cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Women in the “Prison Movie” Genre and Carceral Masculinities

The “Prison movies” genre can be loosely defined as movies that are set in prison. Both film studies and criminology have analyzed this genre and they have underlined how it has echoed the rise of the “culture of punishment” in Western countries since the 1970s. The chapter draws upon a corpus of around 70 prison movies. The chapter revisits the analysis previously made on prison movies genre: It goes beyond the mere assessment of its androcentrisme and questions how prison masculinities are represented. First, the chapter describes the few and stereotyped roles played by women in prison movies (mostly as wives and mothers of prisoners and nurses). It also demonstrates that, while being secondary, women’s roles are often pivotal in the narrative (men may be in prison because of a woman, they want to escape from prison for a woman, etc.). The chapter then elaborates on men’s and women’s bodies and sexuality in prison movies. It describes how bodies are either desexualized or sexualized. Since confinement and homoeroticism often goes together, heteronormativity of the movies mostly relies on women that are yet rarely on screen.
Matroid-Constrained Approximately Supermodular Optimization for Near-Optimal Actuator Scheduling

This work considers the problem of scheduling actuators to minimize the Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) objective. In general, this problem is NP-hard and its solution can therefore only be approximated even for moderately large systems. Although convex relaxations have been used to obtain these approximations, they do not come with performance guarantees. Another common approach is to use greedy search. Still, classical guarantees do not hold for the scheduling problem because the LQR cost function is neither submodular nor supermodular. Though surrogate supermodular figures of merit, such as the log det of the controllability Gramian, are often used as a workaround, the resulting problem is not equivalent to the original LQR one. This work shows that no change to the original problem is needed to obtain performance guarantees. Specifically, it proves that the LQR cost function is approximately supermodular and provides new near-optimality certificates for the greedy minimization of these functions over a generic matroid. These certificates are shown to approach the classical 1/2 guarantee of supermodular functions in relevant application scenarios.
Screen vs. Movie: The Great Divide in Film Studies

For over four decades, film studies has found itself divided between two distinct camps, an opposition represented by the different goals, methods, and interests of the British film journals, Screen and Movie. If Screen has stood for critical theory and Movie for aesthetic evaluation, their quarrels have often replicated those between Continental and Analytic philosophers, which, as Richard Rorty noted, profoundly affected the shape of academic careers. How did Screen manage to supplant Movie? What institutional factors encouraged film studies to embrace theory? Why did the work of V.F. Perkins, Movie’s most important writer, get neglected, especially in the United States? How can Wittgenstein writing help us understand what Perkins and the Movie group were up to?
Assessing causes and identifying solutions for high groundwater levels in a highly managed irrigated region

Abstract High groundwater levels in urban and irrigated areas around the world can lead to infrastructure damage, land degradation, and crop yield reduction. Causes can include groundwater flooding due to fluvial processes, excess rainfall and irrigation, inadequate subsurface drainage, and additional sources such as injection and seepage from earthen canals and recharge ponds. The principal causes of shallow water tables, however, are difficult to quantify due to the inter-connectedness of all possible causes. This paper presents a method to analyze and quantify the cause of high groundwater levels in highly managed, irrigated stream-aquifer systems, using a combination of numerical groundwater flow modeling and global sensitivity analysis (GSA) tools. A tested MODFLOW groundwater model and Sobol GSA methods are used to simulate and then quantify the influence of all major groundwater stresses on water table elevation for a region in northern Colorado, USA experiencing high groundwater levels, with results showing that recharge from surface water irrigation, canal seepage, and groundwater pumping have the strongest influence on water table elevation, whereas precipitation recharge and recharge from groundwater irrigation have small influences. Time series sensitivity plots quantify the seasonality of these influences over a decadal period, and spatial sensitivity plots indicate regions that are strongly influenced by individual stresses. Results from best management practice (BMP) implementation indicate that limiting canal seepage and transitioning >50 % of cultivated fields from surface water irrigation to groundwater irrigation can decrease water table elevation by 1.5 m–3 m over a 5-year period, leading to beneficial conditions for crop growth in the root zone and dewatering of subsurface infrastructure. These methods can be applied to any waterlogged region worldwide. However, proposed management practices to lower water table may be constrained by local, state, or national water law.
Morpho-Butterfly Inspired Lamella-based Optical Sensors for Measuring Percent Level Concentrations of H2 and CO with Au and CeO2

Morpho-Butterfly inspired lamella structures were fabricated to make a multivariable optical sensor for measuring percent level concentrations of H2 and CO in a high temperature, zero-O2 environment. The SiO2 and Si3N4 3D structures were covered with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and cerium IV dioxide (CeO2) and exposed to varying concentrations of H2 and CO at 300°C. Experiments with AuNP sizes with an average diameter of 11 ± 3 nm and 3 ± 0.5 nm (larger and small AuNPs, respectively) showed that the larger AuNPs had a stronger response to the same concentrations of H2 and CO with less CO saturation and baseline drift. Further testing in the presence of 1% hydrocarbons (HCs) as an interfering gas showed excellent response to up to 17% H2 and CO in a zero-O2 environment with changes in reflected intensity of -13.1 ± 0.4% for H2 and −5.8 ± 0.3% for CO. The presence of HCs did not induce any baseline drift, with the total amount of drift being less than 0.5% over 13 hours of testing at 300°C.
The Structures of Gd(III) Chelates Conjugated at the Periphery of 3-(1'-Hexyloxy)ethyl-3-devinylpyropheophorbide-a (HPPH) Have a Significant Impact on the Imaging and Therapy of Cancer.

3-(1'-Hexyloxyethyl)-3-devinyl-pyropheophorbide-a (HPPH or Photochlor), a tumor-avid chlorophyll-a derivative currently undergoing human clinical trials, was conjugated at various peripheral positions (position-17 or 20) of HPPH with either Gd(III)-aminobenzyl-DTPA (Gd(III) DTPA) or Gd(III)-aminoethylamido-DOTA (Gd(III) DOTA). The corresponding conjugates were evaluated for in vitro PDT efficacy, T1 , T2 relaxivities, in vivo fluorescence, and MR imaging under similar treatment parameters. Among these analogs, the water-soluble Gd(III)-aminoethylamido-DOTA linked at position-17 of HPPH, i. e., HPPH-17-Gd(III) DOTA, demonstrated strong potential for tumor imaging by both MR and fluorescence, while maintaining the PDT efficacy in BALB/c mice bearing Colon-26 tumors (7/10 mice were tumor free on day 60). In contrast to Gd(III) DTPA (Magnevist) and Gd(III) DOTA (Dotarem), the HPPH-Gd(III) DOTA retains in the tumor for a long period of time (24 to 48 h) and provides an option of fluorescence-guided cancer therapy. Thus, a single agent can be used for cancer-imaging and therapy. However, further detailed pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic, and toxicological studies of the conjugate are required before initiating Phase I human clinical trials.
2D Continuous/Discontinuous Galerkin Methods for Hyperbolic Equations

In Chs. 5 and 6 we described the implementation of the CG and DG methods, respectively, for the solution of scalar hyperbolic equations in one dimension. Then in Ch. 7 we showed how to unify these two methods. In a similar fashion, we presented the CG and DG method for two-dimensional conservation laws in Chs. 15 and 16. In this chapter we describe how to unify the CG and DG methods for the solution of two-dimensional scalar balance laws using the local element-wise storage described in Ch. 7. This chapter is organized as follows: in Sec. 17.2 we describe the 2D advection-diffusion equations that we discretize in this chapter. Then in Sec. 17.3 we derive the weak integral form of the equation. This is followed by Sec. 17.4 where we describe the basis functions. This leads to Secs. 17.5 and 17.6 where we describe the discretized equations on a single element using both the weak and strong forms, respectively. The heart of the chapter is Sec. 17.7 where we describe the algorithms for constructing a unified CG/DG discretization of the 2D advection-diffusion equation. We end the chapter in Sec. 17.8 by solving a 2D wave equation with both the CG and DG methods in a unified way.
Pipette: Improving Core Utilization on Irregular Applications through Intra-Core Pipeline Parallelism

Applications with irregular memory accesses and control flow, such as graph algorithms and sparse linear algebra, use high-performance cores very poorly and suffer from dismal IPC. Instruction latencies are so large that even SMT cores running multiple data-parallel threads suffer poor utilization.We find that irregular applications have abundant pipeline parallelism that can be used to boost utilization: these applications can be structured as a pipeline of stages decoupled by queues. Queues hide latency very effectively when they allow producer stages to run far ahead of consumers. Prior work has proposed decoupled architectures, such as DAE and streaming multicores, that implement queues in hardware to exploit pipeline parallelism. Unfortunately, prior decoupled architectures are ill-suited to irregular applications, as they lack the control mechanisms needed to achieve decoupling, and target decoupling across cores but suffer from poor utilization within each core due to load imbalance across stages.We present Pipette, a technique that enables cheap pipeline parallelism within each core. Pipette decouples threads within the core using architecturally visible queues. Pipette’s ISA features control mechanisms that allow effective decoupling under irregular control flow. By time-multiplexing stages on the same core, Pipette avoids load imbalance and achieves high core IPC. Pipette’s novel implementation uses the physical register file to implement queues at very low cost, putting otherwise-idle registers to use. Pipette also adds cheap hardware to accelerate common access patterns, enabling fine-grain composition of accelerated accesses and general-purpose computation. As a result, Pipette outperforms data-parallel implementations of several challenging irregular applications by gmean 1.9× (and up to 3.9×).
Facial nerve neuromas: diagnosis and management of the large lesion.

Facial nerve neuromas, or more correctly schwannomas, are unusual lesions. In their review of 600 temporal bone specimens at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Saito and Baxter [12] found only five such tumors. Symptomatically, facial nerve dysfunction is attributable to a tumor of the facial nerve in only 5% of cases [13] while even less specific symptoms, namely hearing loss and tin-nitus, have been cited as the most common presenting complaints [7]. Understandably, historically it has been an infrequent occurrence that the clinician has been able to correctly establish the diagnosis preoperatively, as pointed out by Conley and Janecka [1] in 1974. More recently, however, the evolution of modern imaging modalities has greatly heightened diagnostic accuracy and has also assisted in surgical planning by better delimiting tumor extent.
Development of a Standardized Clinical Assessment and Management Plan for Pediatric Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

Pediatric acute respiratory distress syndrome (PARDS) is one of the most challenging patient populations for a clinician to manage with mortality between 8 and 31%. The project was designed to identify patients with PARDS, implement management guidelines with the goal of standardizing practice. Our objectives were to describe the development and implementation of a protocolized approach to identify patients with PARDS and institute ventilator management guidelines. Patients who met criteria for moderate or severe PARDS as per the Pediatric Acute Lung Injury Consensus Conference (PALICC) definitions were identified using the best practice alert (BPA) in the electronic health record (EHR). Patients who did not meet exclusion criteria qualified for management using the Standardized Clinical Assessment and Management Plan (SCAMP), a quality improvement (QI) methodology with iterative cycles. The creation of a BPA enabled identification of patients with PARDS. With our second cycle, the number of false BPA alerts due to incorrect data decreased from 66.7 (68/102) to 29.2% (19/65; p
Surgical training tools for dermatology trainees: porcine vs. synthetic skin for excision and repair.

Since dermatologists routinely perform surgery in an outpatient setting, ensuring that dermatology trainees are provided with opportunities to develop sufficient proficiency in excisional surgery and suture technique is paramount. The objectives of this study are to assess trainee preference for silicone-based synthetic skin compared with porcine skin as a surgical training medium and to assess the ability of trainees to successfully demonstrate basic surgical skills using the simulated skin model. Participants were a convenience sample of dermatology residents from the greater Chicago area, who were asked to perform an elliptical excision and bilayered repair on a silicone-based synthetic skin model. Residents were then surveyed regarding their satisfaction with the model. Four blinded dermatologist raters evaluated digital photographs obtained during the performance of the procedures and graded the execution of each maneuver using a surgical task checklist. Nineteen residents were enrolled. Residents were more likely to prefer pig skin to simulated skin for overall use (p = 0.040) and tissue repair (p = 0.018), but the nominal preference for tissue handling was nonsignificant (p = 0.086). There was no significant difference between satisfaction with pig skin versus synthetic skin with regard to excision experience (p = 0.82). The majority of residents (10/19) performed all surgical checklist tasks correctly. Of those residents who did not perform all steps correctly, many had difficulty obtaining adequate dermal eversion and wound approximation. Synthetic skin may be conveniently and safely utilized for hands-on surgical practice. Further refinement may be necessary to make synthetic skin comparable in feel and use to animal skin.
The impact of tort reform on intensity of treatment: Evidence from heart patients

Abstract This paper analyzes the effect of non-economic damage caps on the treatment intensity of heart attack victims. We focus on whether a patient receives a major intervention in the form of either a coronary artery by-pass or angioplasty. We find strong evidence that treatment intensity declines after a cap on non-economic damages. The probability of receiving a major intervention in the form of either an angioplasty or bypass declines by 1.25–2 percentage points after non-economic damage caps are enacted, and this effect is larger a year or two after reform. However, we also find clear evidence of substitution between major interventions. When doctors have discretion to perform a by-pass and patients have insurance coverage, caps on non-economic damages increase the probability that a by-pass is performed. The effect of non-economic damage caps on costs is not always statistically significant, but in models with state-specific trends, total costs decline by as much as four percent. We conclude that tort reform reduces treatment intensity overall, even though it changes the mix of treatments. Using the Center for Disease Control's Vital Statistics data, we find that tort reform is not associated with an increase in mortality from coronary heart disease; if anything, mortality declines.
Retrospective evaluation of gastrointestinal foreign bodies and presurgical predictors for enterectomy versus enterotomy in dogs (2013-2016): 82 cases.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate preoperative diagnostics in dogs with gastrointestinal foreign body (GIFB) obstruction and to identify clinical variables associated with the performance of simple enterotomy (EO) versus enterectomy (EC). DESIGN Retrospective case control study from October 2013 to January 2016. SETTING Veterinary Teaching Hospital. ANIMALS Eighty-two client-owned dogs diagnosed at the time of surgery with GIFB obstruction. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Data were collected from medical records regarding history, initial physical examination, clinicopathologic testing, diagnostic imaging, and surgical reports. Based on univariate analysis, dogs that required EC were ill (P < 0.0001) and anorexic (P = 0.0007) for a longer duration; had a higher vomiting severity score (P = 0.005); and had worse perfusion parameters (mucous membrane color [P = 0.028] and quality [P = 0.032], poorer pulse quality [P = 0.0015], relatively lower blood pressure [P = 0.0328], greater heart rates [P = 0.0011]). Dogs undergoing EC were more likely to have altered peritoneal detail on radiographs (P = 0.0014; odds ratio [OR] = 25.5; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.4, 275.7) and echogenic peritoneal effusion on ultrasound (P = 0.0101; OR = 12.5; 95% CI: 1.3, 120.9), compared to the EO group. Heart rate (adjusted P = 0.028; OR = 1.07; 95% CI: 1.0, 1.1) and vomiting severity score (adjusted P = 0.028; OR = 5.6; 95% CI: 1.2, 26.1) maintained significance after multiple logistic regression. CONCLUSIONS Multiple factors in the preoperative clinical evaluation were different between dogs undergoing EO versus EC for GIFB obstruction. However, many of these variables become insignificant with multiple logistic regression. The presence of an increased heart rate or increased vomiting severity score at presentation was independently associated with undergoing enterectomy. Prospective studies with greater number of animals are warranted to validate these results.
Artificial Intelligence assessment of Renal Scarring (AIRS study)

Background: The goal of the Artificial Intelligence in Renal Scarring (AIRS) study is to develop machine learning tools for non-invasive quantification of kidney fibrosis from imaging scans. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of patients who had one or more abdominal computed tomography (CT) scans within 6 months of a kidney biopsy. The final cohort encompassed 152 CT scans from 92 patients which included images of 300 native kidneys and 76 transplant kidneys. Two different convolutional neural networks (slice-level and voxel-level classifiers) were tested to differentiate severe vs mild/moderate kidney fibrosis (≥50% vs
A Self-Compensating Technique for the Characterization of a Layered Structure

The characterization of a layered structure has been considered by many investigators. A variety of techniques has been introduced. Among these normal incidence longitudinal waves can be applied in the low frequency regime, and the transmitted and/or reflected signals can be used for the evaluation of a layered medium [1, 2]. In the technique discussed in Ref. [1], a reference signal has to be introduced in order to calibrate the evaluation. In recent work by the present authors, a self-compensating technique has been proposed to evaluate a layered structure, in that a ratio of transmission and reflection coefficients has been used [3]. Applications using a self-calibrating or self-compensating technique for the measurement of surface waves reflected or transmitted by a surface-breaking crack have been reported in Refs. [4, 5]. The major advantage of the technique is that the evaluation is independent of the characteristics of transmission and reception of ultrasound by the transducers, the attenuation in the couplant and the surface condition of the specimen. The technique is not only applicable for a contact configuration but an immersion configuration as well.
PENAL INSTITUTIONS Jails: Prohibit Delivering Drugs, Alcohol, or Weapons to Inmates

HB 29 makes it a felony to enter a jail and provide an inmate with an alcoholic beverage, controlled substance, dangerous drug, marijuana, gun, pistol, or dangerous weapon without prior consent of the sheriff, a sheriff's representative, or a detention facility administrator or its representative.
Hydrologic and Phosphorus Export Behavior of Small Streams in Commercial Poultry-Pasture Watersheds1

Romeis, J. Joshua, C. Rhett Jackson, L. Mark Risse, Andrew N. Sharpley, and David E. Radcliffe, 2011. Hydrologic and Phosphorus Export Behavior of Small Streams in Commercial Poultry-Pasture Watersheds. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 1-19. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2011.00521.x Abstract: Few watershed-scale studies have evaluated phosphorus export in streamflow from commercial poultry-pasture operations. Continuous streamflow and mixed-frequency water quality datasets were collected from nine commercial poultry-pasture (AG) and three forested (FORS) headwater streams (2.4-44 ha) in the upper Etowah River basin of Georgia to estimate total P (TP) loads and examine variability of hydrologic response and water quality of storm and nonstorm-flow regimes. Data collection duration ranged from 18 to 22 months, and approximately 1,600 water quality samples were collected. Significant (p < 0.1) inverse relationships were detected between peak flow response variables and both drainage area and fraction of forest cover. Order-of-magnitude differences in TP and dissolved reactive P (DRP) concentration were observed between AG and FORS sites and among AG sites. TP yields of FORS sites ranged from 0.01 to 0.1 kg P/ha. Yields of AG sites ranged from 0.031 to 3.17 kg P/ha (median = 0.354 kg P/ha). With 95% confidence intervals, AG yields ranged from 0.025 to 13.1 kg P/ha. These small-watershed-scale yields were similar to field-scale yields measured in other studies in other regions. TP yields were significantly related to area-weighted Mehlich-1 soil test P concentrations (p = 0.0073) and base-flow water sample P concentrations (p ≤ 0.0005). Water quality sampling during base-flow conditions may be a useful screening tool for P risk-based management programs.
A Threshold Shear Force for Calcium Influx in an Astrocyte Model of Traumatic Brain Injury.

Abstract Traumatic brain injury (TBI) refers to brain damage resulting from external mechanical force, such as a blast or crash. Our current understanding of TBI is derived mainly from in vivo studies that show measurable biological effects on neurons sampled after TBI. Little is known about the early responses of brain cells during stimuli and which features of the stimulus are most critical to cell injury. We generated defined shear stress in a microfluidic chamber using a fast pressure servo and examined the intracellular Ca2+ levels in cultured adult astrocytes. Shear stress increased intracellular Ca2+ depending on the magnitude, duration, and rise time of the stimulus. Square pulses with a fast rise time (∼2 ms) caused transient increases in intracellular Ca2+, but when the rise time was extended to 20 ms, the response was much less. The threshold for a response is a matrix of multiple parameters. Cells can integrate the effect of shear force from repeated challenges: A pulse train of 10 narrow puls...
Sensor-Driven Intelligent Robotics*

Publisher Summary Intelligent robotic systems should be capable of performing a range of complex tasks in unstructured and dynamic environments. This chapter discusses a number of important items associated with intelligent robots, role of vision sensing in intelligent robotics, and architecture for the design of an intelligent robot. The chapter also describes the computational task hierarchy that governs a model-based robot vision system, and presents a detailed tutorial on two important components of this hierarchy: image segmentation and matching. The main capabilities that intelligent robotic systems should possess include ability for perception of their environment, planning of their actions, and execution of the planned action. The two important components of a model-based vision system are image segmentation and the matching module. A procedure that allows transformation of 2D image coordinates into 3D world coordinates is also discussed in the chapter. The architecture and control aspects of an integrated sensor-based robotic system consist of six modules: supervisor, task planner, perception, motor, user interface, and knowledge-base. Intelligent, sensor-driven systems pose many challenging basic-research problems from a broad range of scientific and technological disciplines; however, there are many important application areas where such systems would be of significant value and utility, including hazardous environments such as nuclear plants, underwater, and space as well as many industrial-automation tasks. Recent advancements in the VLSI, computer-architectures, sensor-and robot-hardware, and artificial-intelligence fields may aid to the development of robust, practical, and cost-effective intelligent robotic systems for a wide variety of applications.
Predictors of Stable Employment Among Female Inmates in New Jersey: Implications for Successful Reintegration

Abstract The ability of inmates to secure stable, legal employment for themselves upon release from prison has been shown to be a crucial element for successful community reintegration. These individuals, however, often fail to find employment due to a multitude of personal, relational, structural, and institutional barriers. Formerly incarcerated women are particularly disadvantaged in this respect, given their high rates of psychiatric and substance abuse disorders, and history of domestic violence in conjunction with low educational attainment and limited employment skills. The main goal of the current study was to delineate the relative importance of a variety of personal factors as determinants of stable employment for female inmates. Data were collected as part of a population survey of female inmates in New Jersey (N = 908). Female inmates who volunteered to participate in this study were asked to complete a short survey that included questions about their educational and work histories, their work...
Musical Acoustics and Computational Science

There are many interesting problems in musical acoustics that can only be dealt with via computational methods. For the most part, the essential physics is readily accessible at an introductory level, making this an excellent source of examples and research projects for undergraduate students. This theme is illustrated with a quick tour of the issues encountered in modeling the guitar.
Maternal prepregnancy obesity and achievement of infant motor developmental milestones in the upstate KIDS study.

Objective Maternal prepregnancy obesity is associated with several poor infant health outcomes; however, studies that investigated motor development have been inconsistent. Thus, maternal prepregnancy weight status and infants' gross motor development were examined. Methods Participants consisted of 4,901 mother–infant pairs from the Upstate KIDS study, a longitudinal cohort in New York. Mothers indicated dates when infants achieved each of six gross motor milestones when infants were 4, 8, 12, 18, and 24 months old. Failure time modeling under a Weibull distribution was utilized to compare time to achievement across three levels of maternal prepregnancy BMI. Hazard ratios (HR) below one indicate a lower “risk” of achieving the milestone and translate to later achievement. Results Compared to infants born to thin and normal-weight mothers (BMI 30) were slower to sit without support (HR = 0.91, P = 0.03) and crawl on hands and knees (HR = 0.86, P < 0.001), after adjusting for maternal and birth characteristics. Increased gestational age was associated with faster achievement of all milestones, but additional adjustment did not impact results. Conclusions Maternal prepregnancy obesity was associated with a slightly longer time for infant to sit and crawl, potentially due to a compromised intrauterine environment or reduced physically active play.
Dynamic Infrared Linear Dichroism of Polymers

The sections in this article are The Study of Viscoelastic Properties of Polymers by Infrared Spectrometry Dynamic Infrared Linear Dichroism Measured with a Monochromator DIRLD Spectroscopy with a Step-Scan Fourier Transform Spectrometer Magnitude and Phase Spectra and Two-Dimensional Correlation Maps Magnitude and Phase Spectra Two-Dimensional (2-D) Correlation Maps Some Recent Reports of DIRLD DIRLD Spectroscopy with a FT-IR Spectrometer and Digital Signal Processing Summary Appendix: The Photoelastic Modulator
The regulatory world and the machine: Harmonizing legal requirements and the systems they affect

The past decade has seen a substantial increase in the issuance of privacy and security regulations governing personal information. Ensuring system and organizational compliance is both more important and more difficult than ever before, as the penalties have become more severe, and regulations more complex and nuanced. This also presents substantial difficulties for multi-national companies, as different states, countries, or regions do not adhere to a uniform standard, resulting in a mixed set of regulations for the systems they govern. In this work, I describe a framework to address this issue, referred to as requirements water marking, wherein requirements from different jurisdictions that govern the same system may be evaluated and reduced to a single standard of care, establishing a “high water mark” for regulatory compliance and reducing requirements complexity. The framework, which draws on work in requirements specification languages and requirements comparison, allows engineers and legal experts to systematically simplify compliance and determine both high and low standards of care, while maintaining traceability back to the original legal text. In addition, I investigate the proposed value of legal requirements models, demonstrating the relationship between proposed value of these models to organizational decision-making and the validity of the model.
Use of a prostate model to assist in training for digital rectal examination.

Abstract Objectives. To assess the accuracy of prostate size estimation on digital rectal examination (DRE) before and after training with a three-dimensional prostate model relative to prostate volume by transrectal ultrasound (TRUS). Methods. A total of 100 subjects underwent DRE by one of four family physicians (FP1, n = 34; FP2, n = 26; FP3, n = 22; and FP4, n = 18). One half were examined before any training on DRE prostate size examination and one half after the physicians were trained. Training involved teaching with a three-dimensional prostate model having posterior surface areas corresponding to the average dimensions of six different prostate volumes. The FPs were instructed to estimate the prostate size on the DRE to the nearest 5 g. A single urologist unaware of the DRE results performed TRUS on all patients to measure the prostate volume. Results. Before training, the DRE size estimates ranged from 10 to 100 g (mean ± SD 32.8 ± 21.6), with a TRUS volume of 11 to 122 g (mean ± SD 38.9 ± 23.1). The correlation between the DRE and TRUS estimates was 0.25, suggesting low agreement (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] 0.35, 95% confidence interval 0.31, 0.38). After training, 50 different patients had DRE size estimates of 10 to 100 g (mean ± SD 39.4 ± 19.7) and TRUS volume of 10 to 119 g (mean ± SD 41.5 ± 24.1). The correlation between the techniques was higher in patients examined after training ( r = 0.765), suggesting much better agreement between the techniques (ICC 0.87; 95% confidence interval 0.86, 0.88). Among the physicians, agreement between DRE and TRUS was higher after training (ICC 0.64 to 0.96) than before training (ICC 0.02 to 0.49). Conclusions. Although the subjects examined before and after training differed, the agreement between TRUS and DRE prostate size estimates by the FPs appeared to be stronger after training with a three-dimensional prostate model. This model may be a useful tool to assist in training FPs and medical students to measure prostate size on DRE.
Organic geothermometry of petroleum from Escanaba Trough, offshore northern California

Abstract We have measured the extent of hopane and sterane isomerization and of monoaromatic-steroid-hydrocarbon aromatization in a sample of hydrothermally derived petroleum from the Escanaba Trough, a sediment-covered, volcanically active ridge axis. The results, along with kinetic parameters, predict the possible time-temperature history of the petrolum-forming process for this sample. The extent of these reactions is consistent with petroleum formation by intense heating (about 300–350°C) if the time period of this heating was as short as about 100 yr. Such a time scale is reasonable for hydrothermal-discharge events associated with ridge-crest volcanism.
Studies on the biochemistry and fine structure of silica shell formation in diatoms

Wall formation in Navicula pelliculosa was studied in Si-starvation synchrony. Electron microscopy of walls, prepared by mechanical shaking, indicated that they were free, of cytoplasmic contamination. Removal of the frustule, using HF, indicated that a higher ratio of organic material to silica occurred in the girdle bands below the punctae and in the raphe region. The organic material was investigated following incorporation of 14C. Material added to newly formed walls prior to and during Si-deposition contained more radioactivity in amino acids than in other constituents. Once Si-uptake ceased, material with increased fucose and xylose content became labelled. Secondary material, the main labelled constituents of which were mannose and glucoronic acid, was added to old walls at all times. Si-uptake was investigated using 31Si. The rate of assimilation increased during the first hour following addition, remained constant over the next three hours, and then decreased markedly during the separation of daughter cells. Varying amounts of 31Si could be extracted from intact cells, using hot or cold solvents. These results are discussed in relation to the sequence in which proteinaceous material and polysaccharides are formed during morphogenesis of the diatom wall.
Physical dependence on gamma-hydroxybutrate (GHB) prodrug 1,4-butanediol (1,4-BD): Time course and severity of withdrawal in baboons

Abstract Background 1,4-Butanediol (1,4-BD) is a gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) pro-drug, with multiple commercial uses, and a drug of abuse. Although there are case reports of a withdrawal syndrome following 1,4-BD use, no studies have evaluated the physical dependence potential of 1,4-BD and characterized the time course of withdrawal. Methods Vehicle and then 1,4-BD were administered continuously 24 h/day via intragastric catheters in male baboons ( Papio anubis , n = 3). Dosing was initiated at 100 mg/kg and increased by 100 mg/kg/day to 400 mg/kg. After a stabilization period, doses of 500 and then 600 mg/kg/day were each maintained for 3–4 weeks. Plasma levels of 1,4-BD and GHB were determined for each dose condition. Physical dependence was assessed via administration of a GABA-B antagonist (precipitated withdrawal test) during administration of the 600 mg/kg dose and via abrupt termination of chronic 1,4-BD administration (spontaneous withdrawal test). Outcome measures included the number of food pellets earned, performance on a fine-motor task, observed behaviors, and plasma levels of GHB and 1,4-BD. Results Following maintenance of 1,4-BD 600 mg/kg for 3 weeks, the number of food pellets earned was significantly decreased. At the end of chronic 1,4-BD dosing, the levels of GHB in plasma ranged from 1290 to 2300 μmol/L and levels of 1,4-BD in plasma ranged from 13.1 to 37.9 μmol/L. Signs of physical dependence were observed following precipitated and spontaneous withdrawal tests. Seizures were not observed. Conclusions These data indicate chronic 1,4-BD produced physical dependence in baboons and the withdrawal syndrome can be characterized as mild to intermediate.
Detection and significance of granulocyte alloimmunization in leukocyte transfusion therapy on neutropenic dogs

Studies were carried out in dogs to detect alloimmunization to granulocytes by indirect immunofluorescence (GIIF) and to determine the significance of cross-matching in selecting donors for immunized recipients. All recipients were rendered neutropenic (less than 500 per microliter) by chemotherapy. Three groups of transfusions were evaluated. Group I consisted of 14 transfusions administered to sensitized dogs that were GIIF-negative with donor cells; Group II, 12 transfusions to the same dogs with GIIF-positive donor cells; Group III, 16 transfusions to nonimmunized control dogs. At 1 hour following transfusion, circulating granulocytes demonstrated increments of 956 +/- 137 per microliter (mean +/- SEM) in Group I dogs compared to 236 +/- 57 per microliter for Group II (p less than 0.001). Group III transfusions yielded increments of 888 +/- 116 per microliter, not significantly different from Group I. GIIF correlated better with transfusion results than granulocyte cytotoxicity or lymphocyte cytotoxicity tests or leukoagglutination cross-matching. Nineteen sera with alloantibodies to granulocytes were produced by random or intrafamilial immunizations with granulocytes. Partial characterization of specificities showed that granulocyte specificities were independent of DLA, and consistent with a genetic system of dominant alleles. It was concluded that a) alloimmunization to granulocytes is detected by the GIIF, b) positive tests predict transfusion effects, and c) a genetic system independent of DLA could be recognized on dog granulocytes.
Intracutaneous and percutaneous BCG-vaccination.

Summary Of 357 vaccinated children 167 were vaccinated by percutaneous scarifications and 190 by intracutaneous injection. One hundred and thirty-four have been followed systematically from week to week by Moro patch test and 68 by Mantoux test. The individuals intracutaneously and percutaneously vaccinated turned positive at approximately the same time. The local changes at the site of vaccination have been followed. No major changes were observed in individual scarification vaccination except for redness, infiltration and perhaps a little secretion. Intradermal vaccination was very often followed by suppuration and in separated cases abscesses. One hundred and sixty-five were post-examined by Moro and Mantoux. No certain difference in the allergy obtained was demonstrated. The scars have been inspected. In individual cases with scarification vaccination none or only insignificant scars were found. In individuals subjected to intradermal vaccination visible scars were often found, in more cases even thickened, disfiguring scars.
Serum lithium determinations using flameless atomic absorption spectroscopy

Abstract The use of lithium salts and lithium carbonate in particular, in the control and treatment of certain types of psychiatric patients requires a means of monitoring lithium levels in serum. The currently accepted theraputic concentrations cover the range 0.5–1.5 milliequiv-alents of lithium per liter ( mEq l .) of serum with toxic symptoms reported above 1.5–2.0 mEq l . Atomic absorption spectroscopy has been the method of choice for this analysis for several years and with the development of flameless methods the smaller samples may be used and multiple determinations made in about the same time required for a single determination using an air-acetylene flame and aspiration technique. The standard deviation of the flameless method is approximately 5% relative over the range of interest, 0.5–2.0 mEq l . A comparison of results is made using a Perkin-Elmer Model 303 AA unit and a Varian Model AA5 with Model 63 Carbon Rod Atomizer.
A technique for repair of mitral paravalvular leak

lism. 3 Bioglue, which is composed of bovine serum albumin (45%) and gluteraldehyde (10%), is marketed as being less tissue toxic than GRF (gluteraldehyde 37%), and initial clinical experience was reported by Raanani and colleagues 4 in 2001. Polymerization occurs when the 2 components are mixed, reaching bonding strength within 2 minutes. This tissue glue is also described as being more liquid in consistency than the GRF glue. Its potential to penetrate the intravascular circuit is thus higher. Thus it has the potential to embolize, as in the case described. The emboli then activates the clotting cascade directly and also produces stasis, which is one of the triad described by Virchow necessary for thrombus formation and propagation.
A Mössbauer spectrometry study of hyperfine magnetic fields and ordering in Fe3Al

Calculations of the ^(57)Fe hyperfine magnetic field distribution in Fe_3Al were performed with a model that assumed the exchange polarization mechanisms depend on the magnetic moments at atom sites. Calculations with parameters from dilute alloys were in semi-quantitative agreement with experiment, but the best agreement occurred when second and third-neighbor HMF perturbations were assumed to be small. The progress of the disorder → order transformation in Fe_3Al was measured by X-ray diffractometry and Mossbauer spectrometry. Both techniques showed a transient appearance of B32-like order during the early stage of ordering at 300°C. The formation of transient B32 order is probably a kinetic phenomenon that cannot be predicted well by thermodynamics.
An econometric model for ex ante prediction of wildfire suppression costs

This paper develops an econometric model that can provide predictions of fire suppression costs (per acre and in total) for a given large fire before final fire acreage is known. The model jointly estimates cost per acre and acreage equations via Maximum Likelihood, accounting for sample truncation based on final fire size. Formulas and results are shown for predictions of costs and fire size for wildfires in general, and for large fires in particular. Marginal effects of explanatory variables on cost and acreage are discussed. The distribution of these model predictions illustrates the importance of accounting for sample truncation when generating predicted outcomes based on ex ante information.
Using stable isotopes to assess carbon and nitrogen turnover in the Arctic sympagic amphipod Onisimus litoralis

Food web studies based on stable C and N isotope ratios usually assume isotopic equilibrium between a consumer and its diet. In the Arctic, strong seasonality in food availability often leads to diet switching, resulting in a consumer’s isotopic composition to be in flux between different food sources. Experimental work investigating the time course and dynamics of isotopic change in Arctic fauna has been lacking, although these data are crucial for accurate interpretation of food web relationships. We investigated seasonal (ice-covered spring vs. ice-free summer) and temperature (1 vs. 4°C) effects on growth and stable C and N isotopic change in the common nearshore Arctic amphipod Onisimus litoralis following a diet switch and while fasting in the laboratory. In spring we found no significant temperature effect on N turnover [half-life (HL) estimates: HL-N = 20.4 at 4°C, 22.4 days at 1°C] and a nonsignificant trend for faster growth and C turnover at the higher temperature (HL-C = 13.9 at 4°C, 18.7 days at 1°C). A strong seasonal effect was found, with significantly slower growth and C and N turnover in the ice-free summer period (HL-N = 115.5 days, HL-C = 77.0 days). Contrary to previous studies, metabolic processes rather than growth accounted for most of the change in C and N isotopic composition (84–89 and 67–77%, respectively). This study provides the first isotopic change and metabolic turnover rates for an Arctic marine invertebrate and demonstrates the risk of generalizing turnover rates based on taxon, physiology, and environment. Our results highlight the importance of experimental work to determine turnover rates for species of interest.
Africans and the Myth of Rural Retirement in South Africa, ca 1900–1950

The South African mining industry relied upon a massive African migrant workforce from the rural areas. Rural transformations in this migrant labor system form an important part of the story of developing capitalism in industrializing South Africa. Yet, recent historical studies on southern African migrant and rural wage labor have paid little attention to life adjustments made by the elderly and those 'burned out' by the mines and forced to leave formal wage employment in the urban areas. The South African segregationist state's rhetoric implied that 'retired' Africans could find economic security in their designated rural reserves. Indeed, legislation sought to prohibit Africans who were not employed from remaining in the 'white' urban areas. By the 1930s, however, the reserves were rapidly deteriorating. Many elderly Africans could not retire and were forced to seek wage labor. This raises significant questions about how retirement came to be defined and experienced by Africans in South Africa during a critical period of dramatic economic decline in the 1930s and 40s, and what the underlying material circumstances of African South Africans were with regard to adaptations to employment and ageing-related life changes. In many cases, elderly Africans were forced to forgo retirement, and find wage labor, usually in the most poorly paid, least sought-after or dangerous fields of employment. This article thus seeks to illuminate critical generational dimensions of the impact of segregation and racism in South Africa prior to the formal articulation of Apartheid.
Hydrogen–damage interactions in yttria-stabilized zirconia

Abstract Hydrogen diffusion and accumulation in oxidized Zr(ZrO 2 ) and oxide–metal interfaces lead to hydrogen induced cracking in Zr-based compounds that are extensively used in nuclear reactors. In this study, the interaction of hydrogen with irradiation damage in (0 0 1) single crystals of yttria-stabilized zirconia (Y–ZrO 2 ) has been investigated as a function of damage accumulation and temperature. Samples were irradiated with 40 keV hydrogen ions at a temperature of 120 K to ion fluences of 5×10 16 and 1×10 17 ions/cm 2 , and isochronal experiments were performed in the temperature range from 300 to 770 K in 100 K steps. Damage accumulation and hydrogen profile measurements indicate unusual damage recovery behavior, pinning of hydrogen by damage, and surface deformation due to hydrogen blisters and bubbles.
CDP-choline liposomes provide significant reduction in infarction over free CDP-choline in stroke

Cytidine-5'-diphosphocholine (CDP-choline, Citicoline, Somazina) is in clinical use (intravenous administration) for stroke treatment in Europe and Japan, while USA phase III stroke clinical trials (oral administration) were disappointing. Others showed that CDP-choline liposomes significantly increased brain uptake over the free drug in cerebral ischemia models. Liposomes were formulated as DPPC, DPPS, cholesterol, GM(1) ganglioside; 7/4/7/1.57 molar ratio or 35.8/20.4/35.8/8.0 mol%. GM(1) ganglioside confers long-circulating properties to the liposomes by suppressing phagocytosis. CDP-choline liposomes deliver the agent intact to the brain, circumventing the rate-limiting, cytidine triphosphate:phosphocholine cytidylyltransferase in phosphatidylcholine synthesis. Our data show that CDP-choline liposomes significantly ( P < 0.01) decreased cerebral infarction (by 62%) compared to the equivalent dose of free CDP-choline (by 26%) after 1 h focal cerebral ischemia and 24 h reperfusion in spontaneously hypertensive rats. Beneficial effects of CDP-choline liposomes in stroke may derive from a synergistic effect between the phospholipid components of the liposomes and the encapsulated CDP-choline.