cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Input and Second Language Acquisition: The Roles of Frequency, Form, and Function Introduction to the Special Issue

The articles in this special issue explore how the acquisition of linguistic constructions as form–function mappings is affected by the distribution and saliency of forms in oral input, by their functional interpretations, and by the reliabilities of their form–function mappings. They consider the psycholinguistics of language learning following general cognitive principles of category learning, with schematic constructions emerging from usage. They analyze how learning is driven by the frequency and frequency distribution of exemplars within construction, the salience of their form, the significance of their functional interpretation, the match of their meaning to the construction prototype, and the reliability of their mappings. These investigations address a range of morphological and syntactic constructions in instructed, uninstructed, and laboratory settings. They include both experimental and corpus-based approaches (some conducted longitudinally) and consider the relationship between input and acquisition in the short term and over time, with a particular emphasis on spoken input directed to second and foreign language learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Assessment Of Surface Penetration With Polarimetric Radar

An airborne P-, L-, and C-band polarimetric radar dataset acquired over the Atchafalaya Bay study site was used to assess its surface penetration capabilities. The dataset was decompressed and reformatted to form a three-wavelength and three-polarization nine-channel dataset. All nine channels were filtered for speckle noise removal, using the 7-by-7 local-statistics moving-window filtering. Significant smoothing of data was obtained so that the data can be classified using the SRCH and M234 ELAS programs. Preliminary assessment of the PLC images indicated that the radar waves penetrated muddy water. Therefore the radar can measure the water depth and can be used to map the submerged sediments. A statistical analysis of the digital data provided insight on the depth of muddy water penetration.
Has the BARRIERS Scale changed nursing practice? An integrative review

Title. Has the BARRIERS Scale changed nursing practice? An integrative review. Aim. This paper is a report of a review to analyse studies using the BARRIERS Scale to determine (a) if the identification of perceived barriers to research utilization influences nurses’ use of research, (b) if the extent of nurses’ perceived barriers to research utilization and most frequently cited barriers have changed over the past 15 years and (c) if nurses’ most frequently cited barriers to research utilization differ across countries. Background. The BARRIERS Scale has been used to identify nurses’ untoward perceptions or barriers to research utilization. Data sources. A computer search was conducted using the Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature, MEDLINE, Dissertation Abstracts International and Academic Abstracts to identify relevant literature from 1991 to 2006. The Internet and citations within studies were also searched. Review methods. Studies were included if they were in English, used the entire BARRIERS Scale and reported nurses’ responses. Studies were coded for author(s), publication year, country, population, sample size, response rate, the three-most frequently cited barriers, mean per cent of items rated as moderate or greater, and number of items identified as a barrier by 50% or more of respondents. Quality appraisal of the included papers was not performed. Results. Forty-five studies met the inclusion criteria and predominantly identified the same barriers. No evidence was found that identification of barriers to nurses’ use of research influenced nursing practice. Conclusions. It appears that there would be minimal benefit from further descriptive research using the BARRIERS Scale. Research is needed to investigate whether relationships exist between perceptions of barriers to nurses’ use of research and the use evidence-based practice.
Gene regulation in parthenocarpic tomato fruit

Parthenocarpy is potentially a desirable trait for many commercially grown fruits if undesirable changes to structure, flavour, or nutrition can be avoided. Parthenocarpic transgenic tomato plants (cv MicroTom) were obtained by the regulation of genes for auxin synthesis (iaaM) or responsiveness (rolB) driven by DefH9 or the INNER NO OUTER (INO) promoter from Arabidopsis thaliana. Fruits at a breaker stage were analysed at a transcriptomic and metabolomic level using microarrays, real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and a Pegasus III TOF (time of flight) mass spectrometer. Although differences were observed in the shape of fully ripe fruits, no clear correlation could be made between the number of seeds, transgene, and fruit size. Expression of auxin synthesis or responsiveness genes by both of these promoters produced seedless parthenocarpic fruits. Eighty-three percent of the genes measured showed no significant differences in expression due to parthenocarpy. The remaining 17% with significant variation (P <0.05) (1748 genes) were studied by assigning a predicted function (when known) based on BLAST to the TAIR database. Among them several genes belong to cell wall, hormone metabolism and response (auxin in particular), and metabolism of sugars and lipids. Up-regulation of lipid transfer proteins and differential expression of several indole-3-acetic acid (IAA)- and ethylene-associated genes were observed in transgenic parthenocarpic fruits. Despite differences in several fatty acids, amino acids, and other metabolites, the fundamental metabolic profile remains unchanged. This work showed that parthenocarpy with ovule-specific alteration of auxin synthesis or response driven by the INO promoter could be effectively applied where such changes are commercially desirable.
Large-Scale Normal Coordinate Analysis on Distributed Memory Parallel Systems

A parallel computational scheme for analyzing large-scale molecular vibration on distributed memory computing platforms is presented in this paper. The method combines the implicitly restarted Lanczos algorithm with a state-of-art parallel sparse direct solver to compute a set of low frequency vibrational modes of molecular systems with tens of thousands of atoms. Although the original motivation for developing such a scheme was to overcome the memory limitation on the traditional sequential and shared memory machines, our computational experiments show that a careful parallel design and data partitioning scheme allows us to achieve scalable performance. In particular, we demonstrate performance enhancement achieved by using the latency tolerant 'selective inversion' scheme in the sparse triangular substitution phase of the computation.
What Is the Empirical Basis for Paying for Quality in Health Care

Despite more than a decade of benchmarking and public reporting of quality problems in the health care sector, changes in medical practice have been slow to materialize. To accelerate quality improvement, many private and public payers have begun to offer financial incentives to physicians and hospitals based on their performance on clinical and service quality measures. The authors review the empirical literature on paying for quality in health care and comparable interventions in other sectors. They find little evidence to support the effectiveness of paying for quality. The absence of findings for an effect may be attributable to the small size of the bonuses studied and the fact that payers often accounted for only a fraction of the targeted provider's panel. Even in nonhealth settings, however, where the institutional features are more favorable to a positive impact, the literature contains mixed results on the effectiveness of analogous pay-for-performance schemes.
Ethyl 2-hydroxy-2-methylpropanoate derivatives of magnesium and zinc. The effect of chelation on the homo- and copolymerization of lactide and ε-caprolactone.

The preparation, single crystal and molecular structures of the compounds (BDI)Mg(OCMe2COOEt)(L) are described where BDI = 2-[(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)amino]-4-[(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imino]pent-2-ene and L = pyridine (py) and 4-dimethylaminopyridine (DMAP). In the solid-state the molecules have five coordinate Mg2+ ions that may be considered as derived from a trigonal bipyramid where the chelating BDI and OCMe2COOEt ligands span equatorial-axial sites. IR spectroscopic data obtained in CH2Cl2 indicate that the chelating nature of the OCMe2COOEt ligand is maintained in solution and variable temperature NMR studies reveal that the ligands py or DMAP undergo a rapid reversible dissociation in toluene-d8 and especially in THF-d8. This leads to a facile exchange involving coordinated and free L upon the addition of L and evidence is presented to support the view that this occurs exclusively by a dissociative interchange mechanism. Zinc forms a related complex (BDI)Zn(OCMe2COOEt) lacking additional coordination of L but maintaining the chelating nature of the OCMe2COOEt ligand and undergoing reversible coordination of L in the presence of added ligands L. The magnesium and zinc complexes will initiate and sustain the living polymerization of lactide (L- or rac-LA) but not the ring-opening polymerization of e-caprolactone.
Of decrements and disorders: assessing impairments in neurodevelopment in prospective studies of environmental toxicant exposures

Prenatal and early life neurodevelopment is exquisitely sensitive to insult from environmental exposures. Identifying the effects of environmental toxicants on neurodevelopmental disorders is particularly important from a public health perspective because many of these exposures are modifiable and may be targeted for intervention. Studying these associations in prospective cohort studies that measure quantitative, dimensional traits related to neurodevelopmental disorders, using standardized instruments such as psychometric tests or rating scales, mitigates many of the challenges that arise when studying clinically diagnosed disorders. We consider validity and feasibility impacts resulting from this design approach, including: 1) enhanced prospective exposure assessment with high quality environmental measures during developmentally relevant windows; 2) reduced bias because studies of continuous outcomes do not recruit cases and controls and are therefore not vulnerable to control selection bias; 3) enhanced statistical power because traits are measured on all individuals in the cohort and power is not limited by the number of cases; 4) reduced outcome misclassification because measuring quantitative traits avoids lumping together individuals with very heterogeneous phenotypes into one category. We use autism spectrum disorders (ASD) as an example to illustrate the advantages of this approach. Investigating the determinants of neurodevelopmental disorders – particularly modifiable determinants such as environmental toxicant exposures – is of great public health importance, given the apparent substantial rise of disorders like ASD over the past few decades. The use of prospective designs measuring quantitative, dimensional traits offers a powerful opportunity to provide important clues to the etiology of these disorders and is likely to accelerate our understanding of the role of environmental toxicant exposures as risk factors.
A brain-computer interface for intelligent wheelchair mobility

The project addresses a solution to assisting people confined to wheelchairs, who may be physically, perceptively, or cognitively challenged, in restoring or augmenting their ability to steer a wheelchair by integrating brainwave decoding, onboard sensing, artificial neural networking, and machine learning in an intelligent wheelchair system.
Chip-scale fluorescence sensors

We demonstrate an integrated fluorescence sensor chip consisting of an InGaN-GaN light emitting diode for fluorescence excitation, a bonded silicon junction photodiode for fluorescence detection, and a thin film filter for pump rejection and fluorescence selectivity. Evanescent field excitation at the LED surface is used to lessen the background due to stray pump light. The device is robust, and amenable to wafer-scale fabrication. Initial results with CdSe/ZnS quantum dot fluorophores yield a surface-bound sensitivity of 10 femtomoles, from which we predict a bulk fluid sensitivity of ~ 10 nanomolar for typical antibody-antigen assays.
Maintaining Economic Competition: the Causes and Consequences of Antitrust

ECONOMIC COMPETITION iS part of the American creed. When it apppeared seriously threatened by the growth of the "trusts" at the end of the nineteenth century, the Sherman Act was passed. Since tlhen, Congress has enacted further antitrust legislation to preserve economic competition. Moreover, the platforms of the major political parties have regularly contained an antitrust plank. While Richard Hofstader could once write that the antitrust movement was "one of the faded passions of American reform," this no longer seems true.' Current surveys suggest that the public is again aroused over big business abuse, and increasingly favors the breakup of large corporations.2 Checking corporate excesses and heightening competition are primary goals of consumer advocates.3 In the
Service description and dissemination for service discovery in pervasive computing environments

The ability to describe, locate, choose, and interact with services is an integral part of pervasive computing. Compared to previous computing environments, pervasive computing environments are more dynamic and transient while services and clients in these environments are diverse in type and function. In order to effectively facilitate communication and computation in these environments, protocols must be able to these characteristics. This work concentrates on our approach to two of the four components of service discovery, service description and dissemination. We introduce and compare the performance of our schemes to that of existing industrial and research approaches.
A nonlinear controller for three-dimensional tracking of a fluorescent particle in a confocal microscope

We describe an algorithm for using a confocal microscope for tracking single fluorescent particles diffusing in three dimensions. The algorithm uses a standard confocal setup and directly translates each fluorescence measurement into an actuator command. Through physical simulations, we illustrate 3-D tracking in both stage scanning and beam scanning confocal systems. The simulated stage scanning system achieved tracking of particles diffusing in 3-D with coefficients up to 0.2 μm2/s when the average fluorescence intensities was less than 1.84 counts per measurement cycle (corresponding to less than 18,400 counts per second) in the presence of background fluorescence with a rate of 5,000 counts per second. Increasing the fluorescence intensity to approximately 193 counts per measurement cycle (1,930,000 counts per second) allowed the system to track up to particles diffusing with coefficients as large as 0.7 μm2/s. The beam steering system allowed for faster motion of the focal volume of the microscope and successfully tracked particles diffusing with coefficients up to 0.7 μm2/s with fluorescence measurement intensities of approximately 0.189 counts per measurement cycle (37,570 counts per second) and with coefficients up to 90 μm2/s when the fluorescence intensity was increased to 19 counts per measurement cycle (3,807,500 counts/sec).
Common Variants in the Promoter of the Hepatic Lipase Gene Are Associated With Lower Levels of Hepatic Lipase Activity, Buoyant LDL, and Higher HDL2 Cholesterol

Abstract —Increased hepatic lipase (HL) activity is associated with small, dense, low density lipoprotein (LDL) and low high density lipoprotein2 (HDL2) cholesterol (-C) levels. A polymorphism in the promoter region of the HL gene ( LIPC ) is associated with HDL-C levels. To test whether this association is mediated by differences in HL activity between different LIPC promoter genotypes, the LIPC promoter polymorphism at position −250 ( G → A ), HL activity, LDL buoyancy, and HDL-C levels were studied in white normolipidemic men and men with coronary artery disease (CAD). The less common A allele (frequency=0.21 and 0.25 in normal and CAD subjects, respectively) was associated with lower HL activity ( P <0.005 by ANOVA) and buoyant LDL particles ( P ≤0.01) in both groups. Normal and CAD subjects heterozygous for the A allele had lower HL activity (by 24% and 29%, respectively) and significantly more buoyant LDL particles. Homozygosity for this allele ( AA ) was associated with an even lower HL activity in normal (−26%) and CAD (−46%) subjects. The A allele was associated with higher HDL2-C in CAD patients ( P =0.007); heterozygotes and homozygotes for the A allele had a 92% and a 140% higher HDL2-C level ( P <0.01) than did GG individuals. In a small number of normolipidemic subjects, the same trend in HDL2-C was seen. In a univariate analysis, the LIPC genotype accounted for 20% to 32% of the variance in HL levels among normal subjects and CAD patients, respectively. After adjustment for HL, the association between LIPC genotype and LDL buoyancy was no longer significant, suggesting that the effect of LIPC genotype on LDL buoyancy is mediated by its effects on HL activity. The LIPC A allele was more frequent in Japanese-Americans and African-Americans than in whites. In summary, these results suggest that variants in the LIPC promoter may significantly contribute to the variance in levels of HL activity and consequently, to the prevalence of the atherogenic small, dense, LDL particles and low HDL2-C levels.
Diatom assemblages promote ice formation in large lakes

We present evidence for the directed formation of ice by planktonic communities dominated by filamentous diatoms sampled from the ice-covered Laurentian Great Lakes. We hypothesize that ice formation promotes attachment of these non-motile phytoplankton to overlying ice, thereby maintaining a favorable position for the diatoms in the photic zone. However, it is unclear whether the diatoms themselves are responsible for ice nucleation. Scanning electron microscopy revealed associations of bacterial epiphytes with the dominant diatoms of the phytoplankton assemblage, and bacteria isolated from the phytoplankton showed elevated temperatures of crystallization (Tc) as high as � 31C. Ice nucleation-active bacteria were identified as belonging to the genus Pseudomonas, but we could not demonstrate that they were sufficiently abundant to incite the observed freezing. Regardless of the source of ice nucleation activity, the resulting production of frazil ice may provide a means for the diatoms to be recruited to the overlying lake ice, thereby increasing their fitness. Bacterial epiphytes are likewise expected to benefit from their association with the diatoms as recipients of organic carbon excreted by their hosts. This novel mechanism illuminates a previously undescribed stage of the life cycle of the meroplanktonic diatoms that bloom in Lake Erie and other Great Lakes during winter and offers a model relevant to aquatic ecosystems having seasonal ice cover around the world.
Quantitative trait loci affecting phenotypic plasticity and the allometric relationship of ovariole number and thorax length in Drosophila melanogaster.

Environmental factors during juvenile growth such as temperature and nutrition have major effects on adult morphology and life-history traits. In Drosophila melanogaster, ovary size, measured as ovariole number, and body size, measured as thorax length, are developmentally plastic traits with respect to larval nutrition. Herein we investigated the genetic basis for plasticity of ovariole number and body size, as well the genetic basis for their allometric relationship using recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from a natural population in Winters, California. We reared 196 RILs in four yeast concentrations and measured ovariole number and body size. The genetic correlation between ovariole number and thorax length was positive, but the strength of this correlation decreased with increasing yeast concentration. Genetic variation and genotype-by-environment (G × E) interactions were observed for both traits. We identified quantitative trait loci (QTL), epistatic, QTL-by-environment, and epistatic-by-environment interactions for both traits and their scaling relationships. The results are discussed in the context of multivariate trait evolution.
Principles in the Evaluation of Systematic Reviews

Literature reviews summarize information from individual studies and are an important tool in the practice of evidence-based medicine. Various types of reviews, including narrative and systematic reviews, may be found within the biomedical literature. Systematic reviews are the strongest type and are often rated as the highest level of evidence. Thus it is important that clinicians understand how to evaluate them critically. This article is intended to enhance clinicians' understanding of the unique methods commonly used in systematic reviews by using the reporting standards to formulate evaluation principles. Explanations of the statistical tests and types of biases that are frequently encountered in systematic reviews are discussed. Lastly, an evaluation of a meta-analysis using these principles is provided.
A TEST OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL HOTSPOT HYPOTHESIS FOR LEK PLACEMENT IN THREE SPECIES OF MANAKINS (PIPRIDAE) IN ECUADOR

Abstract Lekking is classified as a form of male-dominance polygyny in which males lack control of resources essential for the acquisition of females. Of particular interest to behavioral ecologists has been the mechanistic basis of male spatial aggregation and the maintenance of site fidelity over time. The “hotspot” hypothesis has been proposed as both an ultimate and proximate mechanism by which males aggregate in locations where females are likely to be encountered. The hypothesis has been extended to include areas of the environment that act to constrain females’ use of space. Here, we test a prediction of this hypothesis for three species of manakins (Pipridae): that leks are located in places where fruit, the main food for these frugivorous birds, is plentiful. We compared four lek sites with four non-lek control sites of Golden-headed (Pipra erythrocephala), Wire-tailed (P. filicauda), and White-crowned (P. pipra) manakins in an Amazonian forest in Ecuador. Our results show that lek sites had high...
On the Consistency of Q-Matrix Estimation: A Commentary.

This commentary concerns the theoretical properties of the estimation procedure in “A General Method of Empirical Q-matrix Validation” by Jimmy de la Torre and Chia-Yi Chiu. It raises the consistency issue of the estimator, proposes some modifications to it, and also makes some conjectures.
Fluorescent Probes for Two-Photon Excitation Microscopy

Two-photon excitation microscopy (TPEM) is a noninvasive imaging technique that is increasingly utilized in biological research to visualize fluorescently labeled biomolecules and cellular structures.
Pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis of sunflower hulls for fermentable sugar production.

Abstract: Sunflower is a widely adapted crop and can be grown in every temperature region. In the U.S., two million acres were cultivated with sunflowers in 2009. During industrial processing, large quantities of hulls are obtained as a waste product from the dehulling process. This study focused on converting the sunflower hulls into fermentable sugars by dilute acid pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis. Raw sunflower hulls are composed of
Metabolism of Antarctic Krill, Euphausia superba, and Its Tropho-Dynamic Implications

The paper focuses on the nitrogenous excretion of various ontogenetic stages of the Antarctic Krill, Euphausia superba, with particular emphasis on contributions of ammonia to the ambient marine environment. As a reflection of a high feeding rate and elevated metabolism, Krill exhibit enhanced catabolic activity under favourable feeding conditions. Within various stages of Krill, ammonia excretion rate averages >260μg NH3 g−1 (dw) h−1. Consequently, a very large quantity of ammonia is released to the ambient environment from Krill swarms in which density can attain 1000 individuals m3. Swarms of significant magnitude, such as the great patches of Krill commonly encountered northwest of Elephant Island and the vast aggregations of Krill in the neritic waters of the Bransfield Strait in the Antarctic Peninsula region, may exert a profound impact on biological processes. The tropho-dynamic implications of the production of ammonia by Krill are discussed in terms of an hypothesis dealing with the positive feed-back of ammonia production by zooplankton to the Antarctic marine ecosystem.
High-energy nucleus-nucleus collisions. i. general theory and applications to deuteron-deuteron scattering

A theoretical analysis of the collisions of high-energy nuclei with nuclei is carried out by means of a simple extension of the Glauber approximation. Effects of multiple collisions are taken into account. The general formalism is applied to deuteron-deuteron collisions. Expressions are derived for single-, double-, triple-, and quadruple-scattering amplitude operators for deuteron-deuteron collisions in terms of nucleon-nucleon scattering amplitude operators. A new type of double-scattering effect, qualitatively quite different from the Glauber "shadow" effect which was discovered for particle-deuteron collisions, is described. For the case of nucleon-nucleon interactions described by purely absorbing (black) spheres, it corresponds qualitatively to a "double-counting" correction in the deuteron-deuteron absorption cross section. This effect corresponds to collisions in which one nucleon in the incident deuteron interacts with only one nucleon in the target, and the other nucleon in the incident deuteron interacts with only the other nucleon in the target. The formalism is applied to a calculation of the deuteron-deuteron total cross section ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{\mathrm{dd}}$. It is shown that the contribution to ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{\mathrm{dd}}$ arising from the new type of double-scattering correction is approximately 50% of that arising from the usual (i.e., shadow-type) double-scattering correction. Numerical results are compared with measurements. A simple analysis of the deuteron-deuteron elastic scattering angular distribution is presented. It is shown that for a rather large range of scattering angles away from the forward direction, double scattering is the dominant process in elastic scattering, and that in this region the new type of double scattering is quantitatively much more important than the usual double-scattering process which also appears in nucleon-deuteron collisions.
Differential regulation of angiogenesis using degradable VEGF-binding microspheres.

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) spatial and temporal activity must be tightly controlled during angiogenesis to form perfusable vasculature in a healing wound. The native extracellular matrix (ECM) regulates growth factor activity locally via sequestering, and researchers have used ECM-mimicking approaches to regulate the activity of VEGF in cell culture and in vivo. However, the impact of dynamic, affinity-mediated growth factor sequestering has not been explored in detail with biomaterials. Here, we sought to modulate VEGF activity dynamically over time using poly(ethylene glycol) microspheres containing VEGF-binding peptides (VBPs) and exhibiting varying degradation rates. The degradation rate of VBP microspheres conferred a differential ability to up- or down-regulate VEGF activity in culture with primary human endothelial cells. VBP microspheres with fast-degrading crosslinks reduced VEGF activity and signaling, while VBP microspheres with no inherent degradability sequestered and promoted VEGF activity in culture with endothelial cells. VBP microspheres with degradable crosslinks significantly reduced neovascularization in vivo, but neither non-degradable VBP microspheres nor bolus delivery of soluble VBP reduced neovascularization. The covalent incorporation of VBP to degradable microspheres was required to reduce neovascularization in a mouse model of choroidal neovascularization in vivo, which demonstrates a potential clinical application of degradable VBP microspheres to reduce pathological angiogenesis. The results herein highlight the ability to modulate the activity of a sequestered growth factor by changing the crosslinker identity within PEG hydrogel microspheres. The insights gained here may instruct the design and translation of affinity-based growth factor sequestering biomaterials for regenerative medicine applications.
The Occurrence of Sulfonamide-Resistant Pneumococci in Clinical Practice

Ever since the introduction of sulfonamides in the treatment of pneumonia, a certain number of deaths have occurred which could not be explained on the basis of inadequate treatment or of a complication such as meningitis, empyema, endocarditis, shock or coexistent disease. The question has been raised as to whether these deaths in sulfonamide treated patients may be due to sulfonamide-resistant pneumococci, either present among the original infecting bacteria or actually produced during therapy. Some support for these possibilities has been provided by experimental studies demonstrating that all strains of pneumococcus are not equally sensitive to the sulfonamides'-7 and that highly sensitive strains of pneumococcus can be readily converted into strains highly resistant to these drugs.',7-14 The obvious importance of attempting to correlate these clinical and laboratory observations led to the present study which was designed to determine: (1) Whether sulfonamide-resistant pneumococci are present in the sputum or blood before treatment of patients with pneumococcal infections and, if so, whether the presence of these organisms brings about an unsatisfactory response to therapy. (2) Whether, and under what circumstances, sulfonamide-resistant pneumococci develop during treatment of patients with pneumococcal infections.
Japanese Americans and self-care: a lesson in cross-cultural care.

Tome Tanaka, a Japanese man in his 60s, was admitted to a rehabilitation unit after a stroke left him with significant left-sided weakness. Self-care was an important part of his therapy. He had to relearn to feed himself, dress, shave, use the bathroom, and do other activities of daily living. Kathy, his nurse, took great care in explaining to Mr Tanaka and his family the importance of these tasks to his rehabilitation and how the staff would work with him to accomplish them. During his daily physical therapy and occupational therapy sessions, Mr Tanaka learned to walk with a cane and required minimal assistance with self-care activities. Despite his progress in therapy, however, whenever his wife or 1 of his children arrived, he regressed. On one occasion, after his grandchildren had left the hospital, Kathy discovered Mrs Tanaka waiting on her husband as though he were an invalid. Mr Tanaka refused to do anything for himself and continually barked commands at his wife, demanding that she brush his teeth, shave, and dress him. After 4 weeks of care in the rehabilitation unit, Mr Tanaka was discharged from care, almost as dependent as when he first came to the hospital. Kathy and the other nurses who worked him were frustrated by Mr Tanaka's dependency, especially because they saw that he was capable of taking care of himself and took his “failure” personally, as though they were not doing their jobs properly.1
Nutrition and Cystic Fibrosis Related Liver Disease

The liver is commonly affected in cystic fibrosis (CF). While most individuals with CF will have some liver involvement, significant liver disease affects 5–10 % of all CF patients. Despite this, liver disease is the third leading cause of death in CF and accounts for 2.5 % of the overall annual mortality. In this chapter, we will provide an overview of liver involvement in CF, address the disorders that occur in the liver as a result of nutritional deficiencies, and address the nutritional evaluation and management of the two liver diseases in CF that directly affect nutritional status: cholestasis and cirrhosis.
Political Sense of "Harmony" as the Political Psychological Foundation of Good Governance

Good governance is the political process to maximize public interests and the ideal political pattern in managing public affairs.A new political system,social system and even economic system must establish itself on the required psychological foundation and cultural values.Good governance is preconditioned by the political sense of "harmony",which includes basically the senses of the public,consultation,and cooperation.
Photochromic Flow Visualization in Non-Isothermal Liquid-Liquid Two-Phase Flow

The photochromic flow visualization technique was used to study non-isothermal liquid-liquid two-phase flow.
Multiethnic genome-wide association study identifies ethnic-specific associations with body mass index in Hispanics and African Americans

Genome-wide association studies of obesity have typically assumed fixed genetic effects across ethnicities, rarely attempting to thoroughly compare and contrast findings across various ethnic groups. Therefore, our study aimed to identify novel genetic associations with body mass index (BMI), a common measure of obesity, and explore their cross-ethnic generalizability in a multiethnic population. To that end, we conducted ​ethnic-specific genome-wide association analyses among 1235 Hispanic, 706 Asian, 1549 African American, and 2395 European American subjects from the Multi-ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). We compared findings ​across ethnicities and investigated single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with suggestive BMI-association p-values among 3379 Hispanic and 6871 African American subjects from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI). We identified a genome-wide significant association in MESA Hispanics—rs12253976 in KLF6 (beta = 5.792 kg/m2 per-allele, 95 % confidence interval (CI): 3.885, 7.698; p = 3.43 × 10−9)—and suggestive SNPs with p < 5 × 10−6 in MESA Hispanics, European Americans and African Americans that display ethnic-specific effects on BMI. Of these suggestive SNPs, Hispanic SNP rs12255372 and African American SNP rs6435678 had the most evidence of replication in WHI. rs12255372 (in TCF7L2) was associated with lower BMI in both MESA (beta = −1.111 kg/m2, 95 % CI: −1.578, −0.645; p = 3.33 × 10−6) and WHI Hispanics (beta = −0.304 kg/m2, 95 % CI: −0.613, 0.006; p = 0.054). This TCF7L2 intronic region contains several SNPs (rs7901695, rs4506565, rs4132670, and rs12243326) with low p-values (p < 10−3) in MESA and betas of similar magnitude and direction in MESA and WHI, but only rs12243326 is in strong linkage disequilibrium with rs12255372 in our Hispanic populations, suggesting independent signals in this region. rs6435678 (in ERBB4) was associated with greater BMI in both MESA (beta = 1.104 kg/m2, 95 % CI: 0.643, 1.564; p = 2.85 × 10−6) and WHI African Americans (beta = 0.219 kg/m2, 95 % CI: −0.021, 0.460; p = 0.074). Two BMI-association signals are present in the TCF7L2 intronic region of Hispanics, one of which is tagged by rs12255372. ERBB4 rs6435678 is a novel BMI-association signal in African Americans. Overall, our data suggest that ethnic-specific associations are involved in the genetic determination of BMI. Ethnic-specificity has potential implications for the development of gene-based therapies for obesity.
Lattice Vibrational Impurity Modes in LiH:D and LiD:H Crystals

Some time ago, Misho(1) carried out an experimental study on the effects of isotopic composition on the fundamental infrared absorption frequency (ωt,0) of Li(H,D) mixtures. His principal finding was that very small (~5%) concentrations of D- were sufficient to shift this frequency from that characteristic of LiH to a value close to that of LiD.
Horse Racing in the United States: A Call for a Harmonized Approach to Anti-Doping Regulation

The use of performance-enhancing drugs may be the biggest problem facing horse racing in the United States. A 2012 investigation reported that 3,800 horses had tested positive for drugs, the majority for illegal levels of prescription drugs. Additionally, the investigation indicated that approximately 24 horses a week die at America’s tracks. The pervasive use of injury-masking and performance-enhancing drugs in United States horse racing has created a crisis in the industry and is destroying the reputation of a once vibrant sport. Because there are 38 separate state racing commissions with different sets of rules and practices, the United States is struggling to reach some sort of harmonization or uniformity. However, recent events have triggered renewed calls for regulation of performance-enhancing drugs. This article addresses what is presently being done to combat the use of performance-enhancing drugs in the “Sport of Kings.”
Arrow's Theorem and Its Consequences

By custom and tradition, accounts of mechanism design begin with a genuflection in the direction of Kenneth Arrow and his (im)possibility theorem. The biblical Mas-Collel, Whinston, and Green (1995), for example, introduce mechanism design by reminding the reader of Arrow's theorem, introduced some chapters earlier. Weight of history aside, there is no logical reason for this. Not disposed to being bolshy, I bow to precedent and begin with an account of Arrow's theorem. Whereas the conceptual connection to mechanism design is tenuous, the mathematical connection, as the linear programming approach reveals, is remarkably close. The environment considered involves a set Γ of alternatives (at least three). Let Σ denote the set of all strict preference orderings, that is, permutations over Γ. The set of admissible preference orderings or preference domain for a society of n -agents will be a subset of Σ and denoted Ω. Let Ω n be the set of all n -tuples of preferences from Ω, called profiles . An element of Ω n will typically be denoted as P = (p 1 , p 2 , …, p n ) , where p i is interpreted as the preference ordering of agent i . The objective is to identify for each profile P a strict preference ordering that will summarize it – a “median” or “mean” preference ordering, if you will. The rule for summarizing a profile is called a social welfare function.
Accuracy studies of scattering by soil and ocean surfaces based on numerical simulations using Nystrom method

We study the accuracies of numerical simulations of scattering by random rough surfaces in 2D based on the Nystrom method. The method is shown to be accurate for a large range of permittivities as well as for large roughness and fine scale roughness. We compared Nystrom method with impedance boundary conditions (IBC) method using both parameters of soil surfaces and ocean surfaces. In some cases, we found more than 10K difference of brightness temperature between Nystrom method and IBC. For cases of roughness of large rms height, we also found more than 3dB difference between Nystrom method and IBC. Energy conservation is obeyed within 0.1% for the Nystrom method. We are performing simulations on various surface profiles and permittivities for soil and ocean surfaces using Nystrom method.
Regimes and Randomization: Authoritarianism and Field Research in Contemporary Kenya*

Objectives Little is known about how the legacy of authoritarian politics shapes research in countries that have recently transitioned to democracy. How do previous periods of authoritarian rule shape field research that takes place after a regime transition? To what extent are authoritarian tendencies present in the practice of quantitative field research in a democracy? Methods I engage in a reflexive and historical analysis of a number of episodes of field research in Kenya. I describe and categorize the two authoritarian political regimes that have governed Kenya: the colonial regime that governed the country from the early 20th century to independence in 1963 and the bureaucratic executive authoritarian regime that governed the country from 1963 until the 2002 election. I then analyze how the historical legacy of each of these regimes shapes the practice of research in contemporary Kenya, using both my own experiences and historical examples. Results My results indicate that although the liberalization of the Kenyan regime over the past 20 years has permitted the expansion of social science research in the country, authoritarian institutions and practices continue to shape field research in the country in two ways. First, the institutional legacies of Kenya's previous authoritarian regimes continue to shape field research by informally shaping the behavior of both public officials and ordinary citizens. Second, the practice of randomized field research can lead to the reinforcement of authoritarian cultural practices and social norms by emphasizing centralization, control, and compliance rather than democratic norms of deliberation, participation, and collective ownership. Conclusions Both types of authoritarian influences on field research pose both methodological and ethical problems for field researchers in Kenya and other countries that have recently experienced regime change. I summarize the methodological and normative implications of these findings and provide a set of recommendations for field researchers.
Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription (STAT)-3-Dependent Regulation of Non-Coding RNA Genes in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL).

Abstract Abstract 2886 Non-coding RNAs regulate the expression of more than 30% of protein-coding genes both at a post-transcriptional and translational level. Although approximately 1000 microRNAs (miRs) have been identified in the human genome, little is known about the mechanisms that regulate miR expression. STAT3 regulates the transcription of miR-21, and miR181b-1, binds to their promoter and induce neoplastic cell transformation (Iliopoulos, Jaeger et al. 2010). Because STAT3 is constitutively activated in CLL cells (Hazan-Halevy, Harris et al. 2010) we sought to investigate how STAT3 affects non-coding RNA gene expression in CLL cells. We transfected peripheral blood CLL cells from 3 different patients with STAT3-shRNA and assessed non-coding RNA levels using a non-coding RNA array containing 2277 human miR probes, 960 from ultra-conserved genes and 3540 of long non-coding RNAs. When compared to transfection control, 152 probes from 78 non-coding RNA genes were differentially expressed (134 down-regulated and 18 up-regulated), suggesting that STAT3 affects the non-coding RNA network in CLL cells. Supervised clustering analysis was used to select genes for validation. By using quantitative RT-PCR we validated our gene array analysis. Similar to the data obtained by the non-coding RNA array, we found that transfection of CLL cells with STAT3- down-regulated the levels of miR-21, miR-155, and miR-320b. Binding site prediction programs and ChIP-seq data embedded in the UCSC genome browser determined that in 5 of 7 genes, down-regulated by STAT3-shRNA transfection, were either putative or experimentally confirmed STAT3-binding sites, indication that STAT3 directly regulates the transcription of those miRs. It has been shown that the interaction between miRs and single stranded RNA is dependent on base pairing in a seed region at positions 2 to 8. High levels of 4.8kb single stranded STAT3 RNA transcripts, present in CLL cells, provide a substrate for such paring. Therefore, we assumed that STAT3 functions as a “RNA sponge” soaking up miRs and altering their effective levels and function. To test this hypothesis we used the pattern-based RNA22 algorithm and identified potential miR targets. We than calculated the energy that would be released if the corresponding RNA/RNA complexes are saturated. We found that the energy released from binding of miRs to STAT3 sequences would be higher than energy released from binding to a random sequence with same length and base content suggesting that STAT3 “sponges out” miRs in a sequence specific manner. Thus, CLL cells are characterized by an ongoing interaction between STAT3-mediated transcriptional regulation of non-coding RNA and miR-mediated translational regulation of coding genes. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Delivery of Pesticides to Plant Parasitic Nematodes Using Tobacco Mild Green Mosaic Virus as a Nanocarrier

Plant parasitic nematodes are a major burden to the global agricultural industry, causing a $157 billion loss each year in crop production worldwide. Effective treatment requires large doses of nematicides to be applied, putting the environment and human health at risk. Challenges are to treat nematodes that are located deep within the soil, feeding on the roots of plants. To attack the problem at its roots, we propose the use of tobacco mild green mosaic virus (TMGMV), an EPA-approved herbicide as a carrier to deliver nematicides. TMGMV self-assembles into a 300 × 18 nm soft matter nanorod with a 4 nm-wide hollow channel. This plant virus is comprised of 2130 identical coat protein subunits, each of which displays solvent-exposed carboxylate groups from Glu/Asp as well as Tyr side chains, enabling the functionalization of the carrier with cargo. We report (1) the successful formulation and characterization of TMGMV loaded with ∼1500 copies of the anthelmintic drug crystal violet (CV), (2) the bioavailabi...
Robust Robot Arm Control with Nonlinear Feedback

Abstract Nonlinear feedback with diffeomorphic state transformation is proposed for dynamic control of robot arms. This new dynamic control method externally (or exactly) linearizes the whole system and provides simultaneous output decoupling. To render the control robust, the nonlinear feedback is augmented with optimal error correcting controller which operates on the error in the task space. Several computer simulations were performed using the JPL-Stanford robot arm as an example to evaluate the performance of the new dynamic control method. The simulations show very good tracking performance and are discussed in some detail together with the characteristics of the non-linear feedback controller. A key feature of this new dynamic control method is that the control system parameters do not need readjustment from task to task. In that sense this controller is “intelligent” since it is capable of directly responding to changing task cocmands.