cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Efficient synthesis and electronic studies of core-shell nanowires based on colossal magnetoresistive manganites.

We report our recent study on the pulsed laser deposition process in the synthesis of colossal magnetoresistive MgO/LaCaMnO3 and MgO/LaSrMnO3 core−shell nanowires. A highly efficient process has been developed by depositing an epitaxial layer of manganite onto randomly oriented MgO nanowires grown on SiO2/Si substrates. In addition, in-depth studies revealed that the sample−target distance played a critical role in determining the core−shell nanowire quality. The MgO/LaCaMnO3 and MgO/LaSrMnO3 nanowires opened up the unique opportunity to explore a number of intriguing physical properties at the nanoscale. Remarkable metal−insulator phase transitions and pronounced colossal magnetoresistance have been observed in both LaCaMnO3 and LaSrMnO3 nanostructures.
Vegetation type conversion in Los Peñasquitos Lagoon, California: an examination of the role of watershed urbanization.

The objective of this study was to examine the role that watershed urbanization has played in changes to the vegetation types within Los Penasquitos Lagoon, San Diego, California. Aerial photographs taken between 1928 and 1999 were used to examine changes in vegetation types. The aerial photographs were scanned into digital format and incorporated into a geographic information system (GIS). A combination of image classification techniques was used to differentiate the vegetation types. Land use/cover of the Carmel Valley watershed of the Los Penasquitos Lagoon was mapped for the same dates as the aerial photographs. A temporal geographic analysis was conducted on the conversion of areal extent of lagoon vegetation types compared to areal extent of urban development in the watershed. Soil salinity and dry season (June–September) stream discharge were measured. The results show that approximately 80.3% of the vegetation in the study area has changed types between 1928 and 1999. Increases in the areal extent of urban development within the watershed show a strong positive relationship compared to the areal extent of brackish marsh and riparian vegetation, and a strong negative relationship to the areal extent of salt panne and mudflats. There was no significant relationship between urban development and salt marsh vegetation. Dry season stream discharge has increased by an order of magnitude. The increase in stream discharge supports the hypothesis that increased freshwater has lowered soil salinity, allowing for invasion by glycophytic species. Hydrology and soil salinity appear to be significant factors for maintaining the distribution of the lagoon vegetation types and the biotic communities that rely upon them.
Comparison of single versus multiple spontaneous extra- and/or intracranial arterial dissection

Background Anecdotal data suggest that approximately 20% of patients with a spontaneous extra- and/or intracranial arterial dissection have multiple arterial involvement. Limited data exist regarding the clinical and angiographic characteristics of patients with multiple arterial dissections. We compared the clinical and angiographic features of patients with spontaneous multiple extra- and/or intracranial arterial dissections with those who have a single arterial dissection. Methods A retrospective chart review of the consecutive ischemic stroke database over a 7-year period, maintained at 2 institutions, was conducted to identify patients with spontaneous extra- and/or intracranial arterial dissection. The patients’ clinical characteristics and angiographic features (including the artery affected, presence of pseudoaneurysm, fibromuscular dysplasia, and degree of stenosis) were analyzed. Results A total of 76 patients were admitted with spontaneous extra- and/or intracranial arterial dissection; 46 dissections were confirmed with 4-vessel cerebral angiography. Multiple arterial dissections were found in a total of 10 (22%) patients. Involvement of multiple arteries was more prevalent in the young, when compared to a single spontaneous arterial dissection (7 [70%] in patients v 11 [31%]; P = .03). Patients with multiple arterial dissections had a higher proportion of pseudoaneurysms (9 [90%] v 11 [31%]; P = .001), a higher prevalence of underlying fibromuscular dysplasia (3 [30%] v 3 [8%]; P = .11), and were more likely to involve the posterior circulation ( P Conclusions The presence of multiple, simultaneous spontaneous extra- and/or intracranial arterial dissections must be considered when a single spontaneous arterial dissection is identified.
General equation for correlating the thermophysical properties of n-paraffins, n-olefins, and other homologous series : 1. Formalism for developing asymptotic behavior correlations

In this first in a series of three papers, a formal treatment is presented for the development of property correlations for homologous series of compounds. The theoretical basis for asymptotic behavior is discussed, and the methodology used to regress parameters is described. The equations developed are quite general and can be extended to other properties or homologous series. Parts 2 and 3 of this series present correlations developed for n-paraffins and n-olefins (1-alkenes) to predict PVT related properties, normal boiling and melting points, critical temperature, pressure, and volume, acentric factor, liquid molar volume, and vapor pressure (part 2); thermal properties, ideal-gas enthalpy and free energy of formation, ideal-gas heat capacity, enthalpy of vaporization, and liquid heat capacity (part 3); transport properties: liquid viscosity, thermal conductivity, and surface tension (part 3). It is demonstrated that these correlations are accurate, consistent, and yield reasonable extrapolations. Th...
An Integrated Assessment of the Sustainability of Green and Built-up Roofs

Abstract There is growing demand to develop methods that integrate environmental and economic assessment of more sustainable technologies incorporated into commercial and residential buildings. In this paper, we incorporate economic and energy use data obtained for a green roof operating in the Midwest U.S. at latitude 42.94N into an integrated approach to estimate and compare the economic and environmental impacts of an intensive (or extensive) green roof with a built-up roof. The life cycle stages included in the analysis were material acquisition life stage which including the transportation effects from material extraction through manufacturing to the finished products, and the use and maintenance life stage of the building. Environmental impact analysis indicates that green roof emits three times more environmental pollutants than built-up roofs in the material acquisition life stage. However, in the use and maintenance life stage, built-up roof emits three times more pollutants than a green roof. Ov...
Payments to participants: beware of the Trojan horses.

tasks, is prima facie such a “rare circumstance.” Grady is right on the money in concluding that payments to research subjects appropriately demonstrate “respect and appreciation for these generous individuals” who make sacriaces to beneat others (2001). And it is especially appropriate to demonstrate that respect and appreciation to the truest heroes: those who most put their health on the line.
The Anglo-Japanese Alliance: The Diplomacy of Two Island Empires, 1894-1907

In this book Professor Nish deals with one of the most important aspects of far eastern politics in the critical period between 1894 and 1907. His object is to demonstrate how Britain and Japan, at first separately and later jointly, reacted to Russian encroachments in China and east Asia; he is concerned also with the policies of the other European powers and of the U.S., to whose hostility towards the Anglo-Japanese alliance after 1905 Britain showed herself increasingly sensitive. First published in 1966, this title is part of the Bloomsbury Academic Collections series.
Photographs as Materials for African History: Some Methodological Considerations

In recent years there has been a growing interest in source materials on African history in African and European archives. The registration of documents and the methodology used in their interpretation have become a major issue of many scholars.1 While much progress has been made concerning the written materials, another category of archival documents has received little attention. These are pictorial records in general and historical photographs in particular.2 Considering that photography, beginning with the daguerrotype in 1839, virtually accompanied the exploration of the interior regions of Africa, the failure to exploit photographs systematically as source materials seems rather astonishing. One explanation for this neglect may lie in the fact that historians have traditionally been preoccupied with the written word. Despite this bias, historical photographs from Africa have been used ever more frequently as illustrations by art historians, historians, and anthropologists in recent years. The lack of systematic work with the images, however, often results in an impressionistic approach and serious errors. This paper addresses some of the methodological issues encountered when working with photographic images. The discussion begins with a description of the conditions of photographic collections in some of the many archives I visited. It is followed by a brief overview on the way historical photographs from Africa have been dealt with in recent research and publications. As far as methodology is concerned, three major areas are considered here:
The topology and behavior of magnetic fields emerging at the solar photosphere

The nature of flux emerging through the surface layers of the Sun is examined in the light of new high-resolution magnetic field observations from the Hinode space mission. The combination of vector magnetic field data and visible-light imaging from Hinode support the hypothesis that active region filaments are created as a result of an emerging, twisted flux system. The observations do not present strong evidence for an alternate hypothesis: that the filaments form as a result of localized shear flows at the photospheric level. Examination of the vector magnetic field at very small scales in emerging flux regions suggests that reconnection at the photospheric level and below, followed by submergence of flux, is a likely and essential part of the flux emergence process. The reconnection and flux submergence are driven by granular convection.
Echinacea Species and Alkamides Inhibit Prostaglandin E2 Production in RAW264.7 Mouse Macrophage Cells

Inhibition of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) production in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated RAW264.7 mouse macrophage cells was assessed with an enzyme immunoassay following treatments with Echinacea extracts or synthesized alkamides. Results indicated that ethanol extracts diluted in media to a concentration of 15 μg/mL from E. angustifolia, E. pallida, E. simulata, and E. sanguinea significantly inhibited PGE2 production. In further studies, PGE2 production was significantly reduced by all synthesized alkamides assayed at 50 μM, by Bauer alkamides 8, 12A analogue, and 14, Chen alkamide 2, and Chen alkamide 2 analogue at 25 μM and by Bauer alkamide 14 at 10 μM. Cytotoxicity did not play a role in the noted reduction of PGE2 production in either the Echinacea extracts or synthesized alkamides. High-performance liquid chromatography analysis identified individual alkamides present at concentrations below 2.8 μM in the extracts from the six Echinacea species (15 μg/mL crude extract). Because active extracts contained <2.8 μM of specific alkamide and the results showed that synthetic alkamides must have a minimum concentration of 10 μM to inhibit PGE2, it is likely that alkamides may contribute toward the anti-inflammatory activity of Echinacea in a synergistic or additive manner.
Legislation and Non-neutral Principles: A Lockean Approach

When citizens and legislators attempt to justify coercive acts, such as fines or imprisonment, they often do so on the basis of controversial justificatory principles. There are at least two ways a principle can be controversial: one may claim that the principle in question is false; or one may claim that the principle, correctly applied, does not actually justify the specific act in question. Thus, suppose the state invokes the principle ‘false beliefs should be censored’ to justify silencing a dissident. The dissident might disagree because she thinks the state should not be in the business of censoring false beliefs, or she might agree with the principle but object to the action because she is quite convinced that her beliefs are not false.
Correlates, Causes, Effects, and Treatment of Test Anxiety:

Results of 562 studies were integrated by meta-analysis to show the nature, effects, and treatment of academic test anxiety. Effect sizes were computed through the method invented by Glass (Glass, McGaw, & Smith, 1981). Correlations and effect-size groups were tested for consistency and significance with inferential statistics by Hedges and Olkin (1985). Test anxiety (TA) causes poor performance. It relates inversely to students’ self-esteem and directly to their fears of negative evaluation, defensiveness, and other forms of anxiety. Conditions (causes) giving rise to differential TA levels include ability, gender, and school grade level. A variety of treatments are effective in reducing test anxiety. Contrary to prior perceptions, improved test performance and grade point average (GPA) consistently accompany TA reduction.
Perceptions of childhood caretakers and borderline personality symptomatology

Abstract Previous studies indicate that individuals with borderline personality disorder come from families marked by high levels of psychopathology as well as dysfunctional parenting styles—themes that tend to engender negative attitudes toward parents. However, we are not aware of any studies that have examined perceptions of parenting quality and borderline personality symptoms in a clinical but non-psychiatric population—the purpose of the present study. Using a cross-sectional self-report survey methodology in a sample of internal medicine outpatients, we examined participants’ perceptions of the quality of parental caretaking using a one-item assessment, and examined borderline personality symptomatology using two measures. Ratings of the quality of parental care were statistically significantly inversely correlated with scores on both measures of borderline personality symptomatology. After controlling for the number of caretakers during childhood, the observed statistical relationships remained statistically significant. In this primary care sample, participants with borderline personality symptomatology perceived parents more negatively than those without such symptomatology.
Analyzing Duration Times in Marketing: Evidence for the Effectiveness of Hazard Rate Models

Some statistical methods developed recently in the biometrics and econometrics literature show great promise for improving the analysis of duration times in marketing. They incorporate the right censoring that is prevalent in duration times data, and can be used to make a wide variety of useful predictions. Both of these features make these methods preferable to the regression, logit, and discriminant analyses that marketers have typically used in analyzing durations. This paper is intended to fulfill three objectives. First, we demonstrate how decision situations that involve durations differ from other marketing phenomena. Second, we show how standard modeling approaches to handle duration times can break down because of the peculiarities inherent in durations. It has been suggested in recent marketing articles that an alternative to these conventional procedures, i.e., hazard rate models and proportional hazard regression, can more effectively handle duration type data. Third, to investigate whether these proposed benefits are in fact delivered for marketing durations data, we estimate and validate both conventional and hazard rate models for household interpurchase times of saltine crackers. Our findings indicate the superiority of proportional hazard regression methods vis-i-vis common procedures in terms of stability and face validity of the estimates and in predictive accuracy.
The Effects of Marital Disagreement Style, Frequency, and Outcome on Marital Disruption:

Studies of the relationship between marital conflict behaviors and marital functioning have focused almost exclusively on conflict resolution styles to the neglect of other components of marital conflict. The present study takes a first step toward addressing this limitation by examining the comparative and interactive effects of marital disagreement style, frequency and outcome on the occurrence of marital disruption (separation or divorce) over a 3-year period. The study is based on a general population sample of 691 married couples. Results of exploratory factor analysis show that self-reports of frequency, style and outcome of marital disagreements share a common underlying structure best described as negativity. Logistic regression analysis documents that while each of the components of negativity is a significant predictor of marital disruption, frequency and negativity are more powerful than either style or outcome. Multivariate analyses reveal that disruption is most powerfully predicted by self-r...
Mechanism of Endothelial Dysfunction in Apolipoprotein E–Deficient Mice

Abstract—Endothelium-dependent relaxations mediated by NO are impaired in a mouse model of human atherosclerosis. Our objective was to characterize the mechanisms underlying endothelial dysfunction in aortas of apolipoprotein E (apoE)-deficient mice, treated for 26 to 29 weeks with a lipid-rich Western-type diet. Aortic rings from apoE-deficient mice showed impaired endothelium-dependent relaxations to acetylcholine (10−9 to 10−5 mol/L) and Ca2+ ionophore (10−9 to 10−6 mol/L) and endothelium-independent relaxations to diethylammonium (Z)-1-(N,N-diethylamino)diazen-1-ium-1,2-diolate (DEA-NONOate, 10−10 to 10−5 mol/L) compared with aortic rings from C57BL/6J mice (P<0.05). By use of confocal microscopy of an oxidative fluorescent probe (dihydroethidium), increased superoxide anion (O2−) production was demonstrated throughout the aortic wall but mainly in smooth muscle cells of apoE-deficient mice. CuZn–superoxide dismutase (SOD) and Mn-SOD protein expressions were unaltered in the aorta exposed to hyperchol...
Modulation of cytosolic Ca(2+) concentration in airway epithelial cells by Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Modulation of cytosolic (intracellular) Ca2+ concentration (Cai) may be an important host response when airway epithelial cells are exposed to Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We measured Cai in Calu-3 cells exposed from the apical or basolateral surface to cytotoxic and noncytotoxic strains of P. aeruginosa. Apical addition of either noncytotoxic strains or cytotoxic strains failed to affect Cai over a 3-h time period, nor were changes observed after basolateral addition of noncytotoxic strains. In contrast, basolateral addition of cytotoxic strains caused a slow increase in Cai from 100 nM to 200 to 400 nM. This increase began after 20 to 50 min and persisted for an additional 30 to 75 min, at which time the cells became nonviable. P. aeruginosa-induced increases in Cai were blocked by the addition of the Ca channel blocker La3+ to the basolateral but not to the apical chamber. Likewise, replacing the basolateral but not the apical medium with Ca-free solution prevented P. aeruginosa-mediated changes in Cai. With isogenic mutants of PA103, we demonstrated that the type III secretion apparatus, the type III-secreted effector ExoU, and type IV pili were necessary for increased Cai. We propose that translocation of ExoU through the basolateral surface of polarized airway epithelial cells via the type III secretion apparatus leads to release of Ca stored in the endoplasmic reticulum and activation of Ca channels in the basolateral membranes of epithelial cells.
STRUCTURAL CHANGES IN ISOLATED LIVER MITOCHONDRIA OF RATS DURING ESSENTIAL FATTY ACID DEFICIENCY

Liver mitochondria isolated in 0.44 M sucrose from rats deficient in essential fatty acids (EFA) oxidized citrate, succinate, α-ketoglutarate, glutamate, and pyruvate at a faster rate than did mitochondria isolated from normal rats; however, the oxidation of malate, caprylate, and β-hydroxybutyrate was not significantly increased. The mitochondria from deficient rats exhibited an increased ATPase activity and extensive structural damage as revealed by electron microscope examination of thin sections. An increase in citrate oxidation and ATPase activity, together with some structural damage, could be demonstrated as early as the 4th week in rats on a fat-free diet. Saturated fat in the diet did not prevent the change in mitochondrial structure but accelerated its appearance. Both the biochemical and structural defects could be reversed within three weeks after feeding deficient rats a source of EFA. In the presence of a phosphate acceptor the effect of EFA deficiency on substrate oxidation was largely eliminated. A trend toward a reduced efficiency of oxidative phosphorylation was noted in mitochondria from EFA-deficient rats, but significant uncoupling was found only in the case of citrate, β-hydroxybutyrate, and glutamate in the presence of malonate. Together with the increased ATPase activity, the uncoupling of phosphorylation could account for the poor respiratory control found with the deficient preparation. However, EFA deficiency was without effect on the respiration of liver slices, which supports the belief that the observed changes in oxidation and phosphorylation are an artifact resulting from damage sustained by the deficient mitochondria during their isolation.
Relationships Among Coagulase, Enterotoxin, and Heat-stable Deoxyribonuclease Production by Staphylococcus aureus

The relationship between heat-stable deoxyribonuclease and coagulase production was investigated in the interest of developing more rapid diagnostic and quantitative procedures for distinguishing toxigenic and pathogenic staphylococci from closely related saprophytic organisms.
Utilizing the participatory social learning theory as a new paradigm to evaluate the International Labour Organization (ILO) assessment of support for growth- oriented women entrepreneurs in Uganda

This manuscript highlights the participatory social learning theory (PSLT), an underutilized yet viable theory for assessing development initiatives. The PSLT is presented in this article as a means of analyzing the initiatives proposed and implemented for women’s economic growth in Uganda. It specifically analyzes the International Labour Organizations (ILO) report on support for women entrepreneurs in Uganda utilizing the five development imperatives of institution building, human resources, natural and man-made resources, technology, and investment capital. This framework assists those interested in African development to assess the quality of this initiative and ultimately make recommendations as to whether the program has the intended effect on supporting women entrepreneurs in Uganda. It ensures that the future perspectives of African development includes growth as a participatory process with local participation as essential to sustainable growth.
Risk of Ovarian Cancer Associated with BMI Varies by Menopausal Status

Obesity has been linked to increased risk of several malignancies, but the role of obesity in the etiology of ovarian cancer remains unclear. Therefore, a hospital-based case-control study was conducted to investigate the association between body size and risk of ovarian cancer. Participants included 427 women with primary, incident ovarian cancer and 854 cancer-free controls. All participants received medical services at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, NY between 1982 and 1998 and completed a comprehensive epidemiological questionnaire. The instrument included questions regarding height and usual wt prior to survey. Participants were classified as underweight/normal (BMI or = 30.0 kg/m2). Compared with underweight/normal participants, being overweight (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 1.02; 95% CI 0.77-1.36) or obese (adjusted OR = 1.17; 95% CI 0.84-1.65) was not significantly associated with an elevated risk of ovarian cancer. After stratification by menopausal status, BMI showed no significant association to ovarian cancer risk among postmenopausal women (> or = 50 y old). However, among premenopausal women (<50 y old), those classified as obese had a significantly increased risk (adjusted OR = 2.19; 95% CI 1.19-4.04) compared with women classified as normal/underweight. These findings suggest a potential influence of menopausal status on the total endogenous hormonal environment, including estrogens, androgens, and insulin-like growth factors, when considering the association between body size and ovarian cancer risk. In light of the fact that obesity is a modifiable risk factor, further investigation on this topic is warranted.
An Optimized ICP Etching Process for Pyramidal C-QWIP FPAs

We developed an optimized inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching process to produce GaAs pyramidal corrugated quantum well infrared photodetector focal plane arrays. A statistically-designed experiment was performed to optimize the etching parameters. The resulting parameters are discussed in terms of the effect on the etching rate and profile. This process uses a small amount of mask corrosion and the control of the etching mask gap to give a 45-50 degree V-groove etching profile, which is independent on the crystal orientation of GaAs. In the etching development, scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to observe the surface morphology and the pattern profile. In addition, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was utilized to obtain the elemental composition and the contamination of the etching surface. It is found that extremely small stoichiometric change and surface damage of the etching surface can be achieved while keeping relatively high etching rate and ~45 degree V-groove etching profile. This etching process is applied to the fabrication of pyramidal C-QWIP FPAs, which is expected to have better performance than the regular prism-shaped C-QWIPs according to electromagnetic (EM) modeling. The expected results will be verified by optical and electrical measurements. In addition to infrared detectors, this process technology can also be applied to GaAs V-groove solar cell, quantum wire light-emitting diodes, quantum wire lasers, and other GaAs –based devices.
Do perceptions of punishment vary between white-collar and street crimes?

Abstract Much has been learned about the relationship between sanction threat perceptions and criminal activity, yet little remains known about the factors that are associated with sanction threat perceptions. Moreover, because most researchers had studied deterrence within the context of street crime, even less is known about the factors that relate to sanction threat perceptions for white-collar crime. This study used data from a national probability sample to examine whether the determinants of perceived sanction certainty and severity for street crime were different from white-collar crime. Using robbery and fraud as two exemplars, the findings indicated that while public perceptions of sanction certainty and severity suggested that street criminals were more likely to be caught and be sentenced to more severe sanctions than white-collar criminals, respondent's perceptions of which type of crime should be more severely punished indicated that both robbery and fraud were equally likely to be perceived ‘on par.’ Additional results indicated that the correlates of certainty and severity were more similar than different, but that the results differed according to whether respondents were asked about the punishment that white-collar offenders were likely to receive as opposed to what they should receive.
Magnetic resonance angiography is an accurate imaging adjunct to duplex ultrasound scan in patient selection for carotid endarterectomy

Abstract Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) for categorizing the severity of carotid disease relative to duplex ultrasound scan and cerebral contrast arteriography (CA) to determine if MRA imaging could replace the need for cerebral angiography in cases of indeterminate or inadequate duplex scan imaging. Methods: Seventy-four carotid bifurcations in 40 patients undergoing 45 carotid endarterectomies from 1996 to 1998 were imaged with duplex ultrasound scan; MRA (two-dimensional neck and three-dimensional intracranial, time-of-flight technique); and biplanar, digital subtraction cerebral arteriography. Studies were blindly reviewed by one reader who used established threshold velocity criteria for the duplex scan and the North American Symptomatic Carotid Endarterectomy Trial method for MRA and CA to determine the percentage of diameter reduction of the internal carotid artery (ICA). Disease severity was grouped into four categories ( Results: Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value for detection of > 50% ICA stenosis were 100%, 96%, 98%, and 100% for MRA and 100%, 72%, 88%, and 100% for duplex ultrasound scan, respectively; similarly, for detection of > 75% ICA stenosis values were 100%, 77%, 76%, and 100% for MRA and 90%, 74%, 72%, and 91% for duplex ultrasound scan, respectively. Both MRA and duplex ultrasound scan accurately differentiated all cases of > 95% stenosis (n = 7) from occlusion (n = 4). Short length ICA flow gaps were present on MRA in all cases of 75% to 99% stenosis and one half of cases of CA-defined 50% to 74% stenosis. In patients with 50% to 74% stenosis, the mean angiographic stenosis was significantly greater when a flow gap was present on MRA (64% ± 6%) versus no flow gap (57% ± 7%) ( P =.04). There was overall agreement among duplex ultrasound scan, MRA, and CA in 73% of carotids imaged. Of the 24% discordant results between MRA and duplex ultrasound scan, MRA correctly predicted disease severity in all cases, and inaccurate duplex ultrasound scan results were due to overestimation in 83% of cases. The operative plan was altered by CA findings in only one patient (2%) after duplex ultrasound scan and MRA. Conclusions: MRA can accurately categorize the severity of carotid occlusive disease. Duplex ultrasound scan facilitates patient selection for carotid endarterectomy in most cases, but adjunct use of MRA improves diagnostic accuracy for > 75% stenoses and may obviate the need for cerebral arteriography when duplex scan results are inconclusive or demonstrate borderline disease severity. (J Vasc Surg 2000;32:429-40.)
FINANCING INFRASTRUCTURE: FIXED PRICE VS. PRICE INDEX CONTRACTS

This paper looks at a common type of price adjustment, price indexing, which provides contractors with compensation for increases in price volatile commodities. We address the effect of Firm Fixed Price (FFP) versus indexed price systems for a price volatile commodity. The impact of these two types of bid systems is analyzed through a combined qualitative and quantitative analysis. Results indicate that an indexed price system does not provide a reduction in costs compared to a Firm Fixed Price system. This study is important to state financial managers as they address the efficient use of resources invested in state infrastructure.
Multilevel models for social networks: Hierarchical Bayesian approaches to exponential random graph modeling

Abstract In many applications, researchers may be interested in studying patterns of dyadic relationships that involve multiple groups, with a focus on modeling the systematic patterns within groups and how these structural patterns differ across groups. A number of different models – many of them potentially quite powerful – have been developed that allow for researchers to study these differences. However, as with any set of models, these are limited in ways that constrain the types of questions researchers may ask, such as those involving the variance in group-wise structural features. In this paper, we demonstrate some of the ways in which multilevel models based on a hierarchical Bayesian approach might be used to further develop and extend existing exponential random graph models to address such constraints. These include random coefficient extensions to the standard ERGM for sets of multiple unconnected or connected networks and examples of multilevel models that allow for the estimation of structural entrainment among connected groups. We demonstrate the application of these models to real-world and simulated data sets.
Straddling the Civil-Criminal Divide: A Bifurcated Approach to Understanding the Nature of Immigration Removal Proceedings

This article argues that the Supreme Court's designation of immigration removal proceedings as civil, rather than criminal, and the body of scholarship critiquing that civil designation both suffer from a common fatal flaw. Both treat immigration removal proceedings as a monolith, a single entity. In fact, packed within the term "immigration removal proceedings" are two distinct entities, "expulsion proceedings" and "exclusion proceedings," which each require independent analysis to ascertain their civil or criminal nature. Expulsion proceedings, as I define them, involve the decision whether to cast out a noncitizen whom the United States has previously invited into the national community as a lawful permanent resident. Exclusion proceedings, in contrast, involve the decision whether to admit a noncitizen into the physical territory of the United States and/or into the American political community. By bifurcating the analysis of immigration removal into independent analyses of expulsion and exclusion proceedings we are able to resolve otherwise contradictory guidance from both doctrine and history. A detailed analysis of the historical treatment of expulsion and exclusion proceedings and application of the modern Supreme Court jurisprudence delineating the civil-criminal divide provide compelling evidence that exclusion proceedings are civil but that expulsion can only be imposed as a criminal punishment. The redesignation of expulsion proceedings as criminal would represent a sea change in the conception of immigration removal proceedings; however, this article will demonstrate that criminal protections can be applied in expulsion proceedings without fundamentally undermining the government's interest in those proceedings.
Additional Notes on Pterocheilus Diversicolor Rohwer (Hymen: Vespidæ)

In my recent revision[1][1] of the genus Pterocheilus Klug the description of the species diversicolor Rohwer was inadvertently left out although it appeared in the keys to both sexes. It belongs to the subgenus Micropterocheilus Bohart and is easily distinguished by its red and white markings, small size, and truncate clypeus. [1]: #fn-1
Aerobic Exercise in People with Schizophrenia: Neural and Neurocognitive Benefits

Schizophrenia is characterized by extensive neurocognitive deficits, which are linked to greater disability, poorer functional outcome, and have been suggested to impact daily functioning more than clinical symptoms. Aerobic exercise (AE) has emerged as a potential intervention. This review examines the impact of AE on brain structure and function along with neurocognitive performance in individuals with schizophrenia. Preliminary evidence indicates that AE can increase hippocampal volume and cortical thickness, in addition to exerting a neuroprotective effect against hippocampal volume decrease and cortical thinning. There is also evidence that AE is able to significantly increase serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels, which are implicated in neurogenesis, neuroplasticity, and cognitive improvement. Finally, evidence suggests that AE plays a significant role in improving overall cognition, including improvements in processing speed, working memory, and visual learning. The authors discuss the implications of the findings and provide recommendations for future research and areas of inquiry.
Transactional Support for Cooperative Applications

Cooperative work on shared, persistent data requires computing system support to coordinate the work of multiple users and to ensure data consistency. Conventional database transaction models do not meet the requirements of cooperative applications. Isolation of transactions, as guaranteed by the ACID properties, contradicts the need of cooperation between users. In this paper, we investigate different advanced transaction models that target at improved support for cooperative applications. To that extent we analyze typical cooperative application scenarios and derive from that basic requirements for consistent access to shared databases. In particular we discuss in detail the cooperative transaction model that has been developed within the TRANSCOOP project. This model supports alternating periods of individual and joint work, and allows to exchange and share information consistently. It provides transactional execution guarantees both for the work of single users and for the overall cooperative effort. The model is applicable to a wide spectrum of cooperative applications ranging from creative design applications to structured workflow-like applications.
Incentive Mechanism Research Based on the University Library Management

University library should strive by incentive mechanism to constantly improve management mode,effort to mobilize the enthusiasm and creativity and librarians for library work enthusiasm.This paper elaborates the library management incentive mechanism of meaning,function and measures are analyzed,thus make the university library management toward scientific,reasonable direction healthy development.
Microbial and quality attributes of ground pork prepared from commercial pork trim treated with combination intervention processes.

The effects of combination intervention treatments of commercial pork trim on microbial and quality attributes of the subsequent ground pork were examined. Fresh commercial pork trim was inoculated with swine feces and subjected to five different intervention treatments: (i) control (untreated), (ii) water (15°C, 120 s), (iii) water followed by 2% lactic acid wash (15°C, 75 s), (iv) Combination 1 (water plus lactic acid plus hot air [510°C, 90 s]), and (v) Combination 2 (hot air plus water plus hot air). Following treatment, the pork trim was stored at 4°C for 24 h, then ground, stuffed, vacuum packaged, and stored at 4°C for 21 days. Populations of aerobic bacteria, coliforms, Escherichia coli, and lactic acid bacteria in the ground pork were monitored before treatment, after treatment (day 0), and at 2, 7, 14 and 21 days. In addition, uninoculated pork trim was treated as described above, and the color and emulsion stability of the ground product was evaluated. Ground pork prepared from trim treated wit...
A Wireless Health Monitoring System Using Mobile Phone Accessories

This paper presents the design and prototype of a wireless health monitoring system using mobile phone accessories. We focus on measuring real-time electrocardiogram (ECG) and heart rate monitoring using a smartphone case. With the increasing number of cardiac patients worldwide, this design can be used for early detection of heart diseases. Unlike most of the existing methods that use an optical sensor to monitor heart rate, our approach is to measure real-time ECG with dry electrodes placed on smartphone case. The collected ECG signal can be stored and analyzed in real time through a smartphone application for prognosis and diagnosis. The proposed hardware system consists of a single chip microcontroller (RFduino) embedded with Bluetooth low energy, hence miniaturizing the size and prolonging battery life. The system called “smart case” has been tested in a laboratory environment. We also designed a 3-D printed smartphone case to validate the feasibly of the system. The results demonstrated that the proposed system could be comparable to medical grade devices.
Elementary Group Theory

This chapter contains a survey of elementary group theory. For applications in later chapters, the high point is the law of homomorphism and the concepts associated with it.
Toward Improving Electrocardiogram (ECG) Biometric Verification using Mobile Sensors: A Two-Stage Classifier Approach

Electrocardiogram (ECG) signals sensed from mobile devices pertain the potential for biometric identity recognition applicable in remote access control systems where enhanced data security is demanding. In this study, we propose a new algorithm that consists of a two-stage classifier combining random forest and wavelet distance measure through a probabilistic threshold schema, to improve the effectiveness and robustness of a biometric recognition system using ECG data acquired from a biosensor integrated into mobile devices. The proposed algorithm is evaluated using a mixed dataset from 184 subjects under different health conditions. The proposed two-stage classifier achieves a total of 99.52% subject verification accuracy, better than the 98.33% accuracy from random forest alone and 96.31% accuracy from wavelet distance measure algorithm alone. These results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed algorithm for biometric identification, hence supporting its practicality in areas such as cloud data security, cyber-security or remote healthcare systems.
UB-ANC emulator: An emulation framework for multi-agent drone networks

Recent interest in hobby aerial vehicles and their applications has seen the emergence of quadrotor designs with various form factors, and development of waypoint-based flight controllers such as APM and Pixhawk. Common to these flight controllers is the use of the Micro Air Vehicle Communications Protocol (MAVLink) that allows the flight controller to communicate with a ground control station. However, it is still challenging to experiment with multiple such aerial vehicles concurrently. To this end, we have developed an open software/hardware platform — the University at Buffalo's Airborne Networking and Communications testbed (UB-ANC) — that facilitates rapid development and deployment of multi-drone applications. In this paper, we present the UB-ANC Emulator, an emulation environment to design, implement, and test various applications (missions) involving one or more drones in software, and provides seamless transition to experimentation. We validate the UB-ANC Emulator's output against experimental data collected in a mission with three networked drones to demonstrate its feasibility and accuracy, and we demonstrate its scalability up to 100 drones using a simulated “leader-follower” mission.
Scores in Space: Multidimensional Scaling of the WISC-V:

The purpose of this study was to use multidimensional scaling (MDS) to investigate relations among scores from the standardization sample of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children–Fifth editi...
Recombinase polymerase amplification: a promising point-of-care detection method for enteric viruses

Viral enteric disease imposes a considerable public health and economic burden globally in both humans and livestock. Because enteric viruses are highly transmissible and resistant to numerous control strategies, making early in-field or point-of-care detection is important. There are problems with ligand-based detection strategies (e.g., sensitivity, false positive/negatives) for virus detection. Traditional amplification-based strategies are sensitive, but not as portable or rapid. Recombinase polymerase amplification is a new isothermal technique that utilizes bacterial genome repair enzymes to rapidly amplify target sequences. This report reviews the use of recombinase polymerase amplification for virus detection, showing that the method has favorable fundamental properties supporting its promise for rapid point-of-care detection of enteric viruses.
Inhibition of LSD1 epigenetically attenuates oral cancer growth and metastasis.

// Saqer F. Alsaqer 1,* , Mustafa M. Tashkandi 1,* , Vinay K. Kartha 2,3 , Ya-Ting Yang 1 , Yazeed Alkheriji 1 , Andrew Salama 4 , Xaralabos Varelas 5 , Maria Kukuruzinska 1 , Stefano Monti 2,3 and Manish V. Bais 1 1 Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Boston University Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine, Boston, MA, USA 2 Bioinformatics Program, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA 3 Section of Computational Biomedicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA 4 Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Boston University Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine, Boston, MA, USA 5 Department of Biochemistry, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA * These authors have contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Manish V. Bais, email: // Keywords : LSD1, CTGF, OSCC, PDX, orthotopic mouse model Received : December 28, 2016 Accepted : July 14, 2017 Published : July 27, 2017 Abstract Lysine-specific demethylase 1 (LSD1) is a nuclear histone demethylase and a member of the amine oxidase (AO) family. LSD1 is a flavin-containing AO that specifically catalyzes the demethylation of mono- and di-methylated histone H3 lysine 4 through an FAD-dependent oxidative reaction. LSD1 is inappropriately upregulated in lung, liver, brain and esophageal cancers, where it promotes cancer initiation, progression, and metastasis. However, unlike other lysine-specific demethylases, the role and specific targets of LSD1 in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) pathogenesis remain unknown. We show that LSD1 protein expression was increased in malignant OSCC tissues in a clinical tissue microarray, and its expression correlated with progressive tumor stages. In an orthotopic oral cancer mouse model, LSD1 overexpression in aggressive HSC-3 cells promoted metastasis whereas knockdown of LSD1 inhibited tumor spread, suggesting that LSD1 is a key regulator of OSCC metastasis. Pharmacological inhibition of LSD1 using a specific small molecule inhibitor, GSK-LSD1, down-regulated EGF signaling pathway. Further, GSK-LSD1 attenuates CTGF/CCN2, MMP13, LOXL4 and vimentin expression but increased E-cadherin expression in pre-existing, patient-derived tonsillar OSCC xenografts. Similarly, GSK-LSD1 inhibited proliferation and CTGF expression in mesenchymal cells, including myoepithelial cells and osteosarcoma cells. In addition, gene set enrichment analysis revealed that GSK-LSD1 increased p53 expression and apoptosis while inhibiting c-myc, β-catenin and YAP-induced oncogenic transcriptional networks. These data reveal that aberrant LSD1 activation regulates key OSCC microenvironment and EMT promoting factors, including CTGF, LOXL4 and MMP13.
Acute Vs. Elective Paraesophageal Hernia Repair: Endoscopic Gastric Decompression Allows Semi-Elective Surgery in a Majority of Acute Patients

Historically, patients presenting acutely with paraesophageal hernia and requiring urgent operation demonstrated inferior outcomes compared to patients undergoing elective repair. A prospective IRB-approved database was used to retrospectively review 570 consecutive patients undergoing paraesophageal hernia repair between 2000 and 2016. Thirty-eight patients presented acutely (6.7%) and 532 electively. Acute presentation was associated with increased age (74 vs. 69 years) but similar age-adjusted Charlson comorbidity scores. A history of chest pain, intrathoracic stomach ≥75%, and mesoaxial rotation were more common in acute presentations. Emergency surgery was required in three patients (8%), and 35 patients were managed in a staged approach with guided decompression prior to semi-elective surgery. Acute presentation was associated with an increased hospital stay (5 (2–13) days vs. 4 (1–27) days, p = 0.001). There was no difference in postoperative Clavien-Dindo severity scores. One patient in the elective group died, and the overall mortality was 0.2%. Our findings suggest that a majority of patients presenting with acute paraesophageal hernia can undergo a staged approach instead of urgent surgery with comparable outcomes to elective operations in high-volume centers. We suggest elective repair for patients presenting with a history of chest pain, intrathoracic stomach ≥75%, and a mesoaxial rotation.