cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Investigation of Uncertainty in Adolescents with Anxiety Disorders

Background Pediatric anxiety disorders, although highly prevalent, are understudied with little known about their pathophysiology. Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) is a trait associated with worry, a key characteristic of these disorders. Neural responses to uncertainty in healthy subjects involve the same frontal–limbic circuits that are hyper-responsive in pediatric anxiety. As such, the present study examines the relationship between IU and neural responses to uncertainty in anxious adolescents. Methods Sixteen adolescents (ages 13–17) diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder and/or social phobia (ANX) and 13 non-anxious control subjects completed a decision-making task while functional magnetic resonance imaging scans were acquired. Results The ANX group endorsed greater task-related anxiety and less certainty than control subjects on a post-task questionnaire. Compared with control subjects, the ANX group did not demonstrate hyper-responsivity of brain regions as hypothesized. Across groups, IU was positively correlated with activity in several frontal and limbic regions. Further analyses identified subgroups within the ANX group: those with high IU activated frontal/limbic regions, whereas those with low IU and less anxiety during the task deactivated the same regions in response to uncertainty. Conclusions Results substantiate the hypothesized link between IU and neural responses to uncertainty in some adolescents with anxiety disorders. Our findings, if replicated, suggest that trait measures, such as IU, can significantly improve our understanding of the neurobiological basis of pediatric anxiety disorders.
Do native species limit survival of reintroduced Atlantic salmon in historic rearing streams

Reintroduction of extirpated populations creates a unique context that can exacerbate the effects of interactions among species. Thus, reintroduced populations may be particularly vulnerable to predators and competitors, including native species with which they historically coexisted. In this study, we evaluated the effect of native fishes on survival of reintroduced Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) in the Connecticut River basin, where the native salmon population is extinct. Juvenile salmon are stocked annually in many Connecticut River tributaries. We sampled salmon reintroduction sites across tributaries with different fish communities to determine whether native fish reduce the success of salmon reintroductions (N = 19 site-years). Increased density of slimy sculpin (Cottus cognatus), a native generalist predator, was associated with reduced recruitment of reintroduced salmon. Salmon first-summer survival declined with increased sculpin density across sites, and low first-summer survival led to reduced densities of overyearling salmon the subsequent year. Hierarchical partitioning analysis showed that the negative relationship between sculpin and salmon was independent of potentially confounding variation in other fish community or habitat characteristics. Negative effects of native, historically-sympatric species, particularly generalist predators, can impede restoration of extirpated populations.
Selected Factors Affecting Consumer Detection and Preference of Flavor Levels in Sour Cream

Abstract Age, sex, like or dislike for sour cream, use or non-use of sour cream and smoking were factors included in a study of consumer responses to levels of diacetyl, acetic acid, and associated flavor compounds in sour cream. The ability to detect flavor levels in sour cream was affected by age. The age groups of ten to 20 years and over 50 years gave fewer correct responses in the triangular test. Although a larger proportion of the ten- to 20-year age group expressed a dislike for sour cream than the other age groups, their preference for sour cream was not statistically different from the other age groups. Sex did not affect ability to differentiate between flavor levels in sour cream, although females indicated they liked and used sour cream more than males. The difference between males and females in their preference for flavor levels was not significant. More males than females preferred a high flavor sour cream. Preference was expressed for the higher-flavored sour cream by both sexes. Ability to taste differences in sour cream was the same for users and non-users. The use of sour cream did affect preference choice. More consumers who use sour cream preferred the flavored sample than those who do not use sour cream. Liking or disliking sour cream affected the ability of the panelist to select the correct sample in the triangular test. Those panelists who liked sour cream differentiated more often between flavor levels and preferred a higher level of flavor. The panelists who disliked sour cream did not have preference for flavor levels. Smoking did not significantly affect the triangular and preference responses of the consumer panel.
Peer-to-peer affine commitment using bitcoin

The power of linear and affine logic lies in their ability to model state change. However, in a trustless, peer-to-peer setting, it is difficult to force principals to commit to state changes. We show how to solve the peer-to-peer affine commitment problem using a generalization of Bitcoin in which transactions deal in types rather than numbers. This has applications to proof-carrying authorization and mechanically executable contracts. Importantly, our system can be---and is---implemented on top of the existing Bitcoin network, so there is no need to recruit computing power to a new protocol.
Computed Tomographic (CT) Findings in Cases of Putaminal Hemorrhages with Hemiplegia that Have Taken a Favorable Course

Computed tomography (CT) findings were analyzed in 17 cases of putaminal hemorrhage accompanied by hemiplegia which had subsided almost completely by conservative therapy within one month after the onset of the disease. The results obtained are as follows : 1) In cases of putaminal hemorrhage, it was difficult to determine from CT findings whether or not the hemorrhage had reached the posterior limb of the internal capsule, since the limb was usually shifted medially by the hematoma; 2) In such putaminal hemorrhage cases where high density area was not seen at the level showing bodies of the lateral ventricles on CT scan, disturbance of consciousness was slight and hemiplegia improved with conservative therapy; 3) In order to interpret the reason for this, a triangle on the coronary section passing through the posterior part of the posterior limb of the internal capsule was supposed.That is, the triangle is formed by three margins;the base of the triangle marked by a line from the stria terminalis(A-point) to the insula of the same level (B-point), the lateral margin by a line running down from B-point to the upper end of the putamen (C-point) and the medial margin by a line from A-point to C-point. Thus, the relationship between the triangle and the extent of hematoma was investigated; 4) In putaminal hemorrhage, destruction of the pyramidal tract due to hematoma starts from this triangle because the triangle corresponds to the foot of the corona radiata and is most vulnerable to hematoma. Therefore, we call it the “vulnerable triangle.” This triangle is destroyed first and when the hematoma advances further, the posterior limb of the internal capsule is then destroyed; and 5) In cases showing findings of high density area on the CT scan at the level of bodies of the lateral ventricles, the vulnerable triangle may have been damaged and this is an ominous sign for prognosis.
Predicting and analyzing protein phosphorylation sites in plants using musite.

Although protein phosphorylation sites can be reliably identified with high-resolution mass spectrometry, the experimental approach is time-consuming and resource-dependent. Furthermore, it is unlikely that an experimental approach could catalog an entire phosphoproteome. Computational prediction of phosphorylation sites provides an efficient and flexible way to reveal potential phosphorylation sites and provide hypotheses in experimental design. Musite is a tool that we previously developed to predict phosphorylation sites based solely on protein sequence. However, it was not comprehensively applied to plants. In this study, the phosphorylation data from A. thaliana, B. napus, G. max, M. truncatula, O. sativa, and Z. mays were collected for cross-species testing and the overall plant-specific prediction as well. The results show that the model for A. thaliana can be extended to other organisms, and the overall plant model from Musite outperforms the current plant-specific prediction tools, Plantphos and PhosphAt, in prediction accuracy. Furthermore, a comparative study of predicted phosphorylation sites across orthologs among different plants was conducted to reveal potential evolutionary features. A bipolar distribution of isolated, non-conserved phosphorylation sites and highly conserved ones in terms of the amino acid type was observed. It also shows that predicted phosphorylation sites conserved within orthologs do not necessarily share more sequence similarity in the flanking regions than the background, but they often inherit protein disorder, a property that does not necessitate high sequence conservation. Our analysis also suggests that the phosphorylation frequencies among serine, threonine and tyrosine correlate with their relative proportion in disordered regions. Musite can be used as a web server (http://musite.net) or downloaded as an open-source standalone tool (http://musite.sourceforge.net/).
Glycolaldehyde from pyrolysis of cellulose

Abstract Glycolaldehyde (hydroxyacetaldehyde) is found in yields up to 9.2% from vacuum pyrolysis of cellulose at 350°C. This observation confirms a recent report of formation of high yields of glycolaldehyde from fast pyrolysis of cellulose and suggests that glycolaldehyde is normally a major pyrolysis product of cellulose which has often escaped collection or detection in earlier studies.
Exploring Baseball Hitting Data: What about those Breakdown Statistics?

Abstract During a broadcast of a baseball game, a fan hears how baseball hitters perform in various situations, such as at home and on the road, on grass and on turf, in clutch situations, and ahead and behind in the count. From this discussion by the media, fans get the misleading impression that much of the variability in players' hitting performance can be explained by one or more of these situational variables. For example, an announcer may state that a particular player struck out because he was behind in the count and was facing a left-handed pitcher. In baseball one can now investigate the effect of various situations, as hitting data is recorded in very fine detail. This article looks at the hitting performance of major league regulars during the 1992 baseball season to see which situational variables are “real” in the sense that they explain a significant amount of the variation in hitting of the group of players. Bayesian hierarchical models are used in measuring the size of a particular situati...
Multi-modal fusion for flasher detection in a mobile video chat application

This paper investigates the development of accurate and efficient classifiers to identify misbehaving users (i.e., "flashers") in a mobile video chat application. Our analysis is based on video session data collected from a mobile client that we built that connects to a popular random video chat service. We show that prior image-based classifiers designed for identifying normal and misbehaving users in online video chat systems perform poorly on mobile video chat data. We present an enhanced image-based classifier that improves classification performance on mobile data. More importantly, we demonstrate that incorporating multi-modal mobile sensor data from accelerometer and the camera state (front/back) along with audio can significantly improve the overall image-based classification accuracy. Our work also shows that leveraging multiple image-based predictions within a session (i.e., temporal modality) has the potential to further improve the classification performance. Finally, we show that the cost of classification in terms of running time can be significantly reduced by employing a multilevel cascaded classifier in which high-complexity features and further image-based predictions are not generated unless needed.
Alterations of characteristic temperatures for lectin interactions in LM cells with altered lipid composition.

Abstract Alteration of the fatty acid composition of mouse LM cell lipids dramatically affected the concanavalin A binding and concanavalin A-mediated hemadsorption properties of these cells. A critical temperature for these two concanavalin A related phenomena observed at 15–19° in cells with unaltered fatty acid composition was shifted to 22–28° for cells containing a higher proportion of saturated fatty acids and lowered to 7–11° for cells containing polyunsaturated fatty acids substituted for monoenoic unsaturated fatty acids. In contrast, a second critical temperature (at 5–7°) observed for concanavalin A binding and concanavalin A-mediated hemadsorption to LM cells was essentially unchanged by alterations in cellular lipid fatty acid composition. We conclude that a change in membrane lipid freezing point is responsible for the higher critical temperature (15–19°), and factors other than lipid melting properties, perhaps cytoskeleton structure, contribute to the lower critical temperature (5–7°) for lectin interactions with the exposed surface of LM cells.
Moderation, morals, and meat

Meat‐eating as a human practice has been under ethical attack from philosophers such as Peter Singer and Tom Regan on both utilitarian and deontological grounds. An organicist ethic, on the other hand, recognizes that all life other than the primary producers, the plants, must feed on life. This essay affirms, with many environmental ethicists, the moralconsiderability of biota other than the human, but denies that this enlargement of the moral community beyond Homo sapiens necessarily precludes our eating of meat. First, absolute deontological arguments against meat‐eating are disputed, then utilitarian‐hedonistic arguments are shown not to be sufficient to require ethical vegetarianism. Both sorts of arguments have strengths, however, that set us on guard against current abuses in the meat‐raising and slaughtering industries. If the principle of ‘due respect’ for beings with different degrees of intrinsic value is honored, then moderate meat‐eating under reformed social practices can be seen as licit. T...
Right ventricular outflow tract reconstruction with bicuspid valved polytetrafluoroethylene conduit.

Background In general, all conduits available for right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) reconstruction eventually become stenotic or insufficient. Owing to the lack of an ideal conduit and with the hope of reducing the incidence of reoperations, we have developed and utilized a bicuspid valved polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) conduit for the reconstruction of the RVOT. The purpose of this study was to review our early experience with this conduit. Methods From October 2008 to September 2009, we have implanted bicuspid valved PTFE conduits in 18 patients with a median age of 1.7 years (range 6 days to 16 years). Their diagnoses include tetralogy of Fallot with pulmonary atresia in 8, truncus arteriosus in 6, congenital aortic stenosis in 2, transposition of great arteries in 1, and interrupted aortic arch with a ventricular septal defect in 1. In 16 patients, a complete biventricular repair was performed. In another 2 cases, the conduit was used for palliative RVOT reconstruction. The conduit sizes varied from 10 mm to 24 mm in diameter. Three-dimensional flow fields obtained from computational fluid dynamics studies were utilized in the conduit design process. Results There was no surgical mortality or reinterventions associated with the PTFE conduit placement in our series. At the time of discharge, none of the patients had any echocardiographic findings consistent with significant conduit stenosis or insufficiency. During the follow-up period of 6.2 ± 3.9 months, all patients were alive and only 3 had more than mild pulmonary insufficiency. Conclusions Our bicuspid valved PTFE conduit has an acceptable early performance, with a low incidence of valve insufficiency and no conduit stenosis. Certainly, longer follow-up is necessary to fully assess its long-term benefits.
Support vector machine learning-based fMRI data group analysis

To explore the multivariate nature of fMRI data and to consider the inter-subject brain response discrepancies, a multivariate and brain response model-free method is fundamentally required. Two such methods are presented in this paper by integrating a machine learning algorithm, the support vector machine (SVM), and the random effect model. Without any brain response modeling, SVM was used to extract a whole brain spatial discriminance map (SDM), representing the brain response difference between the contrasted experimental conditions. Population inference was then obtained through the random effect analysis (RFX) or permutation testing (PMU) on the individual subjects’ SDMs. Applied to arterial spin labeling (ASL) perfusion fMRI data, SDM RFX yielded lower false-positive rates in the null hypothesis test and higher detection sensitivity for synthetic activations with varying cluster size and activation strengths, compared to the univariate general linear model (GLM) based RFX. For a sensory-motor ASL fMRI study, both SDM RFX and SDM PMU yielded similar activation patterns to GLM RFX and GLM PMU, respectively, but with higher t values and cluster extensions at the same significance level. Capitalizing on the absence of temporal noise correlation in ASL data, this study also incorporated PMU in the individual level GLM and SVM analysis accompanied by group level analysis through RFX or group level PMU. Providing inferences on the probability of being activated or deactivated at each voxel, these individual level PMU based group analysis methods can be used to threshold the analysis results of GLM RFX, SDM RFX or SDM PMU.
Growth of mouse vaginal epithelial cells in culture: Effect of sera and supplemented serum-free media

Normal mouse vaginal epithelial cells isolated from ovariectomized ca. 35-d-old BALB/cCrgl mice were grown in primary culture using collagen gel metrix and a serum-free medium composed of a 1∶1 mixture of Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium and Ham’s F12 (D:H) medium supplemented with insulin (IN), epidermal growth factor (EGF), cholera toxin, transferrin, and bovine serum albumin V (BSA). Three-dimensional cellular outgrowths occurred inside the collagen gel matrix. The contribution of each factor to cell growth was examined by individual addition to the basic D:H medium and by individual deletion from the complete serum-free medium. When added individually, only IN promoted growth. Deletion of IN from the complete serum-free medium markedly, diminished growth; deletion of EGF or BSA slightly diminished growth. When horse, fetal bovine, or chicken serum was added to the basal D:H medium, only with increasing doses of horse serum was there enhanced cell growth. The effect of 17s-estradiol and diethylstilbestrol on the growth of cells was also tested, using a suboptimal medium of D:H supplemented with BSA and IN, or a minimal medium supplemented with IN alone. During the 8-d time period, addition of estrogen did not enhance cell growth in either medium. To date, we have been unable to demonstrate a mitogenic effect of estrogen; rather a dose-dependent inhibition of proliferation is seen.
Electric field dependence of the energy levels of a well with an arbitrary internal configuration of square potentials

Abstract Normalized analytical equations for eigenstates of a one-dimensional well containing an arbitrary internal configuration of square potentials subjected to a uniform electric field have been derived. The general formulation is used to calculate the electric field dependence of the energy levels of a deep well with five internal barriers. Typical results are shown in graphical forms as functions of the barrier height, barrier width, barrier effective mass, and the field strength. The formation of Stark ladders and surface states from the eigenstates of a single deep well in an electric field, the localization process of wavefunctions with changing barrier height, width, and field strength and their anticrossing behaviors are seen.
Follow-up on reubella vaccinations and experience with subclinical reinfection

Rubella antibody titers for a group to women vaccinated soon after delivery have decreased slightly after two years. None of their unvaccinated infants—even those who were breast-fed—had any serologic evidence of exposure to rubella virus. Antibody levels have been determined at annual intervals for three years on a group of institutionalized children. The geometric mean titer fell during the second year, then unexpectedly rose during the third year suggesting subclinical reinfections. The incidence of subclinical reinfection was very low among RA 27/3 vaccinees and naturally immune children, but it was 26 per cent among recipients of the Cendehill vaccine. Results suggest that with presently licensed rubella vaccines it is not possible to produce a “herd immunity,” at least, not in an institutional population.
A hybrid Lagrangian-Eulerian formulation for bubble generation and dynamics

We present a hybrid Lagrangian-Eulerian framework for simulating both small and large scale bubble dynamics, where the bubbles can grow or shrink in volume as dictated by pressure forces in the surrounding fluid. Small under-resolved bubbles are evolved using Lagrangian particles that are monolithically two-way coupled to the surrounding flow in a manner that closely approximates the analytic bubble oscillation frequency while converging to the analytic volume as predicted by the well-known Rayleigh-Plesset equation. We present a novel scheme for interconverting between these under-resolved Lagrangian bubbles and larger well-resolved bubbles that are modeled with a traditional Eulerian level set approach. We also present a novel seeding mechanism to realistically generate bubbles when simulating fluid structure interaction with complex objects such as ship propellers. Moreover, our framework for bubble generation is general enough to be incorporated into all grid-based as well as particle-based fluid simulation methods.
Prevention of spread of hepatitis C

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is transmitted by percutaneous or permucosal exposure to infectious blood or blood-derived body fluids. Based on the results of cohort and acute case control studies, risk factors associated with acquiring HCV infection in the United States have included transfusion of blood and blood products and transplantation of solid organs from infected donors, injecting drug use, occupational exposure to blood (primarily contaminated needle sticks), birth to an infected mother, sex with an infected partner, and multiple heterosexual partners. Nosocomial and iatrogenic transmission of HCV primarily are recognized in the context of outbreaks, and primarily have resulted from unsafe injection practices. Transmission from HCV-infected health care workers to patients is rare. Transfusions and transplants have been virtually eliminated as sources for transmission, and most (68%) newly acquired cases of hepatitis C are related to injecting drug use. The primary prevention of illegal drug injecting will eliminate the greatest risk factor for HCV infection in the United States. Other prevention strategies that need to be widely implemented include risk reduction counseling and services and review and improvement of infection control practices in all types of health care settings. Testing for HCV infection should be routinely performed for persons at high risk for infection or who require postexposure management. There are no recommendations for routine restriction of professional activities for HCV-infected health care workers, and persons should not be excluded from work, school, play, and child care or other settings on the basis of their HCV infection status.
Biosynthesis of Ribonucleic Acids

Biosynthesis of ribonucleic acids involves the polymerization of ribonucleotides on deoxyribonucleic acid templates and the conversion of these primary gene transcripts to mature RNA molecules. The present report reviews briefly our current understanding of these processes.
Pioglitazone for the Treatment of Insulin Resistance in Heart Transplant Recipients: Assessment of Efficacy and Safety

s S283 Purpose: Antibody mediated rejection (AMR) in heart transplantation has been shown to be associated with a significantly worse survival and to predispose patients to cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV). Recently, importance of detecting early histopathologic features of AMR rose on topics and a new pathologic AMR grading was proposed, while eliminating the correlation with clinical presentation and presence of donor specific antibodies (DSA). However, the correlation of CAV with the presence of circulating DSA and histologic grade remains poorly defined. In this study, we examined clinical significance of biopsy-diagnosed AMR with DSA evaluation and other parameters with respect to the development of CAV. Methods: We retrospectively studied the relationship of biopsy-diagnosed AMR, DSA, anti-HLA antibody, and panel reactive antigen (PRA) to CAV outcome. Endomyocardial biopsy (EMB) specimens from 41 consecutive recipients between January 1999 and December 2012 in our institution were analyzed. Results: Of the 41 allografts, 19 (46.3%) developed CAV. CAV occurred in 83.3% (5 of 6) of patients with DSA, whereas only 16.6% (1 of 6) of patients without DSA developed CAV. Of the 5 grafts that developed CAV in the presence of DSA, 50% (3 of 6) exhibited a positive EMB immunofluorescence (IF) for C4d staining. Only 22% (8 of 35) of the patients with CAV had EMB IF C4d staining without circulating DSA. Conclusion: The presence of circulating DSA and pathologic classification of AMR were highly associated with CAV outcome.
Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network releases search widget

The Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN) has launched a widget that can be embedded in any Web site to search the network's catalog of online resources relating to climate and energy topics for students in grades 6–12 and for general audiences. The catalog includes more than 300 high-quality existing digital resources, including learning activities, videos, visualizations, and short investigations that have been reviewed and annotated for scientific accuracy and pedagogical potential. The widget allows users to search keywords and then access the full catalog record of resources from the search. The CLEAN Web site includes a section on teaching climate and energy topics.
The Making of Modern Turkey: Nation and State in Eastern Anatolia, 1913–1950. By Ugur Ümit Üngör. (Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 2011. Pp. xxii, 303. $125.00.)

The main thesis of this five‐chapter book is that, from 1913 to 1950, the Young Turks regime sought to homogenize East Anatolia ethnically in order to establish and sustain a Turkish nation‐state. ...
The Political Geography of Presidential Speeches, 1946–87

Abstract A central theme of political geography and international relations is the changing foreign policy of the United States, the global leader since 1945. Speech-making is a major geopolitical activity. A political communication-based view of the American presidency combined with a spatial-temporal framework of global politics provided the methodology for the analysis of presidential speeches. The State of the Union addresses offer a consistent source of documentation of the priorities of American policy, and the geography of the speeches indicates the regional emphases of American strategy over time. A content analysis of the forty-two messages from 1946–87 yielded two key indicators, foreign policy ratio and specific regional ratio. In addition, six global regions were defined. Yearly variations in the key indices are randomly distributed in a temporal sense but are strongly related to regional conflicts with U.S. involvement. The maps for each president recorded dramatic differences from detailed (...
Influence of Timing and Insect Biology on the Effectiveness of Insecticides Applied for Control of European Pine Shoot Moth, Rhyacionia buoliana

Spring and summer field insecticide applications were made to Compare the effectiveness of selected chlorinated hydrocarbon and organie phosphate insecticides in control of the European pine shoot moth. Control obtained with spring applications of dimethoate, DDT, and Phosdrin® (l-methoxycarbony-1-propen -2-yl dimethyl phosphate) confirmed earlier success with these materials. Guthion® ( O,O -dimethyl S -(4-oxo-1,2,3-benzotriazin- 3-(4 H )-ylmethyl phosphorodithioate); methoxychlor; and Bayer 22408 ( O,O -diethyl O -naphthalimido phosphorothioate) also showed promise. Evidence that resumption of spring feeding and larval migration may be protracted by weather in a given year suggests that timing of the spring insecticide application should coincide with initial pitch blister ("tent") formation. Results of Sevin® (1-naphthyl- N -methylcarbamate), DDT, and dimethoate applications made seven times between the period of 60% adult emergence and the date when 90% of the eggs had hatched (summer) give evidence that treatment should be deferred until at least 50% of the eggs have hatched. Evidence showing that larvae always feed first in the needles and then in the buds of the tree points up the desirability of having a maximum amount of insecticidal residue present at this time.
Can Inoculation Withstand Multiple Attacks

This investigation introduced multiple competitive attacks in order to assess the effectiveness of inoculation treatments in protecting established attitudes in a natural setting. A four-phase experiment was conducted involving 433 participants. The results revealed that the effectiveness of refutational inoculation messages dissipated some in the face of an additional attack. Still, refutational inoculation messages proved to be more effective than supportive, restoration, and control (no message) conditions in protecting established attitudes in the face of multiple attacks. The content of an additional attack (the same as the first attack or different) did not affect the capacity of inoculation refutational messages to confer resistance to competitive attacks.
Center-cut for color-image quantization

Three simple and effective modifications made to the median-cut algorithm lead to a new and useful tool for color-image quantization. The first is to select the color box with the longest longest-dimension instead of the highest pixel count. The second is to cut through the center of the color box instead of bisecting the box's pixel count. The third is to use 3-2-4 instead of 3-3-3 bit-cutting for color reduction.
SASH Policy Statement (Revised): The Future of Problematic Sexual Behaviors/Sexual Addiction

The Society for the Advancement of Sexual Health (SASH) is a nonprofit multidisciplinary organization of professionals dedicated to scholarship, training, and resources for promoting sexual health ...
The thickness of the planetary boundary layer

Many different methods for estimating the thickness H of the planetary boundary layer are summarized and applied to the 1953 O'Neill boundary layer observations. The observed variation of the thickness H is best explained by Latkhtman's (1961) formula, which states that H is directly proportional to the free-stream or geostrophic wind speed and inversely proportional to the square root of the average vertical gradient of potential temperature within the boundary layer.
Rapid Change in Life-Cycle Polyphenism across a Subspecies Boundary of the Eastern Newt, Notophthalmus viridescens

Abstract Life-cycle polyphenism has been hypothesized to facilitate ecological speciation in salamanders. A recent study demonstrated that the Eastern Newt (Notophthalmus viridescens) subspecies genetically differ in expression of life-cycle polyphenism. However, we currently lack direct evidence that the life-history divergence among the newt subspecies is associated with the suggested ecological parameters, namely availability of wetlands and suitable terrestrial habitats. To test such associations, we examined life-history traits of two subspecies, Notophthalmus viridescens viridescens and Notophthalmus viridescens dorsalis, across the subspecies boundary, which corresponds with changes in those ecological parameters between the Piedmont Plateau and the Coastal Plain. We reared larval newts derived from the two focal subspecies across the contact zone in outdoor mesocosms under two different hydroperiod treatments (three-month drying and permanent water). We found striking genetically based differences...
Thermal lagging in multi-carrier systems

Abstract Nonequilibrium heating in multi-carrier systems is captured by the high-order effects in thermal lagging. Following the general formulation for the N-carrier system, a three-carrier system follows, aiming toward extracting the intrinsic behavior of ultrafast thermalization and relaxation among different carriers. For the first time to our knowledge, it shows that energy coupling among three carriers gives rise to the new τ T 2 -effect, which also results in a flux-precedence type of heat flow. Nondimensional analysis is made to extract the dominating parameters, including the ratio between the two phase lags expressed in terms of two heat-capacity and two energy-coupling-factor ratios. In the numerical example, the method of Laplace transform is used to solve the heat equation with nonlinear effects of both τ T 2 and τ q 2 . Thermal lagging with the additional effect of τ T 2 further elevates the field temperature as compared to the τ q 2 -effect alone.
HIV Risk Behavior among Youth in the Dominican Republic: The Role of Alcohol and Other Drugs

Existing literature related to HIV in the Dominican Republic has tended to neglect the unique role of tourism areas as distinct ecologies facilitative of sexual risk behavior, particularly HIV vuln...
Racial and Ethnic Variation in the Provision of Dental Procedures

Objectives: Most of the available information on racial/ethnic disparities in oral health is based on differences in sociodemographic variables related to dental disease burden, dental visits, and access to care. However, very little is known regarding racial/ethnic variation in the provision of dental procedures. This study examined trends in the provision of dental procedures and sought to determine whether there are racial/ethnic differences in the provision of dental procedures. Methods: This is a retrospective observational study of patients treated at a dental training institution. Data for all patients 18 to 60 years of age in axiUm (electronic database) for 2001 to 2003 were analyzed. Data include demographic information, poverty status, insurance coverage, dental procedure, and race/ethnicity. Separate logistic regression models (by dental procedure category and year) were fitted while considering race/ethnicity, insurance coverage, poverty status, marital status, and age as possible covariates. Results: The total number of dental procedures completed by providers increased by 14,000 between 2001 and 2003. African-Americans were significantly less likely to have restorative procedures [odds ratio (OR): 0.60, 95 percent confidence interval (CI): 0.42 to 0.86], (OR: 0.52, 95 percent CI: 0.38 to 0.73), (OR: 0.46, 95 percent CI: 0.36 to 0.58) in 2001, 2002, and 2003, respectively, than the White population. Significant differences in the use of other dental procedures (prosthodontics – removable) and oral surgery procedures by race/ethnicity were observed. Conclusions: Substantial racial/ethnic variation in the provision of dental procedures exists. This study presents findings beyond anecdotal information on racial/ethnic variation in the provision of dental procedures and requires further research to compile more detailed data.
Neural Basis of a Perceptual Decision in the Parietal Cortex (Area LIP) of the Rhesus Monkey

We recorded the activity of single neurons in the posterior parietal cortex (area LIP) of two rhesus monkeys while they discriminated the direction of motion in random-dot visual stimuli. The visual task was similar to a motion discrimination task that has been used in previous investigations of motion-sensitive regions of the extrastriate cortex. The monkeys were trained to decide whether the direction of motion was toward one of two choice targets that appeared on either side of the random-dot stimulus. At the end of the trial, the monkeys reported their direction judgment by making an eye movement to the appropriate target. We studied neurons in LIP that exhibited spatially selective persistent activity during delayed saccadic eye movement tasks. These neurons are thought to carry high-level signals appropriate for identifying salient visual targets and for guiding saccadic eye movements. We arranged the motion discrimination task so that one of the choice targets was in the LIP neuron's response field (RF) while the other target was positioned well away from the RF. During motion viewing, neurons in LIP altered their firing rate in a manner that predicted the saccadic eye movement that the monkey would make at the end of the trial. The activity thus predicted the monkey's judgment of motion direction. This predictive activity began early in the motion-viewing period and became increasingly reliable as the monkey viewed the random-dot motion. The neural activity predicted the monkey's direction judgment on both easy and difficult trials (strong and weak motion), whether or not the judgment was correct. In addition, the timing and magnitude of the response was affected by the strength of the motion signal in the stimulus. When the direction of motion was toward the RF, stronger motion led to larger neural responses earlier in the motion-viewing period. When motion was away from the RF, stronger motion led to greater suppression of ongoing activity. Thus the activity of single neurons in area LIP reflects both the direction of an impending gaze shift and the quality of the sensory information that instructs such a response. The time course of the neural response suggests that LIP accumulates sensory signals relevant to the selection of a target for an eye movement.
Preparative High-Performance Liquid Chromatographic Separation of Natural Farnesol Isomers (1)

Abstract Farnesol, 3,7,11-trimethyl-2,6,10-dodecatrien-1-ol, is a naturally occurring sesquiterpenoid that is used in perfumery and synthesis. In synthesis, it is used as a starting material for other terpenoids and insect juvenile hormone derivatives. A preparative high-performance liquid chromatographic separation procedure was developed whereby 2.1 g of 2E,6E-farnesol could be readily isolated from 4.8 g of a 1:1 mixture of the 2E,6E- and 2Z,6E-isomers of farnesol. This rapid one-step procedure simplifies the separation of the mixed isomers on a preparative scale.
Ammonium-loaded clinoptilolite: a slow-release nitrogen fertilizer for sweet corn

Abstract Nitrogen (N) loss from irrigated cropland, particularly sandy soils, significantly contributes to nitrate (NO3 ‐) contamination in surface and ground waters and increases N applications to crops. Ammonium‐loaded clinoptilolite (A‐Cp) may reduce N leaching from sandy soils while sustaining plant productivity. We conducted two greenhouse plant growth experiments with sweet corn (Zea mays L.). Pots containing a sandy soil planted with sweet corn were fertilized with either ammonium sulfate (AS) or one of three size fractions of A‐Cp, small (<0.25 mm), medium (0.25 to 2 mm), or large (2 to 4 mm), at rates of 112, 224, or 336 kgN ha‐1 (Experiment #1) and 112 or 224 kg N ha‐1 (Experiment #2). We compared ammonium (NH4 +) and NO3 ‐ leaching from these pots and compared corn relative growth rates (RGR), leaf area ratio (LAR), and net assimilation rate (NAR) among all N fertilizers. Soil amended with AS leached 10 to 73% of the added N, depending on N rate, whereas <5% of the added N leached from the A‐Cp...
Methionine and cystine requirements of slow- and fast-feathering male broilers from zero to three weeks of age

Two experiments were conducted with fast- (Ross x 3F8) and slow- (Ross x 308) feathering broiler males from 0 to 3 wk of age to determine Met and Cys requirements. A corn-soybean meal basal diet was formulated to be deficient in Met and Cys but was adequate in all other nutrients (22.0% CP; 3,050 kcal ME/kg). In experiment 1, diets contained 0.50% dietary Cys with 0.35, 0.40, 0.45, and 0.50% total Met. Feed conversion (FC) of slow- and fast-feathering males improved in a similar manner to 0.50% Met (linear, P < 0.05). Nitrogen retention measured from 20 to 21 d of age optimized at 0.46% Met (quadratic, P < 0.01), regardless of feathering rate. Experiment 2 examined the response to feeding 0.35, 0.40, 0.45, and 0.50% total Cys in diets having total Met at 0.45%. Increasing Cys improved FC that optimized at 0.40% with fast-feathering birds (quadratic, P < 0.01), whereas slow-feathering broilers were not responsive. Nitrogen retention measured from d 20 to 21 did not indicate a difference attributable to feathering but a Cys optimization at 0.43% with both broiler sources. Present experimentation indicates a Met requirement approximating 0.50% is appropriate for broilers 0 to 3 wk of age, regardless of feather rate; however, the estimated Cys requirement for slow-feathering males (0.39%) was less than for fast-feathering (0.44%) males.
A quad low voltage rail-to-rail operational amplifier

A low-voltage rail-to-rail amplifier that has a NPN PNP switchable differential input stage allowing rail-to-rail input voltage swings is presented. The inputs can be overdriven without causing phase reversal in the output signal. The amplifier provides rail-to-rail output voltage swings which extend to within 50 mV of either rail. The output stage is current boosted to provide up to 50 mA of drive current. >
Self-Assembly and Magnetic Properties of MnO Coated FePt Nanoparticles

This paper reports on the synthesis and self-assembly of FePt/MnO core/shell nanoparticles. The enhanced magnetic properties of FePt nanoparticles with MnO coating is shown. Results also demonstrated the suppression of aggregation of MnO coated FePt nanoparticles during the annealing process. The magnetic moment of the FePt nanoparticles is significantly enhanced with the MnO shell. Also, the room temperature hysteresis loops curves reveal that the annealed FePt nanoparticles without the MnO shell have a large coercivity around 14 kOe, while FePt nanoparticles with the MnO shell show a sheared loop with a small coercivity about 3 kOe.
Computational modeling of femtosecond optical solitons from Maxwell's equations

An algorithm is developed that permits the direct time integration of full-vector nonlinear Maxwell's equations. This capability permits the modeling of both linear and nonlinear instantaneous and dispersive effects in the electric polarization in material media. The modeling of the optical carrier is retained. The fundamental innovation is to notice that it is possible to treat the linear and nonlinear convolution integrals, which describe the dispersion, as new dependent variables. A coupled system of nonlinear second-order ordinary differential equations can then be derived for the linear and nonlinear convolution integrals, by differentiating them in the time domain. These equations, together with Maxwell's equations, are solved to determine the electromagnetic fields in nonlinear dispersive media. Results are presented of calculations in one dimension of the propagation and collision of femtosecond electromagnetic solitons that retain the optical carrier, taking into account the Kerr and Raman interactions. >
Large-vessel giant cell arteritis: a cohort study

Objective. The aim of this study was to compare baseline variables, treatment and outcomes in patients with large-vessel GCA (LV-GCA), primarily of the upper extremities, with those with cranial disease (C-GCA). Methods. All patients >50 years of age with radiographic evidence of subclavian LV-GCA diagnosed between 1 January 1999 and 31 December 2008 were identified and compared with those with biopsy-positive C-GCA diagnosed in the same period. Results. The study included 120 LV-GCA patients and 212 C-GCA patients. Compared with C-GCA, patients with LV-GCA were younger [68.2 years (s.d. 7.5) vs 75.7 (7.4), P < 0.001] and had longer duration of symptoms at GCA diagnosis (median 3.5 vs 2.2 months, P < 0.001). A history of PMR was more common in LV-GCA patients (26% vs 15%, P = 0.012), but a smaller proportion had cranial symptoms (41% vs 83%, P < 0.001) and vision loss (4% vs 11%, P = 0.035). ACR classification criteria for GCA were satisfied in 39% of LV-GCA patients and 95% of C-GCA patients (P < 0.001). Compared with C-GCA, patients with LV-GCA had more relapses (4.9 vs 3.0/10 person-years, P < 0.001), higher cumulative corticosteroid (CS) doses at 1 year [11.4 g (s.d. 5.9) vs 9.1 (s.d. 3.7), P < 0.001] and required longer treatment (median 4.5 vs 2.2 years, P < 0.001). Conclusion. Although patients with LV-GCA had a lower rate of vision loss, they had a higher relapse rate and greater CS requirements. The ACR criteria for GCA are inadequate for the classification of patients with LV-GCA.
Updates on the Electrocardiogram in Acute Coronary Syndromes

The electrocardiogram (ECG) is the initial test in patients with suspected ACS. The ECG is the defining element of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Its most important use is in the detection of acute coronary obstruction, and it is the most important, cost-effective, and immediately available initial test in the decision for emergency reperfusion therapy. There is a recent interest in refining the sensitivity and specificity of the ECG for coronary occlusion, and thus for identifying subtle STEMI, as well as in recognizing pseudoinfarction patterns and thus avoiding false positive cath lab activations. Studies assessing the accuracy of cath lab activation, the differentiation of precordial ST-segment elevation due to normal variant from that of anterior STEMI, the diagnosis of STEMI in the presence of left bundle branch block, the differentiation of benign inferior ST-segment elevation from that of inferior STEMI, and the importance of ST-segment elevation in lead aVR will be discussed.
On the baseband compensation of IQ imbalances in OFDM systems

OFDM is a widely recognized and standardized modulation scheme for future high bit rate communications. Implementation of OFDM-based systems suffers from inphase-quadrature phase (IQ) imbalances in the front-end analog processing. The IQ imbalances can severely limit the operating SNR and, consequently, the supported constellation sizes. In this paper, the effect of IQ imbalances on OFDM receivers is analyzed and system level algorithms to compensate for these distortions are proposed. The algorithms include different post and pre-FFT estimation and correction techniques.
Dithering and its effects on sigma delta and multi-stage sigma delta modulation

The spectrum of quantization noise in a dithered sigma-delta modulator and multistage sigma-delta modulator is derived under the constraint that the dithering signal does not cause overload. It is shown in the case of a simple sigma-delta modulation that no-overload dithering can smooth the noise spectrum and can make the binary quantization noise asymptotically uncorrelated with the input. It does not, however, make the noise white. In the case of multistage sigma-delta modulation with the appropriate dithering, the binary quantization noise becomes asymptotically white, even for a system with only two-stages. The signal-to-quantization-noise ratio is derived for sigma-delta and multistage sigma-delta oversampled analog-to-digital conversion with additive dithering. Simulation results are presented to support the theoretical analysis. >