cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Determination of Phosphodiesterase-5 Inhibitors and Analogs Using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography with Ultraviolet Detection

A considerable number of erectile dysfunction products, and dietary supplements suspected of containing phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE-5) inhibitors, have been analyzed by the US Food and Drug Administration. Often these samples are found to contain the approved active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) such as sildenafil, tadalafil or vardenafil. However, analogs of these APIs have also been identified in many samples and products containing multiple PDE-5 inhibitors have also been found. A single high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection method has been developed for the determination of sildenafil, tadalafil, vardenafil and a number of commonly encountered analogs in pharmaceutical dosage forms and dietary supplement products, including tablets, capsules, bulk powders, troches and liquids. This method was designed as an alternative to methods developed for the determination of a single PDE-5 inhibitor. Using this protocol, 14 PDE-5 inhibitor compounds can be separated and determined in a single analysis.
Allometric Growth of Testes in Relation to Age, Body Weight and Selected Blood Parameters in Male Japanese Quail (Coturnix japonica).

The Japanese quail is very a valuable animal model for research in a variety of biologica l disciplines. The purpose of this study was to characterize and interrelate age-dependent testicular parameters with various blood constituents: blood glucose, plasma proteins and packed cell volume that are developing concurrently in the growing bird. Another objective of the study was to identify selective physio- anatomical markers for predicting the testicular growth and the onset of sexual maturity. Male Japanese quail hatchlings were raised in temperature controlled brooders for up to 3 weeks of age under a constant light and then shifted to hanging cages in an air conditioned room set at ~73° F under a 14L: 10D lighting system and ad libitum access to feed and water. Starting d8, a group of 8-10 birds of uniform size and weight were selected randomly at 4-day intervals up to d52 of age for the project. The birds were weighed and blood sampled using the brachial vein and Blood Glucose (BGL), Total Plasma Proteins (PP) and Packed Cell Volume (PCV) levels were measured prior to euthanization . The testes were removed and measured for weight, length, width and Volume (VOL). All the testicular measurements were then correlated with age and body weight. The left testes were larger than the right testes and their differences were evident at d36 of age. Testicular measurements also reflected two distinct growth surges at d28, d32 and d36 of age. Combined Testes Weight (CTW) and Combined Testes Volume (CTV) revealed a strong positive correlation with PCV and PP and a negative correlation with Blood Glucose Level (BGL). Accordingly, these measurements could serve as reliable markers of growth rate and sexual maturation in male Japanese quail.
Robust design optimization with mathematical programming neural networks

Abstract Traditional neural networks involve the training in order to design the layers and neurons and to train the network to find the weights for the neurons such that the difference between the predicted output and the practical output is minimized. The Mathematical Programming Neural Network (MPNN), on the other hand, has a dynamic equation for solving the optimization problem, does not involve training, and therefore, it takes less amount for computations. In this paper, several MPNN models are surveyed, and new MPNN models have been developed and applied to design optimization problems in mechanical motion synthesis and structural design. The MPNN algorithms for unconstrained optimization were developed first. Then, in conjunction with the Augmented Lagrange Multiplier method, new algorithms have been developed for constrained optimization. Compared to the traditional mathematical programming methods, the MPNN algorithms are robust and can have global convergence properties. The numerical examples show that the proposed MPNN algorithms can solve highly nonlinear design optimization problems of mechanical and structural design.
Joint distribution of insertion elements IS4 and IS5 in natural isolates of Escherichia coli.

A reference collection of natural isolates of Escherichia coli has been studied in order to determine the distribution, abundance and joint Occurence of DNA insertion elements IS4 and lS5. Among these isolates, 36% were found to contain IS4 and 30% were found to contain IS5. Among strains containing IS4 the mean number of copies per strain was 4.4 f 0.8; the comparable figure for IS5 was 3.7 f 1.0. Although the presence of the elements among the isolates was independent, among those isolates containing both IS4 and 1S5, there was a significant negative correlation in the number of copies of the elements.-The reference collection was also studied for the presence of the DNA sequences flanking the single copy of IS4 in the chromosome of E. coli K12. Homologous sequences were found in only 26% of the isolates. The sequences flanking the IS4 invariably occur together, and their presence is significantly correlated with the presence of IS4. In eight of the strains that carry these flanking sequences, an IS4 is located between them, and the sequences are present at the homologous position as in the K12 strain. We suggest that IS4 and its flanking sequences share a common mechanism of dissemination, such as plasmids, and we present evidence that they are included in a much larger transposable element.
On error bounds and turbo-codes

Turbo-codes have been hailed as the ultimate step toward achieving the capacity limit Shannon established some 50 years ago. We look at the performance of turbo-codes with respect to various information theoretic error bounds. This comparison suggests that, if (block, or) frame error rates are considered, careful interleaver design is necessary to ensure an error performance within a fraction of a decibel of the theoretical limit for large block sizes, while random interleavers perform well for block sizes smaller than about 2 K. If the bit error performance is considered, interleaver design seems to have only a minor effect, and the codes perform close to the limit for all block sizes considered.
Within-group behavioral variation promotes biased task performance and the emergence of a defensive caste in a social spider.

The social spider Anelosimus studiosus exhibits a behavioral polymorphism where colony members express either a passive, tolerant behavioral tendency (social) or an aggressive, intolerant behavioral tendency (asocial). Here we test whether asocial individuals act as colony defenders by deflecting the suite of foreign (i.e., heterospecific) spider species that commonly exploit multi-female colonies. We (1) determined whether the phenotypic composition of colonies is associated with foreign spider abundance, (2) tested whether heterospecific spider abundance and diversity affect colony survival in the field, and (3) performed staged encounters between groups of A. studiosus and their colony-level predator Agelenopsis emertoni (A. emertoni)to determine whether asocial females exhibit more defensive behavior. We found that larger colonies harbor more foreign spiders, and the number of asocial colony members was negatively associated with foreign spider abundance. Additionally, colony persistence was negatively associated with the abundance and diversity of foreign spiders within colonies. In encounters with a colony-level predator, asocial females were more likely to exhibit escalatory behavior, and this might explain the negative association between the frequency of asocial females and the presence of foreign spider associates. Together, our results indicate that foreign spiders are detrimental to colony survival, and that asocial females play a defensive role in multi-female colonies.
Biological sequence alignment on the computational grid using the GrADS framework

In spite of the existence of several grid middleware projects, developing and executing programs on the computational grid remains a user intensive process. The goal of the Grid Application Development Software (GrADS) project is to make the grid simpler to use despite the dynamically changing status of grid resources. Protein and genome sequence alignment is a basic operation in bioinformatics, and it requires large data sets and tends to be highly compute intensive. In this paper, we present work done to grid-enable a biological sequence alignment package (FASTA) and to run it under the GrADS framework. We discuss the advantages of using GrADS framework for FASTA.
Nonlinear Dynamics of Mode-locking Optical Fiber Ring Lasers

We consider a model of a mode-locked fiber ring laser for which the evolution of a propagating pulse in a birefringent optical fiber is periodically perturbed by rotation of the polarization state owing to the presence of a passive polarizer. The stable modes of operation of this laser that correspond to pulse trains with uniform amplitudes are fully classified. Four parameters, i.e., polarization, phase, amplitude, and chirp, are essential for an understanding of the resultant pulse-train uniformity. A reduced set of four coupled nonlinear differential equations that describe the leading-order pulse dynamics is found by use of the variational nature of the governing equations. Pulse-train uniformity is achieved in three parameter regimes in which the amplitude and the chirp decouple from the polarization and the phase. Alignment of the polarizer either near the slow or the fast axis of the fiber is sufficient to establish this stable mode locking.
A framework for applying inventory control to capacity management for utility computing

A key concern in utility computing is managing capacity so that application service providers (ASPs) and computing utilities (CUs) operate in a cost effective way. To this end, we propose a framework for applying inventory control to capacity management for utility computing. The framework consists of: conceptual foundations (e.g., establishing connections between concepts in utility computing and those in inventory control); problem formulations (e.g., what factors should be considered and how they affect computational complexity); and quality of service (QoS) forecasting, which is predicting the future effect on QoS of ASP and CU actions taken in the current period (a critical consideration in searching the space of possible solutions).
Dirichlet Mixture Models of neural net posteriors for HMM-based speech recognition

In this paper, we present a novel technique for modeling the posterior probability estimates obtained from a neural network directly in the HMM framework using the Dirichlet Mixture Models (DMMs). Since posterior probability vectors lie on a probability simplex their distribution can be modeled using DMMs. Being in an exponential family, the parameters of DMMs can be estimated in an efficient manner. Conventional approaches like TANDEM attempt to gaussianize the posteriors by suitable transforms and model them using Gaussian Mixture Models (GMMs). This requires more number of parameters as it does not exploit the fact that the probability vectors lie on a simplex. We demonstrate through TIMIT phoneme recognition experiments that the proposed technique outperforms the conventional TANDEM approach.
Variable Irrigation District Action in Water Trading

Irrigation districts (IDs) in the American west are highly diverse in their economic attributes and local water scarcity circumstances. This diversity may affect reallocative action via water transactions as scarcity rises. The institutional background defining and constraining IDs is described here. For a Texas study region the progress of permanent water right transfers involving IDs is documented and examined. An econometric analysis of multiple decades of ID water transfer activities in the Lower Rio Grande Valley finds that IDs with larger initial water right holdings and higher populations in nearby cities are more likely to participate in agricultural-to-municipal water transfer activities. The findings suggest that consolidation of smaller water right holding IDs may be an avenue for quickening the pace of reallocation, especially in more populated areas.
Adenovector-Mediated Cancer Gene Therapy

Early-region (E1)-deleted, replication-defective adenovectors have been widely used in preclinical and clinical studies of cancer gene therapy. Recently, the use of conditional replicating or oncolytic adenovectors in cancer gene therapy or virotherapy has received much attention. Clinical trials with E1-deleted adenovectors and oncolytic adenovirus have shown that adenovector-mediated cancer gene therapy is well tolerated and can produce clinical responses in patients with advanced diseases. Moreover, numerous strategies to improve vector safety and therapeutic efficacy have been explored, including vector modification and the development of vector formulations to enhance transduction efficiency, to modulate tropism for vector targeting, to improve controlled or tissue-specific transgene expression, and to reduce vector-related toxicity. Yet, much has to be improved in this type of vector system to ensure its future success in clinical applications.
What can a moving face tell us

This research assessed the impact of facial motion on perceptionsof age-related person qualities. Ss judged the power of point-light displays of the faces of children, middle-aged adults, and elderly adults. Ratings were obtained of (a) dynamic displays filmed while the stimulus persons were reciting the alphabet, (b) dynamic displays filmed, while the stimulus persons engaged in an interaction, and (c) static versions of the displays. Facial age exerted no effect on the perceived power of nondynamic displays. However, moving displays of children's faces were judged to be less powerful than were those of adults. Differences in perceived age could not explain these effects. The implications of these data for the developing area of social event perception are discussed. Fifty years ago, Heider(1944) recognized the role of perceptual processes in social knowledge acquisition. In particular, he suggested that events may provide visual information about the properties of the persons involved in them, as well as the nature of the event itself: "When we see a person lift a heavy weight, we perceive at the same time that he is strong. 'Lifting a heavy weight' and 'being strong' belong together as manifestation and faculty, but they can hardly be called similar" (p. 365). Asch (1952) also emphasized the primacy of visual events in social perception. Asch further proposed that rather than being the end result of an inferential process, the knowledge derived from exposure to events is specified in the underlying structure of action (Newtson, Hairfield, Bloomingdale, & Cutino, 1987). A colleague of Heider or Asch might have predicted a bright future for the study of social event perception. However, the cognitive revolution in social psychology literally turned the focus of future inquiry inward, emphasizing the development of sophisticated cognitive models of social knowing (eg., Wyer & Srull, 1986). Although these models have greatly advanced the understanding of how humans process social information, they have little to reveal regarding the nature of incoming data: Much less attention is paid to what is processed than to how it is processed. In fact, the vast majority of research in this area makes use of semantic input, although most experiences of other persons are surely made up of light, motion, sound, and touch.
Mercury: the enigmatic innermost planet

Abstract The planet Mercury, a difficult object for study by astronomical observation and spacecraft exploration alike, poses multiple challenges to our general understanding of the inner planets. Mercury’s anomalously high uncompressed density implies a metal fraction of 60% or more by mass, an extreme outcome of planetary formational processes common to the inner solar system. Whether that outcome was the result of chemical gradients in the early solar nebula or removal by impact or vaporization of most of the silicate shell from a differentiated protoplanet can potentially be distinguished on the basis of the chemical composition of the present crust. Our understanding of the geological evolution of Mercury and how it fits within the known histories of the other terrestrial planets is restricted by the limited coverage and resolution of imaging by the only spacecraft to have visited the planet. The role of volcanism in Mercury’s geological history remains uncertain, and the dominant tectonic structures are lobate scarps interpreted as recording an extended episode of planetary contraction, issues that require global imaging to be fully examined. That Mercury has retained a global magnetic field when larger terrestrial planets have not stretches the limits of standard hydromagnetic dynamo theory and has led to proposals for a fossil field or for exotic dynamo scenarios. Hypotheses for field generation can be distinguished on the basis of the geometry of Mercury’s internal field, and the existence and size of a fluid outer core on Mercury can be ascertained from measurements of the planet’s spin axis orientation and gravity field and the amplitude of Mercury’s forced librations. The nature of Mercury’s polar deposits, suggested to consist of volatile material cold-trapped on the permanently shadowed floors of high-latitude impact craters, can be tested by remote sensing of the composition of Mercury’s surface and polar atmosphere. The extremely dynamic exosphere, which includes a number of species derived from Mercury’s surface, offers a novel laboratory for exploring the nature of the complex and changing interactions among the solar wind, a small magnetosphere, and a solid planet. Recent ground-based astronomical measurements and several new theoretical developments set the stage for the in-depth exploration of Mercury by two spacecraft missions within the coming decade.
High‐risk research at NSF

A National Science Foundation (NSF) task group is soliciting comment and opinions about the agency's sponsorship of research proposals that have a high risk of failure. ‘There seems to be a perception in some parts of the scientific community that highly imaginative proposals… which are off the beaten track sometimes have difficulty in obtaining funding because scientific reviewers and agency officials are unduly conservative and tend to play it safe,’ Halsey Royden of Stanford, chairman of the group, said.
Reproductive and Birth Outcomes in Haiti Before and After the 2010 Earthquake

Objective We aimed to examine the relationship between exposure to the 2010 Haiti earthquake and pregnancy wantedness, interpregnancy interval, and birth weight. Methods From the nationally representative Haiti 2012 Demographic and Health Survey, information on “size of child at birth” (too small or not) was available for 7280 singleton births in the previous 5 years, whereas information on birth weight was available for 1607 births. Pregnancy wantedness, short (<1 year) interpregnancy interval, and maternal-reported birth weight were compared before and after the earthquake and by level of damage. Multiple logistic regression and linear regression analyses were conducted. Results Post-earthquake births were less likely to be wanted and more likely to be born after a short interpregnancy interval. Earthquake exposure was associated with increased likelihood of a child being born too small: timing of birth (after earthquake vs. before earthquake, adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 1.27, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.12-1.45), region (hardest-hit vs. rest of country; aOR: 1.43, 95% CI: 1.14- 1.80), and house damage (aOR: 1.27 95% CI: 1.02-1.58). Mean birth weight was 150 to 300 g lower in those exposed to the earthquake. Conclusions Experience with the earthquake was associated with worse reproductive and birth outcomes, which underscores the need to provide reproductive health services as part of relief efforts. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2016;10:59-66)
Blue Electron Distributions in Diamagnetic Reduced Heteropoly Tungstates. Insights Concerning Conduction Pathways and Spin Coupling Patterns. 183W NMR Chemical Shift Calculations

This is a paper in a continuing series about roles played by delocalized “blue” electrons and by unpaired electrons in determining properties and structures of heteropoly complexes and their blue reduction products. 183W NMR data for α-[SiW12O40]4-, α-[P2W18O62]6-, α-[P2Mo3W15O62]6-, α-[P2Mo6W12O62]6-, α1-[P2MoW17O62]6-, and α2-[P2MoW17O62]6- and the diamagnetic 2-electron reduction products of these, are combined with our earlier interpretations, yielding new insights about blue electron distributions, pathways for blue electron conduction and delocalization, and energy factors that determine these. MoVI is more easily reduced than WVI. Therefore, in each diamagnetic completely spin-coupled 2e-reduction product of the monomolybdenum derivatives, one of the added electrons is “anchored” on the Mo while the other is rapidly thermally hopping among several belt W’s.
Adapting social spam infrastructure for political censorship

As social networks emerge as an important tool for political engagement and dissent, services including Twitter and Facebook have become regular targets of censorship. In the past, nation states have exerted their control over Internet access to outright block connections to social media during times of political upheaval. Parties without such capabilities may however still desire to control political expression. A striking example of such manipulation recently occurred on Twitter when an unknown attacker leveraged 25,860 fraudulent accounts to send 440,793 tweets in an attempt to disrupt political conversations following the announcement of Russia's parliamentary election results. In this paper, we undertake an in-depth analysis of the infrastructure and accounts that facilitated the attack. We find that miscreants leveraged the spam-as-a-service market to acquire thousands of fraudulent accounts which they used in conjunction with compromised hosts located around the globe to flood out political messages. Our findings demonstrate how malicious parties can adapt the services and techniques traditionally used by spammers to other forms of attack, including censorship. Despite the complexity of the attack, we show how Twitter's relevance-based search helped mitigate the attack's impact on users searching for information regarding the Russian election.
The Effect of Misleading Environmental Claims on Consumer Perceptions of Advertisements

This study investigates whether consumers who are exposed to an ad containing a deceptive environmental claim have significantly different attitudes about the ad than those consumers exposed to a s...
Women's health: pregnancy and childbirth. Progress on key issues in maternal nutrition.

Great progress on key issues in maternal nutrition has been made in the past few years, mainly because of the legislative requirements of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC Program). These advances are most timely because of the general recognition that, in this period of finite resources, we will need to make optimal use of resources such as the food package, nutrition education, and health services that together make up the WIC Program benefits. Major progress has been made in the following critical areas: (a) agreement on nutritional risk criteria; (b) identification of dietary risk factors; (c) increased availability of a variety of computer-assisted techniques for collecting, managing, and analyzing dietary intakes on large numbers of patients; and (d) recognition of the need for and availability of a variety of alternative dietary standards in the provision of overall services to pregnant women. Of even greater importance is the recognition that we can no longer treat nutrition as a single variable, independent of the many other forces that together influence the course and outcome of a pregnancy. Rather, we recognize that there is a seamless web of influences, all of which need to be taken into account in attempts to provide for the needs of pregnant women at risk of poor pregnancy outcomes. The timely application of all of these advances will greatly facilitate a more efficient and effective use of resources such as are provided by the WIC Program. They will also provide both the patients and their health care providers with more realistic expectations of what might be accomplished towards improving the outcomes of pregnancies at nutritional risk.
Application of circular dichroism for structural analysis of surface-immobilized cecropin A interacting with lipoteichoic acid.

The development of biomaterials integrating antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) for improved pathogen detection or use as therapeutic agents requires an understanding of how a peptide may behave once immobilized. Here, we use a combination of circular dichroism and capture assays to assess the structure–function relationship of the cationic amphipathic AMP, cecropin A (cecA), upon interaction with Gram-positive lipoteichoic acids (LTAs). In solution, cecA peptides underwent a change from a largely unstructured conformation in water to structures with significant α-helical content in the presence of both Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus LTAs. After surface immobilization, cecA peptides attached by either C- or N-terminus were able to capture both LTAs as well as to undergo conformational changes in the presence of SDS similar to those observed in solution. However, in spite of demonstrated LTA binding activity and the ability to undergo conformational changes (i.e., with SDS), no structural changes we...
Value-Added Modeling and Educational Accountability Are We Answering the Real Questions?

Value-added estimates of teacher or school quality are increasingly used for both high- and low-stakes accountability purposes, making understanding of their limitations critical. A review of the recent value-added literature suggests three concerns with the state of the research. First, the issues receiving the most research attention have not always been the concerns of greatest importance to theorists or critics. Second, there has been insufficient research on the interactions among various issues or assumption violations. Third, some of the big issues in value-added modeling have been challenging to address and may require educators to step back and answer some underlying philosophical questions about the nature of teacher and school quality.
Control of the imported fire ants with winter applications of microencapsulated mirex bait.

Treatments of standard mirex 4× bait and micro-encapsulated mirex bait were made in January, February, and March 1972 to the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren, in southern Mississippi, and the black imported fire ant, Solenopsis richteri Forel, in northern Mississippi. When aerially applied to 320–400 acre blocks of land, microencapsulated bait gave 97–100% control of the ants during the 3 months. By comparison, standard mirex 4× bait gave only 42–90% control in the same period.
Sugar and Glycerol Transport in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae the process of transport of sugar substrates into the cell comprises a complex network of transporters and interacting regulatory mechanisms. Members of the large family of hexose (HXT) transporters display uptake efficiencies consistent with their environmental expression and play physiological roles in addition to feeding the glycolytic pathway. Multiple glucose-inducing and glucose-independent mechanisms serve to regulate expression of the sugar transporters in yeast assuring that expression levels and transporter activity are coordinated with cellular metabolism and energy needs. The expression of sugar transport activity is modulated by other nutritional and environmental factors that may override glucose-generated signals. Transporter expression and activity is regulated transcriptionally, post-transcriptionally and post-translationally. Recent studies have expanded upon this suite of regulatory mechanisms to include transcriptional expression fine tuning mediated by antisense RNA and prion-based regulation of transcription. Much remains to be learned about cell biology from the continued analysis of this dynamic process of substrate acquisition.
Verification of microbial limit test for the Cordyceps sinensis oral liquid

Objective To establish a method of microbial limit test for Cordyceps sinensis oral liquid and to verify the validity of the testing method. Methods Conventional methods were used to verify the counting methods for microbial,fungus and yeast counts through the measurement of the recovery rates of 5 positive bacteria in the Cordyceps sinensis oral liquid. At the same time,the detection method for the control bacteria in the Cordyceps sinensis oral liquid was also verified. Results When conventional detection methods were used,the recovery rates of various bacteria were over 70 %. In the detection of the control bacteria,positive test bacteria were all detected,while no bacterial growth was detected in the control. Conclusion Conventional methods could be used for the detection of microbial limit in the Cordyceps sinensis oral liquid.
Lusternik-Schnirelman-theory for Lagrangian intersections

Abstract Consider a compact symplectic manifold (M, ω) together with a pair (L, L1) of isotopic compact Lagrangian submanifolds such that π2(M, L) = 0. Using Gromov’s theory of (almost) holomorphic curves the cohomological properties of a family of holomorphic disks are studied. By means of a stretching construction for those disks and a Lusternik-Schnirelman-Theory in compact topological spaces cuplength estimates for the intersection set L ∩ L1 are derived.
Interaction of exercise training and clenbuterol on GLUT-4 protein in muscle of obese Zucker rats

Chronic administration of clenbuterol, a beta 2-adrenergic agonist, attenuates the exercise training-induced improvement in muscle insulin resistance of the obese Zucker rat. The present study was ...
Contemplating Bretscher's View that the Tritope Model is ‘Implausible’

There is, at present, only two models of the TCR structure-function relationship. These are referred to here as the Standard (Centric) model and the Tritope model. While I have argued that the Standard model is untenable and proposed the Tritope to replace it, Bretscher has argued that the Tritope model is 'implausible' and throws his support for the Standard model. This essay analyses the implausibility argument concluding that it is unfounded.
Comparative Study of Methodologies for Teaching Gymnastics and Tumbling Stunts

Abstract The purpose of this study was to determine whether the whole method or the whole-direct repetitive method was more effective for teaching basic tumbling and gymnastic stunts. Two equated groups of male college students were taught stunts according to one of the two methods for a period of one semester. With the exception of the back roll-snap down in favor of the whole method, there was no statistically significant difference between the two methods.
Towards Realizing a Self-Protecting Healthcare Information System

Information and communication technologies are widely used in health care. With the development of cloud computing, Healthcare Information Systems (HIS) are adopting mature cloud-based services for Electronic Health Record (EHR) sharing and remote diagnosis while reducing the facility, data and applications maintenance expense. Due to the high value of healthcare data and the limitation of current security solutions, HISs are highly vulnerable and have become new targets of cyber crimes.This paper discusses the current security challenges of HISs, and designs an Autonomic Security Management (ASM) approach, which proactively self-protects a HIS from internal and external attacks. The performance of a HIS is monitored in real time, and potential attacks that may disrupt HIS services are predicted by the intrusion estimation module. We also discuss the functionality and feasibility of intrusion detection systems for detecting known and unknown cyber attacks threatening the confidentiality and integrity of EHRs. The intrusion response system of the ASM approach selects the most appropriate protection mechanisms to recover the compromised HIS back to normal with little or no human intervention.
The Challenges and Obstacles in Development Studies: A Sociological Perspective

The interest of the sociologist is primarily theoretical. That is he is interested in understanding for its own sake. He may be aware of or even concerned with the practical applicability and conse...
Social Work Concepts and Language Analysis

Experience in a tutorial project suggests that some use of contemporary language philosophy can aid social work students in understanding abstract terminology
Non-equilibrium surface conditions and microstructural changes following pulsed laser irradiation and ion beam mixing of Ni overlayers on sintered alpha-SiC

Pulsed laser irradiation and ion beam mixing of thin Ni overlayers on sintered a-SiC have been investigated as potential surface modification techniques for the enhancement of the mechanical properties of the SiC. Each of these surface processing methods are non-equilibrium techniques; materials interactions can be induced at the specimen surface which are not possible with conventional thermal techniques. As a result of the surface modification, the physical properties of the ceramic can be altered under the correct processing conditions. Following laser irradiation using a pulsed ruby or krypton fluoride (KrF) excimer laser, the fracture strength of the SiC was increased by approximately 50% and 20%y respectively. However, ion beam mixing of Ni on SiC resulted in no change in fracture strength. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (X-TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS), and Rutherford backscattering techniques (RBS) have been used to characterize the extent of mixing between the Ni and SiC as a result of the surface modification and to determine the reason(s) for the observed changes in fracture strength.
Topological and Metric Spaces

A topological space is a pair (X,T), where X is a set and T a collection of subsets of X such that O, X ∈ T and T is closed under arbitrary unions and finite intersections. Such a collection is called a topology on X and its members open sets. The complements of open sets are called closed. Both O,X are closed and arbitrary intersections and finite? unions of closed sets are closed.
Children’s Interpretation of the Discourse-Dependent Reflexives

So far we have been concerned with the interpretation of pronouns and errors that children make in this interpretation. We have seen that this interpretation requires a coordination of specific syntactic constraints (e.g. Binding Principles) and constraints at the level of discourse. It has been proposed that children posses all required syntactic knowledge but may have problems with implementing their knowledge of the discourse-related constraints, specifically constraints on bridging.
The Good, the Bad, and the Klutzy: The Moral Concern View of Criminal Negligence

One proposed way of preserving the link between criminal negligence and blameworthiness is to define criminal negligence in moral terms. On this view, a person can be held criminally responsible for a negligent act if her negligence reflects a deficit of moral concern. Some theorists are convinced that this definition restores the link between negligence and blameworthiness, while others insist that criminal negligence remains suspect. This article contributes to the discussion by applying the work of ethicist Nomy Arpaly to criminal negligence. Although not interested in legal issues herself, Arpaly has a well-developed theory of moral agency that explains moral concern in terms of responsiveness to moral reasons. Introducing her work to the ongoing scholarly debate will be helpful for two reasons. First, while a definition of negligence in terms of moral concern is recognized as one proposed solution to the negligence–blameworthiness problem, authors promoting it have yet to give a systematic account of moral concern and its relation to blame. Borrowing Arpaly's account will help clarify the idea of moral concern so that both proponents and critics of a concern approach to negligence can have a better-defined debate. Second, her theory of blameworthiness is especially suited to defending the blameworthiness of negligent actions, because it does not have recourse to a special quality of choice or self-control that must be active to render conduct blameworthy. To make this second advantage clear, the article argues that reliance on choice or self-control problematizes blameworthiness for negligence. Those who wish to defend blameworthiness for negligent acts should base their work on an account of moral agency that does not rely on either choice or self-control to explain when an action is blameworthy.
Storytelling in Business-to-Business Advertising: An Abstract

Past academic research addressing storytelling has mainly been approached from the business-to-consumer (B2C) context. These studies have credited stories as a fundamental source for emotional buying behavior in consumers. Although storytelling has the ability to evoke greater emotions in consumers, marketing research has not examined its application in the business-to-business (B2B) context, particularly within the advertising realm. Drawing on the B2C literature, this study offers an exploratory examination of the benefits of storytelling in B2B advertising. The authors reveal that stories told to organizational buyers foster a deeper, emotional connection to the selling firm. Results directly indicate that there is indeed power in telling stories to members of the buying center because it influences their purchase behavior and decision-making process. We also demonstrate that there is significance in telling stories to organizational buyers who have been historically thought of as purely rational beings. In fact, our findings debunk the notion that organizational buyers respond to marketing communications on the basis of economic value alone. At the heart of this research, we establish that storytelling can be fruitful in B2B advertising.
A Motivational and Educational Toolkit to Improve CPAP Therapy Adherence: Feasibility of Organizational System Implementation (P1.096)

Objective: The objective of this study is to implement a motivational and educational program using a novel multi-modal toolkit and assess its effect on CPAP usage. Background: Sleep disturbances, including sleep apnea, are associated with significant morbidity and with pathological progression in certain neurological disorders such as stroke and mild cognitive impairment. The first-line treatment for sleep apnea, CPAP therapy, however remains challenging for patients. Meeting adherence criteria in the first 30 days of CPAP therapy initiation is a strong predictor of sustained treatment adherence. The bridge between this key process measure and quality patient care and outcomes is a needed and often missing intervention in actual clinical practice. Design/Methods: On initiation of CPAP therapy, patients are enrolled in the program and database. Education and support are provided in 3 modalities. 1. Clinical staff receives training in motivational interviewing (MI) to use in phone outreach to the patient in the first 7 days of therapy. 2. An automated and mobile SMS texting system delivers 6 educational messages to the patient during the critical first 30 days of therapy. 3. The patient receives printed educational material, a 30-page motivational calendar for the critical period. CPAP usage and efficacy data at 1 month and 3 months are monitored. Results: Clinic staff are receptive of the motivational interviewing session and implemented the motivational/educational toolkit effectively into clinical practice. Preliminary data on 7 patients found patient response to the toolkit intervention to be positive, while CPAP therapy data and formal survey results are being gathered. Conclusions: A multi-modal intervention involving MI training in staff-patient encounters, educational SMS texting, and printed material is introduced into the operations of a hospital-based sleep clinical practice. Assessment of patient response to each mode of intervention and the cost-benefit ratio will determine long-term system’s change. Disclosure: Dr. Slettedahl has nothing to disclose. Dr. Yantes has nothing to disclose. Dr. Tsai has nothing to disclose.
Pacifying Hunter-Gatherers

There is a well-entrenched schism on the frequency (how often), intensity (deaths per 100,000/year), and evolutionary significance of warfare among hunter-gatherers compared with large-scale societies. To simplify, Rousseauians argue that warfare among prehistoric and contemporary hunter-gatherers was nearly absent and, if present, was a late cultural invention. In contrast, so-called Hobbesians argue that violence was relatively common but variable among hunter-gatherers. To defend their views, Rousseauians resort to a variety of tactics to diminish the apparent frequency and intensity of hunter-gatherer warfare. These tactics include redefining war, censoring ethnographic accounts of warfare in comparative analyses, misconstruing archaeological evidence, and claiming that outside contact inflates the intensity of warfare among hunter-gatherers. These tactics are subject to critical analysis and are mostly found to be wanting. Furthermore, Hobbesians with empirical data have already established that the frequency and intensity of hunter-gatherer warfare is greater compared with large-scale societies even though horticultural societies engage in warfare more intensively than hunter-gatherers. In the end I argue that although war is a primitive trait we may share with chimpanzees and/or our last common ancestor, the ability of hunter-gatherer bands to live peaceably with their neighbors, even though war may occur, is a derived trait that fundamentally distinguishes us socially and politically from chimpanzee societies. It is a point often lost in these debates.
Influence of Repeated Restraint and Isolation Stress and Electrolyte Administration on Pituitary-Adrenal Secretions, Electrolytes, and Other Blood Constituents of Sheep'

Crossbred lambs (n = 24) were blocked by weight and assigned within blocks to four treatments applied in two replications of a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement. Main effects included no stress (NS) or three consecutive days of restraint and isolation stress (RIS) and treatment with either water (W) or an electrolyte (E) solution. Each lamb in the RIS treatment group was moved from its home stanchion to another room, isolated from visual and tactile contact with other lambs, and restrained for 6 h on three consecutive days. Lambs received either distilled W or E (320 mL) on each of the 3 d of stressor treatment. On the morning of the 3rd d of stressor treatment, blood samples were collected at l-h intervals for 6 h for determination of concentra- tions of ACTH, cortisol, and lactate. Also, blood was collected at the conclusion of, and 18 h after, the termination of stressor treatment (at slaughter) to measure serum electrolyte concentrations and other blood constituents. Polynomial curves fit to plasma concentrations of ACTH, cortisol, and lactate data differed (P < .005) between RIS and NS lambs during the last 6-h stressor bout. Stressed lambs had lower (P < .05) serum calcium and alkaline phosphatase concentrations than did NS lambs. Serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase was increased (P < .05) 20- to 30-fold in RIS lambs. Restraint and isolation stress caused clear increases in plasma concentrations of ACTH, cortisol, lactate, and glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase but had minimal effects on serum electrolytes. Electrolyte treatment had no appreciable effect on pituitary-adrenal secretions or any other measured component of blood.
Sensitivity Analysis of an LCC-LCC Compensated 20-kW Bidirectional Wireless Charging System for Medium-Duty Vehicles

In this paper, sensitivity analysis of an LCC-LCC compensated bidirectional wireless charging system is presented. In a wireless charging system for electric vehicle applications, the effective load impedance varies significantly with the state-of-charge (SOC)of the battery. Due to the change in system parameters, resonant frequency, and transferred power, the efficiency of the system varies significantly. Sensitivity analysis of the system characteristics reveals the optimal operating region and required control strategy to operate within that region. Sensitivity analysis is even more important for a bidirectional system with mismatched input and output voltage levels. In this paper, the sensitivity of a bidirectional 20 kW wireless charging system is investigated analytically and the results are validated experimentally. The experimental results for a geometrically matched Double-D (DD) coil-based LCC-LCC tuned bidirectional WCS with asymmetric voltage levels show that the voltage gains and input impedance of the system are highly sensitive near the resonant frequency.
Women With Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Lose Protection Against Cardiovascular Disease: A Longitudinal Cohort Study.

OBJECTIVES:Cardiovascular (CV) disease is the top cause of mortality in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Female sex is protective against CV disease. We aimed to determine whether female sex remains a protective factor against CV disease (myocardial infarction, angina, and str
β-Amino Phosphine Mn Catalysts for 1,4-Transfer Hydrogenation of Chalcones and Allylic Alcohol Isomerization

Mn complexes with amino acid derived PN ligands were used in the catalytic transfer hydrogenation (TH) of ketone and chalcone substrates in 2-propanol with mild heating. Moreover, chalcones are red...
Michigan State University BEST: Lessons learned

Abstract MSU presents our “Lessons Learned’ in the conception, formulation, execution and sustainment of the MSU BEST program. People with diverse expertise helped make this program real. Our trainees, fondly known as BESTies, made this program come to life. We share some of the things we did well, things we learned could have been done better, and the value of working as a team with a common goal.
Fostering Student-Leadership in a Tanzanian Rural Primary School

Many rural Tanzanian students face challenges that hinder their academic preparation which can lead to school dropout. Knowing this, a needs assessment in a rural primary school (grades 1-7) identi...