cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Unmet support needs of sexual and gender minority breast cancer survivors

This study explored sources of stress and support experienced by sexual and gender minority (SGM) breast cancer survivors and the impact of treatment on their lives. SGM breast cancer survivors were identified through purposive and referral sampling and invited to participate in a web-based survey containing both closed- and open-ended items. Sixty-eight SGM breast cancer survivors aged 18–75 years completed the survey between May 2015 and January 2016. Bivariate analyses of quantitative data reveal that queer-identified (in either sexual orientation or gender identity (SOGI)) SGM survivors are more likely to report having bilateral mastectomy without reconstruction and to think that disclosing SOGI to providers affected their care. Queer-identified SGM survivors are also more likely to use LGBT-specific support groups and to report that their current level of social support is below average. Thematic analysis of qualitative comments revealed themes related to self-disclosure of SOGI to providers, need for recognition and support of partners, need for appropriate social supports for patients and partners, and impact of breast cancer treatment on intimate relationships. This study provides quantitative and qualitative evidence that many SGM breast cancer patients face a dearth of appropriate social supports, both from breast cancer survivor organizations and from within the medical system. These findings confirm the need for research on the physical and emotional effects of breast cancer treatment on SGM breast cancer survivors, as well as further exploration of the social support needs and experiences of SGM breast cancer patients and their partners.
Statistical methods to compare functional outcomes in randomized controlled trials with high mortality

Mortality is a common primary endpoint in randomized controlled trials of patients with a high severity of illness, such as critically ill patients. However, researchers are increasingly evaluating functional outcomes, such as quality of life. Importantly, in such trials some patients may die before the assessment of a functional outcome, resulting in the functional outcome being “truncated due to death.” As described in this paper, defining and testing treatment effects on functional outcomes in this setting requires careful consideration. Data from a completed trial of critically ill patients are used to highlight key differences among three statistical approaches used when analyzing such trials.
Conversion vs Primary Total Hip Arthroplasty: Increased Cost of Care and Perioperative Complications.

Abstract Background With the increasing incidence of hip fractures and hip preservation surgeries, there has been a concomitant rise in the number of conversion total hip arthroplasties (THAs) performed. Prior studies have shown higher complication rates in conversion THA. However, there is a paucity of data showing differences in cost between these 2 procedures. Currently, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services bundles primary and conversion THA in the same Medicare Severity–Diagnosis Related Group for hospital reimbursement. More evidence is needed to support the reclassification of conversion THA. Methods The cohort provided by the institutional database included 163 conversion THAs between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2015. Intraoperative complications, estimated blood loss, operative time, postoperative complications, and perioperative cost data were analyzed for 163 primary THA patients matched to the conversion THA cohort. Results Compared with primary THA, conversion THA had significantly (P Conclusion Conversion THA, as compared with primary THA, is associated with greater costs (approximately 19% greater), increased surgical times, and perioperative complications. To prevent these additional expenses from creating patient selection bias and a barrier to care, the conversion THA Medicare Severity-Diagnosis Related Group should be reclassified, or modifiers created.
Iyoba Idia: The Hidden Oba of Benin

The task of piecing together women's history has been difficult. So acute is the dearth of information, particularly documentary evidence, that some of the outstanding women in history have been mistaken for men and their achievements, attributed to male rulers! -- Bolanle Awe 1992, vi. Present Benin history is the product of several reconstructions that commenced after the accession of Oba Eweka II in 1914. Two central problematics shaped these reconstructions, namely, the glorification drive of cultural nationalism, and the male privileging ethos of a patriarchal gender ideology. The cultural nationalist project of restoring Binis' pride after the humiliating dissolution of the kingdom in 1897 meant that the first phase of historical reconstruction was steeped in romantic mystification, resulting in a literal account of history (Egharevba 1968, 1961, 1953, 1934; Akpata 1938, 1937). The second phase occurred within a scholarly convention and a view of history that devalued women through assuming their irrelevance in political matters (Bradbury 1973) and through focusing exclusively on European archival materials, giving scant attention to Benin oral and performative traditions (Fagg 1963, 1953; Ryder 1969, Sargent 1986).1 Because the two types of project with the exception of Sargent's were undertaken during colonial times, they embody a gender ideology that affirmed men as the measure of all things.2 The scholarly paradigm of the second phase went much further in infusing Benin history with a strong masculine ethos that, in subsequent scholarship, shut down the possibility of claims that women had autonomy in old Benin (Okpewho 1998; Kaplan 1997, 1991; Curnow 1997; Mba 1982). Babacar M'bow's injunction in the introduction of the catalog, Benin: A Kindom in Bronze, is relevant in reminding us that “African discourse on its art is a discourse of struggles that must be waged outside of the context of western epistemological hegemony.” Mindful that not just foreigners are ensnared by this hegemonic framework, we heed the injunction to move the boundary of discourse outside of this epistemological framework in which male hegemony is uncontested and men are the only subjects of history.
An ant colony optimization approach to expert identification in social networks

In a social network there may be people who are experts on a subject. Identifying such people and routing queries to such experts is an important problem. While the degree of separation between any node and an expert node may be small, assuming that social networks are small world networks, not all nodes may be willing to route the query because flooding the network with queries may result in the nodes becoming less likely to route queries in the future. Given this constraint and that there may be time constraints it is imperative to have an efficient way to identify experts in a network and route queries to these experts. In this paper we present an Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) based approach for expert identification and query routing in social networks. Also, even after one has identified the experts in the network, there may be new emerging topics for which there are not identifiable experts in the network. For such cases we extend the basic ACO model and introduce the notion of composibility of pheromones, where trails of different pheromones can be combined to for routing purposes.
Prenatal to postnatal trajectory of brain growth in complex congenital heart disease.

Abstract Altered brain development is a common feature of the neurological sequelae of complex congenital heart disease (CHD). These alterations include abnormalities in brain size and growth that begin prenatally and persist postnatally. However, the longitudinal trajectory of changes in brain volume from the prenatal to postnatal environment have not been investigated. We aimed to evaluate the trajectory of brain growth in a cohort of patients with complex CHD (n = 16) and healthy controls (n = 15) to test the hypothesis that patients with complex CHD would have smaller total brain volume (TBV) prenatally, which would become increasingly prominent by three months of age. Participants underwent fetal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at a mean of 32 weeks gestation, a preoperative/neonatal MRI shortly after birth, a postoperative MRI (CHD only), and a 3-month MRI to evaluate the trajectory of brain growth. Three-dimensional volumetric analysis was applied to the MRI data to measure TBV, as well as tissue-specific volumes of the cortical gray matter (CGM), white matter (WM), subcortical (deep nuclear) gray matter (SCGM), cerebellum, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). A random coefficients model was used to investigate longitudinal changes in TBV and demonstrated an altered trajectory of brain growth in the CHD population. The estimated slope for TBV from fetal to 3-month MRI was 11.5 cm3 per week for CHD infants compared to 16.7 cm3 per week for controls (p = 0.0002). Brain growth followed a similar trajectory for the CGM (p
Application of quality metrics to wedge resection for early stage non-small cell lung cancer demonstrates differences in overall survival.

In their recent publication entitled “Surgical quality of wedge resection affects overall survival in patients with early stage non-small cell lung cancer,” Ajmani and colleagues applied established quality metrics to pulmonary wedge resection to examine trends in long-term overall survival and pathologic upstaging for patients with cT1 N0M0 and cT2N0M0 tumors (1).
Helping parents generalize PCIT skills to manage ASD-related behaviors: Handouts and clinical applications

This chapter will provide several handouts for parents to help tailor Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) skills to manage autism spectrum disorder (ASD)-related behaviors (e.g., repetitive play, sensory dysregulation, insistence on sameness, poor social skills). Handouts cover how to manage ASD-related behaviors within the context of PCIT’s two phases: Child-Directed Interaction (CDI) and Parent-Directed Interaction (PDI). The chapter will additionally provide strategies for clinicians to help parents generalize skill acquisition to the home (e.g., additional considerations for setting up Special Time practice) and community environments (e.g., using CDI skills throughout the day). This chapter and the accompanying parent handouts aim to provide information for clinicians to best support families of children with ASD in generalizing these skills to manage ASD-related behaviors.
Effective Medications for Treating Externalizing Disorders

The purpose of this chapter is to highlight the efficacy and effectiveness of psychotropic medications used in the treatment of school-aged children exhibiting externalizing behavior disorders including Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Conduct Disorder, and Intermittent Explosive Disorder. Both the intended and side effects of medication treatments (stimulants, non-stimulants, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers) commonly used to treat these externalizing disorders are reviewed. A set of references and web-based materials are provided to readers for additional information.
State of the art in the assessment of aging effects on soil liquefaction

Abstract A review of the current state of the art in the assessment of aging effects on soil liquefaction is presented in this paper. The review includes a summary of several field case histories indicating greater resistance to liquefaction in aged soils than in young uncemented soils during earthquakes, a discussion of the mechanisms that increase liquefaction resistance with time, an evaluation of proposed methods for quantifying the influence of aging processes (or diagenesis) on liquefaction resistance (KDR), and an evaluation of proposed predictor variables for KDR. The published literature indicates physical diagenetic processes tend to dominate the nature of interactions at the grain-to-grain contacts of sand deposits in the absence of sufficient cementing agents, while chemical processes tend to dominate where sufficient cementing agents are present. Variables proposed for predicting KDR include: the time since deposition or last critical disturbance; the ratio of measured to estimated small-strain shear wave velocity (MEVR); the ratio of small-strain shear modulus to cone tip resistance (Gmax/qc); the adjusted Gmax/qc (KG); and the ratio of measured to estimated adjusted Gmax/qc (MEKG). It is shown that MEVR, Gmax/qc, KG and MEKG are all ratios of measured to estimated or reference shear wave velocity. MEVR and Gmax/qc are slightly more robust predictors (i.e., regression equations with higher coefficient of regression and lower root mean square error) of KDR than KG and MEKG. Time is the least robust predictor of KDR.
Risk factors for vertebral fracture in primary hyperparathyroidism

Screening for vertebral fractures (VF) in primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) is recommended, but there are limited data regarding which patients are at greatest risk for VF. We evaluated risk factors for VF in PHPT. This is a retrospective cross-sectional analysis of 117 participants with PHPT. We assessed Grades 2 and 3 VF by vertebral fracture assessment (VFA) and the association of VF with the trabecular bone score (TBS), other skeletal parameters and clinical risk factors. VFA was performed only in those who met National Osteoporosis Foundation criteria for VFA screening. T-scores were in the osteopenic range and TBS was degraded. Overall VF rate based on VFA or other imaging was 12.8%. Serum PTH, calcium and TBS were not associated with VF. Those with VF were older (p = 0.04), had worse renal function (p = 0.04), were more likely to have received osteoporosis treatment (p = 0.03), and tended to have had a prior fracture (p = 0.06). T-scores did not differ by fracture status at any skeletal site. Those with VF had nine times the odds of osteoporosis at the hip (95% CI 2.4–34.5), but this risk factor had low sensitivity (46.7%) for VF. Hip T-score 78.6 years, and GFR < 58.8 ml/min/1.73 m2 (thresholds maximizing sensitivity and specificity) had areas under the curve of 0.60–0.67 for VF (all p < 0.05) and low sensitivity. Findings were similar when analyses were limited to women. In PHPT, VF risk factors included older age, prior fracture, worse renal function and osteoporosis at the hip, but not osteoporosis at other sites, TBS or biochemical indices of PHPT. Since identified risk factors had low sensitivity and were generally inaccurate for categorizing those with VF, the data do not support limiting screening to PHPT patients with these specific VF risk factors.
Visual Function and Disability Are Associated with Increased Retinal Volumetric Vessel Density in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis.

Purpose The goal of this study was to determine the volumetric vessel density (VVD) in the intraretinal layers and its relationship with visual function and disability in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Design Cross-sectional study. Methods A total of 80 patients with relapsing-remitting MS and 99 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HC) were recruited. The retinal microvascular network in the macular area was imaged using optical coherence tomography angiography in 123 eyes without a history of optic neuritis (ON) (MSNON) and 36 eyes with a history of ON (MSON). The VVD was calculated as the vessel densities in the retinal vascular network (RVN), superficial vascular plexus (SVP), or deep vascular plexus (DVP) of an annulus (0.6-2.5 mm in diameter), divided by the corresponding tissue volume of the intraretinal layers respectively. Results The VVD of RVN and DVP in MSNON were significantly higher than in HC (P Conclusions This is the first study to reveal increased retinal VVD in patients with relapsing-remitting MS. The measurements of VVD in the RVN and SVP were related to disability and visual function, which may be developed as image markers for tracking disease progression.
The Sociopolitical Context of Abortion Bill Authorship in Texas

This study examines abortion bills proposed in the Texas legislature between 1993 and 2015 to explore how legislators respond to the power resources of minorities versus the (supposed) threat that ...
Cohomological operators on quotients by exact zero divisors

Let S be a commutative ring, x,y ∈ S a pair of exact zero divisors, and R = S/(x). Let F be a complex of free R-modules. In this paper we explicitly compute cohomological operators of R over S by c...
Schirmer strip wetting length varies by commercial manufacturer

OBJECTIVE To determine whether wetting length of Schirmer tear test (STT) strips varies by commercial manufacturer of test. ANIMALS STUDIED Ten normal female beagle cross-breed dogs. PROCEDURES Schirmer tear test strips from four commercial manufacturers were used to assess wetting lengths in-vitro when exposed to a set volume of water over 1 minute. Digital photography was used to assess the total surface area of Schirmer strips from each manufacturer. Schirmer tear test type 1 was performed on normal dogs over 1 minute with STT strips from the same four commercial manufacturers in a randomized crossover design. ANOVA was used to detect differences between strips from different manufacturers. RESULTS Significant differences in wetting length were found between STT strips from different manufacturers in-vitro (P < .0001) and in-vivo (P < .0001). STT wetting lengths for the in-vitro experiments (mean ± SD) were 21.2 ± 0.8 mm (Amcon Laboratories), 27.8 ± 2.7 mm (Merck Animal Health), 30.0 ± 1.7 mm (HUB pharmaceuticals), and 31.5 ± 2.3 mm (Gulden Ophthalmics). STT wetting lengths for the experiments in live dogs (mean ± SD) were 17.5 ± 3.4 mm (Amcon Laboratories), 24.8 ± 3.9 mm (Merck Animal Health), 26.5 ± 3.7 mm (HUB pharmaceuticals), and 24.0 ± 3.9 mm (Gulden Ophthalmics). The surface area of STT strips were found to vary between different manufacturers. CONCLUSIONS Schirmer tear test type 1 results in dogs are affected by choice of STT strip commercial manufacturer. It is proposed that guidelines are created for the standardization of future STT strip production.
What Is Regenerative Agriculture? A Review of Scholar and Practitioner Definitions Based on Processes and Outcomes

Regenerative agriculture is an alternative means of producing food that, its advocates claim, may have lower – or even net positive – environmental and/or social impacts. Regenerative agriculture has recently received significant attention from producers, retailers, researchers, and consumers, as well as politicians and the mainstream media. Despite widespread interest in regenerative agriculture, no legal or regulatory definition of the term ‘regenerative agriculture’ exists nor has a widely accepted definition emerged in common usage. This paper answers the research question: How have different scholars and practitioners defined regenerative agriculture? We reviewed 229 journal articles and 25 practitioner websites to characterize the term ‘regenerative agriculture’. Our review revealed that there were many definitions and descriptions of regenerative agriculture in usage. These were variously based on processes (e.g. use of cover crops, the integration of livestock, and reducing or eliminating tillage), outcomes (e.g. to improve soil health, to sequester carbon, and to increase biodiversity), or combinations of the two. Process-based definitions may imply that advocates or users of such definitions are open-minded about the possible outcomes of these processes. Similarly, outcome-based definitions may imply that users of such definitions are open-minded about the processes that may lead to those outcomes. We discuss the implications of these different forms of definition for policy, including for certification programs and for payments for carbon sequestration programs. More generally, wide variance in the definitions used may lead to uncertainty about what different actors mean when they talk about regenerative agriculture. We suggest that it may be helpful for individual users of the term ‘regenerative agriculture’ to define it comprehensively for their own purpose and context.
Complementary, Semi-automated Methods for Creating Multi-dimensional, PEG-based Biomaterials

Tunable biomaterials that mimic selected features of the extracellular matrix (ECM), such as its stiffness, protein composition, and dimensionality, are increasingly popular for studying how cells sense and respond to ECM cues. In the field, there exists a significant trade-off for how complex and how well these biomaterials represent the in vivo microenvironment, versus how easy they are to make and how adaptable they are to automated fabrication techniques. To address this need to integrate more complex biomaterials design with high-throughput screening approaches, we present several methods to fabricate synthetic biomaterials in 96-well plates and demonstrate that they can be adapted to semi-automated liquid handling robotics. These platforms include 1) glass bottom plates with covalently attached ECM proteins, and 2) hydrogels with tunable stiffness and protein composition with either cells seeded on the surface, or 3) laden within the three-dimensional hydrogel matrix. This study includes proof-of-concept results demonstrating control over breast cancer cell line phenotypes via these ECM cues in a semi-automated fashion. We foresee the use of these methods as a mechanism to bridge the gap between high-throughput cell-matrix screening and engineered ECM-mimicking biomaterials.
Rethinking CS0 to Improve Performance and Retention

High failure and attrition rates in first-year, college-level computing courses are a big concern for institutions and instructors. For many years, computing instructors have devoted substantial time and energy to increase retention in those courses. Despite that, computer science is still facing the problem of student recruitment and retention especially for women and underrepresented minorities. Since students’ background is hard to manipulate, instructors can motivate many aspects of student experience inside the class. This paper presents the results of strategic changes adopted in an introductory computer science course, including increasing in-class collaboration, diversifying the teaching assistant team, and changing lab placement. We compared performance, retention rate, sense of belonging, and pre-assessment quiz grades with students taking the same course from the previous year. Our results show that when first-year students take the course with the adoption of the new changes, retention rates and sense of belonging significantly increase, and students perform better. Women, in particular, show an increase in performance and retention rates. They actually did better than men when taking the updated class. Despite that, the new changes have unexpected effects on the underrepresented minorities.
Obesity in Early Childhood: Examining the Relationship among Demographic, Behavioral, Nutritional, and Socioeconomic Factors.

Background: The present study sought to explore the combined relationship of physical activity, screen time, consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, infant feeding practices, and demographic fact...
Importance of plant diversity and structure for urban garden pest resistance

Abstract Urbanization is occurring at a dramatic rate, driving numerous unfavorable environmental effects. Urban designed ecosystems have been used to mitigate these impacts through the provisioning of ecosystem services. These services may be enhanced by manipulating the plant community composition and structure of designed ecosystems. Here we test this possibility by determining the degree to which plant diversity and structure in ornamental gardens are related to the ecosystem service of pest resistance, as inferred by the taxonomic richness (at the family level) and abundance of arthropod pests that harm plants and arthropod natural enemies that feed on pests. To do so, we quantified plant diversity and structure and collected arthropod pests and natural enemies in the winter and summer from 13 ornamental gardens nested within four residential communities in north-central Florida, United States. Pest abundance decreased exponentially as vegetation clumping and volume increased, but only in winter when pests were most abundant. Natural enemy abundance and family richness increased with the number of plant species present and spatial variability in plant species composition, again in the winter, but not summer. These relationships were likely driven by the direct effects of vegetation on arthropod habitat and not its indirect effects on temperature. Our results demonstrate the potential to enhance pest resistance in ornamental gardens by manipulating vegetation and reveal the need to expand these investigations into other designer ecosystems to enhance the ecosystem services they provide in urban landscapes.
Observer-based control of uncertain systems with non-linear uncertainties

Global asymptotic stabilization of nominally linear uncertain systems is considered where uncertain elements in the plant are modelled as cone bounded non-linearities. At first, a linear time-invariant state feedback law ensuring global asymptotic closed-loop stability is obtained. The algorithm which calculates such a feedback law is simple and straightforward. It does not involve repeated solutions of a parameter-dependent algebraic Riccati or any such non-linear equations. Any state feedback law thus developed can then be implemented via an observer specially designed to preserve the global asymptotic stability of the closed-loop system.
VA Video Telehealth and Training Programs During the COVID-19 Response

Objective: The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has a robust telehealth program supported by a training infrastructure for VA clinicians and staff. In fiscal 2019, over 909,000 VA patients received a portion of their VA care through telehealth, and over 60% of VA’s primary and mental health care providers participated in one or more Clinical Video Telehealth (CVT) appointments to a patient’s home. In March 2020, during the initial spread of COVID-19, Veterans Health Administration leadership issued guidance for providers to transition from in-person care to virtual modalities for routine care not requiring a physical encounter. VA’s comprehensive training infrastructure helped providers quickly become capable of delivering CVT care to meet the needs of their patients, and the VA Office of Connected Care Quality and Training (QT) Division adjusted the program as providers’ needs evolved. Design: As clinical staff faced new and increasing demands to respond to needs during the pandemic, the QT Division streamlined existing training programs to deliver essential content and enable providers to acquire necessary telehealth skills more quickly. This included reducing the number of core courses required to become telehealth-capable from four to two by introducing an integrated course. The QT Division reorganized and edited content from other accredited courses to convey key topics. To shorten courses for providers with full schedules, the QT Division removed accreditation from some courses, such as the COVID-19 VA Video Connect for Providers course. Results: The QT Division’s pandemic response resulted in over 80,000 new course completions in the first month and over 20% more primary care and mental health providers conducting CVT visits in the first five months. During this period, the number of CVT appointments increased by over 1,000%. Conclusion: VA’s telehealth training infrastructure, implemented by the QT Division, enabled VA to enter the COVID-19 public health emergency fully prepared for the rapid growth in telehealth care. As CVT became increasingly important during the COVID-19 response, the QT Division made necessary curriculum adjustments to meet provider and patient needs. ____________________________________________________________________________ Fireside Chat with Authors Moderator: Lyle Berkowitz, MD, FACP, FHIMSS, Editor-in-Chief, Telehealth and Medicine Today
Changes in internal hydrogen ion concentration associated with photophosphorylation in intact and sonically treated chloroplasts.

Abstract By using different pH indicators it is possible to demonstrate, in the presence or absence of phosphorylation, the existence of two compartments in chloroplasts, one of which becomes more acidic and the other more basic during electron flow. The observed magnitude of the pH differential between these two compartments is over 1.5 pH units. Cations, such as NH4+, N-methylphenazonium methosulfate, and protonated neutral red, which compete with H+ ions for entry into chloroplasts, inhibit the development of pH gradients within chloroplasts. Diffusible anions, such as acetate and orthophosphate, also block formation of these internal pH gradients. All of the above inhibitors of formation of internal pH gradients also inhibit phosphorylation, in a parallel manner. Sonic treatment of chloroplasts causes progressive and parallel inhibition of phosphorylation and formation of internal pH gradients. These data support the concept that chloroplasts contain a proton-translocating oxidation-reduction chain and that the resultant efflux of H+ ions through chloroplast membranes supplies the energy for phosphorylation.
Interprocedural Analysis for Parallelization

This paper presents an extensive empirical evaluation of an interprocedural parallelizing compiler, developed as part of the Stanford SUIF compiler system. The system incorporates a comprehensive and integrated collection of analyses, including privatization and reduction recognition for both array and scalar variables, and symbolic analysis of array subscripts. The interprocedural analysis framework is designed to provide analysis results nearly as precise as full inlining but without its associated costs. Experimentation with this system on programs from standard benchmark suites demonstrate that an integrated combination of interprocedural analyses can substantially advance the capability of automatic parallelization technology.
Not-a-Bot: improving service availability in the face of botnet attacks

A large fraction of email spam, distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, and click-fraud on web advertisements are caused by traffic sent from compromised machines that form botnets. This paper posits that by identifying human-generated traffic as such, one can service it with improved reliability or higher priority, mitigating the effects of botnet attacks. The key challenge is to identify human-generated traffic in the absence of strong unique identities. We develop NAB ("Not-A-Bot"), a system to approximately identify and certify human-generated activity. NAB uses a small trusted software component called an attester, which runs on the client machine with an untrusted OS and applications. The attester tags each request with an attestation if the request is made within a small amount of time of legitimate keyboard or mouse activity. The remote entity serving the request sends tshe request and attestation to a verifier, which checks the attestation and implements an application-specific policy for attested requests. Our implementation of the attester is within the Xen hypervisor. By analyzing traces of keyboard and mouse activity from 328 users at Intel, together with adversarial traces of spam, DDoS, and click-fraud activity, we estimate that NAB reduces the amount of spam that currently passes through a tuned spam filter by more than 92%, while not flagging any legitimate email as spam. NAB delivers similar benefits to legitimate requests under DDoS and click-fraud attacks.
Performance modelling and Markov chains

Markov chains have become an accepted technique for modeling a great variety of situations. They have been in use since the early 1900's, but it is only in recent years with the advent of high speed computers and cheap memory that they have begun to be applied to large-scale modeling projects. This paper outlines the events that have lead to the present state-of-the-art in the numerical approach to Markov chain performance modeling and describes current solution methods and ongoing research efforts.
Prevalence of Health-Risk Behaviors Among Asian American and Pacific Islander High School Students in the U.S., 2001-2007

OBJECTIVES: We provided national prevalence estimates for selected health-risk behaviors for Asian American and Pacific Islander high school students separately, and compared those prevalence estimates with those of white, black, and Hispanic students. METHODS: We analyzed data from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System. To generate a sufficient sample of Asian American and Pacific Islander students, we combined data from four nationally representative surveys of U.S. high school students conducted in 2001, 2003, 2005, and 2007 (total n = 56,773). RESULTS: Asian American students were significantly less likely than Pacific Islander, white, black, or Hispanic students to have drunk alcohol or used marijuana. Asian American students also were the least likely to have carried a weapon, to have been in a physical fight, to have ever had sexual intercourse, or to be currently sexually active. Once sexually active, Asian American students were as likely as most other racial/ethnic groups to have used alcohol or drugs at last sexual intercourse or to have used a condom at last sexual intercourse. Pacific Islander students were significantly more likely than Asian American, white, black, or Hispanic students to have seriously considered or attempted suicide. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence estimates of health-risk behaviors exhibited by Asian American students and Pacific Islander students are very different and should be reported separately whenever feasible. To address the different health-risk behaviors exhibited by Asian American and Pacific Islander students, prevention programs should use culturally sensitive strategies and materials. Language: en
Numerical analysis of parametrized nonlinear equations

Some Sample Problems Some Background Material Solution Manifolds and Their Parameterizations Discretization Errors One-Distributions and Augmented Equations A Continuation Method Some Numerical Examples The Computation of Limit Points Differential Equations on Manifolds Error Estimates and Related Topics References Index.
The glycogen phosphorylase of Tetrahymena pyriformis. II. Inhibition and inactivation by EDTA and ATP and other kinetic properties.

Abstract Some kinetic properties of an AMP-independent glycogen phosphorylase (EC 2.4.1.1) of Tetrahymena pyriformis have been examined. The K m value for glucose-1-phosphate was about 2.4 m m and was unaffected by AMP. Glucose-6-phosphate did not affect the activity of the enzyme, but UDPG and ATP inhibited, the former being more potent than the latter. When added to reaction mixtures, EDTA inhibited the activity of the enzyme very rapidly. This inhibition could not be reversed by the addition of divalent ions or by the removal of EDTA by dialysis or gel filtration. Preincubation of the enzyme with EDTA or ATP caused an irreversible inactivation. The rate of inactivation was slower than the rate of inhibition mentioned above. ATP was much less effective than EDTA in inactivating the enzyme. The inactivation caused by ATP was proportional to concentration and to time of exposure to ATP but the kinetics of EDTA inactivation were more complex. AMP and structurally related nucleoside monophosphates neither stimulated nor inhibited the activity of Tetrahymena phosphorylase but they could, however, protect the enzyme against the inhibiting effects of ATP and EDTA. There was a good correlation between the ability of nucleoside monophosphates to protect against ATP inactivation and against EDTA inhibition. During storage, however, the sensitivity of the enzyme to EDTA inactivation changed differently from its sensitivity to ATP inactivation, indicating that EDTA and ATP probably inactivated the enzyme by different mechanisms. The relative concentrations of UDPG, ATP, and AMP may play an important regulatory role in vivo . An additional regulatory mechanism, depending on the growth conditions of the organism, is possible since it was shown that phosphorylase isolated from glucose-grown cells was much more resistant to heat inactivation and to inhibition by EDTA and by ATP than the enzyme isolated from cells grown in the absence of glucose.
Quantitative analysis of the change of metabolite fluxes along the pentose phosphate and glycolytic pathways in Tetrahymena in response to carbohydrates

A metabolic scheme of glycolysis and the pentose phosphate pathway has been constructed, assuming that the reactions occur in a single compartment. From this scheme, equations are written for a system in metabolic and isotopic steady state. These allow computation of the specific activity of every carbon atom of all the intermediates of the glycolytic and pentose phosphate pathways and consequently of the flux of carbon along each step of these pathways. A sufficiently large number of well distributed measurements of incorporation of radioactive label from different positions of several substrates into intermediates or products must be made to determine all the fluxes. This is done by choosing a set of metabolic fluxes, calculating incorporation with the aid of a computer, and then manipulating the flux rates until the computed incorporations match the data. The model is used in this paper to analyze the metabolism of the protozoan Tetrahymena pyriformis. The metabolic scheme of the model is consistent with all available information on the enzyme complement of this ciliate. Cells grown to transition phase in proteose/peptone medium were inoculated into a mixture of glucose (6 mM), fructose (6 mM), ribose (3 mM), and glycerol (3 mM) and incubated for 1 h. In each of these experiments, one of the following labeled substrates was present: [1-, 2-, 6-, or U-14C]glucose; [1- or U-14C]fructose; [1- or U-14C]ribose; [1(3)-or 2-14C]glycerol. The incorporation of label from these substrates into CO2, lipid, glycogen, and RNA was measured. In contrast to earlier studies on the metabolism of 2- and 3-carbon substrates by Tetrahymena, the rate of incorporation of label from some substrates into some products (e.g. from [1-14C]glucose into CO2) changed during the incubation. To treat these time-dependent data within the framework of the steady state model, the 1-h incubation was divided into three 20-min intervals; within each of these, the rates of incorporation were approximately constant, as required for a steady state system. Measurements of the pool sizes of glucose-6-P and fructose-6-P showed that only slow changes in pool sizes occurred after the first 5 min of incubation and indicated that the system was effectively in a metabolic and isotopic steady state throughout most of the incubation. The finding that a low concentration of cycloheximide prevented the acceleration of 14CO2 production from labeled glucose suggests a role for protein synthesis in the slow adaptation to carbohydrate addition and supports the quasi-steady state treatment of this system. The expected incorporation into each product was computed for trial sets of 1, independent flux rates. A set of flux values was found which yielded a good fit to the 29 measurements made for each interval. These flux values therefore constitute a quantitative description of temporal changes in carbon flow along the glycolytic and pentose phosphate pathways during the 1st h of adaptation to the carbohydrate mixture...
Spatial distribution of acid-volatile sulfur in the sediments of Canadohta Lake, PA

Lake sediments are an important source of dissolvedsubstances and can be the site of processes importantto the biogeochemical cycling of nutrients and metals. Most studies which examine these processes, however,are based on the analysis of a single or a very fewsediment cores taken at or near the deepest area ofthe lake. The implicit assumption is that lakesediments are spatially homogeneous and thatextrapolations from such limited samples arerepresentative of the lake sediments throughout thelake basin. We examined this assumption with respectto concentrations of acid volatile sulfides (S2-vol) – sulfur species which have beenimplicated in eutrophication, acid-neutralization, andheavy-metal toxicity. S2-volconcentrations measured in the surficial sediments ofCanadohta Lake, PA, a lake of very simple morphometry,ranged from 0.07 to 30.32 μg g-1 sediment dryweight. Concentrations were directly correlated withdepth and inversely correlated with organic matter. These results suggest that results extrapolated froma few deep-water cores can lead to a seriousoverestimation of S2-vol in the lakesediments.
The noradrenergic neurotoxin DSP-4 eliminates the coeruleospinal projection but spares projections of the A5 and A7 groups to the ventral horn of the rat spinal cord

Systemic administration of the noradrenergic neurotoxin DSP-4 results in a complete loss of staining of noradrenergic (NA) axons in the dorsal horn and intermediate zone of the rat spinal cord. NA axon staining in the ventral horn and in the intermediolateral cell column is only slightly decreased by the drug treatment. We have taken advantage of this differential effect of DSP-4 on NA axons to determine the location and number of cells that give rise to NA axons in the ventral horn and the intermediolateral cell column. Retrograde transport of the fluorescent tracer True blue was combined with dopamine-beta-hydroxylase immunohistochemistry 2 weeks after treatment of rats with 50 mg/kg of DSP-4. Compared with controls, the drug treatment resulted in a more than 90% decrease in the number of retrogradely labeled NA neurons in the locus coeruleus and an only 30– 50% reduction in the number of retrogradely labeled NA cells in the A5 and A7 groups. The results reveal different sites of termination in the spinal cord of NA axons originating in the LC and in NA cells of the A5 and A7 groups: the LC distributes fibers mainly to the dorsal horn and the intermediate zone, while NA cells of the A5 and A7 groups project to motoneurons of the ventral horn and the intermediolateral cell column.
Potential evapotranspiration and the water balance in West Africa

Potential evapotranspiration,PE, is calculated for West Africa using a modified form of Penman's evaporation formula. The modification is obtained by substituting the theoretically calculated net radiation, using ordinary meteorological parameters such as temperature, cloudiness and sunshine for his net radiation formula. Maps showing the distribution ofPE for January and July have been drawn. The difference between rainfallP and potential evapotranspirationPE is used to delimit areas of water surplus and/or water deficit for four months. The vegetational zones of West Africa have been delimited by using theP-PE index. A linear relationship was also found between the aerodynamic component and measured values of evaporation from the Piche evaporimeter. The distribution ofPE shows an increase from the coast toward inland areas in zonal pattern. The water surplus-water deficit is found to be a function of the movement of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITC). The forest-savanna boundary is delimited byP−PE=0 and the savanna-desert boundary byP−PE=−3000 mm.
KORSGAARD'S REJECTION OF CONSEQUENTIALISM

In her recent book Self-Constitution: Agency, Identity, and Integrity, Christine Korsgaard does a wonderful job developing her Kantian account of normativity and the rational necessity of morality. Korsgaard's account of normativity, however, has received its fair share of attention. In this discussion, the focus is on the resulting moral theory and, in particular, on Korsgaard's reason for rejecting consequentialist moral theories. The article suggests that we assume that Korsgaard's vindication of Kantian rationalism is successful and ask whether, nonetheless, her account is consistent with consequentialism. It suggests further that we grant that moral reasons are not based on substantive principles, and that they must instead emerge from the purely formal principles of practical reason. Can consequentialist principles nonetheless emerge from the formal constraints of practical reason? Why can't a consequentialist embrace Kors- gaard's account of self-constitution and normativity?
A 5'----3' exoribonuclease of Saccharomyces cerevisiae: size and novel substrate specificity.

Abstract The purification scheme for a 5′ → 3′ exoribonuclease of Saccharomyces cervisiae has been modified to facilitate purification of larger amounts of enzyme and further extended to yield highly purified enzyme by use of poly(A)-agarose chromatography. As determined by either sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis or physical characterization, the enzyme has a molecular weight of about 160,000. Further studies of its substrate specificity show that poly(C) and poly(U) preparations require 5′ phosphorylation for activity and that poly(A) with a 5′-triphosphate end group is hydrolyzed at only 12% of the rate of poly(A) with a 5′-monophosphate end group. DNA is not hydrolyzed, but synthetic polydeoxyribonucleotides are strong competitive inhibitors of the hydrolysis of noncomplementary ribopolymers. Poly(A) · poly(U) and poly(A) · poly(dT) are hydrolyzed at 60 and 50%, respectively, of the rate of poly(A) at 37 °C. The RNase H activity of the enzyme can also be demonstrated using an RNA · M13 DNA hybrid as a substrate. When poly(dT) · poly(dA) with a 5′-terminal poly(A) segment on the poly(dA) is used as a substrate, the enzyme hydrolyzes the poly(A) “tail,” removing the last ribonucleotide, but does not hydrolyze the poly(dA).
Generalized symmetric Rayleigh-Ritz procedure applied to the closed-shell Hartree-Fock problem

We present the Generalized Symmetric Rayleigh–Ritz (GSRR) procedure for finding approximate eigenfunctions and corresponding eigenvalues for a linear operator, L, in a finite function space, {φi}i=1N. GSRR is derived by minimizing the residual in the norm induced by an inner product, (⋅,⋅), under the constraint that the resulting eigenfunctions be mutually orthogonal with respect to another inner product, (⋅,⋅)a. When L is the closed-shell Fock operator, f, GSRR is a generalization of the Roothaan equations. We apply this method to f with (⋅,⋅) defined by a grid, {rk}k=1M, and (⋅,⋅)a defined by analytic integration, noting that a grid-defined (⋅,⋅) lends itself to faster operator evaluation (scaling as MN2) and effective parallelization. When a grid is used, GSRR scales as pseudospectral methods do; however, it is in the spirit of conventional spectral methods (e.g., GSRR does not use an inverse transform).