cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Introduction to Feminist Vigilance

This chapter argues that vigilance is an untheorized but potent concept for feminist thought and politics. Prevailing conceptions cast vigilance as reactive and defensive, often as cognitive alertness and attentiveness against either boredom or danger. A popular trope is the masculinist figure of the lone vigilante who metes out violent retribution. Sotirin argues instead for feminist vigilance as an embodied agency informed by an ethics of relationality valuing communality and care. She urges feminists to mobilize vigilance not as defensive but as hopeful, responsive, and connected. Chapter authors elaborate on this invitation by framing vigilance as technofeminist activism; postcolonial feminist critique; Black women’s self-care; the work of women religious; a mode of critique and anticipation about media portrayals of race, gender, and violence; the ethics of academic research and computer coding; and collective civic action. Together, they frame feminist vigilance as a critical strategy and commitment for confronting the precarities and complexities of contemporary social life.
Current Developments: The Sixth Session (Part Two) and Seventh Session of the Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change

Summary and analysis of the reconvened sixth session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bonn, Germany from July 16 to 27, 2001, and the seventh session of the Conference of the Parties in Marrakesh, Morocco from October 29 to November 9, 2001.
Substance and Procedure in Local Administrative Law

Although administrative law scholars have devoted thousands of law review pages to debating the optimal mix of substantive, procedural, and political constraints on federal agency decision-making, when it comes to local administrative agencies, these questions have largely gone unexplored. The lack of attention to local administrative agencies is striking given the sheer breadth of local administration, and the important role that local agencies play in individuals’ day-to-day lives. This Article begins to fill this gap. In doing so, it takes as its jumping off point the familiar set of arguments in federal administrative law about the role of procedures and substantive judicial review in the administrative process, and it considers to what extent these same arguments might apply to local agencies as well. It argues that substantive judicial review may be especially important at the local level, and that many of the concerns that scholars have expressed about the distorting effects of judicial review are less applicable to the local context. At the same time, it argues that procedural requirements—such as notice-and- comment rulemaking—may be much less effective at ensuring the quality of local agency decision-making, particularly when procedures are not backed by the threat of substantive judicial review.
A brief diagnostic screen for cluster headache: Creation and initial validation of the Erwin Test for Cluster Headache.

Abstract ObjectiveTo use 1) newly generated data, 2) existing evidence, and 3) expert opinion to create and validate a new cluster headache screening tool.MethodsIn phase 1 of the study, we perform...
Active Learning: A Concept Analysis With Implications for Nursing Education.

Aim The aim of this study was to understand the concept of active learning and its potential use in nursing academia. Background The demands for innovative teaching-learning strategies in higher education increased in the past decade to foster higher level of thinking. The nurse educator must prepare students entering the nursing profession, which mandates safe patient care, using a pedagogical learning process such as active learning. Method The Walker and Avant method guided this concept analysis. Results The attributes of the concept are learner-centered; dynamic, meaningful, and engaging learning environment; bidirectional collaborative interaction between educator and learner; and ongoing constructive and nonjudgmental feedback. The identified antecedents include the educator's active learning expertise and the learner's capacity for higher order thinking. Conclusion Nurse educators are responsible for providing effective learning environments based on a sound pedagogical approach. Active learning's desirable outcomes call for educator support as experts in implementation.
A Homotopy Algorithm for Solving Algebraic Riccati Equations

A novel homotopy algorithm is presented which allows solution of a Riccati equation by effectively exploiting knowledge of the solution of a Riccati equation whose parameters are "close" to the parameters of the equation with unknown solution. This algorithm can thus be used to improve computational efficiency in a practical control design process that involves generating a series of control designs by varying a set of weights. The algorithm can also be extended to solve modified Riccati equations that have appeared as integral parts of the solutions to important problems in control theory and design.
Should the EU Protect Democracy and the Rule of Law inside Member States

Against the background of recent developments in Hungary, the article discusses the question whether the European Union ought to play a role in protecting liberal democracy in Member States. First, it is argued that the EU has the authority to do so, both in a broad normative sense and in a narrower legal sense (though the latter is more likely to be disputed). The article then asks whether the EU has the capacity to establish a supranational militant democracy; here it is argued that at the moment both appropriate legal instruments and plausible political strategies are missing. To remedy this situation, the article proposes a new democracy watchdog, analogous to, but more powerful than, the Venice Commission. Finally, it is asked whether EU interventions would provoke a nationalist backlash. There is insufficient evidence to decide this question, but the danger of such a backlash probably tend to be overestimated.
Ways and Means of Citizens' Participation in Trade and Investment Dispute Settlement Procedures

The international settlement of trade and investment disputes plays an increasingly important role in our globalized and interconnected world. Arbitrations involving States or State entities involve issues of public interest not only in the outcome of the arbitration, but also in the arguments to be exchanged during the process. The subject matter of many trade and investment disputes affects the daily life of citizens, and many cases impact the cost of public services such as water, waste management, and electricity. Thus, the need to ensure transparency and public participation is particularly important in trade and investment disputes. This paper identifies and discusses the transparency and public participation opportunities that should be provided at each stage of trade and investment dispute settlement proceedings to ensure that the public is appropriately informed and has an appropriate and meaningful opportunity to participate. It identifies the advantages and disadvantages of transparency and public participation in trade and investment dispute settlement procedures. The paper highlights the mechanisms currently incorporated into, and those that ought to be incorporated into various stages of trade and investment dispute settlement procedures in order to ensure transparency and opportunity for public participation. It concludes with a discussion on the additional steps to increase transparency, as well as the methods by which disadvantages of public participation can be minimized or eliminated.
Hydrogen Fuel Tank Fire Exposure Burst Test

A fire exposure test was conducted on a 72.4 liter composite (Type HGV-4) hydrogen fuel tank at an initial hydrogen pressure of 34.3 MPa (ca 5000 psi). No Pressure Relief Device was installed on the tank to ensure catastrophic failure for analysis. The cylinder ruptured at 35.7 MPa after a 370 kW fire exposure for 6 min 27 seconds. Blast wave pressures measured along a line perpendicular to the cylinder axis were 18% to 25% less the values calculated from ideal blast wave correlations using a blast energy of 13.4 MJ, which is based on the ideal gas internal energy at the 35.7 MPa burst pressure. The resulting hydrogen fireball maximum diameter of 7.7 m is about 19% less than the value predicted from existing correlations using the 1.64 kg hydrogen mass in the tank.
The Effect of Risk of Misstatement and Workload Pressure on the Choice of Workpaper Review Format

The advent of electronic communication and electronic workpapers at audit firms has provided workpaper reviewers with options of how to interact with their audit team. Concurrently, other review formats have developed that rely more on in-person communication (e.g., review-by-interview). Prior research indicates that in-person discussion during review results in qualitatively different workpapers and judgments than when the reviewer interacts with the workpaper preparer electronically. As reviewers typically have discretion over how to conduct their reviews, the choice of review format can be viewed as a controllable audit input. Thus, the reviewer's choice of review format could impact the quality of the audit review team's work. Our study extends the audit review process literature by examining reviewers' choice of the form of their reviews and by considering factors that influence that choice. Specifically, we examine the effect of misstatement risk and workload pressure on this choice. We find that misstatement risk and workload pressure affect reviewers' review mode choices, with both those facing low risk and those under high pressure more likely to perform their reviews electronically. Further, risk and workload pressure interact to affect reviewers' likelihood of choosing to review electronically. Results indicate that misstatement risk moderates the effect of workload pressure such that, when risk is high, the effect of workload pressure is reduced. Our findings provide insight to firms and regulators regarding the impact of misstatement risk and workload pressure on how audit workpaper reviewers conduct their reviews. These issues are particularly relevant in light of recent changes in the regulatory environment that both emphasize the auditor's role in detecting fraud/misstatements and exacerbate traditional workload pressures during busy times of the year.
Living Fully in the Shadow of Mortal Time: Psychosocial Assets in Advanced Cancer

Objective To characterize the strategies and psychosocial conditions that influence how resilient people live in the face of advanced cancer.
Model checking the secure electronic transaction (SET) protocol

We use model checking to establish five essential correctness properties of the secure electronic transaction (SET) protocol. SET has been developed jointly by Visa and MasterCard as a method to secure payment card transactions over open networks, and industrial interest in the protocol is high. Our main contributions are to firstly create a formal model of the protocol capturing the purchase request, payment authorization, and payment capture transactions. Together these transactions constitute the kernel of the protocol. We then encoded our model and the aforementioned correctness properties in the input language of the FDR model checker. Running FDR on this input established that our model of the SET protocol satisfies all five properties even though the cardholder and merchant, two of the participants in the protocol, may try to behave dishonestly in certain ways. To our knowledge, this is the first attempt to formalize the SET protocol for the purpose of model checking.
Effect of alkali choice on geopolymer properties

A series of geopolymers were made using both KOH and NaOH alkaline solution by curing in an autoclave at 1000 psi and 80°C, respectively, for 24 hours. Samples were made using only KOH or NaOH or some combination thereof.The resulting samples were tested using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM), mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP), and x-ray diffraction (XRD). The autoclave technique produced highly reacted, 0.25 in. diameter, cylindrical samples which were virtually free of macropores. A separate series of 1 in. diameter compression samples were made and tested after being cured at 40°C for 24 hours. It was found that there may be a critical combination of KOH and NaOH that can be added to produce a highly dissolved and crossed linked sample. The multiple alkali sources can act in a synergistic fashion to create a sample of optimal properties.
Discrete solitons in time-domain photonic crystals

Summary form only given. We show that a new family of solitons, the so-called discrete optical solitons, are possible in highly birefringent optical fibers. This can be accomplished by copropagating a discrete soliton state (in the fast polarization axis), with a relatively strong periodic pump wave of a different wavelength that acts like a time domain photonic crystal along the slow axis of the fiber. The two waves interact via polarization cross-phase modulation provided that their polarization group velocities are almost the same. Depending on the regime where this interaction takes place, different families of discrete soliton solutions can be obtained. Our results are illustrated by means of relevant examples.
Pharmacological enhancement of glutamate transport reduces excitotoxicity in vitro.

Purpose Glutamate transporters are responsible for removing glutamate from the extracellular space and have the potential to protect neurons from excitotoxicity. In the present study, the effects of ceftriaxone and (2R, 4R)-APDC (APDC) on the protein expression of GLAST and GLT-1, the rate of glutamate uptake, and neuroprotection were evaluated in a cell culture model of glutamate excitotoxicity. Methods Mixed neuron/astrocyte cultures were prepared from 1 day old rat pups. Protein levels of GLAST and GLT-1 glutamate transporters were quantified using In-Cell Western techniques after acute or 5-day treatment with either ceftriaxone or APDC. Glutamate uptake was measured using Michaelis-Menten kinetics to evaluate the effects of 5-day treatment with ceftriaxone or APDC. Neuronal cell death in response to a 10-minute 1 mM glutamate challenge was measured following 5-day treatment with either ceftriaxone or APDC. Results Five-day treatment with 100 μM ceftriaxone significantly increased both GLAST and GLT-1 protein levels 31.3% and 47.5% above control, respectively, increased the Vmax 29.3%, increased the Km of glutamate uptake 117.9%, and reduced neuronal death 22.0% after a 1 mM glutamate challenge. Five-day treatment with 1 mM APDC significantly increased GLAST protein levels 27.6%, increased the Vmax 92.4%, increased the Km of glutamate transport 118.9%, and decreased neuronal death 36.8% after a 1 mM glutamate challenge. Conclusions Chronic treatment with ceftriaxone or APDC provided neuroprotection from glutamate excitotoxicity while increasing GLAST and GLT-1 protein levels and increasing glutamate uptake. These compounds may have therapeutic potential in chronic excitotoxic neurodegenerative diseases.
Segmentation with pairwise attraction and repulsion

We propose a method of image segmentation by integrating pairwise attraction and directional repulsion derived from local grouping and figure-ground cues. These two kinds of pairwise relationships are encoded in the real and imaginary parts of an Hermitian graph weight matrix, through which we can directly generalize the normalized cuts criterion. With bi-graph constructions, this method can be readily extended to handle nondirectional repulsion that captures dissimilarity. We demonstrate the use of repulsion in image segmentation with relative depth cues, which allows segmentation and figure-ground segregation to be computed simultaneously. As a general mechanism to represent the dual measures of attraction and repulsion, this method can also be employed to solve other constraint satisfaction and optimization problems.
Financial Reporting Credibility after SOX: Evidence from Earnings Restatements

Motivated by regulatory assertions that the purpose of SOX was to restore investor confidence in the securities markets, we examine changes in the stock market reaction to earnings restatements following the implementation of SOX in order to evaluate whether the Act’s reforms have had a significant impact on the credibility of financial reporting. Consistent with speculation that the recent rise in number of restatements and the more subdued market response to restatement announcements can be attributed to SOX, we conjecture that the collective package of reforms imposed by the Act has had a limiting influence on the market response to restatement announcements. We evaluate the effect of SOX by examining three aspects of the stock market response to restatements: (1) announcement-period returns, (2) restatement-induced contagion price effects, and (3) the information content of post-restatement earnings. We find evidence that SOX has had a considerable impact on all three market measures, which supports the idea that the reforms imposed by SOX have had a significant impact on increasing investors’ assessments of reporting credibility for firms admitting to accounting errors.
Solar Ultraviolet Irradiance 1982 and 1983

The Solar Mesosphere Explorer (SME) has been in operation since October 6th 1981. In addition to making measurements of ozone and other trace constituents of the earth’s atmosphere the observatory includes a small spectrometer to make daily measurements of the solar ultraviolet irradiance in the spectral range 115 to 305 nm. The solar spectra are obtained with 0.75 nm spectral resolution. Examination of the data show a strong signature of the 27-day solar rotation displaying a time varing modulation of incoming solar radiation exceeding ±15% near Lyman-α, decreasing to a few percent at 200 nm, and less than one percent near 300 nm. Long term trends in the data, due both to changes in the instrument response and to true long term solar variations, are removed in order to obtain quantitative measure of the intermediate term variation with time periods of a few days to weeks.
Modeling crack growth from pores under compressive loading with application to metallic glasses

Abstract The mechanism of the fatigue-crack growth is essential to understand the fatigue and fracture behavior of bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) and is thus critical to predict the service lifetime of BMGs as potential engineering structural materials. Experiments indicate that fracture under compressive loading exhibits distinct behaviors different from that under tensile loading. A typical compression failure may initiate from micro porosity where cracks propagate in a direction generally parallel to the loading axis. Micromechanical stress analysis shows that pores cause axial tensile microcracks emanating from the pore. A simplified computational model based on the linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) is proposed to investigate crack initiation and subsequent propagation under compressive load, where the effect of crack closure on mode-I fracture is considered. The stable crack length is characterized by a dimensionless fracture-mechanics quantity required to attain the associated crack length. The behavior of crack growth is examined based on the stress-intensity-factor (SIF) calculation, and its dependence on the loading and lateral confinement conditions is discussed.
An automated rearing chamber system for studies of shellfish feeding

Abstract Producing large volumes of high quality microalgae to feed shellfish and other organisms is a limiting factor in the development of the aquaculture industry. Feeding regimes yielding the highest conversion efficiencies of algal feed to molluscan growth are required to maximize the return on algal-culture investments. In the past we have used 12 specialized, manually-controlled molluscan rearing chambers to study nutritional requirements and growth of oysters, clams, and scallops. A computer-controlled, solenoid-valve system was added to automate seawater flow, volume of microalgal food delivered, and feeding duration independently for each chamber. Labor was reduced from 7 h per week to 3 h, while adding flexibility. Each chamber represents a model for a programmed nursery system. Evidence that superior growth of bivalves can be achieved by feeding regimes made possible by this apparatus are provided by an experiment with juvenile bay scallops (Argopecten irradians). Published by Elsevier Science B.V.
Environmental heterogeneity and spatiotemporal variability in plant defense traits

At the scale of the local plant community, we know very little about how spatial and temporal environmental heterogeneity affects the diversity in types and levels of plant defenses. If environmental heterogeneity is an important mechanism influencing plant defense traits, then defense expression should co-vary spatially with environmental conditions and change as succession progresses. In this study, we examined how spatial heterogeneity and succession influence putative resistance and tolerance trait levels in late goldenrod Solidago altissima. We quantified the spatial distributions of herbivore damage and traits associated with resistance (leaf toughness, phenolics), tolerance (specific leaf area, relative growth rate, leaf addition rate and leaf senescence rate), and fitness (height, diameter, inflorescence biomass) of goldenrods within replicate early- and late-successional fields. Also, we characterized the local neighborhood (stem density, canopy cover, ground vegetative cover) and edaphic conditions (soil moisture, pH, N) surrounding each target ramet, and determined relationships between these environmental variables and goldenrod trait levels. The distribution of traits within fields was strongly non-random, and defense-trait levels were more strongly spatially structured (i.e. autocorrelated) in late- than in early-successional fields. Also, defense traits were most strongly correlated with aspects of the local plant neighborhood, and these relationships differed in important ways between successional stages. In late-successional fields, tolerance trait specific leaf area was positively correlated with canopy cover and negatively correlated with stem density. In early-successional fields, the relationship between ground vegetative cover and resistance (i.e. 1 – damage) was significantly stronger than in late-successional fields. A novel insight from this study is the possibility that changes in the biotic environment during succession may shift the expression of defense from a resistance to a tolerance strategy in our system. This study highlights the context dependence of plant defense trait levels, which may promote their spatial and temporal variability in heterogeneous landscapes.
THE SAFETY AND TOLERABILITY OF REGADENOSON IN PATIENTS WITH END-STAGE RENAL DISEASE: THE FIRST PROSPECTIVE EVALUATION

Regadenoson (REG) appears to be safe in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) on the basis of two retrospective studies. A prospective, placebo-controlled clinical trial by Palani et al found REG to be safe in chronic kidney disease (CKD) stage III-IV. However, there has not been a
Locally adaptive contrast enhancement and dynamic range compression

In surveillance applications, the visibility of details within an image is necessary to ensure detection. However, bright spots in images can occupy most of the dynamic range of the sensor, causing lower energy details to appear dark and difficult to see. In addition, shadows from structures such as buildings or bridges obscure features within the image, further limiting contrast. Dynamic range compression and contrast enhancement algorithms can be used to improve the visibility of these low energy details. In this paper, we propose a locally adaptive contrast enhancement algorithm based on the multi-scale wavelet transform to compress the dynamic range of images as well as increase the visibility of details obscured by shadows. Using an edge detector as the mother wavelet, this algorithm operates by increasing the gain of low energy gradient magnitudes provided by the wavelet transform, while simultaneously decreasing the gain of higher energy gradient magnitudes. Limits on the amount of gain imposed are set locally to prevent the over-enhancement of noise. The results of using the proposed method on aerial images show that this method outperforms common methods in its ability to enhance small details while simultaneously preventing ringing artifacts and noise over-enhancement.
"Hands-on" approach to microcomputer education

Microprocessors and programmable LSI circuits provide increasingly cost-effective alternatives to traditional hardwired electronic or electromechanical circuits and subsystems used in automatic control, data processing, communication, and instrumentation. The design engineer, however, must learn new skills, i.e., digital system architecture and programming, in order to take advantage of this rapidly evolving new technology. This paper describes the experience of developing an effective approach to microcomputer education for both students and practicing engineers at the University of California, Berkeley.
Assessment of insulin sensitivity and secretion with the labelled intravenous glucose tolerance test: improved modelling analysis.

A new modelling analysis was developed to assess insulin sensitivity with a tracer-modified intravenous glucose tolerance test (IVGTT). IVGTTs were performed in 5 normal (NGT) and 7 non-insulin-dependent diabetic (NIDDM) subjects. A 300 mg/kg glucose bolus containing [6,6-2H2]glucose was given at time 0. After 20 min, insulin was infused for 5 min (NGT, 0.03; NIDDM, 0.05 U/kg). Concentrations of tracer, glucose, insulin and C-peptide were measured for 240 min. A circulatory model for glucose kinetics was used. Glucose clearance was assumed to depend linearly on plasma insulin concentration delayed. Model parameters were: basal glucose clearance (Clb), glucose clearance at 600 pmol/l insulin concentration (Cl600), basal glucose production (Pb), basal insulin sensitivity index (BSI = Clb/basal insulin concentration); incremental insulin sensitivity index (ISI = slope of the relationship between insulin concentration and glucose clearance). Insulin secretion was calculated by deconvolution of C-peptide data. Indices of basal pancreatic sensitivity (PSIb) and first (PSI1) and second-phase (PSI2) sensitivity were calculated by normalizing insulin secretion to the prevailing glucose levels. Diabetic subjects were found to be insulin resistant (BSI: 2.3 ± 0.6 vs 0.76 ± 0.18 ml · min–1· m–2· pmol/l–1, p < 0.02; ISI: 0.40 ± 0.06 vs 0.13 ± 0.05 ml · min–1· m–2· pmol/l–1, p < 0.02; Cl600: 333 ± 47 vs 137 ± 26 ml · min–1· m–2, p < 0.01; NGT vs NIDDM). Pb was not elevated in NIDDM (588 ± 169 vs 606 ± 123 μmol · min–1· m–2, NGT vs NIDDM). Hepatic insulin resistance was however present as basal glucose and insulin were higher. PSI1 was impaired in NIDDM (67 ± 15 vs 12 ± 7 pmol · min–1· m–2· mmol/l–1, p < 0.02; NGT vs NIDDM). In NGT and in a subset of NIDDM subjects (n = 4), PSIb was inversely correlated with BSI (r = 0.95, p < 0.0001, log transformation). This suggests the existence of a compensatory mechanism that increases pancreatic sensitivity in the presence of insulin resistance, which is normal in some NIDDM subjects and impaired in others. In conclusion, using a simple test the present analysis provides a rich set of parameters characterizing glucose metabolism and insulin secretion, agrees with the literature, and provides some new information on the relationship between insulin sensitivity and secretion. [Diabetologia (1998) 41: 1029–1039]
HER family inhibitors in pancreatic cancer: current status and future directions

Pancreatic cancer is characterized by multiple genetic abnormalities that can be used as targets for specific therapeutics. The HER family consists of four transmembrane growth factor receptors. Targeting HER1 with the epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor erlotinib demonstrated a survival advantage for patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. Multiple other agents that target members of the HER family are under investigation. These include reversible and irreversible, single and pan HER tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Chimeric, humanized and fully human monoclonal antibodies that target specific HER receptors are also being studied. These agents are also radiation sensitizers. This article reviews clinical trials of HER family inhibitors in pancreatic cancer, discusses the role of these agents in the management of patients and outlines future directions for pancreatic cancer management.
A Four-Point Set That Cannot Be Split

If n is an integer greater than one then an n-point set is a subset of the plane that meets every line in precisely n points. A planar set is called a partial n-point set if it meets every line in at most n points. Using a well-ordering of the real line Mazurkiewicz [5] proved that 2-point sets exist. This result was generalized to n-point sets and beyond by Bagemihl [1] and Sierpin'ski [6]. Additional information, references, and some unsolved problems concerning these peculiar sets can be found in [3] and [4]. If X is an n-point set that is contained in an (n + 1)-point set Y then Y \ X must be a set that meets each line in exactly one point. Since such "one-point sets" obviously do not exist it is impossible for an (n + 1)-point set to contain an n-point set. In contrast, Bouhjar et al. [2] prove that if 2 < n < k 2 then each n-point set is contained in some
Racialized places, racialized bodies: the impact of racialization on individual and place identities

Scholarship in Geography and other disciplines understands race as a social construction (Inwood and Martin 2008; Melamed 2006; Hoelscher 2003; Nash 2003; Delaney 2002; Holloway 2000; Omi and Winant 1994). This line of reasoning argues that ideas about race are historically created and contemporarily recreated, enforced and manifest through everyday actions (Marable 2002). As geographers have increasingly focused on the ways in which the social construction of race is related to the construction of particular places and spatial relations, a consensus has emerged that place and race are inextricably linked (Kobayashi and Peake 2000). These connections between place and race have led Holloway (2000, p. 197) to observe that we need to uncover and unpack the relationship between race and place and conceptualize it within its historical and geographical frameworks. An integral aspect of placing the concept of race within a spatial context is the examination of the relationship between the construction of racialized identities and the racialization of place. With this broad recognition in mind, the idea for this special issue of GeoJournal emerged from a series of organized sessions at the 2007 Association of American Geographers meeting held in San Francisco, California. The sessions were organized around an exploration of the ways race is dialectically linked with constructions of place and space. Processes of racialization involve the use of biological criteria (i.e. phenotype etc.) to separate people into distinct groups for the purpose of domination and exploitation. For example, since modern U.S. society was historically founded on concepts of racial exclusion, race remains integral to the contemporary workings of state policy and affects the lives of all members of society. Goldberg (2002, p. 49) suggests, ‘‘[modern U.S. society] has been about increasingly sophisticated forms of racial formation, power and exclusion’’, which in turn require more sophisticated forms of analysis. Thus social scientists have sought to discern how and to what degree such processes of racialization have resulted in the construction of individual and group identities within specific historical and geographic contexts (e.g. Pulido 2006; Bonilla-Silva 2004). Racialization of place is a process of constructing particular geographic landscapes that help define and reinforce racialized social hierarchies, thus facilitating domination and exploitation. As co-editors of this issue, we worked collaboratively on this introductory piece. As such, we share responsibility for any errors or omissions.
Immunoreactive beta-endorphin in the plasma, pituitary and hypothalamus of young female rats on the day of estrus and intact and chronically castrated old constant estrous female rats

Immunoreactive beta-endorphin (IR-beta-ENDO) was compared in the plasma, pituitary and hypothalamus of young female rats on the day of estrus and old constant estrous (CE) female rats, and in intact and chronically castrated old CE female rats. The concentration of IR-beta-ENDO in the plasma and the content and concentration of IR-beta-ENDO in the neurointermediate lobe of the pituitary were significantly greater in the old CE female rats than in the young female rats on the day of estrus. The content and concentration of IR-beta-ENDO in the anterior pituitary and hypothalamus were similar in the two age groups. To determine if estrogen contributed to the increase in plasma and pituitary levels of IR-beta-ENDO observed in the old animals, a group of old CE female rats were castrated and compared to sham operated control CE rats. Thirty days after castration, levels of plasma, pituitary and hypothalamic IR-beta-ENDO were comparable in the intact and the chronically castrated old female rats. These data indicate that in old CE female rats, plasma and pituitary IR-beta-ENDO are significantly increased in comparison to young female rats on the day of estrus, and that these increased levels of IR-beta-ENDO observed in old female rats do not appear to be influenced by gonadal estrogen.
Manipulation of Fish Populations Through Reservoir Drawdown

Abstract A summer drawdown was implemented on Little Dixie Lake, an 83 ha (205-acre) Central Missouri impoundment, to improve growth rate of largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) and to re-establish populations of desirable size. Water level was lowered 2.4 m (8 ft) between 19–29 July, 1964. Surface area was reduced by 42% and the volume by approximately 58%. As a result of draining water from the bottom of this lake the hypolimnial waters were removed. Temperature gradient in the remaining epilimnial waters was broken and the lake became homothermos at 30 C (86 F). Stomach analysis of largemouth bass indicated an increase in feeding activity following drawdown. Grams of food found in the stomach per 0.454 kg (1 lb) of bass was used as an index to feeding. These values increased from 4.0 g of food per 0.454 kg (1 lb) of fish prior to drawdown to 10.7 following drawdown. Per cent of empty stomachs also decreased during the post-drawdown period. Scales collected from largemouth bass indicated an accelerat...
A close examination of healthcare expenditures related to fractures

This study evaluated reasons for healthcare expenditures both before and after the occurrence of fractures among Medicare beneficiaries. In a previous study we examined healthcare expenditures in the 6 months before and after fractures. The difference—“incremental” expenditures—provides one estimate of the potentially avoidable costs associated with fractures. We constructed a second estimate of the cost burden—“attributable” expenditures—using only those costs recorded in claims with fracture diagnosis codes. Attributable expenditures accounted for only 24% to 60% of incremental expenditures, depending on the fracture site. We examined health care expenditures between 1999 and 2005 among Medicare beneficiaries who experienced fractures (cases) and among beneficiaries who did not experience fractures (controls), matched to cases on age, race, and sex. We also examined healthcare expenditures for cases and controls for 24 months prior to the fracture index date. When expenditures associated with diagnoses for aftercare, joint pain, and osteoporosis, other musculoskeletal diagnoses, pneumonia, and pressure ulcers were included, the proportion of incremental costs directly attributable to fracture care rose to 72% to 88%. Expenditures prior to fracture were higher for cases than controls, and the rate of increase accelerated over the 12 months prior to the hip fracture. Our findings confirm that the original incremental cost analysis constituted a satisfactory method for estimating avoidable costs associated with fractures. We also conclude that those with fractures had much higher and growing healthcare expenditures in the 12 months prior to the event, compared with age-, race-, and sex-matched controls. This suggests that patterns of healthcare services utilization may provide a means to improve fracture prediction rules. © 2013 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.
How to Design a "Liberal" Welfare State: A Comparison of Canada and the United States

My aim in this paper is to show how differences in the programmatic design of two otherwise "liberal" welfare regimes have generated substantially different patterns of welfare state retrenchment and distributive outcomes since the 1970s. Welfare regimes are distinguished by the principles and rules that regulate transactions between the three institutional nuclei from which individuals derive their "welfare" in modern capitalist societies—the state, the market, and the family. Liberal regimes are characterized by a preference for market solutions to welfare problems. While Canada and the United States both represent paradigmatic instances of the liberal regime type, there are long-standing differences in methods both of financing and distributing benefits. Differences in programme design led to substantially different retrenchment strategies from the end of the 1970s, which in turn produced dramatically different distributive outcomes: rising inequality and poverty rates in the United States compared to relative stability in the distribution of income among Canadian families.
Unified modeling guidance based on a sedimentation parameter for beach changes

Abstract Review of four available proposals for designing coastal movable-bed models demonstrates that each suggested model-scaling law contradicts all the others. Accurate laboratory models providing the separate empirical bases, however, all appear fairly consistent with the new design guidance developed here. This formal development considers sediment excursions under wave action by means of a parameter including bed slope and the threshold of sediment movement. The consequent relationship for sedimentation similitude between model and prototype indicates that appropriate model sediment and horizontal scale depend on the selected vertical scale along with wave period and prototype sand characteristics. Explicit forms derived from the general design guidance recover two expressions resembling those previously reported by E.K. Noda (1972) and by P. Vellinga (1982); the route towards Noda's result indicates that guidance is not appropriate for small models of large situations, but the present development yields an independent basis and a needed refinement for Vellinga's empirical results. Considerations of sedimentation similitude are also shown to be supported by successful new laboratory models using sand profiles developed in a large wave tank as prototypes. Spatial distortion seems to be the advisable strategy for small models but proper distortion is rather modest with prototype materials, according to present results.
Traumatic thoracic aortic transection in small-diameter aortas: percutaneous endograft repair.

The authors describe percutaneous repair of traumatic aortic transection in small-caliber aortas by using iliac extender stent-grafts in three patients (two female and one male patient; average age, 29.3 years). The average aortic diameters were 18.7 mm proximal and 16.4 mm distal to the tear. Iliac limb extenders (55 mm in length, 20–22 mm in diameter) were transferred from their 55-cm long delivery sheaths into 80-cm 16- or 18-F sheaths. The long sheaths enabled the percutaneous delivery of multiple stent-grafts to the thoracic aorta via a single femoral sheath. The transections were successfully treated in all patients without complication.
Optical model wave functions for nucleons

Abstract The optical model wave functions for nucleons on 13C, 19F and 118Sn are shown in magnitude and phase diagrams. From these, necessary features of approximate calculations are defined. It is shown that the focus remains an important feature even at higher incident energies of nucleons and that phase variation should be included in these approximate calculations.
Effects of low-frequency Electromagnetic Field on the Surface Quality of 7050 Aluminum Alloy Ingots during the hot-top Casting Process

To improve the quality of 7050 aluminum alloy ingots, low-frequency electromagnetic (LFE) field was applied during the conventional hot-top casting process. Macrostructures and microstructures of the ingots by the conventional and LFE hot-top casting processes were studied. The experimental results show that when the LFE field is turn off during the hot-top casting process, cold folding appears, and the as-cast structure becomes very coarse. Additionally, the thickness of the shell zone is much thinner during the low-frequency electromagnetic hot-top casting process than that during the conventional hot-top casting process. Some reasons for low-frequency electromagnetic field improving the surface quality, refining the structure of the ingot, and minimizing the thickness of the shell zone have been studied.
Primary sternal osteomyelitis

A case report of primary sternal osteomyelitis, a rare clinical entity, is presented. Treatment of primary sternal osteomyelitis is antibiotics and complete debridement of the infected bone and anterior periosteum. If the posterior sternal periosteum is not involved, it should be left intact. The defect can be covered with skeletal muscle flaps, which improves healing and minimizes recurrence. This approach led to a complete and timely cure.
Ethical and regulatory issues related to pregnancy registries and their outcomes

Pregnancy registries should be devised so that the interests of science, society, and the individual are all considered. For example, there may be ethical issues that relate to how women are chosen to participate in the registry and how informed consent is obtained. In most cases, consent is required for both the mother and the infant. Some institutional review boards will require that consent be obtained by someone other than the woman's physician. Once data are obtained, there may be an issue as to when results should be released. Options are to release data when there is the first indication of a concerning finding, thereby potentially preventing exposure in the largest number of women, versus waiting until the finding is absolutely confirmed. In a related issue, there are questions of when and how regulatory agencies should change labeling based on findings.
Short-term outcomes following laparoscopic resection for colon cancer

Background Laparoscopic resection for colon cancer has been proven to have a similar oncological efficacy compared to open resection. Despite this, it is performed by a minority of colorectal surgeons. The aim of our study was to evaluate the short-term clinical, oncological and survival outcomes in all patients undergoing laparoscopic resection for colon cancer.
Identifying and assessing women at high risk for breast cancer

There has been progress in the identification of factors that confer important risk for the development of breast cancer. The factors include: heritable mutations in susceptibility genes; exposure to therapeutic radiation during breast development (as for Hodgkin's disease survivors who received therapeutic radiation to the chest); and histologic lesions, including LCIS and atypical hyperplasias. Testing for mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 breast ovarian cancer susceptibility genes has become part of the established care of breast cancer patients. Genetic information from BRCA1/2 testing is used to help healthy at-risk women to avoid breast and/or ovarian cancer, and ultimately to avoid death from those cancers. Data accumulated over the past decade have provided evidence that breast cancer surveillance can be improved with the addition of breast MRI, that prophylactic oophorectomy substantially reduces the risk of ovarian cancer and, when performed before menopause, can reduce the risk of breast cancer as well, and that prophylactic mastectomy reduces the risk of breast cancer by more than 90%. It has been observed that approximately 80% of BRCA1-associated breast cancers are negative for ER, PR and HER2 (so-called triple negative) and cluster with basal-like breast cancers by DNA microarray, while 80% of BRCA2-associated breast cancers are ER+ and PR+, but HER2 negative, and luminal. These data are surprising given the close relationships between these genes in their DNA repair activities, and raise some concern that hormonal interventions will not successfully reduce the risk of BRCA1-associated breast cancers. Other strategies may be necessary to reduce breast cancer risk for this group. Genetic information has been shown to have important implications for women with breast cancer as well. Women with strong family histories of breast and/or ovarian cancer, and women diagnosed before age 40 may consider testing at the time of breast cancer diagnosis if they would use the information to make treatment decisions. Some women choose bilateral mastectomies over breast-conserving treatment if they learn that their risk of second primary breast cancer exceeds 50%, and if their prognosis from the original breast cancer is good. Some women opt for oophorectomy as part of the management of their ER+ breast cancer if they are premenopausal mutation carriers (and could participate in TEXT). Recently, novel agents, the PARP inhibitors, have been shown to be effective in the phase II trials in women with BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations and metastatic ovarian or breast cancer. These drugs target DNA repair pathways that are particularly vulnerable in women with BRCA1/2 mutations. The agents may also be effective in women with sporadic breast cancer, and are currently in trials in Europe and the United States alone and in combination with cytotoxic agents.
Evidence of Kosterlitz-Thouless transition in YBa2Cu3O7/ PrBa2Cu3O7 superlattice films

Abstract Experimental measurements of four-terminal (van der Pauw) transport-current resistivity and of dynamic AC magnetic response of certain superlattice films show broad resistive transitions and frequency-dependent magnetic transitions into the superconductive state. Such observations indicate that the superconductive critical temperature is not described by mean-field theory. pitaxial, c ⊥ superlattice films of YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 /PrBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 were grown in situ by laser ablation. Layer thicknesses of each compound ranged from two to four atomic cells. While material inhomogeneity can produce such a broad resistive transition,it would prevent our observation of a relatively sharp step-like transition in the inductive impedance. Such response must arise due to vibrations of pinned and bound supercurrent vortices. Observation of the Kosterlitz-Thouless (K-T) transition of bound vortices is expected to occur in a two-dimensional system. We see apparent K-T transitions only in films of thin (two or three atomic-lattice cells) Y-compound layers and thick Pr-compound layers. This systematically implies that extreme anisotropy of CuO superconductors can be tied to observations of two-dimesional physical phenomena.