cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Civil Cases and Society: Process and Order in the Civil Justice System

It is not an exaggeration to say that we live in an era preoccupied with the problems and challenges of obtaining justice in civil cases. Concerns expressed about the civil justice system range from warnings that civil court dockets are clogged by disputants too litigious for their own good to complaints that the legal system is used too rarely in civil cases. The authors approach their analysis with a sense that this subject area is in need of more and better theory. It is an unfortunate fact that discussions of civil justice—and suggestions for reform—have been marked by contradiction and confusion and have been engrossed with small matters that tend to obscure from view the system as a whole. The first part of this essay focuses on what the civil justice system is and does. It presents a five-stage model of civil case processing and examines relationships between this model and the criminal justice system. The second part of the essay considers this model in a broader context. Here the authors examine two paradigms of civil case processing and their implications for the implementation of legal norms and the pursuit of justice in society.
Measures of Egg Shell Quality

Abstract Egg shell quality is a trait that is commonly measured and reported in different units. As a result, correlations between various units of measure are of real importance when comparing data measuring the same trait but reported in different units. Periodic examination of these relationships, although previously reported, are useful in determining their stability. Olsson (1934) reported a correlation of .94 between specific gravity and percent shell. A correlation of .754 between specific gravity and shell thickness was reported by Godfrey and Jaap (1949). This study was undertaken in order to further examine the relationship of various measures of egg shell quality. PROCEDURE Eggs were collected for five consecutive days from approximately 300 Single Comb White Leghorn pullets 200 days of age which originated from the Cornell Randombred population maintained at the North Central Regional Poultry Breeding Laboratory. Eggs were weighed to the nearest two-tenths gram and the specific gravity…
Effect of Wal-Mart Supercenters on Grocery Prices in New England

This study examines the competitive price effect of Wal-Mart Supercenters on national brand and private label grocery prices in New England. For this purpose, we use primary price data collected on a basket of identical products from six Supercenters in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island as well as a sample of conventional supermarkets. Taking into account demographics, store characteristics, and market conditions, we estimate the average prices charged by (1) Supercenters, (2) supermarkets competing directly with Supercenters, and by (3) supermarkets geographically distant from Supercenters. By comparing prices at competing stores and at distant stores, we show that the effect of Wal-Mart Supercenters is to decrease prices by 6 to 7 percent for national brand goods and 3 to 7 percent for private label goods. Price decreases are most significant in the dry grocery and dairy departments. Moreover, Wal-Mart sets prices significantly lower than its competitors in the food industry.
The Intima A New Soil

Weninger and colleagues,1 in this issue of Circulation Research , have simply and elegantly reported on a piece of fundamental arterial biology totally unexplored before: the developmental origins of the intima in the siphon of the internal carotid artery. This site was chosen for study because the parasellar internal carotid artery in adults has the unwelcome fate of being highly prone to atherosclerosis at a site where the outcome is stroke. Moreover, this site, like the origin of the left anterior descending coronary artery, develops a focal intimal thickening long before the usual changes of lipid accumulation, characterized as “atherosclerosis,” occur. It is very reasonable, therefore, to consider the developmental biology of such sites as very early events that set the scene for localization of atherosclerosis in adults. Particularly intriguing is their evidence that the shape of the vessel, rather than the flow patterns, may determine the degree of intimal hyperplasia and ultimately constitute a risk factor for development of clinically important lesions at this critical site. The surprise is that this is only the second atherosclerosis-prone site to be studied at such an early stage. There are very few studies of developmental intimal formation at any site, despite our knowledge that this tissue, the arterial intima, is the normal tissue, the “soil,” in which atherosclerotic lesions develop.2 The only extensive studies of intimal formation are in the ductus arteriosus.3 4 5 Of course, the ductus is not a site that develops atherosclerosis. The only atherosclerosis-prone intima reported on before the present study is the left anterior descending carotid artery.6 Our lack of knowledge of the role of the intima in atherosclerosis may be an inadvertent result of the recent success of studies of atherosclerosis in fat-fed or genetically hyperlipemic animal models.7 8 9 Such …
Crowdsourcing New Product Ideas Over Time: An Analysis of Dell's Ideastorm Community

Several organizations have developed ongoing crowdsourcing communities that repeatedly collect ideas for new products and services from a large, dispersed “crowd” of non-experts (consumers) over time. Despite its promises, little is known about the nature of an individual’s ideation efforts in such an online community. Studying Dell’s IdeaStorm community, serial ideators are found to be more likely than consumers with only one idea to generate an idea the organization find valuable enough to implement, but are unlikely to repeat their early success once their ideas are implemented. As ideators with past success attempt to again come up with ideas that will excite the organization, they instead end up proposing ideas similar to their ideas that were already implemented (i.e., they generate less diverse ideas). The negative effects of past success are somewhat mitigated for ideators with diverse commenting activity on others’ ideas. These findings highlight some of the challenges in maintaining an ongoing supply of quality ideas from the crowd over time.
Red blood cell transfusion in the elderly: the search for transfusion triggers

Over the past three decades, our knowledge regarding the optimal use of red blood cell transfusions has greatly expanded. The risk of contracting chronic viral infections has significantly decreased; elderly transfusion recipients are much more likely to experience harm from noninfectious complications of transfusion, particularly circulatory overload. The traditional goal of maintaining hemoglobin levels at 10 g/dl or greater has been abandoned in the face of increasing evidence favoring a more restrictive transfusion strategy targeting hemoglobin levels of 7–8 g/dl. We do not yet know the optimal transfusion strategy for all geriatric patients, and data addressing the transfusion needs of important patient subgroups is still quite limited.
Reporting Offshore Wind Power: Are Newspapers Facilitating Informed Debate?

Even though offshore wind power projects provide renewable energy and do not produce air pollutants, they can negatively impact the environment during construction and operation. Moreover, wind pow...
CORAL: aligning conserved core regions across domain families

Motivation: Homologous protein families share highly conserved sequence and structure regions that are frequent targets for comparative analysis of related proteins and families. Many protein families, such as the curated domain families in the Conserved Domain Database (CDD), exhibit similar structural cores. To improve accuracy in aligning such protein families, we propose a profile–profile method CORAL that aligns individual core regions as gap-free units. Results: CORAL computes optimal local alignment of two profiles with heuristics to preserve continuity within core regions. We benchmarked its performance on curated domains in CDD, which have pre-defined core regions, against COMPASS, HHalign and PSI-BLAST, using structure superpositions and comprehensive curator-optimized alignments as standards of truth. CORAL improves alignment accuracy on core regions over general profile methods, returning a balanced score of 0.57 for over 80% of all domain families in CDD, compared with the highest balanced score of 0.45 from other methods. Further, CORAL provides E-values to aid in detecting homologous protein families and, by respecting block boundaries, produces alignments with improved ‘readability’ that facilitate manual refinement. Availability: CORAL will be included in future versions of the NCBI Cn3D/CDTree software, which can be downloaded at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Structure/cdtree/cdtree.shtml. Contact: vog.hin.mln.ibcn@jgnof. Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Comparison of Oxycodone in Vitreous Humor and Blood Using EMIT® Screening and Gas Chromatographic-Mass Spectrometric Quantitation

Vitreous humor may serve as a useful alternative specimen for oxycodone analysis in death investigations where blood samples are not available or are of poor quality or limited quantity. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between immunoassay results and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) quantitation of oxycodone in postmortem vitreous humor and blood. When used with vitreous humor calibrators, the Microgenics DRI Oxycodone (EMIT) Assay was found to be linear from 25 to 500 ng/mL with an limit of detection of 25 ng/mL. Vitreous humor and postmortem blood precipitate immunoassay responses in 57 oxycodone-positive cases were found to be correlated (r(2) = 0.69, p < 0.01). Confirmation and quantitation of oxycodone in vitreous humor by GC-MS was linear from 50 to 1000 ng/mL with a limit of detection of 10 ng/mL and a limit of quantitation of 50 ng/mL. In 30 cases, oxycodone vitreous humor concentrations ranged from less than 50 to 945 ng/mL, and blood concentrations ranged from 103 to 768 ng/mL. The average vitreous humor/blood ratio was 1.16 and ranged from 0.12 to 3.26. Disparities between vitreous fluid and blood oxycodone concentrations were seen in a few cases.
Simple MMSE Interference Suppression for Real and Rate-1/2 Complex Orthogonal Space-time Block Codes

Orthogonal space-time block codes (OSTBCs) are known to provide transmit diversity gain with negligible decoding complexity. In this paper, we present a single-stage MMSE multi-user interference suppression technique that exploits the temporal and spatial structure of OSTBCs, leading to simple linear processing. In particular, we show that MMSE-based detection can be implemented for real OSTBCs as well as the derived rate-1/2 complex OSTBCs, using simple linear processing that avoids computationally intensive matrix inversions.
Change in Student Perception after a Pharmaceutical Industry Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience

Background: Pharmaceutical industry advanced pharmacy practice experiences have benefits to pharmacy students, colleges of pharmacy, preceptors, and the pharmaceutical industry. One proposed benefit to the pharmaceutical industry is the improved perception of the industry by students on rotation. The goal of this study was to gather updated information and to further elucidate the effect that pharmaceutical rotations have on students' perceptions of the industry. Methods: A survey was designed to gather information on students' perceptions of the pharmaceutical industry. The survey included 11 statements about the pharmaceutical industry and was administered before and after students completed a pharmaceutical industry clerkship rotation at Eli Lilly and Company. Students were asked to assign a level of agreement to each statement. Point values were assigned to the agreement scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 6 (strongly agree). Results: A total of 64 students completed both a pre- and postrotation survey. Students' perceptions of the pharmaceutical industry were significantly improved in 7 of the 11 survey dimensions. These dimensions included ethical marketing and selling, transparency of data dissemination, ethical pricing, trustworthy publications, quality research studies, justified cost of medicines, and ethical human research. The overall impression score was also improved by 9.6% (P < 0.001). Areas of the survey that did not show a significant improvement in student perception included consideration of employment within the pharmaceutical industry, health care providers' perceptions of the industry, the public's perception of the industry, and creation of innovative medicines. Students' perceptions of the pharmaceutical industry did not worsen in any dimension surveyed. Conclusions: Pharmaceutical industry APPEs are one way to help educate future pharmacists, while improving their perceptions of the industry.
Commentary: Moving The Journal Forward

Breaches of ethics are prevalent in biomedical publishing. Kapoor and colleagues identify several of the practical and ethics dilemmas that they have encountered in editing The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. Biomedical publishing ethics is continually evolving, with discrepant practice among different publications. Publication ethics apply to authors, editors, peer reviewers, journal publishers or owners, and their respective institutions. The Journal and the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law (AAPL) would be enhanced by better formulating and elucidating its authorship requirements and relevant disclosures, both in print and online. The Journal could then serve as a leader in this arena.
EVIDENCE ON THE QUALITY OF SEVERAL APPROXIMATIONS FOR COMMONLY USED MEASUREMENT STATISTICS1

What is the extent of error likely with each of several approximations for the standard deviation, internal consistency reliability, and the standard error of measurement? To help answer this question, approximations were compared with exact statistics obtained on 85 different classroom tests constructed and administered by professors in a variety of fields; means and standard deviations of the resulting differences supported the use of approximations in practical situations. Results of this analysis (1) suggest a greater number of alternative formulas that might be employed, and (2) provide additional information concerning the accuracy of approximations with non-normal distributions.
Microstructure and fracture toughness of powder-processed Al3Nb

Intermetallic alloys with the nominal compositions Al–24.5Nb, Al–25Nb, and Al–25.5Nb (at.%) were fabricated by hot-pressing of pre-alloyed powders in graphite dies in vacuum. The hot-pressed disks contained substantial porosity even at processing temperatures of 0.95 Tm, where Tm is the absolute melting point. In addition to some copper and silicon contamination, significant concentrations of oxygen and carbon were measured in Al–25.5Nb. Alpha alumina precipitates as well as niobium-enriched precipitates were identified. The fracture toughness of pre-cracked bend specimens with the nominal composition Al–25.5Nb was found to be 2.5 ± 0.5 MPa m1/2. Possibilities for improving this value are discussed.
Similarity-based perceptual reasoning for perceptual computing

Perceptual reasoning (PR) is an approximate reasoning method that can be used as a computing with words (CWW) engine in perceptual computing. There can be different approaches to implement PR, e.g., PR using firing intervals is proposed in [8], [9], [16], and similarity-based PR is proposed in this paper. Both approaches satisfy the constraint on a CWW engine, i.e., the result of combining fired rules should lead to a footprint of uncertainty (FOU) that resembles the three kinds of FOUs in a CWW codebook. A comparative study shows that the output FOUs from similarity-based PR more closely resemble the three kinds of FOUs in a codebook, and the resulting linguistic descriptions are more intuitive; so, similarity-based PR is a better choice for a CWW engine.
Atypical Glandular Cells of Undetermined Significance Outcome Predictions Based on Human Papillomavirus Testing

Cases of atypical glandular cells (AGC) diagnosed on liquid-based preparations were culled from a 3-year period. When available, residual cellular material was analyzed for human papillomavirus (HPV) by polymerase chain reaction and correlated with cytologic and histologic (biopsy) outcome. Of 178,994 cytologic cases, 187 (0.1045%) contained AGC compared with 8,740 (4.8828%) atypical squamous cells (ASC) for an AGC/ASC ratio of 0.021. HPV results and follow-up were available for 108 specimens from 106 patients. Depending on the endpoint (histologic/cyto-logic), the sensitivity range of HPV testing for significant cervical disease (high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion [SIL], adenocarcinoma in situ [ACIS], invasive carcinoma) was 83% with a specificity range of 78% to 82%, a positive predictive value of 57% to 61%, and a negative predictive value of 91% to 95%. Fifteen false-positive results included concurrent ASC or low-grade SIL, ASC on follow-up cytology, and previous ACIS with a negative follow-up cone biopsy result. Noncervical glandular neoplasia (including atypical endometrial hyperplasia) was confirmed in 13 cases (1 recurrent), only 2 of which scored positive for HPV. HPV-positive AGC has a substantially higher positive predictive value for significant disease than ASC (61% vs historic 20%) and merits consideration in the triage of patients with atypical endocervical cells not otherwise specified. However, noncervical or other HPV-negative glandular neoplasia must be considered in all patients with AGC, particularly older patients.
Identification of ElpA, a Coxiella burnetii Pathotype-Specific Dot/Icm Type IV Secretion System Substrate

Coxiella burnetii causes human Q fever, a zoonotic disease that presents with acute flu-like symptoms and can result in chronic life-threatening endocarditis. In human alveolar macrophages, C. burnetii uses a Dot/Icm type IV secretion system (T4SS) to generate a phagolysosome-like parasitophorous vacuole (PV) in which to replicate. The T4SS translocates effector proteins, or substrates, into the host cytosol, where they mediate critical cellular events, including interaction with autophagosomes, PV formation, and prevention of apoptosis. Over 100 C. burnetii Dot/Icm substrates have been identified, but the function of most remains undefined. Here, we identified a novel Dot/Icm substrate-encoding open reading frame (CbuD1884) present in all C. burnetii isolates except the Nine Mile reference isolate, where the gene is disrupted by a frameshift mutation, resulting in a pseudogene. The CbuD1884 protein contains two transmembrane helices (TMHs) and a coiled-coil domain predicted to mediate protein-protein interactions. The C-terminal region of the protein contains a predicted Dot/Icm translocation signal and was secreted by the T4SS, while the N-terminal portion of the protein was not secreted. When ectopically expressed in eukaryotic cells, the TMH-containing N-terminal region of the CbuD1884 protein trafficked to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), with the C terminus dispersed nonspecifically in the host cytoplasm. This new Dot/Icm substrate is now termed ElpA (ER-localizing protein A). Full-length ElpA triggered substantial disruption of ER structure and host cell secretory transport. These results suggest that ElpA is a pathotype-specific T4SS effector that influences ER function during C. burnetii infection.
Crystal structure of a high-affinity variant of rat alpha-parvalbumin.

In model peptide systems, Ca2+ affinity is maximized in EF-hand motifs containing four carboxylates positioned on the +x and −x and +z and −z axes; introduction of a fifth carboxylate ligand reduces the affinity. However, in rat β-parvalbumin, replacement of Ser-55 with aspartate heightens divalent ion affinity [Henzl, M. T., et al. (1996) Biochemistry 35, 5856−5869]. The corresponding α-parvalbumin variant (S55D/E59D) likewise exhibits elevated affinity [Henzl, M. T., et al. (2003) Anal. Biochem. 319, 216−233]. To determine whether these mutations produce a variation on the archetypal EF-hand coordination scheme, we have obtained high-resolution X-ray crystallographic data for α S55D/E59D. As anticipated, the aspartyl carboxylate replaces the serine hydroxyl at the +z coordination position. Interestingly, the Asp-59 carboxylate abandons the role it plays as an outer sphere ligand in wild-type rat β, rotating away from the Ca2+ and, instead, forming a hydrogen bond with the amide of Glu-62. Superficially,...
A Quantitative and Qualitative Investigation of Using Alice Programming to Improve Confidence, Enjoyment and Achievement among Non-Majors

In this investigation, the use of the Alice programming language in an introductory computing class was studied from both a quantitative and qualitative perspective. Students in an introductory computing class participated in a 2.5–week unit to learn programming through the graphical programming environment of Alice. Quantitatively, students were surveyed before and after their Alice experience. One hundred and fifty-four students completed a short questionnaire about their enjoyment and confidence with computer programming along with a content test about their understanding of computer programming concepts. After the students completed a short tutorial on Alice and completed two short programming exercises, they completed the same questionnaire and content test. Qualitatively, three focus groups were held and students were asked to comment on their experience. Students were also required to write an essay requiring them to reflect on their Alice experiences. Data from student reflective essays were coded...
Developing doctoral scientists for drug discovery: pluridimensional education required

Research universities continue to produce new scientists capable of generating knowledge with the potential to inform disease etiology and treatment. Mounting interest of doctoral-level experimental science students in therapeutics-related research careers is discordant with the widespread lack of direct drug-discovery and development experience, let alone commercialization success, among university faculty and administrators. Likewise, the archetypical publication- and grant-fueled, principal investigator (PI)-focused academic system ("PI-stan") risks commoditization of science students pursuing their doctorates as a labor source, rendering them ill-prepared for career options related to therapeutics innovation by marginalizing their development of "beyond-the-bench" professional skills foundational to modern drug-discovery campaigns and career fluency. To militate against professionalization deficits in doctoral drug-discovery researchers, the author--a scientist-administrator-consultant with decades of discovery research and development (R&D), business, and educator experience in commercial and university settings--posits a critical need for pluridimensionality in graduate education and mentorship that extends well beyond thesis-related scientific domains/laboratory techniques to instill transferable operational-intelligence, project/people-management, and communication competencies. Specific initiatives are advocated to help enhance the doctoral science student's market competitiveness, adaptability, and navigation of the significant research, commercial, and occupational challenges associated with contemporary preclinical drug-discovery R&D.
Effect of a gross motor developmental program on form perception skills of educable mentally retarded children.

Abstract Seven perceptual forms of the Winter Haven Perceptual Forms Test (PFT) were administered to 20 educable mentally retarded children (EMR) before and after participating in a 15-week physical developmental program, and to 12 EMR children not enrolled in the developmental program. All subjects were students at the Austin State School Annex, Austin, Texas. A comparison of pre- and post-program test performance of the participating children, compared to the performance of the control children indicated that (a) gross motor developmental programs do not improve performance on the PFT, (b) experimental and control subjects improved on only three items of the PFT, and (c) the PFT is reliable and may be used successfully with the educable mentally retarded children.
Compositional Simulations of a CO2 Flood in Ford Geraldine Unit, Texas

The Ford Geraldine Unit (FGU), in Reeves and Culberson Counties, West Texas, produces from the Ramsey Sandstone in the upper Bell Canyon Formation. After primary depletion, a major portion of the reservoir was waterflooded in stages from 1969 to 1980 and is currently under a maturing CO 2 flood that was started in 1981. However, because of high initial water saturation of 47.7% and some aquifer encroachment, the structurally low areas in the northeastern part of the reservoir were producing at very high water cut when the primary recovery approached its economic limit in 1968. As a result, this area responded very poorly to waterflood and no significant production has since been realized from this part of the unit. An estimated 10.1 MMSTB of the 12.9 MMSTB original oil in place (OOIP) remains in the reservoir in this area. This paper presents results of a study in which advanced geologic, geophysical, and engineering reservoir characterization techniques have been applied to this part of the reservoir as a demonstration area for enhanced recovery. A conditionally simulated stochastic-permeability-distribution model has also been developed. Compositional simulations were performed for CO 2 flood using stochastic and layered permeability distributions and conservative estimates of fluid saturations. Results indicate that a minimum of 10% of remaining oil in place (ROIP) can be recovered at breakthrough. Despite very high postwaterflood water saturations, the producing water cut gradually declines because of increase in hydrocarbon mobility as the injected CO 2 dissolves in the oil. An important observation is that compositional simulations indicate significant incremental recovery after breakthrough. At the permissible gas-oil ratio (GOR) of 30 MSCF/STB, recovery of over 30% of ROIP is achievable from the demonstration area.
Functional Response of Tamarixia radiata (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) to Densities of Its Host, Diaphorina citri (Hemiptera: Psylloidea)

Tamarixia radiata (Waterston) (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) spread rapidly in Florida following first release in 1999 for control of the Asian citrus psyllid Diaphorina citri (Kuwayama) (Hemiptera: Psylloidea). However, rapid spread of huanglongbing (HLB) has created a need for more effective biological control through augmentation and thus the necessity to better understand the potential of this parasitoid. Therefore, the functional response of fecundity to host density was evaluated to provide a possible indicator of success and useful information for mass rearing of T. radiata . The experimental unit consisted of a single 3-d-old female in a centrifuge tube with a young Murraya paniculata (L.) Jack (Rutaceae) shoot infested with a range of 1–60 fourth-instar D. citri nymphs. Shoots were changed daily for 5 d and the nymphs containing one or more parasitoid eggs noted. The number of hosts parasitized daily increased from 0.7 to 11.2 on average as host density increased from 1 to 40, above which it remained relatively constant. Percent parasitism was as high as 73.3% at density 1, but decreased at greater host densities. A random parasite equation was selected as the best-fit model, from which we obtained an attack coefficient of 12.7cm2/h, and handling time of 0.873 hour per host. We proposed the term “adjusted searching efficiency” to express the attack coefficient as a function of searching area. Similarities and differences with previous studies are discussed, as well as the need to reconcile parameters with actual behavior of T. radiata .
Variability of responses of grape phylloxera (Homoptera: Phylloxeridae) to bioassays that discriminate between California biotypes.

Two bioassays were developed to discriminate between laboratory colonies of two California grape phylloxera biotypes (A and B). These tests, adapted from previous life table studies, contrasted potential population growth of two biotypes on the grape rootstock ‘Ganzin 1’, a Vitis vinifera × V. rupestris hybrid. Responses to bioassays of 118 other grape phylloxera collections from viticultural regions of California were like those of one laboratory colony and unlike those of the other, enabling each to be classified as biotype A or B. Geographic variation in responses to the bioassays and variability associated with the type of root from which the collection originated were not significantly greater than the variation seen in repetitive tests on the laboratory colony of the same biotype. There was no evidence that grape phylloxera from roots of cultivated or wild grapes in California are of more than two biotypes. The apparently low variability of grape phylloxera in California suggests adoption of strategies to minimize the occurrence of new biotypes.
Committing to the Political Values of Post-Thing-Centered Designing (Teaching Designers How to Design How to Live Collaboratively)

It is not really true, but to some extent design was, for most of the twentieth century, about making things, things that solved everyday problems and so things that came to fill up our houses and ...
Student Attitudes Toward Selling: A New Perspective

In recent years, numerous studies have examined perceptions and attitudes toward sales. However, most suffer a common limitation, the failure to differentiate between retail and industrial sales.
Hot Sauce: No Elimination of Vibrio vulnificus in Oysters.

Either Tabasco® sauce or a horseradish-based seafood cocktail sauce was placed on freshly shucked oysters which were incubated for 10 min on the half shell. Oysters were then assayed for numbers of Vibrio vulnificus cells present on the surface and within the oyster tissue, and the results compared to control oysters to which no sauce was added. Results indicated that Tabasco® sauce, but not the cocktail sauce, was highly effective in reducing the number of V. vulnificus cells present on the oyster meat surface. However, little reduction in the numbers of V. vulnificus cells present within the oysters was observed with either sauce. Our results suggest that hot sauces are not capable of significantly reducing the overall numbers of V. vulnificus cells associated with oysters, and that persons who are at risk for infection with this bacterium should continue to avoid the consumption of raw seafood, especially raw oysters.
Internal Selection, Constraints, Contingency, Homology, Reversions, Atavisms, von Baer, Haeckel, and Alberch

A topic that is particularly crucial to ONCE is the occurrence and power of evolutionary constraints and how they can relate to evolutionary mismatches. My colleagues and me recently provided extensive discussions and several examples, in various recent papers and books, of internal constraints and internal selection.
Sec17/Sec18 act twice, enhancing membrane fusion and then disassembling cis -SNARE complexes.

At physiological protein levels, the slow HOPS- and SNARE-dependent fusion which occurs upon complete SNARE zippering is stimulated by Sec17 and Sec18:ATP without requiring ATP hydrolysis. To stimulate, Sec17 needs its central residues which bind the 0-layer of the SNARE complex and its N-terminal apolar loop. Adding a transmembrane anchor to the N-terminus of Sec17 bypasses this requirement for apolarity of the Sec17 loop, suggesting that the loop functions for membrane binding rather than to trigger bilayer rearrangement. In contrast, when complete C-terminal SNARE zippering is prevented, fusion strictly requires Sec18 and Sec17, and the Sec17 apolar loop has functions beyond membrane anchoring. Thus Sec17 and Sec18 act twice in the fusion cycle, binding to trans-SNARE complexes to accelerate fusion, then hydrolyzing ATP to disassemble cis-SNARE complexes.
Firearms and accidental deaths: Evidence from the aftermath of the Sandy Hook school shooting

Exposure to firearms increased substantially after the December 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, where 20 children and 6 adults were killed. Gun sales spiked by 3 million, on the basis of the increase in the number of background checks for firearm purchases. Google searches for buying and cleaning guns increased. We used Vital Statistics mortality data to examine whether a spike in accidental firearm deaths occurred at the same time as the greater exposure to firearms. We also assessed whether the increase in these deaths was larger in those states where the spike in gun sales per capita was larger. We find that an additional 60 deaths overall, including 20 children, resulted from unintentional shootings in the immediate aftermath of Sandy Hook.
A method to identify pediatric high-risk diagnoses missed in the emergency department

Background Diagnostic error can lead to increased morbidity, mortality, healthcare utilization and cost. The 2015 National Academy of Medicine report "Improving Diagnosis in Healthcare" called for improving diagnostic accuracy by developing innovative electronic approaches to reduce medical errors, including missed or delayed diagnosis. The objective of this article was to develop a process to detect potential diagnostic discrepancy between pediatric emergency and inpatient discharge diagnosis using a computer-based tool facilitating expert review. Methods Using a literature search and expert opinion, we identified 10 pediatric diagnoses with potential for serious consequences if missed or delayed. We then developed and applied a computerized tool to identify linked emergency department (ED) encounters and hospitalizations with these discharge diagnoses. The tool identified discordance between ED and hospital discharge diagnoses. Cases identified as discordant were manually reviewed by pediatric emergency medicine experts to confirm discordance. Results Our computerized tool identified 55,233 ED encounters for hospitalized children over a 5-year period, of which 2161 (3.9%) had one of the 10 selected high-risk diagnoses. After expert record review, we identified 67 (3.1%) cases with discordance between ED and hospital discharge diagnoses. The most common discordant diagnoses were Kawasaki disease and pancreatitis. Conclusions We successfully developed and applied a semi-automated process to screen a large volume of hospital encounters to identify discordant diagnoses for selected pediatric medical conditions. This process may be valuable for informing and improving ED diagnostic accuracy.
Acute Gynecologic Pelvic Pain

Acute pelvic pain is a common complaint among women. A detailed description of the pain should be obtained with attention to its timing, duration, characterization, and modifying factors. A complete gynecological history should include the patient’s last menstrual period, a description of the menstrual cycle, use of contraceptives, sexual history, sexually transmitted infections (STI), and previous self-therapies. Workup should include a pregnancy test in all reproductive-age women. The categories of acute pelvic pain are divided by anatomic structure; however, some conditions may involve multiple pelvic organs.
Multi-modal remote sensing system for transportation infrastructure inspection and monitoring

Managing the growing population of deteriorated transportation infrastructure systems (i.e. highway bridges) and being able to accurately inspect them in a timely and cost effective manner is a major societal challenge within the United States today. A multi-modal remote sensing system (MRSS) that will be used as the next generation of rapid, distant, interrogation technology for bridge inspection is proposed. In the proposed MRSS technology, advantages of nondestructive testing (local inspection) and structural health monitoring (global, continuous monitoring) are combined by using continuous wave imaging radar (CWIR), digital image correlation (DIC), and fiber optic sensors (FOS). MRSS represents the next-generation of portable bridge inspection technology for efficient inspection, evaluation and rating of bridges.
Enriching Views of Information Systems within Organizations: A Field Theory

Three perspectives have dominated research on IT adoption, implementation, use, and impacts: technological determinism, organizational imperatives, and the emergent perspective. While the last is most realistic in its assumptions, it falls short in two respects. First, structuration theory, which has served as the underpinning for most research based on this perspective, while acknowledging the potentially constraining effects of structure, presumes that all agency is equally unconstrained within a set of structures. Given this presumption, a second shortfall of the emergent perspective is that it fails to shed light on the systematic manner in which agency is constrained.
Role of Nitric Oxide in the Regulation of Cerebral Blood Flow in Conscious Rats

Effects of inhibition of brain nitric oxide (NO) synthase on the cerebral vasodilation evoked by (1) functional activation, (2) autoregulatory response to hypotension, and (3) 5% CO2 inhalation were studied in conscious rats with the [14C] iodoantipyrine method for measurement of local cerebral blood flow (CBF). Enzymatic assays confirmed that three regimens of N G-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) administration, that is, (1) single intravenous injection (30 mg/kg), (2) intracisternal infusion (approximately 10 fold the total estimated content of l-arginine in rat brain), and (3) chronic intraperitoneal administration (50 mg/kg twice daily for 4 days) reduced NO synthase activity in whole brain to 47%, 12%, and 16% of control levels, respectively. Percent increases in local CBF in the stations of the whisker-to-cortical barrel sensory pathway elicited by unilateral vibrissal stimulation was unchanged by any of the three regimens of NO synthase inhibition. After almost complete inhibition of NO synthase activity by chronic intraperitoneal injection of L-NAME, neither global nor local CBF was affected when arterial blood presure was lowered by controlled withdrawal of blood, indicating that the normal autoregulatory vasodilator response was preserved. Finally, the percent enhancement of average blood flow in the brain as a whole by inhalation of 5% CO2 in the inspired air was also unaltered following NO synthase inhibition by chronic intraperitoneal injection of L-NAME. In most of these experimental paradigms the NO synthase inhibition resulted in reduced baseline CBF despite increased systemic blood pressure. These results indicate that NO plays a role in the tonic regulation of cerebral vascular tone, but in conscious rats it does not mediate the increases in CBF produced by functional activation or increased blood CO2 tension or the autoregulatory cerebral vasodilatation in response to hypotension.
El impacto de los costes de transporte en el comercio de Latinoamérica y el Caribe .

El presente articulo resume un informe preparado por el Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo sobre el impacto de los costes de transporte en el comercio de Latinoamerica y el Caribe. A partir de un solido analisis tecnico (con bases de datos de gran tamano y detalle) y una serie de estudios de casos, aporta una completa vision de la importancia de los costes de transporte como barrera para el comercio de la region. Apela a una agenda de integracion mas amplia y equilibrada centrada no solo en las barreras de comercio tradicionales, sino tambien en los costes (como los asociados a la infraestructura relacionada con el transporte).
A Multistage Game in Smart Grid Security: A Reinforcement Learning Solution

Existing smart grid security research investigates different attack techniques and cascading failures from the attackers’ viewpoints, while the defenders’ or the operators’ protection strategies are somehow neglected. Game theoretic methods are applied for the attacker–defender games in the smart grid security area. Yet, most of the existing works only use the one-shot game and do not consider the dynamic process of the electric power grid. In this paper, we propose a new solution for a multistage game (also called a dynamic game) between the attacker and the defender based on reinforcement learning to identify the optimal attack sequences given certain objectives (e.g., transmission line outages or generation loss). Different from a one-shot game, the attacker here learns a sequence of attack actions applying for the transmission lines and the defender protects a set of selected lines. After each time step, the cascading failure will be measured, and the line outage (and/or generation loss) will be used as the feedback for the attacker to generate the next action. The performance is evaluated on W&W 6-bus and IEEE 39-bus systems. A comparison between a multistage attack and a one-shot attack is conducted to show the significance of the multistage attack. Furthermore, different protection strategies are evaluated in simulation, which shows that the proposed reinforcement learning solution can identify optimal attack sequences under several attack objectives. It also indicates that attacker’s learned information helps the defender to enhance the security of the system.
"My stuffed animals help me": the importance, barriers, and strategies for adequate sleep behaviors of school-age children and parents.

Abstract Study objectives To describe parents’ and school-age children's sleep-related cognitions and behaviors. Methods Parents (n = 36) and school-age children (n = 40; 6-11 years old) from New Jersey, Florida, and West Virginia participated in focus groups lasting ~60 minutes for parents and ~30 minutes for children. Trained researchers led the focus groups designed using Social Cognitive Theory constructs. Standard content analysis procedures were used independently by 3 trained researchers to analyze focus group data. Results A consistent finding across focus groups was that a set bedtime was a typical behavior. Both parents and children recognized the importance of sleep for health and academic success. Technology was highlighted by both groups as a barrier to adequate sleep. The children discussed postbedtime activities of their parents as barriers to sleep. Physical activity along with several healthy sleep practices was identified as strategies to improve sleep. Parents and children stressed the role of parents in promoting healthy sleep behaviors and sleep-conducive environment. Participants did not mention some well-established links between sleep duration and health as well as sleep-promoting behaviors. Several unique factors, not yet reported in the literature, were discussed by the parents and children including the use of stuffed animals for comfort and disruptive behaviors of others in the household. Conclusions Many of the cognitions of parents and children coincide with evidence from scientific literature surrounding sleep and sleep hygiene but also demonstrated sleep hygiene knowledge gaps. Study findings can be applied to future sleep education materials targeting parents and school-age children.
Hybrid dynamic windows using reversible metal electrodeposition and ion insertion

Dynamic windows with electronically controlled transmission reduce glare without obstructing views while increasing the energy efficiency of buildings and automobiles via lighting, heating and cooling savings. Electrochromic materials, which change colour with voltage, are widely explored for use in dynamic windows, but they have not been extensively commercialized due to problems associated with colour, cost, switching speed and durability. Here, we develop a class of dynamic windows that combines reversible metal electrodeposition with ion insertion chemistry. These devices function through the reversible electroplating of Bi and Cu at the working electrode and Li+ insertion in a nickel oxide counter electrode. In one minute, 100 cm2 windows uniformly switch between a clear state with 75% transmission and a colour-neutral black state possessing 10% transmission, which represents a significant improvement over previous metal-based architectures. We demonstrate that these hybrid windows cycle at least 4,000 times without degradation and are compatible with flexible substrates. Lastly, we discuss how this approach can be used to design practical large-scale windows. Metal-based smart windows allow for light and heat transmission control but suffer from poor metal ion diffusion over large areas. Here, the authors demonstrate a 100 cm2 window that is uniformly switchable from clear to black in 60 s by combining reversible metal electrodeposition with ion insertion.
Short note on the behavior of recurrent neural network for noisy dynamical system.

The behavior of recurrent neural network for the data-driven simulation of noisy dynamical systems is studied by training a set of Long Short-Term Memory Networks (LSTM) on the Mackey-Glass time series with a wide range of noise level. It is found that, as the training noise becomes larger, LSTM learns to depend more on its autonomous dynamics than the noisy input data. As a result, LSTM trained on noisy data becomes less susceptible to the perturbation in the data, but has a longer relaxation timescale. On the other hand, when trained on noiseless data, LSTM becomes extremely sensitive to a small perturbation, but is able to adjusts to the changes in the input data.
Auditory integration in the perception of rhoticity

Traditionally, descent of F3 below 2000 Hz at the midpoint has been considered an acoustic correlate for perceived rhoticity. Recent investigations by Heselwood of the auditory integration hypothesis related to rhotics and by Fox and colleagues of “center of gravity” (COG) for stops, diphthongs, and vowels suggested an application to rhotic perception. A resynthesized continuum containing manipulated formant amplitudes to create a high amplitude frequency band descending from above 2000 Hz to below 2000 Hz over 8 steps will be presented to graduate speech pathology students who will judge goodness of rhoticity.
Dynamics of flexible plates and flow under impulsive oscillation

Abstract The induced flow and the dynamics of flexible plates under heaving characterized by impulsive acceleration patterns Π ( t ) were experimentally inspected for various Cauchy numbers C a and fractions τ a of the time under acceleration with respect to the period of oscillations T . Simultaneous measurements of the plate motion along their span and the surrounding flow were obtained with particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) and particle image velocimetry (PIV). The Π ( t ) function was imposed at the root of a low-aspect-ratio plate vertically submerged in a quiescent water tank. Results show that C a and τ a significantly modulated the plate dynamics as well as the induced flow and coherent motions. We developed a simple model to estimate the velocity difference Δ u between the root and tip of the plates; it is based on the damped harmonic oscillator and exhibits good performance across the fifteen scenarios inspected (three C a by five τ a ). In general, the plate dynamics and flow exhibited three distinctive patterns characterized by flapping-like motions, translation-like motions and another intermediate state. The type of motion was induced by the relative instant at the reverse direction within the forced Π ( t ) -heaving within one of three characteristic stages; two of them depending on the sign of Δ u and the other when Δ u → 0 , i.e., in the limit of pure translation.