cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Fabrication and characterization of polycarbonate-silica filaments for 3D printing applications:

Owing to its robustness, ability to achieve complex geometries, and ease of use, 3D printing has become one of the noteworthy applications in the field of engineering. Polycarbonate has become a th...
Housing instability and adverse perinatal outcomes: a systematic review.

OBJECTIVE Our objective was to conduct a systematic review of the published literature on housing instability during pregnancy and adverse pregnancy outcomes and perinatal healthcare utilization. DATA SOURCES We performed a systematic search in November 2020 using Embase, MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, and Scopus using terms related to housing instability during pregnancy, adverse pregnancy outcomes, and perinatal healthcare utilization. The search was limited to the United States. STUDY ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA Studies examining housing instability (including homelessness) during pregnancy and adverse pregnancy outcomes (including preterm birth, low birthweight neonates, and maternal morbidity) and perinatal healthcare utilization were included. METHODS Two authors screened abstracts and full-length articles for inclusion. The final cohort consisted of 14 studies. Two authors independently extracted data from each article and assessed the study quality using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation tool. Risk of bias was assessed using the National Institutes of Health Study Quality Assessment Tools. RESULTS All included studies were observational, including retrospective cohort (n=10, 71.4%), cross-sectional observational (n=3, 21.4%), or prospective cohort studies (n=1, 7.1%). There was significant heterogeneity in the definitions of housing instability and homelessness. Most of the studies only examined homelessness (n=9, 64.3%) and not lesser degrees of housing instability. Housing instability and homelessness during pregnancy were significantly associated with preterm birth, low birthweight neonates, neonatal intensive care unit admission, and delivery complications. Among studies examining perinatal healthcare utilization, housing instability was associated with inadequate prenatal care and increased hospital utilization. All studies exhibited moderate, low, or very low study quality and fair or poor internal validity. CONCLUSION Although data on housing instability during pregnancy are limited by the lack of a standardized definition, a consistent relationship between housing instability and adverse pregnancy outcomes has been suggested by this systematic review. The evaluation and development of a standardized definition and measurement of housing instability among pregnant individuals is warranted to address future interventions targeted to housing instability during pregnancy.
Characterizing Performance Inequity Across U.S. Ookla Speedtest Users

The Internet has become indispensable to daily activities, such as work, education and health care. Many of these activities require Internet access data rates that support real-time video conferencing. However, digital inequality persists across the United States, not only in who has access but in the quality of that access. Speedtest by Ookla allows users to run network diagnostic tests to better understand the current performance of their network. In this work, we leverage an Internet performance dataset from Ookla, together with an ESRI demographic dataset, to conduct a comprehensive analysis that characterizes performance differences between Speedtest users across the U.S. Our analysis shows that median download speeds for Speedtest users can differ by over 150Mbps between states. Further, there are important distinctions between user categories. For instance, all but one state showed statistically significant differences in performance between Speedtest users in urban and rural areas. The difference also exists in urban areas between high and low income users in 27 states. Our analysis reveals that states that demonstrate this disparity in Speedtest results are geographically bigger, more populous and have a wider dispersion of median household income. We conclude by highlighting several challenges to the complex problem space of digital inequality characterization and provide recommendations for furthering research on this topic.
The Effects of Temporary Immigrant Labor on the Information Technology Industry

There are a significant number of H-1B immigrants who are employed through specific outsourcing companies upon which United States’ companies then contract with for contract labor. According to Thibodeau & Machlis (2012), the top United States companies that employ H-1B immigrants are “offshore outsourcing companies”, including Cognizant and Infosys, which each employ approximately 5000 H-1B immigrants who are then contracted out to other United States companies for specific jobs. The fact that most H-1B immigrants are not employed directly by the United States companies for which they are working, implies that there will be some discrepancy between the temporary immigrant workers and the native workers in terms of: types of jobs, wage rate, and job security. Therefore, this paper aims to study how the recession of 2008 affected the market for workers in the IT industry, specifically focusing on the number of jobs lost or retained by temporary immigrant workers compared with those of native workers. This article is available in The Park Place Economist: http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/parkplace/vol21/iss1/17
Comparing Simulated Nursing Performance to Actual Practice

Between 2007 and 2013, the Arizona Board of Nursing (BON), a community college, and a university developed the Nursing Performance Profile (NPP), a legally defensible competency evaluation using simulation. Using the NPP, the board evaluated the competency of nurses who were reported to the BON for unsafe practice. Then, we compared the unsafe behaviors revealed by the NPP evaluation with those reported to the BON in the original complaint and investigative reports (IRs). The comparative analysis revealed remarkable consistency between the IRs and the NPP findings.
Transient behavior at planar microelectrodes: Diffusion current at the ring electrode. A comparison of experiment with theory

Abstract In the preceding paper we described the transient behavior of diffusion current in response to a potential step at ring microelectrodes, as predicted from numerical calculations using the recently introduced integral equation method. This method is applicable to rings of arbitrary thickness and diameter and describes accurately the current over several orders of magnitude in time. In this report we describe results of transient measurements of diffusion current at ring electrodes of various dimensions and compare the experimentally observed transients with those predicted from the integral equation method.
Long-term Outcomes in Youths with Diabetes Mellitus

In this article, the author reviews the long-term outcomes and their precursors of type 1 diabetes starting in youth. The author also contrasts the changing incidence of these long-term complications as we have moved from the pre-Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) to the post-DCCT standard of care and reviews the emerging data related to complications in youths with type 2 diabetes. Finally, the author reviews the recent understanding related to the effects of diabetes on the brain and cognition.
Adaptive Control of a Pilot Scale Distillation Column

A single loop adaptive controller algorithm has been successfully applied to the control of an eight plate distillation column separating a mixture of methanol and water. Computer control of loops controlling overhead and bottom composition has been implemented using a NOVA 3/12 minicomputer with 32k RAM and a disk operating system. The control algorithm is based on pole-zero placement.
An overview of methods using 13C for improved compound identification in metabolomics and natural products

Compound identification is a major bottleneck in metabolomics studies. In nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) investigations, resonance overlap often hinders unambiguous database matching or de novo compound identification. In liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), discriminating between biological signals and background artifacts and reliable determination of molecular formulae are not always straightforward. We have designed and implemented several NMR and LC-MS approaches that utilize (13)C, either enriched or at natural abundance, in metabolomics applications. For LC-MS applications, we describe a technique called isotopic ratio outlier analysis (IROA), which utilizes samples that are isotopically labeled with 5% (test) and 95% (control) (13)C. This labeling strategy leads to characteristic isotopic patterns that allow the differentiation of biological signals from artifacts and yield the exact number of carbons, significantly reducing possible molecular formulae. The relative abundance between the test and control samples for every IROA feature can be determined simply by integrating the peaks that arise from the 5 and 95% channels. For NMR applications, we describe two (13)C-based approaches. For samples at natural abundance, we have developed a workflow to obtain (13)C-(13)C and (13)C-(1)H statistical correlations using 1D (13)C and (1)H NMR spectra. For samples that can be isotopically labeled, we describe another NMR approach to obtain direct (13)C-(13)C spectroscopic correlations. These methods both provide extensive information about the carbon framework of compounds in the mixture for either database matching or de novo compound identification. We also discuss strategies in which (13)C NMR can be used to identify unknown compounds from IROA experiments. By combining technologies with the same samples, we can identify important biomarkers and corresponding metabolites of interest.
Trajectories of self-perceived math ability, utility value and interest across middle school as predictors of high school math performance

Although many studies have documented developmental change in mathematics motivation, little is known about how these trends predict math performance. A sample of 288 participants from the United States reported their perceived math ability, math utility value and math interest in 5th, 7th and 9th grades. Latent growth curve models estimated developmental trajectories in each of these constructs. Mathematics interest and utility value decreased across time, but there was no significant change in self-perceived math ability. Slopes and intercepts of all mathematics motivation variables correlated with one another. Even when controlling for prior mathematics performance, students who self-reported high math ability in 5th grade had higher standardised test scores than their peers in high school five years later. Neither math utility value nor math interest intercepts or slopes predicted later performance. Understanding the predictors of math performance is important for supporting students’ success in scien...
Differences in neural activity when processing emotional arousal and valence in autism spectrum disorders

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) often have difficulty recognizing and interpreting facial expressions of emotion, which may impair their ability to navigate and communicate successfully in their social, interpersonal environments. Characterizing specific differences between individuals with ASD and their typically developing (TD) counterparts in the neural activity subserving their experience of emotional faces may provide distinct targets for ASD interventions. Thus we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and a parametric experimental design to identify brain regions in which neural activity correlated with ratings of arousal and valence for a broad range of emotional faces. Participants (51 ASD, 84 TD) were group-matched by age, sex, IQ, race, and socioeconomic status. Using task-related change in blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) fMRI signal as a measure, and covarying for age, sex, FSIQ, and ADOS scores, we detected significant differences across diagnostic groups in the neural activity subserving the dimension of arousal but not valence. BOLD-signal in TD participants correlated inversely with ratings of arousal in regions associated primarily with attentional functions, whereas BOLD-signal in ASD participants correlated positively with arousal ratings in regions commonly associated with impulse control and default-mode activity. Only minor differences were detected between groups in the BOLD signal correlates of valence ratings. Our findings provide unique insight into the emotional experiences of individuals with ASD. Although behavioral responses to face-stimuli were comparable across diagnostic groups, the corresponding neural activity for our ASD and TD groups differed dramatically. The near absence of group differences for valence correlates and the presence of strong group differences for arousal correlates suggest that individuals with ASD are not atypical in all aspects of emotion-processing. Studying these similarities and differences may help us to understand the origins of divergent interpersonal emotional experience in persons with ASD. Hum Brain Mapp 37:443-461, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Adjuvant irradiation after radical prostatectomy for adenocarcinoma of prostate: Analysis of freedom from psa failure

A total of 84 consecutive men with extracapsular disease after radical prostatectomy who received postoperative irradiation and no adjuvant endocrine therapy were analyzed. Failure was defined as the development of clinical disease recurrence either locally or at a distant site, the development of detectable prostate-specific antigen (PSA) when postoperatively it had been undetectable, or any rise in PSA when postoperatively it still had been detectable. Sixteen of the 84 men had nodal disease. Overall, five-year actuarial freedom from relapse was 60 percent. For node-negative men, it was 64 percent and for node-positive men 43 percent. For the 68 men with pathologic Stage T3N0 disease, five-year freedom from relapse was 73 percent when seminal vesicles were negative and 43 percent when involved. Tumor grade also predicted the likelihood of recurrence. In a multivariate analysis the time interval from surgery to radiation and the level of postoperative PSA (detectable versus undetectable) did not influence the likelihood of relapse nor the median time to relapse. Fourteen separate patients treated with radiation alone for palpable tumor recurrence were also analyzed. Fewer than 40 percent were disease-free only two years after irradiation. We conclude that when treatment failure is defined in biochemical as well as clinical terms postoperative irradiation reduces the rate of relapse at five years relative to recently reported series in which adjuvant irradiation was not given. The additional morbidity is low. Whether or not this will translate into an overall cause-specific survival gain is currently unclear.
Basement membrane and interstitial collagen content of whole animals and tissues

Summary A method for estimating total basement membrane collagen in whole animals or tissues was based on measuring 3-hydroxyproline and 4-hydroxyproline of samples. Basement membrane collagen is 1% or less of total mouse collagen, but is a substantial fraction of kidney cortex collagen. In agreement with earlier analysis by a different method, total mouse collagen is 2–3% of wet weight.
Computer conferencing and task-oriented decisions: implications for group decision support

Abstract An experiment was used to compare the impact of two very different communication modes during task-oriented group decision making activities. Subjects completed a task-oriented decision making activity using either face-to-face (simultaneous) or computer conferencing (nonsimultaneous) communication modes. Each subject had insufficient task information. Hence, subjects had to share task information for the group to reach a decision. The study used a temporal theoretical framework. The independent variable was communications mode. The temporal dependent and intervening variables consisted of the amount of information shared; the significance and comprehensiveness of the shared information; and, perception of progress made towards goal and freedom to participate. Communication quality was the outcome dependent variable. Data collection consisted of tape recorded sessions, computer generated transcripts, task questionnaires, and interviews.
COMPARISONS OF STRUCTURAL Fe REDUCTION IN SMECTITES BY BACTERIA AND DITHIONITE: AN INFRARED SPECTROSCOPIC STUDY

The reduction of structural Fe in smectite is mediated either abiotically, by reaction with dithionite, or biotically, by Fe-reducing bacteria. The effects of abiotic reduction on clay-surface chemistry are much better known than the effects of biotic reduction. Since bacteria are probably the principal agent for mediating redox processes in natural soils and sediments, further study is needed to ascertain the differences between biotic and abiotic reduction processes. The purpose of the present study was to compare the effects of dithionite (abiotic) and bacteria (biotic) reduction of structural Fe in smectites on the clay structure as observed by infrared spectroscopy. Three reference smectites, namely, Garfield nontronite, ferruginous smectite (SWa-1), and Upton, Wyoming, montmorillonite, were reduced to similar levels by either Shewanella oneidensis or by pH-buffered sodium dithionite. Each sample was then analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Parallel samples were reoxidized by bubbling O2 gas through the reduced suspension at room temperature prior to FTIR analysis. Redox states were quantified by chemical analysis, using 1, 10-phenanthroline. The reduction level achieved by dithionite was controlled to approximate that of the bacterial reduction treatment so that valid comparisons could be made between the two treatments. Bacterial reduction was achieved by incubating the Na-saturated smectites with S. oneidensis strain MR-1 in a minimal medium including 20 mM lactate. After redox treatment, the clay was washed four times with deoxygenated 5 mM NaCl. The sample was then prepared either as a self-supporting film for OH-stretching and deformation bands or as a deposit on ZnSe windows for Si-O stretching bands and placed inside a controlled atmosphere cell also fitted with ZnSe windows. The spectra from bacteria-treated samples were compared with dithionite-treated samples having a similar Fe(II) content. The changes observed in all three spectral regions (OH stretching, M2-O-H deformation, and Si-O stretching) for bacteria-reduced smectite were similar to results obtained at a comparable level of reduction by dithionite. In general, the shift of the structural OH vibration and the Si-O vibration, and the loss of intensity of OH groups, indicate that the bonding and/or symmetry properties in the octahedral and tetrahedral sheets changes as Fe(III) reduces to Fe(II). Upon reoxidation, peak positions and intensities of the reduced smectites were largely restored to the unaltered condition with some minor exceptions. These observations are interpreted to mean that bacterial reduction of Fe modifies the crystal structures of Fe-bearing smectites, but the overall effects are modest and of about the same extent as dithionite at similar levels of reduction. No extensive changes in clay structure were observed under conditions present in our model system.
Nonsimilar second order viscoelastic boundary layer flow at a stagnation point over a moving wall

Abstract An analysis is presented to investigate the fluid dynamic characteristics of a steady, laminar second order viscoelastic boundary layer flow at a two-dimensional stagnation point over a moving wall. The governing boundary layer equations have been solved by means of a series solution approach. Numerical solutions for the series functions have been given in tabular form. The development of the velocity distribution has been illustrated for several positive and negative values of the wall velocity. The values of the Weissenberg numbers ranged from 0 to 0.3.
“I’m Ready to Eat and Grab Whatever I Can Get”: Determinants and Patterns of African American Men’s Eating Practices

This article examines determinants and patterns of African American men's dietary practices. Thematic content analysis was used to analyze data from nine exploratory focus groups conducted with 83 urban, middle-aged and older African American men from southeast Michigan. The men distinguished between healthy and unhealthy foods and "meals" versus other instances of eating. Eating patterns and content differed depending on the meal, work and family schedules, food availability, and whether it was a weekday or weekend. When eating alone or outside the home, men prioritized convenience and preferences for tasty, unhealthy foods. Men often reported skipping breakfast or lunch and grabbing snacks or fast food during the day. They emphasized sharing dinner with their spouses and families-usually a home-cooked, "healthy" meal. On weekends, spouses often cooked less and men snacked and dined out more frequently. Sunday dinners involving favorite, unhealthy comfort foods were the highlight of men's eating practices. African American men tended not to follow healthy eating recommendations because of their busy lives, reliance on spouses to prepare food, and preferences for unhealthy foods. These findings suggest that healthy eating interventions must consider how the contexts of African American men's lives shape their eating practices.
Modeling black bear population dynamics in a human-dominated stochastic environment

a b s t r a c t Many large carnivore populations exist in human-influenced stochastic environments where availabil- ity of natural food sources vary annually and anthropogenic food sources can supplement energetic demands, but at a potential demographic cost due to human-wildlife conflict and subsequent conflict management. Understanding how these competing factors influence a population is complex and dif- ficult to study, but here we demonstrate the utility of using a stochastic projection matrix model and perturbation analysis to gain insight into this problem. We modeled a black bear population subjected to stochastic failures of fruiting and masting species, but with access to garbage in urban environments. We parameratized our model with data from a 6-year study on black bears in Aspen, Colorado and data synthesized from other research studies. Using computer simulation, we investigated the effect that dif- ferent levels of conflict-bear removal can have on a bear population by comparing a "reference" scenario where bears did not benefit from human food sources or experience conflict-bear removals with two urban scenarios where bears had varying access to human foods, but conflict bears were removed. We used perturbation analyses to evaluate consequences for changing population vital rates and to estimate the impact each vital rate change had on population growth. Simulations were used to identify how much variation in each vital rate influenced variation in the population growth rate. We identified the survival rate of breeding adult females during good natural food years as having the highest elasticity value. We found that the benefit of increased cub production from available human food sources during natural food failure years was quickly negated if management of conflict bears through removal reduced adult female survival. Increasing the frequency of years when natural food production fails resulted in dis- proportionate impacts from available urban food and conflict-bear removals, where population growth rates in a High Removal scenario declined 1.5 times faster than in the reference scenario. Our findings suggest that for regions where changing climates will increase the frequency of natural food failures, man- agers may need to utilize non-lethal practices in managing conflict bears and municipalities will need to secure human food sources to reduce the need for conflict-bear removals and potential population declines.
Inhibition of growth of thrombus on fresh mural thrombus. Targeting optimal therapy.

BACKGROUND Residual mural thrombus on severely damaged arterial wall is very thrombogenic. We tested the hypothesis that direct thrombin inhibition will block thrombus growth on fresh thrombus better than indirect thrombin inhibition, cyclooxygenase inhibition, or both. METHODS AND RESULTS A fresh mural thrombus was formed by directly perfusing fresh porcine blood for 5 minutes over severely damaged arterial wall at a high shear rate in a well-characterized ex vivo perfusion system. The average platelet (P) and fibrinogen (F) deposition (D) achieved in 5 minutes were 382 +/- 32 x 10(6) platelets/cm2 and 296 +/- 36 x 10(12) fibrinogen molecules/cm2, respectively. Thrombus growth on the fresh mural thrombus was quantitated by directly perfusing blood from pigs with 111In-labeled platelets and 125I-labeled fibrinogen for an additional 5 minutes over the preformed mural thrombus. Treatment included recombinant hirudin (1 mg/kg per hour IV) as a probe for thrombin, aspirin (5 mg/kg IV) as a platelet inhibitor of cyclooxygenase, heparin (moderate, 100 IU/kg per hour IV; high-dose, 250 IU/kg per hour IV) as an indirect thrombin inhibitor, and heparin (100 IU/kg per hour) plus aspirin (5 mg/kg IV). Thrombus growth as measured by labeled PD (x 10(6)/cm2) and FD (x 10(12) molecules/cm2) was mildly but not significantly reduced by aspirin (1034 +/- 92 and 436 +/- 78, respectively) compared with baseline (1113 +/- 67 and 545 +/- 52, respectively). Inhibition of thrombus growth with heparin was dose dependent. A regression analysis showed an inverse correlation of PD and FD with mean plasma heparin concentrations (r = -.81, P = .0001 and r = -.49, P = .0007, respectively). Recombinant hirudin led to a profound inhibition of thrombus growth (PD, 30 +/- 12; FD, 109 +/- 21), which was significant compared with all groups, even the highest dosage of heparin (250 IU/kg per hour). CONCLUSIONS Specific thrombin inhibition markedly inhibits platelet and fibrinogen deposition onto fresh mural thrombus at a high shear rate. Aspirin alone or in combination with heparin has little effect on evolving thrombosis. Heparin dose dependently reduces thrombus growth, but even the highest dosage is less effective than hirudin. Thrombin appears to be the primary activator of platelets by fresh thrombus.
Effect of APB Microsegregation on the Strength of Ni3Al with Ternary Additions

Solid solution strengthening for stoichiometric and non-stoichiometric alloys is studied using a microscopic model that takes into account the micro-segregation of the alloying additions and of the host atoms to antiphase boundaries. Experimental results for four ternary intermetallic compounds, Ni-Al-Si, Ni-Al-Ti, Ni-Al-Hf and Ni-Al-V, are analyzed in the light of the theoretical model. It is found that the athermal increment of yield strength for both stoichiometric and non-stoichiometric alloys can be explained using solid solution strengthening theory provided that the local concentration at the {111} antiphase boundaries between superpartial dislocations is used.
Human Values and Marijuana Use

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between prioritized rankings of human values among persons who either use or do not use marijuana. Discriminant analyses indicated that personal values are more important to marijuana users, while social values are more important to nonusers. Based upon the present study and previous research, the existence of a value orientation predisposing some individuals toward substance experimentation and use is suggested.
Aspirin use among adults with diabetes: recent trends and emerging sex disparities.

Background Despite high cardiovascular risk among adults with diabetes mellitus, aspirin use has been low. Methods To assess recent self-reported regular aspirin use among adults 35 years or older with diabetes, we used statewide telephone surveys conducted in 7 states in 1997 and 20 states in 1999 and 2001 including 875, 3205, and 4272 subjects in 1997, 1999, and 2001, respectively. Results Aspirin use increased from 37.5% in 1997 to 48.7% in 2001. In 2001, 74.2% (95% confidence interval [CI], 70.9%-77.5%) of diabetic adults with cardiovascular disease, but only 37.9% (95% CI, 35.1%-40.7%) of those without cardiovascular disease, used aspirin regularly, including less than 40% with diagnosed hypertension or hypercholesterolemia or who smoked. After adjusting for cardiac risk factors and socioeconomic characteristics, among those without cardiovascular disease, aspirin use was less common in women aged 35 to 49 years (adjusted rate ratio [RR], 0.35; 95% CI, 0.24-0.51) and 50 to 64 years (RR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.53-0.88) and in men aged 35 to 49 years (RR, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.43-0.85) compared with men 65 years and older. For those with diagnosed cardiovascular disease, aspirin use was lower among women (RR, 0.81 compared with men; 95% CI, 0.70-0.90) and adults younger than 50 years (RR compared with those ≥65 years, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.61-0.98). The disparity in aspirin use between men and women appeared between 1997 and 2001. Conclusions Aspirin use among adults with diabetes has increased. However, many high-risk individuals, especially women and those younger than 50 years, do not use this effective and inexpensive therapy.
The LXX Myth and the Rise of Textual Fixity

Abstract This brief study investigates the desire for a fixed textual form as it pertains to scripture in the Judean tradition. It particularly delves into this phenomenon in three early versions of the Septuagint origin myth. This paper argues that this myth is invaluable for the study of transmission and reception of scripture, as it is one of the earliest testimonies to the desire for a scriptural text to be frozen. By highlighting the ways the author of the Letter of Aristeas, Philo, and Josephus deal with the issue of textual fixity in the origin myth, this study aims to elucidate the range of opinions held by Judeans concerning the process of transmission of their holy books.
Multiple calcified deposits along the eyelid margins secondary to chronic renal failure and hyperparathyroidism

Background Corneal and conjunctival calcification have been associated with chronic renal failure and hyperparathyroidism. Corneal alterations include band keratopathy and/or limbal involvement similar to limbal girdle of Vogt. Conjunctival lesions resemble pingueculae. Lid lesions, which include calcified deposits adjacent to the meibomian gland orifices, are much less common. Case Report A 52-year-old woman came to SUNY State College of Optometry clinic with a medical history of gestational hypertension, which led to chronic kidney failure and secondary hyperparathyroidism. Slit-lamp examination revealed multiple small, white, round calcium deposits, which were found just posterior to the Meibomian gland orifices, along the superior and inferior lid margins. Conclusion Ocular calcification has been observed in patients with certain systemic diseases such as chronic renal failure, hyperparathyroidism, hypophosphonemia, sarcoidosis, hyper-vitaminosis D, and metastatic neoplasia. We present the third report of eyelid calcification associated with a systemic disease.
The role of irradiation dose and DNA content of somatic hybrid calli in producing asymmetric plants between an interspecific tomato hybrid and eggplant.

Highly asymmetric somatic hybrid plants were obtained by PEG/DMSO fusion of gamma-irradiated mesophyll protoplasts of the kanamycin-resistant (KmR+) interspecific hybrid Lycopersicon esculentum x L. pennellii (EP) with mesophyll protoplasts of Solanum melongena (eggplant, E). Elimination of the EP chromosomes was obtained by irradiating the donor genome with different doses of gamma rays (100, 250, 500, 750 and 1000 Gy). The selection of somatic hybrid calli was based on kanamycin resistance; EP and E protoplasts did not divide due to the irradiation treatment and sensitivity to kanamycin, respectively. KmR+ calli were recovered following all irradiation doses of donor EP protoplasts. The hybrid nature of the recovered calli was confirmed by PCR amplification of the NptII gene, RAPD patterns and Southern hybridizations using potato ribosomal DNA and pTHG2 probes. Ploidy levels of calli confirmed as hybrid were further analyzed by flow cytometry. Such analyses revealed that the vast majority of hybrid calli that did not regenerate shoots were 5–9n polyploids. The three asymmetric somatic hybrid plants obtained were regenerated only from callus with a ploidy level close to 4n, and such calli occurred only when the donor EP had been exposed to 100 Gy. The amount of DNA in somatic hybrid calli, from 100-Gy exposure, was found by dot blot hybridization with the species-specific probe, pTHG2, to be equivalent with 3.1–25.8% of the tomato genome. Thus, DNA contained in 3.8–13.2 average-size tomato chromosomes was present in these hybrid calli. The asymmetric somatic hybrid plants had the eggplant morphology and were regenerated from one hybrid callus that contained an amount of tomato DNA equivalent to 6.29 average-size tomato chromosomes.
Reading disability, perceptual continuity, and phi thresholds.

Birch and Kephart hold contradictory views regarding the intactness of visual form perception in disabled readers. Although Birch's techniques demonstrate form discrimination, they do not necessari...
NONUNIQUENESS AND SINGULAR RADIAL SOLUTIONS OF SYSTEMS OF CONSERVATION LAWS

Abstract The case of a radial initial state for a family of hyperbolic systems of conservation laws with several spatial dimensions is considered. It will be shown that the singularity at the origin introduces multiple solutions outside of the traditional admissible classes.
Human collagen gene COL5A1 maps to the q34.2→q34.3 region of chromosome 9, near the locus for nail-patella syndrome

Type V collagen is a fibrillar collagen that is widely distributed in tissues as a minor component of extracellular matrix and is usually composed of one pro alpha 2 (V) and two pro alpha 1 (V) chains. In this report, recently isolated cDNA and genomic clones, which encode the pro alpha 1 (V) chain, are used as probes for hybridization to filter-bound DNA from a panel of human-mouse hybrid cell lines and for in situ hybridization to metaphase chromosomes. These studies establish the chromosomal location of the COL5A1 gene, which encodes the pro alpha 1 (V) chain, within segment 9q34.2----q34.3. These findings add to the previously characterized dispersion of collagen genes in the human genome, as this is the first example of a collagen locus on chromosome 9. In addition, these studies place COL5A1 near the locus for the genetic disorder, nail-patella syndrome (hereditary osteo-onychodysplasia), which also maps to 9q34.
"Professionalization" and "confessionalization": the place of physics, philosophy, and arts instruction at Central European academic institutions during the Reformation era.

During the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, physics was regularly taught as part of instruction in philosophy and the arts at Central European schools and universities. However, physics did not have a special or privileged status within that instruction. Three general indicators of this lack of special status are suggested in this article. First, teachers of physics usually were paid less than teachers of most other university-level subject-matters. Second, very few Central European academics during this period appear to have made a career out of teaching physics. And third, Reformation Era schools and universities in Central Europe emphasized language instruction; such instruction not only was instrumental in promoting the confessional-i.e., Calvinist, Lutheran, and Roman Catholic-agendas of those same schools and universities, but also helped to prepare students for service in nascent but growing state governments.
Urban adolescents' constructions of supports and barriers to educational and career attainment.

This study presents the educational and career goals and perceptions of supports and barriers related to these goals as described in semistructured interviews of 16 students from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds attending 9th grade at an urban public high school in a large Northeastern city. Using consensual qualitative research (CQR) methodology (C. E. Hill et al., 2005), the authors identified categories and subcategories to students' perceptions of barriers and supports. The findings highlight students' understanding of how their proximal contexts serve potentially as both supports and barriers. Implications for educational and career interventions are discussed.
“A Swearing and Blaspheming Wretch”: Representations of Witchcraft and Excess in Early Modern English Broadside Balladry and Popular Song

The early modern English broadside ballad was a single-sheet tabloid publication combining poetry, decorative woodcuts, music, and embodied performance. It was through these vehicles of mass communication, and the patterned use of accompanying tunes, that Jacobean society constructed specific musical stereotypes of witches as aural excess. Through an examination of early modern theories on the efficacy of music, text, and performance, and a cross-examination of recurring popular tunes associated with broadside ballads describing witches, this article posits that early modern English witches were categorized and represented not only by their social status or gender but also by their musical habits.
Communicating with Patients about Their Medications

WE live at a time when consumers and patients want to know more about the food they consume and the drugs they take, and their appetite for information is growing. Yet the nation is also facing a c...
Wishes of Young Middle-Class Mexican-American and Anglo-American Children: Perceptions of Personal Preferences:

Since Goodenough's study ( 4 ) the contents of children's wishes have been considered as meaningful data, ecologically, psychologically and developmentally (6, 7 ) . Further, several workers (1 , 5 , 6 ) posit that even the material-oriented wishes of young children, as predicted (4 , 8) , reflect personal perceptions of high value. Ecological settings between cultures as described by Bronfenbrenner (2) may illustration of different phenomena. The studies of Boynton ( 1 ) and Gray ( I ) , with middee tz : AngloAmerican children and lower-class black children, respectively, sug est wish-related differences associated with ethnicity and socioeconomic status. Of ecologicaf interest is, then, any inquiry about whether possible cultural differences appear in the wish-related preferences of young Mexican-American and Anglo-American children from middle socioeconomic level families. The slightly modified (3 ) wish categories of Karnes and Wherry (7 ) were used to collect the categorical wish references. The wishes were obtained during an interview by asking each child individuJy. "If I gave you three wishes, any three wishes in the whole world, what would you wish for?" The nominal categories of wishes were materialistic, altruistic, personal, and $11-oriented. Demographically, t e 90 chlldren were 44 Mexican-Americans (21 boys, 23 irls M age =6.0 yr., SD= 0.4) and 46 An loAmericans (23 boys, 23 girls; M age = 6.1, 3 8 = 6.4). Socioeconomic status was estimatef by Texas State guidelines used to qualify children for school breakfast or lunch programs. The distribution of wishes across categories of the Mexican-American children was significant ( x 2 = 10.55, p .05). Comparison of the two ethnic grou s gave a difference (x2 = 15.24, p<.01) as Mexican-American children wished for to s and h n & ~ m e r i c a n children wished for pets. Between the ethnic groups there was a difzrence between the boys (x' = 17.55, p< .01) but not the girls. Although seemingly trivial, material wishes suggcsr values consistent with Piaget's theorizing (8 ) , and the wishes of the boys reflected culrural differences; for example, the effects of the extended family in MexicanAmerican culture may reduce the companionship function of pets. A logical step in research is to include a family census.
FLUORESCENT AND HISTOCHEMICAL REACTIONS IN THE RAT THYROID GLAND AT DIFFERENT STATES OF PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTIVITY11

THE present study was prompted by the recent demonstration that, in the rat, the rate of secretion of the thyroid hormone can be manipulated and controlled at will by an experimental procedure which consists of exposing the animals to different environmental temperatures and of administration of thyroxin or of the antithyroid drug, thiouracil (Dempsey and Astwood, 1943). Such an experimental method of controlling the secretion of the thyroid provides a basis for the study of the cytological counterparts of the secretory process. It has long been known that many animal tissues fluoresce when exposed to ultraviolet light. Although it has been suggested repeatedly (cf. Bernard and Welch, 1936) that studies of the fluorescence of tissues would yield important results, few attempts have been made to identify the substances responsible for the emission of light or to correlate the changes in luminosity of a given tissue in different physiological states.
Retinoic acid-induced pattern duplication in regenerating urodele limbs

Abstract The effects of varying doses of retinoic acid on forelimb regeneration in larval Ambystoma mexicanum amputated through the wrist joint and in adult Notophthalmus viridescens amputated through the basal carpals were compared. In both species, the major effect of retinoic acid was to cause the proximodistal duplication, in the regenerate, of stump segments proximal to the amputation plane. Transverse axial duplications (anteroposterior and dorsoventral) occurred in a smaller percentage of cases; these consisted of cartilage spurs in axolotls, and extra digits in newts. The frequency and magnitude of the proximodistal and (in the newt) transverse duplications were dose dependent, and the regenerating limbs were maximally sensitive to the retinoid during the period of dedifferentiation and accumulation of blastema cells. The effect of retinoic acid is exerted on cells local to the amputation surface, as shown by the fact that retinoic acid caused the proximodistal duplication of stump segments in regenerates derived from amputated distal lower arm segments grafted to the eyesocket.
Can residual lexical knowledge concern word form rather than word meaning

Abstract We described a patient with a dramatic deficit of both word comprehension and naming but with good preservation of visual pictorial semantics. On word-picture matching, his performances were slightly better than expected based on the observed lexical semantic disorder; in addition, the patient, who maintained good preservation of his underlying phonology, showed a tendency to point to the picture phonologically related to the target. In order to interpret these data, we advanced the hypothesis that the patient, in spite of his virtually complete inability to name, would be able, in a word-picture matching task, to “covertly” (i.e., preverbally) retrieve the name from the picture and to use this name to attempt a match with the phonological form of the stimulus word. This mechanism, that we called “phonological” comprehension, would allow the identification of the correct target and would explain the choice of the phonologically related foil that was sometimes selected.
Exploring chip-multiprocessors in deeply-embedded real-time computing

As an energy efficient high-performance architecture, chip multiprocessor (CMP) can be deployed in deeply-embedded real-time computing. In this essay, I propose the application of CMP in deeply-embedded real-time system. I discuss the issues to be addressed such as effective resource modeling, efficient scheduling algorithms, and energy efficient design. And the system and experiment setup to evaluate our model and algorithms will be proposed.
Infection Control Practices among Interventional Radiologists: Results of an Online Survey

Purpose To assess current infection control practices of interventional radiologists (IRs) in the context of recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Materials and Methods From November 2006 to January 2007, members of the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) were invited to participate in an anonymous, online infection control questionnaire. Results A total of 3,019 SIR members in the United States were contacted via e-mail, and 1,061 (35%) completed the 57-item survey. Of the respondents, 283 (25%) experienced a needlestick injury within the previous year, most often as a result of operator error (76%). Less than 65% reported compliance with annual tuberculosis skin testing; notably, those who received a yearly reminder were much more likely to receive annual testing than those who did not (odds ratio, 19.0; 95% CI, 12.6–28.7; P Conclusions IRs demonstrate a wide variety of infection control practices that are not in accordance with current guidelines. IRs were most likely to change infection control practice if required to do so by their own hospitals or a professional organization. SIR can play an important role in the prevention of health care–associated infection by reinforcing current infection control guidelines as they pertain to interventional radiology.
Introduction to the special section on recruiting and retaining minorities in psychotherapy research.

This article introduces a special section devoted to the issue of recruiting and retaining ethnic minorities in psychotherapy research. Although minorities make up approximately 27% of the population of the United States (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1994), the major psychotherapy studies conducted to date have been based almost exclusively on White populations. In March 1994, however, a new policy of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) mandated that women and members of ethnic minority groups be included in all NIH-funded projects involving human participants, unless a clear and compelling rationale justifies their exclusion. Knowledge about effective and culturally sensitive means of contacting, recruiting, and retaining minorities is an important resource for researchers who now wish to conduct NIH-funded studies. In the series of articles constituting this special section, strategies and advice are provided for researchers who want to recruit and retain minorities in psychotherapy research.
A Gallium Arsenide IC Pilot Line

A gallium arsenide pilot line has been established for the production of depletion-mode MESFET devices. Although the initial emphasis has been directed towards digital ICs, microwave devices can also be built on this line with the addition of submicron lithography. While the initial installed equipment capacity is 100 three inch wafers per week, the facility is sized for over 10 times that level. The pilot line will operate both as a production facility for custom and standard GaAs devices and as a foundry operation.