cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Risk factors for ED use among homeless veterans.

Abstract Despite national concern about homeless veterans, there has been little examination of their use of emergency department (ED) services. This study examines factors related to the use of ED services in the Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare system, where insurance is not a barrier to ambulatory healthcare. National VA administrative data from fiscal year 2010 are used to describe the proportions of ED users among homeless and domiciled VA patients. A case-control design is then used to compare homeless ED and non-ED users on sociodemographic and clinical correlates, as well as use of ambulatory care and psychotropic medications. Sixteen percent of domiciled VA patients used EDs at least once during the year and 1% were frequent ED users (> 4 ED visits) compared to 45% of homeless VA patients, 10% who were frequent ED users. Among homeless VA patients, those who used EDs were more likely to have a range of psychiatric and medical conditions, and had more service visits and psychotropic medication prescriptions than non-ED users. Multivariate analyses suggest their risk for psychiatric and medical conditions increase their likelihood of using ED services. The high rate of ED use among homeless veterans is associated with significant morbidity, but also greater use of ambulatory care and psychotropics suggesting their ED use may reflect unmet psychosocial needs.
Coping with Climate Change: What Justice Demands of Surfers, Mormons, and the Rest of us

Henry Shue has led the charge among moral philosophers in arguing that harms stemming from anthropogenic climate change constitute violations of basic rights and are therefore prohibited by duties of justice. Because frameworks such as Shue's argue that duties of justice are at stake, one could object that the special urgency of those duties threatens to overrun the normatively protected space in which an agent makes her life her own. We argue that an alternative conception of how moral reasons combine to produce duties is required to respond to the demandingness objection, providing normatively protected space to pursue one's projects while yielding numerous strict obligations of justice.
Modeling the Atmospheric Boundary Layer Wind Response to Mesoscale Sea Surface Temperature Perturbations

AbstractThe wind speed response to mesoscale SST variability is investigated over the Agulhas Return Current region of the Southern Ocean using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model and the U.S. Navy Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS) atmospheric model. The SST-induced wind response is assessed from eight simulations with different subgrid-scale vertical mixing parameterizations, validated using Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT) winds and satellite-based sea surface temperature (SST) observations on 0.25° grids. The satellite data produce a coupling coefficient of sU = 0.42 m s−1 °C−1 for wind to mesoscale SST perturbations. The eight model configurations produce coupling coefficients varying from 0.31 to 0.56 m s−1 °C−1. Most closely matching QuikSCAT are a WRF simulation with the Grenier–Bretherton–McCaa (GBM) boundary layer mixing scheme (sU = 0.40 m s−1 °C−1), and a COAMPS simulation with a form of Mellor–Yamada parameterization (sU = 0.38 m s−1 °C−1). Model rankings...
Electromotive force measurements in liquid potassium thiocyanate

Abstract Electromotive force studies of the ions silver (I) lead (II), and nickel (II) have been carried out in molten potassium thiocyanate. The logarithms of the association constants of the species AgCN and PbCN+ were found to be 3·23 and 2·36, respectively. The logarithm of the formation constant of AgCN in a 25 mole per cent mixture of sodium thiocyanate in potassium thiocyanate was found to be 3·15. The silver, lead and nickel electrodes were compared to determine their relative potentials in molten potassium thiocyanate.
Toughening of polyester resins through blending with polyolefins

The effect of blending low concentrations (1 to 10%) of polyolefins on the crystallization and irreversible deformation behaviour of polyester (PET) resins was investigated. The olefin particles did not nucleate crystallization of PET from the melt but did depress the rate of crystallization. Decreases in the cold crystallization temperature of PET during heating from the glassy state in blends with linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) were attributed to stress induced crystallization created by large volume expansions associated with melting of the olefin particles. A sharp transition in fracture strain for PET and the PET-olefin blends was observed with strain rate, where at low strain rates fracture occurred during work hardening, and as the strain rate increased, fracture occurred during cold drawing. The transition corresponded with a decrease in draw stress, a decrease in draw ratio and an increase in density of the neck. A shift in the transition to higher strain rates for the blend compositions was attributed to increased rates of crystallization and orientation due to strain induced crystallization at the stress fields surrounding the olefin particles. As the strain rate increased and the cold drawing process became more adiabatic, the mechanical behaviour was controlled by the kinetics of crystallization and orientation.
A dose-response relationship research on botulinum toxin type A local intramuscular injections of lower extremity spasticity in children with cerebral palsy.

To observe the dose–response relationship of intramuscular injections of botulinum toxin A (BTX-A) in the spastic cerebral palsy. One hundred fifty cases (age between 2 and 12 years) were randomly divided into three groups. The patients were injected with different dose of BTX-A. The movement function was evaluated with modified Ashworth scale (MAS) and physician's rating scale (PRS) at entry and 1 month after injection. The analyses were conducted with one-way analysis of variance and χ 2 test. The evaluation of MAS and PRS revealed a significant increase of movement function. No statistically significant differences of the side effects among three groups could be demonstrated. The study suggested that the movement function was more significantly improved with relatively higher dose of BTX-A, which was safe and effective.
Prayer 101: Deciphering the Law — What Every Coach and Administrator Should Know

Sport and religion have been linked in many societies and are still a part of many traditions today. In recent years, the topic of prayer in interscholastic sport has received public attention due to many high-profile court cases. Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe (2000) was the landmark case that prohibited school officials, administrators, and employees from initiating, leading, sponsoring, or promoting prayer at interscholastic athletic events. Unfortunately, the practice still continues today and is most prevalent in the sport of football in the Southern states. Public school administrators and coaches need to be aware of the current laws regarding prayer and interscholastic sport. This article highlights key court cases and includes several steps that administrators and coaches can take so that religious controversy is minimized at interscholastic athletic events.
Thoracic kyphosis and the prevalence of advanced uterine prolapse

Objective To determine if there is an association between the degree of thoracic kyphosis and the prevalence of advanced uterine prolapse in women. Methods A retrospective case-control study compared the degree of thoracic kyphosis among white women with advanced uterine prolapse with that of matched controls. Medical records were reviewed for 412 consecutive women who underwent either abdominal or vaginal hysterectomy. The cases were those with uterine prolapse to or beyond the level of the introitus, and women with no evidence of prolapse served as controls. Spinal curvature was measured preoperatively for each patient using a lateral chest x-ray and the Ferguson method. Forty-eight cases were matched to 48 controls for age, weight, menopausal status, and hormonal status. Results were stratified to analyze the effect of parity on the relationship between uterine prolapse and thoracic kyphosis. Results The degree of thoracic kyphosis was higher in patients with uterine prolapse than in controls (mean paired difference = 4.9°, 95% confidence interval [CI] 3.1-6.7; P P Conclusion Thoracic kyphosis appears to be associated with uterine prolapse.
Attacks on Computers: Congressional Hearings and Pending Legislation

During the First Session of the 98th Congress, several days of hearings were held on the activities of computer enthusiasts including the Milwaukee 414s and others. The First Session also saw the introduction in the House of six bills dealing with various aspects and computer crime. A summary of those hearings, along with a summary of the pending computer crime bills, will be presented.
Effectiveness of human microsatellite loci for assessing paternity in a captive colony of vervets (Chlorocebus aethiops sabaeus)

Microsatellite polymorphisms are playing an increasingly vital role in primatological research, and are particularly useful for paternity exclusion in both wild and captive populations. Although vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus aethiops) are commonly studied in both settings, few previous studies have utilized microsatellite markers for assessing genetic variation in this species. In a pilot project to assess paternity in the UCLA-VA Vervet Monkey Research Colony (VMRC), we screened 55 commercially available human microsatellite markers chosen from a panel of 370 that have been shown to be polymorphic in baboons (Papio hamadryas). Using a standard PCR protocol, 43 (78%) loci produced amplifiable product. Of these, 14 were polymorphic and 11 were genotyped in 51 individuals, including 19 offspring and 14 potential sires. The average heterozygosity across the 11 loci was .719. In all 19 paternity cases all but one male was excluded as the true sire at two or more loci. This includes successfully distinguishing between two maternal half-sib brothers who were potential sires in most of the paternity cases. Given that the colony is descended from 54 wild-caught founders trapped between 1975 and 1987 from an introduced population on St. Kitts, West Indies, these values imply high microsatellite variability in natural vervet populations. Our results provide a panel of markers derived from the human genome that is suitable for assessing genetic variation and paternity in vervets. Am. J. Primatol. 56:237–243, 2002. © 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Comparing error estimation measures for polynomial and kriging approximation of noise-free functions

Error estimation measures are useful for assessing uncertainty in surrogate predictions. We use a suite of test problems to appraise several error estimation measures for polynomial response surfaces and kriging. In addition, we study the performance of cross-validation error measures that can be used with any surrogate. We use 1,000 experimental designs to obtain the variability of error estimates with respect to the experimental designs for each problem. We find that the (actual) errors for polynomial response surfaces are less sensitive to the choice of experimental designs than the kriging errors. This is attributed to the variability in the maximum likelihood estimates of the kriging parameters. We find that no single error measure outperforms other measures on all the problems. Computationally expensive integrated local error measures (standard error for polynomials and mean square error for kriging) estimate the actual root mean square error very well. The distribution-free cross-validation error characterized the actual errors reasonably well. While the estimated root mean square error for polynomial response surface is a good estimate of the actual errors, the process variance for kriging is not. We explore a few methods of simultaneously using multiple error measures and demonstrate that the geometric means of several combinations of error measures improve the assessment of the actual errors over individual error measures.
Space-time correlation measurements in a compressible turbulent boundary layer

Single and dual hot-wire probes have been used to accomplish a first look at the large-eddy structure of a supersonic turbulent boundary layer. The investigation was performed in an axisymmetric turbulent boundary layer in the Ames High Reynolds Number wind tunnel. Freestream Mach number was 2.97, the boundary layer was approximately 1.2 cm thick, and Reynolds number = 15,000. Quantities measured were streamwise turbulence intensity and higher order statistics of mass-flow fluctuations, and space-time correlations of instantaneous streamwise velocity at two locations. Conditional sampling of the hot-wire signals was performed to detect the passage and describe the character of the large turbulent eddies. Results indicate that the large scale structure in compressible turbulence is similar to that at low subsonic flow speeds except at the boundary layer edge, where the intermittency region is narrowed in compressible flow.
Fulminant hepatic failure secondary to amebic abscesses.

A patient presented with fulminant hepatic failure which rapidly led to his death. At postmortem examination, he had several amebic abscesses secondarily infected with bacteria, one of which had ruptured intraperitoneally, and another of which had occluded major hepatic veins of the right lobe of the liver. In addition, pylephlebitis and occlusion of several right portal venous radicies were noted. Microscopic examination of the right lobe revealed marked sinusoidal congestion and large areas of infarction with severe panlobular necrosis. Fuiminant hepatic failure secondary to complications of amebic abscess has been reported infrequently but should be considered in patients with this presentation who have visited or inhabited areas endemic for amebiasis.
Development of consensus guidelines for venous thromboembolism prophylaxis in patients undergoing microvascular reconstruction of the mandible.

Background The purpose of this study was to determine how guidelines for venous thromboembolism prophylaxis can be applied to patients undergoing microsurgical reconstruction of the mandible. Methods Retrospective review of our institutional use of thromboprophylaxis and the associated outcomes in 114 patients (58 free fibular flaps and 56 osteocutaneous radial forearm flaps). Results Twenty-two patients (19.3%) received only intermittent pneumatic compression. Overall, 80.7% received postoperative chemoprophylaxis. Sixty-four percent initiated chemoprophylaxis within 24 hours after surgery. Only 13.2% received the recommended frequency of chemoprophylaxis. One patient had development of a pulmonary embolism. Four patients undergoing chemoprophylaxis had development of neck hematomas; in each case the cause of bleeding could be attributed to a cause distinct from chemoprophylaxis. Conclusions No consistent chemoprophylaxis protocol was followed. Chemoprophylaxis was not associated with an increased risk of bleeding. Physician education is the next step in decreasing variations in chemoprophylaxis and adopting guidelines similar to The American College of Chest Physicians. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck, 2011
Application of Newton's method to Lagrangian mappings

Abstract An algorithm for Newton's method is presented to find periodic orbits for N degree-of-freedom Lagrangian mappings. The computation time of the method is proportional to n, the period of the orbit, and the required storage space is reduced to (n) . The construction of the algorithm is based upon block-diagonalization of the Hessian matrix of the action function. The index of the action function, which is closely related to orbital stability, is obtained during execution of the algorithm.
Some Practical Aspects of FT-IR/PBDS Part I: Vibrational Noise

FT-IR photothermal beam deflection (PBD) signals are several orders of magnitude smaller than PBD signals generated in other spectral regions and by other means, so that vibrational rather than electronic noise is important to the production of FT-IR/PBD) spectra at present. The interferometer of the PBD spectrometer produces mechanical vibrations, but the most serious disturbances arise in the environment and are of unknown origin and uncontrollable. The mechanical vibrations imposed on the optics lead to random, broad-band noise which can be decreased by multiple scanning, as well as to noise at discrete frequencies which can be nonrandom and consequently not be diminished by multiple scanning. Some types of such noise and their effects are described and discussed.
Portable music player users: Cultural differences and potential dangers

Many studies have examined the use of portable music players portable listening devices (PLDs) from various ethnic groups. Some findings suggest that there may be differences among ethnic groups that lead to louder or longer listening when using PLD devices. For example, some studies found that Hispanic PLD users listen at higher volume levels while other studies found that African American PLD users listen at higher volume levels. No investigator has explained the reasons for differences among ethnic groups in listening intensity. This paper will address the possible reasons for these differences and offer guidelines for the prevention of noise-induced hearing loss.
Communication, consensus, and knowledge

Abstract We continue the work of Aumann (Ann. Statist. 4 (1976), 1236–1239), Geanakoplos and Polemarchakis, (J. Econ. Theory 28 (1982), 192–200), Cave (Econ. Lett. 12 (1983), 147–152), and Bacharach (J. Econ. Theory 37 (1985), 167–190) on common knowledge and consesus, extending the results of Geanakoplos and Polemarchakis, Cave, and Bacharach to the case where the number n of communicants is greater than two, but communication is in pairs. When n > 2, then communication is pairs does not lead to common knowledge for the group. We show that, nevertheless, conditional probabilities will converge in any fair protocol for communication, i.e., when none of the participants is blocked from communication. We show that the Cave-Bacharach generalisation of the results of Geanakoplos and Polemarchakis and of Aumann does not hold for pairwise communication when n > 2, and hence any proof for this case must use methods different from theirs. In particular, our proof uses a convexity condition that is obeyed by conditional probabilities, but is not implied by Cave's union consistency principle.
Role of AMP-activated Protein Kinase in Cyclic AMP-dependent Lipolysis In 3T3-L1 Adipocytes

AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is a phylogenetically conserved intracellular energy sensor that has been implicated as a major regulator of glucose and lipid metabolism in mammals. However, its possible role in mediating or influencing the adrenergic control of lipolysis in adipocytes remains uncertain. In this study, we utilized the murine cultured preadipocyte line 3T3-L1 to examine this question. Treatment of adipocytes with isoproterenol or forskolin promoted the phosphorylation of AMPK at a critical activating Thr-172 residue in a dose- and time-dependent manner. This correlated well with a stimulation of the activity of AMPK, as measured in the immune complex. Analogs of cAMP mimicked the effect of isoproterenol and forskolin on AMPK phosphorylation. Treatment of adipocytes with insulin reduced both basal and forskolin-induced AMPK phosphorylation via a pathway dependent on phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase. Overexpression of a dominant-inhibitory mutant of AMPK blocked isoproterenol-induced lipolysis by approximately 50%. These data indicate that there exists a novel pathway by which cAMP can lead to the activation of AMPK, and in adipocytes, this is required for maximal activation of lipolysis.
EVALUATION OF THE FEASIBILITY OF USE OF A COMMERCIAL OFF‐THE‐SHELF (COTS) OBJECT‐ORIENTED DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR REAL‐TIME TACTICAL APPLICATIONS

This paper describes the development and evaluation of a prototype tactical database for a new military command and control system. The database was developed using a commercially available object-oriented database management system, and was integrated with seven user applications in a heterogeneous networked computer environment. Testing of the database took place as part of the Navy's New Attack Submarine (NSSN) Program Phase I Open System Critical Item Test (OSCIT) demonstration, conducted during late September 1995. The testing showed that use of a commercial database management product to support limited real-time applications in a tactical command and control system is feasible. This indicates that the Navy could realize significant savings in this technical area through the use of commercially available products.
Bayesian estimation of regularization parameters for deformable surface models

In this article we build on our past attempts to reconstruct a 3D, time-varying bolus of radiotracer from first-pass data obtained by the dynamic SPECT imager, FASTSPECT, built by the University of Arizona. The object imaged is a CardioWest total artificial heart. The bolus is entirely contained in one ventricle and its associated inlet and outlet tubes. The model for the radiotracer distribution at a given time is a closed surface parameterized by 482 vertices that are connecte d to make 960 triangles, with nonuniform intensity variations of radiotracer allowed inside the surface on a voxel-to-voxel basis. The total curvature of the surface is minimized through the use of a weighted prior in the Bayesian framework, as is the weighted norm of the gradient of the voxellated grid. MAP estimates for the vertices, interior intensity voxels and background count level are produced. The strength of the priors, or hyperparameters, are determined by maximizing the probability of the data given the hyperparameters, called the evidence. The evidence is calculated by first assuming that the posterior is approximately normal in the values of the vertices and voxels, and then by evaluating the integral of the multidimensional normal distribution. This integral (which requires evaluating the determinant of a covariance matrix) is computed by applying a recent algorithm from Bai et. al. that calculates the needed determinant efficiently. We demonstrate that the radiotracer is highly inhomogenous in early time frames, as suspected in earlier reconstruction attempts that assumed a uniform intensity of radiotracer within the closed surface, and that the optimal choice of hyperparameters is substantially different for different time frames.
Towards an Action-at-a-Distance Concept of Spacetime

John Stachel and action at a distance? Direct connection or not as there may be between these two themes, physics, with its ever-growing reach, provides one. Vivid in the memory of one of us (JAW) is the seminar in which Richard Feynman reported his work with JAW, defending the 1922 argument of Tetrode that “The sun would not radiate if it were alone in space an no other bodies could absorb its radiation... ” Einstein, Pauli, and Wigner are among those who attended the seminar, but no one expected any of them to try a similar replacement of Einstein’s field theory of gravitation by a Newtonian direct action account. Did Einstein himself, who had given us the standard field theory of gravity in place of Newtonian direct action, ever attempt the reverse: to sweep out the space-time continuum and replace it by pure direct coupling between particle and particle? That is a question of the history of science, of Einstein thoughts and Einstein records. For an answer to that question, we will look to John Stachel, immersed as he is in the Einstein Papers, and working with them day after day. Who does not rejoice in that life work of Stachel’s, witnessed not least on the fly leaf of The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein.1
Beginning Reading Instruction for Students at Risk for Reading Disabilities: What, How, and When

In this article, the authors assist teachers who are working with young students at risk for reading disabilities by helping make sense of the large—but unwieldy—scientific knowledge base. They off...
Quaternary stratigraphy and chronology of Mauna Kea, Hawaii: A 380,000-yr record of mid-Pacific volcanism and ice-cap glaciation: Summary

Known evidence of glaciation in the tropical mid-Pacific is restricted to the upper, slopes of Mauna Kea, the highest of five massive shield volcanoes comprising the island of Hawaii (Fig. 1). Mauna Kea was built largely during Pleistocene time but has experienced minor eruptive activity during Holocene time, the last occurring about 3,600 to 5,000 yr ago. Glaciers do not exist on the mountain today, for the snowline currently lies above the summit (4,206 m). However, during the last several glacial ages, the volcano supported a succession of small ice caps, as evidenced by widespread glacial landforms and numerous stratigraphic sections on the upper slopes. Eruptions occurred intermittently during late Pleistocene time, for both lava flows and tephra layers of this age are intercalated with sheets of glacial drift. Most lava flows and associated pyroclastic cones lying within the limits of former ice caps can be related stratigraphically to the glacial deposits, thereby affording a basis for relative dating of volcanic and glacial events. Furthermore, certain distinctive volcanic landforms and deposits, which in Hawaii apparently are unique to the upper slopes of Mauna Kea, provide striking evidence of subglacial eruptions. Such volcanic units offer a direct basis for obtaining radiometric ages of several episodes of ice-cap glaciation. Although a number of observations on the geology of Mauna Kea were reported following the earliest recorded ascent in 1823, the first systematic study of the volcano was made by Stearns and Macdonald (1946) as part of a broader investigation on the geology of the island. The rocks of Mauna Kea were subdivided into two major units, the Hamakua and Laupahoehoe volcanic series (Fig. 2), and their distribution was mapped at a scale of 1:125,000. Shorter contributions on various aspects of the geology, petrology, chronology, and geophysics of the volcano have appeared subsequently (Doell and Cox, 1965; Funkhouser and others, 1968; Kinoshita and others, 1963; Macdonald, 1945, 1949a, 1949b, 1968; Macdonald and Abbott, 1970; Mc-Dougall, 1969; McDougall and Swanson, 1972; Malahoff and Woollard, 1966, 1968). In addition, reports bearing on Holocene volcanism, tephrochronology, and evidence of a buried summit caldera have resulted from the present investigation (Porter, 1971, 1972a, 1972b, 1973).
A Case for Database Filesystems

Data intensive science is offering new challenges and opportunities for Information Technology and traditional relational databases in particular. Database file systems offer the potential to store Level Zero data and analyze Level 1 and Level 3 data within the same database system. Scientific data is typically composed of both unstructured files and scalar data. Oracle SecureFiles is a new database file system feature in Oracle Database 11g that is specifically engineered to deliver high performance and scalability for storing unstructured or file data inside the Oracle database. SecureFiles presents the best of both the file system and the database worlds for unstructured content. Data stored inside SecureFiles can be queried or written at performance levels comparable to that of traditional file systems while retaining the advantages of the Oracle database.
Advanced concepts in VLSI Schottky-barrier diode modeling

A VLSI Schottky-barrier diode is first studied in one and two dimensions using a numerical device analysis program in which thermionic-emission boundary conditions have been implemented for both holes and electrons. The analysis is extended to include large forward bias where the depletion region is replaced by an accumulation of surface electrons. A detailed equivalent circuit model, containing physically meaningful elements is then developed and extended to represent a realistic three-dimensional VLSI Schottky-barrier diode.
Stearoyl-CoA desaturase-1: a novel key player in the mechanisms of cell proliferation, programmed cell death and transformation to cancer

As part of a shift toward macromolecule production to support continuous cell proliferation, cancer cells coordinate the activation of lipid biosynthesis and the signaling networks that stimulate this process. A ubiquitous metabolic event in cancer is the constitutive activation of the fatty acid biosynthetic pathway, which produces saturated fatty acids (SFAs) and monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) to sustain the increasing demand of new membrane phospholipids with appropriate acyl composition. In cancer cells, the tandem activation of the fatty acid biosynthetic enzymes adenosine triphosphate citrate lyase, acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) and fatty acid synthase (FAS) leads to increased synthesis of SFA and their further conversion into MUFA by stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD) 1. The roles of adenosine triphosphate citrate lyase, ACC and FAS in the pathogenesis of cancer have been a subject of extensive investigation. However, despite early experimental and epidemiological observations reporting elevated levels of MUFA in cancer cells and tissues, the involvement of SCD1 in the mechanisms of carcinogenesis remains surprisingly understudied. Over the past few years, a more detailed picture of the functional relevance of SCD1 in cell proliferation, survival and transformation to cancer has begun to emerge. The present review addresses the mounting evidence that argues for a key role of SCD1 in the coordination of the intertwined pathways of lipid biosynthesis, energy sensing and the transduction signals that influence mitogenesis and tumorigenesis, as well as the potential value of this enzyme as a target for novel pharmacological approaches in cancer interventions.
Initial Development and Validation of the Global Citizenship Scale

The purpose of this article is to report on the initial development of a theoretically grounded and empirically validated scale to measure global citizenship. The methodology employed is multi-faceted, including two expert face validity trials, extensive exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses with multiple datasets, and a series of three small-group interviews utilizing nominal group technique to verify the scope of the global citizenship construct. The findings provide support for a three-dimensional Global Citizenship Scale that encompasses social responsibility, global competence, and global civic engagement. Global competence and global civic engagement are both strong dimensions of global citizenship, and each has three reliable subdimensions that add further refinement to the construct. Social responsibility proves to be a dimension of global citizenship with a less clearly defined structure. The Global Citizenship Scale and its conceptual framework have important implications for education ab...
Fundamentally different strategies for transcriptional regulation are revealed by analysis of binding motifs

To regulate a particular gene, a transcription factor (TF) needs to bind a specific genome location. How is this genome address specified amid the presence of ~10^6^-10^9^ decoy sites? Our analysis of 319 known TF binding motifs clearly demonstrates that prokaryotes and eukaryotes use strikingly different strategies to target TFs to specific genome locations; eukaryotic TFs exhibit widespread nonfunctional binding and require clustering of sites in regulatory regions for specificity.
Hypersomnolence and Sleep-related Complaints in Metropolitan, Urban, and Rural Georgia

Persistent daytime hypersomnolence is associated with significant morbidity and mortality, but its prevalence in the population has been poorly documented. This study sought to characterize the prevalence of persistent daytime hypersomnolence, difficulties initiating and maintaining sleep, unrefreshing sleep, snoring, and the presence of physician-diagnosed sleep disorders in metropolitan, urban, and rural US Georgia populations. Between September 2004 and July 2005, a total of 6,530 randomly selected well and unwell adults, identified by screening interviews of 10,837 households (contacted by random digit dialing), completed a detailed phone interview. Sixteen percent reported persistent problems staying awake during the day; 26% reported persistent problems falling asleep at night; 31% experienced problems sleeping through the night; 34% were bothered by unrefreshing sleep; and 33% reported that they snored. In spite of the high occurrence of reported persistent sleep problems, only 10% of the survey participants reported having been diagnosed with a sleep disorder. These study findings highlight the need for increased public and clinician awareness with respect to proactively indentifying signs and symptoms of sleep disorders, a better understanding of their adverse impact upon morbidity and mortality, and their negative impact upon socioeconomic and academic potential.
Assessment of Reinforced Concrete Bridge Piers under Low to Moderate Seismic Induced Loads

Two existing highway bridges in a low seismic area in Eastern U.S. are studied for seismic assessment. Transverse reinforcement spacing and detailing do not satisfy the 1996 AASHTO seismic design specifications. Transverse response of selected two column bents under the action of Nahanni and El Centro earthquakes scaled to 0.15g show the level of lateral force demand to be significantly below yield level. Preliminary seismic assessment based on pier analysis is presented.
Hypnosis for rehabilitation after stroke: six case studies

This report presents qualitative accounts from a pilot clinical study of six chronic stroke subjects. Our hypothesis was that a hypnotic procedure would help overcome learned nonuse, which is thought to contribute to impaired motor function of the paretic upper limb in chronic stroke patients. The hypnotic procedure involved selecting motor tasks that would challenge each subject, then (1) imagined practice of the challenging motor task revivified from prior to the stroke alternated with imagined practice in the present; (2) imagined practice in the present alternated with imagined practice during active-alert hypnosis; and (3) active-alert imagined practice alternated with actual physical performance. We observed qualitative improvements in motor function related to increased range of motion, increased grip strength, and reduced spasticity of the paretic upper limb. Subjects consistently reported an improved outlook, increased motivation, as well as greater awareness of and decreased effort to perform motor tasks with the paretic limb. Copyright © 2006 British Society of Experimental & Clinical Hypnosis. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Gradual Dose Taper Following Chronic Buprenorphine

This paper describes the time course of withdrawal and relapse in opioid-dependent volunteers (n = 8) who completed a gradual outpatient buprenorphine dose taper (28 days). Compliance with treatment was very high, as evidenced by clinic attendance (96-100%). Urinalysis showed that 6 of the 8 volunteers had relapsed to opiates by the end of the dose taper, even though reports of withdrawal were generally low. Relapse may have been triggered by a desire to re-experience the drug's positive subjective effects, craving, or low motivation to remain drug-free. A longer taper combined with an expanded range of treatments may improve prognosis.
Multi-threaded library for many-core systems

MAESTRO is a prototype runtime designed to provide simple, very light threads and synchronization between those threads on modern commodity (×86) hardware. The MAESTRO threading library is designed to be a target for a high-level language compiler or source-to-source translator, not for user-level programming. It provides parallel programming environments with a straight forward hardware model which can be mapped to available hardware dynamically. MAESTRO separates the size of the hardware system being used from the amount of parallelism available in an application. By separating the problem of locating parallelism from the problem of effectively using parallelism, both problems can be made easier. To the extent possible, the programming environment should be responsible for finding parallelism and the runtime should manage resource allocation and assignment. Parallel regions and parallel loops are implemented. Several simple benchmarks have been ported from OpenMP to use the MAESTRO threading interface. Two synchronization mechanisms have been implemented, one for general synchronization and one for producer-consumer relationships. We have started building a level of 'virtualization' between the programming environment and the actual hardware, which will allow better hardware utilization and support new parallel programming languages.
Rapamycin and ageing: when, for how long, and how much?

The drug rapamycin is the only pharmacological agent thus far shown to reproducibly extend lifespan and delay a subset of age-associated pathologies in multiple strains of mice. Unfortunately, the vast majority of aging-related studies on rapamycin in mice have been performed at a single dose of the drug delivered in encapsulated form through the diet. Recently, the National Institute on Aging Interventions Testing Program reported that a three-fold higher dose of dietary rapamycin results in a significantly greater increase in lifespan. This observation demonstrates that current studies of the effects of rapamycin on lifespan and healthspan in mice are being performed under conditions that are sub-optimal. Here I argue that the failure to properly determine the dose and timing response profile for rapamycin with respect to healthy aging represents a major barrier for the field. This barrier continues to hamper our ability to gain mechanistic insights and may threaten efforts to translate these findings into interventions that promote healthy aging in people.
Cooperation between Syk and Rac1 Leads to Synergistic JNK Activation in T Lymphocytes

The MAP kinase (MAPK) JNK but not ERK is synergistically activated during costimulation of T cells. We examined how protein tyrosine kinases (PTKs) and GTPases differentially regulate JNK and ERK in T cells. While PTKs are not selective, small GTPases display distinct MAPK-activating functions. Whereas Ras activates ERK, Rac activates JNK. Rac cooperates with a Syk-generated signal to enhance JNK activation and appears to be at a nodal point for pathways emanating from CD28, calcineurin, and protein kinase C. AP-1- and NF-AT-dependent reporters are stimulated by Rac and Syk and are dependent on JNK. Unlike Syk, the PTK Lck activates JNK but does not cooperate with Rac, resulting in weak AP-1 and NF-AT activation. Therefore, signals generated by PTKs are functionally distinct and need to be integrated to induce transcriptional responses.
Learning From Collective Human Behavior to Introduce Diversity in Lexical Choice

We analyze collective discourse, a collective human behavior in content generation, and show that it exhibits diversity, a property of general collective systems. Using extensive analysis, we propose a novel paradigm for designing summary generation systems that reflect the diversity of perspectives seen in reallife collective summarization. We analyze 50 sets of summaries written by human about the same story or artifact and investigate the diversity of perspectives across these summaries. We show how different summaries use various phrasal information units (i.e., nuggets) to express the same atomic semantic units, called factoids. Finally, we present a ranker that employs distributional similarities to build a network of words, and captures the diversity of perspectives by detecting communities in this network. Our experiments show how our system outperforms a wide range of other document ranking systems that leverage diversity.
Effects of m≠0 tip states in scanning tunneling microscopy: The explanations of corrugation reversal

We analyze the effects of m\ensuremath{\ne}0 tip states in scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). If near the Fermi level, an m\ensuremath{\ne}0 tip state dominates, images with large but inverted atomic corrugation are expected. This provides an explanation of the STM images with inverted corrugations, and the sudden reversal of the STM corrugation from inverted to noninverted. An analysis of the effects of various combinations of m\ensuremath{\ne}0 and m=0, d-type tip states is presented. We show that in most cases, a stable and large corrugation enhancement, either positive or negative, is expected, with predicted values in agreement with experimental observations.
Global benefits, local burdens? The paradox of governing biofuels production in Kansas and Iowa

Recent sociological analysis of the expansion of the biofuels industry internationally has noted the paradox between the purported global environmental benefits of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by replacing fossil fuels with biofuels, and the potential for distinctly negative environmental impacts experienced at local sites of biofuels production. The state, in both the USA and the EU, has played a prominent role in promoting the development and expansion of biofuels production through government mandates and incentives, but the state's role in governing the potentially (negative) economic, social or environmental impacts of biofuels production on local communities has been much more limited in scope. We review the environmental sociological literature to frame analysis of how the state is governing the benefits and burdens brought by the ethanol industry to rural communities in Kansas and Iowa. Drawing on data from community surveys, focus group and individual interviews and analysis of environmental violations, the paper examines the local impacts of biofuels production in three case-study communities. Findings suggest that local residents do not express many concerns about environmental impacts and that the state has played a modest role in governing the negative local environmental impacts. We argue that this lack of concern is related to the histories of these rural communities, which have long depended on resource extractive industries and currently are desperate for economic growth. We find that criticisms of negative environmental impacts are muted in relation to purported economic benefits and to other comparable industries. These community case studies illustrate some of the challenges, both at the practical and theoretical levels, of governing biofuels production.
Using virtual interactions to explore leadership and collaboration in globally distributed teams

Despite advances in collaboration software, globally distributed teams face significant challenges, including variations in communication style, work behaviors, expectations and establishing common ground. Virtual worlds allow distributed team members to inhabit a shared space and to engage in cooperative activities. We report an exploratory study where newly formed cross-national teams engage in a cooperative game in which one team member has a leadership role. We describe behaviors observed supplemented by survey and interview data in terms of leadership, conflict management, social gaffes, and awareness of diversity. We suggest that cooperative activities under time pressure in a "low stakes" virtual environment may stimulate discussion that can foster greater understanding and effective interac- tion in real world collaborations.
A Coarse-Grained Protein Model in a Water-like Solvent

Simulations employing an explicit atom description of proteins in solvent can be computationally expensive. On the other hand, coarse-grained protein models in implicit solvent miss essential features of the hydrophobic effect, especially its temperature dependence, and have limited ability to capture the kinetics of protein folding. We propose a free space two-letter protein (“H-P”) model in a simple, but qualitatively accurate description for water, the Jagla model, which coarse-grains water into an isotropically interacting sphere. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we design protein-like sequences that can undergo a collapse, exposing the “Jagla-philic” monomers to the solvent, while maintaining a “hydrophobic” core. This protein-like model manifests heat and cold denaturation in a manner that is reminiscent of proteins. While this protein-like model lacks the details that would introduce secondary structure formation, we believe that these ideas represent a first step in developing a useful, but computationally expedient, means of modeling proteins.
Rhodocyclaceae fam. nov.

Rho.do.cy.cla' ce.ae. M.L. masc. n. Rhodocyclus type genus of the family; -aceae ending to denote family; M.L. fem. pl. n. Rhodocyclaceae the Rhodocyclus family. Proteobacteria / Betaproteobacteria / Rhodocyclales / Rhodocyclaceae Keywords: Rhodocyclaceae fam. nov.; Rhodocyclus; Betaproteobacteria class. nov.; Rhodocyclales ord. nov
Dynamic Viscoelastic Measurements of Suspension for the Drying Process in Tape Casting

Dynamic viscoelastic properties of aqueous alumina suspensions containing acrylic resin were studied in the drying process in tape casting. Suspensions with pH7.5 and pH10.4 were used. The solid content of suspensions was changed by vacuum drying or adding water. In a suspension with pH7.5 the storage modulus, tanδ, and viscosity increased drastically at the solid content of 80.5wt%. Below the critical solid content, the yield stress of suspension was nearly zero, and the suspension showed Newtonian flow behavior. On the other hand, in a suspension with pH10.4, the storage modulus and viscosity increased gradually at the smaller critical solid content of 76.0wt%. Below the critical solid content, the suspension had a high yield stress and showed shear-thinning flow behavior. Green sheets from a suspension with pH10.4 showed a low packing density. It was also found that the storage modulus of suspension above the critical solid content was a linear function of the strength of the resultant green sheet.
Effect of mevalonate analogues upon cholesterol biosynthesis

Three analogues of mevalonic acid have been found to inhibit cholesterol biosynthesis in liver homogenates in the following order of efficacy: 3-methyl-3-hydroxy pentanoic acid > Δ2-3-methyl pentenoic acid > Δ3-3-methyl pentenoic acid. The hydroxy acid produces half the maximum inhibition at a concentration of 5 μmoles/ml of homogenate. This corresponds to a ratio of 100 μmoles of inhibitor to 1 μmole of substrate.
Kinetic Competition in Undercooled Liquid Alloys

Most alloy systems can develop more than one solid phase for a given composition during solidification. For metastable undercooled liquids a thermodynamic analysis can provide insight into the range of structural and compositional options that are possible. The numerous examples of metastable phase formation during solidification of undercooled melts demonstrates that the actual phase selection is dominated by kinetics. Indeed, the observation of undercooling is linked to kinetic control. Different forms of kinetic control can be identified and include suppression of heterogeneous nucleation during slow cooling and constrained growth during rapid quenching. In both cases the kinetic competition involved in phase selection is mediated by the thermal history. Nucleation controlled kinetics can be examined in fine powders of undercooled liquids where crystallization rates and metastable phase diagrams provide a basis for analysis. Similarly, constrained growth can be examined during controlled cooling where microstructures and kinetic models can be used for analysis. The existing kinetics models appear to be adequate but the processing conditions are often dynamic and in nonsteady state conditions so that critical tests are difficult unless specific kinetic transitions are available.