cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
'Felling Mahogany Trees' in British Honduras: The Politics of Race and Double Traumatization in Zee Edgell’s Time and the River

Zee Edgell’s novel Time and the River (2007) opens narrative space for formerly marginalized voices and exposes the problems ingrained in the nationalist meta-narrative that the novel strives to counter. This article will explore the paradigm of double traumatization of the characters — Leah Lawson and Will McGilvrey — and its consequences for Belizean civil society and explore Edgell’s representation of trauma based on race politics in her latest novel. The ethnic designations and divisions in Spanish controlled but British settled Honduras are at the core of this narrative’s focus on the problematic nature of the transference of political power in Belize, for it implicates Creoles in collaboration with the British mahogany merchants as part of the double traumatization inflicted upon African slaves and their descendants. The narratives of Leah Lawson and Nzimbe, called “Will McGilvrey” by his owner, provide testimonio to the complexities of the quasi-colonial British legacy that is the first assault on Nzimbe/Will, the imported African slave, while Leah’s Creole, and thus inculturated, perspective leads to a repeated betrayal of her fellow slaves. Thus, this novel opens spaces for the polyvocal narrative of the enslaved, and the exploration of race politics and double traumatization and its implications in post-colonial Belize.
Evaluation of Composted Rice Hulls and a Lightweight Clay Aggregate as Components of Container-Plant Growth Media

Abstract Four experiments were conducted with selected woody landscape plants in containers to compare container media consisting of composted rice hulls and a lightweight clay aggregate (Arkalite)...
New Approach to the Distribution of Project Completion Time in PERT Networks

AbstractNormal distribution has been commonly accepted as the probability function for whole project duration estimation. Nevertheless, this assumption does not hold in complex projects with many a...
A Prototype Theory for Content Strategy Education: Training Content Strategists Within the Academy

Technical communicators are increasingly utilizing content-focused technologies such as content management systems and component-based information architectures in their daily work to deliver technical content to non-specialist audiences. In the wake of this turn, content strategy becomes an important element of technical communication curricula as students and emerging professionals struggle to master new tools and best practices. Stemming from experiences teaching content strategy to undergraduate students, graduate students, and industry professionals, I present a prototype theory for content strategy education within the academy. The goal of the theory is to meld best practices gleaned from previous scholarship within the field of technical and professional sommunication, how-to books and articles from industry practitioners, and my own experience teaching content strategy.
The Importance of Statistical Competencies for Medical Research Learners

It is very important for medical professionals and medical researchers to be literate in statistics. However, we have found that the degree of literacy that is required should not be identical for every statistical competency or even for every learner. We first begin by describing why the development, teaching, and assessment of statistical competencies for medical professionals and medical researchers are critical tasks. We next review our three substantial efforts at developing a comprehensive list of statistical competencies that can be used as a guide for what medical research learners should know about statistics, for curricular development, and for assessment of statistical education. We then summarize the origin and the inclusion of the statistical competency items. We follow this with a description of potential uses and applications of the statistical competencies to improve targeted learning for medical research learners. Finally, we discuss implications of the statistical competencies for undergraduate statistics education.
Advanced liver fibrosis and care continuum in emergency department patients with chronic hepatitis C.

Abstract Background FIB-4, a non-invasive serum fibrosis index (which includes age, ALT, AST, and platelet count), is frequently available during ED visits. Our objective was to define 1-year HCV-related care outcomes of ED patients with known HCV, for the overall group, and both those with and without advanced fibrosis. Methods As part of an ongoing HCV linkage-to-care (LTC) program, HCV-infected ED patients were identified retrospectively via medical record review. Components of FIB-4 were abstracted, and patients with an FIB-4 > 3.25 were classified with advanced fibrosis and characterized with regards to downstream HCV care continuum outcomes at one-year after enrollment. Results Of the 113 patients with known HCV, 38 (33.6%) had advanced fibrosis. One-year outcomes along the HCV care continuum after ED encounter for ‘all’ 113, 75 ‘without advanced fibrosis’, and 38 ‘advanced fibrosis’ patients, respectively, were as follows: agreeing to be linked to care [106 (93.8%), 72 (96.0%), 34 (89.5%)]; LTC [38 (33.6%), 21 (28.0%), 17 (44.7%)]; treatment initiation among those linked [16 (42.1%), 9 (42.9%), 7 (41.2%)]; sustained virologic response 4 weeks post-treatment among those treated [15 (93.8%), 9 (100.0%), 6 (85.7%)]; documented all-cause mortality [10 (8.8%), 3 (4.0%), 7 (18.4%)]. Notably, 70% of those who died had advanced fibrosis. For those with advanced liver fibrosis, all-cause mortality was significantly higher, than those without (18.4% versus 4.0%, p = 0.030). Conclusions Over one-third of HCV-infected ED patients have advanced liver fibrosis, incomplete LTC, and higher mortality, suggesting this readily-available FIB-4 might be used to prioritize LTC services for those with advanced fibrosis.
A Systematic Literature Review of Empirical Studies on Decentralized Nursing Stations

Objectives:The objective of this systematic review of literature was to critically evaluate peer-reviewed evidence regarding the effectiveness of decentralized nurse stations (DNSs).Background:The ...
Kinetic And Structural Parameters Governing Fic-Mediated Adenylylation/AMPylation of the Hsp70 chaperone, BiP/GRP78

Fic (filamentation induced by cAMP) proteins regulate diverse cell signaling events by post-translationally modifying their protein targets, predominantly by the addition of an AMP (adenosine monophosphate). This modification is called Fic-mediated Adenylylation or AMPylation. We previously reported that the human Fic protein, HYPE/FicD, is a novel regulator of the unfolded protein response (UPR) that maintains homeostasis in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) in response to stress from misfolded proteins. Specifically, HYPE regulates UPR by adenylylating the ER chaperone, BiP/GRP78, which serves as a sentinel for UPR activation. Maintaining ER homeostasis is critical for determining cell fate, thus highlighting the importance of the HYPE-BiP interaction. Here, we study the kinetic and structural parameters that determine the HYPE-BiP interaction. By measuring the binding and kinetic efficiencies of HYPE in its activated (Adenylylation-competent) and wild type (de-AMPylation-competent) forms for BiP in its wild type and ATP-bound conformations, we determine that HYPE displays a nearly identical preference for the wild type and ATP-bound forms of BiP in vitro and preferentially de-AMPylates the wild type form of adenylylated BiP. We also show that AMPylation at BiP Thr366 versus Thr518 sites differentially affect its ATPase activity, and that HYPE does not adenylylate UPR accessory proteins like J-protein ERdJ6. Using molecular docking models, we explain how HYPE is able to adenylylate Thr366 and Thr518 sites in vitro. While a physiological role for AMPylation at both the Thr366 and Thr518 sites has been reported, our molecular docking model supports Thr518 as the structurally preferred modification site. This is the first such analysis of the HYPE-BiP interaction and offers critical insights into substrate specificity and target recognition.
Schwann cell guidance of nerve growth between synaptic sites explains changes in the pattern of muscle innervation and remodeling of synaptic sites following peripheral nerve injuries

Terminal Schwann cells (SCs) are nonmyelinating glia that are a prominent component of the neuromuscular junction (NMJ) where motor neurons form synapses onto muscle fibers. These cells play important roles not only in development and maintenance of the neuromuscular synapse but also restoring synaptic function after nerve damage. In response to muscle denervation, terminal SCs undergo dramatic changes in their gene expression patterns as well as in their morphology, such as extending elaborate processes into inter-junctional space. These SC processes serve as a path to guide axon terminal sprouts from nearby innervated junctions, promoting rapid reinnervation of denervated fibers. We studied the role of terminal SCs in synapse reformation by using two different fluorescent proteins to simultaneously label motor axons and SCs; we examined these junctions repeatedly in living animals using a fluorescence microscope. Here, we show that alterations in the patterns of muscle innervation following recovery from nerve injury can be explained by SC guidance of regenerating axons. In turn, this guidance leads to remodeling of the NMJ itself.
LambdaLab: an interactive λ-calculus reducer for learning

In advanced programming languages curricula, the λ-calculus often serves as the foundation for teaching the formal concepts of language syntax and semantics. LambdaLab is an interactive tool that helps students practice λ-calculus reduction and build intuition for its behavior. To motivate the tool, we survey student answers to λ-calculus assignments in three previous classes and sort mistakes into six categories. LambdaLab addresses many of these problems by replicating the experience of working through examples with an instructor. It uses visualizations to convey AST structure and reducible expressions, interactive reduction to support self-guided practice, configurable reduction strategies, and support for encodings via a simple macro system. To mimic informal, in-class treatment of macros, we develop a new semantics that describes when to expand and contract them. We use case studies to describe how LambdaLab can fit into student workflows and address real mistakes.
Effects of variability and internal structure on malleability of phonetic categories: A case of [i] versus [u]

Recent studies on retuning of phonetic categories by lexically guided perceptual learning suggest an inverse relationship between inherent acoustic variability and malleability of phonetic categories—the greater the variability, the smaller the retuning effect. However, it remains to be investigated what perceptual processing mechanisms are responsible for the observed relationship. Extending our previous study (Kataoka and Koo, 2017) that compared the degree of malleability between [u] (more variable) and [i] (less variable), we not only compared the size of retuning effect between the two vowels but also examined how listeners judge category goodness of synthesized stimuli from a [i]-[u] continuum. Our subjects (1) showed signs of category retuning for [i] but not for [u] and (2) judged goodness of stimuli in a more gradient manner and took longer to do so when asked to judge with reference to [u] than [i]. The results suggest that the two vowels differ in terms of their acoustic variability as well as their internal structure and that relative difficulty in resolving input speech signal in reference to a category such as [u] might be one reason the category is less malleable than a less variable category such as [i].
Private Equity Impact on Corporate Innovation

This paper focuses on the influence of Private Equity (PE) firms on corporate innovation with the purpose of identifying opportunities such as new or enhanced strategies that PE firms would use to in order to increase the success rate of their acquisitions. The paper starts with a comprehensive literature review and creates a strong theoretical foundation about PE Leveraged Buyout (LBO) companies and their impact on corporate innovation. The methods used in this paper are the case study research, which is introduced to create theory [1] and the review-centric research approach of reviewing existing theory and research as well as for creating a new model of variables and relationships [2] that can be used to validate new hypotheses. The paper introduces a new model that is based on data collection from the review of existing theory and research. The model is a collection of variables that are categorized and linked together to depict new relationships that show the PE LBOsâ€™ influence on corporate innovation. The research also identifies inconsistency in the existing research literature as an opportunity for future research. The research is limited by the duration of a semester which is the timeframe allotted to complete the research work. Develop understanding of the reasons some LBOs fail and strategies that will help PE firms increase the success rate of their investments and create a win-win scenario for investors, employees, and the entire value chain. This paper new concepts and ideas are completely derived from the theoretical foundation and the professional experience of the author.
Therapeutic Potential of Direct Clearance of the Amyloid-β in Alzheimer's Disease.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is characterized by deposition and accumulation of amyloid-β (Aβ) and its corresponding plaques within the brain. Although much debate exists whether these plaques are the cause or the effect of AD, the accumulation of Aβ is linked with the imbalance between the production and clearance of Aβ. The receptor for advanced glycation endproducts (RAGE) facilitates entry of free Aβ from the peripheral stream. Conversely, lipoprotein receptor-related protein 1 (LRP1), located in the abluminal side at the blood–brain barrier mediates the efflux of Aβ. Research on altering the rates of clearance of Aβ by targeting these two pathways has been extensively study. Additionally, a cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) circulation assistant device has also been evaluated as an approach to increase solute concentration in the CSF via mechanical drainage, to allow for removal of Aβ from the brain. Herein, we provide a brief review of these approaches that are designed to re-establish a homeostatic Aβ balance in the brain.
The Use of Mendelian Randomization to Determine the Role of Metabolic Traits on Urinary Albumin-to-Creatinine Ratio

Urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (ACR) has both genetic and environmental influences. Previous studies have identified a number of genetic loci associated with ACR (1–3). Metabolic traits such as obesity and dyslipidemia also exhibit both genetic and environmental influences, and these measures have been associated with ACR (4). Previous studies indicate pleiotropic effects of metabolic genetic variants on ACR; however, it is not clear whether these metabolic traits have a causal relationship with ACR (5). In this issue of Diabetes , Casanova et al. (6) use Mendelian randomization (MR) to examine a putative causal relationship between metabolic traits and ACR. An illustration of the potential relationship between metabolic traits and ACR is shown in Fig. 1. The association between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) identified through genome-wide association studies and metabolic traits should be established and strong; this relationship is noted by the arrow from the instrument variables (i.e., SNPs) to the metabolic trait of interest. Epidemiologic literature can be used to support the association of each metabolic trait with ACR; however, these relationships may be confounded. MR can be used to establish the relationship between the metabolic trait and ACR (this relationship is noted by the arrow from the metabolic trait …
CHAPTER 2 – Water Cycle

Publisher Summary This chapter identifies the major components of a hydrologic model that can be linked to carbon and nutrient cycling models. The hydrologic cycle is an important feature of all ecosystems, and particularly forests, which generally grow in climates where precipitation provides more water than the vegetation can use or soils can store. Vegetation is a major factor in the hydrologic cycle. Before precipitation reaches the soil, water is intercepted and evaporated from the surface of vegetation and the litter layer. The rate at which water infiltrates into the soil, runs off the surface, or percolates through to the water table is affected by the density and depth of root channels and organic residue incorporated into the soil. Five meteorological variables drive the hydrologic model: solar radiation, temperature, vapor pressure deficits, precipitation, and wind speed. The soil and snow pack are major sources of temporary water storage. The leafy canopy and surface litter present the main surfaces from which water is transpired or evaporated. The vertical height, seasonal variation in leaf area index (LAI), and rooting depth are important properties of vegetation that affect water movement through ecosystems. By incorporating additional properties of the soil, hydrologic models have wide application. Such models provide insights into the implications of various policies that alter forest composition and structure.
Performance Evaluation and Life Management of SCR Denitration Catalyst

A plate-type catalyst for selective catalytic reduction (SCR) denitration system of a 600MW coal-fired power plant was studied. The denitration process characteristics and physical and chemical properties of the desulfurization process at different operating times were tested and analyzed. The results show that the content of active components of the catalyst decreases, and the content of alkali metals and alkaline earth metals increases. The deposition of fly ash and the wear of the catalyst during operation are the main reasons for the denitrification performance of the catalyst. Catalyst activity decreased by 21.6m/h after add installation in 2016. It was found that the catalyst in operation could not meet the operation requirements of the denitration equipment in 2018. Based on this, the catalyst replacement proposal was given, and the denitration catalyst was replaced for the operation of the power plant. Provide a reference and use this method as a life management mode for denitration catalysts.
Effect of supplementation of a dairy-originated probiotic bacterium, Propionibacterium freudenreichii subsp. freudenreichii, on the cecal microbiome of turkeys challenged with multidrug-resistant Salmonella Heidelberg.

A dairy-originated probiotic bacterium, Propionibacterium freudenreichii subsp. freudenreichii B3523 (PF) was found to be effective in reducing multidrug-resistant Salmonella Heidelberg (MDR SH) colonization in turkey poults (2-week-old) and growing (7-week-old) and finishing (12-week-old) turkeys. In this study, we explored the potential for microbiome modulation in the cecum of turkeys of different age groups due to PF supplementation in conjunction with MDR SH challenge. One-day-old commercial turkey poults were allocated to 3 treatment groups: negative control (N; turkeys without PF supplementation or SH challenge), SH control (S; turkeys challenged with SH without PF supplementation), and test group (P; turkeys supplemented with PF and challenged with SH). Turkeys were supplemented with 1010 CFU PF in 5-gallon (18.9 L) water until 7 or 12 week of age. At the 6th or 11th wk, turkeys were challenged with SH at 106 and 108 CFU/bird by crop gavage, respectively. After 2 and 7 d of challenge (2-d postinoculation [PI] and 7-d PI, respectively), cecal samples were collected and microbiome analysis was conducted using Illumina MiSeq. The experiments were repeated twice with 8 and 10 turkeys/group for 7- and 12-wk studies, respectively. Results indicated that the species richness and abundance (Shannon diversity index) was similar among the treatment groups. However, treatments caused apparent clustering of the samples among each other (P < 0.05). Firmicutes was the predominant phylum in the growing and finishing turkey cecum which was evenly distributed among the treatments except on wk 12 where the relative abundance of Firmicutes was significantly higher in P than in N (P = 0.02). The MDR SH challenge resulted in modulation of microflora such as Streptococcus, Gordonibacter, and Turicibacter (P < 0.05) in the S groups compared with the P and N groups, known to be associated with inflammatory responses in birds and mammals. The supplementation of PF increased the relative abundance of carbohydrate-fermenting and short-chain fatty acid-producing genera in the P group compared with the S group (P < 0.05). Moreover, the results revealed that PF supplementation potentially modulated the beneficial microbiota in the P group, which could mitigate SH carriage in turkeys.
Challenges for Treatment Trials of Inclusion Body Myositis.

Inclusion body myositis (IBM) is the most common idiopathic inflammatory myopathy (IIM) in patients >50 years of age. IBM typically presents with asymmetric weakness and atrophy of finger flexors and quadriceps. The pathophysiology of IBM remains controversial, and it is considered to be an inflammatory process with a degenerative component.1
"To Mitigate the Afflictions of the Human Race" - The Legacy of Dr. Rebecca Crumpler.

“To Mitigate the Afflictions of the Human Race” Rebecca Crumpler was the first Black woman to earn a medical degree in the United States. The book she published highlights that though she didn’t ye...
Barriers, facilitators, and opportunities to optimize care engagement in a diverse sample of older low-income women: A qualitative study.

Abstract The growing population of aging women in the United States is disproportionately at-risk for adverse physical, behavioral, mental, and psychosocial health conditions. Engagement with preventive care is critical to address these risk factors. A qualitative descriptive approach was used to explore patterns of healthcare use, facilitators, barriers, and opportunities to optimize primary/preventive care engagement among low-income midlife and older women. Themes were deductively derived from the Behavioral Model for Vulnerable Populations. Categories were inductively determined: barriers to care engagement; facilitators of care engagement; opportunities to optimize primary/preventive care engagement. Themes emerging from this study suggest that experiences related to discrimination, psychological health, trauma, and prioritizing care of others negatively influence care engagement; while respect, continuity, and clinician gender and racial/ethnic concordance enhance care participation. Efforts aiming to engage low-income aging women in care should focus on addressing barriers, building on facilitators, and leveraging contemporary telehealth-outreach solutions.
Addressing Contemporary Challenges to Hermeneutics

Hermeneutics encounters three current challenges: by more quantitative orientations, by stances that reject pluralism, and by criticism that the hermeneutic field is elitist and esoteric. The article offers a response through Ricœur. The hermeneutic “choice in favor of meaning” insists upon the ontological value of the human condition. It shows the insufficiency of the quantitative approach, the remaining value of pluralistic consideration of what human meaning entails, and the real world consequences of interpretation. Examples in Ricœur show how a hermeneutic choice in favor of meaning is not passive but instead reads texts with a particular orientation even when the text seems engaged in another project. The article’s final part undertakes an internal critique, raising the adequacy of Ricœur’s emphasis on meaning as an affirmation of “being.” The example of Buddhist insistence on “emptiness” is offered as one counterexample. The article concludes by arguing that in our contentious times hermeneutics confirms its contemporary vitality through its choice in favor of meaning even as it retains pluralistic consideration of what that meaning entails.
Music Computing and Computational Thinking: A Case Study

The NIME community has proposed a variety of interfaces that connect making music and education. This paper reviews current literature, proposes a method for developing educational NIMEs, and reflects on a way to manifest computational thinking through music computing. A case study is presented and discussed in which a programmable mechatronics educational NIME and a virtual simulation of the NIME offered as a web application were developed.
Outside and Inside: Race and Identity in White Jazz Autobiography: by Reva Marin (American Made Music Series), Jackson, MS, University Press of Mississippi, 2020, 232 pp., $30.00 (paperback), ISBN: 978-1-4968-2998-6

Reva Marin’s Outside and Inside: Race and Identity in White Jazz Autobiography is an outgrowth of her dissertation written for her 2014 PhD in humanities at York University (Toronto, Ontario). Her ...
Culturally Responsive Individualized Education Programs: Building Transition Bridges Between Families and Schools:

Students with disabilities from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds often experience barriers and inequities in transition supports and services due to the cultural mismatch of belief...
Synthesis, Structure, and Bonding of d 3 Molybdenum-Oxo Complexes

Reduction of d2 metal-oxo ions of the form [MO(PP)2 Cl]+ (M=Mo, W; PP=chelating diphosphine) produces d3 MO(PP)2 Cl complexes, which include the first isolated examples in group 6. The stability and reactivity of the MO(PP)2 Cl compounds are found to depend upon the steric bulk of the phosphine ligands: derivatives with bulky phosphines that shield the oxo ligand are stable enough to be isolated, whereas those with phosphines that leave the oxo ligand exposed are more reactive and observed transiently. Magnetic measurements and DFT calculations on MoO(dppe)2 Cl indicate the d3 compounds are low spin with a 2 [(dxy )2 (π*(MoO))1 ] configuration. X-ray crystallographic and vibrational-spectroscopic studies on d2 and d3 [MoO(dppe)2 Cl]0/+ establish that the d3 compound possesses a reduced M-O bond order and significantly longer Mo-O bond, accounting for its greater reactivity. These results indicate that the oxo-centered reactivity of d3 complexes may be controlled through ligand variation.
Calibration of the Structural Model of Corporate Bond Spreads

It has been long recognized that endogenous default probabilities cannot explain spreads between corporate and the riskless bonds. Recently, this issue has been subjected to rigorous scrutiny. Previous studies have found that for investment-grade debt, structural models explain only 15-25% of the observed spreads. On the other hand, for the high-yield debt, the structural models exaggerate actual spreads 1.5-2 times. These findings are perplexing because, while one could argue that factors other than default risk, e.g. illiquidity, can influence the spread for investment-grade bonds, it is difficult to justify the findings for junk bonds. In this paper, we offer an explanation to these puzzling results. Specifically, we account for the differential tax treatment of regular income and capital gains. In addition, we consider the uncertainty of the residual assets due bondholders, as well as the tax liability of the residual asset. We argue that the uncertainty in the claims on the future assets of the company in the case of potential default drives the spreads of an investment-grade debt as much as, if not more than, the probability of default.
The fundamental role of epigenetic events in cancer

Patterns of DNA methylation and chromatin structure are profoundly altered in neoplasia and include genome-wide losses of, and regional gains in, DNA methylation. The recent explosion in our knowledge of how chromatin organization modulates gene transcription has further highlighted the importance of epigenetic mechanisms in the initiation and progression of human cancer. These epigenetic changes -- in particular, aberrant promoter hypermethylation that is associated with inappropriate gene silencing -- affect virtually every step in tumour progression. In this review, we discuss these epigenetic events and the molecular alterations that might cause them and/or underlie altered gene expression in cancer.
Deterrence: An Empirical Psychological Model

Data from historical and ongoing operations against cocaine traffickers provide the basis for deriving a simple empirical mathematical expression, the willingness function, representing the psychological aspects of deterrence. The willingness function relates the willingness to perpetrate an illicit act to the perceived probability and consequences of being interdicted. This function can be generalized to estimate willingness to act when faced with a mixture of different consequences. The nonlinear willingness function provides, in turn, the basis for a deterrence model relating the probability of perpetrators being thwarted to the probability of their being interdicted. Operations against air traffickers flying cocaine base from Peru to Colombia validate the model and yield an estimate of the deterrence threshold for lethal consequences. An extension of this model estimates the effectiveness of layered defenses, taking terrorist perceptions into account. A number of critical tactical and strategic considerations are discussed, including employing surges of interdiction effort to find the deterrence threshold, assessing whether deterrence is working, preventing a collapse of established deterrence protections, and ensuring essential intelligence support. Analysis of the complex preparations leading up to the 9/11 attacks reveal the terrorists' caution and susceptibility to deterrence. Other evidence also argues for the validity of representing terrorist behavior with this function. Finally, the willingness function can be empirically tested as a possible general behavioral pattern for extreme risk taking by sportsmen, criminals, insurgents, or terrorists. Since there are many interpretations of deterrence, definitions and data sources are discussed first. Keywords: Deterrence; deterrence threshold; interdiction; psychology of deterrence; intelligence
New methods for adaptive noise suppression

We propose three new adaptive noise suppression algorithms for enhancing noise-corrupted speech: smoothed spectral subtraction (SSS), vector quantization of line spectral frequencies (VQ-LSF), and modified Wiener filtering (MWF). SSS is an improved version of the well-known spectra subtraction algorithm, while the other two methods are based on generalised Wiener filtering. We have compared these three algorithms with each other and with spectral subtraction on both simulated noise and actual car noise. All three proposed methods perform substantially better than spectral subtraction, primarily because of the absence of any musical noise artifacts in the processed speech. Listening tests showed preference for MWF and SSS over VQ-LSF. Also, MWF provides a much higher mean opinion score (MOS) than does spectral subtraction. Finally, VQ-LSF provides a relatively good spectral match to the clean speech, and may, therefore, be better suited for speech recognition.
Pharmacokinetics of fentanyl as determined by radioimmunoassay

The pharmacokinetics of fentanyl were determined in human surgical patients using radioimmunoassay. Fentanyl was measured in the serum, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and urine of patients receiving 0.1, 0.5, or 1.0 mg/m2 of fentanyl intravenously. The kinetics of the disappearance of fentanyl from the serum were very similar at the three administered doses. At all doses, levels fell rapidly in the first five minutes to approximately 20% of the peak value. Thereafter, serum levels fell more slowly with an observed half-life (t 1/2) of approximately 10 to 20 min. depending on dose. By 2 hr serum levels had stabilized at low values (1, 5, and 8 ng/ml) and continued to decrease very slowly thereafter, with an observed t 1/2 of 1 to 2 hr at the low dose (0.1 mg/m2) and greater than 4 hr at 0.5 and 1.0 mg/m2. The serum elimination curves were dissected and described mathematically in terms of a three-compartment model. Urinary excretion of fentanyl accounted for 15% to 20% of the administered dose. Urinary excretion was very low during the first 2 hr, suggesting that this route of elimination is not important in terminating the actions of fentanyl in man. Fentanyl levels in the CSF of patients given terminating the actions of fentanyl in man. Fentanyl levels in the CSF of patients given the high dose (1 mg/m2) were low, and never exceeded 4 ng/ml. Peak levels of fentanyl in the CSF were not seen until at least 15 min after administration.
Relationship Dynamics between University Research Centers and Industrial Firms: Their Impact on Technology Transfer Activities

In this study we focus on relationship-oriented factors such as trust, geographic proximity, communication, and university policies for intellectual property rights (IPR), patents and licenses and examine how these factors influence the technology transfer process between university research centers and their industrial partners. Data for this study were collected from 189 industrial firms working with 21 research centers affiliated with prominent research-oriented universities in the US. Our results showed that trust, geographic proximity, and flexible university policies for IPR, patents, and licenses were strongly associated with greater technology transfer activities. The implications for both researchers and practitioners are discussed.
Recombinant erythropoietic growth factors as an alternative to erythrocyte transfusion for patients with "anemia of prematurity".

Erythrocyte transfusion is a commonly used treatment in neonatal medicine. This was illustrated by Blanchette and Zipursky who tabulated the transfusions given to preterm infants at the Hospital for Sick Children. They reported that in the first 6 weeks of life 90% of patients received at least one transfusion and nearly 50% of patients received cumulative transfusions in excess of their total circulating RBC mass. During the first 2 weeks of life most transfusions given to preterm infants are for the purpose of replacing blood withdrawn for laboratory tests. However, after that time transfusions are usually given for an anemia that is not attributable to blood withdrawal, nutritional deficiencies (vitamin E, iron, folate, etc) or genetic abnormalities.
Chapter 42 – Exposure Framework

Publisher Summary This chapter provides an overview of exposure science. It also provides information on unique considerations for pesticides, including the need to explicitly evaluate exposures for children in order to ensure their protection. Exposure science evaluates and predicts exposures and provides information for developing risk assessments as well as the most effective strategies for reducing these risks. Nearly 80% of pesticides in the United States are agricultural chemicals used in food production—people are exposed to low levels of pesticide residues through their diets. Pesticides are also widely used in a variety of other settings including homes, schools, hospitals, and workplaces, which can lead to additional exposures. Scientists do not yet have a clear understanding of the health effects of exposures to these pesticide residues, although evidence suggests that children may be particularly susceptible to adverse effects. Because pesticides are designed to be toxic and because there is widespread low-level exposure, it is important to both understand and control exposures and risks while still maintaining the benefits of these chemicals. This is done by identifying and characterizing pesticides and human behaviors and the processes that drive exposures. The concepts and application of exposure science are still developing, especially considering exposures to young children. Currently, there are limited “real-world” exposure data. To collect these data, new, more efficient methods will be needed. In the future, models should provide the basic framework for conducting exposure research and using it in the context of regulatory decision making.
Logical reducibility and monadic NP

It is shown that, by choosing appropriate encodings of instances as relational structures, several known polynomial-time many-one reductions can he described in first-order logic, and furthermore they are monadic. As a corollary, several known NP-complete problems in monadic NP are shown not to be in monadic co-NP. It is further shown that there is no monadic first-order reduction from connectivity to directed reachability, even in the presence of successor. Finally, some classes of syntactically restricted first-order reductions are shown to be incomparable. >
Lidar and Laser Remote Sensing

Lidar or laser remote sensing involves the use of a laser beam as an optical probe of the surrounding environment and as a spectroscopic sensor of gases and constituents from afar. This chapter covers the basic techniques used for remote sensing of distant targets and surrounding atmospheric gases, but with an emphasis on the aspects of lidar that uses unique vibrational and rotational optical spectroscopy either in absorption or in Raman scattering. The basic physics of laser remote sensing is covered including that associated with the development of tunable laser sources, line width and wavelength parameters, atmospheric transmission through different atmospheric conditions of fog and gas cloud concentrations, and the detection of the lidar backscattered radiation. Aspects of the lidar equation are presented to help predict the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of the remote sensing signal, the influence and trade-offs of using different targets (hard targets or atmospheric aerosols) and the use of different spectroscopic interactions including Raman, fluorescence, and nonshifted backscattered lidar radiation. Examples of current research using differential-absorption lidar (DIAL) and Raman spectroscopic measurements are presented with specific examples of the remote sensing of NH3 clouds and CO2 in the atmosphere. Finally, the important role that the development of new tunable lasers plays in lidar sensing is emphasized. Keywords: lidar; laser remote sensing; atmospheric optics; laser spectroscopy; vibrational line spectra; tunable laser spectroscopy; optical remote sensing; DIAL
Parent Attitudes about Special Education and Reintegration: What is the Role of Student Outcomes?:

Parents (N=21) of children receiving special education resource room services in reading were interviewed to learn about their views concerning these services and reintegration decisions. Quantitative and qualitative research strategies were used to scale attitudes and cluster responses. Most parents had strong positive attitudes toward resource room services. The basis for these attitudes was explored, and it was found that parents' satisfaction was derived primarily from subjective perceptions (such as teachers' caring), rather than academic performance data. Most parents were reluctant to have their children reintegrated into general education classes for reading instruction. Findings are discussed in the context of special education reform efforts.
Provenance Quality Assessment Methodology and Framework

Data provenance, a form of metadata describing the life cycle of a data product, is crucial in the sharing of research data. Research data, when shared over decades, requires recipients to make a determination of both use and trust. That is, can they use the dataq More importantly, can they trust itq Knowing the data are of high quality is one factor to establishing fitness for use and trust. Provenance can be used to assert the quality of the data, but the quality of the provenance must be known as well. We propose a framework for assessing the quality of data provenance. We identify quality issues in data provenance, establish key quality dimensions, and define a framework of analysis. We apply the analysis framework to synthetic and real-world provenance.
Evolutional and ecological implications of the properties of deep-sea barophilic bacteria.

Abstract The rate of reproduction of deep-sea bacteria from six different capture depths between 1957 and 10,476 meters was studied as a function of temperature and pressure. The results showed the following: the true deep-sea bacteria of different depths have several characteristics, presumably evolutionally derived, distinguishing them from each other and from bacteria of atmospheric-pressure environments; pressure plays a significant role in determining the distribution of oceanic life; and pressure-adapted bacteria are easily recovered from and ubiquitous in the deep ocean. Organisms evolving in habitats of different temperatures and pressures need to be studied to understand the physical limits of life, the distribution of life within the earth and its oceans, the role of organisms in organic diagenesis and petroleum formation, and the possible existence of life on and within other planets.
Lubrication With Binary Mixtures: Liquid-Liquid Emulsion in an EHL Conjunction

Oil-in-water and water-in-oil emulsions are often employed as lubricants. In many applications of emulsion lubricants both the deformation of the bounding solid surfaces and the pressure dependence of the viscosity of the lubricant contribute essentially to performance, thus defining lubrication in the elastohydrodynamic (EHD) mode. In this paper we investigate lubrication with liquid-liquid binary mixtures of two Newtonian fluids in an EHD conjunction, and discuss the effect of varying the parameters of the problem on pressure, film thickness and volume fraction distribution
Determination of calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, potassium, sodium, zinc, and chloride concentrations in several brain areas

Abstract 1. 1. A method is described for the determination of potassium, sodium, magnesium, calcium, iron, zinc, copper, manganese, and chloride concentrations in single brain areas. 2. 2. Three different ashing procedures are compared and details for samples preparation are given. The methods of atomic absorption spectrophotometry and chloride titration were employed in the ion assays. 3. 3. The nine ion concentrations are given for cerebral cortex, caudate nuclei, paleothalamic nuclei, cerebellum, and medulla oblongata from normal adult albino rabbit brain.
A benefit-cost analysis of New York State's “Bundy Aid” program

Abstract This paper attempts to summarize the economic costs and benefits of “Bundy Aid” from the point of view of New York State's taxpayers. The results indicate that the program has not been cost-beneficial, relative to the alternative approach of absorption of affected students into the state system, even under “best-case” assumptions.
Isospin decomposition of nuclear multipole matrix elements from. gamma. decay rates of mirror transitions: Test of values obtained with hadronic probes

The electromagnetic decay rates of mirror states are used to decompose the multipole electromagnetic matrix elements into isoscalar and isovector or equivalently proton and neutron matrix elements. This method is sensitive to the neutron matrix element because it is measured directly, and it is accurate since it depends only on electromagnetic interactions; it therefore can be used to test methods using inelastic hadron scattering. There is agreement with the results for ($\ensuremath{\alpha}$,${\ensuremath{\alpha}}^{\ensuremath{'}}$) on $^{26}\mathrm{Mg}$ and $^{42}\mathrm{Ca}$ but disagreement with the recent $^{18}\mathrm{O}$($\ensuremath{\pi}$,${\ensuremath{\pi}}^{\ensuremath{'}}$) experiments.
MR Vascular Fingerprinting: A New Approach to Compute Cerebral Blood Volume, Mean Vessel Radius, and Oxygenation Maps in the Human Brain

In the present study, we describe a fingerprinting approach to analyze the time evolution of the MR signal and retrieve quantitative information about the microvascular network. We used a Gradient Echo Sampling of the Free Induction Decay and Spin Echo (GESFIDE) sequence and defined a fingerprint as the ratio of signals acquired pre- and post-injection of an iron-based contrast agent. We then simulated the same experiment with an advanced numerical tool that takes a virtual voxel containing blood vessels as input, then computes microscopic magnetic fields and water diffusion effects, and eventually derives the expected MR signal evolution. The parameter inputs of the simulations (cerebral blood volume [CBV], mean vessel radius [R], and blood oxygen saturation [SO2]) were varied to obtain a dictionary of all possible signal evolutions. The best fit between the observed fingerprint and the dictionary was then determined by using least square minimization. This approach was evaluated in 5 normal subjects and the results were compared to those obtained by using more conventional MR methods, steady-state contrast imaging for CBV and R and a global measure of oxygenation obtained from the superior sagittal sinus for SO2. The fingerprinting method enabled the creation of high-resolution parametric maps of the microvascular network showing expected contrast and fine details. Numerical values in gray matter (CBV=3.1±0.7%, R=12.6±2.4μm, SO2=59.5±4.7%) are consistent with literature reports and correlated with conventional MR approaches. SO2 values in white matter (53.0±4.0%) were slightly lower than expected. Numerous improvements can easily be made and the method should be useful to study brain pathologies.
Lower bounds for the energy levels of anharmonic oscillators.

The lower‐bounds method presented by Lowdin in the preceding paper has been applied to oscillators perturbed by third‐ and fourth‐power terms in the potential‐energy expression. For favorable cases agreement between upper and lower bounds is easily carried to many more figures than are likely to be physically significant. In many cases the lower bounds agreed more closely to the true eigenvalue than did the corresponding upper bounds. For a given basis set, this method gives closer bounds than that of Bazley and Fox, except for energy levels too high to be satisfactorily treated in the given basis. The only disadvantage found was that for close bounds double precision proved necessary, indicating more than ordinary loss of computational accuracy.
Emerging drugs for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Introduction: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a rapidly progressive neurodegenerative disease that results in increasing disability and that is uniformly fatal. Since its approval in the 1990s, riluzole remains the sole treatment for ALS offering modest survival benefit. While significant advances have been made in the symptomatic management of the disease, more effective drug therapy targeting disease progression is sorely needed. Areas covered: Advances in the understanding of pathogenic mechanisms involved in disease development and progression have provided multiple avenues for developing effective treatment strategies. This review highlights recent discoveries relating to these diverse mechanisms and their implications for the development of drug therapy. Previous human clinical trials that have targeted these pathways are mentioned and ongoing drug trials are discussed. Expert opinion: The search for effective drug therapy faces important challenges in the areas of basic science and animal re...