cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Staphylococcus aureus antibiotic susceptibility patterns in pediatric atopic dermatitis.

Background/objectives Staphylococcus aureus is the most prevalent bacterial pathogen in atopic dermatitis (AD) patients presenting with skin infections. Despite the known association between S aureus and AD, guidance on empiric antibiotics for skin infections in pediatric AD patients is limited. Methods We conducted a retrospective study over a five-year period to characterize the S aureus strains recovered from pediatric AD patients with clinically apparent bacterial skin infections treated in an academic medical center. We assessed patient demographics and dilute bleach bath usage to determine whether these factors were correlated with methicillin resistance. Culture results from our AD cohort were also compared to those from pediatric patients presenting to the Saint Louis Children's Hospital emergency department (ED) with S aureus skin abscesses from 2013 to 2015. Results Methicillin-sensitive S aureus (MSSA) was more prevalent (77.8%) than methicillin-resistant S aureus (MRSA) (22.2%). There was no correlation between MRSA and age, sex, race, or dilute bleach bath use. In comparison with pediatric patients presenting to the ED, AD patients had lower rates of MSSA susceptibility to doxycycline and MRSA susceptibility to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX). Conclusions First-generation cephalosporins remain appropriate empiric therapy for most pediatric AD patients. In patients with a history of MRSA, empiric doxycycline or TMP-SMX could be considered, given their high MRSA susceptibility rates.
Dental Students' Exposure to Periodontal and Implant Placement Surgeries in U.S. Dental Schools

The aim of this study was to assess nationwide trends in the exposure of dental students to periodontal and implant surgical procedures and to evaluate the potential factors that influence these clinical experiences. A 19-item questionnaire was sent to all 64 directors of predoctoral periodontics in U.S. dental schools. In addition to gathering information on the percentage of students who perform surgical periodontics or implant placement procedures in each program, data on student research groups, periodontics residency programs, and periodontics faculty practices were collected. A total of 33 responses were received, for a response rate of 51.5%. Among the responding institutions, 97% and 45.5% allowed dental students to perform periodontal and dental implant placement surgeries, respectively, although only 26.4% and 15.2% of the dental class ended up performing periodontal and dental implant placement surgeries, respectively. Crown lengthening was the most commonly reported (84.8%) periodontal surgical procedure performed by dental students. A negative correlation was found between the presence of a periodontics residency program and dental students' placing dental implants, while the size of the residency program positively correlated with dental students' placing dental implants. Overall, a wide variation in the exposure of dental students to periodontal and dental implant placement surgical experiences was found. Future surveys should assess clinical procedures performed in other special-ties to gain a broader picture of the experience students are gaining in these areas.
Shedding light on the mind

Ed Boyden has pioneered three transformative technologies for studying the brain. He tells Clare Wilson how these will help us to discover what thoughts and feelings are really made of
Full-thickness Engineered Skin Tissue with 3D Biomimetic Micro-topography

Many native tissues possess three-dimensional (3D) micro-topographies that have evolved to be more biologically functional. As one of the functional features, dermal papillae, 3D undulated interfac...
Modeling bicycle volume using crowdsourced data from Strava smartphone application

Abstract Cycling as a healthier and greener travel mode has been more and more popular among citizens especially for short-distance trips. Since cycling has become an efficient way to reduce energy consumption, eliminate traffic emissions, and improve public health, it is critical to estimate bicycle volume on each roadway segment if possible, and to explore its potential impact on cycling. Therefore, this paper utilizes a prevalent crowdsourcing-based data collection method to model the bicycle volume in the City of Charlotte, North Carolina. The data are aggregated by Strava Metro from the users’ smartphone application. To process the data, essential information regarding manual count bicycle volume, crowdsourced bicycle data, road characteristics data, sociodemographic data, zoning data, temporal data, and bicycle facility data are combined using both the ArcGIS and SAS. After the data processing step, two linear regression models are developed to quantify the relationship between bicycle manual count data and Strava Metro bicycle data as well as other relevant variables. Modeling results are analyzed and bicycle volume on most of the road segments in the City of Charlotte is estimated. A map illustrating the bicycle ridership in the City of Charlotte is also created.
Abstract WP90: Voxel-Based Lesion Symptom Mapping (VLSM) of NIH Stroke Scale Subscore Deficits

Background: Studies identifying brain regions required to preserve specific neurologic functions after stroke typically analyze infarct volume or location. Lesion topography studies have found that...
Machine Learning Classification of S-Band Microwave Scattering Measurements From the Forearm as a Novel Biometric Technique

Biometrics use an individual's biological traits for personal identification. Various sensors have been used to obtain these measurements. Microwave biometric scans have recently gained traction as a non-contact technique due to their robustness to environmental lighting and unobtrusiveness. To evaluate microwave signature of human forearm as a biometric modality, an 8-antenna (Wi-Fi) data collection setup was developed and initially tested with foil-wrapped tubes of different geometric cross sections. The system was later evaluated by collecting microwave samples from human volunteers' forearms and classifying the data, from different antenna subsets, using Support Vector Machines and Naive Bayesian classifiers. Our results show that human identification via microwave signals is possible even with a subset of the above mentioned 8-antenna configuration.
Increased articular exposure of the lateral elbow joint with the anconeus approach compared to the Kocher approach: a cadaver study

The Kocher approach is the workhorse approach to the lateral elbow. However, the exposure is often limited, particularly for open reduction. The purpose of this study is to quantitatively compare the articular exposure of the anconeus and Kocher approaches to the lateral elbow. Eight surgical approaches (four Kocher and four Anconeus) were performed on four fresh cadavers. The right elbows of the first two specimens were dissected via the Kocher approach, and the left elbows via the anconeus approach. For the remaining two specimens, the laterality of the approaches was reversed. Access to key articular landmarks were assessed, including the capitellum, humeral trochlea, radial head, olecranon, coronoid process, and greater and lesser sigmoid notches of the ulna. A calibrated digital image was taken from the optimum surgeon’s viewing angle of each approach, and these images were analyzed with ImageJ software (NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA) to calculate the area of exposed articular surfaces. The average surface area exposed was 2.9 times greater with the anconeus approach compared with the standard Kocher approach (8.3 vs 3.1 cm2, p value 0.001). All key anatomic landmarks were directly visualized with the anconeus approach in each specimen. Visualization of the humeral trochlea, olecranon, coronoid process, and greater and lesser sigmoid notches of the ulna was not obtained in any of the Kocher approaches. The Anconeus approach provides superior exposure of the lateral elbow joint compared with the Kocher approach. We recommend consideration of the anconeus approach for treatment of select traumatic injuries of the lateral elbow requiring increased access to the ulnohumeral and radiocapitellar joints.
Reply to McDonald, "protections against the risk of airborne SARS-CoV-2 infection"

We thank Dr. McDonald ([1][1]) for his close reading of our paper ([2][2]) and acknowledge that he makes important arguments for exercising precautions in order to prevent built environment-mediated transmission of SARS-CoV-2. We would like to address two specific points that Dr. McDonald brings up
Characteristic-Mode-Based Design of Planar In-Band Full-Duplex Antennas

In-band full-duplex radios demand simultaneous transmit and receive (STAR) antennas with high isolation, compact and ultra-low profiles, and simple feed networks. Current state-of-the-art designs rarely meet all of these requirements at the same time. In this paper, we present a characteristic-mode-based design approach to achieve high isolation using compact fully-planar STAR antennas with a simple feed structure. The proposed method utilizes two characteristic modes of a conducting object as transmit and receive chains to achieve high isolation without a complicated self-interference cancellation circuit. The design example in this work is fully-planar, and it has a physical height of 1.6 mm. The measured -10 dB overlapped $|S_{11}| ~{\mathrm {and}}~ |S_{22}|$ fractional bandwidth of this STAR antenna is 2.5% and the measured isolation between the transmit and receive ports is greater than 30 dB over the entire frequency band of operation.
Extraction of accurate cytoskeletal actin velocity distributions from noisy measurements

Dynamic remodeling of the actin cytoskeleton allows cells to migrate, change shape, and exert mechanical forces on their surroundings. How the complex dynamical behavior of the cytoskeleton arises from the interactions of its molecular components remains incompletely understood. Tracking the movement of individual actin filaments in living cells can in principle provide a powerful means of addressing this question. However, single-molecule fluorescence imaging measurements that could provide this information are limited by low signal-to-noise ratios, with the result that the localization errors for individual fluorophore fiducials attached to filamentous (F)-actin are comparable to the distances traveled by actin filaments between measurements. In this study we tracked the movement F-actin labeled with single-molecule densities of the fluorogenic label SiR-actin in primary fibroblasts and endothelial cells. We then used a Bayesian statistical approach to estimate true, underlying actin filament velocity distributions from the tracks of individual actin-associated fluorophores along with quantified localization uncertainties. This analysis approach is broadly applicable to inferring statistical pairwise distance distributions arising from noisy point localization measurements such as occur in superresolution microscopy. We found that F-actin velocity distributions were better described by a statistical jump process, in which filaments exist in mechanical equilibria punctuated by abrupt, jump-like movements, than by models incorporating combinations of diffusive motion and drift. A model with exponentially distributed time- and length-scales for filament jumps recapitulated F-actin velocity distributions measured for the cell cortex, integrin-based adhesions, and actin stress fibers, indicating that a common physical model can potentially describe F-actin dynamics in a variety of cellular contexts.
The Meaning of Informed Consent: Genome Editing Clinical Trials for Sickle Cell Disease.

A first therapeutic target of somatic genome editing (SGE) is sickle cell disease (SCD), the most commonly inherited blood disorders, affecting more than 100,000 individuals in the United States. A...
Corporate Policies Restricting Trading By Insiders

This paper provides the first systematic examination of policies and procedures put in place by corporations to regulate trading in the stock by the firm's own insiders. Over 90 percent of our sample companies have their own policy restricting trading by insiders, and nearly 80 percent have explicit blackout periods during which the company prohibits trading by its insiders. We provide detailed information on: the form of such policies; the incidence of the various types of rules and restrictions; and the monitoring and assistance activities associated with implementation of the policy. In addition, we examine the characteristics of firms that choose to self-regulate, and find that both stock return volatility and insider trading frequency are positively-related to the use of blackout periods. Our data indicate that blackout periods successfully suppress trading by insiders (both purchases and sales) and that the blackout period is associated with a slightly narrower bid-ask spread. Consistent with this small effect on the spread, we find that the profitability of trades made during allowed trading windows is only slightly higher than profitability based on trades made in prohibited blackout periods. Finally, our findings on trading around earnings announcements suggest that experiments designed to address the issues of the effectiveness of insider trading regulations and the efficiency of capital markets are likely to be more powerful if they account for the presence and effects of corporate restrictions on trading.
Research topics on ultrasonic testing of materials and structures

The presentation will discuss some recent research topics in the area of Ultrasonic Testing of materials and structures at UC San Diego. The first topic is the passive extraction of the Green’s function of the test piece subjected to an uncontrolled excitation. This concept is being utilized to detect, at high speed, internal defects in rail tracks using the train wheels as the acoustic excitation. The second topic deals with the nonlinear wave propagation regime and its increased sensitivity to material state awareness compared to the linear regime. Nonlinear wave propagation will be presented for the case of waveguides and the case of constrained solids subjected to thermal excursions. The third topic deals with ultrasonic Synthetic Aperture Focus (SAF) imaging and proposes some techniques to improve image quality in the cases of bulk-wave testing and guided-wave testing. The fourth topic is the identification of the elastic constants of multilayered composites based on the inversion of guided wave dispersion curves and optimization algorithms.
Development of an integrated biomechanics informatics system with knowledge discovery and decision support tools for research of injury prevention and performance enhancement.

Abstract The field of biomechanics involves integrating a variety of data types such as waveform, video, discrete, and performance. These different sources of data must be efficiently and accurately associated to provide meaningful feedback to athletes, coaches, and healthcare professionals to prevent injury and improve rehabilitation/performance. There are many challenges in biomechanics research such as data storage, standardization, review, sharing, and accessibility. Data is stored in different formats, structures, and locations such as physical hard drives or Dropbox/Google Drive, leading to issues during sharing and collaboration. Data is reviewed and analyzed through different software applications that need to be downloaded and installed locally before they are available for use. An integrated biomechanics informatics system (IBIS) built based on the core principles in medical imaging informatics provides a solution to many of these challenges. The system provides a secure web-based platform that will be accessible remotely for authenticated users to upload, share, and download data. The web-based application includes built-in data viewers that are streamlined for reviewing multimedia data and decision support/knowledge discovery tools. These tools include automatic foot contact detection for pre-processing, built-in statistical analysis applications for longitudinal and cross-study analysis, and a multi-institutional collaboration module. The IBIS system creates a centralized hub to support multi-institutional collaborative biomechanics research and analysis that is remotely accessible to all users including athletes, coaches, researchers, and clinicians generating a novel streamlined research workflow, data analysis, and knowledge discovery process.
Recovery for Probabilistic Benefit

Private law is replete with instances in which parties who make costly investments that benefit others are entitled to recover from the beneficiaries, even in the absence of an explicit contract. When these investments yield only a chance for benefit, the law's treatment of the right to recovery turns out to be highly inconsistent. Many types of costly actions create uncertain (probabilistic) benefits. By the time the benefit becomes known, the law has to determine whether the recovery by the investing party should depend on the ex-post benefit as it materialized, or on the ex-ante value (the average benefit or the cost of the investment). Previous scholarship has shown that either the ex-post or the ex-ante approach, appropriately tuned, can create optimal incentives. This paper argues that, in practice, courts often fail to apply either the ex-ante or the ex-post approaches, and use instead "hybrid" approaches, which distort incentives. Under one hybrid approach, the investing party can recover either the ex-post benefit enjoyed by the beneficiary, or the cost of the investment, whichever is greater. Under a second hybrid approach, the investing party can recover either the ex post benefit or the cost of the investment, whichever is lesser. The paper shows that a variety of private law doctrines incorporate these hybrid approaches, and speculates on the reasons why they emerge. It suggests that hybrid rules can emerge inadvertently, in the interface between pure ex-post and ex-ante recovery rules, or as a result of courts' imperfect information. In addition, hybrid rules can be created deliberately, to adjust the measure of recovery. The paper argues that the magnitude of recovery adjustment embodied in these deliberate hybrid rules is rarely capable of serving its underlying goal.
How to Measure Persuasion Knowledge

This study reviews the methods and measurements employed in research using the Persuasion Knowledge Model (Friestad and Wright 1994) across leading journals in advertising and associated fields from 1994–2014. Despite the recommendation from Friestad and Wright to use multiple methods, the dominant methods are experimental and survey, with few qualitative approaches. Although no one standard measure of persuasion knowledge exists, there appear to be reliable and valid scales to measure dispositional persuasion knowledge. There are also situational measures, mostly created or modified by researchers for particular persuasion contexts. Children's persuasion knowledge is assessed through unique audience-specific methods designed for children. Overall, most scholars measure subjective persuasion knowledge with explicit (conscious) assessments to gauge short-term effects. Our systematic review provides scale items and reveals opportunities to develop reliable scales related to other aspects of persuasion knowl...
Hybrid static/dynamic activity analysis

In forward mode Automatic Differentiation, the derivative program computes a function f and its derivatives, f′. Activity analysis is important for AD. Our results show that when all variables are active, the runtime checks required for dynamic activity analysis incur a significant overhead. However, when as few as half of the input variables are inactive, dynamic activity analysis enables an average speedup of 28% on a set of benchmark problems. We investigate static activity analysis combined with dynamic activity analysis as a technique for reducing the overhead of dynamic activity analysis.
Aggregate Optimization Using a Y‐Blender

Equipment and procedures were developed to use large samples of coke (2–20 kg) to determine optimum aggregate sizing. The equipment was made from 100–200 mm diameter pipe welded into the shape of a “Y”. The apparatus can be partially filled with coke and rotated manually to produce good blending. Bulk density is calculated from the weight and volume of the coke after blending. Rather than discard an entire sample after testing, about 5% of the charge is removed and the same amount of a pure fraction (coarse, intermediate, etc.) is added. After a series of tests, resultant data are smoothed and plotted on a triangular diagram. For tests of typical cokes, a single maximum bulk density peak was found on the bulk density vs composition response surfaces. This peak was fairly flat near the top--more like a plateau than a sharp spike. Four samples of coke taken over a two-month period showed only a slight change of the maximum density composition with time.
Assessment of Treatment Integrity in School Consultation and Prereferral Intervention

The consultation and prereferral intervention literature has ignored a fundamental aspect of behavior change: treatment integrity. Integrity of treatment refers to the degree to which a treatment i...
Accounting Estimates: Pervasive, Yet of Questionable Usefulness

Estimates and projections are embedded in most financial statement items. These estimates potentially improve the relevance of financial information by providing managers the means to convey to investors forward-looking, inside information (e.g., on future collections from customers via the bad debt provision, or on expected assets' cash flows reflected in impairment charges). On the other hand, the quality of financial information is compromised by: (i) the increasing difficulty of making reliable forecasts in a fast-changing, often turbulent economy, and (ii) the frequent managerial misuse of estimates to manipulate financial data. Given the prevalence of estimates in accounting data, whether these opposing forces result in an improvement in the quality of financial information or not is arguably the most fundamental issue in accounting.We examine in this study the contribution of accounting estimates embedded in accruals to the quality of financial information by focusing on the major use of this information by investors - the prediction of enterprise cash flows and earnings. Our extensive tests, reflecting both the statistical and economic significance of estimates, indicate that, by and large, accounting accruals and the estimates they embed do not improve the quality of financial information in terms of enhancing the prediction of enterprise performance. Accruals do not improve the prediction of cash flows, beyond that achieved by current cash flows, and improve only marginally the prediction of earnings. This latter improvement, however, appears to be economically insignificant. Thus, the objective difficulties of generating reliable estimates and projections in a volatile economy, and their frequent misuse by managers appear to offset the positive role of estimates in conveying forward looking information to investors.
In‐office drainage of sinus Mucoceles: An alternative to operating‐room drainage

Objectives/Hypothesis Endoscopic drainage has become the standard of care for the treatment of mucoceles. In many patients this can be performed in the office. This study reviews our experience with in-office endoscopic mucocele drainage. Study Design Retrospective chart review. Methods A retrospective review of one surgeon's experience with in-office endoscopic drainage of sinus mucoceles between 2006 and 2014 was performed. Charts were reviewed for patient demographics, previous surgery, mucocele location, bone erosion, and outcomes. Results Thirty-two patients underwent 36 in-office drainage procedures. All procedures were performed under topical/local anesthesia. The mean age was 55 years (range, 17–92 years). The mean follow-up time was 444 days. Fifty-five percent had previous sinus surgery. The primary sinus involved was the frontal (12), anterior (11), posterior ethmoid (six), maxillary (four), and sphenoid (two). Bone erosion was noted to be present on computed tomography in 18 mucoceles (51%) (16 orbital, seven skull-base). All mucoceles were successfully accessed in the office with the exception of one, which was aborted due to neo-osteogenesis. Five patients (14% of mucoceles) required additional surgery, two for mucocele recurrence and three for septated mucoceles not completely drained in the office. No treatment complications occurred. All but one patient preferred in-office to operating-room drainage. Conclusions In-office drainage of sinus mucoceles is well tolerated by patients, with high success and low complication rates, even in large mucoceles with bone erosion. The presence of septations and neo-osteogenesis reduce the likelihood of complete drainage and are relative contraindications. Orbital and skull base erosion are not contraindications. Level of Evidence 4. Laryngoscope, 125:1043–1047, 2015
Impact of pathlength difference on phase diversity ASK homodyne receivers using a 90 hybrid

Phase diversity homodyne receivers are analyzed when there is a difference in pathlengths between the two quadrature components. Bit error rate (BER) floors due to laser phase noise are calculated. The result shows more sensitivity than one would estimate from heuristic calculations.
The type, amount, location, and energy transfer properties of the carotenoid in reaction centers from Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides.

Abstract Analysis of photosynthetic reaction centers from Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides strains 2.4.1 and Ga shows that each contains approx. 1 mol of a specific carotenoid per mol of reaction center. In strain 2.4.1. the carotenoid is spheroidene (1-methoxy-3,4-didehydro-1,2,7′,8′-tetrahydro-ψ,ψ-carotene); in strain Ga, it is chloroxanthin (1-hydroxy-1,2,7′,8′-tetrahydro-ψ,ψ-carotene). The carotenoid is bound to the same pair of proteins as are the bacteriochlorophylls and bacteriopheophytins of the reaction center. This binding induces strong circular dichroism in the absorption bands of the carotenoid. The carotenoid is close enough to the other pigments of the reaction center so that light energy transfers efficiently from the carotenoid to the bacteriochlorophyll, sensitizing bacteriochlorophyll fluorescence. The fluorescence polarization spectrum of the reaction centers shows that the transition vectors for the visible absorption bands of the carotenoid lie approximately parallel to the 600 nm ( Q x ) transition of the bacteriochlorophyll complex.
The derivation and validation of a new model for the interception of rainfall by forests

Abstract A dynamic model and an analytical model derived therefrom for predicting the gross interception of forest canopies are described. The dynamic model is validated using a running balance in time between rainfall, throughfall, evaporation and changes in the canopy storage. The canopy storage is increased by rainfall interception and depleted by evaporation and drainage. The evaporation rate varies with the amount of water in the canopy and is estimated by numerical methods because sufficient meteorological data are unavailable. Drainage rate expressions, similar to Rutter's exponential relationship between drip rate and water storage, are shown to be inadequate during the period of rainfall. A new drip expression which explicitly includes the rain rate, in addition to the stored water, is proposed and tested. This new expression fits the observed drip rate better and gives significantly better model prediction with fewer empirical parameters than the exponential form of drip rate. However, because one of the drip parameters in the dynamic model varied from one storm to the next and is a complicted function of rainfall characteristics, the dynamic model was simplified to an analytical model for predicting the gross interception loss. This analytical expression is easier to use because it is not sensitive to the exact value of the drip parameters; it predicted the total observed gross interception loss for the 20 storms tested to within 4%. It is suggested that the new drip expression used in the dynamic model describes better the dislodgement of previously intercepted rain droplets by falling rain droplets. Finally, a new model for estimating evaporation rates from forest canopies is proposed and discussed.
Expression of the trk gene family of neurotrophin receptors in prevertebral sympathetic ganglia

Abstract When the phenotype of neurons in pre- and paravertebral sympathetic ganglia are compared, there are marked differences in NGF dependence, neuropeptide content, connectivity and electrophysiological properties. The trophic interactions that induce these differences are currently poorly understood. One explanation is that prevertebral neurons receive a second neurotrophic signal, other than NGF, from their target of innervation. If this is the case, neurons in the prevertebral ganglia should express another neurotrophin receptor, in addition to the NGF receptor ( trk A). To test this prediction, the level of expression of three neurotrophin receptors, trk A, trk B and trk C, were examined in one paravertebral sympathetic ganglia, the SCG, and two prevertebral ganglia, the celiac and superior mesenteric ganglia. It was found that mRNA encoding the full-length form of the trkB receptor was barely expressed in the SCG. Significantly higher levels of full-length trk B mRNA expression were found in the prevertebral ganglia. Ligands of the trkB receptor may, therefore, contribute to the differentiation and/or survival of some prevertebral sympathetic neurons.
Black Elk's Religion: The Sun Dance and Lakota Catholicism

Black Elk was one of the greatest religious thinkers produced by native North America, and the Sun Dance the central religious ritual of his Lakota tradition. Beginning with a review of the recent critical work on Black Elk by Paul B. Steinmetz, Julian Rice and Michael K. Steltenkamp, Holler reconstructs the history and development of the Lakota Sun Dance, essential background for understanding Black Elk's thought. His analysis is a comprehsnive study of the dance, which was banned by the government in 1883. Holler shows how Black Elk adapted the dance to the conditions and circumstances of reservation life, reinterpreting it in terms commensurate with Christianity. His firsthand account of the dance associated with Frank Fools Crow at Three Mile Camp near Kyle, South Dakota, shows how the contemporary Sun Dance reflects Black Elk's vision. Holler's book offers a philosophical engagement with native North American religion, carried out in close dialogue with anthropology. Readers who were captivated by John G. Neihardt's gripping portrait of Black Elk in "Black Elk Speaks" may be surprised to learn that he was a vital and creative leader until his death in 1950, not the broken, despairing old man made famous by Neihardt. Holler establishes that Black Elk was both a sincere traditionalist and a sincere Christian, seeing the two religious traditions as expressions of the sacred. Students of religion should be stimulated by Holler's interpretation of Black Elk as a creative thinker, rather than a passive informant on his people's past. Those interested in Native Americans, especially the Lakota, should appreciate his authoritative reconstruction of the Sun Dance, which proposes new understandings of this central Lakota religious ritual. The book also includes a glossary of terms.
MICROBIAL ACETOGENESIS AS A SOURCE OF ORGANIC ACIDS IN ANCIENT ATLANTIC COASTAL PLAIN SEDIMENTS

Field and laboratory evidence shows that deeply buried (90–888 m) fine-grained sediments of the Atlantic Coastal Plain contain viable acetogenic microorganisms, and that these microorganisms actively produce organic acids. Concentrations of formate, acetate, and propionate in pore waters extracted from fine-grained sediments ranged from 50 μ M to 5 m M and were much higher than in adjacent pore waters associated with sandy sediments ( M ). Laboratory studies showed that asceptically cored fine-grained sediments incubated under a H 2 atmosphere produced formate and acetate, and that H 14 CO 3 − was converted to 14 C-acetate and 14 C-formate over time. An enrichment culture of these acetogenic microorganisms was recovered from one long-term incubation that showed the presence of several morphologically distinct gram-positive, rod-shaped bacteria. These microorganisms were capable of growth under autotrophic (H 2 + CO 2 ), heterotrophic (syringate), and mixotrophic (H 2 + CO 2 + syringate) conditions. These results suggest that microbial acetogenesis, rather than abiotic processes, is the most important organic acid-producing mechanism during low-temperature (∼ 30 °C) diagenesis of Atlantic Coastal Plain sediments.
Implicit Sampling, with Application to Data Assimilation

There are many computational tasks in which it is necessary to sample a given probability density function (or pdf for short), i.e., to use a computer to construct a sequence of independent random vectors x i (i=1,2,…), whose histogram converges to the given pdf. This can be difficult because the sample space can be huge, and more importantly, because the portion of the space where the density is significant, can be very small, so that one may miss it by an ill-designed sampling scheme. Indeed, Markov-chain Monte Carlo, the most widely used sampling scheme, can be thought of as a search algorithm, where one starts at an arbitrary point and one advances step-by-step towards the high probability region of the space. This can be expensive, in particular because one is typically interested in independent samples, while the chain has a memory. The authors present an alternative, in which samples are found by solving an algebraic equation with a random right-hand side rather than by following a chain; each sample is independent of the previous samples. The construction is explained in the context of numerical integration, and it is then applied to data assimilation.
The inhibitory effect of extracts of cigarette tar on electron transport of mitochondria and submitochondrial particles

Acetonitrile extracts of cigarette tar inhibit state 3 and state 4 respiration of intact mitochondria. Exposure of respiring submitochondrial particles to acetonitrile extracts of cigarette tar results in a dose-dependent inhibition of oxygen consumption and reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) oxidation. This inhibition was not due to a solvent effect since acetonitrile alone did not alter oxygen consumption or NADH oxidation. Intact mitochondria are less sensitive to extracts of tar than submitochondrial particles. The NADH-ubiquinone (Q) reductase complex is more sensitive to inhibition by tar extract than the succinate-Q reductase and cytochrome complexes. Nicotine or catechol did not inhibit respiration of intact mitochondria. Treatment of submitochondrial particles with cigarette tar results in the formation of hydroxyl radicals, detected by electron spin resonance (ESR) spin trapping. The ESR signal attributable to the hydroxyl radical spin adduct requires the presence of NADH and is completely abolished by catalase and to a lesser extent superoxide dismutase (SOD). Catalase and SOD did not protect the mitochondrial respiratory chain from inhibition by tar extract, indicating that the radicals detected by ESR spin trapping are not responsible for the inhibition of the electron transport. We propose that tar causes at least two effects: (1) Tar components interact with the electron transport chain and inhibit electron flow, and (2) tar components interact with the electron transport chain, ultimately to form hydroxyl radicals.
Maximum likelihood fitting of FROC curves under an initial-detection-and-candidate-analysis model

We have developed a model for FROC curve fitting that relates the observer’s FROC performance not to the ROC performance that would be obtained if the observer’s responses were scored on a per image basis, but rather to a hypothesized ROC performance that the observer would obtain in the task of classifying a set of “candidate detections” as positive or negative. We adopt the assumptions of the Bunch FROC model, namely that the observer’s detections are all mutually independent, as well as assumptions qualitatively similar to, but different in nature from, those made by Chakraborty in his AFROC scoring methodology. Under the assumptions of our model, we show that the observer’s FROC performance is a linearly scaled version of the candidate analysis ROC curve, where the scaling factors are just given by the FROC operating point coordinates for detecting initial candidates. Further, we show that the likelihood function of the model parameters given observational data takes on a simple form, and we develop a maximum likelihood method for fitting a FROC curve to this data. FROC and AFROC curves are produced for computer vision observer datasets and compared with the results of the AFROC scoring method. Although developed primarily with computer vision schemes in mind, we hope that the methodology presented here will prove worthy of further study in other applications as well.
Migration and the Social History of Modern Europe

The role that migration has played in the social history of modern Europe is reviewed. The authors challenge the concept that migration was linked primarily with urbanization and modernization and suggest that migration played an important role in pre-modern societies as well. The need for an interdisciplinary approach to the study of historical migration patterns is stressed. (ANNOTATION)
Abstracting biology for engineering design

The natural world provides numerous cases for analogy and inspiration in engineering design. Biological organisms, phenomena and strategies provide insight into sustainable and adaptable design and offer engineers billions of years of valuable experience, which can be used to inspire engineering innovation. This research presents an approach that may be used for repeatable functional model generation of biological organisms at multiple levels of abstraction, and discusses how biological functional models afford designers a systematic approach to biology-inspired design. The functional model representation translates the biological information into an engineering context enabling engineering designers with varying biological knowledge, but a common understanding of engineering design methods, to utilise biology for design inspiration. Thus, the biological information is accessible to designers. An example of lichen is provided to illustrate the multiple levels of abstraction of biological functional models.
Student perspectives on clinical and counseling psychology practica

Clinical practica are essential to the training and socialization of future clinical and counseling psychologists. When training expectations are not met, however, students may not be candid about these gaps, instead opting to grin and bear it. A sample of 321 doctoral psychology students responded to a survey that qualitatively and quantitatively assessed their expectations and actual training experiences at practicum. Results indicated that although many students received what they expected, a large minority did not. in areas ranging from work responsibilities to primary supervision. Implications for students, practicum, graduate programs, and the profession are discussed.
Women in Medicine: Achieving tenure at home and work—Prioritization is a personal decision

At every stage of the growth of a physician, one could argue that learning medicine is separate and distinct from developing a career. While the former can be viewed as the tools, the latter is the vehicle for the application of those tools. And the skills needed to successfully maneuver that vehicle may require a different learning process for women.
Short communication: Genetic trends of milk yield under heat stress for US Holsteins

Abstract Data included 90,242,799 test-day milk records from 5,402,484 Holstein cows in the first 3 parities and 9,326,754 animals in the pedigree. Additionally, daily temperature-humidity indexes from 202 weather stations were available. Analyses were done by a random regression model in which each parity was treated as a separate trait and that accounted for heat stress. The fixed effects included herd test-day, age at calving, milking frequency, and days in milk classes. Random effects included additive genetic, permanent environment, and herd-year effects, all fit as random regressions. Five covariates in the random regressions included linear splines with 4 knots at 5, 50, 200, and 305 DIM and a function of a temperature-humidity index (THI). Mixed model equations were solved by using an iteration on data approach with a preconditioned conjugate gradient algorithm. Genetic trends for daily milk yield in absence of heat stress (intercept) were 0.140 kg/yr, 0.172 kg/yr, and 0.168 kg/yr for the first, second, and third parity, respectively. Genetic trends for decline of milk yield at temperature of 5°C THI over the threshold of sensitivity to heat stress were −0.002 kg/yr, −0.035 kg/yr, and −0.038 kg/yr, for first, second, and third parity, respectively. Genetic profiles were created by contrasting the 100 most and 100 least heat-tolerant bulls for the official proofs. The most heat-tolerant bulls transmitted lower production and dairy form but higher fertility, productive life, and type, especially udder and locomotion traits. In later parities, the type advantages were smaller. Test-day records capture only a fraction of information due to heat stress, and the real trends for heat stress may be stronger. Studies on heat stress for production should include records on later parities.
Integrating statewide planning and programming: A principle-based approach

Initiatives that were begun at the Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) during the early to mid-1990s—decentralization of decision making, completion of a statewide transportation policy plan, and integration of performance measures into operations—have created conditions that make performance-based planning possible. Mn/DOT has adopted the philosophy of performance-based planning as the method to integrate planning and programming. Mn/DOT's planning and programming process will be used to develop District Long-Range Plans and to produce the next update of the Statewide Transportation Plan. Performance measures and performance targets, which were developed for the outcomes of safety, quality of ride, condition of infrastructure, and basic levels of service, will be used to develop the district plans. Economic efficiency will be evaluated through the use of benefit-cost analysis for expansion projects. Values of Minnesota's citizens will be considered through customer input. Two futures will be ...
Two-surface simplification algorithms for polygonal terrain with integrated road features

Terrain database generation is one of the most expensive tasks in the development of human-in-the-loop visual simulations. There are many factors associated with the efficiency of generating the terrain database. Automating the process of extracting from remote sensing imagery the required database primitives, and constructing detailed 3D feature models offers many challenging problems. Another problem is to simplify the terrain model by using fewer polygons without significant loss in the visual characteristics of the rendered imagery, thereby reducing the complexity of the terrain database and improving real- time rendering performance. In this paper we present two surface simplification algorithms designed for the purpose of constructing a terrain database that is optimized for driving simulation; one using a bottom-up, polygonal refinement approach, the other using a top-down, polygonal removal approach. These two algorithms are applied to terrain surfaces that include integrated, `stitched-in' road features, and are used to generate terrain surfaces of various levels of detail. We provide a discussion on the design of these two algorithms, some experimental results of applying the algorithms to real terrain surfaces, as well as the comparison of the two approaches on the factors of height error and the distance from the road.© (2000) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Evidence for the mechanisms of formation of radiolysis products using a deutero labeled triglyceride

Several previous studies of the radiolysis of fats and related compounds such as pure triglycerides, fatty acid methyl esters, and free fatty acids, have led to the hypothesis that radiolytic products result from selective cleavages at specific locations. This hypothesis is confirmed by the results of mass spectrometric analysis of the compounds formed upon gamma irradiation of tributyrin labeled with deuterium in the glycerol moiety. Compounds derived from alkyl, acyl, and acyloxy cleavages are characterized by the absence of deuterium whereas those involving the glyceryl moiety are found to carry the deuterium labels.
A Personal history of the early development of the flowing afterglow technique for ion-molecule reaction studies.

A personal perspective of the historical development of the flowing afterglow (FA) technique for measuring thermal energy ion-molecule reaction rate constants is presented. The technique was developed in the period starting in late 1962 in what was then the National Bureau of Standards in Boulder, Colorado. The motivation was primarily to obtain a quantitative understanding of the ion chemistry of the terrestrial ionosphere, a program that was substantially achieved. The thermal energy measurements were extended in temperature from 300 K to a range of 80 K-900 K and subsequently to a center-of-mass kinetic energy range up to ∼ 2 eV with the introduction of a drift tube into the FA.The chemical versatility, in regard to both the ion and the neutral reactants measured, remains unequaled and FA systems are currently in widespread use around the world for a variety of chemical research programs.
Covalently bound hole-injecting nanostructures. Systematics of molecular architecture, thickness, saturation, and electron-blocking characteristics on organic light-emitting diode luminance, turn-on voltage, and quantum efficiency.

Hole transporting materials are widely used in multilayer organic and polymer light-emitting diodes (OLEDs, PLEDs, respectively) and are indispensable if device electroluminescent response and durability are to be truly optimized. This contribution analyzes the relative effects of tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) anode-hole transporting layer (HTL) contact versus the intrinsic HTL materials properties on OLED performance. Two siloxane-based HTL materials, N,N‘-bis(p-trichlorosilylpropyl)-naphthalen-1-yl)-N,N‘-diphenyl-biphenyl-4,4‘-diamine (NPB-Si2) and 4,4‘-bis[(p-trichlorosilylpropylphenyl)phenylamino]biphenyl (TPD-Si2), are designed and synthesized. They have the same hole transporting triarylamine cores as conventional HTL materials such as 1,4-bis(1-naphthylphenylamino)biphenyl (NPB) and N,N-diphenyl-N,N-bis(3-methylphenyl)-1,1-biphenyl)-4,4-diamine (TPD), respectively. However, they covalently bind to the ITO anode, forming anode-HTL contacts that are intrinsically different from those of the anode to T...
Structure elucidation of a novel analogue of sildenafil detected as an adulterant in an herbal dietary supplement

A new analogue of sildenafil was detected in an herbal dietary supplement, which was sold over the internet and promoted as a product for the enhancement of sexual performance. The structure of the compound was established using LC-MS, UV spectroscopy, MS-MS, and NMR. In addition, the compound was cleaved at its sulfonamide S-N bond yielding a sulfonic acid and an amine, which were independently characterized using LC-MS, GC-MS, and derivatization. The compound, named methisosildenafil, is a novel synthetic analogue of sildenafil in which the N-methylpiperazine moiety has been replaced with 2,6-dimethylpiperazine.