cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Toxicity of Selected Acaricides to Honey Bees (Apis mellifera) and Varroa (Varroa destructor Anderson and Trueman) and Their Use in Controlling Varroa within Honey Bee Colonies

The efficacies of various acaricides in order to control a parasitic mite, the Varroa mite, Varroa destructor, of honey bees, were measured in two different settings, namely, in laboratory caged honey bees and in queen-right honey bee colonies. The Varroa infestation levels before, during, and after the acaricide treatments were determined in two ways, namely: (1) using the sugar shake protocol to count mites on bees and (2) directly counting the dead mites on the hive bottom inserts. The acaricides that were evaluated were coumaphos, tau-fluvalinate, amitraz, thymol, and natural plant compounds (hop acids), which were the active ingredients. The acaricide efficacies in the colonies were evaluated in conjunction with the final coumaphos applications. All of the tested acaricides significantly increased the overall Varroa mortality in the laboratory experiment. Their highest efficiencies were recorded at 6 h post-treatment, except for coumaphos and thymol, which exhibited longer and more consistent activity. In the honey bee colonies, a higher Varroa mortality was recorded in all of the treatments, compared with the natural Varroa mortality during the pretreatment period. The acaricide toxicity to the Varroa mites was consistent in both the caged adult honey bees and workers in the queen-right colonies, although, two of these acaricides, coumaphos at the highest doses and hop acids, were comparatively more toxic to the worker bees.
Effects of Incentives on Economic Behavior and Productivity of Psychiatric Residents

An incentive plan which encouraged increased productivity and an increased awareness of the importance of fee collection both for ongoing therapy and departmental revenues, was introduced into a psychiatric outpatient clinic staffed by residents. The overall performance and attitudes about fee collections were compared to the year prior to the introduction of the incentive plan. An increase in the number of patient-hours seen by residents was observed. There was no evidence of abuse of the incentive system nor change in patient’s attitudes based on survey questionnaires. The author suggests that using incentive systems to improve performance are preferable to regulatory systems and that this is an important method of financing residency training. It appears that an incentive program alone does not increase a resident’s tendency to explore with his supervisors his own difficulties surrounding patient fees. The author suggests a mechanism that might further facilitate this end.
Applications to Image and Data Analysis

We describe an approach to the processing of an image by a front—end vision system. This system is a geometry engine [58] that converts the image intensity data into concise geometric information that can be interpreted by semantical systems in later stages of processing [31]. The basis for the approach is linear scale space [111, 11, 57, 4]. There has been much research in the area of both linear and nonlinear scale spaces. Two good research texts on the topic are [64] and [97]. Applications of these ideas to medical image analysis are also presented.
The microcomputer in power system engineering

ABSTRACT This paper describes the use of a microcomputer in a classroom environment to enhance the students understanding of power system analysis. A transmission line program is developed on an Apple Computer for the calculating of voltage and current with different transmission line models. An interactive load-flow program is written for a 2 generator, 5 bus system, with a tap-changing/phase shifting transformer. The use of the computer has resulted in covering more course material and has increased students' understanding of power system analysis.
Construction of Monopoles and Instantons by Using Spinors and the Inversion Theorem

In this paper we use spinors and the inversion theorem, which enables one to recover the spinor from the bilinear covariants, in order to construct topological objects like the monopole and the instanton.
The flares of August 1972

Observations of the August, 1972 flares at Big Bear and Tel Aviv, involving monochromatic movies, magnetograms, and spectra, are analyzed. The region (McMath 11976) showed inverted polarity from its inception on July 11; the great activity was due to extremely high shear and gradients in the magnetic field, as well as a constant invasion of one polarity into the opposite; observations in lambda 3835 show remarkable fast flashes in the impulsive flare of 18:38 UT on Aug. 2 with lifetimes of 5 sec, which may be due to dumping of particles in the lower chromosphere. Flare loops show evolutionary increases of their tilts to the neutral line in the flares of Aug. 4 and 7. Spectroscopic observations show red asymmetry and red shift of the H alpha emission in the flash phase of the Aug. 7 flare, as well as substantial velocity shear in the photosphere during the flare, somewhat like earthquake movement along a fault. Finally the total H alpha emission of the Aug. 7 flare could be measured accurately as about 2.5 x 10 to the 30th power erg, considerably less than coarser previous estimates for great flares.
Moving towards objective measures of program comprehension

Traditionally, program comprehension research relies heavily on indirect measures of comprehension, where subjects report on their own comprehension levels or summarize part of an artifact so that researchers can instead deduce the level of comprehension. However, there are several potential issues that can result from using these indirect measures because they are prone to participant biases and implicitly deduce comprehension based on various factors. The proposed research presents a framework to move towards more objective measures of program comprehension through the use of brain imaging and eye tracking technology. We aim to shed light on how the human brain processes comprehension tasks, specifically what aspects of the source code cause measurable increases in the cognitive load of developers in both bug localization tasks, as well as code reviews. We discuss the proposed methodology, preliminary results, and overall contributions of the work
A Remarkable Birthday Gift.

* Abbreviations: AZT — : azidothymidine HAART — : highly active antiretroviral therapy Can you recall the most remarkable birthday gift you ever received? On a recent birthday, I took note of an e-mail message from the current director of the Program for Children With AIDS, which I headed at the dawn of my career amid the agonizing depths of the HIV epidemic, which exacted a particularly devastating toll on young children and families in the 1980s and 1990s. At the time, there appeared no way to stem the tide of new perinatal and blood-borne infections. The e-mail from the director said, “We are phasing out the program since the remaining patients have transitioned to adult care. We are planning a celebration dinner and wondering if you would be willing to speak about your experience here. I really hope that you can.” Overcome with emotion, I pondered the uniqueness of this request. Medical centers host galas to hail program openings, but how exceptional to fete a closing! Having spoken at innumerable celebrations, I could think of none more worthy of profound commemoration, yet how does one find words? At that moment, an old, familiar theme of that earlier era echoed back to mind. The blockbuster Broadway musical Rent portrays 1 year in the lives of friends in New York City who face poverty, eviction, and HIV infection at a time when azidothymidine (AZT) was the only treatment. In the hit song “Seasons of Love,” the cast confronts the age-old question, “How do we measure a year in the life?” According to the lyrics, 1 answer is, “Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes.” By that accounting, >19 447 200 minutes have passed … Address correspondence to Joseph S. Cervia, MD, MBA, FACP, FAAP, FIDSA, AAHIVS, Departments of Medicine and Pediatrics, Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, 400 Community Dr, Manhasset, NY 11030. E-mail: jcervia{at}northwell.edu
Sex Changes with Kleist

Katrin Pahl’s recent study offers compelling new readings of Heinrich von Kleist’s dramatic works, in particular The Broken Jug, Penthesilea, The Battle of Herrmann, and Katie from Heilbronn as que...
Digital Noir, 2001–Present

Digital Noir covers neo-noir films in the twenty-first century. The idea of “digital” pervades not only the look of these films but also their response to the time. These films find male heroes lost on the digital grid, unsure of time and place. Watching Digital Noir often forces the viewer into new positions of negotiating the film viewing experience. Man on Fire (Tony Scott 2004) follows a hero into his last battle with the digital world. In John Wick (Chad Stahelski 2014) the hero re-enters a network of crime from which he had retired. In both sample films, as in all Digital Noir, the heroes come to question the validity of their identity in a new, digital world.
The Larger Context, Cities, Smart and Big Data

Cities are now the primary habitat for human beings. For the first time in our history, most humans live in these areas across the globe, and cities are increasingly being recognized as important venues within which to pursue the reduction of humanity’s impacts on the environment (Evans 2019). Cities are accumulations of many of the Earth’s rarest materials. Often mined and processed in distant places; these materials are assembled and embedded in city systems so that their unique physical and chemical properties can be leveraged to provide shelter, jobs, and enable the operation of many types of infrastructure. Cities rely on continuous input flows of energy: electricity, natural gas, and other hydrocarbons, which enable the heating and cooling of buildings, propulsion of vehicles, and functioning of machinery. As humanity has become increasingly urbanized and reliant on infrastructural systems, concomitant advances in computational technology now promise tantalizing solutions to previously intractable infrastructural management problems.
Silicon vs. Organic Interposer: PPA and Reliability Tradeoffs in Heterogeneous 2.5D Chiplet Integration

The optimal selection of an interposer substrate is important in 2.5D systems, because its physical, material and electrical characteristics govern the overall system performance, reliability and cost. Several materials have been proposed that offer various tradeoffs including silicon, organic, glass and etc. In this paper, we conduct a quantitative comparison between two 2.5D IC designs based on silicon vs. liquid crystal polymer (LCP) interposer technologies in the overall system level for the first time. We also investigate tradeoffs in power, performance and area (PPA), signal integrity (SI) and power integrity (PI) depending on the interposer technologies. Through our flow, we generate a large-scale benchmark architecture with commercial-grade GDS layouts of interposer and chiplets using two different interposer substrates. Then, we model transmission lines and power delivery network (PDN) of each 2.5D IC design. Finally, we perform PPA analysis, SI and PI on both 2.5D IC designs to observe the quantitative tradeoffs between two designs. Our experiment shows that silicon interposer-based design has 10.46% less power, 0.25× smaller area and 0.57× shorter average wirelength compared to LCP interposer-based design. However, LCP-based design has 0.59× smaller PDN DC impedance and 0.75× shorter worst delay of interposer wire while maintaining the power delivery efficiency. Lastly, our cost analysis of 2.5D IC design indicates that the overall cost of organic LCP technology, if both the chiplets and their interposer costs are combined, is 2.69× higher than the silicon even the cost of LCP interposer is 1.91% of silicon interposer. This indicates that LCP technology is prohibitive unless the interconnect and bump dimensions are dramatically reduced.
The Cycle of Violence: Abused and Neglected Girls to Adult Female Offenders:

Drawing on findings from a prospective cohort design study that followed abused and neglected children and demographically matched controls into adulthood, this paper focuses on these abused and ne...
A Mixed Methods Study of Sexuality Education Experiences and Preferences Among Bisexual, Pansexual, and Queer (Bi+) Male Youth

Bisexual male youth are more likely to engage in certain behaviors that contribute to HIV/STI transmission (e.g., substance use) than are heterosexual and gay male youth. However, sexuality education rarely addresses the unique needs of sexual minority youth, especially bisexual, pansexual, and queer (bi+) youth, and little is known about their sexuality education experiences and preferences. As such, the goal of this study was to examine bi+ male youth’s experiences learning about sex and their preferences for sexuality education. In 2019, 56 bi+ male youth ages 14–17 were surveyed and interviewed about their sexuality education experiences and preferences. Participants identified as bisexual (64%), pansexual (27%), and queer (9%), were racially/ethnically diverse (39% white, 32% Latinx, 20% Black, 9% other races), and included cisgender (79%) and transgender (21%) male youth. Participants described varied experiences with school-based sexuality education (e.g., none, abstinence only, covered sexual health in some way), but it rarely addressed their unique needs. They typically learned about sex by searching for information online and from sexually explicit media. Participants identified several topics they wanted to learn more about (e.g., sex with same-gender partners, anal sex, consent), but they typically believed they were prepared to have sex. Finally, some participants described benefits of tailoring sexuality education to their unique needs, while others described benefits of more inclusive programs. Findings suggest that bi+ male youth do not receive adequate sexuality education to make informed decisions about safer sex, highlighting the critical need for reform.
Supporting quantitative structural assessment of highway bridges through the use of LiDAR scanning

The use of laser scanning in the realm of bridge assessment has been primarily limited to measuring large bridge dimensions. Given the scale of these measurements compared to standard accuracy metr...
Periodontal bacterial-DNA initiated immuno-inflammatory responses in human osteoblastic cells

PERIODONTAL BACTERIAL-DNA INITIATED IMMUNO-INFLAMMATORY RESPONSES IN HUMAN OSTEOBLASTIC CELLS By Najib J. Bou Chebel, B.S. A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science in Physiology at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2010 Major Director: Dr. S. Esra Sahingur Department of Periodontics, VCU School of Dentistry Periodontitis is a chronic inflammatory disease initiated by gram negative anaerobic bacteria. These bacteria possess pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) that interact with various receptors including Toll like receptors (TLRs). Bacterial DNA (bDNA) is one of the PAMPs mainly recognized by TLR9. Interaction of bDNA and its receptors leads to activation of inflammatory signaling pathways potentially resulting in periodontal bone destruction. The aim of this study was to determine the production of IL6 and IL-8 in response to periodontal bDNA from human osteoblastic cells (MG-63). MG63 cells were stimulated in duplicate for 20 hours with 100ng/μl of bDNA from various pathogens including Porhyromonas gingivalis, Esherichia coli, Streptococcus sanguinis, Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans as well as heat killed whole bacteria (1:100). xiii E.coli LPS (10ng/μl) was used as a positive control in each experiment. To block TLR9 signaling, further experiments were carried out by treating MG-63 cells with chloroquine (10ng/μl) for 2 hours at 37oC prior to stimulations. Cytokine levels were determined using enzyme linked-immunosorbent assay. Although IL-6 and IL-8 production was increased in response to periodontal bDNA in MG-63 cells, the results were not significant compared to unstimulated controls. As expected, E.coli DNA, E.coli LPS and heat killed whole bacteria stimulated significantly increased cytokine production (p<0.05). Blocking TLR9 with chloroquine did not affect the amount of cytokine production in bDNA stimulated cells suggesting that TLR9 may not be operant in triggering IL-6 and IL-8 production from MG63 cells. In conlusion, periodontal bDNA did not trigger significantly increased IL-6 and IL-8 production from MG-63 cells. Considering the involvement of several inflammatory mediators in periodontal bone destruction, further studies are warranted to assess the production of other cytokines in response to periodontal bDNA in human osteoblastic cells.
Safety and Tolerability: How Do Newer Generation “Atypical” Antipsychotics Compare?

Previously, clinicians worked with antipsychotic drugs that almost invariably caused extrapyramidal side effects (EPS) at the dose at which they were clinically effective. By definition, all newer generation atypical antipsychotic agents are significantly better than conventional agents with regard to EPS; i.e., they are clinically effective at doses at which they do not cause EPS. This EPS advantage of atypical antipsychotics translates into several important clinical benefits, including better negative symptom efficacy, lesser dysphoria, less impaired cognition, and a lower risk of tardive dyskinesia; in fact, this “EPS advantage” is the principal basis of the many clinical advantages provided by the class of atypical antipsychotics. While all atypical agents share this “EPS advantage,” there are important differences between these agents with regard to the ease and consistency with which this EPS advantage can be realized. Pharmacologically, different atypical antipsychotics differ; these differences translate into differences in their side effect profiles. Five atypical antipsychotics are currently available: clozapine, risperidone, olanzapine, quetiapine, and ziprasidone. Meaningful differences between these agents with regard to weight gain, sedation, anticholinergic side effects, cardiovascular issues, endocrine side effects, hepatic and sexual issues, will be considered and their clinical implications discussed.
Ecotoxicoparasitology: Understanding mercury concentrations in gut contents, intestinal helminths and host tissues of Alaskan gray wolves (Canis lupus)

Some gastrointestinal helminths acquire nutrients from the lumen contents in which they live; thus, they may be exposed to non-essential elements, such as mercury (Hg), during feeding. The objectives of this study were: 1) determine the total mercury concentrations ([THg]) in Gray wolves (Canis lupus) and their parasites, and 2) use stable isotopes to evaluate the trophic relationships within the host. [THg] and stable isotopes (C and N) were determined for helminths, host tissues, and lumen contents from 88 wolves. Sixty-three wolves contained grossly visible helminths (71.5%). The prevalence of taeniids and ascarids was 63.6% (56/88) and 20.5% (18/88), respectively. Nine of these 63 wolves contained both taeniids and ascarids (14.3%). All ascarids were determined to be Toxascaris leonina. Taenia species present included T. krabbei and T. hydatigena. Within the GI tract, [THg] in the lumen contents of the proximal small intestine were significantly lower than in the distal small intestine. There was a significant positive association between hepatic and taeniid [THg]. Bioaccumulation factors (BAF) ranged from <1 to 22.9 in taeniids, and 1.1 to 12.3 in T. leonina. Taeniid and ascarid BAF were significantly higher than 1, suggesting that both groups are capable of THg accumulation in their wolf host. δ13C in taeniids was significantly lower than in host liver and skeletal muscle. [THg] in helminths and host tissues, in conjunction with stable isotope (C and N) values, provides insight into food-web dynamics of the host GI tract, and aids in elucidating ecotoxicoparasitologic relationships. Variation of [THg] throughout the GI tract, and between parasitic groups, underscores the need to further evaluate the effect(s) of feeding niche, and the nutritional needs of parasites, as they relate to toxicant exposure and distribution within the host.
Eighth to sixteenth virial coefficients of the Lennard-Jones model

We calculated virial coefficients BN, 8 ≤ N ≤ 16, of the Lennard-Jones (LJ) model using both the Mayer-sampling Monte Carlo method and direct generation of configurations, with Wheatley’s algorithm for summation of clusters. For N = 8, 24 values are reported, and for N = 9, 12 values are reported, both for temperatures T in the range 0.6 ≤ T ≤ 40.0 (in LJ units). For each N in 10 ≤ N ≤ 16, one to four values are reported for 0.6 ≤ T ≤ 0.9. An approximate functional form for the temperature dependence of BN was developed, and fits of LJ BN(T) based on this form are presented for each coefficient, 4 ≤ N ≤ 9, using new and previously reported data.
Moche: Archaeology, Ethnicity, Identity

The two different modes of investigation in Art History and Anthropological Archaeology are discussed. This is followed by a consideration of these issues in relation to the Mochica archaeological culture. The “Mochica” have come to be considered a political or ethnic group and, in particular, considered as a prehistoric state. This essay questions these ideas and suggests that Moche is best considered as primarily a religious system. The ceremonial centers were likely places of pilgrimage with more complicated roles in politics than previous models have considered although changing roles through time must be considered.
Scaling of fluid flow versus fracture stiffness

[1] Seismic characterization of fluid flow through fractures requires a fundamental understanding of the relationship between the hydraulic and mechanical properties of fractures. A finite-size scaling analysis was performed on fractures with weakly correlated random aperture distributions to determine the fundamental scaling relationship between fracture stiffness and fracture fluid flow. From computer simulations, the dynamic transport exponent, which provides the power law dependence, was extracted and used to collapse the flow-stiffness relationships from multiple scales into a single scaling function. Fracture specific stiffness was determined to be a surrogate for void area that is traditionally used in percolation studies. The flow-stiffness scaling function displays two exponentially dependent regions above and below the transition into the critical regime. The transition is governed by the stressed flow paths when the flow path geometry deforms from a sheet-like topology to a string-like topology. The resulting hydromechanical scaling function provides a link between fluid flow and the seismic response of a fracture.
La interpretación intelectualista de la tragedia: Una discusión critica

The nature of tragedy is a matter of controversy. The intellectualist vision of tragedy has gained ground in past years. In this paper I intend to discuss the heterodox and extreme version of cognitivism, recently defended by Pierluigi Donini in La tragedia, senza la catarsi , which firmly rules out the emotional or cathartic function of tragic drama and asserts that “the function of tragedy is not catharsis, but its crowning or last stage: understanding.” The revision of the arguments stated by Donini will allow enlightening some obscure points of the Aristotelian theory of tragedy, particularly the place of music and entertainment in tragic drama.
State-of-the-Art HgCdTe at Raytheon Vision Systems

Dark current density data recorded over the past 14 years at Raytheon Vision Systems on short-wavelength infrared (SWIR) and medium-wavelength infrared (MWIR) devices were examined. This included HgCdTe detector arrays grown by liquid-phase epitaxy on CdZnTe and molecular beam epitaxy on both silicon and CdZnTe substrates. This study analyzed zero-bias resistance–area product and current–voltage measurements from test structure assemblies included on every detector wafer. The data span cutoff wavelengths from 1.7 μm to 7.5 μm and operating temperatures from 40 K to 300 K. A basis is derived for a simple manufacturing trend model for a wide range of cutoffs and temperatures. This model uses a function similar to Tennant’s Rule’07 but includes a generation–recombination (GR) term. Dark current densities below the test set limit are extrapolated assuming GR-limited performance. Model assumptions are tested using sensor chip assembly (SCA) median dark current density values at the same inverse cutoff–temperature products. This model allows probabilistic determination of array manufacturability and prediction of yield, and provides a statistical basis for Raytheon’s state-of-the-art performance.
A Decentralized Training Program Evaluation Challenges

Evaluation design decisions for a large-scale child care provider training program are discussed as a function of three program characteristics: decentralization, local autonomy, and multiple delivery strategies. The fact that delivery strategies were not assigned, but evolved as a logical result of local autonomy, presented particular difficulties to evaluation. Rather than using a sampling plan, we gathered data for all training courses and trainees. While decentralized process data were gathered, only centralized outcome data were collected. Consideration of the relative merits of the approaches taken indicated that the decisions made wereappropriateforaprogram with such diverse implementation.
Going Green and Using Less Paper to Print Exams: Student Performance, Completion Time, and Preference.

Two studies measured the impact on student exam performance and exam completion time of strategies aimed to reduce the amount of paper used for printing multiple-choice course exams. Study 1 compared single-sided to double-sided printed exams. Study 2 compared a single-column arrangement of multiple-choice answer options to a space (and paper) saving alternative arrangement formatted into two-by-two columns and rows. Findings support the use of these simple paper reduction strategies as they had no effect on exam performance or exam completion time and were partially aligned with students’ self-reported preferences.
Reduction of frequent stomachache complaints by time out

Time out was employed to treat a 10-year-old girl's report of stomach pain complaints in the home and at school. Time out involved removing the girl from adult attention and activities for verbal pain complaint episodes. Pain complaint episodes were treated sequentially in a multiple-baseline design across home and school environments. The treatment program rapidly reduced pain episodes over both settings. Follow-ups at 4, 6, and 8 weeks after the program terminated indicated that episodes remained at zero levels. A 1-year follow-up also indicated that there were no further problems with stomach pain episodes.
Reaction of ethyl bromide with silicon

1. The reaction of ethyl bromide with silicon in presence of reduced copper was studied in the temperature range 260–380°. 2. The main reaction product was tribromoethylsilane, the yield of which increased considerably with rise in reaction temperature. As a result of the partial pyrolysis of ethyl bromide at the temperature of the formation of bromoethylsilanes, the formation of dibromodiethylsilane, and particularly of bromotriethylsilane, occurred to a much lower extent. The reaction products included also silicon compounds containing silicon-attached hydrogen, namely tribromo- and dibromoethyl-silanes.
Creep-to-rupture of 9%Cr steel T91 in air and oxygen-controlled lead at 650 °C

Abstract This article reports results of uniaxial creep-to-rupture experiments at static loads ranging from 100 to 200 MPa on ferritic–martensitic steel T91 in stagnant lead at 650 °C and oxygen concentration c o in a narrow range around 10 −6 mass%. Respective experiments in stagnant air have been performed for comparison. The steel showed almost no difference in creep performance in oxygen-controlled lead and air at 650 °C. No dissolution attack and no lead penetration were found on the steel.
Dali multimedia software library

This paper presents a new approach for constructing libraries for building processing-intensive multimedia software. Such software is currently constructed either by using high-level libraries or by writing it `from scratch' using C. We have found that the first approach produces inefficient code, while the second approach is time- consuming and produces complex code that is difficult to maintain or reuse. We therefore designed and implemented Dali, a set of reusable, high-performance primitives and abstractions that are at an intermediate level of abstraction between C and conventional libraries. By decomposing common multimedia data types and operations into thin abstractions and primitives, programs written using Dali achieve performance competitive with hand-tuned C code, but are shorter and more reusable. Furthermore, Dali programs can employ optimizations that are difficult to exploit in C (because the code is so verbose) and impossible using conventional libraries (because the abstractions are too thick). We discuss the design of Dali, show several example programs written using Dali, and show that programs written in Dali achieve performance competitive to hand- tuned C programs.© (1998) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Laboratory Studies of Catalysis of CO to Organics on Grain Analogs

Abstract Experiments simulating heterogeneous conversion of H 2 and CO into simple hydrocarbons in astrophysical environments have been performed, utilizing realistic cosmic grain analogs of Fe-doped silicates as Fischer–Tropsch-Type catalysts. Catalysis was studied for temperatures from 470–670 K and reactant gas mixtures of H 2 /CO with a ratio of 2–100. The total gas pressure was near 0.5 bar. Maximum conversion rates of a few percentage points were achieved over a 3-h time period. Major products were methane, ethane, ethylene, carbon dioxide, and water. Products were identified by IR spectroscopy.
Inter- and intraspecific variation of nuclear DNA reassociation kinetics in the Gracilariales (Rhodophyta)

DNA reassociation kinetics were used to determine inter- and intraspecific variation in genome organization and complexities in species ofGracilaria andGracilariopsis. Results indicate the presence of three second order components corresponding to fast, intermediate and slow fractions. Repeated sequences varied from 13–95%. Three geographic populations ofGracilaria tikvahiae were similar with 13–27% repeated sequences.Gracilaria sp. cultivars G-1 and G-6 with 35% and 95% repeated sequences, respectively, were distinct from each other andG. tikvahiae. No pattern of genome organization and complexity was found which permitted a distinction betweenGracilaria andGracilariopsis. Comparison of the percent of unique and repetitive sequences (U/R) indicated a wide range of ratios, withGracilaria tikvahiae populations having the highest values (2.7–7.3) andGracilaria sp. cultivar G-6,G. blodgettii andGracilariopsis lemanieformis the lowest (0.05–1.80). Unique component complexities varied one order of magnitude, from 108 forGracilaria takvahiae to 107 forGracilaria sp. cultivar G-6,G. blodgettii andGracilariopsis lemanieformis. Information for genome size, organization and complexity is used to develop a nuclear genome profile forGracilaria blodgettii andGracilariopsis lemanieformis which are characterized by commercial grade agars having high gel strengths (> 700 g cm−2) and elevated melting temperatures (99 °C).
Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary of DSDP Site 596, South Pacific

Sediments from the Cretaceous/Tertiary (K/T) boundary at Deep Sea Drilling Project Site 596 record accumulation of pelagic clays at about lat 45°S,in the center of the ancestral South Pacific. The K/T boundary in this region is characterized by oxidized, thoroughly bioturbated sediments containing large amounts of Ir and relict high-pressure and high-temperature mineral phases. The net Ir fluence (320 ng cm -2 ) is among the largest on Earth,and the number of shocked quartz grains >30 μm in size (∼1800 cm -2 ) exceeds that in all localities outside of North America.
Increased productivity using a preprocessor for Dataflex Fourth Generation Database Language (abstract)

Reusable code and higher generation languages have been sited as methods for systems development which will cause reduction of time to develop new code, and which will lead to significant reduction of developmental errors.In each generation of language syntactic elements of the language decompose into multiple statements at a lower level. Dataflex is a 4th GL associated with a hierarchical database. While it is an efficient language, it nonetheless consumes considerable numbers of statements to solve routine problems not solvable with its standard macros.Many routines seem to be repeated during development of many similar systems. A technique common among professional programmers is to clone whole programs. We proposed to build a preprocessor to automate the cloning process. It would either recognize keywords in a statement and then use associated parameters in an expansion process, or if no keywords were present, the statement would be copies without expansion.A scrolling window display routine command sequence was developed to test the preprocessor. Productivity gains of 25-50 to 1 were obtained with reduction or elimination of errors. While scrolling window routines are not inherently difficult, as much as 500 lines of code are required to handle a simple window, including editable fields, lookup or display-only type fields. To implement such a window #lines = 3 + # of fields in a line using the preprocessor.In development of accounting systems, posting routines were cloned wherein similar fields in one file were posted to fields in another file. Copy and update preprocessing macros increased coding efficiency by at least 25 to 1 these routines.
Role of intracranial pressure values and patterns in predicting outcome in traumatic brain injury: a systematic review.

Introduction Raised intracranial pressure (ICP) has been consistently associated with poor neurological outcome. Our purpose was to systematically review the literature to estimate the association between ICP values and patterns and short- and long-term vital and neurological outcome.
Seizures in children with primary brain tumors: incidence and long-term outcome.

Abstract Purpose: To estimate the incidence and long-term outcome of brain tumor related seizures in children and to identify risk factors for adverse seizure outcome. Methods: Analysis of medical records of children treated for brain tumor and seizures in a single institution. Children were identified from hospital database and neurology clinic records. Seizure status was characterized for the 6 months prior to most recent follow-up. Results: Median follow-up after first seizure of the 157 analyzed children was 3.3 years. Tumor location was supratentorial in 81% and posterior fossa in 19%. Initial anti-epileptic drugs were phenytoin (n = 52), carbamazepine (n = 38), phenobarbital (n = 14), gabapentin (n = 31), or others (n = 22). Seizures were controlled in 65% of the children and uncontrolled in 35% (17% intractable). Gabapentin showed a trend toward better seizure control (p = 0.06). Neurologic deficit, T2 peri-cavity hyperintensity, and EEG slow waves were independently predictive of uncontrolled seizures by multivariate analysis. Conclusions: T2 peri-cavity hyperintensity, focal neurologic deficits, and EEG slow waves predict poor seizure control in children with brain tumors. Seizures can be controlled in most patients with brain tumors. Gabapentin use as first anti-epileptic drug needs to be studied prospectively.
Reply to T. Xu et al

We appreciate the interest of Xu et al in our article regarding the National Institutes of Health recurrent glioblastoma scale. With respect to the authors’ first point, we agree that tumors in critical brain regions can lead to low Karnofsky performance status (KPS) scores. This is not necessarily the case, however, given that patients with small tumors in speech or motor regions, as well as patients with sometimes even large tumors adjacent to the middle cerebral artery, can experience asymptomatic disease and have high KPS scores. As noted in our article, multivariate analysis using Cox proportional hazards modeling confirmed the independent prognostic significance of motorspeech-middle cerebral artery score 2 (P .021; HR, 6.02; 95% CI, 1.32 to 27.78) and KPS score 80 (P .030; HR, 3.12; 95% CI, 1.12 to 8.62). Xu et al correctly point out that only 3 of 34 patients in the National Institutes of Health cohort and 3 of 109 patients in the Brigham and Women’s Hospital (Boston, MA) cohort had scores of 3 points. This may have been a result of the general hesitancy of patients, families, and/or referring physicians in regard to seeking out additional surgical procedures in the setting of poor performance status and large tumors in critical brain regions. Our data provide indirect evidence to justify this lack of enthusiasm for surgery in this patient population. Despite their relatively small numbers, the short survivals of the patients with scores of 3 in our series clearly distinguish them from patients with scores of 0 or 1-2 (P .001 and P .001, respectively; log-rank test). Alternative score groupings did not lead to more significant differences between the groups. As indicated in the article, patients with a score of 1 or 2 were combined into a single group because they did not significantly differ in survival, but those with a score of 0 did significantly differ from those with a score of 1 or 2 (P .001, log-rank test). The third issue raised by Xu et al—that reoperation is not necessarily indicated in all recurrent cases—is precisely one of the messages we had hoped to convey. Patients with a score of 3 (median survival, 1.0 months; 95% CI, 0.9 to 1.1 months) are likely to derive little survival benefit from surgery and should therefore proceed directly to other treatments, such as systemic chemotherapies, if eligible. Patients with scores of 0 (median survival, 10.8 months; 95% CI, 8.9 to 16.7 months) or 1 or 2 (median survival, 4.5 months; 95% CI, 2.7 to 6.1 month) fare much better postoperatively, and surgery followed by enrollment onto a clinical trial should be encouraged when indicated.
On the form of the inverted stress-strain law for isotropic hyperelastic solids

Abstract The standard formulation of a constitutive theory for isotropic, hyperelastic solids involves the prescription of the Cauchy stress as a function of the left Cauchy-Green strain field through an elastic potential. For certain applications, however, it is desirable to express a constitutive law by giving the left strain field as a function of Cauchy stress. In this paper, conditions on the form of such an inverted constitutive law are given that ensure the hyperelasticity of the material. Both compressible and incompressible materials are treated, and in the incompressible case a general representation for a strain-stress relation is given in terms of a generating scalar potential.
Design and characterization of a directly polarized radioluminescent light source.

The properties of several directly polarized radioluminescent light (RL) sources are described. The RL sources are composed of a β-particle-emitting 90Sr radioisotope coupled to polarization-oriented light-emitting plastic scintillators. The polarization of the scintillator molecules was achieved through a mechanical stress applied to the polymer matrix. The emission stability of the RL sources is described. It was found that the degree of polarization of light emitted by the sources varied from zero to 26%, depending on the matrix and scintillating material. The RL source with the highest degree of polarization was constructed from polystyrene and anthracene.
Setting the agenda for urban bioethics.

Urban bioethics has two goals. First, it aims to focus attention on neglected bioethical problems that have particular salience in urban settings. Three problems are highlighted: socioeconomic inequality as a major determinant of health inequality, the foundations of an ethic for public health, and the impact of social context on the therapeutic alliance between patients and physicians. Second, urban bioethics serves as a vehicle for raising deep theoretical and methodological questions about the dominant assumptions and approaches of contemporary bioethics. Demands for cultural sensitivity, so pronounced in the urban context, compel us to reexamine the central commitment in bioethics to personal autonomy. The multiculturalism of urban life also argues for a dialogic approach to bioethical problem solving rather than the monologic approach that characterizes most bioethical thinking. Although my brief for redirecting bioethics will resonate with many critics who do not consider themselves urban bioethicsts, I argue that there are special advantages in using urban bioethics to expose the limitations of contemporary bioethical paradigms.
Dimer formation in monolayer antimony films deposited at room temperature on Si(100)−2 × 1

Abstract We have determined the bonding geometry of monolayer Sb films deposited at room temperature (RT), 375 and 550°C on Si(100) using transmission ion channeling. These new results reveal that the surface prepared at all three temperatures is terminated by symmetric Sb-Sb dimers, with no evidence for three-dimensional growth or clustering at the lower temperatures. This is surprising in light of recent STM images that reveal locally ordered arrays of short dimer strings for the surface annealed at 550°C, but show a bumpy and disordered appearance for the surface annealed at 375°C.
A family of novel peroxidases, peroxiredoxins.

We have previously purified a 25-kDa enzyme from yeast that prevents damage induced by the metalcatalyzed oxidation (MCO) system containing a thiol like dithiothreitol and 2-mercaptoehtanol (Fe3+, O2, and RSH) but not that induced by the MCO system containing ascorbate (Fe3+, O2, and ascorbate) [1]. Although the exact nature of the oxidant eliminated by the 25-kDa enzyme was not known at that time, its importance as an antioxidant was apparent as the application of oxidative pressure to yeast resulted in an increase in its synthesis, and the 25-kDa protein constituted 0.7% of total soluble protein from yeast grown aerobically [2]. Not knowing anything about the nature of chemical reaction catalyzed by the 25-kDa protein, we briefly called it “protector protein” and then “thiol-specific antioxidant (TSA)” because the enzyme provides protection against a thiol-containing oxidation system, but not against an oxidation system without thiol [1,2]. Yeast gene that encodes TSA was cloned and sequenced [3]. It showed no significant homology to any known catalase, SOD, or peroxidase enzymes. This lack of homology was consistent with the observation that protector protein did not possess catalytic activity characteristic of these conventional antioxidant enzymes. A yeast mutant that cannot produce TSA was constructed by homologous recombination [3]. The mutant and wild-type strains grew at equal rates under anaerobic conditions. However, under aerobic conditions, especially under oxidative stress, the growth rate of mutant yeast was significantly lower than that of wild-type yeast. TSA was not associated with any obvious redox cofactors. Rather, TSA contained two cysteine residues, which correspond to Cys47 and Cys170 in the yeast enzyme [4]. The two cysteines did not form an intramolecular disulfide. Instead, TSA existed predominantly as a dimer linked by two identical disulfide bonds between Cys47 and Cys170 as evidenced by direct isolation of dimeric tryptic peptides in which one monomer contains Cys47 and the other contains Cys170 [4]. A mutant with Cys47 replaced by Ser (C47S mutant) failed to protect glutamine synthetase from the thiol oxidation system, whereas wild type and C170S mutant were equally protective. Thus Cys47, but not Cys170, appeared to be the site of oxidation.
Economic regulation and the value of concealment in highland Guatemala

In this article, I contribute to conversations in anthropology regarding the dynamics of secrecy that so often attend to informal and illegal practices. Tracing the historical unfolding of an industry that involves indigenous Maya men who make clothing to sell in regional markets, I am interested in the contemporary value of concealment for clothing producers whose work was once regulated by the state, but is now regulated by an array of market and non-market actors. I find that practices of concealment hold particular value for Maya men whose relationships to various forms of political and economic authority have been marked largely by violence and exploitation.
Cyclooxygenase-2 expression in gastric antral mucosa before and after eradication of Helicobacter pylori infection.

OBJECTIVE: Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) causes chronic gastritis. The inducible prostaglandin synthetase cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) plays an important role in inflammatory conditions. We hypothesized that H. pylori-associated chronic gastritis would express COX-2 protein. Our aim was to evaluate the effect of eradication of H. pylori infection on COX-2 expression in the antral mucosa of patients before and after antibiotic therapy. METHODS: Tissues were obtained from patients with nonulcer dyspepia undergoing H. pylori eradication. Ten patients with proven H. pylori infection and subsequent successful eradication were studied. Three biopsies of antral mucosa were evaluated before and after H. pylori eradication. The amount of acute and chronic inflammation was quantitated. Immunohistochemical staining for COX-2 was expressed as a percentage of the total number of cells and correlated with the degree of chronic inflammation. RESULTS: Specific immunostaining for COX-2 was observed in antral mucosa of patients infected with H. pylori. Patchy cytoplasmic staining was seen in surface epithelial cells and strong cytoplasmic staining for COX-2 was seen in parietal cells. Spotty cytoplasmic staining for COX-2 was also seen in lamina propria plasma cells, as well as there being macrophages present in the germinal centers of lymphoid aggregates. COX-2 expression could be detected both before and after eradication of H. pylori. The mean percentage of cells staining for COX-2 was significantly higher in H. pylori-infected mucosa, compared with mucosa after successful H. pylori eradication (33.4% 6 5.4 vs 18.9% 6 3.3, p 5 0.038). COX-2 immunostaining correlated best with the chronic inflammation score (r 2 5 0.78, p , 0.001).