cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A Unique Transcriptional Profile for Spontaneously Immunoglobulin Secreting B-1 Cells.

Natural antibodies are spontaneously arising polyreactive Ig, usually IgM, that are encoded by V genes in germline configuration and are produced by B-1 cells. Because of their ability to promiscuously bind to a variety of antigens, especially those on bacteria and viruses, natural antibodies act as a primary line of defense against infection. A key shortfall in our understanding of these key effector molecules centers on the molecular mechanisms regulating natural antibody secretion by B-1 cells. Recent advances in our understanding of plasmacytic differentiation now provide us with a conceptual framework by which we can begin to explore this issue. In the studies described herein, we demonstrate that secreting B-1 cells utilize some aspects of the plasmacytic differentiation program and deviate away from it in others. Specifically, we show that key repressors of the plasmacytic program, BCL-6 and PAX-5a, are indeed reduced in secreting B-1 B cells. Surprisingly, we found that key promoters of the plasmacytic program, BLIMP-1 and XBP-1, are not upregulated in secreting B-1 B cells. These data demonstrate that B-1 B cells operate under a differentiation program unique from prototypic secreting B-2 cells and cast BCL-6 and PAX-5a but not BLIMP-1 and XBP-1 as central regulators of natural immunoglobulin secretion.
Epithermal Neutron Capture in Uranium-238

Designers of thermal-neutron reactors have always had to adjust microscopic nuclear cross sections to predict neutron multiplication in slightly enriched uranium lattices. It has been surmised that...
Terminal Titanyl Complexes of Tri- and Tetrametaphosphate: Synthesis, Structures, and Reactivity with Hydrogen Peroxide.

The synthesis and characterization of tri- and tetrametaphosphate titanium(IV) oxo and peroxo complexes is described. Addition of 0.5 equiv of [OTi(acac)2]2 to dihydrogen tetrametaphosphate ([P4O12H2]2–) and monohydrogen trimetaphosphate ([P3O9H]2–) provided a bis(μ2,κ2,κ2) tetrametaphosphate titanyl dimer, [OTiP4O12]24– (1; 70% yield), and a trimetaphosphate titanyl acetylacetonate complex, [OTiP3O9(acac)]2– (2; 59% yield). Both 1 and 2 have been structurally characterized, crystallizing in the triclinic P1 and monoclinic P21 space groups, respectively. These complexes contain Ti≡O units with distances of 1.624(7) and 1.644(2) A, respectively, and represent rare examples of structurally characterized terminal titanyls within an all-oxygen coordination environment. Complexes 1 and 2 react with hydrogen peroxide to produce the corresponding peroxotitanium(IV) metaphosphate complexes [O2TiP4O12]24–(3; 61% yield) and [O2TiP3O9(acac)]2– (4; 65% yield), respectively. Both 3 and 4 have been characterized by si...
Surgical Approaches to Chronic Pancreatitis: Indications and Techniques

There are a number of surgical strategies for the treatment of chronic pancreatitis. The optimal intervention should provide effective pain relief, improve/maintain quality of life, preserve exocrine and endocrine function, and manage local complications. Pancreaticoduodenectomy was once the standard operation for patients with chronic pancreatitis; however, other procedures such as the duodenum-preserving pancreatic head resections and its variants have been introduced with good long-term results. Pancreatic duct drainage via a lateral pancreaticojejunostomy continues to be effective in ameliorating symptoms and expediting return to normal lifestyle in many patients. This review summarizes operative indications and gives an overview of the different surgical strategies in treating chronic pancreatitis.
Intelligence elsewhere: spies and espionage outside the Anglosphere

This anthology explores intelligence outside of North America and Western Europe by focusing on historical and contemporary intelligence agencies and communities in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, S...
Getting Back on Track to Being Human

Cooperation and compassion are forms of intelligence. Their lack is an indication of ongoing stress or toxic stress during development that undermined the usual growth of compassion capacities. Though it is hard to face at first awareness, humans in the dominant culture tend to be pretty unintelligent compared to those from societies that existed sustainably for thousands, sometimes tens of thousands, of years. Whereas in sustainable societies everyone must learn to cooperate with earth’s systems to survive and thrive, in the dominant culture this is no longer the case. Now due to technological advances that do not take into account the long-term welfare of earth systems, humans have become “free riders” until these systems collapse from abuse or misuse. The dominant human culture, a “weed species,” has come to devastate planetary ecosystems in a matter of centuries. What do we do to return ourselves to living as earth creatures, as one species among many in community? Humanity needs to restore lost capacities—relational attunement and communal imagination—whose loss occurs primarily in cultures dominated by child-raising practices and ways of thinking that undermine cooperative companionship and a sense of partnership that otherwise develops from the beginning of life. To plant the seeds of cooperation, democracy, and partnership, we need to provide the evolved nest to children, and facilitate the development of ecological attachment to their landscape. This will take efforts at the individual, policy, and institutional levels.
Removing phase variables from biped robot parametric gaits

Hybrid zero dynamics-based control is a promising framework for controlling underactuated biped robots and powered prosthetic legs. In this control paradigm, stable walking gaits are implicitly encoded in polynomial output functions of the robot configuration variables, which are to be zeroed via feedback. The biped output functions are parameterized by a suitable mechanical phasing variable whose evolution determines the biped gait progression during each step. Determining a proper phase variable, however, might not always be a trivial task. In this paper, we present a method for generating output functions from given parametric walking gaits without any explicit knowledge of the phase variables. Our elimination method is based on computing the resultant of polynomials, an algebraic tool widely used in computer algebra.
Effects of Docosahexaenoic Acid Supplementation on Cortical Network Integrity in Medication-Free Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Preliminary Multimodal Neuroimaging Trial

Abstract: Children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) exhibit blood docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) deficits and cortical network pathology. This neuroimaging study investigated the effects of DHA supplementation on cortical attention network integrity in medication-free children with ADHD. Children (mean age 9.6 years, n=30) with ADHD were randomized to DHA (1,200 mg/d) or placebo for 10 weeks. Blood DHA levels and ADHD symptom severity ratings were obtained from all participants (n=30). Cortical network integrity was evaluated in a subset of patients (n=20) using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Erythrocyte DHA levels increased significantly in patients receiving DHA (+60%, pâ‰¤0.0001) but not placebo (-4%, p=0.77). There were no group differences in baseline-endpoint change in ADHD symptom severity scores, sustained attention performance, or voxelwise cortical activation patterns during performance of a sustained attention task. In the region-of-interest (ROI) analysis, patients treated with DHA but not placebo exhibited significant endpoint reductions in left amygdala activation. At study endpoint, but not at baseline, DHA-treated patients exhibited significantly greater event-related functional connectivity between the pregenual and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex and regions within the cortical attention network including the inferior parietal lobe and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex compared with placebo. Trends with large effect sizes for reductions in medial and radial diffusivity in the left corpus callosum were observed in DHA-treated patients. These preliminary findings suggest that DHA supplementation may be associated with subtle changes in cortical attention networks of medication-free children with ADHD which warrant additional investigation in a larger patient sample.
How Economic Disadvantage Affects the Availability and Nature of Mentoring Relationships During the Transition to Adulthood

Supportive nonparental adults, particularly nonfamilial adults, provide critical support during the transition to adulthood, opening doors to educational and career paths. This study examined whether economic disadvantage shapes access to these relationships. Results showed that low-income adolescents had reduced access to naturally occurring mentors, and the relationships they did form tended to be close bonds with family and friends, rather than nonfamilial adults. Their mentors were more likely to focus on practical support, and less likely to serve as role models or provide career advice. These effects of socioeconomic status on natural mentoring relationships remained evident, even when accounting for youth race/ethnicity. Findings suggest that networks of support differ depending on a youth's socioeconomic context in ways that could perpetuate social and economic inequalities.
Research, Writing, and Writer/Reader Exigence: Literate Practice as the Overlap of Information Literacy and Writing Studies Threshold Concepts

The publication of the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy has led scholars and teachers of writing and information literacy to identify ways of connecting threshold concepts of both disciplines to help students more easily and effectively acquire the transformed perspectives on research and writing. We argue that the practice of addressing writer exigence connects the concepts of IL and WS under a single literate practice. As the motivating matter of discourse, the perception of a particular exigence leads writers to identify a useful audience to address that exigence. Noting that audiences have their own exigencies for reading as well, we explain that writers must construct their texts in ways that signal a text’s exigency for readers, an effort that includes selecting the performances of evidence and writer legitimacy through information literacy. By teaching writing and researching as the literate practice of resolving the writer’s exigence by constructing exigency for particular readers, instructors can effectively link the six Frames of the ACRL Framework and Writing Studies threshold concepts and explain why concepts of both are essential and inextricable.
Teaching the language of mathematics: What the research tells us teachers need to know and do

Abstract The focus of this paper is on what research suggests primary school teachers need to know about the specialized language of mathematics teaching and learning: the mathematics register. When teachers act effectively on this knowledge, students have multiple opportunities to construct mathematical understandings and to demonstrate what they know in the variety of tasks that are required by formal schooling. First, the national and policy context within which mathematics is taught and learned is considered. Secondly, the mathematics register is defined, followed by a consideration the significance for teaching, learning, and assessment in school; examples are provided. The educational implications of these analyses include guidelines for what teachers need to know and to do, so that their students appropriately utilize the mathematics register in the classroom. In so doing, students are provided with optimal circumstances to learn, where they may deploy all of their cognitive-linguistic resources to the particular mathematics tasks at hand.
Applying Systems Theory Through the Lens of Learning: What Does Learning Research Say?

Two areas of learning research, research about the learning process and views about the learner, need to be considered to guide educational stakeholders in the task of successfully redesigning schools to promote learning. The most meaningful learning results from an instructional design based on learning research. Research in the application of systems theory in education has profound implications for curriculum, instruction, and assessment in schools.
Prognoses of seriously ill hospitalized patients on the days before death: implications for patient care and public policy.

Troubling aspects of the experiences of patients at the ends of their lives have fueled interest in special benefits or privileges for this group. There is a presumption that being "at the end of life" is discernible. This study examines this presumption using data from two previously collected databases: the Study to Understand Prognoses and Preferences for Outcomes and Risks of Treatments (SUPPORT) and the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation III (APACHE III). Both studies generated multivariable estimates of survival prognosis for hospitalized patients. SUPPORT included 9,105 patients with one of nine serious illnesses in five hospitals over 4 yrs, of whom 2,360 died in the hospital and 4,537 died within 180 days of entry into the study. The APACHE III database describes 2,750 deaths in 16,622 ICU patients in 40 hospitals. The relationship of median estimates with time to death were examined for each source of data, for different diseases, and for ICU settings of care. In SUPPORT, the median predicted chance of survival for 2 months on the day before actual death was .17 (interquartile range, .02-.40) and was .51 (.31-.66) 1 wk before death. Median prognoses varied substantially among diseases: the median for congestive heart failure patients was a .62 chance of living 2 months on the day before death, while lung cancer had only a .17 chance and coma patients only an .11 chance. Median prognostication estimates were not much different when given by physicians and were only a little more pessimistic in APACHE (median estimate for hospital survival on the day before death was .14 and 7 days before was .45). To make plans about care and to optimally support most dying persons and families, conversations must occur while the patient still has a considerable chance of surviving the current episode of illness. Using statistical estimates of prognosis to designate a category of "terminally ill" patients for public policy purposes is unavoidably arbitrary, will often be contested, and will have differential effects upon those dying with differing diseases.
Photoreduction of CHCl3 in Aqueous SPEEK/HCO2- Solutions Involving Free Radicals.

Exposure of sulfonated poly(ether etherketone), SPEEK, in aqueous solutions to 350 nm photons induced reduction of CHCl3 to CH2Cl2 and chloride ions in the presence of HCO2H/HCO2– buffers or poly(v...
Parental non-alcoholic fatty liver disease increases risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in offspring.

BACKGROUND & AIMS Little is known regarding the risk of hepatic steatosis (HS) among adult children of affected parents. We examined the association between parental and offspring HS in the multigenerational Framingham Heart Study, which characterized HS using computed tomography. METHODS We performed multivariable logistic regression models adjusted for age, sex, alcohol use, and body mass index to generate the odds of HS according to parental HS. We determined the proportion of participants with HS according to parental HS and the presence or absence of hypertension, diabetes, or obesity (BMI ≥30 kg/m2 ). After excluding heavy alcohol use (n = 126) and missing covariates (n = 1), 785 offspring with at least one parent were included. RESULTS Approximately 23% (183/785) had at least one parent with HS and 1.1% had two affected parents (9/785). In adjusted models, participants with at least one parent with HS had a nearly two-fold increased odds of HS compared to participants without a parental history of HS (OR 1.86, 95% confidence interval 1.15-3.03). Among participants without hypertension, diabetes, or obesity, a higher proportion had HS if they had a parental history of HS compared to those without (16.1% vs 5.2%, P < 0.001). However, for participants with cardiometabolic risk factors, we did not observe a difference in HS among those with and without parental HS (30.3% vs 28.5%, P = 0.78). CONCLUSIONS Individuals with a parental history of HS are at increased risk for HS. Specifically, a parental history of HS may be an important factor among those that are otherwise metabolically healthy.
Reliability Analysis of Steel SMRF and SCBF Structures Considering the Vertical Component of Near-Fault Ground Motions

AbstractThis paper assesses the effects of the vertical component of ground motions on steel structures and evaluates the current seismic design provisions of ASCE 7 on the basis of a structural re...
The interweaving of sacred and secular: metaphysics, reform and enlightenment in the rivalry between Dom Deschamps and Claude Yvon, 1769–1774

ABSTRACTThe Benedictine Dom Leger-Marie Deschamps and the philosophical Abbe Claude Yvon may indeed be minor eighteenth-century figures, and they both may be considered to have emerged from the Cat...
“To Assyst the Ordynaryes”: Why Thomas More Agreed to Become Chancellor

Revisionists’ explanations for Thomas More’s willingness to serve as Chancellor have him scheming to support the Aragonese faction at Court--or conspiring with Hapsburg agents to revive papal influence in England in the wake of Campeggio’s departure and Wolsey’s “fall.” In late 1529, More was obviously concerned with lay disaffection, troubled by the prospect that sectarian dissidents might capitalize on it to reform the church recklessly, and confident that the realm’s bishops, assisted by the government, could outmaneuver the critics of Roman and English Catholicism, whose arguments for an alternative ecclesiology and soteriology he had opposed earlier that year. “To Assyst” presents More’s concern and confidence as a more plausible answer to the question in its title, more plausible than rival responses on offer.
Tourist tax elasticity in Florida: Spatial effects of county-level room tax rate variation

Abstract We examine the spatial, county-level incidence of changes to tourist tax rates in Florida from 2003 to 2014. Florida allows county-level visitor tax increments to fund various tourism-related initiatives. As a result, there is considerable variation in visitor tax rates across counties and across time. Using a dynamic spatial autoregressive panel model, we show that direct and indirect effects of room tax rate changes on taxable hotel room expenditures are relatively small and largely exported to visitors. Because these taxes have recently been allowed for funding Major League Baseball Spring Training facilities, we also test whether these facilities impact hotel tax collections. We find no measurable effects of a small number of facility relocations on hotel spending in the new or previous home-counties. We also discuss the importance of considering contiguous spillovers and the use of cluster-robust standard errors in panel estimation of tax incidence for tourism.
Syndrome definitions for drug overdose: How far down the rabbit hole do we go?

Objective To discuss the process for developing and revising suspected drug overdose queries in syndromic surveillance (SyS) systems. Introduction State and local jurisdictions have been exploring the use of SyS data to monitor suspected drug overdose outbreaks in their communities. With the increasing awareness and use of SyS systems, staff from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) worked to develop several queries that jurisdictions could use to better capture suspected drug overdose visits. In 2017, CDC released their first two queries on heroin overdose and opioid overdose, followed in 2018 by stimulant and all drug overdose queries. Over time, and with the assistance from the SyS community and the CDC-funded Enhanced State Opioid Overdose Surveillance (ESOOS) state health departments, CDC has revised the queries to address suggestions from jurisdictions. However, it’s not clear how often and in what way the syndrome definitions are updated over time. This is particularly true as new drugs emerge and the names of those drugs are integrated into syndrome definitions (e.g., recent “Spice” and “K2” synthetic cannabinoid outbreaks). Description This roundtable will provide a forum for national, state, and local users of SyS and drug overdose syndrome queries to discuss the process of query development, with an eye towards determining when a definition is “good enough.” CDC staff will facilitate the discussion and present the current portfolio of drug-related overdose queries. Participants will be encouraged to provide feedback on the queries, share what has been/has not been working in their jurisdiction with regard to syndrome query development, and discuss the process for revising queries as the epidemic evolves. The focus of this roundtable will be on suspected drug overdose query development and revision with emergency department SyS data. How the Moderator Intends to Engage the Audience in Discussions on the Topic With most jurisdictions grappling with the impact of the opioid epidemic, this roundtable is well suited for widespread audience participation. Though some jurisdictions have been using SyS to monitor suspected drug overdose outbreaks for some time, others are not using SyS in this way. Thus, opportunities for sharing of work, experiences, barriers, and facilitators will be useful for all SyS users
Enantioselective Synthesis of α‐Methylene‐β‐hydroxy Carboxylic Acid Derivatives via a Diastereoselective Aldol/β‐Elimination Sequence: Application to the C(15)—C(21) Fragment of Tedanolide C.

A highly stereoselective synthesis of oxazolidinone-protected α-methylene-β-hydroxycarboxylic amides, e.g. (III), (VII) or (IX), is presented, involving the reaction of a chiral boron enolate [generated from phenylselenide (I)] with various aldehydes, followed by H2O2 oxidation.
Athletic Trainers' Practice Patterns Regarding Medical Documentation

Context Medical documentation is a required component of patient care in all health care professions. Objective To evaluate athletic trainers' perceived behaviors toward, barriers to, and confidenc...
New directions in sleep and memory research: the role of autonomic activity

Over the last 100 years there has been a proliferation of research into the mechanisms of sleep that support cognition. Majority of these studies point to electroencephalographic features during sleep that are linked to plasticity and support valuable cognitive skills, like long-term memory. Importantly, sleep is both a central and an autonomic phenomenon with dynamic shifts occurring in both the brain and the body at sleep onset and throughout a sleep period. Prior work has demonstrated that autonomic inputs during wake modulate cognition. In this Review, we outline a new research direction that links brain-body interactions during sleep to cognitive ability and enhancement and posit that autonomic-central interactions are likely a distinct predictor of sleep-dependent plasticity.
Nitrate isotopic composition of sequential Hurricane Harvey wet deposition: Low latitude NOx sources and oxidation chemistry

Abstract Chemical characterization of hurricane wet deposition is integral to understanding how future extreme weather events will impact coastal biogeochemical cycles. Sequential Hurricane Harvey wet deposition samples (n = 7 over 20.5 h) were collected in southeastern Texas, U.S. and the isotopic composition of nitrate and water (δ15N–NO3-, δ18O–NO3- and δ18O–H2O, δ2H–H2O) and the concentrations of ammonium, anions, and dissolved organic carbon were measured. Areas of peak deposition (~1500 mm) received up to 75% of the region's typical average annual inorganic nitrogen wet deposition. After δ15N–NO3- values were corrected for potential fractionation effects, contributions of lightning, natural gas combustion, vehicle exhaust and biogenic sources to NO3− in wet deposition (43.7 ± 31.2%, 7.8 ± 6.1%, 42.6 ± 27.5% and 5.9 ± 5.3%, respectively) were determined using a Bayesian isotope mixing model. Results highlight the significance of natural-sourced nitrogen being deposited to terrestrial systems during hurricane events. The relatively low δ18O–NO3- (36.1 ± 3.0‰) emphasized the role played by hydroxyl and peroxy radicals in HNO3 formation during the tropical summer. An established global NOx oxidation model in combination with δ18O–NO3- approximates the significance of RO2 vs O3 oxidation of NO during the daytime (36.0% vs 64.0%, respectively) and results provide valuable insight to low-latitude atmospheric chemistry.
Low-pressure flame synthesis of carbon-stabilized TiO2-II (srilankite) nanoparticles

Abstract Nanoparticulate (3–10 nm) TiO2 polymorphs, i.e., rutile, anatase, and srilankite (also known as TiO2-II or α-PbO2-type TiO2) phases are produced via low-pressure (e.g., 20 torr) flame synthesis at temperatures ranging from 1560K to 2650K, with burner flow velocities varying from 150 to 300 cm/s, using titanium tetra-isopropoxide (TTIP) as precursor. Interestingly, added carbon (i.e., ethylene) in the feed stream produces nanoparticles of the generally characteristic low-temperature high-pressure metastable srilankite phase. The as-synthesized nanopowder is composed of either rutile or srilankite phase, with composition dependent on particle residence time in the flow field. Under the same conditions, feed gas without carbon, e.g., hydrogen, yields anatase phase TiO2. Post heat treatment up to 773K in thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) highlights the thermal stability of the samples, while x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) indicates the presence of carbon, with absences of Ti3+, Ti–C, and nitrogen. Microscopy reveals morphology on both the micrometer scale (scanning electron microscopy, SEM) and nanometer scale (transmission electron microscopy, TEM), while x-ray diffraction (XRD) and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) confirm polymorph variation under different synthesis conditions. CHN analysis determines that the synthesized srilankite contains a greater weight percentage of carbon than does anatase. Excess carbon doped into the lattice during low-pressure flame synthesis seems to be the key in stabilizing the high-pressure srilankite phase for such nanoparticles.
Prospective Dual-Surrogate Validation Study of Periodic Imaging during Treatment for Accurately Monitoring Intrafraction Motion of Prostate Cancer Patients

Abstract Background and purpose The goal of this prospective study is to validate the use of periodic imaging during treatment with a fiducial marker detection algorithm using radiofrequency transponders for prostate cancer patients undergoing treatment for radiation therapy. Materials and methods Ten male patients were enrolled in this study and treated for prostate cancer with implanted electromagnetic monitoring beacons. We evaluated the accuracy and limitations of Intrafraction Motion Review (IMR) by comparing the known locations of the beacons using the electromagnetic monitoring system to the position data reported from IMR images. Results A total of 4054 images were taken during treatment. The difference in vector magnitude of the two methods is centered around zero (mean: 0.03 cm, SD: 0.16 cm) and Lin’s Concordance Correlation Coefficient (CCC) is 0.99 (95% CI: 0.98, 1) overall. The Euclidean distance between the two methods was close to zero (median: 0.09 cm, IQR: 0.06, 0.14 cm). The difference in distance between any two markers was centered around zero (mean: 0.01 cm, SD: 0.12 cm) and Lin’s CCC is 0.97 (95% CI: 0.96, 0.98) overall. Conclusion The accuracy of the algorithm for detected markers within the 2D images is comparable to electromagnetic monitoring for fiducial identification when detected. IMR could provide an alternate solution for patients with contraindications of use of an electromagnetic monitoring system and a cost effective alternative to the acquisition of an additional system for patient monitoring, but does not provide data for pre-treatment set-up verification and real-time 3D positioning during treatment.
Speaking clearly improves speech segmentation by statistical learning under optimal listening conditions

This study investigated the effect of speaking style on speech segmentation by statistical learning under optimal and adverse listening conditions. Similar to the intelligibility and memory benefits found in previous studies, enhanced acoustic-phonetic cues of the listener-oriented clear speech could improve speech segmentation by statistical learning compared to conversational speech. Yet, it could not be precluded that hyper-articulated clear speech, reported to have less pervasive coarticulation, would result in worse segmentation than conversational speech. We tested these predictions using an artificial language learning paradigm. Listeners who acquired English before age six were played continuous repetitions of the ‘words’ of an artificial language, spoken either clearly or conversationally and presented either in quiet or in noise at a signal-to-noise ratio of +3 or 0 dB SPL. Next, they recognized the artificial words in a two-alternative forced-choice test. Results supported the prediction that clear speech facilitates segmentation by statistical learning more than conversational speech but only in the quiet listening condition. This suggests that listeners can use clear speech acoustic-phonetic enhancements to guide speech processing dependent on domain-general, signal-independent statistical computations. However, there was no clear speech benefit in noise at either signal-to-noise ratio. We discuss possible mechanisms that could explain these results.
The use of qualitative methods in venous thromboembolism research.

Introduction Qualitative research has been increasingly used in health care research to allow in-depth insights and understanding of patients' lived experiences for poorly understood phenomena. The psychological stress mechanisms underlying fear, dyspnea, and pain after venous thromboembolism (VTE) remain poorly understood. However, novice VTE researchers may not be familiar with the process of undertaking qualitative research. Objective The aim of this article is to describe the planning, methodology and execution of qualitative methods, using the example of patients' lived experiences during and after the diagnosis of VTE. We discuss challenges and solutions in implementing qualitative research methods in health care research. Methods Patients were recruited from the emergency department and clinic using in-person and phone contact. We used both in-person and video format to interview 24 patients. Interviews were guided by a set of questions to be explored but conducted to elucidate unique thoughts and opinions from patients. Results For recruitment, "cold-calling" was found to be largely unsuccessful. Many patients have preexisting diagnoses of anxiety and depression. Video interviews were found to be at least as effective as in-person interviews. Interviews revealed unique post-VTE experiences from all participants, with a wide range of impact on quality of life. Themes that were most common included perceptions of physician communication, fear of recurrence, and concerns of death. Conclusion A qualitative research approach can reveal individual experiences and psychosocial impact in patients diagnosed with VTE, which allow the researchers to better comprehend the complexity of this phenomenon and its impact in health care.
Virtual Reality Program in Cybercrime Investigation: A Pilot Study Examining Search and Seizure of Digital Evidence Practice.

Cybercrimes are developing at a rapid pace, forcing investigative methods to follow suit through the implementation of integrated virtual reality (VR) techniques. The current study discusses prelim...
Rate based cross layer optimizations for image delivery in wireless sensor networks

A number of growing sensor applications such as target tracking and health monitoring motivate rate-based image transmissions in the Wireless Sensor Network (WSN). In this paper, we propose a cross layer based optimal approach for image sensors to decide transmission patterns based on a Rate-Oriented Routing scheme, which achieves both high energy efficiencies and longer network lifetime. In this approach, a group of image sensors transmit the images through appropriate rate-based routing paths under the user requirements. The simulation results show that the proposed image transmission scheme can achieve considerable gains in terms of the WSN energy efficiency and network lifetime extension.
β-Amyloid Activates the Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Cascade via Hippocampal α7 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors:In Vitro and In Vivo Mechanisms Related to Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is the most common of the senile dementias, the prevalence of which is increasing rapidly, with a projected 14 million affected worldwide by 2025. The signal transduction mechanisms that underlie the learning and memory derangements in AD are poorly understood. β-Amyloid (Aβ) peptides are elevated in brain tissue of AD patients and are the principal component of amyloid plaques, a major criterion for postmortem diagnosis of the disease. Using acute and organotypic hippocampal slice preparations, we demonstrate that Aβ peptide 1-42 (Aβ42) couples to the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade via α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). In vivo elevation of Aβ, such as that exhibited in an animal model for AD, leads to the upregulation of α7 nAChR protein. α7 nAChR upregulation occurs concomitantly with the downregulation of the 42 kDa isoform of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK2) MAPK in hippocampi of aged animals. The phosphorylation state of a transcriptional mediator of long-term potentiation and a downstream target of the ERK MAPK cascade, the cAMP-regulatory element binding (CREB) protein, were affected also. These findings support the model that derangement of hippocampus signal transduction cascades in AD arises as a consequence of increased Aβ burden and chronic activation of the ERK MAPK cascade in an α7 nAChR-dependent manner that eventually leads to the downregulation of ERK2 MAPK and decreased phosphorylation of CREB protein.
Program synthesis: an automationist's view

Program synthesis as defined by the author is the translation from a task specification to the code that can perform that task. The author looks at the range that this can encompass with respect to automation and discusses how the naive view can differ from what is either attainable or desirable. He examines the work that has been done as well as some current projects. In doing this he looks at trends in program synthesis (and automatic programming in general) on the bases of generality, range, and degree of automation and discusses some of the underlying techniques. >
Insulin Action: Molecular Basis of Diabetes

Unbalanced regulation of the signalling cascades that mediate insulin action in the cell leads to diabetes mellitus. Thus, identification of the basic mechanism of insulin action promotes our understanding of the molecular basis of diabetes and the development of better therapeutic interventions. Keywords: insulin receptor; tyrosine kinase; autophosphorylation; substrates; synthesis; secretion; clearance
Stability of Condensed Hydrocarbons in the Solar Nebula

Thermodynamic calculations of metastable equilibria in the H‐ C‐O system are used to evaluate the stability of condensed polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and normal alkanes in the solar nebula. The effects of temperature, total pressure (governed by H2), the abundances of gaseous CO and H2O, as well mass accretion rate into the Sun and viscous efficiency at the nebula midplane are explored. We show that the inhibited formation of graphite and methane permits metastable existence of hydrocarbons with respect to the inorganic gases H2, CO, and H2O. Low temperatures, high pressures, high abundances of CO, low abundances of H2O, low accretion rates, and low viscous efficiencies favor stability of hydrocarbons. Condensed PAHs are stable relative to nominal abundances of the inorganic gases at temperatures below»450 K depending on the physical parameters adopted for the nebula. Normal alkanes with carbon numbers>10 are stable at temperatures 30‐60 degrees lower. During the evolution of the nebula, hydrocarbons have a thermodynamic potential to form in a narrow zone, which moved toward the Sun as the accretion rate decreased. At radial distances of 2‐4 AU, hydrocarbons had a potential to form at the time when the accretion rate was 10 i6:3 ‐10 i7:7 solar mass yr i1 , depending on the viscous efficiency. High temperature, low pressure, and a high CO/H2O ratio in the nebula increase the stability of PAHs compared with their alkylated versions and relative to their aliphatic counterparts with the same carbon number. The calculations reveal the thermodynamic possibility for nebular Fischer‐Tropsch type (FTT) synthesis of condensed hydrocarbons on the surface of mineral grains from CO and H2 in an H2O-depleted and/or CO-rich environment. c ∞ 2001 Academic Press
Determination of tonal amplitudes for texture segmentation

Many of the existing texture segmentation schemes rely on prior knowledge of some characteristic(s) in the image. In most cases the natural choice includes prior knowledge of both the spatial frequencies present and the corresponding tonal amplitudes for each texture. The algorithm proposed, with prior knowledge only of the existing frequencies, produces the normalized tonal amplitudes. >
Drunk driving, sensation seeking, and egocentrism among adolescents

Drunk driving behavior among one hundred and eighty one 17- and 18-yr-old males was investigated for its relation to sensation seeking and to egocentrism. Drunk driving was significantly related to the total score on the Sensation Seeking Scale, and to the Thrill and Adventure Seeking, Disinhibition, and Boredom Susceptibility subscales. Concerning the relation between drunk driving and egocentrism, those who had driven while drunk were significantly less likely to expect that drunk driving would result in an automobile accident or an arrest for driving while under the influence of alcohol, compared to boys who had not driven while drunk. They also estimated the percentage of their peers who had driven while drunk as higher, compared to other boys. No relationship was found between drunk driving and knowing someone who had been killed or injured by a drunk driver.
Insulin Resistance in Hypertension: A Focused Review

The associations between insulin resistance, hyperinsulinemia, and hypertension are well recognized. The insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia associated with hypertension is the result of increased renal tubular sodium reabsorption, increased sympathetic nervous system activity, and increased arterial wall smooth muscle reactivity. In insulin resistant states, intracellular calcium and sodium accumulation is thought to be the fundamental underlying abnormality. These is evidence that hyperinsulinemia is an independent risk factor for coronary artery disease. Therefore, therapeutic considerations in patients with insulin resistance should include nonpharmacologic methods for increasing insulin sensitivity as well as avoiding the deleterious effects on insulin action and lipid metabolism of various antihypertensive medications. Of the currently available antihypertensives therapies, the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, the alpha antagonists, and the calcium channel blockers are the most rational choices for treating patients with hypertension with evidence of coexisting insulin resistance.
ELF isosurface maps for the Al 2 SiO 5 polymorphs

This study examines the electron localization function (ELF) isosurfaces of the Al2SiO5 polymorphs kyanite, sillimanite, and andalusite to see how differences in coordination and geometry of the cations and anions affect the ELF isosurfaces. Examination of the ELF isosurfaces indicates that their shapes are dependent on the coordination and geometry of the oxygen atoms and are not sensitive to coordination of the surrounding cations. Of the 18 crystallographically distinct oxygen atoms in the Al2SiO5 polymorphs, 13 are bonded to two aluminum atoms and one silicon atom (Al2–O–Si) and are associated with two different ELF isosurface shapes. The shape of the ELF isosurface is dependent on the distance at which the oxygen atom lies from a plane defined by the three surrounding cations: at a distance greater than 0.2 A the ELF can be defined as horseshoe-shaped and at a distance less then 0.2 A it can be described as concave hemispherical. This feature is also seen in the ELF isosurfaces for the oxygens bonded to three aluminum atoms (Al3–O) where the isosurfaces can be defined as trigonally toroidal and uniaxially trigonally toroidal. The changes in the ELF isosurfaces for the three coordinated oxygens are also indicative of changes in hybridization. The ELF isosurface for the two-fold coordinated oxygen (Al–O–Si) has a large mushroom-shaped isosurface along the Al–O bond and a concave hemispherical isosurface along the Si–O. The four-fold coordinated oxygen (Al4–O) contains two concave hemispherical isosurfaces along the shorter Al–O bonds and a banana-shaped isosurface, which encompasses the longer Al–O bonds. In addition, this study shows the homeomorphic relationship between the ELF isosurfaces and electron density difference maps with respect to number and arrangement of domains.
Dramatic reduction of sidegating in MODFETs

The results of systematic materials and process modifications to implant-isolated MODFETs, aimed at the elimination of sidegating in MODFET ICs, are reported. Two different methods of ion-implant isolation and four different kinds of MBE buffer layer were studied. It was found that the sidegating is independent of the implantation type but depends on the type of buffer layer. MODFETs fabricated with a low-temperature buffer layer exhibited excellent sidegating characteristics and maintained less than 0.2% reduction in the MODFET channel current up to a sidegating voltage of -70 V at a distance of 3 mu m. >
The rapid bifurcation of the Wien bridge oscillator

The Wien bridge oscillator is analyzed for a piecewise linear saturation model of an operational amplifier. This model predicts a discontinuous or jump transition to an oscillatory state as the amplifier's gain K is increased past a critical level K_c . This vertical bifurcation yields a large oscillation which possesses intervals of saturation during a period. Moreover, the concomitant distortion grows rapidly as K is increased past K_c
Accurate and efficient modeling of nucleation and growth processes

Abstract We have developed an efficient approach for modeling of nucleation and growth processes in nonhomogeneous systems, by considering the evolution of the moments of the precipitate size distribution at each point on a spatial grid. Through the use of an energy-minimizing closure assumption, the size distribution can be reproduced from the moments and thus the evolution of the moments can be derived directly from the full set of discrete rate equations describing the size evolution. The model has been implemented in a general reaction/diffusion simulator using a table look-up scheme for computational efficiency. We have tested the moment-based approach and found that it accurately reproduces the results of the full model over a range of processing conditions. The model has been applied with excellent results to processes occurring during VSLI fabrication (e.g. dopant precipitation, evolution of point defect clusters and dislocation loops following ion implantation), reproducing behavior such as Ostwald ripening and nucleation rates, as well as more complex phenomena such as reverse annealing and recovery following temperature steps. The modeling approach is general enough to apply to a large range of processes and materials systems and has been extended to consider the formation of aggregates with varying composition.
Knapsack-like scheduling problems, the Moore-Hodgson algorithm and the 'tower of sets' property

Suppose there are n jobs, each with a specified processing time, release date, due date and weight. The objective is to schedule the jobs for processing by a single machine so that the total weight of the late jobs is minimized. A well-known algorithm of Moore and Hodgson solves this problem in O(n log n) time when all release dates are equal, provided processing times and job weights are, in a certain sense, 'agreeable.' In this paper, we show the Moore-Hodgson algorithm can be adapted to solve three other special cases of the general scheduling problem. Each of these special cases can be formulated as a knapsack-like problem with nested inequality constraints. We show that optimal solutions to these knapsack-like problems exhibit a 'tower of sets' property, provided processing times, release dates, due dates and job weights satisfy certain order relations. We then show that the 'tower of sets' property enables dynamic programming recurrences to be solved by O(n log n) time procedures, and that this property contributes to simple proofs of validity of the procedures.
Evaluation of pheromone-mediated responsiveness of laboratory-reared irradiated, laboratory-reared nonirradiated, and feral male gypsy moths.

Laboratory-reared irradiated, laboratory-reared nonirradiated, and feral male gypsy moths, Lymantria dispar (L.) (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae), were compared for their responses to various doses of the synthetic pheromone (+)-disparlure, and for the periodicity of this response, in a sustained-flight tunnel. The proportions of males responding from each group were not significantly different (P = 0.56). Time of day and pheromone dose were significant in affecting percent male response; male response was greatest during the afternoon at 1300 and 1500 h EST, and at doses of 25 and 50 ng (range 0.01 to 50 ng tested). Response latency periods for males exposed to various doses of ( + )-disparlure were not significantly affected by time of day, but were related inversely to pheromone dose. These results support previous field studies which have shown that laboratory-reared irradiated and nonirradiated males were competitive with feral males.
Lysozyme in preosseous cartilage VII. Evidence for physiological role of losozyme in normal endochondral calcification

Abstract Previous work demonstrated that micropuncture aspirates from rat epiphysical plate cartilage contain a nucleating agent for Ca 3 (PO 4 ) 2 mineral growth, and that the nucleation is inhibited by proteoglycan aggregates. In this report data are described which show that mammalian lysozyme inactivates the inhibition. When micropuncture aspirates are incubated in vitro with mammalian lysozyme, a rapid, spontaneous initiation of mineral growth occurs. Incubation of proteoglycan aggregate preparations in the presence of cartilagea lysozyme, but not hen egg white lysozyme, causes a marked decrease of the sedimentation coefficients of the proteoglycans, usually to values close to those obtained with proteoglycan monomer preparations. The inhibition of this effect of mammalian lysozyme by a specific inhibitor of the enzyme tri( N -acetyl-D-glucosamine) suggests that it may be enzymatic in nature.
Two-Stage Least Squares and Econometric Systems Linear in Parameters but Nonlinear in the Endogenous Variables

Abstract It is demonstrated that a variant of the two-stage least squares technique can be used to estimate the parameters of a nonlinear model. To do this, the reduced form equations of such models are derived and discussed; then certain problems particular to the estimation of nonlinear models are considered.