cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Phoamtonic designs yield sizeable 3D photonic band gaps

We show that it is possible to construct foam-based heterostructures with complete photonic band gaps. Three-dimensional foams are promising candidates for the self-organization of large photonic networks with combinations of physical characteristics that may be useful for applications. The largest band gap found is based on 3D Weaire–Phelan foam, a structure that was originally introduced as a solution to the Kelvin problem of finding the 3D tessellation composed of equal-volume cells that has the least surface area. The photonic band gap has a maximal size of 16.9% (at a volume fraction of 21.6% for a dielectric contrast e = 13 ) and a high degree of isotropy, properties that are advantageous in designing photonic waveguides and circuits. We also present results for 2 other foam-based heterostructures based on Kelvin and C15 foams that have somewhat smaller but still significant band gaps.
Pottery Archaeology in the Michoacan Sierra: by Michael J. Shott, Salt Lake City, Utah, University of Utah Press, 2018, 196 pp., US $45 (paperback), ISBN 978-1-6078-1622-5 (paperback), ISBN 978-1-6078-1623-2 (digital)

Early in the first chapter of Pottery Archaeology in the Michoacan Sierra, Michael Shott notes that “[f]or the most part, archaeology continues to duck, or at least underemphasize, the essential qu...
MOD$$AT: A hydro-economic modeling framework for aquifer management in irrigated agricultural regions

Abstract In this paper, we introduce a hydro-economic modeling framework for the management of groundwater resources that are used for irrigated agricultural production. The model, MOD$$AT, can be used to study the costs of aquifer depletion and the net benefits of specific aquifer management policies. MOD$$AT is composed of three components, namely, an economic component, a hydrologic component and an agronomic component. A main goal of this paper is to introduce the hydro-economic model and describe how it can be transferable to different contexts. With this objective in mind, we describe model components step-by-step so that the process of integration can be replicated easily. We then apply the model to study the efficacy of a pumping tax in Finney County, Kansas, USA, which overlies the High Plains Aquifer. The results show that a pumping tax results in an increase in average well capacities in the county over time relative to the status quo, which increases the average profitability of agricultural production. However, the increase in profitability is not uniform across producers and some producers gain more than others under the tax.
Economics of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Biomarkers

Research Objectives To investigate the annual utilization, unit and per veteran Veterans Health Administration (VHA) costs of CT and MRI in U.S. veterans with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), by TBI severity. To also examine the marginal impact of CT and MRI use on total, inpatient, outpatient and pharmacy (VHA) cost of veterans diagnosed with TBI. Design All VHA using veterans diagnosed with TBI between 2000-2010 and followed until 2014. Setting VHA Medical Centers and Community Based Outpatient Clinics. Participants 79,276 veterans identified with a TBI diagnosis. Interventions Logit models were used to predict the utilization of any CT or MRI, Poisson models for number of CT and MRI and generalized linear as well as seemingly unrelated regression models for annual VA inpatient, outpatient and pharmacy costs in 2018 dollars. All models were adjusted for TBI severity as well as comorbidities. Main Outcome Measures VHA CT and MRI utilization and VHA inpatient, outpatient and pharmacy costs. Results 84.78% of all veterans with TBI had CT and 61.29% had MRI. The mean ($468), median ($422) cost per unit for CT was lower than MRI mean ($732), median ($639). The odds (1.43; 95% CI 1.37:1.49) of CT increased with higher TBI severity and declined for MRI (0.68; 95% CI 0.66:0.71). The marginal effect of CT use was $1,775 (95% CI $1,514:$2,035) on annual total, $1,646 (95% CI $1,529:$1,763) on outpatient, and $373 (95% CI $315:$431) on pharmacy cost per veteran. The marginal effect of any MRI use was $851 (95% CI $582:$1,120) on total, -$1,522 (95% CI -$1,742:-$1,302) on inpatient cost, $1,983 (95% CI $1,899:$2,067) on outpatient, and $389 (95% CI $348:$431) on pharmacy cost. Conclusions MRI use was associated with a significant reduction in annual inpatient costs per veteran, even though its cost per unit was higher than CT. Author(s) Disclosures This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command and from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Long-Term Impact of Military-Relevant Brain Injury Consortium (LIMBIC) Award No. l01 HX003155.
School Nurses on the Front Lines of Healthcare: Children With Medical Devices—Central Venous Access Device Malfunctions and Infections:

An important subgroup of children with special healthcare needs are children with medical complexities that require long-term intensive healthcare interventions and treatments. As medical technolog...
Pair Programming in Perspective: Effects on Persistence, Achievement, and Equity in Computer Science

Pair programming is a form of collaborative learning in computer science that involves two students working together on a coding project. Previous research has identified mostly positive outcomes f...
Lower Socioeconomic Status is Associated With Adverse Urinary Markers and Surgical Complexity in Kidney Stone Patients.

Objective To determine if socioeconomic status (SES) correlates with severity of kidney stone disease and 24-hour urine parameters. Materials and Methods An IRB approved prospectively maintained database for nephrolithiasis was retrospectively analyzed for both 24-hour urine results and surgical procedures performed from 2009 to 2019. Severely distressed communities (SDC) were categorized as those with a Distressed Communities Index (DCI), a composite measure of SES, score in the top quartile (lowest for SES). Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to evaluate the strength of the association of DCI on: stone size at presentation, need for and type of surgical procedure, need for staged surgery and specific stone risk factors in 24-hour urine collections. Results Surgical procedures were performed on 3939 patients (1978 women) who were not from SDC and 200 (97 women) from SDC. Patients from SDC were older (57.1 years vs 54.2 years; P = .009). Patients from SDC were more likely to undergo proportionally more invasive procedures (17.5% vs 11.6%; P = .011) and require staged surgery at a higher rate (13.0% vs 8.5%; P = .028). Men from SDC had larger stones (12.5 mm vs 9.7 mm; P = .001). Among 24-hour urine results from 2454 patients (1187 women), DCI was not correlated with sodium, calcium, magnesium, volume, oxalate, phosphate, and pH levels. Higher DCI (lower SES) correlated with lower urine citrate (P = .001) and lower urine potassium (P = .002). Conclusion SES correlates with larger stone burden at the time of urologic intervention, requires proportionally more invasive procedures and more staged procedures. Lower SES correlated with lower urine citrate and potassium.
Delayed Intracranial Hemorrhage after Blunt Head Trauma while on Direct Oral Anticoagulant: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Introduction Delayed intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) after negative initial head cat scan (CT) is a recognized complication after blunt trauma. Due to theoretical increased risk in patients on direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) and inability to monitor degree of anticoagulation, there is a lack of consensus regarding need for observation or repeat imaging. We hypothesized that patients on DOACs would have low risk of delayed ICH after blunt head trauma. Methods In June 2020, an electronic literature search of MEDLINE (Ovid), Embase (Elsevier), and Cochrane Library was performed by a medical librarian. Included studies reported outcomes on adult trauma patients taking anticoagulants that were observed after initial normal head CT. A meta-analysis was performed using random effects model. Results Our electronic search returned 5719 papers with 12 meeting final inclusion/exclusion criteria. Overall, 5289 patients were studied including 1263 (23.9%) on DOAC and 1788 (33.8%) on warfarin. Sixty-nine patients suffered delayed ICH, 25 on DOAC and 44 on warfarin. The pooled weighted percentage for delayed ICH on DOAC was 2.43% (95% CI, 1.31 – 3.88%) compared to 2.31% (95% CI, 1.26 – 3.66%) on warfarin. The overall crude risk of death from delayed ICH while on DOAC or Warfarin was 0.36% (11/3051). Conclusions The risk of delayed ICH following low energy blunt head trauma for patients on DOACs is low, and risk of clinically significant bleeding is even lower. The practice of routinely observing or systematically reimaging patients on DOACs after low energy blunt head trauma with initially negative head CT may not be warranted.
Mestiza Methodology: Research as a Site of Healing

The author’s reflexive account of what led to the construction of research grounded in Chicana Feminist Epistemology (CFE) and a new CFE approach coined Mestiza Methodology is presented. At the cor...
Public Discussion of Anthrax on Twitter: Using Machine Learning to Identify Relevant Topics and Events.

Background: Social media allows researchers to study opinions and reactions to events in real time. One area needing more study is anthrax-related events. A computational framework that utilizes machine learning techniques was created to collect tweets discussing anthrax, further categorize them as relevant by the month of data collection, and detect discussions on anthrax-related events. Objective: The objective of this study was to detect discussions on anthrax-related events and to determine the relevance of the tweets and topics of discussion over 12 months of data collection. Methods: This is an infoveillance study, using tweets in English containing the keyword “Anthrax” and “Bacillus anthracis”, collected from September 25, 2017, through August 15, 2018. Machine learning techniques were used to determine what people were tweeting about anthrax. Data over time was plotted to determine whether an event was detected (a 3-fold spike in tweets). A machine learning classifier was created to categorize tweets by relevance to anthrax. Relevant tweets by month were examined using a topic modeling approach to determine the topics of discussion over time and how these events influence that discussion. Results: Over the 12 months of data collection, a total of 204,008 tweets were collected. Logistic regression analysis revealed the best performance for relevance (precision=0.81; recall=0.81; F1-score=0.80). In total, 26 topics were associated with anthrax-related events, tweets that were highly retweeted, natural outbreaks, and news stories. Conclusions: This study shows that tweets related to anthrax can be collected and analyzed over time to determine what people are discussing and to detect key anthrax-related events. Future studies are required to focus only on opinion tweets, use the methodology to study other terrorism events, or to monitor for terrorism threats.
Comparison of Dairy Cow Behavior in Sand and Mattress Freestall Barns in Relation to Lameness

The objective of the study was to identify behavioral differences between cows housed in freestalls bedded with deep sand and cows housed in freestalls with rubber crumb mattresses, which may explain differences in lameness prevalence observed between the two types of farm.
Therapeutic Interventions with Families of Breast Cancer Survivors

A breast cancer diagnosis presents daunting challenges and disruptions to everyday life for family members and caregivers of breast cancer survivors (BCS). Particularly critical to families are the...
Multidimensional Trait Emotional Intelligence and Aggressive Tendencies in Male Offenders of Domestic Violence

This study was undertaken to identify the role of six facets of trait-emotional intelligence (EI) in men’s aggressive tendencies toward intimate partners (N = 131). Consistent with past research, hierarchical regression showed emotional self-regulation and empathy were negatively and uniquely predictive of four self-reported aggressive tendencies: physical aggression, verbal aggression, anger, and hostility. Canonical correlations yielded two distinct patterns of relationships between EI and aggressive tendencies. The first canonical correlation supported an overall negative relationship, especially involving dependent variables anger and hostility. A second canonical correlation revealed higher physical and verbal aggression were associated with higher emotional self-recognition, regulation of others’ emotions, nonverbal emotional expression, and lower empathy. Findings support a multidimensional understanding of EI and aggressive tendencies.
Plugged in: The effects of electronic media use on attention problems, cognitive control, visual attention, and aggression

The increasing use of electronic media increases the importance of the potential effects of those media (both positive and negative). A recent and growing body of research has focused on the potential for certain forms of electronic media, particularly television and video games, to increase attention problems and impulsiveness while decreasing self-control, executive function, proactive cognitive control, and also improving visual attention. These findings are also relevant to aggression as some of these outcomes have been associated with aggression in previous research and theory. In addition to replicating past findings relating some forms of electronic media use to greater attention problems and aggression, less proactive cognitive control, and superior visual attention, the present study produced several new findings. Watching videos on a computer, sending and receiving text messages by phone, and media multitasking are all associated with greater attention problems. Text messaging and media multitasking are also associated with lower reactive cognitive control. Both listening to music and playing music and party video games are associated with superior visual-spatial attention. Additionally, experimentally assigning participants to play an action video game for 10 sessions not only improved visual attention but also impaired proactive cognitive control, meaning positive and negative media effects can occur simultaneously.
Enzymic Capacities and Their Relation to Cell Nutrition in Animals

Publisher Summary In studies of animal nutrition, the nutritional conditions of a community of heterogeneous organisms are invariably studied. Nutritional requirements of a laboratory rat, for example, are determined largely for the rat plus its associated microflora and microfauna. Evaluation of enzyme systems, capable of synthesizing biologically important compounds, is often impossible when working with the whole animal. Techniques involving the use of sulfonamids and antibiotics to reduce the population of intestinal bacteria are frequently successful in demonstrating enzyme lacks, which otherwise are obscured. There are two sets of results, which can be expected when dealing with a higher animal, together with the intestinal bacteria, yeasts, and molds. First, a requirement for an organic compound may not manifest itself on an account of the ability of highly synthetic organisms, within the gut, to produce sufficient amounts of the compound for supplying the needs of the host tissues. The second possibility to be considered is that gut microorganisms may rob the host of important nutritional materials, thereby cutting down on the efficiency of the host tissues.
Disruption of receptor-G protein coupling in yeast promotes the function of an SST2-dependent adaptation pathway

In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a G protein-linked signal transduction pathway mediates response to the oligopeptide mating pheromones a-factor and alpha-factor. Because cellular responses, including G1 arrest, occur transiently, cells can adapt or desensitize and resume growth. To address whether the balance between response and adaptation is influenced by the efficiency of receptor-G protein interaction, we introduced random point mutations in sequences that encode the third cytoplasmic loop of the alpha-factor receptor (STE2 gene product). Three mutations were identified that confer alpha-factor-resistant phenotypes, yet preserve normal cell-surface expression, ligand-binding affinity, and endocytosis of the receptor. However, these mutations confer partial signaling defects, as determined by cell cycle arrest and transcriptional induction assays, as well as in vitro assays of receptor-G protein interaction. Physiological tests suggested that receptors bearing third loop substitutions promote recovery from pheromone-induced growth arrest. Genetic evidence indicated that the third loop and the C-terminal domain of the receptor control independent recovery or adaptation processes. In contrast, receptor third loop substitutions caused rapid adaptation only if cells express a functional SST2 gene. Thus, disruption of pheromone receptor-G protein interaction concomitantly blunts signaling and specifically promotes the function of an SST2-dependent adaptation pathway. Possible functions for the Sst2 protein are discussed.
Reliable Process Control by 4-Parameter Controllers

The 4-parameter controller can provide information about sensor and actuator performance, while tracking set-point changes and rejecting disturbances. A design method is presented for robust H 2 -optimal 4-parameter controller and controller reconfiguration strategies in presence of sensor and actuator faults are proposed. The 4-parameter controller is implemented on a heat exchanger system to conduct control simulations and experiments.
Cannabinoids and psychosis

Recent epidemiological studies and advances in understanding of brain cannabinoid function have renewed interest in the long-recognized association between cannabinoids and psychosis. This chapter presents evidence supporting and refuting the association between cannabinoids and psychosis. Cannabinoids can induce acute transient psychotic symptoms or an acute psychosis in some individuals. What makes some individuals vulnerable to cannabinoid-related psychosis is unclear. Also clear is that cannabinoids can also exacerbate psychosis in individuals with an established psychotic disorder, and these exacerbations may last beyond the period of intoxication. Less clear is whether cannabis causes a persistent de novo psychosis. The available evidence meets many but not all the criteria for causality, including dose-response, temporality, direction, specificity, and biological plausibility. On the other hand, the large majority of individuals exposed to cannabinoids do not experience psychosis or develop schizophrenia and the rates of schizophrenia have not increased commensurate with the increase in rates of cannabis use. Similar to smoking and lung cancer, it is more likely that cannabis exposure is a component cause that interacts with other factors, for example, genetic risk, to "cause" schizophrenia. Nevertheless, in the absence of known causes of schizophrenia, the role of component causes such as cannabis exposure (exogenous hypothesis) is important and warrants further study. There is also tantalizing evidence from postmortem, neurochemical, and genetic studies suggesting CB1 receptor dysfunction (endogenous hypothesis) in schizophrenia that warrants further investigation. Further work is necessary to identify those factors that place individuals at higher risk for cannabinoid-related psychosis, to identify the biological mechanisms underlying the risks and to further study whether CB1 receptor dysfunction contributes to the pathophysiology of psychotic disorders.
Optimization of a rapid nonisotopic DNA probe assay for Plasmodium falciparum in the Gambia.

An enzyme-linked synthetic DNA probe which hybridizes to repetitive DNA of Plasmodium falciparum was used in conjunction with a microtiter-based lysis and filtration blood processing procedure. An assay protocol was developed that is more sensitive and robust than previous protocols, which use stored blood and phenol extraction. In comparison with thick smear examination, 33% positive, 60% negative, and 7% conflicting scores were recorded from 390 analyzed clinical samples, and the sensitivity threshold was about 30 parasites per mm3 of blood. Images
Is “ Rb 3 C 60 ” Really Rb 3 C 60 ? The NMR T , T ′ Problem

A priori theoretical considerations lead one to expect that ${\mathrm{Rb}}_{3}{\mathrm{C}}_{60}$ is a Mott-Hubbard insulator. This has led to the proposal that the superconductor `` ${\mathrm{Rb}}_{3}{\mathrm{C}}_{60}$'' is, in fact, ${\mathrm{Rb}}_{3\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\varepsilon}}{\mathrm{C}}_{60}$ $(\ensuremath{\varepsilon}\ensuremath{\sim}0.06)$, and, furthermore, that the vacancies are associated with an unexpected, robust splitting in ${}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}$ NMR. We demonstrate that vacancies, if present, are unrelated to observed NMR splittings.
Comparative Digestion of Food Among Wildlife in Texas: Implications for Competition

Abstract Success in competition for a limited food resource can be determined in part by how efficiently a species digests food. We conducted in vivo trials to compare digestive performance by a guild of mast-consuming species in southern Texas: wild boar (Sus scrofa), white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), collared peccary (Pecari tajacu), wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo), raccoon (Procyon lotor), and southern plains woodrat (Neotoma micropus). Four individuals of each species were fed commercial pellets and chromium-marked fiber to determine rates of passage. Dry matter and intake of digestible energy, and digestibility of detergent fiber, crude protein, and gross energy (metabolizability for turkeys) were determined for each species. Mean retention and time of passage of 95% of marked fiber were calculated. Digestibility and time of retention by wild boars was similar to foregut-fermenting species and equal to or greater than smaller hindgut fermenters. White-tailed deer and collared peccaries sh...
Propagation of spatially periodic waves in the optical parametric oscillator

We consider the mean field model of the optical parametric oscillator (OPO) when the second harmonic of the OPO is driven externally by a spatially periodic pump field. Exact solutions for the first and second harmonics can be derived using Jacobi elliptic functions. These solutions can describe behavior that is both sinusoidally varying as well as front and pulse-like in the transverse direction. Numerical simulations show that for a wide range of parameter space these solutions are stabilized transverse field structures. Bifurcations can also occur which result in new nontrivial, but periodic, spatial structures.
Stochastic approximation register ADC

In this paper a stochastic approximation register ADC is proposed. The ADC is capable of achieving an ENOB of up to 10 bits. The ADC is composed of a variable noise engine, a bank of comparators with Gaussian offset noise, and a DAC. The ADC is simulated to achieve over 10 ENOB across various non-idealities using a comparator bank containing 1200 digital-cell based comparators with an input referred offset standard deviation of 12 mV.
Toward a Theory of Organizational Resilience: The Assessment- Acceptance-Amendment Model

Interest in organizational resilience has soared in recent years in the wake of growing turbulence in the global business environment. Incidence of natural disasters, terrorism and other criminal a...
Isolation of Salmonella typhimurium from the Feces of Turkeys

Abstract INFECTIONS in turkeys caused by Salmonella typhimurium have been frequently reported in other studies. They indicate that the disease is disseminated to poults through infected hatching eggs and by turkeys ingesting the organism during the growing period and at maturity. Pomeroy and Fenstermacher (1941) reported that S. typhimurium passed through the unbroken shell of turkey eggs and infected the embryos. Schalm (1937) showed that S. typhimurium infected chicken egg content by passing through the unbroken shell.2 Gauger and Greaves (1946) isolated S. typhimurium from the shell of 35 out of 169 turkey eggs laid by carriers of the disease which were in an infected environment and from the contents of 6 out of 132 eggs laid by the same birds. Hinshaw (1943) states that according to his experience the incidence of S. typhimurium in eggs laid by carriers was not high and he further states that “in addition to ovarian . . .
Ligand-induced reorganization and assembly in synthetic lipid membranes

Abstract Membrane targetting of soluble ligands accompanied by assembly of membrane components into functional superstructures underlies biological signal transduction and a variety of other processes ranging from blood coagulation to biomineralization. Protein or lipid components provide the interactions required for targetting and specific orientation of bound molecules; the membrane's fluidity allows reorganization and sampling of intermolecular contacts required for assembly into superstructures. We are developing synthetic membrane-based recognition systems capable of reproducing important features of biological targetting and assembly. Systems such as these may open up new routes to controlling molecular architecture in materials and devices. Specially designed metal-chelating receptor/reporter lipids have been used to study lipid reorganization induced by binding of metal-complexing ligands. Proteins and peptides are targetted to the Cu 2+ - and Ni 2+ -complexing lipids via coordination interactions with surface histidines. Binding and assembly of multivalent ligands are accompanied by reorganization of the lipid receptors, as measured by fluorescence spectroscopy and fluorescence microscopy. Coordination interactions between protein and chelating lipid components can be used for direct assembly into superstructures such as patterned lipid monolayers and two-dimensional protein crystals.
Psychology and “The Babe”

Psychologists and baseball players were among those Americans who formed professional associations in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Psychologists used laboratory tasks to quantify mental and behavioral processes while sportswriters and baseball organizers measured individual and team performance. The most popular baseball player of the 1920s, George Herman “Babe” Ruth, possessed superior batting skills that were evident in the statistical indices of baseball performance. In 1921, he was brought to the psychological laboratory at Columbia University to perform standard laboratory tasks in an effort to discover the basis for his success in hitting home runs and to suggest the potential of tests for identifying future baseball stars. Baseball's addiction to quantitative indices of performance was thus brought together with a new science devoted to quantitative assessment and a desire to make such assessments useful. The attempt to analyze the basis of Ruth's batting skills is part of the history of applied psychology, sport psychology, and popular interest in the science of psychology. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
How conception risk affects competition and cooperation with attractive women and men

Abstract We investigated competition and cooperation for resources across the menstrual cycle in the context of bargaining games. Although bargaining has been studied within an evolutionary framework, little attention has been paid specifically to the role of mating motives in economic behavior. To investigate how motives related to reproductive success affect bargaining, participants at high or low risk for conception or who were on oral contraceptives played ultimatum and dictator games with partners who varied in sex and facial attractiveness. In ultimatum games, women in the fertile phase were more competitive over resources with attractive women than with less attractive women. Intrasexual competition was not observed in dictator games. Women were more cooperative with attractive men than with less attractive men in both games, regardless of fertility status. Low fertility women were more cooperative with attractive members than with less attractive members of both sexes in both games. Results support the view that, during periods of high fertility, when women are most intrasexually competitive for mates, withholding resources from potential rivals would enable women to gain the means to enhance their attractiveness and weaken competitors' abilities to do the same at a time when relative advantages in appearance are most crucial to reproductive success. The lack of a fertility effect for cooperation with potential mates supports the view that displays of generosity accrue benefits for women across the cycle in their efforts to attract men who will invest in relationships.
Man, Information, and Society: New Patterns of Interaction

Characteristic of today's socially, economically, and technologically complex society is an ever-growing information output coupled with a constantly increasing reliance on information. Information is considered a resource and there is recognition of the political and economic value of information. Superimposed on the new information environment is a sophisticated information technology raising a variety of issues relating to such things as the freedom and privacy of the individual, its effect on those who interact with it, and the new social stratification system it seems to imply.
Adaptive spacetime method using Riemann jump conditions for coupled atomistic–continuum dynamics

Abstract We combine the Spacetime Discontinuous Galerkin (SDG) method for elastodynamics with the mathematically consistent Atomistic Discontinuous Galerkin (ADG) method in a new scheme that concurrently couples continuum and atomistic models of dynamic response in solids. The formulation couples non-overlapping continuum and atomistic models across sharp interfaces by weakly enforcing jump conditions, for both momentum balance and kinematic compatibility, using Riemann values to preserve the characteristic structure of the underlying hyperbolic system. Momentum balances to within machine-precision accuracy over every element, on each atom, and over the coupled system, with small, controllable energy dissipation in the continuum region that ensures numerical stability. When implemented on suitable unstructured spacetime grids, the continuum SDG model offers linear computational complexity in the number of elements and powerful adaptive analysis capabilities that readily bridge between atomic and continuum scales in both space and time. A special trace operator for the atomic velocities and an associated atomistic traction field enter the jump conditions at the coupling interface. The trace operator depends on parameters that specify, at the scale of the atomic spacing, the position of the coupling interface relative to the atoms. In a key finding, we demonstrate that optimizing these parameters suppresses spurious reflections at the coupling interface without the use of non-physical damping or special boundary conditions. We formulate the implicit SDG–ADG coupling scheme in up to three spatial dimensions, and describe an efficient iterative solution scheme that outperforms common explicit schemes, such as the Velocity Verlet integrator. Numerical examples, in 1 d × time and employing both linear and nonlinear potentials, demonstrate the performance of the SDG–ADG method and show how adaptive spacetime meshing reconciles disparate time steps and resolves atomic-scale signals in the continuum.
Biomaterial Design Strategies for the Treatment of Spinal Cord Injuries

The highly debilitating nature of spinal cord injuries has provided much inspiration for the design of novel biomaterials that can stimulate cellular regeneration and functional recovery. Many experts agree that the greatest hope for treatment of spinal cord injuries will involve a combinatorial approach that integrates biomaterial scaffolds, cell transplantation, and molecule delivery. This manuscript presents a comprehensive review of biomaterial-scaffold design strategies currently being applied to the development of nerve guidance channels and hydrogels that more effectively stimulate spinal cord tissue regeneration. To enhance the regenerative capacity of these two scaffold types, researchers are focusing on optimizing the mechanical properties, cell-adhesivity, biodegradability, electrical activity, and topography of synthetic and natural materials, and are developing mechanisms to use these scaffolds to deliver cells and biomolecules. Developing scaffolds that address several of these key design parameters will lead to more successful therapies for the regeneration of spinal cord tissue.
Models relating ultraviolet light and non-melanoma skin cancer incidence.

— The literature relating ultraviolet (UV) light to skin cancer (SC) has developed very rapidly recently. In this work we review and intercompare the various approaches of dose-response relationships for nonmelanoma skin cancer. After defining a number of options for specifying dose, we describe several statistical epidemiological analyses. Then we discuss a number of models obtained by the inductive method. Finally, we illustrate the application of the mathematical machinery of Reliability Theory to this problem. We note that methodologies which have been used for the UV-SC problem might also find application to broader environmental dose-response problems.
A rainforest survey of amphibians, reptiles and small mammals at Montagne d'Ambre, Madagascar

The Montagne d'Ambre mountain range in northern Madagascar was surveyed for amphibians, reptiles, and small mammals. The rainforest of this region is geographically isolated from the continuous rainforest belt of northern and eastern Madagascar. A total of 24 amphibian, 46 reptile, and 12 mammal species was recorded over two months, by direct sampling and pitfall trapping. Despite previous collecting in this region for more than 100 years, 56% of the species found were new records for Montagne d'Ambre. Possibly seven (three amphibians, three reptiles, one small mammal.) of the species recorded are undescribed, and nine are probably endemic to Montagne d'Ambre. The endemic species are Plethodontohyla sp. nov. 2 and 3, Brookesia sp. nov. 1 and 2, Paracontias brocchii, Zonosaurus haroldmeieri, Liopholidophis sp. nov., Pseudoxyrhopus ambreensis, and Microgale parvula. Published amphibian and reptile species lists for Montagne d'Ambre contained 26-40% errors, which is probably typical for most sites in Madagascar, and cautions against using such sources of data indiscriminately. The vast majority of species (83%) were found only in primary forest, and the majority (70%) had restricted altitudinal ranges, either occurring above or below 900 m elevation. The presence of low-altitude specialists at Montagne d'Ambre clearly demonstrates the need to conserve the lower altitude peripheral forests which are most vulnerable to encroachment and degradation.
Coordinate synthesis of two myosins in wild-type and mutant nematode muscle during larval development

Abstract In this paper we examine the role of two myosins in body-wall muscle cells of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Large populations of nematodes are synchronized, and the synthesis and accumulation of myosin heavy chains and total protein are followed through postmitotic larval development. Growth is exponential with time for both the wild-type N2 and the body-wall muscledefective mutant E675, with a longer doubling time for the mutant. Utilizing the electrophoretic polymorphism of the E675 myosin heavy chains, we show that distinguishable classes of heavy chains accumulate differentially throughout development. Immunochemical measurements confirm a similar result in N2. Total myosin heavy chain accumulation is also quantitatively similar for the two strains. Myosin heavy chain relative synthetic rates as determined by pulse-labeling are constant throughout development and are equivalent for the two strains. The final fraction of accumulated unc -54 to total heavy chains of approximately 0.63 equals the constant synthetic fraction of approximately 0.62. Since myosin heavy chain accumulation and relative synthesis are equivalent, we conclude that the turnover of heavy chains is also similar in N2 and E675 despite the extensive structural and functional disruption within body-wall muscle cells of the latter strain. Since the accumulated fraction of unc -54 myosin heavy chains reaches a plateau at the constant synthetic fraction, myosin accumulation In the body-wall muscle cells may be attributed to a constant ratio of synthetic rates of the two body-wall myosin species. The coordinate synthesis of two myosins in the same body-wall muscle cells is discussed.
Determinants of CEO Age at Succession

Based on Brickley’s (2003) call for research on the CEO/turnover relation, we examine determinants of CEO age at succession. Utilizing the similarity–attraction paradigm, we propose that board members will select new CEOs that are similar to their own age. We find a strong positive relation between successor CEO age and average board member age. Thus, the similarity–attraction paradigm seems to play a role in board of director selection of CEO successors. However, we also propose that poor prior performance may mitigate similarity–attraction. Our results are also consistent with this hypothesis because we find no relation between successor CEO and board age following poor prior performance. Finally, the hiring of an age-similar CEO does not reduce the companies’ subsequent financial performance and may even have a slightly positive impact on it.
Solitary and Periodic Gravity-Capillary Waves of Finite Amplitude,

Two-dimensional solitary and periodic waves in water of finite depth are considered. The waves propagate under the combined influence of gravity and surface tension. The flow, the surface profile and the phase velocity are functions of the amplitude of the wave and the parameters l = λ/H and τ = T/ρgH2. Here λ is the wavelength, H the depth, T the surface tension, ρ the density and g the acceleration due to gravity. For . In addition, it is shown that elevation solitary waves cannot be obtained as the continuous limit of periodic waves as the wavelength tends to infinity. Graphs of the results are included.
Strategy shifts in classification skill acquisition: does memory retrieval dominate rule use?

In two experiments, we demonstrated two types of strategies (rule-based and memory-based) and strategy transitions within the same binary classification task. The strategy that dominated later in practice depended on the difficulty of the operative classification rule and on the salience of the cue for that rule. Accuracy increased over practice trials, and response times were faster for the dominant strategy, either rule or memory. Rule retention was superior to stimulus item retention, so that, even for participants who preferred a memory-based strategy, a rule-based strategy dominated at least temporarily after a 1-week interval. Strategy use over trials and the retention interval reflected a given task’s affordance of a shift between rule- and memory-based processes.
Toward the identification of DSLR lenses by chromatic aberration

While previous work on lens identification by chromatic aberration succeeded in distinguishing lenses of different model, the CA patterns obtained were not stable enough to support distinguishing different copies of the same lens. This paper discusses on how to eliminate two major hurdles in the way of obtaining a stable lens CA pattern. The first hurdle was overcome by using a white noise pattern as shooting target to supplant the conventional but misalignment-prone checkerboard pattern. The second hurdle was removed by the introduction of the lens focal distance, which had not received the attention it deserves. Consequently, we were able to obtain a stable enough CA pattern distinguishing different copies of the same lens. Finally, with a complete view of the lens CA pattern feature space, it is possible to fulfil lens identification among a large lens database.
Abstract A1: Long stress-induced non-coding transcripts (LSINCTs) and Cancer

We previously utilized a whole genome tiling array to identify novel transcripts which had altered expression in response to the genotoxic effects of the tobacco carcinogen NNK. Our goal was to identify novel long stress-induced non-coding transcripts that could play important regulatory roles within cells and be important targets of alteration during cancer formation. Utilizing very stringent criteria, we examined all transcriptionally active regions that had altered expression in response to NNK treatment and identified a group of 12 transcripts, termed long stress-induced noncoding trancripts (LSINCTs). These novel long non-coding transcripts are between 2 and 4 Kb in length and do not contain any open reading frames or have homology to any mRNAs. 11 LSINCTs are intergenically located and one LSINCT is intragenically located within the genome. We found LSINCTs to be more highly expressed in more proliferative normal human tissues and to be frequently over-expressed in a number of different cancers including breast cancer. We studied one of these transcripts in greater detail, LSINCT5. We found LSINCT5 to be a polyadenylated nuclear transcript of exactly 2,647 base pairs. It is highly over-expressed in both breast and ovarian cancers and knocking down its' expression in either a breast or ovarian cancer cell line resulted in decreased cellular proliferation. We further compared gene expression in the breast cancer cell line, MCF7, before and after knocking down LSINCT5 expression and identified a number of genes whose expression changed more than 2-fold in response. Two of the genes identified were the gene for the major paraspeckle protein PSPC1, and another long non-coding transcript NEAT1. Paraspeckles are irregularly shaped compartments found in the nucleus' interchromatin space. Paraspeckles are RNA-protein structures formed by the interaction of NEAT1 and members of the Drosophila Behavior Human Splicing family of proteins including PSPC1. Paraspeckles appear to be critical to the control of gene expression through the nuclear retention of certain species of RNA. It is though that paraspeckles and their components play a role in controlling gene expression during a number of different cellular processes including differentiation, viral infection and stress responses. Using RNA fluorescent in situ hybridization, we found LSINCT5 to co-localize with NEAT1 within the nucleus. Hence, this novel stress-induced transcript may be another important long non-coding transcript that is involved in the normal cellular function of the paraspeckles. Citation Format: David I. Smith, Silva M. Jessica. Long stress-induced non-coding transcripts (LSINCTs) and Cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Noncoding RNAs and Cancer; 2012 Jan 8-11; Miami Beach, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(2 Suppl):Abstract nr A1.
Gradient-based contour encoding for character recognition

We describe novel methods of feature extraction for recognition of single isolated character images. Our approach is flexible in that the same algorithms can be used, without modification, for feature extraction in a variety of OCR problems. These include handwritten, machine-print, grayscale, binary and low-resolution character recognition. We use the gradient representation as the basis for extraction of low-level, structural and stroke-type features. These algorithms require a few simple arithmetic operations per image pixel which makes them suitable for real-time applications. A description of the algorithms and experiments with several data sets are presented in this paper. Experimental results using artificial neural networks are presented. Our results demonstrate high performance of these features when tested on data sets distinct from the training data.
Synergy: A Concept in Search of a Definition

Most biological outcomes such as blood pressure, glycemia, appetite, and body weight are influenced by a number of interacting factors or mechanisms. This characteristic is captured in a number of classical endocrine concepts, including integration, coactivation and regulation, redundancy, hierarchy, and synergy. Whereas the usefulness of most of these concepts lies mainly in their heuristic value and qualitative aspect, synergy is also often used in a quantitative way, to describe interactions of hormones, drugs, or other manipulations that are “supra-additive.” We are basically told that 1 + 1 > 2. The questions thus arise: is superadditive synergy meaningful, how is it measured, and how does it work? A clear example of superadditive synergy can be found in catalytic chemistry, when a very small amount (dose) of a catalyst that by itself cannot produce an effect drastically amplifies a chemical reaction. But do similar synergies exist in endocrinology and physiology, in which 2 or more biological agents, often with very different molecular mechanisms and temporal dynamics, can affect specific outcomes or responses? It seems logical that interfering simultaneously with several interacting mechanisms would have a larger effect on the outcome measure than targeting just one. Using multiple drugs to improve BP or glucose homeostasis is already common practice, and the strategy is increasingly exploited in new combination therapies for obesity and other multifactorial diseases. For example, several antiobesity drugs combining 2 or even 3 receptor domains with the same molecule are currently under development (1–3). Because supra-additive synergy is an old concept in pharmacology, most researchers probably believe that it rests on a well-established theory that is readily transferable to endocrinology. Closer inspection suggests that this is not the case. One set of problems concerns the applicability of the concept to complex integrative biological systems. Another issue concerns quantification. A notion of supra-additive synergy obviously depends on some form of addition. As a recent critical review by Geary (4) indicates, the classical additivity metrics are neither straightforward nor clearly valid. This comment briefly describes both problems with existing approaches to supra-additive synergy and an alternative approach.
Psychogenic nonepileptic seizures are associated with an increased risk of obesity

Psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (NES) are somatic manifestations of psychological distress. There is some evidence that weight problems are more common in patients with psychiatric illness. We have observed that patients admitted for video-EEG monitoring who we diagnosed with NES commonly have a larger body habitus than patients with epilepsy. The goal of this study was to test our hypothesis that there was a significant difference in body mass index (BMI) in patients with nonepileptic seizures compared with their epileptic counterparts. We compared the BMIs of 46 NES patients and 46 age- and gender-matched epileptic controls and found that the NES patients had significantly higher BMIs (30.5 vs 26.1, P=0.006) than controls. This remained true after controlling for weight-gain properties of antiepileptic drugs. These results are compared with the prevalence of overweight and obesity in the general population. Possible explanations of the findings and limitations of the study are discussed.