cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Why Big Data?: Why Nursing?

Attention on “big data” spans nursing and the health sciences, and extends as well to engineering/computer sciences through to the liberal arts in professional literature. A current Google search (3 Nov 2016) of “big data” yields 288 million entries. A focused search of “big data and nursing” yields more than 3.9 million entries. Thus we ask, “Why big data? Why nursing?” The focus of this chapter is to provide an overview of why big data has emerged now and to make the case for how big data has the capacity to change health, healthcare systems, and nursing. This chapter lays a foundation for the chapters and case studies to follow that explore what data, knowledge, and transformation processes are needed to put information and knowledge into the hands of nursing wherever nurses are working. In this chapter we examine the big data sources within and beyond nursing and healthcare that can be collected and analyzed to improve nursing and patient, family and community health. This chapter entices the reader to examine “Why big data now?” and “Why big data in the future?” This chapter is meant to stir curiosity for “Why should I be knowledgeable?” Whether the reader’s role is in clinical practice, education, research, industry, or policy, the applied uses of big data analytics are empowering change at an exponential speed across all domains. Big data has the capacity to illuminate nursing’s discovery of new knowledge and best practices that are safe, effective and lead to improved outcomes including well-being of providers; it also can expand nursing’s vision and future possibilities through increasing awareness of what nursing doesn’t know. The importance of nursing’s lens on the new discoveries obtained through big data and data science is critical to the transformation of health and healthcare systems. This transformation completes the challenge of placing the person at the center of all care initiatives and actions.
Improving Body Image and Sexual Health Behaviors among College Women.

Objective: To conduct a pilot test to determine if the Body Project, an eating disorder prevention program, was able to reduce risky sexual behaviors. Participants: Twenty college-age women ages 18...
Relationship Between Vasopressin Activation of Rat Hepatocyte Glycogen Phosphorylase, Inhibition of \(C{{a}^{{{{2}^{ + }}}}} - M{{g}^{{{{2}^{ + }}}}}\) and Phosphoinositide Breakdown

Rat hepatocyte glycogen phosphorylase is activated by vasopressin, α1-adrenergic agonists and an active phorbol ester in the presence of 1 µM A23187. Alpha1adrenergic agonists and vasopressin stimulate a rapid degradation of phosphatidylinositol and phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate as well as increase the conversion of phosphatidylinositol to phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate in rat hepatocytes
Nutrition support service: role of the clinical dietitian.

A study was undertaken to determine: the qualifications necessary to function on a nutrition support team as perceived by clinical dietitians working in this capacity, the actual role of the clinical dietitian on a nutrition support team, the ideal role of the clinical dietitian on a nutrition support team, and the extent to which clinical dietitians perceive differences between the ideal role expectation and actual performance. A questionnaire was developed and sent to a random sample of 300 clinical dietitians listed as members of a nutrition support service. The respondents indicated that the clinical dietitian should have at least a B.S., R.D., and 2 years' prior work experience before assuming responsibility on a nutrition support team. The dietitians indicated that they consistently take and evaluate diet histories and assess energy and protein needs. Moreover, they viewed these tasks as appropriate. They rarely administer or interpret antigen skin tests and do not perceive this as a function of the dietitian. For all other tasks, dietitians indicated that they should perform the duty or responsibility more often. Over half reported that they did not have adequate educational preparation to assume all of the responsibilities of the clinical dietitian on a nutrition support team.
Transport Thresholds in Gravel-Bed Rivers

Flow conditions that produce incipient motion of bedload at threshold conditions in coarse-bed rivers are illustrated using data from the Oak Creek, Oregon, bedload research facilities. A dynamically varying transport conditions occur between threshold and full transport. The threshold for initiation of motion is not sharp. A second threshold, usually overlooked, occurs on the recession limb of runoff events and differs not only in “critical” discharge value but also in composition of the bedload and dynamics of the reforming stable bed. Bed reformation and subsequent disturbance relate to hydrograph dynamics and changing turbulence in ways that are not yet well described.
Eurasia 2.0: Russian Geopolitics in the Age of New Media

Mikhail Suslov and Mark Bassin, eds. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2016. xvii and 340 pp., foreword, acknowledgments, photos, maps, references, notes, index. $100.00 cloth (ISBN 978-1498521413).This...
Regulation of human sirtuin deacylase activity by cellular oxidants

Sirtuins catalyze the NAD+-dependent deacylation of acyl-lysine residues, producing O-acyl-ADP-ribose and nicotinamide. Humans encode seven sirtuins (Sirt1-7) that are considered pro-survival proteins, and decreased sirtuin activity promotes aging-related diseases, including type-II diabetes. However, how sirtuin activity is inhibited during aging is largely unknown. We are defining the physiological mechanisms that regulate sirtuin activity by post-translational modifications, with the long-term goal to exploit these mechanisms to prevent diseases associated with decreased sirtuin activity. As oxidative stress increases with age, our current focus is on post-translational regulation of sirtuin activity by cellular oxidants. Here, we show that Sirt1 can be nitrosated by S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO). Colorimetric Zn2+ loss and circular dichroism assays revealed Sirt1 nitrosation correlated with Zn2+-release and loss of α-helical structure, suggesting the target of nitrosation is the Zn2+-tetrathiolate conserved among sirtuins. Molecular dynamics simulations suggested Zn2+ loss due to Sirt1 nitrosation results in repositioning of the tetrathiolate subdomain away from the rest of the catalytic domain, disrupting NAD+and acetyl-lysine substrate binding. Furthermore, Sirt1 nitrosation was reversed upon exposure to thiol-based reducing-agents, resulting in restoration of Sirt1 activity. This restoration was dependent on the presence of Zn2+, consistent with nitrosation of the Zn2+-tetrathiolate as the source of Sirt1 inhibition. More recently, we found that nuclear sirtuins (Sirt1, Sirt2, Sirt6) are more broadly inhibited by nitric oxide (NO) and NO-derived oxidants, and are resistant to inhibition by oxidized glutathione, hydrogen peroxide, and hydrogen sulfide. Surprisingly, mitochondrial sirtuins (Sirt3 and Sirt5) displayed selective inhibition by peroxynitrite and were insensitive to all other assayed oxidants. These data suggest that, despite conservation of the Zn2+-tetrathiolate across all sirtuins, nitrosation does not universally inhibit sirtuins. Additionally, we observed a concentration- and time-dependent increase in Sirt6 expression in pancreatic beta cells in response to NO, suggesting that NO modulates Sirt6 expression in beta cells under inflammatory conditions.
Generalized Sequential Stochastic Assignment Problem

The sequential stochastic assignment problem (SSAP) assigns sequentially arriving tasks with stochastic parameters (coming from a known distribution) to workers with fixed success rates so as to ma...
Revealed preference and the subjective state space hypothesis

Abstract This paper provides, for finite sets of choice data, revealed preference characterizations for the additive representations considered in Dekel et al. (2001). For a particular class of data sets, it is shown that the characterizing conditions can be reformulated as nonlinear systems of inequalities for which the existence of solutions can be verified using numerical methods.
Barcoding Biological Reactions with DNA‐Functionalized Vesicles

Targeted vesicle fusion is a promising approach to selectively control interactions between vesicle compartments and would enable the initiation of biological reactions in complex aqueous environments. Here, we explore how two features of vesicle membranes, DNA tethers and phase-segregated membranes, promote fusion between specific vesicle populations. Membrane phase-segregation provides an energetic driver for membrane fusion that increases the efficiency of DNA-mediated fusion events. The orthogonality provided by DNA tethers allows us to direct fusion and delivery of DNA cargo to specific vesicle populations. Vesicle fusion between DNA-tethered vesicles can be used to initiate in vitro protein expression to produce model soluble and membrane proteins. Engineering orthogonal fusion events between DNA-tethered vesicles provides a new strategy to control the spatiotemporal dynamics of cell-free reactions, expanding opportunities to engineer artificial cellular systems.
Energy requirements for wood chip compaction and transportation

Abstract Wood chips represent one of the most popular biomass fuel in latest cogenerating plants and in small heating systems. This fuel, being characterized by low bulk density, requires high transportation costs. This obstacle can be overcome by wood chips densification. The authors investigated the energy benefit of wood chips densification for transport operations for “short supply chain” as defined by the Italian government for the biomass fuel subsidy scheme. Three different woods (poplar, chestnut and a mixture of spruce and eastern white pine) chips and six different tractor’s trailed trailers were investigated. The total specific energy (kJ kg−1) required to transport a defined quantity of wood chips, the energy saving ratio (%) from chips’ compaction and the break-even distance (km) between raw and compressed chips were calculated. The results highlights that densification process of wood chips is an interesting opportunity to improve the transport energetic convenience. The benefit of wood chips densification is strongly affected by raw wood chips density values and by trailer characteristics: the benefit is maximum when the density of compressed wood chips to be transported attains the vehicle theoretical density.
Proton Translocation by Bacteriorhodopsin in Model Systems

Bacteriorhodopsin is a rhodopsin-like pigment found in the cell membrane of halobacteria. It occurs in discrete patches with a planar hexagonal lattice structure known as the purple membrane (Oesterhelt and Stoeckenius, 1971; Blaurock and Stoeckenius, 1971). When bacteriorhodopsin absorbs light, it undergoes a rapid cyclic photoreaction during which it translocates a proton across the membrane (Lozier et al, 1975; Lozier et al, 1976). In continuous light it acts as a light-driven proton pump generating a proton gradient and membrane potential. The cells can use the energy stored in the electrochemical gradient to synthesize ATP (Oester-helt and Stoeckenius, 1973; Bogomolni et al, 1976; Danon and Stoeckenius, 1974). In intact cells it is difficult to measure parameters such as rapid absorption changes of the pigment, intracellular ion concentrations, and membrane potential, which are necessary to quantitate the light energy conversion in this system. Moreover, the energy metabolism of halobacteria has not been investigated in detail and contributions from other energy sources are difficult to evaluate. Reconstitution of the bacteriorhodopsin function in a well-characterized model system avoids most of the difficulties encountered in work with intact cells.
'Oil, Gas, and Other Minerals' Clauses in Texas: Who's on First?

Stability and certainty of land titles encourages development of mineral resources and means individuals need not resort to judiciary for interpretation. Unfortunately, uncertainty prevails because Texas courts complicate the interpretive process and frequently need the assistance of nonlegal sources for comparison, explanation, and enlightenment. Clarity demands that courts adopt a definition of the “ordinary and natural meaning” test similar to that proposed by Dean Eugene Kuntz; burying the surface destruction test by retroactively applying the former. The surface destruction test produced a title examiner’s nightmare. Despite the Texas Supreme Court’s determination to rectify this in Moser v. United Steel Corp. (Moser II), the current state of Texas law on “oil, gas, and other minerals” clauses resemble the famous, yet confusing comedy routine, “Who’s on First?” by Abbott and Costello. This fact is tragic, rather than comic. It is time the Texas Supreme Court determine once and for all “who owns what” and “what is what” so that title examiners and other interested parties can stop exclaiming “I don’t know.”
Comprehensive characterization and analysis of hexagonal boron nitride on sapphire

Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is considered as one of the most promising materials for next-generation quantum technologies. In this paper, we report bulk-like multilayer h-BN epitaxially grown using a carbon-free precursor on c-plane sapphire with a strong emphasis on material characterization and analysis. In particular, structural, morphological, and vibrational properties, and chemical bonding of such van der Waals materials are presented. Between as-grown h-BN and c-plane sapphire, a compressive residual strain induced by both lattice mismatch and thermal expansion mismatch is examined by both theoretical and experimental studies. Atomic force microscopy revealed and scanning electron microscopy supported the presence of wrinkles across the entire surface of the film, likely due to biaxial compressive strain further verified by Raman spectroscopy. Stacking orders in h-BN with a clearly layered structure were confirmed by high resolution transmission electron microscopy, showing that the films have crystallographic homogeneity. Chemical analysis of the as-grown films was done by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, which confirmed the formation of stoichiometric h-BN films with excellent uniformity. This wafer-scale chemical vapor deposition-grown layered h-BN with 2D morphology facilitates applications in the fields of quantum- and deep ultraviolet-photonics.
Multi-detector hydrodynamic chromatography of colloids: following in Hamish Small's footsteps

Hamish Small, scientist extraordinaire, is best known as the inventor of both ion chromatography and hydrodynamic chromatography (HDC). The latter has experienced a renaissance during the last decade-plus, thanks principally to its coupling to a multiplicity of physicochemical detection methods and to the structural and compositional information this provides. Detection methods such as light scattering (both multi-angle static and dynamic), viscometry, and refractometry can combine to yield insight into macromolecular or colloidal size, structure, shape, and molar mass, all as a function of one another and continuously across a sample's chromatogram. It was the author's great fortune to have known Hamish during the last decade of his life, before his passing in 2019. Here, a brief personal recollection is followed by an introduction to HDC and its application, in quadruple-detector packed-column mode, to the analysis of a commercial colloidal silica with an elongated shape.
Convolutional Neural Network-based Inertia Estimation using Local Frequency Measurements

Increasing installation of renewable energy resources makes the power system inertia a time-varying quantity. Furthermore, converter-dominated grids have different dynamics compared to conventional grids and therefore estimates of the inertia constant using existing dynamic power system models are unsuitable. In this paper, a novel inertia estimation technique based on convolutional neural networks that use local frequency measurements is proposed. The model uses a non-intrusive excitation signal to perturb the system and measure frequency using a phase-locked loop. The estimated inertia constants, within 10% of actual values, have an accuracy of 97.35% and root mean square error of 0.2309. Furthermore, the model evaluated on unknown frequency measurements during the testing phase estimated the inertia constant with a root mean square error of 0.1763. The proposed model-free approach can estimate the inertia constant with just local frequency measurements and can be applied over traditional inertia estimation methods that do not incorporate the dynamic impact of renewable energy sources.
Polygenic risk score and statin relative risk reduction for primary prevention in a real-world population

Background Randomized-controlled trials demonstrate that high coronary heart disease (CHD) polygenic risk score modifies statin CHD relative risk reduction, but it is unknown if the association extends to statin users undergoing routine care. Objectives The primary objective was to determine how statin effectiveness is modified by CHD polygenic risk score in a real-world cohort of primary prevention participants. Methods We determined polygenic risk scores in participants of the Genetic Epidemiology Research on Adult Health and Aging (GERA) cohort. Cox regression models were used to compare the risk of the cardiovascular outcomes between statin users and matched nonusers. Results The hazard ratio (HR) for statin effectiveness on incident myocardial infarction was similar within 10-year atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk score groups at 0.65 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.39-1.08; P=0.10), 0.65 (95% CI 0.56-0.77; P=2.1E-7), and 0.67 (95% CI 0.57-0.80; P=4.3E-6) for borderline, intermediate, and high ASCVD groups, respectively. In contrast, statin effectiveness by polygenic risk was largest in the high polygenic risk score group (HR 0.62, 95% CI 0.50-0.77; P=1.4E-5), intermediate in the intermediate polygenic risk score group (HR 0.70, 95% CI 0.61-0.80; P=5.7E-7), and smallest in the low polygenic risk score group (HR 0.86, 95% CI 0.65-1.16; P=0.33). ASCVD risk and statin LDL-C lowering did not differ across polygenic risk score groups. Conclusions In primary prevention patients undergoing routine care, CHD polygenic risk modified statin relative risk reduction of incident myocardial infarction independent of statin LDL-C lowering. Our findings extend prior work by identifying a subset of patients with attenuated clinical benefit from statins.
Stereotactic radiosurgery for melanoma brain metastases: dose-size response relationship in the era of immunotherapy.

Purpose/objective(s) To determine, for intact melanoma brain metastases (MBM) treated with single-fraction stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), whether planning parameter peripheral dose per lesion diameter (PDLDm, Gy/mm) and lesion control (LC) differs with versus without immunotherapy (IO). Materials/methods We performed a retrospective analysis of patients with intact MBM treated with SRS from 2008 to 2019. Cox-frailty models were constructed to include confounders selected by penalized Cox regression models with a LASSO selector. Interaction effect testing was used to determine whether a significant effect between IO and PDLDm could be demonstrated with respect to LC. Results The study cohort comprised 67 patients with 244 MBMs treated with SRS (30 patients with 122 lesions treated with both SRS and IO) were included. The logarithm of PDLDm was selected as a predictor of LC (HR 0.307, 95% CI 0.098-0.441), adjusting for IO receipt (HR 0.363, 95% CI 0.108-1.224). Interaction effect testing demonstrated a differential effect of PDLDm by IO receipt, with respect to LC (p = 0.048). Twelve-month LC rates for a 7.5 mm lesion receiving SRS (18 Gy) with IO versus without IO were 87.8% (95% CI 69.0-98.3%) versus 79.8% (95% CI 55.1-93.8%) respectively. Conclusion PDLDm predicted LC in patients with small MBMs treated with single-fraction SRS. We found a differential effect of dose per lesion size and LC by immunotherapy receipt. Future studies are needed to determine whether lower doses of single-fraction SRS afford similarly effective LC for patients with small MBMs receiving immunotherapy.
Abstract 347: Chronic Kidney Disease Modulates Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Phenotype and Increases de Novo Venous Intimal Hyperplasia

Background: Vascular access dysfunction associated with arteriovenous grafts and fistulas contributes significantly to the morbidity and mortality of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients receiving hemodialysis. The mechanism involved in the development of peri-anastomotic intimal hyperplasia, a major cause of the arteriovenous access dysfunction, is poorly elucidated. We hypothesized that the uremic condition associated with ESRD promotes a pathophysiological vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) phenotype that contributes to accelerated development of intimal hyperplasia in blood vessels, both de novo and following the arteriovenous anastomosis. Methods and Results: We examined the effect of culturing human VSMC with human uremic serum on its phenotype. We utilized quantitative real-time PCR to measure the expression of the VSMC-specific contractile marker genes, and found that these genes were reduced 50-80% in VSMC exposed to serum from hemodialysis patients as compared to serum from patients with normal renal function. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assays demonstrated that there were also significant changes in epigenetic markers associated with contractile gene promoters in VSMC cultured in uremic conditions. Moreover, there was a 60% increase in proliferation rate in cells exposed to uremic conditions, with no change in the levels of apoptosis as compared to cells exposed to non-uremic conditions. Interestingly, uremic serum from ESRD patients inhibited PDGF-induced migration of VSMC. We also examined the histopathology of veins from patients with normal kidney function and chronic kidney disease (CKD). Indeed, we found significant de novo venous intimal hyperplasia exists in CKD and ESRD patients prior to any surgical manipulation as compared to veins from patients with normal kidney function. Conclusion: CKD alters VSMC phenotype in vitro and contributes to intimal hyperplasia formation in vivo resulting in the pathogenesis of vascular access dysfunction in ESRD patients.
High speed search and memory efficient Huffman coding HDTV

Code compression is a key element in high speed digital data transport. A major compression is performed by converting the fixed-length codes to variable-length codes through a (semi-)entropy coding scheme. Huffman coding combined with run-length coding is shown to be a very efficient coding scheme. To speed up the process of search for a symbol in a Huffman tree and to reduce the memory size, a tree clustering algorithm is proposed to avoid high sparsity of the tree. The method is shown to be very efficient in memory size, and fast in searching for the symbol. For an experimental video data with Huffman codes extended up to 13 bits in length, the entire memory space is shown to be 126 words, compared to normal 2/sup 13/ = 8192 words. >
The “Great Satan” talks with the “Evil”: A cross cultural analysis of the American‐Iranian communication/negotiation styles

Purpose – This article aims to analyze the Iranian and American national cultures and to discuss the implications of cultural differences for communication/negotiation styles.Design/methodology/approach – First, the concept of culture is framed and an integrative model of cultural analysis is constructed. Then, building on the extant literature and secondary data, the various traits of American and Iranian national cultures are analyzed and the implications for communication/negotiation are discussed.Findings – It is found that Iran and America portray dissimilar and somewhat opposed cultural orientations that might create substantial obstacles to their bilateral communications/negotiations. Recommendations for more effective communications/negotiations are provided and avenues for future research are pointed out.Research limitations/implications – Both Iran and the USA are diverse societies and obviously cannot be considered as monolithic cultures. Moreover, any generalization about the national culture ...
Addressing the siphoning effect in new shunt designs by decoupling the activation pressure and the pressure gradient across the valve.

Object Although several improvements have been observed in the past few years in shunt technology, currently available systems still present several associated problems. Among these, overdrainage along with its complications remains one of the great challenges for new shunt designs. To address the so-called siphoning effect, the authors provide a practical example of how it is possible to decouple the activation pressure and the pressure gradient across the valve through a 3–key component system. In this new shunt design, the flow is expected to depend only on the intracranial pressure and not on the pressure gradient across the valve, thus avoiding the so-called siphoning effect. Methods The authors used computer models to theoretically evaluate the mechanical variables involved in the operation of the newly designed valve, such as the fluid's Reynolds number, proximal pressure, distal pressure, pressure gradient, actual flow rate, and expected flow rate. After fabrication of the first superscaled model,...
The Effects of Continuous Positive Airways Pressure Therapy on Cardiovascular End Points in Patients With Sleep‐Disordered Breathing and Heart Failure: A Meta‐Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

In patients with sleep-disordered breathing and heart failure, continuous positive airway pressure has been found to be associated with an improvement in cardiovascular end points. We conducted a systematic review of the current literature and a meta-analysis to pool data from 15 published randomized controlled trials. End points analyzed were left ventricular ejection fraction, diastolic blood pressure, systolic blood pressure, heart rate, and mortality. A fixed effects model was used for end points demonstrating homogeneity among included studies, whereas a random effects model was used for end points demonstrating heterogeneity among included studies. A significant improvement in left ventricular ejection fraction was noted with continuous positive airway pressure (mean difference, 5.05%; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 3.72 to 6.38), diastolic blood pressure (mean difference, −1.67; 95% CI: −3.09 to −0.25), and heart rate (mean difference, −5.92; 95% CI: −10.12 to−1.72). No significant changes in mortality (odds ratio, 0.63; 95% CI: 0.40 to 1.00) and systolic blood pressure were noted (mean difference, −6.35; 95% CI: −16.11 to 2.41). The analysis also revealed the need for additional studies to clarify the associations noted and the presence of publication bias with small studies with a paucity of small studies with negative results. In this meta-analysis, treatment with continuous positive airways pressure was associated with improvements in ejection fraction, diastolic blood pressure, and heart rate in patients with sleep-disordered breathing and congestive heart failure.
A Review of “The Taste of War: World War II and the Battle for Food”

In his engaging overview of world food history, Near a Thousand Tables: A History of Food, historian Felipe Fernandez-Armesto argues that “Food has a claim to be considered the world's most importa...
Correction of coherence gate curvature in high numerical aperture optical coherence imaging

We present a method for correcting coherence gate curvature caused by scanning-induced path length variations in spectral-domain high-NA optical coherence imaging systems. These variations cause curvature artifacts in optical coherence tomography and effectively restrict the field of view in optical coherence microscopy (OCM). Here we show that the coherence gate curvature can be measured and corrected by recovering the phase of the analytic signal from a calibration image. This phase information can be used directly to process OCM images allowing the coherence gate curvature, as well as any order of system dispersion, to be corrected in a computationally efficient manner. We also discuss the use of various image quality metrics that can be used to adjust the calibrated phase in order to keep the coherence and confocal gates aligned in tissue.
Comparing species distribution models constructed with different subsets of environmental predictors

Aim To assess the usefulness of combining climate predictors with additional types of environmental predictors in species distribution models for rangerestricted species, using common correlative species distribution modelling approaches. Location Florida, USA Methods We used five different algorithms to create distribution models for 14 vertebrate species, using seven different predictor sets: two with bioclimate predictors only, and five ‘combination’ models using bioclimate predictors plus ‘additional’ predictors from groups representing: human influence, land cover, extreme weather or noise (spatially random data).We use a linear mixed-model approach to analyse the effects of predictor set and algorithm on model accuracy, variable importance scores and spatial predictions. Results Regardless of modelling algorithm, no one predictor set produced significantly more accurate models than all others, though models including human influence predictors were the only ones with significantly higher accuracy than climate-only models. Climate predictors had consistently higher variable importance scores than additional predictors in combination models, though there was variation related to predictor type and algorithm. While spatial predictions varied moderately between predictor sets, discrepancies were significantly greater between modelling algorithms than between predictor sets. Furthermore, there were no differences in the level of agreement between binary ‘presence–absence’ maps and independent species range maps related to the predictor set used. Main conclusions Our results indicate that additional predictors have relatively minor effects on the accuracy of climate-based species distribution models and minor to moderate effects on spatial predictions. We suggest that implementing species distribution models with only climate predictors may provide an effective and efficient approach for initial assessments of environmental suitability.
Monitoring of Infant Feeding Behavior Using a Jaw Motion Sensor

Rapid weight gain during infancy increases the risk of obesity. Given that infant feeding may contribute to rapid weight gain, it would be useful to develop objective tools which can monitor infant feeding behavior. This paper presents an objective method for examining infant sucking count during meals. A piezoelectric jaw motion sensor and a video camera were used to monitor jaw motions of 10 infants during a meal. Videotapes and sensor signals were annotated by two independent human raters, counting the number of sucks in each 10 second epoch. Annotated data were used as a gold standard for the development of the computer algorithms. The sensor signal was de-noised and normalized prior to computing the per-epoch sucking counts. A leave-one-out cross-validation scheme resulted in a mean error rate of -9.7% and an average intra-class correlation coefficient value of 0.86 between the human raters and the algorithm.
Improved Efficiency and Safety for EVAR with Utilization of a Hybrid Room

Objective Access to a hybrid endovascular suite is touted as a necessity for advanced endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) to improve imaging accuracy and safety. Yet there remain little data documenting this intuitive advantage of a hybrid setup versus a traditional operating room (OR) utilizing a portable fluoroscopic unit (C-arm) for imaging. We hypothesized that standard elective EVAR performed in a hybrid suite would improve procedural efficiency and accuracy, as well minimize patient exposure to both contrast and radiation. Methods We retrospectively reviewed a single attending surgeon's EVAR practice, which encompassed the transition to a hybrid endovascular suite (opened July 2010). Only consecutive abdominal aneurysms were included in the analysis to attempt to create a homogenous cohort. All emergent, aorto-uni-iliac (AUI), snorkel, fenestrated, or hybrid procedures were excluded. Standard variables evaluated and compared between the two study subgroups included fluoroscopy time, operative time, contrast use, stent-graft component utilization, complication rates, and short-term endoleaks. Results From January 2008 to August 2012, we performed 213 EVAR procedures for abdominal aortic aneurysms. After excluding emergent, AUI, snorkel, or hybrid procedures, we analyzed 109 routine EVARs. Fifty-eight consecutive cases were done in the OR with a C-arm until July 2010, and the last 51 cases were done in the hybrid room. Both groups were well matched in terms of demographics, aneurysm morphology, and procedural characteristics. No difference was found in terms of complication rates or operative mortality, although there was a trend towards decreased fluoroscopy time, type I/III endoleaks, and a number of additional endograft components utilized. Compared with patients repaired in the OR/C-arm, EVAR done in the hybrid room resulted in less total OR time and contrast usage (p Conclusions Routine EVAR performed in a hybrid fixed-imaging suite affords greater efficiency and less harmful exposure of contrast and possible radiation to the patient. Accurate imaging quality and deployment is associated with less need for additional endograft components, which should lead to improved cost efficiency. Confirmation of these findings might be necessary in a randomized control trial to fully justify the capital expenditure necessary for hybrid endovascular suites.
Interaction between narcotic antagonist (naloxone) and lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) in the rat.

LSD administration in rats elicited a diphasic reaction consisting of a brief excitable period (up to 8 min) followed by a prolonged catalepsy(8 min–1 h). While the cataleptic response was antagonized by a single injection of naloxone (given 30 min after LSD administration), pretreatment with naloxone shortened the excitable phase and potentiated the catalepsy.
Measuring Television Violence: The Importance of Context

VioLit summary: OBJECTIVE: This goal of this article by Kunkel et al. was to present their unique content analysis framework for studying television violence. METHODOLOGY: The authors presented a non-experimental literature review and description of their specialized content analysis method. FINDINGS/DISCUSSION: Early studies on television violence employed content analysis techniques that did not distinguish between degrees of realism and severity of violence. Industry spokes people have argued that not all violence produced the same effects; in fact, some violence is prosocial. The authors defined violence, explore its primary elements, introduce new levels of analysis, and illustrate the contextual variables with examples. Violence was defined according to the following elements: intention to injure, physical degree of injury and involvement of live beings. Intention to injure referred to the psychological state of the actor and excludes accidental harm. Physical injury or the threat of it referred to harmful consequences. Involvement of live beings as both attacker and victim eliminated harmful acts of nature and vandalism. However, the authors included a spectrum of creatures to encompass the range of fictional live beings that inhabit the world of television violence. The authors introduced their modified content analysis framework for television violence. The unit of analysis was changed from isolated violent acts to violent acts viewed in the context of an ongoing exchange between characters. The PAT framework (Perpetrator, Act, Target) was the name for the method of studying collectively all violence that occurred within a single program sequence. AUTHORS' RECOMMENDATIONS: The authors planned to improve this framework with additional coding for a variety of characteristics that a perpetrator, act and target could have possessed. In addition, the authors intended to add an assessment of the consequences of violence: reward versus punishment. EVALUATION: In general, this article provides a look at the early stages in the development of a content analysis framework specific to the study of television violence. The success of this framework cannot be fully evaluated until the authors progress with the next stages of development. (CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado) KW - Literature Review KW - Media Violence Measurement KW - Content Analysis KW - Reality Program KW - Television Violence KW - Media Violence Effects KW - Program-Film Content
Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki spore production in batch culture using broiler litter extracts as complex media

Abstract Broth for the growth of Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki was prepared by extraction of broiler litter with water. Filamentous growth occurred during the first 6 h of fermentation in the full strength and in a 2:1 extract dilution. Of the five dilutions examined, the 2:1 dilution of the extract having a total organic carbon concentration of 1.7 g/l produced the highest spore count, 2.46 × 10 8 spores/ml. SDS-PAGE analysis of spore-crystal protein produced during the fermentation indicated a molecular weight of approximately 135000, suggesting the presence of bacterial insecticidal protoxin. With appropriate pretreatment, broiler litter may be a valuable resource when used as a low-cost complex medium for production of biochemicals.
Bounds for Waringʼs number mod Pm in number fields

Let P be a prime ideal in the ring of integers R of a number field F, with P∩Z=pZ, and assume that P has degree of inertia f and ramification index e<p−1. Let γ(k,Pm)=γm be the smallest positive integer s such that every integer that is expressible as a sum of k-th powers is a sum of s k-th powers (modPm). We prove that γm⩽(γ1+12)klog(2γ1+1)/logp+12. We also use known bounds for γ1 to obtain bounds for γm for any positive integer m.
High-Power Characteristics of Single-Crystal Ferrites with Planar Anisotropy

Single crystal (ZnY) (Ba2Zn2Fe12O22) was used in an investigation of the variation of the magnetic susceptibility with microwave magnetic field. The large anisotropy field in these materials makes them attractive for applications in microwave devices. Measurements were made in the frequency range of 8.6 to 37.7 kMc. The microwave magnetic field in the cavities extended up to 35 oe. Measurements taken at a constant frequency indicate that there is an appreciable shift in the field required for resonance as a function of power. This shift in the resonance field is superimposed on the usual decline of the main resonance. Measurements indicate that the shift effect of the resonance field decreases as the linewidth and frequency are increased. In the frequency range of 8.6 to 16.6 kMc, the critical field increases with frequency. Above this frequency, the critical field tends to decrease. At X-band frequencies, the critical field compares favorably with that of YIG material.
Long-term NBTI degradation under real-use conditions in IBM microprocessors

Abstract Long-term measurement of bias temperature instability (BTI) degradation obtained from an on-chip sensor is presented. The sensor reports measurements periodically with a digital output. Implemented on IBM’s z196 enterprise systems using IBM 45 nm technology, it can be used to monitor long-term degradation under real-use conditions. Over 700 days worth of ring oscillator degradation data from customer systems is presented. The data obtained by this sensor are consistent with models based on accelerated testing.
Multidiscipline approach to key performance indicator measurements

Mobile Operators offer usually also Internet Services but because of regulations in some countries they may get their redundant Internet Access from authorized Internet service Providers (ISP) only. For providing good level of service for their customers, the operators sign Service Level Agreements (SLA) with ISP's with Key Performance Indicators (KPI) defined. The paper deals with multidiscipline approach to the KPI measurements respecting technical, psychological and social aspects, pro-activity, reporting, visualizing, and alerting results. Such KPI measuring is useful also for ISP's.
NEUTRON POLARIZATION PHENOMENA IN SCATTERING PROCESSES

Abstract The theory of polarization-dependent cross sections and of the polarization of the scattered beam in terms of the nuclear and magnetic correlation functions will be reviewed and extended. It is possible, using three-dimensional polarization analysis, to separate different correlation functions and static expectation values. Expressions which are useful for this purpose are given.
Predictive Ability of the Interest Rate Spread Using Neural Networks

Abstract Interest rates are commonly used as predictors of future economic conditions as measured by industrial production, real gross domestic product and real total business sales (RTBS), as well as through the prediction of recessions in the economy. Recession forecasting is mainly characterized by probit categorical analysis, and there appear to be hardly any neural network research in this area. This paper contributes to the recession forecasting literature using interest rate spreads (the difference between the average yields on 10 year U.S. Treasury bonds and on 3 month U.S. Treasury bills) to forecast the 2007 to 2009 recession with neural network models referenced against regression models. It is shown that neural network models out-performed regression models as evidenced by the R-squared and mean square error performance metrics. Unlike other studies, the change in interest rates is used to compute the interest rate spread. The targeted variable is RTBS. The interest rate spread variable was used to generate three input variables comprising 23, 26, and 29 month leads respectively over RTBS.
Migration/inversion for incident waves synthesized from common-shot data gathers

Wavefield synthesis is a process for producing reflection responses from more general sources or from prescribed incident waves by combining common-shot data gathers. Synthesis can provide surveywide data sets, similar in that regard to common-offset data gathers, but with the added advantage that each synthesized data set is a solution to a single wave equation. A common-offset data set does not have this last feature. Thus, synthesized data sets can be processed by true-amplitude wave-equation migration. The output is then known to be true amplitude in the same sense as is the output of Kirchhoff inversion. That is, the peak amplitude is proportional to the ray-theoretic reflection coefficient at a determinable specular incidence angle multiplied bythe area under the frequency-domain source signature and scaled by 1∕2π . Alternatively, the Kirchhoff inversion of synthesized data has a Beylkin determinant that is expressed in terms of the ray-theoretic Green’s function amplitude. This is in contrast to 3...
A technique for sampling ancient DNA that minimizes damage to museum specimens.

Because of the utility of ancient DNA to conservation genetics (Baker 1994), the number of requests to collect tissue from museum specimens has increased. A drawback of consumptive sampling is that it requires removal and destruction of part of the specimen. Epithelium, hair, dried skeletal muscle, and bone have been used as sources of ancient DNA taken from skulls, postcranial material or study skins (Herrmann and Hummel 1994). Although many museums permit consumptive sampling of collections, the request is generally contrary to the goal of collection managers, which is long-term care and maintenance of specimens. We propose a collection method that attempts to satisfy goals of both loan requestor and collection manager, the use of maxilloturbinal bone material. Maxilloturbinates are thin bones attached anteriorly to ridges inside the nasal cavity (Hillenius 1992). In this study we compare success rates in amplification of genomic DNA taken from epithelium and maxilloturbinates ranging in age from 17 to 111 years old. We sampled 5–20 mg epithelial or 10–20 mg maxilloturbinal bone tissue of black-footed ferrets (Mustela nigripes) from six collections. Curatorial staff collected epithelial tissue from study skins. We instructed staff to sterilize collection tools before and in between handling specimens using 50% bleach solution and to deposit samples in sterile containers. Epithelial samples included material from the ventral incision of study skins and clippings from the inner ear. All maxilloturbinal samples were collected by one author (SMW). Forceps sterilized with 50% bleach were inserted into the nasal cavity of the skull, and bone material was carefully dislodged. No force was applied to retrieve 20 mg of material. Fragments were collected onto sterile aluminum foil and poured into a sterile 2 ml screw cap tube. We extracted and amplified DNA from epithelial and turbinal samples in an isolated ancient DNA laboratory. Epithelium was cut into small pieces; turbinates were already fragmentary. Samples were incubated at 58 ◦ C for 24 hrs in lysis buffer (10 mM Tris, 2 mM EDTA, 10 mM NaCl, 1% SDS, 10 mg/ml DTT and 10 mg/ml protienase K), extracted with phenol twice and chloroform once. Three ml of deionized water were added to the final supernate and cleaned with a Centricon 30 dialysis filter (Amicon). Deionized sterile water was added so that the final volume was 200 µl. The extracted DNA solution was
The therapeutic value of glyceryl trinitrate in biliary colic and in the post-operative phase of biliary tract disease

Abstract This article concerns the management of some of the failures of biliary surgery, proved to be due to spasm of the sphincter of Oddi, and the use of the drug, glyceryl trinitrate, as a means of relieving this postoperative biliary distress. It is believed that an appreciation of the cause of some of the failures following biliary surgery may place these cases in the category of successful surgery. The use of glyceryl trinitrate and atropine in the management of biliary colic in non-operative cases is also discussed. It appears that glyceryl trinitrate is valuable in biliary colic due to sphincter of Oddi spasm while atropine is more apt to relieve spasm of the collum cysticus at the neck of the gall bladder.
Calibration of two-stage air samplers.

Three different two-stage samplers were calibrated using monodisperse aerosols produced by a spinning-disk aerosol generator. One, using a horizontal elutriator as the size selector, agreed with the criteria defining “respirable dust” adopted by the British Medical Research Council. The other two, using small cyclones as size selectors, agree with criteria proposed by the Los Alamos Conference and the ACGIH when operated at approximately half their initially recommended flow rates. Operation of these cyclones at the initially recommended flow rates underestimates the inhalation hazard.