cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Spectral characteristics of speech at the ear: implications for amplification in children.

This study examined the long- and short-term spectral characteristics of speech simultaneously recorded at the ear and at a reference microphone position (30 cm at 0° azimuth). Twenty adults and 26 children (2–4 years of age) with normal hearing were asked to produce 9 short sentences in a quiet environment. Long-term average speech spectra (LTASS) were calculated for the concatenated sentences, and short-term spectra were calculated for selected phonemes within the sentences (/m/, /n/, /s/, /∫/, /f/, /a/, /u/, and /i/). Relative to the reference microphone position, the LTASS at the ear showed higher amplitudes for frequencies below 1 kHz and lower amplitudes for frequencies above 2 kHz for both groups. At both microphone positions, the short-term spectra of the children's phonemes revealed reduced amplitudes for /s/ and /∫/ and for vowel energy above 2 kHz relative to the adults' phonemes. The results of this study suggest that, for listeners with hearing loss (a) the talker's own voice through a hearin...
The Management of Patients on Dual Antiplatelet Therapy Undergoing Orthopedic Surgery

Cardiovascular disease is prevalent in patients undergoing orthopedic surgery. Many patients who have undergone previous percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with stenting are on dual antiplatelet therapy in order to minimize the risk of stent thrombosis. The optimal management of these patients in the perioperative setting remains unclear. We aim to provide information about the management of patients who have undergone a PCI with stents who are subsequently indicated for an orthopedic procedure. We will review the concerns from a cardiologist’s and orthopedic surgeon’s perspective in regards to the management of these patients in the perioperative setting. In addition, the current American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology, Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions, and American College of Surgeons guidelines are reviewed. The decision to discontinue dual antiplatelet therapy in a patient who has undergone a PCI with stent should be made only after careful review of the risks for thrombosis and bleeding. Best practice suggests that these risks should be jointly assessed by the orthopedic surgeon and cardiologist. Those patients with stents at high risk of thrombosis should have surgery delayed if possible. There is little data supporting a significantly increased bleeding risk associated with mortality in orthopedic patients when antiplatelet therapy is continued perioperatively.
METE: meeting end-to-end QoS in multicores through system-wide resource management

Management of shared resources in emerging multicores for achieving predictable performance has received considerable attention in recent times. In general, almost all these approaches attempt to guarantee a certain level of performance QoS (weighted IPC, harmonic speedup, etc) by managing a single shared resource or at most a couple of interacting resources. A fundamental shortcoming of these approaches is the lack of coordination between these shared resources to satisfy a system level QoS. This is undesirable because providing end-to-end QoS in future multicores is essential for supporting wide-spread adoption of these architectures in virtualized servers and cloud computing systems. An initial step towards such an end-to-end QoS support in multicores is to ensure that at least the major computational and memory resources on-chip are managed efficiently in a coordinated fashion.In this paper, we propose METE, a platform for end-to-end on-chip resource management in multicore processors. Assuming that each application specifies a performance target/SLA, the main objective of METE is to dynamically provision sufficient on-chip resources to applications for achieving the specified targets. METE employs a feedback based system, designed as a Single-Input, Multiple-Output (SIMO) controller with an Auto-Regressive-Moving-Average (ARMA) model, to capture the behaviors of different applications. We evaluate a specific implementation of METE that manages cores, shared caches and off-chip bandwidth in an integrated manner on 8 and 16 core systems using a detailed full system simulator and workloads derived from the SPECOMP and SPECJBB multithreaded benchmarks. The collected results indicate that our proposed scheme is able to provision shared resources among co-runner applications dynamically over the course of execution, to provide end-to-end QoS and satisfy specified performance targets. Furthermore, the elegance of the control theory based multi-layer resource provisioning is in assuring QoS guarantees.
Waterborne lead affects feeding neurotransmitter levels of juvenile fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas)

Fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) were exposed for a total of 4 wk to 0, 0.5 or 1.0 mg/I lead as lead acetate. After 14-day acclimation to flake food, separate groups were fed either 20 1-day, 2-day or 7-day old Daphnia magna on alternate days for 14 days and tested for total time spent feeding, failed attempts and foraging distance. Time spent feeding on daphnids and number of miscues were significantly higher among lead-exposed groups than in control fish (P<0.05). Except for a high significance among fish exposed to 1.0 mg/l lead and feeding on the largest sized prey (7-day olds), reaction distance showed no dose-response. After 4 wk, body lead ranged from not detectable in the controls to 44.2 ± 2.5 mg/l in the 1.0 mg/l lead exposed groups. Examination of whole brain neurotransmitters indicated a significant increase in both serotonin and norepinephrine levels (P < 0.01) but no change in dopamine in response to lead intoxication.
Evaluation of a standardized procedure for counting microscopic cells in body fluids

A standardized urinalysis and manual microscopic cell counting system was evaluated for its potential to reduce intra- and interoperator variability in urine and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cell counts. Replicate aliquots of pooled specimens were submitted blindly to technologists who were instructed to use either the Kova system with the disposable Glasstic slide (Hycor Biomedical, Inc., Garden Grove, CA) or the standard operating procedure of the University of California-Irvine (UCI), which uses plain glass slides for urine sediments and hemacytometers for CSF. The Hycor system provides a mechanical means of obtaining a fixed volume of fluid in which to resuspend the sediment, and fixes the volume of specimen to be microscopically examined by using capillary filling of a chamber containing in-plane counting grids. Ninety aliquots of pooled specimens of each type of body fluid were used to assess the inter- and intraoperator reproducibility of the measurements. The variability of replicate Hycor measurements made on a single specimen by the same or different observers was compared with that predicted by a Poisson distribution. The Hycor methods generally resulted in test statistics that were slightly lower than those obtained with the laboratory standard methods, indicating a trend toward decreasing the effects of various sources of variability. For 15 paired aliquots of each body fluid, tests for systematically higher or lower measurements with the Hycor methods were performed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Also examined was the average difference between the Hycor and current laboratory standard measurements, along with a 95% confidence interval (CI) for the true average difference. Without increasing labor or the requirement for attention to detail, the Hycor method provides slightly better interrater comparisons than the current method used at UCI.
Federal Bills and Resolutions

The introduction of federal legislation, mandated by Article I, Section 7 of the United States Constitution, is in the form of bills and joint resolutions. This article reviews aspects of the lawmaking process in the context of constitutional amendments; commemorative legislation; pork-barrel measures, including logrolling; and a bill about the United coinage system. Throughout, the examples given show the difficulty of passage from bill to law, made deliberately arduous by the framers of the Constitution.
A Mini-Compuiter Based Digital RF Control System for the ZGS

The systen includes a h igh-resolut ion, f ield-dependent RF frequency program generator, an optically coupled digital-to-frequency converter, and a fast-sampling frequency monitoring section. The frequency program originates as a 500 point field-indexed table of frequencies. Off-set, gain, non-linearity correct ion, and operator control are provided by software. Linear interpolation between break-points is accomplished by dedicated arithmetic logic to provide frequency updates as often as every 20? s. An optically coupled digital-to-analog, (D-A) converter controls the 4 to 14 MHz output of the RF section. The output frequency is monitored by a fast sampling, high accuracy logic system, whose output is fed back to the computer for comparison to the desired program.
A cooperative approach to user mobility

We propose a networking model that treats a user's set of personal devices as a MObile grouPEd Device, a MOPED, which appears as a single entity to the rest of the Internet. All communication for a user is directed to this point of presence. As the user moves through different environments, the devices cooperate to provide the user with access to all available communication resources. We present the basic networking functionality necessary to enable the operation of MOPEDs and their integration into the Internet. We introduce a middleware layer to extend IP routing to work with MOPEDs and a lightweight IP encapsulation protocol, Multipath Routing enCAPsulation (MRCAP), used to implement that middleware.
Placental mammalian target of rapamycin and related signaling pathways in an ovine model of intrauterine growth restriction

Objective Both phosphorylated (p) mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) and protein S6 kinase 1 (p70 S6K ) are known to regulate protein synthesis and are affected during intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). We studied the mTOR pathway during hyperthermia (HT)-induced IUGR in sheep. Study Design Beginning at 40 days gestational age, 4 ewes were exposed to HT for 55 days and 4 were exposed for 80 days to induce IUGR. Western blot analyses were performed for mTOR, p70 S6K , 4E-binding protein 1, extracellularly regulated kinase (ERK), and AKT. Results HT animals showed: smaller fetuses and placentas near term; reduced placental weight at midgestation; increased p-mTOR, p-ERK, and p-AKT; decreased p70 S6K in the near-term cotyledons; decreased p- p70 S6K ; and increased p-ERK in the caruncles (maternal) near term. Conclusion Near-term IUGR ovine cotyledons showed up-regulation of p-mTOR, whereas p70 S6K was decreased. This suggests that the changes in placental mTOR signaling proteins could be driven by the fetal stress observed near term in this model of IUGR.
Irrational Beliefs and Reading Comprehension

The hypothesis that the endorsement of Ellis' irrational beliefs is associated with less effective reading comprehension was assessed. A correlation of —.39 between scores on the Irrational Beliefs Scale and the Descriptive Tests of Language Skills: Reading Comprehension Test was found for 144 male and female college freshmen. The relationship does not appear to be mediated by anxiety, as measured by a short form of the Manifest Anxiety Scale.
Self-Raman Nd:YVO4 laser and electro-optic technology for space-based sodium lidar instrument

We are developing a laser and electro-optic technology to remotely measure Sodium (Na) by adapting existing lidar technology with space flight heritage. The developed instrumentation will serve as the core for the planning of an Heliophysics mission targeted to study the composition and dynamics of Earth’s mesosphere based on a spaceborne lidar that will measure the mesospheric Na layer. We present performance results from our diode-pumped tunable Q-switched self-Raman c-cut Nd:YVO4 laser with intra-cavity frequency doubling that produces multi-watt 589 nm wavelength output. The c-cut Nd:YVO4 laser has a fundamental wavelength that is tunable from 1063-1067 nm. A CW External Cavity diode laser is used as a injection seeder to provide single-frequency grating tunable output around 1066 nm. The injection-seeded self-Raman shifted Nd:VO4 laser is tuned across the sodium vapor D2 line at 589 nm. We will review technologies that provide strong leverage for the sodium lidar laser system with strong heritage from the Ice Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS). These include a space-qualified frequency-doubled 9W @ 532 nm wavelength Nd:YVO4 laser, a tandem interference filter temperature-stabilized fused-silica-etalon receiver and high-bandwidth photon-counting detectors.
Flame Temperature Measurement by Redistribution of Rotational Population in Laser-Excited Fluorescence: An Application to the OH Radical in a Methane-Air Flame

Expressions for the rotationally relaxed population densities, under steady state laser excitation, have been derived with particular concern to the temperature measurement in flames. Agreement has been found between the developed theory and the measured rotational distribution. The experiments were carried out with both a flash lamp dye laser (long pulses) and a nitrogen laser-pumped dye laser (short pulses). The two distributions were found identical, showing that fast collisional rate constants are involved in the relaxation of the OH radical in a methane-air flame. The thermally assisted fluorescence technique has been proved to give reliable results in combustion diagnostics.
Self-checking instructions: reducing instruction redundancy for concurrent error detection

With reducing feature size, increasing chip capacity, and increasing clock speed, microprocessors are becoming increasingly susceptible to transient (soft) errors. Redundant multi-threading (RMT) is an attractive approach for concurrent error detection. However, redundant thread execution has a significant impact on performance and energy consumption in the chip. In this paper, we propose reducing instruction redundancy (the instructions that are redundantly executed) as a means to mitigate the performance and energy impact of redundancy. In this paper, we experiment with an decoupled RMT approach where the frontend pipeline stages are protected through error codes, while the backend pipeline stages are protected through redundant execution. In this approach, we define two categories of instructions — self-checking and semi self-checking instructions. Self checking instructions are those instructions whose results are checked for any errors when their "main" copies are executed. These instructions are not redundantly executed. Semi self-checking instructions are those instructions for which a major part of their results is checked when the "main" copies are executed, and the remaining part of the instructions is checked using a small amount of additional hardware. Reducing instruction redundancy with this approach has the same fault coverage as the base architecture where all the instructions are redundantly executed. The techniques are evaluated in terms of their performance, power, and vulnerability impact on the RMT processor. Our experiments show that the techniques reduce instruction redundancy by about 58% and recover about 51% of the performance lost due to redundant execution. Our techniques also recover about 40% of the energy consumption increase in the key data-path structures.
Chemistry. Rings of destruction.

Many organisms use natural peptides to ward off microbes, but it's proved hard to make similar molecules for medical use. A ring-shaped peptide that might puncture microbial membranes could be the way forward.
Micromixing effects in continuous chemical reactors

Abstract Mathematical models for describing mixing in continuous flow systems are developed based on the concepts of age and life expectation. The models are able to represent a large variety of mixing states consistent with any residence time distribution. Using these models, the effect that mixing has on chemical conversion is investigated for several types of homogeneous reactions. Sensitivity to mixing, and beneficial conditions of mixing are reported.
Baerveldt drainage implants in eyes with a preexisting scleral buckle.

Objective To describe the surgical insertion of a Baerveldt drainage implant and postoperative visual acuity and intraocular pressure (IOP) outcomes in patients with a preexisting scleral buckle. Methods Medical records of all patients with a preexisting scleral buckle who underwent insertion of a Baerveldt drainage implant at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Miami, Fla, from January 1, 1994, through December 31, 1998, were reviewed. Outcome measures included visual acuity and IOP at 1 year. Results At 1 year postoperatively, 14 (88%) of 16 patients had stable or improved visual acuity. Preoperatively, mean IOP was 30.9 mm Hg and the mean number of antiglaucoma medications was 3.4; at 1 year postoperatively, mean IOP was 12.0 mm Hg and the mean number of antiglaucoma medications was 0.8 ( P Conclusion Baerveldt drainage device insertion behind or over a preexisting encircling band is often successful in managing refractory glaucoma in patients who have undergone previous scleral buckling procedures.
Management and outcome of early glottic carcinoma.

OBJECTIVE AND STUDY DESIGN:We designed a retrospective study to analyze treatment methods and outcomes for patients with lesions ranging from carcinoma in situ to invasive T1 glottic squamous cell carcinoma. Patients with nonsquamous cell carcinoma, verrucous variant of squamous cell carcinoma, anterior commissure involvement, and T2 lesions were excluded.SETTING:University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, a tertiary referral center.RESULTS:Fifty-four patients met the inclusion criteria. Mean follow-up was 49 months (range 24 to 96 months). Forty-eight of 54 (89%) were treated with endoscopic excision. Forty of these 48 patients (83%) were successfully treated with endoscopic excision(s) as the only treatment modality. Four patients had persistence of disease despite multiple endoscopic excisions. Two of these patients underwent hemilaryngectomy, 1 received radiation treatment, and 1 received radiation therapy followed by a hemilaryngectomy. Four patients had recurrence of disease. Two patients with recu...
Observation of steepening in electron plasma waves driven by stimulated Raman backscattering.

Harmonics of plasma waves excited by ${\mathrm{CO}}_{2}$-laser--induced stimulated Raman scattering have been observed by frequency- and wave-number-resolved ruby Thomson scattering. Measurements of their relative amplitudes agreed with predictions of nonlinear warm-plasma wave-steepening theory up to the maximum observed amplitude of the fundamental component, n${\ifmmode \tilde{}\else \~{}\fi{}}_{1}$/${n}_{0}$=16%.
Field Properties for a 4-GeV Microtron Sector Magnet

The central magnetic field uniformity and field edge shapes have been investigated for a 609 metric ton sector magnet designed for the 4 GeV Electron Microtron (GEM) at Argonne National Laboratory. The effect of a Purcell filter on the central field uniformity was studied using the 2D magnetostatic computer program, TRIM. The effects on the shape of the edge field were studied for various geometries of endguard, pole tip shim, shield plate, pole edge shape, and coil. Both 2D and 3D programs were used for these latter studies and all results showed that the proposed design would produce acceptable field qualities.
An O(n) algorithm for transistor stacking with performance constraints

We describe a new constraint-driven stacking algorithm for diffusion area minimization of CMOS circuits. It employs an Eulerian trail finding algorithm that can satisfy analog-specific performance constraints. Our technique is superior to other published approaches both ill terms of its time complexity and in the optimality of the stacks it produces. For a circuit with n transistors. The time complexity is O(n). All performance constraints are satisfied and, for a certain class of circuits, optimum stacking is guaranteed.
Inhibition of the Classical Pathway of Complement by Meningococcal Capsular Polysaccharides

Almost all invasive Neisseria meningitidis isolates express capsular polysaccharide. Ab is required for complement-dependent killing of meningococci. Although alternative pathway evasion has received considerable attention, little is known about classical pathway (CP) inhibition by meningococci, which forms the basis of this study. We engineered capsulated and unencapsulated isogenic mutant strains of groups A, B, C, W, and Y meningococci to express similar amounts of the same factor H-binding protein (fHbp; a key component of group B meningococcal vaccines) molecule. Despite similar anti-fHbp mAb binding, significantly less C4b was deposited on all five encapsulated mutants compared with their unencapsulated counterparts (p < 0.01) when purified C1 and C4 were used to deposit C4b. Reduced C4b deposition was the result of capsule-mediated inhibition of C1q engagement by Ab. C4b deposition correlated linearly with C1q engagement by anti-fHbp. Whereas B, C, W, and Y capsules limited CP-mediated killing by anti-fHbp, the unencapsulated group A mutant paradoxically was more resistant than its encapsulated counterpart. Strains varied considerably in their susceptibility to anti-fHbp and complement despite similar Ab binding, which may have implications for the activity of fHbp-based vaccines. Capsule also limited C4b deposition by anti-porin A mAbs. Capsule expression decreased binding of an anti-lipooligosaccharide IgM mAb (∼ 1.2- to 2-fold reduction in fluorescence). Akin to observations with IgG, capsule also decreased IgM-mediated C4b deposition when IgM binding to the mutant strain pairs was normalized. In conclusion, we show that capsular polysaccharide, a critical meningococcal virulence factor, inhibits the CP of complement.
Quantification of functional aalterations after in vitro traumatic brain injury

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is caused by mechanical forces, producing tissue deformation at the moment of injury. Complex cellular, neurochemical and metabolic alterations are initiated by the deformation and result in delayed cell death and dysfunction. Using an in vitro model of TBI based on organotypic brain slice cultures, we have quantitatively studied the relationship between tissue deformation and functional outcome. Specifically, we studied the effects of low levels of tissue deformation on the functional outcomes as measured by electrophysiology recordings. In response to 5% and 10% biaxial Lagrangian strain, the maximal evoked response and the excitability of neural networks were found to be decreased. Additionally, the different anatomic subregions of the hippocampus displayed different levels of impairment to the injuries. These results suggest that the network function was affected by low levels of applied strain which induced minimal cell death in previous studies.
Internal and external op-amp compensation: a control-centric tutorial

Frequency compensation of two-stage integrated-circuit operational amplifiers is normally accomplished with a capacitor around the second stage. This compensation capacitance creates the desired dominant-pole behavior in the open-loop transfer function of the op-amp. Circuit analysis of this compensation leads to a mathematical observation of "pole splitting": that as the compensation capacitance is increased, the parasitic poles of the amplifier separate in frequency. Treatment of op-amp compensation as minor-loop feedback, instead of pole splitting, greatly simplifies and generalizes the analysis and design of op-amp frequency response. Using classical-control techniques instead of direct circuit analysis, insight and intuition into the behavior and flexibility of the system are gained.
Perceptions of unresponsive others: Attributions, attraction, understandability, and memory of their utterances

Abstract Analyses of the rules governing conversation have frequently pointed to the existence of a rule dictating that responses to others' communications should be relevant. Unfortunately, there have been few systematic theoretical analyses of the consequences of violations of the response relevance rule. The present research was designed to extend our previous analyses of the consequences of responsiveness in dyadic interaction to examine in detail the effects of irrelevant response on processing and retention of response content, and attributions concerning the speaker. It was argued that irrelevant responses will be processed and retained more poorly, because the preceding utterance will provide a less adequate context for their interpretation. In addition, it was argued that unresponsiveness will generally be attributed to the lack of one or more of four factors previously suggested to facilitate responsiveness: attention to the other, understanding of the preceding communication, adequate response repertoire, or motivation to be responsive—along with situational (e.g., distraction) or dispositional (e.g., incompetence) reasons for their absence. These processes were examined in the context of a political debate, in which the relevance of candidates' answers to the questions was varied. As expected, response relevance was shown to facilitate processing (as indexed by ratings of clarity and organization) and retention (both recall and recognition memory) of response content. Further, the unresponsive speaker was perceived to have less clearly understood the questions asked, to possess less knowledge of the facts and understanding of the issues concerning the questions raised, and to be less motivated to discuss the issues raised (as opposed to facilitating his self-presentational goals). Moreover, those attributions were accompanied by attributions of dispositional incompetence. Finally, the unresponsive candidate was perceived as less attractive than the responsive candidate.
Entering New Markets in the Presence of Competition: Price Discrimination versus Cannibalization

This study focuses on firms' optimal entry strategies in new markets when products are differentiated in quality. We are interested in investigating how many products of different qualities firms should introduce into an empty market. One profitable strategy is that firms introduce multiple products to proliferate the product space such that entry by competitors is deterred. Our results show that firms' optimal strategy to enter new markets is described by introducing a single product only. Firms differentiate their products not only toward their rivals' products to soften price competition, but also toward their own goods in order to avoid cannibalizing their own (high quality) product demand.
Pathological role of serum- and glucocorticoid-regulated kinase 1 in adverse ventricular remodeling.

Background—Heart failure is a growing cause of morbidity and mortality. Cardiac phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase signaling promotes cardiomyocyte survival and function, but it is paradoxically activated in heart failure, suggesting that chronic activation of this pathway may become maladaptive. Here, we investigated the downstream phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase effector, serum- and glucocorticoid-regulated kinase-1 (SGK1), in heart failure and its complications. Methods and Results—We found that cardiac SGK1 is activated in human and murine heart failure. We investigated the role of SGK1 in the heart by using cardiac-specific expression of constitutively active or dominant-negative SGK1. Cardiac-specific activation of SGK1 in mice increased mortality, cardiac dysfunction, and ventricular arrhythmias. The proarrhythmic effects of SGK1 were linked to biochemical and functional changes in the cardiac sodium channel and could be reversed by treatment with ranolazine, a blocker of the late sodium current. Converse...
Cloning and Partial Characterization of a β-1,3-glucanase Gene from Strawberry

Plant pathogenesis-related proteins, including β-1,3-glucanses, are believed to be involved in plant defense mechanisms. We have cloned a β-1,3-glucanse gene from strawberry (Fragaria×ananassa Duch). This gene, designated FaBG2-1, is a Class II glucanase gene composed of two exons and one intron. The location of a 397-base intron in the gene was confirmed by sequencing a partial cDNA clone obtained by using a rapid amplification of cDNA ends procedure. Also, based on the cDNA sequence, the transcription start site of FaBG2-1 was assigned to a -54G residue. Genomic Southern blot analysis indicated that FaBG2-1 is a member of a multi-gene family. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction analysis revealed that this β-1,3-glucanase gene is expressed constitutively in strawberry leaves.
Antibacterial evaluation of cotton textile treated by trialkoxysilane compounds with antimicrobial moiety

Compounds based upon aldehyde functionalities or long chain quaternary ammonium functionalities constitute two major classes of antimicrobial materials. The antibacterial activities of these two classes of compounds were evaluated in the unbound (free compound) aqueous suspension and in the bound surface-treated cotton textile against E. coli. After a one hour incubation, the minimum lethal concentration of AEM 5700, a commercially available quaternary ammonium functional silane from Aegis Environments, was found to be 84 μg/g in the deionized water. The salinity of the test media significantly affected the antibacterial activity of AEM 5700 free compound. The minimum lethal concentration was increased to 8000 μg/g in the artificial seawater. Inactivation against E. coli of either free butyraldehyde or undecanylaldehyde functional triethoxysilylane in the deionized water was not observed. Cotton textile treated with various concentrations of AEM 5700 showed a two-stage antibacterial behavior when immersed...
Helminths Acquired from Finfish, Shellfish, and Other Food Sources

A variety of human helminthic infections can be acquired through the consumption of food products from infected animals and plants, through the accidental ingestion of infected invertebrates in foodstuffs or drinking water, or through inadvertent fecal contamination by humans or animals. Prevention of biohelminth infections can be accomplished by avoiding the intermediate hosts or by adequately cooking foods. In contrast, helminths with eggs or free-living stages that can survive a certain length of time in the external environment, termed geohelminths, are typically transmitted via contaminated water or foods and are best controlled by improved sanitation. Several related nematodes of the genera Anisakis, Pseudoterranova, and Contracaecum may be acquired by eating raw fish or squid in seafood dishes such as sushi, sashimi, seviche, and lomi-lomi. Infection may also be acquired from shellfish juices used in food dishes or folk remedies, from food prepared by using contaminated utensils or chopping blocks, or from drinking water contaminated with metacercariae released from dead or injured crustaceans. Raw foods, particularly fish and chicken, should be avoided in areas where infection is endemic, and drinking water should be filtered before consumption. Human infection with Dicrocoelium is explained by the accidental ingestion of ants on vegetation, and Angiostrongylus costaricensis is thought to be acquired by eating raw fruits and vegetables on which snails have left larvae in mucus deposits or by accidentally ingesting infected snails on unwashed vegetation. Preventive measures include protection of grains and foodstuffs from insects and rodent control.
Evidence on the Value of Strategic Planning in Marketing: How Much Planning Should a Marketing Planner Plan?

What evidence exists on the value of formal planning for strategic decision-making in marketing? This paper reviews the evidence. This includes two tests of face validity. First, we use the market test: Are formal procedures used for marketing planning? Next, we examine expert prescriptions: What do they say is the best way to plan? More important than face validity, however, are tests of construct or predictive validity: What empirical evidence exists on the relative value of formal and informal approaches to marketing planning? The paper concludes with suggestions on the types of research that would be most useful for measuring the value of formal marketing planning.
A Mark of Disgrace or a Badge of Honor?: Subjective Status among Former Inmates

Using the National Comorbidity Survey Replication, this study explores the effects of incarceration on the subjective status of men, based on the MacArthur Scale of Subjective Social Status (or the “ladder”). The study makes several crucial distinctions. First, it distinguishes subjective status in one's community and subjective status in the United States generally, thereby exploring differences between the local and global meanings of incarceration. Second, it distinguishes crime, arrest, and incarceration, thereby exploring the added effects of contact with the criminal justice system, apart from offending. The results reveal that contact with the criminal justice system results in progressively lower status: those who committed a crime report lower subjective status than those who did not, those who were arrested report lower status than those who only committed a crime, and those who were incarcerated report lower status than those who were only arrested. Although these differences along the crime-to-sentencing continuum are strong, the effects of crime, arrest, and incarceration are, if anything, even stronger among African Americans than whites. The results also suggest that the effects of incarceration are similar to—if not greater than—those of other stigmatizing statuses, including having spent time in a psychiatric hospital. The effects of arrest and incarceration are not driven entirely by the social or economic consequences of incarceration, although these consequences further deflate subjective status among former inmates.
Relation of family history of premature coronary heart disease and metabolic risk factors to risk of coronary arterial calcium in asymptomatic subjects

We studied 6,141 consecutive, asymptomatic, nondiabetic patients who underwent electron beam tomography and explored the interaction between metabolic risk factors (RFs) and premature family history (FH) of coronary heart disease (CHD) in predicting the presence and severity of coronary arterial calcium (CAC). In the presence of >2 metabolic RFs, patients with a positive FH of premature CHD had a significantly higher prevalence of any CAC, CAC ≥100, and CAC ≥75th age-gender percentile than those without a FH of CHD. Our study demonstrated that a familial propensity to subclinical atherosclerosis interacts with the presence of ≥2 metabolic RFs, magnifying the risks for those exposed to both.
Free Speech In Its Forgotten Years

Introduction 1. The lost tradition of libertarian radicalism 2. The IWW free speech fights 3. The courts and free speech 4. Legal scholarship 5. Free speech in progressive social thought 6. The Espionage Act 7. World War I and the creation of the modern Civil Liberties Movement 8. Holmes, Brandeis, and the judicial transformation of the First Amendment after World War I 9. Epilogue: current parallels to prewar progressive thought.
Taking a RaSP to Enterprise Stakeholder Dissonance

We present a model based approach to the resolution of conflict between the many stakeholders involved in large scale information system deployment and use. The work is based on the authors experience of more than $20B of outsourcing contracts. The approach, rapid scenario planning (RaSP) yields concrete evidence of the underlying assumptions that drive design and deployment, as well as critical insights into systems and business dynamics. Social and long term management and governance benefits are also obvious. Our implementation of the methodology is supported by specific tools, however equivalent general purpose tools can be used to support this methodology.
Die psychoanalytische Theorie der Veränderung

Die analytische Psychotherapie, wie sie in Kap. 1 umrissen wurde, leitet sich aus der psychoanalytischen Theorie der Veranderung ab. Da sich dieses Kapitel auf die Aspekte der Theorie konzentriert, bei denen der groste Konsens unter den masgeblichen Autoren besteht, lautet die Kapiteluberschrift zu Recht „Die psychoanalytische Theorie“ anstatt „Eine psychoanalytische Theorie“. Einige Veroffentlichungen, die fur Darstellung ihrer Ursprunge besonders ergiebig waren, seien hier genannt: Bibring (1954); Fenichel (1941); Freud (1911, 1912a, b, 1913a, 1914, 1915); Luborskv und Schimek (1964); Menninger u. Holzman (1973); Stone (1951).
Determining Bottom Reflectance and Water Optical Properties Using Unmanned Underwater Vehicles under Clear or Cloudy Skies

Abstract An unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) with hyperspectral optical sensors that measure downwelling irradiance and upwelling radiance was deployed over sandy bottoms, sea grass patches, and coral reefs near Lee Stocking Island, Bahamas, during the Coastal Benthic Optical Properties (CoBOP) program of 2000. These deployments occurred during both sunny and cloudy weather. If the rate of irradiance change due to cloud cover is slight, then the inclusion of a variable cloudy-irradiance factor will allow a reasonable estimation of water column absorption. Examination of data from a deployment in May 2000 under cloudy skies shows that the combination of hyperspectral light-field measurements, knowledge of the UUV's position in the water column, and a cloudy-irradiance factor permits consistent estimations of bottom reflectivity to be made from UUV measured reflectances. The spatial distribution of reflectance estimates obtained from a UUV may be useful for validation of airborne ocean color imagery.
Process control and diagnostics over wireless sensor networks

Abstract Wireless sensors are primarily being used currently to augment the data collected for the operation of a process plant. They form multi-hop networks to transport data from each sensor to a central gateway. The network can be used to provide feedback control for wireless actuators if the latency of transmission of data from the sensor to a controller and then to an actuator is less than the loop time for the controller. However, today's wireless sensor networks are not just a network of communication engines, they are a network of computation and communication engines. This chapter presents a computational framework and algorithms for using the computational power of the wireless sensor network nodes to execute the control and diagnostic algorithms over the network itself.
Interactive region and volume growing for segmenting volumes in MR and CT images.

In radiation treatment planning it is necessary to mark out selected parts of CT or MR images which are clinically relevant before designing the treatment plan. This process is usually done manually with a mouse, and for a typical data set of some 40 slices it can be a time-consuming and tedious process. We report on a system for interactive region and volume growing that assists the clinical user in outlining relevant volumes. The algorithm detects regions of interest grown from a seed selected interactively by a user. The regions consist of connected areas or volumes having similar pixel intensity values. Threshold parameters for controlling the algorithm can be set interactively, or may be determined automatically from a sample region. Region growth can be successively extended into adjacent slices so building up a three-dimensional (3D) volume. Direct 3D volume growth from a seed voxel is also possible. The algorithm has been integrated into one of the pilot systems developed as part of COVIRA, projec...
Semantic Processing of Semitic Languages

In this chapter, we cover semantic processing in Semitic languages. We will present models of semantic processing over words and their relations in sentences, namely paradigmatic and syntagmatic models. We will contrast the processing of Semitic languages against English, illustrating some of the challenges – and clues – due to the inherent unique characteristics of Semitic languages.
Trafficking in Narratives

Anti-trafficking laws have emerged from a complex historical context, driven in large part by public perception. This article explores and questions the “trafficking narratives” that have stimulated and shaped the legal response to trafficking both globally and domestically. Specifically, this article argues that the constructed roles of “victims,” “offenders,” and “rescuers” are host to racialized and gendered assumptions, which persist in the conceptualization and implementation of anti-trafficking laws. This public understanding, which may not be based in evidence but is manifest in law, may not only undermine efforts to prevent trafficking, but also compound the suffering of victims and bring marginalized communities under scrutiny as potential offenders. This article critically examines the costs associated with an increasingly aggressive “carceral” response to human trafficking, an approach focused on prosecuting and punishing offenders. It concludes that advocates should reconsider the use of victim narratives in pushing for criminal justice responses to trafficking, as the distinction between “victims” and “offenders” is not always clear, and carceral responses have unintended consequences in rendering victims — and indeed, entire communities — suspect.
Towards accurate group activity analysis in videos: robust saliency detection and effective feature modeling

Human activity analysis is an important area of computer vision research today. The goal of human activity analysis is to automatically analyze ongoing activities from an unknown video. The ability to analyze complex human activities from videos has many important applications, such as smart camera system, video surveillance, etc. However, it is still far from an off-the-shelf system. There are many challenging problems and it is still an active research area. This dissertation focuses on addressing two problems: various camera motions and effective modeling of group behaviors. We propose a unified and robust framework to detect salient motions from diverse types of videos. Given a video sequence that is recorded from either a stationary or moving camera, our algorithm is able to detect the salient motion regions. The model is inspired by two observations: 1) background motion caused by orthographic cameras lies in a low rank subspace, and 2) pixels belonging to one trajectory tend to group together. Based on these two observations, we introduce a new model using both low rank and group sparsity constraints. It is able to robustly decompose a motion trajectory matrix into foreground and background ones. Extensive experiments demonstrate very competitive performance on both synthetic data and real videos. After salient motion detection, a new method is proposed to model group behaviors in video sequences. This approach effectively models group activities based on social behavior analysis. Different from previous work that uses independent local features, our method explores the relationships between the current behavior state of a subject and its actions. An interaction energy potential function is proposed to represent the current behavior state of a subject, and velocity is used as its actions. Our method does not depend on human detection, so it is robust to detection errors. Instead, tracked salient points are able to provide a good estimation of modeling group interaction. We evaluate our algorithm in two datasets: UMN and BEHAVE. Experimental results show its promising performance against the state-of-art methods.
Anti-N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Receptor Encephalitis: A Review and Neuropsychological Case Study.

Objective: Anti-N-Methyl-d-Aspartate Receptor (NMDAR) Encephalitis is an autoimmune-mediated encephalitis, which may be associated with a tumor, which occurs when antibodies bind central NMDA receptors. Although typically diagnosed in women, approximately 20% of cases have been males. Due to the challenges with identification, imaging, and diverse symptom presentation, this syndrome is often misdiagnosed. Accurate diagnosis may provide an opportunity for introduction of disease-modifying therapies, which may alter disease trajectory. Moreover, neuropsychology has yet to fully clarify the pattern of impairments expected with this disorder. Methods: This manuscript reviews a single case study of a 42-year-old male diagnosed with NMDAR encephalitis. Neuropsychological evaluation was completed subsequent to diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation. Ongoing patient complaints, approximately six months post diagnosis, included reduced sustained attention, poor word retrieval, and daily forgetfulness. Adaptive s...
Deniable Liaisons

People sometimes need to communicate directly with one another while concealing the communication itself. Existing systems can allow users to achieve this level of privacy in the wide-area Internet, but parties who are in close proximity (e.g., a public square or coffee shop) may want a lightweight communications channel with similar properties. Today, covert exchanges in local settings typically require the exchange of physical media or involve other forms of direct communication (e.g., conversations, blind drops); most, if not all, of these exchanges are observable: in other words, even if the message exchanges are confidential, they are not covert or deniable. We construct a local communications channel that is unobservable to everyone except the parties exchanging messages. To do so, we take advantage of the ubiquitous phenomenon of packet corruption in wireless networks, which provide deniable cover for message exchange between parties within radio range. The communicating parties use a shared secret to differentiate truly corrupted frames from those that hide messages; to other parties, messages appear as corrupted wireless frames. We tackle the challenge of designing the observable corruption patterns to ensure that an observer can neither link sender and receiver of a hidden message(unlinkability), nor determine so much as the existence of any hidden message (deniability). We present the design and implementation of a prototype system that achieves these properties using off-the-shelf 802.11 hardware, evaluate its performance, and assess its resilience to various attacks.
Fetal pain legislation. Subordinating sound medical findings to moral and political agendas.

Imagine you are pregnant and have spent several weeks earnestly contemplating your reproductive options and considering the many factors affecting your individual situation—a range of economic, mor...
Effects of "Compound Rehmannia Decoction" on the expressions of KiSS-1,GPR54 and Ghrelin mRNA in hypothalamuses of female puberty rats

Objective To explore the regulative effects and the potential mechanisms of "Compound Rehmannia Decoction" on sex development.Methods Sixteen female Sprague-Dawley rats (4 weeks old) were randomly divided into 2 groups.Rats in control group were fed with normal saline and rats in herb intervention group were fed with "Compound Rehmannia Decoction" by gastric gavage.The time of vaginal opening were carefuly obseverd;the organ index of uterus and ovarys were measured.The expressions of KiSS-1,GPR54 and Ghrelin mRNA in hypothalamuses tissues were detected by Real-time quantity PCR.The concentrations of follicle stimulating hormone(FSH),luteinizing hormone(LH),Ghrelin and insulin growth factor-1(IGF-1) in serum were assayed by ELISA.Results An approximately 7 days delay in vaginal opening and a significant decrease in uterus index and ovary index were observed during or after herb treatment.The expressions of KiSS-1 and GPR54 mRNA in hypothalamuses were significantly down-regulated after herb treatment(P 0.01).The concentrations of LH and Ghrelin in serum were decreased significantly when compared with control group(P0.01).Conclusion "Compound Rehmannia Decoction" can regulate the sex development by inhibiting the expressions of KiSS-1/GPR54 genes and secretions of LH and Ghrelin.