cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Analytical Models for 3-D Diffusion of Ions from Salt-Contaminated Aggregates

This article presents an analytical investigation of the mobility of salts from contaminated aggregates in concrete. Salt-contaminated aggregates may have varied effects on the mechanical properties and durability of concrete. These depend primarily on the mobility of salts within the concrete matrix. Existing diffusion-based models for the mobility of salts in concrete focus on their intrusion from external sources (e.g., chloride penetration from deicing salts and brines). Such problems are well described by the closed-form solution of Fick’s law for diffusion in one dimension from a continuous source. Salt-contaminated aggregates represent a case of diffusion from a finite internal source rather than intrusion from a continuous external source. When the source is internal—as in the case of salt-contaminated aggregates—diffusion occurs in three dimensions and the source is finite. The 1-D solution is ill conditioned to model this problem, so new diffusion models must be introduced. This article presents two models of varying complexity that are well conditioned to model diffusion of salts from contaminated aggregates. First, the problem is modeled using Fick’s law for the simplified case of 3-D diffusion from an instantaneous point source in an infinite medium. Contaminated aggregates are treated as infinitesimal slugs of diffusing material. The same problem is then modeled using Fick’s law for the more realistic case of 3-D diffusion from an instantaneous spherical source, where contaminated aggregates are treated as approximately spherical. The intent of this article is to present an academic discussion on how chloride ions might migrate within the concrete matrix if they are assumed to do so by diffusion alone.
Colonoscopy-Naïve Raters Can Be Trained to Assess Colonoscopy Quality.

The ability of a colonoscopist to detect colon polyps is commonly measured by the adenoma detection rate (ADR). The outcome of colonoscopy varies based on ADR, and the relationship between decreasing provider ADR and the increased risk of subsequent fatal colorectal cancer has been clearly established.1 Despite the importance of provider ADR, it is of limited value at lower provider volumes due to imprecise measurements. We have previously shown that ratings of colonoscopy inspection quality (CIQ) from video-taped colonoscopies by experts highly correlate with provider ADR, and can provide colonoscopists with specific techniques in need of remediation.2 It is unclear, however, whether these video-based evaluations are a feasible method of assessing colonoscopy quality due to a reliance upon expert evaluations. The primary aim of this study was to determine whether video-based assessments of colonoscopy inspection quality by colonoscopy-naive raters (novice raters) correlate with assessments by expert raters and with established colonoscopy quality metrics.
Root Length Density from Core-Break Observations: Sources of Error

ABSTRACT Sources of error in estimating root length/volume of soil from counts of roots visible at broken faces of a soil core were analyzed. Angular distribution of root growth has a large effect on the relationship. Systematic gradients of root length density in a core should have little influence on calibrations. For a given number of roots counted at a core face, scatter in observed root length density may be ± 0.4 cm -2 due to random dispersal of roots in the core. Calibration of individual counters is probably not necessary.
Adherence and barriers to penile rehabilitation over 2 years following radical prostatectomy

A variety of penile rehabilitation (PR) therapies are available to improve post-prostatectomy erectile dysfunction (ED) with mixed results. It is uncertain how adherent men are to PR therapies. The aim of this study is to determine adherence to and identify barriers to PR treatment. A longitudinal cross-sectional approach was used in men who underwent radical prostatectomy over 2 years. Men were instructed to take a PDE5 inhibitor (PDE5i) three times per week, and if required, utilize a vacuum constriction device (VCD) daily. Outcomes were measured by multiple validated questionnaires. In addition, penile stretched length, side effects, compliance to PR regimen & barriers to participation were documented. Seventy-seven patients were enrolled, however only 49 completed evaluation at 3 or more timepoints and were included in analysis. This cohort was an average age of 58.1 years (±7.7), had robotic laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (91.7%), and had bilateral nerve sparing procedures (95.8%). Majority (62.5%) reported normal SHIM pre-operatively, however 79% used PDE5i. Erectile function as measured by IIEF and Erection Hardness Rating were negatively affected post-operatively, with gradual improvement in parameters throughout the 24 month follow up. Of the participants who had normal pre-op SHIM, only 23.1 and 28.6% regained baseline function at 1 and 2 years, respectively. Orgasm was significantly diminished immediately post-operatively, however, at the end of the study period only 37% of men reported diminished climax and no men reported absent orgasm. Adherence to penile rehabilitation therapies declined overtime. Men took oral PDE5i on average 2.3 times weekly at 12 and 24 months (p < 0.001). Men used the VCD 2.3–3.9 days a week, which declined overtime (p = 0.014). Improvement in erectile and orgasm parameters was observed over time, but most men did not return to baseline function. Despite comprehensive instructions and a frequent follow up schedule, PDE5i and VCD adherence was poor. High attrition rates were noted with only 55.8% of men remaining at 12 months and 45% of men completing 24 months. The most common barriers to PR adherence were cost, inconvenience and perceived ineffectiveness.
A Bayesian semiparametric method for analyzing length-biased data

Survival data obtained from prevalent cohort study designs are often subject to length-biased sampling. Frequentist methods including estimating equation approaches, as well as full likelihood meth...
The Effects of Low-Risk Drinking on Neurocognition Among Older Persons Living With HIV as Compared to Those Without HIV.

Author(s): Kohli, Maulika; Paolillo, Emily W; Saloner, Rowan; Umlauf, Anya; Ellis, Ronald; Moore, David J | Abstract: BackgroundHeavy alcohol use negatively impacts neurocognition, but some studies report neurocognitive benefits associated with light drinking among HIV-seronegative (HIV-) older persons, suggesting a nonlinear or an inverted "J-shaped" association of alcohol consumption on neurocognition. Alcohol use is common among people with HIV (PWH); however, the association between recent "low-risk" alcohol consumption and neurocognition among PWH is poorly understood.MethodsParticipants included 310 PWH and 89 HIV- older (≥50nyears) adults who reported alcohol abstinence or "low-risk" drinking, defined per the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism criteria (i.e., ≥15 drinks/wk or ≥5 drinks/d for men; ≥8 drinks/wk or ≥4ndrinks/d for women). Neurocognition was measured using global and domain-specific demographically corrected T-scores. Multiple linear regressions examined the interaction between total drinks in the last 30ndays (linear and quadratic terms) and HIV serostatus on neurocognition, covarying for age, sex, lifetime major depressive disorder, lifetime nonalcohol substance use disorders, and lifetime alcohol use disorder.ResultsTotal drinks consumed in the last 30ndays did not differ by HIV serostatus (pn=n0.202). Among HIV- older adults, quadratic effects of total drinks on neurocognition occurred such that optimal neurocognition (i.e., global function, executive function, learning, delayed recall, and motor skills) was detected at intermediate levels of "low-risk" drinking (~20 to 40 drinks), with poorer performance at the lower and higher ranges of "low-risk" consumption. In PWH, total drinks did not exhibit linear or quadratic associations with neurocognition.ConclusionsIn HIV- "low-risk" drinkers, intermediate levels of recent alcohol use were associated with better neurocognition, consistent with the inverted J-shaped association. The same nonlinear effect of recent alcohol consumption on neurocognition was absent in PWH, indicating there may be no beneficial or deleterious effects of low-risk alcohol consumption on neurocognition among PWH. Future research is warranted to examine associations between alcohol consumption and HIV-related biopsychosocial disadvantages that may supersede the neurocognitive benefits of alcohol.
Bow Hunter's Syndrome in Children: A Review of the Literature and Presentation of a New Case in a 12-Year-Old Girl.

Background:Bow hunter's syndrome, or occlusion of the vertebral artery with head rotation leading to ischemia and sometimes stroke, is rarely described in children. The authors review the literatur...
If I Die Tonight

If I Die Tonight In this poem, a surgeon reflects on civil rights activism in response to killings of black people. He touches on both family history and the complexity of being black in America.
The Power of Regulatory Regimes Reexamined: Supplemental Numerical Simulations

This document reports the numerical simulations that supplement those in Dennis L. Weisman, “The Power of Regulatory Regimes Reexamined,” Journal of Regulatory Economics, 2020 (forthcoming).
What disconnects practitioner belief and empirical evidence

Just because software developers say they believe in "X", that does not necessarily mean that "X" is true. As shown here, there exist numerous beliefs listed in the recent Software Engineering literature which are only supported by small portions of the available data. Hence we ask what is the source of this disconnect between beliefs and evidence?. To answer this question we look for evidence for ten beliefs within 300,000+ changes seen in dozens of open-source projects. Some of those beliefs had strong support across all the projects; specifically, "A commit that involves more added and removed lines is more bug-prone" and "Files with fewer lines contributed by their owners (who contribute most changes) are bug-prone". Most of the widely-held beliefs studied are only sporadically supported in the data; i.e. large effects can appear in project data and then disappear in subsequent releases. Such sporadic support explains why developers believe things that were relevant to their prior work, but not necessarily their current work.
The Role of Welfare in Family Income Inequality: 1968-2016.

Abstract Income inequality among U.S. families with children has increased over recent decades, coinciding with a period of significant reforms in federal welfare policy. In the most recent reform eras, welfare benefits were significantly restructured and redistributed, which may have important implications for income inequality. Using data from the 1968–2016 March Supplement to the Current Population Survey (N = 1,192,244 families with children) merged with data from the historical Supplemental Poverty Measure, this study investigated how income inequality and, relatedly, the redistributive effects of welfare income and in-kind benefits changed, and whether such changes varied across states with different approaches to welfare policy. Results suggest that cash income from welfare became less effective at reducing income inequality after the 1996 welfare reform, because the share of income coming from cash welfare fell and was also less concentrated among the neediest families. At the same time, tax and in-kind benefits reduced inequality until the Great Recession. Consistent with the “race to the bottom” hypothesis, results suggest that the redistributive effects of welfare income dropped in all states regardless of their approach to welfare policy.
Investigating Rumor News Using Agreement-Aware Search

Recent years have witnessed a widespread increase of rumor news generated by humans and machines. Therefore, tools for investigating rumor news have become an urgent necessity. One useful function of such tools is to see ways a specific topic or event is represented by presenting different points of view from multiple sources. In this paper, we propose Maester, a novel agreement-aware search framework for investigating rumor news. Given an investigative question, Maester will retrieve related articles to that question, assign and display top articles from agree, disagree, and discuss categories to users. Splitting the results into these three categories provides the user a holistic view towards the investigative question. We build Maester based on the following two key observations: (1) relatedness can commonly be determined by keywords and entities occurring in both questions and articles, and (2) the level of agreement between the investigative question and the related news article can often be decided by a few key sentences. Accordingly, we use gradient boosting tree models with keyword/entity matching features for relatedness detection, and leverage recurrent neural network to infer the level of agreement. Our experiments on the Fake News Challenge (FNC) dataset demonstrate up to an order of magnitude improvement of Maester over the original FNC winning solution, for agreement-aware search.
Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM) position statement: End the fatal paradox: change the names of our Federal Institutes on Addiction

Evidence demonstrates that exposure to the terms "abuse" and "substance abuser" increases stigmatizing and discriminatory attitudes toward individuals suffering from drug and alcohol problems, ultimately leading to suboptimal clinical care delivery and poorer treatment outcomes. The American Psychiatric Association has dropped the term "abuse" from its diagnostic terminology; therefore, the term provides no advantage in terms of clinical precision or public health communication. Although numerous medical and public health associations have advocated against the term "abuse," it remains embedded in the very titles of our major federal institutions and administrations whose explicit mission is to alleviate these endemic problems. Congress must act to change the names of the National Institutes of Health on addiction (i.e., NIAAA, NIDA) and related federal institutions (SAMHSA, CSAT). The Society of Behavioral Medicine supports the removal of the term "abuse" from the National Institutes of Health and related federal administrations pertaining to addiction and replacement with more neutral and nonstigmatizing terminology (e.g., disorder). Alternative names for the federal organizations that SBM supports are the "National Institute on Alcohol Use Disorder," the "National Institute on Drug Use Disorders," the "Substance Use Disorder and Mental Health Services Administration," and the "Center for Substance Use Disorder Treatment."
Change in Condom Use in Populations Newly Aware of HIV Diagnosis in the United States and Canada: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

HIV-infected individuals “aware” of their infection are more likely to use condoms, compared to HIV-infected “unaware” persons. To quantify this likelihood, we undertook a systematic review and meta-analysis of U.S. and Canadian studies. Twenty-one eligible studies included men who have sex with men (MSM; k = 15), persons who inject drugs (PWID; k = 2), and mixed populations of high-risk heterosexuals (HRH; k = 4). Risk ratios (RR) of “not always using condoms” with partners of any serostatus were lower among aware MSM (RR 0.44 [not significant]), PWID (RR 0.70) and HRH (RR 0.27); and, in aware MSM, with partners of HIV-uninfected or unknown status (RR 0.46). Aware individuals had lower “condomless sex likelihood” with HIV-uninfected or unknown status partners (MSM: RR 0.58; male PWID: RR 0.44; female PWID: RR 0.65; HRH: RR 0.35) and with partners of any serostatus (MSM only, RR 0.72). The association diminished over time. High risk of bias compromised evidence quality.
Creativity and innovation programs offered by AACSB-accredited U.S. colleges of business: A Web mining study

U.S. companies have a growing demand for innovative employees with creative thinking and innovative problem-solving skills. This study explored how the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of ...
Human-Centered Design Reflections on Providing Feedback to Primary Care Physicians

To better understand physicians’ current and desired feedback experiences on their interactions with patients, this qualitative study applied design thinking methods to facilitate discussions and produce artifacts. Nine primary care physicians and one medical resident participated in a design workshop to understand experiences, needs, and opportunities for design. Thematic analysis found that, 1) Feedback, received in many forms, is important to physicians’ practice and patient well-being, 2) there are concerns about the impact of certain types of feedback, and 3) experience and system-related factors can impact physicians’ workflow and interactions. Tools to improve feedback should take into account these considerations. While residents may desire immediate, direct feedback, concerns about the potential impact on patient care and their current workflow are important.
Trophozoite Motility and the Mechanism of Attachment

Over 300 years ago, the first description of the free swimming movement of the intestinal protozoan Giardia was made according to Dobell (1920, 1932) by the great Dutch microscopist Anton van Leeuwenhoek, who described his observations on enteric “animalcules” or microorganisms in a famous letter addressed to Robert Hooke, Secretary of the Royal Society of London, on November 4, 1681. In this letter, Leeuwenhoek described his usually good health, but remarked that he had been bothered by a looseness of stools sometimes lasting for 3 days and that he was unable to keep food in his body for longer than 4 hours. Leeuwenhoek on several occasions examined his stools because of their watery nature (a classic sign of giardiasis). In his letter to the Royal Society, he recorded the following description of the presence and movement of “living animalcules in his excrements” which Dobell (1920) has shown to be the first known account of Giardia: ... wherein I have sometimes also seen animalcules a-moving very prettily; some of ’em a bit bigger, others a bit less, than a blood-globule, but all of one and the same make. Their bodies were somewhat longer than broad, and their belly, which was flatlike, furnisht with sundry little paws, wherewith they made such a stir in the clear medium and among the globules, that you might e’en fancy you saw a pissabed running up against a wall; and albeit they made a quick motion with their paws, yet for all that they made but slow progress.
ANGULAR NONRADIAL VS. USUAL RADIAL POTENTIAL ENERGY QUOTIENT

Potential energy quotient of the angular nonradial to the usual radial potential energy (and the quotient’s density for a closed orbit or an openended trajectory of a satellite) is offered without direct dependence on the mass of the given (assumed as nonrotating) celestial body (such as star or planet) but with explicit dependence on the body’s density of matter.
EXPERIMENTAL MEASUREMENT OF THE INTERFACE HEAT CONDUCTANCE BETWEEN NONCONFORMING BERYLLIUM AND TYPE 316 STAINLESS STEEL SURFACES SUBJECTED TO NONUNIFORM THERMAL DEFORMATIONS

In fusion blanket designs that employ beryllium as a neutron multiplier, the interface conductance h plays a key role in evaluating the blanket's thermal profile. Therefore, an extensive experimental program was conducted to measure the magnitude of h between nonconforming beryllium and Type 316 stainless steel surfaces subjected to nonuniform thermal deformations. The magnitude of h was measured as a function of relevant environmental, surface, and geometric parameters, including surface roughness, contact pressure, gas pressure, gas type, and magnitude and direction of heat flow. The results indicate the following: (a) Decreasing the interfacial surface roughness from 6.28 to 0.28 {mu}m, in 760 Torr of helium, increased the magnitude of h by up to 100%; however, increasing the surface roughness reduced the dependence of h on the magnitude of the contact pressure. (b) The interface conductance was significantly higher for measurements made in helium gas as opposed to air. Additionally, the sensitivity of h to the gas pressure was significantly greater for runs conducted in helium and/or with smoother surfaces. This sensitivity was reduced in air and/or with roughened surfaces, and it was essentially nonexistent for the 6.25-{mu}m specimen for air pressures exceeding 76 Torr. (c) For runs conducted in vacuum,more » the interface conductance was more sensitive to heat flux than when runs were conducted in 760 Torr of helium. (d) The interface conductance was found to be dependent on the direction of heat flux. When the specimens were arranged so that heat flowed from the steel to the beryllium disk, the magnitude of h was generally greater than in the opposite direction.« less
Catching glimpses: appropriating the female gaze in Esmeralda Santiago´s autobiographical writing

Resumen en: This article examines Esmeralda Santiago´s autobiographical writing. It also analyzes the appropriation of the conventional male gaze in order to reexami...
China's Monetary Challenges: Past Experiences and Future Prospects

Part I. China's Exchange Rate Regime and Monetary Policy: 1. The renminbi-US dollar exchange rate controversy 2. China's reserve buildup and global imbalances 3. Combating inflation and deflation 4. People's Bank of China policy-making and external pressures (with Pierre Siklos) Part II. The Importance of International Factors, Past and Present: 5. US pressure on China and Hong Kong in the 1930s 6. Inflation transmission to Taiwan in the 1940s (with Hsin-hui I. H. Whited) 7. WTO challenges and China's banking sector today (with Emily Kochanowicz) Part III. The People's Republic Role within Greater China and Asia: 8. Asset market expansion and Shanghai vs. Hong Kong listings of Chinese firms 9. Economic interdependence with Taiwan (with Hsin-hui I. H. Whited) 10. Conclusions and future prospects for the renminbi.
More Than a Mass of Incandescent Gas

The Sun from Space . Kenneth R. Lang. Springer, New York, 2000. 373 pp. $64.95, DM129. ISBN 3-540-66944-2. Lang's lucid overview highlights importance of spacecraft-based observations to the last decade's advances in our understanding of the Sun and its effects on Earth.
On Solving Coverage Problems in a Wireless Sensor Network Using Voronoi Diagrams

Owing to numerous potential applications, wireless sensor networks have been the focus of a lot of research efforts lately. In this note we study one fundamental issue in such networks, namely the coverage problem, in which we would like to determine whether a region of interest is sufficiently covered by a given set of sensors. This problem is motivated by monitoring applications in sensor networks, as well as robustness concerns and protocol requirements. We show that the coverage problem and some of its variants can be treated in a unified manner using suitable generalizations of the Voronoi diagram. As a result, we are able to give algorithms that have better runtimes than those proposed in previous works (see, e.g., [5, 6]). Our approach also yields efficient algorithms for coverage problems where the sensing region of a sensor is an ellipse or an L p –ball, where p≥1.
Using medium-fill simulation to establish a benchmark microbiological contamination rate for low-risk-level compounding

A benchmark contamination rate for prefilled syringe compounding was determined by using a medium-fill-simulation method. One thousand thirty-five 1-mL tuberculin syringes were aseptically filled with 0.9 mL of sterile soybean-casein digest medium and capped. These syringes were placed into clear nonsterile plastic bags and incubated at 35 degrees C for seven days, then inspected for cloudiness or colony formation indicative of bacterial growth. The operation was performed by two certified pharmacy technicians in an ISO Class 5 vertical-airflow biological safety cabinet in a typical inpatient pharmacy compounding area over two days. The technicians wore protective garments and gloves and followed standard procedures of preparing sterile injections. The adequacy of the methodology was verified by using four syringes that contained deliberately contaminated medium and incubating them along with 15 aseptically prepared syringes at 35 degrees C for seven days. Colony formation in the four syringes containing contaminated medium was directly observed and differentiated from the control syringes, which confirms the validity of the method. No bacterial growth was detected in any of the 1035 medium-filled syringes studied. Therefore, the contamination rate for aseptic compounding operation was less than 0.1%. Medium-fill-simulation testing of 1035 prefilled tuberculin syringes yielded no contamination. A contamination rate of less than 0.1% should be achievable and expected for this type of low-risk pharmacy preparation after pharmacies validate their own compounding operation.
Geographical Clusters of Rape in the United States: 2000–2012

While rape is a very serious crime and public health problem, no spatial mapping has been attempted for rape on the national scale. This article addresses the three research questions: (1) Are reported rape cases randomly distributed across the United States, after being adjusted for population density and age, or are there geographical clusters of reported rape cases? (2) Are the geographical clusters of reported rapes still present after adjusting for differences in poverty levels? (3) Are there geographical clusters where the proportion of reported rape cases that lead to an arrest is exceptionally low or exceptionally high? We studied the geographical variation of reported rape events (2003–2012) and rape arrests (2000–2012) in the 48 contiguous states of the USA. The disease surveillance software SaTScanTM with its spatial scan statistic is used to evaluate the spatial variation in rapes. The spatial scan statistic has been widely used as a geographical surveillance tool for diseases, and we used it ...
Nutritional Requirements of Acinetobacter Strains Isolated from Soil, Water, and Sewage

One hundred five strains of Acinetobacter were isolated from water, soil, and sewage on nonselective complex media, and their nutritional properties were studied. Only one of these strains requires growth factors in order to grow in a mineral medium containing a single carbon source.
On stability of axisymmetric forced vibration of imperfect cylindrical shells

This paper presents the analysis of forced vibrations of a cylindrical shell with axisymmetric initial imperfection subjected to hydrodynamic pulsating pressure. The stability of steady state harmonic response is studied with respect to both axisymmetric and asymmetric perturbations. The analysis of stability is based on the nonlinear von Karman-Donnell equations linearized with respect to perturbations. An interesting conclusion of this paper is that although the axisymmetric steady state motion is linear it can be unstable due to asymmetric perturbations.
Stability control of electric vehicles with four independently actuated wheels

A vehicle stability control approach for four-wheel independently actuated (4WIA) electric vehicles is presented. The proposed control method consists of a higher-level controller and a lower-level controller. Due to the possible modeling error and parametric uncertainties, an adaptive control based higher-level controller is designed to yield the vehicle virtual control efforts. The lower-level controller allocates the required control efforts to the four in-wheel motors for generating the desired tire forces. An analytic solution on how to distribute the higher-level control efforts is given, when the actuators constraints are not considered. Simulations based on a high-fidelity, CarSim®, full-vehicle model show the effectiveness of the control approach.
Sources of variation in assessing male and female responses to pain

Abstract The question of differential pain response between men and women has recently received much attention. In general, women present with pain and ill-health problems at least twice as often as do men and are therefore greater users of the health care system. One common explanation of this disproportionate use is that women respond to stimuli as painful at a lower intensity than do men. Thus, in the same situation, more women are liable to present with pain and illness than are men. Such a suggestion, however, is at odds with the highly variable psychological responses to painful stimuli in both men and women and returns to an essentially Cartesian understanding of pain which draws on the largely discredited ‘direct transmission model’. It is suggested here that differential ill-health and pain response between the sexes can be understood through an extension of the biopsychosocial model of pain and ill-health which is used to describe three types of clinical pain disorder: post extraction pain, rheumatoid arthritis and atypical facial pain. The differential experiences of men and women give women both greater opportunity and reason to be ill by altering the factors influencing the biopsychosocial model of pain.
Rat α-Fetoprotein Binding Affinities of a Large Set of Structurally Diverse Chemicals Elucidated the Relationships between Structures and Binding Affinities

Endocrine disrupting chemicals interfere with the endocrine system in animals, including humans, to exert adverse effects. One of the mechanisms of endocrine disruption is through the binding of receptors such as the estrogen receptor (ER) in target cells. The concentration of any chemical in serum is important for its entry into the target cells to bind the receptors. α-Fetoprotein (AFP) is a major transport protein in rodent serum that can bind with estrogens and thus change a chemical’s availability for entrance into the target cell. Sequestration of an estrogen in the serum can alter the chemical’s potential for disrupting estrogen receptor-mediated responses. To better understand endocrine disruption, we developed a competitive binding assay using rat amniotic fluid, which contains very high levels of AFP, and measured the binding to the rat AFP for 125 structurally diverse chemicals, most of which are known to bind ER. Fifty-three chemicals were able to bind the rat AFP in the assay, while 72 chemic...
Hybrid reasoning using universal attachment

Abstract Hybrid representation frameworks provide a powerful basis for constructing intelligent systems. Universal attachment is a domain-independent mechanism for integrating diverse representation and reasoning methods into hybrid frameworks that contain a subsystem based on deduction over logical formulas. Although based on the same principles as previous attachment methods, universal attachment provides a much broader range of connections between general-purpose deduction and specialized representation and reasoning techniques. This paper defines a formal inference rule of universal attachment and discusses the properties of soundness, completeness and correctness for this rule. The relationship between universal attachment and other integration techniques is explored. Finally, policies based on experimentation with an implemented universal attachment system are presented that lend guidance in exploiting the expanded representational and inferential capabilities that hybrid systems provide.
A survey of attitudes, knowledge, and behavior related to HIV testing of adolescents and young adults enrolled in alcohol and drug treatment.

Abstract The objectives of this study were to assess attitudes, knowledge, and behavior related to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antibody testing of adolescents and young adults undergoing treatment for alcohol and drug problems. Setting and subjects were 101 adolescents and young adults enrolled in a New England substance abuse rehabilitation program. All subjects had heard about acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and 84% desired an HIV antibody test if it were anonymous and confidential. If found to be HIV positive, 83% stated that they would be less likely to continue substance-abuse treatment, 64% would be more likely to continue drug use, and 62% would be more likely to continue alcohol use. The likelihood of continuing school would decrease for 60%. Sixty percent would be more likely to increase use of condoms. Males were more likely than females to want to leave treatment and school, return to alcohol and drug use, and increase risk-taking behavior ( p
Pathogenic mutations in the hydrophobic core of the human prion protein can promote structural instability and misfolding

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, or prion diseases, are caused by misfolding and aggregation of the prion protein PrP. These diseases can be hereditary in humans and four of the many disease-associated missense mutants of PrP are in the hydrophobic core: V180I, F198S, V203I and V210I. The T183A mutation is related to the hydrophobic core mutants as it is close to the hydrophobic core and known to cause instability. We used extensive molecular dynamics simulations of these five PrP mutants to compare their dynamics and conformations to those of the wild type PrP. The simulations highlight the changes that occur upon introduction of mutations and help to rationalize experimental findings. Changes can occur around the mutation site, but they can also be propagated over long distances. In particular, the F198S and T183A mutations lead to increased flexibility in parts of the structure that are normally stable, and the short β-sheet moves away from the rest of the protein. Mutations V180I, V210I and, to a lesser extent, V203I cause changes similar to those observed upon lowering the pH, which has been linked to misfolding. Early misfolding is observed in one V180I simulation. Overall, mutations in the hydrophobic core have a significant effect on the dynamics and stability of PrP, including the propensity to misfold, which helps to explain their role in the development of familial prion diseases.
DIMORPHISM, SHELL Mg/Ca RATIOS AND STABLE ISOTOPE CONTENT IN SPECIES OF BOLIVINA (BENTHIC FORAMINIFERA) IN THE GULF OF CALIFORNIA, MEXICO

The stable isotope and shell Mg/Ca composition in the tests of dimorphic generations (microspheric, megalospheric) and polymorphs of low oxygen species of Bolivina from the Gulf of California were measured to evaluate their potential use as environmental proxies. In B. argentea Cushman, megalospheric tests are always more abundant than microspheric tests though the dimorphic ratio is relatively constant with water depth. Distinct morphovariants develop in the species with decreasing benthic oxygen concentrations. The species is in isotopic equilibrium except for lowest oxygen morphovariants, which have slightly lighter δ13C values than the typical form. The shell Mg/Ca ratio of live specimens is higher than in dead specimens, and the species shows no trend with temperature. In B. subadvena and B. interjuncta bicostata , megalospheric tests predominate in higher oxygen environments, and the dimorphic ratio varies with water depth. Megalospheric generations of B. subadvena , which are concentrated in the organic-rich benthic boundary above the sediment-water interface, appear to grow rapidly to a smaller size and tend to have higher shell Mg/Ca and lighter δ13C content than do the tests of the microspheric generation, although the differences are generally small. Microspheric forms are most numerous at the sediment-water interface and produce larger, slower growing adults that are more nearly in equilibrium with bottom water chemistry. B. argentea and B. subadvena are useful proxies in reconstructing ocean ventilation and paleoproductivity, but the species life strategies need to be considered in interpreting their shell geochemistry.
Suppression of the kink instability for magnetic flux ropes in the chromosphere

Energy storage in chromospheric flux ropes is discussed, in the context of solar flares. The structure is represented by a cylindrically symmetric magnetic field of finite length. The field is assumed to be approximately force-free. The stability of the field to a kink perturbation is investigated. Flux ropes are rooted in dense photospheric material. So the ends of the field lines are taken to be fixed on rigid boundaries for all perturbations. An energy perturbation method is used and the boundary conditions give a stabilizing effect. It is shown that for a moderate degree of twisting the fields are stable to a kink perturbation. Thus energy can be stored in cylindrical fields prior to release in a solar flare.
Estrogen modulates parathyroid hormone-induced fibronectin production in human and rat osteoblast-like cells.

Fibronectin (FN) is an important constituent of the extracellular matrix in bone. Its hormonal regulation in this tissue has not been extensively studied. We, therefore, examined the effects of PTH, estrogen, and transforming growth factor beta on the production of FN by human and rat osteoblast-like cells. Confluent cells were stabilized for 48 h under estrogen-replete (10(-9) M 17 beta-estradiol) conditions and then continued under these same conditions or withdrawn from estrogen for varying periods of time. PTH over the range 10(-11)-(10(-8) M caused a dose-dependent increase in FN production [P < 0.001 by analysis of variance (ANOVA)] such that at the highest dose, FN production was increased 11-fold. Estrogen withdrawal for 96 h caused a significant diminution in PTH-induced FN production (P < 0.005 by two-way ANOVA). Estrogen withdrawal over the of period 48-144 h caused a progressive diminution in PTH-induced FN production such that differences in mean values for estrogen-replete vs. deficient cond...
Topological and non-topological solitons of the generalized Klein-Gordon equations

This paper obtains the 1-soliton solution of five various forms of the generalized nonlinear Klein-Gordon equations. The solitary wave ansatz is used to obtain the soliton solutions of each of these cases. Both topological as well as non-topological soliton solutions are obtained depending on the type of nonlinearity in question. The conserved quantities are also calculated for each of these five forms of generalized nonlinear Klein-Gordon equations. Each of these forms reduce to the previously known results, as special cases.
Urinary Kallikrein Excretion in Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus and Its Relationship to Glycemic Control*

Abstract The renal kallikrein-kinin system is thought to be involved in vasoregulatory and epithelial ion-transporting processes. Renal kallikrein has not been studied in patients with diabetes mellitus, a disease in which abnormalities of renal hemodynamics and electrolyte handling occur. The urinary excretion of this kallikrein was measured in 20 type I diabetic patients and 10 normal subjects. On a 120-meq Na diet, daily kallikrein excretion, determined by both esterase activity and direct RIA, in 12 poorly controlled diabetic patients [hemoglobin Alc (HbAlc) = 14.2 ± 0.5% (mean ± SEM)] was significantly greater (P < 0.05) than excretion in 8 diabetic patients in good t o moderately good control (HbAic = 9.4 ± 0.5%) or in 10 normal subjects. In these groups, urinary esterase activities were 9.4 ± 1.0, 6.1 ± 1.4, and 6.7 ± 0.5 esterase units/24 h, respectively. Corresponding excretion values of immunoreactive kallikrein were 171 ± 14, 118 ± 26, and 123 ± 11 μg/24 h. Creatinine clearances were similar in...
Three-preon models of quarks and leptons and the generation problem

We have carried out a search for three-fermion preon models that predict at least three generations of quarks and leptons. The conditions imposed are the following: (1) The preons are (massless) Weyl spinors and belong to low-dimensional chiral representations of the gauged symmetry group $G(\mathrm{MC})\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}G(\mathrm{CF})$, where MC stands for metacolor and CF for color-flavor. (2) $G(\mathrm{MC})$ is an asymptotically free simple group while $G(\mathrm{CF})$ is a grand-unification-theory (GUT) or partial-unification-theory (PUT) group. (3) The Pauli principle holds when generalized to the MC degree of freedom. (4) No anomalies exist in the MC and CF sectors. (5) The composite quarks and leptons are massless on the MC scale. (6) There are no low-representation exotics and no mirror fermions. The only GUT preon models satisfying these six conditions are SU(3)(MC)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}SO(10)(CF) with four generations and ${\mathrm{F}}_{4}$(MC)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}SO(10)(CF) with three generations; however, asymptotic freedom is marginal for the two GUT models. The only permissible PUT preon model is ${\mathrm{E}}_{6}(\mathrm{MC})\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}\mathrm{SU}{(4)}_{C}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}\mathrm{SU}{(2)}_{L}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}\mathrm{SU}{(2)}_{R}$ with three generations, and satisfactory asymptotic behavior. The PUT preon model is therefore the most promising and further implications are discussed.
On the molecular origin of the anomalous polarization in the resonance raman of metalloporphyrins

Abstract A direct method for evaluation of resonance Raman spectra of conjugated molecules is applied to the study of the anomalous polarization effect in metalloporphyrins. The method provides a simple explanation for the inverse polarization effect. The quantitative nature of the method allows one to study the phenomenon of anomalous polarization. Calculations of the resonance Raman polarization for A 2g vibrations of 1,3,5,7-tatramethyl metalloporphyrin give good agreement with the observed depolarization ratio and its dependence on the excitation energy.
PROPHYLAXIS OF INFLUENZA WITH A SYNTHETIC ISOQUINOLINE

Abstract Volunteers were treated for 7 days with 1.5 g. daily oral doses of an isoquinoline drug. A similar number of controls received inert placebo. 1 day after the start of treatment both groups were challenged with intranasal instillation of living influenza-B virus. Of thirty-four people given drug, seven had symptoms and nine had laboratory evidence of infection. Of thirty-three given placebo, thirteen had symptoms and seventeen had laboratory evidence of infection. When used prophylactically therefore the drug reduced by half the incidence of clinical illness and of virus infection.
Diquat enhancement of cupric ion toxicity

Abstract Cupric ion inhibition of Chlorella growth and photosynthesis and electron transport in isolated chloroplasts was enhanced by concentrations of diquat (6,7-dihydrodipyrido[1,2- a :2′,1′- c ]pyrazinediium) that did not inhibit these processes in the absence of cupric ions. Diquat decreased the lag in cupric ion inhibition of Chlorella photosynthesis from 5 to 3.3 min. Diquat enhancement of cupric ion toxicity was immediate with no lag when diquat was added to Chlorella cells with photosynthesis inhibited by cupric ions. Diquat was absorbed by isolated chloroplasts with an intact outer envelope and the absorption was not due to diquat binding to chloroplast membranes. Cupric ion movement through the outer envelope of chloroplasts was stimulated by the presence of diquat. Cupric ion toxicity was also increased by diquat in bicarbonate solutions. The optimum molar ratios of cupric ions to diquat among those tested for diquat enhancement of cupric ion toxicity were 1:0.188 and 1:0.2, which are 1:1 and 1:1.08 on a parts per million basis.
Squeeze-film damping of flexible microcantilevers at low ambient pressures.

An improved theoretical approach is presented to calculate and predict the quality factors of flexible microcantilevers affected by squeeze-film damping at low ambient pressures, and moderate to high Knudsen numbers. Veijola’s model [1], originally derived for a rigid oscillating plate near a wall, is extended to a flexible cantilever beam and both the gas inertia effect and slip boundary condition are considered in deriving resulting damping pressure. The model is used to predict the natural frequencies and quality factors of silicon microcantilevers with small gaps and their dependence on ambient pressure. In contrast to non-slip, continuum models, we find that quality factor depends strongly on ambient pressure, and that the damping of higher modes is more sensitive to ambient pressure than the fundamental.Copyright © 2008 by ASME
Selective activation of the latissimus dorsi and the inferior fibers of trapezius at various shoulder angles during isometric pull-down exertion

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of isometric pull down exercise on muscle activity with shoulder elevation angles of 60°, 90°, and 120° and sagittal, scapular, and frontal movement planes, by electromyography (EMG) of the latissimus dorsi, inferior fibers of trapezius, and latissimus dorsi/inferior fibers of trapezius activity ratio. Fourteen men performed nine conditions of isometric pull down exercise (three conditions of shoulder elevation × three conditions of movement planes). Surface EMG was used to collect data from the latissimus dorsi and inferior fibers of trapezius during exercise. Two-way repeated analysis of variance with two within-subject factors (shoulder elevation angles and planes of movement) was used to determine the significance of the latissimus dorsi and inferior fibers of trapezius activity and latissimus dorsi/inferior fibers of trapezius activity ratio. The latissimus dorsi activity and ratio between the latissimus dorsi and the inferior fibers of trapezius were significantly decreased as shoulder elevation angle increased from 60° to 120°. The inferior fibers of trapezius activity was significantly increased with shoulder elevation angle. The EMG activity and the ratios were not affected by changes in movement planes. This study suggests that selective activation of the latissimus dorsi is accomplished with a low shoulder elevation angle, while the inferior fibers of the trapezius are activated with high shoulder elevation angles.
The middle to late Pleistocene geomagnetic field recorded in fine-grained sediments from Summer Lake, Oregon, and Double Hot Springs, Nevada, U.S.A.

Abstract A 400,000 year record of the paleomagnetic field has been acquired from 22 meters of middle to late Pleistocene fine-grained sediments from Summer Lake in south-central Oregon and Double Hot Springs in northwestern Nevada. The stratigraphy is based on 55 tephra layers, nine of which have been correlated with tephra layers from other localities on the basis of their distinct major- and trace-element geochemistry and their distinct petrography. The paleomagnetic samples carry a strong and stable magnetization that does not appear to have been affected by the inclination error commonly associated with the magnetization of sediments. The samples have accurately recorded the declination and inclination of the geomagnetic field at or near the time of deposition except for errors arising from rotations of discrete blocks of sediment predominantly about vertical axes. Errors introduced by this type of rotation were corrected by using paleomagnetic directions associated with correlated tephra layers. The Summer Lake paleomagnetic record suggests that secular variations occurred throughout the middle and late Pleistocene often maintaining the same waveform through several oscillations. The amplitudes of these variations were similar to those of Holocene variations, and the periods ranged from 15,000 years to greater than 100,000 years.