cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Health care in crisis. A proposed role for the individual physician as advocate.

UNIVERSAL access to health care is a social goal, yet one in seven Americans is estimated to be without health insurance, and millions more have inadequate insurance. A deficit in health care provision exists, with deleterious consequences. 1,2 Most of the uninsured live in families in which at least one person is employed. Even the most well-to-do among the uninsured may be within one illness of destitution. Medically indigent and underserved populations defy stereotypes. They range from working men to pregnant women. 3,4 Minorities, the elderly, children, women, veterans of the armed forces, persons with handicaps or chronic illness, and members of other vulnerable populations have joined those disproportionately excluded from health care. Data suggest that the more unequal the distribution of wealth within a country, the more the excess burden of mortality falls on the poor. 5 Health outcomes in certain ethnic groups continue to be poor through the
Improving with age: The fossil record of lingulide brachiopods and the nature of taphonomic megabiases

Variation in the actual preservation of fossils can be used to detect taphonomic megabiases—large-scale distortions caused by changes in the quality of the fossil record. For example, temporal changes in the taphonomy of lingulide brachiopods suggest that Paleozoic lingulides had a higher fossilization potential than the post-Paleozoic ones. The frequency of stratigraphic occurrences of lingulides covaries with their fossilization potential. Thus, the apparent decline in the importance of lingulides in Phanerozoic communities may be due to changes in their fossilization potential. Taphonomic megabiases may be very common. We distinguish four major types of megabiases: within taxon, static among taxon, dynamic among taxon, and global.
The variance of sodium current fluctuations at the node of Ranvier

1. Single myelinated nerve fibres 12-17 mum in diameter from Rana temporaria and Rana pipiens were voltage clamped at 2-5 degrees C. Potassium currents were blocked by internal Cs(+) and external tetraethylammonium ion. Series resistance compensation was employed.2. Sets of 80-512 identical, 20 ms depolarizations were applied, with the pulses repeated at intervals of 300-600 ms. The resulting membrane current records, filtered at 5 kHz, showed record-to-record variations of the current on the order of 1%. From each set of records the time course of the mean current and the time course of the variance were calculated.3. The variance was assumed to arise primarily from two independent sources of current fluctuations: the stochastic gating of sodium channels and the thermal noise background in the voltage clamp. Measurement of the passive properties of the nerve preparation allowed the thermal noise variance to be estimated, and these estimates accounted for the variance observed in the presence of tetrodotoxin and at the reversal potential.4. After the variance sigma(2) was corrected for the contribution from the background, its relationship to the mean current I could be fitted by the function sigma(2) = iI-I(2)/N expected for N independent channels having one non-zero conductance level. The single channel currents i corresponded to a single-channel chord conductance gamma = 6.4 +/- 0.9 pS (S.D.; n = 14). No significant difference in gamma was observed between the two species of frogs. The size of the total population of channels ranged from 20,000 to 46,000.5. The voltage dependence of i corresponded closely to the form of the instantaneous current-voltage relationship of the sodium conductance, except at the smallest depolarizations. The small values of i at small depolarizations may have resulted from the filtering of high-frequency components of the fluctuations.6. It is concluded that sodium channels have only two primary levels of conductance, corresponding to ;open' and ;closed' states of the channel.7. The fraction p(max) of channels open at the time of the peak conductance was found to be 0.59 +/- 0.08 (S.D.; n = 5) and 0.9 +/- 0.1 (S.D.; n = 3) for depolarizations to -5 and +125 mV, respectively. (50 ms hyperpolarizations to -105 mV preceded the depolarizations in each case.) These values are similar to those predicted by Hodgkin-Huxley kinetics.8. Fluctuations in the firing threshold of neurones are expected from the stochastic gating of sodium channels. A prediction of the size of these fluctuations based on the measured properties of the channels gives a value of about 1% for the relative spread, which agrees with experimental values in the literature.
Aging and Recognition Memory: Changes in Regional Cerebral Blood Flow Associated with Components of Reaction Time Distributions

We used H215O positron emission tomography (PET) to measure age-related changes in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) during a verbal recognition memory task. Twelve young adults (20 to 29 years) and 12 older adults (62 to 79 years) participated. Separate PET scans were conducted during Encoding, Baseline, and Retrieval conditions. Each of the conditions involved viewing a series of 64 words and making a two-choice response manually. The complete reaction time (RT) distributions in each task condition were characterized in terms of an ex-Gaussian model (convolution of exponential and Gaussian functions). Parameter estimates were obtained for the mean of the exponential component (τ), representing a task-specific decision process and the mean of the Gaussian component (μ), representing residual sensory coding and response processes. Independently of age group, both μ and τ were higher in the Encoding and Retrieval conditions than in the Baseline condition, and τ was higher during Retrieval than during Encoding. Age-related slowing in task performance was evident primarily in μ. For young adults, rCBF activation in the right prefrontal cortex, in the Retrieval condition, was correlated positively with μ but not with τ. For older adults, rCBF changes (both increases and decreases) in several cortical regions were correlated with both μ and τ. The data suggest that the attentional demands of this task are relatively greater for older adults and consequently lead to the recruitment of additional neural systems during task performance.
Population dynamics and the evolution of antifungal drug resistance in Candida albicans

Candida albicans is an important human fungal pathogen. Resistance to all major antifungal agents has been observed in clinical isolates of Candida spp. and is a major clinical challenge. The rise and expansion of drug-resistant mutants during exposure to antifungal agents occurs through a process of adaptive evolution, with potentially complex population dynamics. Understanding the population dynamics during the emergence of drug resistance is important for determining the fundamental principles of how fungal pathogens evolve for resistance. While few detailed reports that focus on the population dynamics of C. albicans currently exist, several important features on the population structure and adaptive landscape can be elucidated from existing evolutionary studies in in vivo and in vitro systems.
Uses of hypertext

A THEORETICAL DESCRIPTION OF HYPERTEXT is provided and three applications of hypertext: Electronic Studying, Literary Exploration, and Qualitative Research are discussed. Hypertext is defined as a form of writing with three characteristics: discernable free standing content nodes, links between nodes, and the expectation of active choice by readers. Some applications discussed are communication tasks, interrelating data of differing types, formats, and medium of representation; tasks where either the form of the data and/or the particular uses of the data are not known in advance, or for which there are multiple, simultaneous uses; tasks reproducing physical and/or metaphorical structures, and tasks juxtaposing information in new contexts. In electronic studying, students using hypertext are able to link information recorded on electronic note cards into study webs appropriate for report writing and for interrelating concepts among several disciplines. Literary explorations using hypertext are possible where readers construct their own stories and interpretation of literary elements provided by others. Hypertext can be applied to qualitative research during the process of analyzing field notes and interview protocols. The use of hypertext in these three areas will create a pool of experienced hypertext authors and readers who will be capable of measuring the effectiveness of hypertext.
The valuation of life for damages purposes in lawsuits: A pedagogical note

This note outlines a practical approach for the valuation of the total life of a deceased human being. The outline is especially suitable for presentation to a court of law as an aid in determining damages and represents a modest extension of the work by Stan, Smith and other scholars.
All-optical noise-subtraction scheme for a fiber-optic gyroscope.

A new intensity-noise-subtraction scheme for an interferometric fiber-optic gyroscope is demonstrated. Together with the light circulating through the gyro coil, an appropriately attenuated light beam from the source coupler dead end of the gyro is directed to the gyro photodetector. When the gyro is unmodulated, or modulated with a square wave at the proper frequency, the intensity noises of the two beams bear opposite phases and interfere destructively on the detector. For an unmodulated gyro, we demonstrate an intensity noise-reduction factor of ∼35, and for the same gyro modulated with a square wave at the proper frequency, we demonstrate a reduction factor of ∼15.
Comments on testing the Pauli principle

Particle identity in quantum mechanics makes it impossible to test the Pauli exclusion principle by looking for ''forbidden'' x rays or ..gamma.. rays. Such experiments do, however, test particle stability. Evidence for the indistinguishability of electrons and nucleons is discussed.
On the mechanism of the diazirine exchange reaction with azide anion

Abstract Treatment of isotopically labeled bromophenyldiazirine containing one 15N atom with azide ion produces benzonitrile which contains 50% 15N. This suggests that N-azidodiazirines are intermediates in the reaction. Ab initio calculations predict that N-azidodiazirines will have a very low barrier to decomposition to nitrile and two molecules of nitrogen.
Do sex differences exist in rates of falls and fractures in Hutterite, rural, and nonrural populations, aged 20 to 66 years?

Background Falls and fractures are a major public health concern with an economic impact of more than USD 19 billion per year. Extensive research into the risk of falls and fractures in elderly populations has been performed; however, little is known about fall or fracture risk in younger populations. Additionally, sex- and population-specific (rural versus nonrural) fall and fracture risk may be important in identifying groups most at risk in an effort to develop preventive measures.
Has Environment and Behavior Research "Made a Difference"?:

Environment and behavior research can only "make a difference" if it is utilized and accepted. This article presents a five step pyramidal model of steps toward acceptance and utilization of E&B research. These steps-awareness, interest, exploration, belief and action- help in understanding our progress. The field of E&B research is progressing down the pyramid in application to design, in academic research, and in theory development. E&B research applications in office environments, housing and institutional environments are given, and progress in E&B concept generation and in professional and academic recog- nition is discussed. The article closes with examples of the growing acceptance and utilization of E&B research through institutionalization.
Genetic control of mitogen-induced B-cell hyperproliferation in SM/J mice.

Previous studies have shown that B cells from SM/J mice exhibit hyperproliferative responsiveness to several bacterial-derived B-cell mitogens. This hyperresponse trait was found to be under autosomal, polygenic control by non-H-2 genes. We have now estimated the number of genes involved by statistical analysis of the proliferative responses of splenocytes from SM/J and low-responder C57BL/6J strains, and progeny from the (B6 × SM)F1, F2 and (F1 × B6) crosses. The number of loci involved was ascertained using two different statistical approaches. An estimate of two loci was determined using chi-squared statistics. The second approach, based on an additive model in the natural log scale, also pointed to a lower bound of two genes. We conclude that the hyperresponse to B-cell mitogens in SM/J mice is determined by two autosomal genes which are not linked to the H-2 major histocompatibility complex.
P. G. Tait and edinburgh natural philosophy, 1860–1901

Summary Though P. G. Tait was in a seemingly perfect position to teach both William Thomson's thermodynamics and James Clerk Maxwell's electromagnetic theory of light, he did not. Tait probably first encountered the new thermodynamics in the 1850s at Queen's College, Belfast, and presented the ideas in his inaugural lecture at Edinburgh in 1860, soon making energy theory the centre-piece of his course there. The comprehensiveness of energy theory plus Thomson's opposition to Maxwell's electromagnetic theory evidently combined in causing Tait to de-emphasize Maxwell's theory. Ironically, Tait, the loyal Scot, thus inadvertently contributed to what might be termed the Anglicization of Scottish natural philosophy.
Toilet training and toileting refusal for stool only: a prospective study.

Objective. To determine the incidence of toileting refusal for bowel movements and its outcome when toilet training children using a child-oriented approach. Design. Prospective study. Setting. Private suburban pediatric setting consisting of middle and upper middle class families. Methods. Healthy children between 18 and 30 months with no signs of developmental delay were enrolled in the study. Parents were given questions regarding their child9s toilet training and behavior. Families were followed every 6 months during an office visit or by phone call until the child was successfully day time toilet trained. Results. A total of 482 children (255 males) completed the study. There were 106 children (54 males) (22%) who experienced at least 1 month of stool toileting refusal. There was an association between the presence of younger siblings (P = .023) and parental inability to set limits for the child (P= .017) and stool toileting refusal. Stool toileting refusers trained at a later age than the rest of the group (P Conclusion. Stool toileting refusal occurred in one in five children in this study population. Two behaviors associated with stool toileting refusal may require the intervention of the pediatrician. The first is stool withholding causing constipation which can result in rectal impaction and primary encopresis. The second is lack of successful toilet training by 42 months of age. A child who is still untrained at this late age can be a source of family conflict and stress requiring the advice and support of the pediatrician.
Relationship between central corneal thickness and hypotony-related complications after glaucoma surgery.

Background and objective To examine the hypothesis that patients with increased central corneal thickness may have an overestimation of Goldmann applanation tension and a predisposition to hypotony-related complications. Patients and methods A case-control analysis of patients with an intraocular pressure of 7 mm Hg or less on two consecutive postoperative visits following glaucoma filtration or drainage implant surgery was performed. Forward stepwise multiple logistic regression was used to determine the model that best predicted hypotony-related complications defined as choroidal effusion or hypotony maculopathy. Results Forty-three eyes (17 with hypotony-related complications and 26 controls) of 43 patients were enrolled. Eyes with pseudophakia (P = .006) and lower postoperative intraocular pressure (P = .013) were significantly more likely to develop hypotony-related complications. Mean central corneal thickness was similar in eyes with hypotony-related complications (519 +/- 32 microm) and controls (525 +/- 37 microm) and was not a significant predictor of hypotony-related complications in the multivariate model (P = .90). Conclusion Increased central corneal thickness does not represent a risk factor for hypotony-related complications following glaucoma surgery.
Marketing strategy: taxonomy and frameworks

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present taxonomy of marketing strategy concepts and integrative frameworks that differentiate and integrate its formulation and implementation processes.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is conceptual based on a review of academic literature on marketing strategy chronicled in major marketing journals January 1990‐April 2006. We present selected references classified by key marketing strategy topics for further pursuit by interested readers. Also, the paper reflects our experience and views based on practices chronicled in corporate case studies and trade journals.Findings – The literature casts marketing strategy formulation and implementation in the context of strategic planning and marketing strategy process models. The focus of the strategic planning model is on achieving corporate financial objectives through the implementation of product, pricing, promotion, and place (distribution) programs. The focus of the marketing strategy process model is on the ...
ssrA (tmRNA) Plays a Role in Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium Pathogenesis

Escherichia coli ssrA encodes a small stable RNA molecule, tmRNA, that has many diverse functions, including tagging abnormal proteins for degradation, supporting phage growth, and modulating the activity of DNA binding proteins. Here we show that ssrA plays a role in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium pathogenesis and in the expression of several genes known to be induced during infection. Moreover, the phage-like attachment site, attL, encoded within ssrA, serves as the site of integration of a region of Salmonella-specific sequence; adjacent to the 5' end of ssrA is another region of Salmonella-specific sequence with extensive homology to predicted proteins encoded within the unlinked Salmonella pathogenicity island SPI4. S. enterica serovar Typhimurium ssrA mutants fail to support the growth of phage P22 and are delayed in their ability to form viable phage particles following induction of a phage P22 lysogen. These data indicate that ssrA plays a role in the pathogenesis of Salmonella, serves as an attachment site for Salmonella-specific sequences, and is required for the growth of phage P22.
Firearm injury prevention counseling : Are we missing the mark?

Objective. To determine whether pediatricians accurately estimate the likelihood of gun ownership among their patients9 families. Design. Self-administered, written surveys completed simultaneously by pediatricians and their patients9 parents. Setting. A total of 23 pediatric practices and hospital-based clinics in three cities in the United States. Subjects. A total of 66 pediatricians paired with 169 of their patients9 parents. Main Outcome Measures. Parent survey: ownership and storage of guns, willingness to admit gun ownership, and previous counseling by pediatrician. Pediatrician survey: estimated prevalence of gun ownership, likelihood of gun ownership by each participant family, and beliefs about firearm injury prevention counseling. Results. All parents who owned guns indicated they would acknowledge owning a gun if asked by their pediatricians. Of the participating families, 28% owned at least one gun; 39% of the homes with guns contained a gun that was unlocked, loaded, or both. Of the parents, 11% reported that their pediatrician had discussed firearm safety with them. Pediatricians9 average estimate of the overall prevalence of gun ownership in their patient populations was 25%. When asked to predict the likelihood of gun ownership by the specific families in the study, pediatricians predicted a 0% likelihood of gun ownership for 33% of the families. Of those families, 30% reported owning at least one gun. Considering physician predictions of any likelihood of gun ownership >0% (1%–100%) to be a positive prediction and using parent reports as the gold standard, physician estimates of gun ownership were only 65% sensitive. Approximately half (55%) of the participating pediatricians believed that pediatricians should discuss gun safety with all families, and 98% believed that pediatricians should discuss gun safety with all gun-owning families. Conclusions. Pediatricians believe that all families with guns should receive firearm safety counseling. However, pediatricians significantly underestimate the likelihood of gun ownership by specific families. Parents who own guns indicate that they would acknowledge gun ownership if their pediatrician asked about guns in the home. Therefore, rather than relying on assumptions about whether particular patients seem likely to be gun owners, pediatricians should ask all families whether they own guns.
A simulation-based architecture for supporting strategic and tactical decisions in the apron of Rome-Fiumicino Airport

In this paper, we describe an architecture for the evaluation and optimization of aircraft ground movements in apron taxiways. The paper aims at providing an effective methodology for supporting the decision-makers involved in both the apron design and management phases. The purpose deriving from the utilization of the proposed approach consists in obtaining substantial improvements in the level of service with a reduction in congestion and ground delays within airports while considering safety aspects like aircraft separation. The methodology relies on a modular architecture. A simulation-based architecture, in which an optimization module is included, has been developed; an information feedback between simulation and optimization modules is enabled. The validation has been performed through the data of the apron of Rome-Fiumicino airport. The computational results show a reduction in aircraft flowtime and a relevant decrease in aircraft ground flows. Interesting issues related to strategic modification of system configuration are presented.
Remembrance of things past: modelling the relationship between species' abundances in living communities and death assemblages

Accumulations of dead skeletal material are a valuable archive of past ecological conditions. However, such assemblages are not equivalent to living communities because they mix the remains of multiple generations and are altered by post-mortem processes. The abundance of a species in a death assemblage can be quantitatively modelled by successively integrating the product of an influx time series and a post-mortem loss function (a decay function with a constant half-life). In such a model, temporal mixing increases expected absolute dead abundance relative to average influx as a linear function of half-life and increases variation in absolute dead abundance values as a square-root function of half-life. Because typical abundance distributions of ecological communities are logarithmically distributed, species' differences in preservational half-life would have to be very large to substantially alter species' abundance ranks (i.e. make rare species common or vice-versa). In addition, expected dead abundances increase at a faster rate than their range of variation with increased time averaging, predicting greater consistency in the relative abundance structure of death assemblages than their parent living community.
What Is in a Word? No Versus Yes Differentially Engage the Lateral Orbitofrontal Cortex

The words "No" and "Yes" are involved in conditioning to prohibit or encourage behavior, respectively. The authors, therefore, hypothesized that these words would be attributed to endogenous valence, activating neuronal circuits involved with valence and emotional control. Functional MRI (fMRI) at 4 Tesla was used to record regional brain activity while participants were exposed to emphatic vocalizations of the words. Results showed that No and Yes were associated with opposite brain-behavior responses; while No was negatively valenced, produced slower response times, and evoked a negative signal in the right lateral orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), Yes was positively valenced, produced faster response times, and evoked a positive signal in a contiguous region of the OFC. Attribution of negative valence to No and trait anger control were associated with increased responsivity of the OFC to No. Inasmuch as sensitivity to the prohibitive command No develops during childhood through interaction with primary caregivers as the first social objects, our findings may implicate the lateral OFC in the neurobiology of emotion regulation and subsequent social development.
The impact of associative strength on performance in goal pursuit

Abstract The present research explored the hypothesis that strengthened attainment means–goal association leads to enhanced performance in goal pursuit. We hypothesize that because of the instrumental nature of means–goal association, strengthened associative strength leads to greater instrumentality expectancy of the means, which elicits greater motivation in the pursuit and hence better actual performance. We demonstrated in four studies that when the means is believed to facilitate goal attainment, a strong (vs. weak) means–goal association leads to greater performance in goal pursuit. Conversely, when the means is perceived to undermine goal attainment, a strong (vs. weak) association results in worse performance in goal pursuit.
Language Measures of the NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery

Language facilitates communication and efficient encoding of thought and experience. Because of its essential role in early childhood development, in educational achievement and in subsequent life adaptation, language was included as one of the subdomains in the NIH Toolbox for the Assessment of Neurological and Behavioral Function Cognition Battery (NIHTB-CB). There are many different components of language functioning, including syntactic processing (i.e., morphology and grammar) and lexical semantics. For purposes of the NIHTB-CB, two tests of language--a picture vocabulary test and a reading recognition test--were selected by consensus based on literature reviews, iterative expert input, and a desire to assess in English and Spanish. NIHTB-CB's picture vocabulary and reading recognition tests are administered using computer adaptive testing and scored using item response theory. Data are presented from the validation of the English versions in a sample of adults ages 20-85 years (Spanish results will be presented in a future publication). Both tests demonstrated high test-retest reliability and good construct validity compared to corresponding gold-standard measures. Scores on the NIH Toolbox measures were consistent with age-related expectations, namely, growth in language during early development, with relative stabilization into late adulthood.
Static vs. Dynamic Validation of BSP Conformance

WS-I's Basic Security Profile (BSP) defines best practice guidelines for secure web services communications, enabling interoperability between vendors. However it is difficult for developers to know if their SOA solutions are in fact compliant to these guidelines. In this paper, we discuss methods to assess compliance against BSP. We have implemented runtime validation of SOAP messages to check for compliance against BSP, a method implied by the BSP definition itself. Additionally, we have implemented a novel approach to statically validate WS Security policies against BSP using Schematron. From our experiments dynamic validation for BSP compliance offers greater coverage but results in a significant overhead, while static validation is limited in its scope but extremely valuable since under reasonable assumptions it provides assurances about compliance prior to deployment. We conclude with a summation of our results and lessons for SOA practitioners.
WSN07-1: Adjacent Channel Interference in Dual-radio 802.11a Nodes and Its Impact on Multi-hop Networking

We evaluate the performance impact of adjacent channel interference (ACI) in multi-hop wireless networks based on dual-radio 802.11a nodes. Although these nodes use chipsets that satisfy the transmit-mask requirements set by the IEEE 802.11 standard, the multi-hop performance is still significantly affected by ACI. That is, a node's transmitter can interfere with its own receiver on a different channel; as a result, multi-hop throughput is severely degraded. This degradation is especially pronounced for 802.11a. We use a spectrum analyzer with a signal combiner to quantify ACI under various conditions and propose solutions to mitigate the effect of such interference on multi-hop forwarding. Field experiments with multi-hop relay have validated these findings as well as the effectiveness of our solutions.
Rejected and Unsatisfactory Specimens: A Comparative Study of Liquid-Based (SurePath) Preparations and Conventional Pap Smears for Cervicovaginal Screening

Background The liquid-based preparation (LBP) has become the primary method for cervicovaginal screening. Methods We conducted a retrospective study with the objective of comparing LBP with the conventional Pap smear (CP). Results Of the smears that were collected using CP, a total of 312 (0.17%) specimens were classified as “Rejected” and 1,040 (0.55%) as “Unsatisfactory.” The proportion of specimens collected using LBP that were categorized as “Rejected” or “Unsatisfactory” were 0.27% (n=369) and 0.22% (n=302), respectively. Independent of the technique, cellular inadequacy (n=1,150, 85.7%) and mis-/no labeling (n=647, 93.8%) were the 2 primary reasons for such classification. With LBP, the laboratory absorbed an additional $2,812.80 in total direct cost. Conclusion Implementation of LBP has yielded a significant decline in the proportion of “Unsatisfactory,” but an increase in the proportion of “Rejected,” specimens. With LBP, the direct cost increased; however, in cost-benefit analysis of health services, all direct and indirect costs should be included.
Variation Oriented Service Composition and Adaptation (VOSCA): A Work in Progress

Traditional research in service composition has assumed perfect functional matching of service capabilities against stated requirements. In real life, however, this is a myth, as borne out within several SOA development and deployment organizations such as IBM in customer engagements. In particular, the variations in data, functional and nonfunctional requirements present a serious hurdle in reusing existing available services and creating service compositions at run-time. Current research in semantic Web services seeks to address this problem by creating meta-models that capture the domain and later on grounding the requirements and capabilities to this meta-model. Our research project, Variation-Oriented Service Composition and Adaptation (VOSCA), investigates the key research issues at modeling-time and run-time described above. Before the VOSCA vision is realized, however, some basic notions need to be first defined and clearly articulated. Hence this paper provides an initial first step by focusing on defining service variants and providing algorithms for service matching.
Switching field characteristics of individual iron particles by MFM

The switching fields of individual iron particles used in magnetic recording have been measured using a Magnetic Force Microscopy (MFM) technique. It is found that as the particle diameters increase from 20 nm to 70 nm, the easy axis switching fields decrease from 2850 Oe to 1800 Oe. As the field angle increases, the switching fields increase monotonically and approach 5000 Oe at particle hard axis. A head-on multidomain state was observed after a particle had been magnetized by a 10K Oe field along hard axis. Micromagnetic calculations based on a chain of spheres model have been performed to simulate the switching mode which gives good agreement with experimental data. It is concluded that the switching process is best described by a fanning-like mode at small field angles. >
ILLIADS: a fast timing and reliability simulator for digital MOS circuits

The authors introduce ILLIADS as a fast MOS timing and reliability simulator for very large digital MOS circuits. The use of the proposed general circuit primitive not only provides better accuracy but also significantly reduces the simulation time. The use of an analytic solution embedded in the simulation engine improves both the simulation speed and the accuracy. Postponing the waveform approximation process provides better waveform approximation even for non-fully-switching waveforms and glitches. The channel length modulation effect is captured accurately in fast timing simulation with only 10% of speedup tradeoff. It is also shown that ILLIADS manifests the charge sharing problem. The modified PWCTC algorithm, PWCTC-W, which handles circuits with feedback, is introduced and shown to be superior to the dynamic-windowing scheme. It also does not manifest the window-growing problem and is insensitive to the level of strongly concerned component (SCC) hierarchy. The use of this algorithm keeps the speedup of ILLIADS over SPICE for circuits with feedbacks at the same level as that for combinational circuits. >
Career Indecision, Meaning in Life, and Anxiety: An Existential Framework

The current study examines the role of meaning in life with respect to career indecision and state anxiety in a sample of 229 university students. This article seeks to build upon the career indecision literature by examining the role of meaning in life. An existential model of career indecision was applied in order to provide a theoretical framework for the relationship between career indecision and anxiety. Measures include the Career Decision Scale (Osipow, Carney, Winer, Yanico, & Koschier, 1976), the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (Steger, Frazier, Oishi, & Kaler, 2006), and the State-Trait Inventory for Cognitive and Somatic Anxiety (Ree, MacLeod, French, & Locke, 2000). Presence of meaning in life mediated the relationships between career indecision and anxiety. However, the results did not support the hypothesis that the search for meaning in life moderates the relationship between career indecision and anxiety. Future research and practical implications are also discussed.
Predicting the 'Unpredictable': An Empirical Analysis of U.S. Patent Infringement Awards

Patent infringement awards are commonly thought to be unpredictable, which raises concerns that patents can lead to unjust enrichment and impede the progress of innovation. We investigate the predictability of patent damages by conducting a large-scale econometric analysis of award values. We begin by analyzing the outcomes of 340 cases decided in US federal courts between 1995 and 2008 in which infringement was found and damages were awarded. Our data include the amount awarded, along with information about the litigants, case specifics and economic value of the patents-at-issue. Using these data, we construct an econometric model that explains over 75% of the variation in awards. We further conduct in-depth analysis of the key factors affecting award value, via targeted regressions involving selected variables. We find a high degree of significance between award value and ex ante-identifiable factors collectively, and we also identify significant relationships with accepted indicators of patent value. Our findings demonstrate that infringement awards are systematically predictable and, moreover, highlight the critical elements that can be expected to result in larger or smaller awards.
Making Information Accessible and Useful to Practicing Clinicians: Problem-Knowledge Coupling

Assessments of health care technology will lead to improvements in patient services only if this information is actually used by clinicians. Traditional methods of planning treatment that rely solely on memory limit the clinician's access to and use of the full available body of knowledge in the field. An alternative approach using a computer-assisted methodology is presented as a way to overcome traditional limitations and promote the development and diffusion of knowledge.
Use of Scanning Electron Microscopy to Demonstrate Microbial Attachment to Beef and Beef Contact Surfaces

Microorganisms present on fresh beef for stew were enumerated by Aerobic Plate Count (APC) using both rinse and maceration methods. Results showed a greater recovery of microorganisms with maceration than with rinse procedures. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) techniques were used to examine the surface of the beef for stew to demonstrate the presence of microorganisms before and after rinsing. Sterile stainless steel chips (6 mm × 6 mm) were placed on both the unrinsed and rinsed beef surfaces. Contact was maintained at 4°C for 4 and 24 hr. The contacting surfaces of the stainless steel chips were examined by SEM. Transfer of microorganisms from the beef surface was seen in all cases with the organisms demonstrating clearly defined attachment fibrils. A reference experiment, using the same beef for stew and a culture of Pseudomonas fragi (ATCC 4793) was also carried out. Similar attachment fibrils were observed with the pseudomonad.
Precipitation of Fe 3 O 4 in Magnetotactic Bacteria

The magnetotactic bacterium A. magnetotacticum contains ferrous ions, a low density hydrous ferric oxide, a high density hydrous ferric oxide (ferrihydrite) and Fe $\_3$ O $\_4$ , which is precipitated by partial reduction of the ferrihydrite precursor.
Characterization of a New Odorant Binding Protein Gene in Gustatory Organs of Manduca sexta Larvae (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae)

Taste plays an essential role in the identification of adequate food sources by insects, including lepidopterans. Characterizing genes that are important to successful transduction of tastants in insects leads to understanding of how tastants can regulate insect behavior. One class of proteins, odorant binding proteins (OBPs), have been shown to play a role in olfactory chemotransduction, but their role in taste transduction has been less clear, especially in immature stages of insects. Taste has been shown to be central in host preference by the larva of the tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta (L.) (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae), and its preferred host plants in the family Solanaceae. We report the discovery of a new OBP gene, Mad10, expressed in the gustatory sensilla styloconica of M. sexta larvae. This is the first time that the expression of an OBP is found in the sensilla styloconica of any lepidopteran.
Continuing Care Retirement Communities: Prospects for Reducing Institutional Long-Term Care

Continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) combine housing and long-term care (LTC) services, including personal and nursing home care. The amount of LTC that is prepaid varies by type of CCRC, with one-third offering extensive (fully prepaid) contracts for LTC. CCRCs are a potentially promising model for LTC delivery because they offer a full continuum of services and can substitute less expensive supportive care for institutional care. Using data on CCRCs, we tested one central hypothesis: Provision of supportive services, particularly when combined with capitation, reduces use of nursing home care. To test this hypothesis, we studied the effect of various contract types for LTC services offered by CCRCs and provision of support services on utilization of nursing home and personal care units. Compared with other types of CCRCs, those offering completely prepaid LTC coverage reduced use of nursing home care by 13 percent and personal care by 5 percent. CCRCs with prepaid LTC coverage did not use more stringent health screening at entry, so "cream-skimming" does not appear to explain this result. However, affordability is an important issue: CCRC residents with extensive contracts were wealthier than were other CCRC residents.
Impact of health insurance for tertiary care on postoperative outcomes and seeking care for symptoms: quasi-experimental evidence from Karnataka, India

Objectives To evaluate the effects of a government insurance programme covering tertiary care for the poor in Karnataka, India—Vajpayee Arogyashree Scheme (VAS)—on treatment seeking and postoperative outcomes. Design Geographic regression discontinuity. Setting 572 villages in Karnataka, India. Participants 3478 households in 300 villages where VAS was implemented and 3486 households in 272 neighbouring matched villages ineligible for VAS. Intervention A government insurance programme that provided free tertiary care to households below the poverty line in half of villages in Karnataka from February 2010 to August 2012. Main outcome measure Seeking treatment for symptoms, posthospitalisation well-being, occurrence of infections during hospitalisation and need for rehospitalisation. Results The prevalence of symptoms was nearly identical for households in VAS-eligible villages compared with households in VAS-ineligible villages. However, households eligible for VAS were 4.96 percentage points (95% CI 1 to 8.9; p=0.014) more likely to seek treatment for their symptoms. The increase in treatment seeking was more pronounced for symptoms of cardiac conditions, the condition most frequently covered by VAS. Respondents from VAS-eligible villages reported greater improvements in well-being after a hospitalisation in all categories assessed and they were statistically significant in 3 of the 6 categories (walking ability, pain and anxiety). Respondents eligible for VAS were 9.4 percentage points less likely to report any infection after their hospitalisation (95% CI −20.2 to 1.4; p=0.087) and 16.5 percentage points less likely to have to be rehospitalised after the initial hospitalisation (95% CI −28.7 to −4.3; p Conclusions Insurance for tertiary care increased treatment seeking among eligible households. Moreover, insured patients experienced better posthospitalisation outcomes, suggesting better quality of care received. These results suggest that there are several pathways through which tertiary care insurance could improve health, aside from increasing utilisation of the services that the programme directly subsidises.
INTERACTION BETWEEN DISCRETE CAUSES

The interaction contrast of disease rates (ICDR), a measure of deviation from an additive model of no interaction, is shown always to be zero or slightly negative when the assumptions of no interaction in the sufficient-component discrete causes model hold. Since all physical sources of interaction which one might postulate between discrete causes imply a deviation from this model, the ICDR is a good parameter to screen for causal interaction. Specific models which deviate from the assumptions of no interaction in the sufficient-component discrete causes model should be sought when the ICDR differs from zero. An example of parameterizing interaction in one such model is presented. The additive model is inconsistent with the multiplicative when two causes are studied; negative or no interaction in the multiplicative model might represent positive interaction in the additive model. Use of the multiplicative model to screen for causal interactions could thus lead to inappropriate decisions regarding the need to seek causal explanations for interaction. Since positive interaction in the multiplicative model implies positive interaction in the additive, there will be no such inappropriate decisions when positive interaction is observed in the multiplicative model.
A Strategic Choice Theory Taxonomy of Retailers’ Strategic Orientations

Grounded in strategic choice theory and employing a latent class analysis model of 371 retailers, this study provides a classification of retailer strategic orientations so that the retailers’ choice of cooperation levels and ultimately their growth performance can be assessed by their suppliers. The results suggest three major classes of retailers based on their strategic orientations: premium, hybrid, and emergent classes. The outcome of this study guides the supplier partners of retailers in developing and maintaining various levels of cooperative relationships based on uniqueresource needs and expectations of each retailer strategic group.
Development of the Dark Strain of Cabbage Looper in Relation to Temperature

Eggs of the Dark strain of Trichoplusia ni (Hubner) required slightly longer to hatch (less than 1 day) than eggs of the normal strain. Larval and pupal development was similar at temperatures between 19 and 29°C, and adult longevity was similar. Thus the development of progeny of moths of the Dark strain should be synchronized with the development of the normal strain.
Urea-functionalized M4L6 cage receptors: anion-templated self-assembly and selective guest exchange in aqueous solutions.

We present an extensive study of a novel class of de novo designed tetrahedral M4L6 (M = Ni, Zn) cage receptors, wherein internal decoration of the cage cavities with urea anion-binding groups, via functionalization of the organic components L, led to selective encapsulation of tetrahedral oxoanions EO4n– (E = S, Se, Cr, Mo, W, n = 2; E = P, n = 3) from aqueous solutions, based on shape, size, and charge recognition. External functionalization with tBu groups led to enhanced solubility of the cages in aqueous methanol solutions, thereby allowing for their thorough characterization by multinuclear (1H, 13C, 77Se) and diffusion NMR spectroscopies. Additional experimental characterization by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, UV–vis spectroscopy, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction, as well as theoretical calculations, led to a detailed understanding of the cage structures, self-assembly, and anion encapsulation. We found that the cage self-assembly is templated by EO4n– oxoanions (n ≥ 2), and upon ...
Managing Quality in Hospital Transfusion Medicine

Transfusion services must move beyond after-the-fact inspection of quality into blood bank practices that proactively improve each process of day-today operations. This article presents a model for implementing a quality management program in transfusion medicine that meets the requirements of all the accrediting and regulatory agencies. Blood bank systems, critical control points, key procedural areas, and systems checks for all blood bank processes have been identified. Quality management tools from industry are then used to identify opportunities for improvement, develop solutions to identified problems, and implement improvement activities. The results of successfully applying the model to crossmatch- order practices in cardiovascular surgery are described.
The Fatigue Fracture Progress of Valve Springs

By using new technique which enables us to measure the depth of initial fatigue cracks in springs, the mechanism of fatigue on engine valve springs was made clear:(1) The initial cracks on non-electropolished springs start from the surface of wire. By contraries, on electropolished springs, they start from inside of wire.(2) On non-electropolished spring, the depth of initial cracks has certain critical values, which probably depend on applied stress.(3) When the initial crack on non-electropolished springs reaches the critical depth, failure occurs suddenly. On the other hands, when the initial crack on electropolished springs comes to surface, sudden failure takes place.