cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Conclusion and Outlook for the Future

Since macular edema is a major cause of visual disability in many different ocular diseases, we have approached this complication in three major areas in this text – Part 1, Pathophysiology and Diagnosis of CME; Part II, Medical Management of CME; and Part III, Surgical Management of CME. It is clear that understanding the pathophysiology of this disease with its many different causes will result in the future development of therapeutic options that do not exist today.
matter: an R package for rapid prototyping with larger-than-memory datasets on disk.

Summary We introduce matter , an R package for direct interactions with larger-than-memory datasets, stored in an arbitrary number of files of any size. matter is primarily designed for datasets in new and rapidly evolving file formats, which may lack extensive software support. matter enables a wide variety of data exploration and manipulation steps, and is extensible to many bioinformatics applications. It supports reproducible research by minimizing the need of converting and storing data in multiple formats. We illustrate the performance of matter in conjunction with the Bioconductor package Cardinal for analysis of high-resolution, high-throughput mass spectrometry imaging experiments. Availability The package, vignettes, and examples of applications in several areas of bioinformatics are available open-source at www.bioconductor.org under the Artistic-2.0 license. Contact o.vitek@neu.edu.
Transformation of the gas-phase favored O -protomer of p -aminobenzoic acid to its unfavored N -protomer by ion activation in the presence of water vapor: An ion-mobility mass spectrometry study

An ion-mobility mass spectrometry study showed that the preferred O-protonated form of p-aminobenzoic in the gas phase can be converted to the thermodynamically less favored N-protomer by in-source collision-induced ion activation during the ion transfer process from the atmospheric region to the first vacuum region if the humidity is high in the ion source. Upon the addition of water vapor to the nitrogen gas used to promote the solid analyte to the gas phase under helium-plasma ionization conditions, the intensity of the ion-mobility arrival-time peak for the N-protomer increased dramatically. Evidently, the ion-activation process in the first vacuum region is able to provide the energy required to surmount the barrier to isomerize the O-protomer to the more energetic N-protomer. The transfer of the proton attached to the carbonyl oxygen atom of the O-protomer to the amino group takes place by a water-bridge mechanism. Apparently, the postionization transformations that take place during the transmission of ions from the atmospheric-pressure ion source to the detector, via different physical compartments of low to high vacuum, play an eminent role in determining the population ratios eventually manifested at the detector.
WARFARE, COMPETITION, AND THE DURABILITY OF ‘POLITICAL SMALLNESS’ IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY BUSOGA

Most scholarship on the military history of precolonial Africa focuses on state-level conflict, drawing on examples such as the Asante, Buganda, Zulu, and Kongo kingdoms. The current article instead examines connections between warfare and political history in the politically fragmented setting of nineteenth-century Busoga, Uganda, where a small geographical region hosted more than fifty micro-kingdoms competing as peer polities. Using sources that include a rich corpus of oral traditions and early archival documents, this article offers a reconstruction of military practices and ideologies alongside political histories of important Busoga kingdoms during the long nineteenth century. The article argues that routine political destabilization caused by competition between royal leaders, combined with shifting interests of commoner soldiers, continuously reconstituted a multi-polar power structure throughout the region. This approach moves beyond assessing the role of warfare in state formation to ask how military conflict could be a creative force in small-scale politics as well.
What can the Poem do Today? The Self-Evaluation of Western Poets after 1945

A survey of theoretical statements by contemporary poets on poetry reveals a variety of positions ranging from radical avant-garde to traditional. Such a bird’s eye view, brief and selective as it must be, should, of course, be regarded only as a supplement to a full-range and comprehensive study of the poetry itself. What poets do in their poems and what they say that their poetry does might not always be the same thing. Yet the poets’ reflections and definitions, though detached from the poetry proper, do shed some light on the state of the contemporary poem and thus deserve attention in their own right.
A 21 year survey of 654 ectopic pregnancies

Six hundred and fifty-four patients with an ectopic pregnancy seen during a 21 year span were surveyed. The ratio of ectopic pregnancies to deliveries was 1 to 87, the largest number occurring in multiparous patients in the 26 to 30 year age bracket. Abdominal pain (100 per cent), amenorrhea (84 per cent), and irregular vaginal bleeding (80 per cent) were the presenting symptoms, the most significant physical finding being abdominal or rebound tenderness associated with adnexal or cul-de-sac fullness. The diagnosis was initiated by culdocentesis in the majority of patients. Eighty per cent of the tubal pregnancies were ruptured and therapy consisted, primarily, of a total salpingectomy. A small percentage of pregnancies were in rare anatomic sites, i.e., abdominal (1.4 per cent), uterine (0.7 per cent) and ovarian (0.15 per cent). There were three maternal deaths in this series. Etiologically, a histopathologic survey of 320 Fallopian tubes revealed varying degrees of inflammatory change consisting primarily of follicular salpingitis (18 per cent), interstitial salpingitis (16 per cent), and hydrosalpinx (8 per cent). The need for continuing early diagnosis was stressed, for from 1959 to 1963, 505 women in the United States died from an ectopic pregnancy. In the state of New Jersey alone there were, in a 9 year period, 38 maternal deaths due to ectopic pregnancy, 23 patients never receiving therapy.
Genitourinary cytopathology (kidney and urinary tract).

This chapter focuses on genitourinary tract cytology, specifically fine needle aspiration (FNA) of the renal mass lesions and urinary tract cytology. FNAs of renal masses have been performed for diagnosis or confirmation of advanced neoplasia and metastases, and/or staging of tumors. In the age of multimodality treatment options (surgery, cryoablation, radiofrequency ablation, etc.), there is a role for precise pretreatment characterization of the renal masses by FNA, which would decrease the unnecessary treatment for benign diseases and reduce the treatment-related mortality and morbidity in addition to reducing the patient care costs. To date, urine cytology remains the gold standard for bladder cancer screening. It has been, and still is the test against which all new tests are compared when evaluating potential bladder tumor markers. In the last 20 years, a number of noninvasive tests have been developed to detect urothelial carcinoma. Although some have been able to show a better sensitivity compared to cytology, only a few have been close to reaching the sensitivity seen in cytology. Combining some of the new markers with cytologic evaluation may optimize their performance status.
Brief periods of inactivity reduce leg microvascular, but not macrovascular, function in healthy young men.

NEW FINDINGS What is the central question of this study? We aimed to examine leg vascular responses to brief periods of inactivity. What is the main finding and its importance? We demonstrate that a mere 10 min of sitting is sufficient to impair leg microvascular function (reactive hyperaemia). However, conduit artery vasodilatation (flow-mediated dilatation) was unaffected, indicating maintained macrovascular function. Interestingly, immobile supine rest also resulted in a reduction in microvascular function alone that was prevented when calf muscle contractions were performed. Collectively, these data highlight the susceptibility of the microcirculation to short periods of inactivity and the beneficial role of skeletal muscle contraction for vascular health. ABSTRACT Prolonged sitting for 1-6 h has been shown to impair leg macrovascular [i.e. reduced flow-mediated dilatation (FMD)] and microvascular (i.e. reduced reactive hyperaemia) function. These impairments appear to be mediated through reductions in shear stress. Interestingly, a reduction in shear rate has been observed as early as 10 min into sitting. However, it is unknown whether this acute reduction in shear stress is sufficient to affect vascular function. Accordingly, we studied 18 young men and assessed popliteal artery FMD and reactive hyperaemia before (Baseline) and after (PostSit) a 10 min sitting period. Popliteal artery shear rate was significantly reduced during sitting (Baseline, 62 ± 35 s-1 ; 10 min sitting, 27 ± 13 s-1 ; P < 0.001). Macrovascular function was unaffected by 10 min of sitting (Baseline, 4.4 ± 2.1%; PostSit, 4.3 ± 2.3%; P = 0.97), but microvascular function was reduced (Baseline, 4852 ± 2261 a.u.; PostSit, 3522 ± 1872 a.u.; P = 0.02). In a subset of individuals, we extended the recovery period after sitting and demonstrated that resting shear rate and reactive hyperaemia responses remained low up to 1 h post-sitting (P < 0.001), whereas FMD was unchanged throughout (P = 0.99). Additionally, time control experiments were performed with participants in an immobile supine position, which demonstrated no change in macrovascular function (P = 0.94) but, unexpectedly, a reduction in microvascular function (P = 0.008). Importantly, when calf muscle contractions were performed during supine rest, reactive hyperaemia responses were maintained (P = 0.76), along with FMD (P = 0.88). These findings suggest that the leg microcirculation might be more vulnerable to short periods of inactivity, whereas conduit artery vasodilatation appears well maintained. Moreover, intermittent skeletal muscle contractions are beneficial for microvascular function.
A comparison of bias-corrected empirical covariance estimators with generalized estimating equations in small-sample longitudinal study settings.

Data arising from longitudinal studies are commonly analyzed with generalized estimating equations. Previous literature has shown that liberal inference may result from the use of the empirical sandwich covariance matrix estimator when the number of subjects is small. Therefore, two different approaches have been used to improve the validity of inference. First, many different small-sample corrections to the empirical estimator have been offered in order to reduce bias in resulting standard error estimates. Second, critical values can be obtained from a t-distribution or an F-distribution with approximated degrees of freedom. Although limited studies on the comparison of these small-sample corrections and degrees of freedom have been published, there is a need for a comprehensive study of currently existing methods in a wider range of scenarios. Therefore, in this manuscript, we conduct such a simulation study, finding two methods to attain nominal type I error rates more consistently than other methods in a variety of settings: First, a recently proposed method by Westgate and Burchett (2016, Statistics in Medicine 35, 3733-3744) that specifies both a covariance estimator and degrees of freedom, and second, an average of two popular corrections developed by Mancl and DeRouen (2001, Biometrics 57, 126-134) and Kauermann and Carroll (2001, Journal of the American Statistical Association 96, 1387-1396) with degrees of freedom equaling the number of subjects minus the number of parameters in the marginal model.
Countervisualities of Care: Re-Visualizing Teacher Labor.

ABSTRACTImages of teacher evaluation (and teacher value) represented through scores, which are plotted on charts and widely reported, have had a profound impact on how society views teachers’ contributions, capacities, and worth and have, in turn, influenced school policies and practices. Drawing on a broader multimodal study, this article opens up a conversation about teachers’ caring labor in dialogue with contemporary policies and controlling images (Collins, P. H. 1991. Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. New York: Routledge.) of neoliberal accountability. Working with a group of New York City public school teacher/activists, my research explores teachers’ experiences of value-added assessment policies and the substantial work they do that remains invisible to evaluation metrics, policies, and wider publics.
Pathway to domestic natural rubber production: a cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment of the first guayule automobile tire manufactured in the United States

Guayule (Parthenium argentatum) is a perennial shrub that can be cultivated in the Southwestern US. It produces natural rubber that could be a viable substitute for Hevea natural rubber and synthetic rubbers currently used in tires. Drivers for producing domestic guayule rubber include fluctuations in price and availability of imported Hevea rubber. A tire was manufactured in 2017 where guayule rubber was substituted for all of the Hevea and synthetic rubber in the conventional tire. Life cycle assessment (LCA) from cradle to grave was used to evaluate the environmental and energy sustainability of the guayule tire, and these metrics were benchmarked against those of the conventional tire (CT). Functional units of 1 kg natural rubber for agricultural processes, as well as 1 tire for the cradle-to-grave study were considered. Life cycle inventory (LCI) data were collected directly from primary sources, including guayule field experiments, a rubber-processing company, and a major tire manufacturer. Scenario analysis was used to evaluate alternative processes, such as irrigation options in guayule cultivation, processing scale in rubber extraction, and selection of allocation methodology in LCAs. Model uncertainty was characterized using Monte Carlo analysis. The LC energy consumption of the guayule tire (GT) was 13.7 GJ/tire (including co-product credits, excluding C sequestration during agriculture), compared to 16.4 GJ/tire for the CT. The GT had 6–30% lower emissions than CT in ten different environmental impact categories. Bagasse co-product in energy applications showed benefits of reducing energy consumption by 10% and decreasing environmental impacts by up to 11%. GT’s use-phase resulted in the highest energy consumption (95%) and environmental impacts ranging between 81 and 99%. Variables in use phase, i.e., rolling resistance coefficient, vehicle efficiency, and tire lifetime, and those in guayule cultivation i.e., rubber and biomass yields, were key model parameters. The effect of excluded but potentially important model parameters, i.e., guayule carbon sequestration and resin co-product were tested via sensitivity analyses. Based on these results that factored in the lower rolling resistance coefficient of a guayule tire—a significant element that improves the fuel economy of an automobile—the guayule rubber tire shows promise in its ability to replace current conventional tires. The first commercially manufactured guayule rubber passenger tire will most likely substitute components, which are either partially or fully guayule, instead of guayule replacing 100% of the existing rubbers as shown in this study.
A rain on snow climatology and temporal analysis for the eastern United States

Rain-on-snow (ROS) has the potential to produce devastating floods by enhancing runoff from snowmelt. Although a common phenomenon across the eastern United States, little research has focused on R...
Bidirectional short-term plasticity during single-trial learning of cerebellar-driven eyelid movements in mice

Abstract The brain is constantly monitoring its own performance, using error signals to trigger mechanisms of plasticity that help improve future behavior. Indeed, adaptive changes in behavior have been observed after a single error trial in many learning tasks, including cerebellum-dependent eyeblink conditioning. Here, we demonstrate that the plasticity underlying single-trial learning during eyeblink conditioning in mice is bidirectionally regulated by positive and negative prediction errors, has an ephemeral effect on behavior (decays in
Reflection of Critical Thinking on the Sustainable Educational Development: A Case Study of the Middle East and North Africa

The development of education through critical thinking is becoming the ultimate goal in developing countries. However, there are numerous factors and challenges in the implementation and adopting of a unique educational system particularly in the developing countries. Most countries in the Middle East and North Africa have made significant progress toward raising children's school enrollment and completion. However, the quality of education and coherence in content between countries' education systems are still considered as a major issue. To achieve the sustainability of the higher education system, educators must have the knowledge and skills to integrate the critical thinking approach in the development and delivery of the educational curriculum. The purpose of this paper is to simplify the understanding of the importance of critical thinking in the sustainable educational system. Also, this study aims to propose a critical thinking approach that might help to improve the performance and raise the production efficiency of the educational system in Saudi Arabia and Libya. This paper defines both regions in the Middle East and North Africa with cases of Saudi Arabia and Libya, respectively. We focus on determining the educational system needs, its development cycle, and documenting requirements in each country, and we proceed with design synthesis and system validation while considering the complete problem.
Trends and Characteristics of Clinical Trials Participation for Inflammatory Bowel Disease in the United States: A Report From IBD Partners.

Background and aims There are currently several recruitment challenges in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which prolong the drug approval process and affect the generalizability of study results. The purpose of this study is to characterize individuals who participate in IBD RCTs and identify factors that could influence future recruitment strategies. Methods We performed a cross-sectional study within the IBD Partners cohort comparing patients with current or prior participation in an RCT of medical therapy for IBD to those without any RCT participation. Bivariate statistics were used to compare RCT participation by IBD subtype and by other demographic and disease characteristics, and predictive modeling was used to identify factors predictive of RCT participation. We calculated the percent of the cohort that participated in an RCT during each calendar year from 2011 to 2018 and accessed Clinicaltrials.gov to determine the number of active RCTs for IBD therapies per year during that same period. Results A total of 14,747 patients with IBD were included in the analysis and 1116 (7.6%) reported RCT participation at any time. Demographic factors predictive of RCT participation included following at an academic institution [odds ratio (OR) = 1.8; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.51-2.04) and age 36-75 (OR = 1.7; 95% CI 1.46-1.92). Patients with Crohn's disease were more likely to participate than those with ulcerative colitis (OR = 1.5; 95% CI 1.35-1.77). Patients with more severe disease were more likely to participate, including those with prior IBD-related hospitalization (OR = 2.6; 95% CI 2.19-2.99), IBD-related surgery (OR = 2.5; 95% CI 2.24-2.87), biologic exposure (OR = 3.2; 95% CI 2.76-3.65), and "Poor" or worse quality of life (OR = 1.7; 95% CI 1.45-1.93). Steroid-free remission was associated with a lower likelihood of RCT participation (OR = 0.6; 95% CI 0.53-0.70). Although the number of active RCTs for IBD more than doubled between 2011 and 2018, RCT participation rates during that same time period decreased from 1.1% to 0.7% of the cohort. Conclusions RCT participation declined within this cohort. Groups underrepresented in RCTs for IBD included younger patients, patients followed in community settings, and patients with more mild disease. The non-RCT group had mean disease activity scores that did not meet remission thresholds, demonstrating populations in need of alternate therapies for whom clinical trials could be an option. Given anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) exposure rates in this national cohort, studies should focus on anti-TNF failure populations. Investigators should make every effort to offer RCTs to all patients and network with community providers to increase awareness of RCTs.
Nationwide Patterns of Pathologic Fractures Among Patients Hospitalized With Bone Metastases.

OBJECTIVES Pathologic fractures from bone metastases can significantly affect quality-of-life, although it is unclear which patients may be at high risk of this outcome. We aim to determine risk factors for pathologic fracture among patients admitted with bone metastases and to evaluate the association of pathologic fracture with clinical and economic outcomes. METHODS The Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project National Inpatient Sample was queried for all patients hospitalized with bone metastases in 2016. Baseline differences between patients with and without pathologic fractures were assessed by χ and analysis of variance testing. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with fractures. RESULTS In 2016, 272,275 hospital admissions were associated with a diagnosis of bone metastases, of which 11,960 (4.4%) had a primary diagnosis of pathologic fracture. Patients with pathologic fractures had a longer length-of-hospital-stay (mean 7.5 vs. 6.4 d; P<0.001) and higher cost-of-hospital-stay (mean $23,611 vs. $15,942; P<0.001) compared to patients without pathologic fractures. Primary cancers associated with increased likelihood of pathologic fracture included liver and intrahepatic bile duct (odds ratio [OR] 2.34; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.65-3.32), multiple myeloma (OR 1.94; 95% CI, 1.31-2.86), and kidney and renal pelvis cancer (OR 1.89; 95% CI, 1.50-2.37). CONCLUSIONS Nearly 5% of hospitalizations with bone metastases presented with a concomitant pathologic fracture, which was associated with longer inpatient stay and higher cost. Patients with hepatobiliary, renal cell carcinoma, or multiple myeloma, had a higher likelihood of pathologic fracture. These groups may benefit from increased outpatient monitoring, prophylactic stabilization, or early irradiation.
H. J. Melosh

One of the giants of planetary science, H. J. Melosh, died unexpectedly on 11 September 2020 at age 73. Through his students, postdocs and collaborators, he brought a high level of physical rigour to the growing field of planetary geology.
Complex Cases of SUI

In this chapter, we present five patients with complicated cases of stress urinary incontinence: (1) a patient with mixed urinary incontinence, (2) an obese patient with intrinsic sphincter deficiency, (3) an elderly patient on anticoagulation, (4) a patient with neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction and stress urinary incontinence, and (5) a patient with two failed midurethral slings and a mesh erosion. For each case, we discuss the various treatment options and patient counseling in an effort to elucidate the nuances of decision-making in a complex patient.
Professional integrity in maternal - fetal innovation and research: an essential component of perinatal medicine.

Objectives Clinical innovation and research on maternal-fetal interventions have become an essential for the development of perinatal medicine. In this paper, we present an ethical argument that the professional virtue of integrity should guide perinatal investigators. Methods We present an historical account of the professional virtue of integrity and the key distinction that this account requires between intellectual integrity and moral integrity. Results We identify implications of both intellectual and moral integrity for innovation, research, prospective oversight, the role of equipoise in randomized clinical trials, and organizational leadership to ensure that perinatal innovation and research are conducted with professional integrity. Conclusions Perinatal investigators and those charged with prospective oversight should be guided by the professional virtue of integrity. Leaders in perinatal medicine should create and sustain an organizational culture of professional integrity in fetal centers, where perinatal innovation and research should be conducted.
Graduation Ceremonies: A Prayer for Balancing Sponsorship and Censorship

Paper sets out to find the meaningful balance between the two forbidden sides of the school prayer debate in the graduation context—school sponsorship of religion and school censorship of private speech. The analysis represents an updated survey of the graduation prayer jurisprudence and aims to provide the legal framework in considering the prudent approach for future graduation prayer policies.
Fast Walsh-Hadamard Transform and Smooth-Thresholding Based Binary Layers in Deep Neural Networks

In this paper, we propose a novel layer based on fast Walsh-Hadamard transform (WHT) and smooth-thresholding to replace 1 × 1 convolution layers in deep neural networks. In the WHT domain, we denoise the transform domain coefficients using the new smooth-thresholding non-linearity, a smoothed version of the well-known soft-thresholding operator. We also introduce a family of multiplication-free operators from the basic 2×2 Hadamard transform to implement 3 × 3 depthwise separable convolution layers. Using these two types of layers, we replace the bottleneck layers in MobileNet-V2 to reduce the network’s number of parameters with a slight loss in accuracy. For example, by replacing the final third bottleneck layers, we reduce the number of parameters from 2.270M to 947K. This reduces the accuracy from 95.21% to 92.88% on the CIFAR-10 dataset. Our approach significantly improves the speed of data processing. The fast Walsh-Hadamard transform has a computational complexity of O(m log 2 m). As a result, it is computationally more efficient than the 1 × 1 convolution layer. The fast Walsh-Hadamard layer processes a tensor in ℝ10×32×32×1024 about 2 times faster than 1 × 1 convolution layer on NVIDIA Jetson Nano computer board.
An In Vitro Dissolution Method for Testing Extended-Release Tablets Under Mechanical Compression and Sample Friction

Abstract The release and dissolution of an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) from the solid oral formulation into the gastrointestinal (GI) tract is critical for the drug's absorption into systemic circulation. Extended-release (ER) solid oral dosage forms are normally subjected to physical shear and grinding forces as well as pressure exerted by peristaltic movements when passing through the GI tract. The complex physical contraction and sample friction exerted by the GI tract are not simulated well by compendial dissolution methods. These limitations render traditional in vitro dissolution testing unable to discriminate and predict a product's in vivo performance. The objective of this study was to develop a dissolution method that better simulates the GI environment that products are subject to when taken by patients. A newly designed Mechanical Apparatus under GI Conditions (MAGIC) was assembled with a dissolution platform and mechanical capabilities to allow in vitro dissolution testing under sample contractions and friction. The dissolution platform, with medium flow-through configuration, was manufactured by 3D printing. A 60 mg polymer matrix-based ER nifedipine product was tested. To simulate GI physiological conditions during the dissolution testing, the flow rate of the medium, and a combination of mechanical compression with rotation induced sample friction at various rotation frequencies were explored. The polymer matrix-based nifedipine ER formulation used here failed its controlled release functionality in the simulated GI environment under mechanical compression and sample friction. The results showed that the MAGIC system, with flow-through configuration under compression and sample friction, has advantages over compendial methods in testing ER solid oral formulations.
Concepts of the Reference Point Class of Methods of Interactive Multiple Objective Programming

This paper discusses topics fundamental to the understanding of the reference point methods of interactive multiple objective programming (represented by the work of Benayoun, de Montgolfier, Tergny and Larichev (1971), Wierzbicki (1977, 1982 and 1986), Steuer and Choo (1983), Nakayama and Sawaragi (1984), Korhonen and Laakso (1986), and others [6, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 18] that has attracted considerable attention in the 1980s.
Equipartitioning in a high current proton linac

The code PARMILA simulates the beam transmission through the Accelerator for the Production of Tritium (APT) linac. The beam is equipartitioned when the longitudinal and transverse temperatures are equal. This paper explores the consequence of equipartitioning in the APT linac. The simulations begin with a beam that starts at the ion-source plasma surface. PARMILA tracks the particles from the RFQ exit through the 1.7-GeV linac. This paper compares two focusing schemes. One scheme uses mostly equal strength quadrupoles. The equipartitioning scheme uses weaker focusing in the high-energy portion of the linac. The RMS beam size with the equipartitioning scheme is larger, but the relative size of the halo is less than in the equal-strength design.
Electron spin resonance in a Fermi glass

A broad Lorentzian ESR line in H-doped CaV2O6 crystals has been observed between 300 K and 4 K and assigned to itinerant electrons in dx2−y2 orbitals. The spin susceptibility is nearly temperature independent, whereas the conductivity varies strongly, consistent with Mott'sexp-(l/T)1/4 variable range hopping law over three orders of magnitude. Our observations indicate Pauli paramagnetism in this random system.
Informative Committees and Legislative Performance in the American States

The information theory of legislative organization suggests that legislative committees are designed to provide their parent chamber with necessary information to legislate. Despite empirical evidence for various aspects of the theory, we have limited knowledge of committees’ influence on legislative outputs. I argue that informative committees are more than information providers, that they also substantively impact legislative outcomes. With supportive evidence from the US state legislatures, this article shows that the presence of an informative committee system not only lowers the number of bills introduced to the legislature but also enhances the chamber's efficiency in transforming legislative proposals into laws.
Comparison of calculated results with experimental data for the tritium production rates in a Li2O assembly

This paper reports on the Monte Carlo codes MORSE and MCNP used to calculate the tritium production from {approx} 14-MeV neutron reactions in a Li{sub 2}O assembly. Tritium production from neutron reactions with {sup 6} Li and {sup 7}Li nuclei were calculated along the central axis of a 0.60-m-diam {times} 0.60-m-long assembly and four additional assemblies where sheets of Type 304 stainless steel and polyethlene were placed in front of the Li{sub 2}O to simulate first-wall and coolant materials. The calculated data are compared with measured data. The calculated data reproduce the measured data in shape, but differ from the measured data by 10 to 20% in the case of {sup 6} Li and as much as 30% at some spatial locations for the {sup 7} Li tritium production.
Aspects of the Tribology of the Plastic Bonded Explosive LX‐04

The coefficient of friction, {mu}, of the plastic bonded explosive (PBX) LX-04 was measured on stainless steel, aluminum, Teflon and the explosive itself as a function of temperature between ambient and 135 C at a rotational speed of 0.0025 rad/sec{sup -1}. An optical profilometer was used to analyze the mean surface roughness, R{sub a}, of the various materials. LX-04 is a composite of the explosive 1,3,5,7-tetranitroazacyclooctane (HMX) and Viton A in an 85/15 weight ratio. The average roughness of the pressed explosive surface was R{sub a} = 0.55 {micro}m. The coefficient of friction for LX-04 on stainless steel of R{sub a} = 0.40 {micro}m decreased from 0.38 at ambient to 0.18 at 95 C. Above this temperature {mu} was nearly constant to about 125 C, where the coefficient began to increase again. The opposite behavior was observed with aluminum with R{sub a} = 0.31 {micro}m. The coefficient of friction increased from about 0.3 at ambient to 0.46 at 125 C. At this temperature or above, {mu} tended to increase during the measurement, indicating that the sample may have been sticking to the counter surface. The coefficient of friction against Teflon of R{sub a} = 0.054 {micro}m was nearly constant frommore » ambient to 65 C at 0.43 {+-} 0.02, then decreased to 0.17 at 100 C and remained there up to 135 C. Against LX-04 itself at temperatures between 35 and 95 C the coefficient of friction averaged 0.64, but tended to increase during the measurement, probably due to adhesion of the Viton to itself. Above 95 C the coefficient dropped off and became nearly constant again at 0.16 from 115 up to 135 C. Some preliminary measurements on stainless steel with the mock explosive RM-04-BR, a composite of cyanuric acid and Viton A in the same weight ratio as the actual explosive, were made to evaluate the set up procedures and safety of the operation with live explosive. Both pressed, R{sub a} = 0.37 {micro}m, and machined, R{sub a} = 1.7 {micro}m, surfaces were evaluated for the mock. Results compared reasonably well with the explosive itself on steel, indicating that the binder plays a major role in determining the coefficient of friction for these types of composites.« less
The Drift Diffusion Model Can Account for the Accuracy and Reaction Time of Value-Based Choices Under High and Low Time Pressure

An important open problem is how values are compared to make simple choices. A natural hypothesis is that the brain carries out the computations associated with the value comparisons in a manner consistent with the Drift Diffusion Model (DDM), since this model has been able to account for a large amount of data in other domains. We investigated the ability of four different versions of the DDM to explain the data in a real binary food choice task under conditions of high and low time pressure. We found that a seven-parameter version of the DDM can account for the choice and reaction time data with high-accuracy, in both the high and low time pressure conditions. The changes associated with the introduction of time pressure could be traced to changes in two key model parameters: the barrier height and the noise in the slope of the drift process.
7 Tesla MRI with a transmit/receive loopless antenna and B1-insensitive selective excitation.

Purpose Use of external coils with internal detectors or conductors is challenging at 7 Tesla (T) due to radiofrequency (RF) field (B1) penetration, B1-inhomogeneity, mutual coupling, and potential local RF heating. The present study tests whether the near-quadratic gains in signal-to-noise ratio and field-of-view with field-strength previously reported for internal loopless antennae at 7T can suffice to perform MRI with an interventional transmit/receive antenna without using any external coils. Methods External coils were replaced by semi-rigid or biocompatible transmit/receive loopless antennae requiring only a few Watts of peak RF power. Slice selection was provided by spatially selective B1-insensitive composite RF pulses that compensate for the antenna's intrinsically nonuniform B1-field. Power was adjusted to maintain local temperature rise ≤1°C. Fruit, intravascular MRI of diseased human vessels in vitro, and MRI of rabbit aorta in vivo are demonstrated. Results Scout MRI with the transmit/receive antennae yielded a ≤10 cm cylindrical field-of-view, enabling subsequent targeted localization at ∼100 μm resolution in 10-50 s and/or 50 μm MRI in ∼2 min in vitro, and 100−300 μm MRI of the rabbit aorta in vivo. Conclusion A simple, low-power, one-device approach to interventional MRI at 7T offers the potential of truly high-resolution MRI, while avoiding issues with external coil excitation and interactions at 7T. Magn Reson Med 72:220–226, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Effects of Nitrogen and Carbon Dioxide on Livability and Fertility of Frozen Bovine Spermatozoa

Summary In the first phase, the effects of N 2 and CO 2 on post-thawing motility and livability of semen from five mature dairy bulls were tested. Flushing ampules with N 2 gas prior to the addition of semen was found to be superior to flushing with either CO 2 or no flushing. Laboratory and fertility observations were included in the second phase. Post-thawing motility was slightly higher for the semen treated with N 2 . These differences were not significant (P = > 0.05). However, motility of semen stored at various intervals and temperatures after thawing (livability) was consistently higher for the treated samples as compared to the control. These differences were significantly different (P = Fertility based on 30- to 60-day nonreturns for 277 first services was 79.0% for N 2 treated semen as compared to 76.7% for 292 first services with nontreated semen. Breeding efficiencies based in 60- to 90-day nonreturns were 74.0% and 71.5%, respectively. These differences were not significant (P = > 0.05).
Chromosome segregation and spindle structure in crane fly spermatocytes following Colcemid treatment.

Chromosome segregation in primary spermatocytes of the crane fly Nephrotoma suturalis was studied after exposure to Colcemid at doses that did not completely inhibit spindle formation. Colcemid was added either to the medium in which larvae were cultured or to Tricine buffer in which isolated testes were incubated. Patterns of chromosome segregation were analyzed in fixed, Feulgen-stained smears of testes from Colcemid-treated larvae and in living cell preparations. Anomalies observed during the first meiotic division at higher than normal frequencies in Colcemid-treated spermatocytes included anaphase lagging of autosomes, chromosomal strands, tripolar and tetrapolar divisions, and unequal distribution of chromosomes to secondary cells. Following those doses of Colcemid that induced the above anomalies, the length of the birefringent spindle in primary spermatocytes was shorter than normal. This effect on spindle length also was apparent in Giemsastained preparations of fixed cells, in which the two centrosomes at the spindle poles were differentiated from the rest of the cytoplasm. The results indicate a correlation between the inhibition of spindle formation and the induction of anomalous patterns of chromosome segregation.
Cocaine self-administration reinforced on a progressive ratio schedule decreases with continuous d-amphetamine treatment in rats

Rationale To date, there is no medication specifically approved for cocaine addiction. Agonist medications are used clinically in the treatment of other addictions, which suggests that this method of drug therapy could potentially be successful in treating cocaine addiction as well.
Renal cell carcinoma among architects

Data from a population-based cancer registry were analyzed according to occupation and industry at the time 'of diagnosis as part of a routine surveillance of the data for associations between occupation and cancer risk. A total of 119 cases of cancer of all sites were reported among architects between 1972–1986. From a total of 2,059 renal cell carcinomas in the registry, the 13 cases were observed among male architects, aged up to 64, 3.1 were expected. Significant elevations were not observed among other professional groups. Architects are exposed to several toxic and potentially carcinogenic chemicals. We suggest that investigators with cancer registry data coded according to occupation evaluate whether an association between employment as an architect and renal carcinoma exists in their data.
Impact of a Mental Health Training Course for Correctional Officers on a Special Housing Unit

Objective: This study determined the impact of a ten-hour mental health training program developed by the Indiana chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI-Indiana) for correctional officers on a prison special housing (“supermax”) unit. Methods: The training was delivered to all of the correctional officers on the unit in five weekly sessions and was repeated 15 months later for new unit staff. The number of incidents reported by unit staff in standard monthly reports, consisting of use of force by the officers and battery by bodily waste on the officers by the offenders, was compared for the nine months before and after both training sessions. Results: Attendance at the initial training ranged from 48 to 57 officers per session, and on the basis of Likert ratings, training was well received by the officers. The total number of incidents, the use of force by the officers, and battery by bodily waste all declined significantly after the first mental health training, and the total number of incidents and battery by bodily waste declined significantly after the second training. Conclusions: The provision of ten hours of mental health training to correctional officers was associated with a significant decline in use of force and battery by bodily waste. (Psychiatric Services 60:640–645, 2009)
Theory of Reasoned Action: Purchase Intention of Young Consumers

The approximately 60 million members of Generation Y are a major force in the consumer marketplace and represent a significant behavioral shift. To develop the broad, multifaceted advertising strat...
Nonlocal electrodynamics of linearly accelerated systems

The measurement of an electromagnetic radiation field by a linearly accelerated observer is discussed. The nonlocality of this process is emphasized. The nonlocal theory of accelerated observers is briefly described and the consequences of this theory are illustrated using a concrete example involving the measurement of an incident pulse of radiation by an observer that experiences uniform acceleration during a limited interval of time.
Analysis of surface- and bulk-plasmon contributions to x-ray photoemission spectra

The plasmon structure accompanying core-level x-ray photoemission in Na, Mg, and Al is reported and analyzed using a model of random spatial emission of extrinsic plasmons. The Mg and Al spectra are well fit by this model without intrinsic plasmon production. The Na data are not explained by purely extrinsic plasmon emission.
HIV-associated tuberculosis: watch for it in your ICU.

In 1986, for the first time since the system of national surveillance began 33 years before, the number of reported cases of tuberculosis in the United States increased compared to those reported the year before [1]. In 1987 and 1988 the number decreased slightly from that in 1986, but then in 1989 once again there was another sharp increase. Recently, the prevailing rate of decline in the annual incidence of tuberculosis in France has slowed noticeably [2] and striking increases have been noted in several countries in Africa [3, 4]. It is now evident that this remarkable global upsurge in tuberculosis has been caused by the widespread presence of a second infectious agent, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). When HIV infection and Mycobacterium tuberculosis coexist, the inevitable HIV-induced immunosupression favors progression of latent tuberculous infection to serious tuberculous disease [5]. There seem to be 2 types of tuberculosis associated with HIV infection. One form occurs relatively early in the evolution of HIV-induced immunosuppression and is indistinguishable from ordinary tuberculosis; its characteristics are cutaneous reactivity to tuberculin, formation of granulomata, upper lobe pulmonary disease with cavitation, and infrequent extrapulmonary involvement [6]. In contrast, the second type occurs in patients with more advanced immune depression and is often atypical and aggressive in its presentation; noteworthy features are the loss of tubercufin sensitivity (with consequent absence of necrosis and granulomata formation), diffuse lung involvement, and frequent extrapulmonary dissemination [7]. Thus, because of the substantial increase in tuberculosis in many countries, both developed and underdeveloped, related to HIV infection, and because of the clinical behavior of the second type of HIV-associated tuberculosis described above, it its not surprising that these patients are now being encountered in intensive care units
Climbing Jacob's ladder:Symbolic renunciation, reference‐group identification, and status mobility in cursillo

This article is a continuation of analyses of cursillo. The specific concerns addressed are the development of the appropriate linguistic skills, that is, learning how to “talk the talk “of cursillo, and the development of the appropriate behavioral skills, that is, learning how to “walk the walk” of cursillo. When these skills are developed and used appropriately a form of ranked status mobility within a cursillo center can occur.
A thermoelastic model for an experiment involving a solid-solid phase transition

An experiment was carried out by Sammis and Dein [1974] to support the notion that large creep strains could be generated in the earth's mantle by solid-solid phase transitions. The predictions of the thermoelastic model given here are in qualitative agreement with the results of their experiment.
Analysis of plasma hippurate in humans using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry: concentration and incorporation of infused [15N]glycine.

Abstract To allow in vivo determination of synthetic rates for individual proteins, physiological incorporation of infused [15N]glycine into urinary hippuric acid has been used as an indicator of intrahepatic tracer dilution. Although the kidneys might contribute to hippurate production, the relationship between hepatic, plasma, and urinary hippurate has not yet been established in humans. To further investigate these issues we developed a fast, sensitive, and reliable method for measuring simultaneously hippurate concentrations and in vivo tracer incorporation into hippurate in plasma and urine using stable isotopes and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. We then tested this assay under several experimental conditions. Reference compounds ([15N]-and [ring-2H5]hippurate) were synthesized and gave linear standard curves. Postabsorptive hippurate plasma levels in healthy subjects ranged from 1.2 to 10.5 μ m and protein binding was 79 ± 6% (mean ± SD). Following a bolus dose of [15N]glycine tracer appeared in plasma hippurate; enrichment in hippurate was indistinguishable from that in glycine after an equilibration period of 20 min, indicating a close relationship between intracellular glycine and plasma hippurate. A 16-h infusion of [15N]glycine resulted in identical enrichment levels in urinary and plasma hippurate; glycine enrichment in a hepatic export protein (VLDL-ApoB) was approaching plasma hippurate but not plasma free glycine enrichment. The ability to monitor plasma hippurate is of practical advantage compared to the sampling of urine. Furthermore it allows the monitoring of rapid events in the intrahepatic dilution of an infused glycine tracer. This assay may, therefore, become an important tool in the study of hepatic protein metabolism.