cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Derivative Dispositions and Multiple Generative Levels

The analysis of dispositions is used to consider cases where the effect of one disposition operating is the existence of another disposition. This may arise from rearrangements within aggregated structures of dispositional parts, or, it is argued, also as what I will call stages of ‘derivative dispositions’ within a set of ‘multiple generative levels’. Inspection of examples in both classical and quantum physics suggests a more general way of looking at these phenomena, as if there is a universal principle of ‘conditional forward causation’: that dispositions act between the levels in a way conditional on certain circumstances or occasions already existing at the ‘later’ levels.
FEASIBILITY STUDIES FOR PROGRAMMING IN NATURAL LANGUAGE

We think it is time to take another look at an old dream -- that one could program a computer by speaking to it in natural language. Programming in natural language might seem impossible, because it would appear to require complete natural language understanding and dealing with the vagueness of human descriptions of programs. But we think that several developments might now make programming in natural language feasible. First, improved broad coverage natural language parsers and semantic extraction techniques permit partial understanding. Second, mixed-initiative dialogues can be used for meaning disambiguation. And finally, where direct understanding techniques fail, we hope to fall back on Programming by Example, and other techniques for specifying the program in a more fail-soft manner. To assess the feasibility of this project, as a first step, we are studying how non-programming users describe programs in unconstrained natural language. We are exploring how to design dialogs that help the user make precise their intentions for the program, while constraining them as little as possible.
Headache in Pregnancy

Publisher Summary Headache is a common symptom, reported by more than 80% of women of childbearing age. Migraine is an episodic headache disorder with a 1-year prevalence of approximately 18% in women, 6% in men, and 4% in children. Migraine in women is influenced by hormonal changes throughout the life cycle: menarche, menstruation, oral contraceptive use, pregnancy, menopause, and hormonal replacement therapy. The Ad Hoc Committee on the Classification of Headache described headache of migraine type as recurrent attacks of headache, widely varied in intensity, frequency, and duration. The attacks are commonly unilateral in onset; are usually associated with anorexia and sometimes with nausea and vomiting; some are preceded by, or associated with, conspicuous sensory, motor, and mood disturbances; and are often familial. Migraines can be divided into two major subtypes: migraine with aura (MA) and migraine without aura (MO). MO is the most common type, accounting for approximately 80% of cases. The diagnosis of MO requires at least five lifetime attacks, lasting 4–72 h, with at least two of four pain features and at least one of two sets of associated symptoms.
Serum testosterone levels may influence body composition and cardiometabolic health in men with spinal cord injury.

Cross-sectional study. To establish the association between serum testosterone (T) levels, biomarkers of cardiometabolic health and regional body composition variables after spinal cord injury (SCI). Medical research center. Metabolic and body composition measurements were collected from thirty-six men with chronic motor complete SCI. Serum T, carbohydrate, and lipid profiles were measured after an overnight fast. Body composition was measured using anthropometrics, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, and magnetic resonance imaging. Participants were evenly classified into tertiles based on their serum T levels into low, mid–normal and normal ranges. Low, mid–normal, and normal range serum T were 288.8 ± 84.9 ng/dL, 461.0 ± 52.5 ng/dL and 648.0 ± 53.5 ng/dL, respectively. Low range serum T group had greater total (9.6%, P = 0.04) percentage fat mass and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) area (72%, P = 0.01) compared to normal range serum T group. Serum T was related to the absolute whole thigh muscle area (r = 0.40, P < 0.05) after controlling for body mass index. Serum T was negatively related to fasting plasma glucose (r = −0.46, P = 0.006) and insulin (r = −0.42, P = 0.01), HbA1c (r = −0.39, P = 0.02) and triglycerides (r = −0.36, P = 0.03). Men with low serum T have more unfavorable body composition and cardiometabolic health outcomes after SCI. Testosterone replacement therapy may serve as a potential strategy in preventing cardiometabolic disorders after SCI.
Pseudoneoplastic and Benign Diseases of the Cervix

The uterine cervix harbors numerous benign lesions, from infections to pseudoneoplastic processes. Some of these lesions are straightforward, whereas others require a greater degree of examination for appropriate diagnosis since they mimic not only high-grade intraepithelial squamous lesions or dysplasia but adenocarcinomas as well. Immunostains might be needed or recommended to rule out preneoplasia.
Fluorinated Tropinyl Esters for Application with Pet

Muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (MAR) are widely distributed throughout the central nervous system (CNS), the cardiovascular, and the gastrointestinal system, and regulate numerous important physiological functions.1 In the central nervous system (CNS), the majority of cholinergic synapses are muscarinic, and the activation of MAR by acetylcholine appears to play a role in neural mechanisms underlying memory, learning, arousal and the control of movement.2 Deficits in the cholinergic system have been implicated in memory disfunction associated with normal aging and Alzheimer’s disease.3 While studies concerning the number and functional status of MAR in normal aging is equivocal,4 MAR density is decreased in Alzheimer’s disease,5 Parkinson’s disease and Huntington disease. Delineation of muscarinic receptor subtypes on the basis of structure, pharmacology and anatomical location has further suggested that muscarinic receptor subtypes may be differentially affected.5,6 Alterations in MAR also have been noted to occur as a consequence of exposure to various pharmacologically active compounds including muscarinic agonists7 and antagonists,8 organophosphates9 and other acetylcholinesterase inhibitors,10 barbiturates,11 ethanol12 and antidepressants.13
Effect of default order set settings on telemetry ordering.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effects of adjusting the default order set settings on telemetry usage. MATERIALS AND METHODS We performed a retrospective, controlled, before-after study of patients admitted to a house staff medicine service at an academic medical center examining the effect of changing whether the admission telemetry order was pre-selected or not. Telemetry orders on admission and subsequent orders for telemetry were monitored pre- and post-change. Two other order sets that had no change in their default settings were used as controls. RESULTS Between January 1, 2017 and May 1, 2018, there were 1, 163 patients admitted using the residency-customized version of the admission order set which initially had telemetry pre-selected. In this group of patients, there was a significant decrease in telemetry ordering in the post-intervention period: from 79.1% of patients in the 8.5 months prior ordered to have telemetry to 21.3% of patients ordered in the 7.5 months after (χ2 = 382; P < .001). There was no significant change in telemetry usage among patients admitted using the two control order sets. DISCUSSION Default settings have been shown to affect clinician ordering behavior in multiple domains. Consistent with prior findings, our study shows that changing the order set settings can significantly affect ordering practices. Our study was limited in that we were unable to determine if the change in ordering behavior had significant impact on patient care or safety. CONCLUSION Decisions about default selections in electronic health record order sets can have significant consequences on ordering behavior.
How Can We Support Children and Families With Information Gleaned From Developmental Screening

* Abbreviations: CDC — : Centers for Disease Control and Prevention SWYC — : Survey of Well-being of Young Children Approximately 16% to 18% of US children under the age of 18 have a developmental or behavioral disorder, and in 2016, ∼4.5% of children were reported to have ever been diagnosed with a developmental delay other than autism or intellectual disability, up from 3.5% in 2014.1 In 2006, the American Academy of Pediatrics released a policy statement and algorithm that recommended screening children for developmental disorders at the 9-, 18-, and 24- or 30-month well-child visits using standardized measures and conducting developmental surveillance at every pediatric visit.2 After the statement was issued, the percentage of pediatricians who self-reported screening increased significantly, from 23% in 2002 to 47% in 2009 and 63% in 2016. Although this rate has nearly tripled over 14 years, 36% of pediatricians are currently not using standardized instruments to identify children with developmental delays.3,4 In an article in this month’s edition of Pediatrics , entitled “Establishing New Norms for Developmental Milestones,” Sheldrick et al5 examined the findings of developmental screens using the Survey of Well-being of Young Children (SWYC) in 41 465 children aged 9 months to … Address correspondence to Carol Weitzman, MD, School of Medicine, Yale University, 333 Cedar St, New Haven, CT 06880. E-mail: carol.weitzman{at}yale.edu
Systems biology-based approaches to summarize and identify novel genes and pathways associated with acute and chronic postsurgical pain.

Abstract Study objective To employ systems biology–based machine learning to identify biologic processes over-represented with genetic variants (gene enrichment) implicated in post-surgical pain. Design Informed systems biology based integrative computational analyses. Setting Pediatric research and teaching institution. Interventions Pubmed search (01/01/2001–10/31/2017) was performed to identify “training” genes associated with postoperative pain in humans. Candidate genes were identified and prioritized using Toppgene suite, based on functional enrichment using several gene ontology annotations, and curated gene sets associated with mouse phenotype–knockout studies. Measurements Computationally top-ranked candidate genes and literature-curated genes were included in pathway enrichment analyses. Hierarchical clustering was used to visualize select functional enrichment results between the two phenotypes. Main results Literature review identified 38 training genes associated with postoperative pain and 31 with CPSP. We identified 2610 prioritized novel candidate genes likely associated with acute and chronic postsurgical pain, the top 10th percentile jointly enriched (p 0.05; Benjamini-Hochberg correction) several pathways, topmost being cAMP response element-binding protein and ion channel pathways. Heat maps demonstrated enrichment of inflammatory/drug metabolism processes in acute postoperative pain and immune mechanisms in CPSP. Conclusion High interindividual variability in pain responses immediately after surgery and risk for CPSP suggests genetic susceptibility. Lack of large homogenous sample sizes have led to underpowered genetic association studies. Systems biology can be leveraged to integrate genetic-level data with biologic processes to generate prioritized candidate gene lists and understand novel biological pathways involved in acute postoperative pain and CPSP. Such data would be key to informing future polygenic studies with targeted genome wide profiling. This study demonstrates the utility of functional annotation - based prioritization and enrichment approaches and identifies novel genes and unique/shared biological processes involved in acute and chronic postoperative pain. Results provide framework for future targeted genetic profiling of CPSP risk, to enable preventive and therapeutic approaches.
CodeKey - An Online Code Editor to Study Code Patterns and Enhance Student Performance in CS Courses

In the past several years, there has been an increase in web-based compilers that allow students to learn how to code using a browser. Many Universities use online code editors for their large Computer Science (CS) courses. For example, the CS200 course at UC Berkeley uses Jupyter Notebooks to teach Python for data science to 800+ students. All the students in the course must write and submit their code assignments in the web-browser. These online code editors for large CS courses presents several benefits. One benefit is that it becomes easier to monitor the steps that a student takes to solve a coding problem since keystrokes can be tracked using Javascript. Another benefit is that the code written by students can be stored in one central database, creating less barriers for code analysis. The CodeKey project aims to take advantage of analyzing code patterns of students in a CS course in order to find key insights. CodeKey aims to find these insights by monitoring the interactions (i.e. clicks and keystrokes) of students as each student attempts to solve a coding problem. The goal is to study the code patterns of students in a CS course in order to understand similarities and differences between students who perform well on a problem and students who do not. We also aim to study how revealing these coding patterns to a student can increase his understanding of how to solve a difficult coding problem by showing common mistakes, and by showing simple steps that lead to the correct solution.
Effectiveness of a clinical pathway for pediatric complex appendicitis based on antibiotic stewardship principles.

Abstract Purpose Outcomes and resource utilization were evaluated after implementing a novel complex appendicitis (CA) pathway limiting postoperative antibiotics based on clinical parameters. Methods Children with intraoperative CA (gangrenous, perforated, or abscess) were treated with intravenous antibiotics postoperatively until clinical criteria were met, without utilizing CBC or oral antibiotics at discharge. An interrupted time series (pre-intervention, transition, post-intervention) was used to assess outcomes. Hospital length of stay (LOS) was analyzed using segmented regression. Intra-abdominal abscess and readmission rates were analyzed using non-inferiority and multivariate logistic regression. Results Five hundred ten children were included with a median age of 10 [IQR7–12] years. There were no differences in postoperative LOS (slope − 0.008; p = 0.855), intra-abdominal abscess rate (5% vs. 8%; p = 0.135), or readmission rate (12% vs. 8%; p = 0.113) across time periods which remained true when adjusting for age, gender, and intraabdominal disease severity. Post-intervention outcomes were not inferior to pre-intervention, abscess rate (p = 0.002), or readmission rate (p Conclusion A CA protocol based on clinical parameters is safe and effective, resulting in similar intra-abdominal abscess and readmission rates compared to more resource-intense regimens. Level of Evidence III Type of Research Interrupted Time Series
Short-Term Voice Improvement after Repeated Office-Based Platelet-Rich Plasma PRP Injection in Patients with Vocal Fold Scar, Sulcus, and Atrophy

Summary Introduction Improving the voice of patients with vocal atrophy, scar, and sulcus vocalis remains challenging. Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is an autologous biological suitable for regenerative medicine. Office-based injections of PRP may serve as a source of improved wound healing. Materials and Methods Thirty two office based injections of PRP were performed in 14 patients with scar, sulcus, and vocal atrophy (12 scars, 1 sulcus, and 1 atrophy). PRP was prepared using 20 cc blood draw and double centrifugation method. Injection laryngoplasty was performed using trans cervical or indirect trans oral technique (10 trans cervical, 22 trans-oral). Volume of PRP use was 0.5–0.7 cc per side. Injections varied from 1 to 3 injections at monthly intervals. Videostroboscopy, Voice Handicap Index (VHI-10), and an objective analysis of the voice using Cepstral Peak Prominence (Cepstral Spectral Index of Dysphonia) were recorded. An expert rater speech pathologist rated the audio and stroboscopy results. Results Median follow-up was 15 months. No patients were made worse. The mean VHI-10 before the injection was 23. VHI-10 after the injection was 12.5 (P Conclusion Office PRP injection into the vocal fold of patients with scar, sulcus, and atrophy may result in short term voice improvements. It is a biological worth considering.
REEVALUATING NICU PLATELET TRANSFUSION PRACTICE

Objective Most platelet transfusions given in the NICU are prophylactic, because the platelet count has fallen below a somewhat arbitrary limit. Platelet transfusions in the NICU carry risks. We hypothesized that new evidence-based definitions of neonatal thrombocytopenia and stricter adherence to transfusion guidelines would reduce platelet transfusions. Methods First, we re-examined the diagnosis of neonatal thrombocytopenia by electronically tabulating platelet counts from neonates in a multihospital healthcare system. Second, we examined every platelet transfusion given in the system during 2006, identifying those within vs in violation of guidelines. Third, we revised platelet transfusion guidelines based on platelet mass (platelet count X MPV). Results Platelet counts were obtained from 47291 neonates 22 to 42 wks gestation and new definitions of thrombocytopenia devised. The lower reference range was 110,000/uL for those 34 wks. During 2006, 4% of our NICU patients received (median 3) platelet transfusions, but for those weighing Conclusions Platelet counts as low as 110,000/uL are normal among neonates
Social Security, Dead Capital and Economic Inequality

Economic inequality in America continues to grow, taking on ever greater economic and political importance. The reasons for increasing inequality are complex and widely debated, as are potential policies to address it. This paper focuses on a vital but unrecognized part of the story: how the social security retirement program has become a major systemic barrier to the acquisition of wealth by low- and moderate-income families, worsening inequality in general and the racial wealth gap in particular. Most families have no meaningful financial assets other than their social security wealth. Unlike other retirement savings, however, social security wealth is “dead capital,” completely inaccessible to families in need of resources to invest (in homeownership, most importantly) and to cope with unexpected financial shocks. After setting out the nature and magnitude of the problem, this article proposes a straightforward, practical remedy – the creation of Social Security Downpayment and Financial Emergency Loans – that would reduce inequality by helping families build financial security for themselves and wealth for future generations. These loans would counter the adverse effects of social security’s forced-but-inaccessible savings, opening the way to a much broader distribution of wealth.
Investigating the impact of children’s STEM literature on perceptions of abilities and potential for employment in STEM fields and careers

This study investigated the perceptions of primary-school children related to each of the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) areas and, building on research related to the potential for literature to influence perceptions, the impact of an eight-week STEM literature intervention on their perceptions. During the STEM literature intervention, students were read books from the National Science Teachers Association’s (NSTA) Best STEM Book’s list for 30 min each week. The resulting data from a modified S-STEM survey, administered before and after the intervention, were used in conjunction with interviews and field notes to investigate student’s perception of STEM fields, and their abilities and potential for employment, before and after the reading intervention.
Application platforms, routing algorithms and mobility behavior in mobile disruption-tolerant networks

Mobile disruption-tolerant networks (DTNs), experience frequent and long duration partitions due to the low density of mobile nodes. In these networks, traditional networking models relying on end-to-end communication cease to work. The topological characteristics of mobile DTNs impose unique challenges for the design and validation of routing protocols and applications. We investigate challenges of mobile DTNs from three different viewpoints: the application layer, a routing perspective, and by studying mobility patterns. In the application layer, we have built 7DS (7th Degree of Separation) as a modular platform to develop mobile disruption-tolerant applications. 7DS offers a class of disruption-tolerant applications to exchange data with other mobile users in the mobile DTN or with the global Internet. In the routing layer, we have designed and implemented PEEP as an interest-aware and energy efficient routing protocol which automatically extracts individual interests of mobile users and estimates the global popularity of data items throughout the network. PEEP considers mobile users’ interests and global popularity of data items in its routing decisions to route data toward the community of mobile users who are interested in that data content. Mobility of mobile users impacts the conditions in which routing protocols for mobile DTNs must operate and types of applications that could be provided for mobile networks in general. The current synthetic mobility models do not reflect real-world mobile users’ behavior. Trace-based mobility models, also, are based on traces that either represent a specific population of mobile users or do not have enough granularities in representing mobility of mobile users for example cell tower traces. We use Sense Networks’ GPS traces that are being collected by monitoring a broad spectrum of mobile users. Using these traces, we employ a Markovian approach to extract inherent patterns in human mobility. We design and implement a new routing algorithm for mobile DTNs based on our Markovian analysis of the human mobility. We explore how the knowledge of the mobility improves the performance of our Markov based routing algorithm. We show that that our Markov based routing algorithm increases the rate of data delivery to popular destinations with consuming less energy than legacy algorithms.
Electron microscopic observations of the bronchial epithelium of dogs. II. Smoking dogs.

Abstract Changes are noted in the bronchial epithelium of dogs subjected to 44 and more than 420 days of experimental cigarette smoke inhalation. At the early time point goblet cells are more numerous and the surface lining cells possess fewer cilia. By 420 days the apparent number of cell layers in the epithelium is double that of the controls. The luminal surface is devoid of ciliated columnar cells and goblet cells, these being replaced by columnar and cuboidal cells whose free surface is covered by stubby projections. Basal cells are frequently columnar-shaped and mitotic figures are common. Most cells contain a profusion of cytoplasmic filaments which often appear to displace cell organelles. A “special type cell” with cell-specific granules, first described in the control, is found in great abundance in the intermediate region between the basal cells and the surface lining cells. In both osmium- and acrolein-fixed tissue the two special migratory cell types, which are so common in the controls, are rarely seen. The basement membrane is frequently interrupted by gaps through which cytoplasmic processes of basal cells protrude; a thickened zone underlying the basement membrane contains an increase in fibrillar components and multiple layers of basement membrane material.
Dry etch patterning of LaCaMnO3 and SmCo thin films

A number of different plasma chemistries have been employed for patterning of LaCaMnO 3 and SmCo thin films for application in magnetic-field-biased structures based on the colossal magnetoresistive effect. For LaCaMnO 3 there was no chemical enhancement in etch rate over simple Ar sputtering for Cl 2 , SF 6 , and CH 4 /H 2 plasmas under high ion density conditions. This is expected based on the vapor pressures of the prospective etch products. For SmCo, however, etch rates up to 7000 A min 1 were obtained in Cl 2 /Ar plasmas, which is an order of magnitude faster than Ar sputtering under the same experimental conditions. Smooth etched surface morphologies and anistropic sidewalls were obtained for both materials over a wide range of plasma source and chuck powers.
A widely applicable type of variational integral—II: Newtonian flow past a sphere

Abstract The auxiliary variational method presented in the previous paper is applied to the solution of the steady-state flow of an incompressible Newtonian fluid past a sphere. The variational method is used to evaluate unknown coefficients in an initially postulated stream function. A number of solutions, each containing a different number of unknown coefficients in the initially assumed stream function, are obtained; results are presented as drag coefficients. The approximate solutions obtained here demonstrate the feasibility of this method applied to two- and three-dimensional flow problems in which inertial effects must be considered. It is shown that this approach compares favorably with previously described methods.
From eugenics to patents: genetics, law, and human rights.

About a decade ago, President William Clinton said that the next half century will be the age of biology, and, that the engine of that age is genetics. Partly because of the Human Genome Project, scientists have been producing a torrent of information and claims about the role of genes in human disease, capacities, and behaviour. The new knowledge is bringing about a revolution in the diagnosis of diseases and disorders. It is also predicted to yield a powerful arsenal of therapies and cures—and possibly an ability to improve people genetically. According to some, it may also fulfil the longstanding dream of the eugenics movement, which flourished during the first-third or so of the last century. In a number of ways, the eugenics movement trampled on human rights as we understand them. It has no more powerful association than with the Nazis. In Germany during the Hitler years, the eugenics movement prompted the sterilisation of several hundred thousand people and helped lead to antiSemitic programmes of euthanasia and ultimately, of course, to the death camps. But in fact after the turn of the century, eugenics movements, including demands for sterilisation of the unfit, blossomed in the United States, Canada, Britain, and Scandinavia, not to mention elsewhere in Continental Europe and parts of Latin America and Asia. Eugenics was thus not unique to the Nazis. It could—and did—happen everywhere.1
Properties and rundown of sodium-activated potassium channels in rat olfactory bulb neurons.

We have used single-channel recording techniques to investigate the properties of sodium-activated potassium channels (KNa channels) in cultured rat olfactory bulb neurons, and in large neurons in the mitral cell layer of thin slices of olfactory bulb. Ion channels highly selective for potassium over sodium and chloride, and requiring 10–180 mM internal sodium (Nai) for their activation, were present in approximately 75% of inside-out membrane patches detached from cultured olfactory bulb neurons. Most of these patches contained several KNa channels. KNa channels were seen in cell-attached patches only when Nai was raised by including veratridine in the extracellular medium. Preincubation of the cell in TTX or removal of extracellular sodium prevented this effect of veratridine, confirming that the channels observed under these conditions were indeed KNa channels. Lithium did not substitute for Nai in activating these channels. With 150 mM potassium on both sides of the membrane, KNa channels had a single- channel conductance of 172 pS, and at least two subconducting states were observed in addition to this fully open state. Under these ionic conditions, the channels exhibited linear fully open channel current- voltage curves over the potential range of -100 to 0 mV. At voltages more positive than the potassium equilibrium potential, the single- channel currents exhibited inward rectification as a result of sodium block of outward potassium current. The channels opened in bursts, during which they fluctuated between the fully open and closed states, and the substates. Between bursts they sometimes entered a long-lived inactive state that could last for up to several minutes. In addition, KNa channels in the detached patches exhibited rundown, a progressive irreversible loss in activity, over a time course that varied from less than 1 min to longer than 1 hr. Rundown of KNa channel activity in cell- attached patches (in the presence of veratridine) did not occur, suggesting that some intracellular factor necessary for KNa channel activity is lost when the membrane patch is detached from the cell.
Toward an Interdisciplinary Social Psychology

Publisher Summary The preoccupation with the possibility of a convergence between the sociological and psychological traditions in social psychology is part of a paradigmatic shift. This chapter discusses the advantages to be gained from such a shift and underscores the fact that there is some distance yet to be traveled. The role of cultural and social structural influences on the construction of meaning has paid insufficient attention. The study of moral behavior, the social construction of meaning is recognized; however, what is underestimated is the human ability to construct meaning to one's advantage. It also suggests further avenues of research on the effects of individual differences, situational variables, and social structural factors on conformity to norms. In the chapter, the relationship formation and identity creation is focused and also the updating research concerned with self maintenance processes and the relation between self and behavior is reviewed. The dialectical processes of identity creation observed in the context of developing relationships based on attraction are also emphasized in the chapter.
Significance of psammoma bodies in serous cavity fluid: a cytopathologic analysis.

BACKGROUND Psammoma bodies (PBs) are encountered only rarely in body cavity fluids (BCF). Although to the authors' knowledge their presence in certain neoplasms (e.g., those of the thyroid, ovary, lung, brain, etc.) is established, their significance in BCF has not been well defined. METHODS Diagnoses concerning 3335 BCF samples were reviewed from the cytopathology files for the presence of PBs over an 8-year period. Cytologic preparations included cytospin preparations and Millipore filters stained with the Papanicolaou stain. Clinicopathologic correlation was performed on any subsequent surgical studies. RESULTS Of the 3335 BCF samples studies (2444 pleural samples, 688 peritoneal samples, and 203 pericardial samples), PBs were noted in 123 cases (3.7%). Of these 123 cases, 112 were the peritoneal fluid (91%), 10 were the pleural fluid (8.1%), and 1 was in the pericardial fluid (0.81%). All 11 cases of pleural and pericardial effusions with PBs were malignant (carcinomas of the thyroid, lung, and ovary) compared with 62 of 112 peritoneal fluid samples (55.4%) (carcinoma of the ovary and uterus and mesothelioma). Nine of the remaining 50 cases of cytologically benign peritoneal fluids with PBs detected on follow-up tissue biopsy demonstrated peritoneal metastases from ovarian or endometrial carcinoma. Therefore, 41 of 112 cases of peritoneal fluid with PBs remained benign even after clinical follow-up and/or tissue biopsy (36.6%) and demonstrated ovarian cystadenoma/cystadenofibroma, papillary mesothelial hyperplasia, endosalpingiosis, endometriosis, and other miscellaneous benign diagnoses. CONCLUSIONS PBs in BCF is a rare finding. Although in the authors' experience their presence in pleural and pericardial effusions signifies carcinomatous involvement, in the current study, peritoneal fluids with PBs were found to be benign in a significant number of cases (36.6%). In the latter scenario and in the absence of an obvious malignancy, attempts should be made to rule out the above-mentioned benign lesions. Cancer (Cancer Cytopathol) 2004. © 2004 American Cancer Society.
Designing security courses and lab for undergraduate and graduate students

This paper describes the information security course module which contains three courses and a security laboratory for the undergraduate students at New York City College of Technology; and quantum cryptography course and the research laboratory for the graduate students (master's and Ph.D. programs) at the Graduate School and Center of City University of New York, CUNY.
Boundary integral formulations for homogeneous material bodies

There are many boundary integral formulations for the problem of electromagnetic scattering from and transmission into a homogeneous material body. The only formulations which give a unique solution at all frequencies are those which involve both electric and magnetic equivalent currents, and satisfy boundary conditions on both tangential E and tangential H. Formulations which involve only electric (or magnetic) equivalent currents, and those which involve boundary conditions on only tangential E (or tangential H) are singular at frequencies corresponding to the resonant frequencies of a resonator formed by a perfect conductor covering the surface of the body and filled with the material exterior to the body in the original problem.
In vivo quantification of tumor metabolic demand in preclinical models using optical spectroscopy

We report the dose-dependent uptake and kinetics of 2-NBDG, a fluorescent glucose analog, in pre-clinical models using intrinsic fluorescence spectroscopy. Extracted in vivo concentrations of 2-NBDG were proportional to the injected dose in tumors.
Relation between rates of geriatric suicide and consumption of alcohol beverages in European countries

Among older adults, suicide is a significant and persistent health problem. The highest suicide rate is found among white men aged 65 years and older. The causes of elder suicide are multifaceted. Although no predominate factor precipitates or explains geriatric suicide, alcohol is strongly linked to suicide attempts and completions. This study examined the relationship between rates of suicide in 65- to 74-year-olds and per capita consumption of alcoholic beverages in European countries. Data on suicide rates in 65- to 74-year-olds and per capita consumption of alcoholic beverages were obtained from the World Health Organization databases. Correlations were computed to examine relationships between suicide rates in 65- to 74-year-old males and females and per capita consumption of beer, wine, and spirits in the general population in 34 European countries. There was a positive correlation between suicide rates in 65- to 74-year-old males and per capita consumption of spirits. No correlations between suicide rates in 65- to 74-year-old males and per capita consumption of beer or wine were found. We also found no correlations between rates of suicide in 65- to 74-year-old females and per capita consumption of beer, wine, or spirits. The results of this study are consistent with reports that consumption of spirits is associated with suicide events. It is to be hoped that this paper will stimulate further studies that are necessary to clarify the relation between suicide rates in different age groups and consumption of alcoholic beverages, and attract more attention to the problem of geriatric suicide.
Laboratory-Based Smart Power System, Part I: Design and System Development

This paper presents the design and development of a hardware-based laboratory smart grid test-bed. This system is developed at the Energy Systems Research Laboratory, Florida International University. The hardware/software based system includes implementation of control strategies for generating stations, and power transfer to programmable loads in a laboratory scale of up to 35 kilowatts in ac power and 36 kW in renewable sources and energy storages. Appropriate software was developed to monitor all system parameters as well as operate and control the various interconnected components in varying connectivity architectures. The interconnection of alternate energy such as wind emulators, PV arrays, and fuel cell emulators are implemented, studied and integrated into this system. Educational experiences were drawn during the design and system development of this laboratory-based smart grid. The real-time operation and analysis capability provides a platform for investigation of many challenging aspects of a real smart power system. The design, development, and hardware setup of this laboratory is presented here in Part I of this paper. This includes component development, hardware implementation, and control and communication capabilities. Part II of the paper presents the implementation of the monitoring, control, and protection system of the whole setup with detailed experimental and simulation results.
3.1.1 A Generic Quantitative Approach to Resilience: A Proposal

Resilience is the ability to bounce back from a disruption. Of late, applying the concept of resilience to systems and enterprises is gaining importance because major disruptions are becoming more unpredictable, more frequent, and more severe. While there have been some efforts on defining metrics and measuring resilience, there is no generic quantitative approach to resilience that can be used to measure, predict or compare resilience. This paper proposes a generic quantitative approach to defining and measuring resilience. A simple resilience model is introduced using five critical states of a system, and a set of assertions based on a resource based view. These assertions are treated mathematically in the generic resilience model, and a formula for computing resilience is defined. Two simple cases are also discussed to illustrate the usefulness and potential of this approach.
Teaching Theory and Practice: A Constructivist Approach

In his book, Educating the Reflective Practitioner (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1987), Donald Schon urges educators to adopt a new method of teaching, one which provides students with an opportunity to learn how to make decisions in the "indeterminate zones" of practice—that is, in situations of uncertainty, situations of uniqueness, or situations in which value conflicts arise. He recommends that educators design their courses as "practicums" in which students learn a practice or skill by doing. This helps them master the arts of defining problems, implementing solutions, and improvising.
Mantle viscosity stratification and flow geometry: Implications for surface motions on Earth and Venus

For a fixed heat flow, the surface flow velocity of a convecting layer is not strongly sensitive to the variation of viscosity as a function of depth. Thus, the inferred absence of a low viscosity asthenosphere on Venus can not account for the limited surface motions there. The surface velocity is dependent on the convective geometry. Cartesian geometry convection can produce large surface velocities if the high viscosity surface layer is broken in places by weak zones. On the other hand, a high viscosity surface layer may inhibit the development of large surface velocities in axisymmetric convection.
Structural anisotropy in amorphous Fe-Tb thin films

We have used conventional and anomalous dispersion x-ray scattering to study the near-neighbor atomic environments in sputter-deposited amorphous Fe-Tb thin films with a large perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. The as-deposited films show a clear structural anisotropy, with more Fe-Tb near neighbor pairs in the out-of-plane direction. Upon annealing, the magnetic anisotropy drops significantly, and we see a corresponding reduction in the structural anisotropy. The number of Fe-Tb near-neighbors increases in the in-plane direction, but does not change in the out-of-plane direction. Therefore, the distribution of Fe-Tb near neighbors becomes more uniform upon annealing. We conclude that the observed reduction in perpendicular magnetic anisotropy energy is a result of this change in structure. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
New membranes based on ionic liquids for PEM fuel cells at elevated temperatures

Proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells operating at elevated temperature, above 120°C, will yield significant benefits but face big challenges for the development of suitable PEMs. The objectives of this research are to demonstrate the feasibility of the concept and realize [acid/ionic liquid/polymer] composite gel-type membranes as such PEMs. Novel membranes consisting of anhydrous proton solvent H 3 PO 4 , the protic ionic liquid PMIH 2 PO 4 , and polybenzimidazole (PBI) as a matrix have been prepared and characterized for PEM fuel cells intended for operation at elevated temperature (120-150 °C). Physical and electrochemical analyses have demonstrated promising characteristics of these H 3 PO 4 /PMIH 2 PO 4 /PBI membranes at elevated temperature. The proton transport mechanism in these new membranes has been investigated by Fourier transform infrared and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic methods.
CS 0.5: a better approach to introductory computer science for majors

There are often problems when students enter a course with widely different experience levels with key course topics. If the material is covered too slowly, those with greater experience get bored and lose interest. If the material is covered too quickly, those with less experience get lost and feel incompetent. This problem with incoming students of our Computer Science Major led us to create CS 0.5: an introductory Computer Science course to target those CS majors who have little or no background with programming. Our goal is to provide these students with an engaging curriculum and prepare them to keep pace in future courses with those students who enter with a stronger background.Following the lead of Mark Guzdial's work on using media computation for non-majors at Georgia Tech, we use media computation as the tool to provide this engaging curriculum. We report here on our experience to date using the CS 0.5 approach with a media computation course.
'Turning on' riboswitches to their antibacterial potential

Drug-resistant bacteria are a growing challenge to world health, and new approaches to antibiotic development are needed. Riboswitches, regulatory elements of mRNA, are shown to be a potential new target for antibiotic drugs.
Nutrient hot spots in some sierra Nevada forest soils

Re-examination of data distributions from several forested sites in the eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains shows consistent, positive outliers and skew for NH4 +, NO3 −, and mineral N in resin lysimeters and resin capsules, indicating that most values were low but hotspots of high N flux were present in most cases. Exact causes of these N flux hotspots is not known, but could include water flux hotspots (e.g., preferential flowpaths), microbial hotspots, and possibly the entry of N-enriched O horizon interflow. Soil and resin stake (PRS probe) data from one site (North Lake Tahoe) also showed consistent, positive outliers and skew for NH4 +, NO3 − , and mineral N, suggesting the presence of microbially produced hotspots. Bicarbonate-P data from soils and ortho-P data from PRS probes also showed highly positive skew and extreme outliers, but Bray (HCl/NH4F-extractable) P in soils did not. Other measured nutrients (extractable Mg2+, K+, SO4 2−, and Ca2+) also showed positive skew and outliers, but less so than NH4 +, NO3 −, and mineral N. Calcium stood out among measured nutrients as the most abundant nutrient with the least outliers and the lowest (sometimes negative) skew. The differences in distributions of NH4 +, NO3 −, and mineral N and those of Ca2+ may reflect relative abundance: the most abundant ion, Ca2+, shows little evidence of hotspots whereas the much less abundant ions, NH4 +, NO3 − consistently show evidence of hotspots. We hypothesize that the differing distributions of N and Ca reflect the relative biological competition for these nutrients and that positively-skewed distributions and hotspots will be characteristic of any other nutrient when it is in limited supply relative to biological demand.
Cometabolism of cis-1,2-Dichloroethene by Aerobic Cultures Grown on Vinyl Chloride as the Primary Substrate

An aerobic enrichment culture was grown on vinyl chloride (VC) as the sole source of carbon and energy. In the absence of VC, the enrichment culture cometabolized cis-1,2-dichloroethene (cDCE) and, to a lesser extent, trans1,2-dichloroethene (tDCE), beginning with oxidation to the corresponding DCE-epoxides. When provided with VC (1.3 mM) and cDCE (0.2-0.3 mM), the enrichment culture cometabolized repeated additions of cDCE for over 85 days. Cometabolism of repeated additions of tDCE was also demonstrated but at a lower ratio of nongrowth substrate to VC. VC-grown Pseudomonas aeruginosa MF1 (previously isolated from the enrichment culture) also readily cometabolizes cDCE, with an observed transformation capacity (Tc,obs) of 0.82 micromol of cDCE/mg of total suspended solids (TSS). When provided with VC and cDCE, MF1 did not begin cometabolizing cDCE until nearly all of the VC was consumed. The presence of cDCE reduces the maximum specific rate of VC utilization. A kinetic model was developed that describes these phenomena via Monod parameters for substrate and nongrowth substrate, plus inactivation and inhibition coefficients. MF1 did not show any cometabolic activity on tDCE or trichloroethene and very limited activity on 1,1-DCE (Tc,obs = 2 x 10(-5) micromol/mg TSS). Above 40 microM, tDCE and TCE noticeably increased the maximum specific rate of VC utilization, even though neither compound was consumed during or after VC consumption. High concentrations of 1,1-DCE (950 microM) completely inhibited VC biodegradation. As there is currently no evidence for aerobic biodegradation of cDCE as a sole source of carbon and energy, the results of this study provide a potential explanation for in situ disappearance of cDCE when the only other significant substrate available is VC. It is fortuitous that the VC-grown cultures tested exhibit their highest cometabolic activity toward cDCE, because it is the predominant DCE isomer formed during anaerobic reductive dechlorination of trichloroethene and tetrachloroethene.
Flavonoid Ampelopsin Inhibits the Growth and Metastasis of Prostate Cancer In Vitro and in Mice

The objective of this study was to evaluate the chemopreventive effect of a novel flavonoid, ampelopsin (AMP) on the growth and metastasis of prostate cancer cells. AMP showed the more potent activity in inhibiting the proliferation of androgen-sensitive LNCaP and, to less extent, androgen-independent PC-3 human prostate cancer cell lines in vitro, primarily by induction of apoptosis associated with down-regulation of bcl-2. On the other hand, AMP showed much less activity in inhibiting the proliferation of normal prostate epithelial cells than that of prostate cancer cell lines. AMP also inhibited the migration and invasion of PC-3 cells in vitro associated with down-regulation of CXCR4 expression. In the animal study using an orthotopic prostate tumor model, AMP (150 and 300 mg/kg body weight) inhibited the growth of PC-3 tumors and lymph node and lung metastases in a dose-dependent manner. Compared to the control mice, mice treated with AMP at 300 mg/kg BW had reduced final tumor weight by 49.2% (P<0.05), lymph node metastases by 54.5% (P = 0.3) and lung metastases by 93% (P<0.05), but had no apparent alteration on food intake or body weight. The in vivo anti-growth and anti-metastasis activities of AMP were associated with induction of apoptosis and inhibition of proliferation of prostate cancer cells, reduction of prostate tumor angiogenesis, and reduction of CXCR4 expression. Our results provide supporting evidence to warrant further investigation to develop AMP as a novel efficacious and safe candidate agent against progression and metastasis of prostate cancer.