cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Applicability of discrete event hardware description languages to the design and documentation of electronic analog systems

This chapter investigates the applicability of discrete event hardware description languages (HDLs), in general, and VHDL, in particular, to the design and documentation of analog electronic systems. The study focuses on the types of analog systems that can be modeled using IEEE 1076–1993 VHDL, without extensions to the language. To that end, data-sampled analog systems are defined and two subclasses of data-sampled analog systems are examined: network-independent and networkdependent behaviors. With respect to network-independent data-sampled analog systems, examples are presented of basic transformational descriptions, e.g., an operational amplifier, and more advanced discrete-convolution based descriptions, e.g., a lowpass filter. With respect to network-dependent data-sampled analog systems, examples of modeling loading effects and utilizing two-port network theory are presented. This work provides a perspective on the capabilities and limitations of discrete event hardware description languages in modeling analog or continuous event behavior. The classes of analog systems investigated illustrate present modeling technology and suggest directions for future applications of emerging analog modeling languages.
The Theory of Demand

In Chap. 4 we saw that, according to the traditional economic worldview, the sole purpose of economic life is to produce goods for purchase by consumers. Producing the right goods in the right amounts, with the characteristics consumers desire, is what an efficient economy should be doing as much of the time as possible. Clearly, in order to translate this broad objective into specific policies we require a theory of the consumers themselves: what governs the choices they make and how their individual decisions in the marketplace affect their ultimate well-being.
Romance of the Taishō Schoolgirl in Shōjo Manga: Here Comes Miss Modern

Shōjo manga, more thanother media, has romanticized the Taishō Period (1912–1926) schoolgirl as an attractive figure of resistance. Thanks in part to their increase in numbers, female secondary school students and their fashions were widely depicted in early twentieth century literature, art, and journalism. Schoolgirls were viewed as paragons of innocence and budding sexuality and symbols of new notions of gender, class, mobility, and modernity. Shōjo manga has adopted these images, identities, and associations. A prime example is Waki Yamato’s Haikara-san ga tōru (Here Comes Miss Modern, 1977–1979). In this romance set between 1915 and the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake and drawn in a style inspired by Taishō-era art, Benio Hanamura navigates new opportunities and old constraints for women in education, marriage, and employment. The manga continues to inspire adaptations and fandoms. I read Haikara-san ga tōru in the context of 1970s shōjo manga and examine its influence on recent manga series to understand why shōjo manga depicts Taishō schoolgirls differently from schoolgirls of other times.
Transport challenges in rapidly growing cities: is there a magic bullet?

More than half of the world’s population now lives in cities, and projections indicate that urban areas will account for 60% of global population by 2030. Cities are growing in number, population a...
Millimeter-Wave Localization of Multiple Targets Using TDOA and Wideband Frequency Modulation

In this paper, a distributed radar is presented that can perform both ranging and time difference of arrival (TDOA), resulting in two-dimensional location estimation without beam-scanning. The transmitter emits a linear frequency modulated (LFM) signal, ranging from 37 to 40 GHz. The receiver is composed of two antennas separated by 80 cm (102.7λ). By performing matched filtering with the transmitted LFM signal on each individual receive element, the range information of multiple targets can be obtained using the signal leakage from the transmit signal. By comparing the two waveforms, their angles are calculated from the TDOA between them. The theory behind the technique is explained and experimental measurements of two reflecting targets are shown.
Gender disparities in academic rank achievement in neurosurgery: a critical assessment.

Objective The objective of this study was to evaluate whether there are disparities in academic rank and promotion between men and women neurosurgeons. Methods The profiles of faculty members from 50 academic neurosurgery programs were reviewed to identify years in practice, number of PubMed-indexed publications, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) attainment, and academic rank. The number of publications at each academic rank was compared between men and women after controlling for years in practice by using a negative binomial regression model. The relationship between gender and each academic rank was also determined after controlling for clustering at the institutional level, years in practice, and number of publications. Results Of 841 faculty members identified, 761 (90%) were men (p = 0.0001). Women represented 12% of the assistant and associate professors but only 4% of the full professors. Men and women did not differ in terms of the percentage holding a PhD, years in practice, or number of publications at any academic rank. After controlling for years in practice and clustering at the facility level, the authors found that men were twice as likely as women to be named full professor (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.09-4.44, p = 0.03). However, when institution, years in practice, PhD attainment, h-index, and number of publications were considered, men and women were equally likely to attain full professorship (OR 0.9, 95% CI 0.42-1.93). Conclusions Data analysis of the top neurosurgery programs suggests that although there are fewer women than men holding positions in academic neurosurgery, faculty rank attainment does not seem to be influenced by gender.
Cardiovascular Disease Prevention in Focus: Highlights from the 2019 American Heart Association Scientific Sessions.

This review highlights selected cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention studies presented at the 2019 American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions. Several important cardiovascular prevention studies were presented at the 2019 AHA Scientific Sessions. Results from the Colchicine Cardiovascular Outcomes Trial (COLCOT) showed that low-dose colchicine reduces the risk of recurrent CVD events among patients with recent myocardial infarction. A prospective analysis from the UK Biobank cohort demonstrated that the increased CVD risk associated with clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential is mitigated by a common disruptive mutation in the IL6R gene that suppresses the pro-inflammatory IL-1β/IL-6 pathway. The Treat Stroke to Target trial demonstrated that reducing low-density lipoprotein cholesterol to <70 mg/dL among patients with ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack reduces the risk of recurrent CVD events as compared with a higher LDL-C target of 90–110 mg/dL. A secondary analysis focusing on American participants enrolled in the Reduction of Cardiovascular Events with Icosapent Ethyl-Intervention Trial (REDUCE-IT) showed that these patients receive a similar benefit in terms of cardiovascular risk reduction with icosapent ethyl as compared with the entire trial population. A post hoc analysis of the Further Cardiovascular Outcomes Research with PCSK9 Inhibition in Subjects with Elevated Risk (FOURIER) trial demonstrated that a genetic risk score comprising 27 single-nucleotide polymorphisms is associated with cardiovascular risk among patients with established atherosclerotic CVD and patients with high genetic risk receive a relatively higher benefit from evolocumab use. Similar results were observed with alirocumab use in a post hoc analysis of the ODYSSEY OUTCOMES trial where a genome-wide polygenic risk score comprising 6.5 million DNA variants was used. These studies presented at 2019 AHA Scientific Sessions will help guide our approach to preventing CVD.
Investigation of rough rice drying in fixed and fluidized bed dryers utilizing dehumidified air as a drying agent

The high initial moisture content of freshly harvested rice accompanied by high relative humidity ambient air as well as no external heating source utilized for on-farm in-bin drying increase the r...
Enhancing healthcare information sharing with blockchain technology

Blockchain, the foundation of many cryptocurrencies, also can be useful for many other industries such as healthcare. Blockchain can enforce immutability and non-repudiation for information stored on it. Although some say the technology is not yet mature enough, others are putting blockchain to the test with programs and pilots. Examining these efforts and dissecting the detail allows us to look at blockchain’s qualities and pitfalls to allow data sharing efforts with medical records. It is widely agreed that sharing medical data outside of the silos where it is captured or created will benefit the individual’s care and outcomes. Regulation and personal humility often stand in the way of this sharing. Blockchain is offering new and novel ways to share data properly and securely with only the providers or researchers who are supposed to receive it. Blockchain is also allowing the patient to take control of their health data and in some cases, even profit from it. This is the concept behind a proposal by the author to allow a patient to share all or part of their data for research and to be justly compensated for that sharing.
Are the Effects of Legitimacy and Its Components Invariant? Operationalization and the Generality of Sunshine and Tyler’s Empowerment Hypothesis:

Objectives:To assess whether the relationship between legitimacy and police empowerment is sensitive to the operationalization of legitimacy, and whether the effects of legitimacy and its component...
Thickness-dependent shear localization in Cu/Nb metallic nanolayered composites

Abstract We performed molecular dynamics simulations to study the effect of the layer thickness on the shear localization in Cu/Nb metallic nanolayered composites (MNCs). Our simulation results achieve good agreement with experimental results that the inverse size effect in the strength occurs in samples with layer thickness below 2.0 nm. The strain softening observed in those samples was triggered by the shear localization. The quantitative analysis revealed that the unsymmetrical dislocation transmission across the interface induces the shear localization and promotes the shear band formation in Cu/Nb MNCs. The plastic strain mainly comes from the interface sliding within the shear band.
Bile Salt Induction of Apoptosis in Goblet Cells of the Normal Human Colonic Mucosa: Relevance to Colon Cancer

Substantial evidence indicates that bile salts have a role in the etiology of colon cancer. The mechanism of action of bile salts, however, is largely unknown. We show here that bile salt sodium deoxycholate (NaDOC), at high physiologic individual ingests a high fat diet over severa! concentrations, induces apoptosis (programmed cell death) in a select colonic epithelial subpopulation (immature and mature goblet cells). Induction of apoptosis by NaDOC was determined using light and electron microscopy. The colonic goblet cells of four normal human subjects showed substantial induction of apoptosis (45% to 63% of goblet cells were apoptotic) upon treatment with 1 mM NaDOC for three hours. In contrast, the normal appearing colonic mucosa from six colon cancer patients showed relatively low induction of apoptosis (only 1% to 23% of goblet cells were apoptotic) after the same treatment. Among six patients with non- malignant polyps, four resembled the cancer patients in that the frequency of apoptotic cells in the normal portion of their colon was low after NaDOC treatment (2% to 21 %); the other two had frequencies similar to that of normal individuals (61% and 63%). These new findings suggest a novel hypothesis related to the role of bile salts in colon carcinogenesis. It is known that a high fat diet produces high levels of bile salts in the intestinal tract, and that bile salts cause DNA damage. Studies have also shown that cells with unrepaired DNA damage are subject to apoptosis. We hypothesize that when an apoptosis-resistant cells can be selected. When such a population becomes established, cells with carcinogen caused DNA damage remain viable instead of entering the apoptosis pathway. Such cells may then replicate and undergo mutation at sites of damage. These mutations may then lead to colon cancer.
Advance Care Planning Among Users of a Patient Portal During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Retrospective Observational Study.

Background: Advance care planning is the process of discussing health care treatment preferences based on patients’ personal values, and it often involves the completion of advance directives. In the first months of 2020, a novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began circulating widely in the American state of Colorado, leading to widespread diagnosis of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), hospitalizations, and deaths. In this context, the importance of technology-based, non–face-to-face methods to conduct advance care planning via patient portals has increased. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the rates of use of a web-based advance care planning tool through a health system–based electronic patient portal both before and in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: In 2017, we implemented web-based tools through the patient portal of UCHealth’s electronic health record (EHR) for patients to learn about advance care planning and complete an electronically signed medical durable power of attorney (MDPOA) to legally appoint a medical decision maker. Patients accessing the portal can complete and submit a legally valid MDPOA, which becomes part of their medical record. We collected data on the patients’ date of MDPOA completion, use of advance care planning messaging, age, sex, and geographic location during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic (December 29, 2019, to May 30, 2020). Results: Over a 5-month period that includes the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in Colorado, total monthly use of the advance care planning portal tool increased from 418 users in January to 1037 users in April and then decreased slightly to 815 users in May. The number of MDPOA forms submitted per week increased 2.4-fold after the stay-at-home order was issued in Colorado on March 26, 2020 (P<.001). The mean age of the advance care planning portal users was 47.7 years (SD 16.1), and 2206/3292 (67.0%) were female. Women were more likely than men to complete an MDPOA, particularly in younger age groups (P<.001). The primary use of the advance care planning portal tools was the completion of an MDPOA (3138/3292, 95.3%), compared to sending an electronic message (148/3292, 4.5%). Over 50% of patients who completed an MDPOA did not have a prior agent in the EHR. Conclusions: Use of a web-based patient portal to complete an MDPOA increased substantially during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Colorado. There was an increase in advance care planning that corresponded with state government shelter-in-place orders as well as public health reports of increased numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths. Patient portals are an important tool for providing advance care planning resources and documenting medical decision makers during the pandemic to ensure that medical treatment aligns with patient goals and values.
Perspectives on Acupuncture in the Pediatric Emergency Department

BACKGROUND: The opioid crisis catalyzed a national drive to better utilize non-pharmacologic pain management. To our knowledge, no study has examined staff, parent, or patient perspectives on acupuncture implementation in pediatric emergency departments (PED). OBJECTIVE: To understand staff, parent, and patient attitudes and barriers related to PED acupuncture. METHODS: We conducted 2 studies at 2 PEDs within a single children’s health system (125,000 visits/year). In Study 1, English-speaking patients (12-18 years), parents, and ED staff (child life specialists, nurses, physicians) completed anonymous surveys exploring factors associated with acceptability of PED …
Frequencies of CD8 and DN MAIT Cells Among Children Diagnosed With Type 1 Diabetes Are Similar to Age-Matched Controls

Mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells have been implicated in various forms of autoimmunity, including type 1 diabetes (T1D). Here, we tested the hypothesis that CD8 and double negative (DN) MAIT cell frequencies were altered among diagnosed T1D subjects compared to controls. To do this, we analyzed cryopreserved peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from age-matched T1D and control children using flow cytometry. We observed that CD8 and DN MAIT cell frequencies were similarly abundant between the two groups. We tested for associations between MAIT cell frequency and T1D-associated parameters, which could reveal a pathogenic role for MAIT cells in the absence of changes in frequency. We found no significant associations between CD8 and DN MAIT cell frequency and levels of islet cell autoantibodies (ICA), glutamate decarboxylase 65 (GAD65) autoantibodies, zinc transporter 8 (ZNT8) autoantibodies, and insulinoma antigen 2 (IA-2) autoantibodies. Furthermore, CD8 and DN MAIT cell frequencies were not significantly associated with time since diagnosis, c-peptide levels, HbA1c, and BMI. As we have examined this cohort for multiple soluble factors previously, we tested for associations between relevant factors and MAIT cell frequency. These could help to explain the broad range of MAIT frequencies we observed and/or indicate disease-associated processes. Although we found nothing disease-specific, we observed that levels of IL-7, IL-18, 25 (OH) vitamin D, and the ratio of vitamin D binding protein to 25 (OH) vitamin D were all associated with MAIT cell frequency. Finally, previous cytomegalovirus infection was associated with reduced CD8 and DN MAIT cells. From this evaluation, we found no connections between CD8 and DN MAIT cells and children with T1D. However, we did observe several intrinsic and extrinsic factors that could influence peripheral MAIT cell abundance among all children. These factors may be worth consideration in future experimental design.
Threshold dose for intravenous nicotine self-administration in young adult non-dependent smokers.

Reducing nicotine content of inhaled tobacco products may prevent nicotine addiction, but the threshold for nicotine reinforcement has not been systematically evaluated in controlled human laboratory studies. The current study uses a novel double-blind placebo-controlled intravenous (IV) nicotine self-administration (NSA) model to determine threshold for subjective effects of nicotine and nicotine reinforcement using a forced choice self-administration procedure. Young adults (n = 34) had 5 laboratory sessions after overnight nicotine abstinence. In each session, participants sampled and rated the subjective effects of an IV dose of nicotine (0.0125, 0.025, 0.05, 0.1, or 0.2 mg nicotine/70 kg bodyweight) versus saline (placebo), then were given a total of 10 opportunities to self-administer either the IV dose of nicotine or placebo. Mixed effect models revealed a significant effect of nicotine dose for positive (i.e., “stimulatory” and “pleasurable”; p < .0001) effects, but not “aversive” effects during sampling period. Post hoc comparisons showed that higher doses (i.e., 0.1 and 0.2 mg) were associated with greater stimulatory, pleasurable, and physiological effects than placebo and lower doses. Mixed effect models revealed that only the highest dose (i.e., 0.2 mg) was consistently preferred over placebo. Sex differences were generally weak (p = .03–.05). Using our IV nicotine NSA model, the threshold for detecting positive effects of nicotine in young adult smokers is about 0.1 mg, but a higher dose of nicotine, 0.2 mg, is required to produce a consistent nicotine reinforcement. Regarding the regulatory impact, our findings further support the value of nicotine reinforcement threshold as a tobacco regulatory target.
Hansen’s Disease

Hansen’s disease, also known as leprosy, is a chronic infection caused by Mycobacterium leprae that classically results in varying skin lesions with peripheral nerve damage. While Hansen’s disease remains endemic in tropical areas of the world, notably India and Brazil, it is considered a rare disease in the United States with roughly 200 cases per year recorded. There is emerging evidence that in the southern parts of the United States, Hansen’s disease could be considered a zoonosis transmitted via contact with armadillos. Infection with M. leprae can lead to a spectrum of clinical diseases dependent on complex pathogen-host immune responses. Additionally, further immune reactions as a result of a disease can also occur prior to, during, or after treatment.
3D-mapping of human lymph node and spleen reveals integrated neuronal, vascular, and ductal cell networks

As secondary lymphoid organs, the spleen and lymph node represent important hubs for both innate and adaptive immunity1,2. Neuroanatomical and tracing data, largely derived from rodents, suggest that lymph nodes contain sensory and sympathetic innervation3,4, whereas the spleen contains postganglionic sympathetic innervation5, with conflicting views regarding the existence of cholinergic or vagal innervation6. Herein, we map the neuronal, vascular, and sinus cell networks from human spleen and lymph node using highly multiplexed CODEX (CO-Detection by indEXing) and 3D light sheet microscopy of cleared tissues. These data demonstrate striking delineation of two distinct layers within the lymph node subcapsular sinus--the ceiling defined by Podoplanin expression and floor by LYVE1, which overlays the lymph node follicles. Within the lymph node interior, we observed a mesh-like vessel network innervated with GAP43 and {beta}3-tubulin. Dense perivascular innervation occurred in both tissues, including a subset of axonal processes expressing choline acetyl transferase (ChAT). Four neuronal markers (ChAT, PGP9.5, tyrosine hydroxylase, and {beta}3-tubulin) localized to the arterial tunica externa suggest expression in the nervi vasorum while GAP43 was expressed within the internal elastic membrane of arteries. These data represent highly novel 3D visualization of perivascular and periductal autonomic innervation within these two key human organs.
Effect of chromium picolinate on growth, body composition, and tissue accretion in pigs.

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of dietary chromium picolinate (CrP) on growth and body composition of pigs. Twenty-four barrows (three from each of eight litters) were randomly allotted within litter to one of three treatments: 1) basal (B) diet from 19.1 to 106.4 kg BW (Control); 2) B from 19.1 to 57.2 kg BW and then B + 200 ppb of chromium as CrP from 57.2 to 106.4 kg BW (CrP-F); and 3) B + 200 ppb of chromium as CrP from 19.1 to 106.4 kg BW (CrP- GF). Average daily gain and ADFI were reduced (P .10) by treatment. Tenth rib fat was reduced (P < .01) in pigs fed CrP-F compared with pigs fed CrP-GF, and percentage of muscle was increased in pigs fed CrP-F (P < .09) compared with pigs fed either the Control or CrP-GF diets. Leaf fat (P < .05) and lung weights (P < .08) were reduced in pigs fed CrP-F compared with pigs fed CrP-GF. As determined by physical-chemical separation, pigs fed CrP-GF had an increased (P < .07) percentage of intermuscular fat compared with pigs fed the Control or CrP-F diets. Pigs fed CrP-F had a lesser (P < .07) percentage of total fat and a greater (P < .07) percentage of muscle than pigs fed the Control or CrP-GF diets. As determined by mechanical-chemical separation, pigs fed CrP-F had a greater (P < .10) percentage of moisture than pigs fed the Control diet and a lesser (P < .10) percentage of fat and a greater (P < .06) percentage of ash than pigs fed the Control or CrP-GF diets. Pigs fed CrP-GF had an increased (P < .04) daily fat accretion compared with pigs fed CrP-F. Sensory and shear force values were not affected by CrP, with the exception that meat from pigs fed CrP-GF had a greater (P < .10) shear force value than meat from pigs fed CrP-F. These results suggest that dietary supplementation of CrP in the finishing phase of pig production may increase muscle and decrease fat deposition; however, not all measures of muscling or fatness were improved by CrP.
Delayed Diagnosis of Subdural Empyema in a Septic Child

The prompt identification of sepsis in children is chal lenging, but once sepsis is identified, initiation of care and determination of proper disposition may be insuffi cient to ensure optimal outcomes. The best opportunity for full recovery also requires rapid identification and treatment of the infectious source. Acute bacterial sinusitis is common in the pediatric population, and although intracranial complications of sinusitis are rare, they are associated with significant morbidity and mortality. His tory and physical examination may be imperfectly sensitive for the presence of acute bacterial sinusitis and its intracranial complications. We present a case of pediatric sepsis in which the diagnosis of intracranial extension of bacterial sinusitis was not made during the first phase of care and describe complications that followed. Emergency physicians should consider subdural empyema in patients presenting with fever, nausea and headache with worrisome vital signs and laboratory values suggestive of a severe infection.
Scalable co-clustering algorithms

Co-clustering has been extensively used in varied applications because of its potential to discover latent local patterns that are otherwise unapparent by usual unsupervised algorithms such as k-means Recently, a unified view of co-clustering algorithms, called Bregman co-clustering (BCC), provides a general framework that even contains several existing co-clustering algorithms, thus we expect to have more applications of this framework to varied data types However, the amount of data collected from real-life application domains easily grows too big to fit in the main memory of a single processor machine Accordingly, enhancing the scalability of BCC can be a critical challenge in practice To address this and eventually enhance its potential for rapid deployment to wider applications with larger data, we parallelize all the twelve co-clustering algorithms in the BCC framework using message passing interface (MPI) In addition, we validate their scalability on eleven synthetic datasets as well as one real-life dataset, where we demonstrate their speedup performance in terms of varied parameter settings.
Sexual Behavior Changes as a Result of a Concern About AIDS

This survey assessed the impact of a concern about acquiring AIDS upon the thinking and sexual behavior of persons of different sexual orientations and gender in 1986. A questionnaire assessing sexual behavior changes over time was administered to both gay and heterosexual bar patrons in Greenwich Village, New York. Among individuals, concern about AIDS had affected the sexual behavior of almost all gay men, a majority of gay women, over half of heterosexual women, but only a quarter of heterosexual men. Across all the groups, the most frequent behavioral response involved the elimination or decrease of casual sex and the ascertaining of sexual histories. Only gay men were using condoms to any appreciable degree. This study occurred before the Surgeon General's report recommending condoms appeared. A follow-up study assessing sexual behavior changes since then is underway.
Formulaic Language in Native and Second Language Speakers: Psycholinguistics, Corpus Linguistics, and TESOL

Natural language makes considerable use of recurrent formulaic patterns of words. This article triangulates the construct of formula from corpus linguistic, psycholinguistic, and educational perspectives. It describes the corpus linguistic extraction of pedagogically useful formulaic sequences for academic speech and writing. It determines English as a second language (ESL) and English for academic purposes (EAP) instructors' evaluations of their pedagogical importance. It summarizes three experiments which show that different aspects of formulaicity affect the accuracy and fluency of processing of these formulas in native speakers and in advanced L2 learners of English. The language processing tasks were selected to sample an ecologically valid range of language processing skills: spoken and written, production and comprehension. Processing in all experiments was affected by various corpus-derived metrics: length, frequency, and mutual information (MI), but to different degrees in the different populations. For native speakers, it is predominantly the MI of the formula which determines processability; for nonnative learners of the language, it is predominantly the frequency of the formula. The implications of these findings are discussed for (a) the psycholinguistic validity of corpus-derived formulas, (b) a model of their acquisition, (c) ESL and EAP instruction and the prioritization of which formulas to teach.
Prevalence and Diagnosis Rates of Childhood ADHD Among Racial-Ethnic Groups in a Public Mental Health System.

Objective:This study estimated the proportions of Hispanic and non-Hispanic white and black children ages three to 17 with a diagnosis of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) receiving services from the New York State public mental health system (NYS PMHS) and their annual treated ADHD prevalence rates. Findings were compared with those of recent national studies of general population samples.Methods:Data were from a 2011 survey of users of NYS PMHS nonresidential services. Adjusted odds ratios compared the probability of an ADHD diagnosis among the groups by age, gender, and insurance type. Prevalence rates were compared among groups by age and gender.Results:An estimated 133,091 children used the NYS PMHS, of whom 31% had an ADHD diagnosis. The prevalence rate of ADHD among whites was significantly lower than that among Hispanics or blacks in all gender and age groups except Hispanic females ages 13 to 17. White children were significantly less likely than black children to receive an ADHD di...
Behavioral Intentions as an Intervening Variable in Housing Decisions: A Longitudinal Study

A model of housing decisions is tested using longitudinal data from an area experiencing rapid racial transition. Behavioral intentions are shown to intervene between family and neighborhood characteristics and behavior .
Forested Buffer Strips and Breeding Bird Communities in Southeast Alaska

Abstract Forested buffer strips are used to mitigate fragmentation and habitat loss and are a common feature in management of riparian landscapes. Low-elevation, old-growth coastal forests are a rare riparian habitat that can benefit from similar conservation measures. We evaluated the effectiveness of postlogging, forested buffer strips for forest-dwelling birds in the coastal temperate rainforest of southeast Alaska, USA. Our objective was to compare bird composition and density among forested buffer strips of differing widths and controls at the stand and landscape scales. We applied a 2-stage sampling design stratified by forested buffer width and randomly selected 24 managed and 18 control sites to sample over 2 breeding seasons. We estimated abundance of birds using the paired-observer, variable-circular plot method. We modeled combined effects of buffer width and vegetation and landscape characteristics on bird density at 2 spatial scales. Species richness and diversity were greatest in the narrowe...
Temporal and geographical variation in songs of humpback whales, Megaptera novaeangliae: synchronous change in Hawaiian and Mexican breeding assemblages

Humpback whale song, a male breeding display, shows a remarkable degree of similarity among distant breeding assemblages, despite constant progressive change. It has been hypothesized that whales maintain continuity through cultural transmission via migratory movements of males. We examined songs of whales breeding off Hawaii and Mexico to determine whether they changed similarly in both areas during the course of a breeding season. Songs recorded off Kauai, Hawaii (11 individuals) and Isla Socorro, Mexico (13 individuals) during winter and spring of 1991, were compared qualitatively and quantitatively. We measured 44 acoustic variables describing all known levels of song structure for each singer and we grouped these variables into six categories. We used two-factor analyses of variance to assess change across the season in each area, comparing the two regions and two 3-week periods (January/February and April). Twenty-seven variables changed significantly during the 12-week study in at least one area. Variables within categories displayed similar trends of change. Time and frequency characteristics describing the structure of song elements (units and phrases) changed synchronously in each area, with 21 of 25 variables displaying significant differences between periods and no interaction with region. Structures of song patterns, as defined by frequency of occurrence and number of unit and phrase types, changed differently in each area, with five of 12 variables indicating a significant interaction between region and period. Our results may suggest cultural transmission during the season, since many variables changed in similar manners. We propose an alternative hypothesis, that whales may be predisposed to gradually change certain features of song independently of cultural influences; change of structural elements may be governed by a discrete set of rules, or according to an innate template. Therefore, continuity of song patterns across the ocean basin may be due to a combination of mechanisms, only partially involving cultural transmission. We assess these hypotheses in relation to humpback whale behaviour and population structure, and cultural transmission and evolution of avian song.
Active and cooperative learning: tips and tricks (part I)

Information about the value of active and cooperative learning for students does not typically provide hints for making it work in the classroom. This and subsequent articles in this series will discuss tips and tricks that help to make classroom activities successful. This first article gives a brief background on active and cooperative learning. The background for dramas or kinesthetic learning activities that get students to physically act out a concept or algorithm are also discussed along with some example activities of this type.
Ras oncogene-transformed and nontransformed cell populations are each heterogeneous but respond differently to the chemotherapeutic drug cytosine arabinoside (Ara-C)

In order to determine whether the growth of ras oncogene-transformed cells and nontransformed cells was inhibited differently by the chemotherapuetic drug cytosine arabinoside (Ara-C) their growth was analyzed by a novel colony-based assay that is sensitive and appropriate for heterogeneous cell populations. Colonies of nontransformed NIH3T3 cells, or ras onco- gene-transformed NIH(ras) cells, were grown in the absence of drug and then divided into subclones. Subclones were allowed to continue to grow in the absence or presence of drug. Growth inhibition was determined by comparing the growth of drug-treated subclones with the growth of related untreated subclones. Colonies of nontransformed cells grown in the absence of the drug displayed a large variation in growth, and when grown in the presence of the drug displayed a large variation in growth inhibition. Colonies of transformed cells also displayed a large variation in the absence and presence of the drug. For each cell line, related subclones were more similar to each other than to unrelated subclones, implying inheritance of growth rates and drug response. For NIH3T3 cells, the growth of subclones in the presence of drug was highly correlated with the growth of related subclones in the absence of drug. However, for NIH3T3(ras) cells the growth of subclones in the presence of drug was not correlated with the growth of related subclones in the absence of drug. Therefore, ras oncogene-transformed and nontransformed cell populations differ in their response to Ara-C.
The effect of deliberate hypercapnia and hypocapnia on intraoperative blood loss and quality of surgical field during functional endoscopic sinus surgery.

BACKGROUND:Anesthetic management during functional endoscopic sinus surgery is aimed at minimizing bleeding and establishing a near-perfect surgical field. We investigated whether deliberate intraoperative hypercapnia and hypocapnia may affect blood loss and quality of surgical field through a propo
Induction of mutations by 2-acetylaminofluorene in lad transgenic B6C3F1 mouse liver

Mutations induced in liver cells by the hepatocarcinogen 2-acetylaminofluorene (2-AAF) were characterized after i.p. administration on 4 consecutive days at 100 mg/kg per injection in male B6C3F1 Big Blue transgenic mice that harbored the Escherichia coli lacI reporter gene. Animals were sacrificed at 5, 10 or 60 weeks following the last injection, livers removed and DNA packaged in vitro into bacteriophage lambda particles. The bacteriophage were assayed for lacI function by plating on E. coli in the presence of X-gal. Approximately 3 x 10(5) plaques were assayed per animal. Solvent-treated control mice exhibited a slight increase in mutant frequency over time, from 3.93 x 10(-5) at 5 weeks to 5.02 x 10(-5) at 60 weeks. In contrast, treatment with 2-AAF yielded an approximately 2-fold increase in mutant frequency at 5 and 10 weeks after treatment relative to controls, with frequencies of 8.13 x 10(-5) and 7.43 x 10(-5) respectively. However, by 60 weeks post-treatment the mutant frequency was not significantly increased over concurrent controls. Similar to results in other systems, 2-AAF induced predominantly single base changes targeted to G:C base pairs, primarily G:C-->T:A transversions (27%). In contrast to results in other bacterial and eukaryotic systems, no deletions were observed among the 2-AAF-induced mutations and the 4 base hot spot deletion that is frequently observed in lacI in E. coli was not observed in this system, suggesting that the lacI transgene may be relatively refractory to frameshift mutations in vivo in the mouse.
Model Describes How Principals Can Achieve Quality Instruction

The research literature is voluminous, but after some sifting it reveals action plans that principals—those who have the ultimate responsibility for local schools—can use to improve instruction.
Parametric Sensitivity of Ground Motion Pulse Filter for Response Control of Base-Isolated Buildings

Recently, the authors have proposed ground motion pulse filters for designing effective active and semi-active controllers for base-isolated structures subject to near-field earthquakes. The controller design is realized by augmenting the structural system equation with state-space model of the pulse filter. It has been observed that the resulting controllers are capable of simultaneously reducing peak values of base displacement, superstructure drift, and accelerations of the base and the superstructure simultaneously within practical range of control forces. Since the pulse model depends on ground pulse period, ground pulse decay factor, and the pulse shape factor, a parametric sensitivity analysis is carried out to find pulse parameters for a broad range of earthquakes. It is found that the performance of the controller doesn't vary significantly if the pulse period is underestimated by 50% or overestimated by 20% with respect to the actual ground pulse period, the ground decay factor is between 0.15 a...
Learning to use prepositions: a case study.

The current study documented one child's earliest use of prepositions during her second year of life. The spatial oppositions up-down, on-off, in—out and over—under were first to be learned. These words were all used initially in non-prepositional senses (mostly as holophrastic, verb-like requests for activities) prior to prepositional usage. They were seldom omitted or misused. The prepositions with, by, to, for, at and of were learned later. Four of these were used to express at least two distinct case relationships, and some case relationships (instrumental and dative) were indicated by more than one of these words. These later learned prepositions were not used by adults or learned by the child as holophrases, but rather they were acquired as distinct lexical items by means of analytic learning strategies that employed some form of ‘extraction’ from adult phrases. These words were omitted and misused much more often than the spatial oppositions. Differences in the acquisition pattern of these two groups of prepositions were attributed to linguistic rather than to cognitive factors.
An Application of Statistical Process Control in Jet-Turbine Engine Component Manufacturing

[This abstract is based on the author's abstract.] Jet-turbine component manufacturing involves complex manufacturing operations. The manufacture of airfoil or blades and the subsequent profile inspection through coordinate measuring machines is es..
EpICS: A system for genome-wide epistasis and genetic variation analysis using protein-protein interactions

Epistasis usually contributes to many well known diseases making the traits more complex and harder to study. The interactions between multiple genes and their alleles of different loci often mask the effects of a single gene at particular locus resulting in a complex trait. So the analysis of epistasis uncovers the facts about the mechanisms and pathways involved in a disease by analyzing biological interactions between implicated proteins. As the existing tools mainly focus on the single or pair wise variation analysis, a comprehensive tool capable of analyzing interactions among multiple variations located in different chromosomal loci is still of growing importance for genome wide association study. In this paper, we focus on exploring all the protein-protein interactions coded by the genes in the regions of variations of human genome. We introduce a tool called EpICS that helps explore the epistatic effects of genes by analyzing the protein-protein interactions within the regions of different types of genetic variations. It accepts variation IDs, type of variations (Insertion-Deletion/Copy Number Variation/Single Nucleotide polymorphism), PubMed identifiers, or a region of a chromosome as input and then enumerates the variations of the user-specified types as well as the interactions of the proteins coded by the genes in the region. It also provides necessary details for further study of the results. EpICS is available at http://integra.cs.wayne.edu:8080/epics for general use.
Ultrasound-Guided Prenatal Punctures

Ultrasound was used in three cases to assist the physician in performing fetal puncture for decompression of abnormal fluid collections in the fetus. The use of real-time ultrasound guidance can help prevent trauma to the mother and fetus due to such procedures.
Directions of theoretical and experimental investigations into the mechanisms of heterogeneous catalysis

The roles of the atomic structure and the electronic structure of the active surface sites in bonding of reactants and causing bond breaking or bond formation have been the focus of theoretical studies. In addition to calculations on static systems, usually clusters, modelling of the transition states and the dynamics of elementary reaction steps (adsorption, dissociation, surface diffusion, desorption) have been performed. Variations of electronic structure of elements across the periodic table have been shown to be responsible for the unique importance of transition metals in catalysis. Experimental studies utilize catalysts with well-characterized structure (zeolites, crystal surfaces) and information about surface structure, composition and chemical bonding of adsorbates becomes available on the molecular level. Deliberate alteration of catalyst structure, surface composition by alloying and electronic structure by addition of electron donor and electron acceptor promoters have been utilized to modify reaction rates and selectivity. This way many of the molecular ingredients of heterogeneous catalytic reactions have been identified. In recent years evidence has been accumulating that indicates periodic and long term restructuring of the catalyst surface as necessary for chemical change and reaction turnover. These findings point to the need of time resolved studies and in-situ investigations of both the substrate and the adsorbate sides of the surface chemical bonds simultaneously on a time scale shorter than the reaction turnover frequency. Close collaboration between theorists and experimentalists is essential if we are to succeed in designing heterogeneous catalysts.
Fast multichannel spectrum scanning with multiple simultaneous observations

This paper considers the problem of how to quickly and accurately scan a multichannel spectrum to determine the availability of each channel for a secondary user in a cognitive radio network. The secondary user is able to simultaneously observe more than one channel. We consider a sequential decision setup. After taking each sample, the secondary user should decide either to stop or continue scanning. If the secondary user decides to stop scanning, it then needs to make decisions on the busy/idle status of each channel. If the secondary user decides to continue scanning, it then needs to select a subset of the channels to sense. Two scenarios are investigated. In the first scenario, there is a strict delay constraint on the scanning process. That is, the spectrum scanning needs to be completed within a certain period of time. In the second scenario, there is no strict delay constraint. That is, the spectrum scanning continues until the completion of the detection process. In both scenarios, optimal algorithms for multichannel scanning with multiple simultaneous observations are developed to minimize a cost function that strikes a balance between detection error probabilities and detection delay. Low-complexity approximation schemes are also developed to reduce the complexity of the optimal schemes. Simulation examples are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms.
Conditional analysis of the major histocompatibility complex in rheumatoid arthritis.

We performed a whole-genome association study of rheumatoid arthritis susceptibility using Illumina 550k single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotypes of 868 cases and 1194 controls from the North American Rheumatoid Arthritis Consortium (NARAC). Structured association analysis with adjustment for potential population stratification yielded 200 SNPs with p < 1 × 10-8 for association with RA, all of which were on chromosome 6 in a 2.7-Mb region of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). Given the extensive linkage equilibrium in the region and known risk of HLA-DRB1 alleles, we then applied conditional analyses to ascertain independent signals for RA susceptibility among these 200 candidate SNPs. Conditional analyses incorporating risk categories of the HLA-DRB1 "shared epitope" revealed three SNPs having independent associations with RA (conditional p < 0.001). This supports the presence of significant effects on RA susceptibility in the MHC in addition to the shared epitope.