cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Total Functional Value: Facility Performance and Functional Use Costs

Potential improvements in facility performance, a multi-level performance "cascade" from the functional and environmental to the operating and physical systems, should be evaluated within a framework of relative economic value and resource allocation reflecting long-term cost/benefits. Some building systems directly affect functional performance and Functional Use Costs. Functional Use Costs are primarily human costs and constitute the largest component of total organizational cost. This paper develops a conceptual and representational tool, an economic framework expressing the relative affect of performance improvements on the Total Functional Value to the organization of the work environment. Two performance classes for elements of building systems are proposed in relation to their potential affect on Functional Use Costs. The economic value of a possible performance percentage improvement due to one class is much greater than that due to the other, and this sensitivity ratio can be quantified as a "Functional Use Ratio".
Psychometric characteristics of the Wender Utah Rating Scale (WURS): Reliability and factor structure for men and women.

The goals of this study were to examine the factor structure of the Wender Utah Rating Scale (WURS), to evaluate potential gender differences in factor composition, and to assess the reliability of the scale. The WURS was completed by 310 fathers and 305 mothers of children referred for evaluation of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). For males, a five-factor solution (Conduct Problems, Learning Problems, Stress Intolerance, Attention Problems, Poor Social Skills/Awkward) accounted for 72 percent of the variance. There was also a five-factor solution for females (Dysphoria, Impulsive/Conduct, Learning Problems, Attention and Organizational Problems, Unpopular) which accounted for 71 percent of the variance. Symptoms of inattention and impulsivity loaded on separate factors for both men and for women. Test-retest reliability was examined with a different sample of 57 adults who completed the WURS on two separate occasions, 1 month apart. The WURS demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency and temporal stability, and it may be a useful tool for the study of ADHD in adults.
Gender Perspectives: Essays on Women in Museums

Gender Perspectives: Essays on Women in Museums. Edited by Jane R. Glaser and Artemis A. Zenetou. Washington, D.C. and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994. xxv + 161 pp. References at the end of each essay, general selected bibliography. $15.95 (paper).
Enumeration of connected spanning subgraphs of a planar graph

One of the important solved problems in graph theory is the enumeration of distinct connected spanning trees contained in a given connected graph; historically it was first solved by Kirchhoff. Since a tree graph contains no cycle by definition, the next question of importance is naturally the problem of enumeration, for a given connected graph, of connected spanning subgraphs each of which contains only a single cycle (besides the trees attached to the particular cycle). In general, the problems of interest are the enumeration of the connected spanning subgraphs having a preassigned cyclomatic number, i.e. each containing a fixed number of cycles (besides the trees attached), for a given graph. The enumeration of spanning trees for a labelled graph is usually computed by means of the adjaeeey matrix of the given graph. On the other hand, in contrast to the adjacency matrix method (or essentially the "incidence matrix" method), we approached the problem some years ago by a dual notion and derived a computational expression using the concept of cycles in defining the required matrix entries [1]. The duality is, of course, referred to that between the vertices and the cycles; the matrix entries are indexed by the vertices of the given graph in the adjacency matrix method, while they are indexed by the assigned cycles in the latter approach. It was already apparent to us, at that time, that the computational effectiveness of these two approaches depends critically on the nature of the given graph. Some examples were given in that paper [1] to point out that the adjacency matrix method is clearly not as effective as the "cycle matrix" method if the given graph involves many vertices but very few cycles (and vice versa). However, the formal expressions derived by either approach are of equal simplicity and elegance. In the present investigation, we rely on the concept of cycles. However, a direct application of cycle matrices [1] does not appear to be very effective. As it turns out, the problems can be handled efficiently by introducing the so-called cycle-adjacency matrix for a given connected graph after labelling the cycles considered. In carrying out the dual notion to the usual adjacency-matrix, it is necessary to impose the requirement that each edge of the graph can belong at most to two independent cycles. Using this matrix, together with some further auxiliary notions, we derive the explicit expressions for the enumeration of the connected subgraphs (of a planar graph) each containing one and two cycles. These explicit expressions suggest immediately the general expression for n cycles. Though it is natural to try to prove it by a mathematical induction on n, yet the involvement of determinants makes it computationally very complicated. We resolve this by introducing the i-th "annihilation operator" which deletes the i-th column and the i-th row in the cycle-adjacency matrix. Together with a formal procedure, the operator method provides a straight-
MANAGEMENT OF PSYCHOTIC, TREATMENT-RESISTANT DEPRESSION

As there are no controlled studies on approaches to patients with treatment-resistant psychotic depression many questions remain to be answered. Those that seem worthy of high priority include (1) the efficacy of novel antipsychotic agents (e.g., clozapine, risperidone) for acute and maintenance treatment; (2) the efficacy of newer antidepressant agents such as the SSRIs and nefazodone plus neuroleptic medications; (3) decision trees to delineate the second and third lines of treatment when the first treatment is ineffective; (4) the comparative efficacy of bilateral versus unilateral ECT; (5) the length of time patients should be maintained on medications (which is of particular importance in the case of neuroleptic agents with their potential to cause tardive dyskinesia); (6) the optimal dose of neuroleptic agent for acute treatment; (7) the optimal length of time for medication trials; (8) the use of antidepressant medications during ECT treatments; (9) the importance of the sequence in which TCAs and neuroleptic agents are administered; (10) the delineation of the clinical characteristics of responders to medication versus ECT treatments; and (11) the role of antiglucocorticoid strategies. The answers to these questions would provide clinicians with important tools to treat patients with psychotic depression, an illness that all too frequently can become treatment-resistant.
eStadium: a Wireless "Living Lab" for Safety and Infotainment Applications

We propose an application framework that supports safety and security applications and emergency response procedures via integration and inter-operability of sensor networks and wireless LANs. Such a network structure can take advantage of the computational and communication heterogeneity of different devices when the system is carefully designed and optimized. The proposed wireless network, sensor system, and application framework will be integrated with and support an already functioning 802.1lb wireless network in the stadium. This existing network supports the delivery of a variety ety of multi-media applications - such as on-demand unicast of video clips of game highlights - to fans' portable wireless devices. The resulting dual-use system will be more economical and more capable than two separate systems.
Synergistic and antagonistic responses of soil insecticide‐herbicide combinations for corn root worm, diabrotica spp. control

Abstract The expected response of an insecticide‐herbicide combination is derived from the actual response of individual pesticides. Root ratings, a standard measure of efficacy for soil insecticides used to control the corn rootworm are converted to a percent control figure through a polynomial equation. The expected response is a product of percent of control values for insecticides and herbicides applied alone and dividing by 100 (n‐1) where n 1s the number of pesticides in a respective combination. Specific antagonistic/synergistic insecticide‐herbicide combinations may be detected in the field using this method.
Femtosecond Far-Infrared Studies of Photoconductivity in a-Si:H and a-SiGe:H

We present femtosecond time-resolved studies of the frequency-dependent photoconductivity in the far-infrared spectral range (∼ 1 – 10 meV) in PECVD a-SiGe:H and a-Si:H thin films. The experiments are carried out using an optical pump / terahertz (THz) probe technique, in which a femtosecond pump pulse excites carriers into the extended states and a time-delayed probe pulse measures the resulting change in the far-infrared optical properties, which are directly related to the ac photoconductivity, as the carrier distribution evolves in time. We find that the frequency-dependent conductivity measured on picosecond time scales shows a strongly non-Drude behavior, with components of the response fitting to a power-law frequency dependence, reflecting processes associated with localized states.
Emi1 is required for cytostatic factor arrest in vertebrate eggs.

Vertebrate eggs are arrested at metaphase of meiosis II with stable cyclin B and high cyclin B/Cdc2 kinase activity. The ability of the anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome (APC), an E3 ubiquitin ligase, to trigger cyclin B destruction and metaphase exit is blocked in eggs by the activity of cytostatic factor (CSF) (reviewed in ref. 1). CSF was defined as an activity in mature oocytes that caused mitotic arrest when injected into dividing embryos2. Fertilization causes a transient increase in cytoplasmic calcium concentration leading to CSF inactivation, APC activation, cyclin B destruction and mitotic exit3. The APC activator Cdc20 is required for APC activation after fertilization4,5. We show here that the APCcdc20 inhibitor Emi1 (ref. 6) is necessary and sufficient to inhibit the APC and to prevent mitotic exit in CSF-arrested eggs. CSF extracts immunodepleted of Emi1 degrade cyclin B, and exit from mitosis prematurely in the absence of calcium. Addition of Emi1 to these Emi1-depleted extracts blocks premature inactivation of the CSF-arrested state. Emi1 is required to arrest unfertilized eggs at metaphase of meiosis II and seems to be the long-sought mediator of CSF activity.
Fascial release as an adjunct to wound closure

We describe a simple technique to facilitate the primary closure of skin defects. Skin, subcutaneous tissue and fascia are undermined as a unit on both sides of the defect. Fascial releasing incisions are performed, creating two bipedicled fascial flaps attached to the overlying skin. The fascia is approximated, if possible, and the skin sutured. We believe this technique offers a number of advantages and results in a superior closure to that obtained with the conventional method of skin undermining. This approach has enabled the closure of 10 of 11 medium sized wounds.
O-linked Glycosylation Site Prediction Using Ensemble of Graphical Models

Prediction of O-linked glycosylation sites in proteins is a challenging problem. In this paper, we introduced a new method to predict glycosylation sites in proteins. First, we built a Markov random field (MRF) to represent the sequence position relationship and model the underlying distribution of glycosylation sites. We then considered glycosylation site prediction as a class imbalance problem and employed the AdaBoost algorithm to improve the predictive performance of the classifier. We applied our method to two types of proteins: the transmembrane (TM) proteins and the non-transmembrane (non-TM) proteins. We showed that for both datasets, our methods outperform existing methods. We also showed that the performance of the system was improved significantly with the help of AdaBoost.
The Digestibility of Korean Lespedeza Hay and Ground Korean Lespedeza Seed for Dairy Heifers

Summary Digestion coefficients were determined on Korean lespedeza hay cut well in advance of bloom, just before bloom, and after bloom. The digestibility of practically all nutrients was decreased with advanced maturity and the late-cut hay was a very poor source of total digestible nutrients. The lignin content of the hays increased with maturity and as the lignin increased digestibility was decreased. Digestion coefficients were calculated for ground Korean lespedeza seed fed with two types of lespedeza hay and with alfalfa hay. The lespedeza seed crude protein averaged 81.35 per cent digestible which makes the seed contain approximately 28.5 to 32.5 per cent digestible crude protein. The seed contained an average of 69.01 per cent total digestible nutrients and had a nutritive ratio of 1:1.22,
Two-dimensional particle-image velocimetry with electro-optical image shifting in an internal combustion engine

Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), has been used to make 2D velocity measurements over the cylinder cross section of a reciprocating internal-combustion engine. Electrooptical image shifting has been demonstrated previously as a viable means to remove the directional ambiguity inherent in PIV. A two-laser system was developed to produce two, colinear, cross- polarized laser beams, which are required for the image shifting technique. Particle scattering resulted in some depolarization of the laser light. This was shown to result in erroneous vectors and a zero bias at low velocities. Techniques to minimize the depolarization problems are discussed. It is demonstrated that the uncertainty in this method is small enough to permit resolving in-cylinder engine turbulence.© (1993) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Geometry of the space of phylogenetic trees

We consider a continuous space which models the set of all phylogenetic trees having a fixed set of leaves. This space has a natural metric of nonpositive curvature, giving a way of measuring distance between phylogenetic trees and providing some procedures for averaging or combining several trees whose leaves are identical. This geometry also shows which trees appear within a fixed distance of a given tree and enables construction of convex hulls of a set of trees. This geometric model of tree space provides a setting in which questions that have been posed by biologists and statisticians over the last decade can be approached in a systematic fashion. For example, it provides a justification for disregarding portions of a collection of trees that agree, thus simplifying the space in which comparisons are to be made.
Experimental and theoretical investigation of the B∼1A′–X∼1A′ electronic transition of CuSH

Abstract By means of resonant two-color two-photon ionization time-of-flight mass spectroscopy, the jet-cooled spectrum of the B ∼ 1 A ′ – X ∼ 1 A ′ transition of CuSH and CuSD, exhibiting an origin near 434 nm, has been measured. The carrier of the spectrum is confirmed to be CuSH, formed in a discharge between copper electrodes through H2S diluted in argon, on the basis of isotope analysis and comparison with ab initio calculations. Guided by coupled-cluster calculations of the X ∼ and B ∼ -states for both isotopologues, all of the observed bands are readily assigned to transitions involving the Cu–S stretch and Cu–S–H bend.
Purification of the cardiac Na+Ca2+ exchange protein

Abstract We have used fractionation procedures to enrich solubilized cardiac sarcolemma in the Na + Ca 2+ exchange protein. Sarcolemma is extracted with an alkaline medium to remove peripheral proteins and is then solubilized with decylmaltoside. Next, the exchanger is applied to DEAE-Sepharose and eluted with high salt. The DEAE fraction is applied to WGA-agarose, and a small fraction of protein, enriched in the exchanger, can be eluted by changing the detergent to Triton X-100. This fraction is reconstituted into asolectin proteoliposomes for measurement of Na + Ca 2+ exchange activity and gel electrophoresis. The purified fraction has a Na + Ca 2+ exchange activity of 600 nmol Ca 2+ /mg of protein per s at 10 μM Ca 2+ and a purification factor of about 30 as compared with control reconstituted sarcolemmal vesicles. Ca 2+ Ca 2+ exchange and Na + Ca 2+ exchange activities were both present in the same final reconstituted vesicles indicating that the same protein is responsible for both transport activities. SDS-PAGE reveals two prominent protein bands at 70 and 120 kDa. After mild chymotrypsin treatment (1 μg/ml), there is no loss of exchange activity, but the 120 kDa band disappears and the 70 kDa band becomes more dense. This suggests that the 70 kDa band is due to an active proteolytic fragment of the 120 kDa protein. Under non-reducing gel conditions, only a single protein band is seen with an apparent molecular weight of 160 kDa. Antibodies to the purified exchanger preparation are able to immunoprecipitate exchange activity and confirm that the 70 kDa protein derives from the 120 kDa protein. We propose that both the 70 and 120 kDa proteins are associated with the Na + Ca 2+ exchanger.
A useful synthesis of ω-iodoperfluoroalkanesulfonyl fluorides and perfluoroalkane-α,ω-bis-sulfonyl fluorides

Abstract ω-Iodoperfluoroalkanesulfonyl fluorides and perfluoroalkane-α,ω-bis-sulfonyl fluorides have been prepared via deiodosulfination, chlorination, and then chlorine-fluorine exchange reaction of α,ω-diiodoperfluoroalkanes I(CF2)nI (n=3, 4, 6). Similar reaction of I(CF2)2O(CF2)2SO2F affords FSO2(CF2)2O(CF2)2SO2F.
Minimizing Fatigue and Fracture in Steel Bridges

Steel bridges are subjected to live loads which produce variable stress ranges in bridge components. At welded bridge details, the existence of initial defects and residual stresses eliminate the initiation stage of fatigue crack growth, and stress range is found to be the controlling factor for crack propagation. Laboratory tests have resulted in stress range-fatigue life relationships for various bridge details. These data correlate well with fracture mechanics theory and with field data. Limits on live load stresses have been adopted for steel bridges. Coupled with material fracture toughness requirements, the stress range limits minimize the probability of fatigue and fracture in steel bridges.
The Polyphenols Resveratrol and S17834 Prevent the Structural and Functional Sequelae of Diet-Induced Metabolic Heart Disease in Mice

Background—Diet-induced obesity is associated with metabolic heart disease characterized by left ventricular hypertrophy and diastolic dysfunction. Polyphenols such as resveratrol and the synthetic flavonoid derivative S17834 exert beneficial systemic and cardiovascular effects in a variety of settings including diabetes mellitus and chronic hemodynamic overload. Methods and Results—We characterized the structural and functional features of a mouse model of diet-induced metabolic syndrome and used the model to test the hypothesis that the polyphenols prevent myocardial hypertrophy and diastolic dysfunction. Male C57BL/6J mice were fed a normal diet or a diet high in fat and sugar (HFHS) with or without concomitant treatment with S17834 or resveratrol for up to 8 months. HFHS diet–fed mice developed progressive left ventricular hypertrophy and diastolic dysfunction with preservation of systolic function in association with myocyte hypertrophy and interstitial fibrosis. In HFHS diet–fed mice, there was incr...
Men's Experience of Making the Decision to have their First Child: A Phenomenological Analysis

Men's experience of making the decision to have their first child was examined through a phenomenological analysis of unstructured interviews with expectant fathers. Analysis revealed a dialectical structure to men's decision-making processes. Men who had made a conscious decision to become a father were shown to be emotionally invested in reproductive decisions, participating actively in this complex process.
Power Residue Character of Jacobi Sums

Abstract In two previous papers [Proc. Amer. Math. Soc.117 (1993), 877- 884], [J. Number Theory44 (1993), 214-221], a reciprocity relation for the power residue symbol of odd prime exponent, between Jacobi sums, was conjectured then proved. This is here extended to the case of an arbitrary exponent, as a consequence of an expression for the power residue character of a Jacobi sum, modulo a rational prime power, in terms of Fermat quotients.
Zawilinski: a library for studying grammar in Wiktionary

We present Zawilinski, a Java library that supports the extraction and analysis of grammatical data in Wiktionary. Zawilinski can efficiently (1) filter Wiktionary for content pertaining to a specified language, and (2) extract a word's inflections from its Wiktionary entry. We have thus far used Zawilinski to (1) measure the correctness of the inflections for a subset of the Polish words in the English Wiktionary and to (2) show that this grammatical data is very stable. (Only 131 out of 4748 Polish words have had their inflection data corrected.) We also explain Zawilinski's key features and discuss how it can be used to simplify the development of additional grammar-based analyses.
Oxygen potential of irradiated urania-plutonia fuel pins

Abstract The oxygen-potential gradient in irradiated urania-plutonia fuel pins has been estimated from the distribution of molybdenum between the noble-metal-alloy inclusions and the oxide matrix as measured using an electron microprobe. The values of the oxygen potential were found to be more negative than would be computed for the fuel on the basis of the initial O/M ratio, thus indicating that the overall O/M of the fuel was decreased by irradiation. The O/M gradient has been computed and an oxygen material balance was determined between fuel oxide, fission products, and cladding. The nearly identical oxygen pressure profiles found for fuel pins irradiated for a range of values of the burnup indicates that the oxygen-potential gradient is establsihed early in the irradiation period, probably at the time the structure has been established and then remains nearly constant. The oxygen lost during the restructuring period is determined by the initial O/M of the fuel, the smear density and the temperature gradient. The oxygen lost during the burnup period is proportional to the burnup.
PROCESSING AND EXPRESSION OF RAT AND HUMAN CLOTTING FACTOR-X-ENCODING CDNAS

The cDNA encoding clotting factor X, which participates in the middle stage of the blood coagulation cascade was cloned from a rat liver cDNA library. Sequencing of the rat factor-X-encoding cDNA revealed that this vitamin-K-dependent protein has a dibasic Arg-Arg sequence at the propeptide cleavage site, as occurs in other vitamin-K-dependent proteins. Although the human and rat deduced amino acid sequences are remarkably similar (76% identical), they do significantly differ in that human factor-X contains a unique Thr-Arg sequence at the propeptide cleavage site [Fung et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 82 (1985) 3591-3595], where a dibasic sequence would normally be expected. This specific site is the recognition motif for the endoprotease, furin, which is located in the Golgi apparatus. Both rat and human cDNAs expressed in Cos-1 cells resulted in secretion of a mixture of single- and two-chain forms of factor X. The two-chain forms were devoid of the propeptide and were produced at similar rates by the transfected cells. The efficient processing of human factor X, when compared to rat factor X, may indicate that an additional protease(s), which recognizes the Thr-Arg motif, may be involved in proteolytic processing of the human enzyme.
Biology and Immature Stages of Coremacera marginata F. a Predator of Terrestrial Snails (Dipt. Sciomyzidae)

Coremacera marginata (Fabricius) (Dipt. Sciomyzidae) is found in woods, fields, and other terrestrial situations in much of the western Palearctic region. During laboratory rearings through the complete life cycle, each larva killed and ate I-3 immature to adult snails belonging to several terrestrial genera. The immature stages of C. marginata are described and figured, and the distribution is mapped. The taxonomic position of Coremacera is discussed, and a catalog of the genus and new distributional records of 4 rare species of Coremacera are included. A summary chart of the food of sciomyzid larvae is presented.
Melphalan, a second chemical for which specific-locus mutation induction in the mouse is maximum in early spermatids

Melphalan (MLP), a bifunctional alkylating agent structurally related to the highly mutagenic chemical chlorambucil (CHL), was found to induce high frequencies of specific-locus mutations in postspermatogonial germ cells of the mouse, and to be one of only a few chemicals that is also mutagenic in spermatogonial stem cells. Productivity patterns following MLP exposures resembled those that had been found for CHL. Mutation rates in successive male germ-cell stages were measured at three MLP-exposure levels in a total of 95,375 offspring. While the induced (experimental minus historical-control) mutation rate is relatively low in stem-cell spermatogonia (1.2 x 10(-5) per locus at a weighted-mean exposure of 7.3 mg/kg), it is about 5 times higher in poststem-cell stages overall, and peaks at 26.7 x 10(-5) per locus in early spermatids at a weighted-mean exposure of only 5.7 mg/kg. This "type-2 pattern" of mutation yield (Russell et al., 1990), i.e., peak sensitivity in early spermatids, has heretofore been found for only one other chemical, CHL. Mutation-rate data earlier reported for CHL (Russell et al., 1989) were augmented in the present study for comparison with MLP-induced rates. Because of the greater toxicity of MLP, average exposures used for this chemical were only about one-half of those for CHL. When MLP and CHL mutation rates are extrapolated to equimolar doses, they appear very similar for poststem-cell stages overall. However, in the case of CHL, a somewhat higher proportion of the mutations is induced in early spermatids than in the case of MLP.
Rapid heterogeneous prototyping from Simulink

Designing embedded high-performance systems is challenging due to complex algorithms, real-time operations and conflicting goals (e.g. power v.s. performance). Heterogeneous platforms that combine processors and custom hardware accelerators are a promising approach. However, manually designing HW/SW systems is prohibitively expensive due to the immense manual effort. This paper introduces SimSH: Simulink Sw/Hw CoDesign Framework, which provides an automatic path from an algorithm captured in Simulink to a heterogeneous implementation. Given an allocation and a mapping decision, the SimSH automatically synthesizes the Simulink model onto the heterogeneous target with reconstruction of the synchronization and communication between processing elements. In the process, the SimSH detects an underutilized bus and optimizes communication by packing/unpacking. Synthesizing a heterogeneous implementation from Simulink allows the developer to focus on the algorithm design with rapid validation and test on a heterogeneous platform. We demonstrate synthesis benefits using a Sobel Edge Detection algorithm and target a heterogeneous architecture of Blackfin processor and Spar-tan3E FPGA. The synthesized solution is 2.68x faster (and energy efficient) over pure SW execution.
The spatial structure of correlations in natural scenes shapes neural coding in mouse primary visual cortex

Natural scenes, although complex in appearance, contain numerous statistical regularities. For instance, owing to surfaces and textures, neighboring pixels in natural images are strongly correlated in both space and time (Figure 1B). These correlations create strong dependencies between neurons that may limit neural coding efficiency. Thus, to produce an efficient representation, it has been proposed that neural circuits in the early visual system function to remove extraneous stimulus correlations. Although extensively studied in the retina and LGN, the mechanisms of efficient coding in primary visual cortex (V1) remain elusive. The goal of this study is to establish a relationship between population coding in V1 and spatial correlations in natural scenes. Mathematically, the Fourier amplitude spectrum describes second-order correlations between pixels. In contrast, the phase spectrum describes higher-order correlations, which arise due to edges and other salient features. To understand how stimulus correlations influence coding in V1, we developed a novel technique that allowed us to systematically perturb the Fourier amplitude spectrum of natural movies, while keeping the edge structure intact. Using this method, we generated movies with four different levels of spatial correlation (Figure 1A). Visually, edges in the most decorrelated movies (K0 spectrum) appear shaper, while edges in the most strongly correlated movies appear occluded (K2 spectrum). To assess how populations of neurons respond to these movies, we performed high-speed 2-photon calcium imaging in layer 2/3 of mouse V1. This method permitted us to monitor the activity of close to 100 neurons with high spatial and temporal resolution.
Correspondence between evaluative expectations and attitudes

The purpose of this study was to explain the concept of attitude (and its measurement) in terms of expectancy-value theory and to test the hypothesis that attitudes are enduring evaluative expectations towards an object. A disguised measure of evaluative expectations on the Vietnam war based on a category-width task, two further category width scales on different issues, and two attitude measures (i.e., a Thurstone and a semanticdifferential scale on Vietnam) were administered to eighty-seven male college students. Degree of structure (information) was manipulated in all categorization measures. As predicted, evaluative expectations were significantly related to attitude scores. Also, the structure variable affected relationships among categorization variables but not the relationship between evaluative expectations and attitudes. In addition, it was found that generalization of categorization tendencies decreased as the attitudinal relevance of the issue increased.
Short-term synaptic plasticity can enhance weak signal detectability in nonrenewal spike trains

We study the encoding of weak signals in spike trains with interspike interval (ISI) correlations and the signals' subsequent detection in sensory neurons. Motivated by the observation of negative ISI correlations in auditory and electrosensory afferents, we assess the theoretical performance limits of an individual detector neuron receiving a weak signal distributed across multiple afferent inputs. We assess the functional role of ISI correlations in the detection process using statistical detection theory and derive two sequential likelihood ratio detector models: one for afferents with renewal statistics; the other for afferents with negatively correlated ISIs. We suggest a mechanism that might enable sensory neurons to implicitly compute conditional probabilities of presynaptic spikes by means of short-term synaptic plasticity. We demonstrate how this mechanism can enhance a postsynaptic neuron's sensitivity to weak signals by exploiting the correlation structure of the input spike trains. Our model not only captures fundamental aspects of early electrosensory signal processing in weakly electric fish, but may also bear relevance to the mammalian auditory system and other sensory modalities.
On the mechanism of inhibition of gluconeogenesis and ureagenesis by sodium benzoate

Synthesis of glucose from lactate and generation of urea from ammonia were inhibited when sodium benzoate was added to suspensions of rat hepatocytes. Assays with isolated mitochondria suggested pyruvate carboxylase and the N-acetyl-L-glutamate (NAG)-dependent carbamoylphosphate synthetase (CPS-I) as potential sites of inhibition for both pathways, owing to a shared dependency on aspartate efflux from the mitochondria and its subsequent conversion to oxaloacetate in the cytosol. Assays with isolated hepatocytes indicated inhibition to be initiated by accumulation of benzoyl CoA with a resultant depletion of free CoA and acetyl CoA. Measurements of adenine nucleotides showed that benzoate metabolism did not sufficiently alter energy status to account for the observed inhibition. Consistent with these interpretations, acceleration of the conversion of benzoyl CoA to hippurate by the addition of glycine restored the levels of free CoA and acetyl CoA and the rates of gluconeogenesis and ureagenesis. Reduction of the levels of aspartate and glutamate, presumably by interference with the anapleurotic function of pyruvate carboxylase, most likely accounted for inhibition of gluconeogenesis by benzoate. Whether reduced flux through the urea cycle also contributed to inhibition of gluconeogenesis (by diminishing cytosolic conversion of aspartate to oxaloacetate) requires further study. Depression of glutamate and acetyl CoA to levels at or below the Km for NAG synthetase probably accounted for the observed inhibition of ureagenesis. Rates of urea production were observed to vary with changes in the levels of NAG, suggesting NAG-dependent CPS-I to be the primary site of inhibition of ureagenesis by benzoate.
Zirconocene-alumoxane (1:1) — a catalyst for the selective dimerization of α-olefins

Abstract A well known catalytic system for the oligomerization of 1-alkenes is zirconocene dichloride (Cp 2 ZrCl 2 ), when activated by a large excess of methylalumoxane (MAO). Surprisingly, when activated by only 1 equiv, of MAO, Cp 2 ZrCl 2 selectively and catalytically dimerizes α -olefins without formation of any higher oligomeric species. This reaction is shown to be general for a number of α -olefins. The conversion of o -diallylbenzene gives a seven-membered cyclic product in an intramolecular dimerization reaction. A possible mechanism for the dimerization process involving a zirconium-hydrido species as the catalyst is formulated, and evidence for it is given by detection of by-products and a deuteration experiment.
Successfully Accelerating Translational Research at an Academic Medical Center: The University of Michigan-Coulter Translational Research Partnership Program

Translational research encompasses the effective movement of new knowledge and discoveries into new approaches for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease. There are many roadblocks to successful bench to bedside research, but few have received as much recent attention as the “valley of death.” The valley of death refers to the lack of funding and support for research that moves basic science discoveries into diagnostics, devices, and treatments in humans, and is ascribed to be the result of companies unwilling to fund research development that may not result in a drug or device that will be utilized in the clinic and conversely, the fact that researchers have no access to the funding needed to carry out preclinical and early clinical development to demonstrate potential efficacy in humans. The valley of death also exists because bridging the translational gap is dependent on successfully managing an additional four risks: scientific, intellectual property, market, and regulatory. The University of Michigan (UM) has partnered with the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation (CF) to create a model providing an infrastructure to overcome these risks. This model is easily adoptable to other academic medical centers (AMCs). Clin Trans Sci 2010; Volume 3: 316–318
Swept composite wing aeroelastic divergence experiments

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate by experimentation rather than analysis the potential effects of laminate design on wing divergence speed. Eleven flexible composite wing models have been tested for aeroelastic divergence at a number of fore and aft sweep angles. These fixed-root models incorporate sectioned aerodynamic shells mounted to interchangeable internal graphite-epoxy plates. These plates provide wing structural stiffness and simulate various off-axis composite structural configurations. Test results, obtained from subcritical testing using a modified Southwell method, clearly identify basic relationships between wing sweep, composite fiber orientation, and wing divergence speed. In addition, good agreement is shown between a Southwell prediction and a test actually run to divergence.
Multimodality Therapy for Esophageal Carcinoma-Update

Transhiatal esophagectomy with a cervical anastomosis provides safe and efficient palliation of dysphagia in patients with esophageal carcinoma. This is achieved without the morbidity and mortality inherent in the more traditional transthoracic esophagectomy and intrathoracic esophagogastric anastomosis. A phase II trial assessing the value of combination chemotherapy and concurrent radiation therapy prior to THE has suggested that this approach may improve survival meaningfully and potentially achieve cure in complete responders. A phase III trial is now under way to validate these results.
The transfer of abnormal visual field representations from the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus to the visual cortex in Siamese cats.

Abstract It has previously been shown that Siamese cats have abnormal retino-geniculate pathways. In the lateral geniculate nucleus of the Siamese cat two layers (A and C) represent the nasal retina of the contralateral eye in a normal manner. Two other layers (A1 and C1) have some segments that carry a normal retinotopically organized representation of the visual field, and other segments in which the representation of the visual field is abnormal and reversed 26 . In order to determine the pattern of input that the visual cortex receives from these normal and abnormal geniculate segments, the visual field representations in the visual cortex of Siamese cats have been studied. Recordings have been obtained from cortical neurons or neuron groups with microelectrodes, and the retrograde cell changes that occur in the lateral geniculate nucleus following lesions of the visual cortex have been studied. The geniculo-cortical pathway is modified in one of two quite distinct ways. Each modification produces a complete and orderly sequential representation of the visual field upon the cortex. One involves the suppression of geniculo-cortical input from layers A1 and C1, without any modification of the pathway from the normal layers, and the other involves a rearrangement of the whole geniculo-cortical projection, with a reversal of the input from the abnormal segments of layers A1 and C1 (see ref. 36). In Siamese cats that suppress input from layers A1 and C1 the suppression can be reduced but not abolished by lid suture. That is, after a unilateral lid suture in Siamese cats, input relayed through the normal geniculate layers still dominates over that coming through the abnormal layers, even on the side on which the normal layers were deprived by the suture. However, the suppression of the input from the abnormal layers is less on this side than it is in a normal Siamese cat.
Colocalization of Lysosomal Hydrolase and β-Amyloid in Diffuse Plaques of the Cerebellum and Striatum in Alzheimer's Disease and Down's Syndrome

The lysosomal hydrolases, cathepsin D (Cat D) and β-hexosaminidase A (HEX), which are normally intracellular enzymes, colocalize with β-amyloid in a subgroup of diffuse plaques in the cerebellum and striatum of individuals with Alzheimer's disease or Down's syndrome. Using specific antisera in combination with single- and double-label immunocytochemical techniques, extracellular hydrolase was detected in 30 to 40% of the diffuse plaques in the cerebellar molecular layer and nearly all of the diffuse plaques in the striatum. In both Alzheimer's disease and Down's syndrome, about 5 to 10% of the cerebellar Purkinje cells contained abnormally increased numbers of hydrolase-positive lysosomes despite their normal appearance by conventional histologic stains. Occasional atrophic Purkinje cells identified by Nissl stain were intensely immunostained. By confocal imaging analysis, abnormal hydrolase-laden Purkinje cell dendrites were seen coursing through some hydrolase-positive plaques and were continuous with dendritic branches that terminated within deposits of extracellular hydrolase and β-amyloid. In the striatum, intensely immunostained abnormal-appearing neurons were commonly associated with extracellular deposits of hydrolase immunoreactivity and β-amyloid within diffuse plaques and in the less commonly seen classical plaques. In both brain regions, other hydrolase-negative β-amyloid deposits were seen, these being associated with blood vessels. The presence of HEX immunoreactivity in neurons, but not in glia, and its abundance in plaques support earlier studies, suggesting that neurons are the principal source of plaque hydrolase. An endosomal-lysosomal system upregulation, with increased hydrolase expression and extracellular enzyme deposition in plaques, is, like β-amyloid deposition, an early marker of metabolic dysfunction potentially related to primary etiologic events in Alzheimer's disease and Down's syndrome.
Integration of process planning and scheduling functions

Automated process planning (APP) has received a considerable amount of attention in recent years. This has mainly been due to APP allowing for the bridging of the gap between design and manufacturing, and for its automation of the related tedious human task. While there have been several efforts in developing interfaces between computer-aided design (CAD) and APP, little attention has been given to the integration of APP and scheduling, which is likely to be of even higher importance. This paper addresses the basic issues involved in the integration of the two functions, demonstrates a methodology and the potential benefits of the integrated approach by an example, and presents directions for future research.
Prenatal starvation retards development of the ventilatory response to hypoxia in newborn guinea pigs.

Abstract: Prenatal starvation causes pulmonary hypoplasia in newborn guinea pigs, and is associated with postnatal cyanosis, hypothermia, and respiratory failure. To determine the effects of such starvation on ventilation, neonates from litters either fed ad libitum throughout gestation (control) or given 50% rations in the last trimester of pregnancy (starved) were studied at 29° C by plethysmography in 21, 11, and 5% O2. After 15 min (steadystate) in 11% and then 5% O2, 13 of 14 controls (mean = 95 g) sustained increases in weight-specific minute ventilation of 46 and 75% compared to values in air (p < 0.01), due to increases in respiratory frequency. Seven of 11 starved neonates (mean = 76 g) also sustained increases in respiratory frequency and weight-specific minute ventilation in 11 and 5% O2 similar in magnitude to those of the normal controls, although at higher weight-specific tidal volumes. One abnormal control (85 g) and four starved neonates (mean = 70 g) hyperventilated in air, did not respond to 11% O2, and then hypo ventilated in 5% O2 due to a reduced weight-specific tidal volume. Neonates with normal ventilatory patterns did not alter weight-specific minute ventilation in 100% O2 and did not show a biphasic response in acute (1–5 min) exposures to moderate hypoxia, as noted for newborn of other species. Thus, hypoxia identified those starved neonates in which pulmonary immaturity or other starvation-induced pathologies necessitated a maximal ventilatory effect in air. The sustainable hyperventilation among normal guinea pigs during hypoxia emphasizes the precocial development in this species at birth, which may be compromised by intrauterine starvation.
Increased Conformity Offers Diminishing Returns for Reducing Total Knee Replacement Wear

Wear remains a significant problem limiting the lifespan of total knee replacements (TKRs). Though increased conformity between TKR components has the potential to decrease wear, the optimal amount and planes of conformity have not been investigated. Furthermore, differing conformities in the medial and lateral compartments may provide designers the opportunity to address both wear and kinematic design goals simultaneously. This study used a computational model of a Stanmore knee simulator machine and a previously validated wear model to investigate this issue for simulated gait. TKR geometries with different amounts and planes of conformity on the medial and lateral sides were created and tested in two phases. The first phase utilized a wide range of sagittal and coronal conformity combinations to blanket a physically realistic design space. The second phase performed a focused investigation of the conformity conditions from the first phase to which predicted wear volume was sensitive. For the first phase, sagittal but not coronal conformity was found to have a significant effect on predicted wear volume. For the second phase, increased sagittal conformity was found to decrease predicted wear volume in a nonlinear fashion, with reductions gradually diminishing as conformity increased. These results suggest that TKR geometric design efforts aimed at minimizing wear should focus on sagittal rather than coronal conformity and that at least moderate sagittal conformity is desirable in both compartments.
CURRENT TRENDS FOR THE DIAGNOSIS AND SURGICAL TREATMENT OF PARTIAL ANOMALOUS PULMONARY VENOUS CONNECTION

Partial anomalous pulmonary venous connection (PAPVC) is a rare entity seen in 0.4-0.7% of the population. The connections are highly variable, requiring an individualized approach to surgical repair. Each repair has potential associated complications. Retrospective chart review of patients who
Effects of the NMDA antagonist memantine on human methamphetamine discrimination.

Abstract Rationale. The discriminative stimulus effects of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) antagonists have been assessed in laboratory animals. To date, no published study has assessed their ability to alter methamphetamine-related discriminative stimulus effects in humans. Objective. This study investigated the discriminative stimulus, subjective (e.g. "Good Drug Effect"), psychomotor performance, and cardiovascular effects (e.g. blood pressure) of oral methamphetamine following acute oral memantine (a non-competitive NMDA antagonist) in humans. Methods. Initially, participants were trained to discriminate 10 mg methamphetamine from placebo using a standard two-response procedure (drug versus placebo). Then, the effects of memantine (0, 40 mg) on methamphetamine discrimination were examined across several methamphetamine doses (0, 5, 10, 20 mg) using a novel-response procedure (drug versus placebo versus novel). Results. Following placebo pretreatment, 10 mg methamphetamine produced 99% methamphetamine-appropriate responding and placebo produced 75% placebo-appropriate responding. Following memantine pretreatment, participants responded as if they had been given a novel compound, although memantine did not significantly alter most subjective-effects ratings following methamphetamine. Memantine alone produced "positive" subjective effects and novel drug-appropriate responding. Conclusion. These data indicate that the memantine-methamphetamine combination produced novel discriminative stimulus effects and that memantine produced some stimulant-like subjective effects.