cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Special Care of Blood and Marrow Hematopoietic Cell Transplant Recipient

Hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) has evolved into one of the most effective therapeutic modalities for the treatment of neoplastic, immunologic, and genetic disorders in pediatric and adult populations. Careful preclinical scientific studies in the late 1940s and 1950s set the stage for the triumph of clinical HCT. Essentially all eligible patients now have the possibility of undergoing either an autologous or an allogeneic HCT, the latter using a related, histocompatible or partially mismatched donor; matched unrelated adult donor; an umbilical cord blood graft; or a haploidentical donor graft. Regimen intensity now can be adjusted per patient tolerance, e.g., myeloablative conditioning; reduced-intensity conditioning; and nonmyeloablative conditioning. The median age of recipients steadily has increased as well. The necessary vigorous supportive care with blood component transfusions, broad-spectrum antibiotics, and immunosuppressives to prevent or treat graft-versus-host (GvHD) have resulted in cure or significant prolongation of survival in thousands of subjects affected by hematologic malignancies, immunologic disorders, or in-born errors.
Reserpine: interactions with batrachotoxin and brevetoxin sites on voltage-dependent sodium channels.

Reserpine inhibited batrachotoxin-elicited sodium influx in guinea pig brain synaptoneurosomes with an IC50 of about 1 μM. In the presence of brevetoxin the IC50 increased to about 80 μM. Reserpine inhibited binding of batrachotoxinin-A [3H]benzoate ([3H]BTX-B) binding in a complex manner causing a partial inhibition from 0.001 to 0.08 μM, then a rebound stimulation from 0.1 to 0.8 μM, followed by complete inhibition by 80 μM. The stimulation was prevented by the presence of brevetoxin; reserpine then smoothly inhibited binding with an IC50 of about 1 μM. Reserpine at 1 μM slightly reduced the off-rate of [3H]BTX-B binding measured in the presence of veratridine, while at a concentration of 50 μM it enhanced the off-rate, presumably by an allosteric mechanism. Reserpine at 0.3–10 μM elicited a partial inhibition of the binding of [3H]brevetoxin-3. The local anesthetic dibucaine had effects similar to reserpine: It partially inhibited binding of [3H]brevetoxin. The presence of brevetoxin reduced the potency of dibucaine as an inhibitor of batrachotoxin-elicited sodium influx from an IC50 of about 2 μM to an IC50 of about 50 μM. The results suggest that reserpine binds at both a local anesthetic site to cause allosteric inhibition of batrachotoxin-binding and action, but that it also binds to another site causing, like brevetoxin, an enhancement of batrachotoxin-binding and action. Local anesthetics also may bind to the brevetoxin site.
Estimating tree phenology from high frequency tree movement data

Abstract Shifts in forest tree phenology are one of the most important and conspicuous plant responses to climate variability. However, systematically documenting changes in phenology of individual trees across large areas at high temporal frequency is often prohibitively labor- and resource-intensive. Here we present a new method that uses accelerometers to overcome challenges of measuring high-frequency tree phenology in the field. Accelerometers are small, portable devices that can be attached to trees to record movement due to forcing by wind. Time series analyses of tree movement data recorded by accelerometers can yield an approximation of tree mass. Because leaf emergence and leaf drop alter aboveground tree mass, these phenological events are expected to be detectable from accelerometer data. To test how well accelerometers can be used to measure phenological dates, we deployed 20 accelerometers on balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera) trees across a variety of sites during the 2016 growing season and assessed how well phenology derived from accelerometers matched visual observation of phenology recorded by citizen scientists. We found that accelerometer measurements fit the theoretical expectation for the seasonal change in tree mass associated with leaf phenology; specifically, an increase in tree mass in the spring, and a decline in the autumn. Furthermore, we found that accelerometer-derived phenology matched visual observations for leaf emergence, with a strong correlation between the dates of first observed full leaves and accelerometer-derived phenology (r = 0.82, p
Non-Perturbative Effects in $\mu \to e \gamma$

We compute the non-perturbative contribution of semileptonic tensor operators $(\bar q \sigma^{\mu \nu} q)(\bar \ell \sigma_{\mu \nu} \ell)$ to the purely leptonic process $\mu \to e \gamma$ and to the electric and magnetic dipole moments of charged leptons by matching onto chiral perturbation theory at low energies. This matching procedure has been used extensively to study semileptonic and leptonic weak decays of hadrons. In this paper, we apply it to observables that contain no strongly interacting external particles. The non-perturbative contribution to $\mu \to e $ processes is used to extract the best current bound on lepton-flavor-violating semileptonic tensor operators, $\Lambda_\text{BSM} \gtrsim 450$ TeV. We briefly discuss how the same method applies to dark-matter interactions.
Extensive Evaluation of Weighted Ensemble Strategies for Calculating Rate Constants and Binding Affinities of Molecular Association/Dissociation Processes

ABSTRACT The weighted ensemble (WE) path sampling strategy is highly efficient in generating pathways and rate constants for rare events using atomistic molecular dynamics simulations. Here we extensively evaluated the impact of several advances to the WE strategy on the efficiency of computing association and dissociation rate constants (kon, koff) as well as binding affinities (KD) for a set of benchmark systems, listed in order of increasing timescales of molecular association/dissociation processes: methane/methane, Na+/Cl-, and K+/18-crown-6 ether. In particular, we assessed the advantages of carrying out (i) a large set of “light-weight” WE simulations that each consist of a small number of trajectories vs. a single “heavy-weight” WE simulation that consists of a relatively large number of trajectories, (ii) equilibrium vs. steady-state WE simulations, (iii) history augmented Markov State Model (haMSM) post-simulation analysis of equilibrium sets of trajectories, and (iv) tracking of trajectory history (the state last visited) during the dynamics propagation of equilibrium WE simulations. Provided that state definitions are known in advance, our results reveal that heavy-weight, steady-state WE simulations are the most efficient protocol for calculating kon, koff, and KD values. If states are not strictly defined in advance, heavy-weight, equilibrium WE simulations are the most efficient protocol. This efficiency can be further improved with the inclusion of trajectory history during dynamics propagation. In addition, applying the haMSM post-simulation analysis enhances the efficiency of both steady-state and equilibrium WE simulations. Recommendations of appropriate WE protocols are made according to the goals of the simulations (e.g. to efficiently calculate rate constants and/or generate a diverse set of pathways).
Competition in Mail Delivery

Now that the latest round in the perennial strike of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) against the public is ended, this gives us an opportunity to reflect upon some basic issues related to the delivery of mail.
Polyacids as Modulators for the Synthesis of UiO-66

Poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) and poly(vinylbenzoic acid) (PBA) were synthesized via reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization and used as modulators for the synthesis of the metal–organic framework (MOF) UiO-66 (UiO = University of Oslo). Whereas typical syntheses of UiO-66 require large excesses of acid modulators, such as acetic acid or benzoic acid, to achieve controlled particle size and morphology of the resulting MOF particles, the use of polymerized acids allows for narrow particle size distributions at sub-stoichiometric quantities of modulator. We show using scanning electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering techniques that polyacids can act as alternative modulators for the growth of UiO-66.
Correlates of tobacco product reuptake and relapse among youth and adults in the USA: findings from the PATH Study Waves 1-3 (2013-2016).

Objective This study examines sociodemographic and tobacco use correlates of reuptake and relapse to tobacco use across a variety of tobacco products (cigarettes, electronic nicotine delivery systems, cigars, hookah and smokeless tobacco) among the US population. Design Data were drawn from the first three waves (2013–2016) of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study, a nationally representative, longitudinal cohort study of US youth (ages 12–17) and adults (ages 18+). Reuptake (past 30-day use among previous tobacco users) and relapse (current use among former established users; adults only) were examined among previous users of at least one type of tobacco product at Wave 1 (W1) or Wave 2 (W2) (n=19 120 adults, n=3039 youth). Generalised estimating equations were used to evaluate the association between demographic and tobacco use characteristics at baseline, with reuptake/relapse at follow-up, over two 1-year periods (W1–W2 and W2–Wave 3). Results Any tobacco product reuptake occurred in 7.8% of adult previous users and 30.3% of youth previous users. Correlates of any tobacco reuptake included being male, non-Hispanic black and bisexual in adults, but race and sexual orientation were not consistent findings in youth. Among recent former users, relapse rates were greater (32.9%). Shorter time since last use and greater levels of tobacco dependence showed the strongest association with any tobacco relapse. Discussion Continued clinical and public health efforts to provide adults with tools to cope with tobacco dependence symptoms, especially within the first year or two after quitting, could help prevent relapse.
A Distributed Smart Camera System Based on an Edge Orchestration Architecture

Distributed cameras have been used widely for real-time image recognition. There are two main approaches in distributed camera systems: (1) The cameras are equipped with a powerful high-end process...
Envisioning a reflective, relationship-based approach to termination in child welfare: The importance of thinking, feeling, and doing

Abstract Turnover among child welfare workers inevitably creates relationship disruptions between workers and youth. Workers then face decisions about how to approach those endings with young people, who often already have a considerable history of relationship loss with family members and other child welfare professionals. There is a lack of research exploring the ways in which workers approach these endings, even though it is likely a regular occurrence given the high rates of turnover in the field. Using in-depth interviews and participant observation over a two-year period, this study explores workers’ experiences of and strategies for ending relationships with youth in an independent living program. Findings indicate that workers made assumptions about their relationship endings with clients, and like their clients, experienced emotional responses to the endings. Workers also made decisions about how to end their relationships with clients including what to say (i.e., content); how to say it (i.e., process); and when, where, and with whom to say it in front of (i.e., context). The ways in which workers approached the endings tended to either facilitate a space for processing the ending or create a barrier to processing the ending. Data suggest an increased need for training, supervision, and support for workers throughout the ending process. By taking a reflective, relationship-based approach, workers may be better able to process and critically reflect on their work, in order to facilitate the endings in a way that is most therapeutic for the client.
Pilot Study Using Neurofeedback as a Tool to Reduce Surgical Resident Burnout.

Background Burnout is prevalent among surgical residents. Neurofeedback is a technique to train the brain in self-regulation skills. We aimed to assess the impact of neurofeedback on the cognitive workload and personal growth areas of surgery residents with burnout and depression. Study Design Fifteen surgical residents with burnout (Maslach Burnout Inventory [MBI] score > 27) and depression (Patient Health Questionnaire–9 Depression Screen [PHQ-9] score >10), from 1 academic institution, were enrolled and participated in this institutional review board-approved prospective study. Ten residents with more severe burnout and depression scores were assigned to receive 8 weeks of neurofeedback treatments, and 5 others with less severe symptoms were treated as controls. Each participant's cognitive workload (or mental effort) was assessed initially, and again after treatment via electroencephalogram (EEG) while the subjects performed n-back working memory tasks. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) tested for significance between the degree of change in the treatment and control groups. Each subject was also asked to rate changes in growth areas, such as sleep and stress. Results Both groups showed high cognitive workload in the pre-assessment. After the neurofeedback intervention, the treatment group showed a significant (p Conclusions Residents demonstrated high levels of burnout, correlating with EEG patterns indicative of post-traumatic stress disorder. There was a notable change in cognitive workload after the neurofeedback treatment, suggesting a return to a more efficient neural network.
Economic Theories of Information

Whereas information theory based on entropy basically utilizes the statistical aspects of data and its noisy characteristics, the economic theories of information emphasize the usefulness of information in the decision processes of the individual agents and the market. Some of the important areas in the economic theories of information which would be discussed in this chapter include the following issues e.g., (1) How to characterize optimal decisions under imperfect information structures? (2) How to evaluate the impact of the truncation of the data distribution caused by the observed samples? (3) How to characterize the rational expectations equilibrium in a competitive market under asymmetric information? (4) How to evaluate the role of imperfect information in two-person game theory models? and (5) Finally, how to estimate dynamic productive efficiency, when the observed inputoutput data are subject to risk aversion and dynamic changes in capital inputs over time?
Explaining the Black-box Smoothly- A Counterfactual Approach.

We propose a BlackBox \emph{Counterfactual Explainer} that is explicitly developed for medical imaging applications. Classical approaches (e.g. saliency maps) assessing feature importance do not explain \emph{how} and \emph{why} variations in a particular anatomical region is relevant to the outcome, which is crucial for transparent decision making in healthcare application. Our framework explains the outcome by gradually \emph{exaggerating} the semantic effect of the given outcome label. Given a query input to a classifier, Generative Adversarial Networks produce a progressive set of perturbations to the query image that gradually changes the posterior probability from its original class to its negation. We design the loss function to ensure that essential and potentially relevant details, such as support devices, are preserved in the counterfactually generated images. We provide an extensive evaluation of different classification tasks on the chest X-Ray images. Our experiments show that a counterfactually generated visual explanation is consistent with the disease's clinical relevant measurements, both quantitatively and qualitatively.
Reproductive Impact following Controlled Introduction of Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus

The reproductive impact following controlled introduction of animals persistently infected (PI) with bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) was evaluated in BVDV-naive heifers.
Students’ Acceptance of Silent Sitting/Visualization and Its Effect on Their Affective Dimensions

This chapter explores some primary school children’s reflections on their experiences of silent sitting, particularly their feelings about participating in it, and its effects on affective aspects of their lives. These responses have been linked to Krathwohl’s hierarchy of affective domain taxonomy. The data were collected from a sample of 53 students. Some were from a Malaysian primary school where the SSEHV model is embedded in the whole-school environment and silent sitting/visualization is a regular component of their daily activity. The others were from informal classes where silent sitting/visualization was used on a weekly basis. The students’ reflections are discussed in relation to existing literature related to mindfulness.
Agricultural Policy and Authoritarian Regime Durability in Malaysia, 1969-1980

In this chaper, I trace in detail the causal mechanisms linking landholding inequality, agricultural policy, and regime stability in Malaysia from 1969-1980. I analyze an original, constituency-level dataset on the correlates of support for the ruling Alliance at the 1969 parliamentary election. I show that landholding inequality was correlated with support for the Alliance. However, rice-growing areas abandoned the Alliance for the opposition in 1969. This important shift in mass politics led to contentious developments within the elite, which significantly strengthened rural, Malay interests in the ruling coalition. In the course of the next year, a major restructuring of the Malaysian economy was begun, an important component of which was a pro-rural agricultural policy reform, which increased the incomes of Malay rice farmers. This policy played an important role in placating rural interests and heading off their demands for a complete reorganization of the political system. Thus, the power shift within the ruling coalition led to a more rural-biased policy, which in turn ensured regime stability.
Fractional Order Riemann Zeta Factorial Function: A Recent Study

The purpose of this article is to apply zeta factorial function theory to fractional order Riemann zeta ?factorial function. Several formulae on the fractional order Riemann zeta factorial function can be obtained using the inverse principle of the generalised difference operator. Findings are numerically validated using appropriate examples.
A Fluorescence Dequenching-based Liposome Leakage Assay to Measure Membrane Permeabilization by Pore-forming Proteins

Pore-forming toxins (PFTs) have been discovered in a wide range of organisms. Their functions are essential to the survival or virulence of many species. PFTs often interact with lipid membranes. Large unilamellar vesicles (LUV), also known as liposomes, have been commonly used as reliable membrane models for testing PFTs activity. Liposomes have great adaptability in size, lipid composition, and loading cargo. Incorporating the fluorescent dye/quencher pair, 8-Aminonaphthalene-1,3,6-Trisulfonic Acid (ANTS) and p-Xylene-Bis-Pyridinium Bromide (DPX), in liposomes is an effective approach for measuring membrane leakage. When ANTS and DPX are encapsulated in a liposome, the fluorescence of ANTS is quenched by DPX. However, disruption of liposome integrity and subsequent leakage result in measurable fluorescence emitted by ANTS. Here, we report our protocol for optimal liposome preparation for measuring liposome leakage by fluorescence dequenching.
Unsub Extender: a Python-based web application for visualizing Unsub data.

This article introduces Unsub Extender, a free tool to help libraries analyze their Unsub data export files. Unsub is a collection development dashboard that gathers and forecasts journal-level usage metrics to provide academic libraries with deeper measurements than traditional cost-per-use. Unsub gives libraries richer and more nuanced data to analyze their subscriptions, but it does not include a way to easily visualize the complex and interrelated data points it provides. Unsub Extender (this https URL) is a free Python-based web application that takes an Unsub export file and automates the creation of interactive plots and visualizations. The tool loads with example data to explore, and users upload their specific Unsub file to quickly populate the pre-made plots with actual data. Graphs are interactive, live-updating, and support zoom, click-and-drag, and hover. Filters are specified through sliders to model scenarios and focus on areas of interest. A drop-down menu allows users to change a journal's decision status, and graphs update automatically. After evaluating journals, users can export the modified dataset to save their decisions. Unsub Extender proposes best practice in analyzing the increasingly common Unsub export file. It simplifies the analysis, eliminates duplication of effort, and enables libraries worldwide to make better, more data-driven decisions.
Distribution, Habitats and Conservation

Grasses are found on all continents, including Antarctica (Convey 2001), and exhibit remarkable ecological diversity. Species occur in deep shade of tropical forests, in full sun in deserts, from near the poles to the equator, and from sea level to high altitudes.
Aluminum-Induced Alteration of Phosphoinositide and Calcium Signaling

Summary Receptor-stimulated phosphoinositide hydrolysis results in the formation of the second messenger inositol trisphosphate and the release of calcium from intracellular stores, and is a major cholinergic signaling mechanism in the brain. Recent evidence suggests that aluminum can impact the phosphoinositide signaling pathway at several levels including G-proteins, phospholipase C, and protein kinase C. Aluminum can also alter calcium homeostasis via actions at voltage-sensitive ion channels and Ca2 +/Mg2 +-ATPases. Because deficits in cholinergic transmission and the deregulation of calcium-dependent processes represent biochemical events which may contribute to the dementia and pathology of Alzheimer’s disease, these actions of aluminum may serve to exacerbate an ongoing disease process.
T ( d , n ) He 4 Reaction

The differential cross sections for neutron production in the $\mathrm{T}(d, n){\mathrm{He}}^{4}$ reaction have been measured over the deuteron bombarding-energy range 0.25 to 7.0 Mev. Legendre polynomial fits to the data are presented and compared with existing data. The total cross section plotted as a function of deuteron energy has an anomalous behavior which may indicate a broad level in ${\mathrm{He}}^{5}$ near 20-Mev excitation energy.
N. Folbre: Valuing Children: Rethinking the Economics of the Family

In Valuing Children: Rethinking the Economics of the Family, author Nancy Folbre (2008) provides an intellectual discussion regarding the money and time spent on raising children, as well as the economic structure of the family. Folbre opens the book by stating, ‘‘Child rearing fits uncomfortably within our economic system. Parents provide services of great value directly to their children and indirectly to those who benefit from their children’s future contributions. Yet parents receive little or no economic reward’’ (p. 1). As a result, the goal of this book is to address the following questions (p. 3): Why should we care about spending on children? How much money and time do families devote to children? How much money do taxpayers spend on children? Who should pay for the kids? Folbre’s passion regarding this issue as well as her previous professional and academic accomplishments make her an established authority on this subject. In line with Folbre’s past contributions to the field of economics which include Who Pays For the Kids? Gender and the Structures of Constraint and The Invisible Heart: Economics and Family Values, this book can appeal to a large audience as it is beneficial to parents, policy-makers, economists, educators, students, and the general public a like. Divided into three main sections, this book is arranged to first present the current state of children and the economy. It then goes on to explain public and private spending on children in the United States. This deliberate organization is extremely effective and further emphasizes the idea that the issues regarding child rearing are not isolated, but rather span across all levels of society. In Sect. I (Chaps. 1 and 2), Folbre (2008) challenges the conventional flow of market exchanges between households and markets and recommends that a new way of calculating market inputs and outputs is necessary. In Chap. 2, she criticizes Gary Becker’s description of rational family choices and states that family decisions are not logical. She poetically writes, ‘‘Love is not a mathematically specified constant but a complicated emotion that ebbs, flows, and changes over time’’ (p. 29). Additionally, the difference between commitment and investment is defined.
Compile time vs. runtime: scheduling parallelism on dataflow machines

Summary form only given. Exploitation of parallelism in programs decreases execution time but increases resource requirements. It is argued that this problem should be addressed by applying compile-time analysis and static scheduling techniques. Such techniques have been developed for scheduling loops on very long instruction word (VLIW) machines which, like dataflow machines, can exploit fine-grain parallelism in programs. In VLIW machines, all resources can be scheduled very precisely because of the synchronous model of parallelism. It is shown how these techniques can be applied to dataflow machines by adopting a less rigid notion of scheduling providing a reasonable trade-off between parallelism and resource usage. The authors also show how such asynchronous scheduling can be implemented in a novel dataflow loop schema for the Monsoon Explicit Token Store dataflow machine. >
Daily rhythm of NaCl intake in rats fed low-Ca2+ diet: relation to plasma and urinary minerals and hormones

To assess daily rhythms of salt appetite, we measured spontaneous 300 mM NaCl intake of male Sprague-Dawley rats fed a diet containing 150 or 25 mmol Ca2+/kg. Both groups drank most NaCl at night, but, as the dark period progressed, intakes of controls remained constant or diminished, whereas intakes of rats fed low-Ca2+ diet increased. During the late dark period, when the difference in NaCl intake between the two dietary groups was greatest, rats fed a low-Ca2+ diet lost more corticosterone and sodium in urine, had lower plasma osmolarity, and had higher plasma adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and corticosterone concentrations than did controls. Over the 24-h cycle, rats fed the low-Ca2+ diet excreted less Ca2+ and more corticosterone in urine than did controls. They also had consistently lower plasma concentrations of Ca2+ and renin activity and consistently higher plasma phosphorus, arginine vasopressin, parathyroid hormone, thyroxine, calcitonin, and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3. These findings support the hypothesis that salt appetite induced by dietary Ca2+ deficiency involves a subtle dysfunction of the ACTH-corticosterone axis, but they also raise several other possibilities.
Analysis of the Distribution and Abundance of Anopheles quadrimaculatus (Diptera: Culicidae) Larvae in a Marsh

Anopheles quadrimaculatus Say larvae were sampled using an area sampling method along point-quadrat transects in a marsh in 1986 and 1987 to estimate absolute population density and describe larval distribution. Larvae were significantly more abundant in 1986 than in 1987, with 152.8 ± 77.1 ($\bar x$ ± 95% CL) larvae/m2 in 1986 and 44.5 ± 21.3 ($\bar x$ ± 95% CL) larvae/m2 in 1987. Nearest neighbor estimates of larval population density (166.5 larvae/m2 for 1986; 37.1 larvae/m2 for 1987) closely approximated the absolute estimates. Taylor's power law and Iwao's density-contagiousness coefficient indicated that larvae were aggregated in distribution. Regression of larval numbers on quantified habitat variables in quadrats of 1986 showed a positive relationship between length of downed, floating plant stems and larval density, where 66% of the variation in larval density was explained by variation in this variable. Direct observations of larvae showed that typical larval posture was with body perpendicular to a downed plant stem-water interface and tail-end to the interface. However, an experiment showed that larvae did not preferentially select interfaces in the laboratory.
Stopping replication, at the beginning.

A new pharmacological inhibitor of the Cdc7 protein kinase can block replication initiation without activating the replication checkpoint, thus validating replication initiation as a new target class for cancer cell chemotherapy.
The Study of Islam Before and After September 11: A Provocation

Abstract In the aftermath of September 11, the academic study of Islam has been one of the most sought-after areas of academic expertise throughout North America. The result is that many departments of Religious Studies have been eager either to develop or increase existing offerings in all things Islamic and Arabic. This strikes me as a good a time as any to reflect upon the nature of the relationship between Religious Studies and Islamic Studies. This article assumes that the integration of the latter into the former has not been easy or even successful. It provocatively argues that some of the manifold reasons behind such tensions emerge from the apologetics—found among both Muslim and non-Muslim scholars—inherent to the study of Islam. This confessionalism is the result of a complex amalgam of academic and non-academic forces.
Estimates of the return to schooling and ability: Evidence from sibling data

Abstract We use sibling data on wages, schooling, and aptitude test scores from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79) to obtain OLS, family fixed effects, and fixed effects instrumental variable estimates of the return to schooling for a large sample of non-twin siblings. Following recent studies that use identical twin samples, we use sibling-reported schooling as an instrument for self-reported schooling. Controlling for aptitude test scores has a substantial impact on estimated returns to schooling even within families, and there is a large return to test scores that is comparable in size within and between families. We also find that the return to schooling is higher for older brothers than for younger brothers and for women than men. Finally, because the NLSY79 contains multiple sibling reports of education for the same individual, we are able to test and reject the overidentifying restrictions for the validity of sibling-reported schooling as an instrumental variable.
Preliminary in vitro evaluation of an adjunctive therapy for extremity wound infection reduction: Rapidly resorbing local antibiotic delivery

Despite the continuing advances in treatment of open fractures and musculoskeletal wounds, infection remains a serious complication. Current treatments to prevent infection utilize surgical debridement and irrigation, and high doses of systemic antimicrobial therapy. The aim of this work was to evaluate, in vitro, the potential of a fast-resorbing calcium sulfate pellet loaded with an antibiotic. The pellet could be used as an adjunctive therapy at the time of debridement and irrigation to reduce bacterial wound contamination. Small pellets containing a binder and calcium sulfate were engineered to resorb rapidly (within 24 h) and deliver high local doses of antibiotic (amikacin, gentamicin, or vancomycin) to the wound site while minimizing systemic effects. Results from dissolution, elution, and biological activity tests against P. aeruginosa and S. aureus were used to compare the performance of antibiotic-loaded, rapidly resorbing calcium sulfate pellets to antibiotic-loaded crushed conventional calcium sulfate pellets. Antibiotic-loaded rapidly resorbing pellets dissolved in vitro in deionized water in 12–16 h and released therapeutic antibiotic levels in phosphate buffered saline that were above the minimal inhibitory concentration for P. aeruginosa and S. aureus, completely inhibiting the growth of these bacteria for the life of the pellet. Crushed conventional calcium sulfate pellets dissolved over 4–6 days, but the eluates only contained sufficient antibiotic to inhibit growth for the first 4 h. These data indicate that fast-resorbing pellets can release antibiotics rapidly and at therapeutic levels. Adjunctive therapy with fast-acting pellets is promising and warrants further in vivo studies. © 2008 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 27: 903–908, 2009
Expression profiling in canine osteosarcoma: identification of biomarkers and pathways associated with outcome

Osteosarcoma (OSA) spontaneously arises in the appendicular skeleton of large breed dogs and shares many physiological and molecular biological characteristics with human OSA. The standard treatment for OSA in both species is amputation or limb-sparing surgery, followed by chemotherapy. Unfortunately, OSA is an aggressive cancer with a high metastatic rate. Characterization of OSA with regard to its metastatic potential and chemotherapeutic resistance will improve both prognostic capabilities and treatment modalities. We analyzed archived primary OSA tissue from dogs treated with limb amputation followed by doxorubicin or platinum-based drug chemotherapy. Samples were selected from two groups: dogs with disease free intervals (DFI) of less than 100 days (n = 8) and greater than 300 days (n = 7). Gene expression was assessed with Affymetrix Canine 2.0 microarrays and analyzed with a two-tailed t-test. A subset of genes was confirmed using qRT-PCR and used in classification analysis to predict prognosis. Systems-based gene ontology analysis was conducted on genes selected using a standard J5 metric. The genes identified using this approach were converted to their human homologues and assigned to functional pathways using the GeneGo MetaCore platform. Potential biomarkers were identified using gene expression microarray analysis and 11 differentially expressed (p < 0.05) genes were validated with qRT-PCR (n = 10/group). Statistical classification models using the qRT-PCR profiles predicted patient outcomes with 100% accuracy in the training set and up to 90% accuracy upon stratified cross validation. Pathway analysis revealed alterations in pathways associated with oxidative phosphorylation, hedgehog and parathyroid hormone signaling, cAMP/Protein Kinase A (PKA) signaling, immune responses, cytoskeletal remodeling and focal adhesion. This profiling study has identified potential new biomarkers to predict patient outcome in OSA and new pathways that may be targeted for therapeutic intervention.
Plant development: a role for sterols in embryogenesis.

The Arabidopsis mutants fackel and sterol methyltransferase 1 have defects associated with body organization of the seedling. Molecular analysis of these mutants has revealed that plant sterols may be key signaling molecules influencing position-dependent cell fate during embryonic development.
Work in progress — Software residency: A contribution for professional maturity

Preparing and qualifying the Computer Science students to meet the software industry needs is a growing challenge for academia. This task is about maturing the future professional with good practices of software development, increasingly demanded by software industry. This work aims to present the process of implementing a software residency program for undergraduate Computer Science course, which we call “Software Residency Program”, and is being implemented since the beginning of the academic year 2010. This program provides an environment for undergraduate students to experience real software development, following standards and rules established by the software industry. We describe the methodology adopted to implement the process and some initial results we have collected from the students who are in the program. Currently, the Software Residency Program has entered its final phase, and is scheduled to be completed in the month of May 2011, finishing the process of Software Residency, when results will be evaluated by all the stakeholders.
Reduction of periodic motion artifacts from impedance plethysmography

Motion artifact reduction is a fundamental part in portable monitoring of physiological signals. Here, the performance of three different motion artifact reduction methods, independent component analysis, least mean square filters and normalized least mean square filters are compared when applied to the impedance plethysmography signal. The results show that the performance of each method depends on the type of motion artifact it is being applied to, and that none of the methods universally performs better than the other ones. As a result, authors suggest that the motion artifact reduction algorithm should be designed based on the nature of the motion artifact.
Insulin-like growth factor (IGF) binding to a murine mammary epithelial cell line.

The goal of this study was to relate insulin-like growth factor (IGF) binding with IGF-stimulated growth in a murine mammary epithelial (COMMA-D/MME) cell line. Affinity crosslinking with [125I]IGF-I showed major bands at 224,000 and 148,000 Mr that were ablated by the inclusion of IGF-I or -II at 130 nM. Scatchard-transformed [125I]IGF-I binding data was best fit by a two-site model, with 24,000 sites possessing a Kd of 0.33 nM and 1,000 sites possessing a Kd of 8.09 nM per cell. Competition analysis showed ED50 values for IGF-I, -II, and insulin to be 0.90 ± 0.03, 7.15 ± 4.27, and 335 ± 104 nM, respectively. Affinity crosslinking of [125I]IGF-II showed three major bands of 230,000, 148,000, and 61,000 to 58,000 Mr. Unlabeled IGF-II ablated all bands, while IGF-I and insulin ablated only the 148,000 Mr band. Competition analysis showed ED50 values for unlabeled IGF-I and -II to be 0.10 ± 0.01 and 5.31 ± 2.04 nM, respectively. In spite of the receptor affinity differences, no significant difference was noted in IGF-I and -II in capacity to stimulate cell growth. These data indicate that COMMA-D/MME cells express IGF receptors and that both IGFs are mitogenic. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Memory-Based Learning Control

A challenge for learning control systems is to build a model of a nonlinear plant from samples of the plant's inputs and outputs. We have used a memory-based technique to approach this problem. Samples of the plant's inputs and outputs are stored in a memory. Predictions of the plant's outputs given an input vector (or vice versa) are made by constructing a local model from nearby samples, and using the local model to interpolate between and extrapolate from samples in the database. This approach implements a philosophy of modeling a complex plant with many simple local models. A local model is constructed by performing a regression of a polynomial surface on the data. The regression is locally weighted by a weighting function of the distance between the desired vector and each vector stored in memory. In order to find relevant information in the memory and to perform the locally weighted regression a distance metric, weight function shape parameter, and ridge regression parameters are required. These parameters are found using a cross-validation approach. The parameters indicate which variables and terms in the local model are relevant to modeling the plant.
Brain mechanisms for changes in processing of conditioned stimuli in Pavlovian conditioning: Implications for behavior theory

This article is a review of the results of a series of experiments designed to identify brain systems involved in appetitive conditioning of rats. It discusses some of their implications for behavioral theories of learning, especially those that concern changes in processing of conditioned stimuli (CSs). Evidence is presented which suggests that separable brain circuits are involved in (1) the production of CS-dependent conditioned orienting responses, (2) the enhancement of CS associability produced when expectancies about upcoming events are violated, (3) the reduction of CS associability produced when stimuli are consistent predictors of other events or are presented without consequence, and (4) the abilities of CSs to serve as reinforcers for second-order conditioning and to be sensitive to postconditioning changes in the value of the unconditioned stimulus (US). Finally, none of these circuits seems critical for normal acquisition of the most common indicator of Pavlovian conditioning, US-dependent conditioned responses (CRs). Although the independence of brain pathways does not demand independence of behavioral function, clustering of behavioral phenomena on anatomical grounds may provide useful guides for constructing behavior theories.
Reply to “Comment on ‘Ginzburg-Landau theory of two-band superconductors: Absence of type-1.5 superconductivity'”

This comment defends the authors' prior paper against criticism concerning reduction of a Ginzburg-Landau theory.
Catheter ablation of ventricular tachycardia in patients with structural heart disease.

Radiofrequency catheter ablation has revolutionized therapy of most forms of supraventricular tachycardia and ventricular tachycardia in the absence of structural heart disease by providing arrhythmia cure in almost 90% of patients. However, this treatment has not been nearly as successful in patients with ventricular tachycardia in the setting of structural heart disease, because of a number of factors. Some of these limitations are technical (imprecise mapping tools, multiple regions requiring ablation) although others are patient-related (hemodynamic instability during arrhythmia, progression of disease process). Because of these and other factors, the majority of patients in this group are treated with implantable defibrillators. Ablative therapy has an adjunctive role in their management, mainly to decrease the frequency of device therapy (particularly shocks). This review will discuss mapping and ablation techniques as well as patient selection and evaluation for this procedure. Radiofrequency (RF) catheter ablation (CA) has revolutionized therapy of cardiac tachyarrhythmias. In this procedure, RF energy is used to destroy cardiac tissues responsible for the arrhythmia. Currently, most common forms of supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) can be cured in 95% of patients with a very low rate of complication; similarly 85% of patients with ventricular tachycardia (VT) in the absence of structural heart disease (SHD) can be cured with RFCA. Despite these positive results, RFCA has not been nearly as widely applied nor successful in patients with VT in the presence of SHD. This review will explore methods used in mapping and ablation of VT in patients with various forms of SHD, as well as describing why these techniques are less successful in this group than in patients without SHD.
Curvature theory for the double flier eight-bar linkage

Abstract This paper presents a graphical technique to obtain the radius of curvature of the path traced by a coupler point of a planar, single-degree-of-freedom, indeterminate eight-bar linkage commonly referred to as the double flier linkage. The first step is to find the pole for the instantaneous motion of the coupler link; i.e., the point coincident with the absolute instant center of the coupler link. Since the double flier is a linkage with kinematic indeterminacy then the Aronhold–Kennedy theorem cannot locate this instant center. The paper, therefore, begins with a novel technique, which requires few geometric constructions, to locate this instant center. Then the paper focuses on the graphical technique to determine the radius of curvature of the path of an arbitrary coupler point for a given position of the input link. The technique begins by obtaining an equivalent five-bar linkage and four kinematic inversions of this linkage. A four-bar linkage is obtained from each inversion. Finally, the systematic procedure provides a four-bar linkage in which the motion of the coupler link is equivalent up to, and including, the second order properties of motion of the coupler of the original double flier linkage. The radius of curvature of the path traced by the coupler point is then obtained from the well-known Euler–Savary equation.
Diffraction of Elastic Waves by a Surface Crack on a Plate

The interaction of time harmonic elastic waves with an edge crack in a plate is studied. The crack is assumed to be normal to the plate surface and its depth small compared to plate thickness. Only plane strain deformations are considered. The incident waves are assumed to be either plane body waves (compressional (P) or inplane shear (SV) ) of arbitrary angle of propagation or surface Rayleigh waves propagating at right angles to the crack. For each incident wave type the complete high frequency diffracted field on the plate surface is calculated. Solution is obtained by the application of an asymptotic theory of diffraction. Application to ultrasonic inspection techniques is indicated.
An analysis of ebrary Academic Complete at Adelphi University

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the academic and financial value of ebrary Academic Complete package to the Adelphi University Libraries. Design/methodology/approach – ebrary provided statistics and this sample was used to analyze subject usage and overlap with the print collection. Findings – It was found that although there was overlap with the print collection, the usage statistics are high enough to warrant continued subscription. Originality/value – This paper case study of Adelphi's issues regarding subscribing to a backfile of e-books including subject usage, print overlap, and information management.
DETERMINATION OF THE DIFFUSIVITY OF A HYDROPHILIC MIGRATORY ADDITIVE IN IPP FILMS

This article describes the measurement of the diffusivity of a commercial hydrophilic additive (CHA), Irgasurf HL560, at concentrations of 5 and 10 wt% in polypropylene films at different temperatures. The model used was a standard 1-D diffusion model, in which the film weight was expressed as a function of time as the additive concentration at the film surface was kept at zero at all times. Experimentally, two cases were compared: (1) Washing additive off the film surface with limited contact with the solvent, while PP films were stored in air and tested at 25, 40, 55, and 70°C up to 20 days. (2) Immersing the film in solvent with continuous stirring at 25°C for 10 days, 44°C for 2 days, and 65°C for 10 h. Diffusivity measured by the surface-washing method was 10-14 to 10-12 cm2/s, and 10 -12 to 10-10 by the immersion method. TGA results showed no effect of solvent enhancement to additive diffusion at 25°C but slightly enhanced at 44 and 65°C. Results for both the surface-washing and immersion methods ar...