cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Computing relief structure from motion with a distributed velocity and disparity representation

Recent psychophysical experiments suggest that humans can recover only relief structure from motion (SFM); i.e., an object's 3D shape can only be determined up to a stretching transformation along the line of sight. Here we propose a physiologically plausible model for the computation of relief SFM, which is also applicable to the related problem of motion parallax. We assume that the perception of depth from motion is related to the firing of a subset of MT neurons tuned to both velocity and disparity. The model MT neurons are connected to each other laterally to form modulatory interactions. The overall connectivity is such that when a zero-disparity velocity pattern is fed into the system, the most responsive neurons are not those tuned to zero disparity, but instead are those having preferred disparities consistent with the relief structure of the velocity pattern. The model computes the correct relief structure under a wide range of parameters and can also reproduce the SFM illusions involving coaxial cylinders. It is consistent with the psychophysical observation that subjects with stereo impairment are also deficient in perceiving motion parallax, and with the physiological data that the responses of direction- and disparity-tuned MT cells covary with the perceived surface order of bistable SFM stimuli.
Distribution-free tests for main effects and interactions in multivariate repeated measures designs

Nonparametric distribution-free tests for interactions and main effects are described for certain factorial repeated measures designs. These tests are created by applying nonparametric multivariate one-sample tests to contrasts in the repeated measures. The performance of the testsare compared to ANOVA and to Hotelling's T2 computed on the contrasts.
Novice software developers, all over again

Transitions from novice to expert often cause stress and anxiety and require specialized instruction and support to enact efficiently. While many studies have looked at novice computer science students, very little research has been conducted on professional novices. We conducted a two-month in-situ qualitative case study of new software developers in their first six months working at Microsoft. We shadowed them in all aspects of their jobs: coding, debugging, designing, and engaging with their team, and analyzed the types of tasks in which they engage. We can explain many of the behaviors revealed by our analyses if viewed through the lens of newcomer socialization from the field of organizational man-agement. This new perspective also enables us to better understand how current computer science pedagogy prepares students for jobs in the software industry. We consider the implications of this data and analysis for developing new processes for learning in both university and industrial settings to help accelerate the transition from novice to expert software developer.
Precision extruding deposition of composite polycaprolactone/hydroxyapatite scaffolds for bone tissue engineering

Precision extruding deposition (PED) process was used to directly fabricate Polycaprolactone (PCL)/hydroxyapatite (HA) composite tissue scaffolds. HA powder was melt blended with PCL, a biodegradable polymer. Scaffolds with a controlled pore size of 400 /spl mu/m and a 64% porosity were fabricated. The scaffold morphology and the mechanical properties were evaluated using SEM and mechanical testing. Preliminary biological study was conducted to investigate the cellular responses of the composite scaffolds. Results and characterizations demonstrate the viability of the PED process as well as the good mechanical property, structural integrity, controlled pore size, pore interconnectivity, and the biological compatibility of the fabricated PCL/HA scaffolds.
Household savings in transition economies

During the transition from central planning to market economies now under way in Eastern Europe, output levels first collapsed by 40 to 50 percent in most countries, then staged a modest recovery in the last two years. Longer-term revival of growth requires a resumption of investment and thus, realistically, of domestic savings. To explore the determinants of household savings rates in transition economies, the authors studies matching household surveys for three Central European economies: Bulgaria, Hungary, and Poland. They find that savings rates strongly increase with relative income, suggesting that increasing income inequality may play a role in determining savings rates. Savings rates are significantly higher for households that do not own their homes or that own few of the standard consumer durables-possibly because, with no retail credit or mortgage markets, households must save to purchase houses and durables. The influence of demographic factors broadly matches earlier findings for developing countries. Perhaps surprisingly, variables associated with the household's position in the transition process-including either sector of employment (public or private) or form of employment-do not play a significant role in determining savings rates.
Pathogenesis of Age-Related Bone Loss in Humans

Background. Although data from rodent systems are extremely useful in providing insights into possible mechanisms of age-related bone loss, concepts evolving from animal models need to ultimately be tested in humans. Methods. This review provides an update on mechanisms of age-related bone loss in humans based on the author’s knowledge of the field and focused literature reviews. Results. Novel imaging, experimental models, biomarkers, and analytic techniques applied directly to human studies are providing new insights into the patterns of bone mass acquisition and loss as well as the role of sex steroids, in particular estrogen, on bone metabolism and bone loss with aging in women and men. These studies have identified the onset of trabecular bone loss at multiple sites that begins in young adulthood and remains unexplained, at least based on current paradigms of the mechanisms of bone loss. In addition, estrogen appears to be a major regulator of bone metabolism not only in women but also in men. Studies assessing mechanisms of estrogen action on bone in humans have identified effects of estrogen on RANKL expression by several different cell types in the bone microenvironment, a role for TNF-α and IL-1β in mediating effects of estrogen deficiency on bone, and possible regulation of the Wnt inhibitor, sclerostin, by estrogen. Conclusions. There have been considerable advances in our understanding of age-related bone loss in humans. However, there are also significant gaps in knowledge, particularly in defining cell autonomous changes in bone in human studies to test or validate concepts emerging from studies in rodents. Decision Editor: Luigi Ferrucci, MD, PhD
State-Based Modeling to Support the Evolution and Maintenance of Safety-Critical Software Product Lines

Changes to safety-critical product lines can jeopardize the safety properties that they must ensure. Thus, evolving software product lines must consider the impact that changes to requirements may have on the existing systems and their safety. The contribution of this work is a systematic, tool-supported technique to support safe evolution of product-line requirements using a model-based approach. We show how the potential feature interactions that need to be modeled are scoped and identified with the aid of product-line software fault tree analysis. Further, we show how reuse of the state-based models is effectively exploited in the evolution phase of product-line engineering. To illustrate this approach, we apply our technique to the evolution of a safety-critical cardiac pacemaker product line
Ubiquitin, Proteasome, and Restenosis A Brave New World for Cardiovascular Research

In the present issue of Circulation , Meiners and his colleagues1 show that local application of a proteasome inhibitor resulted in significant inhibition of intimal hyperplasia in a balloon injury model in rat carotid artery. This report is of interest because it identifies a novel target for the treatment of restenosis and introduces a rapidly developing field in basic science to cardiovascular researchers. Proteasomes are large intracellular protein complexes that specialize in degrading cellular proteins that are either unneeded or damaged.2–5⇓⇓⇓ Inhibiting the activity of proteasome not only stops the ability of the cell to get rid of unwanted proteins, but also blocks most cellular processes critical for a cell’s survival. Inhibitors of proteasome activity have been used widely in basic research and more recently in anticancer clinical trials. It is not surprising that proteasome inhibitors can inhibit intimal hyperplasia because they generally have antiproliferative, antiinflammatory, and proapoptotic properties. In order to understand the inner workings of proteasome, one must become acquainted with a small protein called ubiquitin that serves as a molecular tag directing unneeded or damaged proteins to the proteasome for degradation. See p 483 Ubiquitin, a 76 amino acid protein, is highly conserved in evolution with only a 3 amino acid difference between yeast and human homologues. Most of the known function of ubiquitin resides in its ability to covalently attach to other proteins through the formation of an isopeptide bond attaching the C-terminal Glycine residue of ubiquitin to a Lysine residue of the target protein.2,4,5⇓⇓ A second ubiquitin then attaches to the first ubiquitin to build up a polyubiquitin chain, which is required for the tagged protein to be recognized by the proteasome. The process of attaching ubiquitin molecules to other proteins is termed ubiquitination; it occurs through …
On “Reflexivity” in Qualitative Research: Two Readings, and a Third

Reflexivity has become a signal topic in contemporary discussions of qualitative research, especially in educational studies. It shows two general inflections in the literature. Positional reflexiv...
Communication: Automatic code generation enables nuclear gradient computations for fully internally contracted multireference theory

Analytical nuclear gradients for fully internally contracted complete active space second-order perturbation theory (CASPT2) are reported. This implementation has been realized by an automated code generator that can handle spin-free formulas for the CASPT2 energy and its derivatives with respect to variations of molecular orbitals and reference coefficients. The underlying complete active space self-consistent field and the so-called Z-vector equations are solved using density fitting. The implementation has been applied to the vertical and adiabatic ionization potentials of the porphin molecule to illustrate its capability.
Access to Care and Use of Health Services by Low-Income Women

Data from the 1997 National Survey of America's Families (NSAF) are used to analyze access to care and use of health care services for low-income women. Three groups of women are examined: those with Medicaid coverage, those with private coverage, and those with no insurance. Findings show that uninsured women faced larger access barriers and utilized fewer services, particularly preventive care services, than women with either public or private coverage. Access and use did not differ greatly between Medicaid and privately covered women. The results suggest that expansions in coverage, either through Medicaid or through private options, could improve access to care for uninsured women.
Central Pacific El Niño and decadal climate change in the North Pacific Ocean

Decadal fluctuations of the ocean and atmosphere over the North Pacific Ocean significantly affect the weather and climate of North America and Eurasia. They also cause transitions between different states of marine ecosystems across the Pacific Ocean 1‐3 . An important fraction of North Pacific low-frequency variability is linked to the North Pacific Gyre Oscillation 4 , a climate pattern associated with decadal fluctuations of the ocean circulation. Decadal variations in the North Pacific Gyre Oscillation are characterized by a pattern of sea surface temperature anomalies that resemble the central Pacific El Nino, a dominant mode of interannual variability with far-reaching effects on global climate patterns 5‐7 . Here we use an ensemble of simulations with a coupled ocean‐ atmosphere model to show that the sea surface temperature anomalies associated with central Pacific El Nino force changes in the extra-tropical atmospheric circulation. These changes in turn drive the decadal fluctuations of the North Pacific Gyre Oscillation. Given that central Pacific El Nino events could become more frequent with increasing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere 8 , we infer that the North Pacific
Medial and Lateral Hamstring Muscle Activity Differs for ACL Graft Types

Objectives: The hamstrings are anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) agonists, with the semitendinosus and gracilis (ST/G) assisting the ACL by limiting excessive external rotation. Use of ST/G autografts is common in ACL reconstruction (ACLR). Regrowth of these tendons over the 1st post-operative year has also been reported. Little is known, however, regarding hamstring muscle activity over this period. The purpose of this study was to examine medial (MH) and lateral hamstring (LH) muscle activity during gait in athletes with different graft types one year after ACLR.
The Molecular Basis of Ionic Selectivity in Macroscopic Systems

The purpose of this paper is to review the fundamental principles underlying ionic selectivity in “macroscopic” systems such as ion exchangers and ion exchange membranes, whose counterion concentrations are constrained by electroneutrality. I will bring up to date an earlier theory of equilibrium selectivity (1,2) so as to include the considerable progress that has occurred since 1961, particularly for species other than the Group Ia cations. However, I will not deal in detail with kinetic aspects of selectivity since these are more appropriately covered elsewhere in the context of biological membranes (3) which, because of their extreme thinness, can deviate from electroneutrality locally. Indeed, much of the progress in selectivity has occurred in the field of “microscopic” (e.g., biological) membranes, whose thickness (<100 Angstroms) is small relative to the Debye length so that the usual electroneutrality constraint does not apply locally. This has the consequence that, whereas the sites of macroscopic systems are always effectively “saturated” (i.e., completely occupied), those in biological membranes are often empty, so that they are not necessarily constrained to strict ion exchange behavior and are said to obey “independence” (3).
An inherently iterative computation of Ackermann's functions (Note)

Abstract The Ackermann function is defined recursively by A(0,n)=n + 1; A(i,0) = A(i - 1, 1) for i>0; and A(i,n)=A(in −1, A(i-1))for i,n > 0. An iterative algorithm for computing A(i,n) is presented. It has O(i) space complexity and O(iA(i,n)) time complexity, both of which are much smaller than the corresponding quantities for an algorithm based directly on the recursive definition.
An Integrative Analysis of Innovation Survey Characteristics

This paper analyzes the most common innovation scales used in the popular business media and applies an integrative analysis framework to identify individual characteristics of the surveys, and discover any overriding themes.┬a Finally, areas for further study are proposed.
Effects of Thyroid, Dinitroörthocresol on Urine Output of Thyroidectomized Dogs with Moderate Diabetes Insipidus

SummaryThe diuretic action of thyroid synergistic with anterior lobe is probably not due to its effect in elevating metabolic rate, as is indicated by the finding that a dosage of DNC producing a similar elevation of BMR has no diuretic effect.
Preparing for War in the Desert Southwest; From the California—Arizona Maneuver Area to the Yuma Test Branch (and Beyond)

The history of the US Army Yuma Proving Ground (YPG) as the location for the scientific investigation of the natural environmental effects of desert climactic conditions on men and material of the United States Armed Forces, begins with the national response to our entry into World War II. As the Nation awoke to the terrible news of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, we also awoke to the fact that as a Nation we were totally unprepared for war. The Desert southwest of North America was seen as an ideal location to take care of many of these issues of military preparedness that now faced the Nation. General Patton’s Desert Training Center (DTC) was established to quickly get our forces ready for War in North Africa. The DTC would evolve to become so much more. War-time requirements undertaken in the Desert Southwest came with an extreme sense of urgency. In an effort to compress development time for the new and improved materials of war, Research, Development, Test & Evaluation (R, D,T&E) was conducted in the natural environment in order to more quickly derive results. The U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps, along with the Ordnance Corps would see the harsh environment and topography of Camp Seeley CA as offering ideal environmental conditions in which to test Army vehicles and their sub-systems. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would establish the Yuma Test Branch at the Imperial Dam, the ideal location to test tactical bridging equipment. In many cases, the Yuma Proving Ground occupies the same geography as these precursor facilities. In other cases it is the mission and heritage of those war-time entities that have continued to evolve at the Proving Ground. This paper covers this initial historic period, a period that covers from 1942 until 1950.
The biology of cancer metastasis

The formation of a metastasis entails a complex sequence of events with the end result dependent on the interaction of malignant cells with host factors. Intrinsic properties of the metastatic tumor cells, including production of proteolytic enzymes, cell surface properties, adhesiveness, and the ability to grow in a distant organ environment, act in concert to influence the tumor cells' interactions with host cells in forming metastases. Life-threatening metastases are formed only by those tumor cells that have survived all steps in a process that has been shown in many experimental studies to be a highly selective event. The results of studies on the distribution of radiolabelled mouse melanoma cells injected into syngeneic mice support the concept that the fate of tumor cells released into the bloodstream is determined by sequential and selective events, and introduces a third regulatory factor. Cells endowed with metastatic properties, isolated by cloning a heterogeneous tumor or selected from a metastasis, have a higher probability of forming metastases than cells not so endowed, yet this probability is not 100%. Metastasis should thus be considered as a selective, sequential and stochastic process. Interruption of the process at any stage will prevent the formation of metastatic disease. Hence, a better understanding of the metastatic process will provide the basis for rational approaches for the prevention or destruction of this most fatal aspect of cancer.
HIV update: emerging clinical evidence and a review of recommendations for the use of highly active antiretroviral therapy

PURPOSE: This supplement will focus on recent trial data concerning the efficacy of certain nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI)-based highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) regimens, the most recent guidelines from the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) for the timing of antiretroviral (ARV) therapy initiation, and recommended ARV drug classes for managing treatment-naive patients with HIV. SUMMARY: When choosing an initial regimen for the treatment of HIV, it is important to carefully consider therapeutic goals. These goals include choosing HAART that is likely to maximally suppress viral replication, maintain or restore immunologic function, improve quality of life, and reduce HIV-related morbidity and mortality. The evidence-based DHHS guidelines recommend HAART regimens that are non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI)- or protease inhibitor (PI)-based. DHHS, however, does not recommend the use of triple-NRTI therapy for the initial treatment of HIV unless a preferred or alternative NNRTI- or PI-based regimen cannot be used. This recommendation concerning triple-NRTI therapy is supported by results from recent trials that demonstrated inferior outcomes with triple-NRTI-containing regimens compared with NNRTI- or PI-based HAART regimens. The timing for initiation of ARV therapy continues to change over time as the DHHS guidelines have evolved. Although the benefits of initiating ARV when CD4 cell count is 200 cells/mm3 has its own benefits and drawbacks. CONCLUSION: To successfully manage people with HIV, it is crucial to find a balance between ARV potency, tolerability, safety, and convenience while providing durable viral suppression.
Time-dependent thermodynamics applied to flow of suspensions and polymer melts

Rheological behavior has been treated in terms of the energy flow by coupling it with deformation and flow of material. The method follows time-dependent thermodynamics, which is different from Pri...
Beta-adrenergic stimulation contributes to incretin effect in conscious dogs.

Oral glucose administration increases insulin secretion to a greater extent than peripheral glucose infusion (incretin effect). It also augments protal vein blood flow, hepatic uptake of glucose, and fractional hepatic extraction of insulin. The mechanisms for these various effects are not known but could involve both neurogenic stimuli and gut hormones. The present studies examined the effect of a non-nutrient drink, 1 g/kg body wt oral mannitol, on these parameters during an intravenous glucose infusion in conscious dogs. The dogs had chronically implanted Doppler flow probes on the portal vein and hepatic artery and catheters in the portal vein, hepatic vein, and femoral artery. After a 30-min control period, an infusion of atropine, propranolol, phentolamine, or propranolol and phentolamine was begun. Thirty minutes later, glucose (13 mg.kg-1.min-1) was then infused into a peripheral vein for 120 min with continuation of the atropine and adrenergic blockade. Water or mannitol (10% solution) was administered orally 50 min after the initiation of the glucose infusion. Mannitol, but not water, significantly enhanced the insulin response to intravenous glucose, as indicated by higher insulin concentrations in the portal vein as well as more rapid reduction of the plasma glucose. This incretin effect was significantly attenuated by infusion of propranolol but not by atropine or phentolamine. Mannitol did not increase portal vein blood flow or have any effect on the hepatic uptake of glucose or the fractional hepatic extraction of insulin. Thus absorption of nutrient is not necessary for the incretin effect but is for the increased portal vein blood flow and increased fractional extraction of insulin.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Creation and Application of a Replicable Analytic Method to Determine Attitudes and Beliefs of Undergraduate Science Professors Toward the Discipline of Education

Detailed here is the creation and application of a replicable method bricolage that brings together Discourse Analysis, discourse analysis, and the theory of reasoned action to examine attitudes an...
Overview: Important Issues for Researchers and Practitioners Using Computer Synthesized Speech as an Assistive Aid

Stephen Hawking is the most famous theoretical physicist of our generation. He is best known for books such as A Brief History of Time, The Universe in a Nutshell, and On the Shoulders of Giants, as well as hundreds of publications on topics related to theoretical cosmology, quantum gravity, and black holes. It is common knowledge that Dr. Hawking has suffered for over 40 years from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a disease of the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement. As a result of this disorder, Dr. Hawking lost the ability to speak many years ago. As he describes it:
Transcriptional regulation of myeloid-derived suppressor cell development in neoplasia

M suppressor cells (MDSC) comprise immature myeloid populations produced in diverse pathologies, including neoplasia. Because of their ability to block antitumor immunity and support angiogenesis, MDSC have emerged as a significant opponent to cancer therapy. Despite this formidable consideration, the molecular basis of MDSC development remains incomplete. Thus, our laboratory has focused on how MDSC develop in the first place. We have been testing the central hypothesis that MDSC develop as a consequence of tumor-induced down regulation of interferon regulatory factor-8 (IRF8), a key myeloid developmental transcription factor. The importance of IRF8 in myeloid biology was originally unveiled in IRF8-deficient mice which develop myeloproliferative phenotypes. Altogether, our work reveals that MDSC form as a result of tumor-mediated down regulation of interferon regulatory factor-8. Moreover, IRF-8 down regulation could be facilitated by tumor-derived myelopoietic growth factors, such as G-CSF or GM-CSF which are known to activate STAT3 or STAT5 pathways, respectively. These findings not only identify IRF-8 as a potentially new downstream target of STAT3 or STAT5 activation, but also illuminate a previously un-described pathway of MDSC development that converges at the level of IRF-8 regulation. The identification of this new axis in MDSC-tumor biology has important implications for novel STATor IRF8-based clinical interventions during immune surveillance or immunotherapy.
The chaotic four-body problem in Newtonian gravity I: Identical point-particles

In this paper, we study the chaotic four-body problem in Newtonian gravity. Assuming point particles and total encounter energies $\le$ 0, the problem has three possible outcomes. We describe each outcome as a series of discrete transformations in energy space, using the diagrams first presented in Leigh \& Geller (2012; see the Appendix). Furthermore, we develop a formalism for calculating probabilities for these outcomes to occur, expressed using the density of escape configurations per unit energy, and based on the Monaghan description originally developed for the three-body problem. We compare this analytic formalism to results from a series of binary-binary encounters with identical point particles, simulated using the \texttt{FEWBODY} code. Each of our three encounter outcomes produces a unique velocity distribution for the escaping star(s). Thus, these distributions can potentially be used to constrain the origins of dynamically-formed populations, via a direct comparison between the predicted and observed velocity distributions. Finally, we show that, for encounters that form stable triples, the simulated single star escape velocity distributions are the same as for the three-body problem. This is also the case for the other two encounter outcomes, but only at low virial ratios. This suggests that single and binary stars processed via single-binary and binary-binary encounters in dense star clusters should have a unique velocity distribution relative to the underlying Maxwellian distribution (provided the relaxation time is sufficiently long), which can be calculated analytically.
Cervical spine surgery performed in ambulatory surgical centers: Are patients being put at increased risk?

BACKGROUND Spine surgeons are being increasingly encouraged to perform cervical operations in outpatient ambulatory surgical centers (ASC). However, some studies/data coming out of these centers are provided by spine surgeons who are part or full owners/shareholders. In Florida, for example, there was a 50% increase in ASC (5349) established between 2000-2007; physicians had a stake (invested) in 83%, and outright owned 43% of ASC. Data regarding "excessive" surgery by ASC surgeon-owners from Idaho followed shortly thereafter. METHODS The risks/complications attributed to 3279 cervical spine operations performed in 6 ASC studies were reviewed. Several studies claimed 99% discharge rates the day of the surgery. They also claimed major complications were "picked up" within the average postoperative observation window (e.g., varying from 4-23 hours), allowing for appropriate treatment without further sequelae. RESULTS Morbidity rates for outpatient cervical spine ASC studies (e.g. some with conflicts of interest) varied up to 0.8-6%, whereas morbidity rates for 3 inpatient cervical studies ranged up to 19.3%. For both groups, morbidity included postoperative dysphagia, epidural hematomas, neck swelling, vocal cord paralysis, and neurological deterioration. CONCLUSIONS Although we have no clear documentation as to their safety, "excessive" and progressively complex cervical surgical procedures are increasingly being performed in ASC. Furthermore, we cannot rely upon ASC-based data. At least some demonstrate an inherent conflict of interest and do not veridically report major morbidity/mortality rates for outpatient procedures. For now, cervical spine surgery performed in ASC would appear to be putting patients at increased risk for the benefit of their surgeon-owners.
Acoustic Signalling in Mother-Pup Reunions, Interspecies Bonding, and Affiliation by Kinship in California Sea Lions (Zalophus Californianus)

Pinnipeds are among the most precocial mammals (Bowen, 1991) and they are also among the most vocal. Their acoustic behavior occurs in both the atmosphere and the hydrosphere, and it is clear from both field and laboratory observations that natural selection has favored the vocal-auditory communication channel in these amphibious mammals (Schusterman, 1978). California sea lions (Zalophus californianus), in particular are one of the most vocal of all the pinnipeds, and their acoustic signals have been hypothesized primarily to repel or attract individuals by identifying the caller as to species, sex, age, location in space, and as an individual (Schusterman, 1978; Miller, 1991>).
Meteoric fluid infiltration in the Argentine Precordillera fold-and-thrust belt: Evidence from H isotopic studies of neoformed clay minerals

Fluids in the upper crust can affect the strength properties, composition, and mineralization of rock units, but the source(s) of these fluids and their transport during deformation are not well understood. Stable isotopic studies of clay-rich rocks, particularly newly formed illitic clays, shed light on the source of geofluids involved during faulting and folding. Hydrogen isotopic (δD) measurements of fault gouge and folded clay-rich sediments from the Argentine Precordillera show meteoric, surface-sourced fluid involvement during Miocene faulting. The δD composition of neoformed clay minerals is between -70‰ and -90‰ ± 2‰. The associated composition of fluids ranges from -57‰ to -72‰ ± 10‰, matching values for a surface-derived source. Regional Miocene meteoric fluid infiltrated down into the evolving fold-and-thrust belt, accumulated in basin sediments, and was subsequently expelled by the overriding rock units during late Miocene shortening. A systematic increase in δD signature with deformation age is preserved that matches regional climatic changes during late Miocene aridification, cooling, and glacial expansion.
Abstract 6191: Efficacy and Safety Assessment of Anticoagulation Strategies in Peripheral Percutaneous Intervention

Background: Anticoagulation strategies used in peripheral percutaneous intervention (PPI) are based primarily on percutaneous coronary intervention. In these studies, relatively higher doses of heparin were used, usually in combination with a GP IIb/IIIa agent. There are no studies comparing PPIs done with low-dose heparin alone versus bivalirudin in PPI. We compared the efficacy and safety (i.e. bleeding complications) of low-dose heparin versus bivalirudin in PPI. Methods: We assessed prospectively 160 consecutive patients who underwent PPI from January through April 2008 during their index hospitalization for bleeding and thrombotic complications. Inclusion criteria included patients age >18 undergoing PPI for subclavian, renal or lower extremity arterial stenosis. Exclusion criteria included acute limb ischemia, use of fibrinolytic agents or GP IIb/IIIa antagonists, recent MI or CVA, and contraindication to heparin or bivalirudin. Out of 160 patients, 79 patients were dosed with heparin at 50 u/kg (goal ACT of 180 –225) and 81 patients were dosed with bivalirudin at 0.75 mcg/kg bolus followed by 1.75-mcg/kg infusion. Bivalirudin infusions were discontinued at the end of the procedure. Procedural success was defined as less than 30% post procedure residual stenosis. Major bleeding was defined as intracranial or retroperitoneal hemorrhage, or fall in Hgb ≥3 g/dl. All other bleeding was considered a minor bleed. In addition, anticoagulation cost analysis was conducted. Results: Procedural success in 100% and 96.2% patients (p=NS) (no patient suffered acute vessel occlusion or any intraprocedural thrombotic complications), major bleeding occurred in 0% and 3.7% patients (p=NS), minor bleeding occurred in 5.1% and 11% patients (p=NS), who received heparin and bivalirudin, respectively. There was no statistical difference in time to sheath removal, time-to-ambulation, and length of hospital stay. The average charge to patients for heparin was $66, whereas the charge for bivalirudin was $2727. Conclusion: Low-dose heparin is equally as safe and effective as bivalirudin in PPI. PPI with heparin is considerably more cost-effective than PPI with bivalirudin. Larger randomized studies are required to further evaluate this issue.
The mariner Transposons of Animals: Horizontally Jumping Genes

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the mariner transposons of animals. The mariner transposons of insects and other animals are now known to comprise a large family of small transposable elements characterized by a D, D34D catalytic domain in their encoded transposases. In most cases, these mariners evolve neutrally and accumulate incapacitating mutations within particular hosts, whereas comparisons between hosts indicate that most of the evolutionary conservation of their transposase genes occurs in conjunction with the horizontal transfers between hosts. The ability of mariner transposase to catalyze transposition without species-specific host factors appears to allow this unusual evolutionary pattern. Mariners and the related Tc1 family of transposons, which evidence many of these same characteristics, have, thereby affected the composition of most animal genomes. In the initial phylogenetic analyses of mariner relationships, it was clear that horizontal transfers across large host phylogenetic distances, such as orders of insects, must have occurred.
The Role of Paternity Acknowledgment in Breastfeeding Noninitiation

Background:In the United States, less than a quarter of mothers breastfeed in accordance with national recommendations. To date, researchers have demonstrated that paternal support directly influen...
Realistic Traffic Generation for Web Robots

Critical to evaluating the capacity, scalability, and availability of web systems are realistic web traffic generators. Web traffic generation is a classic research problem, no generator accounts for the characteristics of web robots or crawlers that are now the dominant source of traffic to a web server. Administrators are thus unable to test, stress, and evaluate how their systems perform in the face of ever increasing levels of web robot traffic. To resolve this problem, this paper introduces a novel approach to generate synthetic web robot traffic with high fidelity. It generates traffic that accounts for both the temporal and behavioral qualities of robot traffic by statistical and Bayesian models that are fitted to the properties of robot traffic seen in web logs from North America and Europe. We evaluate our traffic generator by comparing the characteristics of generated traffic to those of the original data. We look at session arrival rates, inter-arrival times and session lengths, comparing and contrasting them between generated and real traffic. Finally, we show that our generated traffic affects cache performance similarly to actual traffic, using the common LRU and LFU eviction policies.
Defending android applications availability

There are over a billion devices running the Android operating system. It is being used globally in personal, public, private and government organizations. Device and application availability, often overlooked in research, is a huge component to globally maintaining healthy applications and personal communications. Published research into Android application availability threats and vulnerabilities is limited and incomplete. At most, published research on static analysis techniques used to prevent and thwart Android availability denial of service has been discussed as an aside in only a few papers. To fill the research gap in understanding, this paper examines Android device denial of service techniques both at a system level and at an application level. Our research quantitatively examines applications' availability risks. These risks are used to develop Android mitigation techniques for application denial of service scenarios and inform the development of our third contribution produced from this research. In our third contribution, we introduce a novel open source Android application, the App-Nanny, as a watchdog application to help ensure that applications are playing fair on the device. Lastly, we give insights into future mobile availability testing which includes developing a ChaosMonkeyApp helping to ensure hardening and resiliency in both devices and their running applications.
Dress codes and appearance policies: challenges under federal legislation, part 1: title VII of the civil rights act and religion.

As more and more individuals express themselves with tattoos and body piercings and push the envelope on what is deemed appropriate in the workplace, employers have an increased need for creation and enforcement of reasonable dress codes and appearance policies. As with any employment policy or practice, an appearance policy must be implemented and enforced without regard to an individual's race, color, gender, national origin, religion, disability, age, or other protected status. A policy governing dress and appearance based on the business needs of an employer that is applied fairly and consistently and does not have a disproportionate effect on any protected class will generally be upheld if challenged in court. By examining some of the more common legal challenges to dress codes and how courts have resolved the disputes, health care managers can avoid many potential problems. This article, the second part of a 3-part examination of dress codes and appearance policies, focuses on the issue of gender under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Pertinent court cases that provide guidance for employers are addressed.
Cognitive Examination of Motivation for Childbearing as a Factor in Adjustment to Infertility

Infertility is seldom eradicated in a few months. Indeed, its current definition by medical professionals requires that the couple has been trying to conceive for one year without success prior to medical intervention. During the initial diagnosis and treatment, the couple may maintain a determined problem-solving approach, along with undaunted optimism. However, years of extended treatment and repeated failures characterize the experiences of many infertile individuals. During this time, they may confront a variety of thoughts and feelings such as anger, frustration, and despair. It is the goal of this chapter to outline the processes involved in coming to terms with such an infertility experience and the impact that it has on one’s self-concept, one’s goals, and one’s life.
The Homework Problem

The following “homework problem,” phrased below as a take-home exam, was the centerpiece of the workshop. The workshop participants broke up into three groups and worked late into the night on this homework problem.
Appraising Electoral Equality: Goodness-of-Fit Criteria

Perfect electoral equality is a conceptual ideal defying reality. A certain degree of inequality must be tolerated in practice. Ways and means are discussed on how to numerically evaluate the inevitable residue of disproportionality. Three approaches are explored. A first approach investigates all-embracing goodness-of-fit criteria; that is, functions that measure a system’s deviation from ideal equality by a single real number. Different criteria are seen to lead to different methods. A second approach applies disparity functions to pairwise comparisons. The aim is to reduce a pending imbalance by transferring a seat from a party that is advantaged to another party that is disadvantaged. A third approach examines whether the parties’ realized shares of seats and ideal shares of seats are as close to each other as could be.
Determination of protein in urine by the biuret method.

A method for the determination of protein in urine by means of the biuret reaction was described by Hiller (1) and by Hiller, McIntosh, and Van Slyke (2), in which pure biuret prepared by Kahlbaum was used as a standard for visual calorimetry. Since Hiller (1) the biuret method has been used for the determination of urinary proteins by Price (3) and by Lehmann (4), and has been widely used in many forms and modifications for the determination of plasma proteins. A review of the literature on the biuret method will not be given here, but may be found in the papers of KiintzeI and Droscher (5) and of Robinson and Hogden (6). The latter workers studied the conditions necessary for the production of a stable color which bears a quantitative relationship to the protein concentration and also published transmission curves for the biuret color. The present paper describes a photometric method for the determination of urinary protein in which the entire procedure is carried out in a single test-tube, which serves as a cuvette for the photoelectric spectrophotometer. The method can be used even when the urine contains Evans blue excreted after blood volume determinations. Since pure preparations of biuret are not now obtainable on the market, solutions of urinary proteins, of concentration determined by accurate Kjeldahl analysis, are used to prepare standard optical density curves, and the use of a chrome-alum solution for checking the curves is detailed.
Physical Layer Key Generation: Securing Wireless Communication in Automotive Cyber-Physical Systems

Modern automotive Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) are increasingly adopting wireless communications for Intra-Vehicular, Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V), and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) protocols as a promising solution for challenges such as the wire harnessing problem, collision detection, and collision avoidance, traffic control, and environmental hazards. Regrettably, this new trend results in new security challenges that can put the safety and privacy of the automotive CPS and passengers at great risk. In addition, automotive wireless communication security is constrained by strict energy and performance limitations of electronic controller units and sensors. As a result, the key generation and management for secure automotive CPS wireless communication is an open research challenge. This article aims to help solve these security challenges by presenting a practical key generation technique based on the reciprocity and high spatial and temporal variation properties of the automotive wireless communication channel. Accompanying this technique is also a key length optimization algorithm to improve performance (in terms of time and energy) for safety-related applications constrained by small communication windows. To validate the practicality and effectiveness of our approach, we have conducted simulations alongside real-world experiments with vehicles and RC cars. Last, we demonstrate through simulations that we can generate keys with high security strength (keys with 67% min-entropy) with 20× reduction in code size overhead in comparison to the state-of-the-art security techniques.
Gender in the Temple: Women's Ailments in the Epidaurian Miracle Cures

This paper compares the cases of female ailments recorded in the Epidaurian Miracles Cures ( iamata ) with the theory and therapeutics of the Hippocratic gynecological texts as a means of testing the extent of the assumptions shared between temple and Hippocratic medicine. I argue that where temple and Hippocratic practice hold common ground, it is readily explicable through widely circulating and historically rooted cultural presuppositions regarding female physiology and pathology, rather than through scientific borrowings. Rather than representing complementary outlets of medical care in which Asklepios specialized in “hopeless” cases, I suggest that the iamata permit us to observe a process in which parallel medical traditions branched out from a common cultural substratum, and that more nuance is required in framing the relationship between Greek naturalist and religious medicine.
Attitudes: An Evolutionary Perspective

Traditional models hold that attitudes are relatively stable, enduring dispositions, stored in and retrieved from memory, that direct people’s favorable or unfavorable evaluations. Construal models, in contrast, hold that people construct their evaluative responses online, based in part on whichever of an attitude object’s attributes happen to become salient in that particular time and place. Construal models, unlike traditional models, explain both stable and unstable attitudes with the same mechanism, and predict context effects in which people adjust and reconstruct their attitudes adaptively. In construal models, attitudes can serve evolutionary functions and can be influenced by the temporary salience of fundamental evolutionary motives. This chapter reviews studies in which disease-avoidance, self-protection, and mate-acquisition motives have been experimentally manipulated, with significant effects on the attitudes that participants subsequently adopted. The chapter highlights important principles and mechanisms of these effects, which are compatible with modern theories of attitudes, context effects, priming, and evolutionary motives.
Characterization of pulsed laser deposited MoS2 by transmission electron microscopy

Molybdenum disulfide is a technologically important solid phase lubricant for vacuum and aerospace applications. Pulsed laser deposition of MoS2 is a novel method for producing fully dense, stoichiometric thin films and is a promising technique for controlling the crystallographic orientation of the films. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of self-supporting thin films and cross-sectional TEM samples was used to study the crystallography and microstructure of pulsed laser deposited films of MoS2. Films deposited at room temperature were found to be amorphous. Films deposited at 300 °C were nanocrystalline and had the basal planes oriented predominately parallel to the substrate within the first 12–15 nm of the substrate with an abrupt upturn into a perpendicular (edge) orientation farther from the substrate. Spherically shaped particles incorporated in the films from the PLD process were found to be single crystalline, randomly oriented, and less than about 0.1 μm in diameter. A few of these particles, observed in cross section, had flattened bottoms, indicating that they were molten when they arrived at the surface of the growing film. Analytical electron microscopy (AEM) was used to study the chemistry of the films. The x-ray microanalysis results showed that the films have the stoichiometry of cleaved single crystal MoS2 standards.