cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Longitudinal Pattern of Depressive Symptoms Around Natural Menopause

Importance An increased risk of depressive symptoms has been associated with the transition to menopause, but the risk of depressive symptoms in the early postmenopausal years has not been well characterized. Objectives To identify within-woman changes in depressive symptoms during a 14-year period around menopause, determine associations of a history of depression with the pattern of depressive symptoms, and evaluate the rate of change in reproductive hormones as predictors of depressive symptoms following menopause. Design, Setting, and Participants A randomly identified, population-based sample in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, of 203 late-reproductive-age women who were premenopausal at baseline and reached natural menopause. Main Outcomes and Measures Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Results The prevalence of high scores on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale decreased from 10 years before to 8 years after the final menstrual period (FMP), with a decrease of approximately 15% of baseline per year (odds ratio, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.81-0.89; P P = .01). Conclusions and Relevance The FMP was pivotal in the overall pattern of decreasing depressive symptoms in midlife women, with higher risk before and lower risk after the FMP. A history of depression strongly increased the risk both before and after menopause. Women who had no history of depression before the menopause transition had a low risk of depressive symptoms 2 or more years after the FMP.
Effects of bridge shading on estuarine marsh benthic invertebrate community structure and function.

The effect of bridge shading on estuarine marsh food webs was assessed by comparing benthic invertebrate communities beneath seven highway bridges with marshes outside of bridge-affected areas (reference marshes). We used light attenuation and height-width ratio (HW ratio), which takes into account the two main bridge characteristics that deter- mine the degree of shading, to quantify the impact of shad- ing on invertebrate communities. Low bridges, with HW ratio 0.7 and light attenuation greater than 85-90%, had benthic invertebrate densities and diversity that were signifi- cantly lower than reference marshes. Density of benthic invertebrates at low bridges was 25-52% (29,685-72,920 organisms/m 2 ) of densities measured in adjacent reference marshes (119,329 -173,351 organisms/m 2 ). Likewise, there were fewer taxa under low bridges (5.8/11.35 cm 2 core) as compared to the reference marshes (9.0/11.35 cm 2 core). Density of numerically dominant taxa (e.g., oligochaetes and nematodes) as well as surface- and subsurface deposit feeders also were reduced under low bridges. Decreased invertebrate density, diversity, dominant taxa, and alter- ations of trophic feeding groups beneath low bridges was correlated with diminished above- and below-ground mac- rophyte biomass that presumably resulted in fewer food resources and available refuges from predators. With a greater knowledge of bridge shading effects, bridge con- struction and design may be improved to reduce the im- pacts on estuarine benthic invertebrate communities and overall ecosystem structure and function.
Evaluation of N-hydroxy-2-thiopyridone as a nonmetal dependent source of the hydroxyl radical (HO·) in aqueous systems

N-hydroxy-2-thiopyridone (1), an established source of the hydroxyl radical (HO., Boivin, J., Crepon, E., and Zard, S. Z. (1990) Tetrahedron Lett. 31, 6869-6872), produced HO. under conditions directly applicable to biological studies. Generation of HO. by subjecting 1 to irradiation with visible light was monitored in the following "HO." assays: deoxyribose degradation, addition to dimethyl sulfoxide, and hydroxylation of salicylate and phenol. All four assays demonstrated the production of HO. from 1 (added as a sodium salt) under mild conditions in aqueous buffer systems. An improved analysis method was developed for the phenol assay. A time course analysis demonstrated that a flux of HO. is generated from 1 throughout the irradiation period, in contrast to the classical Fenton reaction of H2O2 with a transition metal in which a burst of HO. is generated in a short time period. While a thiyl radical is generated from 1 concurrent with HO. generation, this species does not contribute to, or interfere with, any of the HO. assays, suggesting that it is weakly reactive in aqueous buffers. Thus, irradiation of 1 can be used as an alternative, complementary, approach for the unequivocal generation of the biologically significant and reactive HO..
65Cu NMR Spectroscopy of Cu-Exchanged ZSM-5 Catalysts

{sup 65}Cu NMR and {sup 65}/Cu-{sup 27}/Al spin-echo, double-resonance (SEDOR) measurements from Cu-exchanged ZSM-5 catalysts are reported. The presence of Cu{sup +} cations in CuZSM-5 was detected directly by {sup 65}/Cu NMR; upon heating, we observed the autoreduction of Cu{sup 2+} to Cu{sup +}. It was found that the Cu{sup +}/cations can be reduced further to Cu{sup 0} by exposure to carbon monoxide at high temperatures. The intermolecular distance between the two quadrupolar nuclei Cu (spin-3/2) and Al (spin-5/2) was determined to be 0.23 {+-} 0.02 nm, in good agreement with the value of 0.24 nm obtained from density functional theory calculations. 23 refs., 3 figs.
Value bases of case management evaluation

Abstract Case management is designed to promote access to integrated, quality care for consumers, yet evaluations of case management show mixed results. This paper argues that part of the confusion stems from an unclarity about the value frames used to arrive at judgments of the merit or worth of case management. This paper reviews six value frames commonly applied to human service evaluation and examines the particular relevance of each perspective for the evaluation of case management; they are: consumer needs, consumer wants, professional standards, program goals and objectives, models of practice, and judged or believed standards of merit. Illustrative studies are cited to tie the conceptual framework to current literature and provide direction for future evaluations. The paper outlines a process for selecting value frames and links their selection to six broader issues in case management evaluation: evaluation design and methodology, values underlying programs, definition of the independent variable, political and organizational contexts of evaluation, resource constraints, and metaevaluation. In conclusion, the paper argues that client need should be a predominant value frame in evaluating case management.
Measurements of the Summer Currents in Saginaw Bay, Michigan☆

A combination of Lagrangian measurements and fixed current meter moorings were used during the summer of 1974 to determine the circulation patterns of Saginaw Bay. Because the bay is shallow, the water responds rapidly to wind changes. Distinct circulation patterns were determined for a southwest wind and a northeast wind. Speeds measured in the inner bay were of the order of 7 cm s−1, whereas in the outer bay the speeds averaged closer to 11 cm s−1. A typical water exchange rate between the inner and outer bay for winds parallel to the axis of the bay is 3700 m3s−1, but winds perpendicular to the axis of the bay cause little water to be exchanged. A comparison with the results of a numerical model for the bay indicates there is good agreement between the data and the simulation of the circulation in the inner bay. However, the agreement is poor in the outer bay, where specification of proper boundary conditions at the open mouth of the bay is important for meaningful model simulations.
Exact θ point and exponents for two models of polymer chains in two dimensions

The collapse transition of a self-avoiding walk (SAW) on a two-dimensional lattice with directed bonds, the Manhattan lattice, is shown to occur at temperature ${T}_{\ensuremath{\theta}}$=2\ensuremath{\varepsilon}/ln2, where \ensuremath{\varepsilon} is the attractive energy between nearest-neighbor pairs of monomers. The exact tricritical exponents are ${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{t}$=(4/7 and ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{t}$=(6/7. The latter result differs from the value for undirected two-dimensional lattices ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{t}$=(8/7 because self-trapping configurations do not occur on the Manhattan lattice. The exact tricritical temperature and exponents for a constrained self-avoiding trail (SAT) on the square lattice are obtained by mapping the problem onto the self-avoiding walk on the Manhattan lattice. The mapping also shows that these SAT and SAW collapse transitions are in the same universality class. Finally, it is argued that the kinetic self-avoiding trail must be compact on the square lattice.
Identification of the primary chemi-ion in hydrocarbon oxidations

Abstract The ion CHO+ has been identified as the primary chemi-ion in the reaction of oxygen atoms with acetylene, ethylene and isobutane. Low concentrations of reactants in helium were mixed in the annular region between two concentric stainless steel cylinders. The chemi-ions were sampled through a pinhole in the outer cylinder and analyzed by a quadrupole mass spectrometer. By applying an electric field between the two cylinders, the residence time of the ions could be decreased, thereby reducing the importance of secondary ion—molecule reactions. CHO+ was the only ion that increased in importance as the electric field was applied, becoming more than 90% of the total ions at high fields. This observation provides strong support for the proposal of Calcote that the reaction, O + CH → CHO+ + e−1 is the source of chemi-ionization in hydrocarbon flames.
Polarized gene conversion at the bz locus of maize

Nucleotide diversity is greater in maize than in most organisms studied to date, so allelic pairs in a hybrid tend to be highly polymorphic. Most recombination events between such pairs of maize polymorphic alleles are crossovers. However, intragenic recombination events not associated with flanking marker exchange, corresponding to noncrossover gene conversions, predominate between alleles derived from the same progenitor. In these dimorphic heterozygotes, the two alleles differ only at the two mutant sites between which recombination is being measured. To investigate whether gene conversion at the bz locus is polarized, two large diallel crossing matrices involving mutant sites spread across the bz gene were performed and more than 2,500 intragenic recombinants were scored. In both diallels, around 90% of recombinants could be accounted for by gene conversion. Furthermore, conversion exhibited a striking polarity, with sites located within 150 bp of the start and stop codons converting more frequently than sites located in the middle of the gene. The implications of these findings are discussed with reference to recent data from genome-wide studies in other plants.
Ultra-thin oxide growth on silicon during 10 keV x-ray irradiation

Abstract Surface effects on silicon wafers irradiated by 10 keV x-rays at room temperature were characterized using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and spectroscopic ellipsometry. The samples were exposed to total ionizing doses ranging from 1.0 to 12 Mrad(SiO2) at x-ray dose rates ranging from 5.8 krad(SiO2)/min to 67 krad(SiO2)/min. Accelerated thin oxide growth on irradiated samples compared to natural native oxide growth under room temperature conditions was demonstrated, and the composition of the irradiation-accelerated oxide was investigated. The presence of suboxides along with silicon dioxide was confirmed on the irradiated silicon sample. Two thin oxide growth models were applied to characterize the enhanced oxidation rate observed for irradiated wafers.
Risk score for antenatal bacterial vaginosis: BV PIN points.

OBJECTIVE: Develop a clinical risk score to screen for antenatal bacterial vaginosis (BV), irrespective of symptoms. STUDY DESIGN: Cohort study of 913 pregnant women with last menstrual periods between January 30, 1995 and February 22, 1997. BV was evaluated by Nugent-scored vaginal smears (scores of 7 to 10 considered positive) between 24 and 29 weeks' gestation. Forty-four potential risk factors were assessed. RESULTS: 17.8% of women had BV, of whom 22% were screened for BV by the usual care provider. Logistic regression–adjusted analyses found six predictors: vaginal pH>4.5 (OR=11.6, 95% confidence interval [CI] [7.8, 17.2]); black race (OR=1.9, 95% CI [1.3, 2.8]); condom use during pregnancy (OR=1.6, 95% CI [1.0, 2.5]); antenatal BV (OR=1.7, 95% CI [1.0, 2.8]); absence of sperm on smear (OR=1.7, 95% CI [1.0, 2.9]); and no history of sexually transmitted diseases (OR=1.6, 95% CI [1.0, 2.5]). Risk score weights were 5 for an elevated vaginal pH and 1 otherwise. The sensitivity and specificity of screening women with scores ≥4 were both 77%; this would involve screening 33% of patients. CONCLUSION: Approximately 80% of our BV cases were asymptomatic, emphasizing the need for objective risk assessment. Using six factors, clinicians can identify pregnant women at risk for BV.
Effects of methamphetamine on kinetic characteristics of neostriatal tyrosine hydroxylase

Abstract The kinetic characteristics of neostriatal tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) activity were determined after rats were given large, repeated doses of methamphetamine. The Vmax of the enzyme was markedly decreased after methamphetamine, but no change in the Km for pteridine cofactors nor for the substrate, tyrosine, was detected. The decrease in Vmax with methamphetamine was independent of the phosphorylated state of the enzyme.
Generating nonperturbative physics from perturbation theory

In a large variety of quantum mechanical systems, we show that the full nonperturbative expression for energy eigenvalues, containing all orders of perturbative, nonperturbative, and quasi-zero-mode terms, may be generated directly from the perturbative expansion about the perturbative vacuum, combined with a single global boundary condition. This provides a dramatic realization of the principle of “resurgence,” that the fluctuations about different semiclassical saddle points are related to one another in a precise quantitative manner. The analysis of quantum mechanics also generalizes to certain calculable regimes of quantum field theory.
TRANSNATIONAL BANKS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA

colonialism." This paper presents a case study of the role of finance capital in bolstering up the racist state-capitalist regime of South Africa as a regional imperialist sub-center in the post-war era. The first section outlines the overall features of the post-war period, in which competing transnational financial and industrial groups have expanded their penetration of Africa and so contributed to the intensification of contradictions which ultimately culminated in the re-emergence of the general crisis of capitalism in the 1970s. Following sections provide a brief sketch of finance capital in South Africa itself. The competing groups of transnational financial institutions are identified, and their contribution to building up the South African military-industrial complex is indicated. Lastly the rapid expansion of bank capital, as opposed to corporate investments, is described as central in financing the political economy of South Africa when the general crisis of capitalism re-emerged in the mid-'70s.
Postexposure aerosolized heparin reduces lung injury in chlorine-exposed mice

Chlorine (Cl2) is a highly reactive oxidant gas that, when inhaled, may cause acute lung injury culminating in death from respiratory failure. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that exposure of mice to Cl2 causes intra-alveolar and systemic activation of the coagulation cascade that plays an important role in development of lung injury. C57Bl/6 mice were exposed to Cl2 (400 for 30 min or 600 ppm for 45 min) in environmental chambers and then returned to room air for 1 or 6 h. Native coagulation (NATEM) parameters such as blood clotting time and clot formation time were measured in whole blood by the viscoelastic technique. D-dimers and thrombin-anti-thrombin complexes were measured in both plasma and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) by ELISA. Our results indicate that mice exposed to Cl2 gas had significantly increased clotting time, clot formation time, and D-dimers compared with controls. The thrombin-anti-thrombin complexes were also increased in the BALF of Cl2 exposed animals. To test whether increased coagulation contributed to the development of acute lung injury, mice exposed to Cl2 and returned to room air were treated with aerosolized heparin or vehicle for 20 min. Aerosolized heparin significantly reduced protein levels and the number of inflammatory cells in the BALF at 6 h postexposure. These findings highlight the importance of coagulation abnormities in the development of Cl2-induced lung injury.
Observations on the photosensitized breakage of DNA by 2-thiouracil and 334-nm ultraviolet radiation.

— Breaks induced in purified DNA by 334-nm ultraviolet (UV) radiation are enhanced 30 times when 2-thiouracil (s2Ura) is present during aerobic irradiation. This enhancement by s2Ura is maximally effective at a concentration of about 1 mM. Anoxic irradiation reduces the s2Ura-enhanced breakage by 90%, indicating a Type II photosensitization. Benzoate, glycerol, diazabicyclo[2.2.2.]octane (DABCO) and histidine all inhibit formation of s2Ura photosensitized breaks, unlike diethylenetriaminepenta-acetic acid (DETAPAC) and catalase, which do not. The relationships between the concentration of DABCO. benzoate and histidine and their protection against induction of single strand breaks (SSBs) were similar, with little inhibition below 10 mM and maximal inhibition near 0.1 M for all compounds. Irradiation of the DNA-s2Ura mixture dissolved in D2O instead of H2O enhanced the rate of induction of SSBs in DNA by 334-nm light almost five times. Addition of superoxide dismutase (40, 80 and 200 μg/ml) decreased the rate of induction of breaks in DNA by 334-nm radiation plus s2Ura (in H2O) by about 40%. Boiled superoxide dismutase had no effect.
Influenza A H1N1. Lo que debemos saber

Barranquilla, junio 17 de 2009.Al editor: despues de 6 dias del anuncio de lapandemia y mas de 90 dias de aparicion delvirus de influenza A H1N1 en Mexico, las cifrasmuestran un permanente crecimiento delos casos, la mortalidad se mantiene similar ala del virus estacional (0,1 por 100 casos).
Linked sequence development and global climate change: The Upper Mississippian record in the Appalachian basin

The character and relative stratigraphic position of paleoclimatic indicators within Upper Mississippian strata of southern West Virginia suggest a link between eustasy and patterns of continental- to global-scale atmospheric circulation. At the cyclothem scale, annual rhythms in marine facies, and paleovertisols and lacustrine carbonates in terrestrial units indicate that seasonal, semiarid climatic conditions prevailed during highstand progradation. In contrast, leached paleosols and coals that underlie sequence boundaries and occur within transgressive heterolithic facies are suggestive of humid climatic conditions during late highstand through early transgression. Milankovitch-band, glacial-interglacial cyclicity may explain both sequence development and the evidence for Late Mississippian climate fluctuations in the Appalachian basin. Shifts from seasonal to humid climatic conditions are attributed to systematic variation in monsoonal circulation, whereby seasonal moisture became restricted to the equatorial belt during the lowstands of each ∼400 k.y. glacial-interglacial cycle.
Modeling convective drying of ventilated wall chambers in building enclosures

Abstract In North America, residential enclosure walls are often built with provision for natural convection and, therefore, provide potential for ventilation drying within the wall. At present, our knowledge of the drying process in the wall systems is limited. The drying process is driven by very low airflow rates with complex flow patterns through the narrow and irregular wall cavities, resulting mostly in unstable ventilation driven by natural convection. Different venting strategies coupled with the stochastic nature of driving forces for ventilation contribute to the complexity of the drying process. Both the physical and the mathematical modeling of wall cavity convective drying are challenging. However, it is difficult to accurately predict the convective drying rates in wall cavities at any time during the year. Nevertheless, the convective drying process is probably one of the key mechanisms for mold suppression in residential walls in the US, and therefore, needs to be fully understood and quantified. An equation is developed to estimate the convective moisture transport in screened and ventilated wall systems. The intent was to develop a simple equation for practical design applications. The equation represents a solution of the two-dimensional moisture transport equation, solved for steady state conditions assuming laminar flow with a uniform velocity field in the wall cavity. The results derived from the simple equation were compared to measured data obtained in the Building Enclosure Test Laboratory (BeTL) at the Pennsylvania State University (PSU). The comparison showed that the simple equation can accurately predict the convective drying rates. The results are highly sensitive to the environmental conditions in the immediate vicinity of the wet wall surfaces. This equation could be used in engineering practice to provide an estimate of convective drying rates in the ventilated chamber of rain-screened and ventilated wall systems. Future validation with on-site experiments is necessary.
Natural History and Ecology of Scyphophorus acupunctatus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) and Its Associated Microbes in Cultivated and Native Agaves

A cultivated plant, Agave americana var. expansa (Jacobi) Gentry, is attacked by the weevil Scyphophorus acupunctatus Glyllenhal before flowering, while Agave palmeri Engelmann, a wild species, is colonized by the weevil only after it blooms. Several explanations for this differential susceptibility are offered, and new host records for S. acupunctatus are reported. Microbes associated with the weevil apparently cause agave decline, a pathological condition that accompanies larval S. acupunctatus infestation. Agave decline kills afflicted plants.
The Critical Role of Cholinergic Basal Forebrain Neurons in Morphological Change and Memory Encoding: A Hypothesis

Abstract It has been known for a long time that cholinergic basal forebrain neurons which project to the cerebral cortex play a role in learning and memory. Behavioral studies following lesions, for example, repeatedly have suggested multiple learning-related roles for these neurons. Apart from behavioral studies, cholinergic neurons have been shown to possess extraordinarily plastic axons. This plasticity has not been related comprehensively to mnemonic devises, even though morphological changes in the CNS are prime candidates for the neural engram. In this paper, I propose a hypothesis that relates these two characteristics of cholinergic neurons. This hypothesis is that plastic cholinergic axon terminals induce structural reorganization in their targets during memory storage. Possible intracellular mechanisms are examined, whereby acetylcholine release in the cerebral cortex could cause postsynaptic structural changes. Finally, the characteristics of the overall cholinergic–cholinoceptive cell “engram” are elaborated with particular attention paid to the encoding of the stimulus properties along with the context and meaning of the stimulus.
Microworlds, mother teaching behavior and concept formation in the very young child

Forty‐one preschool children, 21 two‐year‐olds and 20 three‐year‐olds, and their mothers were randomly assigned to two treatment groups: A microworld designed to teach the concept on inside/ outside via item sorting on screen and a computer experience designed to drill the alphabet. Daily videotapes of mother/child dyads were coded and scored using a revision of the Wood and Middleton (1975) Assisted Problem Solving Scale (r = .80). A sorting task patterned after the microworld followed treatment. Micro‐world mothers teaching strategies differed significantly from alphabet mothers with software type affecting dyad interaction. A 2x2 ANOVA yielded no significant main effects for group or age on the post‐test. However, the age/group interaction approached significance (p = .053) with three‐year‐olds in the microworld group correctly sorting more objects. A repeated measure mixed model ANOVA revealed a highly significant within‐group effect; three‐year‐olds within the microworld group were significantly more...
Gender differences in health-related quality-of-life are partly explained by sociodemographic and socioeconomic variation between adult men and women in the US: evidence from four US nationally representative data sets

The purpose of this study was to describe gender differences in self-reported health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) and to examine whether differences are explained by sociodemographic and socioeconomic status (SES) differentials between men and women. Data were from four US nationally representative surveys: US Valuation of the EuroQol EQ-5D Health States Survey (USVEQ), Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), National Health Measurement Study (NHMS) and Joint Canada/US Survey of Health (JCUSH). Gender differences were estimated with and without adjustment for sociodemographic and SES indicators using regression within and across data sets with SF-6D, EQ-5D, HUI2, HUI3 and QWB-SA scores as outcomes. Women have lower HRQoL scores than men on all indexes prior to adjustment. Adjusting for age, race, marital status, education and income reduced but did not remove the gender differences, except with HUI3. Adjusting for marital status or income had the largest impact on estimated gender differences. There are clear gender differences in HRQoL in the United States. These differences are partly explained by sociodemographic and SES differentials.
Kinetics of phase boundaries with edges andjunctions

In this paper we study the propagation of a phase boundary which meets the boundary of the body at an edge or meets other phase boundaries at a junction. We show that it is necessary to provide kinetic relations for the edges and junctions in addition to the kinetic relation of the phase boundary. We derive thermodynamically consistent forms for these additional kinetic relations and show that they have a profound effect on the evolution of the phase boundary.
Sediment infilling and wetland formation dynamics in an active crevasse splay of the Mississippi River delta

Abstract Crevasse splay environments provide a mesocosm for evaluating wetland formation and maintenance processes on a decadal time scale. Site elevation, water levels, vertical accretion, elevation change, shallow subsidence, and plant biomass were measured at five habitats along an elevation gradient to evaluate wetland formation and development in Brant Pass Splay; an active crevasse splay of the Balize delta of the Mississippi River. The processes of vertical development (vertical accretion, elevation change, and shallow subsidence) were measured with the surface elevation table–marker horizon method. There were three distinct stages to the accrual of elevation capital and wetland formation in the splay: sediment infilling, vegetative colonization, and development of a mature wetland community. Accretion, elevation gain, and shallow subsidence all decreased by an order of magnitude from the open water (lowest elevation) to the forest (highest elevation) habitats. Vegetative colonization occurred within the first growing season following emergence of the mud surface. An explosively high rate of below-ground production quickly stabilized the loosely consolidated sub-aerial sediments. After emergent vegetation colonization, vertical development slowed and maintenance of marsh elevation was driven both by sediment trapping by the vegetation and accumulation of plant organic matter in the soil. Continued vertical development and survival of the marsh then depended on the health and productivity of the plant community. The process of delta wetland formation is both complex and nonlinear. Determining the dynamics of wetland formation will help in understanding the processes driving the past building of the delta and in developing models for restoring degraded wetlands in the Mississippi River delta and other deltas around the world.
Affective Neural Responses Modulated by Serotonin Transporter Genotype in Clinical Anxiety and Depression

Serotonin transporter gene variants are known to interact with stressful life experiences to increase chances of developing affective symptoms, and these same variants have been shown to influence amygdala reactivity to affective stimuli in non-psychiatric populations. The impact of these gene variants on affective neurocircuitry in anxiety and mood disorders has been studied less extensively. Utilizing a triallelic assay (5-HTTLPR and rs25531) to assess genetic variation linked with altered serotonin signaling, this fMRI study investigated genetic influences on amygdala and anterior insula activity in 50 generalized anxiety disorder patients, 26 of whom also met DSM-IV criteria for social anxiety disorder and/or major depressive disorder, and 39 healthy comparison subjects. A Group x Genotype interaction was observed for both the amygdala and anterior insula in a paradigm designed to elicit responses in these brain areas during the anticipation of and response to aversive pictures. Patients who are S/LG carriers showed less activity than their LA/LA counterparts in both regions and less activity than S/LG healthy comparison subjects in the amygdala. Moreover, patients with greater insula responses reported higher levels of intolerance of uncertainty, an association that was particularly pronounced for patients with two LA alleles. A genotype effect was not established in healthy controls. These findings link the serotonin transporter gene to affective circuitry findings in anxiety and depression psychopathology and further suggest that its impact on patients may be different from effects typically observed in healthy populations.
Scanning workstation memory for malicious codes using dedicated coprocessors

This paper describes the implementation of a coprocessor platform for scanning workstation memory in order to detect signatures of malicious codes. The coprocessor is especially beneficial in clusters of workstations used for high performance computing where the overhead imposed by software-based intrusion detection codes is unacceptable. The coprocessor connects to the host via the PCI bus and accesses the host's memory using bus mastering DMA.The coprocessor interprets the host's virtual memory data structures in order to fetch page frames associated with specific processes into local memory. Once a set of page frames is in local memory, the coprocessor searches the memory content for signatures of known malicious codes. The coprocessor implementation requires no modification to the kernel code. Furthermore, the coprocessor software only requires a small set of initialization data during system bootup. After this initialization, the coprocessor operates independently from the host's processors.Empirical analysis of prototype coprocessor implementation demonstrates the effectiveness of the coprocessor in detecting malicious codes without intervention from the host processor. The additional memory bus traffic generated by the coprocessor causes a small performance reduction, especially for software that does not make effective use of the host processor's cache. Conversely, the impact of the coprocessor induced PCI traffic is negligible on I/O bound applications.
Morphology and Growth Kinetics of Straight and Kinked Tin Whiskers

Time-lapse SEM studies of Sn whiskers were conducted to estimate growth kinetics and document whisker morphologies. For straight whiskers, growth rates of 3 to 4 microns per day were measured at room temperature. Two types of kinked whiskers were observed. For Type A kinks, the original growth segment spatial orientation remains unchanged, there are no other changes in morphology or diameter, and growth continues. For Type B kinks, the spatial orientation of the original segment changes and it appears that the whisker bends over. Whiskers with Type B kinks show changes in morphology and diameter at the base, indicating grain boundary motion in the film, which eliminates the conditions suitable for long-term whisker growth. To estimate the errors in the whisker growth measurements, a technique is presented to correct for SEM projection effects. With this technique, the actual growth angles and lengths of a large number of whiskers were collected. It was found that most whiskers grow at moderate or shallow angles with respect to the surface; few straight whiskers grow nearly normal to the surface. In addition, there is no simple correlation between growth angles and lengths for whiskers observed over an approximate 2-year period.
Diversity of birds in eastern North America shifts north with global warming

The distribution of diversity along latitudinal and elevation gradients, and the coupling of this phenomenon with climate, is a pattern long recognized in ecology. Hypothesizing that climate change may have altered this pattern over time, we investigated whether the aggregate of reported northward shifts of bird ranges in North America is now detectable in community-level indices such as richness and diversity. Here, we report that bird diversity in North America increased and shifted northward between 1966 and 2010. This change in the relationship of diversity to the latitudinal gradient is primarily influenced by range expansions of species that winter in the eastern United States as opposed to species which migrate to this area from wintering grounds in the tropics. This increase in diversity and its northward expansion is best explained by an increase in regional prebreeding season temperature over the past 44 years.
Combined Review: Experiencing the New Genetics: Family and Kinship on the Medical Frontier and Born and Bred: Idioms and New Reproductive Technologies in England

Experiencing the New Genetics: Family and Kinship on the Medical Frontier. Kaja Finkler. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000. 296 pp. Born and Bred: Idioms and New Reproductive Technologies in England. Jeanette Edwards. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. 264 pp.
Evaluation of the variable depth resolution of active dynamic thermography on human skin

Active dynamic thermography (ADT) is an imaging technique capable of characterizing the non-homogenous thermal conductance of damaged tissues. The purpose of this study was to determine optimal stimulation parameters and quantify the optical resolution of ADT through various depths of human skin. Excised tissue from plastic surgery operations was collected immediately following excision. A total of 12 thin to thick split-thickness grafts were harvested from 3 patients. Grafts were placed on top of a 3D printed resolution chart and thermal stimulation was applied from a 300W halogen lamp array for between 0.5-10 seconds to determine optimal parameters. Video was captured with a thermal camera, and analysis was performed by reconstructing an image from thermal gradients. In this study ADT resolved 0.445±0 lp/mm at a depth of 0.010”, 0.356±0.048 lp/mm at a depth of 0.015”, 0.334±0.027 lp/mm at a depth of 0.020” and 0.265±0.022 lp/mm at a depth of 0.025”. The stimulus energy required for maximum resolution at each depth was 3- 4s, 8s, 12s and 12s respectively. ADT is a sensitive technique for imaging dermal structure, capable of resolving detail as fine as 1124 μm, 1427 μm, 1502 μm and 1893 μm in thin to thick split-thickness skin grafts respectively. This study has characterized a correlation between stimulus input and maximal resolution at differing depths of skin. It has also defined the functional imaging depth of ADT to below the sub-cutis, well below conventional spectrophotometric techniques.
WikiAnalytics: Ad-hoc querying of highly heterogeneous structured data

Searching and extracting meaningful information out of highly heterogeneous datasets is a hot topic that received a lot of attention. However, the existing solutions are based on either rigid complex query languages (e.g., SQL, XQuery/XPath) which are hard to use without full schema knowledge, without an expert user, and which require up-front data integration. At the other extreme, existing solutions employ keyword search queries over relational databases [3], [1], [10], [9], [2], [11] as well as over semistructured data [6], [12], [17], [15] which are too imprecise to specify exactly the user's intent [16].
English, Spanish, and Code-Switching Use in the ESL Classroom: An Ethnographic Study.

Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in the schools, and English as a second language (ESL) teachers currently face the challenge of how to best provide instruction for students who are learning English. The purpose of this study was to describe the results of a qualitative study performed in an ESL classroom to determine teacher and student functional uses of language (i.e., pragmatics), particularly language involving code-switching and code-mixing use. The data for this study were gathered via classroom observations and interviews with the ESL teacher and ESL teacher aide in an elementary school with a 30% Hispanic/Latino population. Overall, the ESL classroom appeared to be teacher directed as evidenced by a high degree of questioning, commands, feedback, and informatives. Of all the instances of code-switching and code-mixing, none were judged to be grammatically inappropriate for either English, Spanish or the combined switched/mixed language form. The authors have developed a clinical intervention a...
Effects of Aggression on Achievement: Does Conflict With the Teacher Make It Worse?

This longitudinal study examined different explanations for negative associations between aggression and academic achievement using data collected from 403 children from low-income families followed from kindergarten or first grade (ages 6 and 7 years) through fifth grade (ages 10-11 years). Most results of growth curve analyses examining change over time and path analyses examining associations among the variables within grades were consistent with the hypothesis that the effect of aggression on achievement was partially mediated by the conflictual relationships relatively more aggressive children tended to develop with their teachers and concomitant reductions in engagement in academic tasks. The evidence suggested, however, that the relationship between aggression and achievement is complex and reciprocal. Gender differences were also observed.
Parichute: Generalized Turbocode-Based Error Correction for Near-Threshold Caches

Energy efficiency is a primary concern for microprocessor designers. A very effective approach to improving the energy efficiency of a chip is to lower its supply voltage to very close to the transitor's threshold voltage, into what is called the near-thresold region. This reduces power consumption dramatically but also decreases reliability by orders of magnitude, especially for SRAM structures such as caches. This paper presents Parichute, a novel and powerful error correction technique based on turbo product codes that allows caches to continue to operate in near-threshold, while trading off some cache capacity to store error correction information. Our Parichute-based cache implementation is flexible, allowing protection to be disabled in error-free high voltage operation and selectively enabled as the voltage is lowered and the error rate increases. Parichute is also self-testing and variation-aware, allowing selective protection of cache sections that exhibit errors at higher supply voltages because of process variation. Parichute achieves significantly stronger error correction compared to prior cache protection techniques, enabling 2X to 4X higher cache capacity at low voltages. Our results also show that a system with a Parichute-protected L2 cache can achieve a 34% reduction in system energy (processor and DRAM) compared to a system operating at nominal voltage.
Automated Image Registration Based on Pseudoinvariant Metrics of Dynamic Land-Surface Features

Accurate assessment of land-cover/land-use change is essential for understanding the impacts of global change and necessitates the use of satellite data. Satellite change detection requires large volumes of multitemporal images to be precisely registered. Image registration is particularly difficult in dynamic (i.e., rapidly time varying) landscapes since the changes themselves interfere with the process of tie-point identification. Despite the existence of sophisticated registration algorithms, it is still problematic to register images acquired over such areas due to a dearth of stable features. Hence, we propose an automated image registration method using tie points derived from pseudoinvariant features (PIFs) and apply the method to register satellite images for hydrologic change detection in the Arctic, where abundant shallow lakes dominate the landscape but change significantly over time. A key to the method is the identification of ldquoshape-stablerdquo lakes as PIFs, which preserve their geometric shape even though the shorelines may migrate significantly. The proposed method automatically identifies PIFs based on scale-invariant shape descriptors and employs their center points for establishing the registration model. Our method thus consists of water-body feature extraction, PIF detection based on feature shape criteria, and image registration using tie points derived from the PIFs. The approach is used to register 1978 and 2000 Landsat images in Alaska, where lakes dominate the landscape and change significantly over time. The performance of the proposed approach is evaluated quantitatively, and a high subpixel registration accuracy of 0.66 pixel at Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus resolution (i.e., 19 m) is achieved. A comparative evaluation indicates that the proposed approach outcompetes the conventional manual tie-point selection method and automated image registration techniques based on fast Fourier transform.
Learning from the Piper Alpha Accident: A Postmortem Analysis of Technical and Organizational Factors

The accident that occurred on board the offshore platform Piper Alpha in July 1988 killed 167 people and cost billions of dollars in property damage. It was caused by a massive fire, which was not the result of an unpredictable “act of God” but of an accumulation of errors and questionable decisions. Most of them were rooted in the organization, its structure, procedures, and culture. This paper analyzes the accident scenario using the risk analysis framework, determines which human decision and actions influenced the occurrence of the basic events, and then identifies the organizational roots of these decisions and actions. These organizational factors are generalizable to other industries and engineering systems. They include flaws in the design guidelines and design practices (e.g., tight physical couplings or insufficient redundancies), misguided priorities in the management of the tradeoff between productivity and safety, mistakes in the management of the personnel on board, and errors of judgment in the process by which financial pressures are applied on the production sector (i.e., the oil companies' definition of profit centers) resulting in deficiencies in inspection and maintenance operations. This analytical approach allows identification of risk management measures that go beyond the purely technical (e.g., add redundancies to a safety system) and also include improvements of management practices.
Recent molecular insights into rickettsial pathogenesis and immunity

Human infections with arthropod-borne Rickettsia species remain a major global health issue, causing significant morbidity and mortality. Epidemic typhus due to Rickettsia prowazekii has an established reputation as the 'scourge of armies', and as a major determinant of significant 'historical turning points'. No suitable vaccines for human use are currently available to prevent rickettsial diseases. The unique lifestyle features of rickettsiae include obligate intracellular parasitism, intracytoplasmic niche within the host cell, predilection for infection of microvascular endothelium in mammalian hosts, association with arthropods and the tendency for genomic reduction. The fundamental research in the field of Rickettsiology has witnessed significant recent progress in the areas of pathogen adhesion/invasion and host immune responses, as well as the genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, phylogenetics, motility and molecular manipulation of important rickettsial pathogens. The focus of this review article is to capture a snapshot of the latest developments pertaining to the mechanisms of rickettsial pathogenesis and immunity.
Implementation of ultrasonic touchless interactive panel using the polymer-based CMUT array

An innovative touchless interactive panel based on the ultrasound echo-location principle is proposed. The fabrication process of the polymer-based capacitive micro-arrayed ultrasonic transducer (P-CMUT) array is described. A method is then proposed for determining the position of the user's finger relative to the screen based upon the time of arrival (TOA) of the acoustic echo signals reflected from the fingertip and the geometrical relationship between the transmitter and the receivers. Various signal processing techniques and supporting algorithms are proposed for obtaining reliable and precise fingertip position estimation. The feasibility of the interactive panel is verified by constructing a prototype model and performing a series of representative pointing operations using a commercial computer application.
Redox-dependent lipoylation of mitochondrial proteins in Plasmodium falciparum

Lipoate scavenging from the human host is essential for malaria parasite survival. Scavenged lipoate is covalently attached to three parasite proteins: the H-protein and the E2 subunits of branched chain amino acid dehydrogenase (BCDH) and α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase (KDH). We show mitochondrial localization for the E2 subunits of BCDH and KDH, similar to previously localized H-protein, demonstrating that all three lipoylated proteins reside in the parasite mitochondrion. The lipoate ligase 1, LipL1, has been shown to reside in the mitochondrion and it catalyses the lipoylation of the H-protein; however, we show that LipL1 alone cannot lipoylate BCDH or KDH. A second mitochondrial protein with homology to lipoate ligases, LipL2, does not show ligase activity and is not capable of lipoylating any of the mitochondrial substrates. Instead, BCDH and KDH are lipoylated through a novel mechanism requiring both LipL1 and LipL2. This mechanism is sensitive to redox conditions where BCDH and KDH are exclusively lipoylated under strong reducing conditions in contrast to the H-protein which is preferentially lipoylated under less reducing conditions. Thus, malaria parasites contain two different routes of mitochondrial lipoylation, an arrangement that has not been described for any other organism.