cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A randomized controlled trial to determine whether a video presentation improves informed consent for hysterectomy.

Background Informed consent is an integral part of the preoperative counseling process. It is important that we know the best way to relay this information to patients undergoing surgery, specifically, hysterectomy. Objective We sought to determine whether supplementing normal physician counseling with a video presentation improves patient comprehension during the informed consent process for hysterectomy. Study Design In a randomized, mixed factorial controlled trial, standard physician counseling (control arm) was compared to physician counseling plus video presentation (video arm) during the prehysterectomy informed consent process. Primary outcome was improvement in patient comprehension measured by assessments at baseline, postcounseling, day of surgery, and postsurgery. Patient satisfaction was measured by a validated questionnaire. Audiotaped patient-physician interactions were analyzed to determine time spent counseling, number of patient questions, and whether standard counseling included 11 predetermined critical components included in the video. A sample size of 60 per group (N = 120) was planned to compare both groups. Results From May 2014 through June 2015, 120 patients were enrolled and 116 randomized: 59 to the video arm and 57 to the control arm. All characteristics were similar between groups. Video arm subjects demonstrated greater improvement in comprehension scores in both postcounseling (9.9% improvement; 95% confidence interval, 4.2–15.7%; P = .0009) and day-of-surgery questionnaires (7.2% improvement; 95% confidence interval, 0.96–13.4%; P = .02). Scores 4–6 weeks after surgery returned to baseline for both groups. Control subjects were less likely to be counseled about risk of thrombosis (P Conclusion Enhancing prehysterectomy counseling with a video improves patient comprehension through day of surgery, increases thoroughness of counseling, and reduces physician time.
“Close to home”: The work of avoiding politics

Was she really as small-minded as she claimed to be? ` I care about issues that are close to home,'' ``I care if it aiects me personally,'' ``I care if it's for my children'': these are the familiar phrases that many Americans use to explain political involvement and apathy. Journalists, activists, and theorists often take these phrases at face value; politicians base social policies on them, trying to play to voters whom they imagine to be self-interested and short-sighted, cutting funds for projects that do not seem ``close to home.'' The phrases are usually interpreted as transparently obvious indications of citizens' self-interest and lack of broad political concern ^ their ` small-mindedness.'' But these insistant, extravagant expressions of self-interest do not simply indicate clear, straightforward self-interest or parochial thinking. The phrases work hard. Activists, intellectuals, and other concerned citizens often assume that someone like Sherry just doesn't care or is self-interested or ignorant; we try to draw people like her into political participation by impressing upon them that they should care (perhaps by telling them how nuclear war might aiect their kids), or telling them not to be so self-interested.
Simulating convoluted digital watermarking hidden message algorithms using quantized index modulated bezier and hermite splines

This paper briefly surveys the landscape of digital watermarking. Our goal is to understand the general principles that could lead to successful watermarking methods. Whereas cryptography is a relatively mature area of information security, serious study of digital watermarking began only recently, and much is yet unknown. Digital Piracy poses an unprecedented array of threats, ranging from intellectual property violations; to military, industrial and economic espionage; to outright despicable theft of works available in digital format. Digital watermarking while nascent is a proceeding technology that offers protection of unencrypted or decrypted digital content. The three main technical challenges faced by watermarking algorithms are fidelity, robustness and security. Current watermarking methods while offering acceptable fidelity and robustness against certain types of processing, fail to overcome data compression and noise addition challenges. Further difficulties are encountered when robust geometric transformations such as scaling, rotation and cropping of still and moving images takes place. Theoretical approaches have been developed that could lead to secure watermarking methods, but substantial gaps remain between theory and practice. The merging of computation and communication, as embodied in the myriad of digital devices and communications systems present substantial new challenges and opportunities for the processing and distribution of valuable digital creations such as audio tracks, still images, and movies for commercial, military and educational purposes. At the same time, new technology has opened the Pandora's Box of cheap, easy copying and distribution of pirated material. A standard and well-understood technical approach to reducing piracy is to use cryptography, where, only authorized users have the decryption keys. Cryptography is useful so long as the authorized user has no intention of making free copies of protected material and distributing them to friends or relatives. A complementary approach that offers protection of unencrypted material is digital watermarking to effectively limit illegal copying and distribution. We conclude the paper by presenting a digital water marking algorithm based on Quantized Index Modulated Convoluted Bezier and Hermite Splines. Using this technique, vital data can be hidden and transmitted using random phase carrier techniques. The theory behind this method is reviewed and shown to hide both pictorial and non-pictorial data with fidelity, robustness and security. The details of the procedures used for design, possible optimization, message extraction, optimization, synchronization, rotation and scaling are also discussed. Simulation and experimental evaluation of the model will be the next step in the research.
A Platform Identification Method for Service Family Design Using a Process Model and a Clustering Method

The objective in this research is to introduce a method for identifying a service platform along with variant and unique modules to create a service family by integrating object-oriented concepts, ontologies, and data mining techniques. A service process model is introduced to describe a service based on a sequence using a graph model and object-oriented concepts. Fuzzy clustering is employed to partition service processes into subsets to identify common modules – the platform – and specific modules for the given service family. To demonstrate the proposed method, we apply it to select a platform for a family of banking services.
Core community structure recovery and phase transition detection in temporally evolving networks

Community detection in time series networks represents a timely and significant research topic due to its applications in a broad range of scientific fields, including biology, social sciences and engineering. In this work, we introduce methodology to address this problem, based on a decomposition of the network adjacency matrices into low-rank components that capture the community structure and sparse & dense noise perturbation components. It is further assumed that the low-rank structure exhibits sharp changes (phase transitions) at certain epochs that our methodology successfully detects and identifies. The latter is achieved by averaging the low-rank component over time windows, which in turn enables us to precisely select the correct rank and monitor its evolution over time and thus identify the phase transition epochs. The methodology is illustrated on both synthetic networks generated by various network formation models, as well as the Kuramoto model of coupled oscillators and on real data reflecting the US Senate’s voting record from 1979–2014. In the latter application, we identify that party polarization exhibited a sharp change and increased after 1993, a finding broadly concordant with the political science literature on the subject.
Able-Bodied Individuals’ Initial Interaction Decisions Concerning a Partner in a Wheelchair

Establishing and maintaining personal relationships is a quintessential part of the human experience, with a few notable exceptions, persons with disabilities have been virtually ignored by relationships scholars. This study seeks to advance disability research by examining how a wheelchair influences able-bodied participant’s perceptions of initial interactions. Using various scenarios, we asked students how they would react if they were at a bar and someone in a wheelchair showed an interest in them. Overall, men reacted more negatively than women (i.e., avoidance, sex goals, interest, homophily, etc.) at the thought of approaching someone in a wheelchair. We have an ethical obligation to break down these barriers and assumptions made by able- bodied individuals, especially since the quality of an individual’s relationships represents an important component of their quality of life.
Schimke immunoosseous dysplasia and management considerations for vascular risks

Schimke immunoosseous dysplasia (SIOD) is a multisystemic condition characterized by early arteriosclerosis and progressive renal insufficiency, among other features. Many SIOD patients have severe, migraine-like headaches, transient neurologic attacks, or cerebral ischemic events. Cerebral events could be exacerbated or precipitated by hypertension, and it is unclear how these are related to arteriosclerotic changes as dyslipidemia is also a feature of SIOD. The correlation between hypercholesterolemia and cardiovascular risk in SIOD is unclear. Also, the etiology and management of headaches is not well characterized. Here we report our clinical observations in the management of SIOD in a patient who was diagnosed in school age despite early signs and symptoms. We describe biallelic variants, including a previously unreported c.1931G>A (p.Arg644Gln) variant in SMARCAL1. We specifically investigated whether migraine-like headaches and progressive nephropathy may be related to blood pressure dysregulation. We found a correlation between tighter blood pressure regulation using ambulatory blood pressure monitoring and a subjective decrease in headache symptoms. We discuss blood pressure medication management in SIOD. We also characterize dyslipidemia relative to atherosclerosis risks and provide new management strategies to consider for optimizing care.
Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Anxiety in Children

Treatment of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) may need to occur prior to addressing symptoms of anxiety for children with co-occurring disorders, especially if ADHD symptoms are interfering with functioning at school and at home. Treating executive functions deficits, so that the child can complete course work, is an example of intervening to treat ADHD symptoms. Interventions that address ADHD symptoms so the child can focus or pay attention, and therefore learn anxiety management strategies, may improve behavioral functioning. Treating anxiety through education, graded exposure, and teaching anxiety management strategies (e.g., relaxation) may reduce worries and improve emotional functioning. Reducing occurrence of risky behaviors (related to ADHD) and improving emotional regulation also may be essential interventions. Involving parents in treatment to help the child pay attention and learn strategies was a hallmark of many interventions. It is not yet clear whether having ADHD and anxiety results in further deficits in functioning compared to having ADHD alone, and further research is needed in this area.
Recovering the Inflationary Potential and Primordial Power Spectrum With a Slow Roll Prior: Methodology and Application to WMAP 3 Year Data

We introduce a new method for applying an inflationary prior to a cosmological dataset that includes relations between observables at arbitrary order in the slow roll expansion. The process is based on the inflationary flow equations, and the slow roll parameters appear explicitly in the cosmological parameter set. We contrast our method to other ways of imposing an inflationary prior on a cosmological dataset, and argue that this method is ideal for use with heterogeneous datasets. In particular, it would be well suited to exploiting any direct detection of fundamental tensor modes by a BBO-style mission. To demonstrate the practical use of this method we apply it to the WMAPI+All dataset, and the newly released WMAPII dataset on its own and together with the SDSS data. We find that all basic classes of single field inflationary models are still allowed at the 1-2sigma level, but the overall parameter space is sharply constrained. In particular, we find evidence that the combination of WMAPII+SDSS is sensitive to effects arising from terms that are quadratic in the two leading-order slow roll parameters.
Conformational and topological correlations in non-frustated triblock copolymers with homopolymers

The phase behavior of non-frustrated ABC block copolymers polymers, modeling poly(isoprene-b-styrene-b-ethylene oxide) (ISO), is studied using dissipative particle dynamic (DPD) simulations. The phase diagram showed a wide composition range for the alternating gyroid morphology, which can be transformed to a chiral metamaterial. A quantitative analysis of topology was developed, that correlates the location of a block relative to the interface with the block's end-to-end distance. This analysis showed that the A-blocks stretched as they were located deeper in the A-rich region. To further expand the stability of the alternating gyroid phase, A-selective homopolymers of different lengths were co-assembled with the ABC copolymer at several compositions. Topological analysis showed that homopolymers with lengths shorter than or equal to the A-block length filled the middle of the networks, decreasing packing frustration and stabilizing them, while longer homopolymers stretched across the network but allowed for the formation of stable, novel morphologies. Adding homopolymers to triblock copolymer melts increases tunability of the network, offering greater control over the final stable phase and bridging two separate regions in the phase diagram.
Laryngotracheal Cleft Repair in Children With Complex Airway Anomalies.

Importance This study provides clinicians with relevant information regarding the surgical outcomes of patients with laryngotracheal cleft in the context of additional airway anomalies. Objectives To determine the rates of surgical success in patients who underwent laryngotracheal cleft repair in the context of additional airway anomalies, determine the revision rate for cleft repair, characterize the time to revision among patients who underwent cleft repair, and assess the functional swallowing outcomes after cleft repair. Design, setting, and participants A retrospective study was conducted at a quaternary pediatric center of 81 children diagnosed as having laryngotracheal cleft with or without concomitant airway anomalies who underwent laryngotracheal cleft repair between February 1, 2000, and February 28, 2013. Analysis was conducted from October 1, 2012, through March 30, 2013. Interventions Surgical repair of laryngotracheal cleft. Main outcomes and measures Surgery-specific success, overall surgical success, and revision rate. We defined surgery-specific success as a repair not requiring revision and overall surgical success as absence of a cleft or TEF at the last operative examination, regardless of the number of revisions required. Results Of 81 patients with laryngotracheal cleft who underwent surgical repair, 48 (59%) had at least 1 additional airway finding; 24 (30%) had tracheomalacia and 21 (26%) had subglottic stenosis. Seventeen patients required a revision of laryngotracheal cleft repair, with a median time to revision of 8.3 months (interquartile range, 4.3-25.1 months). Six patients required a second revision, with a median interval between revisions of 44.2 months (interquartile range, 28.6-53.6 months). The surgery-specific success rate was 77% (37 of 48) in patients with additional airway anomalies and 82% (27 of 33) in those with laryngotracheal clefts alone. The overall surgical success rate was 92% (44 of 48) in patients with additional airway anomalies and 97% (32 of 33) in those with clefts alone. Fourteen (17%) patients demonstrated swallowing dysfunction postoperatively despite closure of the cleft. Conclusions and relevance Although additional airway findings were common in our cohort of patients with laryngotracheal clefts, these anomalies did not affect surgery-specific or overall surgical success. The overall surgical success rate for those with and without additional airway anomalies was 92% and 97%, respectively. In view of the fact that cleft breakdown after surgical repair is not uncommon and may occur years after the initial repair, we strongly advocate long-term follow-up. Despite successful closure, a significant percentage of children with laryngotracheal cleft will have persistent swallowing dysfunction.
Clinical yield of computed tomography brain scans in older general medical patients.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the clinical yield of computed tomography (CT) brain scans in a prospective cohort of older patients admitted to the general medicine service. DESIGN: Nested cohort study of 117 subjects enrolled in previous prospective cohort study of 919 subjects. SETTING: University-affiliated teaching hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Hospitalized general medical patients aged 70 and older who received one or more brain CT scans during their hospital stay. MEASUREMENTS: Review of medical records and interpretation of the first brain CT scan in these 117 patients for indications for ordering scans and clinically significant brain abnormalities. Medical records of patients with brain CT scans with abnormalities were reviewed for 2 weeks after the scan for changes in medical management resulting from scan findings. Three independent reviewers adjudicated the presence of abnormalities and resulting treatment changes. RESULTS: Of the 117 brain CT scans, 32 (27%) were ordered to exclude intracranial hemorrhage, 30 (26%) to exclude cerebrovascular accident (CVA), 16 (14%) for falls, 15 (13%) for syncope, seven (6%) to exclude subdural hemorrhage, five (4%) for mental status change, and 12 (10%) for other reasons. Of the 117 brain CT scans, 29 (25%) had abnormalities, including acute CVA or hemorrhage, old CVA, meningioma, and other abnormalities. Only 10 (9% of all scans, 34% of abnormal scans) resulted in treatment changes (including consultations, further imaging, stroke evaluation, and drug changes). The presence of focal neurological deficits was significantly associated with treatment changes after CT scans (odds ratio=13.2, 95% confidence interval=1.7–161.5). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the overall clinical yield of brain CT scans in unselected older hospitalized patients is low. Targeting scans toward patients with new focal neurological deficits will help to improve clinical yield.
Student Progress in Learning: Teacher Responsibility, Accountability, and Reality.

Educator accountability for student progress in learning goes hand-in-hand with the social contract that assigns responsibility for education to schools. From this perspective accountability rests most heavily with teachers, since they are the most directly responsible for learning, but it extends to specialists, school administrators, and school board members as well. To accommodate the realities of classrooms, schools, families, and communities, however, the caveat is added that teacher accountability needs to be thought of as both conditional and collective. The implications of this view are discussed for teacher work, teaching as a profession, and the meaning of “reasonable and defensible” standards of performance when addressing the issue of educator accountability for student learning. Illustrative criteria of accountability are proposed, which the author believes to represent a realistic balance between the ethical obligations of a profession, the dependence of citizenry on these obligations being met, and the hard realities encountered in attempting to meet them.
The evolution of self-organizing communication networks in high-risk social-ecological systems

Recently published research shows that members of regional communication networks form links based on how risky their exchanges with others may be: low-risk situations favor the creation of bridging structures that solve coordination problems, whereas high-risk situations lead to the establishment of bonding structures that make detection and punishment of defection more likely. This basic expectation has been tested in low-risk regional arenas, where indeed more bridging structures formed in time (Berardo and Scholz 2010). However, no empirical evidence on the formation of networks has been produced yet in high-risk social-ecological systems (HRSES). In this article, I study the network of communication among stakeholders in a small river basin in Argentina that has been subject to high levels of environmental stress over the last decades and empirically test whether more bonding structures tend to form in this high-risk SE system. Findings show that actors in the network have a tendency to create more triadic bonding structures, as expected. However, complementary results offer a more nuanced picture of how networks look like in highly-risky regional settings and caution against an overly optimistic view linking bonding in networks to the solution of collective action problems of a regional scale.
LTE and NLTE abundances in a-supergiants a test of their evolutionary status

The A-type supergiants occupy an interesting region on the HR-diagram, where theories of the evolution of 10–20 solar mass stars differ. The differences between the scenarios depend on the input assumptions for several physical parameters, e.g., treatments for convection parameters and mass loss rates. A review of the predictions of evolution calculations for 10–30 solar mass stars is given by Fitzpatrick & Garmany (1991).
Tidal Liquid Ventilation (TLV) Transition to Spontaneous Breathing(SB): 24 Hour Follow-up of Physiologic and Radiographic Correlates 1748

Tidal Liquid Ventilation (TLV) Transition to Spontaneous Breathing(SB): 24 Hour Follow-up of Physiologic and Radiographic Correlates 1748
Single processor optimization of OVERFLOW

Linux PC Clusters are a cost effective platform for parallel computational fluid dynamics (CFD) applications. In this paper a variety of node constructions are considered, from IA32 commodity processors to 64-bit MP (Multi-Processor) and mutli-core configurations. Single processor performance is evaluated and the most likely subroutines for optimization of single processor performance are identified based on cache performance. This information may in turn be used to improve the single processor performance of OVERFLOW.
Asymmetric Conjugate Addition of Copper Reagents to α,β-Unsaturated tert-Butanesulfinyl Imines

Addition of organocuprates to N-sulfinyl α,β-unsaturated imines proceeds in good yields and with good diastereoselectivities. α,β-Unsaturated sulfinyl ketimines and aldimines have both been shown to be suitable substrates for this reaction.
Clean-up procedure for partially methylated alditol acetate derivatives of polysaccharides

Abstract After derivatization of polysaccharides for glycosyl linkage analysis, considerable contamination is often present. We have devised a simple phase partition system which extracts virtually all phthalate esters and baseline contaminants into a carbon tetrachloride phase, but yields greater than 95% recovery of partially methylated alditol acetate derivatives in a methanol-water (40:60) phase.
Case Study of Steady Oxygen Concentration Gradients in a Groundwater Plume from a Highway Infiltration Basin

We measure and model the steady transport of specific conductivity and dissolved oxygen through a groundwater plume from a highway infiltration basin in southeastern Massachusetts. Specific conductivity is treated as a conservative surrogate for runoff contamination, and the data calibrate a 0.27-m vertical dispersivity α of the aquifer and the bottom streamline elevation of the plume, which falls to an 8-m depth below the water table. The dissolved oxygen degrades as a first order reactant in the plume to levels below 1 mg/L, with a decay constant λ of 0.12 day−1 . The latter may be attributed in part to the historical use of an alternative de-icing agent calcium magnesium acetate on the highway, since acetate is a readily biodegradable substrate for microorganisms. The calibrated kinetics suggest that plume microbes and geochemistry degrade oxygen over two orders of magnitude faster than their ambient groundwater counterparts, which impose a linear decrease of dissolved oxygen concentration below the p...
Predisposition for disrepair in the aged lung.

Introduction Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a devastating progressive lung disease with an average survival of only 3 to 5 years. The mechanisms underlying the initiation and progression of IPF are poorly understood, and treatments available have only modest effect on disease progression. Interestingly, the incidence of IPF is approximately 60 times more common in individuals aged 75 years and older, but the mechanism by which aging promotes fibrosis is unclear. The authors hypothesized that aged lungs have a profibrotic phenotype that render it susceptible to disrepair after injury.
Segmenting the informal venture capital market: Economic, hedonistic, and altruistic investors

Abstract Analysis of data from 214 investors in new or growing ventures yielded three investor types based on the perceived values or benefits they derived from their investments. Reflecting differences in these values, the three were labeled economic, hedonistic, and altruistic. Tests indicated the type were different on several dimensions. Implications for theory-building and application in terms of market segmentation are discussed.
Orientalism, postcolonialism and the Achaemenid Empire: meditations on Bruce Lincoln's "Religion, empire and torture"

In his recent study of religion and imperialism in the Achaemenid Persian Empire, Bruce Lincoln depicts the Achaemenids as savage and decadent in order to make a point about contemporary American foreign policy. This paper challenges Lincoln's vision of the empire by examining the severe methodological flaws that underlie it, especially his untested assumptions about the nature of Achaemenid religion and his uncritical use of Greek sources for the practice of torture. These flaws contribute to the reification of an orientalist stereotype of the Persians that scholars of the Achaemenid Empire have long worked to overcome, and that is itself at odds with Lincoln's decidedly postcolonial aims. This paper also considers the roles played by orientalism and postcolonialism in Achaemenid historiography with a view towards understanding how they can and do inform the study of the empire.
Electron-induced dissociation of monolayer C2H5Cl on Ag(111). Electron energy dependence

Abstract Electron-induced dissociation (EID) of monolayer C2H5Cl on Ag(111) has been studied using a novel low-energy photoelectron source. As a function of electron energy, the CCl bond dissociation cross section drops by more than an order of magnitude between 0.5 and 3 eV. It rises again by an order of magnitude between 8 and 12 eV, and then rises slowly to 50 eV. Above 8 eV, the EID cross section is attributed mainly to n(Cl) and σ(CCl) valence level ionization, whereas between 0.5 and 3 eV, it is attributed to dissociative electron attachment.
The effect of directing attention on melodic dictation testing

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of guiding students through remembering and understanding a melody on their melodic dictation scores. Two matched groups of university music ...
Out-of-core FFTs with parallel disks

We examine approaches to computing the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) when the data size exceeds the size of main memory. Analytical and experimental evidence shows that relying on native virtual memory with demand paging can yield extremely poor performance. We then present approaches based on minimizing I/O costs with the Parallel Disk Model (PDM). Each of these approaches explicitly plans and performs disk accesses so as to minimize their number.
SATISFACTION IN GENERALIST CARE : AN INDIVIDUALIST APPROACH

Physician dissatisfaction with primary care practice is influenced by many external factors—income, work hours, and an increased burden of paper work. It may be possible to use psychometric tests to select medical students with a strong internal locus of control who might adapt better to the work of primary care practice.
Hydrolysis of phospholipid esters localized in lysosomes and related structures of rat muscle cells in culture.

THE fusion of normal myoblasts during differentiation of muscle leads to a multinucleated striated muscle fibril. The fusion reaction between cells is not well understood. Almost as soon as contact is made between two myoblasts, the plasma membranes of the two cells fuse to become one continuous plasma membrane surrounding the cytoplasm of both cells. It is not known whether such normal fusion reactions between muscle cells involve hydrolytic enzymes for digestion of carbohydrates, proteins and lipids constituting these membranes at their sites of fusion. The fusion reaction as well as the extensive cytoplasmic changes during differentiation prompted us to investigate digestive functions in our cultured cells using phosphate esters of a variety of compounds. This is the first report of histological localization for hydrolysis of phospholipid esters by cultured cells. Previous cytochemical studies on acid phosphatase in our cultured muscle cells showed an increase in lysosomal reaction product as myotubes formed and have been reported as ancillary observations to biochemical studies1,2. Our in situ investigations for lipid phosphate hydrolysis were also prompted from reports by Tappel et al.3,4 as well as Fowler and de Duve5 on digestion of lipids and organelle membranes with isolated rat liver lysosomal particles.
A benchmark database for adsorption bond energies to transition metal surfaces and comparison to selected DFT functionals

Abstract We present a literature collection of experimental adsorption energies over late transition metal surfaces for systems where we believe the energy measurements are particularly accurate, and the atomic-scale adsorption geometries are particularly well established. We propose that this could become useful for benchmarking theoretical methods for calculating adsorption processes. We compare the experimental results to six commonly used electron density functionals, including some (RPBE, BEEF-vdW) which were specifically developed to treat adsorption processes. The comparison shows that there is ample room for improvements in the theoretical descriptions.
Surviving IT budget cuts with TERPS

The global economic downturn has forced many companies to reevaluate how they do business, in an aggressive effort to cut costs. Budget cuts are reaching 5 to 10 percent or more—and no part of a company is left untouched. But how can companies slash information technology costs and still maintain the same level of production? Here's one interesting strategy: use trained enterprise resource planning students, or TERPS. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The use of erythropoietin‐stimulating agents versus supportive care in newborns with hereditary spherocytosis: a single centre's experience

Hereditary Spherocytosis (HS) is a common hemolytic anemia in which 75% of cases are autosomal dominant. Since most newborns with HS have a family history of disease, hematologists often see these infants before their physiologic hemoglobin nadir, which is exaggerated in comparison to healthy infants. The objective of this study was to evaluate the frequency of implementation and cost of erythropoietin-stimulating agents (EPO) versus transfusion in infants with HS at a single pediatric program. In the last decade, only 15% of infants with HS at our center have been treated with EPO, which costs twice that of a single transfusion and EPO treated infants did not always avoid transfusion. Infrequent prescription of EPO therapy to infants with HS at our center may be related to the incomplete data supporting its use.
A technique for measuring subjective arousal in therapy clients

A four-step procedure is presented to quantify subjectively the emotional arousal states of therapy clients. The client is taught to rate the intensity of his depression, anger and sexual arousal on a 10-unit scale. The subjective unit of arousal (SUA) scale avoids the need of a metaphorical language to describe the intensity of emotional reactions. Most clients are able to assign SUA values to one or more of the three emotional dimensions mentioned above.
Thermocapillary Actuation of Millimeter-Scale Rotary Structures

In this paper, we describe the rotary motion, by Marangoni flow, of a millimeter-scale rotary structure immersed in a thin layer of liquid. A 16 × 8 array of 1 × 0.8 × 0.3 mm3 surface-mount resistors is suspended ≈ 500 μm above the liquid to serve as a programmable heat source. The continuous operation of resistor elements is used to impose a spatially-defined temperature gradient on the surface of the liquid. With a maximum temperature gradient of 36.6 K/mm at the surface of a 2 mm-thick film of liquid with viscosity 5 cSt, a stainless steel rotary structure with a weight of ≈ 10 mg, a diameter of 4.1 mm, and blade angle of 34° takes 28 s to make a 360° rotation. In general, the angular velocity of the rotary structure is affected by the temperature gradient of the liquid surface and liquid viscosity among several factors.
Multivariable Control Law Analysis For A Large Space Antenna

This paper will discuss control laws for a large space antenna. The discussion will focus on analysis of the multivariable, closed loop system with respect to nominal performance, robust stability, and robust performance. The analysis employs singular values and structured singular values of multivariable frequency responses. Consistency between the frequency response analysis and time simulations is also presented. A simplified model of a large flexible space antenna was used for the analysis.
Developing probability limits for longitudinal physiological data

The objective of this study was to determine what amount of change in heart electrophysiology is necessary to yield a significant difference between a baseline condition and an experimental treatment condition. In a single-subject longitudinal design, a modification of at test was applied to baseline data, and the performance levels for both .05 and .01 probability levels were obtained. It was concluded that it is both ethically sound and physiologically safe to permit a subject in this type of experiment to physiologically respond at levels that would reach both the .05 and the .01 levels of significance.
The Determination of Methenamine and its Salts in Tablet Dosage Forms Using Ion-Pair Extraction

Abstract This paper reports a simple, accurate, reproducible, stability-indicating procedure which may be used to quantitatively determine methenamine base, methenamine mandelate or methenamine hippurate in tablet dosage forms. The procedure initially involves the separation of methenamine from the dosage form and from formaldehyde, the decomposition product, by a cartridge ion-pair extraction process. The methenamine may then be assayed by a number of methods. In this paper the methenamine was hydrolyzed to formaldehyde and the formaldehyde determined by the Nash procedure. The method compares favorably with the USP XXI procedure for methenamine tablets. Advantages of the procedure include the ability to use a single method for the base and salt forms of the drug and the potential application to stability and quality control studies of methenamine dosage forms.
Control of phenol in biological reactors by addition of powdered activated carbon

Abstract A biological reactor containing a pure culture of E. coli was subjected to a variety of feed upsets involving phenol with powdered activated carbon applied as a control mechanism. The amount and rate of addition of the carbon was varied to evaluate the effectiveness of this strategy for maintaining the effluent quality. It was found that the carbon addition greatly reduced the magnitude of concentration transients and permitted operation with an input phenol concentration above 1000 mg 1−1.
Identification of Stathmin as a Novel Substrate for p38 Delta

p38 mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) are a family of kinases that are activated by cellular stresses and inflammatory cytokines. Although there are many similarities shared by the isoforms of p38 (alpha, beta, gamma, and delta), p38 delta differs from the others in some respects such as inhibitor sensitivity and substrate specificity. Utilizing in a solution kinase assay, we identified a novel p38 delta substrate as stathmin. Stathmin is a cytoplasmic protein that was previously reported to be a substrate of several intracellular signaling kinases and has recently been linked to regulation of microtubule dynamics. p38 delta has significantly higher in vitro phosphorylating activity against stathmin than other p38 isoforms or related MAPKs. In transient expression studies, we found that in addition to different stimuli osmotic stress activates p38 delta to phosphorylate stathmin. The sites of phosphorylation were mapped to Ser-25 and Ser-38, both in vitro and in cells.
Campaign War Chests and Challenger Emergence in State Legislative Elections

Recent studies examining the role of money in state legislative campaigns focus on questions related to the amounts raised, the sources of the funds, and the effects of spending on election outcomes. Little attention, however, has been given to the possible impact of money on other aspects of the electoral process-namely candidacy decisions. Political practitioners often assert that money has an important influence when incumbents collect large campaign treasuries or "war chests" for the purpose of warding off potential challengers. While several studies address the validity of this proposition in the congressional setting, few have examined it closely in state legislative races. This study considers this possibility in an analysis of incumbent funding in primary and general elections in eight states. Findings indicate that incumbents often amass war chests and these sums negatively impact challenger emergence; however, this effect is partially mitigated by legislative professionalism. The dampening effect of campaign treasuries is found to be more potent in states having the least professional legislatures. "If you look like a 900-pound gorilla, people won't want to take you on."' Money plays a central role in modern elections. Studies in recent years have addressed such questions as how much is raised, where it comes from, how it is spent, and most importantly, what effect it has on election outcomes. This study continues this line of inquiry but looks at the influence of money from a slightly different perspective. The focus here is not so much on how spending affects election outcomes, but instead is on how the potential to spend by a particular group of candidates influences candidacy decisions of others. Specifically, the analysis examines the possible dampening effect of incumbent campaign treasuries commonly referred to as "war chests."
THE REAL BALANCE EFFECT IN THE UNITED STATES, 1947–1963*

THIS PAPER USES time series data to measure the probable magnitude of the "real balance effect" in the short-run in the United States during the post-war period. Although the "real balance" hypothesis is usually advanced as a proposition in the theory of long-run equilibrium, nevertheless many economists recommend stabilization policy which assumes the existence of a strong real balance effect in the short run. The real balance hypothesis is stated and statistically tested below in multivariate form, using quarterly series for personal saving, personal disposable income, individually-held real balances, and an interest rate measure. The evidence from this analysis is interpreted as indicating a nonexistent short-run real balance effect, while leaving in doubt the issue of a long-run real balance effect. It is suggested that policies based on a short-run version of the real balance hypothesis cannot be effective as counter-cyclical stabilization measures. In the first section, the real balance theory is briefly discussed as a background for formulation of a statistical hypothesis. In the second section recent empirical work bearing on the probable magnitude of the effect is noted and two direct tests of the theory are criticized. In the third section the results of the present tests of the statistical real balance hypothesis are presented and discussed. The implications of the study are examined in the final section.
ViewpointAdvising students for success

Some advice for those doing the advising (and what the advisors can learn from the advisees).
Magnetic dipole infrared atmospheric oxygen bands.

Molecular vibration and rotation constants are obtained for the metastable a1Δg electronic state of molecular oxygen. The constants are given for the υ = 0 and υ = 1 vibrational levels by combining recent high-resolution laboratory measurements with high-resolution observatory-based planetary and solar spectra of the magnetic dipole transitions of the system a1Δg←X3∑g−.
Rees algebras of contracted ideals in two-dimensional regular local rings

Abstract Let (R, m) be a two-dimensional regular local ring with infinite residue field. For an m-primary ideal I it is proved that the Rees algebra R[It] (resp. R[It, t−1]) is a Cohen-Macaulay ring with minimal multiplicity at its maximal homogeneous ideal (m, It) (resp. (t−1, m, It)) if and only if for some minimal reduction (a, b) of I, (a, b)I = I2 and there exists an x ϵ m2 such that IR[ m x ] ∩ R = 1 .
Structure of the human heparin-binding growth factor gene pleiotrophin.

Abstract We report that the human gene coding for the heparin-binding growth factor pleiotrophin (PTN) spans more than 65 kb and contains at least 7 exons. Analysis of human genomic DNA fragments showed that the open reading frame (ORF) is located on 4 exons. The splice sites in the ORF coincide with the boundaries of functional domains in the human PTN protein and appear to be conserved in the mouse PTN and in the related family of midkine genes. The 5′- and the 3′-ends in the untranslated regions of the human PTN are distinct from those of other species and are highly homologous to the antisense cDNAs of heat shock protein 70 and of ribosomal protein L7 respectively. These two regions are located on separate exons and could play a role in the posttranscriptional regulation of human PTN gene expression.
Paternal inheritance of a daughterless sex ratio factor

Here we report an unusual case of extrachromosomal inheritance in the parasitic wasp, Nasonia vitripennis. It was accidentally discovered during attempts to select for genetic variability in the sex ratio produced by females of this wasp. The trait, henceforth termed ‘Daughterless’ (Dl), is transferred paternally and causes the mates of carrier males to produce only sons. The effect is not due to mortality of female offspring but rather to an increase in the number of male offspring. Dl can be shown to be extrachromosomally inherited by experimental use of the haplodiploid sex determination of this wasp. After introduction at low frequency, the trait increases to predominance in an experimental population within a few generations. The Dl trait is of theoretical interest because of its paternal inheritance, and may have practical applications as a biological control agent in pest organisms with haplodiploid sex determination.
Randomized post-optimization of covering arrays

The construction of covering arrays with the fewest rows remains a challenging problem. Most computational and recursive constructions result in extensive repetition of coverage. While some is necessary, some is not. By reducing the repeated coverage, metaheuristic search techniques typically outperform simpler computational methods, but they have been applied in a limited set of cases. Time constraints often prevent them from finding an array of competitive size. We examine a different approach. Having used a simple computation or construction to find a covering array, we employ a post-optimization technique that repeatedly adjusts the array in an attempt to reduce its number of rows. At every stage the array retains full coverage. We demonstrate its value on a collection of previously best known arrays by eliminating, in some cases, 10% of their rows. In the well-studied case of strength two with twenty factors having ten values each, post-optimization produces a covering array with only 162 rows, improving on a wide variety of computational and combinatorial methods. We identify certain important features of covering arrays for which post-optimization is successful.
Fontanel size and epiphyseal ossification in neonates with intrauterine growth retardation: Preliminary communication

Anterior fontanel size and ossification of the epiphyseal centers at the knee were measured on the second day of life in 24 term newborn infants with intrauterine growth retardation. In 10 of 11 babies with an anterior fontanel area of greater than 4 cm 2 the epiphyseal ossification was markedly reduced. It is concluded that the infant with intrauterine growth retardation is quite likely to have retardation of both enchondral and membranous ossification. This could reflect intrauterine growth retardation of long standing but the implications for subsequent growth are uncertain.
A numerical study of viscous flow around an airfoil

An integrodifferential method, previously formulated in terms of velocity and vorticity vectors, is reformulated in terms of stream function and vorticity for two-dimensional incompressible viscous flows. The reformulated integrodifferential method is shown to retain the distinguishing feature of the previous formulation in permitting the confinement of the solution field to the viscous region of the flow and consequently offers great computational advantages. The application of this procedure in a study of an incompressible flow around an impulsively started 9% thick symmetric Joukowski airfoil at an angle of attack of 15 deg and a Reynolds number of 1000 is discussed. Numerical results are presented and compared with available finite-difference results.