cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Adolescent cannabis use and its associations with decision-making and episodic memory: Preliminary results from a longitudinal study.

OBJECTIVE Impairments in neurocognitive functioning, including memory and executive functions, have been identified among adult cannabis users; however, less is known about the effects of cannabis use (CU) among adolescent users. Delineating the directionality of associations between CU and neurocognition has been restricted due to the relatively few longitudinal studies examining this question. As such, we examined whether decision-making prospectively predicted CU, and whether increases in CU were associated with changes in decision-making and episodic memory among a sample consisting predominantly of adolescent cannabis users. METHOD Adolescents (n = 401), aged 14-17 at baseline, completed 3 (biannual) assessments across a 1-year period. Latent growth curve analyses in structural equation models were conducted to examine potential associations between decision-making and growth in CU, and associations between change in CU and change in decision-making or episodic memory performance. RESULTS Significant cross-sectional associations were observed between greater CU and poorer decision-making and episodic memory performance (p < .05), consistent with our hypotheses and prior findings. However, decision-making performance did not predict change in CU frequency across 1 year. Neither was change in decision-making associated with changes in CU. However, increasing cannabis use was associated with worsening immediate (but not delayed) episodic memory. CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that poorer decision-making does not put teens at relatively early stages of cannabis use at risk for further escalation in use over one year. However, increasing cannabis use over the same period was associated with declines in immediate memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
Measurement Floors and Dynamic Ranges of OCT and OCT Angiography in Glaucoma

Purpose To determine if OCT angiography (OCTA)-derived vessel density measurements can extend the available dynamic range for detecting glaucoma compared with spectral-domain (SD) OCT-derived thickness measurements. Design Observational, cross-sectional study. Participants A total of 509 eyes from 38 healthy participants, 63 glaucoma suspects, and 193 glaucoma patients enrolled in the Diagnostic Innovations in Glaucoma Study. Methods Relative vessel density and tissue thickness measurement floors of perifoveal vessel density (pfVD), circumpapillary capillary density (cpCD), circumpapillary retinal nerve fiber (cpRNFL) thickness, ganglion cell complex (GCC) thickness, and visual field (VF) mean deviation (MD) were investigated and compared with a previously reported linear change point model (CPM) and locally weighted scatterplot smoothing curves. Main Outcome Measures Estimated vessel density and tissue thickness measurement floors and corresponding dynamic ranges. Results Visual field MD ranged from –30.1 to 2.8 decibels (dB). No measurement floor was found for pfVD, which continued to decrease constantly until very advanced disease. A true floor (i.e., slope of approximately 0 after observed CPM change point) was detected for cpRNFL thickness only. The post-CPM estimated floors were 49.5±2.6 μm for cpRNFL thickness, 70.7±1.0 μm for GCC thickness, and 31.2±1.1% for cpCD. Perifoveal vessel density reached the post-CPM estimated floor later in the disease (VF MD, –25.8±3.8 dB) than cpCD (VF MD, –19.3±2.4 dB), cpRNFL thickness (VF MD, –17.5±3.3 dB), and GCC thickness (VF MD, –13.9±1.8 dB; P Conclusions In late-stage glaucoma, particularly when VF MD is worse than –14 dB, OCTA-measured pfVD is a promising tool for monitoring progression because it does not have a detectable measurement floor. However, the number of steps within the dynamic range of a parameter also needs to be considered. Although thickness parameters reached the floor earlier than OCTA-measured pfVD, there are more such steps with thickness than OCTA parameters.
Covariate-Adaptive Optimization in Online Clinical Trials

The decision of how to allocate subjects to treatment groups is of great importance in experimental clinical trials for novel investigational drugs, a multibillion-dollar industry. The statistical ...
Thorium Abundances in Solar Twins and Analogs: Implications for the Habitability of Extrasolar Planetary Systems

We present the first investigation of Th abundances in solar twins and analogues to understand the possible range of this radioactive element and its effect on rocky planet interior dynamics and potential habitability. The abundances of the radioactive elements Th and U are key components of a planet?s energy budget, making up 30%?50% of the Earth?s. Radiogenic heat drives interior mantle convection and surface plate tectonics, which sustains a deep carbon and water cycle and thereby aides in creating Earth?s habitable surface. Unlike other heat sources that are dependent on the planet?s specific formation history, the radiogenic heat budget is directly related to the mantle concentration of these nuclides. As a refractory element, the stellar abundance of Th is faithfully reflected in the terrestrial planet?s concentration. We find that log varies from 59% to 251% that of solar, suggesting extrasolar planetary systems may possess a greater energy budget with which to support surface to interior dynamics and thus increase their likelihood to be habitable compared to our solar system.
Protease‑activated receptor 2 protects against myocardial ischemia‑reperfusion injury through the lipoxygenase pathway and TRPV1 channels

This study tests the hypothesis that the lipoxygenase (LOX) pathway mediates protease-activated receptor (PAR) 2-induced activation of the transient receptor potential vanilloid receptor 1 (TRPV1) to protect the heart from ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. SLIGRL, a PAR2 activating peptide, was administered prior to reperfusion following left anterior descending coronary artery ligation in wild type (WT) and TRPV1 knockout (TRPV1-/-) mice. In a Langendorffly perfused heart I/R model, hemodynamic parameters, including left ventricular end-diastolic pressure, left ventricular developed pressure, coronary blood flow and left ventricular peak +dP/dt were evaluated after I/R. SLIGRL reduced the cardiac infarct size in WT and TRPV1-/- mice with a greater effect in the former strain (P<0.05). SLIGRL increased plasma levels of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) and substance P in WT (both P<0.05) but not in TRPV1-/- mice. Pretreatment with CGRP8-37 (a CGRP receptor antagonist) or RP67580 (a neurokinin-1 receptor antagonist) alone had no effect on SLIGRL-induced cardiac protection in either strain. However, combined administration of CGRP8-37 and RP67580 abolished SLIGRL-induced cardiac protection in WT but not in TRPV1-/- mice. Nordihydroguaiaretic acid (a general LOX inhibitor) and baicalein (a 12-LOX inhibitor), but not indomethacin (a cyclooxygenase inhibitor) and hexanamide (a selective cytochrome P450 epoxygenase inhibitor), abolished the protective effects of SLIGRL in WT (all P<0.05) but not in TRPV1-/- hearts. These data suggested that PAR2, possibly via 12-LOX, activates TRPV1 and leads to CGRP and substance P release to prevent I/R injury in the heart, indicating that the 12-LOX-TRPV1 pathway conveys cardiac protection to alleviate myocardial infarction.
Transient Global Amnesia in a 60-year-old female with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder.

This is a case report involving a 60-year-old female who developed transient global amnesia (TGA) after an emotional psychotherapy session in the framework of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). She presented to the local emergency room, three days after her psychotherapist appointment, with complaints of memory impairment. She and her husband were worried about acute stroke since it was a sudden memory loss. The patient discussed with her psychotherapist a physical assault that occurred five years ago. Three days after that discussion, the patient developed the memory loss acutely. PTSD is associated with dissociative and retrograde amnesia. This case report demonstrates that PTSD can present with anterograde amnesia in the form of TGA.
A Low-Latency 16-Phase Pulse Width Modulator with Phase Angle Control for 140MHz Fully Integrated Voltage Regulators on 22nm Tri-Gate CMOS

A 16-phase Pulse Width Modulator (PWM) for Fully Integrated Voltage Regulators (FIVR) manufactured on a 22nm tri-gate CMOS process is presented. The PWM supports a wide operating frequency range of 20MHz- 320MHz, individually programmable phase angles from 0° to 360° with 11.25° resolution, a low latency of 150ps, and synchronized enabling/disabling of phases. The PWM can be phase-locked to a spread-spectrum reference clock for EMI/RFI control. The design does not require low-leakage analog components.
Living Apart Together

This entry looks at the increasingly common relationship arrangement of living apart together, which is when couples intentionally reside at different addresses despite sharing other similarities with cohabiting or married couples.
Personality and interests for selection: Theoretical perspectives

This article explores two theoretical perspectives on both personality and vocational interests in terms of their value for personnel selection. These theories stand out for the amount of research ...
Predictors of the Response to Dopaminergic Therapy in Patients With Prolactinoma.

Purpose Withdrawal of dopamine agonist (DA) therapy in patients with prolactinoma who are controlled by a small dose of medication is recommended by several guidelines. So far, the likelihood of reaching withdrawal conditions based on baseline characteristics remains uncertain. Methods We retrospectively examined early clinical, radiological, or biochemical features that may predict the likelihood of reaching withdrawal conditions in prolactinoma patients. Data were obtained in a single academic medical center in the United States from patients seen between 2000 and 2018. Using multiple logistic regression, we compared patients who reached withdrawal conditions with those who did not. Results Of 213 patients, 78 (36.6%) reached withdrawal conditions after at least 2 years of DA treatment. Initial maximal tumor diameter was significantly smaller in those who reached withdrawal conditions than in those who did not. Percent prolactin change at the first check from initiation of DA therapy and parasellar invasiveness were predictors of reaching withdrawal conditions. With constant independent variables, there was a 7% increase in odds for reaching withdrawal conditions for every 1% decrease in percent prolactin change at first check after DA therapy start (P = 0.0000). Parasellar invasion decreased the odds of reaching withdrawal conditions by 84% (P = 0.0000). Conclusions DA remains a potential life-long treatment modality for most prolactinoma patients. Patients with parasellar invasiveness and low prolactin percent change from baseline to first prolactin check are more likely to require long-term treatment.
Restoring fire to forests: Contrasting the effects on soils of prescribed fire and wildfire

Abstract Fire has shaped plant communities for hundreds of million years. Wildland fire in the 21st Century covers a spectrum from low severity, localized prescribed fires to landscape-level high severity wildfires that affect vegetation, soils, water, fauna, air, and cultural resources. The knowledge of fire effects is important to land managers because fire is an integral part of the concept of ecosystem management and restoration. Concerns exist that introduction of prescribed fire as a management tool will cause unintended disturbances to ecosystems. This is a scientific and management concern in ecosystems where fire has been intentionally excluded for long periods of time. The use of prescribed fire in wildland ecosystems is now a critical component of management directed restoration activities needed to prevent catastrophic, high-severity wildfire. Prescribed fires normally do not rise to the level of severity that produces serious ecosystem impacts, particularly with respect to impacts on soils.
On-Line Learning and Forecast Combination in Unbalanced Panels

This paper evaluates the performance of a few newly proposed on-line forecast combination algorithms, and compares them with some of the existing ones including the simple average and that of Bates and Granger (1969). We derive asymptotic results for the new algorithms that justify certain established approaches to forecast combination including trimming, clustering, weighting and shrinkage. We also show that when implemented on unbalanced panels, different combination algorithms implicitly impute missing data differently, so that the performance of the resulting combined forecasts are not comparable. After explicitly imputing the missing observations in the U.S. Survey of Professional Forecasters (SPF) over 1968 IV-2013 I, we find that the equally weighted average continues to be hard to beat, but the new algorithms can potentially deliver superior performance at shorter horizons, especially during periods of volatility clustering and structural breaks.
Cell Type Identification from Single-Cell Transcriptomic Data via Gene Embedding

Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq) enables the profiling of the transcriptomes of individual cells, thus characterizing the heterogeneity of biological samples since scRNAseq experiments are able to yield high volumes of data. Analyzing scRNAseq data will be beneficial for obtaining knowledge on cancer drug resistance, gene regulation in embryonic development, and mechanisms of stem cell differentiation and reprogramming. One common goal of scRNAseq data analytics is to identify the cell type of each individual cell that has been profiled. However, data sparsity is the main challenge due to limitations of current single-cell RNA sequencing techniques. In this paper, a novel method of representing the genes as gene embeddings is proposed to reduce data sparsity of scRNAseq data for cell type identification, which is inspired by similarities between gene system and natural language system. It contains two steps: 1) transform gene sequences into gene sentences by ranking genes in terms of their expression values; 2) employ the word2vec technique to learn gene embeddings on these gene sentences. Then we build three deep learning models, namely RNNs, Attention RNNs, and Bi-directional LSTM RNNs, for cell type classification. The proposed method is evaluated on macosko2015, a large scale scRNAseq dataset with ground truth of individual cell types. Experimental results show that the proposed method performs effectively and efficiently on identifying cell types on scRNAseq data, and it can achieve promising performance even learning on limited number of genes.
Mesophotic coral refuges following multiple disturbances

As coral populations on shallow reefs decline globally, mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCE) have been proposed as potential coral refugia from thermal, storm, and anthropogenic disturbances in the face of climate change. The current study assesses the refuge potential of MCEs in the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) for Montastraea cavernosa by extrapolating reproductive potential through depth-stratified coral loss following regional storm, disease, and bleaching perturbations. Fecundity of this depth-generalist coral from 4 to 40 m was measured histologically, and polyp, population, and total habitat fecundities were then extrapolated across the species’ depth range. The number of reproductively active female gonads per polyp and oocyte size experienced a significant, though small, decrease with depth, potentially due to energetic limitations. Notably, the population sex ratio was not different from 1:1 on shallow and mid-depth reefs, but it became significantly male-biased (3.6:1) at mesophotic depths. Population-level differences in oocyte production over depth were primarily driven by changes in coral cover and sex ratio. The large spatial extent of mesophotic reefs relative to shallow reefs in the USVI makes MCEs the primary contributor of oocytes, despite the reduced proportion of females at depth. Following Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017, the outbreak of Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease in 2019, and a bleaching event in 2019, shallow and mid-depth M. cavernosa populations experienced severe coral cover declines. Shallow and mid-depth population fecundities were predicted to decline correspondingly. Coral cover in MCEs remained relatively stable following these largely shallow water perturbations, and predicted population and total habitat fecundities remained constant as well. Thus, MCEs in the USVI currently appear to be reproductive refuges for M. cavernosa, but the persistence of that refuge remains in question as disease perturbation begins to affect deeper reefs.
Outcomes of malignant pheochromocytoma based on operative approach: A National Cancer Database analysis

Abstract Background Malignant pheochromocytoma is often managed with adrenalectomy. Most literature focusing on postoperative outcomes are from single institutions. This study aimed to describe outcomes of adrenalectomy for malignant pheochromocytoma using a national database. We hypothesized that minimally invasive approaches might be associated with improved short-term outcomes but potentially inferior oncologic efficacy. Methods Patients who underwent adrenalectomy for malignant pheochromocytoma were identified in the National Cancer Database (2010–2016). Patients were categorized as minimally invasive adrenalectomy or open adrenalectomy. Short- and long-term outcomes were compared. Results A total of 276 patients underwent adrenalectomy for malignant pheochromocytoma: 50.7% open adrenalectomy and 49.3% minimally invasive adrenalectomy. Demographics were similar, except those who underwent open adrenalectomy had larger tumors compared to minimally invasive adrenalectomy (8.2 cm vs 4.7 cm; P Conclusion Patients with larger malignant pheochromocytomas were more likely to undergo an open adrenalectomy. With the exception of an increased duration of stay, there was no difference in short- or long-term postoperative outcomes. These data suggest that minimally invasive adrenalectomy appears safe among tumors
Modeling links softening of myelin and spectrin scaffolds of axons after a concussion to increased vulnerability to repeated injuries

Damage to the microtubule lattice, which serves as a rigid cytoskeletal backbone for the axon, is a hallmark mechanical initiator of pathophysiology after concussion. Understanding the mechanical stress transfer from the brain tissue to the axonal cytoskeleton is essential to determine the microtubule lattice's vulnerability to mechanical injury. Here, we develop an ultrastructural model of the axon's cytoskeletal architecture to identify the components involved in the dynamic load transfer during injury. Corroborative in vivo studies were performed using a gyrencephalic swine model of concussion via single and repetitive head rotational acceleration. Computational analysis of the load transfer mechanism demonstrates that the myelin sheath and the actin/spectrin cortex play a significant role in effectively shielding the microtubules from tissue stress. We derive failure maps in the space spanned by tissue stress and stress rate to identify physiological conditions in which the microtubule lattice can rupture. We establish that a softer axonal cortex leads to a higher susceptibility of the microtubules to failure. Immunohistochemical examination of tissue from the swine model of single and repetitive concussion confirms the presence of postinjury spectrin degradation, with more extensive pathology observed following repetitive injury. Because the degradation of myelin and spectrin occurs over weeks following the first injury, we show that softening of the myelin layer and axonal cortex exposes the microtubules to higher stress during repeated incidences of traumatic brain injuries. Our predictions explain how mechanical injury predisposes axons to exacerbated responses to repeated injuries, as observed in vitro and in vivo.
Brandeis, Privacy, and Freedom From Fear

Samuel Warren and Louis Brandeis’s idea of the “right to be let alone” was multi-dimensional. One dimension involved the breadth of harm. Harm could occur by physical or non-physical means. Justice Brandeis elaborated on this idea in Olmstead v. United States, stating that the Fourth Amendment prohibits not only physical trespasses, but, more generally, “unjustifiable intrusions by the Government upon the privacy of the individual.” Warren and Brandeis’s “right to be let alone” also included a depth dimension: harm can be caused by incomplete actions, such as attempts or threats. They wrote that liberty once meant nothing more than “freedom from actual restraint,” and the right to life served only to “protect the subject from battery in its various forms.” But with “recognition of man’s spiritual nature, of his feelings and his intellect,” the “protection against actual bodily injury was extended to prohibit mere attempts to do such injury; that is, the putting another in fear of such injury.” While the breadth dimension of the “right to be let alone” has been recognized in constitutional law (see Katz v. United States), its depth dimension — freedom from fear — remains undeveloped. Focusing on the original meaning of the Fourth Amendment’s “to be secure” text, this article briefly explains how Warren and Brandeis’s “right to be let alone” can be more fully incorporated into Fourth Amendment doctrine.
Mapping Research Topics in Software Testing: A Bibliometric Analysis

In this study, we apply co-word analysis - a text mining technique based on the co-occurrence of terms - to map the topology of software testing research topics, with the goal of providing current and prospective researchers with a map, and observations about the evolution, of the software testing field. Our analysis enables the mapping of software testing research into clusters of connected topics, from which emerge a total of 16 high-level research themes and a further 18 subthemes. This map also suggests topics that are growing in importance, including topics related to web and mobile applications and artificial intelligence. Exploration of author and country-based collaboration patterns offers similar insight into the implicit and explicit factors that influence collaboration and suggests emerging sources of collaboration for future work. We make our observations - and the underlying mapping of research topics and research collaborations - available so that researchers can gain a deeper understanding of the topology of the software testing field, inspiration regarding new areas and connections to explore, and collaborators who will broaden their perspectives.
Folk-linguistic fictions and the explananda of the language sciences

Abstract For the past two millennia, the explananda of language theory have been inherited from the Western linguistic tradition. The legacy is what might be called “the Western linguistic imaginary”: An indeterminate but deeply mesmerizing inventory of entities, properties, and powers of language commonly attributed to language and language-users and which therefore seem to stand in need of explanation. In recent years, naturalistic research programs in the cognitive sciences have provided illuminating explanations of basic (“lower-order”) cognitive phenomena. The challenge today for the science of language is whether, in transforming itself along the lines of epistemological naturalism, it can provide similarly illuminating explanations of any of its traditional explananda . In addressing this challenge, greater attention needs to be given to the source of such explananda in the everyday, culturally-diverse practices of folk metalinguistics.
Serum placental lactogen activity in patients with molar pregnancy and trophoblastic tumors—A reliable index of malignancy

Abstract Serum human placental lactogen (HPL) activity has been measured in patients with molar pregnancy and trophoblastic tumors of gestational and nongestational origin. The serum HPL activity of patients with molar pregnancy was related to the histologic grading of the tumor and gestational age and did not correlate with the metabolic activity of the trophoblastic tissue as reflected in the HCG titer. The greater the degree of malignancy, the lower the HPL level. Furthermore, malignant trophoblastic tissue appears to have similar HPL-reducing activity regardless of its origin, gestational or nongestational. This observation may form the basis for a useful tool in predicting the neoplastic potential of an hydatidiform mole. The half-life of HPL produced by molar pregnancy appears to be larger than that reported for normal pregnancy at term.
Magnetic resonance imaging determination of 23Na visibility and T2∗ in the vitreous body

Abstract We have developed 23Na magnetic resonance imaging techniques which provide high-resolution three-dimensional multiecho images in a short time. Our protocols produce a complete three-dimensional set of usable ocular images with 2 × 2 × 2 mm voxels in 4 min by coadding images from eight echoes. Alternatively, longer acquisition times may be used and the echoes processed individually to yield eight T2-weighted image sets. We have used these techniques to examine a variety of ocular disorders, to determine spin-spin relaxation times on a voxel-by-voxel basis, and to evaluate factors affecting the sodium “visibility” in the vitreous of enucleated bovine eyes. We found that both changes in the sodium visibility and changes in localized T 2 ∗ values are of physiological significance, reflecting alterations in the state of the vitreous in the enucleated eye.
Exploring Constructive Learning Activity in Online Programming Discussion Forums

In this paper, we investigated constructive engagement activities in an online programming discussion forum. We engineered features according to the forum content and built a logistic regression model based on the underlined cognitive processes in constructive learning activities. We hypothesized that performing any engaging activities after reading constructive content contributes to learning. This work aimed to discover such behavior in a free-formed online discussion setting and assess the impacts. Evaluation results revealed and reconfirmed the value of content constructiveness in the discussion forum. Our findings also suggested that detecting constructive content could be a helpful classifier in discerning relevant information to the users and in turn creating opportunities to optimize learning.
Lyme disease spirochete - tick-host interactions.

Abstract Ticks and hosts engage in a subtle interplay during the period ticks take blood from vertebrate hosts. While the host mounts an inflammatory and immune response to the tick bite, ticks modulate this response through anti-haemostatic, anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive components in their saliva. In the midst of this process, a tick-borne bacterial agent, the Lyme disease spirochete ( Borrelia burgdorferi ), takes advantage of tick-derived proteins to maximize its chances of surviving transmission from the tick to the vertebrate host and then back to the tick again. The tick–spirochete–host interrelationship is the subject of this chapter.
Ewing Sarcoma Family of Tumors

Defined by the presence of t(11;22), resulting in the fusion gene • EWS/FLI Several different cytogenetic abnormalities, for example, t(21;22), t(7;22) • Histological subclassification based on neuroectodermal differentiation: • Classic Ewing sarcoma (ES) of the bone – Extraskeletal or soft tissue ES – Askin tumor (chest wall) – Peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET) of the bone and/or soft – tissue Common aspects of Ewing family of tumors (EFT): • Neuroectodermal histogenesis – Genetics (see below) – 14 Ewing Sarcoma Family of Tumors
Comparison Between Impulsive and Periodic Non-Newtonian Lubrication of Human Hip Joint

This paper shows numerical comparisons between lubrication of human hip joint gap in unsteady impulsive and periodic motion. We assume that spherical bone head in human hip joint moves at least in two directions namely in circumference and meridian directions. Basic equations describing synovial fluid flow in human hip joint are solved on the analytical and numerical way. Numerical calculations are performed in Mathcad 11 Professional Program, taking into account the method of Finite Differences. This method satisfies stability of numerical solutions of partial differential equations and gives real values of pressure and capacity forces occurring in human hip joints.
CLEVER: Divide and Conquer Combinational Logic Equivalence VERification with False Negative Elimination

Formal equivalence verifiers for combinational circuits rely heavily on BDD algorithms. However, building monolithic BDDs is often not feasible for today's complex circuits. Thus, to increase the effectiveness of BDD-based comparisons, divide-and-conquer strategies based on cut-points are applied. Unfortunately, these algorithms may produce false negatives. Significant effort must then be spent for determining whether the failures are indeed real. In particular, if the design is actually incorrect, many cut-point based algorithms perform very poorly. In this paper we present a new algorithm that completely removes the problem of false negatives by introducing normalized functions instead of free variables at cut points. In addition, this approach handles the propagation of input assumptions to cut-points, is significantly more accurate in finding cut-points, and leads to more efficient counter-example generation for incorrect circuits. Although, naively, our algorithm would appear to be more expensive than traditional cut-point techniques, the empirical data on more than 900 complex signals from a recent microprocessor design, shows rather the opposite.
Realistic Socio-Legal Theory: Pragmatism and A Social Theory of Law

1. Introduction: The State of Socio-Legal Studies 2. Pragmatism and Realistic Socio-Legal Studies 3. Behaviourism and Interpretivism in Complement 4. An Analytical Map of the Concept of Law 5. A Social Theory of Law by Comparison to Legal Positivism 6. The Internal/External Distinction and the Notion of a 'Practice' 7. Studies of Judicial Decision-Making 8. Legal Theory and the Practice of Judging Three Last Words Bibliography Index
Abstract T P341: Transitions of Care: Increasing Follow-up and Decreasing Readmission Rates After Hospitalization for Acute Ischemic Stroke

Background: Acute ischemic stroke accounts for nearly 800,000 inpatient hospitalizations annually in the United States. Post-discharge disposition varies greatly among stroke survivors. The transition to home or nursing facilities post-hospitalization provides an opportunity to improve quality of life; but also increases the potential for miscommunication between patients, care givers, and health care providers. This may result in the need for hospital readmission, which further complicates patient care. A timely post-discharge neurology clinic visit would be the ideal forum to address miscommunication and reduce readmission. Without dedicated infrastructure, it is difficult to see patients quickly, resulting in a poor follow-up rate. Our Stroke Center sought to improve transitions for stroke survivors with the addition of a neurology nurse case manager, creation of a targeted post-discharge plan, and implementation of the Bayview Stroke Intervention Clinic (BaSIC). Methods: Beginning in September 2013, a...
Creating a master's degree in computer information technology

There are several considerations in creating a Graduate Program. Administrative concerns, accreditation issues, needs assessments, faculty teaching load, faculty compensation, additional faculty needs, and comparisons with other programs are all important, not to mention creating a "good" curriculum with a set of appropriate course syllabi and then "marketing" that program. This experience paper details the approach that was used quite successfully at International College, and also discusses the "speed bumps" encountered and "mid-course corrections" taken during the first year of the program's existence.
The cost of over-cooling commercial buildings in the United States

Abstract From shopping malls to office buildings, walking in a commercial building that feels vastly over-cooled has become almost normal in the United States. In this short communication, we estimate the cost of over-cooling commercial buildings for the United States. Using 2012 data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) and simulating data with the Department of Energy's (DOE) eQuest software package, we calculated an energy cost of 103,929 GWh, an environmental cost of 57,125 kt CO2e, and a financial cost of $10B, which approximately represent a loss of 8%. The problem of over-cooling is therefore substantial and solving it would offer significant energy, environmental, and financial savings.
Precursor pools of protein synthesis : a stable isotope study in a swine model

The accuracy of using other free pools in lieu of tRNA for calculation of tissue protein synthesis in liver (L), skeletal muscle (SM), and heart (H) was assessed in six adult miniature swine using ...
Systematic Movements in Macroeconomic Releases and the Term Structure of Interest Rates

In this paper, we study the fundamental relation between the numerous macroeconomic releases and the term structure of interest rates via a dynamic factor model. We use two dynamic factors to extract the systematic information from a wide array of noisy and sparsely observed macroeconomic releases, and then link the two factors to the daily term structure of interest rates using no-arbitrage arguments. The two dynamic factors can predict over 76 percent of the daily variation in LIBOR and swap rates across all maturities from one month to ten years. Inflation-related releases have large and positive impacts on interest rates of all maturities. Shocks on these releases lead to parallel shifts on the yield curve. In contrast, shocks on many employment and output related releases generate a slope effect on the term structure. Upward shocks on these variables tend to flatten an otherwise upward sloping yield curve. The estimated factor dynamics and market prices of factor risks provide further insight on the fundamental reasons behind the different term structure impacts from different macroeconomic releases.
Multipurpose active pixel sensor (APS)-based microtracker

A new, photon-sensitive, imaging array, the active pixel sensor (APS) has emerged as a competitor to the CCD imager for use in star and target trackers. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has undertaken a program to develop a new generation, highly integrated, APS-based, multipurpose tracker: the Programmable Intelligent Microtracker (PIM). The supporting hardware used in the PIM has been carefully selected to enhance the inherent advantages of the APS. Adequate computation power is included to perform star identification, star tracking, attitude determination, space docking, feature tracking, descent imaging for landing control, and target tracking capabilities. Its first version uses a JPL developed 256 X 256-pixel APS and an advanced 32-bit RISC microcontroller. By taking advantage of the unique features of the APS/microcontroller combination, the microtracker will achieve about an order-of-magnitude reduction in mass and power consumption compared to present state-of-the-art star trackers. It will also add the advantage of programmability to enable it to perform a variety of star, other celestial body, and target tracking tasks. The PIM is already proving the usefulness of its design concept for space applications. It is demonstrating the effectiveness of taking such an integrated approach in building a new generation of high performance, general purpose, tracking instruments to be applied to a large variety of future space missions.© (1998) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Occupational history collection by third-year medical students during internal medicine and Surgery inpatient clerkships

Occupational history is fundamental for the evaluation of possible workplace influences on health. We reviewed 2,922 initial history-and-physical reports from 137 third-year medical students to examine occupational history collection. Overall reporting frequencies were recorded as the following: industry, 55.8%; occupation, 70.0%; specific occupational exposure, 8.4%; smoking status, 91.4%. Patients younger than 40 years of age and women were significantly less likely than other older patients and men to have notations of occupation and industry. Surgery students were less likely than internal medicine students to collect data for industry (41.6% vs 66.6%, P < 0.001), occupation (57.4% vs 79.7%, P < 0.001), and smoking (88.1% vs 94.0%, P < 0.001). The highest frequencies of notation were those for circulatory and respiratory conditions. No significant differences were noted for student gender, academic quarter, or week of clerkship. Clinical occupational medicine teaching should emphasize the need to collect occupational information from all patients, including women and young persons.
Glutathione S-Transferase Pi Has at Least Three Distinguishable Xenobiotic Substrate Sites Close to Its Glutathione-binding Site

Benzyl isothiocyanate (BITC), present in cruciferous vegetables, is an efficient substrate of human glutathione S-transferase P1-1 (hGST P1-1). BITC also acts as an affinity label of hGST P1-1 in the absence of glutathione, yielding an enzyme inactive toward BITC as substrate. As monitored by using BITC as substrate, the dependence of k of inactivation (K(I)) of hGST P1-1 on [BITC] is hyperbolic, with K(I) = 66 +/- 7 microM. The enzyme incorporates 2 mol of BITC/mol of enzyme subunit upon complete inactivation. S-Methylglutathione and 8-anilino-1-naphthalene sulfonate (ANS) each yield partial protection against inactivation and decrease reagent incorporation, whereas S-(N-benzylthiocarbamoyl)glutathione or S-methylglutathione + ANS protects completely. Mapping of proteolytic digests of modified enzyme by using mass spectrometry reveals that Tyr(103) and Cys(47) are modified equally. S-Methylglutathione reduces modification of Cys(47), indicating this residue is at/near the glutathione binding region, whereas ANS decreases modification of Tyr(103), suggesting this residue is at/near the BITC substrate site, which is also near the binding site of ANS. The Y103F and Y103S mutant enzymes were generated, expressed, and purified. Both mutants handle substrate 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene normally; however, Y103S exhibits a 30-fold increase in K(m) for BITC and binds ANS poorly, whereas Y103F has a normal K(m) for BITC and K(d) for ANS. These results indicate that an aromatic residue at position 103 is essential for the binding of BITC and ANS. This study provides evidence for the existence of a novel xenobiotic substrate site in hGST P1-1, which can be occupied by benzyl isothiocyanate and is distinct from that of monobromobimane and 1-chloro-2,4 dinitrobenzene.
TOPEX/Poseidon performance evaluated

At the end of the verification phase of the joint U.S./France TOPEX/Poseidon satellite, a workshop to evaluate the mission's performance took place February 22 to 25, at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. About 150 scientists and engineers participated. Prior to the workshop, thirteen 10-day cycles of preliminary data, called the Interim Geophysical Data Records (IGDR), had been distributed to the Science Working Team (SWT) for analysis. Reports presented at the workshop indicate that all the measurement objectives have been met. In fact, many measurements have exceeded performance requirements.
The Importance of the Interpersonal Relationship between First-Line Supervisor and Subordinate

This study involves a first attempt at answering the question, 'Should the sub ordinate whose personality is similar to that of the supervisor be managed differently from the employee whose personality is different from that of the supervisor?' The study compares the similarities and dissimilarities of supervisors and subordinates in tendencies to be authoritarian. The assumption is that people with different personalities tend to interact differently and have different interpersonal relation ships. If this is true, such different interpersonal relationships might well call for different leadership styles or behaviour.The results of this study reveal such personality differences and indicate that where certain of them exist, supervisors should handle subordinates differently. In addition, suggestions are given for additional research needed to substantiate or repudiate these findings.
Development Of A Cell Sorting Device Based On The Integration Of Porous Poly(Dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) Membranes Into Layered Microfluidic Devices

Layered microfluidic devices integrated with semi-porous membranes have been widely used for mass transport control, immunoassays, and blood cell sorting. The placement of a semi-porous membrane at the interface of two channel layers is crucial to minimize unwanted crossover of fluid flows between microchannels while allowing diffusive mixing of reagents. Several methods have been reported to seal off the crevices inevitably generated because of the thickness of the membrane. For example, the application of PDMS pre-polymer as a mortar layer could prevent the leakage along the membrane. This method provides robust and reliable bonding between two PDMS layers. However, in the case of thicker membranes and/or narrower channels, the mortar layer can clog the channels easily. We introduce an alternative strategy of directly using PDMS as a porous membrane itself to fabricate monolithic microfluidic devices. In this case, the integration of a porous PDMS membrane can be completed without clogging microchannels. To prepare porous PDMS membranes, a photoresist is utilized as posts on a silicon wafer. Therefore, a thin film of porous PDMS can be prepared by spin coated on the wafer. This method allows varying sizes of pores on a single membrane, compared to commercially available porous membranes with a fixed pore size. In addition, the wafer can be repeatedly used to create porous membranes. We demonstrate the use of this method to fabricate a cell sorter where a porous PDMS membrane between two layers of microchannel. This porous membrane has two porous regions: 10 μm and 20 μm regions. Thus, a cell sample (lymphocytes) loaded from the top microchannel can be filtered into small or lager size of cells through the porous membrane, and collected from the bottom microchannels.
Cross-and same-race friendships of Vietnamese immigrant adolescents: A focus on acculturation and school diversity

Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine friendship developments of 153 Vietnamese immigrant adolescents who resided in an East Coast metropolitan area of the United States. We examined the influences of school diversity and acculturation on the quantity and quality of cross-and same-race friendships. Surprisingly, students who came from schools that are more diverse reported fewer cross-race friendships and lower levels of social support from their cross-race friends. American acculturation predicted greater levels of social support from cross-race friends. For same-race friendships, students who went to schools with higher percentage of Asian students reported more same-race friendships; however, percentage of Asian students was not a significant predictor of social support from same-race friends. Students who reported greater levels of Vietnamese acculturation reported greater levels of social support from their same-race friends. This study has implications for understanding the impact of school diversity and acculturation on friendship development of Vietnamese immigrants. Also, suggestions on how to better conceptualize and measure diversity are discussed.
Effect of carbon source on pyrimidine biosynthesis in Pseudomonas alcaligenes ATCC 14909.

Summary The effect of carbon source on the regulation of the de novo pyrimidine biosynthetic enzymes in Pseudomonas alcaligenes ATCC 14909 was investigated. The de novo pyrimidine biosynthetic enzymes were measured in extracts of P. alcaligenes ATCC 14909 cells and of cells from an auxotroph deficient for orotate phosphoribosyltransferase activity. Pyrimidine biosynthetic enzyme activities in ATCC 14909 were influenced by pyrimidine supplementation to the culture medium but not by the carbon source present. Pyrimidine limitation of the auxotroph elevated the de novo enzyme activities indicating that this pathway may be controlled at the transcriptional level by a pyrimidine-related compound. Its regulation seemed to be subject to less transcriptional control by a pyrimidine-related compound than what was observed in the closely related species Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes .
A comparison of ice VII formed in the H2O, NaCl–H2O, and CH3OH–H2O systems: Implications for H2O-rich planets

Abstract High-pressure H2O polymorphs, namely ice VI, ice VII, and ice X, are hypothesized to make up a considerable portion of the interiors of large icy satellites and select extra-solar planets. The incorporation of foreign ions or molecules into these high-pressure phases is possible through ocean–ice interaction, rock–ice interaction at depth, or processes that occurred during accretion. Recent research concerning the effects charged ions have on ice VII has shown that these ions notably affect the structure of ice VII ( Frank et al., 2006 , Klotz et al., 2009 ). This study was designed to determine the effects of a molecular impurity on ice VII and compare those effects to both pure H2O ice and ice with an ionic impurity. Ice samples were formed in this study via compression in a diamond anvil cell from either H2O, a 1.60 mol% NaCl aqueous solution, a 1.60 mol% CH3OH aqueous solution, or a 5.00 mol% CH3OH aqueous solution and were compressed up to 71 GPa at room temperature. Ice formed from pure H2O had no impurities whereas ices formed in the NaCl–H2O and CH3OH–H2O systems contained the impurities Na+ and Cl− and CH3OH, respectively. Pressure–volume relations were observed in situ by using synchrotron based X-ray diffraction and were used to determine the equations of state for ices formed in the H2O, NaCl–H2O and CH3OH–H2O systems. The data illustrate that ice VII formed from a NaCl-bearing aqueous solution exhibited a depressed volume when compared to that of H2O-only ice VII at any given pressure, whereas ice VII formed from CH3OH-bearing aqueous solutions showed an opposite trend, with an increase in volume relative to that of pure ice VII. The ices within planetary bodies will most likely have both ionic and molecular impurities and the trends outlined in this study can be used to improve density profiles of H2O-rich planetary bodies.
Discrimination of reproducible noise as a function of bandwidth and duration.

The discriminability of reproducible noise bursts was studied as a function of bandwidth and duration. Listeners discriminated between trials consisting of two identical noise waveforms or two independent noise waveforms. New noise waveforms were generated each trial. In general, discrimination improved with increasing bandwidth. However, discrimination improved with increasing duration only up to about 25 msec, beyond which it decreased. Additional experiments examined discriminability with (1) forward or backward maskers, which intervened or did not intervene temporally between the comparison stimuli, (2) two noise waveforms fixed over 50 or 300 trials, and (3) high- or low-frequency noise bands. Results suggested that the decrease in discriminability beyond 25 msec was due primarily to sensory interactions of a central origin but with some effect of peripheral masking, memory interference, and attentional limitations. Information at the offset was discriminated best, and low-frequency information was better discriminated than high-frequency information. The results also indicated that envelope cues were used in certain conditions.