cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Combined Effects of Spirea Aphid (Homoptera: Aphididae) and Nitrogen Fertilization on Shoot Growth, Dry Matter Accumulation, and Carbohydrate Concentration in Young Apple Trees

One-year-old apple trees were grown in pots in an unheated greenhouse with screened ends and were artificially infested with spirea aphid, Aphis spiraecola Patch. Spirea aphid density increased at a faster rate on trees receiving higher rates of nitrogen application. Accumulation of dry weights in all tree parts (leaves, lateral shoots, trunk, rootstock, and roots) during the growing season were affected by both spirea aphid and nitrogen fertilization. Spirea aphid reduced accumulation of dry weights of all tree parts harvested at the end of the first growing season. These reductions were still present when trees were harvested at the 10-leaf stage the next spring. Spirea aphid reduced lateral shoot growth at the end of the growing season and at the 10-leaf stage. Dry weights of all tree parts increased with increasing rates of nitrogen. The percentage and amount of nonstructural carbohydrates in all tree parts were reduced by spirea aphid feeding and were positively related to nitrogen rate. At the 10-leaf stage in the second season, similar results were obtained. Foliar N concentration increased linearly with increasing amount of N application in both infested and control leaves. Also, differences in leaf N concentration were found between infested and control leaves at each N application rate.
Suckling behavior of prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster)

In some mammals, young exhibit obvious preferences for anterior or posterior teats. In addition, individuals within litters may suckle consistently from the same teat or pair of teats—patterns of behavior termed teat fidelity and teat-pair fidelity, respectively. I examined if young prairie voles ( Microtus ochrogaster ) preferred particular locations of teats and exhibited fidelity to a particular teat or teat-pair. I marked individual young and scored location of teats suckled every other day from day 4 to day 16 postpartum. Young preferred the hind pair of teats over the middle teats and least preferred the front teats. Fidelity in choice of teat and teat-pair varied with litter size, being more pronounced in small litters. Advantages of suckling from hind teats are unknown. Enhanced teat fidelity and teat-pair fidelity in small litters probably reflect reduced competition for preferred locations of teats and the need for consistent stimulation of a teat to ensure adequate milk production.
Passive permeation of organic compounds through biological tissue: a non-steady-state theory.

A theoretical analysis of the penetration of drug molecules to their sites of action in terms of their lipophilic character is presented. This analysis justifies the parabolic equations which have been used empirically to describe the relationship between effectiveness of drug and its lipophilic character.
GnRH agonist with low-dose hCG (dual trigger) is associated with higher risk of severe ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome compared to GnRH agonist alone

Purpose The purpose of this study was to compare rates of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) after using gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists (GnRHa) alone and GnRHa in combination with low-dose human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG, dual trigger) for final oocyte maturation in women undergoing controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH).
Costs of Contraceptive Coverage Under the Affordable Care Act

In their article Addressing Challenges to Implementation of the Contraceptive Coverage Guarantee of the Affordable Care Act Dr Politi and colleagues provided an overview of the current challenges in implementing insurance coverage of contraceptives with no out-of-pocket costs to patients as mandated by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This law has already been shown to have substantially reduced out-of-pocket expenditures by privately insured women who take contraceptives. However the authors contended that “[i]nsurance companies benefit from the contraceptive coverage provision because all methods are cost saving after accounting for the costs of unintended pregnancies and births.” This oversimplifies a complex issue. Although it seems counter intuitive providing insurance coverage for a cost-effective preventive service does not guarantee that total insurer spending will decrease. The authors correctly stated that contraceptive use produces cost savings for insurers. However when the effect of the new law on insurers is considered the effect on their total spending doesn’t only depend on the cost savings of contraception. It also depends on whether the drop in out-of-pocket price induces more women to use contraception than were using it before the law. Consider the insurer’s perspective. Before the law some women enrolled in their plans were already using contraception and these women were paying the out-of-pocket costs themselves. Once the mandate went into effect the insurer began covering those costs. If the number of women using birth control doesn’t change after the law these new costs represent a net loss. Now imagine that because of the drop in the out-of-pocket price more women begin using contraception. The insurer is likely to reap savings from this new use relative to before the law. If rates of use of contraception increase enough these savings could potentially outweigh the costs of paying for birth control for both the new and old users. The more price-sensitive women are -- that is the more women who begin using contraception after the law because of the drop in out-of-pocket price -- the more likely it is that the law will produce cost savings for insurers. Cost savings are possible but not guaranteed. This concept has been well described in the health economics literature. How price sensitive are privately insured women for birth control? This is an empirical question and there are surprisingly little data available to answer it. It is also an important question because if insurer spending increases so will health insurance premiums -- and vice versa. Until more data are available stating without qualification that the ACA’s contraceptive coverage mandate will benefit insurers is premature. (full text)
Veterans Like Me: Formative evaluation of a patient decision aid design

Patient decision aids are tools intended to facilitate shared decision-making. Currently development of a patient decision aid is resource intensive: it requires a decision-specific review of the scientific literature by experts to ascertain the potential outcomes under different treatments. The goal of this project was to conduct a formative evaluation of a generalizable, scalable decision aid component we call Veterans Like Me (VLme). VLme mines EHR data to present the outcomes of individuals “like you” on different treatments to the user. These outcome are presented through a combination of an icon array and simulated narratives. Twenty-six patients participated in semi-structured interviews intended to elicit feedback on the tool’s functional and interface design. The interview focused on the filters users desired with which to make cases similar to them, the kinds of outcomes they wanted presented, and their envisioned use of the tool. The interview also elicited participants information needs and salient factors related to the therapeutic decision. The interview transcripts were analyzed using an iteratively refined coding schema and content analysis. . Participants generally expressed enthusiasm for the tool’s design and functionality. Our analysis identified desired filters for users to view patients like themselves, outcome types that should be included in future iterations of the tool (e.g. patient reported outcomes), and information needs that need to be addressed for patients to effectively participate in shared decision making. Implications for the integration of our findings into the design of patient decision aids are discussed.
Leukotriene C4-Synthesis Deficiency

A leukotriene C4-synthesis deficiency, a new inborn error of eicosanoid metabolism characterized by hypotonia, microcephaly, failure to thrive, and retarded development, is described in an infant who died aged 6 months after a rapidly progressive course at the University of Heidelberg, Germany.
Mixture models for mixed-type data through a composite likelihood approach

Abstract A mixture model is considered to classify continuous and/or ordinal variables. Under this model, both the continuous and the ordinal variables are assumed to follow a heteroscedastic Gaussian mixture model, where, as regards the ordinal variables, it is only partially observed. More specifically, the ordinal variables are assumed to be a discretization of some mixture variables. From a computational point of view, this creates some problems for the maximum likelihood estimation of model parameters. Indeed, the likelihood function involves multidimensional integrals, whose evaluation is computationally demanding as the number of ordinal variables increases. The proposal is to replace this cumbersome likelihood with a surrogate objective function that is easier to maximize. A composite approach is used, in particular the original joint distribution is replaced by the product of three blocks: the marginal distribution of continuous variables, all bivariate marginal distributions of ordinal variables and the marginal distributions given by all continuous variables and only one ordinal variable. This leads to a surrogate function that is the sum of the log contributions for each block. The estimation of model parameters is carried out maximizing the surrogate function within an EM-like algorithm. The effectiveness of the proposal is investigated through a simulation study and two applications to real data.
Media Freedom and the Control of Nation’s Sociolegal Problems of Governance: A Conjunctive Analysis of Asymmetric Effects and Multiple Causal Pathways

Using secondary data from 164 countries, the current study applies conjunctive analysis to assess asymmetric effects and multiple causal pathways underlying how nations’ level of media freedom infl...
Brief Announcement: Complete Visibility for Oblivious Robots in Linear Time

We consider the distributed setting of $N$ autonomous mobile robots that operate in Look-Compute-Move cycles following the well-celebrated classic oblivious robots model. We study the fundamental problem where starting from an arbitrary initial configuration, N autonomous robots reposition themselves to a convex hull formation on the plane where each robot is visible to all others (the Complete Visibility problem). We assume obstructed visibility, where a robot cannot see another robot if a third robot is positioned between them on the straight line connecting them. We provide the first \cO(N) time algorithm for this problem in the fully synchronous setting. Our contribution is a significant improvement over the runtime of the only previously known algorithm for this problem which has a lower bound of \Omega(N^2). Our proposed algorithm is collision-free -- robots do not share positions and their paths do not cross.
Rapid measurement of sub-micrometer aerosol size distribution using a fast integrated mobility spectrometer

Abstract Rapid measurement of submicron particle size distributions enables the characterization of aerosols with fast changing properties, and is often necessary for measurements onboard mobile platforms (e.g., research aircraft). Aerosol mobility size distribution is commonly measured by a scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS), which relies on voltage scanning or stepping to classify particles of different sizes, and may take about 1 minute or longer to obtain a complete size spectrum of aerosol particles. The recently developed fast integrated mobility spectrometer (FIMS) with enhanced dynamic size range separates and detects particles from 10 to ~600 nm simultaneously, allowing submicron aerosol mobility size distributions to be captured at a time resolution of 1 s. In this study, we present a detailed data inversion routine for deriving aerosol size distribution from FIMS measurements of aerosols with a wide size range. The inversion routine takes into consideration the FIMS transfer function, particle penetration efficiency in the FIMS, and multiple charging of aerosols. The accuracy of the FIMS measurement is demonstrated by comparing parallel FIMS and SMPS measurements of stable aerosols with a wide range of size spectrum shapes, including ambient aerosols and aerosols classified by a differential mobility analyzer (DMA). The FIMS and SMPS-derived size distributions show excellent agreements for all aerosols tested. In addition, total number concentrations of ambient aerosols were integrated from 1 Hz FIMS size distributions, and compared with those directly measured by a condensation particle counter (CPC) operated in parallel. The integrated and measured total particle concentrations agree well within 6.5%.
Community College Student-Researcher Discovers Classmates’ Increased Empathy Levels Viewing TEDx Talk Video

ABSTRACTReading and conducting research can initially feel daunting for community college students. For this nontraditional aged, first generation student-researcher, the interest in research increased with the availability of TEDx Talks. The overall intent of the study was to evaluate the empathetic reactivity of students (n = 78) while viewing a prosocial behavior TEDx Talk. Students completed the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) pre/post-assessment to understand if empathy levels changed from before and after viewing the video. Results showed statistically significant changes for both males and females suggesting increased levels of empathy after viewing the video. For the student-researcher, certitude was found as data were analyzed; initial positive feelings about learning research utilizing TEDx Talks were confirmed with statistical analysis, thereby strengthening confidence that learning was not only hypothesized but secured by empirical evidence.
The Shanghai-Hangchow-Ningpo Railway Loan of 1908

Among the railway concessions obtained by Britain from the Chinese government during the battle for concessions in 1898 was one covering a line that would branch off from the Shanghai-Nanking Railway (another British concession) at Soochow, run southwestward to Hangchow, at the head of the Ch'ien-t'ang estuary, and turn southeastward to terminate at the treaty port of Ningpo. Traversing the coastal areas of Kiangsu and Chekiang provinces, a fertile and well-populated region, the economic possibilities of this railway had been long recognized by the British. After an unsuccessful attempt to make it an Anglo-German enterprise in 1897-98, the concession was granted to the British and Chinese Corporation, a British syndicate formed that year by the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and Jardine, Matheson and Company for the furtherance of British railway interest in China. The line was to be financed and constructed by the corporation under the nominal ownership of the Chinese Imperial Railway Administration.
Ignoring the Real Problems for Phenomenal Externalism: A Reply to Hilbert and Klein

I disagree with those who think phenomenal externalism can be refuted very easily on the basis of controversial intuitions about brains in vats (Horgan, Tienson and Graham), inverted spectrum (Shoemaker), actual cases of perceptual variation (Block), and so on. Both sides of the debate have missed the best argument against phenomenal externalism. The real trouble with phenomenal externalism is that it goes against decades of research in psychophysics and neuroscience. This research supports a brain-based theory of phenomenal consciousness.
Anesthesia simulators - Technology and applications

Anesthesia simulators are rapidly becoming more prevalent worldwide. Several types of anesthesia simulators utilizing a variety of technologies are available. High fidelity mannequin-based simulators, low fidelity screen-based simulators, and relatively inexpensive intermediate fidelity simulators have found applications in training, assessment of clinical competence, and research. A number of recent studies support the use of anesthesia simulators and may lead to widespread adoption of simulation in other fields of medicine.
Intra-federation credential negotiation based on individualized release strategy

In federated world like Shibboleth the release policy-how a member's personal information to be divulged is set by their home organization. The member has little say in it. In this paper we present an alternate framework where members can specify and personalize their own attribute release policy. Such personalization is however non-trivial. As opposed to simple request-reply based communication, such personalization inherently necessitates a mechanism of negotiation for which we present a new federated negotiation enabled framework.
Topological constraint model of alkali tellurite glasses

Abstract A topological constraint model is developed to elucidate the coordination environment of alkali tellurite glasses. The model is derived from temperature-dependent constraint theory and provides a quantitative connection between the connectivity of the glass network and the compositional dependence of the glass transition temperature (Tg). Our model gives support to the model proposed by Barney et al. [J. Phys. Chem. Lett.4, 2312–2316 (2013)], confirming their model of the coordination environment in alkali tellurites. The model simultaneously serves as a framework that can be used in binary alkali glass-formers to predict an expected coordination the network forming cation in an oxide glass.
Catheter-Directed Thrombolysis for Portal Vein Thrombosis in Children: A Case Series.

Abstract Purpose To describe safety and efficacy of catheter-directed thrombolysis (CDT) for portal vein thrombosis (PVT) in children. Materials and Methods Retrospective review was performed of 10 consecutive patients (7 girls, 3 boys; mean age 11.9 y; range, 3–17 y) with PVT undergoing CDT at a single tertiary children’s hospital between August 2005 and March 2016. PVT was categorized by etiology and extent (intrahepatic, extrahepatic, or both). CDT was performed with infusion catheters placed via percutaneous transhepatic (PTH) and/or transjugular intrahepatic (TJ) approaches, with or without the use of adjunctive maneuvers, including balloon maceration and suction and rheolytic thrombectomy. Degree of thrombolysis on portal venography, presence of portal vein thrombus on available follow-up imaging, and complication rates were recorded. Results In 10 patients, 13 CDT procedures were performed for PVT, with 3 patients requiring repeat CDT. Portal access was achieved with PTH (n = 6), TJ (n = 2), or combined (n = 2) approaches. All cases were successful in re-establishing patency and hepatopetal flow on portal venography with complete thrombolysis achieved in 10 of 13 cases (77%). Two major complications (20%) occurred, both with PTH access. Mean follow-up time for 9 patients was 2.6 years (range, 51–1,902 d) with long-term patency achieved in 6 (67%). Conclusions CDT can be safe and effective for PVT in children. Portal access considerations and early initiation of thrombolysis may further increase safety and efficacy.
Conjugated Microporous Polymers with Rigid Backbones for Organic Solvent Nanofiltration

It is very challenging to develop highly permeable and selective polymer membranes for organic solvent nanofiltration. Recently in Nature Chemistry, Liang et al. reported conjugated microporous polymer membranes with all-rigid conjugated systems through a surface-initiated polymerization strategy; the membranes exhibited high resistance to organic solvents and high permeance for hexane and methanol.
Trajectories of Depression and Anxiety in Latina Breast Cancer Survivors.

Objectives To identify subgroups of Latina breast cancer survivors with unique trajectories of depression and anxiety and examine predictors associated with these subgroups. Sample & setting Secondary analysis of Latina breast cancer survivors (N = 293) from three psychosocial intervention studies. Methods & variables Depression and anxiety were assessed at intake and at weeks 8 and 16. Group-based growth mixture modeling was used to identify subgroups who followed distinct trajectories of depression and anxiety. Multinomial logistic regression models were used to identify predictors of trajectory-based subgroup membership. Results Three trajectories emerged for depression. Implications for nursing Latina women treated for breast cancer are at an elevated risk for depression and anxiety and follow distinct trajectories of these symptoms. Psychosocial interventions are needed to manage these symptoms, particularly for subgroups in which depression and anxiety persist or worsen.
Entwicklung von Führungskräften und wie Nachhaltigkeit wirklich fruchten kann

Nachhaltigkeit, insbesondere in Bezug auf den uberdauernden Effekt einer Masnahme, ist meist das zentrale Anliegen aller Fuhrungskrafteentwicklung. Doch wie kann dies wirksam erreicht werden? Nachhaltigkeit ist das Ergebnis gemeinsamer Ziele und Anstrengungen aller Beteiligten. Sie kann nur erzielt werden, wenn das Unternehmen und der Berater oder Trainer, der fur die Durchfuhrung der Masnahme beauftragt wird, an einem Strang ziehen. Der Artikel konkretisiert die wichtigsten Erfolgsfaktoren und Beitrage, die in der Praxis wirksam werden, damit sich die Investition in Fuhrungskrafteentwicklung auch nachhaltig lohnt.
Quality at the American Society for Radiation Oncology Annual Meeting: Gender Balance Among Invited Speakers and Associations with Panel Success.

Purpose The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) annual meeting is the most prominent international conference in radiation oncology. It represents one of the greatest time efforts for ASTRO volunteers, and the quality of the annual meeting is a high priority. Measures of diversity have been linked with quality of academic efforts. We conducted a study of gender diversity of the ASTRO invited speakers, focusing on speaker and panel characteristics, and associations of these characteristics with measures of audience satisfaction. Methods and Materials We created a database of all invited speakers (n = 1499 cumulative speaking positions, n = 725 individual speakers) and panels (n = 381) in the ASTRO annual meetings from 2012 to 2016. Speaker characteristics were acquired using publically available online search tools (including Scopus for citation metrics). SAS software was used for statistical analysis. Results Of the 725 individual speakers, 27% were women. Men had higher median Hirsch index (H-index) (27 vs 20, P 50% female (metric: request for session repeat). Female conveners were associated with greater panel gender diversity. Conclusion Given observations that women constitute a minority of invited speakers and that greater female representation correlates with a key panel success metric, efforts to ensure greater diversity of those included in AM speaking invitations merit serious attention.
Sets, Spaces, and Measures

A set is a collection of arbitrary elements. By an abuse of language, an empty set is a “set with no elements.”
Intrinsically disordered HAX-1 regulates Ca2+ cycling by interacting with lipid membranes and the phospholamban cytoplasmic region

Abstract Hematopoietic-substrate-1 associated protein X-1 (HAX-1) is a 279 amino acid protein expressed ubiquitously. In cardiac muscle, HAX-1 was found to modulate the sarcoendoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase (SERCA) by shifting its apparent Ca2+ affinity (pCa). It has been hypothesized that HAX-1 binds phospholamban (PLN), enhancing its inhibitory function on SERCA. HAX-1 effects are reversed by cAMP-dependent protein kinase A that phosphorylates PLN at Ser16. To date, the molecular mechanisms for HAX-1 regulation of the SERCA/PLN complex are still unknown. Using enzymatic, in cell assays, circular dichroism, and NMR spectroscopy, we found that in the absence of a binding partner HAX-1 is essentially disordered and adopts a partial secondary structure upon interaction with lipid membranes. Also, HAX-1 interacts with the cytoplasmic region of monomeric and pentameric PLN as detected by NMR and in cell FRET assays, respectively. We propose that the regulation of the SERCA/PLN complex by HAX-1 is mediated by its interactions with lipid membranes, adding another layer of control in Ca2+ homeostatic balance in the heart muscle.
“No Fats, Femmes, or Blacks:” The Role of Body Types, Gender Roles and Race in Condom Usage Online

Condom use and negotiation is a topic that is less documented within the spectrum of online dating. There are many different variables which factor into how a sexual relationship between two people unfolds, distinctly, the variables that contribute to condom negotiation can be seen within one’s race, gender, and sexuality. These different variables have been found to have an impact on condom use due to variations in people’s experiences with racism, body types, and sexual positioning during intercourse. Because condom use is an issue that leads to larger discussions of HIV and AIDS and stigma, we test whether these variables might impact one’s choice to use a condom or not. More specifically, we test whether race, sexual positioning and body type have a relationship with condom use for men who have sex with men online. For our methods we collected data from Adam4Adam.com, an online dating website for gay men. We ran a logistical regression analysis using the three variables against their preference for condom use. The results found a relationship between race and condom use and sexual positioning and condom use, while being insignificant for body type. In particular, the relationship between race and condom use presented a Black Male Condom Use Paradox. The implications are further discussed.
Regional Comprehensive System of Personnel Development Council Activity in Big Sky Country.

The Montana Office of Public Instruction, Special Education Division, initiated its state Comprehensive System of Personnel Development (CSPD) Council 15 years ago in compliance with Public Law 94–...
Picostrain-resolution fiber-optic sensing down to sub-10 mHz infrasonic frequencies

High-resolution strain sensing based on long, high-finesse fiber Fabry–Perot interferometers (FFPIs) has been demonstrated with a special focus on the infrasonic frequency range. A novel dual-FFPI scheme allows the large environment-induced background at low frequencies to be suppressed, permitting high strain resolution limited only by excess electronic noise. Noise-equivalent strain resolution of 257pe/√Hz has been achieved at 6 mHz, and the resolution improves to ∼200fe/√Hz between 4–20 Hz. Without the use of any additional optical frequency references and with only off-the shelf commercial components, these resolutions are much better than most in the prior reports. Especially, an improvement of a factor of 1.8 is achieved in comparison with the highest resolution reported so far near 5 Hz. The limiting factors of the current scheme have been analyzed in detail, and the application prospects have been demonstrated using an acoustic transducer. The work lays out the potential of using long FFPIs with high finesse for high-resolution fiber-optic sensing in the infrasonic frequency range.
Predictors of graduation and criminal recidivism: Findings from a drug court that primarily serves African Americans

Drug courts are an alternative to incarceration for individuals who have substance use disorders. The drug court model is guided by key interventions (e.g., required treatment, frequent status hear...
Promoting Voter Turnout: an Unanticipated Impact of Early-Childhood Preventive Interventions

Preventive interventions in early childhood have a range of behavioral and health effects. However, there is an emerging literature extending this work to include acts of civic engagement, such as voting. Given that America has one of the lowest and most disparate rates of voter turnout in the world—and most of the current efforts aimed at boosting voter turnout and making the electorate more representative of the general public are proximal to the voting experience—there is a need for a better understanding of the potential long-term impact of early-childhood programming on civic engagement in adulthood. This paper builds on theories of political socialization and prior research demonstrating significant impacts of the Fast Track preventive intervention on voter turnout to examine the extent to which there are positive impacts on voter participation for other evidence-based preventive interventions targeting children’s social and emotional capacities. Specifically, we leveraged data from a randomized controlled trial of the classroom-centered (CC) and the family school partnership (FSP) preventive interventions delivered in first grade. We analyzed data from approximately 700 urban, predominately African American, public school students who were randomly assigned to classrooms that either implemented (1) the classroom-centered intervention (which included the good behavior game), (2) the FSP intervention, or (3) the business as usual (i.e., control group). Data from the trial were combined with archival voter data when the youth were in their early 30s. Analyses demonstrated positive impacts of the CC preventive intervention on voter turnout more than two decades after exposure to the prevention program. Taken together, these findings provide additional evidence that some of the attributes that promote active participation in democracy can be fostered in early childhood—long before most interventions that have previously tried, and often failed, to increase voter turnout.
Broadband Green’s function-KKR-multiple scattering method for calculations of normalized band-field solutions in magneto-optics crystals

We apply the broadband Green’s function-KKR-multiple scattering theory (BBGF-KKR-MST) to calculate normalized band-field solutions of magneto-optic crystals. The advantage of the method is that the matrix eigensystem equations are of low order. For the first three bands, a total of three cylindrical waves is sufficient to characterize the eigensystem and the dimension of the matrix equation is only three. Using the eigenvalue and the eigenvector, the band-field solutions and the normalizations are calculated by two methods: (i) the method of complementary plane waves and (ii) the method of higher-order cylindrical waves. The complementary plane waves satisfy the extinction theorem. The higher-order cylindrical waves method requires only 15 coefficients of cylindrical waves to represent the band fields in the entire cell. The normalizations of the band-field solutions are calculated without the need for volumetric integrations. Results are illustrated for points in the first Brillouin zone. The CPU time requirement using MATLAB is 28 ms for the first four bands of a point in the Brillouin zone.
Establishment of an RI for the urine ammonia-to-creatinine ratio in dogs.

BACKGROUND Ammonia is produced and excreted by the kidney, contributing to systemic acid-base homeostasis through the production of bicarbonate. Disorders of acid-base balance can lead to many clinical problems and measuring ammonia excretion helps in determining if the kidneys are responding to acid-base challenges appropriately. Reference intervals are integral to clinical decision-making, and there is no current RI for the urine ammonia-to-creatinine ratio (UACR) in dogs. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to generate an RI for the UACR in healthy adult dogs. METHODS The study used adult, client-owned dogs that were presented to the University of Florida Primary Care and Dentistry service (n = 60). Physical examinations were performed and serum chemistry and urinalysis samples were obtained. Urine ammonia and creatinine concentrations were determined. Dogs were excluded if there were significant abnormalities in either their urinalysis or serum chemistry results. The RI for the UACR was calculated according to the recommendation of the American Society for Veterinary Clinical Pathology. Data were evaluated for correlation with serum bicarbonate, weight, age, and sex. RESULTS The RIs for the UACR were 0.16-23.69 with 90% confidence intervals for the lower and upper limits of (0.13-1.17) and (20.50-23.75), respectively. No significant impact of age, sex, or weight was found. There was no discernable relationship between serum bicarbonate and UACR. CONCLUSIONS Establishing an RI for UACR in healthy adult dogs will allow for further studies to determine if alterations are observed during specific disease states.
Parental family characteristics and behavioral risk factors for sexually transmitted diseases in males

Data from the National Survey of Men were analyzed using structural equation modeling to assess relationships among socioeconomic characteristics, parental-family characteristics, and sexual risk-taking behaviors in adolescence and adulthood. The sample included 2,833 males between ages 19 and 41. Results indicate that, among both African-Americans and European-Americans, age at voluntary sexual initiation is a powerful predictor of the number of sexual partners in adulthood. Late sexual initiation predicts a low number of partners in adulthood. Other variables that predict the number of sexual parmers in adulthood include respondent's age, education, and marital status. Relationships among respondent's age, marital status, and number of partners differ by race, however. It was hypothesized that the likelihood of being married would increase with age and that being married would be predictive of a low number of lifetime sexual partners. Although these hypotheses were supported within the EuropeanAmerican sample, they were not supported within the African-American sample. In fact, among African-American men, a young age was predictive of being married. Further, married African-Americans reported higher numbers of sexual partners over the lifetime than did those who were not married. Being reared in an intact family and having a mother who was not employed outside the home were predictive of delayed sexual initiation. The study also found that among both African-Americans and European-Americans, age of the respondent is a powerful predictor of the age at voluntary sexual initiation, supporting previous research indicating that the average age at sexual initiation is decreasing.
Some Thoughts on the Law and Politics of Reparations for Slavery

This Article examihes several legal and political issues raised by reparations for slavery and offers a skeptical appraisal of both the wisdoln of reparations and their potential for success. There are a number of legal obstacles to courtroom-based reparations, hicludilg the difficulty of provilg dllty, causation. and damages: technical barriers such as limitations statutes and lacies and constitutional problems such as standing and courts* strict scruthiv of racial classifications. hi the political realin. the Clifficulty of identifying those who should pay and those who should receive reparations, and the impact of a successful reparations scheme oil race relations in Anerica. should counsel agailst the wisdom of reparations for slaver. When grappling with providing reparations for slavery, two distinct categories of issues emerge: legal and political. While the division between law and politics is murky at the margins, the distinctly legal issues involved in slavery reparations focus on the doctrinal possibilities of obtaining damages for slavery, and the policy wisdom of altering legal doctrine, if necessary, to afford such a remedy. Part I of this Article will discuiss the legal limitations of seeking reparations for slaver; recognizing that a felt sense of injustice, by itself, is not a sutfficient foundation for restitution uider private law. Part II will disctuss the political l)roblems inherent in slavery reparations, problems that raise broad qttestions of whether and how we should use the political system to provide either a massive redistribution of wealth to those claiming entitlement to reparations for slavery, or some other socio-political scheme to redress the present effects of slavery. Part II of this Article will argue that ap)roaching reparations fiOrn a political perspective would ultimately prove more problematic than cathartic. Finally, at the very intersection of law and politics lies the constituttional question of whether, or to what extent, such redistribution is permissible. Part III of this Article will address why it is unlikely that © 2004, Calhi Massey, Professor of Law, Universitv of California, Hastings College of the Law. Visithig Professor of La.m Boston College Law School, 2003-2004. 1 appreciate the thoughts and suggestions provided by David Levine and Aifi'ed Brophy, but the errors and omissions are all mbie. I also wish to thank the Boston College Third itoId Law Journal for sponsol-big this symposiumm. HeinOnline -24 B.C. Third World L.J. 157 2004 Boston College Third World LawJournlal reparations for slavery will overcome the strict scrutiny of racial classifications. This Article concludes that reparations for slavery face numerous, and likely insurmountal)le, legal and political hurdles.
Propagation of surface plasmon polaritons on the boundary of a metal and a gain medium

We show that surface plasmon polariton propagation on a metal surface adjacent to a gain medium can compensate for the metallic loss, thereby increasing the propagation length. Rigorous and numerical finite element studies of various interface geometries are presented to support the practicality of implementing such a system.
Introduction to Knowledge Flows, Transfer, Sharing, and Exchange Minitrack

Most practitioners and researchers recognize that knowledge flows are extremely important, especially in the current age where organizations have to learn and innovate continually in order to remain competitive. Given that knowledge is distributed unevenly through the enterprise, rapid and reliable knowledge flows are essential for organizations' sustainable competitive advantage.Knowledge flows across people, organizations, places and times of creation, sharing and application. Knowledge flows are dynamic. And in order to harness the competitive power of this dynamic phenomenon, it is imperative to understand and manage effectively the associated knowledge-flow processes.This minitrack examines the nature and role of knowledge flows (e.g., knowledge transfer, sharing and exchange) in the organizational context. The Call for Papers welcomed theoretical and empirical pieces addressing technical, managerial, behavioral, organizational, and economic perspectives on knowledge flows.
Wind-driven upwelling in lakes destabilizes thermal regimes of downstream rivers

Natural lakes are generally assumed to stabilize thermal regimes of downstream rivers. This conceptual model does not account for the potential destabilizing effects that wind has on the surface temperatures of thermally stratified lakes and, therefore, on thermal regimes of outflowing rivers. We examined the thermal variation in streams and rivers from 24 watersheds without lakes and 15 draining lakes that varied in surface area (0.3–101 km2) and thus, their potential exposure to wind. Rivers draining large lakes (> 10 km2 surface area) had summer thermal regimes with 1.8 times more variation (expressed as the coefficient of variation) than both rivers draining smaller lakes and watersheds lacking lakes. Statistical decomposition of thermal regimes revealed that ∼ 3% (range: 1–5%) of the thermal variability in rivers below large lakes was from diel-scale variation, compared to 31% (14–48%) in streams lacking lakes and 24% (6–34%) in those draining smaller lakes. Instead, rivers downstream of large lakes had distinct summer thermal regimes characterized by abrupt cooling events involving drops in temperature of 5–10°C that lasted 1–3 d. These events were generally synchronous across space and not observed in watersheds without lakes or in watersheds draining small lakes. Cooling events in rivers were coordinated with high velocity winds that passed thresholds for upwelling of cool hypolimnetic water to lake outlets. Wind driven upwelling may be a common source of thermal variation in rivers draining large stratified lakes and reservoirs, making them more thermally variable than previously appreciated. The ecological responses to this thermal instability remain unexplored.
Intermittent, repetitive corticosteroid-induced upregulation of platelet levels after adenovirus-mediated transfer to the liver of a chimeric glucocorticoid-responsive promoter controlling the thrombopoietin cDNA

For many in vivo gene therapy clinical applications, it is desirable to control the expression of the transferred transgene using pharmacologic agents. To evaluate the feasibility of accomplishing this using corticosteroids, pharmacologic agents widely used in clinical medicine, we constructed replication deficient adenoviral (Ad) vectors containing an expression cassette with a chimeric promoter comprised of five glucocorticoid response elements (GRE) and the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase reporter gene (AdGRE.CAT) or the murine thrombopoietin cDNA (AdGRE.mTPO). In vitro studies showed the vectors functioned as expected, with marked glucocorticoid-induced upregulation of the CAT or mTPO transgenes. To evaluate the inducibility of the GRE promoter in vivo, the AdGRE.CAT vector was administered intravenously to C57B1/6 mice, and CAT activity was quantified in liver before and after intraperitoneal administration of dexamethasone. The GRE promoter activity was dependent on the dexamethasone dose, with a 100-fold increase in CAT expression with 50 mg dexamethasone, similar to the levels observed in vivo with the Rous sarcoma virus long terminal repeat constitutive promoter. After dexamethasone administration, maximum CAT activity was observed at day 2, with a slow decline to baseline levels by 2 weeks. Based on these observations, we hypothesized that a single administration of an Ad vector-mediated transfer of the chimeric GRE inducible promoter driving the mTPO cDNA would enable repetitive administration of corticosteroids to repetitively upregulate platelet levels for 1 to 2 weeks. The data show that this occurs, with dexamethasone administration every 3 weeks associated with 1-week elevations (at each 3-week interval) of serum mTPO levels, megakaryocyte numbers in bone marrow, and platelet levels fourfold to sixfold over baseline. Thus, with the appropriate promoter, it is possible to use a commonly used pharmacologic agent to upregulate the expression of a newly transferred gene on demand. r 1998 by The American Society of Hematology.
Observation of a 1D and 2D dark notch formed in a quadratic photorefractive medium

We report on the observation of a 1D and 2D dark notch in an unpoled SBN:75 crystal using the quadratic electro-optic effect. Both the 1D and 2D dark notches are observed to be fixed in the crystal
Denver by Morning

On the last day in June, had you been driving northbound on I-25, the piebald peaks of the Rockies flanking the horizon, you might have been diverted on the stretch just south of Denver. The cause: an early-morning, single-vehicle accident. If you got there before the detour was in place, you might have seen the six-horse goose neck trailer flipped over in the drainage ditch, the cab of the truck so smashed in that it would be hard to believe when you heard later that the driver and passenger both walked away unscratched. Depending how soon after sunrise you passed that way, you might have seen two frantic women pulling at the door to the trailer, wait ing for someone to come, or you might have seen the firefighters reaching into the mangled heap of metal with the jaws of life. You would have encountered a delay throughout the day, though later on, you might only have been able to see the row of uprooted guard rails leading to the scene, then a thick clot of highway patrol cars and camera crews and caution tape. Perhaps you would have called your wife, to say I'll be late, and lit up a cigarette to pass the time, tapping the ashes out the driver side window into the violently blue Colorado summer.
Efferent vestibular system in the toadfish: action upon horizontal semicircular canal afferents

The influence of the efferent vestibular system (EVS) upon the background discharge and response dynamics of horizontal semicircular canal afferents was examined in the toadfish. In one set of experiments the EVS was activated using a behavioral paradigm; in the second, electrical shocks were applied to the efferent vestibular nucleus in the brain stem. The afferent's background discharge and responses to rotation were recorded before and during efferent stimulation. Both EVS activation paradigms gave qualitatively similar results: a facilitation of the afferent's rate, while the animal was at rest or in motion, and a reduction in response sensitivity. Afferents were not affected uniformly: low-gain, velocity-sensitive afferents were weakly influenced, while high-gain and acceleration afferents having low rates were the most excited. The afferents' phase of response was unmodified by electrical EVS stimulation. In many afferents a prominent form of response nonlinearity is discharge silencing over large portions of the stimulus cycle. Efferent-evoked rate increase was often sufficient to produce a full-cycle bidirectional response. Caloric facilitation of afferent rate confirmed that the EVS-induced sensitivity decrease was rate independent. These results show a dual action of the efferent system: (1) facilitating the afferent's rate and (2) reducing its sensitivity to adequate stimulation that may be correlated with the dual EVS synaptic innervation of the labyrinth, namely postsynaptic efferent-afferent synapses and presynaptic efferent-hair cell synapses.
Describing theses and dissertations using schema.org

This report discusses the development of an extension vocabulary for describing theses and dissertations, using Schema.org as a foundation. Instance data from the Montana State University ScholarWorks institutional repository was used to help drive and test the creation of the extension vocabulary. Once the vocabulary was developed, we used it to convert the entire Scholar Works data sample into RDF. We then serialized a set of three RDF descriptions as RDFa and posted them online to gather statistics from Google Webmaster Tools. The study successfully demonstrated how a data model consisting of primarily Schema.org terms and supplemented with a list of granular/domain specific terms can be used to describe theses and dissertations in detail.
A MODEST PROPOSAL FOR THE EXTENSION OF NONMARKET VALUATION METHODS

Welfare economics must adapt to the growing consensus over the assignment of rights to animals. We extend nonmarket valuation techniques to the study and measurement of the preferences of Chinook salmon regarding their aquatic habitat and the value of their existence. We find that these techniques are as valid for fish as they are for humans. Our applied study indicates that opportunities exist for Pareto-improving trades between salmon and California agricultural and hydropower interests. (JEL Q510)