and experiences to introduce a theoretical model that emerged from an inductive analysis of respondents’ language. A key element of this model includes a collective picture of factors representing quality of life. Further, this model suggests interrelatedness among these factors with pursuit of a high quality of life emerging as a dynamic process with a tensional nature. Our proposed model extends existing research by more fully capturing the complex ways in which people from the United States describe quality of life and its pursuit.
The implications of enterprise-wide pipeline management tools for organizational relations and exchanges

This paper explores the impact of enterprise-wide processes and technologies on group relations and exchanges. We examine the use of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools in sales pipeline management. Through an ethnographic study of globally-distributed sales teams we show that the way enterprise-wide tools are integrated into daily practices impacts organizational relations and exchange. We pay particular attention to information exchange as a vehicle for building, leveraging and deterring organizational relations. Our analysis suggests that different approaches to using standardized tools and processes have variable impact on team relations. We provide support for the argument that technologies should be designed and deployed in accordance with an understanding of the contexts of use and in consideration for their impact on organizational relations.
Properties Preserved by Some Smoothing Functions

Abstract In some studies involving numerical responses from human subjects (for instance, time allocation studies, and age reporting) an effect called “heaping” is observed. In many cases, such data must be “smoothed” before they can be used. Thus, it is of interest to know the nature of the properties of a frequency function which may be lost in its smoothed version. For those smoothing functions that can be expressed in terms of matrix multiplication; this paper connects properties preserved by the function to properties of its corresponding matrix.
Origin, distribution, and movement of brine in the Permian Basin (U. S. A. ). A model for displacement of connate brine

Na-Cl, halite Ca-Cl, and gypsum Ca-Cl brines with salinities from 45 to >300 g/L are identified and mapped in four hydrostratigraphic units in the Permian Basin area beneath western Texas and Oklahoma and eastern New Mexico, providing spatial and lithologic constraints on the interpretation of the origin and movement of brine. Na-Cl brine is derived from meteoric water as young as 5-10 Ma that dissolved anhydrite and halite, whereas Ca-Cl brine is interpreted to be ancient, modified-connate Permian brine that now is mixing with, and being displaced by, the Na-Cl brine. Displacement fronts appear as broad mixing zones with no significant salinity gradients. Evolution of Ca-Cl brine composition from ideal evaporated sea water is attributed to dolomitization and syndepositional recycling of halite and bittern salts by intermittent influx of fresh water and sea water. Halite Ca-Cl brine in the evaporite section in the northern part of the basin differs from gypsum Ca-Cl brine in the south-central part in salinity and Na/Cl ratio and reflects segregation between halite- and gypsum-precipitating lagoons during the Permian. Ca-Cl brine moved downward through the evaporite section into the underlying Lower Permian and Pennsylvanian marine section that is now the deep-basin brine aquifer, mixing there withmore » pre-existing sea water. Buoyancy-driven convection of brine dominated local flow for most of basin history, with regional advection governed by topographically related forces dominant only for the past 5 to 10 Ma. 71 refs., 11 figs.« less
Decision-making and satisfaction with a continuing care retirement community

Abstract We draw on both life course and decision-making theories to examine decision strategies prior to moving to a continuing care retirement community (CCRC) and subsequent satisfaction following the move. Multivariate analyses drawing on panel data for a sample of 92 older adults (age 64 to 94) before and after their move to a CCRC show that frequent residential relocation in the adult years reduces the odds of considering staying in one's own home. Cognitive orientations at time 1 predict subsequent satisfaction with the move to a CCRC: mastery increases the odds, desiring age-integrated housing reduces the odds.
Histologic studies of human skin test responses to ragweed, compound 48-80, and histamine.

Abstract The patterns of mast cell and eosinophil changes at the site of intradermal injection of ragweed, compound 4880, and histamine were studied by histologic techniques. Dermal biopsies of 23 ragweed skin test-positive subjects revealed increasing numbers of eosinophils and decreasing numbers of mast cells over a 240 minute period following injection of antigen. The eosinophil response began in the periappendigeal areas, extended into the interstitium, and occurred in sites with depressed wheal reactions in hydroxyzine-treated subjects. These cellular patterns did not occur at ragweed skin test sites in nonatopic subjects. However, compound 4880 induced similar eosinophilic responses in both atopics and nonatopics. Histamine injection was followed by no eosinophilic or mast cell changes. These findings support the hypothesis that eosinophil responses in reagin-mediated reactions may occur secondary to release of a mediator other than histamine of mast cell origin.
Induction of cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 but not COX-1 gene expression in apoptotic cell death

In this study we assessed the regulation of cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 in models of apoptotic cell death in vivo and in vitro. By 6 h after hippocampal colchicine injection in rat, COX-2 (but not COX-1) mRNA expression was elevated. The induction of COX-2 mRNA expression preceded temporally and overlapped anatomically the cellular morphological features of apoptosis in the granule cell layer of the dentate gyrus. Similarly, in an established in vitro model of apoptosis in P19 cells, COX-2 induction preceded apoptosis in response to serum deprivation by 12 h. These studies suggest that COX-2 may be involved in the early mechanisms leading to apoptosis.
Therapeutic implications of estrogen receptor signaling in HER2-positive breast cancers

There is considerable pre-clinical and clinical evidence demonstrating that HER2-positive breast cancers that express estrogen receptor (ER) exhibit intrinsic resistance to endocrine therapy. Therefore, in general, chemotherapy in combination with HER2-directed agents is recommended for all but the smallest HER2-positive early stage breast cancers regardless of ER status. This paradigm has recently come into question when responses to neo-adjuvant HER2-directed regimens were noted to vary based on ER expression, and pathologic complete response was noted not to be prognostic for ER-positive, HER2-positive breast cancers. These and other data suggest the possibility that a subset of HER2-positive, ER-positive breast cancers are driven primarily by ER, and biologically behave more like HER2-negative, ER-positive breast cancers. Identification of this subset of HER2-positive breast cancers is essential to avoid over-treatment of patients with small HER2-positive, ER-positive breast cancers, who may be optimally treated with endocrine therapy alone, or in combination with a HER2-directed agent, thereby avoiding the use of chemotherapy. Crosstalk between the ER and HER2 pathways has been established as playing a role in both intrinsic and acquired resistance to endocrine agents. Emerging data suggests that crosstalk between these pathways is also involved in resistance to HER2-directed agents. Unraveling the role of the ER pathway in resistance to HER2-directed agents could potentially result in therapeutic approaches that can improve outcome for patients with ER-positive, HER2-positive breast cancer.
Intraabdominal desmoplastic small cell tumor: Report and discussion of five cases

BACKGROUND Intraabdominal desmoplastic small cell tumor is a rare malignancy that has only recently been described. In the adult population, it is usually seen in young males. The tumor appears to arise as a dominant mass or masses in the abdominal cavity, particularly in the pelvic region, without a clear visceral origin. Multiple small tumor nodules may be found attached to the peritoneal surface. Visceral metastases occur late in the clinical course, ultimately leading to the patient's death. Five young adults with intraabdominal desmoplastic small cell tumors were treated with aggressive chemotherapy. METHODS Charts of five patients treated between 1990 and 1995 were reviewed. The diagnosis of desmoplastic small cell tumor was made on the basis of typical clinical and radiographic findings, light microscopy showing hyperchromatic cells surrounded by a desmoplastic stroma, and immunohistochemistry demonstrating markers of epithelial and mesenchymal differentiation. Patients were treated with aggressive combination chemotherapy consisting of alternating regimens similar to those used as testis cancer salvage therapy. RESULTS Four of the five patients demonstrated a partial response to chemotherapy. Two of the responding patients had surgery with the intent of removing all residual disease, but this was successful in only one case. All patients have died from their cancer. CONCLUSIONS Intraabdominal desmoplastic small cell tumors are sensitive to combination chemotherapy. It appears that treatment offers good palliation and may prolong survival in isolated cases. However, even the patients managed with the most aggressive medical and surgical approaches are not cured and ultimately die of their disease. Cancer 1996;78:845-51.
ALCOHOLIC DRINKING: SUPPRESSION BY A BRIEF TIME-OUT PROCEDURE*

Abstract Volunteer chronic alcoholics were given daily access to substantial quantities of alcohol within a residential research setting. Drinking was suppressed to an average of approximately one-half of Baseline levels when 10 or 15 min of physical and social isolation was required as an immediate consequence to receiving each one-ounce drink of 95-proof ethanol. This time-out procedure suppressed the drinking of nine out of ten subjects. Drinking returned to high levels when brief contingent time-out was discontinued. The relevance of such reversible controlling relationships to the treatment of alcoholism is discussed.
Digital Video Bandwidth Compression Using Block Truncation Coding

A technique for bandwidth compression coding of sequential digitized video imagery is presented. The method uses adaptive one-bit quantization over small blocks of space and time. The system includes global registration and motion detection for optimal hit assignments. A comparsion is made with a conditional replenishment technique using a motion compensated predictor described in the literature. The method presented produces reconstructed video sequences filmed from low altitude aircraft with slight degradation which is acceptable for many remote sensing applications at 0.9 bit/pixel data rate. Robust behavior in the presence of channel noise is demonstrated.
Comparison of the 3-out-of-7 ARQ with Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem Coding Systems

The performance of coding schemes can be expressed by two criteria: the useful transmission rate R , and output character-error probability P . Both quantities are expressed in a form applicable to a binary forward channel coupled with an arbitrary feedback channel. Using these criteria the 3-out-of-7 ARQ code is compared with various error-correcting and detecting alternatives of the Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem codes of length 2^{m} - 1 , where m = 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 . It is found that for a specified binary element-error probability P e one can often find a Bose-ChaudhuriHocquenghem code which is considerably superior. If the element errors are independent of each other a purely error-correcting arrangement looks attractive. If the errors are correlated (i.e., occur in bursts) error detection holds more promise. A (255, 187) code, which is used to correct up to 8 errors and to detect others, shows a superiority which extends over all significant values of P e .
Detection of Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease Virus Serotypes 1 and 2 in Cell Culture and Clinical Samples Using Polymerase Chain Reaction

The potential for the use of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in detecting epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus (EHDV) ribonucleic acid in cell cultures and clinical samples was studied. Using oligoribonucleotide primers selected from genome segment 6 of EHDV-2 (Alberta strain), the PCR-based assay resulted in a 387- base pair (bp) PCR product. EHDV RNA from US prototype serotypes 1 and 2 and a number of EHDV field isolates, propagated in cell cultures, were detected by this EHDV PCR-based assay. Amplification products were visualized on ethidium bromide-stained agarose gels or detected by chemiluminesc ent hybridization. The sensitivity of the PCR assay was 100 fg of virus RNA (equivalent to 6 x 10 3 virus particles) with ethidium bromide-stained agarose gels. Chemiluminescent hybridization increased the sensitivity of the PCR assay 1,000 times, and specific signals were detected from 0.1 fg of virus RNA (equivalent to 6 virus particles). Amplification product was not detected when the PCR-based assay was applied to RNA from the US bluetongue (BT) virus prototype serotypes 2, 10, 11, 13, and 17 or total nucleic acid extracts from uninfected baby hamster kidney- 21 cells, Vero cells, and blood cells from deer that were EHDV seronegative and virus isolation negative. Application of this EHDV PCR-based assay to clinical samples resulted in detection of EHDV RNA from blood and spleen samples from a deer in California with clinical hemorrhagic disease. This EHDV PCR-based assay could provide a rapid, sensitive, and specific assay for detection of EHDV infection in susceptible ruminants.
Should radiology residents be taught evidence-based radiology? An experiment with "the EBR Journal Club".

Rationale and Objectives Introduce radiology residents to evidence-based radiology (EBR) using a journal club format based on the Radiology Alliance for Health Services Research/American Alliance of Academic Chief Residents in Radiology (RAHSR/A3CR2) Critical Thinking Skills sessions and EBR series of articles published in Radiology in 2007. Materials and Methods The club began with a presentation outlining the process that would occur in an alternating format, with topics and articles chosen by residents. In session A, questions were rephrased in a Patient/Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome format, and a literature search was performed. Articles were discussed in session B, with residents assigned by year to the tasks of article summary, technology assessment, and comparison to checklists (Standards for Reporting of Diagnostic Accuracy, Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials, or Quality of Reporting of Meta-analysis). The residents collectively assigned a level of evidence to each article, and a scribe provided a summary. Results Twenty-two residents participated, with 12/22 (55%) of residents submitting any question, 6/22 (27.3%) submitting more than one question, and 4 residents submitting questions in more than one session. Topics included radiation risk, emergency radiology, screening examinations, modality comparisons, and technology assessment. Of the 31 articles submitted for review, 15 were in radiology journals and 5 were published before 2000. For 2/9 topics searched, no single article that the residents selected was available through our library's subscription service. The maximum level of evidence assigned by residents was level III, “limited evidence.” In each session, the residents concluded that they became less confident in the “right answer.” They proposed that future reading recommendations come from attendings rather than literature searches. Conclusion A journal club format is an effective tool to teach radiology residents EBR principles. Resistance comes from the difficulty in accessing good literature for review and in constructing good review questions.
Did U.S. wages become stickier between the world wars

Abstract This paper attempts to determine whether nominal wages became less responsive to labor market and price fluctuations during the 1920s or 1930s. Results of modified Phillips curve regressions, in which the monthly value of wages depends on lagged values of employment or total man-hours and prices, indicate considerable stickiness of wages throughout the interwar period. Neither the beginning of the Great Depression in 1929 nor the start of the New Deal in 1933 is associated with any discernible increase in wage stickiness. And the “Great Deflation” of 1920–1922 apparently did not include a greater responsiveness of wages to prices or labor-market conditions.
Carolyn Tuttle, Hard At Work in Factories and Mines: The Economics of Child Labor During the British Industrial Revolution. Boulder: Westview Press, 1999. 1 + 308 pp. $63.00 cloth.

Carolyn Tuttle has thoroughly researched children's labor, and, in the process, women's labor, in the factories and mines of industrializing Britain. While some of her interpretations will leave questions in the minds of historians, her work makes an important contribution to our understanding of nineteenth-century women's and children's labor.
An Econometric Analysis of Inventory Turnover Performance in Retail Services

Inventory turnover varies widely across retailers and over time. This variation undermines the usefulness of inventory turnover in performance analysis, benchmarking, and working capital management. We develop an empirical model using financial data for 311 publicly listed retail firms for the years 1987-2000 to investigate the correlation of inventory turnover with gross margin, capital intensity, and sales surprise (the ratio of actual sales to expected sales for the year). The model explains 66.7% of the within-firm variation and 97.2% of the total variation (across and within firms) in inventory turnover. It yields an alternative metric of inventory productivity, adjusted inventory turnover, which empirically adjusts inventory turnover for changes in gross margin, capital intensity, and sales surprise, and can be applied in performance analysis and managerial decision making. We also compute time trends in inventory turnover and adjusted inventory turnover, and find that both have declined in retailing during the 1987-2000 period.
Assessment of Data Quality for Evaluations of Manual Pavement Distress

Assessment of the conditions of current assets is a task of major relevance in a transportation agency asset management program. It not only provides information on the current condition of the asset but also helps the agency make decisions on future maintenance and rehabilitation activities. Although low-volume roadways represent a large proportion of the total road network in the United States, little research on the management of these assets has been done. Two major data collection techniques are used for roadway condition assessment: manual and automated. Although automated techniques have been found to be safer and quicker, manual condition surveys have been proven to offer preciseness and cost-effectiveness. In the case of low-volume roadway assessment, for which the funds available to asset managers are limited, manual condition surveys are often preferred. Nevertheless, manual condition surveys must address the potential subjectivity of the results. Therefore, agencies could benefit from a system for ensuring quality on manual condition surveys. This paper proposes a framework for assessment of data quality and presents a case study of its implementation in the Northern New Mexico Pavement Evaluation Program. The proposed framework is easily implementable and able to identify potential and actual data collection issues. The framework can be used as part of an asset management program and could be particularly beneficial in the case of low-volume roads.
Dimensionality Reduction via Self-Organizing Feature Maps for Collaborative Filtering

With customer preference databases growing to colossal sizes, collaborative filtering algorithms run into scalability concerns. By reducing the dimensionality of the input space, we ease the demands of predicting users' tastes for films. A movie-to-movie correlation and distance metric are used to decompose the user-movie rating data into two different movie graphs. Using a Kohonen self-organizing map (SOM), the product space can be divided into meaningful clusters centered on the neurons whose weight vectors are nearest the product weights. The SOM-derived clustering is analyzed via a Principal Components Analysis of the data. The clusterings are then evaluated for their effectiveness via quantitative and qualitative observations on the meaningfulness of the groupings of the films.
A biomechanical study of the ligamentous stability of the thoracic spine in man.

An in vitro study was conducted to establish the thresholds of thoracic spine stability. Flexion or extension producing horizontal forces of 43 percent body weight were applied to fresh two-vertebrae spine specimens. Spine components were transected in two different sequences until failure. Load-displacement curves were measured. Intact spine exhibited average inter-vertebral horizontal translatory displacement of 1.0 mm (s.d. = 0.4) and sagittal plane rotation of 1.4 degrees (s.d. = 0.8). Just prior to failure these average displacements increased to 2.4 mm (s.d. = 1.4) and 4.1 degrees (s.d. = 1.7). A horizontal displacement of 2.5 mm (on lateral X-ray) or 5 degrees of angulation of one vertebra with respect to the other may indicate an unstable spine. This information, together with other clinical indicators of spine instability discussed here, will be helpful in the clinical judgment regarding an injured spine.
Absence in childhood absence epilepsy: The horse is out of the barn

Clinicians typically breathe a sigh of relief when they make the diagnosis of childhood absence epilepsy. The history is classic—a normal young child with myriad brief periods of staring. The clinic visit is powerful when the phenomena are replicated by having the child hyperventilate. Finally, the EEG is definitive. The ability to demonstrate to a family the abrupt eruption and cessation of spike-wave activity provides a framework for them to understand what is happening to their child. Parents are usually reassured that there are very good therapies, that seizures are typically controlled, and that their child will “outgrow” it. However, data from the multicenter Childhood Absence Epilepsy Study Group are rewriting this narrative. 1–3
Sediment study and removal of Gold Ray Dam on the Rogue River, Jackson County, Oregon

SONAR, historical and aerial photographs, and vibracoring were used to assess the type and thickness distribution of sediments impounded by Gold Ray Dam on the Rogue River in southern Oregon. From these data, a volume of about 400,000 cubic yards () of sediment was determined for the inundated area of the reservoir. Overall, sediment volumes in the impounded part of the reservoir were less than expected. There are three possibilities that may explain the perceived absence of sediment: (1) the gradient of the Rogue River in this stretch is less, and therefore sediment yields are less; (2) the extraction of gravels and/or other impediments upstream decreased the availability of sediments delivered into the reservoir; and/or (3) sediment was deposited by a prograding delta that filled in the inundated area of the floodplain upstream from Gold Ray Dam. The amount of sediment deposited on this inundated floodplain may have been as much as 1,800,000 cubic yards (), bringing the total amount of sediment impounded by Gold Ray Dam to yards (). Applied sedimentology is not only vital to developing a depositional model for the filling of a reservoir, but also providing insights into depositional and erosional changes that will occur upon the removal of a dam. In particular, the processes of delta formation, reoccupation of abandoned channels, and avulsion are paramount in determining sediment accumulation and distribution in reservoirs.
Interconnect-Aware and Layout-Oriented Test-Pattern Selection for Small-Delay Defects

Timing-related failures in high-performance integrated circuits are being increasingly dominated by small-delay defects (SDDs). Such delay faults are caused by process variations, crosstalk, power-supply noise, and defects such as resistive shorts and opens. Recently, the concept of output deviations has been presented as a surrogate long-path coverage metric for SDDs. However, this approach is focused only on delay variations for logic gates and it ignores chip layout, interconnect defects, and delay variations on interconnects. We present a layout-aware output deviations metric that can easily handle interconnect delay variations. Experimental results show that interconnect-delay variations can have a significant impact on the long paths that must be targeted for the detection of SDDs. For the same pattern count, the proposed pattern-grading and pattern-selection method is more effective than a commercial timing-aware ATPG tool for SDDs, and requires considerably less CPU time.
Disparities Between Ambient, Standard Lighting and Retinal Acuities in Community‐Dwelling Older People: Implications for Disability

OBJECTIVES: To examine three types of visual ability—ambient acuity, standard lighting acuity, and retinal acuity—and their relationship with self-reported disability. DESIGN: Cross-sectional prevalence survey. SETTING: New York, New York. PARTICIPANTS: Community-dwelling older people. MEASUREMENTS: Ambient acuity assessed using a near reading card; standard lighting acuity and retinal acuity assessed using the Retinal Acuity Meter. Difficulty in activities of daily living was assessed according to self-report. RESULTS: Mean logMAR acuities were 0.44 (20/56) for ambient acuity, 0.33 (20/44) for standard lighting acuity, and 0.19 (20/31) for retinal acuity (all pairwise differences, P<.001). Given the distribution of disability by ambient acuity in this sample, improving ambient acuity to the level of retinal acuity could potentially reduce self-care disability 22%. CONCLUSION: Better utilization of retinal acuity through optimal ophthalmologic care and improvement in lighting would likely reduce disability in older adults.
Spatial Regulation of lag-2 Transcription During Vulval Precursor Cell Fate Patterning in Caenorhabditis elegans

lag-2 encodes a ligand for LIN-12/Notch and is a component of the lateral signal that activates LIN-12/Notch during Caenorhabditis elegans vulval precursor cell (VPC) fate patterning. lag-2 is specifically transcribed in one VPC, named P6.p, in response to activation of EGFR/Ras/MAPK by the inductive signal that initiates vulval development. Here, we show that a critical molecular event linking inductive and lateral signaling is the relief of VPC-wide lag-2 repression in P6.p. We find that the lag-2 promoter contains an element, VPCrep, which mediates repression in all VPCs when the inductive signal is absent, and another promoter element, VPCact, which is required for activation when repression is relieved by the inductive signal. We show that repression through VPCrep is mediated by the Elk1 ortholog LIN-1, and that the level and subcellular accumulation of a functional LIN-1::GFP protein is similar in all six VPCs before and after vulval induction, suggesting that relief of LIN-1–mediated repression in P6.p is likely due to the known MAPK-dependent phosphorylation of LIN-1. We also provide evidence that the factor(s) acting through VPCact is present in all VPCs but is not modulated by the inductive signal, and that transcription of lag-2 requires the Hth/Meis ortholog UNC-62 and the Mediator complex component SUR-2. Relief of repression of lag-2 in P6.p offers a plausible mechanistic basis for spatial restriction of lag-2 in generating the precise spatial pattern of VPC fates.
Economic Considerations for Coronary CT Angiography

In recent years, coronary CT angiography (CCTA) has emerged has a noninvasive anatomic imaging modality that demonstrates high diagnostic performance to detect and exclude high-grade coronary artery stenosis. Proponents of CCTA have advocated its use as an effective alternative to functional stress imaging, while critics have maintained that the benefits of CCTA use remain unproven and may promote unnecessary “layering” of imaging studies on top of conventional stress testing. In this review, we consider the clinical and economic data related to CCTA to date, and suggest future studies that may clarify the role of CCTA in daily clinical evaluation of patients with suspected or known coronary artery disease.
New classes of unidirectional error-detecting codes

Unidirectional errors arise as a result of common VLSI failure modes and certain connection faults, particularly with serial data transmission. A totally ordered set of symbols to be encoded in an order-preserving manner for unidirectional error detection is considered. General order-preserving encoding and the special case of difference-preserving encoding, (when the value nu is encoded with its separate data part representing nu +b to facilitate arithmetic operations) are considered and optimal codes are devised for each case. >
Rupture of the gravid uterus.

Abstract This report concerns 56 cases of uterine rupture diagnosed among 112,627 obstetric deliveries during the 10 year period from 1957 through 1966. Maternal mortality was 7.1 per cent and perinatal fetal mortality was 37.5 per cent. Nearly 50 per cent of the cases reported were due to traumatic rupture of the uterus in labor, the use of intravenous oxytocin in conjunction with continuous epidural anesthesia being the most frequent mode of injury. Failure to explore the puerperal uterus was responsible for half of the maternal deaths.
'Globalization': A Future Trend or a Satisfying Mirage?

The operational premise of this Article is that a comparison of economic globalization trends and philosophies may provide useful insights into the intellectual property harmonization process, exposing both its present short-comings as well as future directions. Globalization may serve as a both a descriptive paradigm for IPR harmonization and a predictive tool for future problems and solutions. Given the trade related nature of intellectual property harmonization since TRIPS, economic globalization processes appear to be the closest analogue to international harmonization processes. In determining whether the intellectual property equivalent of globalization -- IPR harmonization -- is a positive future trend in international law or a harmful mirage on which too much time, money and effort is wasted, the Article explores the trends and problems of globalization to their IPR corollaries. Among the trends examined are regionalism, the increasing empowerment of supranational agencies, the erosion of domestic control over local policy, and the cultural backlash that has developed, represented by inter alia current debates over the role of intellectual property protection for traditional knowledge and other works of indigenous creativity and innovation and the cultural divide on the Internet. I contend that a close examination of present harmonization efforts in areas such as IPR enforcement and moral rights demonstrates that much IPR harmonization is a mirage, which fails to establish effective standards. I conclude by suggesting that we must “democratize” the IPR harmonization process to promote cultural inclusiveness so that the standards achieved represent an actual international accord. Without such efforts, harmonization will remain a phantom ideal.
Contemporary Management of Metastatic Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors: Systemic and Locoregional Approaches

The treatment of metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) changed dramatically with the introduction of imatinib into the therapeutic lexicon in 2001. Over the past 15 years, tyrosine kinase inhibitors in the adjuvant and metastatic settings have remained the standard of care for this disease, though alternate classes of agents and new therapeutic targets are being actively explored in clinical trials. Although data are limited, the use of surgical and non-surgical locoregional techniques for the treatment of GIST metastases has increased and given reports of promising and durable responses. Herein we provide an overview of the contemporary therapeutic landscape of metastatic GIST.
Climate science: A great Arctic ice shelf

Newly mapped features on the floor of the Arctic Ocean suggest that the Arctic basin was once covered by a one-kilometre-thick, flowing ice shelf derived from large ice sheets in eastern Siberia, Arctic Canada and the Barents Sea.
Phoretic Relationships between Corydalus cornutus (Megaloptera:Corydalidae) and Chironomidae in Eastern Tennessee

Nineteen Corydalus cornutus (L.) larvae collected from eastern Tennessee had 29 larval midges living phoretically in cases. Sixty-three percent of the Corydalus cornutus larvae carried at least one midge, 26% had multiple infestations. Nanocladius downesi (Steffan) was the most common phoretic midge, constituting 79% of the midges counted. In addition, phoretic Rheotanytarsus sp. and Polypedilum sp. were also observed. This is the first record of phoresy by Polypedilum sp., and the first record of a phoretic relationship between Rheotanytarsus sp. and a megalopteran host.