cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Impairments of Speech Fluency in Lewy Body Spectrum Disorder.

Few studies have examined connected speech in demented and non-demented patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). We assessed the speech production of 35 patients with Lewy body spectrum disorder (LBSD), including non-demented PD patients, patients with PD dementia (PDD), and patients with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), in a semi-structured narrative speech sample in order to characterize impairments of speech fluency and to determine the factors contributing to reduced speech fluency in these patients. Both demented and non-demented PD patients exhibited reduced speech fluency, characterized by reduced overall speech rate and long pauses between sentences. Reduced speech rate in LBSD correlated with measures of between-utterance pauses, executive functioning, and grammatical comprehension. Regression analyses related non-fluent speech, grammatical difficulty, and executive difficulty to atrophy in frontal brain regions. These findings indicate that multiple factors contribute to slowed speech in LBSD, and this is mediated in part by disease in frontal brain regions.
Cognitive functions of aesthetic emotions

The paper introduces a scientific definition of "aesthetic" emotions compatible with known working of the mind. These are emotions related to knowledge and to satisfaction of instinct for knowledge. Cognitive and mathematical model arguments are presented that aesthetic emotions motivate us to acquire and improve knowledge. Near the top of the mental hierarchy they are experienced as the beautiful. Contradictions in knowledge experienced as emotions of cognitive dissonances interfere with acquiring knowledge. Overcoming cognitive dissonances is necessary for accumulating knowledge and sustaining human evolution. A multiplicity of aesthetic emotions required for overcoming cognitive dissonances are created by music; this is the evolutionary purpose of musical ability.
Bioanalytical methods for metabolomic profiling: Detection of head and neck cancer, including oral cancer

Abstract Metabolomics is an emerging field dealing with the measurement and interpretation of small molecular byproducts of biochemical processes, or metabolites, which can be used to generate profiles from biological samples. Promising for use in pathophysiology, metabolomic profiles give the immediate biological state of a sample. These profiles are altered in diseases and are detectable in biological samples, such as tissue, blood, urine, saliva, and others. Most remarkably, metabolic profiles usually are altered before symptoms appear in a patient. For this reason, metabolomics has potential as a reliable method for an early diagnosis of diseases through disease biomarker identification. This application is most prevalent in cancer, such as head and neck cancer (HNC). Metabolomic studies offer avenues to improve on current medical techniques through the application of mass spectrometry (MS), nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), and statistical analysis to determine better biomarkers than those currently known. In this review, we discuss the use of MS and NMR tools for detecting biomarkers in tissue and fluid samples, and the appropriateness of metabolomics in analyzing cancer. Advantages, disadvantages, and recent studies on metabolomic profiling techniques in HNC analysis are also discussed herein.
A Challenge to Debate. III. The Inward and Outward Currents of a Space-Clamped Squid Axon

This is the third essay in a series. The first (I) pointed out data that are thermodynamically impossible for the Hodgkin/Huxley (H/H) theory. It also noted that H/H ion-specific gated channels are not susceptible to experimental challenge. The second essay (2) considered why Ohm’s law is not appropriate for action currents and why the Butler-Volmer equation of electrodic catalysis is required instead. Now, and in essay 4, I shall interpret how the Butler-Volmer equation, considered in conjunction with the modulation of a coenzyme, can resolve the thermodynamic challenge in essay 1 and also rationalize the inward and outward currents of a voltage-clamped squid axon. The H/H interpretation of these currents (3) is that there are two kinds of gated channels, sodium-selective channels whose gates open briefly when the excitable membrane is depolarized (thus allowing inward sodium current) and potassium-selective channels, whose gates open subsequently, to allow outward potassium current. In my judgment, there is no evidence that either of these channels exist (4). Even if they do exist, moreover, they provide no rationale for the ability of inorganic and organic ions to substitute for sodium and potassium (4.5). In contrast, electrodics provides a simple explanation of the experimental facts (patch clamp observations included), an explanation that employs no ion-selective channels, gated or otherwise, and that predicates testable properties of bioelectric excitation. Electrodics suggests two electrochemical reactions, reaction BC with its cathode on the peripheral side of the excitable membrane, anode central, and reaction DE, with anode peripheral and cathode central. Thus BC proceeds as an inward current, carried by the predominant mobile external cation (usually sodium), and DE proceeds as an outward current, carried by the predominant internal cation (Fig. I). The sodium and potassium transmembrane concentration differences power neither of these reactions. Instead, both employ electrochemical energy of an organic reaction. Thus we conflict with the widely held opinion among electrophysiologists that organic enzymatic catalysis is too slow for action currents (see ref. 6, for example). The fact
Randomized phase 2 study of bone‐targeted therapy containing strontium‐89 in advanced castrate‐sensitive prostate cancer

BACKGROUND Radiopharmaceutical use may improve the survival time of patients with castrate-resistant prostate cancer and bone metastases. Whether androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) combined with bone-targeted therapy provides a clinical benefit to patients with advanced castrate-sensitive prostate cancer has not been investigated. METHODS Eighty male patients were enrolled, and 79 were randomized: 40 to the control arm and 39 to the strontium-89 (Sr-89) arm. After randomization, patients in both study arms received ADT, doxorubicin, and zoledronic acid. Kaplan-Meier methodology was used to evaluate the progression-free survival (PFS) time. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression was used to evaluate the effects of Sr-89 after controlling for the number of bone metastases. RESULTS The median follow-up time for the 29 patients alive at the last follow-up was 76.9 months (range, 0.07-103.4 months). The median PFS time was 18.5 months (95% confidence interval, 9.7-49.4 months) for the control arm and 12.9 months (95% confidence interval, 8.9-72.5 months) for the Sr-89 arm (P = .86). No patient developed myelodysplastic syndrome or a hematologic malignancy. An unplanned subgroup analysis suggested increased efficacy of bone-targeted therapy with a greater extent of bone involvement (ie, >6 bone metastases vs ≤6 bone metastases on the bone scan). CONCLUSIONS The data showed that bone-targeted therapy using 1 dose of Sr-89 combined with chemohormonal ablation therapy did not favorably affect the PFS of patients with castrate-sensitive prostate cancer. The combined therapy was feasible and safe. Whether such bone-targeted therapy provides a favorable outcome for those patients with a greater tumor burden in the bone warrants further investigation. Cancer 2015;121:69–76. © 2014 American Cancer Society.
A switch in Notch gene expression parallels stem cell to endothelial transition in infantile hemangioma

Background Infantile hemangioma (IH) is the most common benign tumor of infancy, yet its pathogenesis is poorly understood. Notch family members are known to play a role in vascular development during embryogenesis and postnatal tumor angiogenesis, yet the role of Notch signaling in the pathogenesis of IH has not been investigated. This study aims to survey Notch expression in IH.
Differential expression of genes encoding phosphate transporters contributes to arsenic tolerance and accumulation in shrub willow (Salix spp.)

a b s t r a c t Studies of arsenate and phosphate uptake by plants in hydroponic and soil systems indicate a common transport mechanism via the phosphate transporters (PHTs) due to structural similarity of the anions. Typically, the presence of phosphate decreases plant uptake and translocation of arsenate in hydroponic solution. This study quantified arsenic (As) uptake related to the presence of phosphorus in an As-tolerant willow (Salix viminalis × Salix miyabeana) and an As-sensitive willow (Salix eriocephala). Addition of phos- phate resulted in greater As accumulation than in treatments without phosphate in both genotypes, although the tolerant genotype accumulated more As than the sensitive one. Expression of genes for two putative high-affinity phosphate transporters, PHT1;3 and PHT1;12, were up-regulated in both wil- low genotypes upon addition of As, but to a greater extent in the As-sensitive genotype. Expression of a third putative transporter, PHT1;4, was greater in the As-sensitive genotype but was not up-regulated as a result of As addition in either genotype. Leaves of the As-tolerant willow genotype contained greater concentrations of -glutamylcysteine (EC) than the sensitive genotype, although this was not due to dif- ferential expression of the � -glutamylcysteine synthetase (� ECS) gene. The results suggest that increased expression of PHT1 upon exposure to As in an As-sensitive genotype contributes to rapid toxicity. Our data suggest that although detoxification capacity may be different between genotypes, the differences are not due to up-regulation of ECS or phytochelatin synthase.
The effects of configuration changes on spin and recovery characteristics of a low-wing general aviation research airplane

A fully instrumented, low-wing, single-engine general aviation airplane has been spin tested. Several tail configurations, wing leading-edge modifications, fuselage modifications, moment-of-inertia variations, center-of-gravity positions, and control inputs have been tested to determine their effect on spinning and spin recovery. Results indicate that wing airfoil design can significantly influence airplane spin and recovery characteristics and can overpower the effects of tail design. Results also point out a need to determine limitations of such factors as Reynolds number in model spin test techniques and high angle-of-attack aerodynamics.
Maximum-likelihood carrier frequency offset estimation for OFDM systems in fading channels

Carrier frequency offset (CFO) is a major contributor to the inter-carrier interference in OFDM systems. This effect becomes more severe when compounded by the presence of Doppler fading in wireless channels. This paper presents two maximum-likelihood CFO estimation schemes, one in frequency domain and another in time-domain, both under Doppler fading. The properties of the estimators are analyzed and simulation results showing the performance gain of the proposed estimators over other estimation schemes are presented. Apart from improved accuracy, the time-domain maximum likelihood estimator features significantly reduced complexity
EM Works for Pronoun Anaphora Resolution

We present an algorithm for pronoun-anaphora (in English) that uses Expectation Maximization (EM) to learn virtually all of its parameters in an unsupervised fashion. While EM frequently fails to find good models for the tasks to which it is set, in this case it works quite well. We have compared it to several systems available on the web (all we have found so far). Our program significantly outperforms all of them. The algorithm is fast and robust, and has been made publically available for downloading.
The Psychological Benefits of Creating an Affirming Climate for Workplace Diversity

Workforce diversity has been described as a double-edged sword; it has the potential for positive and negative outcomes. To better understand why and how diversity leads to positive outcomes, we examined the relationship between employee perceptions of diversity climate perceptions and intent to turnover. We explored the role of four psychological outcome variables (organizational commitment, climate for innovation, psychological empowerment, and identity freedom) as possible mediators of this relationship. Racial and gender subgroup differences were also examined. Survey data were collected from 1,731 public employees. Findings suggest that when employees perceive equal access to opportunities and fair treatment, intent to turn over decreases. Furthermore, these relationships are significantly mediated by psychological outcomes. Implications for diversity management and training are discussed.
Partnering on construction projects: a study of the relationship between partnering activities and project success

Project partnering has generated considerable attention in the construction industry as a means for transforming hostile, adversarial owner-contractor relationships into a more collaborative, productive team. Empirical support for partnering, however, is limited. The present study used mailed questionnaire data to examine the relationship between specific partnering related activities and project success for 291 construction projects. All of the major partnering activities were found to be positively related to at least one of the measures of project success. The findings suggest that a comprehensive approach be applied to partnering on construction projects and that top management support for teamwork across organizations is critical to success.
Creep of metal-matrix composites with elastic fibers—Part II: A damage model

Abstract A constitutive model that accounts for the effects of fiber failure on the high temperature mechanical behavior of metal-matrix composites (MMC) reinforced by long brittle fibers is presented. Weibull statistics are used to describe the strength of the fibers and the assumption of ‘global load sharing’ is used to determine the average stress in the fibers. The developed three-dimensional constitutive model involves a ‘damage parameter’ that accounts for the accumulated fiber failure. A method for the numerical integration of the constitutive equations is developed. The proposed model is used together with the finite element method to predict the life of a plate with a hole loaded in tension in the direction of the fibers under creep conditions.
Establishment of an External Quality-Assessment Scheme for Amino Acid Analyses: Results from Assays of Samples Distributed during Two Years

Ten different samples of lyophilized plasma and two of liquid urine were distributed during two years to 26 laboratories performing quantitative amino acid analyses in a scheme designed to provide external quality assessment. After each distribution, statistical summaries and performance scores based on delta standard deviations and percentage biases from the all-laboratory trimmed means were returned to participants, who also received annual performance summaries based on their accumulated results. Coefficients of variation calculated from returns across all the samples ranged from 13% for glycine to 65% for methionine. Automated ion-exchange amino acid analyzers with ninhydrin detection appeared to perform better than other methods, although there was no clearly superior method and no model of analyzer clearly outperformed the others. These exercises demonstrate that there is room for improvement in the performance of quantitative amino acid analyses and that individual expertise may be more important in maintaining good performance than the choice of method or analyzer.
Outcomes of hepatitis C- and hepatitis B core antibody-positive grafts in orthotopic liver transplantation

Abstract The use of hepatitis B core antibody (HBcAb)- and hepatitis C virus antibody (HCV + ) liver grafts for transplantation in selected populations has not affected patient and graft survival. We reexamined the clinical outcomes of using these HBcAb + and HCV + grafts at our institution, in addition to studying recipients of combined HBcAb + /HCV + grafts. We identified 377 patients who underwent transplantation for either hepatitis B and/or hepatitis C, or received both HBcAb + and HCV + grafts. Patient and graft survival at 5 years posttransplantation was 73% and 71%, respectively, in the HBcAb + grafts compared with 81% and 75% in the HBcAb − grafts ( P = .65; P = .94). For HCV + grafts, patient and graft survival at 5 years posttransplantation was 89% and 73%, respectively, compared with 69% and 59% in the HCV − grafts; ( P = .22; P = .77). The 5-year patient and graft survival rate in those who received combined HBcAb + /HCV + grafts was 74% and 69%, respectively, and there was no statistical difference compared with the HBcAb + and HCV + grafts ( P = .76; P = .90). The 5-year patient and graft survival rate in patients who received dual HBV prophylaxis with hepatitis B immunoglobulin (HBIg) and lamivudine was 88% and 84%, respectively, which was significantly higher than for patients who received single prophylaxis or no prophylaxis ( P P = .02). Our study supports previous observations that patient and graft survival is not affected with the use of HBcAb + and HCV + grafts, and that dual prophylaxis with HBIg and lamivudine offers substantial survival benefits. Furthermore, the use of combined HBcAb + /HCV + grafts did not impact patient or graft survival. This provides a potential new pool of donor livers that can be used for transplantation in select patients. ( Liver Transpl 2003;9:1053-1061. )
Medical Expert Systems

The first medical expert system was designed over 30 years ago. Since that time, advances in both computer technology and software design have permitted the development of increasingly sophisticated models. Most medical expert systems are designed to function as decision support tools. The original systems used techniques from artificial intelligence as a basis for developing models that were symbolic in nature in which the reasoning structure and knowledge base were separate entities. The hallmark of these systems is the use of natural language, the easy representation of concepts, and the ability to provide explanations. Relevant artificial intelligence methodologies include knowledge representation, knowledge acquisition, and problem solving. In the course of thirty years, many additional techniques have been employed, including causal and deep reasoning, fuzzy logic, approximate reasoning, hybrid systems, consequential reasoning, and intelligent agents. Hybrid systems and intelligent agent models meld symbolic techniques with data-based models to bring all available information to bear on a problem. Medical applications include all major specialties and range from very specific areas such as antibiotic therapy to entire domains such as internal medicine. Keywords: artificial intelligence; knowledge-based systems; hybrid systems; consequential reasoning; intelligent agents
TEM and DOE Optimization Studies of Electrospun Polycarbonate Nanofibers

Electrospinning of polycarbonate with solvent mixtures of THF (Tetrahydrofuran) and DMF (Dimethylformamide) has been performed. The effect of various process parameters like voltage, concentration, flow rate and distance has been investigated to yield uniform polycarbonate nanofibers with minimal bead densities. The temperature and humidity have also been carefully monitored for all the runs. The Design of Experiment (DOE) has been conducted with the help of Minitab software to find the most significant parameter for obtaining uniform beadless nanofibers. These uniform nanofibers can then be used in future work to produce TiO2 nanotubes.
A Garnet–Zircon Oxygen Isotope Record of Subduction and Exhumation Fluids from the Franciscan Complex, California

Tectonic blocks of high-grade metamorphic rock hosted by the Franciscan me¤ lange commonly preserve textural and geochemical evidence for metasomatism and blueschist-facies overprinting within a subduction zone. These exhumation events can obscure information on the nature of subduction fluids at depth that might otherwise be preserved by these rocks in this tectonic setting. Cation and oxygen isotope zoning in garnets from eclogite and garnet^hornblende rocks with minimal textural evidence of retrogression reveals separate prograde and retrograde fluid histories. Garnet cores preserve a homogeneous prograde oxygen isotope history with both high (dO 11o) and low ( 4o) values in different samples probably recording altered ocean-crust protolith compositions. Multiple episodes of garnet resorption and regrowth record a dramatically changing bulk oxygen isotope ratio resulting in 6^7o neoformed garnet rims with sharp core^rim boundaries in both samples. Matrix omphacite and hornblende are in profound oxygen isotope disequilibrium with garnet cores but are in equilibrium with garnet rims despite the appearance of overall textural equilibrium in thin section.This cryptic metasomatism found in samples from different locations within the Franciscan Complex brings into question existing thermobarometry on non-inclusion phases for this complex, as well as interpretations based on whole-rock geochemical data. Zircon ages and oxygen isotope equilibrium with late-forming garnet are consistent with postmetasomatic formation of zircon.The ability of garnet and zircon to record multiple fluid events and tie them to P^T^t^fluid history is a powerful tool in gaining an improved understanding of the complex fluid environments within subduction zones.
MANUFACTURE AND USE OF A TRAP TO ASSESS HELIOTHIS VIRESCENS AND HELICOVERPA ZEA (LEPIDOPTERA: NOCTUIDAE) ADULT EMERGENCE

Sampling arthropods in the soil is difficult and time consuming. Additionally, sampling methods can disturb much of the soil and plants, altering the outcome or the site for further evaluations. Placing an emergence trap in the field can allow accurate assessment of population numbers of different arthropod taxa, but its potential effect needs to be investigated. The basic manufacturing of a light weight, relatively inexpensive, weather-resistant conical trap is described here. Although several types of traps have been utilized in the past to record the emergence of Heliothis virescens L. and Helicouerpa zea (Boddie) moths from agricultural fields (Raulston et al. 1979, 1990; Hartstack et al. 1982; Lopez et al. 1984; Rummel et al. 1986; Laster et al. 1987; Bell & Hayes 1994), these reports lack detailed information of the materials, dimensions, and method of construction to accurately manufacture them. Also, the potential effect of the trap on the emergence of H. virescens and/or H. zea adults was not assessed in those studies. The trap described in this report is similar in construction to those described in Hartstack et al. (1979). It is constructed from a 4.26-m mild steel hot roll (0.60 cm = '/4-inch diameter) that is bent to create a 1.35-m diameter circle. The circle ends are welded together. Four 0.91-m straight pieces of the same material were welded at 1.06-m intervals along the circumference of the circle at ca. 420 angle relative to a horizontal plane forming a conical structure. The arms were welded to the base perimeter of a 5.0-cm long (2.0-cm internal diameter, 2.5-cm external diameter) metal pipe (Fig. 1). A coated fiberglass screen (2.03-m diameter circle with an 85-degree wedge cutout) was used to cover the structure. The fiberglass screen was secured with 50 c-rings (Stanley-Bostitch? 16 gauge, 40 around the base and 10 on the arm joining the ends of the net). The top of the trap was provisioned with a 3.65-L plastic jar (Consolidated Plastic Company, Inc. part number 41342LL) placed upside down. A 2.5-cm diameter hole was drilled in the center of the 8.5-cm diameter cap to screw the collection jar to the metal structure. Six 0.2-cm holes were also drilled around the perimeter of the cap to allow for water Jjar
Risk Perceptions, Consumer Response and the First U.S. Mad Cow Case

The December 2003 discovery of a BSE infected cow in the USA revealed a vulnerability in the safety of the U.S. Food Supply. This study reports on a nationwide risk perception survey conducted in early January 2004. Survey results showed that U.S. consumers for the most part took the discovery in stride. The survey predicted that by the end of 2004 beef consumption would for the most part return to normal, which indeed it did, but uniquely this study applies multivariate regression to its analyses of the Kraus-Slovic axioms which are often applied to problems in the psychology of risk.
A genetic context for the study of audiogenic seizures.

Abstract Here, the genetic context for the study of audiogenic seizures is four single-gene, spontaneous mutations that occurred in the Behavior Genetics Laboratory at the University of Chicago from 1959 to 1969. Three of these increased the incidence of audiogenic seizures, and one of these decreased the incidence of audiogenic seizures. The genetics of one of these mutants is described in detail, and the effect of diet on the same mutant is also described in detail. Research on genetic and environmental effects on the cortical EEG of audiogenic seizures is reviewed; this research included two of these mutants. The cortical EEG associated with audiogenic seizures in this study was consistent with audiogenic seizures being a type of brain stem epilepsy as had been proposed by others. Also, I proposed that brain stem pathophysiology is the same regardless of the genetic or environmental pathway to audiogenic seizure susceptibility. Research is also reviewed using these mutants to determine whether or not a strain association between glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) activity in whole brain and susceptibility to audiogenic seizures is pleiotropic and whether or not a strain association between nucleoside triphosphatase (NTPase) activity in the granule cell layer of the dentate fascia of the hippocampus and susceptibility to audiogenic seizures is a lineal or collateral pleiotropy. Lastly, pleiotropy as an explanation for strain comorbidities in aggressive behavior and audiogenic seizures is considered. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled "Genetic and Reflex Epilepsies, Audiogenic Seizures and Strains: From Experimental Models to the Clinic".
Probabilistic estimation of the potentials of intervention-based demand side energy management

Successful enrollment of customers in intervention-based demand side energy management (DSM) programs, such as energy efficiency and installation of PV panels, depends on having accurate estimates of the benefits of these programs available and communicated to the customers. The program benefits may include long-term financial savings, and their contribution to managing supply and demand in transition to a sustainable grid. Among them, the most needed measure of benefit is the estimated energy saving for each individual after an intervention. Accurate estimates of energy savings for each individual customer are thus crucial for ensuring high program enrollment. In this paper, we formulate the problem of estimating energy savings to understand the potential benefits of enrolling customer in an intervention-based DSM program. Due to highly uncertain customer load and estimation of long-term (infinite time horizon) savings, traditional deterministic analysis approaches, such as load forecasting, will yield poor results. We propose a Gaussian Process (GP)-based approach capable of capturing uncertainty and adapting arbitrary data length for infinite time horizon estimation. This allows utilization of probability estimation to show customers their potential energy savings and resultant revenues for participating in an intervention program for a certain period of time. Such property is verified by highly accurate estimation results running on a set of customer AMI data obtained from Pacific Gas and Electric Company. The simulation results not only highlight the feasibility of the intervention concept, but also provide benefit potentials that could be used to persuade customers to enroll in energy efficiency programs.
Age-Related Differences in Performance Using a Mouse and Trackball

Aging is marked by changes in motor control which may be expected to affect performance using computer pointing devices. In this experiment, we compared older and younger adults' ability to acquire on-screen targets of varying distance and size using a mouse and trackball. The older adults moved consistently slower than their younger counterparts with both devices, particularly when making large amplitude movements. Error rates were equivalent for both age groups across all conditions. Analysis of throughput values indicated a significant interaction between age and device in which the younger adults' performance was more degraded when using the trackball than the mouse, while the older adults' performance did not vary across devices. These results are discussed in terms of potential error-averse strategies employed by the older participants in an attempt to compensate for age-related declines in motor control. Although the performance measures obtained in this study imply that older adults would perform ...
MATING PATTERNS AND SPECIATION IN THE FAIRY SHRIMP GENUS STREPTOCEPHALUS.

According to a recent paradigm of the speciation process presented by Ayala (1975), geographic speciation often occurs in two stages. In the first stage isolated populations accumulate genetic differences which may reduce the genetic compatibility between populations. In the second stage the isolated populations regain sympatry. If hybrids have reduced fitness, selection favors the development of premating isolating mechanisms which prevent wasteful hybridization. This isolating mechanism is often ethological or sexual in nature (Mayr, 1963). This paradigm of the speciation process should be appropriate for many groups of organisms, but the relative importance of changes occurring in each of the two stages may differ considerably between species groups. For many pond and lake dwelling crustaceans, for example, stage two, the sympatric development of premating isolating mechanisms following geographic separation, appears to be rare. The degree to which populations differentiate during stage one of geographic speciation depends on the amount of gene flow between populations and on the differences in the selective regimes encountered by different populations. The disjunct nature of ponds and lakes should facilitate the genetic differentiation of aquatic populations by restricting gene flow and by offering many different selective regimes (Hebert, 1974). Studies of population differentiation suggest that gene flow between aquatic populations may be quite restricted. Baldi (1946), for example, found morphological differentiation between closely situated populations of both calanoid and cyclopoid copepods;
Mikroverfahren für Refraktometrie in Capillarküvetten

Das beschriebene Mikroverfahren gestattet es, in Capillaren interferometrisch Refraktometrie an Flussigkeiten mit Probevolumina von 10−10 1 durchzufuhren. Die Eignung der Capillaren als optische Kuvetten auch fur andere mikroanalytische photometrische Verfahren wird diskutiert.
Council of the National Seismic System (CNSS) Background and Update

BACKGROUND The Council of the National Seismic System (CNSS) is a union of U.S. institutions and agencies engaged in the sustained operation of national, regional, and local seismic networks (both seismographic and strong motion). The Council was formed in February 1993 following an organizational meeting sponsored by the USGS—which in turn was the culmination of a series of meetings dating from a milestone workshop (referred to as “Alta II”) at Alta, Utah, in June 1991 at which representatives of regional seismic networks from throughout the U.S. agreed to form a national consortium. The Council currently consists of 27 member institutions and agencies, each with a designated voting representative and alternate. The USGS, which serves both as steward and Secretariat of the Council, has four voting representatives—two representing the Survey's regional networks, one representing the National Seismograph Network, and one at-large member. Purpose of CNSS The most important purpose of the...
Optical Microanalysis of Small Semiconductor Structures

Raman spectroscopy is a powerful tool for evaluating semiconductor crystal characteristics with a diffraction-limited spatial resolution of approximately 0.5 µm, comparable to device structure dimensions. Examples are presented of the use of Raman scattering to measure stress variations across Si-on-insulator and Si-on-sapphire stripes with dimensions down to 2 µm and, to probe the spatial variation in the effectiveness of annealing of a Si layer deposited over metal device structures. Detailed measurements of the variation in the Raman spectra of thin crystalline Si films, with thicknesses down to 3.0 nm, are discussed. Measurements made on roughened Si surfaces are presented which show that surface morphology on a submicron spatial scale results in enhanced Raman intensities.
Balancing Professional and Personal Responsibilities (or How to Stay Afloat as a Traveling CRA)

CNNMoney named the clinical research associate (CRA) position as one of the “10 Best Jobs in America” for 2012 and 2013, and the demand for CRAs is expected to grow over the next decade.[1][1] Although the position can be very rewarding and exciting, the expectations placed on CRAs by various
Leveraging Psychological Insights to Encourage the Responsible Use of Consumer Debt

U.S. consumers currently hold $880 billion in revolving debt, with a mean household credit card balance of approximately $6,000. Although economic factors play a role in this societal issue, it is clear that psychological forces also affect consumers' decisions to take on and maintain unmanageable debt balances. We examine three psychological barriers to the responsible use of credit and debt. We discuss the tendency for consumers to (a) make erroneous predictions about future spending habits, (b) rely too heavily on values presented on billing statements, and (c) categorize debt and saving into separate mental accounts. To overcome these obstacles, we urge policymakers to implement methods that facilitate better budgeting of future expenses, modify existing credit card statement disclosures, and allow consumers to easily apply government transfers (such as tax credits) to debt repayment. In doing so, we highlight minimal and inexpensive ways to remedy the debt problem.
Invariant fields of linear groups and division algebras

In this paper we show how the invariant fields of reductive groups can be described as multiplicative invariant fields of their Weyl groups. Using this, we show how some such invariant fields are described by Brauer Severi varieties. For example, if SL n is the special linear group and G r is the quotient of SL n by the central cyclic subgroup of order r, an invariant field of G r is stably isomorphic to the center of the “generic division algebra of degree n and exponent r.”
The Nature of the Firm

The’ series of accidents’, described above, that led to the writing of ‘The Nature of the Firm’, culminated in Coase’s being awarded a Cassel travelling scholarship for the academic year 1931–2 as the result of his performance in the final examinations at LSE in 1931. While ‘The Nature of the Firm’ was not published until 1937, Coase says that the ideas for the paper ‘crystallized in my mind sometime in the summer of 1932’ (Coase, 1988b, p.3), after the year spent in the US on the Cassel scholarship studying the vertical and horizontal integration of firms.
Special Needs Under Siege: From Classrooms to Incarceration

Several research articles have documented the disproportionate representation of minorities in school discipline and incarceration settings. In the 2009–2010 school year, research shows nationally 17 percent of African-American, 8 percent of Native American, and 7 percent Latino American students were suspended at least one time (Losen and Gillespie 2012). In addition, studies show African-American and Latino males represent the largest percentage of inmates in correctional facilities (i.e. jails and prisons) throughout the United States (Sakala 2014). While research has documented the relationship between race and the school-to-prison pipeline, the relationship between race, intellectual and emotional disabilities, and the school-to-prison pipeline has been relatively unexplored. According to Losen and Gillespie (2012), 25 percent of Black students who were labeled with an intellectual or emotional disability were suspended from school in the 2009–2010 school year compared to 9 percent for White students diagnosed with an intellectual or emotional disability. Furthermore, data show 70 percent of juvenile inmates were diagnosed with learning disabilities and 33 percent were reading below a 4th grade level (Hubner and Wolfson 2001). The current review seeks to explore the complex relationship between disability, race, and the school-to-prison pipeline to highlight how minority students with special needs are placed on a trajectory towards settings of incarceration.
The Three Cultures: Characterizing the Three Cultures

The influential British novelist and science administrator C. P. Snow, who had trained as a natural scientist, published a lecture delivered in Cambridge University in 1959 titled “The Two Cultures.” The lecture and the fifty-one-page book that followed provoked heated discussion because of its brash dismissal of the humanities as an intellectual mission lacking in rigor and unable to contribute to the welfare of those living in economically underdeveloped regions. Not surprisingly, humanists resented Snow's allegations that world peace and prosperity would profit from training more scientists and engineers and fewer historians, philosophers, and literary critics. Three years later, F. R. Leavis, an admired literary critic at Cambridge University, delivered an unusually harsh, occasionally impolite, rebuttal that caricatured Snow as a failed chemist, incompetent novelist, and social commentator who was ignorant of the world's serious problems. Snow composed his essay as America was about to experience an extraordinary expansion in higher education that led to a fourfold increase in faculty (from 250,000 to more than 1 million) and a sevenfold increase in students to a total of 15 million, compared with only 50,00 Americans who were attending colleges in 1870. These changes were due primarily to the establishment of new community colleges and rising enrollments in state universities trying to accommodate the many World War II veterans who, assisted by the government's decision to subsidize their education in gratitude for their service, chose to attend college rather than return to the working-class jobs held by their fathers.
Optimized multi-antenna communication in ad-hoc networks with opportunistic routing

We consider the problem of using multiple antennas to maximize end-to-end performance in a multi-hop ad hoc wireless network with opportunistic routing. We find that when a single data stream is sent per hop, performance is maximized by aggressively increasing spatial reuse, as opposed to increasing per-hop length or rate. We also show that using spatial multiplexing to transmit multiple streams per hop results in a linear increase in performance with antennas, even with fixed spatial reuse, and is generally superior to sending only a single stream.
Autologous Transplantation for Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma: Pre-Transplant Hypogammaglobulinemia Is a Predictor for Early Toxicities.

Response to chemotherapy and LDH level at the time of transplant are generally accepted as two variables predictive of clinical outcome in autologous peripheral blood progenitor cell (PBPC) transplantation (ABMT) for diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Several years ago we anecdotally noted that some patients suffered ongoing hypogammaglobulinemia after ABMT. We therefore embarked on a study examining pre and post ABMT IgG levels to determine possible prognostic volume of immunoglobulin levels. This study focuses on 68 patients with relapsed/refractory chemosensitive DLBCL undergoing autologous transplant from 4/2000 to 1/2004. All received PBPCs alone for hematopoietic support, and all received a preparative regimen consisting of Bu/Cy/VP. Median age was 55; patients received a median of 2 courses of prior chemotherapy; 44% received prior radiation therapy; 60% were male; 25% had tumor bulk greater than 10 cm in greatest diameter; 22% had elevated LDH at the time of transplant. Median PBPC dose infused was 7.5 x 106 CD34+ cells/kg. Median pre-transplant IgG level was 689 mg/dL (institutional normal range 717–1411 mg/dL). Six weeks post transplant the median IgG level had fallen to 587 mg/dL. There is a statistically significant difference in survival stratified by baseline IgG: 43% of patients with an IgG level less than 600 mg/dL were alive 18 months post transplant, as compared with 72% with a baseline IgG greater than 600 mg/dL (p=0.011). This is shown graphically below: 18 month relapse-free survival was 44% in the less than 600 mg/dL group versus 63% in the greater than 600 mg/dL group. 13 of 24 in the less than 600 mg/dL group have died (54%) versus 13 of 44 (30%) in the greater than 600 mg/dL group. The majority of these deaths are from disease relapse, however, the relapses occurred faster in the less than 600 mg/dL group. 5 of 7 relapse related deaths occurred by day +200 in the less than 600 mg/dL group, compared to 1 of 10 in the greater than 600 mg/dL group (p=0.009). Additionally, 4 patients in the less than 600 mg/dL group died of diffuse interstitial pulmonary toxicity between day 100 and 165 post chemotherapy. We conclude that pre-transplant hypogammaglobulinemia may be related to a more refractory underlying disease and is associated with the potential for rapid relapse after ABMT. Additionally, those patients entering an autologous transplant with hypogammaglobulinemia are at risk for later non-specific pulmonary toxicity.
Holospinal Epidural Abscess

This is a relatively rare condition in which epidural abscess extend form the cervical to the lumbar region.
Robust Multi-View Feature Selection

High-throughput technologies have enabled us to rapidly accumulate a wealth of diverse data types. These multi-view data contain much more information to uncover the cluster structure than single-view data, which draws raising attention in data mining and machine learning areas. On one hand, many features are extracted to provide enough information for better representations, on the other hand, such abundant features might result in noisy, redundant and irrelevant information, which harms the performance of the learning algorithms. In this paper, we focus on a new topic, multi-view unsupervised feature selection, which aims to discover the discriminative features in each view for better explanation and representation. Although there are some exploratory studies along this direction, most of them employ the traditional feature selection by putting the features in different views together and fail to evaluate the performance in the multi-view setting. The features selected in this way are difficult to explain due to the meaning of different views, which disobeys the goal of feature selection as well. In light of this, we intend to give a correct understanding of multi-view feature selection. Different from the existing work, which either incorrectly concatenates the features from different views, or takes huge time complexity to learn the pseudo labels, we propose a novel algorithm, Robust Multi-view Feature Selection (RMFS), which applies robust multi-view K-means to obtain the robust and high quality pseudo labels for sparse feature selection in an efficient way. Nontrivially we give the solution by taking the derivatives and further provide a K-means-like optimization to update several variables in a unified framework with the convergence guarantee. We demonstrate extensive experiments on three real-world multi-view data sets, which illustrate the effectiveness and efficiency of RMFS in terms of both single-view and multi-view evaluations by a large margin.
Social Dynamics and Sustainable Urban Design

The designed, built environment is the most obvious expression of urbanization, but cities are made of people, too. Any efforts to design resilient or sustainable cities must therefore take into account the social contexts of urbanism. This chapter explores social contexts of contemporary urban systems, both the social drivers and outcomes of urbanization. It includes a discussion of links between population dynamics and urbanization, and the role of demographics in shaping the design and functioning of modern cities. This is followed by an exploration of the social contexts of vulnerability and environmental justice within cities and the opportunities for incorporating principles of sustainable urbanism, along with design and ecological understanding, for ameliorating some of the pressing problems in contemporary cities. Urban design has the power to help societies move toward a more just and sustainable future. An urban habitat that incorporates social justice and an ecologically-informed environmental justice should be a fundamental design goal.
A Comprehensive Review of Sequencing and Combination Strategies of Targeted Agents in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer

The emergence of targeted therapies for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) has considerably improved survival, but has also resulted in a dilemma of identifying the optimal sequence and combination of various agents in the mCRC treatment landscape. A number of cytotoxic agents, including irinotecan, oxaliplatin, 5-fluorouracil, capecitabine, and TAS-102, are available for treatment of mCRC. Additionally, whereas patients harboring rat sarcoma viral oncogene homolog (RAS)-wild type mCRC can be treated with the anti-epidermal growth factor receptor antibodies cetuximab and panitumumab or antiangiogenic agents (bevacizumab, ziv-aflibercept, and ramucirumab), patients with RAS-mutant mCRC are limited to antiangiogenic agents as biologic options. Regorafenib, a multikinase inhibitor, can be used in both RAS subgroups. As such, the recommended sequence of therapies that should be received by each subgroup must also be considered separately. This review provides an overview of recent clinical data for approved and investigational targeted therapies that have been studied across different mCRC treatment lines and patient subgroups. It also examines emerging trends in the treatment landscape for mCRC, including treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors and the utilization of genomic profiling. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE Currently, there are no established guidelines for optimal sequencing of cytotoxic or targeted agents in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). This review provides a snapshot of the current mCRC treatment paradigm and examines the latest clinical data that support the utilization of several targeted agents alone or in combination with backbone chemotherapy across different lines of treatment and patient populations, highlighting recommendations for their usage. Recent advances in the treatment landscape are also summarized, including genomic profiling and preliminary results with immune checkpoint inhibitors.
Distributed Geodesic Control Laws for Flocking of Nonholonomic Agents

We study the problem of flocking and coordination of a group of kinematic nonholonomic agents in 2 and 3 dimensions. By analyzing the velocity vectors of agents on a circle (for planar motion) or sphere (for 3D motion), we develop geodesic control laws that minimize a misalignment potential based on graph Laplacians resulting in velocity alignment. The proposed control laws are distributed and will provably result in flocking when the underlying proximity graph which represents the neighborhood relation among agents is connected. Furthermore, we develop a vision based control law that does not rely on heading measurements, but only requires measurement of bearing, optical flow and time-to-collision, all of which can be efficiently measured.