cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Debating Legislative Intent: How Lay Citizens Discern Policy Objectives in Ballot Initiatives

In earlier research concerning conflictual communication and negotiation, group members’ methods for determining the goals of an out-group have been examined, and goal-detection has been associated with “entativity,” or the development of members’ beliefs about the nature of both the out-group and their own group. No previous study appears to have explored the techniques used by members of groups engaged in policy deliberation to detect the goals of out-groups consisting of policy proponents, however. In this paper, methods used by deliberating panelists in the 2010 Oregon Citizens’ Initiative Reviews (CIRs) to discover initiative-proponents’ policy objectives were examined. Results indicated that CIR panelists employ some goal-detection methods — including inferences from the panelists’ own discussions, as well as the use of proponents’ testimony — not identified in other contexts, and likely associated with deliberative procedures promoting cooperation, information-sharing, and metacognition. The sequences in which panelists employed goal-detection techniques suggested a process of informal hypothesis testing motivated by uncertainty reduction. Further, in light of evidence of panelists’ goal-detection and entativity processes, a new model linking deliberative group members’ processes of goal-determination and of understanding the nature of their own group and of the policy-proponents’ group is proposed. In this model, deliberative group members come to understand their own and the proponents’ group as having multiple dimensions, including common participation in a superordinate collectivity, the public.
MOLECULAR SIZE OF RAT URINARY PROTEIN.

SummaryThe normal urinary protein of rats of 3 inbred strains and one non-inbred stock was examined by gel filtration and ultracentrifugation. A considerable portion of the total urinary protein was found to be of low molecular weight, especially in the males. In the case of male rats of the Buffalo strain, the major urinary protein fraction isolated by gel filtration and two subfractions of it prepared by ion exchange chromatography had molecular weights of the order of 15,000.
Abstract 3648: Nanofluidic technologies to define biological and response profile in neoadjuvant patients with ovarian cancer

Objectives: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is used in the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer. In this study, we determined the impact of chemotherapy on gene and microRNA (miRNA), expression in ovarian cancer specimens using nanofluidic technology. We performed the validation of this technique by using RNA extraction from archival formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue. Molecular pathways involved in prediction of the outcome in neoadjuvant patients were analyzed. Methods: Seventy-eight patients with advanced ovarian cancer who were treated with primary surgical debulking versus neoadjuvant chemotherapy (15/78) were investigated. All patients were treated with Paclitaxel and Carboplatin. A chip 48.48 served to analyze a panel of 96 potential predictors of the outcome and response to chemotherapy. All the samples were normalized for multiple housekeeping genes and as consistent reference the ovarian cancer cell line A2780 was used. When needed for the analysis each factor was then categorized as high and low expression using the mean value as cutoff. Overall survival was analyzed using the methods of Kaplan and Meier and comparisons between groups by log-rank and Wilcoxon test. Results: We assessed the impact of neoadjuvant chemotherapy on the selected genes and microRNAs. Among the cell growth and proliferation genes MKI67, PLK1, PBK were reduced. Deactivation of the TUBB3 survival pathway, which was reduced while its negative regulator GNAI1 was increased. ERBB2 resulted downregulated in the neoadjuvant setting, while HGF and PTEN were increased. MicroRNAs expression broadly increased, with the only exception of miR-20a and miR-141. Patients exhibiting high levels of COL11A1 and PLK1 were poor performers, while the opposite occurred for GLI1. At the micro-RNA level the best predictors were miR-193a-5p, miR-375 and miR-20a. The poor performers (miR-193a-5p, miR-375) were featured by high levels of the micro-RNA while the opposite was evident for miR-20a. Conclusions: Use of the nanofluidic technology provides deeper insight into the specific roles of clinically relevant major molecular networks. Chemotherapy induced modification of genes and microRNA expression can be used as a model to develop future prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic modalities. Moreover, our findings suggest that neoadjuvant patients with ovarian cancer may benefit from biologic agent targeting HGF treatment. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3648. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-3648
Reptilian physiology and the flight capacity of Archaeopteryx

Current scenarios frequently interpret the Late Jurassic bird Archaeopteryx as having had an avian-type physiology and as having been capable of flapping flight, but only from "the trees downward." It putatively lacked capacity for takeoff and powered flight from the ground upward. Data from extant reptiles indicate that if Archaeopteryx were physiologically reptilian, it would have been capable of ground upward takeoff from a standstill, as well as "trees downward" powered flight. This conclusion is based largely on a previously unrecognized attribute of locomotory (skeletal) muscle in a variety of extant reptiles: During "burst-level" activity, major locomotory muscles of a number of active terrestrial taxa generate at least twice the power (watts kg-1 muscle tissue) as those of birds and mammals. Reptilian physiological status also helps resolve the apparently uneven development of various flight support structures in Archaeopteryx (e.g., well-developed flight features but relatively unspecialized pectoral girdle, supracoracoideus muscles, etc.). Endothermy and capacity for longer-distance powered flight probably evolved only in Early Cretaceous birds, which were the first birds to have a keeled sternum, strap-like coracoid, and hypocleidium-bearing furcula.
A Direct Method for the Estimation of Sediment Sound Speed With a Horizontal Array in Shallow Water

In this paper, a fast approach for estimating sediment sound speed in a shallow-water environment is developed. Under certain assumptions, this algorithm recovers the seabed sound-speed profile using pressure field measurements at low frequencies. The geometry of the problem involves measuring the pressure at horizontally placed hydrophones in the water column. The Deift–Trubowitz integral equation is then solved. This work introduces two methods for this task. The first is a modified Born approximation that builds upon a standard first-order approximation; the second is based on interpolating the integrand. It is shown with synthetic data that these methods work well with successful sound-speed estimation and identification of sharp discontinuities in sound speed. Although the methods are stable and effective with noise-free data, problems arise when noise contaminates the acoustic field. Regularization approaches, reducing the disruptive effect of singular points and smoothing a measured reflection coefficient, are developed to remedy this problem, leading to improved results in noisy environments. In addition to providing sound-speed estimates, the method also computes sediment thickness. This feature is of particular interest, since it makes the method suitable as a preprocessing step providing useful information to other inversion methods. Sensitivity analyses demonstrate that some assumptions required for the approach implementation are not restrictive.
Long- and short-term exposure to air pollution and inflammatory/hemostatic markers in midlife women

Background Studies have reported associations between long-term air pollution exposures and cardiovascular mortality. The biological mechanisms connecting them remain uncertain. Methods We examined associations of fine particles (PM2.5) and ozone with serum markers of cardiovascular disease risk in a cohort of midlife women. We obtained information from women enrolled at six sites in the multi-ethnic, longitudinal Study of Women's Health Across the Nation, including repeated measurements of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, fibrinogen, tissue-type plasminogen activator antigen, plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1, and factor VIIc (factor VII coagulant activity). We obtained residence-proximate PM2.5 and ozone monitoring data for a maximum five annual visits, calculating prior year, 6-month, 1-month, and 1-day exposures and their relations to serum markers using longitudinal mixed models. Results For the 2,086 women studied from 1999 to 2004, PM2.5 exposures were associated with all blood markers except factor VIIc after adjusting for age, race/ethnicity, education, site, body mass index, smoking, and recent alcohol use. Adjusted associations were strongest for prior year exposures for high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (21% increase per 10 μg/m³ PM2.5, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 6.6, 37), tissue-type plasminogen activator antigen (8.6%, 95% CI: 1.8, 16), and plasminogen activator inhibitor (35%, 95% CI: 19, 53). An association was also observed between year prior ozone exposure and factor VIIc (5.7% increase per 10 ppb ozone, 95% CI: 2.9, 8.5). Conclusions Our findings suggest that prior year exposures to PM2.5 and ozone are associated with adverse effects on inflammatory and hemostatic pathways for cardiovascular outcomes in midlife women.
Chapter Twenty-Eight – Introduction to Electrochemistry

Publisher Summary Electroanalytical techniques are grouped into two main categories: voltammetric methods at zero current and voltammetric methods at finite current. In potentiometry, potentials are measured while no significant amount of current is allowed to flow. In voltammetry, the current is permitted to flow and electrolysis takes place in the electrochemical cell. Electrolysis is described as a process whereby solution components are converted from one oxidation state to another at an electrode-solution surface by means of a current flow. In an electrolysis system, the electrode that receives electrons from the external driving force and transmits these electrons to the reactant in solution is the cathode, and its surface is where the reduction occurs. The other electrode receives electrons from the solution and is the site of oxidation. This electrode is the anode.
Inorganic Nitrogen Compounds

Next, we consider ammonia and its derivatives in the top 50 chemicals. We have completed a study of the number one inorganic chemical sulfuric acid and its derivatives and have also studied industrial gases from which ammonia is made. Ammonia is in the top 10 chemicals and some important ammonia derivatives are listed in the top 50: ammonium nitrate, nitric acid, urea, and ammonium sulfate. Most ammonia eventually ends up in fertilizers of one type or another. The manufacturing chemistry for these chemicals is outlined below.
Total and Lectin-Binding Proteome of Spherulin from Coccidioides posadasii.

Coccidioides is a virulent dimorphic fungus that causes coccidioidomycosis (valley fever) in mammals, including humans. Although the genome has been sequenced, a proteomic analysis does not exist. To address this gap in proteomic knowledge, we generated the proteome of spherulin (a well-studied lysate of fungal spherules) and identified 1390 proteins. Some of the proteins included glycosylation enzymes, which led us to hypothesize that fungal glycosylation patterns may be different from those of mammals and could be exploited to detect Coccidioides in tissues. We performed lectin-based immunohistochemistry on formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded human patients’ lung tissues. GSL-II (Griffonia simplificonia lectin II) and sWGA (succinylated wheat germ agglutinin) lectins bound specifically to endospores and spherules in infected lungs. To identify lectin-binding glycoproteins in spherulin, we performed lectin-affinity chromatography, followed by LC–MS/MS. A total of 195 glycoproteins from spherulin bound to GS...
Enzymatic Activity Assays for Base Excision Repair Enzymes in Cell Extracts from Vertebrate Cells.

We previously reported enzymatic activity assays for the base excision repair (BER) enzymes DNA polymerase β (pol β), aprataxin (APTX), and flap endonuclease 1 (FEN1) in cell extracts from Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Caglayan and Wilson, 2014). Here, we describe a method to prepare cell extracts from vertebrate cells to investigate these enzymatic activities for the processing of the 5′-adenylated-sugar phosphate-containing BER intermediate. This new protocol complements our previous publication. The cell lines used are wild-type and APTX-deficient human lymphoblast cells from an Ataxia with Oculomotor Apraxia Type 1 (AOA1) disease patient, wild-type and APTX-null DT40 chicken B cells, and mouse embryonic fibroblast (MEF) cells. This protocol is a quick and efficient way to make vertebrate cell extracts without using commercial kits.
The art of semi-formal bug hunting

Verification is a critical task in the development of correct computing systems. Simulation remains the predominantly used technique to identify design flaws, due to its scalability. However, simulation intrinsically suffers from low functional coverage, hence often fails to identify all design flaws. Formal verification (FV) is a promising approach to overcome the coverage limitations of simulation, due to its exhaustiveness -- which enables it to identify intricate design flaws too complex to practically find using simulation. However, automated FV techniques have scalability drawbacks that limit the size of design components that can be formally verified. One of the key strengths of FV techniques is their use of symbolic reasoning, to efficiently explore a huge number of individual scenarios that would be intractable using simulation. When used in an incomplete manner, the scalability challenges of these algorithms are lessened, enabling efficient and relatively scalable semi-formal bug hunting. Nonetheless, to yield a robust industrial-strength solution, the individual components of such a system --- many being heuristic --- must be highly tuned, and integrated and orchestrated in an intricate manner. In this paper, we overview the various components useful in a scalable semi-formal search framework, introducing several novel powerful techniques and providing experimental data to illustrate the strengths, weaknesses, and complementary nature of the various techniques.
A proposed Fast algorithm to construct the system matrices for a reduced-order groundwater model

Abstract Past research has demonstrated that a reduced-order model (ROM) can be two-to-three orders of magnitude smaller than the original model and run considerably faster with acceptable error. A standard method to construct the system matrices for a ROM is Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD), which projects the system matrices from the full model space onto a subspace whose range spans the full model space but has a much smaller dimension than the full model space. This projection can be prohibitively expensive to compute if it must be done repeatedly, as with a Monte Carlo simulation. We propose a Fast Algorithm to reduce the computational burden of constructing the system matrices for a parameterized, reduced-order groundwater model (i.e. one whose parameters are represented by zones or interpolation functions). The proposed algorithm decomposes the expensive system matrix projection into a set of simple scalar-matrix multiplications. This allows the algorithm to efficiently construct the system matrices of a POD reduced-order model at a significantly reduced computational cost compared with the standard projection-based method. The developed algorithm is applied to three test cases for demonstration purposes. The first test case is a small, two-dimensional, zoned-parameter, finite-difference model; the second test case is a small, two-dimensional, interpolated-parameter, finite-difference model; and the third test case is a realistically-scaled, two-dimensional, zoned-parameter, finite-element model. In each case, the algorithm is able to accurately and efficiently construct the system matrices of the reduced-order model.
Energy and Form in the Aftermath of Sustainability

The epistemological and methodological limitations imposed on architecture by divergent considerations of form and energy provoke fresh questions about causality and formation in architecture. As a core matter of architectural production, this article considers how the role of intensive and extensive properties of buildings can establish one alternative basis for the formal propensities of architecture's energetics in the aftermath of sustainability. As an emblematic illustration, a short first-semester design exercise is representative of design pedagogy that proposes polyvalent causes for design.
A Little Adventure Can Go a Long Way! Reintroducing Adventure Education into the Curriculum Conversation.

As many physical educators know, providing meaningful instruction to a diverse group of learners can prove to be a difficult task for even the most talented teachers. All too often, frustrated phys...
Asynchronous automated electronic laboratory result notifications: a systematic review.

Objective To systematically review the literature pertaining to asynchronous automated electronic notifications of laboratory results to clinicians. Methods PubMed, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Collaboration were queried for studies pertaining to automated electronic notifications of laboratory results. A title review was performed on the primary results, with a further abstract review and full review to produce the final set of included articles. Results The full review included 34 articles, representing 19 institutions. Of these, 19 reported implementation and design of systems, 11 reported quasi-experimental studies, 3 reported a randomized controlled trial, and 1 was a meta-analysis. Twenty-seven articles included alerts of critical results, while 5 focused on urgent notifications and 2 on elective notifications. There was considerable variability in clinical setting, system implementation, and results presented. Conclusion Several asynchronous automated electronic notification systems for laboratory results have been evaluated, most from >10 years ago. Further research on the effect of notifications on clinicians as well as the use of modern electronic health records and new methods of notification is warranted to determine their effects on workflow and clinical outcomes.
Surgical Site Infections after Inguinal Hernia Repairs Performed in Low and Middle Human Development Index Countries: A Systematic Review.

Abstract Background: Inguinal hernias are a common disorder in low- and middle-human development index countries (LMHDICs). Poor access to surgical care and lack of patient awareness often lead to delayed presentations of incarcerated or strangulated hernias and their associated morbidities. There is a scarcity of data on the baseline incidence of surgical site infections (SSIs) after hernia repair procedures in LMHDICs. Methods: We performed a systematic review of the literature describing the incidence and management of SSIs after inguinal hernia repair in LMHDICs. We conducted qualitative and quantitative analyses of manuscripts describing patients undergoing hernia repair to establish a baseline SSI rate for this procedure in these settings. Results: Three hundred twenty-three abstracts were identified after applying search criteria, and 31 were suitable for the quantitative analysis. The overall pooled SSI rate was 4.1 infections/100 open hernia repairs (95% confidence interval [CI] 3.0–5.3 infection...
Facilitating (?) urban agriculture in Philadelphia: sustainability narratives in the inequitable city

In 2008, the city of Philadelphia made increasing healthy food access a priority for sustainable development. Recognising that almost 25% of the population are considered food insecure, government ...
Postoperative radiation for primary melanoma of the cervical spinal cord in a pregnant patient: A case report & review of the literature

Abstract Only 1% of melanomas present with isolated involvement of the central nervous system. Primary melanoma of the spinal cord is especially rare. There are only a handful of cases reported and only one reported during pregnancy. The patient was a 27-year-old female who presented with 16 weeks of neck pain and numbness in the distal upper extremities when she was 31 weeks pregnant. MRI revealed a mass in the cervical spine. The plan was for delivery at term followed by surgical resection. However, due to progression of symptoms, she underwent emergent Cesarean section. The procedure was performed without complications, but the patient demonstrated quadriplegia post-operatively. She then underwent surgical resection. Final post-operative imaging showed no gross disease. Pathology revealed malignant melanoma. She slowly regained neurologic function with no significant residual deficits. She received post-operative radiotherapy (37.5 Gy in 15 fractions using 3D-CRT) with minimal toxicity. Due to the rarity of primary melanoma of the spinal cord, there are no standardized guidelines for treatment. Presentation during pregnancy adds more complexity. Based on prior reports, primary melanoma of the spinal cord appears to have a better overall prognosis compared to primary cutaneous melanoma with spinal cord metastasis. Surgical resection is the mainstay of treatment. The role for radiotherapy is not clear. As a result, the optimal treatment for these patients should be determined on a case-by-case basis.
Liability issues relating to POCT

Should personal injury arise from the use of POCT, liability is governed in Germany by the general regulations applicable to medical devices. Most claims for damage compensation are filed against manufacturers, operators and users. Essentially, the respondent is sued by the injured party to provide restitutio in integrum. This means restoring the position of a contractual partner’s legal interest that exists outside of the boundaries of the contractual relationship – in this case his physical integrity – to the original state that would have prevailed had that particular injury not occurred. This tier of liability is subject to statutory regulation. The injured party has a right to contractual and non-contractual (tortious) claims for damage compensation. Unlike in the case of pharmaceuticals, there is no separate liability regime governing the product liability to which medical device manufacturers (producers) are subject. Similarly, user and operator liability is regulated in the general statutes (BGB, ProdHaftG).
Roles that Plan, Activity, and Intent Recognition with Planning Can Play in Games

Planning is one of the oldest areas of research within artificial intelligence, studying the selection of actions for accomplishing goals. The more recently established areas of plan, activity, and intent recognition instead study an agent's behavior and task(s) given observations of its chosen actions. While these areas have been independently studied and applied to games in the past for both understanding player behavior and developing game characters, the potential for their integration presents even more opportunities via adaptive interaction with the player. In this manuscript, we discuss recent research on the integration of these areas and investigate potential uses for such integrated systems in games.
A Systematic Review of Interventions to Minimize Transportation Barriers Among People with Chronic Diseases.

Transportation is an important social determinant of health. Transportation barriers disproportionately affect the most vulnerable groups of society who carry the highest burden of chronic diseases; therefore, it is critical to identify interventions that improve access to transportation. We synthesized evidence concerning the types and impact of interventions that address transportation to chronic care management. A systematic literature search of peer-reviewed studies that include an intervention with a transportation component was performed using three electronic databases—PubMed, EMBASE, and CINAHL—along with a hand-search. We screened 478 unique titles and abstracts. Two reviewers independently evaluated 41 full-text articles and 10 studies met eligibility criteria for inclusion. The transportation interventions included one or more of the following: providing bus passes (n = 5), taxi/transport vouchers or reimbursement (n = 3), arranging or connecting participants to transportation (n = 2), and a free shuttle service (n = 1). Transportation support was offered within multi-component interventions including counseling, care coordination, education, financial incentives, motivational interviewing, and navigation assistance. Community health/outreach workers (n = 3), nurses (n = 3), and research or clinic staff (n = 3) were the most common interventionists. Studies reported improvements in cancer screening rates, chronic disease management, hospital utilization, linkage and follow up to care, and maternal empathy. Overall, transportation is a well-documented barrier to engaging in chronic care among vulnerable populations. We found evidence suggesting transportation services offered in combination with other tailored services improves patient health outcomes; however, future research is warranted to examine the separate impact of transportation interventions that are tested within multi-component studies.
Lebanese Jewish Memory and Memorial: Personal Recollections

Their miniscule numbers notwithstanding, Lebanese Jews are not a marginal community. They are likewise not unaware of their venerable age-old lineage in Lebanon. This chapter, based on a series of interviews conducted over the span of four years, records the testimonies of Lebanese Jews, most of them in the diaspora, most of them still “dreaming” of a Lebanon they once knew, and most of them trying to retrace their early footsteps back to their ancestral familial home. Although a chapter of “memories,” with testimonies often reproduced verbatim as they were related to the author, the text is heavily footnoted, annotated with commentary, clarifications, and historical references bringing factual confirmation to personal recollections.
Applications of thermal desorption coupled to comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry for hydrocarbon fingerprinting of hydraulically fractured shale rocks.

Abstract Development of shale gas resources through the use of hydraulic fracturing has raised a multitude of environmental concerns and motivated research towards the understanding of shale gas systems. Previous research has demonstrated the potential of utilizing hydrocarbon distributions towards the fingerprinting of a potential environmental contamination event arising from shale gas operations. However, to apply hydrocarbon distributions from shale gas wells towards point-source identification and apportionment, a better understanding of hydrocarbon origins must be achieved. Here we present an efficient and repeatable thermal desorption method, as a sample introduction methodology for GC × GC analysis of shale rock samples that results in comparable chromatograms to those produced by solvent extraction. This novel and robust characterization technique of shale cores from Marcellus and Utica formations by thermal desorption followed by GC × GC enables the understanding of hydrocarbon speciation within the native rock with minimal sample preparation time and solvent use. The detailed shale chemistry gives insight into utilizing hydrocarbon differences towards point-source identification methodologies of environmental contamination events associated with unconventional gas development. Additionally, this analytical technique may provide a more detailed analysis of hydrocarbons than what is currently implemented in the industry to pinpoint the most advantageous areas to exploit by hydraulic fracturing, yet avoiding undesirable areas such as those with a high abundance of sulfur containing compounds.
RF Channel-Select Micromechanical Disk Filters—Part II: Demonstration

This Part II of a two-paper sequence presents fabrication and measurement results for a micromechanical disk-based RF channel-select filter designed using the theory and procedure of Part I. Successful demonstration of an actual filter required several practical additions to an ideal design, including the introduction of a 39-nm-gap capacitive transducer, voltage-controlled frequency tuning electrodes, and a stress relieving coupled array design, all of which combine to enable a 0.1% bandwidth 223.4-MHz channel-select filter with only 2.7 dB of in-band insertion loss and 50-dB rejection of out-of-band interferers. This amount of rejection is more than 23 dB better than a previous capacitive-gap transduced filter design that did not benefit from sub-50-nm gaps. It also comes in tandem with a 20-dB shape factor of 2.7 realized by a hierarchical mechanical circuit design utilizing 206 micromechanical circuit elements, all contained in an area footprint of only $600\,\,\mu \text{m}\,\,\times 420\,\,\mu \text{m}$ . The key to such low insertion loss for this tiny percent bandwidth is $Q$ ’s >8800 supplied by polysilicon disk resonators employing for the first time capacitive transducer gaps small enough to generate coupling strengths of $C_{x}/C_{o}~\sim ~0.1$ %, which is a $6.1\times $ improvement over previous efforts. The filter structure utilizes electrical tuning to correct frequency mismatches due to process variations, where a dc tuning voltage of 12.1 V improves the filter insertion loss by 1.8 dB and yields the desired equiripple passband shape. Measured filter performance, both in- and out-of-channel, compares well with predictions of an electrical equivalent circuit that captures not only the ideal filter response, but also parasitic nonidealities that distort somewhat the filter response.
Politics of hybridity: Teaching for social justice in an era of standards-based reform

Abstract This narrative inquiry examines, through a theoretical framework informed by Bhabha, experiences of two graduates of a social justice-oriented preservice program in the U.S. in an era of standards-based reform. This article demonstrates that schools are sites shaped and constrained by various competing discourses, which delineate meanings of education in drastically different ways. The participants encounter conflicting demands and desires. Negotiating among what seems incommensurable is an important part of their teaching. The participants deploy the politics of hybridity as a creative tactic for their daily negotiations. The implications for teacher education are discussed.
Toward a Cross — Cultural Conceptualization of Family Modernity*

Family modernity is conceptualized as the degree to which a multipicity of equally acceptable models of familiar behavior co-exist so that individuals have a wide range of options as to what type o...
Multi-modal imaging with specialized sequences improves accuracy of the automated subcortical grey matter segmentation.

Abstract The basal ganglia and limbic system, particularly the thalamus, putamen, internal and external globus pallidus, substantia nigra, and sub-thalamic nucleus, comprise a clinically relevant signal network for Parkinson's disease. In order to manually trace these structures, a combination of high-resolution and specialized sequences at 7 T are used, but it is not feasible to routinely scan clinical patients in those scanners. Targeted imaging sequences at 3 T have been presented to enhance contrast in a select group of these structures. In this work, we show that a series of atlases generated at 7 T can be used to accurately segment these structures at 3 T using a combination of standard and optimized imaging sequences, though no one approach provided the best result across all structures. In the thalamus and putamen, a median Dice Similarity Coefficient (DSC) over 0.88 and a mean surface distance
The Influence of Director Leadership on Improvement of Creativeness Education Manpower, Productivity of Employee Education and Learning Success Students in Cirebon Maritime Academy

The elements in the management of education include elements of leaders, educators, educational staff , students and educational facilities as well as other supporters. All of these components are a unity that influences the quality of the learning process that can be seen from the success of students. The director as a leader at the Cirebon Maritime Academy has an influence on the creativity of educators, the work productivity of educational staff and the success of student learning. To find out the effect, survey research was conducted . Data collection techniques using documentation and questionnaire studies.The questionnaire was made in the form of a questionnaire with 5 alternative choices. Each alternative answers provided more aggressively weighted score of 1 - 5 (1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = disagree, 4 = agree, and 5 = strongly agree ). Analysis of the data in this study consisted of (a) simple regression analysis; and (b) multiple analysis using statistical methods with the help of the SPSS 16 program. Regression analysis is used to predict research that includes variables X for Y1, Y2 and Y3. Simple Regression Analysis looks at Vaiabel Coefficients (Y1X) and (Y2X) and Y3X. This analysis is used to test the effect of each research variable. Based on the results of data analysis it can be concluded as a result of the research that the Leadership of the Director (X) on the Improvement of Educators' Creativity (Y1) is quite significant. The Leadership of the Director (X) on the Productivity of Education Workers (Y2) is also quite significant, and the results of the calculation of the influence of the Leadership of the Director (X) on Learning Success (Y3) are quite significant
Effects of different roadway deicing salts on host-parasite interactions: The importance of salt type.

Abstract The application of roadway deicing salts is increasing the salinity of freshwater systems. Increased salinization from salts, such as NaCl, CaCl2 and MgCl2, can have direct, negative impacts on freshwater organisms at concentrations found in nature. Yet, our understanding of how these salts can indirectly impact freshwater organisms by altering important ecological interactions, such as those between hosts and their parasites, is limited. Using a larval amphibian and infectious free-living helminth (i.e. trematode) model, we examined whether exposure to environmentally relevant concentrations of NaCl, CaCl2 and MgCl2 1) influence trematode mortality; 2) alter amphibian-trematode interactions; and 3) alter larval amphibian activity (a behavior associated with parasite avoidance). We found that exposure to CaCl2 greatly reduced trematode survival across all Cl− concentrations (230, 500, 860 and 1000 mg Cl− L−1) while NaCl and MgCl2 had no effect. When both host and parasites were exposed to the salts, exposure to NaCl, but not MgCl2 or CaCl2, increased infection. The lack of effect of CaCl2 on infection was likely driven by CaCl2 reducing trematode survival. Exposure to NaCl increased infection at 500 mg Cl− L−1, but not 230 or 860 mg Cl− L−1. Increased infection was not due to salt exposure altering tadpole behavior. Our results suggest that NaCl can negatively impact amphibian populations indirectly by increasing trematode infections in tadpole hosts.
A case of granulomatosis with polyangiitis with severe pansinus osteitis

Abstract Granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) is an idiopathic systemic vasculitis that often affects the sinuses, and may lead to sinus osteitis, which has generally been described as having a limited distribution. The authors present a rare case of GPA with unusually severe osteitis of all paranasal sinuses, as well as a review of the literature concerning this topic. A female smoker in her late teens presenting with weight loss and epistaxis underwent a lung biopsy confirming the diagnosis of GPA. Otolaryngology evaluation was consistent with chronic rhinosinusitis without nasal polyps (CRSsNP) and GPA. She underwent sinus surgery the year after diagnosis. Two years after initial diagnosis, osteitis was noted in all the paranasal sinuses. She then underwent three more sinus surgeries; subsequent imaging showed progression of the osteitis with obliteration of all paranasal sinuses. This case illustrates an unusually severe case of GPA-associated osteitis which was likely worsened by comorbid CRS and sinus surgery.
Performance Quantification of Tall Steel Braced Frame Buildings Using Rupture-To-Rafters Simulations

What is the probability of collapse of tall steel braced frame buildings under San Andreas earthquakes in the next 30 years? Using more than 38000 ground motion histories from simulations of 60 sce...
Preoperative Fluoroscopically Guided Regional Erector Spinae Plane Blocks Reduce Opioid Use, Increase Mobilization, and Reduce Length of Stay Following Lumbar Spine Fusion.

Study Design:Retrospective review.Objective:To determine the effectiveness of erector spinae plane (ESP) blocks at improving perioperative pain control and function following lumbar spine fusions.M...
Constitutional Crisis and America’s Lost Natural Law Mind

Why are Catholic hospitals now liable to suit by “transgender men” on whom they refuse, for religious reasons, to perform hysterectomies? In part, no doubt, because courts misunderstand the nature and purpose of the Religion Clause in our First Amendment and, more generally, our Constitution and rule of law. More fundamentally, however, the current attack on religion in America stems from the loss of understanding of the nature of our constitutional order and its grounding in natural law. Our current legal crisis, often presented by lawyers as a matter of interpretation, is rooted in metaphysical confusion and so cannot be resolved through interpretive reforms alone. As John Courtney Murray, S.J., pointed out in the middle of the last century, American constitutionalism is inextricably bound up with natural law understandings of the person and the social order. These understandings, long maintained through a fruitful relationship between religious and secular authority, especially in the educational sphere, have been massively undermined by judicial rulings.
A Review of Theatre, Youth, and Culture: A Critical and Historical Exploration, by Manon van de Water

I am a university professor, and I tour a theatre for youth production to elementary schools in my area every spring as part of a class for my college students. Not too long ago, I shared a contemp...
Biliary Obstruction Selectively Expands and Activates Liver Myeloid Dendritic Cells

Obstructive jaundice is associated with immunologic derangements and hepatic inflammation and fibrosis. Because dendritic cells (DCs) play a major role in immune regulation, we hypothesized that the immunosuppression associated with jaundice may result from the functional impairment of liver DCs. We found that bile duct ligation (BDL) in mice expanded the myeloid subtype of liver DCs from 20 to 80% of total DCs and increased their absolute number by >15-fold. Liver myeloid DCs following BDL, but not sham laparotomy, had increased Ag uptake in vivo, high IL-6 secretion in response to LPS, and enhanced ability to activate T cells. The effects of BDL were specific to liver DCs, as spleen DCs were not affected. Expansion of liver myeloid DCs depended on Gr-1 + cells, and we implicated monocyte chemotactic protein-1 as a potential mediator. Thus, obstructive jaundice selectively expands liver myeloid DCs that are highly functional and unlikely to be involved with impaired host immune responses.
Measures of the food environment: a compilation of the literature, 1990-2007.

A structured literature search was conducted to identify peer-reviewed articles published between January 1990 and August 2007 that measured the community-level food environment. These articles were categorized into the following environments: food stores, restaurants, schools, and worksites. The measurement strategies in these studies were categorized as instruments or methodologies .Valid and reliable measures are required to assess any effect of the food environment on individual dietary behavior, and form the foundation of research that may inform obesity-related policy. Although many methods of measuring the food environment exist, this area of research is still relatively new and there has been no systematic attempt to gather these measures, to compare and contrast them, or to report on their psychometric properties. In this study, a total of 137 articles were identified that included measures of the food environment. Researchers focused on assessing the accessibility, availability, affordability, and quality of the food environment. The most frequently used measure overall was some form of geographic analysis. Eighteen of the 137 articles (13.1%) tested for any psychometric properties, including inter-rater reliability, testﾖretest reliability, and/or validity.The study concluded that a greater focus on testing for reliability and validity of measures of the food environment may increase rigor in research in this area. Robust measures of the food environment may strengthen research on the effects of the community-level food environment on individual dietary behavior, assist in the development and evaluation of interventions, and inform policymaking targeted at reducing the prevalence of obesity and improving diet.
LTL Planning for Groups of Robots

We approach the general problem of planning and controlling groups of robots from logical and temporal specifications over regions of interest in 2D or 3D environments. The focus of this paper is on planning, and, enabled by our previous results, we assume that the environment is partitioned and described in the form of a graph whose nodes label the partition regions and whose edges capture adjacency relations among these regions. We also assume that the robots can synchronize when penetrating from a region to another. We develop a fully automated framework for generation of robot plans from robot abstract task specifications given in terms of linear temporal logic (LTL) formulas over regions of interest. Inter-robot collision avoidance is guaranteed, and the assignment of plans to specific robots is automatic. The main tools underlying our framework are model checking and bisimilarity equivalence relations
Optimization of end-members used in multiple linear regression geochemical mixing models

Tracking marine sediment provenance (e.g., of dust, ash, hydrothermal material, etc.) provides insight into contemporary ocean processes and helps construct paleoceanographic records. In a simple system with only a few end-members that can be easily quantified by a unique chemical or isotopic signal, chemical ratios and normative calculations can help quantify the flux of sediment from the few sources. In a more complex system (e.g., each element comes from multiple sources), more sophisticated mixing models are required. MATLAB codes published in Pisias et al. (2013) solidified the foundation for application of a constrained least square (CLS) multiple linear regression technique that can use many elements and several end-members in a mixing model. However, rigorous sensitivity testing to check the robustness of the CLS model is time- and labor intensive. MATLAB codes provided in this paper reduce the time and labor involved and facilitate finding a robust and stable CLS model. By quickly comparing the goodness of fit between thousands of different end member combinations, users are able to identify trends in the results that reveal the CLS solution uniqueness and the end-member composition precision required for a good fit. Users can also rapidly check that they have the appropriate number and type of end-members in their model. In the end, these codes improve the user's confidence that the final CLS model(s) they select are the most reliable solutions. These advantages are demonstrated by application of the codes in two case studies of well-studied datasets (Nazca Plate, South Pacific Gyre). This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
The Generic Message Passing framework

The paper presents the design and implementation of the Generic Message Passing framework (GMP). The design of the GMP is guided by two goals: programmer productivity and run-time performance, particularly for parallel systems having both shared and distributed memory (e.g., clusters of SMPs). To achieve these goals simultaneously, the GMP uses a generic programming paradigm, allowing it to integrate seamlessly with modern generic libraries such as the C++ Standard Library. In addition the GMP presents a single parallel programming model, namely message passing. The implementation of the GMP fully exploits the architectural characteristics of its execution target for maximum run-time performance. Performance results are presented that demonstrate the effectiveness of the Generic Message Passing framework.
Evolution of male epispadias repair: 16-year experience.

Purpose: We review our experience during the last 16 years, adopting different surgical approaches for epispadias repair, and compare the results of complete penile disassembly technique with perineal muscular complex reassembly since 1995 with previous repairs.Materials and Methods: From 1984 to 1999, 58 epispadias repairs were performed in 53 male patients 3 days to 13 years old, including 18 with primary penopubic epispadias, 35 with bladder exstrophy and 5 treated with secondary genito-urethroplasty after previous repairs of the exstrophic complex. Cases were divided into 2 periods of the surgical procedure. Different techniques succeeded in 41 patients in the first decade (group 1) while the complete penile disassembly with perineal muscular complex reassembly technique was used in 17 patients during the last 5-year period (group 2). Results of both groups were compared, and Fisher’s exact test was used for statistical analysis.Results: Of the 41 group 1 cases complications (mostly fistula and/or ure...
Neuroprotection in Parkinson's disease: myth or reality?

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a chronic, progressive, neurodegenerative disorder with no cure. Therapies that delay or halt disease progression are urgently needed, but finding such therapies has been difficult. In this article, we review historical and recent clinical trial work in the field of neuroprotection. Several issues have arisen during the search for disease-modifying therapies, including challenges in selecting appropriate therapeutic targets, assessing potential therapies, and selecting the proper patient population to study. Advances in the understanding of PD pathogenesis are presented as they relate to selecting potential therapeutic targets, and issues with preclinical testing are described. We review recent innovations in clinical trial design, including futility studies and delayed-start designs that promise to make clinical testing more efficient. It is hoped that ongoing work in this field will lead to treatments that delay the progression of PD.