cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A Jewish Jesuit in the Eastern Mediterranean: Early Modern Conversion, Mission, and the Construction of Identity

In A Jewish Jesuit in the Eastern Mediterranean, Robert Clines retraces the conversion and missionary career of Giovanni Battista Eliano, the only Jewish-born member of the Society of Jesus. He highlights the lived experience of conversion, and how converts dealt with others' skepticism of their motives. Clines uses primary sources, including Eliano's personal letters, missionary reports, and autobiography, together with scholarship on conversion in the early modern Mediterranean world to illustrate how false and sincere conversion often mirrored each other in outward performance. Devout converts were not readily taken at face value and needed to prove themselves in the moment and over the course of their lifetimes. Consequently, Eliano's story underscores that the mystical, introspective nature of religious belief and the formulation of new spiritual selves came into direct confrontation with the ways in which converts needed to present themselves to others in an age of political and religious turmoil.
Compact Comparator for 2-D Monopulse Array Based on Novel Eight-Port Coupler

A compact comparator is proposed for two-dimensional (2-D) monopulse beamforming. A novel eight-port coupler is adopted as the fundamental component to generate the sum/difference ports for differential beams in two orthogonal planes. The proposed comparator has a double-layer microstrip configuration and without using T-junctions, vias, and steps on each layer. An example of 2 × 2 planar monopulse arrays working at 5.8GHz is built and simulated to verify and demonstrate the performance of 2-D sum/difference beamforming. Satisfying properties at matching, isolation, power division and phase distribution can be achieved in 10% fractional bandwidth.
Direct soil analysis by paper spray mass spectrometry: Detection of drugs and chemical warfare agent hydrolysis products

Abstract There is a significant concern about the accumulation of hazardous chemicals in the environment. Pharmaceuticals and drugs of abuse (DOA) can reach high levels in waste water and industrial or hospital effluents, for example. Another group of chemicals of concern are organophosphate compounds. Although the stockpiling and manufacture of chemical warfare agents (CWA) has substantially decreased due to the Chemical Weapon’s Convention, nerve agents continue to be used by rogue states and other actors. In this study, two paper spray MS screening procedures were developed to detect these hazardous chemicals in soil without sample preparation. Central nervous system (CNS) depressants, opiates, stimulants, and tricyclic antidepressants were included in the pharmaceutical/DOA screening method. Chemical warfare simulants and hydrolysis products were analyzed using a separate screening method which utilized polarity switching to detect positive and negative ions associated with this class of molecules. For both methods, an aliquot of soil was weighed into a well pressed against the paper spray substrate. A dual extraction/spray solvent was then applied to the soil, extracting the analytes and facilitating electrospray ionization from the paper. A quadrupole-orbitrap mass spectrometer was utilized in MS/MS mode for detection. Limits of detection for the pharmaceuticals and DOA ranged between 0.3 and 40 ng/g for three different soil types. The CWA simulants had limits of detection of 50 ng/g while the hydrolysis products were detected between 1 and 5 ng/g. In order to improve quantitative performance, an offline salting out liquid-liquid (SALLE) extraction with internal standardization was also performed.
Identifying children at high risk for infection-related decompensation using a predictive emergency department-based electronic assessment tool.

OBJECTIVES Electronic alert systems to identify potential sepsis in children presenting to the emergency department (ED) often either alert too frequently or fail to detect earlier stages of decompensation where timely treatment might prevent serious outcomes. METHODS We created a predictive tool that continuously monitors our hospital's electronic health record during ED visits. The tool incorporates new standards for normal/abnormal vital signs based on data from ∼1.2 million children at 169 hospitals. Eighty-two gold standard (GS) sepsis cases arising within 48 h were identified through retrospective chart review of cases sampled from 35,586 ED visits during 2012 and 2014-2015. An additional 1,027 cases with high severity of illness (SOI) based on 3 M's All Patient Refined - Diagnosis-Related Groups (APR-DRG) were identified from these and 26,026 additional visits during 2017. An iterative process assigned weights to main factors and interactions significantly associated with GS cases, creating an overall "score" that maximized the sensitivity for GS cases and positive predictive value for high SOI outcomes. RESULTS Tool implementation began August 2017; subsequent improvements resulted in 77% sensitivity for identifying GS sepsis within 48 h, 22.5% positive predictive value for major/extreme SOI outcomes, and 2% overall firing rate of ED patients. The incidence of high-severity outcomes increased rapidly with tool score. Admitted alert positive patients were hospitalized nearly twice as long as alert negative patients. CONCLUSIONS Our ED-based electronic tool combines high sensitivity in predicting GS sepsis, high predictive value for physiologic decompensation, and a low firing rate. The tool can help optimize critical treatments for these high-risk children.
Respite Services Utilization and Self-Rated Health of Older Family Caregivers in the United States: Differences between Young-Old and Old-Old Caregivers

This study examined the associations between respite services use and self-rated health of older family caregivers who provided eldercare; and how the age of caregivers (i.e., young-old vs. old-old...
Host-associated microbial diversity in New Zealand cicadas uncovers elevational structure and replacement of obligate bacterial endosymbionts by Ophiocordyceps fungal pathogens

Abstract Host-microbe interactions influence eukaryotic evolution, particularly in the sap-sucking insects that often rely on obligate microbial symbionts to provision deficient nutrients in their diets. Cicadas (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Cicadidae) specialize on xylem fluid and derive many essential amino acids and vitamins from intracellular bacteria or fungi (Hodgkinia, Sulcia, and Ophiocordyceps) that are propagated via transmission from mothers to offspring. Despite the beneficial role of these symbionts in nutrient provisioning, they are generally not considered to function within the gut where microbiota may play an important dietary role during insect diversification. Here, we investigate the relative impact of host phylogeny and ecology on gut microbial diversity in cicadas by sequencing 16S ribosomal RNA gene amplicons from 197 wild-collected cicadas and new mitochondrial genomes across 38 New Zealand cicada species, including natural hybrids between one species pair. We find a lack of phylogenetic structure and hybrid effects but a significant role of elevation in explaining variation in gut microbiota. Additionally, we provide evidence of Hodgkinia loss with gains of Ophiocordyceps fungal pathogens in all New Zealand cicadas examined that suggests convergent domestications of fungal pathogens. This highlights the macroevolutionary instability of obligate symbiosis and the relative importance of ecology rather than phylogeny for structuring gut microbial diversity in cicadas. Importance An unresolved question in evolutionary biology is how beneficial associations between eukaryotes and microbes impact macroevolutionary patterns. We report substantial data from natural populations that suggest the absence of macroevolutionary impacts from gut microbiota in cicadas. Instead, gut microbial diversity is better explained by elevational variation across an island landscape. Cicadas, like many insects, have obligate nutritional associations with bacteria housed in organs outside of the gut, but we show that these associations seem also to be unstable at macroevolutionary scales. We report evidence for unexpected and widespread replacement of obligate bacteria by a domesticated and formerly pathogenic Ophiocordyceps fungus representing an evolutionarily convergent pattern across the cicada phylogeny.
Partial Versus Total Omentectomy in Patients with Gastric Cancer: A Systemic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: Surgical treatment is the key to cure localized gastric cancer. There is no strong evidence that supports the value of omentectomy. Thus, a meta-analysis was conducted to compare the safety and efficiency of partial and total omentectomy in patients with gastric cancer. Methods: PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases were searched. All studies that compared total and partial omentectomy as treatments for gastric cancer were included. The primary outcomes were patients’ overall survival and disease-free survival, while the secondary outcomes were perioperative outcome and postoperative complications. Results: A total of nine studies were examined, wherein 1043 patients were included in the partial omentectomy group, and 1995 in the total omentectomy group. The partial omentectomy group was associated with better overall survival (hazard ratio: 0.80, 95% CI: 0.66 to 0.98, p = 0.04, I2 = 0%), shorter operative time, and lesser blood loss than the total omentectomy group. In addition, no statistically significant difference was observed in the number of dissected lymph nodes, length of hospital stays, complication rate, and disease-free survival. Conclusions: Our results show that, compared with total omentectomy in gastric cancer surgery, partial omentectomy had non-inferior oncological outcomes and comparable safety outcomes.
Multiple Reasons for Perceived Everyday Discrimination and All-Cause Mortality Risk Among Older Black Adults.

BACKGROUND The present study assessed whether reporting multiple reasons for perceived everyday discrimination was associated with an increased risk for all-cause mortality risk among older Black adults. METHODS This study utilized data from a subsample of older Black adults from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a nationally representative panel study of older adults in the United States. Our measure of multiple reasons for perceived everyday discrimination was based on self-reports from the 2006/2008 HRS waves. Respondents' vital status was obtained from the National Death Index and reports from key household informants (spanning 2006-2019). Cox proportional hazard models, which accounted for covariates linked to mortality, were used to estimate the risk of all-cause mortality. RESULTS During the observation period, 563 deaths occurred. Twenty percent of Black adults attributed perceived everyday discrimination to three or more sources. In demographic adjusted models, attributing perceived everyday discrimination to three or more sources was a statistically significant predictor of all-cause mortality risk (hazard ratio= 1.45; 95%, confidence interval=1.12 - 1.87). The association remained significant (hazard ratio=1.49, 95%, confidence interval=1.15 - 1.93) after further adjustments for health, behavioral, and economic characteristics. CONCLUSION Examining how multiple reasons for perceived everyday discrimination relate to all-cause mortality risk has considerable utility in clarifying the unique contributions of perceived discrimination to mortality risk among older Black adults. Our findings suggest that multiple reasons for perceived everyday discrimination are a particularly salient risk factor for mortality among older Black adults.
Permeation of polyethylene glycols across the tympanic membrane

Abstract Localized and non-invasive delivery of therapeutics across barriers in the body is challenging. Examples include the flux of drugs across the tympanic membrane (TM) for the treatment of middle ear infections, and across the round window to treat inner ear disease. With the emergence of macromolecular therapies, the question arises as to whether such delivery can be achieved with macromolecules. Here, we have used polyethylene glycols (PEGs) in solutions to investigate macromolecular permeation across the TM in the chinchilla ex vivo. As the molecular weight of PEG increased, flux across the TM decreased, with an exponential relationship between the apparent diffusion coefficient and the molecular weight of the polymers. PEG flux was further decreased if it was released from a poloxamer 407 hydrogel, and lessened with increasing hydrogel concentration. Our results provide a framework for understanding the permeation of macromolecules noninvasively across barriers.
Activation of GTPases by Dock180 Family of Proteins

Members of the Dock180 superfamily of proteins have been recently identified as novel guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEF) for Rho family of small GTPases. While conventional GEFs use a conserved DH-PH cassette for catalyzing GTP/GDP nucleotide exchange on Rho family GTPases, the Dock180 family members mediate nucleotide exchange via a novel evolutionarily conserved Docker/DHR2/CZH2 domain. The activation of distinct Rho-family GTPases by particular members of the Dock180 family have been linked to a multitude of biological processes. Based on sequence similarity, Dock180 family proteins can be broadly divided into four subfamilies, DOCK-A, DOCK-B, DOCK-C and DOCK-D, based on overall domain structure and substrate specificity. The function of proteins in DOCK-A and DOCK-B subfamilies is subject to regulation by their interacting partners such as ELMO and CrkII. In particular, the Dock180/ELMO complex functions as a bi-partite GEF for the GTPase Rac. This review discusses the features of the Dock180 family members, their regulation by binding partners and their relevance to biology.
TRENDS IN MONTHLY TEMPERATURE DEPARTURES FOR THE CONTINGUOUS UNITED STATES, 1940-1983

A temperature departure index is calculated for each month of the year for 10 regions within the contiguous United States utilizing a total of 193 sites for the 44-year period 1940 to 1983. Five-year moving averages of the index values are plotted on graphs for each region by month in an attempt to detect trends toward an increase or decrease in the occurrence of well above or well below normal monthly temperatures in recent years. Considerable regional differences are found with respect to the size and temporal trend of monthly temperature departures. For example, the Northwest and Southwest regions are often exceptions to the average national trend supporting the concept of considerable east-west differences in temperature variation patterns. Only April, June and December show increases in temperature departure index values in the most recent years for a majority of regions while the summer months of July and August do not exhibit a clear national trend. For a majority of months (January, February, Marc...
On Gödel’s Theorems on Lengths of Proofs II: Lower Bounds for Recognizing k Symbol Provability

This paper discusses a claim made by Godel in a letter to von Neumann which is closely related to the P versus NP problem. Godel’s claim is that k-symbol provability in first-order logic can not be decided in o(k) time on a deterministic Turing machine. We prove Godel’s claim and also prove a conjecture of S. Cook’s that this problem can not be decided in o(k/ log k) time by a nondeterministic Turing machine. In addition, we prove that the k-symbol provability problem is NP-complete, even for provability in propositional logic.
Intersecting signalling and transcriptional pathways in Drosophila heart specification.

TheDrosophilaheart, also called the dorsal vessel, is a linear tube consisting of two major cell types, namely cardioblasts which serve as cardiomyocytes and pericardial cells which surround its outer surface. This organ is derived from segmental clusters of cells in the dorsal mesoderm during early embryonic development. During the past few years, genetic and molecular studies have led to significant advances in our understanding of the regulatory mechanisms that pattern the early mesoderm by defining these cell clusters and ultimately specifying individual cells within them as heart progenitors. These studies established that the patterning events involve specific combinations of localized inductive signals that act in concert with mesoderm-autonomous transcription factors to achieve a progressive subdivision of the mesoderm. Some of the synergistic interactions between mesodermal transcription factors and external signalling molecules have been defined at the molecular level. With respect to the pericardial cells, the final specification steps were found to employ cell-intrinsic lineage mechanisms. Because of the many striking similarities betweenDrosophilaand early vertebrate heart development, which appear to extend to the molecular level, these insights will be of significant help in defining related events during vertebrate cardiogenesis
The social shaping of cloud computing: An ethnography of infrastructure in east St. Louis, Illinois

This paper presents findings from an ethnographic study of cloud computing in a human services organization in East St. Louis, Illinois. Previous social informatics studies have focused on the impact of computerization on urban welfare organizations. This research instead uses a “social shaping of technology” perspective to investigate the ways in which broader social, political, and economic forces shape cloud computerization and its consequences within a nonprofit organization that administers government-funded social welfare programs. The findings illustrate how the infrastructural tensions between external stakeholder demands and internal organizational needs significantly influenced a cloud computing software implementation project. In presenting this infrastructural analysis, I seek to fill a gap in the literature on the social shaping of cloud computing and its consequences in U.S. industrial suburbs, such as East St. Louis, where high rates of poverty exist.
Impurity effects on heterogeneous nucleation from the vapor: II. Cadmium on nitrogen-contaminated tungsten

Abstract Previous measurements of the thermal accommodation coefficient, mean stay time for adsorption and critical supersaturation for crystal nucleation of cadmium vapor on an atomically clean tungsten surface have been extended to the case of a tungsten surface covered with a preadsorbed layer of nitrogen. The experimental technique used is based upon the use of a small mass spectrometer to monitor the flux of vapor molecules leaving a substrate while adsorption or nucleation processes are taking place. Nitrogen contamination of the substrate resulted in incomplete thermal accommodation of vapor molecules at the substrate, reduced mean stay time for adsorption and increased critical supersaturation for nucleation. These results are explained in terms of the weaker binding of cadmium adatoms to the contaminated surface.
US telecommunications regulation: Will technology decide?

Abstract Twenty years ago, the telecommunications industry was an established regulated monopoly. But improvements in technology and reductions in costs have ripped apart the premises of natural monopoly and the economic rationale for public utility regulation. The authors review past US telecommunications policy and question the assumptions of the current search for a policy for the future. They believe that, for the industry to develop, institutions and restraints need to be removed.
Unveiling transient protein-protein interactions that modulate inhibition of alpha-synuclein aggregation by beta-synuclein, a pre-synaptic protein that co-localizes with alpha-synuclein.

Pathology in Parkinson’s disease is linked to self-association of α-Synuclein (αS) into pathogenic oligomeric species and highly ordered amyloid fibrils. Developing effective therapeutic strategies against this debilitating disease is critical and βS, a pre-synaptic protein that co-localizes with αS, can act as an inhibitor of αS assembly. Despite the potential importance of βS as an inhibitor of αS, the nature, location and specificity of the molecular interactions between these two proteins is unknown. Here we use NMR paramagnetic relaxation enhancement experiments, to demonstrate that βS interacts directly with αS in a transient dimer complex with high specificity and weak affinity. Inhibition of αS by βS arises from transient αS/βS heterodimer species that exist primarily in head- to- tail configurations while αS aggregation arises from a more heterogeneous and weaker range of transient interactions that include both head-to-head and head-to-tail configurations. Our results highlight that intrinsically disordered proteins can interact directly with one another at low affinity and that the transient interactions that drive inhibition versus aggregation are distinct by virtue of their plasticity and specificity.
Katrina as a Natech Disaster: Toxic Contamination and Long-Term Risks for Residents of New Orleans

Hurricane Katrina's impacts have been debated and discussed as resulting from either natural forces or from the failure of man-made levees. However, both the immediate (3 years) and, most important...
Characterization of a CMP-sialic acid:lactosylceramide sialyltransferase activity in cultured hamster cells.

Previous studies have shown a strong correlation bteween reduced levels of GM3 ganglioside and an increase in the oncogenic transformation of cultured cells. CMP-sialic acid: lactosylceramide sialyltransferase, which catalyzes GM3 synthesis, was characterized in cultured hamster fibroblasts (NIL-8) with respect to substrate binding, pH optimum, detergent requirements, metal ion requirements, activity during cell cycle phases and activity during cell growth phases. The apparent Km values for CMP-sialic acid and lactosylceramide were 0.16 and 0.11 mM, respectively. The enzyme required Mn2+ (15 mM) for maximal activity, but Mg2+ and Ca2+ were able to substitute to a lesser extent. Triton CF-54 (0.3%, wv) compared to other nonionic detergents gave the greatest enzyme activation, while ionic detergents inhibited the enzyme. A broad pH optimum (4.5–8.0) was obtained, with maximum activity at pH 6.5 in cacodylate-HCl buffer. No buffer effects on enzyme activity were seen. Sialyltransferase activity was found to be highest in the M and G1 phases of the cell cycle and in the contact-inhibited phase of cell growth.
Characterization of [3H]Guanine Nucleotide Binding Sites in Brain Membranes

[3H]GTP [guanosine triphosphate] and [3H]GMP-PNP [guanosine 5'-(beta, 8-imino)triphosphate, a nonmetabolized analog of GTP] have been utilized as ligands to characterize binding sites of guanine nucleotides to rat brain membranes. Binding of both [3H]GTP and [3H]GMP-PNP is saturable, with respective KD values of 0.76 and 0.42 microM. The number of binding sites for GMP-PNP (4 nmol/g) is three times greater than for GTP (1.5 nmol/g). This discrepancy is caused by rapid degradation of GTP to guanosine by brain membranes, which can be partially prevented by addition of 100 microM-ATP. The binding of [3H]guanine nucleotides is selective, with approximately equipotent inhibition by GTP, GDP, and GMP-PNP (at 0.2--1.0 microM), but no inhibition by other nucleotides at 100 microM concentrations. The bindings sites for guanine nucleotides in brain membranes appear not to be associated with microtubules, since treatments that reduce [3H]colchicine binding by 65% have no effect on [3H]GTP binding. [3H]Guanine nucleotide binding is widely distributed in various organs, with highest levels in liver and brain and lowest levels in skeletal muscle. The characteristics of these binding sites in brain show specificity properties of sites that regulate neurotransmitter receptors and adenylate cyclase.
Azimuthal AVO analysis with anisotropic spreading correction: A synthetic study

Analysis of prestack amplitude variation with offset and azimuth (often called “azimuthal AVO analysis” or “AVAZ”) is one of the most effective tools for seismic characterization of fractures and in-situ stress field. The main advantage of amplitude methods compared to traveltime inversion is their high vertical resolution that makes AVO analysis applicable to relatively thin reservoirs. Also, body-wave amplitudes are highly sensitive to seismic anisotropy and, in particular, to azimuthal velocity variations associated with vertical fracture systems and nonhydrostatic stresses.
Collecting and Using Employer-Worker Matched Data

Employer-worker matched data, data containing information about workers and their employing establishments, provide a beneficial data source for organizational sociologists. Researchers can use matched data to investigate how organizational contexts and individual attributes affect work outcomes and to identify the causal mechanisms that produce workplace inequality. This article describes three methods of collecting employer-worker matched data and the benefits and drawbacks associated with each method. I highlight how researchers can use matched data by linking each method with specific research goals. In doing so, I pay particular attention to the ways researchers can use matched data to improve our understanding of inequality in the workplace.
An exception to Darwin's syndrome: floral position, protogyny, and insect visitation in Besseya bullii (Scrophulariaceae).

Darwin pointed out that plants with vertical inflorescences are likely to be outcrossed if the inflorescence is acropetalous (flowers from the bottom up), the flowers are protandrous (pollen is dispersed before stigmas are receptive), and pollinators move upward on the inflorescence. This syndrome is common in species pollinated by bees and flies, and very few exceptions are known. We investigated flowering phenology and pollinator behavior in Besseya bullii (Scrophulariaceae) and found that it did not fit Darwin's syndrome. The vertical inflorescence was acropetalous but the flowers were distinctly protogynous, so flowers with newly receptive stigmas appeared on the inflorescence above those with dehiscing anthers. A number of small insects visited B. bullii; bees in the family Halictidae (Augochlorella striata and Dialictus spp.) were most common. When insects moved between gender phases within inflorescences, they moved up more often than down (61% versus 39% of observations, respectively) but this difference was only marginally significant. Most visits were to male-phase flowers only, and this preference was more pronounced for pollen-foraging insects than for nectar-foraging insects. B. bullii was self-compatible, so its flowering characteristics potentially could result in considerable self-pollination. However, an average of 38% of the lowermost flowers opened before any pollen was available on the same inflorescence; these “solo females” had a high probability of outcrossing (though fruit set was relatively low in the bottom portion of the inflorescence). Upper flowers may also be outcrossed because downward insect movement was not uncommon. Therefore protogyny in B. bullii may not necessarily lead to more selfing than would protandry.
Factors Affecting Nesting Success in Riparian Bird Communities

-Nest and egg successes are documented for open-nesting bird species in a variety of riparian habitats in central Iowa. In most species, nest success was higher during the nestling period than during the incubation period. Causes of nest failure in order of decreasing importance were: predation by birds, snakes, or small mammals; predation by large mammals; desertion; cowbird parasitism; natural disasters. Relationships between nesting outcome and the following variables are analyzed statistically: adult weight, date, nest height, nest concealment, vegetation form supporting the nest (support life-form), and habitat type. Nest failure resulting from predation by large mammals and parasitism by cowbirds was greater among smaller-sized birds. The percentage of nests successfully fledging young increased with nest height. Losses from natural disasters differed among the support life-forms. Relationships among the factors that may affect nesting outcome are compared statistically to determine possible interactions. Mean body weight, which differed according to nest support life-forms, decreased as the season advanced. Body weight also was inversely related to nest concealment. Concealment differed among nest supports and was greater later in the breeding season. Concealment also was inversely related to nest height. The distribution of nests in the support life-forms changed during the season. Species more generalized in selecting nest substrates had lower nest
Development Of High Reflectance Coatings For Ground-Based Astronomical Instruments

The theoretical design and experimental characteristics of multilayer coatings for astronomical telescope mirrors are described. The results show that performance superior to that of a single-layer aluminum coating should be possible.© (1982) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Pharmacokinetics and biodistribution of radiolabeled avidin, streptavidin and biotin

The extraordinary high affinity of avidin and streptavidin for biotin may be exploited in a two-step approach for delivering radiolabeled biotin derivatives suitable for imaging and therapy to target-bound streptavidin or avidin conjugated monoclonal antibodies (MAbs). The in vivo pharmacokinetics and biodistribution of radiolabeled avidin, streptavidin (SA) and DTPA-biocytinamide (DTPA-biotin) were studied in the rabbit and dog. SA circulated in the blood similar to other 60 kDa proteins, avidin cleared immediately and DTPA-biotin exhibited plasma clearance by glomerular filtration.
Epicardial propranolol administration for ventricular arrhythmias in dogs: matrix formulation and characterization.

The effect of propranolol on the prevention of ventricular tachycardia/fibrillation (VTNF) due to acute coronary ischaemia was studied in dogs. A series of propranolol-polymer controlled release matrices in slab configuration using various polyurethanes and a polyurethane-silicone rubber copolymer were formulated and characterized. In general, drug release in vitro occurred with an initial burst phase followed by an exponentially declining delivery rate; the silicone rubber containing copolymer preparation had more sustained release properties than did pure polyurethane matrices. In the animal studies, dogs underwent Shourly 10 min complete occlusions of the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD), followed by 50 min normal perfusion. During non-drug occlusions VT occurred at a frequency of 1.22 -t 0.12 episodeslmin. A propranolol-polyurethane matrix (30% w/w, 26-42 mg) was placed on the ischaemic zone of the left ventricular epicardium immediately after the fifth occlusion. After an hour of drug delivery a sixth occlusion took place. The number of arrhythmia episodes both before and after drug were quantified and compared. The time to ventricular fibrillation (when present) and the mean blood pressure were also assessed. The drug patch delivered propranolol at a dose of 140 + 45 pglkg by the conclusion of the 1 h study period. Therapeutic drug levels were achieved in the peripheral blood samples (8.7-43.7 ng/ml) and were enhanced in coronary venous samples (360.9-556.2 ng/ml). Reduction of blood pressure and proarrhythmic events following epicardial controlled release propranolol administration were noted but were not statistically significant. Arrhythmia episodes before and after propranolol were not found to be significantly different (VT/min 1.02 k 0.31 and 1.22 +_ 0.12). The occlusion time until VF occurred was also not significantly different before versus after propranolol (t = 5.38 f 0.86 and 5.28 + 0.48 min). Therefore, despite attaining clinically therapeutic plasma levels, epicardial administration of propranolol was not found to be effective for the prevention of VTNF due to acute ischaemia.
Assembly and organization of poly(3-hexylthiophene) brushes and their potential use as novel anode buffer layers for organic photovoltaics.

Buffer layers that control electrochemical reactions and physical interactions at electrode/film interfaces are key components of an organic photovoltaic cell. Here the structure and properties of layers of semi-rigid poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) chains tethered at a surface are investigated, and these functional systems are applied in an organic photovoltaic device. Areal density of P3HT chains is readily tuned through the choice of polymer molecular weight and annealing conditions, and insights from optical absorption spectroscopy and semiempirical quantum calculation methods suggest that tethering causes intrachain defects that affect co-facial π-stacking of brush chains. Because of their ability to modify oxide surfaces, P3HT brushes are utilized as an anode buffer layer in a P3HT-PCBM (phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester) bulk heterojunction device. Current–voltage characterization shows a significant enhancement in short circuit current, suggesting the potential of these novel nanostructured buffer layers to replace the PEDOT:PSS buffer layer typically applied in traditional P3HT–PCBM solar cells.
The Epidemiology of Suicide in Children and Young Adolescents

Abstract Suicidal behavior in children and adolescents was investigated using an epidemiological approach that compared different age groups. After taking into account the probable biases in suicide statistics, we conclude that the suicide rate in children has in general remained at a very low level, and secular changes in the rate of adolescent suicide may be part of a more general “cohort” effect rather than age-specific. Secular changes and cross-cultural comparisons are also discussed with respect to different etiological models of suicide, and possible “protective” factors are considered to explain the low incidence of suicide in young children.
Teachers' Schemata for Classroom Events: The Mental Scaffolding of Teachers' Thinking During Classroom Instruction.

Abstract Researchers have shown that experts and novices differ in their recall, representation, and analyses of problem situations. This study investigated whether such differences existed between novice and experienced high school teachers in their recall and analyses of problem events during interactive teaching. Experienced and inexperienced teachers (n = 10 in each group) completed cognitive ability tests and were interviewed after viewing three videotaped vignettes of interactive teaching. In contrast to novices, experienced teachers both recalled more classroom events and relied more on procedural knowledge and principles in analyzing classroom events. These differences may indicate that experienced teachers have better developed knowledge structures of “schemata” for classroom teaching than do novice teachers.
‘This place was made for pleasure not for death’: Performativity, Language, and Action in The Spanish Tragedy

Using J.L. Austin’s theory of performative language, which stands in peculiar relationship to the literary or the dramatic, this paper traces how language and action function together in specific contexts in Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy . This study seeks to answer why Kyd uses multiple languages in Hieronimo’s playlet of Soliman and Perseda , and how those languages sever the connection between word and action. No gestures can make Soliman and Perseda intelligible to the audience or to the actors in the playlet; gestures that usually mean one thing in the theatre (pretending to kill) become devoid of meaning in this deadly play-within-the-play. Hieronimo’s tongue-biting following the performance serves to punctuate the disintegration of word and action and the inability of words to effect further action.
Review: Resolution Issues in Single-Particle Reconstruction

Specific factors that affect the resolution of single-particle reconstructions are discussed. We present reconstructions of six particles (DNA-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit, alphaB-crystallin, the ribonucleoprotein vault, hepatitis A virus, adenovirus type 2, and the adenovirus type 12/alpha(v)beta5 integrin complex), which have a variety of symmetries (asymmetric to 60-fold) and a wide range of molecular masses (470 kDa to 150 MDa). In the case of icosahedral viruses, we have found that applying a "soft" mask to remove regions of disordered density improves the resolution given by the Fourier shell correlation 0.5 criterion. This masking procedure is also useful during refinement to improve the quality of the reference model and thus aid in precise alignment of the particle images. For asymmetric particles, we note that image classification, although often a necessary step to generate a first reconstruction, can limit the achievable resolution. The diameter of the particle and the available computational power can also affect the resolution, as can structural variability within the particle.
Using metaphors to investigate the personal frameworks of pre‐service science teachers as they experience a science in society course

This research presents a multiple case study investigating the personal frameworks of pre‐service science teachers as they experience a science in society course. Through examining the metaphors employed by the participants’ student experiences were illuminated. These experiences revealed shifts in frameworks over time that were more consistent with the nature of science in many ways. In addition, resilient metaphors also emerged based on ideas students had regarding science and religion. The shifts in metaphors reveal the benefits of the science in society course for shaping views about the nature of science, while the resilient metaphors highlight the need for more focus beyond the one science in society course, so that the pre‐service science teachers continue to grow professionally.
A stochastic model for the development of an AIDS epidemic in a heterosexual population.

Abstract A non-age-dependent model, describing the evolution of a bisexual population, is developed in this paper and applied to projecting an AIDS epidemic in a heterosexual population. Included in the formulation are frequency- and non-frequency-dependent rules of partnership formation as well as five states of HIV disease, affecting the probability of infection per sexual contact. Results from computer experiments, designed to study the development of an AIDS epidemic in a heterosexual population fed by single males with a 50% prevalence of HIV infection prior to becoming active in heterosexual partnerships, are reported. In these experiments, the only source of HIV infection for females was sexual contacts with infected males within partnerships. Data on the probability of infection per sexual contact with an infected partner and the number of sexual contacts per month were incorporated into the model. However, the numbers used for the initial population of singles, couples, and those becoming sexually active per month were hypothetical. Even though the prevalence of HIV infection among males entering heterosexual partnerships was high, after 30 years the projected prevalence of HIV infection among females ranged from about 10 to 15% depending in part of the expected duration of partnerships and on whether the frequency- or non-frequency-dependent model was used. In these experiments, solutions of the embedded, nonlinear, deterministic equations for the incidence of HIV infection and the cumulative number of deaths due to AIDS proved to be good measures of central tendency for the sample functions of the stochastic population process.
Patterns of Early Adherence to the Antidepressant Citalopram among Older Primary Care Patients: The Prospect Study:

Objective:Our purpose was to determine the personal characteristics associated with different patterns of adherence to the antidepressant citalopram in a primary care trial of depression management.Method:The study sample consisted of 228 adults aged 60 years and older recruited from primary care settings and who participated in a depression intervention. The intervention consisted of services of trained care managers, who offered recommendations to physicians following a clinical algorithm and helped patients with treatment adherence. Adherence to the antidepressant citalopram was measured using pill counts. We employed the latent class model to classify patients according to the pattern of adherence to citalopram over time. We examined the association of sociodemographic characteristics, depression status, cognitive status, and medical comorbidity with the resulting classes of adherence.Results:The latent class model generated three classes of adherence: known to be adherent, unknown adherence, and know...
Building resources for teaching computer architecture through electronic peer review

Electronic peer review is a concept that allows students to get much more feedback on their work than they normally do in a classroom setting. Students submit assignments to the system, which presents them to other students for review. Reviewer and author then communicate over a shared Web page, and the author has a chance to submit revised versions in response to reviewer comments. At the end of the period, the reviewer gives the author a grade. Each author gets reviews from several reviewers, whose grades are averaged. At the end of the review period, there is a final round when students grade each other's reviews. Their grade is determined by the quality of both their submitted work and their reviewing.This paper reports on our use of peer review in two computer architecture courses, a microarchitecture course and a parallel-architecture course. Students in these courses engaged in a variety of peer-reviewed tasks: Writing survey papers on an aspect of computer architecture, making up homework problems over the material covered in class, creating machine-scorable questions on topics covered during the semester, animating and improving graphics in the lecture presentations, and annotating the lecture notes by inserting hyperlinks to other Web documents. Students generally found these exercises beneficial to their learning experience, and they have provided resources that can be used to improve the course. In fact, with such a system, large classes are actually a blessing, since they produce better and more copious educational materials to be used in subsequent semesters.
Characterizations of some tape and time complexity classes of turing machines in terms of multihead and auxiliary stack automata

Several classes of multihead and auxiliary stack automata are introduced and are used to characterize some tape and time complexity classes of Turing machines.
Resonance raman scattering as a spectroscopic probe of adsorbates on metals

Abstract Measurement of the excitation-profile of the Raman scattering by an adsorbate on a smooth metal surface is a form of modulation spectroscopy which can provide information about the energies, widths and relative strengths of the valence electron excitations of the adsorbate-substrate complex that is formed, the underlying Raman scattering mechanisms, and the symmetry of the adsorbate-substrate complex, and about the deformations of the configuration coordinates in the excited state relative to the ground state. An overview is given of the electronic structure and electronic excitations of representative adsorbates on metal surfaces. The formulation of the various factors that determine the intensity of Raman scattering by adsorbates on smooth metals, and its dependence on the frequency of excitation, are discussed. The transition susceptibility for Raman scattering via two-step electronic excitation processes is formulated in terms of the nature of the electron level-vibration mode interaction. Finally, data on the Raman scattering excitation-profiles of crystal violet, malachite green and free-base phthalocyanine are presented as examples of the application of these ideas.
Diagnosis and Management of Acute HIV Infection

HIV infection starts as an acute, systemic infection, followed by a chronic period of clinical latency, usually lasting 3 to 10 years, which precedes the eventual collapse of the immune system. It is increasingly recognized that events occurring during acute HIV infection may determine the natural course of the disease. The very dynamic events of acute HIV infection provide multiple opportunities for biologic interventions, such as anti-retroviral or immune-based therapies. Similarly, the implementation of public health measures during acute HIV infection could help control epidemics or outbreaks. Many of the dramatic possibilities for intervention in acute HIV infection remain unproved, not the least because of traditional difficulty of diagnosing patients during this early period. This article reviews the natural history, pathogenesis and clinical presentation of acute HIV infection, and suggests a diagnostic and therapeutic approach to guide clinicians dealing with patients with suspected or confirmed acute HIV infection.
Ultrastructure of the neurons of the cerebral cortex.

Abstract Rat cerebral cortex prepared by osmium tetroxide perfusion was studied with the electron microscope. Two isocortical layers, the external granular and the internal pyramidal, were compared. Pyramidal neurons of layer 5 have a greater abundance of ribosomes and a more highly organized lamellar formation of granular endoplasmic reticulum than do granular neurons of layer 2. The neuronal nuclei of the external granular layer are vesicular in shape with the exception of a single indented groove of cytoplasm. Internal pyramidal neuronal nuclei are more variable in shape and a hof is present in many cells. We propose that these differences are due to increased protein synthesis by the pyramidal neuron with increased rate of transfer of RNA from nucleus to cytoplasm. Mitochondria, multivesicular bodies, agranular reticulum, dense bodies, and axosomatic synapses are seen in both layers without distinctive features in either.
A clinical and pathologic study of chronic sinusitis: The role of the eosinophil

Evidence exists that the eosinophil plays an important role in mediating injury to bronchial epithelium in chronic asthma. Here, the role of the eosinophil in chronic inflammatory disease of the paranasal sinuses was studied with tissue from patients who underwent surgery for chronic sinusitis. Paranasal tissue from patients with chronic asthma and/or allergic rhinitis was extensively infiltrated with eosinophils. Immunofluorescent studies demonstrated a striking association between the presence of extracellular deposition of major basic protein and damage to sinus mucosa. The histopathology of paranasal respiratory epithelium appeared similar to that described in bronchial asthma. These findings suggest that the eosinophil acts as an effector cell in chronic inflammatory disease of paranasal respiratory epithelium. Thus, sinus disease in patients with asthma may be due to the same mechanisms that cause damage to bronchial epithelium.
Astrocytes: a cellular player in Aβ clearance and degradation

Abstract Astrocytes are thought to play a protective role in Alzheimer's disease (AD) by shielding neurons from the toxic effects of extracellular senile plaques. The mechanisms involved in the recruitment of astrocytes to senile plaques are unclear, and studies examining the astrocyte response to extracellular β-amyloid (Aβ) are limited. However, recent work has shown that astrocytes migrating towards monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 become immobilized when they encounter Aβ. Once in the presence of Aβ, astrocytes can internalize and degrade it. It is possible that this proposed function for astrocytes is inactivated or overwhelmed in AD.