cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Nucleic Acid Hybridization to Detect Enteric Viruses

The application of nucleic acid hybridization techniques to rapidly detect enteric viruses of public health significance in environmental samples is a promising new development. Concentration and hybridization methods developed to detect non-cultivatable enteric pathogens [such as hepatitis A virus (HAV) and rotavirus] in environmental samples including shellfish and water are being developed. The extension of these methods and principles to detect other pathogens is discussed.
Words Are Her Legacy: Remembering Muriel Dimen

ABSTRACTMuriel Dimen is remembered as a writer who spoke first-person in a third-person world. She was not content with traditional scholarly narrative and turned instead to auto-theory experiments that blended theory, clinical case material, fiction, and memoir.
Analysis of food demand in Vietnam and short-term impacts of market shocks on quantity and calorie consumption

A complete demand system for Vietnam was estimated using household survey data. Results showed that demand for rice with respect to prices and expenditure is relatively inelastic compared to other foods. Demand for food in general tends to be less elastic at higher levels of income and for urban households. In the short term, a market shock such as a 10% decrease in income or a 30% increase in rice prices forces households to spend a larger portion of their expenditure on rice at the expense of other foods. Low-income households face a higher risk of undernourishment as their daily calorie intake is more negatively affected by the shocks than high-income households. The results suggest the importance of policies that provide necessary safety net programs for the poor.
Specific Learning Disorder

Controversies related to the definition of specific learning disability and the methods used to diagnosis this condition have long been a foremost concern in assessment-related fields. The publication of new criteria for diagnosing a specific learning disorder in the 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 5th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association, 2013) has fueled such controversies. This chapter begins with a brief history of learning disabilities, including the diagnostic criteria for learning disorders in the five editions of the DSM. Next, etiology, associated impairments and comorbidities, course and developmental changes, prognosis, outcomes, and treatment are highlighted. This chapter concludes with a brief discussion of the most salient vagaries inherent in the latest diagnostic criteria for specific learning disorder in the DSM-5, many of which will be debated for some time to come.
Predictive value of unshielded magnetocardiographic mapping to differentiate atrial fibrillation patients from healthy subjects.

BACKGROUND P-wave duration, its dispersion and signal-averaged ECG, are currently used markers of vulnerability to atrial fibrillation (AF). However, since tangential atrial currents are better detectable at the body surface as magnetic than electric signals, we investigated the accuracy of magnetocardiographic mapping (MCG), recorded in unshielded clinical environments, as predictor of AF occurrence. METHODS MCG recordings, in sinus rhythm (SR), of 71 AF patients and 75 controls were retrospectively analyzed. Beside electric and magnetic P-wave and PR interval duration, two MCG P-wave subintervals, defined P-dep and P-rep, were measured, basing on the point of inversion of atrial magnetic field (MF). Eight parameters were calculated from inverse solution with "Effective Magnetic Dipole (EMD) model" and 5 from "MF Extrema" analysis. Discriminant analysis (DA) was used to assess MCG predictive accuracy to differentiate AF patients from controls. RESULTS All but one (P-rep) intervals were significantly longer in AF patients. At univariate analysis, three EMD parameters differed significantly: in AF patients, the dipole-angle-elevation angular speed was lower during P-dep (p < 0.05) and higher during P-rep (p < 0.001) intervals. The space-trajectory during P-rep and the angle-dynamics during P-dep were higher (p < 0.05), whereas ratio-dynamics P-dep was lower (p < 0.01), in AF. At DA, with a combination of MCG and clinical parameters, 81.5% accuracy in differentiating AF patients from controls was achieved. At Cox-regression, the angle-dynamics P-dep was an independent predictor of AF recurrences (p = 0.037). CONCLUSIONS Quantitative analysis of atrial MF dynamics in SR and the solution of the inverse problem provide new sensitive markers of vulnerability to AF.
Effects of UV Radiation on Plants in the Transition Region to Blue Light

Generalizations concerning the effects of UV radiation on plants are easy targets of criticism and certainly subject to considerable qualification. Nevertheless, in this brief review I will generalize rather than present a detailed compilation of available literature, as has been admirably undertaken by Klein [16]. Other reviews on this subject are also available [2, 3,11, 27]. Wavebands within the UV spectrum have been defined as UV-A, UV-B, and UV-C, as shown in Fig. 1. Additionally, the terms near-UV (300–400nm) and far-UV (200–300) are often used. For perspective, the spectral irradiance received from common sources of UV radiation and some generalized absorption spectra for a few potential chromophores in plants are also portrayed in Fig. 1.
Rapid determination of oral pharmacokinetics and plasma free fraction using cocktail approaches: methods and application.

Purpose. To apply cocktail approaches for protein binding (PB) and pharmacokinetics (PK) within a discovery program as a means of providing timely systemic exposure (AUC and Cmax) data.
Fabrication of Silver Halide Fibers by Extrusion

Silver halide fibers of 3 to 18 mil diameters were fabricated by extrusion. Losses of 6db/m and transmission from visible to 20 pm wavelength were obtained for AgCl fibers. Transmission extends to 25 μm for AgBr fibers.
Introduction for P.H. Duesberg

It is time now to introduce my friend Peter Duesberg. Where do I begin? At NIH, Peter is sometimes known as the battling bulldog. He gets his teeth into something and 1 year, 5 years, 10 years, 20 years later those teeth are still sunk in. I should be serious a bit, shouldn’t I? Peter, of course, was born here in Germany. He was educated at Tubingen and he came to the United States 20 years ago at the age of 27. I’ve known Peter now for about 15 years. When I first met him, he was already doing molecular virology, and I was already involved in retroviruses. Peter first began work on the molecular virology of Parainfluenza and influenza viruses. He was the first to show that Parainfluenza had a singular RNA genome and that influenza virus had multiple RNAs. This was the first time a virus was shown to have a segmented genome, thus explaining the rather distinctive ability of that virus to undergo frequent recombination by reassortment.
Collaborative Hierarchical Caching over 5G Edge Computing Mobile Wireless Networks

Edge computing techniques have been developed to support the exponentially increasing service demands in the fifth generation (5G) networks by bringing the data contents and their corresponding computations/communications to the edge of the wireless networks, which is the area near to mobile users. As one of the promising and enabling techniques in edge computing wireless networks, in- network caching stores the data contents close to mobile users to efficiently reduce the transmission delay for time-sensitive multimedia data contents. However, one of the main challenges for implementing in-network caching techniques lies in how to develop the collaborative caching mechanisms among all caches in the edge of wireless networks to upper-bound the data transmission delay while maximizing the cache hitting rate. In this paper, we propose the inter-tier and intra-tier collaborative hierarchical caching mechanisms over 5G edge computing multimedia mobile wireless networks, where the popular multimedia data contents are selectively cached at different wireless network caching tiers (e.g., at routers, cellular- base stations/WiFi-access-point, and mobile devices, respectively). The inter-tier collaborative hierarchical caching minimizes the average number of hops (including wireless hops and wireline hops) through the collaborative caching across three wireless network caching tiers, and the intra-tier collaborative hierarchical caching maximizes the overall cache hitting rate within the same wireless network caching tier. To optimize the intra-tier collaborative hierarchical caching mechanism, we derive the upper-bound and lower- bound of maximum numbers of device-to-device (D2D) pairs at the bottom tier of wireless network caching. Finally, we use numerical analyses to evaluate and validate our proposed collaborative hierarchical caching mechanisms over edge computing mobile wireless networks.
Becoming a Trusted Digital Repository

Anyone who has read, or even attempted to read, ISO 16363: Space Data and Information Transfer Systems – Audit and Certification of Trustworthy Digital Repositories, knows that doing so is a signif...
The effect of ketorolac on posterior thoracolumbar spinal fusions: a prospective double-blinded randomised placebo-controlled trial protocol.

Introduction Ketorolac has been shown to provide quality postoperative pain control and decrease opioid requirement with minimal side effects following spinal surgery. However, the literature addressing its use in spinal fusions is highly variable in both its effectiveness and complications, such as pseudarthrosis. Recent literature postulates that ketorolac may not affect fusion rates and large randomised controlled trials are needed to demonstrate ketorolac as a safe and effective adjuvant treatment to opioids for postoperative pain control. Methods and analysis This is a multihospital, prospective, double-blinded, randomised placebo-controlled trial. Data concerning fusion rates, postoperative opioid use, pain scores, length of stay will be recorded with the aim of demonstrating that the use of ketorolac does not decrease thoracolumbar spinal fusion rates while identifying possible adverse events related to short-term minimal effective dose compared with placebo. Additionally, this investigation aims to demonstrate a decrease in postoperative opioid use demonstrated by a decrease in morphine equivalence while showing equivalent postoperative pain control and decrease the average length of stay. Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval was obtained at all participating hospitals by the institutional review board. The results of this study will be submitted for publication in peer-reviewed journals. Trial registration number NCT03278691.
CS1 Targeted Chimeric Antigen Receptors (CAR) for Treatment of Multiple Myeloma

Outcomes for myeloma patients have improved, however, most patients suffer fatal relapse. Although CD19 CAR-Ts for B cell malignancies have attained cure, BCMA CAR-T treatment results in 30-70% complete responses but responses are often not durable. Compared to BCMA, CS1 (SLAMF7) is more uniformly expressed on myeloma cells, and is also expressed on light chain amyloidosis cells. CS1 has limited expression on normal cell types, making it a good CAR-T target. Patients with relapsed myeloma, light chain amyloidosis, and those who relapse after BCMA-CAR-T might benefit from CS1-CAR-Ts. CS1-CAR-Ts expressing the scFv derived from Elotuzumab antibody (clone HuLuc63) show efficacy in preclinical myeloma models. Here, we report testing of CS1-CAR-Ts with the scFv's derived from a separate antibody clone (Luc90). The MM.1S human myeloma cell line (CS1+; expressing luciferase and GFP; MM.1S-CG) were used as target cells in four hour Chromium51 release killing assays. At a 10:1 effector: target ratio, CS1-CAR-Ts killed 65%+/-11 (sd) of MM.1S-CGs while CD19-CAR-T controls showed minimal killing (10%+/-8). MM.1S cells lacking CS1 (MM.1S-CG-deltaCS1) were not efficiently killed by CS1-CAR-Ts (24%+/-12), showing specificity (Fig. 1A). We tested in vivo efficacy of our CS1-CAR-T by injecting 500,000 MM.1S-CG into NSG mice and 28 days later when tumor burden was high (BLI signal 1010 photon flux), injected 2X10^6 CS1-CAR-T or negative control CD19-CAR-Ts. Bioluminescent imaging (BLI) showed CS1-CAR-Ts treated mice had a three log decrease in photon flux and clearance of marrow tumor (Fig 1B). All mice treated with CS1-CAR-Ts (n = 10) lived >100 days (Fig. 1C) while median survival of CD19-control mice (n = 8) was 43 days. A subset of CS1-CAR-T mice developed extramedullary tumors that retained expression of CS1, suggesting antigen escape did not occur. Mice engrafted with MM.1S-CG-deltaCS1 cells and treated with CS1-CAR-T had similar survival to control mice (49 days), demonstrating in vivo specificity (Fig. 1C). CS1 is expressed on CD8+ T-cells. The percent of CD8+ cells in control CD19-CAR-T cultures was 28%+/-10 and 9%+/-2 in CS1-CAR-T cultures, suggesting fratricide. We hypothesized deleting CS1 from T cells (using CRISPR/CAS9) prior to transduction with CS1-CAR would generate more effective CS1 CAR-Ts (delta-CS1-CAR-T-CS1) since fratricide would not occur during expansion. Generation of delta-CS1-CAR-T-CS1 restored CD8+ cells (30%+/-7). Although the percentage of CD8+ increased in delta-CS1-CAR-T-CS1, we observed similar killing to CS1-CAR-Ts in chromium assays. Experiments comparing efficacy of delta-CS1-CAR-T-CS1 vs CS1-CAR-T in vivo are ongoing. We have generated highly effective CAR-T cells targeting CS1, demonstrated by their ability to specifically kill CS1+ myeloma cells in vitro and in vivo. Our work further validates the utility of CS1 as an immunotherapeutic target for myeloma.Figure 1Figure 1
Microbe Decontamination of Water

Abstract The United Nations expects that one quarter of the world’s population will face water shortages by 2050. Expanding population and climate change have collaborated to increase water stress in many parts of the globe that are already suffering from substantial water scarcity. Along with a lack of political initiatives and infrastructure, drought, irrational use of water resources, and the contamination of groundwater and fresh surface water are reasons why clean water is becoming a precious commodity. Contaminants, such as heavy metals, hormones, and pathogenic microorganisms, enter water supplies through the deliberate disposal of municipal, industrial, and agricultural wastes. Particularly, the consumption of water contaminated with pathogenic microbes poses a great threat to humans and animals. Conventional approaches for water disinfection consist of the use of free chlorine, ozone, and UV-irradiation. However, conventional technologies, such as chlorination, are often risky due to the production of toxic byproducts or can be costly as in the case of UV-radiation exposure. To address this challenge, materials science, through the development of antimicrobial nanomaterials, has provided alternative solutions to the problem of water disinfection and treatment. The objective here is to offer a systematic, concise, and comprehensive overview of the development of nanomaterials for water disinfection, and their advantages, limitations, and future perspectives. Herein, the discussion will be focused on carbon nanomaterials (graphene-based materials, carbon nanotubes, and fullerenes), metallic nanoparticles, photocatalytic particles, and hybrid materials.
Robust L 1 Estimators for Interconnected AC/DC Power Systems

This paper is concerned about robust state estimation of AC power systems interconnected with a meshed DC overlay. While such systems are not yet commonplace, there is strong evidence that future power systems will include meshed HVDC overlays on the existing AC grid in order to facilitate reliable transmission of power from renewable energy sources to load centers. Monitoring of these systems using either SCADA or PMU measurements is studied in this paper. A least absolute value estimator that minimizes the L 1 norm of the residuals is adopted for this purpose. Formulation of the measurement equations for the DC systems, as well as the converters, are presented. Robustness of the developed estimators are verified by simulation of gross errors using an AC/DC system created by expanding the IEEE 118-bus benchmark system.
Outcomes of early endoscopic intervention for pancreatic necrotic collections: a matched case-control study.

Background and Aims Pancreatic necrosis may be categorized as an acute necrotic collection (ANC) or walled-off necrosis (WON) based on complete encapsulation by a wall and collection age (≤4 weeks or >4 weeks). Endoscopic intervention of WON has become the standard of care, but little is known regarding the safety and efficacy of endoscopic intervention of pancreatic necrosis ≤4 weeks from disease onset. Methods Retrospective review of medical records and imaging studies of all patients undergoing early endoscopic intervention of pancreatic necrosis between 2008 and 2018 was carried out at 1 referral center. Patients who underwent previous interventional treatment were excluded. Control WON patients were matched to early intervention cases. The primary outcome was defined as resolution of the collection after endoscopic treatment, without surgery. Results Nineteen patients with early intervention were identified. The most common indication for intervention was infection. Median age of these collections at the time of initial endoscopic intervention was 23 days (range, 15-27 days), and all collections had a partial or complete wall discernable on contrast-enhanced CT. Eleven patients underwent concurrent endoscopic necrosectomy. The primary outcome was achieved in all patients in the early intervention group. Total duration of therapy was longer for early intervention compared with controls (103 vs 69 days, P = .042), with no mortality and similar adverse event rates compared with controls. Conclusions Endoscopic intervention of pancreatic necrosis in the third and fourth weeks of illness appears effective and safe when a partial collection wall is present on cross-sectional imaging studies, with outcomes paralleling those reported for intervention of WON.
Effect of wet air oxidation on the composition and biomethanation of water hyacinth

Water hyacinth (Pontederia crassipes) is a potential feedstock for biorefinery due to its rapid growth and phytoremediation properties when cultivated in wastewaters. The effects of wet air oxidation (WAO) and alkaline wet air oxidation (AWAO) on the structure and biomethanation kinetics of water hyacinth were studied. Water hyacinth (50 g/L) was pretreated using WAO and AWAO (0.15 g Na2CO3/g feed), at 170 °C under 0.4 MPa air for 30 min. After WAO and AWAO, the fixed carbon (% w/w) of water hyacinth (25.9 ± 0.8) was reduced to an average of 21.4 ± 1.6. The volatiles (% w/w) in the WAO solid residue were higher (69.0 ± 0.7) than in the AWAO (60.5 ± 1.2) and unpretreated biomass (62.9 ± 0.2), but the soluble COD [mg/g feed] of WAO (153.5 ± 4.1) was half that of AWAO (310.3 ± 4.1). The AWAO biomass showed higher cellulose deconstruction and lignin and extractives removal compared with WAO and unpretreated biomass. The methane production rate [N. mL CH4/g feed day] during the biomethanation of water hyacinth (4.1 ± 0.2) increased 63% after WAO (6.7 ± 1.5) and 117% after AWAO (8.9 ± 0.7). AWAO increased the methane potential [N. mL CH4/g feed] of water hyacinth by 24%, from 153.7 ± 1.9 to 191 ± 4.1. The estimated energy production from the biomethanation of AWAO water hyacinth was 30 times above that of unpretreated biomass. The biomethanation of water hyacinth after AWAO was better than WAO and unpretreated biomass.
Social and Economic Challenges to Implementing the Ketogenic Diet: A Case Series

The ketogenic diet (KD) is a powerful therapeutic tool that can reduce seizure activity in patients with refractory epilepsy. However, dietary implementation can be difficult for patients and families due to the time and resource intensive nature of the diet. These challenges are particularly pronounced in economically disadvantaged or socially unstable patient populations. The first case of this series describes the successful implementation of KD in a low-income, homeless patient through the use of innovative KD recipes and access to social programs offered through Boston Medical Center. The second case illustrates the importance of consistent parental support to the success of KD and describes mechanisms used to improve familial support within a nonunified household. Collectively, these cases demonstrate ways by which health care providers can make this powerful dietary treatment accessible to low-resource patients.
Quiet Revolutions: How Advanced Microelectronics Packaging Continues to Drive Heterogeneous Integration 1

The past few years have seen increasing interest in advanced package architectures as compact, high performance platforms for heterogeneous integration across a wide variety of applications [1]. Interest in advanced packaging is driven by the need for increased on-package bandwidth, the need to integrate diverse IP from multiple foundries and the need for improved yield resiliency [2]. A number of innovative package architectures that enable power-efficient on-package bandwidth interconnects [3]-[8] have made major advances in microelectronics performance possible [9]-[11]. Focus on heterogeneous integration makes visible to broader audiences, the packaging community that in a quiet, systematic and largely unheralded manner continues to drive momentous changes in packaging, assembly and associated test technologies. In this paper, I will attempt to describe some of these changes and more importantly offer a perspective for how packaging should evolve and what this means to the thermal management community.
86185 Food Cost and Perceptions: through the lens of coaches providing family-based childhood obesity treatment

ABSTRACT IMPACT: This work will help to identify ways to adapt family-based obesity treatment based on families’ food purchasing behaviors and beliefs. OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Families in obesity treatment are encouraged to make dietary changes. Dietary changes are impacted by food choices, which can be influenced by food cost. The objective of this research is to explore families’ food purchase behaviors and beliefs from the perspective of their health coach, and to assess how health coaches adapt treatment to address these. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: Semi- structured telephone interviews were conducted with 10 health coaches in the Effectiveness of Family-Based Weight Loss Treatment Implementation in Primary Care (PLAN) study across four geographic locations in MO, NY, and OH. Topics covered were professional background, perspectives on working with families, and discussions with families regarding cost perception and food choice. Conventional content analysis was used through ‘open-coding’ of transcribed text by reading the transcripts and assigning labels. Codes were then organized into themes. In addition to the interviews, coaches were asked to complete a FRAME checklist to identify adaptations or modifications that were made to the treatment. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: The coaches reported that cost is a barrier to making healthier food choices for some but not all of their FBT families. Themes for cost as a barrier include: fast food is cheaper; justification to choose old food choices; sales on foods high in calories and sugar; bulk buying; and fewer sales on healthier options. Themes for what families consider when purchasing healthier items include: perishable foods, increased waste, picky kids, lack of knowledge about healthy eating on a budget, afraid of including new foods, and no money for new foods. The final stage of content analysis for the FRAME schematic checklist is ongoing. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF FINDINGS: The results exemplify that families’ have different food purchasing behaviors and beliefs and consider a variety of factors when making food choices. The data gathered from the FRAME checklists will help in characterizing the adaptations or modifications made by coaches and allow for better understanding of the impact on the families.
Understanding good leadership in the context of English care home inspection reports.

PURPOSE As part of their inspection of care homes in England, the statutory inspector (the Care Quality Commission [CQC]) makes a judgement on the quality of the home's leadership. Their view is critical as it is intended to inform consumer choice and because the statutory nature of inspection means these views hold considerable authority. The purpose of this paper is to look at the content of a selection of reports and seek to determine what the CQC understands by the concept of "good leadership". DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH A purposive sample of recent CQC inspection reports was selected and subjected to a qualitative content analysis. Inspections are structured around five main questions. The resulting themes describe areas of focus within the section of reports that feature the question "Are they well-led?". FINDINGS Inspection reports were found to focus on four main themes: safety and quality of care; day-to-day management of staff; governance and training in the home; and integration and partnership working. In the discussion section, the authors reflect on these themes and suggest that the CQC's view of leadership is rather limited. In particular, while an emphasis is placed within the literature and policy on the importance of leadership in delivering change and quality improvement, little attention is paid to this within the leadership section of inspection reports. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS The authors' research is based on a small-scale sample of inspection reports; nevertheless, it suggests a number of avenues for further research into the way in which leadership and management capabilities are developed and monitored in the sector. ORIGINALITY/VALUE The analysis in this report offers a view of how the inspection regime implements its own guidance and how it assesses leadership. The reports, as public-facing documents, are artefacts of the inspection regime and critical not just as evidence of the practice of inspection but as influence on care home operations and the choices of care home residents and their families.
Inverse thermal design of nanoporous thin films for thermal cloaking

Abstract In recent years, nanoporous thin films are widely studied as an effective way to improve the thermoelectric performance or manipulate the thermal transport within thin-film-based devices. In practice, nanoporous patterns can effectively cut off the heat flow and thus guide the thermal transport along the desired direction. However, a better design of these thermal devices is not addressed, such as thermal cloaking as the thermal counterpart for optical invisibility cloaks. In existing designs based on the Fourier's law, composite materials with varied structures are often introduced to achieve the required location-dependent thermal conductivities to distort the heat flux. At the micro-to nano-scale, such designs are difficult to be implemented and factors such as the interfacial thermal resistance must be further considered. In this work, inverse thermal designs of a nanoporous thin film are used to achieve the two-dimensional thermal cloaking, without introducing any other variation of the composition or material to tune the local thermal conductivity. This simple approach can be widely used for thin-film-based devices to protect heat-sensitive regions or function as thermal camouflaging devices. The proposed nanoporous structures can also be used to tune the local properties of a thin film for general applications, such as graded thermoelectric materials.
Existence of the Kosterlitz-Thouless Phase for Two-Dimensional Coulomb Gases at Inverse Temperatures above 8π

A two-dimensional (lattice) Coulomb gas is a system of classical particles with electric charges ±1, whose possible positions range over a finite array of sites Λ ⊂ ℤ2, interacting via a two-body Coulomb potential.
DS-CDMA vs. MC-CDMA, a performance survey in inter-vendor spectrum sharing environment

In this paper, the performance of hybrid FDMA/DS-CDMA and MC-CDMA systems are studied in a cellular system with a simple intra-cell inter-vendor spectrum sharing algorithm. Their performance is then compared both with each other and a system without sharing. The comparison is based on the following performance measures: a) total bandwidth efficiency, b) average call blocking rate, c) average spreading code change rate, d) total revenue and e) implementation complexity. Both systems improve the spectrum utilization compared to the system without sharing. MC-CDMA is seen to have better performance than DS-CDMA with higher complexity and implementation cost.
FLAME—Fuzzy Logic Adaptive Model of Emotions

Emotions are an important aspect of human intelligence and have been shown to play a significant role in the human decision-making process. Researchers in areas such as cognitive science, philosophy, and artificial intelligence have proposed a variety of models of emotions. Most of the previous models focus on an agent's reactive behavior, for which they often generate emotions according to static rules or pre-determined domain knowledge. However, throughout the history of research on emotions, memory and experience have been emphasized to have a major influence on the emotional process. In this paper, we propose a new computational model of emotions that can be incorporated into intelligent agents and other complex, interactive programs. The model uses a fuzzy-logic representation to map events and observations to emotional states. The model also includes several inductive learning algorithms for learning patterns of events, associations among objects, and expectations. We demonstrate empirically through a computer simulation of a pet that the adaptive components of the model are crucial to users' assessments of the believability of the agent's interactions.
Merger Guidelines, 2010

The latest set of merger guidelines to be provided to the business community by the US government are presented here. Emphasis is placed on examining the new “effects based” approach used in these guidelines and differences established between these and the previous guidelines issued in 1997. Changes in the role of market definition and market concentration are highlighted. Keywords: mergers; guidelines; market definition; market concentration; anticompetitive behavior
Glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) immunocytochemistry of developing rabbit hippocampus

Immunocytochemical techniques were used to examine the synaptic relations of inhibitory interneurons in the developing rabbit hippocampus. Glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD), the synthesizing enzyme for the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA, was found in interneurons of immature (8 d old) as well as mature (30 d old) tissue. GAD- immunoreactivity was seen in somata, dendrites, and axon terminals of interneurons at both ages. Electron-microscopic examination revealed that GAD-positive “terminals” in immature tissue were often not associated with the usual synaptic specializations, but were rather in simple apposition to the “postsynaptic” element. In mature tissue, GAD- positive terminals made symmetric contacts primarily with pyramidal cell somata, initial segments, and proximal dendrites. In addition, GAD- positive terminals synapsed onto both GAD-positive and GAD-negative interneuron profiles.
Communication behaviors in autism and developmental language delay.

Abstract– The communicative behavior of autistic and developmental language delay (DLD) children matched for nonverbal mental age and mean length of utterance (MLU) was compared to that of normally-developing (ND) 2-yr-olds. Autistic children were less able than other children to respond correctly to language or gestures used to direct their attention, used attention directing (pointing, showing) less frequently, and produced more echolalic speech when making requests. DLD and ND children differed only in number of pronouns used while requesting. Attention-directing gestures were associated with receptive and expressive language abilities for autistic, DLD and normal children.
The effect of culture on the adoption process: A comparison of Japanese and American behavior

Abstract The classic study of the relationship between technological innovation and culture has been that of the influence and changes wrought by a technological innovation on a culture. This paper examines the opposite flow: the influence of culture on the adoption of technological innovations within a society. In particular, the paper examines differences in innovative adoption behavior between the United States and Japan as a direct result of their different cultural attributes. Generalizations are postulated concerning cultural influences on national adoption behavior to determine possible relationships that would allow greater understanding and explanation of the adoption of innovation and diffusion phenomena.
Pierre Bourdieu on the Verstehende Soziologie of Max Weber

Pierre Bourdieu was influenced by and critical of the work of Max Weber. In articles written in the early 1970's on Weber's analysis of prophets and priests in ancient Judaism, Bourdieu questioned key elements of Weber's verstehende soziologie including his predecessor's privileging of the conceptual over the non-conceptual in the understanding of human behavior and utilization of the ideal type "charisma." Bourdieu, at the same time, extended Weber's work on religious specialists and the evolution of the religious field in the West. In closing, I compare Bourdieu's advice to the Weberian sociologist of religion with that offered by Mary Douglas and Jon Elster.
Aggressive contests in house crickets: size, motivation and the information content of aggressive songs

The function of aggressive signals, including both their information content and the circumstances under which they cause resolution or escalation of conflict, continues to be controversial. We studied the information content of aggressive songs in the house cricket, Acheta domesticus, to test their ability to inform opponents about fighting ability and motivation. We show that songs produced by individual males are highly repeatable and contain information about male resource holding potential, the ability of a male to win an aggressive contest. Temporal components of aggressive song were correlated with male body size, and size affected both the intensity and outcome of fights. In contrast, we found no components of song that signal motivation to fight. Although males with restricted access to mates were significantly more aggressive and won fights more often, their songs did not reflect the asymmetry in motivation to fight. We discuss possible reasons for the absence of signals of motivation during animal contests.
Pathology: Commonly Monitored Glioblastoma Markers: EFGR, EGFRvIII, PTEN, and MGMT

The purpose of this article is to update the neurosurgical field on current molecular markers important to glioblastoma biology, treatment, and prognosis. The highlighted biologic markers in this article include epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), EGFR variant III (EGFRvIII), phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10 (PTEN), and O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT).
Comparison of behavioral interventions for control of type II diabetes mellitus

We evaluated behavioral programs designed to enhance the management of Non-Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (NIDDM). Although physicians routinely advice patients to make dietary and exercise changes, few systematic studies have evaluated the impact of this advice upon health status. In particular, few studies have considered adherence to behavioral programs and reports of follow-up are rare. Thirty-two men and forty-four women were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions: diet, exercise, diet plus exercise, or education control. Eachtreatment lasted ten weeks. Patients were assessed prior to the interventions, at three months, and at six months. The measures included blood glucose, glycosylated hemoglobins, lipid profiles, and body composition. Patients assigned to the diet group experienced significantly greater reductions in weight and blood glucose and significant increases in HDL cholesterol in comparison to other groups. Physical conditioning was not associated with changes in physiological measures. Across groups, there were significant correlations between adherence and outcome.
Relationship between lath boundary structure and radiation induced segregation in a neutron irradiated 9 wt.% Cr model ferritic/martensitic steel

Abstract Ferritic/Martensitic (F/M) steels with high Cr content posses the high temperature strength and low swelling rates required for advanced nuclear reactor designs. Radiation induced segregation (RIS) occurs in F/M steels due to solute atoms preferentially coupling to point defect fluxes which migrate to defect sinks, such as grain boundaries (GBs). The RIS response of F/M steels and austenitic steels has been shown to be dependent on the local structure of GBs where low energy structures have suppressed RIS responses. This relationship between local GB structure and RIS has been demonstrated primarily in ion-irradiated specimens. A 9 wt.% Cr model alloy steel was irradiated to 3 dpa using neutrons at the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) to determine the effect of a neutron radiation environment on the RIS response at different GB structures. This investigation found the relationship between GB structure and RIS is also active for F/M steels irradiated using neutrons. The data generated from the neutron irradiation is also compared to RIS data generated using proton irradiations on the same heat of model alloy.
Transfection of human tumour cells with Mre11 siRNA and the increase in radiation sensitivity and the reduction in heat-induced radiosensitization.

Double-strand DNA breaks (DSBs) are potentially lethal DNA lesions induced by ionizing radiation. In eukaryotes, DSBs can be repaired by homologous recombination (HR) or non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ). DNA repair protein Mre11 participates in both the NHEJ and HR DNA repair pathways. Hyperthermia has been used clinically as a radiosensitizer. However, the mechanisms by which radiosensitization is induced by hyperthermia, especially moderate hyperthermia (41°C) are not fully understood. Previous studies suggest that 41°C reduces the nuclear Mre11 protein level in a manner that correlates with heat-induced changes in radiation sensitivity. Therefore, siRNA technology was used in the present study to reduce Mre11 gene expression to determine if reduced Mre11 protein levels induced radiosensitization and if such radiosensitization is similar to that induced by moderate hyperthermia. The results show that (1) the cellular level of the Mre11 protein was reduced about 60 ± 18% by a 24-h treatment with siRNA. ...
Mechanical stability of porous-coated acetabular components in total hip arthroplasty.

Abstract Five different porous-coated acetabular prosthetic configurations underwent in vitro testing to assess mechanical stability in embalmed cadaver hemipelves: Harris Galante II cup with three cancellous screws, Biomet Universal cup, Whiteside cup with peripheral pegs, Whiteside cup with two cancellous screws, and plain Whiteside cup. Following implantation in a neutral frame, cyclic load testing was done using 33 specimens at 100-kg load for 100,000 cycles using an MTS machine (MTS Systems Corp., Minneapolis, MN). Subsequently, static load-to-failure testing was done in all specimens. Subsidence and micromovement were determined for each specimen using linear variable differential transformers. With cyclic testing, overall cup subsidence revealed a significant increase, from 500 to 100,000 cycles. Overall cup micromovement revealed a significant decrease, and all cup groups demonstrated less than 125 μm (125 mm) of average mean micromotion at the completion of cyclic testing. The best cup configuration was a 1-mm, oversized, press-fit cup using two 6.5 cancellous screws for additional fixation, which revealed an average mean of 60 μm (.06 mm) of micromovement. Static load testing revealed unacceptable micromovement over 150 μm (.150 mm) in most cups with 300-kg loads
Repetition blindness: the survival of the grouped.

The repetition blindness (RB) effect demonstrates that people often fail to detect the second presentation of an identical object (e.g., Kanwisher, 1987). Grouping of identical items is a well-documented perceptual phenomenon, and this grouping generally facilitates perception. These two effects pose a puzzle: RB impairs perception, while perceptual grouping improves it. Here, we combined these two effects and studied how they interact. In a series of three experiments, we presented repeated items in a simultaneous string, while manipulating the organization of the repeated items in groups within a string. We observed an interaction between RB and grouping that we summarize with a rule that we call “the survival of the grouped”: In essence, the ability to group repeated elements protects them from RB. These findings are discussed within the framework of the object file theory.
High-temperature grain size stabilization of nanocrystalline Fe-Cr alloys with Hf additions

Abstract The influence of 1–4 at% Hf additions on the thermal stability of mechanically alloyed nanocrystalline Fe–14Cr alloys was studied in this work. XRD-calculated grain size and microhardness results were reported versus isochronal annealing treatments up to 1100 °C. Microstructural evolution was investigated using channeling contrast FIB imaging and TEM. Grain size of samples with 4 at% Hf was found to be maintained in the nanoscale range at temperatures up to 1000 °C. Zener pinning was considered as a major source of high temperature grain size stabilization. By comparing the Orowan strengthening contribution to the total hardness, the deviation of grain size predictions from the actual grain size in Fe–14Cr–4Hf suggests the presence of thermodynamic stabilization by the solute segregation to grain boundaries (GBs). A predictive thermodynamic model indicates that the thermodynamic stabilization can be expected.
Validation of parent self reported home safety practices

Objectives: To evaluate the validity of parents’ self reported home safety practices concerning smoke detectors, bike helmets, car seats, and water heater temperature. Setting: Parents of children 12 years old and under whose child had made at least one visit to a study clinic in the years 2000–2003. Methods: As part of a randomized controlled trial to improve patient provider communication and preventive practices, parents’ responses to telephone interview were compared with observations of safety practices during a home visit. Home visits were completed within nine weeks of the telephone interview. Parents were not told that the visit was part of a validation study and home visit observers were unaware of the interview responses. The authors calculated sensitivities, specificities, positive and negative predictive values, and their corresponding confidence intervals. Results: Sensitivity (0.78 to 0.98) and positive predictive values (0.75 to 1.00) were high for all items. Specificities and negative predictive values were more variable and the highest estimates (specificity 0.95 to 1.00, negative predictive value 0.95 to 0.97) were for car seat types. Conclusions: The results suggest that parent self report practice of certain injury prevention behaviors (owning a car seat, hot water temperatures) is reliable, whereas self reports on other practices (working smoke detectors, properly fitting bike helmets) may be overstated.
Couples’ Social Careers in Assisted Living: Reconciling Individual and Shared Situations

Purpose of the study Despite important connections between relationships, health, and well-being, little is known about later-life couples' daily lives and experiences, especially those who are frail. Our aim was to advance knowledge by gaining an in-depth understanding of married and unmarried couples' intimate and social relationships in assisted living (AL) and by generating an explanatory theory. Design and methods Using Grounded Theory Methods, we build on past research and analyze qualitative data from a 3-year mixed-methods study set in eight diverse AL settings located in the state of Georgia. Data collection included participant observation and informal and formal interviews yielding information on 29 couples, 26 married and 3 unmarried. Results Defined by their relationships with one another and those around them, couples' experiences were variable and involved a process of reconciling individual and shared situations. Analysis affirms and expands an existing typology of couples in AL. Our conceptual model illustrates the multilevel factors influencing the reconciliation process and leading to variation. Findings highlight the strengths and burdens of late-life couplehood and have implications for understanding these intimate ties beyond AL. Implications Intimate and social relationships remain significant in later life. Strategies aimed at supporting couples should focus on individual and shared situations, particularly as couples' experience physical and cognitive decline across time.
Vesicovaginal fistula following a transobturator midurethral sling procedure

Synthetic mid-urethral slings are currently the most common surgical procedure performed for the treatment of female stress urinary incontinence. The transobturator mid-urethral sling technique was originally described in 2001 and has since become widely accepted due to its high rate of success and low complication rate. Although complications remain infrequent, when they do occur, there is potential for significant patient morbidity. We report a case of a vesicovaginal fistula following a transobturator mid-urethral sling procedure and describe successful reconstruction with transvaginal sling excision, fistula closure, and placement of an autologous pubovaginal sling.
CRBcast: a collaborative rateless scheme for reliable and energy-efficient broadcasting in wireless sensor networks

In this paper, we propose a two-phase broadcasting scheme referred as collaborative rateless broadcast (CRBcast). We are particularly interested in reliability and energy efficiency of the broadcasting scheme for multi-hop wireless sensor networks. Our two-phase protocol is based on probabilistic broadcasting (PBcast) and an application layer rateless coding. At the first phase, the rateless-encoded packets are broadcasted based on PBcast, in which each node probabilistically relays every new received packet. The second recovery phase, which is based on simple collaborations of nodes, ensures that all nodes can recover original data. We first investigate PBcast analytically and with simulation, since the characteristics of PBcast influence CRBcast. Then, we investigate the effectiveness of CRBcast. We show that CRBcast can provide both reliability and energy efficiency. Simulation results indicate that CRBcast saves at least 72% and 60% energy in comparison with flooding and PBcast, respectively.
1000 dams down and counting

Forty years ago, the demolition of large dams was mostly fiction, notably plotted in Edward Abbey's novel The Monkey Wrench Gang. Its 1975 publication roughly coincided with the end of large-dam construction in the United States. Since then, dams have been taken down in increasing numbers as they have filled with sediment, become unsafe or inefficient, or otherwise outlived their usefulness ( 1 ) (see the figure, panel A). Last year's removals of the 64-m-high Glines Canyon Dam and the 32-m-high Elwha Dam in northwestern Washington State were among the largest yet, releasing over 10 million cubic meters of stored sediment. Published studies conducted in conjunction with about 100 U.S. dam removals and at least 26 removals outside the United States are now providing detailed insights into how rivers respond ( 2 , 3 ).