cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Malley-Morrison, Kathleen and Denise Hines. FAMILY VIOLENCE IN A CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE: DEFINING, UNDERSTANDING, AND COMBATING ABUSE

Malley-Morrison, Kathleen and Denise Hines. FAMILY VIOLENCE IN A CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE: DEFINING, UNDERSTANDING, AND COMBATING ABUSE. Thousand Oaks, CA: S AGE, 2004.The consideration of context, especially cultural context, in family abuse is critically important as we all know. However, that is often easier said than done. This book considers factors at the macrosystem like race and poverty, the exosystem like neighborhoods, the microsystem like the family, and individual levels to examine cultural factors. This book examines factors and research around child abuse, spouse abuse, and elder abuse in the U.S. for Native American Indian cultures, African American cultures, Hispanic/Latino cultures, and Asian American cultures. The book concludes with chapters on prevention and interventions for child and adult maltreatment.More specifically, chapter 2 provides an introduction to theories and methods of researching family abuse. This chapter discusses various theories about family violence and introduces the reader to the context of the integrated conceptual framework based on ecological theory used to frame each chapter. Research methods are also reviewed including the advantages and disadvantages of various empirical data collection methods commonly used to examine family violence.Chapter 3 provides an overview of family violence in the U.S. as a whole and problems with current prevalence and incidence estimates of each type of family violence considered within the next few chapters including child and adult maltreatment.For each of the four cultures outlined above, there is a chapter of introduction that provides discussions of the historical/cultural contexts for family interactions and perceptions of abuse from members of the specific cultures of discussion. The next chapter(s) in each section focuses on incidence, predictors, correlates and consequences of family violence within that specific cultural group as well as consequences of family violence using an ecological framework to organize the discussion. Knowledge about the four different cultures is primarily drawn from the current research studies available. Strengths and weaknesses of the available research in each of the sections are noted throughout the chapters.In addition to using the current research literature for discussion, the authors draw on responses to an open-ended survey regarding cross-cultural definitions of abuse from a wide variety of participants. For example, participants were asked to define "abuse" in the context of family relationships and to give examples. …
We are not alternative facts: feeling, existing, and resisting in the era of Trump

In this article the authors argue that Donald Trump is not simply a presidential figure, but the embodiment of white supremacy, capitalism, racism, neoliberalism, patriarchy, xenophobia, Islamaphob...
The Effect of Surgical Start Time on Complications Associated With Neurological Surgeries.

BACKGROUND Neurosurgical procedures are necessary at all times of day. Other surgical specialties have examined the effect of surgical start time (SST) on morbidity and mortality; however, a similar study has not been performed for neurosurgical procedures. OBJECTIVE To perform a retrospective cohort study describing the association between SST and operative morbidity. METHODS We analyzed all patients undergoing neurological surgery between January 1, 2007 and August 1, 2014 at our institution. This study included 15 807 patients. A total of 785 complications were identified through the self-reported morbidity and mortality reports created by faculty and resident neurosurgeons. We used multilevel logistic regression to investigate the association of SST with morbidity. RESULTS In multilevel logistic regression, our Baseline model demonstrated that the odds of complication increased by more than 50% for start times between 21:01 and 07:00 (odds ratio [OR] 1.53, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.03-2.29, P = .04). When accounting for the length of the surgery, the odds of a complication were even greater for later time periods 21:01 to 07:00 (OR 2.16, 95% CI 1.44-3.23, P < .001). The only statistically significant factor that predicted severity of the complication was if the operation was emergent compared to elective (OR 1.70, 95% CI 1.11-2.60, P = .02). An SST between 21:01 and 07:00 substantially contributed when severe complications were isolated (OR 1.61, 95% CI 1.50-2.90, P = .08). CONCLUSION Patients with SSTs between 21:01 and 07:00 are at an increased risk of developing morbidity compared to patients with an SST earlier in the day.
A conformal, helmet-mounted microphone array for auditory situational awareness and hearing protection

Hearing protectors often are considered detrimental to auditory situational awareness due in part to the distortions they impose on localization cues. The addition of a helmet or other head-worn equipment can exacerbate this problem by covering the ears and effectively changing the shape of the head. In an effort to design a hearing-protection system that maintains natural auditory localization performance, we have built a prototype conformal microphone array integrated into a helmet. The system involves beamforming for spatial selectivity, filtering with head-related transfer functions to reintroduce spatial auditory cues to the beamformed data, dynamic range compression to attenuate potentially damaging sound levels, and insert earphones to deliver binaural audio and provide additional hearing protection. All directions are auralized simultaneously to provide full spatial coverage around the wearer. In this paper we describe the design, implementation, and testing of a prototype 32-channel system, including 3D modeling and simulations, signal-processing approaches, real-time processing, and localization performance.
Optimal state estimation for LTI systems with imperfect observations

State estimation under imperfect observations is a highly realistic and practically significant problem. These imperfections often manifest themselves in various forms, such as partial/total packet losses, and multiplicative degradation in sensor performance, making estimator design for such systems challenging. A method to find the minimum mean squared error estimate for such systems is presented in this paper, based on an equivalent Markovian Jump Linear System (M-JLS) modeling of the system under consideration. The estimation problem for the M-JLS is then solved using a projection based approach, and the corresponding modified Riccati equation is derived. An illustrative example is then presented for sensor malfunctions in a vehicle-to-vehicle communication channel for autonomous cars operating in a single lane.
Predicting Surface Tensions of Surfactant Solutions from Statistical Mechanics

The importance of surfactants to various industries necessitates a predictive understanding of their surface tension and adsorption behavior in terms of molecular characteristics. Previous models are highly empirical, require fitting parameters, and have limited applicability at various temperatures. Here, we provide a surface tension model based on statistical mechanics that (1) is thermodynamically consistent, (2) provides a higher predictive power, wherein surface tension can be calculated for any tail length, concentration, and temperature from molecular parameters, and (3) provides a physical understanding of the important molecular interactions at play. This model is applicable to both nonionic and ionic surfactants, where the effects of the electric double layer have been taken into account in the latter case. For nonionic surfactants, we were able to extend our model to predict dynamic surface tension as well. We have validated our model with tensiometry experiments for various surfactants, concen...
The Pros and Cons of Pro-Am Journalism: Breaking News During the #BostonMarathon Bombing and Beyond

This chapter considers successes and failures of professional and citizen journalists in the aftermath of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. After providing some context about the media response to the bombing and reviewing Twitter’s role in the process of reporting breaking news, this chapter compares and contrasts accounts published by professional media outlets with examples of collaborative, pro-am reporting. It focuses on Andrew Kitzenberg, a witness who became a source and correspondent for legacy news organizations after live-tweeting the manhunt. Such collaborative approaches to networked news reflect shifts in the mediatization of networked society, and thus, are of central importance to the future of American journalism. The chapter concludes by considering how convergence contributes to changes in journalistic practice, including sourcing, gatekeeping, and boundary maintenance.
Preclinical and Clinical Studies Employing RNA Interference as a Therapeutic for Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Infection in the Lung

Here, we describe the rational design, preclinical, and clinical development of a small interfering RNA (siRNA) directed against human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Infection with RSV can cause significant morbidity in young children and in elderly or immunosuppressed adults. In recipients of lung transplants, RSV infection has been associated with early onset of bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS), which leads to significant morbidity and mortality. Human studies included a Phase II study in adults experimentally infected with RSV. In this study, ALN-RSV01 significantly reduced the rate of RSV infection and resulted in lower overall viral loads and a shorter duration of viral shedding. In two subsequent Phase II studies, ALN-RSV01 was administered as a nebulized aerosol to lung transplant patients naturally infected with RSV. Safety and significant reduction in BOS was first demonstrated in 16 patients. Results from a larger study in 87 patients are currently pending. The approach for using a nebulized siRNA to treat a local lung pathogen is exciting to the field, given the specificity that can be employed by RNA interference technology, the minimal systemic exposure, and the potential to silence endogenous and invading targets that impact lung function and lung diseases.
Cellular Studies of an Associative Mechanism for Classical Conditioning in Aplysia

For much of this century, a central goal for both psychologists and neurobiologists has been to understand the mechanisms underlying associative learning. Of the various forms of associative learning, classical conditioning is perhaps the simplest and is thought to be the prototypical way in which an animal learns a predictive relationship (Pavlov, 1927; Kamin, 1969; Rescorla and Wagner, 1972). In classical conditioning, an animal alters its response to one stimulus as a result of the temporal pairing of this stimulus with a second event. During training, the animal comes to know that the first stimulus, called the conditioned stimulus, signals the occurrence of the second stimulus, the unconditioned stimulus. Because of its simplicity, many of the efforts to analyze cellular mechanisms of associative learning have focused on classical conditioning.
Sleep Hygiene, Relaxation Therapy, and Cognitive Interventions

Sleep hygiene, relaxation therapy, and some cognitive interventions make a good package that can often be administered conjointly. I typically use an individualized mix of them in my initial treatment sessions with chronic insomniacs.
An Economic Theory of Imperialism

Publisher Summary This chapter presents a theory of the exchange of political favors for wealth as ordinarily defined. Imperialism is treated as the result of a subclass of such transactions. The chapter presents a number of examples of imperialist behavior and discusses how they relate to the theory of the exchange of political favors. It will not be disputed that holders of public office have the power in varying degree to raise the utility of particular households and/or the pecuniary income (profits) of particular business firms. The people who possess political power may use it to increase their personal wealth. This is hardly news; allegations to this effect are and have been a staple of political discussion for hundreds of years, but only recently has this rather commonplace observation begun to be exploited to develop a systematic theory of political behavior. Political favors are sold (exchanged) by a (monolithic) government for cash, services rendered, or other valuable consideration. Favors are produced by transferring wealth from others to those favored.
Managing forest habitat for conservation-reliant species in a changing climate: The case of the endangered Kirtland's Warbler

Abstract Conservation and recovery of species of concern necessitates evaluating forest habitat conditions under changing climate conditions, especially in the early stages of the delisting process. Managers must weigh implications of near-term habitat management activities within the context of changing environmental conditions and a species’ biological traits that may influence their vulnerability to changing conditions. Here we applied established population-habitat relationships based on decades of monitoring and research-management collaborations for the Kirtland’s Warbler (Setophaga kirtlandii) to project potential impacts of changing environmental conditions to breeding habitat distribution, quantity, and quality in the near future. Kirtland’s warblers are habitat-specialists that nest exclusively within dense jack pine (Pinus banksiana) forests between ca. 5–20 years of age. Using Random Forests to predict changes in distribution and growth rate of jack pine under future scenarios, results indicate the projected distribution of jack pine will contract considerably (ca. 75%) throughout the Lake States region, U.S.A. in response to projected environmental conditions in 2099 under RCP 4.5 and 8.5 climate scenarios regardless of climate model. Reduced suitability for jack pine regeneration across the Lake States may constrain management options, especially for creating high stem-density plantations nesting habitat. However, conditions remain suitable for jack pine regeneration within their historical and current core breeding range in northern Lower Michigan and several satellite breeding areas. Projected changes in jack pine growth rates varied within the core breeding area, but altered growth rates did not greatly alter the duration that habitat remained suitable for nesting by the Kirtland’s Warblers. These findings contribute to Kirtland’s Warbler conservation by informing habitat spatial planning of plantation management to provide a constant supply of nesting habitat based on the spatial variability of potential loss or gain of lands environmentally suitable for regenerating jack pine in the long-term.
The Relationship Between Study Quality and the Effects of Supplemental Reading Interventions: A Meta-Analysis:

Empirical studies investigating supplemental reading interventions for students with or at-risk for reading disabilities in the early elementary grades have demonstrated a range of effect sizes. Identifying the findings from high quality research can provide greater certainty of findings related to the effectiveness of supplemental reading interventions. This meta-analysis investigated how four variables of study quality (study design, statistical treatment, Type I error, and fidelity of implementation) were related to effect sizes from standardized measures of foundational reading skills and language/comprehension. The results from 88 studies indicated that year of publication was a significant predictor of effect sizes for both standardized measures of foundational reading skills and language/comprehension, with more recent studies demonstrating smaller effect sizes. Results also demonstrated that with the exception of research design predicting effect sizes on foundational reading skills measures, study quality was not related to the effects of supplemental reading interventions. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
Effect of adjuvant therapy for stage II and III ovarian cancer in patients older than 70 years.

e17557Background: Data on safety and efficacy of adjuvant chemotherapy for stage II and III ovarian cancer in elderly patients is not clearly defined as these patients are underrepresented in clini...
Programming in game space: how to represent parallel programming concepts in an educational game

Concurrent and parallel programming (CPP) skills are increasingly important in today's world of parallel hardware. However, the conceptual leap from deterministic sequential programming to CPP is notoriously challenging to make. Our educational game Parallel is designed to support the learning of CPP core concepts through a game-based learning approach, focusing on the connection between gameplay and CPP. Through a 10-week user study (n 25) in an undergraduate concurrent programming course, the first empirical study for a CPP educational game, our results show that Parallel offers both CPP knowledge and student engagement. Furthermore, we provide a new framework to describe the design space for programming games in general.
Scrutinizing the U.S. Equality Act 2019: A Feminist Examination of Definitional Changes and Sociolegal Ramifications:

The U.S. Equality Act, which amends civil rights statutes to explicitly prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, passed the House in May 2019 with unanimous D...
Electronic Decision Support for Management of CKD in Primary Care: A Pragmatic Randomized Trial.

Rationale & Objective Most adults with chronic kidney disease (CKD) in the United States are cared for by primary care providers (PCPs). We evaluated the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of an electronic clinical decision support system (eCDSS) within the electronic health record with or without pharmacist follow-up to improve the management of CKD in primary care. Study Design Pragmatic cluster-randomized trial. Setting & Participants 524 adults with confirmed creatinine-based estimated glomerular filtration rates of 30 to 59 mL/min/1.73 m2 cared for by 80 PCPs at the University of California San Francisco. Electronic health record data were used for patient identification, intervention deployment, and outcomes ascertainment. Interventions Each PCP’s eligible patients were randomly assigned as a group into 1 of 3 treatment arms: (1) usual care; (2) eCDSS: testing of creatinine, cystatin C, and urinary albumin-creatinine ratio with individually tailored guidance for PCPs on blood pressure, potassium, and proteinuria management, cardiovascular risk reduction, and patient education; or (3) eCDSS plus pharmacist counseling (eCDSS-PLUS). Outcomes The primary clinical outcome was change in blood pressure over 12 months. Secondary outcomes were PCP awareness of CKD and use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor/angiotensin receptor blocker and statin therapy. Results All 80 eligible PCPs participated. Mean patient age was 70 years, 47% were nonwhite, and mean estimated glomerular filtration rate was 56 ± 0.6 mL/min/1.73 m2. Among patients receiving eCDSS with or without pharmacist counseling (n = 336), 178 (53%) completed laboratory measurements and 138 (41%) had laboratory measurements followed by a PCP visit with eCDSS deployment. eCDSS was opened by the PCP for 102 (74%) patients, with at least 1 suggested order signed for 83 of these 102 (81%). Changes in systolic blood pressure were −2.1 ± 1.5 mm Hg with usual care, −2.8 ± 1.8 mm Hg with eCDSS, and −1.1 ± 1.1 with eCDSS-PLUS (P = 0.7). PCP awareness of CKD was 16% with usual care, 26% with eCDSS, and 32% for eCDSS-PLUS (P = 0.09). In as-treated analyses, PCP awareness of CKD was significantly greater with eCDSS and eCDSS-PLUS (73% and 69%) versus usual care (47%; P = 0.002). Limitations Recruitment of smaller than intended sample size and limited uptake of the testing component of the intervention. Conclusions Although we were unable to demonstrate the effectiveness of eCDSS to lower blood pressure and uptake of the eCDSS was limited by low testing rates, eCDSS use was high when laboratory measurements were available and was associated with higher PCP awareness of CKD. Funding Grants from government (National Institutes of Health) and not-for-profit (American Heart Association) entities. Trial Registration Registered at ClinicalTrials.gov with study number NCT02925962 .
Inconsistencies in Widely Used Monte Carlo Methods for Precise Calculation of Radial Resonance Captures in Uranium Fuel Rods

Although resonance neutron captures for 238 U in water-moderated lattices are known to occur near moderator-fuel interfaces, the sharply attenuated spatial captures here have not been calculated by multigroup transport or Monte Carlo methods. Advances in computer speed and capacity have restored interest in applying Monte Carlo methods to evaluate spatial resonance captures in fueled lattices. Recently published studies have placed complete reliance on the ostensible precision of the Monte Carlo approach without auxiliary confirmation that resonance processes were followed adequately or that the Monte Carlo method was applied appropriately. Other methods of analysis that have evolved from early resonance integral theory have provided a basis for an alternative approach to determine radial resonance captures in fuel rods. A generalized method has been formulated and confirmed by comparison with published experiments of high spatial resolution for radial resonance captures in metallic uranium rods. The same analytical method has been applied to uranium-oxide fuels. The generalized method defined a spatial effective resonance cross section that is a continuous function of distance from the moderator-fuel interface and enables direct calculation of precise radial resonance capture distributions in fuel rods. This generalized method is used as a reference for comparison with two recent independent studies that have employed different Monte Carlo codes and cross-section libraries. The Monte Carlo studies have been found to undercount reference radial resonance captures in the moderator-fuel interface region. The steep radial capture gradients within 0.50 mm of the interface account for the majority of resonance captures and take place where Monte Carlo spatial resolution is poor and the effects of resonance peaks on neutron flux are large. Inconsistencies in the Monte Carlo application or in how pointwise cross-section libraries are sampled may exist. It is shown that refined Monte Carlo solutions with improved spatial resolution would not asymptotically approach the reference spatial capture distributions. It is suspected that the resolved resonance peak and offpeak cross sections may not be represented or accounted for appropriately in the Monte Carlo calculations and should be reviewed. If these inconsistencies were cleared up, use of the generalized method might very well challenge the need to perform further Monte Carlo studies of radial resonance captures for isolated uranium-oxide fuel rods.
The impact of Whiteness on the education of nurses

Racism affects the nursing profession by routinely producing an over representation of Whites. Since the Sullivan Commission on Diversity in the Healthcare Workforce (Sullivan, 2004) reported that people of Color (POC) found it difficult to gain admission into health professions schools, regulatory agencies have made recommendations to the nursing profession to create program strategies to increase diversity. Many strategies were implemented to recruit, educate, retain, and graduate POC from university-based nursing programs, but these have had little effect on diversity in nursing. Simply put, these strategies were only band-aids attempting to heal a much larger issue within the profession precisely because programs do not address the underlying problem: the pervasiveness of whiteness. Whiteness has been normalized and influential in the manifestation of racism in nursing practice. The pervasiveness of whiteness has resulted in nursing education being seen through a White lens (Scammell & Olumide, 2011). This paper explores whiteness and its effect on the profession of nursing and nursing education.
Neptune: an environment for the delivery of genomic medicine.

Genomic medicine holds great promise for improving health care, but integrating searchable and actionable genetic data into electronic health records (EHRs) remains a challenge. Here we describe Neptune, a system for managing the interaction between a clinical laboratory and an EHR system during the clinical reporting process. We developed Neptune and applied it to two clinical sequencing projects that required report customization, variant reanalysis, and EHR integration. Neptune has been applied for the generation and delivery of over 15,000 clinical genomic reports. This work spans two clinical tests based on targeted gene panels that contain 68 and 153 genes respectively. These projects demanded customizable clinical reports that contained a variety of genetic data types including single-nucleotide variants (SNVs), copy-number variants (CNVs), pharmacogenomics, and polygenic risk scores. Two variant reanalysis activities were also supported, highlighting this important workflow. Methods are needed for delivering structured genetic data to EHRs. This need extends beyond developing data formats to providing infrastructure that manages the reporting process itself. Neptune was successfully applied on two high-throughput clinical sequencing projects to build and deliver clinical reports to EHR systems. The software is open source and available at https://gitlab.com/bcm-hgsc/neptune .
The Role of Spiritual Health Locus of Control in Breast Cancer Information Processing between African American and Caucasian Women

Spirituality seems to be an important cultural factor for African American women when thinking about their health. It is, however, not clear how spiritual health locus of control (SLOC) impacts health-related outcomes in the context of health message processing models, such as the Extended Parallel Process and the Risk Perception Attitude framework. Using a survey of African American and Caucasian women in the context of breast cancer, the role of SLOC and its interactions with perceived efficacy and risk was examined on four health outcomes—message acceptance, talking about breast cancer, information seeking, and behavioral intentions. For African American women, SLOC had a positive impact for talking about breast cancer through an interaction with risk and efficacy such that women high in both SLOC and perceived efficacy, but low in perceived risk were more likely to talk about breast cancer than when efficacy was low. However, high SLOC exacerbated the negative effects of efficacy on talking about breast cancer regardless of the risk level for Caucasian women. SLOC also had a positive influence on attending to breast cancer information in the media for African American women. SLOC played no role in attending to breast cancer information for Caucasian women. Interestingly, SLOC played no role for African American women on behavioral intentions, however, it worked to decrease behavioral intentions for Caucasian women when risk was high.
Predator-Prey Dynamics of Intra-Host Simian Immunodeficiency Virus Evolution Within the Untreated Host.

The dynamic nature of the SIV population during disease progression in the SIV/macaque model of AIDS and the factors responsible for its behavior have not been documented, largely owing to the lack of sufficient spatial and temporal sampling of both viral and host data from SIV-infected animals. In this study, we detail Bayesian coalescent inference of the changing collective intra-host viral effective population size (Ne ) from various tissues over the course of infection and its relationship with what we demonstrate is a continuously changing immune cell repertoire within the blood. Although the relative contribution of these factors varied among hosts and time points, the adaptive immune response best explained the overall periodic dynamic behavior of the effective virus population. Data exposing the nature of the relationship between the virus and immune cell populations revealed the plausibility of an eco-evolutionary mathematical model, which was able to mimic the large-scale oscillations in Ne through virus escape from relatively few, early immunodominant responses, followed by slower escape from several subdominant and weakened immune populations. The results of this study suggest that SIV diversity within the untreated host is governed by a predator-prey relationship, wherein differing phases of infection are the result of adaptation in response to varying immune responses. Previous investigations into viral population dynamics using sequence data have focused on single estimates of the effective viral population size (Ne ) or point estimates over sparse sampling data to provide insight into the precise impact of immune selection on virus adaptive behavior. Herein, we describe the use of the coalescent phylogenetic frame- work to estimate the relative changes in Ne over time in order to quantify the relationship with empirical data on the dynamic immune composition of the host. This relationship has allowed us to expand on earlier simulations to build a predator-prey model that explains the deterministic behavior of the virus over the course of disease progression. We show that sequential viral adaptation can occur in response to phases of varying immune pressure, providing a broader picture of the viral response throughout the entire course of progression to AIDS.
The Coming Shift in Shareholder Activism: From

This article distinguishes two types of shareholder activism: (1) firm-specific activism, which has a long history and focuses on changes at a specific target company, and (2) systematic risk activism, which seeks to reduce the systematic risk in a portfolio and thereby benefit diversified investors. Typically, such a systematic risk campaign may force a portfolio company to internalize negative externalities to benefit the other companies in the portfolio (such as by reducing carbon emissions or undertaking climate risk reforms). But, systematic risk activism faces an inherent difficulty: the party that leads this campaign and invests in the target company may incur a significant loss when the target company’s stock price falls. This will be particularly difficult for activist hedge funds to accept, because they have small portfolios and cannot recoup their losses on the target firm by gains at the other portfolio companies. Properly understood, the recent campaign by Engine No. 1 with respect to ExxonMobil exemplifies these problems and suggests that activist hedge funds make ill-suited leaders for this form of activism. If so, there may be a strong demand for systematic risk activism among diversified investors, but potential campaigns could remain headless, as diversified investors will themselves be reluctant to lead such a campaign. This article surveys possible answers to this problem (some of which are suggested by the Engine No. 1 campaign). Nonetheless, this problem surrounding the incentives of hedge funds is aggravated by the traditionally independent stance of diversified investors, who are reluctant to join groups or expend funds, and by the inability of potential campaign leaders to charge adequately for their services. This article suggests several means of which to enable such campaigns.
The coiled-coil domain of E. coli FtsLB is a structurally detuned element critical for modulating its activation in bacterial cell division

The FtsLB complex is a key regulator of bacterial cell division, existing in either an off or on state which supports the activation of septal peptidoglycan synthesis. In Escherichia coli, residues known to be critical for this activation are located in a region near the C-terminal end of the periplasmic coiled-coil domain of FtsLB, raising questions about the precise role of this conserved domain in the activation mechanism. Here, we investigate an unusual cluster of polar amino acids found within the core of the FtsLB coiled coil. We hypothesized that these amino acids likely reduce the structural stability of the domain and thus may be important for governing conformational changes. We found that mutating these positions to hydrophobic residues increased the thermal stability of FtsLB but caused cell division defects, suggesting that the coiled-coil domain is a "detuned" structural element. In addition, we identified suppressor mutations within the polar cluster, indicating that the precise identity of the polar amino acids is important for fine-tuning the structural balance between the off and on states. We propose a revised structural model of the tetrameric FtsLB (named the "Y-model") in which the periplasmic domain splits into a pair of coiled-coil branches. In this configuration, the hydrophilic terminal moieties of the polar amino acids remain more favorably exposed to water than in the original four-helix bundle model ("I-model"). We propose that a shift in this architecture, dependent on its marginal stability, is involved in activating the FtsLB complex and triggering septal cell wall reconstruction.
CMOS circuits for high speed serial data communication

With the fast growth of computer power and network services, high performance peripherals and interfaces are being developed to meet the system needs. High speed serial data communication devices are especially important and much effort has been spent to increase the bandwidth, reduce the cost, lower the power dissipation and improve the level of integration. Driven by these motivations, various commercial products with data rates ranging from several hundred Mbps to several Gbps have been developed in GaAs or Si bipolar technologies. Potentially less expensive silicon CMOS implementation of these functions are presently begin investigated and is the focus of this work. The serial data link has been dominant in network connections, such as Ethernet, FDDI or ATM, and will find even wider application in the future. This work focuses on the implementation of some basic building blocks for very high speed serial data communication using CMOS technology. At the transmitter end, a novel parallel-toserial converter is presented, whose core is a 5 by 4 register matrix which combines the selection and shift schemes for conversion. Using this architecture, a pipelined data loading is applied to multiple data paths running at sub-multiple of the data rate. This significantly reduces the dynamic power dissipation and eases the system design. The special clock strategy to drive the converter is investigated in this work. SPICE simulations and a chip layout of this method are presented. Various design and layout considerations are also discussed. At the receiver end, a clock recovery circuit based on a charge pump phase locked loop is proposed. The VCO has an internal feedback loop to adjust the duty cycle at different frequency. A simple conventional phase detector with a limited output swing is used to achieve the high working frequency. A modified symmetrical charge pump circuit improves linearity of the output current versus the input UP and DOWN signal. Some characteristics such as impulse capture range and
The Experience of Families and their Carers in Health Care

In their daily routines, families have more inﬂuence on the personal health of each memberthan any other individual or any health service provider. This is particularly true in thedevelopment of and adjustment to a chronic disease or disability such that any palliativeeffects of interactions with a health care service provider can be augmented or underminedby family members who assume pivotal roles in the ongoing health behaviors of their kin.Although these family members are typically viewed as ancillary to the delivery of healthservices, this chapter asserts that families are an integral and vital component of health,and that health care professionals must attend to the unique features of families in orderto enhance the health of the patient. Because families living with those with disease anddisability probably have more inﬂuence on their health than any single professional healthcare provider, it is prudent that these persons receive as equitable a degree of trainingand skill development as observed in the training of other health professionals (Lengnick-Hall, 1995). This approach will necessitate a collaborative—rather than an authoritarianor paternalistic—partnership with families that includes their opinions about needs andsolutions in research projects and service delivery programs (Israel et al., 1998), and mayalso require more community-based, in-home intervention programs than typically offeredby most professional psychologists.It must be noted that families, in which individuals assume both care recipient and carerroles, vary in the degree to which they include non-blood kin (“ﬁctive kin”); families alsodiffer in ways in which members from older and extended generations are involved in theimmediate family circle. In this chapter, we discuss the experience of individuals faced withthe care of a family member with a chronic illness or disability as they attempt to navigate
Design of FH sequences based on chaotic map

Based on one-dimensional chaotic map, a novel method for generating chaotic frequency-hopping (FH) sequences was proposed. In order to maintain the useful chaos properties of the nonlinear dynamical system as much as possible, the chaotic real-valued sequences of nonlinear maps were directly encoded to bit sequences rather than by a threshold function, then chaotic FH sequences by reshaping bits of these bit sequences were obtained The performance analysis and experiment results show that the sequence has the same balance properties, FH number and sequence length as other FH sequences, but much less requirements of iterative operation and much more anti-jamming and anti-intercept capacities. It can be concluded that the FH sequences generated by the novel method are suitable for FH code-division multiple-access systems.
The animal text : Message and meaning in television advertisements

We studied the dominant messages about animals in television commercials and the ways these messages might be subject to alternative readings. Six primary themes captured the portrayal of animals i...
Rheology of olivine and the strength of the lithosphere

In order to throw some light on the rheological behavior of the upper mantle of the Earth, a detailed series of high-temperature deformation experiments has been performed on olivine single crystals at 1 atm pressure under highly controlled thermodynamic conditions. The effects of stress, temperature, oxygen fugacity and orthopyroxene activity on the deformation rate of olivine have been carefully measured for the major high-temperature slip systems. These experimental results have been extrapolated to the pressures and strain rates of the upper mantle to provide new insight into the mechanical behavior of the mantle and a better constrained approach to extrapolation of laboratory deformation data to the conditions present in the upper mantle. The authors suggest that extrapolations in stress provide the most reliable means for extending laboratory creep data to upper mantle strain rates. They also predict that, in the dislocation creep field, the bulk of the strain in olivine in the upper mantle is accommodated by the (010)(100) slip system. In addition, true mantle strengths are probably most accurately modeled using the experimental data for samples oriented favoring the (010)(001) slip system. However, the reliable prediction of mantle strengths requires highly accurate temperature versus depth relationships and good indicationsmore » of the local oxygen fugacity in the mantle.« less
Chemotherapy of gastrointestinal cancer.

At present, useful chemotherapy in gastrointestinal cancer is almost restricted to carcinomas of the colon and rectum in which 5-fluorouracil and several related fluoropyrimidines can produce clinically useful responses in 15 to 20% of patients. Other agents may have produced some benefit less consistently, and additional new agents are presently being studied. Although occasional responses are seen in gastric cancer and rarely in carcinoma of the esophagus, results to date in those diseases are disappointing. Present studies are aimed at employing combinations of chemotherapeutic agents since such regimens have proved to be more useful than single drugs in those diseases which are generally responsive to chemotherapy. Studies of the influence of antitumor drugs in patients with early minimal residual disease are also being pursued in an attempt to achieve more frequent and more prolonged benefit.
Estrogen increases HIP-70/PLC-alpha messenger ribonucleic acid in the rat uterus and hypothalamus

In the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) of female rats, estrogen induces a protein isoform, HIP-70, whose sequence is identical to a protein reported to be phosphoinositol-specific phospholipase-C-alpha (PLC-alpha). Since previous studies explored induction only at the protein level, we examined both the distribution of HIP-70/PLC-alpha mRNA in various tissues and the effects of estrogen on HIP-70/PLC-alpha mRNA. Using slot blot analysis, we found that HIP-70/PLC-alpha mRNA is most abundant in pituitary, uterus, and VMH of female rats compared with other brain regions and tissues. Since these are target tissues for estrogen action, we examined the effects of estrogen on the abundance of HIP-70/PLC-alpha mRNA in these areas. Levels of HIP-70/PLC-alpha mRNA increased greater than 3-fold in the uterus 18 h after estrogen treatment. HIP-70/PLC-alpha mRNA in the VMH also increased about 35% 3 h after estrogen treatment. In situ hybridization corroborated the induction in the ventrolateral ventromedial hypothala...
Medullary serotonin neurons and their roles in central respiratory chemoreception

Much progress has been made in our understanding of central chemoreception since the seminal experiments of Fencl, Loeschcke, Mitchell and others, including identification of new brainstem regions and specific neuron types that may serve as central "sensors" of CO(2)/pH. In this review, we discuss key attributes, or minimal requirements a neuron/cell must possess to be defined as a central respiratory chemoreceptor, and summarize how well each of the various candidates fulfill these minimal criteria-especially the presence of intrinsic chemosensitivity. We then discuss some of the in vitro and in vivo evidence in support of the conclusion that medullary serotonin (5-HT) neurons are central chemoreceptors. We also provide an additional hypothesis that chemosensitive medullary 5-HT neurons are poised to integrate multiple synaptic inputs from various other sources thought to influence ventilation. Finally, we discuss open questions and future studies that may aid in continuing our advances in understanding central chemoreception.
Adenovirus mediated overexpression of CYP2E1 increases sensitivity of HepG2 cells to acetaminophen induced cytotoxicity

To study the biochemical and toxicological properties of cytochrome P450 2E1 (CYP2E1), an adenovirus containing human CYP2E1 cDNA (Ad-CYP2E1) was constructed and was shown to successfully mediate the overexpression of CYP2E1 in HepG2 cells. Acetaminophen (APAP) toxicity to HepG2 cells infected with Ad-CYP2E1 was characterized as a preliminary proof of principle experiment to validate the functionality of the CYP2E1 adenovirus. Compared with cells infected with Ad-LacZ, HepG2 cells infected with Ad-CYP2E1 were more sensitive to APAP induced necrosis and apoptosis when the cells were depleted of intracellular reduced glutathione (GSH). The APAP cytotoxicity was dependent on both the concentration of APAP and the multiplicity of infection of the Ad-CYP2E1 virus. Apoptosis induced by APAP in HepG2 cells overexpressing CYP2E1 was caspase dependent and could be inhibited by the pan-caspase inhibitor Z-VAD-fmk. After treatment with APAP, mitochondrial membrane potential was dramatically decreased in the CYP2E1-expressing cells. APAP protein adducts were elevated in HepG2 cells infected with Ad-CYP2E1 compared with that in cells infected with Ad-LacZ; two bands around 90 KD were found only in the CYP2E1-expressing cells. These results demonstrate that adenovirus-mediated overexpression of human CYP2E1 activates APAP to reactive metabolites which damage mitochondria, form protein adducts, and result in toxicity to HepG2 cells. The Ad-CYP2E1 may be useful for studies designed to investigate the role of CYP2E1 in APAP and alcoholic liver injury and to further characterize the actions and effects of CYP2E1.
Hyperstability in variable structure systems

Reaching and existence conditions for variable structure systems are considered using hyperstability theory. A new sufficient condition for linear, time invariant systems is derived, and an example is given to illustrate how the condition is more relaxed than the sufficient condition presently used for such systems.
Exploring the Stressors of Low-Income Women With Abusive Partners: Understanding Their Needs and Developing Effective Community Responses

This study examined how women's experiences of domestic violence may affect their level of stress, as measured by difficult life circumstances and stressful life events for 107 women living in poverty. Results indicated that women with abusive partners reported higher levels of stress than women who had not experienced abuse. Women's perceptions of how their experiences of domestic violence impacted their health and the type of events women perceived to be most stressful were also examined. Symptoms most frequently perceived to be a result of abusive experiences were heart pounding/racing, trembling hands, headaches, and sleep problems. Implications of the findings for research and community intervention are discussed, including the importance of providing not only crisis intervention services, but also the need to create and maintain long-term support and advocacy services for women who have experienced domestic violence.
ORAL FACIAL, SPEECH AND SWALLOWING FUNCTIONING IN 56 CHILDREN WITH BECKWITH WIEDEMANN SYNDROME. 871

ORAL FACIAL, SPEECH AND SWALLOWING FUNCTIONING IN 56 CHILDREN WITH BECKWITH WIEDEMANN SYNDROME. 871
Factors Affecting Courteous Behavior

Summary Four experimental treatments examined whether an individual could increase the likelihood that another person would act in a more courteous manner toward him. Ss were 84 males and 84 females who had to exit from a parking lot by walking through a 15-yard corridor with doors at both ends of the corridor. The results showed that only if a C “intentionally” held the first door open for an S would the S reciprocate and hold the second door open for the C. Males engaged in more courteous behavior than females.
A Sensitive, Specific Immunobioassay for Quantitation of Human Interleukin 6

Picogram quantities of human interleukin 6 (h-IL-6) were detected by a two-step method. A microtiter plate coated with anti-h IL-6 monoclonal antibody was used to capture the IL-6 present in biological samples. An IL-6- dependent B cell line (7TD1) that proliferates in response to IL-6 was added to the captured IL-6. The lower limit of detection for this immunobioassay with serum or cell culture supernatants was 5 pg/ml. The specificity of the assay was achieved by the antibody used in the first step. The sensitivity was provided by the IL-6-dependent cell line. The method also allows for the removal of inhibitors, metabolites, antagonists or activating agents used to induce IL-6. This immunobioassay has the advantage over other current methods in that it measures immunoactive as well as biologically active IL-6.