cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Emollient, humectant, and fluorescent α,β-unsaturated thiol esters for long-acting skin applications

We describe compounds in which an emollient or a humectant bears an α,β-unsaturated thiol ester capable of reacting with nucleophilic amino acids in stratum corneum proteins. These compounds should serve as long-lasting moisturizers for skin. The emollient derivatized was octadecyl propanoate, and the humectant was poly(ethylene glycol). These hydrophobic and hydrophilic compounds, as well as a fluorescent, dansyl-containing thiol ester, were found to react within minutes with the thiol N-acetylcysteamine upon addition of a catalytic amount of an organic base in chloroform. The structures of the products resulting from conjugate addition to the unsaturated thiol esters were determined by NMR spectroscopy. In the case of the α,β,γ,δ-unsaturated (sorboyl) thiol ester, both the 1,4-addition product and the β,γ-unsaturated-1,6-addition product formed, followed by diadduct. An in vivo test of the fluorescent α,β-unsaturated thiol ester showed that this compound persisted on skin for 3 weeks vs. 6 days for the non-bonding control compound.
From drills to laptops: designing modern childhood imaginaries

We introduce two case studies that illuminate a particular way of conceptualizing childhood and technology: the East Bay Fixit Clinic and the One Laptop Per Child project. Both cases borrow ideologies of childhood from contemporary American culture and ideas of technological potential from computer cultures. The developers and organizers in these two groups ground the resulting narrative in their own childhood experiences and their desire to provide the same kinds of experiences to children today. We highlight some of the dimensions of this narrative as well as some of its limitations in appealing to, and re-creating, a particular kind of child that resembles the organizers themselves: technically inclined, often oppositional, and often male. These cases highlight both the prevalence and limitations of using childhood ideologies in the design process by showing how these particular versions of childhood are enlisted to frame technological development and the social programs that promote it.
Post-traumatic stress in survivors of an airplane crash-landing: A clinical and exploratory research intervention

Post-traumatic stress in 30 male survivors of an airplane crash-landing was studied through interviews and questionnaires based on a nonpathological model of preventive psychological intervention and monitoring. Five questionnaires were given initially 12 days after the event and repeated at 2, 5, 10, and 12 months. Two of the brief measures were given weekly from 2 to 8 weeks after the event. As a group, the survivors experienced high levels of stress initially, which decreased rapidly and leveled off over time. There was, however, significant variability among individuals in this seemingly homogeneous group of college basketball players and supportive personnel in their experience of stress to the same traumatic event. There was also a marked contrast between group questionnaire results and individual verbal descriptions of their reaction to an unrelated, fatal airplane crash on the campus of the survivors 1 month after their own crash-landing. Questionnaire data are presented descriptively and discussed in relation to other normative data in the literature and to the methods of observation in this study. Recommendations are offered for professionals attempting this type of field study.
Design Methodology for Airport Limousine Service

A methodology for the operational design of an airport limousine service is presented. The design procedure involves optimization of a total cost function involving operating cost and passenger time for headway and zone dimensions, given rectangular zones. Effects of using layover buffers to dampen variations in run times are considered. Route-deviation service is compared to taxi-fed, limited-stop service. An extensive sensitivity analysis on the model parameters is included, and an application of the methodology to San Francisco International Airport is briefly described.
Imperfection-immune Carbon Nanotube digital VLSI

Carbon Nanotube Field Effect Transistors (CNFETs), consisting of semiconducting single-walled Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs), show great promise as extensions to silicon CMOS and in large-area electronics. While there has been significant progress at a single-device level, a major gap exists between such results and their transformation into VLSI CNFET technologies. Major CNFET technology challenges include mis-positioned CNTs, metallic CNTs, and wafer-scale processing. We present design and processing techniques to overcome these challenges. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the presented techniques. Mis-positioned CNTs can result in incorrect logic functionality of CNFET circuits. A new layout design technique produces CNFET circuits for arbitrary logic functions that are immune to a large number of mis-positioned CNTs. This technique is significantly more efficient compared to traditional defect- and fault-tolerance. Furthermore, it is VLSI-compatible and does not require changes to existing VLSI design and manufacturing flows. A CNT can be semiconducting or metallic depending upon the arrangement of carbon atoms. Typical CNT synthesis techniques yield ~33% metallic CNTs. Metallic CNTs create source-drain shorts in CNFETs resulting in excessive leakage (I on /I off on /I off in the range of 103−105, and overcome the limitations of existing metallic-CNT removal techniques. The above techniques are demonstrated for complex logic structures using wafer-scale growth of (99.5%) aligned CNTs on single-crystal quartz and wafer-scale CNT transfer from quartz to silicon. Such an integrated approach enables experimental demonstration of cascaded CNFET logic circuits.
Mutual Transformation between Random Nanoparticles and Their Superlattices: The Configuration of Capping Ligand Chains

We presented a facile and efficient route to prepare single-component nanoparticle (NP) superlattices. It was demonstrated that mutual transformation between random NPs and their well-ordered superlattices could be unified by a proposed model of ligand configuration. When the ligand chains capped on NPs were disordered at room temperature, NPs existed separately in solution, which were noninteracting and thus showed random states on transmission electron microscopy (TEM) grids; comparatively, the ligand chains capped on NPs in an ordered state in solution would correspond to superlattice structures obtained on TEM grids. These experimental observations were consistent with our theoretical analysis.
Failure of thymectomy in new-born guinea-pigs to influence contact sensitization.

RECENT evidence indicates that thymectomy in newborn laboratory animals of some species may result in immunological deficiencies. These may become manifest as compromised capacity to form circulating antibodies1, as delayed homograft rejection2,3, as diminished capacity to develop tuberculin-type sensitivities1, and as lowered resistance to infection1. These deficiencies may be related to a reduction in the number of circulating lymphocytes and a failure of germinal centre development, as observed in neonatally thymectomized mice2.
How internal can you get

This paper examines Laurence BonJour's defense of internalism inThe Structure of Empirical Knowledge with an eye toward better understanding the issues which separate internalists from externalists. It is argued that BonJour's Doxastic Presumption cannot play the role which is required of it to make his internalism work. It is further argued that BonJour's internalism, and, indeed, all other internalisms, are motivated by a Cartesian view of an agent's access to her own mental states. This Caretsian view is argued to be untenable, and, accordingly, so is internalism.
PCB 126 perturbs hypoxia-induced HIF-1α activity and glucose consumption in human HepG2 cells

Aerobic organisms strongly depend on the availability of oxygen for respiration and countless other metabolic processes to maintain cellular homeostasis. Under certain conditions, the amount of available oxygen can be limited. To support survival in environments with limited oxygen supply, hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) reprogram vital components of cellular metabolism. HIF-1α is an important mediator of acute and adaptive responses to hypoxic stress. Interestingly, the heterodimeric partner required by HIF-1α to function as transcription factor, known as ARNT, is also an essential part of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) transcription factor complex. Thus, via ARNT a crosstalk exists between these two pathways that might affect HIF-1α-mediated processes. In this study we sought to assess the effect of the AhR agonist PCB 126 on HIF-1α activity as well as on HIF-1α-regulated targets involved in cellular metabolism in human HepG2 cells. Our results show that PCB 126 reduced HIF-1α localization to the nucleus. Furthermore, in an in vivo setting, rats exposed to parenteral PCB 126 also displayed reduced hepatocyte nuclear localization of HIF-1α. Additionally, HepG2 cells exposed to PCB 126 displayed reduced hypoxia-regulated HRE-luciferase reporter gene expression as well as a reduction in glucose consumption in conditions of hypoxia. In summary, this study reveals that HIF-1α-regulated cellular metabolic processes are negatively affected by PCB 126 which might ultimately affect adaptive responses and cell survival in hypoxic environments.
The methodologic ozone effect.

rhe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has some nerve in the sense of scientific courage. That is a trait not often associated with government agencies, but the risk the EPA took in commissioning the 3 analyses published in this issue of the journall-3 must be recognized and applauded. The implications of this exercise go far beyond the question of the ozone mortality effect, the ostensible focus of these papers. In commissioning this examination in triplicate, the agency was testing not just the ozone mortality hypothesis, but the methods of science itself-methods the EPA and others have used to justify regulations in many areas. If these methods had failed this test, there would have been broad repercussions for the entire field of environmental risk assessment, not to mention the field of evidence synthesis. The results of this exercise will undoubtedly elicit a substantial sigh of relief in many quarters and perhaps an equal degree of consternation. The 3 groups used a wide diversity of methods and assumptions as outlined in Table 1. There were differences in the studies selected, the estimates used, the numbers abstracted, the confounders considered, the models used, the conversion factors applied, the subgroups investigated, and the alternatives explored. These many methodologic approaches could be contrasted and critiqued, but the bottom lines were remarkably consistent, within a fraction of a percent-a 0.8% increase in immediate mortality per 10-ppb increase in average daily ozone over the year, with most or all of this risk concentrated in the warmer months. However, behind the sigh of relief must be some discomfiture. Agreement aside, we are also given a glimpse of that Holy Grail-truth that looks somewhat different than suggested by the meta-analyses. The meta-analyses depended on published single-city analyses, each of which used different kinds of data, different analytic techniques, and different reporting-severely limiting the meta-analysts' ability to control for confound ing effects in a sophisticated and uniform manner. However, 2 of the meta-analyses threw in, as a bonus, a primary analysis of independent, multicity air-quality data, with the National Morbidity and Mortality Air Pollution Study (NMMAPS) representing the mother lode of such information: a longitudinal study of air quality in 95 U.S. cities over a 14-year period. Although the NMMAPS analysis' does not qualitatively contravene the meta analytic results, in that it still shows an ozone hazard, it does point strongly to a smaller effect-less than one third of the risk. Ito et a13 contrasted their meta-analysis with a reanalysis of primary air quality data from 7 U.S. cities. The weather-modeling approach closest to NMMAPS ("four-smoother") produced a point estimate approximately 40% lower than their meta-analysis. Both the NMMAPS and 7-city contrasts send a strong message that depending on published, single-estimate, single-site analyses is an invitation to bias. This is not the first time that such bias has been demonstrated,4'5 but it may be the
Electrons in the looking glass

The scanning tunnelling microscope (STM) allows us to ‘see’ atoms directly. Seven years ago STM pictures of a ‘quantum corral’ — a circle of iron atoms on a copper surface — revealed what happens when electron waves are confined within a cavity. The latest STM images are of an elliptical corral, in which the signature of an atom at one focus is clearly sensed at the other ‘empty’ focus.
Brain stimulation by network resonance with weak electric fields probed by optogenetics in vitro

Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS) is a novel brain stimulation paradigm that is investigated as a non-invasive modality for treating neuropsychiatric disorders and augmenting cognition. tACS likely enhances endogenous oscillations in cortex. Yet, no consensus has been reached about which stimulation parameters, in particular stimulation amplitude and frequency, are the most effective. We hypothesized that resonance at the network level mediates enhancement of cortical oscillations by tACS. In this study, we used a novel experimental framework to study the mechanism by which tACS modulates cortical network activity. We combined optogenetic patterning of spontaneous activity with application of weak electric fields (EF) in live slices of mouse cortex in vitro. We entrained the networks at 1 Hz using optogenetic stimulation of layer V pyramidal cells that expressed channelrhodopsin 2. We then applied EF at the endogenous frequency, the first harmonic and two nearby frequencies (1, 2, 0.8 and 1.2 Hz, respectively). In agreement with our hypothesis, we observed that stimulation at the endogenous frequency caused the most pronounced enhancement of the ongoing network activity. Such novel mechanistic insight may pave the way towards more refined and therefore more effective tACS neurotherapeutics.
Determination of Size Effects during the Phase Transition of a Nanoscale Au-Si Eutectic

The phase diagram of a nanoscale system can be substantially different than in the bulk, but quantitative measurements have proven elusive. Here we use in situ microscopy to observe a phase transition in a nanoscale system, together with a simple quantitative model to extract the size effects from these measurements. We expose a Au particle to disilane gas, and observe the transition from a two-phase Au + AuSi system to single-phase AuSi. Size effects are evident in the nonlinear disappearance of the solid Au. Our analysis shows a substantial shift in the liquidus line, and a discontinuous change in the liquid composition at the transition. It also lets us estimate the liquid-solid interfacial free energy.
The evolution of ADHD: a disorder of communication?

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most commonly diagnosed psychiatric condition. Many believe that the central disability is impaired inhibition, which leads to reduced abilities in social skills, self-control, organization and time management. The behaviors identified by clinicians as problematic-inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity-have been incorporated into several evolutionary models as selectively adaptive cognitive skills for surviving the challenges of a variable Pleistocene environment. We propose that the "disabilities" exhibited by individuals with ADHD are maladaptive, and we concur with Barkley that there is a central impairment in the behavioral inhibition system. The underlying neural anatomy and physiology support the possibility that neurotransmitter pathology may have an impact on other interlinked systems (including language), and may also account for the frequent comorbidity of aggression, anxiety, depression, and learning disabilities (many of which are lang...
Diastereoselective recognition of β anomers of phenyl glucosides by a cyclobis(paraquat-p-phenylene) receptor: A computational study

The preference of a cyclobis(paraquat-p-phenylene) receptor for binding phenyl β-glucopyranoside over the α- anomer was investigated by constant temperature molecular dynamics simulations conducted using the AMBER∗ force field and the GB/SA continuum solvation model. The energy difference between the complexes of the β- and α- anomers in water was found to be 0.3 ± 0.1 kcal·mol−1 using a stochastic dynamics algorithm and 0.1 ± 0.1 kcal·mol−1 for a mixed mode Monte Carlo/stochastic dynamics method. This same trend was found in gas phase simulations, in which the complex with the β anomer was more stable by 0.4±0.1 kcal·mol−1. In all cases the complex of the β anomer was shown to be more stable, indicating a possible steric origin for the diastereoselectivity of binding.
Vertebrate cytokines interleukin 12 and gamma interferon, but not interleukin 10, enhance phagocytosis in the annelid Eisenia hortensis.

Abstract Phagocytosis assays employing class I [interleukin 12 (IL-12)], and class II [gamma interferon (gIFN) and IL-10] human recombinant cytokines were carried out to determine the biological effects of these molecules on innate immune responses in the earthworm Eisenia hortensis . Coelomocytes from E. hortensis were pre-incubated with the cytokines for 16–20 h in vitro followed by introduction of Escherichia coli expressing green fluorescent protein ( E. coli /GFP). The pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-12 and gIFN stimulated statistically significant ( p ⩽ 0.05) enhanced phagocytosis of E. coli/ GFP by hyaline amoebocytes as determined by flow cytometry; 10 out of 21 earthworms (48%) responded to IL-12, while eight out of 21 (38%) responded to gIFN. In contrast, the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 neither stimulated nor inhibited phagocytosis in nine earthworms tested. These results demonstrate that vertebrate pro-inflammatory cytokines influence invertebrate cellular responses of immune cells causing enhanced phagocytic activity in earthworm coelomocytes.
Learning English with iPods

(2008). Technology in the Classroom: Learning English with iPods. Childhood Education: Vol. 84, No. 4, pp. 247-249.
In Vitro Study of Guide Wire Entrapment in Currently Available Inferior Vena Cava Filters

PURPOSE Guide wire entrapment by some older inferior vena cava (IVC) filters is known to occur, particularly with J-tipped wires. Three new IVC filters have recently been approved for use in the United States. An in vitro study was performed to compare the risk of engaging and entrapping guide wires in eight of the IVC filters currently available in the United States. MATERIALS AND METHODS Titanium Greenfield, over-the-wire stainless-steel Greenfield, Simon nitinol, Bird's Nest, Vena Tech LGM, Vena Tech LP, TrapEase, and Gunther Tulip IVC filters were deployed separately in an in vitro IVC flow model. Four different wires (15-mm, 3-mm, and 1.5-mm J-tipped, and straight) were passed 100 times each through the filters (50 from a jugular approach and 50 from a femoral approach). The frequency and specific patterns of engagement of the wires by the filters were recorded. Engagement was defined as a filter/wire interaction that caused either the filter or the wire to be deformed. The second part of the experiment measured the force (in pounds) that was required to release wires that became engaged in the filters with use of an electromechanical test stand with a specially designed low-capacity load cell of 20 pounds. Entrapment was defined as inability to separate an engaged wire from the filter without damage to either the wire or filter. RESULTS Guide wire engagement occurred in all filters tested with the 15-mm, 3-mm, and 1.5-mm J-tipped wires. The straight wire did not engage any of the filters. The wires engaged the TrapEase filter with the greatest frequency overall (72.8%; 291 of 400). The 15-mm J wire engaged the filters more often than the other wires (98.5%; 788 of 800), but never became entrapped in a filter. The Vena Tech LP and Gunther Tulip filters did not entrap any of the wires. The TrapEase filter, the stainless-steel Greenfield filter, and the Vena Tech LGM filter entrapped the 3-mm and 1.5-mm J wires. The force required to disengage the wires from these filters exceeded 4 pounds and resulted in structural damage to the wire and/or filter. CONCLUSIONS Among the IVC filters recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration, the TrapEase filter entrapped 3-mm and 1.5-mm J-tipped guide wires, whereas the Vena Tech LP and Gunther Tulip filters did not. This study corroborates previously described wire entrapment by the stainless-steel Greenfield and Vena Tech LGM devices.
Evidence of circadian rhythm in antipredator behaviour in the orb-weaving spider Larinioides cornutus

Ecologically, spiders are both predators and prey. Therefore, they must balance being aggressive enough to forage successfully, but not so aggressive that they become overly exposed to predation. Some species of spiders actively forage during clearly defined periods of the day, leading to the hypothesis that they should be less aggressive (or more defensive) during periods when they are not foraging, predicting that antipredator behaviour should be more pronounced during inactive foraging times. We tested the antipredator ‘huddle response’ in a nocturnal foraging orb-weaver, Larinioides cornutus, and found that, as predicted, the spiders huddled longer in the day than at night. We then conducted tests to determine whether the cycling of the response was regulated by an internal clock (circadian), and we found that huddle duration continued to cycle under constant dark (with periodicity significantly less than 24 h) as well as under constant light (periodicity nonsignificantly longer than 24 h). This work adds a novel behaviour to the list of behaviours under circadian control and also to the surprisingly short list of studies demonstrating circadian rhythm in spiders.
Electrodeposition of Cu-In Alloys as Precursors of Chalcopyrite Absorber Layers

Copper-Indium alloy films were electrodeposited from sulfate based acidic solutions onto Au and Mo substrates at room temperature and at 50◦C. Composition analysis confirmed that In could be deposited at potentials more positive than its elemental reduction potential, as a result of the alloy formation with Cu. The alloys form supersaturated solid solution of Indium in Cu, with In up to ∼ 15 at% at relatively positive potentials. At more negative potentials, both intermetallic phases and the elemental In phase were detected. Crystal structure of alloy films was relatively stable over time, in contrast with bilayer Cu/In films. The formation of intermetallic phases could be enhanced by using short time pulses at more negative potentials followed by potentiostatic deposition at potentials corresponding to the intermetallic compositions. Near equiatomic films grown on Mo at high temperature present a relatively smooth surface, potentially providing suitable precursors for the formation of chalcopyrite compounds. © 2014 The Electrochemical Society. [DOI: 10.1149/2.1191410jes] All rights reserved.
Foraging preferences: Response to reward skew

Abstract Recent theoretical and empirical work on foraging behaviour suggests that animals may respond to both the means and variances in benefits associated with available resources. We attempt to extend this analysis by asking if reward skew (third moment about the mean) might influence preference when two options have equal means and equal variances. We examine how minimizing the probability of starvation might induce response to skew. In the Appendix we develop an expected ‘fitness’ model which follows from economic theory and indicates more general conditions concerning responses to skew. We also report experiments involving foraging white-crowned sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys). Under conditions where positive skew should be favoured, the birds' behaviour supports the prediction. However, their response to skew is not as strong as responses to variance noted in the same individuals.
Violence Between Therapy-Seeking Veterans and Their Partners: Prevalence and Characteristics of Nonviolent, Mutually Violent, and One-Sided Violent Couples

Among male veterans and their female partners seeking therapy for relationship issues, three violence profiles were identified based on self-reports of physical violence: nonviolent, in which neither partner reported perpetrating physical violence (44%); one-sided violent, in which one partner reported perpetrating violence (30%); and mutually violent, in which both partners reported perpetrating physical violence (26%). Profiles were distinguished based on the veteran's psychiatric diagnosis, woman's age, and both partners' reports of the frequency and severity of violence. Men and women in mutually violent couples reported more verbal and physical aggression than did men or women in any other group. The three groups reported comparable rates of sexual aggression. Appraisals of marital satisfaction and intimacy were not different based on violence profile. No gender differences emerged in the self-reports of frequency and severity of verbal, physical, and sexual aggression.
Constraints on mantle plumes on Venus: Implications for volatile history

Abstract The analysis of Venus’ gravity field and topography suggests the presence of a small number of deep mantle plumes (∼9). This study predicts the number of plumes formed at the core–mantle boundary, their characteristics, and the production of partial melt from adiabatic decompression. Numerical simulations are performed using a 3D spherical code that includes large viscosity variations and internal heating. This study investigates the effect of several parameters including the core–mantle boundary temperature, the amount of internal heating, and the mantle viscosity. The smallest number of plumes is achieved when no internal heating is present. However, scaling Earth’s radiogenic heating to Venus suggests a value of ∼16 TW. Cases with internal heating produce more realistic lid thickness and partial melting, but produce either too many plumes or no plumes if a high mantle temperature precludes the formation of a hot thermal boundary layer. Mantle viscosity must be reduced to at least 10 20 Pa s in order to include significant internal heating and still produce hot plumes. In all cases that predict melting, melting occurs throughout the upper mantle. Only cases with high core temperature (>1700 K) produce dry melting. Over time the upper mantle may have lost significant volatiles. Depending on the water content of the lower mantle, deep plumes may contribute to present-day atmospheric water via volcanic outgassing. Assuming 50 ppm water in mantle, 10 plumes with a buoyancy flux of 500 kg/s continuously erupting for 4 myr will outgas an amount of water on the order of that in the lower atmosphere. A higher level of internal heating than achieved to date, as well as relatively low mantle viscosity, may be required to achieve simulations with ∼10 plumes and a thinner lid. Alternatively, if the mantle is heating up due to the stagnant lid, the effect is equivalent to having lower rates of internal heating. A temperature increase of 110 K/byr is equivalent to −13 TW. This value along with the internal heating of 3 TW used in this study may represent the approximate heat budget of Venus’ mantle.
Predictors of Incisional Hernia after Robotic Assisted Radical Prostatectomy

Introduction. To explore the long term incidence and predictors of incisional hernia in patients that had RARP. Methods. All patients who underwent RARP between 2003 and 2012 were mailed a survey reviewing hernia type, location, and repair. Results. Of 577 patients, 48 (8.3%) had a hernia at an incisional site (35 men had umbilical), diagnosed at (median) 1.2 years after RARP (mean follow-up of 5.05 years). No statistically significant differences were found in preoperative diabetes, smoking, pathological stage, age, intraoperative/postoperative complications, operative time, blood loss, BMI, and drain type between patients with and without incisional hernias. Incisional hernia patients had larger median prostate weight (45 versus 38 grams; P = 0.001) and a higher proportion had prior laparoscopic cholecystectomy (12.5% (6/48) versus 4.6% (22/480); P = 0.033). Overall, 4% (23/577) of patients underwent surgical repair of 24 incisional hernias, 22 umbilical and 2 other port site hernias. Conclusion. Incisional hernia is a known complication of RARP and may be associated with a larger prostate weight and history of prior laparoscopic cholecystectomy. There is concern about the underreporting of incisional hernia after RARP, as it is a complication often requiring surgical revision and is of significance for patient counseling before surgery.
Optimal Excitation of Baroclinic Waves

Abstract Development of perturbations in a baroclinic flow can arise both from exponential instability and from the transient growth of favorably configured disturbances that are not of normal mode form. The transient growth mechanism is able to account for development of neutral and damped waves as well as for an initial growth of perturbations asymptotically dominated by unstable modes at significantly greater than their asymptotic exponential rates. Unstable modes, which are the eigenfunctions of a structure equation, are discrete and typically few in number. In contrast, disturbances favorable for transient growth form a large subset of all perturbations. To assess the potential of transient growth to account for a particular phenomena it is useful to obtain from this subset the initial condition that gives the maximum development in a well-defined sense. These optimal perturbations have a role in the theory of transient development analogous to that of the normal modes in exponential instability theo...
The health benefits of moderate drinking revisited: alcohol use and self-reported health status.

Abstract Purpose To examine the association between alcohol use and self-reported health status. In particular, we sought to determine whether moderate drinkers are more likely to self-report above-average health status compared with other current drinkers, former drinkers, and lifetime abstainers. Design Cross-sectional survey. Setting Continental United States. Subjects The sample adult component of the 2002 U.S. National Health Interview Survey (n = 31,044), representative of the U.S. noninstitutionalized civilian household population. Measures Dichotomous measure of above-average self-reported health status relative to all other health states. Several measures characterized alcohol use patterns (i.e., continuous and categorical measure of alcohol use, a proxy measure of problem drinking, former drinking, lifetime abstaining). Chronic health conditions and various demographic and lifestyle factors were included as covariates in all regression models. Results For both men and women, current moderate d...
Localization of light in lossless inhomogeneous dielectrics

The localization of electromagnetic waves in lossless inhomogeneous dielectric media is studied. We consider a three-dimensional lossless periodic medium (photonic crystal) having a gap in the frequency spectrum (photonic bandgap). If such a medium is perturbed by either a single defect or a random array of defects, exponentially localized electromagnetic waves arise with frequencies in the gap. For a single defect, we derive equations for these midgap frequencies and estimate their number. For a random medium, we show the occurrence of Anderson localization for electromagnetic waves.
Fungal degradation of kraft lignin and lignin sulfonates prepared form synthetic 14C-lignins

Kraft lignins (KL), bleached kraft lignins (BKL), and lignin sulfonates (LS) were prepared from synthetic 14C-lignins labeled in the aromatic nuclei or in the propyl side chains. These and control lignins (CL) were incubated with the lignin-decomposing white-rot fungus, Phanerochaete chrysosporium Burds., in a defined culture medium containing cellulose as growth substrate. Decomposition was monitored by measuring the 14CO2 evolved. Average percentages of the [ring-14C]- and [side chain-14C]-lignins, respectively, recovered as 14CO2 at the cessation of 14CO2 evolution were: KL, 41 and 31; BKL, 42 and 26; LS, 28 and 21; and CL, 26 and 24. Gel permeation chromatography of radiolabeled materials extracted from spent cultures showed that substantial degradation to nonvolatile products had occurred. The polymeric components in the extracts were further degraded in fresh cultures. These results indicate that industrial lignins are significantly bioalterable, and that under favorable conditions industrial lignins are substantially biodegradable.
Revealing local failed supernovae with neutrino telescopes

We study the detectability of neutrino bursts from nearby direct black hole-forming collapses (failed supernovae) at Megaton (Mt) detectors. Because of their high energetics, these bursts could be identified---by the time coincidence of $N\ensuremath{\ge}2$ or $N\ensuremath{\ge}3$ events within a $\ensuremath{\sim}1\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{s}$ time window---from as far as $\ensuremath{\sim}4--5\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{Mpc}$ away. This distance encloses several supernova-rich galaxies, so that failed supernova bursts could be detected at a rate of up to one per decade, comparable to the expected rate of the more common, but less energetic, neutron star-forming collapses. Thus, the detection of a failed supernova within the lifetime of a Mt detector is realistic. It might give the first evidence of direct black hole formation, with important implications on the physics of this phenomenon.
On gender and rhetorical space

Abstract In this essay I call critical attention to the role of physical location in rhetorical situations, naming this aspect of communication “rhetorical space.”; Rhetorical space is the geography of a communicative event, and, like all landscapes, may include both the cultural and material arrangement, whether intended or fortuitous, of a location. Drawing on the observations of novelists, philosophers, anthropologists, cultural geographers, and architectural historians, I explore the dimensions of this concept through an investigation of the pulpit, a rhetorical space that communicates a message to the audience quite apart from the sermon.
Operating system development with ATS: work in progress

Typical operating system design is marked by trade-offs between speed and reliability, features and security. Most systems are written in a low-level untyped programming language to achieve optimal hardware usage and for other practical reasons. But, this often results in CPU, memory, and I/O protection flaws due to mistakes in unverified code. On the other hand, fully verified systems are exceedingly hard to construct on any industrial scale. A high-level programming language, with an expressive type system suitable for systems programming, can help alleviate many of these problems without requiring the enormous effort of full verification.
Radio‐Frequency Ionization of Organic Compounds for Mass Spectrometry Analysis

A new ionization technique: A radio-frequency signal was used to ionize neutral organic molecules in the ultrahigh-vacuum region of a Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer. Radio-frequency ionization (RFI) yielded signal/noise (S/N) ratios roughly six times higher than those generated by conventional 70 eV electron impact ionization (EI).
Control of responding by a conditioned reinforcer in the presence of free food

It has been reported that animals will “work” in preference to “freeloading.” However, the variables responsible for this phenomenon are not well understood. Two pigeons were trained to keypeck for food on a fixed-ratio 300 schedule. Next, the food hopper was propped up to permit continuous access to food, and the presence or absence of the hopper light was manipulated. When the hopper light was presented contingent upon the fixed-ratio schedule, keypecking occurred; when it was not presented, keypecking ceased. Thus, responding in the presence of free food was shown to be a function of the conditioned reinforcing properties of the hopper light.
Cryptococcal meningitis: description of 3 cases and estimation of T-cell subsets.

Objectives To describe three cases of cryptococcus neoformans meningitis and evaluate their cellular immunity.
Mitigating Social Loafing in Team-Based Learning

Team-based learning (TBL) is becoming increasingly present in higher education hospitality classes. There are many advantages to TBL but instructors should be aware of social loafing, or withholding of individual effort, that is frequently associated with TBL. This paper explores the theoretical accounts of social loafing in a two-stage quasi-experimental study on three undergraduate sections of Organization and Management in the Hospitality and Tourism Industry (HTM 212). Methods of peer evaluation were used to control for the evaluation-potential thought to mitigate social loafing. Evidence was found that evaluation-potential does play a role in reducing social loafing but might be operationalized through fellow team members rather than the instructor, as the literature suggests.
Manufacturing citizenship: Metapragmatic framings of language competencies in media images of mixed race men in South Korea:

This article examines how discourses of linguistic (in)competency regiment productions of citizenship in the South Korean popular media. Through an analysis of newspaper articles and television programs, we investigate how depictions of language competency become key resources for locating individuals within genealogies of kinship and chronotopic figures of personhood. In some cases, the speech of these celebrities associates them with imaginings of their backwards, low-class Korean kin, the Japanese colonial period, and American military presence, while in other cases, their language is associated with the 21st-century ideal of the modern, elite, globetrotting neoliberal subject. This analysis demonstrates how competence is read in relation to changing notions of citizenship in the new ‘multicultural’ Korea as these men are differentially positioned between multiple raced, classed, and gendered imaginings of Whiteness and Koreanness. More generally, we argue that understandings of linguistic competence a...
Remarks on the direct method of the calculus of variations

In a recent note ([1]), the writer gave a very simple method for carrying through such an argument using the weak topology of a Banach space. This result was applied in [1] to prove the existence of eigenfunctions for a very general class of nonlinear elliptic eigenvalue problems. In a recent paper ([2]), FtCI-mRA has given another, more special and more concrete result on the crucial point of the argument, namely the weak lower semi-continuity off(or actually the sequential variant thereof). Both results extend classical theorems of TONELLI, MORREY and others (e. g. [4]-[9]; cf. [2] for a more detailed discussion of the earlier results). It is the object of the present paper to apply the basic argument of [1] in a more explicitly concrete form to obtain strengthened forms of FICrmRA'S results of [2]. More essential than the strengthening of results, however, is the greater conceptual simplicity contributed by the proofs we give below. We should remark that our interest in writing up this material was stimulated by a recent conversation with Professor FICHERA. Section 1 is devoted to the basic general results concerning weak lower semicontinuity in Banach spaces. Strictly speaking, the results of that Section, Theorems 1, 2, and 3 are true with only trivial alterations for the most general locally convex linear spaces, but we have left this generalization aside in the detailed presentation of our discussion. Section 2 applies the results of Section 1 to a general class of functionals expressed as integrals. The first result (Theorem 4) of Section 2 gives an abstract presentation of the arguments applied to elliptic boundary value problems in [1]. The second result of Section 2 (Theorem 5) is the strengthened form of FIcrtm~'s theorem in [2]. In Sections 1 and 2, for intuitiveness of presentation, we use sequential weak lower semi-continuity
An Investigation of the Short-Term Predictability of Precipitation Using High-Resolution Composite Radar Observations

AbstractThe short-term predictability of precipitation patterns observed by meteorological radar is an important concept as it establishes a means to characterize precipitation and provides an upper limit on the extent of useful nowcasting. Predictability also varies on the basis of spatial and temporal scales of the observed meteorological phenomena. This paper describes an investigation of the short-term predictability of precipitation patterns containing microalpha (0.2–2 km) to mesobeta (20–200 km) scales using high-resolution (0.5 km–1 min–1 dBZ) composite radar reflectivity data, extending the analysis presented in previous work to smaller space and time scales. An experimental approach is used in which continuous and categorical lifetimes of radar reflectivity fields in Eulerian and Lagrangian space are used to quantify short-term predictability. The space–time scale dependency of short-term predictability is analyzed, and a practical upper limit on the extent of Lagrangian persistence-based nowcas...
Kinetics of mushroom tyrosinase inhibition by quercetin

The effects of quercetin on the activity of mushroom tyrosinase were studied. The equilibrium constants for this inhibitor binding with the enzyme molecule were established. The inhibition mechanism obtained from Lineweaver-Burk plots show that quercetin is a competitive inhibitor. In the time course of the oxidation of L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA) catalyzed by the enzyme in the presence of different concentrations of quercetin, the rate decreased with increasing time until a straight line was approached. The inhibition of tyrosinase by quercetin is a slow and reversible reaction with residual enzyme activity. The microscopic rate constants were determined for the reaction of quercetin with the enzyme.
The emission of K-X-rays in slow neutron fission of 233U, 235U, and 239Pu

Present techniques admit the possibility of studying the character of fission fragments with spectroscopic identification of pairs of fragments. The simultaneous measurement of the masses and atomic numbers of fission fragments has been demonstrated in studies of the fission of 252Cf (1). The atomic number is determined by detection of a characteristic x-ray, most often a K-x-ray, emitted by one of the fragments. These x-rays arise from atomic electron vacancies produced by internal conversion in the deexcltation of the fragments (2). Not surprisingly, there is considerable structure in yield as a function of the masses of the fragments (1) and of their atomic numbers (3). The work reported in this letter sought to determine the feasibility of studies of slow neutron induced fission by multiparameter measurements which include K-x-ray identification of atomic number. Such measurements require an appreciable yield of K-x-rays from the fragments, but, more importantly, this method of identification must not introduce an unknown bias in the selection. It is clear that the structure in yields implies that a considerable bias is introduced by requiring the emission of a *Work supported by the Michigan Memorial--Phoenix Project. **Present address: Analytical Division, National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, Maryland.
Change-Point Detection in Binomial Thinning Processes, with Applications in Epidemiology

Abstract Most of the classical change-point detection schemes are designed for the sequences of independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) random variables. In this article, motivated by the outbreak of 2009 H1N1 pandemic influenza, we develop change-point detection procedures for the susceptible–infected–recovered (SIR) epidemic model, where a change-point in the infection rate parameter signifies either the beginning or the end of an epidemic trend. The considered model falls into a general class of binomial thinning processes, which is a Markov chain. The cumulative sum (CUSUM) change-point detection procedure is developed for this class, and its performance is evaluated. Apparently, the CUSUM stopping rule is no longer optimal for this non-i.i.d. case. It can be improved by introducing a non constant adaptive threshold. The resulting modified scheme attains a shorter mean delay and at the same time a longer expected time of a false alarm, given that a false alarm eventually occurs. Proposed dete...
A General Approach for Complex Systems

A new unique methodology for accurate and realistic solution of dynamical systems is presented which does not require linearisation and restrictive “smallness” assumptions. It has distinct advantages over perturbative or hierarchy methods and the commonly employed methods of numerical analysis. Applicability has been shown in various publications to a very wide class of equations arising in the modelling of a complex system even where stochastic parameters are involved.
UV-B light as a factor affecting total soluble phenolic contents of various whole and fresh-cut specialty crops

Abstract The effect of ultraviolet-B (UV-B) light treatment on total soluble phenolic (TSP) contents of various whole and fresh-cut specialty crops was evaluated. Whole fruits (strawberries, blueberries, grapes), vegetables (cherry tomatoes, white sweet corn) and root crops (sweet potatoes, colored potatoes), and fresh-cut fruit, vegetables and root crops (apple wedge, iceberg lettuce, broccoli floret and stem, and sliced radish, daikon, and parsnip) were treated with increasing UV-B dose levels (1.3–5.9 kJ m−2) and followed by incubation to allow for the samples to respond. TSP levels were measured. The changes in TSP were species-dependent. Whole grapes, blueberries, pink and red cherry tomatoes, white sweet corn, colored potatoes and sweet potatoes did not benefit from UV-B exposure. Strawberries showed a slight, but significant increase in TSP at the highest UV-B dose. UV-B exposure did not affect TSP of apple wedge, broccoli floret and stem, sliced radish and daikon after incubation. Fresh-cut lettuce and parsnip showed significant 1.2 and 2.3 times increase, respectively, in TSP mostly due to the combination effect of wounding and UV-B light exposure after 3 d of incubation. UV-B light exposure (1.3–5.9 kJ m−2) can be used as an additional processing step on selected specialty crops to enhance their soluble phenolic contents.
Semantic versus Spatial Audio Cues: Is There a Downside to Semantic Cueing?

An auditory spatial Stroop paradigm was used to examine the effects of semantic and spatial audio cue conflict on accuracy and response time. Participants responded to either the semantic meaning or the spatial location of a directional word, which was either congruent (i.e. the word “right” being presented from the right) or incongruent (i.e. the word “right” being presented from the left). Contrary to our predictions, people responded more accurately to the semantic meaning of the directional words relative to spatial audio cues. An interaction between task type and congruency indicated people found it more difficult to ignore the semantic content of the word when performing the location version of this task relative to ignoring the location in the semantic task. Implications of these results for use in driver collision-avoidance warning systems are discussed. The current results indicate that performance benefits gained by the use of directional words in combination with spatial audio may be offset by ...