cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Global and Neighborhood Attitudes Toward the Police: Differentiation by Race, Ethnicity and Type of Contact

This study focused on a series of hypotheses regarding residents’ attitudes toward the police: (1) residents’ attitudes toward the police are better represented by a two-dimensional model that differentiates global perceptions of the police from assessments of the police in the respondents’ neighborhood; (2) the structure of residents’ attitudes toward the police is different for Whites, African Americans, and Latinos; (3) direct experiences with the police in the respondents’ neighborhood will be more strongly associated with the respondents’ assessment of police in their neighborhood than global perceptions of the police; and (4) the influence of direct experiences with the police will be stronger for African Americans and Latinos than for Whites. Results based on structural equation modeling offer strong support for the need to differentiate between global and neighborhood perceptions of the police. The underlining measurement structure of attitudes toward the police was similar for Whites, African Americans, and Latinos. However, the relationship between global and neighborhood attitudes was stronger for African Americans and Latinos. Negative contact with the police was associated with both negative global and neighborhood assessments of the police. Non-negative contact was associated with positive neighborhood perceptions of the police; however, only when it occurred within the neighborhood. The influence of direct experiences with the police (both inside and outside the neighborhood) was similar for Whites, African Americans, and Latinos.
The Relation of Antisocial Behavior Patterns and Changes in Internalizing Symptoms for a Sample of Inner-city Youth: Comorbidity within a Developmental Framework

Research examining the relationship between internalizing symptoms and antisocial behaviors has generally been cross-sectional in design. Thus, although extant data have substantiated a strong correlation between internalizing symptoms and antisocial behaviors, few studies have focused on describing the nature of the co-occurrence over time. This study examined the relation between growth in internalizing symptoms and longitudinal patterns of antisocial behavior in a sample of 283 inner-city males and their caregivers assessed as part of a longitudinal developmental risk study. Participants were assessed annually in four waves. Non-offenders and escalating offenders had lower levels of internalizing problems at wave 1 than did chronic minor and serious-chronic-violent offenders. Results revealed a developmental trend of decreasing internalizing problems across study years for most participants, as would be expected, with adolescents participating in serious, chronic, and violent patterns of antisocial behavior displaying greater internalizing problems than those participating in stable patterns of less serious or no antisocial behavior. Further, when there was escalation of seriousness and frequency of antisocial behavior, there also was increased internalizing problems relative to non-escalating juveniles. Results are discussed in the context of developmental psychopathology.
Shortest rectilinear paths among weighted obstacles

In this paper we study a rectilinear shortest path problem among weighted obstacles. Instead of restricting a path to totally avoid obstacles we allow a path to pass through them at extra costs. The extra costs are represented by the weights of the obstacles. We aim to find a shortest rectilinear path between two distinguished points among a set of weighted obstacles. By using a graph-theoretical approach, we obtain two algorithms which run in O(nlog2 n) time and O(n log n) space and in O(n log3/2 n) time and space, respectively, where n is the number of the vertices of obstacles.
Comparative statics of a monopolistic firm facing price-cap and command-and-control environmental regulations

Abstract An exhaustive comparative statics analysis of a model of a monopolistic firm facing price-cap regulation and a variety of commonly implemented command-and-control environmental regulations is carried out. The comparative statics are intrinsic to each of the models and thus form their basic, empirically testable properties. Several unanticipated results emerge from the analysis. In particular, it is shown that a subset of the intrinsic comparative statics are qualitatively invariant to all of the commonly employed command-and-control environmental regulations that a price-cap regulated profit-maximizing monopoly might face, while others are specific to the type of command-and-control environmental regulation in place.
Design of a Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle in the Capstone Design Course

The capstone course in Mechanical engineering at North Carolina A&T State University (NCA&TSU) is divided into two semesters. Team design projects begin in the fall semester and continued during the following spring semester. North Carolina State University, we, like virtually all other engineering programs, require a capstone course involving a major design project. This year a team of four mechanical engineering students and two electrical engineering students has decided to design and build a fuel efficient hydrogen fuel cell vehicle to compete in the 2009 Shell Eco-Marathon. The competition is designed to provide engineering students with a real life design experience. The objective of the competition is to encourage innovation and foster the development of sustainable mobility. Participants can design a vehicle for the Prototype Group or the Urban Concept Group. The Prototype Group allows maximum technical creativity, while imposing minimum design restrictions. The Urban Concept Group is closer to actual road going vehicles and addresses current transportation requirements. Both groups must meet the design criteria and meet safety standards provided by the 2009 Shell Eco-Marathon Official Rules. Participants must also select from a list of Shell approved energy sources to power their vehicles. The list includes both traditional fuels and alternative fuels. The main objective of the competition is maximum fuel efficiency. This year NCA&T Shell Eco-Marathon team has decided to enter the Prototype Group and has selected Hydrogen as the energy source. Our team placed in the third place in the hydrogen fuel cell prototype group. The completion of the Shell Eco-Marathon design project will serves as a valuable learning experience, while demonstrating the technical abilities of the students.Copyright © 2009 by ASME
Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology of Brain Preconditioning

The tolerant brain which is a consequence of adaptation to repeated nonlethal insults is accompanied by the upregulation of protective mechanisms and the downregulation of prodegenerative pathways. During the past 20 years, evidence has accumulated to suggest that protective mechanisms include increased production of chaperones, trophic factors, and other antiapoptotic proteins. In contrast, preconditioning can cause substantial dampening of the organism’s metabolic state and decreased expression of proapoptotic proteins. Recent microarray analyses have also helped to document a role of several molecular pathways in the induction of the brain refractory state. The present review highlights some of these findings and suggests that a better understanding of these mechanisms will inform treatment of a number of neuropsychiatric disorders.
Fat contouring in the face and neck

Fat removal via closed aspiration or open excision under direct vision through limited incisions can produce significant and beneficial featural change in the face and neck. These minimally invasive procedures are not substitutes for face and neck lift in older patients with lax facial tissues. Patients selected for this surgery should have sufficient skin elasticity so that the skin envelope wil smoothly reduce to the decreased volume.
An Investigation of Electrolyte Solutions Using a Simple Conductivity Apparatus

A student laboratory exercise in qualitative analysis has been developed to address student misconceptions associated with electrolyte and nonelectrolyte solutions. This exercise uses a previously reported, inexpensive, home-built conductivity meter to identify acid solutions. An additional short preparatory exercise provides students the opportunity to classify known solutions as strong, weak, or nonelectrolytes and gives students experience using a conductivity meter. These activities have been used successfully with both high school and introductory college chemistry students.
Sea-level history of the past two interglacial periods: new evidence from U-series dating of reef corals from south Florida

Abstract As a future warm-climate analog, much attention has been directed to studies of the Last Interglacial period or marine isotope substage (MIS) 5.5, which occurred ∼120,000 years ago. Nevertheless, there are still uncertainties with respect to its duration, warmth and magnitude of sea-level rise. Here we present new data from tectonically stable peninsular Florida and the Florida Keys that provide estimates of the timing and magnitude of sea-level rise during the Last Interglacial period. The Last Interglacial high sea stand in south Florida is recorded by the Key Largo Limestone, a fossil reef complex, and the Miami Limestone, an oolitic marine sediment. Thirty-five new, high-precision, uranium-series ages of fossil corals from the Key Largo Limestone indicate that sea level was significantly above present for at least 9000 years during the Last Interglacial period, and possibly longer. Ooids from the Miami Limestone show open-system histories with respect to U-series dating, but show a clear linear trend toward an age of ∼120 ka, correlating this unit with the Last Interglacial corals of the Key Largo Limestone. Older fossil reefs at three localities in the Florida Keys have ages of ∼200 ka and probably correlate to MIS 7. These reefs imply sea level near or slightly above present during the penultimate interglacial period. Elevation measurements of both the Key Largo Limestone and the Miami Limestone indicate that local (relative) sea level was at least 6.6 m, and possibly as much as 8.3 m higher than present during the Last Interglacial period.
The PNNL quantitative infrared database for gas-phase sensing: a spectral library for environmental, hazmat, and public safety standoff detection

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) continues to expand its library of quantitative infrared reference spectra for remote sensing. The gas-phase data are recorded at 0.1 cm-1 resolution, with nitrogen pressure broadening to one atmosphere to emulate spectra recorded in the field. It is planned that the PNNL library will consist of approximately 500 vapor-phase spectra associated with the U.S. Department of Energy’s environmental, energy, and public safety missions. At present, the database is comprised of approximately 300 infrared spectra, many of which represent highly reactive or toxic species. For the 298 K data, each reported spectrum is in fact a composite spectrum generated by a Beer’s law plot (at each wavelength) to typically 12 measured spectra. Recent additions to the database include the vapors of several semi-volatile and non-volatile liquids using an improved dissemination technique for vaporizing the liquid into the nitrogen carrier gas. Experimental and analytical methods are used to remove several known and new artifacts associated with FTIR gas-phase spectroscopy. Details concerning sample preparation and composite spectrum generation are discussed.
Values of Literacy History

The authors assert that history is a marginalized research genre among literacy professionals, consigned to the fringes of inquiry. They share a conversation about why this is so, and why it should not be.
The “Turbulent Frontier” as a Factor in British Expansion

British imperial policy during the first three quarters of the nineteenth century was increasingly dominated by men of business and industry who prided themselves upon their clear-headed devotion to sound economic principles. The world in which they lived had no place for maudlin sentimentality. The industrial system which had made Britain the wealthiest and most powerful state in the world must not be trammeled by artificial restrictions nor should its expansion be slowed by uneconomic burdens. Their religion was Material Progress, and its high priests – Cobden, Bright, Merivale, and others – preached that the Empire was an anachronism, an expensive relic of a by-gone day. Few were disposed to sever the bonds between Britain and its colonies; but these colonies must be made to pay their own way.
Effect of Naltrexone on Relaxation Induced by Flank Pressure in Pigs

Twenty, 6 to 9 kg Yorkshire piglets were used in 2 trials. Ten piglets received an IM injection of naltrexone at a dose of 1 to 1.3 mg/kg. Ten control pigs received saline. Blind behavioral testing in a "squeeze chute" was conducted 40 minutes after injection. The "squeeze chute" consists of two padded plywood panels hinged on a base to form a V. Each pig was squeezed for 60 seconds. After release, each pig remained in the padded V for 10 minutes. There was sufficient room for the pigs to walk a few steps. Both naltrexone- and saline-treated pigs eventually crouched down in the chute and relaxed against the padded sides of the V. Naltrexone-pretreated pigs had a longer latency to achieve relaxation--311.8 +/- 47.8 seconds vs. 161.8 +/- 30.38 seconds (SE) (p less than 0.02). Each stage of relaxation at induction was rated on a 1-4 scale (1 = squealing and jumping, 4 = relaxed quietly). Naltrexone-treated pigs had significantly lower relaxation ratings than saline-treated pigs (1.90 vs. 3.20) (p less than 0.01). Treatment had no effect on the final degree of relaxation. Naltrexone partially blocked the relaxation response.
Pyrolytic Graphite Transmission Polarizer for Infrared Radiation

A newly developed pyrolytic graphite polarizer foil has been found to provide a reasonably high transmittance and an excellent degree of polarization in the total spectral range above 10 μ. Its use has certain advantages over other types of polarizers for such wavelengths.
Erasable optical memory using stimulated electronic transition concept

Mass storage optical memory for use aboard unmanned orbital space platforms are currently under development by NASA. These storage systems with large information capacities, high data transfer rates, and high mean time between failures are needed. An optical system using stimulated electronic transition (SET) concept would be ideal for this application. For a single reading and writing beam system, the estimated storage capacity of 66 Gbits per disk, and a data transfer rate of 186 Mbits per second can be achieved. There are several oxide and sulfide materials that can be doped with rare earth elements to produce SET for optical storage. Unlike magneto-optic and phase change processes, the SET concept does not involve localized heating which produces material fatigue. Since electronic transitions are the only processes involved in SET storage, the disk will have an infinite lifetime.© (1990) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
A cyclic AMP-stimulated protein kinase from amphibian ovary and oocytes.

Abstract 1. 1.|Cyclic AMP-stimulated protein kinase (ATP:protein phosphotransferase, EC 2.7.1.37) activity was found in extracts and purified preparations of ovary, oocytes, and liver of Xenopus laevis. 2. 2.|Phosphorylation of protein proceeded at a linear rate for at least 30 min regardless of substrate. 3. 3.|At low concentrations (0.2 mg/ml), histone readily served as a substrate for the enzyme, whereas casein and phosvitin did not. 4. 4.|Histone kinase activity was promoted by Mg2+ and Co2+ and was inhibited by Ca2+, Cu2+, and p-hydroxymercuriphenyl sulfate. 5. 5.|At high concentrations (3.0 mg/ml), phosvitin served as a good substrate for a cyclic AMP-independent phosphorylation catalyzed by the same purified preparations that displayed cyclic AMP-stimulated histone kinase activity. The relationship between the two catalytic activities remains to be determined.
Germ Cell Migration in Rats Carrying Mutant Genes Affecting Fertility

SummarySelective staining was used to determine whether a mutant sex-limited dominant character manifested by sterility in male rats is reflected in the number of primordial germ cells in animals so affected. The number of primordial germ cells in 23.94% of 11-day rat embryos from mothers capable of producing sterile males falls below the least number of such cells found in 11 day embryos from normal mothers.
I.I.4 Autoimmune muscle diseases in dogs and cats: Spontaneous models for evaluation of therapies?

Spontaneously occurring autoimmune muscle diseases such as polymyositis (PM) and myasthenia gravis (MG) commonly affect dogs and to a lesser extent cats. A typical myopathic clinical phenotype including weakness, muscle atrophy and stiffness occurs in PM, and focal or generalized muscle weakness without atrophy occurs in MG. As in humans, diagnosis of PM is confirmed by muscle biopsies and immunophenotyping of cellular infiltrates, and of MG by a positive acetylcholine receptor antibody titer. Species-specific features of MG include frequent spontaneous immune remissions in the dog and a high incidence of thymoma associated MG in cats. Dermatomyositis in dogs is breed-associated and infrequently diagnosed. Most recently, a myopathy similar to spontaneous inclusion body myositis (sIBM) was identified in the dog recapitulating both the degenerative and inflammatory aspects of the human disease. Focal forms of immune-mediated myositis also occur in dogs including the apparently species-specific masticatory muscle myositis with muscle specific autoantibodies, and focal forms limited to other muscle groups. As rodent models have been largely unsuccessful in translation of new therapies for muscle diseases to human patients, large animal models of human muscle diseases are growing in importance and may be more clinically relevant. As autoimmune muscle diseases in large animals become better described and classified, these models of immune-mediated muscle disease will take a prominent role for therapeutic trials alongside the well established models of canine dystrophin deficient muscular dystrophy, centronuclear myopathy and myotubular myopathy.
Adsorbate-induced disorder-to-order surface reconstruction: iodine on Pd(111) revisited by EC-STM

Earlier work, based upon ex situ surface analytical measurements, found that a disordered Pd(111) surface can be spontaneously reordered upon exposure, at ambient conditions, to a dilute aqueous solution of iodide. This phenomenon has been re-examined by in situ atom-resolved scanning tunneling microscopy. The results from the present study, while corroborating the chemisorption-induced disorder-to-order surface reconstruction observed earlier, indicate that the kinetics of the structural rearrangements may not be as rapid as initially thought.
High-fidelity sensor modeling and self-calibration in vision-aided inertial navigation

In this paper, we propose a high-precision pose estimation algorithm for systems equipped with low-cost inertial sensors and rolling-shutter cameras. The key characteristic of the proposed method is that it performs online self-calibration of the camera and the IMU, using detailed models for both sensors and for their relative configuration. Specifically, the estimated parameters include the camera intrinsics (focal length, principal point, and lens distortion), the readout time of the rolling-shutter sensor, the IMU’s biases, scale factors, axis misalignment, and g-sensitivity, the spatial configuration between the camera and IMU, as well as the time offset between the timestamps of the camera and IMU. An additional contribution of this work is a novel method for processing the measurements of the rolling-shutter camera, which employs an approximate representation of the estimation errors, instead of the state itself. We demonstrate, in both simulation tests and real-world experiments, that the proposed approach is able to accurately calibrate all the considered parameters in real time, and leads to significantly improved estimation precision compared to existing approaches.
New method to calculate the N2 evolution from mixed venous blood during the N2 washout.

To model the normalized phase III slope (Sn) from N2 expirograms of the multibreath N2 washout is a challenge to researchers. Experimental measurements show that Sn increases with the number of breaths. Previously, we predicted Sn by setting the concentration (atm) of mixed venous blood (Fbi,N2) to a constant value of 0.3 after the fifth breath to calculate the amount of N2 transferred from the blood to the alveoli. As a consequence, the predicted curve of the Sn values showed a maximum before the quasi-steady state was reached. In this paper, we present a way of calculating the amount of N2 transferred from the blood to the alveoli by setting Fbi,N2 in the following way: In the first six breaths Fbi,N2 is kept constant at the initial value of 0.8 because circulation time needs at least 30 s to alter it. Thereafter, a single exponential function with respect to the number of breaths is used: Fbi=0.8 exp [0.112(6-n)], in which n is the breath number. The predicted Sn values were compared with experimental data from the literature. The assumption of an exponential decay in the N2 evolved from mixed venous blood is important in determining the shape of the Sn curve but new experimental data are needed to determine the validity of the model. We concluded that this new approach to calculate the N2 evolution from the blood is more meaningful physiologically. © 2001 Biomedical Engineering Society.
Impaired S-Nitrosylation of the Ryanodine Receptor Caused by Xanthine Oxidase Activity Contributes to Calcium Leak in Heart Failure

S-Nitrosylation is a ubiquitous post-translational modification that regulates diverse biologic processes. In skeletal muscle, hypernitrosylation of the ryanodine receptor (RyR) causes sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) calcium leak, but whether abnormalities of cardiac RyR nitrosylation contribute to dysfunction of cardiac excitation-contraction coupling remains controversial. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that cardiac RyR2 is hyponitrosylated in heart failure, because of nitroso-redox imbalance. We evaluated excitation-contraction coupling and nitroso-redox balance in spontaneously hypertensive heart failure rats with dilated cardiomyopathy and age-matched Wistar-Kyoto rats. Spontaneously hypertensive heart failure myocytes were characterized by depressed contractility, increased diastolic Ca2+ leak, hyponitrosylation of RyR2, and enhanced xanthine oxidase derived superoxide. Global S-nitrosylation was decreased in failing hearts compared with nonfailing. Xanthine oxidase inhibition restored global and RyR2 nitrosylation and reversed the diastolic SR Ca2+ leak, improving Ca2+ handling and contractility. Together these findings demonstrate that nitroso-redox imbalance causes RyR2 oxidation, hyponitrosylation, and SR Ca2+ leak, a hallmark of cardiac dysfunction. The reversal of this phenotype by inhibition of xanthine oxidase has important pathophysiologic and therapeutic implications.
Internationally Adopted Children in the Early School Years: Relative Strengths and Weaknesses in Language Abilities

Purpose This study aimed to determine the relative strengths and weaknesses in language and verbal short-term memory abilities of school-age children who were adopted from Eastern Europe. Method Ch...
Drive for thinness in black and white preadolescent girls.

This study examined racial differences in drive for thinness, a motivational variable implicated in the etiology of eating disorders. Subjects included 613 black and white preadolescent girls from one of three National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Growth and Health Study centers. Instruments included the Drive for Thinness Scale, a Criticism about Weight scale, the Self-Perception Profile for Children, a Sexual Maturation index, and 3-day food diaries. Black girls reported significantly greater drive for thinness than white girls. Drive for thinness was significantly associated with adiposity in both groups; additional predictors included criticism about weight for black girls and dissatisfaction with physical appearance for white girls. Correlations between drive for thinness and nutrient intakes were not significant. The finding of a greater drive for thinness among young black girls is provocative, given the higher prevalence of obesity and the lower prevalence of anorexia nervosa among black women. Longitudinal follow-up will examine the significance of drive for thinness in the development of weight and eating disorders in this cohort. © 1995 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
The Variability of Tropical Precipitation Profiles and Its Impact on Microwave Brightness Temperatures as Inferred from TRMM Data

Precipitation radar and microwave radiometer data collected by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite are used to study the variability of precipitation profiles and the relationship between precipitation profile and microwave brightness temperature. The variability has been examined using empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis and microwave emission and scattering signatures. Precipitation profiles are divided into three groups according to emission signatures at 19.4 GHz and three groups according to scattering signatures at 85.5 GHz. For stratiform rain, the differences of vertical precipitation profiles among these groups are small and are mainly seen in the slope of profiles below the freezing level. However, clear differences in vertical precipitation profiles can be found among the deep-convective rain groups. The maximum rainfall rate occurs at a considerably lower altitude when low liquid-emission or low ice-scattering signatures are observed. When emission or scattering signatures are high, precipitation profiles peak near the freezing level, a feature that is similar to the one in stratiform precipitation profiles. The three patterns of the vertical profiles derived from microwave signatures are very similar to the three patterns derived by EOF analysis. This similarity suggests that the three patterns derived by microwave signatures represent the most significant variability in vertical precipitation profiles. Results also show that, for the same near-surface rainfall rate, the pixel group with anomalously high microwave emission also shows anomalously high microwave scattering, and vice versa, suggesting that the liquid and ice water amounts in tropical rains are correlated over scales the size of a satellite pixel. It is also found that, for a given surface rainfall rate, the brightness-temperature differences among the pixel groups are large, highlighting the importance of vertical precipitation profile in determining upwelling microwave radiation and, therefore, the need to incorporate realistic precipitation profile information in rain retrieval algorithms.
Future directions and challenges for quantitative environmental visualization

Abstract Environmental visualization involves putting environmental information into visual forms and includes extracting data from environmental images. Environmental visualization uses visual images (photographs), as well as mathematical images (formulae) and physical/non-visual images (measured and modeled data) to visually represent environmental objects or phenomena on local, regional and global scales. This paper discusses several approaches to visualization to emphasize that environmental visualization has the potential to go beyond the ‘pretty pictures’ produced by digitized photographs or by the visual display of data.
There's no place like home: home court advantage in North American sports leagues.

We use a measure of home team advantage (HTA) that allows us to examine its relative strength across dissimilar sports leagues. Our metric confirms the widely reported existence of HTA. We control for relative team strength, thereby allowing comparisons across leagues. We find the strongest HTA in the National Basketball Association, followed by the National Football League and Major League Baseball in decreasing order.
A technique to aid in the detection of malignancy of the female genital tract

Abstract 1. A technique is described for measuring field forces in the intact human being. 2. In seventy-five patients with cancer of the female genital tract, seventyfour showed the cervix to be consistently electronegative to the ventral abdominal wall, 98.7 per cent. 3. Three hundred fifty-three patients with nonmalignant pathology showed the cervix to be electropositive to the ventral abdominal wall in two hundred eighty-nine instances, or 81.9 per cent. 4. In two hudrred ninety patients showing the cervix to be electropositive to the ventral abdominal wall, two hundred eighty-nine, or 99.6 per cent were in nonmalignant conditions. 5. Sixty-four patients, or 18.1 per cent of those with nonmalignant conditions, showed an electronegativity of the cervix similar to that found in cancer. 6. It is suggested that an unknown number of this latter small group may represent patients with field defects who may, at some later date, develop cancer.
Evaluation of δD and δ18O as natural markers of invertebrate source environment and dispersal in the middle Mississippi River‐floodplain ecosystem

Movement of invertebrates among large rivers, tributaries, and floodplain lakes or dispersal of adult aquatic insects from riverine or floodplain habitats may provide important subsidies to food webs in receiving habitats. Intensive sampling at habitat interfaces and artificial labelling are two approaches to assess freshwater invertebrate dispersal, but these are difficult to implement at a landscape scale. Natural chemical tracers have been used to track dispersal of fishes and marine invertebrates, but the potential applicability of stable isotope ratios as natural tracers of invertebrate dispersal in freshwater environments has not been assessed. We evaluated stable hydrogen and oxygen isotopes (dD and d 18 O) as natural markers of source environment and dispersal of macroinvertebrates in the middle Mississippi River, tributaries and floodplain wetlands. Water and invertebrates were collected from 12 sites during 2007–2008. Water dD and d 18 O differed among the river, its tributaries, and floodplain wetlands and were strongly correlated with invertebrate dD and d 18 O. Variability in invertebrate d 18 O rendered it ineffective as an indicator of invertebrate source environment. Mean d Do f Mississippi River invertebrates differed from dD of invertebrates from floodplain wetlands; dD distinguished invertebrates from these two environments with >80% accuracy. Neither dD nor d 18 O of aquatic insects changed following emergence from their natal site. Preservation method (ethanol or freezing) did not affect invertebrate d Do rd 18 O. Invertebrate dD may be a useful natural tracer of natal environment and dispersal in the Mississippi River-floodplain ecosystem and other freshwater systems where spatial variation in water dD is present. Copyright # 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Odanacatib: an emerging novel treatment alternative for postmenopausal osteoporosis

Odanacatib represents a novel treatment option in the approach of postmenopausal women. Postmenopausal women with osteoporosis experience a disturbance in bone remodeling wherein bone resorption exceeds bone formation. Cathepsin K is a lysosomal cysteine protease found primarily in osteoclasts that plays a major role in the breakdown of bone via its collagenase properties. Targeting a new area of pathophysiology, odanacatib inhibits cathepsin K to reduce bone resorption while preserving bone formation. Phase II and III trials have shown efficacy in increasing bone mineral density in the target treatment group. Overall, safety studies have found odanacatib to be well-tolerated and comparable to placebo; however, some imbalances in adverse events have been observed in the Phase III trials. Current and future studies will analyze the long-term ability of odanacatib in preventing bone fracture.
Asynchronous and synchronous spawning by smalleye shiner Notropis buccula from the Brazos River, Texas

Abstract – We used a combination of methods to study the reproductive ecology of the imperiled smalleye shiner Notropis buccula Cross in the Brazos River, Texas between April 2003 and March 2005. Patterns in oocyte development, gonadosomatic index and oocyte size distribution indicate that reproduction occurs over a 6-month period between April and September and that the population spawns asynchronously with individual fish spawning small batches of ova throughout the reproductive season except during periods of elevated streamflow when spawning becomes more intense and is synchronised within the population. This combination of asynchronous spawning and episodic synchronous spawning in the same species challenges the current paradigm of an exclusive association between spawning and periods of elevated streamflow for pelagic, broadcast-spawning cyprinids in North American Great Plains Rivers. The combination of asynchronous and synchronous spawning that we observed for the smalleye shiner is likely widespread among pelagic, broadcast-spawning cyprinids and limitations of the methods commonly used to assess reproductive ecology likely contributed to an incomplete understanding of the relationship between spawning and streamflow. An accurate understanding of this relationship is necessary to design and implement appropriate conservation and management strategies for the smalleye shiner and other imperiled broadcast-spawning cyprinid fishes.
No time to eat: an adaptationist account of periovulatory behavioral changes.

ABSTRACT A comprehensive review of women’s dietary behavior across the menstrual cycle suggests a drop in caloric intake around the time of ovulation; similar patterns occur in many other mammals. The periovulatory nadir is puzzling, as it is not explicable in terms of changes in the energy budget. Existing explanations in the animal literature operate wholly at the proximate level of analysis and hence do not address this puzzle. In this paper, I offer an ultimate explanation for the periovulatory feeding nadir, arguing that the decrease in the set point for satiation during the fertile period of the female cycle is an adaptation produced by natural selection in order to reduce the motivational salience of goals that compete with those directly or indirectly pertaining to mating. In support of this explanation, I adduce evidence of: a) periovulatory reductions in other ingestive behaviors, and b) periovulatory increases in motor activity and the psychological concomitants thereof.
Object wings-2 1/2 D primitives for 3D recognition

A set of 2 1/2 D primitives, called object wings, are introduced for representation and recognition of arbitrarily shaped 3D objects. There are 34 simple wings. A simple wing is defined as a triple including a pair of surface patches separated by a contour segment. Simple wings can be grouped into composite wings through nonaccidental relationships such as cotermination, symmetry, parallelism, connectivity, colinearity, and curvilinearity. Both simple wings and composite wings, together with their spatial structures, can be used to construct internal models of real-world objects. The configurations of wings possess enough information to be of use for both indexing into models and determining instance pose. Wing definitions and techniques for their detection are presented. Representation in terms of the proposed wing primitives and recognition based on the wing representations are addressed. Experimental results are given to indicate that wing primitives can be stably extracted over a broad change of scale, and that reasonable representations can be constructed. >
Opportunity Organizations and Threat‐Induced Contention: Protest Waves in Authoritarian Settings1

The article combines two strands of political process theory (opportunity and threat) in a changing authoritarian context. Through the use of protest event, archival, and secondary sources on El Salvador between 1962 and 1981, the study examines the outbreak and forms of two protest waves that are generated by the temporal sequencing of political opportunity and threat environments. The specific opportunities of institutional access and competitive elections motivate regime challengers to form durable civic organizations. This newly available organizational infrastructure can be used to sustain reformist contention in the near term as well as be radicalized to launch more disruptive and violent protest campaigns when opportunities recede and the political environment transitions to one characterized by mounting threats (state‐attributed economic problems, erosion of rights, and state repression).
All Graphs have Cycle Separators and Planar Directed Depth-First Search is in DNC

All graphs have cycle separators. (A single vertex is regarded as a trivial cycle.) In sequential computation, a cycle separator can be found in O(n + e) time for any undirected graph of n vertices and e edges; in O((n + e) log n) time for any directed graph. In parallel computation, it is in deterministic NC to convert any depth-first search forest of any graph into a cycle separator. Moreover, finding a cycle separator for any planar directed graph is in deterministic NC; consequently, finding a depth-first search forest in any planar directed graph is in deterministic NC, too.
New methods for digital modeling of historic sites

We discuss new methods for building 3D models of historic sites. Our algorithm automatically computes pairwise registrations between individual scans, builds a topological graph, and places the scans in the same frame of reference.
Simulation, analysis, and comparison of ACC and CACC in highway merging control

We comparatively assess the influence of adaptive cruise control (ACC) and cooperative adaptive cruise control (CACC) systems on highway traffic flow characteristics, with highway merging as an example. The primary goal is to study the design and implementation of vehicle-vehicle/roadside-vehicle communication system, which enhances an ACC system to a CACC one. In addition, the impact of market penetration of ACC/CACC vehicles and controller aggression are also evaluated. Two simulation works are presented. The microscopic study simulates a single ACC/CACC vehicle in cut-in scenario using MATLAB/Simulink. Simulation shows that CACC system saves control effort over ACC system. In the macroscopic work we simulate ACC/CACC controlled highway merging with SHIFT language. The results show beneficial effects of communication in both efficiency (average velocity)and cost (braking effort). The higher the market penetration of controlled vehicles the better the system performs. The aggressiveness of controller has mixed influence, which provides a tradeoff between efficiency and safety.
A gene conferring resistance to vancomycin but not teicoplanin in isolates of Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium demonstrates homology with vanB, vanA, and vanC genes of enterococci.

We report the sequence of a 630-bp fragment of a gene associated with resistance to high levels of vancomycin in a clinical isolate of Enterococcus faecalis which retained susceptibility to teicoplanin. This gene was similar to the recently sequenced vanB and partially homologous with vanA, but it showed less-marked similarity to vanC. A DNA probe, derived from this polymerase chain reaction-amplified gene fragment, hybridized specifically with genomic DNA from Enterococcus faecium and E. faecalis isolates which were vancomycin resistant (MICs ranged from 8 to 512 micrograms/ml) but susceptible to teicoplanin. Curing of vancomycin resistance was associated with loss of DNA hybridization with the gene probe. Transfer of DNA which hybridized with the probe accompanied transfer of vancomycin resistance to a susceptible recipient strain. Neither curing nor transfer of vancomycin resistance was consistently related to loss or acquisition, respectively, of plasmid DNA. Images
Recombinant human acid alpha-glucosidase enzyme therapy for infantile glycogen storage disease type II: results of a phase I/II clinical trial.

Purpose: Infantile glycogen storage disease type II (GSD-II) is a fatal genetic muscle disorder caused by deficiency of acid α-glucosidase (GAA). The purpose of this study was to investigate the safety and efficacy of recombinant human GAA (rhGAA) enzyme therapy for this fatal disorder. Methods: The study was designed as a phase I/II, open-label, single-dose study of rhGAA infused intravenously twice weekly in three infants with infantile GSD-II. rhGAA used in this study was purified from genetically engineered Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells overproducing GAA. Adverse effects and efficacy of rhGAA upon cardiac, pulmonary, neurologic, and motor functions were evaluated during 1 year of the trial period. The primary end point assessed was heart failure–free survival at 1 year of age. This was based on historical control data that virtually all patients died of cardiac failure by 1 year of age. Results: The results of more than 250 infusions showed that rhGAA was generally well tolerated. Steady decreases in heart size and maintenance of normal cardiac function for more than 1 year were observed in all three infants. These infants have well passed the critical age of 1 year (currently 16, 18, and 22 months old) and continue to have normal cardiac function. Improvements of skeletal muscle functions were also noted; one patient showed marked improvement and currently has normal muscle tone and strength as well as normal neurologic and Denver developmental evaluations. Muscle biopsies confirmed that dramatic reductions in glycogen accumulation had occurred after rhGAA treatment in this patient. Conclusions: This phase I/II first study of recombinant human GAA derived from CHO cells showed that rhGAA is capable of improving cardiac and skeletal muscle functions in infantile GSD-II patients. Further study will be needed to assess the overall potential of this therapy.
Dietary soluble fiber lowers plasma LDL cholesterol concentrations by altering lipoprotein metabolism in female guinea pigs

This experiment was designed to evaluate the effects of pectin (PE), guar gum (GG) and psyllium (PSY) intake on VLDL and LDL metabolism in female guinea pigs fed high dietary cholesterol. Guinea pigs were fed a 15 g/100 g fat diet containing 0.25 g/100 g cholesterol with 12.5 g/100 g PE, 12.5 g/100 g GG, 7.5 g/100 g PSY or 12.5 g/100 g cellulose (control diet) for 4 wk. Plasma cholesterol concentrations were 29, 43 and 39% lower in guinea pigs fed PE, GG or PSY, respectively, compared with the control group (P < 0.0001). Plasma apolipoprotein (apo) B concentrations were 16-22% lower in the groups fed soluble fiber compared with the control group (P < 0.01). In contrast, hepatic cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations were not different among the PE, GG, PSY and control groups. No differences in triacylglycerol (TAG) or apo B secretion rates, measured by blocking VLDL catabolism by triton (WR 1339) injection, were observed, whereas plasma LDL apo B fractional catabolic rates (FCR), determined by injection of radiolabeled LDL, were higher in guinea pigs fed GG or PSY than in those from the control group. All sources of dietary soluble fiber reduced LDL apo B flux (P < 0.05). These results suggest that the mechanisms of plasma LDL cholesterol lowering by dietary soluble fiber are distinctive for each fiber source and result in specific alterations in lipoprotein metabolism in female guinea pigs. Differences between male and female guinea pigs in response to these diets are discussed.
On the mechanism of glycogen phosphorylase

Abstract The rate of exchange of 18 O from the COP position into the external positions of the phosphate group of glucose 1-phosphate was studied. An indirect method, involving acid-catalyzed exchange of 18 O into the 1-position of glucose 6-phosphate followed by isomerization with phosphoglucomutase, was used to prepare a rapidly equilibrating mixture in which glucose 1-phosphate with 18 O in the COP position was a component. This mixture was treated with phosphorylase a alone and with phosphorylase a and glycogen as a control to indicate complete exchange. Isotopic oxygen that had migrated to external positions of the phosphate group was estimated by treating the mixture of phosphates with alkaline phosphatase in ordinary water, isolating KH 2 PO 4 , and determining its isotope content. The rate of exchange catalyzed by phosphorylase a was no greater than 0.3% of the potential catalytic rate in the presence of saturating glycogen. It is concluded that no observable breakage of the CO bond of glucose 1-phosphate occurs in the binary complex with phosphorylase a .
Complications of sequential immunotherapy in metastatic melanoma

Meeting abstracts Advanced melanoma is associated with a poor prognosis. Targeted therapy and immunotherapy are mainstays of treatment. High-dose interleukin-2 (HD IL-2), interferon alfa-2b, cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) inhibitors, and programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1)
Fast, multi-frequency, and quantitative nanomechanical mapping of live cells using the atomic force microscope

A longstanding goal in cellular mechanobiology has been to link dynamic biomolecular processes underpinning disease or morphogenesis to spatio-temporal changes in nanoscale mechanical properties such as viscoelasticity, surface tension, and adhesion. This requires the development of quantitative mechanical microscopy methods with high spatio-temporal resolution within a single cell. The Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) can map the heterogeneous mechanical properties of cells with high spatial resolution, however, the image acquisition time is 1-2 orders of magnitude longer than that required to study dynamic cellular processes. We present a technique that allows commercial AFM systems to map quantitatively the dynamically changing viscoelastic properties of live eukaryotic cells at widely separated frequencies over large areas (several 10's of microns) with spatial resolution equal to amplitude-modulation (AM-AFM) and with image acquisition times (tens of seconds) approaching those of speckle fluorescence methods. This represents a ~20 fold improvement in nanomechanical imaging throughput compared to AM-AFM and is fully compatible with emerging high speed AFM systems. This method is used to study the spatio-temporal mechanical response of MDA-MB-231 breast carcinoma cells to the inhibition of Syk protein tyrosine kinase giving insight into the signaling pathways by which Syk negatively regulates motility of highly invasive cancer cells.
Shaping Oral Health Care in North Carolina With East Carolina University's Community Service Learning Centers

East Carolina University School of Dental Medicine is responding to the changes in today's health care system by implementing an innovative model of community-based dental education that prepares tomorrow's dentists to meet North Carolina's future oral health challenges while also providing much-needed care in many underserved areas.
2-adic partial Stirling functions and their zeros

Let Pn(x) = 1 n! ∑( n 2i+1 ) (2i + 1). This extends to a continuous function on the 2-adic integers, the nth 2-adic partial Stirling function. We show that (−1)Pn is the only 2-adically continuous approximation to S(x, n), the Stirling number of the second kind. We present extensive information about the zeros of Pn, for which there are many interesting patterns. We prove that if e ≥ 2 and 2 + 1 ≤ n ≤ 2 + 4, then Pn has exactly 2e−1 zeros, one in each mod 2e−1 congruence. We study the relationship between the zeros of P2e+∆ and P∆, for 1 ≤ ∆ ≤ 2, and the convergence of P2e+∆(x) as e→∞.