cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Insulin-like growth factors and risk of testicular germ cell tumors

B101 Studies have consistently shown that taller height in men is associated with an increased risk of testicular germ cell tumors (TGCT). Thus, it is plausible that factors associated with height, such as the insulin-like growth factor (IGF) pathway, may also influence TGCT risk. Using 577 case and 790 control participants from the U.S. Servicemen’s Testicular Tumor Environmental and Endocrine Determinants (STEED) Study, we assessed associations between 43 single nucleotide polymorphisms in 4 key IGF genes (IGF-1, IGF-1R, IGF-2, and IGFALS) and risk of TGCT. We also examined associations between TGCT risk and serum concentrations of IGF-1 and IGF binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3); in addition serum relationships with height were determined. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated using adjusted logistic regression models. No associations between the IGF pathway polymorphisms and risk of TGCT or of specific TGCT histologic types (seminoma and nonseminoma) were observed. Serum IGF-1 concentrations were associated with height; men who had the highest concentrations of IGF-1 were taller than men with lower IGF-1 concentrations (p-trend=0.002). Associations between height and IGFBP-3 concentrations were not as clear, although there was a suggestion that men with higher IGFBP-3 concentrations were taller. There were no associations between IGF-1 or IGFBP-3 concentrations and TGCT risk overall. However, when cases were separated by histology, there was a suggestion of a reduction in seminoma, but not nonseminoma, risk associated with the highest quartile of IGF-1 concentrations compared to the lowest (OR=0.66, 95% CI, 0.40-1.09). No associations by histology were observed with IGFBP-3 concentrations. These results suggest that even though associations between IGF gene polymorphisms and TGCT were not observed, serum IGF-1 concentrations, however, contrary to the hypothesis, may be associated with seminoma risk, but not overall TGCT or nonseminoma risk.
A revisit to atomistic rationale for slip in shape memory alloys

Abstract Performance degradation in shape memory alloys (SMA) arises due to a gradual loss of strain recoverability attributable to slip mediated plasticity. The slip-induced changes in SMAs can be profound creating accumulation of permanent strains, altering the critical stress and hysteresis in an adverse manner. Slip nucleation in ordered SMA lattices can often be triggered due to energetically favorable dissociation reactions. Partial slip can dominate over full slip, generating planar defects (e.g. anti-phase boundary, superlattice or complex stacking faults) as evidenced through electron microscopy. Considerable advances are made lately on physically rationalizing the observed plastic micromechanism(s) benefitting from quantum mechanical models. In-depth analyses of crystal variables (e.g. lattice ordering, atomic stacking and stable/metastable fault structures) subjected to intrinsic solid-state effects have unequivocally established the genesis of empirical slipping propensity in terms of atomic fault energetics. This article systematically revisits the empirical physical evidence of slip in important SMAs from the literature, presents the pertinent experimental findings, and then embarks on reviewing the investigations of atomistic studies as exemplified by the authors’ group. In closing, we discourse on the potential use of lattice scale theories in devising other important structure-property relationships such as role of precipitates, cracking resistance, constitutive modeling.
Non-destructive estimation of spatially varying thermal conductivity in 3D objects using boundary thermal measurements

Abstract A methodology for non-destructive, accelerated inverse estimation of spatially varying material properties using only boundary measurements is presented. The spatial distribution of diffusion coefficient in 3D solid object is determined by minimizing the sum of the least-squares difference between measured and calculated values. The forward problem is solved using the finite volume and finite element methods, both of which were compared against analytical solution. The inverse problem was solved using an optimization technique to minimize the sum of the least-square errors. The non-destructive estimation was accelerated by the use of surrogate models to solve the forward problem. The presented methodology is applied to measurements containing varying levels of noise. Finally, it is used to detect both the location, size and shape of a subdomain within a solid object and material property of the subdomain material.
Effect of psychosocial distress on outcome for head and neck cancer patients undergoing radiation

Objectives/Hypothesis To determine the impact of pretreatment psychosocial distress on compliance to radiation therapy (RT) and clinical outcomes for patients with head and neck cancer Study Design Self-reported responses to the mood and anxiety domains of the University of Washington Quality of Life instrument were reviewed among 133 patients with newly diagnosed head and neck cancer prior to initiating RT. Methods Varying definitions were used (total number of unexpectedly missed RT days, >5 days continuous interruption of RT outside of weekends, >10 days continuous interruption of RT, and failure to complete prescribed course of RT) to analyze the effect of psychosocial disruption on compliance. Survival was determined using the Kaplan-Meier method. Results The prevalence of pretreatment depression and anxiety was 23% and 47%, respectively. Continuous RT breaks >5 days occurred in 46%, 33%, 10%, 9%, and 0% of patients whose mood was rated as “extremely depressed,” “somewhat depressed,” “neither in a good mood or depressed,” “generally good,” and “excellent,” respectively (P = .0016). The corresponding proportion of patients who did not complete their planned RT was 23%, 11%, 5%, and 3%, and 0%, respectively (P = .043). The 2-year overall survival of patients who were “extremely depressed” or “somewhat depressed” at baseline was 71% versus 86% for all others (P = .026). Depression was independently associated with decreased overall survival on logistical regression analysis. Conclusions Pretreatment depression predicted for decreased RT compliance and inferior survival for head and neck cancer. Additional research to overcome potential barriers to treatment in this setting may be warranted. Level of Evidence 4. Laryngoscope, 2017
A geometrically-amplified in-plane piezoelectric actuator for mesoscale robotic systems

Piezoelectric materials are an attractive option for electromechanical transduction on the mesoscale due to their intrinsic high force production, large bandwidth, and favorable scaling characteristics. However, the small displacements they inherently produce are typically too small to be directly used in robotic systems, and thus displacement amplification is needed. Here we present a piezoelectric actuator that uses geometric amplification to achieve 20 × the nominal piezoelectric displacement. Actuator performance is described in terms of blocked force (20 mN), displacement (115 μm), bandwidth (3 kHz), and power density (172 W/kg). The actuator is fabricated using printed circuit MEMS, an emerging mesoscale manufacturing paradigm. Expected applications include locomotion for terrestrial crawling robots and flapping wing micro-air vehicles.
A new species of Phyllium ( Phyllium ) Illiger, 1798 from Mindanao, Philippines (Phasmida, Phylliidae)

A new species of leaf insect, Phyllium (Phyllium) fallorum n. sp. is described and illustrated. In addition a key to the current known species of Phyllium Illiger, 1798 from the Philippines is provided. This species is currently only known from the single unique holotype, which will be deposited in the San Diego Natural History Museum. Measurements of anatomical figures were made to the nearest 0.1 mm. Photos were taken using a Canon 5D Mark II and a MP-E 65mm macro lens and stacked using Zerene photo stacking software, version 1.04, 64-bit. Currently, ten species of Phyllium Illiger, 1798 have been described from the Philippines, with Phyllium (Phyllium) fallorum n. sp. the eleventh. Of the eleven known species from the Philippines, five are only known from female specimens.
0227 Risk of heat related illness: differences between male and female farmworkers with respect to hydration practices

Introduction Dehydration is a major risk factor for Heat Related Illness (HRI) in farmworkers. Methods 587 acclimatised Latina/o farmworkers were monitored once each, in the hot, dry, California Central Valley over the summers of 2014–2015. Weight was recorded before and after the shift in a minimum level of clothing to assess change in hydration. To assess activity, accelerometers were worn, and questionnaires were administered in Spanish to collect occupational characteristics. Results 66.2% of the participants were male; both sexes had a mean age 38.7 years. Men drank more, either total or just water (adjusted for height) than women (mean volumes 112 v 77oz, or 97 v 67 oz, PVal PVal PVal Being male, working any type of piece rate and higher mean activity were all independently associated with weight loss over the shift in a multivariable linear regression model. Parameter and (95% CI) respectively: - 0.31 (- 0.43 to - 0.19), 0.18 (0.05–0.309), and mean cpm/100 0.022 (0.001–0.045). Conclusion Male Latino farmworkers are more at risk of dehydration especially those who work high activity tasks or any form of piece rate. Employers should focus special attention on the safety of these workers.
Thermal Characterization of Multilayer Structures from Transient Thermal Response

Most methods for the characterization of the thermal properties of materials can only be implemented on macroscopic homogeneous specimens with a simple geometry such as rods or single slabs. This paper addresses the issue of the non destructive evaluation of multilayered structures. Assuming a planar heat flow, analytical solutions of the temperature were found for two and three layer geometries. Experimental data was taken on samples composed of typical materials to validate the theory. The material properties in each layer were found by fitting the thermal responses with the analytic solutions.
Life after #MeToo: Understanding the Impact of Adolescent Sexual Assault on Education and Career

This article tells the story of four adult women whose lives and educational journeys were impacted by sexual violence during adolescence. Through in-depth interviews and a focus group these women reflect on the ways that sexual violence impacted their lives as learners and changed their life course. Their stories support and extend previous research that indicates that sexual assault during adolescence negatively impacts academic achievement and alters career and life goal-setting. Importantly, participants in this study perceive that elementary and secondary schools are failing girls on the issue of sexual violence, and in some cases are causing survivors additional harm. The presentation of findings is “data heavy” as it is the survivors own words which most accurately describe the impact of sexual violence on the lives of women. https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.17.10.6
Incarceration and Earnings: Distributional and Long-Term Effects

Before and after incarceration, the typical prisoner differs from the typical American in several ways, including education, employment prospects, and earnings. Current research on the effect of incarceration on earnings predominantly uses techniques that characterize incarceration’s effect on mean wages and is limited to observing wages immediately after release. I employ data drawn from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and a variety of quantile regressions to estimate differential incarceration penalties across the wage and income distribution. I also estimate the long-term effects of incarceration on mean wages, income, and labor supply. Results suggest that the incarceration wage penalty is relatively homogenous across wages, while more severe penalties are estimated at lower income levels, suggestive of incarceration’s deleterious effect on labor supply. Mean earnings and labor supply penalties are most severe in the period after release but gradually diminish over time for releasees that do not experience additional incarceration spells.
Measurements of open charm production in Au+Au collisions at sNN=200GeV with the STAR experiment at RHIC

Abstract We report in these proceedings on the measurements of collision centrality and transverse momentum ( p T ) dependences of the Λ c ± production in Au+Au collisions at s NN = 200 GeV , using the STAR Heavy Flavor Tracker (HFT). The Λ c ± signal significance is greatly improved with the addition of the high-statistics data set collected in 2016 and the use of a supervised machine learning method for topological reconstruction of the decay vertices. The measured Λ c ± / D 0 ratio shows a significant enhancement compared to the PYTHIA prediction for p+p collisions, across the measured p T range. We also report on the updated measurements of D 0 nuclear modification factors R AA and R CP using the 2014 data with the HFT. The measured D 0 R AA in central collisions is lower than unity across the p T interval of the measurement. The D 0 yields show strong suppression at high p T (> 6 GeV/c) in central collisions, consistent with that of light flavor hadrons. The c c ‾ production cross section per binary nucleon collision at midrapidity in Au+Au collisions at 200 GeV is extracted based on the various charm hadron measurements by STAR. It is observed that while the charm hadrochemistry is significantly modified in Au+Au collisions compared to p+p collisions, the c c ‾ production cross section at midrapidity remains consistent between Au+Au and p+p collisions.
Troponoid Atropisomerism: Studies on the Configurational Stability of Tropone-Amide Chiral Axes

Configurationally stable, atropisomeric motifs are an important structural element in a number of molecules, including chiral ligands, catalysts, and molecular devices. Thus, understanding features that stabilize chiral axes is of fundamental interest throughout the chemical sciences. The following details the high rotational barriers about the Ar–C(O) bond of tropone amides, which significantly exceed those of analogous benzamides. These studies are supported by both experimental and computational rotational barrier measurements. We also report the resolution of an axially chiral α-hydroxytropolone amide into its individual atropisomers, and demonstrate its configurational stability at physiological pH and temperatures over 24 h.
Who We Were and Who We Are: How Michigan Law Students Have Changed Since the 1950s: Findings from 40 Years of Alumni Surveys

For 40 consecutive years, from 1967 to 2006, the Law School surveyed its alumni regarding their lives and careers. The project began in 1967 with the mailing of a questionnaire to the class of 1952 shortly before their 15th reunion. The results proved interesting enough that surveys were sent each year thereafter to the class 15 years out. In 1973, the classes 5 years out were added to the survey.
Implementation and evaluation of a standardised performance profile intervention with collegiate athletes

Performance profiling is a technique commonly utilised by sport psychology practitioners to assist athletes in identifying and understanding their perceived strengths and weaknesses. Although a num...
How Ramanujan may have discovered the mock theta functions

Mock theta functions appeared out of the blue in Ramanujan's last letter to Hardy. What would lead Ramanujan to consider the possibility of such functions in the first place? This paper seeks to pr...
Habits of Mind, Habits of Heart: Cultivating Humanity Through a Decolonized German Studies Curriculum

This article outlines the stakes and practical considerations for initiatives to diversify and decolonize German Studies curricula. Despite educators’ increasing awareness of the field’s complicity in reifying systems of injustice and their efforts to reflect the diversity within the German-speaking world, German curricula often still project a monolithic and exclusionary image of “Germanness.” To diversify topics and texts without interrogating the social stratification implied in the ways that “Others” of the German-speaking world are presented (or not) is not enough; German Studies must be concomitantly decolonized. That is, where diversifying curricula entails recognizing and engaging the internal diversity and complexity of German-speaking societies, decolonizing entails recognizing, questioning, and destabilizing the hegemonies implicated in the construction of cultures, canons, and curricula.
How to Do Things with Legal Doctrine

Legal doctrine is the currency of contemporary law. Yet while law students, lawyers, and judges take the substance of specific doctrines seriously, the idea of doctrine itself (what it is, how it means, what it does) is routinely bypassed and thus left unexplored. How to Do Things with Legal Doctrine is an original study that aims to remedy this shortfall. The book focuses on how to understand legal doctrine—how to expand, limit, frame, fashion and refashion doctrine. In this book we identify and refine theoretically and practically the conceptual and rhetorical operations that legal professionals perform with doctrine—focusing especially on those difficult moments where law seems to run out, but legal argument must go on. Indeed, a great deal of this book takes as its subject matter those difficult moments when existing legal doctrines seem to provide no clear answer. What do you do then? And what prepares the way to resolution?
One Less Reason Why: Viewing of Suicide-Themed Fictional Media is Associated with Lower Depressive Symptoms in Youth

Concerns about whether fictional media can have a contagion effect on youth viewers have been debated for several decades. In the 1980s these led to several lawsuits featuring heavy metal acts as d...
Pricing Discretely Monitored Barrier Options Under Markov Processes Using a Markov Chain Approximation

We propose an explicit closed-form approximation formula for the price of discretely monitored single or double barrier options whose underlying asset evolves according to a generic one-dimensional Markov process. This set of stochastic processes includes, but is not limited to, diffusion and jump diffusion processes commonly used in derivative pricing applications. The formula’s derivation combines the integral equation method, the Z−transform technique, and a continuous-time Markov chain approximation of the underlying Markov process. It does not require one to perform an intermediate numerical quadrature or related potentially runtime-intensive, error-prone, or otherwise complicated numerical procedure that may require a high degree of tuning to ensure appropriate accuracy (e.g. an inverse Laplace transform or inverse Z−transform). Rather, the price and Greeks of a discretely-monitored double barrier option may be explicitly expressed in terms of rudimentary matrix operations. In addition, this framework may be extended to include additional features of barrier options often encountered in practice. Examples including time-dependent barriers and non-uniform monitoring time intervals, may be seamlessly incorporated into this framework. In addition, by limiting the monitoring frequency to a large value, we also obtain an accurate closed-form formula for the price and Greeks of continuously-monitored double barrier options with time-dependent barriers under general Markov processes. Finally, we provide many numerical examples to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed formula as well as its ability to reproduce existing benchmark results in the relevant literature.
Prolonged hospital length of stay in pediatric trauma: a model for targeted interventions.

In this study, trauma-specific risk factors of prolonged length of stay (LOS) in pediatric trauma were examined. Statistical and machine learning models were used to proffer ways to improve the quality of care of patients at risk of prolonged length of stay and reduce cost. Data from 27 hospitals were retrieved on 81,929 hospitalizations of pediatric patients with a primary diagnosis of trauma, and for which the LOS was >24 h. Nested mixed effects model was used for simplified statistical inference, while a stochastic gradient boosting model, considering high-order statistical interactions, was built for prediction. Over 18.7% of the encounters had LOS >1 week. Burns and corrosion and suspected and confirmed child abuse are the strongest drivers of prolonged LOS. Several other trauma-specific and general pediatric clinical variables were also predictors of prolonged LOS. The stochastic gradient model obtained an area under the receiver operator characteristic curve of 0.912 (0.907, 0.917). The high performance of the machine learning model coupled with statistical inference from the mixed effects model provide an opportunity for targeted interventions to improve quality of care of trauma patients likely to require long length of stay.
An Estimate of the Benefits of Not Having HIV/AIDS in a Prison Setting

Background: A growing body of evidence suggests that high rates of incarcerated people and high levels of HIV coexist and that people with HIV/AIDS in prisons have histories of cumulative trauma and stress. Almost inevitably, a prison population is an aging population. The purpose of this study was to provide a general method for valuing the benefits of not having HIV using the preferences of prisoners so that these can be compared to the costs in order that a Cost-Benefit analysis of HIV interventions can take place. Methods: The proposed method involves representing the utility function of an incarcerated person as being determined negatively by the presence of having HIV, and positively by having an income, and then finding the marginal rate of substitution between having HIV and giving up some income. A regression equation is used to estimate the utility function where the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) health-related quality of life is used to measure utility. Apart from HIV and income the regression equation has life stressors and age as controls. We use a sample of 516 incarcerated adults from a self-reported survey, consisting mainly of persons aged 50 and older housed in a Northeastern prison system, to apply our methods. Results: Our regression analysis showed that four life stressors and age were significant and important as controls for HIV/AIDS status and income in determining an incarcerated person’s quality of life. Our best estimate of the benefit of not having HIV in a prison setting was around $350,000. Conclusion: The value of not having HIV in a prison setting is large. This value could make many existing interventions to prevent HIV/AIDS be shown to be to be socially worthwhile as they would pass a Cost-Benefit test. Our finding of the importance of life stressors for a prison population with HIV would suggest that interventions that involve the prevention of traumatic experiences in early childhood could also be socially worthwhile as they would both help to prevent HIV/AIDS and lessen the impact on quality of life if HIV were to occur. Targeting older prisoners with HIV should also be a priority as their quality of life is significantly lower than for younger prisoners.
Free Living Amoebic Infections: Review.

Infections caused by Naegleria fowleri, Acanthamoeba spp., and Balamuthia mandrillaris result in a variety of clinical manifestations in humans. These amoebae are found in water and soil worldwide. Acanthamoeba spp. and B. mandrillaris cause granulomatous amoebic encephalitis, which usually presents as a mass, while N. fowleri causes primary amoebic meningoencephalitis. Acanthamoeba spp. can also cause keratitis, and both Acanthamoeba spp. and B. mandrillaris can cause lesions in skin and respiratory mucosa. These amoebae can be difficult to diagnose clinically as these infections are rare and, if not suspected, can be misdiagnosed with other more common diseases. Microscopy continues to be the key first step in diagnosis but the amoeba can be confused with macrophages or other infectious agents if an expert in infectious disease pathology or clinical microbiology is not consulted. Although molecular methods can be helpful in establishing the diagnosis, these are only available in referral centers. Treatment requires combination of antibiotics and antifungals and, even with prompt diagnosis and treatment, mortality for neurological disease is extremely high.
Stability of Oxygen Nanobubbles under Freshwater Conditions.

Abstract The use of nanobubbles (NBs) has gained significant attention in various applications (e.g., aeration in biological water treatment, water disinfection, membrane defouling, and ground water and sediment remediation) in recent decades because of their superior characteristics such as the improved mass transfer at the gas-liquid interfaces, their lifetime up to a couple of weeks, the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) with high oxidative potential. However, there is a lack of information about the effect of various factors on the stability of NBs for a long storage period under freshwater conditions. In this study, a comprehensive investigation was conducted to systematically examine the stability of oxygen NBs in water under various conditions which are closely related to a typical freshwater or the drinking water treatment. The oxygen NB stability in water was evaluated by monitoring the change in the bubble concentrations, size distribution, average diameter, and zeta potential for 60 days of storage time under different pH, hardness, ionic strength, natural organic matter (NOM), chlorine, and temperature conditions. In addition, the formation of hydroxyl radical (•OH) was investigated using disodium terephthalate which form fluorescent adducts with •OH in the presence of oxygen NBs. Among the parameters investigated, the impacts of cations, low pH, and high SUVA254 NOM on the stability of oxygen NBs were more significant than other conditions. The half-lives of oxygen NBs under various conditions follow the order Ca2+
Lossless compression of SAR imagery using a multiple-pass gradient adaptive lattice filter

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is useful in many applications, including oil slick monitoring, terrain mapping and navigation, and automatic target recognition. Previous technological advances have resulted in data collections over larger areas at higher resolutions, generating massive amounts of data. Many effective compression techniques exist that can reduce the volume of data for storage and transmission with moderate loss of information. However, some SAR applications do not or cannot tolerate any compression loss (interferometry for example). This paper addresses a lossless SAR compression scheme that uses multiple passes of an adaptive filter to decorrelate the data prior to entropy coding.
School Violence Is Not Going Away So Proactive Steps Are Needed

Problems associated with school violence include higher than average teacher turnover, increased student dropout rates, students changing schools, and principals/teachers retiring early. There are 19 strategies offered that might reduce school violence.
Chemical Tools to Detect and Target Helicobacter pylori ’s Glycoproteins

The bacterial pathogen Helicobacter pylori (Hp) is endowed with distinctive glycans that are essential for pathogenesis and absent from human cells. Therefore, they are intriguing targets of therapeutic intervention. Metabolic oligosaccharide engineering has been employed to install azides on Hp’s glycans. Azide-bearing glycoproteins were then covalently elaborated via Staudinger ligation with a variety of phosphine probes to facilitate detection, identification, and immune inactivation. This chapter introduces methods for metabolic labeling of Hp’s glycoproteins for detection and identification of labeled glycoproteins and for triggering immune destruction of azide-labeled Hp. As described below, the ability to label Hp’s glycosylated proteins via metabolic oligosaccharide engineering has provided a powerful tool to characterize Hp’s glycoproteins and target Hp with therapeutics.
Back scattering from the sea surface

The available experimental data on back scattering from the sea surface ("sea clutter" ) are described, and discussed with reference to the physical processes involved. It is shown that the scattering elements of the surface are illuminated by a combination of direct end indirect fields, the latter being "reflected" by surface elements closer to the radar. At low angles, these interfere destructively, giving rise to the so-called "critical angle," polarization dependence, "spikiness," and steeper frequency dependence. A theory is developed in which the elemental scatterers are taken to be the small patches or "facets" of the sea surface. This theory is shown to give characteristics which are in general agreement with available experimental data.
A 210 Mb/s radix-4 bit-level pipelined Viterbi decoder

The design of a high-speed and compact parallel add-compare-select unit using a combination of algorithmic, logic and circuit techniques is described. The results are demonstrated by a 16-state, R=1/2, 210Mb/s Viterbi decoder, that out-performs the fastest single-chip implementation previously reported by a factor of 1.8 in terms of the throughput/area metric using the same process technology.
A Review of “The new entrepreneurs; How race, class, and gender shape American enterprise”

Valdez addresses vital and even essential questions regarding business formation. She examines how distinct dimensions of race, class, and gender structure the opportunities and outcomes associated...
N‐ and P/Q‐type Ca2+ channels in adrenal chromaffin cells

Ca2+ is the most ubiquitous second messenger found in all cells. Alterations in [Ca2+]i contribute to a wide variety of cellular responses including neurotransmitter release, muscle contraction, synaptogenesis and gene expression. Voltage-dependent Ca2+ channels, found in all excitable cells (Hille 1992), mediate the entry of Ca2+ into cells following depolarization. Ca2+ channels are composed of a large pore-forming subunit, called the alpha1 subunit, and several accessory subunits. Ten different alpha1 subunit genes have been identified and classified into three families, Ca(v1-3) (Dunlap et al. 1995, Catterall 2000). Each alpha1 gene produces a unique Ca2+ channel. Although chromaffin cells express several different types of Ca2+ channels, this review will focus on the Cav(2.1) and Cav(2.2) channels, also known as P/Q- and N-type respectively (Nowycky et al. 1985, Llinas et al. 1989b, Wheeler et al. 1994). These channels exhibit physiological and pharmacological properties similar to their neuronal counterparts. N-, P/Q and to a lesser extent R-type Ca2+ channels are known to regulate neurotransmitter release (Hirning et al. 1988, Horne & Kemp 1991, Uchitel et al. 1992, Luebke et al. 1993, Takahashi & Momiyama 1993, Turner et al. 1993, Regehr & Mintz 1994, Wheeler et al. 1994, Wu & Saggau 1994, Waterman 1996, Wright & Angus 1996, Reid et al. 1997). N- and P/Q-type Ca2+ channels are abundant in nerve terminals where they colocalize with synaptic vesicles. Similarly, these channels play a role in neurotransmitter release in chromaffin cells (Garcia et al. 2006). N- and P/Q-type channels are subject to many forms of regulation (Ikeda & Dunlap 1999). This review pays particular attention to the regulation of N- and P/Q-type channels by heterotrimeric G-proteins, interaction with SNARE proteins, and channel inactivation in the context of stimulus-secretion coupling in adrenal chromaffin cells.
The Treatment of Population in Secondary School Social Studies Textbooks

(1974). The Treatment of Population in Secondary School Social Studies Textbooks. The Journal of Environmental Education: Vol. 5, Social Studies and the Environment, pp. 37-41.
Electromagnetic perturbation of isobaric multiplet widths

Abstract The manner in which isobaric multiplet decay widths are modified by electromagnetic interaction is studied. Arguments based on lowest-order perturbation theory are given that the widths should be quadratic in T z , if the multiplet is particle unstable in the absence of electromagnetism, but quartic for stable multiplets. The total widths of experimentally known multiplets are analyzed to determine their algebraic T z , dependence and both quadratic and non-quadratic cases are found. On the basis of a simple model of the Coulomb energy we then determine the masses of these multiplets in the absence of electromagnetism as well as the masses of the lowest T -allowed decay channels. We find the isobaric multiplet width equation to work in some cases while it has been found to be inconclusive in others; because of these uncertainties as to its correctness or range of applicability, we have constructed a soluble model in which tests may be carried out. To avoid difficulties such as the many-body problem, a non-local separable potential model simple enough to solve explicitly was chosen. Although the model is an oversimplification of the real nuclear situation it has been found to work very well. Namely, the quadratic quartic nature of the widths was borne out in the model.
Specific heat of A15 Nb3Si in fields to 7.1 T

The newly discovered high-T c superconductor A15 Nb3Si, with a lattice parameter of 5.091 a, is shown to have an anomalously low H c2 of 12.5 ± 0.5 T, a Ginzburg-Landau κ of 16 ± 2, and an implied resistivity of 35 ± 5ΜΩ-cm. The question of whether poor ordering due to the explosive compression preparation is responsible for this low H c2 is discussed.
Glycoprotein synthesis by membrane-bound ribosomes and smooth membranes in kidney

Abstract The mouse kidney secretes only a little protein in comparison with liver and pancreas, and only one quarter of its ribosomes are bound to membranes. Although free and membrane-bound ribosomes were found to be about equally active in incorporating a radioactive amino-acid mixture into protein, incorporation of d -[1- 14 C]glucosamine was overwhelmingly greater in the membrane-bound ribosomes. When postmitochondrial supernatants from kidneys labeled with d -[1- 14 C]glucosamine were analyzed on sucrose gradients in such a way that membranes were displayed in the gradients, it was found that a further and substantial non-ribosomal incorporation of glucosamine took place in detergent-labile structures interpreted as smooth membranes. The data are consistent with a model in which glycoproteins are synthesized on membrane-bound ribosomes and transferred to smooth vesicles for completion or delivery.
Resonance Raman detection of carotenoid antioxidants in living human tissue

Carotenoid molecules are powerful anitoxidants that play important roles throughout the human body. Studies have shown an inverse correlation between high dietary intake of carotenoids and the risk of various cancers, cardiovascular disease, and degenerative diseases. 1 We have developed a noninvasive optical technique based on resonance Raman scattering to measure carotenoid levels in living human tissues, including the skin, retina, oral cavity, and other tissues. In human skin, the five most-concentrated carotenoid antioxidants are lycopene, a-carotene, b-carotene, phytoene, and phytof luene, with lycopene and the carotenes accounting for 60–70% of total carotenoid content. 2
A digital gradient sensing method for evaluating orthogonal stress gradients in transparent solids subjected to mechanical loads

An optical, full-field measurement technique called Digital Gradient Sensing (DGS) has been developed for measuring angular deflections of light rays propagating through transparent planar solids subjected to non-uniform stresses. The technique is based on the elasto-optic effect exhibited by transparent materials due to an imposed stress field that cause light rays to deflect. The working principle of the method and the governing equations are presented. DGS relies on 2D Digital Image Correlation (DIC) approach to quantify the angular deflections, which can then be related to spatial gradients of stresses under plane stress conditions. The feasibility of this method to study material failure/damage is demonstrated on transparent planar sheets of PMMA subjected to both quasi-static and dynamic lineload acting on an edge. In the latter case, ultra high-speed digital photography (200,000 frames/sec) is used to perform time-resolved measurements. The quasi-static measurements are successfully compared with those for a line-load acting on a half-space in regions where plane stress conditions prevail. The dynamic measurements, prior to material failure, are also successfully compared with finite element computations.
Inhibition and affinity chromatography of human serum angiotensin converting enzyme with cysteinyl-proline derivatives.

Abstract Several structural derivatives of the dipeptide, l (and d )-cysteinyl- l -proline were synthesized and shown to be very potent competitive and noncompetitive inhibitors of human serum angiotensin I-converting enzyme. Only if the sulfhydryl group of the cysteine was blocked with benzyl, trityl, or benzyloxycarbonyl protecting groups, was the dipeptide a noncompetitive inhibitor. Compounds with free sulfhydryl groups were competitive inhibitors with K i values in the 10 −8 m range. d -Cys- l -Pro, our most potent inhibitor ( k 1 = 0.0055 μM), was an order of magnitude more potent than l -Cys- l -Pro consistent with findings of Cushman et al. (1977, Biochemistry 16 , 5484) that -CH 3 group substitution improves binding if the configuration is d but diminishes binding if the configuration is l . Zinc and calcium ions released inhibition by some of the noncompetitive, but only one, of the competitive inhibitors. The noncompetitive inhibitor, l -cysteinyl(benzyl)- l -proline, and the competitive inhibitor, l -cysteinyl- l -proline, were used as affinity ligands to obtain near homogenous (25 units/mg) enzyme from human plasma. The observation that compounds with a free sulfhydryl group are competitive inhibitors and those in which the sulfhydryl groups are blocked are noncompetitive inhibitors can be rationalized if the active site of the converting enzyme is an extended linear trench.
Depression and Poor Health as Antecedents and Consequences of Cocaine Use

Abstract Two related hypotheses that linked cocaine use to depression and health were examined using latent variable structural models. Data were obtained from 654 individuals in late adolescence and once again four yean later during young adulthood. A Self-Selection/Self Medication hypothesis (Hypothesis #1) was examined which predicts that depressive mood predisposes one towards the use of cocaine as a means of self medication against these symptoms. Depressive symptomatology during adolescence did not predict greater cocaine involvement in young adulthood. However. one indicator of adolescent Poor Health, “times felt really ill”, predicted greater “cocaine frequency” in young adulthood. An Illness Consequence hypothesis (Hypothesis #2) was also examined, which postulates that cocaine produces certain psychological and somatic disorders. In particular, the “number of times super high”, on cocaine during adolescence predicted greater Depression. greater impaired motivation. and more health problems in yo...
Excitation and trapping at transition metal sites in ionic crystals

Abstract Localized 3d→4s and 3d→4p excitations and electron transfer energies have been measured systematically for divalent transition metal ions in several alkali halides. The experimental data are correlated and extended with the help of some simple theoretical ideas, and these lead to estimates of the trap depths of ions in crystals.
Stability and Trapping of Slow Hydromagnetic Waves in Rotating Cylindrical Geometry

A multiple-scale asymptotic technique is used to study the propagation of slow hydromagnetic waves in a magnetostrophic regime for an incompressible, inviscid, perfectly conducting fluid of constant density in rotating cylindrical geometry. Such waves may play an important role in both the generation and behavior of the Earth's magnetic field. Knowledge of their behavior may be useful in studying the flows at the core-mantle boundary. The equations of motion are linearized about an ambient state of no motion with respect to rotating cylindrical coordinates and an azimuthal ambient magnetic field of the form rn/2 where r is the radial distance in cylindrical coordinates. The waves may be trapped in a variety of ways while westward travelling modes may be unstable for n > 3 . These results extend the local results of ACHESON (1972) and are consistent with the numerical results of FEARN (1983).
Intracranial fluid-blood levels in the anticoagulated patient.

This report documents that anticoagulation may cause multiple intracranial fluid-blood levels.
FTIR measurements of mid-IR absorption spectra of gaseous fatty acid methyl esters at T=25–500 °C

Abstract Gas-phase mid-infrared (IR) absorption spectra (2500–3400 cm−1) for eleven fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) have been quantitatively measured at temperatures between 25 and 500 °C using an FTIR spectrometer with a resolution of 1 cm−1. Using these spectra, the absorption cross section at 3.39 μm, corresponding to the monochromatic output of a helium–neon laser, is reported for each of these fuels as a function of temperature. The data indicate that the 3.39 μm cross section values of saturated FAMEs vary linearly with the logarithm of the number of C H bonds in the molecule.
Impact-parameter dependence of K-vacancy production in Cu-Ni collisions

We have measured the impact-parameter (b) dependent probabilities (P) for the production of Ni (and Cu) K x rays in the bombardment of thin nickel foils by 50- and 65.5-MeV Cu beams. The shape of P (b) is found to be independent of nickel-foil thickness (t) and of the presence of a pre-exciting carbon layer, but the magnitude scale of both P (b) and of the total K-x-ray cross section is quite dependent upon t and on the presence of the carbon. The data suggest that 2psigma vacancies are being produced via 2p..pi.. - 2psigma rotational coupling preceded by preparation of the necessary projectile 2p vacancies in both single- and multiple-collision processes. The shape of P (b) is only qualitatively similar to that expected for the rotational-coupling process, however.
First passage time problems with applications to synchronization

First passage time problems arise in many fields, but few of them are explicitly solved. Motivated by an application to synchronization of clocks, this paper obtains the probability distribution for the first passage time for a Brownian motion with quadratic drift to exit from two constant barriers that are not necessarily symmetric. The expression for the distribution is explicit, consisting of elementary functions and functions that are characterized by Laplace transforms. Applications of first passage times are demonstrated in the context of synchronization.
Predictors of Depressive Symptoms among Inpatient Substance Abusers.

The existing literature indicates high comorbidity rates between depressive disorders and substance abuse disorders. Despite these elevated rates, there is limited empirical work devoted to understanding predictors of depressive symptoms among substance abusers. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of spirituality, believing in God’s presence, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), parental bonding and demographic characteristics on depressive symptoms among inpatient substance abusers. Findings indicated that spirituality, believing in God’s presence, PTSD and income were significant predictors of depressive symptoms among substance abusers. Spirituality, PTSD, and income were inversely related to depressive symptoms, whereas believing in God’s presence was positively related to depressive symptoms.
Pulsed and cw laser fluorescence spectra from cancerous, normal, and chemically treated normal human breast and lung tissues

The origin of the differences in the fluorescence spectra obtained from cancerous and normal human breast and lung tissues is explored experimentally. The fluorescence spectra from chemically treated normal tissues were measured to give information on the source of the spectral differences. The pulsed fluorescence spectra photoexcited by the second and third harmonic of a 10-ps pulse from Nd:glass laser are reported for normal and cancerous tissues of breast and lung.
A Comparison Between the Behavior of Nanorod Array and Planar Cd(Se, Te) Photoelectrodes

Analysis of the full device generation, transport, and recombination equations has shown that nanorod junction arrays can potentially offer improved photovoltaic performance relative to planar junctions for a carrier-collection limited absorber material not characterized by an excessively high rate of depletion-region recombination. To test this hypothesis, we have characterized planar and nanorod array photoelectrodes prepared by electrodeposition of Cd(Se, Te). The photoelectrochemical behavior of each type of photoelectrode was measured in contact with a liquid electrolyte consisting of aqueous 1 M S_2^(2-)/S^(2-), 1 M NaOH. The open-circuit photovoltage, V_(oc), short-circuit current density, J_(sc), fill factor, and overall energy conversion efficiency for both types of electrodes was measured under simulated 100 mW cm^(-2), Air Mass 1.5 conditions. V_(oc), J_(sc), and overall efficiencies were lower, on average, for nanorod array Cd(Se,Te) photoelectrodes, while the fill factors of the nanorod array photoelectrodes were generally superior to those of the planar junction devices. Importantly, the spectral response of the nanorod array photoelectrodes exhibited better quantum yields for collection of near-IR photons relative to collection of high-energy photons than did the planar photoelectrodes, in agreement with predictions of the theoretical model. The effects of surface recombination and junction area for both electrode designs have also been evaluated relative to planar photoelectrode junctions, using the Cd(Se,Te) electrode as a model system for the properties of nanorod array photoelectrodes.
Accountability and the Evil of Administrative Ethics

Scholars of administrative ethics have recently been attentive to the problem of so-called administrative evil. The authors argue that evil can be understood as a socially constructed category of agents and acts specific to particular circumstances and moral communities, and the authors apply a framework of accountability to reflect the dynamics of that constructed reality. Selected examples of efforts to hold evil actors accountable or otherwise to account for evil acts illustrate a paradox: Responses to so-called evil may themselves be labeled evil in hindsight or by members of other contemporaneous communities. In light of this paradox and attendant ethical dilemmas, the authors argue that conventional ethical and behavioral prescriptions are necessary but insufficient protections against catastrophic mis-, mal-, or nonfeasance in and by organizations.