cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Characteristics of retailing internships contributing to students' reported satisfaction with career development

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore student perceptions of job characteristics of their internships – and to explore the relationship between these job characteristics and overall satisfaction with their retail merchandising internship experiences in terms of contribution toward career development.Design/methodology/approach – Three internship site categories were identified: stores, corporate settings, and other types. Students completed surveys after their internship experiences.Findings – There were significant differences observed between site types and overall satisfaction with internships. Desire to recommend to others, variety of tasks, repetition of duties, similarity of activities, pay, opportunities for networking with others, extent of dealing with other people, and extent of receiving information from supervisors were different among sites. Information and feedback from supervisors, variety of activities, closure with tasks, clear results of tasks, autonomy, and networking opport...
The limits of growth of the multidivisional firm: A case study of the U.S. oil industry from 1930-90

Some scholars (Chandler, 1977; Penrose, 1959) believe that firms grow by transferring inimitable marketing, production, and research skills from one line of business to another. Extending this view and emphasizing the role of the central office of a multidivisional firm to transfer administrative skills, Williamson (1975) argues that competition among business units within the firm mimics a competitive capital market and leads to an effcient allocation of resources. Coase (1937), however, argues that firm size is limited by the costs of organizing diverse transactions and Chandler (1991) claims that growth is constrained by the technical and marketing expertise of the top managers. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the scope of the multidivisional firm is limited by the transferability of firm-specific skills and the efficiency of capital markets. Support comes from a case study of 19 oil companies over the 1930–90 period.
Brain Networks of Novelty-Driven Involuntary and Cued Voluntary Auditory Attention Shifting

In everyday life, we need a capacity to flexibly shift attention between alternative sound sources. However, relatively little work has been done to elucidate the mechanisms of attention shifting in the auditory domain. Here, we used a mixed event-related/sparse-sampling fMRI approach to investigate this essential cognitive function. In each 10-sec trial, subjects were instructed to wait for an auditory "cue" signaling the location where a subsequent "target" sound was likely to be presented. The target was occasionally replaced by an unexpected "novel" sound in the uncued ear, to trigger involuntary attention shifting. To maximize the attention effects, cues, targets, and novels were embedded within dichotic 800-Hz vs. 1500-Hz pure-tone "standard" trains. The sound of clustered fMRI acquisition (starting at t = 7.82 sec) served as a controlled trial-end signal. Our approach revealed notable activation differences between the conditions. Cued voluntary attention shifting activated the superior intra--parietal sulcus (IPS), whereas novelty-triggered involuntary orienting activated the inferior IPS and certain subareas of the precuneus. Clearly more widespread activations were observed during voluntary than involuntary orienting in the premotor cortex, including the frontal eye fields. Moreover, we found -evidence for a frontoinsular-cingular attentional control network, consisting of the anterior insula, inferior frontal cortex, and medial frontal cortices, which were activated during both target discrimination and voluntary attention shifting. Finally, novels and targets activated much wider areas of superior temporal auditory cortices than shifting cues.
Endothelial cell global positioning system for pulmonary arterial hypertension: homing in on vascular repair.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), defined as a mean pulmonary artery pressure exceeding 25 mm Hg in the presence of a normal capillary wedge pressure,1 is an infrequent (reported incidence, 1–2 per million), chronic, and eventually fatal disorder characterized by obliterative microvascular changes, endothelial cell (EC) dysfunction, and vascular smooth muscle cell overgrowth. The cause of PAH varies (idiopathic, familial, or secondary to autoimmune phenomena and infections such as human immunodeficiency virus), but overall outcome (median survival, 2.8 years) is universally poor.2 See accompanying article on page 1539 Current treatment algorithms involve general supportive measures and pharmacotherapy (calcium channel blockers, anticoagulants, diuretics), as well as targeting major pathways that regulate pulmonary vascular tone: endothelin, nitric oxide, and cAMP.3 Therapeutic agents, such as endothelin receptor antagonists (bosentan), cGMP-specific phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors (sildenafil), soluble guanylate cyclase activators (riociguat), and prostacyclin analogs that increase cAMP production (epoprotenol), provide symptomatic benefit and increased functional capacity.4 However, they fail to substantially improve life expectancy or reverse the underlying disease process. Potentially curative therapies, other than lung transplantation (which itself has significant attendant morbidity secondary to chronic immunosuppression), that directly modulate the underlying pathogenesis of PAH remain elusive. Although there remains much to understand regarding the cause of PAH, novel therapeutic interventions have been developed to enable mitigation of disease in preclinical (animal) models by targeting known activated pathways in PAH. Preventing disease progression by …
Effect of cyanide and electrical stimulation on phosphoinositide metabolism in lobster nerves.

The contents of phosphoinositides, ATP, glucose and lactate in leg and claw nerves of the lobster were determined. Nerves were also analysed after cyanide poisoning, after electrical stimulation, and 1 h after removing the leg from the lobster. Cyanide poisoning decreased the levels of ATP and glucose and increased the content of lactate but did not alter the levels of phosphoinositides. Nerves left in situ for 1 h after disconnection from the central nervous system exhibited a decrease in the content of tri-phosphoinositides (TPI) of 50 per cent, without changes in ATP, glucose or lactate. The TPI change was reversed after incubation for 1 h in oxygenated seawater. Nerves labelled in vivo with 32P were removed and stimulated at 50 Hz for 5 min. The turnover of TPI phosphorus increased on stimulation in both normal and cyanide-poisoned nerves. In contrast, turnover of ATP increased after stimulation in normal nerves but not in cyanide-treated nerves. We sought to determine whether polyphosphoinositides play a greater role in resting metabolism of the nerve or in the conducting mechanisms. Our results make more likely the involvement of TPI in permeability changes of neural membranes during excitation.
Liver Transplantation for Hepatocellular Carcinoma in the Model for End-Stage Liver Disease Era

Background Since March 2002, the United Network for Organ Sharing liver allocation policy has given extra priority to patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who meet specific medical criteria. This study reviews our experience with liver transplantation for HCC under this system. Study Design Between March 2002 and April 2009, 244 patients with HCC underwent primary liver or liver-kidney transplantation under the current allocation system at the University of Miami. Outcomes including HCC recurrence-free survival (RFS) and patient survival (PS) were assessed retrospectively. Clinical variables that predicted outcomes were analyzed. Results The median time from listing to transplantation was 48 days. The median follow-up was 27.4 months, with an observed recurrence rate of 10.7%. The RFS rates at 1, 3, and 5 years after transplantation were 96.0%, 89.0%, and 83.6%, respectively. The PS rates at 1, 3, and 5 years after transplantation were 86.3%, 71.5%, and 61.7%, respectively. Among patients diagnosed with T2 HCC, a trend toward improved RFS was observed for those who received preoperative ablative therapy; PS was similar (p > 0.05). Outcomes (RFS and PS) for patients with T3 HCC were similar to those in patients with T2 HCC (p > 0.05). Patients with an alpha-fetoprotein >100 ng/mL had an RFS that was inferior to that in patients with an alpha-fetoprotein ≤100 ng/mL (p Conclusions Under the current allocation system, transplantation for HCC results in excellent RFS; PS depends on factors other than HCC; the value of preoperative ablative therapy for patients with T2 HCC is uncertain; the current criteria could be expanded to include selected patients with T3 HCC; and an elevated AFP level is associated with an increased risk of HCC recurrence after transplantation.
A blind algorithm for recovering articulator positions from acoustics

MIMICRI is a signal-processing algorithm that has been shown to blindly infer and invert memoryless nonlinear functions of unobservable bandlimited signals, such as the mapping from the unobservable positions of the speech articulators to observable speech sounds. We review results of using MIMICRI on toy problems and on human speech data. We note that MIMICRI requires that the user specify two parameters: the dimensionality and pass-band of the unobservable signals. We show how to use cross-validation to help estimate the passband. An unexpected consequence of this work is that it helps separate signals with overlapping frequency bands.
Does vegetable oil attenuate the beneficial effects of fish oil in reducing risk factors for cardiovascular disease

Contradictory reports on the protective effect of fish consumption on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk could be due to variations in the intake of n-3 and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). Metabolic competition between n-3 and n-6 PUFAs suggests that n-6 PUFAs in vegetable oils could attenuate the efficacy of n-3 PUFAs in fish oil to favorably alter endpoints relevant to CVD risk. We determined the effects of varying dietary amounts of fish oil on lipid and thrombotic endpoints relevant to risk factors for CVD and whether these effects were attenuated by vegetable oils. Two randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel studies were conducted in human subjects fed varying amounts of n-3 and n-6 PUFAs; n-3 PUFA intake was varied by using fish or placebo oil capsules, and n-6 PUFA intake was modified by incorporating varying amounts of safflower oil into the diet. Endpoints included changes in membrane fatty acid composition, blood lipids, and thrombotic profile. The results indicated that absolute amounts of fish oil, and not the relative amounts of fish and vegetable oil (ratios of n-3 to n-6 PUFAs), determined the magnitude of the reduction of arachidonic acid and increase in eicosapentaenoic acid in phospholipids of plasma and platelets. The suppression of plasma triacylglycerols by fish oil was not affected by varying amounts of dietary n-6 PUFAs. Fibrinogen concentrations decreased with 15 g but not with 9 g fish oil/d fed at the same ratio of n-3 to n-6 PUFAs. The efficacy of fish oil in favorably modifying certain risk factors for CVD was not attenuated by vegetable oil.
The use of tourniquets in the excision of unexsanguinated extremity burn wounds

Abstract Purpose : Tangential excision of burns is complicated by blood loss. Tourniquet use decreases blood loss, but adequacy of excision has been questioned. An attempt was made to assess the value of not exsanguinating the limb prior to tourniquet inflation to improve visualization of bleeding points and subsequent engraftment. Methods : Eleven excisions of bilateral extremity wounds were performed. One limb was excised without the benefit of a tourniquet, the other with tourniquet but without exsanguination. Tangential excision was performed, hemostasis achieved, and blood loss quantified. Engraftment of skin was assessed at first dressing change and at initial follow-up after discharge. Results : Area of burn was the same, 4.8% with tourniquet, 5.1% without ( P =0.38). Overall blood loss was less with tourniquet control, 100–259cm 3 ( P =0.002); as was blood loss per area, 0.19–0.58cc/cm 2 ( P =0.04). Graft take was similar, 98.2% early and 98.1% later with tourniquet, with 98.2 and 96.8% take without ( P >0.1). Conclusions : Tourniquet use in the unexsanquinated extremity reduced blood loss without affecting engraftment.
Living the lessons of action: An interview with Patricia Maguire*

This article highlights an interview conducted with Patricia Maguire. Her words are used to exemplify her beliefs about critical reflection, listening, and committing to the difficult work of action research.
Biexcitonic effects in semiconductor microcavities

In this paper we present experimental and theoretical investigations of effects of biexcitons on coupled exciton-photon excitations, or cavity polaritons, in a GaAs quantum well (QW) microcavity. Using polarization-dependent transient pump-probe spectroscopy, we show that biexcitonic effects can result in a significant increase in normal mode splitting (NMS) of cavity polaritons, in sharp contrast to effects of band filling and exciton ionization that reduce the NMS. A theoretical model based on modified optical Bloch equations is developed to describe qualitatively effects of biexcitons in semiconductor microcavities.
Effect of Water Content on Corrosion of Borosilicate Glass

The effect of water content on the corrosion resistance of a proprietary borosilicate glass is discussed. Several glass smelting methods were employed to produce an alkali borosilicate glass with various amounts of water within the body of the glass. Infrared studies in the region 2.7 to 3.0 P showed that a decrease in the O–H groups in the glass resulted in a decrease in the amount of absorption in this region. The corrosion resistance of these glasses was measured in the vapor phase over boiling 20% hydrochloric acid. A correlation between water content and corrosion resistance is shown.
Identification of Active Central Nervous System Sites in Renal Wrap Hypertensive Rats

To identify central neurons participating in cardiovascular regulation in hypertension, we studied Fos staining, a marker for synaptically activated neurons, in adult male normotensive and hypertensive (HT) rats. At 1 and 4 weeks after induction of unilateral nephrectomy, renal wrap hypertension mean arterial pressure was 138±4 mm Hg (n=6) in 1-week HT rats and 159±6 mm Hg (n=6) in 4-week HT rats. Mean arterial pressure was 103±2 mm Hg (n=6) in sham-operated, normotensive rats. Mean arterial pressure was greater in both HT groups compared with normotensive rats, and the mean arterial pressure in 4-week HT rats was greater than that in 1-week HT rats. Rats were anesthetized and perfused, brains sectioned and processed using a Fos antibody, and the number of Fos immunoreactive neurons counted in sections through various brain regions. Hypertension of 1 or 4 weeks did not alter the number of Fos immunoreactive neurons in the area postrema, the supraoptic nucleus, and the median preoptic nucleus. The number of Fos immunoreactive neurons was increased after 1 and 4 weeks in the nucleus of the solitary tract, both the caudal and ventral lateral medulla, and the organum vasculosum of the lamina terminalis. In addition, after 4 weeks of HT, the number of Fos immunoreactive neurons was increased in the parabrachial nucleus and the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus. The results indicate central regions active in acute and chronic HT rats and suggest certain areas that may be differentially activated depending on the duration of the hypertension.
Soft-Timer Driven Transient Kernel Control Flow Attacks and Defense

A new class of stealthy kernel-level malware, called transient kernel control flow attacks, uses dynamic soft timers to achieve significant work while avoiding any persistent changes to kernel code or data. We demonstrate that soft timers can be used to implement attacks such as a stealthy key logger and a CPU cycle stealer. To defend against these attacks, we propose an approach based on static analysis of the entire kernel, which identifies and catalogs all legitimate soft timer interrupt requests (STIR) in a database. At run-time, a reference monitor in a trusted virtual machine compares each STIR with the database, only allowing the execution of known good STIRs. Our defensive technique has no false negatives because it mediates every STIR execution and prevents execution of all unknown, illegitimate STIRs, and no false positives because the relevant kernel code analyzed was unambiguous. The overhead for this additional security is less than 7% for each of our benchmarks.
“Standard” versus “Dialect” in Bilingual Education: An Old Problem in a New Context

the world's thousands of languages has been admitted to modern, literacy-related educational functions, the number of languages so admitted has grown dramatically during the past century. Since the admission of languages to new societal functions is close to the very backbone of the sociology of language the mushrooming of sociolinguistic interest in international bilingual education is readily understandable. Among the central issues in this connection is not only the stability of the phenomenon under study but the explicit "handling" or planning to which newly admitted languages are subjected in order to render them schoolworthy in the eyes of their sponsors. This paper is a contribution to the latter topic, although it draws considerable perspective from precedents pertaining to the former.
Role of intestinal fluid in restitution of blood volume and plasma protein after hemorrhage in awake rats.

To determine whether food and/or water in the gastrointestinal tract affects restitution of blood volume and plasma protein after hemorrhage, fed and 24-h-fasted awake rats received a 20 ml.kg-1 x 3 min-1 hemorrhage, and restitution of blood volume was measured by Evans blue dye and dilution of hematocrit. Restitution of blood volume and plasma protein in fed rats was complete by 2-4 h. In contrast, restitution was severely attenuated in fasted rats and was not complete by 24 h. Because initial blood volume was significantly lower in the fasted rats (55.4 +/- 1.7 vs. 64.9 +/- 2.5 ml/kg in fed), the percent blood lost during hemorrhage was significantly greater (36 vs. 31%). However, the attenuated restitution was not the result of the larger hemorrhage, as fed rats receiving a 36% hemorrhage also restored blood volume completely by 4 h. In fasted rats, complete restitution of blood volume did occur when either water or food and water were given 4 h after hemorrhage. Gastrointestinal water content fell (from 65.5 +/- 4.8 to 47.9 +/- 1.6 ml/kg) 2h after hemorrhage in fed but not in fasted rats (33.5 +/- 2.4 to 30.6 +/- 2.5 ml/kg). These data suggest that gastrointestinal fluid is essential for complete restoration of blood volume in the awake rat.
mSafety: An ABM of Community Information-Sharing to Improve Public Safety

Millions of people globally have been forcibly displaced from their homes due to reasons beyond their control such as conflict, political upheaval, and environmental catastrophes. In many cases, these forced migrants seek temporary refuge in camps managed by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Although responsibility for refugees’ well-being within camps belongs mainly to the NGOs and host government, the density of the camp population and lack of resources of service providers leads to a high degree of insecurity. Building off successful models of mHealth, or utilizing mobile technologies to address healthcare needs, this paper explores the possibility of using communication technologies to address personal security issues. Using agent based modeling techniques, this paper examines the ways in which information about incidents of violence are communicated through a closed population. In this way, the authors advocate for the use of mobile phones in an mSecurity context that empowers forced migrants to become active members in reducing incidents of violence within refugee and internally displaced persons camps.
Mating patterns in squirrel monkeys (Saimiri oerstedi)

The mating system of squirrel monkeys (Saimiri oerstedi) in Parque Nacional Corcovado, Costa Rica was studied and used to develop a model to interpret the evolution of seasonal sexual dimorphism in squirrel monkeys (Saimiri spp.). Adult male body weights in captivity and the wild may increase more than 20%, beginning approximately two months prior to and continuing through the annual two month, breeding season. Female inter-troop transfer was common in the study population, but male troop residence was stable. Instances of agression among adult males in the troop, even in sexual contexts, were rare. Reproductively mature males enlarged to varying degrees by the start of the breeding season and cooperated in mobbing females to olfactorily evaluate female, estrous condition. Female mate preference corresponded to a ranking based on relative male enlargement. The largest male obtained 70% of the copulations observed in the 1984 breeding season. Little evidence exists that females typically mate with more than one male during the period of peak receptivity. Seasonal enlargement in males is suggested to be the result, of both male intrasexual competition and female choice.
E-Design Tool for Friction Stir Welding

This paper describes efforts to develop a web-based E-Design tool for the Friction Stir Welding (FSW) technique. The input parameters to the E-Design tool are the joint specifications. The output parameters of the E-Design tool are process parameters such as tool geometry details, tool rpm, and plunge depth. The heart of the E-Design tool is the FSW database. The FSW database contains mappings of various input parameters and output parameters that are captured by referring to various experimental studies cited in the literature. The proposed E-Design tool deals with lap joints and butt joints between similar aluminum alloys.© 2008 ASME
Effects of thyroxine and thiouracil on hypothalamic PIF and pituitary prolactin levels.

SummaryThe effects of thyroxine or thiouracil on pituitary prolactin and hypothalamic prolactin inhibiting factor (PIF) levels were studied in rats. Thyroxine injected in doses of 5 or 25 μg/100 g of body weight daily for 21 days significantly increased AP prolactin content and concentration despite a significant decrease in AP weight. Thiouracil feeding (0.1%) for 21 days reduced pituitary prolactin content and concentration although these decreases were not significant. Neither thyroxine nor thiouracil had any effect on hypothalamic PIF content. These results suggest that thyroxine stimulates and thiouracil depresses prolactin secretion by a direct action of thyroxine or of the lack thereof on the AP. They do not provide any evidence that thyroxine or thiouracil influence prolactin secretion via the hypothalamus.
Idiopathic retinal vasculitis, aneurysms and neuroretinitis case report.

Abstract Purpose To report a case of idiopathic retinal vasculitis, aneurysms and neuroretinitis (IRVAN) in a young woman. Observations A 21-year-old white female patient was referred to retina clinic with decreased vision in the left eye. On examination, best corrected visual acuity was 20/20 in the right eye and counting fingers in the left eye. Fundus examination revealed bilateral optic disc edema, peripapillary and macular exudates, retinal arterial aneurysms, and venous beading. In the left eye, there was a large focus of exudative material in the central macula. Examination of the peripheral retina was unremarkable, bilaterally. Fluorescein angiography demonstrated arterial aneurysms and venous beading in both eyes, with optic nerve activity and vascular sheathing noted on late frames in both eyes. In the left eye, there was a large central area of blockage corresponding to hard exudates surrounding a more central area of hyperfluorescence with leakage, representing retinal neovascularization. Review of systems and extensive laboratory workup were negative. The patient was diagnosed with IRVAN. She was observed, and her exam at 6-month follow-up revealed low grade inflammation for which the patient was started on oral prednisone. Conclusions and Importance Management of IRVAN remains challenging because of its idiopathic nature and the lack of controlled clinical trials for such a rare entity. Bilateral involvement in IRVAN is variable and close follow up is crucial.
Quest for Identity: Realpolitik or Imperialism? Nixon, Kissinger, and American Foreign Policy

Richard Nixon entered the White House determined to create a new international order that would simultaneously contain communism and restore America's freedom of action. The author of this vision was Henry Kissinger, a German-born academic known for his admiration of Austrian Chancellor Klemens von Metternich, a nineteenth-century statesman whose approach to international relations had been distinctly non-ideological and counterrevolutionary. Specifically, Nixon and Kissinger, appointed by the president to be national security adviser, wanted to secure “peace with honor in Vietnam” by weakening the Vietcong (VC) and North Vietnamese and strengthening South Vietnam so that the armies of Nguyen Van Thieu could win a battlefield victory on their own. Thus freed from the Vietnam quagmire, with its prestige restored and its military undistracted, the United States could assume the role of arbiter of world affairs. The new Republican administration accepted the implications of NSC 68 – that it was necessary to battle communism on every front – but believed that global containment could be achieved through diplomacy rather than force of arms. In Kissinger's view, the Soviet Union and to a lesser extent Communist China were on their way to becoming satiated, status quo powers. If the United States could disarm their fears and appeal to their economic interests, the two communist superpowers might be persuaded to take their places as responsible members of the international community. Then, as had been true in the days of Metternich, who presided over the Concert of Europe following the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte, the great powers could act to control revolutions that threatened international stability.
Protection designing and analysis of ahelical tomotherapy room

Objective To determine the radiation dose level outside of a helical tomotherapy room and formulate a reasonable protection designing project of the radiation treatment room, and to ensure that the project is worked out to provide radiation safety protection safeguard for the clinical application of TOMO facility.Methods A helical tomotherapy facility typed Tomotherapy Hi-Art of a hospital was studied as the object researched. According to performance parameters of the facility, relative technical standards such as NCRP report No.151, GBZ/T 201.2-2011 and QC rules of the AAPM Task Group No.148, the shielding and safety protection design of the tomotherapy room were confirmed. The protective effect of the room was appraised. Results The shielding design project was determined as follows: the eastern, western protective wall and ceiling of the tomotherapy room should be constructed with barites of 95 cm thickness of barites, southern wall with 70 cm barites, inner wall and external wall of the maze should be constructed with 70-30 cm and 30-70 cm of barites respectively. In addition, a protective door with 8mmPb shielding should be set at the entrance of the room. All the radiation dose levels penetrating from the room wall were calculated, and it was shown that the maximum radiation dose rate in the facility interlayer alleyway outside wall was 8.89 μGy/h, and the cable channel under ground ( 3.25 μGy/h) ranked the second. The maximum value outside of the protective door reached 1.6 μGy/h. Based on the above data, the highest annual effective dose received by the radiation workers in the treatment place was 0.27 mSv, and the relative public near the treatment room was not more than 0.03 mSv/a. Conclusion Leakage radiation should be primarily taken into consideration during radiation design for a helical tomotherapy room. Meanwhile, the relevant control protection effect of the treatment room also should be assessed in terms of the real irradiation parameters, the workload and room conditions.
Managing the loss of control over cyber identity

Professionals entering the information security field need new models to manage user reactions to the loss of control over their digital identities. Escalations in authentication technologies like behavioral blocks and biometric data breaches are reducing the user's control over the management of their digital identities. Simultaneously, users are becoming more digitally dependant regarding financial transactions, buying food, emotionally connecting with loved ones on social media, managing personal information, and writing personal documents. This research presents a tool to address this issue pulled from the fields of education, political science, psychology, and cyber security. It is combined as a set of models to be delivered as part of information security curricula. Recent analysis of brain scans and population behavior studies have suggested that when people feel their identity at risk and feel disempowered they will have a stronger disposition towards authoritarianism, desire for retribution, and a desire for simplistic solutions instead of acting with reasoned and adaptive responses. Indicators in other fields suggest that the way professionals and educators characterize incidents that threaten digital identity can habituate different types of societal attitudes about the Internet and institutional data usage. The model presented herein should help cyber security educators characterize user responds to digital identity threats, and provides a scale for evaluating those responses.
Population growth as a driver of initial domestication in Eastern North America

The transition to agriculture is one of the most significant events in human prehistory; yet, explaining why people initially domesticated plants and animals remains a contentious research problem in archaeology. Two competing hypotheses dominate current debates. The first draws on niche construction theory to emphasize how intentional management of wild resources should lead to domestication regardless of Malthusian population–resource imbalances. The second relies on models from behavioural ecology (BE) to highlight how individuals should only exert selective pressure on wild resources during times of population–resource imbalance. We examine these hypotheses to explain the domestication event which occurred in Eastern North America approximately 5000 years ago. Using radiocarbon date density and site counts as proxies for human population, we find that populations increased significantly in the 1000 years prior to initial domestication. We therefore suggest that high populations prior to 5000 cal BP may have experienced competition for and possibly overexploitation of resources, altering the selective pressures on wild plants thereby producing domesticates. These findings support the BE hypothesis of domestication occurring in the context of population–resource imbalances. Such deficits, driven either by increased populations or decreased resource abundance, are predicted to characterize domestication events elsewhere.
Pattern of congenital heart disease in a developing country tertiary care center: Factors associated with delayed diagnosis.

Objective: To determine the delay in diagnosis of various types of congenital heart defects in children and factors associated with such delay. Patients and Methods: For this observational study, 354 patients having congenital heart disease (CHD) presenting for the first time to the Department of Cardiology, Children's Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan, between January 1, 2015 and June 30, 2015, were enrolled after obtaining informed verbal consent from the guardian of each child. Demographical profile and various factors under observation were recorded. Results: Among the 354 enrolled children (M: F 1.7:1) with age ranging from 1 to 176 months (median 24 months), 301 (85.1%) had delayed diagnosis of CHD (mainly acyanotic 65.3%), with median delay (8 months). Main factors for delay were delayed first consultation to a doctor (37.2%) and delayed diagnosis by a health professional (22.5%). Other factors included delayed referral to a tertiary care hospital (13.3%), social taboos (13.0%), and financial constraints (12.3%). Most children were delivered outside hospital settings (88.7%). Children with siblings less than two (40%) were less delayed than those having two or more siblings (60%, P Conclusion: Diagnosis of congenital heart defect was delayed in majority of patients. Multiple factors such as lack of adequately trained health system and socioeconomic constraints were responsible for the delay. There is a need to develop an efficient referral system and improve public awareness in developing countries for early diagnosis and management of such children.
Towards verifying android apps for the absence of no-sleep energy bugs

The Android OS conserves battery life by aggressively turning off components, such as screen and GPS, while allowing application developers to explicitly prevent part of this behavior using the WakeLock API. Unfortunately, the inherent complexity of the Android programming model and developer errors often lead to improper use of Wake-Locks that manifests as no-sleep bugs. To mitigate this problem, we have implemented a tool that verifies the absence of this kind of energy bugs w.r.t. a set of Wake-Lock specific policies using a precise, inter-procedural data flow analysis framework to enforce them. We run our analysis on 328 Android apps that utilize WakeLocks, verify 145 of them and shed light on the locking patterns employed and when these can be harmful. Further, we identify challenges that remain in order to make verification of Android apps even more precise.
Barriers to formal police–community corrections partnerships: A comparison of police chiefs and chief probation/parole officers’ perceptions

Although there has been continuing and increasingly intensive interest in police–community corrections partnerships over the past two decades, recent studies have found that the majority of partnerships remain informal endeavors. Little is known about the reasons why police and community corrections agencies do not formalize partnerships. To address this gap in knowledge, we collected state-wide survey data from police chiefs and chief probation/parole officers in Pennsylvania regarding barriers to partnerships as well as interest in new partnership opportunities. The results revealed that for both police and probation/parole agencies, the most common reason for nonparticipation was that they have not been approached by the respective agencies. A lack of funding resources was the second most common barrier for both agencies. The so-called stalking horse concern was another significant barrier for probation/parole agencies, but it was not significant for police agencies. Regarding favorability to future pa...
Risk-attitudes of the NSE 500 firms—Bowman's paradox and prospect theory perspectives

Abstract This study analyses risk-attitudes of NSE 500 firms by using Bowman's (1980) paradox from Kahneman and Tversky's (1979) prospect theory perspectives. It hypothesises that below median firms incline to be risk-seeking in light of Bowman's paradoxical negative risk–return association, and firms above the reference point level would be risk-averse. On an overall basis and also under controlled sector, size, age and risk sub-samples, Indian firms show significant presence of the prospect theory implications, and below median firms exhibit presence of Bowman's (1980) paradox. This is evidenced when firm's own and cross-sectional industry mean target return benchmarks are taken.
Complex regional pain syndrome

Complex regional pain syndrome is a chronic pain syndrome that is often instigated by postoperative or post-traumatic events. The disease process can progress through three stages, the first of which tends to respond best to treatment. A review of the literature is presented, followed by a report of a patient who developed symptoms of complex regional pain syndrome following a water-skiing accident.
Security vs. privacy: How integrity attacks can be masked by the noise of differential privacy

Privacy concerns have increased in the last years due to the unprecedented scale of data collected regarding human activity. Differential privacy has emerged in the last decade as an important mechanism to ensure privacy by adding random noise with a specific distribution to the information being collected (e.g., adding noise to smart meters, and sensor readings). Differential privacy has been mainly used in private databases, but lately it has also been extended to consider applications like estimation, consensus algorithms, and control of dynamical systems.
Risk factors identification for work-related musculoskeletal disorders with wearable and connected gait analytics system

Risk factors, such as overexertion, awkward postures, excessive repetition, and the combination of these factors are main causes of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) which are reported to be the leading nonfatal occupational injuries. However, it is difficult for commonly used risk factors identification methods (e.g. observational methods) to give an objective and comprehensive analysis on these risk factors. To address the above problem, we proposed an automatic WMSDs risk factors identification method based on Wearable and Connected Gait Analytics System (WCGAS). WKGAS was capable of recording plantar pressure from which postures, force exertions, and repetitions could be recognized with algorithms such as sequential minimal optimization (SMO) algorithm and long short term memory (LSTM) network. Experiments with quasi-static and sequential postures were designed to evaluate the recognition performance of work-related motion type (i.e. "lifting", "carrying", "bending", "pulling", and "pushing"). A load variable (with/without 10 Kg load) was introduced for evaluating the performance of force exertions recognition. 5 repetitions of each motion were used for evaluating the performance of repetitions recognition. Results showed that quasi-static postures could be recognized with 100% accuracy and the accuracy for sequential motions recognition were 74%, 79%, 92%, 99% and 99% for "bending", "carrying", "lifting", "pulling" and "pushing", respectively. Force exertions were recognized with 100% accuracy. For repetitions recognition, except the accuracy in the "bending" motion was 80%, the repetitions of other motions could be recognized correctly. These results indicated that it is possible to use WCGAS for WMSDs risk factors identification.
Assessment of Acute Pain in Children

Abstract Pain assessment is an important component of emergency department care. Children present unique challenges to assessing pain due to their constantly changing developmental ability to understand concepts, communicate verbally, and use common pain severity rating scales. Pain severity in young and noncommunicating cognitively impaired children is rated using behavioral scales. School-aged children use faces scales to self-report pain severity, whereas older preteens and adolescents can use the verbal numeric rating scale. There are numerous other important aspects of the pain experience to assess other than severity, such as location, mechanism, neuropathology, onset, provokers and palliaters, quality, radiation, and timing.
Simultaneous Determination of Tobacco Alkaloids, Tobacco-Specific Nitrosamines, and Solanesol in Consumer Products Using UPLC–ESI-MS/MS

The US Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) is responsible for collecting Federal excise taxes on tobacco products. Tobacco products in the USA may fall into several taxable categories including cigars, cigarettes, snuff, chewing tobacco, pipe tobacco, and roll-your-own. The existence of these taxable categories means that the TTB is also responsible for the determination of proper tax classification. Not only does proper classification determine the amount of tax owed, but comprehensive classification procedures must also determine if a consumer product is subject to the tobacco excise tax. Since a product must contain tobacco to be subject to the excise tax, laboratory methods that test for the presence of tobacco can provide useful information to ascertain the taxable status of a product. To test for the presence of chemical markers associated with tobacco, an analytical method was developed that permits the simultaneous determination of nicotine and related alkaloids, tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNA), and solanesol in methanolic extracts of tobacco. The method utilizes ultra performance liquid chromatography with electrospray ionization–tandem mass spectrometric detection (UPLC–ESI-MS/MS) and was optimized for the analysis of nicotine, cotinine, nornicotine, anatabine, myosmine, anabasine, isonicoteine, nornicotyrine, nicotyrine, N-nitrosoanatabine (NAT), N-nitrosoanabasine (NAB), 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK), N′-nitrosonornicotine (NNN) and solanesol. The analytical method was designed to attenuate the instrument response of nicotine, which is overwhelming, to permit simultaneous analysis of all analytes.
Rapid range expansion of the Brazilian free-tailed bat in the southeastern United States, 2008–2016

Brazilian free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) are one of the most widely distributed bat species in the Americas, often engaging in rapid, long-distance dispersals. Here, we document that, since ca. 2007, these bats have expanded their range into western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, and Virginia. Reports from wildlife control professionals, wildlife rehabilitators, regional submissions of bats for rabies testing, acoustic monitoring, and the presence of T. brasiliensis in buildings and bat houses indicate that these bats are now established in year-round colonies in areas previously thought outside their range limits. The geographic distributions of many organisms are currently shifting to higher latitudes in response to changing climate. We hypothesize that a coldtolerant thermal physiology that allows these largely tropical bats to enter extended torpor contributes to the ability of T. brasiliensis to establish populations in formerly cooler regions, and propose that their rapid northward expansion is facilitated by climate change and their tendency to explore new habitats and use a wide diversity of roost sites. Because of their abundance and use of man-made structures, we anticipate that the range expansion of T. brasiliensis will have implications for public health, ecosystem services, and bat conservation.
Pilot Analysis of Late Conversion to Belatacept in Kidney Transplant Recipients for Biopsy-Proven Chronic Tacrolimus Toxicity

Background. Calcineurin inhibitors are associated with chronic nephrotoxicity, manifesting as interstitial fibrosis/tubular atrophy (IF/TA) and arteriolar hyalinosis. Conversion from tacrolimus to belatacept may be one strategy to preserve renal function. Methods. We conducted a retrospective review of renal transplant patients followed at our institution who were converted to belatacept and found to have chronic tacrolimus toxicity on biopsy. The primary outcome was eGFR at conversion as compared to eGFR at 3, 6, 12, and 24 months after conversion. We also assessed incidence of infection and rates of allograft survival at 1 year. Results. The average time between transplant and conversion was 11.9 years. There was no decrease in eGFR at any postconversion time point as compared with preconversion. The mean eGFR at time of preconversion was 32.9 mL/min, as compared with 35.6 mL/min at 3 months , 34.1 mL/min at 6 months , 34.9 mL/min at 12 months , and 39.6 mL/min at 24 months after conversion . Four of 7 patients had increases in their eGFR after conversion. All grafts were functioning at 1 year after conversion. Conclusion. While this study was limited by a small number of patients, belatacept conversion stabilized eGFR at all time points in patients with late allograft function due to chronic tacrolimus toxicity, with a trend towards increased eGFR at 3 months.
Understanding and Addressing Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Obesity

Obesity has been implicated in a number of chronic diseases that disproportionately impact racial/ethnic minorities (e.g., type 2 diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases) (Harris et al., Diabetes Care 21(4):518–524, 1998; Mensah et al., Circulation 111(10):1233–1241, 2005; Jemal et al., CA Cancer J Clin 58(2):71–96, 2008). While excess weight is a problem among all US residents, African Americans are more likely to be overweight or obese than their White counterparts (Hedley et al., JAMA 291(23):2847–2850, 2004). Over 76 % of US African American adults are overweight or obese (Hedley et al., JAMA 291(23):2847–2850, 2004), with rates highest in the South (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Behavioral risk factor surveillance system survey data: 2010 state obesity rates. US Department of Health and Human Services). Similar patterns are seen in youth with disparities that emerge as early as the preschool years and widen over time (Ogden et al., JAMA 295(13):1549–1555, 2006; Ogden et al., JAMA 299(20):2401–2405, 2008; Ogden et al., JAMA 303(3):242–249, 2010). There are multiple influences on obesity that may explain higher prevalence of obesity, including individual, family, culture (beliefs, traditions), neighborhood, and policy. Thus, comprehensive models, such as an ecological approach (The ecology of human development, Cambridge, MA), are helpful in understanding the potential factors contributing to racial/ethnic and geographic disparities and ultimately assist in developing interventions to eliminate disparities in obesity and related chronic conditions. The following chapter discusses the public health significance of obesity, provides data on the disparities in obesity rates, discusses potential causes of obesity disparities, and offers multi-level solutions to improve minority health and eliminate obesity disparities.
Testing the Dyadic Theory of Conflict -- A Dynamic Model of Conflict Escalation

Recent studies show that states’ interests may demonstrate direct causal effects on militarized conflict. Drawing on the logic of ingroup and outgroup identification, this study aims to develop explanations linking the predominance of interest similarity to the likelihood of conflict escalation. Empirical support for this hypothesis is generated with two brief cases and a statistic test with new values for national interests. In addition, by conducting a Heckman selection model between 1975 to 1992, the results inform us that dyads with similar policy preferences tend to have less severe militarized disputes.