cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
On-chip supercontinuum light source integrated broadband photonic sensors (Conference Presentation)

Chalcogenide glasses, amorphous compounds containing the chalcogens S, Se, or Te, are emerging as ideal materials for nonlinear photonics in the infrared given their large Kerr nonlinearity, minimal two photon absorption, and exceptional broadband optical transparency. In this talk, we will discuss characterization and optimization of optical nonlinearity in chalcogenide glasses via a high-throughput screening method. We further implement the optimized nonlinear chalcogenide media to enable broadband on-chip spectroscopic sensing. Specifically, we demonstrated a supercontinuum source integrated on-chip spectroscopic sensor, where we leverage nonlinear Ge22Sb18Se60 chalcogenide glass waveguides as a unified platform for both broadband supercontinuum generation and chemical detection. This work represents an important step towards realizing a miniaturized spectroscopic sensing system based on photonic chips.
Applying Innovative Frameworks to Foster Inclusive Learning in Engineering Students

This special session is based on work we are undertaking in our NSF-funded Revolutionizing engineering and computer science Departments (RED) project. We will share our innovative and ongoing efforts to construct an inclusive curriculum, motivated by two goals: to help students develop their knowledge, skills and dispositions to engineer inclusively and to embed inclusive practices in our department, courses, and research labs. Participants will be exposed to new ways to think about, measure, and increase inclusion in engineering departments, classrooms, and research labs. This workshop is intended for a broad audience of engineering educators (e.g., faculty, academic advisors, curriculum designers, instructional developers, etc.). Given the breadth and importance of interpersonal interactions that engineers encounter in their educational and professional careers, the topics central to this session are of significance to engineering education. Material for this session is based on our NSF-funded project, Transforming for Inclusion: Fostering Belonging and Uniqueness in Engineering Education and Practice.1
Calculus and survivorship in medieval London: The association between dental disease and a demographic measure of general health.

OBJECTIVES Dental plaque is associated with a variety of systemic diseases and mortality risks in living populations. However, bioarchaeologists have not fully investigated the mortality risks associated with plaque (or its mineralized form, calculus) in the past. This study examines the relationship between survivorship and calculus in a medieval skeletal sample. MATERIALS AND METHODS Our sample (n = 1,098) from four medieval London cemeteries, c. 1000-1540 CE, includes people who died under attritional (normal) and catastrophic (famine and plague) conditions. The associations between age and the presence of dental calculus on the permanent left first mandibular molar are assessed using binary logistic regression and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. RESULTS The regression results indicate a significant negative relationship between age and calculus presence for individuals of all ages who died under normal mortality conditions and for adults who died under both normal and catastrophic conditions. Survival analysis reveals decreased survivorship for people of all ages with calculus under normal mortality conditions. Similarly, during conditions of catastrophic mortality, adult males with calculus suffered reduced survivorship compared to males without it, though there was no difference in survivorship between adult females with and without calculus. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that, as in modern populations, calculus accumulation in the inhabitants of medieval London reflects a greater risk of premature death. The evaluation of calculus, a potential measure of underlying frailty, in the context of a demographic measure of general health suggests that it might provide insights into health in past populations.
Longitudinal Associations of Binge Drinking with Interpersonal Violence Among Adolescents.

Binge drinking may be associated with adolescents’ experience of multiple types of interpersonal violence perpetration and victimization, and if so, could be a malleable intervention target to prevent interpersonal violence. The current article explores the between- and within-person associations of binge drinking (i.e., 4/5 or more drinks in a row for girls/boys) with interpersonal violence among adolescents (N = 1322, 50.3% girls/women, 88.9% White/non-Hispanic, 85.9% heterosexual, 18.6% free/reduced lunch, aged 13–19) using a longitudinal design (three waves of data collection across more than a year). Overall, adolescents who engaged in binge drinking at more time points were more likely to perpetrate sexual harassment and stalking, and more likely to be victims of stalking and dating violence. At time points when adolescents had engaged in binge drinking in the past month, they were more likely to perpetrate dating violence, less likely to perpetrate stalking, and more likely to be sexual harassment victims. Addressing binge drinking in prevention programs may reduce some forms of interpersonal violence.
Differentiating Acute Interstitial Nephritis from Acute Tubular Injury: A Challenge for Clinicians.

Background Differentiating etiologies of acute kidney injury (AKI) is critical in determining the course of care in clinical practice. For example, acute interstitial nephritis (AIN) requires withdrawal of the offending drug and immunosuppressive therapy, while acute tubular injury (ATI) does not have any disease-specific therapies. Failure to distinguish AIN from ATI in a timely manner can lead to kidney fibrosis and chronic kidney disease. In this review, we discuss current tests and novel biomarkers to distinguish ATI from AIN. Summary In a prospective cohort study of 32 participants with AIN and 41 with ATI, clinical features and current, laboratory tests did not provide sufficient distinction between the 2 subpopulations of AKI. The findings in our cohort are consistent with our review of the literature. Given the limitations of clinical features and laboratory assessments, clinical practice relies on kidney biopsy for histological diagnosis, which is not always feasible, and is associated with bleeding complications in high-risk populations. In addition, histological diagnosis is prone to sampling errors and inter-rater variability. In the interest of identifying a novel biomarker, we compared urine and plasma levels of cytokines in the Th1, Th2, and Th9 pathways, which have been implicated in the pathogenesis of AIN. Urine TNF-α and interleukin-9 were higher in AIN participants than in ATI controls and helped discriminate AIN from ATI (area under curve 0.83 [0.73-0.92]). Key Messages: Differentiation between AIN and ATI in patients with AKI using currently available tests is challenging. Urine TNF-α and interleukin-9 may help clinicians separate AIN from ATI.
Toward Improved Cloud-Phase Simulation with a Mineral Dust and Temperature-Dependent Parameterization for Ice Nucleation in Mixed-Phase Clouds

AbstractMixed-phase clouds are frequently observed in the atmosphere. Here we present a parameterization for ice crystal concentration and ice nucleation rate based on parcel model simulations for ...
Synthesis of a Time-Varying Communication Network by Robot Teams With Information Propagation Guarantees

We present a distributed control and coordination strategy to enable a swarm of mobile robots to form an intermittently connected communication network while monitoring an environment. In particular, we consider the scenario where robots are tasked to patrol a collection of perimeters within a workspace and are only able to communicate with one another when they move into each other's communication range as they move along their respective perimeters. We show how intermittent connectivity can be achieved as each robot synchronizes its speed with robots moving along neighboring perimeters. By ensuring future rendezvous between robot pairs, the team forms a time-varying communication network where information can be successfully transmitted between any pair of robots within some finite period of time. We show how the proposed strategy guarantees a $\tau$ -connected network for some finite $\tau >0$ and provide bounds on the time needed to propagate information throughout the network. Simulations are presented to show the feasibility of our strategy and the validity of our approach.
The Yiddish Art Theatre in Paris after the Holocaust, 1944–1950

Almost as soon as Paris was liberated from Nazi Occupation on 25 August 1944, Yiddish actors took back the stages on which they had once performed. In fact, on 20 December 1944, while war and the Holocaust still raged, a small cohort of actors produced what they advertised in the Naye prese as the “first grand performance by the ‘Yiddish folks-bine.’” This performance was to take place at the four-hundred-seat Theâtre Lancry, a performance space located in Paris's 10th arrondissement, not far from the Place de la Republique and the Marais. “Lancry,” as it was known, had played host to Yiddish theatre as early as 1903 and, during the interwar years, it was the center of Parisian Yiddish cultural activity: dozens of theatre performances occurred there and it was where the Kultur-lige pariz was based, among other institutions. During the postwar years, it also went by the name Theâtre de la Republique after 1947 and Theâtre du Nouveau-Lancry after 1951, but many still referred to it simply as “Lancry.”
Modifications to established fiber methods may be required to quantify cellulose from flow aids in grated Parmesan cheese

Abstract Reliable detection and quantification of flow-aid concentrations in grated cheese is warranted for both quality assurance and to prevent fraud, yet no official method exists. This study evaluated enzymatic–gravimetric methods that quantify insoluble dietary fiber, as well as near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR), for their suitability to measure cellulose and flow-aid concentrations in ground Parmesan with known amounts of commercial flow-aid preparations. The range of flow-aid concentrations spanned 0 to 5.01 g/100 g of cheese, corresponding to 0 to 1.39 g/100 g of cellulose. Use of the total dietary fiber assay, with or without modifications, consistently overestimated flow-aid concentrations by formation of aggregates that were presumably difficult to digest. Increasing protease amounts reduced but did not eliminate this issue. In contrast, the integrated dietary fiber assay and NIR spectroscopy were suitable methods for quantification of cellulose and flow aid. However, analyzing control cheeses without flow aid proved difficult with both methods. For these samples, the integrated dietary fiber assay and NIR spectroscopy calibrated for cellulose gave higher than actual values with poor precision (0.50 ± 0.36 and 0.38 ± 0.22 g/100 g, respectively). However, NIR calibrations for flow aid (which also contained starch), instead of cellulose, specifically yielded more accurate results for samples with 0 g/100 g of flow aid (0.06 ± 0.14 g/100 g). In general, prediction of higher concentrations of flow aid via NIR spectroscopy had lower accuracy than with the integrated dietary fiber assay; however, results obtained via NIR spectroscopy had lower variability. The total dietary fiber assay always overestimated cellulose in ground Parmesan, and further modifications are necessary to obtain accurate results. Differences between the pH at which protein digestion occurs (lower for the integrated dietary fiber assay than the total dietary fiber assay) may have contributed to differences in results.
Preventing the Spread of COVID-19 in Immigration Detention Centers Requires the Release of Detainees.

Immigration detention centers are densely populated facilities in which restrictive conditions limit detainees' abilities to engage in social distancing or hygiene practices designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19. With tens of thousands of adults and children in more than 200 immigration detention centers across the United States, immigration detention centers are likely to experience COVID-19 outbreaks and add substantially to the population of those infected.Despite compelling evidence indicating a heightened risk of infection among detainees, state and federal governments have done little to protect the health of detained im-migrants. An evidence-based public health framework must guide the COVID-19 response in immigration detention centers.We draw on the hierarchy of controls framework to demonstrate how immigration detention centers are failing to implement even the least effective control strategies. Drawing on this framework and recent legal and medical advocacy efforts, we argue that safely releasing detainees from immigration detention centers into their communities is the most effective way to prevent COVID-19 outbreaks in immigration detention settings. Failure to do so will result in infection and death among those detained and deepen existing health and social inequities. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print November 19, 2020: e1-e5. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2020.305968).
Successful management of enterocutaneous fistula in a preterm infant by a simple negative pressure wound therapy technique

Abstract Enterocutaneous fistula (ECF) is a serious complication with problems of nutritional maintenance, infection control and wound management. A preterm baby (birth weight 690g) developed ECF after surgery for necrotizing enterocolitis. Conservative treatments including parental nutrition and wound care were ineffective initially, until negative pressure wound therapy technique (a colostomy bag and a suction tube connected to negative pressure) was applied. Among the various beneficial effects of negative pressure wound therapy, we believe the most obvious one is the rapid removal of the corrosive intestinal fluid from the wound.
Rate Versus Rhythm Control in Heart Failure Patients with Post-Operative Atrial Fibrillation After Cardiac Surgery.

Abstract Background Whether rhythm control for post-operative atrial fibrillation after cardiac surgery (POAF) is superior to rate control in patients with heart failure or systolic dysfunction (HF) is not known. Methods We performed a post-hoc analysis of a trial by the Cardiothoracic Surgical Trials Network, which randomized patients with POAF after cardiac surgery to rate control or rhythm control with amiodarone/cardioversion. We assessed subgroups of trial participants defined by heart failure/cardiomyopathy history or left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) Results Of 523 subjects with POAF after cardiac surgery, 131 (25%) had HF. 49% of HF patients were randomized to rhythm control. In HF patients, rhythm control was associated with less atrial fibrillation within the first 7 days. There were no differences in rhythm at 30- and 60-day follow-up. In the HF group, there were significantly more subjects with AF Conclusion Rhythm control for HF patients with POAF after cardiac surgery increases early restoration of sinus rhythm. Rate and rhythm control are both reasonable for HF patients with AF after cardiac surgery
An aniline-substituted bile salt analog protects both mice and hamsters from multiple Clostridioides difficile strains.

Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) is the major identifiable cause of antibiotic-associated diarrhea. The emergence of hypervirulent C. difficile strains has led to increases in both hospital- and community-acquired CDI. Furthermore, CDI relapse from hypervirulent strains can reach up to 25%. Thus, standard treatments are rendered less effective, making new methods of prevention and treatment more critical. Previously, the bile salt analog CamSA was shown to inhibit spore germination in vitro and protect mice and hamsters from C. difficile strain 630. Here, we show that CamSA was less active at preventing spore germination of other C. difficile ribotypes, including the hypervirulent strain R20291. Strain-specific in vitro germination activity of CamSA correlated with its ability to prevent CDI in mice. Additional bile salt analogs were screened for in vitro germination inhibition activity against strain R20291, and the most active compounds were tested against other strains. An aniline-substituted bile salt analog, (CaPA), was found to be a better anti-germinant than CamSA against eight different C. difficile strains. In addition, CaPA was capable of reducing, delaying, or preventing murine CDI signs in all strains tested. CaPA-treated mice showed no obvious toxicity and showed minor effects on their gut microbiome. CaPA's efficacy was further confirmed by its ability to prevent CDI in hamsters infected with strain 630. These data suggest that C. difficile spores respond to germination inhibitors in a strain-dependent manner. However, careful screening can identify anti-germinants with broad CDI prophylaxis activity.
Allergy and Allergic Disorders: Homeopathic Leaders

During the nineteenth century, allergic diseases were considered rare, but the medical community eventually recognized their increasing frequency. The etiology of hay fever was not known until 1873, when the British homeopath, Charles Blackley, showed grass pollen to be the cause. His finding was the result of many years’ careful research, done virtually alone. He also conducted some of the first skin sensitization tests and proved that homeopathic dilutions of pollen could evoke symptoms of hay fever. In 1884, an American homeopath, Charles Millspaugh, used dilutions of ragweed to successfully desensitize patients long before the technique was applied by regular physicians. In the 1890s, Emil von Behring experimented with homeopathic dilutions of tetanus antitoxin. Later homeopathic figures include Grant Selfridge, who founded a professional society that eventually evolved into the American Academy of Allergy, and David Reilly, who demonstrated in repeated double-blind trials that homeopathic immunotherapy was more effective than a placebo.
Assessment of Organizations

Social workers are better trained to assess clients and their families than they are equipped to assess the public or nonprofit human service organizations in which they work. This chapter is designed to equip practitioners with multiple perspectives with which to assess their workplaces and inform decision making inside and outside the organization. Using a systems framework, human service organizations can be assessed from four different points of view: direct service workers, middle and senior managers, external funders, and clients. The systems perspective provides a framework for assessing the reciprocal interaction between all four perspectives and how staff members interact and adapt to the changing external factors related to clients and funders. These four different perspectives provide the foundation for a comprehensive assessment of an organization. Keywords: organizational assessment; systems perspective; organizational environment
A window on the USSR: Soviet diplomatic press releases

Abstract The Soviet diplomatic representations to the United States issue two press release publications. These documents are used as a forum to publicize official statements of the Soviet leadership and to gain American acceptance of Soviet views. Their commentaries on U.S./USSR relations or world events permit researchers a glimpse into unmediated Soviet thinking. This article analyzes the press releases over a two-year period (1985–1986) and recommends the acquisition of the Soviet Embassy's press releases by libraries supporting studies on the Soviet Union.
The Junior Files: File 1, English for Today and Tomorrow. Elite Olshtain, Tamar Feuerstein, Miriam Schcolnik, and Binnie Zerach

U File 1: English for Today and Tomorrow is the second book in a series of four student workbooks designed for intermediate-level secondary school ESOL students. It provides an innovative approach to language learning for adolescents, focusing on the development of reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills. The book is well laid out and visually attractive. Its contemporary style artwork enhances its appeal to adolescents. This book incorporates individual, pair, and group activities designed around interesting themes such as dreams, solving mysteries, biographies, interviewing, memories, inventions, vacation in space, school, friends, family. The activities often revolve around reading passages, games, puzzles, pictures or questionnaires. Each chapter contains labeled sections (Read, Write, Listen, Share, Think and Decide, Understand, and Remember) indicating the focus of each activity. A section called Notice is used to focus the learner's attention on a particular structure or other linguistic convention. These activities are presented creatively and humorously with the hope of enhancing students' motivation through the use of funny stories, drawings, and cartoons, though some of the choices to be responded to are a bit silly. The authors attempt to accommodate different learning styles and cognitive abilities of students by incorporating a variety of activities: discovery learning, "fun" activities, formal instruction, drill and practice, hypothesis testing, a large number of comprehension skills and strategies, and a variety of opportunities for active production. File 1 also provides communicative formats such as information gap and role-play activities and integrates linguistic functions such as praising, criticizing, and requesting throughout the text. File 1 attempts to get away from a traditional approach to grammar by avoiding contrived use and encouraging natural use in real situations. A variety of structures are introduced as they are needed in particular themes and situations in each unit. The authors attempt to present authentic material that will trigger "real-life" information from the students' own world.
Treating obesity. Lost cause or new opportunity

OBJECTIVE To review therapies for treating obese patients. QUALITY OF EVIDENCE Advice in this paper is based mainly on the results of randomized controlled trials. Some data from smaller, more physiologic studies are included. When appropriate, advice is based on consensus. MAIN MESSAGE Recent medical evidence indicates that a modest weight loss (5% to 10%) can alleviate symptoms of obesity-related comorbidity. Treatment of obesity should be comprehensive and integrated into a multi-component approach and should involve both patients and their families. The main challenge of obesity is maintaining a reduced weight. CONCLUSION A multi-component approach to treating obesity can help make treatment less frustrating and more rewarding for patients and physicians.
pH dependency of sclerotial development and pathogenicity revealed by using genetically defined oxalate-minus mutants of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum.

Summary The devastating plant pathogen Sclerotinia sclerotiorum produces copious (up to 50 mM) amounts of oxalic acid, which, for over a quarter century, has been claimed as the pathogenicity determinant based on UV-induced mutants that concomitantly lost oxalate production and pathogenicity. Such a claim was made without fulfilling the molecular Koch's postulates because the UV mutants are genetically undefined and harbour a developmental defect in sclerotial production. Here, we generated oxalate-minus mutants of S. sclerotiorum using two independent mutagenesis techniques, and tested the resulting mutants for growth at different pHs and for pathogenicity on four host plants. The oxalate-minus mutants accumulated fumaric acid, produced functional sclerotia and have reduced ability to acidify the environment. The oxalate-minus mutants retained pathogenicity on plants, but their virulence varied depending on the pH and buffering capacity of host tissue. Acidifying the host tissue enhanced virulence of the oxalate-minus mutants, whereas supplementing with oxalate did not. These results suggest that it is low pH, not oxalic acid itself, that establishes the optimum conditions for growth, reproduction, pathogenicity and virulence expression of S. sclerotiorum. Exonerating oxalic acid as the primary pathogenicity determinant will stimulate research into identifying additional candidates as pathogenicity factors towards better understanding and managing Sclerotinia diseases.
Female rats do not develop sucrose-induced insulin resistance

In male rats, 2 wk of high-sucrose feeding results in insulin resistance and hypertriglyceridemia [Pagliassotti, M.J., P.A. Prach, T.A. Koppenhafer, and D.A. Pan. Am. J. Physiol. 271 (Regulatory Integrative Comp. Physiol. 40): R1319-R1326, 1996]. The present study aimed to determine if female rats also become insulin resistant and hypertriglyceridemic in response to high-sucrose feeding. Female Wistar rats (7 wk old) were fed either a high-sucrose diet (68% energy) (SU) or a high-starch diet (68% energy) (ST) for 3, 5, or 8 wk. In each animal, glucose kinetics were measured using [3-(3)H]glucose under basal and hyperinsulinemic conditions (insulin infusion 4.0 mU.kg-1.min-1). Body weight and basal glucose kinetics were not different between diet groups at 3, 5, or 8 wk. Glucose infusion rate (mg.kg-1.min-1) was not different between groups (3 wk: 17.7 +/- 1.6 ST, 16.6 +/- 0.9 SU; 5 wk: 16.1 +/- 0.9 ST, 15.1 +/- 2.0 SU; 8 wk: 18.3 +/- 1.9 ST, 16.1 +/- 1.5 SU). Clamp rate of glucose appearance (mg.kg-1.min-1) was also not different between diet groups (3 wk: 4.0 +/- 1.6 ST, 3.6 +/- 1.4 SU; 5 wk: 2.6 +/- 1.0 ST, 2.3 +/- 1.14 SU; 8 wk: 5.9 +/- 1.8 ST, 7.7 +/- 1.2 SU). No difference was observed in plasma and tissue triglycerides or tissue glycogen between sucrose- and starch-fed animals. We therefore conclude that female rats, in contrast to males, do not develop sucrose-induced insulin resistance and hypertriglyceridemia.
Majorana Fermion Realization of a Two-Channel Kondo Effect in a Junction of Three Quantum Ising Chains

It is shown that a junction of three critical quantum Ising chains (Delta junction) can be described as a two-channel Kondo model with a spin $S=1/2$ localized at the junction, which is composed of the respective Ising, zero energy boundary Majorana modes.
Photoelectric rocket spectra at 10 Å resolution

Spectral scans of a number of early-type stars have been made with a three-channel spectrophotometer attached to a 32 cm telescope. The telescope was pointed at the individual program stars with an accuracy of at least 20 sec of arc. The spectral resolution was 10 A over the range 1150 A to 4000 A. The data were recorded in digital form and processed in a computer.
The rheology and extrusion processing performance of wood/melamine composites

A modified melamine resin that exhibits both thermoplastic and thermoset behaviors was used as a matrix for wood plastic composites (WPCs). The thermoplastic melamine (TPM) resin exhibits a glass transition at approximately 34°C and continues to be thermally malleable until a crosslinking reaction develops with additional heating and an acid catalyst. Varying blends of TPM and wood flour were evaluated for their rheology and curing behavior using torque rheometry. WPC composites were manufactured with extrusion methods and final product properties determined. The torque rheometry results showed a highly dependent relationship of the curing behavior to the amount of wood flour utilized and temperature. Based upon the torque rheometry results, two extrusion platforms were developed to initiate the curing process; (1) cure within the die land and (2) post-cure of the extrudate. The post-cure procedure provided composites with higher mechanical properties. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 39858.
A note on shtetl definitions and the dating of the first shtetl

Consideration of two different working definitions of a shtetl, and the two different datings of the first shtetl that they produce, leads to the following conclusions. (1) The definition of a shtetl is formed by a set of criteria, one of which distinguishes it from similar settlements by providing a characteristic termed “sufficient Jewishness.” Because “sufficient Jewishness” exists in multiple forms, such as “at least 40% Jewish population,” and “the presence of certain specified institutions of religious observance,” a number of valid definitions can coexist. (2) The dating of the earliest shtetl will vary from one study to another, because it is determined by the selected definition of a shtetl used to arrive at that dating, and ultimately by the selected form of that definition's distinguishing criterion. (3) Therefore, just as more than one definition of a shtetl can coexist, each with a different form of the distinguishing criterion, so more than one valid dating of the first shtetl can coexist.
General financial equilibrium with policy interventions: a variational inequality approach

In this paper a model of general financial equilibrium with policy interventions is introduced, which yields the optimal composition of assets and liabilities in each sector's portfolio, as well as the market prices for each instrument. The policy interventions considered are taxes and price ceilings. The variational inequality formulation of the equilibrium conditions is derived and then utilized to establish existence and uniqueness properties of the solution pattern. An algorithm is proposed for the computation of the problem. Finally, the algorithm is applied to some special utility functions as numerical examples.
Hyperglycemia promotes myelopoiesis and impairs the resolution of atherosclerosis.

Summary Diabetes is a major risk factor for atherosclerosis. Although atherosclerosis is initiated by deposition of cholesterol-rich lipoproteins in the artery wall, the entry of inflammatory leukocytes into lesions fuels disease progression and impairs resolution. We show that diabetic mice have increased numbers of circulating neutrophils and Ly6-C hi monocytes, reflecting hyperglycemia-induced proliferation and expansion of bone marrow myeloid progenitors and release of monocytes into the circulation. Increased neutrophil production of S100A8/S100A9, and its subsequent interaction with the receptor for advanced glycation end products on common myeloid progenitor cells, leads to enhanced myelopoiesis. Treatment of hyperglycemia reduces monocytosis, entry of monocytes into atherosclerotic lesions, and promotes regression. In patients with type 1 diabetes, plasma S100A8/S100A9 levels correlate with leukocyte counts and coronary artery disease. Thus, hyperglycemia drives myelopoiesis and promotes atherogenesis in diabetes.
Fire behavior of concrete T-beams strengthened with near-surface mounted FRP reinforcement

Abstract This paper presents results from experimental and numerical studies on fire behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) T-beams strengthened with near-surface mounted (NSM) fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) reinforcement. Four RC T-beams, strengthened with NSM FRP reinforcement, were tested by subjecting them to ASTM E119 standard fire exposure and service load conditions. The test variables included load level, restraint conditions, and fire protection applied on the beams. Data from fire resistance experiments is utilized to validate predictions from numerical model to trace the fire response of NSM FRP strengthened concrete T-beams. Results from fire tests and numerical studies indicate that NSM FRP strengthened beams can sustain service loads for three hours under standard fire conditions, even without any external fire protection. In addition, fire induced axial restraint enhances the fire response of NSM FRP strengthened RC beams, while higher load levels lead to much larger deflections and lower fire resistance in these beams.
A Frailty Model in Crossover Studies with Time-to-Event Response Variable

In this article, we develop a model to study treatment, period, carryover, and other applicable effects in a crossover design with a time-to-event response variable. Because time-to-event outcomes on different treatment regimens within the crossover design are correlated for an individual, we adopt a proportional hazards frailty model. If the frailty is assumed to have a gamma distribution, and the hazard rates are piecewise constant, then the likelihood function can be determined via closed-form expressions. We illustrate the methodology via an application to a data set from an asthma clinical trial and run simulations that investigate sensitivity of the model to data generated from different distributions.
Some drops don't splash

The work reported in this paper shows that when a drop of water enters a pool of water two different phenomena may be observed depending upon the diameter and velocity of the entering drop. In one case the drop causes a splash and in the other case the drop coalesces with the pool without a splash and as the drop penetrates the surface it forms a vortex ring. The occurrence of the existence of the two phenomena has been characterized by a combination of the Froude number and the Reynolds number.
Design of experiments as a microwave CAD tool

With the increase in geometrical and physical complexity of microwave circuits, statistical techniques to reduce the design cycles continue to grow in importance.The objective of this article is to review the theory of a statistical design tool called the design of experiments (DOE) and discuss its utility in developing Computer-aided design models for microwave circuits. A circuit example of DOE application, pertaining to identification of dominant sources of variation in the return loss of a coplanar waveguide flip-chip interconnect package, is reviewed. An empirical design formula is developed for the return loss based on regression analysis, which demonstrates that interaction between factors cannot be neglected, as is the norm in trialanderror analysis using one factor at a time. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 52: 1020–1024, 2010; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.25133
Genetics of hearing impairment.

Our understanding of the genetics of hearing impairment (HI) has advanced rapidly during the last decade. In this review, we focus on HI due to single gene abnormalities, highlighting some of the more common causes of syndromic HI. We also outline the current state of knowledge of the genetics of non-syndromic HI. The most significant clinical advance has been the finding that mutations in GJB2 cause half of moderate-to-profound congenital hereditary deafness in many world populations. The implications of this finding for screening and genetic counseling are discussed.
A 14 MeV intense neutron source facility

Abstract The 14 MeV Intense Neutron Source facility being built at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory will use a tritium ion beam and a deuterium jet target to produce 10 15 n/s.
DESOXYPENTOSE NUCLEIC ACID SYNTHESIS DURING MICROSPOROGENESIS IN TRADESCANTIA

Abstract 1. 1. DNA-P 32 incorporation and DNA content of nuclei in various stages of Tradescantia microsporogenesis were determined by means of autoradiographs and cytophotometric measurements of the Feulgen reaction. 2. 2. The DNA content was found to follow that predicted on the basis of the “constancy hypothesis”. 3. 3. P 32 was incorporated in the DNA fraction only during those periods when the DNA content was in the process of doubling. 4. 4. DNA synthesis occurs at different specific periods characteristic for each of the succeeding sporogenic divisions: early prophase of the first meiotic division, late interphase of the microspore division and mid-interphase of the pollen division. There can thus be no generalized period in the division cycle when DNA synthesis occurs; it seems to depend on the nature of the division. 5. 5. From correlations with published X-ray breakage data, it appears that completion of DNA synthesis occurs about the time chromosomes first behave as double entities to X-rays.
Effect of various nutritional formulations on candidiasis in a hyperalimented rat

Abstract The influence of the composition of solutions infused on the outcome of catheter-related sepsis in total parenteral nutrition (TPN) has not been previously studied. This influence is of particular interest in infections caused by Candida because disseminated disease often results despite removal of the infected catheter. The relationship between the persistence of Candida in the tissues and the composition of the TPN solution infused was therefore studied in a hyperalimented rat model of disseminated candidiasis. Doses of 1.2 to 2.0 × 105 viable Candida albicans CR 1473 cells were injected into the right internal jugular vein of each of 50 rats, followed in 3 min by the placement of a Silastic catheter into the same vein. Fifteen noncatheterized rats undergoing an identical surgical procedure and challenge with Candida served as a control group. After 7 days, 35 of the 50 rats infused with standard TPN solutions and 5 of 15 control rats showed persistent tissue invasion, as indicated by kidney cultures positive for Candida. A significant correlation was observed between the mean change in body weight during the period of study and the percentage of positive kidney cultures in the rats receiving the TPN solutions. Analysis of organ counts showed that infusion of lipid or solutions containing a high concentration of glucose augmented Candida proliferation in the kidneys to a significant degree. It was concluded that the central catheter and malnutrition may contribute to the persistence of Candida in the tissues. In addition, infusion of lipid or high concentrations of glucose may enhance Candida proliferation.
Eelgrass under Arctic Winter Ice

EELGRASS (Zostera marina L.), a marine angiosperm which grows on the Pacific coast of North America from the Gulf of California to the Chukchi Sea1, has been found living under the winter sea ice in Safety Lagoon, an embayment of the Bering Sea near Nome, Alaska. A submarine television system revealed the plants to be in good vegetative condition in the 20 to 30 cm of water between the sediment and the undersurface of the ice (Figs. 1 and 2). The odour of hydrogen sulphide and subsequent tests with an oxygen probe showed this water to be anoxic.
Civil Society and Political Context in Central America

Putnam argues that civil society—citizen activity in organizations—contributes to successful governance, but he does not specify in detail how this occurs. This article spells out how citizens' participation in groups might impinge on the state through both political participation and democratic norms. The authors consider not only Putnam's social capital but add new “political capital” variables. The relationships among civil society and social and political capital are then explored, employing survey data from urban Central America. It is discovered that political context, specifically regime repression, powerfully affects civil society and social and political capital. Furthermore, civil society more clearly affects political capital variables than social capital variables.
Angina pectoris and coronary artery disease in patients with severe aortic valvular disease

Abstract We studied the clinical, hemodynamic, and angiographic findings of 90 consecutive patients with significant symptomatic aortic valve disease, 40 years of age or older, to evaluate the prevalence of angina pectoris in relation to coronary artery disease and the effect upon cardiac function. The prevalence of chest pain was 66% (typical angina, 39%; atypical chest pain, 27%), and the prevalence of coronary artery disease was 39%. The prevalence of coronary artery disease in patients with typical angina was 77%, in contrast to 25% in patients with atypical chest pain ( P = 0.001) . Only two of the 35 patients (6%) with coronary artery disease were free of chest pain. Although the incidence of coronary artery disease in patients with aortic stenosis was slightly higher than in patients with aortic regurgitation or aortic stenosis-aortic regurgitation, it was not statistically significant. Patients with aortic regurgitation and coronary artery disease had significantly lower ejection fraction than patients with aortic stenosis and coronary artery disease. There were no significant differences between ejection fraction in patients without coronary artery disease in the different groups. Patients with aortic stenosis and coronary artery disease tend to have lower mean pressure gradients than those without coronary artery disease. Patients with coronary artery disease in aortic regurgitation and aortic stenosis-aortic regurgitation tend to have higher left ventricular end-diastolic pressure. This study indicates that although patients with aortic valve disease and typical angina are most likely to have associated coronary artery disease, it is not possible to predict this disorder with accuracy by means of clinical or hemodynamic findings. Since the presence or absence of coronary artery disease in patients undergoing aortic valve replacement has prognostic and therapeutic significance, we recommend that coronary arteriography be performed in all patients with significant aortic valve disease undergoing cardiac catheterization when they present with any form of chest pain, or in patients over the age of 40 years even if no chest pain is present. Coronary arteriography would also rule out anomalous aortic origin of the coronary arteries.
Primum non nocere

COMMENTARY ON: Smuck M, Yu AJ, Tang C-T, Zemper E. Influence of needle type on the incidence of intravascular injection during transforaminal epidural injections: a comparison of short-bevel and long-bevel needles. Spine J 2010;10:367–371 ( in this issue ).
Morphogenetic interactions in the development of the mouse thymus gland.

Abstract 1. 1. Morphogenesis of 12-day mouse embryo thymus glands has been analyzed by in vitro and transplantation methods. 2. 2. At a glass-clot interface the gland grows and undergoes characteristic lobulation, but remains predominantly epithelial. In transplants to the anterior chamber of adult mouse eyes it grows profusely and becomes lymphoidal. 3. 3. The gland may be separated into epithelial and mesenchymal portions by the use of trypsin. Neither component can develop in isolation, in vitro or in vivo , but clustering of the two tissues leads to the restoration of the morphogenetic system, with resultant in vitro lobulation and the in vivo formation of lymphoidal tissue. 4. 4. Mesenchyme from a variety of embryonic rudiments can exert a morphogenetic effect in vitro , the specific pattern of the epithelial response varying with the source of mesenchyme used. The mesenchymal influence can be exerted across a 20 μ millipore filter barrier.
Drug discrimination: 30 years of progress

EditorialThe publication of this Special Issue of Psychopharmacol-ogy on the Stimulus Properties of Drugs marks the 30-yearanniversary in 2008 of the founding of the Society forStimulus Properties of Drugs (SSPD). As previouslydescribed by the society’s first three presidents (see Overtonet al. 1999), the decision to create an organization ofresearchers interested in the discriminative stimulus prop-erties of drugs occurred at a meeting in 1978 of theFederation of American Societies for Experimental Biology(FASEB). The first official meeting of SSPD was held a fewmonths later on June 3, 1978 in conjunction with themeeting of the Committee for Problems on Drug Depen-dence (CPDD) in Baltimore, MD, USA. SSPD has metannually since then and SSPD’s 30th anniversary meetingwas held on November 14, 2008 as a satellite meeting at themeeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Washington, D.C.In addition to the annual national meetings of thesociety, a number of international meetings have been heldsince 1978 with the most recent being in 2005 as a satellitemeeting of the European Behavioral Pharmacology Societyin Barcelona, Spain. There also have been a number ofbooks (often based on these symposia) on the stimulusproperties of drugs published over the years (Colpaert andBalster 1988, Colpaert and Slangen 1982, Glennon et al.1991, Lal 1977, Thompson and Pickens 1971) as well as acollection of articles in Volume 64 (No. 2) of Pharmacol-ogy, Biochemistry and Behavior in 1999.What are the stimulus properties of drugs?A very basic definition of a stimulus is something thataffects an organism by causing a response. In experimentalpsychology, stimuli have traditionally been such things astones, lights, etc., and typically, a laboratory situationwould be set up to assess changes in responding thatoccurred when changes in the stimulus were produced. Astimulus is generally defined by its characteristics, orproperties, and again, in a traditional sense, stimulusproperties would consist of such things as the frequencyof a tone or the intensity of a light. Clearly, drugs also canserve as stimuli and the properties of drug stimuli aremediated by the drug’s biological actions on the centralnervous system (e.g., functioning as an agonist or anantagonist at a specific neurotransmitter receptor). Much ofthe early research on the stimulus properties of drugs usedthe state-dependent paradigm (Overton 1974), but in the1970s the drug discrimination paradigm was developed (seereview by Colpaert 1999). As Colpaert (1999) describes(and the articles in this Special Issue mirror), the drugdiscrimination paradigm has largely replaced the state-dependent paradigm in the study of the stimulus propertiesof drugs. As Balster (1988)states,“One of the majorconceptual advances in behavioral pharmacology was theappreciation that drug effects could subserve stimulusproperties in stimulus–response learning theory.” Balsteralso points out that the first major recognition that drugscould function as stimuli and produce responses in organ-isms was in a collection of articles from the proceedings of a
Field and temperature dependence of the directional walk of single adsorbed W atoms on the W(110) plane

When an adsorbed atom is subjected to a driving force at a diffusion temperature, it will perform asymmetric random walks. The driving force can be produced by an applied nonuniform high electric field. We report here a measurement of the field and temperature dependences of the drifting velocity of single W atoms on the W(110) plane. The dependences are found to agree well with an earlier theoretical model. From these data, the surface-induced dipole moment and the effective polarizability of the W adatoms can also be derived; they are found to be 0.97 debye and 14.4 ${\mathrm{\AA{}}}^{3}$, respectively. These values agree within statistical errors with other existing experimental and theoretical data.
Reaffirmation of the Auriculoventricular Conduction System in Man The Introduction of a Unique Technic for Its Serial Motion Picture Reconstruction

Gross and microscopic studies of the auriculoventricular conduction system were performed in 60 human hearts. A unique technic is introduced which will produce a photographic record of undistorted serial sections through a block containing the auriculoventricular node, auriculoventricular bundle and branches. By projecting the completed film as a motion picture, the course and changing relationships of component structures can be followed from level to level in uninterrupted sequence. The neurogenic versus the myogenic concept of cardiac conduction is reviewed at length.