cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Parameterization of Temperature- and Stress-Dependent Viscosity Convection and the Thermal Evolution of Venus

While many laboratory and numerical experiments have been done on variable viscosity convection the theoretical interpretation of the results is almost absent. This work suggests a theoretical interpretation of the results of the numerical modeling of temperature- and stress-dependent viscosity convection in a wide parameter range. The relationships found between the parameters of convection are summarized into a simple parameterization scheme and can be applied to various geophysical problems. The thermal evolution of Venus is considered as an example.
Spontaneous pneumomediastinum in limited cutaneous systemic sclerosis and myositis overlap.

A 58-year-old man with limited cutaneous systemic sclerosis and myositis overlap complicated by interstitial lung disease presented with several months of progressive dyspnoea and weakness. CT chest revealed extensive pneumomediastinum that was not present on imaging 6 months before this study and appeared to be spontaneous, with no preceding trauma, infection or invasive procedures.
Keeping the beat: how controlled vocabularies affect indexing

This article, drawn from a presentation at the 2018 ASI conference, discusses the ways the structure of a controlled vocabulary influences the efficacy of database indexing and cataloging. The posi...
General model for mass transport to planar and nanowire biosensor surfaces

Mass transport to the sensor surface is a critical step in biosensing, often being the factor determining the limit of detection. Modeling transport of the analyte to a surface under convection and diffusion is a challenging task often requiring complex simulation. Herein, we provide a general model for mass transport to planar and nanowire biosensors under flow that is applicable over a wide range of variables. The model is then used to examine the importance of radial diffusion compared with planar diffusion under flow. Only under diffusive transport nanowires are found to have greatly reduced settling times compared with planar sensors due to radial diffusion. However, the presence of flow restricts the growth of the depletion region, resulting in comparable settling times between nanowires and planar sensors of the same size. Under flow conditions in typical experiments, radial diffusion associated with nanowire sensors is inessential for fast mass transport. Instead, the sensor length in the flow direction is the critical parameter as it limits the concentration drop that can occur as the analyte flows past the sensor. Decreasing the sensor length along the flow direction is found to greatly reduce settling times for both cases of planar and radial diffusion, even approaching the reaction limited case. Similarly, decreasing the channel height decreases the settling time due to restriction of the depletion region, but not as significantly as decreasing the sensor length.
Robotic surgery in infants and children: an argument for smaller and fewer incisions

Robotic-assisted laparoscopic (RAL) surgery has gained momentum in pediatric urology. Technological adaptations such as the development of 5 mm instruments have led to robotic procedures being performed on younger children and those having smaller body habitus, with improved cosmesis. However, concerns have been raised regarding decreased intra-abdominal working space and the absence of monopolar curved scissors (hot endoshears®) when using 5 mm instruments. The aim of this study is to examine the overall experience at a single pediatric urology center using 5 mm instruments with no planned additional assistant ports during common robotic procedures. We hypothesized this approach is safe and feasible for a variety of pediatric urologic reconstructive procedures. We retrospectively reviewed all major robotic procedures entered into an IRB approved data registry. The analysis was performed only for procedures in which 5 mm instruments were used exclusively with hook diathermy. Procedures that utilized 8 mm instrumentation were excluded from the study. Data were abstracted according to patient age, weight and robotic surgery performed. Outcomes included post-operative complications (Clavien–Dindo classification), operative time, operative blood loss, need for assistant port placement and conversion rates to open or pure laparoscopic surgery. From 2012 to 2016, 220 consecutive pediatric RAL urological surgical cases were performed on 201 patients. These comprised pyeloplasty (n = 102) 46.4%, ureteral reimplants (n = 84) 38.2% and ipsilateral ureteroureterostomy (n = 34) 15.5%. Median age at surgery was 4 years (3 months to 18 years). There were no conversions to open or laparoscopic surgery. Placement of an additional Assist port was documented in seven cases. Severe (Clavien grade 4) complications occurred in two patients requiring ICU admission: one for sepsis and one ventilator-dependent patient having increased work of breathing post-op. Intra-operative blood loss was minimal ( < 50 ml) in 97% of cases. Patients ≤ 1 year of age comprised 28.6% of the study population. Univariate analysis revealed no association between age and occurrence of complications (p = 0.957) This study represents one of the largest series of consecutive RAL surgery using 5 mm instruments in pediatric urology. Acceptable complication rates, OR times and blood loss were achieved using this technique. We conclude that the use of 5 mm instruments gives excellent operative outcomes in pediatric reconstructive procedures.
A Survey on Contemporary Inventory Techniques and Problems Faced By Manufacturing Organizations in Pakistan

Contemporary industrial environment is very competitive for all organizations. Doing much with less while expanding quality is the principle objective. The aim of this research is to discover different stock administration systems rehearse by assembling organizations with particular reference to Pakistan and to examine the already functional inventory management practices of manufacturing organizations currently working in the country. The research encompasses the problems faced by SMEs in Pakistan and will highlight those factors that are covertly or overtly influencing the effectiveness of the inventory. These problems were previously ignored due to dearth of research in the domain. A survey research design is followed in this study. The target population is textile, Electronics, Automobiles and steel mills from all the major cities of Pakistan. This survey is based on a sample size of 90 manufacturing firms out of total 300. The research has analyzed that assembling organizations are using different stock administration systems. The issues of stock administration looked by these assembling association were inadequate production, spillover, out of stock circumstance, and High lead time and mismanagement of records. The causes identified for these problems are lack of research and development, insufficient technological skills and that of documentation, and they had significantly influenced the effectiveness of inventory management. This research is profoundly huge on the grounds that it gives guidance to the assembling associations in Pakistan to center around the fundamental worry that is fabricating.
Surgeon-delivered laparoscopic transversus abdominis plane blocks are non-inferior to anesthesia-delivered ultrasound-guided transversus abdominis plane blocks: a blinded, randomized non-inferiority trial

The transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block is an important non-narcotic adjunct for post-operative pain control in abdominal surgery. Surgeons can use laparoscopic guidance for TAP block placement (LTAP), however, direct comparisons to conventional ultrasound-guided TAP (UTAPs) have been lacking. The aim of this study is to determine if surgeon placed LTAPs were non-inferior to anesthesia placed UTAPs for post-operative pain control in laparoscopic colorectal surgery. This was a prospective, randomized, patient and observer blinded parallel-arm non-inferiority trial conducted at a single tertiary academic center between 2016 and 2018 on adult patients undergoing laparoscopic colorectal surgery. Narcotic consumption and pain scores were compared for LTAP vs. UTAP for 48 h post-operatively. 60 patients completed the trial (31 UTAP, 29 LTAP) of which 25 patients were female (15 UTAP, 10 LTAP) and the mean ages (SD) were 60.0 (13.6) and 61.5 (14.3) in the UTAP and LTAP groups, respectively. There was no significant difference in post-operative narcotic consumption between UTAP and LTAP at the time of PACU discharge (median [IQR] milligrams of morphine, 1.8 [0–4.5] UTAP vs. 0 [0–8.7] LTAP P = .32), 6 h post-operatively (5.4 [1.8–17.1] UTAP vs. 3.6 [0–12.6] LTAP P = .28), at 12 h post-operatively (9.0 [3.6–29.4] UTAP vs. 7.2 [0.9–22.5] LTAP P = .51), at 24 h post-operatively (9.0 [3.6–29.4] UTAP vs. 7.2 [0.9–22.5] LTAP P = .63), and 48 h post-operatively (39.9 [7.5–70.2] UTAP vs. 22.2 [7.5–63.8] LTAP P = .41). Patient-reported pain scores as well as pre-, intra-, and post-operative course were similar between groups. Non-inferiority criteria were met at all post-op time points up to and including 24 h but not at 48 h. Surgeon-delivered LTAPs are safe, effective, and non-inferior to anesthesia-administered UTAPs in the immediate post-operative period. The trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov Identifier NCT03577912.
The Outpatient Training Gap: A Pilot Study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Most family medicine residency training takes place in hospitals, which is not reflective of the outpatient care practiced by most primary care clinicians. This pilot study is an initial exploration of family medicine residency directors' opinions regarding this outpatient training gap. METHODS The authors surveyed 11 California family medicine residency program directors in 2017-2018 about factors that influence decisions regarding allocation of residents' inpatient and outpatient time. Nine of the 11 program directors agreed to be interviewed. We analyzed the interviews for common themes. RESULTS The participating program directors were generally satisfied with inpatient and outpatient balance in their residents' schedules. Factors identified as promoting inpatient training included the need for resident staffing of hospital services, the educational value of inpatient rotations, and a lack of capacity in continuity clinics. From the program directors' perspective, residency funding played no direct role in curriculum planning. Program directors also felt that the ACGME requirements prescribing 1,650 continuity clinic visits throughout residency inhibited the development of creative outpatient training opportunities. CONCLUSIONS Family medicine residency program directors participating in this exploratory study did not feel that their programs overly emphasized inpatient care and training.
Communication Behaviors During Presidential Elections

In this study, we use an information utility framework to examine people’s communication behaviors during presidential elections. Data from the National Annenberg Election Study (2004, 2008) and Google Trends (2012, 2016) reveal increases in several communication behaviors (e.g., attention to campaign information, discussing politics, internet searches) closer to Election Day. Moreover, these increases were not uniform throughout the election, with increases concentrated around official campaign events (e.g., presidential conventions and debates). In addition, some evidence showed that people are more likely to engage in communication behaviors in battleground compared to nonbattleground states.
Six Tests for Physicians and Their Leaders for the Decade Ahead

Dramatic changes are in store for the health care industry, and leaders must ensure that physicians are able to rise to the challenges ahead. The six areas in which physicians and their leaders wil...
Sparse Regression and Adaptive Feature Generation for the Discovery of Dynamical Systems

We study the performance of sparse regression methods and propose new techniques to distill the governing equations of nonlinear dynamical systems from data. We start from the recently proposed generic methodology of learning interpretable equation forms from data, followed by performance of least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) for this purpose. We first develop an algorithm that uses the dual of LASSO optimization for higher accuracy and stability. We then derive a second algorithm that learns the candidate function library in a dynamic data driven applications systems (DDDAS) manner to distill the governing equations of the dynamical system. This is achieved via sequentially thresholded ridge regression (STRidge) over a orthogonal polynomial space. The performance of the methods is illustrated using the Lorenz 63 system and a marine ecosystem model.
Associating Site Characteristics With Distributions of Pestiferous and Predaceous Arthropods in Soybean.

Although site-specific pest management has the potential to decrease control costs and environmental impact associated with traditional pest management tactics, the success of these programs relies on the accurate characterization of arthropod distributions within a crop. Because potential correlation of insect counts with remotely sensed field attribute data could help to decrease the costs associated with and need for fine-scale spatial sampling, we chose to determine which within-field variables would be informative of soybean arthropod counts in an attempt to move toward site-specific pest management in this crop. Two soybean fields were grid-sampled for pestiferous and predaceous arthropods, plant productivity estimates, and abiotic variable characterization in 2017-2018. Negative binomial, zero-inflated models were used to estimate presence and counts of soybean arthropod taxa based on normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), soybean plant height, soil electrical conductivity (ECa), elevation, and calendar week. Among all variables, calendar week was the most reliable predictor of arthropod counts, as it was a significant predictor for a majority of all taxa. Additionally, counts for a majority of pestiferous taxa were significantly associated with distance from the field edge, elevation, soybean plant height, and NDVI. Although site-specific pest management has the potential for reduced management inputs and increased profitability over conventional management (i.e., whole-field) practices, management zones must first be clearly defined based on the within-field variability for the variables of interest. If site-specific pest management practices are to be applied in soybean, calendar week (and associated soybean phenology), soybean plant height (and associated elevation), and NDVI may be useful for describing the distributions of pests, such as kudzu bug, Megacopta cribraria (Hemiptera: Plataspidae) (Fabricius), green cloverworm, Hypena scabra (Lepidoptera: Erebidae) (Fabricius), velvetbean caterpillar, Anticarsia gemmatalis (Lepidoptera: Erebidae) (Hubner), and soybean looper, Chrysodeixis includens (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) (Walker).
A call for protection of women’s rights and economic, social, cultural (ESC) rights in seafood value chains

Abstract Recent media revelations and scientific research have brought increased attention to human rights violations and the myriad social issues facing fisheries, but with a disproportionate focus on labor rights violations at sea and in industrial fishing operations. Resulting social standards and schemes to address and mitigate these human rights violations are focused on at-sea offshore operations and the harvesting stage. These are imperative for protecting the rights of fishers, but may preclude efforts to protect women who are engaged in harvesting on-shore or in post-harvest stages. This is exacerbated by the fact that the laser-focused protection of civil and political rights, often important for industrial scale fishing, has diminished attention and resources from protecting economic, social, and cultural (ESC) rights in small-scale fisheries. The protection of women's rights in seafood value chains urgently deserves more focus, as does the broader suite of human rights that are particularly relevant in small-scale fisheries. small-scale fisheries We end by providing concrete examples and best practices for protecting ESC and women’s rights in seafood value chains, in hopes of broader-scale recognition and adoption.
Approaches for Disseminating Environmental Research Findings to Navajo Communities

We report the use of three different dissemination approaches for providing environmental research results back to Navajo communities from different research projects. The objectives of the dissemination are to provide the results to the community, have a dialogue about the results, and learn more about the environmental concerns of the community for potential future research projects. The first approach utilizes radio announcements and flyers provided to the community announcing dissemination meetings specific to the research projects. The second approach is more collaborative, working with a grassroots organization to organize report-back meetings, as well as one-on-one discussions of the research project. The third approach involves the development of a booklet for distribution to communities along with an oral presentation at the regularly scheduled monthly community meetings to discuss the information. Overall, the second and third approaches are more effective than the first approach in terms of dissemination to a larger number of community members, as well as increased dialogue between the researchers and the communities.
The Chemical Structure of the Cell Walls of Higher Plants

Without question, the fundamental chemistry of dietary fiber resides in the chemical structure of plant cell walls. These complicated networks of polysaccharide, structural protein, and phenolic substances are the basis of cell shape and integrity in plants and the slowly digested components that make up now-recognized important dietary supplements. Although the original definition of dietary fiber has been modified to include “soluble” as well as “insoluble” fibers, the recent advances in analysis of polysaccharide structure and survey of a wider range of higher plants have demonstrated that their chemistry is more complex than once imagined. Flowering plants alone comprise a broad range of orders that are grouped into two major evolutionary classes, the Dicotyledonae and Monocotyledonae (Fig. 1). In the Monocotyledonae, the order Graminales contains the cereal grasses that constitute the major foodstuffs of the world. In grasses, the primary cell walls are vastly different from all of the Dicotyledonae and other Monocotyledonae studied.
Construction of Multinomial Lattice Random Walks for Optimal Hedges

In this paper, we provide a parameterization of multinomial lattice random walks which take cumulants into account. In the binomial and trinomial lattice cases, it reduces to standard results. Additionally, we show that higher order cumulants may be taken into account by using multinomial lattices with four or more branches. Finally, we outline two synthesis methods which take advantage of the multinomial lattice formulation. One is mean square optimal hedging in an incomplete market and the other involves pricing under "implied volatility" and "implied kurtosis".
The design, implementation, and use of the Ngram statistics package

The Ngram Statistics Package (NSP) is a flexible and easy-to-use software tool that supports the identification and analysis of Ngrams, sequences of N tokens in online text. We have designed and implemented NSP to be easy to customize to particular problems and yet remain general enough to serve a broad range of needs. This paper provides an introduction to NSP while raising some general issues in Ngram analysis, and summarizes several applications where NSP has been successfully employed. NSP is written in Perl and is freely available under the GNU Public License.
Pneumonia versus aspiration pneumonitis in nursing home residents: prospective application of a clinical algorithm

Objectives: To prospectively evaluate a clinical algorithm for the diagnosis of pneumonitis and pneumonia in nursing home residents. Design: Prospective cohort study. Setting: Inpatient geriatrics unit. Participants: Nursing home residents admitted to the hospital with suspected pneumonia. Measurements: Identification of pneumonitis and pneumonia using the algorithm; medical record review and abstraction of clinical data; hospital outcome and length of stay. Results: One hundred seventy episodes of suspected pneumonia were screened with the algorithm and classified into four groups: 25% pneumonia, 28% aspiration pneumonitis of 24 hours or less duration, 12% aspiration pneumonitis of more than 24 hours' duration, and 35% an aspiration event without pneumonitis. Presenting symptoms and signs, laboratory tests, severity of illness measures, or serum C-reactive protein levels did not distinguish between the four groups. Those with an aspiration event without pneumonitis tended to be treated less often with antibiotic therapy after admission (P=.004) and after discharge (P=.01). Of those who survived, there was no significant difference in mean hospital length of stay between the four groups. There was no significant difference in the percentage of case fatality between the four groups, but those with aspiration pneumonitis of 24 hours or less duration and with an aspiration event without pneumonitis had a lower mortality than the other two groups. Conclusion: Distribution of episodes of suspected pneumonia by clinical category as determined using the algorithm was similar to that of the derivation study, as were case fatality rates in each category. These findings suggest that the algorithm may be useful for making the distinction between pneumonitis and pneumonia in nursing home residents; further studies are warranted.
Complete cDNA Encoding Human Phospholipid Transfer Protein from Human Endothelial Cells

Phospholipid transfer protein, with an apparent molecular mass of 81 kDa, was purified from human plasma. The NH2-terminal amino acid sequence of a 51-kDa proteolytic fragment obtained from phospholipid transfer protein allowed degenerate primers to be designed for polymerase chain reaction and the eventual isolation of a full-length cDNA from a human endothelial cDNA library. The cDNA is 1,750 base pairs in length and contains an open reading frame of 1,518 nucleotides encoding a leader of 17 amino acids and a mature protein of 476 residues. Northern blot analysis shows a single mRNA transcript of approximately 1.8 kilobases with a wide tissue distribution. The gene was mapped to chromosome 20 using a human/rodent somatic cell hybrid mapping panel. Phospholipid transfer protein was found to be homologous to human cholesteryl ester transfer protein, human lipopolysaccharide-binding protein, and human neutrophil bactericidal permeability increasing protein (20, 24, and 26% identity, respectively).
The effects of race, socioeconomic status, and household structure on injury mortality in children and young adults

OBJECTIVES: Injuries are the leading killer of young persons in the United States, yet significant gaps in our understanding of this cause of death remain. By examining the independent influences of race, education, income, household structure, and residential location on injury mortality in young persons, this study addresses these gaps. METHOD: Using data from the National Longitudinal Mortality Study, survival analysis is used to examine the injury mortality risk faced by 0 to 17 year olds over a nine-year follow-up period. Separate models are estimated for homicide, suicide, unintentional injury deaths, and all injury deaths. RESULTS: Household head's education has an independent effect on youth homicide and unintentional injury mortality risk. By contrast, family income and household structure do not have independent effects on any of the injury outcomes. Finally, much of the excess homicide risk faced by young African-Americans is explained by underlying racial differentials in socioeconomic status, household structure, and residential location. CONCLUSIONS: By finding an independent effect of household head's education on youth mortality risk from homicide and unintentional injuries, this study adds to the large body of evidence linking socioeconomic differentials to inequality in life chances. Language: en
Peptic ulcer: the many proteinases of aggression.

Peptic activity has long been recognized as an essential factor in the pathogenesis of peptic ulcer and related diseases, but only recently has it become clear that. this activity is derived from a remarkable diversity of enzymes, all of which belong to the aspartic proteinase family of enzymes. These include two types of pepsinogens and two types of cathepsins. In recent years, considerable progress has been made in characterizing these proteinases and in applying this information to the study of a number of gastrointestinal disorders. The intent of this article is to update recent basic and clinical information on these topics and to suggest several areas that merit further investigation.
Quantitative assessment of ophthalmic viscosurgical device retention using in vivo confocal microscopy.

Purpose To develop and apply a new laboratory method for in vivo quantitative assessment of the retention of ophthalmic viscosurgical devices (OVDs) following phacoemulsification. Setting Department of Ophthalmology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA. Methods Studies of both eyes of New Zealand White rabbits were performed. Six OVDs were evaluated: Provisc and Healon (both sodium hyaluronate 1%), Healon5 (sodium hyaluronate 2.3%), Amvisc Plus (sodium hyaluronate 1.6%), Viscoat (sodium hyaluronate 3%–chondroitin sulfate 4%), and a new viscous–dispersive OVD, DisCoVisc (sodium hyaluronate 3%–chondroitin sulfate 4%). The OVD was injected to fill the anterior chamber and a phacoemulsification needle inserted with the tip positioned just anterior to the lens capsule. Simulated phacoemulsification was performed for 1 minute using flow rates of 20, 40, and 60 mL/min; a vacuum level of 300 mm Hg; and ultrasound power of 60% using a Legacy phacoemulsification unit. The needle was removed, and silicone oil (1000 centistokes) was injected into the anterior chamber. The distance between the corneal endothelium and the OVD–silicone oil interface was measured using in vivo confocal microscopy through-focusing (CMTF). Results Significant differences in residual thickness were found between the OVDs tested. Specifically, the residual thickness of both DisCoVisc (mean 324.5 μm ± 163.7 [SD]) and Viscoat (251.4 ± 100.9 μm) was significantly greater than that of Provisc (9.5 ± 16.7 μm), Healon (3.8 ± 11.3 μm), Healon5 (0.6 ± 2.4 μm), and Amvisc Plus (65.6 ± 134.0 μm) ( P Conclusions Residual OVD thickness following simulated phacoemulsification could be quantitatively measured using in vivo CMTF. The results are consistent with human surgical experience in that the dispersive OVD (Viscoat) was better retained than the cohesive compounds. DisCoVisc, a new viscous–dispersive OVD, also showed retention compared with Viscoat under the experimental conditions.
Sexual Behavior of Cats1)

The sexual behavior of individual cats was described and examined using the "sexual exhaustion and recovery" technique. In Normative Tests, the behavior of five males tested with three females was quantified. The males gripped the females after 16 seconds and achieved their first intromission after 107.5 seconds on the average. Mating continued until approximately seven intromissions occurred. The frequency and spacing of intromissions were a function of the particular individuals in the mating pair. The duration of the intromissions was primarily a function of the female partner. Even though the probability of intromission per unit time declined during each test, the males recovered completely within 24 hours. Performance 24 hours after sexual exhaustion was the same as performance during tests spaced two weeks apart. At the point of sexual exhaustion the male could be rearoused to renewed mating if a sexually fresh female was presented. When a sexually fresh male was presented to a sexually exhausted female little mating resulted. The cessation of mating seemed to be primarily a function of the state of the female, although stimulus adaptation on the part of the male did seem to contribute. The data were discussed in terms of momentary and persistent components of sexual arousability. It was suggested that mating performances may be controlled by the rewarding properties of intromission and ejaculation.
Tumor‐promoting activity of 2,4‐dinitrofluorobenzene

The aim of this study was to determine whether the skin-sensitizing agent 2,4-dinitrofluorobenzene (DNFB) would elicit the same morphological and biochemical events that are characteristic of 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA). While single applications of 0.1% or 0.2% DNFB produced only mild epidermal hyperplasia, multiple applications produced pronounced hyperplasia. Compared with TPA, a single application of DNFB produced small increases in ODC activity, although a second DNFB treatment produced a greater response. Both DNFB and TPA caused marked induction of ODC, c-fos and c-jun mRNA. Vascular permeability increased significantly in response to DNFB, such that after 15 hr the response was quantitatively the same as for TPA. Repeated TPA produced the same response as a single application, but repeated DNFB resulted in a response that was half that of TPA. In contrast to TPA, DNFB failed to activate partially purified protein kinase C (PKC), although it did cause transient down-regulation of activity 15 hr after treatment. The ability of DNFB to induce ODC activity, however, was unaffected by prior down-regulation of PKC. DNFB was also shown to promote tumors in initiated SSIN mice. Twice-weekly applications of 0.1 % or 0.2% DNFB resulted in approximately 65% and 85% of the mice developing an average of 2.0 or 3.2 tumors each, respectively. These results demonstrate that DNFB elicits many of the same changes as TPA and that it does so in a PKC-independent manner.
Elastic-Plastic Thermal Stresses in Tubes Subjected to Uniform Heat Generation Evaluation of Experimental Results Obtained Using Graphite Tubes*

The elastic-plastic deformation of a tube subjected to radially uniform heat generation is considered using Tresca's yield function, its associated flow rule, and a linear work-hardening law. The t...
Strong-coupling solution for a fermion-pair model.

We consider a model for the condensation of fermion pairs interacting through a generalized Coulomb potential. The model gives a new outlook on chiral condensation and chiral-symmetry breaking. For strong coupling, this model exhibits a new dynamical symmetry associated with helicity conservation, allowing construction of a strong-coupling solution. The symmetry occurs for confining as well as nonconfining potentials, and is independent of the number of colors. Near the strong-coupling limit, for small fermion masses, the low-lying states are characterized by local charge neutralization and correspond to a pseudoscalar collective excitation. The number of flavors determines the symmetry group and also affects details of the approach to the strong-coupling limit.
A participant-based approach to indoor/outdoor air monitoring in community health studies

Community health studies of traffic-related air pollution have been hampered by the cost and participant burden associated with collecting household-level exposure data. The current study utilized a participant-based approach to collect indoor and outdoor air monitoring data from 92 asthmatic and nonasthmatic children (9–13 years old) enrolled in two concurrent health studies in Detroit, Michigan (Mechanistic Indicators of Childhood Asthma and Detroit Children's Health Study) conducted by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Passive samplers were shipped to participating households and deployed by parents of study participants to collect indoor and outdoor measurements of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) including naphthalene. Half of the households deployed VOC and NO2 samplers for 7 days; the other half deployed PAH and NO2 samplers for 2 days and additional PAH samplers for 1 day. Approximately 88% of the households that received air sampling kits completed the air monitoring. Compliance was significantly higher among participants asked to deploy all samplers for 7 days (85%) compared with participants asked to deploy some samplers for 2 days and others for 1 day (56%). The 7-day homes were also more likely to provide usable data (96%) compared with the 1- and 2-day homes (73%). Compliance and providing usable data did not vary between parents of asthmatic versus nonasthmatic study participants and were not reduced among households deploying duplicate samplers. These results suggest that participant-based sampling may be a feasible and cost-effective alternative to traditional exposure assessment approaches that can be applied in future epidemiological and community-based health studies.
Practical considerations in the chiral separation of dns-amino acids by reversed-phase liquid chromatography using metal chelated additives

Practical aspects of the analysis of amino acids are addressed in this paper. Conditions for the resolution of enantionmers of all teh common amino acids as their Dns derivatives using the chiral mobile phase additive: l-prolyl-n-octylamide-Ni(II) are reported. Variable d,l selectivity is obsserved, while maintaining good column efficiency, l-prolyl-n-dodecylamide-Ni(II) is found to distribute on the surface of a n-alkyl-bonded stationary phase and may act as a chiral immobilized phase. The separation of all the common Dns-amino acids within ≈ 35 min using reversed-phase conditions and a linear gradient is presented. Approaches to enantiomeric composition analysis of amino acids in a mixture are discussed, and a coupled column strategy linking the two separations reported above is proposed. In the combined system amino acid analysis is performed in the first part, with switching oof individual amino acids of interest to the second part of the system for d,l-enantiomeric composition determination.
The effects of rent asymmetries in experimental auction markets

Abstract We report the results of twelve ‘double-auction’ market experiments designed to analyze the effects of asymmetric induced supply and demand configurations on the price convergence path toward a competitive equilibrium. The proposition (convergence bias) that prices tend to approach the competitive equilibrium from above (below) when consumer surplus is greater (less) than producer surplus cannot be rejected. We do, however, reject the proposition (convergence symmetry) that these convergence biases are of equal absolute magnitude. Excesses of producer over consumer surplus are found to have a more pronounced effect on the sequence of contract prices.
In vitro processing activity of Bacillus subtilis polynucleotide phosphorylase.

A phosphate-dependent exonuclease activity was identified in purified protein fractions from Bacillus subtilis that were selected for binding to poly(I)-poly(C) agarose. Based on the characteristics of the degradation products and the absence of this activity in a pnpA strain, which contains a transposon insertion in the B. subtilis PNPase gene (Luttinger et al., 1996 — accompanying paper), this exonuclease activity was shown to be due to polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPase). Processive 3′-to-5′ exonucleolytic degradation of an SP82 phage RNA substrate was stalled at a particular site. Structure probing of the RNA showed that the stall site was downstream of a particular stem-loop structure. A similar stall site was observed for an RNA that comprised the intergenic region between the B. subtilis rpsO and pnpA genes. The ability to initiate degradation of a substrate that had a stem structure at its 3′ end differed for the B. subtilis and Escherichia coli PNPase enzymes.
Computer-assisted structure-activity relationship analysis: pattern recognition studies on hypolipidemic arylpropionic acid derivatives

Pattern recognition techniques are applied to analyze the structure-activity relationships (SAR) among α-substituted-β-arylpropionic acid derivatives possessing hypolipidemic properties. The triglyceride lowering activity of 116 such compounds is investigated. Twelve structural descriptors are identified which can discriminate derivatives more active than clofibrate from those which have activity to or less than that of clofibrate with a success rate greater than 97%. Among the 12 descriptors selected out of a total of about 70, three are electronic and two are geometric. In addition, certain chemical substructures and their environments have been found to be important in determining the activity class.
Catalysis of Lipid Oxidation by Iron from an Insoluble Fraction of Beef Diaphragm Muscle

An insoluble fraction of beef diaphragm muscle was found to catalyze lipid oxidation in the presence of reducing compounds. Ascorbate (100 μM) catalyzed the formation of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances 3.3, 8.3 and 7.3-fold more effectively than cysteine, superoxide and NADPH, respectively. Ascorbate/insoluble fraction-catalyzed lipid oxidation was inhibited bv EDTA, ceruloolasmin, catalase and superoxide dismutase indicating the iivolvemknt of iron, hydrogen peroxide and superoxide anion. Both lipid oxidation and the release of iron from the insoluble fraction increased with increasing pH (5.0–7.0) in the presence of ascorbate. Iron bound to the insoluble components of beef muscle could be involved in catalysis of lipid oxidation.
Communication: Nanoscale electrostatic theory of epistructural fields at the protein-water interface

Nanoscale solvent confinement at the protein-water interface promotes dipole orientations that are not aligned with the internal electrostatic field of a protein, yielding what we term epistructural polarization. To quantify this effect, an equation is derived from first principles relating epistructural polarization with the magnitude of local distortions in water coordination causative of interfacial tension. The equation defines a nanoscale electrostatic model of water and enables an estimation of protein denaturation free energies and the inference of hot spots for protein associations. The theoretical results are validated vis-a-vis calorimetric data, revealing the destabilizing effect of epistructural polarization and its molecular origin.
Existence of a Pareto-optimal equilibrium in nearly-stationary overlapping-generations economies*

In overlapping-generations models of fiat money, the existence of a Pareto-optimal equilibrium — which defines an optimal quantity of money — is more general than well-known counter-examples suggest. Those examples, having no optimal equilibrium just because there are small variations in households' tastes and endowments across generations, are not typical. On the contrary: For an open-dense, full-measure subset of smooth stationary economies and an open-dense subset of continuous stationary economies, introducing small variations in tastes and endowments across generations preserves the existence of an optimal equilibrium. Put simply, optimal equilibria generically exist for nearly-stationary economies.
Employment trends in the U.S. Electricity Sector, 2008–2012

Abstract Between 2008–2012, electricity generated (GWh) from coal, the longtime dominant fuel for electric power in the US, declined 24%, while electricity generated from natural gas, wind and solar grew by 39%, 154%, and 400%, respectively. These shifts had major effects on domestic employment in those sectors of the coal, natural gas, wind and solar industries involved in operations and maintenance (O&M) activities for electricity generation. Using an economic input–output model, we estimate that the coal industry lost more than 49,000 jobs (12%) nationally over the five-year period, while in the natural gas, solar, and wind industries, employment increased by nearly 175,000 jobs (21%). We also combine published ratios for jobs per unit of fuel production and per megawatt of power plant capacity with site-specific data on fuel production and power plant retirements, additions and capacity changes to estimate and map direct job changes at the county level. The maps show that job increases in the natural gas, solar and wind industries generally did not occur where there were significant job losses in the coal industry, particularly in West Virginia and Kentucky.
In silico saturation mutagenesis and docking screening for the analysis of protein-ligand interaction: the Endothelial Protein C Receptor case study

The design of mutants in protein functional regions, such as the ligand binding sites, is a powerful approach to recognize the determinants of specific protein activities in cellular pathways. For an exhaustive analysis of selected positions of protein structure large scale mutagenesis techniques are often employed, with laborious and time consuming experimental set-up. 'In silico' mutagenesis and screening simulation represents a valid alternative to laboratory methods to drive the 'in vivo' testing toward more focused objectives. We present here a high performance computational procedure for large-scale mutant modelling and subsequent evaluation of the effect on ligand binding affinity. The mutagenesis was performed with a 'saturation' approach, where all 20 natural amino acids were tested in positions involved in ligand binding sites. Each modelled mutant was subjected to molecular docking simulation and stability evaluation. The simulated protein-ligand complexes were screened for their impairment of binding ability based on change of calculated Ki compared to the wild-type. An example of application to the Endothelial Protein C Receptor residues involved in lipid binding is reported. The computational pipeline presented in this work is a useful tool for the design of structurally stable mutants with altered affinity for ligand binding, considerably reducing the number of mutants to be experimentally tested. The saturation mutagenesis procedure does not require previous knowledge of functional role of the residues involved and allows extensive exploration of all possible substitutions and their pairwise combinations. Mutants are screened by docking simulation and stability evaluation followed by a rationally driven selection of those presenting the required characteristics. The method can be employed in molecular recognition studies and as a preliminary approach to select models for experimental testing.
Morphologic Variation and Age Structure in a Population of the Eastern Mole, Scalopus aquaticus

Morphologic variation and age structure were studied in a large sample ( n = 196) of Scalopus aquaticus from a single locality in Kansas. Within each age class, males were larger than females. Age variation within sexes appeared linear, with morphological maturity achieved at ca. 1 year of age. However, age-specific morphological variation was not parallel in males and females; different suites of variables were important to the age variation in each sex, suggesting differences in resource allocation or developmental pathways. Sex ratio and survivorship for most age classes favored females. Maximum longevity was estimated to be >3.5 years.
Carrier propagation in sputtered a -Si:H

Time-of-flight measurements have been made on $a$-Si:H thin films prepared by the sputtering process. The propagation of electrons can be either dispersive or nondispersive depending on the sample-preparation conditions. Samples which reveal nondispersive transport in a certain voltage and temperature regime undergo a transition to dispersive behavior when the temperature is lowered below 300 K. Activation energies for mobility of 0.18\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.01 eV are obtained when the transport of electrons is nondispersive. The temperature-dependent dispersion is consistent with transport taking place by a multiple trapping process. Room-temperature electron mobilities in the range 0.1-0.5 ${\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$/V s are found for films which have a low density of states at the Fermi level. Room-temperature hole mobilities \ensuremath{\sim}1 \ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{} ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$/V s are found with an activation energy of 0.4 eV. In all samples measured the transport of holes is dispersive.
Soil water content determination using a network analyzer and coaxial probe.

A small-volume dielectric constant and soil water content sensor would be desirable in many laboratory experiments. Phase shift of the reflection coefficient in soil and various solutions was measured with a coaxial probe (CP) and a network analyzer operating at a frequency of 795 MHz. The CP had a measurement depth <1 cm. Five soils, varying widely in texture, bulk density, and organic matter content, were tested and comparison was made with other dielectric methods. Synthesized time domain reflectometry (TDR), resonant waveguide, CP, and conventional TDR measurements were in agreement for the sand. A simple mixing model for known dielectrics accurately predicted measurements of the apparent dielectric (K.) for mixed solutions. A linear function (r 2 = 0.90), fit for the water content of all soil data, had a single measurement root mean square error (RMSE = 0.039 m 3 m -3 ). The uncertainty improved when individual linear soil calibrations (singe measurement RMSE = 0.012 to 0.032; r 2 = 0.95 to 0.99) were used and further improved when repeated measurements were averaged (RMSE = 0.0073 to 0.026; r 2 = 0.97-1.00), The CP method for measuring K a is fast, simple, linear, easily repeated, and reasonably accurate, indicating that this instrumentation is useful for studying dielectric behavior of soil and various solutions and for rapid determination of soil water content in a small sample.
How the lipid-free structure of the N-terminal truncated human apoA-I converts to the lipid-bound form: new insights from NMR and X-ray structural comparison.

The X-ray structure of the N-terminal truncated human apoA-I [Borhani et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 94 (1997) 12291] and the NMR structure of intact human apoA-I [Okon et al., FEBS Lett. 517 (2002) 139] found similar repeating helices. The crystal structure is a twisted circular four-helix bundle, consisting of four molecules of apoA-I(44–243), where four copies of the lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT)-activating domains are located outside the ring structure, while the aromatic-rich strong lipid-binding domains are inside. This architecture suggests a lipid-binding mechanism that lipids directly enter the hole of the crystal structure. Indeed, four copies of Trp50 and Trp72 are exposed and oriented toward the center of the ring, initiating lipid binding. This is followed by the inside–out rotations of the terminal helices to make a belt with all the hydrophobic faces of the helices facing inward. Such lipid-binding induced rotations have an impact on the conformation of the lipid-free form. Indeed, the structure of residues 78–81 changes from helical (free) to disordered (bound) while the structure of residues 221–227 changes from extended to helical.