cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A Quiescent Phase in Human Mortality? Exploring the Ages of Least Vulnerability.

Demographic studies of mortality often emphasize the two ends of the lifespan, focusing on the declining hazard after birth or the increasing risk of death at older ages. We call attention to the intervening phase, when humans are least vulnerable to the force of mortality, and consider its features in both evolutionary and historical perspectives. We define this quiescent phase (Q-phase) formally, estimate its bounds using life tables for Swedish cohorts born between 1800 and 1920, and describe changes in the morphology of the Q-phase. We show that for cohorts aging during Sweden’s demographic and epidemiological transitions, the Q-phase became longer and more pronounced, reflecting the retreat of infections and maternal mortality as key causes of death. These changes revealed an underlying hazard trajectory that remains relatively low and constant during the prime ages for reproduction and investment in both personal capital and relationships with others. Our characterization of the Q-phase highlights it as a unique, dynamic, and historically contingent cohort feature, whose increased visibility was made possible by the rapid pace of survival improvements in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This visibility may be reduced or sustained under subsequent demographic regimes.
Innate immune suppression by gas6 expressed by γδ T cells (89.12)

Gas6, a Vitamin K-dependent protein, is an agonist for the newly described suppressors of inflammation, the TAM receptor family. Transcripts encoding gas6 are unusually highly expressed in purified neonatal bovine γδ T cells, compared to αβ T cells and B cells. Vitamin K-dependent proteins are known for roles in blood coagulation and bone growth, as such there are drugs that affect Vitamin K pathways, the most common of which is Warfarin (Coumadin). We hypothesized that functional gas6 expressed by γδ T cells would be immunosuppressive and addition of Warfarin would be pro-inflammatory. Observations to date are consistent with these assumptions; addition of Vitamin K to bovine PBMC dampens the innate response of monocytes, and this effect is dependent on γδ T cells. Addition of recombinant human gas6 has a similar effect. Conversely, the removal of γδ T cells or the addition of Warfarin to longer term cultures enhances (monocyte-dependent) CD8+ T cell responses in an in vitro model of Mycobacterium avium ssp. avium infection. Also, consistent with expectations, preliminary data in mice suggest that very low dose oral Coumadin increased severity of chemically induced colitis, but decreased colony counts in Salmonella-induced enterocolitis. The expression of Vitamin K-dependent gas6 by γδ T cells that localize to mucosal surfaces may be significant considering the common usage of oral Coumadin and its known side effects.
The sensory substrate of multimodal communication in brown-headed cowbirds: are females sensory ‘specialists’ or ‘generalists’?

Many animals communicate with multimodal signals. While we have an understanding of multimodal signal production, we know relatively less about receiver filtering of multimodal signals and whether filtering capacity in one modality influences filtering in a second modality. Most multimodal signals contain a temporal element, such as change in frequency over time or a dynamic visual display. We examined the relationship in temporal resolution across two modalities to test whether females are (1) sensory 'specialists', where a trade-off exists between the sensory modalities, (2) sensory 'generalists', where a positive relationship exists between the modalities, or (3) whether no relationship exists between modalities. We used female brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater) to investigate this question as males court females with an audiovisual display. We found a significant positive relationship between female visual and auditory temporal resolution, suggesting that females are sensory 'generalists'. Females appear to resolve information well across multiple modalities, which may select for males that signal their quality similarly across modalities.
Clinical outcomes of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) receiving chemotherapy after immune checkpoint blockade.

9082Background: Objective response rates (ORR) to chemotherapy beyond the first-line for advanced NSCLC are low (5-10%). Pre-clinical studies suggest that some chemotherapies may act, in part, thro...
Akt inhibitor radiosensitizes malignant glioma cells by enhancing autophagy

1377 Autophagy or programmed cell death type II is one of the responses of cancer cells against various therapies including ionizing radiation (Kondo et al ., Nat Rev Cancer 5:726-734, 2005). Recently, we have shown that radiation induces autophagy, but not apoptosis, in different malignant glioma cell lines. Autophagy is a protein degradation system that is characterized by a prominent formation of autophagic vacuoles containing proteins and subcellular organelles. The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway mainly regulates autophagy. On the other hand, the Akt/mTOR pathway also mediates radioresistance. The purpose of our study was to examine an Akt inhibitor, 1L-6-hydroxy-methyl-chiro-inositol 2(R)-2-O-methyl-3-O-octadecylcarbonate, for its anticancer and radiosensitizing effects on malignant glioma U87-MG and U87-MGΔ epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) cells. U87-MGΔEGFR cells have a deletion of exons 2-7 of the EGFR gene, thus, having a constitutively active form of the receptor. Actually, we found that U87-MGΔEGFR cells were more radioresistant compared with the parental U87-MG cells. 20-40 μM of the Akt inhibitor successfully inhibited Akt activity and reduced cell viability in both cell lines. The Akt inhibitor decreased phosphorylated p70S6 kinase which is a downstream target of Akt, and induced autophagy, but not apoptosis. Specific inhibition of Akt using the dominant-negaive Akt plasmid also resulted in the induction of autophagy. Furthermore, 40 μM of the Akt inhibitor radiosensitized U87-MG and U87-MGΔEGFR cells. This radiosensitizing effect was due to enhancement of autophagy, but not induction of apoptosis. In conclusion, we showed for the first time that Akt inhibition radiosensitizes malignant glioma cells by enhancing autophagy. Akt inhibitors may represent a promising new therapy for radiosensitization of malignant gliomas including ones that express ΔEGFR.
Parametric analysis of a residential building with phase change material (PCM)-enhanced drywall, precooling, and variable electric rates in a hot and dry climate

Abstract Peak electric energy demand inflicts a great stress on the electric grid during the summer in the United States. With most years surpassing its previous year for the warmest year ever recorded, cooling requirements will continue to increase in the coming decades. Energy storage can potentially reduce electric demand. Among different technologies, phase change materials (PCMs) embedded in the building envelope have the potential to shift cooling energy demand away from peak hours. This study performs parametric analysis of PCMs in a relatively new home located in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. The analysis includes PCM location, PCM properties, precooling strategy, and an analysis of natural and forced convection models on the thermal behavior of the house. An extension of a standard forced convection model in EnergyPlus is used to represent the effects of a ceiling fan, which increases heat transfer at wall and ceiling surfaces and shortens the time needed to freeze or melt the phase change materials. Furthermore, the study discusses the use of appropriate setback temperatures to best utilize the PCMs. Overall, the optimal combination of PCMs, convection mode, and precooling schedule can completely shift cooling energy use during a three-hour demand period, producing maximum cost savings up to 29.4%, while increasing the occupant comfort.
Effects of a prior authorization policy for extended-release/long-acting opioids on utilization and outcomes in a state Medicaid program.

Background and aims In response to the opioid overdose epidemic, US state Medicaid programs have adopted restrictive policies for opioid analgesics, yet effects on prescribing patterns and health outcomes are uncertain. This study aimed to examine effects of a prior authorization policy for extended-release/long-acting (ER/LA) opioids on opioid use in the Oklahoma, USA state Medicaid program. Design Retrospective difference-in-differences design study comparing changes in opioid use in Oklahoma Medicaid to control (Oregon Medicaid). Setting Oklahoma and Oregon, USA. Participants Medicaid beneficiaries in the Oklahoma and Oregon fee-for-service Medicaid programs between July 2007 and June 2009 (33 724 in Oklahoma and 13 520 in Oregon) MEASUREMENTS: The primary outcome was incident opioid-naive ER/LA opioid use. Secondary outcomes included other opioid and non-opioid pain medication use. We also examined indicators of high-risk prescribing (e.g. high-dosage opioid use) and opioid-related hospitalizations or emergency department (ED) visits. Findings The prior authorization policy was associated with a 0.7 percentage point reduction in the likelihood of incident opioid-naive ER/LA opioid use [95% confidence interval (CI) = -1.16 to -0.33 percentage points; 70% pre-policy mean reduction, a 1.4 percentage point decrease in likelihood of any new ER/LA opioid prescriptions (95% CI = -2.1 to -0.7 percentage points; 33% pre-policy mean reduction) and a decline of 0.16 in total ER/LA opioid prescriptions per enrollee (PPE) (95% CI = -0.29 to -0.04 PPE)]. There was a significant increase in the number of short-acting opioids filled after the policy (0.36; 95% CI = 0.22-0.50 PPE), increases in likelihood of having overlapping opioids and benzodiazepines, but significant reductions in likelihood of having overlapping opioids. No significant changes in opioid-related hospitalizations or ED visits were observed. Conclusions In Oklahoma, USA's July 2008 prior authorization policy for extended-release/long-acting opioids appears to have reduced the number of opioid-naive patients initiating extended-release/long-acting opioid use by more than half, but may also have increased short-acting opioid prescriptions by 7%.
Paleocene-Eocene Microvertebrates in Freshwater Limestones of the Willwood Formation, Clarks Fork Basin, Wyoming

Terrestrial sediments from the Bighorn Basin and contiguous Clarks Fork Basin of northwestern Wyoming have yielded the best record of late Paleocene and early Eocene mammalian evolution known anywhere in the world (see Gingerich, 1980). Fossils preserved in sediments of the Fort Union and Willwood Formations, mostly avulsion belt and overbank deposits (Kraus and Asian, 1993; Kraus, 1997), document a radiation of archaic mammals and the existence of the modern orders Marsupialia, Carnivora, Dermoptera, and Lipotyphla in the Paleocene; the first appearance of rodents in North America in the latest Paleocene; and the earliest records of Artiodactyla, hyaenodontid Creodonta, Perissodactyla, and Primates in the earliest Eocene (Gingerich, 1989).
Purification and characteristics of pectin lyase from Rhizoctonia solani.

Pectin lyase was the predominant pectolytic enzyme produced by an anastomosis group 2-2 strain of Rhizoctonia solani both in culture and in infected sugar beet crowns. Sugar beet root cell walls were used as the carbon source in broth still culture. Cell walls from crowns induced more pectin lyase than cell walls from hypocotyl or root. Also, the yield of pectin lyase was higher from infected crown than from infected hypocotyl or root tissue. Rotted crown tissue had a pH of over 7, which was favourable for pectin lyase activity. Rotted root tissue, with a pH below 6, was not as favourable for pectin lyase activity. Healthy tissue had a pH of 6·5 ± 0·3. Pectin lyase was purified by affinity batch chromatography on cross-linked sodium polypectate followed by gel permeation on an agarose-based gel. Pectin lyase interacted with the agarose-based gel and eluted at or near the bed volume which resulted in a final effective purification. The molecular weight of pectin lyase from culture was determined as 35 kDa. The pI was 10.1. The purified enzyme caused wilt when injected into Rhizoctonia-susceptible sugar beet plants, but not when injected into resistant plants.
Constitutional Agnosticism, Religious Pluralism, and the Problem of Community

The text of the Constitution nowhere mentions God; the document is, as some scholars put it, "godless." What is the significance of that silence? This brief essay, written for a discussion conference on religion, multiculturalism, and citizenship, considers and criticizes two possible responses, which would hold (a) that the Constitution's silence about God has no constitutional implications and (b) that the Constitution's godless qualities entails a general policy of mandatory public secularism. Instead, the Constitution's silence about God reflects a policy of "constitutional agnosticism" that leaves governments free to make affirmations (religious or otherwise) while assuring citizens that these affirmations are not constitutive of the political community. The essay argues that constitutional agnosticism, though misunderstood and subverted by modern Supreme Court doctrine, is a valuable strategy for addressing the challenge of e pluribus unum.
Sustainability at Millipore

This case describes Millipore Corporation's approach to becoming a more environmentally sustainable company. As he prepared for his quarterly meeting with the CEO, the Director of Sustainability needed to develop positions on several issues. Tactically, he needed to recommend whether the company should purchase carbon offsets to help meet its aggressive greenhouse gas reduction targets, and whether to continue publicly reporting its greenhouse gas emissions and strategies despite recent problems. On a more strategic level, he needed to recommend how to take the company's Sustainability Initiative to the next level, and consider whether changes were needed to its organizational structure. Finally, he needed to develop a more systematic approach to prioritizing investments in various projects being proposed to improve environmental performance. The case provides a background of the sustainability movement, and reviews major sustainability frameworks (including The Natural Step, Carbon Footprints, and the Sustainability Hierarchy) and prevailing sustainability performance metrics.
Older men in employed and retired families: Well-being and involvement in household activities

Although much research on household work has focused on young dual-career couples, there has been speculation that retirement may have a significant effect on the arrangement of household activities in later life. Furthermore, involvement in the household is believed to influence psychological well-being. Available literature, however, provides contradictory evidence regarding the extent to which integration into household activities may either reduce or contribute to stress. The degree to which male involvement in the household in later life was stressful was examined in this research. Data were analyzed from structured interviews with 1165 older, married men who were employed full-time, part-time, or retired. Employed men were significantly less involved in the household than were the retired; however, men participated more in both masculine and feminine tasks if their wives were employed. Involvement in the household was not stressful although the benefits derived from participation varied somewhat by type of task.
A Video-Enhanced Activity Schedule Reduces Food Stuffing in Child with Pervasive Developmental Disability: a Single Subject Design Case Study

This study evaluated the effects of a video-enhanced activity schedule on the dangerous food stuffing (rapid eating) of a child with pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS). An iPad Mini and the software application My Pictures Talk were used to deliver the video-enhanced activity schedule intervention. A multiple baseline across meals with an embedded ABAB design was used to evaluate changes in food stuffing behavior. A reduction in food stuffing across breakfast, lunch, and snack was demonstrated with experimental control. Generalization probes with the child’s mother suggested the improvement generalized to meals without the therapist but caution in conclusions regarding generalization is limited by the small number of generalization probes. The child’s mother provided anecdotal social validity data indicating the intervention approach was acceptable, treatment goals were meaningful, and outcomes were positive. This study replicates previous research demonstrating the potential benefit of video-enhanced activity schedules and extends previous research by reducing inappropriate mealtime behavior in a child with PDD-NOS.
Climate change impacts on vernal pool hydrology and vegetation in northern California

Abstract Vernal pools are seasonal wetlands that have a high diversity of endemic and native plant species, yet they are threatened by agricultural conversion and urban development and face threats posed by climate change resulting from altered precipitation and temperature regimes. We developed an approach to investigate the potential impacts of climate change on hydrology and vegetation communities of vernal pools by creating a mass-balance hydrologic model that is coupled to a statistical model of plant community distribution. The hydrologic and vegetative models were calibrated using field measurements from a vernal pool in northeastern California that experiences snow-dominated hydrology and is larger than vernal pools in more studied areas like Central California, but representative of other northern California vernal pools. Using downscaled data from global climate models, the coupled model suggests that warmer conditions will lead to the pool being inundated for a shorter time, but with little change in maximum depth. Reduced hydroperiods suggest possible declines in vernal pool specialist species with future climate change. The coupled model is an integrated approach for understanding the impact of altered environmental conditions on unique hydrology and plant community composition of vernal pool ecosystems, but the model approach could be improved with longer term data and by applying it at more sites to broaden the applicability of the approach and to enable better process representation.
Porcine bladder extracellular matrix in paediatric pilonidal wound care: healing and patient experience evaluation

Objective: Pilonidal disease (PD) with inflammation and abscess formation occurs frequently in adolescents. The management of pilonidal disease, time to wound healing, and patient satisfaction, how...
Anesthetics to Prevent Lung Injury in Cardiac Surgery (APLICS): a protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Patients undergoing cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass are at an increased risk of developing postoperative pulmonary complications, potentially leading to excess morbidity and mortality. It is likely that pulmonary ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury during cardiopulmonary bypass is a major contributor to perioperative lung injury. Therefore, interventions that can minimize IR injury would be valuable in reducing the excess burden of this potentially preventable disease process. Volatile anesthetics including sevoflurane have been shown in both preclinical and human trials to effectively limit pulmonary inflammation in a number of settings including ischemia-reperfusion injury. However, this finding has not yet been demonstrated in the cardiac surgery population. The Anesthetics to Prevent Lung Injury in Cardiac Surgery (APLICS) trial is a randomized controlled trial (RCT) investigating whether sevoflurane anesthetic maintenance can modulate pulmonary inflammation occurring during cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass and whether this potential effect can translate to a reduction in postoperative pulmonary complications. APLICS is a prospective RCT of adult cardiac surgical patients. Participants will be randomized to receive intraoperative anesthetic maintenance with either sevoflurane or propofol. Patients in both groups will be ventilated according to protocols intended to minimize the influences of ventilator-induced lung injury and hyperoxia. Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and blood sampling will take place after anesthetic induction and 2–4 h after pulmonary reperfusion. The primary outcome is a difference between groups in the degree of post-bypass lung inflammation, defined by BAL concentrations of TNFα. Secondary outcomes will include differences in additional relevant BAL and systemic inflammatory markers and the incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications. APLICS investigates whether anesthetic choice can influence lung inflammation and pulmonary outcomes following cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass. A positive result from this trial would add to the growing body of evidence describing the lung protective properties of the volatile anesthetics and potentially reduce unnecessary morbidity for cardiac surgery patients. ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02918877 . Registered on 29 September 2016.
Il trauma epatico: il maestro Ninja

Se la chirurgia del politrauma e uno sport da contatto, un trauma epatico severo e un Ninja Master: un nemico spietato, astuto e letale. Quando ti trovi faccia a faccia con un’emorragia epatica massiva, guarda l’orologio della sala operatoria e poi l’anestesista che si affanna a versare i vari componenti ematici nel dispositivo di infusione rapida: hai piu o meno 20 minuti e circa 8–10 unita di sangue per fermare l’emorragia. Non uno di piu.
The Effect of Brick and Granite Block Paving Materials on Traffic Speed

Slowing traffic speed in urban areas has been shown to reduce pedestrian injuries and fatalities due to automobile accidents. This research aims to measure how brick and granite block paving materials, which were widely used historically prior to the use of asphalt paving in many cities, may influence free flow traffic speed. Traffic speeds for 690 vehicles traversing street blocks paved with asphalt, granite block, and brick materials were measured using a radar gun on a sample of 18 matched pair (asphalt and historic paving material) street blocks in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Fixed effects linear regression was used to estimate the effect of paving material on vehicle speed after controlling for the street class (e.g., arterial versus local road) and the matched pair. Results indicate that brick reduced speeds by approximately 3 mph (~5 km/h) and granite block reduced speeds by approximately 7 mph (~11 km/h), as compared to asphalt paved city streets, which we attribute to drivers intentionally slowing due to road roughness. This research suggests that brick and granite block paving materials may be an effective traffic calming strategy, having implications for reducing negative health outcomes associated with pedestrian–automobile collisions.
A RETROSPECTIVE REVIEW OF HOW THE NEW UNOS HEART TRANSPLANT DONOR ALLOCATION POLICY AFFECTED URGENT STATUS LISTING AND OUTCOMES IN STATUS 1, 2, AND 3 LISTING COMPARED TO THE OLD STATUS 1A

In October 2018, UNOS initiated a new heart allocation system to prioritize the sickest patients on the waitlist. With the new policy, inpatients on temporary mechanical support have priority over those on inotropic support. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of prioritizing more
Interlocking screw configuration influences distal tibial fracture stability in torsional loading after intramedullary nailing

This study evaluated the influence of fracture obliquity and locking screw configuration on interfragmentary motion during torsional loading of distal metaphyseal tibial fractures fixed by intramedullary (IM) nailing. The stability of six IM nail locking screw configurations used to fix distal metaphyseal tibial fractures of various obliquities was evaluated. A coronal osteotomy from proximal lateral to distal medial was made in sawbone tibiae at different obliquities from 0° to 60°. After fixation, motion at the fracture was assessed during internal and external rotation tests to 7 Nm under two compressive loading conditions: 20 N and 500 N. With results organized by interlocking configuration, significant differences in interfragmentary rotation between fracture obliquities are observed when the number of interlocking screws is decreased to one distal static and one proximal dynamic during internal rotation. During external rotation testing, significant rotational differences between fracture obliquities are encountered with two distal static screws and one proximal dynamic. No significant differences were seen between different distal interlocking screw orientations (two parallel versus perpendicular distal screws) for all fracture obliquity patterns tested. Fracture obliquity influences rotational stability which can be mitigated by interlocking screw configurations when nailing distal tibia fractures. At least two distal and one proximal interlocking screw in a static mode is recommended to resist torsional loading of distal tibia fractures undergoing intramedullary nailing. The addition of more interlocking screws than this did not significantly alter control of torsional displacement with load.
Comparison of baseline patient characteristics in immunotherapy versus targeted therapy trials for advanced melanoma.

e22012Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) or BRAF/MEK targeted therapy are both FDA approved first line options for BRAF mutant advanced melanoma. However, the optimal sequencing of thes...
Signs of Risk: Materiality, History, and Meaning in Cold War Controversies over Nuclear Contamination

This study draws on ethnographic and archival evidence from the Italian Archipelago of La Maddalena, offshore from the northeastern corner of Sardinia, where in 1972 the U.S. Navy installed a base for nuclear submarines. It addresses two questions: (1) How do non-experts make sense of radiological risk absent knowledge and classified information about its instantiations and consequences? (2) How do objectifications of risk change and stabilize within the same community over time? STS scholarship has emphasized the epistemic and relational dimensions of lay/expert controversies over risk assessment. Many case studies, mostly focused on the Anglo-Saxon world, have assumed lay and expert ways of knowing are incompatible due to clashing cultural identities. I use Keane's concept of “semiotic ideologies” and Peircean semiotic theory to critically reassess the validity of that assumption and examine the role of material evidence in processes of signification to explain how experts and non-experts fix, challenge, and negotiate the meanings of radiological risk in sociotechnical controversies. I critically review empirical studies and analyze ethnographic and archival data to advance a set of methodological and substantive arguments: meanings of risk change as new signs become available for interpretation; and meanings of risk are semiotically regimented: their emergence or silencing depend upon the power relations in place in a given community and organizational efforts to assemble coherent technopolitical arguments. I call this set of organizational practices “politics of coherence.”
Reducing Catheter-associated Urinary Tract Infections via Cost-saving Diagnostic Stewardship.

We conducted a quality improvement project at our large, public, tertiary-care, academic hospital to reduce the Standardized Infection Ratio (SIR) of hospital-acquired Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTIs). Our diagnostic stewardship program, based on education and audit and feedback, significantly reduced inpatient urine culture orders and CAUTI SIR.
Exploration of Civic Education in the K-12 Christian School Environment

With nationwide concerns about the declines in youth voting turnout across the United States, increased attention has focused on schools to promote civic education, a broad curricular approach aime...
Impact of Dry Hopping on Beer Flavor Stability

To investigate the chemical and sensorial impact of dry hopping time on typical pale ale, a standardized beer was produced and separated into ten vessels. Nine vessels were dry hopped, and one vessel remained un-hopped as a control. Impact of dry hopping contact time was investigated over 96 h. Polyphenols and iso-α-acid t/c ratio were analyzed in both Young and Aged beer samples. Total polyphenol content generally increased in both young and aged treatments compared to controls. Analysis of the t/c ratio suggests that both Young and Aged beers were chemically preserved to some degree after approximately 12 h at the given dry hopping rate regardless of age. Within the Aged beer trials, 96 h of dry hop contact yielded a significant increase in t/c ratio compared to all other Aged trials. This suggests that a 4-day dry hop regime may yield additional oxidative protection of iso-α-acids in beers stored unrefrigerated for 30 days. Descriptive analysis was also performed with an 8-person, trained panel; however, beers were sensorially distinguished by their aging time as opposed to their dry hopping time.
Undergraduate Nursing Students’ Spirituality and Perceived Ability to Provide Spiritual Care: A Mixed-Method Study:

Study purpose: This study's purpose was to explore nursing students’ spirituality and perceived ability to provide spiritual care. Design and methods: A convergent mixed method, cross-sectional des...
Compressibility of Clay

Experiments on artificially sedimented clays at loading rates as low as 10 -4 offer direct evidence that the compressibility of sedimented clays is much smaller during deposition than that measured in the usual oedometer test. Normally consolidated clays subjected to long periods of secondary compression will not compress along the virgin curve until a substantial pressure increment (as large as 0.4 of the effective overburden pressure) has been added. High quality sampling techniques should include minimizing the time duration between stress release in sampling and stress reapplication in the oedometer. Tests on freeze-dried kaolin clay indicate no measurable viscous retardation to compression over a wide range of load-increment ratios. Subsequent creep strains were approximately linear with log time. A marked reduction in compressibility was observed with decreasing load-increment ratio, but creep strains were found to decrease moderately with increasing effective stress. A hypothesis for the mechanism of compression is proposed and its validity is examined in the light of available data.
On History, Takings Jurisprudence, and Palazzolo: A Reply to James Burling

The so-called property rights movement has hailed Palazzolo v. Rhode Island as a landmark win for landowners, a blockbuster breakthrough that will end "smart growth," curtail other land use controls, and lead to manifold victories for claimants under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment. James Burling's piece on Palazzolo is more of the same, proclaiming the ruling to be a decisive win in an ageold, ideological battle. This Article shows that Burling's take on the ruling is wishful thinking. He errs in his description of history, takings jurisprudence, and Palazzolo. Palazzolo is but a small, incremental development in the case law from which both takings claimants and defendants may draw support. The Court's most recent takings ruling, Tahoe-Sierra Preservation Council, Inc. v. Tahoe Ref5ional Planning Agenl)', reaffirms that the vast bulk of land use controls and other community protections do not implicate the Takings Clause. Those who want skill to use those evidences they have of probabilities; who cannot carry a train of consequences in their heads; nor weigh exactly the preponderanl)' of contrary proofs and testimonies, making every circumstance its due allowance; may be easily misled to assent to positions that are
Specification and Implementation of Age, Period and Cohort Models

For the past 80 years or more, social scientists have attempted to analyze cross-time data, using as explanatory variables age and time (or phenomena that are time-specific). When such data are analyzed in aggregate forms, age and time are typically grouped and polytomized. More recently, some investigators have adopted an analytic focus in which cohort membership, as defined by the period and age at which an individual Observation can first enter an age-by-period data array, is held to be more important than age or period for substantive understanding. This focus has led to age-cohort and period-cohort models, as distinguished from age-period models.
Aspect, aspectual class, and the temporal structure of narrative

This paper consists of two parts. The first part discusses commonsense knowledge about events as manifested in language. Three kinds of knowledge are identified: compositional, durational, and aspectual. Compositional knowledge concerns internal structuring of events into preparatory, initial, main (the body), final, and resulting stages. Durational knowledge concerns durational relations between events and stages of the same event. Durational knowledge can be expressed as qualitative dependencies among the parameters of the event and as its time scale. The notion of time scale is introduced and related to shared cyclical events (time units).In discussing aspectual knowledge three notions are distinguished: aspect as a grammatical category of the verb, implemented by affixes, auxiliaries, and such; aspectual class, which is a characteristic of a lexical meaning; and the aspectual perspective of the sentence determined by the position of the Reference Time (RT) with respect to the event described by a finite clause. I argue that an aspectual classification of situations evolving in time should be based on such considerations as the kinds of resources they consume and the goals they achieve. A detailed classification of instantaneous and noninstantaneous events is developed.The second part of the paper discusses how this knowledge is employed in understanding extended narratives. Temporal discontinuities, in conjunction with other kinds of discontinuities identified in the paper, signal boundaries between discourse segments; within each segment, all three varieties of temporal knowledge help establish the temporal relations among narrated events.
Gender Curve: An Analysis of Colleges' Use of Affirmative Action Policies to Benefit Male Applicants

This comment evaluates the constitutionality of affirmative action policies that benefit male students. Part I sets out background information about potential causes of action and remedies for female students who challenge affirmative action policies that benefit male students. Section A discusses the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and the development of the law regarding universities’ use of racial affirmative action policies. Section B discusses potential remedies under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (“Title IX”) and the similarity between Title IX and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act (“Title VI”). Section C discusses state remedies available to students under educational equity statutes, human rights laws, and state equal rights amendments. Part II begins with a discussion of the relevant distinctions between racial affirmative action policies and affirmative action policies benefiting male applicants and sets forth a proposed framework to analyze male affirmative action policies. This Comment concludes that affirmative action policies benefiting males are unconstitutional because of colleges’ reliance on gender stereotypes when implementing them and because there is a lack of evidence to support a legitimate pedagogical objective for the use of such programs.
Secretory Membranes and the Exocrine Storage Compartment

The sections in this article are: 1 Granule Formation and Storage 2 Granule Isolation and Preparation of Membrane Subfractions 2.1 Secretory Granules 2.2 Membrane Subfractions 3 Composition of Exocrine Granule Membranes 3.1 Membrane Lipids 3.2 Membrane Proteins 4 Storage Function and Biophysical Properties of Secretion Granules 4.1 Granule Packaging, Stability, and Osmotic Behavior 4.2 Ion Permeation of Granule Membranes 4.3 Intragranular pH and Buffering Capacity 4.4 Hydrogen-ATPase Activity 5 Interactions With Cytoplasmic Proteins 5.1 Possible Roles of Microtubules 5.2 Microfilamentous Networks and Secretory Organelle Interactions 5.3 Other Polypeptides Binding to Secretory Membranes 5.4 Stimulus-Enhanced Phosphorylation of Membrane and Associated Proteins 6 Exocytosis 7 Recycling, Turnover, and Sorting from Other Vesicular Traffic 7.1 Fate of Reinternalized Secretory Membrane 7.2 Secretory Membrane as a Plasmalemmal Protein Carrier 7.3 Secretory Membrane and Sorting Sites
Integrated maintenance scheduling for semiconductor manufacturing

Tools in a manufacturing plant require regular maintenance over their lifespan (e.g. cleaning, calibration, safety checks) in order to keep them running smoothly. In capital intensive industries, such as semi-conductor manufacturing, the scheduling of maintenance operations on the tools used in production is a critical function. Maintenance operations can be expensive to perform, so we should only perform them when necessary. However if maintenance is delayed too long, tools may run sub-optimally or break down (thus requiring even more expensive unplanned, corrective maintenance). Furthermore a tool that is undergoing maintenance may be partly or wholly unavailable for (revenue generating) production operations. We have developed a system to generate maintenance schedules for the IBM East Fishkill, New York 300mm semiconductor manufacturing plant. In the sections which follow, we give a description of the maintenance scheduling problem in semi-conductor manufacturing and discuss some of the challenges in solving it. We present a goal programming approach that incorporates both constraint programming and mixed-integer programming solution technologies. A system we have developed based on this approach is now in use within IBM.
Migration Timing and Parenting Practices: Contributions to Social Development in Preschoolers with Foreign-Born and Native-Born Mothers.

Little is known about how key aspects of parental migration or childrearing history affect social development across children from immigrant families. Relying on data on approximately 6,400 children from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Birth Cohort, analyses assessed the role of mother’s age at migration on children’s social development in the United States (sociability and problem behaviors). Consistent with models of divergent adaptation and assimilation, the relation between age at arrival and children’s social development is not linear. Parenting practices, observed when children were approximately 24 months of age, partially mediated the relation between mother’s age at arrival and children’s social development reported at approximate age 48 months, particularly in the case of mothers who arrived as adults.
Maternal Hyperglycemia Leads to Gender-Dependent Deficits in Learning and Memory in Offspring:

Pregnancy in the diabetic woman has long been associated with an increased risk of congenital malformation in the offspring. However, little is known about the effects of maternal diabetes on development of the central nervous system. To begin to gain an understanding of this problem, diabetes was induced in adult female Sprague-Dawley rats by injection with streptozotocin. Only animals with serum glucose levels greater than 200 mg/dl were used. Diabetic and control females were bred, and all newborn pups were cross-fostered to nondiabetic mothers. At 60 days of age, pups were tested in an elevated plus-maze to assess differences in emotionality and anxiety. There were no significant differences between offspring of diabetic dams and controls on this measure. All pups were then housed individually, put on food restriction, and maintained at 85% of their ad libitum weight. They were then trained in a Lashley III maze, which assesses learning and retention capability. The female offspring of diabetic dams performed poorer than controls, a finding that was supported by inhibitory avoidance data from a separate group of animals. All animals were then trained in a radial-arm maze. Results failed to find differences between experimental and control animals. It was concluded that the diabetic intrauterine environment has gender-specific effects on central nervous system development.
Magnetorheological dampers: a new approach to seismic protection of structures

For almost half a century, control engineering has been making an increasing contribution to more and more interesting and important applications. A listing of these would constitute a veritable litany of moves to improve the quality of human life and to protect both the people and their environments from hazards of various sorts. Recently upon the scene is a most striking and fascinating new challenge: the protection of civil engineering structures from hazards such as earthquakes, winds, and related phenomena. With many of the same motives which have led to the surge of engineering interest in low-power electrical circuits and systems, this new application would also profit greatly from control means which can operate when power systems are down, and which cannot harm inherently stable structures by undergoing operational failures after their installation. A very exciting new class of actuators for such purposes is found in magnetorheological dampers. In this paper, we survey the physical background of this device, its mathematical modelling, and current control experiments on a 3 DOF laboratory structure equipped with such protection.
Adsorption of hydroxamate collectors on semisoluble minerals Part II: Effect of temperature on adsorption

Abstract The effect of temperature on the adsorption of potassium octyl hydroxamate on barite, calcite, and bastnaesite has been investigated. The results of this adsorption study at elevated temperatures exhibit increased uptake of potassium octyl hydroxamate with temperature on barite, calcite, and bastnaesite minerals, suggesting endothermic chemisorption mechanism with large entropic effects. The large entropies can be attributed to the relative loosening of ordered water structures at the mineral surface and in the bulk during the adsorption process and are also due to hydrophobic chain association effects. The effect of temperature on adsorption is relatively more pronounced in the case of bastnaesite than in the case of the two other minerals, namely barite and calcite.
High‐Resolution Characterization of Pentacene/Polyaniline Interfaces in Thin‐Film Transistors

We present the first detailed report that directly correlates the reduced contact resistance in organic thin-film transistors (TFTs) with fundamental structural and morphological characterization at the organic semiconductor/conducting polymer interface. Specifically, the pentacene grains are similar in size and continuous across the channel/electrode interface in bottom-contact TFTs with polyaniline (PANI) electrodes. On a molecular level, the fused rings of pentacene are oriented perpendicular to the surface both in the channel and on PANI. Accordingly, the contact resistance is small in such devices. In TFTs with gold electrodes, however, the pentacene grains are different in size and are discontinuous across the channel/electrode interface. Further, the fused rings of pentacene are oriented perpendicular to the channel surface and parallel to the gold surface. Such differences across the channel/electrode interface lead to structural and electronic disorder, which manifests itself as a significantly larger contact resistance in devices with gold electrodes.
Radial shortening for the treatment of Kienböck's disease—A 5- to 10-year follow-up

Kienbock's disease is probably caused by microfractures or stress fractures developing within the lunate. In about 32% of the population, the vascular pattern to the lunate is such that after fracture they are vulnerable to a secondary aseptic necrosis of the lunate. The high incidence of Kienbock's disease in patients with an ulnar minus variant wrist may be explained by an increased stress on the lunate in dorsiflexion and ulnar deviation. This study is a 5- to 10-year follow-up of patients with early stages of Kienbock's disease and ulnar minus variant treated by radial shortening procedures. Eleven of the 12 patients were satisfied with their treatment and showed functional improvement. These patients returned to their normal activities. Grip strength was satisfactory, and range of motion improved following surgery.
Analog joint source channel coding over non-linear acoustic channels

We investigate the performance of analog joint source channel coding systems based on the use of spiral-like space filling curves for the transmission of Gaussian sources over non-linear channels, including channels of the type encountered in underwater acoustic communications. We focus on bandwidth reduction schemes where two i.i.d. samples are mapped to one channel symbol. We evaluate the theoretical limits for some of the non-linear channels and extend existing analog coding schemes to deal with the channel non-linearities, demonstrating that the system performance is very close to the theoretical limits for a wide range of signal to noise ratios.
The City of Pittsburgh goes to the cloud: a case study of cloud solution strategic selection and deployment

Faced with diminished resources and a need to provide enhanced employee email services, the City of Pittsburgh’s Chief Information Officer (CIO) had to navigate a stubborn bureaucracy to achieve his objectives. Using an IT-business alignment strategic approach to decide on a suitable IT solution, the City was able to select and deploy a cloud-based system in an objective and uncontested way. The City employed an Analytic Hierarchy Process prioritization methodology, which used various criteria obtained from the stakeholders to develop a decision-making framework to select the most suitable cloud solution. The case allows a review of best practices in the cloud solution selection process, using theoretical lenses from the fields of IT alignment, decision-making, and stakeholder management. This case study is particularly useful for learning how strategic decisions to adopt IT are made in public organizations.
The Reliability of Historical Macroeconomic Data for Comparing Cyclical Stability

The question at issue is whether estimates of GNP and unemployment before 1930 exaggerate cyclical volatility enough to produce a false impression of increasing economic stability over the twentieth century. Based on research to be reported in detail at a later date, the answer is no. The range of possible exaggerations is small relative to the observed change.
Electrical and optical properties of aluminum-doped amorphous silicon carbide films

Abstract Aluminum-doped amorphous silicon carbide films were prepared by RF co-sputtering of SiC and Al-doped SiC. AES and XPS was used to determine the composition of the resultant films. XPS results showed that concentrations of aluminum around 1.0% were easily obtained. The electrical conductivity was measured for the temperature range of 150 to 400 K and subjected to analysis in terms of the Mott hopping conductivity model. The conductivity of Al-doped a SiC films was about five orders of magnitude higher than that of undoped films. Incorporating hydrogen during the growth of Al-doped a-SiC films results in a decrease of electrical conductivity by about three orders of magnitude from its value in unhydrogenated films. The optical gap derived from the Tauc plot, was 1.13 eV for an Al-doped unhydrogenated film and 1.55 eV, for an Al-doped hydrogenated film. The structural properties of these films were studied by IR spectroscopy.