cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
'I Didn't Ask to Be Born Either', (Book Review of Browne C. Lewis, Papa's Baby: Paternity and Artificial Insemination)

This article reviews Browne C. Lewis, Papa’s Baby: Paternity and Artificial Insemination (2012)).
Introducing a 3-dimensionally Printed, Tissue-Engineered Graft for Airway Reconstruction: A Pilot Study

Objective:To use 3-dimensional (3D) printing and tissue engineering to create a graft for laryngotracheal reconstruction (LTR).Study Design:In vitro and in vivo pilot animal study.Setting:Large tertiary care academic medical center.Subjects and Methods:A 3D computer model of an anterior LTR graft was designed. That design was printed with polylactic acid on a commercially available 3D printer. The scaffolds were seeded with mature chondrocytes and collagen gel and cultured in vitro for up to 3 weeks. Scaffolds were evaluated in vitro for cell viability and proliferation. Anterior graft LTR was performed on 9 New Zealand white rabbits with the newly created scaffolds. Three animals were sacrificed at each time point (4, 8, and 12 weeks). The in vivo graft sites were assessed via bronchoscopy and histology.Results:The in vitro cell proliferation assay demonstrated initial viability of 87.5%. The cells proliferated during the study period, doubling over the first 7 days. Histology revealed that the cells ret...
Statistical Contamination and the Selection of Management

Abstract Emphasizing the probabilistic aspects of decision making makes it clear that even if the criterion for promotion within an organization is success in all past decisions, the laws of probability assure all managers except those who unfailingly err the possibility of promotion. This introduces statistical contamination into the organizational hierarchy. This paper considers the effects of the probabilistic nature of decision making upon the quality of management in an organization using past performance records as the sole promotion criterion. In addition, we consider the consequences of lowering promotion standards, and investigate the possibility of determining optimal promotion criteria.
A Case Study of the Mechanism of Alcohol-Mediated Morita Baylis–Hillman Reactions. The Importance of Experimental Observations

The mechanism of the Morita Baylis–Hillman reaction has been heavily studied in the literature, and a long series of computational studies have defined complete theoretical energy profiles in these reactions. We employ here a combination of mechanistic probes, including the observation of intermediates, the independent generation and partitioning of intermediates, thermodynamic and kinetic measurements on the main reaction and side reactions, isotopic incorporation from solvent, and kinetic isotope effects, to define the mechanism and an experimental mechanistic free-energy profile for a prototypical Morita Baylis–Hillman reaction in methanol. The results are then used to critically evaluate the ability of computations to predict the mechanism. The most notable prediction of the many computational studies, that of a proton-shuttle pathway, is refuted in favor of a simple but computationally intractable acid–base mechanism. Computational predictions vary vastly, and it is not clear that any significant acc...
Association between felt ambivalence and the desire to quit waterpipe use among college students.

College waterpipe tobacco smokers who feel more ambivalence, that is, conflicted about its use, may have a stronger desire to quit. Using baseline survey data of 315 college waterpipe smokers, we examined this relationship. While frequency of feeling ambivalence was low, greater ambivalence was related with desire to quit ( r = .46, p < .001). This relationship remained significant after accounting for several correlates of desire to quit (e.g. perceived risk and worries about harm and addiction). Findings suggest that ambivalence may be an important independent variable linked with desire to quit and should be explored further as a factor influencing waterpipe tobacco use.
CRT-200.83 Comparison of High-Dose Bolus Tirofiban With Other Anticoagulation Strategies for Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: A Network Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Numerous randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have been conducted comparing different anticoagulation strategies for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) but comparison between different glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors (GPI) is limited. Thus, we performed a Bayesian network meta-analysis to
Study on Synthesis of Organic Sulfurizing Agent with 2-butylene

Using 2-butylene and sulfur,under the conditions of high-temperature,high-pressure,and in the presence of catalyst,the organic sulfurizing agent is synthesized.The effects of reaction temperature,reaction time,and molar ratio of sulfur to 2-butylene,the species and amount of catalysts on the sulfur content of sulfurizing agent were investigated;especially the organic alkaline catalysts,inorganic alkaline catalysts and TMTD.The results showed that the amount of catalyst had a great effect on the sulfur content.And TMTD and diethylamine catalyst had the greatest influence,the sul- fur content of the product made with TMTD and diethylamine was 27.1%and 26.64%respectively.
Design of an Intelligent Terminal Communication Module Based on DSP and Ethernet Switch Chip

This paper analyzes the communication ability requirements of intelligent terminals in the digital substation, and proposes a communication module design solution using a combinatory of the ADSP-BF518 processor, FPGA and Ethernet switch chip Marvell 88E6060 in order to achieve high speed communication between devices in the substation and the intelligent terminals with an integrated protection, monitoring and control. According to the requirements of intelligent terminal communication network from substations using the IEC61850, this paper analyzes data transmission characteristics of time synchronization, sampling and GOOSE, and completes the hardware design of the intelligent terminal communication module and development of the underlying driver. In addition, the design introduces the embedded RTOS uC/OS II to achieve data transmission of IEEE 1588 clock synchronization, IEC61850 9-2 sample value and GOOSE message by assigning the reasonable task priority and reasonably task schedule. At last, the feasibility of the design is verifi ed.
Recognition behavior based problems in species conservation

Recognition system theory was developed as a tool to investigate kin selection and mate choice, but can be applied to a wide variety of biological systems. Recognition behavior is central to species persistence, and mightcontribute to understanding and solving some problems in species conservation. In this paper I identify the role recognition behavior can play in some problems central to species conservation, including survey methods, habitat selection, mating success, maintaining genetic variability, predator avoidance, and pest deterrence and control. For each topic I identify ways in which taking advantage of the recognition template, threshold position, discrimination, or cue manipulation might be used to resolve species conservation problems. The framework that has been developed for studying recognition systems shows promise as a research framework for refining study of the behavioral issues affecting species persistence.
Learning Gender: The Effects of Gender-Role Stereotypes on Women’s Lifelong Learning and Career Advancement Opportunities

The effects of gender-role stereotypes on women’s lifelong learning, earning, and career advancement opportunities are examined. It is proposed that “learning gender” is a critical component of lifelong learning. Based on a review of the literature, it was concluded that gender-role stereotypes create impediments for girls and women worldwide in terms of access to education, the topics they choose to study, and their career choices. These stereotypes also result in large and inequitable disparities in women’s pay, promotion, and career advancement opportunities. Recommendations for actions that individuals, organizations, and society can take to remedy the inequities and “shatter” the glass ceiling are provided. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the challenges inherent in promoting changes within a gendered society.
Incident TTP: Plasmapheresis Therapy-Related Complications Are Common.

Abstract Background: Plasmapheresis is the mainstay of therapy for thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP). Due to the significant mortality associated with TTP if left untreated and the effectiveness of therapy, plasmapheresis may be instituted before the diagnosis is clearly established. Our case-control study of incident TTP allowed us to evaluate the incidence of complications in cases treated at multiple sites across the United States. Methods: The SERF-TTP study is a NHLBI-funded 15-site study to identify 300 cases of incident TTP and 600 age and gender-matched community controls. Each case of incident TTP is identified upon referral for therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE). Exclusion criteria include solid organ or allogeneic stem cell transplant, anti-neoplastic therapy, or metastatic adenocarcinoma. Epidemiologic information, laboratory data, and plasma samples are collected from both patients and controls. In addition, information is collected about volume of TPE, frequency, type of replacement fluid, duration of TPE, adverse reactions associated with TPE, and concurrent therapy. Results: To date, 11 sites across the US have IRB approval, and 50 cases have been identified. Data are available for the first 32 patients, whose mean age is 41.9 years. All patients underwent TPE, a number of which received more than one type of replacement fluid. The majority of patients received fresh frozen plasma (FFP): 60.0% FFP, 46.7% cyroprecipitate poor plasma, and 16.7% albumin. Additionally, 63.3% of patients received concurrent corticosteroid therapy. The mean number of treatment days prior to the achievement of platelet count > 150,000 per microliter was 9.7 (range 0–43 days). Overall survival was 90.0%. Adverse reactions were observed in 53.3% of patients (16/30). The most frequently observed toxicity was an allergic reaction in 40% (12/30) of patients, followed by citrate-related toxicity in 30% (9/30) of patients. No patients experienced an anaphylactic reaction. 16.7% of cases (5/30) had venous access complications, most frequently a catheter-associated thrombosis (3/5). In addition, one patient had a significant hemorrhage associated with venous access, which required treatment in intensive care. Conclusions: Preliminary data from this cohort of patients suggest that adverse reactions are commonly seen in incident TTP patients undergoing TPE; the most frequent are allergic reactions to plasma. This highlights the need for development of reliable diagnostic criteria for TTP so patients are not exposed to the risks of TPE unnecessarily.
Minimally Invasive Total Knee Arthroplasty Using the Quadriceps-Sparing Approach

Standard total knee arthroplasty has been in development since the introduction of the first total knee in 1974.1,2 The techniques of balancing the ligaments, equalizing the flexion-extension gaps, and adjusting the overall alignment have been perfected so that the long-term results are very satisfactory and are now approaching 20 years for the followup studies.3,4,5,6,7,8 Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) for knee arthroplasty began in the late 1990s. Repicci established the MIS approach for unicondylar knee arthroplasty (UKA) and encouraged interest in both limited surgical approaches and partial knee arthroplasty.9,10 As the MIS UKA became more accepted, surgeons began to experiment with smaller surgical incisions for total knee arthroplasty (TKA). More than 15 years ago, arthroscopic surgeons attempted to implant a TKA with arthroscopic assistance. Unfortunately, no information was ever published concerning their attempts and the modified approach was abandoned. The MIS techniques for unicondylar surgery are now well developed and MIS TKA can now be approached with greater experience and improved techniques.
Assessment of time from cytoreductive nephrectomy (CN) to initiation of targeted therapy (TT) in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC).

540 Background: For patients (pts) with de novo mRCC, the initiation of TT typically occurs at a window of 4-6 weeks following CN. Although this practice is thought to mitigate impaired wound heali...
Can the source of hyperandrogenism in adolescents with polycystic ovary syndrome predict metabolic phenotype

In this study, we demonstrated an association between adrenal hyperandrogenism, as determined by dehydroepiandrostenedione-to-free testosterone (DHEA-S/FT) ratio, and metabolic phenotype in obese and lean adolescents with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). We compared 64 overweight/obese adolescents with PCOS (PCOS-O) with 18 lean (PCOS-L) adolescents. We analyzed the association between DHEA-S/FT ratios and metabolic parameters. Patients in the PCOS-O group were younger (median [interquartile range]) than those in the PCOS-L group (15 [15-17] vs. 16 [16-17] years; p = .04). The median DHEA-S/FT ratio and total testosterone concentrations did not differ. However, androstenedione concentrations were higher in the PCOS-L group (p = .02) and free testosterone levels lower in the PCOS-L group compared with the PCOS-O group (p = .02). Insulin resistance was present in 30 of 64 (46.9%) adolescents with PCOS-O compared with 1 of 18 (5.6%) with PCOS-L (p = .001). A significant negative correlation between DHEA-S/FT ratios and insulin concentrations in PCOS-O (p = .03) and PCOS-L (p = .04) groups was noted. In the PCOS-O group, the DHEA-S/FT ratio was negatively associated with serum triglyceride (p = .03) and total cholesterol concentrations (p = .02). We conclude that in adolescents with PCOS, a higher ratio of adrenal to ovarian androgens, signified by DHEA-S/FT, may be associated with a more favorable metabolic phenotype.
Pensar globalmente? A ideia, a ideologia e os limites do cosmopolitismo

A ideia de cosmopolitismo entrou recentemente em moda, apesar de sua associacao com pretensoes humanistas e exclusoes primeiro-mundistas do pensamento iluminista europeu. O presente ensaio examina como o cosmopolitismo funciona em diferentes campos com projetos e apostas dispares, da ciencia politica e do meio-ambiente a teoria critica. Como e por que o cosmopolitismo e um termo importante para nossa era globalizada? Quais sao as possibilidades e os limites deste conceito? Como podemos distinguir entre um cosmopolitismo que deixa intactos os privilegios da elite global e um cosmopolitismo que desconstroi criticamente tais privilegios em nome de um mundo mais justo e habitavel para todos?
Ab Initio Calculations of Transport Properties of Vanadium Oxides

The temperature-dependent transport properties of vanadium oxides have been studied near the Fermi energy using the Kohn–Sham band structure approach combined with Boltzmann transport equations. V2O5 exhibits significant thermoelectric properties, which can be attributed to its layered structure and stability. Highly anisotropic electrical conduction in V2O5 is clearly manifested in the calculations. Due to specific details of the band structure and anisotropic electron–phonon interactions, maxima and crossovers are also seen in the temperature-dependent Seebeck coefficient of V2O5. During the phase transition of VO2, the Seebeck coefficient changes by 18.9 µV/K, which is close to (within 10% of) the observed discontinuity of 17.3 µV/K.
Measuring Christian Maturity: A Comparison of Several Scales:

One way to explore the meaning of Christian maturity is to try to measure Christian maturity. Catholic and Protestant students responded to several instruments purporting to measure Christian matur...
Defining Death: Beyond Biology

The debate over whether brain death is death has focused on whether individuals who have sustained total brain failure have satisfied the biological definition of death as “the irreversible loss of the integration of the organism as a whole.” In this paper, I argue that what it means for an organism to be integrated “as a whole” is undefined and vague in the views of those who attempt to define death as the irreversible loss of the integration of the organism as a whole. I show how what it means for a living thing to be integrated as a whole depends on the sortal (kind) concept by which it is identified. Since interests, values, and ontological considerations besides strictly biological ones affect the concepts by which we individuate and identify living things, those non-biological considerations have a bearing on what it means for a particular kind of living thing to exist as a whole and thus what it means for one of us to die. Even if our bodies may remain organically integrated in some sense despite total brain failure, this fact should not lead us to reject brain death as death. Artificially sustained brain-dead human bodies are not human beings, but the remains of them. While such bodies may be alive in some sense, they are not human beings or human persons. They are not one of us.
Determination of the inverse, blocked, and pseudo forces for an air compressor bolted to a steel plate

For many machines, input forces cannot be directly measured, but representative forces may be determined using inverse approaches. Three approaches have been suggested in the literature for the determination of representative forces. The different approaches are described and then applied to an air compressor bolted to a steel plate. The three approaches are utilized to determine the inverse, blocked, and pseudo forces, respectively. The calculated indirect forces are then used to determine the response on the steel plate, and there is a good agreement between all three methods. The calculated forces are then used to predict the effect of a boundary condition modification to the steel plate.
Defeating TCP/IP stack fingerprinting

This paper describes the design and implementation of a TCP/IP stack fingerprint scrubber. The fingerprint scrubber is a new tool to restrict a remote user's ability to determine the operating system of another host on the network. Allowing entire subnetworks to be remotely scanned and characterized opens up security vulnerabilities. Specifically, operating system exploits can be efficiently run against a pre-scanned network because exploits will usually only work against a specific operating system or software running on that platform. The fingerprint scrubber works at both the network and transport layers to convert ambiguous traffic from a heterogeneous group of hosts into sanitized packets that do not reveal clues about the hosts' operating systems. This paper evaluates the performance of a fingerprint scrubber implemented in the FreeBSD kernel and looks at the limitations of this approach.
The Induction of Resistance to Alkylation Damage in Mammalian Cells

We are continuously exposed to non-toxic levels of carcinogens both from our environment and from our diet. It would therefore seem important to determine how cells respond to this particular kind of treatment. Some years ago, an attempt to simulate this chronic environmental exposure to mutagens revealed the existence of an inducible antimutagenic DNA repair pathway in E. coli — the adaptive DNA repair pathway (1). The obvious progression from finding a new type of DNA repair in E. coli was to ask whether an equivalent pathway exists in mammalian cells, and ultimately whether it exists in human cells. We now have good biological evidence for the existence of an adaptive DNA repair pathway in cultured rodent and human cell lines (2). In order to set the scene for our recent findings in mammalian cells, we should first consider what is presently known about E. coli adaptation.
RADIOACTIVE-WASTE DISPOSAL - AN APPLICATION OF PREDICTIVE GEOLOGY

ABSTRACT The siting and design of a deep nuclear-waste repository involve prediction of hydrologic transport of radionuclides to the biosphere under existing and future conditions. The use of predictive transport equations based on Darcian flow for relatively impermeable host formations may overestimate transport rates by orders of magnitude. The use of hydraulic conductivity laboratory determinations that were obtained using large gradients also gives results that overestimate transport rates. On the other hand, laboratory determinations can lead to serious underestimation of transport in fractured formations. Because of the difficulty of transport prediction under future climatic and geologic conditions, risk is minimized by the choice of “simple and stable” geologic environments and by conservative engineering design. Sorption on engineered barrier materials and on natural geologic materials can reduce transport of radionuclides to the biosphere under present conditions and can inhibit their mobilization by unforeseen future events.
Formation of Bacterial Endospores in Chick Embryos.

Abstract : The formation of bacterial endospores in the living animal body has not been reported. [In 1958-1S80: M. Taylor, Fort Detrick, observed (unpublished data), through several weeks, anthrax spores produced in the cecum of a germ-free Lobund rat after challenge.] General opinion is that it does not occur. We have found, however, that in vivo-formed spores of several species of bacilli may be demonstrated in the chicken egg embryo.
Modularized High Power Density Bidirectional Buck-Boost DC-DC Converter for EV Battery Management

In electrical vehicles (EV), regenerative braking generates more power than the batteries can accept, which means additional power is wasted to heat in the vehicle’s brake pads. And the battery life span will be greatly reduced at a peak power many times that of most battery technologies. Therefore, a compact power unit is needed in parallel with the dc bus to absorb and store the motor generated energy into ultracapacitors. Then ultracapacitors release that power when the vehicle accelerates and the batteries are under the greatest strain. In this paper, a modularized high power density bidirectional dc-dc converter is developed to perform the energy transfer between battery string and ultracapacitors. And a so-called dual current loop control strategy is applied to enhance the converter modularization capability. Experimental results are provided to demonstrate effectiveness of the proposed control strategy. The hardware prototype is capable of achieving 4 kW 42 inch3 power density and 95.5% efficiency.
Basic Needs Satisfaction and Its Relation to Sociomoral Capacities and Behavior

Interdisciplinary research is demonstrating the importance of physiological and neurobiological development for adult functioning. Recently, the theoretical linkages between early experience and adult morality have been drawn. We examine the relation of early experience to basic needs fulfillment and their relation to adult moral functioning. Using the Basic Needs Satisfaction Scale (BNSS), a short, comprehensive scale with two subscales: Life Effectance and Life Discouragement. In two studies, we demonstrate evidence of basic needs satisfaction mediating the relationship between childhood experience and morality. We also examine which retrospective factors in childhood are most predictive of moral outcomes in adulthood. These results suggest that comprehensive satisfaction of basic needs may help explain the mechanism behind key relationships between childhood experiences and outcomes in adulthood that have been previously established by others.
Using Mixed DCT and Haar Transforms for Efficient Compression of Car Trajectory Data

Data compression is an important component of communication and storage technologies, directly contributing to the efficiency of these systems. Lossy data or signal compression, while not applicable to all applications, usually allows for much higher efficiency. In this paper we propose a method for adopting the concept of mixed-transforms and evaluate it for vehicle trajectory data. In mixed-transform methods, compression residuals from the first representation of a signal are passed to a second transformation stage where further compression is applied in that domain. The final residual which represents error resulting from the compression and decompression process, is then used as a cost to be minimized by adjusting the configuration of each transformation stage. An adaptive algorithm from earlier works is adopted to iteratively adjust the configuration of each compression stage (selection of coefficients from each transform) to minimize the error. A hierarchical realization of the iterative adaptive algorithm is presented that uses preset compression ratios and optimizes the coefficient selection accordingly. We show that using DCT followed by Haar in the proposed method, it is possible to efficiently compress vehicle trajectory data. The results show that a higher quality for reconstructed data can be achieved using this method, compared to using a single transform compression. For trajectories with sudden movements, the method has a more notable improvement.
Supply Chain Management, Blockchains and Smart Contracts

Many still view blockchain as an esoteric concept, often associating it only with the famous cryptocurrency, Bitcoin. But recent research shows that its application can have far-reaching implications in many areas; supply chain management being one such. Due to globalization, supply chains have become more complex in recent years. The products we use and consume everyday have parts and ingredients that have been sourced from all around the world. Today, both large conglomerates and small businesses rely completely on these global supply chains to deliver the ingredients and parts that ultimately go into making their final products. For these reasons, millions of dollars have been spent in the last few decades to refine the current supply chains and to make them more cost-efficient. Despite these efforts, global supply chains have substantial issues. Blockchain, along with smart contracts and IoT, can tackle most of the problems existent in supply chains today, saving companies significant costs, time and effort. It can also help companies cut down on their contingent costs by improving the traceability of their products. This in turn would help companies avert future disasters – such as potential consumer lawsuits and reputational harm, saving companies a chunk of the hundreds of dollars they currently spend on resolving consumer litigation and PR. There are also collateral benefits to this; companies can potentially improve their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) ratings and their overall Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) ratings – important criteria for today’s savvy and conscious investors. From economic and societal perspectives too, blockchain can significantly improve the sustainability and inclusivity of global supply chains. This would significantly benefit groups like farmers, cotton-harvesters and the like, whose profits are severely undercut by middlemen. Clearly, companies have many incentives to move their supply chains onto a blockchain. Many companies are already engaging consultants, NGOs and tech companies to run pilot projects on certain legs of their supply chain. This paper focuses on the potential ways in which blockchain can improve the ecosystem of global supply chains to the advantage of its various stakeholders, as enumerated above. The first part of the paper focuses on the problems current supply chain systems face. The second part focuses on how these problems can be solved with blockchain, IoT and smart contracts. The third and the final part highlights the various pilot projects being run by various stakeholders today to improve the traceability and sustainability of the supply chains in various industries through the use of blockchain, IoT and smart contracts.
Tail latency in node.js: energy efficient turbo boosting for long latency requests in event-driven web services

Cloud-based Web services are shifting to the event-driven, scripting language-based programming model to achieve productivity, flexibility, and scalability. Implementations of this model, however, generally suffer from long tail latencies, which we measure using Node.js as a case study. Unlike in traditional thread-based systems, reducing long tails is difficult in event-driven systems due to their inherent asynchronous programming model. We propose a framework to identify and optimize tail latency sources in scripted event-driven Web services. We introduce profiling that allows us to gain deep insights into not only how asynchronous event-driven execution impacts application tail latency but also how the managed runtime system overhead exacerbates the tail latency issue further. Using the profiling framework, we propose an event-driven execution runtime design that orchestrates the hardware’s boosting capabilities to reduce tail latency. We achieve higher tail latency reductions with lower energy overhead than prior techniques that are unaware of the underlying event-driven program execution model. The lessons we derive from Node.js apply to other event-driven services based on scripting language frameworks.
Industry Tournament Incentives and Corporate Innovation Strategies

This paper examines how the tournament-like progression in the CEO labor market influences corporate innovation strategies. By exploiting a text-based proxy for product innovation based on product descriptions from 10-Ks, we find a significant positive relation between industry tournament incentives (ITIs) and product innovation. We then explore the trade-off effects of ITIs on product innovation created through long-term patenting technologies and short-term “routine” product development. We discover that ITIs strengthen routine product development activities but decrease patent-based innovation. Further analyses show that the effect of ITIs on product innovation is stronger when the product market is more competitive and when CEO characteristics indicate a higher probability of winning the tournament prize.
Survival and Density of a Dominant Fish Species Across a Gradient of Urbanization in North Carolina Tidal Creeks

Development in the southeastern US coastal plain generates the need for a better understanding of how survival and abundance of estuarine nekton respond to urbanization. Apparent survival and density of the dominant Atlantic coast salt marsh fish, the mummichog Fundulus heteroclitus, were estimated in four North Carolina tidal creeks using a model simultaneously fitted to mark-resight and mark-recapture data. Rates of weekly loss (mortality plus emigration) were high (~ 10%). Sampling for tagged fish within and outside of study creeks showed high site fidelity to each creek, indicating that loss largely resulted from mortality rather than emigration. Estimated rates of apparent survival were lowest in the creek with the least instream- and watershed-level impacts. This creek has direct (non-culvert) access downstream to a larger waterbody, suggesting that enhanced access by predators and/or greater rates of permanent emigration may have contributed to lower apparent survival in this creek. There was a positive relation between minnow trap catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) and density allowing the relationship between CPUE and habitat and urbanization to be examined in a total of six creeks. The largest CPUE estimates occurred early in each growing season and were associated with creeks possessing characteristics most representative of undisturbed salt marsh mosaics: high percentage of marsh coverage instream and downstream and high percentage of marsh edge. Given generally limited movement outside of creeks, differences in abundance among creeks likely result from different levels of recruitment that are related to salt marsh availability. Priority preservation of salt marsh habitats may be warranted by natural resource planners to maintain abundance levels of this trophically important species.
Risk Adapted Strategies in the Management of Thyroid Cancer

There is a rising incidence of thyroid cancer world wide in the past four decades. Such a rise is observed most often in patients between the ages of 50-65. However, a majority of these newly discovered cancers are small, less than 2 cm in size, intrathyroidal papillary carcinomas. Understanding the tumor progression model of follicular cell derived cancers and appreciating the impact of prognostic factors allows the development of risk group stratification at initial diagnosis and after surgical treatment. Employing risk group stratification permits discretion in selection of surgical treatment, in the use of adjuvant therapies, and the subsequent follow up strategies. Molecular analysis of aggressive cancers opens a path to the use of targeted therapies in patients with iodine resistant recurrent or metastatic thyroid cancers. A great majority of thyroid cancer patients fall into the low and intermediate risk groups, and their long-term outcomes remain excellent. Therefore, in conclusion, understanding the biology of thyroid cancer and appreciation of prognostic factors and employing risk group stratification is crucial for cost effective treatment of cancer of the thyroid gland.
Participatory urban governance under the microscope: A qualitative study of high-functioning neighborhood councils in Los Angeles

With the neighborhood seen as the ideal unit for participatory modes of governance, many cities in the United States have established formal systems of neighborhood councils to increase civic parti...
Does firm visibility matter to debtholders? Evidence from credit ratings

Abstract This paper investigates the role of a firm's information visibility in the assessment of its default risk. We use press coverage to proxy for firm visibility and find that highly visible firms generally have better credit ratings. The positive association between firm visibility and credit ratings arises because (1) press coverage facilitates the generation and dissemination of firm-specific information to market participants and (2) it disciplines the activities of managers and large shareholders. This positive association becomes stronger for firms with more severe information asymmetry or weaker alternative monitoring systems. Our findings contribute to the accounting literature by providing new evidence on the influence of firm visibility in the debt market.
Disseminating Evidence to Policymakers: Accounting for Audience Heterogeneity

Dissemination strategies defined here as the targeted distribution of research evidence to policymakers can improve evidence-informed policymaking when activities are informed by theory, data, and when the right messenger delivers the right message to the right policymaker at the right time. This chapter presents evidence from surveys of state legislators, city mayors, and agency administrators in the United States to illustrate heterogeneity among policymakers in terms of the sources they turn to for evidence, the sources they perceive as reliable, and the attributes of evidence they perceive as most important. The chapter also reviews three broad types of dissemination strategies that can help account for audience heterogeneity and enhance the effectiveness of dissemination efforts: audience segmentation analysis, message tailoring, and framing.
Nucleic acid-based electrochemical biosensor: Recent advances in probe immobilization and signal amplification strategies

With the increasing importance of accurate and early disease diagnosis and the development of personalized medicine, DNA-based electrochemical biosensor has attracted broad scientific and clinical interests in the past decades due to its unique hybridization specificity, fast response time, and potential for miniaturization. In order to achieve high detection sensitivity, the design of DNA electrochemical biosensors depends critically on the improvement of the accessibility of target molecules and the enhancement of signal readout. Here, we summarize the recent advances in DNA probe immobilization and signal amplification strategies with a special focus on DNA nanostructure-supported DNA probe immobilization method, which provides the opportunity to rationally control the distance between probes and keep them in upright confirmation, as well as the contribution of functional nanomaterials in enhancing the signal amplification. The next challenge of biosensors will be the fabrication of point-of-care devices for clinical testing. The advancement of multidisciplinary areas, including nanofabrication, material science, and biochemistry, has exhibited profound promise in achieving such portable sensing devices. This article is categorized under: Diagnostic Tools > Biosensing Diagnostic Tools > Diagnostic Nanodevices Biology-Inspired Nanomaterials > Nucleic Acid-Based Structures.
On chronic suicidality.

Chronically suicidal patients with serious personality disorders present their therapists with clinical problems that are subtle, intense and complicated. Therapists need to tolerate a great deal of uncertainty, to recognize both the interpersonal and the intrapsychic complexities of the functions and meanings of suicidality, and, above all, to keep in view the fact that the suicidality is both a hindrance and a help to the patient. Suicidality, in fact, may be central to a patient's search for a degree of dignity and autonomy as well as connectedness worth staying alive to enjoy. Language: en
Community Involvement in Bilingual Education: The Bilingual Educator as Parent Trainer

There appears to be general agreement that parental involvement in bilingual schools is a worthwhile component of bilingual education, but there is little literature on the topic. The purpose of the study reported here was to determine if parents from bilingual and culturally diverse environments could be trained by bilingual educators to enhance attitudes toward reading and reading-related behaviors of their primary level children.
Large‐Scale Chromatography Columns, Modeling Flow Distribution

Liquid chromatography has become an indispensable tool in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries for preparative and large-scale purifications to obtain high purity biopharmaceutical products. However, imperfect packing of the column bed and complex rheological behaviors of resin particles pose a great challenge for any modeling effort. A systematic study, based on rigorous physics, which attempts to understand the intrinsic complicated interrelationships between column packing, hardware design, flow distribution, and separation efficiency would be of great help to chromatography practitioners. Seeing this need, this article makes an effort to perform a systematic study of the chromatography processes from start to finish and to provide mathematical models and case studies for each stage. First, the author discusses the challenges in scaling up chromatography column packing and examines the wall effect through a dimensional analysis, then follows it by introducing a one-dimensional model, describing column packing and scale-up. Next, the author presents a case study on a commercial scale column with a special headplate design and investigates the impact of hardware design on flow distribution, using the technique of computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Finally, this article presents simulations on the transport of elute and computation on the height equivalent to a theoretic plate (HETP) in a modeled, large column set for no retention, ion exchange, and affinity systems. The author discovers that the hardware design exerts a great impact on the flow distribution in the columns and thus affects the column separation efficiency to a large extent. Keywords: chromatography; large scale; modeling; column packing; flow distribution; elution; computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
Mobility changes anonymity: new passive threats in mobile ad hoc networks: Research Articles

Privacy in mobile ad hoc networks has new semantics in addition to the conventional notions for infrastructure networks. Mobility enabled by wireless communication has significantly changed privacy issues and anonymity research in many ways. In particular, mobility requires ad hoc routing schemes to transmit messages frequently in an open wireless medium. The routing traffic facilitates adversaries in conducting various attacks threatening the network security and privacy. In this work, we focus on passive routing attacks. We present an extensive study on new anonymity threats and classify the corresponding security demands into three new categories: (1) venue anonymity; (2) privacy of ad hoc network topology; and (3) privacy of motion pattern. These new aspects are all introduced by mobility and left unaddressed in fixed infrastructure. This leads us to investigate new design principles. Our study suggests that on-demand routing, identity-free routing, and neighborhood traffic mixing are better design choices to defend against the new anonymity threats in mobile networks. The paper also demonstrates through examples on the visualization of the mobile anonymity attacks and on the quantification of the effectiveness of the attacks. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The Cassiopeia–Perseus open cluster family

Abstract The observed distribution of young open clusters is far from uniform. Statistics shows that, when age, spatial distribution and kinematics are considered simultaneously, they tend to appear in clumps. These young cluster groups or families constitute unambiguously coeval, genetically related complexes associated to the underlying spiral structure. In this paper, we derive detailed physical properties for one of them: the Cassiopeia–Perseus family. With a diameter of about 600 pc, it is located 2 kpc from the Sun, embedded in the Perseus arm, and probably includes 10–20 members. It began to form 20–40 Myr ago although we find distinctive evidence for at least three generations of star formation organized in two distinct fronts, with the oldest clusters located at lower Galactic longitude than the youngest. The plane roughly defined by the structure is inclined ∼30° to the Galactic disk with most candidate members located below the disk and moving away from it. Our results for this cluster of clusters suggest that, within a coherent cloud complex, the first generation of star formation is triggered by the shock wave induced by a spiral arm. The second and subsequent generations are sustained by ionization fronts and supernova shocks created by the evolution of the first generation of massive stars. In this particular case, the front moves with average velocity of about 70 km/s in the direction of increasing Galactic longitude. The Cassiopeia–Perseus family and related objects appear to be a close relative of the cluster complexes found in the spiral galaxy M51 or perhaps a younger analog of the Gould Belt.
Epitaxial Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3 thin films synthesized by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition

Metal-organic chemical vapor deposition was used to prepare Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3 (PMN) thin films on (001) SrTiO3 and SrRuO3/SrTiO3 substrates, using solid Mg β-diketonate as the Mg precursor. Parameters including the precursor ratio in the vapor phase, growth temperature, growth rate, and reaction pressure in the reactor chamber were varied in order to determine suitable growth conditions for producing phase-pure, epitaxial PMN films. A cube-on-cube orientation relationship between the thin film and the SrTiO3 substrate was found, with a (001) rocking curve width of 0.1°, and in-plane rocking-curve width of 0.8°. The root-mean-square surface roughness of a 200-nm-thick film on SrTiO3 was 2 to 3 nm as measured by scanning probe microscopy. The zero-bias dielectric constant and loss measured at room temperature and 10 kHz for a 200-nm-thick film on SrRuO3/SrTiO3 were approximately 1100 and 2%, respectively. The remnant polarization for this film was 16 μC/cm2.
Chinese Hamster Nuclear Proteins

A comparison, by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, of total interphase nuclear, metaphase chromosomal and nuclear matrix proteins from Chinese hamster V-79 cells was undertaken to examine the distribution of these proteins during mitosis. We have found a number of differences among these populations, although the two-dimensional gel patterns are generally similar. The most striking observation is that a loose cluster of six interphase nuclear polypeptides, with isoelectric points in urea between 5.7 and 6.7 and molecular masses ranging from 53 to 75 kDa, is greatly enriched in chromosome preparations. Each of these species is prominent also in the nuclear matrix. Preliminary evidence suggests that one of these polypeptides is the intermediate filament protein vimentin. In addition, two major polypeptides of interphase nuclear preparations, a basic 94-kDa species and an approximately 65-kDa species, are absent from chromosomes. The latter polypeptide is the nuclear pore-lamina complex lamin B. Actin is present in all of these fractions, but tubulin has not been observed. hnRNP particle polypeptides are major components of the nuclear matrix, but are markedly reduced in metaphase chromosomes. The intermediate and basic 65–75-kDa nuclear matrix polypeptides we have previously demonstrated to be major components of rat liver nuclear matrix, are reduced in Chinese hamster matrix preparations and at least one of these species, a minor, basic, 68-kDa polypeptide, is missing entirely from metaphase chromosomes. These results are discussed in relation to nuclear and chromosome structure and the possibility of contamination of nuclear protein preparations from cultured cell lines with intermediate filaments.
Vancomycin susceptibility and identification of motile enterococci.

Thirty-seven clinical isolates of Enterococcus gallinarum and Enterococcus casseliflavus and three type or reference strains of the species were studied with respect to vancomycin susceptibility and key identification characteristics. With the exception of one clinical isolate of E. casseliflavus (MIC, 4 micrograms/ml), MICs of vancomycin were 8 to 32 micrograms/ml. The type strain of E. gallinarum, NCDO 2313, and five of the clinical isolates had similar penicillin-binding protein profiles and shared 90 to 100% DNA homology. Two isolates, identified as E. gallinarum by conventional tests, were shown to be non-pigment-producing E. casseliflavus on the basis of penicillin-binding protein profile and DNA homology. The type and reference strains of E. casseliflavus, ATCC 25788 and ATCC 25789, were nonmotile in our experiments. However, both shared 65 to 100% DNA homology with each other and with five clinical isolates of E. casseliflavus. These data suggest that the MICs of vancomycin observed for strains of E. gallinarum and E. casseliflavus are higher than those usually associated with other enterococci and may be a common property of these species. Additionally, pigment production and motility may occasionally be misleading criteria for definitive identification of these organisms. Images
"I don't want to be empowered": the challenge of involving real-world clients in instructional design experiences

This paper explores the issues of user's reluctance to be actively involved as co-designer in the instructional design process.
Quantum communication and computation in quantum optics

Summary form only given. In the quantum optics group at Caltech, we are attempting to lay the foundations for quantum information science by way of advances on several fronts in optical physics. Within the setting of cavity QED, single atoms are strongly coupled to the field of a high finesse optical cavity at the single photon level, with current work directed toward trapping and localization of atoms inside the cavity. Although there are daunting technical problems to overcome, a principal scientific objective is the creation of quantum networks to implement fundamental quantum communication protocols and for distributed quantum computation. Beyond quantum information processing with internal atomic states and photons serving as qubits, we are also investigating algorithms for continuous quantum variables. A recent example is our realization of quantum teleportation for the quadrature amplitudes of a beam of light. The experiment utilizes squeezed-state entanglement to achieve unconditional quantum teleportation.