cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Two Distinct Approaches for CRISPR-Cas9-Mediated Gene Editing in Cryptococcus neoformans and Related Species.

ABSTRACT Cryptococcus neoformans and related species are encapsulated basidiomycetous fungi that cause meningoencephalitis in individuals with immune deficiency. This pathogen has a tractable genetic system; however, gene disruption via electroporation remains difficult, while biolistic transformation is often limited by lack of multiple genetic markers and the high initial cost of equipment. The approach using clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) and CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9) has become the technology of choice for gene editing in many organisms due to its simplicity, efficiency, and versatility. The technique has been successfully demonstrated in C. neoformans and Cryptococcus deneoformans in which two DNA plasmids expressing either the Streptococcus pyogenes CAS9 gene or the guide RNA (gRNA) were employed. However, potential adverse effects due to constitutive expression and the time-consuming process of constructing vectors to express each gRNA remain as a primary barrier for wide adaptation. This report describes the delivery of preassembled CRISPR-Cas9-gRNA ribonucleoproteins (RNPs) via electroporation that is able to generate edited mutant alleles. RNP-mediated CRISPR-Cas9 was used to replace the wild-type GIB2 gene encoding a Gβ-like/RACK1 Gib2 protein with a gib2 :: NAT allele via homologous recombination in both C. neoformans and C. deneoformans. In addition, a DNA plasmid (pCnCas9:U6-gRNA) that expresses both Cas9 and gRNA, allowing for convenient yet low-cost DNA-mediated gene editing, is described. pCnCas9:U6-gRNA contains an endogenous U6 promoter for gRNA expression and restriction sites for one-step insertion of a gRNA. These approaches and resources provide new opportunities to accelerate genetic studies of Cryptococcus species. IMPORTANCE For genetic studies of the Cryptococcus genus, generation of mutant strains is often hampered by a limited number of selectable genetic markers, the tedious process of vector construction, side effects, and other limitations, such as the high cost of acquiring a particle delivery system. CRISPR-Cas9 technology has been demonstrated in Cryptococcus for genome editing. However, it remains labor-intensive and time-consuming since it requires the identification of a suitable type III RNA polymerase promoter for gRNA expression. In addition, there may be potential adverse effects caused by constitutive expressions of Cas9 and gRNA. Here, I report the use of a ribonucleoprotein-mediated CRISPR-Cas9 technique for genome editing of C. neoformans and related species. Together with the custom-constructed pCnCas9:U6-gRNA vector that allows low-cost and time-saving DNA-based CRISPR-Cas9, my approach adds to the molecular toolbox for dissecting the molecular mechanism of pathogenesis in this important group of fungal pathogens.
Calafell, Bernadette Marie. Monstrosity, Performance, and Race in Contemporary Culture. New York: Peter Lang, 2015. 139 pp. $39.95 (paperback). ISBN-13: 978-1-4331-2737-3

Author Bernadette Marie Calafell asks, “[H]ow do some monsters offer freedom while others simply reify structures of domination?” (p. 118). In response, Monstrosity, Performance, and Race in Contem...
The prospective relationship between prehypertension, race, and whole-brain white matter microstructure.

Compared with whites, blacks develop hypertension earlier in life, progress from prehypertension to hypertension at an accelerated rate, and exhibit greater hypertension-mediated organ damage (e.g., kidney disease, stroke). In this paper, we tested whether the longitudinal associations between elevated systolic blood pressure and disruption of brain white matter structural integrity differ as a function of race. A community sample of 100 middle-aged adults with prehypertension underwent diffusion imaging to quantify indirect metrics of white matter structural integrity, including fractional anisotropy. Blood pressure and diffusion imaging measurements were collected at baseline and at a 2-year follow-up. Regression analyses showed that higher systolic blood pressure at baseline was associated with a decrease in fractional anisotropy over 2 years in blacks only (β = −0.51 [95% CI = −0.85, −0.16], t = −2.93, p = 0.004, ΔR2 = 0.09). These findings suggest that blacks are more susceptible to the impact of systolic prehypertension on white matter structural integrity.
Liberty and Community in International Relations

Hocking realized that a general theory must not lose touch with particular facts. He thus self-consciously related his principles to “specific situations — which always refuse to accommodate themselves to the role of merely illustrating a theory.”1 International relations was one area in which he applied his political philosophy to concrete problems. In a number of writings, published over a period of fifty years, he considered this question: how can the liberty of each state to pursue its own “experiment in living” be compatible with community in the relations between states? It would be impossible to summarize Hocking’s wide travels and his extensive writings on international relations. Some of the more important are mentioned in the introduction.2 A man who took his citizen responsibilities seriously, he expressed his convictions on a broad range of international issues, from famine in Asia to the intellectual challenges posed by nuclear weapons. These views were presented not only in books and articles, but also in addresses, letters to the editor, and radio discussions. A sense of the range of his interests and felt responsibilities may be gained from a glance at his selected bibliography. It is not necessary to this study that all his writings on international relations be discussed. Many were topical, limited in significance to a specific time and a narrow issue.
HCV Exposure in the Health Care Arena. Is there a Role for Post-exposure Prophylaxis?

Healthcare workers are a vulnerable population for exposure to a variety of bloodborne pathogens including hepatitis C (HCV). With the development of novel efficacious treatments for chronic HCV, the role of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) has been suggested instead of the current approach to monitor for the development of infection. The lack of robust studies that HCV PEP lowers transmission risk as well as the significant financial cost limits enthusiasm for routine use of HCV PEP at this time. We support stringent monitoring protocols with prompt referral for evaluation and treatment when infection is detected. However, it is important to consider providing HCV PEP for clinicians engaged in invasive procedures who may be displaced from work for extended periods of time due to the nature of their work where they have a higher risk for transmission to additional patients.
Characterization of an Unusual Foodborne Illness Including an Outbreak and Sporadic Illness Caused by Three Bacterial Pathogens Via a Takeaway Service.

Abstract Takeaway food services are an emerging business in China and have a potential impact on food safety. An unusual foodborne illness associated with takeaway food delivered through a logistic...
Rectal Swabs from Critically Ill Patients Provide Discordant Representations of the Gut Microbiome Compared to Stool Samples.

ABSTRACT The role of the gut microbiome in critical illness is being actively investigated, but the optimal sampling methods for sequencing studies of gut microbiota remain unknown. Stool samples are generally considered the reference standard but are not practical to obtain in the intensive care unit (ICU), and thus, rectal swabs are often used. However, the reliability of rectal swabs for gut microbiome profiling has not been established in the ICU setting. In this study, we compared 16S rRNA gene sequencing results between rectal swab and stool samples collected at three time points from mechanically ventilated critically ill adults. Rectal swabs comprised 89% of the samples collected at the baseline time point, but stool samples became more extensively available at later time points. Significant differences in alpha-diversity and beta-diversity between rectal swabs and stool samples were observed, but these differences were primarily due to baseline samples. Higher relative abundances of members of the Actinobacteria phylum (typically skin microbes) were present in rectal swabs than in stool samples (P = 0.05), a difference that was attenuated over time. The progressively increasing similarity of rectal swabs and stool samples likely resulted from increasing levels of stool coating of the rectal vault and direct soiling of the rectal swabs taken at later time points. Therefore, inferences about the role of the gut microbiome in critical illness should be drawn cautiously and should take into account the type and timing of samples analyzed. IMPORTANCE Rectal swabs have been proposed as potential alternatives to stool samples for gut microbiome profiling in outpatients or healthy adults, but their reliability in assessment of critically ill patients has not been defined. Because stool sampling is not practical and often not feasible in the intensive care unit, we performed a detailed comparison of gut microbial sequencing profiles between rectal swabs and stool samples in a longitudinal cohort of critically ill patients. We identified systematic differences in gut microbial profiles between rectal swabs and stool samples and demonstrated that the timing of the rectal swab sampling had a significant impact on sequencing results. Our methodological findings should provide valuable information for the design and interpretation of future investigations of the role of the gut microbiome in critical illness.
Women Don’t Run? Gender and Experience Interact to Predict Political Candidate Emergence

Surveys reveal that women have less interest running for political office than men. However, evidence that women run for office at a lower rate than men is tenuous. The current study analyzes polit...
Data-Driven Ranking and Visualization of Products by Competitiveness

Competitive analysis is a critical part of any business. Product managers, sellers, and marketers spend time and resources scouring through a huge volume of online and offline content, aiming to discover what their competitors are doing in the marketplace and to understand what type of threat they pose to their business' financial well-being. Currently, this process is slow, costly and labor-intensive. We demonstrate Clarity, a data-driven unsupervised system for assessment of products, which is currently in deployment at IBM. Clarity has been running for more than a year and is used by over 1,500 people to perform over 160 competitive analyses involving over 800 products. The system considers multiple factors from a collection of online content: numeric ratings by users, sentiment towards key product drivers, content volume, and recency of content. The results and explanations of factors leading to the results are visualized in an interactive dashboard that allows users to track the performance of their products as well as understand the main contributing factors. main contributing factors.
Fleming–Viot Particle System Driven by a Random Walk on $$\mathbb {N}$$ N

A random walk on $${\mathbb N}$$ with negative drift and absorption at 0, when conditioned on survival, has uncountably many invariant measures (quasi-stationary distributions, qsd ) $$\nu _c$$ . We study a Fleming–Viot (fv ) particle system driven by this process. Simulation results indicate that mean normalized densities of the fv unique stationary measure converge to the minimal qsd , $$\nu _0$$ , as $$N \rightarrow \infty $$ . Furthermore, every other qsd of the random walk ( $$\nu _c$$ , $$c>0$$ ) corresponds to a metastable state of the fv particle system.
Thermal processing conditions for the synthesis of near theoretical density Li5La3Ta2O12 ceramics for ceramic dual-mode detectors

Abstract A family of Li-containing garnet compounds, extensively investigated for Li-ion solid electrolyte applications, show great potential to be developed into transparent ceramic dual-mode scintillators. In particular, Li5La3Ta2O12 (LLTaO) shows promise as an efficient dual-mode scintillator due to its high Li content, high density, non-hygroscopicity, and high effective-Z. Often the synthesis of LLTaO ceramics involves solid state processing techniques starting with oxide and carbonate powders, calcining, sintering for the removal of residual porosity, and post-processing. This study focuses on two objectives: (1) establishing thermal processing boundary conditions for a flexible alkoxide-based sol-gel method for synthesizing fine-grained powders; and (2), consolidating powders via hot-pressing to form high-density ceramics. In this study, near single-phase ceramics were achieved by hot-pressing sol-gel powders with varying amounts of excess Li. Rietveld refinements were used to analyze X-ray diffraction data and provide a quantitative evaluation of the phases present in the hot pressed ceramics. Some of the diffraction data showed large low angle peak asymmetry, suggesting the presence of two cubic Li5La3Ta2O12 garnet phases with different lattice parameters. Depending on the synthesis and processing conditions, the refinement revealed ~ 90 wt% concentration of a phase with a ≈ 12.8 A and ~ 10 wt% concentration of a phase with a ≈ 12.9 A, indicating a remaining excess of Li in the hot pressed ceramics in the large lattice parameter phase. These synthesis experiments allowed for the determination of a baseline for Li loss during hot-pressing. X-ray excited radioluminescence and photoluminescence excitation and emission spectra were obtained from the hot pressed ceramics. The measured emission spectra featured broad tantalate emission and line emissions likely from a rare-earth impurity.
Citizens and Their Government in the Online Era: Three Snapshots

Through the lens of online court records, government databases, and identity theft, the article considers the interplay between citizens and their government in the online era.
Aggression: Von der weißen Maus zum amerikanischen Soldaten

Dieses Kapitel mag Ihnen etwas seltsam erscheinen. Es behandelt Themen, die man zunachst nicht ohne weiteres mit Aggression in Verbindung bringt; andererseits bleiben Themen auser Betracht, die man auf den ersten Blick unter dem Aspekt der Aggression erortert wissen mochte.
Communicating Ecology through Food Webs: Visualizing and Quantifying the Effects of Stocking Alpine Lakes with Trout

This chapter covers the concept of food web as a means to intuitively and synthetically visualize and communicate about complex interconnections among species in natural communities. Given this pervasive use of structural food webs as a teaching tool, it is perhaps surprising that they are rarely used in resource management to communicate about system-level impacts of human activities. Despite calls for more holistic approaches to “ecosystem management,” a single species focus remains the norm. Broader considerations may include physical or biotic “habitat” protection, but rarely do they explicitly incorporate fundamental species interactions, such as feeding relations. In addition to qualitatively describing multivariate community changes in an intuitively tractable form, quantitative changes in web structural properties may offer novel insights into potential ecological consequences of these changes. Basic binary structural food webs provided a compact, visually accessible description of the dramatic, multivariate, community-level changes and recovery of alpine lakes in response to introduced trout. Stocked lakes with trout present had dramatically simplified food webs compared to lakes that never had fish. It has been well documented that species dynamics are difficult to infer from a simple knowledge of binary link structure alone. Similarly, nontrophic processes such as recruitment, abiotic conditions, disturbance, facilitations, and interference competition often regulate the presence and relative abundances of species in a community.
Paths to High-Performance Automated Theorem Proving

We present four components of a strategy for the implementation of high-performance automated theorem proving systems. These are 1) clause compilation, 2) multiprocessing, 3) database indexing, and 4) clause-set "compaction". We describe each of these techniques and show how they can be integrated into a coherent system with significantly higher performance than traditional systems. The strategy described has been implemented, and we present results showing the effects of these techniques on Sam's Lemma, a relatively difficult theorem-proving problem.
Spectrum and frequency of pediatric illness presenting to a general community hospital emergency department.

Knowledge of the range of pediatric illness presenting to a general emergency department (ED) is needed to optimize the quality of care delivered there. It was hypothesized that the pediatric population treated at a general ED exhibited a broad range of medical complaints, while differing significantly from children seen in a pediatric ED. General ED records from 1 week each season were reviewed, and patient age, chief complaint, diagnosis, time of arrival, season, and disposition were recorded. Data on 874 patients were analyzed and compared with pediatric ED data. General ED patient age affected chief complaint, diagnosis, and admission rate (9.5% less than or equal to 1 year admitted vs 2.6% greater than 1 year, P less than .001). General ED patients were older (7.9 vs 6.0 years, P less than .001) and admitted less frequently (3.8% vs 11%, P less than .001). Admission rates varied by arrival time only at the general ED, where minor trauma was more common (41% vs 22%, P less than .001). It is concluded that a wide range of pediatric illness is treated in a general ED, supporting the decision to have pediatric emergency physicians on staff, and that significant differences exist in the spectrum and frequency of pediatric illness seen in a general ED and pediatric ED.
Bombing to Lose? Airpower, Civilian Casualties, and the Dynamics of Violence in Counterinsurgency Wars

Are airstrikes an effective tool against insurgent organizations? Despite the question's historical and contemporary relevance, we have few dedicated studies, and even less consensus, about airpower's effectiveness in counterinsurgency wars. To answer this question, I draw on declassified United States Air Force records of nearly 23,000 airstrikes and non-lethal shows of force in Afghanistan (2006-11), satellite imagery, and a new SQL-enabled form of dynamic matching to estimate the causal effects of airstrikes on insurgent attacks over variable temporal and spatial windows. Evidence consistently indicates that airstrikes markedly increase insurgent attacks relative to non-bombed locations for at least 90 days after a strike. Civilian casualties play little role in explaining post-strike insurgent responses, however. Instead, these attacks appear driven by reputational concerns, as insurgent organizations step up their violence after air operations to maintain their reputations for resolve in the eyes of local populations.
On the Approximate Solution of the Laminar Boundary-Layer Equations

A simple method is developed for solving approximately the equations of the laminar boundary layer. The velocity profile is assumed as a member of a one-parameter family of curves, the parameter being different from the usual Pohlhausen parameter. The Pohlhausen parameter is calculated by a simple quadrature formula, which is derived from the energy-integral relation. The relation between the profile parameter and Pohlhausen parameter is determined from the combination of both momentum-integral and energy-integral relations. The accuracy of the method is examined by comparing the results with those of exact solutions for the flow of incompressible fluid. Satisfactory agreement is obtained. The method of solution is then extended to the flow of compressible fluid along a heat-insulated wall, assuming the Prandtl Number slightly different from unity and the Sutherland formula for the variation of viscosity with temperature. As an example of the application, the effect of compressibility on separation point is discussed.
Measurement of Glucose-6-phosphate Dehydrogenase and 6-Phosphogluconate Dehydrogenase Activites in Erythrocytes by Use of a Centrifugal Analyzer

We describe an accurate automated method for measuring activity of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.49) in erythrocytes with a centrifugal analyzer. Blood is collected in microhematocrit tubes, centrifuged, and the erythrocytes are lysed with digitonin. Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity is determined by mixing the hemolysate with glucose-6-phosphate, NADP+, and 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase #{ 233} (EC 1.1.1.44) in triethanolamine—EDTA buffer at pH 7.6, and measuring the rate of NADPH production for 3 min. Under these conditions 2 mol of NADPH are produced per mole of glucose-6-phosphate oxidized, ensuring the accuracy of the method and increasing its sensitivity. Activity is referred to hemoglobin, measured as cyanmethemoglobin. Activity of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase added to hemolysates was well accounted for. Results obtained by our method and by the method of Bishop [ J. Lab. Clin. Med. 68, 149 (1966)] are virtually identical. Our method requires a small amount of blood and is accurate and rapid; thus it is well suited for use in surveying large populations for glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency. A simple modification of the method may be used to determine the activity of 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase.
Halteres for the micromechanical flying insect

The mechanism which-real flying insects use to detect body rotation has been simulated. The results show that an angular rate sensor can be made based on such a biological mechanism. Two types of biomimetic gyroscopes have been constructed using foils of stainless steel. The first device is connected directly to a compliant cantilever. The second device is placed on a mechanically amplifying fourbar structure. Both devices are driven by piezoelectric actuators and detect the Coriolis force using strain gages. The experimental results show successful measurements of angular velocities and these devices have the benefits of low power and high sensitivity.
IMMUNOGENICITY OF CAMPYLOBACTER PYLORIDES (CP) OUTER MEMBRANE PROTEINS

Studies in a variety of gram negative bacteria have shown that outer membrane proteins play a major role in the adherence of the pathogen to the host epithelium, in resistance to phagocytic killing mechanisms, and as potential antigens. CP is a gram negative rod associated with a subset of pediatric and adult patients with gastritis and peptic ulcer disease. It has been shown that CP contains three immunogenic proteins with approximate molecular weights of 14-21 KD, 33KD and 55-70 KD (J. Med. Microbiol 22:57, 1986). The current study explored the hypothesis that these antigenic proteins of CP are contained within the outer membrane. Outer membrane proteins from a pediatric isolate of CP were extracted and purified using ultracentrifugation and sequential washings with sodium laurel sarcosinate. These were analyzed by SDS PAGE and shown to contain six major proteins with relative molecular weights of 66KD, 40KD, 31KD, 28KD, 27KD and 16KD. This is in marked contrast to C. jejuni which contains two major outer membrane proteins with molecular weights of 63KD and 45KD. Mice were intraperitoneally immunized on Day 1 and 14 with sublethal (105 CFU) doses of CP and sacrificed on Day 17. The serum was examined for antibody production specific for CP outer membrane proteins by immunoblot (Western blot) analysis. There appeared to be three major reactive protein bands of relative molecular weights of 66KD, 27KD and 16KD. These results suggest that the three immunogenic proteins of CP are present in the outer membrane. The role of these CP-specific antibodies, [specific for CP], in protecting the host from chronic CP infection is now being investigated.
Aortic Valve Replacement Complicated by Bronchial Artery Hemorrhage

INTRAPULMONARY BLEEDING after cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) is an uncommon but well-known adverse event that presents both diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. Diagnostic challenges relate to the lung’s dual arterial supply, and therapeutic challenges involve concerns with the amount of ventilatory capacity that may need to be sacrificed to achieve hemostasis. The pulmonary artery (PA) is, by far, the most common source of bleeding in such cases. Drawing on extensive documentaion of PA hemorrhage in the literature, efforts have been made to standardize localization and therapeutic management of such hemorrhages. A case of bronchial artery bleeding after aortic valve replacement is reported here, as the authors found the literature to be completely devoid of discussion on hemorrhage from such rare sources in the setting of CPB.
Deconstructing Dennett's Darwin

: Daniel Dennett's book, Darwin's Dangerous Idea, offers a naturalistic teleology and a theory of the intentionality of the mental. Both are grounded in a neo-Darwinian account of evolutionary adaptation. I argue that Dennett's empirical assumptions about the evolution of psychological phenotypes may well be unwarranted; and that, in any event, the intentionality of minds is quite different from, and not reducible to, the intensionality of selection.
A review of conventional explosives detection using active neutron interrogation

Conventional explosives are relatively easy to obtain and may cause massive harm to people and property. There are several tools employed by law enforcement to detect explosives, but these can be subverted. Active neutron interrogation is a viable alternative to those techniques, and includes: fast neutron analysis, thermal neutron analysis, pulsed fast/thermal neutron analysis, neutron elastic scatter, and fast neutron radiography. These methods vary based on neutron energy and radiation detected. A thorough review of the principles behind, advantages, and disadvantages of the different types of active neutron interrogation is presented.
Glass behavior of high-Tc superconductors

The glass behavior of high-Tc superconductors is reproduced in numerical simulations of a 2-D XY-spin-glass model. Higher critical temperatures are predicted for stronger interlayer couplings between the planes. Higher critical currents for a ceramic are expected for enhanced alignment of the planes in different grains of the material.
Structural Studies and Order-Disorder Phenomenon in a Series of New Quaternary Tellurates of the Type A2+M4+Te6+O6

Five new compounds in the AxMTeO6 family were prepared and structurally characterized: Li2GeTeO6, Na2TiTeO6, Na2SnTeO6, and two forms of Na2GeTeO6. All compounds are layered structures based on various stacking arrangements of MTeO62- layers. Structural characterizations were carried out using a variety of tools, including Rietveld refinements of x-ray and neutron powder diffraction data, solid state MAS NMR and Raman spectroscopy. With the exception of Na2TiTeO6, the MTeO62-layers show a high degree of M4+/Te6+ order, but various degrees of disorder are present in the stacking of these layers. Disorder in the layer stacking favors the ilmenite structure, where both M4+ and Te6+ centered octahedra share faces with the AO6 octahedra. Coherent layer stacking favors an ordered variation of the α-TlSbO3 structure, where the AO6 octahedra preferentially share faces with either the MO6 or the TeO6 octahedra.
Control of respiration in the chicken: Effects of venous CO2 loading

Abstract To determine if ventilation in unanesthetized chickens is adjusted sufficiently to prevent alterations in the partial pressure of carbon dioxide in arterial blood (PaCO2) when the CO2 content of mixed venous blood is changed, hypercapnic (PCO2 about 533 Torr) and hypocapnic (PCO2 less than 10 Torr) blood was infused into the left jugular vein of decerebrate chickens at 38 ml β min−1 for 30 sec. Ventilation and PaCO2 were assessed by determining respiratory frequency (f), tidal volune (VT), and the end-tidal CO2 fraction while serial samples of arterial blood were withdrawn from the sciatic artery. Infusion of hypercapnic blood resulted in an increase in VT and minute ventilation (VE) as well as an increase in PaCO2. Infusion of hypocapnic blood resulted in a decrease in VT and VE and a small, transient decrease in PaCO2; the PaCO2 often returned to control levels before the end of the infusion period. The respiratory control system in the chicken appears to be better able to maintain a constant PaCO2 when perturbed by a reduced venous CO2 load reaching the lung than when perturbed by an increase CO2 load. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that intrapulmonary CO2 receptors, whose sensitivity to PCO2 is highest at low PCO2, are involved in the breath-to-breath control of breathing in birds
Contributing factors to depressed mood in multiple sclerosis

Abstract By applying the behavioral theory of Lewinsohn et al. [1985. An integrative theory of depression. In: S. Reiss, & R. R. Bootzin (Eds.), Theoretical issues in behavior therapy (pp. 331–359). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.] to multiple sclerosis (MS), it was hypothesized that physical disability, fatigue, and psychosocial dysfunction would be significantly predictive of depressed mood in MS patients. Seventy-six MS patients completed the following measures: the Sickness Impact Profile (SIP), the Fatigue Impact Scale (FIS), and the mood subscale from the Chicago Multiscale Depression Inventory (CMDI). Structural equation modeling revealed that physical disability and fatigue were indirectly predictive of depressed mood via their effects on recreational functioning. Fatigue also had a direct effect on mood. If reductions in recreational activities actually cause decrements in mood, depressed mood in MS may be treatable by helping patients identify recreational activities that they can enjoy regardless of physical or fatigue-related difficulties.
Problems and Progress in Studies of Diagenesis of Argillaceous Rocks: ABSTRACT

The diagenesis of argillaceous rocks includes physical, chemical, and mineralogical changes occurring after the deposition of the sediment. Hedberg's observations, published in 1936, on the gravitational compaction of clays and shales serve well as a framework upon which to organize many of the subsequent researches on diagenesis of those rocks. The preponderance of illite in marine mudstones (commonly shales) has been interpreted as a result of widespread diagenetic conversion of other clay minerals into illite. More extended researches indicate, however, that primarily formed, expanding montmorillonite is notably more resistant to conversion to illite than is the expanding clay originating as stripped or degraded illite. The conversion of clay minerals to illite or chlorite is probably a two-stage process: (1) cation exchange, controlled by energy relations, and (2) subsequent and more permanent cation fixation. Some glauconite is apparently formed diagenetically, although complete details of the process remain obscure. Clay minerals that are not readily susceptible to diagenetic change are indicators of provenance, whereas those modified by a change in surrounding conditions may indicate the environments of their deposition. Diagenesis of non-marine mudstones may include fixation of potassium, and alternatively the depotassication of illite; kaolinization of other clays, desilication of clays to form hydrated aluminum oxides, and alternatively their silication; and conversion of montmorillonite to illite and glauconitic mica. End_of_Article - Last_Page 1766------------
Excluded Volume Effects in Polymer Solutions. 1. Dilute Solution Properties of Linear Chains in Good and ϑ Solvents

Data from the literature on four dilute solution propertiesradius of gyration, second virial coefficient, intrinsic viscosity, and diffusion coefficientwere analyzed for linear flexible-chain polymers of several species in both thermodynamically good solvents and ϑ solvents. Each property was expressed as an effective coil radius, and the ratio of good to ϑ solvent radius, the excluded volume expansion factor, was examined over a wide range of chain lengths. The expansion factor, near unity for short chains, crosses over to a power law dependence on chain length for long chains. All data beyond the oligomeric range collapsed to a master curve for each property by a simple rescaling of the chain lengths. The crossovers for these curves are more abrupt than those predicted by the classical theories of polymer solutions. The excluded volume per monomeric unit, obtained by matching experiment and prediction in the power law region, is generally much smaller than the hard sphere prediction in even the best of ...
H loss mechanism during anneal of silicon nitride: Chemical dissociation

Remote plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposited silicon nitride (SixNyHz), produced at high ammonia to silane flow rates (ammonia rich) shows a reduction of hydrogen during rapid thermal anneal at temperatures that exceed the deposition temperature. This H release could be either due to a “slow” atomic diffusion of the covalent bonded atoms between bonding sites, or to a “fast” molecular diffusion of hydrogen containing molecules (e.g., H2, NH3, SiH4), which dissociate from the network before they diffuse. In order to determine the dominant mechanism, layers of deuterated and hydrogenated silicon nitride on top of a crystalline Si substrate were annealed and the development of the NH- and ND-area densities were measured with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Comparison of theoretical models with the measurements showed that chemical dissociation and subsequent rapid diffusion are the dominant processes. These results were confirmed by secondary ion mass spectroscopy. The experiments indicate that t...
Gonadoblastoma: an immunohistochemical study and comparison to Sertoli cell nodule with intratubular germ cell neoplasia, with pathogenetic implications

Aims To investigate the immunohistochemical properties of the sex cord cells of gonadoblastoma and Sertoli cell nodule with intratubular germ cell neoplasia unclassified (IGCNU) as a means of objective distinction and to provide insight into the pathogenesis. Methods and results Immunohistochemical stains for SOX9, FoxL2 and SF-1 were performed on 10 gonadoblastomas (all phenotypical females) and 14 Sertoli cell nodules with IGCNU in normal phenotypical males with coexisting germ cell tumours. The sex cord cells of gonadoblastomas showed strong, diffuse FoxL2 and SF-1 positivity and focal weak to moderate SOX9 reactivity, whereas those of Sertoli cell nodules with IGCNU were uniformly, strongly positive for SOX9 and SF-1, while negative for FoxL2. Conclusions Coexpression of SOX9 and FoxL2 in the sex cord cells of gonadoblastomas provides evidence that these morphologically ambiguous sex cord cells are incompletely differentiated. The strong, diffuse SOX9 and SF-1 positivity and absence of FoxL2 reactivity in the Sertoli cell nodules with IGNCU support full Sertoli cell differentiation of the sex cord cells and distinguish them from gonadoblastomas. Deficient SOX9 expression in gonadoblastoma supports a current model of pathogenesis where immature germ cells, in the absence of well-formed Sertoli cells, retain a fetal phenotype and susceptibility to malignant transformation.
Discussion of “Divisional performance measurement and transfer pricing for intangible assets”

The conference paper by Johnson (2006, Review of Accounting Studies, forthcoming) develops an incomplete-contracting transfer pricing model with a number of novel features: taxation, sequential investments, and intangible assets being transferred. This discussion aims to disentangle these features so as to highlight those that are the key drivers of the results. Moreover, I show that some of the results can be generalized to settings involving a greater level of technological interdependency between the divisions.
Transition resistances of ohmic contacts to p-type cdte and their time-dependent variation

Ohmic contacts to p-type CdTe are important for the development of solar cells based on this semiconductor, as for instance CdS/CdTe or ITO/ CdTe solar cells. Ohmic contacts to CdTe Bridgman crystals, doped with phosphorus, have been examined with respect to their resistivity dependence and their variation as a function of time. The ‘specific’ contact resistance r shows a linear dependence on the bulk resistivity; in addition, it is affected by the oxygen content of the CdTe. The lowest r obtained was 0.07Ω cm. With one exception, ali the contacts with nickel, gold and platinum deposited on different crystals show a more or less pronounced increase of r as a function of time.
Response: GEF localization, not just activation, is needed for yeast polarity establishment

Summary In this issue, Li and Wedlich-Soldner [1] offer an alternative interpretation of the previously reported synthetic lethality of the bem1Δ rsr1Δ double mutant and suggest an alternative conclusion from our recent experiments involving rescue of that lethality, published in Current Biology [2]. However, findings presented in our recent paper [2] as well as in our earlier work [3] argue against their interpretation.
Measurements of Turbulent Mixed Convection Flow Over a Vertical Forward-Facing Step

Measurements of turbulent mixed convection boundary-layer air flow over a two-dimensional, vertical forward-facing step are presented. The upstream and downstream walls and the step itself were heated to a uniform and constant temperature. Air velocity and temperature distributions and their turbulent fluctuations are measured simultaneously by using a two-component laser-Doppler velocimeter (LDV) and a cold wire anemometer were used, respectively. The present study treats buoyancy-dominated mixed convection over a vertical forward-facing step and examines the effect of a small free stream velocity on turbulent natural convection. It was found that the reattachment length increases while the heat transfer rate from the downstream heated wall decreases as the small free stream velocity increases.Copyright © 2003 by ASME
Tryptophan207 is involved in the GTP-dependent conformational switch in the alpha subunit of the G protein transducin: chymotryptic digestion patterns of the GTP gamma S and GDP-bound forms.

The limited proteolytic pattern of transducin,G t , and its purified subunits with chymotrypsin were analyzed and the cleavage sites on the α t subunit were identified. The α t subunit in the GTPγS bound form was cleaved into a major 38 kD fragment, whereas α t -GDP was progressively digested into 38, 23, 21, and 15 kD fragments. The βγ t subunit was not very sensitive to proteolytic digestion with chymotrypsin. The γ t subunit was not cleaved and only a small portion of β t was digested into several fragments. In order to determine which proteolytic fragment of α t still contained the carboxyl terminal region, chymotrypsinization was carried out usingG t previously32P-labeled at Cys347 by petrussis toxin-catalyzed ADP-ribosylation. The32P-label was mainly associated with the α t subunit and a 15 kD fragment. The 23 and 21 kD fragments were not32P-labeled. Analysis of amino terminal sequences of 38, 21, and 15 kD proteolytic bands allowed the identification of the major cleavage sites. Chymotrypsin had two cleavage sites in the amino terminal region of α t , at Leu15 and Leu19. Chymotrypsin removed 15–19 amino acid residues from the amino terminus of α t , generating two peptides (38 kD) which comigrates in gel electrophoresis. Chymotrypsin also cleaved at Trp207 in a conformation-dependent manner. Trp207 of α t -GTPγS was resistant to proteolysis but α t -GDP and the 38 kD fragments of α t -GDP produced the 23 and 21 kD fragments, respectively, and a 15 kD fragment containing the carboxyl terminus. This proves that the environment of Trp207 changes when GTP or GTPγS is bound, leading to its inaccessibility to chymotrypsin.
Some effects of meteorological disturbances on the electrical condition of the lower atmosphere

The Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of the Carnegie Institution of Washington has obtained continuous records of potential-gradient and of positive and negative conductivities of the atmosphere at Huancayo (Peru) and Watheroo (Western Australia) since 1924. At both observatories the observations from December to March are conspicuously disturbed year after year—at Watheroo by smoke from burning brush and from fields burned over by farmers after harvest, and at Huancayo by almost daily thunder-storms. At Watheroo, the smoke arrives at the station almost daily in the middle or late afternoon, brought in by systematic change in wind-direction. Comparison of 66 non-smoky days with 120 smoky days in March for the ten years 1924–1933 shows potential-gradient to be higher on smoky than on non-smoky days—about 50 per cent higher soon after the arrival of the smoke and remaining so until daylight next morning, then falling to 15 or 20 per cent higher for the remaining daylight hours until the next smoke-infusion. The conductivities, on the other hand, both positive and negative, have the higher values on non-smoky days, some 50 per cent in the late afternoon and at night and 15 or 20 per cent in the daylight hours. Hence, the computed air-earthcurrent diurnal-variation curves for smoky and non-smoky days are found to be the same in magnitude from hour to hour through the day, the maximum in each being at 5h and the minimum at 17h, 120° east meridian time. The maximum and minimum values of air-earth current are, respectively, 11.5 × 10−7 and 8.5 × 10−7 ESU. One must conclude, since the current is the same on smoky and non-smoky days, that the. daily intrusion of smoke-pollution is confined to such a low level in the air that it cannot appreciably affect the total resistance of the air-column above the station. However, there are indications that some little transference of smoke-pollution to higher levels takes place through the smoky months, sufficient to make the monthly mean values of airearth current in those months somewhat lower than the values in non-smoky months.
Simulation of three-phase distillation towers

Abstract The approximate models of Boston & Sullivan[1] for estimating K-values and enthalpies are used to solve the MESH equations in the steady-state. The algorithm for phase-splitting uses approximate models in an inner loop and more accurate models in an outer loop. Oscillations between one and two liquid phases are aboided during interative calculations when concentrations approach the two-phase region. Simulation results compare well with those of Block & Hegner[2]. Wide- and narrow-boiling systems are simulated efficiently. For some systems, tray efficiencies determine whether or not a second liquid phase appears in the simulation results.
An adaptive permutation test procedure for several common tests of significance

An adaptive weighted least-squares test procedure is proposed that increases the power of the most commonly used tests of significance. This test is shown to have high power if the number of observations is at least 20. The proposed adaptive method is a modification of weighted least squares with the weights determined from the order statistics of the residuals of the model specified by the null hypothesis. The weights are then used with a weighted least-squares regression to compute a test statistic. To insure that the test maintains its size, a permutation method is used to compute the observed significance level. To evaluate the performance of the test, Monte Carlo simulations were used to estimate the power for two-independent samples, for one-way layouts, for paired comparisons, and for the slope in a simple linear regression. In these simulations the proposed adaptive weighted least-squares method maintained its size and often had greater power than the common parametric and nonparametric tests. For the study designs investigated in this paper, the proposed adaptive weighted least-squares method is recommended if the number of observations is at least 20.
Cosmology and the arrow of time

THE arrow of time manifests itself in three distinct ways: through the approach to equilibrium in closed systems containing a large number of interacting particles; through the phenomenon of memory in certain open systems; and through the expansion of the observable Universe. The approach to equilibrium in closed systems can occur through a wide variety of physical processes, including not only molecular transport processes like diffusion and conduction but also macroscopic processes like turbulence which convert ordered fields and motions into less highly ordered ones and ultimately into heat. All such processes generate entropy. By contrast, the accumulation and preservation of information about previous states of a system depend upon processes tha t generate information (negative entropy). As for the entropy changes associated with cosmic evolution, it can be argued tha t these too must be negative-in spite of the fact tha t the Universe is, by definition, a closed system, l~or, as will be explained below, there are reasons for believing tha t the structure of the Universe was simpler in the past than it is now. Thus it is clear tha t the second law of thermodynamics does not afford a sufficiently broad framework for an understanding of the arrow of time in all its aspects. I t is equally clear, however, tha t these aspects must be related, for irreversible processes in closed systems, memory in certain open systems, and the evolution of cosmic structure all define the same arrow. And there are indications tha t the three kinds of process are physically connected. For example, it is obvious tha t we cannot hope to understand why different systems show the same arrow so long as we confine our attention to isolated systems. Interactions with the environment play an essential par t in determining the initial conditions for closed systems, and some authors have suggested tha t they continue to play an essential par t in the subsequent development of what are regarded nominally as closed systems. The present communication outlines a unified theory of the arrow of time. Although it requires a ra ther drastic departure from currently accepted cosmological ideas, this theory is consistent with theories of the kind tha t have been developed by van Hove (:) and Prigogine (2) to describe the approach to equilibrium in closed systems. In fact, it clarifies certain assumptions in these theories tha t have previously been regarded as ambiguous or obscure. To fix ideas, let us recall how the transition from a reversible microscopic description to an irreversible macroscopic description is accomplished in non-equilibrium statistical mechanics. In the first place, it is necessary to suppose tha t the microscopic state of the system under consideration is specified by a probability distribution {10k} or, more generally, by a density matrix ~. The information associated with this description is defined by
Use of natural airborne radioactivity to evaluate filters for alpha air sampling.

Abstract Using natural airborne radioactivity as a test aerosol, a method is described which is designed to compare the surface collection efficiency of fiiters used for alpha air monitoring.
Audience Responses to The Passion of the Christ

Mel Gibson's epic film The Passion of the Christ attracted unexpectedly large audiences, garnered record profits, and drew international media attention. An international study of viewers of the film was conducted. Results indicate that audiences liked the film, perceived it as both educational and entertaining, and felt the media overhyped criticism of its violent content. Implications of this study for future research of religiously oriented entertainment-education films are discussed.