cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Theory of Entanglements and Tube Confinement in Rod–Sphere Nanocomposites

We formulate a microscopic theory for the polymer transverse confinement length and associated dynamic potential for a mixture of infinitely thin rods and hard spheres based solely on topological entanglements and excluded volume constraints. For fixed spheres, the needle effective tube diameter decreases with particle loading, and is largely controlled by a single dimensionless parameter involving all three key length-scales in the problem. A crossover from polymer entanglement to nanoparticle-controlled tube localization with increased loading is predicted. A preliminary extension to chain melts exhibits reasonable agreement with a recent simulation, and experimentally testable predictions are made. This work establishes a first-principles theoretical foundation to investigate a variety of dynamical problems in entangled polymer nanocomposites.
An Approach of Coverage and Analysis for Embedded Software Testing

A hot matter which were cared by engineers engaging on embedded software testing is how to perform coverage testing and performance testing.A approach of coverage and analysis for embedded software testing that based on PowerPc755 target board is presented in the paper.Dynamic embedded software testing platform was constructed by using embedded software testing tool TestBed and Real-time hardware data gather tool RTInsight in this approach,Coverage testing and performance testing was performed on this platform,the result of coverage testing and performance testing was also provided.
Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in Children

The childhood non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas (NHL) are histologically, immunologically, and clinically a heterogeneous group of diseases. Recent advances in our understanding of NHL have demonstrated the similarities between childhood NHL and childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Treatment strategies utilizing systemic chemotherapy and modeled after successful treatment programs for ALL have resulted in a dramatic improvement in prognosis for children with NHL, and the majority of affected children are now curable.
City Planning and Animals: Expanding Our Urban Compassion Footprint

For most of us living in cities or suburbs, there is relatively little recognition of or thinking about the other animals and life forms that occupy our planet, aside from the domesticated companion animals (pets) who share a special place in our households. We often forget that we coinhabit our landscapes and built environments with many “others,” a rich and diverse array of animals and life, whose ethical and planning status is ambiguous to say the least. Little or no explicit attention has been given to animals in the planning literature, or in contemporary planning practice, despite the ubiquity of “animal questions”, and the extent to which urban policy and urban development affect them. We argue here that this should change and provide many examples here of the ways in which the interests of animals can and should be integrated into planning their policy and practice. The contemporary values that underpin city and regional planning must we believe shift to include animals. The status and condition of animals, so impacted by planning policy at many levels, should become a legitimate and important topic of discussion within professional planning circles, as well as more generally in community planning processes and community engagement discussions.
Molecular Pathology of Urine Cytology

Urine cytology is the most widely used noninvasive test to detect and monitor urothelial malignancies. It is effective in detecting high grade cancers but has limited value in detecting low grade tumors. On the contrary, cystoscopy is effective in detecting papillary tumors including some low grade tumors, but may miss high grade flat lesions such as carcinoma in situ. Therefore, voided urine cytology and cystoscopy are complementary to each other and together have been quite effective in detecting and monitoring urothelial tumors. However, cystoscopy is invasive and expensive, whereas cytology has limitations for low grade lesions. Thus, additional noninvasive molecular markers are needed for diagnosis and surveillance of primary or recurrent urothelial malignancy. There are numerous molecular markers that have been studied, some received FDA approval and widely used in clinical setting, while others are pending validation. Below we review some of the widely used or potentially useful markers, focusing on molecular tests.
Une lésion douloureuse de la mandibule

Annales Francaises d'Oto-Rhino-Laryngologie et de pathologie cervico-faciale - Vol. 132 - N° 4 - p. 221-222
Ethical Challenges of Informal Medicine in the Internet Age.

How should ethically sound, reasonable, feasible, and effective responsibilities of informal medical practice be defined and pursued in the context of 21st-century sociotechnological communication ...
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism; and the Vodou Ethic and the Spirit of Communism:

This work explores and highlights how the African religion of Vodou and its ethic (i.e. syncretism, materialism, holism, communalism) gave rise to the Haitian spirit of communism in the provinces, mountains and urban slums of Haiti, which would be juxtaposed against the Catholic/Protestant Ethic and the spirit of capitalism of the white, mulatto and petit-bourgeois classes (i.e. the Affranchis of the island). This latter worldview, I go on to argue, exercised by the free bourgeois blacks and mulatto elites on the island undermined the revolutionary and independence movement of Haiti, and made it an apartheid state.
Metabolic effects of nerve impulses and nerve-growth factor in sympathetic ganglia.

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the metabolic effects of nerve impulses and nerve-growth factor in sympathetic ganglia. Sympathetic ganglia are portions of the nervous system that are accessible and easy to bring under experimental control. Glucose is the major or exclusive substrate for oxidation in a sympathetic ganglion, both at rest and in action. The chapter discusses metabolic adjustments accompanying two different kinds of nerve-cell activities: (1) the discharge and conduction of nerve impulses and (2) the outgrowth of nerve fibers. Inositide metabolism and nerve-growth factor are related to properties pertinent to sympathetic ganglia. The metabolic actions of the growth factor are relatively complex. In the absence of the growth factor, there is no outgrowth of fibers but only the outwandering of a few fibroblasts. The stimulation of fiber outgrowth is not dependent on the modification of RNA synthesis.
Inpatient Mortality Risk Scores and Postdischarge Events in Hospitalized Heart Failure Patients: A Community-Based Study.

Background The Acute Decompensated Heart Failure National Registry (ADHERE) and Get With The Guidelines (GWTG) registries have developed simple heart failure (HF) in-hospital mortality risk scores. We hypothesized that HF scores predictive of in-hospital mortality would perform as well for early postdischarge mortality risk stratification. Methods and Results In this single-center, community-based, retrospective study of all consecutive primary HF hospitalizations (6203 hospitalizations in 3745 patients) from 2000 to 2013, the ADHERE and GWTG risk scores were calculated from admission data. There were 176 (3.0%) and 399 (6.7%), 869 (14.7%), and 1272 (21.5%) deaths in-hospital and at 30, 90, and 180 days postdischarge, respectively. The GWTG but not ADHERE risk score was well calibrated for in-hospital mortality. Both the ADHERE (C statistic 0.66 and 0.67, 0.64, and 0.64) and GWTG (C statistic 0.74 and 0.73, 0.71, and 0.70) HF risk scores were similarly predictive of in-hospital and 30-, 90-, and 180-day postdischarge mortality. The ADHERE risk score identified 10% and the GWTG risk score identified 20% of hospitalizations where 180-day postdischarge mortality was 50%, a prognostic bench mark for hospice referral. In contrast, hospitalizations characterized as lowest risk by the ADHERE (57% of hospitalizations; 180-day mortality 16.2%) or GWTG score (20% of hospitalizations; 180-day mortality 8.0%) had substantially lower mortality (odds ratios high versus low risk of 5–8 [ADHERE] and 11–18 [GWTG] across time points; P Conclusions The simple ADHERE and GWTG scores stratify hospitalized HF patients for both inpatient and early postdischarge mortality risk, allowing comprehensive risk assessment on admission.
Achieving Reliable Humanoid Robot Operations in the DARPA Robotics Challenge: Team WPI-CMU’s Approach

The DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) required participating human-robot teams to integrate mobility, manipulation, perception and operator interfaces to complete a simulated disaster mission. We describe our approach to the development of manipulation and locomotion capabilities for the humanoid robot atlas unplugged developed by Boston Dynamics. We focus on our approach, results and lessons learned from the DRC Finals to demonstrate our strategy including extensive operator practice, explicit monitoring for robot errors, adding additional sensing, and enabling the operator to control and monitor the robot at varying degrees of abstraction. Our safety-first strategy worked: we avoided falling and remote operators could safely recover from difficult situations. We were the only team in the DRC Finals that attempted all tasks, scored points (14/16), did not require physical human intervention (a reset), and did not fall in the two missions during the two days of tests. We also had the most consistent pair of runs. We ranked 3rd out of 23 teams when the scores from two official runs were averaged.
Decompositions of control networks

WYE-SEQUENCE-JUNCTION (WSJ) control networks are defined and shown to be completely characterized by a "precedence graph" and an "i/o-relation"; this information may be used to construct two canonical decompositions of WSJ networks. Some remarks about networks containing UNION modules are made. Finally a unique decomposition for networks containing DECIDER modules is given.
An Empirical Investigation of the Effects of Individuality on Responses to Data Theft Crimes

E-commerce transactions have been rapidly increasing (over 20% from 2016 to 2017), and in addition the number of data thefts has been increasing. Data thefts cause a loss of trust by the customer, but previous research has failed to identify how such events change customer perceptions and also influence future shopping behavior. Our survey of 400 individuals provides insight into how the individuality of the crime victims (targeting of a few named individuals or a large customer database) has strong effects. Specifically, respondents were more likely to blame the victims and less likely to blame the business if a few individuals were targeted. Blaming the business and the individuality of the crime did have a significant effect on revisiting the business. However, blaming the victims did not have a significant effect on revisiting.
Periprosthetic Fractures About the Acetabulum: Management of the Loose Component

Although periprosthetic acetabular fractures are a rare complication of total hip arthroplasty (THA), they present a challenging problem to manage for the orthopedic surgeon. They may occur intraoperatively, during the early postoperative period, or at long-term follow-up. Varying local factors including component stability, prior bone removal, retro-acetabular osteolysis, and periprosthetic stress shielding compound the complexity of these fractures. The key to surgical management of these fractures is assessing stability of the acetabular component. Fractures with a stable acetabular component that are recognized intraoperatively can be managed conservatively with a period of protected weight bearing. Unstable components often require conversion to a multihole hemispherical shell to achieve more points of fixation. Diagnosis of an acute periprosthetic acetabular fracture can usually be made with routine plain radiographs; however, Judet views and computed tomography scans can be used to further delineate the fracture pattern or assess acetabular bone loss. With a stable acetabular component, surgical treatment of acute fractures relies on trauma principles including open reduction with plate osteosynthesis. Loose acetabular components require revision arthroplasty, often with multihole cups plus or minus acetabular augments. Late periprosthetic acetabular fractures are often chronic and due to acetabular bone loss from osteolysis, stress shielding, or adverse local tissue reaction. These injuries are often associated with pathologic bone from stress shielding or particulate-induced osteolysis and are often better handled with revision techniques and following acetabular defect management principles. Both fracture management and revision arthroplasty principles seek the same goal of restoring anatomy and function, yet may achieve these via different pathways and constructs. In the management of periprosthetic acetabular fractures, assessing component stability is paramount to determine which of these techniques will best benefit the patient.
Amilorides: Familiar antihypertensive medications with a novel potential against breast cancer.

1085 Background: When compared to normal breast epithelial cells, breast cancer cells exhibit increased metabolic activity, which produces excessive intracellular hydrogen ions (H+). This increase ...
User-Centered Survey Design: Considering Group Membership Effects on Survey Responses

Attending to diversity is an essential factor in interface design [22]. Today, there is a need for understanding the complex factors shaping the design practice of interfaces, instruments, and research tools, including surveys. With growing use of online surveys for data collection, designing surveys that address user diversity is becoming increasingly important [15]. However, there is also an overall trend of declining survey response rate across all modes [1], disrupting the accuracy of responses. While many studies on social identities exist, such as in-group/out-group status of the researcher compared to the respondent and their effect on face-to-face survey responses (e.g., [8, 13], we know very little about whether participants’ identities (i.e., university affiliation) affect responses to online survey designs. This study attempts to fill this gap by exploring if college students would agree to continue participating in a survey that uses different university affiliations across design conditions. While findings from this study did not show differential responses based on whether participants saw an in-group member of their own university or an out-group member of a rival university, we believe that it is most likely due to participants who did not agree to informed consent not being analyzed. Whether university affiliation affects participants’ willingness to participate in a survey in the first place has yet to be investigated. Practical and methodological implications are discussed in relation to how user-centered survey design could help increase survey response rates and improve diverse representation in samples, advocating for inclusive rather than exclusive participation.
Current indications and outcomes for thoracoscopic segmentectomy for early stage lung cancer

Management of early stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is evolving as the epidemiology of NSCLC has changed due to decreased rates of smoking in the general population, the development of screening programs and advancements in imaging modalities. Surgical technique is also evolving as a result of changes in instrumentation. Segmentectomy for early stage NSCLC has the advantage of preservation of lung function. Video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) segmentectomy is a safe option for surgeons already experienced in VATS lobectomy and offers comparable oncological benefit with better quality of life in selected patients. In this article, we will examine the role of segmentectomy and VATS for early stage NSCLC.
Abstract P172: Is the Elastin Receptor Complex a Bridge Between Perivascular Adipose Tissue and the Artery?

Elastin is a metabolically stable structural protein with a half-life known to last nearly a lifetime. This supporting peptide is essential for the artery to withstand the repetitive forces of puls...
Enhanced Electrochemical Performance of the Lithium-Manganese-Rich Cathode for Li-Ion Batteries with Na and F CoDoping.

The lithium-manganese-rich layered oxide cathode (LMR-NMC), xLi2MnO3·(1 – x)LiMO2 (M = Co, Ni, and Mn), is on demand because of its high specific capacity of over 250 mA h g–1 between the voltage r...
Evolution and genetic basis of the plant-penetrating ovipositor, a key adaptation in the transition to herbivory within the Drosophilidae

Herbivorous insects are extraordinarily diverse, yet are found in only one-third of insect orders. This skew may be driven by barriers to plant colonization coupled with phylogenetic constraint on plant-colonizing adaptations. Physical barriers can be surmounted by key innovations like the plant-penetrating ovipositor. Within Drosophilidae, ovipositor margins densely adorned with hard bristles used to cut into plants evolved repeatedly, but their evolutionary, developmental and genomic basis has only been explored in Drosophila suzukii. Here, we addressed this gap using Scaptomyza, an herbivorous radiation nested in a detritivorous clade. First, we found that ovipositor bristle number increased markedly as herbivory evolved in Scaptomyza. We then dissected the genomic architecture of variation in ovipositor bristle number within S. flava using a pooled genome wide association study (pool-GWAS). Variation in ovipositor bristle number in S. flava was heritable and associated with single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within non-coding regions involved in neural development. Genotyping of individual flies replicated the association at a candidate SNP upstream of Gai, a neural development gene, and estimated that it contributes to an average gain of ~0.58 bristles/ovipositor in S. flava. Neural developmental genes thus underlie variation in this key morphological adaptation, possibly facilitating the evolution of this trait and the colonization of tough tissue of living plants.
Using Chemical Epigenetics to Target Cancer

Transcription is epigenetically regulated by the orchestrated function of chromatin-binding proteins that tightly control the expression of master transcription factors, effectors, and supportive housekeeping genes required for establishing and propagating the normal and malignant cell state. Rapid advances in chemical biology and functional genomics have facilitated exploration of targeting epigenetic proteins, yielding effective strategies to target transcription while reducing toxicities to untransformed cells. Here, we review recent developments in conventional active site and allosteric inhibitors, peptidomimetics, and novel proteolysis-targeted chimera (PROTAC) technology that have deepened our understanding of transcriptional processes and led to promising preclinical compounds for therapeutic translation, particularly in cancer.
Racial discrimination as a mediator of racial disparities in insomnia disorder.

Abstract Study Objectives Racial and ethnic minorities are more likely to suffer from insomnia that is more severe; however, few studies have examined mechanisms by which racial disparities in severity of insomnia disorder may arise. One potential mechanism for disparities in insomnia severity is perceived discrimination. This study tested discrimination as a mediator in the relationship between race and insomnia. Methods Participants were recruited from communities in the Detroit metropolitan area and were diagnosed with insomnia disorder using the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition). The final sample included 1,458 individuals. Insomnia symptom severity was assessed via the Insomnia Severity Index and self-reported racial discrimination was evaluated using a single item. Racial discrimination was tested as a mediator in the relationship between race and insomnia symptom severity. Individuals were categroized as either White or a racial minority (i.e., non White individuals), with sensitivity analyses examining Black individuals and non-Black racial minority groups. Results Consistent with our hypothesis, racial discrimination was a significant mediator accounting for 57.3% of the relationship between race and insomnia symptom severity. Sensitivity analyses indicated that the indirect effect of racial discrimination was stronger in the non-Black racial minority group compared to Black individuals. Conclusions These results provide support that racial discrimination is likely an important mechanism by which racial and ethnic sleep disparities exist. Implications for prevention, intervention, and treatment of insomnia in racial minorities to reduce health disparities are discussed.
The relationship between housing instability and intimate partner violence: A retrospective study

Objective To examine the relationship between housing instability (HI) and intimate partner violence (IPV) over time, controlling for individual, situational, and social structural factors among women and to determine whether race/ethnicity modifies these relationships. Design and sample The study was a retrospective secondary data analysis from the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study. The sample included women who reported their housing status at year 5, yielding 4,000 women. Measures Housing instability was our main independent variable. Our dependent variable of IPV was divided into two categories: no IPV or IPV overtime (IPV reported at baseline, year 1 and year 5). Results Women were more likely to report HI if they were between the ages of 20-24 (36%), Black (53.2%), did not graduate from high school (48.6%), and were employed with an income of less than $10,000 USD (69%). Race/ethnicity was not found to influence the association between HI and IPV overtime. Conclusions Women in their early to mid-twenties, with a low level of education and are employed at low-wage jobs have an increased risk for HI and experiencing IPV. Therefore, nurses need to move beyond traditional assessments and screening to elicit information that will help determine increased risk for HI.
General Principles of Legal Research

Having worked for years to distill aspects of the legal research process down to a set of core principles, the author presents a selection, with commentary, for use by instructors in introductory r...
Atypical Presentation of Periprosthetic Joint Infection After Total Knee Arthroplasty due to Parvimonas micra

Abstract There is limited literature reporting the oral pathogen Parvimonas micra as the causative organism of periprosthetic joint infection. Previous reports demonstrate septic arthritis in native or prosthetic joints due to P. micra in elderly or immunocompromised patients associated with tooth abscess and periodontal disease. Our case report is unique because it describes a healthy individual with recurrent gingivitis developing periprosthetic joint infection after total knee arthroplasty as the result of isolated P. micra. Her clinical symptom presented early and manifested as progressive stiffness only. Timely aspiration resulted in early diagnosis, but the patient still underwent 2-stage revision with a more constrained implant. To prevent the risk of infection by oral pathogens such as P. micra, dental history should be thoroughly investigated, and any lingering periodontal infection should be addressed before any arthroplasty operation.
Characterizing Longitudinal Changes in Physical Activity and Fear of Falling after Falls in Glaucoma.

Background Older adults with visual impairments experience a higher risk of falling, and are more vulnerable to adverse health consequences associated with falls than those with normal vision. This study characterizes longitudinal changes in objectively measured physical activity and fear of falling (FoF) occurring after various types of falls in visually impaired older adults. Design Prospective cohort study. Setting Hospital-based enrollment. Participants People with glaucoma or suspected glaucoma. Measurements Falls were defined as unintentionally coming to rest on the ground or a lower level, and injurious falls were determined though follow-up calls. Study participants were categorized into three groups-fallers with injurious consequences, fallers without injurious consequences, and non-fallers based on fall status in the first year. Physical activity was assessed by waist-bound accelerometer. FoF was evaluated by questionnaire, with Rasch modeling generating FoF scores where higher scores reflected worse FoF. The 3-year longitudinal changes of physical activity and FoF were modeled using mixed-effects models. Results In linear models fully adjusted for visual field damage and other covariates, physical activity among injurious fallers showed greater annual (per year) declines in daily steps (-425 steps/d, 95% confidence interval (CI) = -793, -57), daily active minutes (-13 min/d, 95% CI = -21, -6), and daily moderate and vigorous physical activity (MVPA) minutes (-3 MVPA minutes/d, 95% CI = -5, 0) over the 3-year period as compared to non-fallers; however, physical activity did not significantly decline among non-injurious fallers. No longitudinal increases in FoF scores were observed in injurious or non-injurious fallers when compared to non-fallers. Conclusion Among visually impaired older adults, injurious falls identified prospectively over 12 months contributed to a significant decline in physical activity over a 3-year period, while minimal changes were observed in FoF.
Efficient spherical surface integration of Gauss functions in three-dimensional spherical coordinates and the solution for the modified Bessel function of the first kind

An efficient solution of calculating the spherical surface integral of a Gauss function defined as $$h\left( {s,{\mathbf{Q}}} \right) = \int_{0}^{2\pi } {\int_{0}^{\pi } {\left( {{\mathbf{s}} + {\mathbf{Q}}} \right)_{x}^{i} \left( {{\mathbf{s}} + {\mathbf{Q}}} \right)_{y}^{j} \left( {{\mathbf{s}} + {\mathbf{Q}}} \right)_{z}^{k} e^{{ - \gamma \left( {{\mathbf{s}} + {\mathbf{Q}}} \right)^{2} }} } } \sin \theta d\theta d\varphi$$ is provided, where $$\gamma \ge 0$$ , and i, j, k are nonnegative integers. A computationally concise algorithm is proposed for obtaining the expansion coefficients of polynomial terms when the coordinate system is transformed from cartesian to spherical. The resulting expression for $$h\left( {s,{\mathbf{Q}}} \right)$$ includes a number of cases of elementary integrals, the most difficult of which is $$II\left( {n,\mu } \right) = \int_{0}^{\pi } {\cos^{n} \theta e^{ - \mu \cos \theta } } d\theta$$ , with a nonnegative integer n and positive μ. This integral can be formed by linearly combining modified Bessel functions of the first kind $$B(n,\mu ) = \frac{1}{\pi }\int\limits_{0}^{\pi } {e^{\mu \cos \theta } \cos \left( {n\theta } \right)d\theta }$$ , with a nonnegative integer n and negative μ. Direct applications of the standard approach using Mathematica and GSL are found to be inefficient and limited in the range of the parameters for the Bessel function. We propose an asymptotic function for this expression for n = 0,1,2. The relative error of asymptotic function is in the order of 10−16 with the first five terms of the asymptotic expansion. At last, we give a new asymptotic function of $$B\left( {n,\mu } \right)$$ based on the expression for $$e^{ - \mu } II\left( {n,\mu } \right)$$ when n is an integer and μ is real and large in absolute value.
The Specter of Motherhood: Culture and the Production of Gendered Career Aspirations in Science and Engineering:

Why are young women less likely than young men to persist in academic science and engineering? Drawing on 57 in-depth interviews with PhD students and postdoctoral scholars in the United States, we...
Exclusionary School Discipline and Delinquent Outcomes: A Meta-Analysis

Excluding students from school remains a common form of punishment despite growing critique of the practice. A disparate research base has impeded the ability to make broader assessments on the association between exclusionary discipline (i.e., suspensions and expulsions) and subsequent behavior. This article synthesizes existing empirical evidence (274 effect sizes from 40 primary studies) examining the relationship between exclusionary discipline and delinquent outcomes, including school misconduct/infractions, antisocial behavior, involvement with the justice system, and risky behaviors. This meta-analysis identifies exclusionary discipline as an important and meaningful predictor of increased delinquency. Additional examinations of potential moderators, including race/ethnicity and type of exclusion, revealed no significant differences, suggesting the harm associated with exclusions is consistent across subgroups. These findings indicate exclusionary discipline may inadvertently exacerbate rather than mollify delinquent behaviors.
Menstrual Justice in Immigration Detention

The menstrual injustices experienced by noncitizens detained in immigration facilities–a particularly vulnerable subset of menstruators in carceral spaces–are largely ignored. Menstruating detainees are forced to rely on the immigration system to provide adequate access to menstrual products, and on detention facilities to engage in safe menstrual management and corresponding dignity. Unfortunately, the immigration system fails many detainees, and the defining characteristics of immigration detention—lack of access to counsel and the significant geographic and social isolation that people in custody face—exacerbate the problem. Despite these isolating factors, detainees are finding ways to share their struggles with menstrual injustices. This essay aims to categorize, amplify, and contextualize these experiences, and the need for thoughtful reform.
Decreasing Costs and the Theory of the Second-Best—The Boiteux Problem

This chapter presents a discussion on the Boiteux problem. A decreasing cost industry is a natural monopoly. It consists of a single firm to minimize the total cost of producing any given output. Marginal-cost pricing implies operating losses with decreasing unit costs. Therefore, the government subsidizes the firm's losses with a lump-sum transfer so that the investors can earn a return equal to the opportunity cost of capital. This transfer simply becomes part of the first-best interpersonal equity conditions for optimal income distribution. The chapter analysis the decreasing cost firms by considering a common property of firms. The chapter concludes by pointing out that the United States tends to favor the average-cost pricing rather than the marginal-cost pricing for the decreasing-cost services. The public apparently views average-cost pricing as being fully consistent with the benefits-received principle of public pricing and therefore more equitable. In contrast, mainstream public sector theory has no use for the benefits-received principle as an equity principle. Although the Boiteux analysis was motivated by an attempt to develop optimal second-best rules for public monopolies, the resulting decision rules are directly applicable to any government agency subjected to a legislated budget constraint.
Reputational Bargaining With Minimal Knowledge of Rationality

Two players announce bargaining postures to which they may become committed and then bargain over the division of a surplus. The share of the surplus that a player can guarantee herself under first-order knowledge of rationality is determined (as a function of her probability of becoming committed), as is the bargaining posture that she must announce in order to guarantee herself this much. This “maxmin” share of the surplus is large relative to the probability of becoming committed (e.g., it equals 30% if the commitment probability is 1 in 10 and equals 13% if the commitment probability is 1 in 1000), and the corresponding bargaining posture simply demands this share plus compensation for any delay in reaching agreement.
A focus program for data structures and algorithm design

This paper advocates a particular approach to the teaching of data structures and algorithm design by supplementing the usual topics with an intensive study of implementations of a single algorithm. This approach intends to provide a consistent overall focus for the students as they move through the course and create an appreciation of the practical impact of the techniques learned in the course.
The most elegant immunological experiment of the XIX century.

Historical Insight: The immunologic relationship between the fetus and its parents has fascinated investigators for generations. Early experiments by Ehrlich, as recounted here by Arthur Silverstein, clarified some crucial issues and paved the way for studies that are still ongoing today.
Mitigation of Rayleigh-Taylor instability in high-energy-density plasmas

The Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) instability and related hydrodynamic mechanisms of interfacial mixing are ubiquitous in nature, occurring on a large variety of scales, from atmospheric and oceanic to supernovae. They are of particular importance for many applications that involve high energy density plasmas, such as Z-pinch plasma sources of x-ray and neutron radiation or inertial confinement fusion (ICF). Most of these applications rely upon a dense plasma that is accelerated by the pressure of a lighter fluid, such as magnetic field in imploded Z-pinch or Magnetized Liner Inertial Fusion (MagLIF), a low-density ablated plasma imploding a laser fusion capsule, or decelerated by the pressure of hot-spot ICF plasma at stagnation. To improve performance of such systems and achieve the practical goals that range from increasing x-ray and neutron yields to the most ambitious goal of all, the ICF ignition, it is critically important to develop effective methods of mitigating the RT instability, making the loads and targets more resistant to the distortion. I will review the approaches to this problem that have been advanced over the last two decades. Most of them employ elaborate structuring of the density and/or material profiles in the loads and targets, which is achieved by use of nested wire arrays, multi-shell nozzle design for gas-puff Z-pinch injection, laser capsule manufacturing to control the interaction of laser targets with laser and x-ray radiation pulses. Application of an external axial magnetic field has been demonstrated to be an effective mechanism for mitigating the RT instability of electromagnetically driven implosions of cylindrical loads, from gas-puff Z pinches to MagLIF liners. We discuss the physics behind the most effective RT mitigation mechanisms, the status and prospects of the most promising methods of mitigation, and the unresolved physics issues, including the new opportunities that deserve to be studied.
Anti-Stokes emission as a VUV and soft X-ray source

A VUV and soft x-ray light source based on spontaneous anti-Stokes scattering from atomic population stored in a meta-stable level is described. Unique properties of this source include: narrow linewidth, tunability, linear polarization, picosecond time scale, and quite high spectral brightness. We show how the maximum source brightness, within its narrow linewidth, is that of a blackbody at the temperature T of a metastable storage level. Experimental results showing laser induced emission at 569 A and 637 A from a He glow discharge are described. The use of the anti-Stokes process for direct, internal energy transfer from a storage species to a target species is discussed.
Interstitial flows promote amoeboid over mesenchymal motility of breast cancer cells revealed by a three dimensional microfluidic model

Malignant tumors are often associated with an elevated fluid pressure due to the abnormal growth of vascular vessels, and thus an increased interstitial flow out of the tumors. Recent in vitro works revealed that interstitial flows critically regulated tumor cell migration within a three dimensional biomatrix, and breast cancer cell migration behavior depended sensitively on the cell seeding density, chemokine availability and flow rates. In this paper, we focus on the role of interstitial flows in modulating the heterogeneity of cancer cell motility phenotype within a three dimensional biomatrix. Using a newly developed microfluidic model, we show that breast cancer cells (MDA-MB-231) embedded in a 3D type I collagen matrix exhibit both amoeboid and mesenchymal motility, and interstitial flows promote the cell population towards the amoeboid motility phenotype. Furthermore, the addition of exogenous adhesion molecules (fibronectin) within the extracellular matrix (type I collagen) partially rescues the mesenchymal phenotype in the presence of the flow. Quantitative analysis of cell tracks and cell shapes shows distinct differential migration characteristics of amoeboid and mesenchymal cells. Notably, the fastest moving cells belong to the subpopulation of amoeboid cells. Together, these findings highlight the important role of biophysical forces in modulating tumor cell migration heterogeneity and plasticity, as well as the suitability of microfluidic models in interrogating tumor cell dynamics at single-cell and subpopulation level.
Melatonin resynchronizes dysregulated circadian rhythm circuitry in human prostate cancer cells

Prostate cancer (PCa) is a major age-related malignancy as increasing age correlates with increased risk for developing this neoplasm. Similarly, alterations in circadian rhythms have also been associated with the aging population and cancer risk. The pineal hormone melatonin is known to regulate circadian rhythms, which is under the control of a core set of genes: Period 1, 2, 3 (Per 1-3); Cryptochrome 1, 2 (Cry 1, 2); Clock, and Bmal 1, 2. Melatonin levels have been shown to decrease in patients with cancer and exogenous melatonin exhibits antiproliferative effects against certain cancers. In this study, we challenged the hypothesis that melatonin imparts antiproliferative effects in prostate cancer via resynchronization of deregulated core clock circuitry. We found that Clock and Per2 protein levels were downregulated whereas Bmal1 protein levels were upregulated in PCa cells, compared to normal prostate cells. Additionally, employing automated quantitative analysis of a microarray containing human tissues, we found that compared to benign tissues, Clock and Per2 levels were downregulated, whereas Bmal1 levels were upregulated in PCa and other proliferative prostatic conditions. Overexpression of Per2 was found to result in a significant loss of PCa cell growth and viability. Interestingly, melatonin treatment resulted in an increase in Per2 and Clock and a reduction in Bmal1 in PCa cells. Further, melatonin treatment resulted in a resynchronization of oscillatory circadian rhythm genes (Dbp and Per2). Our data support our hypothesis and suggest that melatonin should be thoroughly investigated as an agent for the management of PCa and other age-related malignancies.
Acquired Benign Bronchoesophageal Fistulas in the Adult

In a twenty-year period we have seen 7 patients with acquired nonmalignant bronchoesophageal fistulas at the Vanderbilt University Affiliated Hospitals. There were 5 men and 2 women ranging from 24 to 82 years old. Six patients were seen initially with a history of pulmonary inflammatory disease with cough and fever or with an abnormal chest roentgenogram. One patient had a traumatic fistula following blunt chest trauma. Six of the patients were treated surgically with no operative mortality. Five were repaired through a right-sided thoracotomy with division of the fistulous tract and closure of the bronchus and esophagus. One patient required esophageal resection and later reconstruction for permanent fistula closure. The remaining patient was diagnosed at bronchoscopy and was not treated surgically because of supervening complications following an extensive abdominal operation. Once the diagnosis was established, operative management resulted in complete closure of the fistulas, with no mortality and no late recurrences in these patients.
Insertional mutants: a foundation for assessing gene function

The abundance of Arabidopsis insert mutants portends the day when null alleles in every gene will be obtained. Once these are created, all plant scientists can become geneticists. However, this brief technical highlight of genetic concepts cautions against ascribing gene function based exclusively on phenotypic analysis of null alleles.
A quadratically convergent local algorithm on minimizing the largest eigenvalue of a symmetric matrix

Abstract Optimization involving eigenvalues arise in many engineering problems. We propose a new algorithm on minimizing the largest eigenvalue over an affine family of symmetric matrices. Under certain assumptions it is shown that, if started close enough to the minimizer x ∗ , the proposed algorithm converges to x ∗ quadratically. The proposed algorithm can be readily extended to minimizing the largest eigenvalue over an affine family of Hermitian matrices. Also, it has been extended to minimizing sums of the largest eigenvalues of a symmetric or Hermitian matrix.
Lifetime history of depression and carotid atherosclerosis in middle-aged women

Background Depression is associated with clinical coronary events, but the association between history of major depression and subclinical cardiovascular disease in women is not yet known. We determined the association between lifetime history of major depression and subclinical carotid atherosclerosis in middle-aged women. Methods Participants included 336 healthy middle-aged women (one third African American) from 1 of the 7 sites of the Study of Women's Health Around the Nation, a prospective study of the perimenopausal transition. Psychiatric diagnoses were assessed using the Structured Clinical Interview for theDSM-IVAxis I Disorders–Non-Patient Edition. Two measures of subclinical carotid atherosclerosis were assessed using B-mode ultrasonography: plaque and intima-media thickness. Results Lifetime history of major depression was associated with plaque, and substance abuse was related to intima-media thickness. Lifetime history of an anxiety disorder was not associated with either measure. After controlling for standard cardiovascular risk factors, only the association between major depression and plaque was maintained. The risk of plaque was 2-fold in women with a lifetime history of recurrent major depressive episodes relative to women with no history of depression (odds ratio = 2.30; 95% confidence interval, 1.10-4.82). Lifetime history of a single major depressive episode was not associated with plaque. Conclusions Recurrent major depressive episodes may be a risk factor for subclinical atherosclerosis. Prevention of recurrent episodes may also prevent further progression of atherosclerosis.
Extensions of Simple Modules for Special Algebraic Groups

Abstract We compute the groups Ext l G ( L , M ) for any two simple rational modules for the simple algebraic groups G of type C 2 and F 4 in characteristic 2 and type G 2 in characteristic 3 by exploiting the special endomorphisms which exist for these groups.
Perturbative QCD Analysis of Local Duality in a fixed W 2 Framework.

We study the global Q{sup 2} dependence of large x, F{sub 2} nucleon structure function data, with the aim of providing a perturbative-QCD based, quantitative analysis of parton-hadron duality. As opposed to previous analyses at fixed x, we use a framework in fixed W{sup 2}. We uncover a breakdown of the twist-4 approximation with a renormalon type improvement at O(1/Q{sup 4}) which, by affecting the initial evolution of parton distributions, will have consequences for pQCD analyses also at large x and very large Q{sup 2}.
Use of maternal health services in rural China

We use data from the nationally representative 1997 Demographic and Reproductive Health Survey to examine use of maternity services in rural China. The data indicate that roughly 60 per cent of women had at least one prenatal visit, while 40 per cent had a professionally assisted birth over the period 1988-97. Despite China's shift from a more socialist to a more privatized health care system, use of maternity services increased over this period. These increases are consistent with the push toward integration of reproductive health into family planning that emerged after the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development and the 1995 Fourth World Women's Conference held in Beijing. At the same time, we find indirect evidence that the target-based population policy may well have exerted downward pressure on use of maternity services; differences by parity are marked and multilevel models predicting use of maternity services indicate underdispersion at the individual level.
Non-Abelian Gauge Fields. Lorentz Gauge Formulation

Non-Abelian vector gauge theory is given a first-order Lorentz gauge formulation and then transformed into the radiation gauge. The result agrees with the independently constructed radiation gauge theory. There is a brief discussion of the axial gauge. (auth)
The size of the unit in short-term storage.

A series of studies was carried out to determine the length of (1) the verbal sequence that is held as a unit in short-term store during free recall and (2) the number of such units held. An initial study showed that the unit is at least a word in length. It makes no difference whether the word has one or two syllables or one or two morphemes. When presented with lists of words, subjects hold two word units in short-term store. Subsequent studies showed that the unit may be as long as a full sentence particularly when the sentence is a familiar one. When presented with lists of sentences, subjects hold two sentence units in short-term store. The results indicate that short-term store holds relatively long, complex sequences; that the picture of it as a primitive, severely limited stage in the processing of information is incorrect. The relevance of the results to the linking of memory and language processing is pointed out. The identification of short-term store as a sentence processing unit is argued.
Microutrophin delivery through rAAV6 increases lifespan and improves muscle function in dystrophic dystrophin/utrophin-deficient mice.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), the most prevalent lethal genetic disorder in children, is caused by mutations in the 2.2-MB dystrophin gene. Absence of dystrophin and the dystrophin–glycoprotein complex (DGC) from the sarcolemma leads to severe muscle wasting and eventual respiratory and/or cardiac failure. There is presently no effective therapy for DMD. Several lines of evidence have suggested that methods to increase expression of utrophin, a dystrophin paralog, show promise as a treatment for DMD. Adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors are a promising vehicle for gene transfer to muscle, but microutrophin transgenes small enough to be carried by AAV have not been tested for function. In this study, we intravenously administered recombinant AAV (rAAV2/6) harboring a murine codon-optimized microutrophin (ΔR4–R21/ΔCT) transgene to adult dystrophin−/−/utrophin−/− (mdx:utrn−/−) double-knockout mice. Five-month-old mice demonstrated localization of microutrophin to the sarcolemma in all the muscles tested. These muscles displayed restoration of the DGC, increased myofiber size, and a considerable improvement in physiological performance when compared with untreated mdx:utrn−/− mice. Overall, microutrophin delivery alleviated most of the pathophysiological abnormalities associated with muscular dystrophy in the mdx:utrn−/− mouse model. This approach may hold promise as a treatment option for DMD because it avoids the potential immune responses that are associated with the delivery of exogenous dystrophin.